Blood and Money - The Mandalorian

Let the Games Begin

     "I'll go with you." Mando replied behind me, he must have been there the whole time I was talking to Lane and to Sprocket. I turned around looking over my shoulder at him standing in the doorway. "She's not going to be able to handle those Stormtroopers herself, if there is one, then there is many more."

     "Stormtroopers?" I asked him picking up Sprocket as I got up from my seat. 

     "Yes, they're part of the empire that was supposed to be gone, wiped out, but they don't go away easily. Not if someone else is pulling their strings." He told me. "How do you not know about the Empire?"

     "I'm from a different solar system remember? We didn't have the Empire, we had Cartainions, and they were this huge half human and half lizard men, really strong and smelled like fish. I doubt these Stormtroopers smell like fish." I walked past him toward the back still holding Sprocket as I did. "We have our own enemies and battles that we have to deal with, none of them are part of this Empire you're talking about." I set Sprocket on the couch. "Well, at least as far as I know. Look, if you still want to help me get Lane, then let's go. I don't need her getting herself in trouble and then compromising all of us because she wants to get drunk." I headed into my room, grabbed my coat and gloves and slipped it on as I headed toward the hatch.

     "It would be best if you left the Stormtroopers to me." He told me.

     "Knock yourself out." I heard Rassen came out of his room freshly washed and changed into something less dirty. His beard was neatly braided into a rope braid on either side and had silver ornate cuffs clamping the ends. He walked past use as he headed over toward the kitchen section grabbing a cup. 

     "Where are you going? I thought you said there was a bad storm coming in?" he asked. "Really think leaving now is a smart idea?"

     "I'm going after Lane. She's drunk and can't find her way back in the storm." I told him lying a little bit, I hated lying to him but if he knew about Lord Clairo he would go in staff swinging and get himself hurt. He hated him as much as I did, but I didn't need him hurt. He slowly nodded adding a 'hmph', then glanced at Mando.

     "And why is he going?" He asked skeptical about it as he filled his cup and turned back around to face us taking a sip. 

     "I can't carry her back here by myself, he's stronger than me. Plus he can see better with his helmet...thingy." I added strapping on my weapon.

     "And you need your weapon to do this?" He asked still not believing a word.

     "Better safe than sorry." I added. "Never know what's out there. What's with the 20 questions Rassen?" He looked at us not really believing me, but nodded as he glanced over at Sprocket.

     "And who's gunna take care of the kid?" He asked motioning toward Sprocket still sitting on the couch as he took a sip of his drink. I glanced over toward him.

     "You are." I told him slipping my gloves on, He choking on his drink a bit.

     "Me?" He asked confused. "Are you crazy? Wake up Temon, he can take care of him."

     "You know you can't do that, Temon wakes up on his own. You're just gunna have to do it."

     "I don't know how to take care of kids, let alone that one. Besides, he doesn't like me."

    "You don't know that." 

     "He pulled my beard." He stated. "You know how I feel about anyone touching my beard."

     "Well you did call him ugly." I reminded him.

     "I don't need my beard being pulled again." He whispered.

     "Then don't call him ugly." I adjusted my coat. He sighed and glanced over at Sprocket as he crossed his arms.

     "And what am I supposed to do with him?"

     "Just watch him, make sure he doesn't hurt himself, or touch anything that could hurt him. He's a button pusher so make sure he doesn't turn something off. That's all you have to do." I motioned toward Mando. "Let's go." Rassen took a step toward me stopping me before I could head out.

     "Is there anything else you need to tell me?" He looked at me.

   "Just watch Sprocket okay? We'll be right back." I then headed down the hatch as the inner doors closed. I could feel him watching me through the window, so I didn't even risk a glance back to make sure. We headed toward the bay door as Mando turned to look at me, he got ready to press the wall switch.

     "You ready?" he asked. I pulled my hood up securing it into place and took a deep breath.

     "Nope, but let's just get this done." I told him and hepressed the button to open the door, a blast of cold and snow came blowinginside, the shear force of it almost knocked me off my feet. Mando grabbed my arm asI almost fell back, I grab a hold of his and held on tight as we pressed into it moving out so the bay doors could close. We headed slowlyback toward the pub we had been in before as the wind was forcing us to braceourselves against buildings and poles as we struggle through to keep ourfooting. It also took us longer than before to reach the building, but we managed tomake it as he pressed the button that open the door. We pushed inside as the doorclosed behind us. I caught my breath as I coughed from the force of the windthat had hit me so hard. "Damn it." I mumbled to myself. Now I knew why they shut things down. I stood upstraight and glanced around the room, looking past creatures that had now started to congregate near the heaters along the walls to stay warm. I found Lane  sitting in a booth near the door smiling toward us as she shook her head.I headed over toward her and lowered my hood stopping in front of hertable. I quickly glanced around trying to see Lord Clairo for myself. But I couldn't find himanywhere due to there being quite a few more creatures inside the pub moving around as they talked among themselves and stayed as drunk as they could. A few even looked as though they had drank far too much and were leaning on the tables trying to hold themselves up or had just past out and were sleeping in corners or laying their heads down on the tables. But the place was still packed with so many more which in a way was a good thing, as least if I couldn't see Lord Clairo, then he couldn't see me either. 

It was a win win situation.

A/N Sorry for the late addition, school is kicking my butt with so many new projects that need to be done all in a week (Online school), which to be honest, stresses me out. But I will try and add as many new chapters as soon as I can. Bare with me during this struggle. The struggle is real!!

Oh by the way, I found this cool online TTSReader that will read what I have written, and I notice that I say 'he said, she said' A LOT. So I am going to to try and fix that issue. To me it sounds good while I'm writing it because I'm trying to stress who is talking so no one is confused, but hearing it, is a whole different thing, its annoying. So if it's annoying for me, then it must be annoying for others and that might be why I don't get as many views. MY WRITING SUCKS!

You should try out the site and hear the story as it's being written. It sounds cool, except for that annoying "He said, She said" issue that I will try to address in later chapters, I don't know if I should go back and fix the others or not. Let me know if I should, because I will. 

Take care and BE SAFE!

1398W