"So, the package is being moved on a fortified transport ship," Mayfeld brings up a hologram of a prison ship. The team had gathered around the bald man, ready to be debriefed on the job. "Now, we got a limited window to the board, find our friend, get 'em outta there, before they make their jump."
"That's a New Republic prison ship," Nova comments taking in the hologram in front of her. The depths of the job coming to light. She never was one not to be willing to break the rules. It is just what is a part of being on the run. But they were breaking out a criminal, a hardened criminal. Something in her morals told her this wasn't right. But they needed the money.
"Your man wasn't taken by a rival syndicate, he was arrested," Din completes her train of thought. He knew Ran was never one to care about laws and restrictions he was just not looking for that spotlight especially after Nevarro.
"So what?" Mayfeld counters.
"A job is a job," Ran motions nonchalantly.
"That's a max security transport, and we are not looking for that kind of heat," The Mandalorian continues.
"Well, neither are we. So just don't mess up," the old man says set on the job at hand.
"The good news for you is the ship is manned by droids. Still hate the machines, Mando?" Xi'an teases. Nova wonders why the Mandalorian despises droids so much. Although since their interaction on Avarla-7, Din had yet to show any real verbal displacement towards the metallic species. I should ask him about that later, she tells herself.
"Despite recent modifications, the ship is still quite a mess," Zero, the droid, says coming down from the ship. Nova hopes the dumb droid didn't go in and peak at anything. "The power lines are leaking. The navigation is intermittent. And he hyperdrive is only operating at 67.3% efficiency. We have much better ships. Why are we using this one?"
"Cause the Razor Crest is off the old Imperial and the New Republic grid. It's a ghost." Ran answers the droid. Nova not a fan of the conversation heads to the Razor Crest to make sure everything is tightly packed up before the bafoons enter in. Din watches her figure disappear into the ship.
"Yeah. And we need a ship that can get close enough to jam the New Republic code," Mayfeld continues onto Ran's point. "So, when we drop out of hyperspace here, if we immediately bank into this kinda attitude, we should be right in their blind spot, which should give us just enough time for your ship to scramble our signal."
"It's not possible," Din looks away from where Nova's figure once stood and turns to the band of misfits. "Even for the Crest."
"That's why he's," Ran motions to Zero, the bug-eyed droid. "flying." Mayfeld's loud laugh echos through the hanger. The Mandalorian was clearly not liking the fact someone else was flying his ship especially someone, who is a droid."Mando, I know you're a pretty good pilot, but we need you on the trigger, not on the wheel."
"Don't worry, Mandalorian," The droid comforts in his robotic voice. "My response time is quicker than organics, and I'm smarter too."
"Alright, ya, that's good. Forgive the programming. He's a little rough around the edges. But he is the best." Ran apologizes with a devious smirk on his face.
"How can you trust it?" Din asks quietly so only Ran can hear, while the others exit to the ship.
"You know me, man, I don't trust anybody," Ran responds. The Mandalorian makes his way to the Razor Crest, ready to get the job done and over with. Ran watches the Mandalorian walk up the ramp to the ship the devious smirk never leaving his dirty face. "Just like the good old days, Mando, huh?"
The lack of conversation made the trip feel like it was going on for ages for Nova. It didn't help that the Mandalorian was in the cockpit with the droid, monitoring him to make sure he didn't mess with anything. While Din babysat the droid, Nova watched the aliens in the cabin. Burg was pacing causing a steady tempo of stomps on the metal to rang out. Xi'an was balancing knives and sending death glares at Nova, to which Nova responded with a sarcastic smile. Mayfeld was cleaning his guns as if to impress the lot on his multitude of weapons.
"Will you sit. Down," Xi'an calls out exacerbated. The girl stops her balancing act and glares at the tall, red giant. The red giant hits the wall earning a cat-like hiss from Xi'an. Burg laughs at irritating the purple lady.
"Why don't you listen to the lady, big guy?" Nova's voice calls the attention of the group as she stands from her position in the back of the hull. "You can hit all the walls you want when you get to the prison ship. Don't hit my home." Burg only grunts in return turning towards the weapons vault taking interest in it.
"You live in this hunk of junk?" Mayfield teases the white-haired girl. "No offense but you seem more of a luxury type, not hiding out with a bucket head." Mayfeld doesn't see the Mandalorian slowly move down the ladder behind him as he continues his monologue. "I mean... Our team is looking for a nice addition such as yourself." He walks over to Nova. "You are much better looking than that boggart." He gestures to the red giant who was fiddling with a weapon from the vault. As he gestures he makes eye contact with the Mandalorian he did not realize was in the hull. The Mandalorian, instead of responding, closes the weapons vault on Burg. Upset Burg turns around to death stare the Mandalorian, but the Mandalorian didn't remove his eye contact from Mayfeld who was standing too close to Nova for his liking.
Nova seeing Burg clench his fist ready to fight jumps up and tries to run at him but is caught by Mayfeld. Nova hated bullies and really really wanted to punch something. After sitting in a room with complete idiots her patience is challenged.
"Hey, hey, hey. Okay. Okay. Okay," Mayfeld struggles to keep Nova from attacking Burg. "I get it. I'm a little particular about my personal space too. So let's just do this job. We get in, we get out, and you don't have to see our faces anymore." Nova begins to calm down slapping at Mayfeld so he releases her.
"Someone tell me why we even a Mandalorian," Burg's voice is deep as he glares at the Beskar man.
"Or pipsqueak here," Xi'an continues glaring at Nova.
"Well, apparently they're the greatest warriors in the galaxy. So they say," Mayfeld says watching Nova breathe heavily. She was a little
"Then why are they all dead?" Burg says followed by laughs from everyone but Nova and Din.
"Well, you flew with him, Xi'an. Is he as good as they say?" Mayfeld asks as their laughs die out.
"Ask him about the job on Alzoc III," Xi'an pushes. Nova's glance moves from Burg to him curiosity displayed on her face.
"I did what I had to," Din says as though he were only talking to Nova. Nova gives a small nod understanding what he means. She had been in many situations she did things she is not proud of, all in the name of the protection and survival of others. What increased her curiosity was the fact he cared about what she thought. Well maybe not, she thinks to herself, I am probably overthinking this.
"Oh, but you liked it. See, I know who you really are," Xi'an approaches the Mandalorian swaying her hips seductively. The direction of the Mandalorian's helmet never moves to the purple girl.
"He never takes off the helmet?" He asks the purple girl but glances at Nova for a response.
"This is the way," Xi'an mocks. Nova breaks eye contact to glare at the girl. Nova struggled with control, all she wanted to do is punch them.
"Hmm... I wonder what you look like under there. Maybe he's a Gungan. Is that why...yousa don't wanna show your face?" Mayfeld asks moving away from Nova to stand up to the Mandalorian. Burg and Xi'an laugh menacingly in the background. Mayfeld looks at chuckling Xi'an and asks "You ever seen his face?"
"A lady...never tells," Xi'an says returning back to her seat where she once sat. Mayfeld merely glances at Nova's glare and got an answer.
"Aw, come on, Mando. We all gotta trust each other here. You gotta show us something," Mayfeld continues on pushing the Mandalorian's limits. Lucky for Nova he was in a more solid state of mind than her. It took the drop of a measly credit to make her feral. "Come on, just lift the helmet up. Come on. Let's all see your eyes." Mayfeld nods at Burg for him to act.
"I'll do--" Burg says but before he could actually do anything the Mandalorian grabs his hand and twists his arm on his back. Nova was just about to launch herself but is stopped by Xi'an's arm which was fully extended across her chest. The Mandalorian kicks Burg causing him to fall. As he is falling he grapples for something hitting the button for the Mandalorian's cot, revealing the child. Grogu sits up looking curiously at the group.
"Whoa! What is that? You get lonely up here, buddy? Huh? Wait a minute..." Mayfeld looks between the Mandalorian and Nova. "Did you two make that? Huh? What is it? Like...a pet or something?"
"Yeah. Something like that," Din says shuffling in his position, causing Mayfeld to chuckle returning his gaze back to Grogu. Nova's mouth snaps shut she stares at Grogu. Her eyes were wide open, in shock. Luckily the band of misfits didn't take notice of her disheveled state.
"Didn't take you for the type. Maybe that code of yours has made you soft," Xi'an teases.
"Me, I was never really into pets. Yeah, didn't have the temperament. Patience, you know. I mean, I tried but... never worked out. What I'm thinking... maybe..." Mayfeld picks up the child. "I'll try again with this little fella. Huh?" Mayfeld pretends to drops the kid but before he could laugh his face is met with Nova's fist. Before he could drop Grogu Nova catches him in her arms. Mayfeld clutches his face while Xi'an and Burg laugh at him.
"Dropping out of hyperspace...now," Zero says before the ship jerks suddenly knocking everyone off balance. "Commencing final approach...now. Cloaking signal...now." The ship rolls and everyone is thrown around the cabin. Nova clutches on to grogu and makes sure he isn't hurt in the process. The Mandalorian appears at Nova's side helping her remain balanced until the ship swerves again causing Nova to land on the Mandalorian. "Engaging coupling...now." The ship halts at it is now docking the transport. Nova gets up slowly realizing she is on top of the Mandalorian, Grogu beside them. Her cheeks redden as she hops up wanting to rid herself from that awkward interaction. The Mandalorian takes a moment before standing up. "Coupling confirmed. We are down. And relax. Commence extraction...now."
"That useless droid didn't even us a proper countdown," Xi'an complains as she rubs her neck. Burg, in irritations, throughs some crates around.
"Watch it Hellboy," Nova yells as she puts Grogu back in the Mandalorian's cot.
"Zee...you sure they can't see us?" Mayfeld asks the droid who was still situated in the cockpit.
"The Razor Crest is scrambling our signature, and I'm inside the prison system. It's impressive that this gunship has survived the Empire without being impounded," Zero comments.
"Alright, we got a job to do, Mando, you're up," Mayfeld comments directing the Mandalorian to open the hatch. Din grabs a decoder to unlock the prison ship's hatch. The latch opens revealing the white metal interior of the ship.
"It's me?" Mayfeld asks the group.
"Always you," Burg responds.
"You take too long," Nova comments before hopping into the latch. She stays close to the wall making sure she doesn't alert any droids who were patrolling the area while the rest of the group enters. Mayfeld was next, followed by hissing Xi'an, annoying Burg, and finally the Mandalorian. Nova watches the Mandalorian come to the wall next to her, blaster in hand. A slight smirk crosses her face, she is ready to kick some robot butt.
"Zero. Get is to the control room," Mayfeld commands the droid in the cockpit.
"Sub-level three. Disabling onboard surveillance," Zero states over the comms.
"All right, we're on the clock," Mayfeld continues looking at the group. He was in the front towards the intersection of the ship. "Second, we engage those droids they're gonna be all over us."
"I know the drill," Din says monotonously.
"Not talking to you Mando," Mayfeld says gesturing to Nova, who just stood pressed against the wall.
"Bio trackers activated. I've got eyes," Zero says over the comms, stoping the tension
"All right, let's go," Mayfeld calls out. The group moves through the corridors casually. The Mandalorian and Nova seeming the only ones actually paying attention to what they are doing.
"I don't like this," Din says to the suffocating silence.
"You always were paranoid," Xi'an flirts once more. Nova moves to the front with Mayfeld eager to not listen to the conversation.
"Is that true, Mando?" Mayfeld calls out mockingly, behind him. "Are you always paranoid?" All of a sudden a prisoner slams against his cell door making Mayfeld jump. Xi'an and Burg, of course, laugh, but if one were paying attention, like the Mandalorian, you could see the subtle chuckles from Nova.
"Approaching control room. Make a left at the next juncture," Zeros voice comes from the comm. An MSE-6 series repair droid rounds the corner. It was a small box-shaped droid in charge of cleaning and monitoring the floor of the ship. Everyone halts startled by the little droid. Well, everyone but Burg.
"What? It's just a little mousey," Burg approaches the little droid, blaster behind his back. "Come here, little mousey."
"Burg..." Mayfeld whispers in a warning tone.
"Mousey, come here. Come here," Burg slowly approaches the droid.
"Burg!" Mayfeld calls out. when the droid tries to flee Burg blasts it causing the loud sound to echo throughout the ship. "No! Burg! What're you doing?"
"What?!" Burg looks back innocently. Nova rolls her eyes. Immediately a command of security droids round the corner causing everyone to draw their blasters.
"Intruder alert. Open fire," One of the droids commands. A gunfight ensues. Xi'an and Burg take one side while Din, Mayfeld, and Nova take the other side. All of them shooting towards the droids. Nova notices Din move behind her and Mayfeld but the shots ringing in her direction cause her to remain focused on the deadly droids.
"We're too exposed here!" Xi'an calls out.
"They get a signal out it's not gonna matter!" Mayfeld calls out between shots. "Mando, let's go! You're supposed to be some special--" He turns to see the Mandalorian gone. "I knew it! I knew it!" Nova sees the Mandalorian appear behind the droids flanking them. He begins taking them out melee style. Nova rushes over to help him before he is shot by a droid. The rest of the group watch in awe as the two fight in sync.
Nova shoots the arm of a droid off catching it before it falls and slamming it against its central control unit. The anger she has been holding for these past few hours being released on the metallic droids. She continues to wack the two adjacent droids, dodging their many shots in her direction. Mayfeld for a moment stands there confused like the rest of his team. How can she dodge those high power rifles? He thinks to himself confused. For as long as he has been alive he has never seen someone with that ability.
The Mandalorian, fighting his own mob of droids finishes off the last one and shoots a droid about to fire on Nova. Nova was fumbling for her blaster which had fallen when she was fighting her other droids and jumps at the sound of the blaster. The droid falls with a large crash revealing the Mandalorian behind it.
"I could have done that," Nova calls out jokingly. The Mandalorian rolls his eyes under his helmet at the girl. She can never just say thank you can she, he thinks to himself.
"Make sure you clean up your mess," Mayfeld jokes while passing the huffing Nova and the solid Mandalorian. Burg brushes shoulder with the Mandalorian as the group walks by. Nova looks at the Mandalorian confused at the interaction. The Mandalorian only shrugs in return before they both follow after them.
"It seems your presence has been detected. Redirecting security alert away from your position," Zero says a bit too late. The group moves to the control room of the prison ship but the door is locked shut.
"Zee, open the door!" Mayfeld screams into the mic.
"But I'm detecting an organic signature," Zero calls out making Nova's eyebrows to raise.
"Ya okay, all right. Just open the door!" Mayfeld calls out before the door opens. In the room sits a small man brandishing his blaster aiming it at the group. Nova could feel his panic and a frown moved to her face.
"Stop! Just...stop...right there! You put down the blasters right now," The guard studders.
"Nice shoes," Mayfeld jokes as the group enters further into the room.
"Put down your blasters," the guard says to the three misfits who carried their blasters close to their person.
"Matches his belt," Mayfeld continues ignoring the small man. BUrg erupts in laugher.
"There were only supposed to be droids on this ship," Din calls out looking to be in the same predicament Nova was in. She had not stopped staring at the young man. He looked no older than 20. He was so scared and intimidated by the group.
"Hang on, hang on. See here uh...cell two-two-one. All right, now for our well-dressed friend..." Mayfeld says turning to the guard. The guard takes out a small device and holds it up warningly. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa hey hey easy easy, egghead. Put that down. Put that down. Come on."
"Easy," Din calls out hands up in surrender. Nova slowly walked to the guard joining Din's attempts to calm the guard.
"Put it down. NOW!" Mayfeld screams out drawing his weapon and aiming it at the guard. Nova immediately puts herself between the guard and Mayfeld, shielding the guard from any possible shots. Her hands gripped on her blaster which was still in her belt. Before she could call out Din speaks up.
"Easy!" Din calls out to Mayfield's actions. "Nobody has to get hurt here, just calm down."
"What is that thing?" Burg says cluelessly.
"It's a tracking beacon," Mayfeld says still aiming his weapon up, locked in a staring battle with Nova. "He presses that thing and we're all done. A New Republic attack team will hone in on that signal and blow us all to hell. Move out of my way Nova."
"Are you serious?" Xi'an says. Clearly, the team was dumber than Nova had initially thought.
"Yes, I'm serious," Mayfeld calls out annoyed.
"You didn't think we needed to know that tiny little detail?" Xi'an glares at the bald ex-stormtrooper.
"I didn't think we'd get to this point!" Mayfeld defends moving his glance away from the white-haired girl to the rest of the team.
"Yet here we are," Xi'an continues.
"Are you questioning my managerial style, Xi'an?!" Mayfeld yells at the purple girl clearly flustered at how much this situation escalated.
"No, sir," Xi'an mock salutes moving to sit down on the opposite side of the control room.
"Hey, listen to me. Hey hey hey, listen to me, okay," Din addresses the terrified guard, holstering his blaster. "Look," He glances over in Mayfeld's direction. "Hey, put it down." Din grabs Nova's wrist taking her away from the line of fire.
"Are you crazy?" Mayfeld asks dumb shocked, lowering his weapon slightly.
"Put it down," Din commands once more then looks at the guard. "What's your name?"
"It...'s...Davan," the guard studders.
"Davan. We're not here for you. We're here for a prisoner," Din moves closer to the guard cautiously. "If you let us go about our job you can walk away with your life."
"I promise you," Nova goes on making direct eye contact with the small man. "You will make it out of here alive."
"No, he won't," Mayfeld aims his blaster back at Davin leading the Mandalorian to draw his blaster on Mayfeld. Mayfeld triggers his second blaster on the Mandalorian. Nova continues to look at Davan trying to figure a way to calm the situation.
"You realize what you're gonna bring down on us," Din's voice was harsh.
"You think I care about that?" Mayfeld says plainly, his voice quivering slightly.
"We're not killing anybody, you understand?" Din yells motioning to the whole lot.
"Get that blaster out of my face, Mando," Mayfeld yells, tensions rising.
"I can't do that," Din says softly in response.
"Get that blaster outta my face, Mando!" Mayfeld screams pulling a third blaster aiming it at Nova. He figured one way to guarantee his surrender is to threaten the white-haired girl. Though a part of him felt guilty. Din's figure froze for a moment when he realizes Mayfeld's blaster was trained on Nova. He takes out his second blaster in a swift movement to aim at Mayfeld but shifts to Burg when the red giant takes out his own blaster.
"Don't," Din says shortly. Nova was still looking at Davan.
"It's okay," Nova's eyes never leave his. "Don't listen to them. They are just scared."
"I-I'm scared," Davan says quietly confessing to the girl.
"I-I know," Nova says smiling softly. "You just need to drop that transmitter okay? And we can all walk out of here okay." Davan gives a small nod and Nova smiles widely. As if the whole world stopped Nova heard a soft thump before the reaction was displayed on Davan's face. Confused she looked behind her to see Xi'an smiling deviously. "No!" Nova screams running to the guard. "He was going to drop it you purple bitch!" She cradles the guard in her arms.
"Would you all just shut up," Xi'an calls out clearly not affected by what she has done. Nova tries to stop the blood which was seeping from the guard's wound.
"Crazy Twi'," Mayfeld says shocked like everyone else. He looked at Nova's struggling manner and felt regret for the first time in a long time. "I had it under control."
"Yeah... Looked like it," Xi'an continues. Nova's struggling reveals in Davan's hand the tracking beacon. It was blinking and softly beeping alerting the gang that their efforts were for nothing.
"Was that thing blinking before? Was it?" Mayfeld states.
"Zero to Mayfeld. Zero to Mayfeld," The annoying robot rings in through the comm.
"What?" Mayfeld yells harshly. Nova could feel Davan dying in her arms. SHe couldn't let an innocent die
"I detected a New Republic distress signal homing in on your location. You have approximately 20 minutes." Zero releases the details causing the group to stand. Nova closes her eyes concentrating on her very own life force. It was only now she really thanked her abilities to carry so much power. She puts her small hand on his blood-stained uniform feeling the power flow from her to him like a soft wave. It was a calming feeling, like brushing untangled hair or petting a soft loth-cat.
"We only need five," Xi'an shrugs. Din watches Nova's movements as her face concentrates on the man in front of her. Although he didn't quite understand what was going on, he didn't say anything. Instead, he reminds himself to ask her about it later.
"Let's go, let's go, move, move, move, move!" Mayfeld calls as he runs out of the control room with his team leaving the Mandalorian and Nova behind. The Mandalorian walks over to Nova seeing the guard surprisingly still breathing.
"We need to go," Din says as Nova's eyes open slowly. She glances down at the guard whose wound was now healed. The guard's eyes open slowly.
"Stay out of sight," Nova says quietly, the guard nods and mouths a thank you. Nova only nods in return and turns to the Mandalorian. He looks at her stunned under his helmet not understanding how she did that. The two of them take no more time to leave the control room leaving an alive guard in their wake. No innocents will die, Nova reminds herself.
A/n
this was a pretty big update with over double my normal word count. Happy with how it turned out. What do you all think? Any suggestions or requests to what you want to see in the future?