After Greef finally handed the trooper his chain code, the guard scanned it before unceremoniously tossing the card back at the magistrate's chest.
My whole body tensed when the trooper's eyes landed on me, taking his sweet time looking me over. I could tell Din desperately wanted to intervene, but I prayed he didn't start anything. The last thing we needed right now was a huge shootout before we even got inside the city.
The trooper huffed a quick laugh. "I'll give you twenty credits for her helmet," He joked.
My nose twitched as I forced myself to stay silent, and Din was practically vibrating with anger. His fists clenched in front of him, despite being told to look defeated.
"Not a chance, trooper," Karga snapped, pointing his thumb at his chest, "Both of them are going on my wall."
I was glad for my helmet at that moment, because neither Greef or the trooper could see me roll my eyes so aggressively it hurt. His wall? Really?
My muscles tensed again when the trooper glanced in my direction again. His body froze, and he leaned his head closer to me, almost like he wanted to get a better look.
"What?" I snapped bitterly. Both Din and Cara flinched back when I spoke, like they were surprised to hear my voice. "See something you like?"
The trooper chuckled to himself before stepping forward, towering over me by at least eight inches. I craned my head back to look at where his eyes should be as he purred through his modulator, "Take the helmet off and I'll let you know."
"Fat chance," I spat, shouldering him in the arm while sidestepping him to follow Greef and Cara towards the meeting place. Leaving the pristine stormtrooper to his job guarding the gate, I walked beside Din once more. He took one quick glance at me before turning his attention to Karga's shoulder blades.
"Your wall?" He hissed incredulously to the magistrate, and Karga tossed him an apologetic look over his shoulder.
As we continued to walk, the ominous presence of the stormtroopers stalking the streets made me uneasy. Cara seemed to share the same feeling, because she hissed to Karga in a low voice, "You said four stormtroopers. There are way more than four stormtroopers here."
After a short moment, Greef spared the shocktrooper a quick glance. "I said four guarding the client. There are many more here in town." Then he nodded his head back towards Din as he continued, "Things got complicated once you trashed the safe house."
Cara glanced at a nearby squadron of troopers, and I was impressed at how unfazed she seemed by their presence, even though I knew it was eating her alive on the inside. Once the troopers passed, she said urgently, "Slip them their blasters."
But the magistrate shook his head. "Not yet."
My heart started to race as we approached a nondescript entryway that was guarded by two stormtroopers. Din tensed as soon as his eyes landed on the building. It seemed to be the entrance to a cantina of some sort, and I could have guessed this was where Din would collect his pucks before being sent out on jobs. While he worked for the Guild, at least.
Greef led us inside the cantina, and the troopers stationed at the door peeled off and followed us inside. Once my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, they immediately settled on the old man standing by the empty bar.
"Just as promised," Greef called out to the client, and the old man slowly walked towards us. He stopped just in front of me and Din, glancing at my face before flicking his gaze to Din's. I bristled when he brought his arm up to brush my helmet with the back of his hand, doing the same to Din with the other.
"Such exquisite craftsmanship," The client said in a low purr. "It is truly amazing how beautiful beskar can be when forged by its ancestral artisans." The old man then removed his hands from our helmets, turning back to Karga to ask, "Can I offer you a libation to celebrate the closing of our shared narrative?"
"That would be much obliged," Greef responded with a nod, pushing both me and Din towards a nearby booth to sit.
As we sit in the booth, I get sandwiched between Din and Cara, with Greef of the other side of Din. All four of us were forced to sit shoulder to shoulder, and under the cover of the table, Din reached his bound hands over his lap to grab my knee. I let out a long, silent breath as he gave it a reassuring squeeze. But before he pulled away, I quickly grabbed his gloved fingers to thank him. Both of us flinched when our cuffs clinked against each other, but the others around us didn't seem to notice because that was the precise moment more stormtroopers filed into the room.
Four troopers, huh?
Now there were twelve.
Fuck.
The sound of the client's pretentious voice dragged my attention away from the troopers as he said, "It is a shame your people suffered so. Just as in this situation, it all could have been avoidable." I bristled at the mention of our people getting slaughtered by the hands of the Empire, gritting my teeth to keep from hashing out at him. "Why did Mandalore resist our expansion? The Empire improves everything it touches."
I couldn't help the scoff that escaped my lips. And once everyones attention was focused on me, I snapped, "Do you honestly believe that? It's all fucking bullshit."
Din not-so-discreetly elbowed me in the side, reminding me to shut the hell up, but the client didn't seem phased by my outburst. "Judge by any metric," The old man began. "Safety, prosperity, opportunity, trade, peace. Compare Imperial rule to what is happening now. Look outside. Is the galaxy more peaceful since the revolution?" He paused for effect, and I bit my tongue. "All I see is death and chaos."
The client grew more and more satisfied as the silence between us stretched on.
After a minute of silence, he said, "I would like to see the baby."
All four of us flinched imperceptibly, and Greef said quickly to divert suspicion, "It is asleep."
The client just blinked at us. "Don't worry, we will be quiet," He said as he pushed himself out of the booth. Then he glanced at the empty pram that was floating beside Cara and demanded, "Open the pram."
I tensed as my breathing quickened, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end when I noticed Din contort his wrist to press the button that opened the pram. But just before he pressed the button, one of the troopers approached the client, whispering something in his ear.
"Do not think me to be rude," The client prefaced with once the trooper backed away from us, "But I must take this call."
As soon as the old man turned his back to us, Din and I both simultaneously slipped our cuffs and I hissed to Greef, "Blasters. Now."
The magistrate discreetly slipped us all of our weapons, and I kept my rifle hidden under the table as Greef whispered, "You have one shot."
I glanced at Din out of the corner of my helmet, throwing him a look that said He's all yours.
I stared at the client as he bent over the bar, hiding the incoming hologram from our sight. But my whole body froze, completely stiff with utter terror when a familiar voice echoed over the call. I couldn't understand what he was saying, but I would recognize Moff Gideon's voice anywhere.
"Get down," I muttered absently, a horrible pit of dread pooling in my gut.
"What?" Din whispered, pointing his blaster at the client's back over my lap.
That pit of dread in my stomach flared, and it's fire speared through my veins as I lunged into action, flipping the table over and grabbing Din and Cara to pull them to the ground as I screamed, "Get down!"
And in that moment, the large window above the bar exploded inwards, shattering into a million pieces as it was riddled with blaster bolts from the outside.
All four of us crouched behind the table as blaster hell rained down on us, dropping every single Imp and stormtrooper inside the cantina in seconds. And even after every white-armored body dropped, bolts still continued to blast through the broken window.
"Fuck!" Cara shouted over the din of the blasters as she ducked farther behind the table, covering her head with her arms. "Who the fuck is shooting at us?!"
I sucked in a sharp breath as the table lurched from a direct hit. "I have an idea," I said quietly, barely loud enough for anyone to hear, especially over the commotion of the blaster bolts. But Din snapped his visor directly at me.
"Who?" He asked sharply, but the silence that fell after the cease fire drew both of our attentions away from each other.
Din ripped the cylindrical commlink out of his pocket. "Kuiil!" He whispered-shouted, "Are you back to the ship yet?!"
After half a second of silence, Kuiil's voice crackled over the commlink, "Not yet."
"Get back to the ship and bail!" Din hissed, and my heart sank into my stomach. "We're pinned down!"
My blood turned to ice in my veins when a cocky, pretentious voiced called from beyond the window, "You have some things that I want."
Shit shit shit shit shit shit—
"Who the fuck is that?" Cara asked us harshly.
I opened my mouth to say his name, but the words stuck in my throat.
"You may think you have some idea of what you are in possession of," The voice continued, and my chest squeezed so tight it was almost impossible to breath, "But you do not."
"Kuiil!" Din hissed again into the commlink, but only static echoed back. "Kuiil, do you copy? Kuiil!—"
Nothing.
This was not good.
Din continued to whisper-shout into the commlink, but the Ugnaught never replied. Letting out a string of quiet curses, Din shoved the commlink back into his pocket as he reached for my rifle blaster, holding it before me as he said, "You're gonna need this."
I quickly snatched it out of his hands, immediately flicking the safety off as Gideon called through the window, "Soon, they will me mine."
Fuck, he was talking about me. I just prayed Kuiil and the child had safely made it to the ship and were long gone by now.
I closed my eyes for a split second, taking in a shaky breath to help calm my racing nerves. If Kuiil really was gone, that meant we were stranded. No way off the planet, and the only way we were going to survive was by killing that motherfucking prick standing just beyond the window, and most likely the entire platoon of stormtroopers he had with him.
The odds were severely stacked against us.
But we had overcome unfavorable odds before.
I just hoped against hope we could do it again.
Just one last time.
Gideon chuckled, and I could practically hear the smirk on his face as he said, "They mean more to me than you will ever know."
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Word count: 1906
Sorry for the short chapter, but here is when the fun starts!! We are finally getting to the really good stuff, and I cannot wait for you guys to read it!!
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Ch 40 published: February 19th, 2021