Ada didn't like Nevarro.
She'd been raised in a planet with a temperate climate that had allowed her to live comfortably, simply having to change into short sleeved shirts when the weather became too hot for her usual attire. Drastic changes in temperature were one of her pet peeves: she had hated the snowy lands and cold winds of Gigor, and she was now cursing to herself about the hot air surrounding Nevarro, that probably had its origin on the many volcanoes coating the surface of the planet.
Sweat dripped down her forehead as she took a bite of the strange looking pastry she had bought from a Twi'lek merchant, her blue eyes scanning her surroundings as she leaned against a wall. A group of Jawas was angrily discussing something a few feet ahead of her and, even if she couldn't understand a word, Ada had been entertained by them for a few minutes. However, her mind soon returned to the task at hand. It had taken her quite a while to find the Imperial facility she had heard about in Gigor, and she had to give it to whoever was in charge: they had picked a good spot to do their activities in, right under everyone's nose. It didn't help that the building was pretty much sealed shut, save for a door that only opened after a droid sentinel with a camera came out of a hole in the wall to investigate.
That door would never open for her, and Ada knew better than to try such a bold entrance.
Dusting her hands off on her pants, the blonde pushed herself away from the wall, quickly looking around to make sure no one was watching her. The streets were crowded that day, for some reason that Ada hadn't managed to figure out, but she was thankful for it, seeing as it would allow her to blend in with the crowd a lot more easily. Ada pulled the bandana around her neck until it covered her face, up to her nose, before she ducked into the street where the damned door she was determined to go past was located. There wasn't much she could do without alerting the stormtroopers inside and having every soldier in the building on her tail in seconds.
Footsteps echoed behind her, and Ada moved away from the door, her gaze instantly landing on the stranger coming in her direction. Her features became puzzled as she noticed the disruptor sniper rifle and the beskar armor the man wore, and she instantly recognized the typical Mandalorian design she had heard her uncle Jakob talk about so many times. Perhaps she had even snuck into his room to take a look at his old armor when she was twelve, but that didn't matter at the moment, not when the stranger came to a stop a few feet in front of her, leaving her stuck between him and the door. Ada's hand moved closer to the blaster at her hip as soon as she noticed the man's hand hovering above his own weapon as well, both individuals remaining in silence.
The slight movement of the Mandalorian's helmet told her what she needed to know, "You want to go in there too, don't you?" though no words came from the man, he shifted his head to look in her direction, and Ada could only assume she had gotten his attention, "I've been trying to figure out how to get in for the last few days. There's no way to go in without alerting anyone."
"So I'll alert them," the man replied, his voice much softer than Ada had expected.
The woman raised her eyebrows, "Well, if you're hoping to take them all out, you're gonna need help," she stated, putting her hands on her hips. The helmet moved as if the man underneath was silently evaluating her, and Ada supposed that was the case. Releasing a sigh, she looked to where she believed the man's eyes were, "Look, you don't have to trust me. I just want to get in to look at their database," she shrugged, "We help eachother get into the facility, you go do whatever it is you came here for, and I'll do my thing. We don't have to see eachother again, after that."
A few more seconds of silence ensued, before he nodded once, "Deal."
"What's the plan?"
The Mandalorian didn't say a word as he pushed past her, making his way straight to the door. Ada's eyes widened as she realized what he was about to do, and she reached out to hold back his arm, but she wasn't fast enough, a curse word leaving her lips as he knocked on the metal. Not a second later, the camera came out from its place on their right, noises leaving it as it looked around for the intruders. It landed briefly on a terrified Ada, before the man's hand was wrapped tightly around the base of the object, and he hastily pulled out the round camera, causing a few sparks to fall at their feet. Not looking back at her, the Mandalorian headed in the opposite direction, and Ada quickly rushed after him.
"Could have warned me," she muttered, quickening her pace when the door opened behind them.
She heard a stormtrooper giving instructions to someone else to check the perimeter, and she hoped that they hadn't seen her or the Mandalorian before they'd turned around the corner. As a safety measure, she pulled her blaster out of its holster, holding it tightly in her hand. They ended up in what the blonde assumed was the back of the building, and she glanced over her shoulder to check if they had been followed.
"Coast is clear," she said, after a few seconds.
"Good," the male said, as he placed a device that Ada recognized as a bomb on the wall, "Step back."
Blowing up a wall to get inside the facily wasn't exactly discreet, and being that bold make goosebumps appear on Ada's skin. It had become increasingly clear that the Mandalorian wasn't gonna listen to anything she advised, so the blonde held back her protests as she took a few steps back, shielding herself behind a nearby wall. The man followed after her and took shelter on her side, and Ada looked up at him as the bomb went off and the blast illuminated the street. She still could hardly believe she was standing next to a Mandalorian.
He lost no time in stepping out from behind cover, and Ada carefully held out her blaster in front of her as she followed him through the entrance they'd just created. There was no need for them to talk as they entered the building, the woman taking one side as he took the other. Smoke filled the whole area, making Ada's eyes burn, and she found herself thankful for the fact that she hadn't removed her bandana from her face. The Mandalorian had disappeared behind objects piled up on the opposite side of the room, and Ada ducked behind a pair of crates just as the door opened and a pair of stormtroopers walked in.
The woman held her breath as they walked past her hiding spot, flashlights illuminating the room in front of them as they approached the hole in the wall, through which they had entered the facility. Once they were past where she was crouching, Ada moved to the other side of the crates, her eyes catching movement as her current companion did the same. He gave her a nod, and Ada quickly realized what his intentions were, adjusting her blaster in her hands as she stood up and aimed it at the nearest trooper. Their shots came out in unisson, and both white cladded individuals fell to the ground.
Ada still had her blaster raised when the door opened behind them once again, a third trooper appearing in the doorway. Though he was wearing a helmet, it was clear that he had caught sight of her right away, and so the woman moved quickly as she aimed her weapon at him, a blaster bolt going through the gap between his chest armour and his helmet before he could even move. He was already dead when his body hit the ground, and Ada sighed in relief as she advanced towards him, wrapping her hands around his boots as she pulled the corpse into the room.
They didn't wait much longer before exiting the storage, finding themselves in a hallway. Ada was silent as she crept further down the corridor, her grip tight around her blaster as she looked for any sign of more troopers coming to take them out. However, silence was the only thing surrounding them, and the blonde peered around the nearest corner, noticing that there seemed to be no one else in that part of the facility. She was quick in finding a nearby open door, and she assumed that the troopers had left them like that when they'd gone to investigate the blast. The terminal that she had been looking was there, right in front of her, and she turned to the Mandalorian with a frown, though the male couldn't see it.
"That's my stop," she revealed, receiving a slight nod in response, "Good luck with whatever you've come here to do."
"You too," he replied, before he passed her and headed further down the corridor.
Ada waited a few more seconds behind the corner, pulling her hard drive from one of the many pockets in her pants, gripping it tightly in her gloved hand. Blaster shots already echoed from the direction the Mandalorian had disapparead into, and she took advantage of the noise to run to the server room, approaching the terminal instantly. Though the troopers had left it on when they'd left the room, it still requested a face scan when she tried to access the files, and she plugged in the hard drive before the machine had the time to start scanning her face. Heavy breaths left her lips as the terminal processed the information, and she barely believed what she was seeing when the screen flashed red, the words Access Denied appearing in bold letters in front of her.
"No," was the only word that left her lips, as she pulled out the device. She looked it over to make sure that she had brough the right one, though she was perfectly aware that that was the only hard drive she had in her possession. Her heart almost tore through her ribcage as she entered the object once more, the same result appearing in front of her. Her fingers moved on the keyboard as she tried to look at the files, regardless of the hard drive, but nothing showed up, and tears brimmed Ada's eyes.
After minutes of futile attempts, Ada's features twisted in rage as she pulled the hard drive out of the terminal, making a mental note to ask Sovinn why it had stopped working, as soon as she could get in contact with him. She glanced at the screen once more, her fists clenched as she stopped herself from punching it, before she turned her back on the terminal and headed back to hellish heat of Nevarro.
* . °•★|•°∵ ∵°•|☆•° . *
For the first time since she'd left Ibaar, Ada felt lost. Her failed mission had given her no results, no hints of where her family was, and not even a location to keep searching for information. With her hands shoved deep into her pockets, she made her way to where she had left her starfighter, just outside the city. Reaching out to Sovinn to figure out why the hard drive didn't work was the obvious step foward, seeing as he often dealt with technology of the sort. If there was a way to fix it, he would know how to do it.
Her skin was slick with sweat from the moment she'd walked outside, and the blonde had pulled the bandana covering her face down as soon as she was a decent distance away from the facility. The streets were quiet, lacking the chattering merchants that invaded them during the day, something that Ada was thankful for, seeing as she wanted nothing more than to leave that forsaken planet behind. Everything had started to go wrong when she'd landed on Nevarro, and there was no way anyone would ever catch her there again. The sound of beeps coming from several directions brought the woman out of her thoughts, and she furrowed her eyebrows at the sight of several individuals pouring out of the shadows, some of them carrying weapons in her hands.
Ada's fingers moved to her own blaster as she looked around to what could be causing what would most likely be a conflict, her eyes soon landing on the Mandalorian she'd entered the Imperial facility with. He was several feet in front of her, but there was no mistaking the beskar armor. When he realized he was surrounded on all sides, he simply stopped, and Ada looked for a place to hide, crouching behind a merchant's cart that seemed abandoned.
"Welcome back, Mando!" a voice echoed, and Ada furrowed her eyebrows at the nickname. She kept herself concealed between the cart and the wall as she moved closer to where the Mandalorian was, her gaze locked on the man who was speaking, "Now, put the package down."
"Step aside," the Mandalorian didn't seem fazed, "I'm going to my ship."
The other man chuckled, "You put the bounty down, and perhaps I'll let you pass."
Ada found cover behind a speeder parked to the right of the Mandalorian, from where she could see the action perfectly. None of the other individuals present, that she now assumed were bounty hunters, seemed to notice her as she peered over the edge of the vehicle, carefully pulling the bandana back over her face.
The Mandalorian curled his fingers, before discreetly bringing them closer to the blaster on his holster, "The kid's coming with me."
"If you truly care about the kid, then you put it on the speeder, and we'll discuss terms," was the response he got.
The Mandalorian's eyes moved to the vehicle for a few seconds, Ada being unsure if he had seen her spying from the other side, before he faced the dark skinned man, "How do I know I can trust you?"
"Because I'm your only hope."
Under the watchful eye of the dozens of bounty hunters, the Mandalorian began making his way to the speeder. With the attention of the individuals now turned to the vehicle, Ada crouched until she was hidden behind one of the crates inside of the vehicle, her hand grasping her weapon tightly. She didn't have to be a genius to know what was going on: the Mandalorian had taken this child from the facility, and the bounty hunters had immediately been sent to get it back. Perhaps she shouldn't care about it but, as soon as she'd heard that there was a kid in the picture, Ada had found herself unable to move.
The child wouldn't be delivered to the remains of the Empire again, not if she could help it.
It wasn't long before the Mandalorian's helmet was visible to her, his eyes seeming to land right on her. The woman gave him a nod, showcasing that she was willing to fight with him one more time, and he moved his head to look at the bundle in his arms. Ada glanced briefly at it, but the child remained concealed by the blanket and, when the man faced her once again, he offered her a small nod back. Ada didn't wait much longer before leaping into the speeder, as the Mandalorian shot his blaster at one of the hunters, before he too jumped into the vehicle. Blaster fire echoed around them as they hid behind the supplies already in the speeder, and Ada looked over her shoulder at the droid piloting it.
"Drive!" she ordered, vaguely hearing the droid's protests as she shot at the crowd that had formed around them, "Well, shit!"
The Mandalorian turned, his blaster aimed at the droid, "Drive!"
The beeps leaving the droid sounded less reluctant, and the speeder moved towards the exit of the town. The bundle containing the child was still enveloped in the Mandalorian's arm, between them, and Ada moved her body to shield it as she fired at the people coming in their pursuit. A loud boom coming from just outside the city limits attracted Ada's gaze to where it had come from, and her eyes widened at the sight of her starfighter going up in flames. Her gaze drifted to a man with a rocket launcher on a nearby roof, now aiming at a bigger ship that she assumed belonged to the Mandalorian, and she turned to shoot at him.
"That was my ship, you... you nerfherder!" she yelled, at the same time the blaster bolt struck the man, causing him to fall from the roof he was standing on.
"Focus!" the Mandalorian spoke, briefly turning his head to look at her, before he turned back to the gunfight.
"I am!" she retorted, pausing to bring down a trio of individuals getting dangerously close to them. The crate behind her was perfurated by a blaster bolt, and she released a squeal, ducking out of the way just before a second shot could pierce her shoulder, "That guy was going to blow up your ship!"
The speeder suddenly came to a stop, sparks falling on them as the droid was hit. Crates and barrels fell on them when the movement suddenly ceased, and Ada leaned over the child to protect it from any objects that could fall on it. For the first time, her eyes landed on the portion of the small creature's face that was visible. Big dark eyes looked up at her, surrounded by green skin, and she furrowed her eyebrows as she wondered what species it could be. The Mandalorian shifted next to her, and the blonde watched silently as he grabbed the weapon he had been carrying on his back. Ada hadn't known what to expect, but it certainly wasn't for the victim of the shot to fully disintigrate.
A few more bounty hunters were struck, leaving no trace of their existance behind, before they finally decided to take cover.
"That's one impressive weapon!" the voice belonging to the man from before echoed, once more.
The Mandalorian looked back at her, before focusing on the street once more, "Here's what we're gonna do," he began, "We're gonna walk to my ship with the kid, and you're gonna let it happen."
Ada didn't have time to process that the man was willing to bring her along, for steps began to approach the speeder from all sides. She took a position that would allow her to attack any opponents while still shielding the child, as the same man spoke, "No. How about this? We take the kid, and if any of you try to stop us, we kill you and we strip your bodies for parts."
The next thing Ada heard was a crash, and she turned her head to see a bounty hunter sporting some kind of mask, stumbling black as one of the barrels that had been aboard the speeder collided with his stomach. Using his sniper rifle, that Ada was slowly realizing possessed many uses, the Mandalorian shocked him, a whimper leaving the man's lips as he collapsed. Another hunter standing nearby took aim at her companion, but the blonde quickly took care of it, sending him down with a shot right between his eyes.
Gunfire surrounded them once more, and the Mandalorian tried to bring down several opponents at once with a contraption that shot a blast of fire to the area in front of them. As impressive as it was, it didn't have much range, and it soon stopped working, and Ada realized that they were trapped. Exhaling through her nose, she closed her eyes as she slid down the crate she had been sitting against. She'd never thought she'd die on Nevarro, with a Mandalorian and a green skinned child.
Just as she accepted the fact that she probably wouldn't leave damn Nevarro alive, shouts came from the bounty hunters, and the blonde opened her eyes to see one of them fall from another roof. The Mandalorian looked to the sky, and Ada followed his gaze, her jaw dropping at the sight of even more Mandalorians coming to their defense. Everything about them was majestic, from their armors to the way they flew around with their jetpacks, and mostly the way that they efortlessly dodged the blaster fire aimed at them.
She was still starstruck when a bulkier Mandalorian with what looked like a machine gun descended from the night sky, landing right next to the speeder and briefly turning to them, "Get out of here! We'll hold them off."
"You're going to have to relocate the covert," the Mandalorian replied, as Ada finally took out a few more opponents.
The other simply looked at him, "This is the Way."
"This is the Way."
The Mandalorian gathered the child in his arms, looking up at her, and Ada gave him a nod before moving forwards. She gave him cover as he jumped out of the speeder and started running towards his ship, letting him get some distance from the crowd, before she too leaped from the vehicle, one of the armored warriors coming to shield her escape as well. The blonde thanked him before she darted after the Mandalorian, catching up to him on the ramp that led to the inside of the ship. None of them said a word as they walked further into the spacecraft, a sense of security washing over them. At least, that was how Ada felt, before a hand gripped her upper arm and the barrel of a gun was pressed against her temple.
"Hold it, Mando," it was the same man from before, unsurprisingly, "I didn't want it to come to this. But then you broke the Code."
The Mandalorian looked at him, not saying a word as his head turned briefly to the wall next to him. Ada was puzzled by this, not knowing what he intended to do, her heart hammering against her chest as the man behind her gripped her arm even tighter. She'd started wondering if the Mandalorian was looking for a way to get them both off of his ship when, in a flash, he shot his grappling hook into a pipe on the wall, filling the area with fumes. The blonde soon realized what the plan was, and she lost no time in kicking the man's leg, the blaster moving away from her temple and allowing her to move out of the way, just as a blast hit him square in the chest and sent him flying out of the ship.
Deep breaths escaped Ada's lips as the mist began to dissipate, after a few seconds, and she looked up at the Mandalorian to see him looking in her direction. Gunfire still echoed outside as she sat on top of one of the crates, giving her new companion a nod, "Thanks. Good fight."
He didn't reply, turning his back on her and making his way up to the cockpit with the child still in his grip. Once she was alone, she leaned her head back against the wall and pulled down her bandana, wiping the sweat from her skin.
What the hell was she supposed to do, now?
* . °•★|•°∵ ∵°•|☆•° . *
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Not me updating three of my books in a single week omg did I find the secret of productivity-
Anyways,, if you got to the end of this chapter, congratulations! It's the longest chapter I've written in a while and it lowkey got on my nerves but I do like and it is here!
Ada and Mando have finally met and she's been roped into the plot of the series, and I'm excited about it! I've said in the last author's note that Ada isn't around Mando during the whole season, but she's gonna be for a little bit. I feel like they're being very awkward around eachother this chapter, but hey, they're literally two people who don't trust anyone being stuck together under less than pleasing circumstances, you know?
There isn't much else to say tbh, I just hope you enjoyed and please give me some feedback, I'd appreciate it!
See you next time!