Needless to say, Rael was not in a great mood as she leaned against the wall next to the cockpit ladder, watching their new... companions. Burg was being nosy and pressing a bunch of buttons on a control panel. Thankfully, he only opened Mando's armory and not the bed compartment. Suddenly, the doors swung shut, and Rael turned to see the Mandalorian. Burg growled at him and advanced like he was going to attack.
"Hey, hey. 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." Mayfeld said before any punches could be thrown. The two backed away from one another and Mando came to stand by Rael. "Someone tell me why we even need a Mandalorian... and his thing." Burg sneered, making Rael bristle.
"Well, apparently they're the greatest warriors in the galaxy. So they say. Personally, my money would be on a Jedi." Mayfeld said lightly. "Then why are they all dead?" Burg asked quipped, earning a laugh from the others. "Well, you flew with him Xi'an. Is he as good as they say?" Mayfeld asked. The twi'lek continued to balance her dagger on her fingertips as she said, "Ask him about the job on Alzoc III."
Rael kept her gaze on the wall in front of her as Mando said, "I did what I had to." Xi'an giggled and added, "Oh, but you liked it. See, I know who you really are." Mando stared at the woman and ignored the quick glance Rael sent his way. "He never takes off the helmet?" Mayfeld asked, with arched brows. Xi'an grinned and shook her head before mockingly saying, "This is the Way."
Mayfeld studied Mando with a odd smile. "Huh, I wonder what you look like under there. Maybe he's a gungan. Is that why yousa don't wanna show your face?" The ex-imperial joked earning a loud laugh from Burg. He turned to Xi'an and asked, "You ever seen his face?". The twi'lek gasped and feigned innocence as she replied, "A lady never tells."
Mayfeld glanced at Rael and said, "I bet she's seen him. What's he look like doll?". Xi'an snapped her fiery eyes to Rael and stared the younger girl down, daring her to answer. "It Korie. Not doll. And as she said, a lady never tells." Rael replied, meeting Xi'an's gaze. "Aw, come on, Mando. We all gotta trust each other there. Why don't you show us what you're hiding under that bucket." Mayfeld continued as he stood up and slowly approached the two.
"C'mon. Just a peak. Let us see your eyes. At least we can see Korie's." He pressed as Burg inched closer. Rael's heart started to beat faster as the two closed in on them. Mando took a barely noticeable step closer to the girl as he stared Burg and Mayfeld down, daring them to try. The girl noticed the sharpshooter send burg a small nod before the Devaronian male lunged at Mando.
The Mandalorian easily dodged Burg and slammed him against the wall. Unfortunately, Burg hit a control panel, and the bed compartment's door slid open. The kid stared up at all of them and cooed. "Dank farrik...", Rael muttered. "Whoa! What is that? Wait a minute. Did you two make that?". Mayfeld exclaimed and looked between Rael and Mando.
The girl scoffed and sent the man a cold glare. "Ok, ok. Is it like a pet?" he tried again. "Yea, something like that." Mando grumbled. "Huh, didn't take you as the type. Maybe that code of yours has made you soft." Xi'an mused as she came to take a closer look.
"I was never great with pets. Patience ya' know. But I'm thinking, maybe I'll try again with this little fella." Mayfeld said as he picked up the kid. Rael watched the man carefully, ready to act if needed. Mayfeld acted as if he was going to drop the kid and both Mando and Rael moved to catch him, making the others snicker.
Suddenly, Zero's voice sounded over the intercom, "Exiting hyperspace... Now." The whole ship lurched and everyone lost their balance. Rael sighed in relief as she saw Mando catch the kid before he hit the ground. "Commencing final approach, now." Zero said. "Cloaking signal, now." The droid announced and the ship did a violent turn before locking onto the transport.
"Coupling confirmed. We are down. Commence extraction, now." The droid announced as Mando quickly placed the kid back on the cot and closed the door. "Useless droid didn't even give us a proper countdown." Xi'an snarled. "Didn't think I would find myself agreeing with you on anything." Rael mused as she checked her blasters were fully charged. Xi'an sent her a smirk as she pocketed her dagger.
"Z, you sure they can't see us?" Mayfeld called. "The Razor Crest is scrambling our signature and I am inside the prison system. It's impressive that this gunship survived the Empire without being impounded." The droid replied. "All right, we got a job to do." Mayfeld ordered. Mando opened the small hatch in the floor to show a locked opening to the transport ship. As he worked on getting it open, Rael eyed the quiet conversation Xi'an and Mayfeld seemed to be having.
A moment later, the sound of air hissing brought their attention back to the now open entrance. "Is it me?" Mayfeld asked. "It's always you." Burg replied before the ex-imperial jumped into the transport ship. Xi'an went next, followed by Burg. When it was just the two of them left, Rael pulled her scarf from her mouth. "I can't do this! This is the New Republic! I helped build this. What if someone I know is on this ship. What then!?" She hissed. "You heard Xi'an. It's run by droids. Now, go." He growled. "There's random man-controlled transports to discourage breakouts like this! Did your twi'lek inform you of that?" she snapped before pulling her scarf back up and slipping through the hatch.
Mando landed behind her and whispered something but she was too angry and wasn't listening. "All right. We're on the clock. When we engage those droids, they're gonna be all over us." Mayfeld told the group. "I know the drill." Mando huffed. "Bio trackers activated. I've got eyes." Zero announced in the com links. "Okay. Let's go." Mayfeld order and began to carefully, but quickly, move down the hallway.
Rael hesitated before pulling one of her blasters from its holster and following. They passed cells filled with different prisoners that were being transported. "I don't like this." Mando said. "You always were paranoid." Xi'an sighed. "Is that true, Mando? Were you always paranoid?" Mayfeld quipped but was cut off when a prisoner snarled at him and banged against the cell door, making him cry out.
"Approaching control room. Make a left at the next juncture." Zero informed them. The group came to a sudden halt and headed their weapons when a little droid rolled out in front of them. "What? It's just a little mousey." Burg grunted and tried to coax the droid towards him. When it started to zoom away, the male snarled and shot the droid.
"No! Burg, what are you doing?" Mayfield snapped. "Intruder alert! Open fire!" A robotic voice called as security droids rounded the corner. Rael dove behind the hallway corner they had just came out of and started to fire at the droids. "Sorry, Leia. Take it out of my allowance." The girl mumbled to herself. "We're too exposed here!" Xi'an shouted, but Rael was distracted as Mando slinked past her and motioned for her to stay put. "Wha-", she began to say but he was gone.
"C'mon Mando, you're supposed to be something special- wait! where did he go! Korie! Where's your bucket-head of a partner!" Mayfeld shouted when he noticed the man's disappearance. "He's there..." She nodded towards the droids, and they turned to see Mando charging them from behind. In less than 30 seconds, the Mandalorian had taken out 7 state-of-the-art security droids like they were nothing.
The others were clearly trying to hide how impressed they were as they walked past him. "Don't forget to clean up your mess." Mayfeld said with a smirk and Burg rammed Mando's shoulder. Rael only stared at him in amazement for a second before hurrying after then with Mando close behind her. "It seems your presence has been detected. Redirecting security alert away from your position." Zero's garbled voice said.
"Z, open the door!" Mayfield ordered once they reached the control room. "But I'm detecting an organic signature." Zero said. "Yeah, okay, alright. Just open the door!" The man snapped. Before Rael could process the detection of an organic signature, the door slid open to show a single New Replica soldier sitting at the control panel.
The man jumped up and drew his blaster. "Stop!" he ordered. Rael's blood ran cold as she saw the terrified man holding his ground. "You put down your blasters right there." The man said. Mayfeld smirked at him and said, "Nice shoes." The soldier kept his blaster aimed at Burg as Mayfeld circled him. "Just put down your blasters." The man said shakily. "Matches his belt." the sharpshooter added, and burg chuckled.
Soon enough, Burg, Mayfeld, Mando, and Xi'an had the man surrounded while Rael stayed standing a bit behind the Mandalorian. "There we're only supposed to be droids on this ship." Mando said. "Uh let's see... cell 2-2-1." Mayfeld called as he looked at the security cameras. "Now, for our well dressed friend here." The man continued and drew a blaster as he turned to the soldier.
Suddenly, the soldier pulled a small remote from his pocket. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey. Easy, egghead. Put that down. Come on." Mayfeld demanded. "Easy. Nobody has to get hurt here. Just calm down." Mando spoke up and stepped forward. "If he presses that button, we're done for. A new Republic attack team will hone in on that signal and blow us all to hell. Put it down!" Mayfeld shouted.
"Are you serious?" Xi'an snapped. "Yes, I'm serious." Mayfeld retorted. "You didn't think we need to know that tiny little detail?" Xi'an growled. "I didn't think we'd get to this point!" Mayfeld said angrily. "Hey, hey, listen to me, okay? Look." Rael said gently as she stepped out from behind Mando and holstered her blaster. She glanced at Mayfeld and motioned for him to lower his blaster. "Are you crazy?" he hissed at her. "Put it down." She said firmly and the man slowly did so. She may or may not have used the force to help him take her words to heart...
"What's your name?", she asked him as she took another step forward. "I-it's Davan." He stuttered. "Davan, we're not here for you. We're here for a prisoner. If you let us go about our job, you can walk away with your life." Rael told him as she reached out through the Force to calm the man's nerves. "What? No, he won't" Mayfeld scoffed and pointed his blaster at Davan once more.
Davan gasped and aimed his own weapon at Mayfeld. Mando quickly pointed his blaster at Mayfeld and was met by the sharpshooter's second blaster. Mando snapped, "You realize what you're gonna bring down on us?". Mayfeld grinned and replied, "You think I care about that?". Rael felt Davan's nerves rising once more as Mando said, "We're not killing anybody."
"Get that blaster out of my face, Mando." Mayfeld growled. "Hey, don't listen to them. Listen to me. Just do as they say and you can walk away from this. Please, Davan..." Rael pleaded quietly. "Get that blaster out of my face!!" Mayfeld shouted and Burg snarled and aimed his two blasters at Rael. Mando activated his whistling birds and pointed his vambrace at Burg. "Ignore them, Davan. Please, just put it down." The girl continued to try and calm the man.
Before anything else could happen, something flew past Rael's ear, slighting cutting the skin, and lodged itself into Davan's throat. The man's eyes widened in pain as he locked eyes with the girl. The girl's heart stopped as the light left his eyes and fell to the ground... dead. Everyone was in shock as Xi'an sighed, "Would you all just shut up."
Mayfeld scoffed as he holstered his blasters. "Crazy Twi. I had it under control." The woman knelt down next to Davan's body and retrieved her dagger. "Yeah. Looked like it." She smirked as she stood up. Mayfeld looked down at the floor and his face paled. "Was that thing blinking before? Was it?!" He questioned but no one replied.
"Zero to Mayfeld. Zero to Mayfeld." The droid called through the com link. "What?" the man snapped. "I've detected a New Republic distress signal homing in on your location. You have approximately 20 minutes." Zero told them. "We only need five." Xi'an said happily and hurried out of the room. "Let's go! Move! Move it!" Mayfeld ordered as the others followed.
Rael stayed frozen as she stared at the pool of blood growing around Davan. "We need to move, Rae." Mando voice sounded behind her as he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her with him. "I could have stopped her. I should have stopped her. What will Master Luke say..." She said weakly as they hurried to catch up with the group. "Master? Wha- not now. Hurry up." Mando said as he picked up the pace.
The group came to a halt in front of cell 2-2-1 and Mayfeld called for Zero to open the door. "You have 15 minutes remaining." Zero replied. "Come on! Open it!" Mayfeld shouted into his com link. A second later, the cell door slid opened to show a purple male twi'lek. The prisoner looked up and grinned at them. "Qin." Mando said, not sounding too happy.
The twi'lek stood up and slowly approached him and said, "Funny, the man who left me behind is now my savior. Mando...". Before anything else could be said, Burg shoved Mando into the cell and the door starting to slid shut. "Mando!!" Rael shouted, beginning to lunge forward, but Xi'an wrapped an arm around her neck while roughly placing a dagger at her t. "Please, give me a reason to gut you." she hissed in her ear. The girl stared at the Mandalorian with wide eyes filled with fear.
Mando tried to fire a bolt at Xi'an but it ricochetted on the now closed cell door and Rael heard it hit his armor. "Brother!" Xi'an said happily as she grinned at the new twi'lek. "Sister! And who is this?" Qin asked, with a devilish grin. "My new toy." Xi'an told him with a smirk. Rael's heart was pounding as she tried to figure out what to do, but before she could decide, it was chosen for her.
"I don't care what ya do with her later, but right now, she's a liability." Mayfeld said as he fiddled with one of his blasters. "I can keep her in check." Xi'an giggled and dug the dagger into Rael exposed skin, causing blood to begin to trickle down her neck. "I've got a better idea." The sharpshooter said with a grin. "And what would that be?" The female twi'lek asked with an annoyed look. "This." Mayfield said with a cocky smirk before aiming his blaster at Rael and firing. The next thing the girl registered was her body falling to the ground and then nothing...