The first thing that registered in Rael's mind as she opened her eyes was the familiar ache that came from being stunned. The girl was blinking harshly, trying to rid her eyes of the blurriness, when she heard a voice hiss, "Zero, where is he?". Rael pushed herself up so she was sitting with her back against a wall. She saw the purple twi'lek, Xi'an. "Dank ferrik. What level was his stun set to?", Rael groaned as she tried to get to her feet but failed.
Xi'an whipped around, just now noticing her captive had woken up. "Probably enough to stun Burg, if I had to guess." Xi'an answered, eyeing the girl carefully. "What happened? Where's the rest of your moof-milkers?" Rael questioned as she scanned their surroundings. They were alone in one of the transport ship's hallways and the only lighting came from the red flashing lights that had been triggered by the distress signal.
"Mando got out..." The twi'lek growled as she decided the girl was too drained to be a threat and turned her attention back to watching to end of the hallway closest to them. Rael let out a huff of laughter and quipped, "Wow. That really sucks for you guys, huh?". Xi'an ignored her and said, "I wouldn't get too excited, darling. You might think your partners but he's not coming back for you. Mando does anything to collect a bounty. Even if it means betraying his crew. Just look at what happened to my brother..."
Rael pushed away the doubt Xi'an was trying to plant in her thoughts as she was finally able to get to her feet but had to lean against the wall for support. "He's not going to do that." She said confidently. The twi'lek looked at the girl and scoffed, "Shows how well you truly know him, girl. He is a bounty hunter! He cares for nothing but credits."
A flash of movement over Xi'an shoulder caught the girl's eye. Mando was stalking towards them in the flashing light, not making a sound. "People change." Rael replied with a smile. The twi'lek realized what she was smiling at and whirled around as she loosed a flurry of daggers at Mando. He dodged all but one that lodged itself between the gap in his armor at his shoulder. But it didn't stop him from knocking Xi'an last dagger from her hand and holding his own blade to her throat. "It's over." He said lowly before knocking her out with the hilt of the blade.
"Welcome back to the party." Rael said tiredly as she pushed off from the wall and stumbled forward to where Mando was binding Xi'an's wrists to an air vent. "Are you alright?", he asked, standing up and quickly moving to her side. "I feel like I was hit by a speeder, but other than that I'm great." She said humorlessly as Mando pulled one of her arms over his shoulder to support some of the girl's weight. "We've gotta move fast. Burg and Mayfeld are dealt with. It's just Zero and Qin."
Mando practically carried the girl all the way back to the entry point, where they saw Qin beginning to climb up the ladder. "Qin." Mando called as he let Rael's arm go and she leaned against the wall holding one of Mando's blasters. The male twi'lek sighed as he cast a glance at Mando and said, "You killed the others." The Mandalorian shrugged his shoulders as he said, "They got what they deserved."
Qin huffed and turned to face them with a blaster. Rael and Mando both raised their own blasters. "You kill me, you don't get your money. Whatever Ran promised, I'll make sure you get it, and more. Come on, Mando. Be reasonable, huh? Looks like you getting soft anyways. You went back for the girl. Anyways, you were hired to do a job, right? So, do it. Isn't that your code? Aren't you a man of honor?" Qin chuckled as he put his blaster down slowly and held out his arms for cuffs to be put on.
After placing the cuffs on Qin, Mando had Rael climb up first to make sure she wasn't going to keel over and that someone was up there for when the twi'lek climbed up. But as she entered the ship, she saw the droid, Zero, standing in front of the child's open compartment and aiming a blaster rifle inside. Without hesitating, the Jedi summoned the spare blaster from its holster and fired a single bolt at the droid's head.
Zero's body froze and dropped to the ground with a loud bang, just as Qin and Mando climbed into the ship. Mando let out an inaudible sigh of relief as he watched Rael kneel in front of the uninjured child before pushing Qin up the ladder and into the cockpit. The child cooed and reached out an arm towards Rael and she hear a quiet voice drift into her mind... 'Hurt?', it asked. This reminded the girl of the few cuts she had received. "Nothing serious, little one." She reassured him and gave the kid a slight pat on the cheek.
~~~~~
The next thing Rael knew was the ship creaked and groaned as it landed in Ran's space output. "You weren't supposed to let me fall asleep!", She half-heartedly scolded the child who only cooed happily at her. Mando and Qin appeared from the cockpit as she rolled off the cot and straighten her face covering. "This is gonna be quick. Stay on the ship." Mando mumbled only loud enough for her to hear before opening up the ship's ramp and removing Qin's cuffs
Ran walked up and smiled when he saw Qin. The two looked at one another for a moment before they laughed and hugged. Mando walked to the end of the ramp as Rael stayed at the top and leaned against the ship's wall, watching closely. "Where are the others?", Ran asked as he glanced at Rael the back to the Mandalorian. "No questions asked. That's the policy, right?", Mando replied calmly. "Yep... that is the policy." Ran sighed with a smile.
"We did the job." Mando told him. "Yeah, you did." Ran said with a wink at Rael before tossing Mando two pouches of credits. "Just like the good old days." Mando said sarcastically. "Yeah, just like the good old days." Ran chuckled and nodded. Mando only stared at him for another second before turning and heading back up the ramp. "Time to go." He said lowly and pulled the lever to raise the ramp again.
"Something doesn't feel right, Mando...", Rael said worriedly as a sinking feeling pulled at her stomach and a piercing ringing grew in her ears. Mando didn't reply, but started the ship up and pulled out of the landing bay. The Jedi closed her eyes and reached out to the force to try and find the root of the feeling she had.
'Kill him', a distant voice said and she heard a cackle. The girl's eyes snapped open as she ran to look at one of the windows in the cargo bay. She saw a strike droid being raised onto the platform of the landing bay they had just been in. "They're going to fire on us!!" She shouted as she ran to the cockpit's ladder and scurried up it. Mando didn't seem the least bit worried as he continued to fly as if they weren't about to explode.
"Mando!!" She cried and shook his chair. "You have very little faith in me, Rae.", He chuckled, just as three x-wings came out of hyperspace and zoomed past them. The girl's eyes winded as she realized what he had done. "You knew that they'd double-cross you." She said impressed as they watched the x-wings. "There's too much history with Ran. I screwed him over one too many times for him jot just let me go without getting any retribution." He explained as the fighters opened fire on the outpost.
~~~~~
After they had flown a good distance from the outpost, Mando put the ship on autopilot as they went to clean up their wounds. He had gone to the bed compartment to clean his stab wound in private, leaving Rael to use a small shiny metal crate as a mirror to clean her wounds. She had pulled up a larger crate to sit in front of the work table she had set up her makeshift mirror. The child sat on the table with a few pieces of torn gauze as she pulled her hair back to see the wounds more clearly.
"Ouch...", she hissed, "... that harpy really got me good". The child cooed and held out a piece of gauze. "Thanks, cutie." She said with a wink and took the gauze and held it to the still bleeding gash on her neck. With her other hand, she rummaged through the bin of medical supplies the Mandalorian had set out. She saw a can of bacta spray but decided she should actually clean the wound first.
She drenched a new piece of gauze with water from a canteen and cleaned the dried blood from her ear and neck as best as she could, now that the wound and stopped bleeding. Once she was satisfied with her work, she pulled out the disinfectant spray and aimed it at her ear, but hesitated. Rael knew that it was going to burn like a lightsaber against her flesh. The child cooed at her with a curious look as she was frozen in place. "I-I've never really had to clean my wounds on my own... I've always had my fri- my family with me..." He told the kid quietly as she lowered her arm to rest in her lap as she stared at the can.
Rael hadn't realized the tears pricking in her eyes until she heard the bed compartment door slide open. She quickly sat up straight and blinked the homesick tears away. "All good?", Rael asked as she took the lid off the disinfectant. "Yep. You?", he asked as he threw away the bloodied gauze and came over to her. "Almost." She sighed, bracing herself for the burning, and raised the can to her ear.
"Stop. You've still got blood all down your neck." He sighed and picked up a clean piece of gauze. The child let out an indignant huff as he held out the pieces he had already prepared. "He's really proud of it. I'd use one of his if I were you." She said with a smile. Mando only shook his head but obliged, making the child giggle happily. "Hold your hair back.", He told her as he wet the gauze.
Rael flinched at the cold gauze and not-so-gentle touch of the Mandalorian but relaxed after a few seconds. It was silent at first, as he cleaned the dried blood, but Mando broke the silence and asked, "Is Luke Skywalker the Master Luke you mentioned back there?". The young Jedi had almost forgotten what had happened in the transport ship's control room up until then. "Uh, yes. That's the same Luke." She said quietly, thinking back to Davin's last moments.
"Why do you call him Master?" He asked hesitantly. "It's kind of a Jedi custom. The padawans, um the younger Jedi who were still training, would call their mentors or teachers Master. It's a kind of title." She tried to explain. "So you're a pada...one?" He asked, trying to sound out the new word. This brought a small smile to the girl's face. "Well, I suppose I haven't been one for a while, but Luke, he's much wiser and just an all-around better Jedi than I am. I suppose I still call him Master because I still have things to learn from him... And it annoys him." She replied with a chuckle.
"Blood's all gone. Ready for the disinfectant?" He asked as he threw out the used gauze. "I guess..." She grumbled and squeezed her hands into fists as her eyes squinted shut. "You look like you're waiting for me to knock you over the head with a rock." He quipped. Rael rolled her eyes, but kept them closed, "Just get it over with, please." Without warning, Mando sprayed a liberal amount over both the gashes on her ear and neck. "There." He said, as he put the lid back on. "Holy bantha!!! That hurts!" She hissed as she banged her fists on the table and her eyes watered.
Mando watched her as he leaned against the work table. "How did you help lead the Resistance with this low of a pain threshold? I mean you had to have gotten worse injuries in battles?" He let out a small chuckle. "I find it concerning you only ever find my suffering worthy of a laugh." She said seriously with a red face. This made Mando laugh even more before having the can of disinfectant hurled at him. "Buckethead", Rael said annoyedly after the man caught it perfectly.
The Mandalorian only shook his head at her childish antics and placed the can back in the med kit before pulling out a pack of bandages. "Thank you for coming back for me.", Rael spoke up as the man unrolled a bandage strip. "Surprised bounty hunter scum like me did something selfless?", he grumbled and placed a clean piece of gauze over her neck wound. The girl's brows furrowed as she stared into his visor. "You've changed. No matter what those bastards said or tried to make you relive. I mean, you could've turned me and the kid in a hundred times by now. Would bounty hunter scum do that?". She questioned with a gentle look.
At her words, his actions faltered for a moment before he finished dressing her wound. "No, I guess not." He replied lowly and threw away the rest of the used supplies. "No, they wouldn't. Whether you like it or not, Mando, you've got two friends who will do the same for you. Well, more like the kid will help me, but it's the thought that counts right? Now, c'mon. I want my subspace com link!" Rael said happily and scooped up the child before climbing up into the cockpit.
Mando watched her and the child disappear up the ladder. Only when he was alone, did he realize he had been truly smiling for the first time in a long time...