I almost gasped as I was woken up with a start. My body jolted slightly. I snapped my eyes open and looked around. I let out a sigh when I remembered what was going on and that I wasn't in any danger. The wagon that they had been riding in all night had finally come to a stop. I was startled again when I noticed my head was leaning up against silver beskar.
At some point during the night my head had lulled to the side and landed on Mando's shoulder. I don't know how long I've been laying like this, but Mando hadn't moved an inch, trying his hardest not to wake me up.
I quickly moved my head from off of his shoulder. I glanced over at him and saw him roll his shoulder slightly. My suspicions of him not moving were definitely confirmed.
"Sorry." I muttered quietly to him as I rolled my stiff neck to the side.
"Don't worry about it." He replied just as quietly.
I then looked out of the wagon. They had stopped at a clearing in the woods that held a village. It seemed like a nice place. It was small and quiet, but that's exactly what they need right now.
"Everyone, they're here!" A kid called
The kids of the village all ran towards us in excitement. They stopped at the side of the wagon and looked at the child who was staring up at them.
"Well, looks like they're happy to see us." Mando said
"Looks like." Cara Said
"He's so cute." One of the kids said, they were crowded around the kid. The child seemed to be amused and happy with the attention he was getting, he began to babble at them.
"Aw!" One of the kids said
Mando, Cara and I stood up from the wagon and hopped off. The villagers began to crowd around the wagon and collect their things, helping them to unpack.
Mando and I were greeted by one of the villagers. They told us where we were going to be staying for the time being. I felt grateful that they were going to give us a place to stay, but apparently not as grateful as them. They really needed our help.
After a short walk through the village. Mando and I stood awkwardly at the entrance to a large barn. A woman stood in the room, opening the blinds to let light into the hut.
She was tying a rope to a pole when she glanced over and noticed us. "Please come in." She said
Mando nodded and made his way into the hut, he had to duck underneath the doorway.
I slowly walked in after him, taking a look around the decent sized house the people were letting us stay in. It was bigger than the crest and some Inns we have stayed in.
"I hope this is comfortable for you. Sorry that all we have is the barn." The woman said
"This will do fine." Mando replied
"Yeah, it's good. Thank you." I said
"I stacked some blankets over here." She said, gesturing to the corner of the room
"Thank you. That's very kind." Mando replied gratefully
He took a seat but then tensed. He spun around quickly with his blaster raised. I flinched and reached for my blaster before I looked at the door and noticed a young girl. The young girl who was at the door went to run away. She was understandably scared.
The woman walked over to the door and gestured for the girl to come stand at the entrance. She placed her arm around her.
"This is my daughter, Winta." She said, the young girl wrapped her arms around her mothers waist. "We don't get a lot of visitors around here. She's not used to strangers. This nice man and lady are going to help protect us from the bad ones." She said to Winta
"Thank you." Winta said to them
I smiled at her and Mando nodded his head.
"Come on, Winta. Let's give our guests some room." She gestured for her daughter to leave the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mando and I had spent most of the day preparing. We were going to go out into the woods to look for the raiders along with Cara Dune.
"I'm not sure about this..." Mando said hesitantly.
"About what?" I asked while I struggled to pull my holster up my legs to my waist.
"About you going. It will be dangerous and you're in no state to be fighting." Mando said
"And what? Leave you and Cara to go alone. I'll be fine, trust me. I won't do any hand to hand combat ok? Besides, we're just checking out their camp." I said, sighing as I finally clipped my holster on.
"Fine..." before he could say anything else, our conversation was interrupted.
"Knock knock." Omera said from outside
"Come in." Mando said
Omera walked Into the hut with a tray of food for Mando. her daughter, Winta, was trailing behind her nervously.
Winta stood next to her mother and glanced up at her, Omera smiled down at her and nodded in encouragement.
"Can I Feed him?" Winta asked, referring to the child.
"Sure." Mando said
Winta crouched down beside the cot that the child was sitting in. "Are you hungry?" She asked. She laughed joyfully as the child took the food that she was offering.
"Can I Play with him?" Winta asked
Mando sighed. "Sure." He walked over to the cot and picked up the child, placing him on the ground.
"Come on." Winta said, she ran outside and the child began to follow after her.
Mando lurched forward. "I don't think-" I willed myself to stay put, I know that we are probably safe here, but the child was still in a lot of danger.
Omera put her hand out and stopped him. "They'll be fine."
Mando backed off and stood a foot away from her. "I brought you some food. I noticed you didn't eat out there. I'll leave it here for when I go." She said, smiling at him.
I shuffled on my feet slightly, an unfamiliar feeling creeping up my chest.
"That's very thoughtful of you." Mando said
Mando walked over to the other side of the room. Omera hesitated before she spoke up. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Go ahead." Mando said
"How long has it been since you've taken that off?" She asked, referring to his helmet. I didn't even feel like I was there, an invisible presence. I sighed inaudibly at the discomfort I was feeling. The woman seemed to be very interested in Mando.
"Yesterday." Mando answered
"I mean, in front of someone else." Omera said
Mando stopped what he was doing and turned to her, he stepped forward and stood at the window with her. He gestured to the children playing. "I wasn't much older than they are."
"You haven't shown your face to anyone since you were a kid?" She asked
"No. I was happy that they took me in. My parents were killed and The Mandalorians took care of me." Mando said. The strange feeling in my chest rose up again, since when was he so talkative with strangers?
"I'm sorry." Omera said sympathetically
"This is the way." Mando replied
"Let us know if there's anything you need." Omera said
"Thank you." Mando said, Omera nodded to him and then left.
I looked over at Mando as he picked up the plate of food that Omera had given him. "I'll be outside with the kid." I said quietly before I turned and exited the hut, giving him space to eat.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I sighed as I leaned against the entryway of the hut, the villagers gathered in front of them, eager to hear what they had to say.
Last night, the three of us had made our way into the woods to try and see what we were up against. Only to discover large prints that belonged to an AT-ST. That was more than the three of us could deal with alone.
"Bad news. You can't live here anymore." Mando said, not bothering to sugar coat it.
"Why?" Several people asked, looking at each other in confusion.
"Nice bedside manner." Cara said to Mando
"You think you can do better?" Mando asked her
"Can't do much worse." Cara said
"I know this is not the news you wanted to hear, but there are no other options." Cara said
"You took the job." One of the men said
"Yeah. That was before we knew about the AT-ST." Cara continued
"What is That?" One of the villagers asked
"The armored Walker with two enormous guns that you knew about and didn't tell us." Cara replied. The villagers began to plead with them.
"Help us."
"Please."
"You're supposed to help us."
"But We hired you."
"Please."
"We have nowhere to go." Omera said
"Sure you do. This is a big planet. I mean, I've seen a lot smaller." Cara said
"My grandparents seeded these ponds. It took generations." One of the men said
"Yeah." A Woman agreed
"I understand. I do. But there are only three of us. And one of us is injured." Cara stated
"No, there's not. There's at least 20 here." A man said. I scanned the crowd and raised my brow slightly, there was no way they would be able to fight the raiders and an AT-ST.
"Yeah."
"I mean fighters. Be realistic." Cara said
"We can learn."
"We can." The villagers agreed
"Give us a chance."
"Please."
I sighed gently at their pleading voices. I didn't want them to lose their home, but I don't know what else we could do.
"I've seen that thing take out entire companies of soldiers in a matter of minutes." Cara argued
Everyone began to speak amongst themselves, discussing whether they should fight or not.
"We're not leaving." Omera said to them
"You cannot fight that thing." Cara said
"Unless we show them how." Mando said
Cara and I turned to look at Mando. I looked at him with disbelief while Cara gave him a strong look.
"Show us."
"Yeah, we can do this."
"Fine." Cara agreed, she told the villagers to come down to an open space in their village to begin teaching them how to fight.
"Mando...I want to help them as much as you, but are you sure about this?" I asked him
"Not fully...but we have to try." He replied before pushing himself off of the wall he was leaning on and walking towards the group. I sighed and followed after him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I stood next to Mando as the group of villagers gathered around us. "You got two problems here. You got the bandits, and you got the mech. We'll handle the AT-ST, but you gotta protect us when they come out of the woods. And I don't have to tell you how dangerous they are. Cara Dune here was a veteran. She was a drop soldier for the rebellion, and she's gonna lay out a plan for you, so listen carefully." Mando said
"Now, there's nothing on this planet that can damage the legs on this thing, so we're gonna build a trap. We're gonna need to dig real deep, right here, so that when it steps in, it drops. The two of us will hit their camp, provoke them. That'll bring the fight out of the woods and down here to us. Celeste will stay here to keep an eye on things." Cara said
"I'm gonna need you to cut down these trees and build barricades along these edges. I need it high enough so that they can't get over, and strong enough so that it can't break through." Mando instructed
He then asked "okay. Who knows how to shoot?"
Omera raised her hand, she was the only one in the village who knew how to shoot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group of villagers stood around as Mando opened his case of blasters. He began to pull some blasters out and hand them over to the villagers.
Mando and I were in charge of instructing people to shoot while Cara was teaching people how to use a spear. Which looked like it was going great, not.
The villagers stood in a row with their blasters raised, they aimed and fired at the pans that had been set up for target practice.
Omera was the only person who could successfully shoot the target. She shot it several times and looked over at Mando. He nodded in approval.
I began trying to help the villagers, instructing them on how to hold the blaster and aim correctly. Some of them had begun to hit the targets.
I readjusted a man's aim and accidentally glanced over at Mando, he was helping Omera, even though she was the best at shooting. I felt that familiar tightness in my chest. It made me feel the need to lash out at something. I couldn't explain why it was bothering me so much.
The man who I was helping missed again, I held my hand out for the blaster and he gently placed it in my open palm.
I raised the blaster with my good arm and shot every single pan. The villagers all stared at me in shock and awe but I ignored them, handing the blaster back to the man. I turned on my heels and made my way towards the hut that we have been staying in.
Mando could handle them on his own for a moment. As long as he can leave Omera alone long enough.
I stormed into the hut and stopped in the middle of the room. Freezing in my tracks. I have no idea what had come over me, it felt like I was possessed for a moment. Blinded by a need to prove myself.
I realised that my anger wasn't because of Mando and Omera, though that did add fuel to the fire. It was because I felt useless. Everyone out there was fighting to save their home, Mando and Cara had a huge job to do and yet here I was. Stood in a hut with an aching pain in my arm and a white sling around my neck. I cursed the bounty hunter who had shot me.
I huffed and ran my good hand down my face. I then glanced down at my injured arm. I was going to be no good in a fight with my right arm out of use like this.
I then made a rash decision to try and take the sling off. I pulled it up and over from around my neck, I groaned in pain and moved my right arm. My arm was aching with a sharp, aching pain.
I took the sling fully off and let my arm drop by my side. I groaned again as my arm moved. I tried moving it around a bit but it only made the pain worse.
I sighed as I glanced down, I was going to be useless. Never mind fighting raiders and an AT-ST, I couldn't even lift up a data pad with the pain I was feeling. I couldn't even lift my arm up at all.
I shook my head to rid myself of my thoughts and reached into my holster with my good hand. I pulled out my blaster and then passed it over to my injured hand.
I grunted in pain as I raised my arm slightly, attempting to aim my blaster. Maybe I just needed to move it around.
My right arm began to tremble from the strain. I clenched my left hand into a fist and dug my nails into my palm. My face squeezed up and I continued to groan from the pain.
I had almost got it right up when I heard footsteps coming up the porch. "What the hell are you doing?"
I dropped my arm down and yelled out, I dropped my blaster to the ground and found my knees going down with it. I dropped down onto the wooden floor and held onto my right arm. Whimpering over the painful ache.
Mando rushed over and knelt In front of me. "Hey, what were you doing? You're injured, you have to rest." He insisted, grabbing the sling from my hand and putting it over my neck again.
"And what? Rest in here while those people risk their life? I'll be no use to them like this." I argued, clenching my teeth. Mando gently took hold of my arm and placed it back into the sling.
"I can't even come with you...what if something happens to you?" I started to say, feeling a sense of dread wash over me.
"Hey, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." He said
I glanced down at my good hand that was still clenched in a fist on my lap. "I just...I feel useless, Mando." I admitted to him
I almost tensed in surprise when he placed his gloved hand on top of my own. He gave my hand a light squeeze. "You're not useless, you never will be. You still have this hand, and you're a pretty good shot. This village needs you just as much as it needs me and Cara."
I smiled lightly at his attempt to comfort me. "Thank you."
"Besides, you managed to take down stormtroopers one handed while holding the kid. Surely this won't be much different." He said with a humorous tone in his voice
"That was almost a joke." I laughed, messing with him.
Mando chuckled, which was a nice sound, and squeezed my hand again before he let go. "It will be fine."
"Promise me you'll be careful." I asked him.
"I promise."