The Razor crest felt unusually crowded. On one side of the hull, there was a roped off section where three blurrgs resided. Kuiil was busy looking after them and sat at a table facing each other was Mando and Cara, who were in the middle of an arm wrestling competition.
The child curiously tilted his head at the two of them as they grunted and strained from the pressure. I don't think the ship has ever been this crowded, even when we had Ran's crew with them, but at least this company was better than that.
"I got you, Mando." Cara said to him
"Care to double the bet?" Mando said
I smiled as I watched the two of them playfully insult each other, but my smile quickly dropped when I felt a familiar pull from the child. I whipped my head around and looked at the child as he raised his hand up towards Cara and Mando.
Before I could do anything, Cara began to choke, she grabbed onto her throat with both of her hands as she struggled to breath.
My thoughts ran quickly as I tried to think of what to do.
"Hey, no, stop!" I stepped forward and picked the child up, causing him to lose his concentration. Cara gasped for air as the tight force disappeared.
Mando then stood up and took the child from my arms. "No, We're friends, we're friends, Cara is my friend!"
"That is not okay!" Cara shouted
"Hmm. Very curious." Kuiil said
"Curious? It almost killed me!" Cara said indignantly
"The story you told me of the mudhorn now makes more sense." Kuiil said
"What is it?" Mando asked him
"What it is, I don't know. But what it does, this...This I've heard rumours of." Kuiil said
"What? When you worked for the Empire?" Cara asked angrily
"When I was sold to the Empire, in indentured servitude." Kuiil corrected her
"Yet somehow, you walk free." Cara said
"I bought my freedom through the skill of my hands and the labor of three of your human lifetimes. Do not cast doubt upon that of what I am not whom I shall serve." Kuiil argued. The annoyance in his voice activated IG-11 to come stand with him.
"Tell you what. I could really use your craftwork right now." Mando said as he placed the child in his pram again. He was trying to defuse the arguement.
"Can you pad this container so the child can sleep better?" Mando asked him
"I shall fabricate a better one. Then perhaps this dropper can see how one can win their freedom with the skill of one's hands." Kuiil said
The room still felt thick with tension as Kuiil set about collecting the materials that he would need to build the child a new pram. I hope no more arguments would break out, we couldn't fight amongst ourselves when we were going to be facing the empire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Group had decided that we were going to come off the crest riding the blurrgs. Cara and Kuiil had one to themselves while I was going to share one with Mando. Again.
He held his hand out to me as he resided on top of the large animal. I accepted his hand and allowed him to pull me up onto the Blurrg. I sat behind him and wrapped my arms carefully around his waist so I wouldn't fall off.
The crest shook slightly as it landed on the ground of Nevarro. A place that I thought I'd never have to see again. Especially after what they went through last time.
Once they had landed, the large hatch in the hull slowly lowered down onto the ground.
Mando and I exited the ship first while Cara and Kuiil followed after us.
I glanced around at the barren landscape that we had landed on. The dark coloured sand below was exactly how I remembered it to be. Just ahead of us was a group of people. Three bounty hunters who I vaguely recognised and Greef Karga, who I never wanted to have to see again. But unfortunately, life doesn't always work out the way I wanted it to. In fact, it almost never did.
"Sorry for the remote rendezvous, Mando, but things have gotten complicated since you were last here." Greef Karga said. There was a brief moment of silence as everyone looked around at each other.
"It appears that introductions are in order. It seems we've both provided a security detail. I recommend the shock trooper guard's the ship. These lava fields are lousy with Jawas." Greef Karga said
"She's coming with me." Mando said
"But the town is now run by ex-Empire. If a rebel dropped is with us, they'll all get their hackles up." Karga said
"She's coming." Mando stayed again
"Fine. Fine. At least cover your tattoo. No need to flaunt it." Greef Karga said, shrugging his shoulders in defeat.
"Perhaps it would be beneficial for Celeste to stay with the ship instead then." Greef Karga said
"Not happing." Mando stated
"I only suggested it because the ex-Empire are also after her, but it's your call." Greef Karga decided to not argue too much this time, knowing that Mando wouldn't back down. I clenched my jaw at his wording. It almost made it sound like he was putting the blame on Mando for anything that might happen to me.
"Now, where is the little one?" Greef Karga asked
Mando raised his left arm and pressed a button on his vambrace that controls the child's pram. The small egg shaped pram moved forward towards Greef Karga and then the doors hissed open. Revealing the child to the bounty hunters.
"So, this little bogwing is what all the fuss was about." Greef Karga said as he examined the child. Mando reached for his blaster on his thigh just in case.
Greef Karga reached into the pram and carefully lifted the child up to get a better look at him.
"What a precious little creature. I can see why you two didn't want to harm a hair on its wrinkled little head." Greef Karga Said. He then placed the child back into the pram, causing Mando to relax and withdraw his hand from his blaster.
"Well, I'm glad this matter will be put to rest once and for all." Greef Karga said. Mando raised his wrist once again and closed the door to the pram, he then called it back so the child would be near them again.
"The sun drops fast on Nevarro. We can walk for a spell, camp out at the riverbank, then make our way into town at first light." Greef Karga said
Mando nodded slightly, and the group of bounty hunters began the long walk to the empire controlled town. I really hope that this was the right call to make.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group had finally come to rest after a long day of walking across the lava flats. I sat beside Mando, I was so close to him that our shoulders were almost touching, I didn't trust any of the other hunters who were here. On my other side, the child sat in his floating pram.
Silence had fallen over their camp, the only noise was the fire slowly crackling in the center of their circle, the bright orange flames illuminating the space around them.
Kuiil was feeding the child small bits of meat. I had already eaten some food but because of the company, Mando hadn't been able to eat anything, which wouldn't be good for tomorrow. He needed his strength.
"I guess the little bugger's a carnivore." Greef Karga said as he watched the child eat. "Never seen anything like it. They were ready to pay a king's ransom for that thing. Must be some kind of highfalutin menagerie."
"Let's go over the plan again." Mando said
"We both enter the common house. We show the client the bait. We join him at the table. And you kill him." Greef Karga said
"Tell me about his reinforcements." Mando asked him
"They're all ex-Empire. As soon as they lose their paycheck, poof, they'll all scatter." Greef Karga said
"And what if they don't?" Mando asked him
"They will." Greef Karga replied
"That's not good enough." Mando stated
"If, for argument's sake, a few of them don't realise that I'm their best path for alternative employment and they elect to react impulsively, then these three fine guild hunters, along with that battle-hardened shock trooper, will cut down anyone who bucks." Greef Karga explained
"How many will there be?" Mando asked him
"No more than four. He travels with, at most, a fire team." Greef Karga said as he stood up and walked over to the animal that was hung over the fire.
"Trust me. Nothing can go wrong." Greef Karga said. Just as he was about to take a bite of a piece of meat he had torn off, a large creature swooped in and grabbed it from him. I jumped and grabbed my blaster from its holster as the large bird-like creature swooped over their camp.
Everyone scrambled to their feet and began to shoot blindly at the bird. Mando quickly shut the pram door to keep the kid safe.
There was a brief moment of silence, the air was thick with tension. Another creature then suddenly swooped in. Everyone began to fire at it, red laser lights cutting through the darkness, trying to find the target.
There was definitely more than one now as they continued to drop down towards their camp. I kept my blaster raised, I fired at the creatures anytime they came into view.
Suddenly, one of the creatures swooped down and grabbed hold of one of the blurrgs.
"No! Let go of her!" Kuiil yelled as the creature struggled to lift the blurrg off of the ground.
"Drop her now!" Kuiil yelled again as the creature took off and took the blurrg with it. I sighed sadly as I looked into the dark abyss and saw no sign of the creature or the blurrg.
Another creature swooped in and grabbed one of Greef Karga's bounty hunters. The man screamed as he was dragged upwards. He disappeared into the night just like the blurrg did. My heart beat heavily in my chest as my eyes darted around the dark sky.
One of the creatures went in for the second blurrg. It gripped onto her harness and began to pull her upwards.
"Drop her!" Kuiil yelled. Luckily Cara managed to shoot it, causing it to fall on top of the Blurrg.
My heart dropped when a familiar, modulated voice yelled out from behind me. I spun around and looked for Mando, only to see him stuck under one of the creatures as it tried to take off with him.
I ran forward and shot at the creature, I aimed for its foot that was holding onto Mando to try and get it to let go. Luckily it's grasp loosened and Mando managed to turn on the fire from his vambrace, causing the creature to be set on fire and fly away.
That caused the creatures to finally fly off, deciding that they weren't worth the effort anymore. The group where still on edge as they aimed their blasters up to the sky, waiting for one of them to drop down and attack again. But after a few moments of silence, they knew that they were safe.
I slowly lowered my blaster and placed it back in its holster again. I panted heavily as I walked over to Mando. He opened up the kids pram and looked inside to make sure he was okay. I placed my hand on his shoulder to get his attention.
"Are you okay?" I asked him
"Yeah. I'm okay." He nodded to me
Greef Karga groaning in pain caught my attention. I turned my head around to look at him and saw the man lying on the ground writhing in pain.
Kuiil quickly ran over to him and crouched down to see if he was okay. "He's hurt." Kuiil announcing to them
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. Ow!" Greef Karga attempted to argue. Cara dropped down onto her knees and took his arm to check out his wound.
"Hold still. They got you good." She said pulled medical items out of her pack. I glanced over her shoulder and saw three deep claw marks on his forearm.
"How bad?" Mando asked her as she injected him with something
"Bad. The poison's spreading fast." Cara answered
"So this...this is how it happens." Greef Karga said through clenched teeth
"Don't be so dramatic. I need another medpac! Got any other medpacs?" Cara asked
The two bounty hunters shook their heads at her. "Anyone?" Cara asked again
"I'm guessing that's a "no"" Greef Karga said
Cara picked up a small device from the medpac and scanned his arm with it. "It's still spreading. This isn't working."
I furrowed my brows in confusion when I spotted the child standing next to Cara. "Get this thing outta here." She said
"Wait." Kuiil said
I nodded in agreement as I felt the familiar pull from the child again. He raised his small, green hand out towards Greef Kargas injured arm. He gently placed his hand on Karga's arm and closed his eyes.
"He's trying to eat me." Greef Karga said
After a moment, the pain in his face lessoned and he opened his eyes again. I glanced down at his arm as the wound began to close, my eyes widened in amazement, could I do that too?
Once the wound was fully healed, the child sat down on the ground in exhaustion. I could feel the burnout radiating off of the child. I hoped he wasn't going to pass out like when he had saved them from the mudhorn.
Everyone stared at each other and at Greef Karga's arm in amazement. I stepped towards the child and picked him up in my arms. His small body slumped against me as I carried him back over to his pram and placed him inside. He was going to need a lot of rest after that. We all would.