"So you guys met Roland." Cid says, crossing her arms behind her back.
"Unfortunately." Malaina muttered, leaning against the wall of the ship. "Who's he to you?"
"A former client. He's the son of a crime boss, Isa Durand." Cid explained. "Roland's trying to make a name for himself by joining up with the Pykes."
Hunter raised an eyebrow. He wasn't entirely onboard with assisting in this situation. "What's he doing on Ord Mantell?"
"This port's connected to multiple hyperspace routes, ideal for smuggling. My parlor's right in the middle of the action." Cid said, sounding vaguely frustrated with it. "Roland saw the value in it and took it."
To Malaina, it sounded like a personal problem for Cid to take care of herself. But she knew damn well that the Trandoshan would never do any work herself. "Then relocate and start up a new parlor. The one you have now is filthy anyway." Malaina said simply. Tech nodded in agreement.
Cid glared at her. "We're taking it back."
"We?" Hunter frowned.
"If I lose, you lose."
"I'm okay with that." Malaina admitted. Echo and Wrecker gave her amused looks.
Cid had a brief evil glint in her yellow eyes. "Don't forget how good I've been at keeping secrets."
"I believe she's threatening us." Tech determined.
Oh shit, Malaina cringed. She decided then that she was going to shut up in fear that Cid would actually contact the Grand Inquisitor.
Omega looked up at the adults. "When we needed help, we came to Cid, remember? Now she needs help." She said, walking over to Cid and standing next to her supportively. "We can't just walk away."
"You tell 'em, Tiny." Cid exclaimed, resting a hand on Omega's shoulder and smiling.
Malaina leaned closer to Hunter and whispered, "You're raising her too well."
Hunter sighed loudly, realizing he wasn't getting the squad out of this. "So, what's your plan?" He asked the Trandoshan.
Cid waved her walking stick towards the exit of the ship. "Walk with me." She says, leading them down the steps and back out into the hot Ord Mantell weather and busy streets. "My sources tell me that a buyer is meeting Roland tonight to acquire a shipment of spice he's storing in my back office."
Just based on that information, Tech was able to determine what Cid had in mind. "You want to disrupt his supply chain by stealing the shipment and thereby sabotaging the deal."
Cid nodded. "Very good, Goggles." She praised.
Malaina smirked, bumping her elbow into Tech's. "Five gold stars to the pretty boy in the specs."
Wrecker giggled, slapping Tech's shoulder. "She called you a pretty boy."
Tech adjusted his goggles, lowering his head to try and hide the fact that he was a little flustered. "Yes, I heard her, Wrecker." He said quietly.
"When the Pykes come to collect, Roland won't be able to pay, and he'll be their problem." Cid concluded, turning the corner and leading them down a very dark alley.
Tech brushed his hand against Malaina's, his head turned just slightly to look at her. He liked being called a pretty boy, Malaina could tell. She would have to do it more often.
Cid opened up a trapdoor on the floor and then took a few steps back. "Start climbing, tough guys."
Malaina stepped up first, looking down into the hole, unable to see how far it went. She jumped down instead of using the ladder, relying on the Force to tell her when it was time to stick the landing.
Turns out the ground was only about ten feet from the surface. Malaina didn't sense anything dangerous around, so she determined it was safe for the others. "You're good. No monsters lurking in the dark down here."
Somebody threw a flashlight down and it rolled to her feet. Malaina picked it up, running her thumb over the engraved name on the bottom of it. "Thanks, Tech."
"You're welcome darling." Tech grunts, beginning to climb down the ladder, using the flashlight on his goggles to see where he's going.
Wrecker groans. "Can you guys shut up for five minutes?"
Malaina chuckled, flipping the flashlight like how Hunter does with his vibroblade. While waiting for the others to come down, she looked around, wondering what exactly Cid was planning to do down here.
"Where are we?" Hunter asked when Cid finally made it down the ladder and continued leading the squad via flashlight through the dark tunnels.
Malaina had already scared Wrecker once, tickling the back of his neck and telling him there was a giant spider. Now he doesn't trust her and he moved to the back of the group to keep a close eye on the mischievous ex-Inquisitor.
"Ord Mantell's old mining tunnels." Cid answered the Sergeant. "These rails run underneath the city. It's how we're sneaking into my parlor to steal the spice." She explained, stopping in front of two old mining carts.
Wrecker shrugged. "Well, why don't we just walk in there and take it? We can handle those guards." He said confidently.
Cid shook her head. "No one can know we're involved."
Clearly Cid doesn't know the extent that Malaina was trained. The brunette could be in and out of there and make it look like nothing ever even happened.
"Roland is one thing, but the Pykes aren't an enemy you want to make." Cid continued, turning and patting a hand on the mining cart in the front. "We'll use these carts to transport the crates of spice."
Tech scanned the modes of transportation, nodding to himself. "They're not in the best shape, but I can get the motors operational." He announced.
Cid turned him down. "No. Motors are too loud." Malaina was just convinced that Cid wanted to make everything as difficult as possible. "This is a stealth mission. You boys are good at that, right?"
"No." They all collectively said.
Cid ignored them. "Tiny, Goggles, Angsty Jedi, you're with me."
Malaina frowned, mouthing her new nickname to herself. Angsty Jedi? Really?
Tech let the three ladies on the cart first and then he joined them, glancing up at the manual pump he would have to use to move the mining cart along the track.
Hunter, Echo, and Wrecker loaded onto the second cart and soon they were all making their way through the mine. It was dimly lit and eerily quiet, the only sounds being the old carts creaking with each crank.
Malaina made sure Omega was holding onto the side of the cart. She could easily use the Force to catch the child if she fell overboard, but teaching her how to be safe was important. Malaina wouldn't always be there to stick a hand out and levitate her back to her feet.
It's crazy to think that not so long ago Malaina was focused only on being an Inquisitor, and now here she was worrying about a kid's safety. Oh how she's changed.
They came to a stop at a set of reinforced metal doors. Cid turned to face the three guys in the back cart. "Now, listen up. When we pass through those doors, not a peep out of anyone. We don't want to wake the hive." She warned, looking at all of them with a stern expression.
"The what?" Echo repeated in an unamused tone.
"The caverns have a slight infestation problem."
Wrecker laughed, punching Hunter's shoulder. "We're not afraid of a few bugs."
"What was that screech you did just a few minutes ago when Malaina told you that you had a spider crawling on you?" Echo said, raising an eyebrow at the large clone. Malaina grinned.
"W-well that's different...they're spiders."
"It won't be a problem if everyone keeps their traps shut." Cid hissed, nodding to the lever just outside of the cart. "Big guy, get the door."
Malaina was starting to think that Cid has no idea what any of their names actually are.
Wrecker climbed out and used his big muscles to pull the old, rusted lever down. He then ran back to his mining cart and they ventured inside of the hive-infested section of the tunnels.
First thing Malaina noticed was the large hole they were traveling over. It went so deep that not even the light coming in from the open ceiling could show the bottom of the cave. Joining the sounds of the carts creaking were various screeching noises that echoed across the walls.
Wrecker dropped his flashlight and caused a slight stir in the hive's slumber, but they ended up making it to their destination without actually waking up the creatures.
Cid shone her flashlight up another ladder. "This leads into my back office. Up you go."
Tech tilted his head. "Without eyes on the office, how do we know Roland is not inside?" He questioned, shining his light in Cid's face.
"I've got that covered." Cid said, raising her comm and switching on a button. It sent a ping to whoever was on the receiving end. "Now we wait."
A minute later the ping was sent back and they were given the go to break into Cid's office. Tech went first, followed by Malaina and then Echo. The room was trashed and there were rats eating the food on the shelves.
"Ugh. And I thought Wrecker was a slob." Echo cringed, shaking his head at all the filth.
Hunter made his way into the room as well. Wrecker and Omega waited in the mines with Cid.
"You should have seen the training rooms after a sixteen hour conditioning on Arkanis. Guts everywhere." Malaina muttered, walking further into the office.
"Can the commentary. Roland won't be gone for long." Cid scolded from the comms.
Malaina and Tech stopped in front of a few crates, popping open the top of one of them. "Found your drugs, Lizard Lady." She reported.
"Six crates of spice confirmed." Tech says after scanning the boxes with his datapad.
"Here, hand it over." Wrecker says, popping his head up from the hole in the floor. Hunter and Echo dragged over the first crate. They moved quickly to get all of them down into the tunnels, getting the gut feeling that they wouldn't be alone for much longer.
Malaina pulled the third-to-last crate over to Wrecker, handing it over to him before placing her hands on her lower back, pressing into it while leaning back to relieve the pain. Another negative from her time as an Inquisitor? The permanent back pain from how many times you were thrown onto the ground, impaled, launched against a wall, etc.
"We're out of time, guys. Get the last two crates." Cid said urgently.
Echo took off towards the main entrance. "I'll seal the door." He says, hoping to buy them at least a few more seconds.
Hunter and Tech pulled the next crate over to Wrecker, and then Malaina used the Force to make the last one float over. She doesn't know why she didn't think to do that for all of them.
Once Echo sealed the door, the four of them climbed back down into the mines, resealing the trapdoor and beginning to take off in the carts.
They were still in sight when the Pykes found their way down. This mission turned into a minecart chase, with the Pykes having a greater advantage because theirs had functioning motors.
Malaina helped Tech move the cart along the tracks faster, but they were no match for the speed of the motors. Wrecker pulled out his blaster and started firing at the enemy, who shot right back.
"I said no blaster fire!" Cid shouted, doing nothing to shield Omega.
"Tell that to them!" Wrecker retorted. Hunter and Echo pulled out their weapons to assist.
Malaina shook her head, not sure why exactly they let Cid walk all over them. They wouldn't be here if it weren't for the Trandoshan.
She held out her hands, stopping both the cart she was on as well as Hunter's. They looked at her like she was insane, but her plan became clear quite quickly.
The Pykes were forced to stop in order to avoid a crash. Malaina jumped over to the two motor-activated carts and began throwing punches. She knocked the three men off of the first cart and then stuck her hands out, using the Force to make the two other Pykes on the second cart fall off the side.
Malaina jumped back into the cart with Omega, Cid, and Tech. "Go." She whispered, knowing they were still in hive territory.
Cid took over cranking their cart. "If those laser brains woke the hive, we're all dead." She whisper-shouted.
Tech glanced at Omega to make sure she was okay before turning to Malaina, pressing his shoulder against hers.
Soon they were slowly making their way across the dark abyss, this time with an increased sighting in those flying creatures. The screeching noises had also doubled.
Omega turned to the green Trandoshan. "Cid, I don't like this." She whispered. Seconds after the kid finished that sentence, the hive started swarming them, filling the squad with panic.
"Power up the engines!" Cid shouted. Malaina rushed to pull the lever and the loud roar of the mining cart's motor started before they launched forward with the second cart, hoping to escape the swarm.
"There's more coming!" Wrecker yelled, blasting a few of them to see if it would scare the others off. It didn't.
Tech shined his flashlight in the face of one of the horrifying creatures. "They're avoiding the light. Use your torches."
With this new discovery, the sentient beings were safe from the hive. The spice...not so much. Malaina watched the crates get picked up and dropped down the dark abyss.
"Not the spice!" Cid screamed.
Another cart full of Pykes made their way there and started firing at the Bad Batch. However, they found themselves being picked off by the hive, which gave the clones, Malaina, and Cid the chance to get to the other side of the ravine.
Malaina used the Force, quickly sealing the door shut before any creatures could follow them into this part of the mine.
Omega shrugged. "Well, at least we got rid of the spice, right?"
First chapter of my Echo fic also went up today if you guys are interested in that! The main character's name is Tallinn Farr, she's a Mandalorian Jedi :)