GOLDEN SUN RAYS AND MORNING, DEWY AIR struck harshly through the small hut as Mia awoke the next morning. She turned to find the Mandalorian absent, so proceed outside after getting ready.
He pushed himself from his leaning position against the edge of the hut as he noticed her approach.
"See? I didn't get murdered in my sleep." She said, huffing a lose strand of hair from her face as she refastened her daggers to her hip.
"Well it's morning, and I don't see a fuel shipment." He scanned the village with careful eyes. "That womp rat of a farmer's in deep shit." His fist clenched around the blaster at his side.
Mia tilted her head at him, "Turn around, laser brain."
Between the scatter of village huts, a pair of villagers approached them, lugging a crate of fuel supply pulled by an animal cart.
The Mandalorian stormed towards them, his cape following him in pursuit.
"How are we supposed to get this to our ship? It's miles away." He asked the frightened looking pair.
She was ready to interrupt and apologise for her partners unexplainable rudeness when she felt a small tug at her leg.
"Do you have to leave?" asked a little girl, her blonde hair spun into a small bun. Mia felt her heart melt into a puddle.
The village brought back so many memories of her own on her home planet. There was a a sense of family and belonging, something which the bounty world lacked.
She crouched before the small girl, "Yeah, we do." She peeked over to make sure Mando wasn't listening. "And maybe I'll come back to visit one day."
The Mandalorian watched them talk from the corner of his eye as he continued to bargain with the villagers, though he couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
The girl picked a small white flower from the grass and placed it into Mia's hair just above her ear.
"If you visit us again, can you braid my hair like yours?"
A smile graced the assassin's features, "Of course."
"Come on." The Mandalorian said, taking a seat on the back of the animal drawn cart.
After embracing the girl in a small hug, Mia knew she had to part from the village as quickly as she could before she gave into the desire to never leave.
She scanned the area for Talon, but he was nowhere to be seen. If he wanted to wish her farewell he would have.
The two villagers had agreed to take the pair on the cart with their fuel supply, and after a mile of silence, the Mandalorian spoke.
"You liked it here." He said, watching her fiddle with the flower in her hair.
"Yeah," Mia said quietly, "but next time I'm coming alone." She shot him a glare.
He turned, "Next time?"
She folded her arms, ignoring him for the remainder of the journey. He'd shown nothing but hostility to such an honest place full of beautiful people. She never wanted to experience it like that again.
He and the other hand, got to witness a side of Mia he had never seen. There was a moment when she wasn't an assassin, but a simple farm girl who enjoyed the land and it's people. When she was here, she radiated that youthfulness and joy from within. He could tell she was sad to part with that.
As the Razor Crest came into view, the two left from the cart and with the help of the farmers, mounted the fuel onto the ship.
The Mandalorian poured one into the tank to fill it up whilst an approaching figure caught Mia's attention.
"Talon?" She raised a brow.
He immediately held up his hands in surrender, as she turned to find the Mandalorian pointing his blaster at the farmer.
"What did you do?" Asked the bounty hunter.
"I'm sorry." He quivered, "I had no choice."
"There's always a choice," The Mandalorian spoke placidly, "Like how I'm going to chose to blast your head off if you don't start speaking."
"Wait," Mia held out her hand, "Will someone please explain what the hell is going on?"
A loud rumble radiated through the trees as a fighter jet prepared to land in close proximity, instinct forcing Mia to whip her daggers out into both hands.
"He's one of them." replied the bounty hunter.
"No! I'm not, I swear!" Talon screeched. "Our planet struck a deal with them after they invaded."
A thud shook the soft ground, signalling that the ship had landed. Mia's heart raced in he chest as her mind swirled with confusion as the Mandalorian was seconds away from killing the weaponless man.
"What deal?" Mia stepped forward with gritted teeth, causing him to flinch back a little.
"We could remain in our village if we provided intel on any suspicious activity, anyone who was out to destroy the re-rise of the Empire." He said with shame flooding his bright blue eyes.
"You ratted us out." said Mando, gloved
finger tightly held on the trigger.
"I didn't want to, you have to believe me! But the others heard you discussing Queen Satine Soruna and - and that's a name we've been told to not to ask questions about."
The others farmers had split from the scene, Talon stood alone and defenceless.
"You spineless, dirtball," Mia held her dagger high, ready to lunge, "Kriffing pile of Blanther fodder — "
Her words cut off as a shot from a nearby blaster swept inches away from her face.
The Mandalorian moved into action, grabbing her arm and pulling Mia immediately by his side.
They stood, head whipping in every direction for the source of the shot, chests heaving heavily.
Meanwhile, Talon took the opportunity to make a quick run for it through the towering trees. Mia swiftly lunged a small knife in his direction, but he was already too far out. He had made a lucky escape.
"Get on the ship." Mando backed them slowly towards the Razor Crest.
But as they stood vulnerable in the forrest clearing, four bodies dressed in black uniform emerged from the trees.
They began firing shots from all directions, met with the Mandalorian's own harsh blaster shots.
Mia lunged her smallest dagger at the man approaching from her right, but missed his head as he sharply ducked.
He came within close proximity, which was his mistake. Pulling her spare dagger from her hip, Mia slashed both the man's wrists simultaneously.
A scream of pain escaped his lips as she dropped the weapons in his hand. Bringing up another dagger, and with one clean slice, the man's neck was pierced open.
Warm blood splashed across Mia's raged features. He fell to the floor with a thud, as the Mandalorian sent one man screaming to the floor as flames of fire sprout from his wrist.
Two down, two to go.
The bounty hunter was shoved to the floor as they wrestled heavily, taking countless punches. Mia could have sworn she'd heard a few bones crack as the Mandalorian stomped onto the man's rib cage.
They were being ruthless, and Mia realised that they didn't really have a choice in the matter, but something inside her felt guilty for how...good it felt.
Her attention swung to the last uniformed soldier approaching her with a blaster rifle in hand.
She swiftly moved, ducked and diving, dodging each blast, moving closer with every miss.
Once he was in arms reach, she twisted his arm until he released the weapon. But he was too fast as he climbed on top of Mia, pressing a hand down on her throat.
Rather than fumbling for air, he fingers quickly grabbed a handful of throwing stars from her pouch and with one hard shove, she lodged them into his abdomen.
The man fell, blood pouring from his mouth as he withered in pain. The Mandalorian shot a blaster through his opponents head and then ended the suffering of the last one with one final shot before the Forrest echoed into silence once more.
Mia looked down at her shaky hands coated in thick, red blood.
She could vaguely recall the Mandalorian yelling for her to get on the ship. She hazily recalled sitting in the passenger seat, her lips pressed in a tight line from which she could taste the man's blood; her features emotionless.
Her eyes planted in still motion as the blue planet soon became a distant star.
Her shaking had stopped, it had been a while and neither had said a word. Until her soft voice barely carried though the air.
"I trusted him," a quiet voice escaped her lips, "All of them."
"Like I said, trust no one." He replied.
She turned to him with narrow eyes, "Now's not the time for an 'I told you so' moment."
Mia reached up a hand to her hair, the flower was still there. The white petals were splattered with blood as she examined it in her crimson-stained fingers.
What hurt most was not the violence, the bloodshed, or even the dishonesty of Talon - but rather that it occurred in a place that had felt so much like home.
The comfort of the village plains, the toasty huts and smell of brewing soups. All trampled by the scum of the galaxy.
With a heavy sigh, the girl stood from her seat, "I'm going to wash up."
"Hey," said the Mandalorian, eyes remaining on the ship's controls. "Don't beat yourself up over it. "We did what we had to do, and so did they."
He sighed in his own contemplation. Despite his reservations, a small part of him had hoped he was wrong, that they had spent a normal evening in a beautiful village surrounded by genuine people. For a moment, it could have been paradise, perhaps for the both of them.
Mia heard him speak once more before exiting the cockpit, his steely voice leaving a trace through the air.
"This is the way."