I slowly stroll through the small village, making my way towards the hut Cara was supposedly staying in. I rap my knuckles against the door frame, waiting for any sign or sound signifying for me to walk in. I hear a small hum, so I step in, nodding my head at her as I walked through. She nods back at me and expectantly flashes her brows.
"What can I do for you?" she asks, resting her blaster across her lap.
"I wanted to let Mando eat in peace, so I was wondering if maybe you and I could go out and scout around the forest. You know, just to save all of us some time and such," I say, clasping my hands together. She nods and stands to her feet, holstering the blaster she had resting in her lap.
"Where's your little lightsaber? I remember you used to never let that thing leave your side," she says, nodding towards the empty spot near my hip. She rolls her eyes with a kind smile, crossing her arms. "It was like your safety blanket or something."
"It's currently at the bottom of my bag. One of the farmers that gave us a ride here recognized it and I don't need Mando finding out about that whole thing just yet," I mutter, awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck while thinking about what might happen if he were to find out.
"So he doesn't know anything about you or your past?" she asks, perking her brow at me. I shake my head and let out a small sigh. "Haven't you two been working together for the past five years or something? Why not just tell him?"
"Because he's actually really smart and pretty intuitive. He'll probably piece everything together and then kill me because last time I checked, I had a pretty hefty bounty on my ass," I rush out, almost stumbling over my own words.
"I doubt that he would kill you," she says, rolling her eyes at me. I think back to the conversation she had with Mando on our way here. So he cares, but in what way? He never did say anything that would really answer her question. She steps forward and wraps her arm around my shoulders, walking us out of her room. "Regardless of what you tell him, I think he'll protect you."
"I suppose," I mutter, unsure as to whether or not I believed her. We make our way towards the thick forest, talking about the things that had happened since we had last seen each other. I bring up Mando a few times, telling her about the major jobs we had taken together while being partners in crime (as I call it).
"What do you think about Mando?" she asks, her eyes flickering over to me for a moment before going back to looking down. My cheeks turn to a light pink and I shrug, pursing my lips slightly.
"What do you mean?" I ask, knowing that she was trying to do the same things that she had done to Mando. She was trying to figure it all out. I mean, it would be nice to figure out how he feels about me, but I was a little too scared to jeopardize whatever it was we already had.
"Come on, Dameron, I can see you blushing from a mile away. You both already act like a couple. Plus, I can see how much he really cares about you," she says, nudging my shoulder a bit. I roll my eyes and shake my head at her.
"I doubt that he cares about me in that way," I mutter, keeping my eyes glued to the forest floor.
"Hey, you never know until you ask," she sings in a playful tone. I laugh a bit, but I don't say anything afterward. I keep my eyes on the ground and I'm glad that I do because the next thing that I stumble on changes the whole entire game.
"Shit. Imperial Walker," I mutter, looking down at the large footprint that was pressed into the muddy ground.
"This isn't what I signed up for," Cara says, looking over to me while narrowing her eyes. I hold my hands up in a faux surrender, telling her that I didn't know about it. The Krill farmers that had originally talked to us about the job never mentioned anything about an Imperial Walker. They just said that they were having problems with raiders.
"Come on, we have to go back and tell everyone," I say, nodding back towards the village. We quickly make our way back, striding over to the room Mando and I were sharing. I knock frantically on the wood, hoping that he would answer quickly. "Mando! Put your pants back on and let us in!" I shout, continuing to knock.
"Dank farrik- come in!" he shouts back at us. Cara and I race in, our eyes snapping right over to him. He was cleaning his blaster, a rag in one of his gloved hands. I look over to the windowsill to see that the tray of food that Omera had brought us was now empty. "What's wrong?"
"Apparently, the boys that offered us the job failed to mention the fact that we're dealing with an Imperial Walker," I explain, sighing while shaking my head. He quickly stands up and tilts his head to the side, obviously not believing what I had just said. "We saw a print out in the forest."
"We need to gather the village people and let them know," he says, nodding his head while posturing up properly. Cara nods and walks outside, calling for everyone to gather around so we can speak to them. I was about to walk out, but Mando catches my arm, gently pulling me back a bit. "What were you two doing in the forest?"
"Just scouting. Nothing too important," I say, shrugging my shoulders while narrowing my eyes at him. He seemed nervous and tense, but I didn't know why. A sigh crackles through his modulator and the tension in his shoulders seems to dissipate. "Come on. We shouldn't keep them waiting."
We walk outside and see that the whole village was already standing in front of us, including the children that were peering at us with eager eyes. I swallow hard, slowly looking over to Cara and Mando as they stepped up to where I was standing. Their arms pressed against my shoulders, sandwiching me in place. Mando slowly took a step forward, clearing his throat before speaking.
"Bad news. You can't live here anymore," Mando says in a blunt manner. My jaw drops a bit and my brows perk up. He really could have said that better- The villagers gasp, fear filling their eyes.
"What the hell, Mando?" I mutter through gritted teeth so the villagers couldn't hear me.
"Like you could do any better?" he growls back at me.
"You know this is going to be like the whole Jawaese situation we had on Arvala-7 and you know it," I say with a harsh bite in my tone. I look up at him as he tilts his helmet down to look at me. I could tell that he had a glare set on my face.
"What is it going to be this time? Are you going to tell me that my pronunciation sucks and say that you're more fluent in Basic this time?" he asks, letting a scoff trail his words. I scoff back at him and roll my eyes at his sarcastic comment.
"No. I was just going to say that your execution needs a little work," I spit back, narrowing my eyes into a harsh glare.
"Again, like you could do any better?" he spits right back.
"Vaabir Ni linibar at sirbur bic o'r mando'a par gar at suvarir?" I snap in Mando'a at him.
"Oh an be a sudden gar liser jorhaa'ir mando'a," he sneers.
"Meg's gar wero ti ni staabi jii?" I ask, glaring at him.
"Ni don't ganar a wero ti gar, vaabir gar?" he says, taking a step forward and towering over me. "Ni'm not te solus keeping secrets teh te adat Ni trust most!"
I gasp, my posture straightening out.
"Ni'm not te shi solus hiding something. Gar promised-"
"Quit it, you two," Cara snaps to get us to shut up. Mando and I take a few bitter steps away from each other, crossing our arms while our gazes flicked back over to the villagers. Cara turns back to the villagers, letting out a small huff of a sigh. "I know this is not the news that you wanted to hear, but there aren't any other options."
Mando and I groan, slumping our shoulders while looking over to her.
"Yeah, that was so much better than what I had said," Mando retorts, shaking his head.
"You know, she was right. Your execution needs some work," she spits at Mando. I smile and look up at Mando, batting my long lashes at him for a bit. He groans and leans his head back before looking back towards the villagers.
"But you three took the job! You have to help us," one of the men near the front shouts. I let out a small sigh, biting the inside of my cheek for a few moments.
"That was before we knew about the AT-ST," Cara says, narrowing her eyes while shaking her head. The villagers look around in a frantic and confused manner, muttering amongst themselves. "You know, the armored walker with two enormous guns that you knew about and didn't tell us."
They all start begging for our help, their eyes staring into ours as their pleas echoed out. I nervously tap my foot, knowing that we were going to have to help them. I just didn't know how we were supposed to help him. I look up and immediately meet eyes with Omera.
"Please, we have nowhere to go," she says. Winta, who was standing at her side, was gripping onto her mother's sleeve, her knuckles almost white from how intense her grip was. I swallow nervously and let out a shaky sigh.
"We have to help them," I mutter, looking up at my two companions.
"How the hell do you think we're going to pull that off? There's only three of us," Cara says, shaking her head while dipping down a bit to meet my eyes.
"No there's not! There's at least twenty of us here," one of the villagers call out, raising his arms to gesture at all the people that were standing in front of us.
"We mean fighters," Mando says, correcting the villager while shaking his head. He seemed unamused by their misplaced enthusiasm. Or maybe we were just too blind to see that their hearts were in the right place.
"We can learn!"
Mando, Cara, and I turn around, facing away from the desperate villagers while our eyes flicked around.
"Technically, if we're patient enough, we could teach them to fight," I say, nodding my head while shrugging my shoulders. They could technically learn if they were determined enough to do so, but it was going to take a minute to really teach a bunch of farmers how to fight.
"They could," Mando says. "This is the way."
We turn back around and face the villagers, squaring our shoulders out while tilting our heads up a bit. I swallow hard, praying that we would be able to pull this off. I look up at Mando, nudging his arm to let him know that he was going to have to be the one to talk.
"Alright, 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 outta the woods. And I don't have to tell you how dangerous they are. Cara Dune was a veteran and Mae Dameron here was a fighter pilot for the Rebellion for a bit," Mando explains, letting an almost silent sigh out afterwards.
Cara snaps her eyes over to me, furrowing her brows while pouting her lips into a look of confusion. I already knew exactly what she was thinking and I could tell that she was going to be questioning me about the whole Rebellion fighter pilot thing after this little meeting we were currently going through.
So the whole fighter pilot thing for the Rebellion is actually true. I just didn't really stick with it for the longest time out of plain fear that they'd figure out who I was and then accuse me of being a spy for the Empire. So, I did the most that I could do, and then I got out of there.
The only people that found out about my true identity were Luke, Leia, and Han. The Skywalker siblings were surprisingly alright with it, but I'm pretty sure that was only because they knew who Darth Vader was to them. So, they kept my little secret and let me continue on with my journey. They also assured me that I would have a place to stay or someone to call if I ever really needed any help (much to my surprise, might I add).
"They're both skilled in combat. So listen carefully," Mando finishes. Cara steps forward and starts to explain the plan that she had already thought about while Mando was speaking. As she explained her plan, I let my mind wander over to the lightsaber that was sitting at the bottom of my bag.
I could probably take this thing out by myself if I got close enough. I could take it on by myself and keep these villagers out of danger, but then I'd be exposing myself and Mando would never let me take that thing on alone. I nervously tap my foot for a few moments until Mando speaks again.
"Who knows how to shoot?"
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Cara and Mando have been training the Krill farmers all day... without my help. I was helping towards the beginning of the day, but after Mando caught me straining my ribs too much, he forced me to go back to the little hut that we had been sharing.
But since he's been too busy training the villagers, he didn't notice me sneaking out of the room and into the thick forest. I had dug up the silver hilt that I had hidden in my bag, as well as the red blindfold that I used to use for my training sessions.
I soon find myself standing deep in the forest, the village completely out of sight. I look around for a moment; my eyes grazing over all the tall trees that were towering above me. I spot a thick tree and I deemed it perfect for my little training session.
I quickly wrap the red blindfold around my eyes, pulling tight to ensure that I wouldn't be able to see anything. I snatch my lightsaber from my hip and turn it on, letting out a deep breath as I heard the light hum buzz out in front of my face. I could feel my ribs shift slightly as I breathed, making me quietly wince.
I stand still, letting the energy around me start to buzz and flow through my senses. Even though I couldn't see anything, I could still feel everything that was set around me. Each tree, each insect, each rock.
The tree in front of me soon becomes clear and I loosely grip my saber, letting the hilt fall slack in my grip. I spin my saber once and slash at the large tree, but my saber never meets the wood. I freeze, leaving an inch or so between the burning purple saber and the cracking bark of the tree.
Another deep breath blows through my nose and I spin back, almost slashing through the tree. With each movement I make, the whir of my lightsaber echoed through the silent forest. I throw my lightsaber to the side, guiding it through the trees, letting it weave through the thick forest. As it comes back to me, I lift my left arm, the silver hilt slamming against my forearm before quickly spinning back around the tree once, soon landing back into my dominant hand.
A cocky smile creeps on my face and I turn away from the tree, turning off my saber as I spun around. I throw the hilt high up into the air, beginning a little sequence that I had practiced all too much.
I send a kick through the air, spinning around and kicking straight with my back leg. I shadowbox the air for a few moments before dipping and swiping my leg along the forest floor. I could feel the dirt and branches scratch along the soles of my boot as I spun around.
As I pop back up to my feet, I sense someone creeping up behind me, making my nerves spike. I spin in the air and lift my hand up, easily catching my saber and turning it back on. I spin it once over my head before pointing it straight at whoever had just snuck up on me. I hold my lightsaber under the person's chin, making sure not to actually slice through their neck.
I reach up and pull the blindfold away from my eyes. I keep my lightsaber pointed at the person, making sure that they wouldn't take a chance at moving around too much. I slowly open my eyes and the moment that my brown eyes met Omera's, my heart dropped down to my stomach. I swallow hard and spin my saber down and away from her face. I look away and close my eyes, my head starting to rush.
"Shit," I mutter, turning my saber off.
This is not good.
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Word count: 2102
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Translations:
Vaabir Ni linibar at sirbur bic o'r mando'a par gar at suvarir: Do I need to say it in Mando'a for you to understand?
Oh an be a sudden gar liser jorhaa'ir mando'a: Oh all of a sudden you can speak Mando'a.
Meg's gar wero ti ni staabi jii: What's your problem with me right now?
Ni don't ganar a wero ti gar, vaabir gar: I don't have a problem with you, do you?
Ni'm not te solus keeping secrets teh te adat Ni trust most: I'm not the one that's keeping secrets from the person they trust most.
Ni'm not te shi solus hiding something. Gar promised-: I'm not the only one hiding something. You promised-
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Note: I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I'd do absolutely anything for Cara Dune and her thighs- I mean... How have you guys been? Hope you're all doing well and cruising through your day :)