With her clothes as tattered as they were, Doc fit right into the aesthetic of Nevarro.
Her feet crunched into the ash with every step. Everywhere she looked, there were bounty hunters who were more dangerous than the last. Nala stayed close to her heels, not wanting to get lost in the commotion.
Doc knew if she had stayed with the Mandalorian there would have been no hope of getting the child to safety. Everything was so cold and calculated about his demeanor that it sent chills running down her spine. How could someone be so heartless?
She turned down an alleyway, not wanting to arise suspicion, before scaling up the wall of a building. Nala followed close behind, her body shifting energy states from solid to electricity as she made the leap up to the roof of the ashy building.
They leaped across the rooftops for a while until Doc could see them: the Mandalorian with the child trailing behind him. The child, seemingly able to sense her presence, gazed his large, glassy eyes up to her direction. She stuck with them, covertly sneaking along edges to see where the drop-off point was located.
Every turn seemed random. It wasn't until he came up to a door and a gatekeeper droid appeared that Doc was certain it was the place.
She pulled out a pair of thermal-vision goggles from her side pouch and watched. There were certainly enough people inside to make this an Imperial drop-off location. Doc kept her focus on the child, especially when they started whisking him away from his hunter. She watched as the Mandalorian came back outside. When his visor started to shift in her direction, she hid behind the roof wall. After a few moments, she was sure the coast was clear and continued spying.
The Mandalorian disappeared into the maze of alleyways. Doc knew that to infiltrate the building right now would be a suicide mission. She would need to wait until it was darker – when there were fewer people on the streets and the cover of darkness would be her ally.
If she was going to do this, she needed to do it right.
"Are you in?" she asked her faithful companion. Nala wagged her tail in response and bore her teeth in the direction of the compound. "Alright, we'll wait a bit and then go in."
She waited in silence and stillness. When dusk was about to set, her time had begun. She popped a pill for courage and jumped down the side of the building and hugged the wall to the corner. When the coast was clear, she ushered Nala to follow her into the alley that ran beside the building.
On the side of the building was an air duct secured by a few screws. She pulled out a screwdriver from her side pocket and pulled the cover off. Nala went in first, the pale electricity from her body illuminating the air duct. Doc followed close behind, being sure to close the vent door behind her.
The air ducts of Nevarro were made of heavy ashen stone, no doubt a better air insulator than most other materials. They crept along the passage. At this moment, Doc was grateful for all of the stealth training she had ever had.
Nala used her exceptional nose to search for the room where they were keeping the child. Knowing how the Empire operated, they were probably already running experiments. They must have a lab somewhere.
Suddenly, the air duct shook violently. Nala and Doc exchanges nervous glances. An explosion? Here?
They crawled faster. Whatever had set that off was of no doubt a bigger ordeal for the troopers to deal with. Though the occasional crack, she could see their white armored bodies marching off to see what attacked the compound.
When Nala stopped suddenly, that was the indicator they reached their destination. Doc unscrewed a bolted metal panel off of the duct and jumped down silently, Nala following close behind.
Doc froze. This was certainly a medical lab. On the table, she saw the child in a sedation machine. There was a lab tech in the corner, going about his business. Doc hid behind one of the examining tables and peered over, trying to read the monitor he was working on.
When the lab tech turned his back to her again, she sneaked over and grabbed him from behind, putting her screwdriver to his neck.
"Make a sound and this screwdriver goes right through your left carotid artery," she threatened. "What are you doing with the kid?"
"P-please," the man begged. "If it wasn't for me, he would be dead already."
With this new proximity, Doc spared occasional glances over to the computer screen. Outside the door, she could hear more commotion. Two stormtroopers burst through, their blasters aimed directly at them.
Doc dropped the man to the floor.
"Nala!"
Nala sprung into action quicker than the mind could process her even moving. In a bolt of lighting, she tackled one of the troopers. Doc took the other, dodging his blasts as she made her way over to him.
She threw him against the wall and grabbed the blaster from his hand, up smacking his helmet in the process with all her might.
He ached and groaned beneath her before losing consciousness. She could hear a mechanical whirring sound behind her. When she spun around, she saw a surgery droid going in on the child. She took the screwdriver in her hand and flung it straight at the machine, hitting it dead in its eye. Doc rushed over, not even paying attention to the cowering doctor in the corner.
She gently picked up the child from the table. He was wrapped in some kind of cloth already. She hid him close to her chest under her hood and left the room, but not before shooting a death glare to the scientist.
"Don't make me regret keeping you alive."
And then she was gone into the darkness of the hallway.
In the next room over, it was pitch black. Sparks were the only occasional illumination. Whatever had come through here must have been a beast. Other stormtroopers lay on the floor, dead and unconscious mixed together.
Doc stepped quietly, keeping her back against the wall. Nala crept beside her, ears on high alert. When her ear twitched in a specific direction, Doc knew someone was coming around the corner.
She picked up a pipe on the floor and crouched down close to the corner. The footsteps neared. They were soft, but still present. Doc's grip on the pipe tightened. Once they rounded the corner, she would surprise them and knock them off their balance.
Instinct reacted before thought. As soon as she saw the tip of their blaster, she swung as hard as she could, timing it so that her pipe case into direct contact with their knee.
She heard a low grunt as they fell to the ground. Doc straddled them, pinning them to the ground, but when she lifted her arm for the final blow, her hand faltered.
"Mandalorian?" she asked, blinking a few times. He had pulled a pistol on her sometime during the assault, but even his grip loosened.
There was no denying it: it was the Mandalorian laying underneath her with pristine beskar armor.
"Doc?" he asked, equally as bewildered. She jumped up off him, pole still threateningly pointed at him as if she stood a chance.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed. Nala's wars perked up again. The Mandalorian pulled her behind some crates and they watched as a group of stormtroopers rushed by.
"I came back for the kid," he said in hushed tones. "I... you were right. But I haven't been able to find him."
"I did," she said, lifting up the edge of her cloak to show the child sleeping against her body. "We need to find a way out of here."
"Do you have a weapon?"
"No, my screwdriver is currently occupied at the moment."
"Here," he shoved his small blaster into her hand. "Shoot anything that moves."
"I'm not really a blaster kind of person..." she began.
"You are now."
She sighed and hesitantly held the blaster in her hand. She knew how they worked, but it was not her weapon of choice by far.
The Mandalorian led the way, with Doc and Nala in close pursuit. They hugged walls and hid behind crates until they came into an open room. There were four stormtroopers waiting for them at the door.
"Put down your weapons!" One ordered. The Mandalorian glanced at Doc and gave her a small nod.
"Easy," he reasoned. "What we carry is very valuable." They slowly sunk to the floor, placing their weapons down.
"Stay down," he whispered so that only Doc could hear. She didn't know what was about to happen, but she was not going to argue.
"Now cuff yourselves." The stormtrooper threw down two pairs of cuffs at their feet. At the same instant, loud hissing sounds erupted from the wrist of the Mandalorian. Doc instinctively covered the child with her body as the little darts flew by her face and into the bodies of the stormtroopers, all of them dropping to the ground. The Mandalorian picked up his blaster.
"Let's keep moving," he said. Doc picked up her own blaster and followed him outside.
It was nearly night time. The moons rose high, providing them barely any light. From all angles, Doc could feel eyes on them.
"Nala, get the engines warmed up," Doc muttered. Nala ran off into the night ahead of them.
"She can do that?" The Mandalorian whispered beside her. They passed several people. Doc could hear the beeping of the trackers in their pockets.
"She can run an electrical current through her body to shock the engines on. It's not exactly good for them, but I think they'll be okay just this once."
They continued on through the streets, taking random turns and backtracking to confuse anyone following them.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Doc, eyeing people on the rooftops above them, their silhouettes standing out in the moonlight.
They entered the main market area. They could see the ship just outside the city walls. Nala had worked her magic and she could see the steam billowing out of the landing parts.
They were being surrounded. A man blocked their path to the ship.
"Welcome back, Mando!" he called before showing his own blaster. "Now put the package down."
Doc could see the Mandalorian's hand hanging over his side blaster. "Step aside. We're going to my ship."
Doc stayed silent, hiding her face under her hood.
The other man chuckled. "You put the bounty down, and perhaps I'll let you pass." His gaze turned to Doc. "Made a friend, did you? Maybe she can take the fall instead. "
"They're both coming with me." Doc's hand tightened on the blaster.
"If you care about them, then you'll put the kid on the speeder and cuff her. Then we'll discuss terms," the man declared. Doc followed his finger to where the speeder was beside them.
"How do I know I can trust you?" asked the Mandalorian.
"Because I'm your only hope."
The Mandalorian turned to look at her and thought for a moment. He reached behind his back and pulled cuffs from a hidden place, slowly backing her closer to the speeder with arms on either shoulder.
She looked back at him. To move against him would be suicide for her and the child. In his helmet, she could see her own reflection: violet eyes filled with betrayal.
"Forgive me," he whispered. He pushed her into the cart suddenly and fired into the crowd before flinging himself on top of her.
Blaster shots began flying everywhere. Someone was shouting orders, but Doc couldn't make them out.
"DRIVE!" the Mandalorian shouted to the droid controlling the speeder. When he didn't move, he pulled his blaster on it. "Drive."
Doc poked her head over the side of the cart and aimed. She took out a few knees of bounty hunters, crippling them to the floor. A shot sliced into her right shoulder.
"Up top!" she shouted, gritting her teeth from the pain. The Mandalorian reacted and shot down the sniper on the roof.
They both lurched forward as the speeder crashed, the droid going up in sparks. Doc clung the child close to her. The Mandalorian pulled the rifle off his back and took aim.
Doc had seen what those rifles could do. They were banned in more systems than the hibernation chambers were. Her stomach lurched when it began charging up, knowing full well the pain experienced by those on the other end.
The other bounty hunters began taking cover as one by one they were zapped out of existence.
"That's one impressive weapon!" the man from earlier called out.
"Here's what we're going to do," started the Mandalorian, "we're going to walk to my ship with the kid, and you're going to let it happen."
"How about this: we take the kid, and if you try to stop us, we kill you and strip your body for parts."
Doc heard the movement behind them first. She whipped her head around in time to see a hurdling ball of sparks ram into their would-be attacker. Her eyes caught sight of another one on the other side of the Mandalorian. She pulled the trigger and the hunter fell to the ground, writhing in pain as he gripped onto his shoulder.
This erupted into a more aggressive firing than before. Nala crawled up between them, pinned to the inside of the cart as they were. The child stirred under her cloak and she pulled him out. He looked at them both with wondrously large eyes, oblivious to the conflict around them. The Mandalorian kept a protective beskar arm over all of them.
Doc just felt sorry for the kid. She had lived a life, even if it was technically shorter than his. By the Mandalorian's skills, she was certain he had seen his fair share of days. Even Nala had decades worth of life to attest to.
But this child underneath them both had never had the opportunity to explore and learn and live its life in a manner that gave it purpose. He had had the choice stripped away from him.
A missile shot overhead, but it was not in their direction. The shooting stopped for a moment and an uncomfortable lull washed over the courtyard. A hoard of Mandalorians appeared from behind the buildings riding jet packs. Carnage ensued below them.
"Friends of yours?" Doc asked, scooping the kid back up. The Mandalorian began to fire back.
"Get out of here," a particularly bulky one ordered as he flew down beside them. "We'll hold them off."
"You're going to have to relocate the covert," said the Mandalorian. The two men exchanged knowing glances.
"This is the Way."
"This is the Way," he repeated. He took Doc by the elbow and led her around the commotion before they erupted into full-on sprints for the Razor Crest.
Doc was faster than him and scaled the ramp first, the child in hand. Nala grit her teeth at something behind the Mandalorian.
"Hold it, you two," the man said.
"Oh, give us a break," Doc said, eyes meeting their perpetrator.
"I didn't want it to come to this, but then you broke the code," he said, blaster pointed straight at them ready for any sudden movement.
Doc saw the Mandalorian's glance at the hibernation control panel and understood immediately. As the hook flew from his wrist, her and Nala hugged the side wall behind him. Mist spewed forth, cloaking them. A few uncertain blaster shots flew across the hold, but one shot from the Mandalorian sent the man tumbling out of the ship.
Doc hit the button to close the ramp before climbing up the ladder, the Mandalorian close behind her. She placed the child in his crib before settling down in the copilot chair.
"Let's get out of here," she said. The ship lifted from the ground without hesitation. She set the destination for a random star system until they made a decision about their next move. As they reached the upper limits of the atmosphere, the large Mandalorian from earlier flew up beside them and gave a firm salute before disappearing into the clouds.
"I gotta get one of those," said the Mandalorian. Doc chuckled. From below her, she could feel the child knock into her leg as he reached up for something on the control panel. The Mandalorian reached over and unscrewed the handle from earlier and dropped it into his hands. He threw the ship into hyperspace once they were clear of the atmosphere and then turned completely to face her in his chair.
"A doctor-mechanic with combat training? Not exactly a common combination."
Doc faced him and crossed her arms. "How do you know I wasn't just lucky?"
"Lucky doesn't get you a shot in the same place every time," he said. "You hit eight people in the same spot – just above the right knee."
She clicked her tongue. "Are you getting at something?"
"What were you? Resistance?"
"I was a doctor in the war. I don't pretend to be anything more or anything less," she defended. He didn't seem convinced. "Besides, what difference does it make? I'm sure you have plenty of skeletons in your closet you don't see me prying for."
He stared silently. The helmet was driving her insane. Its T-slit gave her zero information about his thoughts. It was maddening to only know part of the story. She could feel nothing from him. Everything about the way he conducted himself was stoic and unexpected.
"You were shot," he finally said. Doc glanced down at her shoulder and the hole searing down to burnt flesh.
"It's minor, not even worth a bacta patch," she said inspecting it. "Look, if you don't want me on this ship then just drop me off at the nearest starport. Let's just cut the small talk as though either of us gives a damn about it."
"I still need a mechanic," he said. "And it wouldn't hurt to have a doctor around in case something happens to the kid."
Doc glanced down at the child who was cheerfully playing with the silver handle. "I have conditions."
"Oh, now you have conditions?"
"Fresh slate," Doc said. "I don't want any part in the bounties. You go after someone, that's on you. I am a doctor, after all. I have my own codes."
"Fine. Anything else?"
"If it's something revolving around the kid, we do it together," she said. "No more sneaking around each other's backs plotting."
"You were the one plotting," he countered. "But agreed."
"And if you die, I get the Razor Crest."
"Is that it?"
"Yes, but I'm going to need that last one in writing."
"And if you die?" he asked.
"I wouldn't dare be so reckless," she said with a sly smile as she clicked on the star chart database. They needed a destination – one that could make them anonymous quickly.
"What about this one?" Doc offered, pointing to a desert planet.
"You really want to be stranded on a desert planet for the coming months?" he asked. She let out a low chuckle.
"I was hoping you'd say something like that."
"Here, this one looks promising. Low population density. Sorgan. The wooded areas would be good natural protection."
"Seems like a decent spot."
"Looks like you'll finally be getting your trees."