25 | WANTED
Even after they left the inn to meet the sailor at the dock, Celeste told Mando she wasn't feeling well about their choice to go with that sailor to find the Mandalorian. Despite that, Mando still objected. They had no other path to take to find Mandalorian that could help them with returning the child to the Jedi. To be properly protected and trained by his own people.
So, only hours after the child finished his chowder, they were taking off on the sailor's ship on the planet of Trask. Celeste stood at the edge of the ship looking out over the sea, watching the dimples in the water shift over one another. There was a small, steady roll of a wave over the surface of the water moving. It seemed to always be there, unmoving, as the ship cut through the tranquil waters.
One of the shipmates aboard neared Celeste as they peered down on her engagement ring. It was the shiniest thing on board that ship, no wonder why it was going to attract unneeded attention. "Pretty little thing you've got there," the man chuckled lowly, getting uncomfortably close to Celeste.
Her hand began to hover over her concealed lightsaber, which she still had barely used after she had left Moff Gideon's guidance. She wasn't very agile with the weapon, but, she could certainly do some damage with the saber. Mando instantly spotted the man looming over her and approached the two. "Is there a problem here?" Mando asked the man, causing the stranger to take a step away from Celeste.
"No, just admiring that rock on her finger," the seaman snickered before heading off to do the tasks he was assigned to.
The child waddled over to his two guardians and stood between them. "Thanks," Celeste mumbled.
Before Mando could say anything else, the sailor that had invited them on the ship approached them and instantly began speaking--giving absolutely no alone time to the trio. "Ever seen a mamacore eat? Quite a sight." He nodded, pointing over to the square grate at the bottom of the ship. Mando and Celeste didn't reply to the man, only glancing over at him with a blank look.
Suddenly, the grate began to open. It looked like a cage of some sort. "Child might take an interest. Come take a look," the man offered as he walked over to the edge of the opened grate, which held a ton of dark water sloshing around inside of it.
Mando accepted the offer and neared the edge of the hole. A net of fish hung over the pit of water. Celeste watched the dark water carefully, searching for the beast that laid within. One of the shipmates released the net, allowing the fish to fall into the opened pit. Bubbles rose to the surface of the water, indicating that the beast was coming. "She must be hungry," the sailor chuckled.
"But, we missed it because we were going off port--" the man began, then he swung around and kicked the child into the pit.
Both Mando and Celeste gasped simultaneously. Celeste's first instinct was to jump into the water after the kid, but just as she was about to launch herself into the water, a pair of strong hands grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back onto the ship. The violent grab pulled her so hard, her back hit the floor of the ship.
She could only see the gray skies when she heard the screech of the beast and a loud splash of the water. Celeste screamed, struggling against whoever was holding her down. From the corner of her eye, she could see Mando jump in after the child and the beast. "Lock it up! Go! Go! Now!" She heard the sailor shout at his crew to close up the grate so Mando and the child would be stuck down there with the beast.
"Keep her pinned! Moff will reward us greatly for keeping her alive," the sailor chuckled as he hurried over to help hold her down. Soon enough a dogpile of men laid on her so that she couldn't escape. Celeste bit kicked and scratched as much as she could to get them off of her.
Moff. Moff. Moff Gideon. She thought. He must've wanted her back.
Celeste growled, pushing the thought aside for a moment as she struggled to reach for her saber. She just needed one finger to unsheath it, that way it would kill one man on top of her and she could take advantage of the moment and destroy the others.
Her fingers wiggled underneath the foot of one of the shipmates. She felt her fingers crunch more as he pressed his foot harder to keep her from moving. But, eventually, she managed to get close enough to the saber to release it and slice through any enemy she saw get in her way. She jumped to her feet the moment she injured one enemy. The hissing of the saber alone scared off the men for a moment before they began running at her once again. She twirled the saber and cocked her head at the men attacking her. Clenching her jaw, she spun on her heel and stabbed the enemies attacking her from behind. Without even looking, she whipped her saber behind her and offed another one that was charging at her.
She spotted a few blue armored Mandalorian land on the ship just as she slaughtered the last crewmate that was getting in her way to the child. "Looks like you didn't need much of our help, did you?" One of the Mandalorians spoke up.
"The creature, it has the child!" Celeste shouted as she began rushing over to the enclosure. But, one of the Mandalorian stopped her. "Whoa there, we've got it from here," he spoke as another Mandalorian opened up and jumped into the pit. The third and final Mandalorian hurried to the edge of the pit and helped Mando out of the water, who had been nearly drowning during those minutes.
"Let's get you all patched up," the strange Mandalorian man told her as he reached into a supply bag they seemed to have brought.
Patched up? Celeste thought to herself. She looked down and noticed the huge gash, gushing blood on her thigh. She hadn't even realized she had been injured whilst fighting the sailors. She was so focused on getting to the kid, she couldn't even feel any physical pain anymore.
Within seconds, the Mandalorian that jumped in after the child in the pit flew out on her jet pack and landed beside Celeste. Fortunately, the child was in his cradle like he typically was, and the cradle had been closed and protect the kid from the creature down below. The female Mandalorian opened up the cradle and lifted the frightened child. Celeste grabbed the child and pressed him to her chest, sighing in relief that he was unharmed.
Celeste limped over to the sopping Mando and took a seat beside him. The three blue beskar armored Mandalorians stood before them as they tried to recuperate from what had just occurred. "Thank you, I've been searching for more of our kind," Mando told them.
"Well, lucky we found you first," one of the women spoke.
The man approached Celeste with bandages to wrap up her leg. He kneeled before her leg to do so, but before he began bandaging her up, he removed his helmet. Celeste was shocked. Mando grew defensive. "Where did you get that armor?" Mando asked, growing angry as he had been seemingly deceived.
"This armor has been in my family for three generations," the red-headed woman spoke. She looked like the leader of the three.
"You do not cover your face, you are not Mandalorian."
"He's one of them," the man noted as he began to wrap up Celeste's leg.
"Dank farrik," the redheaded woman cursed.
"One of what?" Mando questioned.
The redheaded woman stepped forward toward Mando. "I am Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze. I was born on Mandalore and fought in the Purge. I am the last of my line... and you... are a child of the Watch." Bo-Katan told, ominously.
"The Watch?"
"Children of the watch are a cult of religious zealots that broke away from Mandalorian society. Their goal was to reestablish the ancient way," Bo-Katan tried to explain, but by the look in her eyes, it seemed that she wasn't expecting to convince the man.
"There is only one way. The way of the Mandalore." Mando growled defensively at them, standing up and walking away from the group.
* * *
The ride back to shore was quite awkward for the group as Mando didn't want to speak to the other Mandalorians at all. He felt lied to. He felt betrayed. And when they arrived back at the harbor, there was nowhere else to go but a pub for food and drink. And the other Mandalorian joined them, too. "Trask is a black market port, they're staging weapons that have been bought and sold with the plunders of our planet. We're seizing those weapons and using them to retake our homeworld," Bo-Katan tried to explain what they were doing on Trask, why she and Din were so different. But, he didn't want to hear any of it.
"That planet is cursed. Anyone who goes there dies. Once the Empire knew they couldn't control it, they made sure no one else could either," Mando brushed her attempts off.
"Don't believe everything you hear. Our enemies want to separate us, but Mandalorians are stronger together."
"That's not part of my plan," Mando mentioned.
Bo glanced down at Celeste's ring. "I see," she paused, "you want to return the child to the Jedi. Do you know anything of the Jedi?"
"Nothing."
Bo looked over at Celeste, knowing she wielded a Jedi weapon. At that moment Bo knew Celeste had told nearly nothing of her training to Mando. Celeste knew more than she was letting on. Bo smirked down at her food. "I can lead you to one of their kind, but... first we need your help on our mission."