Chapter: 7 Bo-Katan
Sirens sounded throughout the Mandalorian prison. Raptor's men hovered nearest the balcony, providing suppressive fire against incoming guards. "Come on," enforced Raptor as she yanked Evrus out of the cell. She hastily withdrew one of her blaster pistols and twirled it towards him. "Carden said you were quite the marksman. Time to prove it." Evrus accepted the pistol and stepped over to assist the other soldiers. Raptor returned to the cell and yelled into it, "You two! Hurry or you're getting left behind!"
Vala called back, "We're coming!"
Raptor shook her head, "Forget it. The rest of you, with me!"
They began to depart as Vala focused her attention on Dee. The frail woman had curled herself up into a trembling ball. She shuddered and gasped at the sound of every laser blast. Her widened eyes followed each sound with the utmost timidity. "Dee," Vala grabbed hold of her shoulders. "Dee! Look at me!" She gave Dee a rigorous shake, forcing her to make eye contact with her. "Look at me! We have to go. If we do not leave, we will be executed for treason."
"What if we die during the escape?"
"We won't die," affirmed Vala.
"I'm going to die," Dee panicked to herself. Her mouth quivered as she tightly shut her eyes. "I'm going to die!"
"DEE!" boomed Vala with another shake of Dee's shoulders. "You are NOT going to die!" Laserfire erupted outside and Dee averted her fearful gaze. Vala pulled her back. "Hey! Look at me. Focus on me. Breath. I'm going to get you out of here. You are not going to die. I promise. I promise. Okay?"
Dee gulped and rapidly nodded, "Okay." She struggled to maintain a steady breathing pattern.
"Good. That's it. Now take my hand." Dee's tiny hand rested within Vala's stern grip. "Okay. Just keep breathing and follow me. Okay?"
"Okay," whispered Dee.
Vala helped her friend up to her feet and led her out of the cell. Dee yelped at the corpse of a slain prison guard. "Don't look!"
Vala pulled Dee away and ran to catch up with the others. As she dragged her friend, Vala began to understand the truth behind Dee. The hacker was more than determined to bring about change, she just wasn't willing to actually get her hands dirty. It was easy to talk about doing such deeds, but difficult to actually set them in motion. Such a concept made Vala question why Carden even recruited Dee. Sure her hacking skills were unmatched, but she was apparently useless for anything else. Dee was living proof that the name "Mandalorian" was just a title. It did not signify that every person was a valiant warrior as Vala had once thought. Still, she felt responsible for Dee and strived to protect her.
Vala followed the trail of blasted bodies and listened for additional blasterfire. "Over there!" pointed a guard from the upper balcony. He and his fellow guardsmen fired stun blasts at the girls. Vala grabbed Dee and threw herself to the floor. They proceeded to crawl towards a nearby corridor that would take them out of the open. The guard growled upon seeing the corpses of his fallen comrades. "These terrorists have taken enough from us. Set blasters to kill!"
The other guard worried, "But sir...They're just kids."
He angrily pointed at the bodies, "And look what those kids did! Open your eyes. They'd do the same to you if given the chance." The reasoning had worked and the other man quickly set blasters for kill.
Their steaming lasers struck against the railing, scolding it to shreds. "Stay down!" shouted Vala while clasping on to Dee.
"Vala," huddled Dee. "I'm scared."
"I know! I've got you!" Vala held her friend tight as lasers blasted above. "I promise I'm going to get you out of here!" A wave of blasts zipped around them, scolding what remained of the railing into molten metal.
Vala heard a screeching from the corridor. Raptor had returned, her boots sliding to a halt near Vala and Dee. She crouched and pressed a button on her wrist-mounted device. "Stay down." Dee buried her face into Vala's neck while her protector watched. A sudden fizzing sounded from Raptor's jetpack. Sparks flared from it as a missile ignited from its base and blasted the guards on the balcony. The thunderous explosion shook the entire cell block, making it difficult for Vala and Dee to stand. Raptor hauled both of them to their feet. "Good to see you changed your mind. Now let's move." The trio rendezvoused with Evrus and the other two warriors. They were engaged in a fearsome firefight between tightly-packed corridors.
Such a closed setting heightened Dee's stresses. "I can't do this! I'm claustrophobic!"
"Just keep your eyes shut and hold on to me!" intoned Vala. Dee nervously gripped at Vala's collar and sleeve. She nestled her head under Vala's grasp as lasers lit the halls with hues of bright yellow. Evrus slid out from cover and blasted a guard in the head.
"Nice shot, rookie." said Raptor before taking point. Vala scavenged a pistol from the downed guard and blindly fired it to provide cover. Raptor ignited her jetpack and rocketed to the end of the hall. She delivered a swift, steel-knuckled punch to a guard's face as he poked from cover. She blasted his partner in the chest and twirled her blaster. "Damus, get this door opened."
One of her armored warriors obliged and sparked up his wrist-mounted fusion cutter. He slowly, yet firmly dragged the blazing device around the door, slicing right through it while the others defended him. Vala observed Damus' black, silver-streaked armor. She assumed that the serpent symbol on his helmet was the mark of his clan. She recalled her studies about ancient Mandalorian culture. No set of armor was the same, for each was intricately and painstakingly forged by the wearer. Yet such an impressive display of gear could still prove to be faulty. As soon as Damus kicked the sliced door down, he was immediately riddled with a storm of laserfire. One shot blasted his helmet clean off, permitting the next to strike his neck. The mohawked blonde fell before the others, twitching for several seconds before listing into death. The blaster holes across his body sizzled, and the smoke of such wounds ascended like a soul parting from its host.
Even if her face was hidden behind her sleek helmet, Raptor was certainly enraged. She uttered a violent caw and furiously lunged into battle. Vala and the others watched as Raptor elbowed a guard into submission and then dragged him to his feet at gunpoint. She pressed the blaster to his temple and advanced towards the other guards. Her hostage winced at the feeling of the blaster's steaming muzzle swiveling against his skin. While the rest of the security detail remained frozen with fear, Raptor shot each of them down in cold blood. Once the last fighter fell, she turned the blaster back on her hostage and pulled the trigger. She let the obliterated carcass slip out of her arms and slam against the cold, metallic floor.
Raptor cracked her neck, "Damus is avenged."
"I thought you warriors settled things with challenges of single combat," jeered Vala. "Are all of your proclamations of honor just a lie?"
Raptor glanced over her shoulder and then kicked one of the corpses, "These weaklings do not deserve our honor. They abandoned our ways and so we have forsaken them. Damus was a bold warrior, which makes it all the more despicable that he was murdered by these worms." She removed Damus' jetpack missile and attached it to her own. She then gestured her hand towards the other warrior. "Carry him, Kilan." Raptor then turned to Evrus. "I'm down a fighter. If you want to prove yourself as a warrior. Now is the time." She glanced back at Vala and Dee. "Keep up. Once we go through those ray-shielded doors, it's every Mando for themselves." She readied her blaster while simultaneously pressing the security panel. "I'm disappointed. Carden spoke of dedicated warriors, not fragile children."
Her words made Vala's blood boil. The blonde spat, "Carden spoke highly of you as well. Yet here you are, unable to get a ray-shielded door down."
Raptor grew aggravated by the youth's remark. Her flustered demeanor caused her to press on the panel's switches harder. Still the door's shields refused to deplete. Dee tipped forward, "I-I-" she trembled with a mousy whisper.
"SPEAK UP!" boomed Raptor.
Dee breathed deeply and raised her voice, "I can hack into the panel and override the controls. It will take some time so I'll need some cover."
Raptor paused before yielding the panel to her and defending the corridor. "Just make it quick."
Vala and Evrus patrolled the other mouth of the hallway just as a group of guards came in. "Contact!" alerted Evrus before the hall erupted into a another firefight. Raptor engaged the second wave of flanking guards while Kilan protected Damus' body.
"How's it coming, Dee?" asked Vala as she blasted a guard in the shoulder.
"Almost got it!" the hacker called back. Her skinny fingers intricately sifted through the panel's access cables. She gave them a tug and flipped the switch at the same time. The ray shield buzzed before receding into its emitters. "It's down!"
"Then let's move!" Raptor tossed a thermal detonator down each of the hallways and then hurled a third into the exit door. The hatch blew off, allowing sunlight reach the metallic interior. Soon, blaster bolts coupled the rays of sunshine as wall-mounted autoturrets fired down on the escapees. Raptor led the charge, sprinting across the prison courtyard and firing her pistol in every direction. The turrets were mere target practice for Evrus as he ran, blasting each weapon directly in the muzzle. Raptor slid behind one of the courtyard's barriers and the others followed suit. Kilan was nearly into cover when a ferocious laser bolt struck him directly in the helmet. The blast scorched through to his face as he fell over backwards, dropping Damus' body alongside his. "Sniper!" roared Raptor before angrily slamming her fist against her durasteel thigh guard. "Damn it!" She cursed having lost another fighter. She found herself stuck with three misfits amidst an intensifying war zone. Raptor began to rise and primed her rocket for launch. A hasty blast from the tower's sniper reminded her who had dominion over the situation. She tried moving faster, but Vala pulled her back as the sniper blast scorched by.
Raptor shoved Vala back, prompting her to yell, "Hey! I just saved your life!"
"I had that shot," intoned Raptor. "Never try to stop me again." Raptor readied herself for a third attempt when a series of high-powered lasers blasted the tower across its midsection. The entire structure came crumbling down, burying the sniper in a tomb of duracrete and ash.
The escapees looked to the clouded skies, searching for the source of such firepower. A Kom'rk class transport ship came sweeping in above them. Its engines whirred tremendously, producing enough force from the turbojets to even knock Evrus to the ground. The sleek yet intimidating spacecraft circled the prison while firing its mighty laser cannons. The majority of prison personnel were obliterated by the cannons or buried under rubble. Those lucky enough to survive were not foolish enough to return to combat. What had started as a prison break had unveiled itself to be a militant operation. Once its lethal flyby was completed, the Kom'rk hovered just above the escapees and opened its ventral hatch. Raptor used her jetpack to fly up into it while several Death Watch warriors rocketed downwards. While two recovered the bodies of Damus and Kilan, the other three extracted Vala, Dee and Evrus.
Vala tightened her body as her rescuer maintained a hefty grip. She spent her ascension staring into the warrior's soulless T-shape visor. "Thanks for the lift," she forced a smile. The warrior remained silent. "Well...this is awkward," sighed Vala while being lifted into the craft.
Another warrior signaled what Vala presumed was the cockpit. "We're clear! Let's move!" Gears began to grind as the ventral hatch doors veered inward. The warrior then shoved Vala into a chair and yelled, "Get those restraints on and prep for takeoff!"
Moments after Vala and the others had fastened their seatbelts, the ship maximized power to thrusters and soared above the prison. Val's head was violently thrown back against her headrest. The intense centripetal force pressed her further into the seat and rendered her mildly disoriented. The ceaseless shaking of her chair and various waves of nauseating turbulence prompted Vala grit her teeth. Her sweaty hands death gripped the chair's arms and she shut her eyes, leaving the ship's rapid motions to her imagination. She was unable to turn her head and could only yell from the gravitational forces pulling away at her body. The Kom'rk transport suddenly came to an abrupt stop, jerking the passengers forward for only an instant. It then pulled back slowly before a deafening burst propelled it straight again.
The ship stabilized, unlike Vala's churning stomach. She leaned forward and unbuckled with a groan that transitioned into a belch. Lurching out of her seat, Vala dry-heaved while the room seemingly spun around her. Dee rushed to Vala's side and began to soothingly rub her back. One of the warriors guffawed as he stood from his seat. "First time flying, lass?"
Vala sneered at the heckler. His words were enough to coax the nausea out of her. She would not give him or any member of Death Watch the satisfaction of seeing her weak. She refused Dee's assistance and stood up on her own. Evrus got out of his seat and asked, "Where are we going?"
"We've set coordinates for Carlac," replied Raptor. "Death Watch has small base established there."
"Carlac?" thought Dee. "But that's all the way in the Outer Rim!"
"The best place for a secret base," said Evrus.
"I thought Death Watch resided on Concordia," said Vala.
"We had to evacuate Concordia when negotiations with Count Dooku failed. If Death Watch was going to survive, it needed to be exiled once more." Raptor glanced at the bodies of Damus and Kilan. "The New Mandalorians have stepped up security. There wasn't supposed to be that much resistance. This all should have ended with a dead duchess and four new recruits. Instead Satine lives while Carden and two of my best are dead. So I get left with one potential, a reckless girl, and a fragile little womp rat.
Vala stepped forward and raised her voice in Dee's defense. "That womp rat is the best hacker you will ever meet and you owe her your life!"
Raptor gripped Vala by her chin and squeezed, "I owe my life to no one except myself."
Vala swatted Raptor's hand away, "Don't you touch me-"
THWAP!
Raptor backhanded Vala with enough force to bring her to her knees. The warrior's armor left a reddening patch on Vala's lower cheek. Soon the patch was painted by a faint streak of blood. The thin cut stung until Vala hissed with pain. "You don't tell me what I can and cannot do. I will do whatever I want to you or any of your friends," intoned Raptor. "When you left that cell, you signed yourselves to Death Watch. You will be disciplined. You will be warriors. The only alternative will be death. Now stand at attention." Evrus was quick to stand tall. Dee followed suit, forcing her lanky frame to straighten. Vala remained on the ground, staring up at Raptor as she wiped the blood from her cut. "Stand up!" barked Raptor. When Vala didn't move, she yanked her by the hair. Vala grunted as Raptor entangled her fingers in her blonde locks and pulled up until she stood straight. She retracted her grip, forcefully prying her hand from her hair, pulling it in the process. It felt as though some of it was being ripped clean from her head, causing her to grasp it with a yelp of pain.
"Not so tough now, are you?" chortled the heckling warrior from earlier. His words once again enraged Vala, this time enough for her to throw a punch at Raptor.
Raptor swiftly and effortlessly caught her fist. She delivered a rapid punch to her gut, causing Vala to buckle forward. Dee gasped but her own fears forced her to remain at attention. "Tenacious," said Raptor. "But very stupid. If you cannot submit, you cannot be trained. If you cannot be trained, you are useless to our cause. True Mandalorians function as a single force that is as equally unified as it is lethal. Your days of dreaming for a better tomorrow end today. Talking in code will no longer be necessary. "My name is Bo-Katan. Welcome to Death Watch."
