"So you really couldn't tell?"

Aqura grit her teeth. Mako was laughing at her! She'd been laughing since they left Mos Ila.

She tried again to get it to stop. "People don't lie to me a lot, okay?"

That just made Mako's grin wider.

"You know I'm never going to let-"

"Oh look, we're here!" Aqura practically sprinted at the cantina. Finally, a lead, and a way out of this conversation. She almost left Mako behind, which was fine with her at the moment. In the time it took her to scan the first room of the cantina, though, Mako was back with her.

"They keep the most decadent stuff downstairs. It's cooler down there," Mako said, and Aqura followed here downstairs. At least Mako was back to business. Still, probably best not to ask what 'decadent' meant.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Aqura decided it must mean, 'shady, criminal, and dirty'. Probably expensive, too. The lights were brighter and more colourful, the drinks on the walls more numerous and varied, and the dancers less dressed and more… enthusiastic.

And there, at the back, was a rodian with a chestplate and a blaster pistol, ordering around two dancing girls and yelling for a round for everyone.

The dancing girls moved away when Aqura and Mako approached.

"You sold out on your bounty," Aqura said to the little man.

"You sold out to your bounty," Mako added. "In the Great Hunt. That takes a special kind of stupid. You're not going to have much of a reputation after this."

Veeboo Lunx stood, looking more relaxed than he should. He started speaking, and Mako's translation software sounded in Aqura's helmet. Mako liked to read it, but Aqura found it distracting.

"Oh, it's you. My 'rival'."

"Rivals," Aqura corrected, though the translation continued.

"Welcome to the party," it finished.

Veeboo didn't spare Mako a glance, though that was probably because his massive compound eyes had better peripheral vision than a human's. He just continued, "you're probably wondering why an amazing bounty hunter like myself quit the Great Hunt and let Tyresius go."

The rodian took a drink, then offered the glass to Aqura. When she didn't take it, he put it back down and continued. "The answer's simple: more credits than I'd ever earn chasing bounties for the rest of my life. Even if I won the Great Hunt!"

"So you're just in it for the money," Aqura concluded icily.

Beside her, Mako shifted uncomfortably. Aqura put out a hand and brushed it on Mako's. The girl thought she was just in it for the money, too. She was wrong, of course, or they wouldn't get along so well, but until the slicer proved what she needed to… well, they'd have to see.

"Save it," Veeboo said. "All I ever wanted to do was retire in style. If you're looking for Tyresius, you just missed him. He dropped by a little before you. Said he needed a new ship."

The rodian laughed, which turned out to be a really unsettling combination of the human version and a throaty buzzing, all at a weirdly high pitch. "I sent him to the lady of pain," he said. "Can't wait to see what she does with him!"

Mako leaned over. "Did that sound capitalized to you?"

Aqura shrugged.

"Cuz if it did, I'm betting we don't need this sleezeball to tell us where the Lady of Pain is."

Oh, good point.

"You won't need directions," Veeboo said. "See, Tyresius tossed me a bonus to eliminate you. Thanks for making yourself easy to find."

Aqura moved at the same time Veeboo did, but she didn't go for her blaster. She lunged forward and punched him straight in the throat. She didn't pause to watch him drop. Instead, she turned, grabbed the hilt of a duros' stun baton, drew her blaster, and shot him in the foot. He fell, and Aqura stepped back. Mako had already shot Veeboo's other accomplice, yet another big human with a blaster and no idea how to use it. He was dead, but that wasn't Mako's fault. She wasn't experienced enough to take the chance at a less lethal shot.

"Nice move," Aqura said, nodding at her partner. Then she shot Veeboo in the chest. He'd been lying on the floor, trying to gasp for breath. "Uh… you speak Duro?"

"I… I speak Basic," the wounded Duros grunted.

"Oh, good," Aqura decided. "Mako?"

Mako stepped forward for more interrogation practice.

"This should be good."

"Good? She's called the Lady of Pain. With capitals. What part of that sounds good to you?"

"Well, she's with the Exchange. They always have the best guards."

"Please don't start a fight."

"..."

"Mandokarla!"

"I haven't had a decent fight since we got here, Sparks."

"Well, there were the bodyg- I mean, Vee- Uh… Those sand people?"

"Yeah."

Mako sighed in defeat.

"We could find a Krayt dragon instead," Aqura offered, and Mako glared. It came out a lot more squinty than usual, because of the glaring desert sun.

There was a clang that startled Aqura, until she realized it was herself, trying to wipe her brow. She'd had to turn off the electronics in her helmet because she was afraid of soaking ithem and ruining it.

"I think the heat is the worst enemy here," she sighed. "I thought this armour was going to protect me from that."

Mako made the mistake of glancing over, then quickly looked away. The glare off of the golden beskar was practically a weapon in and of itself. After she'd blinked her vision clear, though, Mako said, "I doubt your suit's environmental controls are powerful enough for this. You've been fine so far because beskar has a really high specific heat capacity, but we've been out in the heat for a while now. I guess it finally got to you."

"A high what?"

"It means it takes a lot of energy to heat it up. That's why beskar can take a hit from a lightsaber and not melt."

"But now I'm stuck being overheated?"

"Afraid so."

Aqura sighed dramatically and the pair kept walking.

After a few minutes, Aqura asked, "if it takes a lot of energy to heat up, does that mean it takes a long time to cool down, too?"

Mako gave her friend a surprised look. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

The mandalorian shrugged. "I guessed. Seemed to make sense. If it takes a lot of energy to heat up, there's a lot of energy to lose, right? I guess that means I'm going to be boiling for the rest of the day… are we there yet?"

"Just over that rise," Mako nodded, pointing ahead. She gave Aqura an exasperated look. "We wouldn't be walking so far if you hadn't insisted on leaving the speeder at Mos Anek."

"I wasn't risking somebody stealing it."

"For the price of parking, they might as well have."

"Haat," Aqura agreed. Truth.

As Mako had said, over the next rise was a hole in the mountainside that gave off a distinctly foreboding air.

"That's definitely it."

Mako nodded in agreement.

"You want to go first?"

"She's called the Lady of Pain. No, I don't want to go first. You've got the armour. You go first!"

"Aw," Aqura teased. "And you were so scary with your interrogating, too."

Mako, the picture of maturity, stuck her tongue out at her friend.

Aqura laughed and lead the way.

They made it approximately six meters past the entrance before Aqura froze, and Mako with her.

"I am Mandokarla," Aqura called out. "This is my partner, Mako. We're here for Tyresius Lokai, the devaronian who just arrived."

Seven sentients with rifles appeared from dark corners of the cave. All of them were aimed at the intruders. Mako drew her pistol and moved close to Aqura. Aqura raised her hands and primed micro-missiles and flamethrower.

Nobody spoke.

After a few seconds, Aqura said, "I bet we could kill six of you. Probably seven, if I got lucky."

"Aqura," Mako hissed, "not helping!"

"That won't be necessary," crooned a woman's voice from electronic speakers. "Come in, hunters."

"Said the spider to the fly," Mako muttered.

Aqura nodded. Apparently it was possible to get chills down your spine while sweating buckets. It was as unpleasant as it sounded.

The guards lined the cave walls and led them through the cavern into an actual metal-walled building. A massive one, dozens of meters high, with an exit into the open air large enough to lead a rancor through, and exits further into the base in the other two directions. In spite of the blazing sun shining into the main room, however, the room felt dark, decorated with dark metal and cages along the walls, with dried blood visible on some of the walls.

Aqura caught a glimpse of a shallow pit outside that told her exactly what all the showmanship was for. Her attention was taken, however, by the devaronian and rattataki taking on the other side of the room. Their voices carried well across the vast space. Probably because the guards and servants were too scared to make any noise around their mistress.

Ideally, there'd be a chance to kill everyone in charge here and collect on Tyresius' bounty to boot.

"Ah," rasped the Lady of Pain – a rattataki who dressed for the title - "The hunters, just in time for my auction."

She turned to look at Tyresius, who was handcuffed beside her, with three guns pointed at him. Less than Aqura and Mako had warranted, the mandalorian noted with satisfaction. The seven guards who'd led them in still held their guns on them.

"Now," the Lady of Pain hissed sweetly, turning to face her handcuffed prisoner, "isn't it time you introduced yourself properly?"

Tyresius chuckled in a self-deprecating way and raised his cuffed hands, as if to show he was harmless. "Well, I guess you've caught me. The name's Tyresius Lokai. You might have heard of me."

"I have," the woman purred. Aqura tried not to shiver.

Tyresius smiled. "Then you know the simply ridiculous resources I have on hand. Anything you want, to get me off-planet safely. And get rid of my pesky tag-alongs, if you wouldn't mind."

"Why, you-" Mako started, but cut off when a guard gestured meaningfully with his blaster. Tyresius might be the one handcuffed, but that didn't make the two of them any less prisoners.

The Lady of Pain, however, didn't look so much intrigued as amused. She gave Tyresius a long, knowing smirk, then dragged her eyes across Aqura and Mako's bodies like she was undressing them, and then undressing what was left. In her imagination, she was definitely flaying them alive. Lovingly. The rattataki woman grinned broadly and strode towards the two of them.

"That is tempting," she assured Tyresius, with a last insincere glance, "but it would be rude to eliminate the competition before I've heard a counter-offer..." She moved within centimeters of Aqura, molding her body to the beskar'gam without ever quite touching it. Basking in the metal's heat, she breathed, "well?"

Aqura really, really wanted to scream. If Mako weren't there, she'd definitely be taking the risk and just shooting everybody.

A spark flickered in her mind, though. One hint of understanding, of recognition, as much as she hated the idea. Trying adamantly not to squirm away from the Lady of Pain, Aqura said, "you're not in this for the money."

The rattataki's eyes lit up like pools of quicksilver, and she brought a hand under Aqura's chin, as if to draw her into a kiss. "Very good," she purred. Then she pushed herself back, scowling at Tyresius. "I find money dirty. And not in a fun way. I do, however, have a keen interest in gladiatorial contests. A match is scheduled for today, and I've lost my beloved champion."

The way she said beloved made Aqura shift a little closer to Mako. And away from the Lady of Pain.

"Whoever fights as my new champion could ask any favour of me." She gave Aqura a long, lingering, possessive look.

Aqura had never wanted a fight less in her life.

Tyresius, however, looked tempted. He opened his mouth to speak-

"I'm in." Aqura's mouth moved first. Blast it.

"Mandokarla," Mako murmured, "are you sure?"

No. No, she really wasn't. A fight was one thing. A fight for this woman? Something else entirely.

And there was Tyresius, smiling behind the woman's back. Somehow, this was working out in his favour, she knew it.

But there was the Lady of Pain, with those quicksilver-poison eyes, and all her minions with their guns pointed at Mako…

And, maybe, there was a little temptation to finally have a good fight, after the last few weeks.

The Lady of Pain didn't give her any time to change her mind. "Excellent," she crowed. She turned and sashayed back to Tyresius, who suddenly looked much less happy. "The auction doesn't seem to be going your way, Tyresius."

Tyresius frowned. "I wouldn't say it's going your way, either, Lady. Do you really think a fight between a Mandalorian and one of your pets or slaves is going to last very long?"

"Oh, it won't be my pets in the arena," said the Lady of Pain, "a friend has provided a brute of his own for the competition." Still, she didn't look as confident as she had a moment ago. "Still, you do have a point." She turned and looked Mako up and down.

Aqura stepped in front of her partner. "Nu d-"

"Alright."

Shabla.

"Mako-"

She cut off as Mako pushed past her.

"If you want a fairer fight, I can do it. Just make sure our mark has a bow on him when we come to collect." The girl turned to look at Aqura. "Keep an eye on him. He's slippery."

Aqura shook her head. "I'm keeping an eye on you. You just stole my fight, Sparks."

Mako smirked. "Of course that's what you've got a problem with. Look, get some ice on that armour before you get heat stroke, keep an eye on Lokai, and I'll see you when I'm done."

"While all this is very touching," the Lady of Pain said, "let's get to the main event, shall we?"

Mako nodded, and the rattataki crime lord led the way into the open sky and the fighting pit. There were people waiting there, on walkways that surrounded the pit on every side. Umbrellas covered tables with all manner of species seated there, sipping and snacking on foods that couldn't be native to Tatooine itself.

One man, in a full head-covering, strode forward to greet the Lady of Pain as she stepped out into the twin-sun light.

The Lady of Pain nodded to the man in a noticeably more conservative way than she'd treated Aqura. "Fell Dargun," she said, only a little curtly.

"This is your new champion?" The man glared at Aqura. "A Mandalorian? How can-"

Aqura raised her hand, then pointed a thumb at Mako.

"We felt it would be unfair to your little hound to fight somebody so dangerous, so we've agreed on the sidekick," the Lady of Pain taunted.

"Partner," Aqura and Mako corrected at the same time.

"Yeah, right," Tyresius muttered.

Aqura dropped a gauntleted hand on his shoulder.

"Ow, ooh, hot!"

"Tyresius," Aqura hissed. "Can I call you Tyresius?"

"I don't really get on first-name terms with most people trying to kill me," the devaronian said, all but blowing on her gauntlet to try to cool it down.

"Lokai, then," Aqura decided. "When all this is over, me and Mako are going to be deciding whether to kill you or turn you in to one of the many, many people with a grudge against you. We both know which of those is going to be more painful. Don't make me vote for it."

She patted his shoulder once more, then stepped away, towards Mako.

"So, who's..." She trailed off. Her question was answered.

Mako's opponent was a gammorean pig-man three times the size of Aqura in her armour. Which made her about four times Mako's size. He wore almost no armour, and carried an axe the size of Mako's chest.

"Osik," she finished.

Mako made a sort of choking sound in response.

The green thing snorted at them and stepped towards Mako aggressively. It took an effort of will for Aqura to keep from stepping in front of the girl again. Whoever it was, he squealed and snorted at Mako for a few seconds before Fell Dargun called him away.

"Mako," Aqura asked, "what did he say?"

"You don't want to know."

The Lady of Pain grinned and spread her arms wide as the gammorean lumbered down into the pit. "May the best fighter win," she proclaimed.

Mako's expression went hard. "I plan to." She pointed at one of the guards. "You. Get ice packs. Plenty of them." Then she turned to look up at Aqura. "Give me your right bracer."

"My right one? But all that's got is a pair of micro-missiles and-"

"I know," Mako interrupted. "Give it to me. And… don't watch the fight."

"Yeah, you're still not getting me to do that," Aqura laughed. She was already pulling off her glove and unclasping her bracer. "How many times have you gotten into a fight without me, Sparks?"

Mako scowled and held out her arm for the bracer. Once it was on, Aqura interrupted what Mako was about to say.

"Enough. Oya, ner vod."

Mako smiled. "Oya," she replied. "Let's hunt."

"Hey!" Fell Dargun's voice rang out across the arena. "Is this fight happening or not? Send in the meat!"

"We're going to kill him later," Aqura promised.

Mako looked about to protest, then she just shrugged and walked to the arena.

"You know she's probably going to die," commented an annoying voice at her shoulder.

"I already gave you one warning, Lokai," Aqura growled.

Mako had reached the bottom of the ramp at the arena's edge. The gammorean was standing in the middle of the arena, axe held ready in a stance that said a lot more for his bloodlust than his skill. At least there was that.

It wasn't that she didn't believe in Mako. She did. It was just… people died, when Aqura wasn't around to make sure they didn't.

Mako should have learned that by now, after her friend on Nar Shadaa…

"I was just curious why you would let her make such a risky move."

The gammorean let Mako get close. It was a long walk across the arena. Plenty of space. Why was she walking up to him?

"I didn't let her do anything," Aqura corrected him. "Mako does what she wants."

What did she have on her? She hadn't taken the flamethrower. The fight would have been over in a moment with that. Mako had her blaster, the carbonite spray, two missiles, and-

"We both know that's not true," the devaronian said, in the same tone as he might correct somebody on the direction of gravity. "She's learning from you. You might have had to insist, but she wouldn't have gone down there if you'd told her not to."

Aqura grit her teeth and watched the fight begin. Fell Dargun yelled, "kill her, Borga!" and the gammorean lunged forward. Mako dodged, firing her blaster as she skipped sideways and out of the way of a wild downward swing. Two of the shots glanced off of Borga's armour and the rest missed, then there was sand everywhere and Borga was probably nearly invisible from Mako's vantage.

Mako turned, set her stance, and put three blaster bolts into the gammorean's side. The alien roared in pain and swung wildly. Somehow, Borga couldn't see Mako, but Mako could see him just fine.

"Stars, she's a pretty good shot. You teach her how to do that?"

Aqura started at pressure on her shoulder, but it turned out to just be the guard Mako had sent off. He'd returned with some ice packs and, apparently lacking much sense, immediately pressed one of them against her shoulder.

She turned her head to stare when it started making a hissing sound. Steam was rising from where the gold plate met ice pack, the little dew drops on the container's surface sizzling as they dropped onto the beskar. Aqura and the guard traded a look, and the guard shifted his grip so he wouldn't brush flesh against the scalding metal.

"Guess Mako was right about the heat thing," Aqura marveled.

"Speaking of whom," Tyresius said meaningfully.

Aqura spun to look back at the arena. In the seconds Aqura had looked away, things had changed drastically. Mako was scrambling away from Borga, off-balance and centimeters from the swinging axe. The audience roared, hungry for blood.

Mako fired a few more shots, but Borga blocked them with his axe. At least that kept him from swinging it for a second, giving her just a moment to breath.

"So why doesn't she just use those missiles you mentioned?"

There were plenty of reasons why not. Because the bracer was loose without the armour, and hard to aim. Because micro-missiles killed with shrapnel alone, where larger explosives could kill just by being near someone when they blew. Because the sand deadened any explosion that hit it, soaked up shrapnel like water. So much more.

None of which she was telling to somebody who didn't actually care, even if she had time to explain. She watched as Mako got her feet under her and darted right past Borga, escaping the corner he'd been pushing her into, and said nothing but, "ne'johaa, Lokai."

"Alright, alright. Just wondering why you're teaching her to fight like you."

Aqura blinked as Mako tried to kick Borga in the back of the knee and knock him off balance. It didn't work, because Borga was already turning, and the kick didn't have enough force to snap his leg sideways.

If it had been Aqura down there, even without armour, the kick would have been faster, would have caught the gammorean's tree-trunk leg square in the knee and sent him toppling. Mako just wasn't as fast or coordinated as her. But that was just because she didn't have as much practice. Right?

Mako's mistake left her in a horrible spot when Borga swung his axe again. She tried to skip backwards, even to block the axe, but she didn't even make it back to standing before the blade hit her.

Her scream tore through the noise of the crowd. Aqura screamed with her.

Aqura didn't even realize she was moving until the Lady of Pain stepped in front of her.

"Usenye!"

"Hunter-"

Aqura's hand shot out and grabbed the woman by the throat, then tossed her to the side.

Then there was somebody else in her way. The devaronian.

"You're going to get her killed!" He yelled the words while dodging a punch that would have thrown him into the arena.

Aqura stopped in an instant.

Every guard around them had a blaster pointed at her. Every guard surrounding the arena had drawn their blaster. The Lady of Pain was picking herself up off the ground, rubbing her throat.

Mako was on her back in front of Borga. There was so much blood! It covered her entire left side. She was live, though. She had her right arm raised, fist pointed straight at Borga. It was her, with Aqura's bracer aimed at Borga, and the gamorrean bearing down on her, axe held high.

Before Aqura could throw all her caution away again, Mako activated one of the bracer's triggers, and Aqura breathed a sigh of relief. A sliver-thin dart, smaller than anyone could see, shot from the bracer and hit Borga somewhere – Aqura couldn't see exactly where, but she saw the effects. The green pig-man's muscles convulsed, his arms seizing and his legs going rigid. Electricity shot through his body, easily enough to paralyze even someone his size for a few seconds.

It would have been perfect, except Mako's blaster was on the ground meters away. Useless. Mako stood, and Aqura realized she was going to try attacking the brute. She opened her mouth to scream something-

"Hey, kid! Quit trying to fight and start trying to win!"

What?

Tyresius Lokai dropped his handcuffed hands to his side and shot Aqura a wink, then tilted his head to the side.

Aqura glanced in that direction and saw the Lady of Pain with a growing number of guards. Their guns were still pointed at the woman who'd attacked their boss.

Right. That had probably been a mistake.

"That was a big mistake," hissed the rattataki.

Mako was running. Not scrambling or retreating this time, but running straight for the edge of the arena. When she looked up and caught Aqura's eyes, though, it wasn't with fear.

Mako had a plan.

The Lady of Pain said something. Aqura ignored it. Mako was running straight for them. The girl stopped at the edge of the arena, with Borga close behind. It was hard to see, with the ramps and walkways between the fighters and Aqura.

She had her carbonite spray and two micro-missiles left.

"Get away!" Mako's yell carried just a few meters upwards. Terrified.

No. That didn't make sense. Mako had a plan.

Didn't she?

Borga laughed like he was clearing his throat, now calmly walking towards his cornered prey.

They were barely visible through the grating. What was Mako doing? Was that the carbonite spray she was using? Why would she waste it, warding off-

Oh.

The carbonite spray cut off, and Mako dove past the blinded gammorean. Once she'd gotten out from under the walkway, she turned, raised her right arm, and activated two triggers.

The missiles hissed through the air above Borga's head and detonated against two supports Mako had emptied her carbonite spray onto. A wretched screeching followed the two explosions as the supports snapped and the ramp buckled under its own weight.

Fell Dargun gave an animal scream, "Borga! My sweet, precious boy!"

Ha. Aqura turned away from the fight, satisfied.

And came face to barrel with half a dozen blasters and a very angry Lady of Pain.

Oh, right. Them.

"He's still alive," called Mako from below. She'd collected her blaster pistol and was holding it on an immobilized Borga. "If you want to keep him that way, let my partner off for whatever stupid thing she did this time."

"Huh," Tyresius commented, "could have used a partner like her on a heist or two."

None of the blasters in Aqura's face moved. They were starting to get disconcerting. At least the Lady of Pain seemed angry. It was much more comfortable than before.

Still, "would it help if I said I was sorry?"

There was a loud "slap!" sound from beside Aqura. She chose to ignore it.

"No." The Lady of Pain hissed. "Nobody touches me like that." She raised a hand high, and the guards leaned into their rifles.

Micro-missiles at this close range could probably kill most of the nearby guards. Beskar should protect from most of that. After that, it would be a matter of causing a big enough distraction for Mako to get out alive.

"Wait!" Fell Dargun ran between Aqura and the Lady, hands up in the air on both sides. "Wait. Don't kill them." He turned to Aqura. "Just don't let her kill Borga. He lives, you live. Got it?"

The Lady of Pain didn't look any less angry, but Fell turned to her and said something about an arrangement, so Aqura leaned over the walkway railing and yelled down, "get up here, Mako!"

In her helmet, Mako said, "you know I've been listening the whole time, right? And would it have killed you to keep an eye on the fight? I could barely see anything most of that time."

Mako walked slowly up the ramp, and Aqura tried to distract herself from the blood on the slicer's left side. "You told me not to watch the fight at all."

"Yeah," Mako grunted, reaching the top of the ramp, "because I knew you'd get in trouble. I wasn't going to just ignore an advantage, though."

Then the girl was at the top of the ramp, and her sister was on top of her in an instant.

"Osik, Mako, your arm. Osik, osik."

"Yeah..." Mako's arm had a gash in it all the way down to bone. It looked like the axe had come in at a shallow angle, dug in, and stopped dead at the carbonite bracer. There was a massive chunk of flesh hanging off, and Mako was holding it down as best she could. Her face was bone white.

Aqura reached out and grabbed the first person in arm's reach. It turned out to be Tyresius, which wasn't useful, so she let go of him and grabbed one of the guards who was still holding a gun on her. He glared back at her, but there wasn't much he could do to stare down a T-slit visor, and besides, he hadn't shot her.

"Get my sister kolto. Now." She let him go, and pointed back to the little base inside the rock hill. He was already turning, but she still added, "lots of it!"

"Uh, goldie?" asked a voice behind her. She turned to see Tyresius holding up a barely-conscious Mako. He had his arm around her and a med pack in the other hand, and looked overwhelmed. "Little help?"

The med pack was in Aqura's hands before she thought about it. It was a tiny thing, barely the size of her palm. She carried four on her belt, Mako carried three. Honestly, using more than one usually meant a trip to the hospital was in order, anyway.

Pain killer.

Disinfectant wipe. It hurt Aqura to pull the skin back even a little, to make sure she wiped the sand away from the wound. Mako didn't even make a sound.

Next, kolto injection. Around the wound, in this case. There was no guarantee of circulation within it, so it was best to spread it around and hope.

Next, bandages. With enough kolto, those might even be enough.

At least she didn't have to use the extendable splint. Small mercies.

"If you don't mind," Tyresius prompted, hefting Mako towards her.

Aqura nodded and took her sister into an armoured embrace. It wasn't comfortable, but the mandalorian held her gently, and Mako wasn't in much shape to complain, anyway. In a few seconds, the armoured woman had gathered up the smaller girl and was carrying her back into the base.

A few of the guards still held guns on her. That was starting to annoy her.

"Point those guns away from my sister, or you never point a gun again," she told them. Then, "someone take me to the med bay."

They must have one, after all. Even if it was just for people who'd survived the Lady of Pain's affections.

They did. Mako didn't stir all the way there, didn't make a sound.

Aqura put her gently down on a clean white bed and helped the med-tech take off her bracers and hook her up to a kolto IV.

Then it was done. Everything Aqura could do, at least. All that was left was to talk to the Lady, kill Tyresius, and wait for Mako to heal up.

This wasn't going to be one of the fun kills. Tyresius seemed like a decent sort, for a lying con artist. Like her sister, Dar'vao. Maybe Aqura could challenge him in the arena, make him think he had a fighting chance. That would help make the Lady of Pain happier, too.

The guard running down the hall was a bit of a surprise. Instinct prompted Aqura's hand to her blaster, but the woman certainly wasn't looking to start a fight. She stopped a few feet away, hands on her knees.

"Help," she wheezed, pointing one hand back to the arena. "He..."

Aqura was already gone. Whatever was enough to send guards running was enough for her to hurry. It took her less than a minute for her to arrive back at the arena, blaster in hand.

It didn't look as bad as she'd imagined. The same damage to the walkway as before, a few people stumbling around with hands on ears, and not much else.

"You!"

The Lady of Pain stormed from the middle of a group of guards, finger pointed directly at Aqura. The hunter nodded, unsure of what else to do, except to make sure her blaster never pointed at the person in charge of all the guards.

"Tyresius Lokai escaped! He attacked us with a stun grenade and now he's gone!"

Shabla, it was really hot in the armour, and- "Me'bana?" she asked, a little lost. "I thought he was disarmed. And handcuffed. I was gone for five minutes!"

"One of his horns was fake," the crime boss hissed.

Kandosii, Aqura thought. That's one way to keep from being disarmed.

"That devaronian humiliated me in my own home. You're going to track him down and kill him for me."

There was yelling from the base, and another guard ran out to them all, stopping at the Lady of Pain's feet. "Stole a swoop bike," he gasped, "and a hyperdrive regulator."

"He's going for his ship," Aqura realized. That wasn't good. It was a long trip and a big repair job, so it would give her plenty of time to catch up, but it was a lot of time in the suns, and she was feeling faint from the run in the base.

"Then get him," snapped the Lady. She moved back way too close to Aqura, and her eyes shone that poisonous silver. She pressed something into Aqura's hand. "Find him. Track the bike. Kill him for me, slowly, and I may just forgive your disrespect."

"Treat Mako well, and I'll do better," Aqura replied. The device she'd been given showed a dot rapidly heading north. That was manageable. She pocketed it and continued, "have Mako give you our holonet address, and when you find someone worth fighting, I'll show you how a Mandalorian fights."

Now the light in the woman's eyes shone in a whole different way. That wasn't anger or greed. That was lust.

It turned out Aqura didn't like people who liked fighting more than her.

"Deal," the rattataki purred. Then she waved her hand dismissively and turned away.

"Ah," Aqura said, wondering if she should push her luck, "one more thing."

The look in the Lady's eyes when she turned around said that luck was indeed being pushed past breaking. Either way, though, the request had to be made, so Aqura made it.

"Can I get some more ice packs?"