CHAPTER 10: THE RESCUE
Cara Dune controlled her breathing, and moved forward quickly with bent knees keeping her blaster scope pressed up against her nose and steady on the target. She was favoring the Death Trooper blaster lately, it was small enough to move into tight areas and powerful enough to get the job done — for most of her ops. And she had plenty of them after the busy week she had endured.
This outpost had been found on the last unscheduled scan of the settlements surrounding the city. Cara had a sinking feeling that the forces Gideon brought had not been completely revealed. And what bothered her more was that a man of such resources did not have a Star Destroyer over head. High level Moffs commanded entire sectors. Moff Gideon was an Imperial Security Bureau commander. Based on his specific battle prowess she suspected he was Enforcement Branch. If he truly had only a few squadrons at his disposal and a shorter range TIE-fighter then his mission was clearly not popular among the remaining Imperials. That made him a zealot, which was worse.
She held her position, her sights still on the door. Then her team moved at her signal, the charges blew the door and she led the strike team in. She screamed for all of the troopers to surrender — and they did not comply. Blaster fire and smoke filled the air and the strike team cleared the building as the snipers stopped escapees as they tried to flee.
If the Moff was a zealot, bent on retrieving the Child at the expense of all of these Storm Troopers, Death Troopers, artillery and vehicles, then he had to have an escape plan. They may have only been dropped on Nevarro to achieve their goal, but someone else had to be coming.
Sometimes exit strategies failed, the extraction team never arrived, and Imperials were stranded as the infrastructure slowly broke down after the fall of the Empire. Cara had seen planetary resistance win the day over and over again. However, failures usually happened when Imperial resources are underestimated.
Within minutes Cara continued further into the building alone, her team preoccupied with the other occupants. Yet, Following her instincts, Cara could still hear voices down the hall. As she inched closer she heard words like, "Hurry!" and "Destroy it!"
She kicked in the door and found two men in Grand Admiral uniforms destroying data tapes. She shot the Admiral by the incinerator in the chest and turned her rifle toward the other one.
"Moff Gideon is dead. Is what you're destroying really worth dying for?"
The man's hands shook, "You don't understand. Gideon cannot be killed. You tried. We tried. He doesn't die."
Cara stared at him. The man was obviously disturbed. He was sweating through his uniform.
"If you won't kill me, then he will." He dropped the disk he was holding on the floor before her. "I followed these men for fear of my life for years. The ship should have come days ago. It's over. Kill me."
Cara picked up the data tape, then looked back at the Admiral. "Not yet," she stunned him to the ground.
"It's records. Thousands and thousands of records. On all of us. Even on you." Cara put the pad down in front of the Armorer, who picked it up and started to scroll.
"This is a full manifest of the city," she said impressed.
Cara started to pace. "As part of their planning for the attack they must have evaluated us all. I'm sure they already had plenty of information on me which was easy to recall when I showed up at the city edge, but I've found Greef, all of the Guild members on Nevarro, and even what looks like nearly a FULL manifest of the Tribe — going back to records from Mandalore."
The Armorer suddenly stopped as she found the list of the Tribe names, and many of them were listed as deceased.
Cara caught her stunned silence and rushed over with her hands up. "Wait — look again…"
Cara typed in a code, and suddenly many, but not all, of the designations shifted, from deceased — to captured. The Armorer looked up at Cara in awe.
"Courtesy of our one surviving Admiral of Moff Gideon. They are alive and on Moff Gideon's prison ship, still orbiting Lasan."
Din paced in the garden. He kept a watchful eye on Tarre who was playing with some of the younger children of the House. These playmates were younger and less disciplined than his friends back on Sorgen. They laughed and screamed but also sometimes did not share and even pushed each other. Tarre looked to Din to decide how to handle these interactions. But overall he enjoyed the play, and began to make some friends.
Watching over Tarre's development took Din's mind off their mission. And it gave him hope for what their future might look like if they decided to stay on Mandalore.
Din and Zaral had been trying to contact House Wren but the calls had gone unanswered. Zaral was beginning to fear that yet another Clan had been wiped out.
Mandalore was in a tenuous state. The surviving Clans were trying to craft a vision for the future. The Warrior Clans and the Peaceful Clans now were about equal in numbers. Their ways similar but old prejudices from the Era of Peace remained. Most of the Warriors still followed the Way, but the Peaceful removed their helmets when not in combat. They all revered Bo-Katan, but none could develop a majority in leadership. Decisions were made laboriously by vote. Din watched it all incredulously.
Din was not a leader or a politician. He agreed that how resources were to be used needed to be agreed upon, but the greater good was clear to him, yet apparently not to others.
He paced around the play area again watching the kids decide who would chase the others. Tarre was elected, likely because physically he was not quick on his feet. Din watched with a slight twinge in his stomach, not wanting to see his son fail at a game. Be careful, ad'ika.
Suddenly at the shout to begin, Tarre crouched and looked around, and hopped up in the air like a frog, and landed on the back of the largest child who was running away from him.
Tarre laughed and laughed at his victory, even as the larger child pushed him off with irritation. Yet, the larger child did concede defeat, and the prize, a sweet bread, was given to Tarre solemnly. He ate it with gusto and the kids cheered as Tarre giggled.
Din sighed in relief, and then a beep on his gauntlet startled him. He waved at Tarre to call him back.
"Zaral, Paz is listed on the captured. As well as dozens of the Tribe, and even more warriors from Mandalore going back to the occupation. This list was updated the week Moff Gideon was killed." The Armorer spoke with passion as she stood next to Cara Dune and Greef Carga.
Zaral looked over at Din who was silently listening to the story of the ambush.
Din looked back at Zaral and nodded.
"House Vizsla thanks you for the information, and we will immediately mount a rescue mission."
Cara then stepped forward, "Wait a second, this is her Clan!"
The Armorer put a hand up, "Cara Dune and I would like to accompany this rescue mission."
Zaral nodded, "Of course. This is the Way."
Greef lifted his hand up, as if to silence the room with his authority, and they all turned toward him. "I may need my chief enforcer. She has concerns that a Star Destroyer may be on its way, just behind its original schedule."
Cara sighed, "My last operation which revealed this information also gave us a high ranking officer to interrogate. He would have us believe that there was an exit strategy after Gideon had completed his mission and attained — the Asset."
Din put his hands on the holodisplay and looked directly at the Armorer and Cara. "Do you believe him?"
Cara slowly nodded, "The story fits with post-Empire protocol, however, Gideon does not appear to be entirely following post-Empire protocol. He had resources, to be sure, but they seemed limited considering his rank. I'm really not sure what awaits us. It could be over — or it could be just the beginning."
Din felt his anger rising. "This operation will be over in a matter of hours, Carga. Your Chief will be home in less than a rotation. And if you negotiate well, you could gain the support of the Mandalorian Tribe."
Carga opened his mouth to protest, but at the mention of gaining Mandalorian protection he closed his mouth and it grew into a grin.
"Agreed."
Din continued, "Give me 12 hours to outfit the Razor Crest. We will bring twelve, and adding you two will make fourteen."
A loud squeak interrupted him from behind that said, I'm coming.
Din turned to give Tarre a look. He knew that he had put Tarre in far more perilous situations. But his questionable parenting choices had been mostly due to desperate circumstances and no other safe options. This time they had an entire team and by comparison he was far better protected. But they also had support and a home base where he could leave Tarre. But as soon as he thought about leaving him he saw Tarre narrow his eyes at him and Din felt the thought, You swore you would protect me. I will never leave you unprotected.
Din thought, But if anything happened to you, I — would have nothing.
Tarre frowned. I'm coming, I will find a way.
Din sighed, "Fifteen."
Cara's eyes widened. "The Kid? Are you serious right now?"
Din turned back to Cara, "See you soon. Djarin, out."
Cara and the Armorer watched the Razor Crest descend in the night sky and gently touch down. It's landing lights were more a courtesy as it could land in complete darkness due to its sensors. The main hold door slowly opened up to a ramp and Cara immediately jumped up on the ramp before it had descended completely onto the ground.
Tarre ran out to her and she knelt down and nuzzled his face gently. "You did a great job. Your dad's still walking."
Din met them on the ramp and before he could get a word out, Cara sucker punched him on the flank, just outside his Beskar chest plate. He groaned but remained upright.
"Your strength returns, Din Djarin," said the Armorer slyly, as she passed them all on the ramp carrying her weapons.
"Yeah," said with his usual gruff voice, then he turned to follow Cara as she carried Tarre inside.
He closed the door as Zaral introduced each of the warriors to Cara and the Armorer. Then Zaral turned to the warriors and gestured to Cara.
"This is Cara Dune, a rebel shock trooper and Daughter of Alderaan. She aided Din Djarin in his quest to save the Foundling, Tarre-Haal of House Vizsla."
Cara caught that reference to the Child and turned to Din who looked back at her and nodded. Cara lifted her brows gave a frowning nod, giving grudging approval.
Finally, Zaral gestured to the Armorer. "And this is my oldest friend. She took many of our Clan, and many others to safety after the Great Purge. It is her Tribe that we seek to recover. And perhaps many more."
Zaral stepped aside and the Armorer looked at the entire team.
"The prison ship is an ISB ship that holds political prisoners and high risk assets. There is over two hundred prisoners, but if the information is correct we will be liberating fifty-three. Not all of the prisoners are named so we will need an updated manifest when we arrive on the ship."
Din spoke up. "That will be in the command center, and there will likely be at least one living guard, so I will bring some gas to disable him," he said with confidence. Cara looked at him and lifted a brow. "I've got — some experience."
The Armorer continued, "Obviously we can't remove the prisoners with this ship so we will have to procure two transports in the hangar. We will need two pairs to stay in the hangar and commandeer the ships. It is the most important job, keep the escape ships ready to go for when we arrive with over fifty possibly injured prisoners who may be unable to fight. You will be our ticket out."
"I will lead the hangar teams," Zaral said with authority.
Din turned to her and nodded.
The Armorer gestured to Din and Cara, "The three of us will each lead a team of two and sweep the three sections of the ship, starting with the command center.
Din then stepped forward and held up a holodisplay showing their flight pattern. "I obtained this approach from a previous mission, it will allow us to avoid detection and jam their signals. We will have plenty of time to execute the rescue — the departure will be — complex."
Cara dune held up her data pad. "The transports will have overrides which will need to be entered manually, and then their trackers will need to be disabled. Then we are home free."
Din looked over at Cara, and she smiled at him for the first time. She then looked back at the Armorer who nodded to Zaral who nodded to Din.
"Let's bring them all home," Din said loudly, and all fifteen warriors cried out lifting their fists, including Tarre.
Din lifted Tarre up to the command deck as usual and then followed up the ladder. He sat in the command chair, and Cara and the Armorer followed. Cara picked up Tarre from his usual seat and sat him on her lap. The Armorer sat in the secondary ops position, across from them.
As soon as they were off the ground, Din eased the Razor Crest upward through the atmosphere and accelerated toward the hyperspace lanes. He checked the read outs of the prison ship location, and it was still exactly where expected, orbiting Lasan. He laid in his course to Lasan to exit the hyperspace lane above the ship. The landing maneuver he would program in more detail while they were in hyperspace.
Din pulled the hyperspace lever, and they were on their way. Tarre giggled with excitement and Cara was speaking softly to him.
"So — do I need to start calling the Kid — Tarre-Haal?" Cara said with her eyebrows raised.
The Armorer answered. "It is an ideal name for him. He is named for the only Clan raised Jedi in history, Tarre Vizsla. And he is named, Haal, because he is a healer."
Din nodded, but did not reply.
Cara nodded and frowned looking down at Tarre. Then her curiosity got the better of her. "And when did all of these people from House Vizsla show up?"
Din stopped programming the arrival approach, and fully turned around to face her.
"I was saved as a boy during the Clone Wars by Death Watch. Death Watch was founded by Pre Vizsla. His brother, Sarin Vizsla, saved me and the fighting corps was my home ever since. Sarin's son, Paz Vizsla, became my brother."
Cara's eyes were wide. She had some limited knowledge of Mandalorian history, as told to her by other Mandalorians. She turned to look at the Armorer who nodded in affirmation.
"Wow. Wow. So...does that make you like a prince or something?"
Din stared at her for a second, "No." And then he turned back to his console and continued to program.
The Armorer looked back at Cara who shrugged and whispered, "What did I say?"
"The death of his older brother, Paz Vizsla, would put him in line to inherit House Vizsla," said the Armorer decisively.
Din did not respond, because he would not allow that possibility, not while there was renewed hope. He focused on his program.
The Armorer, however, was not done. She stood up and said, "It is a contingency you must face, Din Djarin. If in any way if Paz is incapable of leadership, you will be considered by the House when Zaral dies."
She then exited the cockpit, leaving Cara to sit in silence while Din worked. Tarre looked up at her and sucked on his Beskar Mythosaur quietly.
"Tarre-Haal Vizsla. It's nice to meet you. At least you're kinda relaxed," he cooed back at her and tilted his head against her arm and settled in to sucking on his Mythosaur.
Cara looked back at Din and considered attempting to strike up a conversation, then thought better of it. He was intent on programming the landing. If he found some semblance of focus in that task, she would let him keep his mind off the fate of his brother.
Din's mind, however, was anything but focused. It was moving constantly from his task to thoughts of all of the people he had lost — especially those he lost recently.
He thought of IG often, but as he programmed the final approach, he knew that IG's programming would be more reliable than his. He also wanted IG's sharp shooting skills on this mission. And his healing skills. Almost on queue, Din felt a slight ache where his head wound had been healed by IG, and he brought his head down to his hand.
"You ok, buddy?" Cara said quietly.
Din looked up, he had actually forgotten he needed to hide his pain because she was still sitting there.
"Yeah. Rough few weeks. I know you've had a busy time too."
Cara huffed, "Well, I haven't quite been through what you have."
Din did not reply. But after a few moments, he turned his chair around. "I never thanked you."
Cara blinked, "You don't have to. I know what Tarre-Haal means to you. And — now — I know what Paz really means to you too."
Din shook his head, "That's not what I mean."
Cara's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Thank you for trying to save my life. For being the one who — pushed me to keep going."
Cara shook her head, confused, "But — I didn't succeed, you had given up. IG saved you. Nothing I said to you made a difference." Cara bit back tears and whispered, "And then I left you behind."
Din couldn't believe she didn't know what she had done. "Cara — I only let IG help me because — you are the first — friend I've had in ten years. And then, you respected me — enough to let me meet death how I wanted. There is no greater honor."
Cara frowned. "Yeah, well, your honorable death was not what I wanted." She looked away as she failed to hold back her tears. "Because you were the first friend I'd had in quite a few years too."
Din stared at her. "Then why did you leave my helmet in place? You could have easily taken it off me."
Cara looked back at him and narrowed her eyes. "Because — I would have saved your life — and then you would have hated me, friend."
Din stared at her, unmoving. He could not deny her statement.
She suddenly got up, Tarre squeaked a complaint at his comfortable lap being disturbed. She set him back in his chair gently and stroked his ear.
Din stood with his hands up, "Cara, stop — I was trying — to tell you how much you —"
"Mando," the name had rolled off her tongue without thinking, but after she said it both of them felt the sting. "You follow the Way. I will always respect that. But if in our adventures I'm faced with that choice again, between saving your life or honoring 'the Creed' — I know now, after carrying my guilt the last few weeks — that I will never be able to live with myself if you died because of my choice. So if you can't agree to that, then I'm not sure you're gonna want me around much."
She turned and walked out the cockpit door which slid shut behind her.
Tarre squeaked, and Din could feel his distress. Din reached out and picked him up to calm him, then turned back to his calculations but only stared at his console.
Cara was down in the hold staring at a room full of cold faceless helmets. She was cleaning her weapon and planning her future — without Din and Tarre. And then Din's voice came over the loud speaker.
"Everyone, we are about to reach our destination. The ship will be pitching to avoid the sensors of the ship while jamming their signal. You will be tossed at several awkward angles, so brace yourselves. Coming out of hyperspace... five…four...three...two... one."
Cara had herself wedged in the door of the sleeping bunk, but she still felt the severe pull left and then her stomach drop as they thrusted down. They changed direction at least a dozen times, and then suddenly she heard a magnetic clamp below her.
Almost as soon as the clamp was in place, Din jumped down from the command deck, and then reached up to bring Tarre down. Cara felt her anger swelling again at the thought of Tarre being put in danger, but then he handed Tarre off to Zaral, who was leading the ship mission. He would be relatively safe and accounted for on the ship with Zaral. Tarre climbed up onto Zaral's armored shoulder and watched intently the preparations. Then he turned to look at her, and she suddenly felt an emotion she could not describe coming off of Tarre in waves, Stay safe.
Din knelt down and pulled up the grates covering the ship to ship portal. He then set his code breaker onto the hull and the computer worked to open the hatch within seconds. The air lock release hissed as the hatch opened and Din eased his head down into the ship.
All clear.
He lifted his head back up and whispered, "Strike One, Two and Three with me, to the command center! Ship One on comms, Ship Two and Three to the hangar bay!"
Din looked up at Tarre and saluted to him, then dropped down onto the ship. Cara saw Tarre squeak quietly, and look worried. She closed her eyes and sighed.
Two Mandalorians on Din's team followed immediately, then the Armorer and her two team members, followed by Cara and her team. The two ship teams slipped out last, and immediately jogged down the hall to the right. Din however, had already headed straight down the hall they had entered and the other two teams followed.
Using only hand signals, they started a cycle of jamming each camera they encountered, and when a standard group of four to six guard droids happened upon the team Din took the leader, followed closely by other team members immediately dispatching the rest.
Bringing up the rear and due to the size of their team Cara and the Armorer usually kept watch for additional droids while the Mandalorians did their work. Cara did not mind being sidelined, droids just weren't her thing, and the Mandalorians seemed to enjoy tearing them apart.
Just outside the command center Din produced a droid computer port arm that he had obviously removed from one of the guard droids. He used that arm to unlock the command center with a few short turns of the data port.
Silently, he tossed in a gas bomb, and closed and locked the doors behind it. Within a few seconds, the single guard inside stopped kicking the doors, and passed out.
Din opened the doors again, confirmed the gas was inert, and the entire party entered. "Ship One, this is Strike One, we have entered the command center. Have the ship teams made it to the hangar?"
"Strike One, this is Ship One, targets acquired, reprogramming trackers now." And Tarre squeaked at the end of the message so Din would know he was fine.
Din nodded, "Ship One, this is Strike One, we are accessing the manifest, now."
The Armorer was at the data console and was already downloading information. "Strike Three, start at cell block three hundred, and then move back to the hangar."
Din was now at the security station, and had started shutting down all related systems. "I can't shut down the droids, but I can kill all cameras and data systems, like the mouse droids. The guard droids, are independent, you will have to take them down." He turned back to Cara with concern in his voice.
She narrowed her eyes, "Got it."
The Armorer handed a small data pad to Cara, "These are your cells with the lock codes, GO!"
Without looking back, Cara took off running, she had the furthest to go.
The Armorer took her pad and then handed Din his. "Take block one hundred, I suspect the highest ISB security risk prisoners are there." Then she turned and took her team to block two hundred.
Din looked down at his list and he only had twelve prisoners. He quickly scanned the list and did not see Paz listed — in fact, all were redacted names.
Din called to his team and the three began checking the cells. The first three were former Mandalorian Representatives, all captured after the Purge. The next six were all former Mandalorian military, high ranking commanders. The next two were from the Tribe, and one was missing.
They had all been mistreated, and all military of course had been stripped of armor. But the only two who looked rough from recent battle and questioning were the Tribe members, but they could still walk. And, they had an idea of where the last prisoner was.
"Din, it was Paz. He found us after the Imperials captured us on Nevarro. He tried to rescue us alone. They captured him just before we were all moved to the prison ship. He is in the torture chamber."
Din's mouth went dry. "Where is it?"
They shook their heads. "They never took us out of our cells here on the ship. And they never brought him back."
Din was back on his comm. "Strike One to Two and Three. Has anyone found a torture room?"
"Negative, at Strike Two" replied the Armorer.
"Negative, at Strike Three, and our prisoners en route."
"Ship One, copy that Strike Three, Ship Two is ready to receive."
Din's heart began to pound. "Go, head to the hangar without me. I have to find him."
"What do we tell the team?"
Din turned to face them, "Tell them where I went. I'll get him out."
The team and the prisoners exchanged glances, and then moved out. Din looked back at his pad and searched for a map but found none. He stuffed the pad in his pocket and started down the hall searching for the room.
"Strike Two to Ship One, all prisoners accounted for, en route."
Din ran down a second, and then a third hall.
"Ship One, copy that Strike Two, Ship Two and Ship Three ready to receive."
Din was nearing panic. Every door was a cell. There was no other rooms. The ship was only two levels, prisoners level and then supply and hangars below. Din headed back to the command center.
"Ship One to Strike One, ETA?"
"Strike One to Ship One, arriving at the hangar now."
"Ship One to Strike One, where is your leader?"
"Seeking Alpha target, Ship One."
Din arrived back at the command center, and directly to the right was two large unmarked bulkhead doors. Doors like that were meant to protect an important area for the officers only. He tried the data port, but droids were not admitted. He ran back to the living guard and took his ID pen, but even he did not have clearance.
"Din," a voice behind him broke through his panic. He turned and found Cara standing there. "Move aside." She raised up her fist and showed him that she held multiple ID pens from the highest ranking officers in Moff Gideon's entourage who she had personally dispatched in the last few weeks. "One of these will open it."
Din was so out of breath from the adrenaline flushing his system he couldn't speak, he moved aside and drew his blaster to cover her as she worked. The first two ID pens failed, but the third one immediately opened the door.
Din and Cara moved inside with weapons up and the doors closed behind them. The room was dark, and held a desk and chair, and several cabinets and lockers, but they did not see anyone.
Din switched his vision to heat signature, and turned the corner to what looked like a small kitchen and saw no one. Cara followed, but then turned back to the cabinets. She realized they also were ID pen locked. She pulled out the ID pen that had opened the office door and inserted it into the cabinet door.
The black glass opened to reveal not a cabinet but a concealed conditioning room. And she heard a mournful sound coming from inside.
"Din! DIN! Get back here now!"
Din followed Cara inside and they found a bald man, gaunt and sallow, with skin hanging from recent starvation, strapped to an interrogation table that was tilted upright. His restraints were holding him on the table, and he was shaking as Din approached.
Cara kept watch while Din quickly removed the restraints at the knee and ankle, but when he reached up to the wrists — he saw something that made his blood run cold. It was the scar from a vibro-knife injury Din had inflicted on Paz when they were kids. Paz did not tell their father because he knew he had goaded Din, and he did not want Din to incur the wrath of Sarin.
Din looked up at the face of the man before him. He did not know this man. He tried to recognize him, but he saw nothing of his childhood brother in the person before him.
"Paz?" He whispered.
The man must have recognized the voice. His eyes slowly opened. Din completed removing the restraints, the man slid down the table to his knees, and Din sank down to the ground with him slowing his fall enough to save him from further damage.
Din held him in his arms and the man blinked his eyes again and again trying to focus on the man who had saved him.
"Din?... Din... you're — alive? How? How?" He reached out to his brother, placing a hand on his helmet, then breaking down in his arms. Din held the wasted remains of the once enormous man, hating every wretched Imperial officer in the universe for what they had done to the Vizsla Clan.
"Din — they wanted to know — who took the Kid — they made me — tell them — who you were. They told me — they had — a trap — on Nevarro." He grasped Din's arm and squeezed it, "I was so sure — that you were dead — how — ?"
Din swallowed his tears, "Brother, I killed Moff Gideon on Nevarro — Mother and Father are now avenged."
Paz's face twisted with grief and then joy, and he openly wept. Cara felt her stomach clench as she recalled the Admiral's words, He cannot be killed.
Cara tapped Din on the shoulder, Din whispered harshly, "We have to go."
Din lifted on Paz' left and Cara came up on the right side and they willed him forward on his unsteady legs, headed straight for the hangar.
Din shouted into his comm, "Ship One, Leader Strike One and Two have acquired Alpha target. En route to Ship Two!"
Din struggled to keep pace while half-carrying Paz with his bad shoulder. He needed his good arm for target and defense. They were meeting more droids, but as they rounded the last corner and he saw the other inmates moving to the transports. Three Mandalorians were protecting the inmates, picking off droids who wandered into the bay. The Armorer, and the ship crews were moving inmates quickly into seats and more than half were in the ships. He scanned the bay and saw most prisoners were mobile, all had been stripped of armor, and he felt his heart surge as the success of the mission began to wash over him.
"Come on Paz — almost there," Din grunted as he tried to quicken their pace.
Suddenly, a blaster shot hit him in the beskar covering his back and he cried out as the hit laid him out flat sending him and Paz crashing to the ground. Cara managed to keep on her feet and turned to see where the shot had come from, it was a fresh group of ten droids, and the three Mandalorians were advancing on them but were outgunned. Even after taking out all command coordination, their movements were too significant and the guard droid independent response escalation had finally coordinated the advance.
"GO! GO! GO!" Cara screamed from Din's left, and he saw all of the prisoners rushing inside their ships. She knelt down and lifted her rapid repeating blaster which started mowing down the droids in range. "GO MANDO! GO!"
Din pulled himself from the ground and heaved Paz up with him crossing the bay to the ship as the three other Mandalorians moved up with Cara to hold back the droids.
The droids kept coming. Mando could see the hangar door opposite the door they had come in opening to bring in ten more droids that were about to outflank Cara and the others. He nearly physically carried Paz up to the transport and launched him up onto the deck then turned back to Cara and the others, but the Armorer stopped him.
"Get on the transport, Din Djarin! The Razor Crest is coming, with its canon to assist the others! Complete your mission!"
Paz gripped his shoulder, "Din — let's go!"
Din stopped for a second, and then said, "I'm sorry, I can't!"
He pulled both blasters and turned to run back towards the hail of blaster fire. He headed directly for the droids that were flanking his team.
Cara and the others had found cover, but were pinned down in the hangar. Din took out the first two droids with his blaster and then in hand to hand combat destroyed three more. The remaining five had turned their attack back on him and he took a hit to his bad shoulder beskar which caused him to cry out but he was back on his feet and using his flame thrower when he heard Tarre say inside his head, Whistling birds.
Din immediately released his new Whistling Birds from Mandalore and simultaneously the remaining five droid heads all exploded.
Cara led the other Mandalorians and dispatched the remainder of the original group of attacking droids and reached the door behind them to lock it.
The first transport exited the hangar as the Razor Crest arrived and Cara's team ran for the open ramp. Din was on the other side of the hangar and wanted to head straight for them as well, but Paz's transport was closer and he needed to see Paz safely off the prison ship. So he turned back to the second transport.
Paz reached out to pull Din up into the transport and the doors shut behind him just in time to leave the bay, and then Paz held Din as he struggled to catch his breath on the transport that quickly jumped to hyperspace.