Din Djarin

She didn't kill me. Can't say I saw that one coming.

"Put your hands up!" a stormtrooper yelled. "We've got you outnumbered four to one!"

I smiled grimly behind my helmet. "I like those odds."

"For once, it seems, we agree on something," Tara said. I'd seen what she had done on the way in. There was no way we could lose.

Still, the less we exposed the kid to hostile fire, the less chance there was that someone would get lucky and land a hit. I activated my Whispering Birds. The tiny missiles whirred to life, streaking across the room and taking down every stormtrooper standing. "Come on," I said.

Tara and I ran out, shooting at anything that moved. The place was like a maze, and it took a few minutes to find our way back to the door. Still, we made it.

Tara Kryze

Mando'ade-1, Stormtroopers-0.

We'd made it. The kid was cuddled up against me, looking up at me with those big brown eyes and a smile. He knew he was safe. I grinned in spite of myself.

That's when the first shell hit. An explosion kicked a cloud of dust up into the air with a bang. I cursed just as mortar-dude's friends opened fire.

"Get down!" Din yelled. Didn't have to tell me twice. I dove for the nearest cover, which happened to be a beat-up landspeeder.

"Give us the Asset!" Someone yelled.

"Go to hell!" I replied back. Real creative, I know. I had bigger problems at the time than coming up with a witty comeback to waste on some bounty hunter slimeball.

Something else exploded. I curled myself around the kid as debris rained down around us. Din poked his head up over the landspeeder, shot a couple of times, then ducked back down as a barrage of laserfire filled the spot where he had been just seconds before.

This was bad. Really, really bad.

We were pinned down, trapped between a wall, a landspeeder, and an army of professional killers. The two of us could probably fight our way out if we were alone, but trying to protect the kid at the same time made that plan impossible. The only way out was back the way we came, and we couldn't go back. Then, it happened.

Din Djarin

I saw the blaster bolts streaking out of the sky before I saw them.

The entire covert had decided to come join the fight. They'd revealed themselves to save me and a pair of strangers they'd never met. I'd never been prouder to be a Mandalorian than in that exact moment. I popped up and started shooting. Tara lobbed a couple of grenades over the landspeeder. Then, suddenly, she was standing next to me, both WESTAR-35s (where did she even get those? Nobody can get ahold of those things anymore!) on full automatic.

"Go! We'll cover you!" an old friend yelled over the chaos. "This is the Way!"

"This is the Way," I replied, almost automatically. Then I turned to Tara. "Come on!"

"Right behind you," she replied, still shooting with one hand as she reached down and scooped up the Child with the other. We ran through the chaos towards the Razorcrest. A couple of shots bounced off my armor, and I was grateful all of it was beskar now. It felt like getting punched by someone with an iron gauntlet, and it would definitely leave some ugly bruises, but it was better than being dead. I ran up the ramp into the ship, turned around, and started firing at anyone that got past my covert. My family. I wondered if they would be ok. They couldn't stay here after revealing themselves like this. I didn't know where they would go, but there was no time to think about that now.

"Go, go, go!" Tara yelled as she flew up the ramp with her jetpack. She rolled to a stop and hit the button to close the ramp. "Get us out of here!"

I headed for the cockpit, Tara hot on my heels. The Razorcrest shook as a couple people decided to fire on it since we weren't an available target anymore.

"Give me the Asset, Mando," a voice said from somewhere behind me. I didn't have to turn around to know Greef had a blaster pointed at my head.

"I'm not handing over the kid," I said as calmly as I could.

"Give me the Asset, and I'll let you live,"Greef replied, stepping closer. "We're friends, Mando. I don't want to hurt you, but I have a job to do."

"I don't think you're in a position to be making threats," Tara said coldly.

"And what makes you think that?" Greef asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him turn to look at her. Then I saw his eyes widen as he realized she had a blaster pointed right at his face.

"Simple. I'm faster on the trigger than you are."

"Wanna bet his life on it?"

Tara shot him. It was a stun bolt, surprisingly, but Greef still dropped like a rock. "Di'kut," she muttered. "I would've bet my life on that."

I chuckled in spite of myself. Tara grabbed Greef by the ankle and started dragging him towards the door. "Open the hatch," she told me. "I'll get rid of our unwanted cargo. We're not that high up; he'll be fine."

"All right." I didn't really have a better idea.

Tara Kryze

I tossed Guild-man out the airlock and closed it. As soon as I did, Din gunned it. It was only a few seconds before we were rocketing up into the upper atmosphere.

I walked back to the cockpit and strapped in just as we reached the hyper-limit of Nevarro's star. "I'm good," I said. "Let's get out of here."

Din started up the hyperdrive. Realspace streaked around us, replaced by the swirling clouds of hyperspace. It took me a moment to realize the kid was out of his basket and reaching for one of the Razorcrest's control knobs. I cringed. Last time, Din had gotten mad at the kid for touching the controls. What happened next surprised me.

Din reached over, unscrewed the knob, and handed it to the kid. I blinked. Yup, he actually did do that. Kid's face lit up like it was Life Day or something. Din never looked at the kid through the whole exchange.

Still, I wondered if maybe there was more to him than I'd originally thought.