5.

The Mandalorian didn't speak as he ushered her and the kid up the ramp and into his ship. Zo could tell he was angry. His emotions sparked off him like electricity buzzing in the air between them.

The kid however was happy as Jogan fruit punch. He babbled incessantly, holding up his little ball and pointing between the Mandalorian and Zo. "Pretty exciting stuff wasn't it, little one?" She asked setting the boxes of supplies down. He gurgled a response, ears twitching happily as he held his ball out to her. "I'll show you again later. The Bounty Hunter's mad at me, " she whispered loudly to the baby.

"Damn it, I told you not to do that-" he said, closing the ramp behind them. "I'm not mad at you...You were right. I didn't want to stop here. I had to. My decision could have gotten us killed." He said quietly, his stiff shoulders dropping a fraction at his admission.

Zo brushed a dirty strand of hair out of her face and watched him silently for a moment. He clenched his fists and she had the urge to comfort him in some way. If for no other reason than he genuinely cared for and probably loved the child as his own. "Well…we're all fine, Bounty Hunter, and you won't have to worry about credits for a while once you turn me in to Gor Koresh."

He tilted his helmet and returned her stare behind his visor. "Can I trust you to sit in the cockpit or do I need to string you up?"

"You can trust me, Mandalorian." She replied. She meant it, whether he believed it or not. She could try to influence him while his guard was down; use her gifts with the Force to make him trust her while he was vulnerable. But she held back and waited for him to make his own decision.

He sighed again as he lifted the kid out of his pram. "Let's get out of here before anyone else gets the bright idea to try and kill us."

Zo followed him up into the cockpit. She wasn't sure which of them had the harder time ascending the ladder; him with the wiggling kid secured in one of his big arms or her with the cuffed Mandalorian sat in the captain's chair and tried to keep the kid on his lap while he cycled the ship for takeoff. The child had other plans and tried to climb over his shoulder to get to the woman in the co-pilot's chair. He fussed at an ever increasing volume when Mando tried several times to get him to relinquish the gear knob and sit still. The Bounty Hunter let out an annoyed breath pivoting his seat towards his prisoner and depositing the baby in her lap without a word. She smiled at his prickly demeanor as he patiently held his hand out for the child to give him the gear knob. "Give it back, youngling." She whispered into one of his large ears.

"Thank you." Mando grumbled, turning back towards the control panel once the child relinquished it.

Zo smiled down at the kid as he nestled in her lap, snuggling his warm little body against her chest and breathing out a content sigh when she ran her fingers along the curve of his ears. He was asleep before they hit hyperspace. She watched as the Mandalorian programmed Corellia into the navigation and realized she only had a few hours of freedom left. She was going to spend every moment enjoying her time with the little monster on her lap. The warmth, life and energy radiating out of him comforted her in a way she believed she would never feel again.

After her Master was killed, Zo retreated into a cold, hard shell limiting her link with the Force. She tried to sever herself from the Light and her training, bury the teachings her Master had passed on to her and her brothers and sister. Until the little child saved her life and flung that barred door in her mind wide open.

A part of her knew it was dangerous to reconnect with the Force but the call to go back to the Light was stronger now than ever. Her mind went somewhere else and nowhere else as she watched the stars burst past. She cautiously opened her connection with the Force and felt the child's dreams, felt weak spots in some of the armor he had built in his own mind. Some memories were buried so deep he couldn't remember how to get to them. They loomed like misshapen shadows in his mind. She knew he had a name but couldn't unlock the door he had hidden it behind. For a being so young in his lifecycle he had been through a lot. But so had she and she felt the Mandalorian had his own story to tell, if he ever wanted to tell it.

"What did you steal?" The Mandalorian's deep voice brought her back to herself. The memories of the Jedi temple in the jungles of Caamas evaporated as she straightened up and shook off the dredges of her half-sleep.

"Wh-what?" She asked yawning and rolling her stiff shoulders all the while trying not to wake the still-sleeping baby.

"What did you steal from the Balbab cartel?" He repeated. She saw his reflection in the glass canopy and wondered not for the first time why he ever took that deadly helmet off.

She ran her fingers over the baby's soft brown robes. "Does it matter?" She asked quietly.

"No. Guess not," he replied.

"I told you the truth." She said after a few moments of silence. "I fell in with the carteI after Master Vatari was killed. I was alone and afraid and Gor Koresh promised to hide me from the Empire if I worked for him…I made the Balbab cartel very rich, manipulating the minds of his enemies and killing those I couldn't control. I abandoned everything the Jedi taught me, everything my Master taught me. But the Empire's gone and I'm done doing Koresh's bidding."

"Will he kill you?"

She shrugged her shoulders, making her cuffs clank together. "I'm worth more to him alive. I'll probably just spend a few days with IT-0."

Din knew what an IT-0 was. After the Battle of Endor a black market had quickly sprang up for Imperial tech. The darkest corner of that trade had been the thirst for torture droids such as the IT models. Din himself had procured more than one for those willing to pay the price. He knew by the way she spoke of the evil droid she was well acquainted with it. He turned around to face her, his hands braced on the armrests of his chair. "Filing a false report with the Guild is punishable by death."

She laughed quietly, "It's my word against his, Mandalorian. And you need the credits."

"Why don't you use your magic on him? Make him let you go?"

"The Force isn't magic, Mandalorian and Gor Koresh is Abyssin." She answered. "Force tricks don't work on his kind. My only way out was to kill him or run."

"You should have killed him." The Mandalorian replied true to his creed as he leaned back in his chair stretching his arms over his head.

Zo gave him a dark smile. "I'll remember that next time."

"I need to use the head. Can I trust you not to touch anything or try and ambush me?" He asked with a tilt of his helmet.

"I told you I won't harm you and I meant it." She answered, "Besides I can barely fly an air speeder. So if I did kill you I wouldn't even know how to land this thing. Me and the kid would just drift through space until we ran outta fuel." He sat in his chair for a moment and even though she couldn't see his eyes she could feel them on her. She could sense his doubt but also a begrudging speck of trust at the gentle way she held the baby.

He leaned forward and traced one gloved finger across the wrinkles on the baby's forehead before standing. "He likes you."

"I like him too." Zo replied.

The Mandalorian nodded seemingly to himself before he swept past her and down the ladder to the main level. She yawned, slouching back down in the stiff chair and tried to find a more comfortable position to sleep. She almost preferred the hard floor.

Zo had nearly fallen back asleep when the metallic ring of his armor clanged off the ladder. He loomed over her a moment later, tall and broad shouldered and emotionless in his cold armor. He silently held out a foil wrapped meal bar and a canister of water. "Thank you." She said reaching for the items with her cuffed hands. He nodded once more before returning to his chair. She dropped the bar on her lap next to the baby then placed the canister between her knees. The Mandalorian watched her struggle to open the water for nearly a minute before taking it back and opening it himself. "I almost had it." She muttered.

"That's a funny way of saying thank you." He replied flatly.

The corners of her lips turned up into a smile as she drank from the bottle. "You want some?" She asked, tearing the wrapper off the bar with her teeth.

"I ate."

She nodded, chewing slowly, "You don't break bread with your bounties?"

He shook his head, "I don't break bread with anyone."

"Why?"

He sat back in his chair and tried to sense if she was pushing him into answering her questions. He didn't feel any itching in his brain

and decided to answer. "I do not remove my helmet in front of others. " She took another bite of her meal bar and waited for him to continue. "It is the Way of the Mandalore, no living thing may see my face."

"Even the kid?" He shook his head. She continued pensively chewing her protein bar. "I'm sorry I tried to kill you. My anger got the better of me."

"I'm not sorry I tried to kill you." He replied, turning back to the control panel.

"Fair enough." She muttered, leaning back. The baby on her lap stirred just as the ship dropped out of hyperspace. He sat up slowly blinking his big blurry eyes and immediately held his hands out for the remainder of her snack. She handed it over and he shoved the whole piece in his mouth.

"At least it wasn't a frog." The Mandalorian said, taking the kid back into his arms. Zo grimaced in disgust at the mental image of the cute little baby swallowing an amphibian whole. "You'll go peacefully?" He asked quietly, his free hand resting not so subtly on his gun belt.

She nodded, "As long as you swear you won't give that son of a bitch my lightsaber. I had it hidden off world and it took a lot to get it back." He nodded in agreement. "When you find a Jedi, a real one, give it to them. It belongs to our people, not gangster scum."

Gor Koresh's welcoming party was waiting for them when the ramp descended on the private landing pad; four grumpy, slobbering Gamorreans armed to the tusks and a Gungan man slowly shaking his head as Zo was led down the ramp by the Bounty Hunter. "Zo! Gor is-a bombad mad with you, " the Gungan chided.

"Yeah, Tuk, I heard." She replied.

"You-sa promised me no more tricks, no more running." He shook one long multi- jointed finger at her.

"I know. But I couldn't stay…they been mean to you?" The Mandalorian's hand tightened around her upper arm as the Gungan nodded his head sadly. The kid's pram floated behind them and he looked at the strangers warily. The Gamorreans grunted something in their native language causing the kid to squeak in fright and pull his blankets over his head.

"She-sa been good, Bounty Hunter?" Tuk asked.

"No." He answered.

Tuk sighed like a disappointed parent. "Zo, you-sa berry bad girl. Come on den, Gor's a-waiting he pay your big bucks, Bounty Hunter." The Mandalorian nodded as the Gamorreans flanked them. Tuk spun unsteadily on his flippered feet and led them through the garden toward the cartel boss' chateau.

"This isn't personal." The Mandalorian quietly told her as they followed the Gungan into the mansion and down a long hallway towards Gor's personal office.

"I know. It's your job." She replied looking up at her reflection in his visor. "Just keep him safe."

The office was decked out in priceless artwork from across the galaxy; no doubt bought from the profits of Zo's special talents. Gor Koresh sat on a red rancor- leather couch like King Gangster waiting for his audience. His one ugly, mud brown eye widened in delight at the sight of Zo Mara. "Zo, Zo, Zo what am I going to do with you?" He clicked his tongue as she was brought in front of him.

She shrugged her shoulders and waved her cuffed hands, "You could let me go."

Gor laughed a deep, rumbling growl. "You know those silly tricks don't work on me."

The Gamorreans grunted something else and lowered their vibro-axes. Tuk drifted towards his boss. "You should-a let bombad Zo go, boss." He said earnestly.

Gor turned his one eye on his second lieutenant and bared his teeth growling, "Weak-willed idiots she wasn't even talking to you! No wonder you let her walk out of here!" He swiped his large clawed hand at the Gungan knocking him off his feet.

The Mandalorian shifted impatiently. "My payment Koresh."

"Of course, of course!" The mobster replied. He snapped his thick, clawed fingers and Tuk scampered away, his long ear flopping behind him. He straightened the lapels of his designer suit and regained his practiced composure. "Thank you, Bounty Hunter, for bringing her in alive. I hoped the large payment would encourage a tactful apprehension. She represents quite a large asset to my business."

Zo laughed dryly, "Yeah because I'm the only business asset."

Gor gave her a beastly sneer, thick lips curled up showing off his yellow fangs. "Negotiations with the Brandock clan fell apart because of you. Millions in potential revenue lost!"

"I told you their Elders couldn't be persuaded. I'm not going to slaughter a bunch of krill farmers so you can make a profit." She shot back.

"It's a bit late in the game to grow a conscience, Jedi." He murmured.

She waved her fingers again and the lid on the kid's pram slammed shut. "Go fuck yourself, Koresh." She hissed, putting every ounce of her will into the words. The Gammoreans heads all dropped and they grunted in confusion at their loincloths. The Abyssian nodded his head and Din had the briefest fear he might try to comply. Instead he laughed that same deep, barking growl.

"My, my you seem to have forgotten your manners." He said, still laughing. Tuk returned a moment later carrying a comtono of credits. The hovering, spherical black IT-0 droid followed him into the meeting room. "Your payment." Gor Koresh waved one clawed hand to the offered comtono. The Mandalorian took his payment and two of the Gamorreans took Zo's arms. The interrogator droid drifted over, a wicked long needle jabbed her in the neck before she could react. She instantly went slack. "Will you stay for the entertainment?" He asked as the other Gamorreans dragged a large hard backed chair from a corner of the room.

"No." He replied, " I just want my cuffs back." The guards dropped Zo into the chair. He pressed a command on his vambrace and the cuffs popped off. "I didn't find anything on her when I apprehended her. Whatever she stole she must have hocked." He said, tucking his cuffs back into his belt. His impassive visor watching his former prisoner struggled to regain consciousness.

"Hurry up! You know she won't stay under for long!" Gor yelled. Zo's head rolled lazily to her shoulder as the Gamorreans quickly restrained her wrists to the chair. "What? Stole?" He laughed and slapped his knee gleefully, "She didn't steal anything! I own her, without me she would've wound up as dead as all the other Jedi traitors. The Guild wouldn't take my puck if I didn't say she was guilty of something." He guffawed harder as the droid darted forward with an electrical prod, the moment it touched her skin Zo's eyes sprang open with a choked, angry scream. The Gamorreans were thrown away from her, their huge, muscled bodies tossed aside like paper dolls in the wind. IT-O spun away with a series of irritated beeps only to redirect itself once it stopped spinning and returned to it's target.

"Gor Koresh, are you admitting to lying to the Bounty Hunters guild in order to place a false apprehension claim on the individual identified as Zo Mara?" The Mandalorian was all business, arms crossed over his Beakar covered chest, helmet tilted as he waited for the gangster to answer. He could hear the angry cries of the kid inside the pram but ignored him for now, wanting to keep him safely inside his indestructible little pod until this was all over.

The Abyssian tore his eye away from the entertainment on the other side of the room; the Gamorreans rolled across the floor trying to get their heavy bodies up, IT-O darted forward with another prod of some kind making Zo twitch against her restraints. Tuk the Gungan was attempting to hide his gangly body behind one of the stuffed Ewoks that flanked the video screen. "Well...you see, " Gor nervously pulled on the lapels of his jacket again, "It wasn't so much a lie as...as an embellishment."

Mando was glad he had discussed Zo's accusations with Karga over a holo call. He couldn't risk pissing off the Guild again. He wouldn't bring that much added heat and firepower down on him and the kid again. The easiest way to turn an accusation into proof was evidence. And the easiest way to end a contract was to prove Koresh had lied to the Guild. He wasn't sure why he cared so much, probably the damn kid and his reaction to the woman. "That'll do Mando. I'll send the holo-recording to the Guild. Gor Koresh's account is officially closed as far as I'm concerned." Greef Karga's voice echoed over the comlink in Din's helmet.

His blasters were in his hands and IT-0 exploded in a shower of sparks before Greef disconnected the call. Zo whipped her head around, eyes wide in surprise at the sight of the smoking blaster. Gor stuttered in shock barking orders to his guards and screaming at the Bounty Hunter in turn. Din felt the slight tug of the lightsaber being torn from his belt before he was tackled to the ground by one of the Gamorreans. The creature grunted savagely, slamming his hammy fists into Din's unprotected flanks.

Zo caught her lightsaber in one restrained hand and took a deep steadying breath before flipping the hilt around and clicking on the energy beam. The laser sprang up, slicing through the chain around her wrist. Another of Gor's guards lunged towards her, vibro-ax raised to kill as she tore her arm free. She plunged the lightsaber into his chest and he tumbled into her, knocking her and the chair to the floor. "Gods be damned you're heavy." She groaned from underneath the dead guard's crushing weight.

Din jammed his blaster into the belly of the Gamorrean trying to pulverize his kidneys and squeezed the trigger. The Gamorrean snorted in surprise and Din kept firing until the grunting alien quit moving. He rolled out from under the corpse only to have to quickly jump out of the way as Zo sent the other body hurtling off of her. Gor tumbled over the back of his rancor leather couch, his clawed feet scrabbling for purchase on the tile floor as Zo and the Mandalorian sprang to their feet.

"Kill them you idiots!" He howled to his two remaining enforcers before turning to run as fast as his designer slim-cut suit allowed. The snout-nosed guards licked their tusks and trundled forwards vibro-axes raised.

Zo sparked her lightsaber against the chain still restraining her left wrist to the arm of the chair. Distantly she was aware of a series of loud blaster shots and a tiny flicker in the Force as two more lives were extinguished. Then the chair was thrown across the room with a flick of her hand and a momentous push with the Force straight into Gor's retreating back. The gangster tumbled ass over land speeder and crashed into his huge video screen with a delirious groan. Tuk the Gungan squealed in fear, pressing his long, floppy ear lobes against his eyes and tried to shrink even further into himself.

Zo turned to survey the damage she and the Bounty Hunter had reaped on the once opulent room. The last two Gamorreans lay dead at the Mandalorians feet, the blaster in each of his gloved hands trained once again on her. She narrowed her eyes and clenched her lightsaber tighter waiting for him to shoot.

The shooting instead came from the one eyed Abyssian. She spun away from the shot meant to kill her, her lightsaber a humming blur as she deflected the laser back. Gor gurgled out a shocked cry as the laser embedded itself in his chest. His fingers traced the scorch mark in his chest in disbelief and he turned his hateful brown eye to Zo once more. "My suit! Jedi bitch!" He raised his blaster and fired again. She snapped her lightsaber and the laser exploded through the back of his head.

Zo watched as he exhaled one final time. Her lightsaber hummed loudly in the now silent room until she turned it off. "Why?" she asked, turning to face the Mandalorian.

He spun his blasters around his fingers before shoving them back in their holsters. "I couldn't risk pissing off the Guild...again. I had to get proof of him lying." He replied.

She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, "You couldn't get proof before IT zapped me?"

"I didn't want to rush it….Make him suspicious…"

Zo shook her head angrily. "Suspicious…. but why?" She waved her hands around the room full of death and destruction.

He clenched his fists and looked at the floating pram, the kid's cries were still muffled behind it's thick shell. "He likes you. Trusts you." He let out a long breath before continuing, "You're the only other person like him I've ever met. You said you would die to protect him. Did you mean that?"

"Yes. He's a youngling," she paused, "I might not be a Jedi but it's still my duty to protect him. I would die for him."

"I hope it doesn't come to that but knowing my luck…" he trailed off.

Zo smirked, "So are we friends now?"

"No."

"Partners then?"

"No."

She ran a tired hand through her hair, "You're a real asshole, you know that?"

"Yeah. I've been called that a few times recently." He sighed. "What about that one?" He nodded his helmet towards the still cowering Gungan.

"Ah Tuk, shit." Zo sighed again brushing her hair out of her face. Tuk squeaked, his cartilaginous body trembled against the stuffed Ewok that Zo had always found disturbing. She walked slowly toward him and kneeled down. "Tuk, look at me," her voice was calm and soothing like a spring breeze as she gently took his chin in her hand. He dropped hands away from his face and turned his moss green eyes to her.

"Zo I-sa been a good friend." He pleaded with her.

Zo smiled at him and brushed one of his long ears over his shoulder. "You have been, Tuk. You've been my best friend so I need you to listen to me now." Even Din took a step forward not wanting to miss her words, his heavy boots echoed off the floor and Zo looked up at him for a moment. "You are going to leave right now. Find the next transport and go home to Naboo."

Her will cut straight through Tuk's fear, his face lit up and he smiled brightly. "I'm-a gonna get on the next transport to Naboo!" He stood up quickly, shaking off the last of his tremors. "Bye bye Zo. You be a good girl!"

"I'll try my damnedest." She replied as he pulled her into a tight hug. "Take the comtono, Tuk, you're going to need the credits."

"Those are my credits!" The Mandalorian growled as she sent the lockbox of credits into the Gungans hands. Tuk squeaked in fear again, almost dropping the heavy container on his large feet.

"I'll get you more, Bounty Hunter." She told him. "Go now,Tuk. Don't look back."

Din clenched his fists so hard he thought his Beskar would crack. Tuk flopped quickly away taking the credits they desperately needed with him. He could shoot both of them and be done with it and take the credits. Instead he took a deep breath and turned towards the kids pram. "You had no right to give him those credits."

"I had every right. Don't ruin the start of a beautiful friendship, Mandalorian." She warned quietly.

He turned his helmet to face her, "We aren't friends."

"No. But we will be. I can sense it." She replied.