7.
Zo was purposefully a bit vague when telling Mando about the being they would shortly be holding parley with. He seemed calmer during their last conversation but still woefully unprepared for a story about a powerful centuries-old Force-sensitive creature. She knew very little about who he was underneath all that armor besides that he was painfully pragmatic. Trying to explain to him the intricacies of Force manipulation to locate other Jedi or Mando's people would take longer than the jump to Kiribi.
The Crest rocked slightly as the thrusters slowed their descent towards the planet's surface. Kiribi was a dry little rock floating in the outer rim; hidden between the shadow of a giant red sun and it's far more hospitable sister planet, Kayva. The surface was riddled with cracks and deep jagged canyons. Small settlements dotted the planet, built around the few oases that were fed from underground hot springs and the occasional rain storm. At the heart of the largest and oldest settlement was the official residence of Crex, the mythic ruler of Kiribi.
Before the fall of the Old Republic, Jedi and their dark counterpart the Sith were frequent visitors to the planet in search of Crex' vast knowledge and millennia of wisdom. After the Purge, Emperor Palpatine's personal flagship visited the planet on many occasions. Regardless of the purpose or outcomes of these visits Kiribi always remained free, unlike Kayva which suffered great casualties under the iron fist of the Galactic Empire. The residents of the tiny rock praised the strength of their mysterious ruler. But since the fall of the Empire a few years prior Kiribi had slipped back into anonymity among the stars. Visitors were now infrequent and usually only had business at the mountain kasbah Crex called home.
Mando landed the Razor Crest on the outskirts of the settlement before they headed down to wake the baby. Zo fed him a fruit bar while the Mandalorian weaponed up. Watching the man squirrel away blasters and knives and what looked like a grenade into various parts of his armor was actually a bit humorous. It was obvious his armor was designed to carry the various weaponry without getting in his way. Finally he slung the rocket pack over his shoulders, patted his Beskar breastplate as if making sure it was still there, and looked at the woman and baby watching him.
"Got everything?" Zo asked. She had never gone anywhere with more than one blaster on her hip and now only carried her lightsaber.
"Think so." He replied. Her mouth twitched as she tried to hide a smile. "What?" he asked.
She shook her head, "Nothing...do you usually carry all that stuff with you?"
"I'm Mandalorian. I'm simply practicing my religion." He answered. Zo smiled again, his sense of humor was almost as dry as the planet they landed on. Mando grabbed a leather bag hanging from a hook on the wall , slipped it over his head then reached out for the baby.
She held him against her chest, rubbing her thumb and finger along the curve of his ear. "I can hold him."
He shook his head, "He stays with me."
The baby whimpered as she handed him over. "It's ok. We're all going together." She murmured gently tapping his little round nose. Mando slipped him inside the pouch then adjusted him so he rested against his thigh knowing the kid would get crabby if his view was obstructed.
The ramp lowered onto the dry, baked earth. The red sun glowed down, casting long shadows off the jagged landscape. "Is there anything here we should be worried about?" Mando asked as they walked down the ramp.
"I...don't think so, " Zo hesitated, "But we didn't stay past nightfall...we should probably get back to the ship before dark." Mando sighed and adjusted the bag again.
Zo led them forward, following a narrow trail cut into the ground. The settlement was tucked away in a canyon that rose up a hundred feet on all sides. Mando's thermals scanned everything but picked up no lifeforms in the cracks and crevices of stone. Nothing even appeared to grow out of the desiccated ground except a white, gossamer substance that seemed to cover everything. He ran his gloved hand through it and held it up to his visor. "What is this? Some sort of moss?" he asked when his helmet's scanner provided no useful information.
"Webs." Zo answered ducking under a strand floating in the hot breeze. "Don't get caught in it. It'll be a pain in the ass cutting you free even with my lightsaber." She looked down pointing a finger at the kid, "And you, youngling, touch nothing." The kid whimpered, sinking lower into his satchel so that only his pointy green ears were visible.
"Webs?" Mando repeated, trying to wipe the sticky substance off his glove. It smeared across his Beskar and stuck between his gloved fingers. "Shit...does it come off?"
Zo laughed, "Yeah, eventually."
"Do I want to know what spun these webs?" He asked as they walked further into the canyon. Occasionally he noted the carcass of a bird or small reptile strangled in the webs. Apparently there were animals somewhere. Most, however, seemed wise enough to avoid the area they were currently walking towards.
Zo stepped around a particularly large web careful to not let her hair touch the sticky substance. "You're about to meet him." She answered as at last the craggy settlement sprang up from the rock around them. Rough hewn, stone houses appeared around a dark, boggy watering hole. No one greeted them as they approached the ancient stone citadel at the dead end of the canyon. The buildings around them felt empty, the roofs and many of the doors were covered in the same sticky webbing that clung to the canyon walls. "Where the hell is everyone?" she murmured. Zo paused and reached out through the Force trying to sense for the villagers. She felt nothing but the entity waiting for them in the mountain. The village had not been densely populated the last time she was here but there had been curious faces in the doorways of the stone houses and children swimming in the once clean cenote.
Din felt his boots sink into the sticky greyish webbing covering the ground. "I don't have a good feeling about this." He murmured quietly. His thermal scanners came alive once they stepped inside the cavernous stone palace. He switched the thermals off when it became too overwhelming to try and keep count of the lifeforms following them.
"He already knows we're here; probably known since the ship landed." She held up a hand stopping Mando in his tracks as a bantha sized shadow skittered across the stones in front of them. Her lightsaber was back in her other hand, held low and non-threatening but ready. "You're not afraid of Arachnoids are you?" She tilted her head looking at the blaster in his hand.
He gave the blaster a sideways tilt, "They're a myth."
Zo nodded looking at the dark shadows crawling on the walls and over their heads, "All myths come from some truth."
"Come. Don't let my children frighten you." A bone dry voice hissed from the darkness. Zo ignited her lightsaber and held it out in front of them like a torch. The soft purple light only added to the inky black surrounding them. Hollow clicks echoed after them as they cautiously walked forward.
"Why don't the rest of them speak?" Mando asked her quietly. He was apparently well versed in the story of the Arachnoid; the centuries old tales of giant, sentient spiders that sailed the stars weaving webs to catch the secrets of the galaxy.
"I only feel one consciousness here. It's like the rest of them are empty puppets." She answered.
Mando watched the shadows crawl back and forth and over each other. "How long have they been here?"
"The locals believe he's been here as long as the planet has. When his home world was destroyed he was the only creature to survive, floating through the galaxy for years, collecting rocks and asteroids with his webs to rebuild his world until he was caught in the gravity field of the red sun. He's been here ever since–"
"10,000 years I've been here, " the voice hissed, like dry air on hot stones out of the darkness in front of them. They stopped again and Zo lowered her lightsaber. The ground shook as the owner of the voice slowly pulled itself out of the darkness, dust and bones fell from the webs above cracking apart on the floor at their feet. "Many have sought me...my knowledge and reach is vast. I see what my children see as they sail among the stars."
Din took an involuntary step back as the giant spider-like creature heaved itself forward. Eight giant legs each as thick as the Mandalorian himself sprouted from a grey-brown carapace as large as the Razor Crest. Crex lowered his oblong head to the ground with a tired sigh filling the chamber with stale air that smelled faintly of carion. His misshapen insectoid face was dotted with dozens of blinking eyes, most of them covered in a blinding milky film. "It has been a long while since a Force wielder has been in my presence. None of my children feel the connection as I do." Crex' jagged mandibles clicked together with irritation. "Tell me, Jedi, why do you disturb me?"
Her lightsaber flickered as she adjusted her sweaty grip and swallowed down her fear. The bounty hunter was a cold statue besides her, his emotions hidden behind a wall of resolve. The child was quiet but she could sense his curiosity at the giant, ancient Force sensitive creature before them. "I am Zo Mara, Jedi Apprentice to Master Ya'quil Vatari." She called out. "My friends and I have come here, Ancient One, in search of information."
The spider wheezed, his carapace shook against the floor. Din realized the giant alien being was laughing. From what mouth he had no idea and did not want to get close enough to find out. "I almost forgot how much you Jedi enjoy your titles and platitudes…" More wheezing laughter, more dust, more scuttling in the shadows around them. "The Sith were always more forthright with their requests." Mando noticed Zo tense at the word Sith and filed it away to question her later.
Zo stood straighter, peering up into one of
Crex' large black eyes, "The Mandalorian has been tasked with reuniting this youngling with the Jedi-"
"Are you not a Jedi, Zo Mara apprentice to Master Ya'quil Vatari?" the spider questioned.
Zo shifted on her feet, "I did not complete my trials. I have no claim to the title."
The spider's eyes blinked independently of each other. "You are a Jedi in all but name then." His mandibles clicked audibly. "I felt the disturbance in the Force when your Master died. It was a great loss. One you still carry. It clouds your emotions. Is this why you abandoned your training?"
"My emotions are none of your concern." She felt a cold chill in the air near Crex. "You helped my Master find a safe place to hide us from the Empire after the Great Purge. Others must have survived...can you help us find them?"
Crex breathed out another rancid breath. "No. I have not sensed a Jedi in a long while. Perhaps they have shielded themselves from me or perhaps they are all gone now."
"The Jedi can not all be gone. If they are hiding from you, then why?" she asked. "Other Jedi have been here. I feel their echoes all around. Where are they now?" She suddenly felt a wave of suspicion in her gut. She could feel Crex bearing down on her with his will, keeping her senses confined to the small ring of light from her saber. He had 10,000 years of experience bending the Force to do his bidding and she could not break past his barriers.
Mando swore under his breath. "Enough. What about my tribe? Our covert on Nevarro was overtaken by Imperial remnants. Do you know where they are now?"
"Ahh, so he speaks." A dozen of the spider's milky eyes turned towards the Mandalorian. "Mandalorians are almost as rare as Jedi but they can not hide from me or my children."
"So do you know where they are?" He repeated.
The spider crossed his two front appendages and rested his large head on them. "Yes."
"And?"
Things moved in the shadows, darker than the dark, edging closer to the purple light cast from Zo's lightsaber. "What will you give me in return for this knowledge?"
Mando growled through his vocoder, "You didn't tell me we would have to pay him."
"I didn't know we'd have to pay him, " Zo whispered back. "I've only been here once… when I was like seven." Mando clenched his fists. He was furious, the waste of fuel alone to find this empty useless rock... Maybe if he started killing things he would start to feel better.
"You were not alone last time, Jedi...tell me where are the others? "
"I didn't come here to answer your questions." Zo's lightsaber twitched and a shadow skittered back with a shrill cry. "We need to find others like us. Others that can help us protect this child."
Her voice was hard, Jedi platitudes dropped. "My Master said you walked the grey, between the light and dark. You held court with Jedi and Sith but remained neutral."
"That was before, young Jedi, " he hissed, "When the planet was full and the people gave us offerings to keep my children fed. Before Palpatine changed our appetite– bringing us decommissioned clones, prisoners of war...captured Jedi." He raised his head, a greenish viscous drop of drool fell from one mandible as he focused all his eyes on Zo. "Now my planet is empty, we hunger for the flesh of sentient beings." He pointed the sharp tip of one of his long legs at her, "Give me the Jedi to feed my children and I will give you the information you seek, Mandalorian."
Zo slowly turned to face him. She held her breath. He hid his emotions and thoughts from her behind a wall in his mind as hard as the Beskar he wore.
Finally he sighed, "No deal."
Crex' mandibles clicked angrily as he hefted his carapace off the ground. "Then you shall all die."
The shadows converged on them. Hissing, clicking and skittering out of the darkness. Mando spun in a tight circle, both blasters in his hands firing at the dark forms. Zo's lightsaber was a purple blur in the darkness, the attacking spiders hacked apart by the laser's edge. Spindly legs and still clicking mandibles fell around her. A large form dropped from the dark ceiling, it's sharp legs poised to strike the Mandalorian. He did not see the death dropping from above his focus instead on the shapes pushing toward them. She jumped, using the Force to push off and twist in the air above him. Her lightsaber sliced through the spider's trail of webbing. The creature landed on it's back on the stone ground, hissing and kicking its many legs trying to right itself. Mando turned as Zo landed behind him driving her lightsaber through the soft, squirming belly of the spider. "Run!" she screamed, tearing her lightsaber free and hacking down another spider as it jumped towards her.
He adjusted the bag on his shoulder making sure the kid was safe then sprinted back the way they came. He heard her lightsaber hiss through the air behind him and the shrieks of the monsters she cut down. He shot down anything that scuttled into his path. The ground shook as Crex stepped forward, "Feast my children!" Mando glanced over his shoulder only seeing the outline of Zo against the purple glow of her lightsaber as Crex's massive shadow engulfed her.
"Tell your children to stand down, ancient one, or I will destroy you!" Zo's voice echoed off the cold stones. She felt the painful memories of Jedi Knights dying on the very spot she stood, hidden before by Crex' manipulation. Crex hissed in fury as the retreating Mandalorian destroyed more of his children.
He would never stand down.
Mando and the child would be overwhelmed before they made it back into the light of the red sun. Crex swung his massive head down, his sharp mandibles readying to kill. Zo jumped back, twisting herself away as the razor edge of his jaws snapped shut on the air where she had been standing. She whipped her lightsaber overhand and sliced it straight down through the sharp points of Crex's mandibles. The creature screamed, shaking his giant head back and forth against the burning pain. She jumped forward once more, landing on his bulbous head and stabbed her lightsaber through the largest eye she could reach. He howled in agony, blindly knocking into a towering pillar. Massive stones and gravel rained down around them. She jumped away from his thrashing head and ran towards the harsh red lights of Mando's blasters.
Din wasn't sure where she came from but suddenly Zo was in front of him. Her lightsaber lashing out at screeching spiders and clearing a path to the outside."Go! I'll hold them back!" she yelled. She threw her hands forward and he felt a burst of energy explode past him nearly knocking him off his feet. The hissing Arachnoids tumbled away like they were caught in a gale wind. "Damn it, Bounty Hunter run!" The ground shook as Crex carried himself closer.
Mando burst out of the kasbah, staggering as the stone rumbled and shifted underneath his feet. Zo raised her hand and used the Force to lift a spider the size of a dewback. It's eight legs scratched at the air uselessly as she threw it towards another pillar. It exploded in a green gelatinous mess against the stones. Its heavy body had the desired effect nonetheless and knocked the pillar off-kilter.
Zo staggered, pulling on the last reserves of her energy to stay on her feet. Even as she felt her abilities to wield the Force return she felt her strength falter. More stones tumbled down from the ceiling as the ancient structure started disintegrating around her and the hissing, gnashing form of Crex. The stones weren't falling fast enough to stop the giant beast from dragging itself closer.
Zo sighed raising her lightsaber and stepped into Form V, her personal favorite for an insurmountable foe. She prepared for her last stand, hoping the few seconds it would take for Crex to tear her apart would be enough for Mando to get the child to safety, when a dark grey ball with blinking red lights rolled past her feet. She regarded the little ball with exhausted confusion then looked over her shoulder following the ball's trajectory back to its origin. The Mandalorian, in his shining silver armor, was frantically beckoning at her. His voice was harsh and loud through his vocoder as he bellowed, "Run, you kriffing di'kut Jedi!"
"Shit…" she breathed out realizing Mando had thrown a thermal detonator into the cavern. She didn't bother looking back at Crex or his remaining mindless children as she tore towards safety. She jumped the last dozen feet, pushing herself forward with the Force. Mando caught her midair and she yelped in pain, feeling at least one of her ribs break against the unyielding beskar of his vambraces. She heard the child giggle inside his bag as Mando spun them around, pulling them close to his chest as he knelt low protecting them with his large Beskar covered body. The thermal detonator exploded behind them, the sound of the imploding rock kasbah nearly as loud as the bomb itself. Zo had a split second to worry more for the child's oversized ears than her own before chunks of stone rained down around them. She heard Mando grunt in pain as a particularly large rock bounced off his back. He fell forward bracing himself on his arms so he wouldn't crush her and the child underneath him.
Then it was over. Dust and dirt floated down around them and Zo heard nothing for a moment except a high pitched ringing in her ears.
Mando pushed himself back to his knees with a heavy groan. His shiny armor now filthy and covered in a grimy layer of dirt and greenish Arachnoid innards. He took several breaths before speaking. "You alright?"
Zo wiped a hand across her face, pushing hair out of the way. "Yeah, I'm good." She groaned rolling out from under him.
"I wasn't asking you." He grumbled opening the bag to check on the kid. The kid sneezed a glob of snot onto his visor then cooed happily holding up a small pebble that had made its way into his bag. "I'll take that a yes." He sighed, wiping the snot off his visor.
Zo winced, wrapping an arm around her bruised middle as she pushed herself up shaking dirt and debris from her hair and clothes. She held out her hand to help the Mandalorian to his feet. He ignored her and instead pushed himself up with another groan. She sighed, "Mando, I'm–"
The rubble behind them shifted and they both pivoted towards the sound. Great boulders tumbled down from the ruined monument as two sharp appendages stabbed through the rocks. "Shit, " the Jedi and Mandalorian breathed in unison as the first of the surviving Crex replicants crawled free of the ruins. She reignited her lightsaber as the spiders trundled over the boulders . Crex' enraged hissing echoed off the canyon walls as he tried to dig his way free. "Go, get him back to this ship. I'll hold them back." She said, waving him away.
"No. We're all leaving now." Mando replied.
"We won't make it!"
He stepped towards her, closing the flap on the kids satchel before dragging her against his body again. "Shut up and hold on." His hard armor dug into every soft spot on her body as she complied, hooking her arms around his neck. The rocket pack on his back ignited and the Rising Phoenix blasted them up and out of the canyon.
Zo wrapped her legs around his hips as soon she felt her feet leave the ground. The wind whistled past her ears and whipped through her hair. "Shit-shit-shit-" she murmured against his neck. Falling was fine, falling she had trained for. Jedi did not use rocketpacks. Jedi did not fly.
If he wasn't still so mad he would have laughed at how terrified she was, clinging to him like a monkey-lizard, murmuring the Jedi code under her breath. She didn't lift her face from the warm safety of his neck until he forcibly detached her. The child poked his head out of the satchel and laughed. Apparently he was not aware that Jedi did not fly.
"Oh stars...I think I'm gonna be sick." She muttered, one hand rubbing her rolling stomach.
"Later. They're coming, " Mando grabbed her arm like he had when she was his prisoner and urged her up the ramp into the Crest. The ramp folded up as soon as they stepped inside and slammed shut behind them. He dropped her arm, turning towards the ladder to the cockpit
Zo rubbed the fresh ring of angry fingerprints on her upper arm, "Mando, I'm–"
He spun back so fast she had no time to react. His fingers dug into her shoulders as he pushed her roughly into the nearest wall. "Mando–" she tried again and his fist swung towards her. The Beskar plated knuckles dented the metal hull next to her head. She flinched away from him. "I'm sorry...I didn't know–"
"Then what the hell do you know?" He growled.
She shook her head, wiping a tear off her dirty face. "Not enough...I'm sorry."
"We need to go." He turned away again, shrugging off the rocketpack on his way up the ladder to the cockpit. The child popped his head out of the bag and reached towards her with a soft cry. Zo sniffed back very un-Jedi-like tears and followed him up to the cockpit.
She sat quietly in the chair she had already claimed as her own, worrying that whatever burgeoning amity they had was gone. Mando was in his seat pushing buttons, flipping switches and checking the navigation. Then the Crest shuddered as something heavy knocked into the port side. Something else landed on the roof, sharp metallic screeching filled the cabin as the something tried to claw its way inside. Mando sighed heavily pushing a lever up and flipping more switches. The kid wiggled in his bag trying to squirm out from under his arm. His chair swiveled towards her and he silently placed the kid back in her lap.
Silent was fine. She could deal with silent.
The child babbled at her holding up the same shiny rock from before. His pointy ears twitching in excitement. "I see...that's a lovely pebble, young one. My brother, Pax, had a rock collection..." Zo smiled gently at the baby lifting him out of the satchel. "Until Bren threw them all in the river one day after Pax beat him during Lightsaber training; Master Vatari made all of us do a handstand for three hours after that." The child stared up at her with his big brown eyes, smiling like he had absolutely no idea what she was saying. "Aren't you lucky you don't have older brothers to get you in trouble?" She murmured, touching the tip of his nose.
The Crest shuddered again then burst straight up as Mando piloted them away. Zo watched as two Arachnoids tumbled down the glass canopy then disappeared over the side of the ship. She could feel Crex's rage pressing in on her until they popped through the atmosphere. The child seemed unaffected by the monstrous amount of hate that permeated everything now that Crex had dropped all pretense of being a potential ally. He was either too young to have developed empath skills yet or it simply wasn't one of the gifts the Force had given him. She sighed quietly once her mind was free of the last tendrils of the ancient entities' cold emotions.
The child cooed at her reaching one hand towards her sore ribs. "No, youngling, my ribs will heal. Save your strength, " Zo took his hand before he could heal her. "Are you alright?" She asked the silent Mandalorian. His irritation was like a swarming mass of angry bees buzzing off his helmet. She felt him trying to steel up his mind, the occasional angry thought bursting through nonetheless.
'Leave her on the next rock, shoot her then leave her, get the kid away from her, fucking Jedi–'
She chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment. "I'm going to go feed the kid and put him down for a nap." The kid giggled happily at the mention of food and started jumping on her lap. She balanced him on her hip pushing herself out of the chair with a grimace as her ribs twinged in pain. She paused at the hatch and looked over her shoulder at Mando. The kid pulled her hair impatiently when she stepped further away from his snack and back toward his guardian. Her hand hovered in the air unsurely for a moment before she placed it on Mando's shoulder. He stiffened under her touch but didn't shake her off. "Thank you, Mando." She said quietly, "Thank you for everything...with Gor and now this. Thank you for protecting the youngling, for protecting me. You're an honorable man…" Her hand disappeared from his armor and he watched her reflection in the canopy as she turned back towards the hatch. "If there are any other Jedi left, I hope they don't disappoint you as much as I do."