Into the Depths: Part 1
"You sure you don't want to tell me where you are?"
"Positive."
The holo of Cara Dune raised an eyebrow at Din as he sat back in his pilot's seat. She looked well, wherever she was, and soundly annoyed at him. He found himself grinning under the helmet. "You've been out of contact for nearly a month. Greef was getting concerned."
"You mean you were getting worried," Din supplied, repressing a short laugh at the scowl that formed in the static of the holo.
"I don't get worried. I get nervous when my friends say they're getting chased by mercs and then go comm-silent for weeks, you nerfherder."
"Relax. Kid's fine. I'm fine. Saw the ship break atmo weeks ago, but no sighting of the Rebel. Planet's dense. Lots of canyons and jungles. Don't think they saw me, should have moved on by now."
That wasn't entirely true, but given Cara's "nervousness" he didn't feel the need to further it by sharing his beliefs the hunter was still planetside. Someone who could track through hyperspace twice wasn't someone who was going to be prone to leaving simply because they hadn't found their quarry in a few days. Or months. And it was obvious that despite his omission, Cara picked up on what was left unsaid.
"An Imperial-hired merc isn't just going to turn tail so easily. If they've gone to ground they're doing it to draw you out."
"You think they're Imperial, then?"
"Who else have you pissed off lately?" Cara snorted. "If Gideon survived the crash, or, hell, if another warlord wants in on whatever they've got planned for the kid they're going to try to recoup their losses one way or the other, guild or no guild supervision."
"Speaking of the guild, just how did your first assignment go?"
"Don't change the subject!"
"You back on Nevarro yet?"
"You don't tell me where you are and I don't tell you where I am. Try not to get yourself killed, Mando."
Din gave her an unseen smirk before switching the comms channel off. It was just about time to consider moving on from this planet. If he could be certain he'd shaken off The Rebel he might even be able to make a stop at Nevarro himself and confirm if Cara was still offworld or not. It might be good to get some backup on this one.
He padded out of the cockpit and down the ladder to where the kid was playing with a few cut stones and pebbles he had found along the perimeter of the jungles. "Doing alright?"
The child babbled, swinging one of the pebbles aloft with his claws. "I'm a little bored, too." Din had no idea if the kid was or not, but he liked to think they were commiserating. Boredom was a dangerous state. Worse than desperation or fear. Boredom made you do something out of necessity, not panic. It kept prey dull and stupid while it gave the hunter all the time in the world.
There was no way The Rebel was offworld. They were somewhere on this planet. He knew it with confidence because it was exactly what he would have done if the situation had been reversed.
And, he thought with a tinge of annoyance, it was working.
Din let another week elapse before he moved the Razor Crest closer into the capital city of Myrra for a supply run. If he stocked up on enough fuel cells he could skip over the edges of the rest of the Outer Rim before slingshotting back into the Mid-Rim, and hopefully leading his pursuer on a merry little chase before they recalculated. Or ran out of fuel and were stranded. No chance of the latter happening, Din thought as he adjusted his amban rifle, he never got that lucky.
Myrra was about as cosmopolitan as it got this far into the Outer Rim. Not like the other settlement, this was a proper city. The markets were crowded by midday, and the streets full of passersby and bala-bala speeders zipping through the tight corridors. The kid squealed with delight at the sound they made as one cut past them.
Despite the crowds people still noticed a Mandalorian in full beskar armor. But unlike most backwater settlements, no one had the time to stare for very long. Which was exactly what he was counting on.
With fuel and food secured again, Din wound his way back through the bazaar. It was getting far too crowded to keep an eye on the kid toddling at his side. He bent down to pick up his charge just as blaster fire careened over his head.
Tucking into an immediate roll to shield the child, Din grabbed his own blaster and scanned the bazaar now in total chaos with citizens running and screaming to get to cover. Only one individual seemed relatively at ease, a tall, green-and-yellow Koorivar in black-slick robes walked forward, rifle held in one hand.
Definitely not The Rebel.
Din made a break for it in the confusion, shoving people aside. Shot after shot sped past him. Just how many hunters had the imps hired?
An abandoned bala-bala speeder lay at the edge of the bazaar. Perfect. He set the kid down behind him as he made short work of hotwiring the speeder. Kicking it to life, he grabbed the child and sped off into the canyons.
Now there were two hunters after him. This was going to make life extremely difficult.
The sharp whine of a second speeder on his tail forced Din out of his musings. Of course the Korrivar had his own speeder. Why not? Why not just give them all a Star Destroyer while luck was at it?
The Korrivar hunter shouted something in a language Din had no time to translate. He could lose him in the canyon. He made a sudden left turn and careened close to the jagged rocks before taking another abrupt turn. The Korrivar didn't take the bait and remained firmly on course.
Two green, little claws appeared at the bottom of Din's vision. The kid was reaching for the controls on the speeder, mouth open with laughter. At least one of them found this funny. Kicking the speeder into a higher, more stabilized gear, Din craned his shoulder and fired off two blind shots behind him.
They kept up the chase through another rocky pass and under a tunneled outcropping. The rock walls were getting closer together. Din skidded the speeder back up one of the walls, threading a risky needle in the eye of one of the ledges. He was going to get them lost, but there'd be plenty of time to find their way back as long as he got rid of the Korrivar.
The canyon widened out just as another round of blaster fire from the Korrivar's speeder tore a chunk out of an overhang.
No choice.
Din floored the speeder, pushing past the debris just before it could crush both him and the kid. He was about to spin the bike around to aim a shot at the Korrivar when a third speeder shot down from the canyon ledge above. It tore straight down the wall at a hellish speed and altitude the bike wasn't built for.
"That's my target."
So this day could get worse. Good to know.
The Rebel took advantage of the Korrivar's shock and fired upon the bike's engines, sending the unfortunate hunter slamming into the opposite canyon wall in a fiery explosion. The Rebel gave a shake of their head turning their attention back to Din as if they were embarrassed he had to see such a display. "Hey," they said in that same cordial tone Din was coming to associate them with, "you're not very good at laying low."
Before he could respond the air became full of the whines of approaching speeders. "Uh oh," The Rebel breathed through the respirator. "I think your new buddy had friends."
There was an advantage to be had here. "So what's your next move?" he asked, fingers on the trigger of the bike's blasters.
The Rebel tilted their helmeted head, seeing four bikes rounding the canyon. "I don't share rewards. Follow me."
"You're a piece of work. Why don't I kill you here and deal with the others later?"
The Rebel's answer was calm, collected, but Din picked upon the slight urgency behind her modulated tone and became suddenly aware that respirator was tuning their vocal emotions. Flatlining them. "Because I fight fair," they pointed to the closing speeders. "They won't. Help me fend them off and you'll only have to deal with me. You have my word."
"The word of a merc?"
"Sure. You were one."
Time was up regardless and Din had to admit that two sets of blasters were going to be a great deal better than just one in this fight. He kicked the speeder forward, not waiting for the Rebel to follow. And they didn't, at first, they remained hovering in stasis for another moment until they saw the first speeder gain ground. Then they fired. Three shots each blowing up dust and gravel as it traveled closer to the speeder. Din couldn't make out anything through the smoke kicked up until the bike went spinning through the air, it's rider flying out and skidding onto the canyon floor at an angle not conducive to survival.
"Ok, time to go," the Rebel said, pulling her bike up and around, shooting past Din without another word.
He could shoot them now and have done with it. The realization was an odd one. This hunter had given their word they wouldn't attack until their mutual enemy was destroyed. What better way to demonstrate that honor than by giving him ample opportunity to betray them.
He'd rather have a clean duel anyway.
He took his fingers off the trigger. The hunter could live. For now.
They took off round the bend heading for a split in the canyon. The Rebel gave him a signal that they were going to double back and over. Din nodded, pushing on ahead as the Rebel applied the brakes, shooting backwards and taking out another incoming pursuer. Din looked behind to see the Rebel speeding forward through the smoke from the wreck.
Two down, two more to go. He liked those odds.
That was before gravity came down and slapped him full in the face. The ground gave seemed to plummet away from him as they went sliding down over a sharp drop-off. The kid gave a startled gurgle and Din tightened his hand over the little one, feeling it starting to slip off. "Hang on," but he didn't think the kid could hear him over the rush of air and the whine of the bike's engines.
Blaster fire fell from overhead as the pursuers continues despite the steep dive. Static crackled next to him from the Rebel's vocal modulator and Din wondered if it was muffling out screams of panic. The uncomfortable sinking sensation dissipated as they leveled out again in the depths of the canyon, chase beginning again in earnest.
"Any idea where we're going?" Din shouted.
"Nope." The modulator gave the Rebel a false confidence, "But I think if we—"
They never got further. Din's eyes widened under the helmet as he saw both Rebel and speeder suddenly sucked down into a gaping vent in the ground, like one of those old factory garbage chutes, except the wrong way around. His own bike gave a groaning screech of warning. He sword, kicking the engines to reverse. He had just enough to switch gears before the vent's windtunnel pulled him underground too, like a miniature black hole.
A/N: Last chapter for now! Be sure to review. More to come soon. :)