Dagger and Rex walked side by side. On the way to the bar they went over their backstories a few times to be sure that they had them straight. They looked over the pictures and descriptions of the bounty hunters, all four of them, one last time before they entered the bar. It was time to work.
It was midday and the bar, which was more of a cantina situation than Dagger was expecting for Coruscant, wasn't busy. There were enough people filling the room to be able to blend in well enough without being suspicious.
Dagger tucked her new helmet under her arm as they made their way to the bar, scanning the room subtly and were able to see their targets. The bounty hunters were sitting at a table in the corner. They sat at the stools with their backs to the hunters, just close enough to hear snippets of conversation.
Rex raised a brow when Dagger signaled the bartender and ordered two drinks, "You know we are on duty right?"
"Yeah, and it looks like we are going to be for a long time. I need a drink after everything that has happened today," she said as she took a sip.
"Fair enough," Rex replied, "It's not over yet so go easy alright."
She nodded and took a very moderate sip of the drink. Rex eyed his own glass and took a swig as well, "Do you want to talk about whatever was worrying you earlier?"
"Aside from the fact that you beat the shit out of my best friend?" Dagger asked.
Rex looked down, "Dagger, I'm sorry about what I did to Echo, but I had to."
She looked at him, trying to analyze his expression, "I don't understand why. I asked you not to, I told you that I didn't want anyone to go around hurting Echo for a mistake."
"He broke the taboo, Dagger, and not one of the ones that don't matter. He broke the most important one, he took your first kiss. If I just let that go, anyone would think it was ok and it's not. Even if it was a mistake, he knows what he did and he knows it was wrong," Rex tried to explain.
"You told me once that we don't beat our men, what happened to that?"
Rex stopped, face contorted painfully, he had to take a second to think about his answer. When he did respond his voice was quiet, "I didn't want to do it either. I didn't want to hurt Echo, but protecting you is more important than any rule or promise that I have ever made."
Dagger stared into her drink, eyes pricking with emotion that she didn't dare acknowledge. It made sense, but she still didn't have to be happy about it. Honestly, she was conflicted about the entire situation.
On one hand she was upset that Rex had done something like that. But on the other it was... Well, she didn't have the words to describe it. She let out a sigh, "I'm just glad he is going to be ok."
"Are you still mad at me?" he asked.
"No," she responded, he asked as if she could ever stay mad at the Captain, "I was going to show everyone my face before General Skywalker pulled us away and sent us on the shortest notice mission ever."
"Yeah, I guess it just kind of happens that way. You will get the chance when we get back," he paused, looking around for a second, "Hey, stay here I'll be right back ok? Don't engage with them until I get back."
Dagger raised her glass in acknowledgement and discretely started to listen to the bounty hunters behind her. They seemed to be deep in discussion. They were talking about someone who wasn't there.
When they said "We need to find someone who can replace Jida." She could make an educated guess and assume that was the name of the bounty hunter she had blown the head off of on the last mission.
She caught bits and pieces about how they needed to look for another weapons master. Someone who knew their way around an armory. Dagger smiled as she downed the rest of her drink, standing slowly.
Completely ignoring what Rex had said she sauntered her way over to the four bounty hunters who were all crammed into a corner booth. She dragged over a chair to sit in front of all of them, it made an awful scraping noise the entire way, and then plopped down in it.
Dagger spread out and laid back in the chair with a false confidence. She had their attention now, "So I couldn't help but overhear you are looking for an addition to your little team here."
She surveyed the group as they sized her up. On the far left was a hulking devaronian, big and intimidating. Next to him was another devaronian, much smaller and with more lean muscle, he wore a smooth smile and had an air of confidence around him. They had matching pale yellow eyes, it wouldn't be a far guess to say that they were related.
The most judgemental of the group sat next to him, a female togruta with long lekku trailing down her front. Even though her species was the same as Commander Tano, she looked nothing like her. Purple eyes and deeper orange skin, the white markings are her face stood out brightly against the fiery hue of her skin. Next to her was a human, a pretty small one at that. Short-ish hair that sat in haphazard black curls. Pale skin and a small build, with shoulders curled in on themselves and lended themselves to the overall look of shyness. Dagger really couldn't tell from looking at the human what gender they were. The fact was, at the moment, not important.
The smaller Devaronian leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table. His sharp teeth flashed as he spoke, "Yeah? And who are you?"
Dagger tilted her head back slightly, "I'm someone who can help with any job you need."
"Are you alone?" he asked, obviously he was the leader of the bounty hunters.
"No," she spoke slower than usual, injecting confidence into her words, "I travel with my companion. An ex-GAR soldier. We are looking for a crew to work with."
"And what kind of work are you looking for?"
"Anything that will pay the bills so to speak. We have a variety of skills, best suited for the more violent sort of jobs. From what I heard of your conversation you are looking for a weapons expert, I can help with that."
The togruta spoke up, her voice silky and smooth, "I've never worked with a Mandalorian before. Are you any good?"
It was at that moment that Rex reappeared. Dagger glanced up at him as he leaned over her and rested his vambraces on her shoulders. His stance was intimidating as he loomed over her protectively.
He spoke easy, low and controlled, his words dripped with the authority of violent confidence, "She's the best."
Dagger smirked as she held eye contact with the devaronian as Rex stared down the togruta. He continued on, "And anything she can't do? I can."
The man leaned back in his seat, his hands wound behind his horns drawing attention to them, "What percentage would you ask for?"
"Only what is fair," Dagger said, "We're actually more interested in the security you can provide. We have seen what it is like to scrounge for jobs on our own. It's safer, not to mention more reliable with an established group like yourselves. That being said, money isn't our priority, as long as we get paid a small cut and can stay on everything will be good."
"Not interested in money and smokin' hot?" the devaronian asked, "Azariah, we gotta keep 'em."
Dagger could feel Rex tense behind her and lifted her hand to touch his arm. The subtle reassurance was enough to quiet the growl she could feel starting to rumble from deep within his chest.
The togruta, Azariah, spoke up, "Don't mind Jask, he flirts with everyone. But what is it that the two of you need security from? What is it that a clone and a Mandalorian can't handle on their own."
Both of them tensed at the comment, Dagger ignored it and answered as calmly as she could, "Just trying to stay away from the direct line of sight of the Republic, other than that we don't have anyone specifically out for us. However, sometimes it can be hard to get jobs as loners without much of a reputation. Which is why I think it would be mutually beneficial."
Azariah hummed thoughtfully, she seemed to believe what Dagger was saying, "As appealing as your offer sounds, we need a minute to talk it over first. Why don't you go get a drink and I'll come find you."
The pair nodded and Dagger stood up, following Rex back to the bar where their duffels were still situated under the counter. Dagger leaned over the bar and Rex crowded close, whispering in her ear, "What the hell was that? Didn't I tell you to wait until I got back?"
She just shrugged, "I heard an opportunity so I took it, no way are they going to turn us down."
Rex sighed as he swiped a hand over his face in frustration, "I hope this works."
"It will," she said, "And what was with the death glare at the devaronian?"
Rex deliberately did not meet her eyes and mumbled something under his breath. She leaned in closer and still couldn't hear what he was saying, "Huh?"
"I said, I didn't like the way he talked about you."
"So you disagree?" she asked, a devious look on her face. She was barely able to wipe the look off of her face as his head snapped over to look at her. She feigned complete seriousness.
"Disagree with what?" he asked, looking like he already knew what she was talking about but asking for clarification.
Dagger raised her glass to her lips and spoke over the rim, "He said I was smokin' hot. You disagree?"
He narrowed his eyes at her, "You know that's not what I meant. He shouldn't be commenting on your appearance."
"And you should?" she teased. She let out a small giggle at the way that his cheeks flamed red.
He stared down at the table, unable to meet her eyes, "I'm sorry."
She laughed again, nudging him with her shoulder, "I'm messing with you Rex. I really don't care what people say about me. At least they aren't criticising me for the way I look, it's a nice change."
He nodded in agreement, "I still don't understand why she hated you so much."
"Some people are just hateful, there doesn't always need to be a reason," even though he hadn't mentioned her by name, she knew that he was talking about the Madam, "I haven't even thought of her in a while. It's been a long time since I have had a nightmare that featured her."
"It seems like you have a lot of nightmares," Rex pointed out. He wasn't judging her for it, just making an observation.
"Not as much as I used to. They are just different now, and I have you to thank for that."
He tilted his head and she continued on in explanation, "You killed her, promised me that she will never hurt me again. Thank you Rex."
He took a long drink from his glass, "I promised that no one would hurt you again, and I immediately failed the next mission."
She rolled her eyes at his melodramatic statement, "Oh shut up, you know as well as I do that there was no way to protect anyone from that. A freak accident in the middle of an active warzone."
"I guess."
The conversation faded and they waited patiently in comfortable silence until they heard a call from the bounty hunters. The pair turned to see Azariah waving them back over. Dagger sat back in her seat and Rex stood to her left side. He took up the stance that was most comfortable, which happened to be with his legs braced apart and arms crossed over his chest.
"I'm Azariah," the togruta started then she gestured to her left, "This is Neems, they're the team medic."
Then she gestured to the skinny devaronian to her right, "You already met Jask. He's the asshole that is our leader and on the other side of him is his big brother and the team muscle. Raybin."
Dagger cocked her head slightly, "Why are you telling us this?"
"If we are teammates, then we should all know each other's names," Neems was the one that spoke up. Their voice soft and quiet, timid but hopeful in a way.
Dagger nodded and shot a smirk up at Rex, it had worked, "This is Rex. I'm Kayda, but most people call me Dagger."
Jask smiled again, "Well it is certainly lovely to meet you Kayda."
She saw Rex twitch out of the corner of her eye, oh this was going to be interesting indeed. Rex stood a little straighter as he spoke, "So, when do we get started?"
~B~
The trek to their ship was a short one, Rex carried his bag over his shoulder and walked close to Dagger. Everything about his body language was screaming of protectiveness. He received more than a few looks from people passing by over how close he was standing.
Dagger, however, didn't even seem to notice. She followed the bounty hunters happily, just glad they had been successful so far. The ship was docked in one of the storage hangars a few levels down. A relic is what they found, an old XS Freighter, she hadn't even heard of these ships in a long time.
Raybin opened the ramp at the side of the ship and motioned them all inside, "Welcome to the Hippo."
"The Hippo?" Dagger asked.
Jask spoke up, "Yeah! 'Cause she's got a big round belly."
Dagger looked over at Rex and he just shrugged in acceptance. They all climbed inside and Jask immediately made his way around to the right where they could assume the cockpit was. They watched him disappear along the curved hallway.
Azariah led them in the opposite direction and to a series of doors. She stopped at the furthest one and motioned for the pair of soldiers to come forward. Once they did so she started tapping on the keypad on the door.
Rex almost jumped a mile into the air when she suddenly grabbed his left arm. She hushed him with a hard look and held the control unit of the vambrace to the keypad. With a little chime, something happened and the light on both the vambrace and the keypad turned green.
Azariah let go of Rex's arm and pressed a button on it, the door slid open, "This is your room. We haven't had time to clear it out, but there isn't much in here in the first place. Take anything you want because everything else is going to get tossed."
"Whose stuff is this?" Dagger asked.
"The man you are replacing. He is no longer part of the team and won't be in need of any of this," she responded.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be, I hated the bastard and I already like you two better. At least you don't talk my ear off," She said with a toothy smile. After that she turned and walked across the cargo hold and opened the door opposite to their apparent room.
Dagger and Rex exchanged a look before walking into their newly acquired room. There were two dressers along the side walls. Pressed up against those on either side of the room were two bunks, marginally bigger than the ones on the Resolute.
The bunk on the left looked like it was the only thing that was being used. There were no decorations on the wall and only one drawer was filled. Inside of that drawer was an open duffel bag that had even less possessions than the soldiers had brought.
Rex looked inside it, ever the pragmatist and looking for things that might help the mission. If dirty socks would help this mission he would have been in luck, but as it were the bag of items would be of no use to them. He zipped up the bag and lifted it up, he dropped it right outside of the door.
Dagger had already set her bag on the right bed and was fiddling with the strap. Rex mirrored her and put his bag down. Looking out the door he made sure no one was near.
Seeing that they were alone for the moment he placed a light touch to her hand, "Hey, good job."
She looked up at him and he could see the unease in her eyes. A quick glance told him that her body was shaking, so subtle that it took him standing just inches away to notice.
"I don't know if I can do this," she sounded scared. If Rex was going to be honest with himself, that one statement shocked him more than anything else today had.
Dagger never said she couldn't do something, she always worked hard to prove that she could. She seemed lost, like she was out of her element. The look on her face was concerning. How often did she wear that expression? How often did she feel uncertain and he just couldn't tell because her face was hidden?
He put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, talk to me, what's wrong?"
"I'm not- I just," she stammered, "I didn't think we would get this far and now we are in their ship. In the enemy's ship. What if I mess up? I don't know- I was never trained for this."
He smiled, trying to be reassuring, "Could've fooled me, you're doing great."
"They are going to know, they might even kill us," Dagger said, her breath coming in short pants, "Nothing is safe here, there is no backup. It's not-"
"It's ok, it's ok," Rex said as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms to try and stop the shaking, "You've got me for backup and I already know that you can take out a whole platoon of droids almost by yourself. There is nothing these four bounty hunters could throw at you that you couldn't handle."
She nodded, but still looked uncertain. Her mouth opened and closed a few times. There was something more that she wanted to say, but couldn't find the words. Rex just waited patiently.
When it seemed like she had finally given up on vocalizing her thoughts he smiled kindly at her, "It's ok, I will always be here to protect you, remember? We are both going to get through this ok? Together."
She nodded again. They both looked to the right as a shadow fell over the door. It was, admittedly, a small shadow. Neems spoke up in that soft voice again, Dagger really didn't think that they had a louder volume, "Are you hungry?"
Rex cocked his head to the side, "Is it dinner time?"
"Well, yeah. I made Aldeerian stew this morning and it has been on the stove all day. It's ready now," Neems explained as if Dagger would know what the dish was.
She had never even been to Alderan, much less had its stew. It was a good thing she wasn't a picky eater. Couldn't afford to be in the GAR, they survived on tasteless ration cubes and whatever else they could come up with in the mess hall.
Dagger followed Neems further around the circle hallway that connected the entire ship. Towards the front of the ship was a double door that must lead to the cockpit. There was a table bolted down in what had to be the dining room that was attached and a doorway that must have been the kitchen.
Azariah and Jask were already seated, he was talking about something and she was just staring ahead in disinterest. Neems just gestured vaguely to the table and they took it for the invitation it was and sat down.
Dagger went to sit down next to Jask, filling in the seat to the right, but was stopped by Rex sliding in front of her. She gave him a look, not quite sure why he wanted that seat but she wasn't going to question the Captain in front of the others. So, she just sat on Rex's right instead.
Neems had disappeared through that doorway where the smell of food was coming from. Soon enough they were returning holding six bowls and was followed by Raybin who was holding a massive pot.
"Finally," Azariah exclaimed, "I thought I was going to have to listen to Jask all night long."
"You could have made dinner yourself if you were so impatient," Raybin said as he set down the pot in the middle of the table.
The reaction to that statement was visceral and immediate. Jask actually shouted in what seemed to be fear and Neems yelled, "NO!"
That was the loudest that Dagger had heard Neems speak as of yet. The interaction made her giggle and she was able to deduce that Azariah must be an awful cook.
Raybin chuckled, "I thought so. Now eat, you all are too tiny. Especially you."
He nudged Dagger in the arm as he spoke and sat next to her, passing the bowls around the table. Rex tensed up, Dagger could feel it and tapped him on the leg. She couldn't tell if it was to calm him or herself. She was absolutely dwarfed by the size of the devaronian.
Everyone was served a portion and started eating. Rex and Dagger both looked into their bowls at the reddish brown stew. It smelled good, whatever it was, but they were hesitant to start eating it.
Once she saw everyone tucking into the stew she got a spoonful of it and hesitantly brought it up to her lips. Tasting the stew she was pleasantly surprised with it. Not bad at all.
Dagger hummed appreciatively and looked over at Rex who was practically shoveling food into his mouth. He barely even looked up at the others, instead opting for silence between bites.
"Soooo," Jask drawled, "How did you two meet?"
They paused and looked up at him, then Rex just ducked his head back down and kept eating. Dagger knew how to handle this part, just like they had talked about.
"I was on Dantooine, trying to pick up some parts for a ship I used to have. I was deep in the desert when I found this one half dead in the sand. I hadn't even known that the GAR went out that far, but he was the only one left. He came with me and we have been working together ever since," she explained.
"Why were you alone?" Neems asked. seeming very concerned about Rex in that moment.
"We were extracting a squad of commandos with a packed gunship. Something we hadn't planned for. There wasn't enough room for us all to get on the ship and back to the fleet. I was the ranking officer so I volunteered to stay back," he paused and took a deep breath.
"He said he would be right back for me, but I must not have been worth the fuel. I waited for days, but they never came back. By the time I realized that they weren't coming back I barely had any supplies left. I tried to walk to any sort of settlement, but there was nothing close. I must have passed out at some point and I woke up on a ship with an IV in my arm and her asking if I was ok."
Everyone was quiet now, like they didn't quite know how to respond. Rex put down his spoon, all of the stew in his bowl was gone.
"Good riddens. GAR never cared about me anyway. Just another replaceable cog in the machine. At least now I get to choose what I do," he spat the words.
"So you chose to stay with Kayda?" Jask asked.
"She saved my life and now I will protect hers with all I have," he said it in all seriousness. Dagger knew that, even though he was just protecting their cover, he meant those words.
"Don't say it like you are some sort of bodyguard. We work together, a team," she said.
Rex made a noncommittal sound, as if he didn't quite agree. They let the others decipher it as they saw fit. Jask spoke again, "Well shit man, if I had a pretty girl come save my life I would stick with her too."
Rex glowered at the man, but he held his tongue. He didn't like Jask one bit, not that the man needed to know that. If anyone was going to cause problems it wasn't going to be Rex. So instead he changed the subject, "What about you guys? How did you all come together."
"Well I started our little crew with Raybin, we got the family ship after the parents kicked the bucket. Azariah came next," Jask explained.
"More like I tried to kill you next and you decided you wanted to hire me," she interjected.
He hummed, "Details are unimportant. Then about a month later we got into a bad firefight and Raybin got hit. Neems here jumped him and decided that they would do whatever it took to heal him. By the time Raybin was back on his feet Neems was already part of the crew, so now Neems is with us."
Dagger nodded in understanding, "So you're the medic, he is the muscle, and you are the leader. What do you do?"
Azariah straightened up at the question, "These dummies wouldn't last without me. I have contacts across the galaxy and the best strategies of any bounty hunters out there. I make all the plans."
"And Jida? What did he do?"
"He was a more recent addition," she said, "But he was the weapons expert. A job that I have no doubt that you two will fill in nicely. A mandalorian and a soldier, you two must make quite the pair."
"We get by well enough," Dagger said leaning back, she was careful to not overstate their abilities. Her and Rex had agreed that it would be better for the bounty hunters to be pleasantly surprised with their skills rather than disappointed if they couldn't do something. Either way, this was sure to be the most interesting mission she would ever go on.
~B~
Once dinner aboard the Hippo was over, no one seemed too eager to get up. Dagger and Rex shared a look, they had no idea how to interact at this point. Any people they had ever shared meals with had been brothers, there was a certain level of familiarity among vod.
Here they were surrounded by people who didn't even know that they were the enemy. Hopefully the bounty hunters would think that their tenseness was because they were new and not suspect that they had ulterior motives.
So far, Dagger hadn't noticed any particularly distrustful looks as the conversation went on. The pair of soldiers remained quiet unless they were specifically addressed most of the time.
When there was finally a lull in the conversation Rex decided to speak up, "So what is our first mission going to be?"
"We will have to see when we get there," Jask said, "Should be about a half a day to get to Nal Hutta."
"Nal Hutta? Why are we going to that swamp?" Dagger asked.
"Because that's where I was told to meet our employers. They don't ever like to meet in the same place twice, but I always have to meet in person to get our next mission."
"So you have no idea what is up next?"
"Nah," Raybin said, his deep voice startled Dagger slightly, "It wouldn't be any fun that way."
"It's always close enough to the same thing. We are a specialized group. Our employers always give us jobs of a certain caliber," Azariah explained.
Rex nodded, unwilling to push any further with questions so early in the mission. He definitely wasn't excited about going to Nal Hutta, but it was more information than they had previously. Multiple employers who were wary of where they met up with their hired guns, never in the same place twice. He had to admit it was a smart strategy.
It might be a bit suspicious to outright ask who they were working for. Especially with the way that they seemed to be hiding their identity, so they would have to wait. See what came next, once they earned some trust he might be able to ask more direct questions. He didn't like playing the waiting game, but it was the one he was involved in now.
(A/N: Hello everyone, I'm so sorry about the delay on this chapter. I wanted it to be perfect and it was giving me some trouble. I hope you all liked it. Also, if you would like to read the scene that they mention in this chapter between Echo and Rex you can check that out on AO3. I have the same username on that website and you can find it under the title Atonement. I would love to hear what you thought of that scene as well. As always, thank you for reading!)