I knew I was in deep shit. The troopers had spotted us and were flying towards the cart, gaining speed and preparing to strike. I couldn't bend a tunnel to hide in within the desert—there was too much sand. It would either all fall through the cracks and into the depths of the planet, or we would get buried alive and suffocate. It wasn't a safe option for us. I tried to shuffle through the boxes that remained on the cart for any sort of weapons I could use to help, but all I managed to find were empty plastic cases from beverages.
"Dammit!" I exclaimed, throwing the boxes aside. The dark troopers were close enough now where I could see their red eyes gleaming through the dry air. Stopping the Krykna with bending was one thing. I had the security of isolation on my side, the only witnesses to my abilities a child, a frog lady, and this Mandalorian. Exposing myself to Imperial machines was an excruciating thought and I felt paralyzed with confliction. I stared above at them and watched as one pointed its blaster at me, the whirring that reverberating throughout the desert sending alarm bells to fire off in my brain. The trooper aimed directly for the droid and fired the gun.
I jumped off the cart just as the droid exploded, destroying the wagon and causing debris to soar through the air and scatter across the desert. I landed on my hands and knees, tumbling into a somersault to absorb the brunt of the fall and protect myself and the child, who cried out in fear. Flustered, I picked myself up and watched as the dark troopers turned on their heels to head back towards us.
Suddenly, I heard a rumble approaching in the distance. I rotated quickly to see a speeder bike careening towards me, the Mandalorian's Beskar armor reflecting in the hot sun. Anxiety pulsed through my veins. I pushed myself into a sprint to avoid another attack from the troopers, just barely avoiding blows from their blaster's. The Mandalorian pressed his foot on the gas and, once he was close enough, he reached his arm out towards me and pulled me behind him just before a dark trooper could kill me where I stood.
Once safely on the bike, he accelerated. I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my cheek on his shoulder, sighing out of relief, slowing the adrenaline that pounded in my eardrums. The Mandalorian gripped the handles of the bike, my touch and proximity to him causing him to feel momentarily distracted. Looking back at the dark troopers, I saw they were still. They assessed the new situation, their radar centering in on their objective, and charged towards us.
"We have another problem," I said to the Mandalorian over the howling wind. He glanced backwards and saw the troopers were fast approaching.
"Hang on," he pushed his foot as far on the pedal as it could handle, and the speeder bike responded with a high-pitched hum, indicating it was at its limit. I had to grit my teeth to endure the sand that streamed by, stinging my bare skin as we careened through the desert. The child whimpered and crouched deeper into the satchel on my back, shutting his eyes tightly to hide from the danger we were faced with. I gripped the Mandalorian's waist tighter, leaning in.
"Whatever metal was used to create those things is definitely more than what I'm used to controlling," I explained to him. "I'd probably do more damage to myself than I would to them."
The Mandalorian nodded in response. He glanced over his shoulder to see that the dark troopers were not nearly as phased as he thought they might be by his method of evasion. The engines within their steel bodies were quick to adjust, targeting the speeder bike. The radar in the trooper's control board beeped frantically, signaling the child was on my back, and the others behind it were instantly notified as they sped toward us.
I managed to open my eyes a bit and saw a sandstorm ahead of us. "There!" I yelled at the Mandalorian. "Drive into that sandstorm."
He twisted the handle and extended his left foot out to balance our weight as we turned sharply. The troopers were getting closer, only a few hundred meters away from us now, my mind in a flurry of panic. Their jets were a refined technology that screamed Imperial, only old Empire warlords with the control and finances able to manufacture them, and the Mandalorian's words were proving to be true. The Empire was crawling their way back into society. Before I could register these thoughts more, we were inches from the edge of the sandstorm. I sat up straight and bended a dome of air, creating a bubble of security around us within the blur of the storm by swinging my arms in wide cartwheels. The speeder bike flew into the storm and we were temporarily hidden from the troopers. I searched frantically behind us as a precaution but sighed deeply when it seemed we were safe for the moment. I knew they wouldn't stop searching for us until they had the child, and we were ambushed in this pit of Nevarro's desert with nowhere to hide.
I had an idea. "Stop the bike!" I yelled over the gritty sound of the sand spraying against the bubble I created. The Mandalorian slowed and he paused, one foot on the ground and his hand still on the gas in case we needed a quick escape.
I stepped off, feeling a bit nauseous from the erratic driving. I swung the satchel around my shoulder and took the child out, putting him in a bag on the side of the speeder bike. Pulling extra blankets from the gear strapped to this bike—whoever owned it had a lot of stuff, items clanking against the bike and falling to the ground—I began balling them up and shoving them in my bag, adjusting it back on my back, appearing as though it was filled with something.
"What are you doing?" The Mandalorian asked, though he thought he had some sense already.
"They think I have the kid," I said between puffs of air. The bubble protected us for the moment, but I knew the storm would move on and reveal us, giving the troopers the chance to find us and catch up to us fast. "I'll distract them, you get out of here with him."
"No." He said sternly. I eyed the edge of the storm; sensing time was running out.
"I thought your only priority was to keep the kid safe. I'm giving you a chance to escape with him and buy you some time."
He stepped off the bike, approaching me. "They saw you use your abilities. They know who you are, and they'll kill you."
I shook my head; a harsh laugh escaped my throat ironically. I somehow, within the time that I jumped onto the speeder bike and realized the full reality of this situation, had accepted my fate. Bending the air was a huge red flag and certainly wasn't something that was witnessed very often. I had exposed myself, revealed my identity to this new world, the one quality about myself I'd done everything to hide, and as easily as a snap of my fingers, it was done. Even if I wanted to turn back now, it was too late.
I was giving up everything to be captured. The child was not only the Mandalorian's responsibility—I felt that he was mine as well. This is the right thing to do, something calming told me, the memory of my daughter's fragile body warming my skin pleasantly. It was, in a way, my second chance to help a child who needed me.
I met his eyes, a sudden but welcome confidence overcoming me. As I spoke, I barely recognized the person talking. "This is your only chance."
He stared at me. The Mandalorian heard something clear in my voice, causing him to feel speechless, unable to argue with this decision I'd come to, though he still thought it was suicidal. I held tightly onto the edge of the bubble I created, sensing the safety of the storm disappearing fast.
"You need to go," I put my hand on the child's head, petting him affectionately, and softening my gaze. "Good luck, buddy," and I clipped the bag closed to protect him from the sand and keep him hidden. I turned to walk away, leaving the Mandalorian in the bubble and heading straight for the dark troopers.
I pushed through the blur of the sandstorm, keeping my head within a separate air pocket so I could breathe. I was able to hold the bubble the Mandalorian was in for a few more steps before I lost focus, forcing me to release. My exposed arms stung from the whipping storm around me. To make it towards the dark troopers quicker, and to allow the Mandalorian to escape, I decided it would be worth creating a commotion. I turned to try and see the speeder bike—but it was already out of sight and gone.
I bended a wide breadth of air above me, creating a gully within the storm. It channeled through and revealed the bright blue sky, a sort of peacefulness within the haze of the sand. I stared ahead, hoping to lure the troopers towards me. After a few seconds, I was successful—a dark trooper zeroed in on this disturbance and turned quickly towards me. Several others followed suit behind it, funneling in to stand beside me. When they settled, their red eyes landed on the satchel I had on my back.
"I hope you've made it out of this," I said under my breath, directed towards the Mandalorian.
The storm subsided suddenly. I was back under the eye of the sun, its bright heat mocking me and preparing me for bleaker days. I stopped bending the air and stood still. Counting the dark troopers—there were four now, from what I could see—I remained hopeful my plan would work.
Meanwhile, the child clung tightly to the sack on the back of the speeder bike. The Mandalorian once again pushed the pedal to the floor and twisted the handle, urging the bike to speed away as fast as possible. He emerged from the sandstorm and glanced over his shoulder, trying to find Quinn. Confident he was far enough away, he slowed down and searched the horizon.
The dark troopers stuck out against the dunes of the desert. Though he was plenty far enough away at this point, the Mandalorian pressed a button on the side of his helmet and zoomed in. He could see them circling Quinn, trapping her. She seemed to be extremely composed from this perspective, her hands raised by her shoulders in surrender. One trooper began approaching her, its arm reaching out to grasp her by the wrist. She took a step backwards and swung her leg up, throwing the trooper off course by kicking its arm swiftly. The Mandalorian watched with clenched teeth. Another came up from behind and tried to grab her, but she turned, using her abilities, and crushed it as though it were as unstable as an aluminum ball. Her expression was steady, and the Mandalorian knew she'd been anxious about her ability to do this. He was momentarily impressed.
Her movements were light and airy, her powers comfortably harnessed in her possession. She drew the earth open, sending one trooper to its demise—however, another managed to turn its jets on before plummeting to the depths of the planet, landing besides her. She evaded their blows longer than he expected—but there were too many for her, and she wasn't used to controlling this type of metal just yet. The Mandalorian watched as a dark trooper walked towards her, its arm extended with a taser at the end of it. She was too occupied with another and didn't see it coming. The trooper attacked, and the electrocution sent her nervous system wild. She succumbed, falling to her knees, screaming violently, echoing throughout the dunes of the desert. Seconds later she was unconscious and landed in the desert on her side, silent. The two remaining troopers wrapped her in wire and took off towards the sky, where an Imperial ship appeared from the clouds and greeted them gladly. The Mandalorian crouched behind a sand dune, hidden from the ship. He noted the structure and integrity, the numbers on the side, and watched it take off into hyper speed.