Cye stood frozen in the dark, holding her breath and listening for any sign of life in the apartment. Zam held fast to her hand, swaying but managing to keep her feet underneath her. They stayed that way for a long, tense minute. As they waited Cye's eyes adjusted to the darkness and began to take in the shadowy details of the room. Someone had drawn the curtains to block the city lights in addition to the apartment. She slowly pulled away from Zam and hugged the wall, taking measured, silent steps to gain cover behind a shelving unit.
She berated herself once again for not having her blaster with her. The bag with her armor was two meters away on the couch. If she could get there without any more surprises, she could at least get to her vibro blade. On a silent count of three she broke cover, darting for the couch. The dagger was just underneath the remnant of her flak vest and she grabbed it before ducking behind the arm of the couch.
As she did so Zam reached the other side of the room and hit the switch, lighting up the apartment. Cye squeezed her eyes shut against the bright glare. She hoped that whoever was here got surprised too or else she was a sitting target. Cye slowly opened her eyes, squinting as they adjusted to the light. Zam was pressed against the wall on the other side of the room with a blaster in hand. Where she had it hidden Cye had no idea. No one was in the room with them, but she had a clear view of the hall and was positive that a shadow moved in the bedroom.
Cye stood, ready to activate the vibroblade. She caught Zam's attention, holding up one finger then pointing down the hallway. The other woman's face was red, her eyes no longer shining with mirth. Cye crept up to her and mouthed, "I'll go first, distract them, and you can take the shot." Zam frowned at the vibroblade but nodded anyway.
They moved silently down the short hallway as Cye tried to calm her racing heart. The buzz she'd had earlier transformed into a constant thrumming as it kept a beat with her pulse and tickled her nose. That's what she assumed until she caught the familiar scent of spiced varos flower. She paused and held her hand up, stopping Zam behind her. She inhaled in quick, silent bursts trying to confirm what she smelled wasn't her imagination.
"What is it?" Zam's whisper barely carried to her ears.
"Jango?" Cye called out. Zam jumped behind her with a gasp. "Where are you?"
"Took you long enough," his gravelly voice came from the bedroom. Cye felt the weight leave her head and she slumped back to lean against the wall. She'd had enough surprises for one night, but at least this one was a welcome one. Zam, on the other hand, seemed to wind up even more.
"Fierfek, Jango," she said as she stormed into her bedroom. "You said you were going to message me over holo before you showed up." Cye pushed herself straight and followed her in so the clawdite didn't do anything she'd regret.
"I did. You didn't answer." Jango was in full kit, his helmet resting easily under his arm. He wore his signature frown as Zam huffed and stomped over to the holo comm. It was flashing with a message. Zam jabbed it with her finger and deleted the waiting message before spinning in place and crossed her arms over her chest.
"So you decided to break into my place?"
"Where else would I wait?" Jango looked from Zam to Cye and the frown deepened. "What happened to you? I thought I told you to look out for her, Zam."
"I'm fine," Cye spoke up before Zam could dig herself a deeper hole. "We went out to a club and a couple guys got too chatty. It was fun."
Jango's eyes narrowed at Zam, judging her state of intoxication and looking for any sign of deception. Cye sighed, moving between them and stood eye to eye with her brother. She put her hands on his shoulders, focusing his attention on her. A sheepish smile creased the edges of her eyes. "I'm glad you're here."
"Me'vaar ti gar?" He asked in a rushed whisper.
"Cuy ogir'olar, Ori'vod. Shi briikasak, mhi lararyc'ika."
"Don't talk about me like I'm not in the room," Zam said as she tossed the blaster on the bed.
"Sorry," Cye replied. It was easy to fall back into Mando'a with her brother around. "I was just telling him we went out to cheer me up." She turned back to her brother. "That's all."
Jango pressed his lips together and snorted. "Mhi jorhaa du'car. Are you ready to go?"
"Go?" Zam wavered as she objected. She collapsed somewhat gracefully onto the bed before she fell down. "But you only just got here."
Something in Jango's tight lipped expression worried Cye. He was keeping something back. Something he didn't want to discuss in front of Zam. "She's right. And we just got back. I don't have anything ready yet."
"Well get it that way. We need to get back to Kamino." She knew the finality in that tone. It brooked no argument.
Zam apparently knew it too based on the exasperated sigh. "Fine. Take what you need from the closet, Cye. And keep the boots. They suit you." She rolled to face them and smiled. "I hope I see you again soon. Maybe next time we won't have someone rudely interrupt us."
"I still don't understand why we needed to leave so fast," Cye said as she matched pace with her brother's long strides across the landing platform. He'd put his helmet on and had a firm grip on her arm. To the casual observer a Mandalorian bounty hunter had found who they were looking for and was marching them back to wherever for their reward. "Couldn't we have left in the morning at least?"
"No. It's not safe here." His gruff voice came out distorted through the helmet. Jango's ship came into view, waiting near the end of the row. He pressed a button on his vambrace and the boarding ramp to Slave I began to lower. Cye was about to ask why when he cut her off. "I'll explain on board."
The interior of Jango's ship was the same as the last time she'd been a passenger. He kept everything clean, but it was still all function and no form. Everything served a purpose and was in its place or else it was gone. There was no doubt this was a Mando's ship. As they reached the hold Cye noticed something new over the back of the guard station chair that stopped her in her tracks. Hanging there were two long braids. Seclusion braids.
"Stay here. I'll be back once we're in hyperspace." Jango paused at the hatch to the cockpit and offered a tight frown. "I wanted to make sure I had proof to show you."
Cye stayed locked in place as the hold's artificial gravity kicked on, staring at the braids even as her stomach churned. The short time she'd spent with Zam was simply a distraction. She knew that. But she still didn't expect how much the loss overpowered and eliminated any enjoyment she'd felt for that brief time.
She ran her fingers over Hondo's braids, remembering the man they were once attached to. They were as much a part of who he was as the lungs that allowed him to breathe. The red cord she'd given him was still bound where she'd woven it in a few months ago. Her throat ran dry as she touched it, a mixture of sorrow, anger, and revulsion swirling in her chest. She closed her eyes, not wanting the images that came but unable to stop them. She'd been through enough to know that happy endings simply didn't happen, but she thought she'd get more than a couple years of contentment. Even with the fights, their differences, she thought they had it pretty good all things considered.
Jango's warning of the impending jump to hyperspace brought her back to the present. She took the braids off the back of the guard's chair, setting them gently in her lap as she sat down just in time for the pit of her stomach to drop. The dizziness didn't last very long without the direct visual of hyperspace to fuel her vertigo. The buzzing, lightheaded sensation never quite went away, but she was used to it and managed to keep it in check as she carefully pulled the red cord from the braid and tucked it into her boot. She wasn't sure why she wanted to keep it, but she couldn't bring herself to throw it into the disintegrator chute with the rest of the braids.
Jango climbed down from the pilot's section to the hold just as she sealed the chute. He said nothing as she approached, simply took her shoulders and turned her to face him. He pressed his forehead to hers. Cye could barely see him through the forming tears. "Ni ceta, Ika'vod. I didn't want this for you." Her brother's sympathy broke the fragile dam Zam's distraction had built. Cye cried in shuddering uneven gasps as he crushed her against the chest plates of his armor. She didn't care about the ache and discomfort from the stitches in her side. She held onto him like a lifeline during Kamino's monsoon season. "You deserve better, Cye'ika."
"Why though?" she forced out between hitched sobs.
Jango didn't answer, merely shook his head while she cried the overwhelming sense of injustice out of her system. She certainly didn't feel like she deserved better. A part of her would always be there to try and convince her that it was her fault. That she didn't deserve to find joy or happiness. That her life was meant for only vengeance, pain, and death. Those two opposing ideas of being could never coexist in her heart.
As her tears slowed she finally released the vice grip she held on Jango's flak vest. He helped her sit and crossed the hold to the small food station. "You want caf? Or something a little stronger?"
"Caf is good," she said meekly. "I think I need to clear my head."
"Heh," Jango forced a short laugh as the machine whirred and spat out hot caf into a ceramic mug. "Yeah, Zam will do that to you." He returned with two mugs in one hand and a bottle of tihaar in the other. "What the hell were you thinking, letting her drag you out on a job?" His tone was amused, and the smile lines by his eyes creased.
"How'd you know?" Cye asked as she took a sip from the mug. It was decent for instant caf.
"Saw the bounty puck while I was waiting for you," he replied as he pulled the top off the bottle and took a swig straight from it. "I checked it out and figured that's where you were."
Cye let out a short sigh of laughter then shook her head. "There was never a time we could fool each other, huh?" The caf was helping with the buzzing and clearing out the fuzz. She watched him stare at the bottle for a moment longer than he should have. The look reminded her of the intensity he had before they left Denon. "Why aren't we safe? What happened, Jan'ika?" He took one more short swig from the bottle and stared at her with a hesitant frown. "I need to know."
"What IDs have you been using lately?" he said after another pause.
"Mesh'la Naast when I'm taking solo jobs," she replied, confused at the turn in questioning. "But I haven't needed to use the others. Jango, what's going on?"
"Hondo had business with Deathwatch. They know who you are and want to use you to get to me." It was so quiet Cye thought she could hear the swirling chaos of hyperspace pounding in her ears again. She wrapped both hands around the caf mug and stared at its contents trying to sort through the mass of implications those few words brought up. "Vizsla had a son we didn't know about. From what I got out of Hondo, he's rebuilt Deathwatch. He knows we killed his father and found you through the pirates."
How could you, H? The thought that he would have had anything to do with anyone calling themselves Deathwatch turned her sorrow into icy rage. Even worse, that he might have given them her real name was a far worse betrayal than simply abandoning her for a better offer. Had Deathwatch made the better offer? Had they set up the trap on Corellia?
"Cye'ika." Jango's tempered voice cut through the spiral of what ifs. "I've taken care of cutting ties. You won't have to worry about Deathwatch finding you because of Hondo. But you need to think about your next move. Carefully."
All she could offer in return was a nod. She would sooner die by her own hand than be caught by Deathwatch. The life she had started to build had disappeared in the blink of an eye, the same way it had time and time again. It seemed like everything good she'd ever accomplished kept being ripped away or warped by her own need to win. What do I do now? She thought as she swirled the liquid in her cup. Where do I go? Who can I trust?
"You don't have to decide right away," Jango said, deciphering her thoughts through her face. "We'll figure things out when you- when we- can both think with clear heads."
"Alright." Cye couldn't force herself to speak above a whisper. "Sounds like… something." She brought the mug up and finished off the caf in several gulps. Once she was finished she set it aside, eyeing the bottle of tihaar, but decided against taking it from her brother.
"You've had a rough couple of days," he said as she stood and picked up the mugs. "You should rest. It'll be mid-morning when we get to Kamino. I'll show you around, let you see the progress those gene tampering fishheads have made. Spend time with Boba." He pointed towards the last prisoner hold. "I set the third cell up for you. Blackout and sound dampening cloth. Should keep the vertigo at bay while we're in hyperspace."
Cye rose and walked mechanically towards the hold. She pulled back the curtain and paused, turning to see Jango still standing by the table watching her. "Thank you, Ori'vod. I'm glad I have you looking out for me."
He offered a tight smile in return. "It's you and me against the universe, Ika'vod. We'll win out in the end."
"Yeah," Cye agreed, bobbing her head. "You and me." At least she had one good thing left in the galaxy to hold onto. "Goodnight."
Mando'a Translations:
Me'vaar ti gar? - How are you? (Lit: what's new with you?) Can also be used to ask a soldier for a sitrep. If a Mando asks you this, they expect an answer; it's literal.
Cuy ogir'olar - It's neither here nor there. *It's irrelevant.*
Shi briikasak, mhi lararyc'ika - Just a run-ashore and we're a little drunk. (run-ashore is a social event or night out while deployed)
Mhi jorhaa du'car - We're talk about this later
Ni ceta - I'm sorry (lit: I kneel) grovelling apology - rare