Chapter 2 - The Sin (2/2)
Silence fell when the door of the guild-owned cantina opened, where dozens of members had stood chatting and drinking, revelling in their successes, but all secretly envying the ones who claimed the reward of the Guild's biggest quarry. Mando and the Viking entered the building slowly, met by sneers and glares of those who wished they had even come half as close to finding the quarry as the two bounty hunters did. One aggrieved Gran assassin even went as far as spitting on the floor next to where Signe walked, earning a few chuckles from the guild members who sat the bar. The young woman surveyed the room, eyeing up any potential troublemakers that she may need to slaughter, should trouble arise.
The duo made their way through the cantina and headed for a round table at the back, where an elderly gentleman wearing a charcoal grey tunic and a long-sleeved beige shirt sat sipping his drink peacefully, until he noticed the pair walking towards him. A mischievous smile grew on his face, as he slowly rose to his feet. Shock suddenly filled him as the silhouettes of the two bounty hunters became a lot clearer.
"Ha ha… Hey, Mando! And… call me a Bantha herder and shoot me down… I don't believe it!" announced the man excitedly as his arms opened wide, an even bigger smile forming on his face.
Signe smiled softly and overtook Din, approaching the man and extending an arm. The gentleman did the same, and the pair locked arms, grabbing each other's opposite bicep.
"Greef Karga… It's been a long, long time" she smiled, grabbing his arm tightly.
The man flinched slightly at the strength of the young woman. "Still got that ferocity, I see" he joked, before letting go of her arm and sitting down again. He pointed to the seats opposite and waited for the pair to join him.
The Mandalorian sat down, feeling bemused and looking back and forth at the young woman and man who sat smiling at each other.
"So, you two know each other? You're part of the guild? You never mentioned that," he quizzed.
Greef chuckled softly to himself, turning slightly to face Din.
"Ahh Mando, (Y/n) and I go back a long way. She came to me when she was young… A foundling, if you will. I took her in and trained her up, but only halfway to the cold-blooded killer she is today."
The Viking smiled smugly, looking down at the table, feeling slightly embarrassed but knowing that Greef's compliments were true.
"You see, this little axe-wielding menace outgrew the Guild, just like I said she would all those years ago. She left us in search of, let's say, more challenging work" he winked at her.
Mando turned to look at Signe, who nodded at him, confirming Greef's story as the truth. He felt slightly set back by the prowess of the woman. He was aware of her fighting ability, but he had no idea that she had been a guild member and left because of the ease she met each quarry with.
"Well, if you aren't part of the guild… How did you know about the quarry?" Din asked, with a tint of uncertainty in his voice.
"I still have my connections from my Guild days. I intercepted the transmission from a rookie guild member. I asked him what he was looking for and all he could tell me was that it was a high value target. So I stunned him and took his fob" explained the young blonde, smiling as she did so.
Greef Karga chuckled softly to himself once again, admiring the confidence that the Viking clearly still had, even after all the years she had been away from himself and the guild. The Guild leader leaned forward towards the pair and looked around the room.
"They all hate you Mando… and well, they seem to hate you just as much too, (Y/n)... Because you're legends!"
Din looked back at him blankly. "How many of them had tracking FOBS?".
Greef sat back once again, annoyed by Mando's lack of enthusiasm towards claiming the bounty. He huffed slightly.
"All of them… ALL OF THEM! But not one of them closed the deal. Only you two managed to… and with it, the richest reward this parsec has ever seen. I celebrate your success, because it is my success as well!".
Signe smiled, looking over to Mando who still remained unenthused by the conversation.
"I want my next job."
Greef and Signe looked at each other in astonishment.
"You should relax, Mando… and (Y/n) too. I know a great cantina in the next town on… they have some of the finest Polis Crest Cocktails you'll ever try".
"I want my next job".
Still full of bewilderment, Greef removed a handful of bounty pucks and placed them on the table. Signe was indeed shocked by Din's eagerness to move on, but something came over her that made her realise what may have been wrong. A guilt hung over her like a dark cloud as she cast her mind back to The Child. She could tell that he just wanted to move on and forget what had happened. She suddenly couldn't get him out of her mind.
The Mandalorian reached towards the pile and picked one at random, activating it. An image of a Mon Calamari appeared above the puck. He huffed and looked at it before standing up, grabbing his rifle and looking at Signe, who smiled at Greef and slowly stood up with him. Karga nodded, understanding that the Mandalorian wanted to leave with haste. Din and Signe walked away from the table, before the Mandalorian stopped for a brief moment.
"Any idea what they're going to do with the kid," he asked Greef.
The man sighed as he placed the other pucks back into his pouch.
"I didn't ask. It's against the Guild code."
"They work for the Empire… what are they doing here?"
"The Empire doesn't exist anymore, Mando. All that's left is mercenaries and warlords. But if it bothers you that much, report them to the New Republic. I'm sure they'll be glad to help".
Mando sighed and shook his head with discontent. He knew that the New Republic wouldn't do anything about it and turned for the exit with Signe who followed. She turned back to Greef and waved to him. The man waved back gently and continued enjoying his drink as the pair left the cantina.
After a brief walk through the town, Mando and Signe entered the Razorcrest and its cockpit with haste. The burden of letting The Child go weighed heavy on both of their shoulders, as Din prepped the ship to leave Nevarro, in pursuit of his next bounty. The young woman strapped herself in and looked out the window and the barren landscape that went on for miles in every direction around the remote settlement. She sighed as the engines fired up, signalling that they were to leave Nevarro and The Child behind for good.
Din finished his preflight ignitions and prepared to initiate take off. He flicked one final switch and reached for a lever before he noticed something. The top of the lever was missing. The spherical top of the lever was missing. The exact one that the little green alien had been playing on their journey to Nevarro. He sighed and briefly stared at the lever, before powering down the engines. He stood up in silence and exited the cockpit as the ship turned off, making his way down the ladder.
Shocked, Signe unbuckled her belt and followed him down into the hull. After descending down the ladder, she was met with Mando, who had primed his rifle.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Din turned to her and simply said; "Getting the kid".
"Are you in position?", whispered Din from on top of a roof opposite the door to the remnant hideout, as he aimed his rifle down towards the building. A few moments of silence followed, before Signe replied via the small communication device he had given her on the Razorcrest.
"In position, moving to the door now,"
Moments later, the young woman emerged from the dark stairway to the right of the building that they had travelled down earlier. She looked up to the roof of the building, where Mando lay in wait. She gave a small "okay" sign, before knocking on the door. As expected, the gatekeeper droid emerged seconds later to survey the area, but before it had a chance to speak, The Viking grabbed its thin, metallic stick neck and ripped it out of the wall, before hiding behind two empty trash containers the other side of the door.
The door opened, with two Stormtroopers emerging from the building, E-11's primed. One inspected the damaged droid, whilst the other stepped back and stood in front of the containers, with his back to them.
"What happened to the droid?" one asked.
Before the other had the chance to answer, Signe stood up quickly and used the broken droid as a weapon, stabbing the trooper nearest to her through the lower back with the sharp, broken end of the stick. He screamed in pain, dropping instantly. The second trooper fired his blaster towards the containers, but was too slow as Signe, who used the falling trooper as brief cover, rolled along the floor beside him, swiping his feet from under him with her right foot, before kicking his rifle away and breaking his neck. The Viking drew her blaster and turned to Mando, before entering the dark building. The sound of blaster fire and two more screaming Stormtroopers followed, before the building fell silent again.
Din jumped off the low roof and walked over to one of the side walls of the building, planting a small detonator on it, before taking cover behind another wall opposite the building. The explosive blew a hole in the wall, big enough for him to walk through, which led him to a dark room. Two more armed troopers with flashlights on their rifles surveyed the room nervously, before being quickly dropped by Din, who shot both of them in the back of the head.
He hugged the walls as he made his way towards a metallic door at the other end of the room, which opened when another Stormtropper entered. Din was quick to dispatch him too, by using the darkness to surprise the trooper, stealing his heavy rifle off of him and beating him to the ground with it, until he stopped moving. Blood seeped through the cracks and gaps of the Stormtrooper's broken helmet.
Exiting the room, The Mandalorian turned right, into a dimly-lit corridor. A lone Stormtrooper stood guarding a door on the far left hand side of the hallway. Din crouched and prepared to move into position, but clumsily dropped his blaster. Alerted, the Stormtrooper turned and fired at the Mandalorian, missing by a few inches. The warrior grabbed his blaster, but before he or the trooper had the chance to fire, a dagger flew into the side of the trooper's head from a small door opposite the one he was guarding a moment ago. He fell to the ground with a thud, revealing Signe who stood above the corpse. She bent down and pulled the dagger from his head.
"If I have to save you one more time…" she mocked, as Mando rose to his feet once again. He tilted his head and approached the door that the trooper was guarding, nodding at her to highlight his gratitude towards her.
Din shot the control panel to the door, which opened quickly. One final Stormtrooper stood between them and The Child, who fired and managed to land a shot on Din's Beskar, before being killed instantly by The Mandalorian, who shot him in the chest. His body flew back against a wall and slumped down to the ground.
To his left was the Imperial scientist, accompanied by a floating probe droid, black and spherical in appearance, with a syringe and needle sticking out of it. It lowered down towards the small alien, which lay sleeping on its back on a small metal table, covered with a thin blanket and a metallic device which read its vital signs.
"No no, don't hurt it, it's just a child, please don't!"
Din walked over to the table and shot the droid out of the air, whilst Signe walked over to the scientist and punched him round the face, dropping him to the floor, before holding the dagger to his neck. She snarled at him.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT?" she screamed, as the cowering man trembled with fear.
"I… I protected him. I swear, I protected him. If it wasn't for me he'd already be dead… please... " begged the whimpering scientist, as Signe pulled the weapon away from his neck, cutting him slightly on the chin with a hint of intent.
"(Y/n), leave him. Let's get the kid out of here" The Mandalorian shouted as he scooped up the kid and wrapped him in the blanket, tucking him close to his chest.
Signe stood up quickly and followed The Mandalorian out of the room and down the hallway. In their frantic bid to exit the building quickly they found themselves back tracking and ended up in the large room where they had met the client earlier. For a brief moment, it was just them, until four Stormtroopers entered the room from either side, trapping the two bounty hunters in the middle of the room.
"Hey, drop the blaster." ordered one of them as he primed his weapon and aimed it at Din. Signe holstered her blaster and sheathed her dagger. Placing her hands on her head and dropping to her knees slowly.
"Wait… What I have is very valuable" suggested Mando calmly, as he lowered his blaster and The Child to the ground, as they had instructed. The Mandalorian then quietly primed his Whistling Birds, before firing them at the group of Stormtroopers, killing them all in an instant. Once the bodies had slumped to the ground, the pair stood up.
"So… That's what Whistling Birds do, huh?" asked Signe and she stood in awe of such an innovative weapon. She was somewhat jealous that she and her people didn't have something like that on her homeworld. The Mandalorian stood once he had gathered his blaster and The Child, and looked over at Signe. He nodded, acknowledging her question, before walking towards the exit of the building. The Viking followed him out into the dark alleyways of the town.
The air was mild considering how quickly dusk had turned to dark, with a handful of stars peppering the night sky peacefully. Sadly, on the ground, the peace was about to be broken. Mando and Signe made their way through the streets, back towards the stone archway that symbolised the gateway to and from the town, before something menacing caught their attention. As they made their way through the settlement, dozens of Guild members lined the sides of the streets, tracking FOBS going off the charts, as Din carried the prize asset along with him. Some members cocked their blasters, whilst others ran their gloved fingers along their blades, ready to pounce at the Mandalorian and his young companion at a moment's notice.
Before long, the pair were surrounded on all sides by members of the Guild, blasters poised towards the duo as they slowly came to a stop near the archway, with the safety of the Razorcrest tantalisingly close. Out from the darkness, stepped Greef, hand placed firmly on his blaster holster.
"Mando… (Y/n). Why did you have to do it? You just couldn't help yourselves, could you?" shouted the man, shaking his head with disappointment.
"Put the package down." he ordered.
Din was unphased by the sheer volume of bounty hunters, as well as Karga's demands.
"Get out of the way. We are going to my ship." he rifled, causing Greef to laugh in pittance.
"If you put the package down, perhaps I'll let you pass. If you truly care about the kid, you'll place him on the speeder, and we will discuss terms. Think about it, you two,".
The Mandalorian cast a quick glance at the speeder to his right. It was relatively shallow in terms of load capacity, and was piloted by an orange and white R6 unit. Din and Signe walked slowly towards the speeder, which was loaded with various containers. The two bounty hunters looked down solemnly at the sleeping alien, causing their hearts to sink. They had to take what little chances they had. In a moment of almost telepathic agreement, the two bounty hunters drew their blasters and opened fire. Din quickly dropped a Zabrak that stood close to him, whilst the Viking took out a Quarren marksman on a nearby rooftop. The pair bundled into the speeder, laying prone instantly, with Signe occasionally sticking her head up to pick off a few more enemies.
Din addressed the droid, by simply yelling "DRIVE", to which it rotated its dome from side-to-side, declining his request. The Mandalorian pointed his blaster at the droid and once again demanded that it moved the speeder. In a frantic array of beeps, the R6 unit turned its head towards the archway and began to pilot the craft forwards at max speed.
Now on the move and with their chances of success somewhat higher than before, the bounty hunters used their new-found confidence to commence another attack on their pursuers, with Din placing The Child in the corner closest to him, sporadically switching from prone to kneeling, picking off more members of the guild. Confident that the element of surprise would somewhat startle the bounty hunters, Signe assumed a more advanced kneeling position, rarely ducking behind the containers on the speeder for cover, as she blasted three mercenaries in as many seconds.
Greef took shelter by the wall that led down from the archway, watching the chaos unfold around him. He could tell that despite the odds being stacked against the escapees, they were heading straight for the Razorcrest. The guild leader decided that he had to take matters into his own hands, as he raised his blaster towards the oncoming speeder, and fired at the Astromech, destroying it. The destruction of the droid caused the speeder to lose its momentum suddenly, forcing Din to spread himself out as much as he could to stay in position, as the speeder eventually crashed into a pile of containers near the archway.
The force of the crash caused Signe, who until that point was still semi-standing whilst firing her blaster, to fly forwards off of the speeder, hurtling her towards the metallic containers. The young blonde travelled a few feet further than the speeder once it had stopped, and crashed into the pile, instantly knocking her unconscious. She lay on her side, facing away from the battle, with one leg draped over the other.
"(Y/n)… Dammit" murmered Din, as he assessed the situation.
The guild members slowly approached the destroyed craft, unaware which kind of fate the Mandalorian met. A Rodian bounty hunter ran out of the crowd to assess the Viking, placing his foot on her hip before shaking her to check she was still unconscious. He turned and gave a signal to the remaining bounty hunters, as he stood guard over her.
A rush of guilt flooded through Greef, as he noticed what happened to the young woman. He did not mean to cause her any harm, but had inadvertently done so when disabling the speeder. Mando lay in wait and slowly primed his rifle, before poking it out of a gap between two fallen containers in the speeder, and then firing at an unsuspecting young man, who met a brutal end. Panic ensued throughout the members who opened fire at the wreckage, with the occasional bolt hitting Din but in vain as they deflected off of his newly-forged Beskar.
The Mandalorian fired a few more shots towards the crowd, killing two more bounty hunters. Greef stepped forward from his cover and signalled for the guild members to stop shooting.
"That's an impressive weapon you've got there, Mando," admired the elderly man.
"Here's what's going to happen. You're going to let my friend and I leave, with the Child." Mando ordered, to the displeasure of Greef, who grew tired of The Mandalorians stubborn nature and sheer arrogance.
"No. How about this. You hand over the kid… and if you don't, we kill you and strip you for parts" hissed the Guild Leader, whose words fired up even more rage inside The Mandalorian, encouraging him to draw his blaster once again, quickly disposing of the three nearest enemies to him. A marksman on top of a nearby roof landed a hard shot on Din's left shoulder, as four more bounty hunters moved towards the wreckage. The Mandalorians next course of action was to expel the fire from his flamethrower, roasting three of the four approaching enemies, before exhausting quickly. It was spent.
In a manner which almost suggested he'd accepted it was his time, Din lay down once again, looking down at The Child. He knew that what he had done would have him banished from the guild, but he accepted that he was going to die having done the right thing. Trying to save The Child. He cast his mind momentarily to his young counterpart, who still lay motionless in front of the speeder, feeling responsible for the fact that she too was likely to die at the hands of the thugs who were shooting at him. However, Din's desperation was cut short, when The Child gently opened his eyes, staring up at the Mandalorian who until then, had felt totally lost. He felt a brief moment in comfort, and whispered;
"I'm sorry, Kid", before closing his eyes, ready to meet his end.
Suddenly, an explosion from across the street startled The Mandalorian and guild members alike, as the sharpshooter on the roof was blown off. Bolts rained down from above, as the thugs frantically aimed to the skies, firing in all directions. Din peered over the side of the speeder and was met with a sight that would stay with him forever. Mandalorians. Dozens of Mandalorians, all descending from the night sky, picking off mercenaries with ease, as they landed on the roofs of the buildings and the muddy floor of the street.
The bounty hunters scurried like panicked rodents, as they tried to gather some sort of knowledge as to where their enemies were firing from. Din turned to look at the Rodian standing next to Signe, shooting him in the head before joining the barrage. Moments later, an old adversary came to join Din's aid. The heavy. He hovered gently to the ground, mowing down multiple thugs with an enormous, heavy-repeating blaster, whilst only a few bolts from the panicked crowd managed to hit him. He turned to the Din before yelling.
"GET OUT OF HERE"
Din affirmed with a quick nod and made his way towards Signe, holding The Child tightly. He approached The Viking, before another Mandalorian, in black, blue-tinted armour, with a younger, less aggressive voice, yelled to him, as he flew out of the sky and landed beside him.
"Get to your ship, I'll get the girl,"
The Mandalorian didn't respond but still followed his suggestion, running towards the ship at speed. The younger Mandalorian fired a few shots towards the now semi-organised mass of bounty hunters, killing a few of them in the process.
"Theenyo, get the girl out of here, NOW!" barked the heavy.
Theenyo nodded, before rolling Signe onto her stomach, scooping her up and flinging her unconscious body over his shoulders. Her hair draped down and her arms limply swung in the wind, as the young Mandalorian launched into the air towards the Razorcrest, firing a shot into the leg of Greef Karga, who had tried to sneak away from the action, hoping to get to the ship before Din.
Din waved his hands frantically towards Theenyo, signalling for him to be quicker. The young warrior landed at the bottom of the ramp and carried the woman's limp figure into the hull, laying her in a recovery position, before travelling back down the ramp to assist Din in fending off a group of thugs who had managed to make it past the archway towards the ship.
"Thank you," said Din gratefully, as the pair fired their blasters towards the oncoming crowd.
Sensing that the opposing numbers were growing, Theenyo stepped further down the ramp and ventured a few metres forward, onto the sludgy ground.
"KID, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" screamed Mando, as the young warrior continued to fend off the thugs from a closer distance.
The young Mandalorian was so distracted, however, he didn't notice a thermal detonator that had landed just a few yards away from him. The high pitch beep of the explosive caught his attention, but it was too late. It detonated at his feet, sending him back towards the ship. He landed on his front, with his left leg broken, bent awkwardly in several places. He rolled onto his back to face the action once again, firing his blaster in a state of concussion and pain-induced delirium.
Din ran down the ramp towards his young counterpart, picking off a few more thugs before kneeling in front of him to protect him, allowing himself to be peppered with bolts from behind.
"I'm getting you out of here," he commanded, as he attempted to hoist Theenyo up the ramp. The young Mandalorian placed a blooded hand on Din's left shoulder, shaking his head softly.
"No… This is a noble death. Get The Child and the woman out of here. Take it far from this place. Leave me, brother," instructed Theenyo, whose words were interrupted with gurgling, which Mando assumed was blood inside his helmet.
Din listened to the warrior's words, but refused to let him go. He looked down at the dying Mandalorian, who looked back at him one last time.
"This is the way" he murmured.
Unbeknown to Theenyo, tears brimmed Din's eyes, as he gently laid the injured warrior's head down to the ground, leaving him to take his last few breaths. Din hobbled up the ramp towards the hull, slightly injured from the magnitude of bolts that had peppered his back. He turned to face the action one last time, before closing the door to the hull. As it closed, he sighed to himself and simply whispered;
"This is the way".
The Mandalorian quickly made his way to the cockpit, scooping up The Child who sat quietly next to Signe, who was still completely unconscious. Mando made his way into the cockpit and prepared for take off, skipping multiple safety checks. He just wanted to get off this world and far away. As he took off, the Heavy joined him, escorting The Razorcrest for a few moments, before nodding at turning back down to the ground.
"Ugh… I've gotta get me one of those'' groaned Mando, as he took the ship into the dark of space.
He turned to look at The Child, who made his way out of his seat and back down to the hull, faster than he had ever moved before. He approached the unconscious woman, and placed a small hand on her right temple, closing his eyes and gurgling. Din lowered himself into the hull moments later, in just enough time to see Signe's eyes slowly open, as she came round.
She sat up slowly, still groggy from the minor concussion she had suffered. Mando kneeled in front of her, assessing her.
"Take it easy, (Y/n). You've taken quite a hit to the head. Worse than the one on Arvala-7," explained The Mandalorian, as he slowly nursed her into an upright position.
"Did… Did I miss anything good?" she joked softly.
Din sat and starred past her, emptily thinking about what had happened just minutes before.
"No, nothing."
The Viking wore a frown of uncertainty and concern on her face. She could tell something had happened in the time she was unconscious, but she thought it was best not to ask. He seemed unsettled, whatever it was.
"I need to plot a route through hyperspace. Stay down here with the kid. There's some food in the container over there. Use the sleeping quarters if you want to. Just take it easy," he instructed softly, as he made his way back into the cockpit.
Din took his place in his seat, staring into the void of space as they left the hell hole behind. He looked to his left, noticing the blood that had dried on his pauldron. He sighed and took the lower end of his cape, wiping it clean. He didn't care where he went, as long as it wasn't here. With one last huff, he entered the coordinates and activated the hyper drive. Moments later, the Razorcrest vanished into space.