Chapter 6 - The Prisoner (2/2)

The group approached the door of the control room, with Burg, Xi'an and Mayfeld still silently in awe of what they had just witnessed. Mayfeld was grateful for what Din and Signe had just pulled off a few moments ago, but he couldn't let that gratitude become visible. This was his mission, afterall. He was the leader, the go-to guy. It was him who was meant to be getting the group out of trouble should they meet any along the way, but he knew deep down that had it not been for Signe and The Mandalorian, he, Xi'an and Burg would be lying dead in the middle of the corridor, as fried corpses.

"Zee, get us in that control room, now!" yelled Mayfeld, almost exaggerating his orders to regain some authority.

"But I am detecting an organic signature," argued the droid, who was conscious of the fact that the inclusion of an organic lifeform would make everything more difficult.

"I don't care, open the damn door," instructed Mayfeld, to which the droid obeyed.

The door opened, which alerted a New Republic officer who until then had been standing at a control panel, minding his own business. He turned around in shock and drew his blaster.

"Stop. S-stop right there. You p-put down your blasters, right now," the officer stuttered fearfully.

Mayfeld chuckled whilst the group slowly filled into the control room, eyeing up their Republic counterpart, who stood wearing a royal blue uniform with white shoes and an officer's helmet. The thugs laughed at him, whilst Din and Signe hung back, with their blasters drawn but aimed nowhere in particular.

"Nice shoes… Matches his belt," joked Mayfeld, as the officer continued to aim his blaster, shaking slightly.

"There were only meant to be droids on this ship," complained Din, which fell on deaf ears as Mayfeld searched the security system to find their friend. After a few moments, he found what he had been looking for.

"Ahh, here we go. Cell 221. Now, for our well-dressed friend here,"

With the panic literally consuming him, the officer removed a small white device from his pocket, which flashed red with a tiny light. Mayfeld's face dropped with sudden anxiety, knowing fully well what the officer was doing.

"Hey. Put that down," he said calmly, to which the officer ignored him."Put it down… NOW!" Mayfeld ordered, this time aiming the blaster directly at his face.

Xi'an grinned with excitement, whilst Signe and Burg shared a confused look. They weren't sure of what was going on, but the tension in the room was enough to spark their curiosity… and fear.

"What is that thing?" quizzed the Devaronian.

"It's a tracking beacon. If he presses that button, a New Republic attack team will hone in on that signal, and we'll be done for," answered Mayfeld, with evident panic in his voice. He was slowly losing his composure as the supposed leader of the group.

Xi'an's grin disappeared from her face in a flash.

"Are you serious? You didn't think we'd need to know that tiny little detail?" she snapped.

"I didn't think we'd get to this point!" admitted Mayfeld as his anger and fear sparked inside him.

Signe rolled her eyes in pity towards the man, as she put away her blaster and moved slightly toward the officer to show she wasn't a threat.

"You're an idiot, Mayfeld. You know that?" she hissed, as he turned towards her.

"Shut your damn mouth, you bitch!" As soon as the words left his lips, his face showed instant regret when he saw the small dark glare he got from the younger woman before she went back to trying to calm the officer, however the shouting in the control room panicked him even more now. He was faced with a group of intruders who were threatening him, whilst turning on each other. He had no idea what to make of the situation. It felt as if any minute, someone was going to pull the trigger, and then all hell would break loose. His heart thudded in his chest like he had never felt before, until the calm, muffled voice of Din drew his attention.

"Hey... Hey, look at me. What's your name?" he asked gently.

The officer gulped with fear, struggling to get his words out amidst the fear he was feeling.

"D-Davan..." Mando nodded softly.

"Davan, listen to me. We aren't here for you, we're here for a prisoner. We don't want to hurt you. If you let us go about our business, you can get away with your life," reassured Mando, almost causing the officer to lower the beacon and calm down. That was until Mayfeld intervened and escalated the situation further.

"No, he won't," decline Mayfeld, aiming one of his blasters at the young man, attempting to threaten him.

Signe frowned with ever-growing frustration and drew her blaster again, aiming it right at Mayfeld's face, whilst Devan held out the tracking beacon, demonstrating his eagerness to activate it. Mayfeld had completely lost his cool, and turned the second of his dual-wield blasters at the woman.

"You realise what you're going to bring down on us, you moron?" she hissed.

"You think I care about that, kid?" replied Mayfeld behind gritted teeth.

Having also seen enough, Din primed his blaster, aiming it directly at the man, before turning to his right to see Burg, who stood with his weapon drawn. The whole situation had gotten completely out of control, with four of the rescue parties all aiming their blasters at one another.

"Get that blaster out of my face, Mando," murmured the unhinged Mayfeld, to which Din simply shook his head.

"I said, get that blaster out of my face!"

Just as the situation was about to tipping point, silence fell in the room, when the faint whistling of one of Xi'an's daggers distracted them, before thudding into Devan's midriff, killing him instantly. Signe dropped her blaster and knelt down to inspect the young man, who had collapsed in a heap on the floor. She looked up in disgust at the Twi'lek, who slowly strutted her way over to the blonde's fiery eyes never leaving her.

"Will you all just shut up?" she groaned, as she bent down and retrieved the dagger from Devan's corpse, winking at the Vicingian. Signe scowled at her, loathing how nonchalantly Xi'an was acting, despite having just murdered a man in cold blood. The Twi'lek ran her tongue across her top lip whilst eyeing the young woman, before mouthing, "Men, hey?"

The other members of the group slowly withdrew from their stances, shocked at Xi'an's erratic performance. However, before any words could be spoken, the group's attention was directed to the tracking beacon, which was now beeping faintly.

"Was...was that doing that before?" asked Signe, with evident trepidation on her voice.

The mood sunk deeper than it had before. Devan had activated the Beacon just seconds before he had died. The group knew that if they didn't get their act together, they would meet a similar fate to that of their New Republic counterpart.

"Zero to Mayfeld, Zero to Mayfeld. I have detected a New Republic distress signal homing in on your location. You have approximately twenty minutes,"

Mayfeld's head sank, as what they had feared, had now become reality. It was a sombre affair, with their lives in even more danger than they had been beforehand.

In her typical arrogant fashion, Xi'an turned for the door, looked back at the group and simply said;

"We only need five,"

With little choice, the group regained some form of order, piling out of the control room one-by-one, with Xi'an leading the way, closely followed by Mayfeld, who was still keen to be the main man on the mission. Din and Signe looked at each other, with Signe shaking her head in disbelief, knowing that this already treacherous mission had just gotten that little bit harder.

Having turned immediately right out of the control room, the group were met with their next challenge. A modified R1 unit, which hovered through the corridors of the prison ship, unaware of the group approaching. Burg grinned with excitement, as he hurled his huge frame towards the droid, wrapping his arms around it, before picking it up and slamming it into the ground. Moments later, another R1 unit zipped around the corner, only to be met by the wreckage of the dispensed R1 flying towards it, exploding on impact. The Devaronian stood in front of the blazing wreckages, flexing his biceps as the group continued across the hallway, towards cell 221.

After a few more minutes of searching, the group reached the holding cell. Mando and Burg kept a lookout, whilst Mayfeld and the two women stood with anticipation.

"Zee, we're here! Open it up!" yelled Mayfeld down his comms device.

"Opening now. You have ten minutes,"

Mando turned slowly as the door raised from the floor, disappearing into the frame above. What met him was one hell of an unpleasant surprise. A Twi'lek, with faint purple skin, exactly the same as Xi'an… Her sibling.

"Qin," he quizzed, with even more fear than when he had seen Xi'an earlier that day.

The Twi'lek rose slowly, delicately making his way out of the cell, towards the group. His face was abounding with grimace, as his short yet muscular frame approached the Mandalorian.

"Funny. The man who left me behind is now my saviour," he quipped, laughing softly to himself.

Suddenly, two hands grabbed Din's shoulders from behind, whilst Qin grabbed his arms, spinning the Mandalorian round and pushing him into the cell. Signe went to draw her axe, but was met with a quick kick to her right arm by Burg, causing her wound to flare up in pain as she stumbled back into the cell and onto the floor before the group closed the door on them. The mercenaries laughed to themselves, as they turned and ran towards the exit.

"You deserve this," Xi'an cackled as she took her brother's hand and skipped along the corridor.

Din sat with his legs arched and his hands resting on his knees. He lowered his head and shook it in disbelief. The bounty hunter couldn't believe that he had been put in such a situation. He was ashamed that he had been overpowered so easily, disgusted at the fact he didn't put up more of a fight. Both he and Signe were going to die… As prisoners.

The Mandalorian turned to look at Signe, who lay motionless but conscious, trying to breathe through the pain she was feeling as she held a hand to the right side of chest.

"You okay?"

The Vicingian grunted as she slowly pushed herself off the floor and rolled onto her back, letting out a huge sigh and rubbing her head gently. Din made his way over checking over her wound and sighed in relief when he realised they hadn't reopened.

"I feel like I've just been kicked by a Devaronian," she seethed, unamused by Din's rhetorical question. She was in no mood for small talk after what had just happened.

"So… What's the plan?"

Din huffed, and carefully looked around the room, as in deep in thought. He took a moment to pause, before drawing his blaster and firing a single bolt at the door. The pair flinched, as the bolt deflected off of every surface it touched for a few seconds, before the energy eventually dispersed.

"Really? That was your plan? Shoot until we eventually end up killing one another?" she scoffed.

Mando turned to her and tilted his head to the right quizzically.

"You got any better ideas?" he chimed.

"Guess not,"

The pair sat in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes, contemplating what had just happened. They knew that they should have seen it coming, yet they were blinded by the adrenaline they were feeling, whether they wanted to admit it or not.

Their moment of silent reflection was interrupted by the metallic clanking of a guard droid's footsteps, as it marched down the hallway on its hourly inspection. Mando sat up and brushed past Signe, peeking out at the approaching droid from between the patterned slits on the door. He stood back and aimed his right wrist at the droid, and fired his grappling cable, which connected cleanly with one of its arms. Once attached, Din placed his back against the door and pulled with all his might, dragging the droid until it too had its back pressed firmly against the other side of the door. The Mandalorian tugged with all his strength against the droid, and was struggling until Signe drew a dagger and sliced off the arm of the droid that was poking through the slit.

The metallic guard fell in a heap on the other side of the door, whilst the two bounty hunters tampered with its now detached limb, trying to activate the utility rod that was stored in its forearm. After a few seconds of fiddling, the utility rod emerged, which allowed Din to open the door from the inside.

"You're not as useless as you look," she joked, and patted his shoulder as she slowly made her way out of the cell.

"We need to find the others before they make it back to the crest. I'll deal with Mayfeld and the other two thugs. You try and sort out Xi'an. Meet me back here."

Signe nodded before turning and running off towards the other end of the hallway. Din stood and watched her disappear round the corner, before heading to the control room.

The ship was deathly quiet now that there was no longer a group of obnoxiously loud thugs beating their way around it. Signe wasn't so much scared, but she was aware of the fact that she was alone, and there were unhinged criminals trying to make their way back to the Razorcrest, by any means necessary. She knew that they would kill her on sight, and that stuck with her. With every step she took, with every corner she turned, the tension built further. Where were they? Who would she see first? What was going to happen? Moments later, she found out.

The doors around her swooshed shut, blocking her off from other passageways on the ship. Din was formulating a route for her to reach Xi'an via the control room, presumably shutting off the rest of the group from each other, too. This filled the Vicingian with some confidence, assuming that through this tactic, she would only encounter her main target. She felt confident that she could take the Twi'Lek on in a one-on-one situation, but had Burg been with her, or indeed her brother, she wouldn't have even had the chance to yield.

Signe's footsteps grew with volume as she picked up the pace, dashing through doorways, sometimes merely split seconds before they closed behind her. The young woman was eager to find Xi'an. It wasn't clear as to who tipped Davan over the edge and made him activate the beacon, but Signe put the blame purely on Xi'an. Being struck by the dagger could've made him involuntarily flinch and activate it… That was the story she was going with.

After running for what seemed like forever, Signe reached the end of a long hallway. This one had no prison cells down it, just long, endless white walls with various control panels. The blinding white interior suddenly lost its colour in a split second, as the lights of the ship were switched off. Instead, the red glow of the warning lights was what bled across the inside of the ship, casting everything in its path.

"Jeez, Mando. Could've let me know you were going to do that, earlier," she huffed to herself.

Her journey down the hallway was slow. Signe took her time and drew her blaster, ready for the encounter that was surely only a few minutes away from happening. The door at the other end of the hallway opened quickly, revealing the shapely silhouette of Xi'an, who walked cautiously down the hallway, with her daggers drawn. Signe quickly leapt to the side, taking cover behind one of the protruding door frames, before peeking round and firing a bolt at the unsuspecting Twi'lek.

The bolt missed, and ricocheted off of the walls, barely missing Xi'an as it bounced from floor to ceiling, before eventually dispersing. The Twi'lek hissed with anger and took a more offensive stance.

"Hehe, I know you're in here, girl," she teased, as she made her way down.

Signe stood with her back to the wall, her heart thudding in her chest. She had no idea what to expect with this encounter. It pained her to admit, but Xi'an's casual nature, even when faced with danger of this magnitude, worried her slightly. As the Twi'lek walked in line with the Vicingian, Signe flung an arm out at her, trying hard to make contact with her face. Xi'an flinched at the sight of Signe's fist, and managed to somehow dodge the punch. She grinned and grabbed her hand, pulling the young woman out from behind her cover, sticking a leg out as she stumbled past, tripping her over.

Xi'an laughed and took a few quick steps before kicking Signe in the face, knocking her backwards and pushing her onto her front. The Vicingian gained what little composure she had and instinctively rolled to her right, narrowly avoiding the dagger that Xi'an had tried to drive into her back. Unable to stand up quick enough, Signe drew her blaster and fired three bolts at the oncoming Twi'lek, who evaded all three, before sliding towards the Vicingian. Signe yelled with rage, and stuck a foot out to try and replicate what had happened to her moments ago, but Xi'an moved to the side, grabbed her foot and spun her away, causing Signe to hit a wall.

"Give me strength," she whispered to herself, as she slowly raised to her feet. Xi'an had taken a few steps back, giving her several metres to work with. Signe drew her axe and slammed the heavy blade on to the ground, producing a slight crack into the floor, a dark look in her eyes. The Twi'lek's eyes grew with excitement. The young woman hurled herself towards her opponent, only to be met by flying daggers. Signe dodged the first two, with one zipping past her face and the other missing completely. However, the next dagger that Xi'an threw, hit her cleanly on the back of her hand, slicing it open. The shock and pain caused the woman to drop her axe. She was exposed.

Xi'an licked her lips and threw one final knife at her. Signe closed her eyes and stuck her hands out, hoping that at the very least, it would drive into her arm or hands and not her vital areas. She yelled with fear and tensed her body. Then… silence.

Signe maintained her stance for a few moments after the dagger was thrown… But there was no pain. In fact, there hadn't even been an impact. Had Xi'an missed? Surely not, she thought. The woman slowly opened her eyes, greeted by a sight that astonished both her and the Twi'lek.

The dagger was floating… In mid air. Completely still, but for a little bit of shaking.

Neither woman had any idea what had happened, but the look of pure terror on Xi'an's face suggested that this was something way beyond her basic comprehension. It was unlike anything Signe had seen before. She had no logical explanation for what was going on, but figured that this wasn't the time for explaining… She still had a bloodthirsty Twi'lek standing opposite her, who albeit, looked a little less menacing when stood gawping in horror.

Signe quickly bent down and swiped up her axe, whilst the dagger dropped to the floor, clanking as it hit the ground. The Vicingian grinned and leapt towards Xi'an, swinging the axe and hitting her on the arm. The Twi'lek flew backwards, with a huge gash now cut into her left arm. She lay on her back, crying with pain, as Signe walked over to her, throwing the axe to the side and knelt over her, with one knee either side of Xi'an's body, pinning her hands to the ground.

"He'll never love you… Not the way he loved me, anyway," she teased, as Signe's grin turned to a frown.

She huffed to herself, before landing a clean punch across Xi'an's face. The alien wept briefly with pain, before Signe landed another punch… Then another… Then another. For a good ten seconds or so, Signe repeatedly struck Xi'an across the face as she lay defenceless underneath her. With every hit, her rage and satisfaction grew. She was enjoying it. Enjoying the fact that she was beating a defenceless enemy into submission, with no repercussions. Moments later, Xi'an's groaning had stopped as Signe had unknowingly beaten her into unconsciousness. The Vicingian looked down at her enemy, whose face was drenched with blood. Battered and bruised, with a busted lip and a swollen right eyelid. Signe got up and stood over her unconscious opponent, before grabbing her axe and one of the Twi'lek's Lekku and dragged her limp body through the hallway with a harsh scowl crossing her features.

Signe had no idea what had come over here. She had never felt so much rage in her life, not even when her father was murdered, right in front of her. Was it that she felt she had a point to prove, now that her father was gone? Was it that she couldn't do more for her village folk who died defending their home, all because she returned there? Perhaps it was the guilt that she felt that drove her to acting the way she did. It clung to her like a bad odour. But she couldn't think about it too much. She had to get off the ship… She just hoped that Din had done his job, too.

Dragging an unconscious Twi'lek was hard work, especially when worn out from fighting, but after a few more minutes of navigating the limited passageways, Signe arrived back at cell 221, met by Din who stood leaning with his back to the wall.

"Hey, let us out of here, asshole," yelled Mayfeld from within the cell.

"I can't hear you," teased Din, as he turned his head quickly towards the Vicingian, who was dragging Xi'an's body behind her.

He approached the young woman with haste and slight fear, however she only glared ahead and stopped so The Mandalorian could see what she had done. Din looked down at Xi'an, who lay blooded with her mouth wide open.

"What the hell did you do?" he asked anxiously.

"She was getting on my nerves. Someone needed to shut her up. Might as well have been me," she scoffed before continuing to drag the body to the door, opening it via the panel and rolling Xi'an in, placing her in front of Mayfeld and Burg.

"Have fun, boys," she teased, grinning sadistically before closing the door again and walking off in the direction of the Razorcrest.

Din cast a quick eye back to the cell, laughing internally at the sight of the defeated thugs who thought they had left him stranded. He revelled in his success for a few seconds more, before following Signe towards the escape ladder.

The two bounty hunters bundled around the corner just in time to catch Qin making a hurried ascent up the escape ladder. His face which was gleaming with excitement, quickly turned to one of bother and slight fear, as Signe and Din stood a few feet away from him, blasters drawn. Signe's trigger finger was itching. After her experience with Xi'an, she didn't want to take any chances. She was willing to drop him where he stood and lose the entire reward, just for the satisfaction of the kill.

"Stop, tweek," she snarled, as Qin sighed and slowly made his way down the ladder. He walked towards the pair slowly, removing his blaster from its holster and chucking it a few feet to his right.

"So… You killed the others?" he asked solemnly.

"They got what they deserved," affirmed Din.

The Twi'lek looked at the two bounty hunters and dropped his head a little.

"If you kill me… You won't get your reward. You were hired to do a job, weren't you Mando? So do it," teased Qin, as he held both hands out, as if ready to be cuffed.

"Isn't that your code?"

Din stood motionless, fire raging inside him. He turned his head to Signe and nodded gently, to which she only stared back for a few seconds and approached Qin, spinning him to face the ladder and pushing him towards it, holding her blaster to his back.

"Get up that ladder... now," she hissed.

Qin chuckled and began to make his way up the ladder slowly, subtly trying to kick the Vicingian in the face as she followed him, but with no luck. As the three climbed the ladder, they could make out the sound of Zero's footsteps on the metallic floor of the Razorcrest's hull. He wasn't meant to be inspecting the lower deck of the ship, which instantly set fear into the two bounty hunters, who pulled themselves up and pushed past Qin, to find the droid aiming his rifle directly at what they assumed to be The Child. With a scream, Signe ran behind the droid, grabbed his rifle from behind, and shot him in the back with it. Zero dropped to the floor in a heap, smoke rising from his midsection, as the young woman collected the infant and held him close to her. She planted a soft kiss on his head and sat down on the bed in the sleeping quarters.

"Good job we made quick work of the others, otherwise we would've lost him, too," Din spoke, with evident relief. Signe looked back at him and cradled The Child, who had almost instantly fallen asleep from the trauma. The sight of him calmed her and she held him close, grateful that he could cheer her up, even just a tiny bit.

"I'll bring the tweek up with me, you keep an eye on the kid. Maybe get some rest yourself, too," he instructed, as he pushed Qin towards the cockpit access ladder and followed him up.

Signe nodded and then sighed as the pair disappeared up the ladder. The young Vicingian lay gently onto the bed, with The Child still close to her chest. With a gentle hand, she stroked his furry head, rubbing a thumb along the curve of his cranium and began to hum the tune to an old Vicingian lullaby that she had until then, completely forgotten about. It was the first time that she had been able to give this kind of love and affection to something else. It was a feeling that she had missed out on with her younger siblings back home. Signe closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, letting the ambience of the old gunship relax her further, until she fell into a deep sleep.

The sudden change in momentum that often came with exiting hyperspace woke Signe in an instant, as the ship made its way slowly towards the space station that they had departed from not even a day ago. She sat up and looked around the sleeping quarters. To her horror, The Child was nowhere to be seen. The woman jumped out of the bed and rushed into the hull, casting her eyes all over the lower deck in a desperate attempt to find the small alien.

Her panic was quickly doused, though - when the sight of Din climbing down the ladder with The Child holding onto his cape made her sigh with relief. She approached The Mandalorian and snatched the infant off of his back, hugging tightly.

"What am I going to do with you? You're way too sneaky," she said, softly telling him off, to which he simply gurgled in return.

"Sorry, I… I fell asleep," she added, looking at Mando, who only shook his head as if telling her not to worry about it and banged his hand on the side of the ladder, ushering for Qin to hurry up. Moments later, the Twi'lek appeared and made his way down.

The Razorcrest completed its landing cycle automatically, which was something of a rarity for Signe to see. Din almost always landed the ship manually, but had placed his trust in his old ship's landing computer. The crew touched down inside the hangar a few seconds later. Signe placed The Child in the sleeping quarters and opened the bay door, before standing back in line with Mando and Qin, as the door folded down, revealing the rotund figure of Ran, who stood with open arms.

Qin smiled and hurried down the walk way, before it had even fully touched the ground. The pair embraced each other, before standing together, arms around each other's shoulders. They looked back up at the two bounty hunters, who slowly made their way down the walkway, stopping a few feet from Ran.

His eyes followed Signe's movements, looking her up and down, inspecting her in a less than appropriate manner. Ran tilted his head and leaned to the side, peering into the empty hull.

"Where are the others?" he asked curiously.

"No questions asked…. That's the policy, right?" returned Din, which brought a slight chuckle from Ran.

Signe stepped forward and held out her right hand.

"We did the job, pay up," she demanded.

Ran puffed his cheeks and exhaled, shocked by her fierce attitude. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small bag of credits, before placing them gently in the Vicingian's palm. She nodded and turned, entering the ship and making her way to the cockpit. Din followed up the ramp, before turning round to face Qin and Ran one last time.

"Just like the good old days" he said, before closing the door and entering the cockpit, to find Signe sat in her seat, shuffling the credits in her hands.

"Having fun?" he joked.

Signe nodded, attempting to get comfy and relax in her seat.

"It's not a lot, but it should help refuel and get us to where we need to go," she noted.

Din nodded softly and concentrated on flying the RazorCrest backwards out of the hangar, before turning it around and flying away from the space station.

"Which makes me wonder… Where are we going?" she asked.

"We're off to see an old acquaintance," he replied, sounding less than happy with the fact that they had no options left.

Signe suddenly sat up in her chair, as the control panel began to flash with a warning signal. The ship had detected some form of ship behind them, in the hangar. Ran had ordered a gunship to pursue them, which had begun to power its engines.

She looked over to The Mandalorian, who sat concentrating on flying, completely unphased by what was going on. Did he really not care?

"Ermm, I dunno how clearly you can hear or see in that helmet, but I think your ship is telling us that we are about to be blown into tiny pieces," hurried the Vicingian, who was unnerved by Din's lack of concern.

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you," he quipped, as just moments later three T-65B X-Wings emerged from hyperspace, narrowly avoiding the gunship as they made their way towards the space station, S-Foils in attack position. Signe turned to the Mandalorian and grinned, realising what was going on.

"The tracking beacon… You smart, smart man," she chuckled to herself, as the light from the exploding space station gently tinted the interior of the cockpit for a few seconds.

He turned towards her and tapped his right index finger on the front of his helmet, without saying a word.

Signe smiled gladly, as Din made the final preparations and fired the ship into hyperspace.