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Chapter Five:

In a Name

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Din wasn't at all surprised when she suddenly seemed to materialize on the Razor Crest. The bounty was in carbonite. She appeared just as the fog from the machine cleared, apparently having seen the act of leaving the ramp down and hatch open as an open invitation to join him; which it was.

"Nicely done," she said approvingly.

Din's chest puffed out a little, but he didn't otherwise acknowledge the compliment. He folded his arms across his cuirass and leaned against the carbonite freezer. "Is this a local job?"

She shook her head. "Two systems over. Dafin III." She rummaged in her coat and came away with a tracking fob, which was blinking frantically.

Din's head tilted. "You carry your own fob?"

She shrugged. "Some hunters get ahead of themselves."

"I'll try to keep that in mind," he said lightly. "What about the Guild?"

"It's not a Guild assignment." She turned the fob over in her hand. "I have connections. One of them has the authority to distribute wanted bounties for the client. Clemint Vahst. He'll vouch for you if anyone asks. But there shouldn't be any questions about you bringing me in, anyway."

"Good." He accepted the fob and tucked it into his belt. "Who's the client?"

"Redin Deedi. He's a big figure in the Dafin underground. Bit of a local warlord, just influential enough to be annoying."

"I've heard of him." Din was already going through his mental files on Deedi. "What do you need from me?"

"I need you to actually take me in." Her voice was serious and earnest. "He has a grudge. I need to be on my feet. If I were carbonite, I don't trust him to not just leave me in it. Keep me for decoration."

Din nodded. It lined up with what he already knew about Deedi. Making an example of traitors was fairly common. "So, unlocked cuffs. A few hidden blasters. But..." He cocked his head. "Deedi's facility is a fortress. How do you plan to get out?"

She fixed him with her pale blue stare. "You take me in and walk away with the reward. The rest is nothing you need be concerned with."

"Right." He was making her suspicious, which was the last reaction he wanted from her. "I can help, though. If you... need it."

Din internally cringed at himself. Was he really that desperate?

Her head tilted minutely to the side, considering him. Her expression was unreadable. He had to fight to not fidget under the weight of her stare.

Finally, she seemed to relax, saying, "I appreciate your concern, but I have a plan, Mando. And it's already in motion. This is the last piece of a puzzle. The rest is taken care of."

Din wasn't sure why, but it felt like rejection. It stung. He bit back his disappointment. "Right. Good. Then we should go." He straightened up. "Are you ready?"

She flashed him her wolffish smile. "Always."

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This time, she rode with him in the cockpit. Din was acutely aware of her presence just behind him, lounging in the seat to his right with her feet propped up on the console.

He tried to make a point of not looking around - of not speaking, despite how much he wanted to. He didn't talk much - not anymore, at least, having learned early on that it was easier not to, easier to say exactly what needed to be said and to do exactly what needed to be done. No more, no less.

And his previous blunder was a keen reminder of just how awkward he could be when he didn't abide by those emotional barriers, of why it was better to just stay quiet and get the job done.

He was a professional hunter. A Mandalorian warrior. He had a reputation. A code.

But just like how she'd gotten him to subvert the Guid Code, she was encouraging him to do the same to some of his personal ones. Except without bribery and credits.

Din didn't know what to think.

"How are… the olfdo?" He tried carefully. She'd been happy to discuss them at length, last time, so he hoped that it was a safe topic.

"They are well," she said cheerfully. "Queen whelped at the end of summer. Three pups. Two male, one female."

"Which one was Queen?"

"The alpha. A silver female. The biggest in the pack."

Din nodded, vaguely remembering being stared down by a massive silver wolf. "I bet Nana likes having new pups to babysit."

She smiled. "Yes, she is. It's been… oh, four years since the last brood. And she likes being useful. I had to give her an orphan mucdat to care for so she would stop trying to baby my pit droids."

Although realizing that she'd had droids without him noticing set his teeth on edge, he didn't comment on it.

"A mucdat? I'm not familiar with that species."

She hummed. "They're wildcats that roam the high mountains. Sometimes they come down and are killed by hunters or predators." Her tone became wistful. "There are so few left, that when I come across an orphaned one, I'll save it if I can. And the olfdo don't mind them so much, especially if they were raised with the pack. There are five that haunt my woods, now. Six, when the new one is grown."

"Huh," was all Din had to say. "I… never saw them… during my visit."

"They're very shy," she explained. "As elusive as they are, the Movetian government will not register them as a threatened species. They say that they've already been wiped out, and no more can be done… so now… it's mostly just me."

Frustration had crept into her voice. She pursed her lips to try and hide it, but Din was intrigued to stumble on something she cared deeply about.

He turned his head to look at her more fully. "You... care a lot about your home."

"Yes."

She didn't elaborate further, and he didn't want to press his luck. Din turned back to the controls, watching as hyperspace flashed and whirled past. The silence they lapsed into was easier than before, more contemplative than tense.

For a while, Din was content to just sit and enjoy her company, but as Dafin III grew nearer, he had to break the silence.

"Who exactly does Deedi think I'm bringing in?" He asked, glancing at her over his battered pauldron. "Last time, you were Ena Sma. What's the name on the puck?"

"Ah, I didn't say?" She dropped her feet from where they'd been resting on the console and sat up a little straighter. Her accent switched again, just as dramatically and flawlessly as it had the last time she'd done so.

This time, it sounded like she'd come straight from the Core. "Noa. Noa Enti. I'm a Coruscanti analyst from the Empirical Data Corps. I traded crucial information on Imperial patrol formations in exchange for safe harbor in the Dafin III Underworld."

She smirked, settling back into the seat again before adding. "Unfortunately, the flow of information goes both ways. Deedi forgot to account for that."

"Noa Enti," he echoed. "And what exactly happened to Ena Sma?"

She clucked her tongue ruefully. "Ah. I heard she met her end when she drove a speeder over the edge of the Festiv cliffs on Nefididi. Seven spice cartel guards followed. Gruesome. So sad."

Din couldn't stop the bemused puff of a laugh that caught in his modulator at her bright, matter-of-fact tone. He shook his head and turned back to the view screen.

"You must be one hell of a spy," he mused. "Ena. Noa. Are either of them even your real name?"

As soon as he said it, he wished he could take it back. If asking about her escape plan had made her suspicious, asking about her true identity would surely turn her away for good. And rightfully so.

He looked back to her, ready to try and blunder his way through an apology.

Our secrecy is our survival.

How would he feel if she'd asked for the location of his covert?

Not very trusting, to say the least.

Shockingly, she didn't recoil. She raised her eyebrows at him expectantly and rested her arms across her chest.

In her Core accent, she said, "What do you mean? My name's Noa. I told you that." She laughed humorlessly. "And a shit spy, thanks for asking. All I did was look into a few files that I shouldn't have. And then they abduct my partner to get to me. Deedi needed a way in… and I…" Her voice cracked, she looked away, blinking back tears. "... I didn't know what else to do…"

And damn, she was good. Her delivery was perfect. If he hadn't known any better, he would've taken her story at face value.

But she knew that he knew it was fake. So why bother? Why not just tell him to fuck off?

Then it clicked. She wasn't telling him to drop the subject of identities. She was making a point.

She wanted him to work for it.

That he could do.

"And… Ena Sma…" Din started slowly. "She is… was… a spice smuggler that leaked information to the Empire."

She nodded. "So I've heard, anyway."

He was starting to understand; she was doing more than letting him figure out her real name, she was letting him get a glimpse at her mentality, at how she operated.

Din felt oddly privileged.

"And the woman who lives in the cottage on Movet," he said finally, "the one who cares for olfdo and rescues orphan mucdats, what's her name?"

Noa Enti, a Core worker who had probably never even been to Movet, somehow knew the name of a very specific woman hidden away in the North Mountains. Weird, huh?

"Nenana," she said lightly. "Nenana Orze. Though, she's been rumored to have been dead for… oh… some twenty years, or so."

Nenana Orze.

"That's a shame," Din said softly, turning to face the controls as the Navcom started blinking to signal their imminent drop from hyperspace. "I liked her."

"Mmm, yes," Nenana hummed. He didn't turn to look, but he could hear the smirk in her voice. "She liked you, too."

The breath caught in Din's throat. He refused to look around, but could picture her clearly in his mind's eye; lounging on his jump seat, streaked with the deep blue light of hyperspace. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

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