Chapter Eight: Reunion
The cloak the man had given her worked like a charm. Even though some of the people she passed gave her concerned looks, the stormtroopers had left Depa alone. For now.
At least I don't have to use the alleys again, she thinks, staying close to the wall as she walks down the side of the street.
Her encounter with the man in the alley had been the only good thing that'd happened so far.
The Mandalorians formed a resistance, fought back, and lost. There was someone before me, and they didn't make it back to Coruscant. And … Caleb is alive.
There were doubts in the back of her mind, and she knew there was a possibility that her best friend could be dead.
But she didn't want to think about that. After some thinking, she figured out she did have a possible lead for getting Imperial information.
Fenn Rau.
The name rang a bell when the former resistance soldier had mentioned it. Caleb's mother had told them stories about Rau, and his efforts to rid Mandalore of the Empire.
If he's alive, I can break him out. Then he can help me get data back to the Republic … and maybe he could help me find Caleb.
The last part was a long shot, but it was worth a try. She just couldn't leave without finding out if he was there or not.
Depa spots a holographic sign on the side of the building and steps over. Once she gets closer, she sees that it's a holographic map of this level of the city.
Just what I need.
She examines it for a moment before swiping the image away, replacing it with a map of the level above.
The level above happens to be the main one, where most of the important government buildings were located. The list of buildings includes the Central Imperial Complex.
If they still have Rau, he'll be there.
Depa looks over the map one more time before following the flow of civilians.
— — —
Caleb sighs as he pushes the grate cover back over the hole with his boot. He'd searched that stretch of sewer for ten minutes, then had gone back up to the alleys.
He starts walking toward the busy street, thinking.
It'd be so easy if she could just … appear right in front of me.
When he passes the corner of building to his right, he immediately whips back around to hide.
I need to stop wishing for things.
"The Empire's going to destroy the city looking for that girl …"
"As soon as Kain finds her we move."
Caleb perks up at the mention of the name.
Kain … oh, kriff.
He slides out of sight behind a trash container before two armored Mandalorians walk by.
The men are members of Clan Tul, if Caleb remembers correctly. Kain, head of the clan, had been one of the 'contestants' for Manda'lor before the Empire showed up. Then, his group had become mercenaries.
They're bad news. Especially if they're looking for Depa.
Caleb looks over his cover to find that they've passed the alley. He stands and follows them from afar, making sure that he can see them between the heads of other civilians.
He raises his hand to the side of his helmet, turning a small dial on the side. It takes him a minute to find the correct frequency, and then he hears the mercenaries' voices through their helmet's comm channel.
"— found something. Headed toward the eastern lifts. He wants us to intercept."
There we go.
— — —
"Sorry!"
Depa doesn't bother turning back to wait for a response as she runs.
She'd sensed something was off the moment she saw the dark green armored Mandalorian following her. At first, she'd took different turns, making sure she was still heading toward the lifts to the level above. The Mandalorian had followed her.
He still was. Except this time, he was running, and shooting at her.
Where are the Imperials when you need them?!
"Excuse me!" She pushes her way through a bunch of surprised pedestrians and keeps on running.
A whistle in the back of her mind prompts her to duck quickly. A red bolt flies past, nailing the wall beside her.
This guy's not giving up!
Depa remembers something and turns right, heading straight toward a grate against the alley wall. She kicks it open and dives in, bouncing off of her hands with the Force and flipping onto her feet.
She hears the Mandalorian jump down behind her, so she doesn't stop running.
This planet is a death trap.
She hadn't even come close to starting her real mission, and it'd been a day. First Imperials, now bounty hunters.
The good thing about the sewer system is that there are a lot of places to hide, something Depa noticed during her overnight stay in one of the tunnels.
She turns down the tunnel to her left and slides to a stop.
At the other end is the bounty hunter she'd encountered before, the one with the dark blue and black armor. The one that had held a knife against her throat.
Karabast …
She spins around and takes a few steps forward before seeing two green armored men in the opposite tunnel.
"Blast it …" She cautiously steps back, drawing her blaster as she equals out the distance between each of the enemies.
When the bounty hunter from earlier appears around the corner, everyone freezes.
"Wren?"
Wren?
Depa whips back around to see the blue hunter aiming his blaster over her shoulder.
"You owe me, boy," the leader snarls behind his helmet, stepping toward Depa.
"I was going to pay you back."
"Well, you can pay me back with headtails here and a few broken bones."
"Not happening."
Depa steps back as the leader starts walking toward her.
Have to improvise.
She quickly pulls the cloak off and throws it at the Mandalorian in front of her. She flinches when there's a flash of red, and a bolt flies past her shoulder and nails the bounty hunter in the torso.
"Run!"
Depa doesn't need to know who the man behind her is to follow his command. She runs as fast as possible, passing the blue Mandalorian, and heads into the darkness.
The blaster fire fades until there's just a faint echo. The only sound Depa can hear is her feet and her heart beating too fast.
He said Wren … I swear he said Wren.
Depa slows to a stop and holds herself up by placing a hand against the dusty wall. She takes a minute to rest before stepping into a dark alcove built into it.
I can get the jump on them from here. She pulls her pistol back out and leans back against the wall.
Close footsteps make her jump, and she raises the blaster to find the blue armored Mandalorian standing a foot in front of her, hands raised.
"Who are you?" Depa demands, eyes narrowed.
He slowly moves his hands to his helmet and pulls it off, dropping it at their feet.
Her eyes widen when she sees the dark blue hair and brown eyes of her long lost friend.
"Cal?" Depa gasps, sounding like a little girl again.
He looked different, gotten taller and skinnier. His hair had grown to be shaggy, and there was a little bit of stubble on his face.
But it was him. She knew it. She knew because of that stupid grin that he'd always used was on his face.
"Hey, Depa."
I was planning on putting this up yesterday but I read over it and had to fix some things. And as for that one shot thing I did, Rebel's Return, this chapter was based off of it. Speaking of which, thanks for those who favorited it. I might add some more stuff like that in the future since I like Ezra and Sabine and they're kind of my OC's parents.
I might do a short over the new Rebels episode with Maul once it's over. Especially if he dies, since he's my favorite Sith and I don't want him to get killed off just yet.
