Tremors shook the entire ship as they began to descend into Xravon. Maidens woke with a start, disoriented, she didn't recognise her surroundings. She went to sit up but found herself unable to move. Panicking, she began to try and slip out of the restraints.
A hand on her shoulder made her jump. "You're safe. Relax. It's just me." His modulated voice made her pause, looking around she felt silly knowing she was still in her chair. The Mandalorian walked past her to sit in the pilot chair.
"We aren't far out now. Should only be a few minutes." The Mandalorian's statement made Maleena nod.
"The Child?"
The Mandalorian's head tilted. "Downstairs sleeping."
Maleena scoffed. "Makes a change."
Maleena noticed that the Mandalorian had put his beskar armour on once again, a sign that he was ready for anything.
She pointed at his chest plate as she sat forward. "Did you get any rest?"
His hand hesitated on the lever on his left side. His head turned to look at her for only a second. "I did."
Pleased with his response she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Good. Going to need it once we land. Don't expect us to just walk in and walk out."
"Scans show no life. Definitely droids."
Maleena rolled her eyes. "Because we have such a good history with droids..." She paused before correcting herself. "Apart from IG-11. He was different."
The Mandalorian's sigh was distorted through his helmet. "He was..."
"Probably wouldn't be having this conversation now if it wasn't for him." A beeping noise broke their reminiscing as they watched the ship slow. As it touched down on the sandy planet sand whipped around the ship violently.
"You never know, the console might have some info on the kid." Maleena watched as the sand settled around them, The Mandalorian stood and walked behind her and out of the cockpit. She stood shortly after, scanning the consoles one final time before jumping down the thin metal stairs. At the bottom she watched as the Mandalorian pulled various weapons out of his hidden compartment, reloading his blasters before holding one out over his shoulder. Maleena took the blaster from him, strapping it into her thigh holster.
She reached over and stashed her vibroblades across her body - one in her boots, two in her waistband and one in her shirt. Stepping away and into her room she pulled on her thick robes. On her way out she stopped at a small safe room, typed her security code into the pad, and observed the Child sleeping soundly. Without wasting any time she locked the door again. Her black boots clicked against the metal floor as she joined the Mandalorian again, the ramp slowly descending. Maleena raised her head to look up at Din, his helmet tilting downwards.
"Don't get killed."
She blinked. "You too."
Her forearm met his beskar covered arm, bumping them together. Making their way down the ramp Maleena's robes swept behind her, pulling the surface sand up and onto her skin.
"Damn sand." Her irritated voice caused the Mandalorian to scoff. They continued to walk forward, occasionally changing course at the Mandalorian's instructions.
"Don't laugh at me shiny." Maleena's playful insult earned her a swift turn of the head.
She knew he was smiling. "Least I blend in."
Her eye's rolled. "Yeah, shiny silver definitely blends in to the desert..."
A pause.
"Beskar."
"I know what it is." Maleena snapped.
He huffed. "Do you?"
"More than you might think." She shrugged. "Our traditions are not too far removed from eachother."
"And yet you mock them?"
Maleena shook her head. "I just point out the obvious. Neither one of us are built for stealth." She pointed at him before pointing at herself. "Doesn't help that our reputation follows our traditions. Everything would have been easier if we were simple Krill farmers like that woman... What was her name again?"
Maleena waited for the Mandalorian's response, her brain struggling to remember the woman who had irritated her to no end. A few steps later and she nodded, "Omera. She had it easy. Fishing for Krill all day. That could be us one day-" Maleena was cut off by the Mandalorian raising his fist, stopping them both in their tracks. She immediately crouched, hidden behind the small sand ridge they had stopped at. The Mandalorian joined her, lying against the sand.
The Mandalorian raised his hand to the side of his helmet, clicking an invisible switch before analysing the situation. "Ten security droids. Dozen bounty droids. No heat signatures."
Maleena grabbed the blaster out of her holster, raising it to her chest protectively. "Do you know the layout?"
The Mandalorian focused. "It's hard to see from this distance but the droids are concentrating on the east side of the compound. If there was any place it could be, it'll be there."
"Any activity outside?"
"Two droids."
Maleena risked looking out from under the sand, seeing two droids stood either side of a large metal door. The entire compound reminded her of the building they had found the child in, and the struggle IG-11 had caused for the pair...
Exhausted, Maleena and the Mandalorian hesitantly stepped into the small building housing their bounty target. The IG-11 droid walking beside them set both bounty hunters on edge, fearing what he would do next. His constant exclamations about self destruction made Maleena nervous.
As the Mandalorian pulled the mesh cover aside Maleena kept her gaze on the IG unit who seemed ready to strike at any given moment. Her hand twitched near her blasters trigger, waiting for any signal to put an end to this droid. When the hatch on the small pod opened unexpectedly Maleena's anxiety exploded. Her shock matched the Mandalorian's as she watched the small green creature peer over the pods side.
"50 years old..." The Mandalorian's voice showed his disbelief at the small creature, not seeing the droid became fixated on the small creature.
"... Terminated." Maleena wasn't ashamed to admit that she too had become unaware of her surroundings, but hearing the droid snapped her back to reality. She didn't wait for Din, immediately raising her blaster to the droids head and pulling the trigger. She was thankful for her giant hood, for the Mandalorian couldn't see the look of sadness dance across her face knowing they would have to deliver a child...
Memories flooded her, making her concentration falter. Sensing her inner struggle the Mandalorian tapped her side.
"He's safe..." Maleena knew Din couldn't see her facial expressions, the giant hood shrouding her face in darkness, so she reached out to grab his gloved hand. Giving it a tight squeeze her head dipped.
"We will not be beaten again." Certainty filled her voice.
He squeezed her hand in response before unholstering his blasters. Maleena crawled to the side, sparing one look back at Din before she maneuvered herself across the ridge and away from the droids line of sight. She couldn't see the Mandalorian anymore, her focus solely on the droids. She grabbed the vibroblade from her waistband, slinking behind the tall pillars that lined the side of the building before rolling out into the open and jamming the blade into the droids wired neck. She made sure to cut as much as possible with the blade stuck in it's side, the droid eventually falling to a heap. A precise blaster shot soon followed, taking out the second droid without any fanfare. She nodded her thanks to the Mandalorian as he slid down the sand, joining her at the opposite pillar. He raised his hand pointing to her, then to himself before pointing to the left and right side of the building. She began counting down on her hand as they could hear the slight buzz of machinery from inside.
Five...
Four...
Three...
The Mandalorian shifted his weapon, aiming at the door as the beeps got louder.
Two...
Maleena crouched over to the control pad next to the door, her hand hovered over the small red button at the bottom.
One...
All hell broke loose as she pressed the button, the metal door slid open with the droids inside spinning around to the pair. The Mandalorian wasted no time in shooting, his first shot immediately fried the closest droid. Maleena threw one of her blades as hard as she could, pinning a droid to the wall as she ran up and shot it's head. A droid blasted the wall just centimetres from her head. She turned, extended her right leg, making contact with the droids thin legs. She could see the Mandalorian punching his way between two of the bigger droids as another ran towards her. She grabbed the droids arm, the gun embedded in it shooting at her. The blaster shot caught her arm, searing a slight hole into her robes.
"You little -" She didn't finish her sentence as the Mandalorian shot it in the head. She threw more punches at any droid that dared to get too close. At one point the Mandalorian had been kicked to the floor, two unrelenting droids shooting at his chest plate.
"Din!" She exclaimed, Jumping onto the back of one she twisted the wiring connecting it's head to it's body. With the droids head in her hands she fell from the falling machinery and drove the head into the other droid. Sparks flew around the room with the tonnes of broken wires dotted around the room. Maleena rested her hands on her knees as she panted. One hand flew up to her hood, lowering it as she tried to take deep breaths. Din leant against his arms on the floor, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he took in Maleena.
"You good?"
She laughed, swiping her hair away from her face. "Never better."
She held her hand out for him to take, pulling him up. He patted her shoulder as he pointed to a small door on the right, tucked away from the main room.
"There." She didn't need to hear anything more, staggering other to the door and breathed a sigh of relief as it swooshed open. Infront of them lay an old console, its cracked screen showed a blank screen. Reaching out she pressed the button on the side, powering it on.
"Least they didn't deactivate it." Maleena exclaimed, watching as the screen became a collection of records. She began swiping down the page, tutting every so often.
"Ah ha! Got it!" She pointed to a long number code, The Mandalorian peered over her shoulder with his gun ready as the console began loading the record. They were greeted by her covered face surrounded by different pieces of text the Mandalorian couldn't understand. Maleena twitched as she read the passage, confirming the text was in Vlaxxon. Her hand slammed down on the console.
"Gharla La'Cheqsa! (Not again!)" She shouted as she began pacing, the Vlaxxonese once again going over his head.
"What is it?"
"They know who I am Din. They know everything. My past, My crimes, My bounties, who I knew, who I left behind... There isn't anything they don't know. They spread my data across the galaxy. And the best part..."
Her breath hitched as she turned to the Mandalorian.
"Moff Gideon is alive."