Axe and Koska were waiting impatiently for the other Nite Owls to return from their scout. He couldn't help but pace the small room. They'd be gone for a while now, and they'd yet to send any message or update through the comms system. "Something isn't right," Axe insisted.
"You've been saying that since we got here, we need to be patient," Koska chided him. Koska was trying to stay calm, but between her worry for her clan and Axe's anxious energy, she felt the tension building in her shoulders.
"They have no armor, one only blaster each," Axe asserted, "If they've run into trouble, they don't have the upper hand. It should've been us out there." Axe's face was turning red and his fists were clenched at his sides.
"If there are Imperials here, we could be recognized. You know we couldn't risk showing our faces out there. It's bad enough we showed up wearing the crest of the Nite Owl." Koska paused to catch her breath. Her frustration was bubbling and she could feel it rising from her stomach. "After everything that's happened, you know we're on every Imperial's radar."
"Even more reason it should've been us!" Axe banged his hand on the metal table. The sound was deafening and it made Koska jump in surprise. "We should be out there searching for them before it's too late."
"And where would we search, Axe?" Koska raised her voice, "We don't have tracking on them, we have no idea where they were last. We could compromise their position by intervening if we do find them."
"You don't know that," Axe's face was red and the vein on his forehead pulsing visibly. "We're wasting time by sitting here!" Axe grabbed his helmet and turned towards the door. "I'm going. You can stay here, but I will not let my family die while we sit in this room debating it."
Koska grabbed her own helmet to follow him out of the room they'd been stationed in for the past day. She knew Axe had a point. The other Nite Owls had been out all day and some of the night with no word since. But if the others were already in trouble, they could be walking into a trap. That is if they could even find their last location. She couldn't let Axe leave alone though.
The door to their lodging shut behind them with a click and they were immediately surrounded by a quiet darkness. The sun had set hours ago and the marketplace was quiet. Not even the hum of an engine ship could be heard. It was a stark contrast to the loud and lively scene they'd seen just yesterday. The silence was somehow more uncomfortable and made the hair on her arms stand up.
Koska tried to push the apprehension down, she needed to focus. She followed closely behind Axe as they quietly navigated through the town center. They were jogging alongside the tall, stone buildings, trying to avoid any unwanted attention. With how empty the town was, and how many stares they got yesterday, they would no doubt attract the attention of anyone looking out their windows. As they rounded a corner down a particularly dark street, Axe stopped abruptly in front of her, "Do you see that?"
As Koska peered around Axe, she could see a faint light shining in the distance. Koska whispered back, "We're probably near a cantina or something."
"Everywhere looks closed. Why would only one be open?" Axe motioned her to follow in the direction of the faint light. She wished the sound of their jet packs wouldn't be so noticeable in the silence of the night.
The planet only had one moon, and it barely lit the narrow streets in the city. Even with the thermal views in her visor, Koska was struggling to see. She felt hyper-alert like she could hear every rustle of the light wind. "We're getting closer. I think I can hear several voices too," Axe whispered.
In the distance, she could see faint lights illuminating the cracks of the makeshift windows. The building was small and tucked away in a short alleyway. Not a lot of room to navigate into a safe position and keep eyes on the front entrance. "I'll take the flank and try to get a better view. Listen for my signal."
Axe nodded and broke away to take a position on the roof of the building across the alley. Koska quietly jogged to the next alleyway and jumped to scale the back of the building. Once atop, she saw a small skylight and she could hear several voices drifting up. "Has the Captain responded yet?" The voice was clearly male, with a slight accent that Koska couldn't quite place.
"Nothing yet, how much do you think these two will go for?" Another voice answered. She was straining to hear from her position but Koska didn't dare get too close to the skylight. The last thing she needed was to be spotted before she could get anything useful from their conversation.
"Alive, these two would've been priceless," Koska could hear the sneer in his voice. The man was obviously displeased. "If your goons would've been more careful, we would've made more money tonight than off any of the ships in this system right now." Koska's stomach dropped. They couldn't be dead…
"We had to make them talk!" The other man said defensively, "We wouldn't have even known who they were without the interrogation!"
"Enough with your excuses!" The room went quiet for a moment. "Regardless, we may be rewarded for our contribution. Have your goons found the Mando's ship yet?" Dank farrick. She had to get a look at who these two were. There's no way a couple of low level pirates were able to take down two Nite Owls, much less interrogate information out of them. She slowly crept to the side of the skylight and peered down. As she glanced over, she tried to stifle her own gasp. One of the men was dressed in an Imperial officer uniform and there were at least 6 stormtroopers on guard with blasters.
"They're searching the shipyard now, it's only a matter of time." Koska pushed down the ache in her stomach. If the others were gone, they had to make it out and soon. She ran to the side of the roof and jumped down. She had to make it back to Axe quickly, but she knew if she spoke into her helmet comm this close to the building, there was a chance she would blow their cover.
She tried to stay light on her feet as she rounded the corner. She could see Axe laying on his stomach on the shorter building above. She turned the flashlight on her helmet to face out towards him and flashed it twice. It was their signal to abort. She could see him immediately leap to his feet and scale the building down. "They're Imperials. The others are dead and they're searching the shipyard now. We have to beat them there or we're next."
Axe stiffened. "Do we risk the jetpacks? We're minutes away from the yard, and that's optimistic."
"No. We can't risk tipping them off with the noise, we need the head start once we fire the engines. We have to make it on foot." He nodded and they turned to run towards the shipyard. She hoped it was dark enough to give them cover from anyone potentially watching and that the fall of their footsteps wouldn't be so loud to give their position away.
The ache in her stomach was growing again and Koska was trying to hold back her anger. She couldn't be distracted by the loss of the others. She had to stay focused. "Take a left here, we aren't too much further away," Axe instructed.
He was right. She could see the ships a little ways off into the distance, the shiny metal reflecting from the soft light of the moon. She dug deep and tried to find a new reserve of energy. They had to pick up the pace. If they were already searching ships, every second determined their fate.
"You there! Stop!" A loud voice cut through the alley. Koska's senses were already in overdrive, but the light that shone through her visor was blinding. She immediately reached for her blaster and could hear Axe do the same. If they were going down, they would go down shooting and be damned if these Imperials thought they would be taking two more prisoners tonight.
Axe was the first to fire and easily took down the two stormtroopers that initially cut off their path. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that more were on the way. She could see the light from the patrols sweeping the alley behind them. She turned back towards Axe and nodded. Their jetpacks lit up the small area around them and they were immediately lifted above the short buildings. The shipyard was at the edge of the town and she could see the silhouettes of the ships against the barren desert landscape. They were close but they had to move quickly, every stormtrooper would be on high alert now. The blaster shots must've been heard throughout most of the town.
"When we get to the ship, get the cannon online, I have a feeling we'll have some more company!" Axe shouted over the wind. The dry night air was whipping past her beskar armor and the adrenaline was now pulsing through her. Her eyes were finally adjusting after being blinded by the flashlight, but it was still hard to make out the details of the approaching ships. "This way!"
Koska followed as Axe led her through the maze of ships. The sound of their jetpacks felt amplified by the makeshift metal maze and she couldn't tell if they were still being followed. She was just desperately hoping they would make it back to their ship before the Imperials got to it first. "Are we close?" Koska tried to raise her voice over the deafening wind.
"Up ahead to your left!"
She could see it now. They were so close. And it didn't appear that any stormtroopers were posted around, but her hand was still clutching her blasters, waiting in a tense anticipation for the worst. As the sound of their jetpacks dissipated, she could hear yelling nearby. They'd definitely alerted the search party. "Get the engines going, I'll cover our flank!"
Axe nodded and ran up the ramp to secure their escape. Koska perched herself at the threshold and readied her blasters for whatever was coming their way. The sound of the engines roared in her ears and the vibrations made her feel more tense. She walked backward further up the ramp, worried she would be flanked if she couldn't hear them approaching over the sound of the engines. The ship lurched as Axe pushed it to make a quick launch. She swayed and tried to hold her position firmly.
As the ship left the ground, a blaster bolt rang out and hit the ramp a few feet below her. Koska turned to face the direction of the blaster but couldn't see much beyond the outer edge of the ship. Instead of illuminating the area, the light of the engines made it hard to see past the immediate perimeter of the ship.
Koska backed further into the ship and tried to reposition. The ship was rising more steadily now and she could see two stormtroopers kneeling next to another ship across from her. She fired two blaster shots before the troopers could line up their aim and turned to her right to see another blaster just before it hit her squarely in the chest. "Agh!" The impact caused her to take a step back to brace herself.
She gritted her teeth and fired back before the pain could really set in. The last stormtrooper dropped right as the ramp started closing. She put her blasters back in their holsters and climbed to the cannon. As she sat down, the ache in her chest got worse. She knew a bruise was already forming and looked down to see a black scorch covering her beskar plate.
The ship was gaining altitude and she could hear Axe behind her attempting to contact Bo-Katan over comm and typing furiously while trying to navigate the ship. She hoped the storms weren't strong on the planet and the message would go through. She pushed the pain down and grabbed the handles to the cannon. She lined up the sights and tried to get a sense of direction. The radar showed two ships closing in towards them. "Bo-Katan, come in!"
…
"You should get some sleep, I can stay here and keep watch," Din assured Bo. It had been hours since they'd last seen the ship jump back into hyperspace and he knew they were both exhausted and anxious for whatever was coming next. They'd been on edge since the ship got away yesterday and they'd both silently agreed it wouldn't be the last.
"I want to be here as soon as something happens," Bo's helmet was off and he could see the worry in her eyes. The dark circles under her eyes were pronounced and the tension was evident in her crossed arms. "I don't think I could sleep right now anyway."
He decided not to push it, since he offered to take guard for the same reason. His muscles ached with worry and tiredness, but he refused to be taken off guard. Nothing would get past them and jeopardize their home and people without one hell of a fight. Of that he was sure.
"What do you think they're planning?"
Din tilted his head and leaned back in the cockpit seat. He had been considering that question ever since he saw the first ship upon entering the system. "Another bombing. Take us by surprise while we sleep, wipe out what settlement we have left." The Imperials were cowards with a plethora of weapons at hand. Din had seen enough of them to know they would act swiftly, ruthlessly, and without any sort of honor.
Bo's jaw clenched and she let out a stiff sigh, "I hope we've deterred them for now." Even as the words left her mouth, she knew they would just return with more ships when they were ready to make their move. "We're going to be stretched thin adding patrols to the list of daily operations. We may have to put off expanding the next wave of housing to make it work."
"Our people have spent years hiding in caves on remote plants to survive. We will happily share what housing we have now," Din was sure of this. He wasn't upset either at the prospect of him and Grogu staying with Bo-Katan for the foreseeable future. Since finding Grogu, so much about his life had changed. While he'd always been devoted to his tribe and the Way, his new family and home evoked something new in him. He knew they had to do whatever it took to keep their people safe and their planet secure. They couldn't let what was left of the Imperials ruin the progress they'd made so far.
"We need to form a council when we're able to return back down, delegate someone to oversee defense at the least." Din perked up, he was surprised at her suggestion. Bo had worked so hard to become the leader of their people, he didn't think she would give up any control to others. "I don't want to make the same mistakes that got us here."
Din could hear the pain behind Bo's words, "I think that's a wise decision." And just another reason he admired Bo's capabilities as Mand'alor. She continued to surprise him. She looked up at him tentatively and he could see a small smile breaking through. "It's all of our responsibility to take care of our people, not just yours."
"Every day that goes by, I feel less sure that I can do this alone," Bo admitted. Her lips were pursed and Din could feel how vulnerable she felt uttering those words. Even though they couldn't necessarily make eye contact, Bo averted her eyes.
"We're stronger together," Din reminded her.
Bo's eyes lifted back towards Din and his breath caught as she smiled tentatively. "Din.."
"Bo-Katan, come in!"
Both of them jumped in surprise when Axe's voice came across the comm. Axe was clearly distressed and Bo immediately sprang forward to respond, "Go for Bo-Katan."
"The Imperials are on Mataou, we're being tailed now," Axe sounded breathless and he could hear cannon fire in the background. "They know who we are and when we jump, I'm sure they'll know where to follow us."
Din sat up straighter in his seat. He knew the hyperspace route from Mataou would be a short travel and his eyes were glued to the radar. "We'll be ready for them, make your jump," Bo said as she typed correspondence down to Mandalore below. They only had a handful of ships, but any help would be needed. The pit in Din's stomach was growing.
The minutes passed in silence. Din's chest was tight and he felt responsible for putting the Nite Owls in danger. They all knew it would be risky traveling to new worlds with such little information, but he surely didn't expect there to be Imperials chasing down the Nite Owls so soon. Maybe they'd all miscalculated just how prepared the Imps were to retaliate after everything that's happened in the past few cycles.
The radar pinged and Din immediately grabbed the handles to the cannon. "Looks like they're jumping out of hyperspace. At least two ships tailing them." They watched as four more ships emerged from the Mandalorian atmosphere. "Looks like we'll be ready for them."
The ship lurched as Bo sprang into action. Din loved the thrill of her flying style, she never held anything back and always pushed her ship to its limits. Bo reached over to her comms, "Moving to flank, let's box them in." Their reinforcements moved into position around their own ship and started to gain on the two Imperial fighters.
Din's fingers were itching, ready to fire once into position. His eyes were trained on the radar in front of him, and he was trying to keep his hands steady and line up the sights. "Just a little closer and we'll be ready to fire."
Bo responded by pushing the accelerator forward. They couldn't waste a moment. The fighters were already firing and the ship Axe was piloting was taking hits. Din watched as the radar sights started honing in on the first fighter and took his shot as soon as he could. The cannon blaster immediately struck the first fighter's engine and it exploded on impact. "One down," Din announced. But it was short lived. As soon as the words left, the radar pinged. "Five more just made the jump out of hyperspace."
"Take this one out. We'll move to distract the new fighters," Bo commed the other ships and rolled the Gauntlet out of the chase and spun through space until they were in position to flip around and chase the speeding fighters. "We'll need to move quickly to evade any incoming fire. You won't have much time to get shots off."
"I like the challenge," Din responded. He knew his knuckles must be white from how tightly he was gripping the cannon handles. He was more than ready to take down any threats to his people. His eyes were trained on the radar, preparing to make his move, "We're almost in range."
Bo nodded back and he felt the engines give another push forward. The radar was locking onto the ship closest to them. The fighters were in a tight formation and moving quickly. Landing his shot would take the perfect timing. He pulled the trigger and his first two shots missed, the fighter closest to them evaded at the last minute and broke away from formation. "They're going to try and flank us," Din said through clenched teeth.
"Not for long," Bo bit back. He could hear the determination in her voice. She cut the engines just as the ship flanked them. The fighter ended up racing right past them and Din reacted quickly. He pulled the trigger again and this time, the ship exploded as the cannon fire hit their hull. "Nice shot, now do it four more times."
Din chuckled gruffly, he was already trying to line up his next shot as the engines propelled them forward again. On the corner of the radar, he could see the other Mandalorian ships closing in on the fighter tailing the Nite Owls. They should have backup soon to take out these last ships. Bo was pressing the engines even harder and they were closing in on the last few fighters. The radar was pinging as they moved nearly close enough to be in range for the next shot. Din waited two more moments, then fired off four shots. Two shots landed and took out the two ships at the flank.
"Two more," It sounded like Bo was trying to motivate them both. So much was on the line right now. It felt nothing like when they were just robbing the Imperials of their ships and supplies. If they couldn't take down the fighters now, and maintain a secure airspace, the Imperials wouldn't waste time taking over the system and bombing them into oblivion.
"We're coming around to reinforce," Axe's voice crackled over the comm.
"Take the front, we've got the flank," Bo replied as she chased the last two fighters. They could tell the Imps were feeling the pressure now, their evasive flying was getting more intense with every fighter they lost. "We can't let them get away. Not again."
Din nodded and tried to stay focused on lining up his sights. He knew he had to be more careful now that the Nite Owls would be in the line of fire. If he missed, he could hit them instead. The other ships were starting to move into position behind the Gauntlet. All they had to do was land these last two shots. Just as Bo moved them into range, Din lined up his shot on the first fighter. As his cannon fire left, the ship Axe was piloting took out the remaining fighter. Bo broke the ship away from the course to avoid the debris field left behind and they finally let a breath escape.
Din leaned back in his seat and tried to relax his muscles one at a time, starting with his shoulders. Fighting was so much more intense when he was really fighting for something, unlike all those bounties he'd completed over the years. He could hear Bo giving out orders over the comm to keep the ships in space to patrol. They would have to stretch the ships' fuel until the supplies returned from Nevarro.
He was so distracted by his own thoughts and Bo's ease in command that he was taken off guard when Grogu hopped into his lap. "Sorry to disturb your sleep, kid." Grogu was babbling excitedly, like he enjoyed the interruption and evasive flying. Din had to put Grogu's chatter to the side and try to focus on what Bo was saying. They were going to land and meet up with the Nite Owls to determine what happened and what the next steps would be.
The dread washed back over Din. Had he made a mistake trusting Fett? Surely Fett would've mentioned if he knew Imperials were actively stationed and running Mataou, or maybe his intel wasn't reliable. Regardless, Din felt he should've done his own scouting before sending anyone else into the unknown.
"We knew this would be dangerous, you can't blame yourself," Bo said quietly as she navigated them down through the turbulent atmosphere. Din turned in his flight seat with Grogu still babbling happily on his lap. "All of us know to expect the worst during any mission."
"We're lucky they didn't send a whole squadron."
"Mataou likely is a smaller operation, they may just be taking advantage of the resources that fly through the ports there, stealing what they can," Bo said as the ship broke through the rough storms. "I'm sure this will bring some unwanted attention once they realize none of those fighters are coming back." It was dusk on Mandalore and the sun was just peaking out, causing the crystalized surface to glisten in the fading light. Din wasn't sure what to say. He felt relieved that Bo didn't blame him for how sideways this mission had seemed to go already, but that didn't completely ease his mind. He sat lost in his thoughts until they landed.
Bo turned the engines off and opened the ramp. She grabbed her helmet and put it on before turning towards Din. He turned his head up to meet her gaze and nodded. He had to accept that this mission didn't go as planned, but at least they would have some information from the Nite Owls and could move forward with some sort of plan. "Bring your dad along, little one," Bo said softly as she moved to exit the ship.
Grogu gazed up at Din and tilted his head. It amazed Din every day how perceptive Grogu could be. His eyes were wide open, like they were trying to look through Din's helmet. "You heard her, kid," Din scooped Grogu up into his arms and followed Bo out of the Gauntlet. It felt so quiet now that the roar of the engines was absent. He could hear the clang of every footfall until they walked out into the cool evening air.
As they walked down the ramp, he saw Axe and Koska standing at the edge of their ramp. Koska's chest plate was scorched and when she took her helmet off, her eyes were red with worry. They both looked exhausted though Axe thankfully looked unscathed.
"Where are the others?" Bo asked urgently. Din's stomach dropped when both Axe and Koska averted their eyes. Koska explained everything as concisely as possible but Din could hear the strain in her voice, "I'm so sorry, Bo-Katan. If I would've listened to Axe sooner…"
Bo stepped up and put her hand on her shoulder, "This is no one's fault but those Imps. We may have underestimated how deep their network runs, but it's not a mistake we will make again." The determination and anger Bo spoke with were palpable. Though Bo was distracting when she spoke with such intensity, Din didn't miss the equally tangible anger Axe wore on his face. "I'm relieved you both made it back."
"We should've never gone on this mission in the first place with just the word of a bounty hunter from that cult and wannabe crime lord," Axe growled.
One doesn't speak unless one knows. And there was so much Din didn't know right now. Fett's information was just that something was happening at Mataou, and that much was true. Surely, Fett would've emphasized if he thought there was a formidable Imperial presence on the planet. It even seemed like Fennec was skeptical that Imperials were even involved with the increase in pirating. He didn't know how deep the Imperial connections ran, or how many planets they were operating on. The Outer Rim was expansive, and while Din has visited many parts of the galaxy, and prided himself on his knowledge, he only knew what he knew, nothing more.
"That's enough," Bo's tone left no room for objections, and all four of them were exhausted by the past few days. "While you were on Mataou, we were scouted twice by Imperial ships and I refuse to squabble amongst ourselves." She paused for a moment. "We all need to get some rest. We will meet in the morning, and when we do, we will waste no time arguing or pointing fingers about what is done. If you want someone to be angry with, be angry with me, but for the sake of our people's future here, we need to act quickly and get ahead of the Imperials."
Din looked down at Grogu, who had been sitting quietly in his arms this whole time. Grogu seemed to be aware of the tensions and energy right now, and looked displeased. Grogu reached up towards Din and rested his small hand on Din's chest plate. It made Din feel guilty that two people had lost their lives on information that he'd provided and that he was safe with his family.
Koska nodded and left without a word. Axe clenched his jaw, but didn't argue either. Din could tell from the glare he shot his way, that this wasn't the last of the conversation. He was sure that Axe would bite his tongue until their meeting concluded, but his wrath would surface at the soonest possible moment.
Bo sighed and turned back towards Din and Grogu. "We should get some rest too. We'll both need a clear head for tomorrow." He nodded and followed behind Bo until they reached her home. After being crammed into the Gauntlet for a couple of days, it felt nice to be back in a normal home. He couldn't wait to lay down in a real bed and take his armor off.
As the door closed behind them, Bo stopped and took her helmet off. "I know you don't like to speak when you're unsure of yourself, but I meant what I said. Nothing that happened today is your fault. Without you, we wouldn't know we're being watched or that Imperials are even actively plotting to retaliate." Bo stepped closer and rested her hand on Din's shoulder. Grogu followed suit and laid his hand back down on Din's chest plate. "We wouldn't even be here without you, Din Djarin." Grogu babbled in obvious agreement.
He wasn't sure what to say, but it was comforting that both Bo and Grogu were reassuring him. They stood together for a few more moments, like they both needed consolation. Even though they were separated by armor and gloves, Din couldn't remember the last time someone's touch brought him so much comfort. Grogu's yawn broke their stillness. His heavy eyes gazed up at the pair and Din finally smiled down at his son.
"Thank you," He said quietly as Bo pulled her hand away. The absence of her light touch made him sigh, but they bid their goodnight and retired to their separate rooms. After he tucked Grogu into bed, he meticulously removed each piece of his armor and placed them on the small table in the corner of the room. He placed his gloves next to the beskar armor and with his bare hand, touched the cool metal of his helmet.
He wasn't sure what to expect next, but he had to make up for the events that spiraled today. Mandalore deserved better after all of the sacrifice given to make this possible. He needed to be better. Din stepped back from his armor and looked over to Grogu who was already fast asleep again.
Din would be better for his son, his family, his home. He had so much to protect now, so much to fight for. He will be better this time.