Ends of the Earth

by onespoongirl

When Sinead's husband is ripped from her, she escapes from the Hutt Empire and goes on a quest to find him. Since being a runaway slave in the Outer Rim isn't exactly easy, she makes the Mandalorian an offer he can't refuse, and soon they travel across the galaxy on the trail of her missing husband.

9. In

Chapter 9 - In

Sinead sat on a broken down astromech at the edge of the base, watching rebels scurry around in the dim light. Mando had gone to retrieve the ship, and Gatt had left Sinead with two guards, ostensibly there to protect her, but more likely there to keep her from poking her nose into things that didn't concern her. The guards stood back, close enough to keep an eye on her but far enough away that she had the illusion of privacy.

A dug knuckled past her, giving her a distrustful look. He carried a cracked datapad in one of his feet.

She was watching a mouse droid scurry between the ships when a voice made her sit up. It stood out of the general din of the base, sounding too high and youthful to belong to any of the rebels.

"You never let me do anything!"

Sinead looked around as casually as she could. Half hidden behind a starfighter, Gatt and a human girl who couldn't be more than 14 faced each other.

"Mir ..." Gatt said.

"I could help, you know, if you didn't keep me locked up here."

Gatt pinched the bridge of her nose. "Damn right I keep you locked up. If I didn't, you'd be dead five times over."

"You don't know that." Mir tossed her head.

"I do know that, Mir, I've been fighting since before you were a glint in your mother's eyes."

"I can-"

Gatt jabbed a finger at her. "You can do nothing, except compromising everything we've worked on. I don't expect you to understand, but as long as you're in my care, you're to sit your ass down and stay out of trouble."

Mir balled her hands and stomped on the ground. "This isn't fair."

Gatt drew herself into her full height, the fire in her eyes a mirror of the girl's. "Life isn't fair. Go help Bast if you're so desperate to help." She pushed Mir to the side and stomped away, leaving the girl to watch after her, her small body shaking with anger.

Mir turned her head and locked eyes with Sinead. Her face contorted and she skulked off, disappearing into the mine. The guards let her pass without a word.

That was odd. A rebel base wasn't usually the best place for a young girl, even one who seemed as keen as Mir to join the fight. Sinead considered following her, when a small dot on the horizon appeared, growing larger and larger until she saw it was the Razor Crest making for the landing platform.

Wind whipped her hair around as the ship touched down, the old landing gear creaking from the weight. The Crest looked right at home between the old freighters and starfighters that looked like they had been in one dogfight too many.

The Mandalorian appeared as the ramp came down, looking cautiously at the rebels milling about.

Sinead got up from her seat and approached him, her minders trailing after. "How was everything back there?"

"Fine," he said in his usual brusque fashion. "You sure about this?" He eyed her guardians.

"We have another choice?"

Mando sighed, which had to be answer enough, as Gatt approached them with a small band of rebels trailing behind. She lifted an eyebrow as she gave the ship a quick onceover. "You're all set?" She didn't wait for an answer, instead thrusting a datacard at Sinead, who caught it just before it fell to the ground. "Coordinates are on there. You only have so long to get through the blockade and back out before you miss your window, and then you're stuck, you got that?" She looked impatiently from Sinead to Mando.

"Got it."

"We don't know the situation on Luria, except that it's bad. Hopefully a ground-team'll meet you at the rendezvous."

"I usually like a little more certainty when risking my life," Sinead said.

"And I like not having to sneak onto my own damn planet, but it turns out that life isn't fair."

"You're asking us to risk our lives for a hope."

"Only thing we have in abundance. If you don't like it, you can get the hell off my moon." Gatt clearly hadn't shaken off the effects of the argument.

Sinead bared her teeth in a smile. "If only wars could be won on hope."

"No, we need soldiers for that, ones who follows orders."

"Yes, sir."

Gatt didn't seem to appreciate Sinead's try at deference. "Right. This isn't so complicated I need to go over it again, do I? Once you get back, I'm sure Sul-Bal will show you whatever it is you came here to find."

Five rebels piled into the Crest, a quiet lot all dressed in dark, inconspicuous clothes and with the same sort of grim determination in their eyes. A short, stout human called Tanram was the only one who introduced himself.

Sinead left the rebels in the main room huddled together in a tight group, muttering amongst themselves and shooting furtive glances at Sinead like she was about to pounce.

She stood behind Mando as the ship left Celvalara's atmosphere.

"He's still sleeping," Sinead said, looking at the child still swaddled in a blanket. Looking closely, she could see his small chest rise and fall.

"This has happened before I … I think."

"Him sleeping for more than a day?"

"It was after … it doesn't matter. He'll wake up eventually."

"If you say so."

The ship shook as they left Celvalara's atmosphere.

Sinead sat down in the only unoccupied chair. "You don't think we should've left him back at the base?"

"Hm. I don't trust them."

"Neither do I, but I'm sure it's safer than an occupied planet. Gatt seems like someone who's great with kids."

"I thought he'd be safe on Tatooine and look what happened." He glanced at her. "How's your head?"

Her head? Oh, right.

"It's fine." She touched the spot where just ten hours prior she'd had a bump the size of a kaadu egg, which had vanished completely. "That stuff Peli gave me must've been stronger than I thought."

The Mandalorian hummed in response and fell quiet.

The navicomputer beeped once to let them know it had finished plotting in the route, and the ship hummed as it turned due north- insofar that there was such a thing as due north in outer space.

The blockade stretched planet wide, blinking in the murky darkness like dying stars. Many of the ships making up the blockade hadn't been made for that purpose, most of them looked like old freighters and rusty spaceliners. Underneath, Luria's surface swirled and twisted like a sea in stormy weather.

As they neared the spot, Mando slowed the ship to a crawl.

There was a clanging as Tanram up the ladder. "How's everything up here?" His voice was scratchy, like he'd spent all day shouting. He stood behind Mando, watching the slowly rotating planet beneath. The glow from Luria bathed the cockpit in a soft, pink light.

"We're waiting for the signal," Mando said.

Tanram sneered. "Fucking travesty we have to sneak into our own home like thieves."

Sinead shrugged. "Here's to hoping you won't have to do that for long."

Tanram harrumphed as a way of answer. He scratched his cheek, looking around the cockpit, eyes falling on the sleeping kid. "You have a child with you?"

"He came with the ship," Sinead said, fighting the urge to pull the child into her lap.

"Right ..." he turned back to look at Luria. "Better hope it doesn't get us killed."

"Don't worry, I won't let him hurt you."

Tanram gave her a sour look.

"What's the plan once we land?" Mando said, stopping the argument before it had time to start.

"We get down, there should be a ground team waiting for us."

"Again, with the qualifiers," Sinead said.

"Should is a helluva lot better than 'no chance in hell'." Tanram crossed his arms across his chest.

"Barely. 'No chance in hell' also means don't get your hope up."

Mando shushed them, gesturing to the blockade below them. "Look."

Beneath them, a large freighter ship blinked three time before going completely dark. Nobody moved.

"That's it?" Sinead asked, leaning forward to get a better look. "And we're sure it won't suddenly come on-line and blast us to stardust, right?"

"Only one way to find out."

The Razor Crest came to life with a now pleasantly familiar roar and glided slowly towards Luria.

"Don't get too close to the ship," Tanram whispered. "This boat ain't invisible."

The Mandalorian's shoulders tense in irritation, but he remained silent.

The planet swelled beneath them, pink and green-hued lights dancing in the cockpit, seeming impossibly large as it filled the windscreen.

"Ten seconds 'till we reach," Mando said.

In the distance the dark ship hung lifeless in the air, and Sinead caught herself holding in her breath as they breached the barricade, her ears prickling for any sound of their detection.

They passed the darkened ship in tense silence.

"Go tell the others to get ready," Mando said, his voice terse. "Don't wanna be there longer than necessary.

Tanram drew in a sharp breath, clearly not happy about taking orders from someone else, even if that someone was the owner of the ship, but after a second, he deflated and disappeared down the ladder.

"I wish they could all be this easy," Sinead said, sitting down at last.

"You think this was easy?"

"Relatively easy." Sinead looked at the still sleeping kid. "Nobody has shot at us. Yet."

"Give it time."

Sinead huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, you're right. Can't wait to see in what new and inventive way this one explodes in our faces."

When the Razor Crest broke through the clouds, Sinead couldn't help but gasp at the sight that unfolded underneath them; rolling grasslands broken up by dense forests stretched as far as the eye could see, deep purple and emerald green seemed to glow in the darkness. A solitary mountain broke through the earth, shining white in the starlight.

"You've ever done something like this before?"

Sinead tore her gaze away from the wonder outside. "Smuggled a band of rebels through a blockade to a planet in full lockdown? Can't say that I have."

"I mean this. The civil war."

"I'd say we're more civil war adjacent." She could feel Mando roll his eyes under his helmet. "No, I haven't. I've always done my best to stay out of … circumstances like these." Normally, she would ask him what he did before he was a bounty hunter, but she had a feeling he wouldn't answer.

After skirting around a small settlement barely big enough to notice, they found the rendezvous, a small spot at the base of the mountain. Big boulders had been rolled away, making a small level spot in a sea of rocks.

The Crest touched down, narrowly missing being smashed to bits against the sheer rock walls.

As she got up to leave, Sinead looked down at the still sleeping kid, worry gnawing at her stomach. She touched the edge of the blanket wrapped around him and then left to join the rebels.

The ramp was down when she got off the ladder, soft starlight spilling from the opening. Outside, a rebel had fallen to her knees in the grass, whispering something in twi'leki that Sinead didn't understand, and it dawned on her that this was the first time they'd seen their home in a long time.

The four remaining rebels stood in a tight knot, their conversation dying out when Sinead and Mando descended on the ramp.

"You said someone'd be here," Mando said, looking directly at Tanram.

"Clearly there isn't," the rebel said between clenched teeth, his dark eyes scanning the shadows between the boulders.

The twi'lek got up from the ground and brushed off her knees. "Erno, you told me about an old cache at the foot of the Barrow-" she nodded towards the mountain- "Maybe they've left the package there."

A human rebel, this one with grey wiry hair spilling from under his cap, rubbed his lower lip. "Hasn't been used since I was a lad."

"C'mon, Tan," another rebel grabbed Tanram's shoulder, "they've been compromised. We gotta get out of here before the blockade closes."

"We don't know that!" Said the Twi'lek.

"Really, Suri, you really wanna bet your life on that? Our lives?" The rebel turned to the twi'lek, his posture rigid.

Tanram's lips moved silently, his unfocused eyes staring at the mountain. "We've come to far to turn back now. We'll find the cache and if it's empty then we'll take it from there." He turned to Sinead and Mando. "Stay here until we come back."

"That wasn't part of the plan," Mando said.

"Plan's changed. If you leave now, without what we came here to get, you won't get within orbit of Celvalara. Got it?"

"We won't be stuck here."

Tanram sighed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "We'll be back before that happens."

"You better make sure of that."

Once the last rebel disappeared between the trees, Sinead let out a deep sigh. "Maybe this really was a bad idea."

"A little late for that don't you think?" Mando said, his shoulders tensing in irritation.

"Yeah," Sinead stretched and looked around the clearing. The white rocks reflected the starlight strangely, making it look like they were glowing from within. Scree shifted under her feet as she walked to the nearest boulder and sat down, closing her eyes. The rock felt strangely warm against her back.

Wind whistled between the cliffs, carrying with it the smell of clean and cold air.

The Mandalorian cleared his throat. Sinead waited for him to speak but when he didn't, she snuck a glance at him through her lashes? He was looking at her, or at least in her direction.

"I already told you I'm fine."

He looked away sharply, shifting his weight from side to side. "I didn't ..." he looked at Celvalara in the distance. "I haven't thanked you for what you did. Back there. You- uh, you didn't have to risk your life like that."

"I'm sure everyone would've done the same." Images of people she'd met that most definitely wouldn't, flashed through her mind. "At least almost everyone."

"Still ... thank you."

Somewhere amidst the cliffs, there was a sharp cry from a bird.

Sinead tugged her legs to her chest. "It's not the first time I've been held at blasterpoint and it probably won't be the last. Although I usually know what it's about." She let the words hang in the air.

"It's not that simple."

"I think it is. The Guild and I aren't exactly on the best of terms. You don't have to worry I'll run off when your back is turned."

"How'd you manage to piss off the Guild?"

Sinead opened her eyes fully and gave him a sardonic grin. "Let's make a deal; you tell me how you found the child, and I'll tell you why I'm not rotting in some palace on Sriluur."

Mando fiddled with his gauntlet while Sinead watched him patiently. He cleared his throat and started: "An Imperial holdout based out of Navarro hired me to find and retrieve an asset." He looked up at the cockpit where the child slept. "They wanted him dead or alive, would pay a lot to make sure that happened."

A cold hard knot of worry formed in the pit of her stomach at the thought of the kid in the hands of people like that. Leave it to the Empire to destroy someone so innocent and defenseless.

"You didn't leave him," she said softly.

"No."

"So that's why you don't know his name. Why didn't you tell me this before? I hate the Empire even more than I hate the Guild, and it would've been nice to know you have a bullseye on your back."

He looked at her sharply. "You're right, Chela."

She rolled her eyes, trying to rid herself of the anxious feeling. "I never lied to you and I've trusted you to find my husband. That's gotta count for something."

He leaned against the ship, not looking at her. "Yeah."

The conversation tapered off, and Sinead closer her eyes again. She didn't like waiting around on the best of days, and here it felt like they'd ended up in a strange pocket of space where every minute felt like an hour.

"You never answered my question."

"Question?"

"When you dealt with the Guild."

"Oh." Sinead grabbed a handful og pebbles and watched them fall from her palm. "I was … found out, let's say, after I first escaped. A Trandoshan hunted me down on Toola, dragged me back to Sriluur."

"You remember his name?"

Sinead snorted. "I didn't really think to ask. Anyway, both the Hutts and the Empire were chomping at the bit to get a hold of me, so I guess I never stood a chance."

Mando was quiet for a bit. "You managed to get away again."

"Rebels attacked the Hutts right after the Trandoshan handed me over. Stroke of luck, really, otherwise I would be rotting in a shallow grave somewhere on Sriluur. I'm pretty sure they think I died in the attack, since I haven't seen any bounty hunters for a while- except for you."

"Whatever's left of the Empire has other things to think about."

"Like someone absconding with their bounty." Sinead grinned at him.

"Hm."

She didn't know how long they sat in silence. A small bird landed on a boulder nearby, trilling a complicated song. Maybe the sun was about to rise.

There was a bang from behind the ship. Sinead got to her feet and grabbed her blaster in one fluid motion. "What-"

Mando held out a hand, stopping her in her tracks. He drew his own blaster and crept around the ship surprisingly silent for someone clad head to toe in metal armor.

A panel from the ship lay in the pebbles and someone was crawling out of the opening it left, wiggling through the wires like a worm. They stared as she made it out, landing on the ground with a loud thud.

Mir straightened up, pulling off an old breath mask and letting it thump to the ground. Her eyes widened when she saw Sinead and Mando stare at her.

Mando was the first to get his bearings. "Who are you?"

Mir reached behind and pulled a blaster. In a split second, Mando snatched it out of her hands.

"Hey!"

It seemed like everything suddenly went into double speed. Sinead stepped forwards. "What are you doing here?" She fought to keep her voice under control.

"None of your business," Mir snapped, staring balefully at the Mandalorian.

"You-" Mando stopped, breathing hard through his nose. "You've made it our business. Who. Are you?"

Sinead glanced at Mando while Mir flinched. "Her name is Mir, she-"

"Mirian," she interrupted. "My name is Mirian."

It took all Sinead's willpower not to roll her eyes at the girl. "I saw Mirian back at the base, right after Gatt told her to stay put."

Mirian's eyes widened for a moment. "She can't tell me what to do."

"She's the commander, telling people what to do is her job."

The girl bit her lower lip, eyes straying to the nearest path away from the clearing.

"Don't even think about it," Mando growled, making her eyes swivel back to him.

"Did you really hide away in the ship? You could've suffocated!" The mask looked old enough to be from the Old Republic, cracked and leaking.

"So what if I did? I can take care of myself."

Sinead ground her teeth hard enough to hear them creak, angry heat making her cheeks flush.

Mando spoke through clenched teeth. "Get in the ship."

"No."

He took a short step forward. "Get. In. The. Ship. And stay there."

For one moment it looked like she was about to run, eyes flittering around for a way out, her small mouth a thin white line.

Mando took a step forward and Mirian stumbled back, her eyes flickering to the blaster still in Mando's hand.

Sinead stepped forward, waving at Mando to stay back. "You want to be a part of this, right? All this proves is that you can't be trusted following simple orders-"

"Jacin won't let me do anything," Mirian's voice was a loud whine.

"And you've made sure she probably never will," Sinead snapped.

"That's not fair!"

"Fair's a weather condition. Get used to it."

Sinead paused, surprised at what came out of her mouth; it was an old Corellian saying her mother had been particularly fond of spouting whenever Sinead was being too dramatic. She'd always hated it and it didn't look like Mirian found any value in it either.

"You can't make me go back."

"Don't be so sure about that," Mando growled.

"Ship," Sinead said, hearing her mother's voice echo back. "Now."

Mirian bared her teeth, her eyes filled with pure and unadulterated fury, but she made the smart choice and stomped toward the ship, her heavy boots echoing on the metal ramp.

"What a brat," Sinead mumbled as she disappeared inside. "I'll go with her, make sure she doesn't steal the ship," Sinead said.

Mando made a sound at the back of his throat, cocking his head at the panel lying on the ground. "I'll … try to fix this. There are some bindings in the weapons locker."

"I'm not going to tie her up, Mando. I got this."

"If the other's aren't back soon-"

"We leave, yeah." Sinead wasn't keen on being stuck on Luria in general but with the addition of the combative young girl, she'd rather risk getting blown to pieces by the blockade.

Mirian was nosing around the makeshift galley that Mando had somehow jury-rigged into the side of the ship. Sinead stood in the opening and cleared her throat, making Mirian whirl around. "This place is a dump."

Sinead took a deep breath, stamping down on the anger that threatened to bubble over again. "Believe it or not, you're not the first one to say that. Lucky for you, you're not gonna be here very long."

"Why do you even care about holding me here? Nobody saw me hide away, if you just-"

"I'm sure once they find out you're gone, they're gonna put two and two together and Gatt would kill me as soon as she laid eyes on me." At the sound of the Commander's name, Mirian looked away sharply. "I assume she's your …?"

"Aunt."

"Ah."

"Just because we're family-" she spat the word like it tasted foul- "she thinks she can tell me what to do."

"That's generally what family do." Sinead sat on an overturned ammo crate, twisting a string between her fingers. "Where are your parents?"

Mirian's face froze and she got a blank look in her eyes. "Dead."

"Sorry."

"They died as heroes-" Mirian stalked down the length of the ship- "protecting this planet, and Jacin wants to hide me away underground."

"Sounds reasonable."

Mirian whirled around. "Shows what you know."

Shrugging, Sinead continued playing with the string. "I know that you stowed away on a dangerous mission, risking suffocating in space." She sent Mirian a look. "What were your plan once you got down here? Join up with the others and hope they wouldn't do a headcount?"

Mirian's silence was answer enough.

A tense silence fell, only broken by Mirian's heavy footsteps whenever she got too bored of standing in one place.

From above, there came a sound of something hitting the floor, and Sinead was at the ladder before Mirian had time to react. "Don't move," she told the girl.

The child stood in the middle of the cockpit, looking around with sleep heavy eyes and a lost expression. His left ear was bent like he'd slept on it.

"Hey, you," Sinead said as she scooped him up in her arms. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

The kid made a warbling sound, pressing his head to her shoulder.

Down in the main room Mirian had of course moved to the opposite side of the ship, rooting through a compartment that had been left ajar. She'd found a hydro-spanner, which she dropped as soon as Sinead's feet hit the floor.

"You took a child with you?" She took a step closer to get a proper look at the child. "What is that?"

Sinead suffocated a deep sigh. Now she knew how Mando felt. "A baby Lannik."

"Lannik's aren't green, even the kids."

"His mother is a Twi'lek." Sinead found some jerky in a cupboard and gave the kid a bit, who wolfed it down.

"That doesn't make-"

Mando appeared in the opening, clear starlight behind him making him look like a silhouette. "Someone's coming."

"Shit." Sinead left the kid on her bed. "Stay there." She looked at Mirian. "Both of you."

Outside, the sky was starting to lighten to the east, a merest hint of sunlight at the horizon and animals had started to wake up between the rocks. A group of birds crossed the sky in a tight formation.

Someone was moving towards them, fast, sliding on the scree covered ground.

Sinead drew her blaster and moved into the shadow of a boulder, her breath coming out in controlled bursts. She watched the Mandalorian crouch behind another boulder, his head turned towards the sound.

The Twi'lek, Suri, stumbled into the clearing, her blue skin covered in a fine layer of white dust, half carrying half dragging a rebel, a trail of blood behind them.

Sinead hurried out from behind the boulder. "What happened?"

"They found us-" Suri gasped, clutching the wounded rebel for dear life.

"It was an ambush," the rebel said between clenched teeth. "Tanram told us to run. Get out of here."

"They followed you?" Mando scanned the way they'd come.

"We lost them, but-" Suri took a deep breath- "if they find the blood, it'll lead them right to us."

The wounded rebel pulled himself out of Suri's grip and leaned against a boulder, grimacing as his leg was jostled. "Their comm's don't work here. The rocks-" he tried to put weight on his leg and nearly crumbled to the ground- "makes too much interference."

Mando growled, a deep rumbling sound from his chest. "I'll deal with this. Get ready to leave when I get back."

"Take 'em out quietly, if you can." The wounded rebel waved Suri away as she tried to help him up. "Noise attracts too much attention."

"I'll go with you," Sinead said as the rebels helped each other back to the ship.

"You need to go back and protect the kid."

"It'll be faster if we're two, and we can't risk any of them getting away, sounding the alarm." Sinead drew her blaster again, checking it was ready. "C'mon."

They moved silently through the rocky landscape, keeping to the shadows and trying to avoid the piles of scree covering the ground. The white rocks made it look like everything was covered in a fine layer of snow, making Sinead feel like she was back on Toola and she repressed a shiver as the old blaster-wound twinged. She pressed a hand to the nearest rock, feeling the gentle warmth it emitted.

Mando held up a closed fist, and Sinead stopped in her tracks. Voices moved between the rocks like a ghostly echo.

Three men moved between the boulders, not taking particular care in being quiet, their feet slipping on the ground. The man in the front, a big Twi'lek with teeth filed to such a point that it was a wonder he hadn't punctured his lips, yelled to the others to keep up. They walked in a loose formation, covering as much ground as possible.

Sinead and Mando watched them from higher up, hidden in a shadow. He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her close. "I'll circle around, take out the guy furthest down. Wait for my signal, then take out the human."

"What about the big guy?"

"I'll deal with him. Just do it quietly."

Sinead swore as Mando slipped away, seemingly fading into the shadows before her eyes. She didn't like hand-to-hand combat, preferring to keep within blaster range of whoever needed killing.

Her target was coming closer. He held a rifle to his chest, his dark eyes glinting in the moonlight, and Sinead watched as he took one, two, three steps and stopped to look around. One, two, three, stop, look around.

Down the incline, the man furthest down had stopped to check his rifle. As he stood there looking down, Mando materialized out of the shadow like a specter, moving close to the ground, ready to strike. He grabbed the man by the throat, pulling him backwards until it looked like his back was about to break before twisting his head and finally pulling him out of sight.

A small avalanche of pebbles slid from where the man used to be.

The two remaining men turned around.

"Yekk!" The Twi'lek shouted, echo throwing the word back and forth. "Where are you?" He started towards the place, lifting his rifle. "Quit fucking around."

Mando appeared beside him, slamming a heavily armored hand down on the Twi'lek's arm, making the rifle fly through the air. Mando ducked under a fist the size of a grav-ball, stepping around the Twi'lek now slipping on the scree, bringing down a foot on the back of his knee, sending him to the ground.

The human fumbled with his rifle, trying to raise it, when Sinead slammed into his back, bearing down on him with all her weight. She pulled pack his hair and drew her blade across his throat, feeling hot blood cover her hand.

He sputtered once, grabbing at his throat before finally going limp.

Mando let go of the Twi'lek, who fell lifeless to the ground, large dark eyes staring unseeing into the sky.

"Not bad," Sinead said, wiping her hand on the fallen man's jacket.

"Let's get out of here," Mando said, not sparing a glance at the dead men.

They hurried back to the ship. While they walked, Sinead couldn't help but watch Mando move through the uneven terrain. While he wasn't uncoordinated in any sense of the word, back there he'd moved like a snake in the grass, striking quickly and brutally, not giving them a chance to react before it was too late.

Suri was cleaning the other rebel's wounds when Mando and Sinead came up the ramp.

"You handled it?" The rebel asked between clenched teeth.

"Yeah," Sinead said, while Mando went to the bunk to the child who watched everything unfold in solemn silence. "What about the others?"

"Tanram said to take off without them."

"How'll they get off planet?"

"I'm more concerned about us getting off planet," said Suri, winching as she stretched her right arm. "If we're still here when the blockade ship regains power …"

"Yeah, we know," Mando said.

Sinead had just pressed the button to close the ramp when she faltered and turned around. "Where's Mirian?"

The rebels froze. "What? Mirian is here?"

"She stowed away on the ship," Sinead said, her voice sounding like it came from far off. She stumbled to the ladder and poked her head into the empty cockpit. "She's not here."

"Me-nesh," Suri swore and slammed her fist down on the floor. The wounded rebel hid his face in his hands. "We have to find her."

The Mandalorian sat the child back down on the bunk, his movements carefully restrained. "She knows this place?" His voice shook with barely concealed anger.

"I-I don't know."

"You know where she would go?"

Suri shrugged hopelessly. "I've no idea. I've only seen her on the base."

Mando rounded on the wounded rebel. "Can you still fight?"

The rebel fought up into standing position, waving Suri away when she tried helping. "Give me a blaster and I'll give 'em hell."

"Watch the kid," Mando said. "We'll go look for her."

Outside, the dawn was still only a hint of color in the east. Sinead turned around on her heels, trying to spot a clue to where Mirian might have run off to.

"I'll head up the mountain," Suri said. "See if I can spot her. Down east is the settlement we passed; she might have gone that way." She pulled her lekku, looking worried at the sky. "Don't get caught."

"Likewise, right? Be careful."

"Don't call her name, the Collective might still be around."

Sinead checked that her blaster was still safely holstered, and she and Mando set out on the narrow path that led south, towards the slowly rising sun.

… … … … …

AN: The whole 'fair is a weather condition' thing is from a song called Shameful Company by Rainbow Kitten Surprise and everyone should go listen to it. It's the number one Sinead and Mando (or Dinead, if you will) song. And of course Ends of the Earth by Lord Huron.