A/N: HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! Tis I here to spread some seasonal joy!
So last Monday on December 21 Ends officially turned 1! It's so crazy to think I've been writing this lil fic for A YEAR! Thank you so much everyone for reading, reviewing, following, favoriting! You are the best readers a fic writer could want!
On to the chapter …
Chapter 23 - Red Vekkass
Sinead was about to throw up.
Gripping the armrests so hard her knuckles turned white, she took a deep breath through her nose. This was it. The old mining station was a pinprick of darkness before the enormous gas giant which bathed the cockpit in a deep orange glow. They were too far away to be detected by scanners, but the space surrounding the station was surely filled with traps. One meter too far, and they would be shot down.
She was being pulled in two different directions, shaking with anger and grief while also wanting nothing more than for Kyen to hold her again. She missed him so much it hurt.
"How do you wanna do this?" Mando turned in his seat to look at her. She wished he wouldn't.
She didn't dare open her mouth, so she just shrugged. All higher brain power had been rerouted, circling around Kyen like a pack of vultures.
"I can try pinging them. Keep out of range of the artillery."
"Mhm."
His hand hovered above the lever for a moment before pushing it down. The ship crawled forwards. The gas giant grew until it filled the whole galaxy. A light on the control panel started blinking.
Mando waited for a couple of seconds before a disembodied voice filled the cockpit.
"The fuck you want?"
Sinead let out a giggle that only bordered on hysterical.
Mando cleared his throat. "I'm looking for Red Vekkass."
"Yeah? Well, you better turn round and piss off before I turn that piddly little bucket into space debris."
"I need to speak with Red Vekkass."
"Told you to fuck off-"
"My name is Sinead Cade." She hadn't even realized she had opened her mouth. It felt like someone had taken control of her brain. "I need to speak with Red Vekkass. I knew him before Loovria, and I've spent the last five years looking for him."
It felt almost wrong to say her name out loud like that. She was so used to aliases and convenient lies that baring herself felt ... sacrilegious in a way.
There was an awful silence that lasted for minutes. She held her breath.
Finally, a new voice came over the comm, deeper and more authoritative. "Roger that. Head for the hangar. One wrong move, and we'll blow you to stardust. Over and out."
For a moment, neither of them moved.
"I guess we just ..." Sinead trailed off. Her heart was pounding.
The ship started moving at a slow speed. Mando's hands danced across levers and buttons. If the station began firing, they would have to dodge at no notice. The pinprick grew into a proper station; it was shaped like a sphere and tapered out into a point just above Dilo's swirling surface. Narrow walkways shot out from the lower part of the station where ships could dock. They were all empty now.
"You ready?" Mando asked.
"Yes." No. She had never been less ready in her entire life.
The Crest passed through the magnetic field that protected the hangar and touched down between many smaller ships. Through the window, Sinead saw a group move towards the ship, and she strained her eyes to see if Kyen was there. He wasn't. She counted eleven blasters between eight sentients.
The child was sleeping in his seat and didn't stir when Mando picked him up and carried him to the safe room. Sinead tried not to think about what would happen to him if they didn't come back.
The ramp had never moved slower. She was ready to jump out of her skin, while Mando stood still as a statue.
The posse held their weapons at the ready as Sinead and Mando came down. Had Kyen not told them who she was?
"I'm here to-"
"Yeah, we heard you on the comm," a hulking mass of a Nikto said, his voice so deep Sinead felt it reverberate in her chest. "Follow me. Don't try anything." He sneered at Mando, whose hands inched imperceptibly towards his blaster. Sinead tried to catch his eyes through the helmet and shook her head once. They could not afford to start a fight with a bunch of pirates. She had come too far to die so close to the goal.
A large Twi'lek with a gash across his forehead scowled at them.
Flanked by the pirates, they were led through the station. A sour smell of unwashed bodies made her stomach churn, and she felt like she really had to throw up. They passed rooms filled with weapons or cargo, tables strewn with bottles, and food left out to rot. How could he live like this? It didn't make any sense.
Mando kept bumping against her, his head darting around. If she had had any room in her brain left over, she would have noticed the tension coming off him in waves.
Finally, the Nikto stopped in front of a thick blast door.
"Boss' in there."
Sinead swallowed thickly.
This was it.
The door opened.
She stared.
Laughter bubbled up from deep in her chest with the sheer unreality of it all. Her brain desperately tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
"Sinead, what are you-"
"That's ... that's not Kyen."
Saying it out loud broke the spell, and she fell silent, a hollow feeling in her chest.
The man sitting in front of her was human, but that was where the similarities between him and Kyen ended. Where Kyen was tall and broad-chested, with a round freckled face and deep green eyes, this man was all sharp edges and wiry limbs, small eyes peering out from a gaunt face. A scar ran from the bridge of his nose across his forehead and disappeared into short dark hair. He sat on an ornate chair, just one gilded filigree away from being a throne.
"Who are you?"
He smirked at her. "You said so yourself. Not Kyen." He leaned back in his throne. "Name's Red Vekkass, but I know you already knew that."
"B-but how? Why ..."
"Sit down, and I'll-"
"No!"
Behind her, the pirates jumped, and one drew his blaster. A hand landed on her shoulder and pulled her back.
"Calm. Down," Mando hissed.
She took a deep breath. "I want to know why according to records on Loovria, your name is Kyen Beck."
His grin grew, flashing a row of yellowing teeth. "Funny story, that." He looked behind her and yelled at the top of his lungs, making her jump. "EVERYONE! GET THE FUCK OUT!"
The Nikto took a step forwards, glancing at Mando. "But Boss, don't you think-"
"Out. Now."
They filed out until only Mando and Sinead were left. The Nikto was the last to go, snarling at Mando as the door closed.
Vekkass crossed a leg over the other, silent for a long moment as he regarded them both. "I knew about you," he pointed a dirty finger at Sinead. "The Mandalorian is a surprise."
A scream tried to crawl up her throat, and she took a deep breath through her nose. "Why-" voice barely shaking- "do you ... or did you go by the name Kyen Beck."
"Knew him."
"When?"
"Sit." He gestured to a hard-backed chair. Now that she could focus on other things besides the man in front of her, she realized they were in what must have been the mess hall. Two long tables had been pushed against the wall to allow a sort of runway with the throne at the other end. She didn't remember walking across the floor.
She threw herself into one of the chairs, gripping the armrests to keep from launching across the room and throttling Vekkass. Mando remained stubbornly standing behind her.
Vekkass lit a cigarra and took a long drag. "Met him on a moon in the middle of nowhere. The Empire had us working in a mine-"
"He was on Celvalara!" It came out in a rush. It hadn't all been for nothing.
"You've been? My, my, what busy bees you are." A bit of ash fell from the tip of the cigarra. "But yeah, we were on Celvalara. Shared a bunk, if you can call two stone slates a bunk. You could say we were buddies, as much as slaves can be friends. I guess you know all about that." He grinned at her.
Sinead kept her face carefully neutral.
"Worked the mine together with all the other poor bastards. Dunno what for, but those bucketheads worked us like akk dogs. And through it all, Kyen wouldn't shut the fuck up about you."
A small nugget of warmth filled out some of the emptiness. Kyen felt closer than he had been these last five years.
"Don't know if you noticed, but the Empire wasn't doing too hot in those days. People heard things. Me and Kyen, we talked about escaping."
"Did you?" Mando said. Sinead had almost forgotten he was there.
"You could say that. The Empire had all but fallen to pieces when we got the chance."
"That still doesn't explain why records on Loovria-"
"Back when shit really hit the fan, me and Kyen and a couple of other guys stole a shuttle to the planet. Forget the name-"
"Luria," Sinead said in a carefully measured voice. Her nails dug into the wooden chair.
"Right, Luria. The bucketheads weren't too happy about us leaving, even though they hadn't heard word from command in days. We figured it was better to split in case the Empire suddenly got a mind to follow. Back then we didn't know the Empire had fallen." He took another long drag of his cigarra. "Got picked up by some New Republic cruisers out by Atravis. I've had a bit of fun in my youth, figured Beck wouldn't mind me borrowing his name for a spell. He seemed like a nice enough fella." Another yellow-teethed smile. "Seemed like the New Republic officers wanted to make a quick cred, so they dropped me off on Loovria instead of taking me in. The name sorta stuck, never really got the urge to correct them."
So all of this was because of a couple of New Republic assholes who'd rather make a few extra credits than protect the people they had sworn to help. Although Vekkass seemed more like someone to protect from.
"Honestly, never thought you'd come knocking. You're lucky I remembered your name, or else you'd be space dust right about now." He waved the cigarra through the air. "Was under the impression you were still stuck on Tatooine."
"Sriluur."
"Right." He watched her for a long time, head cocked to the side. "Didn't know palace slaves could even get married."
Behind her, Mando's hands balled into fists.
She shrugged. "What the boss don't know, the boss don't mind."
Vekkass let out a bark of laughter. "Guess that's true." He turned his eyes on Mando. "You, on the other hand, I've heard a couple of things about. Like how you ambushed my people on Alpha. What did you do to the kid?"
What kid? Sinead turned to look at Mando. She hadn't even asked what had gone down on the station, too caught up in her own stormy mind.
"He attacked me. Did what I had to do," Mando said flatly.
"I see. Doesn't really matter, was gonna get rid of him anyway, so I guess you spared me a headache." He watched them both, waiting for their reaction. Sinead had to suppress a shiver.
"When was the last time you saw Kyen?" Mando asked in the same emotionless voice.
"On Luria, as I said."
"You know where he was heading?"
There was a subtle gleam in Vekkass' eyes, "I might. First, I need you to do something for me."
Of-fucking-course.
"What?" Sinead said between clenched teeth.
"Need you to find someone who used to be a part of my crew."
"What did he do?"
Vekkass flicked the cigarra onto the floor where it lay smoldering. "I thought bounty hunters didn't care about that."
A tension headache had grown slowly from her temples until it felt like her head was stuck in a vice. "I'm not a bounty hunter."
"But he is. Looks like it, anyway." He looked Mando up and down. "He was supposed to meet up with the crew after a job. Problem is he never showed. And he had all the loot.
"You think maybe he got picked up by the New Republic?" Sinead said.
"That's what I assumed until I got word that he'd been spotted on Trillu. Not as dead or incarcerated as previously thought. I want you to find him, bring him back with whatever loot is left. Or kill him. I don't really care as long as I get what's mine."
Sinead stopped herself from laughing out loud. She wouldn't be surprised if the clothes on his back had been pilfered off some poor bastard. "Why haven't you gone after him before?"
"Can't really spare the manpower, can I. Was about to send for a bounty hunter when you two fell into my lap."
"I'm not with the guild," Mando said.
"Does it matter? I don't care who you are, as long as you get it done. And when you come back, I'll tell you where Beck was headed."
Sinead bit down on the inside of her cheek so hard she tasted blood. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to travel across the galaxy on the trail of another lost soul. Hopping from system to system, asking strangers for information, following breadcrumbs that only led to dead ends.
She just wanted Kyen.
"He's probably long gone by now." Mando's gruff voice acted as an anchor and tethered her to the moment.
Vekkass pulled a small object out of his pocket and threw it to Sinead. It was a tracking fob. Mando gently took it out of her hand.
"I'm sure finding one man won't be a problem. You've come this far," Vekkass said and sat up on his throne. It was clear the audience was over.
"What's his name, the man we have to find?" Sinead's voice sounded strangely dulled.
Vekkass paused for a moment, thinking it over. Then, "Jami something-or-other. Twi'lek. A slippery little devil, so your best bet is probably taking him by surprise. Otherwise, he might slip away, and then no Kyen for you." He grinned again, a strange jerk of the lips like a wild animal showing its teeth. Leaning to the side, he raised his voice. "Brex!"
The door shot open, and the Nikto came barreling in. "Yes, Boss?"
"We're done here. Take them back to their ship and let them leave." Vekkass gave Sinead a final look. "Good luck."
The walk back to the ship was done in complete silence. Sinead curled her hands into fists so hard her nails left half-moons on her palm. It was surreal boarding the Crest. It felt like they'd been gone for days.
The child still slept in the saferoom, and Sinead stopped to watch him while Mando climbed into the cockpit. The child's small face twitched in his sleep. She reached out and touched his hand that poked out between two folds in the fabric.
A vibration went through the ship when the engine came to life, and she left the child and crawled into the cockpit. The Crest was surrounded by pirates who watched with suspicious eyes as it rose from the platform.
"You think they're gonna let us go?" Sinead sat down in her seat.
"If they wanted to kill us, they would've already done it. I think Vekkass was being truthful. At least about that."
"Hm. It's somehow easier imagining Kyen as a pirate than me actively working for one."
The Crest soared through the blue electromagnetic field and was finally free, but the shadow of the mining station seemed to cling to it like an oil-spill.
"You know, we don't ... we don't have to do this." Mando didn't turn to look at her as he spoke.
"What's the other option? He knows where Kyen went after Celvalara."
"You trust him?"
She crossed her arms over her chest. Of course she didn't, but what did he want her to say? "Finding this guy can't hurt. As I see it, we're just getting rid of one more pirate the galaxy doesn't need." And helping another one in the process ...
Mando nodded once and flicked a row of switches, sending the ship hurtling into hyperspace. The blue light danced across Sinead's face. Suddenly, she felt impossibly tired, her heart a heavy lump in her chest. Relief that Kyen could still remain unsullied in her mind battled against nauseating guilt; when the door opened, and she saw it wasn't her Kyen sitting on the throne, she hadn't been confused or saddened, but so relieved. Was her love really that conditional?
She bit down on the inside of her cheek, hard. Small bumps had formed where she had broken through the skin.
"How do tracking fobs work?" She grasped for anything that might distract her.
Mando leaned back in his seat. "The fob tracks via your chain code. The more digits, the more exact it is."
"How precise can it be? Can it point out the correct planet?"
"Planet, continent."
"Oh."
She stared out at the swirling mist.
Mando cleared his throat. When she looked at him, he had turned in his chair to face her. "After a bounty's been fulfilled, the information is dormant. You said the Hutts think you're dead. You have nothing to worry about."
It didn't feel like she had nothing to worry about. It felt like an entire Imperial armada was waiting for them just on the other side of hyperspace.
"Yeah, okay." Turning back to look at the mist, she wrapped her arms around her midsection in a poor excuse for a hug. She tried thinking back to Sriluur, where she and Kyen would sneak off to lie in the shade of the palace, but everything felt wrong and faded like she was looking through a dirty window.
She just wanted someone to hold her again.
There was a bump from the hull, and Mando got up, faltering when he looked at her. The blue light danced across his armor. "I'll just ... go check on him ..."
"Right."
She felt his hand accidentally brushed her shoulder as he passed her, then he was gone, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
… … … … …
A/N: I really hope you guys liked the plot twist! I've been thinking about this for literally a year, so it was so good to finally get it out!
As a sort of birthday gift for Ends turning 1, I would LOVE to hear your theories on what'll happen in the fic. Do you think they'll find Kyen? Is he dead? Alive? An asshole? The possibilities are literally endsless.
Thank you everyone, again! And I hope you all stay safe out there.