Suggested Listening:
Volcano Springs - James Horner (fromThe Magnificent Seven) ...what happened here?
Pawning the Gold - John Powell (fromThe Italian Job) ...a sight for sore eyes
Helmet Hair - Harry Gregson-Williams & John Powell (fromShrek) ...still got that speeder?
"Holy Hoth… what happened here?"
I marveled, wide-eyed, at the smoldering, dingy mess that had once been Nevarro City.
"Something tells me Karga's not in charge anymore," rumbled Din.
"Yeah," I breathed, making a grim attempt at levity. "That or he's stopped paying his janitorial staff.
The main gate to the city stretched before us, beyond which lay ruined buildings, graffitied walls, mess in the streets. It was as though the lights had gone out in the city. Where there once had been children of varied species running around, and brightly colored market stalls peppering the main road, there now were closed doors and rubbish blowing around. The only movement that we could see came from a motley group of pirates, from many different planets it seemed, causing a ruckus. They staggered from tavern to broken-in shop, laughing uproariously as they passed the boarded up schoolhouse.
In the bassinet between us, Grogu let out a concerned little burble.
"It'll be okay, kid," reassured Din in a low voice. Then, he turned to me. "Well. I guess we should go meet the new administration."
I nodded, taking a steeling breath.
We made it maybe five steps into the city, when a hand flew out of the shadows and I was yanked, forcibly, into the darkness of an obscured alley.
"Kyra!" Din hissed in alarm, whipping out his blaster — but he froze when Cara Dune came into view, glaring at him over the barrel of his gun.
"Dank Farrik, you two," she snarled, grabbing his armed wrist and pulling him as well. "What, are you allergic to discretion?"
Din dropped his arm to his side, letting out a relieved breath. Grogu beamed up at Cara from his bassinet, his ears waggling in happy greeting.
"Hey, little guy," she smiled, tapping his cheek with her finger.
My heart leapt as I took her in. After so many weeks of feeling rather lonely and detached from the people around me — and seeing no one's face but Grogu's — the sight of Cara gave me a rush of glee.
"Hi," I grinned, throwing my arms around her neck and pulling her in for a hug.
"Woah," she grunted, laughing quietly. "Hi there — good to see you, too."
I released her and beamed up at Din, who looked down at me with a soft, affectionate little laugh.
"Seriously," she continued, jerking her head for us to follow her. "You have no idea how good it is to see you both. We're in a tough spot."
"I can see that," said Din as we began to follow her down the long, dark alley. "How did it get this bad?"
"Well, rumor has it there was a pretty mean battle over on Tattooine that shut down the spice trade—" she shot us both a cocked eyebrow and a knowing smirk. "Something tells me you already know all about that."
"And what, the trade hubs moved over here?" I asked, jogging to keep up with her long strides.
"Some of 'em," she replied. "Really, there was just a hole in the market. And these pirate creeps have been harassing our cities small-time for a while now — this just gave them the boost they needed to pull off a real takeover."
"Karga has a whole fleet of bounty hunter connections," said Din curiously. "Why wouldn't they step in — at least for a price?"
"Man, you really have been gone a while," said Cara with a bitter smile. "Ever since Karga went straight — well, straight-er — and I took over as Marshall, the bounty hunter scene has moved over to Hesperidium."
"Where is Karga?" I felt a chill run through me as I asked, worried to hear the worst possible answer.
"He's fine," said Cara, putting me at ease. "He's holed up in his mansion — he had to fake an allegiance with Shard in order to keep any semblance of peace."
"Shard?" Din asked curiously as we turned into an empty side street.
"Gorian Shard," replied Cara with a venomous edge to her voice. We followed her lead, hugging the sides of the buildings and moving quickly. "He's the head of this particular motley crew. It was on his orders that they pillaged Nevarro City."
"I take it he's who we're here to contend with," said Din.
Cara nodded, then her eye snagged on me.
"Nice armor, by the way," she said, impressed.
"Thanks," I said, smiling involuntarily and tightening my grip around the helmet in my hand. "It was a gift."
"Uh huh," Cara mused, looking from me to Din. "Careful, Mando, she's showing you up in your own signature look."
"Easy," warned Din through an audible wry smile.
When Cara turned her attention back to the path before her, I felt a small pinch at my waist where the armor gapped. I turned in surprise to see Din looking down at me.
"At least mine doesn't have weak spots."
He said it quietly, so that only I could hear — and there was an unmistakeable thread of amusement in his voice. I scoffed, too surprised to laugh.
"Oh really?" I challenged, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Really," he countered, and picked up his pace.
"Huh," I mused quietly. "Then what do you call this?"
I took a few long strides and passed him, jabbing my thumb into the soft fabric at the top of his thigh.
"Hey!" He swatted at my hand, and I felt a rush of playful affection as I saw him shake his head, chuckling.
I knew I didn't imagine it.
Ever since we'd left the covert, I had seen a shift in Din's body language. Even on the ship, I kept catching glimpses of his body the way I had come to know it — a little more relaxed, a little more energized.
When I'd first met him, yes, there was a weariness to his walk, a straightness to his shoulders, that had fascinated me. But with time, I had grown to read every little movement he made, conscious or unconscious, and I realized that there was so much more to him than guarded traveler. He was curious, he was proud, he was grieving, he was earnest, he was sarcastic, he was charming, he was seductive, he was funny. I couldn't see his face, but his body told me all that he was feeling. The language of his gait, of the muscles in his back and the way his chest rose and fell with each breath, was one that I became fluent in, and I relished it.
But when we had settled at the covert after his reconsecration…
I had started actually giving myself headaches with the way I was gritting my teeth unconsciously, sympathetically, to Din's constant tension and stress. Even when he was happy about something, or expressing care or affection, his body was rigid and tired. He always appeared on edge, like he was constantly conscious of being observed. And there was something else, too — a frustration in his hands. A confusion in the line of his shoulders.
Yet now, even in the midst of an actively dangerous situation, something of the old Din had seemed to return to him. There was an ease to his walk, a playful glint in his voice, that filled me with a rush of relief.
Greef Karga's mansion, on the other hand, looked to be a shell of its former self. It was still grand and ostentatious, but somehow it had lost its earlier lustre, giving it the rather shabby appearance of a haunted house. I realized quickly that it looked that way because there was no sign of life within — every window was closed and dark, and the only noise was the debaucherous sounds echoing from the center of town.
Cara held open an obscured rear door and we slipped inside, Grogu taking up the lead.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness within, I heard the softly muffled voice of Greef Karga from an interior room.
"Come on," said Cara, clapping Din on the shoulder and casting us a serious look. "You're just in time for the meeting."
"Ahh, Mando," said Greef Karga as we entered his library. "You're a sight for sore eyes."
His gaze landed on me and a warm smile spread across his face.
"And Kyra. Glad to see you two have found your way back to each other."
"It's good to see you again," I said fondly, and he nodded in agreement.
He was standing in the center of the room, surrounded by a sparse group of fighters. Some appeared to be soldiers, others townsfolk — I could tell by the way they held their weapons — and one was a familiar face.
"Mythrol," I remarked with a raised eyebrow. "You're still here?"
"You know me," said the blue-gilled man, offering an unconvincing smile. "I'd never flee from danger!"
I glanced over at Cara, who rolled her eyes.
Grogu squealed with delight at the sight of Greef Karga.
"And there's the little one," Greef cooed, his voice shooting up an octave. "You've found your way back too." He looked Din purposefully in the eye and gave him a warm nod. "I'm happy for you, my friend."
Din nodded, shifting his weight and hooking his thumb in his belt.
He's happy, I thought with a small smile.
Greef Karga scooped Grogu up out of his bassinet and held him to his chest, tapping his nose with his index finger. Grogu burbled happily in his arms.
"We were just going over the plan. Did Cara give you the details?"
"Not yet," answered Din.
"The plan is to take out the predominant threat," said Cara, crossing her arms and coming to address the group. "That's Gorian Shard. Once the boss is eliminated, the minions tend to start turning on each other."
"That's why we need you two," said Greef. "We want to infiltrate his holdout — we've got footsoldiers for the streets, and the townspeople will take the chance to defend themselves if they can, but Cara's right — we need to take on Shard and his top men first. Then we can handle the battle in the streets. You up for a sneak attack?"
Din glanced at me. I nodded in response — the idea of yet another bloody battle put a sinking feeling in my stomach, but if there was anything that made my blood boil, it was a bully picking on someone small, and the townsfolk in Nevarro City were under the boot of an awfully big bully.
"Hold on," said Din, turning back to Greef and Cara. I looked up at him in surprise. "Captain Teva said he wanted to bring the threat back to the New Republic. Offer up some evidence of Imperial dealings."
"That's kind of the least of our worries," said Cara with a cocked eyebrow.
"I know," said Din, patiently, "but if we subject the people of Nevarro to a street battle, the casualties could make any positive outcome not worth it."
I saw a Trandoshan townsperson gulp, nervously.
"We're ready to fight," spoke up an older human with the posture of a soldier. "This is our home, we're ready to defend it."
"And you're gonna have to," continued Din, firmly. "It's gonna get tense out there. We were on Tatooine, we saw firsthand what happened when all-out war in the streets was the only option. But here… If we obliterate all the pirates, Carson Teva's going to have nothing to show the Republic, and then what happens next? Where does the problem move on to?"
"He's right," said Greef Karga, nodding sagely.
"We can do this in a less bloody way," said Din, and I felt my face softening as I heard him echo my personal creed. As though sensing my expression, he turned to look down at me and cocked his head, gently. I offered him a grateful smile.
"What did you have in mind?" Asked Cara.
"A trap," I suggested, taking up the mantle. "We infiltrate the holdout, like you said — if we can hold Shard hostage, maybe we can lure the pirates back to their home-base. Then we just have to keep everyone there long enough for the cavalry to arrive. Din, can you get Teva on the comms, ask for backup?"
"I can try," he said with uncertainty — Teva had supposed to be following us, but we had lost him somewhere en route, and his absence was unsettling.
Greef Karga took a long pause, then placed Grogu back in his bassinet, before clapping his hands together eagerly.
"A trap it is."
After solidifying our positions, we all slipped out the back of the mansion into the overgrown garden. Several of the townspeople headed out to quietly distribute defense weapons to the others in the city, while a few groups made for the area of the city surrounding Shard's holdout.
"He's taken over the old refinery," said Cara, loading her blaster. "Our best way in is gonna be through the underground entrance — there's a mine shaft about a half a mile past the place, that's where we're headed."
I nodded, and Greef Karga handed me a belt of power packs. I began strapping them around my shoulder.
Grogu, back in his bassinet, looked from Din, to me, to Cara, to Greef — seemingly delighted to be surrounded by some of his favorites.
"We should move fast," rumbled Din. "Still got that speeder?"
"As far as those laserbrains are concerned, I'm not even on-planet," answered Cara gruffly. "But there's a port down the street, some of the old officer vehicles are in the back."
Din nodded, then turned to me and put a hand on my arm, letting it settle on my elbow where the armor gapped. My body responded to the touch as I felt his thumb sweep fondly against my skin.
"I'll take the kid and hunt down a speeder," he said, looking down at me.
"Okay," I replied, suddenly nervous to look up at him — something about his touch and the earnestness in his voice made me oddly shy, like I was afraid that I might scare it away.
He lifted his finger and thumb to my chin and gently tilted my face up to his.
"Don't get into any trouble," he murmured playfully, and relief coursed through my body at the sound of his wry, mischievous smile.
"You're projecting, Mando," I smirked, hooking an affectionate finger over the neckline of his chestplate. "Not that I'm keeping score or anything, but I think on average you get into trouble and I swing in and clean up the mess."
I knew that most likely was the opposite of the truth, but I couldn't resist the chance to tease him.
"Not that you're keeping score…" he drawled, sarcastically. "Uh huh."
We chuckled, and I felt a warmth spread through my chest, my face, my belly — there he is, I thought fondly.
He brought our foreheads together, gently and affectionately, and I couldn't stifle my smile. I was shocked that he was being so tender and physical in public, but it was like the change of scenery had brought a lightness to him that was causing his walls to be especially low — and I wasn't about to discourage him.
"See you soon," he rumbled. His playfulness faded away, leaving an earnest seriousness. "Be careful, okay?"
"You too," I replied.
He gave my chin a loose little pinch before releasing me and striding down the street. He nodded for the kid to follow him, and with a babble, Grogu trundled alongside him in his little floating bassinet, looking happy as a Porg in a pond.
I beamed after them for a moment. When I turned back to face Cara and Greef Karga, they were staring back at me with their eyebrows raised to the heavens. I blushed, unsure of what to say. With a wry smirk, Cara stretched open her hand. Greef grumbled and reached into a pocket, extracting a pile of credits. He dropped them into Cara's hand, and she stuffed them into a pocket with a smug grin.
"Alright," I droned, rolling my eyes. "Hilarious."
Cara and Greef exchanged an excited, knowing smirk, and we turned our attention back to arming ourselves.
"So," murmured Cara wryly after a few minutes. "How long did that take?"
"Longer than I'm sure you bet on," I joked back with a quiet laugh.
She grinned and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, it's just like I always thought — connection looks good on him. That is one happy Mando."
"Yeah," I nodded, blushing again. I considered opening up to Cara — expressing the weeks of worry I'd felt, the distance between us, the fraught nature of his complex relationship with the covert — but as he came back into view, piloting a run-down-looking speeder with Grogu balanced happily in the back seat, I decided to let all that go for the moment. "Yeah, I think he is."
Din pulled the speeder up to the curb and jerked his head for us to clamber in. Again, I noted with a smile how loose his shoulders were, how powerful and engaged his arms were as he gripped the wheel. In my own chest, I felt the spark of adventure beginning to flicker once more.
"Come on," said Greef Karga, snapping his blaster shut. "Let's go get our city back."