xv

As soon as I'm ready, I feel the ship land. Glancing in the reflective metal of the interior of the ship, I nod. I didn't want to show any weakness, so I re-dressed my wound so it'd be under my pants and hidden, and stitched the hole in my pants over the bandage with extra fabric. My wrist had mostly healed, so I just unwrapped it. I then redid my hair in its normal style to finish off the put-together look and I gotta say, I don't look all bad. Let's just hope my slight limp goes unnoticed.

"You ready?" I ask Mando as the child's hidden compartment closes. I'm uneasy about keeping him in there again when it clearly doesn't work, but it's pretty much our only option, especially if these people are as bad as Mando says. 

"Not really," he presses the button for the ramp to lower. "Let me do the talking, yeah?" I nod and we descend the ramp. Mando looks around, walking slowly, posture tense and ready to strike. His hand rests on his blaster as always, and it seems as if he's looking for someone.

I have no idea who, until a round, bearded old man calls out, "Mando. Is that you under that bucket?" He's grinning, although he looks a little rough around the edges, his hair shaggy and his clothes somewhat ragged.

"Ran," Mando says cautiously in greeting. He shakes the old man's outstretched hand. 

"I didn't really know if I'd ever see you in these parts again. Good to see you." He claps a hand on Mando's shoulder and they begin to walk. I trail behind them closely, my hand ready to create a knife at any given moment- if the need arises. "You know, to be honest, I was a little surprised when you reached out to me. You know, cause I... I hear things. Like maybe things between you and the Guild aren't workin' out."

"I'll be fine." he insists, his voice leaving no room for question.

The old man nods a few times. "Okay. Well, you know the policy. No questions." He lays his hand on Mando's shoulder once more. "And you, you're welcome back here anytime."

We reach a bridge where we can look out onto the Crest and I listen to them talk as I keep my eyes on the ship, worrying for the child. "So, what's the job?" Mando inquires. 

"One of our associates ran afoul of some competitors and got himself caught. So I'm puttin' together a crew to spring him. It's a five person job; I got four. All I need is the ride, and you brought it." My head snaps to the two once I hear the numbers, and as the bit about the ship leaves this dislikable man's mouth, I narrow my eyes.

"You're going to have to make that six." Mando says once he catches my gaze.

"Oh, your new little friend right there?" he looks me up and down. "Well, I guess she did come with you. Alright, six."

"And the ship wasn't part of the deal." Mando protests, gazing at his prized possession.

"Well, the Crest is the only reason I let you back in here." the man makes an excuse. I tilt my head. Hadn't he just said a few minutes ago that Mando is 'welcome back anytime'? I knit my brows but keep quiet like Mando requested, not wanting to start trouble with the wrong people.

I refocus on the conversation as Mando tilts his own head at Ran, his disapproval clear. "What's the look? Is that gratitude?" the man walks around Mando, looking at him mockingly. He laughs, "Uh-huh. I think it is." Mando doesn't move an inch as the man teases him. I hold my tongue as best I can.

Finally, he walks away, beckoning us along. "Hey, Mayfeld." he calls out to a younger bald man with some sort of backpack on his shoulders.

"Yeah?" the man answers, turning.

"This is Mando, the guy I was tellin' you about. We used to do jobs way back when."

Mayfeld squints. "This is the guy?"

"Yeah, we were all young, tryin' to make a name for ourselves." he chuckles. "Yeah, but runnin' with a Mandalorian, that was... that brought us some reputation."

"Oh, yeah?" I can tell by the way he talks to Mando that I already won't like this Mayfeld guy. "What did he get out of it?"

The old man laughs some more, to the point where I look at him, mildly concerned. "I asked him that one time. You remember what you said, Mando?" He's silent, so Ran turns to the bald man and says, "Target practice." before laughing like it was some insanely hilarious punch line. I roll my eyes.

Mayfeld raises his eyebrows, looking mockingly impressed. "Man. We did some crazy stuff, didn't we?" the old man reminisces. 

Mando looks to me for a moment before glancing back at the other two and denying, "That was a long time ago."

"Well... I don't go out anymore. You understand? So, uh, Mayfeld, he's gonna run point on this job." said man offers a little wave. "If he says it, it's like it's comin' from me. You good with that?"

Mando looks between them. "You tell me."

Ran, who I'm now convinced is crazy, guffaws. "You haven't changed one bit."

Mayfeld, who is all seriousness and dominance and intimidating stance now, raises his chin. "Yeah, well, things have changed around here." he nods to me. "Who's your friend?" 

Ran and Mayfeld look to me expectantly. I cross my arms, my face neutral. Mayfeld clearly isn't intimidated in the least, probably because I'm shorter than him. He won't think that later, especially with how he's treating Mando.

"Nova." I offer, my tone harsh and cold.

"Nova, huh?" he glances to Mando as he gestures in my direction. "Control your pet." before beginning to walk off.

Ran starts to offer an excuse for Mayfeld's lack of manners. "Yeah, well, Mayfeld, he's... He's one of the best triggermen I've ever seen. Formal Imperial sharpshooter."

"That's not saying much," Mando deadpans. I snort.

Mayfeld whirls, his feelings clearly hurt. "I wasn't a stormtrooper, wiseass!" he defends. Ran gives him a look, before turning back to us.

"Doesn't take long, does it?" the crazed old man laughs once more.

Eventually, we find Mayfeld and he leads us over to the rest of the squad which, coincidentally, happens to be where the ship is. I shove down my worry for the child; we'll be on the ship with him once more, and nothing will happen.

"Razor Crest?" Mayfeld asks, still salty and offended as we approach the ship. "I can't believe that thing can fly. Looks like a Canto Bight slot machine."

He points to a red humanoid being carrying a huge crate. "Alright, the good-lookin' fellow there with the horns, that's Burg. This may surprise you, but he's our muscle." The easily 7-foot-tall alien walks drops the crate with a loud, unnecessary thud before walking slowly over to us, glaring. What is it with these people and trying to be intimidating? I could easily take the two we've met so far- three, if you count Ran. 

He looks Mando up and down several times, grunting with a sneer on his red features. He walks around him, surveying him and paying me no attention. "So, this is a Mandalorian. I thought they'd be bigger." Mayfeld chuckles, before the thing comes over to me. "And this one..." he snickers mockingly. "I could step on like a bug."

I merely tilt my chin up in defiance, my arms crossed and my shoulders back. I glare and remark, "You could certainly try."

The alien guffaws. "This one is funny."

Mayfeld gets impatient. "Yeah. Droid's name is Zero." A human-like droid turns to us, a gun in its hand. The first thing I notice are its silver eyes. It looks a bit like a fly. 

Mando ignores the fact that there's a droid and inquires, "I thought you said you had four."

"He does." a voice purrs. Both of us turn to find a lavender Twi'lek walking toward us, twirling a blade delicately yet threateningly around her fingers. "Hello, Mando."

"Xi'an." the Beskar-clad hunter greets, not sounding overly enthused to see the female.

"Tell me why I shouldn't cut you down where you stand." she snarles. I tense, clenching my fists when she leaps forward with an acrobatic grace, pressing her blade to Mando's throat. He doesn't move an inch.

"Nice to see you, too." Mando states calmly, his words bored and insincere. The bitch doesn't back off, instead laughing, her grin dripping with malice as she bares her fangs.

"I missed you." she sighs. "This is shiny. You wear it well." she taps on Mando's beskar armor with her knife as she clicks her tongue, and after encountering all of these annoying, cocky, rude people, I can't restrain myself anymore. Her presence is too unsettling, and she's far too close to him for my liking. I step forward, my stance and gaze threatening.

"Step. Back." I snarl to the Twi'lek. Mando's helmet tilts slightly, almost imperceptibly to somebody who isn't used to him. I see it, and know his focus has switched to me. Unbeknownst to myself, his lips curve upward slightly, amusement dancing in his eyes.

"And who might you be?" she asks, her tone as dangerous as mine. She keeps her eyes on me, waving her blade around as if to scare me.

"Does it matter?" I snip back, my words clipped. She smirks.

"No. I'll kill you anyways." In an instant, we're both at each other's throats, myself having conjured a small dagger, bright white in color. Her gaze flicks down to it, if only for a moment, and I see surprise and confusion as she registers the sharp blade of light at her own throat, cutting slightly into her purple flesh.

"You can try." I mock. Her eyes narrow.

"Do we need to leave the room or something?" Mayfield comments, interrupting us. The purple creature steps down, maintaining a glare as I return to Mando's side. The boys had been doing nothing but watching, although upon turning around I see Mando's shoulders relax a fraction and his hand falls back to his side, previously resting on his blaster in case anything went south.

Ran had also tensed, but releases a breath as the Twi'lek backs down first. "Well, Xi'an's been a little heartbroken since Mando left our group." he comments, leaving me curious.

"Aw, you gonna be okay, sweetheart?" Mayfield taunts.

"Oh, I'm all business now." retorts Xi'an, suddenly pointing her knife at Mando's head. "Learned from the best." she moves closer, but I quickly throw a knife of my own, knocking hers out of her hand and cutting her hand slightly, making me smirk. She throws me a dirty look, baring her teeth before turning to get her knife, noticing mine has dissolved already.

"Freak." she mutters lowly, although I still catch it.

"Bitch." I hiss, glaring daggers. If looks could kill... well, she'd have been dead long ago and more than a few times over.

She risks a step closer to Mando, giving him a look that makes me extremely uncomfortable and angry. Ran interrupts before I can do anything about it. "All right, lovebirds. Break it up till you get on the ship. Right now we don't have much time." My brows raise. Lovebirds? With that bitch?

She turns and winks at Mando as she follows the rest of the group, making my skin crawl and my blood boil. He grasps my wrist as I start after them, causing me to flinch. I feel bad about it, having told him earlier that my calm, unflinching manner was because I trusted him, but he could've at least told me there'd be a chance we would work with one of his exes so I could be better prepared.

I shake myself from his grip before he can say anything and follow the others, still unsettled and albeit a little hurt at Ran's comment and, more accurately, the fact that Mando didn't feel the need to mention her. But still; lovebirds? Since when?

I shove down my jealousy and all of the other emotions that are clouding my mind so that I can focus on the job and we can get it over with. Mando and Burg rejoin us, and despite myself, I hope Burg is playing nice for his own sake. 

We gather around a table for the job briefing, waiting for Zero to return from the Crest. Mayfeld is the first to break the silence as he pulls up a holographic diagram of the transport. "So, the package is being moved on a fortified transport ship. Now, we got a limited window to board, find our friend, and get him outta there before they make their jump."

Mando argues immediately upon seeing the projection. "That's a New Republic prison ship. Your man wasn't taken by a rival syndicate. He was arrested."

"So what?" Mayfeld asks, leaning on the table. It's almost as if he's daring Mando to back out of the job.

"A job is a job." Ran chimes in.

"That's a max security transport and we're not looking for that kinda heat." Mando insists.

Ran rises from his spot. "Well, neither are we. So just don't mess up."

The purple Twi walks over, still twirling a knife around her fingers. "The good news for you is the ship is manned by droids. Still hate the machines, Mando?" she gestures as Zero comes out of the Crest. 

"Despite recent modifications, the ship is still quite a mess. The power lines are leaking, the navigation is intermittent, and the hyperdrive is only operating at 67.3% efficiency. We have much better ships. Why are we using this one?" I roll my eyes at the droid as it reports its findings to the group in a metallic, scratchy and quite annoying voice.

"'Cause the Razor Crest is off the old Imperial and the New Republic grid. It's a ghost." Ran explains to the tin can.

Mayfeld agrees, elaborating, "Yeah, and we need a ship that can get close enough to jam New Republic code. So, when we drop out of hyperspace here, if we immediately bank into this kinda attitude, we should be right in their blind spot." the holograph traces an impossible course as he speaks. The bald man looks to Mando. "Which will give us just enough time for your ship to scramble our signal."

Mando looks up from the diagram with a slight shake of his head. "It's not possible. Even for the Crest." 

"That's why he's flyin'." Ran nods at the fly-eyed droid. Mayfeld laughs as Mando's head snaps to Zero and then to Ran, clearly not approving. "Mando, I know you're a pretty good pilot, but we need you on the trigger. Not on the wheel."

"Don't worry, Mandalorian." The droid speaks up. "My response time is quicker than organics. And I'm smarter, too." The droid snaps his fingers, before tapping the side of his head. I roll my eyes with a scoff and, as Ran starts to apologize for Zero's arrogance, I flick the droid on the back of his hollow tin head. He turns around seeming startled, and I snort.

"Yeah. Looks like it." I say sarcastically. The droid says nothing, making his way to the ship as Ran dismisses him.

"Forgive the programming. He's a little rough around the edges, but he is the best."

"If that's your best, I'd be worried." I counter, but Ran only shoots me a look.

Mando points after the droid. "How can you trust it?"

Ran only clicks his tongue, his hand going to Mando's shoulder again. "You know me, Mando. I don't trust anybody." I shake my head, making my way up the ramp. The rest of the group went into the ship before Zero did, so I think I'll go keep an eye on them. Mando was right not to trust them, and I want to make sure nothing happens to the child.

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