Calamity || The Mandalorian

fifty-eight

As the ferry boat eased its way out of the tunnel, Kasia didn't bother readying herself for an attack from any potential survivors as Din, Cara, and Greef did. Such a precaution was unnecessary; she could sense no living lifeforms in the area, save the five of them on the boat.

Blinking against the sunlight as they emerged, Kasia scanned the terrain, the banks littered with Stormtrooper corpses and small billowing flames. Something in her chest seemed to constrict as she spotted a scrap of IG's familiar metal strewn across the ground a short way away. Solemnity settled across the group at the sight, silence filling the air as smoke from the blast trickled past.

Then, the roar of a familiar engine cleaved the sky in two, and Kasia squinted against the sun at the small dark shadow of Gideon's tie fighter as it zoomed towards them.

"Shit!" Kasia yelled at the same time that Cara barked, "Moff Gideon!"

The ground in front of them exploded from the tie fighter's shots, rocking the earth with deafening blasts that miraculously managed to miss the group entirely. As the tie fighter flew overhead, the four returned fire to very little avail; even Cara's heavy blaster did little if any damage.

Kas cursed under her breath in Eulentian as the fighter zipped out of sight behind a massive pile of rocks, the reality of the situation hitting her: they were pinned down, with meager firepower and little chance of escape. All in all, well...

Be'eqn pe eln'eq.

"He missed," Greef commented, his brilliant observational skills on display as he hesitantly lowered his blasters.

Din kept his blaster raised as he responded, "He won't next time."

"Our blasters are useless against him," Cara added, the woman sounding breathless as her eyes darted about in search of the vanished ship.

Kas nodded, throwing Din a sideways smirk as she muttered under her breath, "Shame you didn't manage to hold onto that E-Web earlier."

At the murmured words, he threw her his 'this is not the time for jokes Kasia' look before deadpanning, yeah, my bad. Next time I almost die, I'll make sure to keep a tighter grip on the weapon in my hand and not my life.

Kasia nodded seriously. "As long as you learned your lesson from the experience, that's all that matters."

"Hey," Greef suddenly cut in, his voice calling for attention, "Let's make the baby do the magic hand thing." At the words, everyone—including the child in the saddle in Kasia's arms—blinked at the Guild leader, Kasia choking back an incredulous laugh as Karga waved his hand dramatically at the kid. "Come on baby!" he encouraged, "Do the magic hand thing."

In her lap, the child cooed at the instruction before wiggling his tiny fingers at Karga, emulating the man's motion. Unfortunately, this time the action didn't seem to trigger any magic-like powers in the child, only an adorable picture of the little gremlin waving.