Clan of Three

Part Eleven

The first thing that registered in Rael's mind as she opened her eyes was the familiar ache that came from being stunned. The girl was blinking harshly, trying to rid her eyes of the blurriness, when she heard a voice hiss, "Zero, where is he?". Rael pushed herself up so she was sitting with her back against a wall. She saw the purple twi'lek, Xi'an. "Dank ferrik. What level was his stun set to?", Rael groaned as she tried to get to her feet but failed.

Xi'an whipped around, just now noticing her captive had woken up. "Probably enough to stun Burg, if I had to guess." Xi'an answered, eyeing the girl carefully. "What happened? Where's the rest of your moof-milkers?" Rael questioned as she scanned their surroundings. They were alone in one of the transport ship's hallways and the only lighting came from the red flashing lights that had been triggered by the distress signal.

"Mando got out..." The twi'lek growled as she decided the girl was too drained to be a threat and turned her attention back to watching to end of the hallway closest to them. Rael let out a huff of laughter and quipped, "Wow. That really sucks for you guys, huh?". Xi'an ignored her and said, "I wouldn't get too excited, darling. You might think your partners but he's not coming back for you. Mando does anything to collect a bounty. Even if it means betraying his crew. Just look at what happened to my brother..."

Rael pushed away the doubt Xi'an was trying to plant in her thoughts as she was finally able to get to her feet but had to lean against the wall for support. "He's not going to do that." She said confidently. The twi'lek looked at the girl and scoffed, "Shows how well you truly know him, girl. He is a bounty hunter! He cares for nothing but credits."

A flash of movement over Xi'an shoulder caught the girl's eye. Mando was stalking towards them in the flashing light, not making a sound. "People change." Rael replied with a smile. The twi'lek realized what she was smiling at and whirled around as she loosed a flurry of daggers at Mando. He dodged all but one that lodged itself between the gap in his armor at his shoulder. But it didn't stop him from knocking Xi'an last dagger from her hand and holding his own blade to her throat. "It's over." He said lowly before knocking her out with the hilt of the blade.

"Welcome back to the party." Rael said tiredly as she pushed off from the wall and stumbled forward to where Mando was binding Xi'an's wrists to an air vent. "Are you alright?", he asked, standing up and quickly moving to her side. "I feel like I was hit by a speeder, but other than that I'm great." She said humorlessly as Mando pulled one of her arms over his shoulder to support some of the girl's weight. "We've gotta move fast. Burg and Mayfeld are dealt with. It's just Zero and Qin."

Mando practically carried the girl all the way back to the entry point, where they saw Qin beginning to climb up the ladder. "Qin." Mando called as he let Rael's arm go and she leaned against the wall holding one of Mando's blasters. The male twi'lek sighed as he cast a glance at Mando and said, "You killed the others." The Mandalorian shrugged his shoulders as he said, "They got what they deserved."

Qin huffed and turned to face them with a blaster. Rael and Mando both raised their own blasters. "You kill me, you don't get your money. Whatever Ran promised, I'll make sure you get it, and more. Come on, Mando. Be reasonable, huh? Looks like you getting soft anyways. You went back for the girl. Anyways, you were hired to do a job, right? So, do it. Isn't that your code? Aren't you a man of honor?" Qin chuckled as he put his blaster down slowly and held out his arms for cuffs to be put on.

After placing the cuffs on Qin, Mando had Rael climb up first to make sure she wasn't going to keel over and that someone was up there for when the twi'lek climbed up. But as she entered the ship, she saw the droid, Zero, standing in front of the child's open compartment and aiming a blaster rifle inside. Without hesitating, the Jedi summoned the spare blaster from its holster and fired a single bolt at the droid's head.