SEE ME, SEE YOU: Series Two

C H A P T E R T W E L V E

THIRD PERSON POV

Some time later, Reina, Mando, and the child floating in his pram were aboard a ramshackle fishing boat headed out to sea. As the vessel bouncing and heaving over the dark waves, they were standing on deck and gazing out at the gray expanse of the water and sky. The breeze blew through Reina's hair around her calm face. Mando's gaze rotated from the sea to the child to his partner. He noticed how long her hair had gotten...when they first met, her curls were bobbed at her ears, her fringe flowed across her forehead. Now, her bangs have parted and the wavy ends fell passed her shoulders and down her back. He realized just how much she's grown as a woman.

At some point, a Quarren approached with a fishing gaff over one shoulder. "Ever see a mamacore eat?" he inquired. "Quite a sight. Child might take an interest." He gestured toward an open hatchway in the hull of the boat, revealing a large grate and a fishload full of seawater. "Come on over here, get a good view. Let the kid see."

As Mando and the Child moved over to the grate floor, Reina turned her head in concern. "D-Mando, I don't think that's a good idea..." She slowly left the railing and watched from behind the baby. The pram floated a little too close to the edge for Reina's taste.

"Alright, that's close enough." Mandi held out his hand as the baby peered down to the murky water.

"There we go," the Quarren sailor said as the cage opened, allowing a net of chum to be dumped inside. The child leaned over the edge of the carrier for a closer look as bubbles rose to the surface. "She must be hungry. Oftentimes we'll feed her in the early morning, but we missed that because we were going—"

A tinge of awareness sparked itself inside Reina, moving her body on its own. At the same time, without warning, the sailor swung his gaff like a club and knocked the child's pram over the open cage. From below, a gigantic sea beast burst up from the surface and swallowed the pram and the child in one gulp. Reina dove into the water just as the mamacore submerged itself.

"NO!" Mando shouted and dove in as well. The Quarren slammed the cage shut, trapping the Mandalorian. Reina had disappeared below the surface.

"Drown him!" the Quarren ordered. "The beskar is ours!" All the shipmates jumped on top of the cage, thrusting their gaffs and sharpened pikes between the bars, jabbing at Mando's hands, forcing him back down in the water. The Mandalorian coughed, gasping for air as the blades slashed down at him again. "We're rich, brothers! Finish him!"

Reina...Mando's thoughts swirled with his fight to survive. Where has his partner gone? He felt his fingers slipping away from the bars as the weight of his armor dragged him down. Reina! Come back! Then, as the water closed around him, a rain of blaster fire began pouring down from above. Through the steel grate, Mando saw three Mandalorians with jet packs descending into the deck. They attacked the Quarren, and although the sailors were skilled fighters, it didn't take long for them to finish them off, knocking one of them overboard and the others with a series of hand-to-hand blows that cleared the deck in a matter of seconds.

One of the Mandalorians bent down and lifted the gate to free Mando. "Take my hand." After hoisting the exhausted bounty hunter from the water, he clutched the arm of his savior. "The Child...my partner...help them...please..."

"On it." A second Mandalorian said, launching herself before the first finished helping Mando into a seated position atop a pile of heavy rope. "Please...you have to help them. My partner..."

"Don't worry, brother." The first Mandalorian gripped his shoulder. "We got this."

At that moment, Reina's head sprang to the surface, gasping painfully for air and her arms frantically splashing to reach the cage's ledge. The Mandalorian who had helped Mando assisted her by pulling her out of the water. Mando dropped to his knees and reached out to his partner. Reina collapsed in Mando's waiting arms as she continued to cough up seawater, shivering in the chilled air. "Reina, Reina, can you hear me? Tell me you're okay." Mando stripped his cape and wrapped it around Reina.

"I lost the baby." she stuttered. "Even after...after I had f-felt it coming..."

The cage below them flashed with a series of submerged explosions. Seconds later, the surface buckled and bubbled, and the Mandalorian who'd jumped in jetpacked out with the silver pram in her arms and landed on the deck. She then pulled the half-crushed lid loose to reveal the child inside, with not a scratch on him, and gently handed him to Reina's anxious hands.

"I'm so sorry, little one!" she whimped as she cradled him. Mando placed a comforting hand on the baby's small fuzzy head, his thumb stroking his brow, and his other protectively around Reina's shoulders. Reina's head fell upon Mando's chest as the three of them briefly huddled with relief...

"Thank you." Mando said to the three Mandalorians with the upmost sincerity. Reina raised her head and bowed it. "Yes, thank you, so much. You have no idea how relieved we are to see you."

"We've been searching for more of our kind." Mando explained. The Mandalorian in the middle nodded her head. "Well, it's lucky we found you first."

"We've been quested to deliver this child to his own kind. I was hoping that—" Mando's voice broke...as all three Mandalorians removed their helmets. Reina gasped as Mando rose to his feet without helping his partner up to hers, completely taken back by the ease with which they'd exposed their faces. Two of the Mandalorians were female—the one in the middle who had saved Mando and Reina from the waters, seemingly the leader, had determined green eyes and cropped red hair held back by a headband. The other woman was much younger and had dark skin and hair, a firey grin rested on her face. The last Mandalorian was a tall, handsome male with dark hair. All three regarded Mando with steady gazes.

"Where did you get that armor?" Mando asked in a demanding voice.

The woman with red hair spoke calmly. "This armor has been in my family for three generations."

"You do not cover your face." Mando said accusingly. "You are not Mandalorian."

"He's one of them." The man scoffed.

"Dank farrik..." The leader cursed under her breath.

"One of what?" Mando's voice tightened.

The leader sighed and then spoke with the same air of composure. "I am Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze. I was born on Mandalore and fought in the Purge. I am the last of my line." She nodded at the other two standing on either side of her. "This is Koska Reeves and Axe Woves. And you," Bo-Katan gazed directly through the T-shaped visor of Mando's helmet. "are a Child of the Watch."

"The Watch?" Reina asked, not comprehending. She rose to her feet, holding the baby close to her chest. "What is that?"

"The Children of the Watch are a cult of religious zealots that broke away from Mandalorian society." Bo-Katan explained. Their goal was to reestablish the ancient way."

"There is only one way." Manda growled in defense. "The Way of the Mandalore." Without waiting for thier response, he turned and stormed away to Reina. "Come on."

"Wait, Mando, I think we should—"

"Reina." Mando's forceful tone stopped her. "Let's go."

Reluctantly, Reina, still wearing Mando's cape, wrapped one arm around his neck, the other holding the child close, while he locked both of his around her shoulders and under her legs, and ignited his jet pack, blasting off the deck and back to the spaceport.