THIRD PERSON POV
"That's it!" Karga exclaimed, pointing straight ahead, where in the distance, natural light seeped through an opening out of the caves. "We're free!" Din immediately went into defense mode, and switched on his heat sensory visor.
"No," He denied deeply. "No, we're not. Stormtroopers. They're flanking the mouth of the tunnel. It looks like an entire platoon. They must know we would try to escape this way."
"We need to stop the boat." Cara said, and whipped her head to the ferry droid. "Hey, Droid, I said 'Stop the boat.'! I'm talking to you!" She stomped over to where Reina stood next to the chirping droid to force it to obey, but the moment she touched it, electricity sparks zapped its head right off and it tumbled into the molten lava. The baby in Reina's arms whimpered from the sudden shock, and she bounced it in the crook of her arm to calm him down.
"We're still moving." Karga noticed.
"Looks like we fight." Cara sighed.
"No," Din shook his head. "There are too many."
"Then what do you suggest, Mando?" Reina chimed in. "There's no surrendering in this predictament."
"They will not be satisfied with anything less than the child." IG-11 spoke. "This is unacceptable. I will eliminate the enemy and you will escape."
"You don't have that kind of firepower, pal." Din huffed. "You wouldn't even make it to daylight."
"That is not my objective." IG-11 corrected, causing Din and Reina to turn their focus to the IG unit. In Reina's mind, she had met this droid after Kuiil had reprogrammed it into a nurse droid, and it has only been kind and protective towards her. For Din, it was different. He knew what the IG units were capable of and its components within its software, and this droid was no different. So when IG-11 reminded him, "I still have the security protocols from my manufacturer. If my designs are compromised, I must self-destruct.", Din recalled his first meeting with IG-11 on Arvala-7...
"That's right..." Reina remembered as well with her background knowledge of assassin droids. "They were not permitted to be captured by their sought-out enemies, and therefore, IG units will destroy themselves from being hacked..."
"Are we going to keep talking?" Karga grunted. "Or are you going to help us get out?"
Din, Reina, and IG-11 ignored his and Cara's complaints as the droid handed the jetpack it had been carrying to the Mandalorian. "I can no longer carry this for you. Nor can I watch over the child."
"Wait," Din's tone dramatically changed from a deep roughness to a concern one. "You can't self-destruct. Your base command is to watch the child. That supersedes your manufacturer's protocol, right? Right?" Reina noticed the desperation to change the droid's mind. After all, it had saved his life...
"This is correct." IG-11 agreed. "But victory through combat is impossible. We will be captured. The child will be lost. There is no scenario where the child is saved, in which I survive."
"Mando," Reina touched his arm to grab his attention. "I have to agree with IG on this...We can't shoot our way out and you know it. We will all die." The child abruptly babbled in Reina's arms.
"Ms. Reina is correct." IG-11 nodded. "In order for—"
"Listen, you're not going anywhere." Din ignored both of them. "We need you. Let's just come up with a—"
"Please tell me the child will be safe in your care." The droid interrupted back. "If you do so, I can default to my secondary command."
"Yes, IG, the child will be safe." Reina promised, but Din wasn't ready to give up.
"No, wait." Din stopped her, his voice grew solumn through his modulator. "You'll be destroyed if you do this."
"And you and Ms. Reina will live," IG-11 finished. "and I will have served my purpose."
"No," Din hung his head for a moment. "We need you." Suddenly, Reina could feel his emotion not just through his voice, but his heart as well. A much deeper feeling that one couldn't sense from another being unless...
"There is nothing to be sad about. I have never been alive." It was the same line used to convince Din to allow the droid to remove his helmet when he was wounded. To Reina, and Din, IG-11 was part of the crew, whether he was 'alive' or not.
"I'm not...sad." Din stuttered, denying his feeling. But just like Reina, IG-11 could sense it. Another thought drove through Reina's mind: As much as Din Djarin had portrayed how much he despised droids...he was showing real loyalty to IG-11...He's learned that not all droids were terrible.
"Yes, you are. I'm a nurse droid. I've analyzed your voice."
"You don't need your voice analyzed to know you are sad." Reina shook her head, squeezing Din's forearm. The baby cooed and IG-11 reached one of its clawed hands to pat him. "Go, IG. We trust you."
Din and everyone else watched as the IG unit stepped over the boat and into the molten lava, immediately on contact, its metal reacted to the melting heat. It proudly trudged through the lava towards the mouth of the cave, at times it held itself up from crumbling under the sizzling, breaking heat, determined to reach the exit and play out its role of protector... despite its circuits sparking and program jamming. The moment it reached its target, a pulsating beep echoed through the tunnel and it was followed by a resonating explosion. Reina turned the child's eyes away from the fire, while she and Din and the others looked on and honored the droid's sacrafice.
As the boat slowly drifted out of the tunnel and into the daylight, they all saw the dead Stormtrooper platoon scattered across the delta. If IG-11 had not sacraficed itself, they would all definitely be dead now.
Unfortunately, there was no victory yet, for the moment they revealed themselves, the roaring of engines rang out and a black tie-fighter soared over their heads.
It was Moff Gideon himself.
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