Work Text:
The sun was high in the sky by the time Corin collapsed. The sun hurt his skin but there was no hiding from it. Rolling onto his back, Corin slowly drifted in and out of consciousness. It was hard to focus in the blistering heat of Antu, and his mouth and throat were so dry. Corin was pretty sure he was no longer sweating, he didn’t think that was a good sign.
A sudden darkness fell over his face, shielding him from the blunt of the sun’s heat. Corin’s eyes were hard to open but he managed. Standing over him was a humanoid figure with no discernable features. Corin lost consciousness as the figure bent down to grab him.
The Razor Crest docks in a floating loading bay, sparks flying around the ship from the dock itself. Din looks around and slowly saunters off the ramp and heads deeper inside the structure. Din’s head turned as someone addressed him.
“Mando. Is that you under that bucket?” An older man walks up to him and shakes his
hand. “Ran.” Din replies monotonically.
“I didn't really know if I'd ever see you in these parts again.” Says Ran “Good to see you.
You know, to be honest, I was a little surprised when you reached out to me.” He continues as they walk. “You know, 'cause I I hear things. Like, maybe things between you and the Guild aren't workin' out.”
“I’ll be fine,” Din says. “Okay. Well, you know the policy. No questions. And you, you're welcome back here anytime.” Ran puts his hand on Din’s shoulder and leads him away from the Razor Crest.
“So, what’s the job?” Din asks as they walk on a catwalk overlooking the loading dock. “Yeah, 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 six person job. I got five.” They stop walking. “All I need is the ride, and you brought it.”
“The ship wasn't part of the deal” Din rotated to face Ran, just as Ran turned to look at the Razor Crest.
“Well the crest is the only reason I let you back in here. What’s that look? Is that gratitude?” Ran laughs, “Uh-huh, I think it is.” Ran walks away only for Din to follow him further into the building.
“Hey Mayfeld.” “Yeah?” Mayfeld looks up from his welding. “This is Mando, the guy I was telling you about. We used to do jobs way back when.”
“This is the guy?” Mayfeld’s voice barely contained its displeasure. “Yeah we were all young trying to make a name for ourselves.” Ran laughs, “Yeah, but runnin’ with a Mandalorian, that was, what brought us some reputation.”
“Oh yeah?” Mayfeld asked “What did he get out of it?” Mayfeld leaned onto his workbench.
“I asked him that one time. You remember what you said, Mando? Target practice.” Ran chuckled and shook his head. Mayfeld blew out a heavy breath as he shook his head in mock disbelief.
“That was a long time ago.” Din replied in a tired tone. “Well, I don't go out anymore. You understand? So, uh, Mayfeld, he's gonna run point on this job.” Ran gestured to him, “If he says it, it's like it's comin' from me. You good with that?” Ran asked. Din paused for a moment before responding. “You tell me.” Ran starts to laugh, but it comes out like a breathy wheeze.
“You haven’t changed one bit.” Ran smiles.
“Yeah, well. Things have changed around here.” Mayfeld cut in, before starting to walk away.
“Yeah, well, Mayfeld, he's one of the best triggermen I've ever seen. Former Imperial sharpshooter.” “That’s not saying much.” Din replied unimpressed. “I wasn’t a stormtrooper wiseass.” Mayfeld snapped as he turned back to them, before continuing on his way. “Don’t take long does it?” Ran laughed.
“Razor Crest? I can't believe that thing can fly. Looks like a Canto Bight slot machine.” Mayfeld scoffed, “The good-looking' fellow there with the horns, that's Burg.” Mayfeld nods his head in the direction of a large, red being carrying a heavy crate. Burg drops the crate when he lays eyes on Din. “This may surprise you, but he's our muscle.” Burg walks up to Din and circles him, looking him up and down.
“So this is a Mandalorian? I thought they’d be bigger.” Burg walked away. Mayfeld chuckles “Droid's name is Zero” A black, ant looking droid walks up to Mayfeld. Din and the droid have a stare off for a moment before Din speaks.
“I thought you said you have five?”
“He does.” Din turns around to see a light purple twi’lek walking towards him, twirling a throwing knife.
“Xi’an.” Din stands still in slight disbelief.
“Tell me why I shouldn't cut you down where you stand?” Xi’an, with the speed and gracefulness of a feline, whips closer and holds a knife at Dins neck. “Nice to see you, too.” Din barely moves his head to look down at her. Xi’an laughs and lowers the blade. She sighs, “I missed you. This is shiny.” She taps her blade on Dins Beskar while getting closer. “You wear it well.” She moves her head so it's only inches away from Din’s helmet.
“Do we need to leave the room or something?” Mayfeld asks. “Well, Xi'an's been a little heartbroken since Mando left our group.” Ran explains. “Aw. You gonna be okay, sweetheart?” Mayfeld says mockingly.
“Oh, I'm all business now. Learned from the best.” Xi’an replied while pointing her knife at Din’s face. “All right, lovebirds. Break it up till you get on the ship. Right now we don’t have much time. ” Xi’an scoffs.
“What about the fifth person? I only see you four.” Din looks over at Ran. Mayfeld gets a disgruntled look on his face and yells. “HEY SNOWFLAKE!” A moment later a dark haired man with icy blue eyes jogs up to them, clearly worried. He stands up straight , immediately wiping his face of any emotion.
“Oh and this over here is Mayfeld’s little snow bunny .” Xi’an coos amid jeers of laughter from the men. Mayfeld chimes in. “He does everything I want him to do,” He winks. “And I mean, everything.” This gains more laughter from the group.
But Din doesn’t laugh. The helmet tilts and Corin can feel the weight of his gaze from the back of the group. “What’s your name?” It takes Corin a moment to register that the Mandalorian is talking to him. “Me?” He takes a quick glance to the others to make sure he’s not talking out of turn. “I’m just Corin.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Fuel. Navigation. Hyperdrive. Landing gear. Comms.” Zero lists off from the cockpit of the Razor crest as he performs a systems check. Suddenly the com activates on a transmission of a heavily distorted male. “Mando I received... I received wonderful news. Upon your Upon your Deliver the quarry. Deliver the…” “Hmm.” Zero says, looking as puzzled as he can.
Outside the ship, Mayfeld and the others start to talk. “So, the package is being moved on a fortified transport ship.” Mayfeld turns on a hologram of the ship, “Now, we got a limited window to board, find our friend, get him out of there before they make their jump.” Din’s head snaps up after looking at the hologram. “That's a New Republic prison ship. Your man wasn't taken by a rival syndicate. He was arrested.”
“So what.” Mayfeld said as he leaned forward. “A job is a job.” Ran agreed. Din looks around at everyone as he starts to speak. “That's a max security transport and I'm not looking for that kinda heat.” Ran chimes in. “Well, neither are we. So just don't mess up.” Corin looks between them all, looking nervous.
“The good news for you,” Xi’an says as she rounds the table, “is the ship is manned by droids. Still hate the machine’s Mando?” Zero walks down from the ship's gangplank to join the others in conversation. “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?” Zero looks at everyone.
“Cause the Razor Crest is off the old Imperial and the New Republic grid. It’s a ghost.” Ran replies as he shifts his feet. Mayfeld chimes in. “Yeah, and we need a ship that can get close enough to jam New Republic code.” Mayfeld points at the map, “So, when we drop out of hyperspace here, if we immediately bank into this kinda attitude, we should be right in their blind spot, which will give us just enough time for your ship to scramble our signal.” Everyone looks over at Din.
“It’s not possible.” The Mandalorian said with trepidation. “Even for the crest.” “That's why he’s flying.” Ran said as Mayfeld laughed. “Mando, I know you’re a pretty good pilot, but we need you on the trigger not on the wheel.” “Don't worry, Mandalorian. My response time is quicker than organics. And I'm smarter, too.” Zero said while tapping on his head.
“Alright, I, yeah that’s good.” Ran cut in pushing Zero away. “Forgive the programming. He's a little rough around the edges.” He continued as they watched everyone load onto the ship. “But he is the best.” Din fully turns to Ran and speaks, “How can you trust it?” Ran clicks his tongue and responds with, “You know me, Mando. I don’t trust anybody.” He pats Din’s shoulder, and lets him board the Razor Crest.
“Just like the good old days Mando, Huh.” Ran says as Din walks up the ramp. Din pauses for a moment to look back at Ran before he closes the door and the Crest takes off with a final salute from Ran.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At first Din doesn’t register the conversation as he observes everyone on the crest. The atmosphere is tense. “Will you sit, down.” Xi’an says while balancing a blade on her finger as Burg paces back and forth. One thing, however, grabbed his attention right away. Mayfeld grabbed Corin by the wrist and pulled him close as Corin tried to walk by. Mayfeld harshly whispered into Corin’s ear with a sickening grin. Din watched as Corin’s face drained of any color that wasn’t green. Corin gently nodded in what seemed to be agreement. He looked scared.
Corin walked shakily towards Burg and quietly spoke to him. Burg nodded and crossed his arms. “Get on with it, then.” Xi’an looked up and a wicked grin spread across her face. She put her knife away and sat her head on her palm. Din watched as Corin knelt at Burgs feet and started to undo Burgs belt. Din felt his eyes widen, and forced his feet forward. “That is not happening on my ship.” Din grabbed Corin away from Burg and pushed him behind his back. Corin’s eyes grew wide as he realized what just happened. Mayfeld pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on.
“What the hell Mando? I thought we all wanted Burg to calm down!” Din stood steadfast in front of Corin. “I don’t care. Not happening on my ship. Not while I’m here.” The touch to the back of his shoulder was featherlight, and though Din was surprised he didn’t show it when Corin leaned his head against his back and shakily breathed “Thank you,” to him. Din nodded so gently that no one but Corin would have noticed.
“Okay, it’s fine, I get it.” Mayfeld said “I'm a little particular about certain things, too.” He said with a dark look at Corin, who shrunk further behind Din. “So, let's just do this job. We get in, we get out, and you don't have to see our faces anymore.”
“Someone tell me why we even need a Mandalorian?” Burg growled. “Well, apparently they're the greatest warriors in the galaxy. So they say.” Mayfeld said sarcastically. “Then why are they all dead?” Burg chuckled, causing everyone but Din and Corin to laugh. Din felt Corin gasp and clutch a small handful of his shirt, it shouldn’t have been as comforting as it was.
“Well you flew with him Xi’an. Is he as good as they say?” Mayfeld asked. “Ask him about the job on Alzoc III.” Suddenly, with no warning, the ship jerked causing everyone to stumble. Throwing his arms out to catch himself, Burgs hand hit a panel on the wall causing a hidden door to shoot up and a happy coo to suddenly fill the air.
Everyone turned their heads towards the noise. Suddenly the baby looked right at Corin and began to coo and wave his arms in excitement. In fact, he would almost swear that the baby recognised him, even though he had never taken his helmet off the last time they had met. Corin was probably the only one to notice the Mandalorians sudden tension, as Mayfeld approached the child.
Mayfeld picked up the child and examined it. “What is it like a pet or something?” He said while holding the child by the back of it’s robes. Din’s voice sounded strained as he responded. “Yeah, something like that.” Mayfeld continued, “Me, I was never really into pets. Yeah, I didn't have the temperament. Patience, you know? I mean, I tried, but never worked out. But I'm thinkin' maybe I'll try again with this little fella. Huh?” Mayfeld said as he pretended to drop the child.
Corin jumped as if he were to catch the child while falling. Then darted forward and grabbed the child from him, before backing up to the Mandalorian again. Mayfeld gave Corin a dirty look at his actions. Suddenly the ship lurched again, throwing everyone off balance as Zero announced they were beginning their final approach. Din managed to catch a handhold on the ship with one hand, and grabbed Corin around the waist with his other arm, steadying him so he and the child wouldn't go flying like everyone else.
Xi’an cussed as she picked herself up off the floor, with Mayfeld grumbling in agreement. Din let go of Corin and removed the child from his care, putting it back in it’s little room and shutting the door. Some of the tension left Din’s shoulders as soon as the door was closed. “Alright we got a job to do.” Mayfeld announced “Mando your up.” Corin didn't trust the look Mayfeld and Xi’an shared as the Mandalorian walked away. He trusted the look they shot him after even less.
Within a few moments Mando had gotten the door open and Mayfeld said “Okay Snowflake, after you.” After taking a moment to steady his nerves Corin gracefully swung himself down into the prison ship. Corin heard Mayfeld chuckle and murmur “That’s why I share him.” Corin furrowed his brows in disgust as he examined the ship. After a moment to check the immediate hallways he found a place to keep watch as he called back “Clear.”
Only then did Mayfeld, Xi’an and Burg begin their descent into the ship. “Alright we’re on the clock.” Mayfeld announced. “The second we engage those droids, they're gonna be all over us, so let's go.” He said as he took point down the corridor, followed by Mando, Xi’an, Burg, and Corin. “I don’t like this.” Mando had stated after they passed several corridors, only to be mocked by Xi’an and Mayfeld for being paranoid.
Considering all of the eyes on them, Corin was inclined to agree with the Mandalorian, especially after Burg shot the mouse droid and alerted the security droids to their presence. Corin had lost sight of the Mandalorian while taking cover during the firefight, so he was quite surprised to catch sight of the man behind the advancing droids. Although, watching him single handedly take all of the droids out was quite mesmerizing, he realized that he had a job to do.
Stepping over Mando like he didn’t just save his life, Mayfeld scoffed. “Make sure to clean up your mess.” Falling behind, Corin waited till Mayfeld was far enough away before offering his hand to the Mandalorian. “Thanks. That was..really cool.” A slight blush appeared on Corins face as Mando simply nodded at him in acknowledgement.
Catching up with the others, Corin realized why they had all pulled out their blasters. There was a person in the control room. Corin suddenly had a bad feeling about this as they all surrounded the frightened young man. “There were only supposed to be droids on this ship.” the Mandalorian said with his blaster trained on the officer.
It seemed like everything happened so fast, one moment Mayfeld was searching the computer to find the package, and the next the republic officer had grabbed a small control box from a pouch on his belt. Everyone froze as the officer put his thumb over a button on the box. The officer was obviously panicking. “Put down your blasters!” The officer was breathing more unsteadily now. “Whoa, woah, woah, woah” Mayfeld said. “Easy egghead, put that down, put it down,” Mayfeld said, growing more agitated by the second.
“Easy.” The Mandalorian cut in trying to calm the situation, “Easy.” However, Corin could tell Mayfeld wasn't listening, “Put That Down, NOW.” Corin chimes in. “What is that thing?” The Mandalorian responded. “It's a tracking beacon. He presses that thing, we're all done. A New Republic attack team will hone in on that signal and blow us all to hell.”
“Are you serious?” Xi’an said with disbelief, “You didn’t think we needed to know that tiny little detail?” The Mandalorian put his blaster away and held his hands up in clear view of the officer. “Hey. Listen to me.” The officer swung his head over to look at Mando. “Hey, hey, hey. Listen to me, ok? Look.” Mando gestured for everyone to put their weapons away.
Corin slowly holstered his blaster and held his hands up, like the Mandalorian. The officer’s breathing calmed down the tiniest bit before speeding up again at Mayfeld’s angry shout.
“What’s your name?” Mando took a tiny step forward, moving his body into a more friendly stance. “It’s Davan.” The officer looked at the whole group again, shoulders tensing. “Davan. We're not here for you. We're here for a prisoner. If you let us go about our job, you can walk away with your life.” The Mandalorians' voice was soft.
“No he won’t.” Mayfeld cut in while advancing, at least until the Mandalorian and Davin jerked to point their blasters at him, and Davin held the control up where it could more clearly be seen. “You realize what you're gonna bring down on us” The Mandalorian said. “You think I care about that '' was Mayfeld’s answering question. “We’re not killing anybody, you understand” the Mandalorian firmly stated. “Get that blaster out of my face Mando.” “I can’t do that.”
Corin felt like he was watching a sport of some kind with the way his head kept swinging back and forth as the Mandalorian and Mayfeld argued over a man’s life. He almost didn’t see Xi’an moving from where she had sat down at the control panel, but as Mayfeld yelled “GET THAT BLASTER OUT OF MY FACE MANDO!” the lights glinted off of the knife she threw into Davens chest. Everyone paused as Davan fell to the ground, box beeping.
“Was that thing blinking before?” Mayfeld asked. Static pulled through the com systems. “Zero to Mayfeld. Zero to Mayfeld.” Mayfeld rolled his eyes and responded. “What?” The coms went live again. “I've detected a New Republic distress signal homing in on your location. You have approximately 20 minutes.” “We only need five,” Xi’an said flippantly, before taking off down the corridor. After a moment’s hesitation, Din and Corin followed.
The next five minutes were a blur of identical hallways and cells, with one hair raising moment when they almost ran into a security droid. Thankfully Burg tackled and destroyed first it, and then another, before they could set off any alarms. Eventually they made it to the cell and Zero was able to open the door. A large male walked out and approached Xi’an.
“Brother!” “Sister!” The siblings pulled each other into a hug and briefly touched their foreheads together, before the male twi'lek turned towards the Mandolorian. Suddenly, Burg shoved Mando into the open cell while Mayfeld shoved Corin in right after. The door slammed shut as Mayfeld spoke. “Maybe he can entertain you now that you’re alone. Come on, they’re already dead meat.” The group ran away from the cell, yelling insults to them.
Corin sat down heavily and put his head on his knees. Panic started to rise as what just happened set in. Tears filled his eyes as he realized that he would be put to death the moment the rebels arrived. He started to laugh quietly, tears pouring out. Mando turned to look at Corin, confusion filling his whole body. Full blown laughter broke from Corin.
“He left me. After everything I did for that son of a bitch! He leaves me, without a care in the world.” Corin grew quiet as his laughter subsided. “I wish he left me in that desert to die.” Corin put his head down, hands covering the back of his neck. “He left me. Like I was nothing. He...he told me there were things I could do to be useful.”
Din walked over to Corin and sat down next to him. Awkwardly he put his hand on Corin’s shoulder and gently patted it. Corin tilted his head slightly to look at the Mandalorian out of his peripherals.
“We’ll get out of here. I’m not letting them leave with my ship. I’ll die before that happens.” The Mandalorian stood up harshly and looked out the hole in the door. Spotting a droid walking by, Mando got ready to attack. “Corin, get ready to dodge.” Eyes widening, Corin stood up and shifted to the side of the room. “What are you going to do?” Corin looked Mando up and down. “Getting us out of here.”
Suddenly, a cord shot out from Mando’s vambrace and he jerked a passing security droid into the door. Corin did his best to stay out of the way of the ricochet as the droid shot a blaster bolt into the room to subdue him. The Mandalorian then used brute strength to rip its arm off before shooting the droid with its own weapon. Corin felt his heart rate rise at the blatant display of power. A moment later, Mando had used the droid's severed arm to open the door. They were free.
After locating the control room again, Mando holstered his blaster and walked up to the security system panel. He looked at Corin as he flipped a switch. The power went out and red lights started flashing. Lockdown protocol was enabled. On the camera’s Corin and Mando watched the group start running, only to be separated by a metal door sliding into place.
Corin and Mando turned around, and looked at Davan’s body lying on the ground. Mando crouched down and picked something up after staring for a moment. Corin opened his mouth to ask what he was doing, but closed it after he saw the Mandalorian gently roll Davan’s body into a more respectable position.
“He didn’t deserve to die.” The Mandalorian said as he stood up again. “We need to move. Let’s go.” Mando walked around the body and didn’t look back to see if Corin was following him.
Corin watched hidden in the shadows as the Mandalorian shot a cord out of his vambrace at Burg. The cord wrapped around his neck, and Burg used that to pull Mando down from his hiding place. A vicious fight of brute strength vs intelligence was taking place right in front of Corin’s own eyes. It looked like brute force was winning, until Burg tried to remove the Mandalorians helmet.
Flipping over, Mando tossed Burg into the doorway of the control room, and, throwing a knife, Mando made a door slam down on Burg. Corin was about to come out, only to stop as he watched Burg lift the door back up. The Mandalorian paused for a moment, then hit a button on another control panel, causing a set of blast doors to slam shut on Burg’s head.
When it was apparent that Burg was finally down for the count, Corin slipped from the shadows to the Mandalorians' side. “Are you ok, Mando?” The Mandalorian chuckled darkly. “Yeah. Paz hits harder than he does.” Corin’s eyes widened in slight shock. “How...how much harder does Paz hit?” Corin was scared to ask.
“Paz leaves bruises that don’t fade for months when he’s fighting seriously.” Mando turns to subdue the unconscious devaronian, leaving Corin to his thoughts.’ “Let me help Mando,” Corin says as he turns back to the monitors, “I can handle Xi’an.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Din tracked Xi’an on the monitors as she paced down the corridors toward where he knew Corin had hidden. He had been a little surprised when Corin had said that he could handle her. It was risky, Din knew how good Xi’an was with her blades, after all. But, there had been the faintest hint of steel in Corin’s voice when he asked. It had tamped down the instinctive denial that had been on the tip of his tongue. He was a little surprised when Corin had pulled a combat knife from his belt but was interested to see how capable he was.
As Xi’an passed beneath him, Din watched Corin drop down from the ceiling on her. It was a smart choice, as Corin lacked armour to protect him from the knives she liked to throw. The close quarters fight that followed was, inspiring, to say the least. The fight had rapidly descended into what could only be described as hand to hand combat, with a blade. It had been all Xi’an could do to block as Corin had been a blur of motion.
Twirling his knife around his fingers before stabbing at her face one moment, only to throw the knife up and catch it in a reverse grip the next. It quickly became apparent that Corin was quite skilled with knives as Xi’an was struggling to keep up without being cut. In one particularly impressive moment Xi’an had managed to block an overhand strike, only for Corin to drop his knife and catch it with his left hand before he nailed her in the face with a punch from his right hand. Xi’an hit the ground, and she didn’t get back up.
The Mandalorian couldn’t help but be mesmerized by every move Corin made. Shaking his head, Mando left the room to go meet up with him so they could take down Mayfeld. Walking up behind Corin, Din couldn’t help but let his eyes linger on Corin, observing the way he stood. Full of power and anxiety, with a tiny hint of pride. “Well done. Mayfeld went this way.” Corin followed as quietly as he could, as the Mandalorian took off down the hall.
Eventually they found him carefully making his way down a darkened corridor lit intermittently by flashing emergency lights. Corin and Mando separated, with Mando going behind Mayfeld, and Corin going to cut him off. Peering his head around a corner, Corin struggled to keep his eyes on the Mandalorian as he stalked through the dark after Mayfeld.
One moment he would be illuminated by the flashing light, then the light would go out and when it returned there would be an empty corridor. The light would flash off again and when it returned once more, the Mandalorian would be visible again several feet down the corridor behind Mayfeld. It was terrifying, and sent Corin's heart racing while simultaneously stealing his breath.
When Mayfeld turned around, the Mandalorian was right there. Mando’s hand shot out and grabbed Mayfeld by the throat. Lifting him up off the floor, Mando turned to Corin. “You seemed to have a lot of emotions towards him. Why don’t you finish this?” Corin stepped out of the shadows twirling his knife and smiled. “Gladly.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Qin.” The Twi’lek turned around only to come face to face with the Mandalorian and Corin. “You killed the others.” Qin stated while looking around the hallway. “They got what they deserved.” The Mandalorian stated this with such clarity that Corin felt himself nodding in agreement involuntarily. Qin snarled before speaking.
“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.” The Mandalorian remained silent. “You were hired to do a job, right? So do it.” Quin stated while holding his wrists together in front of him. “Isn’t that your code? Aren’t you a man of honor?” After a moment of thought, Din lowers his blaster and reaches for his cuffs while Qin softly laughs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Razor Crest docked in the landing bay, with Ran waiting to greet them as they stepped off the ship. Qin was the first one down the ramp with a laugh and hug that Ran shared. Mando walked down after him and a puzzled Ran asked “Where are the others?” Ran looked at the Crest as if they would magically appear out of thin air.
Ran looked again, as he spotted Corin leaned up against the door of the crest twirling a familiar looking throwing knife in his hands. Ran’s eyes widened the slightest bit when he recognized the knife as Xi’an’s. Then the blood streak on Corin’s face grabbed his attention. “No questions asked. That's the policy, right?” Mando stated the question like it was common knowledge.
“Yep, that is the policy.” Ran nodded. “I did the job.” Corin looked at the Mandalorian, wondering why he was stating this. “Yeah, you did.” Ran agreed as he pulled a bag of credits out of his pocket and tossed them to the Mandalorian. “Just like the good old days.” Mando said. “Yep, just like the good old days,” Ran said with another nod as the Mandalorian turned and walked up the ramp of the crest.
As the ramp closed, the smile fell from Ran’s face as he walked over to a console and pushed a button. “Kill him.” Qin started laughing, but a beeping noise cut him off. “What’s this?” Qin held up a box. “That bastard.” Ran and Qin looked out towards the vast expanse of space only to see three x-wing fighter jets flying in.
On the Razor Crest, Mando picked up the child and turned to Corin. “Where do you wanna land next?” Corin looked up. “You can just drop me off at the next planet, if you want.” The Mandalorian paused before continuing. “You know, I could use someone with your fighting skills on my crew.” Mando looked away. “That is, if you want to stay.” Corin felt shock running up his whole system. The Mandalorian wanted him to be a part of his crew! Corin looked at the child then back at Mando. “Yes. I do.”