Work Text:
Bo-Katan Kryze’s head was spinning.
The redhead sat on the deck of Moff Gideon’s cruiser and looked down at her hands. Hands from which the Darksaber had just slipped again. But this time she hadn’t lost her claim to Mandalore’s throne in any legitimate fashion. A bounty hunter trying to rescue a foundling had unknowingly picked it up and knocked her from her seat.
If it was ever really mine to begin with.
Bo-Katan pushed the thought from her mind and leaned her head on the chair behind her.
Maybe I should have warned him about this. “Hey, Mando, be careful if you get into a fight with the Moff; you might end up ruler of Mandalore.”
The idea was ridiculous, yet it was exactly what had happened.
Cara Dune sat on the deck across from Bo-Katan. “You gonna fight him?” The marshal asked casually, like they were sharing drinks at a bar and not locked on the bridge of a commandeered Imperial cruiser.
“Of course, I’m going to fight him,” Bo-Katan scoffed. “The Darksaber is mine.”
That’s not fair, Bo-Katan chided herself. He didn’t ask for this. He was just trying to get the child. Gideon probably set the whole thing up. Another way to pit Mandalorians against each other. Either this bounty hunter takes the throne or I kill him for it.
Had Bo-Katan been in a less foul mood, she might have admired Gideon’s ingenuity.
“Doesn’t look that way to me,” Cara observed.
Hot anger flamed in Bo-Katan’s cheeks. “If you’re looking to rub it in—”
“I’m not,” Cara interrupted. “You want to know how I met him? Mando?”
“Not especially,” Bo-Katan answered icily.
“Well, too bad.” Cara crossed her legs underneath her. “You’re stuck with me for the time being, so you’re going to hear it.”
Bo-Katan gave the other woman a withering look. “Fine. How did you two meet? Blind date?”
Cara gave a lopsided grin. “Fought him in an alley on Sorgan.”
Bo-Katan couldn’t contain her surprise. Despite herself, she was now quite intrigued.
“I was a dropper with the Rebellion,” Cara started. “After Endor I resigned. Started doing odd jobs, mercenary work, cage fighting, dubiously legal means of income. Several months ago, I was biding my time on Sorgan when Mando and the kid walked into the local watering hole. Sorgan’s not exactly a vacation spot, and I know a bounty hunter when I see one, so I came to the very logical conclusion that he was after me. I ran, he followed, we got into a scrap and had our blasters drawn on each other by the end of it.”
“So you beat each other up and now you’re friends?”
“Pretty much,” Cara answered. “Next thing I knew I was helping him defend a town.”
Bo-Katan crossed her ankles and folded her hands in her lap. “OK. You’ve got me. I’m listening.”
“We ended up at this farming village that was under attack from some local raiders. The raiders were using an AT-ST. We tried to move the villagers out, but they wouldn’t go. We decided to teach them how to fight instead.”
Bo-Katan contemplated the scenario. “Wow.”
“Actually,” Cara said slowly. “Mando decided to teach them to fight. I was gonna force them out of there. Teaching them to defend their home, that was his idea.”
Bo-Katan was silent.
“We worked together on it for a couple of weeks,” Cara said. “Taught them how to shoot, how to fight with staffs, set up a fortress, dug a hole for the AT-ST to fall into.”
“Did it work?” Bo-Katan asked.
Cara smiled fondly. “Sure did. It was a near thing, but it worked. And now that village can defend itself from whatever comes its way.
“The villagers wanted us to stick around. And we did, for about a month. There was this young widow there who really wanted Mando to stay, if you know what I mean.”
“You think he wanted to?”
“Maybe.” Cara shrugged. “It was all moot in the end, though. A hunter got a tracker on the kid and we had to move out.”
“What are you trying to say?” Bo-Katan asked.
“He’d rather be your ally than your adversary.”
“You know, when I asked him to consider joining us to fight for Mandalore, this is not what I had in mind,” Bo-Katan hissed.
“Beggars can’t be choosers.”
Bo-Katan had no response. Cara was certainly right about that. About all of it.
In a situation with no good decisions, Bo-Katan had to make the best bad one.
“Listen,” Cara said quietly. “I don’t know anything about Mandalore, this Darksaber, any of your traditions. I do know that Mandalorian. He could have killed me. If I’d been in his position, I probably would have. Instead, he brought me back to that little hole in the wall, bought me a bowl of soup, and we’ve been friends ever since.
“You can make an enemy of Mando if you want to, but you’ll be on the wrong end of that deal. You go up against him, and I’m not talking about just a duel for that sword, you will lose. Badly.”
Bo-Katan shook her head. “It’s almost like I’m not meant to have the saber,” she mused before realizing she’d spoken aloud.
Cara raised a curious eyebrow.
“It’s…complicated,” Bo-Katan said. “But this is the second time I’ve lost it.”
“Maybe you aren’t meant to have it.” There was no bite in Cara’s voice.
“What, and he is?” Bo-Katan objected.
“Why not?”
“Because he’s a bounty hunter.” Bo-Katan managed not to raise her voice. “He’s not a king.”
“Looks to me like he is,” Cara shot back. “And you have two choices. You can fight him or work with him.”
Despite her sour mood, Bo-Katan couldn’t help but notice the conviction in Cara’s words.
She’s right, and I know it.
“Did you know I’m from Alderaan?” Cara asked.
Bo-Katan was quiet for a moment. “I saw the tattoo. I didn’t want to bring it up.”
“Well, I am from Alderaan. And I’d do anything to get my world back.”
Bo-Katan felt a pang of empathy. How many times had she thought the exact same thing?
“You have that chance,” Cara went on. “You should take it. And you should let Mando help you.” The dark-haired woman smiled. “You know, everyone involved with this crazy rescue op was staring down the barrel of Mando’s blaster at some point.” She cocked her head. “Turning enemies into allies isn’t a bad quality for a ruler, if you ask me.”
“Does he have a name?” Bo-Katan asked. “I’ve only ever heard anyone call him ‘Mando.’”
“Yes,” Cara answered simply.
“Do you know it?”
“I do.”
“You going to let me in on the secret?”
Cara stood and looked toward the rear of the bridge. “That’s for him to tell you.” She looked back at Bo-Katan. “I know you didn’t want things to go this way. And this whole situation is messed up. But it’s all you’ve got.” Cara smiled again. “Give him a chance. He might surprise you.”
The ex-trooper walked to the back of the bridge, where “Mando” sat with his helmetless head in his hands. Bo-Katan peeked around the console and watched Cara sit with her back against the bounty hunter’s, offering silent support without looking at his face.
Suddenly feeling like she was intruding, Bo-Katan ducked out of sight.
Satine always said politics make strange bedfellows. And the elder Kryze sister would know, Bo-Katan thought, considering Satine’s incredibly poorly disguised romance with a certain Jedi Knight.
Oh, sister, if you could see me now. What would you say? All those years wasted fighting each other and now I wish I could talk to you.
“Do you love our people enough to give up the Darksaber?” That’s what Satine would say.
I do. I have to.
This is so much bigger than who wields the Darksaber.
Bo-Katan wiped her sweaty palms on her pants. Time to figure out how she could work this thorny situation.
The heiress and the bounty hunter. Bo-Katan couldn’t stop a tiny smile from tugging at her lips. Strange bedfellows, indeed.