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The Razor Crest touched down on Velsese V, the engines whistling as they cooled.
Din stretched in the pilot's seat and swiveled around in the chair to face his passenger.
The child’s green ears raised up once he noticed the man’s attention on him.
“Alright, kid, let’s make this stop quick.”
“Pa-too!”
The little incident on Tatooine still hovered in the back of Din's mind.
It reminded him that anyone can turn on him at a moment’s notice if the price was right. It also reminded him that alphas can be as brain-dead as ever.
He didn’t even feel bad about shooting Toro Calican. Not one bit. He threatened the child so he shot him. End of story.
Sure, it would’ve been better if he held up the deal and Din was able to collect on Fennec Shand’s bounty, but the alpha was generous enough to cover the cost of the repairs for the Crest.
Generous meaning Din took the dead man’s wallet.
Simple enough.
They left Tatooine in a hurry just in case their altercation attracted the wrong attention.
But now, they were low on food and the gremlin child was getting a little antsy at the lack of choices come mealtime.
That meant a resupply stop.
Resupplying always came with its risks.
Velsese V didn’t have any traces of the Empire nor was it under the jurisdiction of the New Republic.
That was helpful in its own way, but it also increased the chance of encountering shady characters.
So Din had to make this quick.
He tucked the child into his arm– there was no way Din was leaving him on the ship by himself– and lowered the ramp of the Crest.
They landed not far from the city and in a forest clearing to hide any obvious signs of the ship.
Din carried the child for the majority of the walk to the city, only putting him down once he was sure the path to the city was clear of any organic debris like tree branches and brambles that the kid could trip over and potentially hurt himself.
He slowed his pace to match the tiny steps of the green creature, eye oscillating back and forth across the landscape, keeping a watch for hazards.
They approached the city, a pretty minor one, but a city nonetheless.
The long grass has been cut short around the settlement and many of the houses and buildings were composed of live trees. The roofs were thick, waxy leaves that protected the insides from precipitation. Some of the larger buildings were rock and clay, but there weren’t many of them.
The child had clearly taken a liking to the large leaves shed by the trees going by the way he was now dragging one behind him.
“How about I carry that for you?” Din offered, holding out a hand.
Brown eyes looked from the leaf to his hand multiple times before he said, “Buah,” and handed it to him.
Din rolled the leaf up and tucked it into a pouch on his belt. Hopefully that secured it enough.
They searched for a marketplace and found it relatively easily. It looked like every main street in the city led directly to a large shopping area in the middle of the city. All the vendor stands were huddled up under a giant tree whose branches stretched out, large leaves shading the marketplace.
It was quite a sight to see and Din was impressed by their willingness to live in harmony with nature.
Cities on other planets had no problem tearing down the trees and uprooting every shrub in sight in order to build permacrete structures.
Din spotted a few Ewoks wandering around the street and a Wookie or two lingering in the alleyways.
There were plenty of humans around considering that they’re pretty much an invasive species.
“Hello there, little one!” A feminine voice cooed.
Glancing over, Din saw the child standing by a vendor stand, reaching up for whatever was on the table.
Cursing himself for his inattention, he strode over to accompany him.
“Oh, h-hi!” The vendor, a human woman, looked startled by his appearance. “Would you l-like to buy some freshly picked laokkan fruit? They’re quite sweet.”
Din stooped down and picked up the founding, giving him a view of the table. “You shouldn’t wander off like that,” he scolded him quietly.
The child warbled softly and pointed at the strange armored fruits.
Din sighed and looked at the woman. “How much are they?”
Seeming to recognize him as the child’s caretaker, she smiled brightly. “They’re two standard credits a piece! I also accept imperial credits and other currency of equal value.”
He looked down at the kid. “How many do you want?”
“Pa-too!” He held up two little hands.
Din huffed, amused. “Alright.” He tilted his head back at the woman. “I’ll take six of them.”
If possible, her smile grew wider. “Yes sir!” She pulled out a brown paper bag and packaged the fruit tightly in leaves while Din dug into his pockets to pull out 12 credits. “Thank you for your business!”
Din nodded at her and took the bag, moving to the next vendor.
After about 30 minutes, Din was sufficiently loaded with bags of food and the occasional stuffed animal that the child pointed at.
Is he spoiling him?
Din doesn’t think so.
But by now, the Mandalorian doesn’t have enough hands to carry much of anything else, so the child is now forced to walk.
They start on the way back to the ship, backtracking and heading down the same street they used earlier when Din felt a chill in the air.
He stopped.
What was that?
A shiver went down Din’s back, but the atmosphere felt sort of heavy.
They needed to get back to the ship.
A screech broke through his thoughts.
Whipping around, Din saw a cloaked figure grab the child and run.
“Hey!” The warrior dropped all the bags and charged after them.
Did they seriously think they were gonna be able to snatch the child out from right under his nose?
He slowly gained on the kidnapper, longer legs making him faster. His hand snaked down to the blaster on his thigh.
Abruptly, the figure pivoted and turned into an alley, disappearing around the corner, the child crying out for him.
Din followed instantly and ran into the narrow space, fully intent on taking back the youngling, only to stop.
The kidnapper wasn’t alone.
Three more cloaked figures joined the first.
Scum #1 puts a blaster to the child’s head. “Stand down, Mando.” He says. “Put your hands up.”
Again? Really?
Din can’t catch a break apparently.
He slowly raises his hands up. “Okay,” he breathes, “Okay, just don’t hurt him.” The last thing he needed was the little one getting hurt.
Unfortunately, he has no flash charges this time.
Scum #1, who seems to be the leader, nods his head to someone behind Din.
Oh.
Scum #2 leans in close behind him, grabbing his hands and cuffing him, taking his blaster in the process. Cold fingers lingered on his beskar for a moment longer than was necessary. The scent of an alpha grew around him. “You’re a hard man to find, omega. ” He purred.
Din suppressed a shiver.
Great. It was one of these guys.
Maybe Din should just call him Bastard instead.
“Let’s move.” Scum #1 orders the rest of them. “It’s gonna rain soon.”
The Mandalorian was grabbed roughly by his shoulders and flanked on either side by Bastard and, he’ll name the other one Scum #3.
None of them have revealed their faces but just by their scents alone, Din gathered enough information.
Bastard is an alpha male, Scum #3 is a beta female, Scum #4: beta male, and Scum #5: barest hint of alpha female.
He couldn’t get a read on Scum #1 yet.
Din is so creative with names.
They lead him into a warehouse-type building, one of the few structures made of stone.
They don’t take any chances at uncuffing him and drop him into a chair, tying him up with rope.
Hmm.
Flammable rope.
Noting this, he looked back to his captors and scanned the room.
5 figures.
Scum #1 still holding the child. Blaster hidden.
One door.
Three windows on one wall.
Support beams above them.
Seemingly abandoned building with no other rooms.
Shifting slightly, he found the chair was not bolted to the ground.
Din began formulating a plan with what he had.
Vibroknife in his boot.
Blaster: gone.
Flamethrower on his right forearm.
Cable on his left.
The group didn’t even try to remove any weapons.
They were either stupid or arrogant.
Din can work with both.
“Alright, Mando.” Scum #1 said, stepping closer to him. A quick sniff revealed him to be a beta. Perfect. Betas in power tend to get a little cocky. Bonus points if they are in charge of alphas. “The bounty said that this little green thing is to be taken in dead or alive. Now, I’d prefer alive because the reward is much higher, but hey, it all depends on you, Mando. No skin off my back if I need to kill it.”
“No skin off my back?” Probably human. No other species bothers with human idioms.
Din remained silent.
“Giving us the silent treatment, omega?” Bastard hisses, way too close to Din’s ear.
“Back up, Carrs.” Scum #1 commands in a bored tone. “Try not to make the Mandalorian uncomfortable before we kill him.”
Ah, so Bastard’s name is Carrs.
Carrs hummed thoughtfully. "I think we could make him a little uncomfortable. I’d like some time to play with him first."
"If we want to sell his scent glands, then he can't be in distress or those things will sour quickly. We need them in prime condition to get a good price." Scum #1 sounded disappointed. "You should know that, Carrs."
He growled angrily and stepped back. "Fine." He spat.
Looks like they've done this before. So they’re not exactly amateurs.
"It's raining." Scum #4 reported.
"Good." Scum #1 nodded. "Now he can't escape."
Din frowned. What does rain have anything to do with escaping?
Scum #5 moved forward, pulling a vibroblade out from the folds of her cloak. "Can I kill him now?"
"Go ahead." The leader said, inspecting his nails and shifting the child in his arm.
"Come on, Tersa." Carrs whined. "I thought you'd understand the prize we have. An omega Mandalorian! A treat!"
"I have no desire to fulfill your sick fantasies, Carrs." The female replied evenly. "I just want my share."
The male alpha groaned. "Whatever. Can't get anything around here." He crossed his arms. "Can we atleast remove the helmet?"
Alright, Din’s done playing around.
"Try it and I'll kill you." He threatens.
"He speaks!" Carrs laughs. "Now I gotta take that bucket off of him!"
"Touch a single one of us and I kill the kid." Scum #1 says, lazily twirling his blaster. "Just make it quick, Carrs."
The cloaked figure draws closer. "Gladly."
Step one: get out of these bonds.
Carrs steps close to him and reaches for his buy'ce.
Just a little closer…
SLAM!
Din smashed his head against the alpha's face.
Howling, Carrs backpedals clutching at where Din assumes his nose to be.
The Mandalorian activates his flamethrower, blowing the flames around him. Heat seared across his back, but his backplate did its job protecting him. His cape definitely caught on fire, but the action paid off as the rope burned and snapped.
Step one: done.
Step two: grab the kid and beat the shit out of the hunters.
Din throws himself forward, hopping over his cuffed arms to move them to the front. He got into range.
The beta suddenly scrambled backwards holding the blaster. "Wait, wait!" He screamed. "I'll kill him! I'll–"
Din’s arms shot forward, left one releasing the cable. It easily catches the leader around the neck. The beta clawed at his throat, dropping the child in the process.
Sending a silent apology to the kid, Din yanks.
The hunter choked and tumbled to the ground.
It all happened so fast, the other hunters didn't have a chance to react.
By now, Din scooped the child into his arms and stepped on the leader's back, holding him against the floor while simultaneously pulling the cable upwards.
Scum #1 kept struggling, but then he eventually stopped, going limp.
Din didn't even catch his name.
A shame really.
Looking at the other three figures, he cocks his head to the side, tightening his grip on the child.
"Who's next?"
They stared at him in silence.
"I didn't sign up for this." The female alpha hisses. She turned and ran out the door.
The other two exchanged glances and then looked over to Carrs still rolling and sobbing on the floor.
They slowly raised their hands and stepped back.
Din retracted the cable and only just realized that his cape was smoldering.
Kriff.
He swiftly patted at it as best as he could to put the embers out.
He’ll need to get another cape now.
Din looted the body of the leader to find the key to his cuffs. Once he unlocked himself, he stepped over Scum #1 and headed for the door.
“I’ll-I’ll get you for this!” Carrs shouted from the floor, shaking a fist at him. “I won’t stop coming after you! I’ll kill you and the bounty!”
The Mandalorian turned back to the cloaked man. “Good point. Should we end this here and now?”
“I-I-I-” Carrs stuttered, his head rotating back and forth to the other three figures in the room. All three of them whimpered and sprinted out the door, shoving each other on the way there.
The scent of fear permeated throughout the room. The sourness of it made Din’s stomach churn, but at the sametime, his inner omega hissed in satisfaction.
He deserved that. For threatening him and his foundling.
Din took a step forward.
“No, no, please!” Carrs screeched, waving his hands in front of him and scooting backwards. Tears sprang into his eyes. “Okay, okay, I was kidding! I don’t want anything to do with you!”
His reaction almost made Din smile.
“If you think of coming after me or the child again, I’ll make you wish I killed you right here.” The Mandalorian growled.
“Y-Yes, yes, of course!”
Situation resolved, more or less, the omega and his pup then walked out the door without any more problems, leaving a weeping alpha in his wake.
Din lived to make alphas cry.
Once outside, the Mandalorian checked over the child.
“You okay, kid?” He asked, prodding the child.
The little creature giggled at his movements. “Mbwah!”
Din hummed. “Are you ticklish? Is that what that means?”
The foundling squealed with laughter as the warrior continued to poke him.
Satisfied that the little one was unhurt, he looked up.
The rain had stopped.
Frowning, he remembered the hunters talking about how the rain would stop him from escaping. He’s not exactly sure how those two things are correlated, but he shrugged and stepped out onto the street.
The street was empty. All the inhabitants that he saw earlier were all gone.
That’s strange.
But that’s also his cue to leave.
Scanning up and down the street, Din started back towards where he left all their food. They’d be soaked by now.
He strode down the road until he spotted where he dropped all those bags.
Wait a minute.
Why did it smell like that?
He crouched down next to the food.
Sniffing the lump of paper bags on the ground, they smelled… burned. Acrid.
Now that he noticed it, the air smelled the same way. It was heavy.
Oh.
Oh.
Acid rain.
Din groaned.
How did he miss that on the planetary scan?
No wonder they didn’t make their roofs with normal wood! The trees here evolved to endure the acid rain with their waxy leaves.
He sighed.
And there goes all the food and credits.
The child whined in his arms.
“Sorry, kid,” Din apologized, feeling foolish. “We might need to get another job before we can go shopping again.”
A small tri-clawed hand pointed at the mush.
“What? Think we can salvage something?” Din mused. “Might be worth a shot.”
He carefully rifled a hand into the wet bags, mindful of the acidity of the liquid coating them.
Inedible.
Inedible.
Also inedible.
He’s definitely not feeding that to the child.
Gross.
His hand touched something solid.
Maybe?
Pulling it out, he found the six laokkan fruit that he purchased earlier all wrapped up in the same waxy leaves that cover the buildings.
He sighs once more, picking up the bundle.
It seems that only one vendor was kind enough to protect the produce from the rain.
He thanks the vendor in his mind and rises from his position.
“Looks like you’ll have to eat this fruit and some rations until we can earn some credits.”
The child stuck out his little tongue and made a face.
Yeah, the sentiment is mutual. Din was just starting to get used to having a diverse food selection for mealtimes.
Din trudged back through the forest towards the Razor Crest, boots leaving behind footprints in the squishy ground.
The dirt must have some component in it to neutralize the acid.
It was a completely random thought, but it aided the image of the power of nature evolving to adapt to the harshest conditions. Like people do.
Like the Mando’ade have always done.
It was kind of poetic and not something a Mandalorian warrior like Din should be thinking about.
They arrived back to the Razor Crest fairly quickly.
Din stashed the fruit into a cabinet with the other food products. A cabinet that was slowly growing bare.
He placed the child on the ground, the young one running off to wherever he wanted to go in the ship.
The omega sighed and tried to think of where he could get a high-paying job.
He needed one and fast.
So then if he couldn’t go to the Bounty Guild anymore, he could go…
Din cringed.
There was one place he could check.
“Mando!” The man laughed at the other end of the comlink.
“Ran.” The Mandalorian acknowledged.
“What can I do for you, my old friend?” The voice asked.
“I was hoping that you had a job for me.” Din answered, both hoping that he did and didn’t.
He needed the credits, that was true, but he also didn’t want to go back to the mercenaries without his suppressants. They were definitely a rowdy bunch.
Not people he’d want the kid around.
“A job?” The man hummed. “Well as a matter of fact, I do have one!”
Din resisted the urge to sigh, whether in relief or disappointment, he wasn’t sure.
“I’ll send you the coordinates to the station and I hope to see you soon!” Then the link cut out.
Ran didn’t even tell him what the job was.
Din finally released the sigh and turned in his chair.
“Buah?” The child tilted his head, claws digging into the round laokkan fruit.
“This is a bad idea.”