11 | THE FIGHT

Ran led Mando and Celeste over to meet the rest of the crew. "Hey, Mayfeld." Ran called them attention of one of the men in his space station who brandished loads of weapons hanging on straps secured to his body.

"Yeah?" Mayfeld replied.

"This is Mando. The guy I was telling you about. We used to do jobs way back when. This is Celeste. She's our new addition." Ran introduced the two to him.

Mayfeld shot a confused look at the Mandalorian. "This is the guy?"

"Yeah, we were all young, trying to make a name for ourselves. But running with a Mandalorian, that was... that brought us some reputation." Ran chuckled as he recalled the good old time memories.

"Oh, yeah? What did he get out of it?" Mayfeld seemed skeptical of the Mandalorian he felt he had heard so many glorious stories about.

"I asked him that one time. You remember what you said, Mando?" Ran inquired.

Mando knew exactly what he said, but he didn't answer. He was a changed man now. And he didn't want Celeste to think of him any differently. "Target practice." Ran cackled. It seemed to be the funniest thing to him.

Celeste remained quiet. She knew Mando was different. Hell, he was a different person from when she first met him to now. And she also knew he wouldn't be as good at what he did if he hadn't done what he did in the past. Mayfeld seemed surprised and seemed to find a little bit of manly respect for the killer. "We did some crazy stuff, didn't we?" Ran asked Mando.

"That was a long time ago." Mando muttered, trying to diminish the conversation before Ran went into detail about the horrible things Mando did back in the day.

"Well, I don't go out anymore. You understand? So, uh, Mayfeld, he's gonna run point on this job. If he says it, it's like it's coming from me. You good with that?" Ran rhetorically asked. He knew it wasn't a genuine question it was: either listen to him or leave.

"You tell me." Mando's response seemed demeaning way.

"You haven't changed one bit." Ran noted.

"Yeah, well, things have changed around here." Mayfeld seemed to be almost warning Mando to not step on his toes while he was there.

"Yeah, well, Mayfeld, he's one of the best trigger men I've ever seen. Former Imperial sharpshooter." Ran tried to brag about him.

"That's not saying much." Mando snarked, as he had killed multiple Imperial troopers.

"I wasn't a stormtrooper, wiseass." Mayfeld spat at Mando, before stomping off.

"Don't take long, does he?" Ram mentioned.

* * *

Mayfeld continued the tour by introducing Mando and Celeste to the rest of the team. "The good lookin fellow there with the horns, that's Burg. This may surprise you, but he's our muscle." Mayfeld sarcastically told. Celeste took a peek at Burg. He towered over Mando and he skin was a bright, burning red. Wide horns poked out from the top of his head and he looked like the spitting image of a devil.

Burg stepped up to scan Mando up and down, allowing Celeste to get a better look at his crooked teeth and scarred up face. Lines slashed across his skin as if a cat attacked him. Burg grunted in disappointment at Mando's sight. "So, this is a Mandalorian. I thought they'd be bigger."

Mando kept his cool, as he always managed to do, and didn't even mind the man being all up in his face like that. He was a very patient and cool tempered man. I think he's big, Celeste thought to herself. She must've been a dwarf if Burg thought Mando was small.

"Droid's name is Zero." Mayfeld waved over one of the members of their team. The droid marched over with a blaster in hand.

Celeste refrained from laughing at Mando being forced to work with a droid. Mando was particularly fond of droids, as Celeste had already known due to his experiences with the bounty hunter droid back when he was capturing the child and with the pit droids who were trying to repair his ship back on Tatooine. "I though you said you had four." Mando mentioned.

Suddenly, a woman walked up to the group. She was a Twi'lek with lavender skin and two long tentacular appendages. "He does."

Mando instantly recognized the voice and turned to look at her. "Xi'an."

"Xi'an?" Celeste spoke her name with an attitude. Who the fuck is this? Celeste thought to herself. She found it quite odd how long Mando was looking at her and why this woman was looking at him with a sultry look in her eyes.

"Tell me why I shouldn't cut you down where you stand?" Xi'an asked Mando as she twirled a dagger between her fingers.

Xi'an rapidly pulled her dagger on Mando and threateningly wavered it over his throat. Mando didn't even flinch. "Nice to see you, too." Mando responded to her action.

Xi'an giggled with a high pitched squeak in the middle of it. It really threw Celeste off. Xi'an sighed and lowered her weapon. Xi'an was standing a little too closely to Mando for Celeste's liking. "I missed you." Xi'an told Mando.

Celeste folded her arms to see how Mando was going to get out of this one. Luckily for him, Xi'an changed the subject before Mando could say anything that would get Celeste pissed off at him—even more—for. "This is shiny. You wear it well." Xi'an tapped his beskar armor as she literally eye fucked him through his helmet.

"Do we need to leave the room or something?" Mayfeld spoke on behalf of everyone else in the room.

"I agree, do we, Mando?" Celeste emphasized her annoyance with the whole interaction.

"Well, Xi'an's been a little heartbroken since Mando left our group." Ran explained their odd chemistry.

"And, who are you?" Xi'an turned to Celeste.

"Someone you don't want to piss off." Celeste stepped closer to Xi'an.

"And why's that?" She pouted, tauntingly at Celeste.

Celeste smiled, devilishly at her. "Telling you would ruin the fun of seeing you find out why." Celeste could think of a million reasons why she alone could end this girl's life. Her use of the force, her old associates such as Jabba the Hutt and more. But, telling Xi'an would've only given her the satisfaction of knowing too much.

"Don't worry about me, sweetheart. I'm all business now. Learned from the best." She pointed over at Mando.

"Alright, break it up till you get on the ship. Right now we don't have much time." Ran told and led the group over to Mando's ship. Xi'an, Burg, and Mayfeld all began to walk ahead of Mando and Celeste as they followed Ran. Celeste discreetly waved her hand to make Xi'an trip as she was purposefully walking in front of Mando with her swaying hips. Xi'an instantly fell flat on her face and, embarrassedly, scrambled back up to her feet and hurried off.

Mando grabbed Celeste's arm and shook his head at her so she'd stop playing little tricks. Celeste shot him a deathly glare and pulled her arm away from him. Anger consumed Celeste and these little actions of passion using the force was only corrupting her mind more and more. Although she hadn't noticed it, she was strong with the force. No force sensitive individual had so much control over the force as she did without proper training. Using and being one with the force was becoming second nature to her despite her lack of use of it. And because she was using it with emotion, it was easy to get lost in passion and rage when she had so much power at the tip of her fingers.

* * *

The team, with the exception of Zero who was familiarizing himself with the Crest, were debriefed on the mission. "So, the package is being carried on a transport ship. Now, we got a limited window to board, find our friend, get him out of there before they make their jump." Mayfeld projected a hologram of the ship.

"That's a New Republic prison ship. Your man wasn't taken by a rival syndicate. He was arrested." Mando pointed out that they were essentially breaking out a criminal or a convict.

"So what?" Mayfeld chuckled.

"A job is a job." Ran sniffed.

"That's a max security transport and I'm not looking for that kinda heat." Mando spoke. This wasn't true. Celeste knew Mando could nearly take on anything, he just didn't want her to tag along on such a high risk mission.

"Well, neither are we. So just don't mess up." Ram spoke blatantly to hush Mando's complaining.

"The good news for you, is the ship is manned by droids. Still hate the machines, Mando?" Xi'an pokes fun at Mando's despise toward the machines.

"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 percent efficiency. We have much better ships, why are we using this one?" Zero, the droid, joined the conversation after he stiffly walked into the group deliberation.

"Cause the Razor Crest is off the old Imperial and the New Republic grid. It's a ghost." Ran informed the old droid.

"Yeah, and we need a ship that can get close enough to jam New Republic code. So, when we drop out of hyperspace here, if we immediately bank into this kind of attitude, we should be right in their blind spot, which will give us just enough time for your shift to scramble their signal." Mayfeld shot Mando a satisfied smile with his organized plan.

"It's not possible. Even for the Crest." Mando told Mayfeld, who suddenly dropped his smile.

"That's why he's flying." Ran nodded over at Zero.

Mayfeld chuckled as he watched Mando shoot Zero a weary look through his visor. "Mando, I know you're a pretty good pilot, but we need you on the trigger. Not the wheel." Ran tried to calm Mando's edged nerves.

"How can you trust it?" Mando asked Ran, as he had his own experiences with droids that disallowed him to ever trust the robots.

"You know me, Mando," Ran patted his shoulder, "I don't trust anybody."

* * *

The team took off in the ship, and Celeste stood in front of the hidden compartment where the child was hidden. Xi'an was focusing on balancing a dagger on her finger while Celeste stood guard in the corner. "Will you sit down?" Xi'an barked at Celeste.

Celeste shot her a deadly look. "What's so special about that corner, anyway?" Xi'an stood up to begin picking on Celeste.

Burg began to open compartments near Celeste, making her grow tense. "Nothing." Celeste blew raspberries, trying to pretend like she was just bored, hanging around.

"Will someone tell me why we need a Mandalorian?" Burg groaned as he looked down at Mando, demeaningly.

"Well, apparently they're the greatest warriors in the galaxy. So they say." Mayfeld spoke in a manner that ridiculed the Mandalorian.

"Then why are they all dead?" Burg snidely remarked, getting a laugh out of Mayfeld and Xi'an.

"Well, you flew with him, Xi'an. Is he as good as they say?" Mayfeld turned to the Twi'lek.

"Ask him about the job on Alzoc III." Xi'an ordered the crowd as she continued to focus on balancing a dagger on her pointer finger.

"I did what I had to." Mando replied.

Xi'an ran her tongue over her teeth. "Oh, but you liked it. See, I know who you really are." She naughtily smiled at him, removing her concentration from the dagger balancing. Mando shifted his weight in an uncomfortable manner while Xi'an stared, desirably, at him.

"He never takes off the helmet?" Mayfeld asked his burning question to the girl.

She shook her head and chuckled. "This is the way." She mocked the Mandalorian religion.

"I wonder what you look like under there. Maybe he's a Gungan. Is that why yousa don't wanna show your face?" Mayfeld imitated the Gungan dialect. "You ever seen his face?" Mayfeld asked Xi'an.

She gasped, softly. "A lady never tells."

Celeste ground her teeth together and shot her eyes to the floor to avoid looking at Mando and wanting to kill him. Of course he's show his face to her, but when I ask, it's 'you know I can't, Celeste' what the— Celeste's train of thought was broken when she saw Xi'an beginning to approach her. Celeste stood straight up and tried to conceal the panel of buttons beside her.

"You're hiding something." Xi'an smiled mischievously and reached for the panel of buttons beside Celeste. Celeste grabbed her arm and forcefully twisted it. "Why don't you stop being so nosy, it's very ill mannered." Celeste pouted her bottom lip out.

Mando watched Celeste take control of the situation to keep Xi'an from prying too much. Xi'an drew her fist back and swung it at Celeste's jaw. Celeste felt her bone vibrate upon collision and tasted the blood flooding her mouth. Celeste reached for her face, then wiped her thump across her lip to take a look at the blood dripping out of her mouth. Celeste spat the blood out onto Xi'an and reached for her tentacle and yanked it. She pulled Xi'an to the ground and socked an equally hard punch on the girl. Burg hurried over to break up the fight, but, Xi'an jumped to her feet and began to reach for her daggers at her belt. So, he grabbed Celeste instead to keep her from clawing Xi'an's eyes out.

Mando stepped in as soon as he saw the situation getting out of hand and he pulled Burg off of Celeste. Burg found this act disrespectful. "Maybe now we'll get to see his face." Burg reached for Mando's helmet  to rip it off his head, but Mando kicked and punched him until Burg hit the wall behind him and accidentally pressed one of the buttons on the panel that opened the concealed area where the child was hidden.

"Woah." Mayfeld gawked at the baby that was beginning to coo over at Celeste. Mayfeld instantly walked over to the kid to take a closer peek at it. "You get lonely up here, buddy? Huh? Wait a minute. Did you two make that?" Mayfeld turned to Celeste and Mando.

Celeste's face went dark. She was trying to suppress her rage that was bubbling up. She felt the force grow stronger around her, but she kept a cool head by not reacting to Mayfeld interrogating them. "What is it, like a pet of something?" He asked.

"Yeah. Something like that." Mando replied so Celeste didn't have to.

"Didn't take you for the type." Xi'an brushed herself off after the rough fight with Celeste. "Maybe that code of yours has made you soft." Xi'an stepped close to Mando, shooting him a small smile—thinking she had a chance to be with him once again.

Celeste whipped around and climbed up the ladder to go sit with the robot in the cockpit. She left Mando to deal with the mess of them discovering the kid. At that point, she couldn't stand being around Xi'an or else she might've just jumped out of that ship while it was still in hyperdrive. Celeste took a seat next to the droid. "Pleasure to have you joining me." The droid's robotic voice greeted Celeste.

"No, the pleasure is all mine, trust me." Celeste kicked up her feet on the dash and sunk into her seat.

"You've come just in time for us to jump out of hyperspace." The droid announced to her. "Commencing final approach, now. Cloaking signal, now. Engaging coupling, now." Zero spoke as he roughly landed on the Imperial prisoner transport ship. He hastily attached the ship to the other ship so that they had ease of access into the transport ship.

author's note: BITCH Natalia Tena plays Xi'an my bitch just fought herself if we're being real... that's some legendaric shit right there. Plus am I a GOD at faceclaim casting or what? The girl Mando used to fuck w is played by the same actress I made Mando fuck w now. Whew, my mind of casting an appropriate OC. Anyway, I edited all the chapters so there's a lot of empty holes in plots and storylines I filled. We should be good now that I know where this show is moving.