The hum of the Bastion’s engine vibrated through the entire ship as it approached the electrical-storm ridden planet of Nancora Prime. Koda Kendis took full control of the ship, slipping it out of auto-pilot as they approached. He was joined by his adoptive clan-mate and friend, Rue, who was asked to be brought along more missions to keep Koda from getting too comfortable working alone again since Danitha was at home with their kids. He did his best to keep what he could of them on the ship, a simple family photo on the dash of the pilot seat.
“I don’t expect things to go south…but if they do, make sure you’re in the ship. I installed security measures to where you can lock it down from most parts of the ship, your fingerprints should be in the ship’s database for it. Don’t worry about locking me out, that’s what the armor is for.” Koda banged his armored gauntlet onto his chest piece, “And the old girl is tough enough to handle a majority of what gets thrown at her.” The descended into the atmosphere, “Make sure to buckle up, entry is going to be bumpy and comm systems most likely won’t work. I might need you on the flood light controls to signal our approach.” Koda pointed to the light controls on the console next to Rue.
“How do we know if they are going to the south, if the ionic storms are confounding the directional readings?” Rue asked seriously. He was dutifully buckled in already, as the was The Law, and made sure to give the Mandalorian salute that Elly and Koda had taught him in response to the directions for light signaling.
Koda paused for a second and looked at Rue, “Have I not used that expression around you?” He looked surprised for a moment (like Malfoy), “It’s not South in a literal sense, as the magnetic direction, but to mean it’s not going well. Dani said that these were older contacts, so I wouldn’t fully trust them. But then again, that’s how I met her so maybe I’m not a good source.” He joked around a little. Koda had been getting better at picking up on Rue not always catching his sarcastic terms. The ship shook quite a bit as they were passing through the storms, Koda navigated around the thick of it when he could.
“Oh!” Rue exclaimed of how the hauler was trembling all around them. “This one can feel the roots of its teeth vibrating!”
The more experienced Mandalorian quickly found he had to rely on his eyes and the view ports to navigate them to the blasted, barren surface. He instructed his brother on how to signal back to the eclectic scrap signal towers, unhappy to be announcing their presence to anyone around but knowing the necessity of it so nobody crashed together in fiery balls of death.
When they finally landed, it wasn’t graceful, but it was intact, not far from the outskirts of the ghostly Axio City. The abandoned, war-torn, droid-crawling grounds were allegedly being reclaimed by the Syndicate these days, and the renewed interest had intrigued other circles of smugglers, including his wife’s former contacts. The further back one went in her pirate history, the rougher those connections got, she said. The start of her career was more desperate, and included much sleazier sorts. But, as he’d said, that was what his armor was for.
So long as he could trust Rue to actually activate the ship defenses. The hybrid was particularly against hurting anyone, even someone actively harming him.
Especially then. But that was a problem Koda, Elly, and the rest of the Kendis were still solving.
“Koda, are you certain I should be staying in-of-doors? I can come with you. This one could be a monkey lizard on your shoulder,” Rue suggested, standing up from his seat on jelly-legs. He wasn’t much of a flier, and Koda gave him a steadying hand.
Koda got up with Rue and walked over to one of the storage containers nearby, pulling out his helmet and his blaster, Due Process, out and slipped it into his holster. “I’ve had this ship stolen more times than I like to admit, I’d feel much safer if you remained here as a deterrent.” He patted him on the shoulder and smiled before slipping his helmet on, filling out the full motief of a large Mandalorian warrior, “You need not worry about me, what’s the worst that could happen?” He made his way towards the cargo bay and landing ramp.
“Well,” Rue began, trailing after his adopted brethren, “the worst implies both your death and a particularly unlikely event, so this one presumes it would be being struck by the lightning here, and not simply killed by violent action, but please, Koda, be safe either way, the twins should have their father.”
The brightly-colored man, still dressed in simple clothing but of Kendis colors, as he refused armor or weaponry, paused to touch Koda’s hand as the Human activated the ramp mechanism and a sudden whirl of supercharged, hot-cold, sandy air blasted into the first available sliver of space in displacement. “I love you, come back. This one will watch the ship also.”
And, he thought, keep you safe. He had controlled entire storms before on other planets. He could make a safe area for Koda to move in, so long as he could sense him.
“It would take an army to do that. I’ve only lost a forearm, I don’t plan on losing anything else.” He gave a two finger wave as he headed out into the storm, his kama flapping in the wind as he faded from the sight of eyes.
Minutes passed until a figure began to approach the ship, their aura did not match Koda’s but walked with a similar weight of step. The figure wore a dark red-brown jumpsuit covered by a cloak. Rue would see their reptilian feet exposed as it walked closer, Trandoshan by his guess.
Meanwhile
Koda approached the compound he was to meet the contacts at. He cautiously approached, his hand off his holster to show good faith. Glances were exchanged, 3 of them and their leader. They were resting on a hover-trolly and looked at the armored man as he approached.
“Didn’t know they hired Mandalorians for this kind of gig, ya'seem a little over prepared, eh?” Their leader chuckled, “Good are all in here, and we’re coming with.” He patted the crate
“No.” Koda said firmly, “I’ll take it, you’ll get your cut upon delivery. I work alone.”
“Oh is that right? Good. Then it seems your ship will be taken care of.” The leader reached for his blaster, “Get him boys!”
Koda’s quick reflexes got to his blaster as soon as the leader got to his, but Koda’s draw was faster, over charged, and on a hair-trigger. Like a flash of the lightning above, two quick shots ripped through the leader and sent him off the trolly. Due Process’s cells smoked and glowed, overheating with just their one powerful shot each. The goons fired upon Koda, staggering him only slightly due to his Beskar’s defenses. Koda heard a blaster shot come from his right but was too slow to react. Before he knew it he was on the ground, his ears ringing and freshly damaged sensors on the side of his helmet with a hefty scorch mark. He looked up to the roof nearby, a sniper. Koda pointed his right knee vaguely in the direction of the roof and activated his kneepad rockets. They whizzed up into the air, spiraling around and barely hitting the side of the building, luckly that was enough to cause it to crumble and have the sniper fall. The last two goons ran up to Koda with vibroknives, aiming for the gaps in his armor. He pointed his right arm towards them and unleashed a torrent of flames, their screams distorted by his damaged sensors. He slowly stood up, realizing he would need to get back to Rue, need to get to his brother. He activated his jetpack and flew as fast as he could.
“Hullo there?” Rue called out into the storms and wailing wind, rising from where he’d sat to wait and concentrate upon the weather if need be. He clutched at his chest, stepping out from the ship’s shelter and squinting through the red blasted sand and darkness lit with crackling lightning.
He could sense not just this Trandoshan but multiple other people nearby surrounding the ship. It was difficult for the Kessurian hybrid to hear their heartbeats and judge their health over the tumultuous zephyrs, but the one in front of him was near enough to be clear, and his pulse was elevated. Was it distress?
“Hullo, are you alright?!” Rue tried to raise his voice. “Are you the friend of Danitha with the treasure haul? Her husband is looking for you right now!”
“…Danitha, eh? Sure am,” the figure advanced, stepping up the ramp and shrugging in their heavy cloak. Gray-brown talons clicked against the metal, and a narrow reptilian face with yellow eyes peered back at his saffron ones. “My my, aren’t you shiny as a treasure too…”
“Ah, indeed, Sir, this one has been told so. Are your friends also coming in? Please, we would invite them, to shelter from the storm.”
“Yeah, yeah, sounds right good.” They gave a sharp whistle, and soon other cloaked figures emerged to gather up. Many wore roughshod armor and were armed. They leered. “Come on in, lads, we got company. Give our thanks to Danica.”
Rue paused, fidgeting. “…d-did Sir mean Danitha?”
The Trandoshan’s hand went to his blaster quickly.
Dread pooled in the hybrid’s stomach. He said, “Of course, this way, come in.”
Then he turned and scurried for the ladder, intent to get to the button that would close the blast doors to the hangar. A grip on his long braid yanked him back, drawing a repressed cry from the man.
“Now now, poppet…”
The Trandoshan hissed with an evil grin, dragging Rue, “Treasure don’ belong in the cockpit.” The two of them would hear some screams and a heavy thud against the side of the ship, causing the pirate to turn with a growl and throwing Rue to the side and into a wall. Facing him from the ramp was a helmetless Koda, blood running down from the right side of his temple and his eyes filled with rage. He was breathing heavily and in an aggressive stance, his left robotic hand clentched and his right gripping his hammer. The hook of his hammer had been bent out and was covered in blood, having been used as a piercing tool.
“Stay away from my family you filth!” Koda roared and closed the gap between himself and the Trandoshan. The two of them exchanged heavy blows. Koda struck first, striking an amplified blast right into the chest of the pirate who let out a pained gasp. Before Koda could strike again, he returned the blow with his fist, right into Koda’s armor, before slashing at Koda’s face with his claws. While staggered, Koda couldn’t block and he cried out in pain as the left side of his face, including his eye, was slashed and he fell to the ground, his hammer clattering away.
“You will make a great trophy on my wall, right next to the shiny poppet.” The Trandoshan taunted, walking towards Koda, who was gripping the side of his face and crawling back. “I do like my prey….vulnerable.” He reached down and lifted Koda back up and hissed again.
“We share that in common…” Koda barely managed to say, pulling the knife off of the Trandoshan’s belt and stabbing it into the beast. It let out a painful roar and dropped Koda. Koda responded by grabbing the shoulders of him and throwing him towards the ramp and out of the ship but the Trandoshan grabbed onto the doorframe, leaving scratch marks. Koda pulled Due Process from his hoster and aimed it at the Trandoshans head. “Get off my ship.” He said sternly, pulling the trigger. The right side of the Trandoshan’s face took the full force of the blast and flew out of the ship. Koda quickly closed the door and went to check on Rue, ignoring his own pain and damage, “Are you hurt?”
“Koda!” Rue exclaimed, pushing himself up. His own healing factor was already in effect, the sinew and skin of his cut head and montrals knitting over, his metallic blood glimmering on his skin and white dress, an echo. “This one is alright, let me heal you, please!”
“Getting out of here, first,” insisted the Mandalorian, pulling his brother upright by the hand and heading for the cockpit.
“Koda, please. I can do it, you have a cranial contusion and occipital avulsion and concussion, every second you refuse reduces the chance I can fully regenerate your vision, you cannot fly, Elly says so, only safe flying, I said–” the trembling, begging hybrid finally seized onto Koda’s arm, twisting up their legs together as the Mandalorians had begun to show him. He was barely a waif of any weight, but he dragged his brother to a stop and pushed against his chest, a feral hiss of Mando'a leaving his mouth around fangs he never ever bared. “STOP, IDIOT!”
Immediately after he froze, looking horrified, but through his pained haze Koda smiled and laughed, wheezing.
“Now you’re really family, calling me that. I’m so proud of you, Rue. Okay, but be quick.”
The hybrid didn’t even need to touch; he simply concentrated and directed the Force to bloom and grow inside Koda, repairing blood vessels, regenerating blood, relieving cranial pressure. His split eye healed back over, but the iris had clouded and scar tissue remained from the rapid repair.
“Okay,” Rue announced when he was done, and Koda found pain gone and the world much clearer, if dark on one side. The hybrid sagged. “I’m sorry, your eye…this is this one’s fault.”
“No, Rue. It’s that piece of o'sik’s. Now let’s get home.” He grinned. “Dani is gonna kill me, it’s a good thing she likes scars.”
“I will revive you if so.”
“Oh, that’s rad.”
“What is rad…”
The two climbed to the cockpit, navigating away from Nancora, empty-handed but together.