The dark-skinned man in black armor took a step forward, rotating the Darksaber in his hand. Meanwhile, his black-armored troopers stayed in a line, their blaster rifles trained on us.

"Who are you, and how do you know who I am?" I demanded.

"My name is Gideon. Imperial ISB agent." the man said in a devious voice. "I fought against your kind in the great Mandalorian Purge." He gestured to the soldiers standing behind him. "These very men laid waste to hundreds of Mandalorian warriors, including many of the Vizsla clan."

"I don't understand," Chyla said, confused. "Our intel-"

Gideon cut her off. "Yes, your intel did tell you the Darksaber was here. Unfortunately for you, that was a trap."

I threw aside the fake Darksaber. It was all lies. I thought. I came here for nothing.

"How dare you wield that saber!" Ryke yelled angrily. "That blade is only fit to be wielded by the hands of a Mandalorian!"

Gideon laughed. "Really? If I am not mistaken, your clan stood by while the outsider known as Darth Maul wielded the Darksaber. Surely, he was not fit to wield it either?"

Ryke growled angrily, glaring at Gideon. He's gonna get himself killed if we don't do something. I thought.

"We should be leaving now." I whispered to Chyla, but just loud enough that Gideon could hear it.

"I don't think so." Gideon sneered, and then lowered the Darksaber to point it at us. "You three are going to die here, by this blade. What an ironic death that would be?"

As he approached us with the Darksaber in his hands, I looked around for something- anything- that could be used against its blade.

Then, my eyes fell on the trophy wall.

I shot a grappling hook from my gauntlet, which wrapped itself around one of the hilts hanging from the wall, and flung it back towards me. I took the object in my hand, and flicked the switch. Two golden blades hummed to life on both ends of the saber, just in time for me to block Gideon's swing.
As I held him at bay, I turned to Ryke and Chyla. "Go!" I shouted. "I'll hold him off!"

The two of them ran, and in the background I could see the squadron of troopers turn and start to fire at them, and the two Mandalorians returned fire.

I pressed a strong blow, knocking Gideon back. I spun the blade in my hand, before going in for a jab, which he blocked. He made a circle-swing in the air, then went for my head. I ducked under the blade, which just barely clipped my helmet. With a quick and short swing, I cut into Gideon's side, just barely.
"AGH!" He snarled, the wound not big enough to be fatal, yet still as painful.

With a sweeping motion of my legs, I knocked him off his feet, then raised the saber to stab it straight into Gideon's chest.

Suddenly, he drew a blaster pistol, and fired it straight into my chest, sending me flying backwards. The blast didn't kill me, fortunately, because of my armor, but the pain still felt as if the bolt had gone through me.

I groaned, knocked to the ground, until rapid footsteps approaching told me Gideon was back on his feet. He swung the Darksaber back down at me again, and I rolled out of the way, getting back up and swinging the dual golden blades at him.

He pulled the Darksaber out of the ground, and held it up, blocking the blow. I swung at him four more times, each time just as unsuccessful as the last.

I swung a fifth time, and he suddenly moved out of the way, then sliced at my wrists.

Quickly, I pulled my arms back to avoid the blow, but not fast enough.

The Darksaber swiped, and cut clean through the saber I held.

The saber was halved. The blade dispersed as one half fell to the floor, and the other remained in my hand.

"Krypto!" I heard Chyla shout in concern. Then, Gideon was assaulted by a volley of blaster bolts, four of which he managed to deflect. The fifth blaster bolt caught Gideon in the shoulder. Chyla's hands came down on my shoulder, then her voice.
"C'mon. We have to go."
I nodded, and activated my comlink to contact R5. "R-Five, We need a quick exit!" I shouted. R5 beeped in response, and a hole was suddenly blasted into the side of the building. Our ship hovered outside the hole, the ramp lowered for us to board.

"Come on, let's go!" Ryke shouted, and jumped through the hole onto the ship.

Chyla and I approached hole, and got up onto the outside of the building to jump.

But before we could, I heard the screaming engines of a TIE fighter. I looked, and could see the fighter approaching fast.

"TIE fighter!" Ryke shouted, but it was too late. The craft had already unleashed a volley of glowing green bolts, blasting into the side of the building.

Chyla and I were flung from the building, and fell down into the city streets below.

As we fell, speeder reered past, and we suddenly hit a cloth awning, which slowed our fall. Then, another, and then I hit the ground, back first.

Chyla landed on top of me, her helmet fell off, putting us into an awkward position.

She groaned in pain, shaking her head, then she realized how we had landed, and her eyes widened.

"Sorry!" I said quickly, and she pushed herself off of me, not saying anything.

I stood up, and looked skyward at the buildings towering and speeders flying overhead. "How far down do you think we are?" I asked, looking back down at her.

"I don't know..." Her voice trailed off as she put her helmet back on. "I'd rather not think about it right now."

I looked down at the ground, and saw the halved lightsaber I had been using to fight Gideon. This might come in handy... I thought, and reached down to pick it up, then clipped it to my belt.

"Come on." Chyla said, her hand suddenly on my shoulder. "We have to keep moving, before they find us."

"R-right." I said, slightly entranced by her touch.

As I followed her through the lower city streets, which were covered in strange citizens of various races, neon signs, and various trash, I slapped myself in the face.

Stop being enamoured by her! I yelled in my head. You fell in love once before, and look what happened!

An image of Bo Katan with a smoldering hole in her face flashed through my mind, and I shook the thought away.

I won't let that happen again. I told myself.

"Not this time."

"What?" Chyla asked, and I realized I had said that part out loud.

"Huh? Oh, n-nothing." I stuttered.

"Can you try contacting your droid?" She changed the topic. "Maybe you can have him come pick us up."

I tried my comlink, and nothing came out but static. "Nothing." I said, "That means we're either being jammed, or R-five took off and jumped to hyperspace."

Chyla stopped. "What?" She said, slight anger in her tone.

"I said, he might have-"

She cut me off, grabbing me and pushing me into a nearby alleyway.

"He might have taken off, and jumped into hyperspace!?" I could tell she was angry.

"He's a smart droid!" I said defensively. "He knows when to value his safety over mine!"

"HIS safety!?" She said, her voice getting angrier by the second. "What about your safety? He's your droid, he should be loyal to you!"

I was getting a bit angry at her now, and I forced her off me. "Look, to me, he's more than just a droid. He's a person, with his own life and personality. Plus, think about if they capture him. They'd be able to pull his memory core and find all our secrets."

She stepped back, looking hurt.

"Chew on that." I said, before storming off.

"Krypto, wait!" She called, but I was already out of the alley and down the street. "Krypto!"

I felt bad about leaving her. I didn't mean to be rude, but she had pushed me too far. Finally, I decided to turn around and address her.

"Chyla-" I started, but she cut me off.

"Krypto." She said, her tone was now more soft. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were like that about droids..."

"Chyla." I interrupted her. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" she asked.

"I-"

"Hey, you two!" A voice from behind stopped us, and we turned around to see the crowd had dispersed, and two white-clad stormtroopers stood in the wake, blasters raised. "Stop right there!"

We didn't hesitate to run.

"Stop!" the stormtroopers called from behind. "You are violating the law!"

We kept running, through crowds of people, until we found a more empty part of town.

"This way!" I said, pointing to an alley. We rushed down the alley, but found it was a dead end.

"Frack!" I cursed, and we turned around to see the stormtroopers standing at the entrance of the alleyway, their rifles pointed at us.

"Halt!" one of them said. "We're going to take you in."

Suddenly, the sound of a blaster discharging twice came from behind the stormtroopers, and the two of them fell to the ground, dead.

Behind where they had stood was a Trandoshan, carrying a heavy blaster in their hands.

A very familiar Trandoshan.

"Jessika?" I said, surprised. "Jessika Talbur?"

The lizard nodded. "You need to come with me."