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This was it. No way out. Yara hated the idea of giving up, but she was a realist. She had been in enough firefights to know when it was a no-win situation. "Get out of here," she told The Mandalorian. 

He just tightened his grip on her, shielding her as best he could. 

"There's no reason for you to die with us," she said, but it was clear he either couldn't hear her or he wasn't going to listen. 

Suddenly an explosion took out one of the hunters over their shoulder. Yara's head snapped to the side and her eyes widened a second before a Mandalorian in a jet pack appeared, landing beside them. More came into view, shooting and taking out the hunters that surrounded them. There were a couple dozen of them coming to their aid. She hadn't realized there were that many Mandalorians left in the galaxy, let alone here on Nevarro.

A heavy infantry Mandalorian landed beside them, effortlessly touching down in his jet pack. "Get out of here," he called to her Mandalorian. How quickly Yara had started to think of him as her Mandalorian. "We'll hold them off," the heavy infantry Mandalorian said.

"You're going to have to relocate the covert," her Mandalorian warned.

"This is the Way," the other one said.

"This is the Way," her Mandalorian responded and he inclined his head to the other man.

Her Mandalorian reached down and grabbed her hand, pulling her up after him. He pushed her ahead of him, so his back was to the hunters in case anyone got a shot off. Most of them however were either fighting the Mandalorians or were actively fleeing from the renowned warriors. The two of them ran for it.

"There!" he called pointing to an older looking metal ship parked on the edge of town.

Yara ran for all she was worth, holding the child against her chest. The two of them ran up the ramp and paused, fighting to catch their breath. Yara leaned against the wall as her limbs trembled and sweat ran down her back. The Mandalorian breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to close the ramp. The controls were just beside her and she only caught his movement out of the corner of her eye. Yara flinch as though he may strike her and she swung around with her blaster still in her hand.

"Hey, hey," the Mandalorian said holding his empty hands up. "You're safe," he promised her. "Remember. I saved you."

Yara lowered her blaster. She was a little embarrassed by her reaction and covered her discomfort with a confident snort. "More like I saved you," she countered. "Did you even have a plan for getting out of there?" she asked. "Or was it just going to be a suicide run?" 

The Mandalorian cocked his head to the side. Staring at the small woman in surprise. She wasn't what he expected. As a prisoner she had looked thin and small and weak. In less than an hour's time he was realizing he had judged her wrong on all accounts. She was a strange combination of vulnerability, strength, and astonishing skill.

"How about we call it even," he said, his voice a low rumble through his modulator. 

Yara nodded begrudgingly. She turned to look around the small ship. It was quite a bit smaller than her family's freighter, despite it being an older ship it was clean and clearly well cared for.  Together they walked deeper into the ship. The Mandalorian reached out to the controls to close the ramp. Yara closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to get her heart to stop pounding so hard, but as soon as her eyes closed she saw a flash of a blaster.

"Wait!" she called and whipped around just in time to see Greef Kargan step out behind the Mandalorian and aim his blaster at the other man's chest. The Mandalorian shifted his weight, putting himself between Greef and the woman.

"Hold it Mando," Greef called. He hadn't noticed the small woman standing behind The Mandalorian yet. "I didn't want it to come to this, but then you broke the code."

The Mandalorian tipped his helmet ever so slightly her way. Greef didn't know she was there. Yara raised her blaster so it was aiming over his shoulder. His broad shoulders were blocking Greef's view of her as he focused on The Mandalorian, clearly the most dangerous person in the room. 

The Mandalorian fired his grappling hook at the controls for his carbonite unit. Steam filled the room and Yara fired a single shot blindly through the steam. It hit Greef square in the chest over his heart, a nearly impossible shot to make.

The Mandalorian stepped over to the guildmaster and stared down at him. The woman's shot had caught Greef directly in the heart. He was impressed but he didn't say anything. They needed to get out of there. He rolled the body down the ramp and closed it. 

The Mandalorian led the way up into the cockpit and Yara followed, holding the small child in her arms. He dropped down into the seat and fired up the engines. Yara sat uncomfortably in the passenger seat just over his left shoulder. There was another seat over his right shoulder as well, but that was it. His ship was not made to carry many passengers or with comfort in mind.

They lifted off and as they headed for the upper atmosphere a Mandalorian appeared flying beside them with a jetpack. He saluted them and The Mandalorian snorted. "I gotta get me one of those," he muttered. He flew for several minutes in silence, but he could feel the young woman's quiet presence behind him. He didn't like having strangers near him or in his space, and even though she was being quiet and respectful it made him uncomfortable. 

He didn't look at her as he continued to pilot. "What's your name?" The Mandalorian asked gruffly.

"Yara," she said. "What should I call you?" Yara asked after a moment. She knew the legends of the Mandalorians, but she didn't know how much was fact and how much was dependent on the individual clans.

"Most people call me Mando," he replied briskly.

Yara nodded. Short for Mandalorian. She wondered what happened when there was more than one Mandalorian in a place. Of course since the purge perhaps that wasn't as big of a concern.

"Thank you for your help," The Mandalorian said stiffly. "Can I take you someplace?"

Yara frowned, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. "I don't know," she said honestly. "I don't have anywhere to go."

"A home?" The Mandalorian prompted. Although he was speaking to her, he still hadn't turned to face her.

Yara shook her head. "My home was my family's freighter."

"Family?" he asked.

"The family business wasn't the safest," she confessed. "Those that were left were killed by the Imperials when they took me," she told him.

"Why did they have you there?" He asked. His helmet tipping to the side.

Yara chewed on her lip debating how best to explain. Honestly, it sounded crazy even to her, she couldn't imagine what he would think. "I-they say, I can see the future," she said.

"The future?" He asked in disbelief. Then he fell silent as he thought back to all of the moments in the fight where it seemed as though she knew things were happening before he did. Had she known they would happen before they had even occurred? The timing of it was too chaotic to be sure.

"Well, sort of," she confessed. "They said I could. It's hard to explain. I can't really see the future, I just have good instincts, sometimes I get a feeling, you know?"

"Like that hunter," Mando said, remembering back to the one who almost got him. If it hadn't been for Yara he would have been a smear on the inside of that speeder. 

Yara nodded and rubbed at her head as though she had a headache. "The drugs they gave me make it worse. Make it harder to block out."

"What about the kid?" Mando asked. This was probably the longest conversation he had ever had with anybody not in the covert. He typically wasn't much of a conversationalist, but he needed to know what exactly he had gotten himself into. 

Yara wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered. The inside of the ship was cool, and the white medical jumpsuit they had kept her in didn't do much to ward off the chill. "I'm not sure what he can do, but it must be something. I don't know why else they would have had him there. They were very excited when he was brought in. Much more interested in him than they ever were in me." 

"How long did they have you?" He asked.

Yara looked down at her hands. "I-" she started to say and stopped. "I don't know. A long time," her voice was small and exhausted. 

The Mandalorian turned to face her for the first time. During their escape, with the adrenaline surging, she had looked fierce and determined. Now that they were safe, he could see the exhaustion on her face and a fine tremble had started in her hands. "Why don't you use the fresher and try to get some sleep," he suggested gruffly. 

Yara nodded as tears burned the backs of her eyes. Even as gruff as he was it was the first kindness anyone had shown her in as long as she could remember. She swiped at her face in embarrassment. 

"Fresher's at the bottom of the ladder," he told her. 

"Thank you," Yara said and slipped down the ladder back into the cargo hold. 

The ship wasn't large. As far as she could tell there were two crew quarters, although they looked barely large enough for the beds that were inside. There was a small fresher and a weapons cabinet. Most of the ship was composed of the cargo hold which was about a quarter full of crates of supplies. There was also the cryo unit on one wall and a rack to store the carbonite encasements. From what she could see Mando lived a Spartan lifestyle.

The fresher was pure heaven. It had been ages since Yara had enjoyed something as luxurious as warm water. When she got out she wrapped a towel around herself. She scrubbed a hand across the mirror. She didn't look like herself. Her wet hair was slicked back from her face. Her face seemed too narrow, her skin sallow and pale, and there were dark bags under her eyes. She pulled back on the stark white medical jumpsuit the Imps had kept her in, wishing she had anything else to wear. 

She slid opened the door of the fresher and stepped back out into the cargo hold. Now that she was clean and warm Yara's eyes felt heavy. There was movement behind her and she whipped around, her adrenaline spiking, to see Mando. 

"You can stay here," he said gesturing to the spare bunk, the child was already laying on the bottom corner of the bed, fast asleep. "I left some nutrition packs on the bed," he said.

Now that she was cleaned up it became painfully obvious to Mando just how beautiful Yara was. She was small and lean with long flowing dark hair and violet eyes that were just a little too large for her face. Her skin was almost unearthly pale, but it had been a long time since she had seen the sun.

"Thank you," Yara called gently behind her and she sat down on the bed and devoured the first nutrition pack. She hesitated as she looked at the second. Her stomach was cramping painfully from having real, solid food, but she didn't want to seem greedy. She lifted her eyes sheepishly.

"Go ahead," Mando said motioning to it. "There's plenty in the hold."

Yara smiled gratefully and snatched up the second one. She forced herself to move slowly so she could actually taste the food this time. Once her stomach was full she found herself drifting off almost immediately as she leaned against the pillow. The adrenaline from the escape had kept the effects of the drugs at bay; but she still had a lot in her system.

"Why don't you get some rest," Mando suggested.

She nodded and curled up on the bed. The child was already asleep. She reached over and touched his back. His chest rose and fell steadily under her hand. Content that he was okay, she let her eyes drift shut.

Mando stood in the doorway and watched as his two charges fell asleep. Somehow in all of this he had ended up with not one, but two of the ex-Imperials most wanted. He let out a tired sigh and turned to head back to the cockpit. The Mandalorians had risked a great deal today to help him save them, he only hoped he could live up to their sacrifice.

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A couple hours later a whimper pulled Yara from her sleep. She climbed to her feet and moved over to where the child was whimpering in it's sleep as though he were caught in a nightmare. She lifted the small child into her arms, cuddling it to her chest and rocking him. He blinked his big blacks eyes up at her.

"We're safe now," she told him, hoping she was right. "The Mandalorian came and rescued us." She began to hum softly as she swayed. The child cooed appreciatively and curled deeper into her chest, yawning adorably before closing his eyes and relaxing once more in her arms.

Mando stood in the doorway, silently watching Yara care for the child. He had heard the kid whimper and had come down to try and keep him from waking Yara, but she was already holding and cooing to the kid. Watching her he wasn't sure what he would have done to reassure the kid. Probably not the right thing. He had not been around children in the entire time he had been with the Mandalorians. 

Yara however, seemed to know exactly what to do. Her long dark hair hung over one shoulder as she spoke quietly to the child. He heard her promise him that they were safe now. Mando swallowed thickly beneath his helmet, hoping that was true. If the two of them were as prized as it seemed, he had no doubt they were going to end up with every Imp in the parsec after them.

He watched Yara silently. Now that she had rested she seemed better. Her movements were more fluid. The drugs she had mentioned had been affecting her much more than he had realized. She laid her head against the child's head and hummed to him. As he fell asleep she slowly lowered him back down onto the bed. She stood over him with her hand resting on his back, making sure he didn't wake. Once she was sure he was going to stay sleeping she slowly backed away, keeping her eyes on the sleeping child. 

"Couldn't sleep Mando?" She asked and when she turned she was grinning at him, pleased with herself for catching him when he had been trying so hard to stay quiet.

He shifted his weight, as though it bothered him to have been caught. Yara was impressed by how silently someone covered in metal could move. Even with the drugs slowly leaving her system however, she had been able to feel him. There was something about him, he filled the air with crackling energy and yet outwardly he seemed so calm.

"I don't sleep much," he told her and he turned to head back to the cockpit.

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Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed the update!