CHAPTER NINETEEN. 

THE ONSLAUGHT

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TESS' HAIR WHIPPED about her face as they sped off through the grey canyons of Nevarro. 

Dust flew behind them, dark clouds enveloping the brilliant blue sky as they wound in between the stone and boulders. It looked as if the chasms had been molded out of clay, clumped together by an unforgiving hand, welded into a facade of sturdy ash. These rocks were a stark change to what Tess had known on Tatooine, where the umber and burnt orange faces held a history burdened by time. Those canyons were home to monsters and prey alike, fighting over one another to gain dominance of an ancient home.

Here, everything was quieter, more peaceful. Tess did not believe there were leviathans hiding in the rock face, and nor did she think they had been there for over a millennia. This place was new, fresh, like a just-born baby finding their footing in an unforgiving world.

Tess squirmed in her seat to get a better look of the place around her. She sat in the back of the speeder, squished between the Mandalorian and Greef, who kept glancing between the two. Her hands were in her lap, shoulders hunched, but her head was held high and proud.

Memories of Tess and Mando's conversation still stung to think about, and every time he glanced her way, Tess would look at something far off in the distance, becoming keenly interested in a phantom not really there.

Greef and Cara shared a look from where the strongly built woman sat beside Mythrol in the front. They knew what had happened between the girl and her caregiver, having heard snippets of the argument when they came out of the clerical building.

Mando shifted from where he sat, heart heavy. Tess couldn't so much as look at him, and every time he craned his neck to see her, she would feign disinterest. It made his stomach squirm. He cursed himself for being so reckless, knowing it was the wrong choice to ask Tess about Trask. The girl wasn't necessarily known for being the most open person, and he wasn't sure why he'd decided to try his luck when she was clearly not in the mood to answer personal questions.

The Mandalorian thought the reason he'd asked her was because in these last few days, since the fall on the ice planet, Tess had slowly been changing. She'd been opening up, telling him about her parents' old saying, and she'd smiled, something he thought he'd never see. Tess was cracking, peeled back, and he'd thought that meant she would be honest with him, telling him the truth, explaining what was bothering her.

Clearly, he'd been mistaken. He'd made everything worse.

"The whole base is powered by a reactor." Greef broke the silence, talking over Tess' head towards the Mandalorian. The two others in the back turned to Magistrate. Greef didn't know how Tess' gaze could make him feel like he was drowning, but he tried not to look at her as they explained the rest of the plan.

"We sneak in, overload the reactor, and get the hell outta there." Cara finished, and Tess was already working out the plans in her head. She thought of her goggles, used for all her mechanical endeavours, now burnt to a crisp at her destroyed forge. How she wished for the comforting pair of plastic to be on her head of dying curls. She always worked better when she had them close, and the loss of such a precious item caused firecrackers to burst inside her chest.

"Let's be fast." the Mandalorian spoke up. "And keep the speeder running." this was directed to Mythrol, who was glancing nervously from the steering wheel. Tess raised an eyebrow at his squeamish demeanor, recognizing the hurried breaths and darting eyes. The children at Mos Pelgo would always give her that look when she walked down the street towards the bar where the Marshal was inside.

Greef leaned in, head banging against Tess' as both men on either side of her crammed in to look between Cara and Mythrol. Tess grumbled in annoyance, but her attention was snagged by the large contraption ahead of them, buislt into the rock face.

"There it is," Greef pointed. "Right there."

Up ahead, the large cascading structure rose up into the dark sky, a swirling construction of metal and wires. The building was hard to perceive, coloured to fit in with the landscape around it, but Tess' eyes were keen, and she was able to discern the angular turrets and platforms from her spot in the back.

"You see it?" Tess nodded, and the Mandalorian looked at her in mild amusement as her nose scrunched and her eyes narrowed, a clear sign she was thinking about something deeply. He just hoped it was something good.

"How close you want me to drop you off?" Mythrol spoke up, voice jittery. Tess knocked her arm into Mando's side as she pulled them out of the tight spot between the two, bringing them to cross over her chest, subsequently hitting both men with her sharp elbows. The girl seemed to be made of all right angles. Sharp and scrawny, as if she'd been crafted by the hands of a relentless sculptor, chipping away the slab until there was barely anything left to call human.

"How 'bout the front door?" Greef replied abruptly, his tone dark. Tess noticed that while Greef was jovial around the town and her, he seemed to have another side to him, obscure and threatening. Tess remembered Mando telling her about how Greef used to work for the Guild, a group of Bounty Hunters, and it seemed that side hadn't left him when the planet was reformed following the attack on Nevarro.

"It's a little close for a civilian, isn't it?" Mythrol said, his hands clutching the steering so tight his sapphire skin turned to ivory.

"I got two choices for ya." Greef answered. "You take us in and I knock a hundred years off your debt." Tess lifted an eyebrow, smirk playing on her lips.

"Or?" Mythrol asked hopefully.

"Or I leave ya out here in the lava flats to walk home with whatever's left of your humidity vest." Tess' eyes widened at his words, smile falling off her lips, replaced with a frown. She leaned closer to the Mandalorian, gaze slightly panicked.

"Lava flats?" she asked him.

Mando craned his neck towards her, looking down. "We'll be fine." this did nothing to stop the quickening beat of her heart, but Tess said nothing more as Mythrol and Greef continued to battle it out.

"It's not much of a choice, is it?" Mythrol said solemnly, and Cara scoffed from beside him. Tess looked between the two, admiring the way Greef didn't back down. She was starting to like him and Cara a lot more.

They arrived near the edge of the establishment not five minutes later, the speeder coming to a slow and steady halt near the door. Tess fidgeted with her fingers, rubbing the tense muscles between her knuckles as everyone sat straighter, pulling out their blasters. Seeing the black glint of the weapons in everyone's hand made a round of nausea roll through her, memories of the feeling of the same gun in her own hands. Pointed at two men watching helplessly on the ground, staring into a barrel that could end their life in an instant.

It made her sick.

"All right, we can't go any further than this." Mythrol spoke quietly.

Tess rolled her eyes as they came to a complete stop, and everyone began to jump out. She rolled her shoulders back and clung onto each side of the vehicle, heaving to the ground and landing with a not-so-graceful clunk. The Mandalorian —who's hand had been outstretched in case she required assistance— landed back at his side.

In his mind, the Mandalorian was screaming for her to get back in the speeder, where she would —hopefully— be safer than inside the building. He wanted her back in the town, learning beside the child in the school. But Tess had made it very clear that she was coming on this mission, and he wasn't about to get into another argument.

"Let's go." Greef called out, and they wandered closer to the door in front of the speeder. Tess looked up to see the jutted bridge above their heads, abandoned guns marking each side. She could also see several support vehicles parked in the hangar, but most were covered with tarps that blew in the midday breeze. The quiet was palpable, and while it should have been a good sign that the place was surely harmless, it did nothing to ease the panic in her heart.

Tess made her way over the control panel to the side of the door, cutting Mando off mid-stride. She bent over and fiddled with the buttons, but the circuitry was a mess, and it looked as if half the panel had been burnt off.

Lava flats, the words swam through her mind, and Tess shivered as she got back up. "The controls are useless." Mando grimaced under his helmet at her words. "They seem to be... melted."

Greef simply nodded in front of her. "Well, it's probably not rated for lava."

"Imperial trash." Cara concluded from behind them. Tess smirked. Mando stepped forward, turning his head upward, and Tess sub-consciously wandered with him.

"All right," Mythrol piped up from where he still sat in the speeder. "Hit me up on the comm, we could set up a rendezvous time." he turned on the engine once more, but before the fish-man could escape, Greef spoke up.

"You park your gills right there until I say otherwise," he warned.

"I'm starting to dehydrate, boss." Mythrol responded, making his voice soft, as if that would help his excuse.

"Okay, how does 30 more years off your debt sound?" Greef reasoned, and Tess frowned slightly. She slightly wished that Greef and Cara would just let the blue creature go and come back, instead of staying with them. He seemed like a useless sort, a constant complainer, and someone who liked to talk, all things Tess despised with a passion.

Mythrol paused for a second, then said. "Can you at least be quick about it?" Mando raised a hand to stop Tess from stepping over and strangling the man.

"You want us to be quick?" she growled, and Mythrol seemed to shrink under her gaze of steel. "Bring me the flange cutter." Mythrol gulped. "Now." everyone paused, staring at the girl clasped in Mando's arms. She seemed to burn brighter than any star in the sky, untamable as fire, yet as cold as ice. A paradox. Both Greef and Cara scrunched their eyebrows, unable to figure her out. She seemed to be soft when they'd first arrived, uncertain, but... soft. The hard edges of her heart and features were tamed as they'd walked through the streets of the reformed town. Despite her cold exterior, both could see something deeper inside Tess. Something... heartwarming.

That warmth was gone now.

Mythrol got out of the speeder without any more objection, hesitantly handing the cutter to Tess, flinching when her cold skin touched his own. Mando let Tess pass, and she walked haltingly over to the door, silently beginning her work. Everyone behind her was silent.

Tess grumbled as the sparks flew about her face, her mouth puckering in frustration as the wires jumbled up at the front. She sighed and knelt down, metal leg creaking, to get a better look.

"This is a nightmare." she mumbled to herself. The Mandalorian looked over to her, seeing the frustration plain on her face. Eyes narrowed, Tess was too concentrated on the panel to notice the way he stared between her to Greef and Cara. Sighing to himself, glancing up to the turret, the Mandalorian ignited his jetpack, seeing a way out of their present predicament.

Tess turned sharply when the roaring engines of the pack flew past her ears. Under his helmet, the Mandalorian's eyes met hers, and he winced at the fire in her pupils. It was the first time he'd done so since Tatooine. Since before all the dangers and quarrels they had endured together. It felt like a sin to look away now, to have his eyes burn from gazing into Tess'. It felt like two steps forward, three steps back.

An unraveling of everything they'd built.

The Mandalorian took off into the sky, a jet of flames spewing behind him, making smoke rise up into the fresh air. Tess scrunched her nose at the putrid smell, memories of the dust and ash in the wake of the battle with the Krayt Dragon, where her limbs were lead and her heart was blistered raw.

Another wave of sickness passed through her stomach, a wave of nausea she couldn't keep down. As if answering to the Universe's beck and call, Tess' leg gave a horrible jerk, and her knees buckled under. Tess swore out loud, causing Greef to give a disapproving shake of the head, while Cara swooped over and kept the little girl from dropping to the ground. Tess' eyes tried not to flinch as one of the screws in her leg seized up. She looked down at the metal, seeing the rust she'd tried ever so hard to get rid of back on Trask.

"Easy, easy." Cara said as Tess bit the bottom of her lip, the flange cutter falling limply to her side. Tess eased away from Cara's grip, rolling her shoulders back.

"I'm fine." she said through gritted teeth. "I can do it." She tugged her wrist back and stepped forward, and even Mythrol was hesitant to move out of the way. Cara pursed her lips as Tess went back to working on the console.

I can do it, I can do it, Tess spoke to herself, her head beginning to throb as she pushed the situation with her leg away. She didn't know why it was deciding to act up now, when the entire day it hadn't been so much as an ache at the back of her mind. She'd pushed it away, declaring it not to matter. It seemed she shouldn't have, because now the ache and tear was as bad as on Tatooine, in the sand and storm.

Her teeth grazed the inside of her cheek, biting down hard on the soft flesh. Her hands shook slightly at all that was happening, the present circumstances punching her in the gut, becoming clear for the first time since leaving the town. She'd wanted not to be alone, not left to fend for herself in a town she did not understand.

But now, as the flange cutter did nothing to help the console, Tess cursed herself for being so naive. Now she was stuck in the middle of a range of mountains with a lava storm on the way, trying to break into a fortress made by the Old Empire, still occupied by a skeleton crew that most likely would try to kill them on sight.

Gods, Tess thought, her face darkening, heart beating rapidly under her rib-cage of glowing bone. What have I done?

"How long is this gonna take?" Cara asked softly, without a hint of venom in her tone.

Tess whirled around to Mythrol, who flinched under her gaze. "This cutter is useless." she said plainly, gesturing to the tool still in her nimble fingers. "I could go faster if it wasn't a piece of junk."

"Hey!" Mythrol exclaimed. "This type is rated for light plumbing and such." Tess rolled her eyes. "You're lucky I even packed it at all."

"Yeah," Tess said under her breath. "Really lucky." Both Greef and cara gave her amused looks, while Mythrol didn't seem to hear. Tess leaned over again and continued her work, with no hope at all she would be able to get the door open.

"Dank Farrik." she heard Cara say quietly.

The light sound of a scream made all four look up. Tess' eyes widened as a white blur fell down from above, and she moved just in time before the stormtrooper landed with a hard crunch. Tess stumbled back, her eyes grazing over the pale armor and black indents. The soldier of death. Tyranny in human form. She hadn't seen such a thing in years, hadn't met one of it's kind since that fateful day she'd tried so hard to forget.

Tess' lungs froze.

No one noticed how stoic she'd become, as the door behind them dinged open, revealing the elevator inside. They all walked in quickly, Tess making sure she went right to the back, farthest away from the dead trooper.

Greef motioned to Mythrol, who stayed outside. "Are you comin' in or what?"

"I'll take my chances out here, but thank you." he responded.

Cara went forward. "Well, when the lava tide comes in, give us a holler." Tess gulped. "We'll drop you a rope." She'd never felt so out of place, so filled with regret.

She should have stayed in the town.

Mythrol opened and closed his mouth like a dying fish before dropping the flange cutter Tess had handed him, and walked inside. Greef pressed the controls, and soon they were gliding up through each level, right to the top where Mando had disappeared. Tess kept silent, her blood roaring in her ears. Cara and Greef had their blasters out, and Tess held on to the small stun revolver Mando had provided her their first stay on Trask, hiding it in the coat pocket when she'd been half-frozen in the ice.

The weapon was nothing like a blaster, small and compact, and most of all, it could not kill.

Her leg gave another twinge as the doors slid open at the top. Greef and Cara raised their weapons and Tess' gloved hands curled around the stunner. Up ahead, the Mandalorian turned to them, his blaster also at his side.

When he saw Tess at the back of the elevator, pale with one hand dug into her coat pocket, his heart sunk. When he'd flown up there, the Mandalorian had half wished Mythrol would be too cowardly to come with them, and instead take Tess in the speeder back to town until they called on them again.

The revelation that there were in fact troopers in the base made his stomach clench, knowing now it was a bad idea for him to let Tess come. While she was useful, her mechanical expertise no doubt coming in handy, she was still only a child, a child who despised fighting, and now this base that should have been abandoned was teeming with soldiers looking for a battle.

"I thought you said it was an empty base?" Tess stated as she limped out with the rest. It was as if she'd read his mind, and the Mandalorian walked closer to the group, blaster still in hand.

His voice shook slightly as he said. "It is now." The words did nothing to quell the clenching in both their hearts, but neither let it show, pulling down a mask of indifference, as always. Cara walked over to the edge of the dock, peering over the edge down to the jagged rock face. Tess made sure to keep her distance, and instead walked beside Greef over to Mando.

"The reactor should be set in the heat shaft." he said. "If we drain the cooling lines..."

"The whole base will be destroyed." Tess finished for him. Both Mando and Tess looked to the girl sharply, but she didn't apologize for cutting in. Greef raised an eyebrow, impressed that the girl knew so much about the mechanics of the building. While the Mandalorian had told them she was a mechanic back on Tatooine, he wasn't sure to what extent Tess' knowledge went.

Clearly, she knew more than she let on.

"Look," Mythrol said, a little ways away from the group. "It's a mint Trexler Marauder." Cara walked closer to him while Tess looked over the covered up vehicle. "You know how much we could get for this on the Black Market."

"And it's gonna get vaporized like the rest of this base." Mando said, his tone on-edge. "Now, let's go." Tess didn't ask why his voice was as harsh as a shard of glass, only nodded solemnly as the group came together and walked farther into the building.

Quietly, Tess heard Mythrol whine. "Such a waste." before turning back around and following after them.

After the doors opened leading into the base, the group made their way to the control center at the top of the turret. They entered silently into the room, moving like a shadowy entity, hugging the walls as silent predators. The man at the controls was tapping his screen, the camera for the Shuttle boy gone fuzzy and full of static.

It didn't take long for Cara to move across the floor and wrap one of her arms around his neck, pulling the man out of the chair and to ground, where he thrashed and tossed horribly, soon falling unconscious. The Mandalorian and Tess walked over to the panels, and the girl hit the buttons and seesaw switches to turn off all cameras in the base.

Mythrol and Greef searched the body for any useful devices, and soon found a long cylinder made of pure steel.

"This will come in handy." Greef remarked, tucking the key into his pocket.

"We found the heat shaft." the Mandalorian said, turning back around, pulling out his blaster again. Tess did the same, taking out the stun pistol and holding it so tightly in her hands that her knuckles turned white.

The Mandalorian wanted to say something to comfort her, but before he could do anything, the girl called out. "Let's go."

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"The access corridor should be right past this junction." the Mandalorian's hushed voice reverberated around the hall. Tess strolled next to him, her metal leg hitting the ground softly from where her limp was growing steadily worse. Every once in a while, the Mandalorian glanced her way, seeing the hidden winces.

Her leg had gotten worse since leaving the town, but Mando wasn't sure how or why. The girl didn't say anything, so the Mandalorian didn't press on.

"Must've blown a transformer." distance voices reached the groups ears right as they reached the corner, and quickly huddled back as two armour-clad stormtroopers went past. Tess sucked in a breath as their conversing voices went past, so close she could almost feel the singe of a blaster bolt hitting her flesh.

The Mandalorian subconsciously reached his hand down to hold her wrist, and Tess let him. Together, the two walked forward through the hall, sneaking past the troopers walking away, the group following.

They weaved in and out of the passages like a tapestry of yarn and thread, the needle winding the string to finish, to reach it's destination. At last, the needle reached the end, halting at a blocked off door of ashen metal.

"There, Mythrol, slice that door." the Mandalorian called out, keeping Tess from moving forward. She frowned up at him, a protest on her lips, saying she would be able to open it better. The Madnalorian knew this, but he kept her from going forward, knowing that if the door opened and a legion of troopers were behind it, Mando would be able to shield her behind him before the blasts reached them both.

Tess didn't understand why he kept her from helping, but she pursed her lips and stepped back, taking her arm back and crossing them across her chest. Mythrol walked forward, and Greef pulled out the key.

"Use the code cylinder." he said, handing the metal to the fish-man. Mythrol took two swipes at the console, and soon the door ahead of them was opening. Tess tensed behind the Mandalorian, half-closing her eyes, expecting to see a ring of molten ruby coming towards her.

Only nothing did.

Tess opened her eyes again as the metal sang and slunk back into the hidden crevices in the wall. Her eyebrows knitted together as another door confronted them. The Mandalorian's hand went down, blaster coming to his side, as no ivory or black assaulted their eyes. It was dark, with only a little light coming from the glow in the walls, but otherwise, the new corridor was completely empty.

The Mandalorian glanced at her, and the two shared a look before walking forward. Cara and Greef followed after them. The door opened for them with little effort, revealing a wide cavern made of rock and metal.

Tess walked slowly into the space, metal on metal clanging as they made their way onto the platform. Ahead, the catwalk stopped, dropping into the wide pool below. Tess forced herself to follow the Mandalorian towards the edge, making sure to have her hands splayed a little to each side, keeping herself balanced.

The Mandalorian turned back from where he stood on the edge, and without hesitation he reached out a hand. Tess looked at it cautiously, clenching and un-clenching her jaw. A hot wind blew up against her face, ruffling her hair.

Then, without a second thought, Tess took his hand and went the rest of the way to the perimeter of the balcony.

She looked down. 

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AUTHOR'S NOTE. 

IMPORTANT: this chapter is very loosely edited, so if you see any spelling mistakes or strange sentences, my bad, please just try your best to look past them...

Guys, I don't know why, but this chapter was a BEAST to write. It's not at all long, only about 4000 words (whereas these chapters are usually 5000 - 6000) but I literally had so much writers block when writing this chapter... Because of this, I've decided to stop going on an assigned update schedule, so I'll just post chapters when I feel like it. Not to worry though, I'm still gonna try and update every week, but it might take longer some times. 

ANYWAYS, what did you think of this chapter? What are your thoughts, theories, opinions? I would love to know how you liked (or didn't, that's completely fine also) this chapter. As always, don't be afraid to comment, vote, and follow me if you're enjoying this book! <3

Until next time. 

Love, Mal