CHAPTER TWENTY. 

THE DISCOVERY

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Tess had never wanted to be away from heat more than in that moment.

It radiated from beneath her feet, making her hair stick to her neck and sweat drip down her back. Her wool coat was a thermal blanket making her body heat up like a small star was bursting through her body. She still gripped Mando's hand, looking down to see the molten lava bubbling in the canyon below. Her eyes danced over the red and orange liquid spurting and gushing over in a river of red-hot flame.

Her throat was dry, entranced by the terrifying beauty of it, but the heat was what brought her back. That, and the light tug the Mandalorian gave her, worriedly pulling her back from the edge.

Tess whirled around, her eyes flashing with something unreadable, as if she wanted to stay on the precipice. Mando furrowed his brows, but did not regret his decision. He'd decided before they left that he was going to make sure Tess stayed safe on this mission, and he wasn't about to break that promise now.

"Whoa." Mythrol said beside her, and Cara raised a hand to stop him from moving any farther.

"Yeah, 'whoa' is right." Greef replied, then pointed to the large control panel floating above the lava to their right. Tess' eyes could make out many of the individual parts needed to build the contraption, and knew exactly what needed to be done before Greef had even spoken.

"That's it." he then pointed to Mythrol. "Get on the reactor controls, drain the coolant lines." Tess narrowed her eyes at Mythrol. "We'll watch the doors." Tess shrugged away from Mando, eyeing Mythrol tenderly. Ever since meeting the blue man, Tess had found the creature to be entirely disappointing and useless. Several times during their ride over to the base, it had taken Mando's hand across her body keeping the girl from thwacking Mythrol over the head. All he seemed to do was complain, and though his fear of Mando and Tess was understandable, the girl didn't see it that way. She was built and raised to judge others, relying only on herself, and now, after many days of having no one but the Mandalorian and the child, Mythrol was forced to take the brunt of her built up anger.

"Me?" Mythrol asked, proving Tess' point.

"Yes, you!" Greef stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Mythrol gulped and looked over the edge again.

"I'm afraid o' heights." Mando tensed as he felt Tess start to shake near his shoulder. "And heat. And lava."

"Easy." the Mandalorian whispered as Tess rolled her eyes. She curled her hands into fists, the anger boiling inside her almost foreign, having not felt like this for weeks. Not since the battle with the dragon, the day she snapped at the villagers taunting her in the bar. Their patronizing gazes flitted back through her head, and Tess locked her jaw in place.

"How 'bout I put ya back in carbonite?" Greef yelled. "Get over there!" Mythrol sucked in a breath his eyes dazed as he looked around hurriedly, trying to find some way out of the situation. When all hope seemed lost, when it seemed like he would be stepping out onto the gate, a miracle arrived.

It arrived in the form of a fifteen-year-old girl sick of the world she lived in.

"I'll do it." her voice was as strong as a summer wind. The Mandalorian turned to Tess sharply, his eyes blazing under his helmet. She stood steady, arms clenched at her sides, eyes wide. But they were not scared. They were angry. The Mandalorian shook his head immediately, something in his chest twinging at the thought of her going out onto the catwalk. It made him sick just thinking about it.

It was one thing for Mythrol to go out, a man who'd done wrong. He was expendable, a bounty gone wrong, now trying to make amends. Tess was a different story.

"No." Mando said with enough finality to make the others in the room pause.

Tess ignored him and walked over to Mythrol, eyeing him up and down. "I'll be better at it than him." she turned back to the group. "Quicker."

"Tess, no." the Mandalorian said again, and her gaze shifted to him sharply.

"Mando is right, young one." Greef added in. "It's dangerous." Tess didn't even look at Greef, but her fingertips started to ache, and her mouth thinned into an imperceptible line.

"I didn't ask you." she said, and her words cut each one of them like a shard of glass. "We're running out of time. I'm doing it." Without another word she turned and walked towards the catwalk, leg clunking against the grated floor. Mando was quicker, grabbing onto her forearm and pulling her back before she could reach the step.

Tess gasped a little at the force of his touch, and tensed as his voice came out barely a whisper. "Tess, don't do this, let Mythrol go." the tenderness in his voice was almost enough to make Tess stop dead in her tracks. There was pain in his tone, like he was treading over an open flame, trying to stay strong. Tess didn't understand it, why he was being like this.

It never once crossed her mind that he was worried for her. He was scared for her. So very scared.

"Mando, I'll be fine." Tess reassured him. "We're losing time just standing here doing nothing."

"But Tess—"

"Mando, please." Everyone in their group looked at each other nervously, noting the frustration in her tone. "I'm going." He let go of her, though it pained him to do it. Every alarm, every security system programmed into his mind from years of danger and near-death experiences were going awol, screaming at him to grab her and throw her back, taking her place instead. But he knew that there was some truth in her words.

Tess was a magician with machines, quicker than anyone he'd ever met, even the riotous Peli Motto. She was the best one to do this, not matter how much it made Mando want to fling himself into the lava at the thought of her going out onto the catwalk.

But there was nothing he could do as she walked past them again, grabbing onto the console and hoisting herself onto the step. It was then both the girl and warrior realized the thing had no rail, nothing to keep Tess from dropping into the molten heat bubbling beneath their feet. She paused, only for a millisecond, and when no one could see her face, the mask slipped slightly, revealing a frightened little girl with a hint of regret spiking in her gut.

It passed as quickly as it had come.

Tess squared her shoulders and kept herself close to the console, making her climb over to the controls, trying not to think of the canyon level drop that awaited her if she made one wrong step.

The Mandalorian was barely paying attention to the door, his eyes focused solely on the girl making her way to enact destruction. He watched her hands, nimble as a long-limbed spider, gripping the rails and pulling herself close to the center. He watched her legs, one steel and the other mortal flesh, slowly canter across the thin walk and move to the other side. Every movement she made the breath caught in his throat. He didn't know how much longer he could go before he leapt across and took her place.

Because if Tess slipped, if she accidentally fell, it would be his fault. He would never forgive himself, not after what he'd done to her already. From broken ribs to almost drowning, he'd put her in too much danger that already it had made chips in his heart. He cared for her, he was the one responsible for her, and seeing her walking across the grate above a pool of lava made his knees threaten to give way beneath him.

Thankfully, by the saving grace of precision, Tess made it to the controls, gripping onto them so hard her skin turned white. She hurriedly looked over the controls, flipping the switches and pressing the buttons needed to find the access to the mainframe, and then to the cooling lines. The machine was shoddy, old tech weathered by years of unforgiving use. She furrowed her brows, biting the inside of her cheek, nose scrunched up as she tried to reroute power to get more time. It barely worked, but she was able to bypass the codes needed and find her way onto the coolant line system.

"Got you." she muttered to herself, pressing the large blue button. The image on her screen faded to a foreboding red, and the machine quaked under her fingertips. Below, the lava shot up, spurting higher and higher as the reading on the screen in front of her grew unstable. Warning signs flashed across the screen. Mando called to Tess, and the girl hurriedly moved back to the grate.

"Come on!" he yelled, though not unkindly, and Tess didn't glare at him for the comment, too focused on not slipping to move her fury onto someone else. Her hands were slick with sweat, healed chest suddenly aching more fervently, heart like an endless drumbeat getting louder and louder with each lava bubble bursting below her.

The Mandalorian did not let himself breathe until both her feet were planted safely on the balcony, and his gloved hand reached out to grab her own. She did not protest, blood roaring in her ears as everyone in the group gave her huge smiles, congratulating her for the work. Tess was bashful, letting her hair fall over her eyes as they turned their attention back to the matter at hand; escaping.

"She's gonna blow!" Mythrol exclaimed, and Tess held out her stunner once more, gripping it tightly in her fist, fingers twitching against the cold metal. It felt like death, despite knowing it could never kill a thing. Tess almost wanted to drop it, but she held tightly, knowing they might be in need of it before the day was over.

"Let's go." the Mandalorian whispered into her ear, and Tess gave a curt nod, lips sealed tight, but he could see the relief in her eyes. First it was Cara, then Mando and Tess, then Greef, and finally Mythrol taking up the rear. They scampered through the halls, moving their pace into a slow run. The Mandalorian kept a firm hold on Tess, knowing her leg might cause a problem if it decided to lock up, but if she had any jarring pains, she didn't show it.

They turned down grey corridor after grey corridor, and alarms blared around the hall, echoing inside their ears, a steady countdown to destruction.

"How long do we have?" Cara asked.

"Ten minutes at the most." Greef answered. Tess swore under her breath, eyes narrowing. They turned down another corridor, her and the Mandalorian taking the lead, but at the last moment before another turn, Mando held up a hand, pushing Tess behind him. They all paused, nearly crashing into one another as the static voices of white-clad stormtroopers reached their cautious ears. Tess' unsteady breaths reverberated between them, sucking in and out, feeling as if her lungs had collapsed inwards.

The alarms seemed to grow louder with each second.

Why had she wanted to come on this mission?

Mando was still looking around the corner, then finally turned and pointed in the direction they had just come, knowing there was no way they could take on those guards without a firefight breaking out.

They all whirled around and ran in the other direction.

Tess and Mando were the first to round the next corner, and what laid ahead made them stop dead in their tracks. "Destroy it!" one of the Imperial Scientists to their right yelled, and Tess gasped as she stumbled back from the sight of the blasters clasped in their hands. The Mandalorian pushed her back near Mythrol as rings of ruby flashed across the soft canvas of grey.

The man shooting at the console in front of him fell to the floor with a sickening thud, and the other slumped against the counter, smoke rising from the singed ring of flesh in his back.

Tess didn't dare move closer to them. Instead, she turned her attention to the strange tubes molded into the wall on the other side. Putrid green and blue liquid swam inside the capsules, reminding Tess of the cylinder Frog Lady had used to keep her eggs contained.

But this wasn't just a container, it was a cage.

A wave of unrecognizable pain swam through her mind just then, piercing her thoughts so vividly it could not have been her imagination. Tess stumbled back a step, reaching a hand up to her head, eyes bowed low. There was a ringing in her ears, and Tess froze, but it was so faint it could have been the distant alarms blaring in the background. She pushed it away, declaring it nothing more than paranoia.

She turned back and stepped away from the capsules, not wanting to have anything else to do with them. It was difficult, however, as the capsules were all the rest of the group could look at. Mando came up beside Tess, and she forced her eyes back towards the things, eyes trailing over the faint outline of a corpse-like body suspended in the liquid. The creatures skin looked as if it had been peeled and pinched and flipped inside out. The bones were crushed, and what could have been a head was lop-sided and scarred, a great chunk missing from the flesh white as snow.

"What the..." Greef exclaimed from her other side.

"I thought you said this was a forward operating base," Cara said, turning to the Magistrate. "And mostly medical, not scientific."

"I thought it was." Greef answered. "There were medical supplies on the map..." he looked dumbfounded. "Military paramedics."

"No, this isn't a military operation." Cara said. "This is a lab."

"A lab for what?" Tess asked under her breath, loud enough for only the Mandalorian to hear. She stepped forward, and slapped away his hand trying to bring her back, walking steadily towards the center capsule. She stood in front of the glass, mouth open slightly, eyes wide at the sight behind the glass. The Mandalorian took a step forward as she reached up a hand and put her fingers against the clear pane.

The tips of her fingers were being split in two. Her eyes widened. 

 She pulled back, stuffing the throbbing hand into her pocket, moving to stand with the group once more, turning away from the capsule. Mando lightly touched her forearm.

"We need to get into the system and figure out what's going on." Cara broke the silence, looking to Mythrol.

"What about the reactor..." he started to protest, but the woman cut him off.

"Do it!" she yelled, and Mythrol gulped before moving back to the console, pushing the body to the floor. Tess kept her eyes trained on the blue-skinned man, unable to turn back around and see the capsules again. There was something off about them, something that tugged at the bottom of her soul, like an invisible rope tethered and pulled taut, and she could feel it about to snap.

"There's something wrong about this, Mando." she whispered, voice raw. He looked down and met her frightened gaze.

"I know," he replied. "I don't like it, either."

The scratch of a hologram made the others turn back to the console, where the blue light illuminated the silhouette of a man in Imperial garb with round glasses and a neatly trimmed beard. His hands were clasped in front of him, and he looked down, as if he were afraid of something.

The Mandalorian froze when his eyes reached the man, hand tightening around her arm. Tess gave him a confused look, question in her eyes, but the Mandalorian wasn't paying attention to her anymore. His interest was solely on the man he'd once spared, the man he'd foolishly let live to save the child.

"Replicated the results of the subsequent trials," the man says. "Which also resulted in catastrophic failure." The Mandalorian stepped closer, his head tilting to the side, and Tess felt drawn to his side, noticing how stiff he'd become. She wondered why, but did not speak of it as the hologram continued to play. "There were promising effects for an entire fortnight, but then, sadly, the body rejected the blood." Everyone moved over to watch the man in the strange uniform and glasses.

"I highly doubt we'll find a donor with a higher M-count, though." the scientist continued. "I recommend that we suspend all experimentation." Tess heard the breath leave Mando in a dizzying spiral at her side, loud and jarring. Underneath his helmet, the man's eyes had grown dangerously dark. "I fear that the volunteer will meet the same regrettable fate if we proceed with the transfusion." Volunteer? Tess' eyebrows furrowed. This man spoke as if they were trying to bring someone back from the dead, talking of transfusions and blood donors. It made Tess sick just thinking about what the destroyed Empire could have been doing before the second Death Star was blown to pieces.

"Unfortunately, we have exhausted our initial supply of blood." Tess pursed her lips. "The Child is small, and I was only able to harvest a limited amount without killing him." Tess gasped, looking up to the Mandalorian, who peered down at her with a sad stature. He could see the many questions in her eyes, and said nothing, only nodded once slowly. She turned back to the hologram, understanding dawning like a cloud pulled back to reveal the burning sun. this was the scientist the Mandalorian had stolen the child away from, when he'd gone back to save the kid here on Nevarro. This was what the child had been used for, experimentation and testing. Anger fell to the bottom of Tess' stomach like a large boulder falling into the middle of coursing sands. Her frown sharpened, severe jawline and cheekbones growing harsh enough to cut through flesh.

She'd never wanted her stunner to be a real blaster more.

"If these experiments are to continue as requested," the man started again. "We would again require access to the donor." the hologram glitched, and the man's face suddenly turned solemn. "I will not disappoint you again, Moff Gideon." The last line made everyone freeze, blood turning cold.

Even Tess, who'd only heard of Moff Gideon from the stories Mando had told her knew what this meant. But there was also something more. The familiarity, the sneaking suspicion hiding in her gut that made Tess wonder if she new more about this Moff than she was letting herself believe.

As the hologram shut off, the Mandalorian spoke up, his voice raw. "This must be an old transmission. Moff Gideon is dead." Tess shuddered at the words, her leg aching as if a reminder of how much death the girl had seen in her short life.

"No." Mythrol spoke up, his words unsure and clunky. "This recording's three days old." the group were dropped into zero gravity, their insides constricting at this sudden and jarring revelation. Tess and the Mandalorian almost didn't want to believe it, their minds working alike as the pieces fit together, and the issue with this news rose to the surface.

Tess' throat closed up.

"If Gideon's alive then..." the Mandalorian said, stepping closer to Tess, who held the same panic in her gaze. He didn't finish his sentence, but it wasn't required. Tess knew well enough who they were both thinking of, a child with emerald skin and wide, innocent eyes. The child.

The fear was interrupted by the clang of a laser bolt shooting across the grey room, spraying crimson light across the ashen walls, embedding itself into the space behind Tess. She whirled back around, her mouth going dry at the sight of the armour-clad stormtroopers clumping in the way they had just come in. The Mandalorian reacted instantly, his mind on the little child in his care, determined not to lose the other. Tess stumbled back, kneeling down behind the console, ignoring the blood of the dead scientist pooling near her feet. The group fired at the troupe, splitting off to hide behind the pillars of metal. Mythrol lowered behind the counter alongside her, and they shared a look.

He took a deep breath as the stormtroopers called out to another, and Tess wanted to scream as the sound of dead bodies hitting the floor reached her ears. She was tempted to cover them with her shaking hands, closing her eyes tight, but instead, the girl forced herself to pull out the stunner and move to look around the side of the counter.

She was drowning in quicksand.

Tess asserted herself, but the moment her eyes reached the litter of dead bodies smoking on the smooth floor, her stomach curled into a fist, crushed to dust under her skin. The stunner fell from her hands, landing on the tile with a clatter as the aftermath of the short lived battle was splayed out before her. Her hand rose up to her mouth, and the mask placed over her features slipped down as Mando hurriedly rushed towards her, silently helping her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly, noticing she was quaking under his fingertips, the stun blaster fallen out of her hands. Tess seemed to notice him watching her strangely, and everything went back to its normal state, numb and bitter.

She nodded once, curt and sharp. "Fine." she replied, reaching down and hastily putting the gun back in her pocket.

"Okay." he said, relief clear in his voice. "I need to get the kid." Tess nodded in agreement. The duo turned back to the others, and Cara nodded curtly.

"Jet back, you're faster that way." she told them.

"I'm coming with you." Tess said, turning to go in the other direction, expecting Mando to go with her, but instead he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back towards Greef, Cara, and Mythrol.

"No." he said, and before Tess could protest the man continued on. "It's safer with them. I don't know who might be watching the child. Moff Gideon could be there, for all I know. You need to be where it's safer."

"But the base is rigged to explode." Tess argued.

Mando shook his head. "You'll get out in time." When Tess didn't move, his voice grew quieter. "Tess, trust me on this. Please." Tess bit her tongue, brows knitting together, but she hesitated in refusing.

Maybe he was right. Tess already regretted coming on this mission, and if there were more troopers with the child back in the town, or even more mercenary's like the ones on Trask, Tess did not want to get involved with them. She'd come to trust Cara and Greef, and knew they would try and keep her safe no matter what.

And so, for one of the first times in her life, Tess relented. "Fine." The Mandalorian gave no sign he was surprised, but under the helmet his eyes widened, unsure whether or not he should have been happy Tess had agreed with him. It was foreign, near impossible for the stubborn little girl. Yet she'd agreed, and he wasn't about to do anything to break that trust.

"We'll head to the speeder and meet you in town." Cara yelled from the other side of the room as the two backed away from each other. Greef tugged lightly on Tess' sleeve, and Tess nodded towards him.

"Come on, let's go." Greef called to her.

Mando and Tess locked eyes for one last time, on either side of the strange science chamber.

"Mando!" She called out right before they turned the corner, stopping in her tracks. The Mandalorian whirled around to face her, his heart jumping to his throat. Her face of edges and angles, his blasted helmet of curved metal and blackened glass. What a strange pair, yet one the Universe decided would fit well together.

"Be careful" She finished, and disappeared around the bend. 

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AUTHOR'S NOTE.

Another short chapter, but I honestly really like this one? I've been having pretty bad writers block with this story for a while now, not having that much motivation to get out chapters, but I'm pretty sure I've gotten out of it now! YAY! I'm so excited to continue on with chapters, especially episode five, where they meet the BEST CHARACTER IN STAR WARS (in my opinion, you don't have to agree that's perfectly fine) the QUEEN AHSOKA TANO. There's only one more chapter for this episode, and then they go to Corvus, so buckle up for that folks, it's gonna be a wild ride. 

ANYWAYS, what did you think of this chapter? What did you think of Tess' conflict and putting herself in danger? It really shows how far she's come, but still how far she has to go in opening up and dealing with her inner demons. As always, don't be afraid to comment, vote and give me a follow! 

I feel like we haven't done the gif dump in a while, so in honor being officially half way through this book, here are some lovely images of our favourite space fam:

Until next time (where Tess and Mando are unaware of how much danger they're really in and say goodbye to Auntie Cara and Grandpa Greef)

Love, Mal