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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE 

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          DIN insisted on carrying most of their stuff. Artemis had told him he didn't need to, but he was a stubborn man. Eventually, she let it go. The hike back to Mos Eisley took the entire day and as the night fell, the three of them arrived at the city.

Artemis followed Din into Chalmun's Cantina and she saw Peli playing a game of sabbac with a male insectoid she did not recognize.

"I don't know," she heard Peli say. "Looks like someone's gonna be goin' home empty-handed."

Din and Artemis approached their table and Peli glanced at Boba Fett's helmet. "You finally found a Mandalorian and ya killed him?" she questioned him.

"He wasn't Mandalorian," Din replied. "I bought this armor off of him, though."

"What's that set you back?"

"Killed the krayt dragon for him."

"Oh," Peli said, seeming slightly impressed. "Is that all?"

"He was my last lead on finding other Mandalorians," Din said, sounding defeated. Artemis reached out, took his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze before letting it go again.

The insectoid said something Artemis couldn't understand.

"Okay," Peli said, having understoon the intectoid. "Well, you might be in luck. Dr. Mandible here," she gestured at the insectoid, "says he can connect you with something who can help you, if you cover his call this round. It's what he said."

Din glanced at Artemis before looking back at Peli. "What's the bet?"

Peli hesistated slightly. "Five hundred."

"That's a high-stakes game," Din pointed out.

"Hey, he's on a hot streak," Peli said, defending herself.

Din glanced at Artemis, who gave him a short nod, before he sighing and dropping a bag of credits on the table.

"Is the pot right?" Peli questioned the insectoid.

The insectoid agreed and Peli laughed. "Ha! Idiot's Array! Pay up, thorax!"

"I thought you said he was on a hot streak?" Din questioned dryly.

"Oh, stop you cryin'. You'll rust," Peli said, grabbing the credits. She then glanced up at the insectoid and translated what he was saying. "All right. He says the contact will rendezvous at the hangar. They'll tell you where to find some Mandalorians. That's what you wanted, right?"

"Yes," Din said.

"All right, well, stop your mopin'!" Peli exclaimed, passing them as she head back to the hangar. "More importantly, did you bring back any of that dragon meat? Better not have any maggots on it. I don't like maggots."

Artemis rolled her eyes, a smile playing on her lips, and following Peli back to the hangar.

Back in the hangar, Artemis headed into the Razor Crest and fell down onto her bed. She let out a sigh as she buried her head into the pillow.

"Home sweet home," she muttered.

Her bedroom door slid open and Din's head appeared. "Are you gonna take a nap?"

Artemis smiled and patted the free space next to her. "Wanna join?"

Din moved inside, closed the door behind him and locked it before removing his helmet and armor. Then, he laid down, pulling Artemis closer.

"What a ride these last days have been, huh?" Artemis said, closing her eyes and trying to get more comfortable on Din's chest.

Din hummed in agreement, but didn't say anything. A short while later, the two of them were asleep.

⋆⋆⋆

THE smell of cooked meat made Artemis wake up. She rubbed her eyes and pushed herself upright. Din stirred next to her.

"I smell food," he said.

"Me too," Artemis said, hiding a yawn. "Wanna grab some?"

"Excellent idea," Din said, getting up and started to pull on his armor.

The two of them left the ship and Artemis saw Grogu standing in front of the motor engine where the dragon meat was already grilling beside it.

"Hey, don't overcook it, Treadwell!" Peli called to the droid who was surveying the meat. "I like it medium rare!"

The droid lowered the engine and Artemis heard Perli mutter, "I'm not some rodian for crying out lout." The woman then turned to face Artemis and Din. "All right, here's the deal. A Mandalorian covert is close. It's in this sector, one system trailing."

"Are they the ones that left Nevarro?" Din asked.

"Don't know. All I know is that the contact will lead you to them," Peli said.

"How much will it cost us?"

"Well, that's the great news. It's free," Peli said, smiling. "Aside form a finder's fee, of course."

"What's the not-great news?" Din asked suspiciously as Artemis crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Peli said. "It's all great."

"Okay," Din said, seeming to believe her, but Artemis knew something was up by the way Peli looked.

"What is it?" she questioned the other woman.

"Well, there is one small skank in the scud pie," Peli trailed off.

"Which is?" Din questioned.

"The contact wants passage to the system."

Din and Artemis exchanged a glance before the former asked, "Do you vouch for them?"

"On my life," Peli quickly said.

Din sighed. "Fine."

"And . . ." Peli added, hesitating, "no hyperdrive."

"You want us to travel sublight?" Din said, his voice raising a couple of octaves. "Deal's off."

"It's one sector over," Peli protested.

"Moving fast is the only thing keeping us safe," Din argued back.

"These are mitigating circumstances," Peli stated.

"What do you mean 'mitigating'?"

Peli turned around and Artemis saw a female frog-like anthropoid carrying a canister containing several eggs floating in liquid.

Din put his hands on his waist and leaned forward to Peli. "We're not a taxi service."

"I know, I know, I hear you," Peli said. "But I can vouch for her."

The frog lady joined them and spoke a language Artemis did not recognize.

"What's the cargo?" Din asked.

Peli somehow spoke Frog and translated the questioned. She waited for the frog lady to answer before turning back to Din and Artemis.

"It's her spawn. She needs her eggs fertilized by the equinox or her line will end. If you jump into hyperspace, they'll die. She said her husband has settled on the estuary moon of Trask in the system of the gas giant Kol Iben."

"She said all that?"

"I paraphrased," Peli told him.

"Is she sure there are Mandalorians there?" Din questioned her.

Peli turned to the frog lady and translated the question. After a couple of moments, Peli nodded.

"She said her husband has seen them."

The frog seemed happy and headed for the Razor Crest. Artemis and Din watched her go before the latter turned back to Peli.

"Do you know the husband?"

"No," Peli replied. "I met her ten minutes before you two woke up."

"I thought you said you vouched for her on your life," Din stated.

"What can I say, I'm an excellent judge of character."

Din glanced at Artemis. She could feel his desperation, but she only shrugged.

"She's our only lead to finding more Mandalorians. Do you honestly want to let that go?"

Din sighed. "Looks like we're traveling sublight."

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Artemis helped the frog lady get settled as Din took off. Sitting down onto her passenger seat, Artemis held Grogu close to her. She had seen the way he had looked at the eggs.

"Now, I'm gonna ask you to stay strapped in whenever you're seated," Din told the frog lady. "Traveling sublight is a bit dicey these days. Whether it's pirates or warlords, someone either ends up with a nice chunk of change or your ship."

The frog lady replied but neither Din, nor Artemis understood what she was saying.

"I don't speak whatever language that is," Din said. "You speak Huttese?" He then proceeded to talk in Huttese, but the frog lady did not understand. Din sighed and turned back to put in their coordinates.

Grogu tried to wiggle out of Artemis arms, his hand outreached to the canister that was carrying all of her eggs.

"Don't even think about it," Artemis said, scolding him. "That's not food."

"So, I'm gonna hit the rack," Din said, turning back to the frog lady. "I've set the nav for our course. It's gonna take a while. I recommend you get some rest." He turned to Artemis. "You coming?"

"I'm not that tired," Artemis said, "but I'll go with you. I might even get some meditating done. It's been too long."

They left the cockpit and Artemis put Grogu in his small compartment before heading into her own room. Closing the door behind her, she sat down and crossed her legs, her hands facing upwards as she laid them on her knees.

Artemis closed her eyes and cleared her mind. She could feel herself hover in the air as she channeled the Force. She did not know how long it had been since she started meditating, but all of it was ended when a beeping sound was heard. She fell down and scrambled up, sprinting back to the cockpit. Din got there before her and settled himself in the pilot seat.

"Razor Crest, M-one-Eleven. Come in, Razor Crest. Do you copy?"

Artemis looked out of the window and saw two x-wing's escorting them.

"This is Razor Crest," Din said. "Is there a problem?"

"We noticed your transponder is not emitting," one of them said.

"Yes, I'm pre-Empire surplus," Din told him. "I'm not required to run a beacon."

"That was before," the man said. "This sector is under New Republic jurisdiction. All crafts are required to run a beacon."

"Thank you for letting me know," Din said. "I'll get right on it."

"Not a problem," the man said. "Safe travels."

"May the Force be with you," Din added, rather awkwardly. Artemis rolled her eyes at this.

"And also with you."

Silence filled the cockpit as Din and Artemis waited for the them to leave, but they didn't.

"Just one more thing."

"Yes?" Din said.

"I'm gonna need you to send us a ping," the man said. "We're out here sweeping for Imperial holdouts."

Artemis froze. She knew that if he did that, they'd know they had done a jailbreak a couple weeks ago.

"I'll let you know if I see any," Din stated.

"I'm still gonna need you to send us that ping," the man said again.

"Well, I'm not sure I have that hardware online," Din lied.

"We can wait."

Din hesitated for a couple of moments, pretending he did something about it. "Yeah, I . . . Doesn't seem to be working."

"That's too bad," the man said. "If we can't confirm you're not Imperial, you're gonna have to follow us to the outpost at Adelphi. They'll run your tabs."

"I've got this," Artemis mouthed to Din before leaning closer to the comlink. "This is General Artemis Bryce and I can confirm that we are not Imperial."

Another silence filled the cockpit. Then—

"General?" one of them questioned, hesitatingly. Artemis leaned towards the window, placing her hand on Din's shoulder for support, and waved, showing them it was really her.

"Yes," Artemis said, squinting her eyes as she tried to see who was underneath the helmet. "Is that you, Carson? And you, Wolf?"

"No way," Wolf said, leaning closer to the window. "It's her, Carson! It's the Jedi General!"

"You've got to be kidding me," Carson muttered.

"No, I'm not kidding you," Artemis said, smiling. "But we really need to be somewhere—"

"Oh, yeah not a problem!" Wolf said immediately. "You and Skywalker saved us all by killing the Emperor and Vader. We owe you big time!"

Artemis shuffled uncomfortably onto her feet. She didn't like to be reminded of that. "We couldn't have done it without you. We're all heroes."

Wolf seemed to positively beam as Carson shook his head. "Come on, Wolf. Have a safe flight, General. May the Force be with you."

"And with you," Artemis replied.

Word count: 1977

Hello everyone! Sorry for the long wait but here is the next chapter! Tell me what you think of it! :)

For those of you who didn't know yet, RED (aka prequel with Obi-Wan) IS OFFICIALLY OUT AND IT'S BLOODY AMAZING (okay, it's pretty good so do check it out! :))

I will also skip the entire snowy planet thing because I don't think it's too important and I just want this story to continue at a good pace :)

Anyway, until next time!

Published: 09.06.2022