PURPOSE | The Mandalorian

XXXXI

Silence eerily settled around us, and Cara's frantic gaze drew my attention away from my own head. "There has to be another way out of here," She whispered. Then her eyes landed on Din and Greef as she pleaded, "Please tell me there's another way out."

Din remained stoic and unmoving, but my heart sank even more when Karga shook his head. He pointed to the door and said, "That's the only way in or out."

Cara blinked. "Fuck," She hissed again, and her sudden use of profanities made it very obvious that she was under a lot of stress.

Din suddenly moved out of the corner of my eye, and I flicked my gaze to him as he mentioned, "What about the sewers?"

I arched a brow at him. "Sewers?" I breathed, slightly relieved. "I like the idea of sewers."

"Yeah," Cara said as she perked up, "Sewers are good."

"There's a covert down there," Din explained, and I knew it was supposed to be a relief, but I couldn't help the shot of terror that speared through my veins. It didn't matter who you were, if you were a Mandalorian, you knew my name. More specifically, what my mother did to me all those years ago.

My kind hated me, and I dreaded the day I had to face another of my kind. I had gotten extremely lucky that Din had found me first. Because if it was someone who sympathized with my mother, I would have been dead a long time ago.

But I didn't let myself show my apprehension about jumping into the sewers. I would much rather deal with the drama between me and my own kind than try and shoot my way out of this Imperial standoff.

"If we can get down there," Din continued, his voice bringing me out of my own head, "They can help us escape."

I nodded along, letting him know I was on board with the idea. With a quick brush of his hand against my arm, he said, "I'm going to check for access points."

"Okay," I breathed, slowly crawling my way out from behind the table. Making sure to keep myself out of sight from the Imps standing outside the window, I crawled towards the bar, kicking some of the stools out of the way so I could press my back against it.

"What are you doing?" Cara hissed at me, peeking her head out from behind the table.

I shrugged, letting out a sharp exhale as I replied, "Getting a better view."

She gave me a look that told me she thought I was absolutely fucking crazy.

Well, we weren't getting out of here alive if I wasn't.

She eventually glanced above my head, looking up out the window as she asked, "What the hell are they waiting for?"

I shrugged. There were quiet shuffling noises beyond the window, but there wasn't any defining sounds that gave away what was happening outside. But once a few clicks echoed across the open area beyond the window, I could take an educated guess at what was happening. My chest squeezed as my breath hitched in my throat.

The only answer was a really, really big gun.

Cara noticed it too. "Oh no," She breathed, and I stared at her face as her expression dropped, "Oh fuck."

"What?" I whispered, listening to the clicks of the troopers setting up their big gun, "Cara!"

She blinked, unable to take her eyes away from the window. "E-Webb," Was all she was able to mutter.

"Found it," Din said, pointing to a bench pushed up against the far wall. "There's a vent behind there."

"Oh, thank the Maker," I sighed, a wave of relief coming over me as Cara rushed beside Din to help him yank the bench away from the wall. The bench clattered to the floor, revealing a large, solid iron grate covering the entryway to the sewers below.