Under the Helmet ~ (The Mandalorian x Male OC)

Chapter 26: The City

The ship came out of hyperspace two hours after takeoff. As they approached the planet, the crew deducted it was high noon in the city.
"I guess I should introduce myself to you two," soldier spoke up. The woman was a Twi'Lek, with light lavender skin. "My name is Alis, I'll be leading the mission. This is Verid," she motioned at a Sakiyan man, who nodded at his mention. "This is Gayle, my second in command," the human female saluted the Mandalorians as she was introduced. "Last but not least, this is our muscle, Wally. We don't actually know his name or even understand him, but he seems to always get what we're thinking." The Wookie let out a large bellow.
Din stood up, "You can call me Mando, and this is Daedalus. We're bounty hunters."
"I hear there's a sizeable bounty on your head, man. Maybe we could all make a deal?", Verid chuckled.
Din placed a hand on his holstered blaster. "I dare you."
Verid's cheery sentiment quickly faded.
"It was a joke, calm down," Daedalus nagged.
Din rolled his eyes under his helmet.
"Since it's light out, we'll wait night to advance. I'll take Wally with me and do some recon, the rest of you can set up camp. Sound good?", Alis declared.
The crew let out varies signs of approval, and Gayle gently touched the ship down outside the capital. The entire city was bordered by a large wall, perhaps 50 feet high. Upon exiting the ship, they were met with wet, muddy ground, with short trees with low hanging branches all around. There was almost no significant land forms in sight, except for a mountain  range far in the distance.
Alis handed in-ear transmitters to everyone on the team. "We'll all use these to communicate. Well, not Wally, but he'll be with me anyways. Call for me immediately if anything comes up, otherwise, the Wookie and I will be plotting our advance into the city."
The pair departed, leaving Verid, Gayle, and the Mandalorians to unload what little supplies they had. As they unpacked, a heavy rain fell over the city, which sent the four rushing back to the ship for cover.
"The Empire really can't choose a nice planet for their bases, can they?", Verid joked.
Gayle turned to the Sakiyan. "Didn't you read the intel on this planet? It's an ancient Sith home world, some even say Kaas City is built over one of their first civilizations. It's quite interesting, really."
Din and Daedalus exchanged looks. The word 'sith' still haunted them.
"When was the last time a Sith lived here, do you know?", the Foundling queried.
"The Sith have been dead for years. Since the destruction of the second Death Star, at least. The Emporer and Darth Vader were the last ones," Gayle scoffed. "Do you really know nothing about our galaxy's history?"
"I guess not," Daedalus seethed, it was obvious he had some distaste for the female.
"So what's your guys story? Why are two bounty hunters helping the New Republic?", Verid questioned.
"As you know, I'm—", Din started.
"Cara had to pick me up from an uninhabited planet because this Bantha Fodder left me for dead, so I'm just returning the favor. He's got a bounty on his head and needs protection, which is why he's sticking with the New Republic," Daedalus interrupted.
"I guess that about sums it up," Din croaked.
Gayle laughed, "And you still work together?"
"Not anymore," the Foundling affirmed.
The Mandalorian sighed. Daedalus was on rapid fire, using every opportunity he could to make him feel
bad. It was working.
Din grabbed Daedalus's arm. "Can we just be...peaceful? We have a mission to accomplish and we shouldn't let this petty drama get in the way, got it?"
"Petty?", the Foundling countered.
Din stood and made his way down the ramp. It was still raining heavily, but he wanted more than anything to be far away from Daedalus's at moment.
"Can you guys hear me?", Alis's voiced sounded in their earpieces.
Gayle's face brightened. "Loud and clear, captain."
"Good. Wally and I made it into the city, but I don't think this rain is going to stop for a few hours, so maybe we'll just wait here until night, and you all can come in the way we did. There's a large crack in the wall about half a mile to the South, it's pretty easy to get in from there. At least it is with a Wookie, I wish you all luck."
"Send us the coordinates and we'll be on our way, ma'am," Verid charmed.
"We'll you heard the captain, we should get going! Don't want to keep her waiting, do we boys?", Gayle ordered.
"Didn't she say to wait until night to go in?", Din questioned.
Gayle crossed her arms, "How long do you think it's going to take to trudge through half a mile of mud in the rain? We'll be lucky to make it there by morning. Let's go."

———

Gayle was right, and Daedalus hated it. She was a know-it-all, and the Foundling wanted nothing more than to shut her up somehow.
She was still right about the mud, though. The rain had let up slightly, but it had loosened the ground even more than it was previously, making each step take more time than it should. Daedalus missed his boots. His incognito outfit was nowhere near as comfortable or high-quality. He couldn't wait to leave this Maker forsaken planet and go his own way.
After hours of trudging through the muck, they finally reached the crevice. The bottom of the crack was about ten feet up, and Alis's wishes of good luck suddenly made sense. Din made his way to the bottom of the wall and got on one knee.
"Here, I'll help you all up," he offered, lacing his fingers together into a stepping point.
Gayle made her way up first, stepping on Din's knee and then his hands. He pushed her up the wall, and she barely reached the bottom of the crevice. She pulled herself up and reached a hand down for Verid, who was already making use of the Mandalorian's step. He made his way up very ungraciously, but made it nonetheless. It was Daedalus's turn, and he ascended the wall without acknowledging Din's help.
"How are you gonna get up, Mando?", Verid inquired.
"I'll, umm...", the Mandalorian patted his pockets, obviously frustrated at his lack of tools, which were still with his armor. He took a few steps back and made a ran at the wall. He got up halfway, but fell backwards into the mud.
The rest of the team laughed, and Verid pulled a rope from his backpack.
"You had that the whole time?", Din grilled.
The Sakiyan laughed and let the rope down, which the Mandalorian took hold of and pulled himself up the wall.
"Thanks a lot."
Daedalus chucked, placing his hand over his mouth. "You're covered in mud." He could only imagine the grimacing expression on Din's face at the moment.
"What are you doing?", Alis's voice boomed. "Are you trying to get arrested?!"
The team fell silent and turned to the city's interior, where Alis and Wally were peaking out from an alleyway.
"Get down here, now!", she ordered.
Wally let out a small wail of agreement.
The squad used Verid's rope to descend from the crevice and enter the capital. Inside, there were monotonous, concrete houses, which seemed to stretch on forever. The team joined Alis and Wally in the alley.
"Listen, Wally and I found something big. We have to get out of here and warn the New Republic. They're making—"
"Hey!", a stern voice rang down the alley. "What are you doing out past curfew?" A small squad of police had formed at both ends of the alley.
Wally bellowed and picked up a dumpster, which he threw at some of the officers. The other enforcers began firing at the rebels, who began climbing the fire escape of the nearest house. Making their way to the roof, they began hopping between rooftops, trying to reach the wall. Verid pulled out his rope, which he tied into a lasso and threw it up the wall. It looped around a barricade atop the structure, and he began to climb the rope. He made his way to the top and motioned for the others to follow him. Blaster bolts were still whizzing by as the police began joining them on the roof and firing from the ground. Alis and Din fought off the officers and Daedalus and Gayle began scaling the rope.
"You go first, I'm right behind you," Alis ordered, and Din made his way up the wall.
The captain began he own decent, but with no one drawing the polices' fire, she was shot in the shoulder, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Alis!", Gayle screamed.
Police swarmed to wear she fell. Alis fought off a few officers, but as more joined in the fight, she was quickly placed into handcuffs.
"Get out of here!", she yelled as she was dragged away.
A few police were now rushing from their stations on the wall, firing at the rebels.
"What do we do?!", Verid demanded.
"We do what Alis said, we leave," Gayle declared.
Daedalus was amazed. "Are you kidding me? She found something big, we can't let her arrest be in vain, we have to save her and figure out what it is she found."
Daedalus wanted to leave the city as soon as possible, but he had quickly gotten invested in the mission, and wasn't about to leave without reaching their objective.
Wally let out a handful of groans, most likely trying to tell his team what they had found.
"Not now Wally, you know we can't understand you," Gayle scolded. "We're going back to ship, we'll figure out our next move from there."
The team silently agreed and stepped out from behind the barricade to face the police. Wally decided to take matters into his own hands, and charged the officers, he was shot twice, but had no reaction to the shots. He swung his lanky limbs at the enforcers, knocking them off the wall.
The squad rushed down the wall to about where their ship was docked. Verid tied his rope to a small outpost on the wall, and the team quickly descended into the marsh. They ran through the muck and into the ship. Gayle took off immediately, and put the ship into orbit.
Daedalus sighed and plopped down into one of the many rows of seats. This was going to be a long mission.