A Life Without Meaning

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 (𝕀)

They were in the middle of the speeder ride back to Mos Eisley, passing through a rocky cavern at high speeds. When suddenly, as they were approaching the end of the valley, a rope had appeared out of nowhere, catching the front of the speeder, sending everything and everyone on board spiraling across the ground.

Din had tried to catch himself by using his jetpack, stumbling his way to his feet. While the child was sent rolling over towards a small rock formation, and Ellia hit her side painfully against a boulder.

The speeder itself bounced away before finally landing on the side of its fuel cells, immediately exploding into flames.

As if things couldn't get any worse, the sound of blaster fire began to echo around the cavern as three bandits emerged from behind the rocks, immediately honing in on the Mandalorian, the shots bouncing harmlessly off of the beskar.

"Get the child!" Ellia heard one of the bandits shout gruffly.

She whipped her head to the side. The kid was laying a few meters away from her position, looking a bit dazed. From across the sand, she saw the smaller hunter approaching him quickly, and she fumbled for her blaster. By some stroke of luck, she managed to nail him in the side of the shoulder despite her position flat on her chest.

Opposite their position, Din was engaging in a melee fight with one of the bigger hunters. They were dancing around each other, exchanging several dangerous blows, but just as the Mandalorian was getting the upper hand, another hunter appeared at his blindside, pinning him up against the rocks.

At the same time, Ellia was scrambling across the ground to get to the child. But she had failed to notice that the small hunter that she shot hadn't gone down. In fact, he had circled her flank, now brandishing a gun much bigger than he was.

Din continued his struggle against the two hunters, and Ellia finally heard the footsteps behind her. Her head shot over her shoulder quick, and managed to cry out to the Mandalorian;

"Din!"

That got his attention. He looked up and, thinking fast, deployed a grappling hook out of one of his wrist guards. The wire shot out, wrapping around the gun of the smaller hunter. He yanked it forward with all of his might, ducking as the blaster came crashing against the two heads of the hunters that had him pinned against the boulder.

But with Ellia distracted, that small hunter had instantly turned his attention on her, picking up a rock and chucking it at the back of her head, sending her crashing to the ground with a cry, landing right at Din's feet.

The hunter then picked up the child, holding a knife to its face.

Din quickly halted his approach right behind where Ellia was slowly pushing herself up out of the sand, an angry scowl on her face.

"Wait." Din said sternly, "Don't hurt the child."

Ellia stood up onto her feet, anger bubbling beneath her skin like the volcanoes on Mustafar.

"If you put one mark on him, there's no palace in the galaxy you will be able to hide from me!" she barked behind gritted teeth, taking a threatening step forward. But Din, evidently anticipating this, was quick to grab hold onto her arms, keeping her back.

"Don't." he spoke to her gruffly.

Her fighting subsided, but she still was shooting daggers at the bandit across the way.

"We can strike a bargain" Din suggested as calmly as he could, "There's a lot of value in this wreckage. Take your pick. But leave the child."
The bandit heeded his words, glancing around at his options. But he quickly turned his head back towards the Mandalorian, gesturing towards him with his knife, barking in a language Ellia didn't understand.