Bounty hunting is a complicated profession

Together

Nevarro's landscape was unlike anything you had seen before. Its surface was covered with rocks and black sand, which seemed even darker in contrast to the bright lava rivers that flowed across it. Breathing became more difficult as you advanced through those, due to the sulphur in the air.

At dusk, you stopped to set up a camp to spend the night. You would never admit it out loud but as soon as you got off the blurrg you missed the feeling of safety you got from having Mando's arm and body around you.

By the time night had fallen, you all gathered around a bonfire where the human that accompanied Greef Karga was cooking an animal they had hunted. You were starving and you had never been squeamish about food, so you devoured your serving and went back for seconds.

"I see you're a good eater." Greef Karga chuckled when you basically gobbled up your second serving. "Excuse my rudeness but I didn't get a name."

You looked at him and then at Mando as you licked your fingers clean.

"Don't need his permission to give me a name, right?"

"She doesn't talk." Mando answered irritated.

"Oh. Apologies." He said. You shrugged as you got up for a third serving. It wasn't like Mando was going to eat in front of that many people, so the least you could do was ensure that no food went to waste. Plus, it had been a long time since you had eaten any meat.

"Poor thing" you heard Karga say. "They were ready to pay a king's ransom for her, you know? Don't even want to think about what they'd do to her…"

You shivered as you remembered the needles on your arms and the operating table they had laid you on.

"Let's go over the plan again." Mando demanded before he said anything else.

"We both enter the common house." Karga repeated for the third time tiredly. "We show the client the bait, we join him at the table and you kill him."

"Tell me about his reinforcements."

"They're all ex-Empire. As soon as they lose their paycheck, poof, they'll all scatter."

"And what if they don't?"

"They will."

"That's not good enough." Mando added.

"If, for argument's sake, a few of them don't realize that I'm their best path to alternative employment and they elect to react impulsively, then these three fine Guild Hunters, along with that battle-hardened shock trooper, will cut down anyone who bucks."

"How many will there be?"

Karga sighed. "No more than four. He travels with, at most, a Fire Team. Trust me. Nothing can go wrong."

It was as if he had conjured it because, as he said that, a huge flying beast swooped down on him. It grabbed him by the arm with its pointy claws and started lifting him away. Without thinking, you grabbed Karga by the legs trying to prevent the beast from flying away but it easily lifted both of you.

At the same time, you saw how other animals of the same kind started to attack the rest of the camp, one even managing to fly away with one of the blurrgs.

As the animal started to fly higher, you weighed your options. You could just let go of Karga and, although you were quite high up, you were confident you could break your fall with your powers. The problem was that you needed him for the plan to work, so you had to save him but, if you both fell from that height, he would smash himself on the ground.

The other option was trying something you had only managed a few times before — and one of them by complete accident. It was a huge risk but what else could you do, really? Carefully you started to climb over Karga until you reached the animal's claw and then you propelled yourself onto its back.