𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 ── ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴᴅᴀʟᴏʀɪᴀɴ ✓

3.2

THIRTY-TWO.
the project and a power revealed

🔹️🔹️🔹️

"It hasn't grown much." Kuiil observed as the child looked up at him with an arm outstretched.

Mando shrugged, "I think it might be a Strand-Cast."

"No," I said, shaking my head. "It's definitely not engineered."

".. How can you be so sure?" Mando asked, leaning forward in his chair. I awkwardly pursed my lips as he just stared at me, waiting for a reply.

"Well, I've worked in gene farms before. This one looks evolved -- too ugly," Kuiil chimed in, glancing at the child. He then turned to face Cara, pointing a finger at her. "This one, on the other hand, looks like she was farmed in the Cytocaves in Nora."

"This is Cara Dune," Mando said. "She was a shock trooper."

"You were a Dropper?" Kuiil asked, raising an eyebrow as he shifted his gaze onto her tattoo. Cara leaned back in her chair with a small smile.

"Did you serve?"

"On the other side, I'm afraid." He sighed, sitting down on a chair in front of us. "But I'm proud to say that I paid out my clan's debt, and now I serve no one but myself."

As if on cue, we saw a pair of IG unit legs approaching Kuiil's small house. Within a blink of an eye, Cara, Mando and I all grabbed our blasters, stood up, and pointed it at the droid as it walked inside. The droid walked closer to us with a tray in its hands.

"Would anyone care for some tea?"

"Please, lower your blasters. He will not harm you." Kuiil held up a hand, looking at us with a stern expression on his face.

I furrowed my eyebrows, slowly lowering my blaster. "Kuiil, what are you doing--"

"That thing is programmed to kill the baby." Mando interrupted with an angered tone in his voice.

"Not anymore. It was left behind in the wake of your destruction. I found it laying where it fell -- devoid of all life." Kuiil explained as the IG unit placed his tray on a nearby table, pouring some tea into three cups. "I recovered the flotsam and staked it as my own in accordance with the Charter of the New Republic. Little remained of its neural harness.. and that's when I remembered all about Adalyn's unfinished project."

".. My project?" I listened in carefully, placing my blaster away.

"Yes, the one you had asked me to finish before you chose to leave with the Mandalorian." He said, nodding. "I gathered up all of your research, skectches, and prints that you left behind for that project of yours. I had made my decision to reconstruct and plant your ideas into the IG unit."

I bit my lower lip, glancing at Mando as he turned to look at me. I shifted my gaze back onto Kuiil, "How did the reconstruction go?"

"It was quite difficult but not impossible. IG-11 had to learn everything from scratch. This is something that cannot be taught with the twist of a spanner -- it requires patience and repetition." He continued, "I spent day after day reinforcing its development with patience and affirmation. It developed a personality as its experiences grew."

Mando lowered his blaster, "Is it still a hunter?"

"No," Kuiil shook his head, glancing at IG-11. "But it will protect."

".. I can't believe you actually finished it." I mumbled aloud, sitting back down on my chair with an astonished look on my face. "Thank you."

Kuiil nodded in response. Just then, there was a small pause while Mando and IG-11 stared at one another. The droid gently brought up a cup of tea and showed it to Mando, "Tea?"