Star Wars - Mandalorian Woes By roccolampone

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Star Wars - Mandalorian Woes

By
roccolampone
Published: May 7, 2022


The wind was picking up, enough to cause a nuisance. Frowning, Bo-Katan Kryze laid closer to the ground, her armored chest resting on the rocky surface. She trusted herself to maintain balance, but up there, on the cliffs overlooking the Imperial base on Arkanis, a fall wouldn’t have a soft landing.

“There,” Koska Reeves said, beside her, “on the southern platform, as before.”

Following her comrade’s directions, Bo-Katan aimed the macrobinoculars on her helmet and enhanced the image until she saw her target.

“Right on time,” she said, a smile floating on her lips.

Just like the previous days, two Imperial Officers exited the base and got onto the platform overlooking the ocean. If they were on a break or the two were discussing something away from prying ears, Bo-Katan didn’t care. The important thing was what they were wearing.

She stood up, using the rocks as cover.

“Are you ready?” she asked Reeves.

Her companion palmed her holstered blaster, grinning. “Let’s get them.”

Bo-Katan nodded calmly, but internally she was glad to finally enter into action. They had been spying on the base for weeks, searching for weaknesses and points of access. A direct assault would’ve been too risky. She knew both she and Reeves were worth dozens of stormtroopers each, but the Imperial presence on Arkanis was still strong enough to elicit caution. There could be reinforcements nearby that would complicate things. And this wasn’t a matter she dared risk.

This was their first target after their joint mission with the bounty hunter Din Djarin to rescue his little companion. Looking at the databanks of Moff Gideon’s captured light cruiser, she’d found information on this secret outpost. From the outside, it looked like an insignificant maintenance base used to repair equipment. But in reality, and more importantly to her faction, the base was also used as a data checkpoint on worlds under Imperial control, Mandalore among them. That meant information on personnel, ordnance, resources, bases, everything vital for the correct functioning of their colonial rule. Having access to that information was key to her plans of liberating her homeworld, and it would most certainly assure the dubious Mandalore clans that remained neutral to join her.

Of course, the Darksaber would’ve been just as decisive. The memory of having lost it to Djarin, albeit unintentionally on his part, still stung. But Bo-Katan had more important things in mind at that moment.

She and Reeves reached the top of the cliff. Without uttering a word, both jumped at the same time. The Imperial base passed them as a white and gray blur. After a few seconds in free fall, with the sea coming closer and closer, they activated their jetpacks and went towards the face of the cliff where the base was. The sound of the roaring ocean would muffle their flight.

Decelerating, they reached the rocks and started the climb upwards, aided by their special gloves and boots. They needed to hurry: the two officers usually stayed on the platform just for a few minutes.

As they climbed, Bo-Katan reviewed the plan in her head. After neutralizing the Imperial officers, they would don their clothes and infiltrate the base. Reeves would go to Data Storage, while she would check the Command Center, both possible locations of the desired information. After they’d have gotten what they wanted, they would leave unnoticed once again. As much as she wanted to enter guns blazing and destroy the base, she couldn’t risk the Empire learning of her intentions. She wasn’t opposed to certain… finesse, once in a while.

Close to the top of the cliff, they slowed down. The waves didn’t let her hear if the officers were still there. Carefully, they started to climb the white steel of the Imperial building. Bo-Katan poked her head over the rail enough to see that only one officer remained. It was the young woman, her blonde hair tied in a bun under her gray cap. As Bo-Katan cursed their luck, the officer turned around and started to return to the base. It was now or never.

Bo-Katan quickly stepped onto the platform signaling Reeves to do the same. The officer was almost to the doors, briskly making the remaining steps.

“Imperial Dog!” Bo-Katan screamed, her voice booming behind her helmet strong enough to be heard over the crashing waves. The woman turned around, her confused expression turning to anger and fear at seeing the armored warriors in front of her. She went for her handgun, but a Mandalorian would always be faster.

As if communicating mentally, she and Reeves attacked at the same time. Her comrade pointed and fired the whipcord launcher mounted on her wrist. The cord quickly wrapped itself around the Imperial, pinning both her arms and also encircling her legs. Almost simultaneously, Bo-Katan fired from her gauntlet a shot of translucent slime right at the officer’s mouth, just as she was opening it.

“Intru-mmph! Mmphh!” The sticky substance filled the officer’s mouth and expanded to encase her lips, preventing her from opening it in the slightest.

Surprised, the woman looked disgusted at the substance covering her mouth, while struggling frenetically to liberate herself from the cord, until she lost balance and went to the ground.

“Ummphhh!”

“Get her over here quickly, before someone notices!” Bo-Katan said.

Reeves started to retract the cord, dragging the struggling officer alone. Her cap was lost along the way.

“Hllp!! Mmm mmmphh!!” Even discounting the ocean, no one would hear her cries for help.

When she was close enough, Bo-Katan kneeled and grabbed her by the chin.

“Mpphh!!” Defiance and fear danced in the young woman’s green eyes, while her lips tried futilely to move and her hands tensed to no avail.

The Mandalorian grabbed a paralyzing dart from her belt and approached it to the officer’s neck, her scared gaze following its movement.

“This will only hurt a moment,” Bo-Katan said, as she pressed the dart against her skin.

“Mmmph!” The woman cried, widely opening her eyes. But before long, her eyelids began to flutter and her struggles lost energy.

“Mmmmphh! Mmmmphh… Mmm…” Her eyes tried to open one more time and then they remained close.

Without wasting any second, Reeves dislodged the cord from the unconscious officer’s body. Both started stripping her of the uniform. Black boots and gloves, gray-green trousers and tunic all came off to leave the woman only on dark underwear.

“Who’s going to wear the uniform?” Reeves asked.

“She’s smaller than me,” Bo-Katan answered. “You’ll have to wear it.” Quickly, she turned her face down and put her hands behind her back. Grabbing a pair of cuffs she put them over around her wrists.

Reeves didn’t argue. She started to remove her armor while Bo-Katan cuffed the Imperial’s legs. The paralyzer shouldn’t wear off until they were done with her mission, but she wouldn’t take any chances. Just in case, Bo-Katan also put some cord around her thighs and above her elbows, the string biting the light skin of the officer. Once she was completely bound, Bo-Katan carried her to a storage crate and put her inside it. Reeves grabbed her armor and put it in another crate, along with her helmet. She didn’t part ways with some of her equipment, though. Her gauntlets were hidden below her tunic.

“What are you going to do?” she asked her as she started putting on the uniform. “Can’t exactly walk inside looking like that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, kneeling to grab the officer’s cap. Dusting it off, she handed it over to her companion. “I’ll find my way.” It was a terrible plan and they both knew it, but knowing how to improvise was one of the fundamental tools of a warrior.

Grabbing the cap, Reeves nodded and started walking towards the doors.

“Remember,” Bo-Katan said, “radio silence until the mission is complete.”

“I remember,” Reeves answered, adjusting the cap above her black hair. “See you outside,” she said as she reached the opening.

“Let me know if you need assistance,” Bo-Katan said as the doors were closing. The last thing she saw was her fellow Mandalorian’s smirk.

-----

After carefully skimming along the edge of the base for a few long minutes, Bo-Katan finally found a balcony that made its way to the interior. Luckily, no one was near at the moment and she was able to get inside undetected.

She had to be cautious with the constant stormtrooper patrols; she hadn’t seen so many imperial troopers together since before the fall of the Empire. That also meant that most of the officers she saw were accompanied by a squad of the white-armored soldiers. It was making her quest for a uniform very difficult.

Slowly, she started moving towards the Command Center, hoping to find a target along the way. Time and time again she’d have to hide in a corner or behind a crate and wait for a patrol to pass. It made for a time-consuming chore. She hoped Reeves wasn’t having too much trouble on her part of the mission.

She walked by a few rooms full of machinery, some familiar and some strange. Usually, there were non-military vehicles being repaired or modified by maintenance droids, or droids themselves being worked on. There was a room with row after row of small circular droids with a little rectangular opening that Bo-Katan couldn’t guess the function, but she assumed they were for repairs, like most of the equipment on the base.

The sameness of the walls complicated her sense of direction, but she knew she was getting closer to the Command Center. If I keep moving deeper inside, she thought, there’s not going to be a need for a uniform.

Finally, she reached an isolated room with an officer. The man was a little taller than her but she couldn’t have the luxury of being picky. Problem was, there were also two stormtroopers. Bo-Katan considered the option of staying put and hoping they’d left the officer alone but she knew that was unlikely.

All three had their backs turned on her. Quietly, Bo-Katan entered the room and unstrapped her holsters. There was no doubt on her mind about the outcome of the battle, but she would have to be careful to not alert anyone. Her blaster pistols would be too loud. Three paralyzing darts fired in quick succession would do the trick.

She was slowly aiming her wrists when a loud alarm erupted everywhere on the base at once.

The three imperials, startled by the noise, quickly turned around. And found a fully armored Mandalorian waiting for them. Their hands reached for their weapons. After three blaster shots, their bodies thumped on the floor before firing a single round.

“I've decided you can keep it,” she said to the dead officer.

It was only after the brief firefight that she heard the voice on the speaker.

“INTRUDER ALERT ON DATA STORAGE. ALL SECURITY PERSONNEL REPORT TO DATA STORAGE”

Blast!

Bo-Katan exited the room. A lone stormtrooper was surprised by the sudden appearance but she greeted him with a blaster shot to the helmet.

She opened her comm. channel.

“Reeves,” she said, “what’s your situation?”

A few seconds passed before there was an answer.

“Everything’s under control, Boss,” she said. Her voice sounded strained and blaster shots could be heard all around her. A few painful screams in the distance indicated when her companion had hit her mark. “Proceed with the mission.”

“I hear heavy fire,” Bo-Katan said. “I’m coming.” She started to walk down the white hall.

“No!” Reeves said. She stopped to fire a few more rounds. “The mission must come first. The future of Mandalore is more important than me.”

Bo-Katan hesitated. The desire to help her compatriot battled with the logic of her words.

“Go, Bo-Katan,” Reeves said. “We need this intel. Don’t worry about me; I have all under con-“ An explosion filled the channel with static.

“Reeves? Come in, Reeves!” There was no answer. The communication was closed.

For a few seconds, Bo-Katan stayed still. With Reeves’ distraction, she would have an easier time reaching the Command Center. Her words were true: what was the life of a soldier against that of her whole homeworld? She had made her decision coming here, she knew what she was getting into and accepted it. If a Mandalorian couldn’t overcome those sorts of perilous situations on their own, maybe Mandalore would’ve been better off without them.

But Bo-Katan also recognized that kind of thinking, the one she sometimes felt so proud of, was the kind that made Mandalore fall into imperial hands in the first place. Death Watch and its pride in tradition made them form an alliance with the Sith Darth Maul to overthrow the pacifist Mandalore goverment. The ensuing Civil War left the planet debilitated, ripe for the taking. That whole ordeal had left her without a Clan, without a planet and without a sister.

Maybe it was time for a new Mandalore. Maybe her Satine’s beliefs held some truth after all.

Clenching her jaw, she made her decision.

Retracing her steps, Bo-Katan started making her way toward her companion. The first stormtrooper squads she encountered were no match for her blasters, but after a while the enemy started to fight back, forcing her to slow down.

Wave after wave of stormtroopers fell under her weapons. They greatly outnumbered her but she vastly outmatched them. Using her blasters, flamethrowers, and wrist rockets she cleaned the way until she was close to Data Storage. Here, the resistance was more entrenched, with several squads firing her from behind cover, while officers barked their orders. Bo-Katan dealt with lots, their white armored bodies soon covering the floors but they were still coming.

She was revising her options when a voice rose up from the cacophony.

“Mandalorian!” the voice cried.

Immediately, the blaster fire stopped. Bo-Katan, taking cover behind a wall, stood still, listening.

“We have your ally. Surrender now or she will be killed.”

Bo-Katan tensed up but she didn’t move. It could still be a trap.

“Bring her here,” she heard the voice say. Moments later she heard a few pairs of steps and some muffled grunts, followed by a thud as if someone had been thrown to the ground.

“I do not lie, Mandalorian,” the voice talked again. “Surrender or she dies.”

Convinced of the threat’s veracity, Bo-Katan slowly poked her helmeted head from behind the wall. Still in the stolen Imperial uniform, Reeves was kneeling on the floor, held in position by two stormtroopers with hands on her shoulders. Her hands were cuffed in front of her, with the cuffs attached to a metal belt, making it impossible for her to raise her hands. She had been gagged with a piece of adhesive tape, causing the only sounds coming from her a series of muffled curses. Her uniform was scorched in some places where blaster fire had touched it and her face was dirty and a little bloody, but her expression remained one of a fighter.

Still, the Imperial officer pointing a gun at her head made it difficult for Bo-Katan to appreciate her defiance. He, who Bo-Katan assumed was the Commanding Officer of the base, was a scrawny-looking middle-aged man, with a thin mustache under a sunken pair of eyes. That he didn’t resemble a warrior at all made the situation all the more humiliating.

Bo-Katan quickly reviewed the situation: a few dozen stormtroopers and a handful of officers, all pointing their weapons at her. Under normal circumstances she would have taken her chances, but with Reeves’ life at stake the best course of action was to follow along. For now.

“I will not say it again,” said the officer.

“Nmmph! Nnn-mmm!” Reeves grunted, shaking her head. But Bo-Katan slowly left her cover with her hands raised.

“Easy there,” she said. “You got us.”

“Put your blasters on the ground and kick them here,” he said. “Carefully,” he added, pressing the blaster against Reeves’ temple.

“Grrrmphh!” Reeves said as Bo-Katan followed his command.

The man snorted. “You Mandalorian are certainly fine warriors. She took several of my men before we could capture her,” he said pointing at Reeves.

“Mmmf mmmmphhh!” she answered, struggling, trying to move her hands. Besides the defiance, Bo-Katan could see the shame on her face at seeing herself defeated. The two stormtroopers keeping her kneeled tightened their grip.

“And she wasn’t even in her armor,” the officer continued. “So you will remove yours, I don’t want any surprises. Helmet first.”

Bo-Katan thought of Din Djarin and his cult’s obsession with keeping themselves helmeted all the time. If he would’ve been in her place, that order would’ve been a death sentence, although she didn’t know for whom.

But she obeyed. Slowly, with no sudden moves, she removed her helmet, revealing her short red hair and green eyes.

“Throw it here,” the man said. She obeyed. The metallic sounds of the helmet against the floor echoed in the metal hallway.

“I admit,” the officer said with an ugly sneer, “I wouldn’t have assumed Mandalorians would be so pretty.”

Oh, I’ll enjoy killing you.

“Now the rest, quickly.”

Bo-Katan had to suppress a smile. This was the moment she was waiting for.

She kept one hand raised while the other went slowly for her gauntlet.

“And remember,” he said, “don’t try anything fu-“

A shrill noise exploded from her wrist. The noise was so piercing that several of the stormtroopers, taken by surprise, dropped their weapons. Even Bo-Katan, trained since she was a child to withstand such frequencies like all Mandalorians, felt forced to cringe in pain. Activating her gauntlet again, dozens of whistling birds –small guided explosives- were released and impacted their foes, exploding on impact. The detonations contributed to the general confusion.

Bo-Katan saw her blasters a small distance away from her, but the enemy was already recovering. The officer, who had recoiled in pain shutting off his ears, started to raise his blaster again towards Reeves.

Bo-Katan aimed at her companion and released her whipcord. It entangled itself in Reeves’ leg at the same time the officer saw what was happening. Bo-Katan yanked hard, dragging the bound and gagged Mandalorian along just when the man fired his blaster. His shots missed by mere inches.

“Mmmmf!” She barely heard the surprised Reeves said as she was being moved.

“Shoot them, you incompetents!” He cried. A few troopers fired but the disorientation caused by her equipment made their shots miss completely.

Bo-Katan started to move back, pulling Reeves out of reach of Imperial fire. She threw one of her grenades around the corner to gain some time. The explosion was followed by howls of pain.

Kneeling in front of Reeves, Bo-Katan checked on her status. She didn’t look hurt, if one didn’t count the humiliation she was surely feeling.

“Mmmphhh!!” she said, trying to move her hands up and down but finding herself restrained by the cuffs and belt. The bindings were too sturdy for Bo-Katan to try to remove in such a short time, but she could at least ungag her.

“Stay put,” she said, reaching for the piece of tape. A blaster shot hit the wall just alongside her head, burning the metal, before she could peel it off.

“Mmff!”

“Damn Imperials!”

Bo-Katan fired more wrist-rockets trying to dissuade the enemy from pursuing them but she knew it was just a matter of time before they were overwhelmed.

“I’m sorry about this,” she said to Reeves before unceremoniously picking her up and putting her over her shoulder.

“Mmmmmpphh!!” she exclaimed. For a Mandalorian to have been subjected to all of this indignity must have been insufferable.

Bo-Katan started to run down the hall, trying to remember the way to the exit, while blaster fire flew through the air all around her. Reeves, struggling frenetically, wasn’t making it easier for her.

After passing a few more rooms and feeling the singeing burn of a few blaster shots, Bo-Katan and her cargo made it to one of the central corridors. She knew where the exit point was.

“We’re almost there!” she said, as she threw her last explosive grenade.

“Mmmphhh!” was all her ally could say.

She could almost see the outside when she heard the same Imperial officer shout behind her.

“Release the auto-repair droids!”

Bo-Katan almost laughed out loud. “Repair droids?” she said, as she kept running. “They must be desperate!”

But the sudden buzzing sound behind her, as if thousands of insects were following her, made her good humor disappear.

“Mmmmphhh!” Reeves cried in alarm.

Turning around, Bo-Katan saw tens of those small circular droids flying towards them. She still didn’t know what they did but she was sure not going to stay still and find out. With her free hand, she released her last battery of whistling birds. Flying with their characteristic sound, they impacted and destroyed several of the droids, but a lot of them still move toward them. She was quickly running out of options.

“Mpph! Pmmt mm dmmwn!!” Reeves signaled the floor as much as she could. Bo-Katan understood and put her on the ground. But having both her arms free wouldn’t make much of a difference without any weapons.

She grabbed a vibroblade from her belt while preparing the mounted flamethrower in her other hand. She was ready for her final stand.

“PLEASE REMAIN CALM WHILE THE EMPIRE WORKS FOR YOUR BETTERMENT,” an automated, artificially upbeat voice said from one of the droids.

“What?” Bo-Katan said, letting her guard down for a moment. She was so taken aback by the cheerful tone that she almost didn’t notice how the droid closer to her started to dispense a kind of slightly blue tape from its rectangular opening and began to wrap it around her legs. Only when her thighs had been tied together she reacted, slicing the droid with her vibroblade.

Keeping her balance with some difficulty, she was about to cut the tape when another one of the droids began to apply the tape to her armed hand, pinning it to her body.

“What is this?!” she shouted, frying the little automaton with her flamethrower. She tried to free her hand but the tape kept it tightly glued to her hip.

The remaining droids, still coming, didn’t let her try anything else. As she aimed her gauntlet at a third one, another droid taped her ankles together. Bo-Katan lost her footing and fell on her back with a loud grunt.

“Mmmfff!!” Reeves said beside her. She had managed to stand up when one of the droids tied her legs together from ankles to knees with amazing speed. As quickly as she had risen, she fell again.

Bo-Katan wasn’t giving up. Getting up as much as she could, she burned several droids with a wave of fire. But one of the robots put the adhesive over her free wrist and yanked it back until it was on her back, where it kept taping it until she couldn’t free herself.

“Aggghh!” she roared in frustration. With both hands neutralized, she was defenseless. The bots continued to wrap their bindings below her knees and above and below her breasts, pinning her arms to her torso more and more until she was completely immobilized.

“You damned pieces of tra-mmmmphh!!”

One of the droids interrupted her cursing by wrapping the blue tape around her mouth. It stuck tightly to her lips, preventing her from moving them in the slightest.

“Mmmphh! Mmm-mmmpg!!”

“THANK YOU, CITIZEN, FOR LETTING THE EMPIRE MAKE THE GALAXY A BETTER PLACE,” the droid said with the same cheerful tone as before.

“Frmmmck mmmff!!

Bo-Katan struggled against the adhesive to no avail. She tried to stand up but the asymmetrical way she had been bound made her lose balance almost immediately. She could barely move her fingers and kick her tied-up legs, but not much more. Reeves was in the same position as her, trashing on the floor while the droids floated above them both.

At that moment, the Commanding Officer walked into the hall. His uniform was torn and burned, his cap nowhere to be found, his face bleeding from a few cuts, but he still looked jovial.

With hands clasped behind his back, he approached the two captured women.

“Two warriors of the famed Mandalorians,” he said with a fake solemn voice, “defeated by service droids.” He let out a loud, ugly laugh.

“Mmmmphhhh!!”

“Grrmppgg! Mm-mmmphhh mmm!”

The ridicule stung more because it was true. For a Mandalorian to be defeated in combat was embarrassing enough, but to be bested by mindless automatons not even fit for battle? Bo-Katan felt shame color her face.

The officer kneeled in front of her, flanked by some of the surviving stormtroopers. “I wonder,” he said, grabbing her chin firmly, “who would you be?”

“Mmmmphh! Mm-mm!” Bo-Katan tried to move her head away from his hand but the man grabbed her by the hair tightly.

“You obviously knew about our data on Mandalore, no other reason to attack this insignificant base.”

“Grrrmpph…”

“So,” he narrowed his eyes, “a survivor of the Great Purge, looking to reclaim her homeworld.” As he stood up, his eyes shone with greed. “I know some individuals who would be very interested in meeting you, ladies.” That ugly smile crept on his face again. “Very interested indeed.”

Grunting, Bo-Katan tried to kick the man but he simply avoided the clumsy blow.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” he said, as he shook his head, “how improper. Sadly, not surprising coming from such inferior cultures.”

“Mmmmf!!!” The desire of having her hands free and being able to burn this man to ash fueled her fury.

The officer turned around and addressed his troops.

“Men, prepare them for transport and load them into my personal shuttle.”

“Mm-mmmphhh!” Bo-Katan and Reeves began to struggle as the gloved hands of the stormtroopers grabbed them. One of them put Bo-Katan over his shoulder while another carried Koska in both arms. The shame and anger she was feeling made her fighting more energetic, making the trooper grunt from the effort. But it was hopeless: the tape was stronger than her. She couldn’t even express her ire because of the tape keeping her lips together.

“Mmmphhh!!”

As she was being moved along the hall, Bo-Katan had a good look at the Imperial Officer.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to teach you some manners on the flight,” he said, sneering. “And, rest assured,” he added with a sleazy sneer, “it’s going to be a very, very long flight.”