I gripped the side of my seat as Dad takes evasive maneuvers from a starfighter. We'd been trying to shake this guy for the last several minutes and he wasn't even firing warning shots.

Guild Hunter: (over comm) Hand over the child, Mando. I might let you and your son live.

One of the blasts damages the left thruster and makes the ship jerk and spark.

Y/n: We can't take another shot like that!

Dad: I know.

Y/n: Then what do we do?!

Dad: Just hang on!

Dad maneuvers around several more blasts, though the hunter's still on our tail.

Guild Hunter: (over comm) I can bring you in warm or I can bring you in cold.

Dad flips the switch for the afterburners and the Crest halts as the starfighter shoots ahead of us, scraping the top of the ship.

Dad: That's my line.

Dad fires the Crest's blasters and blows the starfighter to hell.

Y/n: Give Greef our regards.

The Crest begins to slow and the cockpit starts flashing red.

Dad: We're losing fuel.

Suddenly the cockpit immediately blackens and everything shuts down.

Dad: Dank Farrik. Y/n, turn on the backup power.

Y/n: On it.

I unbuckle out of my seat and hop around to open a panel and flip on the backup power. The cockpit lights up steadily as Dad starts bringing up all the reserve systems online.

I sit back down in my seat and Dad steers us towards the nearest planet: Tatooine. The sandy plains of nowhere. How the people of Mos Eisley and the Tusken Raiders can stand living on that planet, I'll never understand.

Operator: (over comm) This is Mos Eisley Tower. We are tracking you. Head for bay three-five, over.

Dad: Copy that. Locked in for three-five.

Dad flies the ship through the atmosphere and we land the ship down in bay three-five.

I put the Child in our bedroom carefully, as he had just fallen asleep.

Y/n: Get good rest, pal. We'll be back soon.

Dad opens the bay and three PIT-Droids come out to work on the ship, but he immediately fires his blaster, making them revert to their shut-off modes.

???: Hey!

Dad and I turn to see a woman around her fifties come out to us, angrily.

Woman: Hey! You damage one of my droids, you'll pay for it.

Dad: Just keep them away from our ship.

Y/n: Don't mind him. A droid took his stuffed Bantha toy when he was a kid.

Woman: That a fact?

Y/n: Not really. And you are?

Woman: Peli Motto.

Y/n: Nice to meet you. So, um, how 'bout our ship? Can you fix it?

Peli: Let's take a look.

Dad and I watch Peli give the Crest a couple a hits with her hand and scan it with some kind of device she had on her hip.

Peli: Ugh, you got a lot of carbon scoring building up top. If I didn't know better, I'd say you boys were in a shootout.

Y/n: You could say that.

Dad hits my arm, making me understand that we shouldn't give out too much information about WHY we were in a shootout.

Y/n: (quietly) Shutting up.

Peli: You've got a fuel leak. Look at this, this is a mess! How did you even land? That's gonna set you back.

Dad: I've got 500 Imperial credits.

Peli: That's all you got?

Peli turns to her droids.

Peli: Well, what do you guys think?

The PIT Droids all shake their heads, chittering.

Peli: That should at least cover the hangar.

Dad: We'll get you your money.

Peli: Mm. I've heard that before.

Dad: Just remember-

Peli: Yeah, no droids. I heard ya. Ya don't have to say it twice.

Dad shakes his head as he and I exit the hangar and head out to find some work. We walk through an alleyway and see several Stormtrooper helmets stabbed into pikes set in the ground.

Y/n: And you wonder why I hate Tatooine.

Dad: Be honest, we've both seen some darker stuff than this.

Y/n: Doesn't make it any less uncomfortable.

The both of us then head inside a cantina and walk up to a droid that was cleaning the counter.

Dad: Hey, droid, were hunters. We're looking for some work.

Droid: Unfortunately, the Bounty Guild no longer operates from Tatooine.

Y/n: We aren't looking for Guild Work.

Droid: I am afraid that does not improve your situation, at by my calculation.

???: Think again, tin can.

Dad and I turn and see a man in his late twenties sitting at one of the tables behind us, with his feet kicked up.

Man: If you're looking for work, have a seat, my friends. Name's Toro. Toro Calican. Come on, relax.

Dad and I step away from the counter and sit down in front of 'Toro'. He then places a bounty puck on the table that shows a woman in her early forties.

Toro: Picked up this bounty puck, before I left the Mid Rim. Fennec Shand, an assassin. Heard she's been on the run ever since the New Republic put all her employers in lockdown.

Dad: I know the name.

Toro then takes out a tracking fob and holds it out for us to see.

Toro: I followed this tracking fob here. Now the positional data suggests she's headed out beyond the Dune Sea. Should be an easy job.

Dad: Well, good luck with that.

Yeah, no way we're getting involved with this lady.

Toro: Wait, wait, wait, I thought you needed work?

Y/n: How long have you been in the Guild, Calican?

Toro: Long enough.

Dad: Clearly not. Fennec Shand is an elite mercenary. She made her name killing for all the top crime syndicates, including the Hutts.

I try my best not to laugh at Toro's expression as he looks at Dad in shock.

Dad: If you go after her, you won't make it past sunrise.

As Dad and I walk to the exit, Toro stands from his seat and rushes to us.

Toro: This is my first job. You can keep the money. All of it. I just need this job to get into the Guild. I can't do it alone.

I could tell Dad was contemplating from his silence and smirk at his response.

Dad: Meet us at hangar three-five in half an hour. Bring three speeder bikes and give me the tracking fob.

Toro looks at us for several seconds before smashing the fob against the wall.

Toro: Don't worry, got it all memorized.

Dad: Half an hour.

Dad leaves the cantina, but I stay to say something.

Y/n: Word of advice, Calican: don't be so paranoid.

I then leave the cantina and jog off after Dad.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

We enter the hangar and walk back into the ship to grab our weapons and check on the Child, but panic when we see the bedroom was open and the Child was gone.

I run out and yell for Peli.

Y/n: Hey!

Peli: I'm awake!

Y/n: Where's the baby?

Peli walks out holding the Child and shushes him.

Peli: Oh. Shh. It's okay. You woke it up. Do you have any idea how long it took me to get it to sleep?

Y/n: Give him back.

Peli turns the Child away from us.

Peli: Not so fast. You can't just leave a child all alone like that. You two have an awful lot to learn about raisin' a young one.

Dad and I stare at her as she continues.

Peli: Anyway, I started the repair on the fuel leak.

Peli taps a few buttons on a console next to her.

Peli: There you go. I had a couple setbacks I wanted to talk to you about. I didn't use any droids, as requested, so it took me a lot longer than I expected. But I figured you boys were good for the money since you have an extra mouth to feed.

Dad: ....Thank you.

Y/n: What he said.

As we leave the hangar to find Toro, Peli follows us.

Peli: Oh, I guess I was right. You got a job didn't you? You know it's costing me a lot of money to keep these droids even powered up.

We walk out of the hangar and see Toro with three speeder bikes and was leaning against one of them.

Toro: Well, what do you think? Not too shabby, huh?

Dad starts checking the speeders, to make sure they'll get us to our destination.

Toro: What'd you expect? This ain't Corellia.

Toro turns and nods to Peli.

Toro: Ma'am.

I walk over to Peli and gently take the Child from her.

Y/n: We'll be back soon. Don't give her any trouble, okay?

The Child coos and leans against my arm, making me chuckle as I hand him back to Peli.

Dad, Toro, and I all hop on our bikes and speed off into the wasteland.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

After several hours of riding, Dad holds his fist up for us to halt.

Toro: What's going on?

Dad: Look. Up ahead.

In the distance we see what look like Banthas and a couple of Tusken Raiders.

Toro takes out a pair of binoculars and looks down at them.

Toro: Tusken Raiders. I heard the locals talking about this filth.

Dad: Tuskens think they're the locals. Everyone else is just trespassing.

Toro: Whatever they call themselves, they best keep their distance.

Y/n: Hey, Calican? Do a one-eighty.

Toro turns and jumps back as two Tusken Raiders were looking at us.

Dad holds his hand out.

Dad: Relax.

Toro and I watch as Dad hand-signs with the Tuskens. Toro looks at me.

Toro: What's he doing?

Y/n: Negotiating.

Dad hand-signs to them again.

Toro: What's going on?

Dad: We need passage across their land.

One of the Tuskens signs back and Dad holds his hand out to Toro.

Dad: Let me see the binocs.

Toro: Why?

Dad just gives him a look and Toro hesitantly hands them to him. Dad then tosses the binoculars to the Tusken on the right.

Toro: Hey! Those were brand new!

Y/n: Yep. They were.

Dad hops on his bike and speeds off. I look at Toro.

Y/n: You comin' or what?

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

After several more hours, Dad holds up his fist once again and hops off, crouching down.

Dad: Get down.

Toro and I hop off and closely stay behind as we climb up a dune and see a Dewback dragging a body.

Dad: Tell me what you see.

Toro: Dewback. Looks like the rider's still attached. Is that her? Is that the target?

Y/n: Hard to tell from here.

Dad: I'll go. Cover me. And stay down.

I pull out my sniper rifle as Toro grabs his blaster. Dad slowly hustles down the dune and approaches the Dewback.

Dad crouches down and flips the body over.

Toro: Well, is it her? Is she dead?

Dad: It's another bounty hunter.

Toro: Hey, I hope you don't plan on keeping all that stuff to yourself. Can I at least have that blaster?

Y/n: Is that seriously all you're thinking about right now?

Dad stands up and turns to us.

Dad: Get down!

Dad suddenly gets blasted in the back and stumbles.

Toro: Mando!

Y/n: Dad!

Dad hustles up to us and takes another shot in the back that makes him flip and fall next to us. I rush down and help him.

Y/n: Dad, you okay? Are you hurt?

Dad: I'm fine.

We crawl back up next to Toro.

Toro: What happened?

Y/n: Sniper bolt. Only an MK-modified rifle could make that shot.

Toro: Are you alright?

Dad: Yeah. Hit me in the Beskar, and at that range the Beskar held up.

Toro: Wait, I'm not wearing any Beskar.

Y/n: Nope. Which means you'd probably have a hole right in the center of your chest if you'd gone out there.

Toro: Well, so what do we do?

Dad: Did you see where that shot came from?

Toro: Yeah, it came from that ridge.

Dad: Okay, we're gonna wait until dark.

Toro: Well, what if she escapes?

Y/n: She has the high ground. She'll wait for us to make the first move.

Dad walks back to the speeder bikes.

Dad: I'm gonna rest. You two take the first watch. Stay low!

Y/n: Right.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Night had fallen and it was time to make our move. I was checking my ammo as Toro turned to my dad.

Toro: All right, suns are down. Time to ride, Mando.

Dad doesn't say anything as he laid against his speeder, not moving.

Toro: Come on, wake up.

I smirk as I holster my blaster and Toro continues his rant.

Toro: Does your old man always sleep on the job?

Y/n: Believe me, he needs his sleep. Otherwise he gets REAL cranky when we hunt down bounties like this Fennec chick.

I watch Toro then stupidly pretend to draw his blaster on my dad until he turns his head.

Dad: You done?

Toro quickly holsters his blaster.

Toro: Yeah, yeah. I was just, you know, waking you up. Come on.

Dad stands up and looks at me.

Dad: And I'm NOT cranky.

Y/n: Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that.

Dad: Get on your bikes. Ride as fast as you can towards those rocks.

Toro: That's your plan? She'll snipe us right off the bikes.

Dad then hands us each flash charges.

Dad: Flash charges. We alternate shots, it'll blind any scope temporarily. Combine that with our speed we got a chance.

Toro: A chance?

Y/n: Are you gonna keep complaining or are you gonna act like a bounty hunter?

We all speed off towards the rocks and Dad fires his charge first, sending the flare into the sky. Several seconds later, a blaster bolt hits between us, making us spread out.

Dad: NOW!

Toro fires his charge and a blaster bolt nearly misses him.

I fire my charge next, but a bolt hit Dad's bike and sent him crashing into the sand.

Y/n: DAD!

Dad: KEEP GOING!

Dad fires another charge and Toro and I make it to the rocks. We immediately hop off and rush up top as she fires another blast that hit Dad in the chest.

I felt my anger rise as I ran up to her position past Toro and immediately aim my blaster at her.

Y/n: You fire one more shot and I'll make sure your assassin days are over. Drop the rifle.

Fennec slowly turns to me and quickly threw a small dagger that knocked my blaster out of my hand. She jumped up and kicked me down as Toro made it up and she backhanded him to the ground.

I quickly get to my feet and block her fist before kneeing her in the gut and throwing her over my shoulders. I bring my fist down to her face, but she rolls away at the last second and kicks me in the side.

Toro tackles her to the ground, but she skillfully kicks him off and hops to her feet. I fire my fibercord as it ensnares her and I yank with all my might, pulling her towards me and clotheslining her to the ground. I plant my boot on her neck and level my knife at her eye.

Y/n: You're beaten. Stay down or you lose your good eye.

Fennec grunts in anger before holding her hands up and I take my boot off. I motion her to stand over by a nearby rock and grab my blaster out of the sand. I look over at Toro as he pants, getting up.

Y/n: Calican, you good?

Toro: Yeah (pant) ... good job, partner. (pant)

Y/n: Might wanna find your blaster.

Dad comes up to us and nods.

Dad: Nice job.

Y/n: You okay?

Dad: I'm fine.

Dad then takes out his pair of cuffs and tosses them to Fennec.

Dad: Cuff yourself.

Fennec puts them on and stares at me and Dad.

Fennec: Mandalorians. It's been a long time since I've seen any of your kind. Ever been to Nevarro? I hear things didn't go so well there, but it looks like you got off easy.

Toro grabs his blaster and holsters it.

Toro: You won't have to worry about getting to Nevarro or anywhere else once we turn you in. You know I really should thank you. You're my ticket into the Guild.

Fennec: (unamused) You're welcome.

We make our way back down to mine and Toro's bikes.

Fennec: Uh-oh. Looks like two of us have to walk.

I push Fennec to the ground, making her silent.

Y/n: Or we could drag your ass all the way back.

Toro: All right, so what is the plan?

Dad: I need you to go find that Dewback we saw.

Toro: And leave you guys here with my bounty and the only two bikes we have? Yeah, I don't think so, Mando.

Y/n: We keep your ass from getting roasted by the Tuskens, not getting sniped by her, and you're still paranoid?

Dad looks into the distance and turns back to Toro.

Dad: Okay, we'll do it.

I walk over to my bike and take out the power coupling.

Y/n: One bike, lesser chance of her getting the other.

Dad: Don't let her get near yours. She's no good to us dead.

Dad and I then start walking into the distance to get the desert reptile.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

After grabbing the Dewback, we eventually make it back to the ridge, riding on it's back and see Fennec laying dead on the ground and my bike blasted to pieces.

Y/n: This can't be good.

Dad: What the hell did she say to him?

Y/n: How much you wanna bet she told him about the what happened Nevarro and instead he decided to get the bounty not only on the kid, but us too?

Dad: Damn it. We gotta get back there. HAH!

Dad kicks the Dewback and it moans before turning and running towards Mos Eisley.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

We make it back as night fell again and hop off the Dewback, taking our blasters out and slowly head towards the hangar.

We see Peli's PIT Droids hiding and then hear his voice.

Toro: Took you guys long enough.

Dad and I level our blasters at the direction of Toro's voice and see him walking down the ramp of the Crest while holding Peli at gunpoint. He also had the Child in his other arm.

Toro: Looks like I'm calling the shots now, huh partners? Drop your blasters and raise 'em.

Dad and I do as he says and put our weapons down before putting our hands on the back of our helmets.

Toro taps Peli with his blaster.

Toro: Cuff 'em.

Peli then starts walking towards us.

Toro: You both are Guild traitors. (looks down at the Child) And I'm willing to bet that this here is the target you helped escape.

As Peli walks up behind us, I secretly had grabbed my flash charge and held it down for Peli to see.

Peli: (whispering) You're smarter than ya look.

Toro: Fennec was right. Bringing you two in won't just make me a member of the Guild, it'll make me legendary.

I immediately activate the flash charge and Toro starts blindly firing at us. Dad dashes for his blaster and shoots Toro square in the chest, making his body fall off the ramp and hit the ground.

I rush forward to find the Child as Dad checks to make sure Toro is dead. He flips him over and see the Child is gone.

Peli: Where is it?

We then hear babbling and see the Child poke out from behind a barrel.

Peli: Oh, there you are. Are you hiding from us? Huh? (picks him up) Look at you. That was really loud for your big old ears, wasn't it?

I take the blaster off of Toro's body and shrug.

Y/n: Guess we can add this to the weapons rack, huh?

Dad then checks Toro's pockets and finds a bag of credits as well.

I walk over to Peli and she hands the Child over to me.

Peli: Be careful with him.

Y/n: Nothing bad's ever gonna happen to him. I promise.

Peli: ...So, I take it you boys didn't get paid?

Dad dumps the bag of credits into her hands.

Dad: That cover us?

Peli: Yeah. Yes, this is gonna cover you.

I smile and look down at the Child, gently rocking him.

Y/n: Thank you for keeping him safe.

Peli shrugs and smiles.

Peli: Well, my pleasure. Safe travels, the both of you.

I nod at her before I follow Dad in the ship and we set off into the sky.

(AND THAT'S CHAPTER 5 DONE! TOMORROW IS "THE PRISONER"! 35 VOTES OR MORE FOR IT TO HAPPEN!)