FTL Chapter 7

Blu has what she came for. The codes that Nar Uned sold her are the real thing; if Nar Uned had been trying to scam her, Blu would have sensed it through the ****.

But night is falling over Celestial City and she’s standing in the street with a bodyguard whose name she doesn’t know. Blu doesn’t have to get close to this Mandalorian to know her story. She’s one of many good fighters, trained and indoctrinated through schools just like the one that Blu was thrown out of. And what is this woman’s reward for being disciplined and having the skill and fortitude to earn her beskar? She gets sent to a place like this to trail around behind scum like Nar Uned, farming credits to send home so that the school can churn out more just like her.

This was the future that Blu gave up. The life that she’d gotten in exchange? It hadn’t been glamorous. And it hadn’t brought out the best in her. She’d made mistakes and done things that she isn’t proud of. But she was free. The Mandalorian Creed is like chains on this Bodyguard’s life, but she doesn’t realize it. Now she’s going to get herself killed because of them. Nar Uned is probably long dead; these gangsters probably just shook her down for her client list and credits, then threw her in a trash compactor.

The Bodyguard has to know that, but she doesn’t care because her Creed tells her that she shouldn’t.

Blu stands beside the Bodyguard in silence on the roof of a restaurant under the hazy glow of the Bespin night. In front of them is a distillery. It doesn’t look like anything out of the ordinary, but this is supposedly where the mob that works this sector of the city is based. This is where Nar Uned is most likely to be found if she’s still alive.

“You’re still following me,” the Bodyguard says, her helmet pointed at the entrance to the distillery. Blu sees other ways in, particularly an open skylight, but the Bodyguard has no jetpack. She really is going to kick in the door. “There’s no bounty on my head.”

“You’re still standing out here instead of going in.” Blu smirks. “There’s no hourly rate for recon.”

“Indeed,” the Bodyguard replies. She takes a single step back, then makes a running leap for a power line. She uses the sniper rifle to slide across and land on the roof of the distillery, avoiding the motion sensors that Blu expected her to have missed.

Impressed, Blu makes up her mind. This isn’t about the Creed; the Creed never mattered to her. But letting this girl die in a place like this for nothing would be a waste of potential. Blu won’t help her because she’s obligated to help a sister, she’ll help her because this Bodyguard needs a new job and Master Laki is hiring.

With the ****, Blu doesn’t need the power line. She lands beside the Bodyguard without a sound, and only a momentary freeze from the Mandalorian gives away her surprise.

“You said that you’d killed a Jedi. You never said that you were one,” the Bodyguard says quietly.

“Actually, I said that I didn’t kill a Jedi,” Blu corrects her. “And I keep saying that I’m not one of them.”

Together, they approach the open skylight.