CHAPTER 2 GREEF KARGA SAID you were coming Mando stood in front of the Client letting the silence play out around him For a supposed safe house the room didn't feel particularly safe Walking in he'd found four stormtroopers in dusty battle scarred armor surrounding him blasters at the ready Like the Empire they once served the troopers had been stripped of their official authority but not of their menace These days they worked fought and killed for whoever offered the highest pay What else did Karga say Mando asked He said you were the best in the parsec The Client's expression didn't change He was a man in his seventies with white hair and an accent Mando couldn't place but his distinguished distinguished mannerisms hinted at a former life as a highly ranked Imperial officer He also said you were expensive It wasn't a question and Mando didn't bother to answer it There was a muffled clink as he watched the old man
unfold a piece of soft black fabric across the table in front of him to reveal a flat rectangular plate of metal lying at the center of the red lining He was aware of the troopers behind him leaning in for a closer look Even they couldn't disguise their interest in such a treasure The Mandalorian knew its name at once Beskar This is only a down payment the Client said The rest will be waiting for you on delivery of the asset Alive added the anxious bespectacled man standing next to him The Client had introduced him as Dr. Pershing and the doctor's excited entrance into the room a moment earlier had nearly gotten him shot before the Client had asked Mando to put away his blaster Proof of termination is also acceptable for a lower fee the Client said not bothering to acknowledge Pershing's sputtering sputtering objections I'm simply being practical Bounty hunting is an uncertain business The old man waited allowing the meaning of the words to sink in The beskar belongs back with a Mandalorian It is good to restore the natural order of things after a period of such disarray He raised his eyes upward Don't you agree Agree or not the job was his and the beskar with it The Client had provided him with a tracking fob and the quarry's last known location The hunt awaited
But first he needed to make one more stop He stepped through the hidden doorway and followed the steps down into the coolness and familiarity of the shadows shadows that awaited him The Armorer's foundry was down a long flight of stairs located deep beneath the surface hidden away from the eyes of the enemies that had driven their sect underground This was a secret place its location carefully guarded There in the gloom the steady circle of blue flames burned brightly and the clink of the Armorer's hammer gave the darkness a kind of heartbeat all its own He and the Armorer exchanged nods and when he gave the bar of beskar to her she didn't speak immediately This was gathered in the Great Purge she eventually said It is good that it is back with the tribe She looked at him A pauldron would be in order Has your signet been revealed No. Soon As she melted the beskar down in the forge the molten metal streaming through a series of heated troughs to fill the waiting mold her voice softened somewhat This is extremely generous The excess will sponsor many foundlings That's good Mando said I was once a foundling I know she said and there was little more to add to the conversation Soon enough he was on his way
CHAPTER 3 THE RAZOR CREST WAS HOME Where others might look at the gunship and see a simple means of transportation or escape the Mandalorian knew the Crest as his haven almost an extension of the armor and helmet that protected him Programming the navicomputer with the coordinates provided by the Client he felt the familiar familiar rumble of thrusters taking hold deepening through the gunship's frame as it broke away from the spaceport tilted slightly on its axis and flung itself into space In many ways the pursuit of his quarry was always the same It was only a matter of time before he returned to Nevarro with his bounty in tow he collected what was owed and then the whole process began again And yet this time felt different Perhaps it was seeing the beskar feeling its weight in his hands and hearing the Armorer's prediction that his signet would soon be revealed
