Chapter 3

[33 BBY]

The trip to Mos Eisley was uneventful and didn't even take one hour from his starting location. The city was acting as a large spaceport on the Great Mesra Plateau. Its 362 hangars were able to house small and medium sized ships.

Before entering the city, Valin made sure to switch his guns onto the lethal setting. He was by no means someone to get off on killing people, but Mos Eisley was a densely packed den of criminal activity. And he had seen his fair share of death on a planet like Tatooine. The important part is not to seem weak and easily taken advantage of, hence his decision.

As he was walking through the city, he took in the sights. Obviously there were many different species, one more colourful than the next. He didn't even have to search for long to find people commit crimes as seedy deals were made everywhere out in the open, a normal occurrence across the whole Hutt-controlled space.

He could observe a few people eyeing him since he seemed rather well off compared to most people, but they quickly averted their gaze when he looked at them while showing his blasters.

Before long he arrived at the meeting point but stopped before entering. Above the entrance were seven rules that had to be followed if you didn't want to get into unnecessary trouble.

[Leave your droids outside. You don't want Wuher on your case.

Keep your blaster holstered! Why ask for trouble?

Find an empty table or barstool. Crowding other customers will only end in tears.

Be friendly. Buy a drink for your neighbor at the bar.

Applaud the band—even if they're way off-key!

Make pleasant conversation and try to laugh at bad jokes.

Tip the bartender, especially if you make a mess.]

None of them were a problem for him. He didn't bring one of his droids and had no interest in causing trouble in the first place. Setting his game face, he entered the bar and was instantly greeted by the smell of cheap alcohol and music that was definitely way off-key.

'That would explain that rule at least.' he chuckled internally.

As expected, the bar was proverbially bursting at the seams. Even at midday there were countless gangsters, thugs, bounty hunters, pirates and other individuals and groups. A quick glance identified a Nimbanel bartender, who he greeted with a small nod, a lonely Mandalorian that was seemingly a bounty hunter, and two a lot more interesting groups among the crowd.

The first group was the small squad of Mandalorians that he dealt with, sitting in the shadows at the end of the bar. On the other side of the bar, however, were half a dozen ruffians crowding around a Pantoran female with pink hair and golden eyes as if guarding her.

Something of her seemed familiar to Valin, as if he read about her before of encountered her in one of the many Star Wars stories.

That was something to think about later however, because he already had an appointment and by the looks of it, they spotted him as well.

Quickly making his way over, he studied them in detail. Their squad consisted of four males and two females, if the armour was of any indication. All of them were sitting on the opposite site at the round table.

The leader was of similar stature to him. Like all his teammates, he was wearing beskar armour painted in dark colors and had the signature weapons and equipment of Old Mandalorians on his body. The only thing missing at the moment was the iconic backpack of their people.

To his right were two giant men, obviously very suited for close combat if one took notice of all the weapons they were carrying. In addition to the normal weaponry, both of them had two knifes on their sides and a large weapon on their back, most probably some kind of bigger blade. Even with their faces covered, he could guess that they are twins considering how similar they looked.

The last man seemed rather lanky and only had the most important weaponry on him. Considering his lanky stature and the few tools he carries on himself, he was most likely the crew's technician or pilot.

As for the two women, somehow, they seemed the scariest of all six of them in Valin's opinion. The one further from him carried a sniper rifle of ridiculous proportions while hugging it like a loved one. Normally he would ask himself why someone would carry such a weapon inside a bar, but common sense of warriors was obviously different compared to Valin who concentrated on science and engineering in this life since now.

The other woman had no big rifle on her, but her whole armour was equipped with grenades and explosives of any kind. He was sure that both are a handful, which was probably a requirement in a warrior nation like theirs. It was after all only a rather recent development that their home world advocated more peaceful ways that caused individuals like them to leave.

Coming out of his thoughts he concentrated on the person in front of him.

"It's nice to meet you, all of you. To get the introductions out of the way, I am Valin." He greeted them and introduced himself while giving nods to the other crewmates.

"Likewise, you can call me Dunn." The now named leader introduced himself through the robotic voice of his helmet, before pointing at the team in the same order that Valin inspected them earlier.

"As for them, they are Brachium, Thwak, Corvus, Sabe and Freia. I would keep my hands to myself when it comes to those two however." He introduced them before warning him about the to women on his team, causing his whole squad to chuckle with only Sabe averting her gaze, seemingly done with those comments long ago.

"Duly noted." Valin replied with a small smile before continuing. "I take it that everything went well?"

"Yes, we managed to get everything you asked of and guarded the transport of the other freighters you ordered to come here. The other materials you ordered are in our ship and we will hand it to you when you pay the price we agreed upon." Dunn clarified, not asking what exactly he wanted those materials for. That was one of the reasons they were as successful with their small business "muscles for hire".

"Wonderful, if you managed to get all of it, I will even add something on top." Valin become cheerful after hearing that. He never expected them to be unsuccessful, but it was still good news, and he now could finish most of his projects in the next few months.

"Then let's head there so I can check everything." Valin proposed eagerly.

"As you wish." Dunn nodded, already having expected that much. While it was their first time meeting in person, they already had contact for months now. Not enough to trust each other, that would just be madness, but they could trust each other's professionalism as they profited of each other so far.

They quickly got up and headed towards a rather secluded hangar, that was filled with four freighters and one heavily armed Mandalorian ship. It didn't take long for Valin to check the content of the freighters as he confirmed that everything matched his orders.

Afterwards he made his way over to the Mandalorian ship and was brought before two crates, one far larger than the other.

Upon opening the larger one, he quickly developed an unnatural grin on his face. There were at least a dozen tons of beskar bars inside. Had it been before the Mandalorians changed their ways, it would have been far harder to get his hands on those, but now? While it was still difficult and very expensive, it was manageable.

Closing the crate, he turned towards the smaller one and when taking a look inside he developed an even more unnatural grin than before. It was filled with all kinds of crystals, some smaller and some bigger. Some of them were easily in the hundreds and others in the tens of numbers.

A big chunk of those crystals were normally used in lightsabers and Valin had grand plans for them. A new generation of combat droids was going to be born as soon as he managed to make them work properly!

The left-over ones would then be used to play around with Ancient technology.

"Everything seems to be in order. Thanks a lot for this. And the payment…" Valin said while fidgeting with his datapad. "…is done."

Dunn quickly checked the incoming payment before nodding to himself.

"Do you need any help with the transportation?" he asked.

"Thanks, I will manage." He replied with a smile as the twins began to unload the crates for Valin to take out of the hangar later.

"But I have a proposal for all of you." Valin stated, easily feeling the raised eyebrows under their helmets from their posture alone.

"Let's hear it then." Dunn answered after a few seconds of silence. Having follow-up orders was nothing out of the ordinary, but normally Valin would have notified him beforehand. Therefore, it was understandable to be curious.

"I am searching for crewmates for my own ship in the near future. I know you six are very capable and I'd like to extend an invitation towards your team." Valin easily answered, knowing they wouldn't take him serious for now.

"And why do you think we would accept something like this?" Dunn asked for clarification.

"There are lots of reasons honestly. You will get paid properly. I can give you even better equipment than you already have. We wouldn't be affiliated with any specific faction, much rather be our own if you will. There is practically no chance to become enemies with your home world, mind you. As for my goals? I want to explore the galaxy and chase the tracks of history. There will be no end of strong opponents, force users among them." He explained passionately, trying to grasp their reaction with mixed results due to their armour.

While he didn't see their expression, he could feel the excitement they exuded at the prospect of adventure and meeting strong warriors on a battlefield. Understandably that was still not enough. He was still very young and only madmen would put their lives into his hands. And Dunn clearly took his role as their leader serious.

"There are a few problems with that Valin." Dunn stated.

"Let me hear them." He answered.

"First you are inexperienced and very young." He made his first point.

"That I know myself, hence the reason I am searching for a capable crew to support each other." Valin countered.

"Secondly, we know nothing about you and you know nothing about us." Dunn continued.

"Easily solved, we can just spend some time together learn about each other. All I am asking is a chance to get to know me and maybe build some trust." Valine replied, his smile still not leaving his face.

Dunn nodded but was obviously not done.

"And lastly, why would you think we would follow just anyone. We are warriors and we will only follow another warrior we can respect. You are no Mandalorian and you are no warrior, Valin!" This time he lifted his voice and it sounded far harsher than before.

Valine closed his eyes for a second before answering him, not bothered by the tone he was spoken to.

"You know Dunn, I knew you would say something like that." He started.

That comment surprised the Mandalorian as he seemed to lose some of his threatening stance in confusion. He had no time to think about it however as Valin continued.

"You say I lack experience? I can gain it. You say you know nothing about me? I am an open book to the people I trust. As you all are very forward people, that is easily achieved. As for me not being a warrior or a Mandalorian?" Valine gained more momentum with each statement.

"I will just have to become one of you."

"Huh?" Dunn was as surprised as the others.

"I said I will accept the Mandalorian mindset if you accept mine. You want me to best you in combat, I will just try until I beat you. You want me to take that rite of passage you had to do yourself? Come at me!" His smile was wide at their gobsmacked posture. Valin was satisfied, he did his best and it actually went a lot better than is sounded inside his head. The only thing left was their answer and he didn't have to wait long.

"Hahaha well said boy! Come on Dunn, give him a chance. His offer sounds more interesting than anything I heard for the last few years and I say it's worth a shot!" Freya began to laugh out loud and slowly the whole team began to chuckle.

Dunn took off his helmet as he slowly walked in front of Valin. He was a man seemingly in his early thirties with an unshaven face that bore some scars from past battles. Valin and him held eye contact for a few seconds, both of them not daring to blink.

A short moment later Dunn began to grin on his own as he offered his hand to Valin.

"I admit you have guts. Don't go back on your words now. Your adventure just got a lot more difficult! Alright you will have your chance and you will have to do your best not to die!" At that all the Mandalorians laughed even louder.

Valin had a smile on his face as he took the offered hand. Was it a dumb decision after he was careful not to risk too much for 16 years? Possibly. Was it worth it? One hundred percent. The chance to get them onto his ship was just too sweet and learning how to fight better on the way was just a big plus in his book. He knew he would need it in the coming years after all.