Sacrifice

2 weeks later

"Dak! Get up! Hurry!"

Dak was, quite rudely, being woken up by Sabine. She had woken him up before, but he had never seen energy from her like he did now.

"Sabine…" he groaned while sitting up, "What's going on?"

"We're finally going on a mission!" Sabine excitedly replied, "They need us at the hangar in a few hours, so get ready!"

That got Dak's attention. It had been two weeks since the Ackalay attack and now thet decide to send him on an attack. It was a welcome surprise with weird timing, but he didn't question it. He got on his gear as fast as he could.

A few hours later, Dak, Sabine, and a few other Mandos were on a stealth transport ship. The leader of the squad projected a hologram of the targeted Imperial compound.

"This facility has been housing an experimental heavy-duty bacta infusion. Reportedly, it can cure even a shot to the heart. That serum is our target, it can provide the covert with an incredible medicine source. Now getting there will not be easy as the Imps have this place heavily guarded. We can't just sneak in like we do with other bases. That's where you come in." he says pointing to Sabine, "We need you to lead a small demo team to this area in front of their base. Once you set off a few charges there, their attention will be turned away long enough for the rest of us to drop in right here." Here he points to a flat area one the roof of the base.

"It's above a hallway that leads straight to the storage room where they keep the serum. We'll drop in there and get to the storage room while the ship comes around to get the demo team. Once demo team joins up with the rest of us, we will grab as much of the bacta serum as we can and get out before anyone catches us. Hopefully, we shouldn't encounter too much resistance, but don't count on it."

The pilot called from the cockpit: "Almost there!"

"Switch to stealth mode!" The leader called. The Mandos then heard a faint humming as the ship activated a new stealth tech, turning invisible on both radars and the naked eye.

"Stealth mode engaged. Approaching demo zone."

"This is it, boys! Demo team ready?"

Sabine stood in front of two other Mandalorian carrying explosives: "We're ready as we'll ever be."

"Sabine, explosives are your thing," Dak said, "I'm sure you'll do great."

Sabine nodded her thanks. Just then the transport doors opened.

"Demo team, go!" the leader shouted, and Sabine and the other two Mandos leaped out and ran to plant the charges. Meanwhile, the ship lifted off the ground again and flew towards the drop zone, where once there, Dak and the other Mandos waited for the explosion that marked the signal to drop in. They didn't have to wait long as a few minutes later a massive explosion was seen from the ship. A voice cracked over the Mando's coms: "Place has been lit up. You guys are clear."

"Nice job, Demo Team! The Mando leader said, then turning to Dak and the two others, "Drop Team, go!"

The four Mandos jumped out of the ship and fell towards the roof, using their boosters to slow their fall. Landing on the roof, they brought out laser cutting tools and began cutting through the roof. Within a few minutes, a relatively perfect hole was made and the four Mandos dropped through.

Dak scanned around the hall with the tech in his helmet.

"No one's noticed us so far." He said unholstering his blasters, "That blast really got their attention."

The leader scanned around too: "I don't see anyone either. That's a good sign. Now let's move; the storage room's this way." He said running down the hallway. Then the other three ran after him. After a single turn, they reached the door to the storage room.

"Let's cut this door open." The Mando leader said. Within another few minutes, the door had a fairly large hole in it, and the four Mandos burst in, gunning down the few stormtroopers and officers in the room.

One of the Mandos scanned around with his helmet until he said: "Here they are." and walked over to a silver crate. The leader walked up as the Mando pried it open. Inside the crate were multiple sets of small vials filled with a deep blue liquid.

"This is it." he said, "Start grabbing as much as you can. Dak, keep an eye out for anyone coming."

Dak nodded and went to the doorway as the other three Mandos collected the vials, grabbing a few himself. A few minutes later, the team was just about done when Sabine and the Demo Team came in. Dak had let them in and just turned around as a blaster bolt lance just by his face. Turning towards the hall again he saw five stormtroopers running to the entrance.

"Contact!!" he shouted, firing his pistols into the hall at the stormtroopers. The first two went down, but the sheer number of bolts forced Dak to find cover behind the wall. Sabine ran up, throwing a grenade into the hall, and then ducked for cover herself. The resulting explosion easily took out the other three troopers.

"We need to hurry; more will be here soon." Dak said.

The leader nodded and the rest of the team finished loading up their storage units with the vials. Then they ran towards the ceiling entrance where they dropped in. Once they got there, however, they got word from the transport pilot that a large group of stormtroopers was coming and almost to their location.

"There's too many!" said one of the demo Mandos, "We'll never make it."

Dak got another idea, he grabbed a grenade from Sabine's belt and attached it to his own.

"You guys go," he said, "I'll keep them busy."

Sabine spun around, startled by what he just said: "What!? No! didn't you hear him? There's too many! You won't make it!"

"I have to try." Dak replied, "It's the only way to give you guys enough time to get out." Sabine took off her helmet, she was so scared by what he was planning to do that she needed to breathe: "Please, don't do this. I almost lost you once! I can't have that happen again! You're…you're my friend." Tears were forming in her eyes now.

Dak took off his own helmet: "You're my best friend too," he replied, "But that's partially why I'm doing this. I would rather die than watch you or anyone else here be killed, or worse."

"But…" Sabine tried to continue pleading, but before she could say anything more, Dak pulled her in and kissed her.

Pulling back after a few seconds, he said: "Just go. I've survived tough situations before, I'm sure this will be no different."

Sabine was too shocked by what just happened that she didn't say anything else. She couldn't even move; one of the Mandos had to hold her while he flew out of the hole towards the ship. The leader turned to leave, and then said back to Dak: "You know, I'm not asking you to do this. With the number of stormtroopers coming, you'll surely be killed."

Dak nodded: "And the rest of you will survive." He replied, "This is the way."

The leader nodded back: "This is the way."

Just then, the stormtroopers appeared from the hallway. Dak pulled his blasters out and began firing.

"Go! Go now!" he shouted and ran down the hallway. The stormtrooper followed him, distracted long enough for the Mando leader to fly out to the ship and have the ship pull out and head back to the covert. Meanwhile, Dak ran right into the storage room and, hiding behind the wall, began firing into the crowd of stormtroopers. The stormtroopers were falling by the dozens, but they still kept coming. Eventually, Dak was hit in the arm, then the leg, which knocked him to the ground. Still, he kept firing, taking more wounds to the torso.

One bolt even hit his helmet, leaving a large hole in the faceplate. He knew that he wasn't going to last much longer; if he was going to make his play, it would be now. He holstered his blasters, and pulled out the grenade. Activating the com on his helmet he said: "Commander, do you copy?"

Static crackled and then a voice went through: "I hear you, Dak. Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not. They have me pinned. I'm not gonna make it. I just wanted to say one last thing to you guys before I pulled the pin on this grenade."

A few moments of silence over the com, then: "We're listening. Go ahead."

Dak took cover behind a stack to crates: "I just want to say that all I have ever done was for the good of my family, my covert, and for Mandalore. I never wanted any glory for myself, though it probably seemed that way. Tell my family I love them and that I strove to uphold our honor and the honor of the covert. I knew I was gonna die for our cause, though I never expected it to be this soon," Dak slightly chuckled, then he pulled the grenade's pin and ran out to meet the troopers.

"And one last thing," he said as he threw the grenade, "Sabine…I love you."

Then the grenade exploded and Dak was thrown back into the crates. The last thing he saw was the dead stormtroopers scattered throughout the floor of the room among the fires of the explosion as his vision suddenly went black…