MANDO AND THE OTHERS followed the tunnel to the river, which flowed toward the lava flats. As they walked, the smell of sulfur grew steadily stronger, along with the heat. At the river’s edge, bubbling lava surrounded the boat. The vessel didn’t appear to have been used in a very long time and remained stubbornly attached to the shore. The ferry droid sat silent, its circuits apparently fried, while Mando and Karga struggled to push the boat free.

“You guys mind getting out of the way?” Cara asked. Shifting the Child to one arm, she raised her rifle and opened fire along the riverbank, blasting the hardened lava until the vessel broke loose, bobbing in the stream. They all climbed in.

Alerted by the disturbance, the ferry droid whirred to life, its processors blinking and brightening in recognition of its passengers. It rose up on long legs until it stood towering over them in the stern of the boat, paddle in hand, and chirped out an inquiry.

“I believe he is asking where we would like to go,” IG-11 said.

“Downriver,” Karga said, “to the lava flat.”

The droid set to work and began to paddle. Orange liquid fire sloshed around them on either side as the boat moved slowly forward. Mando saw strange, red-eyed creatures scurrying in the darkness along the banks.

“That’s it!” Karga pointed at the light up ahead. “We’re free!”

Mando activated his helmet scanner. “No,” he said. He looked at the outlines of at least a dozen figures clustered outside, on either side of the exit point, waiting in silence. “Stormtroopers. They’re flanking the mouth of the tunnel. They must know we’re coming.”

“Stop the boat!” Cara said. “Droid! I said stop the boat!” She pointed her blaster at the ferry droid’s processing array and pulled the trigger. The droid’s head burst apart in a shower of sparks, and it fell still and stopped paddling. But it didn’t matter. The boat continued to move forward in the lava flow surrounding it.

IG looked in the direction of the stormtrooper platoon. “They will not be satisfied with anything less than the Child,” the droid said. “This is unacceptable. I will eliminate the enemy, and you will escape.”

Mando looked at the droid. “You don’t have that kind of firepower, pal. You wouldn’t even get to daylight.”

“That is not my objective,” IG-11 said. “I still have the security protocols from my manufacturer. If my designs are compromised, I must self-destruct.”

“What are you talking about?” Mando asked.

“I am not permitted to be captured. I must be destroyed.” The droid faced the bounty hunter. “Sadly, there is no scenario where the Child is saved in which I survive.”

“No,” Mando said, “you’re not going anywhere. We need you.”

“Please tell me the Child will be safe in your care.”

“But you’ll be destroyed—”

“And you will live,” the IG said, “and I will have served my purpose.” It looked at the Mandalorian. “There is nothing to be sad about. I have never been alive.”

“I’m not…sad,” Mando said.

“Yes, you are. I’m a nurse droid. I’ve analyzed your voice.” IG-11 reached down and ran its mechanized finger over the Child’s face, almost tenderly.

Then it turned and stepped out of the boat, into the hissing river of molten lava.