MANDO AND THE OTHERS stood in the boat, watching as IG-11 waded through the lava, making its way toward the exit. Outside the mouth of the tunnel, the platoon of stormtroopers moved forward, blasters pointed at the droid as it stepped into daylight.

“Manufacturer’s protocol dictates that I cannot be captured,” the IG said, and the detonator implanted inside its body began beeping rapidly. “I must be destroyed.”

The blinking light on the detonator went solid red.

The explosion was huge.

As the boat drifted out of the tunnel, Mando looked at the bodies of stormtroopers sprawled on either side of the riverbank in the drifting smoke. The droid had done it. Giving its own life, it had saved them.

A scream came across the sky. Mando jerked his head up to see the TIE fighter roaring toward them.

“Moff Gideon!” Cara shouted, and raised her blaster. Mando and Karga joined her in shooting at the fighter as it looped overhead, the ship’s cannons pouring down fire on them.

“He missed!” Karga said.

“He won’t next time,” said Mando, watching as the TIE banked and prepared to come around again.

“Hey,” Karga said, “let’s make the baby do the magic hand thing.” He looked hopefully over at the Child, wiggling his fingers. “Come on, baby! Do the magic hand thing!”

The Child looked at him and waved, cooing.

Karga sighed. “I’m out of ideas.”

“I’m not,” Mando said. He picked up the jet pack the Armorer had given him and reached around, attaching it. They could see Moff Gideon’s TIE fighter heading back toward them, cannons blazing.

Activating the jets, the Mandalorian flew straight up in the air, allowing the TIE to pass underneath him. He fired his grappling cable, affixing himself to the fighter, and felt it jerk him forward hard, swinging him across the open sky.

Mando hit the jet pack again, propelling himself forward, and landed on the fighter’s cockpit dome, looking straight down at Gideon’s startled face. Gideon’s mouth twisted in a mixture of rage and determination. Mando pointed his blaster at the hatch and fired, but the cockpit door held.

Gideon yanked hard to the left, tilting the ship sideways and throwing Mando off the cockpit as the fighter went spiraling. The bounty hunter grunted, sliding down to the left connector of the fighter and holding on with everything he had. He pulled a detonator from his belt and snapped it in place on the connector.

Then he let go.

Below, Cara and Greef Karga watched as the entire left side of Moff Gideon’s TIE fighter exploded, sending the ship off balance and careening to the ground, where it burst into a distant cloud of smoke.

A moment later, the Mandalorian dropped down in front of them, landing in a slight crouch and then rising up with a sigh.

Karga and Cara walked toward him. “That was impressive, Mando,” the Guild agent said. “Very impressive.” He nodded. “It looks like your Guild rates have just gone up.”

“Any more stormtroopers?” the Mandalorian asked.

“I think we cleaned up the town,” Cara said. “I’m thinking of staying around just to be sure.”

“You’re staying here?” Mando asked.

“Well, why not?” Karga said. He gestured toward the city. “Nevarro is a very fine planet, and now that the scum and villainy have been washed away, it’s very respectable again.”

“As a bounty hunter hive?”

Karga gave him a sidelong look. “Some of my favorite people are bounty hunters. And perhaps”—he reached out and put a hand on Cara’s shoulder—“this specimen of soldier might consider joining our ranks. And you, my friend”—he returned his attention to Mando—“you will be welcome back into the Guild with open arms.”

Mando looked down at the Child, who was staring up at him, arms spread. The bounty hunter bent down and lifted him, cradling him against his chest. “I’m afraid I have more pressing matters at hand.”

Cara leaned forward and touched the Child’s ear. “Take care of this little one.”

“Or maybe,” Karga added, “it’ll take care of you.”

Mando nodded, turned, and ignited the jet pack. He lifted off, feeling the Child in his arms turn his head to look back down at the receding landscape, and the two figures standing there, watching them go.

Back at the Razor Crest, Mando buried Kuiil and left his helmet and goggles as a monument where the Ugnaught had fallen. He carried the Child on board the ship, powered it up, and got the engines firing.

The Child sat behind him, sucking on something. Mando realized that it was the mythosaur necklace he’d given Cara before they went down into the sewers. The Child had somehow ended up with it around his neck.

Mando gently pulled the mythosaur out of the Child’s mouth. “I didn’t think I’d see this again,” he said, then put it back in the Child’s hand. “Why don’t you hang on to that?”

The Child put it back in his mouth.

The Razor Crest lifted up and took off.

A moment later, they were gone.

It didn’t take long for the Jawas to discover the wreckage of the TIE fighter. Even with the damage, there was much to salvage, and they started prying off pieces of it, getting ready to carry them away.

A sudden crackling sound erupted from within.

The Jawas let out startled cries and scattered as the laser blade sliced through the cockpit from the inside. It carved out a vaguely rectangular piece of metal, which burst loose.

A moment later, Moff Gideon stepped out, with the Darksaber in hand.

He climbed to the top of the fighter’s cockpit and stood with the saber blazing in his grasp, surveying the land around him with cold and watchful eyes.

Things have changed, he thought.

But the situation was not without possibilities.

He had much work to do.