Chapter Text
The sudden stop was something despite having experience many times through out her life she’d never get used to running a quick systems check she smiled as her Kom’rk gave an all green. Checking the navi computer she could see she arrived in the Lothal system and she scanner could always pick up a single star destroyer in orbit.
“Imperial presence confirmed” she stated to herself as she began her approach. Once close enough she opened her comms already expecting the hail.
“approaching Kom’rk class fighter stat your business in the system” came a shrill voice that made the Mandalorian grimace.
“I’m Tulsa Reed, a bounty hunter.” she stated. “I wasn’t aware the empire was active in this sector”
“I see” came a sneer the dismissive tone obvious. “your free to approach proceed to the planetary docks and be prepared to provide your documentation.”
“of course, thank you.” came her kurt response the empire always left a sour taste in her mouth but she couldn’t afford to make an enemy of the empire for her clan’s sake. Proceeding down she took in the scenery of the Lothal it was a peaceful looking world it reminded her much of how the various world of the Mandalore system once were lush, thriving, alive. But the republic and then the Empire took that from them.
Landing Tulsa secured her helmet into place and stepped out her armor consisted of a long gabitson the lower half of witch looked like it was part of a duster with beskar armor plating colored in purple and gold, an Amban blaster rifle slung across her back with her helmet depicting the wolf that her clan took pride in. As she stepped out she took notice of an imperial officer with several storm troopers in tow approaching her.
“can I help you?” questioned Tulsa one hand resting on her hip.
“I’m here to process you, bounty hunter” stated the imperial.
“and you needed several troopers to do so?”
“I’m no fool your mandalorian are you not?”
“I am, but I’m not wanting trouble with the empire” she said as she approached the Imperial and held out a data pad. “here are my documentations, along with a ship registry and travel permits” stated Tulsa as the imperial looked over the contents of the data pad. It had been a full year since the clone troopers had been fully phased out something Tulsa considered a shame has she always felt they had been good warriors the few times she had worked along side them.
“everything is in order” stated the imperial. “I’m Lieutenant Ria Leonis and while you’re here on Lothal I’ll be acting as your tracking officer.” stated the imperial
“I understand, am I free to go?”
“yes you may” said Ria standing aside to allow the mandalorian to continue on into the city.
Tulsa used a control on her bracer to look over her current targets via her helmet’s visor. A Rodian with black sun affiliation wanted for smuggling weapons, a Lasat local wanted for assaulting an officer, a human from Corellia wanted for sleeping with a senator’s daughter. They were all simple bounties that wouldn’t cause any trouble. It was as she shut off the bounty displays she heard a shout.
“No stop!” came the shout. She knew she should avoid the ruckus and turned to leave before stopping as she felt… something calling to hear.
“I swear to Mandalore it better be worth it” she swore to herself and turned on her heel and approached the shouting as she reached the sound she stopped at a corner peering over it was a man and a woman, humans and they where in hand cuffs and being pulled out of a house with an imperial officer standing by who’s uniform stood out to a standard imperial uniform. This wasn’t a typical arrest she could tell that much. Stepping out from her spot she was stopped by a pair of storm troopers.
“Halt, identify yourself” commanded the trooper.
“Tulsa Reed, what is going on here?” questioned the mandalorian.
“none of your business citizen don’t interfere.” ordered the other trooper.
“none taken simply seeing if there was a job here” she said holding her hands up in surrender. As the troopers and officer got into their transport the woman locked eyes with Tulsa her eyes almost looking pleadingly at the mandalorian. Before the door shut. “why did I have to come here” Tulsa asked herself before she felt it a similar pull. Turning to look at the house. With a nod she placed a hand on a pistol she had holstered on her hip entering the house her visor scanning the room as she entered it identifying things in the room before highlighting subtle scratch marks on the ground subtle enough to not be noticed unless you’d been looking.
Approaching the ottoman she drew his pistol as she pushed the ottoman aside and aimed the blaster below. She heard a sound and so with no hesitation she jumped down the hole and turned before catching an object that had been throw and then she saw it… no saw him. Before Tulsa was a small child fear was clear to see as well as the tear stains on his face. She then thought back to the woman the look.
“Stay back, you… you bucket head!” shouted the child putting on a brave act. Tulsa had to admit she was impressed such an attitude was common for mandalorian foundlings but for some kid to do the same was admirable.
“whoa kid calm down” she said making a show as she returned the blaster to it’s holster and reached up taking hold of the helmet and removed it her slightly tan skin and crimson tresses being revealed her hair was long on the right side and braided on the left her face also sported some tattoos namely a tribal tattoo that ran along the left side of her jaw line and then to her neck. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“but your with the empire!” said the child with bad her chuckle.
“take a good look at me kid, do I look like a storm trooper?” she asked as she took a knee.
“N-no.”
“cause I’m not, my name is Tulsa, whats yours?” she asked. She knew it was not safe here especially with the troopers came back to look for evidence for the parent’s crimes.
“E-Ezra.” he stated with a sniffle.
“Ezra, that’s a strong name” she said giving the boy a wide grin. “Ezra come with me it’s dangerous here” she said holding out her hand towards him.
“But my mom a-and dad-” began Ezra.
“would want you to be safe” she said. “come with me we can’t let the imperials catch you here” she said remaining calm. She couldn’t afford to leave him here but she’d hopped he’d be cooperative rather then make her make him come with her. She could sense his fear witch was a good thing, fear meant survival. “your afraid of the empire, aren’t you kid? Afraid what they’ll do to your parents?” she questioned receiving a nod from him. “then how can to do anything about it if you stay here” with that the small boy slowly reached out taking her hand.
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The following weeks would see the boy shadowing the Tulsa who had begun to look after the boy she had also met a parent’s of his parents Tseebo who insisted that the two of them shouldn’t have spoke out or stood against the empire. Last she had seen the Rodian he had gone to work for the empire insisting that he’d return for the boy one day.
“Ezra I’m back!” called out Tulsa removing her helmet as she walked onto her ship. The usual drop seat section of the Kom’rk had been guted and retrofitted into a living space with a small compact kitchen table and a trio of cabins. Before Extra the two extra cabins where for clients or clan mate who would company her on jobs, but as of late one of the cabins had been given to Ezra. She had just returned from turning in a bounty during witch Ezra had been left to stay.
“I’m here!” called out Ezra and he exited the room with a grin up towards the mandalorian. The small box of a meat snack in his hand, something Tulsa knew she didn’t keep on the ship.
“you went out after I left.” stated Tulsa with a hand on her hip and a stern look.
“well um…”
“I swear, Ezra” she said placing her helmet on the table. “who did you steal from this time?” she asked.
“why do you think I stole it?” he asked receiving a look from the woman.
“I know you didn’t make it, I didn’t leave you any credits, and lastly you’re still a terrible liar.” she stated. “you can’t just steal when ever you want it’ll cause us trouble”
“but didn’t you say it’s okay to steal to survive?”
“yes it is, however there is a difference between survival and want and you have to be smart about when you do it.”
“But I was! I steaked out the stall and checked for cameras!” replied Ezra.
“okay, but you still had no need to steal there are plenty of rations and dried meats on the ship” she lectured kneeling down. “I’m trying to look after you and I am looking for any clues about your parents” Tulsa stated. It was something she had done contacting her few contacts in the empire playing off her questions about the couple to be like she was seeking bounty Intel. The Intel questions wasn’t anything new it was a common practice for bounty hunters, and luckily she was registered with several bounty hunter guilds. So far all she knew was they had been imprisoned and a warning ‘leave it before you can’t’.
“alright come with me” said Tulsa as she stood and lead him out of the ship and into the city. As they walked they passed many troopers that made Ezra squeeze down on her hand. “remember Ezra, your passions, your fears are important they will help you survive but remember to not let them control you” she said as she glanced down at the boy. It was a common lesson to the foundlings of clan Reed and she saw no harm passing the lessons onto the boy, if she couldn’t help his parent’s they were lessons he’d need in the future. Reaching the stand in question show stopped as standing at the stand was one of her bounties. It was a large Lasat partly armored with an abundance of scars one of the Lasat’s eyes having been replaced by a cybernetic replacement.
“Ezra I need you to return to the ship now” Tulsa quietly said making him look confused before seeing her take hold of her blaster on his hip making him step back.
“but-” he began before there was a shout from a stand. The Lasat had taken notice of the armored woman even without her helmet it was easy to identify the beskar armor. Her now had the stand owner an arm around the man as a blaster pointed towards the bounty hunter.
“sorry hunter not fast enough” sneered the Lasat before he fired a few shots in her direction shot that were easy to avoid but seeing a shot flying towards the boy made her act letting her armor absorb the bolt. “now stay back!” demanded the Lasat but the commotion had caused several troopers to come running with their rifles drawn.
“Asiik” cursed Tulsa as she stood up and turned to face the lasat who growled and snarled at all the pesky trouble he was finding himself him.
“Need some backup” said the lasat before just before Tulsa took notice of movement in the alley way seeing a rodian with what looked like explosives are the suspected explosives rolled out into the street they instead of exploding began to release gas that engulfed the street couching down Tulsa grabbed a respirator from his belt and stuck into Ezra’s mouth. “use it to breath” she ordered before feeling a weight crash into her seeing it was a trooper thrown by the Lasat. “Grab the mando’s founding!” ordered the Lasat as Tulsa pushed the trooper off of her,
“Tulsa!” shouted Ezra as he was snatched up and Tulsa gave pursuit
“I’m coming Ezra!” she shouted, she now wished her had her helmet to help with tracking but she could make due without it. Darting through the various alleyways she eventually came to a stop at some warehouse.
“not a step closer Mando” shouted the Lasat who stood next to Ezra with a grip around the boy’s throat.
“your hiding behind a kid Hut’uun” accused Tulsa as she took aim with her pistol.
“don’t you care about the brat hunter?” he asked and snapped as about a dozen thugs came out of the the warehouse aimed at her with their blasters.
“this isn’t a game you want to play” warned the Mandalorian.
“and what are you going to do you pull that trigger or make a step closer and my boys will open fire and if you survive that you’ll be to late to stop me from snapping the brat’s neck” laughed the cruel Lasat. To say Tulsa was angered at the cassual threat was to put it mildly as her normally steel blue eyes began to bleed red and she holsters the blaster.
“who says I’ll need to do either” said Tulsa as she held out her hand.
“Ha do you think your some kind of Jedi? Don’t make me laugh!” laughed the Lasat.
“Jedi? No, I’m something much worse” said Tulsa as the ground began to rumble “I’m a mandalorian, one from a clan that many once feared, let me show you why” said Tulsa
“tsk, Open fire!” ordered the Lasat and after a moment after nothing being shot he snarled. “I said fire!?” he shouted
“We’re trying, they aren't working!” replied one of the thugs.
“oh they aren't allow me” said Tulsa as the various blasters was torn from the thug’s hand and was turned to face them. “I’ll offer this once surrender the boy and I won’t kill you” The various thugs were now terrified as they couldn’t understand what they were seeing.
“Boss?” questioned one of the thugs.
“You think I’m afraid I still have the boy” as she squeezed on Ezra’s neck and lifted him up.
“Ezra, remember everything I’ve said what it means to survive!” shouted Tulsa.
“Tul…sa” choked out Ezra before he suddenly bit down onto the Lasat’s hand who yelped in surprise as the primate released the boy making him down it was then that the various blaster where shot each hitting one of the thugs and just a moment before Ezra hit the ground he came to a stop before being gently placed on the ground.
“That fucking brat bit me” snarled the Lasat before leaping intending to land on top of the boy killing him.
“Ezra!” shouted Tulsa as she spirited and when she realized she’d be to slow she prepared a force push but before she could the Lasat was sent flying in another direction surprising the Reed clan mate. Ezra had in a desperate bid to survive had pushed his arms out despite him knowing it was futile he knew he had to do something to survive. The Lasat stood up snarling retrieving a blaster from his back before he was knocked back onto his back courtesy of a rocket boosted punch before him was a enraged Mandalorian woman who drew her pistol and without hesitation delivered several shots to the man’s arm that held the blaster.
“Dank farret!” howled the lasat before receiving a kick to the face and then above him was the mandalorian with his pistols aimed.
“you Shabuir, I tend to make it a rule to bring in bounties alive, but for you I’ll make an exception!”
“Tulsa wait” came Ezra’s coughing voice.
“Ezra not now” came Tulsa’s stern voice.
“please don’t kill him Tulsa” begged the boy. Tulsa never took her eyes off the lasat for a good few minets before she finally took a deep breath. “alright kid, I’ll have it your way” she said before swapping her blaster to stun and locking eyes with the lasat. “You’ll forget about my abilities” she commanded
“I’ll forget” parroted the Lasat. With that Tulsa was satisfied and fired the stun bolt knocking out the Lasat.
“well kid, looks like your far more interesting then I thought” said Tulsa with a smirk.