Boats really should rock, Rin decided. Not too much, just enough to give you that quiet sense of motion and make it hard to stay awake. And a drink - a proper boat should have a drink. Then again, this was hardly a proper boat at all; the hum of the repulsorlift made that more clear than anything else. The hull was over a meter from the water below, and she could hear the occasional snap of an electric discharge from the lift pads. And, of course, to every side, the sound of a blaster turret’s power generator, the scent of armored suits, and a wire-taut tension she needed none of her unusual senses to feel. 

She sat on a crate of spare ammunition, legs up over the speeder’s railing, leaning on the huge blaster emplacement welded to the back of the transport. There would be excitement in the fullness of time, but for now, the only sounds nearby did little else but lend texture to the quiet. Rin tilted her head back and pulled in a long breath of the heavy, wet air, and took care to listen.

“You think she’s really blind?” came a voice - a man, Krenna, young enough to make Rin feel nostalgic. He hadn’t stopped staring at her since Resol had introduced them.

“The fuck does it matter?” Another voice, this time that of a young woman, Soli. Modulated through her helmet, the harsh edges from her accent were rounded off.

Krenna made a dubious noise, “I dunno, just….you don’t think that’s a little weird?”

The sound of someone moving quietly in armor, “I think [i]you’re[/i] weird, Krenna.”

“I’m just saying-” Krenna began, but then the whole boat shifted, tipping everyone standing just a step off balance.

Rin swung her legs off the railing, coming to her feet while the boat rocked with a second shockwave, stronger than the first, enough so that she could feel the heat of the blast on her cheek. The sound of explosions, fractured into a thousand muted echoes washed over the boats, startling small flying animals into the air with their own multifarious cacophony.

Rin could feel the way her crew’s attention snapped into focus, radio chatter streaming in through their commlinks in a sudden crescendo. The same sounds tickled Rin’s ear where the comm-link nestled, hers without the benefit of a helmet. Two assaults, the first big and flashy, the other doubtless to become so, but only one that really mattered. Rin took a last long breath, letting the taste of moss and green leaves linger in her mouth before she spoke.

“Mister Krenna,” Rin said, “Ahead full, signal the other boat to follow at ten meters’ distance. I want the cannons ready to fire by the time we clear the breakwater. Soli, on the cannon controls, and wait for my command to open fire.”

The two nodded and moved with the competent speed that only comes from long practice. That swiftness of action should have been reassuring, but it was taking a considerable amount of Rin’s willpower to not get lost in the details of the life, the purpose swirling in coruscating arcs about her charges. This wasn’t the first time she’d been surrounded by people filled with the kind of purpose that Mandalorian training could bring to bearm and the last time hadn’t gone well for anyone involved. Memories made sour by time and distance threatened to burst anew, and that was something nobody could afford at the moment.

Instead, she focused her attention on the world ahead of the boat. They picked up speed, but the steady stream of sodden air past her skin did little to pull the sweat away. The boats were quiet, but there would be guards at the Sultana’s manor, and they wouldn’t be friendly. The boat tilted beneath her, coming around a stand of gnarled trees. At the same instant, or even before, Rin shifted her weight, wrapped her fingers around the boat’s railing, and closed her eyes. Her world shifted, changed, her awareness no longer centered only on her body.

Chaos, panic, pain, fury, precision - everything Rin could feel swirled in an ugly maelstrom. Ghosts of sounds swept by her, the thrum of weapons, the crunch of a thrown fist, a dozen different orders. Pain, too, crackled through her mind, fractal and branching. It should have been overwhelming, part of her [i]wanted[/i] it to be. But instead, Rin picked the pieces out that she needed, letting everything else slide through her mind like water through a net.

The boats shifted again, rushing up to the manor’s breakwater with an eerily quiet speed. Rin spent another moment in her reverie, then pulled her awareness back to herself with another effort of will. She unwrapped her hands from the railing, looking straight ahead, her hair lashing behind her in the slipstream.

“Soli, get the cannon hot,” Rin said, and raised one hand, “On my signal.”

Another rising whine, this one of the blaster’s power supply coming to life. Even at the prow of the speeder, Rin could feel the heat coming off the thing. A few seconds later, and the boats cleared the breakwater, engines still whirring at full speed.

Rin spoke the instant they were past the breakwater, “Turret ahead, twenty meters to starboard, take it down while they’re trying to figure out where to aim.” She dropped her arm, the signal to fire, and the world exploded, torn apart by the sound of heavy blaster fire.

“Target down,” came Soli’s voice in Rin’s ear, “But they damn well know we’re here now.”

“Pull up to the dock,” Rin said, “Keep the blasters hot, that won’t be the last time we need them.” She turned, pointing to the crew of the other boat, “Keep a pilot with the boat, the rest of you, with me. Krenna, Soli, shoot anything that even smells Imperial.”

She paused, “...And blow a hole in the wall while you’re at it, we may as well take some of the heat off Resol and the boys.” 

The boats swept up through the harbor, moving with comparative freedom - the docks had been made for luxury ships and pleasure cruisers, and provided more than enough space for the pair of overpowered transport skimmers, though they crushed a few timbers coming to a stop. Rin hopped off the railing, heavy blaster bolts roaring past her, the sound of shattered masonry filling her ears. Dust rolled in a cloud and she couldn’t help but cough, but that was no barrier to knowing what lay behind the wall. Half a dozen manor staff, heavily armed, standing with what could only be an Imperial stormtrooper. Through the smoke and billowing dust, she could see them coming to their feet, hands grabbing for weapons.

Rin reached to the small of her back, pulled out her stunstick. The [i]snap[/i] of it clattering out to its full length came in counterpoint to the shattered pieces of wall settling against themselves, underlined by the quiet buzzing of the electrode at its tip.

“Walk away,” Rin said, “This isn’t worth your lives. Please.” Her voice was a command, clearer than a bell and loud enough to made her own ears hurt.

The men behind the wall looked at one another, then to the stormtrooper. Rin couldn’t see behind his helmet, but he could see the way his thoughts gathered about him, and she was ready when the man raised his weapon. She ducked, the blaster bolt coming close enough to her head that it burned a lock of her hair, and launched herself at him.  Behind her, Resol’s troops raised their own weapons, the sharp reports of blasters tearing the air anew.

The first bolts went wide, of course they did. The dust hadn’t entirely settled, and there were too many targets, too many things moving too quickly. Rin strode forward, her legs swallowing the short distance between her and the knot of manor guards. Another shot and she spun, moving like a dancer, another bolt flying past with a finger’s width to spare, her pace never slowing. With a viper-quick motion, she grabbed the trooper’s weapon by the barrel and forced the barrel up, her ears assaulted by the noise of another blaster bolt. The trooper made a noise somewhere between a yelp and a gurgle, and Rin twisted at her hips, yanking the man off balance and throwing the weapon behind her with a clatter.

She brought the stunstick up in a hard, sharp jab at the joint in his armor between the breastplate and his helmet, meant to leave the man a quivering puddle on the ground. But the trooper had been well-trained, and he recovered quickly, sweeping his own arm down and deflecting the strike, the electrified tip of the stunstick skittering over his armor. In the skin of a second, the trooper pulled a short knife from his belt, and he punched it toward Rin’s side. Her feet still planted, she shoved hard at the trooper, felt him tip past his point of balance, and felt the hard, but blunt, impact of the trooper’s armored forearm rather than the knife. The man fell to the floor in a clatter of armor,  and Rin took a step forward.

In that quiet fraction of a second, Rin could see that to either side, a pair of the other manor guards had fallen, shot by Resol’s troops. Another was apparently running, having thrown his weapon behind him; the gods alone knew where he thought he’d get to. The trooper, though, grunted, and started to shove himself to his feet. Rin kicked at the hand that held the knife, a movement bringing the power of her entire body along with it. She felt bones crunch at the blow, heard the knife go clinking away across the manor’s floor. This time, the stunstick found its mark, and Rin shoved it hard against the trooper’s neck, until she knew he wouldn’t be bothering anyone until long after they were gone. 

Another blaster bolt, and one of the remaining manor guards collapsed in a heap, weapon spinning out of his hand. Rin was only a couple of meters away, and she saw the guard look at the pair of Mandalorian warriors, then at her, and swing his elaborately-engraved rifle toward her. One of Rin’s charges was reloading, and the second missed her shot, the bolt going wide of the last guard. He was too far to close the distance before he could pull the trigger, and too close to have any expectation that he could miss.

Rin’s arm moved with the kind of speed that  seemed like it might produce its own thunderclap, a hard, fast overhead arc. A piece of a second later and the remaining manor guard screamed, his left arm going numb at the impact of Rin’s thrown stunstick, his shot hitting nothing but air. At the same moment, Rin yanked her own sidearm from its holster, brought it up in her free hand, and split the air with a final bolt.

Rin holstered her weapon, walked over to the man she had just killed. She swallowed, leaned down and picked up her stunstick, only now realizing how hard she was breathing, how her heart was pounding in her ears. She collapsed it, but didn’t return that to its holder, keeping her fingers wrapped around its familiar shape.

“You two,” Rin said, pointing at Resol’s troops, half-swallowing a breath, “Make sure the rest of the docks are clear. I don’t think there’s anyone out there, but we should check anyway. Be ready to get back on the boats once Resol gets here, the less time we’re near this place, the better we’ll be.”

Without waiting for acknowledgement, Rin brought her hand to her commlink, pressing the transmit button. “Docks secure,” she said, “And we made you a new exit, too, if you get lost. If-” Her voice trailed off.

There was something else coming. Something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. With a start, Rin looked to the sky, her head twisting to the decoy attack.

“Fighters!” She yelled into the commlink, “Fighters incoming, coming from the east!” She swallowed, and made her way back toward the dock proper, “Resol, hurry it up, we’re about to have to deal with air support.”