Giggles didn’t want to move.

It felt like a group of Wookies was using her head and chest as instruments in a tree drum music concert. Her brain throbbed and her sternum and ribs ached.

She closed her eyes. It didn’t help. The pounding and pain were still there.

What was worse was the incessant *bumping* against her left arm. There was a *trill* in her ear. When the fuck did tree drum music use horns? No...not horns…a...droid?

Her mind slowly came back and she opened her eyes. The droid...from...the X-Wing? The chest pain...she’d been shot. Her head must have smacked into the rocky sand as she fell. Giggles figured her personal shield kept the bolt from going straight through her armor. The Old Man always said never leave home without it. He was right.

Her helmet was translating the droid’s *trills* and *warbles* but it took a minute for her to understand what was going on.

“Yeh,” Giggles’ voice was a rasp. There was blood in her mouth too and her tongue hurt where it had been bitten. “Yeh. I’m alright. I think.”

She started to sit up but the droid gave a *wail*. Her brain comprehended the warning just in time. The sniper was still out there.

Giggles rolled out of the way just barely avoiding the blaster bolt which left a small divot in the ground. She pressed herself against the wreckage of the X-wing. Her head felt awful and her thoughts remained jumbled. Giggles wanted nothing more but to massage her temples to relieve pressure but knew it was impossible in the caustic outdoors. Another blaster bolt *spanged* off the X-wing’s hull.

Krasst!

She tried breathing exercises. It was hard with the sniper occasionally firing off another round to make sure Giggles didn’t move but she eventually got her mind ordered. The sniper was at the top of a steep, rocky hill hiding in some scrub brush. She’d need to get closer if she had any hope of wiping the sniper off the face of the planet with her A-280 blaster rifle. Her other hope was for a returning patrol to rescue her but they’d be in the line of fire, too.

Giggles looked at the BB-series astromech. “Looks like we’re stuck here.” She tried to sound glib. “I don’t think I’m light enough to ride you out of here.”

The droid gave a mournful *woo* then changed its vocabulator to a series of *chirps* and *bleeps*.

It backed up a foot or so then took off on a route headed towards the mining complex.

“Hey...wait!”

The droid didn’t listen. It kept gaining speed with blaster bolts hitting just behind its body.

Giggles stared at the droid before catching on what was happening. She peeked out from behind the wreckage and saw two flashes from the sniper’s rifle. A small smile came on her face. The droid had given her an opening.

She scurried across the sand, despite her pounding head, and headed towards the hill. There was no route straight to the top - it would be too steep for anyone who didn’t have a grappling hook and rope - so she moved to the right, hopefully, away from the sniper’s perch.

Giggles found a small game trail leading up about 100 feet to the hilltop. She pulled her A280 and gave it a once over. It looked okay - the scope appeared operational. The Mandalorian cursed herself. She needed a rifle more suitable for shorter range combat. At least there were still a pair of snap shot blasters in the holsters built into her wrist armor. They had only one shot each - but were powerful enough to take down almost anyone. A third snap shot blaster was in her right boot. Giggles had long sworn to get better blaster pistol but preferred rifles. They were just more comfortable.

She wasn’t the most stealthy of the Company of the Free. Giggles could sneak her way through certain situations but she knew Mandalorians who would pretty much vanish into any sort of jungle or foliage even if people were staring at them. It had always amazed her. No matter how hard she tried it always seemed like someone would find her. Even the Old Man - who had a reputation for rather loud, almost holo-thriller type blaster fights - was more catlike than she. Giggles just hoped she was sneaky enough to find the sniper without giving away her position.

Giggles scurried up the trail as quietly as possible. The path ended on the bluff’s rocky, grassy summit. It was wider than she expected with shrubs near the edge. The opposite side of the hill sloped down towards another few hills and craggy mountains above.

She got in a crouch behind a large boulder and hefted the rifle. Her vision went blurry for a few seconds forcing her to blink multiple times. It went clear in time for her to see the outline of a figure in heavy camouflage stand up from the brush and start moving towards the right.

Her first two shots went over the sniper’s head. Giggle cursed herself and started peppering the brush with blaster fire.

The sniper was caught off guard. He fired a quick shot which grazed the armor on the Mandalorian’s left shoulder but took four blaster bolts in the chest. He fell backward and disappeared from view.

A small smile came across Giggles’ face. She stood up and started forward to make sure her target was actually dead.

The movement saved her life.

Two blaster bolts coming from her right smashed into the casing of her A280. “Gah!” A third caught the scope as she turned. A fourth caused her to stagger after hitting her armor. Pain lanced up her side.

A Gran stood in front of her, a blaster pistol in his enlarged right hand. He wore a crash helmet and respirator across his goat-like snout while a black flight suit covered everything but his feet.

Giggles’ mind told her the ambusher was the missing X-wing pilot while her body acted on instinct. She dropped the blaster rifle and flicked her wrists. The snap shot blasters fell into her palms.

Her first shot was lucky. It hit caught the edge of the Gran’s respirator and punched a hole in the casing. The alien let loose a *huff* and pawed at the crack letting in ammonia. Blood fell from his head. Her second shot hit right below the Gran’s middle eye and went through his brain.

The pilot fell to the ground. Giggles rushed forward, dropping her spent blasters. She snatched up the Gran’s dropped pistol - a Glie-44 - and aimed at the convulsing alien. It was over seconds later as he died in front of her.

A *warble* came from her left and Giggles whirled towards the sound pistol ready. “You startled me, little guy,” she professed to the BB-series droid which haltingly started rolling towards her and the dead alien. Giggles didn’t have a place to holster the weapon so she let it rest in her right hand.

The droid stopped in front of the body. It looked down at the Gran, then up at the Mandalorian.

A sudden realization came to her mind. “Was this your owner?” Giggles felt a surge of apology. She hadn’t considered any sort of regret regarding the Gran. After all, he had attacked her. But she liked the droid and felt guilty.

A small compartment opened up on the BB-droid’s ball before it expressed a dark liquid onto the dead Gran’s face. Giggles’ guilt quickly faded as she remembered the restraining collar.

The droid gave a *blat* and sidled up to Giggles. “Guess you can pick your own masters from time to time, huh?” she mused aloud.

Her headache was starting to read its ugly head again. Giggles briefly thought the world was starting to get darker but shook it off. The skies brightened up. She’d probably have to see Shankar, the Company’s doctor, back at the GGE mining complex. Ice and bacta, Giggles guessed. Ice and bacta.

She started gathering up the weapons scattered along the hilltop. Her snap shot blasters were spent but could be recharged. The A280 was toast and Giggles hoped it could be used for parts. The Gran’s Glie-44 would probably become her own. It wasn’t a bad weapon, after all.

There wasn’t much on the Gran’s body. A comlink. Rations. A serrated vibroblade Giggles stuck in her boot. No ID. She removed the holster and belt from the Gran’s waist and looped it over her shoulder and chest like a bandoleer. The Glie-44 went into the belt's holster.

The sniper had fallen face up with his right arm dangling over the hill’s edge. The pack on his back may have kept him from falling down the slope. Giggles found an A295 sniper rifle next to the body. She slipped it into the empty weapons housing on her back, next to her busted up A280. Lose one, but gain another. The Mandalorian told herself it evened out, as she pushed the growing headache to the side of her mind.

She flipped the sniper on his chest and rummaged through the backpack. It seemed like the sniper had been away from base for a while. Giggles pilfered a week’s worth of rations, water, a comlink, a vibroshiv, extra magazines, and a pair of macrobinoculars. Still no ID but there was a long-range communications pack like the one used by First Order snowtroopers. The discovery brought a smile to Giggles’ face. Finally, another lead.

“Harm to Giggles.”

“GAH! FRACK!” Giggles swore as the noise forced her to her knees. What the frack?!? She lowered the volume on her com. It didn’t make sense. The settings hadn’t changed but Harm’s normally smooth voice was like a hammer. Her headache got sharper.

“Harm to Giggles.” The voice wasn’t shouting but she still winced. “Come in, Giggles.”

“I’m…I’m here.” She sounded shaky. Giggles took a few deep breaths in hopes of getting her bearings. “Reporting in.”

“We spotted your fighter’s wreckage while coming in from patrol. You okay?”

It took her entire will to push the spots in her eyes away. “Gotta bad headache. Can you pick me up? I’m sending you my location.”

“Got it...Osman says you’ll have to meet us at the bottom of the hill.”

“Okay. There’s...there’s an X-wing down in the gully. I’ll be there.”

“Copy. See you shortly.”

Giggles slung the backpack over the shoulder and stood up. It was pretty awkward with the two rifles but she managed. Her skull felt heavier than normal.

The droid *beeped*.

“We should have room for you,” she promised slightly uncertain. A thought struck her. “How’d you get up here anyway?”

A small grappling spike appeared from one of the tool bay discs on the droid’s spherical body. The BB-droid rolled so it pointed directly at the ground. The spike embedded itself in the ground with a small metal running back into the body.

Giggles’ smirk was equal to one The Old Man would toss around when impressed. “Nice. Sure beats having to walk. See you at the bottom.”

The droid was waiting for the Mandalorian soldier on the sand below the hill. They headed towards the X-wing’s wreckage in silence. Giggles was still trying to get her jumbled brain together. A passing thought suggested a concussion. Whatever it was, she sure wasn’t feeling right.

A troop transport was idling by the destroyed snubfighter. Two Mandalorians were in the traveling racks while roof turret rotated slowly ready to blow any attacker straight to hell. Another Mandalorian waved at Giggles as she and the droid came up.

“Taking in droids?” The Mandalorian’s laconic tone contradicted his waving. His helmet was painted green with two blue X's on either side of the blue-trimmed T-visor. A white eye with blue iris was above the T-visor. The armor itself featured green and blue alternating diagonal stripes on the chest and shoulders.

“Not now Osman. I have a bad enough headache.” Giggles never could figure out why one of the Company’s best snipers had such a hideous armor scheme.

Osman was an odd creature. He was unusually pale beneath his armor even though his skin tinged an olive brown. His dark hair went down to his neck. Osman’s lips tended to twist in a smile which suggested he was mocking everyone else. He was taller than Giggles by three inches and had enough arrogance for a man twice his size. Osman also had a penchant for thin, long vibroblades. He carried at least six on him at all times.

Giggles sat down in the back of the transport and strapped in. The droid rested next to her as if seeking protection from all the other mercs. She placed a hand on its cranial frame reassuringly.

Another Mandalorian - this one with mostly red armor with grey diamonds down the arms - sat across from her. He extended a fist as she took off her helmet. Giggles bumped fists with the other Mandalorian as the transport lurched as it got going.

“Jibran.”

“Giggles.”

“How was the frontier?” Jibran had been guarding one of Tag’s smaller mines with his best friend, K’lassa.

“Boring. I did get to read a bit on tactics.”

Giggles gave a wan smile. Her vision was starting to tunnel again and she was having a tough time fighting it off. The brightness inside the transport was unbearable but it was nice not having to use the helmet’s filter to breathe.

“You and your books,” her laugh was forced but worth it. Jibran was an intellectual at heart despite being fierce on the battlefield. She figured he’d get his own squad at some point. “Will you ever stop reading?”

“Probably not,” Jibran’s tone gave away his own smile. “You okay? You seem tired.”

Giggles’ face twisted into an expression. She was tired. All she wanted to do was close eyes and rest. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. After all, they still had ten miles to make it to the GGE complex.

Her eyelids got heavier and heavier as if something were sucking them down. Jibran’s voice grew faint, as did the urgent beeping from the BB-series droid.

She thought she heard someone run up to her seat as she passed out.