The village looked like it was attacked by a military force at first glance, but as Taren got closer, he knew that wasn't the case. As he passes the torn open front gate, he sees the carnage within the village. Ruined buildings, dead bodies, bullet holes and weapons covered the area. The bullet holes didn't appear to be from blasters but some kind of slugthrower, at least that's what Taren thinks. He's run into slugthrowers before, but they weren't much of a threat to him thanks to his Beskar armor. Considering he's only seeing those kind of bullet holes, it leads him to believe this world is primitive in a sense. While that isn't a 100% clarification that this world has no Imperial presence, it is a step in the right direction. He's curious about what happened to this settlement as he walked through the dead streets. He reaches the center of the settlement and finds a fountain that looked like it was smashed by something big. He halts his steps when he reaches the fountain and he soon spots a pair of claw marks. He knelt and brushed his hand against the claw marks. If he had to guess, whatever did this mark was a predator and one hell of a predator at that.
He's seen all kinds of fauna on the planets he's been to, some harmless and some extremely dangerous. The galaxy is a big place after all. He then gets a feeling he's being watched so he stands up and looks around the settlement that now surrounds him. He scans each building, each alley and each opening. But he sees nothing. He slowly moves his right and left hand onto the grip of his blaster pistols. He hears something snap behind him, so he swiftly drew his blaster pistols and turned around before taking aim with his blasters.
"No, no! don't shoot!" A voice said in a panic.
Taren gets a good look at the man that stood in front of him. They looked human enough to him, his clothing was dirty and he had specs of dust on his body. Taren then notices a few people hiding behind the man. The man himself seemed older than the others, so the Mandalorian guessed he was some kind of village elder. Taren slowly holsters his blasters as he saw no need to keep them out. The elder lowers his hands now realizing that the hired gun wasn't aiming his weapons at him.
"What happened here?" Taren asked.
"What always happens to villages like ours. A Grimm attack." The Elderly man said. "Thankfully, the Grimm left while we were hiding."
Grimm? Taren had no idea what that was, he guessed they must be either a group of people or an animal given the claw marks he found. He decides to ask to find out what they were.
"What's a Grimm?" Taren asked.
From that question the elderly man and the other survivors—which were few in number—looked confused at this question.
"Aren't you a Huntsman?" The Elderly man asked.
"No." Taren answered. "I don't even know what that is either."
"Have you been living under a rock?" one of the survivors asked.
"Another planet actually." Taren answers.
The survivors couldn't tell if he was joking or being serious and they didn't know what to do. Our Mandalorian hired gun on the other hand was trying to think about what to do next. He didn't want to leave these people here in this ruined settlement to potentially be hit again and be finished off. He did spot nearby settlements on his scanner while he was flying so he could take them to one of them. His ship can carry them all as there aren't many of them.
"Listen, I may not be whatever a Huntsman is. But I'm not leaving you people here to die." Taren said. "I have a ship that can carry all of you, I can take you all to the nearest settlement for your protection."
"You'd be willing to do that?" The Elderly man asked, surprised by this offer.
"Yes." Taren confirms. "If you are all willing to let me that is."
He knows how some folks don't wish to leave their homes despite the carnage that comes to them. Some people are just that stubborn. The Elderly man turned to the few survivors behind him and he was in thought. Even he knew that it was dangerous to stay here given the circumstances. The man then returned his gaze on the Mandalorian and nods.
"We'll go with you." The Elderly Man said.
"Good." Taren said, his tone neutral but clearly at ease that he can help them.
He's seen to many times where stubbornness to leave gets people killed and he was powerless to stop it. So, this change of pace is something he welcomes gladly.
"Follow me." Taren said with a gesture that also told them to follow him.
He turns and begins to walk away from the fountain he once stood beside. The Elderly Man and the villagers followed him out of the village. Once they passed the gate the small group sees Taren's ship the Fire Hawk and didn't recognize its design from any conventional ones. They guessed it was some kind of custom design that Taren commissioned. Pressing a button on his vambrace, the side door opened and the ramp dropped to the ground gently. Once it touched the ground he walked onto the ship and gestured for everyone to follow him on board. The small group got onto the ship and once they were all inside, Taren pressed a button within the ship itself to raise the ramp and close the door. With that done he turns to the group.
"It won't be that long of a flight." Taren said to the group.
He then makes his way into the cockpit by climbing up the ladder into the upper level of the ship. As he enters the cockpit, he takes his Sniper rifle and places it somewhere safe before getting into the pilot seat. He then proceeds to power up the ship before lifting it off the ground using the controls. The landing gear soon disengages as he gains altitude before he blasts off. As he flew to the next settlement, he began to think about the Rebellion. He knows it hasn't been that long since he talked to Han and Leia, but he still is wondering if he made the right call in not regrouping with them. He then reminds himself that he didn't want to bring more danger to them than there already was. He had his own mission now. Survive. After a short flight, he locates a settlement and this time it's intact, so he comes in for a landing. He lands outside of the village and once his ship touches down, he gets up off the pilot's seat and heads down to the cargo bay where the group was.
As he enters the cargo bay, he walks past everyone and towards the back ramp. He presses a button and the ramp begins to drop down letting light flood into the cargo bay. Once the ramp touches the ground, Taren takes notice of two people with weapons standing there. He takes a guess since they wear similar outfits and he believes they are guards of the village.
"Are you village guards?" Taren asked.
"We are, who are you?" Guard 1 asked.
Taren turns slightly and motions with his hand for the group in the cargo bay to come out. As they do, the Mandalorian looked at the guards.
"These people need some place safe; their village was destroyed." Taren said.
The two guards look at each other before stepping aside and gesturing for the group of survivors to enter the village. Once the survivors were all off his ship, he was about to press a button to close up his ship before one of the guards spoke to him.
"Our village leader might want to speak to you, stranger." Guard 2 said.
"For what purpose?" Taren asked.
"To thank you for bringing these folks here." Guard 1 said. "He prefers to thank folks like you as he appreciates good people."
Taren gave it some thought before he got an idea. He'll need information about this planet, and the leader of a village could be a good start. He hopes the village has some kind of archive that he can use to learn more. If he wants to fit in, he'll need information. He just hopes this village leader won't talk about his other worldly origins to others.
"Alright, where is he?" Taren asked.
"We'll take you to him." Guard 1 said.