Ayreon would have kept fighting if it weren’t for the fact that they had endangered the Ithorian’s life by getting him involved. Sure, Jerec had gone along with it willingly, but only after they had shot at his vehicle. The HRD knew nothing about him, whether he was a civilian caught in the crossfire or what, but he wasn’t about to risk getting him killed.
The HRD held up his empty hands and climbed out of the airspeeder, leaving his weapons behind. “I think we had better do as he says, Andromache,” he said. She clambered out of the vehicle behind him, hands behind her head.
Those police sirens were getting closer fast. Ayreon processed his options, plotting several different courses of action in less than a second. He had the advantage of time, strength and speed on the Mandalorian, but not much else. The gun pointed at his head would not destroy him even if it did fire at point blank range, but it might blind or seriously damage Ayreon. To say nothing of what would happen if the hunter fired on the Ithorian in retaliation for any sudden moves.
So he decided to bide his time.
“You’ve opened fire on an undercover police officer,” Ayreon said, old subroutines kicking in to add authority to his voice. He had indeed been a cop, three memory wipes and a re-upload ago. “This droid contains valuable information that could lead to the arrest of a dangerous criminal. You’ve impeded its extraction to a secure location. You’re in enough trouble as it is without killing anyone.” He let his words sink in, then added, “Unless you cooperate with us now. Whatever you’re being paid for this, we can pay you more. All you have to do is walk away.”