Atin ~ [Mandalorian x Oc]

Chapter 1 - Betenor

Say one thing for mud, say that it's easy to drag a body through it. Easier than it would've been if it was solid dirt. Dropping the senator onto the ground again, the bounty hunter tapped a combination of buttons on their matted silver vambrace, activating the ship's systems. A sharp hiss emitted amongst the otherwise quiet area in which they had landed as the ramp emerged from the hull. Heaps of broken scrap metal, broken ships and parts of droids were abandoned in high piles around, almost like protective walls. A bit aways from the nearest 'city', if you could even call it that, to be undisturbed. Although, the hunter had been aware ever since they left that they were running a risk of coming back to a dismantled or crushed ship. Leaving it alone on a scrap heap planet like Bracca was almost never a good idea. About as good as leaving it alone on Tatooine where Jawas could get their dirty little hands on it. But nevertheless, they had successfully –and with ease– captured their last bounty and had come back to a whole and fully functioning ship. They were in no mind going to complain.

As they once more grabbed ahold of the bounty, they heard muffled groans coming from him. He was starting to wake up from his unwanted nap. Digging their boots into the ground to drag him inside, they felt the small pitter patter of rain upon their shoulder. A quick glance up at the dark clouds confirmed the suspicion of more bad weather rolling in.

"Good thing I'm just about done here." grunting from the awkward effort of dragging a semi-conscious human up a ramp, the pitter patter became heavier.

Another moan of pain came from the man, "Wh... wha' you sa'...?"

"Shut it."

The blaster made harsh contact with their head again, not as forceful this time as he was barely conscious to start with. What's more, the bounty was only required to be alive, some head injuries would be fine.

A minute or two later, the runaway senator was chained and gagged in the cargo hold with the others, making sure that he wouldn't be able to crawl around if he decided to wake up again. His blaster wound had been cleaned and bandaged so he wouldn't bleed out on the trip back.

The hunter hung up her cloak which had become damp from the rain outside before sitting down by the controls. Small drops of water dropped steadily from her helmet and down onto the shoulder armour she wore. The helmet was form fitting to her head, chin pointed and slightly dragged out. What had once been a bright orange had become scratched and dulled, made dirty from bounty hunting and scuffles on the ground. The mouth in the front had layered metal pieces that protected the modulator inside and the eyes were made of two sets of paired round holes close together. Not only did it give the illusion that she was another species than human at first glance, but it also helped her to have a vision that could be normal range and enhanced. It served her well when doing recon of an area where the bounty might be hiding.

The fully covering helmet was almost as iconic to her identity as it had been for Mandalorians. On Nevarro where she was stationed with the guild, everyone would instantly recognise who it was when they saw the colour. The whispers of the disturbed lone hunter would spread all around her like wind rustling the trees. Apparently she had become the odd one out because she wasn't very talkative and always wore the helmet. Then it had somehow progressed through rumours that she was 'disturbed', or just deranged. That however, was completely out of her control. All because of a job gone wrong and it looked a lot worse than it had actually been. So, hunters being hunters, started spreading the rumour of her being deranged. In all honesty, she just couldn't care less to socialise with other bounty hunters. They were either out to get you and your credits, or your job and your credits. Knowing that one could never trust another bounty hunter, she had simply decided that it wasn't worth the effort to make fake friends. Better off all alone and in control than having someone else along and having to worry about them potentially stabbing you in the back.

The rhythmic sound of metal scittering came racing from behind her before something landed on the dashboard by her. Well, almost all alone.

"BD-6! Hey buddy, were you off sleeping all this time?"

The sand coloured BD unit turned its head to the side and chirped at her. Chuckling, she rubbed it lovingly on the head as it leaned against her hand, "Did you get everything sorted on the system upgrade?"

The droid chirped excitedly and summarised its work it had done while she had been out hunting. She listened intently and a pride swell in her chest at the little one in front of her. Finding him a few years back all abandoned with both its legs short circuited, she had immediately taken a liking to it. After fixing it, they had stayed together and it would either guard the ship or help her on bounty hunting trips.

The BD unit finished their story and the hunter smiled within her helmet, "Good job little guy, I'm proud of you. Now let's get going, eh?"

It beeped in agreement and settled down into her lap.

Heaving another sigh as the tension of tracking down and capturing the bounty slowly released its grip on her, she realised how exhausted she had become. The last few rotations had been filled with quarries and travelling between different planets had messed up her sleeping rhythm. Too long amongst the stars and you don't know what is day and what is night until you land somewhere. Although she had a chrono on one of her dashboard screens that kept track of the rotational hours back on Coruscant, she barely had time to check it. Either travelling and prepping the gear for a hunt or actually being on the hunt would mostly occupy her time. She slept whenever she would find the time and place for it. But now when she sat down and worked the controls on the ships as it roared to life and lifted from the ground, exhaustion landed heavy on her shoulders. Her metal helmet didn't help as it now felt like it weighed more than an old Imperial cruiser. Fighting against closing her eyes, she was quick to put in the coordinates for Nevarro in the navi computer. As the ship exited Bracca's atmosphere, she launched it into hyperspace and let her arms drop down into her lap around BD-6.

Thinking she should double check that all the quarries were properly tied and gagged before getting some rest, her body seemed to protest that very notion. She had done the fatal mistake of leaning her head back against the chair, feeling the slight hum of the ship lull her to sleep. Relaxing her body, she numbly watched the swirl of white and blue shades outside as she drifted off into a very needed sleep.

And so the Kom'rk ship carried the bounty hunter, her droid companion and her quarries hurling towards Nevarro, a hot and barren planet on the outskirts of the Outer Rim. A planet where she resided in between jobs, albeit not a planet she would call home. For that planet had been long lost to her.

~*~

Su cuy'gar! (mando'a for 'hello!')

This is the first chapter of a new book that I very impulsively decided to start writing :) As stated within the description of the book, there is no schedual to the updates and I do not want any complaints about it. This is merely a spare time activity, my life can -and will- come in between updating. 

But I do hope you guys will enjoy reading this story! :)

Love, the Author <3