Stowaway | A Mandalorian Love Story | Din Djarin x OC

Chapter Six: A Happy Hello and Another Goodbye

Suggested Listening:

Rock Monster - David Newman (from Galaxy Quest) | ...the crash
Silver Leaves - James Newton Howard (from Treasure Planet) | ...getting back those land legs
Serenity - David Newman (from Serenity) | ...another goodbye

We're going down! Holy Hoth, after all that, I'm gonna die in a fiery wreckage on a damn moon, I thought to myself. Sure enough, we were plummeting down to the watery surface of Trask, flames of atmospheric friction wrapping around the hull of the ship.

"Once we're through to the atmosphere, there should be enough fuel to slow us down... if we don't burn to a crisp..." The Mandalorian's warning echoed in my head. I hadn't thought he meant literally burn to a crisp, and yet here we were, actually on fire, and headed straight for collision because the landing gear had been too badly damaged on the last planet. The Frog Lady gripped her eggs, terrified. The kid, who had been peacefully asleep in my arms just moments before, was shaking.

"Come up here," He instructed now. "I need your hands!"

I unstrapped immediately and joined him at the dash.

"This lever needs to stay back," he said, pointing to a massive switch. "Can you do that?"

"On it," I said, and yanked it back, firmly.

"Keep it steady," he said, returning his hands to the knobs and switches in front of him. "Here we go..."

We burst through the streaks of cloud and a sprawling coastal scene emerged below us.

"Razor Crest, do you copy?" A woman's voice came through the radio.

Pieces of the ship were breaking off and flying away from us, causing it to rollick and roll as it careened down.

"Hold on!" Instructed Mando.

"Razor Crest, this is Trask Flight Control," said the voice, now with an edge. "Please reduce your speed to port protocol"

"I'm trying my best here," responded Mando. Then, to us, "Engage reverse thrusters — brace!"

We stabilized ourselves as best we could, and I muscled the lever, trying not to get thrown off of the dash by the ship's bucking.

"Razor Crest, you're coming in too fast, you have to—"

Flight Control was cut off as the ship finally engaged its landing gear with a great quake, just before impact.

"Here we go," said Mando as we drifted downward. "Nice and easy..."

I relaxed my grip and cast him a wan smile of relief, but the ship had other plans — just before it could make contact with the dock beneath us, it shuddered to the left and we tumbled straight into the sea with an almighty SPLASH.

"I'm starting to think," I muttered from the floor of the cockpit where I'd fallen upon impact, as we bobbed like a cork. "That perhaps me or her should be driving."

The Frog Lady croaked — I chose to think it was a croak of agreement — and hoisted herself back onto her chair.

"Everybody okay?" Groaned Mando. The Frog Lady croaked affirmatively. Mando spun around in his chair, searching for the kid. He squeaked from down on the floor. I clambered onto my knees and scooped him up to his feet.

"I think he's okay," I replied, examining him. Mando put a gloved hand around the back of his shoulder plate, like his shoulder had been jostled in the fall.

"How about you," he asked me in a softer voice. "You alright? Anything hurt?"

"I'm fine," I responded, rubbing the elbow I had landed on. "Nothing that won't wear off. You?"