Solstice • The Mandalorian

Chapter 4~The Iron Rope

   When the Mandalorian awoke after taking a stun straight to the head, he was surprised to find himself tied to a chair in his own ship. He groaned from the pain in his throbbing head and adjusted his vision to better understand his situation. He was in the back of his ship, near the carbonite chamber, tied to a chair with iron rope. He knew his ship was active and flying through space, but judging by the constant rumbling and unexpected bumps, the person flying the ship had no idea what they were doing. 

   It was that Mandalorian. She had done this. He didn't quite understand her intentions, but he assumed it had something to do with finding the girl before him, so that she could claim the reward without him interfering. That's why she had stunned the man at the auction, to prevent him from telling him where the girl had gone. That stupid Mandalorian, he would kill her when he got the chance, she was a traitor to their people. She had stunned him and stolen his weapons and ship, so she could go off and find the girl. 

   The Mandalorian became furious. Still, he had to wonder why she had decided to take him with her. And why she couldn't fly a ship. Most of all, he wondered how incompetent she must have been to think these iron ropes could hold him, knowing of all the weapons he had buried inside his armor. He smiled to himself and activated his flame thrower, only to find it didn't go off. 

   Had he forgotten to fill his armor with fuel? Did it somehow get damaged during his journey?

   His questions were answered for him when he looked down at his armor. 

   She had ripped out his weapons from underneath his armor! 

   The Mandalorian screamed out in rage, fighting against the iron ropes to no avail. His scream must have been loud enough for the traitor to hear, because the next thing he knew the ship was put into autopilot and heavy footsteps headed his way. She was coming and if he had his pulse blaster on him at that moment, he would've happily annihilated her into a million pieces.

   ~~~ Mena ~~~

   Why was this stupid piece of metal so hard to fly?! 

   I had been flying it for a couple of hours and had managed to hit every rock and astroid in my way. I had no idea where I was headed, but what I did know was that I had to put a lot of distance between myself and the planet I had just been on. It was probably swarming with bounty hunters by now. Still, without a map or a navigation system, I had no idea I wasn't just flying in a big circle. As I just dodged another astroid, I wondered if maybe the ship would be in better hands on autopilot. I didn't have to contemplate for long, before a loud and angry scream erupted through the ship, causing me to jump in surprise and almost crash into a passing ship. 

   He was awake.

   "That's enough of that," I said and switched the ship to autopilot, the ride immediately becoming much smoother. As I placed the Mandalorian helmet back onto my head, I prepared myself for the angry man I was to face. I just hoped he wasn't too aggressive, or I'd have to stun him again. 

   When I neared his room, I heard him trashing against the chair and ropes. Poor guy had probably realized I had taken his weapons. I knew he was angry, but when I entered the room I found out just how angry he was. 

   "You traitor!" He roared. Although I couldn't see his face, I could sense he was looking at me with pure hatred. 

   "Woah, no name-calling," I said and patted the blaster pistol underneath my belt as a friendly reminder. "Don't make me have to stun you again."

   The Mandalorian did not respond, but I could feel his burning gaze on me. If looks could kill, I'd be dead by now, but thankfully he had that lovely helmet over his face. "Why did you take me with you? You could have left me there and escaped."

   "They were going to take your helmet off. Now, I admit I'm not the best Mandalorian, but I know what that means and I would never allow such a thing to happen from my own doing. So, I believe you should be thanking me," I said. 

   "Don't try to act honorable. You couldn't live with yourself knowing you did that to me, not because you actually care about what the helmet means."

   "Yes, I do care about what the helmet means."

   "You've taken my weapons. Don't you know what that means?"   

   I did know what that meant. A Mandalorian's weapons and armor were apart of their religion, and by taking his weapons I had taken a sacred part of him. 

   "Of course I do, but I couldn't allow you to escape," I said. "Besides, you can have them back when I drop you off at the next planet." 

   "You're not leaving me behind and finding the girl yourself." 

   Oh, so that's what he was thinking. To him, I was just a Mandalorian who had stolen his ship to find the girl and turn her in for the entire reward. He had no idea who I really was.

   "Why not?" I said, crossing my arms and my back against the door. "I mean, you did only offer me a very small cut of the reward."

   "I'll give you half, just untie me," The Mandalorian said. 

   "Nuh-uh," I smiled. "I'm dropping you off at the next planet with all your weapons, but I'm taking the ship." 

   "You can't even fly the ship. Do you even know where we are?" He said and when I didn't reply, he knew he was onto something. "How do you plan on finding Mena Starkiller if you don't even know where to look? Untie me and we can work together."

   "Okay, first of all, I do know how to fly this ship... kind of. Second of all, I don't need you to tell me where to look, I'll find someone who can help me with that when I drop you off on some random planet. And finally, I will not untie you, because the moment I do you're going to kill me."

   Suddenly, before the Mandalorian could respond, there was a heavy force accompanied by a loud crash that rocked the entire ship. I left the Mandalorian and ran to the front of the ship to see what we had hit, only to find that we hadn't hit anything, but another ship had hit us. They had us trapped in their forcefield and were pulling us towards the inside of their ship. There was only one explanation as to what was happening.

   "What's going on?" The Mandalorian yelled.

   "Mercenaries!" I ran back to the room with the Mandalorian. "They're pulling us into their ship."

   "You need to untie me," he said. 

   "No," I said.

   "You need to untie me, or they're going to board our ship, take everything including our armor, and then kill us." 

   I didn't know much about space mercenaries, but I knew they were ruthless. What he was saying was true, and I knew I had no other choice. I couldn't fend them off with only my blaster pistol and lack of any fighting skill; I needed his help. 

   "Alright, but you have to promise me you won't kill me," I said. 

   "Sure, now untie me."

   "No, I want you to say you promise," I said. I knew it sounded childish, but it was the only assurance I had. 

   "I promise," he said. 

   It didn't take long for me to untie him, although the armor did make it more difficult. The second the ropes were off, the Mandalorian sprung off his seat and headed to the front of the ship. Our ship was almost completely inside the mercenaries'. There were only seconds before we would be trapped inside. 

   "Where are my weapons?" The Mandalorian said. I pushed a crate towards him and he looked inside and sighed at the massacre I had committed. He grabbed the only weapon he had time for before our ship was completely engulfed by the other; his pulse blaster. "This will have to do."