Chapter Three: 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖈𝖊.
word count; 6.1k
You were most definitely puzzled waking to the Mandalorian informing you that you were finding an... egg. Was your mind messing with you or what? It didn't exactly make much sense. As you stared up at the T-visor facing you, you lifted yourself up and climbed off the sled. "What... an egg? Why the hell are we getting an egg?"
Nearby chanting caught your attention. Obnoxious, high-pitched voices shouting something you couldn't quite understand, likely due to the fact they weren't speaking Galactic Basic. Your gaze shifted from Mando's helmet to the sandcrawler a few feet away, then landing on the congregated Jawas who were speaking what you assumed to be Jawaese.
"The only way to get the Crest's parts back from them is if I find an egg for them... It was either that, my beskar, or—" his visor moved from you to the quarry in its pram, "—the child."
"Wouldn't handing over your beskar be so much easier?" You joked with a faint smirk appearing on your lips. His response was a tilt of his helmet, as if saying really? "I'm kidding!" you allowed your lips to curl up in the slightest smile, shoulders vibrating with soft laughter. He shook his head in disapproval. When your eyes met with his visor again, you noticed his own gaze was still trained on you. Your grin immediately dropped. "What?"
His shoulders visibly tensed. The visor was quickly directed towards the crawling fortress ahead instead. "Nothing."
You opened your mouth to speak but was interrupted when he beckoned you to follow him. The pram trailed behind you two as you made your ways towards the sandcrawler.
Here you are — entering a sandcrawler. A sandcrawler. This was definitely not how you imagined this quick little bounty hunt would go.
Now, originally, you were supposedly going to snatch the quarry away from the Nikto's encampment, leave this planet and head to Nevarro. Then, deliver the child and receive your well-deserved reward of beskar ingots. Well, that's not at all what happened. You're temporarily forced to partner up with someone you never believed you'd even agreed to do so. He took your weapons away from your grasp, had you pinned down, yet he allowed you a chance to live and join him. Then, stranded on this dusty planet, you have no possible transportation off it unless you negotiate with kriffing Jawas. Which was absolutely absurd! Why couldn't things be a bit simpler for you? And why the hell couldn't these damned creatures find the egg themselves?
It didn't take long to locate your destination, and you were glad it was such a short trip. The Jawas were certainly testing yours and Mando's patience. At one point you just about had it and was on the verge of teaching these hooded bastards a brief lesson. But Mando halted you before you managed to so much as touch them. A gloved hand placed itself on your shoulder, somewhat gently pushing you back in your cramped spot. Once he noticed you tensed at his unexpected touch, he retracted his hand back. "Let's not make things worse than they already are, alright?"
Your temper was quickly attempted to be kept in check. As much as you would enjoy shooting a bullet straight through each and every one of their heads, you recognized that probably wasn't the best option. Thankfully, Mando was there to stop you, or else you would've done so with no hesitation. It was rather... brutal, yes, but at least you'd obtain the ship's parts back, right? And that was all that mattered right now.
"You can stay here," was what Mando had told you once everyone had exited the sandcrawler. "I'll be quick."
"I'm going," you insisted with a shake of your head. If it were yesterday, you would've been absolutely fine with remaining here while the Mandalorian left to locate the Egg. You were utterly exhausted. But today was a much better day. Your wound wasn't as painful as before. As promised, the Ugnaught had allowed you to use his med kit before journeying towards the Jawas. A nice bacta patch was placed over the gash and immediately alleviating nearly the entirety of the burning pain.
Mando seemed to acknowledge the fact that there was no convincing you otherwise, so he allowed you to accompany him along with the pram hovering a short distance from you two.
Eventually, you came upon a horribly muddy landscape. A large cave was visible just up ahead, though whatever was inside was completely enveloped by the darkness within the cavern. Presumably, that's where the Egg should be. Though a dreadful pit in your stomach developed upon realizing it was necessary for one of you to enter that pitch-black cave, without having the knowledge of what, exactly, was in there. "I don't know about this..." you voiced your concern.
The Mandalorian besides you nodded in agreement. "We don't have much of a choice."
"I'll... stay here with the Child, then," was your suggestion. "Someone needs to watch it."
That, and you were utterly terrified of what could be in there. What if it was... a giant spider? Or... some terrible monster waiting for someone to attempt to steal its egg and eat you, or—
"No."
Now that Mando had broken you out of your thoughts, you rolled your eyes. "Mando, I'm not gonna leave with the quarry."
"I don't have one reason to trust you."
You crossed your arms tightly over your chest. "The last thing I want to do right now is fight with you again. I just wanna get on with it already, leave this planet and head to Nevarro as soon as I can so I can get the hell away from you... Besides, if I wanted the bounty for myself I could've easily killed you in your sleep last night. And... you're here, right? So, you should be able to trust me by now."
His voice modulator crackled with a deep, unwilling sigh. He studied you for a long moment, seemingly examining your face and body language for any signs of lying and deception. Then, "You promise you won't try anything while I'm gone?"
You bobbed your head in approval. "Yes, promise."
His head tilted to the side, leaning his weight on one leg and hooking a finger through his belt. Contemplative. Very, very contemplative. Carefully weighing out his scarce options. You couldn't blame him, though. Then, "Fine."
Finally, he stepped away. You watched as he walked off and, eventually, disappeared into the menacing darkness of the cavern ahead.
A heavy silence subdued the ambience. Your eyes remained trained on that dark cavity a few feet away. Something inside you stirred up, telling you to retreat and leave this matter alone. Whether it be simply common sense or the Force warning you of something dangerous, you weren't certain. But you had a feeling you should listen to that voice, or else it could cost the Mandalorian's life.
Well... it's not like that mattered. If Mando died, then oh well. At least you'd take the entirety of the reward for yourself. Sure, you probably wouldn't be able to get your hands on that nice pulse-rifle of his, but... it'd be a good riddance.
Your gaze shifted from the cave towards the crib floating steadily by your side. The Child's attention moved to you as well. Those big, black eyes stared at you intently. His long ears drooped the slightest bit. He felt it too, somehow. Something was wrong. The Mandalorian was taking a bit too long. This was a bad idea.
Both your attentions were snatched when the familiar ear-splitting sound of Mando's blaster filled your ears. A powerful roar reverberated through the cavern, perfectly audible from where you remained in the distance. Not long after, Mando appeared from the cavern's entrance, seemingly flung out by something inside. He remained in mid-air for a split second, before landing harshly on his back with a mushy thud. Mud splashed underneath his weight, undoubtedly further dirting his rusted beskar armor.
Your eyes widened with terror. Quickly, you took action and dashed towards his direction. Something within you told you to check whether he was alright or not. You crouched down right besides him, assisting him as he lifted himself until he sat upright. Only then did you notice the dreadfully damaged armor plating his chest. The cuirass was bent in awkward ways, indicating that something, indeed, had struck him square in the chest. If he didn't have this beskar protecting his heart, he'd be dead right about now.
"What the hell happened, Mando?"
He was silent as he took a quick moment to regain his breath, chest heaving up and down with uneven breaths. Whatever was in there must've knocked the air right out of his lungs.
Then, a sound led to you snapping your gaze towards the cavity again. A creature was emerging. Substantially large, no doubt. Its heavy footsteps were heard, thunderous and practically shook the muddy ground beneath you. An abhorrent pit developed in your stomach as you watched the monster exit the cavern. You recognized it, of course. Never seen one in person but heard plenty stories. Its furry brown body stepped out into the open, the grimy, humongous horn glinting underneath the sunlight, those white eyes nearly seemed as if it were glaring at you and the Mandalorian.
It's a kriffing Mudhorn.
"Give me my blaster," you commanded urgently, an expectant hand held out and awaiting said object. He refused, completely ignoring you. Why the hell was he so damn stubborn?! Your lives were literally on the line yet he was still persistently hard-headed and reluctant to return a useful weapon.
Instead, he unstrapped his pulse rifle and swiftly aimed it towards the raging Mudhorn. Its eyes were trained specifically on the both of you. It roared, loud and booming. You recognized exactly what its following actions would be — charge. You couldn't bring yourself to do absolutely anything, instead remaining stuck in your spot. You were frozen with utter fear as you watched the rapidly approaching creature. Mando pulled the trigger on his rifle. Only, it was stuck. Stuck! Stuck in the best moment possible. Must've gotten damaged from his fall, which was exactly what you needed right now. Once more, you asked for a weapon, practically begged for it, but what did you receive? Ignored again. No, this time he didn't simply ignore you. He kriffing shoved you aside harshly, sending you tumbling into the uncomfortably wet mud.
You imagined he was irritated by your persistence. But when you perceived his armored figure being tossed away by the Mudhorn again, you realized he wasn't irritated at all. He was simply trying to push you away from the creature's path before it managed to hit you instead.
The Mandalorian groaned as he roughly collided with the ground again, the damaged rifle flying out of his grasp. Then, the Mudhorn's attention was on the Child's pram a few feet away, despite the fact that it had been silent the entire time. The horned monster growled and launched itself towards the carrier's direction. Luckily, though, Mando managed to command the pram to move out of harm's way, effectively leading to the Mudhorn unexpectedly crashing into a tall rock.
It recovered. Turned around. Those eyes landed on nobody other than you.
You're screwed.
Mando shouted for your attention. Your eyes hesitantly shifted from the Mudhorn towards the voice, before he threw you something familiar. Your blaster. Finally! It landed a few feet away on the mud. You swiftly picked it up in your hands. Its weight was comforting as you held it tautly between your fingers, one finger hovering the slightest bit over the trigger. As the Mudhorn rushed over to you, you fired multiple times.
Only, there was absolutely no effect. Its skin was much too thick for a simple bullet.
Your stomach churned when you noticed its dangerously near proximity.
You're really screwed now.
Instead, you aimed for an eye. Within a couple quick attempts, you managed to shoot it straight through that vulnerable spot. Its eyes shut closed as the creature roared with intense pain, though that couldn't seem to halt it either. Within seconds, the intimidating white horn collided with your chest and sent you flying in the air.
Luckily, your chestplate managed to stop it from being excessively painful. At least it hadn't struck you with the tip of its horn, or else you'd be pretty much... well, impaled and lifeless.
You landed, though not on the mud. At least, not your entire body. Something unidentifiable—possibly a rock—impacted the back of your head and causing a terrible, high-pitched ringing to your ears. Your vision blurred to the point that you weren't even sure whether you were alive. The sky ahead seemed to switch colors, from blue, to white, to black, and oh, you were dizzy... and the breath was also abruptly taken from your lungs. You suddenly felt debilitated, sluggish, heavy. Then, nausea overwhelmed you—the bile in your throat threatened to come out.
And there was... someone shouting for you? Was there..? Oh, you weren't... sure... the voice sounded familiar— oh, Mando! He was yelling something you couldn't quite understand. Though you couldn't find the strength to stand, let alone lift your head.
Oh, you were terribly concussed... this hurt. It hurt like hell.
Mando needed to act, and fast. The beast's attention was still glued to your limp form, and on the verge of trampling you to your death. His actions were rapid in an attempt to save you — an arm raised towards the Mudhorn's direction, effectively shooting the fibercord hook out of his vambrace and attaching it with the creature's long horn. With all his force and strength, he tugged. Pulled vigorously until the Mudhorn was forcibly whirled around, its focus no longer on you. The wire hooked onto its horn likely felt strange and caused it discomfort, leading to it breaking into bolts and sprinting around instead of attacking, dragging Mando along in the mud. He wouldn't dare release his hold. No, because then it would return to you, or the Child. At least this gave you additional time to recover... that's if you even managed to do so.
Eventually, the wire snapped. Mando slumped onto the ground, and before he knew it, he was forcefully tossed a third time. This time, though, was excessively rough. As soon as his back struck the ground, he found himself incapable of even moving. The back of his head had collided with his beskar helmet much too harshly. Agonizing waves of pain reverberated through his entire body. His vision blurred, becoming completely unfocused. In this moment, his helmet became... suffocating. He couldn't breath correctly. His breaths were ragged and unnatural. Despite this, he mustered the strength to sit upright, forced himself to do so. Much to his dismay, the Mudhorn was still willing to continue protecting the Egg, and would kill all three of you in order to defend it. Mando's mind raced to come up with a solution, but his brain was... foggy. He couldn't do anything other than unsheathe the vibroblade from his boot in a last ditch effort. The beast growled, and charged towards his direction again. The blade was pointed straight at the fast approaching Mudhorn.
It wasn't supposed to end like this... but it was much too late for him now. At least he'd die a warrior's death. At least he'd pass knowing he'd remained loyal to his Creed, to the Mandalorians. At least he managed to protect you and the Child until the very last second of his life.
He braced himself, eyes squeezing shut underneath the visor, the vibroblade held shakily between both of his gloved hands, the ground beneath him quaking with each heavy, menacing step the Mudhorn took towards his direction...
A short distance away, you managed to lift yourself up a bit. But your heart plummeted upon catching sight of Mando completely vulnerable to the beast ahead of him, on the verge of meeting his demise. You tried to shout his name, tried so hard, as if that would do anything to stop him from dying right in front of your eyes. But you couldn't. Your brain pounded painfully in your head, restraining you from even speaking. You lacked the energy to so much as move. Your blaster was laying unused in the mud a few feet away, you realized. Once again, you tried to reach it, so you could possibly distract the Mudhorn from killing Mando, but your head... it was killing you. A slight movement sent a searing pain through the entirety of your head, causing you to hopelessly grasp your head between both your hands, as if doing so would alleviate you. You groaned. Your eyes shut closed. Something tepid and warm oozed through your fingers.
The one time you found yourself caring for Mando, wanting to save his damn life, was the one time you were utterly incapable of doing so.
Panic overwhelmed you. Your chest constricted, tighter and tighter. You wanted to scream, shout, yell. The pain and the feeling of hopelessness was unbearable. You wanted to die, right here, right now in this spot. You couldn't listen to the sounds of Mando being trampled to his death. No... this was... too much... to... handle...
But the thunderous steps miraculously... ceased. Completely. No sound audible to your ears except for the intense ringing you couldn't seem to rid of. Slowly and carefully, you lifted your head up, hands dropping on your lap. Your mind couldn't quite comprehend what was going on, because apparently... the Child was using the Force?
You were still so, so confused... this had to be an effect of your concussion, because this couldn't be true. Your battered-up head was playing tricks with you. This could not be happening.
Those big eyes were shut closed, concentrating deeply in his actions. That small, three-fingered claw was raised towards the Mudhorn as the powerful strength of the Force connected with him, allowing him to maintain the struggling beast up in mid-air. The Mandalorian did not hesitate whatsoever to finally stab it with his vibroblade, killing the relentless creature on the spot and ending this gruesome battle against it. The Mudhorn collapsed on the muddy ground, it's body remaining still and unmoving. Dead.
Yeah. You hit your head pretty damn hard.
You could only watch as Mando's blurry, muddied figure approached you after yanking the blade off the Mudhorn's lifeless form. His beskar was even more damaged than it had been before, even worse than yesterday when you fought against the group of Trandoshans. He crouched down until he was level with you, a gloved hand covered in mud gently grasping your shoulder. He was speaking to you... asking a question, or something. But the intense ringing in your ears wouldn't allow you to hear anything other than his muffled modulated voice. A grimace appeared on your features, brows furrowing in a questioning manner. You opened your mouth but found you still couldn't speak either. Your head pounded obnoxiously, preventing you from voicing a single word.
His free hand gripped onto your other shoulder, carefully urging you up. Oh... He wanted you to stand. Yeah... maybe that'll help... As he aided you on your feet, he wrapped one arm around your weak figure and allowed you to lean the entirety of your weight on him. Without him, you wouldn't be capable of standing like this at all. One of your hands clutched onto the lip of his beskar cuirass, effectively leading you to notice the way your hands were practically smothered in a dark red liquid — blood. Blood from when you'd painfully grasped your head earlier.
"Ar— ou... y? Can you... r— me?"
What?
You couldn't manage to comprehend his words the slightest bit. He was asking you something, obviously. And now that you were so near and he was speaking into your ear, you could hear him a tiny bit better than before. Still, you couldn't understand him. At all.
You wanted to tell him about the Child. How, moments previously, it had used the kriffing Force. Or maybe that wasn't actual reality. Maybe this wasn't actual reality. Your head must've slammed itself against that unknown object so brutally, that you'd simply... died. And none of this is real. Because... the Child and the Force... It didn't make much sense, though altogether it sorta did.
Unexpectedly, you're completely limp. It startled Mando and definitely caught him off-guard. He wrapped his other arm — this one around your waist — to further support you. Your head dangled low as your body was immersed in unconsciousness. That offered him a better view of the back of your head — and it wasn't pretty. Your hair was matted in brown mud but that coloring was overpowered by the thick ooze tinting your hair a ghastly red. He recognized he needed to tend to the concussion quick when you couldn't respond to him, let alone understand him. But seeing this terrible injury was cause for additional alarm.
The Mandalorian opted to settle you down, your back propped up against a rock. As he knelt down besides you, he removed a glove from one hand. His palm gently grasped your wrist, a finger placing slight pressure in order to locate your pulse. Only then could he release a short sigh of relief when he felt your heart was beating steadily. For now, at least. He needed to act fast and return to Kuill so the injury could be treated.
After he placed the leather back over his hand, he checked on the Child in its pram. Something had occurred to him, Mando noticed, when he'd done whatever he'd done earlier. As if that had completely drained the entirety of his energy, leaving him to collapse in his pram and fall right back to sleep. He was clueless as to what the hell it had done to the Mudhorn, but was thankful for it. Or else, he'd be pretty much trampled and dead right about now.
So, he head back into that dreaded cave to retrieve the Egg, and returned a few short minutes later with the furry egg in one arm. He was allowed to sigh a discreet breath of relief when he spotted you awake and conscious, and able to move a bit. You watched as he returned to you, his figure being much clearer than it previously was and the ringing in your ears had nearly vanished. This time, when he carefully lifted you up, you did so with plenty more ease. Though you still leaned your weight on him.
"Can you walk?" His voice was now understandable and lacked the muffled aspect.
"Yeah," you managed to breath out, despite the fact that your head ached painfully with that single word.
The both of you started taking slow and cautious steps towards the sandcrawler's direction, along with the pram hovering close by. Luckily, there wasn't much of a distance between you and the crawling fortress. Though the fifteen minute trek through the rocky desert was definitely pretty burdensome and grueling to you, especially with the sun blazing down on you and causing your headache to worsen with each passing minute.
The Jawas were on the verge of leaving if it weren't for you arriving just in the nick of time. They had even started raising the sandcrawler's ramp, preparing themselves to move. But once they caught sight of both you and Mando's muddied, beat-up figures, they instantly scurried towards your directions and pried the Egg from Mando's hands.
One of them had fetched a knife to pop the furry Egg open. They cheered as they dug their hands into it and reached for the slimy yellow yolk, before bringing it to their mouths and eating it despite its raw stickiness. It was rather... gross, to say the least. It was rather frustrating to think that you'd endured all that with the Mudhorn, so they could simply devour it in a matter of minutes. You assumed they would... hatch it, perhaps, or maybe even trade it or something. It didn't matter anyway. At least you could reacquire the Razor Crest's stolen parts.
"I'm surprised you waited," Mando commented as he led you back to the sled, and aided you to settle yourself down on it.
"I'm surprised you took so long," Kuiil replied. Then, his gaze fell to you, casting a concerned look on his face. "Is she alright"
"I'll be fine." You managed a shaky, feeble smile that you doubted would even convince them. As you had spoken those simple little words, the dull pounding in your brain increased. You hoped they hadn't heard the back quiet whimper that had escaped your mouth as you clutched your head with one hand. You weren't feeling well and you definitely weren't looking good either. Your appearance was undoubtedly weak and all shook-up, obviously due to your kriffing painful concussion.
As much as you wanted to help them out so time would pass by quicker, you could only watch. Watch as the Mandalorian and Ugnaught loaded up the Razor Crest's missing parts, as well as personal belongings, back onto the sled. Occasionally, you stole a glance towards the pram's direction. It hovered a few feet away from you, though you couldn't manage to see the green baby within it. It was still dead-asleep. And you recognized exactly why.
Once their work was complete, Mando boarded the sled again and Kuiil mounted his blurrg. Then, you were on your way back to the Razor Crest to finally leave this dust-ball of a planet.
Mando, surprisingly enough, insisted he helped clean and disinfect the wound on the back of your head. Despite the fact that you didn't completely trust the man just yet, you recognized it was likely best for him to handle it. No matter how much of your strength returned to you, working on the injury would prove to be nearly impossible, especially since you couldn't even see it. So, you shifted in your seat until your back was turned to him, and allowed him to deal with it. Though you were still very cautious about this.
He had reacquired his medkit from the Jawas, luckily, so he made use of it. There were plenty of exasperated grunts, pained winces, and sudden flinches as he tended to your wound, but eventually (and thankfully), he was done. He'd cleaned away the most dried blood he could manage with a rag, and treated it with bacta spray that would aid your concussion as well.
It was... strange. He was caring for you. Which was something you never would've believed would happen with him.
"How does it feel?"
"Better," you replied. Your vision had returned to normality, and the terrible aching resounding through your entire head was slowly vanishing. Of course, your whole body was sore. Who wouldn't be when they were tossed around like a ragdoll by a kriffing Mudhorn? But the pain in your muscles would recede, eventually. You moved until your back was propped up against the sled again. Then, your eyes met with the muddied T-visor of Mando's helmet. "What about you?"
"Me?"
Oh. You just asked him how he felt. Now you're the one acting strange.
But after everything he'd done for you now... well, the least you could do was make sure he was somewhat alright. And if he'd obtained any injuries as well, maybe you'd help. Maybe. After all, he was thrown twice as much as you.
With a nod, you continued. "How badly were you hurt?"
"I'm fine," was his response, before his visor tilted down to examine his severely damaged cuirass he'd definitely need to fix soon. "The beskar held up, at least."
You pressed your lips into a thin line, before your gaze wandered back to the floating pram that followed along with the slow moving sled. The child within it was seemingly still asleep, or else you'd be able to see those long, green ears all perked up, as well as hear its insistent babbling. Nothing. It had reason to remain asleep for so long, though. Its energy was entirely drained from its little body.
"I think I understand a bit more as to why there's such a high bounty on the kid," you gestured towards the pram's direction as you returned your eyes to the Mandalorian besides you. His gaze was focused on you, awaiting further explanation from you. "He's very strong with the Force... which makes him extremely valuable. The Client likely needs him for that exact reason. I still can't catch on to why, though."
The man was silent for a moment as his mind wrapped around the new information. Then, "I thought the Force didn't exist."
"No, it's very real," you answered with a shake of your head.
Distant memories slowly invaded your brain. Back when you were a teenager living through the brutal times of the Clone Wars, struggling to become a fully-trained Jedi Knight. There were definitely plenty of hardships. Those times were not easy. But, there were pleasant memories as well, especially those shared with other people you'd grown fond of over the course of a few years.
You dared not to dwell too much on what had occurred to those particular people after Order 66 took place, and all Jedi were wiped from existence. Thankfully, by then you weren't exactly a part of the Jedi Order anymore. But the most painful part was that you had no idea whether your master, or your closest companions were still alive. Each time you so much as pondered over them, your heart fell heavy in your chest, and you couldn't bear the thought of what terrible demise they'd endured.
"How come you don't use the Force?" Mando's question interrupted your overwhelming thoughts.
You feared he'd ask that question, but the subject was bound to come up eventually. Every Jedi used the Force back then, so why didn't you? There was a quick moment of hesitation before you decided on answering. "I chose to refrain from using it."
There was a silence that enveloped the ambience. Mando was obviously still confused about all this. He didn't seem like the type of person to have much knowledge of the Jedi or the Force, so he undoubtedly had thousands of questions left unanswered. Yet, once again, he remained quiet, likely noticing that by your downed expression and short response, you weren't enjoying this conversation much. So, the remainder of the voyage back towards the Razor Crest was spent in absolute quietness.
By the time you'd arrived there, it was already dark. Once the three of you hopped off your transportation, you made your ways towards the stripped ship. This... was going to take quite some time to completely fix. "There is no way we're gonna get this to work without a full maintenance facility," Mando voiced your exact concerns, his visor trailing along the damaged Crest before landing on Kuiil.
You nodded in agreement, crossing your arms tightly over your the black armor plating your chest. "Yeah, this'll take nearly a week, maybe more, to fix. By then, we'll probably be ambushed by a bunch of hunters again."
"That is true, which is why we must work quick," the Ugnaught answered. "If you care to help, it might go faster."
Disregarding the fact that you and Mando barely had sufficient energy or strengths left from your rather... exciting day, you both assisted Kuiil in repairing the Razor Crest. While you weren't exactly a professional mechanic or repairman, you helped out with whatever you could manage. If you had any trouble, Mando was usually right by your side to explain whatever it was you needed to do, thankfully. There were moments when spells of dizziness would overwhelm you, so you'd found yourself taking a brief brake every so often. The effects of your concussion were still evidently present, though the bacta spray it had been treated with earlier was working marvelously.
During your short periods of rest, you'd normally double-check that the Child was alright. It spent the entirety of its time asleep, which was something you wished to be doing right about now. Soon after that, you'd return to dealing with the Crest again.
It wasn't until the following day that you had finally finished fixing up the old ship. You were exhausted. You weren't too familiar with Mando too well, but by his body language and stance, you could tell he was equally as exhausted as you. He no longer stood up as straight as he ordinarily did, instead a slight slump to his broad shoulders was visible. Nevertheless, the both of you were relieved to be all ready too head back to Nevarro.
Pretty soon, you'd be receiving your much-deserved reward — beskar ingots. Oh, you knew exactly what you would spend the prize on: transportation back to Corellia, which was where you normally headed to wind down after a rather rough bounty hunt. This hunt in particular had probably been one of the worst ones you'd ever endured. You hoped you wouldn't need to form another alliance with the Mandalorian ever in your life. A quick fight was what you'd prefer. Whoever beat the other in combat took over the bounty and earned the entire reward. No alliances. Never again.
It wasn't that Mando was rude or anything... he'd actually been surprisingly... considerate? But you had a stiff past with him. He'd stolen plenty of bounties which were rightfully yours. Which meant, he'd snatched your future credits right off your hands — credits that could've helped your life become simpler. You were constantly on the search for more credits to sustain yourself with. A bounty hunter's life wasn't easy, even though you were favored with the Guild equally as much as Mando was. Which was what led you to a little payback — stealing bounties that had been rightfully his. And was also what caused your intense hatred for each other. Which, also led to you being unable to so much as stand the guy. You'd rather be as far away from him as possible.
So, as Kuiil and Mando spoke to each other on the ship's ramp, you peered into the Child's pram once more. You weren't surprised when you caught sight of its eyes shut closed as it immersed itself in a long bout of sleep to replenish its lost energy. Soft snores emanated from its slightly parted mouth, those baby teeth just barely visible. Its long ears twitched every so often. It was cute, you had to admit. Which made you all the more skeptical than you were before. You had no clue what the hell the Client was planning on doing with it. It was none of your business, of course. And it was the Code of the Guild that no questions were asked, simply deliver the quarry and receive your reward.
But this is a child you're talking about here. An innocent, defenseless child that would leave you feeling unpleasantly guilty if anything were to occur to it. That is, if that was what they were going to do with it. The problem was, you weren't even entirely certain whether your trepidation was true or not.
The ramp whirring and hissing was what had caught your attention, drawing you out of your pensive state. You turned from the pram, facing Mando who'd stood there examining you for a split second. Then, "You can wash up in the 'fresher if you want," was all he offered, gesturing with his head towards the open refresher room besides him before climbing the ladder into the cockpit.
Your gaze fell, landing on your body. You were still covered in mud, grime, dirt, dried blood. The crusty redness was smeared all over your hands, as well as dark splotches of oil altogether from fixing the ship. A little wash-up wouldn't hurt. So, as you felt the ship come into life, vibrating wonderfully beneath you, you entered the refresher to clean yourself up.
Now you were finally heading back to Nevarro. Alleviation washed over you in a wave once you realized this would all soon be over.
Though that didn't exactly mean everything would return to normal...