"Hand me the—no not that! No, no, no the one to the right of that," Mando instructed Kasia as he pointed emphatically at the lug wrench. Finally grabbing the correct tool, Kasia made a face at the Mandalorian as she passed it to where he stood working on the Razor Crest.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" she asked a moment later as she watched him struggle with one of the engines. At her words, he paused what he was doing and gave what she supposed was as close to a deadpan stare as his helmet allowed. At the look she put her hands up in the air, "Just asking."
"Excuse me," a voice suddenly called from behind them. On instinct Kasia whirled, right hand going to the blaster at her side. Two men were approaching, farmers by the looks of their cloths.
"Excuse me, sir?" the other man tried again, his eyes focused on Mando. Kasia tried not to take it as an insult as she examined the two of them. Yes, they certainly appeared to be some sort of farmers, she decided as she racked her brain to recall what crops Sorgan predominantly produced.
"There something we can help you with?" Mando asked as he turned back to work on the engine. His voice—though not hostile—was cold and certainly uninterested.
"Uh yeah," the shorter man holding the lantern stammered. "Raiders," he managed to get out as the pair of them came closer, glancing at her before turning their attention back to Mando.
"We have money," the other one piped up.
"So, you think we're some kind of mercenaries?" Mando asked obviously uninterested, and Kasia chuckled slightly. Oh, this was not going well for them so far.
"You are a Mandalorian, right?" the taller one finally asked cautiously after trading a glance with his companion.
"Or at least wearing Mandalorian armor. That is Mandalorian armor, right?" the one with the lantern finished his friend's thought, sounding overly eager.
Mando said nothing and Kasia, wanting to throw the poor farmers a bone, nodded, "It is."
At her confirmation, Mando shot her a glare as the shorter one began yammering on, "See? I told him. Sir, I've read a lot about your people- uh, tribe," he stammered, following Mando as he strode to work on the other side of the engine. "If half of what I read is true..."
"We have money," his friend finished.
When Mando glanced down at the flathead screwdriver at her feet, Kasia sighed and scooped it from the floor before tossing it to the Mandalorian. Smoothly he caught it and went back to work as Kasia brought a hand to her still somewhat wounded shoulder and rubbed it slightly.
Kasia glanced at Mando who continued working. "How much?" she finally asked, filling the silence.
"It's everything we have," the farmer responded quietly. Kasia's heart shrunk in chest as she felt a wave of desperation and sadness role off of the pair. Whatever they had... they didn't think it would be enough. "Our whole harvest was stolen."
"Krill. We're krill farmers."
Damn I should be a detective. Even without my gift I would kick some serious criminal ass.
"We brew spotchka—our whole village chipped in," the short one finished.
Kasia opened her mouth to respond but Mando beat her to it, finally turning from where he worked to look at the small sack in the man's hand. "It's not enough," he told them coldly as he strode past where Kasia stood towards the hull door.
Come on, let's go, came the thought a moment later.
Kasia threw a sympathetic glance over her shoulder to the farmers as she followed him.
"Are you sure? You don't even know what the job is," one of them tried, desperation leaking into his voice as he talked.
We can't let them go, w-we need help. Kasia heard the farmer's voice clang around in her head a moment later, his desperation and fear overriding the slim mental shields he might otherwise have possessed. A flashed memory of a toddler and a name followed the thought a moment later: Marcus.
"I know it's not enough, good luck."
"This is everything we have—we'll give you more after the next harvest," one of them pleaded. Kasia gave them a tightlipped smile knowing that no matter what they said, the Mandalorian in front of them was unlikely to budge.
Mando nor Kasia said anything as the hull door hissed open and the farmers jumped backwards in surprise.
"Come on. Let's head back," she heard one of them say quietly to the other, defeat clear in their voice. "Took us the whole day to get here. Now we have to ride back with no protection to the middle of nowhere."
Kasia's eyes widened as she heard the last mumbled bit of information and a plan began to formulate in her mind. She rushed into the hanger after the Mandalorian who was already well into the ship.
Grabbing the nook of his elbow, she halted his walk before realizing what she had done and quickly letting him go. "We should help them," she told him, eyes wide as she nodded to the retreating farmers.
He crossed his arms and gave what she had come to recognize as his 'are you serious Kasia, that's such a dumb idea' look. Well... it was more of a stance than a look because of the whole Beskar helmet thing but whatever. "We both know that the money they offered isn't nearly enough. Besides, we best be moving on."
"Screw the money," Kasia interrupted him, waving an inconvenienced hand. "Didn't you hear what they said? They're krill farmers." When he continued to stare at her, obviously not getting her point she rolled her eyes. "They're farmers. They live in the middle of nowhere. Get it now, metalhead?"
Mando looked to the side for a moment before straightening, seeming to have finally realized what she was getting at. "And you... saw this? In their minds or thoughts or whatever?" he asked cautiously, ignoring the quip at the end of her sentence.
No.
"Yes, I did," Kasia lied, nodding her head confidently.
He looked at her for a moment more before shaking his head. Under his breath he murmured, "Jate'shya cuyir staabi," in Mando'a before turning on his heel and walking out the ship door after the farmers. "Do you have lodging?"
The pair of them turned around, startled for a moment as they realized he was speaking to them. "Uh, yeah. Absolutely," the taller man stuttered, staring up at the pair of them as Kasia came to Mando's side, smiling faintly.
"Good," Mando replied nodding. "Come up and help."
*.*.*
The process of unloading the supplies Mando had deemed necessary was a long and exhausting tribulation which Kasia did not want to have to endure ever again.
Sometime during the process, Mando had pulled her aside and informed her he was going to go find Cara Dune and use the few credits that the farmers had scrounged together to acquire her help. "She's also looking for a place to lay low," he reminded her.
Still, Kasia had a feeling it was little more than an excuse to leave while she and the farmers did the real heavy lifting—never mind the fact that she was still somewhat recovering from a literal gun wound.
Now she, Cara, Mando, the child, and the two farmers all sat in the farmers' carriage truck which seemed to go a maximum of five miles per hour on the way to the middle of nowhere. The two farmers were up in front piloting the 'speed'er, while Kasia, Mando, the child, and Cara were seated in the back amongst the other supplies.
Kasia grinned down at the child who sat in her lap, babbling quietly. He's just so adorable, she thought affectionately as she smiled down at him. Seated at her right, she could feel the Mandalorian's gaze on the two of them. Glancing up, she let her eyes dart down at the child and then back at him in question.
You wanna take him?
At the unspoken question, however, the Mandalorian shook his head. He looks comfortable right now.
"So, we're basically running off a band of raiders for lunch money?" Cara interrupted their silent conversation, glancing between the two of them. Mando shifted to look at her and Kasia blinked in surprise as their shoulders touched slightly. She hadn't quite realized how close together they were seated.
"They're quartering us in the middle of nowhere," Mando responded, voice low as he spoke. "Last I checked that's a pretty square deal for someone in your position."
And ours, Kasia added silently.
"Worst case scenario," Kasia spoke up in a reasonable, appeasing tone, "We tune up our blasters. Best case, we're a deterrent." She shrugged her good shoulder, ignoring how it bumped against Mando's slightly at the movement, "I can't imagine there's anything living in these trees that an ex-shock trooper couldn't handle."
At her words, Mando nodded and leaned back, unconsciously stretching his arms out to both sides. Kasia blinked in surprise as his arm came to rest against the back of the railing she was sitting against but said nothing. Her face suddenly feeling a bit warmer, she avoided eye contact with Cara who began to examine the pair with a bit more scrutiny.
"I don't know about you two idiots, but I'm going to get some sleep," Kasia said to no one in particular. In her lap, the child hummed in agreement and snuggled into her chest. Resting her left hand on the child's body, Kasia leaned back against the wall, her head unintentionally coming to rest slightly on the Mandalorian's arm.
Even through the metal she felt him stiffen slightly at the contact, as if realizing for the first time the position that they were in, but within moments a swell of exhaustion finally hit her and the movement of the carriage across the ground lulled her gently to sleep.
*.*.*
"Jate'shya cuyir staabi" means "better be right" in Mando'a.
Sorry, nothing much happened this chapter and try as I might I couldn't find gifs or good videos of any of the real show events.
Lo siento. Anyways see you next chapter!