Mando and I stood and stared at the razor crest. Well, what was left of the razor crest. The Jawas had ransacked the ship, practically stripping it bare. There was no way that they would be able to fly it in that condition.
Parts of the ship were scattered all around the sandy ground. The place was now a mess.
Mando and I made their way inside to check the damage that they had done. I went straight over to the crate that held most of my personal belongings. I quickly riffled through the crate and sighed in relief when I realised that nothing had been taken. I'd hate to have to go and buy a new wardrobe. We did not have the money for that.
Mando pried open the door that held the weapons, electricity crackled as he forced it open. It was completely empty. The Jawas had stolen all of our weapons.
Mando was clearly angry, he slammed the doors closed and grunted in frustration.
There were wires hanging down from the ceiling, parts of the side of the ship had been stripped off, leaving it exposed to the outside. I huffed in frustration as I glanced around our ship.
Mando climbed up into the cockpit to try and start the ship, but the engines only spluttered, this ship was going nowhere.
Mando slid back down to the hill and walked over to his bed, he sat down and sighed deeply. Shaking his head in irritation. I quietly walked over to him and placed my hand gently on the pauldron that was on his shoulder, causing him to glance up at me.
"We'll fix this." I said, trying my best to sound reassuring.
Mando sighed again but he could reply he was interrupted by a small cooing.
Mando and I both glanced over to the ship's exit and stood on the ramp, was the child.
Mando sighed and stood up from his bed, he walked over and scooped up the child, walking back down the ramp to put him back In his floating pram again.
I took another glance around at the razor crest and sighed. This was going to be hard to fix. And who knows how long it will take them to get the parts back and put the ship back together again.
I stepped out of the razor crest and began to follow after Mando, who had clearly decided that they were going to go back to the ugnaughts house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
We made it back to the ugnaught's house by the time the sun was setting. We have spent two days on this planet now. Far longer than we had planned to.
The ugnaught was up a pole, fixing something on top of his house. "I thought you were dead." He said to us without looking.
He then turned around to face us and took notice of the child. His expression changed quickly and he climbed down the pole. He clearly wasn't expecting the bounty to be a small child, just like us.
~~~~~~~~~~
The three of us, including the child, all stood around outside. The sun had now set in the sky, leaving them in the dark. The stars were starting to emerge from the darkness.
The child ran around as fast as his small legs could carry him. He was chasing after a frog that was hopping around on the ground.
The ugnaught gestured to the child in confusion. "This is what was causing all the fuss?"
"I think it's a child." Mando said
"It is better to deliver it alive then." The ugnaught said.
"My ship has been destroyed. I'm trapped here." Mando stated
"Stripped. Not destroyed. The Jawas steal. They don't destroy." The ugnaught said.
Mandos left arm was shooting out electricity, his vambrace had been broken during his fall earlier. The electricity was running up his forearm in waves. The ugnaught handed him a tool to help fix it.
"Stolen or destroyed, makes no difference to me." Mando stated bitterly. I nodded in agreement, regardless of how you wanted to word it, their ship was still missing parts and unable to take off.
"They're protected by their crawling fortress. There's no way to recover the parts." Mando said
"You can trade." The ugnaught said
"With Jawas? Are you out of your mind?" Mando asked
"I will take you to them." The ugnaught said, taking back the tool that he had lent Mando since he had fixed his vambrace. "I have spoken."
The child made an odd cooing noise causing me to turn on my heels to face him. He had a frog hanging out of his mouth and he was trying to swallow it. My eyes widened at the sight of the legs hanging out of the infant's mouth.
"Hey! Spit that out." Mando stated firmly.
The child did not head to Mando's statement and swallowed the frog whole, Belching after he had swallowed it.
I shook my head at the child, that was disgusting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mando and I sat side by side on a sled. We were being pulled by a blurrg that was being ridden by the ugnaught.
Night had fully fallen over the planet and rain had begun to pour from the sky, soaking us in water.
We had a small lantern attached to the sled as our only light source, which made it extremely difficult to see more than a foot ahead.
I shivered from the rain drenching my clothes, it was times like these that I envied my companions full armor and helmet. I pulled my coat tighter around my shoulders, trying my best to keep the rain out, but I was already soaked through. I don't think there was a single part of me that hadn't been soaked by the falling rain. Even my socks that were hidden under my black boots were feeling soggy, which was an awful feeling.
Thunder crackled in the sky above us, illuminating the dark sky in short flashes. I really hope that we will be there soon. Before the rain or the thunder kills us.
~~~~~~~~~~~
After hours of traveling through the night, without any sleep at all, we made it to the Jawa ship. It was parked in a canyon between some mountains. They had their ramp down and a little stall set up for selling and trading to people.
The ugnaught greeted the Jawas as they approached them, I could hear them yelling in the distance. Probably because of my mandalorian companion. They were understandably untrusting of him.
The Jawas began to line up at the front of their stalls, aiming their blasters towards us.
"They really don't like you for some reason." The ugnaught said to Mando
"Well, I did disintegrate a few of them." Mando said
"That would upset anyone." I muttered lightly.
"You need to drop your rifle." The ugnaught said
"I'm a mandalorian. Weapons are part of my religion." Mando retaliated
"Then you are not getting your parts back." The ugnaught said. Gesturing to the on guard Jawas.
Mando sighed and lifted his rifle from his knee. "Fine." He placed it in the back of the sled.
I hopped out first and Mando jumped out after me. We stood in front of the Jawas as they continued to shout at us and aim their blasters. I Swallowed hard as I stared down the business end of several blasters. I wasn't keen on the idea of getting shot again.
The ugnaught pointed to Mando's side and to mine. "And the blasters." He said
Mando pulled out his blaster and placed it on the sled as well. I followed his lead and pulled my two blasters from my holster. Placing them gently in the sled besides Mando's.
Apparently that was enough to calm the Jawas because the ugnaught turned to them and nodded, gesturing for us to come over.
The ugnaught and one of the Jawas sat down on the ground. Mando and I followed their lead and took a seat on the sandy ground. The sand was clinging to my still damp clothes.
The Jawas began to speak and the ugnaught translated for them. "They will trade all the parts for the beskar." He said
I sighed quietly to myself, that would never happen. "I'm not going to trade anything. These are my parts. They stole them from me." Mando said
The Jawas began to speak jawaese and Mando tried to speak back to them in broken jawaese.
The Jawas seemed to insult Mando because he lifted up his arm and yelled. "Do you understand this?" Before he shot fire at them from his vambrace. The ugnaught yelled "no!" And grabbed hold of his arm. The Jawas all screamed and ducked away from the jet of fire.
The ugnaught then seemingly took over the conversation, speaking Jawa to them.
"Next time, let me do the bargaining." I whispered to my friend. Who huffed a sigh in return.
The Jawa who was talking gestured over to the sled. We all turned around to see two Jawas standing around the child.
"Get away from it!" Mando yelled at the Jawas, who fled at the sound of his voice.
The ugnaught continued to bargain with the Jawas. The Jawas turned around and huddled together. They then turned back to them and began to speak again. Whatever they said caused the ugnaught to face palm.
"The egg? What egg?" Mando asked in confusion.
"Egg?" I questioned
The Jawas then began to chant the same phrase over and over again excitedly, I assumed it was something to do with the egg. Whatever egg it was, they really liked it.
Mando and I glanced at each other, completely unaware of what we were about to get ourselves into.
~~~~~~~~~~
Mando and I stood at the front of the Jawas ship, where the controls were. The Jawas were going to give them a ride to collect the egg. Whatever the egg was.
The space in there was tight. My head was practically touching the ceiling and I was sitting down. My mandalorian friend, however, was having a worse time than I was. He was hunched over, his neck straining in order to fit into the small space that was clearly made for Jawas. Not for a man in armor who is 6 feet tall.
They hit a large bump in the road and Mando grunted as he hit his head on the ceiling. I
lifted my arms to brace myself, I wasn't as lucky as he was to be wearing a helmet. The Jawas laughed at them. I sighed in annoyance, this wasn't the most dignified journey.
After about 10 minutes, they finally came to a stop. Mando, the ugnaught, and I stood in front of the large hatch as the ramp lowered. Letting them back out into fresh air again.
I breathed in relief to be free of the cramped space. Small spaces were never my favorite places to be.
Mando and I stepped off of the ramp and walked down onto the sandy, wet ground. The child's pram followed us as we walked.
We walked for a couple of meters of rough terrain before we came across a large area that was surrounded by hills. At the furthest end of the area was a very large hole that was dug into the side of the rock.
Mando and I made our way towards the large hole, the ground surrounding it was extremely wet and muddy.
The two of us stopped in front of the hole and looked down into it. It was pitch black and you could hardly see into it. So you couldn't know if something was in there or not. Whether the creature who lived there was home or not.
I pulled my blaster out from my holster and began to follow Mando down into the dark hole. We had left the child behind in the open for safety.
The noise of water dripping from the damp ceiling was all that could be heard apart from our light footsteps. The place had a horrible smell that I could not place, I didn't think I wanted to know what the bad smell was anyway.
Once we got further into the tunnel, it became much harder to see. So Mando turned on the torch that he had on the side of his helmet to illuminate the dark cave. I felt on edge as I waited for something to jump out at them from the dark. I felt almost like a young child anxiously eyeing their closet.
The light on his torch handed on a large pile of bones which did not ease my nerves whatsoever.
I felt my heart rate pick up the longer we stayed there. The anticipation of something being in there with us made my nerves skyrocket. I had a strange feeling that we definitely weren't alone. My hands trembled briefly, but I tightened my grip on my blaster to try and stop them.
There was a strange low growl that echoed lowly around the cave and as Mando swept the torch around the cave, a large eye shot open. Being illuminated by the light from his torch.
Mando and I both raised our blasters in alarm and began firing at the creature. But it was to no avail as the creature stood up and charged at us, throwing the two of us out of the cave and back into daylight.
We both landed heavily on the ground with a thud. I groaned as a sharp jolt of pain ran up my spine from the contact with the hard ground. The pain shot throughout my body and I felt like the air was knocked out of me. The thick mud under my back was beginning to coat my clothes. I almost shuddered in disgust at the invasive, uncomfortable feeling.
I glanced over at Mando while I was still laying on the ground and noticed that his chest plate was hanging off of him, it was sparking electricity and broken once again. It was severely bent from the impact of the creature.
An extremely large horn emerged from the cave followed by a mud covered creature. It was a mudhorn, and it was massive. I swallowed hard and raised myself up on my elbows.
Mando, who had already gotten back up on his feet, pulled out his rifle and aimed it at the mudhorn, but it didn't work. His rifle was empty and he couldn't reload it due to the mud that covered the weapon. Making his hands unable to properly grip it.
The mudhorn let out a large roar, before it charged forward and rammed straight into Mando. Lifting him up by its horn and throwing him across the ground again.
I gasped harshly and quickly scrambled up onto my feet. My heart beat rapidly, feeling concerned for my companion. Like he hadn't been thrown around enough during this hunt.
Mando landed heavily on his back, his pulse rifle scattered across the ground.
The child cried at The Mandalorian being thrown. Which drew the mudhorns attention over to the child. It started to charge towards the child, and I watched on helplessly from the side.
I couldn't run in the way and stop the mudhorn, I'd get killed. Luckily though, Mando very quickly pressed a button on his vambrace that connected him to the child's pram.
He threw his wrist to the side and the child's pram followed, moving out of the way of the mudhorn. I let out a deep breath that I didn't know I was holding. The animal then crashed into the side of the mountain at full speed. It shook its head and locked its sights on Mando again.
The Mudhorn then charged at him, Mando tried to use the flamethrower that was in his vambrace but it didn't deter the animal. The mudhorn crashed its large horn down on Mando, ramming him in the chest and pushing him into the mud. My heart jumped in my chest as I watched.
Mando then tried to use the wire from his vambrace and wrapped it around the animal's horn. Which was not a good idea. The mudhorn dragged Mando across the mud. Pulling him a few feet along the ground before the wire broke and Mando went tumbling along the ground.
I pulled out my blaster and aimed it at the mudhorn, but before I could pull the trigger the mudhorn charged at Mando again. It threw him up into the air and he came down hard on his back. My heart leapt and I gasped loudly. I could tell very quickly that he was dazed.
I began to stumble towards him, the mud was making it hard and uncomfortable to walk.
I slid to a stop and stumbled slightly, falling to my knees in front of my companion. I pulled my blaster from my holster and raised it at the mudhorn as it began to charge at us again. If the mudhorn was going to kill me, I'd at least try to protect my friend.
I heard Mando grunt as he tried to sit back up again from behind me. I didn't turn to face him, keeping my gaze and my blaster trained on the mudhorn.
I felt a hand grab onto my shoulder. "Go." Mando's weak voice stated.
"What? No." I Said in reply, not turning around to face him. There was no way I would leave him here. Not like this.
Mando pulled a small vibroblade that he kept in his boot out. Aiming it at the Rancor.
I shot at the mudhorn a few times, but it did very little to stop the animal. It continued to charge full speed towards us. it was a few feet away. And it wasn't going to stop.
"Please...go." Mando tried to plead with me, I knew he was trying to protect me, but I couldn't leave him.
"Not without you." I said firmly, shooting another few blaster bolts at the mudhorn. The adrenaline I felt overwhelmed me, but my aim never faltered.
The mudhorn was half a meter away from us and it stopped in its tracks. The mudhorn roared in anger as its feet ran along the muddy ground to no avail.
To my surprise, the mudhorn began to float upwards, its large feet leaving the ground as it swam in mid air. My face contorted into a look of confusion and bewilderment as the creature levitated off of the ground.
I could feel that pull again. I turned my head and looked at the child. His eyes were closed in concentration and his little hands were reaching out. Somehow, the child was doing this. He was saving them.
The child then collapsed in its pram and the mudhorn fell back to earth. It roared angry and Mando ran at it, pushing his knife into the side of its neck.
Both of them fell to the muddy ground. The mudhorn took in a deep breath before its head collapsed onto the ground. It was dead.
I pushed myself up onto my feet and began to walk towards him. I was breathing hard as my foot slipped slightly in the mud.
Mando stumbled to his feet and grabbed his blade, twisting it and then pulling it out of the mudhorns neck.
I stumbled up to him. "Are you okay?" I asked him.
I gently reached out and took a hold of his arm, slinging it carefully over my shoulder so I could help him walk. He was swaying slightly, it wouldn't surprise me if he had a concussion.
"Yeah...I'm ok. Are you?" He asked me
I nodded to him before I glanced down at my clothes. I was absolutely covered in mud as was The Mandalorian.
I huffed a sigh. "I need a shower."
Mando let out a small chuckle, surprising me. "Me too."
I smiled before I glanced over at the child's pram. I felt concern wash over me when I remembered the child collapsing. I knew that I had to go check up on him so I began to stumble towards the pram with the Mandalorian limping by my side.
The child was unconscious but ok, he was breathing and he looked like he was asleep. Probably just exhausted after making a kriffing mudhorn fly.
I then glanced back up at Mando, letting out a small laugh. "Can you even see?" I asked, referring to the mud that was coating his visor.
"Just." He replied, a small amount of amusement in his voice.
Mando and I then limped over to the entrance of the cave, to collect the egg. And in my opinion, an egg was not worth this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mando and I made our way back to the Jawas. In one arm Mando Held the egg, his other arm was still wrapped around my shoulder.
He had repeatedly said that he was ok, buti could see the way he limped and that he kept grunting in pain and trying to cover it up. So I insisted on helping him, he was never very good at accepting help. It took a lot of begging and pleading for him to listen to me on the best days.
We came around the corner of a mountain and saw the ugnaught and the Jawa ship, the ramp to the ship was now halfway closed. But when the ugnaught greeted them, the ramp stopped moving and lowered itself back down again.
"We have it. We've got the egg." Mando said
The Jawas all started to cheer for us, they were very excited about the egg. They probably didn't get it very often, which wasn't a surprise.
The Jawas surrounded Mando and I, they were all reaching their hands up to try and grab the egg. No patience.
Mando passed the egg to one of the Jawas and they walked off towards the ramp of the ship, the rest of them followed after him.
The Jawa passed the egg to another Jawa and he pulled out a knife, slashing open the top of the egg. The Jawas all then began to pull out parts of the egg and eat it. Surely there wouldn't be enough of the egg for all of them.
Mando shook his head at them and then turned around to speak to the ugnaught. "I'm surprised you waited." He said
"I'm surprised you took so long." The ugnaught countered. I laughed lightly at his comment. Maybe he should try kill a mudhorn, it's way harder than it looks, and it doesn't look easy.
He then turned around and walked back to the sled to prepare it for the ship parts.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Mando and I sat at the front of the sled again, except this time they had a large pile of ship parts behind them. We had won one battle. Now we had to put the crest back together again. And who knows how long that would take. But it was a start, and that was always good.
The child was in his pram, floating next to the sled. He was still unconscious after the fight with the mudhorn. I glanced over at him and noticed that Mando was doing the same. He was leaning over slightly to look into the pram. The two of us seemed to be worried for the child. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Is it still sleeping?" The ugnaught called back to us.
"Yes." Mando replied, he stretched out his arm and held onto the side of the pram. He tried to shake it gently to see if he could wake the baby, but he stayed fast asleep.
"Was it injured?" The ugnaught asked
"I don't think so. Not physically." Mando replied
"Explain it to me again. I still don't understand what happened." The ugnaught said
"Neither do I." Mando replied.
I stayed silent. I found myself getting lost in my thoughts. Thoughts about What the child did, and how it felt to me, it all felt so familiar. And I found myself thinking back to when I was a child. Back to a time I wanted to forget.
"They know. They're coming." A panicked voice rang out through the quiet home.
"What? Who?" Echoed another voice.
"Stormtroopers....an inquisitor...I'm sorry. It's all my fault." The first voice said. I lay wide away in my bed, my eyebrows were furrowed as I listened to my parents talking. I stared intently up at the ceiling as I pulled my blanket up to my chin. Like it would protect me from whatever was to come.
"What happened?" My father asked sternly.
"A crate fell from a roof. It was going to crush a child. I had to do something..." my mothers panicked voice responded.
"Go get, Celeste. We have to leave now." My father said,
I could hear my mothers footsteps closing in on my door, rushing down the hall. I carefully sat up in my bed and stared at the door in anticipation. I didn't know what was happening or how serious it really was.
My door was thrown open and my mother rushed in, her eyes were wide with panic, but she tried to hide it for her child's sake.
She leaned down at the side of my bed. "Hey, sweetheart. We're going on a little trip, ok?" My mother said In a comforting voice. But I could feel her distress and fear. I knew something was wrong.
I looked at my mother in concern, I didn't believe her. Not after the conversation that she had just heard. But I nodded anyway, sliding out of bed and putting my shoes on.
We quietly walked down the hallway and just as we got to the living room, the front door was thrown open. The door ricocheted off of the wall. A group of men in white armor came storming in. Followed by a strange figure who was dressed in all black.
She has a strange looking metal pipe hanging off of her belt.
The stormtroopers spread out across the room, aiming their blasters at my dad. Luckily, they hadn't spotted me and my mother yet.
"You really thought you could hide? Thought that we'd never find you?" The woman in all black asked, unattaching her metal pipe from her belt.
"You Jedi are all the same. When someone is in trouble you have to help them. You just can't help yourself." She continued.
She pressed down on her metal pipe and a red beam of light shot out from the end, it crackled and glowed. Illuminating the once dark living room.
To my surprise, my father pulled out a similar metal pipe and pressed down on his, a similar, blue light shot out of his.
I gasped and my mother placed her hand over my mouth. She wrapped her arms around me and lifted me up off the ground.
Just as the woman and my fathers blades collided, my mother pulled me around the corner.
She pulled me over to the back door and sat me down. "I need you to be brave, ok? You need to go. Run as far and as fast as you can." My mother whispered to me. Her voice shook and her eyes watered with unshed tears. She was trying to hold herself together.
I let out a whimper, tears rolling down my cheeks as I looked at my mother. I didn't want to leave them. I wanted to stay at home, where it's safe.
My mother smiled a watery smile and placed her hand on my cheek. "It's ok. Go."
I turned towards the back door and opened it. I gave one last glance back to my mother from over my shoulder, taking notice that she also carried a strange pipe weapon. Before I turned and ran out into the dark forest that surrounded our home. My heart beat rapidly in my chest and my whole body shook from fear. Tears streamed down my cheeks as the noise of fighting and blaster fire rained on behind me.
But I never stopped running. I never have.