22 | WINTERY HELL
The journey back was taking longer than the journey to Mos Pelgo. "Honestly, I don't know why you brought me along to Mos Pelgo, Mando," Celeste spoke as she threw sticks at the sandy ground.
"You make for good company," he replied as he made himself comfortable against a rock on the ground to nap for a few hours before they continued on their travel.
"Oh, so I'm just the entertainment?" She looked up to smirk at him.
She could practically feel him rolling his eyes under his visor. "Get some rest so we can get to the kid quicker," Mando told her.
She groaned, she wasn't tired yet. But, that didn't stop her from crawling up next to Mando and pressing her face on his cold armor as she listened to his heavy breathing for a few hours before he got up again.
* * *
Traveling was never too difficult for Mando, and on that particular journey back to Mos Eisley, there had been no hitches on the road. Mando sped along the sand the fastest he could, making the speeder make a loud whirring sound as its engine pushed itself to its limit. A clearing between two small mountains could be seen up ahead, and Mando planned on crossing it.
However, as they neared it, a trap seemed to be set that caused the speeder to go flying into the air and launch Mando, Celeste, and their belongings all over the place. Celeste felt her body crash against the sand, causing her to groan from the pain. Suddenly, four ambushers appeared and they began to attack the two. They were likely thieves hoping to rob the pair for a good amount of change.
Three of the attackers began shooting their blasters at Mando, but, his armor deflected each bolt. Frantically, the fourth one rushed over to Celeste--who was carefully trying to rise to her feet after the impact--to hold her hostage since killing the Mandalorian wasn't working out too well with their blasters.
The fourth attacker snatched up Celeste and held a blaster to her throat. Mando struggled against the three attackers who rushed him and began to swing and shoot new weapons at him. Celeste smiled wickedly as she reached for her lightsaber under her cloak. Quickly, she whipped it up and turned it on. Its blade extending up to the attacker's jaw and skewing his skull like a kebab. Before the other three ambushers could notice, she pulled out her blaster and began shooting at them, peeling them off Mando one by one. Once Mando freed himself of the attackers, he took a look at Celeste--who had just saved him and took in the image. She was standing there, her jaw clenched, one hand holding a blaster and the other hand holding her saber.
For a moment, Mando felt proud. She wasn't the woman he had first met anymore. She was stronger. "Let's get out of here," Celeste ordered as she put away her weapons to begin gathering their belongings that scattered everywhere.
* * *
The trek back was long and grueling. They had to go on foot as their speeder had broken beyond repair. Mando, being the gentleman that he was, carrying their supplies, though--making the journey a little less painful for Celeste.
By the time they reached Mos Pelgo, Celeste's feet were throbbing. She didn't even want to take off her shoes to look at the damage done. She could already feel the blisters and gushing blood. The two, once they entered the town, found Peli and the kid in a pub in the city. Peli seemed to be playing a card game with an insectoid alien. The kid was munching on some bugs Peli had scrounged for him.
Once the kid spotted Celeste, it began to giggle, excitedly, and throw its hands up in the air, asking for her to pick him up. She instantly held him, nuzzling him against her chest.
Peli glanced up at the couple, taking notice of the beskar armor in Mando's possession. "You finally find a Mandalorian and ya killed him?" Peli inquired as she looked over her cards.
"He wasn't Mandalorian, I bought this armor off of him, though."
"What'd that set you back?" Peli scoffed.
"Killed the krayt dragon for him. He was my last lead on finding other Mandalorians." Mando told Peli, a bit disgruntled.
The alien began to speak in its foreign language to Peli. "Well, you might be in luck. Dr. Mandible here says he can connect you with someone who can help you if you cover his call this round. It's what he said." Peli shrugged.
"What's the bet?"
"500."
"That's a high stakes game."
"He's on a hot streak," Peli lied, not daring make eye contact with Mando.
Mando nudged Celeste, then she dug in her pocket to toss out a stack of coins. Dr. Mandible placed his cards down, then Peli threw hers down. "Ha! Idiot's Array! Pay up, thorax!!" Peli laughed at the man, taking all of his money.
"I thought you said he was on a hot streak?" Mando asked.
"Ah! Stop your crying, you'll rust!" Peli brushed Mando off. Dr. Mandible began speaking to Peli, and she began to translate.
"All right, he says the contact will rendezvous at the hangar. They'll tell you where to find some Mandalorians."
* * *
Back at Peli's hangar, they all ate some dragon meat, Mando waiting until everyone else was finished eating to eat his food in private. Celeste was sitting before the fire, tearing off small pieces of the meat and handing it to the kid to eat. He cooed as he watched her tear off the pieces. Mando stood beside the two, waiting for Peli to come out of her hobble to introduce him to the contact that was planning on telling him where to find other Mandalorians.
After a while, Peli finally came out. "All right, here's the deal. A Mandalorian covert is close. It's in this sector, one system trailing."
"Are they the ones that left Nevarro?" Mando asked about the Mandalorians that saved him from his old boss.
"Don't know. All I know is that the contact will lead you to them."
"How much will it cost me?"
"It's free."
"What's the catch?" Celeste sneered, knowing everything was going a little too smoothly for them. It never worked out that way.
"The contact wants passage to the system," Peli began.
"Do you vouch for them?" Mando asked the woman.
"On my life," she nodded vehemently.
"Fine."
"And...?" Celeste asked, seeing the weary look in Peli's eyes. She was holding something back.
"No hyperdrive..." Peli mumbled, knowing Mando would be discontent with the restriction.
"You want me to travel sublight? Deal's off. Hyperdrive is the only thing keeping us alive." Mando retorted.
"It's one sector over... these are mitigating circumstances." Peli gritted her teeth, hearing the footsteps of the woman they were to carry on their ship to the next planet.
"What do you mean, mitigating?" Mando growled back, pressing for answers. Peli sighed and gestured over to the woman who had just revealed herself. She was of a species Celeste had never seen before. She looked like a frog, and strapped on her back was a vase filled with eggs--her spawn.
"Her spawn. She needs her eggs fertilized by the equinox or her line will end. If you jump into hyperspace, they'll die. She said her husband has settled on the estuary moon of Trask in the system of the gas giant Kol Iben," Peli explained, finally letting the whole truth out.
"No way, we won't even make it to the system if I can't go to hyperspace," Mando shook his head and began walking away.
Peli shot Celeste a look, telling her to go and convince the man. Celeste nodded curtly at her and scurried over to him. "Mando," she began.
"It isn't safe," Mando knew she was going to try to convince him.
"Neither was killing the krayt dragon, yet you did that anyway... Come on, you gotta help her out. It's her kids," Celeste sped up enough so she could get in front of him and stop him from walking any further.
Mando sighed. It was so difficult for him to say no to her. And she was right, it was the right thing to do. "Fine," Mando grumbled as he made his way back inside of the ship.
Celeste wandered back over to Peli. "I hope you're right about trusting this girl because I hate being wrong," Celeste grabbed the piece of dragon meat that Peli was about to eat out of her hand and took a bite.
"I dunno, I just met her like 10 minutes ago."
"I thought you said you could vouch for her."
"What can I say, I'm an excellent judge of character," Peli winked as she retreated into her hut.
* * *
They took off after dinner was over so that they could sleep the journey away. Mando quickly put the ship on autopilot as Celeste readied herself to sleep. She looked around for the child but couldn't find him. She hurried to the upper deck of the ship, then spotted Mando scolding the child as he picked him up. "We've got to keep an eye on him, he was just eating those eggs!" Mando whisper-yelled over to Celeste.
Celeste's eyes widened in shock. "Did he eat all of them?" Celeste took a peek at the container and saw some still floating around, then sighed out in relief.
"No," Mando responded. Celeste went back down to the lower deck, and Mando followed with the child, putting the kid in his makeshift bed. Celeste crawled in the larger bed, Mando joining her soon after--not taking his armor off as they had a guest.
They napped only for a few hours before Mando woke Celeste up when he jumped out of the bed. His sudden urgency caused Celeste to frantically scramble out of bed. She began to hear the alarm sounding off in the ship, something Mando heard before she did. Mando hurried up to the cockpit to see what was going on. Celeste was still disoriented and trying to make out what was going on. Once she was no longer groggy, she checked in on the kid and made sure he was still in his makeshift bed. Once she confirmed that she headed to the upper deck to see what was causing the alarm to sound.
The frog lady seemed frightened, and Mando's cold demeanor to strangers wasn't exactly calming her. Celeste placed a warm hand on the woman's shoulder. "We're going to be okay," she comforted the woman.
Suddenly, a voice could be heard over the Crest's communications system. "Razor Crest, M1-11. Come in, Razor Crest. Do you copy?" The voice called out.
Celeste looked out the windshield and saw two X-Wings glide beside the Razor Crest. They were part of the New Republic. A government not very fond of bounty hunters, nor the other crimes Mando had broke. "This is Razor Crest, is there a problem?" Mando asked the patrols.
"We noticed your transponder is not emitting. Yes, I'm pre-Empire surplus. I'm not required to run a beacon," Mando told them.
"That was before, this sector is under New Republic jurisdiction. All crafts are required to run a beacon."
"Thank you for letting me know, I'll get right on it..." Mando lied.
"Not a problem, safe travels."
"May the... force be with you."
"And also with you."
There was a long pause, but it didn't seem like the X-Wings were going anywhere. "Just one more thing," the patrol officer spoke over the radio.
"Yes?" Mando replied.
"I'm gonna need you to send us a ping. We're out here sweeping for Imperial holdouts."
"I'll let you know if I see any," Mando reached behind his chair to grab Celeste's wrist. He tugged her arm, indicating for her to sit down and buckle up. She did as silently instructed and buckled herself into the copilot chair, preparing for an escape.
"I'm still gonna need you to send us that ping."
"Well, I'm not sure I have that hardware online."
"We can wait."
"Doesn't seem to be working."
"That's too bad, if we can't confirm you're not imperial, you're gonna have to follow us to the outpost at Adelphi. They'll run your tabs."
"Oh, wait. There it is, transmitting now." Mando flicked on the switch.
"What?!" Celeste whisper yelled at him, but he placed his gloved hand over her mouth to hush her.
"What was that?" The New Republic pilot asked.
"Uh, nothing. The hypervac is drawing off the exhaust manifold," Mando made up to excuse the sound of Celeste's voice.
There was silence. Then, the pilots began to speak again. "Was your craft in the vicinity of New Republic Correctional Transport, Bothan-Five?" The pilot asked.
Celeste instantly knew. That was the mission where they captured Qin from the transport ship and delivered him to Ran for some cash. That was also the mission where they left three New Republic wanted criminals on that ship. Fortunately, it seemed to be the only thing bad on Mando's New Republic record. Luckily for him, the Empire had been dissolved, or else he'd have a hell of a longer record with the Imps.
Mando suddenly pushed the Crest as fast as it could go in sublight. He spotted the nearest planet and drove the ship toward it. When they entered the atmosphere, the ship was jolting wildly as it wasn't entering the atmosphere conventionally. Mando maneuvered the ship among the clouds to hide from the Republic pilots that were suddenly chasing after them. The frog lady began screaming from fear.
The pilots were too well trained for Mando. And their ships were way better than the crest. Mando flew the ship between canyons on the planet, then let the ship slide across the icy plains until it came to a crashing stop. The pilots then lost visual, and as Mando readied the ship to leave the atmosphere, the ship began to croak once more. The ground beneath the ship wasn't stable. And it began caving in on itself. A sinkhole appeared and swallowed up the ship, causing it to fall several meters down. The fall was harsh and caused everyone on the ship to knock out for a few hours from the impact.
* * *
Mando was the first one conscious on the ship. When he got up, he first noticed the thin layer of ice forming on the dashboard of the cockpit. The heating system was off, leaving the ship to freeze in the planet's climate. Instantly, he turned around to check on Celeste. She was still passed out, her lips now blue and her skin nearly lavender in color due to the cold. Mando rushed over to the storage compartment and pulled out a blanket. He covered her with the blanket to warm her up as best as he could. He held her face as he inspected it for any cuts or bruises from the crash landing. She was okay, just stressfully cold.
When Celeste awoke, Mando wasn't near her. She was extremely light-headed, the world felt like it was spinning around her. Her teeth began to chatter due to the cold and goosebumps crawled all over her skin. She tried to push herself to her feet, but her arms felt so stiff that she could even move them. Despite the stiffness, she forced herself up, grunting through the pain, allowing the blanket that laid carefully on her to fall to the ground. Celeste slowly walked out of the cockpit and felt a nauseating feeling bubble up to her throat. She spotted a hole leading to the outside of the ship and she rushed out, despite the cold snow seeping through her thin clothes. As soon as she stepped out, she began to violently vomit. "Motion sickness," she groaned, wiping her mouth.
Mando heard her and hurried outside to check on her. He placed his gloved hand on the small of her back. "You okay?" He asked.
Celeste nodded and turned around to face him. He led her back inside the ship, "you've got to get warm, it's only going to get colder when night falls." He told her, grabbing any and every cloth he could find to bundle her up with.
He sat her down on the floor of the upper level of the ship, covering her with blankets as she shivered against the freezing floor. The frog lady shuffled out of the cockpit, speaking in a frustrated manner in her language that no one on the ship could understand. She worriedly pointed at her eggs. "I'm sorry, lady. I don't understand frog. Whatever it is, it can wait until morning. I recommend you get some sleep," Mando spoke while still focusing his whole attention on Celeste.
Celeste placed her hand on his chest to push him a few inches away from her. "Her eggs, they'll die in this cold," Celeste explained to him.
"Just try to keep the container bundled up through the night, we can't do much until morning," Mando brushed the lady's problems off.
Mando sat beside Celeste, trying to keep her as warm as possible. But, he didn't know that his beskar only singed her skin every time it touched her from how cold it was. But, she didn't say anything, she liked having him near, and the blankets were warming her up enough anyway. The child even crawled up under Celeste's blankets, pressing his large ear on her stomach, absorbing every ounce of warmth radiating from her.