Not Titled

The day goes by much like the last. The two of you play cards again because there isn’t much else to do. You aren’t expecting much conversation from him again which is why you are surprised when he asks you, “So what happened to you anyway? Why did you have to leave your home so suddenly?”

“I’m not even sure what the full story is,” you admit. “My parents were doing some job for the Hutt family and something went wrong. They were able to get a message to me telling me to get off world immediately… and that they would not be able to come back…” your words trail off not wanting to go into more detail.

“So they just left their child alone and in danger?” he asks, sounding concerned.

“It wouldn’t have been safe for them to come back. Plus, I’m not as young as I look,” you say with a slight defensive air.

“Well you look like you’re 19 at most,” he guesses. 

“What? No!” you say in an exaggerated way. “I’m actually almost 20,” you manage to say with a mostly straight face.

“Ah,” he lets out a small chuckle. “My mistake.” You win this hand and go to shuffle the deck.

“I’m sure you were doing more dangerous things at my age anyway.” You wonder if he’ll take the bait and talk about himself or not.

“Yeah, well, my way of life isn’t for everyone,” is his only response. You play a few more hands before getting hungry. This time when you go to eat and feed the kid you offer to do so down in the cargo area so he can eat up in the cockpit. He seems to appreciate the offer. You make it clear that I’ll take your time and not enter unannounced so he doesn’t have to feel rushed.

It doesn’t take long for you to finish your food and find yourself bored again. You go through your things in your pack but that just makes you feel forlorn. You had to leave so much behind and your parents didn’t even tell you the full story. You have no idea if it was their fault or just bad luck. But Mando was right, they did leave you behind to save themselves. You certainly didn’t want them to come to harm just to help you but part of you was still upset that they didn’t try harder. You find yourself looking at a holo of them and trying not to cry. Suddenly you feel something on your leg. The kid had walked over to you and was giving you a hug. It’s strange, it’s almost like he knows you’re upset.

“Well aren’t you a little sweetie,” you say picking him up. You walk back and forth in the cargo area rocking him gently until he falls asleep. 

“Hey,” you knock on the wall just outside the cockpit.

“Come in,” he calls back. 

“Your little buddy is asleep in the cradle down there. I was gonna get some rest too,” you let him know.

“Mind if I join you again?” he asks.

“You know I don’t mind,” you respond in a very matter of fact way. In fact you are glad you don’t have to be alone, even if that company is still mostly a mystery to you.

This time when the two of you go to lay down together he puts his arm around you without you having to prompt him. This little sign of affection makes you smile. It also makes you curious about something. “I’d like to ask you something, but you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” You pause, not really expecting a response. “Since you can’t take off your helmet, are you allowed to have a spouse or, you know, sleep with anyone?”

You can feel his body tense at this question. The silence feels awkward and eternal while you wait for him to speak. 

“To take my helmet off would mean giving up my way of life. I wouldn’t be able to put it back on,” he says and you feel like you detect a hint of sadness in his voice. 

“But just your helmet? Could you take off your gloves?” you wonder aloud, genuinely curious how his customs work. 

“Yes,” he says it slowly and deliberately, but softly as if he’s afraid to admit it. 

You roll your body around to face him. You look directly at his visor where you suspect his eyes are. The black mirror surface shows you only your own eyes. You run one hand gently down the side of his helmet, then down his chest plate. You take one of his glove-covered hands in yours and ask “Can I?”

He nods in agreement. You gently slip off his glove, bring his hand to your face and kiss his palm. He gently touches the side of your face and neck but seems too shy to go further. The warmth of his touch is such a nice contrast to the stark cold of outer space.

You sit up and guide him onto his back before taking off his other glove. You rest your hands on his belt buckle. “Is this ok?” You ask in almost a whisper. 

“Yes,” he quietly answers back, matching your tone. You gently remove his belt and slide your hands up under his shirt feeling his hard abs as you move to straddle him. There isn’t much room so you have to lean forward close to him instead of sitting all the way up. His hands make it to either side of your waist as he starts to touch you back. You slowly guide his hands up under your shirt until he’s caressessing your breasts. You let him keep touching you as you remove your shirt. 

Your hands move back to him as you touch him over his clothes. You can feel his excitement growing as you gently rub the bulge in his pants. Slowly you slide your fingers under the waist band. “Do you want me to keep going?” You ask.

“Yes,” he says more forcefully this time. You undo his pants and carefully release his hard dick. He’s very sensitive to your touch, you hear him gasp and feel him shift under you. Moving your body down you position yourself so that your face is right next to his eager cock. He sits up slightly so he can watch. You smile up at him and ever lightly trail the tip of your tongue up his shaft. He quietly moans as you let him enter your mouth.

Since he’s a virgin you assume he’s very sensitive and you go easy on him. You don’t go too fast or too hard but you do take him all the way in the back of your throat as deep as possible. As he gets more comfortable with you he reaches one hand around the back of your head and directs you to go a little faster as you work up and down his length with your mouth. You hum a little in delight and feel him squirm from the vibration. You love how reactive he is, knowing he’s so turned on gets you even more excited.

At this point you are touching yourself over your panties and are aching to feel him between your legs. You pull back from him, releasing his cock from your mouth, your saliva dripping down it. “I wanna fuck you,” you say looking up at him with wide, egar eyes like a hungery animal ready to devore him.

“I wanna fuck you too,” he says grabbing you under both arms and pulling you up on top of him. You let out a squeal of excitement at the sudden surprise of him lifting you and give him a big playful smile. Instead of trying to awkwardly remove your skirt and panties in such a small space you decide to keep them on and just move your panties aside and let his thick cock slide into you. Despite being very wet it still feels like a tight fit stretching your body to accommodate his size. You both let out a moan as you push down while he lifts his hips to get as deep as possible inside you. You move slowly at first focusing on how he responds to you and loving the little sounds escaping from him.

He grabs your hips as you rock back and forth, letting the pressure build up inside you. His hands grip you harder as he guides you to move faster and you know that neither of you will last much longer. You grip his shoulders so hard that your hands start to hurt but you barely notice as you reach your peak. You moan deeply and almost collapse on top of him letting most of your weight rest on his chest while still writhing against him. He rocks his hips faster and more erratically. You feel him swell up and burst inside you. The two of you lay there for a moment breathing deeply and as you regain your energy. You kiss the side of his helmet thinking about how much you wish you could look into his eyes and kiss him deeply. 

“Wake up!” I hear a voice pierce through the darkness and confusion of my half conscious state. As my eyes blink open I see that I’m in a fairly small, stark room with durasteel grey walls. The pain in my head and aching in my muscles makes it hard to focus on anything beyond the blurry sea of grey around me.

Suddenly a man in white armour holding a weapon comes into focus in front of me. Instinctively I try to run away just to painfully discover that my ankles and wrists are bound as I jerk against the hard metal restraints.

“What th…where am I?” I ask as I try to recall how I got here. Images of people running and fires raging flash through my mind but it feels more like a bad dream than a memory. The only proof it was real is the lingering scent of smoke still clinging to me.

“You’re in the interrogation chamber on an Imperial vessel. You’ve been brought in for questioning on the whereabouts of a fugitive Jedi that was seen hiding out in your settlement. Tell me what you know about the fugitive,” he demands. I understand all the words he says but it takes a moment for my brain to put the pieces together. 

“I never saw a Jedi there… but I didn’t live there,” I start. “I…I was just passing through.” 

“You must know something,” he insists and steps up so close it feels like he’s about to touch me. I shift uncomfortably against my restraints.

When did I arrive? I think to myself. “I swear I had only been there a few days…” I try to explain but it doesn’t seem to help much.

“If you don’t tell the truth your situation will get much worse,” he interrupts. He leans in close and warns, “You don’t want him coming in to question you, just talk now.” Even through the modulator in his helmet I can hear an earnest concern in his voice and a sense of urgency. 

“I would tell you if I could but I really don’t know who you are talking about,” I plead. He sighs and leaves the room. Now that he’s gone I look around and realize that I’m bound to some type of metal slab. It looks like a table but it’s tilted upwards forcing me to stand up with my wrists shackled up at either side of my head and my ankles bound below. Struggling is clearly useless.

Some time goes by and the boredom becomes it's own type of torture as I wonder if they have forgotten about me. Then the doors hiss and slide open once again. This time an exceptionally tall man in black armour with a long black cloak enters. I shiver as the room grows colder and my fear rises. 

He wastes no time getting to the point. “You were found among a group of suspected rebels who had been harboring the Jedi, Obi Wan Kenobi. If you want to live you will tell me where to find him,” he says in a deep voice that seems to echo off the metal walls. It’s almost more startling than his appearance. 

“I’m sorry but I really don’t know who that is and I had no idea those people were rebels, I was only…” as he raises his hand up towards me I can no longer speak. Panic sets in as I feel pain around my throat and a lack of air in my lungs. It's only then that I understand just how dire my situation is. This terrifying man must be the Sith Lord who's hunting the Jedi. He certainly won't believe or care that I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

”If you don’t have the information I need then there’s no use keeping you alive. The rest of the settlement is dead. You can join them.” He loosens his invisible grip on my neck just enough to allow me to speak. My mind desperately races trying to come up with ways to survive this seemingly hopeless situation but fear and exhaustion create a thick fog making it hard to think. 

“I don’t have information but I can still be useful to you.” Oh god, this must be my dumbest idea yet, I think to myself. 

“What use could you be?” he questions. 

“If you don’t kill me I’ll do whatever you want. You’ll have my complete loyalty and obedience. Please. I know your reputation, people are afraid of you, that must get lonely.” I feel the invisible hand starting to close around my neck again and I barely manage to get out my next sentence. “Everyone…needs… some comfort… sometimes.” The constriction is suddenly gone and I greedily inhale air as if it’s the last chance I’ll get which feels very possible. I can’t tell if he’s either considering my offer or just plain thrown off or offended by my behavior. 

“What game are you playing? Do you really think you can trick me into letting you out?” His voice sounds metallic and cold behind the helmet covering his face and for a moment I worry that I’m talking to a droid.

“You don’t even have to risk letting me free. Look, you can clearly kill me at any time. However, if you let me live I’ll do whatever you want. But if you’re that set on killing me you could at least fuck me first and then kill me.” I can barely believe my own words as they escape my mouth but all the fear induced adrenaline seems to have taken over my brain.  

“Why would you suggest that?” His confusion sounds genuine. 

“I’d rather not die but if I’m going to die I’d like to feel something before it happens.” The way he stares at me is terrifying and makes me feel like I should explain myself more. “I travel alone, it’s been a long time since I’ve been with someone… think of it like a last request.”

Behind that mask is a complete mystery. I have no idea if he is taking my suggestion into consideration or just thinking of ways to kill me. 

After what feels like eons he reaches out one of his gloved hands and touches my face. The soft leather moves down to my neck. I try my best not to flinch and instead try to hold his gaze looking where his eyes would be. His hand trails down my breast over my shirt and I let out an involuntary sigh. 

He doesn’t say a word as he lets my wrists free. With my ankles still shackled I can’t move too much but it still feels better having some freedom. In one quick motion he removes my shirt leaving me topless. The chill in the room already has my nipples erect. He moves close to me as he gropes my chest. I reach out to him, placing both hands at the sides of his thighs and slide one inwards to rub the bulge in his pants. Apparently I must have offended him or he just doesn’t trust me because he quickly grabs my wrists and locks them back up leaving me exposed and helpless. 

Still staring at me he removes one of his gloves and then unbuttons his pants. Even though I’m the one who suggested this I suddenly find myself afraid to acknowledge what’s about to happen and I feel my heart rate increase. But I don’t want to show fear so I keep looking at those black, lifeless eyes. 

I feel his hands reach up under my skirt. His body leans up against mine pressing my back into the hard metal behind me. As he moves my panties aside to push himself into me I feel my body stretch to accommodate him. There’s a moment of pain as he enters me because I wasn’t ready for it and he feels rather large. We both groan at the sensation. 

I shift my hips as much as I can while bound to this awful interrogation device but my movement is severely limited especially with him leaning against me. However, as he thrusts into me I’m able to rock my hips slightly making it feel better. 

He reaches a hand behind my back and rakes his nails down my skin causing me to lurch forward against the restraints. It’s as if he doesn’t want me getting any pleasure out of this. His other hand grips my hip hard. Beneath the leather of his glove his hand feels rigid and unyielding. It reminds me of a rumor that I heard about him, Darth Vader, the man who is half machine. Maybe it’s more than a rumor.

I try to hold it in but a cry of pain escapes me when he rakes my back a second time right in the same spot. Based on his reaction to that sound I figure he doesn’t want me to act strong, he wants me to be weak. And maybe if I give him what he wants I have a better shot of living after this. I moan and whimper as he thrusts harder and digs his nails into my flesh. The combination of pain and fear has tears forming at the corners of my eyes but I refuse to cry. 

I close my eyes and let myself get lost in the darkness. There’s a certain freedom in having all choices taken away from you. I can’t fight back so I submit. I ignore the painful red burning sensation building up on my skin and focus on him fucking me. As I get wet it becomes more pleasurable than painful. Maybe he notices this because he starts fucking me harder as if he’s trying to make it hurt. 

Maybe it’s all the adrenaline from the fear but I discover the roughness doesn’t bother me and actually feels good. The intensity of the situation gives me an odd pleasure and I find myself enjoying it more than I would have thought possible. Even with him thrusting into me like he’s trying to break me I can feel the ecstasy building up inside. 

As I start to orgasm he pulls my hair hard. I scream and open my eyes to see him staring down at my face. The sudden jolt back into reality is jarring but not enough to stop me from getting off. I feel my muscles tighten and my body spasm as he forces me to look up at him. Right after I feel the sudden warmth of him cumming inside me. His already loud breathing sounds even louder now. For a moment he stays looming over me giving me the sensation of being even more trapped, it makes me feel small and insignificant. And then, as if nothing abnormal had just happened, he pulls away from me, fixes his pants and puts his glove back on.

“For now you’ll stay in a prison cell in case you remember something useful about your time with the rebels.” He releases the restraints around my now sore wrists and ankles and I quickly put my shirt back on. He grabs a set of handcuffs and places them on my wrists before leading me out of the room. I feel my face grow warm as two stormtroopers pass us down the long hall. I’m probably being paranoid but I get the feeling that anyone who looks at me can tell what just happened. 

When we reach the prison cell he pushes me in and then removes the handcuffs. He leaves without saying a word. There’s a small hard cot in the cell attached to the far wall and on it a change of clothes. I figure there’s no point in asking the guard to leave so I just get changed despite the audience. 

The events of the past 18 hours or so have caught up with me and I feel exhausted and overwhelmed. With nowhere to go I figure I might as well get some rest and then later I can plot my escape.

When you wake up the first thing you notice is that the air smells different. The scent of moss, wood, and wet dirt of the Khofar forest is gone and replaced with a salty, slightly stale odor and a faint hint of motor oil. It’s mostly quiet but off in the distance you hear a rhythmic sound of wind or maybe water, something you can’t quite place in your semi-conscious haze. 

As your eyes adjust you look around and see brown and grey stone surrounding you, a small metal cot beneath you, and a thin black blanket over you. The last thing you remember was fighting some unknown stranger wearing black in a metal helmet on Khofar. But now you appear to be in some type of cave turned into a makeshift dwelling filled with random mechanical parts and lit with yellow lamps attached to the jagged stone. 

Sitting up causes you to feel dizzy. Black spots temporarily enter your vision and pain shoots through your side. It’s only then that you notice that your outer Jedi robes have been removed and are neatly folded on the ground next to the cot with your broken lightsaber resting on top. You are only wearing your black leggings and tank top with a bulky bandage at your side.

“Careful.” You hear a voice you don’t recognize as you lift your shirt to inspect the bandage. “You’ve had a fever. You might not want to get up just yet.”

You look up to see a man with long black hair partly covering his face. You scan him for a weapon but don’t see one. All he has is an aged ceramic cup that he offers to you. 

“Drink it. It will help with the infection,” he offers. You take the cup of warm liquid but don’t drink just yet, still trying to assess the situation.

“Who are you? Why am I here?” He looks innocent enough dressed in a simple tan linen top and black pants but it seems odd that this stranger has you suddenly in another location from where you last remember being. The sounds of the forest are gone and you wonder if you are even on Khofar anymore. 

“My name is Qimir. You were hurt badly. I found you unconscious.” His voice is gentle and even which helps you feel more relaxed around him. The lack of expression on his face makes him seem stoic, almost peaceful. 

You take a small sip of the very herbal smelling liquid and find it rather bitter but nothing about it seems harmful so you drink some more. 

Suddenly, the urgency of your last mission rings like an alarm bell in your head. You feel the need to leave and report the horrors you witnessed as they come flooding back into your memory. The flashes of your friends being impaled with that red lightsaber overwhelm your mind. 

“I need to get back to Coruscant,” you say as you try to stand. Your vision starts to go dark around the edges and your legs bend under your weight. Qimir rushes towards you and catches you before you fall, helping you back down on the cot.

“You can go wherever you want once you’re healed,” he says as he kneels in front of you. For a moment you feel something familiar when he touches you. A flash of recognition in the Force that comes and goes.

“Have we met before?” you ask.  

“Well if we had met don’t you think you’d remember my face?” He sits next to you on an old storage crate rusted by the damp cave. His head tilts slightly to the side as he looks at you. It reminds you of a predator evaluating its prey but you feel no malice from him. 

You look into his large dark eyes scanning for something familiar. You notice his high cheekbones and square jaw and find yourself thinking he’s very attractive but you certainly don’t recognize him. Your senses must be off from the infection, nothing about him feels familiar now.

“I guess you’re right. Well, thank you for the help, Qimir.”

You lay down and get more rest as he cooks food for the two of you. As you eat together you notice that he doesn’t talk much about himself. However, you do learn that you are no longer on Khofar and instead are on a small mostly uninhabited planet without the ability to communicate long range. It’s not an ideal situation at all but at least you’re alive.

While you don’t like feeling so weak and dependent on someone you don’t know, you feel at least fairly certain that he’s not planning on hurting you. He certainly had the chance to do so while you were unconscious but instead he seems to only be interested in helping you. You aren’t sure why but suspect he’s simply lonely. He does live in a cave alone after all. 

After eating you lay down to conserve your energy and let your body heal. Qimir sits near you on the crate and asks you about your past and what you like about being part of the Jedi order. You tell him how they’ve cared for you like family, how much you’ve learned from your master, how the order is the only home you can remember. For you the order is your life. 

Then he asks you what you don’t like about the Jedi order.

“Well, there isn’t anything I would say that I don’t like,” you respond.

“Is that because there isn’t anything you don’t like or just because you don’t want to say it?” he asks with a smirk. You chuckle at his question.

“I guess I’m the sort of person who prefers to focus on the good versus the bad," you suggest. "But what about you? I can’t imagine that this place has always been your home.”

“I used to have a home just like yours.” There’s a seriousness to his expression now, a slight darkness to his eyes. “I was also raised by a found family. It turned out they didn’t care about me the way I thought they did. That’s why I’m alone now… my mentor betrayed me.” You notice that he has an odd cadence to how he talks as if each thought is so carefully revealed, each word so painfully precise.

“I’m sorry, that’s awful,” you sympathize.

“Sometimes people aren’t who we think they are.” He leans forward and places his hand on your forehead, the suddenness of it startles you. “Your fever seems better but you should probably rest more.” 

It feels odd to you having someone in the role of a caretaker like this, especially someone you don’t know. You’re used to doing things yourself. But you have to admit it does feel nice for a change having someone else care for you. Eventually, you are able to relax and drift to sleep again. 

“You’ve been through a lot recently. It’s ok to not be fine.”  He leads you over to a bench and you sit next to him. “I know you were very close to your previous master, Cera. You know I was only a couple years older than you when my mother died.”

“Really? How did you deal with it?” you ask, curious not just for the answer but to know more about him.

“Not well.” You feel his energy darken at the memory. You're noticed that Anakin doesn't hide his emotions as much as some of the other Jedi. At times you can feel them radiating from him like fire. “It’s not easy dealing with loss. But you’re not alone.”

“I know. It’s just been hard recently.” You look down at the ground and fidget with your robe. “My parents died when I was very young so I don’t really remember them but I used to have my older brother and sister. We didn’t have much so the three of us had to share a bedroom. I just…feel so lonely at night now. I’ve been having nightmares since master Cera died in the temple bombing so being alone at night has been hard.”

“Well, what if I stayed in your room and read to you until you fell asleep?” He suggests and you’re not sure if he’s serious or not.

“What, like I’m a child?” You ask indignantly even though the mention of Anakin being in your room at night stirs something in you. It’s a feeling that you know you shouldn’t have and try to ignore. 

“No, not like that. I’m sure the Jedi have some real boring old texts that would put anyone to sleep.” He manages to get a laugh out of you since you know he’s right. “But you do need to get to sleep somehow. If meds don’t help and meditation doesn’t help, maybe you should try something else.”

“Yeah maybe you’re right,” you admit. It’s not like you want to discourage the idea anyway.

“After you’re done studying tonight, reach out to me in the Force when you want to go to sleep and I’ll stop by your room.” Despite the chill in the air you feel heat rise to your face and hope he doesn’t notice. Is he serious? What if someone sees him, wouldn’t that look inappropriate? Maybe he can feel your hesitation because he adds, “It’s my responsibility to teach you and help you however I can.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it,” you say even though you still feel conflicted about the offer. 

Once you finish studying you change into the large oversized tunic that you wear to bed and lay down on top of the covers. As you stare up at the ceiling you think about the conversation that you had with Anakin earlier today. Did he really mean what he said? Anakin had only been your master for a short period of time but so far he seemed like a very straightforward type of person. Plus his previous padawan, Ahsoka, had only just recently left. You figure that maybe he’s feeling lonely too with that recent loss. 

Ignoring the nervous feeling building up inside you, you reach out in the Force to Anakin like he instructed you to do. There’s a spark of joy inside you when, not much later, you hear a knock on your door.  “Hi,” you say quietly as you let him in. The halls are dark and empty since most of the other padawans, if not all, are already in bed.

“It’s already late, I wasn’t sure if you were going to reach out,” he says as he looks at some of the items on your desk to see what you’ve been studying. 

“Oh, uh, yeah…I just needed to catch up on a few things,” your hesitation gives you away, he can probably tell you were just nervous. You take a seat on the edge of your bed and watch him sit down at your desk across from you. In the low light there’s an intensity to his blue eyes that catch you off guard. 

“My offer still stands. I can read to you if you want or I can just hang out and meditate if it simply helps to have someone else in the room.” His words sound so casual. He really must not know what sort of effect he has on you. You’re amazed but also relieved that your crush on him seems to have gone unnoticed. 

“Could you, um, lay down next to me while I try to sleep? My sister used to share my bed back when I first started having nightmares and it really helped.” If he’s surprised by your request he doesn’t show it. His face may be hard to read but his eyes appear kind and sympathetic. 

“If you think it will help.” He lets you get under the covers and then he removes his shoes and lays down on his back over the covers. As you switch off the light you start to consider that this might not have been the best idea. You know you shouldn’t think about him this way but you can’t help but find him attractive. He has a powerful presence that can be both intimidating but also make you feel safe. His warm smile makes your heart beat faster. And now, having him so close to you makes your whole body ache with desire. 

“Anakin, can I ask you a question?” you almost whisper. It feels like torture to not be able to reach out and touch him when he’s so close to you like this.

“Yeah, what is it, Tooka?” It always warms your heart when he calls you by your nickname. Early on when you met he said you were small and feisty like a tooka cat. He rolls over to face you, his eyes almost seem to glow even in the darkness.

“Does it ever get easier? Losing people I mean,” you clarify.

He sighs. “In a way it does but loss always hurts.”

“Is that why we are supposed to avoid attachments? To avoid that pain?” You wonder. 

“There will always be some pain in life that we need to work through. But the Jedi avoid attachments because they think it can lead to poor choices, that it can be a distraction from their duty.” You notice his careful wording. 

“You say that like you don’t agree,” It wouldn’t be the first time your new master hasn’t agreed with the Jedi council. 

“Well…I think having strong connections to the people around us can be a good thing. A source of strength. I think we are stronger when we are not alone.” He senses your sadness when he says that last sentence. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…I just, sometimes it’s hard not to feel alone here. It’s hard for me to relate to the other students, it seems like everyone else has such a different background than me.” Your thoughts flash back to hungry nights and lonely days.

“You had to grow up faster because you lost your parents. It’s not fair but you’re not alone.” Some hair falls in front of your face and he reaches over to brush it away. “You’ll be ok. Time will make it easier.”

“Thank you.” You appreciate the comfort his words and his presence brings you. 

“Now try to sleep. If I lay here too long I’ll fall asleep and then that will really look bad.”

You give him a big smile and say, “Goodnight, Anakin.” For once you do manage to quickly get into a deep sleep.

In the morning you wake up in your room alone. For a moment you wonder if last night was just a wonderful dream.

“Yeah. Why not? Besides girl, you don’t seem in the position to be picky.” There’s not much you can argue with there. You knew Peli well enough to know that she was a decent person. Sure she liked to gamble and make money but she didn’t seem like the type to sell you out.

“Alright. Can you set up a meeting?” You’re hesitant to put your life in the hands of a man associated with a vicious warrior clan, but staying here isn’t a better option. You figure that it’s very unlikely that the Hutts hired him to go after you. You weren’t a trained fighter, just a young woman who barely knew how to shoot a blaster. Sending a Mandalorian after you would be like sending a krayt dragon after a womp rat.

“Just pay my finders fee and I’ll take you to him tonight”, she says with a big grin.

Later that day you show up to the mechanic’s place. You managed to pair down all of your belongings to a single canvas backpack. Leaving almost everything behind has you feeling very emotional. However, you try to make the best of it. Maybe this will be a fun adventure. You have always wanted to see the galaxy afterall.

As you walk in you see Peli talking to a tall man in dark silver colored armour. Behind them is a large gun-ship that looks like it has seen better days. A few pit droids scurry around as you approach. Before you can introduce yourself the man in the armour turns to you and says coldly, “I’m sorry but I’m not a transport service.”

You feel your heart sink. “I can pay whatever you want.” Your family's illegal dealings had at least given you some financial comfort. “I need to leave right away and she said you were leaving tonight for the mid rim. I just need to get out of the Arkanis sector. I swear I won’t get in your way.”

He seems to be looking you over but it’s hard to tell with the dark black visor of his helmet covering his eyes. “I’m not cheap.” He says after what feels like a painfully long time.

“Great! See, I knew this would work out!” Peli exclaims as she hands the Mandalorian a large messenger bag and the two of you get on his ship. He lets you know that before going to the mid rim he needs to make a quick stop in Savareen. You aren’t thrilled to hear about this stopover to another criminal controlled planet but he says there’s someone he needs to meet there for information. You realize that you’re lucky he’s taking you with him at all so you don’t complain or try to talk him into dropping you off first. You’ve only been on a ship a handful of times so you try to see this as something new and exciting while pushing aside the reasons behind this excursion.

You follow him up into the cockpit and sit in the empty chair next to him. As you position your bag on the floor you see something move out of the corner of your eye. The bag he’s holding has a small green creature in it.

“Here, hold him,” he hands the creature over to you explaining, “you’re in his seat.” Big black eyes look up at you as you hold the little guy in your lap. A tiny 3 fingered hand reaches up to pull at the necklace you are wearing.

“So who’s this?” You ask.

“He’s a kid I’m taking care of,” he explains as he starts the ship.

“That reminds me. I didn’t get your name,” you say before sharing your name.

“Most people just call me ‘Mando’,” he says flatly.

“Really? That’s kinda odd.” He ignores your response and appears to focus on flying. The ship feels shaky at first but then things smooth out. You start to feel a bit claustrophobic on the small ship and worry that this trip is going to be very awkward. Your pilot seems to have no interest in talking to you and there isn’t much else to do while drifting through space. Luckily the trip is fairly short. Savareen is a short hyperjump away so in no time you are watching this ship land on yet another sandy planet.

“It’s safest if you stay here,” he says and you get the feeling that he’s right. “Here,” he says while unscrewing a small metal knob from the ship's control panel, “the kid likes to play with this.” He drops the silver metal ball into the child’s tiny hands. Then you watch him leave the ship, the ramp closes back up behind him as he walks off towards a small village nearby.

You put the kid down letting him entertain himself while you poke around the ship. It’s small so you figure there isn’t much to see but you’re still curious about the stranger you are traveling with. He seems to have a rather droid-like personality and you wonder if all Mandalorians are like that.

The first door you open ends up being the head. Like the rest of the ship it feels small and cramped. You turn to your right and push open what looks like a storage compartment on the wall. As the two doors swing open you see a wall of various types of guns and weapons. Most people you knew on Tatooine had a blaster or two but this seemed excessive to you. It looked like he was ready to fight a small drug cartel by himself. You gently closed the doors and decided not to snoop around anymore. Maybe it was better for you to not know what was on this ship. You sit on the floor next to the kid and he coos with delight to have a friend to play with. You roll the little ball back and forth with him for a while but start to feel cooped up. You had hoped Mando would be back sooner. Your boredom gets the best of you and you scoop up the kid and decide to take a look outside the ship. You eventually figure out how to lower the rear ramp and walk out onto the sandy landscape. You see a beautiful large ocean in the distance but decide it is much too far away for you to walk there and back. The last thing you want is for Mando to get back and for you to be missing with the kid. You really don’t want to piss off a man that owns that many weapons.

Instead of going far you just walk around the ship stretching your legs and enjoying the sun on your skin. The air feels nice, slightly more humid than what you are used to and you find it refreshing. You day dream about how nice it would be to go see that ocean up close and then notice that the little one is fast asleep in your arms. You walk back into the ship and place the kid in a small blanket lined cradle that you noticed when looking around earlier. As you do so you hear a dull thud sound behind you. You figure that it’s Mando walking up the ramp so you turn around to greet him.

Your heart races as you see a man in a large cloak pointing a blaster at you. The bright sun behind him makes it hard to see anything but his silhouette, however, you are certain this was not the man you were expecting. “There’s nothing valuable on this ship,” you lie hoping he’s just some petty criminal looking for quick cash and not someone looking for you.

“Shut up child!” a hoarse voice yells back at you. He takes a few more steps onto the ship but you find yourself frozen in place. “If you got no money then I might as well take you. Girls are always worth somethin’,“ he says with a low guttural laugh. You desperately want to think of a way out of this situation but your mind goes blank and your body stays frozen like marble.Time seems to slow down as the figure gets closer.

Then you hear a shot fire and instinctively squeeze your eyes closed. You are surprised to not feel any pain and instead see the man in front of you collapse as you open your eyes again. This time a familiar figure enters your view. He runs onto the ship and throws the body of the intruder out as the ramp starts to close. You hear more blaster fire in the distance and see a burst of bright red light as a bolt hits the ship. You feel the craft sway slightly and behind you the kid wakes up with a yelp. Mando runs past you and up into the cockpit to start the ship. You grab the kid and follow him up there.

“You didn’t listen to me,” he admonishes while rushing through the launch sequence.

"I mostly listened,” you insist. “You said you were going to be quick. That wasn’t quick.” You hear and feel more shots being fired at the ship. You hope this old antique can withstand being shot at but don’t feel very confident about that. However the ship takes off and after one last blast that really rocks the ship you are out of the line of fire. Whoever those people were, they at least don’t seem to be following you. “What the stang happened back there?” you demand.

“The information I had turned out to be bad,” he says in his cryptic way. Clearly whatever is going on he doesn’t feel like sharing it with you. Considering he almost got you killed you feel slightly annoyed by this. But then again he also saved your life so you figure you can’t be too mad.

"Dank Farrik," you hear him mutter under his breath as he works the controls on the ship. “They must have damaged the hyperdrive with those shots. I won’t be able to fix it until we land again. We should go back to Tatooine to fix the ship.”

“No!” you exclaim much louder than you mean to since you are still on edge from moments earlier. “You can’t take me back there,” you plead emphatically.

“Geonosis is close too,” he suggests.

“Yeah, so close to Tatooine they are practically on top of each other. That’s not safe for me either. I paid you to get me out of the outer rim. I need you to do that.”

“Ok,” he sighs. “I’ve got another idea. But it’s going to be a long trip without hyperdrive. It will take multiple days. I’m not sure I have enough rations on hand…” he explains as he checks a compartment behind him.

“I’ve got food in my bag too.” You open the backpack to show several bags of dehydrated foods you have on you. After once being stranded in the desert as a kid you quickly learned never to travel anywhere without food and water.

He seems to be making some mental calculations before saying, “Ok. If that’s really what you want to do we can make this work.”

He sets the autopilot to your destination and to kill time the two of you play cards together. He’s better than you but only slightly. You wonder if he’s going easy on you because you’re much younger than him. At least you assume that you are much younger than him but it’s hard to tell with all that armour on. Part of you wants to ask his age but you figure that would be rude and doubt he would give you a straight answer anyway.

After a while he asks, “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, kinda” you respond. Watching the stars go by had put you in a sort of trance and you had forgotten when the last time you ate was. He reaches behind him and grabs two metal ration tins offering you one so you can save your other food for later.

“Can you feed the kid too?” He asks as he passes both tins to you.

“Sure. Aren’t you going to eat?” you enquire.

“No,” is his only response. You feed the kid first, watching him giggle with delight as he inhales his food. He’s so cute, with his big ears and the little cooing sounds he makes, that you can’t help but give him some of your share of food too. Mando doesn’t say anything to you but you notice him look over as you share your food. You have no idea how he’s related to this kid but he does seem protective of it. After eating the kid quickly falls asleep in your arms.

Some more time passes in silence before he says, “You might as well get some rest too. It’s going to be a long trip.” His voice is deep and soothing through the modulator in his helmet. You wished he talked more.

“Is there somewhere I can lay down?” You ask, realizing you could never fall asleep sitting up.

“You can take my bunk,” he offers.

“Well, then where are you going to sleep?” You ask.

“I’ll be fine,” he says.

“That’s not really an answer. You can just lay down next to me if you want. I’d feel bad stealing your bunk from you,” you say honestly.

“Are you sure you’re ok with that?” He asks, sounding surprised by your offer.

“Sure why not? We’re already going to be stuck together in a small space for a while. I don’t want to force you to be uncomfortable on your own ship.” He seems to agree with your logic and leads you down to the area with the one small bunk. Still sleeping, he places the kid in the small cradle just outside the bunk. You take off your shoes and lay down on one side of the firm bed. To your surprise he gets in without taking off his armour.

“Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to take off your helmet?” You ask.

“I can’t. Not in front of other people,” he says, as serious as ever.

“Well if I turn this way you’re technically behind me,” his lack of response tells you that he either didn’t get the joke, or, more likely, he didn’t find it amusing. “Sorry I’m not trying to be rude. I just don’t understand why it’s a big deal,” you explain.

He gives you a brief explanation of the code he lives by and how not removing his helmet around others is a significant part of his religion. It seems odd to you but you want to respect his choices. After all, your life probably seems strange to most other creatures in the galaxy so who were you to judge?

He pulls a thin blanket over the two of you. It’s scratchy and appears to be made out of some type of animal hair. Being in an unfamiliar place far from home with someone you barely know has you feeling more lonely than you have ever been. You turn your head back to look at the Mandalorian behind you. Maybe he was a brutal hunter who just killed someone in front of you but just like Peli had said, he was also nice. Boldly you grab his hand and pull his arm over your body. This seems to startle him at first but after a moment he pulls you in closer to him. Your back presses up against his metal beskar chest plate and his arm curls around your midsection. You placed your hand over his gloved hand and the two of you drifted off to sleep.