18.
Nev led him into the former Moff's private control room. They passed under and around the fallen light panels and wires. She stepped over Seraphine's body without looking down at her. Din, however, did look down pausing long enough to retrieve his blade from the dead woman's chest.
"That demagolka...she kept them." Nev's voice shook with emotion.
"Kept what, cyare?" Din looked down at her then into the room full of flickering lights and shadows. He stepped through the hatch still holding Nevrin's hand. Standing before them were a dozen unmoving Mandalorian sentries. "What is this?" He murmured in shock, stepping up to the closest display case as he scanned each set of armor. There were different sizes, colors, and clan affiliations from across the galaxy. He paused for several long moments at a blue and red set of armor that carried the sigil of the Mandalorians that rescued him.
She took him to the furthest corner where they stopped and gazed at two sets of armor positioned side by side. They carried matching sigils of a snarling reptile on the right shoulder pauldrons. The first set of armor, fit for a man nearly a foot taller than Din and twice as broad chested, was weather beaten and dented from battle. The dark green paint was chipped and faded in spots, the glass of the T-shaped visor shattered and covered with the dark red dust of old blood.
The second, with it's elegant lilac sheen, was soft curves and angles molded to fit the body of a much smaller woman. The left shoulder pauldron carried a small ragged blaster hole. Nev touched the glass separating them from the armor. "I forgot how tall you were..." she murmured to the lifeless beskar.
She remembered how terrified she had been of the giant man; how calm and gentle he had been once he finally coaxed her out of her hiding spot on her mother's ravaged ship. She remembered his stern modulated voice when she broke regulations and his ship-shaking laughter when he told her his stupid jokes. She remembered how she had wanted nothing more than to make him proud.
"Nevrin...this is impossible."
"As impossible as us finding each other again?" she replied. He remained silent, staring at the armor he knew as well as his own. The slightest tilt of that angular helmet could have made him agree to anything. "I'm not leaving without our Beskar. I was his only foundling. I-I won't let his legacy end here like this."
"It will go home to the Tribe." Din replied. "The Armorer will reforge it and pass it on."
Nev crossed her arms over her chest and shivered, "Gods...the Armorer. She used to terrify me."
"She still terrifies me." Din replied. Nev snorted in surprise at his rare moment of humor before breaking into a fit of stress induced laughter. He smiled under his helmet at the sound of her airy giggles.
Just as quickly her laughter transformed into shoulder shaking sobs. Tears caught in her silver eyelashes reflecting the color of her armor before spilling down her pale face. "Cyar'ika…" he murmured, gently pulling her into his chest as she covered her face with her hands. "It's over, it's over...you're done. It's time to go home." She nodded wordlessly, taking deep shuddering breaths as she clung to his cold armor. He didn't say anything else, didn't need to say anything else. He just stood with his hand on her back until she was ready.
The casino floor was under New Republic control when they returned. Imperial loyalists and officers were handcuffed and lined up in orderly rows while Republic officials identified and interviewed them. One such official tried to stop the tall Mandolorian with the heavy canvas bags slung over his shoulder and the silver haired woman at his side carrying a bloodied Stormtrooper helmet full of sparkling flowers. "Where the hell do you two think you're going?" he asked with his hand on his blaster.
Nev let out a deep, tired sigh. "We have clearance to be here."
"That doesn't mean you have clearance to leave with contraband."
"Contraband?" Nev repeated, shifting the helmet to free up the hand closest to her blaster."These items were stolen from our people. The New Republic has no more claim to them than these Imperial cowards."
"You aren't leaving this ship until you've been searched and identified."
"Try it." Din replied dangerously.
"Let 'em pass, Sergeant." A familiar roguish voice called out. The Sergeant glanced into the crowd as General Solo himself stepped forward. He gave Nevrin a mischievous smile and nodded at the Mandalorian. "I take it you found what you were looking for?"
Nevin nodded, holding the Stormtrooper helmet closer to her chest. "She's on the seventh floor."
Han signaled to a few soldiers and they headed out of the casino to the grav-lifts. "See ya around kid." He patted her shoulder as she and Din continued towards the sunlight and the freedom it offered.
The Razor Crest felt different to her when they returned. She looked around the old ship and realized she was finally home. Din saw her for what she was; lost, lonely, angry. Forsaken by their people, an oath breaker. And he wanted her anyway; wanted to share his ship and his bed with her and willingly risk his life to keep her.
Nevrin held her helmet for a long time, thumbs tracing the sharp angles and the cat-eye curve of the visor. It would be the last time she held it, the last bit of her previous life as a Mandalorian. The Armorer and her apprentices would dismantle the tech and melt the beskar. The new armor born from the forge would be passed on to someone worthy of it. "Did you ever imagine what I looked like under this?" She asked Din as she placed the helmet in a cargo box and shut the lid.
"Yes. All the time." He paused, "And what you felt like." His helmet dipped quickly towards his boots and he almost told her about the brothel in town. The one he had gone to at least monthly. When her armor changed to accommodate the curve of her hips and the swell of her breasts. When his imagination moved past her eyes or her hair color or whether her front teeth grew back. When his hands in the darkness of his quarters hadn't been enough. When training and meditation and the Creed that had taken two frightened, lonely orphans and transformed them into warriors hadn't been enough. When he finally had the credits to start sneaking into town for a few hours to tamp down the hungry black void growing and growing and growing inside him. When she had finally been the one brave enough to take them across that line between friends and something more...
"Did I disappoint your imagination?" She asked quietly.
"No, mesh'la." His thumb traced the curve of her face, down her jaw to her neck. "I never came close to imagining you."
She tilted her head, eyes following his gloved hands as they pulled on the buttons of her shirt. Her eyes drifted back up to the concentrated bunch of his shoulders and the visor that hid his eyes. Then behind him to the nets hanging from the walls, the lockers full of weapons and the carbonite freezing chamber. "The cargo hold?" she asked as he pushed her shirt off her shoulders and started on her denim pants. Din grunted an affirmative from behind his helmet and something inside of her sang to life; something hot and wet and quickly soaking through her thin panties. He took his gloves off one after the other, dropping them on the floor. She barely contained the needy moan that simple action provoked. "What about your chair? I had plans for your chair...oh, " she gasped when his now bare fingers dragged along the wet spot in her panties.
"You want to wait until we're in hyperspace?" he asked with a questioning tilt of his helmet all the while his fingers continued rolling and rubbing and leaving no room for an argument.
"No. No. The cargo hold is fine. Chair later," she replied, pulling her panties down and kicking the pile of clothes aside. Din removed or adjusted what armor he needed in order to free his cock. He stepped closer pushing her back against the nets hanging on the wall. She watched her reflection in his visor, wondering where his eyes were while she wrapped her hand around him. Was he looking into her eyes or watching the way her fingers flexed and slid along his length?
"Never imagined this, " he groaned, his deep voice raspy through the modulator as she brushed her thumb over his tip spreading around the arousal that dripped out, "Fucking you on my ship. " He lifted her up, hooking her legs once more around his waist as he lined himself up with her entrance. He watched as she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and her eyes fluttered closed as he slowly pushed inside her. He didn't stop until she was pressed up against his gun belt.
"Fuck, fuck-" she breathed. He was hot and hard and had just the right amount of stretch to make her breath catch as she adjusted to him. "You couldn't even afford a swoop bike when we were kids." Her voice was nothing more than breathy pants, her brain finding it difficult to connect with her mouth to form coherent words. He moved his hips enough to pull almost out of her, patient and calm and fucking Mandalorian enough to make this last as long as he wanted. He stood there unmoving, barely inside of her as her muscles clenched and dripped around him. His fingers dug into her ass hard enough to leave ten perfectly spaced bruises by morning. It was another fight, another challenge. Who would break first, beg the other to give them some kind of relief from the frustrating, throbbing tension. She stared into his visor, huge lust-blown pupils almost covering her grey eyes, a dangerous smile playing on her lips as she let go of his shoulders and wrapped her hands in the rope nets behind her. "I never imagined you'd have a ship either. Maybe if you quit dumping credits in this antique one day you might."
He exhaled, long and irritated. She had figured out a way to win this round and she was about to be fucked into the wall of his ship as her prize. He didn't warn her before he moved again, pinning her between the warm hull and his armor. The rough fabric of his flight suit brushing against her sensitive skin and the cool steel covering his body contrasted to the hot length that pulsed inside her with each harsh thrust of his hips. "Won't have to waste so many credits now that I have my own mechanic." He grunted.
"I...I don't work for free," Her breath caught, mouth dropping open as one of his calloused thumbs found her clit.
"Guess I'll have to figure out another way to pay you," he groaned beneath his helmet watching as her head fell back against the nets when she came. He didn't last much longer; her fluttering, spasming muscles and the throaty little moans that belonged only to him made him cum hard enough for his knees to shake. He rested his helmet against her neck, their breaths coming in loud shallow pants as they relaxed and their senses drifted back. "Fucking mesh'la. Better than anything I could imagine." he murmured.
She uncurled her stiff legs from his hips with a groan and stood unsteadily, watching as he tucked himself back into his flight suit. "I'd say that's payment enough to at least get the hot water back on line."
"You're the one that disconnected the hot water." He countered as she slipped her panties and tunic back on.
She gathered the rest of her clothes in her arms and looked up at him, "I could list all the other repairs I've made but I need a few minutes to recover…"
Din preferred the hot showers Nevrin had supplied his ship with but also had no qualms using the frigid water he was accustomed to. He heard her rummaging around in the crawlspace above his head, cursing at the ship and arguing with herself as she made repairs. He removed his armor and set it aside in their sleep pod before fishing out a few clean items from his meager store of clothing. When he exited the shower, freshened up from their adventure on the Repellent and the practice session in the cargo hold, Nev was dangling from the crawlspace like a lizard- monkey replacing the hatch cover with one hand before dropping to her feet in front of him. "Everythings back to the way it was… well almost. The hyperdrive will be a bit faster still. Should take a day or so to get to Levine then..." She trailed off, wiping her greasy hands on her tunic.
"Home." Din answered. He was glad she was finally ready to leave everything else behind. The blood, death and revenge that had dictated her half-life for the last ten years could finally be swallowed up by the sands of Canto Borealis.
"I'll be ready in two shakes of a Porg's tail feathers." She smiled up at him, tucking the balled up silky black scarf into his pocket before disappearing into the refresher.
When she reappeared in the cockpit, smelling like Aura blossoms and wearing nothing but a fresh tunic and a smile, the ship was primed and ready for take-off. He was waiting in his captain's chair, watching through his visor as she bypassed her usual chair and climbed onto his lap. "You ready?" he asked.
"Mmm I'm always ready." She pulled the zipper down on his flight suit exposing the tanned skin of his neck. "Get us in space so you can take that fucking helmet off." She leaned back far enough to pull her tunic over her head as Din pushed the final controls for the Crest to take off.
The trip to Levine didn't seem to take long at all. Punctuated by them moving from the chair, which was already one of his new favorite places on the ship for their practice sessions, to the nav-panel then back down to their pod. After another shower, a nap and a couple bowls of soup the ship's alarm signaled them dropping out of hyperspace. "Stay on the ship until I make sure you're not still Yanta's most wanted." Din told her as the ship docked.
She waived his concerns away as he stalked down the ramp towards the New Republic outpost. Nev watched from the shadows of the Crest as Din scrolled through the list of outstanding warrants. Near the bottom was the grainy picture of an unidentified woman with unusual hair. The reward offered would hardly be worth anyone's trouble. "We should be good. As long as you don't blow anything up." Din's hollow modulated voice echoed over the com-link he had insisted she start carrying.
"No promises."
The droids at the secure storage facility beeped suspiciously at the Mandalorian. "I know I usually come alone. Gimme a break, L7, a girl can't make friends?" Nev tapped her fingers impatiently on the desk waiting for the droids to grant them access or kill them. L7 made another series of deets and boops. Nev scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm very fucking friendly. I'm probably the friendliest fucking person you're gonna see all day." The secure hatch hissed open and Nev pulled Din along before L7 changed his mind.
"Are they always like that?" Din asked as she led them towards her locker.
Nev shrugged, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she fished the keyfob out of her pocket. "No. We must've caught him on a good day." The door to her locker stuck as usual and she had to shoulder it open. "Maker, I won't miss this planet." She grumbled stumbling through the door.
The lights flickered on as they entered, illuminating her small collection of treasure. She stood aside ushering in her antigrav cargo and Din. She started tossing items into the box as Din perused her junk. "There's a lock box of credits on the bottom shelf over there." She pointed across the room. He turned towards the shelf but paused by a long rifle covered in a layer of dust.
"What is this?" Din murmured in awe running his fingers along the dark wood stock and up the silver barrel.
Nev appeared by his shoulder, "Oh yeah… I forgot I stole that thing . It's an Amban sniper rifle."
He traced the forked resonator longingly. "Amban sniper rifle…"
"It's too big for me." Din tilted his helmet and she didn't need to see his face to know he was mocking her. "Shut up, Wookiee. It's yours." Nev told him.
"It's beautiful…"
Nev laughed, "Gods you are a bounty hunter." Din picked the rifle up, testing its weight and balance. "I'll have to make some adjustments to the scope so it interfaces with your helmet."
"I can't wait to use it." He said, slinging the rifle over his shoulder. There were a half dozen disintegrator rounds laying forgotten in the dust that he also shoved into an empty pocket.
"That's very Mandalorian of you." Nev said taking the lockbox of credits Din had forgot about. The last few usable items went into the box and Nevrin stared at the empty shelves for several long moments. The little space full of junk that had given her a purpose to keep fighting was now crammed in a cubic meter floating box.
Din took her hand and led her away from the empty room, "Vi slanar yaim." Let's go home.
"Why go back to Nevarro?" she asked. "Why risk it?"
Din placed his hands on her shoulders, "If I don't return...If I abandon my obligations there will be nowhere in the universe we will be safe. They will hunt me, hunt us forever. This is the Way, Nevrin."
She tossed the fob at L7 on the way out. "Watch out for rust, circuit brains."
They spent the few hours before they landed on Nevarro knotted together in the tight confines of Din's sleep pod. Nevrin clung to him in the darkness, making him promise it was going to be alright, that he would be safe when he returned to the Tribe. "Everything will be alright, cyar'ika. I've been gone on hunts before; this time is no different." He murmured against her lips.
She sighed into his mouth as he rocked slowly into her, "Everything is different, Din."
"In a few months I'll bring you with me. Make our clan official…until then…" he rolled his hips and she trembled underneath him, making the sweetest softest little moans against his neck.
The slow, controlled sway and thrust of his hips stalled as the gentle nuzzle of her lips turned into nipping teeth and fingernails scratching their way up his back. "Until then…you'll come back to me every night-" He hooked his arm under her knee, his slow gentle thrusts turning fast and harsh making her cry out. "Fuck Din like that-"
The descent alarm sounded and the Crest dropped out of hyperspace as Din fucked her into another back arching, toe curling orgasm that was anything but soft and sweet. "Gods, Nevrin…Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum." I love you. He grunted coming hard enough for his vision to dim at the edges.
She wrapped her arms around his back pulling him close as the landing gear dropped and the ship's repulsors fired, slowing them to a perfect gentle landing in his usual space in Davenk's shipyard. "Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum, Din Djarin."
The ship's interior lights flickered on once his helmet was in place and he slid out of the pod. Nev sat up on her elbows watching as he stepped into his flight suit. "You should lie down for a few more minutes." He told her as she sat up feeling the warmth he'd left inside her start to drip out.
"I need a shower-"
Din sighed, pulling his boots on, "It's supposed to help."
"Help with what you Wookiee?"
"With conceiving."
She raised a silver eyebrow, "Conceiving what...oh...how do you know that?"
He cursed under his breath, lifting a corner of their little bed looking for his missing vambrace, "I read it…"
"You read it…" She replied trying to smooth her sweaty, fucked out hair away from her face. "Read anything else interesting lately?"
Din found his missing armor, tapped a command onto his wrist com and the bay door opened. The cargo boxes hovered at the ramp waiting for him to lead the way. "Yes. I'll tell you all about it when I get back."
"Leave your com on...I need to know you're ok down there." She asked knowing there was nothing she could do if he wasn't.
Din sighed looking over his shoulder into the waning light of the Nevarro day. "The com won't work in the tunnels. Promise you won't do anything to my ship while I'm gone."
"I swear, cyare." She said laying back with a yawn. "I need a nap anyways." Din left her knowing that as soon as the ramp ascended the odds of her not tinkering with something in his ship were slim to none.
The shipyard was quiet, only one other lonely rusting ship was taking up residence. "Hail, Mando! I feared the universe had swallowed you whole!" Davenk appeared from his office greeting him with a cheery wave and flanked by two maintenance droids.
"Not yet, Davenk." Din replied striding past him. The two black cargo boxes hovered slowly behind him. "No droids on my ship." He yelled over his shoulder.
"Of course, of course...exterior repairs and fuel only." Davenk answered waving goodbye.
The town market was calm this close to sundown. Children had been called home for their evening meal and dealers were tidying up their stalls. No one took note of the Mandalorian making his way through the maze of tables and disappearing down a dark stairwell. The noises of the town disappeared as he descended into the tunnels under Nevarro. The sentries keeping watch over a group of foundlings nodded as he passed. The Mandos leaning casually against the walls watched him with much more interest. Their helmets following the parcels floating in his wake. One in particular took a great interest and pushed his hulking frame into Din's path.
"That's enough of that." Nev muttered to the empty ship as soon the hatch sealed. She stripped the wrinkled sheet off the thin futon and stuffed it into the sonic before stepping into the shower to wash the smell of sweat, sex and Din down the drain.
Paz Vizla stood in the walkway, arms crossed over his massive chest looking down at Din. "Well, well, well do we have Kad Ha'rangir himself to thank for your return." Paz called out mockingly to the gathering crowd.
One of Nev's floating parcels bumped into him, making Din take an unbalanced step forward. "I was on a job, Vizla, it took longer than expected. Not that it's any of your concern." Din replied.
"Not my concern? I think the safety and security of the Covert is of everyone's concern." Paz retorted, raising his arms towards the others. A few murmurs arose from the throng of Paz's cronies. "I think we should be concerned that one of our own was missing for weeks only to return unannounced from who knows where. How do we know you haven't compromised us?" Paz took another step closer, poking one giant finger into the armor on Din's chest. "How do we know you haven't compromised yourself?"
Din tilted his head up to look into Paz's visor. "I was on a job, providing for our people. What have you been up to, besom? Besides holding up the tunnel walls."
Paz scoffed angrily at the insult. "Gar copad a akaanir?" You want a fight?
Din rolled his shoulders preparing for the end of the verbal barbs and threats. There was no love lost between the two. Not since Din had caught Nevrin pinned between Paz's huge arms in an abandoned tunnel years and years before. The relief evident in the tilt of her helmet had been all Din needed to know. If anyone was going to cause trouble for him and Nev now, of course it would be Vizla. "Anytime, hut'uun." He growled clenching his fists at his side.
They were about six months overdue for a good old fashioned fight in front of the Covert. Din knew Vizla's fighting style almost as well as Nev's. Paz swung first, like he always did, trying to use his size and strength to his advantage. These little scuffles were always over something benign: Paz insinuating Din had cut in the chow line or taken too long in the refresher or perhaps the Bounty Hunter had knocked his shoulder into the Heavy Infantry Mando'ade on his way through the tunnels. Now it was because Paz was in his way when all he wanted was to get back into the Armorer's good graces then retreat to the safety of his ship.
Din ducked under Paz's arm, using his smaller size and speed to skid along the dirt floor. He landed a hard punch in the space between Paz's back armor and the thick artillery gun belt. Paz grunted at the sharp pain in his kidney but recovered quickly, pivoting on his feet faster than any man his size should be able to. Din didn't have time to counter as Paz charged at him. The wind was knocked out of him by the force of Paz's Beskar crushing him backwards into the wall. He slammed his helmet into Din's causing his head to ricochet inside the steel cage. Din crumpled to the dirt floor, tasting iron on his lips and gasping for air and knowing that without his own armor Vizla would have just broken his ribs and his skull.
"Open those fucking boxes." Paz ordered. "Let's
see what this pathetic womp rat has provided us."
Din struggled to his knees reaching for his blaster, "Don't you fucking touch that!"
Paz chuckled mockingly at Din's threat as he pried the first case open. The laughter stopped abruptly when Paz's visual scanner fell on the broken armor inside the box. "What the hell is this?" He hissed turning his helmet back towards
Din. "Get that fucking auretii over here!"
Someone knocked his blaster out his hand while two others grabbed him under the arms and drug him across the dirt floor to Vizla's feet. "This is what you provide? The blood of our brothers and sisters?"
Din sucked in a painful lung full of air before spitting out a stubborn "I don't answer to you."
"Let's see who you'll answer to without your buy'ce." Paz nodded to the Mando'ade holding his arms and suddenly Din was yanked to his feet. He struggled against the iron grips holding him in place as Paz stepped forward. He stuck his thick thumbs under the edge of Din's helmet, the seal broke and air hissed out-
"Enough!"
The firm, authoritative voice rang out over the beskar covered warriors. Paz growled in frustration dropping his hands away from Din's helmet. The men holding his arms dropped them and Din immediately shoved his helmet into place.
"Let Din Djarin pass," the Armorer stood at the end of the tunnel, the fire from her forge illuminating her feline-like bronze armor. "It appears we have much to discuss."
Din shook the wrinkles out of his cape and walked forward; helmet up, shoulders back and not bothering to look at Paz's seething form. The Armorer disappeared back into her forge as the Mando'ade parted for Din. Paz was knocked aside by the floating cargo intent on keeping within range of Din's wristcom.
Din clenched his fists nervously. The Armorer stood with her hands on the hammers she carried instead of blasters. "Sit." He did as she commanded. Sitting on the low stool that every Mandalorian that passed into her domain had been positioned on at one time or another. He rested his hands on his knees and waited for her next command. "Open." One simple word and he touched the command on his vambrace. The lid on the second box popped open and the Armorer stepped forward.
She silently inspected each item, sorting them into different piles only she knew the purpose of. Din could sense the others crowding around the door, hear Paz's heavy footsteps and the 'thunk' of his armor as he leaned against the wall behind him. "Tell me, Din Djarin, how you came by this Beskar." She always used their names. She knew each foundling and Mando in her Covert almost as well as they knew themselves. She was the first person they pledged the Resol'nare to and the last one to see their faces once they took their final Oath.
Din took another deep breath, it was less painful this time. "I was given this beskar'gam as payment for a bounty."
"Payment? You accepted payment in armor that was stolen from our people?" Paz scoffed. Din didn't reply to the sanctimonious challenge.
The Armorer inspected a dark green battle worn helmet, the T-shaped visor cracked and bloodied. "What was the bounty?"
"An Imperial Moff." Din answered. He shifted on the stool, his hands sliding up his thighs as she held Nevrin's helmet. The light from the forge reflected the delicate purple undertones of the metal. She set the helmet down and picked up its matching vambrace.
"And the other job?" the Armorer asked, connecting a thin power cable from her own vambrace to the one in her gloved hand. "The transport request you took from Greef Karga."
Din blinked several times beneath his helmet. He didn't know how she knew but of course she did. "It...was as simple as that. A transport, paid a few hundred credits- I took the next job at Cloud City when I dropped her off."
"Her?"
Din swallowed, feeling a line of sweat breakout on his upper lip as the vambrace glowed to life. "The woman who hired me." The Armorer tapped a few buttons on the com and the biolink appeared as a bright orange readout. The name of every Mandalorian linked to the beskar that had been forged and reforged appeared. At the bottom in a string of Mando'a characters was the name Nevrin Dax. He felt Paz move behind him, banging into his back as he strode towards the returned armor.
"Did you know who's armor this was when you accepted it as payment?" she asked, tilting her helmet as she scrutinized him.
"No...I thought it might be..But I wasn't sure."
"He lies. How would he not recognize that whores armor?" Paz's voice rumbled around the room.
Din shot up, discretion forgotten. "Shut your trap Vizla!"
"Was it she that gave you the beskar?" The Armorer questioned.
"No!" Din shouted, turning to face her.
"A pity she didn't die with her honor intact." The Armorer replied dolefully as she set the vambrace next to the helmets.
"Have you allowed your face to be seen, Din Djarin?"
"I was given this as payment for completing a job. Nothing more. I have never strayed from the Way."
"We shall see." She placed her hands back on her hammers, her gloved fingers tapping the metal as she thought. "Search his ship. If there is any evidence that he has lied to us, notify me at once."
"I'll take you to the ship myself."
The Armorer nodded once and for a moment Din thought she had agreed with him. Then he saw Paz move on his periphery as the large man charged towards him. He was back on the ground gasping for air in the next instant, his arms wrenched behind him as a pair of cuffs were slapped into place. "Listen to me, gedet'ye, this is unnecessary-" The world buzzed and burned then went black as Paz activated the stun mechanism on the cuffs.
Nev paced the empty ship, the stillness and silence pressing in on her from all sides. She ran through her mental list of ideal repairs and upgrades she intended on eventually making if the Razor Crest was to be her home amongst the stars. The landing pads always seemed to stick a bit when they took off, the ramp made an ear splitting squeal when it dropped and she noticed the laser cannon sight was about 15 degrees off. She decided against external repairs, not wanting to draw attention to herself and headed for the cockpit.
She held the uncoupled targeting system in her lap and cursed at the melted nest of wires in front of her. It appeared as though at some point someone, most likely Din, had attempted to make restorations to the elderly wiring but instead of completely removing said connections opted to simply add new ones. "You don't just put the red wire where the blue wire was and expect it to work!" she grumbled, amazed the damn thing hadn't caught fire yet. Various tools and micro- welders were spread across the floor in front of her and she quickly realized this quick repair would likely take most of the day.
The bright light of the full moons shone through the canopy allowing her to continue her work once the sky grew dark. A far-off buzzing eventually caught her attention and she dropped the soldering iron in her hand, focusing instead on the noise. The sound steadily grew closer, the low pitched hot buzzing sound that reminded her of a pod-racer. She stood up stretching her stiff muscles and wondered if a few kids had snuck into the shipyard to drag race.
It had been years since she had seen a real race, she stood on her toes leaning over the control panel with her forehead pressed against the glass and looked down. The noise was so loud now it sounded like the racers were right outside the ship. The sky outside lit up bright orange and she realized the sound was coming from above. "Fuck…" She yelled scrambling away from the glass as she realized the rumbling was not from pod-racers but from the Rising Phoenix on the back of a massive Mandalorian soldier.
She continued cursing under her breath, backing up in the shadows until she hit a wall. She knew Din's armor, knew his body and shadow and knew the Mando outside was not him. "Maker be damned...think di'kut think…" Nev muttered, slapping herself in the forehead. If she had realized what the sound was minutes ago she could have a made run for the safety and anonymity of the town. Now it was too late. There was nowhere on the ship she could hide that the Mando's bioscanners would not find her.
The hinges on the ramp squealed to life as the unknown threat outside used Din's wristcom to open the ship. "Gods Din, please don't be dead-" she prayed sliding down the ladder into the main bay. She sprinted to the control panel slamming buttons until the ramp stalled.
"Piece of shit rust bucket!" Nev sucked in a quick breath. She knew that voice and knew the man it belonged to would kill her.
Eventually.
Maker, she did not want to find out what Paz Vizla would do to her before he ended her life. Her thoughts bounced around like a caged animal, she knew there was nothing on board that would penetrate the heavy artillery armor he wore. If she tried to fight back it would do nothing more than piss him off. She couldn't run and there was nowhere to hide so she had to think of something in between and do it fast.
"Maker give me strength." She dropped through the hatch to the cargo hold as Paz hooked his huge, armored hands onto the ramp and began forcing it down. Nev grimaced at the sound of screeching metal and breaking hinges imagining the repairs the ship would need if she and Din lived through this.
She stared at the freezing chamber. She knew how it worked. Hell she had shoved more than a few unwilling participants into the unit on her own ship. When she had her own ship. Din's had to work the same, right? It might be older, a hell of a lot older than the unit she was used to. But bounties were usually worth more alive, having a faulty carbonite freezer wouldn't be good for business...her brain flipped through the arguments finding no better options.
The ramp joints screamed in defeat and she heard heavy footsteps on the ship above. "This is going to work...it has to work-"