A stolen ring, fear of spiders, and a sinister stranger

"Hey, what're you doing back there?"

Din Djarin looked over his shoulder at The Child, who tipped its head to the side. Eight spindly legs wiggled desperately around the sides of its mouth as it chewed happily.

Din couldn't repress a shudder. "Spit that out!"

It momentarily halted its munching to stare at the Mandalorian with guileless eyes.

"I said spit it out!"

He made as if to get up when a flashing light on his console caught his attention, and a proximity alarm sounded.

"Looks like we've got incoming." He flipped some switches to turn off the alarm while he searched for its source. It proved an unnecessary exercise as a shot was fired across his starboard engine, and the spacecraft in question soon followed.

"Consider that your only warning Mandalorian." A raspy voice crackled over the comm frequency.

Din stared at the foreign spacecraft with some interest, but very little concern. It was your run-of-the-mill junker with no obvious modifications, and death threats were a dime a dozen these days, especially now that he had The Kid.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced."

"Don't play coy. You have something of mine, and I want it back."

Now that he thought about it, the voice did have a familiar ring to it. But since it didn't immediately summon feelings of panic, he guessed the pilot wasn't going to be too big of a problem. "I'm afraid you have me confused with someone else."

"The bounty you took, Mythrol. When he was delivered to The Guild he was missing something that was very important to me."

"Really." It took him a moment to recognize the name, then realized that it was his last bounty before he was hired to find The Kid. It felt like a long time ago, and he couldn't remember having taken anything from the man. It wasn't honorable to take anything extra from the body of a victim.

The stranger fired again, the laser passing so close to his ship that he thought it might have singed a nacelle.

The voice was now dark with anger. "I want that ring Mando!"

Ring? He cast his mind back, then suddenly he remembered. He'd found it on the floor near the carbon chamber while he was on his way to the desert planet. It has seemed of very little importance at the time, and he hadn't bothered to keep track of it. He turned around at looked at The Child, who was staring at him curiously.

"What'd you do with the ring Kid?"

Of course it didn't answer, and he hadn't really expected it to. However, it did slide slowly off its chair, a three fingered hand closed in a tiny fist. It waddled over and looked up at him, right arm extended expectantly.

He gazed at it in surprise, then extended his own hand. "Do you have it?"

It opened its palm, its orb like eyes glistening in the dim glow of the cockpit lights.

"What the-? Gah!" He cursed and dropped the mangled, twitching spider onto the floor. He stamped on it until it was nothing but a thin film of goo. His hand had automatically unholstered his pistol, and for a moment he considered shooting at the remains for good measure.

The baby had already taken possession of the chair he'd exited in his haste to kill the disgusting creature, and was reaching for its favorite control handle.

He wiped his spit covered glove on the corner of his cape before unscrewing the ball and passing it to the child. As he set it down on the floor, he made a mental note to change the cape out for a new one as soon as the current situation was under control.

"Where's the ring Mando?"

The sinister stranger was clearly starting to get impatient, and Din was almost ready to blast the small junker to smithereens. The only reason he was holding back was because The Kid was now his sole responsibility, and he was trying to be a good role model.

"What's so important about it?" He asked, hoping the question would buy him some time while he searched the cabin.

"It has belonged to my family for many generations. It's my birthright, and I will not dishonor my clan by becoming the first to lose it!"

If it was a matter of honor, Din could understand that. However he doubted it was the truth. If it really was so important, then why had he lost it to Mythrol in the first place?

He looked down at his Foundling. It was holding the ball in front of its face with intense concentration, ears twitching as it made baby noises. He noticed a bulge in its cloak and reached over to slip his fingers in the pocket.

"Got it."

The child reached out as he withdrew the ring, releasing a sound of concern.

"Sorry little one, but I need to return this to its owner."

Its little face screwed up, lip quivering.

"This doesn't belong to you."

It toddled forward, hand still extended, fingers stretching hopefully. Tears glistened in its eyes.

Din hesitated.

It grabbed his leg and looked up at him.

They stared at each other for a moment before he released a heavy sigh and dropped it into the baby's outstretched hand. He turned back to the window. "I'm no longer in a position to return it. I'm sorry."

The voice turned hostile. "You soon will be."

"If you attack me, I'll have no choice but to defend myself."

His shields held as the stranger's next shot contacted his forward shield.

He flipped the guard on the trigger. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

The junker's shields immediately went down.

"Retreat or I will disable you."

The stranger screamed something and fired again.

Din shook his head as he pushed the trigger. "Watch your language."

The junker's left engine exploded in a hail of fire.

"You can't run forever Mando!"

Din reset his autopilot and calmly got back on his flight plan before turning in his chair to look at The Kid. The tears were gone, and it was now fully occupied trying to bite both the ring and the ball at once. It gazed inquisitively up at him as he lifted it into his lap.

"Let this be a lesson to you. If you clearly outgun the competition, always make sure that you give a warning before you open fire. This is the way."

The baby babbled.

"Good. Now let's get out of here.