18.
Dinner ended with a tense, barbed silence between Zo and Mando. The other three crew members argued and drank, sharing tidbits about who they were and how they came to work for Malk as the night wore on. Mayfeld was an ex-Imperial sharpshooter responsible for the assassination of several high-profile political enemies. Burg was the former pro-heavy-lifting champion of Devaron, and he'd he lost his title in disgrace after an incident involving illegal substances and smuggling Ewok pelts. Xi'an was an open book: a wildly unstable, deadly, bloodthirsty mercenary. Qin, their intended rescue, was her twin brother.
After what felt like several excruciatingly slow hours, Ranzar finally snapped his fingers, and a trio of droids hurried around the table and began clearing plates.
"It's way past your bedtime, huh?" Mando murmured as Grogu yawned and rubbed his eyes. He reached for one of Mando's big fingers and yawned again. "You barely ate." He said, turning toward Zo as an R2 unit pushed between them to take her plate.
"I've had more than enough," she replied, having lost her appetite well before their argument.
Xi'an picked her teeth with the sharp edge of one of her knives. Her purple eyes never left Zo or the child. "What a gentleman…." She sneered as Mando pulled Zo's chair out for her. His fingers tensed slightly on the small of Zo's back as he led her and Grogu to the lift.
"Don't be angry with me," Zo said once they were alone in the lift. The baby was already asleep, bundled safely in her arms, one of his hands curled around a lock of her hair.
He tried to sense if she was attempting any of her Jedi magic before he replied. He felt no brain itch compelling him but decided to warn her just in case. "Stay out of my head, Jedi."
"I'm not in your head, Bounty Hunter." She said, tapping a finger on the side of his helmet. "You've become very adept at blocking me out. Almost as good as Ranzar Malk."
He let out a long-suffering breath, "I told you to do as I say–"
"And I asked you to trust me. I am the only one here you can trust." She waved her hand, and the gravlift stopped between floors. "I am your partner, your friend... not your employee. And we would be better prepared if you trusted me enough to treat me as such," Zo replied, holding his arm.
"We are not partners." He turned away from her to jab the controls angrily and growled in frustration when the lift refused to move.
"I don't remember much of my lessons about the Mandalorian Resol'nare, but I'm pretty damn sure nothing is requiring you to be the galaxy's most obstinate jackass." She snapped, and the lift began moving again. Mando turned his whole towering body towards her, fists clenched at his side. Zo stood her ground, tilting her chin to stare up into the cold glass of his visor. "These… people are dangerous. This mission is dangerous. There is a cloud of deceit over this entire space station."
"Ranzar is a syndicate boss. His business is deceit."
"You think I don't know how to deal with someone like Malk?" She replied, adjusting the baby against her chest. "If you give me time, I can break him–"
"And bring down the wrath of the entire syndicate if you lobotomize their fucking boss?" Mando replied as the lift doors opened, and he stomped towards their quarters.
"What if you get caught by the New Republic?"
"I won't get caught." The hatch to their quarters slid open, and he stepped inside first, making sure the room was secure before allowing her and the child to follow.
"I have a very, very bad feeling about this." She said, gently adjusting the baby to rest against her shoulder.
"I don't give a fuck about your feelings, Zo Mara!" He growled. Grogu whimpered in his sleep, curling his little body closer to her.
Zo stepped back from him looked down at the baby in her arms. "Well... I'll keep my feelings to myself then." She mumbled, moving towards one of the bunks. She laid Grogu down and pulled his robes tight around his little body.
"I don't operate on feelings. I go with facts. And the fact is we have no fucking idea what we are doing. We need a plan..." Din sighed, hooking his thumbs in his gun belt. He could not remember a time since taking his oath and putting his helmet on that he had spoken so much or so often. Zo dragged the words out of him, arguing and challenging him at every step. Most people saw the armor and the blasters and knew to keep their exhaust ports shut. She was perhaps the one woman in the entire 'verse that saw him and thought, 'I'll take my chances.'
"This is it; this is what I do, Zo. We need the info Ranzar has, and I can't risk bringing any more heat down on us if things go sideways." Stars be damned if she didn't also drag out apologies from the depths of his beskar covered insides.
"I know..." She looked down for several long seconds, rubbing her thumb along the bumpy scar on top of her hand. "So…." She looked up at him with a smile tugging the corner of her lip, "Xi'an seems nice."
Mando laughed, deep and rich, and kriff, could he just take that damn helmet off for a few minutes so she could hear the real him again. "She isn't. She's terrible." He said once the laughing subsided.
"But you two were close?" Zo asked, risking his always thin patience.
He shrugged, taking his gloves off and tucking them into a pocket. "Depends on what you consider close." Zo rolled her eyes and blew out an annoyed little huff at the innuendo. "Jealous, Jedi?" His voice was a deep, rough rumble through the vocoder, with that same hint of entertainment from dinner.
"No," she replied in a tone that implied the opposite. Under the helmet, Din smiled. It was his turn to needle her, get under her skin for a bit. He wouldn't tell her, of course, that Xi'an had never seen him without his armor in place. She'd only got up close and personal with the part of him that got the job done. Even those encounters were risky, knowing Xi'an's wild mood swings.
Zo turned away to hide the flush in her skin, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear as she went. "Just surprised. You don't seem like the type," she said, picking through the bag he packed for her.
"What type?" Mando tilted his head questioningly at her.
She stood with fresh clothes bundled in her arms and gave him a slow, appraising look. "The type to stick his dick in crazy."
"I don't draw the line at crazy," he said, pushing away from the wall and taking long strides across the small room to block her escape into the 'fresher. He watched from behind the glass and Beskar and visual processors of his helmet as her heart rate climbed and her throat tensed when she swallowed.
Zo nervously ran her tongue along her bottom lip; her mouth suddenly bone-dry as he invaded her personal space. "Where do you draw the line, Bounty Hunter?" She asked.
He stepped closer, one arm snaking around her waist so fast she dropped her bundle of clothes in surprise. Her hands pressed against his chest plate as he pulled her close. His warmth soaked into her, one of his big hands was on her hip, his fingertips tracing under the edge of her shirt, his other thumb brushed along her soft bottom lip. His presence eclipsed everything, it might well have been just the two of them in the entire universe. Her eyes fluttered shut as she drank in all the sensations that came with his touch.
"I draw the line," He said in a husky whisper, sliding his thumb into her mouth when she darted her tongue out to taste him, "At a know-it-all, bratty Jedi." Her eyes sprang open in shock, then narrowed in anger just as quickly. He pulled his finger out of her mouth an instant before she snapped her jaws shut, narrowly missing the tip of his thumb.
"Your loss, Bounty Hunter," Zo called to his back as he walked away from her. "I've got control of muscles you've never even dreamed of."
He could reach the light controls if he extended his arm. Turn the lights out, take his helmet off– Jedi can't see in the dark, can they? He thought. How much noise would she make? Enough to wake the kid, probably.
The 'fresher door hissed shut behind him, pausing his internal conversation. He looked over his shoulder and saw the red light indicating Zo locked the hatch from the inside. "Dank farrik," he muttered as the sound of water echoed out. He settled into the free bunk, relaxed his helmet back against his pillowed hands, crossed his long legs at the ankles, and waited for her to reemerge.
Zo stayed under the pulsing stream, washing away the stink of Malk's cigar. The hot water helped ease the bunched muscles in her neck and shoulders. However, it did nothing to ease the knots of tension that was Mando's handiwork; deep and low down, an annoying pulse ignited by a few teasing caresses. "Kriff, get your shit together." She muttered, sticking her head back under the water. Attraction was a tricky thing at the best of times. Being attracted to a stubborn, armor-clad mercenary who also happened to be an overprotective space daddy to a fifty-year-old Jedi baby? Well, that was just the kind of emotional trouble she was taught to avoid. "Space daddy?" She repeated with a disgusted snort of laughter. "Stars, Zoey, you need to get out more." She blew out a deep, frustrated groan and leaned against the tile wall until the water ran cold.
After her shower, she changed into her loose, flowy sleep shirt and trailed her citrusy-ocean breeze scent across the room as she headed for her bunk. She cast Mando an annoyed, side-long glance as she shook out her balled-up blanket. He didn't move except for his chest's slight rise and fall. Bratty? That son of a bantha had called her bratty then settled in for a nap. "How long's this job gonna take?" She asked, deciding to poke the rancor a final time before she too turned in for the night.
"Hour in the hyperlane there, thirty minutes for the job, an hour back." He replied, very much awake. "You won't even miss me."
Zo froze halfway into her bunk then turned to face him. "You aren't leaving us here."
"Well, you sure as shit aren't coming with," he uncurled his hands from behind his head and leaned forward.
"Unbelievable." Damp strands of hair fell loose from her braid as she shook her head in disbelief. "After everything that just happened– we're supposed to do what? Just fucking wait for you here– with that chuff-sucking leach?" She wrapped her hands around her hips and glared down at him.
Mando stood up, looming over her without the few inches of height her boots usually gave her. "You and the kid are not coming on a kriffing prison break."
"I pulled a dozen kriffing prison breaks for Gor Koresh. You need me for this job." She countered.
"I don't care if you've been on a hundred prison breaks." He said. "The two of you are staying right fucking here."
"If you leave us behind again-"
"You'll what?" He took one predatory step towards her, eating up the distance between them.
Zo glared up at her reflection in his visor. "We will not be here when– if – you get back-"
He grabbed a fistful of her shirt and yanked her towards him. "Are you threatening me, Zo Mara?"
"I'm warning you." She pried at his fingers, seconds away from feeling herself lose control and sending him flying across the room. "We aren't spare baggage you can leave lying around, dragging us with you when it suits you-"
"Shut your fucking mouth-" He grabbed her chin, hard enough to leave red imprints in her pale skin.
"Make me." Zo challenged him. "Tell me you feel something! Tell me we aren't just some fucking burden you can't wait to be free of!" She slapped his chest plate. "I don't feel anything from you except anger, annoyance, cold- you leave me–us every chance you get!"
Mando growled, pushing her back into the wall, "Everything I do, I do for him!" He pointed towards the sleeping baby. "I do for you!"
Her eyes widened, roiling blue-green seas of conflicting emotion. Her mouth, soft, pink, and forbidden, dropped open in surprise. "Mando." His name was a whimper, a plea for something she couldn't find words for. She stopped trying to push him away. "Mando, please."
He let go of her jaw and let his fingers settle around her neck feeling her heart race under his calloused fingers. The light panel he fixated on earlier was right next to her head. With the touch of a button, the room would be pitch black. He could make her forget why they were arguing. They wouldn't need to find the Jedi or the Covert; they could be their own tribe. Fuck Ranzar Malk, fuck this space station, fuck this entire ridiculous quest...The kid and her could stay with him forever.
"Zo Mara." He tapped his fingers against her throat, contemplating his next move. "You have no idea…." He trailed off, dropping his helmet to her forehead. His fingers traced the curve of her neck then down to the open V of her loose shirt. "What a pain in my ass you are-" He sighed as his fingers ran up and down her arms, feeling the goosebumps that rippled across her skin with his touch. "What I want to do to you–" Her nipples tightened under the thin fabric of her shirt and fuck, he wanted to touch her there too.
He took a half step towards her, his gun belt pressed into her hips, and his hands began moving on their own again. The part of his brain that told him not to touch had apparently short-circuited. He traced swirls and lines up her torso under her shirt, across her chest, back down to her hips. "Should I stop?" His strained voice was barely a whisper through the vocoder.
"No." Her voice was just as strained as his fingers made their way under her breasts, still not quite crossing that line and touching her where he wanted. Her forehead wrinkled, and she looked over his shoulder at the hatch. "Kriff…. don't-" She gripped his arms, freezing his hand's lazy movements across her body.
"Zo?" He asked, tucking a strand of coppery hair behind her ear. "Should I spend the night on the ship?"
"Don't." She repeated, not entirely talking to him.
"Don't what? "He stepped back, dropping his hands away from her, afraid he had crossed some Jedi line and was about to get blown across the room.
"Stay."
"Zo, what is it–"
The shrill door alarm rang, and Mando looked towards it. "Fuck." He grumbled as the bell rang again and again, and Grogu gurgled an irritable cry. "Take care of him. I'll get the door." He stepped away from her, once again leaving a cold vacuum in his wake.
Zo grabbed his arm before he could reach the door, "She'll leave; he'll go back to sleep. Ignore them. Please, just stay with me."
"Ignore my Foundling?" His voice was a dangerous hiss as he shook off her hand.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it."
"Do your fucking job and check on him. I'll deal with who's out there." He snapped.
Zo let out a long, defeated breath through her nose and pushed away from the wall muttering, "You know who's out there, you bossy son of a bantha." Gods be damned, he could run blistering hot one second and as cold as the frozen tundras of Hoth the next. She took a deep breath and let the calming essence of the Force around her reign in her emotions so she could regain some semblance of control.
Mando slipped his gloves on and checked over his shoulder as Zo scooped the crying baby into her arms and murmured soothing words into his oversized ears.
"Mando," Xi'an singsonged from the corridor. "You and that little mouse left so quickly Ranzar realized you didn't take your supper with you."
"I've got rations."
"Of course you do," Xi'an simpered. "But nothing beats a hot meal…." She held out a bento box for him. He grabbed it roughly out of her hand, and Xi'an laughed, "What's got you so tense, Mando?"
"None of your business," He growled.
She hummed, meeting Zo's icy stare over his shoulder. "It's not that little mouse that has you so riled up, is it?" She stepped closer and ran one hand down his chest plate. "I knicked a couple bottles of that fancy whiskey from the boss. Let's get tossed like old times, and you can let me take care of some of that tension?"
Mando tilted his head a fraction. His shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath as he considered her offer. Xi'an wasn't complicated; their relationship never was. Sex, fighting, bloodshed not always in that order. She would definitely relieve some tension. There would be no awkward redefining of their relationship after because there was no relationship. All he needed was a quick reset to clear his head and focus.
"Come, Mando, you don't want to scare away that little mouse. I know who you really are." she purred.
"You're not still angry about that last job?" He ran his hand along one of her head tails. Things had gone wrong, very, very wrong on Alzoc III, and innocents paid the price. When the killing was done, he and Xi'an fucked like rabid rathtars in the Crest's cockpit...the next day he dumped her on Mon Cala and joined the Guild.
Xi'an smiled a mouthful of sharp fangs. "I'm fucking pissed about that."
"Mando–" Zo stepped closer to the door, Grogu once again drifting back to sleep in her arms. She wanted to touch him, to pull him back into the room and slam the hatch in Xi'an's smug face.
"Put the kid back to bed." Mando set the bento box aside with a heavy thud that reverberated like a punch to her stomach. He stepped into the corridor to join the other woman. Xi'an turned and blew a kiss to Zo as the hatch slid shut.
Zo stared at the empty void left behind by Mando's abrupt absence. Her head still spun from the emotional tornado and confusion as to what just transpired and how quickly she lost that little spar against Xi'an.
The longer she stood staring at the door and replaying her latest interaction with the Bounty Hunter, the more confused she felt. She was wound up and starved for a touch that made her feel like something more than a nursemaid. He could be so gentle and caring with the child and her, but he could also be brutal, rude, hardheaded… Stars above what am I doing here? She thought. What had she done wrong? Did she move too fast, too slow, too unsure like always? Too afraid one wrong step would send everything tumbling down around her again…
"You mean nothing to him." The voice that wasn't entirely her own echoed through the shadows of her mind. Cold laughter rang out, and the baby in her arms frowned in his sleep.
"Shut up." She muttered to herself.
"He wasn't even going to look at you," the voice sneered. "He was going to fuck you and drop you on the next rock. You're nothing to him."
Zo blew out a long breath through her nose, focusing on ignoring the echoes. She gently laid Grogu back down on their bunk and pulled the blanket around his little body. "Sleep, young one. We'll get away from this place tomorrow. One way or another-"
"Runaway. That's the only thing you've never failed at."
"I said shut up!" She yelled. Mando's dinner crumpled, and the hatch groaned in its frame. The voice in her head laughed and laughed as she tried to stamp down the anger burning in her stomach. Grogu woke again with a shrill cry, and Zo dropped her head in shame and exhaustion. She sniffed back tears before laying down next to the crying baby. "Shhh…shhh little one…."
It took a long while to coax the baby back to sleep, and Mando had still not returned by the time exhaustion took her as well. She finally slept and entered that place in her mind between waking and dreaming, that part of her that was subject to the will of the Force.
Mando followed Xi'an around the ringed corridor towards her quarters, her hips swaying rhythmically as she walked. In another life, she could have been the prima ballerina of the Rylothian Ballet Company.
In this life, she was a bad idea. Every step away from Zo and Grogu solidified the notion in Din's gut. What the hell am I doing here? He thought as Xi'an finally stopped outside another hatch. It was too late to go back, explain himself, ask for forgiveness. Why had he touched her again? What the fuck was he going to do? What the fuck would she have let him do? Nothing. Fucking everything… he could have found out if he wasn't a coward.
Xi'an looked over her shoulder when he hesitated at the door. "Whiskey's not gonna drink itself, Mando."
He curled his fists at his side and looked back the way he had come, back where he should still be. "Stay away from them."
"What?" Xi'an's seductive smile faltered as he turned his visor back to her. He had changed in those few seconds she had her back to him. He had a dangerous, buzzing energy she had seen more than once. Usually, that murderous energy was aimed at someone else, someone about to meet the blasty end of Mando's flamethrower.
He stepped forward, still not into her room but close enough that Xi'an took a tentative step back. "Stay the fuck away from my clan."
Her purple eyes glowed, "Your clan? My, my Mando, you have changed- gone soft is what Ranzar said. Never would have believed it…." He took another step, crossing into her threshold now. "I remember what you did on Alzoc III. I know who you really are." The words were a threat this time.
"I did what I had to then, and I will do what I have to now. Do you understand, Xi'an?"
Zo found herself on a burning platform. An immense fireball rolled and sizzled against a Force barrier. A man, a Jedi, stood in front of her, holding the explosion at bay. She knew his name, knew him like they had grown up together. Kanan Jarrus' memories called to her through the Force.
A ship hovered a dozen feet away. Kanan's family reached for him, pleaded with him to jump from the platform as he held back the explosion threatening to consume all of them. Kanan turned towards them, eyes open but blinded by the burn scars slashed across his face.
"I was lost for a long time, lost and afraid. Afraid of my past, afraid of what I was capable of," Kanan's voice caressed her mind. "I know now there is something stronger than fear, far stronger. Let me show you that strength."
Zo felt the complete peace of his choice, the power of the Force that flowed through him, the love he had for his family. With his last breath, he pushed their ship out of harm's way. The moment before his death, the Force gifted him his sight so that he could see the woman he loved and his young apprentice a final time. As the fire consumed Kanan Jarrus, Zo saw another figure, the same cloaked stranger from before watching her through the flames.
"Who are you?" She took a step into the flames, towards the shadow stalking her. The dream dissolved in a blaze of blues and oranges.
The whiskey in the port cantina was not the fancy stuff Ranzar kept as his private stock. But it did the job. No one bothered him; no one even looked at him as he bought his bottle and settled into the darkest corner to drink the last few hours into oblivion. The first few sips of alcohol burned down his throat. He thought he could probably use it to degrease the Crest's aft engine.
The last few sips were pleasantly numbing.
The port cantina was never crowded. Din could drink until he blacked out, spend the night in this booth without ever being bothered. The always sober part of his brain recognized the stupidity of blacking out in such an insecure space. He bought another bottle from the droid bartender and staggered out of the cantina, clutching the bottle like it was his lifeline. The liquor in his stomach sloshed with each unsteady step. If it weren't for the navigation in his helmet, he might have drunkenly stumbled around the spaceport until he did finally pass out.
He unlocked the hatch and stepped into the quiet room. Even from across the room, he could hear Grogu's snores. The hatch locked behind him, and darkness blanketed the room once again. Din pushed his helmet up and swallowed another mouthful of cheap whiskey before stumbling forward. The alcohol in his gut told him it was a good idea to make sure his tribe was safe before he went to sleep. His heart skipped at the sight of Zo curled protectively around Grogu. His Foundling's face was serene and happy as he slept with one tiny fist curled in her long hair.
He was a coward; he knew that. That's why he left her. Built-up another untouchable layer to keep her out…
Din reached down to brush a curl of hair away from Zo's sleeping face. He would have looked at her, watched her eyes and that always smiling mouth as he pushed inside of her, she would have called out his name, and everything else would have ceased to matter... Zo moved faster than a striking viper, snatching his hand before it touched her. Her usually warm ocean blue eyes were frozen glaciers as she glared up at him.
"Your thoughts are loud when you're drunk." She said, sitting up.
Part of him was afraid, that part of him that knew so very little of the galaxy and all the secrets it kept from him. He was afraid of the barely contained power and anger behind those eyes. For a moment, he saw who she was before: a broken, lonely young woman hiding behind a fortress of ice built brick by brick from the rubble of trauma and loss.
"You stink," she hissed quietly, not wanting to disrupt the baby next to her. She pushed him, and he stumbled back a step. "Get some sleep. You have a long day ahead of you, Bounty Hunter." The privacy screen slammed shut, leaving him once again alone in the darkness.
Din woke to the sounds of Grogu's squealing laughter. His head throbbed, his mouth tasted like day-old tauntaun shit, and the acidic shame of the previous night burned its way up his throat. He sat up unsteadily and opened the shield on his bunk. His empty whiskey bottle skittered across the floor as he swung his long legs out. Zo silently kneeled on the floor beside her bunk finishing her meditations. Grogu toddled towards him, babbling and chirping with excitement. "Good morning, Grogu." He rasped while swinging the big-eared baby into his arms.
Zo stood, brushing the wrinkles out of her pants. "It's almost noon, Bounty Hunter."
"Shit," He huffed. "Why didn't you wake me?"
She picked an invisible piece of lint off her jacket then looked at him with eyes still edged in frost. "When the Jedi council assigned my Master to Mandalore, I was given all this required studying on your culture." Her lightsaber flew into her outstretched hand, and she clipped it on her belt before continuing. "Most of it I've forgotten over the years, but one lesson always stuck with me," she slowly dragged her eyes over his disheveled armor, "let sleeping Mandalorian's lie." Grogu chirped and reached for her. The ice in her eyes melted instantly, her smile one again warm and loving as she took the baby in her arms.
"Ranzar-" He started.
"Ranzar and the droid want you at the Crest in an hour." She cut him off with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Eat. Take a shower."
Din looked towards the table where a fresh bento box and still steaming carafe of coffee waited. Zo turned toward the hatch, nestling the baby on her hip as she went. He reached for her and hated the way she went rigid under his touch. "Where are you going?
"Mayfeld told me about a viewport on the top level, and I thought Grogu might want a look."
"What was he doing here?" The thought of that glorified stormtrooper stepping foot in this room with his Foundling and whatever the hell Zo was made his blood boil.
Zo smirked, a touch of that familiar sarcasm returning. "Jealous, Mando?"
He tilted his helmet in response. "Should I be?"
"We shared a lift to the mess hall… Him and Xi'an…" Her jaw tightened at the mention of the other woman's name, the light in her eyes dimmed, the friendly humor snuffed out. "Enjoy your breakfast." He felt invisible fingers pry his hand away and shove him back as she continued towards the hatch.
"Zo," He called after her. She stopped, one hand braced on the door jamb. Grogu looked back at him, his long ears twitching with expectation. What exactly was he going to say anyway? I'm sorry. We need to stay focused on the goal, on the job. We wouldn't be good for each other. Heat and quaxium don't mix...
The seconds ticked on, stretching out like a chasm between them. "Thank you… For breakfast." He was a coward; he knew that. She let out an angry breath, and he felt her disappointment in his bones as the hatch hissed shut in her wake.
The endless noise of the spaceport made Din's head throb. Clanking and yelling and the beeps of droids congealed into a dissonant clamor that made his helmet feel too tight. Ranzar reviewed something on a datapad then shouted orders to a group of droids, all the while smoking his foul-smelling cigar. Din bristled with frustration, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, one foot tapping out an impatient staccato against the grated floor. He wanted to shadow the droid during the inspection, but Zero refused, telling Mando he would only get in the way and slow down his computations.
So Din had been relegated to stand outside as the droid poked and prodded his ship. His uneasiness grew by the minute. The thoughts of that inorganic thing slicing into the Crest's mainframe, changing the environmental settings, or adjusting his seat made his blood boil. He'd had just about what he could take when the droid finally reappeared.
"Can the Crest make the jump?" Ranzar asked, chewing his cigar as Zero walked down the ship's ramp.
The droid did not deign them with an answer until he halted in front of them. "Despite recent and thorough modifications, there are numerous fuel leaks, the navigation system is intermittent at best, and the hyperdrive is only operating at 67.3% efficiency."
Din spit out a string of angry Mando'a curses at the droid's proclamation. Zero turned towards him, "Since I don't technically have an ass, I'm not entirely sure where you think your boot will go."
Mando took a menacing step towards the droid. Ranzar threw an arm out to stop him. "Enough. Can the ship make the jump or not?"
"I'll make do." Zero replied with the sharp edge of programmed snark.
Ranzar nodded in approval. "Make the final preparations. We jump in an hour." He ordered before waddling back to his office.
"Ranzar, I would like to discuss a few calculations with you in the meantime," Zero said, trailing after him.
"Do you see the light there, youngling?" Zo pointed to a flickering ball of light high up in one corner of the large domed viewport. Grogu slowly blinked his big brown eyes as he followed her finger. "That's Alderaan…or what's left of it." She said, hugging the child close. "It was destroyed over a decade ago by the Empire. The planet is completely gone. Billions of lives snuffed out at all once. I'd never– never felt anything like it. Even when I cut myself off from the Force, I felt their lives end, gone in an instant–"She looked down at the baby, his forehead creased as he looked between her and the sparkling light. "Even though it's gone, the planet, the people, that light is not gone. That light will continue to be there for a thousand years– if you know where to look. Just like the Force, it will always be with you if you know where to look." She tapped her index finger over his heart.
Grogu wrapped one clawed hand around her finger and cooed. Zo kissed the wrinkles on his forehead and brushed his wispy white hair. "Do we look for our own light to follow or wait here in the dark again, hmm?" The baby didn't give her an answer. They silently watched the twinkling stats as the spaceport rotated.
She wasn't sure how long they stood at the viewport, watching the stars and enjoying the quiet, when she sensed Mando's approach. Grogu played on the floor at her feet, chasing his silver ball. He looked up and babbled his version of hello as Mando rounded the corner and halted beside them. Zo tightened the shields around her heart and focused on the baby. His warmth and light kept the anger and resentment at bay.
"This is a nice view," Mando said after several silent seconds. Zo chewed the inside of her cheek and gave him one slight nod. Grogu reached for Mando, and he lifted the child into his arms. "That one used to be Alderaan." He said to the child, pointing to the same flickering ball of light Zo pointed out. "I was born on that one, Aq Vetina." He pointed to another star halfway across the viewport. Grogu cooed happily in his arms.
Zo blew out a long breath and closed her eyes. Stars, could he just…
"We're leaving in thirty minutes." He announced after another long, quiet moment.
She nodded again, watching his reflection in the glass. "Good luck."
"Good luck? What happened to 'May the Force be with you?"
"You don't believe in the Force." She said, finally looking at him.
"I don't know what I believe in anymore…." His gloved hand brushed hers, and she went rigid. "Last night was–"
"A mistake?" The words echoed around the vaulted space as she wrapped her arms tightly across her chest. "I get it, Mando. We aren't partners or friends– or anything else except two people stuck on the same shadowed path... I've let those shadows cloud my judgment." She let out a long breath before turning away from him and adding tightly, "You didn't have to fuck her to prove your point."
He nodded; what else could he say or do. "We should get going. Zero has everything calculated to the millisecond." He turned away from the stars, sliding the child into the pack he wore across his body.
"We?" Zo called after him.
Mando paused, "Since I don't have a partner or a friend on this mission–" Her eyes narrowed into annoyed, ice blue slits. "I at least need someone I can trust."