"Dank farrik!" throwing his hands into the air, the Mandalorian turned around sharply. He had been tracking a bounty for three days on this planet. He had uncovered so many hints of where this Togruta was and yet each time he came close, the wanted criminal was gone.

With a huff and an almost stomp of the foot, Mando continued on his search. The tracking fob he held out blinked fastest toward a forest outside the city Mando had tossed up in order to find this slinky Togruta.
"You'll regret running," Mando muttered to himself.

The town wasn't keen on a Mandalorian being there for so long as most of them refused to answer his questions. They were making it harder for themselves. The town could give up the criminal and he'd go. Just what they wanted.

Mando stepped over a box near an alley and just as he did a woman came rushing out. With a surprised shriek from the woman and a grunt from the Mandalorian, they collided. Each fell straight on their back making the air push out of their lungs.

Both scrambled up. Mando made it to his feet first and kicked the woman back down before he saw he was in no danger from this woman. She was blind and far too small to take him on.

"Hey! What's the big idea!" The woman fell back down with a thump and rubbed her shoulder where a boot had kicked her.

"I'm sorry. Let me help you," reaching down, Mando took her hand and hoisted her up to her feet. She jerked back immediately and slapped his hand away.

"Did you seriously just kick me after ramming me onto the ground?" she didn't wait for a reply, "Then you offer to help me up?" The woman seethed through her teeth and balled her fists.

Mando stayed silent, backing away. He hoped he could slip away from this and not cause any further problems.

"Hey!" the blind woman reached out and took a step only to trip on the box in front of her.

Mando stepped forward to help but realized that might make the angry woman madder.

Sighing, Mando said, "I don't want to cause any trouble, Miss."

"Well, you already did," the woman said. She stood with a jump and faced Mando, at least where his voice was coming from.

"I don't have time for this," Mando mumbled. He looked to the forest edge.

Without another word, he bolted for the gate. He made it to the forest and pulled out his tracking fob. It blinked faster now. Pulling his blaster, Mando crept further into the forest. The bright red male Togruta would stand out in these trees.

Branches snapped underfoot. Mando flexed his ears trying to listen for a hint of life in the trees ahead. Mando reached slowly to his helmet and turned on his heat-sensing vision. Footsteps were leading into the forest on his left side. The feet were bare feet as the toes and the balls of the feet were digging deep into the soft ground indicating the Togruta was running.

Easily tracking the path, Mando was led to a swampy meadow. The waving grass was tall and had been torn away as the creature ran through it. The red male might be good at hiding but he wasn't good at running.

With a sigh, Mando jogged through the muddy grass. After a time of tracking the footprints, it appeared that the creature had stopped running. They were stumbling steps. The man probably had tripped. The ground was scuffed where he might have fallen and then there were no tracks after that. Whipping his head around, Mando tried to make sense of the odd findings. The tree near the scuffed ground looked to have more heat sensing off of it than the others. Looking up, a panting red Togruta clung to the trunk of the tree more than forty feet up.

"I suggest you come down or you'll fall down with a hole in your head," Mando aimed his blaster at the sweaty forehead of the creature.

"No! Don't shoot!" the young male hugged the tree tighter and squeezed his eyes closed, "I can't get down…"

Mando shook his head as he reholstered his blaster pistol. He crossed his arms and looked back up at the man peering down at him.

"I'd figure it out quick, then, if I were you," Mando called.

"Please, just don't shoot," the Togruta pleaded. Gingerly, the man placed his bare foot lower on a knot on the tree. Inch by inch the man struggled down the tree. Just as he was in reach of the Mandalorian he was yanked down by the hem of his shirt. He fell on his back with a thump. If it weren't for the soft forest floor he might have a broken tailbone.

"Get up. I've got a bounty to collect," Mando grabbed the front of his bounty's shirt and pulled the young red man to his feet. Without a skip to the process, Mando clicked the handcuffs into place.

The white markings on the Togruta's face above his eyes furrowed in disappointment and anger. Stumbling into step with the Mandalorian he kept his head down. Watching his muddied feet take each step he sighed as he thought of the now worthless efforts in the past two days to escape being captured.

As the two made it back to the city gate, the blind woman stood at the wall of the entrance.

"Who's there?" the vicious woman stared with her blue eyes at the approaching footsteps.

Mando sighed. He thought the woman would be on her way by now. Ramming into her really was an accident.

"Miss, I don't want any trouble with you," Mando said as he led his bounty to a halt in front of the woman.

"I don't care about that anymore. I heard you are a bounty hunter and I need your help."

"No," Mando didn't want a second job and this was his last bounty. He'd go to Navarro and get his money. Then he'd be off to collect again. He needed to stay with the routine.

"Please. I'm sorry I slapped you," she sucked in a breath through her teeth and continued desperately, "Someone I hold dear is missing. I can't look around and find them for obvious reasons. I can pay."

Shaking his head slowly and letting out a breath, Mando criticized himself.

"Okay. I'll do it. Meet me here in thirty minutes," turning, Mando took his bounty into the city. Finding his ship in the hanger, Mando barely turned on the carbonite freezer before the shocked Togruta was frozen.

Mando hit the button to close the ramp on his small yellow ship, a YT-2660 transport ship turned bounty hunter ship. He was alone now. Looking to his sides instinctively, Mando slipped his helmet off. It was humid on this planet. His face was covered in sweat and his skin was reacting to the constant moisture. Mando pulled a cloth out and wiped the grime off.

He sighed. A little detour was really no problem. She probably lost her cat. He ran his gloved hand over his face and noted that he needed a shave pretty soon.

Wiping his helmet out with the clothe, Mando slipped the T-shaped visored helmet back on and made a beeline to the city's gate. He saw the blind woman leaning on the wall with her arms crossed. Her chin rested on her chest. He couldn't tell if her blue eyes were open or closed but they were the bluest eyes he'd ever seen on a human. She had sandy blonde hair that made her dark eyebrows stand out.

Her oval face was perfect. Her rounded, feminine jaw was the cornerstone of her small nose and pink lips. Now that he had time to look at her she was indeed beautiful. She was short but lean looking. Not that he really tried to look and figure out this woman who wore peasant clothing. That would be ridiculous.

"Who do you need to find?" Mando asked once he knew she noticed him.

"I need your help finding my niece," the woman straightened and faced the bounty hunter's voice. She could tell his voice was not coming directly from his mouth. It was like a translator was being used or he had a helmet on.

"Is she planet-side?" Mando asked.

"I hope so. She was taken by pirates. I don't know what they could have wanted with such a young girl," the blind woman blinked away nervous tears, "All I have is three hundred and fifty credits. Please."

"I will help you," Mando looked down into her blank blue eyes for a moment, "Do you know the pirates? Any other kind of information that would help?"

"Yes. They have terrorized this town for at least half a decade. They are from somewhere beyond the Smoggute. No one here has been able to go out to confront them."

Mando nodded but remembered she couldn't see, "Alright."

"But one more thing. I'm going with you. I can fight those scum. That's why I wasn't captured as well."

"That's not-"

"I'm going," the woman crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes slightly. She tipped her chin up and it felt like she was looking straight through his visor.

For a moment Mando's breath caught in his throat. Her eyes weren't just the bluest, they were a piercing blue that made his argument falter instantly.

"Fine. We'll head out at sunrise. It's already past late afternoon. We'll meet here at first light," Mando turned to head to the Razor Crest but a voice stopped him.

"Thank you, bounty hunter."

"You can call me Mando, Miss."

"Oh," at first her face looked shocked as she quickly realized that this bounty hunter was a Mandalorian but she relaxed and said, "You can call me Miss." She smiled sweetly, a much different expression than what she wore during their first encounter. She turned around and started to walk away like she wasn't blind.

Mando nodded again, feeling foolish that he kept doing that. He left the darkening streets and entered the YT-2660, locking the ramp behind him. Mando heaved the hundredth sigh of the day and took his helmet off.

With only his flight suit on, he worked to clean and polish his armor. The tan and burgundy colors shone more brightly and his shiny gray helmet reflected his face back at him. Each marking of battle on his armor was lost from memory being clouded with blood. He had spilled a lot of blood into this set of armor. Each drop had paid for it. The Armorer was generous enough to make hip protections as well just last month. They came in handy often since then.

Sighing again, Mando set his helmet aside and found his knife. He rummaged through a box to find his shaving cream. His helmet was the only mirror-like thing he ever used so he kneeled to look into his helmet's visor as he shaved with his knife.

After washing any remaining shaving cream away he smoothed his mustache with his fingers. He had been trying to grow one since last year and a little bit of a jaw beard. Owning his opinion on his looks, he declared to himself he looked great. With a hint of a satisfied smile, Mando put his helmet back on and all his armor before going to his cockpit to check any hologram messages.

Soon he was dozing in his pilot chair, only to wake up with a jolt. His heart was racing. He had to push these night terrors away. His parents were haunting him. They said time would heal but it had been twelve years. He had been through worse since then and hadn't had nightmares about those incidents.

Mando sighed. Settling back down into his chair, he looked up to the stars to distract himself. They were different when he was planet-side. When he flew among them they seemed distant but when he would look at them from a planet he felt like he could reach out and grab them.

Mando shook his head. He was a Mandalorian. He couldn't reach for the stars like a kid anymore. He was a threat to many and here he was thinking of dreams that would never come true. Mando stood and tried to busy himself. Five bounties were hung on his wall in the back. He checked all of them to make sure they would be set for a few more days.

Mando remembered he hadn't eaten in a while so he grabbed a ration pack and ate the freeze-dried bread and meat in boiled water. Just as he finished, a knocking came outside the YT. In a blink of an eye, Mando had his helmet on and his blaster in his hand. He pressed the big white button on the side of his ramp door. Its hydraulics expanded as it opened. It was pitch black outside but his visor automatically adjusted.