Welcome to Green Eyes & Beskar Armor

This story is from 'The Mandalorian' TV series. First I would like to personally thank you for choosing my story and I do hope you will enjoy it. Below, I will first place a before-hand note and then the complete summary of this story just so you all can get an idea of what you will be reading. That aside, I hope you enjoy and let's get into this!

A quick note before!

This story is pretty similar to the storyline of the TV series' episodes. A lot of the chapters (but not all) are usually a copy-and-paste from the episode scripts so there will be a lot of spoilers to anyone who hasn't reached Season 2. BUT! Seeing as this is a FanFiction story, I am of course going to be adding in my own twists, characters, scenes, etc. and changing things as well so not everything will be exactly the same.

There will be differences that aren't technically accurate, like for example: my story is placed right before Season 2 but we're going pretend that Mando already knows Grogu's name somehow despite not having met Ahsoka Tano yet. We are also going to pretend Mando still has the Razor Crest and continues through the timeline with it, forgetting all about the N1 Starfighter (*cue Peli Motto's crying*)

I do please ask though that everyone please review! Criticism or compliments or small 1-words, please leave a comment of some kind!

SPOILER WARNING!

Summery

Kayla has been running for years. She'd been running for a reason to her surprise, runs into a Mandalorian. After an agreement between the two, life begins to completely turn around she starts to live different. But what happens when feelings and thoughts she hadn't been planning on begin to form? Will she be able to control those feelings or will they grow to far too fast? And will those feelings become a weakness to her past reason of running?

Boots pounded quickly against the dirt.

Her breath came in gasps as she rushed through the market streets.

She glanced over her shoulder but cursed when the Stormtroopers she was failing to avoid were slowly starting gaining on her. She wasn't stupid enough to let herself think that she was losing them or had any likely chance of losing them soon. In all honesty, she was surprised they hadn't started shooting at her already; she'd been running and avoiding the Imperials for close to all of the day now.

She was beyond tired, she knew she had to find someplace to hide soon before she collapsed from her exhaustion.

Kayla cursed again when she felt herself stumble, barely managing to catch herself before she fell. She spun her head around, trying to find where she was, but could see nothing that gave her any sense of direction. Unfortunately she knew from past experience that she couldn't just change her outfit and fade into the crowd because of how obviously her most distinctive features stood her out.

She heard shouting again and quickly jumped into a side alley to duck behind a large stack of boxes. She heard several unseen troopers rush past and breathed a sigh of relief. She could feel her heart pounding painfully in her chest as she gasped for breath. She knew she wouldn't be able to remain where she was for very long, let alone much longer on this planet, but allowed herself that small moment to calm her heart and breathe.

After several minutes, Kayla carefully left her hiding place to peek out of the alley and try and catch sight of anything that might help her. A familiar sound then caught her ear so she turned and a breath of desperation slipped her lips when she saw the hangers and landing-bays just to her right.

"Hey- You! Freeze!"

Kayla spun as a sudden voice called out. Her heart skipped when she caught sight of the ex-troopers behind her that were just down the road and now headed her way.

Without another thought, she immediately took off towards the hangers, slipping her hood over her hair as she ran. Thankfully the crowds were packed pretty heavily near the landing-bays and Kayla was able to slip in decently-casual among them. She knew the crowd would only slow the troopers for a moment but hopefully that moment would be enough.

She also knew that was past the point of exhaustion and she didn't have much longer before her remaining stamina gave out and she collapsed. So she quickly made way to the first bay that would give her access and burst through the entry, spinning around to look for somewhere to hide. She could hear the troopers shouting behind her for her to give up but she just shook her head, ignoring all thoughts before running to the first ship in sight.

A large silver gunship that didn't look Imperial or Republic sat powered down with its cargo-bay ramp open and available. So after another quick look that revealed no one in sight, Kayla sprinted up the ramp and into the belly of the ship. She skidded to a stop and quickly looked around the ship's inside; it was decently large but looking back, she wasn't certain if she was out of view from the bay so she searched for somewhere to hide just to be sure.

She saw several stacks of storage containers against the walls then looked up to see an overhead storage loft above the main cargo hold area. It didn't look very full with containers so she quickly jumped without a thought. She missed her first attempt to grab the rafter beam so she jumped again and managed to grab hold. Using all of her remaining strength, she pulled herself up onto the rafters then managed to wiggle her way between several of the large cargo bins to lay flat on her stomach in the loft, out of any and all view.

Shouting and footsteps of undoubtedly the troopers burst into the hanger a single second after she settled. Kayla could hear at least half-a-dozen voices shouting as the ex-imperials ran around the several ships looking for her. She couldn't help but hold her breath as she heard a set of footsteps run up the gunship's ramp. One trooper glanced inside but thankfully didn't fully enter the ship and looked only for a minute. They turned back down the ramp to call out that it was clear, earning shouts and curses of frustration in response.

Kayla shakily let out the breath she had been holding, feeling so much stress and pressure leave her shoulders as the trooper's voices faded out when they left. But then the adrenaline of running and playing one-sided hide-and-seek with the Imperials all day started to fade and the weight of exhaustion hit her full-force. She attempted to move to leave her hiding place but her limbs seemed too weak to lift her own weight.

So the redhead paused for a moment and after hearing no sound of anyone or anything nearby she figured she could spare at least one moment to rest and regain her strength before slipping out from the ship. So she closed her eyes, just for a moment…

Just one… small…

Minute…

But the sound of heavy footsteps on metal jerked Kayla awake hours later.

She would have jumped from the sudden sound but the tiny cramped space prevented her movement. A voice was pleading as two sets of footsteps entered the ship and passed right below Kayla's hiding place.

"Whatever they're paying you, I can double it- triple it even- I-I swear! Just please don't do this?!" A man pleaded, fear enveloping his voice. "My entire savings, all the credits I have- Please just let me go!"

"Shut up already." A different voice snapped stiffly in response.

The second voice sounded as though it was spoken through some kind of voice-modulator: from just those three words, Kayla couldn't quite determine whether the voice was rough or if it was smooth but it was clearly deep and surprisingly intense so she figured it was some kind of mixture of both. Then she realized in a panicked shock that the voice must belong to the ship's owner.

She knew she needed to leave.

Despite her wanting to know just who and what she was dealing with, her instinct for self-preservation kept her firmly in place upon the rafters, afraid that any movement would be heard by whoever was below. But then the grating metal of the cargo ramp closing filled Kayla's ears. It took only a second to realize what was happening but as events began to catch up with her, she clenched her fists and shut her eyes tightly to fight the urge to scramble down and out of the ship.

'No no NO! I need to get out of here!' She cried out desperately in her mind.

It was too late though: with a hiss, the ramp sealed itself back in place with the ship's hull and her only known escape route was cut off. The ship's owner had returned and she was now trapped inside.

Things were taking a turn for the worst and only getting worse.

The man's pleading continued and a short moment later there were the short sounds of struggle before a terrified cry and a machine's loud hissing filled the ship's cargo hold; Kayla's green eyes widened as she recognized the sound of a Carbon Freezer. Heart racing, she listened as the hiss of the chamber enclosed the man in carbon material and cut his cries off. Based on the man's words and the presence of a carbonite chamber on the ship, she realized in dread that she was more than likely dealing with a bounty hunter and cursed silently to herself as that just made things all the more unfortunate.

Then only to add to her current confusion, she then heard the sounds of… a baby?

Soft and curious cooing noises came from somewhere below her and she couldn't help but frown in confusion. What the hell sort of ship had she stepped onto? A bounty hunter with a baby? There wasn't a logical explanation she would believe to explain what the hell was going on.

Kayla heard a sigh through the voice-modulator before the bounty hunter apparently walked towards the cooing.

"I told you, you can't eat that."

A quiet babble was his apparent response but soon both the baby and the man's footsteps became too distant for her to make out. Kayla tried thinking of some desperate plan to get herself off the ship but it seems much too dangerous to leave her hiding spot lest she run into whoever this bounty hunter was. And the whirring of machinery suddenly sounded before rising in pitch above her, the tell-tale signs of a power up and activation: a launch sequence was being initiated.

Her heart was hammering in her chest nearly to the point where she almost feared the bounty hunter could hear it. She had no idea what their destination would be or even who these people were. Were they going into hyperspace or just a short trip somewhere else on the planet?

Unfortunately, the sinking feeling in her gut told her it probably wasn't the latter.

Living as a thief and a drifter, Kayla wasn't exactly a stranger to hitching rides without the ship pilot's knowledge. However, she was normally a lot more prepared for those trips. Now she had absolutely none of her stuff with her and was in the most awkward of hiding places. This wasn't how this was supposed to turn out; she'd only wanted a momentary hiding spot from the Imps, not to catch a ride with a bounty hunter that she didn't know the ending destination of.

The quiet hum grew in tone and intensity until she felt the sensation of being pressed into the rafter beam from the g-force. Kayla couldn't help as her sense of annoyance was only overshadowed by the dread that she was in for a very long journey with a complete stranger.

Even an hour after the lights in the cargo hold had been extinguished, Kayla still didn't move.

Emerald eyes locked on the storage container beside her, the thief continued to wait… And wait…. She waited until she was absolutely certain that the bounty hunter had retired to his room to sleep and even then, a small part of her told her to stay put just in case he woke in the middle of the night.

But Kayla didn't know if she could wait any longer: she was hungry, starving even. She had been so preoccupied the past two days with snagging whatever possible from a small group of Imperial warlords that she hadn't stopped to think much about food. Being short on credits didn't help the matter either and that fact had only urged her to try harder to steal more things to later sell, which meant her stomach was aching miserably, twisting her abdomen harshly from denying it food for so long.

The redhead winced. She tried pressing a hand into her body to relieve the pain but to no avail. The aching pain continued until she began to feel she could soon be sick, though she would have nothing to puke if so. Still she knew she had to do something about it, no matter how stupid or reckless it might be. Surely the bounty hunter would have a cupboard with food somewhere?

Knowing the sound of her boots on the ship's metal flooring would cause more noise than she cared for, Kayla paused before slowly and skillfully shifting in her place on the rafters, bringing one knee up so she could reach her boots from her laying position. She slipped the first off, setting it on the beam beside her, then repeated the action with the other.

With now only socks covering her feet, she slowly pushed herself towards the end of the small loft. Everything was dark save for some small lights on some of the ship's machinery. It wasn't too hard for her to see as she'd grown accustomed to the darkness from most of her sneaking and thieving, though it did leave her rather uncomfortable to not have any major light in a hostile place like a bounty hunter's ship. The back of her neck tingled warily as an unconscious reminder that she could so easily be caught but still, Kayla slid at the edge of the rafter and eased herself down until she was hanging above the metal flooring. Thankfully being a thief meant she was used to moving around as quietly as possible so biting her lip, she let her hands go and landed skillfully on the tips of her toes, easing into a silent crouch to absorb the weight of her fall.

Staying close to the floor, Kayla then gave the cargo hold a closer inspection, something she hadn't had the time to do when running from the troopers: through the dark she could tell that most of the hold was bare save for the Carbon Freezer she hadn't noticed earlier, a few cabinets, and the stacks of storage crates on either side. There was still lots of room for anything that the bounty hunter might think to put here but none of the cargo looked special or particularly important. It was plain and functional but not much else.

Her socks were practically silent on the metal flooring as she crept closer to the end of the hold. In the furthest left corner was a refresher and in front of that was a ladder that led up to the level above. She looked around but there wasn't really anywhere else to go but up. So her hand closed around one of the ladder's rungs and she climbed, slowly letting out a worried but steady breath.

Kayla peaked her head just over the edge of the floor above, looking around for any evidence of someone being awake. But this level was just as dark save for the blue-purple light of hyperspace travel coming from the cockpit's open door. The gentle hum of the ship's engine as they continued in hyperspace would normally be a comforting noise to the redhead but it only served to reinforce the fact that she was stuck on this stranger's ship until they landed, much to her chagrin.

She slowly and carefully stepped past the cockpit, debating if she should try and figure out what their ultimate destination would be from the navigational computer. But another aching pain then erupted from her stomach to remind her of her first goal.

So she silently moved over to the two closest doors she found. The first door led down a rather small hall while the second led into a small side room. Kayla didn't want to be lurking around too long for fear of anyone waking so she turned into the small side room first.

She wasn't exactly familiar with ships but hoped that it would be the place for a kitchen of sorts. So she couldn't help but smile slightly in relief when the door led to a room with a small sink and counter with accompanying cupboards and drawers. She crept to the nearest cupboard and opened it, disappointed to find it so sparse. The only thing she could find within it were non-perishable ration packs that were really only meant for survival situations and some canned soups. The ration packs were the cheapest alternative to actual food and Kayla usually tried avoiding them if at all possible. But she knew this wasn't a situation where she could be picky so she grabbed one. It took a lot of effort not to grab more, lest the bounty hunter notice, so she silently pressed the cupboard closed again and turned to leave the room with her stolen food.

The ship really was eerie. Kayla had never been stupid enough to hitch a ride on a bounty hunter's ship; the great risk of getting caught with her own bounties over her head left her feeling uneasy the entire time, even if she trusted in her ability to remain practically silent as she moved through the ship.

A very careful ear was straining to hear any out-of-place noise as she moved slowly and steadily. The slightest sense of movement or sign of consciousness from the hunter or baby and she knew she would most likely have to pull out her blaster. She didn't like the thought of being found and having to resort to fighting; Kayla would admit that while she was quite skilled when it came to straightforward hand-to-hand combat, she very much preferred to avoid it and hoped she could just manage to hide up in the rafters out-of-mind until they reached their destination.

Her sock-clad feet began making their way back to the ladder but then her emerald-green eyes caught sight of the cockpit again. For a moment she hesitated; she needed to know where they were going so she knew how long she'd be stuck aboard so ignoring the little voice in her head that screamed at her to get back to her hiding place, she carefully crept into the room. She moved between the pilot and passenger's chair and eyed the controls and navigation screen.

Sparing a paranoid glance behind her, she gently tapped on the navigational screen and it lit up a bright green against the black backdrop. Despite not knowing a whole lot about ships, most models of nav-maps were universally similar so she didn't have a problem finding her way to the hyperspace routes. She followed the line the route computer had plotted, eyes tracing over the green-lit flight path before settling on a blip on the screen marked with the galactic grid data.

"Bothawui…?" She whispered under her breath, unfamiliar with the planet's name.

It was probably some back-water planet with barely a population and chances are, that was where the bounty that the hunter had taken was located. Having a low population might make for a tricky escape from the gunship and an even trickier time getting back off the planet later but Kayla shook her head, knowing that at least she'd be off this hunter's ship. She then looked to find that, by the computer's navigation, they wouldn't arrive for-

The hair on the back of her neck suddenly bristled

Kayla tensed the second she felt a presence behind her, the distance closing quickly.

Eyes widening in a feared shock, she quickly grabbed the blaster from her hip and spun around to aim at whoever was behind her. But they were faster. Obviously having anticipated her to make that exact move, a gloved hand reached out through the dark and immediately grabbed hold of her wrist, harshly twisting her arm to her side. Kayla yelped as the strength of the sudden movement caused her to accidentally pull the trigger and a bolt was fired into the far wall. She let go of the blaster out of reflex so the weapon clattered to the metal floor at her feet. Then with quick and rather rough movements, the bounty hunter swept her feet out from beneath her and shoved her to the floor in a single move, kicking her weapon in the opposite direction.

She landed flat on her stomach but had no time to grab her knife or even move as both her wrists were instantly secured tightly behind her back in a single, strong grip. His knee was pressed to her back between her shoulder-blades and the barrel of a blaster was held against her jaw.

"Tell me one reason I shouldn't throw you in the carbonite chamber." The bounty hunter growled.

In just three seconds, she was down and immobilized with no time to react.

Kayla's eyes were wide as she tried to take a breath, her lungs shaking: even through the voice-modulator, the seriousness and anger was more than clear in the stranger's intensely-firm voice.

"Wait! I-I-I know what this must seem like!" She quickly stuttered out in a gasp, nervously squirming beneath his unbreakable grip as a feeling of claustrophobia began taking over. "But I promise I have nothing against you! Imperials were after me and I just needed a place to hide so I snuck onto your ship at the port but I- I was only hiding from them, I swear I was going to leave your ship once they left but then you appeared and took off before I could so I didn't have any time and ended up hitching a ride by mistake but I'm sorry I- I swear I didn't mean to!"

"I can see that." He said shortly. The cold metal of his blaster barrel didn't let up from her skin and she knew from the way it didn't waver that he wouldn't hesitate to use it if he felt like it. "Why my ship? There were others at the port."

"It was just right there, the ramp was open and no one seemed to be near. I didn't have the time to look around or think about what to do, it was just my best chance of hiding from them." Kayla told him honestly, trying to calm herself. "I didn't know it was your ship- I- I don't even know who you are!"

The man holding her said nothing, perhaps weighing if he believed her or not, and Kayla could feel her heart pounding with each second that passed. Maybe she could somehow convince him that it wasn't worth the carbon to freeze her?

Then a quiet cooing sound caught her attention.

Kayla's gaze shifted from the hunter as a small green thing waddled into her line of sight. Dressed in some sort of tan robe, its large ears twitched curiosity upon seeing her. It was obviously a child by the way its eyes were so big and innocent but what it was exactly, the redhead couldn't even begin to guess. She'd never seen anything like it before.

"Stay back." The man warned it casually. The kid looked up at him in response but obediently paused its small steps.

Kayla was still far-past-confused as to why a baby was on a bounty hunter's ship but she figured she probably didn't want to know.

"Look, obviously this is just a big misunderstanding, a bad lapse in my judgment." She tried reasonably, hoping having the child around would maybe leave the stranger open to negotiation or at least stop him from shooting her. "You don't want me here and I really don't want to be here so we're honestly in the same mindset. I jus- I can get off your ship the second you land and then we never have to see each other again."

"You could be here after him." The bounty hunter countered, his modulated voice still firm. But Kayla just frowned.

"Him?" She repeated, confused.

"The kid."

Kayla glanced at the green child again then shook her head as much as possible while pressed into the grated floor by a blaster barrel.

"Why would I be after him? I don't know what I look like to you but I'm not in the business of stealing people. Yes I steal things but I'm a thief, not a slave trader!" She frowned, offended by the accusation.

"What's your name?" He then asked after a moment's pause. She sighed again, though she couldn't exactly blame him for all his questions.

"Kayla Johnson of Denon." She answered, not seeing any benefit to lying; she just silently prayed he didn't do too much research and decipher her true birth-name.

Another moment passed before eventually the blaster barrel left her cheek. She heard him holster it, though he didn't move his knee from her back or release his hold on her wrists.

"I don't recognize you as a hunter or imperial so I won't just kill you." He then told her.

The redhead let out a breath of relief but immediately re-tensed when she felt binders latching her wrists together behind her back. She rolled her green eyes with a small breath but her captor didn't bother to respond and grabbed her arm to pull her up from the floor. She staggered a step, getting used to being upright so suddenly, but regained her balance.

Kayla then turned to the mysterious bounty hunter but couldn't help but feel a jolt of surprise when she saw who stood before her: she hadn't been suspecting anything or anyone in specific but she had to admit that she had definitely not been expecting a Mandalorian as the face- well, technically helmet- behind the voice.

Her annoyance gave way to curiosity and she couldn't help but look over at the armored warrior who's beskar reflected the swirling colors of hyperspace from the cockpit windows. Ignoring her staring however, the Mandalorian just spun her around and shoved her a bit unkindly against the wall before searching her body for any weapons. Kayla had to admit that he was pretty thorough; she could feel herself growing antsy at what she felt were unnecessary precautions but supposed she couldn't blame him since she was an unknown stowaway.

She found herself looking around while he patted her down, again spotting the little green child toddling around by their feet. He cocked his head to the side and looked up at her with interest as his companion searched her.

"What exactly is he, anyway?" She couldn't help but ask, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Quiet." The Mandalorian told her in sharp response.

Kayla again rolled her emerald eyes, tilting her head to try to shift her auburn hair from her face. She decided it was better to just pretend the thing didn't exist as riling up the bounty hunter with questions wouldn't gain her anything. But only several seconds passed before the small creature tugged at her pant leg with its tiny hands. She looked down again but the Mandalorian noticed immediately.

"Get away from her." He scolded, temporarily letting go of his prisoner to pick up the child.

He set the kid on the cockpit's pilot seat a few steps away then immediately went back to his searching. Kayla didn't bother to move, knowing there was no use giving the hunter any reason to shoot her or think she was a threat.

He managed to find the two knives from her belt and one from her leg and tossed them beside her forgotten blaster on the floor. Satisfied that he hadn't missed any weapons, he then grabbed her arm and pushed her out the cockpit's doorway towards the ladder. Although she managed to step down the first three rungs with her hands locked behind her, he didn't help when Kayla's sock-clad foot slipped on the next rung's metal and fell back to the ground below.

"Agh-!" She winced as she landed on her side with a loud 'thump'. The impact was centered on the back of her shoulder, catching her left arm in the collateral. From the way it painfully flared to life, she unfortunately knew there would be a bruise and sore limb later.

Muttering curses to herself, Kayla rolled herself over and managed to get to her knees with her still hands bound while the bounty hunter dropped down to the floor beside her. He unceremoniously hauled her to her feet again but at least had the decency to not touch her now-injured arm, instead grabbing hold of her other. She looked up but spotted the carbon freezer ahead of them and skidded to a stop.

"Wait-! Wait, there's no need to use your carbonite on me! I-I was only trying to survive on Rodia! I swear I won't cause any other problems!" She rambled desperately but the Mandalorian only pushed her past the chamber, a small sigh audible through his modulator.

"I'm not freezing you. Now shut up." He again snapped.

The sheer relief was enough for her to obey his command and followed obediently as he led her towards the back of the cargo bay below where she'd originally hid. He moved her to the side wall of the bay beside several storage bins then kicked his boot against the back of her knees, making her legs buckle and causing her to fall to a kneel on the floor. A tether was then looped around her locked wrists and attached securely to a rail bolted to the hull.

Well, she definitely wasn't going anywhere now.

"I'll release you when we get to Bothawui. Then we'll go our separate ways." He told her plainly, standing a few steps in front of her with crossed arms. "But until then, you will stay locked here."

Kayla couldn't tell by his modulated voice what he was feeling or thinking and his armor's helmet certainly wasn't providing any clues. So she released a tired breath and nodded, already done with this whole proceeding.

"I won't try to break out, it's not like I'd have anywhere to go while in hyperspace. And I'm not stupid enough to try and attack a Mandalorian." She told him honestly with a single-shouldered shrug.

The helmet was silent. The black 'T' of the visor was staring at her as she shifted her shoulders to try to be more comfortable, sitting back on her folded knees. She raised her gaze back up to see he was still watching her. She was a bit uncomfortable with the silent attention but wasn't unused to it, knowing he was likely just looking at her unnatural eyes as so many others did.

So she raised a brow after another moment and blinked her eyes several times in silent question. He dropped his arms in response then turned and walked back towards the ladder to the upper level. And with that, she was alone.

So Kayla let out with a sigh and leaned her head back against the hull.

"At least I'm not frozen, dead, or back at square-one…"