CHAPTER FIVE

❝ CARRYING WHAT IT BRINGS ❞

The hatch to the Jawa's astromech unit slowly groaned open. "This is as far as we will take you. You will continue on forward until you reach a cave. Inside is the egg, bring it to us and you shall have your parts back." The Jawa finished speaking to Kuill and Manda. Manda nodded in response and turned to Kuill, "stay here with the Jawa's. Make sure they don't leave with our parts." "As you wish." Kuill said.

Manda walked up to Mando. "The kid is coming with us. I don't trust anyone here enough to leave it alone." Mando said as Manda made her presence known to him. "The ugnaught isn't bad, but I understand." Manda sighed, "let's go. The Jawa's told me where we can find the egg."

Arista and Din began their trek to the cave. The rocky terrain of Arvala-7 didn't give in. Arista walked ahead of Din and the child. With a small grunt she climbed her way over a ledge and spotted a large opening to the left cliff side. "Hey! I think I found it." She called out. She reached behind her and helped Din up and over. Both hunters strode up to the opening and stopped before it. The tension quickly thickened and became heavy. Arista felt her heart rate slightly quicken and a pinch of anxiety set in. Din was running all different scenarios in head. Neither of them knew what could be inside. Arista finally spoke up, "park the kid outside. No telling what could be inside." Din complied and set the child's pod in place with the touch of his gauntlet.

To prepare himself, Din made sure he had all different weapons at the ready. Cocking back wrist gauntlets and checking his ammunition, he was ready. He slipped his blaster out of his hip holster, Arista doing the same, "stay close to me." He lead the charge inside. Arista took one last look back at the child before following Din in the cave.

The cave inside was dark. Droplets of water could be heard echoing all around. Din and Arista both turned on their helmet lights to illuminate the unknown. Arista's eyes glanced over old animal bones while her ears caught the sound of insects chirping. Din bent down to examine the ground but the sound of low guttural growls caught their attention. Their helmet lights both faced the direction of where the growls were coming from. The lights scanned over until they froze in place. Suddenly, a brown eye opens.

The child, outside the cave, hears blaster shots ring out. The creature roars out and Din comes flying out of the cave landing hard in the mud with a grunt. Arista is soon to follow landing farther than Din flat on her back. Pain immediately shot up her spinal cord. Not just from the impact of hitting the thick mud, but also from landing on her rifle. Arista whimpered low groans, Din slowly got up with his cuirass ripped in half and barely hanging on.

Loud stomps signaled to the hunters that the creature has exited the cave. A mudhorn. Din arose and tried to cock his rifle but the mud must've jammed it, rendering it useless. Arista groggily made it back to her feet and saw the mudhorn's attempted attack on Din. She quickly swung her rifle around from her back and unclipped it. Arista went to load the rifle but her ammunition was missing from her leg holster. She then went to reach for her blaster but remember that it was thrown out of her hand from impact. Her blaster was a ways away from her. The mudhorn turned its attention to Arista. She saw the mudhorn lined up to her. The beast roared and began to charge. She quickly ran towards her blaster barely evading the horned attack and quickly shot multiple shots towards the creature. The sudden fast movement made Arista dizzy and she dropped to one knee.

The blasts almost did nothing but irritate the creature and it turned its attention to the child's pod. Din reacted swiftly by using his gauntlet and moving the child's pod out of harms way. The mudhorn turned back to Din and advanced. He wasn't fast enough to load his weapon but attempted his flamethrower. Similar to the blaster shots, the flames did nothing but infuriate the mudhorn. The creature slammed it's horn against Din's chest.

Arista heard Din's loud grunt. She gathered herself and ran toward the creature. Din tried his flamethrower again but failed. Arista aimed and shot a small grappling hook around the horn and then was able to retract herself on the mudhorn's head and gripped tight on the horn. The creature roared out and Din shot his own grappling hook but it landed at the base of the horn and he was then dragged along in the mud. Arista yelled out trying to gain control of the animal. She took out her vibroblade and stuck it along the base of the horn and left it in.

It roared once again and threw its head back, Arista held on tight but Din's cord broke and sent him rolling into the opening of the cave. The creature circled back around ignoring the blasts it was receiving from Arista's blaster. It charged once again at Din and used it's horn to fling his body back into the thick heavy mud. "Din!" Arista cried out. Her grip loosened. The mudhorn took advantage and threw her off of its head. Her body landed opposite of Din and the blaster left her hand.

The child looked and saw the mudhorn circle back to the hunters and was ready to charge once again. The hunters both slowly got up to their knees. Din reached for his vibroblade as did Arista for her spare. The mudhorn slammed its horn down tauntingly and growled. It ran towards them and Din aimed his blade forward. Arista reached to do the same but a sudden high pitched ringing caught her ears. The loud echoing stomps of the mudhorn had then diminuendoed. Din gasped at what he was seeing. Arista looked at the mudhorn floating and looked back at the child. Her suspicions were confirmed. Din looked back as well and saw what the child was doing, he had never knew anything of this.

The child then lowered its arm and laid back in its pod. The mudhorn fell back to the mud. Din and Arista quickly stabbed their blades into the neck of the beast, Din slipped back but Arista was fast enough to catch and drag him away from the horn. The beast was weakened. It let out one last roar then was put to rest. Arista helped Din gain back his footing. He let out small groans from all the pain he endured. He limped to the mudhorn and forced the blades in deeper then twisting and pulling them out from the animal's neck. Din handed back Arista her blade then they both limped over to the child.

The child was fast asleep. That much power to lift a mudhorn from its small size must've been too much for it. But Arista kept thinking in her mind, "why did it help them?" She was shaken from her thoughts by Din, "the egg." She nodded back in response. As the hunters made their way back to the entrance of the cave Arista mumbled, "there better not be another one." They both returned to where the mudhorn once laid and finally saw the egg. Din extracted the large brown fuzzy egg from its mud home. "Is that it?" Arista questioned. "It has to be." Din said.

Both of them hobbled out of the cave, still feeling the aftermath of the attack. Din held the egg and limped back over to the child. He reset his gauntlet to sync back with the pod. Arista retrieved her lost blaster and loudly groaned as she bent over to grab it. She put the blaster back into her hip holster. As she limped back to the pod she noticed Din staring into it. Even the sound of her footsteps coming closer didn't break his trance. She began to say his name, "Din." "Din." She finally nudged his shoulder, "Din." He finally looked back to his left and spoke a soft, "huh?" "We have to go." Arista gently said. "Yes." He nodded back.

The Jawas became restless and impatient from the long absence of the hunters. "They're probably dead." "They won't come back." "I'm hungry." The Jawas all conversed with each other. Kuill took notice of the Jawa's, "just a little while longer." Kuill tried to buy Manda and Mando more time. The Jawa's were tired of his excuses for them and began to walk up the hatch and leave. "Fine. Go without me." Kuill exasperated and sighed. It wasn't until he turned away from the astromech and caught sight of the beaten up bounty hunters walking into view. "Mando! Manda!" Kuill excitedly greeted. "We have it. We got the egg." Mando breathed out.

Cheering from the fallen hatch sounded from the Jawas. They all gathered around the hunters, mainly Mando since he had the egg. They all reached out to the egg until the leader reached out and took the egg. The Jawa's followed the leader where they all took turns eating the yellow gelatinous slime. Mando shook his head and Manda scrunched her nose in disgust. They both walked to where Kuill was standing.

"I'm surprised you waited." Mando said.

"I'm surprised you took so long." Kuill quipped.

"Well, as you can see things got a bit... messy." Manda tried to explain. "Yes, you both are filthy. Now that the Jawa's are satisfied, help me get your stolen parts loaded up."

All of the stolen parts had been loaded up and Manda sat beside the child's pod with Mando on her other side and Kuill steering the blurrg . It's been hours since the child had used that much power to lift the mudhorn. It must've taken a lot out of it. The kid probably hasn't used that much power like that before. There is one thing for sure, the child is very strong. Mando noticed how Manda kept glancing over and staring at the pod. He carefully placed his hand on hers that was resting on her knee. She looked back at him and he could see the tension diminish in her shoulders. She then leaned her head against his shoulder. Both of them were beyond tired and were taking advantage of this time for rest and recovery.

"Is it still sleeping?" Kuill asked from ahead. Manda lifted her head from Mando's shoulder and peered into the pod. "Yes." She spoke. "Was it injured?" Kuill inquired. "I don't think so. Not physically." Mando responded.

  "Explain it to me again. I still don't understand what happened." Kuill said.

  "Neither do I." Mando said.

"I do." Manda thought to herself. She was all too familiar with what the child had done.

Night had fallen onto Arvala-7 yet again.

"There's no way we're gonna get this to work without a full maintenance facility. This is gonna take days to fix." Mando commented. Kuill flicked the switch to illuminate and shed some light on the Razor Crest. Manda was already going through all the tools. "If you care to help, it might go faster." Kuill deadpanned. Manda walked over to Mando and tossed him a wrench, which he easily caught. "Like he said, there is much work to do."

Kuill began to work on the interior of the ship as Manda and Mando welded back the exterior panels. It had been hours since the beginning of the reconstruction. Manda was below the ship replacing and rewiring the undercarriage. She had already set the wires into place but the covering panel was giving her a hard time. She kept having trouble keeping the panel in place while she welded it back in place. "Just stay, you stupid piece of shi-" "You need some help?" Manda mumbled frustration was interrupted by Mando poking his head underneath. "Um, yeah. Can you come hold this in place real quick?" She asked tiredly. Mando nodded and crawled underneath to where she was.

There was enough space for him to be able to sit and hold up the panel. "Thanks." She said and began to weld the perimeter. She was able to get most of the job done then it came to the point to where the end met in front of him. Manda realized on how close she would have to get finish off the last section. "Watch the sparks." She warned.

She then got close to his chest and began to weld the last section. The sparks bounced off of their signature helmets. Mando couldn't help but move his attention to the woman in front of him. The red and orange sparks hitting against the deep blue Mandalarian helmet. The close proximity made his chest tight and his heart beat quicken. Manda also was feeling similar affects. Her face began to heat up, not just because of the heat from the sparks. She finally managed to finish off of the very last bit and turned the welding wand off. "There." Manda finished. She looked away from her work and looked at Mando, who was already looking at her.

"You know, you didn't have to hold that last part." She commented. "I know." He said smugly, "just needed an excuse." He then got up and crawled out, leaving Manda more heated than ever. Manda couldn't help the smile on her face. She bit a apart of her lip, slightly shook her head, and chuckled softly to herself.

  "This man is going to be the death of me."

By morning the Razor Crest had been completely rebuilt. It looked even better than it did before. Mando and Kuill were in the cockpit checking on the engines. Manda was down below by the open side hatch leaning her shoulder against the frame with the child still sleeping next to her. The sound of footsteps drew her head to turn and see Kuill and Mando climbing down the ladder to where she stood.

"We can't thank you enough. Please allow us to give you a portion of the reward." Mando offered. Kuill then shook his head in rejection, "I cannot accept. You both are my guest and I am therefore in your service." Kuill moved to pack his bags. Mando then walked over next to Manda and placed his hand on the small of her back. She nodded to him, signaling an agreement to the offer Mando had told her about earlier. "We could use a crew member of your ability, and we can pay you handsomely."

Kuill looked back at the hunters, "I am honored, but I have worked a lifetime to finally be free of servitude."

"We understand. Then all we can offer is our thanks and hope for your peace." Manda said.

  "And I offer mine. Thank you for bringing peace to my valley." Kuill thanked. Both hunters nodded back in gratitude. Kuill then descended the hatch and mounted his blurrg, "and good luck with The Child. May it survive and bring you both a handsome reward. I have spoken." Kuill finished and rode off on the blurrg back to his home.

Manda and Mando both walked back into the newly refurbished cockpit. Mando guided the child's pod into the seat to his right. Manda slumped down into the seat on his left. Mando in the pilot's seat flipped the switches and slowly pulled the lever to start the engines. Kuill was outside the Razor Crest waving. Manda spotted him and gave him a short salute. Mando then steered and the Razor Crest was now in flight.

The Razor Crest soared through the stars. The browns and oranges of Arvala-7 were replaced by the deep black and white stars of space. Din set the Razor Crest at ease and looked back at the child's open pod. "It's still sleeping." Arista said softly glancing over to the child. Din slightly shook the pod to try to get any movement out of it. "That mudhorn took a lot out of it." She added. "How long do you think till it wakes up?" Din asked her. He was suspicions of how she knew the condition of the kid.

"It's been asleep for about a day. It could be any minute from now...or maybe even longer, just... from my estimate." Arista spoke with a hint of apprhensiveness. She looked away from the child and gazed at the floor, avoiding his eyes. Din picked up on her tone, he had a feeling that she's uncomfortable when talking about what the kid had done. Every time he and Kuill talked about it she would stay quiet and just look at the child.

Din decided to not press any farther and focus back onto to flying.

Very faint coos came from the child's pod. Arista's head picked up and saw the child slowly sat up. It studied all of its surroundings. The child looked over at Din and cooed. It then looked over at Arista. It's eyes and ears perked up when they caught sight of the Mandalarian. It raised it's short green arm up towards her and cooed. Arista tried to not melt at how adorable the child is. She was a warrior, a bounty hunter, a Mandalarian. But she couldn't help but feel a connection from the child.

She extended her gloved hand to the child. Her hand touched it's little three-fingered hand and a cold rush ran down Arista's spine. The child stared its eyes at the black slits in her helmet as if to look deep into her real eyes. It's other arm raised to her. Arista gave in and she picked up the child and placed it in her lap. The kid readjusted itself in her lap and leaned against her chest. It's head touched her chest cuirass and fell back asleep.

Din had heard the whole exchange between the kid and Arista. The corners of his mouth lifted into a small smile. But as he continued to focus on flying it dawned on him. She's getting attached to the kid. The main rule of the Bounty Hunters Guild. Just as she was breaking the rule, he hadn't known at that time so was he.

- - - -

umm... hey y'all!
yes this story is still continuing. i just started college and now i'm fully organized and motivated to finish Thrill of the Hunt!

ALSO SEASON 2 TRAILER HAS DROPPED!
sasha banks in the trailer, perfection! i'm so excited to see who she will be playing.

Since season 2 is dropping soon so I will try to finish Thrill of the Hunt so I can get the sequel in the works!