24 | THE LANDING

The cockpit was the only thing Mando could pressurize so they could travel to Trask. The flight there was unbearably slow, as the ship was literally limping to its destination. "Wake me up if someone shoots at us, or if that door gets sucked off its rails," Mando leaned over to Celeste, "I'm kidding. If that happened, we'd all be dead. Sweet dreams."

Celeste punched his armored arm. "You're so funny," she rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding..." his chuckles faded away into a sigh.

Celeste got comfortable in her chair and closed her eyes. "But, not really." She heard Mando whisper under his breath after a few moments. Causing him to receive a kick from Celeste.

* * *

As the frog lady and Mando slept, Celeste stayed awake. She couldn't rest knowing that no one was keeping watch. Knowing that the ship could fall apart at any second and suck them into the emptiness of space—killing them instantly—was not a pleasing thought to her. And it wasn't a thought that would not allow her to sleep well with.

While she sat in her seat, holding the child with one arm, her other hand was twirling the ring she had found in the snack cabinet days before. The engagement ring Mando had planned on giving to her. After their crash landing, she pocketed the ring in case it were to get lost in the wreckage.

Fortunately, she did, as the ring wouldn't have made it in the open area of the ship. She saw Mando beginning to stir in his sleep, indicating to Celeste that he was about to waken. She watched him wake up, readjusting himself to be in a straighter position. "Good morning, sunshine," Celeste chuckled, to not wake the child and the frog lady.

"You didn't sleep?" Mando asked her once he took a look at her. He noticed the dark bags under her eyes, she was exhausted. But, she was fighting the desire to sleep.

Cel shook her head. Mando's visor tilted slightly downward as he noticed the ring in her hands. "I want you to wear it, you know?" He spoke.

Celeste smiled down at the jewelry. "I guess I should since you technically asked," she paused, then shot him a glare, "but you have to propose the correct way."

"The correct way?"

"You know... the romantic way. As a surprise." She explained further. Celeste could sense a smile coming from under Mando's helmet. He turned his head away from her--which was incredibly difficult to do--and as if on cue, a quiet alarm began sounding. The alarm indicated that they were approaching their destination and to prepare for landing.

The utters and the alarm caused the child to begin to awaken. He rubbed out the sleep from his eyes and sprawled out his little limbs as he remained in Celeste's lap. "Someone slept well," Celeste smiled down at the child, who blinked up at her.

"Looks like we made it, get ready for landing," Mando announced, causing the abrupt wake of the frog passenger lady.

Mando pressed a button on the dash, but it didn't seem to be working. "Dank farrik, the landing array isn't responding. Without the guidance system, it'll be a manual reentry."

"Well, guess we've got to hold on tight..." Celeste spoke as she tightened her seatbelt.

Mando began to make the ship descend. As Mando brought the ship into the atmosphere, the ship didn't seem to be slowing down. The ground of the planet grew closer and closer and Mando didn't seem to be doing much. The ship began to smell like it was burning, Celeste assumed that the bottom of the ship was on fire due to the quick entry to the atmosphere and the fast descent. "Razor Crest, this is Trask flight control. Please reduce speed to port protocol," someone on the communication system spoke out as Mando neared a harbor to park his ship.

"C, I need your hands!" Mando frantically shouted over at her.

She jumped to her feet and reached over at the lever that Mando was pulling at. "Keep it steady," Mando guided her as he pulled, too.

She followed his orders as she pulled on the lever steadily. "Brace yourself!" Mando spoke. With one of his arms, he wrapped it around Celeste's waist, holding her tightly as they neared the port, preparing for a crash landing. He tried his best to hold her tight so she wouldn't hurt herself upon impact.

Soon enough, the ship's landing gear initiated--all too late for a typical landing--and slowed the ship to slowly lower itself to the port. The sudden decrease in velocity caused Celeste to nearly fall to the ground, but Mando still held her--keeping her from falling.

Just as they thought that the ship was going to ease into its landing, the ship's landing gear failed and the ship dropped a sudden few meters, crashing the ship. The port on Trask was surrounded by water, and when the ship didn't land properly on the port--the ship tipped over and fell into the water.

* * *

Fortunately for the pressurized cockpit, they didn't drown under the water--allowing the people that managed the port to fish out the ship from the water. When the group managed to finally get out of the Crest, they were greeted with disturbing faces. People were astonished they made it that far in the beat-up ship they had.

As they walked onto the dock, a worker approached Celeste and Mando. Celeste reached into Mando's pocket and dug out a handful of currency. The dock worker opened his eyes wide at her as she handed the money to the man. "Fix it," she pointed over to the ship.

"I can't--" the worker began.

"Then make it flyable," Celeste interrupted him, shooting him an intimidating look.

The frog woman walked out onto the dock and searched the crowds of people for her husband. It didn't take her too long to see him. They reunited and it was a warming sight to see. Mando and Celeste approached them once they were done reuniting. The husband of their guest muttered grateful words in his language, grabbing Mando's hands thankfully. "You're welcome," Mando's gruff voice replied.

"We were told you could lead us to others like him?" Celeste asked the husband and pointed at Mando for reference.

The frogman nodded energetically. He pointed down the dock. "The inn?" Mando asked, receiving a nod from the frog.

With that, Mando, Celeste, and the child took off to the inn down the small dock. The instructions to the inn weren't quite clear, but, it was vague enough for them to find the inn where the frog was pointing to. Once they entered, the smell of stale soup passed Celeste's nose, causing her to scrunch up her nose in distaste.

They took a seat at a table in the small in that was serving up some food. "What can I get you?" A waiter asked as he hurried up to their table. He seemed to be in a rush to finish his service with them. Which, Cel didn't blame him for, that place's food looked nauseating. She couldn't imagine standing the smell for long days at a time.

"Two bowls of chowder for these two," Mando pointed his thumb to his right, where Celeste and the child sat, "nothing for me."

"Make it one bowl of chowder, please," Celeste spoke up, causing Mando to shoot her a confused look. He knew she had to be hungry after their long flight. And she was, she was famished. But she'd rather die than eat that glob of porridge they seemed to be serving.

"I'm not very hungry," she lied through her teeth as she felt her stomach yell at her for nutrients.

"These seats are scarce, buddy. Everyone seated needs to eat." The waiter's voice was scratchy and old, and he seemed quite impatient with them, too.

"I can buy something else," Mando reached into his pocket and pulled out coins that were of value on the planet of Trask, "information."

The waiter quickly retrieved the coins, looking around to be sure no one else had seen him take the sum of money. "Have you seen others that look like me?"Mando asked the waiter.

The waiter lowered the chowder dispenser which hung over their table. He held the dispenser over the child's bowl and dispense the glops of chowder as he spoke quietly, so no one else could hear. "Others with beskar have been through here, I know someone who might help," the man finished filling the child's bowl then ominously walked away from their table.

Mando and Celeste watched as the server walked over to another table full of people and muttered low words over to them. They looked like sailors by the way they were dressed. The planet's economy thrived on its fishing business, as most of the planet was covered in water. Once the server seemed finished with speaking to the other customer, the customer got up and began to approached Mando and Celeste.

The man took a seat at their table, with much ease and tranquility--in hopes to not draw too much attention to them. "You seek others of your kind?" This man's voice was deep and almost sounded like it was coming from his gut. It had a certain draw to it, a strange twang to it. Unlike Celeste's voice who sounded quite plain--like of the people of Coruscant.

"Have you seen them?" Mando pressed for more direct answers.

"Aw, yeah. I can bring you to them," the man tilted his head at Mando then chuckled lowly. Something in his eye flickered that triggered a warning sign to Celeste. She couldn't explain how she knew, it was almost like she could sense it. She had read about something like this in that journal Moff Gideon have given to her--written by Ahsoka Tano. She had described probing another's mind, about feeling their thoughts. Celeste didn't spend enough time training alone with her two books to know how to do it--but, she could instinctually sense this man had malicious intentions.

"Where?" Mando seemed to be intrigued by the offer.

"Only a few hours' sail. It'll cost you, though."

Celeste tugged at Mando's armor from under the table. He knew what she was trying to tell him--that it wasn't safe and they should reconsider. But, they had no other leads. So, he ignored her warning. He knew they had been through enough already that, if needed, they could escape whatever new challenges arose.