Fragments of the Dark

Chapter Two

Din laid in his bunk, staring at the grey ceiling.

Sleep evaded him. Try as he might, his body wouldn't relax. His mind wouldn't shut off despite the fog of exhaustion that settled heavily over him. Despite himself he wished he were still in the cockpit with Celene. Though they didn't talk much and many of their evenings were spent in silence, Din found the female's presence comfortable.

He wasn't sure what it was. Perhaps because she too was content to sit in silence and watch the stars and didn't feel the need to fill the space with conversation. While their partnership had happened from pure incident and started off rocky enough, Din found himself glad to be aboard her ship most days. It had been a long time since he found a companion he could work with. As complicated as she was.

Sleep continued to hover over Din, just out of reach. He sat up and swung his legs over the bed, bracing his forearms on his knees. It had been three days since he'd slept fitfully and he knew Celene had gone for even longer. But he knew why she refused to rest.

The female was haunted by nightmares. Din had lost count of the times he'd awoken to her choked screams and gasping breath from the other side of the thin wall that separated their quarters. More often than not he found her seated in the cockpit, staring aimlessly into space, onyx eyes heavy with an emotion he didn't understand.

The scar on her face was brutal, etched deep into her flesh. He'd never asked how she gotten it but often pondered over the type of weapon it would take to wound that deep without killing. The sharpest of blades.

And the small metal plate at the base of her skull. A cybernetic modification. Celene offered scant details about the apparatus only saying it heightened her abilities greatly giving her eyesight, hearing, smell and reflexes beyond the human range. Her endurance, energy and vitals had been made more durable as well, overall creating a more complex and efficient human. Sometimes Din found it hard to keep up with her jobs. She was often two steps ahead.

Across the room from Din, his Beskar sat in the corner, glinting in the faint glow of the light from his datapad. More and more often, his armor was beginning to feel like a prison. A mark of something long forgotten from the past. It had been years since he'd last seen any Mandalorians from the convert. He didn't even know if any were still alive.

If he was the only one left.

Perhaps that had been why he was so inclined to stay with Celene after their initial job. Aside from the fact that she had blown his ship to hell and owed him. But because he had lost that feeling of belonging... of at least knowing he wasn't completely alone in the vast galaxy.

Din leapt lightly down from his bunk and crossed the room quietly. He donned the Beskar quickly and left his darkened quarters. He came into the main hangar of the Millennium Falcon. Celene was seated at one of the booths, hair draped over her shoulders like a raven curtain. Rarely, so rarely did he ever see it down and not braided back. The metal clasps around the few strands by her face shone in the light. A datapad was in one hand and the empty ration packet sat by her other. Her eyes flickered to him. "You said you were going to rest."

"I couldn't sleep." He slid into the seat opposite to hers.

"I could have gone into the cockpit if you didn't want to put on all your armor again." She scrolled further down on the datapad.

"It's fine."

The scar on her face stretched as she raised her eyebrows but didn't answer. "We'll arrive at Navarro within the hour." Her fingers drummed on the table. "I calculate from this bounty with the current fuel costs we can fill the entire container for the Falcon and have enough left to stock up on rations for one cycle. The remainder we split will still be a decent amount. One of our larger payments in a while."

Din nodded his head once, studying her through his helmet. Without the usual leather jacket she wore, her figure was visible in just her thin long sleeve. Slender shoulders hid surprising muscle he had come to find out on their various jobs. Her deceivingly lean body was capable of power and speed. The vitals he could get a read on showed a heartbeat slower than the average human, courteous of her cybernetics. Her body require less blood, oxygen and nutrients overall to function. It struck him how capable she was on her own without him. Uncertainty flashed through him, though he wasn't sure why, so he asked, "Do you want to take another job straight away or lay low for a bit?"

Celene turned off the datapad and rubbed her temples with her fingers. She was exhausted, he realized. Maybe a break would do them both good.

"We can take another job." She leaned back in the seat. "Might as well take advantage of the influx in business while we can."

He wanted to argue and say a few days away would be good for her but the need for food and fuel was too pressing of a matter. "Alright."

Celene rose from the table, seemingly headed for the cockpit. She paused at the door and turned. "If you have trouble sleeping, there are pills in the rinse station cabinet."

Din wasn't surprised, he'd seen them before. "Do you not use them?"

Her heartbeat spiked, he saw it through his helmet, the display still across the screen. "No," she said finally. "They make me too groggy."

Din saw the lie but let it slip. He assumed the pills would keep her asleep and force her to endure whatever nightmares she woke from every night. "Alright."

She disappeared around the corner and he settled back in the chair, mind wandering. He hoped Greef wouldn't short them any of the credits they were owed. Or try to pay them in a different form.

He felt the ship rock as it exited hyperspace and shot into the atmosphere of Navarro. Even from the main hangar he heard Celene's voice.

"Holy fuck."

He pushed off the chair and appeared in the cockpit, less than a second later. "What the hell is that?"

They peered through the windows of the Millennium Falcon and past the dusty brown surface of Navarro. A massive ship was there, above the planet, dwarfing the Falcon. It was easily the largest ship Din had ever seen, the size of twenty class cruisers.

Celene loosed a breath beside him. "Why are they here?" The words were barely audible.

He cut a look at her. "Who?"

She never took her gaze from the massive ship. "That's an Imperial cruiser. An Empire ship."