The Enigma

The Egg

Embers eyes lifted surprised to find beams of sunlight shining down on her. She squinted her eyes still adjusting to the intense light all too aware of the hunter sitting close by. How long have I slept?  Slow and calculated she sat up from her awkward position and immediately noticed the large box shaped Sand Crawler they were after. The closer they drew towards it, Ember realized how much more gigantic it truly was towering many stories above her. What the Jawas didn't have in size they made up for in armored transportation. One by one her captors parts were being laid out to auction at the base of the Sand Crawler. Upon there arrival the busy Jawas looked over in their direction, shrieking as they recognized the man in armor approaching. The short man guiding them waving a hand and spoke to the Jawas in their language. Ember watched as the bounty hunter's form went rigid, arm moving towards his rifle and she wouldn't have been surprised if he was just preparing to pop a couple of them off right there. The little Jawas began to make a ruckus running around and shrieking-the man on the Blurrg turned his head around.

""They really don't like you for some reason," he almost laughed. 

"Well, I did disintegrate a few of them," the bounty hunter replied nonchalantly. 

"You need to drop your weapon," the man observed, noticing how frantic the Jawas had become.

"I'm a Mandalorian. Weapons are a part of my religion."

"Then you're not getting your parts back," the man pointed out. The hunter sighed and reluctantly lowered his weapon, placing it on the floor of the cart before hopping off the wagon. The man dismounted the Blurrg and the bounty hunter followed him. He turned around and ordered the girl to stay put. As the two approached the closest Jawas one of them angrily stuck out a little finger aimed at the Mandalorian. 

"And the blaster," the man pointed to the one hidden in his holster above his thigh. Frustrated he threw the blaster into the cart far enough so it didn't hit the girl in the head. The group settled in a semi circle and the Jawas immediately began negotiating. The man who clearly knew how to speak their language did all the talking. He could have been telling them to eat her for all she knew. Once he finished conversing he glanced over at the sitting bounty hunter.

"They will trade all the parts for your beskar," he pointed to the Mandalorians armor. 

"I'm not going to trade anything. These are my parts. They stole them from me," he emphasized the last sentence sending the message along clearly pointing a gloved finger towards the little Imps. He attempted to speak what little Jawa he could pick up from the conversation which only caused the Jawas to burst out in laughter. 

"You speak terrible Jawa," the lead one spoke. "You sound like a Wookie!" They all burst out in laughter again. That was it. He was going to show them who he was. 

"You understand this?" He aimed his wrist gauntlet in their direction, letting a stream of fire from the vambrace flamethrower do the talking. The man jumped in pulling the hunters arm away from them, trying to keep the peace. Surprisingly the bounty hunter lowered his wrist, the Jawas once again negotiating. The man spoke to them calmly explaining that he wouldn't be trading his armor. They spoke unintelligible words, the man eventually nodding. 

"They are wondering what else you can trade," he explained. Two of the Jawas whispered to one another then stood up and walked over to the cart where the girl sat. They took their greedy little hands running then through her snarled hair as if to inspect her. One of them pulled a little too hard causing a whimper of pain to come out her mouth. 

"Get away from her!" the bounty hunter yelled gruffly shewing them off with a flick of his wrist. 

"There must be something else," the man turned to one of them. The group of Jawas huddled together in a tight circle whispering nonsense before splitting apart. They said something to the man and he let out a groan shaking his head.