His Mask or Mine

Frozen Until...

Even as the stars beamed past while the Crest was in hyperspace, the lights of the galaxy were no distraction in comparison with what Mando just picked up today. Sitting in the cockpit of his ship, he contemplated a very stupid, very amateur decision. The bounty assigned to him by Karga had no face, no name, no description, and no explanation as to why they were wanted in the first place. And now here, after having retrieved her, Mando had questions. He was desperate for more than just a couple low ball bounties, it was true. That's why Mando took it. But Karga knew he would take it. And now, with the subject already in carbonite and on his ship, he understood that yet again Karga had tricked him. Mando would have to remind himself to intimidate Karga about that later.

There was much more confusion lying between this information, as Mando was slowly unwraveling it himself.

This bounty wasn't to be turned into Karga and his men. This bounty was to be sent to a politician in Corellia. And the pirates put her in carbonite, as if they were already on that mission themselves. Those pirates may well have been bounty hunters too. Shitty ones, but bounty hunters none the less. So why all the fuss over this one woman?

She wasn't tiny, but she didn't hold a warrior's physique either. Tall, not as tall as him, but tall for a woman her age. And lots of long hair. He had to wonder what color it was—

Back on track.

There was only one way to fill in the important missing pieces to this puzzle. He had decided. Mando forced his legs to move out of his chair, and make his way out of the cockpit. The Crest was good to go on auto pilot without him. He took the ladder down to the carbonite chambers and sorted through the slabs. (Even though it didn't take him long to sort, he knew exactly where to look for her). He laid the slab on the machine and hit a couple buttons. With that the carbonite slowly started to chip away as it melted. The steam rising in a fury like a big pot of caff.

Slowly her form became visible. Very, visible.

Her slender body was bare and beaded with condensation from her former frozen prison. One arm was tucked tightly around her chest while another covered her lower regions; sparing any on lookers the satisfaction of claiming a visual of her exposed precious parts. Her chest started to fall and rise shakily under her arm, and her shivering continued.

As Mando's pointed look gazed through his helmet to inspect her form for more information, he noticed that her lips were a deep purple and her skin incredibly pale. A woman this small in carbonite with no clothes on was surely going to go into hypothermia. Shit, he thought.

Immediately, he picked up the damp woman in his arms; quickly cradling her up to the shower he had on the ship. He carefully set her down on the hard metal floor as he started the water. Mando furiously took off his glove and tossed it aside. Then tested the temperature of the water with his now bare hand. Warmer, but not warm enough. He fixed the temperature gage with a quick bang of his fist. The arrow on the mechanism shuttered under the blow before obeying the harsh order. It slowly shifted to the right; indicating the temperature rising.

Mando picked up the woman once more. He cursed mentally when he realized she would drown if he just sat her in there on her own. He set her up against the tub before kicking off his boots and tossing the beskar aside. He took her in his arms and stepped into the tub with his bare feet. The heat of the water immediately sent jolts through his skin. It was scalding, but he didn't care. He was blinded by urgency to the pressing situation, which was ... saving his bounty's life?

He submerged both of them in the steamy water, and using his bare hands, he gently dabbed water on her face; trying to change the color of her frozen lips. Her eyes were still shut - he assumed frozen shut - and with that he continued to pour the water on her face. Mando's other hand held the back of her neck so she didn't hurt herself falling back or forward.