May The Way Be With You

Kuill

True to his word, Mando and I did not leave the bed the whole trip back to Nevarro. My thighs are sore and I'm walking funny, but I am perfectly fine with it as I give the ship a once over while the bounties are collected. As I repair a new leak, That Feeling tells me something has changed. As if the next round of bounties have altered our fate.

I push it out of my mind and fix the leak. I'm in the cockpit running a diagnostics test to be sure the ship is good to go when Din returns. I notice one of his pauldrons is shiny and new. "Woah! A new pauldron? How did you manage that?" I ask him as he sits.

"Down payment on my next bounty." He answers, looking at how long we have left on the test.

"Bounty? As in, only one?" I ask. He nods and I whistle, "Must be one hell of a high ass payment." He nods again, and That Feeling tells me he's hiding something. I decide to not push it. If he thinks I should know, he'll tell me. Soon, the test completes and we are good to go.

The ride to the bounty is quite short, and from what I can see, it's another sandy planet. Din tells me it's called Arvala-7. When we enter the atmosphere, I can see a lot of mountainous terrain, and wide plains. Din parks us in a mountain ridge, and tells me to follow him. I exit the Crest with him, wondering if I'll be joining him on this one.

Outside, the air is hot, but not as hot as Jakku was. "Check for life forms. All I know about this bounty is it's fifty years old. No other information is available." He tells me. I nod and pull out my binoculars, looking in the opposite direction Mando looks.

I see a few blurrgs, but nothing else. Suddenly, I hear a roar and Din yell. When I turn, a blurrg has Din's arm in his mouth, whipping him around. I shout, making the blurrg drop Din. I run into the Crest to grab my blaster, and when I come out, there's two blurrgs out cold. There's another blurrg, but this one has an Ugnaught rider on it.

"You are a bounty hunter." The ugnaught states. Din nods, and the ugnaught looks up to me. I keep my blaster pointed downwards, but it's still in my hand. "I will help you." He adds, and I can feel Din's surprise. The ugnaught adds "I have spoken," before getting his ride to turn around.

On the back of his blurrg is a floating trailer, and Din and I help load the unconscious blurrgs onto it. Din walks beside us as the ugnaught and I ride his blurrg. I keep looking to Din, and take comfort in the fact he isn't nervous or on edge. This ugnaught isn't a threat to us. We arrive at a farm, where there are other penned up blurrgs, and mechanical equipment dotting the land.

"What do you farm?" I ask.

"I mainly tame blurrgs for riding. I do farm the atmosphere for water as well." The ugnaught tells me. We get to his living quarters and he has us take a seat. After he's done getting his extra gear off, he sighs, "Many have passed through. They seek the same one as you."

"Did you help them?" Din asks.

"Yes. They died." The ugnaught replies. I can't help the snort that comes out. Din turns to me for a moment, then back at the ugnaught.

"Well, then I don't know if I want your help." He states.

"You do. I can show you to the encampment." Ugnaught states as he walks closer to us. Din asks what he wants as his cut, but Ugnaught doesn't want money. He only wants one of the blurrgs from earlier.

"Pfft, you can have both. We can't keep a blurrg on the ship." I tell him. Din nods in agreement, but Ugnaught says Din will need one to get to the encampment.

"I don't know how to ride one." Din tells him.

"I have spoken." Ugnaught says, putting an end to the conversation.