Mandalorian Revived

Chapter 21

I wake to a series of beeps from R5. My eyes snap open and I suck in a breath, blinking the sleep from my eyes as the little astromech shakes and spins. I'm still on the floor of the hangar with Grogu in my lap—I must've fallen asleep here all night—but now there's a thin blanket draped over us both.

I push the implications of that aside and ball up the blanket before setting it beside me. I gently lower Grogu onto the blanket before standing and making my way to the cockpit. Glancing over my shoulder, I see the bedroom door is still shut. The Mandalorian is probably sleeping on the other side.

"Did we make it?" I ask as I climb the ladder. R5 beeps again, and this time, I glance at the translation screen as I settle into my seat. "Yeah, I know it's gonna be a bumpy landing. You'll have to assist."

R5 lets out a quivering beep.

"Oh, come on. Aren't you the astromech that snuck into Gideon's base two days ago to take down the Empire on Mandalore?" I turn in my seat to see the droid staring back at me. I roll my eyes and turn back around. "Shut up and help me land this thing."

A planet is looming in front of us. And we have so little power, I'm not sure we'll land at all. The scope reads Aq Vetina, confirming that we've arrived, and I quickly punch in the communications information for the planet. There has to be a port somewhere.

Another control beeps angrily at me and I huff out a breath. This isn't looking too good. "R5, scan for a port while I get this figured out." The droid beeps out an affirmative and I run a quick diagnostic. "Oh, boy," I say tightly. "Thrusters are at quarter capacity, heat shields are nonexistent, and our power is completely dependent on the N-1. Let's hope we don't melt in the atmosphere."

With a steeling breath, I grip the steering controls and dip us down toward the planet to start the descent. Because of our lack of power, I really don't have a choice but to go with the ship's natural desire to pull toward the planet. To fight against it could rip us apart. I flip on the comms. "Mando, rise and shine. I need a copilot."

I barely finish speaking before the bedroom door is hissing open and his footsteps stalk toward the cockpit.

I call over my shoulder, unwilling to pull my gaze away from the planet for long. "Get the kid secure somewhere. This won't be a pretty landing."

He ends up setting the kid in his little compartment and shutting the door before running to the cockpit and sinking into the seat beside me. We're already picking up speed more than I'd like. "Nothing is stable," he reports flatly.

"I'm so glad you're here to point that out." I urge the ship a little further down. "We have to keep things cool. The heat shields are down."

"What?" His shock makes me pause. "The N-1's power didn't restore them?"

"It's not enough." The first few flames start to press against the outside of the ship. I hiss through my teeth and shake my head. "We're coming in too hot."

"Keep it steady," he murmurs. On his side of the controls, he starts working on the heat shields. More flames fill the glass window as we hurtle into the atmosphere. The clouds around us are gray, but the flames are still orange and angry.

"Any progress with those shields?"

"Steady...steady..."

"Mando!"

I can see the outline of a small port now. Nothing impressive, but there is an empty landing platform I can make out. We'll have to hit it.

"Got it!" Just as he says it, the flames slowly decrease. They won't completely stop, not now that we're so far in the descent, but it will help.