OPEN SPACE-𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕄𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕝𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕒𝕟

T H R E E

The ship shook slightly and woke Laesy up from her sleep. Immense pain filled her entire left arm. She tried to reach for it but was overcome with pain. She remembered the cauterizing that the Mandalorian had done earlier. If she wasn't in pain before she was now. She could feel the scar that was formed but was thankful it had been done. Much worse things could have happened to her without his help.

She had been in bed for far too long and her legs were going numb. Laesy slowly started to rise and scoot towards the edge of the bed where her feet dangled off, as she scanned the room for her boots. The Mandalorian had taken them off when he brought her back to his ship for the first time. Getting up from the bed proved to be painful, as she was sore from not only her shoulder being shot but from almost every muscle in her body being stiff.

How long have I been out?

After adorning her boots, she pushed the control panel and the door slid open. The belly of the ship was also grey but had many compartments. She made her way towards the ladder that she believed led up to the cockpit. Laesy gripped the first rung with her right arm and struggled to reach the top. Her body was fighting her every move to ascend the ladder. Small grunts and gasps escapes her mouth each time she moved up. There weren't very many steps but it took her longer than it should have.

Once she reached the top, she saw the Mandalorian was sitting in the cockpit flying the ship. He provided zero help to assist Laesy but that did not bother her, she had gotten through much worse. She sat in the co-pilot seat without saying a word. She admired the stars and wondered if one of them was her home planet. She wondered what the rest of the people were doing and if they were doing alright. It had been a long time since she returned to her home planet. Her house was gone but that's not what makes a home, it's the people and the family. What family? Laesy questioned. Anger and sorrow began to rise inside her chest, creating a knot.

"Got any alcohol on this hunk of junk?" She knocked on the control panel and a small piece fell off. She looked over at the Mandalorian and smiled wearily.

"How is your shoulder?" He asked.

"Oh... ugh... it's great. Peachy!" She winced as she reached for it. The Mandalorian didn't even turn his head to look at her. Laesy returned to admiring the stars and the controls. The Mandalorians hands grazed over the controls so smoothly, making it seem easy to fly the ship.

There was a small gurgle from the back corner of the cockpit and Laesy's head snapped in that direction. She notices a small green head with big black eyes peering at her from the chair.

"The baby!" Laesy immediately spun her chair around and reached her arms out towards the green monster. The baby did the same and she picked him it. Cradling him in her arms, he reached up and played with her long dark hair. He was certainly very cute and curious. The baby started to move and Laesy tried to adjust her arm to better hold him but not without gasping in pain.

"Ok, time to go down little guy." Laesy placed the baby back on the seat and looked at the Mandalorian.

How did he end up with this little guy?

"Is he your... uhh... kid?" Laesy asked. Trying not to sound awkward but the Mandalorian couldn't look like that under his helmet. Where would his ears go, she thought.

"No. Sort of, no. I'm protecting him for now." The Mandalorian slightly turned his head to try and look at her injured shoulder. "It's still bleeding. You passed out last night so I couldn't finish cauterizing but I think it'll be fine."

Laesy turned to look at him in confusion. "I passed out?"

"Yes." He was short and returned to the controls quickly. Laesy didn't pay any mind to this and just returned to the awkward silence that was there all along.