Partners | The Mandalorian

i

"You don't talk much."

"We need to make a quick stop."

"How quick?"

The Mandalorian turned his head slightly in Calidora's direction, body still facing the open galaxies as he flew his ship to unknown regions.

"Quick."

Calidora exhaled through her nose, slumping further down the wall as her wrists, hooked above her head, kept her from being completely comfortable. Having a detour was not part of her plan, she wanted to return to Qe'in as soon as possible to finish what she set out to do. The Mandalorian proved quick that she would need some patience if she wanted to get to Qe'in.

Ship, old and most definitely well used, flew surprisingly well considering Calidora could only imagine how many shoot outs a Mandalorian has been through; how many enemies he made.

As she stared at him she wondered how people reacted to him. There was obviously a power complex that immediately sparked every time he met someone. The fact that he never showed his face while the other did held some type of upper hand, and some people didn't like that possibility of being vulnerable. Calidora knew all about vulnerability and how people reacted to each other, and watching someone react to a Mandalorian would be nothing less than a treat. Especially since they were considered the greatest warriors in the galaxy.

Alas, her thoughts were cut off as the slight turbulence kicked in due to them entering a planets atmosphere, and a lurch once they landed.

"Sorry," the Mandalorian switched off the ship. "Landing gear's fried."

"Maybe you should get that fixed."

He stood up from his seat.

"Once I get paid." And he walked past Calidora and off the ship.

She was left there for a while, sparking boredom in the limited physical and mental space she had. She tried standing up, her bound arms folding behind her and bending at an unnatural angle, which caused her to hiss in pain and flop back down.

A couple minutes later she tried again, slower this time, to see how far she could go. When she reached her limit she sat back down. Then a couple minutes later she repeated, and repeated, and repeated.

Until one time she tried it, she heard a crack, and, not feeling any pain and seeing her arms fall into her lap. She realized she broke her cuffed wrists free from the wall.

That was when she heard the mouth of the ship hiss open, signalling that the Mandalorian was back. Calidora simply stayed seated, hands in her lap as she waited for him. A couple seconds later a fearful looking Neimoidian walked through into the cockpit, followed by a blaster and the Mandalorian. The Neimoidian was lead to the opposite wall from Calidora, told to sit (to which he immediately did so), then was left alone as the Mandalorian walked to his seat to start up the ship.

As they ascended, Calidora locked eyes with the terrified bounty. Insect-like eyes almost completely bulging out of his head, Calidora knew how fearful Neimoidians were of death, but she never seen it in person before. Still, they were know as deceiving and untrustworthy manipulators who sell out their own confidants in order to feed their greed.

So Calidora raised her right hand (left coming along unwillingly) and wiggled her fingers hello with a taunting and sickly sweet smile.

She saw the colour drain from his face, head quickly snapping in the direction of the Mandalorian.

"Please let me go." He pleaded. "I-I can buy my way out."

The Mandalorian kept his attention on flying the ship.

"Obviously not with credits, but I can give you information! What do you want? Ex-imperial? Warlords? Business tycoons?"

Still no sign of acknowledgement.

"What about the man who hired you to get me? Huh?"

The Neimoidian soon realized that the Mandalorian wasn't going to answer him, and he looked even more fidgety and fearful than before.

"L-look," he said, "if you're not gonna do anything, I-I'm just gonna stretch my legs a bit. Yea - that's what I'm gonna do. Okay?"

With his eyes still locked on the man piloting, the Neimoidian slowly used his hands to push himself up and onto his feet. When he saw the Mandalorian do nothing, he slowly walked backwards out of the cockpit until he disappeared from Calidora's sight.

The Mandalorian flicked a couple switches and stood up. Following the Neimoidian out, his steps were so graceful that Calidora couldn't hear them as she scrambled to follow him. Finally being able to stretch her legs was nice as she trailed behind the bounty hunter, weaving through the ship until he found his capture. The Neimoidian was looking into a couple cabinets, seemingly oblivious to the Beskar wearers presence, who in turn was oblivious to Calidora's.

Finding what he was looking at uninteresting, he moved on to a door, opening it immediately to find the carbon freezer. A visible shiver overcame him, and the Mandalorian stepped right up to him. The sudden rigour in the Neimoidian showed that he knew the bounty hunter was right behind him, but didn't have any time to act before a simple push sent him into the freezer.

Calidora's eyebrows raised with impress as the Neimoidian's carbon frozen body neatly presented itself.

"That looks like it hurts." She commented.

"I'm sure it doesn't." The Mandalorian said before doing a double take at Calidora. "How did you get out?"

Calidora smiled and shrugged, but the Mandalorian grabbed her arm to take her back to where she was seated before. The girl rolled her eyes but didn't fight as her wrists were once again attached to the wall above her head. She was at least grateful to stretch her legs a bit.

The Mandalorian took his place once again in the pilots seat.

"Maybe we can do one more catch before I bring you in." He pulled up a star map.

"So I'm not top priority?" Calidora rolled her shoulder out of its uncomfortable position.

"I wasn't expecting this much free time. You put up a fight with the last hunters, I was ready for more."

"Well I have something that needs to be taken care of." She said, thinking once again of Qe'in.

The Mandalorian put his hand on the hyperdrive.

"Well we'll drop off the scum then I can take you back, how does that sound." There was a hint of teasing in his voice.

Calidora shrugged.

"Doesn't sound like I have much of a choice."

"Exactly." He jumped to hyperdrive.