THE MANDALORIAN: CHAPTERS 9-16

CHAPTER 13: THE SHIP

Cara felt her adrenaline rushing as she pushed the rhydonium tank hovercart to the Razor Crest. She had to remain focused. ETA of the Mandalore forces was less than five hours.

The Armorer was gathering supplies, Karga was maintaining defense of the city, and she had to ready the ship. The only thing that Paz could tell her for certain was that they were headed beyond the Outer Rim to the Wild Regions. So she knew she needed fuel.

Din had also just told her that he had a patch job done on Tatooine on his fuel lines after a fire fight. She had to make sure that was handled as well. He had even broken his vow to never let droids touch his ship.

So many of his "rules" were falling away, it was confusing. He was morphing into someone completely different. She wasn't sure what he was going to be. And she wasn't sure how that new man was going to react to — losing Tarre-Haal.

Cara had so many other things to focus on, but she was disconcerted about how no one was talking about the fact that they were about to go and look for a Force-wielder who had trained with the Jedi. The Armorer seemed to feel that Tarre-Haal needed to be reunited with others who had strong connections to the Force. But that would mean that he would be separated from Din.

She had watched their connection grow. She had felt that connection herself. She had seen Din take many hits on this journey, but she was not sure that he would be able to recover from being removed as Tarre-Haal's protector — and father.

She pushed down these thoughts once again and checked the fuel gauge, the fuel levels were holding. She walked around to the other side of the Razor Crest and called up to the droids that were magne-clamped onto the engines and gave them a shout and a thumbs up.

"Go work on the hyperdrive efficiency! And scan for any other external damage, he was told the power lines are leaking! I'm going to work on the spazzing navigation system!"

"How's it going out there?" Din's voice was getting stronger, but he was also getting a bit annoying.

Cara sighed, "Din, kinda busy out here, bud."

He did not take the hint. "I forgot to mention on the checklist, you need to —"

Cara muted her comm, "Uh-huh, got it. Sure."

The Armorer arrived with a hovercart full of supplies, "I can have him sedated if the need arises."

Cara laughed, "I have a feeling sedatives will be necessary for him to sit at Ops while I fly this bucket."

The Armorer replied dryly, "He will realize that he already knows you are more than a match for his piloting skills."

"I can still hear you on both comms," Din's irritated growl came over the Armorer's comm because he was muted on Cara's.

Cara laughed again and unmuted her comm. "Din, this is gonna be a long trip if you can't even let me do my job to prep the ship. We are running out of time."

Din was quiet for a few seconds, "Can I just say one thing — please?"

Cara rolled her eyes, "Go ahead."

"Thank you...really," Din said almost in a whisper, and he paused long enough for Cara to let the words resonate. "—And download updates on the hyperspace lanes and Outer Rim charts."

Cara sniffed back her tears and cleared her throat, "Signing off, NOW." And she shut off her comm.

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Karga hurried down the line with both blasters out, "Commander! Commander!"

"Karga!" The Tribe member walked directly up to him. "They are changing their formation! What is the status? Could they have gotten word of the Mandalorian approach?"