The Mandalorian

by FourShadow

Chapter 2: Travel Plans

Author's Note:

Admittedly I feel like this chapter was a wee bit short, but hey, I got it done! We should continue some more in our next chapter though.

Either way, hope you enjoy!

Lyra heard a body fall and hit the floor. Opening up her eyes, she saw Aurra Sing had dropped to the floor, unconscious. And the Mandalorian’s gun slowly moving back into her holster. She assumed she had used a stun blaster, if she hadn’t killed her.

"I’m taking you to my ship. But let me get one thing clear with you, Jedi,” the Mandalorian said, walking up to the Jedi. Lyra was about to say something until she felt her wrists grabbed and slapped with a pair of cuffs that the Mando put on her. “You’re going to do what I say for the trip. I will take you to a safer location, for you and the baby, but you do as I say. Got it?”

Lyra nodded. “Got it. But why are—”

“Quiet,” the Mandalorian pointed, sternly. Lyra just shut her mouth, waiting for her to finish. “There’s a possible chance of more bounty hunters coming to this very location to find the baby, so if we’re leaving, we need to leave without getting them to desire to go after us. Hopefully that stun will keep Aurra down, but we must move quickly. Come!”

She led the way, and soon the crib carrying the baby floated right with them, next to the Mandalorian. And right behind her was two of the commando droids, Lyra, and two more commandos behind her. The Jedi looked over to the crib, looking at the stressed out baby, giving a somewhat hopeful smile. "It's okay, I'm here. We're going to be alright."

“Cheep, G-G, start up the Sweetie Drop. We’re getting out of here,” the Mandalorian said, patching into her com device.

“Brt-beep-boop.”

"Chirp chirp."

“Thank you,” the Mandalorian replied, looking at her ship just ahead. “Now if we can just—”

“—Where are you going?”

“… Scrap.”

Cad Bane stood, hat tilted down to hide his eyes as his body faced the Mandalorian. He didn't show fear, for he had none Not even against the rustbucket commando droids that were standing by her side.

"If you would be so kind as to hand over the bounty, I will be leaving with it and leave you alone," Bane suggested.

“Bane, they’re my bounty. And if you think you’re going to be taking mine—”

The commando droids all turned their weapons on him.

“—You have another thing coming. And all of them are pointing at your heads. One blast to your skull and your brain is fried.”

"I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you," Cad warned.

Bane slowly backed up, but he had other ideas. He wasn’t about to let her leave with this bounty so soon, but then a signal started to call to him on the com device. Bane answered, and unfortunately, Lyra and the others heard the signal.

“The cargo is the baby. The Mandalorian is escaping with the cargo and the Jedi, and she knocked me out. She’s helping the Jedi!”

Only one thought ran through the Mandalorian’s head. Oh no.

Cad Bane was ready shoot at the Mandalorian, except she came prepared. She charged at him, sweeping a leg under him to throw him on his back. Then taking her chance, she fired an electric shock to his body to zap him, rendering his body limp.

"That'll keep him down for a small time, come on!"

She yanked on Lyra's cuffs, forcing her to run with her. And the commandos along with the hovering crib followed closeby.

“Cheep, is that ship ready!?” The Mandalorian yelled. “Because we really could use it right now!”

"Chir chirp chirp!"

"Good! Prepare for take off, we need to leave, now!"

Now everyone was running. Even though Cad Bane was hit with an electric shock, it wasn't strong enough to keep him down. He pulled himself right back up and launched into the air with his rocket boots, firing some shots from the air.

"If you uncuff me, I can deflect some of his blasts!"

"I'm not dumb enough to fall for that trick, Jedi!" The Mandalorian argued, still leading her to the ship.

And to make matters worse, Aurra was running closeby. She was now joining the chase, running close behind Bane's flying feet.

"Chirp choowoop."

"Got it Cheep! Keep your head down, Jedi!"

The ship was starting to take off from the ground, preparing for take off as per ordered. And once the two bounty hunters came into perspective, Cheep and G-G got to work. A turret mounted on the top of the ship turned around and focused on Cad Bane. Rapidly, lasers started to fire towards Bane, forcing him to duck and fly lower to get out of the turret's sight.

Aurra, now within range, started to shoot at them with everything she had. Rapid fire of her pistols came their way, hitting a few of the commando droids, but not enough to take them down. Lyra and the baby went into the ship first, followed by the commando droids. Now the last one remaining was the Mandalorian who wanted to exchange one final word with the two chasing her.

"The bounty belongs to me, Aurra, Bane. Find some other bounty to get rich off of!"

She ran up the hatch and soon it closed right behind her. The ship's feet folded inside itself as it began to get off the ground. Aurra kept firing, but her shots were worthless against the ship's armor. And with one blast of the engines, the Sweetie Drop was out of the planet's skies, flying straight out of the atmosphere.

"That Mandalorian is helping the Jedi escape," Aurra growled.

"We'll make sure she doesn't get away," Bane said, clicking his wrist-com. "We're going to make some calls to everyone else after that bounty... I'm sure we can all come to some sort of agreement."

---

There was some... awkwardness, to say the least. Lyra wanted to say something to the Mandalorian since they arrived, but she had been so eerily quiet that Lyra swore this girl was about to threaten her and do something nefarious, even though she said nothing at all. Didn't make matters better by the fact that her wrists were bound in cuffs. She tried wiggling her hands out of them, but no luck. Too tight around her, but not enough to cut off any blood to her vessels.

"Where are you taking us?"

She waited for an answer, but the Mandalorian didn't say anything. She just kept her hands clamped onto the controls, focused too much on not crashing or getting off-course. Lyra was about to give up on getting an answer--

"--I'm taking you and the infant far away from this section of the galaxy. I'll drop you off on Naboo, and you can find yourselves a ride back to wherever you want to go. But once you're off, I'm leaving. So don't think about saying any goodbyes to me."

"Why are you helping us? And are you even going to take us there, or are you just going to trick me and--"

The Mandalorian slammed her feet on the floor to stand up. She looked over to the Jedi, standing over her and she leaned in, helmet in close to her face.

"I said I would take you back, and I mean it. I'm a lot of things, but I draw the line at taking children. Got it?"

Lyra gulped and slowly nodded. "Got it."

"Good."

The bounty hunter stopped hunching over and sat back down in her chair, flipping more controls. "I have plenty of food down in the first level for you and your baby, you won't go hungry. But it's going to take a few days to get back, so I don't want to hear anything about why it's taking so long."

"I wasn't going to ask that anyway," Lyra deadpanned.

"The point I'm making is that this trip is going to take some time. So until we get to Naboo, I don't want you causing me trouble or else I'm slamming you into the carbon freezing chamber," The bounty hunter threatened.

"You wouldn't dare," Lyra grit her teeth. "Besides, how would you be able to take care of the baby?"

And speak of the devil, suddenly the sound of a crying baby interrupted their spat-fest. Their heads looked over to the crib, their argument apparently made the baby stressed out.

"... Is that baby going to be crying on the whole trip?"

"She won't if I can pick her up and talk to her. Only if you can get these cuffs off me," Lyra sassed, raising her wrists.

The Mandalorian really did not like that option. "How do I know you're not just going to use some Jedi mind trick on me and take over my ship?"

"Well how do I know you're not just going to hand us straight to the Storm Empire?" Lyra retorted.

There was some silence in the cockpit, well, aside from the baby still crying. The Mandalorian was hesitant, and she cursed to herself quite hard as she grabbed a key to unlock the Jedi's cuffs.

"If you play any tricks, I will lock you in carbonite for the rest of the trip," the bounty hunter warned, freeing her hands.

Lyra, now freed from her restraints, rubbed her wrists which had been pressed against the hard metal for some time. But she was happy to finally be out of them. And with her attention back to the baby, she slowly picked up the crying baby, carrying her out of the cockpit and into the open space where the ladder was leading to.

"Shhhh... it's okay, it's okay... shhh, don't cry, I'm here," Lyra cooed, hugging the baby.

The baby's crying slowly dwindled as she felt the familiar person she knew was here with her. And seeing Lyra's face made the baby smile even more.

"It's okay Flurry, your sorta-mommy is here," she said, booping the baby's nose and making her giggle.

The Mandalorian sat quiet, listening to the Jedi comforting the baby. Mainly just to make sure she wasn't going to pull any tricks on her. She had run-ins with Jedi before who tried to pull a fast one on her, but she knew how to evade them. Though she had to admit, this Jedi was quite a natural with the infant.

"It'll be okay... shhh..." Lyra kissed her head, and gave her another hug, and the baby softly giggled while hugging her back. "Hey Flurry? You feeling hungry, sweetie?"

The Mandalorian didn't understand how the baby could easily understand the Jedi, but somehow the baby did. Lyra, holding the baby tight, climbed down the ladder to the bottom floor, down to the kitchen. The bounty hunter didn't move from where she sat, curious as to how things were going to go with her down below.

"Cheep. Keep an eye on those two. If they try any funny business, tell me," the Mandalorian reported into her comlink.

Down below, Lyra walked into the kitchen, opening up the fridge. She looked through some of the contents, looking for something, any kind of drink she could give the baby. Surprisingly she was able to find actual milk. Lyra assumed that for a bounty hunter of this kind which this huge ship that she would have bought heaven knows how much whiskey or beer or alcoholic beverages of any kind.

"Thank you, Mando," Lyra said to herself, grabbing some milk. She force lifted a baby bottle, pouring some milk into it for the baby. And with some happy giggling from the toddler, she reached for the bottle once Lyra had finished preparing it, given by Lyra's adult fingers.

Over in the corner, Cheep had just been sitting in a charging station to get some more power fuled within. But his attention was soon drawn to the newcomer that was now in the kitchen area. And after getting that order from his boss, he wasn't about to disobey. The charging ports removed themselves and Cheep was now free to move walk around however and whereever he pleased.

"Chorup chirp chirp chirp."

"Oh hi there," Lyra said, looking at the small astromech. "You're a C1 series astromech aren't you?"

"Chir chirp."

"I thought so. Didn't know this Mando had one. What's your name?"

"Chirp chirp."

"Cheep?" Lyra tilted her head. "Your name is Cheep?"

The small astromech bobbed his body back and forth, nodding. And even a small hand pulled out from the side of his dome, waving at her.

"Okay, nice to meet you, Cheep. I'm Lyra," Lyra extended a hand out, and surprisingly got a handshake from the small astromech. And she felt something bump her side, a much bigger astromech with a cone-sized dome. "Oh, sorry buddy, I can't believe I didn't see you there."

"Brt beep birt birp."

"G-G?" The Jedi tilted her head.

"Brt boop."

"Well, it's nice to meet you too, G-G. I'm Lyra."

The R4 series droid rolled right past her, sitting right next to Cheep as they stared up at their new prisoner. Surprisingly, this prisoner did not attempt to find a means to escape or try and fight back.

"... Do you two need food as well?" Lyra snickered.

The two droids just shook their heads, not keeping their eyes off her.

"Chirp chirp, chir chir chirp."

"Guys, I'm not going to try anything funny. As long as your boss doesn't try and turn herself around on me."

"Birt beep bop birt birup."

"And what makes you say that?" Lyra put her free hand on her hip, giving a glare.

"Chirp chirp."

"She... rescued you two? How does that make--"

"Chirp chirp, chirp chirrrrrp chirp chir. Chirp chirp!"

Lyra's hand scrunched her face. "Lemme get this straight, she said she'd bring you to a safer place to be and because she rescued you two, it means you both can say she's trustworthy?"

"She can be trusted, Jedi," a new voice emerged. This one was coming from one of those junky commando droids, this one showing a standard battle droid arm and leg replacing two of it's missing limbs. "I was sent to the scrapheap until she put me back together. She saved me from permanent destruction."

"I can believe she put you back together, but saving you?" Lyra asked, still not believing. "Why would you even agree to stay with her?"

"She gave all of us a choice. Something the Storm Empire never did."

The other repurposed commando droids clanked their feet, standing next to their allies, a unity of six now staring at Lyra; two astromechs, and four commandos.

"And what did she give you all that the Storm Empire didn't?"

"Freedom."

That one word echoed from all of them like a megaphone was screeching in her ears. But she wasn't about to question it; and why should she? She was trapped on board a ship with a bounty hunter who had fully functioning commando droids at her disposal. There was no use in trying to argue her way out.

"Okaaaay then..."

---

As time went by, Lyra kept the baby distracted the rest of the evening, and out of the Mandalorian's hair. The commando droids eventually left her alone and set themselves on the little docks to charge up, but the two astromechs stayed out to continue to talk and just hang out overall.

But now it was time for the two of them to go to bed, even as little Flurry yawned, she still tried to deny she was asleep. Lyra was not convinced, she knew when it was the baby's bedtime. And Flurry cutely playing with the buttons on the wall still didn't convince her.

"Flurry, no. Stop playing with the button. Let's get your jammies on," Lyra giggled, setting the child down on the blanket. And Flurry still tried to get away. "No huh? I think someone's getting a little cranky," she sassed playfully.

After holding her down, she finally got Flurry's pajamas on and slowly set her down on the blanket covering the small table to get her bottle. Still, Flurry was trying to get back up to get her drink, and on her own. If a grown-up could do it, so could she!

"Sweetie, I'm getting your warm milk in a second," she said, trying to get her to stay still. She went over to the kitchen area, setting some milk in a baby bottle. And with the instructions left by the bounty hunter, she found just the means to warm it up.

The baby's little hands clutched her milk and she started to suck on the bottle, enjoying the deliciousness of good wholesome milk.

"Shhh... shhh..." Lyra whispered, shaking her softly. "All of the little crabbies have gone night-night, all of the little Tauntauns are cuddling up, all of the Porgs are resting in their nests..." She smiled, seeing the baby was slowly falling to sleep, with the help of the warm milk. "All of the crystal foxes are heading to their stead... and my little powerhouse is going to bed."

She slowly put the baby back in the crib, and covered her in the blanket. Lyra leaned in and gave her one soft kiss.

"Sweet dreams, Flurry."

Once all that she heard was the baby soft snores, she started to settle in for the night as well. She climbed into the spare bed that was unfolded, and laid down on, cuddling up on a pillow and blanket that was offered. And so Lyra, fell asleep.

Unbeknownst to her, the Mandalorian was climbing down the ladder to check on them, making sure they were still behaving. She had a long trip ahead of her, and didn't need any of them causing her any kind of trouble. The deck was thankfully quiet. Didn't seem like she would make much noise, outside of the baby crying if she was needing something, but it wasn't something she was going to bother with. It was the Jedi's baby, not hers after all.

Her metal boots did stir the baby a little, waking her up, but she didn't cry. Curious, she looked up to see who it was, but quickly hid back under her blanket when she saw the scary metal lady. The Mandalorian turned her head, seeing the baby cowering under the blanket, but she decided to leave her alone. She didn't want nor intend to antagonize the baby anyway.

She whipped her to the corner, watching as Cheep and G-G were keeping themselves busy, simply playing the holochess game with the sounds muted so they didn't disturb the others. Seeing that the situation was under control and there would be nothing else to worry about, she turned around and climbed back up the ladder to continue flying. She had a LONG trip ahead of her if she wanted to get to Naboo.

Flurry slowly pulled the cover of her blanket off, peaking to see if that big scary metal wearing monster was there. No, she wasn't in her sight. Not in her sights any longer, the coast was clear. She was safe now.

Pulling her blanket off, she peaked over to the spare bed that had been pulled out, seeing Lyra sleeping peacefully. And then over in a corner, just playing on the holochess area were the two astromechs she saw earlier. Carefully, she grabbed the edge of her crib, slowly moving around. One leg moved off to the side while the other slowly followed behind, and she flopped onto the ground, thankfully not hurt. She slowly stood back up, and very cutely straightening her little robes that her aunt had made her, and looked at the two robots in front of her.

And that one thud was enough for them to pause their game and to divert their attention towards the infant.

"Chirup?"

"Brt boop."

The baby wasn't scared to see that these things had noticed her. She still kept waddling towards them. Cheep wasn't sure what to do until the baby suddenly moved closer to him and laid herself on him, trying to hug him.

"Beep beep."

Cheep didn't move, afraid he was gonna hurt the baby. And then when she looked up, one of Cheep's smaller hands extended out, and lightly patted her on the head, making her giggle. Her little fingers reached up, trying to touch his little claw.

The little astromech honestly thought anyone who tried to do that was going to rip them off, but he didn't feel this way with this little girl. She just seemed so cute and nice. And softly, his claw reached down and allowed her to grip him slightly, just so she could feel his little hand. The baby looked up, cooing in awe, and moved in for another hug, feeling a soft metal hand pat her on the back.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

This was a fun second chapter. I really enjoyed the exchanges between the Mandalorian and Jedi Lyra. And baby Flurry is just adorable

Definitely looking forward to whatever comes next!

[Machine]

Nice

[TheShadowKnight]

More, please!

[Ri2]

Should've killed Aurra when you had the chance, Mando.

[Darth Wrex]

You know their real names aren't Cheep and Geegee, right?