Armored Passion | The Mandalorian

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A loud alarm starts blaring throughout the ship, scaring the absolute shit out of me as my body jolts awake. I immediately dart one of my arms out to the side, feeling nothing but an empty part of the bed. The sheets were still warm though, telling me that Din hadn't been gone for long, but he still wasn't there.

The alarm was still blaring, which made me immediately pop up and pull my heavy boots on, frantically lacing them up. I grab my lightsaber and quickly dash out of my room, climbing up the ladder and racing into the cockpit to see Mando already sitting in the pilot seat. 

"What's wrong? Are we getting boarded by pirates or something?" I ask, letting out a few quiet breaths as I waited for him to answer me. But instead of answering me, he roughly presses a button on the comm system, making the alarm stop. I open my mouth to speak again, but a deep voice fills the voice before I could get a word out. 

"Razor Crest, M-One-Eleven. Come in, Razor Crest. Do you copy?"

I furrow my brows as the deep voice resonated throughout the entirety of the cockpit. I walk over to the co-pilot seat, sitting down while my eyes peered out of the round glass windshield. There were two New Republic X-wings right beside us, almost caging us into a tight spot. 

"This is the Razor Crest. Is there a problem?" Mando asks, keeping his head held high as he spoke. I could tell that he was a little nervous, but he was doing a pretty good job at not showing it, as usual. 

"We noticed that your transponder is not emitting," the pilot says, his voice coming out a little staticky. 

"Yes, I'm pre-Empire surplus. I'm not required to run a beacon," he explains, shaking his head as if he didn't understand why he would have to run a beacon nowadays. 

"That was before. This sector is now under New Republic jurisdiction. All crafts are required to run a beacon," the pilot informs us, sounding like his patience was starting to run thin with our short interaction. 

"Hey, maybe you should let me take point on this one," I whisper, keeping my voice low and quiet so the mic wouldn't pick it up in any way. Mando shakes his head waves his hand at me, shrugging me off before he continued to speak. 

"Thank you for letting me know. I'll get right on it," he says, clearing his throat and leaning back in his seat as if that were going to be the end of their conversation. 

"Not a problem. Safe travels."

"May the force be with you," he then rushes out, nodding his head once in a content manner. I furrow my brows and straighten my back out, wondering if I had just heard him correctly. 

"And also with you," the pilot responds. 

I quickly pop up to my feet and stride over to his seat, my curiosity getting the better of me. I reach my hand forward and cover the mic of the comm system, leaning my head down so I was perfectly eye level with the blank visor of his beskar helmet. 

"I'm sorry, did you just say 'may the force be with you'?" I question, quirking my head to the side. He shrugs his shoulders and nods his head. "Kriff," I mutter under my breath, shaking my head while lifting my hand from the comm system. I don't think I've ever heard him say a term that was supposed to be so uniting throughout the entirety of the galaxy and I don't really know how to feel about that just yet. 

"Just one more thing."

Oh shit.

"Yes?" he responds, his voice tight and uncomfortable as I hovered near his side, not wanting to sit back down in my own seat just yet. Maker, I felt like a kriffing vulture, but I really just wanted to be back in the pilot's seat so I could handle this situation on my own.