𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓 ── ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴᴅᴀʟᴏʀɪᴀɴ

0.8

EIGHT.
the frog lady

🔹️🔹️🔹️

'You really are the absolute worst.'

I rubbed my eyes lightly, letting out a deep breath. I slowly made my way over to the old lady and Din, my footsteps heavy. Once I caught up with them, the lady exhaled as she began to talk. 

"Alright, here's the deal: A Mandalorian covert is close." She said. "It's in this sector, one system trailing."

"Are they the ones that left Nevarro?" Din asked, a hint of longing in his voice.

"Don't know," She huffed. "All I know is that the contact will lead you to them."

"How much will it cost us?"

"Well, that's the great news -- it's free," She shrugged her shoulders. "Aside from a finder's fee, of course."

"And the not-so-great news?" I chimed in.

"Nothing -- it's all great."

".. Okay."

Din and I were about to turn away when the old lady spoke up again, "However, there is one small skank in the scud pie."

"Which is?" Din rolled his head, a bit annoyed.

"The contact wants passage to the system."

"Do you vouch for them?"

"On my life."

".. Fine."

"And!" She added on, irritating both Din and me. "No hyperdrive."

"Wait, you want us to travel sublight?" I furrowed my eyebrows. "That's not--"

"It's one sector over." She answered nonchalantly. Din growled, his voice harsh and rough.

"Moving fast is the only thing keeping us safe." 

The old lady glared, "These are mitigating circumstances."

"What do you mean 'mitigating'?" Din's tone grew more aggressive, making me push him back a little to calm down.

Just then, a short frog-like lady walked into the hangar with a temperature-controlled vial filled with small orbs on her back. We all looked at her, and my eyes softened -- there was a certain type of energy radiating off of that vial.

It was life.

She had been carrying her eggs inside that container. Din and I stood still, watching her nervously adjust the vial on her back. She spotted us and hesitantly made her way over to us. Din took note of the situation and leaned forward to the old lady.

"I'm not a taxi service."

"I know, I know. I hear you," The old lady held her hand up in front of Din. "But I can vouch for her."

The frog lady took a step closer to us and started speaking in an unfamiliar language -- some sort of frog dialogue. Din crossed his arms.

"What's the cargo?"

"Her eggs." I whispered aloud to Din. He slightly tilted his head to the side.

"Her eggs?"

The old lady turned to the frog-like one and asked the client in her native language. The frog lady replied, a small chirp in her voice.

"It's her spawn," The old lady announced, facing Din and me. "She needs her eggs fertilized by the equinox or her line will end. If you jump into hyperspace, they'll die." She continued, "She said her husband has settled on the estuary moon of Trask in the system of the gas giant Kol Iben."