Calamity || The Mandalorian

thirty-eight

The voice came seemingly from out of nowhere as Kasia strode down the hallway at Din's side, the group making their way to the control center.

Ha'ep Kasia Torelo, she heard in her head.

Instinctively Kasia froze, her eyes scanning for whatever threat had just greeted her. But as her eyes found no one in the corridor save Din, Mayfeld, Xi'an, and Burg, Kasia realized that she had not physically heard the words—not out loud anyways.

Next to her, Din frowned down at Kasia as her footfalls stalled and she paled, her eyes darting quickly towards his helmet and then away.

Kas, is everything okay? he questioned silently, resisting the urge to shake her shoulder and wake her from whatever reverie she appeared to be in.

Rather than responding to Din's concerned words, however, Kasia ignored him completely, focusing instead on the voice she had heard in her head.

The voice itself was foreign—she did not recognize the person on the other end of the communication. But... somehow there was an odd familiarity that stirred in her chest at the stranger's words, at his very presence.

Who are you? Kasia asked down the bond, praying that her suspicions were correct, that she was not somehow going insane as she willed her feet to again move forward, if only to stay somewhat caught up with the rest of the gang.

Kasia felt a beat of humor from the man at the other end of the communication chain before he responded, it is not in our kind's nature to ask such easily answered, meaningless questions.

Her breath caught at the words, at the reference to "their kind." She was right—this man, whoever he was, was Eulentian, just like her.

Without thinking, the action almost instinctual in nature, Kasia's mind melded with the stranger's, images flashing in her brain as she quickly absorbed all the truths of his life, all the information that made Yrel Darrow the man he now was.

It was customary in Eulentian culture for citizens to greet each other by looking into each other's minds and the story of their lives. In most planets, such an action might be considered a vile broach of privacy—it certainly was in the societies Kasia had become accustomed to since the fall of her planet—but Eulentian culture was based upon a solid foundation of honesty and transparency: its citizens were uncompromising in the pursuit and admission of truths. There was no hiding who you were or what you had done in Eulentia, only the fallout and the continual movement to better one's soul.

As Yrel's life flashed before Kasia's eyes, Kasia absorbed his story of escape from the carnage of Eulentia as well as what had led to his capture on this vessel: he was a pilot and like majority of those rumored to have survived the Empire's destruction of Eulentia, he had been away from their planet when the attack occurred. As for what had led to his capture, Kasia learned that he had recently taken up using his piloting abilities to run spice, the promise of good compensation too great an opportunity to pass up—until he had been caught of course.

Kasia could not blame him for his crimes—she too had committed trespasses against the New Republic laws to further her own gains. And she knew that... she knew that even if he was a criminal, she could not leave him here, could not forsake her own kind. She had seen his heart, and she knew him to be a good spirit, a good man with no other options left to turn to.

"Kasia," Mando finally said loudly as he dared to shake her shoulder slightly, panic starting to pour from the Mandalorian. It was unlike Kasia to go so quiet for so long a period, to act so utterly robotic as they made their way down the corridors.

Finally, dragged back to reality by Din's touch, Kasia blinked numbly up at him for a moment before her eyes cleared. "I- Din," she murmured, her voice low such that none of those nearby would overhear their hushed conversation. "There's another Eulentian on-board this vessel," she revealed quietly, scarcely able to believe the words she spoke.