A Life Without Meaning

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕣 (𝕀𝕀)

"A New Republic prison ship? Are you joking?" Ellia whispered incredulously to the Mandalorian who was standing at her side. His eyes were currently burning a hole into the back of the droid who was sitting in his pilot's chair.

He hadn't responded to her question, and Ellia shook her head in frustration.

"I don't like this." she muttered for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

At that, he turned his head down to look back at her,

"You'll stay on board. But I don't want you talking to them or trusting a single word that comes out of their mouths." he said sternly.

"Don't gotta tell me twice" she answered under her breath.

In front of them, the protocol droid plugged himself into the control panel.

"Calculations complete. Jumping to hyperspace...now."

Ellia watched with interest as the ship lurched forward, the stars turning into those familiar blue streams of light.

"Feel free to join the others." the droid said without even looking at them. "I will handle it from here."

The Mandalorian stood there for a second longer, eyeing the droid with continuous suspicion, before finally turning towards Ellia again, and the two of them headed for the hull together.

He jumped down first, followed quickly by Ellia. Only to find the Devaronian with his head excitedly stuck inside the weapons vault.

As Ellia shrank herself into the corner, the Mandalorian hit one of the buttons on the control panel, slamming it shut in front of the creature's face. This appeared to anger him, as he slammed his large fist against the closed doors, before turning to glare at the Mandalorian. He reached out towards the safe room panel next, but the armored man was quick to stop him, grabbing onto his arm forcefully.

The two of them now stood face to face, the Devaronian growling down at him. Ellia stilled with concern.

"Hey, hey, hey" the man with the guns spoke up as the two circled each other. "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm a little particular about my personal space too. So let's just do this job. We get in, we get out, and you don't have to see our faces anymore."

"Someone tell me why we even need a Mandalorian" the Devaronian asked bitterly.

"Well, apparently they're the greatest warriors in the galaxy. So they say." the man with the guns answered, sounding wholefully unconvinced.

"Then why are they all dead?" the big creature responded.

The rest of the crew exploded into laughter, spare Ellia and the Mandalorian. The man with the guns turned towards the purple twi-lek, who was sitting a few seats down from him, balancing a knife on the end of her pointer finger.

"Well, you flew with him, Xi'an. Is he as good as they say?" he asked.

"Ask him about the job on Alzon III" she said with a smirk.

The crew turned their heads towards the Mandalorian, and regrettably Ellia found herself doing the same.

"I did what I had to." the masked man answered vaguely.

With a sharp giggle, the twi'lek caught the knife in her fist.

"Oh but you liked it." she said mockingly, "See...I know who you really are."

Ellia felt her entire body stiffen. Her hand slowly moving towards her waistband, a fist closing around the hilt of her utility blade.

"He never takes off the helmet?" the man with the guns mused.