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Chapter 9 - Piles of Parts

Through the cockpit window, Melora could see the rough volcanic terrain of Nevarro as the ship descended down towards it. There were lava lakes and rivers dotted throughout the planet, making it an ashen surface of black sand with smoke rising from in between rocks.

The ship shook as it came closer to the ground which made the child let out a few excited giggles. Melora looked over towards the creature, a sad expression on her face as she truly realized its innocence and how it had such blind faith in them, unaware that they were soon going to hand it off to some stanger.

The Razor Crest landed right outside the city, next to other ships, many of which Melora recognised. She stood up to look outside the window trying to see more of them, as Mando turned towards her.

"You should stay here while I collect the reward" He said blankly to her.

"I thought maybe I should go to the market and get some supplies" She turned to him, a bit confused. She really wanted to have a look around since she hadn't been anywhere outside of Arvala-7 in almost two years.

"We have what we need" Mando bluntly replied. He knew Nevarro wasn't a safe place, and the last thing he needed was his mechanic getting injured on her fist day.

"Maybe we do, but the Crest certainly needs some new parts" She countered. "She's running on the bare minimum right now" Melora wasn't lying, a lot of the parts were old and damaged even before the Jawas got to them. Mando was quiet, not feeling very convinced and quite frankly, he was unsure of her safety.

"Don't worry, I've got my blaster" She patted her weapon on her side as she noticed his hesitancy. "I've survived by myself for years, I'll be fine" She waved her hand lightly in the air as she smiled at his concern.

"I wasn't worried" The Mandalorian stood up and walked over to the child, trying to dismiss her assumption, but Melora saw through it and smiled to herself.

"Alright," She let out a small laugh "I guess you'll just use your bounty hunting skills to find me when you're done then" She walked over to the child looking down at it as it looked between her and Mando. She realized that this would be goodbye for them.

Worry and guilt arose inside her again as the small innocent creature looked up at her with its big round eyes. She reached out for it and the child grabbed her finger with its small hand, playing with it, as it made a happy gurgle. Pain shot through her heart as she leaned down, kissing its head lightly and whispering a short goodbye to the child. It looked up at her confused when she stood upright again and took her finger out of its hand.

"I'll get going then" She looked over to Mando, trying to hide her pain. She knew it was part of his job, and she didn't want to be a burden to him and get attached to the first bounty she was doing with him.

But Mando noticed, and the same pain Melora had felt, shot through him as well. He didn't know why it hurt him so much. It shouldn't hurt him so much. But as he watched the woman make her way down the ladder, he heard the sad whimper of the child coming from its carrier. Mando looked down and the pain returned again, he wanted it to stop, and the only thing he thought would do that, was to deliver the child as soon as possible.

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Melora had swiftly exited the ship, hurring to get away to distract herself. She walked through the rocky, ashend field that housed about a dozen parked ships, as she focused on trying to name all of them. One in particular stood out to her, a lot due to its massive size, but mostly for the fact that she had built more than she could count.
It was a C-ROC Carrier ship that the Empire used heavily under the Imperial era, mostly for cargo transportation and as a warship. It was in poor condition and barely modified from what Melora could tell.

What's an Imperial ship like that doing here? She found it odd that a ship that needs a crew of 12 to function, would find its way to a small outer-rim planet like Nevarro. But she decided to brush it off, turning her attention to the town instead, as she thought it time to locate the parts she would need for repairs.

She walked down the main street of the town, trying to find a place that sells ship parts. Her attention was caught by the rough and hectic look of the place, with people dressed in worn-out clothes and dirty equipment as sellers and buyers were shouting at each other all around her. All kinds of droids and species were seen walking about chatting and watching warily around them. Melora shifted her hand slightly over to her blaster, feeling the uneasy ness of the town creeping up on her. She continued walking on the black sand, looking for the store she needed when an Iktotchian roughly slammed into her shoulder. He cursed at her in Iktotchese as he rushed past her. Melora rubbed her now sore shoulder watching the man disappear in the crowd with a slight frown on her face.

How rude. She thought, as her enthusiasm for exploring the town was dwindling. She really wanted to find this shop fast so she could get off the streets. So with some hesitation, she decided to ask for directions. Looking around for somewhat of a friendly face, she didn't find many, but settled on a Rodian leaning on the side of a wall looking bored.
Walking up to him, she lightly waved her hand in the air to get his attention as she put on a friendly smile. The Rodian looked up at her as she stood before him.

"Hi, sorry to bother you" She apologized when she noticed the drop in the Rodians mood. "Do you know where I could buy some ship parts around here?" She tried her best to seem calm and friendly so as to not agitate the man.

"Through there" He said in Basic after a few moments, pointing to an alleyway next to them. She nodded her head in thanks before hesitantly moving over towards the location.

It was dark and narrow as she descended a few stairs further down the alley. Her senses were on high alert as she ventured on, looking around each corner and dark spot, trying not to get jumped. She started to doubt the Rodians direction moments before she saw a Toydarian walking out of a building, a bit further up, with an exhaust pipe in its hands. Hope spiked up inside of her as she made her way towards the building. As she stepped inside, she saw a female Twi'lek sitting behind a counter looking at some spare parts

"What can I do for you?" She asked unbothered as she continued tinkering with the parts in front of her. Melora stepped forward towards the counter, taking off her backpack and searching inside of it for the list she had made over the parts she needed.

"Do you have any spare parts for pre-empire ships?" She knew that the chances of them having the exact parts needed for the Razor Crest were slim, so she opted to ask for pre-empire parts instead, hoping she would find something that fits.

"Pre-empire?" The Twi'lek looked at her perplexed. She thought for a moment before motioning over to some dusty creates and piles of old metal in the far corner of the shop. "I'm not sure but If I have it, its over there"

"Thank you" Melora said as she sighed inwardly at the task at hand. It wouldn't be easy sorting through that mess of parts and tools.

"Have fun" The shop owner said ironically as Melora made her way over to the piles.

She looked at her note, memorizing what she needed before she started examining the quality and uses of each of the parts. As time went on, she realized that finding the exact part would be close to impossible. But if she could find semi-similar parts and then modify them to fit the Crest, she would be satisfied. So for the next few hours, Melora was stuck searching for a few needles in a giant haystack, trying to wrack her brain around how to use modern parts on an old relic of a ship. 

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Heyo!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

If you did, you can press the star, it makes me feel better than Grogu feels rn :(