Never Again: Din Djarin

Supply Run

"I thought you said the starboard engine was fixed!" Din bellowed.

A pressure release valve had burst, sending steam straight into my face and I coughed as I said, "Don't yell at me, you're not helping. And, I said it needed fixing, I didn't say it was fixed." What a morning. It had started out fine, the two of us leaving Raxus and entering hyperspace without incident. After about an hour hour of travel, alerts started beeping, and Din had to stop the ship. Now we were floating through the cosmos at sublight, the stars our only companions besides each other.

"Well, why didn't you prioritize the repair?" he asked. I went up to the cockpit as Din was steering. "Dank ferrik, could you please turn that alarm off?" I did as he said, the loud beeping subsiding into a small throb.

"Because, it didn't look that bad. The hyperdrive was fine and I figured once we settled somewhere, I could fix it then. Cleary, I was wrong."

He snickered. "Yeah, no shit. Well, we can't go back into hyperspace if the engine could fall off. We'll need to land somewhere." He pulled up a star chart on the ship's computer. "Okay. Now, where are we?" Din said, almost as he was thinking out loud. I imagined the look in his eyes, the gears turning in his mind. From the map, it looked like we were deep in the outer rim territories. "What's this?" He zoomed in on a particular planet. "Lothal. Former imperial territory, used primally for building industries. Seems like they were run out by rebels during the war." I angled my head at an incline, a confused look on my face. "Lothal? Never heard of it."

"The Empire definitely did some damage. According to the reports, they practically ruined the environment. The planet's natural resources were stripped, fires weren't uncommon, and extreme pollution could be seen visible from orbit due to the factories. Looks like they've been in recovery for quite some time."

I scowled. "That's awful. Why would the Empire do that?"

Din shrugged. "It's just what they did back then. Did they not have a presence on Jakku when you were growing up?"

"Not really, at least as far as I knew. I lived on the outskirts of Niima outpost and never saw much Imperial activity."  

His leer shifted back to the map. "It's pretty far, but I think we can make it. We can limp along, venting excess plasma and chart a course into the system. Think you can do that for me?" I mock saluted him and said, "Yes, sir."