Metanoia | The Mandalorian

Chapter 32

Up in the cockpit of the Razor Crest, Din woke up and noticed everything was covered with ice. He tried to get the ship started but stopped when he heard the frog lady groaning. He turned and saw her laying on the floor, eyes closed and her body shivering. He helped her up to her seat as she tried telling him something.

"I'll find your eggs, don't worry." He assured her as she whimpered. "Gotta get you some blankets, keep you warm."

He opened the door and went down the ladder when he saw a hole in the ship with snow getting inside.

"Damn it." He mumbled. He opened the doors to the sleeping quarters, expecting Juno and the child to be inside, but found it empty, starting to panic. "Juno? Kid? Where are you?" He called, moving around the ship as he looked for them when he heard the lady speaking. "Hang on, I'm looking for your eggs!" He called out to her.

He continued to look around when he heard a slurping sound. He lifted some covers and found the child slurping one of the eggs.

"No! I told you not to do that." Din scolded the child as he closed the lid and lifted the eggs when the lady spoke something in her language. "Found them!" He replied to her before he put the container aside and picked up the child. "Where's Juno?" He asked and the child looked to the side, cooing sadly. Din looked where the child pointed and rushed to the corner of the ship where Juno was laying on the ground. He put the child down and turned her carefully so that she was on her back when he noticed the dried blood from the cut on her forehead.

"Juno! Please be okay." He mumbled to himself as he carefully inspected her for any other injuries. He put his hand on her cheek, his thumb gently touching the dried blood when he noticed her shivering, her skin pale and lips starting to turn blue. He quickly pulled off his cape, covering her body with it when she slowly opened her eyes.

"Din?" She whispered and he quickly turned to her, holding her a bit tighter.

"I'm here." He said as he gently stroked her cheek.

"I'm cold." She whispered, her teeth chattering.

"I know. You're gonna be okay." He assured her. "I'm gonna lift you up. Get you some blankets." He told her as he picked her up and moved her further away from the hole in the ship. Once he put her down so that she was leaning comfortably against the wall, he rushed to the sleeping quarters and grabbed as many blankets as he could find while the child reached Juno and sat down next to her, leaning against her. He rushed back to her and covered her with a few of the blankets before he started inspecting her forehead.

While he was occupied with the children, the frog lady had come down to join them, grabbing a spare blanket on her way. When they were all seated together and Din was sure that the children were fine, he grabbed some food for everyone except for him, as he couldn't eat without removing his helmet.

"If you hadn't guessed, we're in a tight spot. The main power drive is not responding, and the hull has lost its integrity. I suspect the temperature will drop significantly when night falls. I'll have a better idea of our prospects at that time." He explained as he sat down next to Juno, whose eyes were slowly closing, pulling her closer to him to keep her warm.

The lady tried talking to him again, pointing at her eggs.

"I'm sorry, lady. I don't understand Frog. Whatever it is, it can wait until morning. I recommend you get some sleep." He told her and wrapped the blanket tighter around Juno, wrapping his arms around her. She quickly fell asleep, using Din as a pillow while the child leaned against him on his other side, Din's arm coming to rest against his back as he pulled some of the blanket over to cover the child as well. The small family quickly drifted off to sleep.

~

"Wake up, Mandalorian." Said the lady through the droid, Zero's, body. Din immediately woke up and pulled out his blaster, pointing at the droid. His sudden moves made Juno and the child wake up too, the girl looking around confused. "This cannot wait until morning." Continued the lady. "Do not be alarmed. I bypassed the droid's security protocols and accessed its vocabulator."

"What the hell are you doing? That droid is a killer." Said Din as he put away the blaster and Juno relaxed onto his chest again.

"These eggs are the last brood of my life cycle. My husband has risked his life to carve out an existence for us on the only planet that is hospitable to our species. We fought too hard and suffered too much to resign ourselves to the extinction of our family line. I must demand that you hold true to the deal that you agreed to." The lady continued. Din looked down at his children, noticing the color returning to Juno's face.

"Look, lady, the deal is off. We're lucky if we get off this frozen tomb with our lives." He told her as the kids held onto him.

"I thought honoring one's word was a part of the Mandalorian code. I guess those are just stories for children. What if it were their lives on the line?" She said, pointing at Juno and the child cuddled up to him. The child cooed while Juno looked up at him with pleading look in her eyes. He sighed and moved them off him, keeping them both covered in the blanket. He caressed their heads as he stood up and grabbed his toolbox.

"This was not a part of the deal." He muttered as he walked out into the cold.

Juno and the child watched him go, the girl turning to look at the lady with a frown, not liking the way she spoke to the Mandalorian. The lady just turned around and kept to herself and her eggs while Juno slowly closed her eyes. Her head started hurting as she had a quick vision. She couldn't quite see what was happening as the image was blurred but she knew that there was danger lurking somewhere on this planet.