we were infinite - the mandalorian

s i x t e e n

THE MANDALORIAN FELT UNEASE LIKE HE'D NEVER FELT BEFORE. His heavy steps echoed as he paced the short perimeter of his ship, trying not to glance at the unconscious body of his bounty companion.

It was beyond him how she had managed to survive such a hit from the trap imploder on Hoth. But surely enough he felt her pulse, and immediately carried her seemingly lifeless body into the ship and onto her bed, which is where she remained.

Despite his frazzled mind and distressed composure, he managed to escape the barren planet, and search for the closest habitable landing space in the hopes of finding medical help.

He halted his pacing, planting himself in his pilot seat as looked at the state of his ship.

The little plant she insisted on watering daily, scattered food wrappers dotted around, an array of dangers and interesting blades laid on every possible surface of the ship.

She'd entered his life of solitude as a nuisance. She was nothing but a setback to the way he usually worked. She was highly irritating, loud and incredibly fierce.

Yet as she lay unmoving, she ship was filled with a sickening silence. There were no complaints, no sarcastic comments. Mando wasn't sure whether he was ready accept his space without her in it. Somehow, she had destroyed his demeanour - yet made a place of her own in there.

Her absence was the cause of his unease. He didn't like it.

The Mandalorian's head fell into his hands with a sigh, but quickly shot up at the sound of a distant groan. Within an instant, he rushed to her side, cape following in grand pursuit.

Mia held a hand to her throbbing head as she made out a familiar Beskar helmet through squinting eyes.

"Don't tell me you died too, Buckethead." She groaned.

Mando didn't realise he was holding his breath until he heavily exhaled with relief.

"Assessing blood levels." Spoke a robotic voice.

Mia almost jumped as a light blue Astromech droid rolled across the ground to her side.

Before she could react, it extended a sharp needle into her forearm.

"Ow!" She screeched. "What the hell is this thing?"

It bleeped and rolled back hesitantly, "Blood levels steady."

"Nursing droid," said Mando. "First one I could find."

Something wasn't adding up, she thought. A nursing droid like this wouldn't have been strolling through the snow hills of Hoth.

"You went into the base?" Her eyes filling with alarm and panic, "The Queen, did you follow them?"

"Didn't have to," he said, "Thanks to you, we've got live tracker updates on the location of her ship."

With a hand on her pulsing head and hiss from the pain in her abdomen, Mia sat up straight to catch her bearings. She didn't like feeling this helpless and unaware of their situation. But she was relived to learn that she managed to do at least one thing right - they were one step closer to the end of their mission because of her stupidly brilliant idea.

"As for the droid," he continued, "I found him on Nar Shaddaa, which is where we are now."

She looked up, daze and confusion painting her hazel eyes, "Were on another planet? How long was I out?"

"About a day." He said, watching uncomfortably as the droid prepared some more medicine for Mia. He never trusted droids. But today, he grudgingly had no choice.