Armored Passion | The Mandalorian

|Prologue|

"So, how long are you going to be in town for?"

"Not too long. My manager gave me a few days away from the ring since I've won the past fifteen fights on my card. The bets have been coming in pretty hot ever since I started fighting every other night," I say, shrugging my shoulders as my brother led me into the kitchen of his home. He hums as he pours us both drinks, sliding one of the cups over to me. "Where's Shara and Poe?"

"Poe's in his room going over X-wing blueprints with BB-8 and Shara's out at the market grabbing a few things for dinner," Kes answers, nodding his head over to the hallway that led to Poe's room. I hum as I take a sip of my drink, glancing at the seemingly quiet hallway. "So, you're still going on with that whole sketchy fight ring thing? I thought you would've gotten tired of fighting matches you already knew you were going to win."

"I think you forget about the fact that one of my paychecks could literally buy the cantina in town. I'm getting rewarded for winning like I was in my last job, just on a larger scale. And I'm perfectly okay with that," I say, winking at him. He perks up a bit and quirks his head to the side. "Bounty hunting was all about winning in one way or another. I just need something that's going to give me that same drive, you know?"

"Alright, forget about your career choice for a second. There's no way one of your paychecks could pay for that damn cantina," he says, narrowing his eyes at me. 

I smirk and pull out a holopuck from the inside of my brown leather jacket, setting it down on the counter. A picture of me pops up, as do the current number of credits in my bank account. His eyes widen as he spots the number and I let out a small laugh, nodding my head while closing it up and stuffing the puck back into the pocket of my already fading leather jacket. 

"Don't be surprised when Poe gets an X-wing for his birthday," I say, winking while clicking my teeth. "I know a manufacturer in Canto Bight who would give me a deal too."

"Why don't you try racing instead of fighting? I heard Solo can do the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs. I bet you could beat that with your eyes closed," he tries, perking his brows up while running his fingers over the rim of his glass. 

"I know you did not just bring Han Solo into this little career intervention we're having right now," I say, furrowing my brows while smirking a bit. He smiles a little more and lets out a small laugh. "Alright, first of all, I know for a fact that I could do that run with my eyes closed. And second of all, I don't need to get into racing because I already know that it'll be mindlessly easy money for me. I just need something more physical."

"You're pretty cocky for someone who won't even look into it," he says, smirking at me. I roll my eyes again and slump my shoulders while leaning against the counter. "You lost your passion for flying ever since Leia appointed you to be a Commander of a squadron."

"Leia making me a Commander for the New Republic has nothing to do with my passion for flying, Kes," I say, scoffing while straightening out and crossing my arms. 

"Hey now! You can't forget that it's a special ops squadron for Senator Organa herself," he adds, sarcastically dropping his jaw while flashing his eyes a bit. I open my mouth to argue with him, but an energetic voice cuts me off before I could retort anything back over to my smirking brother. 

"Aunt Mae!"

I look over to the hall to see a head full of black curls running right for me. I let out a light laugh and hug Poe as he crashes right into my front, tightly wrapping his arms around my waist. BB-8 trails close behind him, knocking his metal body against one of my legs. I run my hand over the top of BB-8's head before I look back down at Poe, who was still holding onto me for dear life.