Armored Passion | The Mandalorian

|14|

Something starts beeping loudly, making me suck in a deep breath and jolt in my seat. I glance over the dash while rubbing one of my eyes, looking through the windshield to see the planet we were supposed to be landing on not too far up ahead. I clear my throat and shift up in my chair, blinking my eyes a few times while letting out a small yawn. 

"Hey. We made it," I mutter, gently nudging Mando's arm to wake him up. He slowly sits up as well, looking through the glass windshield just as I had. I let out another yawn and then glance at the ship's stat report, seeing more red glowing areas on the small outline of the map than green glowing areas. It wasn't the best sight to see, but it was something we were going to have to work with for the time being since we quite literally had no choice in the matter. 

I was just praying that there was going to be some sort of mechanic that would be willing to help us on whatever planet it was we were supposed to be landing on. I hadn't remembered the name of the planet, which might be a little problem. 

"This might get a little choppy, so... maybe you should fly this time around," Mando says, slowly looking over to me. My eyes widen and I immediately look up at him, wondering if I had heard him correctly.

"You want me to fly?" I ask, a twinge of hope filling my tone. He nods his head and then stands from his seat, stepping out of the way so I could take his place in the pilot's seat. I smile and dash over to it, landing in the padded comfort seat that I had missed oh so much. I let out a satisfied huff of a breath, my smile growing a little more. 

"It looks like once we're through the planet's atmosphere, we should have just enough fuel to slow us down and get us back to the ground safely... that it if we don't burn to a crisp first," he mutters, sliding into the co-pilot seat. I furrow my brows and look over at him for a few seconds, narrowing my eyes while pursing my lips. 

"Well, you've become more openly pessimistic since I've been gone," I mutter under my breath, slowly looking back towards the controls in front of me. I let out one more huff of a breath and then nod my head, wrapping my hands around the controls in front of me. "Alright, let's do this."

I steadily push the controls forward, flipping a few of the switches on the dash in hopes that the landing sequence would go as smoothly as I was hoping for it to go. I take a deep breath, my eyes staying set on the planet as we got closer and closer. 

Once we break through the tough atmosphere, the ship starts to shake with a harsh tremor. I pull up on the controls in an attempt to keep my ship intact, but that doesn't necessarily play out too well for us. I could hear panels being ripped from the exterior frame and bolts getting stripped from their places. An annoyed grimace falls over my face as the ship shakes even more, but I keep my hands steady regardless. 

"God damn it," I mutter to myself as the ship's stats start to flash completely red. I clench my jaw as we kept speeding down towards the planet's dark blue surface. I snap my hand over to the lever beside the ship's controls, but the steering mechanism tilts out of whack, making me fumble with my hands a bit. I rush my hands back over to the controls and pull back, trying to keep everything steady and still. "Alright, I need someone to grab onto that lever and make sure it stays pulled back."

Mando grabs onto it and yanks the lever back, putting all of his weight onto it to make it stay in place. He lets out a short huff of a breath while I nervously swallowed. You know, this wasn't exactly what I thought my first experience back in the pilot's seat would be like, but I guess it's better than nothing. 

"Mae, you have to slow down," Mando snaps, looking over to me. I clench my jaw and keep going at the same speed, my eyes glued to a set of white numbers on the dash, watching our altitude drop at a miraculous rate. I take a deep breath through my nose and slowly let it out through my mouth.