Private Slow West

[Belok Karr]

"It's fine," he replied. He looked up at from one knee. "You did your part and made sure we could do the job. We wouldn't have otherwise."

Tadgh said this firmly, but seemed to remember that he was down below her woth a hand on her thigh.

"You need a room. I guess you've lost all your stuff now too?"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

It wasn't until he pointed out that rather obvious fact that she realized she only had her work equipment left to her name. Everything else had been by either the Empire or whatever cartel had jumped them.

She softly exhaled and shook her head. It wasn't an ideal situation, but one she could recover from. At least she could still work. At least she still had her life. The rest of the crew wasn't so lucky.

The Mandalorian was oddly intuitive and charming. She'd always believed the lot of them were gruff, stoic warriors who cared only for battle. Tadgh seemed to have quite a bit more to him than just an affection for violence.

She smiled at him, blushing ever so slightly when she noticed that his hand was still resting on her leg. "I don't want to be a burden. I can't set up a hammock or something in engineering, if needed. Don't want to get in the way."

 

[Belok Karr]

"We do have rooms," Tadgh replied.

"I'd rather you took one than end up tripping over you in engineering," he added with a smile. "I've probably got some spare clothes but they're not going to fit well at all I'm afraid."

He stood and offered a hand. With no other women on the ship she was going to have to suffer baggy sweatpants and tunics.

"I'll go get our quarry locked up properly and see what I've got once you've got a room."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

She took his hand when he offered it, cautiously placing her weight back onto her freshly bandaged leg. It was still numb from the medication, so it was odd to stand on a limb that she couldn't feel.

"Is there anything I can do to help? Or should I just kind of find somewhere to stay out of the way until you're done?"

 

[Belok Karr]

"I'm sure I can find things which are broken that you can fix for me," Tadgh replied, laughing softly. He slid an arm around below her shoulders to take half of her weight.

"Mostly, get some rest. Let the bacta work for a few hours. I should probably go and talk to my bounty and get him properly stowed away. Sometimes I think I should buy a carbonite freezer."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Cautiously, she wrapped an arm around Tadgh's broad shoulders to support herself. His armor wasn't the most comfortable of things to lean against, but it was better than nothing.

She tucked a few curls behind her ear and managed a soft chuckle. "I can do that. Not sure I'd be much help having to hobble around with a numb leg anyways."

With Tadgh's assistance, Lyla was able to make her way to one of the spare rooms that were still open on the ship. It was cluttered with storage bins and ammunition boxes, but it only made sense as far as she was concerned. No one was sleeping in the room, so logically, you would put the space to use.

"So... where are we headed exactly?" She asked him as she moved the boxes off cot and set them onto the floor.

 

[Belok Karr]

"Nar Shaddaa," he replied. "I've got to turn this one in and then work out where we're going next."

Where they went next depended very much on where they work took them. He was good at what he did. Having a ship enabled him to chase the big bounties, people whose reputation brought hunters from faraway worlds.

"The ship needs repairs first, I'll wager. I'll pay more if you can help with that when we're grounded?"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Once the cot was clear, Lyla took a seat on the metal frame and stretched out the injured leg. It felt too weird to lay down and talk to someone, like she was talking to a shrink or something. Not that she'd ever been able to afford one of those.

"Yeah, I can definitely work on her for a bit once we land. Not like I have anywhere to be, no?" She answered with a wry shrug of her shoulder.

She smiled up at the Mandalorian, her hands resting against the frame. "I'll have to properly rewire the hyperdrive... After all."

 

[Belok Karr]

"Just...run things by the droid first. If the ship doesn't work the way he expects it to work them he'll blow some circuits. It works out well for me too," he added with a smile. "The mechs for hire on the docks are really expensive."

Tadgh grinned as he stepped away. He paused at the threshold and looked back at Lyla. He wished he could offer some hope that they would get revenge for her crew, but there were too many possibilities. No single thread they could pull at until they found the answers.

Beating the rodian on the way back would against his principals. It would damage his reputation. You didn't always have to hurt someone to get an answer.

"I might ask our prisoner if he knows anything about your crew."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla hesitated at Tadgh's words, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. The Mandalorian had already done so much for her, and it seemed he intended to surprise her once again. She reached up and rubbed the side of her neck with a sympathetic smile.

"I'd owe you one... It'd help point me in the right direction once I'm on my own again." She replied quietly.

"I don't have any credits to offer so... Whatever I can do to repay you, lemme know." From what she'd gathered so far, there was plenty of work for he to take care of and enough repairs to go around that it shouldn't take her long to work off the favor.

 

[Belok Karr]

"Like I said," he replied with a disarming smile. "You'll save me from the dockside mechanics. They see me coming from a parsec away. Don't know a hydrospanner from an arcwrench so they give me a rough ride.

"Good night Lyla," Tadgh said, closing the door softly behind him. He sighed softly as he stepped away. He was going to have to be careful with the long-legged and red haired engineer for the rest of the trip.

The rodian didn't give away much. Either he knew Tadgh wouldn't take the rough housing far or he was braver than he seemed. He felt bad that he would return to Lyla empty handed. There was a chance the bounty holder would know something, but they were rarely forthcoming with information.

He knocked on the engineer's door early. He didn't want her hobbling around the ship.

"Lyla? Brought you a walking stick - of sorts."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

"Wah?" Lyla groaned blearily when she heard the knock on the door, lifting her head off the pillow. Without even looking in a mirror, she knew that her curls were out of control. She could practically feel the unruly locks standing on end. There was a sharp ache in her leg, a keen reminder that she'd been shot the day prior, and the reality of her situation came thundering back down on her.

Her old crew was gone; either dead or turned traitor. This wasn't the Vagabond. Time to start over again.

With a pained groan, she rolled out of bed and did her best to smooth down her hair with her palms as she hobbled over to the door. A moment later the door slid open to reveal the handsome mandalorian lingering in the corridor outside the room. Her stomach fluttered nervously and she managed a sheepish smile.

"Did you say... a walking stick?" She asked with a confused tone, keeping the weight off her bandaged leg.

 

[Belok Karr]

Tadgh was side on to the door, holding the aide out. He was trying to be polite in case she was not entirely decent.

"Yes, found it tucked up in the cargo hold. Courtesy of a previous job gone wrong. Wasn't sure if we had chucked it or turned it into something else," Tadgh explained.

"Didn't know how much weight you wanted to put on the leg. Did you want something to eat?"

He was now entirely out of his armor. Whilst he wouldn't step beyond the ship without his helmet, he didn't wear it permanently.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

She blinked a few times when it finally clicked that the mandalorian wasn't in his armor. Even without it, he still had a demanding presence that made it clear he was accustomed to fighting. There was just something about the way he held himself.

Lyla took the walking aid from Tadgh and quietly adjusted it so that the device was approximately the right height for her. It was still a little too tall once she was finished, but it was certainly better than nothing. She slipped her arm through the brace and leaned her weight onto the device, testing it out while Tadgh was nearby in case she toppled over.

"That was really thoughtful of you, thanks" She replied with a charming smile, finally looking up from her leg.

It wasn't until he asked if she was hungry that she realized she was famished.

"And food sounds great. Not sure how long I was out..." She chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand.

 

[Belok Karr]

"A good ten hours," he replied. "Think you earned in."

There were elements of his culture that were hard for outsiders to understand. Others were very easy. Weapons were almost a religion. Those who fought alongside a mandalorian earned their respect.

The kitchen was clearly designed for a ship short on space. As he walked in he pulled a table down from one wall. The chairs were stools that rose from the floor on telescopic beams on a button press.

"Got some...nuna eggs and bacon I can offer?" he said, as he rifled through the cupboards.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla took a seat on one of the stools, feeling the support pillar partially give way beneath her as she sat down. In the back of her mind she registered that at some point she could take a look at the hydraulics. She placed the walking stick against the table, then leaned forward so that her forearms were resting on the edge of the table as well.

A cramped life on a ship was familiar to Lyla. There was only so much space available and every last inch had to be used wisely. It was part of the reason why she enjoyed ships so much; there was always a creative solution to be finagled.

She was about to answer Tadgh, to tell him that eggs and bacon would be perfect, when a young man sauntered into the small kitchen. He wagged his eyebrows at Tadgh and laughed boisterously as he made his way over to the refrigerator. Pulling the door open and bending at the waist to peer inside, he called out over his shoulder to Tadgh. "Had a busy night, didya Cap?"

Lyla's brow furrowed at the tone the lad used, realizing that he was trying to insinuate something but she wasn't quite sure what. She recognized that the voice belonged to the gunner she'd heard over the comms during their escape, but this was her first time seeing Glen in person. He was younger than she'd expected.

 

[Belok Karr]

"Glen, Lyla...Lyla, Glen," said Tadgh, waving one hand between them.

He didn't offer any retort for Glen's attitude, but the young man physically crumpled at Tadgh's glower. It lasted a fraction of a second before Glen bounced back. If Tadgh could have picked one word to describe Glen, it would have been infuriating. If he could have picked two - and why not for he had spared many words for him - then it would be robust. The young man had been through a rough childhood out in the Rim. It took a great deal to take the shine off his exuberance.

"Glen is the..." Tadgh said, rolling a hand in the air.

"Person who does all the jobs you don't want to do?" Glen asked as he offered Lyla his hand.

"I was going to say person who eats all my food."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla glanced between the two men and their sibling-esque banter. She reasoned they'd been working together for some time to have developed such a relaxed attitude towards one another. Playful jibes and bickering wasn't common between strangers.

A shy smile settled over her features as she shook Glen's hand. The young man was charming in an exuberant kind of way.

"Nice to put a face to a name." She said quietly, trying to avoid stepping over their conversation too much.

"I'm Lyla, by the way." She added a moment later, remembering that manners were a thing.

 

[Belok Karr]

Glen gave a sharp nod and turned his attention back to the kitchen. He soon has a plate full of various items. More than most would have for breakfast and definitely things not normally seen on a plate together.

"He's training me to be a mandalorian," Glen explained.

"How many times..." said Tadgh, shaking his head. It wasn't the first time this discussion had come around. "...you are not a found one, we are not a clan, you just live and work on this ship and...."

"Ah but you're like bound by some honor code to look after me and..."

"No, you just eat my food and I pay you enough to stop complaining..."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla arched a brow, awkwardly shifted her weight on the bench where she was seated. It felt a little awkward, as though she was sitting in on a family discussion. She was keenly aware that she wasn't a part of the crew or their dynamic -- an outlier. Unsure of what to do with herself in the interim, she turned her attention to the table top; suddenly rather interested in the etching in the metal surface.

While the two men talked, she started to go over her future possibilities in her head. There were so many unknown factors that played a part of what was going to happen. Would she be able to find work? What about the equipment she'd lost, would she be able to replace it? How many credits did she have saved up? Were they enough to get by?

Then there was the matter of her old crew. Should she try to inform the families what had happened? Only a few crew members had anyone back home to begin with... What exactly would she tell them?

She sighed quietly, running a hand through her thick hair. No, that could wait until she had answers for the inevitable questions that would follow.

When she looked up from the table and noticed that the pair were still bickering in a good-humored sort of way. It was in stark contrast to the turmoil that Lyla was struggling with. Nothing had changed for them, while her entire life would have to be rebuilt from the ground up. Her lips thinned, suppressing a frown. The universe kept spinning, one way or another. She would figure something out.

For a fleeting moment, she considered returning to her temporary room and just going back to sleep.