Private Slow West

[Belok Karr]

"I'll be a mando one day," Glen proudly proclaimed.

Tadgh, having sensed a shift in Lyla's demeanour tilted his head towards the door. Glen happily made off with his spoils. We was probably going to leave a mess in the cockpit again.

Lyla seemed smaller. As if she had sunk further into her chair.

Tadgh settled down at the table, side on to Lyla rather than face to face. He wasn't the best as teasing out other people's feelings. He sat over his bowl of food and hoped she might fill the silence with what was concerning her.

She had been through a lot. Perhaps silence was all she needed to let it sink in.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

It took Lyla a moment to realize that the conversation had ended and that Glen had left the galley. There was a bowl of food in front of her, she hadn't even seen Tadgh put it down. She looked up and saw the mandalorian sitting next to her, instead of in front of her. It was a nice gesture. If he'd positioned himself across from her, it would have implied the need for a conversation. Perhaps it was his way of comforting her, either way, she appreciated it.

For a few moments, she quietly ate the meal and gathered her thoughts.

He wasn't trying to force her to talk or asking any sort of prying questions.

Once she was done eating, she turned a little on the bench so that she was facing him a little better. "He seems to have high aspirations." She remarked with a slightly forced smile.

She took a deep breath through her nose and then slowly exhaled. "Just have a lot on my mind... trying to figure out how to piece my life back together, y'know?"

 

[Belok Karr]

"I can imagine," he said plainly.

Despite Glen's hopes, he wasn't trying form his own clan of mandalorian. What he did take from his culture was that a mandalorian stood by those in need. Those who needed to be found. It didn't make all of those people Foundlings.

"You got the split from the job and if you can't find something at our next stop, you can keep the room on here a little longer. Does that help?"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla furrowed her brow at the offer. She was both surprised and also not at the same time. The Mandalorian seemed to have a penchant for looking out for people. He'd already given her more than most other mercenaries would have, and yet here he was offering her a place to stay. There was certainly more to him than just a bruiser with a fancy suit of armor and a blaster.

Normally, Lyla would have been hesitant to accept such an offer, especially from a Mandalorian... But she felt that she could place some trust in Tadgh.

When she smiled at him, the expression was far more genuine than just a few moments prior. "That... Means more than I can really out into words. I don't want to impose or get in the way... I'll be useful, if it comes down to that."

 

[Belok Karr]

"Useful? Oh yes. You see...when you come to know us all really well..." he said. Tadgh lowered his voice and leaned across the table.

"...you will find..." he whispered as if he was imparting a secret.

"...that my ship is in really, really bad condition. "

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla actually smirked back at Tadgh and she leaned towards him, as if she had a secret of her own.

"You could always just hire me and I'd fix her up for you." She said in a low voice and with a playful wink.

While she had a feeling Tadgh's work tended to lean in a more violent direction than she was accustomed to, she had a suspicion that he would never intentionally leave a crewmate behind.

 

[Belok Karr]

"Let's see what jobs are on the table when we get there," Tadgh replied. "And how good a patch job you do whilst we're docked."

There was nothing threatening in his tone. He wasn't some middle management type trying to leverage more work by manipulation. He was just blunt.

He liked her. She was brave. She hadn't deserved what had happened to her and her last crew. He needed the droid to fly the ship and Glen was close enough to family. He wouldn't take on more crew if he couldn't look after what he had.

"I'd give you the full tour," he said, "but the ship is small enough that only Glen could ever get lost in it.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

She waved a hand dismissively and shook her head with a strained smile. It'd been foolish of her to think he'd been serious about keeping her on the crew. From where she stood, it sounded more like a platitude than a genuine offer now. She couldn't hold that against him, it was only human nature.

"Don't worry about it, not like I need to know where everything is at to patch a hull." She quipped, turning her attention back to the food bowl in front of her.

He'd give her cut and politely send her on her way once the ship was fixed. It wasn't as if this crew needed a slicer. While Lyla knew how to weld as good as most greasemonkeys, her true potential lay in computers and technology. Why would a ship like this need an electronic warfare specialist anyways? The simple answer was: they didn't.

Finding her old crew had been a stroke of sheer luck. How many others had turned her down before that? She would do well to remember that this entire endeavor was strictly business. The only person that was going to have her back, was herself.

She finished off the last of her meal then gathered the walking stick and the dirty bowl, carrying it over to the dishwasher that was tucked away into one of the cabinets. One of the hinges was loose and required her to slam the door shut with a grunt. Another piece of equipment that needed fixing.

"Is there a computer on board with a connection to the holonet? I'd like to start looking for a job now, while I have the time. It'll be easier if I have something lined up once we land..."

 

[Belok Karr]

Tadgh watched her go. He was always honest with people. The truth was that most people spent a lot of time not being honest, even if it wasn't in a harmful way. It felt as if something he had said had dismayed the slicer.

"I can get you a datapad," he said, slowly nodding his head. "Bring it to your room if you want to put your leg up."

Tadgh stood from the table, picking up his own bowl. He didn't often feel awkward in his own domain, his own ship, but he did now. Sometimes he preferred the mask. A layer between himself and the outside world. It could be simpler that way. To be more and also less than your whole self. To represent a culture, a creed, but to be enshrined in it too. Protected and protector.

"If I could use you on the next job, would you take it or would you rather something more permanent?" he asked, not even considering his phrasing.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

She paused by the counter, working her bottom lip between her teeth. The question felt loaded somehow, and served as another reminder that she wasn't actually needed. Story of her life, the nature of have a niche skill.

Eventually, she gave a small shrug of a shoulder. "Work is work. Besides... Temporary is pretty much the status quo for my line of work. Finding a crew that is willing to hire someone with my skill set for long term is uh... Exceedingly rare."

"But yeah... The datapad would be nice."

 

[Belok Karr]

Tadgh silently swore to himself. Lyla had been through a lot. In his attempt to offer some light ahead he felt he'd actually made things worse. He shouldn't have focused her mind on a future made more bleak by everything she had lost.

"I'm sure you'll find something," he said firmly. "You can slice, work under fire and rework a hyperdrive mid battle. If I've got a job lined up next, you've got work lined up too.

"The ship needs some TLC. Glen isn't getting his coat of paint though."

Tadgh looked around the room as if considering the ship from the galley alone. He looked back to Lyla and gave an unconfortable shrug. It felt very much as if he had been rambling.

"Right, datapad."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

The slicer managed a more genuine smile as his attempt to reassure her. She could tell that he felt a little guilty about the circumstances, but she couldn't expect him to just pay her without there being work. At least he wasn't so callous about the situation as to be indifferent to what would happen to her. She tucked a wayward curl behind her ear, nodding.

"You uh... you could join me, if you wanted. Two sets of eyes are better than one." She offered as she thumbed back towards her temporary quarters.

"Only if you want to though." She added with a nervous chuckle, before she slowly made her way out of the kitchen.

What was wrong with her? It felt like she kept stammering over her words and saying the wrong thing...

 

[Belok Karr]

His eyes followed her fingers around her ear. It seemed those red curls were always going to be spilling free. Tadgh remembered himself and cleared his throat.

"I can help," he agreed. "Well, probably. I can tell the front of the ship from the back and that's about it. I know that a datapad connects to the holonet and there is...software. So if there are adverts for specific skills..."

Tadgh turned on the spot as he tried to remember where he was likely to find two datapads.

In the end he went up front. Dee-kay offered a formal greeting and then returned to a hibernative state. The ship would warn him of anything going wrong. It was not the same as a person sleeping on the job.

Tadgh found one in the cockpit and then another in his room. He knocked at Lyla's door to offer her one to start searching. There seemed little point trying to lock anything down. She could probably hack the ship if she was really determined.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla accepted the device with a shy smile and then stepped back, holding her arm out in the universal gesture for 'come in'.

She'd tidied up the room significantly while Tadgh had been scrounging for datapads. It didn't quite look like a living quarters yet, but it was now liveable, at the very least. The bed was inlaid into the wall in a small cubby. So she climbed into the space and leaned her back against the wall with her legs stretched out in front of her.

"You can sit up here, if you want. More comfortable than the crates laying around." She offered, powering up the datapad.

 

[Belok Karr]

"Oh, yes, sure," Tadgh replied. He was far more comfortable in his beskar facing down the enemy than he was finding a spot to perch on the fold out bed. If the cabin had felt like her living quarters he might have fled outright.

"What kind of thing should I be searching for?" he asked as he sat down. "Don't expect all those searching for slicers advertise openly."

Tadgh passed over a datapad. What he had not considered was that neither he, no Glen, were always very good at clearing their holonet browsing tabs down.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

She absently crossed her ankles and balanced the datapad on top of her lap while she pulled up a browser she was familiar with. It was rare to find legitimate slicing work, so most crew listings would be for someone with advanced computer skills and communications -- but only for temporary work. She explained this to Tadgh and suggested a few sites to peruse first. If they didn't find anything there, she would broaden her search to include less reputable sites.

The bed was relatively small, which meant that Tadgh was seated rather close to her. When she adjusted her position slightly, her leg bumped into the side of his.

She chuckled when she noticed one of the browser tabs that was still open in the background and glanced at Tadgh out of the corner of her eye. "Seems Glen has a uh.... appreciation for animation." Her cheeks colored slightly and she cleared her throat, closing the tab out.

"But uh... what sort of jobs do the two of you usually take?"

 

[Belok Karr]

"Well, at least it wasn't my guns and girls holos," Tadgh replied. His cheeks had actually gone a rather fierce shade of red.

He lost track of where he had been in his current job search Holonet site and had to start from the top.

"Any bounty that we think we can take on, which is most of them," he replied. "Most of the time people don't post bounties on active crime Lords if they want to stay...not dead. Makes our rodian case an oddity. Needed help on that one."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

She frowned a little, her brow furrowed in thought. Why had it required two teams to bring the rodian in? And why was only one of them sold out? It didn't make any sense. Tadgh made it seem as though the mark hadn't said anything when he questioned him, which only made Lyla thing he knew something that he wasn't sharing.

Her mind mulled over the possibilities while she perused the list of job listings, making it difficult for her to focus.

She rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand, grimacing slightly. Was there even any point to looking into this right now? Or was she just trying to keep herself distracted?

With a soft sigh, she set the datapad down on her lap and let her head drop back against the wall behind her. For a moment, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was keenly aware of Tadgh's presence next to her. The warmth that emanated from his form was unmistakable and the silence of the room made it so that she could hear his breathing.

That steady rhythm was enough to lull her into a more relaxed state, her own breath naturally falling into step with his own.

"None of what happened made any sense..." She murmured softly, still not opening her eyes.

 

[Belok Karr]

Tadgh turned his head slowly to look over at Lyla. He had noticed that she had stopped scrolling some time ago. He was always aware of his surroundings. He lived a dangerous life and beskar plates couldn't cover his whole body. All that training as a mandalorian child didn't help him know what to say.

He spent most of him time behind the mask. People saw the mask and not him. There were times when he envied those mandalorian cultures that never removed the mask.

Feeling guilty that he was watching her whilst she had her eyes closed, Tadgh looked down at his hands.

"It doesn't," Tadgh replied, "I'm just...not used to asking too many questions after a job. In fact it's actively discouraged. The rodian has got nothing for us." He drummed his fingers across one of his knees.

"I can ask about who posted the bounty. I owe you at least that much."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

The deep sound of Tadgh's voice could have easily soothed Lyla to sleep if he'd continued to murmur softly. The words blended together into a pleasant melody, the meaning lost for a few precious moments.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the Mandalorian staring intently down at his hands. For some reason, she felt a stab of melancholy, but she didn't understand why. Had she been hoping he would be looking at her?

She pursed her lips slightly and then clicked her tongue. "Don't worry about it... Some times, things just go wrong, y'know?"

As she parted her lips to say something else, the universe decided it was the perfect time to drive home the point she'd just made. The ship shuddered violently and then an alarm sounded.

"What the --?!" She hissed, sitting up off the wall with a worried expression.

"Sir! We've been intercepted by an Imperial patrol. They've ordered us to cut engines." The Droid that piloted the ship explained flatly over the intercom.