Crash Landing

[Keira Zale]

She had intended to arrive on Concord Dawn to meet with Leandros. However, the cheap rental shuttle she had was janky to begin with. Keira had turned down all luxury travel, preferring to be more economical and having that money go elsewhere. The downside of that was that she was stuck with very crappy transports. Things began to go downhill as soon as she started to enter the atmosphere and the pilot droid began to beep and alarms began to go off.

As per usual, she didn’t have anyone else with her, and she was panicking. Keira wondered if this was it - she would die in a freak accident crashing on the surface of Concord Dawn. She could imagine the Holonet headlines now, and she felt absolutely pathetic. The Chancellor goes down in unarmed field alone and without any help.

She felt queasy from the jerky motions of the ship, clutching onto the side handles as much as she could. Keira wanted to cry, fear overwhelming her. The only company she had was a hunk of metal that was screaming about their impending doom and crash.

Anyone looking over the horizon would see a shuttle coming in hot, thick plume and jets of fire sparking from its back. The shuttle slammed into the ground and skidded across the surface of a canyon and came to a shuddering halt after it was stopped by a mountain surface.

All the lights went out inside the shuttle, and Keira was miraculously still alive. She began to cough from the thick smoke, and she was completely oblivious that the ship would blow any moment. Keira felt her way around in the darkness, none of the buttons or terminals working.

Panic began to set in as she banged on the walls, “Hello?! Can someone hear me?!” There was no real way out of the ship, and she couldn’t see anything. Keira continued to cough, her eyes filling with tears and burning.


@Phoenix

 

[Narir Solus]

Narir had been deep in the wilds of Concord Dawn on a hunting trip. It was a perfect way to clear his head, and the thrill was exhilarating. It was the closest he could get to the excitement of combat without being on the front line. He had hardly expected to look up through the jungles above to see a smoking transport plummeting out of the sky. It dropped like a stone, crashing into a mountain and Narir leapt to his speeder and shot off through the jungle.

Three kilometers away, jetboots up, I'll be on site in two and a half minutes, he thought to himself, calculating the time as he tore through the jungle at dangerous speed, trusting in his honed reflexes not to plaster himself against a tree. He stopped under the ship, which he could now see was balanced precariously on the edge of the cliff. If he didn't get up there quickly, whoever was inside was going to plummet to a violent death. He slammed the brake and almost before his feet had even hit the ground his jetboots tore into the sky.

Twenty seconds later he was at the side of the transport, hand wrapped around the external airlock as his boots cut their acceleration and slowed to a hover. He grabbed the trophy saber off of his belt and plunged it through the airlock. The thick metal of the door made it more difficult to carve through even with the saber, but in a few moments there was a nice, large hole for the war councilor to climb through. He hadn't even considered that the blood red lightsaber stabbing through the airlock might cause anyone inside to panic.

He climbed inside and cut power to the boots, balancing precariously and hoping his weight wasn't enough to tip the shuttle over the edge. He heard coughing and sputtering, and began looking around.

Vaii cuyir gar?! he shouted. He hadn't heard her call out and he didn't realize it was a foreigner who had come to Concord Dawn, and he was acting as much on instinct now as anything. The smoke made it all but impossible for him to see and the creaking of metal beneath his feet put the danger of their situation in perspective. If there was a bright side, at least his environmental seal kept him from choking to death on smoke.

He moved with urgency throughout the ship and spotted someone moving in the smoke. Olaror bat! he said, grabbing her arm hard enough to likely leave a bruise and pulling her along toward the carved open door without any hesitation. If they didn't get out soon they would both be dead. Hopefully there was no one else inside, but his boots couldn't support the weight of more than two people, and even two was pushing it. @Sreeya

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira began to fade quickly, her skin covered in sweat and her vision blurry. She couldn’t breathe and she began to feel lightheaded, “Someone….help….me..” Keira’s words began to slur together, and she began to stumble. She vaguely noticed something bright and red, but she couldn’t process what it was. Within moments, her vision went black and she began to slump down.

She was vaguely aware of a figure entering after blinding light poured in from chunks of the shuttle being removed. It was a male voice rapidly yelling things out, and she couldn’t make out any of it. She felt him grab her arm, and felt sharp pain. However, that was where she lost consciousness. She would be dead weight, so he had to make the choice whether to let her go or try to drag her out.

The shuttle began to tilt, and it became completely vertical and started to slide down the edge. Within seconds, it would careen over the and fall into the depths below. Keira was completely oblivious to it all, entirely at the mercy of the man that jumped in.

 

[Narir Solus]

Narir felt her go limp in his grasp and fall to the ground. If you're dead, I'll kill you, he spat in Mando'a as he grabbed her and slung her up over his shoulder. With the gear he was carrying, it wasn't easy, and when he felt the ship begin to slide down the muddy embankment, he knew they were in trouble. He'd gotten through battles against Sith and crusading, but he was going to die in this... falling ship?

Shab! he cursed, grabbing for the doorway as the ship began to slide faster. A piece of... something, flung from the back of the ship and slammed into his helmet, nearly knocking him off his feet and dropping Keira roughly on the ground. And the ship was going faster now, and he barely managed to grab Keria by her shirt and throw her over his shoulder as he literally dove for the door.

He was out, but the ship was falling, and so were the two of them. He strained to reach his wrist and activate his boots. Shab! he said as they rocketed to life. A reassuring sound when you were falling, but he was still falling. It decelerated his descent and he grabbed onto her as tightly as he could. The landing wasn't gentle, and he didn't break anything but his right foot turned inward as he hit the ground and pain shot through his ankle.

In the background, the ship crashed down on his speeder, leaving the two of them stranded without transportation. His boots didn't deactivate and he was scraping across the ground as he tried to hit his wrist once again. He cut the power, but not quick enough to cut his momentum as he slammed into a tree. The whole world was spinning, but at least he wasn't unconscious.

This was going to suck.

 

[Keira Zale]

It was a while before Keira came to. She blinked her eyes open and groaned in pain. It felt as if she had been slammed around and had bruises all over her. She winced in pain as she rose to sit up, finding herself lying on the ground. Keira looked around in confusion, rubbing her head. She looked over and spotted a Mandalorian pacing back and forth urgently, spewing a stream of what she guessed were curse words.

Her eyes widened and she looked around in fear before looking at him, “Who are you?! Stay back! I have pepper spray!” Keira shrieked, and she quickly checked to make sure her state of attire and everything was still on. Of course, her pepper spray was nowhere to be found. She had seen enough events on the news, and who knew if this were some kind of creep? She only remembered crash landing on the planet and nothing more.

Keira slowly got to her feet, feeling waves of pain course through her body. She almost collapsed again, her vision still slightly blurry as she looked at the man, “Where’s my ship?” Keira looked around, seeing open fields and a lone tree. The hot sun was beating down on them, and a hawk shrieked far in the distance.

“Uh…” She grimaced, “Where’s….any….ship…?” Keira asked softly, her heart sinking as she saw nothing in sight. What was the idiot man doing and how were they going to get out of here?

 

[Narir Solus]

Narir had sat down and rubbed a small portion of his bacta into the spot on his ankle that was causing the most pain. It didn't instantly make it all better, but at least he was able to limp along rather than being totally immobile. That was precisely what he was doing when the woman awakened: trying to work the sprain out of his sprained ankle. It didn't really work, and on top of everything else his head was still spinning and pounding.

Then she woke up and started... shrieking about something. Pepper spray? He just stared judgmentally at her through that unflinching visor, saying nothing for a moment and not pointing out that he had a helmet on. Against pepper spray... not the most effective weapon.

Your ship crushed my speeder. They're both around the corner: mangled, he said in his heavily accented basic. So you and I are stuck out here until we can get back to my base camp and backup comm equipment, he said. By his calculation that was still several kilometers away, and through hostile jungle.

Without another word he started limping over toward the remains of the ship and speeder to see if there was anything he could salvage. His hunting slug rifle and most of his supplies had been strapped to the back of his V-88, and he doubted any of it was left to be salvaged after the transport fell on it. His own comlink had been broken after his hard impacts, but maybe the ship had some salvageable equipment he could use to either call for help or get his own link repaired. He didn't have high hopes, but it was the logical first step.

Of course, he didn't explain any of this to her as he limped back to the burning husk of the wreck and prepared to make his way back inside.

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira could barely understand him through the accent, but she worked out most of it. He answered everything matter of factly, as if they were on a picnic and not stranded out here in the middle of nowhere. Keira hobbled over to him, but he began to turn and walk back towards the ship.

“Hey! Where are you going?!” She cried after him, trying to catch up, “I’m the Chancellor of the Republic and I have business to attend to with your Mand’alor!” She hoped that would get his attention, “I need to be out of this….” She looked around, spotting nothing around them, “I need to be out of here as soon as possible.”

Keira was getting stressed and concerned about how nonchalant he appeared about this mess. She felt a pang of guilt that her ship apparently crushed his speeder, but she didn’t have time to deal with this mess right now. Keira looked on his back, quirking an eyebrow in confusion.

“Don’t you have a jetbag or whatever the hell those things are?” She thought those things could go for miles. This had to be the first Mando she came across that didn’t have one. Just her luck.

Keira crossed her arms over her chest, “I have a very booked agenda. I have to meet with Leandros, and then I have to go off world and-” He was casually rummaging through things without even looking at her, “Hey! Are you listening? This is kind of a crisis!”

 

[Narir Solus]

That was where he recognized her from: the Chancellor. It was hard to tell who she was when she looked this disheveled and was covered in smoke and soot. Also when she was yelling and borderline hysterical.

Back into the wreckage he went without answering her questions. At least she wouldn't likely follow him back into the smoke and fire, which meant a reprieve as long as he stayed in a literal burning wreckage. Unfortunately, he didn't have much success in the ship. The droids were totally scrapped as expected, and there wasn't much left by way of communication equipment.

He pulled out his vibroknife and wedged off the front of the console before cutting into the wiring and ripping free the transponder that could relay their location and send out an emergency beacon. He shoved it into his belt pouch and hurried back out as his armor started to grow hot from the nearby fire and sweat poured down his face.

Without warning he emerged from the smoke - black armor now even blacker from the smoke - and likely scaring her if she were standing too close to the smoke. I would have thought the Chancellor could have afforded better than this piece of osik transport, he said, walking past her to get away from the smoke before pulling the relay device out and looking it over.

Were you shot down? he asked, already beginning to worry that they were going to be hunted by someone. While hunting on Mandalorian home worlds was virtually suicide, he knew there were some assassins out there who would do it for the right fee.

He continued prying at the other end of the transponder and popped off a cap to slide two wires along each other. There was a momentary spark and a beep before it went dead again.

There's no guarantee that this is still active. We need to move. I'm not sure anyone's going to be coming for us, he said before shoving the device back into his belt and looking up.

Are you ready? Do you need to grab anything? he asked, so matter-of-factly as if they had just arrived to a beautiful hiking spot.

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira looked at him, flustered as he pointed out she could afford a better ship as the Chancellor. He wasn’t entirely wrong, and she began to regret her decisions. As he asked if she were shot down, she scowled at him, “No, I just had….a piece of crap for a ship, okay?” She sighed in defeat, “I don’t see the point of spending thousands of credits on luxury ships. But that’s none of your business.”

She wasn’t sure what he was fiddling with, but she left him to it. Keira looked around nervously, wondering what kind of mess they would get into. She assumed he was calling for some kind of back up, and she did a double take when he confirmed no one would. Keira’s eyes went wide, “What do you mean? I can’t...walk…” She pointed down at her feet, “I’m wearing heels! How do you expect me to trek across a canyon?!”

She stared at him as he asked if she had everything she needed. Keira had clutched onto her datapad, but she didn’t have much else on her. She was beyond words, looking out at the wasteland around them, “This must be a joke. Can’t you call someone?”

Keira held up her comlink, mortified to find absolutely no signal out here. It was a miracle anyone had even seen her crash at all. What was he doing out here anyway? Keira couldn’t imagine any kind of trek with the shoes she had on. He didn’t look the type to care, and she knew this would be a long and rough day.

“Okay...lead the way...I guess…” She said with a defeated tone, wiping some soot off her face.

 

[Narir Solus]

Narir glanced down at her shoes as she mentioned that she was wearing heals. Those were probably going to be a problem out here, but it beat not having any shoes... maybe. You should wear more practical shoes in the future, he said. This coming from a man who never took off his armor, of course, so his opinions of practical vs aesthetic were clear already. His matter-of-fact "advice" probably wouldn't go over very well. He paused to think if there was anything he could use to make improvised shoes for her, but came up empty so he didn't mention it.

When she asked if he could call someone he shook his head. The impacts ruined my comlink, he said. There wouldn't be calling for help for either of them. And then it seemed they were in agreement, and Narir turned to lead the way toward their next destination without another word.

He started mapping in his mind all the different creatures they could run across out here, and the list just kept getting longer. He wondered how he was going to keep the Chancellor alive because he definitely didn't trust her with one of his pistols. Also, how had he managed to get the Chancellor out here? All he'd wanted to do was get away and hunt.

There was a rustling in the bushes, and Narir's hand was on his pistol in a flash, drawing it and sending a bolt flying through the air and punching through a small animal. He walked over and picked it up by the foot, dangling it upside down with a burning hole now neatly through its head. To Narir it was just another dead animal, but no doubt the Chancellor would be appalled.

Dinner, he said. There was a clearing about 50 meters back. We can set up camp there, he said. It would be night soon enough, and they wanted their camp set before then.

Start getting some firewood, and I'll start preparing it, he said, starting to walk back to the clearing where he would promptly gut the small lizard-like creature.

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira gave him a blank look as he unhelpfully pointed out what kind of shoes she should wear in the future. How, in any shape or form, did that help her now? She gritted her teeth, but she held her tongue. Quipping at the man that pulled her out of a burning ship was probably not the best way to thank him.

When he abruptly shot at a bush, Keira yelped and jumped back. Were all Mandalorians always so trigger happy?! She glared at him, watching him walk over and pull something out. When he held up a dead lizard and pointed out it was dinner, Keira almost gagged, “You’re hilarious,” She spat out, “I’m not eating that thing.”

She scowled at him, “Why are you giving me orders? You need to understand that I have important matters to atten-” And there he was again, walking towards the clearing. Keira was left standing with her mouth hanging open. The man was absolutely infuriating, and she half considered just walking in the opposite direction.

Perhaps should find a comms signal somewhere if she walked far enough? Keira looked around, holding up her comlink in the air and trying to catch a signal. After a while she looked back and noticed the man was gone. Panicking slightly, she began to shuffle towards the direction he had gone, “Hey! Wait!” She cried out as she saw him far ahead in the distance.

The air was getting cooler as night would arrive soon, and she felt goosebumps already lining her skin. Keira had never done anything outdoors, so she didn’t even know what he meant by ‘firewood’. As he was incredibly unhelpful, she finally caught up to him in the clearing and did as asked. Keira grabbed some random sticks and thin branches she found on the ground, along with a few twigs.

She carried them over proudly and dropped them at his feet, “These work, right?” Keira looked down to see what he was doing and saw him gutting the lizard. She immediately looked away and vomited from the sight, absolutely disgusted by what she saw.

Keira turned back and wiped her mouth, “I’m not eating that! You need to find something else!”

 

[Narir Solus]

Narir made it to the clearing having ignored most of what she said, and took a seat on a stone. He would have been happy not to be stranded here as well, but this was his reality currently. He pulled out his vibroblade and began slicing up the creature, tossing pieces into the area that would eventually be their fire. It would smell worse, but it would keep the wildlife and insects away not to have innards lying around in the camp.

He was still halfway through the gutting process when Keira came back with what could only be described as twigs. Then the gagging came as she watched the blood and intestines spill out.

We'll need larger logs, too, he said. It would give her an opportunity to get away from the guts and not shoot down the effort she'd already made. The twigs were better than nothing, but not enough to keep a full blaze going.

Thirty to sixty centimeters long and ten centimeters thick, he said, starting to finish up the gutting and standing up to start gathering firewood as well.

If you don't want to eat the gizka, you'll have to find something else, he said, once again matter-of-fact. He had nothing else for them to eat, and he doubted she did either.

We'll cook it, he said. It was an attempt to make her feel better about it not being so disgusting, but it would probably just come off as if he thought she were dumb.

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira couldn’t believe he completely ignored what she said. Her logs weren’t good enough either? She gritted her teeth and remained standing where she was as he pointlessly told her the size of the logs he needed. Out of pure stubbornness, she walked over and sat down while he went over to gather wood. She decided she had no intention of helping him, not when she wasn’t going to eat the disgusting lizard.

As he went off, she looked at the creature, looking at an eyeball that was hanging out. She grimaced as she looked at it, and she could have sworn one of the little lizard fingers gave a little twitch. Keira fought the urge to vomit again, and she brought out her comlink to stare at it longingly, watching the battery running low.

He grumpily told her to find something else to eat, but she knew there was nothing. Keira simply sat where she was, keeping to herself as he would get to working on the fire. Night began to approach and she regretted the decision to stay out here.

What if he was entirely wrong? What if they could have made it to civilization if they just kept walking? Keira hugged her knees close to her chest, shivering lightly. She didn’t have any armor or covering to keep her warm, and she was too prideful to sit near a fire she had no hand in helping build.

Keira remained silent, staring at the flames from afar. Even with the cooked lizard, she wouldn’t dare touch it. He could have it all to himself. Her stubbornness fueled her for a moment, but it would only be a short period of time before the hunger pangs began to set in.

 

[Narir Solus]

Narir watched as she stormed off and into the night away from where he planned to build the fire. That was going to be bad for her, but she was an adult. It was her mistake to make, but he also didn't want to have to explain to Leandros why the Chancellor of the Republic died on his watch. He gritted his teeth as he picked up the last of the logs and tossed them into a pile, building a small pit of stones around it before checking everything nearby.

Without warning, he extended his arm and it spat out a stream of fire onto the pieces of wood. Narir wasn't known for his subtlety or patience, and now they had a fire. He carved down two of Keira's smaller sticks and began to impale gizka muscle on it as he roasted it over the fire. He knew hunger would get the better of her eventually, but he wasn't going to wait for it.

When the meat was finished, he picked one up and carried it over to where she was clutching her knees to her chest, clearly freezing in the cold night air. The fire on the other hand was blazing, and there was food that looked more appetizing now that it was cooked.

Here, he said, extending out the meat. You won't be able to tell Leandros how much you hate me if you starve or freeze, he said. It was partially a joke, but carried a hint of truth to it. It was almost a peace offering or at least as close as it would get.

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira was lost in her thoughts when he brought over the food. She looked up at him as he offered the cooked bit of lizard. Keira knew he was trying his best to be accommodating, and she couldn’t fault him for that. She stared at the meat on the stick, still able to make out some webbed feet that were grilled. Keira sighed and offered him a sad smile.

“I appreciate the effort, Mister…?” She left it open for him to offer his name, “But I’m uh….vegetarian,” She lied, hoping that was a polite way to turn down the disgusting lizard without coming across offensive. Keira sighed again and sunk her face back into her arms over her knees, "I'm not sure Leandros is in the mood to hear what I have to say anyway."

Her thoughts were far away, and she wondered why she always had such rotten luck. She had crash landed on several different planets, and she never learned her lesson. What was she even doing out here? What could she hope to accomplish with Leandros? She had seen how he was Holonet, and how he terrified the galaxy. What could she say to make him change his ways?

“What were you doing out here?” Keira asked quietly, finally looking up at him. She hoped that keeping herself distracted would quell the hunger pangs. Mandalorians were always a mystery to her, and this one was no different.

 

[Narir Solus]

A vegetarian? He wasn't going to be much help feeding her out here if that was the case. Keeping up her strength was going to be a serious problem. Maybe they could pick some leaves for her to eat.... The memory brought back the pang of guilt over Raz's death. He had ribbed her endlessly - and been hit in the ribs for it - over her vegetarian lifestyle. He missed her often.

Narir, he told her. The sigil on his shoulder gave away his Solus affiliation already. Even non-Mandalorians knew House Solus and the badger. Everyone in the galaxy did. He flipped his helmet up just enough to eat his half of the gizka. It was a bit chewy, but the flavor wasn't too bad. He'd eaten much worse things out here in the jungle and it beat out an MRE any day.

Well, we might as well both be by the fire. It keeps the wildlife at bay, he said, pointing back toward the lonely flame that would provide heat to them both. Also night predators, which would happily eat a Mandalorian or a Chancellor. They didn't discriminate.

I was hunting, he said. If he'd been the more talkative type he'd probably have said something about how hunting cleared his mind and gave him time to get away from the soldiering and responsibilities of his every day life. It was a release and a chance to become one with nature, pitting himself against the dangers of the wild.

What were you here to talk to Leandros about? he asked, noticing that she clearly felt whatever she was here for was going to be unsuccessful. Or perhaps she just thought that she'd missed her window after the crash.

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira was happy her little lie worked, and he finally gave up on trying to make her eat the lizard. She knew she would regret it later, and her stomach already began to growl. Keira nodded to his words and moved up to sit closer to the fire, hugging her knees again. She noticed he gave her the most minimalistic answers, and yet was nosy about his questions. Keira quirked an eyebrow at his blunt question.

“Uhh well I was going to try and convince him not to genocie Galactic Alliance worlds,” Keira shrugged, “I think we’ve all seen enough glassing. I can’t change his mind about the Jedi, but I want there to be as little collateral damage as possible,” It felt dirty to think about brushing off the Jedi impending doom like this, but she couldn’t save everyone.

Keira sighed and looked up in thought, surprised by what she saw, “Wow...it’s stunning out here,” She said quietly, noting how the skies were perfectly clear and the stars shimmered for thousands of miles. Being from industrial planets and frequenting the core, she didn’t often get to see open skies like these.

“Though I can’t imagine Mandalorians spend too much time stargazing,” She muttered, turning back to look at the fire.

 

[Narir Solus]

They moved back toward the fire, and it was instantly warmer. At least it would keep the problem creatures of the night away. He leaned in closer toward the fire, warming his hands over it which slowly seeped through his gloves and into his skin. She mentioned sparing the Alliance worlds but he noticed that she had already written the Jedi off. Narir, himself, was considering leading the purge against the Jedi, but he also thought there was a chance for the Alliance to be saved: especially the worlds under their influence.

If the Alliance doesn't harbor the Jedi, I don't think he'll want a war with them, he said after a while longer. It probably wasn't something she wanted to discuss with him, but he offered his opinion nonetheless. Preventative combat was the only reason for the attack against the Jedi, but the Alliance hadn't given rise to the Empires.

She looked up at the stars, and as she did, he looked up as well. She was right that it was quite stunning, and he didn't usually stop to look up. This was one of the nice things about hunting, though.

The wilds can be peaceful, he said. When I was young, I came out to hunt all the time, he said, thinking back to the excursions he had gone on with other members of Clan Solus after his father was killed. It was more personal than the withdrawn Mandalorian had gotten this entire trip thus far even if it wasn't much.

You don't get a lot of free time, do you? he asked. He doubted she had time to just "get away" from her work either. Being Chancellor seemed like an incredibly demanding job, and it made him thankful that all he had to do was lead an army. It was much more simple in many ways.

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira smiled sadly and shook her head, “The Alliance will never part from the Jedi. Mandos aren’t the only stubborn soldiers out there, you know,” She looked at him, leaning back to lie down so she could look up at the stars. She knew they weren’t going to go anywhere tonight, and she would have to make do with lying on the uncomfortable ground.

She was surprised to find him talking more, first about his childhood and then asking about her free time. Keira tilted her head to look at him, “I don’t know the first thing about surviving in the wild,” She said quietly, “And I hate the thought of hunting or killing animals because...they’re cute,” Keira’s face heated up from embarrassment.

She felt a pang of guilt for not actually being a vegetarian, “You know there were tabloids about Mand’alor the Chosen being a vegan,” She said after a moment, “Were those rumors true?” Keira couldn’t actually imagine a warrior and hulking person being a vegan, but Mandalorians had ways of surprising her.

“Well Narir, I’m glad you found me,” Keira said with a sigh, “I owe you my life. Let me know if there’s ever anything I can do to repay you,” She quirked an eyebrow, “As long as it doesn’t involve eating lizards or eyeballs or something.”

 

[Narir Solus]

Unfortunately, she was probably right. The Alliance wasn't likely to abandon the Jedi, and the Jedi were too much of cowards to separate themselves from the Alliance for its own survival. Where the likes of Alys and Valentine had gone, Narir didn't know, but this new breed of Jedi was pathetic. He wondered if Raz would have even given them a second thought if this had been the group a decade ago.

He didn't imagine the Chancellor had spent much time on rural worlds like this one. He was sure she'd visited them, but this wasn't where major politics happened. Luckily, after this trek, she probably wouldn't ever be in another situation where she needed to hunt for food, and even here he could do it for her. Not that she would eat whatever he killed.

We'll keep an eye open for berries or roots tomorrow, he said. And water. His mind was beginning to run to the fact that they had very little of it, but on Concord Dawn, streams and rivers weren't typically difficult.

He was surprised when she asked about Raz's eating habits. It wasn't something that he would have normally thought the rest of the galaxy would know about, but it seemed that it had gotten out. Mand'alor the Chosen. The name brought back memories of that day when she'd been nominated as their leader. He remembered pushing her out of the crowd, and the look she'd given him as a result. He remembered the death of Wyatt. He would have - and had - followed her into the worst the galaxy had to offer, but he hadn't been there when she needed him the most.

There was a long silence as the memories flooded back: both good and bad. She was, he said after a moment. I used to give her so much grief over it, he said. He actually smiled as he thought about the endless ribbing he'd given her over her vegan lifestyle, and all the times he'd waved meat in her face only to have it knocked out of his hand and onto the floor.

As she said that she owed him and she was glad he found her, he shifted a bit uncomfortably. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate her thanks or want to express his appreciation, but he just didn't know how. He usually avoided grateful civilians for this very reason, but it was also nice to be appreciated at times, even if it was just actions he expected of himself. He nodded.

You should get some rest. I'll keep watch tonight, he said.

---​

The morning came slowly. The night seemed to drag on, and every hiss, snap, or rustle of the bushes near the camp had kept Narir on edge. Even if he'd been trying to sleep, he doubted sleep would have found him easily. Dark thoughts had accompanied him throughout the night as well. Regrets over his lost friends and Clan had plagued much of his night watch.

He wondered if Keira had slept much better. Between the occasional noises of the night, the hard ground, and the fire that was still going, he doubted she'd gotten much rest either. But a little was better than nothing.

As the horizon began to glow, Narir stood and began preparations for the day. Another patch of bacta over his ankle improved the pain again, and he hoped it would heal up sooner rather than later.

Chancellor, he said. Chancellor? Really? He thought they'd probably had enough conversation to call her Keira, but then again, she hadn't actually consented to that either. Well, it was too late now because "Chancellor" was already out there in the open. Splendid.

We should probably get moving, he said. If we're fortunate we should be able to make it to my base camp today or tomorrow at the latest, he said.