#mostly fifty degrees outside or hovering near that

[tombombadildos]

Grateful that global warming doesn’t exist in Animal Crossing

[spoon-writes]

Ends of the Earth | Chapter 21

Fandom: The Mandalorian

Pairing: Mando x OC

Read on FFN or AO3

Summary: When Sinead's husband is ripped from her, she escapes the Hutt Empire and goes on a quest to find him. Since being a runaway slave in the Outer Rim isn't exactly easy, she makes the Mandalorian an offer he can't refuse, and soon they travel across the galaxy looking for her missing husband.

Chapter index

Chapter 21 -  Sinead and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

The Razor Crest exited hyperspace directly over Zessol, close enough that Sinead could make out long mountain range cutting clean across the continent. The airspace was crawling with ships. The planet's main draw was the space station locked in orbit over the largest city where the near-constant stream of ships going back and forth made the air shimmer. The station had been a medcenter during the war and abandoned when the Empire took over. Scavengers found it and somehow managed to haul it all the way to Zessol, and thus Alpha was born, a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Sinead swallowed thickly when the station came into view, nervous energy making her leg bounce. There was no reason to be so affected by this, but it was all she could do to ignore the urge to hijack the Crest and run for the opposite side of the galaxy. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't register the ship's turning down towards the sprawling city.

"What're you doing? I thought we were going to Alpha."

Mando swerved out of the way of a light freighter that cut clean through the line of ships going for the planet. "I don't think ... I think you should stay on the planet."

She sat up straight. "I'm not gonna hide while you fight my battles for me."

Mando huffed out a sigh. "That's not what I meant. It's too dangerous for the kid while there's still bounty hunters after him. I don't want him anywhere near the station."

Sinead looked darkly at the looming station that seemed too big to be able to function like Zessol's gravity would suddenly take hold and drag it to earth. It had been made for outer space, not hovering in the atmosphere.

"We've left him on the ship before."

"From what I've heard, this place is worse than Tatooine. Even if there aren't Guild members, someone else'll try to turn him in."

"Worse than Tatooine. Never thought I'd see the day."

It still felt like an excuse to keep her out of it, and she sorely wanted to take it.

"All right. I'll stay with him. But only if you get me if anything happens. No matter what."

What if Kyen was in there? They had passed at least a dozen dark ships, weapons tacked on with varying degrees of competence. The entire sector was crawling with pirates.

"I will. Just keep him safe."

After waiting for what felt like ages for permission to land, Mando dropped Sinead and the kid off on the landing platform. She watched the Razor Crest rise into the air, catching a glimpse of Mando through the windshield before it turned and headed up towards Alpha, which seemed to fill the entire sky. According to the navicomputer, it was in the middle of the night planet time, but the station lit up the sky like a sun.

She could still see the Crest as a small dot among the other ships when a finger tapped her hard on the shoulder. A short human sneered at her as she turned around, crossing some very muscular arms across her chest.

"You need to scram," she said through a wad of chewing tobacco, "less you wanna get squashed."

A ship was nearing the landing pad with its landing gear out, and Sinead didn't stick around to ask who would do the squashing.

"What a warm welcome," she mumbled into the crown of the child's head. "It's a wonder anyone wanna leave."

The port was teeming with sentients trying to get off-planet, voices in basic, huttese, twi'leki haggling for a spot onboard the next freighter heading out, standing in groups carrying large packs or children on their backs. It looked like half of Zessol was trying to escape.

Stepping out of the main port, they found themselves in the middle of the city. It was a lot bigger than Sinead had expected for a small out-of-the-way planet like Zessol, but being a haven for criminal activity paid off, apparently. Standing by the side of a street and watching the many speeder bikes block traffic flow, it was almost like being back on Coruscant.

The kid watched the surroundings with rapt attention, turning his head to follow every sound with his ears lifted to catch whatever could be heard over the general wall of noise from the city.

"Never been to a big city before?" Sinead asked the kid as they made their way down the trash-strewn sidewalk. "You probably have, being fifty and all. You're older than me."

He made no sign that he had heard her even if he could reply. How much did he really understand? Sometimes when she talked to him, she felt like he understood every word she said. Maybe he was all grown up, just unable to communicate. She shuddered at the thought of being trapped in a body, unable to talk but aware of everything.

The main thoroughfare was lined with shops that spilled out over the sidewalk selling mostly food and drink, with other more specialized shops offering weapons and everything else a full-blooded pirate could want. While it wasn't the roughest place she'd ever seen, she definitely understood why so many people were trying to leave.

She stopped in front of a stall carrying the saddest produce she had ever seen this side of Jakku. A surly besalisk glanced up from a datapad. "Yeah?"

"25 creds for a keebada? That's a bit steep don't you think?"

"You must be an outsider. The price you pay to live on Zessol."

"I guess." Sinead looked over the bruised or moldy fruit. "Don't suppose you have a fresh batch right out back, do you?"

"Heh. What you see is what you get. It's been a long time since Zessol had anything to offer except blood and death."

Sinead hoisted the kid further up her arm. "The galaxy is in no short supply of that."

The Besalisk shrugged and placed a hand the size of a dinner plate on the counter. "Well, it's all we got. Ever since the station turned up-" she cast a dark look up at the sky- "the crops have all withered if they even grow at all. All because of that thing."

Sinead followed her eyes to Alpha that turned slowly in the night sky. "Zessol's changed a lot?"

"Ha!" The laugh seemed to explode from deep in the Besalisk's chest. "Did it change! Imagine someone left a big hulking scrapheap in your atmosphere, how would you like it? Tides all kriffed up, fish disappeared, plants don't grow no more."

"I never realized …"

"Yeah, well … ya want anything?"

"Sorry. Not really in the market for perishables."

The Besalisk grunted and went back to her datapad, and Sinead continued down the street.

Suddenly, the kid made a noise and started to wiggle so wildly that Sinead nearly dropped him. They stopped in front of a store with a small display of sweets beside the door to entice potential customers. A small pile of candied boba fruit had caught his attention, and he reached for them with an almost comical look of concentration on his little face.

"Sorry, space-bug," Sinead said and grabbed his hand. "Candied fruits aren't really in the budget. Next time I promise to buy as many as you want, okay?" There were barely credits enough for fuel after Zlii had seen to the Crest.

He made a last attempt to wiggle out before calming down enough that she could move him to rest on her shoulder where he could still look out at the city. His hand curled around a lock of Sinead's hair.

"How long do you think it'll take?" She asked him after wandering aimlessly for a couple of minutes. Alpha seemed to grow larger in the sky with every passing moment. "You know, I practically grew up on stations like that. As long as we did enough legal work, the Empire didn't bother us too much. We ran cargo for them now and again. If my parents could see me now, they'd tell me to get a grip and stop moping. And they'd probably be right."

The kid cooed.

"I think you would've liked my father. He was always so calm compared to my mother." The words came out softly. "Everyone was calm compared to my mother. All he ever wanted was to travel the galaxy. Before you, I'd never met someone as curious as him; he could spend hours wandering the planets we landed on. If it hadn't been for the rest of the crew keeping track of him, I'm sure he'd have gotten lost a long time ago. He had this way of spinning even the most mundane things into masterpieces. Nothing was ever ordinary to him." Her chest felt tight. It had been so long since she’d allowed herself to think about her family. It was like telling Mando about her past back in the cabin had knocked something loose.

The kid watched her with his dark eyes, and at that moment Sinead was sure he understood every word she said.

"Enough of that," she said and gave herself a quick shake, returning the memories to the back of her mind where they belonged. "It's time to use those legs of yours, don't you think?"

When they reached a less packed street, Sinead sat the kid down on the ground and kept an eye on him as they walked at a much slower pace than before; the child kept stopping to examine everything in his path, and Sinead had to stand back and wait patiently. Who knew how much time they had to kill before Mando came back.

Suddenly, a door flew open, and a Wookiee came barreling out, shoulder checking Sinead so hard she spun on her feet. The Wookiee stared her down with his icy blue eyes and growled deep in his throat. Whatever snippy thing she was about to say died on her tongue.

She watched him as he started down the street, a bowcaster strapped to his back. "What a friendly bunch they are here, huh."

Looking down, she expected to see the kid watch her with curious eyes or examine something that no one really should look too closely at.

He was gone.

The ground disappeared under her feet, eyes locked on the patch of pavement where he should have been. He had been there a second ago! "Kid!" It came out as a screech. "K-kid? Child- fuck!" When Mando returned, she would force him to give the kid a name if he didn't kill her first.

Forcing herself to breathe, she ran to the nearest sentient, a human man standing on the corner watching the traffic and smoking a cigarra. The world spun with every movement like she was running on ice.

"Have you seen a little-- a small green creature? Big ears, half the size of an ewok?" Her voice came from somewhere above her.

Yellow stained teeth flashed as he sneered. "Haven't seen nobody. Piss off."

She was off before he finished talking, sprinting down the street while calling for the child with a voice more than edged with panic.

Reaching the street corner, she bent over with her hands on her knees and breathed in through the nose and out through the mouth. Two young Togrutas watched her. Just as she managed to get her breathing under control, a crash further down the street sent her heart thundering to a halt. She flew towards the commotion, pushing and shoving through the crowd which had quickly gathered in the street.

Elbowing a Duros out of the way revealed what remained of a stand and a crashed speeder bike. Lumpy vegetables littered the street, and the spectators had already begun to fill their pockets. A human and a Weequay were screaming at each other, gesturing wildly to the pitiful wood splinters. The crowd was egging them on, just waiting for the first to draw their weapon.

Somewhere in all the screaming, Sinead caught a snippet that made her heart skip a beat.

"A little green thing came out of nowhere-"

Without thinking, she stumbled into the circle. "Where did you see him?"

The human and Weequay stopped mid-scream to stare at her.

"Bugger off?" The human said in the slow voice of someone not sure what was going on.

"You said something came out of nowhere-" Sinead wanted to grab his shoulders and give him a shake- "where did it go?"

"I don't know, somewhere down the street- Hey!"

She pushed past him and was gone until she reached a wide road that cut through the city. A strangled moan escaped as images of the kid trying to cross the street flashed through her mind. Mando was going to kill her.

Suddenly, she spotted him between the speeder bikes; he stood by the mouth of an alley, looking so incredibly small against the darkness.

A wordless yell exploded deep in her chest and before she knew it, her legs carried her into the middle of the road. A speeder bike clipped her leg, and she stumbled, took her eyes off the child for a second. When she got to her feet and looked up, he was gone.

"No!" She stumbled into the alley and started ripping aside the garbage cans that had been collected against the wall, dripping with a smelly substance which slowly oozed into a grate running along the middle. "Fuck!"

She looked up just in time to see a small shadow disappear around a corner.

"Kid! Come back!"

Down the alley and around the corner, there was no sign of him, only a labyrinthian nightmare of dirty alleys that seemed to crisscross randomly, so narrow that the light from Alpha struggled to penetrate the gloom. She had stepped into another world, the high walls shutting out all sounds of the city, only leaving her labored breathing and the crunch of broken glass with every step. The air felt oily, coating her tongue with a foul taste. She reached a dead end, a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire.

"Fuck!" She kicked a dented can into a pile of refuse, which created a domino effect and the whole thing fell in on itself.

What do I do, what do I do, what do I-

Her ears prickled as a faint sound echoed down the alleyway. Without a second thought, she started running.

Turning a corner, she screeched to a halt so suddenly that it felt like parts of her were still going, pushed forwards by sheer momentum. Five darkened silhouettes stood in a circle, two crates and an open camtono between them. Their conversation died as they all turned to stare at her, whose brain completely blanked from surprise and adrenaline crash.

"Have you ..." her voice faltered as one of the menacing silhouettes slowly reached towards their hip. Her eyes flickered to the open camtono on the filthy ground. It was filled to the brim with credits.

Fuck.

"What the kriff you doin'?" One of the shadows barked out.

"Don't move!"

Sinead stopped and released a slow breath, eyes jumping from one shape to another. "I'm not trying to cause any trouble…" she calculated how far she could run before getting a blaster bolt between the shoulder blades. "I'm looking for-"

"Yeah, right." One of the silhouettes passed from darkness into shadow revealing a heavily scarred human face hidden behind a curtain of dirty hair. "Who sent you? Was it Grish? Come for a little revenge, have you?"

If she'd dared to take her eyes off them, she would've hidden her face in her hands. "I don't know who you're talking about," she said in as calm a voice as she could manage, which wasn't very calm considering the kid was still missing and she was likely to be gutted in some random alley. "A child is missing. I'm looking for him."

"Likely story. Now, why would a kid wander round in an alley, huh?" A voice rasped out. "Can't believe Grish didn't shell out for a better merc."

The corner was right behind her. If she jumped back and somehow kept her footing on the slippery ground, she could get behind cover, and then what? Run? She had no idea how to get back, her panicked sprint had left no time to memorize the route.

"Maybe she's one of Julel's lot. She'll have our heads if word gets back to her."

Slowly, carefully, Sinead inched back again, scanning the dirty alley for anything that could help.

"I told you-" the human took a step, reaching out to grab her- "don't fuckin'-"

Whack.

Grabbing a board propped up against the wall, she swung it as hard as she could. It splintered against his head and he stumbled.

She dove around the corner just before two blaster bolts lit up the darkness.

They followed behind her, footsteps echoing between the walls. The street crossed another, and she took the branching path just as another blaster bolt tore a chunk out of the wall. Everything became a blur as she tried to put as much distance between herself and the thugs.

Turning a corner, her foot hit something slippery that sent her careening into bins that had been stacked precariously on top of each other. Trash rained down around her as she got to her feet, dazed but with panic still coursing through her veins. She stumbled to her feet, ignoring the pain radiating through her shoulder, which had been the main point of contact. Various fluids stained her clothes, and she would have gagged on the smell if there had been room in her brain to comprehend it. Her brain was filled with only one thought: RUN!

Finally, there was hope. Two buildings leaned against each other, creating a narrow path nearly invisible in the gloom and barely big enough for Sinead. She squeezed into the gap and tried to claw her way along the grimy wall, but it quickly became apparent that just a few meters in it was blocked by a heap of trash that didn't budge when she tried to shoulder it out of the way. She was stuck.

The footsteps were fast approaching. She swallowed and grabbed her blaster, crouching down to make her a smaller target. The walls were too steep and slippery to climb, and when they opened fire, there was nowhere to go.

A shadow thundered past the opening. Then another. Then another.

She waited with bated breath for someone to stop, to look inside the nook and see her trapped. Gradually, the footsteps faded into nothing. It felt surreal crawling out on her hands and knees, looking down the alley where her pursuers had gone. She got to her feet and leaned against the wall with legs too wobbly to carry her weight.

"Holy shit."

Gritting her teeth, she pushed off the wall and started jogging in the opposite direction. A clang somewhere in the labyrinth made her pick up her pace, and she glanced over her shoulder into the shadows. It felt like someone was watching her.

The dark alley fell away, and she stumbled into a busy street, wincing against the sudden light. The sounds of people and speeder bikes echoed in her head.

In the sky, Alpha loomed.

"Excuse me," Sinead said, stopping a Twi'lek who was hurrying down the sidewalk. "I'm looking for the port. You know where it is?" Her voice was warbled.

The Twi'lek jerked away while giving her a disgusted look. "Keep going thataway." His voice was hollow, like he was trying not to breathe through his nose. "You'll find it eventually."

She did find it after some time. The ever-present swarm of starships made it easy to distinguish between the rest of the buildings. Her heart grew heavier with every step. Just what the hell was she going to tell Mando? I'm sorry but I lost your kid? If we're lucky, some bandits have found him and he'll live a happy life as a pirate.

The main entrance was in sight when she had to stop and take a deep breath, twisting the sleeve of her jacket in her hands so hard it started fraying. She had to tell him. There was no other way out.

A soft coo broke through her panicked thoughts like a rock through a window.

She looked down and let out a strangled sob.

The child looked up at her, ears perking up in innocent curiosity. A sticky powder stuck to his face and down the front of his little robe, and he clutched a half-eaten boba fruit.

"You!"

The nearest sentients were startled at the yell, but Sinead didn't notice. She snatched the kid off the ground and held him at arm's length, turning him to make sure that he wasn't hurt. "Don't ever do that again!" Her hands shook with the wild urge to squeeze him against her chest. "I’m getting you a leash, you hear me! I swear if you do that again, I'll leave you. Got it?"

The kid babbled and held out a sticky hand, offering her the candy.

"You're back to not understanding a word I'm saying, huh?"

He grinned, and she couldn't help but smile, releasing her anger with a sigh. She let him snuggle into her shoulder.

"We’re not telling Mando."

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[weveneverbeenalone]

194 UFO sightings reported in Washington State Last Year. 

The center reports that Washington state has the third-highest number of total sightings in its database, behind California (No. 1) and Florida (No. 2).

The reports from the Evergreen State are diverse. Many described triangular- or cigar-shaped objects, spheres, lights, disks, fireballs and even formations of multiple objects.

The reports came from all over the state at all times of the day and night. Some sightings lasted only two or three seconds while others continued for several minutes or, in rare cases, an hour or more.

Some excerpts from those reports:

- March 24 nighttime sighting of pulsating orange light off the Washington coast at Ocean Shores: "I could see a particularly bright red pulsing light stationary towards the west over the ocean. I (awakened) my wife and I told her she has to see this. ... By the time she got up and was observing it it had doubled in magnitude. ... This was orange red and it began pulsing. We both were in amazement. ... After several minutes of it getting progressively brighter, all of a sudden it got very bright then completely just vanished. I am a retired school teacher and my wife a real estate agent and are rational people but this was as clear as it could be. We have not seen anything like it before over the ocean at night here at our beach home."

- Jan. 13 nighttime encounter with a "17- to 20-foot tall alien robot" at a large business campus in Federal Way: "I was sitting in my car while my dogs were out for a run. ... About 100 yards away, I saw colored lights high up in the trees. In that same glance I saw my dogs very rapidly, running back and forth while jumping and running repeatedly. ... I could tell it was something standing (that) I quickly concluded was some kind of machine or a robot. ... It had a large round red light in the center of its head. ... On the right side and a bit lower was round medium dark blue light. On the left side was a green light and a white/yellow light. ... The robot was taller than the trees. ... The robot was looking for something and it swayed gently from side to side with each step."

- Feb. 28 sighting of a multi-colored triangle in Lakewood at about 4 a.m.: "I was outside with my dog (when I see) a light hovering behind the trees. ... It slowly starts moving out from the trees and its orange, blinking quickly. Suddenly once I had full view it started blinking a weird pattern of green and red, and moved to the east of me behind a building. Five minutes later ... I see a very bright light approaching me super slowly at tree top level, it flew right above me ... and it was a triangle. It had a red and green flashing light ... and it almost looked transparent, if all lights were off you wouldn't be able to see it. ... I've never seen anything like this before but I got a warm feeling from it, no fear. Welcome our visitors with love, don't be afraid."

- May 18 daylight sighting by a couple of a black craft near Fife: "I turned my truck towards the south and we immediately spotted a black craft moving strangely. It was shaped like a cell phone, kind of rectangular. It was falling like a leaf, then shooting forward for a distance before coming to a stop and spinning. When it would shoot forward, it would move very fast and come to a stop without noticeably braking. Just an instant stop. It would then fall like a leaf again, swaying side to side and slowly dropping, before shooting forward again. While we were watching this, another object appeared. A silver sphere. ... I turned the corner, parked again and could not see either object again. I saw neither leave."

- May 31 nighttime sighting of of an orange orb and a "human like greenish thing" in North Seattle: "I just witnessed a bright orange orb or ball across the street from 24th Ave. NW and 95th Ave. About 1:30 a.m. I walked out to have a cigarette, looked to my right, saw the orange light object at roof level and then as I watched, a streak of a grey/green human shape leaped into it from the side and then it vanished. I felt like something realized it was being watched so it stopped whatever it was doing. ... Anyway, it has me shaken up. I feel like I saw something, like a shooting or a kidnap, and I know that no one will believe me. Since I'm the only witness to this."

- June 7 daytime sighting of a "shimmering wing shape" traveling at ultra-fast speed near Port Angeles: "I was standing on the back deck, with a beautiful, mostly sunny day. ... Something caught my eye, coming from the south, moving very fast! By my calculations, it traveled from directly over my house, to east of Victoria, B.C., in two seconds! Made a 90-degree turn and headed towards Whidbey Island. ... There seemed to be a shimmer around what looked like, a wing shape, with no fuselage visible. ... The leading edge of the wing appeared dark. Looked like a flying wing. And jet engine noise. The estimated distance traveled in two seconds was fifty miles!!!"

- Aug. 13 sighting of an "ambient glowing cloud sky ghost" over Tacoma just after midnight: "As I was driving I kept an eye on it because it just seemed so out of place. ... What caught my eye is that it was changing shape, almost dancing in a very graceful way around the top of the moon. I’m not religious but I could say it looked like a huge angel. ... It wasn’t a solid “craft” or “vessel” of any sort but something that could be literally not of this physical world. ... I’m not on anything, I saw this completely sober. I’ve never seen anything like it. ... We really don’t know what’s going on up there."

- Sept. 7 nighttime sighting of a circular object in the clouds that followed a husband and wife as they drove home near Rochester: "As I made the second curve, I almost wrecked the car! I caught sight of the craft just to the left of me and a bit ahead. ... You could see 6 white lights rotating in a pattern and 4 red lights that spun, then the white lights ran to the inside or center of the craft, made a star formation, then reversed direction and made a circle around the center star like light. ... As we parked, the craft stopped and hovered. ... There was no engine noise at all! ... We got the dogs out of the kennel ... they had been raising holy hell, and were frantic! ... As I walked up the road I looked and saw at least 25 rays of light pointing up to the sky, they were like spotlights and were bouncing all over the place! ... I am still shaken up, and just a bit afraid they will come back."

- Oct. 2 sighting of a fleet of triangular craft by a father and son as they were seated around a campfire at night in the Port Orchard area: "The entire formation moved as one and traveled sideways. Each triangle appeared to be separate. There was nothing visible that connected them. ... There was no sound. It seemed to move with great speed. ... There were no lights we associate with aviation. The only light was a white-yellowish glow coming from each triangle."

- Oct. 12 nighttime sighting of 25 to 30 white pulsating objects by a retired firefighter and his wife in University Place: "The objects seemed to rise into view from the north and proceed in a relatively quick manner to the south. The objects made no sound. ... Where we live is near Joint Base Lewis McChord and we are very familiar with the various aircraft that fly in the area skies. ... These objects were not rotary or fixed wing aircraft using the regular flight paths. ... This event lasted for about 10-12 minutes and consisted of approximately 25, to as high as 30 objects."

- Nov. 30 nighttime sighting of a bright circular object emitting rays at about 2:20 a.m. over Redmond: "Woke up looking out window with open blinds. ... (Observed) very bright (appx 4x more than Venus) light emitting six to eleven rays. ... Woke up wife/partner. Asked her to stand up and report what was seen outside. Both (of us) viewed something never seen before. Both sober. Both viewed rays from object moving as if defying law of gravity. Only white in color. Only watched for appx 30 minutes."

ALL REPORTS HERE