A Match for the Mandalore

Jennet



I woke up, stretching out in the bunk and yawning hugely. How in the hell do regular-sized people sleep in these things, I wondered. It isn’t often that I bless being small, but shipboard I am always grateful that I can sleep, uncramped. I smelled food, and my stomach growled. I glanced at the glowing clock on the wall. Wow, I’d been asleep for at least ten hours. I must have been more tired than I thought after that hit on the head yesterday. I checked it by reflex. No bump, only the tiniest of tenderness that indicated a recently healed wound. No headache, eyes clear. Good.



I scrounged around for my clothes and realized I was still wearing them. Have I mentioned I’m not too swift in the mornings? Well, I guessed breakfast could wait – I’d take a quick shower, and throw my clothes in the laundry recycle while I’m in there. It only takes a few minutes, anyway. I was about to hunt for a towel when I saw a package by my bed with my name on it. I remembered asking Ladria to get me some more clothes; apparently she had done so. I silently blessed her for not letting me make do with only one set.



The package was a goldmine to someone that had absolutely nothing, namely, me. It had two sets of shirts, pants, underthings, and jackets. There was even a robe, towels, toothpaste, toothbrush, hairbrush, and comb. I noticed that the underwear was a little more – fancy – than I usually wore. Either Ladria had taken up Atton’s offer, or Mira had thought it would be funny. Actually, I liked them, so I didn’t take offense either way. There were two workout bras and shorts, too. Gods, I love these people.



Deciding I needed a shower before food anyway, I quickly stripped down, bundled into the robe, and grabbed my new toiletries. I snagged my dirty things to toss in the laundry, and headed to the ‘fresher. Once bathed, dressed, and mouth freshened, I followed some wonderful smells to the galley. Disciple was seated at the big table, sipping coffee with an empty plate in front of him. He appeared to be pouring over a datapad, and his expression was rapt. Mira was in much the same state, but was cleaning her rocket launcher. Well, whatever gets you off. There was no one else around.



“Good morning,” I said to my new shipmates, and went into the galley for food and coffee. I got a grunt from Mira and a distracted “Morning” from Disciple. I didn’t mind. I wasn’t an especially cheerful person in the mornings, but I am acceptable after coffee, and it’s never good manners to growl at anyone right off, especially when they had done your shopping. There was tons of food, and I was so hungry I was tempted to just eat from the serving dishes. Trying to be polite though, I poked my head out and asked, “Anyone else left to feed?”



“Mandalore,” Mira answered.



Ah, shit. Oh well, maybe he doesn’t eat breakfast. I looked at the amount of food left, and tried to divide things by what I imagined his appetite vs. mine would be. I decided there probably wasn’t enough food after all. His loss, if he didn’t get to the galley in time, I thought spitefully. Teach him for getting me in to this in the first place. I filled my plate as high as I could without spilling, poured a cup of coffee, doctored it, and shuffled out to the table. To my consternation, Disciple stood as I approached. Mira scooted over to give me room to sit. He looked at me, smiled, and said “Good morning, Jennet,” in his perfectly civilized voice. He waited until I was seated until he sat again, then dove face first back into his datapad. I looked at Mira. She just shrugged back, and mouthed “Tell you later.” Oooookay.



“Hey, thanks for shopping for me yesterday,” I said sincerely. Mira just shrugged again and continued cleaning her weapon. A thought struck her and she looked up and grinned. “Like the undies?”



I shot a look at Disciple. I’m not a prude by any stretch, and if it had been any other male sitting there, I wouldn’t have given it a thought. But Disciple was so proper – it was almost catching. I found myself wanting to stick my pinky out when I held my coffee mug. He looked oblivious, though, and on further reflection I decided if Mira thought it was okay to talk about my underwear in front of him, I wasn’t going quibble. I grinned at her.



“Yeah, they’re nice. I thought it was you that picked them out.”



“Yeah, well, Ladria was going for something I’d figure your grandma would wear, and Atton tried to pick out stuff that even I wouldn’t touch on a bet.” She waved at her own rather skimpy outfit. “He said he wanted to see your face when you put them on. I just toned things down a bit.”



Mira was a lot more thoughtful than she let on. I was pleased to know it.



“And how did he expect to be in a position to see me put them on?” I asked curiously. I wasn’t worried; any fool could see he was completely gone on Ladria. But I could tell the minute I saw him he was a man that just liked women in general, and admired them in all their shapes, sizes and temperaments. Bao Dur was one of those too. I’m not sure Disciple would see a woman dancing naked in front of him if he was in the middle of research, but I didn’t get the totally uninterested vibe, either. Since I’m pretty much the same about men, I understood the attitude. I’m not promiscuous, per se; I just like that men are men, in all their weirdness.



“He claimed he would know when he saw you.”



I just bet he would, too.



Mira eyed my plate. “You gonna eat all that?”



“Um…yeah…” I dove in, a little embarrassed. It was hard to explain to others my appetite. The amount of energy I burn because of my healing causes me to need to refuel regularly. I can go a long time with very little, but as Dad used to say, it ain’t comfortable. I tend to eat big when it’s available, so I can store up for when it’s not. Mira muttered something about telling Bao Dur we’d need more food supplies and let it go. It occurred to me while I steadily worked my way through my plate that maybe it wasn’t difficult, here. I was in the middle of a bunch of Jedi, and for the first time I didn’t have to hide what I was. I found it…comforting. So I did explain.



Mira listened. Her expression didn’t change much, for all I knew I was boring her to death. But she made “that’s interesting” noises, and eventually I shut up. I’m just a chattering fool around here, I thought despairingly. Unexpectedly, Disciple spoke up, and asked how I felt if I went oh, say, ten hours without food.



“Well, if I’ve been eating well before that, I’m just hungry. But that can be blocked, and I can function just fine. If it’s been a long time on short rations, I find my healing slows down. If I don’t eat for a few days, my healing can’t be used outside myself, and even then it’s slowed down to less than a standard regeneration implant.”



“Fascinating,” Disciple said, and he really seemed sincere. I smiled around bacon and eggs.



I realized after that my plate was empty, so I got up for more. Disciple popped up like a jack-in-the-box and I smiled at him again. He sat down when I turned around. With food and a cup of coffee in me, my whimsy had returned. I considered turning back to the table, just to see if Disciple jumped up again, then leaving, then coming back. I restrained myself, and just went back in to the galley. I got considerably less food this time, leaving a respectable amount for Canderous, if he showed up. On the heels of that thought, he did. The doorway of the galley was suddenly blocked by a big, scruffy shadow. I looked up and saw Canderous’s blue eyes fixed on me. He was not smiling. Since that was his usual expression, I didn’t let it bother me. I smiled and said cheerily, “Good morning,” because I knew it would irritate him.



It did. He growled something that could have been “Good morning” or “Hello” or “Fuck off”, I couldn’t tell. I decided not to push things by asking him to repeat it. Being not a morning person myself, I know the signs. I finished doctoring my coffee and made to leave the galley. He didn’t move. I looked up, craning my neck to see his face.



“Excuse me,” I said politely. Okay, maybe I snapped a little. By his standards, it was polite. But he was doing an intimidation thing with me, and I really hate to be intimidated. Well, in this case, I hate someone that can’t, trying. It might sound strange, but he really couldn’t intimidate me. I’d spent the better part of a day in his lap; nothing would faze me about him now. I didn’t think so, anyway. Oh, the hubris of youth.



Remember this: half the time in anyone’s life, they don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about. This is especially true of me.



Canderous looked down at me, his blue eyes alight with something I couldn’t identify. I wanted like hell to back up a pace, but didn’t want to appear to be, well, intimidated. So I met him stare for stare.



“Something on your mind?” I asked sweetly.



“You owe me a fight,” he said, quietly. Well, for him it was quiet. It wasn’t a growl, more a rumble.



“Absolutely,” I agreed. “When?”



“How about a half hour after breakfast?”



“Let me check my schedule. Hm, seems to be clear. Okay, then.”



“I want to make this more interesting.”



“How so?” I asked suspiciously.



“I’d like to fight twice. First, without any advantage on your part. No Force powers, just fists and feet.”



I considered that. “Define Force powers.”



He looked a bit surprised at the request. “Well, in the Mandolorian battle circle, we consider it fair with no healing, no force pushes, paralyzing, things like that. And no light saber; no weapons at all.”



“Okay, I agree. I wasn’t considering sparring with you as a weapons sort of thing anyway, and I don’t use a ‘saber. But the healing…I will promise to not use the heal burst that most Jedi use, but mine’s different. I can’t really turn it off. I can intensify it to heal big things, or heal faster, but it sort of automatically dispenses as I need it, like a regeneration implant, but quicker.”



He thought about this. “I have a regeneration implant that I’ve never bothered to use. It’s stronger than the basic ones, but it doesn’t require surgery to insert. I can use that, and would consider it fair.”



“Fine by me. And the second fight?”



“All out. No weapons, but no other rules, either.”



I grinned. “You’re on.” See, this is where I got overconfident. By his rules, I didn’t have to change anything. I would be basically able to fight as I always did, except I could ramp up the healing process if I needed to in the second match.



“And…if I win, you owe me a forfeit. If you win, I owe. Your choice.”



“What if we each win one?”



He grinned wickedly. “Then I guess we trade forfeits.”



“Sounds fair,” I shrugged.



Remember the intimidation thing? Well, it bit me on the ass. His next words sent a shiver down my spine. He leaned way over, so his mouth was right by my ear.



“I’m very much looking forward to it,” and his voice was a deep, husky, satisfied purr.



Oh, shit.



He stepped aside then, and I fled back to the table. Suddenly, I wasn’t very hungry anymore. I ate anyway.