Filter Maintenance (The Mandalorian)

[VaguelyK]

Hey y'all!

So this is a Mando fic i wrote and posted on AO3 and Tumblr wayyyy back in 2020, and since I've been on a MAJOR Pedro Pascal kick recently, I figured it would be a good time to get this posted here as well! I apologize for any errors/inaccuracies/poor plot development, as I wrote this before we even knew Mando's real name, lol. Also the OC here is literally just there to move the plot along, he's not really a big deal.

With that out of the way, here's 1.7k of everyone's favorite beskar-clad bounty hunter!

-VK

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The Batuu suns were beating down on the small post of Kem’lar, a small town-like settlement with various shops and a bar. On blistering days like these, most of the residents found themselves in the small cantina, beating the heat with some kind of chilled drink.

On this day in particular, there were two rather… strange customers, one of which who had been stuck there for weeks as he gradually made repairs to his damaged ship with the earnings from on-planet bounties, and the other who had been staying on Batuu for the better part of a few months. The two had met shortly after the former arrived, and they formed an unlikely companionship, the latter helping with aforementioned bounties with the promise that once the ship was repaired, he’d be able to hitch a ride off of Batuu.

Today was no different, the pair sitting in the cantina as they waited for the right time to go after their next target.

“You, my friend, sound awful. What happened this time?”

The question rang through the heavy air of the building, the rest of the patrons either too drunk, blissed out, or tired in the heat of the afternoon to pay any notice. The man who had asked the question was quite clearly a smuggler, blue tinted goggles shoved up on the top of his head, a long heavy jacket draped over his shoulders, thick and tall boots, knives strapped to various parts of him and mismatched armor dotting his outfit. He swirled his drink in his cup, looking across the table at his current traveling companion.

“Well, Mando?”

Across from him sat a Mandalorian, the dim light leaking into the building glaring off the beskar steel of his armor, the mudhorn signet on his pauldron practically glowing. He didn’t respond to the smuggler, in fact, he barely made any move to acknowledge him as he spoke up again.

“Alright, listen, you’ve been here, what, a few weeks? We’ve been working together since you got here, and I like to think I’ve gotten to know you pretty damn well. Or, at least as well as you’ll let me.” He laughed and took a sip of his drink before continuing. 

“Anyways, I’ve heard you speak quite a few times now, and I can say with certainty that as of recently, you sound horrible, even through that weird filter in your helmet. Something is clearly wrong.” He took another swig of whatever local beverage he had gotten from the bar as Mando shook his head.

“I’m fine, Arenos.” Despite the response, Arenos was correct in his observation. Despite the mechanical overlay on his voice and the stiffness of his armor, it was quite clear that the bounty hunter wasn’t quite at 100%. His voice was, well, congested, to say the least, and he was clearly struggling to maintain the usual stoicness he typically displayed.

“Mando, don’t lie to me, you sound like death. What happened? Pick up a virus from somethin’ here? If so I can probably talk to the local chemi-”

“It’s not a virus, alright?” Mando interrupted him with a sigh.

“Aha!” Arenos exclaimed triumphantly. “So you admit, there is something wrong!”

“Pipe down, you’ll wake the kid-” Mando nodded towards the final chair at the table, where the small child he was travelling with was comfortably dozed off, much like half the people at the cantina.

Arenos raised his hands slightly. “Right, right, sorry. Now, spill. What’s wrong with you, exactly?”

Mando sighed, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. “It’s the planet, alright? I don’t know what it is, but something here’s getting to me.” Arenos raised an eyebrow at the statement.

“Really? A couple of plants, or animals, or whatever on some backwater planet is bringing down one of the best bounty hunters in the whole damn parsec? Well, colour me surprised.” Arenos laughed and finished off his drink as Mando spoke up again.

“Hey, you live most of your life breathing through a filter and we’ll see how you fare without it.”

“Wait, that’s right, you have your filter-thingy, shouldn’t you be fine?” Arenos tilted his head as he leaned forward on the table, arms folded in front of him.

“The filter in my helmet requires maintenance every few weeks due to the constant usage of it. To fix and clean it, I have to take off my helmet, and with you, the kid, and the various clients we’ve picked up, I haven’t exactly been able to take it off.” 

Arenos was silent for a moment, seemingly contemplating the bounty hunter’s reasons before breaking out in laughter.

“Are you kriffing me? That’s why? Just go back to your ship and fix it, god, I’ll watch the youngling.” Arenos waved him off.

“No, I’m not leaving the kid. I’ll be fine, the repairs can wait until we’re off-planet.” Mando shook his head as the smuggler rolled his eyes and shrugged.

“Whatever, you’d better not end up screwing up our next mission cause you walk into a bush or something.” Arenos stood and stretched his arms with a few cracks before motioning for Mando to follow. 

“Speaking of,” he continued, ”we’d better get going if we want to catch the bounty, apparently he’s leaving today.” Arenos pulled on his jacket and checked his gun as Mando silently stood, carefully picking up the child before they both left the cantina and made their way into the afternoon sun.

---------------

They walked for about a half-hour or so, into the dense forests of Batuu, the sun being filtered out by the towering trees above them. Arenos had his goggles on and carried a bounty puck and a tracking fob, which would occasionally begin to beep a bit faster the deeper in the forest they got. Mando was close behind, a gun in each hand as the child’s pram followed the pair, quietly floating and closed up.

“Tell me again why you didn’t want to leave the kid on the ship?” Arenos spoke quietly as he followed the fob’s beeping.

“I don’t trust it here. The Black Spire Outpost is practically a beacon for bad news, and I don’t exactly trust anyone who willingly comes and stays hhH-here.”

Arenos let out a laugh. “You know, I’d say I’m offended, but you’re dead on.” He continued walking forward until a sudden rush of movement in front of them stopped him dead in his tracks. He raised a fist to signal Mando to stop, and checked the fob. 

It was blaring.

Arenos quietly placed the fob and puck in one of his inner pockets, slowly drawing his blaster. He sank down by a large rock, using it for cover as he motioned vaguely for Mando to do the same. He looked out where the rush came from, silent as a jakrab as he kept an eye out for any movement or noises.

“Hh’kshtt! Hah’ktSHH!!”

Arenos jumped and immediately spun around and pointed his blaster at the source of the noise, only to see Mando attempting to get back in position.

“I swear to god Mando, keep it under control-” The smuggler whispered harshly before turning back to where they had previously seen something moving. At the sight of another rush by, Arenos opened fire.

He jumped up from his spot and rushed forward, reloading the taser shots they were using to capture the bounty. Mando followed his movements and took aim in the foliage where the bounty seemed to be, just barely managing to hit them in the leg as he suddenly jerked his head to the side with another few partially stifled sneezes. 

“Hahh’HKTSHH! Hh’ktshh!! Fuck-” 

Arenos shot at the fleeing figure, shouting back at the bounty hunter.

“For kriff’s sake, get it under control-” Arenos was running forward with Mando following behind him in pursuit of the bounty, a Chiss man with a full black outfit who was running as fast as he possibly could with a tased leg. Arenos went to take another shot when his blaster jammed. He hit it angrily while yelling back at Mando.

“Take the shot, he’s getting away!” When his shout wasn’t met by an immediate tasing shot to the fleeing man, he spun around to see the bounty hunter frozen in place, one arm slightly raised and his head just barely tilted back. Arenos groaned.

“Oh for the love of-” Arenos pulled one of the guns from Mando’s hand and took aim before quickly pulling the trigger and sending off two shots, hitting the man and sending him to the ground. He smacked his own gun a few more times to get it back online as Mando jerked forward again.

“HhH’KTSHh! Hah'ksHH!! HaaH’KTSHH!! Hah'ktSHHH!”

Arenos just rolled his eyes and waited for Mando to finish before handing him back his gun and Clapping him on the back.

“Alright, we’re done, now let’s go get the bounty.” Arenos stepped towards the unconscious Chiss man before spinning back around and facing Mando.

“And I swear to god, as soon as we finish, you’re gonna leave the kid with me for 30 minutes while you go and fix your filter. That could have gone much, much worse, and it almost did.” Arenos began walking forward again before once again spinning to face the bounty hunter.

“And clean your kriffing helmet, too, that’s just… ew.” Arenos marched off towards the bounty again, this time without turning back.

---------------

Arenos was sitting at a table in the cantina with the child on the seat next to him, watching over it as he swirled another drink in his cup. He looked up when the faint chime of the bell above the door was hit, and seeing it was only Mando, waved them over and leaned back in his chair as he sat down across from them.

“So,” Arenos broke the forming silence. “Feeling any better?” He sipped at his drink nonchalantly.

Mando shrugged. “It’ll take a while before the filter is fully operational again, and it’s not like I haven’t already inhaled half the flora on this rock, so it might be a bit.” Arenos nodded.

“Welp, hate to say I told you so, but-” He laughed before sliding over a bag of credits. “There’s the bounty reward, by the way, I swear, you practically sprinted back to the ship. Anyway, I calculated it, if we keep this up at a steady rate we should be out of here in a couple of weeks or so. You gonna remember to fix your damn filter while we’re here or…?” Arenos laughed again.

Mando threw the bag at his head.

[solitaire-au]

I loved this fic and I’ve had it saved in my AO3 bookmarks since I first read it several months ago. 💕