Din lowers the ship onto the surface of yet another barren planet. There are no buildings in sight, no people, no... anything. It's similar to Nevarro, but with much less going on. Didn't know that was possible.

"Welcome to Lasan. Home of the Lasat people... We're looking for Zosu Dab. Wanted for the kidnapping and murder of a rebel general's daughter."

"A rebel's daughter? How do they have the money to pay for a bounty hunter?"

"I've learned it's better not to ask questions," Din tells me.

I peer outside the window of the ship as we settle onto the arid surface of this planet. It's less sandy than Nevarro was, but there's a whole lot of nothing. The hazy purple-grey sky settles onto the dusty ground at the horizon way in the distance. The surface of the planet is covered in tons of holes though; most large enough to fly a ship into.

"Are those caves?"

"I believe so. I've never been to the surface of this planet, but I've heard most of the people dwell in caves beneath the surface," Din explains.

"Why does every criminal decide to hide on the most barren planets in the galaxy?" I joke.

"It's pretty stupid, if you ask me," Din starts. "Why would you hide on a planet where there's nowhere to hide?"

I chuckle at him.

"Makes my job easier."

Din has become so much more open to me the longer I spend with him. I've gotten him to the point of actually speaking full sentences to me without me prompting them. He cracks jokes all the time now and he tells me about his adventures before I came into the picture. It's been amazing. This man has seen so much of the galaxy, and I love listening to the stories of adventures he has to tell. 

"So if they're all in caves, how are we going to find him?"

He taps the sides of his helmet. "You continue to forget I have all kinds of sensors and filters in my helmet. Heat signature."

"Ohhh. Yeah, sorry."

"You're going to stay with the ship," he points his index finger at my chest assertively, "I'm going to find and eliminate the target and be back by nightfall."

"Whoa, wait. I'm not coming with?" I must admit, I'm a little offended.

"We are not having a repeat of the last bounty we did."

"I'm just supposed to sit here while you risk your life?"

"Koda, you're a distraction to me. I work better alone, anyway."

Wow, that hurt.

He continues, "and we are not risking your safety this time. I was naïve enough to let my guard down last time, and look what happened."

"But, what if you go down anyway and there's no way for me to come help?"

"I won't go down." 

"But what if?"

"I will not go down." He opens the hatch of the ship and begins to climb out. "I promise. Hand me my jetpack behind your seat?"

"I'll have no way of knowing if you do!" I pull the jetpack out from behind my seat and hand it to him. He clicks it onto the armor piece that covers his whole back.

"Where's that com-link I gave you?"

"The what?"

"The transponder I gave you on the last mission."

"Oh, yeah, somewhere in my bag."

"I'll send a beep to it every hour so you know I'm fine."

I slump back into my seat, unhappy with the situation. I cross my arms dramatically and sigh loudly to let him know how I feel about it.

"I'm locking the hatch. You know to lock and unlock it?"

I nod my head.

"Great. Keep it locked."

I nod my head again.

"Close your eyes," he tells me. I do as he says. I feel his body turn around and then I feel a pair of lips being placed on mine gently. He pulls away before I can savor the moment. I hear his helmet settle back onto his head before he's up and out the hatch.

"I'll be back before tomorrow morning."

"You said by nightfall," I counter.

"Well now I'm saying by morning." 

"Fine," I whine, "You better beat his ass."

"This is the way."

Without saying anything else, Din closes the hatch between us, locks it, and hops off the ship. I count just a few seconds before I see him shoot off into the sky, flying away into the distance. 

*

I seem to find myself in this situation often; sitting in the ship waiting for Din to come back from something. The sun here looks to be high up in the middle of the sky, so I have a lot of time to kill before tomorrow's sunrise. I sure hope he doesn't take quite that long, but I have to prepare myself to wait until then.

What do you do when you're locked in a ship on a foreign planet and aren't allowed to leave?

I would love to get some chores done in the meantime, but they all require outside resources. I need water to do laundry. I need fire to cook. I need open space to train. I have none of those inside this tiny ship.

It's quite boring.

I scooch myself up into the pilot's chair to get a better view of my surroundings. There's not much to look at, but it's interesting at least. The sky is a unique shade of purple-grey with little to no clouds in the sky. It's quite hazy off into the distance, too. The sun on this planet shines a golden orange color rather than a typical yellow. It's only barely visible through the the foggy sky.

The terrain is interesting. It doesn't look like sand, but there is a surplus of dusty grey dirt covering the ground in all directions. There isn't much vegetation either. An occasional shrub can be seen here and there, but they all look dry and dead. There's no water in sight anywhere, but I don't know if these plants even need water to survive. 

That's the interesting part about going around the galaxy and finding new places you've never seen before. You truly have no idea what a different group of people live like. They could have plants that don't require water. The people themselves might not require water. Who knows!

It's something I've enjoyed a lot about my adventures with Din. The world is so vast and there's just so much to learn and see around the galaxy. There will never be a time in anyone's life when there is no more to experience for the first time. 

Off in the way way way far distance, I can see a mountain with some trees on it to my right. Through the haze I can see the outline of a large hilly mountain dotted with tall trees. You wouldn't be able to see it if you didn't focus your eyes through the burring haze that coats this planet. So, maybe it's not as barren as I had thought.

Above the mountain, the sky is a darker hue of purple than the rest of the sky. I can see the trees swaying back and forth in what I'm assuming is some substantial wind. I strain my eyes through the haze to watch as the taller trees near the top stay back and forth gently.

At this point I've stared out the window long enough for it to have been about an hour. Din said he would beep every hour or so, so I grab the transponder out of my pocket and set it in my lap, anticipating a beep some time soon. 

I sit back in the chair and look straight up into the lilac colored sky. I watch as the waves of foggy mist slowly blow past the ship from right to left. The gentle movement of the haze is calming and mesmerizing, trying its best to will me to sleep. The tranquil silence bids me to shut my eyes and embrace the dream world.

My eyelids grow heavy very soon after assuming this position. 

My eyes close slowly, fighting to remain open. 

The sky becomes darker and darker as my lids allow less and less light into my retinas.

beep

My eyes shoot open. I looks down at my lap and see the itty bitty red light of the transponder light up. 

I sigh a breath of relief, now knowing Din is doing just fine out there all alone. The sleepiness is wiped from my memory immediately.

I push the seat up to a seated position once again. There must be something I can find to occupy my time with. I can't just sit here and fall asleep every time Din leaves the ship for something. 

I admonish myself for my laziness and inability to entertain myself whenever I'm left alone. For maker's sake, I lived alone for nearly a decade and never had an issue. I was able to leave my house and find tasks to do outside, though. Here, I am really trapped in this metal box. 

Maker, if I was on one of those hologram shows, I would have no viewers. People would get bored of watching my life within seconds. 

I decide I'm going to reorganize every single nook and cranny inside this ship as well as wipe everything down. The dust, dirt, mud, and sand build up in here quite quickly. I can use dirty clothes as clothes and towels, since they're already dirty. 

I begin my work immediately. I move every item out from behind my seat in the back and wipe out all of the grime and particles that have accumulated back there. I wipe down every thing and put it back in its correct spot behind my seat in the most organized way I can manage. I stack everything in a way for easy access to anything you could want or need back there. Then, I move both of the seats in every direction I can to make sure I can wipe down every inch of the seat while also getting underneath both of them as thoroughly as I can.

Not before long, I'm up front at the dashboard wiping down every switch, lever, and knob. Din's gloves probably need a good cleaning, too, since everything Is coated in grime up here. I polish all the metal so well that it shines brighter than anything else in this ship. I take care to not push any buttons or pull any levers accidentally. I don't want to break the controls of the ship.

beep

I turn around to see the transponder in the back on my seat light up. Wow, it's been an hour already? I feel like I've been working for maybe twenty minutes tops. I guess time flies when you're having fun.

I return to my work diligently, making everything in the ship sparkle. I reorganize all of the compartments and caddies on the walls of the ship in the pilots nook to make everything easier to grab. Something I've learned about Din is that he knows where everything in the ship is, but he makes everything difficult to access. I don't think he believes in organization or something. Everything is just tossed into a cubby hole with reckless abandon. 

He's probably going to be upset I touched everything in here. Sucks for him, I guess. 

Just as I finish up everything, I'm left with a small pile of sand and dirt I've accumulated on the floor of the ship and some dirty rags. The only way to get rid of it is to open the hatch and toss it outside. 

He told me not to open the hatch, though. 

But, I'll only open it for a few seconds. I mean, it's fine, right?

I hit the unlock button and it hisses open slowly. I gather my pile of nasty and toss it out the hatch off the side of the ship. Quickly, I climb back inside and shut the hatch. I lock it and settle into my seat once again. That wasn't long at all; It was open for maybe eight seconds. 

Just as expected, I hear the transponder beep. Then, I hear a voice coming from it.

"What are you doing?" Din asks me through the device. I pick it up, unsure of how to respond to him with it. I didn't even know he could speak to me through it. 

"Twist the bottom part to turn on the mic," he instructs me. I find the bottom part and twist the knob.

"I was throwing the sand out," I tell him.

"The sand?" he asks. He's speaking in a whisper-y tone. It sounds like he's speaking directly through the helmet, so the voice filter doesn't come through on this.

"I'm cleaning the ship. There was sand."

"Keep it locked."

I roll my eyes at him. A few seconds of opening the hatch isn't going to do anything. It's fine. He's dramatic.

drip drip drip

I look up to investigate the dripping sound I'm suddenly hearing. A few drops of rain have fallen on the window of the hatch of the ship. I didn't realize until now that the sky above me had become a dark purple color, just like it was above the mountain in the distance. A storm seems to have rolled in.

The rain picks up in speed, spilling more and more drops of rain over the ship. The sound of the rain hitting the metal exterior of the ship begins to get louder as more fall.

"Everything okay, though? No people trying to kidnap you?" he asks.

"No, nothing interesting," I respond. 

"What's that sound?" he asks. He's probably referring to the loud dripping sound of the rain overhead.

"It's raining," I tell him.

"Okay, just stay inside the ship. If the storm gets nasty, let me know."

"I will," I reassure him. With that, the connection goes silent. I sit back in my seat and watch the rain fall on the roof of the ship one by one.

Not long after our little call ends, the storm picks up in intensity. The rain falls harder and faster than before. The wind also becomes noticeable, with the gusts jostling the ship from side to side as the storm passed overhead. 

The rain always brought a really peaceful and relaxing feeling with it. I loved sitting in my bed at home listening to the rain hit the roof for hours at a time. Watching each drop fall on the landscape outside was one of my favorite pastimes on an otherwise deadbeat day.

But the storm here is much more intense than the ones back at home. 

Soon, the storm drops what looks like buckets of water atop the ship at a time. It's like a tsunami that I've heard happens on wet planets with big lakes. I've never experienced one, but I can only imagine this is what it's like. The wind picks up, too, shaking the ship in a concerning way. The gusts nearly topple the ship over onto its side a few times.

I open the microphone on the transponder, "Din, the storm is pretty bad out here."

I sit back and watch the sky get darker and darker, eventually becoming a dark gray color. The natural purple hue of the sky is blocked nearly completely by the storm clouds above.

Din doesn't answer.

"Hey, the storm is getting bad," I try again. The wind whips past the ship.

Still no response.

"Din? Hello? The storm out here is picking up pretty intensely."

He doesn't respond.