Chapter Text
Mando couldn't help the rush of fear that coursed through his veins. He had thought that facing off against Snoke and keeping the rest of the Mandalorian invasion a secret would have been the hardest, most dangerous part of this mission. He had thought that simply staying alive long enough for Paz to find him and distract Snoke long enough for Mando to kill him would have been the most dangerous thing to do.
However, when the Armorer's voice had come through the radio, he felt fear like he had never felt before. Snoke had talked about turning his kid into a weapon. Snoke had threatened to destroy everything he held dear. Snoke had told him that he was not the one pulling the strings.
It was dawning on him just how possible it was to have done all of this for nothing. He had decided to be the one to confront Snoke, to trick him into thinking that he was all alone while the other Mandalorians rushed to save his foundling. But in all his plans, did he overlook the simple fact that his child might be dead? Might have already been taken from him? Perhaps he was not as smart as he thought he was.
He could hear Paz behind him, hear the blood in his ears pounding as he rushed through the twisting halls. There were bodies of stormtroopers and droids littering the ground. He and Paz rounded one last corner to see the armorer and other Mandalorians hiding behind pillars. No one was shooting at them, it appeared everything was dead, so why were they hiding?
“What’s going on?” Mando said, coming up to the Armorer. “Why are you hiding? What happened?”
The armorer was silent for a few seconds before responding with characteristic calmness. “You did not tell me your foundling was a sorcerer.”
“What?” He then remembered the magic the foundling could do, lifting things without touching them, like the mudhorn.
“Is that a problem?” he asked, hoping that he wouldn’t be banished because of his procurement of a sorcerer child.
Once again, the Armorer was silent for a few minutes. “He doesn’t seem to want us anywhere close to him. Perhaps you should get your foundling. We’ll clean up the rest.”
She patted him on the shoulder and waved for the others to follow her down the hall, killing the remaining enemies that were still fighting on the ship.
Mando swallowed and shuffled closer to the small room his brethren had been crowding around. He could hear soft whimpering from inside. He was still alive. Thank the gods he was still alive. He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out into the room.
The whimpering stopped and he saw his child, sitting on a small table, small fists clenched and tears streaking down his cheeks.
“Hey, womprat,” Mando said, again, feeling relief washing over him in waves.
In his fury and anger, he had never let himself feel fear. But now that everything was over, he couldn’t help but have the feeling rush into him. He could have lost his child. He could have lost everything he had ever cared about. One enemy could have taken everything away from him. It was strange, now that he had his child in his sight, alive and relatively unharmed, he shouldn’t feel afraid. And yet, his mind couldn’t stop conjuring up horrible scenario after a horrible scenario.
“Sorry it took so long,” he said. The child held his arms up, wanting to be picked up, lip still wobbling and tears still threatening to spill out of his eyes. Mando couldn’t deny him, so he lifted him and settled him against his chest.
The slight added weight ground him and made him feel weak and light-headed. “I hope you didn’t throw around my companions too much. You’ve seen them all in action before,” he said, turning to walk out the door and back to the Razor Crest.
The lightsaber was still on his hip. “I met someone like you. I think he’s dead, but he gave me something, something that I might give you when you’re older.”
How much older, though, it was hard to say. His foundling was still a baby, despite being fifty. How long should Mando wait before giving him a weapon that could cut through anything?
“Maybe when you start talking we’ll figure it out.” He could hear some blaster shots echoing in the hallways. They were getting less and less. Perhaps it was overkill to slaughter an entire ship, but he knew the Mandalorians wanted to send a message. Do not harm our foundlings. He hoped whatever was still out there, whatever was still hunting them, got the message, and left them alone. He didn’t hold out hope, though.
“Next time, if you see someone in armor like mine, let them help you,” he said, securing the baby once more in his seat and flying away from the ship. He’d check back in with the Armorer later. Right now, he had to get his child away from here and somewhere safe.
oOoOoOo
“Well, looks like we’re too late,” Han said as he kicked the burnt body of another droid. “Think they took the kid?”
Leia looked around. “I think this was always about the kid.” She sighed. “What do you think? Should we go after them? If what we found is true, he’s force sensitive. It could be dangerous if he isn’t properly trained.”
Luke furrowed his brow. “I don’t know. They seemed to really care for him and taking him away from people who clearly love him, might be a recipe for disaster. Maybe we should try and find the main guy and talk to him. He seems like the primary caretaker.”
She nodded. “If you say so. If nothing else, having an alliance with people who can do this to an entire Empire Fleet is something we should pursue. We are still having trouble tracking down the remnants of the Empire and it seems like they have more power than they’re letting on.”
Luke nodded. “Agreed. For now, though, let’s get what information we can recover from the ship.”
As the Republic rushed to their tasks, Leia was left starring at the charred remnants of a ship. This group was powerful and dangerous, she could tell that just by looking around. But she didn’t fear them. If she played her cards right, they could become very powerful allies. In fact, it appeared that they had at least one goal in common.
Someone called for her and she tore her eyes from the destruction, heading to the main computer on the ship. For now, however, she had bigger things to worry about. Tomorrow she could start thinking of ways to gain the trust of this powerful group. Today she would just clean up their mess and let them be.