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When Din approached hangar 3-5, the last thing he’d expected was to see stormtroopers guarding the door. He ignored them, and tried to push past to enter the Hangar.
“Hey, you can’t go in there.” One of the stormtroopers stopped him, putting his hand on his chest plate. Din resisted the urge to shoot him there and then.
“Why not? The Hangar is open to the public.”
“The Hangar is owned by the imperials now. Move along.”
“What happened to the previous owner?”
“Who knows?” The other trooper replied darkly. Din didn’t like the tone of his voice at all, and turned to make it look like he was leaving.
He knew it had been a while since he last saw Peli, since he’d last kissed her and promised her he’d return safely once he found a Jedi, but she would have comm’d him if she’d lost the Hangar, right? Something was off about all this…
Giving the stormtroopers no time to react, Din spun and shot them both with his blaster, before stepping over their corpses and slipping into the Hanger.
He tapped into his helmet, activating the heat-vision to get a better look at how many troopers he was going to be dealing with.
Two of them stood chatting outside Peli’s office, guarding the entrance, while two more stood inside the office with another heat signature sitting between them. He listened in on the group inside the office.
“You can make all this stop if you just tell us where the Mandalorian is.”
“I don’t know where he is!”
Din’s heart dropped at Peli’s voice.
“Try again. Where is he?”
“I. Don’t. Know!”
“So be it. Hold her.”
One of the troopers moved behind Peli, grabbing her to keep her in place while the other picked up a weapon the length of his arm and smacked her over the head with it, earning a cry of pain from the Mechanic.
Din saw red.
Throwing stealth out the window, Din pulled the Darksaber from his belt and ignited it, the sound attracting the attention of the two stormtroopers outside the office. He leapt out from his hiding place, swung the blade through them both with ease, before storming into the office.
The stormtrooper with the weapon raised it, but Din cut it before he could even use it and drove the saber through the trooper's chest. He gave it a jolt for good measure, before letting the body drop to the floor. He turned to the final stormtrooper, but froze in his tracks.
The stormtrooper has one arm around Peli’s neck, holding one of Peli’s hammers in his other hand, the sharp end of it held just inches from Peli’s temple.
“Deactivate the weapon.” The stormtrooper commanded, making a point to tighten his grip on the hammer. Din did as he was told, and deactivated the saber.
And threw the hilt at him.
The stormtrooper released Peli to block the hilt, which gave Din the opportunity to swing his spear off his shoulder and stab the spear through the stormtrooper's shoulder and into the wall behind him. With the man pinned, Din placed himself behind Peli, making a wall between her and the trooper, and picked up the saber.
“What were you doing to her?” Din demanded as he approached the stormtrooper, activating the saber once more. The stormtrooper shook his head and remained silent. A choked sob from behind had Din beheading the trooper before he had a single rational thought about it.
The Mandalorian deactivated the Darksaber, sighing as he attached the hit to his belt once more and went to pull his spear out of the wall and the stormtrooper. He put the spear down, and turned to the Mechanic behind him.
“Peli-“
“I don’t know!” Peli cried, her body tensing, as though preparing herself for a hit. Din knelt in front of her, taking in her condition.
The mechanic's hands had been cuffed in front of her with cuffs that dug into her wrists, chafing the skin and tearing it until it seeped. The cuffs themselves had been attached to the crate, preventing Peli from being able to get up or move her hands.
She looked tired, looking anywhere but at Din. Sweat dripped from her hair and face, mixing with blood from several open wounds on her face, likely caused by the weapon that had been swung at her. The most recent wound was brighter than the others, pouring steadily from her forehead and down her face.
“I’m going to free your hands, alright?” Din asked. Peli didn’t respond, not until Din reached for the cuffs on her wrists. She flinched back with a choked sound, squeezing her eyes closed, as though bracing. Din gently took her hands in his, rubbing his thumb over the back of her gloves.
“Peli, it’s me, it’s Din.” Din whispered, hoping to get through to her. It seemed to work a little, as Peli watched him remove the cuffs. They eventually fell from her wrists, and Din moved his hands up to gently study where the cuffs had bruised at her wrists. Peli took a shaky breath.
And kicked him square in the chest-plate, sending him crashing to the sandy ground, sprawled onto his back.
“Agh!”
The mechanic tried to stand but immediately collapsed to the floor with a cry of agony, though she didn’t let it stop her. She tried to pull herself up using the crate she’d been sitting on, whimpering with pain as she did so. Din let her.
“Peli-“
“I don’t know where he is!” Peli cried, her knees failing her as she dropped to the sand once more. She tried to hide herself behind the crate, but she seemed to be in too much pain to shift her weight. Din nodded, holding up his hands.
“I’m here. Peli, I’m here, and Gideon’s troopers are dead. It’s just you and me.”
Din thought, desperately trying to find a way to get through to Peli. Surely she could see the bodies of the imperials on the ground? Surely she could see it was him?
But she couldn’t, could she?
Sure, he was there, but he was just another suit; Just another armoured man without a face. Without a second thought, he reached up and pulled off his helmet. Then he set to work on removing his vambraces, and then his pauldrons. His leg plates were next to go, and finally, his chest plate and cape, until he sat in front of Peli in his flight suit.
Peli stared at him, clearly still uncertain about trusting him, before turning away again. Din sighed, looking around.
“Where are the droids?” He asked. Peli shook her head, her eyes burning. Din shifted closer. “Thank you… for not telling them where I was. Where the kid and I were. That’s why they want me; for the child. He’s safe now, with a-”
“No.” Peli choked, shaking her head. “Don’t tell me where he is.”
“Okay.” A lump formed in Din’s throat. “You don’t need to protect us anymore, I’m here.”
“How do I know?” Peli asked, looking up at him. “How do I know it’s you and not some trick?”
“Mando’a.” Din supplied. “ Morut'yc .”
“I don’t remember what that means…” The Mechanic whispered, shaking her head again. “W-we’ve said it, but-“
“It means safe.” Din offered. Peli nodded.
“ Shev'la .” (Silent.)
“ Gar serim . I know you were. Vor entye.” (That’s right. Thank you.)
“ Buruk? ” (Danger?)
“ Dar… Mhi cu’morut'yc. ” (Gone… We’re safe.)
“ Morut'yc… Safe…” Peli whispered, nodding to herself. “ Shuk'la… ”
“Broken?” Din sat up. “ Tion'megin shuk’la? What is broken?”
“ Beskar’ad…”
The droids.
Those droids were to Peli as Grogu was to him; They were her foundlings, and she was their Buir.
Din watched as Peli curled in on herself, pulling her knees to her chest and burying her face in her arms. The way she was behaving… It was all so unlike her, so different from the tough exterior she always showed.
“We’ll fix them.” Din whispered. “We can fix them. But first, we need to get you looked at. Do you trust me?”
Peli looked the Mandalorian over, taking in the lack of armour, and nodded.
“Alright… I’m going to take you to a friend of mine, Boba. He lives in the Palace out in the dune sea, but he has a spare room and a healer's wing. I want to get you away from here, just until I know Gideon won’t send anymore of his men after you. You’ll be under his protection, and mine, and so will your droids. Nothing will hurt you or them again.”
“I couldn’t stop them…”
“What did they do?”
“Tore them apart…” Peli whispered. “They were so scared…”
“Hey…” Din reached for Peli, but refrained from touching her. Who knew what else they’d done to her? “We’ll fix them. Boba seems to know his way around cybernetics, so he’ll have plenty of tools that we can use.”
“…okay.”
“Okay.” Din nodded, leaning down to press a soft kiss to Peli’s cheek. “I’ll go and let Boba know we’re coming. Rest, I’ll prepare a speeder for us.”
Peli said nothing more, just raised her hand to where Din had kissed her and rubbed it tenderly. Din took the hint; He stood and gathered his armour before leaving the office. The moment he left, a muffled sob escaped the Mechanic, and it took all of Din’s strength to leave her be. She clearly hadn’t wanted him to be there when she broke.
Taking the time to look around, Din could clearly see the pieces of dismantled pit-droid scattered around the Hangar, clearly discarded with little care. The way Peli had talked about it… It sounded like they'd taken them apart in front of her. Din couldn’t bear to imagine how hurt she must’ve been…
And she’d done it for him.
With a shaky sigh, Din swallowed down the wave of emotion that threatened him and set about picking up the discarded pieces of droid, hoping it would distract him from the sounds of Peli falling apart in the office.
He owed her a debt, and his protection.