Chapter Text
Din reached out and took the credits from the table, accepting the agreed payment. The mission had been more work than he had imagined, but Grogu had learned some lessons more valuable than any cash award.
“You can't leave without at least toasting with me to another successful mission”. Carson Teva said as he raised an arm to get the twi'lek waitress's attention. “They serve the best Kashyk I've tasted outside Coruscant”.
“What can I get you?”. The twi'lek approached the table, a big professional smile on her face.
“Kashyk for us and some Bantha milk for the child, please”. Carson ordered. “Oh, and a straw for my friend”.
The waitress nodded and walked away to pick up the order. The cantina was almost full, making the environment noisy. Din was tired and counted the minutes to return to his ship. Grogu, who had fallen asleep on the way to the planet, looked rested and excited to drink his Bantha milk.
“You know, I was not sure if I should say anything. I don't know if you still keep in touch with your friends back in Mandalore”.
That got Din`s full attention. “I do”.
Carson lowered his voice and leaned his elbows on the table to get closer to Din. In a busy cantina like this, there was always people listening. “I heard about a deal the mandalorians are making with some Zabrak smugglers here in Nar Shaddaa”.
Din tilted his helmet. Bo-katan hadn't commented on anything like that the last time they'd talked. What could the mandalorians want with smugglers here on this garbage of a planet?
Carson continued. “I heard a conversation in a seedy bar so the information is not 100% accurate but there's supposed to be a meeting tonight”.
The waitress interrupted them by bringing their drinks. She fixed her gaze on Din and purred. “If there is anything else I can do for you, handsome, just let me know”.
Carson shook his head from side to side with a small smile playing on his lips as the twi'lek walked away, shaking her ass. “Do women always throw themselves at you like this? You don`t even show your face! What is it that get their attention, the shiny beskar armor?”.
Grogu happily grabbed his Bantha milk and downed it in one single big gulp.
“Grogu!”. Din growled, as the child burped. He shook his head and brought the attention back to the matter at hand. “Tell me more about the meeting. Do you know who will attend?”.
“I don`t. But if you manage to talk to your friends, I advise you to warn them that it's not a good idea to do business with these filths”. Carson took a sip from his cup, nodding at the pleasurable taste.
“Where is the meeting happening?”.
“From what I heard, somewhere close to Grakkus Arena here in Hutta Town. Your friends should know by now, but there's a good chance the encounter is a trap. Madalore still has many enemies. I imagine they are prepared to fight”.
Din immediately got up, leaving his drink untouched. “Come, Grogu”.
“Wait! You don`t mean to intervene, right?”. Carson also stood up, both his hands up in the air. “Think for a second… you could put your friends in danger. Mandalore is usually well informed. I presume they know what they are doing”.
“I prefer to check for myself”. Din insisted.
Carson sighted and took a good look at his friend. “Is this about your friend Lady Kryze? Do you think she will be with the mandalorians?”.
Din inhaled loudly and took a moment too long to answer. He lowered his voice in way Carson was not used to. “Why do you ask?”
Carson put his hands up again, trying to calm Din down. “Don`t look at me like that. You know there is talks about you two. I just assumed…”.
“What?”.
“That you are… dating? That you are together? I don`t know”. He shrugged defensibly.
Din seethed. “You assumed wrong. Lady Kryze and I are friends. That is all”.
“I`m sorry. I didn`t mean to offend you”.
Din looked at Carson for a moment too long. “Come, Grogu”. He ordered and the child immediately nodded, sensing his father was not in the mood for a tantrum.
As Din was leaving, he paused and turned back in second though. His voice was calmer. “Thank you for the information. You know how to contact me when a job comes up”. With a small nod, he walked away, Grogu`s pod following him closely.
Carson Teva shook his head and gulped his drink in one shot. From Din`s reaction, there was definitely something going on between his friend and the heir of Mandalore. As a friend, he was happy for Din. A beautiful princess? Not too shabby for a bounty hunter.
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Din positioned himself on the glass window of the empty apartment. It gave a good view of Grakkus Arena. Grogu was by his side, with his big brown eyes also focused on the view.
From their vantage point, they could see the base of the Arena. There was a group of five Zabraks standing beside a YT-1000 light frighter. They must be the smugglers the mandalorians were supposed to meet.
Din tried contacting Bo-Katan as he left the cantina earlier, without success. He considered sending a holo to Mandalore, but decided against it as it might be too much. The meeting could be with a rogue group of mandalorians for all he knew.
His thoughts were interrupted by the approach of a ship. As the vessel got closer, Din could distinguish it was a Kom'rk Class fighter transport. Ok, maybe it was her, maybe not. The Gountlet was a common ship between mandalorians.
The ship descended into the arena and parked close to the Zabraks light transport. The door opened and three mandalorians got down from the ship. Din`s heart stopped for moment as he set his eyes on Bo-Katan`s distinctive blue and white helmet. Kriff. What she was doing?
Grogu chirped excitedly on his side, pointing a tiny green finger in the direction of the Mandalorian leader.
“Yes, yes. It`s her”. Din confirmed, eyes glued on the scene. Bo-Katan descended the ramp and approached the smugglers with a confident stride. Even from afar, she exuded the aura of someone who knew what they were doing. Din hoped that was the case.
She was flanked by two other mandalorians in blue armor. Probably Koska Reeves and Axe Wolves, but he was not sure from the distant spot. She seemed to exchange a few words with the smugglers, a tension hanging in the air.
A large yellow Zabrak got closer to her and shook her gloved hand. More words were exchanged and the big Zabrak seemed to order his friends to get something from their ship.
Three Zabraks went inside the ship and returned with what looked like a heavy large box. They put the box down and the mandalorian that looked like Axe Wolves went to check its contents. After a few moments, he nodded to Bo-Katan. Whatever the mandalorians were looking for seemed to be inside the box.
Bo-Katan grabbed something from her pouch - probably the payment -, and the yellow Zabrak stretched out his hand to receive it. Instead of delivering it, she made a sudden sign with her hand, and in less than a second, the whole scene was in chaos.
Blaster shots were fired in the arena`s direction from another apartment in Din`s building. The mandalorians on the ground advanced in the direction of the Zabraks, engaging in physical fighting. A grenade went off somewhere. Din aimed his Amban sniper rifle and also shot at the smugglers, Grogu by his side looking helpless.
More Zabraks appeared out of nowhere and entered the fight. They were probably the backup, hiding and waiting to attack. The shots from the other apartment continued hitting them, so it was probably an ally shooting.
Din could see Bo-Katan efficiently disarm and knock out a female Zabrak before getting knocked down by the large Zabrak with yellow skin. She hit the wall of the enemy’s ship and crumbled to the ground. He tried to shoot the attacker but there was no good angle from the apartment.
Suddenly a big explosion hit the side of the mandalorian`s Gountlet, as a beige Zabrak used a missile launcher.
“Dank farrik!”. He cursed and turned to Grogu. “Stay here”.
Without another explanation, Din jumped out of the window, using his jetpack to fly to the arena. When he landed, the large yellow Zabrak was over Bo-Katan`s body, punching her with his fists. Din could see that she was fighting back, trying to push the large body out of hers.
Din advanced on the huge Zabrak, tackling him to the side with the help of force of his jetpack. They scrambled over the ground, Din`s beskar armor making a loud noise when it came into contact with the ground.
Bo-Katan seemed stunned to see him there. They maintained eye contact through the helmets for a few seconds before jumping into action again.
As the Zabrak recoved, he jumped at Din, trying to knock the mandalorian to the ground. Din was ready for it and sidestepped the attack. Bo-Katan used her blaster to shoot a hole at their opponent’s shoulder.
The Zabrak only growled and attacked Din again, this time managing to use his superior weight to knock the mandalorian down. Bo rushed to them, pulling her vidroblade from her vambrace. She quickly climbed on the Zabrak`s back, with the agility of a lothcat and pushed the blade into his neck. The Zabrak howled and started trashing, trying to shake her off his back. She hold on tightly, not letting him go.
Din got up from the floor and pointed his blaster at the smuggler. He took a second to make sure his shot would no hurt Bo and pressed the trigger. He heard a yell as both Bo-Katan and the Zabrak fell to the ground.
Din sighted in relief as other mandalorians arrived from the sky, probably Bo`s backup. He ran to her form on the ground and offered a hand to help her get up. She took it without hesitation. With another shot, Din made sure the Zabrak was really dead.
“What are you doing here, Din Djarin?!”. Bo-Katan asked, still astonished by his presence.
He decided to ignore her question for now. “Are you ok?”. His eyes surveilled the other mandalorian body, looking for injuries. She tilted her helmet at his change of subject.
Before he could finish his inspection, shots flew in their direction. Din pushed Bo-Katan in the direction of the Zabraks ship. They pushed their bodies against the cold metal, using it as cover. Bo-Katan took her blaster out of its holster.
“You still didn`t answer me”. She murmured while shooting at the direction the shots were coming from.
Din growled as a blaster shot hit his pauldron. “Not now!”
“Not that I`m not happy to see you”. She ignored him and kept talking while shooting. “Thank you for the save back there”.
“Now we are almost even”. He couldn`t resist to counter as his shot landed on the back of a Zabrak that was running away from the scene. “They are retreating”. He noted.
Bo-Katan immediately pressed the comm button on her vembrace. “They are retreating. Do we have the box?”.
“Yes”. A female breathy voice answered after a few moments.
“Stand down. Let them go. We got what we wanted”. Bo-Katan ordered and the fight quickly ended after that, with the remaining Zabraks running away and leaving their ship and the box behind. Din and Bo-Katan left the cover of the ship, looking around at the mess.
She turned to Din and explained the situation. “There are a dozen beskar Stormtrooper armors inside the box. They were stolen from Guideon and we have been tracking it down for quite some time”.
Din nodded at the explanation. As he was preparing to advance on the Zabrak`s ship to make sure there was no threat left, his eyes spotted some drops of blood on the floor. His eyes scanned Bo-Katan`s body to check where it came from. “You`re bleeding”.
She looked at him and didn’t seem to process what he was saying. He pointed to the blood on the floor. “Oh”. She said sheepishly, lifting her arm for him to see. “It`s nothing”.
There was a bloody hole on her flight suit, above the elbow on her left arm, right under her shoulder pauldron. Without asking for permission, Din grasped her arm in his gloved hands and took a closer look. “It`s a bite mark”.
“What?”. She took her arm from his grasp and inspected it. “Dank Farrik! That mudscuffer bit me”. She sighted shaking her helmet. “I kriffing hate Zabraks”.
Din wanted to ask about the story behind the hate, but decided to focus on the problem at hand. “You need tend to that. It could get infected. Bite marks are tricky”.
She fixed her gaze at him for a few moments but conceded to his care. “I have some bacta on our ship”.
“Lady Kryze!”. A male older mandalorian Din did not know came running in their direction. “Are you alright? The reinforcements took longer to arrive than we predicted”.
“I`m fine”. She said, crossing her hands behind her back probably to hide the bloody arm. Din gave her a side look but she kept her undivided attention on the other man. “How is everyone?”.
“No casualties. Just some scratches. Oh, and Tyland Mereel got concussed by a grenade but he is mostly fine”.
She sighted in relief, her shoulders visibly relaxing. “Good”.
Din imagined being a leader came with a lot of heavy responsibilities. He knew she took the well-being of her soldiers very seriously. He experienced some of that tension when he found Grogu. Being responsible for the kid changed his perspective on a lot of things.
Axe Wolves approached, nodding quickly in recognition at Din. Since they regained Mandalore, the man seemed to tolerate Din's presence more. “The box is secure but our ship is dead. That missile hit the engine. I don`t think we will be able to fix it. Koska is trying to check what is salvageable”.
Din took a quick look at the Gauntlet. The missile had done a lot of damage. He glanced at the YT-1000 light frighter. There was no visible damage to it. “Is the Zabrak`s ship ok?”.
“Seems to be but it is some ancient garbage. It would take more than a week to reach Mandalore in it”. Axe said.
“It`s our best option”. Bo-Katan concluded, analyzing the ship and forming a plan. “We can use it to take the box to Mandalore. I don`t want to stay here anymore than we absolutely need to”.
“I`ll get the others to transfer what we could savage from the Gountlet into the YT”. Axe agreed and turned around giving the orders. The other mandalorians immediately began to remove equipment from the destroyed Gountlet and carry it to the other ship.
Ragnar Vizla walked in their direction, Grogu on his arms.
“Grogu!”. Bo-Katan exclaimed as she saw the child.
The kid yelled something incoherent and used the force to catapult to her open arms. She hugged him with care, a small smile creeping on the corner of her mouth, showing the soft side that only emerged when she was with a foundling, especially Grogu. “I have missed you too, kid”.
Din looked at young Ragnar, who was watching the scene with curiosity. Din doubted it was a usual scene to she Bo-Katan so open. He nodded at Ragnar. “Thank you for getting him. Were you the one shooting from the building?”.
“You`re welcome, and yes”. Ragnar proudly stuffed his chest.
“His first official mission”. Bo-Katan said, as she used her fingers to pet Grogu`s head. “You did good, kid. Nice aim”. She complimented Ragnar.
The kid looked at his hands, suddenly shy. He was probably blushing under the helmet. “Thank you, Mand’alore”.
It was the first time Din had heard someone calling Bo-Katan that. It was strange to see such reverence for someone so close to him, but it made him very proud.
Axe came back and interrupted the moment. “I need to do my duty as head of Mandalore security and point out that this trip is not safe for you”. He said with a stern voice while pointing at Bo-Katan. “The trip back to Mandalore on that pile of junk is going to be a bumpy ride. There is a good chance it gets flagged as a smuggler vessel and pirates could try to hijack it. I don`t think it is fast enough to run and it doesn`t have a defense system good enough to endure an attack”.
Bo-Katan turned to him with what Din could only assume was a hard stare. Grogu grabbed her chest plate sensing the tension.
Axe continued unappeased. “You are our leader. If something happens to you, the clans would fight each other for the power as there is no clear line of succession yet. It would hinder our chances of restoring our planet to its former strength”.
A silent battle of stern looks between Bo-Katan and him continued to take place but the Mandalorian male didn`t back down. “You know I`m right. I told you it was not a good idea to come with us on this mission. This planet is garbage”.
She sighted, absentmindedly petting Grogu`s head. “I do take my security seriously, but I won`t agree to be locked inside a safe room. There is always going to be danger, Axe. I am a warrior, for Bantha`s sake”.
Axe shook his head. “No one doubts that, Bo-Katan Kryze. You have proven yourself many and many times, but these are delicate times and you chose me as chief of mandalorian intelligence and security for a reason. It is my job to concern”.
Din immediately gained more respect for the man. Bo-Katan`s presence as leader of Mandalore presented a risk. The problem was that she was a stubborn woman, he would have to help. “He is right”.
Bo-Katan sharply turned to him. “Traitor”.
Din ignored her and turned to Axe. “I can take her and Grogu on the N-1 straight to Mandalore. It is parked nearby”.
“Is there enough space for the both of you?”. Axe asked tilting his head as he tried to remember the configuration of the N1.
“We will manage”. Din said, leaving little space for arguments. Both man looked at Bo-Katan, waiting for her response.
“Fine”. She finally agreed. The woman could be stubborn, but when Mandalore`s interests were in the line Din knew she could be very reasonable. She hugged Grogu closer. “Only to be closer to this guy a little longer”.
Grogu chirped in happiness and touched her helmet with his little green hand.
“Let`s grab some bacta and leave this place”.
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The N1, like Din had said, was parked close to the arena, on the roof of an abandoned building. The two mandalorians and Grogu approached it quickly, eager to get off the planet as soon as possible.
Din helped Grogu into the adapted droid canopy and Bo-Katan stood back analyzing the only seat on the ship.
“You know, I am very curious to discover how we will manage to fit two people inside that small seat”. She teased with a light flirtatious tone. Din was afraid she would get angry at the situation, but she seemed to be taking it with humor.
“Before that, let`s apply the bacta to your injury”. He grabbed the bacta patch from his saddlebag and stared at her arm, trying to convey the best way to apply it. “Should I cut the flight suit arm off?”.
Bo-Katan turned her head down, looking at her arm. The position of the bite made applying the bacta tricky. “You can try. As you know, the material is quite hard to cut. I honestly don`t even know how that Zabrak managed to pierce it with his dirty teeth”.
“Must have been some very sharp teeth”. Din said as he took his vidroblade out. “You know what they say about their eating habits”. He acknowledged the rumors about Zabraks being adept to cannibalism.
Bo-Katan visibly shook in repulse. Din approached her and grasped her arm with care. He quickly checked the injure, noting that the blood flow had stopped, but the skin around the bite looked irritated. The sooner they applied the bacta, the less chance it had of getting infected.
He positioned the flightsuit hard tissue against his vidroblade and tried to decide where was the best place to cut the suit. If he cut off the whole arm, it would detach her vermbrance and shoulder pauldron. Should he just cut it off or try to cut a bigger hole on it so the bacta patch would fit?
She sensed his apprehension and sighted. “Kriff it”. She cursed and quickly removed her arm from his grasp. Before he could protest, she started to open her flight suit.
Din stood frozen on the spot as the words left him. With practice, she quickly opened the suit and pushed it down her shoulders, the beskar armor clinking as it crumpled together by her hips. Din`s breath only returned when he noted that she was wearing a black light t-shirt under the suit.
The shirt might have helped the situation, but if Din was being honest, she was still showing quite a lot of skin. At least more than he had ever seen her show. His traitor eyes checked her toned arms and the column of her neck, descending until the hem of the shirt. Thank the force his helmet hid the direction his eyes were looking.
Her voice pulled him out of his trance. “Much easier”. She grabbed the bacta patch from his hand and opened it, quickly applying it over the bite mark. “Done”.
He stood dumbfounded, still processing her in this state of undress. It brought up some feelings he was not quite sure about.
After he had left Mandalore, Din tried to come to terms with the seemingly contradictory feelings he had for Bo-Katan. She had saved his life more than once. They had fought side by side, bled side by side, achieved greater things than they ever thought possible. She came to respect his beliefs and he learned that there were other ways to be a true Mandalorian.
When he settled into his new home in Navarro with Grogu, he took advantage of the free time between training sessions to mull over his feelings for her. Din swore that these feelings weren't necessarily romantic, but they weren't just normal feelings he had for his comrades either. The time they spent together formed a huge appreciation between them, something deeper and relatively new in Din's life. Needless to say, he was confused by it.
Sensing his eyes on her, she tilted her helmet to the side, a playful tone in her voice. “What?”.
He restrained from shaking his head to clear his thoughts. “Nothing. Let`s go”. He pointed at the N1, his eyes founding a curious expression on Grogu`s face as the little one watched over them from above.
Din climbed on the ship and entered the pilot seat. He turned on the engine and looked expectantly at Bo-Katan who was still waiting on the floor, her upper armor and flight suit dangling from her hips.
“Ok, so do you have a cargo compartment hidden there or what? You don`t expect me to just sit on your lap for the whole flight, right?”. She asked, half joking. When he didn`t answer, she crossed her arms over her chest. “You got to be kidding me”.
“It`s the only option”.
“Din, it`s a four-standard hour flight back to Mandalore”.
“Actually, it`s four and a half. So, let`s go before those Zabraks decide to come back with reinforcements”. He insisted, extending his hand to help her climb into the ship.
Bo-Katan huffed and muttered under her breath. Din thought it had something to do with what she called “his bachelor choice of ship”.
To his surprise, she accepted the hand without another argument and climbed up on to the ship. She sat on the edge of the cockpit and took a moment to figure out how to proceed. Din had never seen her so unsure.
“It will be easier if you put your flight suit back on”. He pointed with a little embarrassment.
“Oh, right”. He half expected her to say something to mess with him but she kept her mouth shut and focused on putting her armor back. When she was done, she accepted his hand again and slid it onto his lap.
They stood frozen in that position for a few seconds, sharing body heat. When they had lived with the Children of the Watch and during their adventures together, they had developed a natural bodily closeness. Sometimes their shoulders bumped as they walked or their hands brushed against each other or their knees would touch when they sat too close together by the fire. But this was different. This was another level of closeness.
Din suspected that the same situation with another female warrior or friend would not generate so much tension, but he was honest enough to confess to himself that the unexplored feelings he had for Bo-Katan probably made that situation more complicated. At least that's how he felt. As for her feelings, he wasn't sure.
Grogu chirped behind them breaking them out of their trance. Din cleared his throat and put his arms around her in order to reach the controls. Great, more closeness. He punched Madalore coordinates and pressed the button that would close the cockpit.
When the N1 lift off, Bo-Katan let out an audible breath. “If you tell about this to Axe Wolves or any other Mandalorian I will murder you”.
Din quietly laughed as he did not have a single doubt she would kill him. As the N1 broke Nar Shaddaa`s atmosphere he mustered enough courage to counter. “Don`t worry, your highness. Your secret is safe with me”.
The pain of her elbow proposedly hitting the side of his stomach was the only response he got before their ship jumped into hyperspace.