That man in Beskar [The Mandalorian x OC]

XXIV. The last trip

I wake up after a good sleep, ready to take off for what will probably be the last flight of the Spark. Every time I loock at the cockpit I think back at all the memories I share with Grogu during our trips, all the conversations with him, and all the arguments BB-4 about who's the bes pilot... It all seems like yesterday.
I'm ready to leave it behind, because I know that as long as I have my friends I will be able to create new memories in new places, I'll never be alone.

I proceed to wake up the Child, but I find his spot empty. I look around worried, then I hear a noise on the outside. I run out to see Din sitting on the ground in front of Grogu, both of them happy as the throw a ball to each other. I smile at the scene before noticing that the object they're playing with isn't a random ball, it's a red ball, it's mine
"Well well well, which one of you boys took my ball?"
"Hey, you're awake. Sorry, we were bored, I found it on the ground"
"It's okay. Actually why don't you keep it, piccolo?"
Grogu looks at me with wide eyes, tilting his tiny head
"Yes, really. Go for it"
He wraps it with both arms smiling
"Thanks, Kai" the Mandalorian says
"Hey, no worries, everything for the little man"

"Is it time?" Din asks whil picking up the kid
"Yeah, let's go. BB is ready to take off"
"Have you figured out where you want to go?"
"I was thinking the Jedi Temple, so I can park the ship there and ask Luke to go find a new one"
"Really? Are you sure?"
"I can't fly with the Spark much longer. I'm gonna leave it somewhere safe and find a solution"
He nods as we sit and I prepare to leave.

"Are you really bringing me, a Mandalorian on a Jedi planet"
"Ironic, isn't it? But I trust you, so Luke will too. It's just the two of us there anyway"
"I knew there weren't Jedi around anymore, but I didn' know it was this bad"
"Yeah, there aren't many of us left. That's why we came to Grogu as soon as we felt him... but I have hope, there will be new Jedi in the future, the Force is too important to be 'abandoned', you know"
"It's nice to see that someone still hasn't given up"

"Life is too good to lose hope, Din" I say while putting the ship on auto-pilot
I feel Din concentrate on thinking about what I say in silence, and I realise right now that it's been a while since we last stayed without talking, and I feel the void left by his voice, causing me to speak
"Also, I saw a lone and quiet man turning into a friendly and opened up guy" I turn towards him pointing both my index fingers at him. He looks back at me and sighs, but I feel him being amused.

We are interrupted by a beep from my droid
"What's up BB?" I ask him instantly receiving a response
"Oh dank farrik" 
"What?" says Din confused
"We've got a call incoming, according to BB-4 it's Gideon"
"Should we take it?"
I close my eyes to think, an idea comes to my mind
"Yes, I could try something, but I'm gonna need all the help from my Padawan. Grogu, back me up. Din, you do the talking. I know you don't like talking to others but I need you to stall, I'm going to connect to his mind and locate the motherf*cker"
'sorry dad, uncivilised, I know' I add inside my mind.
"Let it through, BB!"

"Hello, dear friends" the voice of Fenn Gideon fills the ship "I see your ship made it afterall"
"Gideon, what do you want now" Din says as I look at Grogu to start my trick:
I close my eyes, focusing on the voice, on the person. The effort is big, but I feel it become lighter as Grogu supports me.

"Mr. Djarin, it's an honor to speak with you. No Jedi this time?" I frown for a second. Gideon doesn't have the right to use Din's name
"So you like being mocked by her? If you want it I'll get her for you" he bluffs

I see Gideon's face

"Are you afraid to talk to me, Mandalorian?"

I see his whole figure

"You know I'm not"

The background is blurred, but slowly I'm able to see it

"What is your play?" Gideon asks

He's on a small ship

"You called, you tell me"

The conversation fades to silence in my head
My vision zooms to the ship panel, I start to feel pain, but I ignore it. 
I see numbers... coordinates!
One last push
I try to memorize the numbers, then I leave to go back to reality

"The thing is, I always get what I want, Mandalorian"
"Says the one who lost the last two battles" Din mocks him as I insert the numbers on my panel
"Good luck in winning the nex-"
"Yes, bye chicken!" I interrupt him and close the call.

"BB, let's jump to these coordinates. We'll get him"
"You did it!" Din exclaims
I hear the child babbling, then he closes his eyes.
Din holds him safely "You did it, ad'ika, rest now" He puts him on his chestplate "You too Kai"
"Yes, father" I roll my eyes, even though I do feel a bit sleepy.
"You two did good" Din's word are the last thing I hear before drifting off.

The ship shakes jumping out of hyperspace, causing me to wake up. I'm still tired so I think for a second about sleeping a few more minutes, but I can't since Din comes to kneel beside me 
"Kai, we're there. There is a ship"
I stand up with his help and we step to the control panel.

Outside, not too far from the Spark, we see a dark grey ship, not big as I espected but not small either. I switch to manual control and pilot my craft behind the one in front of us to get in its blind spot. I get the Spark close to the rear of the ship.
I stare at it for a while 
"Is that him?" Din asks me
"Only way to find out... BB, lets engage coupling. Quietly"
"Are you sure they won't see us?"
"Luke and I did some modifications on it, we needed to do stealth mission. To the whole galaxy the Spark doesn't exist"
"Just like my Crest"
I nod

We wait until we hear the noise of the Spark connecting to the ship, then I hand Grogu over to BB-4 as I see Mando starting to gear up
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"We have to fight"
"You are taking with you an entire arsenal of weapons"
He tilts his head 
"You still can't put all your weight on the leg and you add that many weapons? You're lucky if I even let you come and fight"
"Kai, I don-"
"I know you don't need me to protect you or whatever, I'm just being logical"
"Kaira"

At the mention of my full name I stop talking, knowing that if he doesn't use the usual short form he must be really serious.
"I can do it, every minute I'm getting better, and if I have to suffer a bit to make Grogu stay safe that's what I will do. Do you trust me?"
"You know I do"
"So lets get this shabuir"
He walks forward as I stand behind intrigued by the Mando'a
"It means assh*le" he says chuckling "Come on, mesh'la"
"Will you ever translate that?" I roll my eyes playfully as I follow him, hearing no response from him

We walk down a hallway quietly, careful at every sound.
We hear someone talking through comm, causing us to hide behind a wall.
A stormtrooper passes in the hallway without noticing us. Dumb.
The fact that there are imperial soldiers is good, even if Fenn Gideon isn't here we would do the galaxy a favor by defeating them.

"Let's go" I pull Din with me, not feeling troopers near. Thanks to the ship being small it doesn't take us a lot of time to search for our target. I exit an empty room to see a few stormtroopers in front of me
"Hey, you! What are you do-" the one that was speaking can't even finish the sentence before getting shot from Din, that was standing a little behind me with his blaster. The other soldiers figure out that we are a menace and start shooting back.
I wouldn't even need to protect myself from their awful aim, but for the sake of entertainment I take out my lightsaber to deflect them, reflecting blue light on the walls. 
Backup arrives, but number isn't important if there isn't space to surround your enemy, and soon all the stormtroopers lay on the ground defeated.

Now there is one more door to open. Showtime.

Din kicks it open to reveal two more stormtroopers protecting a figure behind them at a table. Din makes quick work of them shooting again with his blaster. The man behind throws the table to the ground to use it as a shield. But I see his dark hair and skin and the evil eyes long enough to recognise him.

I smirk
"Din don, pollo"

A/N 
And there it is, our friend Fenn Gideon. The Jedi tricks strike again! There is one more fight for Din and Kaira... will it end the threat?
Stay tuned to find out
See you next chapter!

-Haar'chak_Kaira