Mandalorian Menace

Chapter 15 - War

The dar'jetii sends Din sprawling with his magic, swinging towards him in what could be a majorly injuring blow, but he gets the Darksaber up in time to block it before activating his jetpack and flying away a few feet across the floor and rolling upright. He hears a noise of... protest? from Grogu – are they really that close to the starfighter? – and the Zabrak stumbles suddenly when the Jetii go at him again, one hand flying to his throat.

Din glances towards the fighter, and sure enough, Grogu's head is peaking out alongside Anakin's. The kid's hand is outstretched and curled, while his eyes half-closed in concentration. He's using his magic to choke the dar'jetii. The other three seem to realize that at the same time as Din does, because while the Jetii look horrified, the Zabrak leaps backwards and throws his laser sword towards the fighter. Din doesn't even think; he simply throws himself in the path of the blade, and fortunately, it slams harmlessly into his beskar'gam, clattering to the floor.

He lunges forwards, plunging the Darksaber through the dar'jetii's chest. He slumps to the floor of the hanger bay, his life rapidly draining from his body. There's a pause, as the two Jetii look at the dead body before glancing between Din and Grogu.

"He's Force sensitive?" Qui-Gon demands, at the same time Obi-Wan says, "he can do that?" sounding horrified.

"He can use magic, same as you," Din answers a bit curtly. "He chose to stay with me instead of the Jetii. I don't see why it matters."

"What he did can be very dangerous," Qui-Gon asserts.

Din raises an eyebrow, confused. "How?"

"A partially trained Force sensitive is as much a danger to themselves as they are to those around him," the Jetii explains. "He needs to master his abilities lest he cause harm."

"He knows how to control himself," Din argues. He knows, deep inside of him, that Grogu would never accidentally hurt him. The kid cares too much. He has training, enough training to be alone. And besides, Luke let him go. He wouldn't have done that if Grogu could cause harm to someone. "Look, it doesn't matter. We have more important things to take care of." He turns away from the Jetii, extinguishing the Darksaber and hooking it back in place, withdrawing his blaster once more.

"Stay there. Both of you," he orders his kids again, before walking from the hanger bay and into the Palace, looking down the long halls.

He doesn't look back to see if the Jetii follow, but he can hear their footsteps – and the sounds of battle in the distance. There's a path of destruction leading deeper into the Palace, and Din doesn't have time to follow it and try to catch up with the others. Instead, he turns back to the hanger bay, walking across the floor to the exit before flying upwards towards the upper levels of the Palace. Down below, he can see more droids, including many destroyers, marching in to provide support. They're running out of time.

It's easy to find the Throne Room. All he needs to do is find the largest, most elaborate windows, and a glance confirms that some Nemoidians are inside along with a number of battle droids, so he crashes through the window, shooting down the droids before they even have a chance to realize that he's there. A minute later, the Throne Room is quiet and devoid of droids, so Din moves to the blast doors and closes them. They can be reopened, but for now, the situation is under control. Now, he needs to wait for Padme and the others to get here, while keeping the Nemoidians at blaster point.

***

Anakin pokes his head up over the edge of the fighter again, looking around the hanger again, ducking down with a gasp when he sees a line of droids marching – or rolling – into the hanger. "We gotta do something, Artoo!" he tells the astromech droid. Grogu is in Anakin's lap, rubbing the shiny metal ball between his hands. He doesn't even seem to be paying attention, but Anakin knows better. Still, he doesn't want all those droids to get into the Palace. If he can slow them down, at least somewhat, that's better than nothing, right?