Stowaway | A Mandalorian Love Story | Din Djarin x OC

Chapter Seventeen: Meeting Moff Gideon

Suggested Listening:
Activated - Ludwig Goransson (from The Mandalorian) | passageways and bridges
Open the Door - Ludwig Goransson (from The Mandalorian) | open the door

Sorry, guys, I simply couldn't improve on the songs from this episode, they are pitch perfect. Listen to all of them top to tail if you can!

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The ship was eerily quiet as we stole through the passageways and over the bridges, Din leading the way on the quest to find where Grogu was stashed away. It was almost too easy — that is, until we came upon a security droid, beeping along through the hallway. Din froze and threw an arm out to stop me. We pressed ourselves against the wall of the adjoining corridor, concealed in the shadows as we watched the droid bumble past us.

"See?" Din whispered to me when it was out of earshot. I cracked an amused smile. "Droids. Useless."

"Not the time, Mando."

We continued on, winding through the maze of passages. Some were empty, others were littered with the lifeless bodies of troopers.

"It should be here," murmured Din as we turned into a wide hallway, but something made my blood turn to ice.

"What is that?" He looked back at me, and we both listened. There was a sickly hissing coming from up ahead... followed by the eerie whum of something powering up.

"No," said Din turning back and running ahead. "No, no, no..."

I followed him past a computing station to where a wide, ominous door had begun to sweep open — the Dark Troopers' quarters were revealing themselves.

"Close it!" I shouted, and Din slammed the code cylinder into the door's panel as the full army of them was revealed. They were as frightening and invincible-looking as I remembered them to be. I shot a few blasts to try and deter them but to no avail.

The doors swept closed, but not quickly enough — the dark metallic hands of a Trooper braced them open at the last minute.

"Dank Farrik," I breathed. The doors were thrown open and a Trooper smashed it's fist into Din's unprotected chest, sending him flying back against the wall with a painful-sounding grunt.

"Din!" I cried, running back to him to try and help him up.

"Kyra," he said seriously. "Run. Now."

I looked back at the door — it had closed behind the lone Trooper, but the army following it was relentlessly pursuing freedom. Before I could do anything, the Trooper had picked up Din by his neck and held him up against the wall, his feet kicking under him. It raised a fist and began pounding into his helmet — thankfully, despite still having that dent from the acid attack weeks prior, it did not cave. I shot jets of light at the thing, each one bouncing off with a pathetic sounding *tink* — but it did seem to anger it.

The Trooper turned to assess me, and threw Din into me at full force. His body hit mine, a painful collision, and we both skidded back across the floor, crying out in pain. The Trooper marched toward us, ready to finish the job. Din struggled to raise his forearm and pressed a button, sending little rockets toward our assailant. Just like the blasts, they ricocheted away from it, barely causing it to stumble. It lunged toward me, ready to slam my head into the ground, but at the last moment, Din's beskar spear plunged into it's head. I looked over to see Din on one knee, ramming the spear further and further into the Trooper's machinery. He stood, lifting the thing up with him until with a final jerk, he ripped it's head right off. It fell to the ground, defeated.