Mandalorian Revived

Chapter 7

"I know that you're frightened," she says. "But we need you to guide us to him."

He looks up at me, a pitiful whimper in his throat, and I nod. "She's right, Grogu. We have to be brave now."

Without a word, he flips on the pram's light and pushes forward. Bo and I follow at his side. We fall into a tense silence as we walk. All of us are on alert, turning to check out every little sound or dark corner. Still no sign of Din.

"I knew quite a few Jedi, you know," Bo says, breaking the silence.

My mind flips back to the image of the bearded man in Mandalorian armor holding a lightsaber that I saw after Death Watch abandoned me. "You did?"

"There was a time we actually got along quite well," she replies with a shrug. "Fought side by side."

I nod. "Ahsoka Tano."

She hums in reply. "She was one. A remarkable fighter." She eyes Grogu through the helmet and glances at me. "How good is he with the force?"

"Very good," I say, shaking my head in awe. "He amazes me with what he can do."

I stop short. Something doesn't feel right through the force. Bo stops with me, pulling out her blasters.

"I can sense it, something's wrong," I say quietly.

She nods. "Movement above us. Look."

I gently push Grogu's pram to float away from us as Bo raises her blasters. I brace myself as she fires. The emerald crust of rock shatters and four of those alien creatures come tumbling down to our level. She makes quick work of two of them with her knife and crouches over the third, ready to finish him off, but the fourth is approaching behind her. Without a thought, I unsheathe my lightsaber and slice the creature in half before it can cut her down. She spins around, done with the third alien, and stares at me.

Her chest is heaving as she nods her helmet. "Thanks."

I return the gesture before moving to Grogu. "You okay kid?" He babbles in an affirmative.

"Those were Alamites," Bo says, retrieving her blasters from the fight. "And we were their next meal."

"I hardly recognized them." I frown as we start following Grogu again.

Bo hums in agreement. "It's been a long time, I suppose. If they survived, I wonder what else might have too."

"I'm not sure we want to find out," I mutter.

The walk through the mines feels endless. We fall into silence again, and this time Bo doesn't break it. I think she can feel what I feel. We're close. My suspicions are confirmed when Grogu suddenly stops and lets out a quick whimper. He points ahead and I crouch beside him on instinct. Bo follows my lead and we both creep forward.

"Stay here, Grogu, no matter what," I order in a whisper. He sits in his pram obediently as I crawl closer to the source of his fear. Bo Katan is just behind me. When I peer through the rocks and see it, my heart nearly stops.

Some mechanical life form flittering around a thin cage with tubes connected to it. I can see a familiar beskar-clad Mandalorian inside the cage. The tubes are coming from Din, pumping what looks like his blood into another machine outside the cage.

"No..."

"We need a plan," Bo says, clamping one hand on my shoulder to keep me from running out there. "I'll shoot that pump. It should stop whatever collecting process is happening to him."

"My lightsabers can get through the cage," I offer. "Can you keep that thing occupied long enough for me to free Din?"

She nods.