"I missed you, Boba,"
~~~
Din looks between the two in utter shock. She smiles fondly at him and he grins down at her.
"I thought you died, princess," He settles her down and uses a finger to stroke her cheek.
"I thought you died!" She quips, placing a hand on his warm cheek.
"Kenna...would you like to explain?" Din asks, his grip on his blaster tighter than usual.
"How rude of me. This is Boba Fett," Din narrows his eyes and looks past Kenna and at 'Boba'.
"Are you Mandalorian?" He asks with a rough voice. Boba looks up from Kenna and steps aside to face Din.
"I'm a simple man making his way through the galaxy. Like my father before me," Kenna looks between the two men, sensing the rising tension.
"Did you take the Creed?" Din presses earning a glare from both Kenna and Boba.
"I give my allegiance to no one,"
"The Beskar belongs to the Mandalorians," He takes a step forward. "It was looted from us during the Purge,"
"The armour was my father's," Boba quips back, also taking a step forward. "Now it's mine," Din tilts his head.
"What's to stop me from dropping you where you stand now?" He responds cooly.
"Mando!" Kenna hisses, walking to his side. "Don't kill him! He's my friend!" He pushes past her.
"If Kenna isn't enough, I have a sharpshooter up on that ridge with a locked scope that will unload by the time my body hits the ground,"
"I'm the one wearing Beskar," Kenna looks up at the ridge and sees a shadow not pointing a gun at them but at Grogu. "As soon as I see that muzzle flash, you're both dead,"
"I didn't mean she was going to shoot you,"
"The kid," Kenna whispers to him. Boba smirks at Din's realisation.
"My friend's locked onto that little companion of yours up on the henge,"
"And if you remember, I don't miss," Din looks from where Grogu is to the ridge.
"Fennec?" Both Din and Kenna say in shock.
"You both have a keen ear," She quips back. Din looks between Boba and Fennec.
"You point that gun away from the kid," Din says, his blaster not lowering from Boba. "Or we'll drop you both where you stand," He activates his whistling arrows, causing Kenna to hit him.
"Would you stop being overdramatic!?" She hisses.
"They're gonna kill our kid!"
"Why don't we all put our weapons down and have a chat," Kenna places her lightsaber on the floor, raising hands. "There's no need for bloodshed," She says calmly. Din looks at Kenna and then Boba.
"Tell her to drop the gun," He growls, his fist clenching at his side.
"After you put down your jetpack,"
"Oh my maker," Kenna sighs before using the force to gather all the weapons and Din's jetpack in a pile in the middle of them.
"What the-" Fennec begins, looking down at her empty hands.
"Stand down," Boba says to her as she begins to make her way down the hill and next to him. Kenna and Din stare in shock as Fennec Shand, the woman who was supposed to be a rotting corpse in the dunes of Tatooine, stands next to Boba Fett. Another person who's supposed to be a rotting corpse in the dunes of Tatooine.
"You both look liked you've seen a ghost," She begins cooly, removing her helmet and tucking it under her arm.
"You were dead," Din says, tilting his head.
"She was left for dead on the sands of Tatooine, as was I," He looks at her and she looks at him. "But fate sometimes steps in to rescue the wretched,"
"In my case, Boba Fett was that fate," She pulls at her fabric covering her stomach to reveal not skin, but metal cogs and pumping pipes with thin wires keeping her alive. "And I am now in his service,"
"I want my armour back,"
"You can have it-"
"Kenna!" This time Din slaps her shoulder. "It goes against the Mandalorian Creed," He says at Boba. Fennec and Kenna share a look of displeasure as the men continue to argue.
"The armour was given to my father, Jango, by your forebears," Kenna hears a ringing in her ears. It starts quiet but gets louder. "In exchange, I guarantee the safety of the child, the little princess as well as your own,"
"The bounty on both of your little friend's has risen significantly," Fennec informs, looking over at Kenna with a smirk. "You can buy ten suits of armour for the price on both of their heads,"
"Trust you to know how much money is on my head," Kenna quips at Fennec who rolls her eyes. Boba smirks, tilting his head.
"I'd say we're offering a fair deal under the circumstances," Kenna grabs onto her head. Boba moves forward to catch her but it is Din who does.
"Something's coming...something bad," She says just a ship approaches. An Imperial ship. Everyone grabs their weaponry from the middle while Din pulls Kenna up by her arms. She quickly grabs her saber and follows him up the rocky hill back to the child. They run so quickly, Kenna almost trips various times as Boba and Fennec go down to hold off the incoming troopers.
The ship lands elegantly next to the Razor Crest, practically ruin any escape ideas they had. As they stumble back to the ancient ruins, the child is still contacting the force. Kenna hisses and leans against the stone slabs, the pain becoming more intense and feeling lightheaded.
"Time to go kid!" Din grunts as he quickly walks to the child, blaster in hand. He holsters his blaster and begins to try and push through the blue energy, his hands shielding his face. Din's fingertips breaches through but he is thrown back. He yelps as he tumbles, Kenna catching him before he falls over the edge. Kenna hears distant modulated voices, blaster shots and groans of pain. Fennec and Boba seem to be doing their job nicely.
She hears the whirl of metal and distantly sees a turret being set up. She shakes her head as the battle continues.
"At least we're important," She says with a smirk. Kenna sees some past Fennec and quickly climb the hill, but she is quick to notice them and takes them out with style, yet...where is Boba? Then, another Imperial ship lands next to the Razor Crest. Kenna makes her way down to fight but is stopped by Din.
"You can barely stand,"
"The further away from here I am, the better," Din tilts his head, narrowing his eyes.
"You can take care of the child but try to get him outta there, you're a Jedi, use your magic powers," He places her forehead on hers and holds her hands in his. "Once all of this is over, you're going to tell me all about Boba," She smiles. "I'm going to protect you two...try and be quick...I love you, riddur," And with that, he leaves.
"Come on kid, we gotta get out of here," She can make her way towards Grogu easier than Din but she is thrown away when her fingers brush his clothes. She hits her head and groans. "Seriously? Give me a false sense of security!" She mumbles, springing back up.
~Flashback~
"Find my daughter, protect my daughter, I'll pay you loads of credits," Boba mocks as he lands Slave 1 on the last known location of Kenna Rys. He sighs, he's been paid a lot by Darth Vader and seeing no one else has any better offers, he took the job. It surprised him that the Sith Lord Vader wants his daughter to be looked after.
As a child, he knew Helena. She was someone who never saw him as a vengeful clone. She always smiled even if he was in prison or running around with Cad Bane. She understood what he was feeling and said she didn't like Mace Windu either. But he saw the connection she and Anakin had.
He steps out of his ship, one blaster in hand and another holstered. He sighs deeply before walking down the ramp in hopes of finding the daughter quickly and report back to Vader that his daughter is fine. Apparently, she wasn't with the Moff so he had no one telling him if she is safe. He didn't know he was actually going to bond well with the girl. He stepped into a bar after spending an entire day trying to find the red-headed princess but with zero luck.
"Are you a Mandalorian?" A man asked drunkenly.
"No," He states and the man laughs.
"Then why do you wear this," He doesn't respond, he just sits at the bar. The man scoffs and orders a drink before turning to a hooded figure on the other side of him. "This one ain't talking so it looks like tonight will be fucking and not fighting,"
"Hells," The hooded figure mumbled yet Boba heard and laughed slightly.
"What's your name?"
"None of your business," Boba turned at the sound of the silky voice. It was so gentle yet her words were so harsh.
"I like a girl who talks back, it's a turn on,"
"Blonde men are a turn-off," She quips back and he looks at her offended as she drinks from a mug. He resumes his posture.
"I can blindfold you, it would just be for the night,"
"No, leave me be, I was here first," He grabs her wrist but Boba is quick to slam the man's head into the counter.
"I think the lady made it clear she wants you to leave. So you either leave, or this gets messy," The man quickly runs away, clutching his bloodied face. The hooded figure turns her head and he can see a smile beneath the shadows that are cast over her face.
"And may I ask who is my man in shining armour?"
"Boba Fett," She freezes and turns.
"World's infamous bounty hunter...who are you hunting?" Her hand trembles slightly as she raises her cup to drink from it.
"Unfortunately, I'm not hunting. I've been paid a lot of money to find Kenna Rys and ensure her safety...have you happened to see a red-headed woman. Quite young, perhaps got some scars on her face,"
"You're ensuring someone is safe?"
"Her father sent me out for this job, paid me a lot," He turns back to the front. "I'm guessing you haven't-"
"You can tell that bastard I'm perfectly fine," She says causing Boba to quickly look over at her. She pulls down her hood to reveal dark red hair and tiny scars across her cheek.
"You're prettier than I imagined," Was the first thing he said.
"You flatter me," She says, drinking more of her drink.
"Tell me, how are you with brunettes?" She glances over at him and smirks. Let's just say, after he COMMED Darth Vader ensuring her safety, they were left off for the entire night.
~Present Day~
-Din's POV-
Leaving her and the child is always hard to do, but I saw no other option. It was either let Kenna help when she can barely walk or help myself while she tries to deal with our kid. I quickly looked back up but I didn't see her, she has gone to get Grogu out of the force bubble thing around him. Though my gut told me to go back and be up there and not leave those two alone, I continued going down. I was quick to find the ghost dealing with too many imps for her to handle.
"We don't want you, we want the princess and the child," I jumped onto the rock and activated my whistling birds before ensuring each trooper was hit, shooting any others that weren't hit.
"Okay, let's move in," I said to Fennec as I jumped down from the rock. More white-clad imps came out, shooting at us but my beskar held up, giving both me and Fennec a good shield to take down the stormtroopers trying to take away my family.
"This isn't looking good," Fennec commented while shooting down the troopers with her sniper.
"I've seen worse," I replied before we elegantly switched positions to shoot the other side. I used two blasters and looked up to see Kenna deflecting blaster shots being sent her way. She turns her head and mouths some words, probably telling Grogu to hurry up. "You can get out of here. I owe you from last time," I said to Fennec when focusing on the enemies and not my lover.
"We have a deal," She responds, rolling around and dodging the blasters and firing back. Yet there's too many. Me and Fennec are forced back as the blasters hit my beskar, causing me to stumble rather than walk backwards. That was until an explosion goes off, something neither me nor Fennec threw. I look up to see Boba, donning the Mandalorian armour, land behind a trooper and take them out along with any other survivours, saving me and Fennec. We still fire at incoming ones but once Boba kneels and two rockets fly from his knee and hit two troopers, the rest run away.
"Back to the ship! Back to the ship!" They chant as they scamper away. The ships take off but Boba doesn't seem as though he is done with them. He holsters his blaster before lowering a screen over his visor. He leans forward and a rocket from his jet pack is launched into the air. It hits one ship and then it falls into the other. I hear a distant 'yes' and turn to see Kenna watching with what is most likely a large smile on her beautiful face.
"Nice shot," I said, standing next to Boba.
"I was aiming for the other one," He responds. I see a large red blast emit from the clouds and hit my...home... I quickly run forward and look at the remains in pure horror. Everything I lived for happened in that ship. That ship was apart of my life. Apart of Kenna's life. I hear a distant scream,
"Better get to your ship," I hear Fennec say to Boba and he is quick to fly into the air. I stare in shock at my home, nothing is left. I look up and use my scanner to see a much larger ship descend. My Razor Crest isn't on my mind now. It's Kenna and my child.
"Kenna!" I shout before turning to run up the stone hill, Fennec behind me.
~Kenna POV~
She covers her mouth in horror as she watches the red blast destroy her home, Din's home. She falls to her knees, tears welling up in her eyes. She sees Din quickly step forward to the mess and she senses his grief. She watches with sad eyes and anger welling up inside of her. Her eyes flash a dangerous blue as she looks at the mess. Nothing is left. It is all gone. The only thing that is left is a pile of ash. She sees Boba, the Boba Fett she knows in armour, fly into the air, probably to get to his ship to make sure they still have a way out of this planet.
A loud coo breaks her from her state of shock and sadness and her eyes turn normal when seeing the child fall over, spent and the force bubble disappearing. She quickly goes over to him and picks him up as he falls asleep. She feels her strength come back and then she feels it. He's here. Moff Gideon is here. She looks up to see an enemy ship. Moff Gideon's cruiser. He destroyed her home. She looks down at Grogu who coos uneasily.
"That asshole took away our home," She hears someone land and sighs in relief. "Boba, Din, do we have a way-" She turns to see huge droids surrounding them. She places down the child on the rock and activates her lightsaber. "Oh I don't think so," She seethes, praying to the maker that she regains strength now. They move at them but they stop when she swings her lightsaber. She hisses and grabs her stomach in pain. She keeps her lightsaber pointed at one. "I'll kill you all," She seethes, praying Din, Boba and Fennec will be here soon to help her. She yells and charges at one but it is quick to catch her hand and twist it. She yelps and her lightsaber falls from her hand and it then grabs her in a bone-crushing grip. "NO!" She squirms but the droid squeezes harder, making her feel more light headed than before. She sees the other three red-eyed droids approach Grogu. "NO! LEAVE HIM!" She yells, trying to free herself. "DIN!" She cries out, tears burning her eyes as the droids grab Grogu and then fly into the atmosphere the exact time Din and Fennec make it to the top. "DIN!"
"KENNA!" He shouts up at her as she and Grogu are taken away from him.
"Din~" She says weakly before the droid squeezes her tighter. She looks at Grogu who cries, her hair flipping around frantically before her vision turns dark.
~~~
"They've got the baby and princess, don't let them get away," Fennec says to Boba as Din watches in heartbreak.
"Affirmative," His rich voices responds. "I have a lock,"
"Stop him," Din quickly says. "I don't want Kenna or the child hurt,"
"Abort pursuit. Disengage," She says into a COMM link. "Do not harm the child or Kenna,"
"Copy. I'll do a loose follow, see where they're headed," Din and Fennec watch Boba quickly turn Slave One before climbing the atmosphere and follow the dark troopers into the clouds. "They're back," He says in utter shock.
"Who?" Fennec asks in confusion.
"The Empire," If his voice didn't sound so menacing, perhaps there wouldn't have been a shiver going up both Din and Fennec's spine. But Boba's voice makes the situation ten times worst. "They're back,"
"That can't be," Fennec responds, shaking away the chill up her spine. "The Outer Rim is under the jurisdiction of the New Republic,"
"This isn't a spice dream. I can see the Imperial cruiser with my own eyes," Fennec looks up at Din with concern. "Heading down,"
~~~
His heart thumps in his chest as he bends down to pick up Kenna's new lightsaber. The curved handle is just as smooth as her skin and hair. He holds it tightly and brings he end to his helmet, trying to stop the tears threatening to fall. Fennec looks on with sympathy and closes her eyes when hearing the choked, modulated sob leave Din's mouth. He falls to his knees, holding the lightsaber to his chest instead of his face.
He's lost his home. He's lost his child. And now he's lost Kenna, but this time...this time she is gone for good. There are no second chances, no way to bring her back. At least when she was 'dying' someone who was force-sensitive was able to bring her back. But she's not dying. No. She is facing something that she would choose death over. She hates the Empire, it hunted her, haunted her, terrorised her and antagonised her.
He was too slow. Why is he always too slow? And this time it's not just his riddur, it's his child too and his ship. Everything he lived for is gone.
He had nothing to lose because everything he did have to lose is lost.
He slowly makes his way down to the carnage of his ship, Fennec following slowly. He attaches Kenna's saber to his weapon belt as he walks down the rocky mountain with the numb feeling crashing over him. His shoulders felt heavy as he stepped among the smokey mess. Nothing was left. No repairs can be made. He sees some parts survived but it is all broken. He picks up a weird mechanism before throwing it back down.
Boba stands by, helmetless while Fennec sighs and looks at him. She sees the hurt on his face. He told her about his relationship with Kenna and she saw how passionate he was and saw and heard the sadness when he told her he thought she was dead. She saw the way his eyes lit up when she told him she was still alive. And now he's seen her for a few minutes, she's already gone. She sees his glassy eyes and he watches Din rummage through the carnage. He truly cares for her.
Din looks around and spots something beneath the ash. The ball. He rubs off the soot and ash and feels another pang in his heart as he holds it in a tight fist. He secures it in his belt just above his riddur's lightsaber. He then sees her old one. Her father's one. He dusts the debris off it and flips it in his hand a couple of times before clipping it to the other side of him.
Through tears, smoke and ash, he spots the shining beskar. He kneels and brushes off the dirt before picking it up and using it to help him stand. He looks up to the skies to stop the tears before walking back over to the duo who watched with sympathy.
"...T...This is all that survived," He says shakily as he stops in front of them.
"Beskar," Boba says, his voice also wavering. Din nods his head, not wanting to speak, afraid that he would cry again. "I want you to take a look at something," He brings his forearm to him and brings up a hologram. The orange letters glow and flicker slightly. "My chain code has been encoded in this armour for 25 years," He nods at it. "You see, this is me, Boba Fett," He points at another code. "This is my father, Jango Fett,"
"Your father was a foundling," Din states.
"Yes," He moves his hand to turn off the hologram. "He even fought in the Mandalorian civil wars," Instead of turning it off, he switches it to the next hologram.
"This is Ma...Master...Obi...Wan...K...Kenobi...I'm...a...afra...afraid to...in...inform...you...but...the...J...Jedi...O...Ord...Order....has...fallen-" The hologram cuts out and everyone stares at it.
"That was in the archives, nothing to worry about now," He turns it off. "The Jedi fell a long time ago,"
"If your father fought in the civil wars, then that armour belongs to you," Din says after pulling his gaze away from the glitching hologram of a young man with blonde hair and in a large cloak and hood. He looked sad and sounded heartbroken. Just as he was feeling.
"I appreciate its return," Boba says with a small nod.
"Then our deal is...complete,"
"Not quite," Boba quips back, locking eyes with the Mandalorian.
"How so?"
"We agreed in exchange for the return of my armour, we will ensure the safety of the child and our beloved princess,"
"The child is gone. Kenna is gone,"
"You would give up so easily on them?" Boba asks, taking a step forward. "Kenna is very dear to me, we go way back and I'm not going to allow the Empire to tear away every strand of hope she has," Boba takes a deep breath, composing himself. "I cannot fail Kenna, not this time," He looks a Fennec who nods. "Until they are returned to you safely, we are in your debt," Din looks between the duo who nods.
~~~
Slave One takes off but instead of staying in the hull, Din makes his way beside Boba in the cockpit. He turns his head and when he sees the shining silver, he turns his head back, relaxed knowing who it is.
"I...I would like to ask questions about...you and Kenna," Din says as he takes a seat beside Boba. He smirks slightly, hands running over the dashboard. Din wasn't used to this. He was the one normally being asked questions about his life. He was the one who piloted the ship. He supposes this is Kenna's daily life unless she is feeling cheeky and pilots the ship which normally leads to the bedroom afterwards.
"We have history,"
"That much I know...but...what history?"
"You envy me and her?"
"No!" Din says a little bit too quickly earning a raised brow from Boba. "No...I just...she hasn't said anything about you...I don't know much about her past...she doesn't open up much,"
"Her father, Darth Vader, paid me a lot to find Kenna and ensure her safety. Once she escaped the Moff's facility, he had no way of knowing if his daughter is okay. My job was supposed to be simple. Find her, place a tracking device in her and report back," He presses more buttons as the ship comes out of hyperspace. "However, when I found her, I didn't feel like just leaving her. There was something about her that made me stay just a little bit longer. We went on various of hunts, she helped me and had a lot of fun. I trained her and helped her make her first droid that was quickly killed by the Moff. We shared moments of intimacy at times, but what I see between you two was much more powerful than whatever I had with her. But she is my close friend, if anyone was to lay a scar on her, they would be dead," Din nods slowly.
"Why did you two split ways?"
"I thought she died. She ran into a fire and never came out and I was blown away by an explosion. Nothing was left when I checked the debris so I assumed the explosion destroyed her corpse. I was so upset that I failed the first person I had feelings for. Not long after, her half brother's friend was the one who attempted to kill me,"
"Looks like we're here," Din says, seeing Nevvaro.
"Are you sure this Mayfeld man will know how to get us in and out?"
"Yes. If Kenna wasn't captured, she would know what to do but no of us are up-to-date with any Imperial terminals,"
"Indeed,"
~~~
"Cara Dune. Marshal of the New Republic," Din says, looking at the badge she donned. He threw it back at her and she caught it. "I heard rumours you might have gone legit,"
"I wouldn't go that far," She places it down on the table with a small smile.
"I need your help," He says, cutting straight to the point. He doesn't want to imagine what is happening to Kenna or Grogu right now.
"Name it," She says, looking around to see is she could see Kenna or the child.
"I need you to locate someone in the prison registry,"
"Let's see what I can do," She takes her feet off the table and moves to the computer.
"Ex-Imperial sharpshooter, last name Mayfeld," Cara nods while flickering through all sorts of pictures of criminals. "Apprehended near the Dilestri system on a derelict prison ship,"
"Migs Mayfeld," She says once finding his picture and information. "Serving 50 years in the Karthon Chop Fields for springing a prisoner himself," She says in slight surprise. "Accessory to the death of a New Republic officer," She tilts her head. "Huh. Sounds like a real piece of work," She turns to look at Din. "What do you want with him?"
"I need to spring him to help me locate Moff Gideon's light cruiser,"
"You know how I feel about the Empire. But these stripes..." She points to her badge on the table. "Mean there are rules I need to follow," Din sighs before taking a shaky breath.
"They have Kenna and the kid," Cara glares at him in disbelief, her mouth agape.