The N-1 starfighter quickly broke through the white clouds to reveal the familiar view of Nevarro. The place had changed once again, I could see more plant life and different buildings from above. It's been almost a year since I was last here so It's no surprise that more changes have been made.
My right hand rested on the armor of Din's thigh. I absentmindedly traced my finger over the cold beskar, I'm not even sure if Din has realised that I put my hand there.
As we got closer to the town, I realised just how much foliage there is now compared to the last time I was here. A woman's voice suddenly spoke over the comms and startled me slightly.
"Welcome to Nevarro, independent trade anchor and Outer Rim Hyperlane port. Please state the purpose of your visit." The woman said
"Here to meet an old friend." Din replied
The ship slowly lowered down towards the landing bay at the entrance to the town. It was always strange to come back here now that we didn't do bounty hunting as often. The amount of times that we have been here with bounties, covered in different scrapes and bruises. A lot of things have changed since those days.
The ship touched down on the landing bay, and it was surprisingly busy. There were people bustling around, chatting happily to each other. That was another stark difference to Nevarro, the people who lived here were happier and safer. They no longer had to live in fear of the bounty hunters that used to rule the streets.
The glass canopy slid open and I pulled myself up. I swung my legs over the side of the ship and jumped down onto the concrete ground. I spun around on my heels and raised my arms up towards Grogu. He happily leapt off of the ship and landed in my arms.
Din came over to stand beside us. He pressed a button on his vambrace and suddenly, the child's pram raised out of the droid pod in the ship. I looked up in surprise as it lowered itself down beside us.
"Since when did it do that?" I asked in surprise as I placed Grogu in the pram.
"Peli and I did a lot of modifications." Din said, I could hear the smile in his voice, he was definitely proud of himself for surprising me.
Din then turned around and placed his hand on my lower back, gently ushering me to walk with him. The pram followed after us as we walked towards the large archway.
As soon as we walked underneath the entrance, a white droid started to greet people. "Greetings. Welcome to the port of Nevarro, gem of the Outer Rim. Our esteemed High Magistrate welcomes you and hopes that your stay will be a prosperous one."
My eyes darted around as I took in the newly furbished town. It looked amazing, so different from the old, run down town I used to know. The streets were cleaner, the floor has been redone to be a light gray that matched the new colour of the buildings. There were potted plants and lively stalls that had a lot to offer.
We walked past the building that was once the cantina, which is now the school. I pushed back the familiar ache in my chest at the sight and continued to look around at the surrounding area. The courtyard where we once fought stormtroopers and Moff Gideon now had a large tree in the center.
"We invite you to visit our shops and markets, enjoy local delicacies, marvel at the black lava canyons, or soak in the geothermal springs." Another white droid said as he walked past.
"A lot has changed around here." Din said
I watched with a small smile as a group of children ran past, laughing with each other as they played in the streets. "It sure has." I said softly.
Music drifted through the air as a band played folk music. I felt a feeling of contentment as I walked through the calm streets. It was a nice contrast from what the place used to be. Din seemed to be making a beeline for a statue in the town center. Well, It's less of a statue and more of the remains of IG-11. He gave his life to save ours, and now, Din wants to bring him back as he once was so he can help us get to Mandalore.
"Do you remember your old friend?" Din asked Grogu as we all looked up at the droid. Grogu stared inquisitively at the droid.
"Mando!" A loud, familair voice boomed across the courtyard. I turned my head towards the voice and saw Greef Karga walking down the stairs to the right. I almost laughed at the sight of the two small droids carrying his long cape.
Greef Karga laughed happily. "I heard you two were back, but I didn't believe it."
"Magistrate Karga." Din greeted him
"That's High Magistrate Karga to you." He said jokingly
Greef Karga and Din shook hands with each other as Greef Karga laughed heartily. He let go of Din's hand and held his hand out to me. I shook his hand with a friendly smile. Once he let go of my hand, he gestured to the large building behind him.
"Come. Let's catch up on old times." Greef Karga said. We started to walk towards the large building and Greef Karga happily placed his hand on Din's shoulder.
"It's so good to see you. Welcome back." Greef Karga Said to the both of us.
"Doesn't even look like the same place." Din said
"I know, we've done a lot with it. The citizens have been so instrumental in making this all work, and look at this." Greef Karga said as He led us up the stairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We're an official trade spur of the Hydian Way." Greef Karga said as the three of us stood on his balcony that overlooked the streets of Nevarro. From behind us I could hear Grogu giggling to himself as he used the force to spin one of Greef Karga's office chairs.
"Congratulations." Din Said
"We've got a construction boom going on in the city. The belters are mining the asteroid fields at the edge of the system. There's a lot of money to be made on Nevarro." Greef Karga said proudly.
"I can see." Din said. I nodded in agreement, the changes were definitely evident.
"I can set you two up with a prime tract right over by the hot springs. The two of you and the little one, you can settle down, you can hang up your blaster...and whatever those weapons are." Greef Karga said enthusiastically as he gestured to the sabers hanging off my belt. "Live off the fat of the land."
The thought was tempting, settling down with Din and Grogu would be a whole different adventure. But there was still so much in the galaxy for us to do, I'm not sure what I would do with myself if I settled down in a house. I suppose I could continue on with my training.
"Grogu." Din corrected Greef Karga
"Come again?" Greef Karga asked in confusion
"His name is Grogu." I explained
"Oh. If you say so." Greef Karga said. He then turned towards his office and beckoned for us to follow him.
"Come, I wanna show you something." Greef Karga walked over to his desk. Din and I followed after him, I looked down at Grogu and smiled in amusement, though I hope he won't make himself too dizzy.
"Now, as I was saying, there's a beautiful parcel available right down here by the flats." Greef Karga said as he pointed to the location on a map.
"I appreciate the offer, but I have some matters to look after." Din explained
"Oh, I'm confused. I thought you had completed your mission, but you're still running around here with the same little critter." Greef Karga pointed to Grogu who was still spinning. Din reached his hand out and gently stopped the chair from spinning.
"It's complicated. I completed my quest. He returned to me, along with Celeste. I removed my helmet and now I'm an apostate." Din said
"Wait, you left as well." Greef Karga pointed his finger at me in confusion. As far as he was aware, Grogu was the only one who needed to be with the Jedi.
"I did. That's also complicated." I said casually. Greef Karga looked between the two of us for a moment before he went back to talking again.
"I see. Well, that is all the more reason for you to stay here with us. Where you are from, you may be an apostate, but here, you'd be landed gentry." Greef Karga said
The door behind Greef Karga slid open and a golden droid walked into the room. "Magistrate."
"High Magistrate." Greef Karga corrected the droid
"Yes, high magistrate. Apologies." The droid said
"Your timing couldn't be any worse." Greef Karga said
"But it's just that, there's someone here to see you." The droid tried to explain
"It can wait." Greef Karga tried to brush him aside
"But it's pirates!" The droid exclaimed worriedly. That caught Greef Karga's attention, he quickly spun around to face the droid.
"Pirates in the courtyard." The droid said. I furrowed my brows slightly and looked over at Din, Pirates were never good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My fingers twitched towards my weapons on instinct as I took in the group of pirates that were huddled around the door to the school. Clearly they hadn't been to Nevarro in a long time, believing that they were going to the cantina.
"Get out of my way or I'll split your circuits!" One of the pirates yelled at the droid who stood in front of the door
"Oh, my stars." She exclaimed worriedly with her arms in the air.
"Stand aside, droid. Don't you know who we are?" The pirate asked angrily
Din tapped my arm and gestured towards a tree with his head. He started to walk towards the large white tree and I followed after him. Din lent on his shoulder against the tree and I stood beside him. My arm brushed gently against his as we watched the argument unfold.
"Come on, Vane. That'll be enough of that." Greef Karga said
"Greef Karga, my old friend. I knew you wouldn't insult us. Come, join us for a drink." One of the pirates said
"Yeah." One of the other pirates nodded
"Let's continue this conversation back at my office. This, this is a school." Greef Karga explained
"Well, that explains why she wouldn't let me inside." The pirate said. The other men started to laugh at his comment.
"I forgot, it was your cut of my boss's treasure that built this saloon." The pirate said with a threatening undertone.
"Pirate King Gorian Shard's name is familiar to all in this sector." Greef Karga said as he placed his hand on the pirate's shoulder. "Come, join me for a drink back at my office. We'll toast to your captain."
Greef Karga started to walk away, hoping that the pirates would get the hint and follow him to his office. But the pirates stayed put. "We drink here."
Greef Karga stopped walking and sighed heavily. His expression revealed how annoyed he was about the pirates refusing to move away from the school. Greef Karga turned around to face them. "That is a school now."
"I say it's still a bar. Now, bring us a drink." The lead pirate said. I clenched my fists in annoyance, did they really want to go and drink alcohol with a bunch of children?
"Is there a problem here, Magistrate?" Din asked casually, I could see the pirates grow tense when they caught sight of my Mandalorian.
"Is there a problem here? What do you think?" Greef Karga asked
The pirate shrugged his shoulders. "Not if you serve me a drink."
"Not in my school." Greef Karga stated firmly
"You hear that, boys? His school. You paid us for murder and mayhem inside these doors." The pirate spat angrily. The group of them moved away from the door to try and look more threatening. The lead pirates lowered his hand down towards his blaster and I immediately wrapped my fingers around the hilt of one of my sabers.
"Sounds like you went soft." The pirate said. Din pushed himself off of the tree with his shoulder, I glanced over at him and couldn't help but note how attractive he looked when he was being intimidating.
"You think so?" Greef Karga asked as he pushed his cloak back to reveal a blaster. "Try me."
Tension suffocated the once calm air as I waited for someone to make the first move. I unclipped my saber from my belt and held it in my hand, waiting to push the button that would ignite my blade.
After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the lead pirate drew his blaster. Fortunately Greef Karga was quick on the draw, he shot at the pirates blaster and knocked the weapon from his hand. The pirate groaned and clutched onto his hand.
"Tell Captain Gorian Shard that Nevarro is no longer friendly to pirates. Now get outta here." Greef Karga said
The pirates shuffled and slowly began to back up, but a few of them seemed to have a different idea. They pulled out their blasters but Din was very quick to shoot them. The pirates groaned as they were knocked to the ground by several blaster bolts from Din and Greef Karga. Every single pirate aside from the lead man had fallen to the ground with a blaster bolt to the chest.
Several people screamed as they witnessed the unexpected scene. It must have been a while since anyone here had even heard a blaster shot. Din and Greef Karga aimed their blasters at the pirate threateningly. The lead pirate laughed nervously with his hands raised.
"Get out of here, Vane. Now." Greef Karga said lowly. Vane nodded and took off running, panic was clear in his movements.
"Sure you wanna let him go?" Din asked
"Yeah, I could easily catch up to him." I offered
"He'll let it be known that Nevarro is respectable now and not to be trifled with."
Greef Karga said. The high magistrate turned around and started to walk away from the carnage.
Din gently took a hold of my hand as we started to follow after him. I couldn't help the way my lips twitched up at his small display of affection. I'm not sure why it surprised me that Din liked a lot of physical contact, but I would never not accept it.
"Have the service droids scrub up out there." Greef Karga said to the golden droid
"Yes, sir, right away." The droid responded
"I gotta level with you, Mando. I Need a marshal." Greef Karga said to Din, it was no surprise to me that he would offer Din the job.
"What about Marshal Dune?" Din asked
"After she brought in Moff Gideon, she was recruited by Special Forces." Greef Karga said
"And what came of Gideon?" Din asked
"Ugh. He was sent off to a New Republic War Tribunal." Greef Karga said, causing Din to scoff.
"So...what do you say? You ready to put in the stripes and collect a healthy stipend? You'd make a very fine lawman." Greef Karga asked
"Why not request one from the New Republic?" Din asked
"The last thing we intend is to bow down to get another far-off bureaucracy. No. Under my watch, Nevarro will become the first independent trade anchor in this entire sector." Greef Karga explained
"I can't serve as your marshal. I have something pressing to attend to." Din rejected his offer
"Apologies. I didn't know you were here on business. What can we provide?" Greef Karga chuckled
Din turned around and pointed to the large IG statue behind us. "I need him back."
"IG-11 was destroyed on the lava river. This is just a statue." Greef Karga explained
"These Are his parts, are they not?" Din asked
"I mean, what's left of 'em. We were lucky to recover any of his parts after he self-destructed." Greef Karga said
"I need a droid I can trust to help me explore Mandalore, and he's that droid." Din said as he pointed up at the droid.
"Mando, we've got plenty of droids around here, we'll find you one. I guarantee it." Greef Karga said
"Let me give it a shot." Din asked
"Alright." Greef Karga nodded. He then looked over at me. "I assume there's no point in trying to give you the job as marshal. You'll be going with Mando, no doubt."
"Yeah, I'm going with him." I nodded. Of course I would be going with him, after all the time we have spent apart, I don't want to have to spend anymore time away from him. Those 7 months away from him only made me love him more. I couldn't bear to be without him again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I smiled gently as I sat in the office chair in Greef Karga's office. Grogu sat on the desk in front of me with his ears perked up, interested in what I was doing. He watched as I held my hand out and used the force to lift one of the red sweets that sat in a bowl on the desk. I held the sweet in midair and watched for Grogu's reaction. He held his little hand out and started to try and pull the sweet towards himself. I allowed him to pull it away from me and the red sweet landed in his outstretched hand. He happily stuck the sweet in his mouth and ate it.
"There. He's hooked up to power." Din said. I looked up at him and saw that he had placed down his tools. I stood up from the chair and scooped up Grogu, walking over to place Grogu down on the table where IG was. I stood beside Din and looked down at the half droid.
"Let's see if we can wake him up." Din said as he took a hold of two wires protruding from the droid's chest and held them together, trying to spark the droid awake. After a moment, nothing seemed to be happening. Din let go of the wires and looked at Greef Karga who was giving him an "I told you so" look.
Suddenly, the droid started to power up. The lights on its eyes turned on and its fingers started to move. The droid moved its guns before it raised its head to look around the room at us.
"There you go." Greef Karga chuckled. I looked over at Din and I could tell that he was proud of himself.
The droid fully sat up as Grogu walked closer to him. Everything seemed fine at the moment, but that was before it started to talk.
"Subparagraph sixteen-teen-teen of the bondsman guild protocol waiver...immediately produce said...the bounty is mine. Asset to be terminated." IG suddenly said. The white lights on its eyes suddenly turned red as it tried to grab Grogu.
Din was quick to grab Grogu from off the table and get him out of the way. I immediately reached for the hilt of my saber as IG-11 leapt off of the table towards Din and Grogu. Din shot twice at IG but it didn't seem to do anything. I ignited my saber as IG started to drag itself across the floor.
"Terminate asset. Terminate asset." Din continued to try and shoot at the droid. The droid was crawling at a fast pace, I quickly jogged across the room and slashed down with my saber, the hot laser cut through the droid's neck. The droid could no longer scoot across the ground but the head was still active. The head was looking around still repeating the same phrase about terminating the asset. I sighed and pushed my saber straight into the droid's head, it sparked and shut down.
"Good job, Riduur. I think he defaulted to his old programming." Din said as he put his blaster away. My heart jumped into my throat at his words, did he really just call me that? I
Know it must have been a slip of the tongue but I couldn't help the heat that rose to my cheeks. I could tell by the way he shifted that he had picked up on his slip up as well.
"Thanks." I said as I disengaged my saber, trying to brush past the comment. If he wanted to talk about it, we could talk about it when we weren't with Greef Karga.
"I like that weapon." Greef Karga said, gesturing towards my sabers. I couldn't help but let out a breathy laugh at his comment. I could hear a small amount of anxiety mixed in with my laugh. I felt flustered by what Din had said, I wonder if he was more into marriage than I first thought he was.