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A Mother ~ Chapter 1 ~ The Child

Chapter 1 ~ The Child

“The commission was quite specific. The asset was to be terminated.” At the droid’s word, you take out your saber and slash through it, encasing the room with a purple light. The Mandalorian looks between you and Grogu as your son reaches his hands out toward both of you. You take Grogu’s hand while still looking at the man next to you in suspicion. He sticks out his index finger for Grogu to hold, causing your son to coo at him sweetly.

The Mandalorian looks over to you and grabs your arm, searching you for weapons. He takes your saber and blaster and, sadly, notices the small dagger you keep in your boot, "I will take you both to my ship."

"So you can turn us in for money, yes?"

The Mandalorian ignores you and programs your son's pram to follow him. He looks back at you while making his way to the door, "Are you going to come willing, or will I have to drag you?"

You follow him but stick to the other side of your child, who looks up at you sweetly. The Mandalorian leads you through the desert toward his ship; you can't help but wonder who is trying to capture you this time. Most likely an empire wannabe, trying to suck up to a general or, better yet, a sith. As the three of you make your way through a small canyon, you look to the bounty hunter, "What can I call you, dear hunter?" The Mandalorian doesn't spare you a glance; at least you don't think he does. It's a little hard to tell with the helmet. "I can make up a nickname for you if you'd like."

This statement causes him to sigh, "Call me 'Mando.'"

"Hmm, Mando. It'll do for now." Your son hears your playful tone and coos up at you. The Mandalorian continues walking as you stop short; you feel a disturbance in the Force. You close your eyes and try to sense any other life forms. Your eyes snap open as you yell, "Mando! Above us!" Mando turns to see a Trandoshan jumping down from the top of the canyon.

He pushes Grogu away immediately and yells to you, "Protect the child!" You back away quickly toward your son when another Trandoshan sprints toward you, yelling. You front kick him in the chest and then jab him twice in the nose. He tries to smack at you, although he has some difficulty due to the blood coming from his face, you block each attempt and counter with your own hits until the Mandalorian comes up behind him and takes care of him. Finally, a third Trandoshan makes a run for Grogu but Mando shoots him before he can make it.

You and Mando notice the two tracking fobs laying near one body. "You two are pretty special, huh?"

You snort, "Thought you would've realized that since you've seen the delivery payment."

Mando sighs at you then looks at your son. Grogu gurgles up at him happily. Mando shakes his head and spins around, continuing the trek to his ship. The three of you keep quiet for the remainder of the walk back, besides Grogu's cooing of course. You can sense that your son has taken a liking to the bounty hunter, this fact worries you greatly.

'Do not get too close to him, my darling,' You reach out to Grogu through the Force.

He looks up at you with his big beautiful eyes, 'Why?'

'We won't be with him for long.' After you told him this, Grogu kept quiet in your mind but still gurgled and cooed at the man in front of you.

As night begins to take over the day, Mando decides it would be best for the three of you to stop for the night. You and your son sit a couple of feet away from him, and he begins to seal a wound on his arm. You hadn't taken notice of the wound until now. Grogu watches the pained Mandalorian, sadly. He climbs out of his pram and walks toward the armor-covered man. As he gets close, he raises his little hand towards the wound wanting to heal it. You smile softly, proud that he wanted to help. Mando notices him and picks him up, putting him back in his pram. You watch the Mandalorian sit back down and reach for his breastplate. "Let me help you stop the bleeding," he looks up at you; you can feel his suspicion. "It will be easier if someone else does it."

Mando hands you the cauterizing tool and lets you close the wound, but not after a few minutes of contemplation. With his other hand, he works on the breastplate, you look at it while cleaning his arm. You reach over and flipped a switch on the left side of the armor. It immediately chimes and comes back to life. The bounty hunter's surprise is evident, even without the Force. You feel your son come up next to you, trying to close Mando's wound again but he just picks him up and puts him in the pram again. This time, he closes the pram. You go over to the pram and lay next to it, but before you can try to sleep Mando stops you. He holds out your weapons to you, "Why?"

"You seem to be able to protect yourself and you would have tried to escape by now. Take them." You take them from his hands and put them in their proper places before turning to sleep.

As dawn breaks, Mando is anxious to walk again. The three of you are completely silent the whole way to his ship until you make it to the top of a hill and see Jawas scavenging his ship.

"Is that your ship?" You ask with an ounce of amusement in your voice. He says nothing instead dropping to the ground and taking out a scope. He surveys the area before taking out his rifle and killing a Jawa. "What are you doing?"

He shoots two more Jawas as they run back to their Sandcrawler. When the Jawa ship begins moving, so does the Mandalorian. You follow after yelling at him to leave them be. He shoots at the exhaust pipe, then runs and jumps onto the Sandcrawler. You and the pram holding Grogu try to keep up with the Crawler but have some difficulty. You watch as Mando fights with the Jawas on the side of the Crawler as he climbs up, and he almost makes it to the top but he falls when the Jawas break off an old blaster.

"Ouch," you say as you watch him fall, "Should we make a run for it?" You ask your son.

He looks up at you, 'We can't just leave him.'

"Fine." You both make your way to the Mandalorian, when you get there you check him over for any obvious wounds. When you find none, you and Grogu sit in waiting. When Mando did wake up, you knew he was surprised that the two of you were still there. Although, he doesn't dwell on that fact. He gets up and heads straight toward his ship to assess the damage. You and Grogu listen as he tries to start the engines, but it doesn't work. You pick up your son and walk up the ramp, finding Mando sitting in his sleep chamber. "What do we do now?"

Mando looks at the two of you and leads you back out of the ship. "Ready for another walk?" He leads you through the desert again, this time taking you not too far from his ship. You see a figure fixing the wiring on a light pole, as you make it to this new camp.

"I thought you were dead." The figure states, turning to look down at us. A Ugnaught. He makes his way down and Mando explains our situation to him. You and Grogu sit to the side as the Ugnaught fills a bucket with water. Grogu begins chasing a frog around. You watch him carefully knowing he may try to put it in his mouth. "These two were causing all the fuss?" He asks Mando, looking at the two of you.

"I think the little one is a child."

"It's better to deliver it alive then." The Ugnaught states.

"My ship has been destroyed. I'm trapped here."

You speak up at Mando's statement, "Jawas do not destroy, they scavenge. Your ship was unattended, making it their property."

"The girl is right. Jawas steal. They don't destroy." The Ugnaught agrees with you handing Mando a tool to fix his cuff.

"Stolen or destroyed, makes no difference to me," he looks over at you and Grogu when he hears Grogu squeal while chasing the frog, "They're protected by their crawling fortress. There's no way to recover the parts."

"You can trade?"

"With Jawas! Are you out of your mind?" Mando sounds baffled by thought.

"I will take you to them. I have spoken." You smile at the Ugnaught's words. But after, you hear a squelching noise.

"Spit it out!" You scold your son, causing the two men to look at you. They see the frog's legs sticking out of Grogu's mouth as he swallows it whole. "Okay, it's time for bed." Grogu whines but lets you put him in the pram.

The Ugnaught comes over to you, "Is he yours?"

"Not by blood," you tell him, smiling at your son who is beginning to nod off.

"But you love him the same," you nod at those words, "What is your name, youngling?"

You smile at the Ugnaught, "(Y/N), and you, sir?"

"Kuiil."

"It's nice to meet you, Kuiil."

"And you as well, youngling. Rest, we have a long ride ahead of us. I have spoken." You do as Kuiil says and go to rest, staying close to your son and the Mandalorian.

The next morning, you're met with a rainy trip to the Jawas. You stick close to Mando for warmth, keeping your son's pram shut to ward off the rain and cold. When you make it to the Jawa camp, Kuiil greets them in their native tongue. The Jawas draw their weapons when they see Mando.

"They really don't like you for some reason," Kuiil tells Mando.

"Yeah, that tends to happen when someone disintegrates three of their people." You state sarcastically. Mando tilts his head toward you, you can feel the small glare he sends your way but you keep your smile on.

"You need to drop your rifle." Kuiil translates for Mando.

"I'm a Mandalorian. Weapons are part of my religion."

"Do you want to put your ship back together or not?" You look up at him, raising your eyebrows.

He sighs, "Fine." He drops his rifle and gets out of the cart, "Stay here." He looks at the two of you. You give him a thumbs up and a rather aggressive grin.

As he steps towards the Jawas, Kuiil stops him, "And your blaster." Kuiil walks forward making small talk, as Mando looks back at you dropping his blaster next to you. Kuiil waves Mando forward, as you and Grogu watch from afar.

You can't hear the conversation but you do feel Mando getting annoyed. You hear Mando yell before starting his flame thrower in the direction of the Jawas. Two Jawas make their way towards you and you watch as the one talking to Mando and Kuiil stands up, pointing at the two of you.

Mando notices the Jawas near you instantly and screams at them, "Get away from them!"

The Jawas jump away and join the others. A chant of 'suka' begins from the small group. After a moment of deliberation, Mando waves you and Grogu over.

"What egg?" You ask him.

"It's something that will get me my property back. So we're going on a hunt for an egg."

"We?" You ask, surprise evident in your voice.

"We," Mando confirms, causing you to roll your eyes.

You, Kuiil, Grogu, and Mando all pile into the Sandcrawler and make your way towards where this 'egg' is. As you travel, Mando hits his head on the roof of the Sandcrawler quite often. You're beginning to think the Jawas are hitting large rocks on purpose and you're okay with it, entirely. When the Crawler reaches the destination, Kuiil agrees to stay with Jawas as you and Grogu go with Mando.

Mando leads the way around a small rock hill and you see the mouth of a cave at the far end. You and Mando prepare your weapons and walk into the cave, your lightsaber in your hand and his blaster in his. Although your investigation of the cave doesn’t last long as you are both thrown out of it by a Mudhorn. The two of you land in the mud about 20 feet from the cave and you are both left paralyzed for a moment. Mando picks up his rifle and tries to shoot at the Mudhorn as it makes its way out of the cave, but it jams due to the mud. You start firing shots at the beast but it charges the two of you. In a swift motion, it throws Mando to one side with its horn and then does the same to you.

As the two of you lay on the ground on opposite sides of the clearing, the mudhorn notices Grogu and advances toward him. Mando moves the pram out of the way just in time, making the Mudhorn slam into the canyon wall. It turns, considers you and The Mandalorian, and then goes for Mando. Mando hits it with his flame thrower before getting smashed to the ground, continuing to fire flame at it. When he runs out of fuel, he shoots the mudhorn with his grappling hook causing the mudhorn to pill him towards the cave again. You aim your blaster and hit the mudhorn three times in the head before the grappling hook lets go. It throws Mando with its horn, he doesn’t get up this time. You and your son notice the mudhorn begin moving for Mando again, disregarding you and Grogu completely.

Mando stands in front of the two of you, holding out his dagger but you and Grogu use the Force and work together to lift the mudhorn into the air. You feel Grogu become tired and you both drop the mudhorn, you run up the left side and slice into the mudhorn with your saber as Mando slams his dagger into the right. The two you just barely make it out of the way as the corpse falls to the ground. You quickly stand and make your way towards the pram, you see your son lying unconscious inside. You still sense him in the Force but know that he expelled too much energy and he will need to sleep for some time. Mando walks towards the two of you, after retrieving his dagger, and sees your son asleep.

“How?” Mando asks, more suspicious of the two of you than he was before.

“I’ll explain once we are back at your ship. It is far too open out here.” Mando lets out a modulated sigh at your response, but turns and walks toward the cave, going to get the egg. When he does, you all make your way back to the Jawas and Kuiil. You notice the ramp up into the Sandcrawler is beginning to close but stops once Kuiil yells out to you and Mando.

“I’ve got it. I’ve got the egg.” Mando states as he walks past Kuiil towards the Jawas who are running down the ramp and crowding him. He hands the egg to them, and they all start yelling ‘Suka.’ They chop the egg open and eat out of it.

“Ew.” You mutter from your spot next to Kuiil. You see Mando shake his head a little too.

“I’m surprised you waited,” Mando tells Kuiil.

“I’m surprised you took so long,” you laugh at Kuiil’s response.

“We got our asses handed to us, so don’t be.”

Once the Jawas are done loading up all of Mando’s ship parts, Kuiil hooks up the Blurrg and you’re on your way back to the ship. You curl up behind Mando and fall asleep rather quickly. Mando wakes you up when you make it back to his ship, night has fallen. Kuiil hands you tools, and you start helping put the ship back together. By morning, you now recognize that Mando’s ship is a Razor Crest.

“I gotta admit that I’m impressed with your ship,” Mando seems content with your comment, “But it's not the best I’ve ever seen.” You state, thinking about Han’s Millennium Falcon. Once finished with the engine, Mando and Kuiil go down the ladder while you stay to check on Grogu. After making sure, he’s still okay you make your way down. You hear another ‘I have spoken.’

“Kuiil, May the Force be with you.” You say to him, he looks at you knowingly and nods back to you. Mando makes his way up to the cockpit with you not far behind, he sits and turns on the engines, lifts off, and then makes the ascent to a high enough altitude to go into lightspeed. Once your destination of Nevarro is set, the Mandalorian looks back at Grogu and shakes the pram a bit. “Leave him alone, he needs rest.”

“What are the two of you?”

You look surprised, “You don’t deserve to know, since you’re still our executioner.”

“I’m not going to kill either of you.”

“Maybe you won’t do it. But you are handing us over to people who will.” You end the conversation, preparing yourself for the fight you will be forced to participate in. You will do anything to protect your son.

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