Chapter Text
The cantina was bustling when you stopped in for a quick meal.
Payday on Tatooine was much like payday on any other planet, you had found, anyone with some spare credits found themselves at the cantina to either drown their sorrows in private or with a group of friends. The tables were crowded, full of people enjoying themselves before they went back to their humdrum lives. You searched for an open spot before you saw your friend Peli and made a beeline for her table.
Well, maybe friend was stretching it, the two of you were friendly enough for her to allow you to use her hanger to work on any repairs on your little puddle jumper without charging an arm and a leg and you occasionally bought each other drinks as you played sabacc. Friendly enough for you to feel confident in dropping into the empty stool at her table, only realizing she had company when you found yourself at the business end of a blaster, held in the tight grip of a kriffing Mandalorian. A successful Mandalorian, if the state of his shiny armor was any indicator. What the fuck had you just walked into?
“Calm down Mando, she’s with me,” Peli said cheerfully, waving at you lazily. The mechanic was already a couple drinks in based on the empty cups on the table, but clearly thinking straight enough to vouch for you. You stared down the Mandalorian at the other end of the blaster, terrified out of your skin, but you had been dealing with assholes who pulled a gun on you since you were thirteen and escaped from your home planet, this was no different. With a grunt, he holstered his weapon and you forced yourself to relax, calmly reaching for the bottle of spotchka on the table and pouring yourself a shot.
“Didn’t realize you ran in such high circles, Peli,” you snarked as you downed the shot. It burnt like hellfire, crap quality liquor was all you could get on a skughole like Tatooine, but you refused to flinch. Sweat trickled down your back as the Mandalorian stared you down, his shining helmet never leaving your face. Well, you assumed he was staring you down, it was hard to tell when his entire face was covered, but you wouldn’t be surprised. You didn’t exactly hide the blaster at your hip, or the electrostaff strapped to your back. He probably considered you a threat, having so unceremoniously taken a seat at what probably was not a friendly meeting. You hadn’t met any Mandalorians in your travels, but you knew enough about them to know he could probably take you down in two seconds flat, no matter how good you were with your own weapons. And you were very good.
“Mando here is looking for someone and he seems to keep coming back to visit little ol’ me,” she said cheerfully, stealing back the bottle to take a swig directly from the canteen. The Mando’s visor snapped to her, radiating irritation that the older woman blithely ignored. “Say, you’ve been around the sector a few times. Ever seen any creatures like him?”
You followed her pointed finger to the pouch hanging off the Mando’s side, partially hidden under a ragged cloak. You blinked in surprise, startled you hadn’t noticed the creature straight off. So much for your observation skills. Big, dark eyes blinked up at you from a squashed face only a mother could love, big ears lifting in interest when it noticed your attention on it. It raised a tiny, three finger hand and cooed at you. Something in your frozen heart melted a little and you waved two fingers back at the creature.
“What is it, a pet?” you asked, entranced by the creature. It was so ugly it was cute, as your mother used to say, and you really wanted to pick it up and cuddle it, though you figured any motions toward it would end with a blaster between your eyes. “Never seen anything like it, sorry.”
“Sorry Mando, she’s the only person I can think of that might know anything on this dusty rock,” Peli said, shrugging. “It's his kid, he’s trying to find others like him.”
You raised an eyebrow at the unflinching helmet. His kid? No way it was actually his kid, there was no way he could be hiding big ears under that helmet.
“I had no idea mandos ran green,” you quipped as you took another shot of spotchka.
“He’s a foundling,” the mando finally spoke up, voice regulated through a vocoder. “I’ve been quested to bring it back to his kind, a race of sorcerers called jedi.”
Your gut wrenched and you had to stop yourself from getting up and running away as fast as your legs could carry you. Kriff kriff kriff, there was no way this Mandalorian knew you could use the Force, right? You were so careful; you hadn’t used your power once since you left your last crew to hide out in this dustball. No kriffing way he was here for you.
“Jedi?” you said as casually as you could, hoping you injected enough boredom into your tone to hide your unease. “Can’t say I’ve heard of them either. Have you tried asking around Mos Espa?”
The helmet had never looked away from you since you sat down, but shit he was leaning forward, calling your bluff without saying even a word. Sweat broke out in the palms of your hands and you stifled the urge to rub them against your leggings, instead reaching for the bottle of spotchka again to pour another shot.
“You’re lying.”
Two simple words and your world started to tilt on its axis. The bottle shook slightly in your hand and you knew you would spill the liquor so you set it down with a solid thunk and glared at the mando.
“I beg your pardon?” you snarled, indignant at being called out so carelessly. Of course you were lying, but no one had ever caught on so quickly. Fuck fuck fuck.
“Your core temperature just rose, you are barely able to keep yourself in that chair,” he said flatly. “What do you want? Credits?”
You shook your head, already looking for a way out of this cantina. Peli was no help, she was drunk as fuck and looking between you and the Mandalorian like you were a holodrama.
“I don’t want anything, I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m sorry, but I have to get back to my farm, Peli, good seeing you.” Tossing a couple credits on the table to cover what you had drunk, you rose and quickly walked out, hoping you could get lost in the sea of buildings surrounding the cantina before the mando could catch you.
Shit fuck, dammit it all. You had to get off this fucking planet, you couldn’t go back to your lodgings, you would have to come to grips with losing your wardrobe and the random holopads and trinkets you had picked up over the years. Fortunately, you had all your credits with you, your weapons and the puddle jumper was still parked in Peli’s back hanger, she would hold on to it until you could find someone to buy it while you were off world. Fuck, you were just starting to think you could put roots down in Mos Eisley. Fucking Mandalorians.
Scanning the streets, you tried to stay in the shadows as much as possible as you made your way to the hangers. Surely someone was taking off that could use an extra crew member, and if not…you thought you might have enough credits to buy passage to Ryloth or another close planet where you could get lost in the shuffle.
You had just reached the spaceport when a big hand reached from the shadows and slammed you into the side of an empty building. Your first instinct was to fight, and you threw out your elbow in an attempt to break the hold pressing you into the clay. All you got for your efforts was a bruised arm and heavy metal plates pressing you hard against the building, both wrists caught in an iron grip. You tried to kick out, grunting when your knee slammed into more metal. Fuck, the armor covered his entire body.
“Why did you lie?”
“Let me go, you kriffing nerfherder, I don’t know what you are talking about,” you snarled, still struggling to get loose, even though it was evident it was useless. You considered screaming, but it was after dark in Mos Eisley. You were more than aware that no one would bother to investigate.
“Tell me what you know and I’ll think about it.” The voice was just as flat as it had been in the cantina and it infuriated you. The Mandalorian wasn’t even winded as he held you firm. Kriff, if you could only reach your blaster…you didn’t think it would actually help, but it would make you feel better. “Of course, you also have a puck out with your name on it, so it won’t be for long.”
“I already told you, I don’t know anything. Who the fuck raised you, accosting women in dark streets?” Panic seared through you at the thought of a bounty tracker out for you. Kriffing stars, this was just going from bad to worse every second.
A snort crackled through the vocoder. You stared into the helmet in astonishment. He thought this was funny? How dare he!
Almost, you considered lashing out with your powers to slam him against the wall behind you. Of course, that would give you away, but…if you hit him hard enough maybe you could knock him out? Maybe not with that helmet, but maybe you could stun him enough to get away. You were gathering yourself to try when a soft coo reminded you that he had a fucking child with him. You had done a lot of things in the name of self-preservation in your life, but you had always drawn the line at hurting a kid. You slumped against the wall, fully aware that he had you caught and there was no way you were going to get away.
“If I…if I might have some information that you could use, do you swear to let me go after?” you said through clenched teeth. Never hurts to ask, right? You might be able to make a run for it before he could throw you in a cell to take to whoever wanted you badly enough to put a tracker out for you.
The helmet surveyed you thoughtfully. Damn that visor, it gave you no indication of what he was thinking. Finally, it dipped once, just enough to indicate agreement, you hoped. But no, that was not enough. You didn’t trust him further than you could throw him and the idea that you could make him move even an inch made you want to laugh.
“Alright I…know of someone who might know of Jedi. Or at least he did when I knew him. A captain of a Corellian freighter, makes runs to Coruscant on the regular. Goes by Harley, you can find him at the Blue Orobird cantina on Corellia when he isn’t off planet.” Maker help you, by the time he realized Harley was long dead after a run in with a bounty hunter, hopefully you would have disappeared into the Unknown Regions. There were plenty of uncharted planets out there, surely you could disappear without a trace out there.
“Alright, let's go.” The weight pressing you into the clay wall moved away, but before you could start fighting again, he had twisted your hands behind you and cuffs snapped in place around your wrists, effectively incapacitating you.
“What the fuck, you said you’d let me go!” you screeched, trying to twist out of the iron grip around your upper arm.
“Do you think I’m stupid enough to just let you go?” he said mildly, frog marching you back into the street and towards the hanger bays. “I don’t believe a word out of your mouth, I’ll let you go as soon as I verify your info. Just like I promised. I’ll even give you a fair shot of getting away before I take you in.”
“You bantha fucker, let me go!”
Anger filled you, coiled around your limbs and you felt the Force come without calling it. For the first time in your life, you embraced it, instinctively channeling the flow of power until it exploded out of you in a blast of power, not caring who was hurt in the blast. The panic of being caught, of someone stripping your hard-won freedom away outstripped your normal caution. The blast threw you forward and without the use of your hands to catch yourself you slammed into the ground, head bouncing off the rock. The last thing you saw was the Mando picking himself up and advancing towards you.