14 | THE TAKEN

It didn't take long for the crew to land on Arvala-9. Unlike Cara, Kuiil didn't seem too happy to see Celeste, the child and Mando back on his property. He invited them into his home to chat and have some tea, despite his underlying feeling that the reason why they were back was because they were in trouble. Kuiil walked over to the child to analyze it. "It hasn't grown much." He noted.

"I think it might be a Strand-Cast." Mando vocalized his suspicions about the mystery of the child.

"I don't think it was engineered. I've worked in the gene farms. This one looks evolved. Too ugly. These two," Kuiil pointed toward Cara and Celeste, "on the other hand, look like they were farmed in the Cytocaves of Nora."

Celeste blinked, unsure if his joke was made to be a compliment or an insult. She opened her mouth to ask, but, Mando already began talking over her—that was a first. "This is Cara Dune. She was a shock trooper." Mando introduced, politely.

"You were a Dropper?" Kuiil noticed her tattoo.

"Did you serve?" She inquired, unsure as to how such a common Ugnaught could be informed on her symbolic tattoo.

"On the other side, I'm afraid. But I'm proud to say that I paid out my clan's debt, and now I serve no one but myself." Kuiil assured Cara, who seemed to despise the Empire.

Suddenly, a droid—and IG-11 unit, like the one that was after the child when Mando first came to Arvala-9 to capture it—entered the home with a tray full of tea. Celeste, Mando and Cara instantly jumped to their feet and pointed their blasters at the droid. It was a bounty hunter droid, programmed to kill the kid and possibly Celeste, if he received the order. "Would anyone care for some tea?" The bot's stoic voice asked.

"Please lower your blasters. He will not harm you." Kuiil pleaded for the three to relax.

"That thing is programmed to kill the baby." Mando spat at the man who was trying to defend the hunk of junk.

"Not anymore. I reprogrammed it. Whatever programming it had before was destroyed when you left with the child from this planet." Kuiil informed the three. "It's reconstruction was difficult, but not impossible. It had to learn everything from scratch. This is something that cannot be taught with the twist of a spanner. It required patience and repetition." Celeste felt those last few sentences linger in her mind. She wasn't quite sure why they seemed so important to her, but it was as if something out-of-body was making a connection of this story to something in the future. She assumed her mind was trying to make the connection of Mando learning to be compassionate with her and the child, and brushed the bothered thoughts off.

"Is it still a hunter?" Mando asked as he lowered his weapon. Celeste and Cara followed pursuit.

"No. But it will protect." Kuiil alleviated everyone's worries in the room.

Not a hunter anymore, but he will protect. Just like Mando. Celeste refrained from laughing at the fact that Mando had something alike with a droid despite his distaste for them.

* * *

Mando convinced Kuiil to join them along on their mission, but Kuiil had some conditions. He wanted to bring his blurrgs and the IG-11. Quickly after that, they took off to Nevarro, where the chaos all began for Mando. On the ride there, Cara and Mando were arm wrestling on the table in front of the kid while Celeste continued to distract herself with her book, this time taking small notes off to the side. "I got you, Mando." Cara grunted as she struggled to keep her even position against Mando.

The child observed the game and noticed that Mando was in slight distress—typical of a physical game. He began to worry and reached out his hand while no one was looking. "Care to double the bet?" Mando asked as he began to gain on her in the game.

Before Cara could answer, she felt a tightness around her throat. She let go of Mando's arm and reached for her throat as she struggled to gasp for air. Celeste heard the choking and instantly looked over at the child, who had his eyes closed and his hand pointed at Cara. Celeste rushed over and grabbed the kid in her arms, scolding it. "What the hell! She wasn't hurting him!"

"We're friends! Cara is my friend!" Mando got up to scold the kid, too.

"That is not okay!" Cara exclaimed as she gasped for air once the child released his force grip on her.

"Very curious." Kuiil mentioned as he continued to take mental notes on the child.

"Curious? It almost killed me!" Cara exclaimed as she glared at the child.

"The story you told me of the mudhorn now makes more sense. This... this I've heard rumors of." Kuiil hummed to himself.

By the way Mando was looking at Kuiil with his head cocked, Celeste seemed to be enlightened. Mando didn't exactly know what the force was. The Mandalorian and the Jedi didn't exactly have a great relationship together, as they had fought each other in great wars in the past. Also, the Mandalorian believed in using pure skill to defeat your enemies—and using the force was not considered a pure skill to them. Jedi history was likely omitted from Mando's history lessons when he grew up under the care of the Mandalorian. "What? When you worked for the Empire?" Cara scoffed at the Ugnaught.

"When I was sold to the Empire, in indentured servitude!" Kuiil corrected her.

"Yet somehow, you walk free." Cara stood up to take an intimidating step toward Kuiil.

Celeste put herself in between the two, the child still in her arms. "I bought my freedom through the skill of my hands and the labor of three of your human lifetimes. Do not cast doubt upon that of what I am nor whom I shall serve." Kuiil continued to berate the girl.

"Enough! Have you two forgotten we're on the same side? We're here to protect the child. Not fight because of our past affiliations. Trust me, if you knew who I used to work with, I'd be dead by now." Celeste groaned.

Cara narrowed her eyes at the girl. "And what about you? You got the same thing the kid has? Is that why they have bounty hunters after you, too?" Cara inquired.

Celeste clenched her jaw, not wanting to announce to everyone she was force sensitive. "What the kid has is rare. I, too, have heard stories about people like him. Both good and bad." Celeste assured her.

"Answer the question." Cara pressured her.

"And if I do? What are you going to do about it?" Celeste huffed, protectively cradling the child against her chest.

"I'm going to make sure I know what threats I have around me." Cara stepped forward, assertively.

"Great, I can inform you that I am not a threat to you. Now, relax." Celeste turned her back on the woman, placing the child back in his cradle.

* * *

Once Mando landed the ship on Nevarro, Celeste waved everyone goodbye as they left the ship. The plan was that she stayed behind in case they needed a quick escape—if the deal ended up actually being a trap—and to avoid having her being recognized by Greef Carga or others that may be aware of her value. "Mando." Celeste called after him to stop him from leaving the ship, momentarily.

Mando spun on his heel to face her. "You keep him safe," Celeste's eyes darkened as she spoke, "he means the world to me."

Mando nodded at her. "To me, too." He reminded her.

* * *

One night passed of Celeste, alone, on the ship. The 24 hours that passed was very silent, and lonely. She was bored, too. There was nothing much to do on the ship, except look at Mando's weapons and snoop around in his belongings. But, Celeste had been traveling on that ship for so long at that point, she had seen it all already.

In the middle of the next day, Celeste was poking at buttons on the ship when she heard rustling coming from outside. She grabbed her blaster, that was secured at her waistline at all times since Mando gave it to her the first time, and held it close. She creeped toward the exit and remained concealed as she peaked toward the exit. The rustling continued. "Who's there?!" She shouted.

"I mean no harm!" A faintly recognizable voice called out.

Celeste stalked forward and took a look outside. She gasped and stumbled back a little when she saw who it was waiting for her, with a tracking fob leading straight to her. "Vikkal." She growled, her teeth gritted.

Vikkal's arms were held up in surrender. "Please, Celeste. I've come to warn you." He dropped to his knees, his head bowed so he wouldn't seem to be such a threat.

Celeste suspiciously looked around to see if he had any hidden comrades ready to snatch her at any given moment. But, there was no were to hide in that landscape. It was plain and flat. It seemed to be just Vikkal and his land speeder before her. "Why shouldn't I just kill you right now?" She hissed at him.

Vikkal moved suddenly, causing Celeste to use the force to fling him away from her. The projection knocked the wind out of Vikkal. "I see you've discovered your ability."

"Don't come any closer!" She shouted as he slowly rose to his feet again.

"Celeste, I've come to explain myself. I suppose you've already made this connection, but, the reason why you were so dear to me... was because of your ability. You were an asset to me and my business. I just needed a way to get you to use your ability for me." He explained.

"Why are you here then? Why are you explaining all this to me?!" She placed both of her hands on the blaster, her arms tense.

"Celeste, Celeste?" She heard Mando's voice speak to her through the comms that were linking everyone together. But, she could exactly answer at that moment.

"My plans have been destroyed. Others have discovered your existence. Greater people with greater forces and greater amounts of wealth than I have gained interest in you. They've threatened me, as I seem to be getting in the way of their greater plans for you. They were right at my heels once I came to find you." Vikkal's voice was low and unwavering. He was serious. This was not a trap.

"Celeste? Kuiil! Come in! Have you made it to the ship yet?" Mando's voice frantically spoke into the communication device.

Frustrated, Celeste pulled the device out of her ear and tossed it aside with one hand. "They speak of your parents." Vikkal peaked her interest.

But, suddenly, she spotted Kuiil riding in—rapidly—on a blurrg with a bundle in his arms. Two Imperial guards on speeders seemed to be gaining on him, with their weapons pointed at him. Celeste instantly reacted, afraid that Vikkal had set it all up. That all this commotion and incoming threat was due to him. So, without thinking, her finger pressed the trigger. And the blaster shot the Geonosian right in the center of his head, taking him out immediately. His now lifeless body thudded to the ground.

She snapped her head over at Kuiil and the two enemies chasing after him. They were still too far for her to run over and take them out. Within a flash of a second, the imperial troopers shot down Kuiil and his blurrg. Celeste spotted the bundle in his arms drop to the ground, the blanket covering whatever was inside slipped off and revealed the child. Celeste's eyes shot wide open. She made eye contact with one of the troopers. Her heart began to race and beat painfully heart against her chest. Cold, frightened perspiration instantly soaked her clothes as she realized they were after the kid. Instantly, she began sprinting over toward the child, racing against the two speeder over to snatch him up.

Unfortunately, the speeders were faster than her short legs. And one of the troopers scooped up the child with ease and began to ride away. Celeste pointed her blaster and began to shoot recklessly toward the enemies, but as their distance grew, her accuracy diminished. Eventually, they disappeared off into the horizon.

Celeste froze in her place, looking over at the dead blurrg, the dead Kuiil and the dead Vikkal bodies scattered around her. Celeste went lightheaded. She felt like passing out right there. So much had just happened in so little time. Her knees grew weak as she realized her child had just been stolen right before her eyes. She dropped to her knees, and a few despaired tears rolled down her cheeks. Her frantic and shocked eyes flickered around to her now empty surroundings. She couldn't believe what just happened. She didn't have time to even have a good shot at saving the kid. Her mind felt like someone had just stuck her brain in a blender and shoved the mush back in her head.

Celeste let out an inhuman scream as the grief and desperation finally overcame her once she processed the situation for a bit. Celeste dropped her blaster to her side and scratched at herself, feeling guilty. She screamed once again, then began to hyperventilate. Streams of tears rolled down her face and she slipped her fingers into her hair and pulled as hard as she could.

The pain she was feeling was overwhelming for her and sucked all the energy out of her soul. She balled up on the sandy ground and instantly passed out after her breakdown. Alas, this was where she made a mistake. Vikkal had warned her that many people with much power were coming after her, and they weren't too far behind from him in finding where she was. And, after she lost consciousness outside of the Razor Crest on Nevarro, someone soon came and easily took her away from the scene, locking her away for whomever they were sent by.

She had been kidnapped. And by leaving herself outside, exposed, instead of locking herself in the ship as she had been earlier, she had just made it so easy for the next person hunting her to simply take her away. Just like the Imperial troopers did to the child.

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author's note: celeste and mando