Summary:

The name and the face of someone that you and the Mandalorian know has stricken fear within your hearts. He has knowledge about many things, and with only one goal in mind: Bring the empire back from the ashes. He will do whatever it takes to get to you and the child...

Side Notes: There will be no sewer scenes here, because I will be tweaking my own version from this chapter until beyond for the vision that I have for the rest of my book :))))

Word Count: 4342

***

"You have something I want. You may think you may have some idea of what you are in possession of, but you do not. In a few moments, they will be mine. They mean more to me than you will ever know." 

The sophisticated voice of a seemingly refined man's words slithered within your mind, somehow driving you in a state of panic for a moment. Moff Gideon, it was a name that you knew all too well. Right now, every inch of your body felt fear.

"Who's that guy?" The ex-shock trooper asked, peeking her head to see the situation.

Your mind was in a daze, paralyzed from the fear that you felt. Cara's words went in one ear and out from the other, until a horrible memory from your archives had suddenly popped up...

"Your master has deceived you into believing that you will one day become a Jedi knight, padawan." The dark voice of Darth Vader echoed from his helmet. 

You saw your master laying on the ground, too injured to even stand properly, "All you speak are lies. You too were once a Jedi, but you let your hunger for power take you to the dark side. I knew you were once Anakin Skywalker."

"Anakin Skywalker was weak, and there is no room for weakness in the dark side," the sith lord retorted back coldly. "But you, I sense little weakness in you, young one. The force is extremely strong with you. Join me, and together we can destroy the emperor."

"I will never join you!" You snarled back, standing protectively in front of your master.

"Your bravery is admirable. But it will not save you unless you use all the fear and anger that I sense inside you. Use that fear to kill me and take my place. Use it to save your your dying master."

"I will not let you turn me to the dark side so I can kill more Jedi. I will not be a pawn of yours!"

"Then you have chosen death, padawan," the sith lord ignited his lightsaber, the menacing red glow humming before you.

"Then I will die before you get the chance to turn me." 

"Ah, selflessness. A true trait from a Jedi." 

You screamed angrily at the sith lord, running towards him with your lightsaber. But you found yourself being flung further away from his direction as the force was used on you. Such power. You've never felt so much fear, anger, and hate all at the same time from one individual. You landed painfully on the ground, but had no time to process all the hurt you felt from the red flash before you. Thankfully, your lightsaber collided with Darth Vader's before it pierced through your flesh.

"Your master has taught you well to survive me for this long, padawan."

"I know I can't defeat you, but I will not let you hurt my master anymore."

"How noble of you, young one." 

The flashes of red and blue whirred as the laser swords collided with one another. You felt your strength faltering from the much more powerful sith lord you were fighting against. Your knelt on the ground, feeling fatigue consuming every inch of your body. 

You weakly averted your gaze to your master, who was still laying on the hard ground. Suddenly, you felt your strength start to build up. You pushed from your heel, finally standing on your feet again. You gazed at the sith lord with such anger, and let yourself be consumed by it for a moment.

"I sense much fear and anger within you, padawan. It gives you immense strength, unleash all of it," Darth Vader taunted you. 

You stretched your hand out, grappling onto the force as the helmet of the sith lord sustained some damage. You heard groans of pain from Darth Vader, as his helmet continued to squeeze his head. 

"(Y/n), no!" Your master yelled out, igniting his lightsaber, only to be blocked by Darth Vader's. "Do not let him manipulate you. Revenge is not the Jedi way."

You shook your head back to reality, "I-I'm sorry, master."

"How foolish of you to think that you can still teach your padawan. The force is strong with her, and you should not hold her back from discovering her true power." 

"All you did was speak lies to her!"

Your master continued to fight the black-cloaked sith, seeming that he was holding on his own well. But just shortly after, Darth Vader had grabbed him by the wrist, and pierced his lightsaber through his chest.

"NOOOO!" You yelled out in agony.

"Run, padawan!" Your master managed to still yell out. 

"You must go, now!" 

"But my training-"

"I have taught you all that you needed to know. I am so sorry you were not able to complete your training, my padawan."

You spotted another individual in your peripheral vision. A man who looked like he was in a position of power, someone who is trusted by the sith lord himself.

"Moff Gideon, finish off this Jedi scum. It seems that he is still clinging onto life one last time, it will give this padawan a great lesson."

"As you wish, lord Vader," the older man ignited what seemed to be a weapon of Mandalorians; the dark saber, embedding the dark blade into your master's abdomen.

"R-run..." Your master uttered out for the last time.

You ran. Ran as far as your feet could take you, forever remembering the face and name of Moff Gideon for as long as you lived...

"(Y/n)! (y/n)!" You found yourself being shook by the Mandalorian for who knows how long back to reality. 

The noises of blasters cocking from the many stormtroopers that surrounded the entrance echoed through your head. You partially peeked over the table to see the troopers aimed to fire at all of you. Suddenly, you sensed something heavy and sinister, and to your greatest fear, you saw him. The man who helped Darth Vader kill your master.

"It's him..." You clenched your fists tightly, feeling your sweat drip from your forehead.

"Your astute panic suggests that you understand your situation," the man smugly stated, "I would prefer to avoid any further violence, and encourage a moment of consideration. Members of my escort have completed assembly of an E-web heavy repeating blaster. If you are unfamiliar with this weapon, I am sure that Republican Shock Trooper Carasynthia Dune of Alderaan will advise you that she has witnessed many of her ranks vaporize mid-descent facing the predecessor of this particular model. Or perhaps the decommissioned Mandalorian hunter, Din Djarin, has heard the songs on the Siege of Mandalore, when gunships outfitted with similar ordnance, laid waste to fields of Mandalorian recruits in the Night of a Thousand Tears. I advise disgrate Magistrate Greef Karga to search the wisdom of his years and urge you to lay down your arms and come outside."

The ex-imperial man paused, giving everyone whose names were mentioned time to process the events that were unfolding. He knew many things about them, even mentioning them by their full names. 

"I urge you again to lay down your arms. You have two valuables that I want. One of that being Jedi padawan (y/n) (l/n), who's powers and abilities continue to grow and will make the perfect asset for the growth of the never dying empire."

"Who is he and how the hell does he know all our names??" The ex-shock trooper asked, panic evident in the tone of her voice. 

"That's Moff Gideon," you shakily replied back, "he was the one who aided Darth Vader to end my master's life. He's been hunting me down since that day my master sacrificed himself. Even with Darth Vader gone, Moff Gideon is still around to rebuild the empire back from the ashes. I wasn't aware that Grogu was being hunted down too until I met Din. We can't let him get to either one of us."

"Oh, and I should let you all know, we already have the child. Now all we need is the Jedi."

"How the hell did he manage to get the kid without us knowing?!" The Mandalorian shrieked out.

"My senses were clouded. Grogu was also taken without my knowledge. I think I was just too focused from our plan earlier," you gritted your teeth, feeling like an absolute failure for not being able to sense the child being taken away. But you were determined to get him back. Standing on your feet, you stretched your hand out, the rest of the glass from the window shattered as you used the force against it. "Moff Gideon, I believe you meant to say Jedi knight (y/n) (l/n)."

"Okay, I think that's our cue that we can attack them," Greef Karga whispered to the ex-shock trooper.

"I'm all for that, come on!" 

You ran outside, igniting your lightsaber as you took down a dozen stormtroopers within seconds. You were like a blur to them, way too quick for them to even lay a hand on you. 

Your companions got their share for shooting and throwing punches at the lousy foot soldiers. The fire blasters were of no use to the beskar armour of the Mandalorian, as they kept ricocheting from it. The armoured man then grabbed two troopers, activating his jet pack as he took them ascending into the air, dropping them dead on the ground in the process. 

Cara Dune with her heavy cannon blaster shot more than a dozen troopers without hesitation. That's the price these empire scums would pay for dealing with a republican shock trooper, especially someone who possessed her kind of strength. 

Greef Karga as mentioned by the Moff earlier, had years of experience being in the guild. His precise aim at the soldiers had paid of from all the knowledge he gained from bounty hunting. He was not to be underestimated despite the age that he was in right now. 

You and the Mandalorian stood together, back to back, fending off the somehow never-ending troopers. From his side, he would shoot. On yours, you would either deflect their fire blasters or slice anyone that would come running towards you. 

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," the Mandalorian said in almost a laughing manner.

"Well, these guys just snatched Grogu away from us. I'm doing whatever it takes to get him back!"

The metal man suddenly came up with a brilliant idea as he gazed at the E-web blaster, "There's a speeder over there. Take it and get the kid back! We'll handle it from here... And (y/n)."

"Yes Din?"

"I love you."

"I know," you smiled at your boyfriend, quickly running towards the speeder as you sped away from the chaos to find the child. 

***

From the time that Greef Karga had brought you into town, none of you were aware that the child had actually been taken from your grasp from two lousy foot soldiers of the empire. 

The two stormtroopers sat on their speeders from the distance, awaiting for further orders from Moff Gideon. With them was a confused Grogu, seeing two individuals who also hid their faces behind their helmets. 

"Speeder bikes have arrived at the checkpoint with one of the assets. Awaiting confirmation," one of the troopers radioed over, hitting the child from squealing in the process. "Knock it off. Waiting for confirmation to continue into town."

"That's a go to proceed, but I advise you to double-check. The Moff just touched down and already took out a squad of local troopers," was the response of the operator. 

"Standing by," the first trooper clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed for more waiting that had to be done. 

"Did he just say that Gideon killed his own men?" The second trooper questioned.

"Oh, who knows? These guys like to lay down the law when they first arrive into town. You know how it is."

The little green creature gurgled, in which the first trooper hit him once again, "I said shut up. Yeesh." 

The second trooper looked over at his companion, seeming to be slightly concerned for the child's well-being, "What is that thing anyway?"

"Uh, I don't know. Maybe Moff wants to eat it. I don't ask questions." 

The second trooper nodded in agreement, only to have another follow up question, "Can I see it?"

His companion faced him in disbelief, "Did you not just hear that Moff Gideon killed a dozen of his own troopers to make a point?"

"Okay."

"I get that point. Do you get the point?"

"Yes." 

The two stormtroopers spotted a small metallic item laying idle on the ground. Taking out their blasters, they decided to have target practice while they await confirmation from the Moff. Only that they kept missing their targets, even if it was only within their reach. It was truly a spectacle that these dimwits were a part of the empire. 

The first trooper gazed at his blaster, shaking the weapon as if it was the one at fault, not the soldier himself. Both troopers shrugged, completely clueless as to why they kept missing their easy target. 

"Should we offer that thing some water?" The second trooper suddenly asked. 

"You just wanna look at it."

"So what? You got to see it!"

"Barely. I mean, I grabbed it up off the ground and I stuffed it in the sack."

"It's more than I got to see it," the second trooper sulked. 

"Look, I'm not taking it out of this bag until I deliver it to the Moff."

"Fine."

"Okay, stop asking," trooper one replied, getting off of his speeder, "Let me check on this thing. This is crazy. Any update yet?"

"That's a negative. Still waiting on confirmation. He just killed an officer for interrupting him, so this might take awhile," the operator radioed over. 

Trooper one sighed impatiently, "Thank you. Standing by still. Unbelievable."

"Hey, how long has it been since that thing moved?" Trooper two asked with evident concern.

"I don't know, like a minute or two. Don't worry."

Trooper two stood from his speeder, walking closer towards his companion, "Uh, it's been way longer than a minute."

"Oh, my God," trooper one replied back irritated.

"Shouldn't we check and see if it's still alive? You hit it pretty hard."

"You just want to see it."

"We should check and see if it's hurt. The last thing you want is to give Gideon a bag and have him open it and whatever is dead..."

"Okay. Okay, look. Here you go. See?" His companion finally opened the bag, revealing an uninjured child, "Take a peek. Everything's fine."

The child looked at both the troopers with his dark large beady eyes, cooing at the military men innocently. His pointy ears moved in up and down motions, trying to process everything that's happening at the moment. 

"What is that?" Trooper two questioned, placing his index finger on Grogu's green wrinkly forehead, continuously poking him there out of curiosity. 

"I don't know. It's a pet or something," trooper one shrugged. 

"A pet? I thought you-"

Trooper two had suddenly been interrupted from a painful crunchy noise, yelping from a pinching-like feeling. The child had taken quite a hard nibble on the soldier's gloved finger, causing him to flinch his entire arm away as he nursed his injured finger. 

With no second thought, trooper two impulsively punches the child, anger filling him as he was bitten from a creature he originally thought was completely helpless. 

"Serves you right," trooper one taunted him. 

"Hey, troopers. You shouldn't be hitting an innocent child," you called out, standing all cloaked up in front of the stormtroopers.

"Who are you?! Identify yourself!" Trooper one yelled out, pointing his pistol blaster towards your direction.

"Just bring the child over to me and nobody has to get hurt."

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it? There's two of us and only one of you," Trooper two yelled out smugly, then gazing towards his companion, "She's probably the secret leader of Jawas or something. I mean, look at her all cloaked up and everything."

You shook your head, unveiling your hood and revealed your prized face the empire has been hunting down. Your lightsaber hummed as you ignited it.

"Well, you boys asked for it. Shall we dance?" You spun your weapon around, readying yourself in a fighting stance. 

"You idiot, she's the second asset the Moff's been looking for over the years! It's the Jedi!" Trooper one screeched out. 

"Blast her!"

You effortlessly deflected their lousy blasts with your skills as you swung your lightsaber in different directions, aiming perfectly right at their weapons. With their blasters destroyed, it was only a matter of time when they pulled out another pair of blasters. In which, you force pulled them into your grasp, and immediately discarding them onto the cliff behind.

"What the-!"

"I'll repeat myself again. Bring me the child, and nobody has to get hurt." 

"You must be crazy to think that we'll just hand over the asset to you!" Trooper one retorted back. 

"Fine," you sighed, charging towards the lousy foot soldiers. 

With one swift motion, you had the first trooper on the ground unconscious in a mere few seconds. His companion completely mesmerized in the fluidity your body moved from all the different kicks and flips you did. 

You pointed your lightsaber at a close proximity of his white helmet, his entire figure shaking in fear, "Are you going to bring the child to me? Or do you wanna join your friend here on the ground unconscious?"

"I-I'll bring you and the child to the Moff myself-agh!"

You interrupted him, bashing the poor stormtrooper's head against his speeder. He dropped on the hard ground unconscious, sharing the same fate as his companion.

"I did say I didn't wanna hurt neither of you."

Your lightsaber shut off, as you placed it on the holster of your waist. The little green bean perked up as he saw her, cooing in excitement as he stretched his arms out for you to carry him.

"Did those mean stormtroopers just decide to take you? Yeah, they did. But don't worry, I'm here now, Grogu." You scooped the bag that carried the child, gently placing the straps over your shoulders as you sped away on a speeder towards where the Mandalorian and everyone was. 

Back at the chaotic fight, the armoured man struggled to overtake the advancing enemy. Countless of stormtroopers surrounded the three as they attempted to make a last stand for it, feeling the exhaustion of the battle creep within their bodies.

"I guess this is it, Mando," Greef Karga panted out.

"Don't say things like that, old man!" The ex-shock trooper yelled out. 

"We'll give it all we got," the Mandalorian declared. 

As the countless amounts of stormtroopers swarmed the party, an explosion was heard from the distance. In their sight, they spotted you in the air, flipping as you landed on the ground, igniting your lightsaber in the process. You turned to the party, relief washing over everyone as they spotted Grogu inside the bag that you strapped in front of you.

"You got Grogu back and came back for all for us," the armoured man chimed, glad to see that the little green bean was unharmed.

"Of course I did, love," you winked turning your gaze towards the hundreds of stormtroopers aiming at you, "You all messed with the wrong Jedi."

"Ready, aim, fire!" The commander trooper yelled out. 

You deflected the blasts once again, while shielding Grogu at the same time, ensuring that no empire scum will lay a finger on the precious baby. 

"You'll have to go through me if you're planning to take either one of us," you growled.

"Do the magic hand thing and teach them a lesson!" The older guild member yelled out at you.

Cara gazed at him with a puzzled expression, looking at the older man as if he has completely lost his mind at this point. 

"You mean the force?" You snickered, stretching your arm out to show a demonstration of Greef Karga's magic hand definition. 

Greef looked at you in bewilderment, witnessing first hand the power of the Jedi as you flung dozens of troopers at a time in the air. 

"Get used to my girlfriend's powers."

"Girlfriend?! Since when did the two of you become an item-?"

"We'll have plenty of time for a chat after this fight!" The ex-shock trooper grunted, blowing continuous blasts at every stormtrooper that came her way.

"Cara's right. The sooner we get rid of Moff Gideon, the sooner we can get this all over with!" You yelled back. 

Shortly after, the Moff appeared before you, gesturing to his troopers to cease fire. He bore a smug smirk on his features, as he took out a weapon that clearly wasn't of his possession; the dark saber of the Mandalorians. How he managed to take it, you had no idea. 

During time of your brief few days of stay in Mandalore, you were told of the ancient Mandalorian tradition of possessing the dark saber should you win a duel with your opponent. It was to determine not only who the stronger one was, but would be the next ruler of Mandalore. 

"Oh? It seems that you have seen this during the days when there were 10,000 Jedi knights in the galaxy. But now there is only so few that I can actually count them with the very tips of my fingers. Tell me, how did it feel when I took your master's life as he was protecting his precious padawan? How did it feel when you could no longer feel his presence?"

"I will not let you manipulate me! My master died sacrificing himself to save me. And his act is stronger than anything you have ever done in your petty life."

"And now, I shall repeat the very words that you have mentioned to my troopers earlier. Surrender with the child, and no one has to get hurt." 

You unstrapped the straps of the backpack, quickly handing Grogu over to the care of the Mandalorian, and igniting your lightsaber, "I don't think so, and I'm not sure if you heard earlier, but I'm no longer a padawan. I'm a Jedi knight. 

"It seems that we have one more lesson for you, Jedi knight.

In a matter of seconds, your sabers collided, hissing as your weapons blocked each other. It was evident that the Moff had slightly aged, but he was still as vile as the day that you met him.

"Anakin Skywalker lives through the force. Darth Vader is no more. But why do you insist on rebuilding the empire, Moff Gideon?"

"It's simple, my dear. To gain more power over the galaxy. Because that is the purpose of the empire."

"It's pointless, give up Moff. You have already lost."

"You are so sure of yourself, young one," the Moff scoffed, "If you do not surrender along with the child, I have highly capable dark troopers and will use them against the very people whom you call friends. A Jedi like yourself can stop the dark troopers, but what about them?"

"I swear I won't let you touch any one of them," you growled, stretching your hand out as you used the force to freeze the Moff in his tracks. 

"You have a simple decision to make if you want to save the people you care about the most. All I have to do, is press this button, and it will activate all the dark troopers. They are extremely difficult to fend off, and they will not hesitate to kill them under my command."

Stormtroopers began to surround the rest of the party, outnumbering them from 100 to 1 easily. Your companions were excellent warriors no doubt, but they will not be able to hold off for too long with these many troopers around them. 

"All right, Moff. You win. Take me, but not the child. I wish for you not to inflict anymore harm to them."

"What the hell are you doing (y/n)?!" The Mandalorian growled. 

"I can't let them kill you, Din."

"Don't do this (y/n)!" 

Your grip loosened up, bringing the Moff back to his unfrozen stature once again. The man in position laughed menacingly, somehow agreeing to your offer. 

"Selflessness, a true trait of a Jedi indeed. You have your master's bravery, young one." He paused, gazing at the frantic Mandalorian, "How unfortunate that your love story is cut short, Din Djarin. You do care for this Jedi tremendously, but she now belongs to the empire."

"You can't do this! Let. Her. Go." 

"I won't ever forgive myself if anything ever happened to any of you. Keep Grogu safe, Din," you stretched your hands out, force pushing them inside the building to prevent them from stopping you from your decision. 

"(Y/n) no-! Agh!"

"A wise decision, young one."

You looked at the Moff teary-eyed, "You must promise me that you won't hurt them."

"You will not be the one to make the decisions here, Jedi knight (y/n). Stun her and confiscate her lightsaber."

With that, the stormtroopers stunned you. Leaving you paralyzed as they dragged your unconscious body inside the ship of Moff Gideon.