Cosmic Love (Mandalorian Fanfic)

Chapter 17: Meadea & The Bandits

We spent the entire week, training the villagers. Finally, the day the bandits were supposed to return arrived. The village was filled with traps for the bandits. Pax, the villagers, Mando, and I all stood in front of the settlement, prepared for the bandits. Meanwhile, Faven, Grogu, and the rest of the children were hiding in our home.

As we anxiously waited for the bandits to arrive, Mando extended out a hand towards me. I slipped my hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze. At that moment, the Viper Bandits arrived. Meadea, the leader of the Viper Bandits, climbed off her speeder. She narrowed her eyes as soon as she saw Mando and me. She then glanced over at Pax.

"Last chance, Pax." Meadea warned. "Give us the crops and we'll be on our way."

"You will no longer take our crops, Meadea." Pax shot back. "These crops are rightfully ours. And if you want them, you'll have to pay for them."

Meadea scoffed. "That's not gonna happen."

She then turned towards the bandits, giving them a nod. The bandits returned her nod before slowly making their way towards us. I glanced over at the villagers, lifting a hand. "Not yet."

Once they were close enough, I lowered my hand, shouting. "Now!"

The villagers lunged towards the bandits, swinging their staffs. The bandits who passed the villagers were caught in the traps that we had set up. Mando and I fought side by side, using our blasters to take down the bandits. As we fought on, Meadea slowly made her towards us, holding a vibro-lance in her hand, hitting the villagers left and right. She then tried to creep up on Mando, but I quickly intervened, taking out the first weapon from my belt, which was my lightsaber.

I immediately ignited the silver blade, not missing the shocked look on Madea's face. She quickly wiped that look off her face though as her vibro-lance clashed against mine. An amused look appeared on her face. "No wonder you're so feared amongst your enemies. You are a Jedi."

"I'm no Jedi. All the Jedi are dead." I shot back.

With that I swung the lightsaber, clashing against her vibro-lance. She put up a fight though, using all her strength to battle against me. Meadea forced me into a corner by the trees. However, all it took was wrong move. Meadea swung her vibro-lance high towards my face. I immediately ducked before spinning around, avoiding the hit. When I turned around, I saw Meadea's vibro-lance stuck in the tree. She let out a growl as she tried to free the vibro-lance from the tree. Quickly, I ran towards her, swinging my arm. My fist hit her jaw, causing Meadea to hit the ground, knocking her unconscious. As soon as her bandits saw she unconscious, they all fled. Mando and I left the fate of Meadea to Pax and the rest of the village.  As soon as the battle was done, I made my way towards the edge of the village, taking in Meadea's words. 

"No wonder you're so feared amongst your enemies. You are a Jedi."

Could it be that it was the only reason the pirates wanted to be on my good side? All of the sudden, I sensed a presence behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts. I quickly whipped around with a hand around my belt, prepared to attack whoever was behind me. Mando quickly raised his hands. "It's just me."

I immediately lowered my hand towards my side as I gave him a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, Mando. Force of habit." 

"Don't worry about it." He assured me. 

We then remained silent for a few moments before Mando spoke again, changing the subject. "You have a laser sword?" 

"Uh, yeah, I got it from the black market." I lied, not ready to tell him the truth just yet.

Mando seemed to believe me as he gave me a nod. My heart clenched, feeling guilty for lying to him when he believed in me without hesitation. Despite all every reason to be happy, I looked around with a sad look, because I knew this wouldn't last. We'd have to leave this planet again to protect Grogu and Faven...