The Mandalorian Jedi

Chapter Twenty Eight

I didn't see anyone for the first few minutes of finding my way through those winding hallways of home, I only heard them. I saw a padawan first, she was young, having only recently gotten her lightsaber. The fear in her eyes was something I will never forget. She grabbed onto my arm and tried to tug me in the opposite direction,
"General Keldau we must run! Please!" I could barely understand her through the sobs. They stopped a few seconds later when a blaster bolt hit her right in the back. The world seemed to slow. Out of the corner of my eye I could see clone troopers marching down the hallway but my mind only focused on the fear forever frozen onto the girls face. I remembered her, it had only been a few months since I had spent a good ten minutes correcting her stance as she held a double bladed lightsaber for the first time and now here she was, a single tear still trailing its way down her cheek even in death.

The clones first shot missed. The second one hit me in the shoulder. Whether my scream was from pain or anger I didn't know but it was enough for me to bring my saber up and fight. They came for me, I barely knew their names but I sobbed all the same as they each fell at my hands. They knew they were going to die and yet they didn't retreat, they couldn't. Not one more blaster bolt touched me in those minutes but that didn't stop them from firing again and again and again. Sixteen clones fell at my feet and I lost a bit of myself at the sight of every one of their lifeless bodies. All my talk of them being more than pawns in the games of powerful people and yet here I stood, killing them as pawns in a game I barely understood. I so desperately wanted to collapse on the ground beside them and sob until there were no tears left but the night had only just begun and so when the next pair of clones came around the corner I raised my hand and they slammed against the wall so hard their helmets cracked open.

I killed six more clones before I found another Jedi. I was starting to recognise more of the clones who came for me. These were my friends, the closest thing I had to a family these past years and here we were, slaughtering each other as if we were strangers who had never once sat around a fire and shared stories of our adventures, as if we had never gotten so drunk together that Mace had banned me from going anywhere near alcohol for the rest of my life, as if we had never risked our lives to save each other even as everyone else had told us over and over that it wasn't worth it.

I was making my way down a hallway when I saw three Jedi. I didn't recognise them, not with their hoods drawn up over their heads. The clones descending upon them were merciless. Gods there were so many of them. The rage that had allowed me to kill those sixteen clones so easily was gone now. I knew if I stayed to fight alongside my people Grogu's safety would be in no way assured so I did what cowards do. I turned away from those three Jedi as they were slaughtered and I ran. I still see them in my dreams from time to time, my subconscious makes them scream for me to help as I abandon them to their fates. In reality they were dead before they even knew I was there.

I could hear the orders yelled behind me as I ran. A group split off to chase after me, another to any surviving Jedi. The clones were fast and with Grogu strapped to me I was slower than I should have been. I found a nook and tucked myself away for a moment and looked down at the large brown eyes staring up at me. They were so innocent in that moment, so full of trust that overcame the fear I knew he felt. I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath and then placed a kiss on top of his small little head,
"I don't think I'm going to survive tonight ad'ika. Or maybe I will, maybe, somehow I will escape but eventually they will find me and they will kill me. This is the end of the Jedi but I cannot let it be the end of you. You are the future Grogu. You are everything and if you stay with me you'll die." For the first time I felt like he truly understood what I was saying, fully and in its entirety. His ears drooped and for once his coo wasn't one of questioning but rather one of sadness. His hand reached up from the sling and touched my face, tracing the line of one of many tears that had fallen in such a short space of time. I let my head drop down and rest against his in a keldabe kiss, a mirshmure'cye. A Mandalorian combat move that, overtime, had evolved into a show of love between Mandalorians.

We only stayed like that for a moment before the sounds of the clones caught up with us. I swallowed my tears and carried on moving, heading for the nearest storage room I knew of. It contained droids that had been working in the temple for decades, their code made them loyal to the Jedi and the Jedi only. I tried not to think of what would happen to Grogu if Palpatine had found a way to tamper with them too. I just had to trust that the force would tell me if I was putting the little green guy in even more danger. It took far too long to get there as I tried twisting and turning through the endless hallways in an effort to lose the clones following me. It worked in a sense, forcing them to fall further behind and giving me more time to get Grogu away.

The closet was all but deserted when I finally found it. Only one droid remained in the corner. It was covered in a thick layer of dust and clearly hadn't been turned on in years but it would have to do. I knelt down beside it and pressed a few buttons until it sprung to life with a series of jolting beeps. Its head spun around a few times and then focused on me and it beeped again, awaiting instructions,
"I need you to listen to me very carefully. You are to take this child, you are to get him as far away from here as possible and you are to protect him from anyone who may come looking. The Jedi have fallen, he is not safe here anymore. You will do everything within your power and resources to keep him safe for as long as it takes me to find him again. Do you understand?" The droid beeped in agreement and two arms unfolded from within it, held out and waiting. I unwrapped Grogu from around my chest and folded him tightly into his blanket,
"I will find you little guy. I swear one day I will find you again." I laid him in the droids arms and stood up, wiping a tear off my cheek, "may the force be with you." The droid beeped, bowed slightly and took its leave. I followed behind and turned in the opposite direction, towards the oncoming troopers. I looked back only once at the retreating form of the droid and Grogu before making my way back into the heart of the temple to draw any wandering clones away from what little hope was left in my shattered family.

Adi'ka – little one