Mandalorian Lost

Chapter 4

"Stop touching things."

I wake with a start and my eyes shoot open at the sound of Mando's gruff voice. When I look around, I spot Grogu leaning toward a button on the ship's wall. A grin tugs on the corners of my lips as I sense his amusement through the force. Mando sighs, the sound crackling against his voice modulator, as Grogu presses the button.

This time, the ship rattles and croaks. I grip the arm rests of my seat as Mando grabs the child and turns around to plop him on my lap. I huff out a breath at him, taking the child anyway.

"Good, you're up. We need somewhere to lay low. Maybe even find some information on the kid," he says bluntly. I blink a few times, rolling my shoulders. I can't believe I actually fell asleep at some point. I shouldn't have been sleeping. I should've been keeping an eye on the Mandalorian.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep," I murmur.

"How about Sorgan?" He asks, completely ignoring my statement. I sigh, leaning forward to look at the screen on the control panel between us.

"No star port, no industrial centers, no population density," I read aloud, humming to myself. "A real backwater skug hole."

"Which means it's perfect for us," Mando finishes, reaching a hand back to nudge Grogu. "You ready to lay low and stretch your legs for a couple months, you little womp rat?"

I'm about to scold him for calling the child names, but then my brain catches up to the rest of his statement. My jaw drops as my eyes widen into saucers. "A couple of months?" I gape, forcing him to move his gaze up to my face.

"You got a better idea? The whole Guild will be after the kid. Our best option is to lay low and hope that things start to blow over." He turns back around, punching in the coordinates for Sorgan. I shake my head.

I can't stay with him for months on end. It's already hard enough to stare into his stupid Mandalorian helmet every time we speak. He's a walking reminder of the life I left behind. Of the people I left behind.

"We can't wait for months," I insist, arguing with his back. He suddenly swings around in his seat, setting his piercing gaze on me.

"I didn't tell you to come along. That was your choice. You're welcome to leave and find another path when we land," he says, his voice hard. I purse my lips into a thin line and match the glare I'm imagining under that helmet.

I could leave them. No matter how sparsely populated the planet, you could always find someone with a ship. It wouldn't be hard to find my way back to Nevarro to get my ship and slip away quietly. I look down at Grogu. I got him out of the Empire's hands. Maybe that was all I needed to do.

Suddenly a wave of apprehension floods into me, rolling off the child in waves as he looks up at me. He's trying to get into my mind again. I block him out as gently as I can, not wanting to hurt him just for being curious. There's anger laced in his force presence from my resistance, causing me to frown. I still don't let him into my mind, but his anger sends me a sharp reminder that sends a shiver up my spine.

He is strong with the force. I sensed it when I first saw him. His power will only grow, and if that happens before the Mandalorian finds his home, he'll be taken into whatever House Mando belongs to. It's not exactly a secret that some of the surviving Mandalorians around the galaxy dream of one day retaking Mandalore. They're still a minority, as far as I know, but if they got their hands on a force sensitive child and took him in, they'd use him for his power.

They aren't any different from the Empire.

My eyes flick back up to Mando as we lurch out of hyperspace. He's busy easing the ship toward Sorgan, so he doesn't notice the small tears pricking my eyes. I don't trust Mandalorians. I don't trust him. If I leave, this kid has no defense against a life of serving someone else's interests. That's the life I was forced to live even before the Empire took me, and I can't stand by to let someone else be saddled with it.