Mandalorian Revived

Chapter 18

Everything is...incomplete. I am a child on Mandalore sitting across from Pre Vizsla. I am an Inquisitor for the Empire. I am...nothing else. Only that. I serve the Empire. I hunt down and destroy any threat to the power of the Emperor. I hunt the Jedi. I am an Inquisitor.

A flash of bright, white light fills my vision before I'm yanked forward. My breath leaves me in one sharp gasp as my body is pulled upright. My eyes are heavy as I open them. In front of my face is a Mandalorian wearing silver beskar. Anger boils in my veins at the sight of a Mandalorian warrior. He cradles my face and speaks hurriedly. My hearing is still muffled. I can't make out his words. His hands come away from my face and start frantically pulling at the restraints on my arms and legs.

As soon as I'm free I sweep my leg out and kick him in the neck. He falls to his knees just as sound comes roaring back into my ears. I can feel the force again too. I use it to lift him up and throw him into the nearest wall. Just as I'm about to choke this Mandalorian and finish him off, a mechanical hand grabs my wrist and tightens painfully.

"No. No. No. No."

I look at the source of the hand and robotic voice. Well...nothing could have prepared me for that. It's a little green child—a species I've never seen in my life—sitting inside some kind of modified IG droid. He spams a button on the droid, which produces the objection he keeps repeating.

"Alright, alright, let go!" I snap. He releases my wrist and I cradle it with my other hand, glaring at the strange child. The Mandalorian slowly pulls himself to his feet and rushes toward me. I step back and press myself against the side of the bed I was on. "Come any closer and I'll kill you, Mandalorian."

He freezes. "What?" Then his head turns sharply to the side and I follow his gaze. A doctor is cowering on the ground. I didn't even notice him before. "What did you do to her?" The Mandalorian's voice is low and dangerous.

The doctor shakes his head, still shrinking in on himself. "I...I...I only followed orders. The process is incomplete because you pulled her out of it."

The Mandalorian grabs the doctor by the collar of his shirt and yanks him up to his helmet. "What. Did. You. Do?"

The doctor whimpers. "That's a Mind Flayer, sir."

The Mandalorian drops the doctor and seems to go limp for a moment before he returns to himself. He looks at me again through his helmet. "Tara..."

"How do you know my name?" I narrow my eyes on him. "Who are you?"

He takes a hesitant step closer. "Din Djarin. You know me, Tara Vizsla."

My eyebrow raises. "I do not. I pride myself in not knowing any Mandalorians, thank you very much." I scan the room for anything familiar. It feels Imperial, and the doctor's uniform is Imperial, but nothing sparks recognition. I look back at the Mandalorian. "Now how do you know my full name?"

He takes another cautious step. "Because I know you," his voice softens. He holds out a placating hand like I'm some wild animal. "Because I love you."

I let out an abrupt laugh, but it's more out of shock than any kind of amusement. "I don't think so." I reach for the saber on my belt, but the familiar circular Inquisitor hilt isn't there. Nothing's there. My gaze flicks to the doctor on the ground. "You. What's going on here? Where's my lightsaber?"

The doctor pushes himself up to his elbows unevenly. "Miss Vizsla—"

"Don't call me that. Ever."

"Of course." He raises his hands in surrender. "You were...your weapons are being kept in storage."