Chapter Text
“Mando.”
Din glared at the hologram of Moff Gideon from under his helmet. “What do you want, Gideon?” He’d already taken the kid. He’d already taken the Razor Crest . What else could the Moff want from him? His covert? His kriffing helmet?
“No need for hostility. I have excellent news.”
He heard Cara’s derisive laugh behind him and remembered his crew. He still had them, at least. Gideon’s Imps hadn’t taken them from him— yet. “Doubtful.”
“Don’t be. Recently, my contacts heard rumors of two Jedi who were discovered. No one knows where they come from, or who they are— but if my contacts are correct, the two of them are ten times more powerful than the Child. And my contacts are always correct. So I have a deal for you, Mando.”
“We’re not interested in anything you have to offer,” Boba growled, assuming a defensive stance to Din’s right.
“Oh, I wasn’t talking to you, Fett.” Din could practically feel the surprise radiating off of Boba, similar to his own shock. The Moff had known him and Cara from past interactions, but he’d never met Boba— and he’d somehow been able to identify the man even without his legendary armor.
Evidently he’d taken the time to scope out Din’s new crew, meaning the prize he was after was far from the usual client requests of petty criminals and unsettled debts. Just how powerful were these Jedi he was looking for?
“Yes,” Gideon continued, “I know all of you. No need to be surprised, Shand.” Fennec took a step back. “I’ll have to admit, I thought you were gone. But it seems you’ve once again outfoxed death. Now, back to my deal: I have something you want. The Child. And out there in the galaxy is something that I want. The two force-sensitives. Jedi, to you. Unfortunately, neither of us can get what we want right now. My ship is too well-guarded for you to even hope to breach it, and none of my troops have been able to track down the Jedi.”
“And?” Din wasn’t sure if he liked where this was going, but if it meant he got Grogu back… hell, he would’ve torn the entire galaxy apart to be reunited with the little womp rat.
“My offer is simple: you capture the Jedi, and bring them to me, to use to power the Dark Troopers. And I give you the Child.”
“And if we don’t agree to this?”
Gideon laughed, a sound that made Din shiver in his armor a little. He pulled a silver object from his pocket and held it out to them. A sword hilt, Din realized. The Darksaber . “If you don’t, the Child dies.”
This was no deal.
They had to accept.
He wasn’t going to lose Grogu again, in a much more permanent way this time.
“I’ll do it.”
“I knew you’d see sense.” Gideon tucked the Darksaber away, tone so casual that Din wanted to scream at him. But he forced himself to remain calm, taking a few breaths before speaking again, thankful his helmet modulator kept his voice even.
“Did your contacts say anything else? Any descriptions?”
“You should receive the transmission of the images they managed to find right…about...now.”
One of the Firespray’s many datascreens began to buzz, notifying them that they’d just gotten the pictures. Fennec stepped over to the datapad, never turning her back on the holo of Moff Gideon, and tapped the screen a few times. She nodded to Din, mouthing the words got it.
“That’s all?”
“It would seem so.” Gideon surveyed each of them in turn, his eyes finding Din last.
“This is the way.”