Act 2: Chapter 10 - The Child (Part 3)
Theron and the child arrived at a cave entrance where the Egg is waiting to be taken. Of course, the Jawas didn't tell him what kind of egg he's looking for as he doesn't know what animal it is he'll have to get past.
The teen takes one look at the baby before he ventures into the cave alone, leaving the child waiting for the Jedi's return.
Inside the cave, Theron ignites his lightsaber and searches for the Egg. But upon looking, something begins moving in the darkness as a reptilian eye opens up and growling is heard. The Jedi turns around and he gasps in shock.
...
A few seconds later, the child hears blaster fire from inside the cave and Theron is seen flying out of the cave landing in the sandy ground hard yet again. Then, a large creature with fangs and a tail crawls out of the cave, roars loudly.
"A Krayt dragon?!" Theron questions to himself. "I thought they're native to Tatooine and are considered extinct! And they didn't tell me about the Egg being from that species?!""
His thoughts, however, were immediately interrupted when the dragon charges at him and attempts to claw him. Luckily, Theron dodges out of the way in time due to his former Jedi training. Realizing there's an easier way to defeat the dragon without resorting to violence, Theron closes his eyes reaches out with the Force to try and connect with it.
The beast takes huge steps toward him and looks on at what he's doing. Theron thinks that it's working. Unfortunately, he was caught off guard when the Krayt dragon opens its mouth up, and swallow him whole in an instant.
The child, meanwhile, witnessed the whole thing and didn't know what just happened. However, the dragon sniffs the air as it has gotten a lock on the infant's scent when the large beast turns its head toward the child. The creature then charges at it and prepares to eat the child when the latter itself does something to the dragon as it is stopped in place like it can no longer move. This didn't last as it completely exhausted the child and it fell asleep, releasing its Force hold on the Krayt dragon.
The dragon roars once again and re-attempts to eat the child. Suddenly, the dragon stops what its doing as it feels a huge stomach ache in its belly, and in the blink of an eye, the Krayt dragon explodes with mucus and organs scattered all over the ground. The cause of this was none other than Theron, who used his disintegrator to blast the dragon into nothingness and he's now covered in that same disgusting substance while carrying a strong stench on himself from being inside the dragon's stomach.
"Ugh..." He mutters in disgust while shaking the stomach mucus off of him. "Maybe I should vaporize the mind-resistant dragon outside of its stomach instead of trying to tame it with the Force next time."
He then sees the child still in the crib as it's sleeping from the usage of the Force that Theron is still unaware of.
"Little guy must've been tired from all that traveling." He thinks before shrugging to himself.
After sheathing his rifle, Theron notices shiny objects scattered on the sand. He immediately recognizes them as he starts drooling in awe.
They are Krayt dragon pearls. They're precious jewels only found inside of the dragons. And fun fact, they're another type of Kyber crystal for building a lightsaber.
Not wasting anytime, Theron quickly loots the pearls into a money pouch and tucks them away in one of his jacket's pockets.
"Now then, what was I doing earlier before I was so rudely interrupted?" He rhetorically wonders as he enters the cave once more.
...
The Jawas were beginning to get impatient with having the Egg and are anxious in just leaving, despite the Innkeeper's pleas in waiting a little bit longer for the boy's return with the prize.
The Innkeeper was right, and Theron finally came back with egg in his arms. The Jawas all scurry to him and he carefully hands the Egg to them. Their leaders raises it in the air as they chatter with excitement. And in one swoop, the leader chops the top of the Egg off and grabs the yellow yolk to eat it before offering the rest of the food to them, immediately grabbing more of the yolk for themselves to enjoy.
"Figures." Theron shakes his head in amusement and with disbelief before turning towards the Ithorian. "I'm surprised you didn't leave when I left to retrieve their food."
"I'm surprised you didn't take so long." He jokes before laughing. "And I take it the dragon didn't give it up so easily for you."
"Yeah, and I was swallowed whole in the process. Literally." Theron deadpans. "But other than that, I've managed to survive its stomach."
"Well you do have an interesting odor coming off of you after all."
"Ha ha. Very funny."
...
The ride back to the village was a quiet one. Sorta. R4 was so happy that Theron rescued him from the clutches of the Jawas trying to take him apart and sell him. The teen had to calm him down since the child is sleeping, earning questions from the astromech.
"No, no, no. No way! You can't be serious, meatbag!" R4 argues in disbelief.
"We can't just leave him here on this planet, R4! I no longer want to fight someone's wars, but that doesn't mean I should abandon the kid."
"Last I checked, none of us know how to babysit a member of Yoda's species since they're a complete enigma to both galaxies and humans have shorter lifespans. Not to mention, we don't know where their homeworld is exactly." The astro droid points out.
"Look, I get it." Theron sighs. "You don't want to babysit. I don't want to babysit. But until we can figure out where we can find his home planet in the Milky Way, he's coming back to Earth with us, whether you like it or not."
R4 grumbles and looks away, already done talking.
...
They finally reached the settlement with the Jedi's starfighter being towed in a cart.
"I can't thank you enough, old man." Theron thanks him as they get out of the landspeeder.
"Please, it is I who you should be thanking." The Ithorian says.
"Huh?"
"You and that bounty droid were able to bring peace to this land. And now that the bandits are gone, this town can now relax and breath a little more than it should have." He further elaborates.
"Then let me offer these Krayt dragon pearls for helping me get R4 and my ship back." Theron offers but the Innkeeper immediately declines.
"I cannot accept." He says. "You have earned those from your victory, you keep them. However, I can reward you with supplies that you may need for your continuous journey."
"Thank you, sir. That's very kind of you, but..." Theron hesitates as he looks back at his small ship. "I'm afraid my ship is a little too small to carry large supplies."
"Oh that shouldn't be a problem." The Ithorian casually waves his hand at him. "I've got the right ship for the job. And I think you'll be interested in this one."
Theron's head quickly turns back to him with interest and curiosity onto what the Innkeeper is talking about.
...
On the other side of the small town, the Innkeeper brings Theron to a large shed that houses the ship. Sliding the doors open, Theron gets a good look at the appearance of the ship.
It is a Corellian-sized freighter roughly resembled Aurebesh sigil minus the inward curves at the ends of the outer prongs, with the center prong flush with them, and with a concave curve to the vertical line. Visualizing the open side as the bow, theship's mass filled out the stern to the shape's midpoint and left only a small prong on the starboard side. The starboard mass contained a deployable turret that would extend from the ship's ventral side, and on the port and starboard sides were two more turret emplacements.
"A Dynamic-class freighter." Theron mutters in disbelief. "They were decommissioned after the end of the Jedi Civil War, and the only existing one of these babies is-."
"The Ebon Hawk." The Innkeeper finishes the boy's sentence. "And you're literally looking at the one and only."
"What?!" Theron and R4 exclaimed in shock.
"This is THE Legendary Ebon Hawk that Revan piloted?!" Theron questions as he recognizes the worn down white and red paint job. "But I thought this baby was scrapped centuries ago on Dromund Kaas."
"Remember when I mentioned a descendant of Revan that led the Jedi in this galaxy?" The Ithorian reminds him.
"Yeah, so?" Theron shrugs before he realizes something. "Wait, are you saying that he found and recovered the Prodigal Knight's vessel sometime after the death of the Immortal Emperor?"
"That's right." He nods in confirmation. "After his passing, one of his children gave my family this ship to hide until it could be used again. Unfortunately, after the Jedi disbanded and left this galaxy, the Ebon Hawk no longer got out as it use to. But it's still the fastest ship in the entire Galaxy."
"I can't believe it." Theron mutters with excitement. "We are looking at a piece of galactic history. Oh, my master would've loved to see his ancestor's prized ship."
"I'm sure he would be proud of you in finding it, meatbag." R4 beeps.
"Yes, he would've." The Jedi sadly smiles before changing the topic with excitement yet again. "But hey! With a lick of new paint and some further modifications to this old hunk of junk, she'll be fast and strong again like the old days."
"True that, meatbag." R4 chirps in agreement. "True that."
...
10 minutes have passed, and Theron and R4 have finished loading up the last of the supplies into the Ebon Hawk's cargo hold with some help from the Innkeeper and HK-47. After that, Theron and HK walk down the ramp of the ship as they're now outside of it.
"I could use someone like you, HK." Theron offers. "Someone by my side in bounty hunting."
"Statement: I am honored, meatbag. But I am needed elsewhere in the Milky Way, sadly. There are other bounties I must complete for the Guild."
"Well, if you ever need help, you know how to contact me." Theron shrugs before handing him his frequency number.
"Until our paths cross?" HK asks with an offered hand.
Theron grips it tightly and grins.
"Till our paths cross." He answers before letting go of his hand.
HK nods as he steps away to allow the Ithorian to speak.
"Thanks again for all that you've done here."
"Hey, it's no problem at all old man."
"Please, call me Bob." The Innkeeper known as Bob asks to call him by his name.
"Okay, Bob." Theron nods as they handshake.
"If you're looking for a place to lay low or for more supplies, then this town's doors will always be open to you and your droid."
"Thank you." Theron bows in respect.
"Ready to go, meatbag?" R4 asks him.
"Yeah. Let's go home." The Jedi nods as he begins walking up the ramp.
"And good luck with the child, kid! May it bring you happiness and prosperity to your adventures, and survive." Bob shouts.
"I will." Theron promises. "May the Force be with you."
"And you."
Smiling, Theron heads inside as the ramp of the ship closes up.
...
[The Next Journey - The Mandalorian OST plays]
Theron wastes no time in sitting in the cockpit's pilot seat with the child sleeping in his crib behind the teen's seat on the right.
"Alright, baby. Let's see what you can do." He mutters to himself as he starts up the ship's main engines.
The thrusters come to life as they glow blue and the shed's ceiling opens up as the Ebon Hawk levitates in the air, closing up the landing gear back inside.
Looking outside of the cockpit's viewport, Theron sees Bob waving and HK raising his blaster up in the air as a farewell salute. Theron returns it with his trademark finger salute.
And like that, the Ebon Hawk finally takes off after thousands of years for being stored up in a shed. Theron then checks on the child and shakes the crib to wake him up. Unfortunately, he's still asleep.
Shrugging, Theron goes back to flying the ship as the Ebon Hawk has already exit Argos's orbit. He then sees R4 piloting the Jedi starfighter and docks with the hyperspace ring.
"See ya soon, Theron." R4 beeps over on the Hawk's comms.
"You too, bud." Theron chuckles as he enters the calculations to make the jump into hyperspace towards Earth.
The Jedi then sees R4 and the small fighter jump into hyperspace, knowing that he'll be alright going home separately on another ship. Meanwhile, the child slowly wakes up, cooing. Theron didn't turn around, but he then smiles that he's up.
With the calculations finished, Theron then grips on the lever.
"Prepare for lightspeed." He says to himself.
Pushing the lever forward, the stars get brighter as the child gets to see his first hyperspace jump ever. And like that, the Ebon Hawk vanishes into the stars.
It's going to be one long journey back to Earth.
...
Back on Argos...
The pile of dead bandits lie over the abandoned camp as a shadow overlooks them. Black leather boots stop walking as the mysterious figure crouches down and inspects them, touching one of corpses.
"He's been here. It looks like the reports from PT- 3571 were right after all."
To be continued...