Quinlan Vos had experienced much in his thirteen years of life.
He was the padawan to Jedi Master Tholme.
He had grown up at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
He was friends with Obi-Wan Kenobi of all people and knew of the debacle that was his friends attempts to be chosen as a padawan.
He had gone on a few missions with his master, and they all turned out… well, not well, but they had all survived.
It was safe to say that he had seen a lot for a thirteen-year-old.
Coming to Ryloth shouldn't have been any different, however. Things had gone off the rails the moment they landed on the planet. There was a shift in the force that felt wholly unfamiliar, like someone had turned gravity off. There was also that pull he felt in the force, like it was trying to get him to go somewhere. A connection was made, one that felt similar to his own with Master Tholme.
It was this connection that led him, and his master for that fact, to meet with a group of ten mandalorians in white and gold armor, all of whom were in a defensive formation around a little Twi'lek girl.
The very same girl who seemed to sing into the force, the light all around her.
It got even weirder as both Quinlan and Master Tholme noticed that one of the mandalorians had a lightsaber on his belt.
There hadn't been a Mandalorian Jedi in a thousand years, the last one to Quinlan's knowledge being Tarre Vizsla himself.
So, what in the name of the force was going on?!
"Hold fast!" One of the mandalorians said.
It was the one with the lightsaber on his belt that spoke. The same one that had the little Twi'lek girl wrapped around one of his legs. The other mandalorians around him all had their blasters raised and were all aimed at Quinlan and Master Tholme.
His master had his lightsaber out and ignited but the mandalorian's shout stopped any further movement. Quinlan was still shocked that he hadn't even thought to take hold of his own lightsaber. That was probably for the better however, since they were now in what seemed like a Corellian Standoff.
"Lower your lightsaber jedi!" The mandalorian said.
"I will once you lower your blaster." Master Tholme said, his voice much smoother than the mandalorian's. The other man's voice sounded hoarse, like he had been crying recently, and a part of Quinlan couldn't help but wonder.
"You can't take her! We won't let you!" Another of the mandalorians said, and their formation tightened even further. The little girl in the center didn't seem at all scared however, and more curious than anything else.
"Good soldiers follow orders." Another mandalorian mumbled.
"We have no intention of taking anyone anywhere." Master Tholme said, and in one motion he deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt, his movements slow and clear to see.
The mandalorians didn't so much as react to it, their blasters still trained on both of them.
"If you speak true, then you'll step away and let us pass." The lead mandalorian as Quinlan was going to call him, said. One hand was on the little girl's head and the other holding a blaster pistol at them, the hand shaking slightly.
"We mean no violence." Master Tholme said. "If you have no intention of harming us, then we shall let you pass."
"Wait!" Quinlan didn't know why the word came out of his mouth, but it did, and everyone's attention was now on him, as well as several blasters.
"Padawan?" Master Tholme asked.
"I… I felt something in the force. A bond, it led us here," Quinlan said, and he looked over at the little Twi'lek, the one who was looking back at him with those hazel eyes, slightly too knowing hazel eyes. "to her."
"No, the general's not going anywhere with you." One of the mandalorians said, this one with a weapon that was half the size of Quinlan himself, a massive blaster that had multiple barrels on it, and all of them were pointed at him.
Then the words that the man had actually said processed. General? The mandalorian was referring to the child as a general? That didn't make any sense. The mandalorians didn't have a centralized military. They didn't recognize military ranks like that. Something was very wrong here.
Mandalorians also didn't carry lightsabers, yet one of them clearly was, so Quinlan guessed that today was a day of firsts.
"I sense that there might be a misunderstanding going on." Master Tholme said. "We do not intend to take the child from you. But it is clear that she is force-sensitive if my padawan was able to form a bond with her."
"That's impossible, the only one to do that was her jedi master, and you aren't Quinlan Vos." The lead mandalorian said, and Quinlan couldn't tell which one of them he was looking at, the man's mind was shielded very much like a jedi's was.
"But I am Quinlan Vos." Quinlan said. "And I'm also not a jedi master, I'm not even a knight yet."
He heard one of the mandalorians curse in what sounded like the mandalorian language, Mando'a if he was remembering his history lessons correctly.
"Impossible, that's not possible." One of the mandalorians muttered.
"Not impossible. After all the force osik we've been through this is more likely to be probable." Another said.
"So, you're actually saying that time travel is real?!" Another yelled.
"Time travel?" Master Tholme asked, more confused than anything else, and Quinlan was right behind him in that aspect.
"Osik, this entire situation is a cart full of osik." The lead mandalorian said, and he lowered his blaster, holstering it in the holster that was attached to his belt.
The young Twi'lek girl said something in Ryl that none of them understood. She tugged at the man's hand and spoke some more, but it was clear that no one understood anything she was saying. Actually, one of the mandalorians looked like he understood some of it, and he removed his helmet to reveal a human face and knelt down next to the girl.
His Ryl had an unknown accent, and the little girl happily babbled on to the first person that seemed to speak the same language as she did, and the tension of the situation quickly dissolved into something akin to unsteady easiness.
"She knows who we are commander." The mandalorian said and looked up at the mandalorian who the Twi'lek girl was still hugging at the leg. "She says that she… remembers. That she… that she forgives…"
"What?" Not a few of the mandalorians around them said, their helmeted heads swinging towards the little girl.
The lead mandalorian took his helmet off with unsteady hands. The helmet, all of them in fact, were not the standard mandalorian style. Quinlan also didn't recognize the style of armor they wore either and now he was starting to suspect that these men might not even be mandalorian at all.
The lead mandalorian, the commander, clipped his helmet to this belt and knelt down in front of the Twi'lek girl, there were tears in his eyes, and Quinlan felt uncomfortable watching this clearly private interaction. Master Tholme put a hand on his shoulder and they both took a couple steps back as words were exchanged amongst the maybe-mandalorians and the little Twi'lek.
Some words were spoken, translated, and then spoken again. More helmets were removed, and all of the men knelt down close to the commander and the Twi'lek. Quinlan noticed that they all looked very similar to each other. Familial resemblance was certainly strong in all of them, that was clear.
Though, he didn't have long to think to himself as the force rang out, in a bright light of acceptance. It emanated from the little Twi'lek, as well as the commander. Both of them were crying, and soon enough all the other men were crying as well. Quinlan felt tears coming to his own eyes, and he didn't understand why. He wasn't usually over emotional, and this scene was more confusing than anything.
This entire mission was confusing, and when he searched the force for answer, he came away with even more questions.
"I feel that we may need to spend a little longer on this planet than we first thought." Master Tholme said quietly.
Quinlan could only nod in agreement.
He certainly had questions for whatever was going on.
