Disclaimer: I made the Bo-Din fanart but otherwise, I own nothing here.

Take my Hand

AN: Ok, I have to admit to something. This whole thing with the Armorer made sense in my head at first, but when analyzed more closely, it just doesn't hold water. So whoever came here for a satisfying answer... Ha. Sorry? xD

Negotiations


"Can we make this quick?" Koska hissed into the storage room, a hand on the comm of her "borrowed" white helmet. "There's suddenly a lot of chatter on the comms."

Din continued to glare at the Armorer, though he forced himself to relax and nodded at Axe and Bo.

They released him cautiously and, after sharing a look with Bo, Axe maneuvered his way back outside.

"Let's hear her out?" Bo suggested, her right hand curling into his left, as if to comfort him. He turned to focus on her briefly, brown eyes mating with green.

With everything they had been through together in the past few months, the past few days, even if he trusted no one else, he trusted Bo.

"Fine." Din released a relenting sigh and turned back to his former matriarchal leader. "Speak," he heard himself choke out. The pain of betrayal from someone he had trusted so absolutely felt like a knife twisting in his chest.

The Armorer raised her head, seeming to meet Din's gaze head on until she shifted to meet Bo's. "I thought I could save my tribe by offering yours up as a scapegoat. But then... at some point, I changed my mind." She paused, her voice wavering slightly, as if remembering the instance but was unable to voice it.

Her visor turned back to Din. "However, it was too late to back out, so I had to play both sides until I found an opening."

"How can we trust you?" Din questioned, feeling as though the notion was impossible. She could still be playing both side for all they knew.

"What could I gain from re-arming you?" The Armorer countered with a slight tip of her head. "From standing before you now, when you could easily strike me down?"

"She has a point," Bo put in and gave his hand a small squeeze. "And we stand a better chance with her help."

Din huffed in frustration; although his anger had abated, the ache in his chest was still there. "How can you forgive her so easily?"

"Because I know she's important to you," Bo said softly, green eyes flitting between him and the woman in question. Her expression was distant and brimming with emotion when she added solemnly, "and everyone deserves a second chance."

Din watched her quietly for a moment, realizing she was probably reliving her own past mistakes.

The Armorer had been a pillar of support and guidance for him for as long as he could remember, correcting him whenever he had made his mistakes. It stood to reason that she would make one herself at some point.

He gave Bo's hand a grateful, comforting squeeze in return. "You're right."

The smile she gave him was somehow both wry and relieved, as if she hadn't expected him to agree but immensely enjoyed hearing those words.

"If you guys are done," Koska spoke up, hand to comm distractedly. "Troops are being rerouted for some kind of ground assault."

"Don't tell me they've landed," the Armorer muttered to herself, sounding incredulous.

Din was instantly suspicious and stepped forward. "Who? What's really going on out there?"

The Armorer hesitated for an instant, but ultimately seemed to decide not to withhold anything else from him. "Your N-1 starfighter has been wreaking havoc on the base and destroying any fighters sent out to deal with it. Moments ago, another ship arrived and decimated the remaining TIEs."

All at once, Din felt his heart clench up as he was struck with realization. "Grogu..."

"But that's impossible!" Bo insisted. "I handed him directly to Karga..."

Din nodded in agreement, yet somehow, he knew the kid was involved in some way. "Grogu isn't able to fly the ship on his own."

"Hey, are we gonna stand around here all day?" Axe grumbled from the doorway. "I'd like to change back into my armor, if it's all the same to you."

"Having an escort will serve little purpose as soon as anyone sees your armor," the Armorer agreed. She led Din and Bo out of the small room, allowing Koska and Axe inside to scramble out of their stolen trooper gear and back into their familiar black and blue armor.

It was oddly vacant outside in the hallway as Din shared a determined nod with Bo and they both finally donned their helmets. The three of them tensed up, hands shifting to weapons, when a squad of troopers jogged by at the intersection at the end of the hall.

"What's the plan, then?" Din rumbled, suddenly feeling back in his element again.

"Although unexpected, the N-1 has proven a welcome distraction," the Armorer explained. She turned to Din with a steady look before tapping her vambrace and causing a holomap to appear. "Gideon has clones in this chamber."

She allowed for that information to sink in for a beat, Din and Bo were very still in response, before she continued, "It is well guarded. I need the four of you to infiltrate and destroy them."

Din pressed a control on his own vambrace to copy the map. "What about you?" He told himself he was less concerned about her welfare and more so suspicious of her designs.

"I will deal with the moff," the Armorer nearly growled. "Killing Paz was his final mistake."

Din glanced to Bo, thinking she would lay claim to Gideon's life, but she was surprisingly silent. She seemed to think it over, then complied, nodding slowly.

"Won't he suspect you though?" Bo asked as she glanced up to a camera overhead.

"It matters very little at this point," the Armorer replied cryptically. "I have many contingencies in place."

Din studied that gold helmet for a beat, attempting to read deeper into what she was saying. Something in her tone made him think she had no intention of returning from her assignment alive.

Although he had been incited to violence mere moments ago, he had never sought her death. Suddenly, the concept gave him pause.

Memories flashed through his mind, times when she provided structure and comfort after he lost his parents. And again, when his adoptive father died. He had to believe that her support during those trials had been genuine. He wanted to believe that she truly cared for her tribe, for the foundlings.

With uncanny accuracy, she seemed to know his thoughts. "When one chooses to walk the Way of the Mandalore, you are both hunter and prey."

For reasons beyond his comprehension, Din felt his throat clamp up, yet he forced out the phrase expected of him. "This is the way."


Ragnar couldn't deal with the guilty feeling he got as he watched his fellow foundling toddle back into the hallway towards the bridge, his big, green ears drooping in an obvious pout.

Peli was in no shape to help the critter. She appeared to be recovering from her motion sickness, but still looked unsteady as she stood up.

Ragnar wasn't feeling so great himself, but the creeping guilt wasn't helping either. With a dramatic sigh, he pushed off from the railing and caught up with his accomplice. "No use pouting about it," he told him as he stooped to pick him up. "Best to just apologize and get the lecture over with."

Grogu sputtered in reply, but added a little cooing noise to indicate his appreciation for the support. "Don't get used to it," Ragnar grumbled and tensed as he stepped onto the bridge.

That gold protocol droid was on the floor between the four passenger seats, flailing his arms and legs helplessly, as if he had been tossed about during the unceremonious landing. "I'm terribly sorry sir, but I just wasn't built for this kind of excitement."

Honestly, Ragnar had completely forgot he existed, though he wasn't above helping the pathetic robot back into an upright position. "Ah, thank you, young sir."

Greef was in the pilot's chair, having totally ignored his droid's peril. Before he could spin around to regard the kids, however, his console started beeping and he quickly answered it.

Ragnar recognized the figure and voice as the man that had ordered him to beat it into the freighter earlier. "Why the hell did you land?"

"That critter sabotaged my controls!" Greef grumbled back. "Everything's locked up. I'll have to wait for the whole system to restart."

"Well, lucky for you, the enemy doesn't seem to have any automated surface defenses or cannons," the other man replied. "Since we're here anyway, and the enemy's air support seems depleted, my team will scout ahead to determine their ground forces."

Ragnar moved closer to the viewport as that oddly shaped, green-red ship came into sight and landed nearby. "You stay here and guard the ships."

"And keep a sharp eye on those kids!" a woman's voice added, alongside a low, guttural growl that Ragnar recognized as a Wookiee noise, just before the comm cut out.

Greef sighed out with what seemed like one part relief and two parts exhaustion.

"Was that Fett?" Peli wanted to know as she wandered in with that little BD unit clinging to her shoulder; her gaggle of lanky, bipedal droids and R5 must have stayed behind in the bay to work on the N-1.

"Yes," the man grumbled, his mood instantly souring in response to her presence.

Still holding Grogu, Ragnar glanced down when the toddler chirped curiously at Peli, as though she somehow solved all his problems. He raised one little green hand towards her and closed his eyes, as if concentrating. Little freak! The older boy sneered but disregarded his antics to focus on the discussion between the adults.

"So what's the plan?" Peli prodded. "Are we getting' outta here or-" her question died off abruptly and she tilted her head like she was briefly confused for a moment. Then, like a light switch, her tone completely changed, along with any notion of self-preservation. "Are we goin' in? You got weapons? A shame Fett didn't bring his Rancor."

"Certainly not!" Greef barked, almost with incredulous laughter. "We were told to wait right here and that's what we're doing."

"Oh don't be such a fraidee-frog!" Peli yammered back, hands on hips. "Mando needs our help!"

"Look, I don't like it much either, but Fett's in charge here," Greef snapped back and finally stood from his chair to cross his arms stubbornly. "And neither of us are soldiers. We wouldn't last two seconds against a squad of troopers, especially without a plan."

Peli huffed, seeming to take offense to something he said. "Hey, this might be my first trip off that sand ball, but I can shoot a blaster!"

"You can get hit by one too," Greef muttered, though Ragnar just barely heard him and couldn't contain a snort.

He regretted making any noise at all as the man's stern attention shifted to him and Grogu, specifically Grogu. "As for you, you son of a gundark, you really did it this time..."

"Wait a second!" Peli exclaimed suddenly, making everyone's gaze swivel back to her. "What did you just say?"

"I said-"

"Never mind, lemme think!" She flapped a bothered hand at him as she started to pace, seemingly in deep thought before snapping her fingers suddenly. "I've got it!"

Ragnar glanced over to Greef, wondering if he would prompt an explanation, but the man was openly glaring at the mechanic. "Got what?" the boy finally asked, genuinely curious. Peli was strange and frankly, well, probably insane, but she was entertaining too.

"Oh, you'll see." The woman chuckled, hand to chin in thought as she eyed Grogu with a suspicious glint in her eyes. "Yeah, this should work great..." She rounded on Greef with a peculiar authority. "Hey grumps, you got any more fancy capes?"

Ragnar watched with mild curiosity as Greef's expression seemed to twitch, like he wanted to argue about the cheeky nickname but chose not to waste his energy. "Why?" the magistrate asked, prolonging the word with no small amount of wariness.

"Yes or no?"

Ragnar glanced between them as they seemed to initiate a staring contest, until finally, Greef broke the stalemate with a tired sigh. "GZ," he grumbled and pushed a button on the console, effectively opening the bridge doors and just beyond them, the door to his cabin.

"Yes sir?" the droid replied immediately.

"Show the lady to my wardrobe," Greef ordered, sounding like he was being forced to sell something he prized a great deal.

"But sir!" GZ argued. "I'm not sure that's entirely proper!"

"Yeah, I know," Greef practically growled in aggravation and sat back down to massage his temples, as if he had a bad headache. "Just- Just do as I say." After GZ relented and led Peli into the other chamber, the magistrate added under his breath, "Whatever it takes to make her stop talking."

Ragnar wanted to follow and see what sort of madness she was concocting, but he felt it was smarter to just take a seat. Grogu on the other hand, cooed with interest and hopped out of his hold to trail after the woman.

Since the cabin wasn't far from the bridge, Greef called a belated warning. "I don't know what you have planned, but you get to pick one cape, understand?"

The woman made some kind of incoherent, snide reply, followed by a string of chiding remarks from the protocol droid, which was most likely ignored.

"Ah-ha! This'll do nicely," Peli's voice rang out in triumph. The distinctive rip sound that followed instantly had Greef on his feet and GZ wailing in horror.

"She didn't!" the man thundered and stormed for his cabin, clearly furious. Ragnar was glad to be out of the way, since he probably would have been trampled.

That didn't stop him from following cautiously in order to watch the chaos unfold.

Greef hardly cleared the doorway when he froze, speechless with an appalled, livid expression. Ragnar peered around him to see a number of capes and other fancy looking clothes strewn about on the floor, with GZ making a sorry attempt at picking each article up.

The cabin looked like it might have been spotless and tidy before Peli had been let loose inside. "Woman," Greef rumbled dangerously, his fists shaking at his sides. "Do you have any sense of decorum? Any at all?"

"Nah, I've got along without it just fine," Peli replied with another bothered flap of a hand. Her other hand was holding up an especially fluffy, brown cape, or at least, a piece of what was once a cape.

Completely oblivious to Greef's fury, she worked at tying the fabric around Grogu's neck, as if she were dressing him up for some kind of circus act.

The child chortled at her curiously while she studied his appearance carefully for a moment "Hmm, we need some color..." She glanced to Greef distractedly. "You got any red facepaint stashed away somewhere?"

"Now see here!" Greef rumbled crossly and aimed a pointed finger at her. "I may have a penchant for nice clothes but I'm not so vain so as to-"

"Ok! Alright!" Peli cut him off with raised hands to diffuse his rant, only to ask another, ridiculous question. "What about spice?"

"I beg your pardon?" Greef's tone implied he was reaching the limits of his very tattered patience.

"Granted," Peli deadpanned, clearly not picking up on the phrase or his ire. "Now answer the question."

Greef appeared to grind his teeth, just barely reigning in his temper. "Yes, medical grade, but-"

"So it's non-toxic." It wasn't a question but it may as well have been.

"Yes..," Greef answered again, very carefully. In fact, Ragnar got the sense that he wanted very much to push the woman in a closet and lock the door. "What is this about?"

"I have an idea, weren't you paying attention?" Without waiting for an answer, she moved back to the wardrobe and started opening every storage panel she could see.

Greef finally sighed in defeat while pinching the bridge of his nose; that headache must really be bothering him. "Farthest panel on the right," he supplied and swept out of the room, appearing completely done with the entire situation. "Do what you want, just stay on the ship!"

"Yeah, yeah," Peli called back, her tone oozing insolence. "Ah-ha! Here we go." Ragnar drew closer as she opened the panel and pulled out a sealed, clear container full of red powder. "Ok kid, hold your breath for a minute, gotta give you a new paint job."

Grogu chortled again, then seemed to obey with a nod. Ragnar didn't think to seal his helmet before the whole room exploded with a red dust cloud. All three of them were hacking and coughing until it settled.

"There we go!" Peli exclaimed proudly despite the strained tears in her eyes and having nearly choked to death.

By the time Ragnar had recovered enough to see Grogu all covered from ear to toe in red powder, Peli had moved on to her next goal. She turned to the little droid on her shoulder. "Alright, BD, you still have that modified vocabulator module?"

The little droid chirped excitedly, then released a horrible screech from somewhere inside his flat-square head. "Ah, Krayt Dragon, nice," Peli said, squinting. "Bigger than I had planned, but good energy."

She continued to rummage through panels in search of something else, then stopped to look around the cabin with a careful scrutiny. "Now if I were stashing a blaster somewhere..." Her gaze fell on a desk in one corner. Before Ragnar knew what was going on, the mechanic had an old DT-57 in her hands and was headed straight for him, or rather, the doorway.

GZ was the first to voice his concerns. "I must protest! That item is an antique and is off limits!"

"I'm fine with that, protest all you want," Peli replied and called over her shoulder. "Come on kid, time to go!" She gave Ragnar a careful look and an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "You too Rags, keep up or keep quiet."

Ragnar opened his mouth to give his own protests but then clamped it shut again; she was crazy and she had a blaster, best not to upset her. He nodded and she smiled as she strode into the hallway, pausing only to check Greef's location in the bridge.

"I don't want to know!" Greef growled from his pilot's seat when GZ tried to get his attention. "Just keep it down!"

"But sir!"

With Grogu waddling at Peli's heels (in all his red, fluffy glory), Ragnar followed them to the exit hatch, but froze when it popped open to reveal a wasteland of green glass and crystal.

"Hey!" Greef's roar made him flinch, but Peli and Grogu were gone a second later. He could have followed them, but instead he hung his head and planted his feet. He still felt guilty for being party to causing this mess in the first place.

Also, what Peli was doing was simply madness. At least in the N-1 they had been faster than the enemy. On the ground, with no armor, a single blaster and no training, she was as good as dead.

At least Grogu had his freakish powers; he might survive.

"What are they doing!?" Greef shouted, stomping over to him with such an intensity, it was as if the whole planet were about to blow. "I told them to stay on the ship!" He leaned out of the hatch but the wayward pair was already out of sight. "Argh!"

The man paced in a circle for a frantic moment, slapped a hand over his forehead in dismay, then gave a slow, agonizing nod. He placed both hands on his hips and regarded the boy with a cursory scrutiny, as if taking stock of what he had to work with. "I know you're just a kid, but you're also a Mandalorian. What weapons do you know?"

Ragnar tipped his head, suddenly wishing his dad had started his blaster training early. "I know how to fire darts."


AN: I feel like this has turned into "The Ragnar-Grogu adventures" with Bo-Din on the side...(Or should I say Peli/Greef? snort) Oh well. xD