After a long day of welcoming the Mandalorians from Salinius, Bo-Katan finally sipped on a cocktail at Club Insomnia. The comlink in her helmet crackled.
"Bo-Katan, come in!" Din sounded tense.
"I thought you went to bed." She jested in reply.
"All of Sundari is rigged to blow. Evacuate everyone to the tunnels, now!"
Bo-Katan's hand trembled slightly. She set down her cocktail. "Excuse me?"
"Every building—the dome—the whole city is covered in chantarum." Din replied. "We're under attack."
Bo-Katan hesitated, stunned by what Din had just said, caught between the carefree celebration of the party, and the terrifying danger that Din had just revealed to her.
"Do you copy?" Din urged. "No way to know when this is going to blow. Get everyone in the tunnels, now!"
"I copy." Bo-Katan confirmed. "Go to the palace and send out a holo to warn anyone that might not be here at the party." She directed.
"This is the way." A grave solemnity carried in Din's reply.
"This is the way." Bo-Katan recited out of respect. She stared into the club's crowd blankly, overwhelmed.
"What's wrong?" Axe asked as he turned from a jovial conversation with friends.
"We're under attack." Bo-Katan nearly whispered. She moved almost robotically, yet gracefully, across the dance floor to Amberlyn.
"Are we—breaking a rule?" Amberlyn asked, ruefully gazing at Bo-Katan's grim expression.
"No." Bo-Katan spoke as calmly as she could. "I need to make an announcement."
Amberlyn faded the music. All eyes turned towards Bo-Katan who stood at the edge of the dance floor, her red hair and her beskar armor glistening in the light of a spotlight. "I ask everyone's full attention and calm cooperation." She demanded "Nuclear explosives have been discovered throughout Sundari. As a precaution, proceed calmly and immediately to the undercity tunnels."
Shocked silence fell over the room then gave way to panicked murmuring as Mandalorians clustered at the club exits to flee to the tunnels.
Din's steps seemed to echo louder across the throne room's fine tile floor, or maybe he just noticed them more now that he realized that the palace would likely soon be gone. As Din sat on his throne he appreciated the solidity of it. He leaned forward, his vambraces clinking against the beskar that guarded his thighs as he thought about what to say— about how to warn his people of imminent destruction. He set his holoprojector to record.
Mandalorians, we are under attack. Sundari has been rigged with explosives. By order of the Mand'alor, all are to take shelter in the undercity tunnels immediately. Mandalorians always survive. This is the way.
Din ended the broadcast and wandered to the palace balcony, belittling himself for his lack of eloquent words to speak to his people. Apartment lights blinked on as those that had been sleeping rose to flee, and blinked off as they left their homes behind.
In the streets, the last of Sundari's citizens straggled towards the tunnels. Din turned on the sensors in his helmet again. The city lit up with red dots of chantarum as if it had been the most elaborate Life Day decoration in the Galaxy. The entirety of the city was covered in explosives, except for one neighborhood.
"Huh." Din huffed in curiosity.
Grogu squeaked a question, peering up at his father.
"Over there." Din explained with a general gesture towards the dark patch he'd seen on the skyline. "No bombs over there. Let's see what's going on."
As Din scanned the streets, surveying the chantarum that threatened Sundari, Grogu's pram drifted behind him. The kid kept alert for any threats, aware that something in the city wasn't right, and attuned to a vague disturbance in the Force.
Just ahead, the display on Din's visor went from indicating splotches of red to nighttime darkness. A shadowed, hooded figure moved in the middle of the road. A spray of red lit up Din's sensors as the figure cast chantarum from a box they carried. The metallic pellets melted and slithered to their targets.
Grogu let out a low growl.
"Hey!" Din shouted.
Luke Skywalker spun around. He guided the box of chantarum to the ground with the Force. He ignited his lightsaber. "Stay out of this, Mando!"
Din's hand instinctively went for his blaster.
Blaster would be no use against a lightsaber.
He fumbled for the Darksaber and ignited its blade.
"Skywalker! What are you doing?" Din demanded.
"It's time for Mandalore to end!" Luke sneered. With a flick of his wrist, the box of chantarum hurtled down the street, spilling its contents, the tendrils of explosive power spreading to their targets.
"You will stop this." Din demanded, taking an enraged step towards the Jedi.
Grogu squealed in horror.
Luke's eyes blazed with insanity illuminated by the green energy of his blade. He rushed the Mandalorian. Lightsaber blades locked and crackled. Din's confusion at Luke's betrayal angered him more. Rage fueled the Darksaber blade and Din parried the Jedi's attack. Luke charged again. Din blasted his flamethrower, stopping Skywalker short. Reflexively, Luke Force pushed Din, sending him slamming into the duracrete surrounding a tunnel entrance.
Crazed, Luke ran at the downed Mandalorian, his lightsaber high above his head.
Scared for his father, Grogu reached towards his master and curled his hand. Luke faltered and stopped. He clawed at his neck. He shut off his saber and clawed and flailed with his other hand as well. Luke's eyes rolled back into his skull and he crumpled to the ground unconscious.
Din pulled himself up with a grunt. He regarded Skywalker sprawled senseless in the street and continued to Grogu's pram.
"What was that all about?" Din wondered.
Grogu whined anxiously in the direction of Luke.
"You took care of it, good job." Din commended him.
The baby whined again, he swiped his claw at Din, in a desperate bid for his dad's attention.
Din looked around at the now deserted city. Buildings stood dark and empty. The city had grown silent as most Mandalorians had already evacuated to the tunnels.
"Time to go" Din said. With a wave of his hand, the pram followed him towards the tunnel.
Grogu shrieked as the pram pulled away from his fallen master.
"Bud, it's not safe out here." Din admonished. "Luke did this. I'm leaving him."
Grogu stretched out his three fingers. He projected into Din's mind what the Force had been showing him, that Luke was mind controlled, a victim of a much larger dark side plot.
Din sighed as he gazed down on the unconscious Jedi. "Ok, I'll take him, but I'm closing your pram, it's not safe out here."
With a tap of his vambrace, Din closed the beskar blast doors on the pram, shielding his son, just in case. He balled the fabric of the front of Luke's robe into his fist, and shielded the Jedi against his chest, just in case. Din Djarin grunted with effort as he trudged for the tunnel, Grogu's closed pram drifting beside him, Luke's limp form dragging awkwardly beneath him.
A brilliant light shone from behind. Crackling in the distance crescendoed into booms which grew into a deafening roar. A blast of hot wind like a million fiery knives slammed Din into the ground.
Din scrambled back to his feet, still shielding Luke. Everything had gone dark, the only light coming from the glowing embers and widespread fires from what was left of Sundari. The feeling of scalding knives faded to a tingling on Din's skin everywhere his beskar didn't cover. As ashen remains of Sundari fell like snow, the taste of metal filled Din's mouth.
Din rushed into Sundari's tunnels. Thick darkness enveloped him as he followed the ramp downwards. Now surrounded by the safety of duracrete, Din grunted as he hefted Skywalker over his shoulder. Somewhere in the distance, panicked shouts bounced off the walls. Din flicked on the headlamp on his helmet and followed the sound.
Helmet headlamps and small lanterns cast an eerie glow about a cavernous disused subterranean hangar. Mandalorians huddled together, taking shelter from the nuclear wasteland above that their homes had become. At last assessing that the immediate threat had passed, Din tapped his vambrace. The blast doors covering Grogu's pram parted. The baby looked to his father with tearful eyes, his ears hanging low in fear and sorrow.
Having an impression of the gravity of the matters at hand, Grogu repressed the terror of seeing his father covered in toxic soot, carrying his unconscious master, all because of him. Grogu squeaked and pointed into the crowd, directing his dad towards a back corner of the room. Din followed his son's lead. He waded through the crowd of shell shocked Mandalorians, some of them bitterly vowing revenge to whoever did this to their homeworld, some of them huddled on the floor, hugging their armor close, their minds viciously replaying all the past cruelty inflicted upon this world. Others stood expressionless, their helmets covering their faces, but their statuesque stillness betraying the ghostly absence of thought that such tragedy brought. Din himself began to feel the weight of it all as the adrenaline ebbed, the gruesome sight of his displaced people sank in, and another malaise he couldn't quite place began to grow.
Ahsoka Tano and Ezra Bridger materialized out of the crowd. Concern etched their faces as their eyes scrutinized the scared child, the senseless Skywalker, and the soot covered Mand'alor.
"I need a cot." Ahsoka called into a comlink as she approached.
Omega and one of the new Mandalorians from Salinius soon appeared with a litter for Luke. They ferried him to a quieter back corner of the hangar where the sicker patients from Sundari Mandalorian Hospital had been carried.
Omega and Andra kneeled beside Luke, plying their Mandalorian medic skills to examine the Jedi.
Omega waved a medscanner over him. "Moderate radiation exposure, everything else is normal." She uncapped a syringe of anti-radiation medication and jabbed the needle into Luke's arm. "I don't know why he's unconscious, but he should be alright."
"That's good." Andra said, the tilt of her helmet revealing that her whirring mind was already elsewhere. "Do we need a medic on the battlefield?"
"Koska's probably out there." Omega surmised. "But we likely need more. Are you volunteering?"
"Yes." Andra affirmed. "Your enemy is using chantarum. It comes from my planet. My knowledge of its properties may be useful."
"Go." Omega said.
Ezra and Ahsoka stood with Grogu and Din.
"What happened?" Ahsoka asked.
Din shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He subtly clenched a fist as unease grew. With a sigh, he brushed it off as nerves. His city had just been destroyed. "I went to put the kid to bed like you suggested. He was still fussy so I took him for a walk." Din began. "He seemed scared, so I checked our surroundings to make him feel safe. That's when I saw the explosives."
"But what happened to Luke?" Ezra urged.
The Mand'alor balled his hands into fists again. After a long, slow shaky sigh, he confessed. "Luke was planting the bombs. We fought. Grogu used his powers to choke him."
"That doesn't make sense." Ahsoka puzzled. "Why would Luke…"
"Grogu insisted I rescue Luke."Din added. "I shielded him when the city blew."
"Maybe the kid knows something." Ezra suggested, pointing at the green baby whose wide eyes gazed eagerly at the two Jedi.
Ahsoka stooped to level with the child. "Grogu, I need you to tell me what happened."
Ahsoka's eyes widened as the baby communicated silently through the Force.
Omega stepped in behind them. She waved a medscanner over Grogu. "Grogu's clean. No radiation. Do we know what happened to Luke?"
Ahsoka stood. "Yes. He's been mind controlled by a powerful dark side user. That caused him to plant the explosives."
The Armorer listened in to the conversation. "Skywalker is dangerous" She inferred. "Should I put him in shackles or is some sort of Force spell keeping him unconscious."
"We will reverse the mind control." Ezra said of himself and Ahsoka. "That should bring him back to normal."
Din unpaired Grogu's pram with his armor. "Keep the kid safe. "I'm going to fight."
From what Din Djarin had heard, a battle raged just west of Sundari's smoking ruins. The muffled comlink chatter he'd received from Axe Woves confirmed the rumors— a second phase of attack had commenced. Stormtrooper transports were spillling onto Mandalore's sands, the Imperial soldiers mowing down beskar clad warriors who dared defend Mandalore's dignity.
Din's fingers brushed the hilt of the Darksaber as he traversed Sundari's tunnels. He'd heard that the wielder of this blade could defeat dozens of opponents. He could only hope it to be true.
Queasiness twisting in Din's gut called his mind away from the anticipation of battle. Quickly, Din glanced up and down the long corridor he stood in. He was alone.
Din pulled off his helmet and gripped it against his hip. His other hand braced against the wall, his fingers curling in agony against the duracrete. His heart pounded and his lungs heaved as his stomach twisted and expelled its contents.
Vomiting brought little relief. As Din pulled his helmet back on, a nagging stomach ache and nausea lingered.
Great.
He thought to himself, the sarcasm bringing him comfort and dismissing more sinister possibilities,
War and kriffing food poisoning.
Bo-Katan Kryze sprinted through the tunnel towards the faint sounds of battle—her mind on one thing—defending her homeworld. The footfalls of Axe Woves and Koska Reeves pounded behind her. In front of her, the gleam of unpainted beskar emerged from a smaller tunnel. Din's shoulders sagged lower than usual, from the burden of his people being attacked, Bo-Katan supposed. At least something could be done about it.
"Din!" She shouted, winded from running through the tunnels. "Perfect timing, the battle's not far."
Din forced his legs into a faster pace as he joined the jogging Nite Owls. The pings of blaster fire and angry battle cries grew louder. Down the tunnel, the flicker of battle and the cool of night wafted into the duracrete warren.
Din followed Bo-Katan, Koska, and Axe onto Mandalore's moonlit sands. He ducked with them behind a jagged rock formation, grateful at least that Mandalore's unique geography provided good cover.
Din positioned his blaster in a gap in the rocks. He and his fellow warriors shot stormtroopers dead as they scrambled across the sand.
Thrusters roared from above as another stormtrooper transport descended for a landing.
"Over there!" Axe nodded to a rock formation to his left. "It's right in front of where they'll land."
"Let's go." Bo-Katan agreed.
Din and the Nite Owls settled their blasters into rocky crevices as the Imperial transport touched down. A spray of blaster fire greeted the stormtroopers as they stepped onto Mandalore's sand. A shriek hawk screamed from the sky and snatched two more. The rest of the troopers scattered.
As Axe and Bo-Katan adjusted their vantage points, a female voice called from behind a boulder. "Koska!"
"That's Andra." Koska acknowledged. "Someone's hurt. She needs my help."
Bo-Katan excused her colleague with a nod then turned back to taking down stormtroopers. Koska hurried off into the darkness to render aid.
Din unhooked the Darksaber from his belt. "I'll handle this."
The Mand'alor emerged, Darksaber held high, Mandalore's blade singing and shimmering in the night. Din sliced through one stormtrooper after another, merciless, knowing now at the sight of the Imperials who was behind the destruction of Sundari—it could be none other than Aclik Karanlik.
Koska and Andra knelt beside the coughing, sputtering form of a fallen Mandalorian warrior. Koska shook her head, signifying to Andra that nothing could be done for the young man. "The blaster bolt missed his armor and went through his lungs." Koska explained. She took the dying Mandalorian's hand. "I'll stay with him. You go see if there are any others injured."
Din shut off the Darksaber's shimmering blade and hung the hilt on his belt. Breathless and exhausted, he stumbled. He caught his balance on a rock. Pain twinged in his middle. His stomach rebelled and bile demanded to be expelled.
He tilted up his helmet just in time. He vomited not once, but four times, his body spasming harder with each heave. Din collapsed to his hands and knees, trembling over his pile of sick. He retched more as Andra rounded the corner.
"M-Mand'alor?" She exclaimed as she rushed to his side.
She guided Din away from the mess on the ground and set him against the stone that shielded him from the remnants of battle. Din's head dropped against his cuirass as he blacked out.
"Mand'alor!" Andra called. She shook Din's pauldron."Wake up!"
Din groaned weakly and rolled his helmet against the stone behind him.
Andra pulled out a syringe. "Going to give you a stimshot." She said. She pushed the injector into Din's thigh. "Not sure what's going on with you, but this should help you feel better."
Din revived as the stimshot took hold.
"Look out!" He warned. He drew his blaster a millisecond too late. The stormtrooper that had come up behind Andra had gotten a shot off before being felled by Din's weapon.
Andra gasped and gripped her leg. She yanked her hand away, the skin on her thigh still scalding from the Imperial blaster wound. Andra lost her balance and toppled over into Din's vomit.
"Haar'chak!" She cursed as she pushed herself upright. She fumed in pain, disgust, and disappointment at getting herself shot.
Having regained some strength, Din stooped beside her. He surveyed his surroundings. No threats were nearby, but neither were allies.
"I'll take you back to the medbay in the tunnels." Din said.
Andra gasped in pain as Din hoisted her into his arms. "You sure— you're up to carrying me?" She grated out the question between sharp, agonized breaths.
"I'm okay." Din assured.
Andra noticed Din's breathing getting heavier as he carried her through Sundari's subterranean corridors. "You brought Luke Skywalker in from the explosion, didnt you?"
"Mhm." Din answered.
"You weren't in the explosion, were you?" Andra questioned.
"I was."
Concern came over Andra's face. "You were throwing up. You have radiation sickness."
"It's food poisoning." Din excused the signs away, denying the possibility of the deadly consequence of Aclik's attack. "M'fine."
Andra watched from a cot in the makeshift medbay as the Mand'alor walked away, back into the tunnels, back to the fray. Omega knelt beside her. Andra recognized the woman as Mandalore's main medic that she had worked with right after the attack—right when the Mand'alor had arrived with Skywalker.
She dodged a glance to the corner where Luke still lay unconscious. The other Jedi stood guard over him.
"What's with the Jedi?" Andra asked for an update.
"They're letting him wake up on his own then they'll counter the dark side enchantment with the Force." Omega answered. "They said that's the safest way to do it."
Omega turned her attention towards Andra's leg. "What's going on with you?"
"Got—shot." Andra gritted as Omega prodded at the blaster hole.
"It's a flesh wound." Omega diagnosed. "Some bacta and you'll be back out there in a few hours."
Andra half groaned, half screamed as Omega sprayed the stinging, healing liquid into the injury.
"What's this?" Omega inquired of the stain on Andra's flight suit from where she had fallen into Din's vomit.
"The Mand'alor—has—radiation sickness." She divulged between pained panting.
Confusion furrowed Omega's forehead. "How do you figure?"
"He was vomiting on the battlefield. He had brought Skywalker in from the explosion. He told me he was in the explosion."
Omega's face went white. She hurried to the crates she'd been using as a desk and snatched up her datapad. Her mouth curved into a grim frown as she viewed the deranged functional statuses of Din's cybernetics.
Omega rushed across the hangar-turned-fallout shelter to the Armorer who handed out rations to citizens of Sundari still stunned by the blast.
"Armorer!" She exclaimed, panic breaking through her professionalism.
The Armorer simply stopped. Her shoulders straightened as her visor turned towards Omega.
Omega stepped closer. "Would Din's armor protect him from radiation?"
"Beskar armor is impervious to nuclear radiation." The Armorer explained. She pulled a holoprojector disk from a pocket and flicked it on. A model of Din's armor glowed in the low light. "However," she continued, pointing to the unprotected section on Din's lower back and the bare portions of his arms and legs. "It can only shield what it covers."
Omega stared at the hologram frozen in horror as her anatomical knowledge overlaid on the armor model. Din's intestines, his kidneys, and almost all of his bone marrow had been left exposed to untold amounts of radiation when the bombs went off.