"Far, Far Away..." - Part Two

Part Two

            The Crest was pulled directly into the main hangar of the Trade Federation battleship. Upon making its artificial landing, the Doctor instructed Djarin and Gen, “No matter what happens, no one engages.”

            Djarin already had his blaster drawn as the Doctor made this demand. “If they engage first, I’m not making any promises,” he said as he reluctantly holstered the blaster.

            They disembarked from the ship to the audience of a Battle Droid platoon, each and every droid soldier aiming their blaster rifles at the four individuals. The commanding officer among them ordered for Djarin, the Doctor, Gen, and the child to be searched, disarmed, and escorted to the bridge, to which one soldier responded with, “Roger, Roger.”

            On the bridge, they were brought to a pair of Neimoidians: Viceroy Nute Gunray and his right-hand man, Rune Haako. “We expected Jedi ambassadors,” Gunray addressed. “But you four are clearly not Jedi. In fact, one of you is a Mandalorian.” The Viceroy then directed his attention towards the child, edging closer towards him with his large, inspecting red eyes. “This little one looks familiar.”

            Djarin tensed up as the Viceroy analyzed the child. Noticing this, the Doctor whispered to the Mandalorian, “Stay calm.”

            “If I didn’t know better, I would say this child looks like…” Gunray gasped in recognition. “Jedi Master Yoda!”

            “Then these interlopers are affiliated with the Jedi,” Rune Haako surmised. “Lord Sidious will be most pleased to hear of this development.”

            “Droids!” Gunray beckoned. “Take the Mandalorian, the woman, and the man into the holding. Leave the child with us.”

            “Roger, Roger,” the Battle Droid acknowledged.

            When the Battle Droids moved in to take Djarin, Gen, and the Doctor away, three of them were suddenly beheaded by a lightsaber…wielded by Gen!

            “Why have they not been disarmed?!” the enraged Viceroy asked.

            “We did disarm them!” One of the Battle Droids claimed.

            Even the Doctor was surprised to see Gen wielding the legendary Jedi weapon. “Where’ve you been keeping that this whole time?!” he asked her.

            Gen blushed as she answered, “You don’t wanna know.”

            Djarin could not care less where Gen had been hiding the lightsaber. It was just the distraction he needed as he activated his left vambrace (another thing that the Battle Droids failed to confiscate) and released several whistling birds. The small guided munitions flew through the air, whistling before striking each of the Battle Droids and destroying them with small explosions.

            While he should’ve been displeased with this violent turn of events, the Doctor was rather impressed with how flawlessly Djarin and Gen disposed of the Battle Droids. “Let’s go!” he told the two, gathering their confiscated gear and leaving the bridge together with the Child. He could hear the furious Viceroy Gunray behind them, barking for the escapees not to be allowed to leave the ship.

            Working their way through the ship corridors, Djarin declared, “We’ve got to get away from these Clone War fanatics.”

            “They’re not fanatics,” Gen told him. “You still don’t believe you’ve actually traveled back in time!”

            “What I believe is this whole thing’s insane,” Djarin retorted.

            They suddenly stopped in their tracks when they heard mechanical rolling resounding from the nearest corner. There emerged two new droids, rolling like balls in one second before standing on three legs in the next, armed with twin repeating blaster cannons and shield generators.

            “Droidekas,” Gen identified them. “Yeah, it’s gotten even more insane.”

            “Don’t worry, I got this,” the Doctor said, stepping forward and pointing his sonic screwdriver at the Droidekas. As it pulsed in his hand, the Droidekas immediately shut down, their blaster cannons and shield generators deactivated.

            This action took Djarin by surprise. “How did you do that?”

            “By simply reversing the polarity,” the Doctor explained with a smile. “Now, for my next trick…” The sonic pulsed in his grip again and the Droidekas were reactivated. However, instead of attacking the escapees, they rolled right past them.

            “Where are they going?” Gen asked.

            “After those other droids,” the Doctor said. “I just gave us plenty of time to get back to Mando’s ship.”

            As the Doctor proceeded to lead the way, Djarin paused for a moment to tell Gen, “You ‘Time Lords’ are full of surprises.”

            “Stick around and you may start to love us,” Gen teased.

            “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Djarin remarked.

            The Doctor’s reprogramming of the Droidekas worked to perfection, offering them a clear path straight back to the main hangar. Just as they arrived there, they spotted another transport making a clear albeit voluntary landing not too far from where the Crest was docked.

            Two hooded figures disembarked from the transport. “Jedi,” Djarin noted.

            Gen heard the child cooing and noticed him reaching his tiny arms towards the two Jedi. “No, no,” she gingerly told him. “Those aren’t the Jedi you’re looking for.”

            Unable to allow themselves to be distracted any longer, the travelers rushed to the Crest and boarded the ship. Djarin immediately went to the cockpit and fired up the engines, taking them out of the hangar and away from the Trade Federation battleship. For a while, it appeared as if they would make a clean getaway.

            And then the Crest detected a fleet of ships approaching from behind.

            “Here come the vultures,” Djarin stated.

            “Can we shake them?” Gen inquired.

            “There are twelve of them,” Djarin told her. “We’d have to be lucky to even try.”

            “How much longer ‘til we can go into lightspeed?” the Doctor asked.

            “Not long enough,” Djarin answered.

            It was evident in the dreariness of the Mandalorian’s responses that the odds were not in their favor.

            They needed a miracle or, considering the realm they were in, the Force.

            However, fate gave them an entirely different way out of their predicament.

            That unusual nebula Djarin had seen before materializing once again in front of his ship, starting out like a small mist (as it did before) until growing into a giant swirling vortex, although not quite as large as the first one. The Time Lords called it a “wormhole” with a vacuum powerful enough to suck the Crest right in.

            Once again, the gunship was sent into a spiral that overwhelmed its passengers.

            Enduring the trip rendered them into an unconscious state, which lasted for half an hour. As soon as they regained cognizance, they discovered that the Crest was in orbit of another aquatic-looking planet with no sign of Trade Federation ships around them.

            “Seems like that wormhole just saved our butts,” Gen noted. “And yet, there’s no telling how far back or forward through time it sent us.”

            “Are you going to start that again?” the disgruntled Djarin said.

            “If you don’t believe me, then why don’t you go down there and see for yourself,” Gen challenged, pointing to the aquatic planet ahead of them.

            Accepting her challenge, Djarin descended the Crest towards the planet.

            Upon closer examination, they could see it was definitely a water planet with an endless raging ocean and a fierce rainstorm. The only land Djarin saw to dock his ship was a city held above the ocean surface by stilt structures.

            Djarin, the Doctor, Gen, and the child briefly braved the harsh rainstorm after getting out from the Crest. Although Djarin’s armor and the child’s floating pod kept the both of them dry, Gen and the Doctor were completely drenched by the time they all entered one of the city’s domes.

            “I already hate this place,” Gen uttered, shivering and sneezing.

            “Jango,” a soft-spoken voice addressed them. They each turned to see a slender, towering, pale-skinned humanoid approach. It was a female Kaminoan staring specifically at Djarin with her large, almond-shaped black eyes. “You did not tell us you would be leaving. Where did you go?”

            The Kaminoan clearly had Djarin mistaken for someone else. Regardless, he decided to take advantage of the mistaken identity and answer, “I was on…a quick errand.”

            “I see,” the Kaminoan accepted. Her eyes then looked over Gen, the Doctor, and the child. “And these guests…are they with you?”

            “Yes,” Djarin replied. “If you don’t mind, we have some important business.”

            “Of course, Jango,” the Kaminoan said. “I will escort you back to your quarters.”

            The deception seemed to be working well so far, though neither Gen nor the Doctor imagined it would last for very long. And it soon turned out that the Time Lords were right in their doubt when they arrived in Jango’s living quarters…

            …with the real Jango already there.