“Mando shot you?” Esther’s towering form loomed over Luke as he sat in the base’s medical bay (he, Grogu, and Mando had returned about ten minutes ago).
“He didn’t mean to,” Luke told Esther quickly. “I think the Mastermind saw me as an obstacle, so they forced Mando to attack.” He pulled his sleeve up to his shoulder, and a doctor sprayed some bacta on his arm. Luke flinched but relaxed once the bacta’s burning sensation faded.
The doctor cleaned his arm and wrapped a bandage around it, saying, “There you go. Just a flesh wound.” He released Luke’s arm, and he set it on his thigh. “It’ll probably be sore for a day or two, but you’ll be fine. You’re lucky it wasn’t a sniper.”
Luke shuddered but said, “Thank you,” and pulled his sleeve down. He crossed his ankles over one another and clutched the bed’s edge, focusing on Esther.
“Where’s Mando now?” she inquired.
“Outside with Grogu and Rotta,” Luke replied, hopping off the bed. “They’re keeping an eye on him. Zeb, Mando’s wingman, is on his way with his ship. Grogu snapped him out of his trance, Esther. It was impressive. He’s a very gifted child.”
“I wish that had happened to me,” Esther mumbled. “But I wasn’t able to bring my family back.”
There was a long silence between the two, interrupted only when the doctor began packing up his things for the patient in the next room over.
Finally, Luke asked Esther, “Could you tell me what happened? To your family? It may help us, Esther. Mando needs guidance.”
“I know, but…” Esther thought for a second. “While I couldn’t save my family, Luke, I can help you save Mando.” She clutched her hip there. “So, no matter how hard you try, I’m going to that nebula with you.”
Luke raised his eyebrow.
***
Outside the base, Mando and Grogu sat in a small, grassy patch and passed Grogu’s ball back and forth.
Rotta watched over them, attempting to get some sunshine under the cloudy sky, but the sun only poked out a few times before disappearing again.
“I wish we could do more, Grogu,” Mando said, “but Luke told me that passing the ball and talking with you will help me not forget.” Regardless, during the process, he occasionally froze, looking into space, but Grogu brought him back.
“Where in the nebula?” Mando seemed to ask himself, eventually disappearing back into his helmet. His foot and leg twitched, and his head jerked in a glitch-like fashion, as if the Mastermind were trying to override him for a second time.
“Come on, Dad,” Grogu seemed to beg. He started to stand but then remembered that he couldn’t get close to Mando, so he sat back down.
“Grogu. Where in the nebula?” Mando asked repeatedly.
Grogu and Rotta gave him both bewildered and concerned looks.
“Snap out of it, buddy,” Rotta said. “You’re like a robot.”
Silence. And then Mando said, “That’s it.” He punched his left palm and stood, but stumbled toward Grogu. However, Mando held his arms out to his sides to catch himself and added, “I need a map. I think I know where the base is.”
“You do? Really?” It looked like Rotta was getting excited. “Okay, then what are we waiting for? Let’s get Master Luke!”
Mando paused for a second, but Rotta grabbed him and dragged him toward the base.
Grogu, clutching at his cape behind him, was pushed away by the helmet and landed on his backside in the grass.
As soon as the three entered the base, they found Luke walking down one of the many hallways branching off from its main entrance, with Esther beside him.
Waving, Rotta said, “Master Luke!”
He looked away from Esther and stepped before her, but she stayed behind, looking shy for once?
Mando, Grogu, and Rotta stopped before him, and Mando gestured at Luke’s arm. “Is your arm okay?”
“I’m fine,” Luke replied. “You did nothing wrong, Mando. You weren’t yourself.”
“Can I at least make it up to you?” Mando continued. “I think I know where the base is. I just need a map to get the coordinates.”
“You do?” Did that come from Esther? It did. For a second, she lost her tense stance and questioned, “Does this mean that I can find my family? I have a husband and two teens.” She rubbed her hands together, and sweat dripped from them. “I mean—follow me, Mando, and I’ll get you that map.” She turned on her heel and started back down the hallway, continuing to rub her hands.
“Is it just me,” Rotta said to Mando, Grogu, and Luke, “or was that hope I heard from her, instead of a Viking captain?”
“What does she know?” Luke whispered, grinding his teeth.
Esther led everyone to a computer room at the end of the hallway. Each monitor showed a different part of the planet, except for one, which displayed the sector. Esther stopped everyone before it and nodded at Mando, who returned her nod.
He hovered over the keyboard and typed into it to turn on the hologram. From there, he zoomed in on the Oamia Nebulae and listened to his helmet. His finger moved across the image for a moment, then he said, “There,” setting it on the naked eye of the nebula. “That’s where we need to go—the eye. That’s a perfect place for the Mastermind to reach all three planets and the other planets in the Outer Rim.”
“My family?” Esther cracked a small smile. “Is that where my family is?”
“That’s probably where all the families that disappeared are,” Mando guessed. “If the Mastermind is trying to create a brainwashed army, then they would keep the victims nearby.” He shook his head when the Mastermind tried to get in it again, but went ahead and saved the coordinates. He then removed the gauntlet from his forearm and said, “Grogu.”
“Hm?” Grogu looked up from his ball.
“I need you to hold onto this gauntlet in case something happens in the nebula, and you guys need to come get me,” Mando said. Kneeling, he slid the gauntlet to The Child, and he caught it. “It’s the center button, kid, for the coordinates.”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Luke said, his eyes moving from Grogu to Mando.
“I’m the one who got us in this mess in the first place,” Mando replied, “So, this is something I must do alone.” There was the shockwave effect around his head.
“We’ve come this far,” Luke said, turning and gesturing toward Grogu. “You’re not doing the rest of this mission alone, Din. We’re coming with you.” He slipped his right hand behind him and turned it.
Seeing what he was doing, Grogu did the same.
“You’re not doing the rest of this mission alone,” Luke repeated, his voice calm, almost hypnotic.
Mando started to protest, but then he dropped his arms to his sides and said, “I’m not doing the rest of this mission alone.”
“We’re coming with you for extra protection,” Luke included.
“You’re coming with me for extra protection.” Whatever Mando had just said left his crippling mind, and he continued: “I think we should call the New Republic before we leave.” As he left the room, Luke and Grogu’s spell faded from his mind, but he still didn’t remember his protest.
“Well done, kid,” Luke said to Grogu. “You’re becoming a natural.”
“Wait.” Rotta lifted a finger. “Was that a Jedi mind trick? I saw a Jedi mind trick up close?”
Luke giggled before becoming stern. “It’s going to keep us together until we reach the base. Plus, it’s good training for Grogu. The Force will be his ultimate weapon in the nebula. I just wish Esther would…”
Esther cleared her throat and popped off the computer she had been propping against her back. “Luke,” she said, her voice trembling slightly, but she collected herself. “About Dante and my family… I”—she gulped—“I know Dante.”
Luke, Rotta, and Grogu focused on her, but Mando had already disappeared outside the room.
“He’s a good man,” Esther continued. “He wouldn’t do something like this unless someone misled him. The Mastermind manipulated him because he’s a neurologist. He knows how the brain works. You see…” Her voice trailed off, and she cleared her throat. “He was devastated when the Empire attacked his hometown on Varis; he thought he lost everything when, really…” Esther’s voice hitched. “I was out spacefaring with the Vikings when the attack happened. I wasn’t able to get back until it was too late. Dante had already been conned and turned—and was making the brainwashing technology. Someone convinced him that we had died, and that rumor spread.”
Luke, Rotta, and Grogu’s eyes widened.
“I’ve spent the past four years trying to find the base and get him back,” Esther finished. “He’s out there, likely at the base, and I hope the kids are, too. They wanted their father back, which led to them being exploited as well. I made a mistake. That’s why I have to go to the nebula with you.”
“Wait!” Luke, Rotta, and Grogu shot up at the end of Esther’s story.
Luke’s mouth gaped. “Are you saying that…?”
“Yes, I am.” Esther’s voice hitched again. “My family is the cause behind these invisible attacks and the brainwashing. Whoever the Mastermind is… They betrayed us. Now that we know where the base is, I want the chance to get Dante, Din, us, and all those innocent people back. Would you give me that chance?”
ns216.73.216.236da2
and then Add to home screen.