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The plan had been simple. Locate the cave where the slavers were holding their captives, sneak in, disable the guards, and free the slaves. Easy as catching a womp rat. Or at least that's what Luke had thought before they had run into three unexpected but critical obstacles.
Obstacle number one turned out to be a literal mountain wall.
Luke peered into the narrow crack in the rock, trying to gauge just how tight a fit it would be. Their informant had been right that there was an unguarded passage into the slavers' holdout, but what they had neglected to mention was that said passage was barely wide enough for a full-grown man to squeeze through. As for a fully armored Mandalorian...
Luke turned around to find Din standing behind him, his arms crossed and the t-visor of his helmet somehow managing to express disapproval. Luke sighed.
"I know, you have a bad feeling about this. But it's the only way in without alerting the guards."
Din remained silent, but Luke could tell that he was not happy about the new plan, which involved Din staying behind while Luke snuck into the cave and took down the guards alone. He waited for a few seconds before continuing just to see if Din would be stubborn enough to actually try to squeeze his helmet through the narrow gap.
"It's going to be fine. If something goes wrong, I can always just do the magic hands thing." He wiggled his fingers to demonstrate his point. Din remained silent. Clearly he was also not happy with Luke joking about the new plan.
Finally Din let out a defeated sigh. "Fine. Just don't take any unnecessary risks."
Luke grinned and unbuckled his cape. "When do I ever?"
Din just sighed again.
Obstacle number two made itself known after Luke had wriggled and pushed his way through the narrow passage. He slipped through the final crack in the rock to find himself at the back of the cavern where the slaves were waiting for transport off-planet, quickly scanned his surroundings, and realized that all the guards were toydarians.
So much for the magic hands thing.
Their informant had said that the slavers had captured entire villages, but Luke was still surprised by the sheer number of prisoners. The cavern was large, nearly the size of Millennium Falcon, and it was packed wall to wall with people. Some were sitting or even lying down on the stone floor in small groups that Luke assumed were families, but most were standing, because there simply was no room on the floor for everyone.
On the edges of the crowd, Luke counted dozen toydarian guards hovering in the air, each holding a blaster. It should have been easy for the slaves to overpower them with their sheer number, which made Luke suspect that the slavers must have done something to scare them into submission. Perhaps killing some of their captives in cold blood to make sure that no-one would dare to stand up to them in fear of causing the death of a loved-one.
Luke let out a frustrated breath. Even though using Force suggestion to disarm the guards was now out of the question, he still had his lightsaber and a blaster. Problem was that with so many people packed so tightly in the cave, if he openly attacked the guards, he would risk injuring an innocent person by accident, or worse, if the slavers were as trigger-happy as he suspected, might only provoke the guards to open fire at the crowd.
He had to plan his next move carefully if he wanted to avoid collateral damage, and the best way to do it was to wait until there was a change of guards or some other disturbance in the routine that he could use as a distraction. Projecting an image that helped him blend with the slaves, Luke found himself a place near the edge of the crowd where he could keep an eye on the guards, and settled in for the wait.
Three standard hours and no change of guards later he began to second guess his strategy.
What he'd agreed with Din was just a quick in-and-out operation: slip into the cave, disable the guards, let the slaves out, and then reunite with Din to take out the remaining slavers and lead the people to safety. With no word from Luke otherwise, Din would then most likely have by now come to the conclusion that something had gone wrong with their plan. Luke could only hope that Din would trust him enough not to do anything rash, like calling Leia and getting a fleet of New Republic soldiers to storm the caves.
He was just about to test if he could put any kind of influence on the toydarian closest to him when there was a rush of movement at the mouth of the cave. Luke could see a new figure - heavily armed but clearly not a toydarian - enter the cavern, and decided to take his chance. Keeping his eyes locked on the newcomer, he began to make his way towards the front of the crowd. If the new guard was susceptible to Force suggestion, perhaps Luke could use him to clear the space enough for him to take down the toydarians.
He was less than half a dozen rows of people away from the guards when obstacle number three raised its horned zabrak head.
"Skywalker! I know you're in here."
Luke went completely still at the sound of his own name. At the front of the crowd the newcomer raised his hand and held up a blinking tracking fob, pointing it at the crowd.
"This says there is a Jedi here," he continued, and a wave of murmuring whispers went through the crowds. "A Jedi called Skywalker."
For a second Luke was confused why the zabrak hadn't just picked him up immediately, before he realized that in the tightly packed cavern it was impossible to tell which person's chain code the tracker was reacting to.
Visibly annoyed by the lack of response from the crowd, the zabrak pocketed the fob and held up a bounty puck instead. A flickering holo of what Luke assumed was supposed to be his image appeared in the air above it.
"Come out, Skywalker, or I will kill everyone in this room until I find you."
Luke took a deep breath to center himself. He had wanted to take on the guards on his own terms, but the zabrak was forcing his hand. Now his best option was to use his own surrender as the distraction he'd been looking for to take down the guards, or to allow the bounty hunter to take him out of the cave where Din would hopefully-
"I am Luke Skywalker."
Like everyone else in the room, Luke too reflexively turned toward the voice coming from the back of the cave. His first instinct was to reach out into the Force to find out what was happening, but before he could, the crowds parted to reveal a tall, hooded figure standing near the crack in the wall where Luke had entered. A figure who, Luke quickly realized, was wearing Luke's own cape. He swore under his breath as Din, bare-faced and unarmored, walked past him to meet the zabrak.
When Din reached the front of the room, the zabrak pointed his blaster at him, and then huddled closer to the head toydarian.
"I thought he'd be shorter," he muttered, his voice tinged with suspicion as he peered at the flickering holo.
The toydarian just waved his arms. "Don't ask me! It's a human.They all look the same to me."
The zabrak turned his attention back to Din. He switched the puck to the tracking fob, waved it at Din a few times, and then threw it into the ground in frustration.
"Prove it," he said.
"And don't try anything," the toydarian added, brandishing his blaster. "Your Jedi mind tricks don't work on me."
"No. But this does,"
A blinding burst of white light, like flash of lightning, illuminated the cave. Luke stumbled as the crowds pressed back to get away from it. When he managed to steady himself, he saw that Din was holding the Darksaber at the toydarian's throat. Luke could feel the weapon through the Force; the unnatural hum of power both like and unlike the aura of his own lightsaber.
"Let them go," Din said, the steady calm of his unmodulated voice a stark contrast to the restless flickering of the Darksaber's blade. "Let these people go free and I'll surrender to you voluntarily." He glanced over his shoulder at the crowd, and for a second his eyes met Luke's. "I'm worth more than everyone else here put together."
The toydarian carefully hovered closer to the zabrak, Din's blade following his every movement. There was another muttered argument, and then the toydarian waved his hand and the guards began herding the slaves towards the mouth of the cave.
Luke moved slowly as he was pulled into the flow of people, making sure that he remained at the back of the crowd. He had no faith that the toydarians were actually planning on letting anyone go, certain that there was already a transport ship waiting for them outside, but with the guards split up and busy leading the slaves through the narrow corridors, this was the best chance he had of disarming them. All he needed was a distraction. And with Din now with him, he knew he would be getting one soon.
He had barely stepped into the tunnel leading outside when he heard all hell break loose behind him.
The guard at the back of the group was first to react. He took a step towards the cavern to see what was happening, turning his back to Luke as he did so, and Luke jumped at the opportunity. He ignited his lightsaber and with a single move took off the guard's head. Another guard saw him do it and drew his blaster, but Luke raised his hand and used the Force to pin him against the wall. This alerted the next guard, but by now some of the slaves had realized what was happening and joined the fight. Several pairs of hands grabbed the guard's wings and he was pulled into the crowds before he had a chance to do anything.
Luke began making his way up the narrow passageway, weaving his way through the stream of people, taking down the guards one by one. Soon the knowledge of what was happening was moving outwards quicker than he was, the guards being already disarmed by their emboldened prisoners by the time Luke reached them.
Then suddenly the push of the crowds disappeared and Luke staggered out of the cave, almost losing his footing as he was released from the cradle of the crowded passage. For a fraction of a second he was blinded by the brightness of the open sky, but he quickly recovered, scanning his surroundings. There was indeed a transport ship parked in front of the cave, like he had expected, but the ship's crew was already being overpowered by the slaves who had realized that they now had the upper hand.
Luke met eyes with one of the slaves and tossed his blaster to her.
"Get everyone out and keep them safe," he told her. She didn't question him, only nodded and began leading people away from the mouth of the cave.
With the slaves safe and their captors mostly subdued, Luke turned around and retraced his path through to corridors, lightsaber in hand and and his mind ready to draw on the Force. He re-entered the cavern just in time to see Din grab the zabrak bounty hunter by the shoulders, and smash their heads together. Unfortunately Din had clearly forgotten he wasn't wearing a helmet, and Luke couldn't help wincing as Din's forehead collided with the zabrak's horns. Din reeled back, pressing his palm against his forehead as he swore loudly in a language that Luke didn't recognise.
Luke raised his hand to help him, but Din was quick to recover, and with one fluid movement brought up the Darksaber and stabbed the stunned zabrak in the neck. Confident that Din was out of immediate danger, Luke scanned the room to find that he had already taken down the toydarian guards. One of them was still crawling toward his discarded blaster, but Luke waved his hand and tossed the toydarian across the room, where he slumped against the wall.
Din swirled around at the sound, but relaxed when he saw that it was only Luke. He took one last look around to make sure that there were no more enemies around and then turned off the Darksaber and clipped it to his belt.
They met halfway across the cave. As soon as they were at touching distance, Din put his hand on Luke's arm, and tilted his head to look him in the eye.
"Are you hurt?"
Luke wanted to point out that of the two of them, he wasn't the one with the bloody nose and a nasty gash in the middle of his forehead, but just shook his head. "I'm fine. I took down the guards who led us out, and the others took down the rest"
Din nodded, and with one last squeeze at Luke's shoulder headed towards the passage out.
Din stayed back while Luke commed Leia to organize transport to return people to their home planets and exchanged a few words with the woman who he'd left in charge of the others. Some of the slaves had already broken into the slavers' ship and were using their medical supplies to take care of those who had been injured during the battle. Others had begun to build temporary shelter outside the cave. Once Luke was certain that everything was being taken care of, he signaled Din and together they headed back to where they'd left their gear.
Luke managed to hold his tongue for several minutes before turning to Din.
"That was stupid. You didn't need to come. I had it all under control."
Din remained quiet, giving Luke a one-shouldered shrug, as if the whole thing had been nothing. Except that Luke knew that it hadn't been just nothing because he could sense the waves of anxiety rippling in Din's presence in the Force.
In the two years that they'd known each other, Din had gradually become more comfortable at removing his helmet in Luke's presence, but revealing his face to strangers was still difficult for him. And yet he'd done it to help Luke.
When Luke and Din reached the secret entrance where they had separated, Din went straight to one of the large trees in the near-by thicket, fell to his knees in front of it, and began digging into the carpet of leaves on the ground. As Luke watched, he pulled out pieces of armor one by one from under the leaves, running his hands reverently across each piece to check that it had not been damaged. His movements were jittery, and there was a small tremor in his hands when he brushed his thumb across the signet in his pauldron to remove a wet leaf glued to it.
The helmet was the last piece that he dug out, wrapped in his cape and stowed between the roots of the tree. When Din pulled it out, he just stared at it for a while, as if silently asking for forgiveness from its silver face.
Luke reached out and took his wrist. "Don't put it on yet. Please."
Din looked up, his brows knotting in confusion, but lowered the helmet, clutching it to his chest instead. Luke could see his fingers twitching at the urge to hide his face.
Luke focused on projecting a sense of calm through the force, and led Din to sit down on a rock away from the shade of the trees. Din said nothing, still cradling the helmet in his lap like he was afraid that someone might take it away from him.
Luke stepped forward and tapped Din's knee to signal him to shift his legs wider so that Luke could stand between them.
"Be still," he said, and gently touched two fingers to Din's forehead. He could feel the Force flowing through Din, sensing the familiar shape of him in its eddies and flows. He focused on that energy and then bent it to his will, letting his own force energy blend with Din's. Healing wasn't one of Luke's strongest skills, but he'd been taking lessons from Grogu as much as he'd been teaching him.
Din's eyes fluttered close as Luke ran the fingers gently down his forehead, over the bloody gash, down the bridge of his nose and across his lips. At the trail of his fingers the cut on Din's forehead stopped bleeding, its edges knitting back together, and the swelling on his nose and lips disappeared. When Luke was finished, he carefully touched the place where the wounds had been to make sure they'd been healed.
"See. Magic hands," he said, brushing a lock of hair off Din's forehead.
The corners of Din's lips twitched to a barely-there smile, but Luke could feel the amusement rippling in the Force between them, his own expression reflexively mirroring Din's.
He took out his canteen and poured a little water on a piece of cloth, using it to clean the blood off Din's face. When he was done, Din made a gesture to stand up and get his armor, but Luke stopped him.
"Let me."
He knelt in front of Din and began to attach the armor to his flight suit. With every piece he could feel a sense of calmness descend on Din, the anxiety fading away. He left the helmet last, memorizing each feature of Din's face, every little change and laughline, to store them until the next time he'd have the privilege of seeing them. Then the helmet slipped on, and Luke was again looking at the emotionless visage of the untouchable Mandalorian warrior - but it didn't matter, because he loved this face just as much.
Luke pressed a gentle kiss on the beskar cheek, and then helped DIn to his feet.
"Let's go home."