Chapter Text
The stars tore themselves into streaks of white.
The Razor Crest shuddered violently.
"Hold on, kid!" Din barked.
Grogu already had. Tiny green hands gripped the edge of his satchel while alarms screamed from every panel in the cockpit.
Behind them, the bounty hunter's gunship opened fire again.
The first shot missed.
The second scorched the Crest's port engine.
The third—
The third hit the hyperdrive just as Din threw the lever.
Instead of the familiar tunnel of hyperspace, reality...
...broke.
The stars folded in impossible directions. Space twisted into colors Din had never seen. The nav computer shrieked in a language of errors before going completely black.
"No..."
The ship spun.
Grogu squealed.
Everything went white.
When Din woke, smoke filled the cockpit.
He was hanging sideways in his restraints.
"...Kid?"
A worried little chirp answered him.
Relief washed through him.
"I'm okay."
Grogu floated weakly into his arms, ears drooping.
Din checked him over automatically.
No burns.
No blood.
A bump on the forehead.
He'd survive.
The Mandalorian exhaled.
Then he looked outside.
Trees.
Not the towering fungal forests of Felucia.
Not the endless deserts of Tatooine.
Just...
trees.
Green ones.
The atmosphere scanner flickered back to life.
BREATHABLE.
Gravity: Standard.
Unknown system.
Unknown star.
Unknown—
The nav computer finally rebooted.
GALACTIC DATABASE: NO MATCH FOUND.
Din frowned.
That wasn't possible.
He checked again.
Nothing.
He searched every known trade route.
Every Republic archive.
Every Imperial map.
Nothing.
"...We're not in the galaxy anymore."
Grogu blinked.
Din stared at the dead hyperdrive.
"We've been thrown somewhere else."
Three days later...
The facts got stranger.
The locals called the planet...
Earth.
They possessed primitive combustion vehicles.
No hyperdrives.
No droids.
No starfighters.
No Republic.
No Empire.
No Mandalore.
Nothing.
Just one world.
One isolated civilization.
Din had met exactly three living people.
The first had tried to rob him.
The second had tried to shoot him.
The third had screamed "monster" after seeing Grogu.
None of them knew what beskar was.
None had ever seen another planet.
None believed Din when he explained he wasn't from Earth.
"...Primitive," he muttered while replacing another fried circuit in the Crest.
The hyperdrive motivator was destroyed beyond repair.
Even if it weren't...
There wasn't a single replacement part on this planet.
He'd have to build one.
From scratch.
Using technology these people hadn't even dreamed of.
"...This is going to take a while."
Grogu sighed dramatically.
"I know."
The infected arrived that evening.
Din heard them before he saw them.
Not soldiers.
Not predators.
Something...
wrong.
Click.
Click.
Click-click-click.
Grogu looked up.
Din's hand instantly found his blaster.
Three figures stumbled through the trees.
Humanoid.
Sort of.
One had mushrooms growing from half its face.
Another was missing an arm.
The third...
Its head had split open into a blooming mass of fungus.
"...What."
They noticed him.
All three screamed.
And charged.
Din fired once.
Clean headshot.
The creature barely slowed.
"What—"
Second shot.
Third.
Fourth.
Only after the fifth blast did it collapse.
The other two kept coming.
Grogu squeaked.
Din ignited the whistling birds.
Tiny missiles erupted from his gauntlet.
The creatures exploded.
Silence.
Din stared.
"...They're still moving."
One missing its legs clawed toward him.
Determined.
Mindless.
He finally vaporized the head completely.
It stopped.
"...Not dead until the brain is destroyed."
He looked at Grogu.
"We're leaving as soon as possible."
But...
The universe had other plans.
The ship came into view just after sunrise.
Joel stopped so abruptly that Ellie nearly walked into his back.
"...What?"
He didn't answer.
He was staring into the clearing ahead.
Ellie followed his gaze.
At first she thought it was the wreckage of some bizarre military aircraft.
Then the sunlight caught polished metal.
The curved hull.
The engines.
The impossible shape.
Her jaw slowly fell open.
"...No."
Joel frowned.
"What?"
"No."
She took two cautious steps forward.
"No way."
"What is it?"
Ellie's eyes were growing wider by the second.
"...Joel."
"What?"
She pointed with both hands.
"...That's a spaceship."
Joel looked from the craft...
...to her...
...and back again.
"That's not a spaceship."
"It is absolutely a spaceship!"
"It's probably some experimental—"
"Joel."
She turned toward him with the expression of someone trying to explain the obvious.
"It has thrusters."
"So?"
"It doesn't have wings!"
"Neither do helicopters."
"It doesn't have rotors!"
Joel sighed.
"I don't know what it is."
"I do."
She whispered it reverently.
"...It's a spaceship."
Joel looked at the impossible vessel again.
It certainly didn't resemble any aircraft he'd ever seen.
The metal was seamless.
No visible rivets.
No propellers.
No recognizable engine design.
No markings.
It looked...
wrong.
Not wrong in a bad way.
Wrong in a this does not belong on Earth way.
"...Even if it is," Joel said carefully, "that doesn't mean it's from space."
Ellie slowly turned toward him.
"...Joel."
"What?"
"It literally looks like every spaceship from every comic I've ever read."
"Comic books aren't exactly reliable."
She ignored him entirely.
"Oh my God."
She was grinning now.
"What if there are aliens?"
"There aren't."
"What if there are?"
"There aren't."
"What if there's a little green guy inside?"
Joel gave her a look.
"...Really?"
"What?"
"You went straight to little green guys."
"Obviously."
She was already walking.
Joel caught her backpack before she'd gone three steps.
"No."
"Aww."
"We don't know what the hell that thing is."
"We're about to."
"No."
"There could be technology!"
"No."
"There could be food!"
"No."
"There could be—"
"Aliens," Joel finished dryly.
"...Maybe."
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You are not climbing inside the goddamn creepy mystery spaceship."
"It isn't creepy."
"It landed in the middle of nowhere."
"It's awesome."
"It could explode."
"It hasn't exploded yet."
"It could be trapped."
She looked at him hopefully.
"...Can I just look?"
"No."
"One peek?"
"No."
"I won't touch anything."
"I don't believe you."
"...dick."
Joel started circling cautiously toward the clearing.
"Stay behind me."
Ellie lasted exactly forty-three seconds.
The closer they got, the more details she noticed.
The metal wasn't rusted.
There were strange symbols etched into the hull.
A ramp extended from one side.
A real ramp.
Like every sci-fi movie she'd ever imagined.
Her heart hammered.
"This is so cool..."
Joel kept scanning the tree line.
"I don't like this."
Ellie barely heard him.
"It's actually a spaceship."
She reached the base of the ramp.
Joel was checking the opposite side of the clearing.
Just one look...
Just one tiny look...
She placed a hand on the ramp.
Nothing happened.
See?
Perfectly safe.
She climbed one step.
Then another.
"...Ellie."
"I know!"
Another step.
The hatch was already partially open.
She could see shadows inside.
Her pulse raced.
"What if there are star maps?"
"What if there's alien music?"
"What if—"
The hatch hissed open.
Ellie froze.
"...Joel."
"I know."
A man jumped out.
Covered head to toe in silver armor.
Cape fluttering behind him.
Blaster already aimed directly at them.
"...Hands."
His voice echoed strangely beneath the helmet.
Joel raised his rifle.
The armored man aimed first at him.
Then...
Immediately shifted toward Ellie.
"No sudden movements."
Joel frowned.
"...You're not from around here."
"No."
"You with FEDRA?"
"No."
"Fireflies?"
"No."
Silence.
Ellie whispered—
"...Is he a knight?"
"I heard that."
"...Okay, definitely not a knight."
Then...
Something peeked around the armored man's leg.
Small.
Green.
Gigantic ears.
Big black eyes.
Ellie blinked.
"...Joel."
"I see it."
"...Do you see it?"
"I just said I—"
"It's adorable."
The tiny creature waved.
Ellie gasped.
"Oh my God."
Din immediately stepped sideways.
Shielding Grogu with his entire body.
"No closer."
"I wasn't gonna—"
"No."
Ellie stopped.
"...Okay."
Joel studied the stranger.
Military posture.
Protective.
Always keeping himself between them and the little creature.
"...Kid yours?"
A pause.
"...Yes."
The answer came so quickly that Joel almost smiled.
Instead, he lowered his rifle another inch.
"We're not here to hurt him."
Din didn't move.
"You approached my ship."
"We saw smoke."
"You approached my ship."
"We wanted to see if anybody needed help."
"You attempted to board it."
Joel rubbed his face.
"...Yeah."
Ellie immediately looked guilty.
"I just touched the ramp!"
"You attempted entry."
"I was curious!"
Din's blaster never wavered.
"You entered my defensive perimeter."
Joel sighed.
"Look...that wasn't our intention."
"It became your action."
"...Fair enough."
Silence settled over the clearing.
Joel looked at the armored man.
Something about him...
The way he stood.
The way every tiny movement revolved around protecting that kid.
The instinct to put himself between danger and his child before anything else.
It tugged at something old.
Something that hurt.
Din studied Joel in return.
Weathered.
Scarred.
Protective.
Tired.
The older man's eyes had the same look Din saw in mirrors after too many close calls involving Grogu.
The look of someone who had survived by refusing to lose one more child.
Strange.
Frighteningly familiar.
Neither of them knew why.
Ellie broke the silence.
"So..."
Everyone looked at her.
"...Are we gonna keep pointing guns at each other..."
She smiled nervously toward Grogu.
"...or can I say hi to the tiny green potato?"
Grogu giggled.
Din sighed beneath his helmet.
"...Kid."
Grogu tilted his head innocently.
Suddenly...
Din had a feeling getting off this planet was about to become much more complicated.