"I need my rifle," Din says as the sounds of blaster fire continues.

"Oh! So you're getting involved now?" She replied sarcastically.

"Do you really think I'm that cruel? Can't allow this happen, especially after everything you all have done for me."

"Well that's quite honorable of you. But are you sure you're up for a fight?" Her response still sounding sarcastic.

"I am Mandalorian! I'm always up for a fight."

"Oh yes, indeed you are," Nia says with a smile as she sits down on the ground with her legs crossed and closes her eyes. "I'll be right there with you in a moment."

"What the hell are you doing?" He blurts out frantically.

"Don't worry. You'll see. Now go," she replied as she takes a deep breath. "No time to waste."

Din didn't stay to argue with her any longer, he punches a few buttons on his vambrace to ignite his jet pack. In only a couple of seconds, he's being lifted up in the air above the fungal forest.

NIA'S POV

Blaster fire continues to erupt in the distance. Concentrate! She tells herself as she focuses her mind on the Force. Felucia is famous for it's large beasts, and she can sense several in this area. At least two Acklay are nearby, one is probably a male and the other it's female mate. They are tall green and predatory crustaceans with six legs, sharp claws and teeth, with thick rough skin.

She can also sense other large animals in her mind's range. Jungle Rancors! They are semi-sentient creatures and are actually quite intelligent in spite of their ferocious nature. They are carnivorous reptomammals with blue skin, sharp claws and teeth, with extremely dense leathery hides. Nia can sense two females nearby, probably siblings. They are the largest land beasts on Felucia.

She opens up her mind even more, she can sense all four of the creatures' mental capabilities, including their thoughts and feelings. The two non-sentient Arklays are already under her control, but the two intelligent Rancors still need a little more convincing.

"Help Us," Nia telepathically says.

"This Land Ours," one of them replies telepathically.

"Land Yours. Help Kill Strangers."

"Strangers Attack Us. We Help You." The second one responds.

At long last, Nia has all of them under her control. She opens her eyes to find that she is surrounded by two Arklays and two Jungle Rancors, waiting for her next command. Nia stands up and heads off towards the town, with her new companions following her.

DIN'S POV

He wasn't going to get into another dispute with her at that moment, and he's not sure what she has in mind. He knew she was concentrating on something right before he took off, probably on that Force-thing or whatever it is that she does. Either way, she better hurry because several buildings are already on fire and he can see the AT-AT rapidly approaching in the distance. Soon, this entire village will be overrun with raiders.

His landing could use a bit more practice, once his feet touched the cobblestone street in front of the mechanic's shop, his bad leg gave out and he winched in pain. Luckily the stabbing ache in his leg soon vanished and he was able to continue heading inside the repair shop. In the rear of the structure, he uses the keycard Viv gave him to unlock the storage unit. Once inside, he grabs his disruptor sniper rifle that is leaning against the wall, it was a gift from his friend Boba Fett after his first one got destroyed. He swings the rifle over his shoulder and loads up on more charges and detonators before locking up the unit door and heading out. Once outside in the street, two men walk up to him with rifles pointing at his head.

"Look here, we have a Mandalorian!"

"I thought they were all dead!"

"Not yet," Din says as he swiftly pulls out his blaster pistol, then fires two precise head shots before the men could even react. Then he tucks it away and takes out his sniper rifle to begin disintegrating raiders as they approach him. Any shot fired at him is blocked by his indestructible armor.

He finds a group of about five to five raiders pointed their blasters at residents in front of the their home. They are demanding they give them what they came for. One of the residents was a young woman holding a small child. As an instinct, Din runs out to towards the woman with the child with his blaster ready. Then one of the raiders suddenly appears with a missile launcher and starts threatened to shoot. All of a sudden, a familiar female voice is heard north of the settlement, calm and peaceful, yet firm and unafraid.

———————

Emerging from the fungal forest are two Rancors and two Arklays, standing in between the four large beasts is Nia holding the hilt of her saber in her hand.

"Leave this place at once. I really prefer not to kill anyone!" Her voice echoed in the chaos.

"We gave you all plenty of opportunities!" A raiders calls out, probably the leader.

"I'm sorry, but threatening us won't solve anything. Perhaps we can't come up with a deal?"

"Enough talk! We want all of your nysillin or we will destroy this place!"

"I'm afraid I can't let that happen. This is your last chance to surrender," she says as she ignites her turquoise blade.

"She's a Jedi! Kill her!" The leader yells.

Without another word, a rocket was fired at her direction. She closed her eyes as the missile immediately stops in midair. With a flick of her chin, the missile is thrown backwards towards the group of raiders, killing them. Everyone froze for a split second.

"So it looks like I have no choice," she says to herself as she reaches out with one of her hands, then points at a group of raiders in the distance who start charging at her. The Arklays and the Rancors charge at the raiders, biting and cutting their bodies in half.

One of the Rancors begins devouring one of the attacking men, the two Arklays use their sharp claws and teeth to slice open any raider within range. The beasts make their way through the crowd of raiders as Nia uses her saber to dodge incoming blaster fire. Each shot ricochets off her teal blade and strikes a raider, killing them instantly.

As she makes her way through the chaos, she Force-pulls a raider into the claws of one of the Rancors, while using her saber to cut through any raider who gets in her way. Then all of a sudden, she is surrounded by raiders, all pointing their guns at her face.

"You are outnumbered, Jedi!" One of them snarled.

"No, it is you who are outnumbered," she says as she uses the Force to grip half of them in place as she dodges shots with her saber. An Arklay nearby attacks a few others, and a Rancor bites another raider and begins eating him. All blaster fire that strikes the four beasts does very little damage due to their thick leathery skin.

"Bring in the AT-AT!" She hears a raider yell.

With that, Nia deactivates her saber and ducks behind a building for cover. Suddenly she feels arms behind wrapped around her shoulders and torso, pulling her close to a cold, steel armored chest. She struggles with this unknown assailant for a second until a familiar deep, raspy, modulated voice speaks in her ear.

"Settle down, it's me!"

"Mando? Oh fuck! Don't do that to me when my back is turned! I could have killed you!" She yells as he released her.

"I'm a little hard to kill, even for you."

"Alright let's not get too cocky! That AT-AT is closing in fast! We need to think of a plan!"

"I thought you said you could handle it yourself?"

"Yes, but I will need some cover."

"Come on! Are you kidding?! That thing will kill you in an instant!" He yells, then suddenly Max shows up with his blaster pistol in his hand.

"Never thought I would ever be in a battle, fighting side by side with a Jedi and a Mandalorian!" Max huffs as he pants from exhaustion. "So do you two have a plan for that thing?!"

"Well, Miss Magic Hands here was about to do something insane," Din says to Max as he gestures to Nia, but his tone of voice sounded like he was teasing her.

"Do you really think now is the time to be flirting with me, Mando? Give me a detonator!"

Din zips his helmet towards Nia but doesn't say anything as he tilts his head to the side, as if he misheard her.

"I don't have time to argue with you! Give me one of your detonators! I know you have several!" She snarls between gritted teeth.

"You're crazy, you know that?!" He says placed his gloved hand on top of one of his numerous detonators attached to his utility strap, but doesn't remove it yet.

"Yeah, but you know you'll be bored if I wasn't. Now hand me a detonator before I punch you!"

He laughs.

"Stop laughing at me and give me one of your detonators!"

"Hey come on you two, knock it off!" Max shouted.

With a heavy sigh, he hands her a thermal detonator then says, "This is only good for close range attacks."

"I know what I'm doing. Just cover me!" She yells as she dashed out into the battle, blaster fire continues to break out all around them. Max is surprisingly good with his pistol, firing precise shots to the stomach or chest of any attackers approaching them. Some of the residents are seen striking raiders with handmade objects or knives, while Din uses his rifle to disintegrate any within range.

Finally, the glowing lights of the Imperial armored transport walker is seen between the mushroom trees up ahead. Orange blasts begins firing at her location, but with her zig-zag patterns and incredible speed, this massive aging vessel can't keep up with her.

Once Nia is within a few yards from the front of the AT-AT, she Force-jumps five times her height and lands on the top control room of the vessel. She looks down to see Din and Max taking out more raiders as they appear behind the old Imperial military walker. She placed her hand on the window in front of the driver-side, uses the Force to break open the glass and tosses the detonator inside before quickly jumping off the side.

The Force allows her to avoid injury from the fall, so she tumbles away as a fiery explosion blows up above her. As she lies on the ground, debris from the AT-AT begin raining down all around her. She hears men screaming orders from the town. Then a loud metallic crash is heard directly behind her, followed by the sparkling of electrical equipment and the crackling of burning trees.

Shortly after, she's being lifted up by a pair of strong arms. She immediately recognizes Din's beskar vambraces as she swiftly throws her arms around his shoulders, her cheek pressed against the side of his helmet. It was the heat of the moment and such a relief to know that he was alright.

"So glad you are here, Mando," she whispers softly.

"Oh, do I hear a compliment?" He teased.

"Just shut up and hug me!" She laughed as she feels his arms wrap around her waist. They stay like this for several minutes until Max runs over from behind them, interrupting their moment.

"They are surrendering!" Max yells out, causing Din and Nia to quickly step away from each other, pretending like nothing happened.

The fighting ended as quickly as it started, Nia and Din were meet by a crowd of residents cheering and clapping. Smoke is seen rising from the distance, bodies of some of the residents are seen laying about, many other carcasses of raiders littered the ground, a dozen other raiders are seen running away towards the south, and the older villagers and the children begin emerging from their hiding spots.

"The liberators!" A few residents cry out.

"You saved us!" Others nearby also say as they go to shake Din and Nia's hands.

Food and drink were passed around as songs of joy and mourning rang throughout the streets, and some of the townspeople organized burials of those who died. Nia and Maya offered to heal the wounded as other residents assessed the damage.

Some time later, Nia saw a massive fire behind the marketplace, when she ran to investigate she discovers that her ship had been destroyed. It wasn't brand new or anything, but it was her home away from home. Luckily, nothing valuable was inside, but it seems she may be stuck without a ship for a while. She turns around to see Din walking up towards her.

"Well Mando, looks like you and I aren't going anywhere anytime soon."

"At least the threat has been taken care of."

"Thank you," she says with a smile.

"You're welcome."

"Ready for your last treatment?" She says after a short pause.

"Sure."