“Just keep looking forward, Luke,” Mando said, motioning at the two ships before the Razor Crest.
Now in Oamia’s atmosphere, the ship bounced through the seemingly never-ending clouds. Mando assumed the planet didn’t get much sunlight, given how thick they were.
Grogu, R2, and Rotta swayed back and forth with the Razor Crest until she finally escaped the clouds, and the team found themselves over a rough ocean, with sharp cliffs before them. Waves smashed against the rocks, some reaching thirty or fifty feet up the cliffs.
The closer the Razor Crest approached the island, the more Mando barely saw the spaceport on a beach at the foot of one of the cliffs. He watched as the Vikings slowed down and lowered their ships onto the water. It wasn’t long before they stroked through the rough sea, never tilting or showing signs of capsizing. It looked like they were seafarers, too. They soon reached the cove where the spaceport was and pulled up beside a few other ships.
Luke flew the Razor Crest over them, landing gently but tensely on the beach.
Mando gripped the back of his seat during the entire landing, not relaxing until he ensured they were safe. He saw that Grogu remained on his lap and quickly stood so he wouldn’t risk hurting him; however, he caught him before he fell off the chair.
Before stepping outside to Oamia, Mando cleared his throat. “Nice job, Luke.”
Luke froze. He stared at Mando for a long time until finally saying, “Thank you.”
Mando cleared his throat again. He would be back behind those controls before he knew it.
The first thing Mando and his allies saw when they stepped outside was the two Viking ships. The pod at one of their bows opened, and someone stepped onto the shore. Esther, perhaps?
Yep. She removed her black helmet, similar to Mando’s, revealing long blonde hair with brown highlights. From a distance, she looked like she was about 5’6, but when she approached Mando’s group, it turned out that she was more 6’4, five inches taller than Mando. Not only that, but she had muscles behind her black suit, as well as abs on her exposed belly. Black-and-white paint was on her forehead, cheeks, and stomach. She appeared to be in her early to mid-forties and could probably snap Luke like a twig.
Why did Mando feel so out of place? He even bounced onto his tiptoes, but couldn’t reach Esther’s height.
Was it hot? Mando sweated in his helmet.
Helmet under her arm, Esther carefully examined him, Luke, Rotta, Grogu, and R2 as if she were a cyborg (those blue eyes pierced a hole in Mando’s armor).
“Welcome to Oamia,” Esther eventually said (yep, she had an accent). “Now, one of you is injured?”
“It’s actually two things.” Luke slapped the back of Mando’s shoulder, snapping him out of his trance. “Din here has a concussion, but also this helmet that we think may be connected to the brainwashing technology.”
Mando usually wasn’t scared of women—he worked with Bo-Katan and Cara Dune—but there was something about Esther (or something about the atmosphere) that made his helmet buzz even louder, enough that Luke had to encourage him to follow her when she said, “Follow me.”
Mando would be cautious that time (no more mistakes on his end).
Esther escorted him and his allies to a tent at the edge of the spaceport, which stood at the foot of a path that rose steeply to what appeared to be a village at the top.
Maybe Mando was overreacting? Luke and Grogu were Force-sensitive, so if they sensed dark energy from Esther, wouldn’t they already be trying to drag him away from her? Just… what was it?
Esther gestured for Mando to take a seat, and he did, still tense. “We’re from the New Republic,” he explained. “We heard that there’s a base here that an invisible enemy recently attacked.” His own accent came out a bit.
“There is,” Esther answered, cracking her knuckles. “We’ve been having issues with brainwashed people from around that area. A family disappears almost every day now. That’s why we Vikings patrol. But let’s focus on you first. What’s the problem?”
“Can you get this helmet off?” Mando found himself asking aloud. He tapped his helmet. “I can’t do it.”
Esther crossed her beefy arms. “Isn’t covering your face part of your guys’ Creed, though?”
“Yes, but not like this.” Mando looked at Luke, who spoke next.
“He damaged his other helmet, and a doctor gave him this replacement one. However, it’s trying to brainwash him.”
“Hm…” Esther reached for Mando’s helmet, but unlike when Grogu tried to touch it, it didn’t push her back, and she was able to grab either side. Esther pulled, but the helmet didn’t budge, so she pulled harder.
“Ow!” Mando yelped when his neck cracked. He flinched away and reached for it.
“Yep, that’s stuck on there,” Esther admitted, dropping her hands. “Looking at it, it’s definitely the brainwashing technology.”
Brainwashing. Now, two people confirmed it.
Mando swallowed a lump. Fight the fear, fight the fear. For Grogu. He looked down at Grogu, who worriedly peered into his face.
Rotta soon lifted his hand. “I have an idea.” He gestured at Luke’s lightsaber. “Luke’s lightsaber can cut through anything. Maybe we could use it on the helmet?”
As if!
“No one is putting a lightsaber to my face,” Mando said with as little emotion as he could muster. He once accidentally burned himself with the Dark Saber. He thought that was painful, but he didn’t want to think about what a lightsaber would feel like.
“It wouldn’t work,” Esther explained, backing away from Mando. She picked up her helmet and tucked it under her arm again. “The only way to remove the helmet is by using the brainwashing technology against it.”
The—? How did she know?
Esther put her helmet on. “If you don’t mind me asking… What was the name of the doctor who gave that to you?”
“Dante,” Mando answered. Did Esther tense up, too? She definitely knew something about the conspiracy. Still, Luke and Grogu didn’t look uncomfortable, as if she were the Mastermind.
Luke pushed for an answer, but his voice remained calm. “We heard that there’s a hidden base somewhere in the Outer Rim where there’s a Mastermind behind the attacks and brainwashing. Do you think it might be in this sector, since this is where most of the brainwashing is taking place?”
Esther nodded. “That’s been my guess since the attacks started, but we Vikings haven’t yet found a lead to it. I’ll take you guys to that New Republic base to get you started. We need to move quickly, though.” She focused on Mando’s helmet again. “That helmet is a ticking time bomb.”
That didn’t make Mando feel any better. “Is the lightsaber still an option?” he found himself wondering. God, he screwed up so badly. His mind hadn’t been the same ever since the Dragonsnake—he had PTSD—and now he was facing the consequence with Grogu.
“I don’t want to be brainwashed,” he told Esther, examining Grogu again. “Help me get this helmet off.”
“We’ll leave right away,” Esther said, turning on her heel. “I just need to get the ship ready. Our ships are smaller and are built for Oamia’s climate.”
Wait, did she mean that—?
Esther read Mando’s mind. “Yes, we’re going to take one of ours.”
There it was. Would Mando ever get his Razor Crest back? Though he guessed it made sense since he wasn’t familiar with Oamia. From first impressions, it looked like a planet with rough oceans, tall cliffs, and an unpredictable weather pattern.
While Mando thought everything over, a few clouds in the sky broke apart, revealing the night sky and the Oamian Nebulae, still colorful and mysterious. As Mando predicted, it was a sight for sore eyes, filling a large portion of the sky. He distracted himself by examining it and asking questions to himself, at least until the clouds covered it back up.
From there, he thought, Well, at least we’re one step closer.
But how much time did he have left?
ns216.73.217.54da2
and then Add to home screen.