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Jango didn’t mean to get into a fight with a slave ship, and he didn’t mean to board the ship and take out her crew, but his ship is too damaged to make it back to Kamino, and being able to free whoever the slavers have captured is a nice bonus.
He finds his way down to the holding cells, clenching his jaw angrily when he sees that the first two cells both hold ad’ike, probably not even the species equivalent of ten Standard. He crouches down, speaking softly through the ray shield as he works on getting the cells open, trying to make the children understand that he isn’t going to hurt them. The ad’ike, a Twi’lek and a Human, press themselves up against the back walls of their cells at first, but cautiously venture out to stand behind Jango after a moment.
The Twi’lek looks about seven or eight Standard, and the Human is a bit younger. They’re unhealthily skinny, and Jango spots half-healed injuries on them both. He suddenly regrets making the slavers’ deaths quick.
Jango moves on to the next cell, the last occupied one, and freezes when he sees its occupant. Curled in the back corner of the cell, no bigger than a large tooka, is a dragon.
Jetti.
Jango stiffens, his instincts warring with each other. It’s a Jetti, one of the people who massacred the Haat Mando’ade at Galidraan and who have been enemies of the Mandalorians since long before Jango was born.
But . . . it’s still an ad’ika, and a young one at that judging by the size.
Jango sighs, shoulders slumping as he comes to a decision. Jetti or not, he can’t leave the child. And he definitely can’t hurt them.
He opens the cell, dropping down to the ground to try to convince the ad’ika that he isn’t a threat. It doesn’t seem to work very well, as the violet-feathered dragon shrinks further back into the corner.
Jango hesitates, debating with himself, and then sighs again and reluctantly pulls off his helmet. It sometimes helps for ad’ike to see his face, especially Human and near-Human ones. And in his experience the stories about beskar being an effective protection against Jetti mind-reading seem to have at least some truth to them. The ad’ika is small enough that Jango can’t imagine they’ll be able to do very much with whatever they find in his mind, though he knows that physical size isn’t always an indication of power, especially for Jetti. And it might help convince them to trust him.
It’s worth the risk.
The dragon’s fiery orange eyes widen when Jango’s helmet comes off, taking in his face warily. They stare at him, cocking their head as if sizing him up, then slowly begin to uncurl from their defensive crouch. Jango smiles reassuringly as the ad’ika carefully slinks over to him. He holds out a hand, but doesn’t try to touch the tiny dragon; instead he waits for them to hesitantly rub their head along his gloved hand.
The dragon gives a quiet, pleased-sounding chitter, growing bolder and winding affectionately around Jango’s legs. They also cautiously nudge their head against the other two ad’ike, who stare down at the dragon with wide eyes.
The Twi’lek recovers from their shock first, mouth quirking up as they run gentle fingers along the dragon’s spine. The Human imitates them a moment later. The dragon doesn’t seem to object, relaxing and making more happy chittering sounds.
Jango just watches the ad’ike for a moment, smiling softly. He wishes that Boba, his Boba who he loves more than life even though he hasn’t even been born yet, could have children to play with other than the clones and Kaminoans, but his contract was clear, and it would be too dangerous besides.
It’s thoughts like these that make Jango wonder if taking the contract with Tyranus was really worth it. If he can’t give his son the life that he deserves, what was the point?
But he can help these ad’ike, make sure that they get somewhere safe. He can’t keep them, as much as he might want to, as much as he wants to keep every child that he saves, but he can give them a chance at a better life.
By the time that Jango arrives at Coruscant, with no stops except for a few quick repairs, he’s gotten to know the rescued ad’ike (he can’t afford to start thinking of him as his ad’ike) better. The Human speaks a language that he’s never heard before, but they’ve managed to at least communicate their name, Roan. The Twi’lek, Lia, speaks some Basic, and between that and Jango’s scattered knowledge of Ryl they manage to communicate decently well.
The dragon still hasn’t changed back, so Jango has no idea about them, although he’s introduced himself and the other ad’ike to them.
After a while, the dragon makes their way over to the pilot’s seat and cheeps insistently at Jango until he looks down, raising an eyebrow at them. They try to dig their tiny claws into his greave, and when that doesn’t work they crouch down, narrow their eyes, and jump, landing with their front legs over Jango’s thigh and scrambling into his lap. Jango smiles bemusedly and rests a gentle hand on their side to ensure that they don’t lose their balance.
The ad’ika curls up tightly on Jango’s lap, staring curiously at the shifting blues of hyperspace. A few minutes later, their head droops and then he hears them start to snore quietly.
He swallows past a sudden lump in his throat.
Once they get to Coruscant, Jango dons a hood and cloak, carefully concealing his armor. He ushers the ad’ike out into the crowded streets of one of the middle levels, letting the dragon climb into his pack.
He makes his way to the Mandalorian covert on Coruscant, a remnant of the Haat Mando’ade. This is where he generally takes the children that he finds; the Mando’ade will take better care of them than the foster system, and ask fewer questions of Jango. Roan and Lia are handed off to the covert’s Armorer, a muscular Togruta woman. Jango’s heart clenches to say goodbye to them, as always, but he still explains to Lia that she and Roan need to go with the Armorer. Lia frowns, green eyes glistening, but she wraps him in a tight hug and then follows the Armorer inside the covert, gently tugging Roan behind her.
When that’s over, Jango reluctantly heads towards the upper levels of Coruscant. He has one more stop to make. One more ad’ika to drop off with someone who will care for them.
Jango looks up at the towering Jedi Temple, steeling himself to approach. He spent half of the trip to Coruscant debating whether or not to bring the dragon ad’ika to the Jettise, but he can’t think of a better option.
He doesn’t like the Jettise, but by all accounts they take good care of their children; younglings, they apparently call them. And the ad’ika needs other Force-sensitives to help them manage their powers. Jango’s already seen them tip over a canteen of water without touching it and accidentally shove a plant across the cabin (at least, he assumes it was an accident, judging by the distressed noises that the ad’ika made after doing it).
Jango would rather they grow up safe, happy, and among enemies of his people than any other possibilities that he’s considered.
It still takes him a moment to convince himself to walk up the Temple steps, though.
Jango unslings his pack and gently pulls the ad’ika into his arms, feeling them curl happily into his chest despite his armor. In the sunlight he can see that their feathers have a red-gold shimmer that makes the violet underneath seem to burn.
His hood is still up, and he doesn’t enter the temple, instead approaching one of the masked guards outside of it. The guard doesn’t say anything, but their head tilts slightly downwards, towards the dragon cradled in Jango’s arms. The ad’ika gives a curious cheep, stretching their neck out towards the Jetti.
The Jetti guard’s mask turns towards Jango’s face, an expectant, inquisitive tilt to their head. Jango sighs, bracing himself, and holds the dragon out. He has to force himself to stay still and allow the Jetti to take the child, and just barely manages it.
The guard’s posture softens subtly as they take the dragon. They cradle the ad’ika just as carefully as Jango did, allowing them to nudge their feathered head against the Jetti’s body and claw gently at the dark robes.
The Jetti looks back up at Jango and gives a single, slow nod.
Jango returns it, feeling something other than hatred and fear for a Jetti for the first time in a very long time. Now that he’s seen the way that this guard treats the child, he feels surer that this was the right decision.
The Jetti guard turns away from Jango, walking gracefully up the remaining steps to the Temple. Another masked Jetti seamlessly shifts to take their place as the first guard disappears inside the massive building, taking the ad’ika with them.
Jango stares after the guard for a long moment, then shakes his head and snaps back into focus. He has a feeling that he has a lot of thinking to do, but he doesn’t have time for it right now. He still has to get back to Kamino.
But he knows he won’t forget this.