CHAPTER THREE – POSTERS OF THE SEA AND LAND
LUX
"Tandin speaking."
Thank goodness Tandin picked up his comlink. "General Tandin, it's Lux Bonteri. Ahsoka Tano and I are downstairs by the emergency bay."
Through the comlink, I hear a gut-wrenching shout followed by King Dendup's voice. "Calm down, son."
"Is that him?"
"It is," Tandin sighs. "He's very agitated right now. His Majesty and I are trying to get him to explain what's bothering him, but he's not saying."
Saw's roars reduce in volume and Dendup's voice becomes clearer. "Of course, Saw. They're on their way. Now, do you need the medical droid to bring you more medication?"
"What floor are you on?" I ask.
"Fourth floor, room 421. We're at the end of the hallway," Tandin says hastily.
"Excellent. We're on our way now. We'll be there in a few minutes." I end the call and glance around for the turbolift, but Ahsoka points the way. "Fourth floor, room 421."
"He's so upset," She worries as we speed into the lift and select the button for the fourth floor. "He doesn't even sound like himself right now."
"He doesn't," I concede. "Hopefully the doctors will find a medication that works. It doesn't sound like he's responding well to whatever he's on at the moment."
The alert bell dings and the turbolift door opens wide.
I don't have to check the room numbers to find Saw. I just have to have eardrums.
A series of urgent shouts come from the far side of the wing. Upon closer inspection, one can see King Dendup pacing and massaging his temples.
"That would be Saw's room." I announce and rush toward the sound, Ahsoka at my side.
King Dendup turns toward us, relief pouring out his face. "Lux, thank goodness…"
"Your Highness." I come to a halt and bow awkwardly, my momentum tossing me forward the slightest bit. Ahsoka, of course, is perfectly put-together. I swear, she must be using the force when she does that.
"Master Jedi," Dendup nods to Ahsoka. "I appreciate your coming here on such short notice"
"It wasn't an issue," she says, even though I glimpse her face twitch with a different answer. "Your Majesty, I assure you that it's my aim to find these spree killers and bring them to justice before they become a serious threat to Onderon."
The king nods. "Thank you, Master Tano. I only hope Tandin and I can care for Mr. Gerrera properly…"
"How is he?" I ask.
"Bonteri, is that you?"
Dendup gestures into the room. "You'd have to see for yourselves."
He leads the way through the door with me in the middle and Ahsoka taking up the rear.
Saw lays in bed, clad in a hospital gown which does little to keep one warm. A bandage on his forehead covers the few stitches the medical droid put in, and bacta shines on the bruises decorating his skin. I can see the bandages wrapped around his injured leg as he's kicked off his blankets; I can only imagine how many times the king or Tandin tucked him in until they finally gave up.
"It's me." I wave.
"Thought you'd never get back here." He grumbles and nods to Ahsoka. "Hey, commander."
"Hi, Saw." Ahsoka says and walks up to his bedside. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. What I need is to get out of here so I can get it back -." As if to prove his point, Saw pushes himself up and swings his legs over the bed.
Ahsoka places a hand on his arm to stop him, but we're nothing compared to Tandin. He grabs Saw by the shoulders and forces him back into the mattress.
"You heard the doctor." He says. "If you put weight on your leg you'll bleed, and that's the last thing you need. I'm sorry Commander Gerrera, but you're staying here."
"But -."
Tandin tucks Saw back in with one hand.
"Senator Bonteri and Padawan Tano are investigating the incident." King Dendup says. "It's well under control, Saw."
Ahsoka raises an eye marking at Saw. "What is it that you need to get back?"
I have never, not once in my life, seen a person crumble faster.
"I tried to stop him, but that sleemo took it anyway!" Saw pitches forward, Tandin's hand the only thing keeping him upright. "I tried to grab it off the coffee table. He picked it up and put it in his pack."
And then the impossible happens: tears leak out of Saw's eyes with a series of awful, shuddering sobs.
"Oh, Saw…" Ahsoka sits on the edge of his bed and reaches for his hand, but Saw yanks it away.
"What was it?" Dendup asks gently.
"A music box." Saw takes a deep breath. "It-it's Steela's. That one Tandin gave her. It sounds like her when I listen to it. I just know she loved it, and I need to get it back."
Tandin takes a step back in shock and a horrible feeling creeps into me. What kind of person takes a dead woman's music box from her injured, presumably dying brother?
The same kind of person who murders people in their own homes. I tell myself.
"You have to get it back." Saw begs. "I don't know what the heck they want with it, but I know it's hers. Bonteri, Commander, you have to. Nobody else is going to get it back for me. Please. It's -." He looks Ahsoka in the eye. "It's the only thing of hers I have left."
"I understand," Ahsoka says. "Saw, if we're going to find the box then we need to know everything you remember about the people who did this to you."
"Close your eyes," Tandin suggests. "It might help."
Saw closes his eyes.
"Now, the people who did this to you. Were they males, or females?"
"Both," Saw mumbles. "A guy and a girl." A couple?
"What species were they?" Ahsoka asks.
"The guy was a Twi'lek. Blue." Saw clears his throat. "He was tall and wearing a dark shirt."
"Did you see what color eyes he had?"
"Blue?" Saw shrugs. "Not sure, but they were light. The woman called him Tack or Mack or Jack…think it was Jack."
"What about the woman." Tandn instructs. "What did she look like?"
"Short," Saw grunts. "Blonde hair in pigtails, like for a little girl."
"What was she wearing?" I ask.
"This baggy men's shirt." Saw says. "It was weird…really weird. Hair in pigtails and then a guy's shirt and a hat."
"She might have stuffed her hair into the hat to disguise herself as a man." I whisper to Ahsoka. "That way the police would be looking for two men, not a man and a woman."
"Does she have a name?" Ahsoka asks.
Saw shakes his head and opens his eyes. "I don't remember."
"Close your eyes again," Tandin cuts in. "Let's start over, and go back to the first thing they did. How did they get into your apartment? Was the music box out?"
"They knocked." Saw says. "I asked who it was and they said Galactic Postal Service and they had a delivery. When I opened the door the guy pistol-whipped me and threw me into the wall."
"Was the woman with him?"
"Not yet. She didn't come in until I was on the floor. Her boyfriend told her to go through the house. And then he walked over to the coffee table and grabbed the music box." His voice breaks. "Then his girlfriend came back in and talked to him. He called her Mar."
"Mar? Her name is Mar?" King Dendup prompts.
Saw nods wildly. "Her name is Mar, and she's holding a holo in her hand; the one Dono took of me and Steela in front of the ruping pens. Why does she want a holo of me and my sister?"
Ahsoka raises an eye marking at me. Sounds like there's no end to the questions of the day today.
The waterworks start up again. "I tried to get it back and he shot me." He says. "The girl dropped the holo, but he put the box in his holster. Why did they want it?"
"Saw," Dendup suggests. "The doctors warned that the medication could have this side effect. Why don't you take a nap while we talk in the hallway?"
"I'm fine."
"Sleep." This time, Dendup's voice leaves no room for negotiation. "That is an order from your king."
Even an anxious, medicated Saw recognizes Dendup's authority. He leans back against the bed and yanks his blankets up to cover his shoulder. "Fine."
"Rest well," Dendup says, pats Saw's shoulder, and shepherds us out the door and down the hallway a little.
"How bad are the injuries?" I ask.
"With rest and proper care, he'll be fine." Tandin explains. "Getting him to rest is another story."
"Lux's and my investigation should take the edge off some of that." Ahsoka says. "But let's be honest. We might want to start looking for a duplicate music box."
"That's not possible." Tandin blurts out all at once, then collects himself again. "I... I gave it to her; it was a family heirloom and it's irreplaceable. We need to find this exact music box, and we need to find it quickly. Might they try to sell it?"
"I don't think they'll get rid of it," I say. "It sounds like they took it because they liked it."
"All right, so they still have it. Before we can worry about getting it back, we have to catch the attackers," Ahsoka cracks her knuckles.
"Female Twi'lek and male human couples are a dime a dozen, but couples where the human is female are rarer." Tandin says. "That should get you two somewhere."
"And we have names. Name fragments, at least."
Those won't get us anywhere. I can think of at least four possible first names for "Mar": Mary, Marina, Marlene, and Tamara. That's not even counting all the possible options if it's her surname.
"I'll contact someone at the Temple to start in on the research." Ahsoka says. "The fact that these killers are a couple worries me. There was a couple on Alderraan who robbed fuel stations and killed the people inside."
"Bonnie and Clyde?" I ask.
"Yes, that's them." Ahsoka clarifies. "According to the data file the Temple sent me, our killers have killed at least two other people on Ryloth. We were able to link the murders with the slugthrower."
"Then the slugthrower is our start. It's better than trying to track down two syllables for names."
Ahsoka looks into Saw's room.
"Whatever we do, we'd better hurry." She says. "Judging by the way those two acted, I'm worried we may have another Bonnie and Clyde on our hands."
…
On one of Iziz's secondary streets. Mar drags her heels on the way to the spaceport.
"You said this was the planet." She argues. "You promised we'd stop here."
"How was I supposed to know that guy was the Senator's best friend?" Jack demands.
"You saw the name on the directory! You could have just used the HoloNet to check." Mar snaps, crossing her arms over her chest. "I was just starting to like it here, too."
"You grabbed the holo yourself. That guy was a folk hero. You want to be the person who killed a folk hero?" he whispers. "And don't even get me started on the other guy! If we hadn't sealed it already, we definitely messed up twice here."
Mar throws up her hands, palms up.
"Fine. You win, for now." She grumbles. "We're running out of time, Jack. It's time to pick a planet and stick with it, not to be waffling around and hopping planets every two days."
"I know. And we are. You remember when we left Ryloth and you said it was better to go inward, because it was safer?"
"I do."
"Well, you're getting your wish."
"Where are we going now?"
Jack readjusts the pack over his shoulders. "Word gets around fast in a small town." He says. "But in a city as big as we're going, no one notices two little people all by themselves."
And that's not good.
Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, Rose Ravenclaw, McAwsome, TessaFred, and TafaniG for your reviews. A response to TafaniG, because you are a guest and therefore I can't PM you: While that's a great idea, I already have the story written and just have to edit the chapters as I go. You will see however, that Jack and Mar's motives go beyond simple thrill-killing.
Until next time,
LS
