Author's Note: Hey, I hope you enjoyed my second chapter introducing Bounty Hunters into the story, including everyone's favorite, Cad Bane. I can't wait to start writing about him and the others. Remember, if you like this story, then don't forget to favorite, review, and share this story with your fellow fanfiction writers!
Episode 3A: "I Always Liked a Good Show."
Aayla could not help but feel slightly annoyed at her situation. She had left the teaching of the class of initiates to her old Master, Quinlan, and now he himself was trying to connect to the class. The children gathered in a semicircle around the Jedi Master, each with enthusiastic looks on their faces, something Aayla seemed to find missing when she was teaching them.
"Well, where do we begin? Quinlan began, "Shii-Cho is the bedrock of Lightsaber combat; every Jedi must learn this form to master any other. The core principles of Form 1 are simplicity and fluidity, and focuses more on disarming an opponent than killing them, which is good for all of you since we don't want to be killing our sparring partners, do we?"
"No!" The initiates said haphazardly.
Aayla rolled her eyes at this winged lecture. She was beginning to wonder of Quinlan himself actually knew what he was doing. She focused her vision back on her Master as he took out his lightsaber and swiftly ignited it. The green blade hummed quietly as the Jedi Master continued his lecture.
"Good. Now, I will demonstrate some of the maneuvers that form the basis of Shii-Cho. Watch carefully, and don't get too close."
Quinlan stepped back and put both his hands on his hilt. He put his right foot back and assumed a comfortable stance. He began to swing his blade in smooth, flowing motions, in both the horizontal and vertical directions. To Aayla, it was essentially the exact same thing that she had been attempting to show to the students the entire morning, but something felt different about it when Quinlan was doing it. Perhaps she was reading far too into it, but she could feel a much greater aura of confidence in Quinlan's demonstration like he had been preparing for this demonstration. Eventually, Quinlan stopped, deactivating his lightsaber and looking over to the initiates
"That doesn't look so hard, does it? Now, I want all of you to practice these maneuvers yourselves, just like how I did it, alright? I'll be watching to give any pointers, too."
The initiates bowed their heads to the Jedi and each drew their own lightsabers, training ones as they were far too young to build their own. A flurry of blue and green illuminated the room as the children began to mimic the moves they had just seen. Aayla did not know what to expect now. If she couldn't teach anything worthwhile within several hours, surely her master wouldn't fare any better, right?
That mentality was precisely the reason that she found herself so surprised at what she saw next. To both her delight and shock, the initiates were actually swinging their lightsabers in the smooth and fluid fashion that they were instructed to do. Though she hid any physical reaction, she was still left completely dumbstruck at what was happening. There she was, watching the initiates perform something that she had attempted to show them for several hours with little success, but now suddenly doing perfectly after a lecture of just a few minutes! Quinlan must have sensed this surprise within Aayla, as he walked over and patted her on the shoulder as a way of saying "you're welcome".
Aayla collected herself and turned to him, seeing a small smirk.
"You know, you are sometimes hard to understand, Quin." Aayla jokingly remade. "What did you do?"
Quinlan shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, it seemed pretty easy to me. You had some time yourself to teach, right? What did you do?"
"I'm not sure really. I suppose you just have a better ability to show off."
Quinlan chucked at that remark. "Well, maybe if you spent less time here and more time with me, you might even pick up on a few more of my teachings to 'show off' to these students. It would be just like old times, won't it?"
Aayla stood silent for a moment. She looked over at the initiates, still swinging their lightsabers, a few of them sparring. She realized that with the intervention of her master, she had little else to teach them for today, but instead she had an opportunity to show them something else.
"Perhaps that can be arranged after you give help me one last demonstration," Aayla replied.
"And what would that be?" Quinlan asked.
"A spar. Right here, in front of the initiates. It will be just like old times, right?"
Quinlan was somewhat taken aback by this suggestion. It had been some time since they dueled, and this occasion was the first of which she, the apprentice had gone forth and challenged him, the master. He was hesitant to answer, worried even, but after seeing Aayla sheer sense of determination on her face, he knew there was not backing down now.
"Well now, it's been a while since we've done that, hasn't it? Alright, I accept your challenge." Quinlan said with his typical charisma, casting aside any doubts in his mind. The stage was now set for a duel between master and apprentice.
A warm grin slowly grew over Aayla's blue face as Quinlan accepted her proposal. She caught the attention of the initiates.
"Everyone, listen closely. My master and I would like to show you something special. We will spar here for all of you to watch and learn. If you would please move to the corners of the room as to not interfere."
She nodded in approval as they complied with her request. She then used the force to dim the light source in the room and closed the windows, thereby removing any visual distractions. In the mild darkness, the two combatants moved to opposite ends of the room, with plenty of space in between them Aayla bowed to Quinlan, who bowed faithfully in return. They both removed took out their lightsabers and quickly ignited them, the glow of blue and green filling the void of darkness in the room.
For Aayla, she felt both enthusiastic and cautious to fight. She knew that her master Quinlan was skilled, but so was she. She placed her right hand on her lightsaber and moved into a stance. She extended her arms and held her Lightsaber in a two-handed guard, with the hilt in front of her body and the tip pointing at an angle towards Quinlan. Her eyes tightened, her breathing slowed, and her mind was cleared. She was ready to face her opponent.
Quinlan did not know whether to feel confident or worried about facing Aayla. On one hand, since she was his apprentice, in theory, she would be at least somewhat predictable in a fight. However, on the other hand, what Aayla did know made her into a very competent and skilled fighter herself, and whatever fighting she did with her Clone Batallion might have honed her skills. He knew that there was little time left to contemplate what would happen. Now, their Lightsabers would do the talking. Quinlan bottled up his worries and assumed his stance in response to Aayla. He put his two hands on his lightsaber and slowly moved them over to his right side of his body and held the blade straight up in the classic Ataru stance.
Alright Aayla, let's see how you how much you've learned. Quinlan said in his mind, clearly wanting Aayla to hear through the Force.
...
Quinlan was sweating now. He and Aayla had not actually begun fighting, but the tension between the two could not be higher. It was obvious to both combatants that this was not going to be an easy fight by any stretch of the imagination. After all, the master and apprentice knew the much of the same fighting styles, techniques, and tactics. In essence, Aayla and Quinlan were but mirrors to each other, each seeing that their opponent was much like themselves. They were currently circling each other in the darkened room with their stances, staring straight into each other's eyes. both fighters waiting until they found a weakness in the other's defense and exploiting it. In a way, they were fighting a battle, a mental battle, and they were deadlocked with neither the courage to charge forward.
Aayla looked on and pondered what to do. She knew that at the moment, she could not attack her master with his guard still up. Somehow, she needed to create a distraction, even one that lasted but a mere moment would be enough to unbalance Quinlan's defense and allow her to charge forward. She sensed any objects of interest that could be manipulated until she remembered the younglings, hidden in the darkness in the corner of the room, watching curiously. All without looking away from Quinlan, Aayla concentrated her efforts on one single initiate and their training lightsaber. Using the darkness to keep anyone from noticing, without looking away from Vos, she used the Force to levitate the lightsaber into the air, before letting go of it.
Quinlan heard an odd, metallic noise coming from elsewhere in the room, his eyes dashed around the room in instinct; a critical error. Aayla suddenly charged at him with lightning speed. Green and blue blades met fiercely as Quinlan barely had enough time to block Aayla's strike. Aayla pushed off his blade, driving him back and kept the attack. She struck at Quinlan with Djem So, attempting to overwhelm her him with powerful and wide swings.
Vos was not having an easy time defending from his apprentice's onslaught. His opponent was obviously skilled and controlled, and defending with just his knowledge of Shien, a form tailored to deflecting blasters, not lightsabers, did not make his situation ideal. He needed to come up with something to pacify Aayla's attacking fury before he ran out of room to retreat. He deflected another blow from Aayla, spinning his body around counter-clockwise. In the midst of his spin, he twisted his right wrist and held his blade backward, in the reverse grip. Quinlan spun back towards Aayla, who was ready to bring down her blade vertically on top of his head. In a swift motion, he brought his blade up and block Aayla's horizontally. Suddenly, Aayla was thrown back several feet as Quinlan used his free left hand to push her away with the Force.
Quinlan wasted no time to turn the tables on Aayla. Just as Aayla recovered from his kinetic push, she was suddenly bombarded with his own offensive. He was using Ataru, his specialty, striking hard and fast swings from multiple directions. Aayla, though being skilled in Ataru personally, found herself worried. His attack came with such speed and smoothness that they appeared almost as a blur to her. She realized that ever her knowledge of Form V: Djem So, the perseverance form, with all its parries and counterstrikes could not withstand Quinlan's furious attack forever. Aayla knew she had to come up with something quickly before she found herself overpowered by her master.
A thought came to her just as Vos was about to strike. In a masterstroke of agility, Aayla completely dodged the diagonal slash, spinning around and bringing her right foot up. The kick connected perfectly with Vos's face, and Quinlan recoiled a few feet from the sheer force of the blow. He took a few steps back, breathing heavier than before and giving him a few second's time to think. Admittedly, Aayla had made some significant improvements in her lightsaber skills since the last time he had dueled her, no doubt to her constantly using it often on the battlefield. Finally, it seemed that she now had the skill that he had expected from a fellow Jedi Knight, no longer a mere student. Still, Vos wasn't about to surrender so easily to Aayla, but he felt that he would need something more than just skill to beat her. It also came to his realization that Aayla herself was enjoying this fight thoroughly and obviously found an excuse to duel him with the initiates having to "learn" something.
He looked down at his lightsaber once again. Suddenly, an idea came to him.
He surprised Aayla and deftly tossed away his lightsaber with a flick of the wrist, the hilt fading into the darkness of the room. He outstretched his arms, too, and cocked his head slightly to his side. Aayla was left slightly dumbstruck from this action before she realized, or she thought she realized that he was, taunting her into attacking. She could visualize Quinlan saying something cocky such as "Well, what are you waiting for?" or "Too afraid to attack? I'm not surprised."
Aayla, however, was not going to be deterred by mere words. She rushed forward at the seemingly defenseless Quinlan, making a bold overhead slash toward his body. But instead of cleaving the Jedi in two, her wrist was caught in the air by a very fast grab by Quinlan. Using her own forward momentum against her, Vos put a firm hand on her abdomen and soundly tossed the Twi'lek directly over and behind him. She landed hard on her back, stunned momentarily. She opened her eyes to see that her lightsaber's pointed tip right above her head. She was defeated.
She quickly felt embarrassed with her situation and accepted a hand from Quinlan to help her up off of the ground.
The Master and Apprentice then bowed to each other and shook hands. Aayla telepathically turned back up the room's lights to normal luminosity, revealing the children that hid in the back corners during the duel. Aayla turned to face them with a motherly look, seeing that they far too many questions to ask at one time.
"Well, I believe that concludes our session for today, young ones, take heart and learn from what you just witnessed. One day, I'm sure you will all become just as skilled as the two of us." The Initiates quickly bowed to the older Jedi and began walking out of the room, leaving the master and apprentice alone.
Quinlan walked over and gave Aayla another pat on the shoulder. "You know, Aayla, you lied to yourself earlier."
Aayla looked over to Vos, confused. "What do you mean?"
"You're not a bad teacher, not at all."
Episode 3B: "Unusual Business? Business as Usual, Then."
It had been a few hours since the trio of bounty hunters agreed to take up an assassination by a mysterious individual. Aurra Sing had invited Cad Bane and Embo to an apartment flat talk "business". Bane had arrived early, and so the two waited for Embo to arrive.
Bane was growing restless. It wasn't bad enough that he had already been sitting on an old, half-broken couch for some time now in a dingy flat, but even worse was having to share it with Aurra Sing. Indeed, from his experience working with her, she always seemed to be just a straw short of killing the nearest person in sight. Bane knew that it wasn't wise to provoke her, but he had little else to do until Embo arrived.
"So," he began, "Who did you kill to get us this place anyway?"
Aurra was busy looking out the window into the barren streets below. She didn't bother looking at Bane.
"Not anyone important. Why do you care?"
"I care because it's not smart to do something like that. Don't be stupid, Aurra, everyone has connections down here; you kill someone and eventually, someone else will notice."
Aurra looked over to Bane now, clearly annoyed. "Just like how the Jedi will know that we killed one of their own? What's the difference, Bane?"
"The difference is that the Jedi are too busy with their war these days track down a killer, and at least we're getting paid to do it. Killing random people is both unprofitable and risky, you get what I'm saying?
"Shut it, Bane. I didn't come here to listen to your babbling. Just keep quiet, will you?"
"Fine", Bane replied, "I'd rather talk to Embo anyway."
He was glad that that conversation was over. Now he took a second look at the place he was sitting in. The apartment that Aurra had "selected" for the trio was not very impressive from a surfacer's perspective, with an obvious sense of dismay and downtroddenness emanating from it. The main living space they were sitting in was filled with a haphazard and two bedrooms and refresher room to the side. There was a single large metal table that occupied much of the small living room. And a grey carpet covered the floor, but this carpet has defiantly seen better days, and perhaps a better smell too.
Eventually, there was a beeping sound coming from the door. Bane looked over at Aurra, who looked back menacingly. A single look at those two dead-looking eyes told Bane that he was going to have to answer it.
Of course, because you're so busy doing absolutely nothing anyway.
Much to his own dismay, Bane got up and walked towards the door. He pressed the large blinking button on the electronic padlock and the door opened vertically to reveal that it was indeed the Kuyzo who was outside.
"What took you so long?" Bane asked. Embo said nothing, giving Bane a blank stare. For Bane, this sort of behavior from his fellow bounty hunter was peculiar, to say the least. He assumed that whatever he was doing was either too disinteresting to mention, or too disturbing.
"Whatever, just come in and we can get going.
The two walked into apartment room. Aurra had heard the commotion at the door, and she closed the window that she was looking out of and walked towards the other two. They joined together in the middle of the room and took up seats at the table. Embo, to the two other's surprise, pulled out a small, portable holo-projector from one of her pockets and placed it on the table. Immediately, it activated, emitting a top-down perspective of Sector A of Level 1356, with important details such as the main and side streets, and buildings whose elevation were represented by basic topography. There were also few colored symbols scattered around to represent various points of interest in the area.
"Oh, that's what you were doing." Bane remarked, "But, how did you get it? You didn't actually map it yourself, did you?"
Embo nodded. Aurra sing remained silent as she analyzed the map that Embo presented. Soon, she looked back up at the other two and cleared her throat.
"Well, here's what we know," Aurra began." We're told Jedi we're hunting down is searching for something. Now, if he's looking down here, he will most likely look first around places like the Cantina, or the markets."
"Yes, we aren't dumb, Aurra. What's your point?"
Aurra gave Bane another glare for that remark. "My point is that it shouldn't be too hard to track him down. I think you and Embo should stay on street level to find him while I stay on the roofs. You find him, I'll kill him."
Bane scoffed at her. "That's it? Remember, we're not dealing with some regular target, we're talking a Jedi, and one who must know his smarts if he's coming down here alone; an ambush will just get us killed. We need to come up with something better, something that will lower his guard."
"/We can drug him/," Embo suggested.
Bane looked over inquisitively at Embo. "Drugs, like a neurotoxin? Hm, that could be a good idea, actually. But, how do we inject the stuff into him? I mean, we can't just shoot a syringe into him, he would dodge that."
"/Are you sure/?"
"Yes, a Jedi's reflexes are like a machine's, he could probably catch a dart mid-air before it even hits him. No, if we're going to try drugging him, he need another way to deliver a serum into his system. Maybe, maybe someone could get close to him and without arousing suspicion, then they can inject a serum into him when he isn't expecting it."
"But who will do it, one of us?" Aurra asked. "Not sure if you've noticed, but none of us look innocent enough to fool a Jedi. We should just try and ambush him. Come on Bane, quit being a coward. Three bounty hunters on one Jedi are very good odds if you ask me."
"I'm not being a coward Aurra, I'm being smart, definitely smarter than you. Now shut up and let me think... Alright, I can just hire someone who doesn't look dangerous, and he can deliver a serum into him that way."
Aurra scoffed and rolled her eyes as Bane finished. "Are you really going to go along with this stupid idea, Bane? Embo?"
Aurra looked at both their faces for an answer. Both men simply nodded back at her, signaling that they both were committed to this plan. She grunted as she realized that their minds were made up. "Well, I suppose if you two get yourselves killed by that Jedi with that plan of yours, I'll get the entire reward from our employer. Alright, Bane, we'll go with your plan."
Bane smiled, satisfied that he, at last, put some sense into Aurra. "Glad to see we're finally on the same page. Now, let's go into the details."
The three bounty hunters spent the next half hours or so going into the intricacies of their experimental plan. They used the holo-projector map potential routes that the Jedi would take and likely areas he would visit; Aurra specifically highlighted certain buildings with elevation that she could use to view the whole area from a single vantage point. They discussed strategy in a worst-case scenario with fighting the Jed In the end, the trio had formulated and refined their plan. They would track down this Jedi, whoever he was, and use a random person to bait him into lowering his guard and poison him. Once that happened, he would hopefully be too disoriented to run, and if he did anyway, they would hunt him down.
"Well then, I think this concludes his little meeting." Bane said in a casual manner. He swept the holo-projector with his hand, deactivating the tiny device as it fell onto the floor with a small thud on the cheap carpet. He then put his boots on the table and turned to Aurra. "Well, now what?"
Aurra found the right opportunity to vent her frustration with Bane without having to kill him. "Now, you both get out, now."
"What for, we're keeping you from getting cozy in your new little home?" Bane asked.
"Yeah, especially with your dirty boots staining the carpet, and the table!" Aurra exclaimed in sarcasm, which went as well as Bane had expected: horribly.
Bane stood up and gave her a smile before he turned and walked out toward the door. Embo, who didn't like Aurra much the same as Bane, got up right after Bane. He had opened the door and was about to walk out, but not before saying one last thing to her.
"Well, I hope your share of our contract is enough for you to make some proper renovations, especially for the carpet." Bane said, and then walked out with Embo in tow; the door immediately closed as the two bounty hunters walked back out into the open.
"/Where are you going now/?" Embo casually asked as the two walked down the side alley.
"Nowhere special, just need to hire some cheap whore off the street for our job. What about you?"
Embo hesitated for a split second before replying. "/I want to find my own flat. One without a witch./"
Bane, unsurprised from that answer based on the bad blood between Embo and Aurra. He then put a hand on his hat, adjusting it while thinking about Aurra herself. "Oh, I see. Well, you don't mind if I help you, would you?