ME: Now for a long perspective from a certain...DNA donor.

Mhi solus tome. Mhi solus dhar'tome. Mhi me'dinui an. Mhi ba'juri verde.

(Mandalorian wedding vows, exchanged between Jango Fett and Zam Wesell Fett among others. Translated into: "We are one together. We are one when parted. We share all. We will raise warriors.")

Jango calmly watched as the bullet entered into the chest of the last standing member of the gang he had hired.

Still a better investment of time and creds than those worm-things, the Concord Dawn native reflected as he engaged his cloaking device. It didn't have a stygium crystal, so all he got out of the lightbending technology was visual camouflage. While Jango would've preferred not having an increased profile on infrared, stygium crystals (or synthesized crystals) were expensive and he doubted the Jedi or the cop accompanying them had thermal imaging tech. After all, he had used a suppressed sniper rifle, so it wasn't as if Jango had fired a flare into the air.

"Zam," he said via a secure channel, "prep for immediate exfil. I'm moving, what's your status? Over."

"Secure at the RV point, Jan'ika," she replied.

"Good, headed there now. Stay safe, Zam'ika. Out."

Very carefully the male bounty hunter made his way to just outside the garage where Slave I was being stored. "Coming in through the backdoor."

"Acknowledged."

The last thing Jango wanted was to get a blaster bolt to the face because his wife thought the garage had been broken into by scum like Black Sun thugs.

After he throughly locked the backdoor (and moved a crate to keep it from being kicked or blown in easily), Jango entered the ship.

"What happened to that gang ya hired?" Zam asked, now dressed in green and blue beskar'gam, as she prepped for takeoff.

"Di'kutla chakaars got killed," he answered. "Specifically, all of them got taken down by the Jetiise and the aruetii cabur without ever landing a hit. I actually had to kill the last one because he somehow survived and the di'kuts had the bright idea of interrogating him in the open. If I hadn't been able to snipe him, we'd be in the black without engines."

"Osik," she muttered as the Clawdite finished getting Slave I ready. "No wonder why the Seps are growing stronger, how the hell can the Republic protect its citizens with stupid peacekeepers?"

He shrugged. "Politics aren't our concern, Zam. Bob'ika is."

The Human tapped her on the shoulder. "Listen, you've done enough for the night. Go get some rest, I'll get us off this forsaken rock."

Zam grunted but agreed, getting out of the chair. "I'll be waiting for you, cyar'ika."

Between a mixture of a visual-only cloaking device, photoreactive panels (installed as a backup for the cloaking device), a signal modulator, sensor scramblers, and stealth coating, Jango was confident he could get off Coruscant and into hyperspace.

It was unfair-for the enemy, that is.

*CUT TO: HIGH COUNCIL CHAMBER, JEDI TEMPLE, TEMPLE PRECINCT, GALACTIC CITY, CORUSCANT*

If there was one thing Inspector Sergeant Tan Divo disliked more than paperwork, it was interacting with pissed off superiors.

"Sergeant Divo," the Grand Master of the Jedi, a Jedi humanoid named Yoda, began, "unbiased, you will be, in reporting what happened last night?"

"Affirmatjve, Master Jedi," Divo said. "Some assassin droid slipped past security and inserted these two poisonous creatures into Senator Amidala's room. They were killed, of course, by Padawan Skywalker. However, Master Kenobi chose to jump out of the window and grab onto the droid."

Master Windu, Yoda's second-in-command, face palmed. "Oh, come on! I thought the Skywalker twins and Keto just made that shit up!"

"Language," Yoda reprimanded him. "Divo, continue, please."

"Of course, Master Yoda," the detective said. "After ordering the Senate Commando detachment and one of the Senator's handmaidens to protect her, Master Skywalker ordered the Padawans and I to pursue Master Kenobi and the droid he had jumped on top of. After he was shot by a less-than-lethal electrolaser round and knocked unconscious, Master Skywalker ordered his brother to rescape him while I, him, and Padawan Keto followed the suspected assassin in our borrowed Senate Commando airspeeder."

Master Mundi, a Cerean male, frowned. "Sergeant, is it true that you three were then shot down by a surface-to-air-missile and attacked in the Underworld?"

"Affirmative, Master Jedi." Divo wasn't part of the Underworld Police, and now did not want to transfer to that part of the CSF after that...incident. "Master Skywalker threw me out of the airspeeder and had Padawan Keto slow me down. He didn't want to eject out of risking collateral damage. By the way, I recommend that Padawan Keto be allowed to take the Jedi Trials in light of her saving my life." Divo's word would probably mean squat to the Jedi, but he was grateful that the young woman had kept him from dying. "Shortly after Master Kenobi and Padawan Skywalker landed, we were attacked by a local gang hired by the assassin. First, they fired a rocket-propelled detonator at the only functioning airspeeder we had at this point, destroying it. Then they came at us on foot, though largely thanks to the Jedi, all but one was killed. When the Jedi attempted to interrogate the surviving thug, he revealed that a Mandalorian had hired them but was killed by a slugthrower round before he could give us a name." The lawman neglected to use the word "murdered," partly because, though still an unlawful homicide, odds are the gangbanger deserved it.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Divo," Yoda said. "See to it that you are promoted, I will."

Wait, I'm being promoted to Lieutenant? At least Divo got something out of this mess.

*CUT TO: ANALYSIS ROOMS, JEDI TEMPLE, TEMPLE PRECINCT, GALACTIC CITY, CORUSCANT*

"Hey, Depa, is that you?"

The Chalactan Jedi Master sighed. "Chad, I thought I told you about the need for decorum."

The younger Jedi smiled at her. "C'mon, Master Billaba, Mace lets me call him by his first name all the time."

She shook her head. "Okay, how is the analysis going?"

The Human shrugged. "Master Sinube says the analysis droids are almost done," he said.

"Correction," said the Cosian Jedi Master. "They have already finished, young one."

Chad straightened and bowed. "Thank you for your assistance, Master Sinube. What have you found?"

Sinube chuckled. "You should thank the droids, my boy. They found that the bullet in question was a ten-point-six-by-eighty-three millimeter round."

Depa raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, Master Sinube, but that doesn't sound like all they found."

He nodded. "It isn't, Master Billaba. Nor is it the most significant clue." The Cosian help up an evidence bag containing the bullet. "Jacketed hollowpoint design, which like the caliber of the round is unremarkable on its own. What is remarkable, however, is that this bullet had a neurotoxin injected into it."

"A neurotoxin, Master?" Chad asked.

"Affirmative," Sinube answered. "Additionally, in light of hollowpoint bullets being designed to expand and remain inside their targets to disrupt more tissue and avoid over-penetration, it is clear that whoever killed this unfortunate thug who should've stayed in school really wanted him dead."

"Any leads on whoever fired the shot, then, Master Sinube?" Depa told him. "Any word from the Underworld Police?"

"No to both of those questions. The neurotoxin seems to be pretty rare or at least new, to the point of where our databases don't even know where it originated from. As far as I know, it could've been made in a lab on Coruscant or it was developed on Dantooine. A young policeman named Kallus reported that their luck isn't much better. No idea on whoever hired the gang or who fired the shot."

Chad frowned. "Please pass my thanks to the droids anyway, Master Sinube. Also, I was thinking after having to block slugthrower bullets-what if we had lightshields?"

"Wait, what?" Both Jedi Masters asked.

"Shields made of laser-induced plasma, operating on the same principles of a lightsaber. It'd be good for defense against, say, multiple opponents armed with slugthrowers. An average Jedi would normally have an advantage if he or she had a lightshield in addition to their lightsaber over an average Dark Jedi with just a lightsaber. Forget defense against bullets, a lightshield could protect its user against more than two shots at a time that are not aligned, while a lightsaber could not. A lightshield could protect against automatic weapons or fast rounds without relying on reflexes heavily, while with a lightsaber a Jedi would be over-reliant on his or her reflexes. A lightshield could protect against explosive projectiles or at least shrapnel, while a lightsaber couldn't."

Depa frowned. "Surely there are disadvantage to a lightshield, Chad."

He nodded. "Of course, Master Billaba. Similar to Jar'kai, rather than having both hands on your lightsaber, with a lightshield you'd be limited to one hand per weapon. You could also become overly dependent on your shield, just like how Jar'kai users can become dependent on having a second lightsaber. You wouldn't be as agile as well, so I'd probably end up having to use a lightshield for defense or adjust accordingly."

"I'm sure you will make a wise decision regardless, young Skywalker," Sinube stated.

ME: Jango's cloaking device, due to lacking a crystal, still showing up on infrared is a reference to the cloaking tech in Halo.

I have been debating in my head about whether or not to give Chad a lightshield. Some have advised against it, so I decided to include disadvantages as well as advantages.

The neurotoxin bullet was a reference to both how Zam died in AOTC (conveniently, Jango didn't hit either Obi-Wan or Anakin first because Plot Armor) and Deadshot from Arrow, who apparently uses bullets dipped in a neurotoxin. However, out of realism, I decided to have the neurotoxin injected into the bullets because apparently that asshole who massacred a summer camp in Norway planned to inject nicotine into his bullets according to his manifesto and the Norwegian authorities didn't put it past him. I also lampshaded why interrogating criminals in the open is a bad idea. Zam's beskar'gam colors reflect both her sense of duty as a mother and wife and the fact Jango and Boba can rely on her. The 10.6x83mm round was inspired by the .416 Barrett.

Also: I posted this chapter in memory of the victims of 9/11, a delayed tribute (if I could've, it would've been posted two days ago). Rest in peace, ladies and gentlemen.

Final note: I consider Yoda's species to be "the Jedi." Judging by Wookieepedia, there once was a Sith species, so why not a Jedi one?