Corellia: Dengar's House
The galaxy was a big place, but Dengar doubted that anywhere, from the Core to the Outer Rim, would there be a garden to rival his. It was organised beautifully, despite it being rather small. Bushes and shrubs grew up next to the house, while the smaller flowering plants ran alongside the fence, keeping the grass uncluttered, apart from a solitary tree. He lingered by the blue Nubian roses, giving them a bit more attention than the other plants. They'd been looking flaky recently, and that only meant one thing: leaf rot. And that would spread quickly.
Dengar had plants from over sixty different planets in his garden. They all needed different care; plenty of water for the Nubian roses, not much at all for the prickly bush from Utapau. He even had to order special plant food from Ord Mantell for the tree he had from there, that grew pride of place in the centre of the garden. Manaroo introduced him to gardening, of course. She used to tease him that it was his calling; his name was an anagram of 'garden', after all.
Dengar had never had much time for nature before Manaroo. He had always been technologically minded. Even before his swoop bike accident. Dengar smiled to himself at the joke. Technologically minded. Fornia wouldn't like that. Even after ten years, she hadn't got over the accident. Dengar knew that. He didn't regret his youth like Fornia did, though, and neither did he miss it. He was happy now. He loved Manaroo. All he wanted was for his… for other people to be happy too, to move on from the past, like he had. He wondered how Fornia was getting on with Fett. He smiled again, and looked closer at the Nubian rose's petals. It looked a lot like leaf rot. He bent closer to the plant, and felt a sudden rush of heat speed past the top of his head. A blaster bolt.
He threw himself to the floor. All he could think was how to protect Manaroo. She was inside the house. He had to protect her. He didn't stop to think about why he was being shot at, it didn't matter. All he cared about in that moment was to save Manaroo. He rolled himself behind the tree in the middle of the garden. Seconds later leaves fell around him as the tree shook from being hit with another blaster bolt.
"You've got nowhere to run!" Someone shouted at him. A female voice. Dengar had no idea if she had others with her. They might be inside already. He had to stall them. He had to protect Manaroo.
"What do you want?" he shouted back. He felt horribly exposed, crouched ridiculously behind his favourite tree.
"Where is Boba Fett?"
"What?!" Dengar shouted out before he could think, so unexpected was the reply he received. Of all the reasons for someone to be shooting at him! What the hell did anyone want with Fett? He was completely off the radar, he was still at Fornia's. Wasn't he?
"Don't play games with me. I know you were with him on Trangor Prime.'
Trangor Prime. That was what this was about? Dengar tried to remember it. He hadn't thought much about the battle since escaping it; he had only been concerned with the aftermath, saving Fett's life again. Before he could say anything, the woman spoke again.
"Tell me where he is and I'll leave you alive. My boss isn't interested in you."
At this, Dengar knew Manaroo was still safe. If his assailant had her, her life would be being used as bargaining leverage for Fett, not his. It also meant that his attacker was probably alone. Small mercies. Still, she had a blaster and he didn't. He'd still have to keep her talking if he was going to escape.
"I don't know where he is." It was lucky for Fett that Manaroo was safe. If it had been a case of giving Fett's whereabouts up to save her life, Dengar knew where his loyalties would lie.
"Like hell you don't." Her voice sounded much closer. Dengar peered round the tree, cautiously. A red haired, green skinned alien woman was striding towards him, her boots landing heavily with each step. She seemed to be trampling on his flowers deliberately. Dengar had a strange feeling that he'd come across a member of her species before, somewhere. She looked like one of those exotic alien types that Jabba used to keep at his palace to lust after.
She had her blaster pointed directly at his face.
"I really didn't want to have to do this the hard way." she said. Her eyes gave her away. There was excitement in them, a hunger. Dengar guessed she was looking forward to being the person who would finally kill him.
"One last time, then, before I get serious. Where is Boba Fett?"
"You really think pointing a blaster at my face is enough to make me tell you?" Keep her talking.
"That's not really a sensible question to ask, in your position."
"Oh, no?"
"No."
She shot him, once, in the arm, at the joint of his armour. Dengar howled.
"Where is Boba Fett?"
Dengar grit his teeth. "I'd be more concerned about where Manaroo is, if I were you."
"What?" Said the green woman, before being hit heavily around the back of the head. She slumped to the floor, revealing Manaroo, stood behind her, holding Dengar's best shovel.
"You couldn't have done that about five seconds earlier, could you? My arm really hurts."
"Old girlfriend, was she?" Said Manaroo. She crouched down beside him to look at his arm.
"Not as far as I know. And I think I'd remember her."
"Hmm. You'll live. I'll get something to dress this." She made to stand up. Dengar put his hand on her arm.
"We need to leave. We're in danger."
Manaroo looked at him, and nodded. "What did she want?" She asked.
"Fett."
"You need to warn Fornia. She's in danger too, then."
Fornia. In his panic to ensure Manaroo's safety, he had forgotten about Fornia. If Manaroo had been in danger, he would have sold out Fett in a heartbeat, which meant he would have sold out his sister too. Dengar swallowed.
"I'll holo her."
Coruscant: Fornia's apartment
A new figure appeared on top of the projector, someone who was as unpopular with Fornia as he was with Fett.
"Yeah, it's Han Solo here. Just thought I'd drop you a line, Sub-senator Alorida. You haven't been to work for nearly two weeks. D'you wanna explain that, maybe? Just keep us posted on when you're likely to return, ok?"
The transmission ended. The room suddenly seemed much darker without the blue light of the holo-projector, even though it was not too late in the afternoon.
"Sorry." Said Fett. He was getting used to the word. "I forgot it's your projector. I thought it would be for me again."
Fornia shrugged. She looked like she hadn't heard a word of what Fett had said.
"He's got some nerve." She said abruptly. "I already called in to say I couldn't come to work. He just likes to poke his nose in because he's Corellian. He's really got nothing to do with our department officially." She sounded like she was about to cry. Fett, unaccustomed as he was to understanding other people's emotions, guessed that it was not what Han Solo had said in the message that had upset her so much. He decided that he should probably say something.
"Is it true you haven't been to work for the last two weeks?" He found himself saying. Nice one, Fett. Really comforting.
"Yeah, well. Neither have you." She smiled wearily. It was too hard not to smile back.
"You told me you were a senator."
"I lied. I thought I should say I was something a bit more impressive than 'sub-senator'. And even that's more impressive than it is. I type, and stuff. For the main Corellian senator." She picked up the holo-projector off the bed and started twirling it idly between her fingers.
"It's not what I wanted to do. You know when you just sort of drift into things? It was easy to get the job. I fought alongside the Corellian senator in the Rebellion. He gave me the job." She watched the spinning holo projector intently as she spoke. Fett didn't know why she was telling him this.
"You were in the Rebel Alliance?"
"Yeah. Not for the politics. I know it's an awful thing to say, but I wasn't really bothered by the Empire. It wasn't that bad on Corellia." She looked up at him, almost shyly.
"The Empire wasn't all bad." Fett was genuinely trying to comfort her. It backfired.
She stared at him, and her eyes were full of ice cold fury.
"Do you know what the Empire did to Dengar?"
"Yes." Said Fett shortly. He'd heard the stories at Jabba's. They'd replaced Dengar's hypothalamus, the part of his brain that felt pain and emotion, with machinery. They had made him the most unfeeling bounty hunter in the galaxy.
"Did you know that that's what made me join the Rebellion? Because they took my brother away? He was the only person I had in the galaxy. And did you know as well that the Empire had a sick sense of humour? Because when I joined the Alliance, they sent Dengar after me, to kill me. And I had to shoot him to stop him. My own brother. And he's fine now, thanks to the miraculous Manaroo, and he's completely happy, and I can't be in the same room as him." She was crying now, although silently.
Fett looked out of the window. A Sith Lord had been about to kill him, and he hadn't looked away. But not this. Ships sped past the window, as always, and the buildings opposite twinkled. Twinkled?
"I think the power is back." He said stiffly. She looked out of the window.
"I'll have to flip it back on manually." She climbed off the end of the bed. "Wait here."
"Where are you expecting me to go?" He couldn't stop himself.
She grinned at him from the doorway. "Right. That's it. You've had it now." She disappeared, still grinning, still with red eyes from the crying. Fett watched her go, and he felt apprehensive, for many reasons.
A/N: If you've read down this far, you're right next to the review button. Please. I'm needy like that. But seriously. Is Fett coming off as too OOC in this chapter? It's bothering me a bit. Let me know what you think.