Chapter Twelve - A meeting with a bounty hunter
No matter what assurances Obi-wan could project into my mind, there was still no way that I could remain where I was, watching clone solders ascend the ramps of hundreds of transports.
"I would like to meet Jango Fett now, if it would please you Prime Minister?" I asked softly turning around to face the tall being.
"Certainly, Master Jedi. I will have my aide escort you immediately."
"We thank you Prime Minister, for your time." Obi-wan said from beside me while sinking into a bow, which I copied.
With that we followed silently into the world of pristine whiteness, a decor I welcomed, for it could not be instantly associated with cloning. The aide led us through countless hallways and pathways. All the while we walked I was aware of Obi-wan, walking beside me, and was even more aware that I could not talk to him. I had never wanted to be a Jedi like thousand of other younglings across the galaxy but I did want to be one now.
'When we reach the apartment let me handle the conversation. I want you to take in information about surroundings, and anything else of interest.'
I reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear nodding my head in the process. Once we were alone, I would have to remember to come up with some signals to use so that I would not have to keep doing things like tucking my hair behind my ears.
We suddenly came to a stop in front of a very non descript-white door in a very non-descript corridor. The cleaning droids must have to do some work to keep this place clean. As our guide rang the door chime, the door slid aside to reveal a small boy of about ten or so. The child was an exact replica of the clones that I had seen earlier. Such a sight was unnerving to say the least.
"Boba, is your father here?" The aide to the Prime Minister asked, looking down at the child.
"Yep." Well he wasn't all that polite, but what could you expect from the son of a bounty hunter who had the exact same genes as his father?
"May we see him?" Our guide continued politely seemingly unnerved by the boy's response.
"Sure." The boy replied glaring at myself and Obi-wan almost as if he knew what we had come for.
As we entered into the chamber I did exactly as I had been instructed and looked around. The walls were as white as the outside corridor, with many shelves holding various things. It was like any other home that I had ever seen.
As we walked in further the boy, Boba called out to his father. "Dad, Taun We's here." It was than that I saw the large window, at the end of the entryway. There was a massive storm going on outside. I once again wondered why anyone would want to live here. If I had no other choice I would at least not have windows to show the grizzly world outside.
A man then entered the room, rolling up the cuffs of his sleeves. Taun We spoke up from beside me. "Jango welcome back. Was your trip productive?"
So this bounty hunter was recently returned. I wonder if he just happened to be on Courscant? I bowed to the man, at the exact same time as Obi-wan. Our greeting system was getting much better.
"Fairly." He answered our guide. Apparently one-word answers were hereditary. His posture mirrored our own, straight and not willing to betray anything.
"This is Jedi Master Obi-wan Kenobi." Taun We said gesturing to Obi-wan, who nodded his head slightly. "And this is Jedi Master Sabé Mara." She continued with a wave of her hand in my direction. "They have come to check on our progress."
"Your clones are very impressive. You must be very proud." Obi-wan said with a slight smile, but I knew that he was about as impressed as I was.
"I'm just a simple man, trying to make my way in the universe." Jango replied. If it had not been for the seriousness of the situation I might have laughed at the exchange. Both men it would seem instantly despised the other but did not show it.
"Ever made your way as far into the interior as Courscant?" Obi-wan asked, the question that I had been thinking earlier.
"Once or twice."
"Recently?"
I let my interest in the conversation waver trusting Obi-wan to retrieve any and all important information. I focused my attention once more on the boy was watching the exchange with great interest.
"Possibly." Jango said. I was glad that I was not the one handling the interrogation because any more answers like that and I would have just hit him over the head. Thank the Gods that Jedi had such patience.
"Then you must know Master Sifo Dyas." Obi-wan replied in measured voice.
Those words caused the bounty hunter to move for the first time since entering the room. He walked towards Boba, and me, I moved away to the far corner of the room as he spoke to the boy in a language I didn't recognize.
The boy moved back out into the entryway and my new vantage point allowed me to see his actions clearly. "Master who?" I could hear Jango asking in the background of my perception. At the touch of the boy's hand to a set of controls a door slide shut hiding what looked to be amour. The child then returned to my side.
"Master Sifo Dyas. Is he not the Jedi who hired you for this job?" Obi-wan asked as I returned my attention to the conversation.
"Never heard of him." Jango replied moving closer to Obi-wan. Subconsciously my hand slipped to the lightsaber at my waist.
"Really?" Obi-wan continued to press the point. I glanced back to Taun We, the Prime Minister's aide watching the exchange in silence; it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. Her training must have been as immaculate as my own, or perhaps she didn't have an opinion one way or the other.
"I was recruited by a man called Tyranus on one of the moons of Bogden." Jango said in answer. No matter how much his face screamed of innocence I knew that his words were far from the truth, and I suspected that Obi-wan felt the same, especially with the force to guide him.
"Curious." Obi-wan replied with a small twitch of his lips. What surprised me was that this one word could start a staring contest between the two men, when all other discussion could not. I once again glanced at the boy who was regarding Obi-wan with a look of hatred.
Jango was the one to crack first. "Do you like your army?" He asked for the first time turning to me, instead of Obi-wan. Maybe he thought that because I had not said anything before in the conversation I would be the one to give up secrets. Well if that was his thinking he was very, very wrong.
"I look forward to seeing them in action." I replied keeping both my face and voice neutral. Padmé would be proud of my political abilities.
"They will do their job well. I can guarantee that." He replied to me, before turning back to Obi-wan.
"Thank you for your time Jango." The Jedi said by way of farewell. He bowed his head slightly before moving towards the door. I moved forward to stand in front of the bounty hunter and executed the same movement.
"Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi." He said as I moved away. I did not dignify his sarcastic comment with a response, as I followed our guide and Obi-wan out into the corridor. I might have thought that cloners were trouble but dealing with bounty hunters was at least ten times worse.
We were headed back to the ship and all I could think of was how relived I was that it might finally be time to get off this sorry excuse for a planet. As we reached the entrance Taun We spoke turning back to look at us.
"Tell your council that the first battalions are ready." Well you can rest assured that, that wasn't going to be the only thing Obi-wan was to be telling the council. I nodded my head in acknowledgment but didn't say anything.
"And remind them that if they need more troops it will take time to grow them." Yes thank you very much for the reminder that your are growing human beings like plants. I looked to Obi-wan to see if he would reply, I didn't trust myself to be capable of the restraint required.
Obi-wan, smiled up at the tall being, much to my surprise. "I won't forget, and thank you." He said offering a slight bow, which I copied. I was then once again standing outside in the rain. My robe was blowing frantically, and my hood almost flying off.
'Don't say anything to me yet, Sabé, wait until we are on the ship.' Obi-wan said through my mind as I turned to speak to him. Gods how I wish I had those abilities. Luckily the return trip to the ship was short.
As I walked up the ramp and flung back my now drenched hood, I heard Obi-wan close the landing ramp behind me. I didn't turn back but instead continued towards the cockpit, where I took a seat in the copilots' chair. This visit had definitely given me a lot to think about. Obi-wan took a seat in the pilots' chair next to me.
"Do you believe that bounty hunter is the one who tried to kill Padmé?" I asked him in a rush. "But what do the clones have to do with anything? And why would the Jedi order an army for the Republic? Why was the Republic planning for war ten years ago? The Separatists didn't even exist." I kept looking at him waiting for him to reply to my questions only to realize that I hadn't given him the time to get a word in edgewise. I was just so happy to have the change to verbally communicate, I didn't really think about the speed of my questions.
"Sabé, I would tell you my opinions, if you would just let me speak." He replied with a slight chuckle.
"Please go ahead, Master Jedi." I said trying rather unsuccessfully to keep a grin from my face. If only the situation wasn't so serious.
"Yes, I do believe that Jango Fett is behind the assassination attempts. I just don't know why, there seems to be no motive in any of this." He continued absent-mindedly rubbing his beard.
"I agree, but what part do the clones play in all this?" I asked again.
"I don't know, I am going to contact the Jedi Council and get their advice on the situation. I want you to start preparing the ship for departure. No matter what the Council says we are getting off this planet, and as soon as possible."
At his words he rose to his feet, heading to the small communications center that was just outside the cockpit. I looked after him in surprise. He trusted me to prepare a ship for departure, when I had just days ago learned the basics of flight?
"Of course I trust you, Sabé." He said turning back towards me to answer my unspoken question. "It was, after all, I who taught you." He said with a smirk. "But please stay in the cockpit, only Yoda knows that you are with me, and we don't want everyone else to find out."
"Of course." I replied, echoing his words back to him. I was smiling as I depressed the button that would start the warm up procedures.
As I continued my work, I was rather slow at this whole procedure; I wondered what the Jedi Council would say. Once they learned of the clone army would they even care about the threat to Padmé? I hoped that they would, she was a very influential person in the senate and one who was not corrupt, as many now days were.
The threat of the army brought in a whole new dimension to things. Would such a new resource truly bring the galaxy to war? War. The word brought to light so many bad things, the senseless deaths of millions of beings, the tearing apart of families, the destruction of nations. I remembered my history lessons well, and to see the beings of the galaxy prepared to repeat such things was shocking and wrong.
I was pulled away from my thoughts by the sound of the cockpit door sliding open. Obi-wan though did not enter the chamber, he just stood in the doorway looking at me, and I could not discern the feelings behind his gaze, the feelings locked behind those green eyes. I broke eye contact turning back to my preparations.
"I am almost ready. Just a few more systems to bring on-line." I said in a flat voice, a voice so unlike the emotions I was experiencing.
"Good, the Council has instructed me to capture the bounty hunter for questioning. They know nothing about a clone army, and are very disturbed that such a body is in existence." He paused slightly before continuing and I could still feel him looking at me.
"I will go and find him, I have a feeling that he is already on his landing platform. I want you to finish flight preparations, then fly to his landing platform and assist me with bringing them onboard."
"I will go and see if I can find some restraints and rig up the cargo hold to act as a holding cell." I said without turning around. I was still shocked that he trusted me to fly the ship. I just could not look at him and continue to keep my feelings that I had for him locked inside the box built inside my head to contain them. When I believed my emotions were hidden enough I turned around to tell him to be careful, but he was gone.
Muttering to myself I finished my preparations. Before searching the ship for some stun cuffs. I felt sorry for the boy; we were going to have to take him with us as well. I reevaluated my thoughts remembering the looks of hatred the child had given Obi-wan and myself. Any being capable of such hatred did not deserve my pity.
After everything that I could think of had been assembled, I returned to the cockpit and hailed flight control.
"Kamino main port authority, the is Jedi Master Sabé Mara." The ease with which I said my fake title was very unnerving.
"Master Jedi, how might we be of assistance?" The whispery voice of the controller came through the speakers.
"To what landing platform has Jango Fett been assigned?"
"Landing platform 5A3, on the north side of the complex."
"Thank you for your assistance." I replied politely, before terminating the connection.
I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before I placed my hands on the flight controls, hoping that the real thing was the exact same as a flight simulator. I released a breath that I hadn't realized I had been holding, as the ship responded perfectly to my commands.
I headed towards landing platform 5A3 with a grin plastered on my face, why hadn't I learned to do this flying thing before. Only to have my facial expression turn rapidly to a frown. Obi-wan was being dragged across the landing deck by something I could not distinguish. It appeared that capturing Jango Fett was not going to be as simple as previously thought.
Jango crashed into the side of the landing platform, when moments before he had been flying, leading me to believe that Obi-wan was in fact somehow attached to the bounty hunter. I assessed the situation quickly, my first thought was to attack the ship but surly the boy was on board and although I may have been prepared to capture him I definitely wasn't prepared to kill him, whether it would help Padmé or not.
I scanned the control board quickly looking for the strange button Obi-wan had shown me would launch a tracking device. Finding it I aimed and fired at the ship hoping that the boy would not notice the impact. I then turned back to the battle just in time to see Obi-wan tumble over the side of the platform. This was not good.
I maneuvered the ship quickly around the platform until I could see what was transpiring on the other side. Obi-wan was hanging over open air by what appeared to be string. If the string should break it was a long way down, a fall that would surly kill Obi-wan, Jedi or not.
I carefully positioned the ship underneath his hanging form and heard a clang as something, I hoped it was Obi-wan, hit the top of the ship. 'Sabé move in close to the structure, if he looks back he must think that the fall killed me.' I hovered for long moments hoping that everything was all right, waiting for instructions to come back into my mind.
Obi-wan must have sensed my anxiety. 'Don't worry, Sabé. Fly back to the platform. He should no longer be on guard.' I did as instructed and saw Obi-wan come out of a flip right in front of the ship. His lightsaber slapped into his outstretched hand at the very same instant.
It was a useless endeavor, we had waited to long. I was just able to catch a glimpse of Jango Fett's armored form, before he entered his ship. I looked back at Obi-wan noticing how his shoulders slumped as he extinguished his blade. I landed the ship before hurrying to the now lowering landing ramp.
Obi-wan was just starting to enter the ship and as I rounded a corner griping the door jam for support I ran right into him, knocking us both to the ground. His arms came up around me to steady me, as my head seemed to find its way onto his shoulder by its own accord.
I don't think I have ever been so embarrassed, and comfortable in my entire life. I didn't want to move, I wanted to forget everything about clones and the prospect of war and just lay nestled in the arms of the man I loved. I could feel his chest vibrate with laughter beneath me as I raised my head to look into his glowing eyes.
"What, don't people run into you everyday?" I asked with a smile, and a soft chuckle of my own.
"No, they don't, this is a new experience for me." He said with a smirk.
"Well you will just have to go on more missions with me now won't you?" I said as I reluctantly pushed myself up. His face that had once been filled with mirth was now only filled with depression.
"I lost him. Now we have no more leads." He said as I climbed to my feet.
"No, we haven't lost him." I replied while offering my hand to him. "I am tracking their ship, I fired the tracking device that you had showed me." I continued as he returned to his upward position.
"You are?" He asked while closing the landing ramp with the force and heading to the cockpit.
I allowed him to come to the conclusion himself, as I leaned against the wall, smirking as he preformed the checks.
"You are." He repeated this time his voice filled with awe.
"Of course I am, I'm not able to lie to you am I, Master Jedi?" I asked sitting down in the copilots' seat once more.
"I guess I forgot about that, I suppose I am taking this bond that we have for granted. I'm sorry for doubting you, Sabé." He said his voice and face full of sincerity.
"Don't worry about it Obi-wan, I guess it was time to teach you a lesson. Now we better get going, it appears that the ship is headed for a planet called Geonois. It is ever farther out into the Outer Rim."
"Right again, young handmaiden." Was his only response as we headed into the planet's atmosphere finally leaving the heavy rain behind.
