"You want me to do what?" I asked again. Shanti ran a hand through her hair.
"I need you and Tann to pose as slaves. I can't think of any other way that we could pull this thing off, let the Mandalorians get it all on HoloVid, and make it believable. Bounty hunters do not work in large groups."
Tann shrugged. "I'm fine with it."
"I am not thrilled about the idea, but I do want to get off this planet. Fine, I will pose as a captured Miralian princess." Shanti nodded.
"Sounds good to me." She squeezed her little shapeshifter sphere and shifted into the shape of a clawdite. The frightening reptilian creature that I knew was her mother did not resemble her at all, besides the long arms and big eyes. I slipped into the back of Slave I, Tann following me. I would have to alter my Jedi robes…I could not be identified. I slid off the out tunic and my headdress. I picked up Shanti's cloak and looked it over. Then I took off my undertunic and turned it inside out. On the inside there were traditional Miralian symbols, so no one would be able to dispute my origin. I put Shanti's cloak on over that, covering my hair. Tann thrust something in my face. I took it blindly.
"What is this?" I asked, turning the small circular object in my hands.
"Concealing makeup. It looks like your skin hue to me. Use it on those tattoos of yours." She tossed a small black pencil at me. My superior reflexes allowed me to catch it. "And use that to draw new ones." I looked at the pencil. She knew what she was doing in the means of disguise. I opened the concealing makeup. It was, indeed, the same shade as my skin. I felt like I was committing a crime as I covered my tattoos, even though I knew it was not permanent. I felt like a traitor to my people when I drew the traditional tattoos of royalty on my face. Then I looked in Tann's mirror. I looked…like a different person. Was this how Shanti felt when she shapeshifted and saw someone completely different in the mirror?
"Lumi?" a voice at the door said.
"Come in," I answered. Shanti stepped in and raised her eyebrows at me.
"You look…different."
"That is the idea. And for the record, so do you." She looked down at herself. She was no longer the fearsome clawdite, but her mother's preferred human form. She wore the purple jumpsuit the bounty hunter had always donned, even in death.
"I'll hold on to your lightsaber, if that's okay," she said quietly. I handed it over. She slid it into a pocket on her left hip. I saw her two lightsabers already inside.
"How do I look?" Tann asked, stepping around a corner. She had stained her skin. She was no longer blue, but red. A Lethan Twi'lek.
"Like you'd be easy to hide," Shanti muttered, clearly think the same thing as I. Tann looked hurt.
"But you look different, and that is what matters," I interjected. Shanti nodded and Tann looked grateful.
"Now let's do this," a new voice said behind us. Fett had not changed at all. Shanti pulled out a blaster I can only assume was the choice weapon of her mother. She snapped a pair of handcuffs on my wrists. Fett did the same for Tann. Then we left, Shanti holding the blaster to my head. It was time to 'steal' a massive mandalorian cruiser.
The next few minutes went by in a blurr. Shanti had 'shot' four Mandalorian guards with stun bullets made to look like real ones. Boba had reluctantly replaced the ammunition in his gun with the stun blasts the Duchess had given us. I can't say I was thrilled about getting pushed around with a blaster against my head, even if it was by my best friend who I trusted with my life-and lightsaber.
The next thing I knew, I was shoved onto the cold floor of the Mandalorian cruiser. I used the force to cushion my fall. The door slammed shut in the face of several Mandalorian guards. Shanti picked me up and started running; Boba having already vanished down the corridor marked 'piloting room'. Tacky and unoriginal name.
Shanti set me on the ground and turned her blaster on four Mandalorians who had made it inside. Fett was taking off. Shanti shot the last of the guards. Then we left Mandalore's atmosphere.
"What should we do with them?" Tann asked, pointing to the stunned guards. There were about six of them. "We can't kill them…" I shrugged. Shanti put my lightsaber back in my hand.
"We can drop them off somewhere where they can get transportation back to Mandalore," she suggested.
"Sounds good to me. We can put them in the brig until then," Boba offered. Shanti shook her head.
"That doesn't sound right to me."
"But what choice do we have? If they find out who you are, we'll be in deep trouble."
I sighed. "I hate to say it, but he is right. We will not harm them." I scooped up one Mandalorian and looked around for signs. I never did like big cruisers because they were so easy to get lost in, and they reminded me too much of the mess onboard the Tranquility.
"Looks like the brig is this way," Shanti said. She had shifted back to herself and looked very unusual in her mother's purple jumpsuit. She was dragging two Mandalorians by the wrists. Tann was dragging one.
We ended up hauling them down two flights of steps and then up three before we found the brig. We put the four of them in a cell together, locked it, and went back upstairs for the last three.
"Why don't we carry them with the force?" Shanti suggested.
"Why not?" I muttered. Getting the final three to the cell was much easier.
"That went rather well," Boba said as he piloted the massive cruiser. I looked him over.
"I have a question for you, Fett," I said. He didn't turn around.
"What is it, Master Jedi?"
"Why are you helping us?" I did not think he was malicious, but helping a couple of random Jedi just because his father had known Shanti's mother did not seem like enough of a motivator to me.
"I dunno. Zam Wessel was like a mother to me, and I wanted to get the chance to grow up with Shanti, but that didn't work out. Why? You afraid I'm going to betray you?" He adjusted his helmet. Did he ever take the blasted thing off?"
"I cannot sense deception from you…but I could not sense deception from Cad Bane, either. He could mask his intentions rather well." I looked to Shanti. She shrugged.
"He's had at least six chances to kill me, and he hasn't, so I opted to trust him."
"I won't. Shanti is like a sister to me." Shanti shot me a look. She looked a little bit disturbed.
"Umm…thanks." Her voice was slightly skeptical. I nodded.
"That is good to know." I still didn't completely trust him, but that would have to suffice for now.
"So where to now, Shanti?" Fett asked. My friend looked at the ground.
"I…I cannot sense my master anymore…She is cloaking her presence, hiding from Sideous." She rubbed her upper arms. "I've never not been able to sense her before…It's like having a part of me gone."
"Is she dead?" Tann asked. Shanti's head snapped up.
"No!" She said. "No. I would know if she was dead. She is hiding."
I closed my eyes and felt for Shaak Ti's presence. I could not find it. She was probably hiding her energy. As Shanti said, we would know if a Jedi as powerful and as close to us both as Shaak had died.
"I cannot sense her either," I said.
"Then what should we do?" Shanti asked.
"We can go to Dantooine. I sense the presence of Olee Starstone there. Or Eriadu. There I can see Master Tsui Choi, and knight Bultar Swan en route." I opened my eyes. Some color had returned to Shanti's face.
"Eriadu is closer, and two Jedi is better than one, right?" Boba said. "I say we go there."
Shanti closed her eyes. "Knight Starstone is in no danger. We should go to Eriadu." I nodded.
"Alright then, let's get underway." Boba turned to the controls and started pushing buttons madly. Shanti sat down, sliding down the wall. She closed her eyes.
"I'm going to sleep."
"Sitting up?" I teased. She nodded, clearly not catching my humorous tone.
Shanti slept for about an hour while we were in hyperspace. I showed a curious Tann a few basic Soresu moves, which Fett didn't seem to mind either. I was finishing up showing Tann what a Soresu master would do if they were assaulted by multiple attackers with blasters from behind when Shanti awoke suddenly.
"Good, you can help me with my demonstra-" She leapt at Fett.
"Pull out of hyperspace."
"What?"
"Now." She was almost snarling. I had never once heard Shanti so angry, and I was taken aback. Fett raised his hands.
"Fine, fine." He pushed a few buttons and we came out of hyperspace with a jerk. Below us a luminescent planet rested.
"Felucia…" I muttered. "Why here, Shanti?" She ignored me.
"Land at these coordinates." She typed something in on the coordinates pad.
"Okay, we're landing. Now can you tell us why?" Shanti clenched her fists.
"Master Ti is on that planet," she said through gritted teeth, "and she is in grave danger as we speak."