Chapter Four
Two days. For two days the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy had been prisoner on a planet that hadn't seen warfare in millennia. Stranger things had happened. The guards had tried to interrogate him, tried to get him to rat out Lord Sidious. Fett had responded to none of the inquiries, knowing that if he did, his fate would be far worse than anything these peace-spoiled "soldiers" could do. In frustration, Organa had resorted to more psychological warfare, keeping Jango awake, playing annoying noises over and over. With these a failure, Osanu now left the door to Jango's cell open; keeping the hunter bound with auto-blasters trained on him, of course.
Fett sat silently in his chair, waiting for the inexperienced guards to make a mistake. Just one would be enough to allow the bounty to escape. Suddenly the man heard the unmistakable giggling of small children. Jango's auburn head snapped up, this might be the blunder he was looking for. His brown eyes caught sight of the younglings, two boys, who appeared to be very young. Jango's eyes widened. One the toddlers had the same jet black hair as Osanu, the other, however, had a mane of dirty blonde hair. Fett said nothing, he didn't have to, and the boys would come in on their own accord.
Jango was soon proven right. The blonde haired kid led the other along, who was busy cowering behind his companion's back. Fett had to admire the child; most toddlers wouldn't wander into a dungeon, let alone a dungeon with the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy inside. The blonde walked through the door with curiosity brimming from his ice-blue eyes.
"What's your name, kid?" Jango spoke for the first time since he began this ill-fated mission. Those ice eyes considered the hunter for a moment, and then answered without a hint of fear.
"I'm Anakin Skywalker,", said the boy, then jabbing his thumb at his back, "And this is Bail Organa." Jango again acclaimed Anakin's courage. Time to test its limits and the how much he could use them.
"Aren't you scared of me? I'm sure your parents have told you how dangerous I am.", Fett said evenly. Most little boys would be scared stiff by this man. It was obvious Anakin was not "most little boys".
"That's true, they have told us to stay away from you, but you're tied, I don't think you can hurt us. Can you?", the boy said with the honesty that is the sole luxury of five-year-olds. Jango took his time responding, he didn't want to send the boys away, but they needed to fear him. Only then could he use them.
"Maybe, I don't know. But, do you want to be here when I find out?" Bail seemed to cower even more at the veiled threat but Anakin simply continued to gaze at the bounty hunter. Ice blue eyes flashed and Skywalker abruptly walked to the table behind the prisoner, leaving a terrified Bail behind.
"Why are you so afraid of me? Your daddy had me tied up and put in here.", Fett said evenly. Bail looked petrified for a moment longer, then seemed to sum up his courage.
"My mommy said that you tried to do a really bad thing to me. Just like you did to the other Senator's little boys.", he said timidly. Jango had to hide a feral sneer; Bail would be ridiculously easy to manipulate, Anakin on the other hand might cause a problem. The prisoner wished he could see what the braver boy was doing behind him. Fett shrugged it off, time to make Bail his.
"Well, I-",
"I'm done, time to go. Mom's making sandwiches for lunch so c'mon!", Anakin interrupted. The toddlers walked out the door at a brisk pace, now seeming to want to get a way from Jango as quickly as possible. Anger was one of the few emotions that Jango's face was capable of showing. His face was definitely more animated now.
Forty meters away, climbing the stairs out of the mostly empty dungeon, young Skywalker halted. He dug his hands into his pockets and withdrew a small circular device.
"What's that?", Bail wondered.
"It's a holo, I tried playing it when I found it, but it's locked, but-"
"You've never met a machine that didn't like you.", Bail supplied for his playmate. The boys laughed and ran up the stairs to their lunch.
Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan strode through the halls of the Jedi Temple. It seemed the council needed them for something. The Master looked at the Apprentice fondly, Obi-Wan was the son he would never have. But, he seemed troubled, as if confused over something. Qui-Gon opened his mouth to inquire, but thought better of it, at his age-as close to Knighting as he was, he needed to learn to deal with his dilemmas without relying on a Master. The older man closed his mouth and continued walking in a silence Obi-Wan eventually broke.
"It's good to be doing something again. I thought getting a break would be relaxing, but I find it...boring.", he said as if trying to distract himself. Qui-Gon considered this for a moment, then replied.
"I'm beginning to suspect this has something to do with the Senatorial murders."
"Why?", asked the young Jedi.
"We're one of the most experienced Master-Padawan teams, I don't know of anything else that would require such proficiency as ours." Obi-Wan nodded and went back to his own thoughts. They walked in silence as they reached the Council chamber. The aide, a young Padawan, let the Jedi in immediately.
The Council chamber had never been a place Qui-Gon had taken all that seriously, he'd been there so many times as a child he wasn't effected by the aurora of "wisdom" other Jedi felt, nor did he feel the ominous foreboding Obi-Wan did. Qui-Gon's suspicions on the nature of the assignment were almost confirmed when he saw all 12 members of the High Council was present-that did not happen unless the topic was of the highest importance. Depa Bilaba was the first to speak.
"Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, I trust you are well-rested from your break?"
"We are, but we are also anxious to resume serving the Republic and the Order.", the Jedi Master said calmly.
"As you know, two days ago Senator Organa managed to capture Jango Fett, whom we now believe is the perpetrator of the Senatorial murders.", stated Mace Windu, who never seemed to bother with pleasantries.
"Believe we do, Fett's employer send another bounty hunter, he will.", Yoda continued, Adi Gallia carried on.
"Your mission is, of course, to protect the Organa's from any such hunter and to find out who is ordering these attacks. You leave at 0730 tomorrow." Qui-Gon and Qbi-Wan bowed and left the chamber.
Qui-Gon did not feel exactly comforted to have been right in his assumption. He couldn't place it, but he felt.something..larger than was amiss.
"Obi-Wan! I've been waiting for your lazy butt-me, you, Bant, and Garen were supposed to meet at lunch! Good afternoon, Master Jinn.", said the unmistakable voice of Siri.
"Sorry, Siri, the Council called us.", a bashful Kenobi said.
"Well, if you're sorry, why don't you stop pouting about and come on.", his friend answered, voice sounding harsh but with a hint of forgiveness. Obi-Wan smiled and shook his head. Turning back toward his mentor, he asked,
"Master, I know we have to review the data for our mission, but may I do it later?"
"You really think you need to ask? The datapad will be on your bed when you return. Have a good afternoon.", replied the Master with an incredulous look. The two Padawans bowed and headed off to enjoy themselves. Jinn sighed, as a Jedi grew older the time to be with friends was a rare endowment. The old man turned his back and walked to his quarters to prepare for what he knew would be a trying mission. He had no idea.
"As the bounty hunter, now identified as the notorious Jango Fett, made his way into the Alderannian Royal Palace to assassinate Senator Organa. At that time, the Senator's guards captured the assassin in a brave trap. Fett is now being interrogated at the Palace. In other news.", said the voice of Holonet news caster Julie Bertuoli. Suddenly, a storm of blue lightning melted the holoemitter. Sith Lord Sidious was angry, very angry. How dare Organa foil his plan!! How could Fett be so foolish?! And Valorum, the Dark Lord now had no chance for a vote of no confidence, since the weak little maggot's sole supporter was a "hero". But Palpatine had a plan. Palpatine always had a way out, a backup. Organa would pay [i]dearly[/i] for his arrogance, but first Valorum had to be dealt with. The Sith needed his shot at the Chancellorship. Palpatine spoke for the first time since his discovery of Jango's failure.
"Maul", called out the cold, soulless voice.
"What is my bidding, Master?", inquired an equally evil voice.
"This is your mission. Later tonight."
A few minutes later, the apprentice had his task and the master sneered with the knowledge that soon he would finally bring about the revenge his Order had craved for millennia. The Sith was happy now.
Sorry it took so long, but I've been really busy the last couple of weeks. How was it? Did I get Qui-Gon right? In the last part, I tried to make the reader feel they were sharing Palps emotions, did I succeed?
Two days. For two days the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy had been prisoner on a planet that hadn't seen warfare in millennia. Stranger things had happened. The guards had tried to interrogate him, tried to get him to rat out Lord Sidious. Fett had responded to none of the inquiries, knowing that if he did, his fate would be far worse than anything these peace-spoiled "soldiers" could do. In frustration, Organa had resorted to more psychological warfare, keeping Jango awake, playing annoying noises over and over. With these a failure, Osanu now left the door to Jango's cell open; keeping the hunter bound with auto-blasters trained on him, of course.
Fett sat silently in his chair, waiting for the inexperienced guards to make a mistake. Just one would be enough to allow the bounty to escape. Suddenly the man heard the unmistakable giggling of small children. Jango's auburn head snapped up, this might be the blunder he was looking for. His brown eyes caught sight of the younglings, two boys, who appeared to be very young. Jango's eyes widened. One the toddlers had the same jet black hair as Osanu, the other, however, had a mane of dirty blonde hair. Fett said nothing, he didn't have to, and the boys would come in on their own accord.
Jango was soon proven right. The blonde haired kid led the other along, who was busy cowering behind his companion's back. Fett had to admire the child; most toddlers wouldn't wander into a dungeon, let alone a dungeon with the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy inside. The blonde walked through the door with curiosity brimming from his ice-blue eyes.
"What's your name, kid?" Jango spoke for the first time since he began this ill-fated mission. Those ice eyes considered the hunter for a moment, and then answered without a hint of fear.
"I'm Anakin Skywalker,", said the boy, then jabbing his thumb at his back, "And this is Bail Organa." Jango again acclaimed Anakin's courage. Time to test its limits and the how much he could use them.
"Aren't you scared of me? I'm sure your parents have told you how dangerous I am.", Fett said evenly. Most little boys would be scared stiff by this man. It was obvious Anakin was not "most little boys".
"That's true, they have told us to stay away from you, but you're tied, I don't think you can hurt us. Can you?", the boy said with the honesty that is the sole luxury of five-year-olds. Jango took his time responding, he didn't want to send the boys away, but they needed to fear him. Only then could he use them.
"Maybe, I don't know. But, do you want to be here when I find out?" Bail seemed to cower even more at the veiled threat but Anakin simply continued to gaze at the bounty hunter. Ice blue eyes flashed and Skywalker abruptly walked to the table behind the prisoner, leaving a terrified Bail behind.
"Why are you so afraid of me? Your daddy had me tied up and put in here.", Fett said evenly. Bail looked petrified for a moment longer, then seemed to sum up his courage.
"My mommy said that you tried to do a really bad thing to me. Just like you did to the other Senator's little boys.", he said timidly. Jango had to hide a feral sneer; Bail would be ridiculously easy to manipulate, Anakin on the other hand might cause a problem. The prisoner wished he could see what the braver boy was doing behind him. Fett shrugged it off, time to make Bail his.
"Well, I-",
"I'm done, time to go. Mom's making sandwiches for lunch so c'mon!", Anakin interrupted. The toddlers walked out the door at a brisk pace, now seeming to want to get a way from Jango as quickly as possible. Anger was one of the few emotions that Jango's face was capable of showing. His face was definitely more animated now.
Forty meters away, climbing the stairs out of the mostly empty dungeon, young Skywalker halted. He dug his hands into his pockets and withdrew a small circular device.
"What's that?", Bail wondered.
"It's a holo, I tried playing it when I found it, but it's locked, but-"
"You've never met a machine that didn't like you.", Bail supplied for his playmate. The boys laughed and ran up the stairs to their lunch.
Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan strode through the halls of the Jedi Temple. It seemed the council needed them for something. The Master looked at the Apprentice fondly, Obi-Wan was the son he would never have. But, he seemed troubled, as if confused over something. Qui-Gon opened his mouth to inquire, but thought better of it, at his age-as close to Knighting as he was, he needed to learn to deal with his dilemmas without relying on a Master. The older man closed his mouth and continued walking in a silence Obi-Wan eventually broke.
"It's good to be doing something again. I thought getting a break would be relaxing, but I find it...boring.", he said as if trying to distract himself. Qui-Gon considered this for a moment, then replied.
"I'm beginning to suspect this has something to do with the Senatorial murders."
"Why?", asked the young Jedi.
"We're one of the most experienced Master-Padawan teams, I don't know of anything else that would require such proficiency as ours." Obi-Wan nodded and went back to his own thoughts. They walked in silence as they reached the Council chamber. The aide, a young Padawan, let the Jedi in immediately.
The Council chamber had never been a place Qui-Gon had taken all that seriously, he'd been there so many times as a child he wasn't effected by the aurora of "wisdom" other Jedi felt, nor did he feel the ominous foreboding Obi-Wan did. Qui-Gon's suspicions on the nature of the assignment were almost confirmed when he saw all 12 members of the High Council was present-that did not happen unless the topic was of the highest importance. Depa Bilaba was the first to speak.
"Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, I trust you are well-rested from your break?"
"We are, but we are also anxious to resume serving the Republic and the Order.", the Jedi Master said calmly.
"As you know, two days ago Senator Organa managed to capture Jango Fett, whom we now believe is the perpetrator of the Senatorial murders.", stated Mace Windu, who never seemed to bother with pleasantries.
"Believe we do, Fett's employer send another bounty hunter, he will.", Yoda continued, Adi Gallia carried on.
"Your mission is, of course, to protect the Organa's from any such hunter and to find out who is ordering these attacks. You leave at 0730 tomorrow." Qui-Gon and Qbi-Wan bowed and left the chamber.
Qui-Gon did not feel exactly comforted to have been right in his assumption. He couldn't place it, but he felt.something..larger than was amiss.
"Obi-Wan! I've been waiting for your lazy butt-me, you, Bant, and Garen were supposed to meet at lunch! Good afternoon, Master Jinn.", said the unmistakable voice of Siri.
"Sorry, Siri, the Council called us.", a bashful Kenobi said.
"Well, if you're sorry, why don't you stop pouting about and come on.", his friend answered, voice sounding harsh but with a hint of forgiveness. Obi-Wan smiled and shook his head. Turning back toward his mentor, he asked,
"Master, I know we have to review the data for our mission, but may I do it later?"
"You really think you need to ask? The datapad will be on your bed when you return. Have a good afternoon.", replied the Master with an incredulous look. The two Padawans bowed and headed off to enjoy themselves. Jinn sighed, as a Jedi grew older the time to be with friends was a rare endowment. The old man turned his back and walked to his quarters to prepare for what he knew would be a trying mission. He had no idea.
"As the bounty hunter, now identified as the notorious Jango Fett, made his way into the Alderannian Royal Palace to assassinate Senator Organa. At that time, the Senator's guards captured the assassin in a brave trap. Fett is now being interrogated at the Palace. In other news.", said the voice of Holonet news caster Julie Bertuoli. Suddenly, a storm of blue lightning melted the holoemitter. Sith Lord Sidious was angry, very angry. How dare Organa foil his plan!! How could Fett be so foolish?! And Valorum, the Dark Lord now had no chance for a vote of no confidence, since the weak little maggot's sole supporter was a "hero". But Palpatine had a plan. Palpatine always had a way out, a backup. Organa would pay [i]dearly[/i] for his arrogance, but first Valorum had to be dealt with. The Sith needed his shot at the Chancellorship. Palpatine spoke for the first time since his discovery of Jango's failure.
"Maul", called out the cold, soulless voice.
"What is my bidding, Master?", inquired an equally evil voice.
"This is your mission. Later tonight."
A few minutes later, the apprentice had his task and the master sneered with the knowledge that soon he would finally bring about the revenge his Order had craved for millennia. The Sith was happy now.
Sorry it took so long, but I've been really busy the last couple of weeks. How was it? Did I get Qui-Gon right? In the last part, I tried to make the reader feel they were sharing Palps emotions, did I succeed?