At dawn, Obi-Wan and Anakin set out in an unremarkable freighter to the Mid Rim where they bought a nondescript Corellian ship that wouldn't stand out in the Outer Rim and traded their Republic credits for Outer Rim currency to not draw attention to themselves before they set a course for Tatooine.
"You certain that going isn't going to bother you, Padawan?"
"I have made peace with everything that happened, Master. You really think we should start with Tatooine?"
"While I am not entirely convinced by Dooku's claims of Fett heading there, it's as good a place to start as any. Mos Eisley is the center of the criminal universe and bounty hunters of all kinds gravitate there, so we should be able to discreetly get information on the bounty hunter's whereabouts."
"That is true. Guess we should get some rest."
"A good idea, Padawan. I will take first watch."
Anakin nodded and went off to his sleeping quarters.
The journey was uneventful, though they were on their guard as they stepped off their ship in the Mos Eisley spaceport. If it was discovered they were Jedi here, things could get very dangerous. There were no laws protecting them and plenty of people looking for revenge or to collect money.
Posing as bounty hunters themselves, they walked over to the large display board the others were congregated around and muscled their way in like everyone else was doing. There was no listed hit on Padmé amidst the taken or available bounties, much to their relief, but they also didn't see Fett's name either.
Without any way of knowing if Fett used an alias or not, Obi-Wan memorized the whole board and put them down for the closest one to another that sounded promising under the moniker Ben and Son. They weaved through the spaceport, doubling back in a few places to make sure they weren't being followed before returning to their ship and taking off towards Bar Neth.
"Isn't using a pen name close to your real one risky?"
"If anyone had ever called me that on a regular basis, perhaps." For a brief moment he thought of Qui-Gon and wondered what his former Master would think of him now.
"Fair point. Should take a few hours to get to Bar Neth, right?"
"Do you want to take the first watch?"
"Yeah."
Obi-Wan nodded and went to get some rest.
They arrived at Bar Neth almost ten hours later. There was very little difference between Tatooine and Bar Neth, though the latter had cacti and five suns. While over all considered devoid of life, many who were avoiding the law or wanting rest uninterrupted in between bounties.
"I don't understand how anyone could stay here. On Tatooine at least the two suns would set. Bar Neth's five never do and they surround the whole planet."
"It is a good place to lay low for a while, provided they stay out of the heat. Plenty of them have camouflage to keep out of view, so we'll have to scan for life forms." Obi-Wan set their ship into orbit around the planet and programmed the sensors to continually scan.
"I don't like how we're sitting ducks up here."
"We'd also be sitting ducks down there too, in scorching hot temperatures. What I wouldn't give for cloaking technology, though that is very rare."
"I might be able to rig up some refractors that would act in a similar fashion."
"Do it."
Anakin nodded and tinkered with some of the ship's wiring before setting up a new program. "Okay, now let's see if my idea works." He sent out a small probe that sent back a video of where the ship should be, only all that they could see was space beyond or the planet below them.
"Excellent work, Padawan. Now we are relatively safe, provided they didn't see us before or think to run life scanners too."
"That should bounce back unless it's from a more powerful ship."
Obi-Wan nodded. "We won't stay longer than necessary. Fett owns unique Mandalorian armor and I have modified the perimeters of our scan to isolate the iron, durasteel or duraplast those suits are often made from."
"Good thing you're friends with Duchess Satine Kryze and know all of that."
His lips twitched under his beard. "She might disagree with you. Mandalore has always closely guarded it's secrets and neutrality."
"Yet she trusts you."
"Qui-Gon and I protected her when she decided to go to Mandalore to uphold the Kryze clan's desire to save Mandalorians from ruin. Living on the run, learning to only depend on what you have and going days without knowing where your next meal will come from can create a great rift or form very strong bonds and fortunately it was the latter for us. Once she convinced the chiefs to embrace peace, we left her to establish her rule as we know it now."
"Did that solve their problems?"
"Some, but not all. There is still resistance from those who think that choosing peace is a form of weakness and that it will not last. Others claim her time with the Jedi brainwashed her."
Anakin snorted. "That's preposterous. She's not weak-willed and therefore couldn't be influenced, not that Jedi do such things."
"I agree, however you have to understand that most from Mandalore have plenty of reasons to mistrust Jedi, but Fett more than all of them. About twenty-two years ago, Tor Vizsla and the Governor of Galidraan lied to the Jedi Council and claimed that Mandalorians led by Fett were murdering their political activist, along with women and children.
"At the time, Dooku was still a Jedi and had been sent to apprehend the culprits. The Mandalorians were indignant and opened fire before they made an escape at the cost of one of their own. Enraged, Fett killed six Jedi with his bare hands, including Dooku's Padawan at the time Komari Vosa.
"Fett was the only one to survive and taken into custody by Dooku, who handed him over to the Governor of Galidraan. Fett was stripped of his armor and called out as he was dragged off to be sold into slavery: "Congratulations Jed, my men have paid with their lives to try to defeat the real enemy you were too blind to see."
"Dooku was troubled by that statement, but by the time he uncovered Tor Vizsla was actually the leader of a splinter group who opposed the peace of Mandalore called Death Watch and they had really been the ones responsible for all the deaths, Fett had escaped slavery and presumably had taken out Vizsla himself."
"Goes to show Jedi aren't infallible, I guess. Why haven't I heard about this before, Master?"
"It is not something openly talked about, despite the restitutions sought out by the Council. I myself didn't remember all the details till I felt I had heard Fett's name before and realized where it came from."
"Do you think it's a coincidence Fett was on the same planet as Dooku?"
"Only time will tell, Padawan."
