Chapter 2: Mandalorian Clues

Sabine's P.O.V

Just like Sato ordered, we went over to the murdered pilot's A-wing, and tried to look for clues. His body was still present in there, so Zeb got him out of there. Zeb and Hera went back to the Ghost with his body to examine it for any clues, while Ezra, Kanan and I checked the A-wing for anything.

When we examined his A-wing, to our surprise, we saw no blood inside. Strange. But then I looked over to the left side of the cockpit, and saw a piece of paper sticking to the glass. I grabbed it, and informed the guys about my discovery. "What is it?" Kanan asked. "I think it could be our first clue." I said, opening it up, revealing a note written in Mando'a, Mandalore's native language.

"What does it say?" Ezra asked. "Hang on, gimme a minute to see what it says." I replied.

I read the note, and it went a little something like this if translated into basic:

Doc, if you are reading this, then I hope you know that I've been meaning to say this for some time now. This is probably also the first time that you've heard from me ever since we stopped talking to each other here at the base. I thought about it for a while, and you fight for a lost cause basically. My question is, why would you do that? You clearly knew that when we fled Mandalore as rebel sympathizers all those years ago that if caught by the Empire, we would be dealt with swiftly. Doc, you knew me well enough that I was once a patriotic and loyal citizen of the Empire back on Mandalore. But now, here we stand, fighting for a LOST cause. I knew that this would have been a lost cause this whole time, but you didn't know that clearly. I'm sorry old friend, but I've returned to my old ways, and I have to do this to you. Doc, it's for the sake of the galaxy, for the sake of our Empire. I'm sorry about this, but I have to do it. Aliit ori'shya taldin(family is more than blood), Doc, and you clearly do this for blood, and not your family and friends when with these traitors. Goodbye old friend.

I translated to Kanan and Ezra, and then we began to narrow things down. "So, if this guy claimed to have gone back to his old ways as a loyal imperial citizen, then it means that he could potentially be a rouge rebel." I theorized, still sticking with my theory. "The note would have to hint that. I mean, the lines 'you knew me well enough that I was once a patriotic and loyal citizen of the Empire,' 'I'm sorry old friend, but I've returned to my old ways,' and 'But now, here we stand, fighting for a LOST cause' potentially clearly hint that this is possibly a rouge." Ezra said. "But there is also a bigger question: why Doc in particular? We need to get a bigger scoop of this if we want to find out who it was that really murdered him" Kanan said. "Agreed, Kanan." I said. "But what if our guy strikes again? Besides, if there was one murder committed here, then there's a possibility that more could come." "Sabine does have a point, Kanan." Ezra said.


Meanwhile

Hera's P.O.V

Zeb and I continued to examine the body in the med bay for any clues, and we found a major one alright. Zeb found a toxic dart on the back of his neck, and it looked like Mandalorian. With this dart, it became clear that this guy did it quietly, and he definitely did it without blood involved. After all, there was no blood found on the body yet. I contacted Sabine to see if she could help us out with the dart. "Sabine, you there?" I radioed. "Yeah. What's up?" she asked. "Could you come on board the Ghost and examine something for me please?" I responded. "Sure. I'll be right over." Sabine responded.

"By the way, Hera, do you have a feeling that this clue might lead to something that involves Mandalorians?" Zeb asked, standing against the wall with his arms crossed. "I doubt it honestly, Zeb. Besides, if Sabine found any other clues with the boys, I don't think that they're Mandalorian related though." I replied. "Wrong." Sabine said as she walked in the med bay.

"What did you and the boys find?" I asked her. Sabine pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me, and it became clear that I was wrong about doubting Mandalorian related clues. Not even a second of reading the note, and I saw clearly that it was written in Mando'a, and now we had two Mandalorian related clues. "Can you translate this for me?" I asked Sabine. Sabine nodded, and I handed her the paper.

*Sabine translates the note* "Thanks, Sabine. Also, what does he mean by family is more than blood?" I asked her. "It means pretty much exactly what it means, and whoever took the kill clearly believed that his friend was going against all values with the rebels, caring more about blood than family from his own point of view." Sabine responded. "Also, Hera, where is that thing that you wanted me to examine?" I handed her the toxic dart, and she began to look at it.

"This dart, it's Mandalorian." Sabine said. "So, that's two Mando clues on the table?" Zeb asked. "Pretty much so. And I think it's safe to say, guys, that we're not only dealing with a potential rouge rebel, but we're dealing with a Mandalorian as well. And he targeted a Mandalorian clearly from the looks of things." Sabine said. "Interesting. Sabine, see if you could find out where the dart came from." I said. "On it." Sabine responded, leaving the med bay.


Meanwhile

Ezra's P.O.V

While Sabine was gone, Kanan and I talked to Sato about what Sabine said to us earlier, and asked him about night watch in case our guy strikes again. "A possibility." Sato said. "But I do think that Sabine did have a point earlier from what you, gentlemen, told me. I approve of night watch." Sato said. "Thank you, commander." I said. Also sensing an opportunity to get more clues about our murderer from Sato, I asked him, "By the way, commander," I said. "Excluding Sabine and Doc, do we have any other Mandalorians operating with us in the cell?"

"Why do you ask, Bridger?" Sato asked. "Because while Kanan, Sabine and I were investigating the A-wing earlier, Sabine found a note written in Mando'a. That note clearly was to Doc, sir." I answered. "Interesting. Unfortunately, I do not know of any other Mandalorians, but Rex might." Sato said. "You should go see him about it."

And Kanan and I did. We asked Rex about it. "Why are you asking?" the clone asked. I repeated pretty much what I said to Sato earlier as to why I asked. "This is somewhat strange that a Mandalorian may have gone after Doc in that note. Doc was half Mandalorian after all." Rex said. "What was his other half?" I asked. "Corellian." Rex answered. "Anyway, back on topic. As I was saying, either the first thing I said, or he may be making it seem like he's a Mandalorian from him knowing the language and what not. That's just my own theory. However, there is this one guy who was a close friend of Doc's, Rafe. You see that phoenix pilot over there fixing up his A-wing?" Rex asked pointing towards him. "That's him. He might be able to help you out if you ask him." "Thanks, Rex." Kanan said.

We began to walk over to the guy. As we were walking over, sensing a Mandalorian mystery coming up from the clue we just found earlier, I wondered if Hera found another one as well, and she wanted Sabine to look at it. This mystery keeps getting better, Bridger.

Anyway, we came up to Rafe. "Excuse me, sir, are you Rafe?" I asked. "Yeah. What's it to you?" Rafe asked. "My name's Ezra. That's Kanan. We're trying to identify who it was that murdered Doc earlier, and Rex told us that you're a close friend of his. Could you maybe help us?" I asked him. "I'm fully aware of his murder, first thing's first. That, and I'll help you out." Rafe responded.

"So, where were you when Doc was murdered?" I asked, pulling out my notepad to keep track of key things. "I was playing a card game with him and Archer earlier before we found out that he was murdered. This was sometime in the afternoon of today." Rafe answered. "And do you remember if he ever walked out of the room where you three were playing at all?" Kanan asked him. "He did say that after we finished up with another round of our game that he would go and catch some fresh air for a while. That, and he did say that he was going to add a new mod onto his A-wing." Rafe answered. "So, he walks out of the room, right?" Kanan and I nodded.

"And he told us that he would be back within fifteen minutes after he left the room." Rafe continued. "Do you remember what time specifically he walked out?" I asked. "From what I remember, the time was 15:45 today when he left." Rafe answered. "Fast forward about fifteen minutes later:" he continued. "Archer and I notice that he's not back. I told Archer that he was probably taking a while, and to not get ahead of himself too quickly at that point, and to give the dude time. So he and I gave Doc time to do his things. Fast forward a little while later: Doc's been gone for a while at that point, and Archer and I get slightly concerned." Rafe continued with the explanation.

*Ezra taking notes* "So both of us decided to go and check his room to see if he was in there. We knew that Doc was a guy who did like to take naps when the opportunity presented itself, and we just thought that he was in there. Archer and I go check it out, get up to his room in the base, and we found that he wasn't there." Rafe continued. "Did you ever radio him at all?" Kanan asked. "I was just about to get into that." Rafe informed Kanan. "I radio Doc, no response. I radio him a second time, no response. Third time, still no response. I tried to radio Doc one last time, still no response. At that point, Archer and I are concerned. So we headed out of Doc's room, and we saw Louis, the guy who found his body. Archer radioed Louis, and asked him if he could check Doc's A-wing because he wasn't responding. Louis said that he'll get to it, and so we trusted him to find Doc in there, and hopefully his commlink was just shut off. But we all knew what happened, what Louis discovered." Rafe ended.

"Did Archer, Louis, or anybody see somebody come up to Doc's A-wing and do anything?" I asked him. "When I was speaking with Louis earlier in his room about Doc's murder, he did say that he saw a pilot with a Mandalorian patch on his uniform approach Doc." Rafe said. Mandalorian patch, I noted that immediately. "Did Louis tell you what this pilot looked like, and his name?" Kanan asked. "He told me his name, but not how he looked like, other than he was a human male at a height of five feet and 11 inches." Rafe said. "His name?" I asked. "Just his first, but not last. Njuck. That was his name." Rafe said. "Anything else?" I asked him. "That's all that I know for now, Ezra." Rafe replied.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Kanan said. "Glad to be of help." Rafe said. "And, Kanan, what happened to your eye sight?" Rafe asked. "Accident." Kanan nonchalantly said. "Figured. Have a good day, guys." Rafe said. "Thanks, Rafe." I said. As Kanan and I began to walk away from him, he asked me, "Did you note everything?" "Yeah. I did." I replied. "Good. Dinner's going to be served soon. We should get back to the Ghost and debate what we should do next." Kanan said.