Chapter Five: The Rescue

"Kida," Senator Amidala spoke gently through Rex's communicator. "Everything is fine here. I really don't think-"

"No, she's right," Skywalker cut her off, his voice joining hers. "If Aurra Sing is targeting people that will get your personal protection away from you, she's coming for you next." I glanced at the captain, my lips pressing together nervously. "I'll keep an eye on her here," the jedi spoke to us again. "Rex, you and Kida do a sweep of the area. There must be somewhere she's hiding."

"Yes sir," the captain responded immediately, tapping his wrist communicator to silence it. He looked sideways at me as I turned the speeder gently, the Senate building coming into view. "So where do you think she is?"

I didn't respond, teasing my lip with my teeth as I scanned the skyline of the never-ending city. There were a thousand places someone could hide. A million nooks and crannies to crawl. Even more tunnels and broken panels to escape through. "I don't get it," I mused out loud, still ignoring Rex's question. "Why get me away from the senator just to wait until I'm back again?"

"She knows we're coming, too," he added with a grunt. "She wants you to. Otherwise she would've just killed your friend."

He wasn't wrong. She was there somewhere...but she was waiting for me. To make me see my failure? Or was I a target too? I said nothing, struggling to stop my racing mind long enough to reach out with my feelings instead. I pushed past the calm and curious serenity of the captain's mind and searched the force. I tried to find the signature I had come to recognize as Aurra over our jobs spent together. Cold. Calculated. Composed. But seething below the surface. Angry. Greedy. Manipulative.

"What should I be looking for?" Rex finally spoke, breaking me from my focus. I gave him a glance, shaking my head.

"I'm not even sure. There's a thousand places she could be hiding."

"Then what are we hoping to achieve? We should land and form a search pattern. Get teams out."

I smiled gently, turning the speeder slightly to keep up the perimeter sweep. "I'm sure your general has that covered. We were told to check the perimeter, right?"

He looked forward again, his facial expression hidden from my peering eyes. Still, I could feel his anxiety, despite trying to hide it.

"I didn't know clones got nervous," I spoke with a light tone, trying to ease both our minds.

"Why do you say that?" he asked in return, his tension still high.

I chuckled. "I know your training regiment, remember? The Kaminoans worked to eradicate disobedience, fear… individuality." I was prodding him, and he knew it.

"Yes, we were trained for that," he answered vaguely. I could tell he was trying to tame his nerves.

I cast him a side smile, but he didn't see me. "Yet…" I fished.

"What makes you think I'm nervous?" He was getting defensive, so I looked away, focusing on steering the speeder and searching for Aurra.

"I just don't think any man is free of fear," I said quietly.

He didn't respond, but I could feel his mixture of emotions. He wasn't sure how to react. There was gratitude, anxiety, a sense of duty, and an attachment to the senator. I was sure he inherited that from his general.

We circled for a while longer, my thoughts reluctantly receding from the captain and searching for Aurra again. My gaze turned to the Senate building again, searching for the wide window I knew would belong to the Senator of Naboo. My eyes lifted suddenly, my world slowing as I became hyper-aware of my breathing and heartbeat. The sound of a blaster shot echoed across the open air, my mind sensing the heat of the bolt.

I immediately pulled up on the joysticks, the captain falling forward violently as the speeder jerked upwards. He caught himself with his hands on the dashboard, cursing under his breath. He didn't have a moment to say something as the bolt flew by us and struck a neon sign. It erupted in sparks, the flashing screen glitching out.

"Kriff!" he swore, both our heads whirling to watch another bolt flying towards us. I dragged on the joysticks, but couldn't move fast enough. The bolt struck the underbelly of my speeder, the machine immediately lurching to the side. "What'd she hit?" the captain yelled, gripping the side as we lurched wildly.

"The rear thruster has taken severe damage, miss," Apex responded immediately.

I grit my teeth, struggling to keep us airborne as the speeder began to spin. "Fix! Now!" The dashboard lit up as Apex worked to reroute power and stabilize the speeder again. In a moment, I regained more control, but we still dragged heavily to the side, the back left repulsor struggling to take on the load.

"I've done what I can," Apex spoke. "But the engine will give out soon if you continue to fly."

"Right," I said through a clenched jaw, veering the speeder sideways as we turned the corner around the Senate building.

"We need to land," Rex pushed, his head turned to look back where the shot had come from. "She could fire again."

"She won't," I growled. "At least, not at us." Rex immediately drew electrobinoculars, peering through them.

"Kriff," he swore. "It's Aurra." He lifted his wrist communicator as I glanced back in the direction he was looking. "General, you need to vacate the Senator's office. Now!"

I connected his thought, glancing back to where I could see the Naboo office windows, wide and inviting.

"A blaster shot can't get through these," I heard Skywalker's padawan voice through the communicator.

"Sir, please," the captain shot back. "She's got a rocket-"

I glanced back again, my eyes catching the bright flash of a rocket leaving the launcher. "Too late!" I cried, veering the speeder sideways. "Hold on, Rex," I commanded as he lurched, his electrobinoculars flying out of the cockpit. He gripped the side of the speeder, his mind racing. I knew he understood what we were doing. I let go, letting the force guide me as the speeder drifted into the path of the rocket, its underbelly blocking the Senate building. I released the joysticks, grabbing Rex's wrist and dragging him forward and out of the speeder. We leapt, falling through open air for a moment, before the rocket collided with my speeder.

It exploded violently, its shockwave launching the clone and I forward. Debris flew past us as I felt the searing heat of the flames, the debris flying through Senator Amidala's window. It shattered the glass, both Rex and I falling through as the flames followed us. I rolled as well as I could in my landing, tumbling to the wall.

I screwed my eyes shut against the pain and flaming debris, slowly lifting my head. "That bitch," I cursed lightly as I pushed myself to my knees, my body complaining. "Broke into my club," I grunted. "Stabbed my friend. Tricked me. Tried to sabotage my job. Tried to kill me. Blew up my speeder." I found my feet, leaning heavily on the scorched wall. I stumbled to Rex, glancing up to see that the room was empty. The far door opened, revealing the senator behind guards and two ready jedi.

The captain grunted on the ground, causing me to kneel beside him. "Kriff," he swore under his breath. I glanced down, seeing debris wedged under the break in his armor, stabbing into the flesh between his shoulder and chest. My fingers grazed around it, seeing it at a dangerous angle towards his heart.

"Take it easy, Captain," I commanded as he tried to sit up. "You're hurt."

"The senator," he fought weakly.

"Is safe," Skywalker cut in as he entered the room, giving me a glare.

Rex nodded at him, before struggling to get in a breath. I removed his helmet for him, his golden eyes staring into mine. I nearly gasped from the intensity he projected through the force. A ferociousness I rarely felt alongside the serenity of his mind. "Aurra," he said simply, clearly in pain.

I pressed my lips into a line before standing slowly, my mouth curving into a grim smile. I drew my two pistols on my side, the mechanism reacting to my touch easily. They opened and expanded, attaching together to make a rifle. "Don't worry," I said cockily as I attached a scope from my belt. "I'm killing her."

"What?" I heard the senator cry from behind her guards. "She needs to stand trial!" I ignored her and walked to the shattered window, lifting my scope to my eye.

The force rippled and I sidestepped as she took another shot with her sniper. The bolt blasted past me and struck the ground. I took my own shot, but she moved, her figure receding from the balcony and entering the building. I let off another shot and watched it shatter through a window she passed, but failed to down her.

"Well, you get what you want, Senator," I called behind me. "I didn't kill her, but now you know what building she's in." I cast my glance to the jedi. "Better get your men moving."

Skywalker immediately consulted his wrist comm, gesturing to his padawan. "Come on, Ahsoka." The two left the room, medics entering to attend to Rex. I recognized the armor of one, walking over as I deconstructed my rifle and holstered the pieces.

"Kix," I heard Rex say gently, grunting in pain as the medic examined him. "I'm fine."

"That's very heroic of you, Captain," I teased gently. "But even I couldn't play off a piece of metal sticking out of my chest."

The medic -Kix- administered pain relievers to his commanding officer, gesturing to some soldiers to bring in a stretcher. He glanced at me. "I'm moving him to medbay."

I almost responded earnestly, but my mind stopped me. I put on a gentle smirk and crossed my arms. "I'm not his keeper, soldier. You're the medic. Do what's right."

I felt the confusion ripple off of Kix, but ignored it as he returned to his job and helped lift the captain to the stretcher. He was led from the room, my attention struggling to return to the senator.

"We should get you somewhere safe," I voiced as I exited her wrecked office and approached.

"I agree," she responded, glancing over my frame. "And I think it should be the medbay." My eyebrows lifted, but she continued. "You're covered in cuts and burns. You can't protect me if you die from infection."

"I really don't think-"

"That's an order from your employer," she cut me off. I gaped, but conceded, allowing her to speak. "You can protect me by watching me as you get looked at by a medic. Got it?"

I eyed her for a few moments before finally smiling. "Yes ma'am," I allowed, giving her a gentle bow of my head. She lifted her decorated arm, gesturing to follow the path Kix had taken with his new patient. I sighed, obliging and leading the way towards the medbay.

The entire building was on high alert, my senses jumping with the anxiety that flowed through everyone. Soldiers were swarming the area, each clad in painted armor. Their eyes glanced my way as I passed, prodding me to wonder if the clones gossiped more than they let on. They were vod...family. I'm sure word had gotten around about the bounty hunter who was trained by Jango. Maybe they were trying to catch sight of my Jaig eyes.

The medbay was empty aside from the captain and Kix. Rex looked pretty out of it as Kix worked on him, removing the shrapnel from his shoulder. Senator Amidala's gentle hand guided me to sit on one of the beds, waiting patiently for the medic. As my pulse finally slowed and my adrenaline sapped me of my energy, I became aware of the smell. Fuel. Smoke. Metal. Burning hair. My mouth tasted metallic with the blood that slipped from my lip. My exposed skin stung with cuts- none too bad. Even the skin that was covered smarted with a burn on the back of my shoulder, the protective material melting to stick against the damaged skin.

A medical droid approached me and I let my mind drift as it began its work, slowly peeling away my protective layers. I guided my thoughts away from the horrible burning of the melted fabric detaching from my wounds, dwelling on the clones, surprisingly.

When Jango rescued me from the slavers, he took me to Kamino. The rain was pounding against the ship's windows, the dark waters darting past as the bounty hunter navigated towards his base. My tiny frame, bruised and malnourished, cowered behind his seat in the cockpit, peering past his shoulder. I hadn't seen rain like that in my life, feeling the winds pull at the powerful ship. In the distance, lights drew closer, revealing floating platforms that created a city above the raging waters.

I gripped the wall nervously as Jango turned his ship to land, the cockpit rotating with the ship's movements. He barely looked at me as he stood and deftly exited the cockpit, the ramp descending onto the soaked platform. The bounty hunter looked back at me, his blue helmet under his arm. His black eyebrow lifted, his scarred face crinkling.

"Are you coming, ad'ika? Or are you staying on the ship tonight?" I didn't move, watching him in fear. "It gets cold here at night."

I swallowed thickly, slowly moving out from the cockpit and stepping down the ramp. I stopped at the bottom, my hand swiping out to feel the rain drench my skin. The man, now covered in water, gave me an amused smirk. He rolled his eyes before removing his cloak from around his shoulders, the raindrops making small dinging noises off his armor. I jumped as he neared, but his presence was calming...nothing like the Mandalorians I'd spent six months with. He shushed me gently before wrapping the cloak around my shoulders. His hands were firm, but gentle, guiding me out into the rain. I looked up at it, the water pouring over my hood and dripping into my face.

It was strangely freeing. For all I knew, I was walking into slavery again...but this single moment was as free as I'd been in years.

Jango nudged my shoulder gently, leading me across the platform, my feet splashing happily before the doors opened. I was struck with a blaring brightness, the walls and floor all white and clean. The bounty hunter led me with a hand on my shoulder as I struggled to see in the light change. I quickly lost my bearings, the hallways all identical and twisting, not to mention my eyes refusing to focus.

I kept my gaze down, my muscles tensing when I heard a voice. "Jango Fett." The voice was soft and even, nearly automated. I was aware of a tense presence...something so calm and collected it was sure to be hiding something. My eyes lifted to see a lithe creature with stark white skin that looked as smooth as glass. She had a long neck covered with purple cloth, her rounded face bright against her massive black eyes and split nose.

"Taun We," Jango responded immediately, slowing beside me. I felt some irritation ripple off of him, but pushed it away. He was Mandalorian. I knew how they felt about force sensitives.

The female-Taun We-cast her massive black eyes down at me. "What is this?"

Jango's hand gripped my shoulder gently, holding down my flinch at his touch. "I saved her from slavery today. She'll be staying with me for now."

Some frustration rippled off of Taun We, but her expression didn't change. "We have already permitted one child," she started. "Another-"

"You haven't given me this one. You're losing nothing." Jango's voice was polite, but masked tension.

"Another mouth is another mouth."

Jango's hand squeezed my shoulder gently as his mind turned. "Boba needs a friend. One that doesn't outgrow him in the matter of months." His tone was final and the female creature recognized it.

"Very well," she said. "How long will she be staying?"

The bounty hunter gently nudged me forward, walking around Taun We. "For as long as she needs," he called back, leaving her behind. I glanced up at him, my eyes curious as they traced over his scarred face. He looked tired.

As we walked, we entered corridors with glass walls, looking down at hordes of men...men that looked exactly like Jango. My heart leapt in my throat as I stopped, pulling from my rescuer to peer through the windows. One looked up from where he ate in the massive mess hall, a scowl on his face, but his deep brown eyes reflected Jango perfectly.

"The Kaminoans are cloners," Jango explained gently, coming up behind me to look down. The clone saw his source product, giving him a respectful nod before returning to his meal. "They chose me because of my skills."

I don't think he expected me to respond. I hadn't spoken since he took me from Death Watch. "Who would need so many bounty hunters?"

He chuckled. "They're not bounty hunters. They're soldiers." He could sense my confusion. "They're going to be the army for the Grand Republic. Ordered by a jetii, of all people."

My nose crinkled. "I thought Mandalorians hated the jedi."

"We do. But money is money. And this job offered me something I couldn't receive otherwise."

I opened my mouth to ask, but was interrupted.

"Daddy?" The tiny voice made my head turn, Jango's presence immediately blooming with joy...and love. A little boy, his legs stubby and body round with baby fat, stood at the end of the hall. His brown hair flopped over his forehead as his mouth opened in a happy squeal. "Daddy!" He raced down the hall on his awkward legs, making it only halfway before Jango met him and swept him up in a hug.

They coddled for a moment as the boy giggled before Jango turned back to me. I looked over the child before glancing back to the mess hall. There were younger boys there too, some looking strikingly like the boy before me.

"They gave you him?" I asked, not looking at the bounty hunter.

He turned to me, the child sitting in his arms easily. "This is my son, Boba."

I swallowed. "A clone?"

Jango frowned slightly, but Boba didn't seem to be paying any attention, squirming in his arms. The bounty hunter set him down, the child hurrying over to stand in front of me. "Yes. But with no growth accelerants, training, or obedience alterations. He's a normal boy."

"Obedience alterations?" I asked, looking down at the boy as he flexed his fingers at me, trying to get me to lean down.

"As I'm sure you can tell, I'm an independent man who questions authority. They can't have that in an army."

My heart clenched. They were basically slaves...these clones. Being created and bought to fight a war for someone more powerful than them. But then again, were all soldiers like that? Finally, I kneeled down, becoming more eye-level with the little boy.

"Hi Boba," I offered. He wrung his pudgy fingers before breaking out in a smile. It was pure, his eyes crinkling. Surprisingly, I smiled back, letting him play with my hand curiously. He turned my arm, seeing the brand.

"What's that?"

I pulled my hand away. "Just a scar," I offered, seeing Jango step forward as if to stop his son. I looked between the two, feeling the genuine love. Maybe Jango was like the old Mandalorians I'd heard about. Where they valued a sanctity of marriage...respected a woman. I looked back to Boba, seeing his curious gaze. "My name's Kida. It's nice to meet you."

I didn't have to look up to feel Jango's smile.