Family - Part 1
"The Jedi will be hunting us," Zaiya said as she paced the main living space. "So much, so obvious, we'll need a plan." Her hands behind her back and her expression thoughtful. Maul watched her with interest. There was something about watching her while she was lost in thought that was just so very compelling.
Feral had been right of course, as much as he loathed to admit he'd needed it, especially the way he'd scolded Maul like he was an unrepentant child last night. If it were anyone else speaking to him that way, he'd have cut them down. He almost had; were the idea of seeing Zaiya in chains not still wreaking havoc in his mind. It had taken all of his considerable discipline to avoid running Feral through.
He'd managed to listen and realise Feral had seen something Maul had not. While Maul was focused on getting revenge, Feral had seen Zaiya needed comfort. The entire concept was entirely alien to him, and it had taken Feral outright telling him what to do while Maul had just scowled at him in silence.
He made a mental note to thank Feral in the future, when the emotion of it was less raw. Seeing Zaiya in that state had hurt. He'd wanted to burn everything to make it stop. Who would have thought a few soft words would have eased her so much? Or himself?
It was moments like this that caused the very dangerous feeling of doubt to enter his mind. Doubt in his own training. That was always the most deadly thing as he was growing up.
To doubt was to die. Everything he knew was being challenged at every turn.
"We'll need a place to stay, won't we? Or at least a safe port where we can get supplies?" Feral's voice broke Maul from his contemplation. Golden eyes flicked back to Zaiya's face, she was smiling at his youngest sibling in approval.
"Very true," she said with a nod. "We'll need resources first and foremost, contacts are helpful but the most powerful thing in the galaxy for most people is credits." She let out a derisive scoff, seemingly disapproving.
"Power is the most powerful thing," Maul corrected dryly. He too had been a part of the galaxy at large and he knew what the rest of the pathetic people were like. Greedy and spineless. He did not wish to be a part of the dull masses scrabbling and scraping for credits.
"Yes sire, that is true, but money is unfortunately necessary to make people do what you need them to. In some cases, it's better than fear. If someone has something to gain, it's more to their benefit to keep their mouths shut if, for example, they encounter someone asking questions." Maul rolled his eyes, these petty games would not benefit him. He needed something more than bribes.
"Then we need influence, simply farming credits or working bounty hunting assignments would not be enough, we need far more than just wealth to begin our plan of revenge," he said contemplatively, leaning forward where he sat, and resting his elbows on his knees while lacing his long fingers together in front of his face.
"We need resources, connections, influence-" Zaiya broke off. "You know, I might have an idea. I still have contacts, and I remember hearing about someone using my name." Maul perked up at this news.
"Yes, I remember, it was the ship Temptress, was it not?" Maul asked.
"The Temptress is an Acclamator class ship, bigger than a frigate, almost cruiser size. Significant enough if we need a moving base of operations…" she said with a shrug.
"You intend to board and steal that ship?" Savage questioned, finally speaking up.
"Commandeer," Zaiya corrected. "They have been borrowing on my reputation by using my name. Perhaps it's time to collect on that charity?"
The calls were made, the rendezvous was set, and The Nameless was enroute to the Planet Ord Mantell, it was in neutral space and a frequent host to those wanting to avoid attention from either faction.
Cad Bane sat languidly in one of the chairs in a little dive bar out of the way of the main strip. He was not so surprised when Adaji Treshan turned up, though the accompanying scruffy-looking mercenary in cobbled-together armour and a cheap helmet was new. He was further surprised to see his old mentor Jango Fett enter the bar… with a kid.
"Well kark me sideways…" Bane said in his usual drawl, toothpick hanging from his lips, looking at the kid walking beside the Mandalorian in pint-sized armour. "So this is the kid you was tellin' us about."
For years Fett had been Bane's mentor, and had made mention of the possibility of his own child one day. Bane was sure it was after Jango had met the little witch that he'd changed. Big scary Fett had gotten clucky. But who knew with mammals?
It wasn't long after that that he'd mentioned a son. Though Bane had never met him before. Jango didn't exactly advertise it, only speaking of the kid to a select few. Fett knew better than to trust anyone with more than a bare mention at least.
"This here is my son, Boba," Fett said with a small gesture of his hand, his voice coming through his helmet. "Boba, this is Cad Bane, and the other Mandalorian is Adaji Treshan."
"I heard tahn'ti Siren talk about them," Boba said, peering at the blue-skinned Duros and the other Mando.
"You know Siren?" asked a very familiar voice from behind them. If Bane was not aware of Fett being right there, he might have thought that the Bounty Hunter was talking behind him. Bane turned and his scowl deepened.
"Who's yer friend, Treshan…?" he asked warily.
"Name's Slick," the man said, before Treshan could speak. He pulled off his helmet - and revealed a much younger Jango Fett's face beneath it.
Bane was on his feet in seconds, blaster drawn and raised.
"You brought a clone here?!" he snarled.
"Easy, toothprick," Treshan countered, holding his hands up. "Siren brought him to me, before she left that Republic gig she was doin'. He's solid."
"That right?" Fett asked, stepping forward to Bane's side. "I can't say I had much love for the Republic, but all those soldiers were bred to be loyal blaster fodder."
"You're right. That's all we were," Slick began, his lips twisting in disgust. "Enslaved to the Jedi like dogs at their whim! I tried to free my brothers… but the Jedi sent me for decommission." Bane made a low sound in his throat.
"For a peacekeepin' Order, they have some dirty hands," he said with a scoff.
"You know Siren?" Fett asked flatly, repeating his question back to him and clearly unmoved by Slick's protests of injustice.
"She saved my life, risked her neck getting me off Kamino and gave me a new life. I owe her." Slick's face seemed genuine but Bane wasn't easily swayed either. He was surprised to see Jango holster his blaster first.
"Alright, I believe you," he nodded.
"You really believe dat?" Bane asked with a raised brow.
"If you had seen them in their training, you'd understand. Loyalty is important to them, and he seems loyal to her," Fett shrugged.
"'Cept he broke loyalty to the Republic an' his own brutha's t' do it…" Bane retorted.
"Listen, I've heard Siren fought off an entire invasion of Kamino, standing between the Seppies and my brothers, what chance do you think I have of possibly taking her down even if I wanted to…?" Slick offered, his hands out passively. Bane and Fett looked at each other.
He had a point.
"Alright," Bane conceded and put his own blaster away. "But you make any moves or try t' be tricky, an' I will put one between yer eyes." Slick shrugged, he seemed to understand the kind of people he was dealing with.
"...so, anyway…" Treshan began. Having removed his helmet he shot Slick a look of irritation. "Did Siren tell you why she wanted us all here?"
"Nothin' precise," Bane shrugged, "but I can take a guess. Word is, the Temptress, out in the Black Sun territory, hosts the Siren as its primary source of entertainment."
"Entert- Oh I imagine she took that well," Teshan scoffed with a look of disgust. He'd been there when Hondo had found her again, seeing her like that was…
"That's just insulting," Fett scoffed.
"Dat's what I said," Bane confirmed. "What kinda rep does that give us?"
"You're worried about your reputation?" Treshan asked with a growl. "That's my kid, Bane-"
"She's not your kid, Treshan," Fett snapped, the tension building back up and Bane's hand carefully moved to rest at his hip. "I knew her real father, she's practically blood."
"But not actual blood, is she?" Treshan retorted. Bane rolled his eyes.
"When did you two get so soft?" the Duros drawled.
"Don't karking start, Bane, I know you still keep that gift she got you-" Treshan scoffed and Fett chuckled. Bane's hand gripped his blaster.
"Whaddya think you-"
"If you're quite done."
All five of them turned, hands going to blasters as they saw four figures in hoods entering the rather empty cantina. One was extremely tall and the other three were much shorter, one of them pulled their hood off revealing a familiar ashen face, now sporting an eyepatch to cover her scarred left eye.
The bounty hunters mostly relaxed though Bane kept his hand on his blaster.
"Who're yer friends?" he asked, his red eyes narrowed as he looked between them. Siren gave a little smirk as the figures behind her began to remove their hoods. He heard Treshan curse and Bane just scowled as he saw a familiar red and black face appear. As arrogant and uppity-looking as the last time he'd seen the Zabrak. The other two were Zabrak too, one an orangish colour and the big one a brighter yellow.
"These are the Lords Savage, Feral, and Maul," she began, gesturing to each of them.
Lord? Bane wondered.
"And this," she gestured then to the bounty hunters, "is Jango Fett, his son Boba, Cad Bane, Adaji Treshan and Slick Treshan." She stepped forward, hands on her hips. "When they aren't bickering, they're usually very skilled bounty hunters," she said with a wry smirk.
She certainly looked better than when Bane had last seen her. Healthier. Maybe happier… was that because of these guys? Bane didn't know why she called them Lords… It bothered him.
He couldn't put his finger on why though.
The groups coalesced in the back of the bar, the grumpy Trandoshan bartender eyed them across the room but said nothing.
"So, are you going after the Temptress?" Slick asked, and Bane felt his lip twitch, he didn't like this clone. Hell, he didn't like anyone,
"That we are," Siren nodded. "I'm not a fan of my name being used in vain." She smirked. Bane tossed out a small holo puck on the table and it highlighted the area in the Outer Rim.
"Dis is where de ship should be, don' imagine it'll be that hard t' find. 'S gettin in, that's the trick."
"Well we've procured invites to parties before, haven't we?" Siren chuckled, glancing between Bane and "Lord" Maul.
"Mm," was all the Zabrak replied.
"I remember it, dropped you on that station, didn' we? I heard it was destroyed… that you?" Bane stared down the red Zabrak with an unblinking stare.
"We may have crashed it into the moon," Siren interrupted, an odd look crossing her face. "But that's not important, we need to focus on how we'll get aboard and take the ship."
"Can we do this with so few people?" the one she'd introduced as Feral said.
"I thought it was a bit of overkill," Fett said with a chuckle. Siren gave a small smile.
"We can do it, if we're smart about it." Siren leaned over the table and inserted a data card into the holo puck. An image of a ship similar to the Temptress appeared. "I haven't been able to get an exact schematic of the ship but this one is the closest, generally speaking."
"Y'know I don't like these plans with too much improvising," Bane grumbled. "Usually ends up being messy." Siren looked at him and gave a small nod.
"I have an idea on how we'll do this," she began and leaned over the table to explain her idea.
Notes:
Hello friends!
Well that was certainly interesting! All the dads in one place. Yikes. Which dad "dadded" the hardest?
I am happy to see new readers and getting so many compliments for my fic! Thank you all so so much!
As I mentioned last time, I am trying to expand my social presence and I have been posting a bit of art and some of it is even APOD related! If anyone is thinking of checking out my socials find them on my linktr dot ee forwardslash kimageddon I'd love to see you guys out there.
Fair warning, I will be taking a break after the next post of APOD. The next chapter is pretty fun to me I had a lot of fun with it. It's also double the length of this one. After that, I will be taking a short break just to take my time with a few projects, catch up on chapters and some other projects, again if you wanna see that, check out my linktree.
I hope you guys are all well and that you like this chapter, I hope to see you again next week!
