Chapter 4

Mace Windu crept along the same hallway Kira did when she had first arrived. He could sense her presence; it was so strong it was almost as if she were three feet in front of him. He let out a sigh of relief, they'd been separated for nearly two whole days before he was able to track her down. He could only imagine the kind of trouble she'd gotten herself into.

He went to the door and slipped inside when an intruder alert was signaled. He cursed. That was faster than he'd anticipated, he pressed his back against the wall when a group of guards went down the hallway and completely skipped the hanger door he was hiding at and continued on. Kira must have escaped, or was in the process of escaping. The least he could do was cause enough commotion to distract them away from his padawan.

His comlink chirped before he could make a move.

"Hello there, Master." Kira's voice came through, filled with her usual sass. "I seem to have gotten myself in a bit of a mess."

"Kira, I swear-"

"Hey, I'm not done talking," Kira scolded. "Look, I've got them distracted. The prison cells are on the last floor, Jatori is there. Find him and get out, I'll be okay."

"Kira-"

"We have a mission, Master," She said. "You must complete it. Plus, I think I've found my way out of here if you have to leave me behind."

"I'm not leaving you behind, Padawan." Mace said sternly into his wrist comm.

"Oh, but you will if you have to," Kira said. "Now, I've got to go. Guards are coming."

Kira cut the comms and when he tried to contact her again the line was dead. He cursed under his breath. He wondered where she got her stubbornness from but decided she was right. The mission had to come first. If she made it through this without getting herself killed, he would be proud of her.

Kira had purposely activated the intruder alert to draw attention from Mace's entrance. If he was there, she could focus on helping Jango while he got Jatori. The slimeball needed to learn who he was messing with and it was about time that lesson was taught.

"Alright, Fett." Kira said, jumping up from her seat. "Let's cause some trouble. My master is going to get Jatori so we're free to go once he has him in custody."

Jango tipped his head to the side in her direction. "I'm not leaving before Frivir is dead."

Kira shrugged. "Alright, let's go kill him then." She said motioning towards the door. "His guard buddies will be here in just a moment. Feel free to start blasting whenever you feel like it."

Jango rolled his eyes before they went to the armory door. "Before we go…" He said and pulled out a thermal detonator, activating it. "Let's make it harder for them to fight back." He tossed three more around the room before both left and shut the door behind them and ran down the hall.

They may have made space between themselves and the impending explosion but ran straight into the guards. Jango immediately opened fire, Kira's lightsabers shot out as she stepped in front of him blocking the blaster fire that rained down on them. It was only a moment before the armory exploded. All in the hall were thrown forward with the force of the explosion. Jango was the first to recover and continued firing. Kira forced herself up, blocking an incoming blast from one of the guards firing at Jango with a reverse grip on her lightsabers. Jango had never seen a Jedi fight in such a way but she fought with a precision that even impressed him.

The guards fired at them but each of their shots were deflected by the golden blades and sent hurtling back at them. It only took three minutes before all six of them were dead. Kira gritted her teeth before glancing back at Jango. He gave a nod towards the turbo lift at the end of the room. Frivir's office, Jango knew, overlooked the arena. Kira followed him until they came through to another set of guards, Kira and Jango repeated the same stance they did before. Kira, in front, blocking the incoming blasts and Jango shooting over her head. They worked as if they'd worked together for years even if they'd only met the day before, they fought their way through this group just as easily and continued their way down the hall until they made it to the turbo lift. Kira punched the controls and the doors opened with a creak. They both got inside, pressed the button for the top floor and waited.

Jango double checked his blasters as Kira flipped her lightsabers up to the standard position with her fingers hovering over the activation button, the hum of the blades filled the silence between them. They were both antsy, counting the seconds it took to reach the top floor. The adrenaline was filling both of them, the way they worked together seamlessly made Kira giddy with anticipation. She loved a good fight and having someone at your back with an equal prowess was something she loved. When the turbo dinged, Jango raised his blasters towards the door, Kira's lightsabers rose in a defensive stance as the doors slid open.

When they entered the room, it was empty and silent.

The room was large for an office, a desk in the corner by the window that overlooked the city. A seating area across the room in front of the other window that overlooked the arena. For as big of a shithole the entire planet was, this office was filled with lavish and luxurious items, rugs on the floor that had to be over a thousand credits, plants from planets lightyears away.

"Shabla osik." Jango cursed lowering his blasters entering the room before ordering, "Echoy te yamika."

Kira stopped what she was doing, lowering her lightsabers and looked at him with a look that said what? "Boy, if you think I have any idea what you just said you are greatly mistaken."

"Search the room." He said over his shoulder as he went to the desk and went digging through the drawers.

Kira rolled her eyes before scanning the room, deactivating her lightsabers now that there was no immediate threat, she felt out with the Force searching for Frivir's presence before glancing over at her Mandalorian companion. "I doubt he's going to fit in the drawer." Kira said sarcastically.

"He owes me a lot of credits." Jango growled, unimpressed by her sarcasm before he pulled out a bag full of credits. He stuffed them in one of the many pouches on his belt but not for pulling out a credit chip worth a thousand and tossed it to her. She caught it before holding it in the palm of her hand raising an eyebrow. "You deserve something for all you've gone through for me."

As a Jedi, Kira had little need for credits but the sentiment was not lost on her. "Thank you." She said before pocketing the credit chip. She went to the closet and opened the door; it was filled with expensive coats and shirts but otherwise too small of a closet to hide an entire person inside. She went to shut it before her eye caught sight of a board on the back wall that lifted up slightly. Behind it, light came through the boards. She gathered the clothes and pulled them out of the closet before dumping them unceremoniously on the ground. She ran her hand over the back wall before pulling on the board. It came loose and opened. What she found surprised her. It was a secret hallway.

"Fett." She said over her shoulder.

His head snapped up and immediately went to her side, peering over her shoulder. She shifted slightly to allow him to see in. "Good work, Jedi." He praised.

"Kira…" She corrected annoyed.

His head turned to look at her, she couldn't see his eyes behind the visor but she could tell he was giving her a smart grin. He patted her back, "Kira." He said before moving past her to crawl through the closet. Kira rolled her eyes and scoffed before crawling in after him.

The hallway was dark with only a single light and it was tight. Barely wide enough for Jango's shoulder width to fit through, though he was certainly built well, it was obviously made for that skinny womp rat to fit through and not many others. Jango clicked the side of his helmet activating the heat sensor.

"He's been through here." He said.

"Well pick up the pace, My Friend, we'll lose him if we don't hurry up." Kira said leaping up, grabbing hold of the light above, swung and jumped over Jango to take the lead. She trotted ahead and activated one of her blades using it as a light and held it up.

They followed the dark hallway for a long while, it seemed to go on forever. Neither spoke as they made their way through the tunnel.

"You said your name was Kenvor?" Jango asked after a while, he'd put it in the back of his mind when she'd first said it but now there was a moment, he could think about it.

Kira turned her head with an eyebrow raised as she continued on. "I did."

"Where are you from?" He asked.

Kira shrugged and kept walking. "I don't know. As a Jedi, we're supposed to be void of attachment and that, admittedly, is something I struggle with. So, they never told me."

Jango was surprised. It was another reason to hate the Jedi, they were baby thieves. Kidnapping children and forcing them into an Order they had no choice in all because they had the ability to lift rocks with their minds. As a Mandalorian, family was the most important thing to his people. It was the way; he may have not been born Mandalorian but that didn't mean he wouldn't have shared the ideals if the Jedi hadn't massacred his people. He had a certain detachment from the Mandalorian way since the Battle of Galidraan, if things were different, he might have been able to find a nice girl and settle down, have a few kids one day. She never got the chance to even know another life besides the Jedi. "I'm assuming that means you don't know who your parents are? If you have any siblings?" He asked.

Kira stopped and faced him; the yellow hue of her lightsaber glowed against her skin, humming into the silence. "Why are you so interested in where I come from or who I was born to?" She asked with her eyebrow raised again in suspicion.

"I knew a Kenvor." He said, that caused Kira's face to fall flat.

"What?"

"He is a part of another Mandalorian clan." He answered. "He fought with my mentor, Jaster Mereel, in the Mandalorian civil wars."

Kira looked down at the lightsaber hilt in her hands thinking about the vision she had on the way to this rotten planet, perhaps the other man she'd seen was this other Kenvor. "What's his name?"

"Jense Kenvor."

Her eyes lifted to meet his, even if she couldn't make them out. "We should… continue on before we lose Frivir." She said turning back to continue down the hall, she stopped and turned back towards him for just a moment. "If we make it out of here alive, I have questions… if you don't mind."

Jango nodded. "Okay, Kira."

They came to a crossroad. "Which way did he go? What do you see with your Mando eyes, Jango?" Kira asked tauntingly, trying to put the Kenvor subject to the back of her mind, she couldn't let herself get distracted by the possibility that there may be a relative of hers out there somewhere. She had always been hung up on the fact that she never knew where she came from, who her people were and why she came to the Jedi in the first place. She knew Mace was the one who found her but nothing else. There must have been a reason besides her impulse that her and Fett were brought together and perhaps this was it. He may be the key to lead her to the answers she so desperately sought.

Jango scanned the hallways but the heat signatures had evaporated. He growled. "There's nothing."

"Check that way, I'll check this way." Kira said, nodding her head towards the south hallway.

"Fine." He said "Give me your comm."

Kira raised an eyebrow before switching her lightsaber to her left hand and held out her right arm to him. Jango took hold of her arm and synced her comlink with his. It was the stolen comm she'd liberated from the guard when they'd first escaped but it would do for now. They just had to use a private channel. "You know, that's a clever way to get a girl's comm frequency." She teased.

Jango scoffed. "We have a job to do, Jedi." He said before releasing her arm.

Kira smirked, giving him a playful wink before trotting off down the hallway opposite of him. He shook his head and followed the hallway down, activating the light on the side of his helmet. He walked down with a hand on the wall before coming to a dead end. He shook his head in frustration before turning back, returning to where he'd last left Kira.

He followed the hallway until he saw an open door at the end. He clicked the comm to Kira. "Any luck?" He asked. No response. "Kira, come in." Again nothing. He pulled out his blasters expecting the worst. As he neared the open door, he heard the hum of a lightsaber clashing. He raced out and saw his Jedi companion fighting off a guard with an electrostaff. Behind him, Frivir was lowering the ramp of a smuggler's ship. Jango fired, blasting the control panel, frying it and preventing the ramp from lowering fully. Frivir jumped startled.

The guard that Kira was fighting knocked her lightsaber out of her hands, throwing it across the room. Before she could grab her second blade, he shoved the end of his staff into her stomach. She let out a cry, he then threw his staff over her head and quickly put her in a headlock. Jango held one blaster towards Frivir and one towards the guard that held Kira.

"Fett blast Frivir!" Kira shouted, struggling against the guard.

"You blast him and your Jedi friend gets it." The guard warned pulling his staff tighter against Kira's neck. She growled.

Jango fired both of his blasters, one hitting Frivir in the thigh the other hitting the guard's hand. Frivir fell to the ground, crying out in pain as Kira ripped the electrostaff from the guard's hands and shoved the end of it into his side.

Seeing that Kira was now back in control Jango went to Frivir, the scrawny pathetic excuse for a man cried out.

"No!" He pleaded. "Don't kill me!"

Jango wasn't one for long, drawn out conversations before he killed someone. He did not indulge in toying with his victims, he viewed it as sick. There was no place for it. He may have been a killer but he wasn't mental. He simply fired his blaster, blasting him between the eyes. Frivir slumped to the ground with a thud before Jango raised his blaster towards Kira and the guard firing once again. The blast went just above Kira's shoulder and embedded itself into the guard's chest. Kira spun around to face Jango and came face to face with the end of his blaster. For a moment, she thought he might shoot her too now that her usefulness was over. He had mentioned he hated Jedi.

He lowered his blaster and holstered it. She dropped the electrostaff and ran a hand across her brow.

"I suppose I should thank you." He said looking down at Frivir.

Kira raised an eyebrow and offered a smile. "I bet you never thought you'd say those words to a Jedi."

He shrugged with a slight nod. "Certainly not."

Kira's comm chirped on her wrist, she looked down at it before activating it. "Master." She said shifting her weight to one leg.

"I've got Jatori, are you alright?" Mace asked.

"Yes," She answered. "I'm alright. I'm in the hangar."

"I'll be there shortly." Kira cut the comm and returned her attention back to the Mandalorian. "So… about that Kenvor…"

"He is on Mandalore, a part of the Skirata clan. He's the second-in-command." He answered.

Kira pursed her lips into a line. "That's not a lot to go on."

"I said I knew him, not that I knew him well." Jango said.

"What's he look like?" She asked.

"Never seen him without the helmet, he wore blue and black armor with lightning bolts on his helmet. He's massive though, built like a tree." He answered.

Kira bit her lip. "I… thank you." She said. "I shouldn't have asked."

That caught the Mandalorian's curiosity. "Why not?"

"Because I'm a Jedi," She said with a shrug. "I should not allow myself the luxury of thinking that he may be a parent or uncle or… whatever. I can't have those attachments."

Jango shrugged as they began walking towards a JAST07 Amphibious Interstellar Assault Transport starship, Kira called her lightsaber that had been previously thrown out of her hands back to her and clipped it to her belt. The ramp lowered before Jango stopped at the foot of it. "If you change your mind, find me on Mandalore." He said. "I suppose I owe you at least that."

Kira raised an eyebrow. "So, I have a Mandalorian warrior that owes me a debt. What a surprise." She smirked.

"Technically, I'm the leader of the Mandalorians… Depending on who you ask." He replied coolly.

Kira nodded with her lips pursed. "I'll keep that in mind next time I'm in the area."

"If you do decide to, don't show up looking like a Jedi," He said with a tilt of his helmet. "No one likes a Jedi there." He said crossing his arms over his chest.

She mimicked him and cocked her hip to the side before motioning to herself, she was wearing civvies, just plain black pants with tall black boots and a plain gray tunic with a blue jacket. "Do I look like a Jedi now?" She asked.

He looked her up and down before motioning to her braid. "The braid gives it away."

"Hm, and that's why you had no idea I was a Jedi earlier, huh?" She asked with a snarky looking smirk. She couldn't see his face but she could feel the glare he was giving her behind the black visor. Her smirk faded slightly when she felt Mace's presence getting closer. "You should probably head home, Fett. You're a free man now… and also my master is on his way and I think you've encountered enough Jedi for one day."

Jango chuckled to himself before holding his hand out to her, she smirked and out of instinct rather than because she meant to, she took hold of his forearm instead of his hand. Jango was surprised, there weren't many aruetiise who did that. He gave her a pat on the shoulder before releasing her.

"Akay vi urcir tug'yc, Kira." He said.

Kira just smiled not having a single idea what he'd just said to her. "Ditto." She watched him turn and head up the ramp of his ship as the door started closing. He crossed the threshold and whacked his head on the door before it shut behind him.

Kira threw her head back and laughed as he entered the cockpit and sat down before starting up his ship. Kira touched the arc of her eyebrow in a half-hearted salute not even bothering to hide the grin on her face as the starship lifted off. It was only another moment before Jango Fett was gone.

She smiled to herself just as the doors across the hangar opened, revealing Mace and Jatori. The look on Mace's face when he saw her changed from his usual grumpy frown to a look of relief. She waved half-heartedly.

"Look what the tooka cat drug in." She taunted as she met them halfway and grinned up at her master before turning her attention to Jatori. He was young, likely around her age and relatively handsome. She raised an eyebrow before putting a hand on his shoulder. "Now, have we learned our lesson about playing with the bullies on the playground?"

He smirked, obviously he thought he was the Force's gift to the galaxy. "Pretty and witty, I like it. Hey, what's your name? Want to get lunch when we get back to Coruscant? I know of a great all-inclusive spot on the highest levels of Coruscant."

Kira's mouth turned in disgust glancing at Mace as if to say Ugh gross. She turned her attention back to the boy and patted his shoulder. "You know, I think I'm a little out of your league."

"Aww," He said with a dumb grin. "It's cuz you're a Jedi, right? You're like a monk, right?"

Kira groaned loudly. "Just go before I bash you over the head." She gave him a light shove towards the doors.

Mace couldn't help but smirk and walked beside her as Jatori walked ahead. "Kira, that is not very Jedi-like."

"Yeah, well it'll also be un-jedi-like for my foot to be shoved up his a-"

"Hey, how long is the flight?" Jatori asked, turning to walk backwards. "I think I'll make lunch plans with my mates tomorrow. If you all could drop me off at the Rustic Twi'lek, that'd be great."

Mace frowned. "You'll be going straight to your father." He said. "I think your lunch plans can wait."

Jatori pursed his lips together. "Okay, maybe dinner plans then." He spun back around and continued on.

"You'd think he'd be a little…" She began. "I don't know, thankful he's alive?"

"Politicians," He said. "They're as arrogant as they are stupid."

"I couldn't agree with you more, Master."