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716 FNM (22 BBY)

Month 5

Coruscant, Mandalorian Tower

Tal Merrik

Victory had never tasted so sweet as it did at this moment, and the wine brought in from Kalevala sharpened the taste oh so delightfully. Despite the plan not entirely going as planned, the overall project is still on the path to success and bearing fruit. Although the plan for the Mandalore sector to be involved in the coming war is a bit fractious right now and my relations with Pre Vizsla are on the rocks due to our differing opinion on how things should proceed.

Pre Vizsla wanted to establish himself as the new Mand'alor and persuade the rest of the sector to join his cause, while I'm more focused on our diplomatic relations with the rising Confederacy. The Separatists were still in their infancy, so any impact there would ripple out far into the future. As an additional boon, I had Count Dooku's backing. Both Count Dooku and I share the same goal, to replace the New Mandalorian government. My original plan involved Death Watch capitalizing on a predictable Republic overreaction when we act to remove their outposts within the sector. When the Republic's inevitable hamfisted response results in yet another harsh Mandalorian occupation, Death Watch would then coordinate with the Separatists to restore independence and bring honorable Mandalorian rule to the sector. Implicit in the arrangement was that Pre Vizsla would become Mand'alor after the Separatist campaign. Once, it seemed that this plan might have succeeded.

Now, Pre Vizsla believes Satine has grown more moderate and less pacifistic, as evidenced by her latest reforms. No, she has not reformed one bit, nor has she begun to see the necessity of a strong military. Her reforms were more of a result of Satine's niece, Princess Tanya, who has been given far too much latitude and power. She is the invisible influence behind Satine's reforms, not any true change of heart or belief.

She's a crafty one, her scheme with the Ithorian terraformers required many steps; brandishing my name and title to promote her vanity project and ruffling the feathers of many traditionalist Clans, then dodging the scrutiny and letting Satine's wrath all fall unjustly on me. Remove her sway, and Mandalore would fallback to Satine's old vision. And the latest reports from Pre Vizsla contained a worrying amount of respect for Satine as an opponent rather than as an obstacle.

As it was, Pre Vizsla is many things; but he does practice what he preaches, thus he isn't as reliable as I thought he would be in the coming storm. A shame, I've known for some time that Pre Vizsla would eventually cause some problem, but now I am concerned that he wasn't as reliable as I had originally portrayed him to be to Count Dooku. Fortunately, there is always a chance that this whole situation could be turned around, which is why I hadn't informed Count Dooku about my worries nor prevented him from continuing to send small hidden shipment of arms and armored vehicles to Concordia.

More worryingly however, is that Pre-Vizsla no longer condemned Satine as the 'Anti-Mand'alor' in his usual gathering, all hush hush of course. In fact, he had abandoned his plan of an uprising in favor of a more passive, populism-centric approach. The chance of a conflict is, of course, still there; we are still Mandalorian after all. But, if there isn't one, well, I haven't yet shared the hidden supplies generously provided by Dooku; and Death Watch isn't a monolithic organization, and my own forces within it can act on their own, with or without Vizsla.

All it would take is for the Republic to invade the sector and everything would be settled in one general direction, and that would only be in my favor.

Just like this whole situation with the Princess would inevitably be settled in my favor. I was initially surprised by how deeply intertwined she had become with Senator Amidala's personal affairs, but it unexpectedly became a boon. The more involved the Princess is with this plot, the more likely she would be cleaned up with the rest of Count Dooku's loose ends. She had unwittingly chosen the rope for her own hanging.

I didn't know the particulars of Count Dooku's plan, but it was quite clear that he must be behind the assassination attempt. Sure, if he was actually being honest about his opinions on peaceful separation from the Republic, this would not make much sense. However, Count Dooku seemed to expect and want a war to happen, so why would he go out of his way to make sure that the Republic had an army to make them more of a threat?

It was quite the clever little plot, really. By assassinating Senator Amidala, Count Dooku threatened and silenced the loudest opposition to the Republic's military. If he succeeded, nothing would hold the Republic back from creating an army and then using it to start a war. The Jedi would show their true colors and the Outer Rim systems would flock to the Separatist cause from undue aggression. Any war between the two would eventually favor the Separatist over time. The industrial might and military tradition of the Rim systems would outweigh whatever the Core could send their way. Additionally, they can mass produce their armies while the Republic has to do things the old fashioned way, with flesh and blood soldiers.

And that's why, in my opinion, this is a situation that would go my way no matter what. If the Princess is getting herself involved in this chaos, there is a good chance that she would end up dead. A dead royal Mandalorian would secure my position within the Republic Senate, if things didn't go well for the Separatists. On the flip side, with how close she is to the Duchess, a war would most likely see a resurgence of the New Mandalorians ideology and crackdowns to enforce Satine's version of pacifism. In that case, the resurgent pacifism would bring Pre Vizsla back into the fold. No matter which faction prevailed, my position would be more secure, so long as she's dead.

I may not know what kind of training she had from her aunt, but no matter how good she is, training alone would not be enough to survive the coming war. There is simply no conceivable possibility that she would survive a battle against a veteran Mandalorian warlord, and I have no doubt that the former Mand'alor to be an experienced and skilled warrior to survive this long. Whatever plan she was working on to convince this former warlord to turn himself in would eventually fail and resulted in a dead princess

Reaching forward, I grabbed my glass of wine and sipped it again, enjoying the rich Kalevalian flavor in the taste. Soon I would be rid of that meddling royal and once I do, I could turn that lower section back into a private nightclub and lounge and have a bit of fun before I had to board a ship to the Separatist Parliament. That said, I should continue to stack the deck in my favor so that things flowed the way they would. There is never any harm in having, hopefully unneeded, redundancies.

I put in a request for a call to Count Dooku earlier on this day using our hidden network, one that he had arranged, to inform him of the situation. With any luck, he would step into action and intervene if necessary. The good Princess must die. Count Dooku hadn't taken the opportunity to do the deed last time, but she appeared to be a smaller threat back then; before it became apparent how large a problem she could become. I had tried to impress upon Count Dooku how problematic it would be for the Separatists if Mandalore managed to spearhead a coalition of Neutral Systems, and she is key to that outcome. If Count Dooku is as keen on this war as I thought he is, I simply only had to wait.

One fact that was a common thread across all of my plans was that any threat to Count Dooku's plans would draw his eye, and, inevitably, his ire. I am curious what he would do with that information, and as an added bonus, the more brutal the death, the more likely Duchess Satine to withdraw from her somewhat militaristic ways.

Happily, I grab my holo-communicator and make a few calls for some guard to accompany me, as well as summoning additional company to be brought up later tonight. This is a night to celebrate, and I might as well get the most out of it. I would probably break into my hidden spice stash. Some of the more exciting elements of spice I had hidden in a locker under a floor tile in the apartment below mine. Unfortunately, I'd not been able to break into it as often since Princess Tanya had taken up residence in that room. Only when she left, like she had now, and the apartment was relatively empty.

I really should have relocated my stash into my apartment as soon as I realized Princess Tanya was going to be here longer than a few months. But I had, perhaps foolishly, held onto a vain hope that she would eventually grow bored of Core politics and go back to the Mandalorian sector.

Those thoughts that were suddenly interrupted by a beep indicating a call was coming through. Curiously, I pressed the button, wondering who would be holocalling at this late hour. I was answered as the figure of Count Dooku appearing in holographic form.

"Senator Tal Merrik, good evening. I just received your information and wanted something to confirmed"

Smiling, I nodded and gave a bow before saying, "Of course my Count, what information would you like to know?"

"According to yourself, Representative Kryze has recently left Coruscant on a mission to try and discover the whereabouts of the bounty hunter by the name of Jango Fett. I want to know what information you have on their current location."

This seems to be evidence that I am going to be getting what I desired. "Unfortunately, my information on her general direction is minimal. I believe that she's probably heading to Concord Dawn, they were a major supporter of the True Mandalorians during the Clan Wars. If this warlord turned mercenary has any friends, they would be there."

Count Dooku nodded, "Good. She is looking in the wrong direction." He shook his head before continuing, "If you receive any more reports on her general directions, be sure to let me know. Having a young Representative poking around where she should not be is not in the Separatist's best interests."

I nodded my agreement, showing no outward reaction of my disappointment to Count Dooku, but it sounds like my hopes of her removal were premature. Why is Count Dooku hesitant to remove a threat to the plan unless… unless she is useful or she is part of his plan in some way already.

I didn't let that conclusion show though, but I knew that I had a problem. Something in my plans must have gone wrong, and it probably had something to do with that royal brat. Fortunately, there were options other than Count Dooku. Perhaps it is time I engage a few of them with a bit of a mutually beneficial conversation as well.

I made sure to not let my smile slip, so instead I said, "You will have all the information the moment I have anything about her location, Count Dooku."

"Wonderful. Keep up the good work, Senator, you will be rewarded in the Separatist Parliament." The troubling comm ended as abruptly as it had begun.

Sitting back in my chair, I placed down my wine glass so that I could slowly tap my fingers on the beautiful wooden desk I had in front of me. I had been generally against making moves outwardly since I started to maintain control of my seat in the Senate

But things were quickly spinning out of control and in a direction I didn't expect. Themurder of a senator last year had pushed many in the Senate to include personal guards. I even brought in my own personal guards, members of the Death Watch that were loyal to me.

As much as Pre Vizsla liked to pretend that all Death Watch members were eternally loyal to him, there were many factions and independent command structures across the vast space of the Mandalorian sector. Bringing in my own guard was a wise decision since it was increasingly obvious that the Senatorial Guard were either inept or corrupt.

So, perhaps I should trust my gut instinct and start making my own moves. Like contacting a certain mining world that had an extreme hatred for royalty and wanted to have its own way with Mandalore.

Of course, I did not want anything to do with the Workers Council of Anteevy, nor having them running the sector, but using them to get rid of my political enemies, well, that's just good politics. There is no direct line to them, though, so it would take time to arrange contact with them. And I still needed to find out where that blasted Princess was at the moment.

Not to mention, I had to contact them in such a way that would not draw notice or reveal that I was the one who had leaked her location. After all, she did have the Royal Guard with her, so there was a good chance that one of them would survive. And they would easily deduce who would have knowledge of her location. I needed to be careful about how I went about this and ensure there is no evidence of my connection to any assassination attempts.

Lancer Pursuit Craft, Ultima

Khae Morson

I'm almost completely certain that combat was not what my dad had in mind when he sent me to Coruscant. Something about 'keeping me safe from the war.'

Instead, here I am, aboard a light freighter; apparently owned by the esteemed Representative and on our way to the Outer Rim. The exact planet which was our destination had been kept somewhat of a secret between the Representative and the captain of her Royal Guard. Why were they keeping so many secrets? I wasn't sure, but that's where we're heading.

But I don't mind this one bit. Running off to have an adventure sounded more fun than posing as some lady and pretending to pay attention to various conferences and meetings in the Senate.

Right now, all I'm doing is going over our armor, cleaning it and making sure everything is fully stocked and well maintained.

Tanya was being very cagey about what this whole operation would lead to, but she'd made it quite clear that we needed to have all our equipment on the table and ready to defend ourselves. So I'm in the back of the ship sitting at a pull down table that came out of the bulkheads, cleaning and shining my brown and orange colored armor. A pair of blaster pistols sitting at one end of the table that I would need to go through and make sure we're fully cleaned as well.

The rest of the crew were off doing similar projects from what I understood. The Captain and Glasses are currently piloting the ship. Tattoos and Slicer are at the other table across from me, working on their own armor. The Royal Guard armor is not as impressive as a full Mandalorian armor, but they still get the job done.

And the Princess is in her room, I would guess cleaning her own armor. Party Girl, Muscles, and Doc are not with us as they were taking another transport back to Mandalore Sector. Apparently, Party Girl's injuries were serious enough that Tanya had ordered her to take care of herself over this operation. Frankly, I think she's being a little bit too overprotective; but apparently it's her universe, and I just live in it.

When you get down to it though, she has a rather forceful personality. Wherever she went, she seemed to have complete control of the situation, or at least gave a very good impression of one. And the way she awakened the near catatonic Arla Fett was rather impressive.

I wasn't joking when I said that she could probably be a good singer, I am one of the early fans of the Mandal Hypernautics' Warrior Girls, the spokespeople they used to get people interested in their products. And not just because of the designs for some of their armors, their songs are pretty good too; and I could easily hear Tanya singing some of them after hearing her voice.

I have to admit, over the last half a year I haven't put in the effort to get to know the girl who I was spending a lot of time with. Yeah, sure, I've learned to style my hair in a similar way to hers, made sure to wear dresses to look as formal as possible, and even learned how to do makeup so I could pose as her when required. But otherwise, I had generally never thought more about her other than that she was a prissy high-nosed Princess of Mandalore.

I'm frankly more interested in looking for news about what's happening on Gargon and the Silver Mandalorians. But Princess's willingness to put her life on the line for her friends is something I can respect. Yes, she's a pacifistic noble and she can look pretty in a dress. But she could also throw hands with the best of them and apparently have some interest in the Silvers as well, judging by our past conversations. Since we started talking more often, our conversations have improved from the awkward place that they had initially started.

Perhaps we had gotten off on the wrong foot. Maybe I should do my best to try and get to know her instead of being sort of just a third wheel along for the ride. I mean, she trusted me to come along with her while Party Girl was recovering. I should do my best to try and live up to that, especially since we do share interest in White Silver. That seems like it would be enough to start a friendship over, and who knows, maybe having connections with this Representative would eventually allow me to meet White Silver again. She is famous. They probably have to communicate sooner or later. And when they do, I'll be there to have a chance to talk to her. Who knows what else would happen? Maybe I could help those two become friends and secure the Silver Mandalorians ideal as part of the sector government policy.

It was, admittedly, a fantasy, but it's one I quite enjoyed; up there with some of the other ones I've had over the years involving White Silver since I've met her. Remembering that day left me wanting to learn more about her, and wanting to help her see her dreams come true. Especially of a peaceful but armed Mandalorian society, able to protect itself by necessity.

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard a familiar voice, "Evening Princess Morson, mind if I take this spot?"

"Of course not." I said with a smile, turning my face to look in the general direction of her voice. She had apparently come down carrying her armor and a couple of weapons.

All other details sort of faded away though as I saw the first glimpse of her, my face warming unnecessarily as I saw how the Princess was dressed.

As I said, I didn't know Princess very well. I knew that she could handle herself in a fight and that she looked good in a dress. Amongst the things I apparently didn't know was that she's quite religious in working out. Something I was getting a good eyeful of at the moment.

She is wearing her flight suit without the armor, well, sort of. The suit was on, of course, however instead of pulling it all the way up it was currently tied up around her hips with the arms of the suit as a makeshift belt.

This left me able to see the upper portion of her body rather easily. Which is made even more noticeable by the fact that she's wearing a rather light tank top. Allowing me to see a lot more skin than I think I'd ever seen of her before, and revealing that her clothing did a masterful job of hiding just how much muscle she really hid. Her arms were well toned and looked like they could dual wield blaster rifles. And the tank top did not go all the way down, exposing enough of her that I'm going to say that you could cut spice bars on her abs.

I had never seen her so… open before, though I quickly figured out why, as her hair is obviously wet and recently dyed. It's hanging straight down her back, probably going to about mid back length at this moment, and she probably didn't want to get any of the dye on her flight suits, which was a grayish green color of the light variant.

That being said, by Manda she's hot. Sure, she wasn't as large as the film version ofWhite Silver but with muscles and hips like that, she didn't need that much on the chest. It would get in the way of shooting a rifle properly.

"Wonderful." Tanya said before taking a seat across from me. She pulled up some of her green armor plates and started to clean it.

"How's your preparation for the mission going?" She asked matter of factly, seemingly not noticing my stunned expression or where my eyes were wandering.

Slightly shaking my head to get my eyes off of her, I said, "It's going well, I've almost got all my armor completely cleaned and recolored a few areas where the paint was chipping."

"Good," Tanya said matter-of-factly before continuing, "I have to do the same. I haven't worn this thing since I came to Coruscant and realized how chipped it got before we went on our little adventure a few days ago." She shook her head at that before saying, "By the way, your armor, how good is its cooling system?"

I stopped as I scrubbed a bit of dirt off one of the plates before saying, "Not exactly great. Back home, it doesn't get as warm as in Gargon city." I paused for a moment, realizing Tanya had never even visited Gargon. Awkward. "Uh, Gargon is a rather cool planet, even in the middle of summer."

"Hmm, that can be a problem. After you're done here, go over to that locker over there. I kept several extra cooling systems that you can install on your armor." She pointed to a locker at the front left corner of the cargo bay.

"Why?"

"In case the one I have breaks down." Tanya said with a shrug.

"No, I mean, why would I need a cooling system?"

"Ah," Tanya said with a nod before saying, "The planet we're going to is a hot desert world with two suns. Not exactly the best place to pass out from heat stroke. The cooling system should handle that. I believe there's a water recycler on it as well to keep you hydrated.

"Also, be sure to also coat your armor with protective is a dry desert world with frequent storms, so its sand will be electrostatically charged and stick on your armor. It will also damage any external electronics as well as vulnerable equipment, especially in the joints."

"According to an old Czerka Corporation circular, a substantial amount of the sand are ferrous metals that also interfere with scanning on any meaningful scale. It gave them some false positives on expeditions to the planet, as the shards pick up a charge as they are blown across the dune sea and turn magnetic. Of course, very fine and sharp metal fragments can often jam and scratch smaller servos. Make sure to triple check all your seals when you're done packing your armor together. We don't want to have to make a run for it and find out that our jetpacks are not working because it's jammed up with electrostatic sand."

"Of course, Ms. Kryze." I said fidgeting a bit. This is a side of her that I had never seen before. Not only is she well versed in how to care for her equipment, but is also rather authoritative in the way she told me to handle this situation. She came off as some experienced veteran who knew more than she lets on, not as some pacifist princess.

"You may call me Tanya, Miss Khae." Tanya said with a smile before a worried frown marred her face, "Are you alright? Your face seems red for some reason."

I coughed and rubbed my face before saying, "Just feeling a little bit hot tonight. I was originally working out in my room and I think I left the temperature a little bit too high."

Tanya seems to accept that with a sage nod, "Better have someone check the air conditioner unit, make sure it's working properly. And even more reason to make sure you have the cooling unit properly installed in your armor. We don't need you passing out from the heat"

"Of course, Miss Tanya." I said with a fixed smile, knowing full well that the heat in my cheeks had nothing to do with any heat in my room.

Lancer Pursuit Craft, Ratio

Vai Viktis Vizla

"Ow, ow, ow." I muttered as I breathed in a little too hard.

Only to have Skota scoff at me saying, "Stop being such a weakling."

"I'm not being weak, I have a fractured pelvis, I think."

"You think I don't know it's only bruised? I'm the one who diagnosed you, remember? Now lay back and relax on the bed."

"Okay, okay." I said, laying back as Skota performed a scan with one of her devices.

"Tanya really should have sent you back to Mandalore to get a full medical checkup instead of this bantha-shit plan." The medically inclined Royal Guard complained as she pressed an area that stung quite a bit, though I stifled signs of the pain this time.

"I think she should have just let me come along, she already cut me out of the first adventure she got herself stuck in." I muttered in annoyance as I laid there with my right arm over my forehead, giving the Medic, Thisish Skota, full access to that side of my body.

"Oh that's wonderful, so instead of this shitty plan you wanted to go with putting yourself in harm's way. Kids these days, always running into Manda damned firefights without thinking." she said, slapping my thigh with the back of her hand. Thankfully it wasn't somewhere I was hurt, but still made me flinch in surprise, causing more pain.

"I think it's a pretty good plan, I guess." I countered, which earned me a death stare. "I'll shut up now."

"I think you should, Ms. Silver." She said with a tone that said she hated this whole idea that she got to work checking me over again. Even if she hated it, she still performed her check up to the best of her ability due to her integrity as a medical professional.

Really, the injuries weren't that serious, at least as far as I was concerned. Letting the medic do her job is probably the smartest thing to do. This plan required me to do something other than just hang out in Gargon for a couple weeks to heal.

This has been a last minute addition to Tanya's plan. She told me where they were going, how they were planning to get in contact with the bounty hunter Jango Fett, and all the other little details I was keeping to myself until they needed to be known. Tanya had sworn me to be as secretive as possible for operational security. I am willing to do that for her, since at least this plan would possibly get some combat and actually do something instead of pretending to be Tanya on some wine drinking adventure to give her an alibi. Tabi and I did have some fun during that trip. Perhaps we'd have a moment to do the same here. It's not like Tanya cared about what White Silver got up to doing… probably shouldn't push it though, especially since Khae is pretty smitten with White Silver.

My job is simple. I was to go to Gargon and pose as White Silver, so that I can hire several mercenaries into a full company and to be in position to be called upon in an emergency.

AKA I'm the cavalry, the backup when things go wrong. White Silver is to charge in and save the princess in order to ingratiate White Silver into the Mandalore sector.

It is a rather neat plan, I just needed some time to get healed up and make sure I wouldn't fall over and look like a complete fake.

Thankfully, there is a Bacta treatment facility on Gargon that Tanya had X4 built a few months back. If the bacta tanks worked as advertised, I could spend a couple hours in it and I would be as good as new.

Letting out a sigh, Skota reached into a bag and pulled out a few pills. "Take one of these after every meal, it should numb the pain for now. Hopefully the Bacta tanks at Gargon will fix up everything you mess up, and we don't need to worry about anything else."

I nodded as she got up, "Also, don't put pressure on your pelvis by standing. Just because it's only a bruise now doesn't mean it can't get worse. Even after the Bacta tank will have done its job, don't go jumping around and doing flying kicks for a few weeks."

"I will, Doc." I said, trying to get as comfortable as possible on my bed.

"Also, don't even think about doing anything with your boyfriend. I don't want to state the obvious here but not only is it going to be too painful for you to enjoy, but it would only further aggravate your injury. Once we're on Gargon you will be in your best behavior as White Silver. So don't pull the same romantic scandal you two pulled last time." The last part was spelled out in a very threatening way, making it clear that I shouldn't push my luck, at least not in public. It also explains why one of the older members of the Royal Guard have been sent along with us instead of Kastel, someone's here to make sure we didn't do anything stupid like last time. Not much I could do other than actually earn my paycheck and avoid mixing business with pleasure.

Nodding my head in agreement, Skota gave me another sharp look before finally leaving me alone in my room to try and relax. After that, I reached over to pick up a glass of water and one of the pills. Time to let the pain reliever do its work.

While I may have a watchdog to make sure me and Tabi didn't misbehave, one good thing was the fact that Tabi had been allowed to come on this trip with me at all. This meant that Tanya trusted us enough to learn from our mistakes. We just need to show that we deserved that trust.

It shouldn't be that hard, the only things people knew about White Silver is that she is a keen mind, militarily capable, able to fight, and maybe a few people knew she'd kissed a princess. I still chuckle to that last bit, who would have seen that coming. Though that question is still up there about who could have been her first kiss. I had a suspicion on who it might be, but nothing concrete yet. Haven't even had the chance to talk to Tabi about it yet. Once I would though, I'm sure he'd be poking around just as much as I am. Sooner or later we'd know who had been the lucky recipient of Tanya's favor.

Kamino, Tipoca City

Jango Fett

Carefully, I brought my ship, Slave One down onto a nice landing on my personal pad in Tipoca City. It's been a week's travel from Coruscant to Kamino. In that time I had plenty of time to consider each mistake that compounded into the final result of that bad op.

The 'simple' assassination mission Zam entangled me in turned into a mess that would most likely see the Jedi poking around. Granted, I was less worried about it since I could handle a Jedi, but this situation would be harmful to my son's future if things didn't go right.

Supposably, Kamino is a planet that the Jedi were unaware of, located in Wild Space somewhere beyond the frontier of Known Space, but that didn't mean they couldn't find it, it just meant it would be harder.

As I turned off the engines and got up from my seat, I knew right away I should have Boba start prepping for an emergency exit. At bare minimum, we could sneak out of Kamino for a while and go on a little bit of an adventure. I could pass time to let the heat die down and teach the kid some more bounty hunting ropes. The business with the Senator from Naboo would be eventually swept under the rug in time.

At least the Republic would, might have a bit of a problem with the Trade Federation's former leader but, I had enough money to make that go away. And worse comes to worst, I can somewhat count on Count Dooku to have this mess cleared up.

Stepping over to my weapons rack, I started to put a few of the excess weapons back in place against the wall, only stopping when I remembered that one of my pistols is missing. It had been a rather impressive feat the girl had pulled there. Although I would have to let a lot of what just happened over the last week fade into the past, stealing another man's gun is a little bit unforgivable.

If she's smart, she would shut up about it and I might even be convinced to let her keep it. But knowing how some Mandalorians would be, they are more likely to start talking up a storm about how she took the great Jango Fett's pistol right out of his side. Which means having to hunt her down to take it back.

Though I do need to figure out what exactly I had stepped into. Why were three Mandalorian girls working with the Jedi to protect the Naboo Senator? And to top it off, why did the Mandalorian Royal Guards even show up is even more of a mystery. A mystery I may have to solve before I make any more moves.

Sighing, I shook my head before stepping down the ramp, from the relative safety of my ship into the rain. As soon as I stepped in the building, I noticed Taun We standing by the door.

"Welcome back Jango Fett, I hope your trip was fruitful." The Kaminoan said with a slight nod of her head.

"It was alright." I said. I walked by her, giving her a nod in return. "Things could have gone better but nothing to worry about. How's Boba?"

Stepping a few feet after me she said, "Boba is fine. His lessons are going well. He's currently on break."

I nodded before saying, "Well, that's good."

She continued by saying, "Also, Kal Skirata wants to have a conversation with you about some of the training regimes that we have been implementing. He believes there is a way to improve team cohesion."

I nodded before saying, "I'll probably get around to talking to him about it. Anything else I need to know about?" I said as we continued our walk down the hall that would lead me to my quarters.

"Nothing too major, Mr. Fett. The labs would like you to make an appointment for another sample drawing. You are due for another Biennial drawing as stated in your contract, thus might as well do it while you are here."

I nodded resignedly to that, "Tell them I'll be around a little later. Just got some things to handle first. I might be going on a trip later so I'll get it done before I head out."

"Excellent." Ms. Taun We said before she stopped and said, "This is where we part ways. Have a good evening, Mr. Fett."

"You too." I said with a nod before walking over to a door and pressing a button to open my quarters that my son and I shared.

Boba is sitting near the window, reading one of the many books I brought to Kamino over the years. It's the newer version of White Silver's manifesto, but by the way he was studying it, I didn't think it was that enjoyable. Hanging up my holster on a hook, I walked over to where he was and said, "Good to see you're enjoying works of literature, Boba."

He nodded, looking a bit nervous, "Yeah, just catching up on White Silver's recent thoughts on the state of the galaxy."

"Some pretty good thoughts in my opinion." I said absent-mindedly. If anything, I think she was dead on for what was going to happen sooner or later. She just wasn't aware of the Clone army aspect that would probably throw whatever timetable they were working with out the window. That being said, I shook my head before putting my finger on the edge of the book and pushing it down, revealing that he was actually looking at one of the more recent Mandal Hypernautics ship magazines, the physical collectable kind that had those idol girls they were using to sell their ships in.

"Uh, I was multitasking. Reading the manifesto while also learning about the new ships that are being built." Boba said. If it was against anyone else, it would sound rather believable. Unfortunately for Boba, it's much more fun to believe that he is merely enjoying the pretty girls.

I chuckled at this sight before reaching over and scruffing his hair, "Whatever you say, kid. Just be sure to lock the room when you need some alone time, alright?" I said before reaching into my satchel and pulling out a hollow disc. "By the way, since you are so busy multitasking, I guess you won't want to get the newest songs from the Gargon Girls now would you?"

The way his eyes opened wide answers that question, though he quickly built his composure and said, "I could wait." It's respectful that he's at least putting his studies somewhat first as he slipped the magazine out of the book and actually started reading it more closely.

I laughed a bit as I walked over to my bedroom and started pulling off my armor.

He's a good kid, but still a kid nonetheless. The Gargon Girls had become a bit of a popular thing here on Kamino even amongst some of the older hands working as trainers.

One thing I could say about White Silver is that she tended to have her fingers in a lot of pots, and I probably ate from a lot of those pots that she probably didn't even know about. What I'd gathered is that at least a quarter of the clones were fans of the Gargon Girls, and a few requests have been asked to put up a few pinup shots on the sides of the LAAT. So far the Kaminoans had said no, but I figured the moment the Clone Army went into action that would change rather quickly.

Soldiers in the field had a lot more wiggle room than the cloner here on Kamino. Nonetheless, Kaminoans are such perfectionists that they didn't like any signs of individuality amongst their clones.

After I finished pulling off my armor, I stepped back into the main area and said, "So Boba, how about we go hunting with me for a bit?"

He immediately looked up from the book and said, "That would be wizard, dad."

I smiled at how easy it was to get him to agree to that. To be fair, he spent most of his life here on Kamino, he deserves to get out once in a while. Taking a seat across from him I said, "We might be out for a couple months this time."

"Did something go wrong, dad?" he asked, picking up telltale clues that obviously clued him in to my dissatisfaction with the bad operation I had just been on.

I sighed before saying, "Yeah, last night went bad. Took a contract I really shouldn't have, and it'll take a bit to get it settled so the employer doesn't get too annoyed with us, but it should be easy enough to handle. So I'll be going around and moving for a bit while I get the money transferred."

Chuckling, I said, "Maybe we'll visit Gargon along the way." Noticing his eyes go wide, I grinned as he tried to find some way to act cool without letting it slip that he would love that.

Carrying on with that conversation, though, "Anyway, we just got to stay below the scanners for a while. I'm going to need you to start packing up in case we decide to pull out of here sooner than I'm expecting."

"Someone a threat to us?" He asked with a serious tone. Good, barely any hesitation before reaching the correct conclusion.

"Always. In this galaxy there's always a bigger predator." I said matter of factly before continuing with, "This one might be serious enough that we need more than a blaster fire to solve it.."

The one good thing I have is Boba. He's a good kid and making people believe that he's just an ordinary kid. He'd already killed a few people on a couple hunts I'd taken him on. One particularly bad one included some backstabbing bounty hunters and attempts to take him hostage. They assumed he's untrained and didn't know how to get a handle on a situation and fight.

They assumed wrongly.

Boba nodded his head before saying, "Alright."

Before getting up myself, I said, "I'll prepare an emergency pack and get everything ready."

"We'll be coming back here, right?"

I shrugged before saying, "I would think so. Still, just in case it doesn't work out, don't leave anything that you can't live without, got it?"

He nodded and went to work and I started packing.

The Galactic Civil War or whatever it would end up being called, is coming closer and there is always the potential that things would hit the fan while we're on the move.

And if they did, well there are options, mainly Count Dooku. I was already contracted to work with them as a general in the offhand chance that the war broke out. No doubt I would be called up to lead some Droid army somewhere. As long as it wasn't Mandalore I was okay with it.

Dooku specifically asked if I was willing to lead an army in Mandalore once or twice and I always gave him the same answer. I was done with the sector, my life didn't need to be drawn into that mess ever again.

But if he wanted me to lead some armies somewhere else, I would be more than willing to lend a bit of my gunslinger ways as well as a bit of training.. Besides, ordering droids seemed like the easiest job in the galaxy. After all, money is money, and I could always use that money to make sure that Boba and I were well taken care of..

That. and the love of the hunt are the main driving factors that kept me fighting and bounty hunting. The chance to make money to secure my future and the chance to have a little fun. I'd come a long way from the farm kid living off the land on Concord Dawn andI had a lot more things I needed to take care of.

I do sometimes wonder what my life would have been like had the Mandalorian Civil War never happened. Probably still be on that pile of dirt growing crops or on a piece of land next to it, living the peaceful life of a farmer. Some part of me doubted that, considering how much fun I have when I do bounty hunting. I wondered if I would have eventually gone into that field of work.

It's a thorny question, but one that would never have a true answer. Shaking my head, I got up from my seat. I was about to start doing my own packing when there's a beep from my communicator.

Unusual, not many people use that line and most of them are dead. Cautiously, I walked over to the communicator and pressed the button to activate it. A moment later an unfamiliar face appeared, a visage that could barely fit into the holo emitter's field of view. A Hutt I was not familiar with, in a Coruscanti suit by the looks of it. "Hello, hello? Is this Jango Fett?"

"Depends. Who's calling and why?" I said, folding my arms over my chest.

All that got out of him was a chuckle before he said, "Well, well, well Mr. Fett, I am shocked and amazed that my reputation doesn't precede me. I am Ziro, Lord of the Hutt clan on seven systems. However, today I am merely speaking to you on behalf of the Bounty Hunter Association." That was odd, while it isn't far from unusual for a Hutt to be involved in the Association, they rarely got involved in the day to day business. Even for a small time Hutt like this.

I raised my eyebrow at that but said, "I paid my dues. Why am I being contacted? Did it come in late?"

"No, no, they came in." Ziro waved a hand dismissively, glancing off to the left side, presumably at a hidden screen. "Perfectly on time, I see. No, I'm contacting you for another matter. We've had a job sent to us. A personal request to you, in fact."

"Hmm, must be somebody that either doesn't know the system very well or has a lot of money." I said matter of factly.

"I believe it's both. They want you to assassinate a person for them. I was asked to make sure that the contract was given to you, specifically." Bribed most likely.

Oh great, another assassination, something I really didn't need after the last failed one. But I might as well hear it out. Perhaps this one would be ten times easier and enough money to go into hiding a little easier as well.

"Alright, might as well hear what the details are. I'll let you know if I'm interested."

Ziro nodded his head before saying, "The employer wishes you to assassinate one Arla Fett and they wish to personally meet you to share sensitive information for the Association. I have directed them to Tatooine for your privacy, they must have known about your sterling reputation." The Hutt giggled and took a long drag from a hookah at its side.

Narrowing my eyes and in a lowered voice I said, "Come again?"

"The employer on Tatooine wishes you to assassinate someone going by the name of Arla Fett." The Hutt glanced off to the left again. "Huh, that's odd, isn't that your last name?" The slug said with a smirk.

'Not very bright is he?' I thought before saying, "What details can you give me on this Arla Fett?"

Ziro shrugged and shook his head before saying, "Not much, female Mandalorian, late 40s, and apparently was working as an assassin before being imprisoned for many years."

I leaned in the back and thought about what I was hearing, someone had ordered a hit on a woman with the same name as my sister, which was incredibly unlikely. Much more likely was that someone was trying to lay a trap for me and get me to investigate. Why else would someone try to hunt my dead sister?

The trap part made the most sense, except when I thought about it, I realized that no one should know about my dead sister. It has been three decades after her death and Concord Dawn was not known for its bureaucratic traditions, there should be no record of us. I tried to visit once and was informed that I needed a visa. There were no records there except my word that I came from the planet. I eventually resolved that confusion to my satisfaction, but if I had problems there is no way that my sister didn't have the same problem.

Which meant the only people in the world who should know about my sister's existence are either me and those who had long since passed into the Manda. The people who have met her personally.

So as bait goes, it's a rather tempting one.

"Is this Arla Fett on Tatooine?" I played along, trying to get more details on the situation.

"No. Your employer or potential employer is on Tatooine, the town of Mon Eisley, with information for you about Arla Fett. Don't worry, the meeting is sponsored by my dear nephew, you will be considered a guest." Being a guest of a Hutt meant to be a guarantee of protection during meetings, in reality the protection is tenuous and it's not like anyone held the Hutts accountable all that often. Hell, in some cases that protection did not even extend to the Hutts or even Hutt forces actually being present, but on putting a bounty on parties that violated the agreement after the fact. Of course, that was dependent on the claim of sponsorship being true. There was no real way to verify that Ziro was telling the truth without contacting Jabba, and that was difficult under the best of circumstances.

"Interesting." I muttered, taking note that whoever this was wanted to meet at one of the less reputable places in the galaxy. Perfect place for an ambush or perfect place for someone who doesn't want information of what they're doing to get back to someone in power. It was not like a Hutt could not be bribed to neglect the so-called guest status of a person. Tatooine is not exactly a stable place at the best of times, but you could count on secrets to be kept there if you're careful enough.

As much as I'd like to think this over more, I already made my decision. "Alright, contact this employer and tell them that Jango Fett is interested in this contract."

"Will do, Mr. Fett. Have a nice day, I'll have the information sent to you later." The Slug said before nodding and ending the call.

Shaking my head, I tried to puzzle my way through what was before me. Who would be using Arla's name now, and why were they trying to contact me? There really should only be me and maybe my family that know that name, and my family is dead. Unless, maybe I mentioned it to some members of the True Mandalorians over the years? It was possible, but why would they be trying to contact me?

There is a possibility that maybe there might actually be a bounty on Arla, and she had survived after all these years in secret somewhere. I figured she would have contacted me though… Maybe. Hmm, this is a bit too mysterious and most likely a trap of some kind, but springing a trap I know about is something I had escaped plenty of times before. At the bare minimum, I need to know the root of this ruse.

If they were trying to get to me, this would be their last mistake. If it turned out that they did have some information on the whereabouts of someone by the name of Arla? Well I would take that information and find out for myself if this woman is truly my sister or some just random woman that coincidentally has the name and take the bounty.

It's a big galaxy, it isn't impossible that someone had the exact same name. Although, I wouldn't know if I had run into another Fett my entire life.

Shaking my head I moved over to the doorway into Boba's bedroom and said, "Start packing up now, we got ourselves a job we can do. Make sure to carry your holdout pistol."

I saw the lights pop up in Boba's eyes as he said, "Yes, Father." He got right back to work, stuffing a bag full of equipment gear as well as what looked like a few Mandal Hypernautics magazines.

I chuckled at that before moving on to my own room and continued packing my own equipment together. Then I'd pay their lab a visit and give some blood just so they had a more recent sample of DNA for their cloning projects.

Kamino, Tipoca City

Obi-Wan Kenobi

'It is cold.' The rain was falling at an unusually constant rate on this planet and I regretted not taking an offer to use a conference room inside the city after witnessing what I had just seen. Unfortunately, this is a Jedi business, and that means that it does need to be kept as secure and private as possible.

Turning to the droid in my fighter craft I said, "R4, scramble code five to Coruscant, care of the Old Folks' Home."

The unit beeps happily and extends a satellite dish. After a few moments, R4 establishes a connection to Jedi Master Yoda and Master Mace Windu.

"Master Kenobi, what news do you bring us?" Master Windu asked as he sat there impatiently.

"I have tracked down the planet of Kamino, the location where the dart was constructed. I successfully made contact with their Prime Minister and was able to ask him some questions. I have confirmed that Jango Fett is a resident of this planet. He is contracted to be used as the DNA sample for the construction of a Clone Army."

The look of shock is visible across Master Windu's face, though Master Yoda merely narrowed his eyes.

"Are these cloners aware that they've hired an assassin? Are they involved in this?" He said, trying to clarify something I have been trying to figure out this entire time.

"I don't think so, no. They don't have an obvious motive for why they would want to…" I stopped mid-thought as a couple things began to come together, nothing that could be considered proof... Shaking it off I said, "There's no obvious motive, but there are minor interests. Like the fact that they are producing a Clone army for the Republic, apparently."

"Do not assume anything, Obi-Wan." Windu stated, with a warning tone.

"Clear, your mind must be..."

Once Grandmaster Yoda imparted me with his wisdom, I continued with my report, "They say Master Sifo-Dyas placed an order for a Clone Army at the request of the senate almost ten years ago." The pair shared a look. Although it probably meant something significant, so I continued, "I was under the impression he was killed before that. Was I wrong with this assumption?" It was not impossible that a Jedi master would be sent on a covert mission to do something like this.

"Did the Council ever authorize the creation of a Clone Army?" I finally asked.

Master Windu was the one to answer, "No. Whoever placed that order did not have the authorization of the Jedi Council. " He shook his head, which put me at ease to some extent.

Master Yoda followed up with, "Bring him here. Question him, we will." Windu nodded in agreement.

I winced, then tried to figure out how I was going to say this, "Unfortunately, Jango Fett isn't available. From what I was able to learn, he left just a day ago, before my arrival."

"Did he leave any information of where he was going?" Master Windu asked.

I shook my head before saying, "None, he already gave enough of a sample of his DNA to last for the next two years, so as far as the cloner's are concerned he can be gone for another two years."

"Unfortunate. Cold, this trail seems to have turned." Master Yoda said with a shake of his head.

"Maybe not that cold." Master Windu said, as he seemed to be thinking something over. He finally said, "I have been going through the records of Jedi's dealings of the last twenty years with the Mandalore sector, ever since you secured the name Jango Fett from the Representative of Mandalore."

"This is not the first time we have had dealings with this Jango Fett. During the Mandalorian Civil War, apparently, a group of Jedi had a run-in with him that led to him being defeated and handed over to the local authorities."

"Interesting, that is." Yoda said before asking, "Though what lead does this give us?"

Master Windu continued, "I looked into the Jedi who were involved in that and one of them is a rather familiar name, one who now goes by Count Dooku."

My eyebrow raised in surprise, hat was the first real evidence of a connection between the assassination attempt and Count Dooku we have found, though admittedly a very tenuous one.

"Connection, there is, between the two." Yoda said, tapping his chin before adding, "A connection we must pursue." Turning back to me, "Count Dooku was the Master of Qui-Gon Jinn. Being that you are the apprentice of Qui-Gon, perhaps if you reached out and contacted him, willing to talk with you, he would be. Willing to contact him, are you? To learn of this attempted assassination? Be it proof that he is behind it or evidence that he is not, that is one more corridor that could be closed."

"Of course Masters, I will look into this matter. May the Force be with you."

"And with you Master Kenobi, may the Force be you as well." Master Yoda said, giving a nod.

"We will continue to look into what avenues we can here, good luck." Said Master Windu before ending the transmission.

Shaking my head at the web I had uncovered, "R4, put out a standard message to the last known location of Count Dooku. Tell him that I would like to have a meeting with him and would like to know where I can go to talk to him."

There were a couple beeps before R4's satellite dish moved around to point at some communication relay or another.

It would take time for the message to reach the Count, but it would reach him eventually.

Shaking off a little bit of the rain, I moved over to the cockpit and opened it so I could sit down inside to get out of the rain.

After I closed the cockpit, I didn't take off from the platform just yet, as I didn't know where I was going. Instead, I sat back and pondered the matter at hand.

Why was this bounty hunter involved in the situation? Did he do it for the pay? I suspect assassinating a Senator would be very expensive. He is also apparently involved in the creation of this army for the Republic. He might have a vested interest in this army or is there more to this than I was led to believe?

Is it possible that Count Dooku had orchestrated this all on his own in an attempt to have an army ready to be sold to the Republic when the war came, or are there other factions at play that I am unaware of?

The involvement of Count Dooku is unexpected to say the least and the name Sifo-Dyas didn't come up very often nowadays. As far as I'm aware, Dyas and Dooku were old friends. Could they have been in this together? It's well known among the Order that Dyas had a bit of an issue where he believed that the Dark Side was coming. Count Dooku had left the Jedi Order around the same time as this army's creation, claiming that the Order had made a foolhardy assumption that the Sith had been destroyed on Naboo. I don't know about that, the Sith warrior I had fought was quite skilled, but could it be possible that he had not been the Master and is instead the Apprentice? I guess, but building an army to fight the Sith seems foolish and counterproductive.

And they are meant to fight for the Republic? Of course, I suppose it's possible that this is a lie. Until the Naboo incident a decade ago, the Separatists had not even been an idea on the galactic horizon, so claiming that they were being built for a Separatist movement wouldn't have really attracted the capital investment necessary for their construction.

If this army was actually meant to attack the Republic though, that could be a problem. I would have to send a further note of my thoughts along once I was en-route to wherever Count Dooku can meet. I think I would let the Council make up its mind and what they were going to do about this situation.

As it stood, things were a lot more complex than simply a lone assassin trying to kill a Senator of Naboo. From personal experience, this is starting to look like someone is trying to start a war, and who would benefit from trying to start a war?

That is probably the crux of the question, who would benefit the most from this situation. ' I hate politics.' I thought. I did not want to think about who would go out of their way to start so much pain and misery. Perhaps a sign of many headaches to come.