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Offshore Job	By : dschinny Category: Star Wars (All) > General Views: 3310 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Star Wars movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Chapter 2.4 – Alternative Point of View (Evening 27, 2120)
Tomoe went down the corridor, pondering the rights and wrongs that had been turned over – was she really working for somebody as amoral as Ko Sai? ‘How do I know this is real?’ She felt so tired. ‘Maybe it’s all an illusion. Maybe the next moment, this world will shatter and I’ll wake in a better place.’ She thought and listened inwardly for Moro’s voice, but there was only silence.
She became aware that she carved Jango. In a moment, he would smile at her and embrace her, so solid and real. She would bask in his unquestioning, forceful attention.
Tomoe turned on the door of the Fetts’ quarter, about touch the buzzer as she read another name on the sign. Was she really that beside herself that she couldn’t find the way from her own room to Jangos anymore? She was certain she had counted the crossings in this white and black labyrinth correctly. Scolding herself, she made her way back and flipped her comlink open, but strangely, it couldn’t even spot her own location. Should she call? She would have preferred to avoid such an embarrassment.
At least there was a crossing known to her down the corridor. She turned back in confusion …and then suddenly the wall came down.
The comlink was knocked from her hand and Tomoe barely managed to dodge the panel as its upper edge slammed into the opposite wall with a thud, forming a diagonal axis within the tunnel. Something screeched over the panel from the other side. Scrambling backwards, a huge claw came into view and something green and scaly slithered out of the gap that had once been a regular crossing. Tomoe drew her long sword vertically in the surroundings that had suddenly caved in on her. With a backhand slash she cut deeply into its clawed paw that lashed out at her the same instant, shredding her chest plate.
Jumping backwards in stumbling retreat Tomoe twisted her sword into another backhand slash in the hope to cut something or to at least keep her blade between herself and the beast. That it hissed in agony didn’t keep its other paw from leveling a blaster and pulling the trigger!
There had been death-silence inside of her before, now it suddenly felt as if Moro’s full weight pressed on her neck and shoulder. “…THERE!”
Tomoe sunk forwards; her left palm on the sword’s pommel drove the blade into a desperate forwards trust with a deep, inhuman growl. It impaled right underneath the edge of the belly plate the beast was wearing, cutting through canvas and thick scales. Her knees cracked onto the corridor floor and for the blink of an eye, the black shadow of a predator wavered around the small woman. The firing blaster had exploded into shards. A layer of white dewed on broken surfaces immediately. Whatever struck them, the pieces were still breathing ice.
The tall bipedal reptilian humanoid took hold of the blade with its unwounded claw that had held the blaster and tore it from her grip as it stumbled past her. Like in trance, Tomoe noted that her sleeve was burning. The beast started to pull the sword from its belly, with an expression that could be described as… calculating?
This wasn’t predatory local wildlife but a sentient being wearing weapons and armor …and it just wouldn’t die.
The corridor behind her blocked by the still stumbling beast, Tomoe made a runner over the panel empty-handed. Her feet were slipping off the slanted surface on something that could have been blood. He footing lost, she scrambled into the branch of the crossing that had been modified into a hide-out by inserting an excess panel. It went out onto an empty landing platform. In some distance sat the Slave I on another pad, out of reach and mocking her how disoriented she had been.
‘Where were you?’ her mind was reeling - ‘Stop it mom, you make it harder for me to find you and to stay with you.’ Moro’s voice started to fade again. - “You’re here?” Tomoe wasn’t aware that she was screaming – ‘I’m here.’ Moro’s soothing growl filled her head as she stumbled out into the pouring rain.
As the elder spirit made her presence known to her, Tomoe’s mother’s instinct boiled high and gave her resolve. She would defend her young against just anything. At the same time she was still aware that she was out on a platform with nowhere to go, her comlink lost and the enemy pushing after her, one hand to keep its guts in its belly, the other wielding her own sword against her.
Tomoe redirected her attention on the outward enemy “What do you want?” she yelled at it through the pouring rain.
“Taking care of a problem here.” The Trandoshan mercenary planned to retrieve his jagannath points to appease the Trandoshan god since he lost everything to Fett… who had in turn lost the points to this little human female who had subdued Fett and put him into bacta.
“The problem has been solved, Jango Fett took me back in, I am your colleague!” Tomoe held up her bare hands since her knife was unlikely to do more damage than the sword which had failed her. “Just call him, I won’t attack you in the mean time.” She called for a truce and wished for her naginata to make a difference.
“No.” That his former leader had allowed her back inside against the rules of the Cuy’val Dar just proved that Fett was acting submissive to this female and his points were under her belt. It had crossed his mind that their leader could not smell with his human nose that his nest in this woman’s womb had been contaminated by another predator - He could. It would be in his leader’s favor as well to purge the bad eggs.
“Stand down. Your leader and Mandalor forbids you to kill me. I’m pregnant with his offspring!” She was sure he heard her; nevertheless this inhuman menace was still coming at her.
“No.” He would slice her open - therefore retrieve his jagannath points - skin her and hand the pelt and bad eggs to his leader as a present. That would put things right for them both and everything would go back to normal around Tipoca. If he died from the wound he had received, he would step in front of his god with his full lives earnings under his belt, maybe even more. The wielder of such an honorable, archaic weapon had certainly earned some for him to take when he killed her.
“C’mon, Mom, he’s a complete nutter. Let’s go for a swim.” Moro concluded and nudged her over the railing.
Tomoe fell.
The Trandoshan mercenary leaped over the remaining expanse of the platform and resigned to throwing the sword after his adversary with a frustrated hiss. The small female and the blade impaled the water at the almost the same moment. That his prey was a seeking coward’s death in the icy water instead of an honorable death by his hand …just added to Oost’s streak of bad luck. He would have preferred the clarity of a straight kill and a dead body. The cold was creeping into his hematocryal body as he retrieved his binoculars. His kill would buoy somewhere in the surge between the stilts. He would get at least the visuals before the pelt was smashed beyond recognition.

Shooting through the black water’s surface with a stream of bubbles on her trail, Tomoe caught the sword by the handle and sheathed it. She used the momentum of the ten-meter-drop to sink out of sight and the blaster range of the hunter on the platform. Then she swam in the rough direction of the center of Tipoca stilt city. A drift helped her to cover more than two hundred meters, but made it dangerous to maneuver between the stilts standing in the offshore breakwater. Threading water, Tomoe decided to ditch the bulky chest armor. It was torn up beyond repair and would just get into the way when she climbed. Like any man-made building in the water, the stilts had maintenance interfaces. Swimming with the drift, she pulled up into the backwater of a stilt. In the gloom coming from pulpits above, she probed the interface hatch open with the set Jango had provided her.
It was a dark, cool and moist place, a ladder leading up to the first corridor level of the city above her head. Tomoe plopped down against the rungs with her back, wiping the salty water from her face. “I forgot... only for a moment.” She realized, slipping her palm underneath her drenched tunic to touch her belly. “I just need a moment.”
Don’t worry, in a few months, when my sister and I have gathered more matter, you won’t forget as easily. Stick to what’s right and despise what’s wrong. Such are the rules for the living.
“Such as?”
The laws of physique. Gravity, for example.
“But you are bending them all the time.”
An insight that comes from a different vantage point.
“And if I learn more?”
You’d still be human while I’m immortal. Strange things happen to humans who try to bend the rules. They become unreasonable because of what they can do and then they make mistakes because they lack the overview. In the end, they purge each other.
“How do you know you’re not doing the wrong thing?”
Believe me, most things I do are of no consequence, just for fun. Whenever I made a mistake, you would notice.
“Fun?!”
It’s nothing but the right to live while you can. You lose your life without doing your best in the here-and-know, you think you’ll automatically have a better next time? Or that something will force you to stick with the failure you have been for another lifetime? No, mom. Live is change. You adjust well to your surroundings, you live and learn and procreate. Once you lose your coherence, what you have been will sustain life as well. Such is the immortality of matter… Just stick with dad. He knows what’s real, firmly tied to the here-and-now as he is.
Why was I hard to find?
You were losing your coherence.
You mean... I was about to dissolve… like mist?
You were about to be killed, mom, plain and simple. Remember who you are and where you wanna go – always.
I understand killing, but nothing happened in the end. Why does it make a difference for you if I don’t... know what to do?
Then you become one of infinite, faceless possibilities and even I can’t tell which one will materialize when future becomes present.
Would there are alternatives? If possibilities are connected paths, could you get me there? Change everything?
...and steal your choice so you become a shadow of your better self? No! It is: do it or do not. There is no trying.

In the meantime, Jango stood at the picture window of his family’s quarters again. He was not just entertaining a fantasy, he had her word that she would come to him tonight. He had showered and shed his armor in favor of fatigues she would be comfortable with. He had to be patient. He was expected to be patient, therefore he acted patient despite the need that smoldered in his gut. He waited. Lights-out passed. She was late. It wasn’t her fashion to be late. There had to be a problem, an accident, somebody pressing other affairs on her? She expected him to let her solve her own problems, pull her weight around Tipoca. He had to respect that.
He would just give her a call. Her comlink was unavailable?! He couldn’t have located her by the device since Rav secured it, but it was still strange. He went to the data panel in his room to check the com-status of the facility. Once the computer processed his demand to cycle through the bandwidth of comlink frequencies, the comlink became available again for no palpable reason, but she didn’t pick up. Very strange.
Starting at her last known position, he had a look at the security cam of the sergeants training room. Activity was low as usual for the time. Sergeants rose as early as anybody else in Tipoca. Tomoe wasn’t there, neither was Rav, Isabet or …Dred. He remembered that Tomoe had agreed to do a massage …on Dred of all people. Fett was aware of Priest’s temper but expected Isabet to take care of that aspect – or was it the other way round? If something happened in the training room, those two would be up to date. He called Isabet. She didn’t pick up either. Since calling Dred collided somewhat with his pride, Jango decided to try it with Rav first. She had been protective of Tomoe from the start and she was reliable – usually.
‘Isn’t anybody there?!’ He let it ring. His frustration boiled past his first level of resolve to provide his cyar’ika privacy, he feed the security panel Tomoe’s picture and started an automated search all over the massive amount of input the security cams provided. Then Rav picked up.
“Been under the shower, sorry.” – “I’m looking for Tomoe.” – “We left the sergeants training room together then split for our quarters… about half’n’hour ago.” Jango huffed. Thankfully, she avoided to question why he had called. Silence stretched. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” Rav’s voice sounded clipped. It would be useless to tell her leader to knock it off. His famous safety awareness had long crossed the border to paranoid when it came to his mate. Jango felt out of words “…she doesn’t answer her comlink.” – “Jango… she doesn’t have to, it’s her downtime. Not trying to press her again, are you?” – “No, just trying to find her.”
Her knowledge about Fett’s far greater possibilities to find anybody in the facility made Rav reconsider. Maybe the girl was stuck somewhere indeed. “Just let me arm up. I’ll help.”
He checked the crono. He had been looking for her since 20 minutes. He let five more minutes click by in which the computer failed to find her. Then he raised the alarm level a notch, issued a search warrant to Rav, Kal, Vau, Gilmar, Wards, Isabet and Dred… and then he decided to give Dred a private call.
Priest picked up at once. “Yes, I got that,” He chuckled and flipped the warrant close on his HUD “Believe it or not, your girl just popped up on me, dripping wet,” he chuckled and decided that Tomoe wasn’t a treat to him. He hooked the PEP-laser to his webbing and hauled her up from the maintenance opening by the back of her collar. She weighted as much as Isabet out of armor, but considering the water dripping from her pants and tunic, there was still some dead weight to deduct. She was shaking so badly, he held her up against him anyway.
“How so?” Aware of the deeply sexual quality in the other man’s voice, Jango’s voice became pure ice.
“Looks like Ms. Harada took a swim around the stilts, Sir... shall I ask?” – “Yes, and ask her about her comlink, too.” – “She says she lost it at the branch to landing platform nine when she was ambushed by a beast with a blaster... A giant green reptilian wearing armor.” Dred passed on the information faithfully.
That could only be Oost, their Trandoshan camouflage specialist skulking around. He put out an arrest warrant to Vau only within a blink, dead or alive. The Trandoshan was a tough fighter and he could be hard to find. Mird’s refined senses would help to avoid casualties.
“Is Tomoe alright?” – “She says yes, Sir, just cold and bruised, I’d add” The girl in his arm was still all wide eyed shock and disbelief, convinced that he wouldn’t believe a word of her report. In fact, he did… and the expression of surprise and hope that spread over her face was sweeter than chocolate to him. Dred clicked his tongue. He had to let her stand on her own anyway. She wasn’t his to take, there was a Trandoshan on the warpath and he had left his most lethal equipment at home for tonight’s particular mission. The PEP-laser alone wouldn’t flatten the Trando for more than a few seconds.
Jango set his jaw as Vau rang him up the next instant. “I wondered when you would ask,” Walon’s baritone drawled. Somehow, everybody had fun but him?! At least, his war-machine was running smoothly again. He put the call into conference mode as Vau continued to report, “Got Oost in the crosshairs on landing platform nine. Doesn’t look like he’s going to make a runner. He’s bleeding profoundly from a stab wound in his belly and a slash on his arm. His reptilian body temperature has dropped below fighting level already. Curiously, he’s not going inside, but searching something in the water underneath the platform.”
“Where are you?” – “On my balcony, without jetpack. Shall I send Mird for take down?” – “Stay put.”
“Need a hand to put Oost in a holding cell?” Dred offered politely.
“No, Gilamar, Wards: detain Oost, patch him up for questioning. Priest stays with Harada - keep her safe and kindly escort her to my quarters. Skirata: secure evidence on the corridor to landing platform nine and elsewhere. Check the security and coms-protocol, I think we had a scrambler somewhere. Use Davin and the Nulls to get to the bottom of this plot. Vau: prepare a court-martial in the sergeants training room at midnight. You’ll prosecute based on Skirata’s evidence. Make it public. Wards: would you please step up as Oost’s defensive counsel?” The historian acknowledged and everybody went to work.
Jango switched to private channel “Rav: find Isabet, will you?” Standing up from the bank of monitor, he armoured up. There was work to do.

On guard and silent for once, Dred escorted Tomoe to Fett’s quarters. Jango opened. Despite the late hour, he was wearing full armor “Come inside,” he stepped aside to let her pass, his voice low and intimidating. Tomoe felt that this wasn’t just the speaker of his helmet. Didn’t he know how much she needed his solid embrace, or at least a smile? She stepped up to him. He caught her by the shoulder, holding her at arm’s length. “You are freezing. Go shower, warm up. Leave your weapons and clothing on the cabinet, they have evidence on them. Skirata might want to pick that up.”
“But…” Tomoe was speechless for a moment. Didn’t he realize she had almost been killed? His clipped tone made the whole scene a bad reminder “…but that’s my only set of clothing here?” – “Plenty of fatigues in my locker.” – No way she was going back to that! “I’ll just go and get a set from my place,” she tried to turn back to the door, he increased the pressure on her shoulder– “No. You are restricted to my quarters until the court martial.” Tomoe just stared at him, blankly. “Now shower,” he commanded and she went past him without another word.
Fett turned back to the door, where Priest had witnessed the argument, “Thanks.” But instead of leaving, Priest was stepping from one leg on the other. “Anything else?”
”About that com-problem… ahh… that could have been us. Isabet and I blew off some steam. It was just a small sector for like ten minutes.” Priest realized that he was babbling - “And?” – “I’d rather not discuss this in court.” – “The com-protocols are handled by Skirata and the Nulls.” Fett informed Priest. He would be the judge in this court-martial. Was Priest asking him to do away with evidence in his favor?
“It’s nothing… just don’t want you to be sidetracked on this case if Skirata’s recce turns up as much of a trace of tampering.” Of course he was on top of his profession, Fett wouldn’t have to take anything out of the security protocol for him – “Anything else I should know?” - “I looped the surveillance of the mess hall for an hour. Some of the footage wouldn’t have been kids-safe.” – “I’m sure Skirata would feel with you and thank you sin.cer.ely if he knew.” – “Thanks, Sir.” – “Dismissed.”
By then, Priest was in a hurry to gain some distance to his commanding officer and retrieve his bypass from the data core. If Isabet didn’t manage to get dressed so far, now that would be her bad luck.

Meanwhile, Gilamar and Llats treaded their way through the messed up crossing carefully, blaster’s ready, covering each other fluently as they walked closely to the corridor wall. Quick check – Oost was still hovering on the landing pad. “Going in,” they informed Vau over close-range com. The sliding door hissed open.
“Oost, we have order to arrest you. Harada was found. You will be facing a court-martial.”
Oost sat his binoculars aside, holding his arms out to them to be cuffed.
Now that things had taken a reasonable turn, Gilamar hooked his blaster to his webbing and cuffed the Trandoshan, eying the slice and stab wounds while taking care of weapons and ordnance first. He was fully aware that the Trandoshan’s bare claws alone were still enough of a weapon. “Can you walk?” - “Sure.” - “We’ll escort you to the detention level now, where I’ll treat your wounds,” Gilamar informed him. Oost nodded and Ward continued to fill him in “I’m your defensive counsel, if you accept me.” – “Agreed.”
Oost said no more until Gilamar had clamped and patched the slice wound on his arm under Ward’s watchful eye. Now he wondered how to sew a stab wound that narrow and deep. “Just push a wad of bacta in there and leave it open so the bad fluids can run out. It will heal. We Trandoshans are the hardy sort.”
Gilamar did as Oost had requested. “Thanks, doctor.” The Trandoshan sat on the cot in his cell and continued to address him “Your autopsy will turn up that she is the traitor.” – “Harada? How so?” – “On top of her desertion, her eggs are contaminated.” – “Eggs?” – “Embryo, you humans call it. She has contaminated Fett’s linage. I could smell that. Just cut her up, you’ll find proof.”
Gilamar snorted “I can’t and I won’t. Don’t you realize that she’s alive?!”
For Oost, that were very bad news and it showed.
Llats stepped in “Now doctor, if you’re done here, I’d like to have a word with my defendant in private. I’ll call you when I’m done.” He didn’t have to shoo Gilamar out of the holding cell. Their fierce doctor was good at staying out of things, but even he could only take so much, especially when it came to cutting up women.
“Care to level with me?”
“I tried to execute Tomoe Harada tonight at 2115 in the corridor to landing platform nine” Oost confessed.
“Why?”
“She defected from the Cuy’val Dar, tried to murder our commanding officer and contaminated his linage.”
“So you… took the matter in your own hands?”
“For some reason, Jango Fett has been incapacitated to uphold the law. As long as he acts submissive to this female, the operational sequences of our facility plunge into disorder. I feel obligated to restore his position of power by taking out the traitor.”
“Are you aware that you will most likely face a charge of attempted homicide or even murder? The evidence has not been presented yet, but you admit that you tried to kill your commanding officer’s mate -or mate to be- and their unborn child.”
“If there is indeed Fett’s offspring in there, it doesn’t have a chance to live. The predatory …embryo will devour it.”
“How so?”
“Did you ever had a look at Fett’s clones in those vats? They have no teeth. The other is a predator has all it takes to kill. Believe me, I smelled it. It will feed as I did with my five hatchlings.” …an aspect of his upbringing Oost and his father prided themselves.
Ward sighed “I understand some things are very different with Trandoshans. But Harada has been here for less than four weeks. It’s still early days, chances are like… 50/50? I’m not a doctor, but I think it’s no reason to go in head over heels. You consider Fett acting submissive, but he has all it takes to execute you because of the mere attempt. As your defensive counsel, I suggest you rethink your argumentation if you want to come out of this alive.”
“I’m not a liar. If I have to go, I’ll do so with my honor intact.”
Ward nodded “Fact is: Harada is alive and unhurt. No harm done if the attempt cannot be proven to you. No need to lie, but don’t admit anything that cannot be proven.” Oost nodded. Ward stood. “Skirata should have compiled the visuals from the security protocol by now. I’ll get us a copy and then we go over it together.”
Skirata had sent Davin on the detention level with a datapad. One look at his face told Ward that the former journeyman protector wasn’t amused by what they had found so far; security footage, evidence in the corridor like blood and a shattered blaster. Additionally to the remains of a fight, there had been a backpack with a cryogenic container, skinning knifes and ordnance sitting inside the make shift hide out.
Oost’s explanation had made the grim purpose crystal clear, but “Everybody has a role to play.” He told his colleague as well as himself and went back into the cell to present it to Oost and try to save his life.
The Trandoshan shrugged “I always have a set of skinning knifes on me, just in case. The container, well, I thought it would be handy to keep the pelt and tissue samples fresh for analyze.”
“There goes our hope of leniency because your disobedience has been specific to a threat of the project.”
“I was about to take out that specific treat.” Oost affirmed.
“Your means will be considered malicious and cruel. That makes it attempted murder.”
“I went well prepared to minimize collateral damage and of course I would have shot the traitor before skinning her.”
Llats groaned. He doubted, given Oost thick headedness, that Fett would choose to show him any sort of mercy. “Listen. I’ll do the talking, you just stand and nod,” he continued to explain the baselines of his speech to Oost.

Jango turned away from the front door slowly as it slid shut. He was fully aware that his action had hurt Tomoe. He had to explain and for that he had to join her in the fresher – which would be another tender spot in their memory - and to stay on top of the investigation at the same time. He went to his room and retrieved the bathrobe they had brought for him from her home planet. Something familiar could help to make her feel better. Slipping the helmet off his head, he transferred the bean-comlink into his ear.
He took it as a good sign that she didn’t lock the fresher from the inside and she was in the shower indeed. The water was pouring over her back; steam engulfed her nakedness, her palms and forehead rested against the wall. “Tomoe...? Tomoe, please, I need to talk to you. May I join you?” she just nodded. Was she crying? He undressed quickly, piling his armor in the floor so he could get back into it quickly. “You need to tell me what happened.” He touched her shoulder very lightly.
She just asked “Why?”
“C’mon, first things first.” Jango hugged her close. She didn’t resist “Still freezing?” – “I almost got killed!” it finally broke out of her. Temperature wasn’t her problem, didn’t he know?! “I know,” he cradled the back of her head, kissing her forehead, “look at me.” She did and their lips met like by chance. He gently deepened their kiss, hugging her close.
“Few fight Oost and live to tell the tale. He’s one of the best,” he tried to make it sound like a compliment to her as well. – “I was lucky… Moro helped.” - “Yes, Tomoe, we’ve been lucky. You need to tell me everything, cyar’ika” Jango repeated himself, his voice taking a hypnotizing quality. “You didn’t care at the door.” – “But I do care, I just cannot act on that in public just now. I need to keep you safe. There could be others who try to finish what Oost started. You didn’t kill him, you wounded him. Badly, but non-lethal. – “I was ambushed! – “I believe you were, but he will survive and now I have to court-martial him. Do you realize that, as a commanding officer here, I’ll be the judge, therefore I need to stay impartial in public?”
Her mind was reeling. She came to the conclusion that Jango couldn’t just shoot her attacker. “Yes.” She nodded meekly.
“The whole facility is humming like a bee-hive. I have to be available on coms in order to stay on top of things and I need to hold this court-martial as soon as possible, before Oost’s insubordination spreads any further. You aren’t even wounded… no, please listen,” he held her up by the shoulders. “I’m damn glad you haven’t been wounded, but this leaves us open to claims that you both got into it or even that you attacked him.” – “I didn’t see him coming!” – “Yes, that’s what a camouflage specialist does best... Cyar’ika?!”
“Yes?” She met his gaze and he spelled it out for her:
“I won’t court-martial you and I will. Not. Have you forced into a battle circle with him. I can only imagine what has bedridden him to attack you, but he’s one of the best warriors among the Cuy’val Dar. Three times your weight and an accomplished blades man.” Jango took a deep breath. “At the stakes he took in this ambush, he would just kill you.”
Tomoe just nodded. Ward called, he pulled her against him. Rubbing her back gently and listened to Ward reporting the successful arrest. “Oost didn’t put up a fight. Looks like he feels he’s doing the right thing.” Jango acknowledged and set his jaw to close the connection. He returned his full attention to Tomoe.
“Oost has been arrested.” He informed her, “I know you are tired. I know you are hurting, Cyar’ika. But by midnight, Skirata – and maybe others as well - will put a pile of evidence on my desk for everybody to see. As the prosecutor, Vau will question Oost, but Ward will also question in his defense. Anybody. Oost will be allowed to speak freely on his own behalf. As the judge, I cannot interfere. I have to weigh the evidence as it is presented and then come forwards with a lawful sentence based on that information. For a death penalty, there must be proof of an attempted murder, at least two cases of attempted homicide… a major insubordination, like desertion would be sufficient, technically, but in your case, that would cause a major uproar.”
“Does it need to be a death penalty? I mean, maybe it was just a severe misunderstanding… I called out to him, but he didn’t explain himself, just kept on attacking… it was menacing. But if he changed his mind, admitted that he was wrong... couldn’t you just lock him up until things settle down, lower the stakes somehow?”
“I don’t believe in misunderstandings. As a top-ten hunter Oost does his reece before he moves in. He knew very well that I didn’t order you killed. Whatever his reason was, that or his reputation could motivate others if I don’t put my foot down now and make a gruesome but understandable example. For that, I need all information you can give me.”
“I will. I was…” Tomoe pulled herself together.
“Thank you.” Jango switched the fresher into drying mode immediately. “Let’s get out and sit in the living room. I’ve got you a yukata. Could you fix us shig while I make myself presentable again?” - “Sure”
While he armored up, Rav called and reported that she had located Isabet in the mess hall. She didn’t gave details, but she didn’t sound amused. Neither was he, but he kept it discrete as well. “Good. Fill-in Reau, then get some rest until midnight. I will need you to stand by Harada during the court-martial.”

Tomoe went to prepare two cups of shig. She briefly though of checking on Boba, but so far the boy had slept through all the ruckus and she was to thankful of that. She thought of Jango’s explanation. He had opened up to her, the real him, the part that was human, but then there was always the boss, the cold, unfeeling, imposing figure… It was almost like he was two personalities in one. He was running a facility with an aim that seemed legit within the ‘galactic republic’, but what she had seen hadn’t been pleasant at the slightest. Could she truly accept this fact about him?
She had tried to stop worse things from happen, but at the same time she was working for it. She was immersed in a corruptive situation. The idea that she was changing something from the inside was like a sedation. Soothing but non-permanent. At the ratio, it was as good as lying into her own pocket. She could do little and Taun We’s project was just as big and unmovable as a mountain… until the dreaded day the whole city would lift off and go to war.
Jango exited the bathroom in full armor and plopped down in the easy chair, facing the door. She could see he was tired and handed him his cup of shig while sipping her own. He took it and patted the chair for her to sit with him. His gloved palm rested on her knee as she perched on the armrest and proceeded to tell him all she knew about the situation in general and her experience in particular. “I don’t know what his motivation was. I believe that he didn’t know about Moro, didn’t recognize her shadow.”
The door buzzer went and Jango stood to answer the door immediately, “Su’cuy, Kal, k'olar lo,” he invited him in.
“This is an beforehand on the evidence we gathered so far.” Skirata handed him a datapad, “Ms. Harada,” he acknowledged the woman standing in the middle of Fett’s apartment, looking unarmed, pale and lost. “Did you send for Dr. Gilamar already?” he inquired.
“She was not injured.” Fett answered for her. “Her weapons and a clothing item with a blaster-burn are in the bathroom,” he motioned and Skirata went to have a look.
Ignoring the short knife, the older mercenary unsheathed the sword without reverence. It was the weapon from the security footage alright, but traces had been washed away by the seawater anyway. The heap of clothing on the side was still dripping from it. He sheathed the blade with a wet sound, picked up a burned sleeve between his fingertips and beckoned Tomoe over. “Where is your chest plate?”
“On the bottom of the sea, in the vicinity to the stilt of landing platform nine. I dropped it because it was torn beyond repair. To retrieve it, somebody will have to go scuba diving.”
“Nay. Aiwas are shitting in that water.” Skirata cut short, bagged the sword and the burned tunic then turned to leave. Tomoe dropped what was left of her clothing into the laundry automat without further comment while Jango escorted their visitor to the door. “I sent Davin on the detention level to hand Ward the evidence. He was getting all hot and bothered by the blaster shards. He’s never seen a weapon malfunction like that and takes it personally.” Having witnessed an inexplicable mat-Ordo-sandwich the day before, he decided to pass this detail under hand.
“I leave the presentation to you, Kal.” Fett inclined his head and Skirata left to close the investigation with the prosecutor.
Jango locked the door behind him, put the datapad on the table and switched it on. Tomoe leaned in to have a look as well and he slid into the corner seat of the bench, easing her down with him as he went. “Just rest and let me see what they have found.” He ran the back of his fingers across her cheek as she slipped her bare feet under the hem of the yukata.
“I can read while you are sleeping,” A small smile tugged at his rugged features as he flipped open the survey holograph and raised the details on the blaster that had startled Davin. It was strange, indeed. Usually, if a blaster malfunctioned, it overheated to explosion with molten material and scorch marks. This one was just cracked to glassy shards. Tomoe had told him that the shards had been breathing ice.
‘Moro?’ he thought, still not used to listen to voices in his head. ‘Did you do that?’
“Yes, dad,” came the prompt answer
‘How? I thought energy bolts could hurt you as well?’
“Mortals have a problem to control energy without the means of matter. I don’t.”
‘You’ve assumed control over blaster bolts?’
“I exhausted energy from the controlling structure selectively and assimilated it. The remaining mass became brittle under the forces of the discharge, the bolt lost focus and the weapon broke.”
Indeed, the shards reminded him of his first welding attempt on the TIV’s landing gear that had gone bad. The looks were not unparalleled metallurgy, but how Moro put it there was defying his understanding of physic in general. On the other hand, it didn’t smack off jetiise. He had seen enough of those and their methods to tell.
‘You assimilated energy?’
“Yes, dad. I assimilate energy from our surroundings all the time. Like you pick up food and eat.”
‘From a blaster?’
“One could say: I’ve developed a taste for fast food,” small Moro smacked while trying to be helpful. “You don’t expect mom to do all the feeding, do you?” Jango’s hand sidled down to his blaster with a groan. “No worries, I can feed selectively as well as wide ranged. Kaminoan thunderstorms are tasty as well.” Apparently, there were no limits to an elder spirit.
‘Can you get fat?’
“Gotta find out about that one day… but until then, could you allow mom to go fishing from time to time? We like traditional food as well.”
‘I’ll see what we can do. For now, I thank you for your discretion.’
Since Jango went silent over the aspect of the blaster, his thick arm and gauntlet lay across her back heavily and the angle of his chest plates pressed against her breast. She slid down further and rested her head on his thigh. He smelled of leather, weapon lubricant and antiseptic soap. He patted her butt absentminded when the heavy gauntlet came to rest on her hip. The comforting feel was lulling her to sleep.
Jango then settled back and began his perusal of the evidence gathered so far. Tomoe lifted her head off Jango’s thigh that she was using as a pillow. “What about Moro? She helped. What if her presence is unveiled or if they think I’m a jetiise?”
“Don’t worry. Traces are slim, jetiise do things differently and Moro is quite unbelievable.” He smirked down at her briefly the continued to watch the footage.
The cam closest to the crossing had picked up Oost passing through and installing his panel, then Tomoe passing through with her comlink out and visibly confused, then a brief scramble as the panel came down, blocking the view. The next cam down the corridor had picked up the fight and it showed clearly that Oost came after her, the cam on the landing pad got a front view on her shredded chest plate and her empty hands, pleading soundlessly with her attacker before she fell.
His cyar’ika had done well on the rebound but he could see why she was shell shocked. Compared to her appearance on the landing pad, she had already recovered some when she arrived at his door. Oost certainly knew how to demoralize his prey. At the other hand, the Tradoshan hadn’t even tried to loop the recordings.
Was that overconfidence on his behalf or was there a hidden agenda? From what Fett could see so far, it was pretty clear decision. His brows furrowed nevertheless. He would miss Oost once the fighting started. As he had said, the Trandoshan was one of the best.
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Offshore Job

Chapter 2.4 – Alternative Point of View (Evening 27, 2120)