Taking a short break from patrolling the streets below the Senator's penthouse. Sar had decided to take a small break on top of one of the electric neon-signs that covered the great Galactic City.
He had found nothing out of the ordinary but he knew that he couldn't lower his guard just because of that, so he had his Force Sense stretched to its very limit. He was gathering his thoughts about the complications that were sure to arise in the coming conflict.
Best case scenario would be the Republic relenting and giving in to some of the Systems demands and letting them back into the Senate, worst-case scenario, and the one Sar felt was most likely, all-out war.
The thing that Sar was still not clear on was what role would the Jedi play in a galactic war? Their role as peace-keepers in the galaxy only held because of their perceived neutrality, but Sar knew that if war did occur that the Republic would enlist Jedi as soldiers in the conflict. This would effectively end the Jedi's neutrality even after the war ended.
The only thing Sar felt he could do was to keep firm in his belief in the Order and mitigate any damage that was sure to occur in the coming days.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when he sensed something suspicious. Standing up from his sitting position he raced towards the location where he had felt the sensed the suspicious sensation.
While Force Sense could not reveal a person's exact thought they could give a skilled Jedi an inkling into you intentions, therefore doing battle with Jedi meant not only hiding your move from them but from yourself as well.
Sar had clearly felt hostile intentions towards the Senator's penthouse. While keeping. his pace as he rushed towards his destination he pulled out his communicator and contacted Obi-Wan. As soon as he heard the call connect he hastily explained.
"Obi-Wan! The Senator is in danger you have to get her out of the penthouse!" Sar had to yell because of the wind and the rushing hoover cars.
"What kind of danger?" Came Obi-Wan's voice from the other end.
"Don't know! Just get her out!" After saying this he ended the connection and sped up even more.
***
Hearing the call disconnecting Obi-Wan frowned before he put it away and moved towards the Senator's bedroom in a hurry.
"Master?! What is going on, is someone attacking Padme?!" The anxious voice of Anakin sounded out.
"Sar sensed something, just keep calm Anakin." Obi-Wan didn't really have time to properly steel his Padawan as time was of the essence.
Both of them entered the bedroom practically blowing the doors off the hinges as they rushed into the room.
Padme was immediately awoken by the loud noise and practically sprung up from the bed.
"What is going on! What are you two doing?!" Her voice sounded slurred and drowsy clearly indicating that she had just been awoken.
"No time to explain milady, we have to get you out of here." Responded Obi-Wan in a stern but calm tone as he picked Padme up by the hand and began rushing her out of the room, with Anakin following behind.
He had just exited the room and was on his way out of the penthouse when both he and Anakin got a glimpse of something flying towards the bedroom window. Obi-Wan just used this as an excuse to rush even more, but Anakin rushed towards the drone with lightsaber blazing at his side.
Obi-Wan's eyes widened as he saw this and he sensed something bad approaching.
"Anakin! No!" He shouted before he rushed towards his hasty Padawan, as there was no time to use the Force to pull him back.
He managed to just barely grab Anakin's shoulder before he chucked him back into the living room. He then quickly turned around and was about to run through the doorway, when a distinct sound sounded out.
"Click."
"Booooom"
Obi-Wan was halfway through the doorway when the large explosion caught the right side of his body and flung him into the right wall in the living room. A large crack was left in the wall as Obi-Wan heavily landed on the floor.
Padme covered her mouth with her hand as tears began appearing in the corner of her eyes. Anakin's eyes widened to an almost impossible degree as a highly worried expression came to his face. He practically sprinted towards the limp body of his Master.
He heavily threw himself onto his knees and rolled Obi-Wan onto his side to check his injuries.
Half of Obi-Wan's robe was burned off revealing the severely burned flesh underneath. A bit of his face and beard had also been burned, luckily, not enough to actually damage his eye or brain. It was clear however that the impact to the wall had broken his ribs as evidenced by the clear bruising forming on his chest.
Anakin tried to keep himself steady even as he could feel himself clearly spiraling before he pulled out a communicator and called Sar.
"Master Landala! Obi-Wan, he, he is heavily injured."
***
Sar had just put down the communicator when he came to the spot he had sensed the presence come from. Jumping onto the ledge that was lit up by an orange and pink neon sign he spotted his target.
It was a woman who was kneeling down on a single knee fiddling with something on her hoover bike probably preparing it for her escape. She was surprised by the sudden intrusion as evidenced by the jerky motion she made when Sar had jumped on top of the ledge.
She however quickly pulled the cloth veil that hung from her open-faced helmet over her mouth and nose before she stood up and aimed a heavy-blaster pistol at him and fired a couple of shots in quick succession.
In one fluid motion, Sar ignited his lightsaber and deflected the bolts before he used the Force to remove the blaster from her grip and throwing it off the ledge. Then he grabbed her with it and made hoover over the ground slightly, before sending her flying into the neon sign behind her making it flicker and spark.
Holding her up against the sign and sensing no further danger he turned off his lightsaber and stepped towards the restrained assassin.
"I have some questions for you mis-" His sentence was interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion coming from the penthouse that housed the Senator. Sar got a bit distracted a thing that the assassin immediately took advantage of as she pulled out a small device and pressed it.
A compartment in the hoover-bike opened and a large stun-gun emerged sending out a light-blue pulse-like bolt at Sar's back.
When Sar finally sensed the attack coming it was already too late as the shock-bolt hit his back and sent electricity throughout Sar's whole body making him lose his grip on the assassin who dropped down and hit him in the face with a knee before running away.
Sar, however, used the Force to mitigate the shock before he threw his lightsaber at the feet of the fleeing assassin. The sound of a lightsaber spinning through the air was soon sounded by the sound of plasma cutting through flesh, and the pained scream of the assassin.
Smoke emanated from the stumps of where her feet and ankles had once been and she moaned in pain as she tried to slowly crawl away.
Sar used the Force to expel the last effects of the shock bolt before he stood up and walked over to the crawling assassin. He crouched down and turned the assassin onto her back and placed his knee on her chest restraining her.
"Nice try, but as I said before I have some quest-" His sentence was once again cut off as he quickly raised his right hand, stopping a small metal needle with the Force, and without thinking sent it back to where it had come from.
He saw the needle bounce off the chest-plate of an oddly armored figure, the needle did nothing and just clinked onto the ground, but it would seem the action had left the person flustered as they staggered back a little before fleeing.
Sar was tempted to give chase but felt that leaving the assassin he had already caught was too big a risk for something that might not even reap any rewards.
"Well, it would seem that the Senator isn't the only one who is unpopular now, is she?" He looked down at the assassin who had passed out and was a bit shocked to see her previously human face morph into something more reptilian.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Disguising technol-" His muttering was interrupted by the sound of his communicator beeping.
"What is it with people interrupting me today?" Sar frowned and said a bit annoyed.
"Anakin, what-" He didn't even get through the sentence when he was assaulted by the panicked explanation from the flustered teenager.
When he finally ended the connection a grim expression adorned Sar's face, and only a single word came to mind when thinking of the situation.
"Kriff"
***
Sar was now standing next to a worried and depressed Anakin Skywalker, while they observed the now bandaged Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Yoda and Windu had just left after giving Sar permission to interrogate the captured assassin, but first, it would seem he had to console the distraught Padawan, oh joy.
"It's my fault, if I had just acted rationally he wouldn't have gotten hurt." The soft voice of Anakin sounded out inside the hospital room. Sar was almost getting choked in the guilt and anger that was radiating from the boy.
Sighing, and pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers Sar began talking.
"Listen, kid, I'll make this quick so listen carefully because I'm not going to repeat it." Sar's voice brought Anakin out of his self-pity as he now focused on Sar.
"You are right, what happened was your fault." Sar's voice was calm as he continued. "You did not act like a Jedi but rather like a small hot-headed child, and that got your Master and friend hurt, that is a fact and nothing said will change this fact." Anakin was now looking down staring at the floor, dark emotion emanating from him like a waterfall.
"With that said, however," Anakin gaze was removed from the floor when he heard Sar continue. "That is the risk we take as Jedi, Obi-Wan and I both know that we could be killed at any time whether through a fault of our own or one made by others." Anakin looked at Sar now a little confused.
"Yet, we take that risk because we believe that what we do will make the galaxy and people better, so if you truly feel guilty for your Master's current state," Sar removed his gaze from the injured Obi-Wan and turned his gaze to Anakin. "Be. Better."
Silence persisted for a few minutes as Anakin contemplated the words and Sar just waited. He could already sense the dark feelings had eased off the boy a little. After about ten minutes of this Sar cleared his throat.
"I will be leaving as I have other duties to attend to," He once again looked into Anakin's eyes. "And in fact, so do you young Skywalker." And with those words, Sar left the room leaving behind a conflicted Padawan.
***
The Rublics interrogation rooms were a rather drab affair, a small room with a steel table, two chairs, and a white light hung from the ceiling. The walls were a boring brown color and the air in the room was humid and cold.
Inside the room sat two figures, one with her hands restrained by metal cuffs, the other one was leaning back in his chair while reading over a file he held in his hand. After a couple of minutes of reading the file over, Sar put it down onto the table.
"Sam Wesell huh?," He looked at the human-looking woman in front of him. "We don't see many Clawdites, though I suppose that makes sense considering your abilities."
The woman, now known, as Sam just stared at the Jedi without uttering a word. Sar smiled a bit at that and began tapping the surface of the table sending out soft clinking noises.
"You know, it was pretty hard gathering any information about you. Guess that's what happens when you can wear any face you want," Sar leaned slightly forward. "But then I went looking around snooping around the Republic's records and wouldn't you know it," Sar placed a device onto the table were an image then emerged from.
"Bounty: Jango Fett. Reward: 100.000 credits."
"This was accepted three days before the first attack on the Senator. I recognize that helmet, you do as well, don't you Sam." Sar then pressed the button on the device and the image disappeared and he once again leaned back in his chair.
"So, we know who your associate is, now we just need to know who hired you and where good 'ol Jango has gone." A frown that had gradually deepened during their conversation was now sat to a scowl on Sam's face.
"I have nothing to say to you, Jedi scum!" Sam's words were filled with venom but Sar was unfazed.
"Of course you don't, because you haven't heard my proposition yet," Sar's smile was removed and replaced with an ice-cold expression.
"Your employer and associate want you dead, but you're probably not afraid of that, but I know one thing every bounty hunter is afraid of," Sar leaned forward his eyes. "I wonder what the Hutts would think should they learn that a bounty hunter wanted to capture one of the bounty hunters on their payroll because of Republic credits." Hearing this Sam's eyes widened and for the first time, Sar sensed clear fear from her.
While the Hutts hardly cared about bounty hunters betraying each other, when they did so because of Republic credits it became a challenge to their authority in the underworld. It was generally understood that you were not to go after bounty hunters on the Hutts payroll because of Republic credits. If you did, the punishment from the Hutts would be...severe.
"Now, I can give you a cozy cell in a Republic prison away from any of your...collegues. But to do that I will need you to answer to of my questions." Sar's smile returned as he waited for Sam's answer.
Sam was swaying a little in her chair as if she was a little drunk, and it was clear she was conflicted about actually telling the Jedi anything, but in the end, the fear of what the Hutts may do to her made her cave.
"Fine Jedi, I'll talk." Sar smiled and leaned forward once again.
"Smart choice, Now I only have two questions. First, who hired you?"
"Jango," She paused before she sighed and continued. "Jango approached me with the job, the pay was good and Fett has a pretty legendary reputation so I figured cashing in on the opportunity was a good choice," She glared at Sar. "I was obviously wrong."
Sar frowned a bit.
"You say Jango hired you? Did he ever say who hired him."
Sam shook her head. "No, he didn't, but whoever it is they were powerful enough to even scare him."
"Scare him? Was he being threatened?" Sar asked more as a precaution than out of actual worry that Fett had been coerced.
"Nah, he was probably just worried they would kill him should he fail. It isn't uncommon, but Jango has a track-record of killing his employer should they try and stab him in the back. He did not seem convinced that would be an option on this job."
Sar just nodded.
"Fine then where is he going?"
Sam shrugged. "I'm not sure he never discussed anything of the sort with me."
Sar frowned. "Nothing? He must have let something slip."
Sam seemed to think a bit longer. "He did say something about a job on a planet," She thought a bit more before she remembered the name of the planet. "Yeah, Kamino that's what he called it."
After that Republic guards led Sam back to her temporary cell, and Sar was left alone in the interrogation room.
He was pleased to see that his interrogation tactics had gone well. He had picked some tricks from studying the Sith, they were truly master manipulators and understood a person's mind if nothing else. He had used the Jedi mind trick to put Sam into a semi-drunk state which made her more likely to answer the questions truthfully.
The other tactic he had used was finding her weakness in the form of the Hutt Clan, which had proved to be difficult luckily he found that bounty and with a bit of help from an old friend he had her information.
Standing up from the chair and stretching a bit Sar let out a weary sigh, he still had a lot to do and now that Obi-Wan was out of commission he had to count on an unruly Padawan to help him. He headed out of the room and towards a previously agreed location where he would meet with his Order.
They now had to figure out what to do with the Senator situation.