Chapter 53

The assassin woke with a start when a bucket of ice could water was dumped on her head.

She gasped as she looked around in panic and tried to move and dive away to safety but a painful tug on her arms made her realise she was bound to the floor.

"Cease your movements meat bag or be prepared for your runtime to cease without warning." A low rumbling voice came from nearby and the assassin turned to see a large AR-34 enforcer droid pointing its blasters at her.

She went still and slowly looked around the room. She noticed her armour and weapons pilled in the corner of the room and she felt exposed, she always had her armour and weapons. She began panicking, she had been captured, but by who? Would they hurt her like the bad men did?

The brand on her back burned with a phantom pain as she remembered the day it had been scorched into her flesh. She had been bound then, just like now.

The sound of the bucket hitting the floor drew her attention and she turned to see the assassin droid that knocked her out staring her out with his arms crossed.

"Morning. Now mind telling me who are you?" the droid menaced.

-

It took Renn and Shae half an hour to calm down Opal and Seela.

They had been worried about them and rushed to make sure they were okay as soon as the had heard about what had happened.

They were now gathered in the Speedy Vagabond's conference room with Yaddle, Sapphire, and the droids, minus clank, to discuss what to do with their 'guest'.

"From the medical scans we took of her, seventy percent of her body is covered in scar tissue and she seems to have had the symbol of death watch burned into her back.

From what Yaddle has said about the emotions she sensed from the prisoner and from what the scans show she appears to be mentally unstable.

We don't know who she is, or what information she can tell us." Sapphire said as they looked at a holographic projection showing the damage on the prisoner's body.

Even Shae who harboured a deep hatred towards death watch was horrified when she saw the prisoners state.

"Most of those wounds don't look like they were received in battle." Yaddle remarked appalled. She was very knowledgeable in the arts of healing and so could easily tell the wounds the prisoner had wouldn't have been inflicted in battle, especially for a Mandalorian encased in protective armour.

"Yes, from the analysis of the wounds, I can predict how and when they were inflicted, and it seems she has been tortured quite frequently and from a young age. This also would probably explain why her mental state is so degraded." Sapphire said and everyone went silent as they digested what was just said.

"That's awful" Opal gasped and held her hand over her mouth in shock.

"I think its time we found out who she is." Renn said and he and Alpha left the room.

-

Renn sat on the untuned bucket in front of the bound assassin and stared silently at her.

Alpha stood to the side of him with his arms folded and oozed malevolence. He still wasn't happy about the assassin shooting at them and was watching like a hawk in case she did anything to jeopardise Renn's safety.

Yaddle stood on Renn's opposite side but was looking at the bound women with 'slightly' more compassion than Alpha. While she was unhappy about the ambush, she was also concerned due to the difficulties the assassin had faced throughout her life.

Clank was lurking in a darkened corner of the cargo bay and was hoping that the interrogation would break down into violence.

The final person in the room for the interrogation was Shae. She was sitting on top of a crate and watching the interrogation from the above.

The assassin looked around wildly. Before her eyes settled on Renn and Shae and seemed to soften slightly.

"Your still alive" she said in a monotone not making that seem like a good or a bad thing.

"No thanks to you" Shae scoffed from her position on the crate.

"I did not fire my weapon" The assassin stated in the same monotone.

"That's true actually" Renn said looking over at the pile of weapons and armour in the corner of the room. They had inspected the weapons when they had searched the woman and had discovered that the only one of the assassins who actually tried shooting at them was the one who ended up as bloody soup inside his armour.

"So, are you ready to tell us who you are yet?" Renn said staring at the captive again now that she was finally talking.

"My name is no longer used." The assassin stated evasively.

"Okay. But what was it when it was used?" Renn said trying to keep the conversation going.

"...Arla.... It was Arla Fett." She said in a small voice while looking at the floor in sadness.

Renn was shocked by the name. his mind instantly went to the man he met on Tatooine, Jango Fett. He studied the woman in front of him. She seemed to be about forty years old, blonde hair cut short and a deep straight scar slashing down from her right eye.

Jango hadn't mentioned having any family but the woman in front of Renn not only shared his last name but also seemed to hold a striking resemblance to the bounty hunter.

Shae had also mentioned after they had met Jango that she had heard from her farther, when she was younger, that he had fought with Jango Fett against death watch during the Mandalorian civil war. So, him having a relative that was part of the organisation would be a bit unusual, but not impossible.

"Do you have any family?" Renn couldn't help himself and asked curiously.

Arla looked pained and nodded, "I have a brother... his names Jango."

-

Renn stood in front of the holo-table waiting for the long distance call to connect.

He had asked Arla a few more questions after finding out she was related to Jango but she had gone silent after a while and he had left her with Yaddle and Alpha. Yaddle had wanted to try to heal Arla's damaged body and mind. And she was currently attempting that under Alpha's watchful gaze.

Renn and Shae however were waiting to try and get in touch with Jango. They had called him on the comm frequency he had given them on Tatooine, but it seemed to be taking a while for it to connect.

The holographic form of a man in Mandalorian armour then popped into existence on top of the holo-table and waved in greeting.

"Hey kid, didn't expect you to call so soon." Jango said and Renn noticed his holographic figure stiffen slightly as he noticed Shae.

"Yeah. Something happened and we wanted to ask you some questions." Renn said.

"Oh, what kind of questions" Jango said and looked at Shae slightly nervously expecting the girl to ask about her farther. "Who is your friend by the way?" He asked hoping to avoid talking about emotions for as long as possible.

"I'm Shae, but I think that you already knew that. You fought with my dad during the Mandalorian civil war." Shae said looking at Jango who nodded.

"Yes, I did. I'm assuming you called to hear about him?" Jango asked solemnly.

"No, I am a bit curious but that isn't why we called." Shae said.

"No? why did you call then?" Jango asked confused.

"We wanted to ask if you had a sister." Renn told him and Jango's image froze.

"... I did... but she died when we were kids during an attack by death watch." Jango said sadly.

"That is why we called. We found someone called Arla Fett who claims to have a brother called Jango." Renn said and watched as Jango again froze in shock at the name 'Arla'.

"….. A-arla… your sure her name was Arla? What does she look like? How old is she? Where is she? Is she okay?" Jango seemed to come out of his state of shock and began rapid firing questions at Renn.

"Yeah, her names Arla. She has blond hair and a serious sort of face, sort of like yours. She is forty, I think." Renn answered the first of his questions.

"That sounds like it could be Arla." Jango seemed overcome with happiness. "But how is she still alive?"

"That is another thing we called about. She seems to be a member of death watch, but we don't know how 'willingly' she joined. There is evidence that she was tortured for years after turning fourteen." Renn told him and Jango went still.

"She was fourteen when death watched killed our family... they must have captured her... I always thought they killed her…. I ran away when they attacked but I heard them ….. I thought …..I thought she was dead.

But death watch took her. They tortured her! Tortured my sister! I have to find her. Make sure she's okay. Were did you see her? I need to go there now." Jango started quietly but then began working himself up into a frenzy.

"Jango stop! You can't leave yet! We are at a critical point in the process!" A voice from someone Renn couldn't see came from the comm.

"She's my sister Kal I have to go find her" Jango told the unknown voice angrily.

"Your comrade is correct bounty hunter. The process is close to finishing. It would be extremely unwise for you to leave at this point." A soft feminine voice sounded from the somewhere in the room with Jango.

Renn was curious as to who was with Jango and what this 'process' was but decided not to pry.

"If it's easier we could just bring your sister to you. She is currently on our ship. We sort of captured her after her and another death watch assassin tried to attack us." Renn told Jango.

"Wait she what!? You what?... you'd be willing to do that?" Jango was first surprised then looked at Renn thoughtfully.

"Yeah, you helped us on Tatooine. We're friends." Renn said simply.

"Thank you. Seriously, thank you. I'll send you the coordinates" Jango said as he thought about what Renn said. 'friends' he smiled inside his head, it sounded nice.