NOVEL NEXT A Perverted Galaxy Far Far Away (Star Wars)
Chapter 65: The Banking Clan
A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!
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Asajj and Janga come to an understanding~
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Technically, Asajj knows that once she and Fett are out of her Master’s sight that she could probably get away with splitting off from the Bounty Hunter. Sure, Count Dooku had made it clear that their missions were intertwined, however he had not outright stated that they had to work together. So they COULD take separate ships, technically.
But Asajj also knows that this is a test. Dooku knew she was uncomfortable around Janga Fett. He was giving her an opportunity to overcome that fear. Her Master was not often so benevolent… nor did he offer many second chances. Even if she succeeded in her mission and killed Aayla Secure nice and cleanly, if she returned without Fett or even with Fett’s mission a failure… she knew she would be blamed for it.
And not just blamed, but punished for it. A shiver runs down Asajj Ventress’ spine at that thought. She would rather avoid her Master’s torturous punishments, if at all possible. By all accounts, Dooku had once been a Jedi Master. In some ways, his old life shone through at times. But in others… it was clear that he had fully embraced the Dark Side.
With that said, when they reach the Hangar, Asajj moves to follow Janga over to her ship rather than breaking away. Except, when they reach the ramp to said ship, the Bounty Hunter spins around and crosses her arms over her chest, tilting her helmeted head in Asajj’s direction. The Sith Assassin finds herself brought up short by Janga’s sudden stonewalling.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Blinking for a moment before she manages to marshal herself, Asajj frowns.
“… Our missions are intertwined. It would behoove us to travel together.”
Janga scoffs at that.
“Behoove you, maybe. I don’t see any reason why I should let you freeload. I work better alone. In fact, the last time I had a partner for a job like this, they got themselves captured. Forced me to put them down. Not sure you want to wind up in the same spot.”
Asajj stiffens at that. The implicit threat hangs in the air between them, demanding a response. And though she might feel some small amount of fear towards Fett… she was not so easily cowed.
“If either of us are going to wind up captured, Fett, it would be you. I am a skilled hand at killing Jedi. My mission will not be particularly difficult.”
Thrusting her chin out, the helmeted Mandalorian snorts.
“Yeah? Your track record with Skywalker and Kenobi is beginning to make me think otherwise.”
Asajj’s eyes widen at that. The two who kept getting away. She’d had numerous run-ins with the pair in the early months of the war, though less so after Skywalker had become a full-fledged Knight and the two had split up. But even still…
Narrowing her eyes, Asajj hisses as her fingers twitch towards the curved hilts at her waist. In response, Janga Fett doesn’t even move.
“You would do well not to provoke me, Fett. I am my Master’s favored Apprentice for a reason.
But then, Asajj knows full well that the Mandalorian Woman doesn’t have to move. Her arms might be crossed at the moment, but she doesn’t actually HAVE to draw either of the blaster pistols currently holstered at her waist. Rather… her hands themselves are the weapons Asajj knows she has to really be careful of. Incredibly advanced mechanical prosthetics, the deadly force concealed within her gauntlets is nothing to scoff at.
“Yeah? All I see is a barking dog. And I’m certainly not seeing any reasons to let you onto my ship or into MY mission.”
Asajj jolts, realizing that they’re not only close to coming to blows here, but also… she’s in danger of screwing up and failing her Master’s test for reasons entirely beyond her latent fear of Janga Fett. The Bounty Hunter doesn’t even know what Asajj did to her little clone. The animosity is… purely manufactured, Asajj finally realizes.
In fact, now that she’s calming herself down and moving her hands (and Force Touch) away from her lightsabers, Asajj realizes that there’s a note of amusement tinging Janga Fett’s words. The Mandalorian is playing with her… toying with her. That BITCH.
Still, in this one instance, Asajj realizes she cannot allow her anger to rule her. Irritating to say the least, since her rage is the source of much of her power. But she has no choice here. If she wants to not only complete this latest mission but also pass Dooku’s test, she NEEDS to rein in her fury.
“… I believe that working together is what my Master wishes of us. Otherwise he would not have said he had a mission for the two of us… nor clarified that our missions are intertwined in the first place. I believe that Count Dooku expects us to work together in order to guarantee the success of our respective missions. And I believe that it would serve us both to follow HIS lead on this.”
Speaking in a careful, measured tone so as to not give any of her true feelings regarding any of this away, Asajj looks Fett right in her visor, refusing to back down and refusing to flinch no matter how badly she might want to.
Though, she does tense up in an unfortunately noticeable way the moment that the Mandalorian woman finally uncrosses her arms. However, Janga doesn’t do so to attack her. Instead, she simply turns around and begins walking up the ramp into her ship. It’s only just before she disappears out of sight that she speaks up.
“Fine. But don’t get in my way.”
A surge of triumph rushes through Asajj, though it also comes with no small amount of humiliation as she scurries up the ramp and into the Bounty Hunter’s vessel. Tch… she was sick and tired of this Force-Blind bitch holding any power over her. She knew that this mission was a test from her Master to see if she could marshal her fear… but what if she could remove the source of her fear altogether? Would that not be even better? Would that not be the Sith Way?
… Obviously, the mission came first. But Jedi could certainly be very dangerous, couldn’t they? And if when all was said and done, Janga Fett didn’t make it back… well, Asajj was sure her Master wouldn’t mind so long as all mission objectives were completed.
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“Master Secura.”
“Knight Vondin.”
As Tylo exits Bo-Katan’s ship with her, Boba Fett, and Rook Kast all at his back, he finds Aayla and Maris both waiting for him on the landing pad. He and Aayla both step forward as one, clasping hands and pressing their foreheads together as they greet one another somewhat formally. They were Master and Padawan after all.
But they were also so much more than that… they ARE so much more than that. Aayla isn’t just his former Master or his fellow Jedi. Rather… the blue-skinned Twi’lek is the only one who actually knows about the truth of his ability to read minds. She’s the only one he’s ever told, the only one he’s trusted quite as much so far… and he’s never had reason to regret that choice.
Tylo, I have missed you so much since we parted ways. It does my heart good to be reunited once more.
As they pull back, Aayla is all smiles as she looks him in the eye and happily projects her thoughts to him. Though, after a moment her eyes do dart past him and her brow raises as her next thoughts turn questioning, as expected.
Though I have to wonder who you’ve brought with you, Tylo. I recognize Kryze, but who are the others?
Outwardly, Aayla’s voice is warm as she lingers in holding onto his hands for a moment longer.
“Was your mission a success, my former Padawan?”
Giving her hands one last squeeze on his end, Tylo nods his head as he pulls away and steps back so he can present the Mandalorians to her.
“Indeed it was, Master Secura. And more than we could have guessed. Allow me to introduce you all. This is Jedi Master Aayla Secura and Padawan Maris Brood. And these are the Mandalorians Rook Kast… and Boba Fett.”
Everyone stiffens a little bit at that. Aayla and Maris’ surprise as they look down at little Boba is understandable, while Boba tenses as if she expects them to attack her. Even though she’s accepted that the Jedi weren’t behind her mother’s death or her subsequent kidnapping, old habits die hard and she probably has a moment where she thinks they’re going to try to finish the job.
But the moment passes, thankfully, and the little firecracker doesn’t try to pull a weapon on anyone on the platform so Tylo considers that an absolute win. Aayla, on the other hand.
I should probably stop being so shocked by your continued ability to astound me, Tylo. I can’t wait to hear about how you managed to pull this off.
After directing that thought in his direction, Aayla crouches down so that she’s eye-level with young Boba, giving her a smile.
“Hello, Boba Fett. I’m glad to see you safe and unharmed.”
Narrowing her eyes in response, Boba crosses her arms over her chest.
“Save it, Jetii. I’m only here because you lot represent my best opportunity to track down the Sith who killed my mother. This is an alliance of convenience, no more and no less. The sooner you understand that, the better.”
… Seriously, Tylo?
When Aayla shoots Tylo a look, he just shrugs helplessly. Yes, seriously. What did she expect? For him to somehow turn a Mandalorian Foundling who had been orphaned and stuck behind enemy lines for almost a year now into a model representation of a Jedi Youngling in just a few days or something? Boba Fett was beyond prickly and truth be told, had every right to be. Thankfully she WASN’T Force Sensitive, or else she would likely have fallen to the Dark Side by now.
Then again, if she were Force Sensitive, the Sith would never have dropped her off to Death Watch in the first place. They would have either killed her or trained her themselves.
Clearing his throat, Tylo decides it’s best to move past such thoughts… and also this conversation in general.
“Right. Master Secura, what’s the status like here?”
We’re going to talk about this later, my former Padawan.
With that thought and one last meaningful look, Aayla sighs… and straightens up, beckoning them all to follow her off of the platform. As they all do so, she talks and they listen. Tylo in particular listens to everything Aayla ISN’T saying as well.
Put bluntly, they’re on the planet Scipio. An ice-covered planet located on the Outer Rim, Scipio was really only important for one reason and one reason only… it was the original homeworld of the Muun species as well as the headquarters of the InterGalactic Banking Clan.
Now, this might seem like bad news considering that Chairman San Hill had signed a treaty with the Confederacy of Independent Systems at the start of the war, effectively pledging financial and military aid to the Separatist Movement. So why were they just allowed on what should ostensibly have been an enemy-aligned world even though they were Jedi?
Well, at the end of the day it all came back to politics. Politics… and business. Put simply, San Hill might have been the Chairman of the Banking Clan and thus had the authority to do what he’d done in signing the treaty and promising certain Banking Clan assets… but he did NOT have the authority to order the rest of the InterGalactic Banking Clan to cease doing business with the Republic.
Further compounding the issue was the fact that San Hill and his faction of the Banking Clan were stationed out of Muunilinst, one of the Muun Race’s original colonies many centuries ago and on par with Scipio in terms of importance within both the Muun People’s culture as well as the Banking Clan’s business. As such, while Muunilinst had declared for the Separatists, Scipio had not, allowing them to still do business with the Republic. It was all a little confusing and MORE than a little convoluted.
Of course, that was just all of the stuff Aayla could tell them all out loud. Inwardly, she’s also explaining some things to Tylo that they probably don’t want anyone around them to overhear. Like for instance, the fact that the Banking Clan is even more fractured than it might seem as a result of this war. Put simply, there’s this group within the InterGalactic Banking Clan called the Council of Five, or more unofficially, the ‘Core Five’.
They act as a check on the power of Chairman San Hill by effectively being the ruling body for the Banking Clan on Scipio. Given Scipio’s importance to both the Muun and the Banking Clan, they have as much if not more power than San Hill does. If anyone could bring San Hill and his ambitions with the Separatists to heel, it would be them.
But they haven’t yet, because if San Hill’s gamble pays off, they’ll all stand to make a shitload of credits. In the end, it all comes down to greed, doesn’t it? It’s certainly not lost on Tylo that the entire Separatist Movement, despite their claims otherwise, is basically founded on greed.
Oh sure, don’t get him wrong, there’s definitely some corruption in the Republic. And while Tylo is no politician or even very politically minded, even he could point out that the Galactic Senate was an unwieldly bureaucracy that ground to a halt and failed to address important issues in a timely manner more often than not.
One didn’t have to look any further than the incident on Naboo ten years ago to see that shit was rotten. But by that same acknowledgment, the Trade Federation was not the entity who should be crying foul. Their actions were akin to someone lighting a match and burning down a house, and then claiming that the fire department didn’t get there fast enough to save it. Sure, they might be right about that second part… but they were still responsible for burning down the house.
In the end, from what Tylo was reading from Aayla’s mind, they had two options. So far, the Council of Five had been willing to meet with her, but only because they seemed to take great amusement in stonewalling her and one-upping each other with their efforts. However, if Tylo were to attend the next meeting, their minds would be laid bare before him and he could use his unique ability to figure out what they knew and what they were hiding.
On the other hand… they could skip the pleasantries and politics and go straight for the throat. With a squad as powerful as this, they could do an infiltration of the Banking Clan Databases, effectively ransacking the information they were looking for and then pull a runner. They would certainly be burned afterwards, but it would move up their time table and get them off of Scipio all the faster.
Both plans were actionable… and in the end, Aayla was the Jedi Master here. Still, as they reach their guest quarters and she turns to him, Aayla lifts a brow and sends over one more thought to make it clear she’s asking for his opinion.
What do you think we should do, Tylo?
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The Patreon Vote:
[X] Meet with the Council of Five and see what can be gained from their minds - 88%
[ ] Skip the politics, go straight to infiltrating and ransacking the database - 12%
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