Anabeth: New Beginnings

Chapter 13 - A Familiar Face

Ana and Ventress followed the the signal of the tracker for quiet a while. Dengar lead them through several streets, the crowds slowly becoming smaller and smaller until they reached an almost deserted area. The buildings around them seemed residential, but they were damaged and dirty to the point where one could almost assume they were abandoned.

As they turned to walk down another alley to follow the signal, it finally came to a stop. They slowed down and continued on more carefully, unsure of what would be awaiting them. They were surprised to eventually find that Dengar had entered an unassuming, small residential building.

For a moment, Ana almost doubted her instincts until they heard noise coming from inside. People were screaming at each other. One voice, the two of them could clearly recognize to be Dengar's. The other was unfamiliar to Ana though.

They retreated around the corner again to discuss a plan.
"Do you know who the second voice belongs to?" Ana asked.
"I do in fact," Ventress replied. "Boba Fett. I worked with him before."
"Boba Fett?" Ana asked. "As in the son of Jango Fett?"

"You heard of him?"
"I sure did. He tried to kill my Master on a quest to avenge his father. I wasn't yet around back then, but I heard the story," Ana replied.
"Well, whatever the case, we might be in luck. Boba is still young and inexperienced. We'll have a lot easier of a time getting information out of him than Dengar," Ventress noted.

"So how do we...?" Ana trailed off when they head the sound of a door opening. They peaked around the corner, only to see Dengar hurrying out of the door in fear. He went to run down the alley, right in their direction. They stayed hidden behind the corner until he got closer. By that point, Ana simply put her foot out into the alley. Dengar stumbled right over it and faceplanted onto the floor.

For a moment, he seemed confused about what had happened, but when he went to get up, he immediately saw Ana and Ventress blocking his escape to either direction of the alley.
"You. How are you here?" He asked in fear and surprise.

Ana stepped right up to him with the most nonchalant face she could make in that moment. "Looks can be deceiving," she simply repeated her line from earlier as she once again grabbed a hold of the knife strapped to Dengar's thigh. She removed the tracker off it while the man watched in stunned silence.

"So, Boba Fett, what does he have to do with Bane?" Ana asked, holding out the knife for Dengar to take back.
"I'm not sure," Dengar admitted, fear in his voice, though Ana assumed the origin of it was within his previous conversation, not due to them being here. "A few days ago, I heard rumors that Bane was in town.

I didn't believe he could slip past my net onto this planet, but I wet to investigate. Then I was approached by Boba who threatened to kill me if I didn't stop looking for Bane and would instead report straight to him if someone came looking. But that's all I know, I swear on my life."

Out of the corner of her eyes, Ana could already see Ventress glaring at Dengar angrily. She had a feeling she wanted to finish what she had started back at the bar, so Ana quickly stepped in.
"Fine. Go then, but don't even think about getting involved in this again," she let Dengar of the hook. He scrambled to thank her before rushing past her and off into the night.

"Looks like it's time we paid Boba Fett a visit then," Ana concluded.
"Indeed. And since it's two of us and only one of us him, I suggest we just go for it," Ventress said.
"Yes, let's go get him."

Ventress and Ana quickly snuck over to the house Dengar had just fled from. With a swift use of the force, they had the door unlocked and hurried inside. The surprised Boba Fett pulled his blaster and fired at them, but they dodged all of his shots. Within seconds, they had him disarmed and pinned to the floor.

"I know nothing!" he spat as they tied him to a chair to interrogate him.
"Now that sounds unlikely given the situation," Ana replied calmly.
"Whatever, I'm not talking!" he insisted angrily.

Ana sighed deeply before turning to Ventress. "I'll have a look around the place, you deal with Mr. Anger issues."
"Anger issues? I don't have anger issues!" Ana could hear Boba shout as she went to enter the next room.
"Sure you don't," she mumbled to herself with an amused smile.

She made her way through the rooms, but her search came up short. Apart from the fact that everything was pretty run down, it seemed to be just a normal house. She finally returned to the living room, hoping that Ventress had made some progress with Boba.

"Come on, I told you, I don't where he is," the boy was still insisting.
"And I'm an ewok. Now we're both lying," Ventress replied in annoyance.
Ana smile to herself. "I see this is going well."
"Any luck?" Ventress asked, but Ana just shook her head.

"Looks like I'm all you've got," Boba said smugly.
"Yeah, that's not good for you," Ana told him as she went to stand in front of him. „We need to find Bane. And it'd be a lot better for you if you just told us where he is."
"Or you'll what? Beat the information out of me? Well, go ahead, I'm not afraid."

"No," Ana replied very calmly. "We don't do torture." She quickly reached into the inside pocket of her jacket where her lightsaber was still stored away. She swiftly held it out for Boba to see.
"You're a Jedi," he said in realization, sounding more scared than angry for the first time.

Ana wordlessly stored her lightsaber back into her pocket.
"Listen Boba," she began. "I know you've had a rough few years. And I'm sorry for everything that happened to you. I don't want to make things worse for you if I don't have to. I want to help you. But for that, you need to be honest with me and tell me where Bane is."

"I can't tell you," he insisted, though he at least finally seemed to be calming down a little.
"Let me lay out you options then," Ana replied. "You can tell us where Bane is right now, and we can let you go on your way as soon as we have him in custody.

Or you can continue to refuse to help us. In which case I will sadly have no choice but to formerly arrest you and take you to Coruscant where you will interrogated thoroughly by the Jedi and will most likely face a prison sentence for obstruction of justice.

I know you're not a bad person, Boba. And you're still young. You want to be a bounty hunter, fine by me, but that doesn't mean you have to be a bad person. So ask yourself again, if Bane iss really worth throwing your life away over."

Boba looked at her for a moment, full of contemplation. Torn between his fear of the Jedi and his fear of Bane.
"He's on this planet," he finally admitted. "His hideout is on the other side of town. I can take you to it."
"Alright then, lead the way," Ana replied, tying him loose from the chair.