Project Ares Gold Edition

Chapter 27 - Bounty Hunters

Senate district - Coruscant

After displaying his ability to scope out a location for potential security threats a few weeks prior, Master Chief was put in charge of a medium-sized protection detail that would go ahead of senator delegations and clear a location of threats before their arrival. Most of the time it was just making sure that a senator's residence was clear before the arrived after a long time away or making sure a nightlife event was secured. 117 usually delegated these tedious assignments to the lower ranked members of his taskforce while he handled the off-world assignments.

At the moment, Chief was stationed on Coruscant and was busy securing the top three floors of the Senate apartment building. There were dark clouds looming overhead, reflecting the mood of the Jedi Temple and many troopers in the GAR. About two weeks after returning from Mandalore, Chief was briefed that General Kenobi had been assassinated on the lower levels of Coruscant whilst on a Jedi assignment. Because of how big of an impact Kenobi had on so many people over the years, many senators were making it a priority to come to Coruscant and pay their respects. This included both Padme Amidala, Riyo Chuchi and of course, Satine Kryze, who was about to arrive from a conference on a nearby world. As the armored warrior made his last checks through his comm, an air speeder carrying the three female politicians came into view.

Landing just in front of the Spartan, Chief saluted the congregation before offering a not-so-warm welcome to the group. Spartans were not good in social situations, especially when it came to grieving loved ones and emotional moments. When Chief talked to Fives after the Citadel mission it was completely different, Chief was talking to a brother and a fellow soldier about something that only warriors understand; the sacrifice of war. Echo gave his life in service of the Republic, something Chief could understand and justify. But what happened to General Kenobi can't be explained or reasoned, it was just pure cold-hearted murder and there were no words Chief had that could help.

Instead, Chief gave his briefing to Senator Amidala regarding the security measures in place. The Naboo senator understood why Chief was giving her this information, he was there to protect them, not to give them comfort. Everyone had their jobs to do and security was the Chief's, and Amidala wouldn't have it any other way, especially after what happened on Scipio. The Duchess also understood, but the strong silent façade that she was putting up could only hold so long.

Jedi Temple - Coruscant

Master Kenobi's funeral was a standard Jedi ritual, from what Chief understood; the Grandmaster of the Order would give a few words before a moment of silence would be held in remembrance. Unlike most Jedi funerals, a surprising number of non-Jedi members were attending. The most obvious person was Dutchess Satine of Mandalore. Curious, Chief asked Padawan Tano what the relationship between her and the fallen Jedi Master was. He knew that they had shown signs of a relationship during the Mandalorian outpost assignment, but he hadn't really gone too in depth as to why. Telling him that when he was a padawan, Obi-wan and Satine secretly developed feelings for each other while on the run from bounty hunters. After the assignment finished, the two broke it off and rarely spoke to each other since.

Though his emotional capacity wasn't that high, Chief could clearly see that the Mandalorian ruler still had clear and obvious feelings for the bearded Jedi by the way she was crying her eyes out in muffled whimpers while Senator Amidala comforted her. On completely the opposite side of the noise spectrum was Skywalker. Apparently, he had not said a word since the incident and was taking it even harder than the Duchess. Even though Chief was not Force-sensitive, he could feel the anger coming off of Skywalker in waves and he wasn't alone, throughout the funeral almost every Jedi in the room glanced in his direction to make sure they were sensing things right.