Assassin (A Star Wars Fan-Fiction) Book 3

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Thanks for the ride, Aurra." Bossk said when their ragtag group of bounty hunters landed in the base's hangar. During their last message, Bossk forgot to mention that Bane was in need of a ride as well, but she didn't care at the time. She was too cold to care, too stoic to kick him off her ship.

"No problem." She replied and began to shut the down their ride's engines. Her long, slender fingers danced across the controls and the subtle whirring sound of the ship falling asleep died away. Her Duros and Trandoshian friends exited the ship and walked down its ramp without another word, which she was thankful for.  The last thing she wanted was another break-down worthy moment, though she doubted she'd be lucky on that subject. It was a funeral, after all. There were bound to be tears at some point.

Once sure that they were out of sight, Aurra reached her hand beneath her seat and removed the stone she'd received with her invitation to the ceremony. She wasn't afraid of Bossk or Bane stealing it, but one could never be too cautious when it came to bounty hunters. 

"Well, if it isn't the blue buffoon." A voice chuckled from outside her vehicle. A voice she hadn't heard in a long, long, long time. 

"Eso, its been a while." Cad greeted and shook hands with the green-skinned Twi-lek standing across from him. He didn't appear too threatening to Aurra compared to the last time they'd worked together as she made her way down the ramp as well and stood beside Bossk, arms folded and face expressionless while her stone rested in her back pocket.

Junn Eso was an 'alright' bounty hunter, not bad but not as amazing as Danik had been. Even though he wasn't as popular as Bane or Jango Fett had been, Junn was smart with his unpopularity and used it to his advantage to make his bounty hunting easier. If no one knew his name, authority wouldn't be searching for him on multiple systems. A well-thought out trick, though she'd never admit it to him out loud.

On his head were his trademark goggles and around his neck was his red bandanna. The entire left side of his face was covered in black tattoos, something that stuck out to Aurra. Clad in his black coat and leather boots, he was just as he'd been before. Only ten years older.

Arriving with Junn was a Weequay woman dressed in a tube-top and skin-tight leggings, no doubt the famous Camo Gri she'd heard all about the last time she'd spoken with him. And tailing behind her was a teenage human boy who'd recently been on her radar for his big achievement of assassinating one of Jabba the Hutt's biggest rivals. The boy's name was Griffin Stone.

How these people knew Danik or Denali was none of her business, but it would be interesting to hear about if any of them decided to open their mouths about it.

"If only our meeting was under better circumstances." Junn spoke, then put his hand on the woman's shoulder. "I don't think you've met, but this is Camo Gri, my partner." She nodded her hellos to Bossk, Aurra, and Bane. Silent, which was quite an intriguing fact as Aurra raised her eyebrow ever so slightly. "And this is Griffin. Still a little rough around the edges, but he'll amount to something someday."

"Love you, too, Junn." The boy smirked, which resulted in some laughter from Bossk, a slightly grinning eye-roll from Bane, and a shake of Camo's head in mock-disapproval. So far, Aurra kind of liked this kid's style, attitude, and ever-growing reputation as he grew into adulthood. Maybe he'd be a reliable partner if a bounty ever called for one.

"We should probably be going." Cad looked at his wrist-comm and examined the time. "The service starts in an hour, we don't want those damned Jedi being the first to honor the dead."

* * * * * * * * * *

The sanctuary wasn't too enormous, but it wasn't exactly small, either. If he estimated somewhat accurately, Anakin believed that the room was about the same size as a Republic Cruiser hangar without the massive ships taking up space. When he first walked in, he noticed the three sections of metal pews, each section split from the other with walkways, all facing the tall terraced platform at the front.

Resting on top of the platform, just like Ahsoka had said, were two simple silver closed coffins and a stone column between them with a solid rock bowl where a fire would be lit. 

The small stone in his hand seemed lighter with each step he took towards the coffins. It was still hours before the funeral service would start, even longer before the cameras would turn on and the entire galaxy would see the last of the Bleways be buried away. But even those hours didn't seem long enough for him to say his good-bye.

He climbed the stairs and was hit with a mixture of emotions as he stood between the resting places of two very different people. In the coffin to his left, a deceitful man obsessed with nothing but pure darkness and evil. A villain beyond anything he'd ever faced before, cloaked in violence and a true embodiment of the dark side. But in the coffin to his right... 

Anakin took a deep breath and gently placed his hand on her coffin's lid, eyes closed and his concentration as acute as he could possibly get it. Maybe there was still a piece of her left, some sort of fragment of her soul still holding on. He knew it was a long shot, an extremely long shot. But...maybe, deep, deep, deep down inside, there was something between them. Something he could hold onto and put his guilt at ease. A connection, a feeling, a voice from the beyond telling him she didn't blame him for what happened. 

But there was nothing.

He removed his hand and took another deep breath before trying once more. Squeezing his eyes closed and putting everything he had left into his efforts, he focused ever harder and shrouded out the world around him. There had to have been something, anything. Even just an echo of her soul before it left her body, something so simple that even nonforce-sensitive people had it. A sense of pain, fear, even ease before the body became nothing but a corpse would've sufficed.

By now, he wasn't searching for a personal sign. He was merely looking for any sign that stated the thing within the coffin had been alive at some point in time. But there was nothing. His eyes flashed open and he pulled his hand away as if the surface was hot. Of course there was nothing.

Because her body wasn't here.

Quickly, he placed his hand on top of Danik's coffin. Nothing. No echo of the dark side, no indescribable evil he had to fight to the death. Not a single hint that a sith lord was held inside the burial box.

Before he could stop himself, he used the Force to pry both coffins open and reveal the contents within. Two identical figures wrapped in white cloth, like mummies, rested inside the metal containers. But, as he touched one, and then the other, Anakin came to the conclusion that these corpses weren't real corpses. They were plastic.

Someone had taken the real bodies.