Assassin (A Star Wars Fan-Fiction) Book 2

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Obi-Wan and Anakin quickly ran into the Chancellor's office, where Jedi from the Council, the Chancellor himself, and a few Senators stood waiting.

The mission to capture Dooku hadn't gone so well. They ended up being unable to find him in the caves and nearly been killed by a gundark and toxic fumes, but they had easily escaped that mess when Anakin's padawan, Ahsoka Tano, had come to their rescue. Now the two were back on Corosaunt after they had been contacted by Master Yoda, telling them to come back to the Senate Building immediately. From the tone of the Jedi Master's voice, they could tell that it was very important.

Once the two had entered Palpatine's office, Palpatine played the video that had been sent to him a few hours earlier. After pressing the green button on his desk-comm, a blue hologram of a strange looking man appeared. 

"Hello Seperatists, Jedi, and Rancor Slayers. My name is Hondo Ohnaka, leader of the greatest pirate empire that this galaxy has ever seen. You're probably wondering why I am contacting you in the middle of no-where when you have your precious war to be worrying about. But I think you'll be interested in an offer that I have for the three of you large and wealthy orginazations." the pirate took a step forward, showing two figures side by side, on their knees with their hands up on the back of their heads. Four other pirates held blasters to their foreheads, making sure that they didn't escape. Anakin and Obi-Wan gasped, knowing exactly who these two people were.

"In case you don't know, this is Count Dooku, leader of the Seperatist Council." Hondo said, gesturing to the man to his left on the ground. "And this..." Hondo grabbed the back of the woman's braid, pulling her to her feet by her hair and tossing her back onto the ground. She landed with a small grunt of pain as she fell onto her stomach. "...is Jedi Master Denali Bleway."

Denali looked awful. Even from the hologram it was easy to tell that she was in horrible condition. 

"Oh no." Anakin said.

"You have a total of five hours to reply to this message. If all three of you groups do not, then.....well..." Hondo smirked and stood beside Denali as she stuggled to get to her knees, coughing up blood from her constant hours of fighting for her life. Her arms shook, unable to hold her own weight as Hondo smashed his foot against her back. She fell back down as another cry of pain came from her mouth, her torso pinned to the ground by Hondo's dirty boot. "Then Master Bleway here won't last very long. She's already fought for me in my tournament and won me countless credits. Now, this is her chance to get me even more. Five hours, people. Or the lady dies." Hondo finished as he held the barrel of his personal blaster against Denali's skull. 

The message ended.

"When was this message sent?" Master Windu asked.

"Four hours and fourty-five minutes ago." Padme answered.

"What are we doing standing around here for? Aren't we going to save her?" Anakin asked quickly. Obi-Wan didn't say anything as he stood there, his arms folded and his hand grazing his beard while he thought deeply. His eyes were closed as he attempted to contact his wife telepathically.

'Denali? Are you there?' he pleaded mentally.

No reply.

"This may be the only chance we get to capture Dooku as well." Senator Organa chimed in. "Why take the chance of letting him escape again?"

"Agree with the Senator, I do." Master Yoda stated. Anakin scoffed in complete disbelief as he threw his hands up in the air, then had them flop at his sides.

"Does anyone else care that Master Bleway is in trouble? That if we don't accept this sleamo's offer, he'll kill her?" The Jedi knight asked in total shock. Anakin looked to his master for support, but saw that he was deep in thought. Knowing exactly what Obi-Wan was doing, Anakin decided not to disturb him if he was communicating with Denali.

"Care, we all do." Master Yoda said. "But what of her padawans?"

"If I know my old padawan, I know that she wouldn't have put them in danger. They're most likely safe with her brother on Alderaan as we speak." Master Fisto told them all. He truly was more worried for her than capturing Dooku, but he wouldn't say it out loud since he knew that attachments were forbidden in the Jedi Order.

"How do we know that the Seperatists or the Rancor Slayers haven't replied, though?" came a considerable comment from Palpatine.

"There's only one way to find out. We're wasting time by arguing like this. Master Bleway has minutes left before she could die. I believe that we should contact this creep right now." Anakin spoke up as he folded his arms. Obi-Wan stood there silently, still trying to speak to his wife. But getting no reply. He did is best to hide his worry as he opened his eyes. Everyone was silent as they waited for Master Yoda to say his final thoughts on the matter.

"Contact Hondo, we must." the old master exclaimed. Palpatine nodded and pressed the green button on his desk-comm once again. Standing there as a holographic image was the pirate scum, a wide and disgusting smile on his face.

"Weeelll, you actually decided to join the party. And with three minutes left to spare. You didn't bother taking your time at all." Hondo scoffed sarcastically.

"We would like to take up your offer, Mr.Ohnaka. What exactly do you wish in exchange for Master Bleway and Count Dooku?" Palpatine asked. The Weequay man just laughed, making everyone in the room immediately nervous. Whenever someone laughed at a moment like this was never a good thing. 

"You're a bit late on that, Mr.Palpatine. I've already received large offers from both the Seperatists and the Rancor Slayers. So unless you're willing to pay millions for these two, I'd re-think your plan." Palpatine looked at the other people in the room.

"Master Jedi, it's your call." he told Master Yoda.

"Credits are no object if winning the war, this brings us closer to." Yoda told him. 

"Well then, I'll send you a number of the total amount of credits I'll be needing in exchange for the two. If you can top the number I send, then you can have them-"

"Hold on," Master Windu interupted. "What if this is all just a hoax? I think we shoud send someone to check and make sure that this guy has Dooku and Master Bleway in the first place before we send him anything."

"Go ahead," Hondo replied. "I have nothing to hide. Send your two strongest Jedi to pick Master Bleway and the Count up." 

He disconnected the communications after that.

"Master Kenobi and I will go and make sure that Hondo isn't lying about this." Anakin volunteered the two. Obi-Wan was still silent, but nodded to let them know that he agreed with his padawan. The other Jedi exchanged quick glances, but nodded their approval as well. Considering the fact that Dooku had slipped through their fingers more than once already, this was a perfect time for Anakin and Obi-Wan to redeem themselves.

But Anakin wasn't thinking about redemption. Nothing near that subject, actually.

Neither was Obi-Wan.

Hondo had hurt the love of his life. He had forced her to fight until she collapsed, then continued to harm her for no reason what so ever. That could only be the act of a coward and a fool. No, Obi-Wan wasn't going for Dooku and the credits. He was going because his wife, the woman he loved more than anything in the universe, needed him. He knew he was going to walk int Hondo's lair, pick her up in his arms, and carry her out to safety. He didn't care what anyone else would think. Obi-Wan was determined to be her knight in shining armor.

Whether Anakin liked it or not.