Fate of a Friend

It wasn't uncommon for a bit of time to go by in between interactions with his friend. It only made sense that Marcus wouldn't have much free time on his hands what with doing a lot of work to support his family, not to mention raising a kid. Not exactly appropriate for him to continue mercenary work anymore, which he could fully understand and appreciate. All things considered, he had no issue with Marcus not contacting him for a long period of time.

But he's never gone silent for months on end.

There's plenty of reasons why that could be of course, many of them being nothing to worry about at all. But Jango's experiences have kept him wary of anything, always thinking of the worst possible outcome. It's how he's survived and built his reputation over the years. So, naturally, he set off to investigate Marcus' silence and put his fears at ease.

Jango first tried contacting Marcus, but he never received an answer. He then tried contacting his wife, Lara, but she too was silent, which unnerved him even more, as she was one of the most kind-hearted and helpful people he's ever met, which is saying something. With no response from either of them, however, Jango's worry only grew, and so he took his ship and made his way to Chandrila to figure out what was going on.

"This is Fett, requesting a response from Sohl," Jango said into his commlink, entering Chandrila's atmosphere. "Marcus, do you copy?"

Still no response. Jango flew his ship in the direction of where he knew their house to be, at the edge of a forest not far from the main city. He soon could see the house and brought the ship down for a landing in the field of grass next to it. As he was shutting down the engines, however, he noticed something off about the house, and upon a closer inspection realized that one of the windows was shattered.

Without waiting for a second, Jango leapt up from his chair and rushed outside while pulling his helmet on, taking out one of his blasters. He sprinted over to the house and stopped beside the door, which was blown open. Jango activates his helmet's thermal vision and sweeps his gaze around the house, swiftly moving inside with his blaster raised. He steps around cautiously, scanning for any sign of danger, though it soon became apparent that nobody was here: hadn't been for some time.

Feeling a sense of dread as he holsters his blaster, Jango carefully looks around the room with an analytical gaze, inspecting all the damage. The door was at the other end of the room, seemingly thrown with incredible force, and several slash marks seemed to adorn the walls, leading to the staircase. Jango crouches for a closer look at one of the marks, noting the carbon scoring of it with a deep frown.

"Lightsaber mark..." he murmurs, suspicion starting to grow.

They wouldn't... would they?

Standing back up, Jango turns his gaze over to the living room ceiling, seeing the small security camera placed in the corner. He makes his way over to it and scowls in frustration at seeing it was destroyed, likely by whoever did this. One of the connection ports on the security camera though still looked to be intact, alleviating some of Jango's frustration. He takes the camera off the ceiling and pulls out a small scanning device, inserting it into the port to begin looking for any possible traces of a recording still in it. As it would take some time before a result came, Jango set the camera aside on a nearby shelf and resumed his search of the house, keeping a hand close to his blaster just in case: his thermal vision didn't detect anyone in the house, but you could never be too sure.

The chaos seemed to move up to the second floor, which made sense considering the shattered window. Upstairs, he bypassed a fallen bookshelf, more slash marks visible throughout. There was a brief confrontation in one of the bedrooms, which Jango knew from past visits was for the kid. He stands in the doorway to that room for a moment, hands balled into fists at the idea of the young boy's fate. Jango was one of the trusted few who knew what made him special, and if it really was Jedi responsible for this...

*"Still can't believe you're actually a father," he said with a teasing grin, shaking his head.*

*"That hard to believe?" Marcus replied, giving him a look.*

*"I believe it," Lara said, looking at the baby boy she held in her arms with a smile.*

*"Hmph," Jango scoffed. "Well if the kid ever needs someone to teach him how to use a blaster, let me know."*

*"Excuse me? Nobody is teaching him anything about weapons, thank you!" she responded with a frown, protective of her son.*

*She knew it was all in good fun though and looked back at her son, who babbled in a bit of curiosity.*

*"Certainly. We all know Jango is never going to have kids," Marcus added, giving the bounty hunter a look.*

*"You know well enough I work alone," Jango retorted.*

Forcing aside his memories for the moment, Jango moves on to the master bedroom and resumes his search, immediately spotting a problem: Marcus always kept his armor in his closet, yet it wasn't there. Considering the fact every other bit of clothing still was, that meant it was taken. Scowling with anger, Jango slams the closet shut and begins moving out of the room before something else grabs his attention. Faltering, he slowly approaches the nightstand beside the bed, seeing a familiar object sitting on it, forgotten. With a trembling hand Jango picks it up, staring down at it with an ache in his chest.

It was a signet ring that bore the mark of Clan Ordo, which was made to symbolize the love between Marcus and Lara. Out of all the things that could've happened, Marcus would have never left this behind, that much he knows for certain.

Jango closes his hand around the ring, wrought with emotion and uncertainty, and then makes his way back down the stairs and into the living room. His scanner should be finished with the camera by now, and he goes to pick it up. Discarding the ruined security camera, he starts reviewing the data his scan managed to uncover. It was barely anything, only a fraction of the audio recovered, but hopefully it would at least give him an idea of what happened: he starts to play it.

*"Well we― ... ―have anyth― ... ―orry about Master Jedi. Our son― ... ―not a Force-sensitive."*

*"―you― ... ―give your child to me."*

Jango narrows his eyes angrily underneath his helmet, his hand holding the recorder shaking as his suspicions are proven to be correct.

*"I'm afraid not― ... ―an you prove― ... ―you are a Jedi?"*

*"Marcus! GET BACK!"*

The distorted sound of a lightsaber activating, followed by a man yelling in rage, can be heard and Jango stands completely still from tension and fear.

*"What was―"*

*"It― ... ―He's come for Jarik!"*

More loud noises, probably the door having been blasted open.

*"You will not escape!"*

The broken recording then breaks off completely after a quick burst of heavy static, leaving Jango surprised and panicking.

"What? No, no, that can't be it!" he growls anxiously, trying to find more of the recording, but it's no use.

Jango stands in complete silence for a while, now with a general idea of what likely happened based on what he's seen and heard. Somehow, the Jedi had discovered their son was Force-sensitive and sent someone to get him. Marcus and Lara resisted, obviously, so it seems the Jedi decided to do so forcefully... and ended up killing both parents.

The more he thought about it, the more enraged he became. He's heard plenty of talk about how the Jedi recruit more into their ranks, only ever taking babies so that they can indoctrinate them from the beginning. And he also knows all too well how the Jedi see themselves as self-righteous and morally above everyone else, believing that every action they take is for the greater good. That belief is what got Myles killed during the war, and he had ensured justice was met. But now, his closest friend and his wife are gone, and their son has been taken by the Jedi to become just as arrogant and 'righteous' as the rest of them.

And this time, there is nothing that Jango can do about it.

Jango's fury also sets itself on Clan Ordo, who while he disliked before because of their decision to banish Marcus, he now despises them. If they hadn't done what they had, then Marcus would probably still be alive right now, happily living with his family, old and new. But no, by falling in love with some woman who happened to be related to a man that existed thousands of years ago, *Marcus* is the one who is a disgrace. If that's what the Mandalorian Creed demands, then he refuses to even consider that idea any longer.

Fuming, Jango storms out of the wrecked house and back to his ship, unable to think about anything at the moment. The Jedi Order and Mandalorians can go kriff themselves for all he cared.