Falcone Kage worked on loading supplies into his KSE Firespray-31.
"Is that our target?" Padme asked through her helmet com.
"Yes, Kage is a bounty hunter too, but he ran afoul of unsavory persons with government connections. Even he doesn't realize that he's on the list. I snatched up an exclusive contract by only asking for the ship and a minimal amount for fuel, food, and supplies. But it looks like Kage has taken care of that for us," Cyrus laughed through the com.
"What's the plan?"
"R2 locks bay, closes the roof access, and we try to stun Kage before he realizes what's going on." It was a simple plan, but for Cyrus, simple was better. If not for Anakin's knowledge and experience, he wondered if he could pull this off.
"R2, lock it up," Cyrus commanded the tough little droid. "Senator, approach him from the front, I'll stun him from the back." Padme acknowledged. Cyrus left and moved stealthily. When he was set, Padme approached Kage without drawing her weapon. Kage noticed her immediately and drew his blaster. "Who are you?"
"I'm Paxzor Trahn, I have a bounty, and I'm looking for someone to help me," Padme spoke calmly, although inside she was nervous. However, her nerves had been trained over the years by field training in the halls of politics and in battles.
"You're a bounty hunter? Never heard of you," Kage continued to watch her with suspicion.
"I'm new, but I'm well-trained. Former intelligence officer for Senate Bureau of Intelligence," Padme went with what she knew.
"Senate Bureau of Intelligence? That's pretty impressive. Why become a bounty hunter?" Kage seemed more relaxed but still suspicious.
"The assignments were getting riskier, but I wasn't getting paid more. I finally decided that if I were going to risk my life so much, I might as well get compensated for it. Those Senators are all scum, not worth protecting for ideals they don't believe in. Their promises aren't worth poodoo."
"What's the job, how much does it pay, what's my cut, give me the details," Kage was interested.
"I'll send the details with my coming."
As he looked at the information, he was confused and then startled, "I don't--" then a blue ring of light struck him in the back and he collapsed.
"Wow, Senator," Cyrus appeared, "I'm impressed. Did you make all of that up on the fly?"
"Of course not, you came up with the fake name but didn't give me a backstory. I spent time coming up with it. I always wanted to be an intelligence officer. Although if I were one, it wouldn't be for the Senate Bureau; those people are scum."
"You're those people," Cyrus laughed.
"There are a few exceptions," she said over the com.
"Like who?" Cyrus removed Kage's weapons and armor.
Padme thought for a minute, "Bail Organa from Alderaan, and Grebleips from Brodo Asogi."
"Only two? There can't be only two," Cyrus was stunned.
"There are only two that I would consider good, then there are some who aren't bad, some who aren't bad, and then some who aren't scum, the rest are scum." Padme watched as Cyrus finished his job.
"Okay. I'll take this guy in and collect our bounty. You and R2 finish loading the supplies and get the ship ready to leave. R2, you can unlock the bay and open the sky hatch," Cyrus took a mobile restrainor bed with repulsors and carted Kage off.
"He doesn't talk much anymore, at least he laughed this time. I was worried he was a droid. No offence, R2," The astromech twiddled in reply, but Padme wasn't paying attention. She watched Cyrus until he finally disappeared.
Cad Bane crept along a ridge, followed by Bossk the Trandoshan. The dry heat of Geonosis suited his physiology. As a bipedal sentient lizard, Bossk liked the heat. Although he liked the heat, his current role was to conceal himself in the shadows as backup for Bane. Aurra Sing served as their lookout and covered them as they approached. Dengar's job was to protect her for now. His otherwise blustering approach to combat would alert their enemies. He was their tank, good for later, but better as a bodyguard for now.
Bane took control of the group immediately. He recognized how useful they were, each with their own specialty. He was the group tactician, anti-Jedi fighter, and the best of the bunch.
This bunch, on their own, were all powerful menaces, not much weaker than Bane. But they didn't know how to work together without him. They couldn't plan an operation like this. They all recognized that they stood to make more money with Cad Bane in the lead than each person doing their own thing.
Bane was also a master infiltrator and returned from his investigation of the Separatist gathering. There, he saw Count Dooku and filmed their meeting before retreating.
"There are five droideka coming to your position. Should I take them down?" Aurra Sing watched the droidekas making rapid progress toward Bane's position.
"Negative, Bossk and I will handle it. If they're it, you and Dengar get the ship ready. We'll handle clean up," Bane commanded.
"Affirmative," Sing responded and clicked the communication channel closed.
"They've noticed us, we'll take down the droidekas and rendezvous with the others," Bane whispered to the shadows.
The bounty hunter responded to Bane's command with something in Trandoshan, "No, I don't think anyone betrayed us. They probably noticed us entering the atmosphere. Geonosis has the skies controlled, and only allies are allowed to land. It could have been Dooku; he used to be a Jedi, though I got some video of him not acting like a Jedi. We have what we came for.
When the droidekas arrived, Bane pretended he didn't notice them, standing with his back facing them. He heard them roll up. It was between the moment they rolled in and began to change into their droid form with blasters ready that Bossk fired a device in their midst that struck each of them with an electric discharge diabling them.
Looking at them in silent amusement, he and Bossk retreated to meet with the others.
Cyrus and Padme were already halfway to Tatooine when he received a communication from Bane.
"Bane, you have some information for me?" Cyrus asked.
"Yeah, the kind that's worth 20,000,000 credits," Bane didn't spare tooting his own horn.
"I'll need to see it to know if it's worth that much."
"I hope you aren't trying to back out of our deal," Bane said with a threatening tone.
"I'm a Jedi, do you think I'll go against my word? I need verification. I'll send you coordinates, and another Jedi will meet with you to review the intelligence. If it's what you say it is, then you'll get the full payment, but you'll need to remain at the coordinates until the job is finished. If you share this information with anyone other than the Jedi, we'll place a bounty on your heads five times the amount you're getting paid, and every free Jedi will pursue you. Do you understand?"
Cad Bane was silent for a while, but eventually agreed, "Understood. I have the coordinates. We look forward to concluding our business with you." The communication ended.
"Do you think what he said is true?" Padme asked.
Bounty hunters like Cad Bane and his group don't mess around when it comes to money. If they think they can make more money by betraying you, they won't hesitate. Of course, I made it clear that betraying us wouldn't be fiscally responsible."
"You threatened him," Padme countered.
"Just a little aggressive negotiation, you know negotiations backed up with a lightsaber," Cyrus smiled. Padme couldn't repress her amusement.
Entering the contact information for Cad Bane, Cyrus sent the coordination and time of the meeting to Jedi Masters Yoda and Windu. He also explained the terms of the deal and the agreed-upon payout. After he received acknowledgment from Master Yoda, he put the matter out of his mind.
"It's the Council's problem now, Cyrus casually said.
"You don't seem overly fond of the Jedi Council," Padme noticed some things about Anakin.
"I am frustrated, the Separatists aren't wrong in their criticisms of the Republic or the Jedis. They're going about how to handle it all wrong," Cyrus absently responded as he focused on in-flight information.
"You don't think the Senate is doing a good job?" Padme pressed.
"Of course not, they're all scum, just like you said. Oh, there are at least three good Senators and some who aren't scum, but everyone else, definitely scum," another rougish smile graced Cyrus' lips.
Laughing at his use of her own words against him, she eventually calmed down, "Then what's the solution?" She asked.
"It couldn't hurt to get rid of the Sith who are stirring up all the trouble," Dropping that nugget of information, he felt Padme's feelings lose control for a moment.
"The Sith? The evil Jedi? They're involved?"
"You didn't think Maul was the only Sith, did you? He had a master, and his master is colluding with another Sith to create this conflict."
Horror and disbelief marred the Senator's face, "What do you mean?"
Cyrus clicked a couple of more buttons and swirled his chair around to face her, "Padme, there are two men who seem to be keeping this conflict alive. Even worse, they are trying to escalate the conflict. One of the men is Count Dooku, a former Jedi Knight and now the leader of the Separatists. The second is someone you know well. You must brace yourself, Padme; it will be hard to hear. The other person is the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine."
"Palpatine! That's impossible," she couldn't help her visceral reaction to Cyrus' words.
"Padme, with this information and other things that we've gathered, it's impossible that it isn't the two of them. I'm sorry." Cyrus gently consoled him. Padme was shocked and emotionally numb. She threw herself into Cyrus' arms.
"It can't be Palpatine, why would it be him?" She quietly asked.
"Because he's evil. Don't worry, we're going to stop him!" The words hung in the air, and Padme's tear-streaked face looked particularly vulnerable. Before either of them knew what was happening, Padme leaned in and kissed Cyrus.
"Please hold me," she hugged him tightly like a lost child.
Cyrus hugged her back and rubbed her back, soothing her emotions, "He killed Corde, and so many others. He's pushing us towards war."
"He will be brought to justice," Cyrus promised. The two sat together, one comforting and one being comforted.