[Boba Fett] - 1(5)

When Boba got back to the apartment, he saw that his father had been walking in the rain, too.

Funny, thought Boba. I didn’t see him out there.

After supper, Jango Fett said, “Boba, listen up.” Boba listened up.

“What happened to Zam could happen to any of us. To any bounty hunter. Do you understand?”

Boba nodded - but his nod was a lie. He was determined not to understand. He had promised himself not to think about it. He couldn’t imagine it, anyway. Who or what could get the best of his father in a fight?

“Good,” said Jango Fett. “So, son, I want you to take this.”

Jango handed Boba a book.

Boba was shocked. My dad?! A book?!

Jango seemed to know what Boba was thinking. “It’s not a book, son,” he said. “It’s a message unit, from me. For you, when the time comes.”

Not a book? It looked like an ordinary book, about two fingers thick, with a hard cover. It was black, with nothing on the cover. No words, no pictures. Nothing, front or back.

Boba tried to open it but the pages seemed stuck together. He pulled harder on the cover, and his father shook his head.

“Don’t open it,” Jango said. “Because when you open it, your childhood will be over. And it is too soon for that. I want you to have what I never had: a childhood.”

Boba nodded. Though he was confused. Why had his father given him a book if he didn’t want him to open it?

Then his father told him:

“If something happens to me, you should open it. It will tell you what you need to know. Who to ask for. Who to avoid. What to do. What not. Until then, keep it closed, and keep it hidden. Understand, son?”

Boba nodded. He tossed the black book (that was not really a book) into the pile with his library books. He wasn’t going to need it. Ever. No way. Like, something bad was going to happen to his father, the fiercest, fastest, most fearless bounty hunter in the galaxy?

No way. Unthinkable. Which simply meant that Boba was not going to think about it.





CHAPTER FIVE


The next day, Boba and his father went fishing. The rain was light, so they sat on a rock at the edge of the sea. Boba took potshots at rollerfish with his pocker, a laser-aimed spear-thrower. Jango made him turn the laser off and sight by eye.

Boba knew that the fishing trip was his father’s way of trying to make him feel better, so he’d forget about Zam’s death. Boba did his best to concentrate.

He kept on fishing even when Taun We, one of the Kaminoans, stopped by to talk with Jango. She was tall and white, like a root that has just been pulled out of the ground. Her dark eyes were as big as saucers, her neck long and thin.

Boba usually liked Taun We, but today it was business, business, business. Something about the clones. Boba tried not to listen. He didn’t want to hear about the clone army - his ten thousand twin brothers. It made him feel creepy just thinking about it.

He was glad when Taun We left, and to prove it, he speared a few more rollerfish. He tried to act excited to please his dad, but the fun had gone out of it.

Boba couldn’t stop thinking about the clones. He couldn’t stop thinking about Zam.

Boba did get excited again, though, when they passed the spaceport on their way back to the apartment. There was a new ship on the landing pad. It was a sleek starfighter he had only seen in pictures before.

“Wow!” he said. “It’s a Delta-7!”

“And what of the droid?” Jango asked, pointing to the nav unit behind the cockpit.

“It’s an R4-P,” said Boba excitedly. While his father listened, he listed the starfighter’s features. Extra armaments, extra speed - the Delta-7 with the R4-P was the kind of ship only a few, select pilots could handle.

“Like who?” Jango asked.

“Like you!” Boba said as they hurried home in the rain. He was happy to show off what he had learned from his reading. And even happier to bring a smile to his father’s face.

But the smile didn’t last. Jango seemed thoughtful. Preoccupied. Even worried.

He went into the bedroom to take a nap while Boba sat down with a reference - Starfighters of the Galaxy. He was curious to know how such a sleek ship as the Delta-7 had found its way to out-of-the-way Kamino, where nothing important or exciting ever happened.

Boba had barely started to read when he heard the door buzz. He and his father didn’t have any friends, especially with Zam gone, so he was surprised.

It was Taun We again. And this time she wasn’t alone. The man standing next to her wore a simple robe and no jewelry. Under his robe Boba could see the outline of a lightsaber.

A Jedi.

All of a sudden, Boba knew where the starfighter had come from.

Cautiously, he opened the door.