CHAPTER SIX
While Jango Fett put his battle armor on, Boba threw everything the two owned (which wasn’t much) into an expandable flight bag.
“Get a move on, Boba!”
Boba knew his father wasn’t afraid of anything. But after the encounter with the strange Jedi, Jango seemed nervous. Worried. Not frightened, but… concerned, at least.
And he was in a BIG hurry.
After he had filled the bag, Boba threw all the dirty dishes into the cleaning slot. He didn’t have to be neat at all. If it hadn’t been so scary, it would have been fun.
“Leave the rest,” Jango said. “We don’t have time.”
Be careful what you wish for! How many times had Boba dreamed of having time away from stormy Kamino and living somewhere else, with sunshine - and maybe even friends?
Now it was happening. The having time away part, anyway. Boba was glad, and yet… There was the bed where he had slept and dreamed. The windowsill where he had sat and read and watched the endless rain. The box where he had kept his books, clothes, and old toys, all in one pile.
It’s hard to leave the only place you’ve ever lived, especially when you don’t know when you’ll be back. It’s like leaving behind little pieces of yourself. It’s like…
Boba caught himself. This was no time to get sentimental. His father was in a hurry. They had to get going.
And there was one last thing he had to do before leaving Tipoca City.
“Whoa! Where are you going?” Jango asked. His battle armor was on, helmet and all. He was holding what looked like a whip. “Where are you taking that stuff?”
“Uh, Dad… library books?”
Boba hoped his father would understand that he had to return them. Who knew when they were coming back? And Boba didn’t want Whrr to be charging him for overdue books.
“Make it fast, son,” Jango said. “And while you’re at it - “
He handed Boba the “whip.” It was the eel. “Turn him loose in the sea. Let him try feeding himself for a change.”
“Yes, sir!” Boba was out the door before his father could change his mind. The eel was coiled around one arm, and he carried the books in the other.
He ran through the rain as fast as he could. He stopped at the edge of the platform where he had taken the sea-mouse. He leaned over the railing and dropped the eel into the waves.
Plunk.
Boba saw a dark shape, a flash of teeth. And the eel was gone.
“Good riddance!” he muttered as he ran toward the library. “Life is hard for the small and the weak. And it’s all relative.”
Boba hurriedly shoved the books into the slot. One, two, three…
Whrr whirred happily. “How about this batch?” he asked from behind the door, in his tinny voice. “What did you think? Any good?”
“Not too bad,” Boba said. “But I don’t have time to talk now.”
“No? Why not? Don’t you want to check out some more books?”
Usually Boba liked talking about books. But today there was no time. “Have to go!” he said. “So long!”
“Hurry back, Boba,” Whrr said. “But wait, here’s..”
“No time to wait!” Boba didn’t have the heart to tell his friend that he didn’t know when he would be coming back.
So he just turned and ran.
Jango Fett, fierce looking in his full battle armor, was waiting with the flight bag in front of the apartment. Boba could tell his father was mad at him for taking so long. But neither of them said anything.
The two walked quickly to the tiny landing pad where Slave I, the bounty hunter’s small, swift starship, was parked. Jango stowed the bags while Boba checked out the ship for takeoff.
Boba had just completed the preflight “walk-around” when he heard footsteps. At first he thought it might be Taun We, coming to say goodbye.
No such luck.
It was the Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The one who had been at the apartment asking all the questions.
And he was running.
“Stop!” he shouted.
Yeah, right! thought Boba.
Jango clearly had the same thought. He drew his blaster and fired, while ordering, “Boba, get on board!”
Boba didn’t have to be told twice. He got into the cockpit and watched as his father fired up his battle armor’s jet-pack and rocketed to the top of a nearby building. There, Jango Fett knelt and began to fire down at the Jedi with his blaster rifle.
KA-WHAP!
KA-WHAP!
Though he had never flown Slave I alone, Boba knew all the controls and weapons systems by heart. Reaching over his head, he switched the main systems on, so the ship would be ready to go when his father got through whipping the Jedi.
Then he got an even better idea. He activated the blaster cannon controls.