[Boba Fett] - 4(12)

But this - thing - in front of him almost defied understanding.

Part of it was simply how huge he was. Back on Aargau, Boba had glimpsed Jabba’s nephew, Gorga the Hutt. Gorga had been big and disgusting.

But he was nothing compared to his uncle Jabba.

Jabba wasn’t merely big. He was immense.

And he was hideous.

His mounded, sluglike form nearly filled the great dome of the tent. He reclined on a wide raised platform covered with beautiful hand woven rugs and tapestries, all coated with thick slime.

Jabba’s followers occupied every remaining bit of space. Some of them were watching a Podrace on a large viewscreen. Others were hunched over gambling tables. Still others sat silently, moving chips and jewels back and forth in complex games of chance. Boba counted numerous guards, Drovians as well as the hulking Gamorrean guards preferred by the Hutt clan.

In addition to security, there was a large group of entertainers and athletes - jugglers, dancers, Podracers, acrobats - as well as Jabba’s “pets.” These were creatures nearly as ugly and threatening as the great Hutt himself. Most of them were in cages that hung from the domed ceiling. Boba nervously eyed a dwarf vornskr crouched near the entry, its whiplike tail lashing and its razor teeth exposed in a wicked grin.

The miniature vornskr snarled menacingly. Boba took this as his cue to introduce himself.

He said, in Huttese, “Jabba - er, sir. I am an emissary from Jango Fett.”

Atop his mound of swollen flesh, Jabba’s huge head slowly turned. He regarded Boba coolly with almond-shaped, amber eyes. His froglike tongue flicked in and out of a lipless mouth.

I bet there are planets smaller than he is, Boba thought. He forced himself to stare brazenly at the looming crime lord.

“Well, well!” Jabba rumbled. He gazed down at Boba with amused disdain. “What have we here? Another volunteer for the races tonight? I don’t need another pilot. Not unless one of them dies on the finish line. HO! HO! HO!”

His body shook with laughter. Jabba’s lackeys laughed, too. Boba thought their amusement sounded much more forced than the Hutt’s.

“I’m not here for the race,” Boba said. From inside his helmet, he saw several gamblers glance up from their tables. “I have come - “

He hesitated.

Why had he come?

For knowledge you must find Jabba.

Well, he’d certainly found Jabba! Boba looked up to see those evil narrow eyes staring at him.

“I - I have come to offer my services to you, 0 Great One,” said Boba.

Peals of laughter shook the dome. Even the vornskr howled gleefully. Only Jabba continued to gaze at Boba, and said nothing.

“His services!” roared a Noghri pilot.

A lithe Carratosian pirate eyed Boba and snickered.

“Maybe he can clean up after the vornskr,” she suggested.

Boba clenched his fists as the Gamorrean boars punched each other and guffawed.

“SILENCE!” thundered Jabba.

Immediately the dome grew still. Boba could no longer hear the click of gaming pieces; nothing but his own breath moving in and out of the helmet.

One of Jabba’s too-small arms punched at the air. “What is so amusing? ” he boomed in Huttese. “Who feels his own services are so important? YOU?”

Jabba turned and stared at the Carratosian. His long pale tongue oozed from his mouth. “Perhaps YOU are disposable, eh?”

“N-no sir,” she stammered. “I only meant - “

Without warning, Jabba’s powerful tail slashed across the floor. It struck her and she went sprawling.

“Insolent!” he cried. He turned to stare once more at Boba. “You, too, are insolent! No one approaches me without proper introduction.”

“I didn’t know,” Boba said. “I - “

“Ignorance is no excuse!” roared Jabba. “And the penalty for ignorance is - death!”





CHAPTER ELEVEN


Death.

Boba thought fast. Then he spoke fast.

“Jabba - Mightiest of Hutts!” he cried. He was careful to face Jabba directly, and to show no fear.

“It is precisely my ignorance that has brought me here!” Boba continued. “For knowledge you must seek out Jabba the Hutt’ - that is what Jango Fett told me. That is why I have come to you.”

Jabba stared at him. “For knowledge, eh?”

He sounded pleased. Boba drew a breath of relief.

“Do you hear that?” Jabba boomed, turning to his army of lackeys. “This stranger has come to me for knowledge! For this he has risked death, torture, and enslavement!”

Uh-oh, thought Boba.

Jabba turned back at him. “Well, intruder! You have come for a good reason. I know very much!”

The sluglike Hutt glanced at the monitor showing a Podrace. He gave a long, rumbling laugh. “Some might say I know what will happen before it happens.”