The footsteps against the web’s resilient tangle of fibers, from several creatures coming down the corridor, were already audible. Boba Fett flattened himself against the side of the opening, blaster at the ready.
“Watch out-“
He had known that Voss’on’t would try to warn Xizor as soon as the Falleen prince appeared. A quick bolt from the blaster pistol, hitting Voss’on’t in the shoulder and knocking him back against the base of Kud’ar Mub’at’s nest, served both to silence him and distract Xizor’s attention. That gave Boba Fett the microsecond he needed to get an arm around Xizor’s throat and put the muzzle of the blaster against his head.
“Tell your men to back off.” Boba Fett used Xizor as a shield, putting the Falleen between himself and the two Black Sun guards that had been just behind in the web’s corridor. “I want their blasters on the floor-now.”
Xizor seemed more amused than surprised by what had happened. “Very well,” he said calmly. “Do as the bounty hunter says.” The two scowling guards lowered the blaster pistols they had so quickly unholstered, then tossed them into the center of the space. “You know-” Xizor turned his head, looking back at Boba Fett. “The guards are only a formality. I could kill you in a second. And I’d hardly have to move at all.”
“You don’t have a second.” Boba Fett kept the blaster aimed straight at the prince’s skull. “If you want to test your speed against mine, go ahead. But right now you’ve got a lot more to lose than I do.”
“True enough,” replied Xizor almost cordially, but still maintaining his haughty nobility. “I regret having backed you into this corner, Boba Fett. Desperate creatures seek desperate remedies for their situations. Which is a shame in this case, as you and I have more interests in common than you might otherwise suspect.”
The Falleen prince’s smooth words didn’t impress Fett. With a shove against Xizor’s back, Boba Fett pushed him toward Kud’ar Mub’at and the stormtrooper still bound hand and foot on the central space’s floor. Boba Fett took a step backward, to where his blaster pistol had an angle on the others, including the two Black Sun guards at the mouth of the corridor.
“There’s no need for that.” Prince Xizor’s cold half smile almost made it seem as if he were somehow in charge of the situation. “We can discuss these business dealings like civilized creatures. Here-” He gestured in command toward the two guards. “Return to the Vendetta. Your presence is no longer necessary here.”
“But-” one of the guards protested.
“Your presence was hardly of any value before; why should it be now?” Xizor repeated the gesture. “Go. Leave us.” As the Black Sun guards turned and disappeared down the corridor, Xizor spread his empty hands apart. “You see, Fett? I intend you no harm. Quite the contrary, in fact. You are a valuable entity to me.”
“Difficult to believe. “Boba Fett didn’t lower the blaster pistol in his hand. “Given that you were so recently trying to blast me into atoms with your ship’s laser cannons.”
“A misunderstanding,” said Xizor soothingly. “These things sometimes happen in the course of business. Just as it sometimes happens that a person such as myself might change his mind about what needs to be done. And who needs to be eliminated.”
“Glad to hear it,” said Fett. “But I don’t buy it.”
“You have a right to be skeptical. I’m sure our mutual friend and associate here has been telling you some interesting things. Information that might not reflect too well upon me …”
“My most esteemed … Prince Xizor …” The arachnoid assembler’s forelimbs quivered. “You mistake … my intentions…” Kud’ar Mub’at’s words stumbled out, as though the Falleen were holding the blaster on him. “I would never…”
“Don’t waste our time,” Xizor said coldly. “There are matters that you need to be informed of as well, Kud’ar Mub’at.” The edge of anger in Prince Xizor’s voice made his attitude of command even more apparent. “You deceive yourself if you assume that I have any continued need for your services.”
“But…”
“Silence!”
Boba Fett broke into the exchange between the two other creatures. “I’ll say when anybody should talk or not.” He aimed the blaster pistol straight toward Xizor. “All right?”
Xizor gave a thin smile and a nod. “As you wish. For now.”