[Bounty Hunter Wars] - 03(54)

Boba Fett pushed himself back from the control panel. His gaze locked upon the empty freighter visible in the distance. “That was a mistake,” he said grimly. Without even checking further, he knew that what the assembler had said was true. It wasn’t the kind of thing a sentient creature would joke about; not with him. “A big mistake, on your part.”

“I don’t think so.” No apprehension sounded in the voice coming from the speaker. “The way I see it, you owed me at least that much. If it hadn’t been for me, Prince Xizor would have gone ahead and eliminated you. Permanently. You might not care to show any gratitude for that-I don’t expect it, either. So let’s just call this another little business deal.”

“Let’s call it theft.” Boba Fett rasped out the words. “I’m the wrong creature to steal from.”

“Perhaps so,” replied Balancesheet. “But it’s in your interest for my go-between business to be up and running. There’s a lot of potential clients out in the galaxy, who will only deal with someone like you at an arm’s-length basis. You need me, Boba Fett. So you can go on hunting down more hard merchandise and collecting the bounties for it. Without a go-between to hold the credits, a lot of this business breaks down; it doesn’t work anymore.”

The analysis didn’t sway Boba Fett. “I can take care of my own business.”

“Good for you. But I’m still keeping half the Voss’on’t bounty. I’ve got expenses as well.”

“You don’t have to worry about meeting them. You won’t live that long. Nobody does who steals from me.”

“Get serious, Fett.” The assembler’s mocking words slid out of the comm unit speaker; Balancesheet had given up any semblance of maintaining the formalities and sly fawning in which Kud’ar Mub’at had indulged. “What are you going to do about it? The condition your ship is in, you’re not able to blow away a midge-fly. Not without blowing yourself up. And as slow as this freighter might be, it’s still faster than you at the moment.”

“I’ll catch up with you,” promised Boba Fett. “Sooner or later.”

“And when you do, you’ll have either figured out how much you do need me, or I’ll be under the protection of Prince Xizor-Black Sun also needs a go-between. Or I’ll have some other surprise waiting for you. It doesn’t matter; I’m not exactly worried.”

“Get worried.” The thought of the stolen credits burned deep within Boba Fett’s breast. “Get real worried.”

“Until the next time,” said Balancesheet. “I’ll be waiting, bounty hunter.”

The comm unit connection with the freighter broke off, and silence filled Slave I’s cockpit once more. Boba Fett watched as the other ship’s thruster engines flared into life, then dwindled into fading, starlike points.

For a moment longer, he gazed out at empty space, his own thoughts as dark and brooding. Then he turned again to the calculations of the slow journey ahead of him…





7


NOW…

The story ended.

Or at least for now, thought Neelah. She had been sitting for a long time with her back against the cold durasteel bulkhead of the Hound’s Tooth’s cargo hold. Sitting and listening as the other bounty hunter Dengar had finished his account of Boba Fett’s past, and all that had come out of the scheme to destroy the old Bounty Hunters Guild.

“That’s it, huh?” She was glad she hadn’t had to keep a blaster aimed at Dengar to motivate him to keep talking. Her arm would have gotten tired by now. It had been a long story, though filled with enough action and violence to keep her from getting bored. With one hand she rubbed at the small of her back, then unfolded her legs and stood up. “I take it that Boba Fett got everything sorted out after that.”

“Good guess,” said Dengar. He rapped his knuckles on the bulkhead behind himself. “Since you’ve been on Slave I, before we transferred over to this ship, you know it’s in fully functional shape now. There were some incidents I heard about, though, that happened in the process of getting repaired. And redesigned, from the bulkheads to the engine core.” Dengar pointed with his thumb to the cage. “Apparently, Fett decided that he needed bigger quarters for the amount of hard merchandise he was going to be ferrying around-so things had to be shifted around to make room for it. Otherwise, the ladder wouldn’t be necessary to get to the cockpit. The whole refitting process took more than just credits, from all reports. And a few other creatures wound up getting killed. But that’s not unusual with the way Boba Fett works.”