“That’s impossible!” Bossk’s claws tightened into fists, as though he were about to swing on either his partner or the elder from the council, or both. “Why would he do something like that?”
Fett regarded the reptilian with no show of emotion. “I have my reasons.”
“I bet you do… .”
“And are they not good reasons?” The elder swiveled its eyestalks toward Bossk. “Should not all propositions make such excellent sense? For all of us-do we not gain the benefit of the esteemed Boba Fett’s skills? Known throughout the galaxy!” A saw-edged forelimb gestured toward Fett on the other side of the table. “And does not he acquire thereby the many advantages that come with membership in our Guild? The warmth of our regard, the comradely fellowship, the excellent weapons maintenance facilities, the medical benefits-that alone is not to be lightly considered in our hazardous line of work.”
“He’s lying to you!” Bossk looked across the faces of the other council members. His straining fists rose alongside his head, nearly knocking over the smaller Zuckuss. “Can’t you see that? It’s some plan of his-like all his other plans—”
“What you don’t see,” said Boba Fett, “is how the times have changed. The galaxy is not as it was, when your father was as newly hatched as you. The fields upon which we pursue our quarry are shrinking, just as the strength of Emperor Palpatine increases.” He could see the council members around the crescent nodding their acknowledgment of his wisdom. “The Bounty Hunters Guild must change as well, or face its extinction. And so must I change my ways as well.”
“The old days,” murmured Cradossk, slumped down and gazing wistfully into his empty goblet. “The old days are gone… .”
“Anyone with eyes and a brain can tell that the bounty-hunting trade is being squeezed into a tighter and tighter corner.” Some of the words Fett used were straight from what Kud’ar Mub’at, back at its web drifting in space, had told him. They were true enough, or at least to the point where they would be believed by these fools on the Guild council. “Not just by the Empire; there are others. Black Sun …” He merely had to mention the name of the criminal organization for that point to be made. The whispers turned into guarded silence. “Bounty hunters such as ourselves have always operated on both sides of the law, as need be; that’s the nature of the game. But when both sides turn against us, then we must band together to survive. There’s no room for an independent agent such as myself. We either join forces, you and I, or we go our separate ways. And await our separate destruction.”
A strange, raw ache tightened Boba Fett’s throat. It had been a long time since he had spoken that many words all at one go. He didn’t live by making speeches, but by performing deeds: the more danger, the greater the profit. But the job he’d accepted from Kud’ar Mub’at was, in some sense, a job like any other. Whatever it takes, thought Fett. If it required getting a bunch of aging, dull-fanged mercenaries like Cradossk and the rest of the Bounty Hunters Guild council to swallow a well-oiled line, then so be it. If anything, it was just proof that words could trap and kill as well as any other weapon.
“Should you not thank Boba Fett?” The elder standing near Bossk made a sweeping gesture with his serrated forearm. “For your sake, has he not repeated what he already has so eloquently stated to us?”
“And you fell for it.” Bossk sneered at all the council members, his father included. “You don’t have the guts to fight him, so you’d rather believe that he’s on your side now.”
Boba
Fett raised his inner estimation
of
the Trandoshan bounty hunter. He’s going to be trouble, thought Fett. Not just another dumb carnivore. If the time ever did come when Bossk inherited the leadership of the Bounty Hunters Guild, it might in fact become serious competition for him. But right now Bossk’s smarts and his fierce temper were weapons to be turned against him and the others.
“You’ll see, my little one.” Cradossk roused himself into an approximation of sobriety. “If I didn’t love you the way I do, I’d have your scaly hide peeled off and tanned
into a wall hanging for our new
member’s quarters.” He extended a wobbling claw toward Bossk. “But because I want there to be something someday for my spawn to possess and lead, the way I lead the Guild now-and because I’m not dead yet, so there’s still time for you to gain both some manners and some knowledge of how the galaxy works-that’s why I’m not asking you to be brothers with Boba Fett. I’m telling you to do it.”