[Bounty Hunter Wars] - 01(46)

“You’ve thought this over a great deal,

Prince Xizor.” The Emperor’s cold, deep-set eyes studied him. “I can hear in your words the sound of well-polished gears meshing together. You seek to convince me. Very well; you have. To some degree. But what I haven’t heard from you is what these sharp-edged tools are, that I should bend to my purposes.”



“That answer is very simple,” said Xizor. “The tools you need are those individuals known as the bounty hunters.”



Vader’s words broke in, deeper and even more contempt-filled. “We have gone here from folly to madness. What the prince seeks to convince you of is nonsense. We waste our time even contemplating it. While Prince Xizor amuses himself

with these idiotic notions, the

Rebellion marshals its forces and conspires against the Empire.”



“Your antipathy to the prince’s suggestion seems somewhat extreme, Lord Vader.” Beneath the unadorned hood, the Emperor’s head tilted to one side. “Have you not employed bounty hunters yourself from time to time? You have even spoken to me of one, that rather enigmatic individual named Boba Fett. He’s been a bounty hunter for long enough to have gained a reputation nearly as fear-inspiring as your own.”



“A bounty hunter has his uses,” said Vader stiffly. “The prince is correct about that. But they are limited. If I’ve given a few of your credits to any of them, Boba Fett included, it was because they were willing to do those jobs dirty enough to match their own mercenary natures. Bounty hunters come from the sewers of the galaxy; they find it agreeable to troll through various criminal dens, sinkholes of depravity that can be found on any number of planets, and locate those whose greed rather than misplaced idealism has brought them into contact with the Rebellion. Scum seeks out other scum; even our Imperial stormtroopers are incapable of anything but the most rudimentary searches through places like that.”



“Exactly,” said Xizor. “Even if those were the only uses that bounty hunters had, they would still be of irreplaceable value to the Empire. But they have more than that. Lord Vader uses the word ‘mercenary’; he speaks perhaps more tellingly than he realizes.” He could sense, even through the dark lenses of Vader’s mask, the angry reaction his words provoked. “A bounty hunter is just that: a mercenary. Boba Fett and the others like him will do anything for credits. It is greed and not fear that drives them, and that alone marks them as different from your admirals and stormtroopers, my lord. Violence is a commodity for the bounty hunters, not merely the result of following orders. Creatures such as those that serve in the Empire’s military forces are blind to the deaths and terror they create; they do as much as they are told to, and then they stop, like children’s toys whose power sources have run down. Bounty hunters, on the other hand, seek to maximize the return from their efforts; they have an entrepreneurial attitude rarely found, if ever, among your followers.”



“Though it is found often enough,” said Vader, “among the galaxy’s criminal classes.”



The suspicion struck Xizor once again, about just how much Vader knew. Or could prove. The difference between those conditions might be what kept Vader silent. For now, thought Xizor.



“If you are referring to such creatures as the Hutts, you are correct.” Xizor pointed to the windows full of stars. “And there are others besides them, working away, building up their own little empires and spheres of influence. They’ll be dealt with, eventually. The only reasons we should not eliminate them right now is that the Rebellion is a more pressing concern, and the Hutts and their ilk provide an environment for the bounty hunters to flourish in. And that is to our advantage. Criminals such as the infamous Jabba keep the members of the Bounty Hunters Guild fed on a regular basis so that they’re available for our purposes whenever we need them; independent operators such as Boba Fett find a way to survive, and even prosper, no matter what. Since bounty hunters deliver their services to the highest bidder, the Empire can always get the best ones to take care of our dirty work, as Lord Vader would call it. And right now there is a great deal of dirty work that must be dealt with.”



“Sewers,” grated Vader, “and the vermin that live in them are belter dealt with by draining rather than lying down in them.”



“The Rebellion doesn’t have the same sort of scruples that you do, Lord Vader.” Xizor regarded the black-robed figure through narrowed eyes. “And that is why the Rebellion is a growing danger to us. The