Chapter Four: A P.O.ed Trandoshan Gets A Taste of His Own Medicine
By Chrysta Fett
Cradossk bared his fangs at Slave 1's hull as he locked on another missile. After being humiliated so many times by that barve who calls himself a bounty hunter, he was going to get rid of him once and for all. The missile fired off from his ship to strike the Slave 1. He snarled though, as a light shimmer ran over the ship's hull and the missile exploded harmlessly. Fett managed to get up his shields. Narrowing his yellow eyes, Cradossk could make out Fett in the cockpit. The Trandoshan slammed his fist onto the control panel with a snarl. "Darn him!" Shields, however, weren't keeping Cradossk from his goal.
Fett's fingers flew across the keyboard and pushed some buttons. The engines began revving up and he spun the ship around so the cannons on the front of Slave 1 were pointing towards Cradossk's ship. Aiming, he fired at the Trandoshan's ship, taking out the concealed missile launchers with ease. After nailing a few more vulnerable spots, he pressed the throttle and Slave began ascending out of the landing station. "I suggest you hold onto something," he said into the intercom system.
"Why?" came a voice from below. Her reply was almost getting thrown across the small hold area when the engines gunned and Slave 1 shot from the landing station, Cradossk's ship, the Merciless Captivator damaged but hot on Slave 1's heels. The bounty hunter picked herself up from the metal floor and rubbed a bruised spot on her head. With a venomous glare up at the cockpit, she began climbing the ladder upwards. The ship swiveled suddenly, almost throwing her off the ladder. "Could you fly a little better?" she yelled, clinging to ladder. Laser cannon shots were her only reply. Returning ones added to it. She made it up to the cockpit, holding onto the door frame for support as Slave 1 flipped around. They hadn’t reached space yet obviously, for she caught a glimpse of Circumtore's surface as Slave 1 flipped. As the ship leveled, Cradossk's ship filled the viewport. "Watch out!" she cried. Fett jabbed a button on the weapons console and a locked on missile shot out as Slave 1 spiraled away from the Captivator. An explosion of flame appeared in the corner of the viewport as Fett angled the ship up towards space.
Cradossk saw Slave 1 charge and then a violent explosion rocked the ship. He gunned the throttle but there was no response from the engines. A red light blinked on the console and a small alarm went off. As the Captivator began falling planet-ward, he watched in a blind fury as Slave 1 got smaller and smaller in the viewport. Thinking fast, he locked onto Fett's ship and fired a third concealed missile launcher. He leaped out of the pilot's chair and bolted for the escape pod, a smug leer on his Trandoshan face.
The blue sky began fading to black as stars began appearing as Slave 1 plowed through the atmospheres. The old frame shuddered slightly and Fett snorted disapprovingly. His ship needed some fixing. He had not totally forgotten the bounty hunter standing behind him. He heard and saw her take out her blaster and aim at the back of his neck where there was no armor. Ignoring it, he sighted a spot on the far side of the galaxy and began putting in coordinates for Tatooine. There was a docking facility in Mos Espa that could repair and upgrade Slave 1. "Find a seat and strap yourself down. We're going into hyperspace," he said, still ignoring her somewhat.
"No and no, we aren't," she snapped. This female was begging to bug him.
"Your choice isn't a wise one," he said, glancing over his shoulder. She made a face at him.
"I beat you one time, I can beat you again," she said with that annoying smug, little smile. She didn't even see him move. In a few moments, Fett moved out of the seat, disarmed her, and had her up against the wall of the cockpit with her blaster out of reach. The tables had turned.
"I doubt that." Just as he said that, a blast knocked them both to the floor. An alarm began going off and a red light blared on the console. Fett got up and stood over the console while the bounty hunter sat on the floor rubbing her forearm where Fett had grabbed her. Boba cursed under his breath. Cradossk must have been able to fire a missile at Slave 1 as the Captivator fell towards the planet. There was a groan of metal and durasteel as a thruster went out. The ship's slowed instantly. Fett's anger flared for a moment. He had broken the number one rule in bounty hunting; never turn your back, one of the first things his father had taught him. Behind his helmet, his eyes narrowed irritably. "Could this day get any better?" he asked himself.
"You aren’t going into hyperspace with your ship in this condition are you?" the bounty hunter asked from behind him. "She'll blow up!" Fett curled a lip.
"She'll just have to hold until I find a suitable docking station to get her fixed and updated," he replied shortly. "She needs it." He watched the bounty hunter's face grow angry and her gaze flick towards her blaster that was up against the opposite wall. "I wouldn't try it. Cradossk interfered with your plans but, disregarding the damage to my ship, helped me." He threw out his armored arm and the whipcord installed on it shot out and wrapped itself around her, pinning her arms to her sides.
"You dirty thug! Let me go!" she screeched. He walked up to her, took hold of the rope, and pulled over to the other seat in the cockpit. He shoved her down in it and strapped the crash webbing around her.
"You'll stay there until I see it fit to let you go. I have some questions," he said, a barely noticeable tinge of venom in his voice. He sat down in the pilot's seat and began putting in closer coordinates for Sluis Van, home of one of the most advanced ship yards in the galaxy and planet of the Sluissi. Kuat was too far off for the ship to hold. A planet came up on the holoscreen with the coordinates under it.
"Sluis Van? Don't the Sluissi charge a lot?" the bounty hunter asked.
"Even if they did, I'd be able to pay for it. To them, their work repairing ships, is like art," Fett replied pushing the hyperspace throttle. The stars in the viewport blurred and the ship shot into hyperspace with a groan. "First off, how were you able to get my armor off so easily?" There was no reply. "Answer or you'll end up down in that cage and believe me, it's much less comfortable than where you're at now." She glared at him.
"Why don't you just kill me then? I still won’t talk."
"Why don't you just kill me then? I still won’t talk."
"You're lucky I haven't," he snapped, the T shaped visor locking on her. "I'm keeping you alive only because I need to find out how you were able to run circles around me and who hired you."
"Then what?" Fett was silent for a moment.
"I haven’t decided that yet. Now, the answer to my question?" She looked down at her boots.
"My father...he was a Mandalorian. I was gonna get a set of armor myself so I had to learn how it worked. I could take off and clean a full set of Mandalorian armor faster than my father, and that's saying something."
"Your father wasn't in the battle between the Mandalorians and the Jedi in the Galidraan system?" She shook her head.
"No. He was on a separate assignment from Jaster. I assume you know who he is. When he got word that Jaster got killed in battle and a man named Jango?something or another took his place, the Mandalorians had already been wiped out by the Jedi." She sighed. "Boy, was that a stupid move or what? What was going through Jango's head when he decided to lead them there? Anyway, then he became a man-for-hire, met my mother, they got married, and around the beginning of the Clone Wars, had me." Her fiery gaze moved to Fett. "That good enough for you?" He didn't reply and a silence filled the cockpit. The bounty hunter cocked a delicate eyebrow. "Something wrong?"
"No," Fett replied, his voice somewhat husky. The bounty hunter was quiet for a moment. So that explained all the fighting moves and the armor, he thought. "Where did you learn all your technical abilities?"
"My dearly departed mother. She was a genius. Could work with any possible kind of machinery." She smirked. "Taught me everything I know."
"Who hired you?"
"What will you do if I don’t tell you?" The visor turned back to her.
"Make the rest of your time on this ship a living nightmare."
"What will you do if I DO tell you?"
"That depends," Fett replied, adjusting the output on the remaining thrusters.
"On what?" she asked cautiously.
"On who it is that hired you. So answer the question."
"Oh. O.K. Prince Xixor. A million and some change for bringing you in alive." Fett snorted. Like that would happen. "You doubt me?"
"No. But what does Xixor want with me?" he asked glancing at her. She shrugged.
"Got me on that one. I don't wonder why my client wants their prey. I really don't care." Boba almost laughed. She reminded him a lot of himself.
"What's your name?"
"Why? Never heard of me or do you just don't care being on top of the bounty hunters' list of fame?"
"Just wondering," he replied, ignoring her comment. She eyed him disapprovingly. I guess it wouldn’t hurt if he's just going to kill me anyway, she thought.
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"Orro. Solita Orro." He nodded a little and it got quiet apart from a few groans from the ship. He didn't turn to her but he said something in a foreign language. "What?" "Just checking something." His gloved fingers began working across the keyboard at a fast pace and a small holoscreen popped up at the bottom of the viewport. She watched him work but couldn’t understand the language the writing on the screen was. It looked like Huttese. He worked for a few more minutes and closed the holoscreen. She was staring out the viewport at the stars when she heard the autopilot come on and he get up and walk to the door. She also heard him pick up her fallen blaster. "Going somewhere?" "I'm going to see what damage is done in the hold. Don't do anything you might regret," he said, disappearing down the ladder. She listened to his boots ring on the rungs and then his steps toward the back of the ship. She looked back out the viewport and shifted uncomfortably in her bindings. Fett had probably re-done his security settings so, if she did get loose, she couldn't take control of the ship. She sighed heavily and leaned back in the chair. Wouldn't her old man laugh if he saw her in this predicament. She'd have to ask who Jango was if she ever saw him again. Fett had an open tool box at his side while he fixed some loose ends that had been left alone for the longest time. The damage done to Slave 1 wasn't that extensive compared to some of the ships he'd seen but it was enough to almost cripple the old ship. There wasn't anything he could at the moment for the big things but he could fix up some minor details. He set down an oily wrench on the floor and stood there for a moment, thinking. "Boy, was that a stupid move or what? What was going through Jango's head when he decided to lead them there?" Those words burned. Who could say it was Jango's fault that the Mandalorians ran afoul of the Jedi? No one. Boba clenched a fist. Jedi, the peace-keepers of the galaxy. What a load of Bantha crap. Though he had killed Mace Windu, Boba still felt resentment for the whole Jedi race. He stared down at his boots. He had promised himself to become the best bounty hunter the whole galaxy would ever see. He'd promised his father. He had promised to become a legend and leave a big mark in history. Even Jedi would fear him. Looking back up, he sighed deeply. Closing the tool box with the toe of his boot, he walked past the holding cage and stopped at the bench where his weaponry still sat not cleaned. He looked towards the ladder up to the cockpit and saw the piece of forearm armor that Solita had taken off. He walked over, picked it up, and went back over to the bench and sat down. It would be back to work after this fiasco with Solita Orro was over. He will fulfill his promise, a bounty on his head or not. |
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