Slave Ship

by neetha Napew

  A shake of the head." Other than it being unoccupied-nothing. The Rebel Alliance forces that found the ship are still examining it."

  " They won't find anything," said Kuat of Kuat.

  " What makes you so sure, Technician? Boba Fett was involved in a great many activities that depended upon maintaining secrecy." The security head clasped his hands behind the small of his back." I would have thought it stood to reason that there might be some. . . intriguing traces of Fett's past aboard his ship."

  " Oh, there very well might be." Kuat gave a shrug as he stroked the animal nestled in his arms." And if you knew where to look, and if you had at least some idea of what you were looking for-and you were sufficiently motivated to begin with-you might be able to find them. But there's nobody associated with the Rebel Alliance who's capable of that kind of investigation. The Rebels are at a critical stage in their campaign against the Empire, and the crisis isn't likely to end anytime soon. They're not going to waste their precious time going over the ship of a dead bounty hunter-as they're likely to believe Boba Fett to be- with a fine-tooth comb. It'll be a moral issue with them." Kuat shook his head, pityingly." As much disdain as the Imperial Navy has for bounty hunters and other semicriminal types, it's even worse with the Rebels. When you think you're finer and truer and more virtuous than your opponents, it's all too easy to fall into a blinding self-righteousness." That had never been a problem for Kuat himself; he was comfortable at any moral level, from the stars to the gutters, as long as it helped ensure the survival of Kuat Drive Yards. He could deal with anybody; doing business with Emperor Palpatine and his admirals proved as much." The Rebel Alliance will give Fett's ship a cursory going-over," said Kuat," and then they'll try to dispose of it as quickly as possible."

  " Of course." The security head nodded slowly, digesting the other's superior wisdom." I imagine they'll

  be able to get a pretty good price for Slave I. Considering what an expensive piece of goods it was to begin with-salvage value should be high. Any number of other bounty hunters would want it for their own personal vessel."

  " Possibly," agreed Kuat. His head of security knew what he was talking about. When Boba Fett had ordered the construction and outfitting of the vessel, the bounty hunter had stipulated some expensive custom details. Kuat Drive Yards' accountants had demanded full payment up-front even before the ship's basic hull had been welded together. The design parameters that Fett had stipulated took the science-and the art-of small-craft development to a new level, one that Kuat himself had been only idly dreaming of, setting out a few concept sketches in his off-hours, before the actual job had manifested itself into reality. The advance payment had been for two reasons that had outweighed Kuat's innate desire to build such a ship: given the amount of time and resources that would be required to prototype, test, and finalize some of the unit's engine and maneuverability components, all the way from scratch to end product, and given the hazardous nature of the customer's line of work, said customer might well have been dead by the time Slave I had been ready to leave the docks. That would have been reason enough to demand the payment at the start of the process; the other reason lay in the nature of the ship itself, when it was completed. Anything that extreme in design was fully capable of killing the pilot on its first shakedown run, if the overpowered engines got away from him and tore apart the dura-steel frame like a collection of wooden twigs. Better to collect the money well before the customer succeeded in annihilating himself.

  That hadn't happened. The combination of Boba Fett's pilot skills and Kuat of Kuat's design genius had resulted in Slave I being recognized-and feared- across the galaxy. A ship didn't have to be as big and overwhelming as an Imperial battle cruiser-or a Death Star-to have the necessary psychological effect.

  Standing next to Kuat, the head of security raised an eyebrow." I would have thought it a certainty," he said," that the bidding for such a desirable item would be rather fierce."

  " It would be-if the prospective purchasers thought there was nothing wrong with the ship." Kuat displayed a thin smile." Of course, sentient creatures often get interesting ideas planted into their heads. Especially when someone such as Boba Fett is concerned- perhaps even more so now that he's thought of as the late Boba Fett. Bounty hunters and similar entities have their little superstitions, their fears and suspicions- not all of which are groundless, either. It's well known that Boba Fett had a considerable degree of security systems wired into Slave I; only a fool would assume that those had been deactivated by the original owner's demise. It's one thing to buy a used ship; it's another to buy a death trap."

  " Ah." The security head nodded." And if rumors, little hints about the unpleasant surprises that might be encountered by the new owner of Slave I, were to begin circulating in the appropriate territories. . ."

  " Then the price might go down considerably." The felinx in Kuat's arms purred, as if it too were pleased by this notion." And if the price goes down, so does the attention paid to the eventual sale-that's how psychology works for all sentient creatures. If they're no longer interested in a certain item, then they don't much care who is."

  " Which would mean," said Fenald," that when the Rebel Alliance finally puts Slave I up for sale,

  when they've finished their superficial examination of it, then the ship could not only be purchased for a bargain price, but also with a considerable amount of discretion."

  " Exactly." Kuat of Kuat continued watching the launch preparations at the main construction dock." Have one of our subsidiary corporations look into it-a components supplier, perhaps, but make sure that there isn't an obvious ownership trail back to Kuat Drive Yards. Transfer enough funds from one of my personal operating accounts, so that they'll be able to make the purchase when it happens. Instruct their chief negotiator to contact the Rebel Alliance as soon as possible, and see if they'll accept a preemptory bid; that way, the ship won't even come up on the open market and we won't have to deal with any other interested parties."

  " And the rumor campaign? Concerning the dangers of purchasing Boba Fett's ship?"

  " That should go into immediate high-speed propagation, to all points of the galaxy, radiating outward from Tatooine-that was where Slave I was last spotted. Make sure that the rumors penetrate all sectors controlled by the Rebel Alliance. The sooner they're convinced that Slave I is devalued merchandise, the more likely they'll be ready to listen to the preemptory purchase agreement. We've already got some listening-post agents planted in Mos Eisley, don't we?"

  The security head gave a quick, affirming nod." We just rotated a fresh crew into the spaceport."

  " Fine," said Kuat." They can start spreading the word. Have the covert operations department in our public relations wing come up with some negative-impact details about Slave 7's onboard security systems; perhaps some story about one of the Rebel Alliance investigating teams getting blown away as soon as they opened the main hatch. That way, when and if the Rebel Alliance indicates that the ship is going to be put up for sale, most sentient creatures' suspicions about it will be confirmed, whether they're true or not."

  " By the time the rumor campaign is finished, Technician, the Alliance will be ready to give the ship to the first person that comes along."

  " I'm not concerned about the nature of the bargain." Beyond the overarching curve of the segmented viewscreens, the last of the preparations for launching were nearly complete. Kuat could see the final checkout and clearance team departing from the battle cruiser, still shrouded beneath its net lines and pressurized construction canopies." The only thing that's important in this regard is that we acquire Slave I- and its contents-as discreetly as possible. When our subsidiary corporation has gained title to the ship, it is to be brought here to Kuat Drive Yards in a shielded cargo transport, and no one outside of the KDY security operations is to know about it."

  " That may be difficult to pull off, Technician." Fenald inhaled through clenched teeth." The Imperial Navy has stepped up co
ntraband-interception patrols in most of the navigable sectors between here and Tatooine. They've even been going over our regular supply shipments with a fine-tooth comb. Getting an entire transport past them, with its contents concealed, will take some doing."

  The security head's statement didn't come as a surprise to Kuat of Kuat. He was already aware of slowdowns in the construction docks, due to the Imperial Navy's interference with the on-time delivery of necessary materials. Kuat Drive Yards had had to push back the delivery date on a number of the Empire's own orders. Since it was the fault of Palpatine's overzealous admirals, Kuat had been able to avoid any penalty rebates-for the time being, at least. But there had been no change in the ongoing situation, which indicated that the time-wasting searches must, at some level, have the Emperor's approval. Another psychological ploy: the Emperor was fully aware that Kuat Drive Yards wasn't doing any business with the Rebel Alliance, but ordering the searches to continue would indicate to Palpatine's underlings, and anyone outside the court on Coruscant, that the corporation was under suspicion.

  Hard to tell what Emperor Palpatine was trying to achieve with a ploy like that, especially at a cost to himself of delaying these much-needed additions to his navy. With every time unit that passed, the Rebel Alliance was increasing in numbers and strength. Was tarnishing Kuat Drive Yards' reputation, and impugning its loyalty to the Empire, worth such a disadvantage? Kuat answered his own question: It is, if Palpatine wishes to destroy-or take over-the corporation. That was entirely consistent with the Emperor's lust for power and control. It wasn't enough to be a faithful ally to a madman like that; perhaps the time had finally arrived in the Emperor's carefully calculated plans, when he'd find it satisfying to consume those closest to him. The Emperor didn't want allies; he wanted slaves.

  Perhaps I should go over to the Rebel Alliance. And take Kuat Drive Yards with him; the thought- and the temptation-had struck Kuat before. Was there any other option? Even if Kuat Drive Yards remained as the Empire's chief military contractor and was instrumental in achieving Palpatine's ambitions, what reward would there be for such service?

  The same as there would very likely be for all of the Emperor's stormtroopers and admirals: annihilation, absorption, reduction into a will-less instrument of Palpatine's ego. Death, without the consolation of non-existence; life, where every atom of one's being was part of the prison into which the universe had been transformed.

  Only one thing prevented Kuat of Kuat from following through on that notion, of taking Kuat Drive Yards over to the Empire's sworn enemies. What stopped him was the suspicion that that was exactly what Emperor Palpatine wanted him to do. All of the Emperor's actions regarding the corporation might be designed to push Kuat into the Rebel Alliance's arms. There were still forces in Palpatine's court that sought the destruction of Kuat Drive Yards as an independent entity. While Prince Xizor had been alive, he had whispered lies into the ear of the Emperor; perhaps Palpatine had finally been convinced by them. If Kuat made any move at all toward the Rebel Alliance, that could be justification enough for the Emperor to launch a full-scale assault against Kuat, placing the corporation's vast technical resources and construction docks under direct military control. There wouldn't be a Kuat Drive Yards after that; generations of engineering skill, the blood in Kuat's veins, would finally have come to an end, hissing into red steam under a storm-trooper's white-hot bolt of blaster fire.

  " You might be correct about that. . ."

  " Technician?"

  " About bringing Slave I here to Kuat Drive Yards, once our subsidiary has acquired it from the Alliance." Kuat's deep musing about the dangers involved in his dealings with the Empire had connected with more immediate concerns. As delicate and ringed with hazard as the situation was, it might be a fatal mistake to be caught with such concrete evidence of being in touch with the Rebels; the enemies of Kuat Drive Yards would be sure to put the worst possible spin on it." Perhaps it would be better if we secured some remote locale to which Slave I could be taken, and an inspection team could go there and examine the ship. We'd have to make sure, though, that they couldn't be identified as Kuat Drive Yards employees."

  The security head nodded." That could be arranged, Technician."

  " See to it." Kuat stroked beneath the felinx's chin, perceiving in his fingertips the animal's contented murmur." That will be all for now."

  In the executive offices of Kuat Drive Yards, there was no need for the elaborate and obsequious rituals found at Palpatine's court. Fenald turned and strode away, bootsteps echoing on the matte-surfaced metal flooring.

  Kuat remained gazing out the segmented view-screens. Voicing his thoughts had helped sort them out, like examining a set of blueprints scrolling across a high-resolution CAD screen. Kuat Drive Yards' head of security was an unimaginative but thorough personality-Kuat had chosen and promoted him for precisely those reasons, plus an unflagging loyalty to the corporation that had nurtured him. There had been no need to remind Fenald of the importance of acquiring Boba Fett's ship-reacquiring it, actually, since the ship had been built here at KDY. Not because of any intrinsic value to the ship, but because of what it might still contain. It didn't matter whether Boba Fett was alive or not-and Kuat had the same gut feeling he'd experienced after the bombing raid on Tatooine's Dune Sea that Fett had eluded every force

  that would have brought about a lesser creature's destruction. Even if the unlikeliest event had occurred, and Boba Fett really was dead, there were very likely traces aboard Slave I, evidence of some of the deeper and more dangerous conspiracies with which the bounty hunter had become involved. Evidence that led back to Kuat Drive Yards; that was the real danger that had to be averted at all costs.

  If Fett destroyed the cargo droid, brooded Kuat. Or got rid of it somehow. . . then we might be safe. For all his cunning, Boba Fett had almost certainly been aware of the value of the material that had fallen into his hands; he might have disposed of it before leaving Slave I in orbit above Tatooine. But if the big, awkward droid still existed, with its boxlike innards full of spy equipment and incriminating data waiting to be deciphered and analyzed-then a whole new level of trouble would begin for Kuat Drive Yards. All because of a holo-video of an Imperial stormtrooper raid on an isolated moisture farm on Tatooine, and the pheromone scent of the galaxy's most powerful criminal, the leader of the Black Sun organization. . .

  Into Kuat's meditations came the image of Prince Xizor's face, with its violet eyes and cold, sneering smile. Even more than Emperor Palpatine, that had been the enemy all of Kuat Drive Yards had to fear. Xizor's death had not eliminated the dangers the corporation had to confront.

  A signal flare, a quick streak of white light soaring up from the construction docks, cut short Kuat's musing.

  He briefly took one hand away from the felinx and touched a miniaturized keypad on his opposite wrist. The circuitry controlling the viewscreens' time-aperture filtering went into activated status, synchronizing with

  the close-range signal from the micro-shutters implanted in his corneas. For a split second, the view-screens flickered opaque, then became transparent again as the two optical systems locked in tight with each other.

  No sound would travel through the vacuum between the docks and the arching viewscreens of Kuat's offices. But the glare of fiery light, if left unblocked, would be enough to startle the sleeping felinx awake. The creature was easily frightened; Kuat had no wish to have it clawing its panicky way out of his arms. There was still a white, threadlike scar under his own chin, from the last time that had happened.

  The final signal flare, red this time, coursed across the field of stars above Kuat Drive Yards. That meant all KDY personnel had been cleared from the dock where the completed Imperial battle cruiser lay waiting, still shrouded in service lines and access canopies.

  There was no need for a signal from him; everything happened automatically from this point. A simple imbedded fuse catalyzed the pyrogenic compounds interlaced in the shrouding
material; the oxygen still captured inside the canopies' folds was sufficient for the christening of fire, the purging of everything that wasn't hardened durasteel.

  In seconds, the battle cruiser had been wrapped in flames, churning in upon themselves, absent the rising convection effects that would have been caused by a surrounding atmosphere. The surrounding canopies had already blackened and been torn into great, ragged-edged sheets of ash, dissolving into nothingness as the last fiery glow dissipated. From the construction dock, the battle cruiser rose slightly, a perfect weapon, cleansed and tempered.

  A few bits of ash, compelled outward by the force of the vanished flame, drifted against the thick glass of the segmented viewscreens. Kuat of Kuat stood with the still-sleeping felinx cradled in his arms, the afterimage of fire shifting its spectrum behind the filters of his eyes.

  4

  " You know how to pilot this thing?"

  Boba Fett glanced over his shoulder at the other bounty hunter standing in the hatchway of the Hound's Tooth's cockpit." There are certain difficulties," he said evenly, with no apparent emotion." But they can be overcome." He raised his own gloved hands from the control panel's distinctive forearm grooves." Trandoshan operating interfaces are on the crude and awkward side, but the ship's configuration is otherwise standard. Anything of which those big claws are capable, I assure you is equally within my grasp."

  I bet, thought Dengar. He leaned against the side of the hatchway, watching Boba Fett make some final navigation adjustments. He'd had his own encounters with Trandoshans, including the former owner of this ship, and they had all been unpleasant. Bossk had had a reputation for a hot temper even back in the days of the old Bounty Hunters Guild, when he'd had presumably less to gripe about. Cross him, and you were likely to get your head unscrewed from your shoulders like the lid of an emergency rations canister. That was what those claws were suitable for, not highspeed, pinpoint starhopping. Whereas someone like Boba Fett could work over an enemy with equal finality and handle intimidatingly complex gear, from any kind of interplanetary vessel to that Mandalorian battle armor that Fett wore.