A New Threat

by Elizabeth Hand

  black peak, and glanced back into the forest.

  The convoy of AT-TEs had stopped at the very edge of the clearing. The

  speeders were gone, and the starfighter. Boba's jaw clenched.

  Glynn-Beti doesn't even care that her Padawan is under fire. She's too

  concerned that her own attempt to attack Wat Tambor's citadel will be

  affected!

  Typical Jedi arrogance, thought Boba angrily. He looked out to where

  Ulu Ulix's swoop swung dizzily around the top of Mazariyan. With a sudden

  BOOM, the three-eyed alien's vehicle was engulfed in blacksmoke. Sparks

  flew from it. There was a terrified cry.

  And Boba watched in horror as a small figure tumbled into the air -

  and plummeted straight toward the waiting spines of Mazariyan!

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Boba had no time to think. He yanked back on the throttle. At the same

  time he opened the stop to feed it as much fuel as possible. With a garbled

  roar, the swoop shot forward. Laser fire and explosion's rocked the air

  around Boba. Below him, the spines waited.

  "Master... help...!"

  A cry echoed above the sound of laser fire. Boba leaned forward as far

  as he could, arms outstretched. His swoop raced toward the shining black

  pinnacle of Mazariyan. One huge, curved spine thrust upward. It positioned

  itself to impale the small form falling like a stone.

  Boba's swoop dipped as he reached out. With a groan, something heavy

  crashed onto the front of the swoop. Boba swerved away from Mazariyan.

  "Th-thanks!" Ulu Ulix blinked. He kept a tight hold on the swoop's

  fuel tank. His three large eyes stared gratefully at Boba. "I thought I was

  dead back there!"

  "Well, there's still a chance you might be!" Boba shouted over the

  thunder of crossfire. "Keep your head low - "

  BLAM!

  Laser fire ripped past them. Boba wrestled his blaster from his belt.

  He turned and fired in the general direction of the sentry droids. Then he

  glanced down. Battle droids were everywhere now. Some were still firing up

  at Boba. But most had bigger targets in their sights.

  With a deafening rumble, the first of the AT-TEs had drawn up at the

  edge of the clearing. Its hold opened, and a wide gangway swung down. More

  than a dozen clone troopers came running out, blasters firing. There was

  the whoosh and roar of battle droids rushing from hidden entrances in the

  citadel. They marched in formation toward the Republic's troops. Bolts of

  pure energy zoomed toward the clones. Wat Tambor's fortress glowed like the

  sun as laser fire rippled up and down its sides.

  Ulu Ulix's three eyes widened as he stared at the carnage below.

  "Wow," he breathed.

  The attack on Mazariyan had begun.

  "Keep your head down!" Boba commanded. He abruptly swung the swoop to

  the left.

  A blinding burst of energy exploded behind them. Boba cut back on the

  throttle. The swoop dropped sickeningly before he pulled it out of the

  dive.

  He yelled, "We've got to get out of here, fast!"

  "There!" gasped Ulu. He pointed to where another AT-TE waited. It was

  surrounded by a squad of heavily armed clone sentries. "General Glynn-Beti!

  "

  Boba squinted through the thick smoke. "Where?"

  "She's standing by the transport - see? She should be in her speeder,

  keeping track of the battle. I guess she was worried about me. Boy, she

  looks really, really mad."

  Ulu Ulix gulped. Boba looked at him. He couldn't help grinning inside

  his helmet. "Mad?"

  "Yeah... the siege was ready to begin, anyway, but..."

  The three-eyed alien looked back to where his swoop lay. It was now a

  heap of smoldering wreckage. It was surrounded by battle droids who were

  busy firing on the Republic's troops.

  "But maybe the siege started a little earlier than scheduled?" Boba

  finished Ulu's sentence for him.

  The alien nodded miserably. "Yeah. Something like that."

  Boba steered the swoop to where Glynn-Beti stood. He glanced at Ulu

  Ulix. It was weird to think that the horned alien didn't recognize him in

  his helmet and body armor. Weird, but good.

  I was more of a kid back then, Boba thought proudly. But now I'm a

  real bounty hunter.

  The swoop approached the edge of the forest. The sentries guarding the

  AT-TE snapped to attention. They stared up at Boba. They raised their

  weapons. They were ready to fire

  "Get Glynn-Beti's attention!" Boba shouted at Ulu Ulix over the roar

  of battle. "Otherwise we're dead!"

  "Master!" yelled Ulu. "Master, here - !"

  On the ground, Master Glynn-Beti looked up. She was small and slender,

  with a vaguely feline face crowned by flowing reddish hair. Even from this

  distance, Boba could sense the power she held.

  A Jedi's power.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  "Ulu Ulix!" The Jedi's voice rang out sharply over the din. She

  sounded angry, but also relieved, She turned to the, clone sentries. "Hold

  your fire!"

  Boba angled the swoop down to within a few meters of the AT-TE. It

  landed with a bump. Ulu clambered off. He smoothed the folds of his

  Padawan's robe. Then he looked at Boba.

  "I don't know how to thank you," said the three-horned alien. "I don't

  even know your name. Although there is something familiar about you...."

  Ulu frowned slightly, thinking. Boba said nothing. He felt light-years

  older than Ulu. Light-years older than he had been when they first met.

  Fortunately he didn't need to say anything. Because General Glynn-Beti

  was bustling toward them now. And she looked like she had plenty to say.

  "Ulu! What were you thinking?" She glared at the young alien. Ulu Ulix

  stared at his feet, abashed. "You put this entire mission in jeopardy!"

  "I am sincerely sorry, Master," Ulu said. "I am ashamed of my actions.

  But I only wanted to help."

  "Help?" Glynn-Beti scowled at him. Then she looked at Boba, still on

  his swoop. "This stranger is the one who helped!" The Jedi bowed slightly.

  "I am in your debt, stranger. My profound thanks for saving the life of

  this most foolish of Padawans."

  Boba nodded. "You're welcome." He was uncomfortably aware of Glynn-

  Beti's keen gaze boring into him. But an instant later her attention was

  elsewhere.

  "Trooper!" she commanded. "You may all resume your watch! As for you -

  " She turned to Ulu Ulix. "You will remain by my side for the rest of this

  maneuver. Unless you prefer to wait on board the troopship?"

  Ulu Ulix shook his head swiftly. "No, Master! I will obey this time."

  "Good." Glynn-Beti began to walk away. But she had only taken a few

  steps when she stopped. She turned and stared at Boba.

  Uh-oh, he thought.

  "What is your place in this battle, stranger?" she asked. Her voice

  was calm, but there was a threat hidden in it. "You are not part of my

  battalion. And you are obviously not working for our enemy. You have not

  come from there - " She tilted her head at the citadel of Mazariyan. When

  she turned back to Boba her gaze was piercing. "We have sent some of our

  most valued soldiers inside - ARC troopers. Th
ey seldom fail us. Not one

  has returned from that place. Have you?"

  Boba hesitated. The Jedi might be able to detect a lie. If she did,

  she could take him prisoner, whether or not he had saved her Padawan. At

  worst, he might languish in a Republic cell. At best, she could send him

  off-planet, back to Tatooine - where he would face the rage of Jabba the

  Hutt.

  A prison cell might be preferable to that.

  Boba stared back at Glynn-Beti. He was very glad she could not see his

  face behind his helmet.

  "No. My sympathy lies with the Xamsters," he said.

  The Jedi seemed to mull this over. Finally she nodded. "Very well. I

  will not detain you. The natives of Xagobah are in dire need of whatever

  help they are given." She beckoned Ulu Ulix to her side. "Come. We have

  much to do."

  "But Master - " Ulu stopped. He gazed up at a dark blur in the violet

  haze of Xagobah's atmosphere. "What about the ramship?"

  "We are well aware of the ramship, Ulu. Someone more experienced - and

  wiser - than you will deal with it."

  Ouch! thought Boba. Wonder who that might be? He watched as the Jedi

  and her Padawan headed back toward the AT-TE.

  Just before they boarded the AT-TE, Glynn-Beti turned and shouted back

  to Boba, "Yes. Someone else will take care of the ramship. You, stranger,

  might want to launch your solitary attack at that moment. Mind my words!"

  The Jedi Master then disappeared from view.

  Boba quickly powered up his borrowed swoop. It gave a hoarse cough and

  sputtered into the air.

  Boba circled back to where the siege was in full swing. The air blazed

  blue and black and silver with laser fire. Everywhere around the fortress,

  clone troopers were attacking Wat Tambor's droid forces. What did the Jedi

  mean? he wondered.

  It looked like the Republic was in trouble.

  The Separatists had launched a counterattack! "This isn't good," Boba

  muttered. "Not for me, at least!"

  Boba had thought that Wat Tambor's citadel was well-guarded before.

  Now he realized the canny Separatist had deliberately hidden the full power

  of his forces. Because suddenly the gaping maw of Mazariyan yawned open.

  There was a horrible, thunderous clattering sound, and hundreds - maybe

  thousands - of droids came streaming from the fortress. Spider droids,

  super battle droids, even dreaded and lethal droidekas, like gigantic

  insects rolling out of a rotten stump.

  Boba gaze down at them, transfixed. "How am I going to get through

  that and into the fortress? There's no way I can land without being seen

  and pulverized!"

  He steered the swoop down for a closer look. Too close.

  With a grinding noise, one of the droideikas came to an abrupt halt.

  It swiveled and uncurled into firing position, its black, eyeless head

  pointed straight up - directly at Boba.

  It fired.

  "Aghhh!"

  Too late, Boba yanked at the swoop's controls. A blast of heat struck

  the swoop. At the same instant, Boba dove from it. He could feel the surge

  of fire through his protective boots. He could hear the concussive blast

  roaring through the air like a seismic charge.

  But all he could see was the explosion of laser fire all around him as

  he plummeted helplessly-right into the battle.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ummmpphi" With a grunt Boba smashed onto the ground. His body armor

  absorbed the blow, but it took him a moment to catch his breath. There was

  such a thick haze of smoke and spores he could barely see. He blinked,

  trying to clear his vision.

  What he was able to make out was not good: a clone trooper, just

  millimeters from his face!,

  "No way!" yelled Boba. He rolled onto his back and kicked, out, just

  as the clone took aim. Boba's, feet connected with the clone's knees. He

  wasn't strong enough to knock down the trooper. But Boba did throw him off

  balance.

  And that was all it took. Boba was on his feet again, blaster raised.

  The clone towered above him, its face invisible behind its helmet. But

  something in the way it stood, something in the way it held its blaster,

  made Boba hesitate.

  Because, just for a flickering moment, it wasn't a clone trooper

  there.

  It was Jango Fett - Boba's father.

  Boba recognized Jango's stance. He recognized Jango's strength. He

  even recognized the way Jango's head drew back slightly as he aimed his

  weapon. Only this wasn't Jango Fett. This was a clone trooper who had

  decided that Boba was an enemy.

  "You're not my father!" Boba's voice was drowned in the blast from his

  Westar. "You're a clone!"

  The trooper's aim was excellent - but Boba's was better. In a blaze of

  flame and vapor, the clone trooper fell.

  One down! thought Boba. Only a couple thousand to go.

  He whirled, and found himself smack in the middle of the battle about

  200 meters from the citadel walls. Above him, droid fighters shot from the

  citadel's peak. Battle droids swarmed around its base, blasting away. Clone

  troopers ran in formation. As they neared the fortress, the formation broke

  up. Individual troopers raced toward the battle droids. One clone got

  caught by a hailfire missile and vanished into a thousand pieces.

  Yuck! thought Boba. He looked away quickly. BARRAAAMMM!

  Brilliant multicolored pulses of laser fire erupted from the clones'

  blaster rifles. All were now aimed at the rolling, firing hailfire.

  KRRRAARRROW!

  A direct hit! One of the hailfire's wheels disengaged and the clone's

  body was dragged into the ground by the still churning second wheel. A few

  moments later it exploded in a fiery blast.

  But the Republic's troops were still in danger. They were vastly

  outnumbered, for starters. And somewhere above them, the ramship was headed

  for their assault ship.

  That was bad enough. But what was worse - the droidekas were laying

  waste to the clones. They rolled across the battlefield, safe within their

  shimmering forcefields. Laser fire bounced from them harmlessly. Harmless

  for the droidekas, anyway. Some of the pulses ricocheted back and mowed

  down the very troopers who had fired them.

  With a cry Boba dodged a sudden flare of blue. A super battle droid

  stalked toward him, took aim and -

  BLAAM!

  Boba fired. The upper half of the droid disintegrated into shards of

  flaming plasteel. Boba whirled and blasted another droid. It fell. Boba

  staggered backward, struggling for breath.

  I can't keep up with them, he thought desperately. There's too many!

  The droids are fighting the clone troopers. The troopers are fighting the

  droids

  And they're all firing at me!

  Around him was chaos. Black smoke mingled with clouds of purple spores

  from malvil-trees and giant mushrooms caught in the crossfire. Boba

  adjusted his helmet, striving to see through the haze. Xeran's powder is

  wearing off, he thought with dismay. The Republic's getting wasted. Not

  that he cared about the Republic. But if Wat Tambor was powerful enough to

  destroy them, what ch
ance did Boba have?

  Plenty, Boba thought grimly. I'm not giving up.

  A sudden roar made him look up. For a split second, every battle droid

  paused. As though they shared one mind, they all looked up, too.

  "Starfighters!" cried Boba.

  A phalanx of starfighters arrowed through the haze. Wat Tambor's air

  defenses fired at them in a blaze of blinding energy. The starfighters'

  leader banked sharply to the right. Boba stared up at it, admiringly.

  "He sure knows what he's doing." He thought of Ulu Ulix, and smiled.

  Then he adjusted his helmet's focus as he took cover behind a wrecked

  vehicle. "Let's get a better look at this guy..."

  But now the battle droids had also seen the fighter. A barrage of

  ground fire shot up toward it. The starfighter dove. Pulses exploded in the

  empty air as the ship raced downward through the flak generated by the

  citadel's air defenses. It made a lightning pass at the heads of the

  droids, decapitating dozens as it flew incredibly low. It was so close to

  the ground that Boba could see who was piloting it.

  "Skywalker!" Boba felt a spike of excitement. He had seen Anakin