Pursuit

by Elizabeth Hand

anymore!"

  Boba fired. The flechette's missile tore through the air. A nanosecond

  later it burst open. Hundreds of deadly projectiles spun out.

  Faster than thought, Mace Windu leaped aside. The missiles exploded

  against the wall.

  "Who are you?" Mace Windu shouted.

  Boba fired again. Another starburst of flechettes exploded through the

  room.

  Again, the Jedi was too fast.

  "On Geonosis, you murdered a warrior named Jango Fett," Boba said.

  FFFFAAMM! He fired again!

  "Jango Fett was my father."

  "Your father?" Mace raced from the barrage of flechettes. "He had no

  son! Only clones - "

  "He had me!" Boba lunged at Mace. The Jedi fell back, overwhelmed by

  the young man's rage and power. "And now I'll have you!"

  KRACK!

  A flechette smashed against Mace's shoulder. The Jedi reeled backward.

  His hand reached for his lightsaber. But before he could touch it Boba

  struck again, this time the other shoulder. And again!

  KRACK! KRACK!

  With each alternate blow the Jedi fell back. In a moment, Boba would

  have him pinioned against the wall. And then - he'd go for the kill!

  "I had no choice!" Mace's voice was deep, unafraid. Without warning he

  leaped, springing past Boba as he drew his lightsaber. "Just as you're

  giving me no choice now!"

  The lightsaber glowed deep violet. Its hum filled the room, and Mace

  Windu swung - and struck! PAM!

  Boba staggered back. The lightsaber had skimmed his armor. He

  recovered immediately, darting off. Mace followed, his robes billowing

  behind him.

  PAM!

  The lightsaber struck again!

  But this time Boba was ready. Or so he thought. Mace's violet blur

  sliced the flechette pistol cleanly out of his hand. Blinding indigo light

  flared as Mace Windu drew back, arm raised for another blow.

  Before he could strike, Boba drew his dagger with his free hand and

  charged.

  The dagger ripped through Mace's robes. The Jedi twisted, avoiding the

  blade.

  But Boba's fist followed, smashing into the Jedi's ribs.

  "Ah - !"

  Mace staggered to one side. Before he could dodge, Boba was on him!

  BAM!

  Boba lunged the dagger at Mace's head - but the Jedi was too fast! He

  dropped and rolled, jumping to his feet. The lightsaber rose and fell -

  And struck.

  "Agh!" Boba cried out as the glowing blade smashed against his

  shoulder. Pain arced through him. Blood seeped from Grievous's wound.

  "Surrender!" commanded Mace Windu. "Surrender, and I promise you'll

  receive fair treatment!"

  "Surrender?" Boba hesitated, feigning doubt. Unseen he shoved the

  dagger into his belt, then reached for a cryo-ban grenade.

  "You have my word," Mace continued.

  "And you have my hatred!" Boba screamed. He fired the grenade!

  Mace leaped, seeming to fly above Boba's head.

  BRRAAANG!

  Boba flung himself away from the freezing blast. Waves of numbing cold

  rushed past him as the cryo-blast absorbed heat. The cold could not

  penetrate Boba's body armor.

  But Mace Windu had no body armor. The Jedi stumbled, nearly falling as

  the frigid waves sapped him of energy. Boba picked up his flechette pistol.

  He towered above the fallen Jedi.

  He fired.

  FAM!

  Blinding pain lanced Boba's arm as Mace Windu's Lightsaber struck.

  "No!" Boba cried.

  In agony, Boba fell. He rolled, trying to get to his feet.

  FAM!

  The lightsaber crashed against his head. Not even his helmet could

  absorb the blow. Boba shouted with pain and fury, striking blindly at the

  figure above him.

  "I don't want to kill you," said Mace Windu grimly. "Surrender, or

  die."

  "Never."

  He swung his dagger. The Jedi's weapon knocked the dagger blade aside.

  "You leave me no choice!" Mace cried.

  Boba stumbled to his feet. Blood streamed from his wounds. The dagger

  lay useless and out of reach. And his blasters were on Slave I.

  But he still had the saberdart. He slid his hand toward his utility

  belt. His fingers slipped into the familiar configuration of his palm

  shooter. The poisonous dart was loaded into it.

  He had only one shot.

  I won't miss this time.

  He raised his hand. Mace Windu was just meters away. Boba stared at

  the Jedi, summoning all his strength. All his hatred.

  His thumb pressed the trigger.

  The dart sang from the palm shooter like an enraged hornet. It spun,

  glittering, through the air, straight for Mace Windu's throat.

  I got him! Boba's mind sang in triumph.

  Mace Windu flinched. His hand shot into the air. Between his fingers

  the saberdart shivered like a trapped insect.

  "No!" groaned Boba.

  Mace Windu flung the deadly dart into the shadows. He stepped toward

  Boba, his lightsaber poised to strike.

  Boba Fett was cornered.

  "This is my final offer of surrender," said the Jedi Master.

  "No," said Boba in a low voice.

  He would never surrender.

  The Jedi took another step toward him. Boba thought of his friends

  back on Tatooine.

  Good-bye, Ygabba. Good-bye, Gab'borah. I'll miss you.

  He thought of his father, fighting until the very last. Boba lifted

  his head and stared fearlessly at Mace Windu.

  "There are worse things than death," the bounty hunter said, raising

  his flechette pistol.

  "There are," the Jedi replied in his powerful voice. "You are brave

  indeed, stranger. I would have spared your life. But now you leave me no

  choice - "

  His raised his arms. The glowing light blade tore through the air.

  "STOP!"

  A deafening shout of command filled the room. Heavy footsteps echoed

  as uniformed guards raced in. The Chancellor's Red Guards surrounded Mace

  Windu and Boba.

  More footsteps sounded. Another figure entered the room, clad in the

  luxurious robes denoting his high rank.

  "Who dares disrupt this place?" he demanded. It was Supreme Chancellor

  Palpatine.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  "Your Eminence," said Mace Windu. He deactivated his lightsaber and

  took a respectful step back. "I arrived a few minutes early for our

  meeting, and found this intruder in your antechamber."

  He gestured at Boba. Palpatine turned. He stared at the bounty hunter.

  The Supreme Chancellor nodded at Boba, almost imperceptibly.

  "This man is not a stranger to me," said Palpatine. "I was expecting

  him."

  "Expecting him!" Windu exclaimed. "But - "

  Palpatine turned to calmly face the Jedi. No longer was Palpatine the

  soft-spoken, thoughtful figure who had first come to prominence in the

  Senate. Now the Chancellor radiated power - and arrogance.

  "Do you dare question me?" he asked. "This bounty hunter has important

  information - information vital to the Republic! And will your bickering

  interfere with him bringing it to us?"

  For a moment the Jedi said nothing. Then he nodded.

  "I was unaware of your meeting.
My sole concern was for your safety

  and the safety of the Republic."

  Palpatine waved a hand toward the Red Guards. "As you can see, I am

  not unprotected. I am, as always, grateful for your support. But now,

  Master Windu, you may leave."

  Palpatine inclined his head toward the door. Boba blinked. He swiftly

  replaced his weapons, and waited.

  Mace Windu bowed slightly. But his eyes were on Boba. "Yes, your

  Eminence. The Jedi Council will question this bounty hunter after his

  meeting with you - "

  "Perhaps."

  Mace Windu walked to the door. At the last moment he paused and looked

  back at Boba. A long, hard look. Then the door closed behind him. Boba was

  alone with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.

  "I seem to be having a problem with people arriving early for their

  meetings," the Chancellor said smoothly.

  He looked at Boba and smiled, but there was no warmth in his eyes.

  Boba nodded. "I regret the inconvenience," he said.

  He took a step forward, wincing at the pain. The Chancellor gestured

  at Boba's helmet.

  "You may remove that," he said in his calmly ominous voice. "I know

  who you are - Boba Fett."

  Boba sucked his breath in sharply. Then he did as the Chancellor had

  commanded, and held the helmet at his side.

  "I know you are the Hutt clan's foremost bounty hunter," Palpatine

  went on. "I also know that you yourself are being hunted - by Count Dooku.

  And by Durge."

  "I don't deny it," Boba replied.

  "You say you have news for me. Information." Palpatine's eyes

  glittered. His hands smoothed the folds of his rich, long robes. "I am

  waiting."

  Boba glanced at the Red Guards, and Palpatine motioned for Boba to

  follow him into his office. Once they were alone, Boba spoke.

  "You are at war against the Separatists," said Boba. "Count Dooku

  leads the Separatist cause. He is your most dangerous enemy and has vast

  droid armies. You have gathered a powerful force of clones. These clones

  were created by someone named Tyranus. Tyranus is your ally - or so you

  think.

  "But I know the truth, Chancellor."

  Boba stopped.

  The time had come for him to reveal what he knew. The secret had given

  him strength and purpose for years. He would reveal it now, to the Supreme

  Chancellor.

  By aligning himself with Palpatine, Boba would gain more strength. He

  would be well paid for his information. Then he could leave and return to

  Tatooine in triumph, even though Wat Tambor had eluded him.

  "I am waiting," said Palpatine in a low voice.

  "I learned of this when I was a prisoner of the Count on Raxus Prime.

  I was a boy then. He thought he had no need to fear me. But he was wrong."

  Boba took a breath. Then he said, "Count Dooku and Tyranus are the

  same person. Your greatest enemy created your armies. It is a trap."

  Palpatine lifted his head. His greedy, deepset eyes gleamed with

  avarice and the joy of knowledge. The joy of power.

  The joy of triumph.

  "I know," he said.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Boba hesitated. "You... already know?" Palpatine nodded. His hands

  slipped inside the folds of his robes.

  "There is nothing I do not know," he said. "Nothing that is worth

  knowing, anyway."

  "But - but why - "

  Palpatine's hand shot out, ordering silence. "That information is not

  yours to command, Boba Fett. It is mine alone."

  Palpatine looked closely at Boba, then continued. "I have heard much

  of your prowess as a tracker and bounty hunter. I know how your father

  died. I know who killed him - and why. When you arrived here I knew you

  would hunt down that Jedi Master."

  Boba stood, stunned.

  "I have already arranged for your ship to be brought here from the

  Jedi Temple," said Palpatine.

  "You will be escorted to it in a few moments. You will leave Coruscant

  immediately. And you will say nothing of this meeting to anyone - ever."

  Palpatine withdrew his hand from his robe. He held it out to Boba. A

  shining credit cube glittered in his palm.

  "This should be ample compensation for you, bounty hunter. I believe

  we have an agreement and I believe we share a common enemy."

  Palpatine's mouth curved in a small, sinister smile. Boba looked at

  him, then at the credit cube. He took the cube, then nodded.

  "I will never say a word," Boba replied.

  "You had better not," said Palpatine calmly. From the hallway echoed

  the sound of the Red Guards.

  Boba pulled his helmet back over his head. He grimaced, but he could

  live with the pain. He could live with returning to Tatooine.

  He could live with a lot of things, with the fortune Palpatine had

  given him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Slave I shot into the velvety sky above Coruscant. Far, far below, the

  spectral lights of Galactic City shimmered and glowed, then began to grow

  fainter and fainter as Boba's ship hurtled off. In.a few moments, Coruscant

  was only a glittering speck in all the galaxy.

  And soon, even Coruscant had disappeared.

  Behind the controls, Boba Fett sat pensively. He'd already arranged

  for Palpatine's credits to be stashed in an account on Aargau. That way,

  Boba could access them whenever he needed them. And no one else could - not

  even Jabba.

  The Huttese gangster might question Boba returning without Wat Tambor.

  But as the battle between the Republic and the Separatists continued to

  rage, Boba suspected that Jabba would find other things to occupy his

  greedy little mind.

  Besides, Boba was no longer intimidated by the thought of Jabba the

  Hutt. Boba had enough credits to last him the rest of his life. He could

  pick and choose his bounties, selecting only the ones that challenged him.

  And there would be plenty of those! He'd already heard rumors of a

  kidnapping on Rodia. But first he might take a little time off and amuse

  himself. The All-Human Free-For-All on Jubilar would be held soon. He might

  go to that. He could use a break....

  The past was behind Boba now. His father was long buried. Boba had not

  killed Mace Windu, but he suspected that great troubles awaited him - and

  all Jedi. And the love and respect Jango had felt for his son would not

  die. And Boba's love for his father would not change, either.

  Mace Windu had been a powerful opponent. And a worthy one. But there

  would be many more. Boba Fett knew that. He leaned forward, staring out at

  the vastness of space.

  It was a big place, the galaxy. Endless, dangerous, exciting. A

  million adventures waited out there, for anyone bold enough to take them.

  Boba's course was set. He had a ship full of weapons, and Slave 1 was

  the best ship in the galaxy.

  Boba smiled. The future was his.

  And he was on his way to seize it.

 

 

 
t-filter: grayscale(100%); -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share