Slave Ship

16

"Did you find out everything?" Boba Fett glanced over his shoulder at the female standing in the cockpit's hatchway." Everything you wanted to know?"

Neelah shook her head." I decided to give Dengar a break," she said." We left it right at a good part." She smiled maliciously." You were about to get killed."

"Which time?"

"Does it matter?" The look on Neelah's face was almost one of admiration." Telling your history seems to be a long process."

"I've been around a bit." There was little present need for him to mind the Hound's Tooth's controls. The ship's course had already been set." If other creatures think that's so remarkable, it's not my fault. I'm just going about my business."

"Murderous business, from the sound of it."

Fett shrugged." It's a living."

"For you."

"That's all that matters."

Neelah gave him a disgusted look." I'm beginning

to wonder if hanging out with you is such a good idea."

"It all depends," said Fett calmly." You might be safer with me than anywhere else right now."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a lot going on in this galaxy." Boba Fett pointed toward the viewport." I've been going through the data traffic from the major comm bands. There's a major confrontation shaping up between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, somewhere near En-dor. There's a lot of Imperial resources going into that sector. From the sound of it, could be something big. And decisive."

"So?" Neelah didn't seem impressed." What's that got to do with us? The way I heard it from Dengar just now, you've always managed to survive no matter who was in charge."

"That's possible," said Boba Fett," when there's more than one power dominating the galaxy. Much can be accomplished right under the nose of even a despot such as Emperor Palpatine when his attention is focused on enemies strong enough to challenge him. The Rebel Alliance has given him a great deal of trouble so far-but the Rebels' luck may be finally running out. Palpatine has had enough chances to figure out their weaknesses, and now he means to crush them once and for all."

"And you think that's what will happen?"

"I wouldn't bet against it." Boba Fett swiveled the pilot's chair back toward the cockpit controls." And it will be a lot colder, harder, and more murderous galaxy when it happens. Whatever you might think about me, I am at least an independent operator. Profit is all that motivates me. With Emperor Palpatine, it's something different."

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Neelah slowly nod, deep in her own thoughts. Fett knew she was assessing her own chances in a galaxy such as he had just described. She wasn't enough of a fool to think very much of them. But he also knew that that wasn't going to stop her.

Just as it wasn't going to stop him.

Without looking around, Boba Fett knew that he was alone once more. Neelah had returned to the ship's cargo area. He leaned back in the pilot's chair, hands laid flat on its arms. Soon enough, the Hound would arrive at its destination. In the meantime, there was just waiting and readiness; that was all. That, and the certainty of death-his own or another creature's.

As there had been before, when his own ship Slave I had brought him to the trap where he had been meant to die.

Behind the visor of his helmet, he closed his eyes, letting himself fall into the truer darkness of his past.

How many times, wondered Boba Fett, could he die-and yet not die? Someday it would all be over for him. . .

But not yet, he whispered to himself. Not yet.