Cradossk snarled, “Shut your face or I’ll break your jaw.”
“I’d like to see you try.” Bossk laughed—a dry, hacking sound. Gritting his teeth, he repeated, “I’d like to see you try.”
Like his father, Bossk was a Trandoshan, and bounty hunting was in his blood. He lived to hunt and hunted to live, loved to set traps and hated Wookiees. Because he had a bad habit of occasionally forgetting that certain bounties required the hunted party to be captured alive, he usually went for jobs that would allow him to cut loose on his prey, something he truly enjoyed. But even though everyone in the bounty hunter business knew that Bossk was a capable killer, at least one being thought his tactics could use some improvement—and that being was his father.
“Okay, so here we are at Fondor,” Cradossk said, trying his best to sound like a teacher. He had heard somewhere that a good teacher didn’t just teach hard facts, but trained students to think for themselves. He said, “You have any questions?”
“Yeah,” Bossk said. “Why are you so ugly?”
Cradossk shook his head. “I brought you along on this assignment so you could learn things, you idiot.”
“Bwah-haw!” Bossk laughed. “Me, learn from you? That’s a good one.”
Cradossk said, “All right, you inexperienced lout. Why do you think we’re going after Senator Rodd first?”
Bossk snorted. “I guess Rodd’s first on your list because you’re scared of the Hutt and you don’t know where the droid is.”
Cradossk’s nostrils flared. “I’m not scared of anyone. And if you’d reviewed the assignment, you’d know that Holowan isn’t a droid. She’s a droid engineer.”
“Whatever,” Bossk muttered.
“And if you had a brain,” Cradossk continued, “you’d know the reason we’re going after Senator Rodd first is because he’s a politician, and politicians are born squealers. We can use him to get Groodo and Holowan.”
“That’s a stupid idea,” Bossk said. “Rodd is wanted dead. The only way he’ll squeal is if we don’t kill him, but if we don’t kill him, we don’t get the bounty. And if we do kill him, he won’t be in any condition to squeal anything about the others, so that’s no help, either.” Bossk laughed again, then added, “Wow, you sure didn’t think that idea through.”
Cradossk felt an ache in his cranium. He thought, Why did my only living offspring have to be a moron? He said, “We don’t have to kill the Senator the moment we see him, Bossk!”
Bossk thought about this. “You mean, we’ll make him do stuff for us, like give us information, and then we’ll kill him?” He looked at his father. Cradossk nodded, just to make sure Bossk knew that he had arrived at the correct conclusion.
Cradossk decided to try another test. He gestured at the planet Fondor and its many orbital stations and starship yards that were clearly visible through the cockpit’s viewport, and said, “Now, take a good look out there. How should we go about finding Senator Rodd?”
Thinking hard, Bossk raised one of his clawed hands and scratched at his chin. He scratched and scratched, then scratched some more.
Impatient for an answer, Cradossk said, “I’ll give you a hint. Our ship is equipped with sensors that can—”
“I got it!” Bossk interrupted.
“Yes?”
“We fly to nightclubs and ask around for him. Since we don’t know which nightclubs Rodd hangs out in, we’ll have to try ’em all. Might take a while…”
Cradossk squeezed his yellow-slit eyes closed. His headache was getting worse. While Bossk continued talking about nightclubs, Cradossk manipulated the sensor controls and quickly located a Sienar Senatorial transport on the orbital station Lunavolver Delta.
Cradossk steered the Merciless Captivator into a curved trajectory for the station. Bossk noticed the change of course, and asked, “Why are you going this way?”
Cradossk considered explaining his use of the sensors to Bossk, but he doubted that his son would fully understand or appreciate the technical maneuver. So Cradossk just said, “Call it a hunch.”
Lunavolver Delta was a gigantic, cylindricalshaped station that rotated on its axis and had 360 starship hangars. Cradossk brought the Captivator into a slow roll to match the station’s revolution, then steered into an open docking port and touched down on a landing pad. Cradossk and Bossk had no idea that Slave I had discreetly pursued them to the Lunavolver and docked in a neighboring hangar.
Inside Slave I, Boba asked, “Do you want me to stay here?”
“No,” Jango said, as he placed his helmet over his head. “I’m giving you two jobs. First, find Senator Rodd’s transport and plant a tracker on it.”
“Right,” Boba said. Although he was thrilled and excited to be working with his father, he contained his enthusiasm and didn’t so much as grin.
Then Jango gave Boba the second job. When Jango was finished, he stepped out of Slave I, and Boba smiled. He couldn’t help it.
He was going to enjoy the second job a lot.
After securing the Captivator, Cradossk and Bossk exited their ship, found a Lunavolver directional guide placed conveniently on a wall near a lift tube, and headed for the office of Senator Rodd. Neither Trandoshan even slightly suspected they were being followed through the station by Jango Fett.
They would find out soon enough.
Famous for its excellent accommodations and entertainment complexes, Lunavolver Delta was also the principal address of Republic Sienar Systems Diplomatic Headquarters, which was headed by Senator Rodd. Inside his office, Rodd and his aides were meeting with several alien diplomats, who had become concerned about security in the Fondor system since the droid attack on Fondor Spaceport. The aides were doing most of the talking, and Rodd was pretending to listen.
Rodd hated the Lunavolver. Its constant rotation made him sick to his stomach, so he sat at his desk with his back to the window, which prevented him from seeing the slowly swirling view of Fondor. Even though he had grown up on Fondor and had risen to one of its highest political positions, he would have been happy to leave it all behind—as long as he could take an enormous amount of money with him.
The Senator contemplated his situation. To the best of his knowledge, the only beings who knew about his criminal actions were Holowan, Groodo the Hutt, and Groodo’s son, Boonda. Together, they had failed—not once, but twice—to bring devastation to Fondor, but at least they hadn’t been caught. Rodd hadn’t spoken with either Groodo or Holowan since they’d fled on Groodo’s ship, but if they were up for a third plan, so was he.
Rodd was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn’t react to the muffled sound of blaster fire that came from the lobby outside his office. He did react when his office door exploded open, sending his aides and the visiting diplomats diving for cover. Rodd’s office security system was both innovative and close at hand. He tapped a control button that was set on the edge of his desk and instantly activated an invisible floor-to-ceiling deflector shield that he had installed between his desk and the doorway.
“Stop, Bossk!” roared a voice from the lobby. As Rodd tapped a second button, his eyes flicked to the demolished doorway to see a blaster-wielding Trandoshan step in, followed by an older-looking Trandoshan. The first Trandoshan raised his weapon, aiming it at Rodd.
Rodd could only imagine whether the Trandoshan ever fired. The second button Rodd pushed had opened an escape chute under his seat, and the senator was already plunging through an emergency tube that led straight to his transport.
Bossk never did fire a shot at Senator Rodd—not because he was aware of the deflector shield that had been raised between him and his target, and not because he suspected Rodd was about to drop down an escape chute. Bossk never fired his blaster because Cradossk knocked the weapon from his son’s hand at the same moment that Jango Fett, positioned in the lobby behind the Trandoshans, shot Bossk in the back of the head.
As Rodd vanished down the escape chute and Bossk collapsed to the office floor, Cra
dossk drew his own blaster and spun fast, turning to fire back at the shooter who had brought down his son. But when he saw that the figure standing just outside the doorway was fully clad in Mandalorian armor, he held his fire.
Cradossk said, “So, we meet again, Jango Fett.”
Keeping his blaster aimed at Cradossk, Jango tilted his helmet slightly in a silent gesture of greeting. Near Bossk’s fallen form, the aides and diplomats cringed in fear.
Cradossk said, “That trigger-happy idiot you just shot is my son, Bossk.”
“He’s only stunned,” Jango said.
Cradossk said, “You could have shot me, too. Why didn’t you?”
“Because you’re not a trigger-happy idiot, Cradossk. You’re just a professional with a bad gene pool.”
Cradossk laughed. “I take it you’re after Senator Rodd as well?”
“Could be,” Jango said.
“Well, maybe you didn’t notice from where you’re standing, but Rodd escaped through the floor.”
“I noticed,” Jango said.
“He’s probably already left the Lunavolver by now.”
“Nobody runs forever.”
“True,” Cradossk said. “So, how do you need him? Dead or alive?”
“That’s my business,” Jango said.
“I’m guessing alive,” Cradossk mused. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been so quick to stop Bossk. I need Rodd alive, too.”
“That’s your business,” Jango said.
“Maybe it could be our business,” Cradossk said. “We could join forces.”
“I work alone,” Jango said. “You should, too.”
“Listen, Jango. I respect you, and you know it. We don’t have to be adversaries.” Cradossk looked down at Bossk’s unconscious form and said, “I appreciate that you didn’t shoot me, but I sure could use some help lugging this thick-headed ignoramus back to my ship. What do you say?” He looked back to the doorway, but Jango Fett was gone.
“Great,” Cradossk grumbled. “Just great.” He hefted Bossk up from the floor and over his shoulder, then carried his son out of the office, leaving the aides and diplomats behind. In the lobby, a group of Fondor security officers were running his way. Cradossk shouted, “There’s been a terrible accident in Senator Rodd’s office! Call for a medical team! Fast!”
As the security officers ran past Cradossk, he muttered, “Suckers.” Then he carried Bossk into the nearest lift tube that would take him back to his ship.
Jango Fett had just reached the hangar that contained Slave I when he saw Boba scampering up their ship’s loading ramp. He followed Boba and joined him inside the cockpit. Boba asked, “Are Cradossk and Bossk still alive?”
“They were the last time I saw them,” Jango said as he removed his helmet. “You planted the tracker on Rodd’s transport?”
“Yes, sir,” Boba replied. “And I saw him board it and leave the Lunavolver.”
“Good,” Jango said. They would now be able to locate and pursue Senator Rodd across space. As Jango fired up Slave I’s engines, he asked, “What about that other thing I asked you to do?”
“It’s all set,” Boba answered. “And it’s not going to make the Trandoshans very happy.”
After Cradossk traveled back to the hangar that contained the Merciless Captivator, he carried Bossk’s still-unconscious body into the ship and secured him into a bunk. As Cradossk got into his seat in the cockpit, he asked himself, If I were Rodd, where would I run to? The answer came to him almost immediately. He’ll go to Esseles, because that’s where Groodo the Hutt lives. And Rodd will expect Groodo to protect him.
Cradossk wondered if Jango Fett knew of the connection between Senator Rodd and Groodo. Would Fett think of going to Esseles, too? Not for the first time, Cradossk wished Jango would just join the Bounty Hunters Guild. Life would be so much easier.
Cradossk tried to start the Captivator’s engines but they just made a sickening sound—then cut out completely.
Jango and Boba were in Slave I, blasting away from Lunavolver Delta and heading for a hyperspace portal. Boba was suppressing the urge to laugh. He had taken great delight in his second job, which had been to disable the engine of Cradossk’s ship. He only wished he could have seen Cradossk’s face when he hit the starter and nothing happened. Just thinking about Cradossk’s reaction amused Boba.
Boba looked at his father. Jango was still wearing his helmet. Jango asked, “What’s our tracker read on Rodd’s transport?”
Boba consulted a tracking screen. “He’s already made the jump to hyperspace. Guess where he’s headed?”
Without looking at the tracking screen, Jango replied, “Esseles.”
“How did you know?”
“I figured he’d seek protection by going to Groodo’s.”
“If you’d already figured that, why did you have me plant the tracker? I could have tried to stop Rodd myself, or disabled his engine, just like I did to Cradossk’s ship.”
“This way is better,” Jango said. “If Groodo and Holowan are on Esseles, Rodd will lead us straight to them.”
“What about Groodo’s Razor Eaters?” Boba asked.
“I’ll deal with them if necessary,” Jango said. Several seconds later, he added, “Brace yourself. We’re nearing the hyperspace portal.”
As Slave I approached the portal, Jango saw a blip appear on his sensor screen. “We’re being followed,” he said. A loud beep sounded from the comm, indicating that the pursuing ship was hailing Slave I. Jango switched on the comm’s audio.
“Hello, Jango,” Cradossk’s voice snarled from the comm. “Would you believe someone tampered with my ship, so I had to steal another?”
“Life’s rough, Cradossk,” Jango said.
Cradossk said, “I’ve brought Bossk with me, but don’t bother saying hello. He’s still out cold. Mind if we tag along?”
Jango said, “Back off.”
Over the comm, Cradossk chuckled. “You didn’t kill me on the Lunavolver, Jango. And I don’t think you’re going to kill me now.”
“I might surprise you,” Jango replied. Then he made his move.
At this point, you must decide whether to continue reading this adventure, or to play our own adventure in the Star Wars Adventures Jango Fett vs. The Razor Eaters Game Book.
To play your own adventure, turn to the first page of the Game Book and follow the directions you find there.
To continue reading this adventure, turn the page!
Jango Fett tapped a button on Slave I’s weaponry console, and then he tapped it twice again. The button was marked SEISMIC CHARGE: RELEASE, and Slave I’s full magazine of seismic mines was instantly lessened by three. The mines spat out into space, and into the path of Cradossk’s ship.
Jango knew that Cradossk would take evasive action, and he didn’t wait for the explosions. He initiated Slave I’s hyperdrive and the starship leaped into hyperspace, leaving Cradossk and the mines behind.
Through the viewport, Boba watched as starlight warped and flowed over Slave I like a river of endless fireworks. Turning to his father, he asked, “Did you kill Cradossk?”
“Not unless his piloting skills have gone stale,” Jango said as he removed his helmet. “I only deployed the mines to shake him off our tail. Cradossk wasn’t trying to kill me, either. He just wants me to join the Bounty Hunters Guild.”
“But you’ll never join, right?”
Jango grimaced. “I don’t like social groups or self-congratulating braggarts.”
Boba hesitated, then asked, “Could you have killed the Trandoshans back on Lunavolver Delta?”
“Yes,” Jango replied. “But that would have been stupid.”
“Why?”
“The Bounty Hunters Guild is an extensive organization,” Jango said. “If I’d killed Cradossk and Bossk, other Guild members would have come after me. Maybe after you, too.”
Boba said, “But you could handle all the other bounty hunters, couldn’t you, Dad?”
&nbs
p; “That’s not the point, son,” Jango said, although he suspected he could handle most of them. “A bounty hunter should never kill without reason, and we don’t invite others to come after us. Understand?”
“Yes. Now I do.”
“Good.” Jango aimed a thumb at the two staggered bunks that were set in the wall behind the cockpit and said, “Get some rest. It’ll be a while before we reach Esseles.”
Boba slipped out of his seat, left the cockpit, climbed to the upper bunk, and lay down. Back in the cockpit, Jango checked his ship’s systems and started wondering about the future of the Bounty Hunters Guild. He could live with Cradossk, but if a stupid thug like Bossk ever took over, Jango would definitely reconsider his policy on killing the Guild’s leader.
Boba was dreaming about having his own suit of Mandalorian armor when he felt a gentle prodding at his shoulder and heard his father say, “Wake up. We’re about to exit hyperspace.”
Boba rolled out of the upper bunk and returned with his father to their seats. After they belted in, Jango consulted a sensor screen, and said, “Here we go.”
Outside the cockpit’s viewport, hyperspace melted away into three-dimensional realspace, and Boba gazed for the first time at the planet Esseles. From what he could see, it looked like a warm world covered with young mountain ranges.
Jango said, “Esseles is a center for high-tech research and development. Groodo the Hutt has lived here for many years.” He pointed to a modular satellite orbiting Esseles, and noted, “That’s Groodo’s starship yard.”
Both Jango and Boba immediately noticed that the starship yard had the unusual feature of a mammoth enclosed hangar. The practicality of orbital yards was that they allowed for the construction of large starships in zero gravity. Since enclosed hangars restricted movement around the ships during construction, their only good use was to maintain secrecy. Groodo’s hangar appeared large enough to conceal a 400-meter-long starship. Neither Jango nor Boba knew about Groodo’s ill-fated, full-size replica of the legendary Sun Runner, or that they were looking at the ship’s construction site.
Star Wars Adventures 004 - Jango Fett vs. The Razor Eaters Page 2
