Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the orbital starship yards of Fondor were nearly destroyed by three criminals: the greedy starship manufacturer Groodo the Hutt, the diabolical droid-engineer Hurlo Holowan, and the nefarious Senator Rodd of Fondor. Together, they had hatched a plot to use droids to bring ruin to Fondor’s starship yards so they could profit from Fondor’s lost business. Although their scheme failed, they had worked in such secrecy that the authorities did not even suspect them of any wrongdoing, and no arrests were made.
However, a renegade Jedi named Count Dooku had a strong interest in the Fondor system and, when he learned that Fondor’s starship yards had nearly been destroyed, he used his resources to quickly identify the three fiends who were behind the plot. After consulting with his master, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, Dooku hired the bounty hunter Jango Fett to capture Groodo, Holowan, and Senator Rodd. Dooku wanted the trio alive.
Unknown to Dooku and Jango Fett, the conspirators had also been identified by another powerful individual: Wat Tambor, Foreman of the Techno Union. Seeking vengeance against those who would endanger his investments in the Fondor system, Wat Tambor hired Cradossk the Trandoshan, Head of the intergalactic Bounty Hunters Guild, to kill Groodo, Holowan, and Senator Rodd.
Jango Fett allowed his nine-year-old son, Boba, to join him on the hunt. Coincidentally, Cradossk was also teamed with his son, the twenty-nine-year-old Bossk. After Jango had a run-in with Cradossk on a Fondor space station, it seemed that Cradossk was more interested in convincing Jango to join the Bounty Hunters Guild than collect on the bounty.
The bounty hunters tracked Senator Rodd across hyperspace to the planet Esseles. There, Jango successfully captured Rodd and placed him in a prisoner cage in Jango’s ship, Slave I, which rested in a docking bay at Calamar Intergalactic Spaceport on Esseles. Following Rodd’s capture, Jango instructed Boba to prepare Slave I’s cages to accommodate Groodo, then Jango went with Bossk to meet with Cradossk in another docking bay. But after once again refusing Cradossk’s invitation to join the Bounty Hunters Guild, Jango returned to Slave I… and discovered that Boba had vanished!
Jango Fett scanned the interior of the docking bay again. He walked around the area where Slave I rested and searched for any sign of Boba. He’d last seen his son only seventeen minutes earlier, the time it had taken him to walk to Docking Bay 32 with Bossk, meet with Cradossk, and walk back. From experience, Jango knew that a lot of bad things could happen within seventeen minutes.
Before Jango had left the docking bay with Bossk, he had instructed Boba to use a fusioncutter to expand Slave I’s prisoner cages. Jango was surprised to find the fusioncutter outside Slave I. The cutting tool had been snapped in half, and its pieces lay next to a small pile of scrap metal that leaned against the docking bay’s concave interior wall.
Jango didn’t touch the broken fusioncutter but he examined the docking bay’s dirt floor. There were two sets of footprints. He recognized one set of prints as having been made by Boba’s boots. The other set was made by a taller, heavier individual who had three clawed toes on each of his bare feet.
Trandoshan feet. Bossk’s.
Jango secured Slave I and followed Bossk’s footprints out of the docking bay.
His concern and his anger propelled him forward.
“Look what I caught,” Bossk said, as he dropped Boba Fett onto the floor in front of Cradossk, who sat at a desk in an office at Docking Bay 32. Bossk kicked the office door shut behind him. Boba picked himself up from the floor and looked at Cradossk. Cradossk snarled, “What’s this?”
Bossk said, “A thief, I think. Caught him with a fusioncutter, snooping around Jango Fett’s ship.”
“Is that right?” Cradossk said, narrowing his yellow-slitted eyes on the dark-haired boy who stood before him. Cradossk leaned forward in his seat to examine Boba. He said, “Doesn’t look like much of a thief to me.” Cradossk’s nostrils flared, then he added, “Doesn’t smell like a thief, either.”
Boba held Cradossk’s gaze but didn’t say a word. Cradossk asked, “Can you understand me, boy? Can you talk?”
Boba remained silent.
Bossk adjusted the bandage that was wrapped around his head and said, “Maybe he knows something about the guy who shot me at Fondor.” Cradossk’s eyes flicked to Bossk. “Why do you think he’d know that?”
“Because someone’s gotta know,” Bossk said, gnashing his teeth. “And if he doesn’t know anything, I vote we make a meal of him.”
Cradossk said, “Bossk, tell me. Why were you in Jango Fett’s docking bay in the first place?”
“You told me to go for a walk,” Bossk snapped. “So I went for a walk.”
“But I didn’t tell you to examine Jango Fett’s docking bay, did I?”
“I wanted to get a closer look at his ship,” Bossk said. When he saw his father grimace, Bossk added, “Hey, you didn’t not tell me to go there.”
“No, I ‘didn’t not’ tell you,” Cradossk said, mocking Bossk’s bad grammar. There was a loud crack as Cradossk brought his fist down hard upon the desk. He roared, “I ‘didn’t not’ tell you because I thought you were smart enough to know better than to go there! Here I am, trying to convince Jango Fett to join the Bounty Hunters Guild, and you went ahead and stole from him!”
Baffled by his father’s outburst, Bossk said, “What are you talking about? I didn’t steal nothing.” Cradossk tapped at the side of his own blunt snout and said, “Use your nose, numbskull! This boy’s scent is almost identical to Jango Fett’s. He belongs to Jango!”
Bossk looked at Boba and said, “Does that mean I don’t get to eat him?”
Before Cradossk could answer the question, the door behind Bossk was kicked open and a blaster fired. Bossk never saw what hit him. His bandaged head snapped back, and his body crashed to the floor.
Boba didn’t flinch or look to the doorway but kept his eyes on Cradossk, who leaned back in his seat and said, “Please come in, Jango.”
Jango Fett stepped through the doorway and into the office. He still held his blaster pistol and had it leveled at Cradossk. He stepped over Bossk’s body and moved between Boba and Cradossk’s desk. Boba looked at the back of his father’s armored form. Jango faced Cradossk, and Cradossk gazed at Bossk on the floor. Bossk’s eyes were closed, but he was still breathing.
Cradossk looked straight at Jango. If he was alarmed by having Jango’s blaster aimed at him, he didn’t show it. He said, “That’s the second time you shot Bossk in the back of the head with a stun shot. But don’t worry. I won’t tell him.”
“Tell him what you want,” Jango said. “I’m not worried.”
“If you’re not worried, then why not just kill Bossk?” Cradossk asked. “Perhaps you think I’d seek revenge?”
“Possibly,” Jango said. “Or maybe I just like using your son’s head for target practice.”
Cradossk chuckled, and then said, “Please accept my apology, Jango. I had no idea Bossk would sneak into your docking bay. I hope this little incident won’t stop you from reconsidering my invitation to join the Bounty Hunters Guild?”
“I’ve already answered that question once today.”
Cradossk frowned and said, “Bossk will be punished for taking what is yours.” Cradossk had expected a response from Jango, but when none came, he added, “The boy is yours, is he not?”
Boba looked up at Jango, wondering if his father would answer. Jango said, “That’s right.”
Cradossk smiled. “I knew it. He’s a very brave lad. I can see it in his eyes. And he must be quite valuable for you to come to his rescue. What is he? Your slave? Or a hostage you’re transporting? No, let me guess. He’s….”
“Bye, Cradossk,” Jango, interrupted. Keeping his blaster aimed at the Trandoshan, he used his free hand to grab Boba’s upper arm and guide the boy out through the office door. Jango didn’t close the door behind him.
Cradossk smiled. He didn’t have to guess about the relationship between Jango and the boy. Their scents were too similar, and Cradossk’s nose was never wrong about such things. Cradossk looked again at Bossk’s motionless form, and then sighed. “Ah, Bossk, you slow-witted lout. Why couldn’t you be more like Jango’s son?”
Then Cradossk turned to the office’s comm console and made a very long-distance call.
As Jango Fett and Boba walked through an alley, heading back to the docking bay that contained Slave I, Jango said, “Tell me what happened.”
Boba said, “I was inside Slave I, working on the cage, making it larger like you wanted. I needed a long piece of durasteel to reinforce the cage’s bars.
I looked out the viewport and spotted a pile of scrap metal in the docking bay.”
“So you stepped outside the ship to get some scrap metal, and Bossk grabbed you?” Jango asked.
“Yes, sir,” Boba said. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry could’ve gotten you killed,” Jango said. “You should have stayed in the ship! You were lucky.”
“I think there’s something you should know,” Boba said. “About Cradossk—he said my scent is just like yours.”
Jango stopped Boba in the alley. “Tell me exactly what he said.”
Boba searched his memory and answered, “He said, ‘This boy’s scent is almost identical to Jango Fett’s. He belongs to Jango.’”
Under his helmet, Jango scowled. When Cradossk had been speculating about Boba’s identity, Jango thought that Cradossk was only guessing. But if Cradossk’s olfactory sense was so keen that he could link Boba to Jango, then he knew very well that Boba was not a slave or a hostage, and that was a big problem. Boba was the most important thing in the galaxy to Jango, and the last thing Jango wanted was for word to leak out that the notorious bounty hunter Jango Fett had a son. If that happened, Bossk or any other fool with a blaster might get the idea of hurting—or killing—Boba to get to Jango.
Even though Boba couldn’t see his father’s face, he could tell by his silence that Jango was angry. Boba said, “I’m really sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” Jango said. “It’s my fault for bringing you on a hunt. If Cradossk suspects who you are, then the situation must be corrected.” “How?”
“For starters, I’m bringing you back to Kamino,” Jango said. “Come on.”
They were silent for the rest of their walk back to Slave I. As they approached the entrance to their docking bay, a hunched, hooded figure approached them cautiously, tapping at the ground with a walking stick. A withered hand extended from its deep sleeve to pull back the hood, and revealed the wrinkled face of an elderly woman.
“Excuse me,” the woman wheezed. “I’ve lost my pet ruffelluff, and all these docking bays look so much alike. Would you be so kind as to help me find it?”
Jango asked, “Is the ruffelluff male or female?”
“Female, but with two tails.” The woman held up two bony fingers.
“Yeah, I saw your pet,” Jango replied, surprising Boba, who had never even heard of ruffelluffs before. Then Jango added, “She wandered into my ship.”
“Is she hurt?”
“Not yet,” Jango said. “Come and get her.”
Bewildered, Boba followed the old woman and his father into the docking bay and up Slave I’s landing ramp. Given Slave I’s anti-intruder traps, he doubted that any creature—even a ruffelluff, whatever that was—could enter the ship. Boba also had no idea why his father was allowing a total stranger on board. When they were all in the passenger hold, the woman turned to Boba and asked, “Ever seen a ruffelluff before?”
“No,” Boba said.
“You never will.” The woman’s face pulled back into a wrinkly smile, and she added, “They don’t exist. Not anymore.” Then Boba watched in amazement as the woman stood up straight, and the skin on her face and hands tightened and became smooth. She wasn’t so old after all.
“Zam!” Boba said.
“In the flesh.” The woman smiled. Zam Wesell, bounty hunter and assassin, was a shape-shifting Clawdite. To the best of Boba’s knowledge, she was his father’s only friend. Boba liked her, too. Zam tousled Boba’s hair and said, “Fooled you!”
Boba turned to his father and said, “You knew it was Zam the whole time?”
Jango removed his helmet and said, “Yes.”
“Only after I said ruffelluff,” Zam said. “That’s a code word I gave your father so he can recognize me when I’m in disguise.”
“I spotted you before you even said anything,” Jango said. “No one walks like you.”
“Really, Jango?” Zam beamed. “That almost sounded like a compliment.”
“It wasn’t,” Jango said. “Why are you on Esseles?”
“Business,” Zam said as she leaned against a metal wall. “I went into a cantina called the Ion Sandbox and I overheard a Trandoshan named Bossk—do you know Bossk?”
Jango nodded. “Son of Cradossk.”
Zam continued, “Well, Bossk asked the bartender if he’d seen a bounty hunter named Jango Fett who wears Mandalorian armor.”
Jango asked, “What did the bartender say?”
“That he’d never heard of Jango Fett and had no idea what Mandalorian armor looked like. Which means he was either telling the truth, or he knows better than to talk about you.”
“Go on,” Jango said.
“I’d finished my mission here, so I decided to poke around. Then I found Slave I and you two. So enough about me.” She looked at Boba and said, “What brings this handsome young man so far from home?”
Boba blushed. Jango said, “I brought him on a job. It was a mistake. Bossk captured Boba, and Cradossk matched Boba’s scent to mine.”
“Really?” Zam said. She bent forward and sniffed Boba’s hair. “I don’t think Boba smells at all like you.”
“You’re not Cradossk,” Jango said. “His instincts have paid off before. If he’s even slightly connected Boba to me, and he has, then he knows too much.” Zam sighed. “You can’t hide your son forever, Jango.”
“I know that,” Jango said.
Zam asked, “Anything I can do to help?”
Jango looked at Boba and said, “Go to your bunk and get some rest, son.”
Zam said, “See you later, Boba.”
Boba bowed and left the passenger hold. Jango eyed Zam and said, “If I show you a hologram of somebody, a woman, could you impersonate her?” “Probably.” Zam smiled. “Is this business or is it pleasure?”
“Business, Zam,” Jango said. “Strictly business.”
“Too bad for you,” Zam said. “Business means you’ll have to pay me!”
Jango showed Zam a hologram of Hurlo Holowan and told her about Senator Rodd and Groodo the Hutt. Then he gave her an adhesive bandage and an armored vest and told her what he wanted her to do.
Senator Rodd was curled up inside one of Slave I’s prisoner cages, wondering how much longer he had to live. An hour? A day? A minute? He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and wished he would never again see the masked bounty hunter who’d captured him.
Rodd heard footsteps approaching and he squeezed his eyes shut even tighter. Go away, he thought. Go away; go away, go away…
&n
bsp; “Senator!” a woman’s voice rasped. “Senator Rodd!”
Rodd opened one eye, and then the other. To his amazement, he saw a woman with short, dark hair and extremely pale skin. It was Hurlo Holowan, standing outside his cage, holding a set of keys. Rodd gasped, “Holowan?”
“I killed the bounty hunter,” Holowan said. “I’m getting you out of here.”
Rodd’s jaw went slack. “You killed him?”
“Well, one of my droids did. Now sit tight and let me open this thing!”
Rodd’s mind raced. “There was a boy who was helping him!”
“Yeah, I killed him myself. Stang! What’s wrong with these keys?!”
Rodd realized something was wrong with Holowan’s voice. She didn’t sound anything like herself. Then he noticed the adhesive bandage that was plastered over her throat. Rodd said, “Your neck?”
“The bounty hunter bruised me,” Holowan said as she fumbled with the keys. “Said if I didn’t tell him everything he wanted to know, he’d kill me. Well, I showed him!”
“I thought you were going to Kuat after you left me on Esseles,” Rodd said. “Are… are we still on Esseles? I didn’t hear this ship take off.”
“The authorities were waiting for me and Groodo on Kuat, so we came back here to get you.” Holowan fumbled with another key.
“Authorities?” Rodd gasped. “But your father is a patriarch to a Kuat merchant house. You should’ve been well protected.”
“There!” Holowan said, as she slid a key into the lock. “I’ve got it!”
To Rodd’s horror, there was the sound of blaster fire, and Holowan slammed into the cage, then slumped to the floor. Smoke rose from a scorched hole at the back of her tunic. Rodd looked to the doorway and saw the masked bounty hunter, who was holding a blaster pistol.
Rodd screamed, “You aren’t real! You’re dead! Dead! She killed you!”
“Now we’re even,” Jango said. While Rodd continued to protest, Jango lifted the dark-haired woman with the extremely pale skin off the floor, carried her out of the prisoner hold, and closed the door behind him.
Star Wars Adventures 005 - The Shape-Shifter Strikes Page 1
