by Terry Bisson
If he missed, he would fall for a thousand kilometers, until his skull
cracked in on itself like an egg.
If he missed, but he hadn't allowed for the sideways drift of Slave I.
He only missed by a few meters. He saw the shock on Aurra Sing's face when
she saw him fall past. He could only imagine the look of horror that she
saw on his.
Then he heard the WHOOSH as she fired her turbos, and dove underneath
him. He heard the click/whrrr as she opened the entryway and positioned
herself beneath him, like a net.
000MPH! Boba hit on the flight bag he had thrown in earlier; the
battle helmet and the book made it hard as a rock.
The entryway closed.
Safe! Boba grinned - until he saw Aurra Sing's scowl.
"If I didn't know you were the son of Jango Fett," she said, "I would
swear you were trying to keep the Jedi alive by spoiling my little
surprises."
"I just want my ship back," said Boba. "I don't care who you kill."
That was a sort of lie - Boba didn't want her killing Garr, or even Ulu.
But it was close enough.
"Fair enough," said Aurra Sing. "So let's switch seats."
"Huh?"
"You know how to fly this thing, right? And I'm a better shot than
you. We're going to have to work together to get out of here."
Boba didn't have to be told twice. Picking up his flight bag, he
scrambled forward to the pilot's chair. It felt good to have his hands back
on the familiar controls of Slave 1.
"Now take us up and out. Let's see if our friends are still there."
They were.
K-RANG! KA-RANG!
Boba dodged laser bolts from two sides. The sky patrol craft had been
joined by starfighters from the Candaserri. This was their chance to catch
the bounty hunter who had attacked so many Jedi.
Aurra Sing fired back, but the shots were wild. Boba threw the little
ship into a roll, and dove into a cloud.
"Let's grab some vacuum!" Aurra Sing said. "Head for space."
"Not with those starfighters on our tail!" Boba shouted. "There's no
place to hide up there." He had counted at least four from the Candaserri.
The Jedi had called for reinforcements, and gotten them.
"Well, we're not exactly invisible here!" Aurra Sing yelled back.
"We're surrounded - and there's a storm coming. These Bespin storms are
deadly."
Maybe that can work to our advantage, Boba thought.
He checked the radar imagery. There it was - a monster storm, towering
from the bottom levels of the atmosphere, all the way to the lower reaches
of space. It was streaked with lightning, and it spun like a supersonic
top.
"Hang on!" Boba cried. He spun Slave 1 out of the cloud, into the
middle of the waiting Jedi starfighters.
KA-RANG!
KA-RANG!
Boba threw the little ship into a shimmy, dodging laser bolts as it
streaked across Bespin's cloud-stacked sky, with four - no, six - no,
eight! - starfighters and a Cloud City sky patrol tight on its tail.
"Now you've done it!" cried Aurra Sing. "They've all seen us."
"Not for long," said Boba, thinking of his father as he headed
straight for the lightning-stitched storm cloud. "Nobody follows where
we're going!"
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Total darkness.
Then blinding light.
Slave I shook and spun and creaked and groaned.
The turbos were useless. Nothing could, match the power of the storm.
The ship went where the storm sent it, which was down, down, down - ‑
Slave I was designed to withstand the high vacuum of outer space, not
the tremendous atmospheric pressures of a gas giant like Bespin. A crack
appeared in the cockpit canopy; Boba smelled an acrid, toxic stench.
"We're breaking up!" cried Aurra Sing. "I thought we were heading for
space!"
"Me too," answered Boba.
Both their voices were soon drowned out by, the screaming of the
wind. Boba stood the ship on end and hit the turbos, holding on for dear
life. Slave I shook, it rattled, it rolled and spun and tumbled end over
end. The lightning crashed over them in huge breaking waves, like a surf of
light.
Boba saw: Aurra Sing's face reflected in the viewscreen, and for the
first time she looked more terrified than angry. The sight scared him. He
knew that he looked even more scared.
Then, suddenly, it was over.
The silence was more terrifying than the noise. Boba knew that he was
dead - he saw stars everywhere.
Cold, tiny, silent stars.
"We made it," said Aurra Sing. "Good flying - for a dumb kid."
Boba didn't bother to answer. He was weak with relief. They had made
it. Slave I was in space. The plucky little starship had climbed the
spinning walls of the storm, all the way into orbit around Bespin. No one
had dared follow.
"We need to talk," said Boba. He was exhausted, but he felt a new
confidence. "This is my ship. I want it back. Now."
"Later," said Aurra Sing, laughing. "There are other planets in this
system where we'll be less conspicuous. Unless you want to wait here for
the Candaserri to spot us?"
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
"Your father and I were not exactly friends," said Aurra Sing, once
they were in orbit around dark planet; a sister to Bespin which was still
visible as a tiny globe in the distance. "Bounty hunters don't have
friends. But I respected him. He was the real thing. No sentimental
attachments, no loyalties."
"Like you?" Boba asked.
"Sort of - and sort of like, you," Aurra Sing went on. "You're
developing some of his better qualities. Not that I care. Our paths have
only crossed out of my necessity."
Boba wondered what this meant. "Let's, uncross them, then," he said.
"This is my ship. Pick a planet, and I'll put you off; we'll say farewell,"
"And good riddance, too," said Aurra. Sing.
"But first we have a job to do together. You and me and your father,
Jango Fett."
"My father?"
"He was richer than anyone realized. He left credits and treasure
stashed all over the galaxy. It's yours, Boba. All you have to do is pick
it up."
"Where?" Boba asked. His heart was pounding with excitement.
Aurra Sing smiled. "Several places. I happen to know where they all
are. That's why we're a team. I have the coordinates and you have the
codes."
"Codes? I don't have any codes."
"Your DNA and retinal scans are the codes. Your father made sure the
treasure could only be accessed by his son."
"Why should I trust you? How do you know all this?" Boba asked. "You
already stole my ship once, and betrayed me to Dooku."
"Trust me? You'd be a fool to trust me. Do you think I trust you?!
You're Jango Fett's son, after all. We're going to get the treasure and
split it, fifty-fifty. That's it, kid. Then you're on your own."
"Fifty-fifty? But it's mine!" Boba wondered if he would even see the
fifty she was promising.
Aurra Sing smiled. "What choice do you have? Unless you want to wait
for someone els
e to find the treasure."
Boba also wondered if Aurra Sing knew that Jango Fett had tens of
thousands of sons. Does she know that all she has to do is kidnap a clone
trooper? But what was that his dad used to tell him? That he was the only
unaltered clone?
"Okay," said Boba. "It's a deal. We're a team - for now."
"Everything's 'for now,' kid," said Aurra Sing. "So let's head for the
first site. We can catch some shut-eye in hyperspace. I'll punch in the
coordinates while you look the other way. And I mean the other way!"
As soon as the jump was made and they were in hyperspace, Aurra Sing
went to sleep, snoring loudly.
Boba sat on his flight bag and watched the stars streak by. He was
tired too, but he felt cautiously good. He had his ship back and his flight
bag. He was on his way to get the rest of his father's legacy. He had made
a friend, even if it was a friend he would never see again.
He had escaped Count Dooku... but for how long? And in Aurra Sing's
company, he would be doubly pursued by the Jedi.
Aurra Sing was certainly no friend. But she was useful. And at least
he could trust her - to be untrustworthy!
Boba Fett knew he would have to remain on guard.
