Disclaimer: Star Wars, all characters and such within its universe, and all related intellectual property belongs to LucasArts. I do not own any of it. :)
Note: Major character death.
Also, do not read this fic if you are not interested in seeing Boba Fett's softer side, or if you have anything against shipping characters.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
It was late afternoon on Korriban, the bright sun setting its path along the red sands below. On each side of this particular location sat enormous tombs built thousands of years ago– The Valley of the Dark Lords. Boba Fett stood at the entrance of one of the tombs. He was checking the coordinates inside his helmet, to determine the location that man on Malastare had given him. This was the place, alright. Why someone was paying two million for a relic was beyond him. But why send a bounty hunter after it, instead of a tomb raider or something was even more confounding. But he knew better than to question that sort of money. He'd fetch the scepter.
Fett scrunched up his nose. Sith tombs weren't known for being safe places to wander into. The ancient structure loomed ahead of him. He lowered down the scanner antenna of his helmet, activating the infrared and night-vision for his HUD. He would cautiously enter, BlasTech EE-3 held at the ready.
Fett. The name reverberated on the walls of the tomb; long and drawn out in a whisper, as though by some mysterious force of wind through the rocks they were constructed from. Fett ignored it. These places were said to be haunted, after all. Naturally, the hunter didn't pay any attention to such rumors. It had, no doubt, been simply a trick of his mind. Though, skeptic as he was– he was still wary.
He did, however, find it completely strange that he hadn't encountered any resistance at all down into the depths of the ancient tomb. "Never trust anything that's too easy, Boba." His father's words had been wise, and this was one of those particular instances. It was too easy. Far too easy. He was completely on guard now, muscles tense as he stalked quietly further into the ruins.
Fett! This time, he could swear the walls were trying to talk to him. Perhaps this place really was haunted after all. No problem for the hunter, though. He wasn't about to be scared off by some Force spirit. Only those sensitive to the Force would even be able to see them anyway. Not that he didn't assume that the spirits could probably manipulate the Force just as effectively as living users. They probably could. That put him on an entirely new level of guard. He'd fought Jedi before and won. But this old Sith Lord.. he was already dead. He'd been dead for a very long time, from what Calel had told him. Usually, the spirits didn't stay around that long. But this Lord had been unusually strong in the Force, they'd said. Stronger than Yoda; and perhaps nearly as strong as Vader himself.
Only Jedi could communicate with Force-spirits. He chastised himself for believing otherwise, continuing down to the burial chamber. It had been sealed by the Jedi, with a bit of help from its thick stone ceiling. He glared at the rubble, and went to set a charge. Here's hoping this doesn't just cave the rest down.
He moved back to an alcove down the long pathway into the burial chamber, and waited for the detonator to explode. The structure around him gave a hefty shake and rattle, but seemed to die down soon enough. Satisfied that there had been no cave in that he could tell, he swept dust from his shoulders and peeked around the alcove's corner.
Success. The detonator had cleared enough of the rubble to get into the burial chamber, if he climbed up over it. I'll hand it to you old Sith. You sure could construct tombs. It must have been hard for even the Jedi to take down enough of the structure to block off the doorway in the first place.
He moved forward, and went up over the rubble without too much trouble. When on the other side, he swept the room. Nothing. There was only a stone sarcophagus in the center; no doubt where the scepter had been stashed. The Jedi had 'sealed' something in here, though, and he was very cautious when he kicked the heavy lid off the thing.
What he saw inside was nothing short of.. strange. There was some sort of old armor within the sarcophagus, including a helmet with large 'horns'. But that wasn't the odd part. The odd part was the fact that there was still a skull in that helmet. Bones in the armor. Whatever Force-user this was, he would be trapped in this tomb, if he was a spirit. He didn't know much about the Jedi's religion, but he knew that much. The body bound the spirit, no matter how little of it remained. That's why Jedi were set to the pyre when they died. So they could become wholly one with the Force.
However, there was no scepter. Instead, there was a glowing red half-orb on the armor. And he could swear the thing was looking at him. It sent a chill down his spine. What the–
Before he could complete his thought, the whispers around him were heard again. Fett. Release me. I can help you. The walls were creating the sounds. Whatever spirit lay in that stone was using the Force to manipulate the very air so it could speak to a non-Force-user. But why? What the Hell did a spirit need with him?
Fett glared down at it through his helmet. "There is no way I'm talking to a rock." The scepter wasn't inside this. He went to check out the rest of the room. There was every possibility that the Jedi had taken it with them. Or that it was.. under.. the skeleton. He didn't really want to think about that. There was something very wrong about that skeleton, and he had no intention of touching it.
I am not a rock, bounty hunter. I am Marka Ragnos. And I know what it is you seek, for it belongs to me. A few old webs that hung from the walls shook and waved as the air was used to speak again.
Fett stood there for a moment. This was his first encounter with any sort of Force entity, and it was not one of his favorite experiences. It was hard not to believe in the Force when you'd nearly been strangled by Darth Vader from nearly twenty feet away. But he never imagined he'd be talking to one of their damn spirits. However.. this 'Ragnos' seemed to know where the scepter was.
"Must be you that they sealed up down here. What do you want?" He'd worked with a Sith before. He knew better than to expect this 'favor' would be free of charge.
Many things, hunter. But above all else, I desire what any being does. Freedom. I can offer you more than simple information, in exchange for your services.
The bounty hunter mulled this over for a while. He'd had a decent, if shaky, relationship with Vader. He saw no harm in this Sith's wishes. After all.. Vader had paid well. But what could a spirit offer? "I'm listening."
The item you seek has the power to infuse non-sensitives, such as yourself, with the Force. Free me, and I can infuse you, hunter. Imagine the power you would wield.
Fett sneered beneath his visor. "Your offer has ceased to amuse me, spirit. I have no interest in the Force." He spun on a heel, and started off towards the door. Why was he even talking to this thing?
I would think that you, of all people, would be interested. But it is perhaps your naiveté to the power of the Force that makes you reject my offer so hastily. The whispers paused for a moment. The Force would allow you an audience with your father. Even non-sensitives live within the Force when they pass beyond the confines of their mortal bodies. Is that not your deepest of desires, Boba Fett? A chance to see your father again?
Fett stopped dead in his tracks, and turned back to the sarcophagus. A chance to see his father again? He wondered if, all this time, he could have asked a Jedi to speak with him. Not that he particularly cared for the Jedi, after what they'd done.. but it was, indeed, his desire to see Jango. Or, at least, to know he was doing right by him. Fett was not normally an emotional being, but his father tended to be the one sore spot he had. Even after all this time. It mildly unnerved him that this spirit had read his mind, despite his conditioning against Force-users. But this piqued his curiosity.
"You have my interest again, spirit. But I still have none in becoming a Jedi– or Sith. If you agree to act as the middle-man, so to speak, between my father and I.. I will, perhaps, do as you wish."
Ragnos considered this for a moment. Freedom was his only desire. He could easily twist the words of Jango Fett to get this hunter to agree to anything he wanted. As you wish, hunter. I will exchange my services for yours. Now release me.
Fett went back over to look at the rock directly. "Exactly how do I do that?"
Destroy my body, and the stone in which I am imprisoned. Then, open yourself to me, so I may travel more easily, and less noticed.
Eyes narrowed in the hunter's helmet. "I'm not about to allow you to possess me, Ragnos. If you want free, you'll travel as all the spirits do. As a shade."
Very well. But you will need a piece of my armor, so that we may communicate once I am free. Take the right bracer. Unless you do not want your payment.
Fett shuddered. Great. He had to touch that thing. His hand reached into the sarcophagus, and shook the right bracer free of the skeleton. It was elaborate, and seemed to have a sort of musical quality. Perhaps it was that very quality Ragnos wanted. A way to vocalize, by passing air over certain parts of the bracer. Whatever worked.
The hunter threw three thermal detonators into the sarcophagus, and ran back up and over the rubble pile. He barely made it back to the alcove when the explosion went off. He attached the old bracer to his belt with a strip of cloth he'd gathered from the remains, and started back towards the entrance of the burial chamber.
Well done, hunter. The whispering came from his waist this time, where the bracer dangled. My scepter is in a hidden compartment in the wall of the chamber. Fetch it quickly. We haven't got much time, before this structure is lost.
Fett didn't argue, he went back in, and over to where Ragnos instructed. He pressed against the pressure plate, and snatched the old scepter. It was rather large, he thought. Long enough to house a weapon. Knowing the Sith, that likelihood was fairly high.
He scrambled over the rubble for the last time, running as quick as he could muster for the tomb's entrance. The cave was shaking. His detonators had loosened up the underground structure. He needed to get out. And fast.
Rocks fell around him, but the hunter simply continued to make his escape up the long shaft. He leaped, activating his jetpack for a boost, for the exit into the upper tomb. He felt a support graze his foot, but he tumbled out of the dust unscathed. Just by the skin of his teeth.
"Fierfek! That was a bit close for comfort."
"I thought you didn't speak Mando'a, Fett." The voice belonged to an old 'friend.' Dengar.
He grunted. "My father taught me a few choice words. What are you doing here?" From his crouch, he stood, and walked towards the other hunter. He had what he came for, and had no intention of remaining on Korriban any longer than necessary.
"I came for the bounty on this Force-forsaken dust ball. Which you beat me to. Again." He laughed a bit, hands on his hips.
This dust ball, as you call it, is my home. I would appreciate if you did not sully it with such insults.
"…Fett. Did that thing on your belt just talk?"
"It's a communication device, of sorts." He shrugged a bit. "The bracer acts as a voice box, allowing this spirit to speak with the living."
"Spirit?! Have you lost your mind, Fett? Since when do you talk to spirits?"
The hunter didn't answer. He simply walked silently back towards the Slave I. Since that 'spirit' offered to help me talk to my father. I don't expect you to understand. He frowned a bit. What would Jango have to say to him? Why was he so eager to speak with the dead? That's a stupid question, Fett. Because you never got to say goodbye.
"Whatever floats your boat, then. See you around." Dengar went back to his own ship.
Fett boarded the Slave I, and set course back to Malastare. He'd be rid of that scepter soon enough, and be half a million credits richer.