Chapter seven: Fett's Revenge

Summery: This is the final chapter! If I get enough reviews, I will do a sequel. I hope you enjoy it, everyone!

As if in slow motion, Boba Fett saw the hidden soldier fire his blaster, saw U-ra gasp in sudden pain and crumple on the ground. The man paused, obviously astonished to have hit the wrong target, and that split second was enough to seal his doom. He died soundlessly as Boba's blaster bolt found its mark on his forehead.

Within seconds, the bounty hunter was crouched by U-ra's side, supporting her head and shoulders. She blinked up at him, her face blank with shock.

"Are you … okay?" she mumbled.

"I'm fine … you're the one you should be worried about," Boba replied. He held her up with one hand, examining her wound with the other. The laser bolt had penetrated the soft flesh right under her ribcage; the bounty hunter could tell from her weakening pulse that she didn't have long to live.

A thousand questions crowded his mind, but foremost among them was: why would she do this for me? Why?

"You fool," he said softly. "You should have stayed put."

"I couldn't just … stand there and watch while he shot you, Boba," she said. "That's … what I realized, right before I came to rescue you …" She coughed, and a thin stream of blood ran from the corner of her mouth. Boba wiped it away with the back of his glove and waited patiently for her to finish.

"When I first met you," she whispered, "all I could think of was getting … revenge … for my mother. But I guess, after all … I kind of fell in love with you. Even though … I knew that you didn't … feel the same about me, it was still nice to … pretend. When you kissed me, I felt happy for the first time I can … remember." She reached a trembling hand up towards his helmet, and he intercepted it and held it in his own.

"I guess my only regret is that … your attraction for me was only because of a … a drug. That it wasn't … real."

He bent down to her, resting his masked forehead on hers. "Who knows?" he murmured. "Things might have turned out the same even without the drug."

She smiled slightly, closing her eyes. "Will you miss me, Boba?"

"I make it a habit not to dwell on the past," he said. "But I won't forget you."

She sighed deeply and an expression of peace spread across her face. "You're so kind … just one last thing. Please? I … I just want to see your face one more time before I die."

Moving slowly, so as not to jar her, he reached up and removed his helmet. His brown eyes met her blue ones, and he leaned down and kissed her gently. As his lips touched hers, he could feel the life rushing from her body. He ran his hand over her face, closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "that I didn't protect you better."

Someone had said once: apologies mean nothing to the dead, but Boba knew that wherever her spirit was now, she would hear him and approve.

Carefully, he lifted her limp body and placed her on the broad, raised windowsill. The light shining on her face made her seem almost angelic. His fingers brushed her smooth cheek in a barely noticeable gesture as he turned away.

"Wait here for me a little longer," he said. "I have some business to take care of."

He put on his helmet and strode further into the depths of the mansion.

*****

Jooren Ven's private chambers had the air of languorous wealth; everything, from the thick carpet on the floor to the engraved murals on the walls pointed to the fact that its owner was an aristocrat.

Now, blood was soaking into the carpet's fine fibers, and several scorch marks from a blaster pistol adorned the once-stainless walls. Boba Fett stepped past the bodies of the guards he'd slain and proceeded further into the chambers.

He found Ven closeted away in one of the inner rooms, shouting frantic orders into a microphone. When he saw Boba, he dropped his transmitter and pointed an accusing finger in the bounty hunter's direction.

"You! You just refuse to die, don't you! What have you done with my daughter?"

"She's dead," Boba said calmly. Only one who knew him well would detect a hint of menace in the tone of his voice, and the way his masked head was tilted forward.

Ven gasped. "Dead? Fett, you monster! First you take my wife from me, and now my only child?"

Boba Fett's gaze was hard behind his helmet's visor. "I didn't take anyone from you. May I remind you that you set a bounty on your late wife's head?"

"I wanted you to bring her to me alive, not fried to a crisp!"

Boba shrugged. "Accidents happen."

"I see," the aristocrat said venomously. "And was it an – accident – when you killed my daughter?"

"I didn't kill her," Boba replied. "She died because she jumped in front of a blaster beam to save my life. If I'd known what she was going to do, I would have stopped her." He took a step forward and jabbed an accusing finger into the other man's chest. "But this is your fault, Ven. You should never have involved her in your twisted plot for revenge. She could have been happy, but you came and took her happiness away. So don't blame me for what happened. I was hired to come here and kill you, and that's what I'm going to do."

"W-wait!" Ven shrieked, shrinking away from the menacing figure in front of him. "M-my daughter never actually intended me to die …"

Boba's evil grin was wasted on the other man. "She still hired me," he said. "And – too bad for you – she never cut off the contract. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still on the job."

"I can p-pay you ten times what you would have earned for killing me!"

"You could, but you won't," Boba said flatly. "Besides, you're daughter paid me with her life … and that's something no one can place a value on. Sorry, Ven … it looks like your time's run out." Seizing the former aristocrat by the back of his expensive robes, Boba hauled him out of the room and down a series of corridors to the room that housed the "death chamber". The water, which had never been turned off, had flooded the entire room in several inches of wetness, and was still bubbling up from the holes in the bottom of the cylinder.

"F-fett! You can't be meaning to put me in there!" Ven's voice cracked on the last word.

"Oh, but I can." Boba pushed his captive through the water to the open hatchway and pushed him forward. With a despairing scream, Jooren Ven disappeared, sinking under the water as if the floor had swallowed him up. His head and arms appeared again, flailing madly. Boba pushed him under the surface with his booted foot and closed the hatch, locking it tightly in place. He waited for a sufficient amount of time to ensure the aristocrat's demise, then opened up the door to the death chamber.

Jooren Ven's limp form bobbed up and down in the swelling tide of water, his sightless eyes staring at the ceiling.

"There," said Boba, staring down at the pale corpse. "Consider the debt paid off." He turned around and strode from the room.

*****

Epilogue: Two Years Later …

Boba Fett scrolled through the list of available bounties on his ship's computer. He was in an unusually good mood, having just successfully collected a bounty on the human smuggler and crime lord Fenau V'nei, who'd been hiding out on the planet Kaal in the Yushan System. V'nei had been well-protected, and had put up quite the fight himself; Boba still had a few scratches from the encounter. It had been thrilling, considering that these days, most of the bounties he went after surrendered as soon as they saw him coming.

His thoughts on other matters, he automatically counted off bounties that were of no interest to him. Yoo Wen Do on the planet of Ladarra – wanted alive for questioning: 1200 credits.

I think not, Boba thought. I've been to Ladarra before … it's too dusty. Bad for my armor.

Next on the list was Yussen, a Squalris merchant wanted by the Black Sun for selling items on the underground without their consent. Boba shook his head. He made it a rule not to get involved in Black Sun business.

He moved his finger down to the next one and froze. Nin Dero, unknown location. Wanted alive for theft by Seroka the Dug Lord: 900 credits.

Boba blinked. Normally, he would have passed by so small a bounty. But the last name struck a chord in his memory. He clicked on the link for more information. A picture came up.

Boba felt his heartbeat accelerate in his chest, something that usually never happened even in intense action. The woman in the picture was young, about 21, with light brown hair that had obviously been dyed. But her eyes were the giveaway.

They're U-ra's eyes, thought Boba. The shape, the color … everything. Ven thought that U-ra was his only child, but is it possible he was wrong?

He put in a quick transmission to one of his many information sources. "Eeab, it's me … Fett. I want you to find out everything you can about a girl named Nin Dero."

"Sure thing, Boba," his informant's weaselly voice replied. "Just a minute … ah, Nin … Nin … here we go. She's the child of Nissa Dero – no recorded father. It says here she had a twin sister, named U-ra, but that they never grew up together. Apparently, Nin was given away as an infant, and somehow managed to end up getting sold to Yukka the Hutt, who lost her to the Dug Lord Seroka in a gambling game. But a few months ago, she ran away and stole Seroka's new ship … boy, he's ticked about that. He put a bounty on her head, but it hasn't been claimed yet. Let's see … she was last seen heading towards Issor. Was that helpful at all?"

"Yes, very. Next time I see you, I'll be sure to give you a reward. For now, I have other business to attend to. Fett out."

So, he thought. U-ra does have one more family member. And here I thought I'd had a hand in the deaths of all of them. But it sounds like the last one's in trouble. The Ven/Dero family seems to have general bad luck.

Smiling grimly, he turned the Slave 1 around and set a course for Issor.

Pronunciation Guide:

U-ra Ven (YOO-ruh VEN)

Jooren Ven (JOO-ren VEN)

Nissa Dero (NEE-suh DARE-oh)

Nin Dero (NIN DARE-oh)

Eeab (EEB)

Seroka (suh-ROH-kuh)

Yukka the Hutt (YUH-kuh thuh HUT)