"The Good, the Bad, and the Sleemo"

Chapter the Tenth

Cad Bane was closing in on a hundred feet distance from the edge of the canyon, on the bottom of which he knew Sad Hill Cemetery was waiting. The village was almost a mile behind already. At that moment, he made the mistake of glancing behind him at the village, just to see what Embo was planning. As he discovered, trusting Embo had not been such a hot idea either. He saw the blast from the laser cannon coming a split second before it hit him.

The blast struck the airspeeder's left engine with such force that the airspeeder flipped ninety degrees, until it was dragging along the ground vertically. Bane, unprepared for the blast, was knocked out of his seat. He landed on the ground face-up, and the airspeeder's acceleration sent him sliding backwards several feet before he slowed him to a stop. By then, Bane was already screaming from the pain in his back. When he could finally speak, he shouted at the top of his lungs,

"Embo, you son of a bitch! You karking-goddamned son of a bitch!"

Gritting his teeth, Bane rolled over onto his stomach. He looked up in time to see the speeder struck again in its right engine. The laser cannon fired a third and final time, detonating the last of the speeder. Bane covered his face so he would not be hit by any debris, and as he waited for the detonation to subside, he wondered if he should hold still and wait for Embo to come and finish him off anyway. But when the sand cleared in the air, Bane realized the canyon was not even fifty feet away. Walking distance. He could still make it in time. Slowly, he braced himself on his elbows and began to drag himself up, clenching his fists all the while.

"Embo, you bastard, bastard, bastard..."

But bounty hunters don't take kindly to backing out of any situation until they are either the last one standing or they are no longer breathing. Especially any bounty hunter who had survived the three-year game of bloodshed and Blackjack that was the Galactic Clone Wars. So he braced himself, stood up, and made his way to the edge of the Canyon, from which he found the little-worn path leading down to the bottom. Cad Bane ran with all the strength he had left. The other two would be closing in, and fast, but the grave of Aren Sacul was waiting for him when he made it, so dammit, he was going to see it through to the end.

When he stumbled and fell and thought it would be too hard to make it to the bottom and find the grave, Bane had to get the picture in his head fresh and clear again. Ten million credits. All he ever wanted paid for if he could just get the money. It also helped to think of what Embo or Boba Fett would do with ten million...new ships, for sure, and new weapons, and an extra dose of a revenge killing spree on the side. Couldn't have that. So Bane got up after every time he stumbled and fell, and he pressed on deeper and deeper into the canyon.

By the time the path opened up to the bottom, where rocks piled up on most sides and debris and the bones of corpses had been left behind over a period of years, the sun was starting to lean towards the west. Bane was exhausted and felt that he had used up the last of his energy. He spat out a mouthful of dirt, wiped the perspiration from his face, and looked up to try to see where he was. That was when he saw it.

There were dozens of them. Hundreds of them. Hundreds of graves covering a plain that stretched half a mile on either side, looking out to the towering walls of the canyon surrounding it. Hundreds of graves that formed rows and rows of rings that all centered around the empty circle in the middle. Graves that were days young and graves that were years old. Graves of Imperials and graves of Rebels and graves of locals and graves of the unlucky and the unfortunate.

Suddenly Bane found his body filled with a renewed sense of energy, because the money was here. He was so close to it he could already feel the cold credits between his fingers, already hear them singing in his pockets, already smell those expensive cigars and see his brand new starfighter in a hangar bay.

So he headed for the first row of graves and began to run, scanning each marker with the name Embo gave him. Before he realized it he was running faster and faster, even though he had previously assumed he was all out of energy. Names surrounded him on all sides, but none were the name he was looking for. Running faster, breathless and desperate, Bane refused to stop or so much as slow down before he found it.

He felt feverish with excitement. Desperate to find it first and find it fast. It was here, and he was so close to having it all for himself. When he stumbled, he was quick to pick himself up again and keep running. When he was out of breath, he slowed down just long enough until he could pick up his pace again. With no weapon to hold his guard save for one remaining blaster, no allies or friends to watch his back, and only a ground to keep him standing and a sun to keep him burning, the last the bounty hunter could do was run onward through the cemetery, and hope he would find his fortune.

Yes, hope. That was all he could do.

Then, in the maze of names, something popped out.

Aren Sacul.

He skidded to a stop, for there it was.

Bane could hardly breathe as he approached the grave, making sure the name was correct. It said Aren Sacul all right. Then Bane winced as he realized he should have thought to find and bring a shovel from the village. There had been too many variables and dangers on his mind to even think about what he was going to do when he actually found the grave. At least it wasn't the first mistake he had made that day. With that, he got on his knees and began to dig with his hands. To pass the time, Bane tried imagining Embo using his own hat as a shovel and Boba using his helmet, a thought which amused him greatly. In several minutes he had dug enough so that he found the top of the coffin in which Aren Sacul was buried. The lid was made of wood, and if he dug deep enough he would be able to pull it out.

Before he continued digging, however, Bane hesitated. Both Embo and Boba Fett would have plenty of time by now to also make it into the canyon and through the cemetery. They could be very close. Bane looked up and around him.

Sure enough, he could see two dark figures in the distance, and they were approaching from opposite sides of the cemetery. One was on his left, and one was on his right. That was when Cad Bane realized that if he tried to take on both of them, he had no chance of escaping alive. Whoever he chose, he had to choose fast.

He stood up and took several steps back as Embo and Boba Fett drew closer to the grave. Boba's face was hidden with his helmet, which had suffered severe scratches and dents courtesy of his ship's crash. Embo's shield-hat blocked the sunlight from hitting him, and only his glowing eyes revealed his attentiveness.

Embo reached Bane first, carrying a shovel under one arm. Without a word, he gestured down to the grave of Aren Sacul. Then he tossed it at Bane, who defiantly refused to catch it and let it land at his feet.

"Go ahead and dig."

"I ain't digging for nobody."

"Then pretend you're digging for yourself." Embo glanced in Boba's direction, who had reached the cemetery. "If you want to live, I suggest you hurry."

"What? What are you planning to do?"

"Just, do as I say. For once."

Bane just hissed, but he snatched up the shovel and began to dig. He decided to use his own anger at Embo as fuel to work as quickly as he could. As he dug, Embo leaned on one leg and watched as Boba Fett drew closer and closer to where they were. Embo made no hesitation to make it vividly clear to Bane that he had thought to arm himself with a pistol before he headed for the cemetery.

By the time Boba was within twenty feet of them, Bane had already uncovered the lid of the coffin. All it would take was one kick and they could grab the money and run.

"Good job," Embo said, his glowing eyes still focused on the Fett.

"If you're going to shoot me, just get it over with already," Bane replied.

"Yes, Embo. Why don't you save me the trouble and get it over with already?" Boba asked, who was also carrying a shovel. Bane did not like the fact that he was the only one of the three who forgot to bring one. "Even better, why don't you both start hauling that money out?" With that, Boba drew back his cloak to reveal that his blaster was already pointed at both of them.

Bane froze, knowing there was no way he'd be able to draw his own weapon and fire before Boba nailed him. But Embo, who began to lean on his other leg, just shook his head with a long sigh.

"See, that's the problem."

"What problem?" Boba snapped.

Embo kicked off the lid, revealing the contents of the coffin. Bane's eyes widened.

"Because there's no money in there," Embo finished.

Both Bane and Boba stared down at the rotting body of the man they knew was Aren Sacul. Not one credit ship was inside the coffin. Save for the bones, it was completely empty. No one said a word. Then Bane clenched his fists.

"You bastard. You lied to me."

"You thought I would trust you?" Embo looked ready to roll his eyes.

"I told you the truth!"

"Use your head, Bane," Boba interjected, "Embo already knew the name of the cemetery anyway. He just played dumb to get information from you."

"Shut up!" Of course, Bane knew Boba was completely right, which is why he wanted Boba to be quiet.

Meanwhile, Embo picked up a stone and, with his knife, made a few markings on it. Then he walked to the empty circle in the middle of the cemetery, where he laid the rock on the ground. Boba stole a glance at the Duros as if for an answer to what Embo was doing.

"On this stone, I wrote the real location of the money," Embo said.

Bane slowly backed away from Boba, taking one step at a time. Boba nodded. Then he tossed away his shovel, leaving himself armed with only the pistol at his side.

"So that's how it's going to work, is it?"

"That's exactly how it's going to work," Embo replied.

Cad Bane said nothing. He was focused on Boba's right hand positioned just above his holster, as well as Embo's own weapon. As he took more steps back, Boba stepped to his right, and Embo to the left. They continued in this way until the stone with the name of the grave was in the middle, and their positions formed a triangle shape around the object. Embo, the head of the triangle, eyed both of them with not so much as a blink, although his eyes were bright and burning more than either bounty hunter had seen them as before. Boba, helmeted and standing rigidly, glanced between the two of them every second or so. Finally, Cad Bane bit his lower lip as he strained to see the two figures silhouetted against the sunlight, and held his hand inches above his own holster. No one said a word, and there was not a sound from miles around.

Boba kicked a bit of dirt behind him, which landed directly in the open grave of Aren Sacul. Embo watched him, looked to Bane, and lifted his chin for a split second. Bane narrowed his brow and tried to breathe.

The Geonosian sun had begun to lean toward the west, and shone down for one last grand finale of the day before the rise of nightfall, and what a grand finale it was, turning the ground white and blistering the flesh and drying the tongue, as it pinned enemy to enemy, stranger to stranger, desperation to opportunity, and opportunity to ambition.

Cad Bane looked to Embo one last time, and again Embo lifted his chin but for a split second.

That was when Bane understood what Embo had meant earlier at the grave. Embo glanced to Boba, who had turned to look right back at Bane head-on. In that moment, Bane saw Embo spring into action.

Embo's pistol flew into his hand as he drew and fired. Boba, who had been milliseconds from drawing and firing at Bane, turned to Embo. He was too late. Cad Bane, meanwhile, was frozen in place. He could only watch as a perfectly aimed blast struck Boba in the neck, a place not protected by helmet or armor. Embo shot the same spot again, then stopped, for Boba had already stopped breathing, and the young Fett's body fell down into the grave of Aren Sacul safe and sound. His last expression, his last thought, and his last word were never to be known by anyone else other than himself. All thanks to the fact that he was wearing a helmet.

Author's Note:

Only one chapter left! Wow, it's flown by fast! Thank you all in advance to those who kindly read and reviewed my story. Stay tuned for another Star Wars fic to be announced very soon.