Chapter V:
Then, shortly before the events of A New Hope
Guri nodded once, then left. The droid had been right, he was not pleased with her report. Still, all difficulties could be overcome. Xixor called for a technician to come and do his bidding, informing others of their parts, some little tasks, nothing too large for her menial brain-capacity.
Scraping and bowing, she entered. "Your wish, my Lord?" squeaked the small Sullustean. Well. She would do fine for this job…
* * *
Xixor sent the cowering subordinate out the door. If no further difficulties arose, things might still work out according to his plans. The missing team…he wondered about that. Ah! That slimy…Jabba would pay for this! No one stole from Black Sun and got away with it! Small comlink or no, it was one on which Xixor's orders went out. He would have to see about getting that code changed. He couldn't afford Jabba being able to tell his minions what to do when they thought it was he. The Hutt would be questioned about what he had done with the team…Xixor would enjoy that!
Really, though, it was but a minor annoyance. Boba Fett was the big catch at the moment, the one to worry about. The Hutt was only a small irritant on the grand scale of things. Boba Fett was close to becoming Vader-like in his annoyance. The fish was getting grander all the time—and Xixor meant to reel this one in!
"Guri," he spoke to the air. The door whisked open and the Human Replica Droid stepped in silently. "Have you decided how you want to locate the girl?"
"Yes, Master. I have finished that task." Left unstated was her disagreement. They both knew that she would rather capture the child herself, but she would obey her master's orders.
"Good. Give the other team the go-ahead." Guri nodded once and stepped out again.
Xixor's minions would see to the planting of a bomb on Fett's ship, but that was merely for appearances' sake. If it caught Fett overconfident, good! If it killed him, so much the better! But Xixor would not underestimate Fett. The bounty hunter could survive a mere explosion, he was sure. What Xixor had in mind, however—that would just kill him!
* * *
Alone in space, Boba Fett sat up suddenly straight in the cockpit chair. Something was wrong. The ship was flying differently…as if a small object had been attached to the stern…Fett's fingers flew over the control board. The computer estimated it had embedded itself in the wall of the ship deeply enough that a small part of it was actually inside the Slave.
Boba Fett leaped down past the ladder, ignoring it. He sprinted through his ship to the stern-most end and skidded right. He turned back two steps and studied the bulkheads. A small anomaly stuck-out—miniscule, hardly detectable, even with his mechanically-enhanced vision; no one else would have noticed it, but Fett knew every decimeter of his ship as well as he knew his armor and himself. That was it. Fett pointed his flame-thrower at it and cooked the bulkhead at the center of the attachment. A faint whiff of smoke appeared. The attached item was weaker than the ship's wall. Still, Fett kept the flames going until a hole appeared in the wall. Air was immediately sucked into vacuum. Fett gave the commands to start-up homeostatic ship functions to mend the breach. Still…there was something he didn't like…
No! Fett swirled around and fired his wrist laser into the almost-closed hole Slave was rapidly mending. The force of the laser-blast was enough to send the fragments of the device away from the ship. Still, when it exploded a few seconds later, Fett was thrown to the deck by the force of the blast. The dazed bounty hunter struggled to his feet. Quickly, he ran threw his list of deadly enemies. (His dangerous ones numbered in the thousands, but only thirty or so—living—entities could be counted as "deadly" ones.) He just as rapidly came to his conclusion: Xixor. Only Black Sun would be able to pull off something like that—and think that they could get away with it. The Dark Prince had counted on Fett being killed—but it hadn't worked. Hidden beneath the threatening visor of his Mandalorian helmet, Boba Fett's eyes narrowed. The Prince had made his misstep. Now, it was time to do something about it.
Boba Fett returned to the cockpit to plot a new hyperspace course. This time, he'd make sure Xixor knew he'd blundered.
* * *
Aboard the Star Destroyer Devastator, an anxious technician hurried up behind Darth Vader. With his mechanical breath rasping loud and harsh in the sudden quiet, Vader turned to look at the nearby trembling officer. "Yes…?" he hissed ominously.
"L-lord Vader, s-sir…" the Imperial gulped audibly.
"Yes…?" Vader asked, his annoyance visibly increasing.
"S-sir, it's, uh, the b-bounty hunter, sir…Boba Fett…he, uh, he called us…"
"I shall speak with him." Vader began walking toward the comm.
"Sir!" the officer squeaked. Vader spun, glaring, his cloak spiraling out around him like black storm clouds gathering portentously on the horizon.
"My lord, that-that won't be n-necessary. Boba Fett just w-wanted to tell you, sir…" the technician swallowed again.
"Yes…?" Vader hissed evilly.
"He wanted to tell you," the technician managed to keep his voice from cracking, "that he's reconsidered your proposal.
"He'll take the job."
* * *
"Have we found our volunteer to be the bounty?" the Dark Prince inquired of his contact.
"Yes, my Lord," the answer came back. The assassin had been located and hired.
Finally, his plans could be put into motion.
Boba Fett was doomed.