BATMAN: DARK SIDE 2 - DARK PRINCE
CHAPTER 4: DARK DEALINGS
The creature examined Bruce Wayne with reptilian eyes; cold, unfeeling eyes and Bruce Wayne felt like a hamburger in front of a hungry man. "Human.you sssshow great sssstrenght in coming here and being sssssoooo bold."
Bruce nodded. "I figured that men like us should be direct. Formalities are for the weak."
The bounty hunter, of a race Bruce had yet to identify, nodded its mottled green head. They were seated at a small table inside the local Bounty Hunter's Guild on Imperial Center. Bruce had come here based on information gathered by the Huntress and Arsenal earlier in the day. He had come here looking for information regarding a bounty hunter named Boba Fett.
The bounty hunter, this Fett fellow, was something of a living legend in this universe, this reality that was so different from Bruce's own. In a way, he and Fett we alike, for in his own universe, Bruce Wayne was the Batman, a myth of the night, a creature of darkness.
He was here to rescue his son, Richard Grayson, also a super-hero called Nightwing. Days before, Boba Fett had kidnapped Nightwing from New York City and the Batman had followed, bringing with him a task force of allies to deal with anything that got in his way.
"You are mossssst correct, human," the lizard man said. It appeared that there was a smile on his face. "I have the information you ssssseek, but the cosssst is high."
Bruce reached into his pocket and pulled out the last of his precious gems that he had brought with him to this universe. "This is all that I have."
A clawed hand reached down and grasped the rubies and emeralds. "Unique cutssss; almossssst asssss unique asssssss your accent."
"I'm not from around here," Bruce said. Before leaving his universe, he had the Martian Manhunter implant in his mind the language of this planet, a language called Basic. The original information came from a mind scan that the Manhunter had done on a being called Darth Maul. Maul had attacked the Batman and Huntress in Gotham City approximately a year before.
"I will arrange a meeting for you," the bounty hunter said, standing up. A wicked looking blaster hanging on his side. "Come back tomorrow."
Bruce nodded and stood up. A few minutes later, he was back on the walkway outside the Guild headquarters.
1 Imperial Barracks 19TFG-12, Imperial Center.
The Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, knew his spy was approaching long before the man entered the military building. The barracks, a non-descript building used to house a small stormtrooper detachment, was the perfect out- of-the-way place to meet. The Dark Lord, known for his many surprise inspections, did not draw too much attention. He had no doubt that his master, Emperor Palpatine, was aware that he was on planet now, but he did not worry too much.
Ever since the destruction of the Death Star, Lord Vader had bee working with Admiral Zaarin to develop new star fighters for the Imperial Navy. He was not expected to be on Imperial Center at this time, but Darth Vader was known for certain eccentricities.
Upon arrival on-planet, he had put out the word that he was looking for any information regarding rebel agents, especially one called Skywalker. The name was quite familiar to Darth Vader, for it was a name that once belonged to him and now it labeled the man who was his son. Or, at least, he believed it was his son.
When a craft of unknown design appeared in the Imperial proving area, the former Jedi Knight's interest was piqued. Whether it was caution or paranoia, Lord Vader had decided to come to Imperial Center and investigate. The mystery of Luke Skywalker was to be solved by him and him alone.
"Lord Vader," the man said, entering. The title was voiced more with fear than with respect.
The Dark Lord dipped his head slightly. "Mr. Grin. I trust that you have information that is worth my time?"
Mr. Grin, a middle-aged man whose hairline was fast receding, looked around nervously. Satisfied that there were no stormtroopers hidden in the corners, he approached slowly. "Yeah.I mean, yes. The word is that Boba Fett was seen piloting a Darlutt-Class shuttle recently."
Darth Vader nodded. That particular class of ship was what had invaded military space and caused him to travel here unannounced. "That is not his normal craft," he mused out loud. When Mr. Grin did not answer, he continued. "Are there any high-priority bounties registered that would draw Fett's attention?"
"I don't know.I just know what my brother told me. He has a friend who was smuggling.I mean shipping some materials on-planet when he saw the ship head to a private dock."
"Whose dock?" Vader said, extending his hand. Grin felt his throat constrict.
"I don't know.honest."
Vader sensed that Grin was lying and a subtle command into the Force began to force the atoms in his blood to move rapidly. This, in turn, began to raise the temperature of the man's blood. "You will tell me what I want or."
Grin spat up blood. "Xizor.Prince Xizor."
Vader released the man from the grip of the Force and let him fall to the floor. Without another word, he stepped out of the room and entered the passageway. At the end, he passed two white-armored stormtroopers. No order was needed as the stormtroopers raised their rifles and went into the room the Dark Lord had just vacated and closed the door.
2 Palace of Emperor Palpatine, Imperial Center.
"How goes you mission, Prince Xizor?" the Emperor cackled from his throne. His Dark Side Adepts stood with heads bowed behind the scarlet-clad Imperial Guardsman. The Falleen prince felt like an actor on the stage. He felt fortunate that his mind was foreign enough that the Emperor could not read it.
"I feel I am getting closer to the solution, my liege," he said, his head bowed. He brought it up slowly. "My agents have found some information regarding this 'Batman' and it is my belief that he did have an apprentice."
"Excellent.how long until you can secure sure proof of the existence of this apprentice?"
"Very soon, my lord, of this you have my personal assurances."
The Emperor stood up and walked slowly towards Xizor. The prince was uncomfortable to be so close to such a ragged specimen of mammalian evolution, but his cool reptilian nature fanned the flames of revulsion. "Were you aware that Lord Vader is here on Imperial Center?"
"No, my lord, I was not aware. Of course, I am not a military person, only a humble courtier. The comings and goings of the fleet commander is certainly none of my concern."
The Emperor pointed a crooked finger at the Falleen. "In this matter, you should be very aware of the whereabouts of my apprentice. Lord Vader is unaware of what we do and I wish to keep it that way."
"Of course, my liege, I understand completely."
"No!" the Emperor shouted, cutting him off. In the universe, this was the only being with the power to subdue the head of Black Sun. "Do not be deceived, Lord Vader is powerful in the Force and far from stupid. This is the reason why I seek the apprentice of the Batman, to have in the event Lord Vader."
"My apologies.I meant no disrespect to either you or your order; I only meant that I understood how important this is to you." Xizor began to wonder if the Emperor was planning on getting rid of Vader. While the Falleen would not weep over the Dark Lord's demise, it would rob him of the vengeance he sought. "You have my word as your servant and.friend," he used the word carefully, testing the waters, "that what transpires between us stays with us."
The Emperor cracked a wicked smile. "My apprentice is here, I thought you should be told. If he gets to close to any information you have, then I am sure you know what to do."
So that was it, Xizor thought. He was actually afraid.well, maybe concerned, that Darth Vader would find out that his possible replacement was being sought. Undoubtedly, that would stoke the fires of anger within the Sith Lord's breast. This was only one of many times that Xizor found himself wondering who exactly Darth Vader really was and why hid destiny seemed tied to the galaxy.
3 Grimmn Jackos Used Freighter Lot, Imperial Center.
"You think I am stupid, don't you human?" the strange alien asked as he buzzed around the office on wings that seemed far too small to carry his bulk. Blue in color with a long nose, Grimmn was proving to be a problematic salesman.
Ted Kord, scientific genius and super-hero, wiped his face and turned to his companion. Micheal Carter, clad in his Booster Gold uniform, stood with his arms crossed. The other hero shrugged and Ted turned back to the saleman. "Listen, friend, we are smugglers."
Grimmn laughed and hacked up something green. "Dressed like that," he said, pointing to Carter. On a world with white-clad stormtroopers and olive-drab garbed military men, the blue and gold costume he wore did make him stick out. Huntress and Arsenal, in leather costumes of black, purple, red and brown seemed to fit in. Ted had forgone his Blue Beetle costume in favor of a simple pair of flight coveralls. He was, after all, here as a pilot on this mission. "Smugglers operate in the shadows, you look like a freak show. A human freak show."
There was apparent disgust in the alien's voice. Ted had read up, during their brief resting period in a motel room, about the current government that ruled the galaxy. It was an empire, with an emperor and set up basically like the many empires that existed on earth, with one very unique difference. Xenophobia was rampant in this so-called New Order. A galaxy populated with hundreds of alien sentients was being dominated by the humans. It appeared, from some records Ted had read that were not totally censored, that there was once a time when the many races lived together in harmony.
Something had changed, but Ted had neither the time nor the energy to find out. He needed a ship with a hyperdrive he could modify to the specifications given to him by Steel, a fellow Justice League reserve member. That ship was what was going to get them home.
In his search for a vessel, Michael had commented that in his century, the twenty-fifth, that weapons smugglers usually had the fastest and toughest ships. An inquiry made by the Huntress and Arsenal pointed them towards this lot. Allegedly, this alien helped to service the booming smuggling business. "We don't want to look at this junk.we want to see the good stuff."
"Go away! Your money is no good here!" The alien began to fly away.
"We aren't leaving!" Ted yelled at the alien's back, but it did no good.
Michael stepped up. "We could go in and beat him up."
Ted rolled his eyes and they began heading to the walkway that would take them to the lifts going up to the next level. "They already don't like humans here.I can't believe our beating him up will help matters any."
"How about we steal a ship?"
Ted threw his arms in the air. "That's the problem! I don't know what to steal! This technology is beyond me. Faster-than-light travel is like nothing to these people, and we are just starting to understand it back home. It would take me weeks at least to figure out what exactly we needed. I figured big and fast would be a good place to start."
"We got to find something and soon," Michael said as the entered the lift.
"Hey, any ideas would be good, future-boy!" Ted snapped. He felt inadequate on this mission. Over the last few years, he had let himself go. He was no longer a young, idealistic man but was now becoming a bitter, middle-aged man.
Michael held his tongue and then reached out to punch the lift controls. The lift, which could have been a thousand years old on the city-planet, shattered and the car was soon falling. Ted screamed, but Michael was already ahead of him, activating the force field built into his uniform.
4 Prince Xizor's Castle, Imperial Center.
Dick Grayson woke with a start, realizing that his thoughts were clear for the first time in a great while. He was still bound and very sore, but his mind was his again. He remembered, briefly, the attack by the armored man while the Titans were battling the Terminator. The shock from the stun rifle had overwhelmed him and then his memory became a series of unconnected images.
He remembered a beautiful blonde woman and a green-skinned man that reminded him of the criminal Killer Croc. His shoulder hurt the worst and he looked to see he was barechest and bruised. There were several telltale marks of where they had taken blood from hi. He remembered that and briefly thought about an alien autopsy show he had once watched.
He shook his head and looked at his surroundings. The material binding him was not normal rope and his gloves were gone. He was thankful that he still had on his pants, but they smelled the worse for wear. In fact, the room had the smell of death about it and that was when he noticed the brown stains on the floor and walls.
There were puddle stains and flecks, indicating the villainous intentions this room represented. Instantly, his training kicked in and he knew he had to get free. Summoning all of his strength, he tried to snap either his bindings or the device he was strapped to. Both proved too strong for him and he grunted in anger.
As he was about to try again, the door to the room opened. Dick immediately played possum. The door closed silently and he waited until he could sense the other person next to him. He caught the faint smell of perfume, but could not place it. He opened his eyes slowly to find a young red-haired woman staring at him, holding a flower under his nose. The flower was obviously meant to wake him up. Much better than smelling salts. "Who are you, he asked?"
The woman, really a girl, who couldn't have been more that seventeen, looked at him oddly. She spoke to him, but the language was not anything he ever heard before. He tried speaking French, Russian and even Arabic. It was no use.
Mara Jade reflected on the tied up man. She had been sent by her master, Emperor Palpatine, to watch over Prince Xizor in order to see his methods of carrying out the Emperor's request. For days, she had observed the Falleen's personal estate on Imperial Center, but could discover nothing except that he was ravenous in his sexual conquests. The thought of his cold, reptilian hands on her made Mara's skin chill.
Finally, her master had informed her that Xizor would be leaving his estate today and that would give her time to enter and discover his plans. Using the Force, Mara had reached out to find that the many guards were mostly concerned with this one human prisoner. It was child's play to get past the dullard guards, though the illegal assassin droid had provided her with a small challenge. Her master would be very interested in hearing that Prince Xizor collected ancient weapons.
For a simple courtier, the Prince had an awful lot of security. There was more here than what she saw and as much as she would like to dig up the evidence to send the reptile scurrying, she had another task to perform. This prisoner was important to Xizor, so that made him important to the Emperor.
She studied him, listening to him speak in what sounded like Jawa's drunk. He was handsome and a part of her, that feminine part that was usually reserved for missions that required it, was urging her to pursue her desires. Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand, though trained in the ways of the Dark Side, was not immune to those things that made her human.
In the end, her loyalty to the Emperor overrode her baser desires, and pulling out a vibroblade, she severed the ferrocord that held the prisoner. When he stood up, she noticed that he stank. That would be a problem. Smelly people did not sneak around very well.
Mara remembered a refresher she had passed on the floor above. Hopefully, there was a sonic shower there for this rancor-smelling prisoner.
5 Outside the Bounty Hunter's Guild, Imperial Center.
Boba Fett normally ignored any request from the Guild, but this particular one had piqued his interest. He stood against the ferrocrete wall of the Guild building, a structure he only entered when he wanted to taunt the lesser hunters. His active scanners picked up movement from above, but he did nothing to alter his position.
The sensors brought up an eye-level display, relaying information about the figure approaching him. It was a normal human male, trying to keep to the shadows. Whomever it was had managed to get past the security systems of the Guild. Impressive to some people, but boring to Boba Fett.
The figure was just above him, on the roof, when Fett felt a tap on his shoulder. His left eye fell on the display and sure enough, there was someone next to him. Fett, his cheeks red in anger, went for his rifle to bring it up. A hand reached out and yanked it from his grasp before he could pull the trigger.
He was about to go for an auxiliary weapon when he realized that had this person wanted to kill him, they could have already done it. He had managed to get past Fett's sensors, which were augmented by the sensors of his own ship, Slave 1, which was not too far away.
Now, Fett was impressed.
"We need to talk, bounty hunter," came an accented voice. Someone landed behind him, but he paid no mind to the decoy.
"Go ahead.Batman," Fett said to the man in the cape and cowl in front of him.
CHAPTER 4: DARK DEALINGS
The creature examined Bruce Wayne with reptilian eyes; cold, unfeeling eyes and Bruce Wayne felt like a hamburger in front of a hungry man. "Human.you sssshow great sssstrenght in coming here and being sssssoooo bold."
Bruce nodded. "I figured that men like us should be direct. Formalities are for the weak."
The bounty hunter, of a race Bruce had yet to identify, nodded its mottled green head. They were seated at a small table inside the local Bounty Hunter's Guild on Imperial Center. Bruce had come here based on information gathered by the Huntress and Arsenal earlier in the day. He had come here looking for information regarding a bounty hunter named Boba Fett.
The bounty hunter, this Fett fellow, was something of a living legend in this universe, this reality that was so different from Bruce's own. In a way, he and Fett we alike, for in his own universe, Bruce Wayne was the Batman, a myth of the night, a creature of darkness.
He was here to rescue his son, Richard Grayson, also a super-hero called Nightwing. Days before, Boba Fett had kidnapped Nightwing from New York City and the Batman had followed, bringing with him a task force of allies to deal with anything that got in his way.
"You are mossssst correct, human," the lizard man said. It appeared that there was a smile on his face. "I have the information you ssssseek, but the cosssst is high."
Bruce reached into his pocket and pulled out the last of his precious gems that he had brought with him to this universe. "This is all that I have."
A clawed hand reached down and grasped the rubies and emeralds. "Unique cutssss; almossssst asssss unique asssssss your accent."
"I'm not from around here," Bruce said. Before leaving his universe, he had the Martian Manhunter implant in his mind the language of this planet, a language called Basic. The original information came from a mind scan that the Manhunter had done on a being called Darth Maul. Maul had attacked the Batman and Huntress in Gotham City approximately a year before.
"I will arrange a meeting for you," the bounty hunter said, standing up. A wicked looking blaster hanging on his side. "Come back tomorrow."
Bruce nodded and stood up. A few minutes later, he was back on the walkway outside the Guild headquarters.
1 Imperial Barracks 19TFG-12, Imperial Center.
The Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, knew his spy was approaching long before the man entered the military building. The barracks, a non-descript building used to house a small stormtrooper detachment, was the perfect out- of-the-way place to meet. The Dark Lord, known for his many surprise inspections, did not draw too much attention. He had no doubt that his master, Emperor Palpatine, was aware that he was on planet now, but he did not worry too much.
Ever since the destruction of the Death Star, Lord Vader had bee working with Admiral Zaarin to develop new star fighters for the Imperial Navy. He was not expected to be on Imperial Center at this time, but Darth Vader was known for certain eccentricities.
Upon arrival on-planet, he had put out the word that he was looking for any information regarding rebel agents, especially one called Skywalker. The name was quite familiar to Darth Vader, for it was a name that once belonged to him and now it labeled the man who was his son. Or, at least, he believed it was his son.
When a craft of unknown design appeared in the Imperial proving area, the former Jedi Knight's interest was piqued. Whether it was caution or paranoia, Lord Vader had decided to come to Imperial Center and investigate. The mystery of Luke Skywalker was to be solved by him and him alone.
"Lord Vader," the man said, entering. The title was voiced more with fear than with respect.
The Dark Lord dipped his head slightly. "Mr. Grin. I trust that you have information that is worth my time?"
Mr. Grin, a middle-aged man whose hairline was fast receding, looked around nervously. Satisfied that there were no stormtroopers hidden in the corners, he approached slowly. "Yeah.I mean, yes. The word is that Boba Fett was seen piloting a Darlutt-Class shuttle recently."
Darth Vader nodded. That particular class of ship was what had invaded military space and caused him to travel here unannounced. "That is not his normal craft," he mused out loud. When Mr. Grin did not answer, he continued. "Are there any high-priority bounties registered that would draw Fett's attention?"
"I don't know.I just know what my brother told me. He has a friend who was smuggling.I mean shipping some materials on-planet when he saw the ship head to a private dock."
"Whose dock?" Vader said, extending his hand. Grin felt his throat constrict.
"I don't know.honest."
Vader sensed that Grin was lying and a subtle command into the Force began to force the atoms in his blood to move rapidly. This, in turn, began to raise the temperature of the man's blood. "You will tell me what I want or."
Grin spat up blood. "Xizor.Prince Xizor."
Vader released the man from the grip of the Force and let him fall to the floor. Without another word, he stepped out of the room and entered the passageway. At the end, he passed two white-armored stormtroopers. No order was needed as the stormtroopers raised their rifles and went into the room the Dark Lord had just vacated and closed the door.
2 Palace of Emperor Palpatine, Imperial Center.
"How goes you mission, Prince Xizor?" the Emperor cackled from his throne. His Dark Side Adepts stood with heads bowed behind the scarlet-clad Imperial Guardsman. The Falleen prince felt like an actor on the stage. He felt fortunate that his mind was foreign enough that the Emperor could not read it.
"I feel I am getting closer to the solution, my liege," he said, his head bowed. He brought it up slowly. "My agents have found some information regarding this 'Batman' and it is my belief that he did have an apprentice."
"Excellent.how long until you can secure sure proof of the existence of this apprentice?"
"Very soon, my lord, of this you have my personal assurances."
The Emperor stood up and walked slowly towards Xizor. The prince was uncomfortable to be so close to such a ragged specimen of mammalian evolution, but his cool reptilian nature fanned the flames of revulsion. "Were you aware that Lord Vader is here on Imperial Center?"
"No, my lord, I was not aware. Of course, I am not a military person, only a humble courtier. The comings and goings of the fleet commander is certainly none of my concern."
The Emperor pointed a crooked finger at the Falleen. "In this matter, you should be very aware of the whereabouts of my apprentice. Lord Vader is unaware of what we do and I wish to keep it that way."
"Of course, my liege, I understand completely."
"No!" the Emperor shouted, cutting him off. In the universe, this was the only being with the power to subdue the head of Black Sun. "Do not be deceived, Lord Vader is powerful in the Force and far from stupid. This is the reason why I seek the apprentice of the Batman, to have in the event Lord Vader."
"My apologies.I meant no disrespect to either you or your order; I only meant that I understood how important this is to you." Xizor began to wonder if the Emperor was planning on getting rid of Vader. While the Falleen would not weep over the Dark Lord's demise, it would rob him of the vengeance he sought. "You have my word as your servant and.friend," he used the word carefully, testing the waters, "that what transpires between us stays with us."
The Emperor cracked a wicked smile. "My apprentice is here, I thought you should be told. If he gets to close to any information you have, then I am sure you know what to do."
So that was it, Xizor thought. He was actually afraid.well, maybe concerned, that Darth Vader would find out that his possible replacement was being sought. Undoubtedly, that would stoke the fires of anger within the Sith Lord's breast. This was only one of many times that Xizor found himself wondering who exactly Darth Vader really was and why hid destiny seemed tied to the galaxy.
3 Grimmn Jackos Used Freighter Lot, Imperial Center.
"You think I am stupid, don't you human?" the strange alien asked as he buzzed around the office on wings that seemed far too small to carry his bulk. Blue in color with a long nose, Grimmn was proving to be a problematic salesman.
Ted Kord, scientific genius and super-hero, wiped his face and turned to his companion. Micheal Carter, clad in his Booster Gold uniform, stood with his arms crossed. The other hero shrugged and Ted turned back to the saleman. "Listen, friend, we are smugglers."
Grimmn laughed and hacked up something green. "Dressed like that," he said, pointing to Carter. On a world with white-clad stormtroopers and olive-drab garbed military men, the blue and gold costume he wore did make him stick out. Huntress and Arsenal, in leather costumes of black, purple, red and brown seemed to fit in. Ted had forgone his Blue Beetle costume in favor of a simple pair of flight coveralls. He was, after all, here as a pilot on this mission. "Smugglers operate in the shadows, you look like a freak show. A human freak show."
There was apparent disgust in the alien's voice. Ted had read up, during their brief resting period in a motel room, about the current government that ruled the galaxy. It was an empire, with an emperor and set up basically like the many empires that existed on earth, with one very unique difference. Xenophobia was rampant in this so-called New Order. A galaxy populated with hundreds of alien sentients was being dominated by the humans. It appeared, from some records Ted had read that were not totally censored, that there was once a time when the many races lived together in harmony.
Something had changed, but Ted had neither the time nor the energy to find out. He needed a ship with a hyperdrive he could modify to the specifications given to him by Steel, a fellow Justice League reserve member. That ship was what was going to get them home.
In his search for a vessel, Michael had commented that in his century, the twenty-fifth, that weapons smugglers usually had the fastest and toughest ships. An inquiry made by the Huntress and Arsenal pointed them towards this lot. Allegedly, this alien helped to service the booming smuggling business. "We don't want to look at this junk.we want to see the good stuff."
"Go away! Your money is no good here!" The alien began to fly away.
"We aren't leaving!" Ted yelled at the alien's back, but it did no good.
Michael stepped up. "We could go in and beat him up."
Ted rolled his eyes and they began heading to the walkway that would take them to the lifts going up to the next level. "They already don't like humans here.I can't believe our beating him up will help matters any."
"How about we steal a ship?"
Ted threw his arms in the air. "That's the problem! I don't know what to steal! This technology is beyond me. Faster-than-light travel is like nothing to these people, and we are just starting to understand it back home. It would take me weeks at least to figure out what exactly we needed. I figured big and fast would be a good place to start."
"We got to find something and soon," Michael said as the entered the lift.
"Hey, any ideas would be good, future-boy!" Ted snapped. He felt inadequate on this mission. Over the last few years, he had let himself go. He was no longer a young, idealistic man but was now becoming a bitter, middle-aged man.
Michael held his tongue and then reached out to punch the lift controls. The lift, which could have been a thousand years old on the city-planet, shattered and the car was soon falling. Ted screamed, but Michael was already ahead of him, activating the force field built into his uniform.
4 Prince Xizor's Castle, Imperial Center.
Dick Grayson woke with a start, realizing that his thoughts were clear for the first time in a great while. He was still bound and very sore, but his mind was his again. He remembered, briefly, the attack by the armored man while the Titans were battling the Terminator. The shock from the stun rifle had overwhelmed him and then his memory became a series of unconnected images.
He remembered a beautiful blonde woman and a green-skinned man that reminded him of the criminal Killer Croc. His shoulder hurt the worst and he looked to see he was barechest and bruised. There were several telltale marks of where they had taken blood from hi. He remembered that and briefly thought about an alien autopsy show he had once watched.
He shook his head and looked at his surroundings. The material binding him was not normal rope and his gloves were gone. He was thankful that he still had on his pants, but they smelled the worse for wear. In fact, the room had the smell of death about it and that was when he noticed the brown stains on the floor and walls.
There were puddle stains and flecks, indicating the villainous intentions this room represented. Instantly, his training kicked in and he knew he had to get free. Summoning all of his strength, he tried to snap either his bindings or the device he was strapped to. Both proved too strong for him and he grunted in anger.
As he was about to try again, the door to the room opened. Dick immediately played possum. The door closed silently and he waited until he could sense the other person next to him. He caught the faint smell of perfume, but could not place it. He opened his eyes slowly to find a young red-haired woman staring at him, holding a flower under his nose. The flower was obviously meant to wake him up. Much better than smelling salts. "Who are you, he asked?"
The woman, really a girl, who couldn't have been more that seventeen, looked at him oddly. She spoke to him, but the language was not anything he ever heard before. He tried speaking French, Russian and even Arabic. It was no use.
Mara Jade reflected on the tied up man. She had been sent by her master, Emperor Palpatine, to watch over Prince Xizor in order to see his methods of carrying out the Emperor's request. For days, she had observed the Falleen's personal estate on Imperial Center, but could discover nothing except that he was ravenous in his sexual conquests. The thought of his cold, reptilian hands on her made Mara's skin chill.
Finally, her master had informed her that Xizor would be leaving his estate today and that would give her time to enter and discover his plans. Using the Force, Mara had reached out to find that the many guards were mostly concerned with this one human prisoner. It was child's play to get past the dullard guards, though the illegal assassin droid had provided her with a small challenge. Her master would be very interested in hearing that Prince Xizor collected ancient weapons.
For a simple courtier, the Prince had an awful lot of security. There was more here than what she saw and as much as she would like to dig up the evidence to send the reptile scurrying, she had another task to perform. This prisoner was important to Xizor, so that made him important to the Emperor.
She studied him, listening to him speak in what sounded like Jawa's drunk. He was handsome and a part of her, that feminine part that was usually reserved for missions that required it, was urging her to pursue her desires. Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand, though trained in the ways of the Dark Side, was not immune to those things that made her human.
In the end, her loyalty to the Emperor overrode her baser desires, and pulling out a vibroblade, she severed the ferrocord that held the prisoner. When he stood up, she noticed that he stank. That would be a problem. Smelly people did not sneak around very well.
Mara remembered a refresher she had passed on the floor above. Hopefully, there was a sonic shower there for this rancor-smelling prisoner.
5 Outside the Bounty Hunter's Guild, Imperial Center.
Boba Fett normally ignored any request from the Guild, but this particular one had piqued his interest. He stood against the ferrocrete wall of the Guild building, a structure he only entered when he wanted to taunt the lesser hunters. His active scanners picked up movement from above, but he did nothing to alter his position.
The sensors brought up an eye-level display, relaying information about the figure approaching him. It was a normal human male, trying to keep to the shadows. Whomever it was had managed to get past the security systems of the Guild. Impressive to some people, but boring to Boba Fett.
The figure was just above him, on the roof, when Fett felt a tap on his shoulder. His left eye fell on the display and sure enough, there was someone next to him. Fett, his cheeks red in anger, went for his rifle to bring it up. A hand reached out and yanked it from his grasp before he could pull the trigger.
He was about to go for an auxiliary weapon when he realized that had this person wanted to kill him, they could have already done it. He had managed to get past Fett's sensors, which were augmented by the sensors of his own ship, Slave 1, which was not too far away.
Now, Fett was impressed.
"We need to talk, bounty hunter," came an accented voice. Someone landed behind him, but he paid no mind to the decoy.
"Go ahead.Batman," Fett said to the man in the cape and cowl in front of him.