"Master Skywalker," Tione announced, "There's a visitor here for you."
"Show them in.," Luke murmured, not really concerned with the unknown presence. It was probably another politician asking for some silly favor. Well, he'd turned enough of them around to know how to deal with their kind. "And you are?" He asked, without looking up.
"Boba Fett." A harsh, cold, voice announced.
"Seriously, I don't have time for…" Luke sighed. Then he looked up. It certainly looked like Fett. Immediately, all pretense at boredom vanished from his manner, and he transformed into his old self. "What do you want, Fett?" He asked, a hint of malice coloring his tone and aura.
"Easy, Skywalker, I'm just here to talk. One of your newest students is a thief and smuggler, with no morals." Nothing could be detected from Fett's tone. Not anger, not insanity, nothing. And even more disturbing was that as far as Luke could sense, it wasn't an illusion. The man simply didn't feel.
"I know." He snapped. Why bring up the past history of a student? Many of them were at one time wanted criminals. He himself was still wanted in many a sector.
"Then why did you accept him?" Perhaps, if one had enough time to play a recording of that statement several times, a hint of false curiosity might be heard.
"One of my best friends used to be exactly like him. But you'd know all about Han, wouldn't you?" His eyes betrayed his anger, but he kept himself otherwise composed.
"Look, I captured Solo, you liberated him. You knocked me in the pit of Sarlaac, I blew it up. All debts are off. I'm here to talk to you about a smuggler with a bounty on his head. And let me warn you about one thing: There's not an honest bone in his body. That bounty is for two-timing his employers. If you take him in, he'll use the Academy for his own purposes, then leave." Fett did not allow himself to become the least bit angry, merely read off a mental list.
"I don't sense malevolent energy within him. He's just misguided." Luke was sure that Orin would not try to hurt any of them, but he had no such certainties about Fett.
"Think what you will." Fett whipped around on one foot and prowled out the door. "Mission accomplished." He whispered, when he was sure he was out of earshot of Skywalker.
Luke leaned back in his chair, exhausted from holding back his anger at the Bounty Hunter. "'All bets are off?' He kidnapped Han and sold him to Jabba. Where does he get off?" As his anger faded, he moaned softly and picked himself out of the chair.
It was easier to fake ignorance, Orin mused, if one knew how. His experiences, while varied, had never prepared him for something like this, learning so much and displaying so little. As he attempted to light the fuse for the seventh time, he thought he could easily get the hang of it, and resolved to come back and try later. The jungle air surrounded him, making it hard to breathe, but all around him plant life and fungi channeled the Force. Making use of it, he reached out again and created just the tiniest spark and smallest bit of smoke. He resolved to continue that until the exercise ended.
Luke watched his newest student with confusion. By all rights, the man should have mastered the exercise by now, even taking into account his limited skill with the Force. Was what Fett had told him true? The Force was by no means foolproof, and he could be amoral and not evil, simply raised in the wrong environment. He had been wrong about too many students in the past to take chances now. "Artoo!" He yelled, though the little droid was close at hand. "Tell Tionne to keep an eye on Rafet Orin. He could be trouble." The astromech whistled acknowledgement and rolled off. Luke hid behind the trees for a moment longer, than turned back into the jungle.
Fett knew the seeds of doubt would by now have planted themselves in Skywalker's mind. The Jedi Master was much too cautious and experienced to take stupid chances. He could have sent an anonymous tip and been as effective, but upsetting Skywalker was part of the plan. A part that, now that it was over, he could review and enjoy at his leisure…