Chapter 23 Reckless

Padme watched the latest transmission from Mace silently with Yoda, who felt she should know what had happened. She sighed and shook her head as Mace's image faded, "So now we are no closer to finding out who is behind this than we were before; and the killer has Boba." She said.

"Hmm…true it is; but underestimate young Boba we should not. At an end it will be very soon." Yoda assured her.

"I hope you're right, Master Yoda; do you think he will come here?" Padme asked.

"Difficult to say; more likely to the Chancellor he will go. But if come here he does, ready we will be to stop him." Yoda answered, "Safe you and your family are here."

"I know; thank you." Padme replied.

"Necessary to thank us, it is not, Padme; Anakin's family you are." Yoda told her.

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The assassin prodded Boba out onto the roof where a speeder was parked, waiting for them, "How did you know Zak and Ferri were with me?" Boba asked.

"How do you think?" The assassin answered, "No more stupid questions; I know you're just trying to stall for time. Get in the speeder."

"You can't possibly get away with this." Boba said, but obeyed and started to slip into the speeder.

"Oh no; you pilot. I can't do that and watch you at the same time." The assassin ordered.

Boba shrugged and slipped into the seat in front of the steering yoke; he debated taking off before the killer was situated, and decided he could not risk the man going back down and killing his friends. No, Boba decided, the time to act was after they were in the air, "How can you hate Jango?" He asked as he pulled away from the building.

"What do you care?" The assassin asked.

"Well, I think if you're going to frame me because you hate him, I have the right to know what this about." Boba answered.

"Fair enough." The assassin replied….

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"It appears the assassin has taken Boba, Chancellor; Ferri Cortis feels they have headed for the roof, and we are heading there now." Mace announced as the lift moved upward.

"Do you think he will come here?" Bail asked.

"That is a distinct possibility; from what Ferri could gather, it appears this man is working for someone else, and he has not finished the job." Mace answered, "It is very important that your guards understand this man is not what he appears to be."

"Yes, I will be sure everyone is made aware of that. What does he hope to accomplish by taking Boba?" Bail wondered.

"That's a bit muddled, Sir, but I think it has something to with Jango…sorry, Master Windu." Ferri answered.

"It's alright, Padawan; Ferri is correct, when we catch him, hopefully we will find out more." Mace added.

"Are Zak and Ferri alright?" Bail inquired.

"Yes, for some reason, he decided not to kill them. He sprayed them with something that rendered them unconscious; Zak took it full in the face, and his eyes are irritated, but otherwise, it does not appear to have done them any permanent harm." Mace answered.

"Well, that is a bit of good news; how much of a lead do you think they have? Will you be able to catch him on the roof?" Bail asked.

"I don't know; however if we miss them, there are speeders on the way to meet us, so we can at least give chase." Mace replied, "I will contact you again when we see what the situation up there is."

"Thank you, Master Windu." Bail finished and sighed as the transmission ended and turned to Breha, "He may be on his way here with Boba."

"I would like to stay with you, Bail; but I do not think it would be safe for Gemma to be here." Breha replied.

"I believe at this point, it would be safer for both of you to remain here; we do not know how long it will be before this killer arrives, and I do not want either of you caught out in the open." Bail answered.

"Is that man going to try to make Boba kill you, Papa?" Gemma asked.

"I do not know, Gemma; in any case, he will be caught before he can hurt any of us." Bail assured her.

"What about Boba?" Gemma wondered.

"He will not be able hurt Boba either." Bail told her.

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When the Jedi arrived on the rooftop, the speeder carrying Boba and the assassin was still in sight, but hopelessly out of reach. Frustrated, they could only watch as he pulled farther away. Moments later, a pair of four man speeders pulled up and the Clone drivers hopped out without hesitation. Just as quickly, Anakin and Obi-Wan leaped into the front of one with their apprentices behind them; Mace and Adi Gallia took the front of the other as Ga'al and Dena hopped into the rear seats. Within minutes, they were off, giving chase across the city toward the medical center; but the chase was short-lived as the fugitive vehicle took a sudden nosedive toward the pavement far below, "By the Force, what are they doing?" Mace wondered.

Adi shook her head, "It appears as if our assassin is committing suicide, but why would he want to do that?" She asked.

"Perhaps he is not driving." Mace deduced.

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In the other speeder, Anakin and Obi-Wan had also guessed that Boba was driving and that he must have decided to crash the speeder rather than take the killer to his intended target. As they watched, the speeder zigzagged several times, leveled out for a moment and then took another steep nosedive. Steering to remain close, Anakin descended gradually while still keeping the other speeder in sight. Obi-Wan glanced to his right to see Mace mirroring their move. Then it happened, the fugitive speeder tried to climb, but grazed the top of one building and flipped before skidding to a stop at the building's edge. Quickly, Anakin maneuvered their speeder to land on next to the wreckage.

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Boba risked a glance behind him, "You're twisted, you know." He said.

"Keep your eyes on where you're going; didn't your Chancellor friend teach you that?" The assassin ordered, ignoring Boba's observation.

"I don't want to get rammed; I always look at what's in back of me." Boba answered nonchalantly.

"They aren't coming." The assassin replied, "They think you are all still hiding."

"I wouldn't count on that." Boba informed him, "You really know nothing about the Jedi, do you."

"I know they aren't smart enough to figure out what has been happening the last few days." The assassin retorted, "And if you look back one more time, I'll…."

Boba laughed, cutting him off, "You'll what? Kill me? You've made it pretty clear that you are planning to do that anyway." He scoffed.

"You're right; but I can make it very unpleasant." The assassin threatened.

Boba laughed again, "You won't have time." He said.

The assassin placed the barrel of his blaster against Boba's leg, "I can start now if you wish." He replied maliciously.

"Fine, fine; but I don't know how well I'd be able to keep this thing in the air with my leg blown half off." Boba answered and glanced back again.

The assassin jabbed the barrel of the gun sharply into his thigh, "I said eyes forward." He commanded.

"Yeah, yeah." Boba obliged; he had no need to continue checking behind him, having spotted the Jedi pursuing them.

Boba pushed the steering yoke forward and the craft took a sudden nosedive, "Hey, what…." The assassin exclaimed as the sudden movement caused him to lose his blaster, "Straighten up."

"I'm dead already; I won't let you murder my father." Boba answered as he continued on his downward path.

The assassin began to wrestle for control of the steering yoke; the craft zigzagged, coming dangerously close several times to other vehicles and to the buildings along the traffic route. For a moment, the assassin was successful and managed to gain control until Boba wrested it from him to continue his suicidal dive. Somehow, the assassin managed to retrieve the blaster and he crowned Boba on the side of the head with it. Momentarily stunned, Boba lost possession of the yoke, allowing the assassin to pull the speeder level and climb in an effort to avoid hitting the side of a building looming up before them….

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Obi-Wan was out of the speeder before it had completely stopped, bolting toward what was left of the craft carrying the assassin and Boba. The wreckage was strewn over the entirety of the rooftop, and Obi-Wan waded through it, shifting the larger pieces in search of the speeder's inhabitants. He spotted movement toward what was left of the speeder's cockpit and moved toward it; Anakin joined him and together they lifted a chunk of debris, "Help." The recognizable voice of Boba Fett gasped as they pulled away the remainder of debris.

"I've got you." Obi-Wan announced as he hauled the former bounty hunter clear.

"Is he alright?" Dena asked as she joined them

"How are you doing?" Obi-Wan asked as he squatted down in front of Boba.

"Well, I'm not dead." Boba stated.

Obi-Wan laughed, "No; you are most definitely not dead." He assured him as he blotted the open wound on Boba's cheek to staunch the blood.

"What did you think you were doing?" Mace asked.

"He was going to the medical center to kill the Chancellor; I couldn't let him do that." Boba answered.

"But you could have been killed." Dena protested.

"I know; but I didn't see any other choice." Boba told her and then glanced around, "Where is he?"

"Probably buried under what's left of the speeder; and we still don't know what this is all about." Anakin replied.

Boba sighed, "Well, he told me part of it; but he's working for someone else." He answered.

"How is that possible? He's a Clone; shouldn't he be loyal to the Chancellor's Office?" Zak asked, "How could he try to kill the Chancellor?"

"Oh, he's definitely not like the rest of the Clones; he may have had been engineered with accelerated growth, but that's all. He's just like Jango." Boba told them, "And he hates Jango with a passion; he said Jango allowed himself to be used to create a race of mindless slaves to be slaughtered during the war."

"That's twisted; but why blame you for that?" Zak asked.

"Well, because Jango was dead; and because I got what he felt he should have had." Boba explained, "We're both only eighteen, but because of the growth acceleration, he feels and looks older."

"And that was not your fault either." Obi-Wan said.

Boba nodded and then looked over at Zak, "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yes, whatever he used on us, it wasn't harmful." Zak answered.

"I'm sorry; if I had thought he would have been able to get into the building, I…" Boba started.

"We knew the risks going in, Boba; what happened was not your fault." Ferri told him.

"Well, I guess that explains how easily he was able to plant the explosives on the platform, and how he knew the boys were with Boba. But it doesn't explain the explosion in the Vice Chancellor's office; Clones do not have the clearance to gain access to those private chambers." Anakin said.

"Then whoever hired this rogue Clone, must have hired someone else who did have that kind of clearance." Obi-Wan surmised.

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The Clone stifled a moan as he shifted; he could hear voices nearby and surmised that someone had witnessed the crash and had come to help. The last thing he wanted now was to be discovered, so he carefully inched out from under the wreckage burying him hoping to escape notice. He realized he had been lucky to have been trapped on the other side of the speeder, allowing him a chance to see how many beings he would be facing if he tried to run. He was both surprised and dismayed to see several Jedi, including the young men he had drugged, milling about; the fact that they were present and conscious was not a good sign for him. The drug he sprayed them with should have incapacitated them completely by leaving them with no memory, no knowledge at all; they should have been like helpless babies. That meant they could probably identify him; there would be no framing Boba Fett now, in fact, his chances of finishing the job he had been hired to do was now in question. He should have killed them outright; Boba could have been blamed for their deaths too. He was still observing them, trying to plan his escape when one of the Jedi, a young girl, broke away and headed toward one of the speeders parked on the roof. Seizing the opportunity, the Clone hauled himself up and staggered toward her as soon as she turned away, leaving her back unguarded….