On the Hunt

"Hey, you! You can't come back here, it's—" began the Aqualish guard. Having no time for this, Jango simply shot the man in the face. Then, the bounty hunter continued down the corridor.

Up ahead, Jango spotted a figure darting around the corner. It was Cha'zac! He reached the end of the hall and saw the Rodian slip onto an elevator. The bounty hunter sprinted for the rising platform and leapt at it, but he was too late; the metal dais disappeared into the ceiling and he slammed into one of the huge exposed pistons that had risen underneath the elevator.

Jango fell to the shallow pit at the bottom of the shaft, dazed from the collision. He rolled slowly onto his back and looked up through his cracked visor. Then, he realized how bad a spot he was in. The elevator was coming back down automatically, and he was going to be pressed like a vat of grapes. Disapproving of the concept of Jango Fett wine, the agile warrior scrabbled to his feet, ignited his jetpack, and soared out of the rapidly diminishing opening, barely escaping from the deathtrap.

There was no time to loose; Jango turned and ran onto the platform. He reached out to activate the control panel, but all that remained was a bashed-in square thronged by exposed wires. Little sparks flew off the tattered edges sporadically. "Clever," Fett muttered, leaving the inoperative elevator and searching for another exit from the narrow hall. He found one quickly: a grate about seven feet up on the wall opposite the elevator.

Using his cutting torch, Jango removed the thin mesh from the opening and crawled inside the cramped shaft. About three minutes later, he began to wonder if it would have been easier to cut through the ceiling of the elevator. Just then, he reached the end of the tunnel.

There was another grate here. He cut this one open too, and carefully set the metal square aside. Activating the heat-scanner in his helmet he determined that around the corner there were two men, presumably pit fighters. There was also a stack of very cold objects nearby. These, he speculated, could be fuel containers that were frozen to keep the contents inside stable. A little energy could excite the fuel and make quite a show…

Jango drew one of his Westar-34's and peeped out around the corner. Sure enough, the two men were in gladiator attire, each brandishing an imposing stokhli spray stick. One shot was all it took; a barrel broke and its gaseous contents were set ablaze by the crimson bolt. This abrupt increase in heat caused the other tanks' fuel to expand suddenly, bursting apart the containers in a great explosion. Shrapnel whizzed everywhere, taking down both fighters before they knew what hit them.

Pleased with this display, Jango slipped into the gloomy alley. He ducked behind a dumpster slathered with grime and waited. Sure enough, a guard raced out to see what the commotion was. He didn't get remotely close to the flaming mess before a Kamino saberdart lodged in his throat.

There were no more incidents as Jango ran down the alley. He assumed that the building to his right, the one he had not come from, was the long way that Beeggo had taken, having to go around the large L-shaped structure then heading out into the training area. He had conveniently chosen a much shorter route. There was a round tower at the end of the chasm of concrete, and it was extremely likely that this would take him directly to the heart of the training area, cutting off his prey.

There was a door through which the guard had exited, but Jango did not use it. There would most likely be a gang of soldiers in there waiting to ambush him. Instead, he jetpacked up to the upstairs windows and ducked inside the security outpost. Cautiously, he knelt by the rim overlooking the ground level from the loft. Just as he suspected, four sentinels with light repeaters crouched by the door.

Jango left the tower through a door to his left and entered a hallway with regal red carpets and a few pieces of gold artwork hanging on the walls. He located an open door and looked inside. This appeared to be a private viewing box, for there was a Chiss man garbed in an expensive waistcoat and trousers seated in a plush chair by the edge overlooking the ring. He was being served fine food by scantily clad Twi'lek girls, and two Rodians in red uniforms stood by the door, their backs to the entrance. Down on the stage, which had a charged force field about its circumference, a gundark was horribly dismembering two Gammoreans who were supposed to be fighting it.

"How's it going?" asked Jango as he walked onto the balcony. Instantly, the two Rodians turned on him, aiming their Blastech HSB-200 blaster pistols at his head. "Please, friends, put your weapons down," he continued, soothingly. "I mean you no harm." To demonstrate this, he placed his own pistols on the floor by his feet.

"What do you want?" the Chiss barked, averting his red eyes from the disgusting scene below.

"I'm just looking for someone," Jango said, thinking feverishly of a plan. The two goons were standing pretty close to him, but he couldn't see them clearly without turning his head because his helmet obscured his peripheral vision. Furthermore, the Chiss didn't seem to be a threat, nor did the waitresses, who were now standing at the opposite corner.

"That's a likely story!" laughed the Chiss, taking a sip from a brass goblet.

"Come now," Jango said, sounding hurt. "If I had wanted to kill you, you'd be dead!"

The Chiss suddenly started laughing heartily. "Now, there's a point! I like you, friend. What's your name?"

"Surely you've heard of me already!" Jango exclaimed, inching back ever so slightly. He thrust out his hands and bent forward in a gesture of shock, which disguised the fact that his feet had moved. He was now the closest person to the door.

"For good reasons or bad?" asked the Chiss, taking another sip of his drink.

"That's a matter of perspective," Jango remarked.

Before the seated man could respond, there was a loud crash, and the box shook violently as the gundark slammed into the front of it. With one massive hand, it gripped the pole in the center of the opening, and with the other, it swatted the table, the chair, and its occupant as if they were flies. The Chiss slammed face first into the wall and collapsed under the overturned chair, blood streaming down his face. One of the Twi'leks rushed by, but she was caught and flung, screaming, onto the unforgiving surface of the small arena below.

In the chaos, Jango managed to ram his elbows into the noses of each Rodian guard, scooped up his blasters, and darted out the door. He was about to seal it when the second Twi'lek rushed out the opening and down the corridor to safety. Shrugging, the bounty hunter sealed in the two thugs and their employer.

AN—Will Jango Fett be able to capture his two targets, or is Beeggo already long gone? Check in shortly to find out! Once again, I thank you very much for reading, and ask that you take the time to review.