The shelter was only a small part of the residence, as the rock face of the valley had been cut to accommodate a storage room and two sleeping quarters. Boba walked through the door and set his dented helmet on a base to the right of the door. He slipped off his gauntlets and placed them beside the helmet. Then he strode to the food storage, grabbed a piece of salted groat meat, and tore off a sizable bite with his teeth as he sat down.

The protocol droid returned with the girl already recovering. She still donned her helmet, but held her head with her right hand, her left arm draped over PZ-85. She was weak and tottered to a seat.

"You didn't have to arm the charge," she said.

"Had you been more aware, it wouldn't have mattered," Boba retorted.

"You're a real nerfherder," the girl said with acidic resolve and removed her helmet. She was an eleven-year-old-girl, and her black hair fell to her shoulders, framing her olive skin and striking green eyes. She squinted her eyes and rubbed her temple trying to soothe a headache she suffered from the sonic charge. "One of these days, I'm gonna get the best of you, like my mother always did."

Boba laughed and waved the salted meat at the girl. "Listen here, Patch. Believing myths isn't going to make you any better. You're mother never got the best of me." He took another bite of the groat.

Patch crossed her arms and glared at him. "Then why'd she tell me all the time how she did?"

"I knew her twenty-five years longer than you did. She had a way of remembering things the way she wanted to," Boba replied.

"Like the Sarlacc pit?" Patch questioned, inconspicuous assurance displayed on her face.

Boba tensed his lips. "She also didn't know when to shut up. And you got that trait from her just fine."

"Well, with you gone for months at a time, I gotta talk, or no one does," Patch replied. "PZ ain't exactly great at small talk."

The protocol droid perked up, "I regret that my programming is limited in the function of what she refers to as small talk. Perhaps a programming upgrade will remedy that."

Boba ignored the droid as was his usual pattern.

"And if you would bring me on your bounty hunts-" Patch started.

"Enough of that," Boba interrupted.

"What's the problem?" Patch asked. "Are you afraid I'll get myself killed."

"No, worse," Boba replied. "I'm afraid that you'll get me killed." He stood up and looked to PZ-85. "I got an ion pulse generator and a new power cell in the Blade. Load them into the sand speeder to take to the aerie."

"Yes, Master Boba," the droid replied.

"And another thing," Patch began again.

"You're done," Boba said raising his voice and pointing his finger at her. "Get to the speeder. We've got work to do."

Patch crossed her arms and glared at the table with a huff, then got up to leave.

"Patch," Boba said.

She looked back with annoyance.

"Your helmet."

She returned back to the table and swiped it up.

….

A fully armored Boba, Patch, and PZ-85 sped through the dry, rocky valley on the sand speeder, working their way up a narrow path toward the top of the canyon. Boba drove, and PZ-85 scanned the skies with vigilance.

"Anything, PZ?" Boba questioned.

"The skies are clear, sir," the droid replied as his long neck arched to direct its large eyes at the sky. "No probe or spy droids on my scans."

"Good," Boba replied.

The path dead-ended at a flat rock face, but Boba did not slow the speeder as he headed straight for the apparent unyielding surface. The speeder approached just under twenty meters, then ten, then five without slowing. Finally, it disappeared into the orange facade, only the dust the speeder had stirred showing evidence that they had been there.

Inside the grotto, behind the holographic facade, Boba parked the speeder and leapt out, grabbing the new power cell. He walked through the dim light to a control display at the wall and opened a one-meter panel ventral to it. He removed the old two-foot power cell and replaced it with the new one. Then he replaced the panel and hit the control display. Lights came to life revealing an immense cavern that stretched at least half a kilometer deep and wide. It was an old Geonosian hive now abandoned of life. However, it was not empty. In the center, perched with majestic semblance stood a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter, bright and clean, having been carefully detailed over the past year. The ship looked brand new.

"How is she doing?" Boba asked.

"The Falcon is just a month from flyin' again, I imagine," Patch replied with proud satisfaction.

For the story of how Boba Fett ended up with the Millennium Falcon check out Episode VIII Rise of the Dark Jedi and the epilogue of Episode IX The Legacy of the Sith.