Chapter Seven: Old Friends
A few weeks later, Boba was in his quarters beneath the roof of the Palace, U'Kag by his side, readying himself to pay the crime families of Mos Eisley a visit. According to Orkar Lash, they had refused an alliance with him in favor of the Pykes. Now he would see if they could reconsider. Looking into a mirror framed by ornately carved sandstone, green silk curtains blowing in the wind, Boba was beginning to put on his black robes before his armor. Having already cloaked his legs, the Emir of Tatooine examined his figure and reflected on how he had evolved over the years.
As a bounty hunter, Boba Fett was far more slender than his father Jango and most of his brothers, the clone troopers, had been. However, Boba now saw a closer resemblance between himself and his brethren, aside from slightly healed acid scars, as he gazed upon his muscular frame, forged from four years among the I'Ka Tuskens. If only they were alive. Nevertheless, as he got closer to the Pykes, they would be avenged. His friend, A'Kagri would have justice. He looked to his sarlacc dragon pet, who hissed with affirmation.
"Good morning Boba!" called Zeyma's voice from across the room.
Boba jumped with surprise, jerking his gaze towards the teenage Zeltron cyborg. She was currently being trained by the Gamorrean duo to be a member of Boba's guard. While she was already quite chummy with the gentler Kriic, the stoic Athmot found her antics a bit excessive, even if he respected her drive.
"Can you knock next time?" growled Boba, with an irritated edge to his voice. "I need to get my armor on."
"Sorry Boba," Zeyma immediately apologized, raising her hands, both droid and organic. "But that's the thing."
Boba, who had put his helmet on before the rest of the armor in a rush to clothe himself, looked to Zeyma, his head tilted.
"You always wear that armor and helmet," elaborated the young Zeltron.
"And?" inquired Boba.
"It creates a slight image problem," Zeyma explained, "I mean no one ever sees your face. I mean the Emir of Tatooine has to be known if he is to be respected by the peop-"
"Hear my voice?" asked Boba.
"Uh, yeah?" answered Zeyma, unsure of his intention.
"Then you know my face," Boba clarified bluntly.
"You actually brought me to my point," chuckled Zeyma.
Now fully armored, Boba turned to Zeyma again. What was the young cyborg thinking?
"My mother was an artist who grew up in the Core," explained Zeyma. "During the Clone Wars, she always saw images of your brothers, the heroic 'Boys in White' and all that."
"Uhhhhh," was Boba's blank reply.
"So, I have a work-around for your image without you needing to show your face!" she excitedly declared. "Presenting-"
She gestured towards the Palace's LEP droid, who walked in as if on cue, carrying in one hand, a vibrantly-colored poster, depicting Boba Fett wielding his gaderffii stick in a heroic-looking pose, green beskar armor, dented helmet, and all, with Aurebesh text reading Boba Fett: Honorable Emir of Tatooine who fights for Those Who Can't. In the other hand, the droid was carrying-
"Is that a doll?" asked Boba.
"It's an action figure," Zeyma corrected, looking proud of herself. "Made of durasteel. All the little children of this world can now play with the image of their wise and just Emir. And the best part?"
Boba stood, unamused, U'Kag flicking his tongue out.
"Spring-loaded rocket missile!" Zeyma shouted, her voice definitely brimming with pride. "Able to knock Pyke freighters out of orbit!"
Boba Fett walked over to the LEP droid, snatching the action figure out of its hands. Without a second thought, he tossed it to his feet, before lifting his right boot and crushing the durasteel likeness of himself underfoot.
"Hey!" cried Zeyma.
"I want every last of these trinkets melted down," ordered Boba.
"Umm, about that," Zeyma began to explain. "I have received payment from hundreds of parents across the planet for a pre-order. We don't want to disappoint the children, right?"
Boba sighed, giving a reluctant nod of approval for the plan, leading Zeyma to beam with joy, as she left the Emir's quarters. As she left, Fennec entered, a look of confusion on her face, as she noticed Zeyma's excitement.
"What's she so happy about?" inquired Fennec.
"The kid's just gone a little crazy," explained Boba.
"Well, crazy or not, the Pykes have been scaling up their activities across Tatooine," revealed Fennec. "You should probably expect some old friends paying us a visit."
Having landed the Slave I on the outskirts of Mos Eisley, Boba, Fennec, the Gamorrean duo, Zeyma, and the Quarren cyborg named Picten Tal, walk the sandy streets of this wretched hive of scum and villainy, passing the mounted stormtrooper helmets, where Zeyma had been taken all those years ago. Boba surveyed the surroundings, catching sight of Jawas sorting through piles of scrap and a Dug glaring forebodingly at the party.
"Good to be home," sarcastically quipped Zeyma, drawing the eyes of the others in the party.
"Hey!" shouted a deep, booming voice that Boba swore sounded familiar.
Rushing over was a giant man, face hidden by a hood and cloak. He stood at least a head taller than Boba and was of a massive build, almost rancor-like in proportions. Boba readied his blaster carbine, looking to Fennec cautiously.
"What's the matter?" inquired the giant, Boba again hearing something familiar in his voice. "I just wanted to be sure my pre-order was coming."
Boba saw Fennec give him a confused glance, which he returned from behind his t-visor.
"Oh," replied Zeyma, recognizing the situation. "Don't worry sir, your child will be shipped an Emir Boba Fett action figure within due time."
"Yahaha!" laughed the massive stranger. "That's cute! You think the toy's for a kid. My sister was the only kid in my family, and she's already grown up!"
He then began to whisper, "I want that action figure for myself. I see all the kids, even those without too many credits, playin' with 'em."
"Thank you for the patronage," thanked Zeyma, a wide smile on her face.
"No worries kid," replied the giant. "Yeah!"
Boba watched as the large stranger ran off, cheering like a small child, before turning to Fennec and then Zeyma.
"See Boba?!" called out Zeyma. "The youth of this planet are going to grow up loving you! It'll secure your reign!"
As Boba sighed, reluctantly accepting that the young Zeltron had a point, Fennec made a notable observation.
"That man was clearly not a child," noted Fennec, before she turned to Boba. "I don't know what it is, but I feel I've met him before."
"I can hear something in his voice as well," Boba signed to Fennec. "We must be careful."
"The Emir doesn't care if you are the daughter of Isa Durand," snarled Fennec, translating for Boba, "You still have to show him loyalty."
Boba and his followers were standing in a dimly-lit room in the back of a junk shop, confronting Taga Durand, a green-skinned, hornless female Devaronian who led the local branch of the Durand crime family on Tatooine. She sat smugly, sneering at the Emir of Tatooine and his delegation. Surrounding the group and Durand was a retinue of horned male Devaronian guards, armed with blaster rifles.
"You take what you want," replied the Devaronian female. "That's what our family lives by. If you aren't willing to accept that, well, you are unfit to reign over the underworld."
Boba walked closer to the crime boss's desk, Fennec, the Gamorreans, Zeyma, and Picten watching. Without a second thought, he backhanded the Devaronian female in the face, drawing black, oil-like blood from her cheek. All the guards raised their blasters, leading Boba to back down, though he gave Taga Durand a warning glare before leaving with the rest of the group.
With his group re-entering the dusty streets from a back alleyway, Boba continues to scan his surroundings. He notices a few Pyke foot-soldiers patrolling the streets in their red coats, with their oversized heads, many of the local citizens clearing the way for them. These ruthless snakes didn't deserve to walk this planet like they owned it. They had only been here for a few years, especially compared to the Tuskens. And Boba would soon ensure they would leave.
"Graouaarrghhhh!" a bestial snarl rumbles not too far from the group.
Boba quickly shifted his focus to a massive black-furred Wookiee with a scar over his left eye and his obsidian-hued fur woven into braided dreadlocks. The hairy giant stood tall over the delegation, glaring at them with an intense, piercing gaze. Boba remembered this individual as Black Krrsantan or simply Santo for short, a former gladiator turned-bounty hunter, who he had once worked with under Jabba the Hutt. Santo was accompanied by a tall, silver-plated, red eyed droid, wielding an electrostaff; an IG-100 Magnaguard of a line made famous by the guards of cyborg General Grievous of the Separatist Alliance.
"Ghrraaarrrr!" growled Santo again.
The fearsome Wookiee then marched off, slowly, followed by the Magnaguard, with Santo's steps creating clouds of dust in the sand and the IG-100 creating mechanical clanks as it stomped away. Boba turned to Zeyma and Picten first, who were visibly shaking from the sight of the former gladiator and his newfound droid escort. He then turned to the Gamorreans, who were standing, as if ready to fight, though Kriic's nose was visibly twitching. He then looked to Fennec.
"As I said, old friends," she signed with one hand, her other holding her sniper rifle.
The Flaming Grievous Hall of Cards was the largest such establishment in all of Mos Eisley, though compared to establishments on worlds like Coruscant and Cantonica, the establishment was incredibly modest. On a banner hanging above the entrance of this Huk crime family-run business, was a stylized depiction of the infamous cyborg General bursting into flames, painted with bold black outlines and colorful strokes of color, from green for the internal organs and fiery orange for the flames consuming him.
"Such gorgeous design," gasped Zeyma, in awe.
Boba and the rest of the group turned towards her with questioning stares.
"That kid is a little unfocused," Fennec signed.
"So was I as a child," Boba signed back. "Now let's move."
His posture tensed.
"Give our Huk friends a little visit," he audibly snarled.
The interior of the Flaming Grievous was a bit smaller than the Sanctuary of Mos Espa, though still the largest restaurant or gambling house in Mos Eisley, its warehouse-sized ceiling supported by gray, duracrete pillars. There were several dozen tables where exotic foods, such as Kowakian Monkey-Lizards, Bantha meat probably poached from Tusken camps, and even the flesh of the sentient Ewoks, were being served. While Boba Fett the bounty hunter wouldn't have batted an eye, Boba Fett the Warrior from the Great Maw and the Emir of Tatooine felt a fire rising in his stomach, as he clenched his fists.
Elsewhere, there were several long tables used for playing with cards, covered in elaborate, colorful images, similar to the banner for the Flaming Grievous itself. Boba noticed Zeyma walking over to examine a deck of them, fingering a few cards in her cybernetic hand. Suddenly, an insectoid, mantis-like pincer smacked her droid arm away, sending the cards flying.
In a blinding flash of movement, Boba aimed his blaster carbine at the giant, mantis-shaped Huk gangster, who had dared attack one under his protection. The insectoid thug stood down, scuttling back as he did so. The Emir of Tatooine gave Zeyma a concerned look from behind his helm's visor.
"I'm fine," answered Zeyma.
Boba curtly nodded before continuing with the whole retinue to the office of the Huk Crime Family's head.
Passing a few Huk guards up a set of stairs, Boba forcefully shoves open a wooden sliding door, leading to the surprisingly sunlit office of Huk gangster, Lady Zaiyuka. Blood red bleeding gut flowers, likely acquired from the planet Dathomir, grew in a few pots surrounding a central ring of candles flanking the towering mantis-like criminal leader. Lady Zaiyuka was easily taller than Boba when she sat on a large bantha-skin cushion and would have equaled Black Krrsantan in height if she stood. She wore a simple cloth skirt, had arms with huge, grabbing pincers, and boasted massive compound bug eyes that surrounded the sides of her head.
"Leave us," Lady Zaiyuka hissed a command to Boba's retinue.
Zeyma, Picten, and Kriic nodded, shaking as they did so, before leaving. However, Fennec and Athmot remained.
"Fine," conceded the Huk gangster, "But only your vizier stays."
Grumbling, Athmot stomped down the stairwell, joining the others. Boba focused his visor at Zaiyuka, as Fennec grimaced.
"You know it is disrespectful to order Emir Fett's court around," snarled Fennec.
"Shhhhh," hushed Zaiyuka. "Let the man speak for himself. It is he who comes to negotiate with me. To show his authority."
Boba remains silent. The Huk gives an aspirated snicker.
"Come on Fett," she hisses. "I know you are capable of speech. What happened? Ah-"
Boba watches as Lady Zaiyuka, self-proclaimed ruler of Mos Eisley's underworld, catches sight of Boba's Gaderffii stick, forged with the I'Ka Tuskens, now stowed on the side of his jetpack.
"I know that weapon," she laughs. "It is the crude implement of a barbarian horde found on this planet."
The Warrior from the Great Maw began to lower his blaster carbine and curl the fingers of his other hand. Yet another settler. One of the"great" pioneers who made Tatooine what it is now.
"Folks call them sand people," mused Zaiyuka. "But they make the Kaleesh look like refined Core Worlders."
Boba glared, as Zaiyuka adjusted a pincer.
"These savages walk like men," she taunted. "But they are nothing more than animals. You've joined them, Boba Fett. Do you know what that means?"
Boba didn't care to answer.
"It means I must do to you what all civilized beings should do to animals," cackled Zaiyuka.
The insectoid gangster lunges at Boba. Her pincer ensnares the wrist of his blaster hand, sending the carbine falling to the floor. Just as she attempts to crush his wrist, the Warrior from the Great Maw snatches her limb by the elbow joint. With his left hand there, he pries her pincer off his wrist and her limb from that joint.
"KHAAaaaaaaaaa!" her deafening hiss of pain echoes into the air.
Picking up his blaster, Boba turns to Fennec, whose intense glare and sniper rifle are aimed at the writhing Zaiyuka, who now has one less limb. Carefully backing away, the two make their exit.
As the others left the Slave I, parked in the massive cavernous hangar of the Fett Palace, as Zeyma had come to call it, one could see other skiffs, speeder-bikes, and a few trashcan-like Gonk Droids. Few speeder-bike slots were empty, as most of the Bandits were on a mission with the Fett Emirate's allies in the Shavamo Pack, finding intel on the operations of the Pyke Syndicate, and even a report that some of the Hutt Cartel was making their way back to Tatooine. Battered by the day's events, Boba began to strip off his armor, piece by piece before removing his helmet, revealing his acid-scarred face
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" signed Fennec.
"I need a break from the armor for a bit," answered Boba, using his voice, rough from over three decades as a bounty hunter, Tusken Warrior, and now Emir.
"But you said it was your father's," argued Fennec, speaking as well now.
"It was," replied Boba, a sense of dread in his voice. "I need some time."
"As you wish," replied Fennec, who left deeper into the Palace.
Boba finished changing and carried his helmet and gaderffii stick, as he made his way towards stairs leading to a massive, open-air cliffside pavilion, installed by Bib Fortuna.
Boba watched the Twin Suns setting from the edge of the pavilion. The compound was composed of a vast, dusty sandstone floor and a shaded roof of durasteel supported by several massive stone pillars that sprouted from across the dusty substrate like a forest. The walls each had arched openings, allowing light to enter the cliffside pavilion. All things considered, it was rather drab, though the Emir of Tatooine barely noticed or even cared at this moment.
Life was a short, brutish, and nasty thing. So it was for Jango Fett, the original wearer of Boba's armor. While the son of Jango reflected, he looked into the visor of his father's beskar alloy helm. It had been decades since the Mandalorian foundling was slain on Geonosis. Yet not a day passed where Boba didn't think of his father. As he turned to his gaderffii stick, he recalled his belief that the void was filled by the I'Ka tribe; A'Kagri, A'Garrha, U'Kaghho, and the others. Yet, they too were killed, just like Jango. They weren't strong enough to face the outsiders. Now, one of their own, the Warrior from the Great Maw, would protect all those like them; those who couldn't defend themselves.
Always fighting for those in need, a deep, nasally voice echoed in his memory, That's a quick way to wind up poor or dead. And probably both.
Boba looked at the blaster dent in his helmet's cap, etched into the Mandalorian alloy back when it was still painted silver and blue. Back when Boba hadn't left his own mark on it. Back when his legend was just beginning. Now, how would it end?
Looking at the rising moons of Tatooine, Boba sighed and turned his back on the cliffside opening, getting ready to rest in his quarters. A frigid gale began to blow into the pavilion; the sound of a worrt catching a flying creature echoed from the canyon below; the howls of wild massiffs echoed across the desert; and the sound of claws scraping against rock, as if it were a creature climbing, echoed from the cliffs below-
Boba threw on his helmet and swung his gaderffii around.
"Graouaarrghhhh!" roared Santo the Wookiee.
Boba was bashed in the visor by a massive, furry black forearm, sending him flying into the dusty floor, his helmet bouncing up and down as it tumbled away. The world spinning around him, Emir Boba Fett staggered to his feet, looking the former gladiator in the eyes. He raised his fists, ready to brawl with this madclaw Wookiee, as his father brawled several Jedi. Even so, a few questions ran through his mind.
How'd he evade notice by security? Fett asked himself. And where is the Magnaguard?
"Watch the rocket!" screamed Fennec.
She, Zeyma, Picten, and the Gamorrean duo dive out of the way, as a concussive missile from a rocket launcher flies into the front gate of the Fett Palace.
Bang!
A smoldering hole was left in the durasteel and a massive quake rumbled, likely damaging more than just the gate.
"The gate's open!" cries Zeyma. "He's gonna get in!"
The IG-100 drops the rocket launcher and, whipping out its infamous electrostaff, rushes for the open entrance to the Palace.
Athmot lunges at the tall, silver droid, raising his vibro-axe furiously. Instead he is jabbed and shocked by a prod of the droid's electrostaff. The Gamorrean collapses unconscious, as Kriic rushes to his companion.
"Get him help!" orders Fennec. "Zeyma and I will handle this"
"Wait?" cried Zeyma. "Just you and me?"
Picten the Quarren immediately helps Kriic lift the injured Gamorrean, rushing him to a safer location. Fennec turns to Zeyma.
"You wanted to work for Boba Fett," she replied. "This is what you get."
As Fennec rushes after the IG-100, Zeyma shrugs.
True, she notes. I hope Boba's alright.
Boba snarled as he engaged the furry giant. He takes a swipe with his left fist, grazing the edges of his opponent's shaggy fur, as the former gladiator leaps to his side out of the way. Boba proceeds with an uppercut with his right fist towards Black Krrsantan's jaw. The madclaw swiftly intercepts with his paws, unsheathing his claws into the Emir's knuckles.
"Arrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhh!" he growled in pain.
From the corner of his eye, Boba noticed Santo raising his fist, the deranged Wookiee's own cybernetically-augmented knuckles coursing with electricity. If Boba didn't act fast, he would either be knocked out cold or dead like his father before him. Looking straight into the eyes of doom in Wookiee form, Boba takes his other fist and plunges his leather-gloved knuckles into Santo's left eye, the one with a bright red-pink scar over it.
"Groaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhh!" Santo roars with pain.
Boba drops to the ground, as the bounty hunter clutches his face. As luck would have it, Boba collapses right next to his gaderffii stick. He eyes the weapon he forged in the deserts with A'Garrha, now as much a part of who he is, as his father's armor was. He knows what he must do.
Zeyma dashes with Fennec after the IG-100 droid, past the hall of the main rotunda of Jabba's Palace. The walls are covered in large amounts of cracks from the rocket the Magnaguard fired at the front gate. As the Zeltron youth and the master assassin continue into the catacombs of the Palace, she stops abruptly.
"What is it kid?" inquires the assassin.
"Fennec," pants Zeyma.
"Call me Grand Vizier Shand," corrects Fennec. "And please tell me you're not tired."
"It's not that," explained Zeyma. "But my mother told me stories that even Jedi had trouble taking on an IG-100 magnaguard."
"In my youth, I fought clone troopers on Pantora that were capable of killing Jedi," retorted Fennec. "Shouldn't be an issue."
"Isn't there a better way to take it out?!" cried Zeyma, shaking her droid arm. "A full fight could damage more of the Palace!"
"What is with all the yelling?" droned a formal voice.
Zeyma and Fennec turned around, catching sight of 8D8, the notorious, long-faced torture droid who served in the Fett Palace. During Zeyma's time with the giant Jawa known as the Doctor, he claimed that 8D8's line of production was feared by droids across the Galaxy for the sheer pleasure they took in scrapping fellow machines. Feared by droids across the Galaxy…
"Vizier Shand, I have an idea," Zeyma declared, a grin forming on her lips.
Fennec looked at Zeyma nervously. What was that kid thinking now?
Armed with his Tusken staff, Boba Fett, the Warrior from the Great Maw, is locked in a vicious duel against his Wookiee attacker in the hangar of the Fett Palace. Swinging with the grace of a rushing wave, Boba slams the clubbed end of his staff into Santo's tricep.
"Groaaaarroooorgggghhhhh!"
Santo leaps behind the Slave I, swiftly whips out his Wookiee bowcaster and opens fire on Boba. Leaping out of the way, Boba ends up behind a crate. Jumping back up, Boba readies his gaderffii stick, only for a blaster bolt to strike the middle of it, creating an explosion of splinters. As he is sent crashing into a rail system (installed by Bib Fortuna as well), set for an elevator to the throne room, Boba notices that he is holding two staffs- no two pieces of his single staff. If A'Garrha were around, she would be furious at this damage to a Tusken artifact. Furious, as Boba is.
As Santo heads for the throne room, Boba plots how he will defeat this deranged Wookiee from the railway, as it activates and sends him away.
In the Palace's large waiting room, which was already charred from an attack by Darth Maul's Shadow Collective let alone the rocket fired by the IG-100, Fennec sits upon a high ledge above the entrance, awaiting the IG-100 Magnaguard's arrival.
Clunk, Clunk!
Fennec can hear the echoing of the droid's footsteps.
Clunk, Clunk!
Readying herself, she clutches a ball-shaped thermal detonator in her gloved hand.
Clunk, Clunk!
Fennec leaps from the ledge, and right onto the IG-100, which drops its electrostaff. The deep buzz of its vocabulator sounds from the droid, as Fennec puts it into a chokehold, wrapping her legs around its torso. The droid bashes her leg with its metal fist. Fennec can hear the light cracking of her shin bones as she screams in pain.
Any moment now, kid, she thinks to herself.
The IG-100 lunges into a roll, bruising Fennec, as she is crushed beneath its metal frame. Standing up, the droid hurls the master assassin away, sending her tumbling into the ground. As she gets on her feet, Fennec watches the IG-100 march menacingly towards her. One-on-one, Fennec recalls Zeyma's claim that even a Jedi had trouble against these droids. What was taking that kid so long? Convincing a torture-
"Oh good!" droned 8D8, "Another new droid to scrap for Emir Fett!"
The Magnaguard stiffened, as if its mechanical joints all locked simultaneously. Seizing the moment, Fennec swiftly activated her thermal detonator, hurling it to the droid.
Boom!
A great ball of fire and scrap blasts from the detonator's landing point. Fennec ducks, as a large, metal right arm whizzes past her head. When the smoke clears, she examines the wreck; that arm was apparently the last of the droid, as everything else is nothing but molten durasteel and charred joints.
"Did it work?!" Zeyma's voice called from the hallway.
The young Zeltron cyborg rushed into the waiting room. Fennec gave her a glance and nodded.
"Groaaaarroooorgggghhhhh!" a guttural, bellowing roar echoed from the throne room.
Fennec and Zeyma looked each other in the eyes. Someone else was in the Palace.
Several moments earlier, Boba sat in his Tusken robes upon his throne, his pygmy sarlacc dragon U'Kag at one armrest. He was grimacing while stroking his pet, awaiting the arrival of his Wookiee assailant. In his other hand was a piece of his gaderffii stick, one of the last things he had from the I'Ka tribe. And it was snapped in half by a bowcaster bolt fired by the former gladiator. The vein-like scars on his face burned a brighter red, as the Warrior from the Great Maw's jaw tensed. Soon, the Wookiee, Black Krrsantan arrived, entering down the stairs, heading towards the dais upon which Boba's throne rested.
Boba stopped stroking his pet and used that one hand to begin signing.
"Bold of you to come by after destroying a piece of my tribe's culture," he threatened.
Santo, unaware of the meaning of these signals, stepped closer.
"It will be your downfall, my old friend," Boba continued signing.
Santo made another step. Almost there.
"If you want me," Boba growled aloud. "Please use your own hands."
"Groaaaarroooorgggghhhhh!"
Santo began to run for the throne. Swiftly, Boba reaches into a rancor head-shaped decorative piece on the armrest of the throne and flicks a switch.
Ka-chink!
A door on the floor in front of Santo opens up, sending him plummeting into a pit. As the Wookiee grabs the edge of the platform, U'Kag slinks off the throne and towards the former gladiator's hand. Before Black Krrsantan can climb out, U'Kag sinks his fangs into the bounty hunter's fingers. Roaring in pain, the Wookiee's grip fails and he tumbles into the Rancor Pit of the Fett Palace. The throne slides over the entrance, as U'Kag slithers back to its armrest, allowing the armored Emir a better view of the grating that allows the little amount of light in this throne room to reach the pit.
"Groaaaarroooorgggghhhhh!"
Boba watches as Santo roars at the opening gate, ready to face whatever beast that is ready to devour him. Silence ensues; the pit is empty. As Santo looks up, Boba shoots a cold, unwavering glare at his attacker.
"Boba!" Fennec and Zeyma call in unison.
He turns from the view of the former Rancor Pit to his vizier and follower.
"You missed the show," he quips.
"The Emir asks you about the meaning of this attack?" Fennec snarls.
It is the next morning, as Boba, now fully armored, and his vizier are standing before a locked cell, with bar doors, containing Black Krrsantan. They are flanked by Kriic and a slightly healed Athmot.
"Grarargahhragh," replies Santo in Shyriiwook, the Wookiee language.
Boba signs forcefully, almost bashing his hands together.
"Nothing personal," Fennec scoffs, translating. "Should have thought about that before blasting his staff in two."
"Rarwwaahhgrhee!" Santo protests.
"You were hired by some mysterious woman to capture the Emir," Fennec notes, repeating Santo's words. "And you got the IG-100 from her contractor?"
Santo nodded, growling as he did so. Boba signs, his movements tense yet civil.
"The Emir reluctantly thanks you for the information," translates Fennec. "Now have fun before you go to Hell!"
As Boba leaves the dungeon block, still fuming, he is approached by Zeyma.
"What is it?" he grumbles.
"The action figure sale was a hit!" Zeyma exclaims.
Of all the things to bring up now, Boba thought. This?
"We need to fix this place up," Boba ordered, unimpressed with her talk of the action figure.
"About that, the sales gave us a lot of credits," she explained. "So I hired the best architect in the Galaxy. Jahanara B'ram!"
Boba paused.
"Who?" he inquires.
"Well, she's a Vie'vantae," Zeyma explains.
"A what?" Boba asks.
"Well, Vie'vantae are-" Zeyma tries to clarify.
"I approve, kid," Boba interjects. "You've proven yourself enough."
Boba walks off, but not before catching sight of Zeyma's beaming grin. He lets out a chuckle before heading off to do more work.
Besides, he thought. I need to leave my own mark on this place.
Author's Note:
Hello everyone!
I have returned much faster than usual. This chapter was a lot of fun to write and I really enjoyed introducing everyone's favorite evil Wookiee, Black Krrsantan, to BoBFR. There was also so much more I enjoyed in writing this chapter, especially the ending action scene, which I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it (and as much as Zeyma loves making those action figures). Also, don't worry, I still have plans for Boba's gaderffii stick, stay tuned.
Lastly, that architect mentioned is a Vie'vantae (as Zeyma noted), which is an original species created by my close friend and fellow writer LP Marcus. Please go check his work out, he writes amazing stuff, including the Illumination Trilogy and The Scorchers Chronicle. Both feature a prominent Vie'vantae character who is the best (and first known) member of this species in all of Star Wars.
Thanks again for all the support, guys! This is the Way!
Best wishes,
-Benedict Sky