//------------------------------// // [Chapter 3] - No Disintegrations // Story: Dead or Alive // by Rust //------------------------------// DEAD OR ALIVE Chapter 3: No Disintegrations By: Rust Hyperspace, aboard the Slave I, destination unknown, current course unknown... The gentle whine of the hyperdrive was a soothing sound for Boba Fett. Its presence meant he was moving, and at a pretty damn good rate at that. It meant that he was making progress. It sounded like accomplishment. Boba like to think he had accomplished something at the end of the day other than be the stuff of nightmares for every fugitive, rebel, and VIP from Tatooine to Tython. Out of his armor, now, Boba allowed himself to partially relax. It could be said that the bounty hunter never truly let his guard down, and there was truth to this. His muscles were always somewhat tensed, like coiled springs ready to release. This twitchiness had saved his life on more than one occasion. With the autopilot on, and the destination from Vader's instructions safely programmed, Boba took the time to hit the shower stall. The recycled water aboard the Slave I always carried a sort of metallic scent to it. He tried not to think about his own contributions to the supply as he let it spill over his shoulders. Boba stretched, examining himself for any wear and tear that the life of a bounty hunter tended to risk. He was of average height for a human, but well-muscled like his father, with tannish-red skin, scarred here and there by all manner of blaster bolts, vibroblades, and fangs. Steely brown eyes gazed stoically back from under a wet, shaggy mop of jet-black hair that topped his head, tinged gray around the sides. Aside from the crags barely deepening in his stony, chiseled face, it was the only sign of him aging at all. Boba had to hand it to the Kaminoans. They really knew how to build a body. With that notion, he snorted and leaned against the wall, rubbing his face with wet hands for a moment, as if washing away his thoughts. He still couldn't really believe it, even now. It was too good to be true, of course. Trust no-one. His father was right. He was always right. And yet...here he was. Quite possibly about to begin the first step in a long climb to the top of the ziggurat, where the Empire would be waiting with a sacrificial knife, a taste for blood, and a one-way trip back to the ground. He rubbed his temples. The risk was high, of course. He was used to that. He was a bounty hunter; death was an occupational hazard. But the reward...oh, the reward. It was so, so much higher. The stakes were utterly ridiculous, even for his exorbitant prices. Boba thought back to that day, two weeks ago by now, when he had answered the summons of a Sith Lord and gotten the offer of a lifetime. An offer that would either make him... ...or break him. Liliat Sector, Tantalus System, aboard the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor, deep space... The Emperor's personal chambers were sumptuous, to say the least. Aboard the city-sized cruiser, many of the Empire's elite had invested in rather ostentatious --not to mention out of line with protocol-- living quarters. After all, they'd be spending much of their time here in service to the Emperor, why not do it in style? The Emperor himself was not aboard the Executor, at the moment. The popular rumor with the crew was that he'd gone off to oversee the construction of some goliath new superweapon, thought to be a spacer's worst nightmare. The darkest whisperings hinted at the possibility of a planet killer, though such suspicions were likely far-fetched. A deep, steady, mechanical wheezing emanating from the fearsome man standing where the Emperor should have been. Instead of Palpatine, none other than Darth Vader himself stood by the throne when Boba was ushered in by two of the crimson-armored Imperial Guard. The Dark Lord of the Sith looked particularly menacing as he waited on the raised dais, almost seven feet of shining black metal, capped with the imposing full helmet that had become the symbol of fear and oppression throughout the Empire. He radiated with power, a palpable tingle that filled bystanders with simultaneous feelings of dread and awe. Then again, this was a normal impression to get from Vader. Boba Fett found himself halted in front of the dais, the two guards flanking him on either side. The bounty hunter had been permitted to keep his weapons, a policy almost unheard-of for the tight security of the ship. Darth Vader stomped down the steps and all but crushed the button to the holoprojector, launching straight into the details. If there was any one thing that Boba could say he liked about the Dark Lord, it was that he never, ever minced words. Given the many jobs he'd worked for (and occasionally against) Vader, Boba had racked up an impressive history with the Sith. Vader's altered voice filled the room with a breathy baritone. "Ten days ago, Imperial probes sent to the farthest reaches of the Outer Rim made a discovery." A shimmering blue orb suddenly sprang into being in the center of the room. Boba could make out landmasses, cloud formations, even an ice cap, as the hologram slowly rotated before them. "A new planet, formerly unknown," announced the hulking cyborg. "Inhabited by intelligent, sapient life. They have a low level of technological advancement, a peaceful culture, and are not yet a spacefaring species. The Emperor has decided that this new world, especially the populace, will be a valuable asset to the Empire." The view on the planet zoomed in to a specific point on the largest continent, which appeared to be a city of spiraling towers built right into the side of a mountain. "This is where you come in, bounty hunter. Your mission is to abduct the acting ruler, and deliver them to me." A trio of pictures popped up, containing somewhat blurry images of the target. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before. A brilliant white, it was of a tall, slender, four-legged disposition, sporting a pair of enormous, feathery wings and a spiraling horn jutting from the forehead. It was vaguely equine, though the graceful face was more compact, with a much shorter snout and large, intelligent eyes. A ethereal substance made up the mane and tail, and looked as if someone had caught the primary colors of a beam of sunlight and warped them into a physical presence. He tore his eyes away from the images. "How much?" he asked gruffly. "You will receive a commission of ten million credits, and ninety more upon completion." At first, he thought Vader must have been joking. One hundred million credits. Enough money to purchase a small star system, let alone an entire fleet! No. This was too good to be true. Nobody was stupid enough to offer that much for a simple snatch-and-grab. Boba didn't really care why he was doing it, he didn't get paid to ask questions, after all, but he needed to know the terms before the contract was signed. All the terms. "What's the catch?" Vader took a moment before responding. "The inhabitants of the planet are highly Force-sensitive. It is as if the Force is a literal part of them. Several of our scanners were overloaded simply by proximity. It will not be easy to take the ruler if they have any knowledge of how to use their power. There can be no killing," Vader added firmly. "No disintegrations. We need the target alive this time, and delivered as discreetly as possible." Boba was no stranger to the power of the Force. His own father, who had been even more accomplished of a bounty hunter, had been easily slain by Mace Windu, a Jedi Master, during the opening battle of the Clone Wars. Jango Fett had often told his adoptive son about the perils of facing such a foe. Darth Vader was a Sith, who used the Dark Side of the Force just as effectively, if not more so, than any Jedi. He didn't pretend to understand the strange power, and he'd never masked his disdain for those who used it. And now an entire species of the damned sorcerers had been discovered! His hatred for the mysterious power warred with his desire for glory, to establish a legacy to make his father proud. In the end, the ambition won out. The payoff was not really in credits, but in legend. Pull this job off, and he'd go down in history as the greatest bounty hunter of all time. The one who faced an entire world of powerful Force-wielders and walked away with their leader. The money was just a bonus, really. "I'll do it," he finally said. "And when I come back, I'll be paid double." Might as well go for broke. He leaned in towards Vader. "And the next time you want my help, it'll cost you triple." He offered a hand to the towering figure. "Do we have a deal?" Vader met his armored gauntlet with one of his own, swallowing Boba's hand in a painful, crushing grip. The two masked men stared each other down, neither backing down an inch. "We do." It was hard not to stare as the ship slipped out of hyperspace. Out of the nothingness, a planet sprang up, instantly growing from the size of a pinhead until it filled half the cockpit view. Boba allowed himself a small whistle. He wasn't a man to take inklings for the finer things in life, but he could appreciate beauty when he saw it. And the world was beautiful indeed. Forests and plains, greener than those of Naboo, streaked across the surface. Might mountains reared their heads, tearing through the clouds in some places. Small, clear oceans separated the landmasses kissing the ice of the poles and the sands of the tropics alike. It struck him deeply sometimes, how impossibly vast the galaxy was. The oldest spacers though they'd seen it all, but there was always something new to be discovered where nobody had dared to go before. Out here was no exception, the farthest he'd (or anyone else, come to think of it) ever been from the Core Worlds. The sensors bleeped spasmodically. He pressed a few buttons, and the ship spat out some data. He eyed the planet warily. "No orbit?" he growled. A few more buttons were pushed, this time with a little more force. He glared at these as they flashed across the cockpit. The information they spewed was utterly inconceivable. Apparently, the local star was the one orbiting the planet and its small moon. A star with only... he had to do a double-take. The star held less mass than the planet. Smaller in diameter, too. Much smaller. Both the moon and the sun held a perfect orbit around this confounding hunk of rock. How was that even possible? Stars needed a critical mass before the nuclear fires within began brewing. Everything about this was wrong -- it violated scientific laws like Boba violated the brain cavities of his foes. And yet, there it was. A planet where it shouldn't exist, in a system that defied reasoning. An impossibility made real. He scowled. The Force had a hand in this, he just knew. The cockpit chair swiveled around as Boba adjusted the Slave I's scanners for a more close-up view, before igniting the thrusters with an intent to cautiously enter orbit around the planet. As he circled the strange world from high above, the bright hues of the day gave way to the ebony richness of night. Here and there, a few pinpricks of light shown out on the continents. He focused the scanners on the largest one. It was a city, that much he could make out. Apparently, the naitives were intelligent enough to have a civilization. It was very close to a nearby mountain, almost on top of it. With nothing to guess about the culture of the life-forms below, he went with the usual spacer's rule of thumb when negotiating landings on unknown worlds; the brightest of lights house the highest of life. There was a good chance that was the planet capital, or at least the capital of a country. Either way, that was his destination. Somewhere far, far below, his target lay blissfully unaware. And he wouldn't have it any other way...