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He might be able to dodge the security drone and clear the freight entrance.

I could try to get in that way. But what would I do once I actually got inside?

He hadn't worked out that part of his plan - yet.

Later, he thought. Quickly he turned and continued to circle the fortress, searching.

And then he saw it - he almost stepped on it! Camouflaged with torn mushroom fronds and malvil-limbs, it was so rusty and battered that it blended right in.

A swoop bike.

Boba looked around the mushroom forest furtively. But if there were clone troopers nearby, they were being even more stealthy than he was: He saw no one. He looked up.

And yes, the ramship was still there, like a volcanic cloud hanging above Mazariyan. The droids loading it were obviously close enough to see. through the haze. Boba glanced back at the worker droids on the ground. The security drone was gone - it must have continued on its own circuit of the fortress.

And those other droids were all labor units. None of them would be programmed for surveillance or security.

"It's now or never," Boba muttered. He paused beside the swoop bike, looking over his shoulder. Then he shoved aside the dried-up mushrooms and jumped on. "And I say - now."

For one heart-stopping moment, he thought it wouldn't start. Then it sputtered and coughed. Finally, with a low buzzing sound it lurched forward.

Someone's modified it so that any sound is muffled, Boba noted approvingly. He leaned over the controls and pulled up on the throttle.

The swoop shot up through the malvil-trees. Not as fast as Boba would have liked - whoever did the modifications obviously preferred stealth over speed.

Maybe they know something I don't, he thought, and looked around.

The worker droids were still laboring mindlessly by the freight entrance.

Boba adjusted his helmet, increasing the focus until he could just glimpse the front of the citadel. Nothing new there, either. Above the citadel's peak, the ramship hovered in place. Boba swung his swoop around, then brought it up to full throttle. Fungus fronds lashed at his helmet as he flew up, up. When he hovered just below the canopy of the forest, he turned the swoop and started to cruise in a careful circuit.

Might as well do a little recon of my own, he thought. That clone trooper came from someplace. But where?

In a minute he had his answer. Not too distant from Wat Tambor's citadel, something moved.

Something big - something really big!

A Republic All Terrain-Tactical Enforcer!

"Man, they mean business," muttered Boba. That AT-TE would be loaded with more clone troopers - dozens of them-not to mention some serious firepower.

There was no way he could commandeer an AT-TE, of course. But where there were incoming clone troopers, there would be Jedi nearby to command them. They would have vehicles of their own - gunships, starfighters, maybe even airspeeders.

If I can get my hands on an airspeeder, I might be able to decoy that ramship back toward Mazariyan. The ramship doesn't move very fast -

but in a speeder, I could! Then I could reach Slave I and get out of here

- back to Jabba to claim my bounty!

He angled closer to the AT-TE, being careful to stay out of sight.

There were several smaller vehicles accompanying the walker and, in the distance, more AT-TEs.

That's more like it, Boba thought with grim satisfaction.

Things might not be so bleak for the Republic, after all. He adjusted the long-range focus on his helmet, until he could make out even more shadowy shapes far behind the approaching AT-TEs. Gunships, each carrying a payload of still more troops and walkers.

And, sure enough, there were speeders, too - and a starfighter.

"That'll be Glynn-Beti," said Boba. He scowled, but brought the swoop down lower to get a better look. As he did, something flashed past him

Another swoop!

"Huh?" For a second, Boba was too startled