• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Boba craned his neck to look into the sky. Sure enough, airspeeders and even a few Jedi starfighters crisscrossed the violet haze, as though searching for someone.

Wat Tambor, thought Boba. And they better not find him before I do!

A sudden blast of laser fire ricocheted from the ruined wall beside him. Boba ducked back inside the gaping hole.

"That was way too close." He peered out. Far below, a clone trooper was pointing up to where Boba had stood just seconds ago. Before the trooper could alert others to his presence, Boba whipped out his weapon and sent a return blast flaring through the smoke. The clone trooper fell, a blackened hole where his chest had been.

"Time to get back to Slave I," Boba said. He reached back to touch a small squarish object mounted near his weapons belt. As a matter of caution, he'd left his primary jet pack back on the ship. But he still had his liquid-cable launcher.

Good thing, too. It's a long, long way down.

He stepped cautiously out onto the edge of the blasted wall. Below, the Republic's troops continued to mill about the battleground. But most of the clones now seemed to be leaving the fortress, heading back to their troop carriers. Boba shaded his eyes, adjusting his helmet so that he could better focus through the smoke and spore-haze.

"There." His gloved hand stabbed at the air. "That's Glynn-Beti's airspeeder..."

He watched as the Jedi general drew her craft closer to the AT-TE

at the clearing's edge. Glynn-Beti had helped him earlier on Xagobah, after Boba had saved her reckless young apprentice, Ulu Ulix, from certain death.

But Boba knew better than to expect any mercy from her now. And the mere thought of the Jedi made Boba's gut tighten with anger.

That Jedi scum Mace Windu murdered my father, he thought. He glanced back at the corpse of the clone trooper he'd killed in self-defense minutes ago. The clone's helmet had rolled away from his slack face.

Jango Fett's face.

Boba's expression grew grim. He stared back at the AT-TE. The diminutive figure of General Glynn-Beti had dismounted from the airspeeder and was now approaching the vehicle.

"She'll be giving orders to her crew," Boba said. "Now's my chance.... "

Raising his arms slightly, he leaped from the fortress wall and launched the liquid-cable, which hooked to a faraway tree. The ground rushed toward him. He could smell burning metal and the stink of charred fungus. Wind and smoke flashed past him as Boba Fett swung above the battlefield, heading toward the forest that hid his ship - and freedom!

CHAPTER FOUR

"There!" From the ground far below Boba, came a sudden Shout. "A spy! Fire On him!"

Boba twisted to look down-A knot of clone troopers was running from the AT-TE, pointing up at,him as they drew their weapons.

This secondary jet pack's only good for a short sprint. Can't waste time firing on them! Boba thought with regret. He yanked his jet pack's thruster to full force and tore through the air, blaster fire echoing at his heels. Just a few yards ahead of him was the, forest of immense mushroomlike trees. Now if I can just get undercover -

A blaze of laser fire ripped through the trees closest to him.

Debris and fungal ooze rained down on Boba as he steered his way beneath the canopy. As the violet shadows closed around him, he grabbed his own blaster and turned, sending a sudden volley back toward the ground. Two of the clone troopers fell. The other raced toward the forest, only to stop abruptly as a clear voice echoed from the AT-TE.

"Hold your fire!"

Boba grabbed hold of a malvil-tree branch and swung himself onto it, catching his breath. He looked down and saw the clones returning to the AT- TE. A small uniformed figure stared back at the forest. Even at this distance, Boba could feel the force of Glynn-Beti's piercing gaze upon him. He stared back, bold and unafraid, then turned and used the jet pack to bring himself back down to ground level.

"Just in time,"