Star Wars_ Tales of the Bounty Hunters - Kevin J. Anderson [131]
Fett couldn’t believe how much talking he was having to do to keep from dragging this fellow two klicks. “Yes. Now do I burn your—”
“They say you’re honest.”
That was an opening to a negotiation, if Fett had ever heard one. “What do you have? Something worth trading five million credits for?”
Malloc stared at Fett, searching his features for—Fett could not imagine what. He took a breath, winced, and then nodded. “Yes. By the Cold, I do. Something worth five million credits easy. Maybe more. Something priceless, Fett—”
Fett said impatiently, “What?”
“Kang,” Malloc whispered. “Maxa Jandovar, Janet Lalasha. Miracle Meriko—”
The last name Fett recognized, and knew the idiot was lying to him. “Meriko died in Imperial custody twenty-five years ago, you lying fool, and the bounty on him was twenty thousand credits, not any five mil—”
“Music!” Malloc yelled. He glared at Fett. “You uncivilized barbarian! Music! I have the music of Maxa Jandovar, and Orin Mersai. M’lar’Nkai’kambric,” he took a deep breath, yelled again, “Lubrics, Aishara, Dyll—”
Fett shook his head wearily. “No. No, I don’t care about your music. Now will you get up? Or must I carve you up and drag you?”
The Butcher leaned his head back and stared up at the roof. The light caught his predator’s eyes and glimmered back out of them. “By the Cold,” he whispered, “but you’re ignorant. Even for a human you’re ignorant. There are people who will pay for that music, Fett. I have the only recordings left of half a dozen of the galaxy’s finest musicians. The Empire killed the musicians, destroyed their music—”
“Five million credits?” said Fett politely.
The Butcher hesitated a second too long. “More than that—”
Fett pointed the rifle at the Butcher’s legs. “Negotiation is over. I will drag you if you make me,” and he was not joking.
Malloc closed his eyes, and spoke a bare moment before Fett had decided to start cutting. “I’ll walk. But you have to make me three promises. You dig up my music chips, they’re buried in a holding case under a few centimeters of dirt, out back. After you deliver me to Devaron, you take those chips to the person I tell you to take them to, and you sell them to her for whatever she can offer. And finally—” He nodded toward the bottles of golden liquor. “We take six of those with us. I’m going to need them.” He saw Fett shaking his head, and said sharply, “This is not a negotiation, ignorant human. You start shooting if you think it is, but I warn you, I’ll do my level best to die on you between here and Devaron. I have a mean streak in me, bounty hunter.”
Bounty hunting, thought Boba Fett wearily, is not what it used to be. He waved the rifle at Malloc. “Fine. Agreed. Get up … and show me where your blasted music is buried.”
“Welcome to Death, Gentleman Morgavi. What do you have to declare?”
As was so frequently the case anymore, at least when dealing with other humans, the customs agent standing before Han Solo, in the bright Jubilar sunshine, seemed … well, he struck Han as younger than Luke Skywalker had seemed the first time Han had seen him.
A grin touched Han; he couldn’t help it. “No. Nothing to declare.”
The boy looked at the Falcon, and then back at Han. Suspicion worked its way across his face like a baby negotiating its first steps. “Nothing?” he asked finally.
Despite his best instincts Han’s grin grew larger. “Sorry, no. I just came to Jubilar for a visit.” The kid thought he was a smuggler. “I’ll just head on over to the port bar,” he said. “I expect you want to search the ship right about now.”
The grin appeared to be offending the customs man. “Yes, sir. Why don’t you just … wait in the bar. While we search. Of course, if you’re in a hurry—” The man paused.
Han Solo tried to remember the last time he had bribed a customs official, and couldn’t.
“I haven’t smuggled anything since, well, practically before the Rebellion,” Han told the fellow. He headed off toward the main terminal, turned back for a moment. “There are cargo holds right underneath the main deck. I left them unlocked, though.