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Fett looked out the Slave I-V's cockpit windowport as he cruised into the swirling strip of rocky debris around the blue and white ice world.

Following the sensor signal, he pulled up close to several long chunks of scattered metal: hull plating, blast shields from a space vessel-unmistakably, wreckage from a ship. Recent wreckage.

Fett ran a quick analysis and determined that the hull plating matched that of the type of vehicle Thul had been using.

He allowed himself a grunt of disappointment. Perhaps everything had been destroyed, cargo and all, leaving only this debris.

But if that were true, Fett realized, there should have been more mass...

much more. His sensors had picked up a signal strong enough to account for an entire ship, and this debris amounted to no more than a hundred kilograms or so. He wondered where the rest could have gone.

Maybe the cargo and its "crucial' information remained intact after allHe reacted with lightning speed as the attacking vessel came around a ri-ozen methane asteroid. Another bounty hunter ship, shaped like a deadly pinwheel star, its laser cannons already taking aim!

Boba Fett sent Slave IV into a spin, twirling away from four rapid-fire laser bolts. The ambushing bounty hunter did not continue to shoot his lasers, powering up an ion cannon instead - which was exactly what Fett would have done. An ion cannon blast would neutralize all power systems on his ship, leaving him dead in space, where his enemy could dissect him at will and strip away his possessions and weapons.

A bounty hunter, a good bounty hunter, always attempted to make efficient use of resources.

Fett's weapons systems were not engaged. He mentally cursed himself for not having considered the danger while he'd approached the suspicious debris. If he continued to be so foolish, he deserved to die!

This fighter had been lying in wait for him. Perhaps the other bounty hunter had found the debris himself, or perhaps he had actually placed it there as a lure. Or perhaps the enemy had destroyed Boman Thul's ship.

As Boba Fett zipped and dodged, the attacker came on, clearly holding the upper hand. Fett tried to accelerate, ducking in and around the rocks of the planetary ring, but he knew that was merely a delaying tactic. He had no chance of evading pursuit when his attacker was this close.

A message came over his conun system.

"Boba Fett, I recognize your ship. This is Moorlu-the bounty hunter who's going to destroy you." The enemy chuckled, a low phlegmy laugh.

"I will display your helmet as in trophy!"

"I'm not a trophy yet,' Fett muttered.

Planning the best way to defeat his overconfident opponent, he took a desperate gamble.

Boba Fett allowed himself to be hit.

The ion blast rippled against the Slave IV's hull, ftying his electrical systems, leaving him dead in space, so that he drifted around the gaseous planet, apparently helpless.

Apparently.

"Got you, Boba Fett! Now I can take care of you, steal everything you own-and use it to chase down Bornan Thul."

Moorlu, you talk too much, Fett thought, as the comm system shut down.

Dangling in the arms of zero gravity, without ship's power, he waited as the other bounty hunter's pinwheel ship approached like a spider-rat to disassemble its prey.

Moorlu didn't notice the pneumatic launcher mounted at the rear weapons hatch of Slave I-V.

Boba Fett cranked the launcher by hand, using mechanical systems only.

He waited patiently to take his only chance. At least the comm system had shut down, so he didn't have to listen to Moorlu's obnoxious gloating.

When the ambushing bounty hunter's ship came close enough for a ballistic launch, Fett aimed by sight and triggered the spring release.

A torpedo dart filled with concussion explosives flew across space as if spat from a slingshot.

Boba Fett's aim was true.

The high explosives penetrated Moorlu's hull, ripping out the fuel pods beneath the pinwheel engines, setting up a detonation that left Moorlu dead in space. Literally dead in space.

Fett despised bounty hunters