Anakin frowned.
Got him there! thought Boba triumphantly. Before the Jedi could say more, Boba quickly went on.
"I need to go to Coruscant." The words were out almost before he knew what he was saying. But as soon as he did, he realized that they were right. "What I know can only be shared with the highest authority.
If you try to stop me, you will be accused of treason."
"Coruscant?" For a second, Boba had the satisfaction of seeing Anakin"s confidence falter. But only for an instant. "There"s no place on Coruscant for a bounty hunter like you! No one will meet with you. No one important, anyway."
"That"s where you"re wrong," said Boba. Even as he spoke, he could feel his mouth go dry. He was taking a gamble, maybe the most perilous risk he had taken in his entire life. "Someone will meet me there.
Someone important. Someone powerful..."
"Who?" demanded Anakin angrily.
Boba took a deep breath. He knew he was taking more than his luck in his hands.
He was taking his life.
Anakin took a step closer to Boba. "Tell me!" Boba put his hand on his blaster, defying Anakin to come nearer.
"Supreme Chancellor Palpatine," he said. Anakin froze. His eyes widened.
"The Chancellor?!"
Boba nodded. "That"s right."
"But - "
Abruptly the world around them seemed to shatter. Rocks and waves of sand rained down. Boba shouted and dropped, scrambling for his blaster. Anakin fell, too. He rolled toward Boba, one arm raised protectively above the two of them.
"It"s a s.p.a.ce slug!" Anakin yelled. "Stay down!"
From a crater behind the Jedi starfighter, a vast shape emerged, blotting out the sky above them. Its huge, snakelike body shot through the air, boulders and great rocks flying everywhere in its wake. Its huge mouth yawned open, showing rows of teethlike blades as it twisted and lunged Straight toward Boba and Anakin!
Boba ducked, just in time, as a displaced boulder hurtled past him.
The s.p.a.ce slug roared.
"This"ll slow it!" shouted Anakin. He stood and grabbed for his lightsaber. But before he could draw it, a man-sized rock came hurtling toward him.
The rock smashed against Anakin. With a strangled cry, the young Jedi fell.
"Skywalker!" Boba shouted.
But he had no time to help the wounded Jedi. The s.p.a.ce slug was upon them!
Boba hefted his powerful DC-15 blaster. It lacked the scope of his bigger weapons, but he was in close range to his target now Very close!
"WHHHOOOORAAAAAGGGH!" the s.p.a.ce slug roared. It was close enough that Boba could feel its hot breath, stinking of scorched rock and sand.
And it was heading right toward Slave I!
"Get away from my ship!" Boba yelled furiously. He darted to one side of Slave I, stooping to pick up a rock. He hurled it at the predator.
THUNK!.
The rock struck the predatory monster on its most vulnerable part - its eye. "RRRUAAAGHRRRR!"
With a thunderous growl of pain and rage, the s.p.a.ce slug changed its course in midair. It veered away from Boba"s ship - and the fallen Anakin - and surged in full pursuit of the bounty hunter!
Boba ran toward a small crater. It was way too small to hide Boba for more than a moment or two.
But that was all the time Boba needed to take aim. He crouched, his blaster leveled. He got a fix on the s.p.a.ce slug"s head - which was rapidly approaching!
"Can"t miss!" Boba muttered through gritted teeth. From the corner of his eye he could see Anakin turn, groaning, and stumble to his feet.
"Otherwise we"re both dead - and I"ve got a score to settle with another Jedi!"
Once again the s.p.a.ce slug"s deafening roar rang out. Fragments of rock fell around Boba as the serpentine creature reared above him.
BAAMMMM!.
Boba fired a direct hit - right between the eyes!
"GLOOORB!" The gigantic slug"s roar rose to a bubbling shriek of pain. Its head swayed back and forth, giving Boba another chance to fire - and another!
"Yes!" Boba crowed.
Two more hits! The s.p.a.ce slug writhed in agony.
Its knife-edged teeth clashed as it recoiled from the bounty hunter. Greenish blood spattered Boba as the s.p.a.ce slug retreated with a long, bubbling cry, sliding back into its hole.
"Yuck!" exclaimed Boba, wiping slug goo from his body armor. "Just after I got it all cleaned up, too!" He sheathed his weapon then removed his helmet, checking it for damage. Then he hurried toward his ship.
"That was pretty good."
Boba froze in his tracks. A few feet away Anakin stood, staring at him intently. Boba knew the Jedi was deciding what to do about him.
But he couldn"t know what was going on in Skywalker"s head. Did it matter that he"d just saved the Jedi"s life? That this was the second time he"d saved a Jedi since he"d started the hunt for Wat Tambor?
Anakin shook his head, then looked Boba up and down as he approached.
"Yeah, that was pretty good," the Jedi repeated. "Not bad at all, considering."
"Considering what?" snapped Boba. He stared challengingly at Skywalker. Boba really didn"t want to draw arms against this particular Jedi - but he wouldn"t hesitate if he had to.
"Considering you"re getting ready to set your course for Coruscant," said Anakin.
"Huh?" It took a moment for the words to sink in. When they did, Boba allowed himself a small smile. Yes!
But Boba was careful not to let his true emotions show outside of his mask. He had another, secret motive for going to Coruscant. And Skywalker could never learn what that was.
"Yes. You can go to Coruscant - under these conditions," added Anakin. He gave Slave I"s repaired wing one last careful look. Then he headed toward his starfighter.
"I"ll give you the coordinates," Anakin continued. "And the signal for takeoff. I"m handing you over to Governor Tarkin. He"ll escort you to the Chancellor. If you don"t like those conditions, you"re history. When you enter Coruscant airs.p.a.ce, follow his lead. And your weapons have to remain on your ship."
Boba bristled. "Why?" he asked angrily. "I"m not your prisoner!"
"No, you"re not. But he knows Coruscant, and you don"t. I know who can be trusted - "
"I trust n.o.body," said Boba. Already he had a plan for what he would really do on Coruscant.
His eyes met Anakin"s unflinchingly. "No one but myself."
Anakin looked at him. Then he nodded, turning to ready his ship for departure.
"We have a lot in common, Boba Fett," he said as he clambered into his starfighter. "Perhaps we"ll meet again."
CHAPTER TEN.
Coruscant!
Far below Slave I, the glittering planet stretched like a vast computer circuit, blinking and glowing with thousands of domes, towers, skysc.r.a.pers, air-speeders. The high-rises lifted into the sky, their brilliant lights blazing gold and silver and scarlet. The hazy atmosphere seemed bathed in eternal sunset. It was beautiful and impressive and very, very big.
Boba had never been to Coruscant. He knew that the planet was covered by a single vast metropolis, Galactic City. Galactic City housed the galactic government, overseen by Chancellor Palpatine. And in the shadow of Galactic City"s looming towers sprawled the planet"s great underworld. This was a seedy place where criminals held sway. Boba knew of it from Jabba the Hutt. The Hutt clan controlled a good part of Coruscant"s black market, though a petty crime lord named Hat Lo managed things for them.
But something else was on Coruscant, too, something even more important to Boba The Jedi Temple, where the Jedi High Council met - and where Mace Windu could be found.
"Mace is a senior member of the High Council," Boba said to himself. "He will have dealings with Palpatine. Somehow I"ll use Palpatine to get to Mace Windu. And then..."
Boba thought of his father, slain by Windu. "And then, Father, we will be avenged," he said softly. He promised himself this would be the one exception to the bounty hunter law he had established for himself.
Never would he kill on his own time - except this time. For honor"s sake.
He sat at Slave I"s console. Not far away, Governor Tarkin"s starship hovered, awaiting landing clearance. But Boba had already made contact with someone who had deeper ties to Coruscant than Anakin Skywalker.
"Boba Fett!" A voice crackled through the interior of Slave I.
Seconds later a face filled the ship"s viewscreen. It was the oily figure of Hat Lo, his pudgy frame encased in heavy protective shielding. "What brings you here?"
"Business," said Boba tersely. Hat Lo liked to think that he was in charge of the Coruscant underworld. Boba knew better. Jabba was really in charge of things here. Hat Lo was merely his lackey.
Hat Lo wasn"t too smart, either. He"d be easy to exploit - if Boba was careful. "I have a few things to tend to," said the bounty hunter.
"Hunting, eh?" A flicker of unease crossed Hat Lo"s overfed face.
"Er, what kind of things are you tending to?"
"That"s my business. And Jabba"s," Boba added pointedly.
"Jabba! Of course, of course," blathered the man on the viewscreen.
"I had no idea - "
Boba watched in satisfaction as Hat Lo"s fat face grew a shade paler. "I know I can count on you for any a.s.sistance I need while I"m here," said Boba.
"Absolutely!" Hat Lo nearly groveled as he spoke. "Anything Jabba needs - er, anything you need - "
"Good. I"ll be in touch soon," said Boba shortly, and ended the transmission.
Almost immediately Governor Tarkin"s voice echoed through Slave I.
"We"re cleared," he announced in a tone that Boba already felt sounded sinister. "We"ve received permission to land at the Jedi Temple, thanks to General Skywalker - that way you won"t have to go through Coruscant security. Just let me do all the talking - and remember: no weapons."
"Right," growled Boba. He was glad he was wearing his helmet, so that Tarkin wouldn"t see his anger at the request once they landed. "No weapons. ."
None when he set foot on Coruscant, anyway. But once Boba was ready to leave Coruscant - That would be another story.
They touched down on the broad, open landing platform of the Jedi Temple. Tarkin"s vessel landed first, Slave I less than a minute later.
From inside, Boba watched as a single slender figure clad in the Jedi"s distinctive robes crossed to greet the governor, who was a rising star, it seemed, in the Clone Wars. Boba waited until the two were engaged in conversation. Then he quickly readied himself to join them.
But first he had to remove his weapons.
"I hate to leave you behind," he said with regret. "But I better not take any chances. I"m so close to finding Mace Windu - don"t want to blow it now."
He removed the Westar-34 blasters from his weapons belt and his knee holsters, and put them safely away. Then he did the same with his missiles and dart shooter.
But he didn"t remove the blades in his gauntlets. And he didn"t remove his jet pack.
"Not even the Jedi can force me to visit a strange planet with no self-defense whatsoever," Boba muttered. "And when I see Hat Lo, I can get some new weapons. It"s time I upgraded a few items, anyway."
He made sure his helmet was in place. Then he did a last minute check of Slave I.
"Okay," Boba said to himself. He stood in his ship"s doorway and looked out. His heart began to pound, not with fear but antic.i.p.ation. I"m on the Jedi"s home turf now! Got to be careful. Got to be calm. Got to be ready To find and defeat Mace Windu!
CHAPTER ELEVEN.