Boba Fett_ The Fight To Survive Part 2

Jango nodded slowly. "Being a bounty hunter means you don't always make it home. Someday the inevitable will happen. And when it does.."

"What does inevitable mean?" Boba asked.

"Inevitable means a sure thing. Death is a sure thing."

Suddenly Boba got it. "Zam is dead, isn't she, Dad?"

Jango nodded.

Boba fought back tears. "How - how did it happen?"

"You don't want to know."

Boba felt sadness wash over him like a wave. Followed by a colder wave of fear. If it could happen to Zam, could it happen to his father?

Boba didn't want to think about that. His dad was right: He didn't want to know.

After he had finished helping his father clean the battle armor and reload the weapons systems, Boba went out and walked all the way down to the end of the street and back.

Zam, dead. No more dumb jokes. No more bright laughter. Boba Fett's lonely world had just gotten even lonelier.

Kamino is a good planet for feeling sad because it's always raining. When you've been in the rain, n.o.body can tell you've been crying.

When Boba got back to the apartment, he saw that his father had been walking in the rain, too.

Funny, thought Boba. I didn't see him out there.

After supper, Jango Fett said, "Boba, listen up." Boba listened up.

"What happened to Zam could happen to any of us. To any bounty hunter. Do you understand?"

Boba nodded - but his nod was a lie. He was determined not to understand. He had promised himself not to think about it. He couldn't imagine it, anyway. Who or what could get the best of his father in a fight?

"Good," said Jango Fett. "So, son, I want you to take this."

Jango handed Boba a book.

Boba was shocked. My dad?! A book?!

Jango seemed to know what Boba was thinking. "It's not a book, son," he said. "It's a message unit, from me. For you, when the time comes."

Not a book? It looked like an ordinary book, about two fingers thick, with a hard cover. It was black, with nothing on the cover. No words, no pictures. Nothing, front or back.

Boba tried to open it but the pages seemed stuck together. He pulled harder on the cover, and his father shook his head.

"Don't open it," Jango said. "Because when you open it, your childhood will be over. And it is too soon for that. I want you to have what I never had: a childhood."

Boba nodded. Though he was confused. Why had his father given him a book if he didn't want him to open it?

Then his father told him: "If something happens to me, you should open it. It will tell you what you need to know. Who to ask for. Who to avoid. What to do. What not. Until then, keep it closed, and keep it hidden. Understand, son?"

Boba nodded. He tossed the black book (that was not really a book) into the pile with his library books. He wasn't going to need it. Ever.

No way. Like, something bad was going to happen to his father, the fiercest, fastest, most fearless bounty hunter in the galaxy?

No way. Unthinkable. Which simply meant that Boba was not going to think about it.

CHAPTER FIVE.

The next day, Boba and his father went fishing. The rain was light, so they sat on a rock at the edge of the sea. Boba took potshots at rollerfish with his pocker, a laser-aimed spear-thrower. Jango made him turn the laser off and sight by eye.

Boba knew that the fishing trip was his father's way of trying to make him feel better, so he'd forget about Zam's death. Boba did his best to concentrate.

He kept on fishing even when Taun We, one of the Kaminoans, stopped by to talk with Jango. She was tall and white, like a root that has just been pulled out of the ground. Her dark eyes were as big as saucers, her neck long and thin.

Boba usually liked Taun We, but today it was business, business, business. Something about the clones. Boba tried not to listen. He didn't want to hear about the clone army - his ten thousand twin brothers. It made him feel creepy just thinking about it.

He was glad when Taun We left, and to prove it, he speared a few more rollerfish. He tried to act excited to please his dad, but the fun had gone out of it.

Boba couldn't stop thinking about the clones. He couldn't stop thinking about Zam.

Boba did get excited again, though, when they pa.s.sed the s.p.a.ceport on their way back to the apartment. There was a new ship on the landing pad. It was a sleek starfighter he had only seen in pictures before.

"Wow!" he said. "It's a Delta-7!"

"And what of the droid?" Jango asked, pointing to the nav unit behind the c.o.c.kpit.

"It's an R4-P," said Boba excitedly. While his father listened, he listed the starfighter's features. Extra armaments, extra speed - the Delta-7 with the R4-P was the kind of ship only a few, select pilots could handle.

"Like who?" Jango asked.

"Like you!" Boba said as they hurried home in the rain. He was happy to show off what he had learned from his reading. And even happier to bring a smile to his father's face.

But the smile didn't last. Jango seemed thoughtful. Preoccupied.

Even worried.

He went into the bedroom to take a nap while Boba sat down with a reference - Starfighters of the Galaxy. He was curious to know how such a sleek ship as the Delta-7 had found its way to out-of-the-way Kamino, where nothing important or exciting ever happened.

Boba had barely started to read when he heard the door buzz. He and his father didn't have any friends, especially with Zam gone, so he was surprised.

It was Taun We again. And this time she wasn't alone. The man standing next to her wore a simple robe and no jewelry. Under his robe Boba could see the outline of a lightsaber.

A Jedi.

All of a sudden, Boba knew where the star-fighter had come from.

Cautiously, he opened the door.

"Boba, is your father here?" Taun We asked. "Yes."

Say no more than necessary. That was a favorite saying of Jango Fett. And Boba knew that it especially applied when the Jedi were around.

"May we see him?"

The Jedi said nothing. Just stood there, watching and listening.

Cool and collected. But also a little scary.

Boba tried to be cool himself. "Sure," he said. Always be polite.

Especially to your enemies.

And the Jedi, as keepers of the peace, were the natural enemies of bounty hunters, who operated outside the law.

Boba stepped back to let them in. The Jedi was looking around as if he had never been in an apartment before. Nosy! Boba thought. He decided to ignore him.

"Dad! Taun We's here!"

Jango Fett came out of the bedroom. He looked at both of the visitors, and he didn't seem to like what he saw.

"Welcome back, Jango," Taun We said, pretending she hadn't just seen him. "Was your trip productive?"

"Fairly."

Boba listened carefully. Taun We was sounding friendly, as usual.

Meanwhile his father was looking the Jedi up and down. To say that Jango didn't seem to like what he saw would be obvious, like saying Kamino is rainy. It was more than that.

Boba wondered if they had met before. He wondered if the Jedi had anything to do with the death of Zam.

"This is Jedi Master Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi," Taun We said. "He's come to check on our progress." "That right?" Jango said.

The two men stared at each other. It was like a battle fought without words or weapons.

Boba watched, fascinated. It was obvious to him that his father could have whipped the stupid Jedi with one finger. But something was holding him back.

"Your clones are very impressive," said the Jedi with a slight bow.

"You must be very proud." "I'm just a simple man," Jango Fett said, bowing back. "Trying to make my way in the universe." "Aren't we all?"

said the Jedi.

It was like a fight to see who could be most polite!

Meanwhile, the Jedi was looking into the bedroom, where the Mandalorian battle helmet and armor were lying on the floor.

Jango moved in front of the door to block the Jedi's view.

"Ever make your way as far into the interior as Coruscant?" the Jedi asked.

"Once or twice," Jango answered coolly. "Recently?"

This is one very nosy Jedi! Boba thought. He wondered why his father was talking to him at all. "Possibly," said Jango, and Boba knew from the tone of the answer that his father had been to Coruscant.

And the Jedi knew it, too.

Now Boba knew for sure that the Jedi and Jango had encountered each other before, and that the Jedi had had something to do with Zam's death.

How he hated the Jedi's smug little smile!

"Then you must know Master Sifo-Dyas," the Jedi said.

"Boba, close the door," said Jango in Huttese, a language they both knew well.

Boba did what his father asked, never taking his eyes off the Jedi.

He wanted him to feel his hate.

Meanwhile Jango Fett was fencing. Using words instead of a sword to block the Jedi's moves. "Master who?" he asked.

"Sifo-Dyas. Isn't he the Jedi who hired you for this job?"

"Never heard of him," said Jango.

"Really!?" said the Jedi. For the first time, he looked surprised.

"I was recruited by a man called Tyra.n.u.s," said Jango. "On one of the moons of Bogden." "No? I thought..."

Taun We stepped in then. "Sifo-Dyas told us to expect him," she said to the Jedi, pointing to Boba's father. "And he showed up just when your Jedi Master said he would. We have kept the Jedi's involvement a secret until your arrival, just as your Master requested."

The Jedi seemed surprised by all this. And trying not to show it.

"Curious," he said.

"Do you like your army?" Jango Fett asked. His cold smile seemed to Boba like a sword thrust straight toward the nosy Jedi's heart.

"I look forward to seeing them in action," said the Jedi. A pretty good parry, Boba had to admit.

"They'll do their job well, I'll guarantee that," said Jango.

The Jedi gave up. "Thanks for your time, Jango." "Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi," said Boba's father with a slight, sarcastic smile.