Topic: Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines.

Has anyone seen this yet?
http://njoe.com/

[Female Voice]:
Atzari system
Ten standard years after the Yuuzhan Vong War
Slave I in pursuit of prisoner Habuk
Boba Fett's private record

[Habuk]:
"What ever they're paying you, Fett, I'll double it!"

[Boba Fett]:
says the voice on the commlink. They say that a lot. They just don't understand the nature of a contract. This time it's an Atzari glitterstim dealer called Habuk, who's overstepped the mark of the Trader's Commission to the tune of four hundred thousand credits.

"A contract's a contract," I tell him. Slave I is close enough on his tail to give me a visual on him. I swear he's flying an old C95 Headhunter. No hyperdrive, or he'd jumped for it by now. And no wonder he's surprised. An old Firespray like Slave I shouldn't be able to catch him on sublight drive alone. I've fitted a few more, uh, extras recently. The only completely original part of Slave I now is the seat I'm in.

[Habuk]:
"My laser cannon's armed."

[Boba Fett]:
says Habuk, breathless.

"Good for you. The galaxy's a dangerous place." The Headhunter executes a deep turn to port with it's aft maneuvering jets and Slave's laser locks onto the Headhunter's drive signature, matching it's turns and loops with no need for guidance from me. His engine flares in a ball of white light. The fighter begins an uncontrolled roll and I have to gun it to get a tractor beam locked on and haul Habuk in.

Grab arms make a satisfying ka-chunk against the Headhunter's airframe as I secure the fighter against the casing above Slave I's torpedo launcher. Habuk is making the noises of panic and pleading that I hardly notice these days. Some prisoners are defiant, but most give into fear. He makes me offers all the way back to Atzari, promising anything to survive.

[Habuk]:
"I can pay you millions!"

[Boba Fett]:
The contract is to deliver him alive. It's very specific.

[Habuk]:
"And my stockholdings in Kuat Drive Yards!"

[Boba Fett]:
I think it's the silent routine that gets to them in the end.

[Habuk]:
"Fett, I have a beautiful daughter."

[Boba Fett]:
He shouldn't have said that. Now I'm angry. I don't often get angry.

"Never use your kids, scumbag, Never."

Landing on Atzari's a little tricky when you're holding a crippled fighter on your upper works. I set Slave I down on the landing strip, lowering it gently on the thrusters, feeling the aft section vibrating under the load. And I have an audience.

The coalition wants to show they can hire the best to hunt down anyone who crosses them. I oblige. A bit of theater, public relations. Like Mandalorian armor, it makes the point without a shot needing to be fired. I walk along Slave I's casing to clambor up onto the Headhunter's fusilage and crack open it's canopy seal with a laser housed in my wrist gauntlet. So I hit Habuk harder than I need to, and haul him out of the cockpit to rapel down ten meters to ground of the landing with him. It hurts deep in my stomach. I don't let anyone see that.

Then I deposit the man on the landing strip in front of the men he owes four hundred thousand credits. It makes the point. I like making points. Presentation is half the battle.

[Customer]:
"Want to keep the starfighter, too?"

[Boba Fett]:
asked the customer.

"Not my taste."

The spaceport utility loader comes to remove it from Slave I. I hold out my palm.

"I want the rest of my fee."

He hands me the outstanding two hundred and fifty thousand credits on a verified chip.

[Customer]:
"Why do you still do this, Fett?"

[Boba Fett]:
"Because people still ask me."

It's a good question. I ponder it while I sit back in the cockpit, catch up on the financial headlines on the holonet news as Slave I heads for Kamino on autopilot. My doctor is meeting me there. He doesn't like the long journey, but I don't pay him to be happy.

Now I find I'm thinking of a daughter. Ailyn. Who I haven't seen in fifty years, wondering if she's still alive. You see, I'm ill. Think I'm dying. If I am, there're things I've got to do. One of them is to find out what happened to Ailyn. Another is to decide who's going to be Mandalore when I'm gone. And the third, of course, is to cheat death. I've had a lot of practice at that.

cool

Nice that looks cool. :P

That was awesome. I NEED that book. I have a feeling that I am going to be watching that count down non-stop.

Just so they don't actually make Fett die, it's all good.  If they do make Fett die, I will send them enraged hatemail for all eternity.
SF

You and me both. I knew Ailyn would play into it somehow. And that last line about cheating death, GLORIOUS!

To be honest, my first impression was that a three-year old had written it...I don't quite like the disrespect to Fett's personality, and stupidly throwing in references to Kamino, Mandalore, and whats-her-face...but of course, that's debatable...anyone else have a problem with this selection?

I like the theme behind it, could  be good except i see what you mean Balance.
Makes Fett seem... too moral. Or maybe soft. I think it just takes away from his overall image.

Also the first line of the last paragraph is just terrible. In good writing you don't just say, "I'm thinking of my daughter." It should have been more like, "I tried to focus on the headlines, but my mind wondered to a face that I haven't seen in fifty years."

Fett is supposed to be moral.

Since when? :P

It just feels like the authors taken a bunch of dumb elements and references and crammed them together as if she actually knows something about the character.  Kamino, Mandalore, "I have to pick the next Mandalore", :mad:  I'm not liking it so far. 
Hello from Mexico, BTW.  I've been in the Baja for the last two weeks.  :P

A large part of the reason that it sounds good to me is because it has Fett as a bount hunter still, and I have always hated how he supposedly quits hunting completely.

He does need to pick the new Mandalore because this is after he rebuilt the mandalorians, but i think you are right. Also it seems like Boba must be about 70 now, and i dont know how he could still do the things he used to do, they just keep making the charecters older and older.

According to Miba (I am not questioning her, I just have not read it anywhere else), sixty or so is about middle aged for humans in the Star Wars continuity.

Oh ok but i am still planning on getting this book.

About the cheating death part.  My guess is that once Fett gets to Kamino, he'll have Taun We make a new, young and healthy clone body for himself, and then have his brain transferred from his old dying body into his new body.

SF

Was that a joke? (not being rude if it wasn't) because i really hope the wouldn't do that.

That's actually what I was kind of thinking too (the brain transplant).  Either that, or do the same thing that Jango did, and make a clone of himself, maybe reconcile with Ailyn, and have her raise the clone to take his place eventually.

Who isn't?  It's got Fett on the cover :D.

Clone bodies?  As much as everyone likes Boba Fett, the second you introduce that, all the main characters might live forever...some people have been waiting for years for an author to get a chance to pick off Luke, Leia or Han... :P

Anyway, the book comes out in about a month...check out www.njoe.com, they have a timer for it :P.

Some quotes from the NJOE:

traviss said that boba and han will definitely be "together" in bloodlines. they may not ever be best buddies she said but they will be helping each other out."

And suprisingly,

-[Traviss re: A Practical Man] "Why did the Mandalorians side with the Yuuzhan Vong? What were they thinking? They're not stupid, they had to have their reasons, and that was the gap I wanted to fill. It's actually not what it seems."

Yeah it sounds interesting i wanted to find out  more about that.

I read it again this morning, and thought about it , and I realize that I'm actually feeling grief that Fett is at the end of the road.

Well, if Fett does have to die, as all humans do, I really hope he goes out on a blaze of glory, something that'll put him in the history books for good. But, that part about Ailyen actually being Fett's daughter, I'm not liking that too much. I don't think Fett'd would have a kid; I mean it's just not something I could imagine.

It's just something these creators go through to attract more customers. To make people curious and want to buy the product to see what it's all about. It's all business at the end of the day.

Well  put, SabreMandalore.

Well watching tv series, reading graphic novels aka comics, and WWE you begin to understand the brain of a business man. Thanks for the complement. :)

I like how you threw WWE into the mix there lol. My sister always said it was like a soap opera for guys. (or girls who like to watch people get thrown around)

I am most displeased with how they portrayed Fett in this excerpt. If he was moral then he wouldn't have Ailyn. And another thing I'd like to point out is that, as far as I know, Fett had, near his end years, had a Slave IV but it only talks about Slave I.

I think the Slave IV was just the Slave I with a lot of retrofitting...it might explain that in Bloodlines, I don't know.
And I agree, I didn't like how Fett was portrayed either. 
It's the references to Kamino and Ailyn partly...Karen Traviss is just tying Fett into the backstory she created with the Republic Commando novels...and subsequently, giving him a drastically altered personality than what we knew Fett to be (he doesn't sound anything like he does anywhere else in the EU; calling people names?  When did he ever do anything like that?)
And plus, her writing style just bothers me...if anything, I would like to see what an author like Matthew Stover could do with the character (if any of you have read Matthew Stover's Star Wars novels, you know what I mean.)

No I don't think I've read Mathhew Stover's novels but I think you're right anyway. In the ToTBH Jaster Mereel wouldn't have had Aylin because he didn't think of sexual relations outside of marriage moral. And in the BHW he never acts like that so why would he start?

I've read Traviss' Commando books and I liked them except for the fact of the relationship between Darman and that jedi. I thinks it's an offense against all Boba Fett fans, nay, It is heresy.

I'll read the book when it comes out and see what it's totally about and then I'll post my thoughts about the book after reading it.

As will I, but that's still a month away. :(

Boba is human after all, like I've said before. He's an unaltered clone, which makes him human. So how can't he have feelings? How can't he be concerned about his daughter? He's not that cold-blooded, even the toughest person is soft. He's not a 'droid.

I agree, SabreMandalore! I mean look at the orphan charities! He's a big softy at heart.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. He does have feelings. He just holds them in check so they won't interfere with his job. He also had morals. He didn't have sexual relations outside of marriage as he clearly states in TotBH. Also he wouldn't get married because it would mess with his job. If you were a bounty hunter you couldn't stay attached to things because people would use your feelings of those things against you.

I'm not saying that Boba Fett doesn't have feelings I'm saying he doesn't use his feelings. He has no use for his feelings. They are worthless to him.

I'm not attacking you, I'm trying to tell these other fans that Boba can't be heartless.

Look I'll be the first to admit I'm prolly not as hard core of a Fett fan as everyone else. I tend to be a fan of the overall big picture. Boba's story in TotBH has mostly been considered non cannon by most authors since Epi. 2 came out. Parts of it are accepted still but parts aren't. That's just how things are. Every since AotC Boba just hasn't been portrayed as being as cold as he once was. I'm not saying you have to like it, but that's just the way things are now.

I know

Plus, you have to keep in mind that he wasn't surounded by Mandalorian culture. So, why would he wouldn't be so strictly under the impression that one of the best things that a Mandalorian man can acheive is to have a son (or daughter, whatever.)? I'm not trying to say that he's a cold person, but why would he think of Aliyn after 50 years or so? It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Some writers make up there own rules. They manipulate the characters to bend to the way they think. It's all different views. Many comic book writers tell the lives of a certain mainstream character in their own way. They've done that so many times with Spiderman.

But if you bend characters that aren't flexible the characters will break.

Boba Fett is not as flexible as spiderman. Boba Fett can not be portrayed in ways that ccontradict each other. In TotBH he was moral. It would be immoral to leave your wife and daughter and go off and never see them again. And, in BHW he never acted with his emotions. His emotions clouded his judgement and could get him killed. Therefore why would Boba get sentimental about a daughter even if he had one. It totally contradicts hs behavior in other books that have been written before.

People can create Boba their own way, he could be soft, he could be hard, he could be emotionless, it's all down to the writer.

He had her when he was young. He left for hopefully damn good reasons. He's gotten older now and is dying. People tend to think about a lot of things in their life when they get to that point.

I hope Travis makes Boba get in a final battle with Ailyn and have him put that stupid upstart in her place.

SF

If he does get in a fight with her, it probably will not last long. What makes her stupid?

Um not to get off topic...but I see my name online twice...why's that? :/

Do you mean right above "Bounty Hunter?" If so, I do not notice it.

You guys who hate Aylin should be glad that Boba's legacy would continue after he passes away.

Aylin isn't stupid if she could kill a Jango clone. And what's with the upstart part? :/

No it was at the online users...hmm...gone now...well let's get back on topic..

Aylin is a great warrior if she can kill Boba.But I think that maybe a surprise is in order...

Yeah i would like to see the Fett bloodline continue but its just the way they did it he wouldant have just left. He would either not get in a relationship with sintas or he would have stayed  and raised Aylin.

As I've sadi before, If Fett wanted to continue his legacy, he'd have done what Jango did.  It's not to late, maybe I'll become a star wars author and write a story about it myself.

SF

OH NO YOU DONT! Thats MY idea!!!! DONT STEAL IT!!!! SERIOUSLY!! LOOK AT MY IDEA!

"TWs idea" cr

DO YOU C THE CR! THAT MEANS COPYRIGHT!!! ;)


TW

Woah, OK.  It doesn't neccesarily have to be me, just so somebody does the issue justice. =)

SF