Star Wars Galaxy Guide #5

Overview

Boba Fett is included on page 28:

The capture of Han Solo has given Boba Fett legendary status among bounty hunters. The slippery Corellian had evaded the best hunters in the galaxy but the ease and efficiency with which Fett captured this difficult quarty has earned him the title of "finest bounty hunter in the galaxy"

ln addition to the glory, which meant less than nothing to him anyway, Fett was amply rewarded in more concrete terms for Solo's capture. Jabba paid him very well indeed.

Though Fett didnt come cheap, he was worth almost any price. In addition to his indisputed abillities to track down and capture prey, the infamous bounty hunter would be worth a fortune in prestige value alone. With this in mind, the crime lord offered Fett a huge amount of money to stay at the palace and work for Jabba full-time. After a good deal of bargaining, Fett accepted the offer on a month-by-month basis, employment to be terminated by either party at any time, without notice.

After negotiations were concluded, Fett went right to work. Jabba put him on a few "local" assassinations — trivial, really, for a hunter of Fett's talents — but Jabba wanted to keep Fett near by until he was sure of his loyalty.

Fett knew what Jabba was up to, but as that fit in with his plans, he didn't object. He knew that Solo's impetuous friends would eventually attempt a rescue, and he wanted a shot at them. He didn't need the money, true, but he had seen them in operation, and wanted to test his skills against them — particularly that dangerous young man who had tangled with Lord Vader and survived.

He got his chance at the Pit of Carkoon.

Until the moment Skywalker attacked, Fett had been disappointed with his quarries' performance. Though he had been taken in by the Princess' disguise as the bounty hunter Boushh. The ease with which she subsequently allowed herself to be captured had not improved his impression on of the Rebels. And then the fool Skywalker marched right into Jabba's flabby arms!

He was a bit more impressed at the pit, once Luke gained his lightsaber and began making chopped meat out of Jabba's guards. Now this was more like it. That boy fought like a master — perhaps there was a challenge here after all. He activated his jet pack and moved to a better position. Skywalker, engaged with other guards, would be unable to parry Fett's shots.

The bounty hunter allowed himself a small moment of triumph. Easy meat. The Rebels had courage to be sure, and some skill, but little in the way of brains. In battle, inteligence was the most important trait of all. If you didn't have brains, an the courage and skill in the galaxy were less than useless — they just got you killed faster. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, something impacted the back of his body armor. He stumbled, but as not particularly worried: Fett's armor had stood up to direct hits from heavy blasters before, and this shot had felt nowhere near that powerful.

Then his emergency thrusters kicked on by themselves. He suddenly found himself heading straight for the mouth of the Sarlacc! ln a fraction of a second he was gone, never to be seen again.

ln the terrible days and weeks that followed, Fett had plenty of time to review the battle and to figure out what had gone wrong. He concluded that he had made all the smart moves; if he had it to do all over again, he would do exactly the same thing. It was just bad luck that he had failed, pure blind, stupid bad luck.

He remembered his earlier thoughts on courage and brains, and ruefully decided that perhaps he would have been beter off in the long run if he had been born stupid.

Dying fast looked better all the time.