“Betrayal”

Boba Fett looked at his chromometer for the fifth time. What could be taking him so long? Although intensely aware that patience was a vital part of any hunt, this merchant was beginning to get on his nerves. Only two days ago Fett had been hired by the owner of a casino in Equator City on Rodia, a despicable creature called Avaro. Despite the apparent simplicity of the assignment, Fett wasn't fooled for a second. He new all too well of Avaro's contacts with Black Sun, and he had no doubt that he was really working for them. Since the rebels resurrected Black Sun during the time of Ysanne Isard, Black Sun had grown to but a shadow of its former self. But they still had a strong influence. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't have taken the job. Many hunters, including Boushh had suddenly "disappeared" while under contract for the prince. But these were not usual circumstances. Fett's leg had continued to deteriorate since his battle will the sarlaac, and he would need a fortune's worth of credits for the clone replacement.

A blip on his scope caught his attention. So... his quarry had finally appeared. His target this time was a small time merchant who could barely make ends meet with his three light freighters, hardly someone you would expect to have a price on his head. But the motives of his employers didn't matter, only completing the hunt, and, most important of all, getting his payment.

Boba Fett followed the blip on his screen. Smart. It appeared that the
merchant was leaving the planet over its northern magnetic pole. The magnetic
distortions would shield his ship from prying eyes, but the Slave 2's sensors
where state of the art and could easily punch through such interference. He
flicked a switch on his board, and felt the small vibrations through the back
of his chair as power filled the Slave 2 again. Now that the waiting was
over, he didn't need to hide.

The ship lurched forward as he brought his engines to full thrust; in moments he would be within weapons range of his quarry.

The planet he had just left was a lifeless rock with a barely breathable
atmosphere and could be found on no standard astronomical chart. A perfect
hiding place for pirates. Apparently the pirates had invited the merchant to
close some kind of deal, what it entailed he didn't know, but as long the
pirates didn't detect him then it didn't matter. He was now within torpedo
range and merchant still was unaware of his presence. The magnetic
distortions must be playing havoc with his sensors. In one smoothe movement
Fett brought up his targeting scope and locked his mag pulse onto the other
ship's engines. A chime pinged as the HUD went red and the pulse spat itself
from his craft tailing a blue stream of energy. The beam hit its target
square on and the ship went into a roll. Within seconds Fett was within
cannon range, and let loose with a blast from his concealed Ion cannon. With
his target now floating dead in space the Slave 2 moved up beside the
battered old freighter and engaged it's tractor beam. With a hiss of air from
the landing hatch the two ships docked. Time to get his merchandise.

As Boba made his way towards his quarry's ship he off-handedly wondered
why someone with such a high bounty on their head would take the risk of
contacting pira... . He never had time to finish the thought. hHs helmet's
enhanced sensors detected the unmistakable odor of Nergon 14, an explosive
used in the creation of proton torpedoes. In seconds he was back aboard his
the Slave 2 and disengaging himself from the doomed ship. The Slave 2 had
barely broken off contact when the freighter disintigreted into fire, and a
massive explosion rocked Fett's ship. Strident alarms blared in the confined
cockpit as the control board turned red with a dozen or more danger lights.
The ship rolled and rolled until Fett managed to grab the joystick to regain
control.

A quick glance at the readouts told him that his shields were severly
damaged and his weapons were all off line. If his shields hadn;t happened to
have been up at the time of the explosion he, along with his ship would
certainly have been destroyed.

When all the alarms had silenced and his anger subsided, Fett turned his
ship's sensors towards the debris field and did a though scan. No organic
material was present. If the merchant had been on board there should still at
least be some stray tissue in the field. This served to confirm Fett's
suspicion that the man was still on the planet. Somehow the pirates had
detected his arrival in system and sent the freighter ahead as a decoy. No
ships had left the surface to investigate, which meant they must think him
dead. Good. It would give him the element of surprise. If experiance had
tougght him one thing, it was that no one attacked Boba Fett and lived to
tell about it. This Horden Jerrock would pay dearly for his folly.


Copying the pirates strategy, Fett using the planet's pole as cover while
he made his descent into the outer atmosphere of the barren planet. His
sensor logs indicated that the freighter left the surface at a point two
kilometers from a series of canyons which were as deep as two full grown
rancors. An ideal place to land. Reaching ground level seemingly undetected,
he dropped the Slave 2 in to the canyon and found a fairly flat landing site
about three clicks from the pirate's base. It would be a long trek, but that
would in all probablilty be the easiest part of the job. Grabbing up his
heavy blaster rifle a set of thermal detonators, Fett stepped down the
gangway into the unforgiving cold and swore that by the end of the day, he
would have extracted retribution.


It took him nearly five hours to reach what looked like a ventilation
shaft into the pirate's underground base. It would be a tight fit, but it
should be big enough to admit him. Ripping off the filter grating, he started
his climb down the smelly and dark shaft. After a few minutes of steady
climbing,his audio sensors picked up the sound of a noive was whistling. As
the volume increased, so did the stench. Seeing a faint light up ahead Fett
cautiously made his way towards it, emerging into what appeared to be a
kitchen of sorts, with an assortment of knives, hooks and other pointy
obejects altoughether alien in nature for slaughtering any handy animals.
From the excess waste strued about, it looked like these criminals had a
large amount of reptilians among them. Possibly Trandoshans, but if they were
anything like the Tranoshans Fett had come in contact with before, they
shouldn't pose a serious problem. As Fett silently rounded the bulky
refrigiration unit, the source of the whistling became apparent. Bent over a
nearby stove, an oblivious human cook was occupied stirring a pot of foul
liquid and singing off-key love songs. . With the grace of a dancer Fett
snuck up behind him, and silenly pressed muzzle of his blaster against the
man's beefy into back.

To Fett's surprise, the man laughed " Come on Reask, quit fooling. You're not gonna get me with that a second time". "This isn't Reask" Fett answered, and with a flick of his wrist produced a knife which he promptly brought to bear against the cook's throat.

"Where is Jerrock?" Fett rasped in a tone that brooked no refusal, while pressing the knife against his prisoner's throat even harder to emphasize his point. "I have no time for games."

"H-h-hee's downstairs, w-wiith the boss" the cook stammered, straining uselessly against Fett's strong gasp. Fett retracted his knife and started to back away, keeping his rifle in the cooks back.

"Keep facing front or my finger might twitch!".

The cook froze where he stood, and seizing the opportunity, Fett bought
the butt end of his rifle down with a soft THWACK on the back of the cook's
head. Satisfied with eliminating that problem, Fett turned and walked quickly
and silently to the door, hoping no inconvenient bystander had overheard the
brief exchange. Opening it slightly, he checked up and down the long gray
hall, but there was no one there. Despite all his heavy gear, Fett hardly
made a sound as he carefully paced down the corridor, but he realized
eventually some hungry pirate would notice the missing chef and his presence
would be discovered.

As he made his way towards what looked like turbolift, a scruffy and
decidedly drunk pirate stumbled out of his quarters and into the hall. Even
in his intoxicated state the man immediately noticed the man in Mandolorian
armor in his base and reached for his blaster. Fett however was quicker, for
he knew that in these corridors a blaster shot would alert the rest of the
base to his location. Without hesitation e rushed the pirate and knocked him
to the floor. With one sharp turn he snapped the pirate's neck, letting his
armor and body weight smother the sound. He then unceremoniously threw the
pirate back into his quarters. This was almost too easy.

Once inside the turbolift he quickly noted that the pirate base was
composed of eight main floors. It was reasonable to assume that the bases
command center and the "boss's" quarters would be furthest away from the
surface, giving them maximum protection from planetary bombardment. When the
lift reached the bottom and the doors opened Fett was
immediately confronted by four pirates, all sporting blasters in a low hip
holster that told him that they were quick on the draw. Only Fett was
quicker. Before any of them could get off a shot he slammed his gloved hand
against the controls and closed the door. “Sithspit" Fett swore. He would
have to make his entry on level seven. Thankfully no one greeted him upon
exiting the turbolift again, but moments after he could hear alarm bells
sound from the floor below. One of his friends down below must have had a
comlink. So much for the quiet approach.

Fett turned a corner, only to run into a dozen or so more pirates. As he
had thought, some of the were Trandoshans, who all looked distressingly
strong and ready for business. With reflexes honed from years of hunting,
Fett managed to shoot two these attackers in the abdomen before any of them
could react. Seconds later the corridor became a sea of blaster fire, with
energy bolts ricocheting in all directions. When you could be hunting any
species, it pays to know WHAT it is you're hunting. Trandoshans were capable
of seeing into the infra red range, which gave them an advantage in night
stalking. As the pirates started to advance, Fett activated the flame-thrower
that was part of his left gauntlet. The Trandoshans shrieked in pain as the
hot flaming gas temporarily blinded them, leaving only three humans and a
pair of Rodians to deal with. Two snap shots and two of the humans went down,
but the Trandoshans slowly were beginning to recover. Feeling his adrenaline
surge, Fett turned and ran backwards while firing to discourage any perusers
still capable of forward movement.

Despite his success knew he needed a better plan. The base was crawling
with pirates, he could pick them off one by one and be here for days. He
needed something more efficient, capable of mass destruction. Fett liked
mass destruction, especially if it was the destruction of creatures who had
the temerity to attack him. When he turned the corner he skidded to a halt,
and plucked a low grade thermal detonator from his ammo pouch and flicked the
five-second counter, while simultaneously throwing it around the corner.
Briefly wishing for a hover vehicle of some sort, Fett ran as fast as his
damaged leg would permit him to. Five... four... three... two...

Boba Fett was thrown forward by the Shockwave of the blast behind him.
That five ounces of machine packed a hell of a punch. If it was possible
that any of the crew didn't know where he was then, they did now. Horden
Jerrock was gonna pay big time. But Fett couldn't afford to stand around and
let Jerrock come to him. Level 7 just so happened to house the armory, and
as a result anybody he encountered here on this level were gonna be armed to
the teeth. "I think its time to leave."

Retuning to where he had set the detonator Fett was gratified to see that
the blast had ripped a hole in the floor big enough to swallow a fat Hutt.
Now that was mass destruction done right. Replacing the clip on his rifle
Fett leapt lightly down. There were two wee quay in the hall below armed with
standard Imperial-issue blaster rifles. They were dead by the time Fett's
boots hit the gridded floor, heading in the direction of the bases commander.

This commander in person was a Gotal by the name of Hrassek, who at the
moment was occupied trying to figure out just what the hell was going on.

"Just what the hell is going on?" he bellowed. Those closest around him
flinched, wishing that Gotal did not have such powerful lungs. His
Luitenent, a female Duros turned away from a display she was studying.

"Intitial reports say an unidentified male in Mandalorian combat armor
killed Jean-Claude the cook and set off a grade C explosive on level seven."

Hrassek's scowl froze, then turned sour. "Fett! He must have somehow
survived the explosion." Hrassek's head snapped up. "Is Jerrock safely
away?"

"Not yet, he's having problems with his ship."

Damn.

"Damn" Hrassek replied. Before he had a chance to continue on this theme,
to his intense surprise he found himself flying through the air. He was not
however as surprised as the person he landed on was. By the time he had
managed to untangle himself from his luckless lackey, he saw that the
entrance had been blown completely in and a menacing figure stood there,
blaster in hand.

"Where is Horden Jerrock?!!" growled and irate Fett.

His reply was a volley of blaster fire from a pair of Wee Quay in the
corner of the room. Although they did not feel so at the time, they were
lucky that Fett only hit them in the legs. "I will not ask again. Where is
he?!!"

Hrassek stood up. "Hold your fire" he called. "He's on the top floor,
waiting for his ship to arrive." The voice stress analysis unit in his helmet
told Fett that he was lying. In response aimed his blaster at Hrasseks head
and turned the power selection lever up one notch. "He's in the hanger"
Hrassek hastily yelped back. "But you'll never catch him now." Fett just
stared at him, as if to remind him who he was talking to. With that he turned
and strode out of the command center, throwing the rest of the thermal
detonators into a side room out of view, and left Hrassek wondering nervously
if Fett had actually armed them or not.

With the reluctant assistance of a 4th level cleaning droid (which are
hard to intimidate, having no fear of death), it didn't take long for Fett to
find the hanger. Fett entered just in time to be caught in the backwash of
Jerrok's exiting Z95 Headhunter. No time to get the Slave 2. Fett winced
slightly, but gave into the inevitable. "I'll have to take one of these
buckets." All of the ship in the hanger were in a state of disrepair, so he
opted for a SoroSuub Preybird, which happened was the only one with a
complete engine array. It wasn't as heavily armed as the Headhunter, but it
was fast. However, it seemed the pirates had gone technical and had upgraded
the Z95's engines. By the time Fett got to within weapons range the
Headhunter had made the jump to hyperspace. He turned the Preybird towards
the canyons as the pirate's base became ferrocrete vapor.

###

One Week Later

Nar Shaddaa, the Meltdown, a popular place to have a meal among the freighter
scum that conduct business on the Smugglers Moon. Among them was an
information broker called Frihbr, a Bothan, who has been known to supply info
to hunters from time to time. And when Boba Fett wants something, he gets
it.

" Aahh my dear Fett, how profitable to see you again. Come sit and have a
drink"

"Stow it, I need your services." Fett retorted bluntly. Frihbr smiled
thinly. "As always it's straight to the point. What is it?"

"I need some information on a merchant called Horden Jerrock. I need to
know who his passed associates are, where is family lives, if he has any
enemies, and what contracts he has taken from as far back as four weeks."
Boba said.

"My, you don't ask for much do you." the Bothan paused "Off hand I
haven't heard of him, but I should have something for you in a couple of
hours. Meet me in the alley behind Movo's old place, I'll give you the
information there."

"No tricks Bothan!"

"No tricks my friend." And with that Fett strode from the cantina,
looking neither left nor right at the regular patrons that all stepped aside
to give him room. When he was sure that no one was watching he pulled out a
comlink and spoke into it. "It's me Frihbr, I just had a talk with a friend
of yours. Boba Fett. And you'd never guess who he was asking for..."

###

Outside of Movo Brattakin's Old Palace

It was dark and it stank, but it was where Frihbr had told Boba Fett to meet
him. So far Frihbr hadn't shown up, but someone had. Fett was no fool, he
knew that Frihbr was as trustworthy as a Hutt, but he had information he
needed, so here he was. A figure stepped out of the shadows.

"I have that which you seek" the figure said in a flinty voice.

"Where is Frihbr?" Boba replied, enunciating his words with great care
as he always did when angered.

"He has other business. He sent me here to...greet you." Fett's hand
went to his rifle." No need for that, I'm here to help you.....for a fee" the
figure said.

Something didn't feel right with this. "Who are you?!" Fett demanded. The
figure stepped forward. He could now make out the stranger. He was human,
well built, of average height and had a scar across his check.

"My name is Maavek.......Jerrock." Now that was interesting. "I am the
brother of the person you are seeking."

"Why would you want to help me capture your brother?". inquired Fett,
suspicion shrouding his words like a mist. "Because he betrayed me. He stole
something of great value to me."

Fett still didn't like it. Even if it did make sense. "Come with me."
Fett said. It was not an invitation. They made their way out of the alley and
walked towards the hangers. "Before we start," Fett said "I want you to get
this into your head. I'm in charge, and when I decide to break off this
partnership, Its done."

Maavek replied "I understand."

"Good. Now why would your brother hook up with pirates?"

"Ah yes I heard about that. The 'Blood Drinkers' on Gidiyen II. More
than likely he was trying to enlist their help in eliminating me. Their
leader was a former associate of his. He was probably promising them inside
knowledge on freighter timetables."

"Why would he want you dead? I thought he betrayed you." Fett asked.

"He did, he wants me dead because I am the one that put the price on his
head." Fett suddenly stopped walking, turned around and shoved Maavek against
the alley wall.

"What connection do you have to Black Sun?" he demanded, his fingers
convulsively tightening on Maavek's throat.

"None, but I know Avaro." Maavek smiled painfully. "He owes me a few
favors. I figured it be safer for me to work through a middle man." Seemingly
satisfied Fett turned away, and they continued towards the hangers. The Slave
2 still needed some repairs from its close call, so Fett continued past the
repair hangers to where the Slave I was stowed. When they reached it Fett
manipulated some hidden controls and the ramp lowered.

"One more thing." With a speed that would make Jedi Knights double take
Fett slapped a pair of stun cuffs on Maavek. "This is my ship, and you're not
gonna get anywhere near a button or switch. You'll stay in the cargo hold
till we reach our destination."

###

Deep Space

The Slave 1 sat in the middle of nowhere, totally isolated and cut off from
prying eyes and ears. Boba Fett and Maavek were in the cargo hold discussing
how to proceed.

"Horden has a daughter named Chririe. She lives on Coruscant as a
secretary for a small news company. Horden tried to delete all records
connecting them both. But... what can I say." Fett got the idea

"We kidnap her and trade her in for Horden. But we don't know where he
is..... and my intelligence sources could taken a while to locate him."

Maavek give him a lop-sided smile. "No need, Horden has a communications
satellite in the outskirts of the Alderaan system. He checks it every few
days for messages from his business partners. If we leave a message in the
satellite, he'll get it."

###

Coruscant

The office where Chririe Jerrock worked was on the 235th level of the
Corellia building. It was about 22:10 Coruscant standard time and it was
nearly time to knock off. It was just one of those days that made one wish it
would just end. Chririe leaned back in her chair to stretch. Another
eventless day done with. "Nothing exciting ever happens to me."

The lights went dark and she suddenly felt a hand on her face. She tried
to scream but couldn't. What has that smell? Why I am getting so weak. Someone
help me... Someone help me...

###

The Hoth System

It's about 22:20 Coruscant standard time. Time to check my mail. Horden
Jerrock quickly established a communication link with his satellite in the
Alderaan system. Rather than read the messages from the satellite, he simply
downloaded all the messages at once. Three of them. It must be busy at the
office. He read the first.

The 'Profit chaser' was almost fully repaired, the 'Heavy Hauler's
engine upgrade was complete and net profits are 10% greater than last year.
Over all a good report. He looked at the second.

Oh no. no no no no no. The 'Heavy Hauler' had had a power overload on
its first deep space job and blew up ten minutes out of port. All hands and
the cargo were destroyed. It would take months to pay back Karrde for the
cargo. Hmm this is strange. The third message was in holographic form.
Intriguing.

He started the recording and the figure appeared in front of him. One he
recognized all too well. "Greetings brother. What's the matter surprised to
see your dear old brother? You know we should have family get together more
often. Hey, why don't we invite Uncle Drakin...or maybe cousin Krayerla or
perhaps... your daughter Chririe." Chririe! No! Please by the force no.

Onscreen his brother continued, "Tell you what, why don't we meet on Ord
Mantel in a few days and we can talk about old times, old debts." The image
panned to the left to show Boba Fett holding Chririe by the neck. Fett leaned
towards the camera and said, "No tricks, or she dies." With that the message
stopped.

That bastard. How could he.... But what could he do? He couldn't risk
Chririe's life.

###

Ord Mantel

It was nearing mid-day when Fett's contacts at the spaceport relayed the
message saying Horden Jerrock's ship had landed.

"Time to go" he said. Horden has a small apartment five minutes from the
spaceport. They plan to get there first and confront him there. "Are you
ready?" Maavek was already making for the door.

"Ready when you are." It took two minutes to get to Horden's apartment.
His daughter was still unconscious from the effect of the 'sweet blossom'
when Horden came in. Maavek was behind him and Chririe was in the back room.

"Where is my daughter?!!" he demanded.

"She's safe," Fett replied "she's in the back. Now do you come quietly,
or do I really have to use force?" There was the journeyman coming back to
him. So many years being an imperial stormtrooper made an impression on you.

"If I come with you, how do I know my daughter will be all right?"

"You don't Horden," That was Maavek behind him. "you'll just have to
trust us."

"You expect me to trust Black Sun scum!"

Boba Fett looked up. Maavek said he had no ties to Black Sun. Then...his
initial feeling had been correct, there was something not right about this
Maavek.

"Look either you come with us or we fry your ass right here."

Horden thought about it for a moment. "Chririe knows the codes to get
into my ship. She'll be all right. But I must leave her a message."

Fett pulled out a small Holocube. "All ready done," he pointed his
blaster at him. "now move." They made their way to Fet's ship. "When do I
get paid? You have your man, my contract is complete."

"No your contract is not yet complete. Your merchandise is yet to be
delivered." Maavek replied imperturbably.

"What do you mean?" snapped Fett.

"This filth is to be delivered to Durga the Hutt."

With his free hand Fett grabbed Maavek by the jacket and lifted him up. "I want answers...now!! And I mean the truth or I snap your neck like a twig."

Maavek was gasping for air. "Your real employer is Durga. You see, this
womp rat failed to deliver a very special cargo to the his royal bigness
which resulted in a deal falling through. That made Durga look weak, and made
Durga feel angry."

Fett threw Maavek aside onto the ferrocrete and took his merchandise
aboard. "Consider our partnership over." And with that he fired a miniature
grenade from his right gauntlet at him. It made quite a mess. "Nobody lies
to Boba Fett and gets away with it."

As he turned to enter the ship Horden squeaked "Thank you."

"Shut up" Fett retorted.

###

Nal Hutta: Durga the Hutt's Palace

"My dear Fett, I am so glad that you could join me, I trust Maavek didn't
give you much hassle." Durga bellowed. "None at all" Fett replied. "Now
that this is over with, when do I get paid?"

"Oh but of course, you will find that your account balance has increased
by 10,000 credits." At that Fett turned to leave and after a few steps
stopped and looked back. "One more thing, that cargo Horden didn't
deliver?"

"Mon Calamari sea eels. I can't negotiate on an empty stomach, can I?"

As Fett left he had but one thought. Hutts. What can you do with them?

###

Edited by NEVIENNE