“Lone Operator”

It had been twelve days since Slave I had touched down on the backwater planet of Anhorchin and thirteen days since Boba Fett had received the message that Cora Hinric was dying. Cora had been known as one of the Imperial's worst thorns in their side. Cora was an extremely talented slicer who had accessed some of the hardest files to be found on the Empire.

Now it was said the slicer was slowly dying from laliac poisoning. Laliac being a highly radioactive metal used on the early computer systems on Anhorchin.

Fett walked down the rusting metal corridors of a long abandon military base. Moss grew on the weathered piping that weaved across the exposed ceiling. Fett scanned the piping for any hidden detectors but the results turned up negative.

It seemed that Cora was extremely paranoid; after extensive searches around the area Fett had come up with little clues to the current whereabouts of the slicer. Fett was even unsure of Cora's sex. There was some indication that Cora was humanoid but it wasn't confirmed.

As Fett continued his sweep through the military base he heard the faint shuffle of feet ahead of him. Fett eased himself against the wall and hid his body behind the bulky lockers that lined the hallway. The footsteps were uneven as they grew closer, whoever was drawing nearer had a definate limp.

The footsteps paused. Seconds turned to minutes. Fett remained still, he had learnt many years ago that patience often paid off. The sound of an unsure step echoed through the otherwise silent hallway. The being proceeded then turned down a corridor.

Fett padded silently towards the source of the footsteps. He reached the corridor they had turned down and briefly took a glimpse to see if the being was in view. It was a mistake. A short plump woman stood with a rocket launcher aimed at the mouth of the corridor, Fett immediately took action. He ran to the relative safety of the office stationed a room away from the corridor entrance.

A thundering boom made the building shudder as Fett dived under the main desk. Fett calmly reconfigured his strategy and readied his own rocket launcher, two could play at this game. He also turned up his blaster from stun to kill. Cora was valuable, but not worth dying for.

Fett noted that at the back of the office was a window that viewed the corridor that the woman had been in and Fett could see her emerging from her cover. Fett pried the window open far enough to push his blaster muzzle out. He took careful aim and got a clean shot through the woman's shoulder. She dropped out of view and Fett waited to see if there would be retaliation.

Nothing stirred. Fett made his way towards the injured woman. She lay splayed on the floor, her hand pressed to the wound to stop the bleeding. Her eyes narrowed on Fett as she scrambled for a pistol at her hip.

Before she could grasp it Boba Fett shot it away with his own blaster. "Blasheink!" the woman swore as she shook her singed fingers.

From a doorway further down the corridor another humanoid emerged, he held a grenade threateningly. "You may have taken down Cora, but you won't get me!"

"Run Hinric, save yourself." Cora yelled with sarcasm.

Fett was momentarily confused. Why would the other humanoid be concerned about being captured when Cora was the target? Suddenly it clicked, they were partners. Cora was one half and Hinric was the other. Fett raised his blaster and fired.

Hinric threw the grenade which landed a metre away from Cora. "You fool!" Cora screamed.

Fett threw open a locker door and got inside as the explosion rumbled by. Fett emerged to silence. Both Cora and Hinric lay motionless on the floor, they had been killed by the grenade's blast.

Fett considered sighing at the mess but decided against it. Instead he recorded the image and sent it to the memory banks of Slave I. He also took a DNA sample from each body.

Through the silent corridors Fett walked, he emerged to the dense garden that had overgrown most of the building. A shadow moved amongst the foilage.

Raising his blaster, Fett checked for any threats. A large bird flew out with a start and chirped "Cora hates Hinric. Who's a pretty boy. Hinric is a blasheink."

Fett raised a brow and continued to his ship and felt the faint tug of a smile. Even after years of partnership, Cora and Hinric had stabbed each other in the back, it just went to show that being a lone operator paid in the long run.