Son of Mandalore (Bounty: Book One)

Twin Suns

The twin suns of Tatooine hung brightly in the lightless void of space, cutting through the dark like lightning in a storm. Small dots of stars peppered the scene as far as the eye could see. In the distance, the planet of Rodia winked brightly, the size of a pinprick. It was deathly quiet.

As dark as an eclipse, a starship came blazing out of the blinding light of the left sun. It was a tall, and rounded, with three exhaust ports in the back and tinted pilot's shield. It zoomed through space at a breakneck speed, looping around rocks and debris as it went.

It wasn't anything special to most of the galaxy. Just a beat up looking Firespray that probably should have been retired a decade ago. But to the unfortunate rest, it was an omen of death and justice incarnate. That was because wherever Slave I went, so did Boba Fett.

Fett maneuvered the ship past an asteroid, cratered and dented from a multitude of mid-space collisions, as he aimed for the Tatooinian atmosphere.

As the blackness of space paled into a light blue sky, Fett flicked a few switches to prepare the landing cycle.

Cutting through Tatooine's ozone layer, Fett sent his landing permit to the security on the ground. It blinked back as accepted. The dusty surface of the desert planet got closer and closer as he lowered even more towards the surface.

Below him, a winding canyon cut through the endless sands. Even with the tint of both his shield and helmet, the blinding desert dunes still stung at his eyes. He pushed his ship farther down.

Once he was close enough to the ground, Boba pulled Slave I up and over a rocky cliff and flew deep into the widest part of the canyon. He flipped through a narrow archway, the orange stone grooved and etched from millennia of sandstorms and winds.

As he came to the end of the passage, Jabba the Hutt's Tatooinian palace became visible over an endless sea of pale dunes.

Built onto the face of a rock, the thick, rounded towers reached up into the watery blue sky. Windows were dark against the landscape. The exterior was quiet, not a soul in sight. The interior was a very different story.

Boba directed his Firespray to the back tower. Below him, the roof of a small hanger slid open. Slave I rolled on its back as it slowly descended down. The cockpit stayed in the same position, everything adjusting so that he could still see straight ahead.

When Fett felt the gentle bump that indicated landfall, he unhooked himself from his seat and stood up. His injured leg barked back in protest, but he ignored it. He didn't have time to deal with it now. The bounty hunter worked his way through Slave I's interior to the docking ramp.

"Master Fett, sir!" Came a voice from the med bay. His medical droid came waddling out. He was a silver, LJ-17 unit. He kept to himself mostly, which is why Fett kept him around, but sometimes he had a habit of bugging him when it came to an injury. For instance...

"I would like to look at your leg again sir." Eljay stated as the dock descended.

"I'll pass Eljay." Fett said, walking down the ramp. "But sir, it could be getting infected! Or not healing properly! It would only take a minute for me to..." Fett didn't bother standing around to hear his protests. The droid's voice faded out as he strolled down the docking bay.

Two hanger security guards in black armor stood waiting for him as he stepped onto the stone floor. He flashed his permit and walked past them wordlessly.

The one on Fett's left, the Twi'Lek, said something smart about the bounty hunter to his companion behind him. They chuckled. The laughter abruptly ended as the Twi'Lek noticed the blaster pistol at his forehead.