___3 Months Later___
Slave I: 0 C
Boba gazed out at the stars before him. He'd just finished up a job delivering a wanted gangster to a client. Since most of the powers that be had their hands tied with the joke of a peace agreement, the smarter of the higher ups had resorted to hiring bounty hunters to do their dirty work. Fett didn't mind as long as he was getting paid. Fett's concentration was broken by his comm ringing. Duty calls he thought and answered.
"Greetings, Mr. Fett," a strange man in a uniform with insignia he'd never seen before appeared on his console. "I am in need of your services and have been told that you are one of the best."
"What's the job and the payout?" he asked bluntly. If this man was like any of the other clients, they had probably already called in other hunters to complete the task as well, so he didn't have time to waste.
"I need you to eliminate a threat of sorts," the potential client explained. "A UNSC Spartan with the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer. John-117." Fett was taken aback.
"A Spartan? You do realize how dangerous those people are don't you?"
"That's why I am prepared to pay you two million credits upon completion and help you set up a trap for him." Boba was beginning to grow wary.
"Four million. Two up front, and two after the fact," he demanded. The man shook his head.
"No, I will pay you seven million but only AFTER he is dead," he said firmly. Now Boba was suspicious, but he decided to play it cool and test him. Let's see how deep your pockets go.
"For a target like that, I need an up-front payment," he put it plainly. "Fourty million after the fact and you reimburse me for any supplies and damages incurred by this job." The official scowled.
"Fine!" he growled. "Just send me the coordinates of where you wish to lay the trap. I will take care of the rest." The comm blipped off. Fett didn't trust the job one bit, but he knew an opportunity when he saw one. He punched the coordinates into the navi computer and sent them to his client.
_____
Unknown Regions: 0 C
Elsewhere, an official contacted another bounty hunter.
"I will offer you fifty million credits after the Master Chief is terminated and an additional twenty if you kill Boba Fett," he said. "I will also reimburse you for any damages incurred." The bounty hunter sat there for a moment and mulled it over.
"You're paying me to take out a rival?" they asked. The man nodded. "Well then, where am I headed?"
_____
Dantooine: 0C
"Don't you think it's a bit strange that Major Smith asked us to bring in some bounty hunter?" Cortana asked.
"According to the Major, he's not just any bounty hunter. He's one of the most revered in the industry," John continued piloting the pelican to the spaceport nearest the coordinates given.
"All the more reason to be suspicious," she said as they landed. "He asked you to do this alone."
"I don't trust it either, but if this Boba Fett is even half as dangerous as Smith described him, we have to make sure that the Covenant remnants or the Created don't get in contact with him."
"A registered officer in ONI, responsible for an experiment gone wrong aboard the Mona Lisa, killed a marine aboard the same vessel," Cortana began listing off Major Smith's profile. "Shall I continue?"
"We'll talk about it after we bring him in," Chief said after handing his docking permit to the being at the spaceport. There wasn't much in terms of large structures, but the streets were filled with humans and creatures like they had never seen before. Some looked liked humans with horns or tails on their heads. Others looked like a combination of different animals.
"To think that the Covenant was our only exposure to alien life," Cortana admired the variety of races. "Their diversity doesn't even scratch the surface of what's on this street." One of the humanoids with head-tails, a blue one, approached him.
"You one of those bounty hunters?" he asked, his accent sounding close to French.
"I'm here on UNSC business," Chief explained. "I'm looking for a bounty hunter by the name of Boba Fett. Do you know where he might be?" The man raised an eyebrow.
"I hope for your sake it's to ask for his services," he said and pointed to the Southeast. "He's over at the forest. Just dragged some poor sap out of a cantina. If you hurry, you might be able to catch him." Chief nodded and made his way to the location at a brisk walk. Sure enough, there was a ship in a clearing along with a man in green armor dragging a being with horns on their head on board.
"Did you by any chance practice your introduction with him to bring him in quietly?" Cortana asked, clearly annoyed with how calm Chief was approaching this.
"I thought that's what you were doing," he said.
"You're insufferable," she sighed. Before they even reached the ship, the man in armor emerged without the other individual and aimed a weapon at them, to which Chief responded in kind.
"I claimed him first," he called out. "Back off!"
"Just here to talk," Cortana spoke through his helmet.
"You can call like the rest of my clients," he growled and stepped off of the ramp as the ship's entrance closed behind him.
"But aren't you the infamous Boba Fett?" she asked. "Surely an in-person visit wouldn't hurt."
"Doesn't matter. I take it you're new to how bounty hunters work, Spartan."
"So you know what I..." Cortana started. Fett fired a burst of red energy from his weapon and launched himself into the air. The bolts were harmlessly absorbed by the MJOLNIR's shields but, to their surprise, it had left it at a quarter. "Welp! I tried!" Chief bolted into action and opened fire on the bounty hunter and took cover behind his ship. Fett seemed unfazed as the armor-piercing rounds pinged harmlessly off of the plates.
"I don't think so!" Fett shouted as Chief switched to his battle rifle. He dashed away from the ship the second a cluster of metallic spheres hit the ground in front of where he'd been less than a second ago. The cluster discharged into a web of electricity that grounded out due to having no target. Chief looked up to take aim at the bounty hunter, but the sky was clear.
"Cortana," he started.
"Scanni... CHIEF! MOVE!" a missile came screaming out from the treeline. With Cortana's help, he dove out of the way in time for the explosive to leave a crater and dissipate the shielding around his legs. The Spartan scrambled to his feet, the alarms in his suit blaring, as Fett reappeared and rained down a flurry of rockets on him. Things began to slow down for the Master Chief as he snatched the bubble shield off of his belt and slammed it to the ground, crouching in hopes of being covered as the shield grew before the explosives reached him.
_____
The smoke hadn't even begun to dissipate when bursts of slugs came zipping near Fett. The bounty hunter avoided them and looked through the smoke to see the Spartan poking the weapon outside of a domed shield and fired in his general direction. Despite the smoke, he managed to shoot a bit too close for Boba's liking when he moved. Boba fired his EE-3 at the shield in response to force him to put the weapon away. That thing's gotta go away sometime he thought. Not letting up the blaster fire, he landed near the shield behind the smoke and raised his left arm.
"Fry," he growled and let the flames spew forth. The flames licked around the surface of the dome, but Fett could see on his HUD that his target had fled on the opposite side. He stopped the inferno and launched himself back into the air, opening fire the second the Spartan became visible. The Master Chief strafed and returned fire from his burst weapon. Most of the rounds flattened and bounced harmlessly off of the beskar, but if it weren't for the beskar interwoven with the fabric underneath, he had little doubt the presumably non-armor-piercing rounds would have ripped through him instead of being caught or bouncing away. Fett primed a concussion rocket and sent it flying near the Spartan. As expected, he dashed away almost instantly, but the blast still stumbled him slightly. Fett soared past him and dropped a grenade he'd been cooking at his feet. It let out an ear-piercing screech. As expected, the Spartan crumpled to the ground, his improved hearing becoming a detriment, but Fett knew it was only a matter of time before something activated to help nullify the noise.
He flew in close and used his momentum to kick the soldier into an almost-kneeling position and wished he hadn't as the force of it shot pain throughout his foot. Ignoring the pain, he raised his right arm and launched the fibercord whip housed within. Neatly wrapped up, the Master Chief looked up at him and attempted to use his own weight to drag down the bounty hunter, but Fett used his jetpack and the whip's own programming to keep him at bay.
"This would be a lot simpler if you stopped struggling," he told him. Surprisingly, the man stopped moving. Fett disconnected the whip from his gauntlet and allowed it to constrict itself around his target. He pointed his blaster at him and motioned for him to walk towards the Slave I. I don't want to have to drag the body that far he rationalized to himself. He started to hear an unusual chirping, one unlike any avian creature he'd heard.
"CHUUUU!!!!!" a bolt of yellow electricity shot between Fett and the Spartan, the pair narrowly avoiding it. Fett brought his blaster to bear in the direction the strike came from only for a gelatinous-like lifeform with three fangs to attach itself to the end of the barrel. He attempted to blast it, but it seemed unfazed and chirped furiously. In his helmet-cam he could see another figure approaching. He drew his Westar blaster pistol and aimed it at a figure in bulky-looking red, orange, and yellow armor with a green T-shaped visor and a green canon attached to their right arm. On their shoulder rested a yellow rodent-like creature with red spots on its cheecks that crackled with electricity.
_____
"You're a lot later than I'd expected," Fett called out to the mysterious figure. "Back off, Samus. He's mine." Chief felt a pistol tap against his shields.
"What makes you think I'm just after him?" Samus raised her cannon and the rodent jumped onto the ground. Fett holstered the pistol and raised his rifle. The creature at the end was knocked away and pinned to the ground by a net. Another net captured the rodent and sent any electricity it used into the ground. Chief looked back at the ship and saw a figure in armor similar to Fett's only orange and slightly feminine.
"Walk away, Samus," he warned. "You know I'll kill you and your pets." The two began to stare each other down, seeming to ignore Chief.
"Cortana?" he asked.
"THAT won't be necessary," she projected herself in front of them, startling the mercenaries. "Your employer is Major Smith, isn't it?"
"Did he hire you to kill me? Is that why we met up?" Fett asked both Chief and Samus.
"Cortana, what are you doing?"
"I did a bit of digging on the good Major during your little spar," she explained. Both bounty hunters had their weapons lowered, but still on edge. "I'll spare you the boring details, but the short of it is that he's flat-broke."
"Prove it," Samus demanded. Cortana disappeared for a moment then came back and motioned for them to come closer. The pair stood motionless.
"What did you do?" Chief asked.
"Sent them some information that may very well save our skins." Fett finally cocked his head and pressed his gauntlet. The wire around Chief dropped to ground.
"He refused to pay you up front, didn't he?" Fett asked.
"Yes. He offered to pay me only after you and the Spartan were dead," she nodded. Fett motioned to the other warrior and the nets retracted from Samus's companions.
"That's it?" Chief asked.
"Client has no way to pay me, which means I'll make him pay."
"SO PO FLO BLO KNO!!!" another voice cried. A platoon of black-clad individuals appeared as if out of nowhere. One in the center began to remove their helmet when Boba and Samus aimed right at them. "Targets sighted. Sentence, execution."
"You don't have jurisdiction here, rhino-heads!" Samus shouted.
"You should not have jurisdiction either," the leader replied.
"We're bounty hunters. We aren't tied down by jurisdictions," Fett told them. "You're police for hire. You have rules you need to follow. Come back when you're allowed to be here and the client can pay."
"Is the client unable to pay?"
"That's the only reason these four are still alive," Fett gestured to the group behind him.
"Contract voided. You are free to leave." With that, the Judoon disappeared.
"What just happened?" Cortana asked.
"You think we were the only hunters sent after you?" Samus relaxed, the rodent and the chirping creature resting on her shoulders. "Smith hired Fett to kill you and me to kill both of you. I'm guessing the Judoon were hired to take care of me."
"Do you know where Smith is located?" Boba asked and started walking back to his ship. "I'm going to find him whether you tell me or not."
"I'll send it to you," Cortana said cheerfully. Both bounty hunters departed leaving Chief to ponder what had taken place.
"If he finds Smith he's going to kill him," Chief recovered his weapons and made his way back to the city they'd arrived in.
"Most likely. But he was willing to kill you, an asset to the UNSC," she told him. "Who knows who else he'd try to have killed."
______
CINCONI Office: 0 C
Margaret Parangosky was still getting used to being back in the director's chair. Her successor still held equal authority, but she had missed it. A flash indicating a transmission appeared on her desk.
"You want me to answer that for you?" her AI, BB, asked.
"If you'd be so kind," she smiled. On her screen appeared Major Smith with his head shoved against his desk and a rifle pressed against his skull.
"I take it you're in charge?" a man with a Maori-sounding accent asked.
"Yes, Mr. Fett, that would be me," she answered calmly. "What can I help you with?"
"Your underling hired me to kill one of your Spartans but apparently does not have the means to pay. He said you'd be able to complete the deal. But considering that he tried to have me killed as well, my price has gone up. If you triple the price, I might let him live."
Margaret just stared at the screen before sighing, "Mr. Smith, what have you gotten yourself into?"
"I'm so sorry, Admiral Parangosky. Please help me," he pleaded. Parangosky rolled her eyes.
"Patch me through," she sighed. When Smith gave her a thumbs up, she said, "Attention all UNSC personnel, this is Admiral Margaret Parangosky. Effective immediately, Major Smith is now considered a traitor."
"WHAT?!?!" his eyes went wide.
"However, do not be alarmed," she continued. "The legendary bounty hunter, Boba Fett, has already arrived to dispatch him. Do not attempt to prevent his departure. That is all."
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS!!!" he protested as Fett dragged him by the nape of his neck.
"Goodbye, Mr. Smith."
"No! NO! NOO...!" she cut the feed off.
"Shouldn't we have done something about that?" BB asked.
"Smith would've had to have been taken care of eventually," she reclined. "Thanks to his carelessness, he took care of himself for us. Besides, those bounty hunters he sent after the Master Chief are of more use to me alive. I have plans for them."
"So you're going to accept the offer?"
"It would be foolish not to."
"Then I'll send the mess..."
"No, BB. I'LL do that. You've done enough for today. Thank you so much. Why don't you check on what our Co-CINCONI Ms. Osman needs?"