Star Wars Adventures 006 - The Warlords of Balmorra Read online

  Table of Contents

  COPYRIGHT

  INTRODUCTION

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Lord Tyranus, the secret guise of renegade Jedi Master Count Dooku, had plans for the starship yards of Fondor, so he was most displeased when he learned that three criminals—Groodo the Hutt, Senator Rodd of Fondor, and droid-engineer Hurlo Holowan—had attempted to bring ruin to the Fondor system. Determined to have the three villains captured and delivered to him, Tyranus contracted the bounty hunter Jango Fett.

  Jango wanted his son, Boba, to become a bounty hunter, and allowed the nine-year-old boy to join him on the dangerous assignment. Unfortunately, Jango soon learned that Groodo, Rodd, and Holowan were also being stalked by two other hunters: Cradossk the Trandoshan, head of the Bounty Hunters Guild, and Cradossk’s son, the bloodthirsty Bossk.

  Jango captured Rodd, but with one major setback: While Boba’s guard was down, he was temporarily captured by Bossk and brought before Cradossk. Although Cradossk and Bossk did not learn Boba’s name, Cradossk’s well-honed instincts quickly determined that the boy was Jango’s son.

  After liberating Boba from the Trandoshans, Jango was reluctant to continue his assignment until Boba was out of harm’s way. He subcontracted Zam Wesell, the shape-shifting Clawdite bounty hunter, to go after Hurlo Holowan. Jango also contacted Tyranus, who resolved to find out who hired Cradossk, and then have Cradossk taken off the job.

  While Jango returned Boba to the planet Kamino, where he and Boba lived among the Kaminoan cloners, Zam Wesell tracked Holowan to the planet Kuat. Bossk also traveled to the Kuat system, hoping to capture Holowan and prove his hunting ability to his father. Bossk’s efforts were dashed when he was captured by Kuat Space Patrol authorities on Kuat Passenger Port, a mammoth space station in orbit of Kuat.

  Zam captured Holowan and transported her to the Commenor system, where Holowan was turned over to Jango. On board his ship, Slave I, Jango informed Zam that Groodo had a brother on the planet Balmorra, and he suspected Groodo might have sought protection there. Zam knew that Jango was familiar with Balmorra, where once, during another mission, he had nearly been killed by a Razor Eater—an assassin droid designed by Hurlo Holowan.

  Jango also told Zam that he had brought something back with him from Kamino, something that would end Cradossk’s curiosity about Boba and his relationship to Jango. Then Zam watched as Jango opened a hidden compartment under his bunk to show her. Despite all the horrendous things Zam had seen and done as a contract executioner, she was not prepared for the sight of what lay within the compartment…

  Zam Wesell’s scream caught in her throat. She turned away from Jango Fett and the exposed compartment beneath his bunk on Slave I. Her gaze came to rest upon Jango’s helmet, which was perched on the headrest of the pilot’s seat in the ship’s cockpit. Zam took a deep breath, then turned back to Jango, daring to look him in the eyes as she said, “You’re a fiend. How could you?”

  Still holding up the compartment’s hinged metal cover, Jango said, “It’s not what you think.”

  “What do you care what I think?” Zam said. Before Jango could answer, Zam added angrily, “I don’t understand! When you said you wanted to end any curiosity Cradossk had about your relationship with Boba, I thought your plan was to protect Boba from Cradossk and the Bounty Hunters Guild, not…” Zam’s hand trembled as she gestured at the open compartment, then she finished, “Not this.”

  Jango glanced at the thing that lay in the compartment, and said, “Tell me, Zam. What do you know about the Kaminoans?”

  Zam had tracked Jango to Kamino four years earlier, when she’d sought his assistance on an especially dangerous mission. She said, “The Kaminoans? Your skinny-necked landlords?”

  Jango responded with a single nod. Since Jango didn’t pay rent for his apartment in Tipoca City, the Kaminoans were not, in fact, his landlords, but there wasn’t any reason to explain all that to Zam.

  Zam said, “I’ve heard that they’re cloners.”

  Jango responded with another nod, but as he did so, he angled his head slightly at the thing that lay inside the open compartment.

  Zam’s eyes widened, then she looked again to the compartment. “You mean the Kaminoans did that? They made that… that thing?”

  “That’s right,” Jango said.

  “And you’re hoping that when Cradossk sees it, he’ll think it’s… real?”

  “I’m not hoping,” Jango said. “I’m counting on it. If you were fooled, Cradossk can be, too. And then he’ll keep his distance.”

  Zam said, “So, you showed me what was in the compartment to test my reaction?”

  Jango nodded.

  “Fine,” Zam said. “Just don’t expect me to congratulate you for making my skin crawl!”

  “I made a mistake when I allowed Boba to join me on my assignment,” Jango admitted. “I’m determined to correct that mistake. If Boba were your son, you’d do the same thing.”

  “You flatter me, Jango,” Zam said. Although Zam could imagine numerous ways she might have tried to protect Boba from the Bounty Hunters Guild, she knew she never could have envisioned such a morbid scheme as the one conceived by Jango. She risked another glance into the compartment and added, “Would you please close the lid?”

  Jango lowered the hinged metal cover to seal the compartment, and then rolled the mattress back into place on the bunk. “Satisfied?”

  “When do you plan on showing it to Cradossk?”

  “Not until I finish this job. After I capture Groodo.”

  Zam thought for a moment, then said, “You really think Groodo’s on Balmorra?”

  “Like I said, that’s where his brother lives.”

  A moan echoed from Slave I’s prisoner hold. Zam said, “Sounds like Holowan’s waking up.”

  “Good,” Jango said. “Maybe she can confirm Groodo’s whereabouts.”

  “Mind if I join the interrogation?”

  “Suit yourself,” Jango said. He stepped over to the pilot’s seat, picked up his helmet, and placed it over his head. With his face now concealed, he led Zam to his ship’s prisoner hold. There, Senator Rodd and Hurlo Holowan were trapped in their respective cages. Rodd hugged his knees as he sat on the floor and deliberately kept his gaze away from Jango and Zam. Holowan stood upright in her cage and faced her captors without even a hint of fear.

  “Mandalorian armor,” Holowan commented at the sight of Jango’s form. “Very rare, extremely durable.” Her eyes flicked to Zam, then back to Jango, and added, “You make a nice-looking couple. Can I assume you’re both bounty hunters?”

  “Assume what you want,” Jango said. “I’m going to ask you one question.” Jango drew his Westar-34 blaster from the holster strapped to his right thigh and aimed the weapon through the cage bars at Holowan. “If you lie, I’ll know, and you’ll be dead.”

  Holowan coolly ignored Jango’s blaster and kept her gaze fixed on his visor. She said, “How do I know you won’t kill me even if I tell the truth?”

  “That’s your problem,” Jango said. “Where’s Groodo the Hutt?”

  “Balmorra,”
Holowan said immediately. “Before he dropped me off on Kuat, I overheard him having a HoloNet conversation with his brother on Balmorra, a factory world. That’s where Groodo was headed.”

  “She’s lying,” Zam said, just to put some fear into Holowan.

  “I’m not!” Holowan snapped, as beads of sweat appeared on her forehead—her previous signs of bravery gone. “It’s the truth! I… I can also tell you about Groodo’s brother. His name’s Rigorra, and he’s the Warlord of Balmorra. He lives in a large castle and…” Holowan caught her breath, then continued, “Listen, I don’t know who hired you to catch me, but maybe they’re not really interested in me? Maybe they want Groodo and Senator Rodd more? I have access to money on Kuat. Lots of money. So I was thinking, maybe we could work out a deal? If I help you get into Rigorra’s castle…”

  Jango returned his blaster to its holster, then turned and stepped out of the prisoner hold. Zam followed him. Holowan shouted after them, “You’ll never get to Groodo without my help! Rigorra’s castle is too well-defended!”

  Jango sealed the door to the prisoner hold so he and Zam wouldn’t have to listen to Holowan. Zam said, “I was wondering how long it was going to take her to try bargaining for her life.” When Jango offered no response, Zam added, “So, are you going to invite me to come along to Balmorra?”

  Through his helmet’s visor, Jango faced Zam and said, “No.”

  “Perhaps you should reconsider,” Zam said. “You’ll probably need backup. As I recall, the last time you were on Balmorra a Razor Eater nearly carved you up into little—”

  “That’s enough, Zam,” Jango interrupted. “I paid you for catching Holowan. Your work here is done.”

  Zam shrugged. “Fine. But I should warn you. When I was in the Kuat system, on Kuat Passenger Port, I saw Bossk. He was being arrested by security guards.”

  “And?”

  “And later, I heard him being thrown in a cell. I could only guess that he was hunting Holowan, too. If he gets out and learns that Holowan isn’t on Kuat anymore, he might go looking for Groodo instead.”

  Jango considered the information. On Esseles, after he had already captured Senator Rodd, Jango had met with Cradossk, who’d declared that he was ending his own hunt for the senator. However, Cradossk had not dismissed the possibility that Bossk might continue the hunt for Rodd, Holowan, and Groodo. Since Jango doubted Bossk was smart enough to find a wart on his own snout, he suspected that Cradossk might have directed his son to Kuat.

  Jango also contemplated his most recent conversation, via the HoloNet, with Tyranus. Tyranus had assured Jango that he would find out who’d hired Cradossk, then have the bounty dropped. As Jango wondered how long it would take Tyranus to achieve these goals, and whether the Trandoshans would back down, he faced Zam and said, “I can handle Bossk.”

  “I’m sure you can,” Zam said. “But watch your back anyway.” Without another word, she picked up the leather case that contained her payment from Jango, then left through Slave I’s docking port and returned to her own ship.

  As soon as the docking port closed, Jango went to Slave I’s cockpit and eased behind the controls. Accessing his nav computer, he called up a star chart for the Balmorra system. He hadn’t looked at that particular chart in years, not since the mission that had brought him to Balmorra, a mission that had nearly ended with his death. I still have scars from that Razor Eater, he thought.

  There was a muffled clank as Zam’s ship separated from Slave I, and Jango glanced through his viewport just in time to watch Zam’s ship speed off, heading on a course that led out of the Commenor system. Jango looked back at the star chart on his nav computer screen and was suddenly aware of a tight feeling in his stomach.

  Nerves, he thought, and knew it was foolish. Since his first encounter with a Razor Eater, he’d battled others and defeated them without even getting scraped. Still, he couldn’t quite shake the gnawing sensation in his gut, and some inner voice telling him that Zam had been right: Jango would have benefitted from her back up on Balmorra. But for too many reasons, he was determined to capture Groodo on his own.

  After plotting the course for his destination, Jango piloted Slave I toward the designated hyperspace portal. Two minutes later, he blasted into hyperspace and tried to imagine the probable dangers awaiting his return to Balmorra.

  Back on Trandosha, Cradossk was in the meeting room at the Bounty Hunters Guild headquarters, wondering what he should do about his son, Bossk. He had just received a transmission from the Kuat Space Patrol, who notified him that Bossk was being detained, under very heavy guard, at Kuat Passenger Port.

  Bossk had been arrested for several offenses, including starship theft, resisting arrest, escaping from a detention cell, and attempting to steal another starship. Since Bossk was such an incredibly obnoxious thug, and since it was some kind of miracle that he hadn’t yet killed anyone on Kuat, Cradossk was not surprised that Kuat Space Patrol was willing to drop all charges if Cradossk just came to Kuat Passenger Port, picked up Bossk, and brought him home.

  However, Cradossk had not immediately agreed and told Kuat Space Patrol that he would have to get back to them. Cradossk simply wanted to teach his son a lesson and thought it would be best if Bossk stewed for a few more hours on the space station in orbit of Kuat. Cradossk was trying to think up some other punishment for Bossk when one of his servants entered the meeting room and announced, “Wat Tambor, Foreman of the Techno Union, is on line one, sir.”

  Cradossk considered whether he should ignore the transmission. It was Wat Tambor who had contracted Cradossk to hunt down and terminate Groodo the Hutt, Senator Rodd of Fondor, and Hurlo Holowan. Ever since Cradossk realized that Jango was stalking the same prey, he had backed off, hoping to gain favor with Jango. As much as he wanted to be paid by Tambor, he wanted even more to have Jango Fett be a member of the Guild. The problem, as Cradossk saw it, was that he didn’t know how he was going to explain all this to Tambor.

  Figuring he couldn’t put off Tambor indefinitely, Cradossk signaled the servant to leave, then went to the meeting room’s HoloNet comm console. Cradossk flipped a lever on the console, and a small, three-dimensional image of Tambor’s gas-mask clad face appeared from the console’s holoprojector. Cradossk said, “Greetings, Foreman.”

  “I’m surprised to find you at home,” Tambor said. “I’d expected you’d be off hunting, and my transmission would be rerouted to your ship.”

  Cradossk said, “I assure you, Foreman, I am working on your case right now, and I—”

  “Yes, well, that’s why I’m calling,” Tambor interrupted, his tone conveying some discomfort. “About the case. Have you—” Tambor paused, trying to come up with a civilized synonym for the word kill, then finally said, “Have you disposed of anyone yet?”

  “No,” Cradossk admitted. “No, not yet.”

  “Good,” Tambor said. “Because it’s off.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The bounty. I’m calling it off. But don’t worry. I’ll honor my end of our contract, and you’ll be paid in full.”

  “As you wish,” Cradossk said, trying to conceal his surprise. “But are you quite sure about this, old friend? You seemed so determined when you hired me to—”

  “I said it’s off!” Tambor snarled, then broke the connection. Tambor’s hologram vanished.

  Cradossk grinned with satisfaction. Getting paid to do nothing was always better than not getting paid at all. But then Cradossk thought of something, and his grin immediately slipped away. Bossk! Kuat Space Patrol hadn’t mentioned “abduction” or “murder” on the list of Bossk’s offenses, so Cradossk figured Bossk must have failed to kill Hurlo Holowan. But what if Bossk escaped his captors again, and actually managed to finish the job he’d been sent to do? If Bossk did kill Holowan—and Wat Tambor found out about it—would Tambor blame Cradossk and refuse payment?

  Cradossk decided it was best to get Bossk out of the Kuat system as soon as possible. Since it would h
ave taken him hours to travel from Trandosha to Kuat Passenger Port, he decided someone closer to Kuat should pick up Bossk. Cradossk went to his computer and searched the duty records to see if there were any Bounty Hunters Guild members currently working at or near Kuat.

  “Skorr!” said Cradossk. “He’ll do.”

  As Cradossk fired up his comm to make the necessary calls to Kuat, he paused to wonder why Wat Tambor had changed his mind about killing Groodo the Hutt, Senator Rodd, and Hurlo Holowan.

  Wat Tambor swiveled in his seat, turning away from the holocomm console next to his desk. Through the lenses of his metal-rimmed goggles, he peered at the tall, elegantly-dressed, silver-haired man who stood in the middle of his office at Techno Union Headquarters. “There,” Tambor said. “I called off the bounty, just as you asked.”

  “Splendid,” said the man. “I assure you, it’s for the best.”

  “Yes, it’s for the best,” Tambor repeated without realizing it. “I don’t know why I trust you so much, but I do.” Indeed, Tambor did not trust most humans, but there was something about the silver-haired man—something beyond his dignified presence and charisma—that generated confidence from others.

  Now that he thought about it, Tambor just couldn’t say no to his guest. He’d readily accepted the man into his office for an unscheduled meeting—it wasn’t the first meeting of this kind—and hadn’t slightly opposed the suggestion that he should pay Cradossk to not capture or kill Groodo the Hutt, Senator Rodd, and Hurlo Holowan. Still, Tambor must have at least questioned the man’s motives, for he felt compelled to ask, “You’re not angry with me or Cradossk, are you?”

  The man shook his head. “On the contrary, I have only the greatest respect for both you and the head of the Bounty Hunters Guild. You were completely justified in your desire to eliminate Groodo, Rodd, and Holowan. They are deadly, vicious criminals, but for reasons I can’t explain, it’s imperative that I deal with them. Personally.”

  Something about the way the man said personally sent a chill down Tambor’s spine. Hesitantly, Tambor said, “One thing still puzzles me—if I may ask, how did you know?”