Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars I: The Mandalorian Armour by K.W. Jeter

Author:K.W. Jeter
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307796462
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2011-05-03T23:00:00+00:00

Gheeta came floating up, his welcoming smile nearly wide enough to split his wattled face in two. “At last!” The crablike mechanical hands beneath the rivet-studded cylinder spread expansively. “Now you will have a chance to truly partake of our hospitality.”

“We’re not here to enjoy ourselves.” At the head of the team of bounty hunters, Boba Fett stopped and gazed around the grand reception hall of the Shell Hutts. “This is strictly business for us. I would appreciate it if we could get straight to it.”

“All in good time, my dear Fett.” The tapering end of the cylinder pointed toward the farther reaches of the hall, its high-vaulted roof interlaced with golden traceries and ornamental center bosses. “You are too dismissive of both pleasure and the past—the pleasures of the flesh, that we can enjoy now, and the memories of that past we share.”

IG-88 and the shorter figure of Zuckuss came up on either side of Fett, the droid scanning the space with methodical thoroughness, the other bounty hunter glancing around with nervous apprehension. With a slower and more ponderous tread, D’harhan loomed up behind.

“The past is over,” said Boba Fett. The Shell Hutt’s wobbling face, protruding from the collar of the repulsor-borne cylinder, evoked a cold revulsion inside him. “If not for you, then it is for me.”

“I wonder about that.” Gheeta raised one of the cylinder’s mechanical hands, using the point of its claw to scratch a deep fold in his chin. “How much do creatures ever forget? I hope you’ll excuse me for waxing philosophical—I know how impatient you become—but sometimes I feel that nothing is forgotten. Everything remains buried, deeply or just beneath the surface, just waiting for its certain resurrection, to be brought out into the light once more.”

Boba Fett could decipher the meaning behind the Shell Hutt’s words. What he’s saying, thought Fett, is that he hasn’t forgotten. The reminder about the past and what it contained, back aboard the Slave I, hadn’t been enough to indicate how fiercely that humiliation burned in Gheeta’s memory. If one looked past all his cloying and ingratiating manners, the show of welcome here on Circumtore, the desire for vengeance could be plainly seen.

And counted on. He’s got his plans, thought Boba Fett, and I’ve got mine.

For a split second, as Fett gazed back into Gheeta’s broad, half-lidded eyes, he wondered if there was another meaning to what the Shell Hutt had spoken. Resurrection … brought out into the light …

When one played a dangerous game, there was always the possibility that the opponent was one move ahead. Fett knew that in this game, that would mean death. If he found out, mused Fett as he searched Gheeta’s massive face for any clue. If he’s figured out everything that happened here, in the past. Then the game was already over; there would be no more moves to play, just the sweeping of the broken pieces from the board. Those pieces would include himself and the other bounty hunters that he had brought here with him.

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