the overhanging fungus, moving swiftly and stealthily as a stalking
cratsch.
Now and then a slender mushroom stalk would reach out tentatively to
brush against his helmet, or touch his hand. Whenever this happened Boba
would pause, holding his breath.
But it seemed as though Malubi's spores must have warned the other
fungus of Boba's coming. Their tendrils would only touch him. Then they
would withdraw. Sometimes a small puff of purple would appear above him.
Then he would see other mushroom trees ahead of him swaying gently.
Thanks, Xeran, Boba thought. And Malubi.
He patted the trunk of a very young malvil-tree, then stopped.
In front of him, the mushroom forest abruptly ended. Beyond it, the
ground looked scorched. When he looked up he saw the hovering shadows of
Republic ships, like black clouds in the purple mist. When he looked down,
he saw black circles where transport vehicles had landed and departed. In
other places, there were holes and small craters left by exploding
weaponry. Smoking bits of vegetation were elsewhere. And other things, too.
Things Boba wished he hadn't seen.
For reassurance he made sure the purple globe was still in his pocket.
His hand tightened on his blaster.
He waited, trying to figure out what to do next. There was no point
running out into the middle of a battle. Nine-tenths of any bounty hunter's
success is proper planning, Jango had always told him.
"So all I need is a plan," Boba muttered.
He squinted through the haze of smoke and spores. From here he had a
clearer view of Wat Tambor's citadel.
It sure didn't look any better. It was well-guarded, for one thing. In
addition to the gigantic black spines that protruded from the fortress,
there were droids patrolling its perimeter.
Battle droids, Boba noted grimly. He counted thirty - not enough to
fight a war, but more than enough to keep intruders at bay.
There were other droids, too. Crablike defense droids swarmed around a
triangular opening that seemed to be Mazariyan's entrance. He saw several
hulking modified super battle droids and mounted laser towers.
And, hovering above the peak of Wat Tambor's fortress, a great, dark,
shapeless mass. It was like, a purplish-black thunderhead or a huge amoeba,
floating over the battlefield.
"What's that?" Boba adjusted the focus on his helmet, then blinked,
feeling a faint prickling behind his eyes as the form above him took on
more solid outlines.
Xeran's spores were working. Suddenly he could see clearly. And what
he saw was that the massive shape was not a cloud.
It was a fleet of Separatist fighters, cloaked by the spore-haze. As
Boba watched, one of the droidcommanded fighters fired upon the Republic's
assault lines. A spurt of flame exploded from one of the trenches.
A direct hit!
Boba steadied himself as the impact shuddered through the ground like
an earthquake. He looked up again, and this time could make out something
else - a darker, misshapen silhouette that hung directly above the
citadel's peak. Droids swarmed around it, loading it. With a shock, Boba
suddenly realized what the huge shadowy object was.
A ramship.
Boba shook his head in dismayed disbelief. Robot ramships were
manufactured in the most notorious reaches of the Outer Rim. They were
designed and outfitted by criminal techs
But wasn't that exactly what Wat Tambor was?
A ramship had no organic crew. It used the hull of an abandoned -
probably stolen - warship, with enough firepower to destroy a huge starship
in a single explosion. The entire vessel was nothing but a massive bomb,
piloted by a kamikaze robotic drone with no goal except destruction.
In this case, the Republic's destruction.
Boba craned his head back. His eyes tried to pierce the violet haze of
Xagobah's atmosphere.
Somewhere up there was a Republic troopship. And while Boba had no
Wat Tambor.
And that ramship was Wat Tambor's vessel.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, Jango had once told his son. Boba
had been too young then to understand those words. They sounded like a
puzzle.
A puzzle he had just solved.
He saw clone troopers just within the borders of the mushroom forest.
The Jedi General Glynn-Beti would be there somewhere, acting as commander.
Presumably there were other Jedi as well, fighting as part of the Republic
forces.
But he didn't see any life-forms, human or alien, defending Mazariyan.
No Xamsters; no humans. Not even any mercenaries from lawless places like
Carratos or Ord Mantel!.
Only droids.
He's going to have that ramship smash into the Republic troopship!
Boba sucked in his breath with excitement. Wat Tambor thinks that will end
the siege - and it will!
Boba looked around furtively, thinking fast.
If Wat Tambor's vast flying bomb struck the troopship, it would
destroy the Republic's chances of capturing the dangerous Separatist.
It would also destroy Boba's chances of capturing Wat Tambor.
Which meant it would destroy Boba's future as Jabba's favorite bounty
hunter!
Can't have that happen! Boba thought.
But what if the ramship could somehow be commandeered into destroying
Wat Tambor's citadel - and with it, Wat Tambor?
Two can play this game, thought Boba. He crouched in the shadows at
the edge of the mushroom forest. He stared up at Mazariyan.
Two can play this game - but only one can win.
And that one will be - me!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
So now he had a plan. All he needed was a way to use it.
My jet pack's no good, he thought with regret. Not enough strength or
speed to go up against a ramship. Gotta try to find a vehicle... a speeder
would be nice... Boba scanned the area surrounding Wat Tambor's fortress.
He knew that Mazariyan was well-guarded by droids.
But Wat Tambor was not a droid. And surely not all of his guards or
accomplices were droids. They would have used some form of transport to get
here....
"Yeah," Boba whispered. "And that's exactly what I need."
He started to run along the edges of the forest. He kept a close eye
on Mazariyan, but saw nothing he could steal - er, use.
But as he circled closer to the area behind the fortress, things began
to look more promising. The Republic seemed to have concentrated its forces
near the citadel's entrance. This back area was void of siege trenches.
There were crates and cartons of supplies here, along with piles of twisted
metal and plasteel. He saw demo droids and wrecker droids, a load-lifter
piling big boxes near an opening. A single security drone appeared to be
monitoring them. But it was an older model, and seemed to be busy scanning
the area closest to the citadel's main entrance.
This must be a freight entrance back here, thought Boba. He hesitated
and looked for signs of hidden Republic forces, but saw none. He might be
; able to dodge the security drone and clear the freight entrance.
I could try to get in that way. But what would I do once I actually
got inside?
He hadn't worked out that part of his plan - yet.
Later, he thought. Quickly he turned and continued to circle the
fortress, searching.
And then he saw it - he almost stepped on it! Camouflaged with torn
mushroom fronds and malvil-limbs, it was so rusty and battered that it
blended right in.
A swoop bike.
Boba looked around the mushroom forest furtively. But if there were
clone troopers nearby, they were being even more stealthy than he was: He
saw no one. He looked up.
And yes, the ramship was still there, like a volcanic cloud hanging
above Mazariyan. The droids loading it were obviously close enough to see.
through the haze. Boba glanced back at the worker droids on the ground. The
security drone was gone - it must have continued on its own circuit of the
fortress.
And those other droids were all labor units. None of them would be
programmed for surveillance or security.
"It's now or never," Boba muttered. He paused beside the swoop bike,
looking over his shoulder. Then he shoved aside the dried-up mushrooms and
jumped on. "And I say - now."
For one heart-stopping moment, he thought it wouldn't start. Then it
sputtered and coughed. Finally, with a low buzzing sound it lurched
forward.
Someone's modified it so that any sound is muffled, Boba noted
approvingly. He leaned over the controls and pulled up on the throttle. The
swoop shot up through the malvil-trees. Not as fast as Boba would have
liked - whoever did the modifications obviously preferred stealth over
speed.
Maybe they know something I don't, he thought, and looked around. The
worker droids were still laboring mindlessly by the freight entrance. Boba
adjusted his helmet, increasing the focus until he could just glimpse the
front of the citadel. Nothing new there, either. Above the citadel's peak,
the ramship hovered in place. Boba swung his swoop around, then brought it
up to full throttle. Fungus fronds lashed at his helmet as he flew up, up.
When he hovered just below the canopy of the forest, he turned the swoop
and started to cruise in a careful circuit.
Might as well do a little recon of my own, he thought. That clone
trooper came from someplace. But where?
In a minute he had his answer. Not too distant from Wat Tambor's
citadel, something moved.
Something big - something really big!
A Republic All Terrain-Tactical Enforcer!
"Man, they mean business," muttered Boba. That AT-TE would be loaded
with more clone troopers - dozens of them-not to mention some serious
firepower.
There was no way he could commandeer an AT-TE, of course. But where
there were incoming clone troopers, there would be Jedi nearby to command
them. They would have vehicles of their own - gunships, starfighters, maybe
even airspeeders.
If I can get my hands on an airspeeder, I might be able to decoy that
ramship back toward Mazariyan. The ramship doesn't move very fast - but in
a speeder, I could! Then I could reach Slave I and get out of here - back
to Jabba to claim my bounty!
He angled closer to the AT-TE, being careful to stay out of sight.
There were several smaller vehicles accompanying the walker and, in the
distance, more AT-TEs.
That's more like it, Boba thought with grim satisfaction.
Things might not be so bleak for the Republic, after all. He adjusted
the long-range focus on his helmet, until he could make out even more
shadowy shapes far behind the approaching AT-TEs. Gunships, each carrying a
payload of still more troops and walkers.
And, sure enough, there were speeders, too - and a starfighter.
"That'll be Glynn-Beti," said Boba. He scowled, but brought the swoop
down lower to get a better look. As he did, something flashed past him
Another swoop!
"Huh?" For a second, Boba was too startled to do anything. Then he
grabbed his blaster.
But whoever was on the swoop wasn't intent on catching Boba. He was
heading for the citadel.
But not just the citadel. As Boba watched in amazement, he realized
that he wasn't the only one who'd been coming up with a plan.
The swoop was flying up - straight toward Wat Tambor's ramship!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Great minds think alike!" Ygabba used to tell Boba, joking.
But right now, watching the other swoop flying at the ramship, Boba
thought maybe this particular idea hadn't been such a great one. The swoop
looked like a squirmite attacking a sandcrawler.
"He's doomed," Boba groaned.
He'd had only a glimpse of the person flying it. But a glimpse was all
he needed to recognize him. Ulu Ulix!
Boba had met the young alien back on the Candaserri. Of course, Ulu
hadn't known Boba by his real name - Boba had called himself Teff, and had
said he was an orphan from Raxus Prime. He'd guessed Ulu was about the same
age as he was, though Ulu had horns and three eyes. They'd been friendly -
well, as friendly as Boba could be to anyone back on the Candaserri.
He'd never recognize me now, Boba thought with pride. Not with my
Mandalorian helmet on, and my body armor.
As Boba watched Ulu's swoop approach the ramship, he remembered the
other thing about the three-eyed alien.
Ulu Ulix was a Padawan, a Jedi apprentice - and his Jedi Master was
Glynn-Beti!
Quickly Boba looked back to where the AT-TE was moving in the forest.
A starfighter kept pace with it, high above the tops of violet malvil-
trees. If Glynn-Beti was in that fighter, she must suspect the ramship was
headed for the Republic's assault ship. But did she know her Padawan was
headed for the ramship?
Boba wondered if Glynn-Beti was crazy - or if Ulu was.
He didn't get to wonder long.
KA-FL000SHH!
Meters from where Boba's swoop hovered, a malvil-tree exploded. There
was a second flash of blue flame. Boba was spattered with purple gunk.
He wiped fungus goo from his helmet, yanked on the throttle, and
swerved away from the forest.
He needed a better view of what was happening:
What he saw wasn't good, at least not for the Padawan. The sentry
droids had spotted Ulu Ulix!
Boba's swoop shuddered as another burst of flame struck a giant
mushroom not far off. BLAM!
The mushroom exploded. Fiery blobs of fungus flew everywhere, setting
other trees aflame. The droids were firing! Boba's swoop shot straight up,
safely out of range. He was close to the citadel now - too close, probably
- but the droids weren't firing on Boba.
At least, not yet. Boba frowned. What - who - were they after? He
risked bringing his swoop down lower, and nearer to the fortress. From here
he had a clear view of the droids below, laser fire crisscrossing the air
as the Republic's troops began to counterattack.
But the droids weren't firing on the Republic troops.
Their
target was Ulu Ulix.
Boba swerved abruptly as a blast tore the air just meters away. When
he looked back, he saw the ramship give a sudden surge upward.
"They've released the ramship!" he exclaimed, just as the other swoop
suddenly shot toward the massive vessel. Boba waited for a volley of fire
from the ramship to destroy the swoop.
But the ramship didn't alter its swift course one meter. Instead it
sped upward, oblivious to Ulu Ulix pursuing it.
And why should that surprise Boba? The ram-ship had a drone-mind.
Nothing could cause it to alter its course. Attempting to lure or attack it
had obviously been a really, really bad idea.
That could have been me, Boba thought.
He watched grimly as Ulu's swoop dipped and swerved clumsily. The
alien was trying to avoid the barrage of fire from below. But his swoop
didn't seem to have any more thrust than Boba's.
"Still, he could fly it better," Boba said.
He clung tightly to his swoop, flying it closer still to the citadel's