black peak, and glanced back into the forest.
The convoy of AT-TEs had stopped at the very edge of the clearing. The
speeders were gone, and the starfighter. Boba's jaw clenched.
Glynn-Beti doesn't even care that her Padawan is under fire. She's too
concerned that her own attempt to attack Wat Tambor's citadel will be
affected!
Typical Jedi arrogance, thought Boba angrily. He looked out to where
Ulu Ulix's swoop swung dizzily around the top of Mazariyan. With a sudden
BOOM, the three-eyed alien's vehicle was engulfed in blacksmoke. Sparks
flew from it. There was a terrified cry.
And Boba watched in horror as a small figure tumbled into the air -
and plummeted straight toward the waiting spines of Mazariyan!
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Boba had no time to think. He yanked back on the throttle. At the same
time he opened the stop to feed it as much fuel as possible. With a garbled
roar, the swoop shot forward. Laser fire and explosion's rocked the air
around Boba. Below him, the spines waited.
"Master... help...!"
A cry echoed above the sound of laser fire. Boba leaned forward as far
as he could, arms outstretched. His swoop raced toward the shining black
pinnacle of Mazariyan. One huge, curved spine thrust upward. It positioned
itself to impale the small form falling like a stone.
Boba's swoop dipped as he reached out. With a groan, something heavy
crashed onto the front of the swoop. Boba swerved away from Mazariyan.
"Th-thanks!" Ulu Ulix blinked. He kept a tight hold on the swoop's
fuel tank. His three large eyes stared gratefully at Boba. "I thought I was
dead back there!"
"Well, there's still a chance you might be!" Boba shouted over the
thunder of crossfire. "Keep your head low - "
BLAM!
Laser fire ripped past them. Boba wrestled his blaster from his belt.
He turned and fired in the general direction of the sentry droids. Then he
glanced down. Battle droids were everywhere now. Some were still firing up
at Boba. But most had bigger targets in their sights.
With a deafening rumble, the first of the AT-TEs had drawn up at the
edge of the clearing. Its hold opened, and a wide gangway swung down. More
than a dozen clone troopers came running out, blasters firing. There was
the whoosh and roar of battle droids rushing from hidden entrances in the
citadel. They marched in formation toward the Republic's troops. Bolts of
pure energy zoomed toward the clones. Wat Tambor's fortress glowed like the
sun as laser fire rippled up and down its sides.
Ulu Ulix's three eyes widened as he stared at the carnage below.
"Wow," he breathed.
The attack on Mazariyan had begun.
"Keep your head down!" Boba commanded. He abruptly swung the swoop to
the left.
A blinding burst of energy exploded behind them. Boba cut back on the
throttle. The swoop dropped sickeningly before he pulled it out of the
dive.
He yelled, "We've got to get out of here, fast!"
"There!" gasped Ulu. He pointed to where another AT-TE waited. It was
surrounded by a squad of heavily armed clone sentries. "General Glynn-Beti!
"
Boba squinted through the thick smoke. "Where?"
"She's standing by the transport - see? She should be in her speeder,
keeping track of the battle. I guess she was worried about me. Boy, she
looks really, really mad."
Ulu Ulix gulped. Boba looked at him. He couldn't help grinning inside
his helmet. "Mad?"
"Yeah... the siege was ready to begin, anyway, but..."
The three-eyed alien looked back to where his swoop lay. It was now a
heap of smoldering wreckage. It was surrounded by battle droids who were
busy firing on the Republic's troops.
"But maybe the siege started a little earlier than scheduled?" Boba
The alien nodded miserably. "Yeah. Something like that."
Boba steered the swoop to where Glynn-Beti stood. He glanced at Ulu
Ulix. It was weird to think that the horned alien didn't recognize him in
his helmet and body armor. Weird, but good.
I was more of a kid back then, Boba thought proudly. But now I'm a
real bounty hunter.
The swoop approached the edge of the forest. The sentries guarding the
AT-TE snapped to attention. They stared up at Boba. They raised their
weapons. They were ready to fire
"Get Glynn-Beti's attention!" Boba shouted at Ulu Ulix over the roar
of battle. "Otherwise we're dead!"
"Master!" yelled Ulu. "Master, here - !"
On the ground, Master Glynn-Beti looked up. She was small and slender,
with a vaguely feline face crowned by flowing reddish hair. Even from this
distance, Boba could sense the power she held.
A Jedi's power.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"Ulu Ulix!" The Jedi's voice rang out sharply over the din. She
sounded angry, but also relieved, She turned to the, clone sentries. "Hold
your fire!"
Boba angled the swoop down to within a few meters of the AT-TE. It
landed with a bump. Ulu clambered off. He smoothed the folds of his
Padawan's robe. Then he looked at Boba.
"I don't know how to thank you," said the three-horned alien. "I don't
even know your name. Although there is something familiar about you...."
Ulu frowned slightly, thinking. Boba said nothing. He felt light-years
older than Ulu. Light-years older than he had been when they first met.
Fortunately he didn't need to say anything. Because General Glynn-Beti
was bustling toward them now. And she looked like she had plenty to say.
"Ulu! What were you thinking?" She glared at the young alien. Ulu Ulix
stared at his feet, abashed. "You put this entire mission in jeopardy!"
"I am sincerely sorry, Master," Ulu said. "I am ashamed of my actions.
But I only wanted to help."
"Help?" Glynn-Beti scowled at him. Then she looked at Boba, still on
his swoop. "This stranger is the one who helped!" The Jedi bowed slightly.
"I am in your debt, stranger. My profound thanks for saving the life of
this most foolish of Padawans."
Boba nodded. "You're welcome." He was uncomfortably aware of Glynn-
Beti's keen gaze boring into him. But an instant later her attention was
elsewhere.
"Trooper!" she commanded. "You may all resume your watch! As for you -
" She turned to Ulu Ulix. "You will remain by my side for the rest of this
maneuver. Unless you prefer to wait on board the troopship?"
Ulu Ulix shook his head swiftly. "No, Master! I will obey this time."
"Good." Glynn-Beti began to walk away. But she had only taken a few
steps when she stopped. She turned and stared at Boba.
Uh-oh, he thought.
"What is your place in this battle, stranger?" she asked. Her voice
was calm, but there was a threat hidden in it. "You are not part of my
battalion. And you are obviously not working for our enemy. You have not
come from there - " She tilted her head at the citadel of Mazariyan. When
she turned back to Boba her gaze was piercing. "We have sent some of our
most valued soldiers inside - ARC troopers. Th
ey seldom fail us. Not one
has returned from that place. Have you?"
Boba hesitated. The Jedi might be able to detect a lie. If she did,
she could take him prisoner, whether or not he had saved her Padawan. At
worst, he might languish in a Republic cell. At best, she could send him
off-planet, back to Tatooine - where he would face the rage of Jabba the
Hutt.
A prison cell might be preferable to that.
Boba stared back at Glynn-Beti. He was very glad she could not see his
face behind his helmet.
"No. My sympathy lies with the Xamsters," he said.
The Jedi seemed to mull this over. Finally she nodded. "Very well. I
will not detain you. The natives of Xagobah are in dire need of whatever
help they are given." She beckoned Ulu Ulix to her side. "Come. We have
much to do."
"But Master - " Ulu stopped. He gazed up at a dark blur in the violet
haze of Xagobah's atmosphere. "What about the ramship?"
"We are well aware of the ramship, Ulu. Someone more experienced - and
wiser - than you will deal with it."
Ouch! thought Boba. Wonder who that might be? He watched as the Jedi
and her Padawan headed back toward the AT-TE.
Just before they boarded the AT-TE, Glynn-Beti turned and shouted back
to Boba, "Yes. Someone else will take care of the ramship. You, stranger,
might want to launch your solitary attack at that moment. Mind my words!"
The Jedi Master then disappeared from view.
Boba quickly powered up his borrowed swoop. It gave a hoarse cough and
sputtered into the air.
Boba circled back to where the siege was in full swing. The air blazed
blue and black and silver with laser fire. Everywhere around the fortress,
clone troopers were attacking Wat Tambor's droid forces. What did the Jedi
mean? he wondered.
It looked like the Republic was in trouble.
The Separatists had launched a counterattack! "This isn't good," Boba
muttered. "Not for me, at least!"
Boba had thought that Wat Tambor's citadel was well-guarded before.
Now he realized the canny Separatist had deliberately hidden the full power
of his forces. Because suddenly the gaping maw of Mazariyan yawned open.
There was a horrible, thunderous clattering sound, and hundreds - maybe
thousands - of droids came streaming from the fortress. Spider droids,
super battle droids, even dreaded and lethal droidekas, like gigantic
insects rolling out of a rotten stump.
Boba gaze down at them, transfixed. "How am I going to get through
that and into the fortress? There's no way I can land without being seen
and pulverized!"
He steered the swoop down for a closer look. Too close.
With a grinding noise, one of the droideikas came to an abrupt halt.
It swiveled and uncurled into firing position, its black, eyeless head
pointed straight up - directly at Boba.
It fired.
"Aghhh!"
Too late, Boba yanked at the swoop's controls. A blast of heat struck
the swoop. At the same instant, Boba dove from it. He could feel the surge
of fire through his protective boots. He could hear the concussive blast
roaring through the air like a seismic charge.
But all he could see was the explosion of laser fire all around him as
he plummeted helplessly-right into the battle.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ummmpphi" With a grunt Boba smashed onto the ground. His body armor
absorbed the blow, but it took him a moment to catch his breath. There was
such a thick haze of smoke and spores he could barely see. He blinked,
trying to clear his vision.
What he was able to make out was not good: a clone trooper, just
millimeters from his face!,
"No way!" yelled Boba. He rolled onto his back and kicked, out, just
as the clone took aim. Boba's, feet connected with the clone's knees. He
wasn't strong enough to knock down the trooper. But Boba did throw him off
balance.
And that was all it took. Boba was on his feet again, blaster raised.
The clone towered above him, its face invisible behind its helmet. But
something in the way it stood, something in the way it held its blaster,
made Boba hesitate.
Because, just for a flickering moment, it wasn't a clone trooper
there.
It was Jango Fett - Boba's father.
Boba recognized Jango's stance. He recognized Jango's strength. He
even recognized the way Jango's head drew back slightly as he aimed his
weapon. Only this wasn't Jango Fett. This was a clone trooper who had
decided that Boba was an enemy.
"You're not my father!" Boba's voice was drowned in the blast from his
Westar. "You're a clone!"
The trooper's aim was excellent - but Boba's was better. In a blaze of
flame and vapor, the clone trooper fell.
One down! thought Boba. Only a couple thousand to go.
He whirled, and found himself smack in the middle of the battle about
200 meters from the citadel walls. Above him, droid fighters shot from the
citadel's peak. Battle droids swarmed around its base, blasting away. Clone
troopers ran in formation. As they neared the fortress, the formation broke
up. Individual troopers raced toward the battle droids. One clone got
caught by a hailfire missile and vanished into a thousand pieces.
Yuck! thought Boba. He looked away quickly. BARRAAAMMM!
Brilliant multicolored pulses of laser fire erupted from the clones'
blaster rifles. All were now aimed at the rolling, firing hailfire.
KRRRAARRROW!
A direct hit! One of the hailfire's wheels disengaged and the clone's
body was dragged into the ground by the still churning second wheel. A few
moments later it exploded in a fiery blast.
But the Republic's troops were still in danger. They were vastly
outnumbered, for starters. And somewhere above them, the ramship was headed
for their assault ship.
That was bad enough. But what was worse - the droidekas were laying
waste to the clones. They rolled across the battlefield, safe within their
shimmering forcefields. Laser fire bounced from them harmlessly. Harmless
for the droidekas, anyway. Some of the pulses ricocheted back and mowed
down the very troopers who had fired them.
With a cry Boba dodged a sudden flare of blue. A super battle droid
stalked toward him, took aim and -
BLAAM!
Boba fired. The upper half of the droid disintegrated into shards of
flaming plasteel. Boba whirled and blasted another droid. It fell. Boba
staggered backward, struggling for breath.
I can't keep up with them, he thought desperately. There's too many!
The droids are fighting the clone troopers. The troopers are fighting the
droids
And they're all firing at me!
Around him was chaos. Black smoke mingled with clouds of purple spores
from malvil-trees and giant mushrooms caught in the crossfire. Boba
adjusted his helmet, striving to see through the haze. Xeran's powder is
wearing off, he thought with dismay. The Republic's getting wasted. Not
that he cared about the Republic. But if Wat Tambor was powerful enough to
destroy them, what ch
ance did Boba have?
Plenty, Boba thought grimly. I'm not giving up.
A sudden roar made him look up. For a split second, every battle droid
paused. As though they shared one mind, they all looked up, too.
"Starfighters!" cried Boba.
A phalanx of starfighters arrowed through the haze. Wat Tambor's air
defenses fired at them in a blaze of blinding energy. The starfighters'
leader banked sharply to the right. Boba stared up at it, admiringly.
"He sure knows what he's doing." He thought of Ulu Ulix, and smiled.
Then he adjusted his helmet's focus as he took cover behind a wrecked
vehicle. "Let's get a better look at this guy..."
But now the battle droids had also seen the fighter. A barrage of
ground fire shot up toward it. The starfighter dove. Pulses exploded in the
empty air as the ship raced downward through the flak generated by the
citadel's air defenses. It made a lightning pass at the heads of the
droids, decapitating dozens as it flew incredibly low. It was so close to
the ground that Boba could see who was piloting it.
"Skywalker!" Boba felt a spike of excitement. He had seen Anakin