By Starfire

E-Mail Author

Disclaimer:  I don’t own Boba Fett, or any other star wars terminology, or anything else like that.  They all belong to Lucas Films. 

Chapter 1

            Some think Tatooine is the planet farthest from the bright center of the universe, they were wrong.  There’s a planet that as far as imperial record keepers are concerned doesn’t even have a name.  It makes Tatooine look like Imperial Center.  This planet’s inhabitants refer to it as Home.  It’s not a bad world, nice weather, good soil; it is just in the middle of nowhere.  Some of the inhabitants in the far corners of Home are still wondering why the Jedi are being so late about visiting to test for new candidates.  The Jedi never found them on Home very often, but the people of Home always pointed out that they had never produced a Sith.  How many worlds can say that?

 

            Marville was a normal town on Home; there were a hundred or a thousand others like it.  Farmers came in to trade and get supplies.  There were rare social events, and even rarer strangers.  Marville hadn’t seen an offworlder since the last time the annual space hauler visited to pick up last year’s exports, their main source of income.  Seris had lived in Marville all his life and was just like all the other boys.  They dreamed of space adventures, but never thought to participate in one.  Seris’ life was extremely normal until a ship crash-landed deep in the forests behind his family’s farm. 

 

            Boba Fett coughed as acid smoke filled the cockpit of the Slave 1.  Running into the middle of the pirate fleet had been terrible.  Not even with the Slave 1 and his piloting skills had he been able to escape unscathed.  At least he wasn’t dead; things could be a lot worse.  He didn’t remember much after escaping from the battle, he had destroyed a lot of their ships, but the few survivors could have handled the damaged Slave 1 if he had waited for them to try.  The ship had limped to the nearest habitable planet, 354234 on the imperial charts, He had managed something approaching a landing, but he had blacked out when the Slave 1 hit the ground. 

 

            Boba Fett groaned and tried to sit up.  He hurt all over from being banged around during the decent.  The world spun for a minute and he had to wait for his head to clear.  He knew he should get out of the cockpit, or at least out of the smoke.  He tried to stand up, but his knees buckled and he collapsed back into the pilot’s seat coughing.  He must have been more badly injured in the crash than he had thought.  The world dimmed around him even as he fought to remain conscious, Fett once more slumped over the control panel of the ship. 

 

            Seris stomped through the forest.  His father sometimes made him so angry!  Couldn’t they ever that imagine anything might not be his fault?  They blamed him for everything!  At least he had the woods to escape to.  His father and older siblings saw no practical purpose in them and his mother was way to busy to pay attention to a thing like that.  Someday he’d prove it to them that he could do it.  Someday he would make things fair, for everyone. 

 

            Seris looked up from the moist ground he had been glaring at.  He smelled smoke.  Seris frowned.  He had better find the source.  Last year there had been a forest fire.  It still gave him nightmares sometimes. Seris started towards the direction the smoke was coming from.  It was still spring and it was moist and damp, but he hurried anyway.  He could see a wisp of dark smoke hanging above a clearing just ahead.  The trees nearby looked as if something had crashed through them.  Seris coughed as it burned his throat. 

 

            There was a ship at the end of a deep gouge in the grass!  It must have crash-landed.  For a moment Seris could just stand there with his mouth hanging open.  Things like this just didn’t happen on Home.  Then he realized that there might have been people on the ship, at least a pilot anyway, and they could have been hurt.  It was a crashed ship after all.  Seris walked up to it cautiously up to the ship searching for the access hatch. 

 

            Suddenly a hatch slid open on the ship's side and a man staggered out.  He was wearing strange blue green battle armor that was scarred and battered.  It was covered in smoke and blood.  The figure started coughing and couldn’t seem to stop.  He leaned against the side of the ship, nearly collapsing.  Seris ran up to him.

 

            “Are you all right?  What happened?”  The man wavered for a moment watching him.  Seris felt chilled to the core of his being.  Then the man’s eyes broke away as he collapsed on the ground.  “Who are you?” Seris asked dropping to his knees by the man’s side.

 

            The man’s head moved slightly, “I am Boba Fett.”  Then he went limp, sprawled on the ground with Seris kneeling next to him gaping.  After a moment Seris pulled his thoughts together.  They were going to need medical supplies, a lot of medical supplies if what the man, Boba Fett, was in as bad of shape as he looked.  He would have to get Fett back to the town.  He didn’t know if he would be able to help him on his own. 

 

Chapter 2

 

            “I’m going to get you back to my town somehow.  You’re a mess!”  Seris was right.  Fett’s right arm hung at a strange angle, blood was trickling from a deep gash beneath his shoulder protector.  Seris tried to think about how he was going to get Fett back to town. 

 

            “No…”

 

            “What?  What did you say?” Seris leaned down, what had he said?

 

            “Don’t…take me…there.”

 

            “Why not?  Like I said, you’re a mess!  You’re on Home; we don’t even have bacta here!  No one is going to be able to take care of you in the woods!”

 

            “They’ll…find me.”

 

            “Who?”

 

            “Pirates.”

 

            “Ohhhhh, I don’t think they’ll be able to find you on Home, but ok.”  Seris still hadn’t forgotten the look the Fett had given him; the man was dangerous, it was probably best just to agree with him.  “I’ve got to get medical supplies, I’ll be back.”

 

            “In ship…supply locker.”  Seris turned back to the ship.  The smoke had lessened now.  Seris climbed up the ramp, still in awe of the fact that he was actually touching a starship.  It didn’t take him long to find the supply locker and the med-kit.  He took it back out to Fett.

 

            “Do you have any other injuries, besides the obvious?” Fett shook his head and took the med kit from Seris, pushing himself up against a tree.  “I could help you.” 

 

            “No.”  Seris watched the man awkwardly bandaging his arm.    

 

            “You aren’t going to be able to splint that by yourself.”  Seris pointed at the man’s arm.  Fett ignored Seris and continued what he was doing slowly.  Seris lapsed into silence and continued to watch Fett.  Eventually he leaned back breathing hard.  “Do you want my help?”  Fett nodded and Seris took the med kit from him.  He was tempted to say I told you so, but the one look at the man whose arm he was bandaging stopped it. 

 

            When he finished Seris stood up.  “I need to get some supplies.  Will you be all right by yourself?” 

 

            “I’ll be fine.”  Fett seemed to be repairing one of the devices that was part of his armor and didn’t

look up.  Seris sighed.  For someone who had crashed his ship and couldn’t walk the man seemed to think he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.  Not that that stopped Seris.  This was the most interesting thing that had ever happened to him.  He wasn’t about to leave now.  Anyway, whatever Fett thought Seris couldn’t leave him out here by himself. 

 

            Fett set down the electronics he was trying to repair and closed his eyes.  He hated having to rely on a boy like this.  He hated being helpless too, not that he had a lot of choice.  He might have been able to get himself out of that pirate fleet without so much damage if its leader hadn’t been gunning for him.    

 

            Sumark had been nursing a grudge against Fett since the hunter had brought in Sumark’s brother last year.  Their meeting had been chance, but Sumark hadn’t been about to waste it.  He hadn’t cared what kind of injuries Fett inflicted on his men and fear of Sumark had apparently outweighed their fear of Fett.  Now he would just have to wait until he could repair the Slave 1 and get out of here before Sumark found, hopefully it wouldn’t take too long.  Fett looked up at the stars that were slowly appearing in the sky, watching for any lights that seemed to be approaching.

 

            “Mom!  Mom!  Can I camp out in the woods tonight?”  Seris yelled as he banged through the front door of their farmhouse.

 

            “Seris! It’s dark out!  You can’t go back out any more tonight!”

 

            “But I found this really cool… thing… in the woods and if I don’t keep an eye on it an animal might wreck it!  It’s only for tonight, please?”

 

            “Well, I suppose if you’re back for chores tomorrow and you father doesn’t mind it’s alright.”  His mother looked at him sharply.  She could always tell when something was up.  Seris put on his most innocent face.  She waved him on and turned back to the part she had been repairing. 

 

            “Thanks Mom!”  Seris pounded up the stairs, grabbing two coarse camping blankets and some food.  He raced back down, calling out to his father his intentions and banging back out the door. 

 

            “Children!” his mother muttered as she watched him jog back into the woods out of the lights of the farm.

 

            Fett appeared to be asleep when Seris arrived.  Seris put down the supplies he had brought and began building a fire, by the time he had it going well Fett stirred.  Seris looked over, “I have water, but you’ll need to take off you’re helmet.”  Fett lifted his good arm, and pushed his helmet up to his nose.  “You might as well take it off; no one will know you here.  I don’t think we would even recognize a Jedi here.”  Fett shook his head.  Seris shrugged and handed Fett a cup.                

 

            When Seris looked back at the other man again he was staring at the sky, apparently watching the stars.  “I’ve never been off home.”  Seris told him looking up at the stars for a moment.  “What do you do, out there, in the galaxy?”

 

            “I am a bounty hunter.”  Seris eyes grew even larger, but Fett didn’t seem to want to continue the conversation.  They sat in silence for some time.  Eventually he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer.  Seris tossed a blanket to Fett and curled up on the ground.  It was a long time before he fell asleep though. 

Seris couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this was his chance to get away from Home.  Even if Fett was a hunter, maybe he had enough of a sense of honor that he would repay Seris, hopeful with a ride to another planet.  Not that Seris knew what he would do.  Maybe a job in law enforcement…

 

            Fett could see that the boy had finally fallen asleep.  The woods around them were silent for sometime.  Fett had nearly fallen asleep when he heard a noise behind him.  He pulled his blaster out, carefully holding it in his good hand.  A shadow moved across the other side of the clearing.  Fett waited.  Whoever it was would get to make their move first, he wasn’t going to fire at shadows.  He managed to get to his feet leaning heavily on the tree, just as the shadow launched itself from the trees. 

 

            The heavy Trandoshan knocked Fett down, pinning him to the ground.  He gasped as it pushed down on his injured arm.  He swung his good arm at the side of its head, knocking it off him.  Fett pushed himself backward and reached for his blaster. 

 

            The Trandoshan grinned revealing all of his teeth, “Good thing for you I don’t like blasters, or you’d be dead already.”  He punched Fett, knocking the hunter back before launching himself at Fett. 

The sounds of fighting woke Seris.  He sat up and saw Fett struggling with a lizard like alien.  “Fett!”  The lizard looked up at Seris and barred its teeth, hissing.  A blaster went off, the lizard’s eyes widened in surprise as he collapsed to one side of Fett. 

 

             “Fett?  Are you alright?”  Fett didn’t stir, he seemed to be unconscious, his blaster still in his hand.  Seris cursed under his breath and crawled over, he wasn’t sure what blood was Fett’s and what was the lizard’s either way he couldn’t do anything for the hunter on his own, and anyway things were getting dangerous.  “You and your secrecy.  I’m going to have to get you back to town, but what if someone else comes?  Sithspawn!” 

 

            Then Seris remembered he still had his sister’s comlink. He flipped it open, “Mikka! Mikka!  Come on!  This is important!”  It took a moment but she responded.

 

            “Seris!  Why are you calling this early and what do you have with my comlink?”

“Mikka, I need your help!  I found an injured man in the woods.  His ship crashed and he was attacked by a lizard alien!” he kept talking over her squawk of surprise, “He’s hurt bad!  I need Mom’s help.”  Seris hated the fact that his voice shook slightly.  There was silence on Mikka’s end.  Seris could imagine her shocked expression.  “Hurry Mikka.  I’m worried about him.” 

 

            “I’ll get Mom, maybe Dad can bring us out in the landspeeder.”  The comlink clicked off.  Seris spent the next hour nervously varying between trying to wake up Fett and cursing him with every phrase he had ever heard in the local cantina.  At the end of the hour he heard the coughing roar of their ancient land speeder.

 

            “Mom!  Can you help him?”  His mother glared at him as she clambered out of the speeder.  She didn’t even look at the lizard alien, though she told Mikka to stay in the speeder.

 

            “He’s badly hurt Seris; we need to get him home immediately.”  She stalked over to where Fett lay on the ground.  “Terrible, terrible, terrible.  I’ve never seen anything like this, but then I’ve never seen a crashed starship either.  Give me the other blanket and have your father help me lift him into the speeder.”  Together they lifted the unconscious bounty hunter into the speeder.

             As everyone climbed back in, Seris tapped his mother on the shoulder, “Mom, he’s a bounty hunter.”

 

            She looked at Seris directly, her eyes showed how serious she was, “Yes Seris, but he needs our help.  The galaxy is a big place; we don’t know anything about him or about him.”  She nodded at the lizard alien.  “We can’t help him anymore, but we can help your friend.  I can’t judge which of them is in the right, probably not even if I knew more, the universe is mostly gray with little black and white.”  She smiled at him then and motioned him into the speeder.  All the way back she kept a worried eye on him. 

           

            Seris thought about what his mother had said as the speeder carried them homeward.  He knew his mother had always cared a lot about what was right and what was wrong, something she had passed on to him, but he would never have thought it would be this hard to understand.  Bounty hunters were frightening, but that didn’t mean he should judge Fett… Eventually he gave up, either way, he hoped Fett was alright.  

Seris’ father carried Fett inside while the farm hands surrounded them slack jawed.  Later there would be avid debates about exactly what was under that helmet.  They put Fett in a guest bed.  Seris’ mother wrapped clean bandages around him. 

           

             “Seris, I’ll take care of your friend, go help your father with the chores.  You’ll probably have to help explain all this to the hired help too,” she said with a wiry smile. 

 

            “Will he be alright?”  Seris asked, afraid that he would have caused the hunter’s death.  Seris had never really seen anyone die.  When he was very small they had buried Old man Fith, but all he had seen was the fire, and Fith had never even left his house as long as Seris could remember, and the lizard alien in the forest had seemed too unreal, more like a nightmare than anything else.

 

            “I hope so.  I think so.  Don’t worry, go help you father, I’ll take care of our guest.”

 

 Chapter 3

 

            Seris’ father carried Fett inside while the farm hands surrounded them slack jawed.  Later there would be avid debates about exactly what was under that helmet.  They put Fett in a guest bed.  Seris’ mother wrapped clean bandages around his arm and the wound on his shoulder.  “Seris, I’ll take care of your friend, go help your father with the chores.  You’ll probably have to help explain all this to the hired help too,” she said with a wiry smile. 

 

            “Will he be alright?”  Seris asked, afraid that he would have caused the hunter’s death, even if Fett had told him not to tell anyone he should have told anyway.  Seris had never really seen anyone die.  When he was very small they had buried Old man Fith, but all he had seen was the fire, and Fith had never even left his house as long as Seris could remember.  Well, that and that lizard Fett had killed.  Seris could feel a cold spot in his chest at the thought of seeing that, someone killing intentionally.

 

            “I hope so.  I think so.  Don’t worry, go help you father, I’ll take care of our guest.”

 

            Fett never did remember much of what happened during the intervening period of time.  He was delirious part of it and darkness often closed in on his thoughts.  He remembered a woman leaning over him occasionally who seemed to know something about medical care, and had a vague idea of the passage of time.  The boy, Seris, was often sitting in the corner watching Fett.  He didn’t present a threat though.  If they were going to do anything to him it would have already been done, but even so Fett hated being so helpless.  Fett also knew that he was in their debt, the boy and the woman; he would have to repay them.  This was another thing he hated.  Whenever he was conscious enough to think straight he cursed Sumark and his brainless followers.  He knew he was fortunate though.  If he had to be helpless, Home was a good place to be.  The people were so…unaware and naïve; it amazed Fett at times; he never would have thought a place like this existed in the galaxy.  There was nothing to fear from them. 

 

            Seris watched Fett sleeping.  It had been several days, almost a week actually.  The farmhands had almost accepted their mysterious guest.  They still liked to try and find excuses to get a look at the man or his strange armor.  They had all sorts of rumors among them about who he was.  They didn’t of course believe for a moment the story Seris had told them about the spacer who was hauling cargo and skidded his ship on the atmosphere crashing in the forest.  They thought they knew better, he must be a fleeing leader, a warrior, or something else dangerous and important.  It was a perfectly reasonable assumption in Seris’s opinion.  Even asleep Fett seemed dangerous.  The hunter certainly didn’t fit in with the somewhat rustic air of the farmhouse, and he didn’t look anything like a spacer. 

 

            His mother had assured him that the hunter would recover.  His fever had broken after less than a day.  They hadn’t even needed Dr. Josik, though the townspeople had suggested it, probably hoping Dr. Josik could bring them information about his patient.  Fett’s wounds had started to heal, though he had a broken arm, and it would be a while before he could walk easily with his leg.  Seris wondered what would happen when Fett recovered enough to leave.  He hadn’t told anyone about Fett’s profession yet.  It would probably send the whole town if not the whole planet into a panic.  Sometimes he imagined that he had left with Fett, maybe finding somewhere in the galaxy were things were fair, and a lot less boring.  Instead of just herding their beasts or watching the droids in the field his mind was instead on the stars, and what it would be like out there.

 

            Seris leaned back in the chair watching the dust drift down from the ceiling through the beam of light coming in through the small window.  When he looked back at the hunter he saw that Fett was awake. “How are you feeling?  Better?”  Fett nodded watching Seris as the boy worked on repairing a motivator for one of the farm droids.  “I haven’t let anyone know anything about you, especially not your job.  You probably know how people would react to that!” 

 

            “The same as they do on other worlds.”  Fett’s voice was rough, but it didn’t frighten Seris, he had gotten used to Fett’s abrupt answers. 

 

            “I suppose so.  Do you think they’ll find you here?”

 

            “Not yet, they need to rebuild their fleet.”

 

            “The farmhands think all sorts of silly things about you.  They can’t decide whether you’re a general or a prince.”  Seris thought he almost saw Fett’s expression change for a moment.  Seris couldn’t see beneath the helmet, but sometimes by the way the Fett moved it was almost like seeing his face.  

 

            “How did I get here?” 

 

            “Well, after that lizard attacked you I couldn’t wake you up, so I asked my family for help.  I told my mother.  She came and got you in the landspeeder.  She’s been taking care of you since then.”  He could see Fett considering this.

 

            “That ‘lizard’ was a Trandoshan.  He served under those who are searching for me.”  He wasn’t particularly interested in sharing information, but informing the boy might make him more observant.  An advance warning of Sumark’s arrival would be helpful.  

 

            “You killed him.”  Seris’s voice was quiet. This was the part of that day that scared him.

 

            “He had killed many others; scum like that needs to be removed from the universe.”  Fett couldn’t keep the disgust from his voice.  Beings who killed for the shear joy of it were repulsive. 

 

            “But does that make it right to kill him?”  Seris could feel adrenaline in his blood, he couldn’t believe he was saying this, but something inside him wouldn’t let him stop. 

 

            Fett couldn’t help but look at him in amazement.  There weren’t many who would dare question him like this, and it was intelligent questioning.  He could see the fire in the boy’s eyes.  It reminded him of someone long gone.  “If I don’t kill him he continues to pillage and destroy.  Entropy exists, that is part of the universe, but when sentient beings willingly cause that destruction it becomes an act of evil.  It is the duty of those who serve justice to remove his kind from the universe.”  Seris was quiet after that, leaving Fett to his own thoughts and memories of a journeyman proctor. 

 

            Then he remembered the thought that had entered his mind during the period of semi-consciousness he had just emerged from.  “I am in debt to you and your mother.”  Seris stared at him blankly.

 

            “Wh-what do you mean?”

 

            “What I said.”  Seris just gaped at him for another moment before realizing what he was doing.  Then he leaned back and regarded Fett, thinking.

 

            Fett closed his eyes.  The silence stretched out and would have been uncomfortable for an average human, but Fett wasn’t an average human, and it looked like Seris was beginning to learn. 

 

            Seris decided after some time that Fett must really be asleep, or at least wasn’t interested in conversation.  He cautiously got up from the stool and walked quietly out of the room.  When he glanced back over his shoulder, Fett hadn’t moved.  This would surprise his mother; she hadn’t expected Fett to regain consciousness for days yet. 

 

 

            The next time Fett woke someone was standing over him.  He tensed and sat up.  Then he saw who it was, Seris’s mother.  She smiled as he winced.  “You should be more careful.  I wouldn’t want you wrecking all the hard work I put into you.”  Fett leaned back and folded his arms over his chest.  “That’s better.  Let me see your arm.”  She sat down on the chair next to his bed.  She reached over and took his arm in the stiff material it was wrapped in. 

 

            “It looks better than I thought it would.  You’ll have to leave it in a sling.  We don’t have any bacta on Home.”  She smiled ruefully.  “I’ve been talking with Seris.  He tells me you think you us some sort of honor debt.”  Fett nodded. 

 

            “You saved my life.”

 

            “I did.  What should I require from you?”

 

            “It is your choice.”  She stared at him.  Fett knew she was thinking as she checked the bandages on his leg as well.  “Your very lucky to survive that crash, or very skilled.  What did you do to anger those pirates so much?  We’ve heard about them, even here.”  Fett didn’t answer and she shrugged, “You can keep it to yourself, but no one on home will want to know anymore than you want to tell, except to fuel their gossip.”  She laughed.  “Yes, I expect that Dr. Josik will be here sometime today.  He claims that an injured stranger ought to have the best medical care, namely his.  Actually he just wants to brag to everyone about all the information about you he will get.  You might want to have a story ready.  Dr. Josik won’t accept your silence.”  She smiled again, and reached behind her to hand him supper. 

 

            Fett ate silently.  He hoped to leave soon.  Fett glanced towards the door, no one was in sight.  He moved to the side of the bed and stood, leaning heavily on a small table.  It wasn’t easy but he staggered over to the chair near the wall.  His armor and weapons lay in a pile next to it. He was forced to wait a moment until his breathing slowed before he could pick them up and begin working.

 

            Fett was still there when the doctor arrived.  Fett first heard him when he entered the house.  He started up, but instantly regretted it, and sat back down.  He would just wait for the man here.  Dr. Josik bustled in followed by Seris’ mother who looked somewhat exasperated.

 

            “What is going on here?  This man is in no condition to be out of bed!”  Dr. Josik wasn’t a small man, but his voice was shrill, and his white hair stood almost on end as he berated everyone within his reach.   “Karim, you could very well be the death of him allowing behavior such as this!”  Fett looked up, incredulous that he would have to submit to something such as this.  He glanced at Karim, Seris’ mother, but she shrugged.  “What do you have to say for yourself, behaving this way?”  Fett came to the conclusion that if he didn’t participate, the inhabitants of Home would never leave him alone.

 

            “I’m acting on my own, and her skills are adequate.  I do not need any help from you.”  Dr. Josik sputtered for a moment as if trying to find his footing with Fett.  Finally he decided.

 

            “Well, I will have to prove that to myself!”  He moved over to where Fett was sitting; taking a stance as if to say he was in charge.  Fett resigned himself to being poked and prodded for some time.  He knew he could easily have scared the man into leaving with a look, but here that would not hold him off for long.  What seemed like hours later when Fett was thoroughly exhausted and didn’t think he could stand anymore Karim intervened.

 

            “All right Josik, I think the man has had enough of your ‘care,’ we should get him back to bed don’t you think?”  He harrumphed and then nodded.  Boba Fett relaxed for the first time in hours and staggered to his feet.  Karim supported him and he limped over to the bed hoping that if he seemed to fall asleep the irritating man would leave.  He leaned back and closed his eyes. 

 

            “Wait Karim, I still have questions for him!  Don’t let him fall asleep yet!”  Karim gripped him firmly by the elbow and steered him from the room.  Fett could still hear them even in the next room.   “The man is just a spacer with a downed ship, pirates attacked him near Home and he was forced to make a crash landing.  He needs to sleep now.  Your questioning won’t help anyone.”  Josik tried to argue, but Karim was firm.  His protests were just fading as Fett drifted to sleep. 

 

            When Seris looked in on Fett the next morning he was already in the chair working on repairing his more delicate equipment.  He looked up when Seris came in, but then continued working, wondering if the boy had more questions.  He had said more than he had meant to before.  Seris watched him for a moment.  Fett was very good at what he was doing.  It didn’t take him long to repair the damaged circuitry. 

 

            “Fett?”  he didn’t get a response so he tried again.  “About yesterday…”  Fett still didn’t look up.  “I understand why you do that.”  He pointed at the pile of weaponry and armor.  This time the bounty hunter stopped what he was doing and looked at Seris.  “It is right, even just.”  He smiled and Fett nodded and went back to work.  “Is that why you are a bounty hunter?” 

 

            “Yes.”  Fett felt the sting of the past’s painful memories resurfacing.  Especially of the memories of the one who had taught him to be a bounty hunter and had taught him what justice meant. 

 

            Seris didn’t understand everything, and the galaxy was still a huge place, but he felt he had learned something very, very important.  He needed time to think, Fett’s arrival had thrown his view of the galaxy into chaos. At least the hunter seemed to be recovering quickly.  Then Seris’ life would go back to normal.  The only problem was that he wasn’t sure he wanted that. 

Chapter 4

            Fett was almost ready to leave Home.  He wore almost all of his armor now.  The only things he didn’t wear were the heavier weapons.  He had spent most of his time working on the Slave 1.  It was almost completely repaired.  Everything else required parts that he didn’t have on hand and would fix when he returned to the rest of the galaxy.  His arm was still stiff, which made targeting difficult, but that was temporary.  He spent time working with his weapons.  He wanted to be sure he would be completely back to his normal level.  Seris had often come to watch him practice.  The boy had changed over the time Fett had been on Home.  He now seemed older, more focused.  Since their last conversation the boy had been strangely quiet.  Fett wasn’t sure what to make of this, but he owed Seris and would wait to see what the boy did.   
           

            For the first time Seris stood and approached slowly.  Fett didn’t turn towards him.  This didn’t stop him now though.  Seris had become accustomed to Fett. 

           

             “May I try?”  the bounty hunter shrugged and handed him the blaster.  He almost smiled as Seris nearly dropped it surprised at the weight.  “This is heavy!” 

 

            “Hold it up like this, aim carefully.  Try to hit that tree.”  Fett still owed Seris, and he would be polite.  Also there was something about the boy now.  Seris almost reminded him of someone Fett had thought long gone; another boy from long ago taking a blaster for the first time.

He saw Seris eye the tiny black hole already burned there.  The boy took a deep breath and lifted the blaster squinting at the tree.  His first shot went wild, completely missing the tree.  Fett moved the blaster slightly, and pushed his hands closer up.  Seris tried again, this time nearly hitting it.  Fett had to admit, the boy was good.  With training he could very well provide competition even for Fett himself.  Fett pushed it from his mind, and picked up his other blaster to continue what he was working on.  They continued until the sun was low in the sky and shadows stretched out from the trees ahead of them.  The bounty hunter gathered his weapons while Seris picked up his bag. 

           

            Fett whipped around as the scream of the first ship streaking by overhead tore through the sky.  He broke into a run.  Seris took off after him.  It was only a moment for him before they reached the house.  Seris’s mother had gathered his sisters and took them away from the door.  Her eyes were wide, but her face was calm.  Fett nodded to her as he strapped on his weapons.  They both knew who was here and why. 

 

            “I will repay my debt to you.”  He addressed her while picking up his blaster.

 

            “You will.”  She acknowledged.  There was no doubt in her voice.  In all the years after Fett would never be able to discern how a woman such as her came to live on Home.

Seris stood in the door as the bounty hunter turned to leave.  “I’m coming too.”  He still held one of Fett’s blasters. 

 

            “No.”  Fett moved to go around him but Seris braced his feet shaking his head. 

 

            “You said you owed me.  This is how I want you to repay it.  Let me help.”  The boy’s eyes blazed.  For a moment Fett was taken aback.  Another thing he would never have expected to find here.  Then he shrugged and nodded.  Seris returned the nod coolly and left the door.  By now more ships filled the sky.  A few were taking runs of the town.  Fett leapt behind a building as lasers struck the street around him.  He saw others diving for their homes as well.  None of them as calmly as the family he had just left.  Fett launched a rocket from the equipment on his back.  A ship spiraled down crashing into the trees spewing smoke.  The pirates already on the ground were reaching the edges of the town. 

Fett leveled his blaster and opened fired on the approaching line.  The first few fell, but the others kept coming.  He dove behind a low wall to avoid the return fire.  He shot back over the wall.  There were still too many of them for him to take alone.  He fired off another rocket.  The explosion rocked the town’s closest buildings.  A few bricks tumbled from the wall.  They were close now. 

 

            Fett leaped over the wall firing.  A few shots nearly razed his helmet, but he dodged out of the way.  He activated the flamethrower, burning a being in a dirty green flight suit of an unrecognizable species.  A mercenary’s shot nicked his leg causing him to stumble. Fett rolled to one side wincing, at least it wasn’t deep. 

           

            He glanced around.  They were still firing.  This would be difficult.  Even Fett was surprised when a new wave of blaster fire came one of the buildings nearby.  The mercenaries began yelling as several of them went down.  Fett sat up, and began firing over the pile of rubble.  Fett eyed the mercenaries, if he could find Sumark this would be over; without the fear of his retribution they would probably turn and flee after Fett did a little convincing with his blaster. 

 

            There, that was him.  Fett could see the leader’s bright red uniform as he stood on ground which he believed to be out of range.  Fett aimed carefully, it would be easy to use a blaster, but a rocket would take out his lieutenants and provide a bigger effect for his followers to see.  Not even the money he had paid them would keep them here after their leader was blown up in a seemingly safe location.   A shot from one of the mercenaries hit the brick in front of him, exploding it backward and throwing Fett with it. 

It took only a moment for him to collect his thoughts.  The bounty hunter forced himself up in time to see Seris standing over him, the launcher that had been knocked from Fett’s hands now cradled in the boy’s.  Seris took careful aim and fired. 

 

            This time a plume of fire lit up the darkened sky.  Sumark disappeared in the blaze.  Revenge was not true justice.  At least that had been shown here today.  The mercenaries and pirates wavered and the fighting slackened.  Though they could still win they now realized how few would be left to celebrate.  No fight was worth that, and especially one with no loot at the end of it.  A dead bounty hunter, even as one as famous as Fett was not worth their lives. 

 

            Soon all return fire had stopped.  Seris offered Fett his hand.  The bounty hunter took it and the boy pulled him to his feet.  Though maybe he wasn’t truly a boy anymore.   They looked at each other and Fett nodded.  He could see the other mercenaries fleeing in the distance.  Some of them must have had communicators because the ships overhead were veering off as well.  Fett wondered what story they had told the others to explain their defeat.  Whatever it was, it could only help his reputation. 

Seris’ eyes were big, “I…what they were doing was wrong.  They were killing innocents.”  He took a breath,

 

            “I had to do this.”  Fett almost laughed at the expression on the boy’s face, a few minutes after he had been trading shots with professional mercenaries.  Fett nodded solemnly though.   It wasn’t easy to kill no matter how much death was deserved by that individual.  At least not at first he amended in his head.  As long as you never grew to enjoy it…

 

            “It was justice.”  Fett shrugged, “That’s the way the universe works.”  For a moment he was silent and then he added, “You did well.”  Seris looked down and smiled.  Those were words he had wanted to hear for some time.  “We need make sure your family is safe.  I still owe your mother, and I will repay my debts.”   Fett turned and started off down the street, not even limping.  Seris followed him.  The rest of the town’s people peeked out of the windows, their expressions registering varying levels of disbelief.  Fett wasn’t sure if this was at him or at Seris’ actions.  The mercenaries’ bodies were draped everywhere on the street.  Fett scanned the area, but there didn’t seem to be any left alive.  He was glad it was over fairly quickly, not that he thought mercenaries and pirates would have been too much of a problem.  Not any harder than an Imperial garrison anyway.

 

            Everything was all right at Seris’ home.  The family was in the kitchen.  Seris’ father had an ancient blaster rifle, and his brothers and sisters were around the table, looking slightly frightened.  Upon a closer look at the weapon Fett was fairly certain it was a collector’s item or antique in the rest of the galaxy.  They all looked up when Fett arrived with Seris.  Karim didn’t let them say anything.  First she checked over her son, and then she went for Fett.  He had sat down in one of the chairs; now that it was time for him to leave they would have to decide how they wanted him to repay his debt.

 

            Karim insisted on bandaging the blaster burn, but Fett interrupted her, “Karim, I still owe you a debt.  It must be repaid.”  She looked him straight in the eye, not something easily accomplished, and answered, “Fett, you have repaid me by getting all of these mercenaries and pirates off of Home.  That is all the payment I need.”  Fett nodded.  “And you Seris?” 

 

            Seris sat quietly for a moment.  “I would like to leave Home.  I think I have a new career I would like to try.”  He looked up at Fett again.  Fett considered.  He did owe the boy, and Seris was one of the few who did understand justice.  No one could be a hunter forever, not even the best, and Fett didn’t intend to let anyone end his career by killing him.  Seris showed promise, not that Fett would take care of him though.  Once the debt was repaid, he would be on his own, although Fett had grown used to him now.  He allowed himself to hope that Seris would succeed. 

 

            After careful deliberation Fett nodded.  He stood and walked from the room, leaving Seris to deal with his clamoring family.  Only Karim was quiet.  The way she looked, Fett wondered if she had known this would happen all along. 

 

Years Later

 

            Fett scanned carefully through the readout on the screen of the Slave 1.  It appeared that a young man named Sarev had taken another of the high priced bounties.  Many sentients were waiting for Fett to do something about this upstart, but let them wait.  Fett had watched Sarev’s career from it’s beginning, which now seemed like an age ago.  Fett leaned back in his pilot’s seat thinking of a young boy on a planet called Home.  He also remembered his own thoughts about retirement, he had an heir now, and maybe it was finally time, time to give justice a new champion.  Fett turned the idea over in his mind as the stars streaked by in hyperspace.