By Star Wars Junkie
Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Fox's Predators, and I own nothing of George Lucas's Star Wars stuff. So all you lawyers out there, STUFF IT. (Ahem) Thank you, don't nobody sue me.
BFVP Chapter 1
Boba Fett versus Predator
Fett had always found the swirling blue patterns of hyperspace comforting. As he watched the glowing tunnel fly past the cockpit of his Slave 1, Fett sat with his helmet in his lap. Hyperspace was the only time he felt he could safely remove his scarred and pitted helmet. It was the only place where he knew he wasn't being watched. Not that someone could be watching anyways. He always scanned his ship for trackers before take off. He was the master of his own fate. Or at least, he liked to think so. He closed his eyes and thought of the message he had received from Boorga the Hutt. Boorga was the head of a crime syndicate that was based on Nar Shadda.
Over the last few weeks members of his organization had mysteriously been killed. Fett would have just dismissed this as another Hutt gang war, something that Fett tried to avoid getting caught up in, but the condition the bodies were found in made Fett think that something or someone else was at work. Some had been hung upside down with their skin removed. Others had been found with their heads and spines ripped from them. Fett didn't want to deal with Hutts anymore, but he couldn't pass up the large bounty. Fett had taken the bounty for the mysterious killer from Boorga for 8,000 credits.
A small light came on above his head to notify him that he was approaching his destination. He donned his helmet and flicked a switch on his control panel. Immediately his ship dropped out of hyperspace. The flickering light disintegrated around him and was replaced by a view of Nar Shadda and its moon. He immediately scanned the area for any ships that had taken too much of an interest in his arrival.
He picked up a faint signal off to his portside. As he brought the Slave 1 around he saw space shimmer for a moment. Immediately he switched his scanners to search for any sign of cloaked vessels. It picked up a small distortion moving swiftly away from his ship and toward Nar Shadda. His scanners couldn't pinpoint any classification of the ship at all. Fett frowned. His ship had the most advanced scanners outside of Imperial regulations. If he couldn't tell what was out there, nothing could. The object was extremely small for a cloaked ship.
Fett wondered if it could be an experimental Imperial craft. If it was, what was it doing at Nar Shadda? The ship did leave a very distinctive trail. Fett couldn't identify this substance either. It showed that the ship had come from Nar Shadda, reached the point where Fett had detected it and then turned around. Fett couldn't understand what an Imperial craft would be doing on Nar Shadda in the first place, but why would it leave just to turn around? Fett set course to follow the trail.
Fett could find no trace of the vessel as he made his approach to Nar Shadda. The trail disappeared in the atmosphere. As he entered the atmosphere he looked out upon the adopted home world of the Hutts. Covered almost entirely by swamps Nar Shadda seemed to suit the Hutts very well. Fett could see in the distance one of the several large cities that dotted the slimy landscape. There was more order out in the swamps then in those criminal infested holes.
Boorga had given Fett coordinates for a landing at his headquarters in the middle of one of the large swamps. Fett didn't trust having his ship right in the hands of a Hutt though, so he circled the headquarters and then landed at the nearest civilian landing pad. As he descended the ramp, he activated the defensive systems on his ship. The area was a small spaceport and market plaza. Looking around he spotted a Gotal renting speeders.
The Gotal had the typical horns that allowed him to sense what others were feeling and sometimes even thinking. Boba Fett smiled. He was used to dealing with Gotals. He stared at the Gotal from across the plaza. He focused venomous thoughts at the alien dealer. He saw the Gotal stagger and look around. As the aliens gaze rested on Boba Fett's helmet his eyes doubled in size and his knees began to quake. Fett's smile deepened as he strode across the plaza to the Gotal. The Gotal's lower lip began to tremble. Fett switched his thoughts to very professional business matters. The Gotal straightened up noticeably. Fett walked directly up to the Gotal. The horns of the Gotal barely reached the top of Fett's helmet. His fur was the color of sand and his eyes were blood red.
"May I help you s-sir?" The Gotal asked Fett.
"I don't know. I need a speeder for an indefinite amount of time and I'm taking it to Boorga's fortress. Can you recommend something?"
"Sorry sir, I don't rent speeders to people without a return date. And I can't lone it to someone going to Boorga's" The Gotal raised his chin defiantly.
"Is that so?" Fett leaned until his helmet nearly touched the Gotal's horns.
"I'm af-f-raid so"
"Really?" Fett injected every bit of venom and violence he could into his thoughts and glared at the Gotal. The Gotal began to whimper.
"I'd like a speeder. It won't be for long, just for a few days. I'm sure it won't be a problem."
"Of course not sir" the shaking Gotal reached inside his pocket and drew out an ignition key. "There, take the one in the back. That'll be sixty credits."
Fett imagined choking the Gotal as he stared into its red eyes.
"Thirty! Thirty! I meant thirty!"
"Thank you" Fett smiled at the Gotal and kept the image of the strangling creature in his mind as he walked around the small building that served as the establishment's office. He heard the Gotal collapse to his knees behind him. Fett enjoyed his work
The Predator frowned as he strapped himself into his seat. He punched up the sequence and initiated it. He had seen several small creatures with brown robes and glowing eyes picking at his ship when he came upon it. Glancing back he looked at their freshly gathered skulls gleaming in his trophy room. Anyway, it didn't matter. He had to get off this planet. It embodied his dishonor and his shame. As the ship's engines rumbled he closed his eyes and reflected on what had happened in the last twelve hours.
He had been leading a group of adolescents on a hunting trip. It was near the end of the trip. They had been hunting prey with two large tentacles coming from its head. The youngest member in the party had thought it would make an interesting trophy. It had turned off the main roads and was walking through the swamps towards the large fortress nearby.
They were sitting in the surrounding trees looking down on the passing creature. The creature waved a pistol at the woods surrounding it. It seemed to know that it was being watched. Its eyes darted feverishly back and forth. The young one had taken out his spear-gun and fired through the creature's leg. The creature had dropped to the ground clutching his leg. Interestingly, he didn't scream. He hardly made a sound at all.
The young one had jumped down to retrieve the head. The rest of his pack had followed him. All of them except for himself. He sat in the tree watching the adolescents enjoy their kill. The tentecaled creature removed a small sphere from his robes.
The older Predator had instantly recognized what it was. The young predator and the rest of the juveniles hadn't. The youngest looked up at him joyfully holding the creature's head in his hand. The leader called out to them to get away. The young one gave a victorious roar. Then the thermal detonator dropped from the creature's cold hand and exploded.
The Predator could remember seeing the young one get disintegrated right before his eyes. Most of the others were thrown away from the body. The roiling golden ball of fire had shaken the tree he was in. He remembered seeing limbs and bits of armor fly through the air. As the explosion dissipated he had jumped from his perch and run to the sight of the explosion. He could recognize nothing of what had been his charges.
He came upon several masks but all that was inside was a green mess. He had started back towards his ship in a daze, walking without his cloak active. Then when he could just barely see the guttering flames from the explosion he came upon the arm of the young predator. Green blood stained the entire limb. Still clutched in its hand was the creature's head. The eyes wide open staring straight into the older Predator's face. His vision had blurred for a moment and then he had acted almost on instinct. He had crushed the skull under his heel.
He remembered what happened next with remarkable clarity. He had lost control of himself. He was completely awake and aware of his movements, but he was not the one controlling them. He knew of a small community that consisted entirely of the creatures with tentacled heads. He had made his way to the village and surveyed it. He had found a windmill in the relative center of the town and during the next half hour he made his way towards it.
By dawn he was sitting at the top of it. The main market place was directly below him. The main road leading out was situated between two large buildings. The rest of the village was made up of small wooden buildings. He assumed that the rich creatures lived in the large buildings overlooking the road. He waited until the entire population was outside making its way to their daily activities and jobs. He had brought online his Plasma Caster and waited for the first of the feral creatures to walk into its tracking laser. It hadn't taken long.
His Caster had acquired targets faster then he could fire. He watched the glowing darts of plasma sparkle through the air, twisting like serpents to find their targets. When they impacted against the aliens' skin they expended all their energy in a smoky blue cloud. The plasma burned and seared the tentacles and skins of the creatures.
He just kept pressing the button on his wrist computer until it ran out of energy. He remembered his finger pressing the trigger, but he wasn't sure he had told it to do so. He quickly took out his energy shifter. As it replenished his energy supply he watched as the few creatures remaining try to run away. Something was different about them. They were missing something. None of them even tried to draw any weapons.
Suddenly it hit him. He had broken the Predators code of honor. He looked upon the blood stained bodies surrounding his post. Not a single one of them had a weapon on them. He had massacred a whole unarmed town.
He cloaked himself and jumped down. His feet squished on the blood soaked ground. He had walked past one of the creatures sitting outside his home. He saw the creature was still alive. He had a plasma hole through his right leg and his abdomen. He was just sitting there staring at the windmill. His eyes were unblinking.
Slowly they moved from the windmill and moved to the Predator's cloaked mask. Even though the Predator was sure he was cloaked, he was even surer that the alien could see him. The eyes betrayed no hate, only a strange searching quality. They seemed to question the Predator's very existence. The Predator tore his gaze from the wounded creature and stumbled away, suddenly overcome by what he had done. The Predator walked past the carnage and out onto the swamps. Somehow he had made it back to his ship and discovered the brown-robed creatures near it.
His ship had been stashed in a thicket in the middle of the swamp several miles from the fortress. The fortress had served as the most interesting source of prey for him and his pack. They had been on the planet for several weeks. Their hunting had been very successful. They had hunted many different species journeying too and from the city. They had also traveled to the large city and spent several days there. They had even gone to the-
A loud clunk interrupted the Predator's thinking. The Predator's eyes snapped open. The ship was shuddering. He heard an unfamiliar rumble from the rear. He checked his altitude. He was just entering the upper atmosphere. He went back and popped open the engine access hatch.
Inside he found one of the small robed creatures. The creature turned around screeched at him. It tried to crawl further into the engine panel. The Predator tried to grab its foot but missed. The creature disappeared behind the diagnostic display. The Predator roared in frustration. Suddenly the creature came flying out from behind the display.
It gave a scream of "Utineee!"
It landed on the Predator's head and leaped off. Immediately the Predator grabbed and broke its neck. He checked inside the access hatch and noticed that there were several components missing. He emptied the creature's pockets and found each one. Just then a shower of sparks and a jet of flame erupted from the open hatch.
Using the creature's body as a shield and picking up the hatch with his other hand, the Predator was able to get the hatch back on. Throwing the creature aside he ran back to the cockpit. His ship had ruptured its left engine coolant tank and was listing heavily. He was leaking coolant into space as well. There was suddenly a flash off to his left.
He saw a strange ship come into view on his port side. It had a saucer shaped base and a large rounded protrusion extending down from it. It had two stubby wings on the side. Immediately he activated his cloaking field. A warning klaxon began to blare. He growled and checked the diagnostic report. The extra strain put on by cloaking and using the engines had overheated the already damaged coolant system. He quickly switched off his port engine and let the unequal thrust spin him back towards the planet.
He activated both engines and set them to low power. He began to glide back towards the planet he had sought to escape. The place of his failure and his shame. He kept his eyes on the heat levels. Each moment he kept the left engine going, the worse it sounded.
He saw the ship that had dropped out of hyperspace was following the trail of coolant that his ship had left. So be it. This Predator would be even more dangerous cornered. This would be hunt to reclaim his honor. The pilot of the mysterious vessel would soon wish he had not followed this trail.