Never Talk to Strangers...

Chapter 5

Bill didn’t kill her. She told him what had happened. He hugged her and told her it was bound to happen sometime. Secretly, Bill was glad it was the star man. That way he would leave and Aislynn could get on with her life.

True to his word, Fett enlisted Jimmy Johnson to help him repair the ship. He had been able to repair most of the minor exterior damages with his own emergency supplies. He couldn’t waste any charge on running the computers just for diagnostics, so he couldn’t be certain the hull wasn’t breached anywhere that wasn’t visible. Slave I had taken harder hits than this. He was sure she could handle it.

Hyperspace jump was another story all together.

Jimmy Johnson had proved to be as stupid as Aislynn had warned him. The boy chattered constantly and had convinced himself that Fett would take Johnson with him when he finally left the planet. The boy worked like a dog for that hope alone. And his muscle was all that Fett needed.

Though he still walked with a bit of a limp, Fett also insisted on helping Aislynn, Bill, and the others with the day to day work of the farm. It helped him to regain the strength he had lost after being bedridden for so long. It was the only way he could pay them back some of the debt he owed them for saving his life. His feelings about that, he could deal with. His feelings about the girl, however...

After the night of the bonfire, Fett determined not to touch her again. He knew she would be hurt, but in the end, it made no difference. Now, two months later, it looked as though his ship would be flight ready within the week. He would leave this backwater planet and that would be the end of it.

The air was warm and sweet as midsummer approached. Birds called out their greetings to the rising sun slowly creeping over the eastern horizon. It set the sky ablaze with blood red light.

“There’s an old saying my father used to hold to, ‘red sky at morning, all should take warning’, I think it goes. Means there’s a storm brewing today,” Aislynn said brightly as walked out of the tack room.

“Sky looks clear to me,” he replied, taking the two buckets of grain she handed him.

“The red bucket goes to Dolly, blue to Snapper,” she said, walking out of the tack room.

“I know,” he said, and walked away from her to feed the two horses.

When he came back, she said “I really appreciate you helping us out these two months. I mean you probably could have repaired your ship a lot faster if you weren’t.” she said, climbing the ladder to the hay loft.

“I’m more concerned about my leg than the ship. I’m fairly certain she’s flight worthy. I’m not so sure about myself.”

“Fairly certain, you say?”

“Won’t know until I try to break the atmosphere.”

“And what happens if you’re wrong.”

“Big explosion,” he said flatly.

She turned around sharply, avoiding his gaze.

“I know what I’m doing.”

“I’m sure you do,” she said. “Stand clear.” she called, tossing two bales of hay to the ground.

Fett wondered what Messina would think if she saw him like this - the most infamous bounty hunter in the galaxy tending crops and shoveling shit. At the thought of the bitch, his hand reflexively caressed the grip of the blaster tucked beneath his shirt. It didn’t have much of a charge left. Hopefully, he’d be long gone before he needed it.

Aislynn came back down the ladder and they started distributing the bales between the stalls. They worked in silence for a time.

Out of the blue, she said, “You’re leaving aren’t you?”

He stopped what he was doing and leaned on the pitchfork “Soon.”

“Jimmy said the ship’s done. He also says you’re taking him with you.”

“I never told him that. He assumes too much.”

She shrugged, then went back to work. A few minutes later, she stopped again, leaned the pitchfork against the wall and walked over to him. He hadn’t moved.

“When you leave, and you’re soaring through the stars all those miles away, will you... think about me? Sometimes?”

He took her face in his hands, and whispered sincerely, “Every day, and every night.”

She smiled. “And maybe, sometime, you could come back and visit. After you get your ship fixed properly, I mean.”

He flicked his gaze over her right shoulder as he answered, “As often as I can.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck anyway and laid her head against his chest, “I love it when you lie to me.” He held her against him, reachng up to run his fingers through her hair. The wind whistled through the barn, bringing with it the scent of dark earth, sun and impending rain. He could not have imagined a more perfect moment.

They finished up at the barn. Aislynn went up to the house, and Boba walked out to the fields to run the irrigation pumps. They were iron hand pumps. Boba had found them interesting for a while until he found out how hard they were to run. They were, however responsible for the fact that his arms and chest were bigger than they had ever been.

He settled into the monotony of the work, listening to the repetitive scree-scree of the pump handle. He made a note to oil it for them before he left. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Jimmy Johnson slip stealthily out of the bunkhouse and head for the woods, in the general direction of the ship.

Boba was not worried about his ship, as he had the security system activated. He had sacrificed enough power to do that much. But his hunter’s senses were buzzing. Johnson was up to something. He waited until the boy was well out of sight and stopped the pump, untwisting the drain screw.

He thought about going after the boy, but his instincts were telling him to go back to the house, check on Aislynn, and arm himself. He knew to trust his instincts. Boba headed back towards the house.

Aislynn looked up from the stove when he walked through the door.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Yes,” he growled. “I just don’t know what.

He went to the bedroom and found his armor. It was not even close 100% working order, but he had done the best he could with local materials - which were next to useless.. He strapped on the body armor, and set the helmet in place and went back out towards the kitchen.

He checked to see that Aislynn was still at the stove, then stopped just inside the front door. He noticed Bill’s shotgun was not in its usual position next to the door. Nerves on fire, feeling a much needed rush of adrenaline to his heart, he swung the door open and stepped out onto the porch.

The air was quiet.

He held the pistol at the ready. As he took a step forward, he heard leaves crunch, and whirled around.

A familiar blue skinned woman stepped from around the edge of the house.

“Messina.”

“Fett.,” she sighed, with a satisfied smirk. Her rifle was leveled at his chest. “I knew that little slut had you stashed around here somewhere.”

He noticed her body armor was crushed in the front. Remembering the missing shotgun, he had a fairly good idea who caused it.

“Where is Jimmy?”

“Nice boy. A bit stupid. He would have fetched a nice price at the mines, though. Pity I had to shoot him. He tried to save the old man. Now that old bastard, I’ll give him credit, Fett, he had some balls.”

He heard Aislynn call his name from the kitchen. Silently he willed her to stay in the house.

“Oh, isn’t it sweet, you’re on a first name basis now. Lying little bitch. I see you hands shaking, Fett. Afraid?”

“You flatter yourself Messina.”

The front door swung open and Aislynn stepped onto the porch holding a steaming pot in her hand.. “Boba, I need to know...” she trailed off.

“That’s right, girl, remember me? I tried to be civilized about this whole affair, but you have unfortunately forced me to take...drastic...measures,” her gaze drifted in the direction of the bunkhouse. Smoke billowed out of the windows and doors.

Fett took a half step forward, trying to get between them, blaster leveled at Messina’s head. “Messina, we can work this out. As it stands, I have you. You have either me or her, depending on if I hit you, you might have us both. We both know I don’t miss. So how much are they paying you? I’m sure I can more than match it.”

“Fett, you are losing your touch. No, my dear sweet boy,” her voice dripped with sarcasm, “this is personal. You will never snatch another bounty from under my nose.”

“Sounds like you need to do your job better to me,” Aislynn interjected.

“Tell me, Fett, can she make as good a use of her mouth on other things?” The blue skinned woman shifted her weight. She was getting nervous.

“Boba, where’s Bill?”

“Bill’s dead,” he answered, expressionless.

Aislynn started shaking. “Dead?”

Messina started to laugh, “What do you think she’ll bring on the market, Fett? She’s pretty enough, for a human, but they are considered rather frail...”

Suddenly she whirled on the blue skinned bounty hunter, and snarled, “How’s this for frail, bitch?” and slung the pot full of steaming grease directly into the other woman’s face.

Boba fired one shot - his last - into the chest of the woman, and shouted, “Run! Run, now!” to Aislynn, and started to dash across the lawn.

She grabbed his arm. “No. You can’t outrun her on foot!” And she took off for the barn. He saw Messina already struggling to rise, and followed Aislynn into the barn.

“We don’t have time...”

But she was already leading the animals out of their stalls. “Just get on Dolly and hang on. She’ll follow Snapper,” and she clipped the lead rope to the other side of her horse’s halter, forming a makeshift bridle. He struggled onto the horse. She was already waiting for him. One kick later, they were heading out the opposite end of the barn, in the direction of Fett’s ship.

Aislynn was laid flat down on the horse’s neck in front of him. Boba struggled to hold on as the horses galloped across the flat grass. He kept wanting to look behind him, but he knew if he shifted his weight at all he would not be able to keep his balance.

He felt the beast slow, and finally looked up. They were approaching the ship. Aislynn stopped Snapper by a gate. She pulled her knife, and cut both halters loose, then sent them out the gate. He heard her say to no one in particular, “Someone will find them.”

They covered the last few yards to the ship. He punched in the security code, and spoke into the voice-lock system. The door slid open. He turned around to help her up the platform, only to see her standing with her arms wrapped around herself, staring back at the smoke on the horizon.

“We have to go. Now,” he laid a hand on her shoulder.

“Go where? This is my home,” she said, her voice shaking.

“I will not,” he said, pulling her roughly towards the door, “let you trade your life for mine. I already owe you too much.”

“You’re hurting me, Boba,” she protested, trying to pull her wrist from his grip.

“It’s a habit of mine. You may as well get used to it,” he snapped, dragging her up the platform and hurling her into the hold of the ship. She backed up until her back was against the wall, and then slid down the wall, and curled her body into a fetal position, shaking.

Boba walked past her, and strapped himself into the pilot’s chair, flipping switches, and hoping the hull would hold. The ship’s engines flared to life, and as the ship slowly rose from the ground, Fett searched for Messina’s ship. Finding it, he activated the weapons systems, and locked onto it.

The moment before the thrusters fired, he fired the cannons for a direct hit. The last thing he saw on visuals before they broke through the atmosphere was the back end of Messina’s ship exploding in a ball of flame.

“Let’s see how well you like it here, bitch.”