Lost Loves

THEN:

(FIVE YEARS AGO)

“I promise. This is the last one,” he said.
“You said so already, and I believe you,” she said.
Jango Fett kissed her. “I just want you to know that I’m serious, Kidara. When I come back and get paid, it’s over.” He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
“How long will you be gone?” Kidara asked.
“Shouldn’t be more than 2 weeks. Three at the most.”

Jango had already made his final preparations the next morning. This was going to be the last bounty ever, and then he could come back and start a new life. No more hunting deadbeats and scum. Kidara wanted a family and a normal life, and so did he. But not with just anyone; with her. He never thought he would be the type to marry and settle down. And have kids? He laughed to himself as he boarded his ship. Jango would think about her the whole time, but when he arrived at his destination, it would turn to the job.

HOTH

Why anyone would come to this ice cube, other than to hide of course, was beyond him.
Through his helmet visor, he could zoom in on the small outpost. His target was there. Jennis Gendo was a smuggler who decided to take the money and run, leaving Borga the Hutt without his consignment and minus half the fee. Borga hired Jango to bring Jennis back alive to him. And he was willing to pay a lot for it. “I don’t care where he is, Fett! Scour the Galaxy, but bring him back to me!”
He would. He always did.
But this would be the last time. Borga laughed heartily. “If I had a credit for every time I heard a bounty hunter say that…I’d be rich!”
“You are rich,” said Jango.
Borga laughed again. “I know, see?”


Fett could see that this group was lax, and they counted on their remoteness to hide them. Getting in would be easy. He waited until night, and made his way closer. There was a small snowstorm coming and it would mask his approach. Avoiding the occasional Wampa, he made it right up to the small building without anyone noticing. He wondered if anyone would really want to defend Gendo with their life anyway.

Jennis was about to turn in, but decided to go outside to smoke a pipe, before it got much too cold outside. He enjoyed the briskness of the night air, but no pipe was worth freezing to death. Standing on a balcony, he started to ignite his pipe, when a lanyard wrapped itself around his wrist, and pulled him over into the snow below. “What the…?”
He looked up to see a blue and silver masked face leaning over him.
“All too easy,” said the voice behind it.

NAL HUTTA

Setting his Firespray patrol craft down, he was informed that there were some Republic security men to see him when he disembarked. No way they were taking Gendo into custody! This was a legal bounty and Borga got him first.
“I swear! I can pay you triple!” shouted Gendo from his cage.
“Shut up,” said Jango as he walked past him and down the ramp.
One of the agents walked up to him, and Jango removed his helmet.
“Are you Jango Fett?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” the man said.
“Look, Gendo is mine. I’m not giving him up,” said Fett, and made ready to move.
The man looked confused. “No, I’m not here about any Gendo. You were engaged to a Kidara Reen?”
Jango looked suspicious. “What’s this about?”
“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOW…

BESPIN

It was dead or alive. Fett was back into the business full time. He had been for quite a while. There was no reason not to anymore. She was gone.

There was a never-ending supply of bounties, and for a while Fett would take absolutely anything he could get, just to keep working. But it did wonders for his reputation. Now, it was a criminal who had double-crossed some Rodians. Fett had tracked the man to Bespin, and was about to start the landing sequence. From what he could tell, this wouldn’t be an easy one. It didn’t matter. He’d get him one way or another. The only trick was to get him first. The Rodians had offered to send another bounty hunter along with him, but Fett refused. “I work alone. If you want a team effort, get someone else,” he simply said. They chose him. But that meant that surely another hunter was on the way.

Cloud City spread into view and Fett asked for landing clearance. Micho was traveling with a woman, and that was good news for Jango. Traveling with another person would slow a man down. Especially with a woman.
Setting Slave I down, he immediately went on the hunt. His first stop was the security station and he was not disappointed. Apparently there was a disturbance in the medical labs. “Thanks,” Jango said to the blue-suited officer, and he went for the med-bays.

Arriving there, he saw a man acting as a receptionist. The guy gaped at him and said, “Hey! Wait a second!” the man said. Jango ignored him and went inside. It didn’t take long to discover an unconscious man lying on the floor. Could it be this easy? No, Fett could see it wasn’t Micho.
This gas pas probably trying to find him first, but Micho escaped. Judging from the signs, at least two others were with him. They would be heading for their ship.

**********SHUFFLE************

The girl had been taken out of the way, but now he knew who (or at least what) the other man was. The last thing he needed was a religious nut like a Jedi to interfere. Otherwise, it would have been an easy shot. He knew someone would come to check on her. But killing a Jedi was no small feat, and he didn’t want to make enemies of them anyway. Would this Jedi betray him to Micho? He could see him now, but it appeared that he was more concerned about the girl than his target. Fine.
He thought, *Do what you want with the girl. I don’t care. Just stay out of my way*
Jango moved forward to find Micho. The ship was moving now, and this would have to end before they reached orbit. Fett wanted to get Micho back to Slave I and get the hell out of here.

Fett moved further into the ship, not bothering to hide anymore. Just then, Fett caught some movement to his left. Micho had fired a blaster at him. His armor had taken most of the damage, but Jango was still knocked back. He fired his twin pistols, one at each direction of fire. His helmet could see just fine in the dark, and he saw Micho and moved towards him. They exchanged fire several times, but rather than get caught trading fire, Jango moved out and ran toward Micho. He threw everything he had at him.

*******SHUFFLE**********

Jango and Micho were in a stalemate. This was going nowhere. Fett had stopped firing and stayed hidden behind a cargo crate. After a while Micho did the same. All was silent for a minute or two, and Micho said, “You know, I think we’ve reached an impasse.”
Jango said nothing.
“What’s your name?” asked Micho.
Jango said, “It’s not important. It would be a lot easier if you were to surrender.”
Micho laughed. “Not bloody likely. But maybe we can make a deal.”
Jango knew this would be some kind of trick. But he had to do something. Cloud City’s security forces would be here any moment to impound the ship and arrest everyone.
“What did you have in mind?” asked Jango.
“Perhaps YOU could be the one to surrender?” said Micho.
Jango smiled. “Try again.”
“Who sent you anyway? The Rodians?” asked Micho. While he talked, he prepared a wrist rocket.
“No, it was the Concerned Citizens for a Safer Republic League,” said Jango sarcastically. He had to do something. He was at a total disadvantage. This was Micho’s ship, and Jango couldn’t wait any longer. He prepared another thermal detonator. It was a rash decision, but this was going nowhere. “Why don’t we put our blasters away and talk, then?”
Micho said, “Fine,” and threw his blaster out. He didn’t really need it now anyway.
Fett threw his two pistols out as well, and said, “So who are the other two? Friends or yours?”
“In a manner of speaking,” said Micho. “So let’s do this. Ready?”
“Ready,” responded Jango.
Both men stood up and faced each other.


Jango and Micho stared at each other, and neither one moved. The slightest flinch would be deadly.
Fett said, “This city’s security forces will be here any second. You have an escape planned out?”
“Not really. How about you?” asked Micho.
This was going to get tiresome very quickly. “I have my escape all planned out. You can come too, if you want.”
“Sure. And in a holding cage?” said Micho.
*Or as a corpse* thought Fett.
Micho knew that every second that went by, the chances for getting out of here were slim.
“Tell you what. Why don’t we just call a temporary truce, and agree to get off Cloud City? After that, the hunt is on again,” said Micho.
“Maybe,” said Fett.
“Either that, or we can reach some kind of understa….”
Before finishing, Micho’s arm flew up in a flash and fired the wrist rocket at Jango.
The rocket was too close to Jango. He fell to the floor just as the warhead detonated.
Fett fell a tremendous concussion, and he knew his armor had been penetrated. And it hurt like hell.
Micho was in the process of retrieving his blaster, and walked over to Jango.
He could see the smoking person roll over to see him. “Well now. Isn’t this nice?” said Micho. “So what is your name, bounty hunter?”
Jango said nothing but started laughing.
“Yes,” Micho nodded. “I find this rather amusing too.” He pointed his blaster at Fett.

Jango shook his head, and said, “Give up. Now.”
Micho said, “Are you delusional, or something? You see, I am the one standing over you with a blaster. I think that’s my line.” He was quite pleased with himself.
Jango slowly brought up his left hand. Micho could see what was in it.
“This isn’t any normal thermal detonator. It’s a sonic resonator. If I let go of this switch, this ship will be history.”

“You’re bluffing. Ever play Sabbacc?” said Micho. Surely he wouldn’t do something like this.
Jango slowly sat up. He didn’t think he was too badly injured, but he couldn’t tell for sure.
“Listen Micho. There’s only one way out of this. Either you give up now, and I take you alive, or me and you, along with the other two friends of yours, are going to be scattered all over the Bespin clouds. My way, I take you in alive, and you’d still have a chance to escape the Rodians, or talk your way out of it, or whatever. You’re way…” Jango trailed off. He had nothing to live for anyway.
“To be honest, it doesn’t make much of a difference to me.” He was telling the truth. Deep down, bounty hunting was all Jango Fett had in his life. Once, he had a different future, but fate had taken it cruelly away.
“Decide.”

END (unless requested)

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