Dark Bounty--A STAR WARS STORY Part 1

The Aerie and the Falcon

"Ain't nobody can take care of her like I can," Patch bragged. "Still got some work, though."

Boba walked up to the Falcon and touched the underside toward the stern, and investigated the hull. He had acquired the Falcon after it had suffered heavy damage in the Lybeya battle of the Second Galactic Civil War. All he had to do was save the crew; a cost well worth the prize. "How's her integrity, Patch?"

The girl smiled. "One hundred percent and ready for the vacuum of space."

Boba nodded. "And the sublight drive I picked up last month from Donal on the Smuggler's Moon?"

"Installed no problem," she replied.

"So what's left?" Boba questioned.

Patch bit her lower lip and walked up to stand by Boba. "That's the thing . . . the power core is pretty messed up. The housing is cracked, and it's leaking. Don't know if that was going on before it was shot through--if the impact broke it or made it worse. Whatever, if you want it to fly, we need a new one."

"It can't fly with its current core?" Boba asked.

"Well, yeah. If you want to turn it off and let it cool every five minutes. We'll hardly be making any long trips," Patch said sarcastically.

"A wonder you spent all that time putting on the armaments first instead of fixing the core," PZ-85 commented.

Both Patch and Boba looked to the droid and said in unison, "Shut-up!"

"A wonder also--you complaining that I don't do small talk," the droid said in a low voice to himself.

"Anything else?" Boba asked Patch.

"Just a little work on the motivator. The cracked core housing caused it some residual damage, but I don't think the motivator needs to be replaced."

"Alright," Boba said changing the subject. "Patch, get the ion pulse generator from the speeder and let's get that in."

"What do you need that for?" Patch asked.

"Security. Just put it on an inconspicuous coded toggle in the cockpit," Boba said.  Patch nodded realizing what Boba was intending.

A few hours of work had left Boba in the engine compartment working on the motivator and Patch in the cockpit finishing the installation of the toggle switch under the control board. PZ-85 continued to monitor the perimeter outside, when the white lights of the cavern flashed red and an alarm erupted.

Boba jumped out of the engine compartment, dropping his tools and ran down the ramp. Patch followed one step behind him.

"What's out there, Peezee?" Boba quipped.

"Not here, Master," PZ-85 replied. "Back at base. We have visitors that have tripped the alarm."

As always Boba picked up his gauntlets and helmet. "We're shutting it down," he barked as he ran to the control panel and punched it, killing the lights. "Let's go."

The speeder was on its way, but Boba was taking it up to the top of the canyon and rushing toward their base from above in order to get a better view of the trespassers. After twenty minutes of tight maneuvering up the canyon and then twenty minutes of the straightaway at the top, they finally arrived. Each dismounted the speeder and crept on their hands and knees to the sharp canyon edge to peek over the side at their base across the valley.

Five individuals scraped around their base as five speeder-bikes rested on the side. Three of the men were hunting the premises and turning over anything they could; they were an overweight dark green Aqualish, a wolf-like Defel with a long rifle, and an Iridonian Zabrak with long hair and two impressive black blades. Behind them, overseeing the plundering were a Devaronian with large demon-like horns and a black assassin droid.

"Who are they?" Patch asked.

"Not sure about all of them," Boba said. "But that droid is a problem."

"IG-88," PZ-85 stated.

Boba, a little miffed, huffed at the droid, "I know that, Peezee. I'll ask you if I want your input."

"IG-88?" Patch questioned.

"Never mind," Boba replied. "You just need to stay here and don't get near him." Boba looked directly at Patch. "Did you hear me? Stay right here, Patch."

Patch nodded and furrowed her brow.

With that Boba crawled away from the edge and started to make his way down on a hidden path to their left.

Patch turned to PZ-85. "You know, I hate it when he calls me that. . ."