Assassin (A Star Wars Fan-Fiction) Book 3

Chapter Six

"Denali!" Boba's voice filled the air like a siren. She hadn't even touched Alderaan soil when she caught his eye and he raced up the ramp to meet her. Denali fell back with a audible 'Oompf' sound, nearly knocking Padme in the process. But the senator obviously didn't care. Her smile showed that she was just happy that Denali and Boba were reunited.

"I'm happy to see you as well, Boba." Denali told him, holding the child close and resting her head on his shoulder. A huge weight had been lifted from her heart now that she knew he was truly alright, that she could see him with her eyes and know that he was okay and breathing.

They got to their feet and Denali was able to get a good look at Boba in the light. Once she finally saw him as he truly was, her eyes widened. No wonder he had been able to tackle her to the ground, he had gotten larger since he had been in Danik's care. The boy was definitely stronger, his muscles thick on his arms and legs, and he had more meat on his bones than before. Danik must have been feeding the boy properly while she was gone. That was a relief.

No sooner had they exited the ship into the Rancor Slayers' enormous hangar did Denali hear someone else call her name. Danik, himself. The grown-man had been speaking to two Rodian women- sisters by the looks of it- who had been working on one of the ships a few yards away when he had spotted the silver bullet-like ship enter the base and land easily. The leader of the Rancor Slayers was dressed casually in a white t-shirt, black pants and dark shoes. His blonde hair was scattered with black spots due to grease from the ships and his face was covered in ash, probably from the exhaust vents he must have been working on. Sure, he was a mess, but Denali could tell that it was him from planets away.

"Denali!" He repeated as he hugged her tightly to his chest in a bone-aching grip. She flinched, but didn't say anything. He was happy- she didn't want to ruin that by telling him to loosen his hold on her. "You're back!" He suddenly eased up his strength, but wrapped his fingers around her shoulders and held her at arms-length. "You look great!"

"Nice to see you, too, Danik." She said. "And you're looking pretty interesting yourself. Going casual today?" The former-jedi chuckled and gestured to his shirt and pants. Her brother grinned and chuckled along with her.

"I've been trying to learn more about my guys, y'know, have them feel like I really am one of them." Danik explained. "It's hard to respect your leaders if you don't feel like they care about you. Hopefully, by hanging around more in the trenches, I'll let them know that someone higher in the food-chain really does care if they survive their jobs or not."

"That's nice of you to do, Danik." Denali said to him. "They're lucky to have a leader like you." She turned around and gestured for Padme to step forward. "This is is my partner, Sada Adamaris."

Earlier on the ship, before they had entered Alderaan's atmosphere, Denali and Padme had talked about what exactly they were going to say when it came to introducing her to her brother. Since telling him that she was the senator of Naboo in an entire base of bounty hunters wasn't an option, they had come up with a convincing story. Padme was going to be Sada, Denali's newest partner in crime when it came to bounty-hunting. Denali had been against the plan from the start, but Padme had pushed it enough that she couldn't say no.

Yep, Denali was a bounty hunter once again.