Trooper

Checkpoint Detail

Checkpoint detail sucks. Especially in a place like this where there are hundreds of lowlife life forms. Realistically we could probably arrest anyone that came through our checkpoint and have a decent chance of finding contraband. But that's not what we're here for.

After an hour or two you get into a pretty deep rut. Everybody starts to look like everybody else and it's hard to keep your guard up. Luckily droids are hard to disguise.

A small beat-up speeder pulled up next. A bearded old man and a kid were in the front seat, but packed on the back were two droids.

I motioned to the driver and asked "identification?"

The old man mumbled something, but I couldn't quite make it out. It didn't matter, there's no need to ask anything else.

"We don't need to see their identification" I announce to the rest of the checkpoint detail.

"These aren't the droids we're looking for."

"Move along, move along."

A few minutes went by, maybe an hour - it's hard to track time on duty like this, dozens more lifeforms through the checkpoint. I looked back at our growing line and caught a glimpse of somebody familiar ducking into an alleyway.

I told my squad I was going to check something out and quickly started my pursuit. If it was who I thought I saw then I wouldn't have much time to catch up to him. I wasn't far behind, maybe 20 paces, but I wasn't gaining any ground. I decided to try something bold,

"Boba!" I called out.

The man I was following stopped and turned to look over his shoulder. Being in an alleyway he didn't have to look far to see where the call had come from.

I forgot how quick he was, his blaster was instantly trained on me, I hadn't even seen him unholster it.

"Relax Boba, it's me" I said with my hands up, open palmed gloves facing towards him.

He stared at me for a few seconds, very long seconds, before lowering his blaster and stepping toward me.

"Why are you following me?" He asked.

"I just caught a glimpse of you back at the checkpoint, I have something I thought you could help with."

"I work for Jabba now, and unlike you he has the credits to make it worth my while, so why would I help you?"

"You know I don't have access to credits, but this job is something Lord Vader has us handling directly. If you were to provide assistance I would be sure to mention it. The Empire has more money than even Jabba could imagine. If you were to help with this I'm sure they'll forget that disintegration incident from last time"

"I ordered him to stop talking, not my fault that he didn't listen"

"Regardless, you know how profitable being in the Empire's graces can be. I just need you to keep your eyes and ears open for two droids. They might have some rebels helping them but they're almost certainly looking to get off-world and to do that they'll need somebody who works in your circles. Can you at least do that for me? You owe me at least that much."

"Listen, I don't have time to go hunting around for droids, and I don't like you implying that I owe you anything."

"Can you at least let me know if you come across anything that might be suspicious? I know how observant you are."

"Flattery won't change my mind. But I want you to stop talking so I'll tell you this much; an hour ago I was in the cantina and there was a fight that an old man ended with a lightsaber. That's odd even for this place, I didn't see any droids, but that's not saying much since they're not allowed inside anyway."

Suddenly a wincing pain pierced through my head. My vision started to blur and I was instantly dizzy. The old man! With a lightsaber, and two droids on the back of his speeder. The pain got worse, it felt like my mind was at war with itself, trying to reconcile what my eyes remembered and what I've convinced myself to be true. I reached out with my hand and steadied myself against a random building, hoping the spinning would stop. My senses were returning to balance, slowly. When my vision was clear I looked up and Boba Fett was gone. Not that I'm surprised... Bounty hunters, there's a reason for their reputation, but they can prove useful.

**********

Thanks for reading! hope you liked this part. The special guest appearance at the end comes from a suggestion from DarthCharleen. Thanks for the idea!  I've got one more planned part where Mr. Fett may make a small appearance, stay tuned!  If you have an idea for something you'd like to see Trooper's perspective on, please let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can come up with :-)