Bounty (Alex Rider/Star Wars Crossover) (BOOK 2)

Chapter Seven

The Slave I jolted into hyperspace, sending Alex toppling to the floor. He did not bother to get up, but just laid there. He did a mental check of his body's physical shape, which he concluded was not good. He had a gash in his arm, which he acquired in the fight with the stormtroopers. There were several nicks and cuts from where Fett had cut the binders off, plus bruises from the same binders. He had a bad cut on the back of hi head, accompanying the lump, probably a black eye, and he had not eaten anything since the day before. His face was also badly scraped from landing so hard on the ship's metallic flooring. The cold of space felt good on his injuries as he tried to sit up once more. Alex was in great pain all over. His was physically exhausted, probably something to do with the Force-inhibitor that was implanted somewhere inside him. Not to mention he was in stun cuffs on his way to who knows where for why knows what. It was not exactly the ideal situation. Quite the opposite, actually.

As Alex tried to push himself upright once again, he heard footsteps. The bounty hunter was returning. He worked harder at sitting up, trying to make himself appear stronger than he was, but simply did not have it in him. He opened his eyes to see the boots that accompanied the Mandalorian armor the bounty hunter wore.

Fett reached down and pulled Alex up by his shoulders, setting him upright. He used a tool on his belt to remove the stun cuffs. "There," he said. "That should make you a little more comfortable for the time being. You do have much of that left, you know," the bounty hunter remarked. Alex thought he detected a note of sympathy in his voice. "But if you try anything, I will not hesitate to kill you." And it was gone. Back to warnings of sudden death.

Alex nodded. He was exhausted. "Why are you?" Where are you taking me?" he asked, his voice hoarse. He coughed drily.

"I thought you would have figured both of those questions out by now," the bounty hunter replied. He handed Alex a canteen of water. "My name is Boba Fett. I'm a bounty hunter and a slave trader. As for where you are going, you are going to the highest bidder."

Alex understood now why had had had such a bad feeling about this. "What's this for?" he was referring to the shiny metallic collar around his neck.

Boba let out a quick laugh. "You sure have a lot of questions," he remarked. He didn't sound mad. He was probably glad for someone to talk to. "That is a neck binder with a slightly different effect than those stun cuffs. You try to run or get farther than one kilometer from this remote, and it blows up, and the two of you explode into half a billion different pieces."

"How lovely," Alex remarked under his breath.

"You're right about that," Boba agreed. "I don't want to kill you, but I have to take precautions," he said suddenly. "Mainly because I don't usually get paid for bringing in a dead body, but I've seen a lot of killing, and I don't want to see that much for a long time."

"But you're a bounty hunter," Alex protested. "Doesn't that mean you have to kill people?"

Boba Fett weighed the question in his mind. "Sometimes, but if I can do the job and no one dies, that's the way I will try first."

Alex thought about all the information he had been given. "Are you a clone?"

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"I've met a one of them, and your voice is the same. You also said you've seen too much death, and that could only mean the Clone Wars."

"Maybe I'm the one the other clones are made after," Boba suggested.

Alex shook his head. "You sound too young."

Boba sighed. "Yes, I'm a clone. Now tell me something about yourself. How did you end up in this predicament?"