To Kill A Legend

{This one is shameless. I don't know why I wrote it. I just did. It seems kinda silly now, but such as it is....}

Kuuy Daapa, a silver-skinned, golden-haired, Saa’kee beauty, sipped her flameout luxuriously and scanned the cantina patrons. There weren’t too many of them. A couple scraggly humans, a Rodian, and a few Twi’leks—quite a collection for the backwater world of Baarst. She didn’t even know why she was here—there were plenty of other fueling stations in the galaxy, but no, the Kaper just had to go dry next to this forsaken part of the universe.
“Should be lucky they even have a fueling station,” she muttered to herself. Kuuy glanced at her chrono. The techs should be about done by now. She finished off her flameout and, after leaving a few credits on the table, headed for what served as the spaceport.
The wind whipped her golden hair around her head and Kuuy brushed it out of her eyes impatiently. She reached the Kuuy’s Kaper to discover that it would take them another ten minutes, but after that she could lift off any time. She went ahead and paid the fee, figuring to save a few seconds before take-off and looked around at the other ships in the landing field.
One in particular caught her eye. “What in all the flaming pits of the Sith—“ she whispered under her breath. “Why is he here?”
The Slave I was docked not a klick away from her ship. And wherever the Slave was, there also was Boba Fett, the most notorious and skillful bounty hunter in the galaxy. Her curiosity piqued, she returned to the cantina to see if he was there.
I wonder, she thought in the back of her mind, just why everyone is so scared of Fett. He can die like any other sentient. You just have to catch him by surprise. Then a startling thought sprang into her mind. Why don’t you show everyone that it could be done? It would add a huge reputation to you—Kuuy Daapa, the smuggler that slagged Boba Fett. It shouldn’t be that hard. A simple ambush should do it.
Without thinking of the consequences if her plan failed, Kuuy walked into the cantina and looked around for Boba Fett. He was in there, talking in hushed tones to a very frightened bartender.
Soon, no one will have to be scared of him, Kuuy mused. And the universe will be one bounty hunter short. Spotting an alley Fett would have to pass to reach his ship, Kuuy ducked into it and crouched behind a crate conveniently stacked by the cantina’s back door.
She pulled out her blaster and waited.
Fett, garbed in his customary Mandalorian armor, walked past the entrance.
Kuuy took aim.
Just as she fired, Fett caught his foot on a stone and tripped. He sprawled on the ground as the laser bolt sliced the air where his head had been milliseconds earlier. Kuuy darted through the door into the cantina even as Fett’s blaster reached his hand and a spray of fire razed the wall behind her.
Running as fast as she could and ignoring the startled patron’s faces and the staff’s cries, she ducked out another door and broke for the spaceport. Blood pounded in her ears as the Kaper drew nearer. A blaster bolt whizzed past her ear and she bit back a curse. Not daring to look back, Kuuy ran up the ramp and into the cockpit.
“Drey, cold start the engines, get ‘em up, let’s go!” Kuuy’s hands flew over the controls and set a course for deep space, wishing that she could board her ship just once without someone after her.
“Kuuy, what have you gotten yourself into now?” the computer-droid’s calm voice asked.
“Believe me, Drey, you don’t want to know. Just get us out of here.”
A very human-sounding sigh hissed through the speakers. “As ordered, sir.”
Kuuy didn’t bother correcting her. She was staring out the viewport, watching Boba Fett dash the last dozen meters to his ship.
The sound of the Kaper’s engines reverberating through the ship was music to her ears. She gunned the acceleration and the ship sped for space, Boba Fett’s personal ship just behind them.
“Um, Kuuy? I don’t mean to sound stupid, but, is that Boba Fett’s ship back there?”
Kuuy swallowed. “Yes, Drey. Just, don’t ask, okay?”
“You were right.”
Lasers burned the paint off the hull. Kuuy coaxed even more speed out of the engines and finally made it past the planet’s gravity well. “About what?” she asked as she pulled the hyperspace lever.
“I don’t want to know.”
Stars streamed into starlines as Kuuy left Boba Fett far behind, finally realizing just what she had done.
* * *
“You did what!” There was no keeping the shock and horror out of Daramis Mcejo’s voice. The young, dark-haired Corellian’s mouth hung open in disbelief.
The foot-high holo of her friend grinned sheepishly. “Um, tried to kill Boba Fett?”
“Kuuy Daapa, in all the burning gas flares we call stars, in all the foul pits of the Sith, in all the ice chunks on Hoth, and by the Force, WHY DID YOU DO THAT!”
“Because I could? Or because I thought I could, anyway.”
Dara shut her eyes and took several deep breaths. “Kuuy Daapa, I knew you can be ignorant if you feel like it, but I never, ever, suspected you were stupid,” she said with surprising calm.
“I’m not!”
Daramis opened her eyes. “Kuuy, anyone who would try to kill Boba Fett, the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, just because they could, is, without question, stupid!”
“Then you won’t meet me?”
She pressed a hand to her forehead. “You owe me, sweetheart. Big time.”
“Okay, so I owe you.”
“And I hope you live to pay up.”
Kuuy laughed. “Believe me, so do I. Coruscant tapcafe. You know the one.”
Dara frowned. “You’re going to the upper levels of Coruscant with Fett after you?”
“No, not that tapcafe. I’m talking about the one fifty levels down.”
Daramis grimaced. “Oh. That one. I guess I should bring along my entire arsenal.”
“And a few snubfighters, if you’ve got ‘em,” she said bitterly.
She sighed. “I’ll be there. Two days from now.”
“Thanks, Daramis. I knew I could count on you.”
“Yeah. I think you’re welcome.”
Kuuy reached over to flick off the holomachine, and right before the holo dissolved, her mask slipped and Dara saw just how frightened her friend really was.
* * *
“I guess that’s everything.”
Daramis glanced at the datapad in her hand. “I hope so. You know, as much as I disapprove your shooting at Fett, don’t you think it’s a little morbid, making out your will?”
Kuuy shrugged. “I don’t know. But being on Boba Fett’s ‘wanted’ list isn’t exactly the best way to stay alive.”
“I guess you should have thought of that before you went trigger-happy, huh?”
Kuuy rolled her eyes. “Don’t remind me. You had better be going.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No. I’m not leaving you, Kuuy. Even if you do have your dumb moments, you’re my friend. I’ll do everything I can to get you out of this mess alive.”
“I appreciate the thought, Dara, but I can’t—“
“Yes, you can. There’s nothing you can do about it. Two heads are better than one. Or, in this case, one-and-a-half is the best we can get.”
“You’re never gonna let me live this down, are you?”
“Well, if I don’t, be thankful you’re alive.”
“Point taken.”
Daramis downed the rest of her watered-down Mad Mrelf. The particular tapcafe the pair sat in had a reputation for synthesizing half their drinks and diluting the other half. It was the only way Dara would ever touch a Mad Mrelf. “I’ll pay for the drinks.”
“You sure?” Kuuy reached for her money pouch.
“Positive.”
“Okay. I’ll wait for you outside.”
Daramis went over to the bar and tried to flag down an employee—no easy task, since most of them were drunk—while Kuuy headed out the door. It led to an alley, apparently deserted.
Daramis heard a muffled cry and dropped the credits on the bar. Spinning on her heel, she made for the door at a dead run. It closed in her face, but she jerked it open.
The street was empty.
“Kuuy?” Receiving no answer, Daramis tentatively walked toward the alley entrance. A turbolift a few meters away closed its doors and the light indicators showed that it was going to the docking bay levels. “Fett must have been here. I never should have let her go! Dag!” Dara frantically searched around for another lift and became increasingly frustrated at the absence of it. Three blocks and five minutes later, she found one and sent it zooming to the upper levels of Coruscant and her ship, the Ricochet.
Slave I was just lifting off as the turbolift door’s opened. Realizing as she ran that it was futile, but still just as determined to try, Dara ran toward her ship. She fired up the engines and ignored all transmissions from Control and protests from Buzz, her droid.
Tears flooded her eyes as she accelerated toward the fleeing ship, only to watch it disappear into hyperspace. She slammed her fist against the controls and used every colorful Corellian word she had ever learned.
* * *
Kuuy rolled over on her side and painfully opened her eyes. Thoughts came slowly, her sluggish brain trying to adjust to her surroundings.
Cold. Noisy engines. Steel floor. Bars. Someone there. Sore. Bloodstain.
Her eyes opened wide at the last thought. She was looking at her arm and realized there was a small, red stain on the sleeve of her blue jumpsuit. She vaguely remembered getting hit with something sharp. A dark figure emerging from the shadows. Trying to call Daramis’ name. Seeing someone looming over her—
Kuuy raised her gaze from the floor and looked up. She was lying on the floor of a cage and there was indeed someone watching her. She pushed herself up on her elbows.
“Four days. I thought I could hide longer than that.”
“Everyone does.”
The flat, emotionless voice cleared the rest of the haze out of her brain and Kuuy scrambled to her feet. The figure in Mandalorian armor was quite intimidating, but Kuuy was not going to beg for mercy. She knew what she had done, and knew what he would do. “It was nothing personal, Fett. Just want you to know.”
“Who paid you?” He gripped a heavy-duty blaster at his side.
Kuuy was taken aback. She frowned. “Wait a minute. You thought I—“
“Who paid you?”
“Nobody.”
His voice hardened. “I’ll ask once more. Who has a bounty on me and why?”
“No one. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I’m telling the truth. I don’t know of any bounty on you. No one paid me to do what I did. ”
“Then why did you do it?”
Kuuy shrugged. “Because no one else has ever tried to?”
“You’re a very foolish sentient, Daapa.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“You realize that, to me, you’re nothing more than bantha fodder.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
Boba Fett stared at her for a long time. “No one paid you.” He sounded rather disbelieving.
“No. I’m a smuggler, not a bounty hunter.”
“You’re not lying.”
“I did it just because I could. As I said, it’s nothing personal. And it won’t happen again.”
“You’re right, Kuuy Daapa. It won’t.” He raised the blaster and fired.
Kuuy crumpled to the floor without a cry.
* * *
Daramis stared after the departing ship, her mouth slightly open. She was still in something of a state of shock after what had just happened. Boba Fett had contacted her on her private comlink, which in itself was alarming, but not surprising. The recorded message was short and succinct.
“Kuuy Daapa is on Baarst. I suggest you go pick her up. Fett.”
That was all. Daramis had taken the shortest route she could to the tiny world, and had arrived in time to see Slave I leave. She set the Ricochet down quickly and spotted her friend lying on the ground, still unconscious. Dara carried her to the Ricochet and laid her in the spare bunk.
“Buzz, get me the medkit.”
The silver droid complied and soon Kuuy’s eyes fluttered open.
She sat up, surprise covering her face. “Daramis Mcejo! What are you doing here?”
Daramis looked at her helplessly. “I think the question is, what are you doing here? Fett just dropped you off. What happened?”
Kuuy quickly related the story. “When he raised the blaster, I just knew I was dead. And I didn’t blame him one bit. I didn’t even notice that the bolt was blue.” She frowned. “Are you sure I’m alive?”
Dara nodded. “Very much so, thank the Force. Why do you suppose Fett let you go?”
Kuuy stared out the viewport at the sky. “I guess he has his reasons. I don’t imagine he’s called on to explain them very often.”
Her friend snorted. “No, I imagine not.”
“I was wrong,” Kuuy said thoughtfully.
“About what?”
“About Boba Fett being able to die. He’s a legend. You can’t kill legends.”

THE END