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Count.”
    Some people knew the Count as Dooku, a leader of the Separatists. Others knew him as Tyranus. Darth Tyranus was the agent who had chosen Jango Fett as the source for the Republic’s vast
clone army.
    Now the Republic and the Separatists were at war. Count Dooku and Tyranus were on opposing sides of the conflict.
    And only Boba Fett knew that Tyranus and Dooku were the same man.
    This knowledge had saved Boba’s life on Aargau. This knowledge was a weapon.
    Like a weapon, it gave Boba great power.
    And like a weapon, it had the power to kill those who used it.
    In the cockpit of
Slave I
, Boba made a last-minute check that his firearms were stored and ready for use.
    “Jet pack, blaster, jet pack generator, ion stunner, grappling missile…” Boba counted off his deadly array. “Dart shooter, rocket launchers, whipcord thrower…”
    Jabba might be greedy and disgusting and power-hungry. But when it came to outfitting his favorite bounty hunter, he was as generous as his Gamorrean guards were stupid.
    New weapons gleamed from
Slave I
’s storage bays: blaster, ionizers, plasma missiles. And, at Boba’s request, Jabba had arranged for brand-new sensor-jammers to be installed
on
Slave I
, as well as a state-of-the-art interstitial stealth shield. But best of all was the shining set of Westar-34 blasters on Boba’s weapons belt.
    “I’ll never let you down, Father. Not as long as I have these,” Boba murmured as he checked a blaster’s power cell cartridge.
    Once the Westar-34s had belonged to Jango Fett. Now they were his son’s. The blasters had been designed by Jango, and specially made for him. Compact enough to fit in a jet pack, the
weapons were cast of a nearly priceless dallorian alloy, designed to withstand furnace heat.
    Boba wasn’t sure what was in store for him on Xagobah. But he was pretty sure things would heat up once he got there.
    He settled behind the ship’s console and set his course for Xagobah. He glanced out the viewscreen.
    “Looks like I’m not the only bounty hunter anxious to leave,” he said.
    In the docking bay around him, dozens of other ships were getting ready to depart Tatooine. Astromech droids and Ughnaught mechanics were everywhere, scrambling to make last-minute adjustments
to starships and speeders. In the hazy, red-tinged air above him Boba could make out more starships, flashing like falling stars. He pressed
Slave I
’s thruster igniters.
    With a deafening rumble and an explosive burst of flame from its fusion reactors,
Slave I
shot from the landing bay.
    “Yes!”
    Boba’s heart pounded with the thrill that accompanied every new mission. Below him, the Dune Sea spread like flame across the surface of Tatooine. And like flame the brilliant
red-and-orange dunes almost immediately faded into black, as
Slave I
pierced the planet’s atmosphere and headed into the vast realm of space.
    Boba checked the coordinates for Xagobah. He glanced out the viewscreen and saw the usual flash and flare of planets and distant stars.
    He frowned. “What’s that?”
    At the bottom of the viewscreen, something glittered and darted like an asteroid. Something that shouldn’t be there.
    “There’s no asteroids in this sector,” said Boba. “No recent planetary upheavals…”
    Boba quickly checked
Slave I
’s flight plan. There was no sign of meteor activity. The glittering spark grew larger on the viewscreen. Boba leaned forward.
    “That’s no meteor!”
    Instinctively he reached for the control unit of
Slave I’
s missile deployer.
    “That’s a fighter!” he cried. “And it’s tailing me!” His fingers flashed across the console. Immediately the enlarged image of a Koro-1 exodrive airspeeder
filled the screen. Furiously Boba punched at the console. He needed that vehicle’s registration data…
    Silvery letters filled the screen.
Andoan registry, licensed to Urzan Krag of Krag Fanodo.
    “The Aqualish,” Boba breathed. “He wanted this assignment, too.