And for what?
"So-" He tried again to get some useful information." If we're not heading anywhere that Bossk used to hang out. . . where exactly is it we're going?"
Boba Fett didn't look around at him." I prefer keeping that on a need-to-know basis. And right now, you don't need it."
A spark of resentment flared inside Dengar." I thought we were supposed to be partners."
"So we are." Fett's gloved hands moved across the cockpit controls." I consider myself bound by the agreement into which we both entered."
"Doesn't seem like much of a partnership, if you're making all the decisions." Dengar's voice tightened inside his throat." I had the impression that somehow we were going to be on an equal footing. I guess I got that wrong, huh?"
This time, Boba Fett did swivel the pilot's chair around. The cold, blank gaze of his helmet's narrow visor fastened on Dengar. The rock that had formed in Dengar's throat now turned into a leaden weight, falling past his heart and into the pit of his stomach.
"You might have had some misapprehension along that line." The flatness of Boba Fett's words was scarier than any show of emotion would have been." But if you continue to believe that we could somehow be equals, then I'm forced to disagree with my partner. There's no way that you and I could be thought of as equals. Not as far as being bounty hunters is concerned."
"Well. . ." The weight in his gut had gone cold, draining all the warmth from Dengar's blood. Boba Fett's hidden gaze seemed to press him downward, like a bug beneath the other's boot." I didn't mean it exactly like that. . ."
"Good. I'd hate to think I had wrongly estimated my partner's value to me." Boba Fett's voice continued, as mild and threatening as before." We do have some value to each other, Dengar. Even beyond your having saved my life, when you found me back there in the Dune Sea. But don't think that you're here, and my partner, simply because of gratitude. I assure you-I don't feel that kind of emotion."
Or any, thought Dengar. He could feel himself sweating inside his own gear. Already, he had gone beyond wishing that he had ever broached this subject with the other bounty hunter.
"We can," said Boba Fett," be very useful to each other. That's the only basis I know for a partnership. Of course, if you consider something else to be the case. . ."
Dengar stared back at the helmet's visor, as though hypnotized by the eyes concealed behind it. All words and thoughts had fled from his own skull.
"Then perhaps we should think about dissolving the partnership. Is that what you want?"
It took a while for Dengar to force a reply past his tongue." No. . ." He shook his head." That's not what I meant at all. . ."
"I'd advise you to think about what it is you want, then." Boba Fett leaned slightly forward in the pilot's chair, bringing the pressure of his visored gaze closer to Dengar." Because if we're not going to be partners-our business relationship will be a lot different."
He's playing with me, thought Dengar. It didn't come as a relief to discover that Boba Fett was capable of emotion, or at least of cruelty. He raised his hands, palm outward, as if in surrender." No," said Dengar hastily," that's okay. I'm perfectly. . . satisfied with the way things are. You run the operations however you want, and that's fine by me."
Boba Fett was silent for a moment, then his helmet tilted in the barest nod of acknowledgment." Very well," he said quietly." There's no confusion now."
"Not in the slightest," agreed Dengar. He found he could breathe once more.
Boba Fett swiveled the pilot's chair back toward
the cockpit controls." I'll make the decisions-and you carry them out."
The last remark puzzled Dengar." Just what is it. . . you want me to do?"
"When the time comes, there'll be plenty. Don't worry about keeping up your end of the partnership. But in the meantime, why don't you just take it easy? Just relax."
Sure, thought Dengar to himself. As if that's going to happen anytime soon.
"Enjoy the peace and quiet," said Boba Fett as he continued his navigational adjustments," while you can. It might be in short supply where we're heading."
"All right." Dengar stepped back from the cockpit's hatchway." You're the boss."
"Close enough," said Boba Fett." Go below and tell Neelah to strap herself in-you too, for that matter. We'll be making a jump into hyperspace in a few minutes."
He knew better than to ask the destination. Whatever coordinates Boba Fett had punched into the navicomputer, they didn't seem to be open for discussion. That's a real partnership, all right-Dengar turned away from the cockpit and grasped the ladder leading down to the minimal passenger space of the Hound's Tooth. It wouldn't be long before the ship would emerge into some sector of the galaxy, so uninviting that a Trandoshan such as Bossk had never frequented it. That made him feel about as comfortable as what being partners with Boba Fett had turned into.
He turned his head as he started down the metal treads of the ladder, looking back toward the cockpit. The other bounty hunter went about his self-appointed tasks, as though he'd already forgotten Dengar's presence.
Right, thought Dengar. If he'd had any doubts before about the exact nature of the partnership between himself and Boba Fett, they were cleared up now. One way or another
His boot soles rang on the metal treads of the ladder all the way down.
She could barely believe what she had just heard. Overheard, actually-Neelah had tapped into the Hound's Tooth's internal communications system through an access panel in the main personnel quarters aboard ship. The cramped space was furnished in Trandoshan taste, all dark tapestries over the bulkheads and a jumble of thinly padded sleeping pallets. The tapestries were fastened down at their corners, to keep them from drifting and tangling in case the ship's artificial gravity failed; they depicted various great moments in Trandoshan history and legend, all of them violent. Even while she had been fiddling with the comm equipment, with the specific intent of eavesdropping on Dengar and Boba Fett, she had been thanking fate that the Hound's original pilot wasn't still aboard.
Her gratitude faded a bit when she finally managed to listen in on the conversation up in the cockpit area. She was dismayed at the manner in which Boba Fett walked all over Dengar, for no more reason than a simple inquiry as to where they were all heading. He's one, Neelah thought disgustedly, that's not going to be much use to me. If things came down to a split between herself and Boba Fett-and she could already see how that was becoming increasingly likely-then having the other bounty hunter Dengar on her side wouldn't make much difference. Fett could eliminate them both, without any inconvenience at all.
If it hadn't been clear to her before, it was now obvious why Dengar wanted to get out of the bounty hunter trade so badly. He just doesn't have the guts for it, she thought with a rueful shake of her head. The kind of guts, and the conspicuous lack of nerves, that Boba Fett possessed. Better that Dengar should hang up his weapons and jettison his dwindling reserve of ambition, and settle down on some safe backwater world with his intended bride Manaroo, before he got himself killed or completely imploded from panic.
Neelah had her own conviction, reinforced now that she had listened in on Dengar and Boba Fett, about how matters would wind up going. I'll have to do everything myself. Wherever the Hound's Tooth was headed, and whatever was waiting for them there. She'd have to do it all, including saving her own and Dengar's lives-the cold lack of emotion in Boba Fett's voice assured her that he had no great regard for their survival. Dengar might have fallen for that partnership scam, but she hadn't. Neelah hadn't agreed to it, either; as far as she was concerned, she was an independent operator, with no one's skin but her own to watch out for.