breaking against the platform's stilts below him. He caught a hold and reached into the Force, using it to grab his lightsaber, recognizing that he was suddenly vulnerable. He heard a shot from the side, not the screech of a blaster bolt, but a pfizzt sound, and rolled as far as he could.
But not far enough. He lost his concentration, along with his grasp on his lightsaber, as a thin wire slid under his wrists, then wrapped about them, securing him tightly.
And then he was sliding, back up the sloping skirt and across the platform, towed by the rocket-man. With reflexes honed by years of intensive training, and with the Force-strength of a Jedi Master, Obi-Wan snap-rolled his body forward, back up over his outstretched arms, tumbling to his feet, then leaping out to the side as the towline again went taut, jerking him along. He rolled about a pylon and came back to his feet again, now having the leverage of the metal pole helping to hold him there.
Reaching deeply in the Force once more, he grounded himself, becoming, for an instant, almost as one with the platform.
Immovable.
The wire snapped tightly, but Obi-Wan didn't budge.
He felt the angle of the pull change dramatically as the rocket-man plunged to the deck, his pack breaking away.
Obi-Wan started around the pole, but stopped and shielded his eyes as Jango Fett's rocket pack exploded with a burst of light and a tremendous concussion.
'Dad!' Boba Fett cried as the rocket pack blew apart, his face coining right to the viewscreen. But then he saw Jango, off to the side and apparently unharmed, though tugging frantically against the pull of the wire-that was now being controlled by the Jedi.
Boba slapped one hand helplessly against the screen, mouthing 'Dad' again, and then he winced as the Jedi slammed into his father, kicking and butting him, and both of them, locked together, went rolling off the back edge of the landing pad, sliding fast down the skirt and toward the raging ocean.
Obi-Wan kicked and tried to find his way back to the Force, but Jango punched him repeatedly. He could hardly believe that the bounty hunter would waste the effort, with certain death awaiting them both at the end of the slide and fall. He managed to pull back somewhat and saw Jango lift one forearm, a strange smile on his face. The bounty hunter clenched his fist, and a line of claws popped forth from the armor.
Obi-Wan instinctively recoiled as Jango lifted that arm higher, but then the bounty hunter slammed it down, not on Obi-Wan, but on the platform skirt. At the same time, Jango worked his other hand, releasing the locking mechanism of the wire-launching bracelet, and it slid free of his arm. He screeched to a halt, and Obi-Wan slid past him. 'Catch a roller fish for me,' the Jedi heard Jango say, and then he was falling, over the lip and down toward the raging whitecaps.
'Dad! Oh, Dad!' Boba Fett cried in relief as he spotted his father clambering back over the skirt lip and onto the platform. Jango climbed to his feet and stumbled toward Slave /, and Boba rushed to the hatch, sliding it open and reaching down to help his father aboard.
'Get us out of here,' the dazed and battered Jango said, and Boba grinned and rushed to the control panel, firing up the engines.
'I'll put her right to lightspeed!'
'Just break atmosphere and take her straight out!' Jango ordered, and his words came out with a growl of pain as he held his bruised side. Then he noticed his son's wounded look. 'Get the nav computer on line and have it set the coordinates for the jump,' he conceded.
Boba's smile beamed brighter than ever. 'Liftoff.' he shouted.
Obi-Wan used the Force to grab the trailing, loose end of the wire that still held him by the wrists, and he threw that end out, looping it over a crossbeam in the platform structure. His descent stopped with a sudden jerk.
He glanced around, then began to swing, back and forth, gaining momentum until he was far enough out to pull himself free of the bond and drop lightly onto a small service platform, barely above the lashing waves. He took only a moment to catch his breath, and then opened the door of the service turbolift with a wave of his hand. Even before the door opened at the landing platform, he heard the engines of the bounty hunter's ship roar to life.
He came over the lip, spotting his lightsaber immediately and calling it in to him with the Force.
But he was too late. The ship was already shuddering, ready to blast away. Obi-Wan pulled a small transmitter from his belt and threw it out long and far at Slave I. The magnetic lock of the tracking device grasped on to the ship's hull just in time.
Rain and steam pouring all about him, Obi-Wan Kenobi stood there for a long while until Slave I disappeared from view.
He looked around at the platform, replaying the battle in his head, his respect for this bounty hunter, Jango Fett, growing considerably. He understood now why Jango had been selected by Sifo-Dyas, or Tyranus, or whoever it was that selected him. The man was good, full of tricks and full of skill.
He had taken Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight, the man who had defeated the Sith Lord Darth Maul, to the very precipice of disaster.
But Obi-Wan was still pleased at the way it had played out. He would track Jango now. Perhaps at the end of the coming journey, he would finally get some answers instead of even more riddles.
Chapter Nineteen
Boba sat quietly, sensing the tension, as Slave I blasted away from Kamino. He wanted to talk about his shot with the laser cannon, about how he had knocked the Jedi down and sent his lightsaber flying away. But this wasn't the time, he knew, for Jango wore an intense expression that Boba recognized all too well, one that told him clearly that now was not the time for him to speak.
