| Mean and mysterious, the best-known bounty hunter in the galaxy is accustomed to always getting his prey-with the exception of one Corellian smuggler and Rebel Alliance hero. The exploits of Boba Fett, who is strong and usually silent, could fill a library. many tales are told of his background and exploits, but there are very few verifiable facts, perhaps by design. It seems possible that Fett was born Jaster Mereel, and as a young man became a Journetman Protector, or law enforcement officer, on the planet Concord Dawn. But supposedly he killed another Protector, one accused of being corrupt and unjust. He was unrepentant at trial, was stripped of all he owned, and was exiled. Fett wears the armor of the Mandalorians, a group of fear-some warriors dating back to ancient times. His modified Mandalorian armor includes a helmet with a macrobinocular viewplate, motion and sound sensors, infrared capabilities, an internal comlink with his ship (the Slave I), and a broad-band antenna for intercepting and decoding transmissions; wrist gauntlets that house lasers, a miniature flame projector, and a fibercord whip/grappling device; a backpack jet pack with turbo-projected magnetic grappling hook with a twenty-meter lanyard; knee-pad rocket dart launchers; spiked boots; a concussion gernade launcher; ans a BlasTech EE-3 rifle. Braided Wookie scalps hang over his right shoulder. Since the Clone Wars, Fett has worked as a mercenary, a soldier, a personal guard, an assassin, and, most frequently, as a bounty hunter. He should be wealthy by now, demandingand getting some of the biggest bounties ever. He once earned a record 500,000 credits by catching the Ffib religous heretic Nivek'Yppiks for the Lorahns. Fett has worked on retainer for Jabba the Hutt and other Hutts, as well as for the Empire. He is methodical in his tracking. While he doesn't seem to hold grudges against his prey, that may be because he rarely loses his quarry. Fett seems to have had several encounters with the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO when they worked for different masters. Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, he seemed to help Luke Skywalker and Han Solo on a red-water moon in the Panna System, but in reality he was trying to trap them for Darth Vader. The trap failed thanks to the droids. He had anoher encounter with the Rebellion heroes on the frozen world of Ota. Shortly before the Battle of Hoth, Jabba hired Fett to find Han Solo. Darth Vader had a similar goal, and he and Fett met to discuss it. But Solo once again escaped Fett;s clutches on the planet Ord Mantell. Later, after the Battle of Hoth, Vader summoned Fett again, along with five other bounty hunters, and offered a huge bounty for Solo; he wanted to use the Corellian as bait in a trap for Luke Skywalker. Fett succeeded in tracking Solo's ship to the Bespin system, and he helped Vader capture Solo, Chewbacca, and Princess Leia Organa. Solo became the guinea pig for a carbonite-freezing experiment, and Fett was given the encased Solo to bring to Jabba for another bounty. As Fett emerged from hyperspace near Tatooine, he was angered to find that IG-88, one of Vader's other bounty hunters, had tracked him. Fett used evasive maneuvers and then blew up the starfighter IG-2000. The Slave I was damaged, and Fett flew to Gall for repairs, where a Rebel attempt to rescue Han on the Gall moon failed. When Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca were captured while trying to rescue Han, Jabba sentenced them to die a slow death by being digested by the Sarlacc in the Pit of Carkoon. But in the desert, the Rebels broke free, and during the fierce fight that ensued, Fett was knocked into the mouth of the Sarlacc. Amazingly, Fett escaped that near-certain death and was found in poor shape by another bounty hunter, Dengar, who had come to look for Jabba's remains. In recent years, Fett has continued pursuing Han Solo. Six years after Jabba's death, Han and Leia went to Nar Shaddaa, the spaceport moon that is the smuggling center of the galaxy. There, Han was surprised to find Boba Fett and Dengar waiting for him in his old quarters. In a hail of blaster fire, Leia and Han made it off-world, escaping in old friend Salla Zend's Starlight Intruder. Later, in another encounter on the planet, Fett shot chewbacca in the side, but the Wookie managed to rip off Fett's helment and send the bounty hunter flying. Fett recovered quickly, and his Slave I pursued Han's Millennium Falcon through the floating space debris of Nar Shaddaa. Han entered an interstellar gas cloud, and because his ship had been damaged, Fett couldn't pursue him. A few days later the Falcon emerged, shot Slave I, and sent the ship spinning out of control into the gas cloud. Once again the hunter and hunted parted company, both always prepared for a reengagement.
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