Before Boba Fett became Darth Vader’s go to bounty hunter during the Galactic Civil
War, the Sith Lord hired the Mandalorian warrior for
the first time around 3 years prior to the destruction
of the First Death Star.
The mission was to hunt down a recent Imperial deserter.
The Colonel on the run, named Abal Karda, was not only wanted for his traitorous actions,
but also because he possessed a casket of a living
severed head of a psychic queen, known as Selestrine of the Icarii.
She was part of a species that could survive even when beheaded, with
the Queen herself possessing the ability to see into the future.
Knowing the potential power her abilities could bring to someone, Abal Karda
stole the casket she was in and made a run for it;
being driven mad during his journey as the Queen predicted he would die in a month, counting
down the days to the increasingly frantic man.
Abal eventually made his way to an isolated world and took refuge within a temple that
was home to an Ancient Order of Pessimists; believing
no one would be able to find him in such a remote area.
While his hideout was beyond the scope of Vader’s own agents, it was only a
matter of time until the renowned Boba Fett would track him down.
Although the Sith Lord was confident in the bounty hunter’s abilities of finding the
Imperial deserter, he did not trust him, so he went
on to hire assassins to eliminate Boba once he
tracked down Abal and got ahold of the casket.
Boba was able to figure out Vader’s betrayal quickly however, taking out the assassins
hired after him with ease; leaving the Sith Lord
to kill the bounty hunter personally once the time was
right.
That time came when Boba finally discovered Abal’s hideout within the Pessimists’
temple, fighting his way through the pilgrims defending
their guest, and then ultimately taking out the
deserter by knocking him into a pit of lava below.
When Boba opened the casket, he discovered it wasn’t filled with valuable treasure
as he initially believed, but the head of a psychic
queen.
She tried to drive him mad with her power, tempting him on whether he wished to know
his fate, but Boba refused to listen.
Instead, he began preparing for the inevitable fight that
was coming, as Vader had arrived outside of the
temple’s gates.
Knowing full well the Sith Lord was there to kill him and not give the promised
payment, Boba opened fire on Vader from the window he was in, but the dark lord was able
to swiftly block the blaster bolts with the Force.
Seeing the futility of his attacks, Boba threw a grenade down to where Vader was at, knocking
him down from the explosion, and allowing him to fly out of the temple.
Knowing full well it was wise to keep distance when fighting a Force
user, Fett flew to open ground and attempted to
flee, but Vader took away his means of escape by destroying his speeder.
Being forced to fight now, Boba unleashed his arsenal of weaponry, firing both his blaster
and rockets at the Sith Lord, who was able to
not only defend against them, but deflect one bolt
toward the bounty hunter’s head, leaving a dent in the Mandalorian’s helmet.
As the battle continued, Boba was finally trapped as he stood against an edge of a cliff.
Not wishing to lose the casket Fett was holding,
Vader attempted to force his submission by using
the dark side, but Boba was able to briefly resist enough to fall back toward the lava
river behind him.
Seeing him fall with the casket still at hand, Vader rushed toward the edge of the cliff,
only to find the bounty hunter waiting for him with
his rifle aimed right at his head.
As he fired, he hit the Sith Lord right in the helmet, knocking him
down and proclaiming his victory as he stood over
the dark warrior’s body.
But he underestimated the power of Darth Vader, who stood up despite
his injury and used to Force to first disarm and then take hold of Boba’s body.
While the bounty hunter struggled to free himself from the invisible chains that began
to crush him, Vader told the man how he had earned
his respect and that a swift death was his reward
for impressing him.
However, Boba was able to move just enough to kick the casket below him
off the cliff, forcing Vader to let him go and chase after it.
While the dark lord was attempting to retrieve the casket before it burned up in the lava,
Boba made his escape, taking Vader’s own speeder
that he came on and leaving the scene with his
life.
The casket on the other hand was just barely saved in time, with the Queen’s head still
alive yet begging to be allowed to die so she could
join her people in the afterlife.
Vader refused her wish, taking her back to his ship, where he
had planned on using her power to advance his own
ambitions of overthrowing his master Palpatine.
Instead of giving him what he wanted, the Queen told her new captor of seeing a future
where he and the bounty hunter would work together
once more; perhaps a way of her paying back Boba Fett for being the only one to not use
her of the powers she possessed.
And then just like before with Abal, the psychic queen began using her owner’s fears against
him, showing Vader a future of Palpatine gaining her power instead and having him be the one
who gets destroyed.
Understanding the great risk that would come if his own master were to
claim her power, Vader decided to end her life rather than have her fall into Palpatine’s
hands.
Back on the Slave 1, Boba was recollecting his thoughts on his fight with the Empire’s
greatest warrior.
He thought of how for a moment, when Vader was distracted in retrieving the casket
from its fall, that he could have killed the dark lord, but decided not to.
For one, he didn’t wish to have the fury of the entire Empire come after
him, but also because he understood that a time
would come when Vader would realize his talents and call upon him again for another job.
And Boba Fett’s predication ultimately came true, as Vader not only would hire the bounty
hunter again, but also come to trust him and make him his go to hunter to use against the
Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War.