#hondo | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

a-reader-and-a-writer · 2 months

Text

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Fandom: Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick, Jake "Hangman" Seresin Summary: Jake isn't worried when he is called to stand trial for his actions on the Uranium mission. After all, he saved Rooster and Maverick's lives. Who cares if he had to disobey orders to do so? However, Jake's about to learn this case isn't just the formality he thought it was... Word Count: 1864 Notes: Part of @whumpthemusical's event for Day 2- Wicked: "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished". Thank you so much to @green-socks for looking this over! 💗

As Jake Seresin strutted through the doors of the courtroom, his signature smirk spread across his face, he didn’t have a doubt in his mind he’d be walking out these same doors in a few hours with the exact demeanor. This was nothing more than a formality. The worst that would happen was he would get a stern talking to or possibly a light slap on the wrist. But it wouldn’t be anything he couldn’t bounce back from.

The Daggers sitting in the front row of the galley didn’t seem to share in his optimism based on the looks they were shooting in his direction. Ranging from leg-bouncingly nervous to a glare so intense it could burn a hole through steel, all eyes followed him as he passed, and he shot them a wink just for the fun of it.

They had spent the last few weeks warning him to take this case more seriously. After all, if he lost and they threw the book at him, it was almost guaranteed he would be permanently grounded, if not discharged from the Navy. But Jake knew he had nothing to worry about. He had saved the lives of one of the most accomplished pilots in the last several decades and the life of the pilot who completed the mission without the help of a targeting system. He was the hero who saved the two lost Dagger aviators, heroes in their own right.

Yes, it was true he had defied Cyclone’s direct orders to do so, but sometimes even in the military, split-second decisions had to be made in life-or-death situations where you didn’t have time to wait for updated orders. Everyone knew that. So while Jake understood why they had to go through with this court-martial trial, he already knew what the outcome would be.

Rooster was the first person to take the stand. He recounted every detail leading up to Jake’s just-in-time rescue, including a detailed and moving description of what it felt like pulling the ejection straps just for them to fail and knowing, with all certainty, that he was about to die—only for Jake to arrive and save them just as the enemy fired on them. Jake couldn’t believe it, but he even found himself moved by Rooster’s words and the way his voice choked up a little when he mentioned being spared a similar death to his father. And if this touching story was getting to him, it must be heartrending to the panel of judges!

Then it was Maverick’s turn and his deposition was just as powerful as Rooster’s. He praised Jake’s skills during training and his quick actions that saved his and Rooster’s lives on the mission. But the part that made Jake sit up a little straighter and his grin get a little bit wider was when Maverick cited an instance when he had done something similar in the past and it had been deemed a necessary action by the former Admiral Kazansky. And the icing on top of the cake was when Maverick added he believed Iceman would have approved of Jake’s actions that day.

As Maverick stepped down, Jake turned to look at the other Daggers, wishing he had one of his toothpicks to flip just to emphasize how sure he was that he had this in the bag.

But Jake had started to celebrate too soon.

Hondo was the next one called to the stand. The Warrant Officer couldn’t even look at Jake as they questioned him. He tried his best to turn things around in Jake’s favor, but there was little he could do when he had been in the control room and explicitly heard Cyclone order Jake to stand down. Hondo was also the one in charge of all of the deck preparations including take-offs and landings, so this whole ordeal didn’t bode well for him if it was determined that Jake was allowed to take off due to a failure on his part. Regardless of what happened today, Jake did hope his actions didn't get the other man in trouble. While he was positive Hondo would have done anything within his power to get Maverick and Rooster back, Jake had acted alone and no one else should be responsible for that.

Warlock was next to testify. He refused to elaborate on any of his responses, simply giving one or two-word answers that left little for the court to work with. But just like with Hondo, Warlock couldn’t deny the facts.

Had Jake taken off after Admiral Simpson had refused his request to provide cover? Yes.

Did Admiral Simpson retract or change his order before Jake took off? No.

Was it true that while Jake rescued Maverick and Rooster, it was without explicit permission to do so? Yes.

As he finished and walked out past where Jake was sitting, Warlock gave him a small, sad smile and a nod, and all Jake could do was nod back.

For the first time, Jake wasn’t smiling.

However, despite their less-than-stellar testimonies, it wasn’t until Cyclone took the stand that a pit formed in Jake’s stomach. Everyone knew Cyclone was a hard-ass stickler for rules and regulations and while the man had shown no ill-will towards Jake for his defiance of his orders, it quickly became clear he wasn’t going to defend him either.

By the time Cyclone was excused, Jake was nearly hyperventilating in his seat. How had he been so certain only an hour ago that there was nothing to worry about and now there was every chance he was about to lose everything. He could feel the eyes of all of the Daggers boring into the back of his head, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at them. Seeing the pity on their faces—he couldn’t handle that right now.

But then, it was his turn to testify. Walking slowly towards the stand, Jake wracked his brain for anything he could say to justify his actions. To make this all go away. But there was nothing he could do. Except…

When Jake sat down, the prosecutor began her questioning. Each one covered much of the same ground the others had already testified about. They were mostly yes or no questions and any time Jake tried to elaborate, he was cut off. But then they got to the final question:

“Lieutenant Seresin, in your own words, can you please explain to the court why you chose to disobey a direct order from your commanding officer despite knowing the possible consequences of your actions?”

Jake stared down at where his hands lay clasped in his lap. He had briefly practiced what he would say over the last few weeks; just a line or two about saving Rooster and Maverick’s asses, maybe even ending it with a clever jab about the right Dagger finally joining the mission, all told with his usual arrogant charm. But that was before it hit him what he was about to lose if this trial went wrong. How his entire world could come to an end on the word of the five people in front of him.

He was a pilot. It wasn’t just what he was, it was who he was. He was Lieutenant Jake Seresin. Hangman. The only active duty pilot with one—no, two confirmed air-to-air kills. He graduated top of his class at the academy, placed first during his time at Top Gun. He had medals and accommodations and had completed missions that would leave other pilots pissing their pants from just reading the briefing. He loved what he did, and goddammit, he was great at it. Possibly the best.

But now all of that was about to be taken away from him. So, he did the only move he had left—he told the truth.

Clearing his throat, Jake leaned forward to speak into the microphone. “I, um, I…I was just…”

Taking a deep breath, he started again. “Look. I know how this must look. Anyone who knows me knows I’m an arrogant son of a bitch who can outfly almost anyone and I never let them forget it. I understand that based on what you’ve heard, it probably seems like I was just trying to be the hero, to prove to everyone I should have been on the mission all along instead of Rooster. But I didn’t disobey orders to satisfy my own pride no matter what it looks like.”

Glancing down at his hands again, Jake was unable to look at any of the dozens of faces staring at him. “Yes. I was mad when I wasn’t picked for the mission, but I was only mad at myself. This was a team mission and I only ever flew to inflate my ego, not to benefit my team. Maverick made the right choice making me the spare. Then I heard him get shot down and all I could think was if I had just been better, maybe I could have been there and done something to save him. That’s why I originally asked to launch and provide air cover for the rest of the Daggers. Maybe I couldn’t help Maverick, but I could make damn sure the rest of the team made it home. However, I was told to stand down…and then Rooster was hit—”

Jake was surprised to find a lump growing in his throat and tears starting to prickle at the corner of his eyes yet he pressed on. “One of the first things they teach you when you start to fly jets is you never leave a wingman behind. It’s like when you’re a kid and your parents say to never swim alone. So when I heard Maverick and Rooster were alive and back in the air…I didn’t even think about asking for clearance. I had two wingmen who needed me and I wasn’t going to let them face down those 5th Gen fighters alone. I just…I just wanted to be the team member I should have been from the start.”

As he finished speaking, not a sound could be heard in the courtroom. Jake couldn’t remember the last time he had been that honest or raw with anyone and now he had opened up to an entire room of people, most of whom were friends or colleagues. He wasn’t quite sure he would ever be able to face the Daggers again, but if it meant he got to keep flying, it would be worth it.

With the testimonies finished, the panel filed out to deliberate. Jake rested his head on the table he was seated at and wondered how agonizingly long he would have to wait to learn his fate.

Fifteen minutes later, the panel returned.

Jake felt as if he were going to be sick. Long gone was the flashing grin and the arrogant gleam in his eye. No, right now Jake Seresin’s heart was racing faster than he had ever flown and he struggled to keep back the tears that were burning in the back of his eyes.

Rising to his feet, he stood at attention as he faced the men and women about to determine the rest of his life.

Taglist: @green-socks, @lorecraft, @heart-0n-fire, @mayhem24-7forever, @the-untamed-soul, @inglourious-imagines, @airhogger, @piscesvancouverite, @straightforwardly, @bonnieelizabethparker, @srry-itshockeyszn, @flyinlove, @fandomhopped, @sweetheartlizzie07, @yjwnoot, @wanderdreamer, @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy, @callsign-phoenix, @shanimallina87, @forever-sleepy-sloth, @blue-aconite, @notroosterbradshaw, @dezthegeek, @blessupblessup, @cherrycola27, @phoenix1389, @nicangelinee, @smells-like-perfect-senses, @boringusername3, @petlaufeyson, @cycbaby, @topguncortez, @footprintsinthesxnd, @fantasticcopeaglepasta, @writercole, @onebigfangirlworld, @wkndwlff, @ravenmoore14, @clancycucumber230, @mamachasesmayhem, @slightly-psycho-multifan, @kmc1989, @ohtobeleah, @roosterforme, @deppresseddyslexic, @horneybeach1, @mandylove1000

#fic #whump: the musical #jake hangman seresin #hangman #jake seresin #top gun #top gun maverick #top gun: maverick #rooster #maverick #hondo #warlock #cyclone #angst #trial tw

120 notes · View notes

nchlsdmn · 3 months

Text

Full Plot of the Cancelled Boba Fett/Cad Bane arc from Star Wars The Clone Wars: Season 6

Episode 1

Boba now lives with the Bounty Hunters who sort of act as his parents. The Bounty Hunters are stationed on Tatooine in a complex that resembles Obi-Wan's hut from Episode IV – but much bigger and with various dorm rooms and chambers that are each closed off and separated by doors. It also has prison cells below.

From there, they take jobs. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they all live there permanently, but they are stationed on Tatooine because they take most of their jobs there. Boba has dreams of the death of his father. Even Ventress's chambers are shown but they are empty.

Cad Bane receives a job where he has to rescue a kid from Tusken Raiders. He decides to bring Boba along. Boba wonders why he picked him since there are so many Bounty Hunters that are way more experienced than him, but Bane insists that he has picked Boba because it’s about time Boba started learning how to take care of himself, since he was sticking around with the Bounty Hunters crew, and it’s dangerous without skills.

They ask for information on where the kid was last seen, and then take a ship and go to the remote parts of Tatooine where the sand people live. Cad Bane takes Embo, Highsinger and Bossk along with him, but Embo and Bossk will stay with the ship while Highsinger acts as a scout from faraway, whereas Cad Bane and Boba proceed on Dewbacks. Cad Bane tells HighSinger to leave them, and the other Bounty Hunters abandon Cad Bane because Boba and Bane haven’t returned, and they start to think that either Bane has double-crossed them, or they have been captured, so they see no profit in staying exposed.

Cad Bane and Boba proceed on foot because Bane wants to appear defenseless in order to lure the Tusken Raiders to them. Bane knows those lands, so he knows which tribe of Tuskens took the kid, since they’re the only tribe that lives in those lands. He only takes Todo-360 along with him and Boba follows. They follow the tracks of the Tusken and it gets dark. They set up a camp illuminated by a battery and Bane drinks booze. (Cue 1st unfinished scene clip) Bane senses that they’re about to be ambushed and asks Boba to let himself be captured so that Bane can then put a tracking device on him and find out where the Tusken Raider’s camp is located. A struggle ensues.

He plants a tracking device on Boba and manages to find their camp. The Tuskens won’t reveal where the target is so Bane starts slaughtering the village until they tell him where the kid is. He doesn’t destroy their huts, but shoots all of those who get out of their tents armed and intending to attack him, so there are quite a bit of causalities until the Tuskens realize what he’s there for. He then holds the Tusken kids at gunpoint bargaining with the Tusken leaders, who grant him an audience. Boba is immediately alarmed and steps in front of Bane trying to prevent him from shooting the kids. Bane says that he never intended to kill them, but that in order to be persuasive you need to be able to bargain with everything. Somehow this doesn’t convince Boba who starts questioning Bane’s morality. The target is then revealed to be in another camp not too far from that one, so Bane and Boba proceed on foot. Bane has lost his hat during this struggle. The target is then revealed playing with the Tusken kids, displaying how the Tusken Raiders were only holding the child hostage for ransom, but weren’t mistreating her.

The child is very lively and talkative, and tells Bane and Boba where she lives in order to take her back. Turns out she lives on the far side of Mos Eisley, so on their way back the Tuskens, who had only given up the target out of fear – come back to try to take back their prize. Bane burns them with his flamethrower, and throws explosives at them, scaring them off. The Tuskens had kidnapped the farmer’s kid because the farmer had established his farm on their land and wouldn’t pay the Tusken Raiders the ransom they asked for. The kid is returned safely to the father, who was also Bane’s employer. The farmer pays up and Bane says he doesn’t work for free, urging the wealthy farmer to pay up. Boba is satisfied and relieved at the thought of having done an act of good, but Bane only treats it like another job – and tells Boba that in order to be an effective Bounty Hunter, he has to be able to see profit in everything and not allow himself to be personally invested in the jobs that he takes. Boba disagrees since he thinks that while also making profit, you can help people as well.

The first episode ends with Bane telling Boba that he knew his father and that he respected Jango as his equal; and that there was always a competition between them for who was the best Bounty Hunter, but that he could never find out because the Jedi killed him. He then says that in order to be like his father Boba needs to put his emotions aside and be ready for everything.

Episode 2:

A small time skip is implied between episode 1 and episode 2 but nothing too major. Boba who still had his Season 4 design in the first episode (apart from the fact that in Season 4 he was bald whereas in the first episode of the Bounty Hunters arc Boba would instead have had a flat top like most clones when they cut their hair short) – he would now be sporting longer hair instead. Bane gives Boba some credits and tells him that they will travel to Kessel because Bane has some ex-employers there for whom he did a favor some time ago, and he’s going to Kessel to demand the last bit of the payment that they owed him. Cad Bane then meets with a Toong who gives him his new ship, the Justifier. The Toong comes along with them because the repairs weren’t ready yet, and Bane was impatient.

Boba and Bane thus travel to Kessel. The ones who owed Bane money are miners who worked on Kessel, and Cad Bane had helped them get rid of their previous manager who was abusing them, but they couldn’t pay Bane the entire sum immediately; so Bane would make periodic trips to Kessel so that the miners could keep giving him a piece of the payment that they owed him every time he visited them. Bane had grown impatient and asked for the rest of the payment this very moment. Cad Bane would have been shown to be cold-blooded, while the miners were shown as ignorant, unintentionally funny (they had big mustaches and hairs covering their faces) but at the same time – they were also overworked and fatigued, but Bane didn’t seem to care. A miner tries to pull a gun on Bane but Bane shoots him through the chest without even looking at him, then with a smile he says that they needed some motivation, and orders Todo 360 and Boba to capture the leader of the miners.

The Toong, named Lancek Trevoras, falls behind hiding behind some canisters, and stays with the ship. Bane takes the leader of the miners into his ship and holds him hostage until they reached an agreement that the miners would dig diamonds for him – and give him a percentage of what they were digging for the company. Todo handles the torturing. Bane thinks that the leader will either take some of the miners away as insurance, so that the company is forced to pay him in order to get the miners back, or the miners will stop lying to him and give Bane the money they owe him.

Boba feels bad and asks if this is really necessary, and Bane tells him “step aside boy, you’re too soft and won’t make it far into the world if you give up at the first sight of tears”. The trip ends with Bane taking all the money that the miners had and him releasing their leader back into the mining facility – with them subsequently cursing him as he flies away with his ship. Boba is the one who uncuffs him and seems sad. Boba gets angry during the voyage back and Bane and Boba have their first argument. Boba says that the miners didn’t have the money and that the violence against them was unnecessary, and Bane tells him that if he prefers, he can go back to that stinky hut they had on Tatooine and live the rest of his life in misery if he wanted to.

Boba then locks himself up in the other part of the ship, and Bane tells Todo to leave him alone to blow off some smoke. Bane then threatens the Toong as well telling him that if the repairs weren’t ready soon, he would have a few things to “explain” to him too. During the voyage home, Boba exits his chambers and go back to the ship’s cockpit, telling Bane that he’d made up his mind and that he wants to be like his father; so he will start taking Cad Bane’s advice from that point on.

Boba tells him that he needs to get his father’s ship back and his father’s armor, otherwise he’ll never be able to be like his father. Boba has a momentary change of heart where in order to show Bane that he’s tough – he thinks that by obtaining his father’s armor and ship he will be extra motivated into becoming a bounty hunter and act like Cad Bane does. Bane tells him that Florrum isn’t exactly on the way, but that if they do a pit stop on Tatooine first to refuel, they might be able to make it to Florrum. End of Episode 2.

Episode 3:

Cad Bane tells Boba that they first needed to get some extra security because Bane wasn’t exactly fond of the pirates, and doesn't trust Hondo. Bane asks for a repurposed droid which he was to buy from a very specific droid’s shop at Tatooin. That specific droid shop was only a charade, and was actually a base from which most of the crime on Tatooine operated (basically criminals went there to load up), and the owner of the shop already knew of the job beforehand and had the droid ready.

The droid was named Ruckle, and Bane verbally mistreated the shop’s owner who charged Bane for more than what he expected. Cad Bane leaves the shop with Ruckle without paying the extra required by the store’s owner, and Boba apologizes, and goes back to the owner, giving him some extra credits for the trouble. Bane takes Latts Razzi, Dengar, Sugi and Embo along with him. Sugi and Dengar had already had business with the pirates in the past; while Embo and Latts were just insurance.

The crew then flies to Florrum. Bane trades the droid for the Slave I, because the droid had a double purpose (apart from just being an assassin spider droid) -- which was being able to reveal the locations of the most precious cargo routes of the crime syndicates in the galaxy. The pirates were ecstatic about putting their hands on it, since they were barbarians who attacked cargo ships and stole all the time. Bane tells Hondo to give up the goods because he was really losing a lot by giving up some viable information for a ship. Hondo also delivers payment in credits. When Hondo asks Bane why he would be willing to trade such viable information, Bane replies jokingly: “anything for the kid,” referring to Boba.

When Hondo takes them to Slave I, it's revealed that Hondo repaired the wreckage from when Aurra Sing crashed it in Season 2, and Slave I was in flying condition again. It's also been revealed that Boba’s armor was not Jango’s armor from Episode II (which had been lost in the battle), but that Jango had an original armor from a long time ago, and Boba would find that one in the ship itself.

Aurra Sing was on Florrum as well. When Aurra and Boba Fett are reunited, Boba hugs her and Aurra tells him that she never intended to abandon him, and only did so because she knew the Jedi wouldn’t kill him, and that she would have eventually come to rescue him (even if this wasn’t true because Boba had to escape on his own). But this is Aurra’s way of rehabilitating her image in the eyes of Boba since at the end of the day – she cared for the boy.

Hondo then tells Boba and the crew that a very precious cargo transported by the Hutts was on a planet called “Serolonis”. Bane says to Boba that if he wants to make a name for himself – this was the job to do it since it was a big deal. The shipment was diamonds from the most precious mining planets like Oba Diah, Kessel, and Serolonis (which was known for its moister vaporators in order to keep the air clean). The planet "Serolonis" was a reference to "Sergio Leone", which was a homage to western movies and cinema as a whole.

The other secondary cargo of the Hutt’s carrier was also spice for the drug cartels. The ship was very big and the Bounty Hunters infiltrate it from different points, while Aurra Sing and Highsinger chase the ship aboard the Slave I. Cad Bane had traded ships on Florrum because his Justifier wasn’t equipped adequately for the job, whereas Slave I was basically a flying piece of artillery, although Bane’s ship had missiles and they didn’t want to blow up the cargo. The little Bounty hunter from Season 2, named Seripas, would also have been taken along for the job.

Boba is killing enemies left and right with Jango’s pistols, and also doing some cool acrobatics. At this point, he doesn't have a jet-pack yet. Cad Bane disregards the civilians around him – whereas the other Bounty Hunters like Latts Razzi and Sugi were more concerned with their surroundings. Sugi prevents Bane from executing some bystanders in order to cause a crash and stop the ship. Bane is angry and kicks her back, but the plan of Bane fails.

After the cargo is captured, thanks to Slave I, and the Hutt killed – the bounty hunters get into an argument on how to split the bounty. Cad Bane, of course, wants the largest cut because he orchestrated the hit job, and the other bounty hunters pull guns on each other in much of a Western manner, to then end it off with a laugh off between them – similar to the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where Barbossa, Jack, Will and Elisabeth all point guns at each other.

Sugi leaves angered, telling Bane that their approach had almost gotten them and all the civilians killed, and Bane threatens her telling her that she will not have a long life if she crosses him again. Sugi takes the payment and leaves. Latts Razzi follows, and Dengar and Embo just dissipate. The ones who remain with Bane are Highsinger, Bossk, Aurra Sing and Boba. Bane also threatens Seripas, telling him that he was slow and useless because of his size.

Boba would then start contemplating an insurrection against Bane because he sees that a lot of the Bounty Hunters think like him and not everyone agrees with Bane. Some Bounty Hunters like Seripas and Latts Razzi are afraid of Bane. Aurra Sing asks Boba if he’s coming to join them at a cantina and Boba tells her no, to which Aurra scoffs him and tells him “fine, whatever you want”. Boba goes back to talk to Sugi, who reveals that she’d only gotten into the bounty hunting business out of necessity, and that she’d lost a family member due to an accident, so she knows what it means to lose innocent lives. Latts Razzi also revealed to have some sort of morality, because despite being more disregarding of rules, she’s against killing innocents during her bounties. Boba would tell the both of them that it’s time someone started standing up to Bane. Episode ends.

Episode 4:

Boba starts doing jobs for Cad Bane. Bane tells him to go around asking for money from civilians whom Bane had been doing favors for – and Boba had basically turned into his tax collector. A minor time skip is implied again; but nothing too major. Cad Bane has established himself on Serolonis as a pasha living in richness, and keeping the local population subjected by asking them for tributes in exchange for protection. As Bane had basically set up his own syndicate on Serolonis, other Bounty Hunters would have been shown to have joined and would have made an appearance; such as Twazzi from the Season 4 episode "The Box" and Robonino as background characters. Boba would go around using his cut of the money to cover debts in case some civilians couldn’t pay Bane, but the ones that Bane discovered get imprisoned, and ask for ransom to release them, if not – they would remain his hostages.

Bane has Boba followed by Todo and a returning Bounty Hunter who was Cato Parasitti (in the third episode Cato Parasitti was also briefly shown to have been the one who procured the clearance codes for the Hutt’s carrier ship). Bane had ordered them to spy on Boba because there was "something off about that boy". He starts suspecting that Boba’s doing stuff behind his back so he asks Cato to investigate. In the meantime Boba gets in contact with Sugi, Latts Razzi and Seripas and would promise them a cut of Bane’s bounty if they managed to capture Bane alive and hold him hostage. They would have him exiled to Jabba’s palace and Nal Hutta, where he would be trialed for having sabotaged a Hutt’s carrier ship and killed a relative of the Hutts himself, so he would have been found guilty for crimes against the entire Hutt family. This was Boba’s plan to get rid of Bane in a peaceful manner without having to kill him.

Latts Razzi joins in and Sugi does too, whereas Seripas is a little bit of a coward so it takes more time for him to be convinced. Aurra Sing then spots Boba hiding in a street corner and becomes suspicious of him. She then sees the other two bounty hunters (Sugi and Latts) exiting the same alley and goes to inform Bane. Bane tells her that the boy needed to be taught a lesson but that for now they’d just be observing his moves to see where this goes. Boba then takes a ship with the excuse of going on an assignment from Bane, and Boba travels to Kessel trying to rally the miners to his cause. The miners are scared and don’t trust him at first, and they don’t want anything to do with it. Boba then manages to at least get a promise out of them that in case it would ever come to a direct confrontation, he could have their support – but for now he would just leave them be. The leader of the miners then takes Boba alone and tells him that he can count on him even if the others are too scared by their experience with Bane and don’t want anything to do with it. Boba would then sneakily travel to Florrum on one of his voyages and Todo would hide in the ship’s cockpit spying on Boba.

Boba would ask Hondo for support, and Hondo would tell him that this is their business and he wants nothing to do with it. He would then walk with Boba and have a conversation about how he knew Boba’s father and that he had great respect for him – and that Cad Bane’s methods are not honorable and are not the way Jango would have wanted things to go down (or at least that Jango understood that later in his life). He then gives Boba a jetpack and gives his allies heavy weapons and lets him leave, so this is in a way – Hondo’s way of supporting Boba without getting involved. When Boba leaves the pirates ask Hondo what they should do with the boy and Hondo tells them that if the boy dies then there’s nothing to them; but should he succeed – they will be ready to do a "cleanup" and scramble up all the richness that Bane had with him.

At this point, Boba completes the paint job on his armor making it green because he wants to be similar to his father but different – and show a different way to do bounty hunting. Boba is still a little shaken by the fact that Jango could have possibly worked with Cad Bane in the past, so he understands that his father wasn’t perfect and that regardless of what Hondo tells him – he’ll never learn the full truth because everyone around him seems to be telling him a distorted version of the past to try to manipulate him to one side or the other. So he decides to make up his own path.

Dengar, Bossk, and Embo ambush Boba upon his return to Serolonis, and hold him at gun point asking him what he’s been up to. When Boba asks them if they are doing Cad Bane’s bidding, they answer that they do their own bidding and that they were fairly neutral in the whole thing and were basically in favor of whomever wins. Since Cad Bane was now the one with the money and the resources – they follow him. Bossk and Dengar then decide to let Boba pass when Boba tells them what this is all about, and momentarily pretend to have joined him because Bossk says: "it’s always good to have more money" if the insurrection against Bane is successful. All of a sudden, Boba’s crew is ambushed, and Aurra Sing has taken sniping positions whereas Robonino started rigging up charges all the way to Bane’s central quarters, while Boba was busy with Bossk, Embo and Dengar. It would have been revealed that Bane had the natives build him some bipedal droids that were also small tanks packed with fire-arms; basically sentient sentries. They could be ridden but could also be programmed to act as sentient turrets by themselves. Twazzi is shown riding one of those.

Cato Parasitti had thus far shapeshifted into several civilians while Boba was doing his business behind Bane’s back – and she’d reported everything she knew to Bane, and Bane had very well realized what Boba was trying to do. The leader of the miners would have travelled to Serolonis at this point – telling Boba that he’s finally made up his mind and is ready for the battle Boba had promised him, and Boba gets him to do some sabotaging work on Bane’s equipment to try to stop Bane’s syndicate from exploiting the natives. When Bane learns of this, he takes the leader of the miners hostage; then calls for Boba, and has Robonino set up the mines all around his base so that when Boba comes with his new crew, they’ll be blown up (this was the buildup to the scene where Boba and his crew are ambushed).

This ensues in a big struggle as stated – where Sugi is killed off, Twazzi is blown up by a grenade, Latts Razzi engages in a hand to hand duel with Cato Parasitti where Cato is then shot accidentally by one of the turrets because Latts Razzi had used her as shield. Seripas decides to intervene at the last minute saving Boba from a shot on his back – and he would have thus been revealed to also have made up his mind and come back; while Bossk, Dengar and Embo defend themselves when momentarily acting as if they’re on Boba’s side.

As the struggle is done, Boba is furious and rushes to Bane’s quarters, only to find it rigged with explosives and he manages to get away just in the nick of time. He then spots Robonino on top of a rooftop who’s trying to run quickly to Bane to inform him that his attempt at blowing Boba up has failed, but Boba shoots him killing him. (The deaths of Twazzi, Robonino and Cato Parasitti are not emphasized and are only treated like "offscreen" clone deaths not to make the episode too dark. The only deaths that are emphasized are Sugi’s death for just a moment, but then mostly Aurra’s and Cad Bane’s deaths).

Bane then decides to show up seeing as to how Robonino was not responding anymore, and when Bane shows up, Dengar, Bossk, and Embo turn their guns on Boba and tell him that the boss was back and Boba had lost his insurrection; seeing as to how there were many casualties. Bane will reveal that he has taken the leader of the miners, Stim, hostage as well as Boba’s new friend – Seripas while they were distracted; calling him the "coward who’d risked his skin saving you". He then says that if he wanted to see them alive he would come to the square Bane would indicate to him and come quietly. Boba is furious for the death of his Bounty Hunter friends and the ones captured so he acts harshly but is subdued by Bossk and Embo, who hold him by the arms while Bane aims at Boba telling him: "well if you want to get it over with so quickly and don’t really care about your friends; fine by me, you can die like your father".

At that moment Aurra, who had taken a sniping position and was holding both Boba and Latts Razzi at gun point (Latts Razzi being disarmed and with her hands up) has a moment of doubt and immediately starts running down the roofs trying to stop Bane from killing Boba. Aurra steps in front of him telling Bane that harming Boba wasn’t part of their agreement and Bane would have said that the agreement has changed (as a nod to Vader’s Empire Strikes Back line: "I’m altering the deal"). Aurra starts to struggle with Bane, in the meantime, that gives Boba the chance to kick both Bossk and Embo and free himself from their grip, but a shot fired by Cad Bane almost hits Boba and Aurra Sing throws herself towards Boba getting shot in the back instead. Bane then has a thousand yard stare and says: "this is what happens when you try to play hero. More innocent people will die unless you lay down your gun and come quietly". Bane seems a little distraught by the death of Aurra so he leaves the scene taunting Boba telling him: "if you have the guts come find me, Fett!" and tells him he’ll be waiting in a square.

(Cue Standoff Clip) Cad Bane in the meantime is waiting and Boba shows up pissed. Cad Bane tells him not to be so hasty and that there was enough killing for the day – so he’s willing to let the hostages go if he surrenders. Highsinger is revealed to be holding both Seripas (out of the armor) and the miner’s leader, Stim. Bossk and Embo join the scene while Dengar is holding Latts Razzi (away from the scene). Bossk and Embo show some respect for the kid and allow him to take his shot. Boba and Bane have their show off (Boba’s jet pack was damaged during the struggle so he removed it) and Boba was now defenseless, out of grenades, almost out of shots etc. Boba and Cad Bane exchange shots, but Boba got a good shot at Bane’s head and kills him.

Episode ends with Boba bandaged on his head (having been rescued from the scene by Bossk, Embo and Highsinger) while recovering – and telling the bounty hunters that he wants to create his own crew, and bounty hunting syndicate with the money they had taken from Bane (even though a lot of it had been destroyed during the struggle, but there was still a bit left).

Boba Fett thus leads his father's legacy, and becomes the man he always was meant to be.

#boba fett #cad bane #bounty hunter #bounty hunters #star wars #star wars the clone wars #the clone wars #bossk #embo #aurra sing #dengar #hondo

80 notes · View notes