His attacker attacker suddenly swung back around and began shooting. As Fett returned fire, he recognized Gaege Xarran's features. The exchange exacted a toll on both men... Xarran took a bolt in the left leg, sending the General stumbling back behind cover; Fett was grazed in the right arm and his feeling in the limb abruptly tingled into numbness. The rifle tumbled from Fett's grasp and he had to make a choice. Quickly. The hunter threw himself into the room just as a blaster bolt sin ged the floor where he had been microseconds before. Fett rolled into the large office and came up with his remaining wrist ready to go; however, his tracker unit told him that Rivo must be in the refresher. That door was closed, so Fett kept most of his attention focused on the room's entrance. He was suddenly sorry that he had vaporized the front door. Fett crawled over to the wall, pushing his back against it. His right arm still dangled uselessly at his side. Luckily his left arm was uninjured, allowing him to keep the wrist laser aimed at the door-way. The bounty hunter didn't have time to admonish himself for carelessness. Time was too precious now. Rapid yet rational decisions would mean the difference between life and death, success and failure. He could feel his heart surging in his chest. The outcome was in doubt for the first time. Oddly enough, he rather enjoyed it.

Fett began with a quick appraisal of his situation. Rivo would have to be mostly ignored at the moment. Even if he did come out shooting, the man was not combat-trained. Gaege Xarran was trained, however... Fett had learned the man once served as a member of the Imperial Royal Guard. And while the General might have been past his prime, he was still very well-armed.
On the other hand, Fett's armor had lost many of its secondary systems. While the basic suit was functioning, his sensor arrays were off-line and he could not direct any power to most of the weapons. The
communication units were undamaged, but relatively useless at the moment. The only intact item that could prove helpful was his jet pack. Things were not looking good...

Without his sensors, he had no way of knowing if or when the General would come around the door-frame firing. Even worse, Fett could not defend himself, other than in hand-to-hand combat. And at the moment he was short one hand. Fett reached into one of his pouches and withdrew his final thermal detonator. He would not allow himself to be captured. He would take his enemies with him. Then he saw it...Xarran's blaster had been equipped with a spot luma. In his frenzied state, the General must not have realized that it also gave away his otherwise stealthy approach.

By watching the halo of light increase in intensity, Fett could estimate exactly how far away Xarran was at the moment, Fett quickly performed another analysis of the
room and formulated a new plan. The bounty hunter barely resisted the urge to grin as he quickly set the delay on the thermal detonator. He glanced up once more at the ever-brightening light outside door and lowered his left hand, gently rolling the silver sphere toward the doorway. A moment later, General Gaege
Xarran whirled around the corner expertly scanning the room with his blaster. "It's over!" he screamed triumphantly, just as something clicked against his boot. Xarran looked down at the thermal detonator in horror.

"Yes," Fett said. "It is..." And a microsecond-long burst from his jet pack sent the hunter streaking across the room. Before Xarran could even think about reacting, Fett was at the far end of the office and safely hidden behind a large desk. The explosion that followed rocked the entire floor sending the General to oblivion. -Pg.51-52