She walked into the arena quietly. They both had a vendetta
to settle. She'd blown up his precious ship. He'd killed her new
liege. About equal in his mind, but she was still hungry for his
blood. She was Nymkatte. He was Boba Fett.

Fett stood there awaiting the bitch, or should he call her
the queen? Isn't that what they called female felines? He quite
admired her lithe form and snapping eyes. He wondered idly what
they'd look like as he fucked her 'til she bled.

Nymkatte snarled as she picked up his thoughts. "Bastard,"
She spat at him.

He smiled beneath his mandalorian armor.

So nice of the Hutts to do him this little favor of making
them the main attraction of a death match. He wondered what had made
them choose him and her for this. He doubted their little feud had
been brought to anyone's attention.

"I asked him for it. Do you really think a katte could be put
in this situation otherwise? It's too much in the public view for our
race for us to condone it." Nymkatte smiled cruelly. "I'm making an
exception for you."

So the Hutts owed her more favors than him huh? Damn. No help
from them, then. He cocked his weapon and nodded slowly. Would this
be a match between them only? She nodded. Good. He knew of her, just
as she knew of him. "Oh yes, little man. I know. I won't touch your
child, but I know."

He only barely controlled his reaction. There was one way he
knew that she could be completely even with him. His own death, or
his child's. He tightened his grip on his weapon. He trusted her
promise to leave his child alone as much as she trusted him to keep
her liege alive. He attacked.

Nymkatte dodged and returned every hit that he sent her. She
shifted part way and her claws tore at his armor. He winced and
sprang back in surprise as her claws penetrated to his skin. How the
hells? What were her claws made of?!?

Boba brought out a little surprise from his armor, a two shot
blaster. Nymkatte winced and growled as she was hit with the second
shot on the shoulder. She rabbit kicked him with suddenly transformed
pawed clawed feet. He jumped back and rolled.

It turned into a knock down, drag out war between them both.
Nothing was going to stop them. Death was the only answer for the
end. She shifted, scratched, bit, and did every single move in her
arsenal. He countered with kicks, punches, and shots from HIS arsenal.

He pulled out a plasma gun and sent several shots in her
direction. She leapt and sprang up onto fallen columns, barely
dodging the shots. He brought out a pin point blaster. One of the
volley of shots cut across her forearm. She fell and snarled at him,
clutching her arm. He took a grenade and pulled the tab. It was old,
but still an effective explosion when it went off as it landed in
front of her.

The crowd gathered by the Hutts gambled on the outcome and
cheered or booed with every hit or miss. Fett's respect for her
talents went up just as much as his anger and fear for his child did.
Her anger was blind and she saw nothing but his death in her mind.
Gone was the absolute lover. In her place was a fierce warrior, ready
to bring the reaper.

Nymkatte faded into the shadows for a moment. Boba Fett
looked around and spun as a bit of rock crunched behind him. His eyes
focused on the tiger-sized black feline just as she pounced him. They
rolled. She scratched and bit and tore at him. He fended her off with
his armor plated forearms. He thanked the makers of the mandalorian
armor for the absolute protection the armor provided. Right up until
she intensified her attack on his face plate. The diamond sharp claws
began making deep scratches in the face plate. He gathered his
strength and tossed her off.

Who knows how long this would have gone on? The two of them
were well matched and the outcome was impossible to guess at. Neither
one was slacking off for a second. It was like watching a Dragonball
Z Episode series of Goku versus Vegeta. The absolute heat of their
battle made even the spectators fall silent after awhile. There was
nothing to be gained in this. There was going to be no winner,
because they were going to kill themselves in the process of killing
the other.

The two combatants stood facing each other, Nymkatte bleeding
from her arm, Fett gripping his broken ribs. His armor was slashed
and scraped up by her claws. She was pockmarked from his shots. They
panted, looking nearly dead. She roared, a scream unlike any heard in
this system before. It was eerie and unearthly. He pulled himself up
and stood silently proud. They began racing towards one another again.

Just before they could lock combat again, a final battle that
would kill them both, they were suddenly blown apart by a strong
blast of force. Nymkatte pulled herself up and turned snarling
towards the arena entrance. Boba Fett shook his head and tried to
pull his wits together as he stood up leaning against the wall.

In strode a malevolent figure in pitch black armor. He
gestured at each of them with sharp cursory gestures, and his white
armored troops had them in custody quickly. Nymkatte glared at the
StormTroopers, but submitted to their capture. She was in no
condition to fight them, too. Fett merely looked at the men who
seemed incredibly wary to lay hands on him and smirked behind the
face plate. He nodded slowly and left with them. The Hutts would have
to wait another day for the conclusion of this battle.

___________________________________

It was much later as she was being tenderly cared for on the
imperial star destroyer that the katte began to wonder why them? Fett
lay on a table near her, His wounds being looked at behind a solid
black drapery under dim lights by a blind doctor. She had nearly
laughed at the conditions he'd insisted on. The only one capable of
controlling the two of them, Lord Vader, stood in the doorway. His
arms were crossed and he watched the medics closely.

Being the female that she was, Nymkatte preened and stretched
her lithe body provocatively. Even though any reaction she would have
on him would remain hidden to most others behind that implacable
mask, she could feel the emotions radiating from him. She smiled. He
was so like Exar...

"I trust, Lady Katte, that I will have more luck in my fate
than he had in his."

Nymkatte scowled darkly. Two things bothered her. The implied
insult to her lost love, and the fact that for the first time ever, a
mere HUMAN had been able to read her. The fact that he seemed to have
been able to read her easily bothered her more. He radiated pure
satisfaction at her reaction. She scowled darkly at him.

Fett pulled back the curtain, fully geared one more in his
damaged armor. Vader gestured to one of the stormtroopers escorting
the blind doctor away. "Bring him the means for repairs to his kit."

Boba nodded his thanks and said in his masked voice, "I have
all that I need on my ship."

Vader turned his blank metal stare on him. "She blew it up."

Fett spun on her and reached out to deck her. Vader raised
his hand and, for the 50th time since he'd brought them on board,
controlled him through the force. Fett finally subsided and Nymkatte
purred sweetly. "It was even easier than the last time." Fett
controlled his actions only through sheer force of will.

Darth Vader breathed heavily through his mask several times
and then said, "It will be replaced. I have a job for you. It
involves the Millennium Falcon..."

___________________________________

It was again much later that Nymkatte paced her cell like a
caged animal. She was one actually. She alternately shifted from
feline to human several times. It was the feline that hissed at the
opening door as Lord Vader entered once more. "Have you rethought my
proposition?"

She turned her back to him and licked at her fur. She ignored
him completely. It impressed Vader very much that she would be so
bold. It amused him. Not much amused him these days. He sighed. "You
WILL submit to my demands eventually. I have many ways to make you
talk." Nymkatte hissed at him and the door opened once more to admit
a round black globe of a droid. The door closed once more rather
ominously.

_____________________________________

She lay there in her human form a long time later as a medic
once more patched her up. Even her own healing forces could not keep
up with this torment. This last one had been excessively painful.
He'd managed somehow to penetrate her genetic makeup and her mental
facilities. He was only a human! It wasn't possible! Yet, somehow it
had happened. He was beginning to terrify her. She now recalled
Deathkatte's warnings about the sith and cringed in helpless
hindsight.

____________________________________

She stood defiantly before him. She had been stripped nude
and was held forcefully against him. "You little idiot." He spoke in
that strange gasping voice. "The emperor is stronger than anything
you have ever known. He is stronger than even you." She spit on his
mask. "Bitch."

Nymkatte held herself proudly. Being nude had not had the
effect hoped for. She was as comfortable in her own skin as it was
possible to be. "Not a bitch. I am a KATTE!"

____________________________________

Darth Vader paced his rooms. He was disturbed. This female
would never bend, not to his will, not to the emperor's. He knew the
truth. She was stronger than them both. He had merely found the gap
that he needed when she'd shown that bit of sexual interest in him.
That bothered him.

His fist crashed into the wall. Neither of his trainings
helped him now. Love had been forbidden him. This Lust was doubly so.
He looked down at his armor and closed his eyes. He was incapable of
it, but he still felt it. He tore off his helmet and threw it against
the wall with a roar. He stood there gasping and fell to his knees,
dying. He fumbled for his helmet at last and pulled it back on. He
lay there on the floor gasping for long moments before he found
enough strength to go to his healing chamber.

__________________________________

He was at the bridge when the news came of her escape. He
acted the perfect controlled outrage and punished the guards. He
turned and strode to make his report to the emperor. His master
nodded saying he had foreseen it. They would not be the one to bring
down the Katte race, and he would not even care to try. They were
less than nothing to him, beyond his territory.

That night, Vader lay in stasis in his chaise lounge chair
watching the stars. He held the lock of her silver tipped hair in his
hand. Perhaps one day, he would see even her star.