Boushh/Legends

"What happened to this Boushh? He retired?''" "''Quite suddenly. He tried to rascal Black Sun for more credits on a delivery for which there was an agreed-upon contract. That was&hellip;unwise."

- Guri, giving Boushh's outfit to Leia Organa

Boushh was a successful male Ubese bounty hunter active around the time of the formation of the Galactic Empire. Known for his melee skills and penchant for thermal detonators, Boushh was considered cool-headed in a profession often filled with trigger-happy mercenaries, and operated as a freelancer traveling from system to system looking for work. He wore a suit of customized Ubese armor&mdash;layers of brown survival material and an optically-enhanced helmet which both provided him with protection and obscured his identity. Although he made sure to never officially join the Bounty Hunters' Guild, Boushh worked for Crimson Nova, a sect of the Guild dedicated to hunting fugitive Jedi. During the Great Jedi Purge, he helped hunt Jedi Knight Kai Justiss alongside bounty hunters Zuckuss and Breela.

After that, Boushh began to work mainly for Black Sun, the largest criminal syndicate in the galaxy. In 18 BBY, he was sent to hunt down Kodo and Aleema Finn on Coruscant, but was intercepted by Jedi Padawan Drake Lo'gaan. Lo'gaan and Boushh fought, but ultimately allied together when hordes of Imperial stormtroopers raided the building. Lo'gaan escaped and Boushh was apprehended, but he was later released. Many years later, around 3 ABY, Boushh captured a Nimbanel for Black Sun, but in doing so spent a considerable amount of credits. He bartered with Xizor for a 50 percent greater payment; this was a mistake, as Xizor, feeling Boushh was becoming a hindrance, had his Human replica droid, Guri, kill the Ubese. Boushh's trademark armor was later used by Leia Organa on missions to infiltrate Coruscant and Jabba's Palace.

Boushh the bounty hunter
Boushh was an Ubese male from Uba IV who joined the bounty hunting profession early in his life, proving a keen combatant and expert hunter. Although he was slight of build, Boushh wore a suit of "armor," which consisted of layers upon layers of brown survival clothing, and an optically-enhanced helmet; this helped mold his reputation as a formidable and dangerous hunter. He acquired a horde of facial scars from his adventures, though because he hardly ever took off his mask in public, few ever saw them.

Boushh trusted no one, and often kept tabs on his employers, looking for information he could use against them should they attempt to betray him. He made few alliances during his time as a bounty hunter; he roamed the Outer Rim Territories, working for various different employers, rarely staying with one for more than a few months. He did, however, work alongside several other hunters on occasion, such as the Wookiee Snoova, and Beylyssa, a Human female. Beylyssa and Boushh both shared a love of explosives, but their partnership ended violently&mdash;neither of them was badly injured, though. Rumors abounded that Boushh sent much of his profits on to other struggling Ubese bounty hunters. It was surmised by many of his fellow bounty hunters that he was part of a network of elite Ubese mercenary units. However, these rumors were never proved and their accuracy was doubted by many.

Boushh also worked as part of Crimson Nova&mdash;a subset of Bounty Hunters' Guild dedicated to hunting down Jedi survivors of Order 66&mdash;for a time, and hunted Jedi Knight Kai Justiss on Garqi alongside fellow hunters Zuckuss and Breela at some point. Boushh's work with the group was limited, though, and he refused to properly join the Guild.

Working for Xizor
"They belonged to Boushh, an Ubese bounty hunter. Boushh was quite good at the trade. He did a lot of contract work for Black Sun. He&hellip;retired recently."

- Guri

Boushh occasionally worked for Black Sun, one of the largest criminal syndicates in the galaxy, though he was not formally tied to the organization. In 18 BBY, he was hired by Kreet'ah, a subordinate of the high-ranking Falleen known as Xizor, to kill two Omwati, Kodo and Aleema Finn on Coruscant. The two Finns had seemingly defeated a trio of Xizor's agents, and he wished them dealt with quietly and efficiently. Boushh infiltrated the Omwatis' abode, destroying a security guard and using a thermal detonator to blast away the outer wall. He was met by Drake Lo'gaan, a fugitive Jedi Padawan and a friend of the Finns. The two faced off for a time while another Jedi, Zonder, fled with Kodo and Aleema Finn. Lo'gaan demanded to know why Black Sun wanted to kill the Finns, though Boushh did not answer him. Eventually, their fight was interrupted&mdash;to the duo's surprise and fear&mdash;by a group of Imperial stormtroopers.

With a common enemy, Boushh and Lo'gaan began to work together against the stormtroopers, fighting back-to-back. Eventually, however, Boushh's twin blaster pistols were carried through the air by the Force by Imperial Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne, who had just arrived. Lo'gaan was able to flee, though Boushh was left defenseless against over a dozen stormtroopers, Tremayne, and his fellow Inquisitor Lanu Pasiq. Tremayne believed that Boushh was in fact Lo'gaan's associate and fellow Jedi, Ekria, in disguise, though he was disappointed to learn what was truly under the mask. Boushh was allowed to leave, and he returned to inform Xizor personally of his failure to kill the Finns. Some time after Boushh returned to Xizor's headquarters, Lo'gaan, Zonder, Ekria, and the Finns arrived to plead with Xizor for their lives. Xizor agreed, for a price, and the two Omwati were allowed to flee to the Outer Rim.

Other hunts
"In certain operations, I've found it useful to leverage the relatives of the target."

- Boushh

Some time later, Boushh was hired to protect Herglic gambler Narloch, who had a hefty bounty on his head for theft and fraud, from a group of bounty hunters. Boushh guarded Narloch while he gambled in a casino on the Wheel, where they were attacked by the bounty hunters. They fled to Dalos IV, though they were pursued; Boushh enlisted the help of several other mercenaries in order to protect Narloch, laying traps and explosives for his enemies. The pursuers managed to make their way to Dalos IV, where Boushh engaged them in a firefight in the hopes of allowing Narloch to escape. Instead, Boushh eventually fled, and Narloch was captured.

At some point during the Galactic Civil War, Boushh was hired by Administrator Lenc to capture Rebel-allied arms dealer Praaelon Di, after Di sold arms to both sides of a rebellion on Lenc's mining colony on Weldii III. Boushh researched Di before making a move, and learned that the gunrunner had a number of assassin droids and LM-432 crab droids at his disposal; thus, Boushh hired a number of other bounty hunters to assist him in the hunt. Boushh assembled the team with their abilities in mind, and the end result was that he had a group capable of countering Di's powerful droids. The bounty hunters clashed with Di aboard his ship, the Tri-Sun, with Di coming out on top. Boushh then traveled to Mine Shaft 342, Weldii III, where Lenc was overseeing repairs to his mine. Di, with more forces, including Rebel allies, arrived to kill Lenc; Boushh hoped to execute part of the bounty on the arms dealer. However, Praaelon Di was ultimately successful in his efforts, and Boushh did not capture him.

Sometime after the battle of Talus Boushh was tracking Corellian Security Force operative Corran Horn from the Emperor's Most Wanted, a list of high-paid bounties on important Alliance leaders. He was assisted by another bounty hunter, both agreed that using a direct approach in apprehending Horn would be difficult, Horn was difficult to ambush and even more difficult to deceive. Once the two agreed that Boushh would collect the bounty, he offered to capture Corran's father, Hal Horn, and lure Horn into a trap. The bounty hunters captured the elder Horn and moved him to a secure location, which was soon ambushed by Corran and several other CorSec operatives. However, Boushh's perimeter security alarm gave the bounty hunters the critical seconds necessary to withstand the initial assault, the battle soon turned into a standoff. The bounty hunters offered to let the elder Horn go if Corran would turn himself over to them. Refusing to allow harm to come to his father, Corran agreed to the ultimatum, allowing Boushh to cuff and capture himself.

Demise
Boushh continued to work as a freelancer for several years, though by the time of the Galactic Civil War, he frequently worked for Black Sun, particularly the vigo named Green. He blackmailed a vigo during this time, which earned him Xizor's ire. In 3 ABY, he was hired to capture a Nimbanel enemy of Black Sun; he succeeded, but the hunt ultimately cost him greatly, for he had to use much equipment and technology to capture his quarry. Boushh contacted Black Sun and requested that he be paid 50 percent extra, to which Xizor agreed; Boushh was told to meet with Xizor's Human replica droid, Guri, on a landing pad on Gelgelar to collect his money.

Guri came aboard Boushh's ship, and presented him with a metal case supposedly filled with credits. Ever paranoid, Boushh frisked Guri, finding no weapons, though he refused to open the case; he wanted her to open it, so that he could keep his blaster trained on her permanently. Guri obliged, and Boushh began to search through the credit chips, but he was momentarily incapacitated when a hidden dinko bit him. Guri took this opportunity to kick Boushh in the face, snapping his neck. Boushh had crossed the line with Black Sun, with both his demands for extra payment and his blackmailing of a vigo, and Xizor had ordered his death. Few knew of his death, though, which would later be used to others' advantage.

Some time later, Guri gave Boushh's armor to a leading member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, Leia Organa, on Rodia, so that she could infiltrate Coruscant to meet with Xizor. The suit fit Organa perfectly, and she and her friend Chewbacca&mdash;disguised as Snoova, Boushh's old partner&mdash;used it to get onto Coruscant without arousing suspicion. Organa kept the armor for use on later missions; in 4 ABY, she once again disguised herself as Boushh and brought Chewbacca to Jabba Desilijic Tiure's palace on Tatooine. During her time disguised as Boushh, she also participated in Jabba's demolition games, riding a speeder bike. Organa could speak Ubese, and because the mask concealed her true appearance, none suspected her deception. After she was captured, however, the armor was discarded by Jabba's minions. Despite this, few knew of Organa's ruse, and many suspected that Boushh was not dead, but merely retired.

Personality and traits
"Chorh-dha thought it would be better to send me. Someone you might trust more.''" "''[Laughs] Yo czhal."

- Guri, to Boushh

Boushh was paranoid and cautious to a fault, and always planned for and expected the worst. He trusted no one, expecting to be backstabbed, cheated, taken advantage of, and lied to at every turn. Whenever Boushh moved on to a new employer, he spent great deals of time searching for information on them, hoping for incriminating items; should someone attempt to deny him his due payment, he would blackmail and threaten them until they paid up. This led partially to his downfall; one of the reasons Xizor had him killed was that the Ubese hunter was blackmailing a Black Sun vigo.

Boushh cared more about his own life than money, and he had no qualms about turning down a bounty offer which would put him in any considerable danger, even for immense sums of money. When hired by Narloch, Boushh left the Herglic gambler for dead when he fled Dalos IV, demonstrating that he cared more for his own skin than fulfilling his mission. Despite this, Boushh was very greedy, and he often demanded extra credits after successfully capturing a bounty; he claimed that this was because he had used much resources in tracking them down, though this was often exaggerated.

Like most members of his species, Boushh had a fascination with technology of all sorts. He was known to use a wide array of small, easily-concealable gadgets while pursuing quarry, and had a love of all things explosive. He used explosives to make an impression, and played to his reputation for appearing somewhat suicidal, hoping that his targets would give themselves up in the erroneous knowledge that Boushh would blow himself up in order to take others down with him. However, he was also talented at close quarters combat, and often used small blades during his work. Boushh was also known to be a fearless and inventive bounty hunter, known for being cool and calculating in a profession of trigger-happy freelancers.

Equipment
Boushh wore a suit of customized "armor," made of use of the traditional Ubese Ogygian cloak. He wore many layers of rough survival clothing, light brown in color, with spiked, metal armor on his shoulders, neck, and wrists. Shata leather pants covered his legs, with traditional cream-colored Ubese boots. Boushh wore several bandoleers, packed tight with ammo pouches of explosives&mdash;projectile detonators, various types of grenades, and Thermal detonators&mdash;around his chest, and an Ubese clan belt-clasp around his waist.

Boushh's helmet allowed him to breathe Type I atmospheres; without it, such atmospheres would damage his lungs. The helmet also contained an audio pickup and broadband antenna, a speech scrambler, an optically-enhanced vision scanner, and a flash guard visor, which nullified the effect of any stun grenades. Boushh always carried numerous weapons with him: a force pike, a lance-blade, a heavy blaster pistol, and a pair of melee swords. He was also known to utilize an electrostaff.

Behind the scenes
Boushh was created for Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi in 1983. He first "appeared" in James Kahn's novel adaptation of the film; it is not revealed until after Boushh's first scene in Return of the Jedi that he is in fact Leia Organa in disguise. Boushh's costume appeared again in the Return of the Jedi film, though, unlike in the novel, his name was never given. He was voiced by Pat Welsh in Return of the Jedi. Boushh did not appear again until 1996, when Steve Perry used the character for his novel, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. The Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook expanded his backstory, but Boushh has been used infrequently for a movie character, only making a handful of other appearances. In 2000, Leia Organa, wearing Boushh's armor, is one of the playable characters in the video game, Star Wars: Demolition. However, unlike the majority of the characters developed for the game, a winning and losing cutscene for Leia were not added for the character. Paul Ens's Evasive Action: Prey&mdash;which contains the first image of an unmasked Boushh&mdash;is the only narrative source the character has appeared in, alive, to date.

Appearances

 * Evasive Action: Prey
 * No Disintegrations
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars: Demolition
 * Shadows of the Empire comic
 * Shadows of the Empire novel
 * Shadows of the Empire audio book
 * Shadows of the Empire junior novelization
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi novel
 * Return of the Jedi radio drama
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi junior novel
 * Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade
 * Taster's Choice: The Tale of Jabba's Chef
 * And Then There Were Some: The Gamorrean Guard's Tale
 * Let Us Prey: The Whiphid's Tale
 * A Free Quarren in the Palace: Tessek's Tale
 * The Mandalorian Armor
 * Slave Ship
 * Shield of Lies
 * Young Jedi Knights: Diversity Alliance
 * Shield of Lies
 * Young Jedi Knights: Diversity Alliance