The Last One Standing : The Tale of Boba Fett " The Last One Standing : The Tale of Boba Fett " is a short story written by Daniel Keys Moran and published by Bantam Spectra in the " Tales of the Bounty Hunters " anthology . It focuses on bounty hunter Boba Fett , though also features passages written from the point of view of war criminal Kardue ' sai ' Malloc and Han Solo , former smuggler and hero of the Rebellion . The early portions of the book deal with a number of incidents in Boba Fett ' s early life , documenting his fixation on and rivalry with Han Solo , and establishing much of his background . After jumping time frames a number of time the story reaches 19 ABY and stays there for its duration . After an older Fett successfully captures Kardue ' sai ' Malloc , the Butcher of Montellian Serat , to pay for his retirement , he and his old nemesis Solo end up facing off on Jubilar , where they first met . The story ends in a cliffhanger , with each man pointing a gun at the other from a close range . The story had received mixed reaction since its publication in 1996 . Some fans believe Moran ' s portrayal of Fett is too emotional and human for an antagonist , but it is considered by many to be the best " Star Wars " short story , while published " Star Wars " authors Kevin J . Anderson and Abel G . Peña rank it highly . Boba Fett ' s backstory as established by " The Last One Standing " was originally considered canon , but it was superseded with the release of , which made Fett a clone of his father . " " and the " New Essential Guide to Characters " fixed this problem with a number of retcon s , and while it is still canon , " The Last One Standing " has been marginalized by a number of other works , both in terms of in - universe historical details and in terms of Fett ' s characterization . Production . In the mid 1990s , " Star Wars " author Kevin J . Anderson conceived the idea of compiling anthologies of short stories centered around various background characters appearing in the " Star Wars " saga , whose backstory had by - and - large only been touched upon by West End Games sourcebooks . Publisher Bantam Spectra and Lucasfilm ' s Director of Publishing Lucy Wilson were enthusiastic about the idea , and Anderson set about inviting various authors , some of whom had prior experience working in the " Star Wars " universe , to pen stories for the first anthology , " Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina " . It covered many characters seen fleetingly in in sixteen short stories . Among the invitees was Daniel Keys Moran , author of the Bantam - published " Continuing Time " series , who had been recommended to Anderson by Heather McConnell , Moran ' s partner and an editor at Bantam . Moran penned " " , basing the story around Kathy Tyers ' contribution to the project , " " . Anderson was impressed by Moran ' s submission , and it was approved by Lucasfilm , with minor changes such as the removal of the word " whores . " The anthology was eventually published in August , 1995 , over ten months after the idea was approved by Lucasfilm . A second anthology , " Tales from Jabba ' s Palace " , was approved soon after the first , and Moran was again invited by Kevin J . Anderson to contribute towards it by authoring a story about Boba Fett , who appeared in both and . Attracted by the " strong , silent , brutal " character of Fett , Moran agreed , and turned in an outline for a story depicting what happened to Fett after he fell into the sarlacc in " Return of the Jedi " . Moran ' s outline established that the sarlacc was self - aware , and that Fett spent many years in its bowels before his escape ; it was initially approved . However , Lucasfilm later requested that Moran change the story to make Fett stay in the sarlacc just a few days , and that it could not be sentient as he wished . Moran revised it until Lucasfilm was satisfied but he was unhappy with the final product and opted to use a pseudonym — J . D . Montgomery — despite the wishes of Lucasfilm . No " Star Wars " author had previously used a pseudonym with Bantam , but Moran insisted that they either publish the revised piece with the pseudonym or publish the original submission without it . In the anthology ' s " About the Authors " appendix , the issue of the pseudonym was jestingly glossed over , with the piece stating that J . D . Montgomery " does not exist … not really . " The story , " " , was published in January , 1996 . Relations between Lucasfilm and Moran were strained and he doubted he would get an opportunity to write for Kevin J . Anderson ' s final collection , " Tales of the Bounty Hunters " . Anderson , however , was keen to use Moran as one of the four authors aside from himself to work on the third anthology . He contacted Moran and asked him to pen the Boba Fett story . Daniel Keys Moran was surprised by Anderson ' s offer , knowing that it could generate friction between Anderson and Lucasfilm and that it was something of a gamble on his part . Moran suspected that Anderson himself knew it wasn ' t in his best interests to offer him the job , which he admired . After clarifying with Anderson that he would get to write without undue interference from Lucasfilm , Moran accepted and began to work on an outline . His short story would take place over various periods in Fett ' s life : when he was exiled from his homeworld ; his first meeting with Han Solo during one of his early missions as a bounty hunter ; a brief recounting of the events in " The Empire Strikes Back " and " Return of the Jedi " ; a mission , fifteen years after " Return of the Jedi " , which is to provide Fett with a hefty retirement fund ; and a showdown with his old nemesis , Han Solo , shortly after . He also settled on the title " The Last One Standing , " which was never changed . After finishing his outline , Moran decided that if Lucasfilm was unhappy with any substantial part of it , he would not write the story and would request that someone else be found to take his place — this was made easier by the fact that there was little money involved in the anthologies to such an extent that , according to Moran , he was essentially writing the stories out of love for the " Star Wars " franchise . He turned in his outline to Anderson and told him his thoughts on the matter ; Anderson liked the outline and told Moran to write the story . He promised to protect it from any major changes by Lucasfilm , and Moran set about working on his first draft . Moran enjoyed writing the story , and it became one of his favorite self - authored works . He kept in contact with Kevin J . Anderson while writing it — after writing the scene in which Kardue ' sai ' Malloc is put to death in a pit of starving , vicious quarra , he sent Anderson a letter telling him , " When I ' m old and have sons , I will tell them , ' Daddy was bad once . ' " After finishing his first draft , Moran sent it to Anderson who in turn sent it to Lucasfilm . Some minor changes were made , particularly to some of the harsh language , with " hell " and " damn " specifically being removed despite appearing in the films and many Expanded Universe works since . The town on Jubilar mentioned in the story was originally called " Halfway to Hell " and later " Hell , " but were changed to " Dying Slowly " and " Death . " Moran would have preferred the changes weren ' t made , but had no real qualms about them and didn ' t object . At another point , a segment of one line in the story was removed : " If this is Han , buddy , you owe me five hundreds credits if I get back , you ' ve been betting on the slow ones lately " was changed to simply , " If this is Han , buddy , you owe me five hundreds credits if I get back , " with no explanation of why . The change annoyed Moran but he again made no issue about it . However , Lucasfilm did have a major issue with Kardue ' sai ' Malloc ' s death scene . An individual at LFL hated the scene and did not want it included in the final product under any circumstances . Moran and Lucasfilm corresponded over the issue , during which the scene was referred to by LFL as " the torture scene . " However , Anderson honored his promise to Moran and the scene stayed in , with no changes . The story was finally given the all - green and published along with four others in " Tales of the Bounty Hunters " . Continuity . Originally this story was considered to be the official background story for Boba Fett , but when was released , its depiction of Fett ' s childhood contradicted the Jaster Mereel backstory . " " retcon ned the Jaster Mereel character to be a different individual : the mentor of Fett ' s father , Jango Fett . Boba Fett took Jaster ' s name as an alias during his time as a Journeyman Protector , thus saving the story from being apocryphal .