brilliant red. He was bright, secretive, and he was one of the few bond
servants that Jabba trusted.
Barada should have been able to buy his own freedom from the Hutt,
butJabba had cheated Barada out of his freedom for far too long. Jabba
would have been wiser to free the creature and employ him honestly.
Instead, the Hutt would learn too late that his trust had been
misplaced.
"Today is the day, my friend," Tessek answered softly. "You will earn
your freedom. All is well? Everything is secure?" He dared not speak
more openly in asking if the bomb was planted on Jabba's skiff.
Barada closed his eyes in acknowledgment. "I stayed up all day
preparing Jabba's skiff, but before I came to rest, there was a matter
of interest that I learned of."
"Which is?"
"More members of the Rebel Alliance have found their way into Jabba's
palace!"
Tessek hissed with displeasure. "Tell me of it."
"The woman disguised as a Ubese bounty hunter who delivered Han Solo's
Wookiee friend, then tried to rescue Solo? We have ascertained her
identity. She is none other than Leia Organa, princess of Alderaan.
And Jabba has her chained at his feet."
"That cretin," Tessek said. "Doesn't Jabba recognize how dangerous that
is? Keeping Han Solo was impetuous enough, and adding the Wookiee was
foolhardy.
But imprisoning the princess? Surely the Rebel Alliance will effect a
rescue!"
"Jabba thinks not. You should have heard him laugh when he learned her
identity."
"Jabba may laugh now, but we shall see who has the last laugh!
Our plots will bear fruit soon, and I for one shall breathe easier once
I put these Rebel heroes from the palace."
Tessek spun away, left the room, his cloaks swishing.
So many things to worry about. Rebel attacks, Jabba's spies, the vile
hints from some longdead monk, the stupidity of Tessek's own men,
murderers in the palace.
And the uncertainty of the success of Tessek's own planned attack
against Jabba.
Suddenly he heard the amused roar of Jabba the Hutt coming up from the
hallway below himmat a time when the Hutt normally would still be
sleeping.
Obviously, someone was in trouble. Tessek hurried down to the audience
chamber.
Everyone was awake. Bib Fortuna stood between Jabba and a young man
dressed in dark robes. The lad warned Jabba, "Nevertheless, I'm taking
Captain Solo and his friends. You may either profit from this--or be
destroyed."
The young man spoke with dignity, and there was so much threat implied
by his tone that Tessek found his hearts pounding in his chest, found
himself desperately hoping that Jabba would free his prisoners.
"Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho," Jabba laughed, then said in Huttese, "There will
be no bargain, young Jedi!"
Tessek could not see through the crowd of people, and stood higher to
get a better look. One of Jabba's droids began to shout a warning to
the Jedi, butJabba pressed a button, opened the trapdoor to his dungeon
just as the youngJedi mysteriously drew a blaster, mis-firing it into
the air.
The young Jedi slid into the rancor pit, along with one of the Gamorrean
guards. Most of the palace residents rushed forward to watch the
ensuing battle, but Tessek held back, simply stared in horror at Jabba.
The mad Hutt had no sense of propriety. To kill an ambassador from the
Rebel Alliance was unthinkable.
For a few moments there was pandemonium as the huge greenish-brown
rancor roared and stalked his victims. Yet the battle that raged in the
rancor pit was short-lived, and ended with the rancor's death and Jabba
Within a minute, Jabba lined up the Rebel heroes and decreed their death
sentences: "You will be taken to the Great Pit of Carkoon and fed to the
mighty Sarlacc. There, in his bowels, over a thousand years you will
learn a new definition of pain and suffering!"
Within moments the palace was bustling as Jabba's goons prepared for the
journey. The Hutt began shouting orders: "Ready my sail barge!
Stock it with supplies! We leave within hours!"
Obviously, Jabba knew it was too dangerous to try to keep the Jedi
captive long, yet the cousin to a slug so fervently desired extracting a
painful revenge that he could not just terminate the young man.
Tessek's skin went cold. The trip to the Great Pit of Carkoon would
take up the whole afternoon. Prefect Talmont would raid the warehouse
in Mos Eisley while it was empty. Tessek had to change his plans.
As everyone hustled about, Tessek rushed forward to the Hutt. The
stench of decay and illegal spices was thick on the monster's breath.
Jabba turned his dark eyes downward. "Your Majesty," Tessek urged,
"perhaps you should reconsider this foolish mission. By killing the
heroes of the Rebel Alliance, you would only bring the wrath of the
Alliance down upon you. It is possible that they already have ships in
orbit, waiting to attack."
"Ho, ho, ho, ho," Jabba laughed. "Attack my fortress?
I would like to see them try."
Jabba reached into his food box, pulled out a wriggling creature, put it
on his tongue and flipped it into his mouth.
"Perhaps the Alliance forces are only waiting for you to leave the
palace, expose yourself to attack," Tessek offered.
Jabba did not answer immediately, but his eyes widened in fear.
It was a most logical argument.
"Yes, yes," Jabba said. "We must be careful. We will go to Carkoon,
but only with a full contingent of warriors.
Go, prepare yourself, Tessek, for a trip aboard my pleasure craft."
Tessek tried not to show his fear. It would only entice and gratify the
Hutt. "But Master, I cannot go into the desert. I--my skin would dry
out."
"HO, ho, ho, ho," Jabba laughed, and Tessek knew that he had no choice
but to accompany the Hutt.
The thought of Tessek's pain amused the monster.
"But Master," Tessek argued, "we have important business to take care
of. Remember the spice ship from Kessel? We must inspect the cargo
today! Perhaps . . . perhaps I should go to Mos Eisley and inspect it
for you."
Jabba's eyes narrowed and he licked his tongue.
Jabba was very fond of spice, and he would need part of that shipment
for himself. Yet, he distrusted Tessek.
"Yes, yes," Jabba said thoughtfully, his deep voice echoing throughout
the room in Huttese, "the spice · . . will just have to wait. Go,
prepare yourself for the trip to Carkoon. I will have you at my side!"
Trapped. Tessek was trapped. The monk's words echoed in Tessek's mind:
"he plots your own untimely demise." Surely Jabba suspected Tessek, and
those whom Jabba suspected rarely lived long. Indeed, Jabba was amused
by Tessek's fear of dehydration, and just as Han Solo had spent weeks
frozen in carbonite while hanging on Jabba's wall, Tessek imagined his
own desiccated hide, dried until he was mummified, hanging as an
ornament on Jabba's
wall.
"Surely I am little more than an accountant," Tessek argued.
"Others here could handle such matters far better than I."
"Nevertheless," Jabba assured him, "your presence is not just desired;
it is required. I have great plans for you."
Tessek ran to his room, began plotting furiously.
Three or four hours was all he had.
It would be too late to call off Prefect Talmont's raid on Jabba's
warehouse. Tessek didn't have time to send a written message to
Talmont's agents in Mos Eisley. Tessek would have to talk to Talmont
after the fact, get him to raid the premises again on some future date.
Tessek considered the bomb in Jabba's skiff. If Jabba wanted to
maintain his fullest military presence, the Hutt would bring the skiff
along, load it down with henchmen, and use it as a protective outrider
in case nder such conditions, it would not take much for the bomb to go
off--a spark from a hot capacitor, a stray shot. It was a big bomb--big
enough so that if Jabba's sail barge were close when it detonated, the
bomb might destroy the entire sail barge, tOO.
Tessek didn't have time to dismantle the bomb. Inn deed, Jabba's men
and droids were probably already scrambling onto the skiff, loading it
for the trip.
Tessek had but one recourse. He would have to escape during the chaotic
preparations. He packed a small bag with some credit chips and
clothing, a few extra weapons. Then he rushed down to the ground
floors, dodging other minions.
As he passed Jabba's throne room, he noticed Yarna, Jabba's fat dancer,
a woman with six large breasts, reach into a secret compartment of
Jabba's throne and stuff some small gems into her bra. She saw him,
stopped in the act, and stared.
"Please," she whispered in Huttese. "It's not for me. It's for my
cubs. I'm leaving, and I won't be back."
For half a moment Tessek halted, thinking that if he turned the woman
in, he would appear to be more faithful in Jabba's eyes.
Instead, he shrugged at the woman, then proceeded to the motor pool.
The great hall was alive with dozens of creatures preparing the weapons,
chefs bringing food to the vehicles.
Normally, Barada's droids kept a keen watch on the bay, but it was a
madhouse at the moment, lit by the ship's running lights.
Sauntering over to the swoop bikes under the shadow of Jabba's sail
barge, Tessek knelt to inspect each one. The swoops were little more
than heavy repulsorlift engines on a frame just big enough to support
some stabilizers. They could travel fast and far, but offered no
protection from the elements or offensive weaponry. But at the moment,
Tessek wanted only speed.
He found what looked to be the fastest bike, then switched fuel rods so
that he had a full supply. He straddled it and looked at the big heavy
blast doors.
He would need to get them open in order to make an escape, butJabba
would never open the doors until he was ready to go. Opening those wide
doors was the surest way to leave the palace exposed to attack. Yet it
took a skilled operator sitting in the control room to open the door,
someone who knew the proper codes to disengage the locks.
Barada could open them, but if he did, Jabba would have the creature
killed. Tessek sat and considered what type of bribes he might offer
for such assistance.
"Tessek? Tessek? Where are you?" It was Ortugg, the Gamorrean guard,
sent to keep watch on Tessek.
Tessek could not leave, so he hurried the bike under the shadows of the
sail barge. Ortugg grunted, and the guard's mail rattled as he circled
the sail barge--by far the biggest vehicle in the motor pool.
"Come now," Ortugg growled. "You wouldn't be trying to hide from His
Majesty, would you?"
The sounds of droids at work came from inside the sail barge.
Tessek looked at one of the side panels behind the barge's kitchens,
noticed that it was unlatched.
It gave Tessek an idea. Perhaps he could escape from the barge itself.
Certainly, there would be enough of a commotion as the Rebel heroes
suffered their torture.
Lifting the swoop, TesSek stuffed it into the hold of the barge.
He was just locking the panel down when Ortugg growled at his back.
"Aaargh. What are you up to?"
"We're preparing to leave," Tessek said, turning to face the Gamorrean.
"i came down here to board the barge, but apparently no one else is
ready to go yet."
Ortugg's red eyes narrowed. "Not go for an hour.
You come with me," Ortugg growled, clutching Tessek's arm. "Jabba not
want you slinking around down here."
Tessek did not try to shake the guard's hand off his arm. Ortugg was
notorious for his strength, and the big Gamorrean simply pulled hard
enough so that Tessek could either follow or be dragged.
Ortugg pulled him up into the sail barge, then sat with him next to
Jabba's throne. It was dark in the barge, and it smelled faintly of
mold and disuse.
Tessek gulped hard, noticed the knot in his stomach.
He hadn't eaten dinner yet, and he thought longingly of the mollusks
stored in his room, imagined prying them open with his four feelers.
Ortugg pulled out his own heavy blaster and began cleaning the
carbonized scoring that had built up on its barrel tip. When he was
done, he pointed the barrel at Tessek's right eye and asked, "How clean
that look?"
"Clean. Very clean," Tessek said.
Ortugg held the blaster pointed at Tessek's face for a long time.
"Jabba no trust you," he said finally, as he laid the gun on his lap.
"That too bad for you."
"Jabba will find out just how loyal I really am soon enough," Tessek
said.
"Too bad for you," Ortugg grunted again.
Tessek sat, lost in reverie for the next hour as the sail barge began to
fill to overflowing. Half a dozen of Jabba's most trusted henchmen took
seats within reach of Tessek. Last of all, Jabba himself came in,
dragging Princess Leia in her chains. Jabba sat himself on his dais,
and almost immediately the barge lurched into action while the band
struck up a loud tune.
The barge floated out over the dunes, bouncing over hills like a ship
dipping in the troughs of mountainous waves. As the barge continued to
heat up, Jabba had his men open some of the side panels so that
brilliant yellow light from Tatooine's twin suns lit the interior.
Hot, dry air wafted through the rooms.
Tessek didn't speak, hardly thought. He had nothing to say to the
monsterJabba or to his other captors.
Instead, he was filled with fear, like a cup that is overflowing, until
the fear seemed to leak out in his scent, in the ink that dripped from
the corner of his mouth, in every nervous tremor.
As the craft warmed, Tessek's skin began to itch and crack, drying him
in odd spots--between the feelers at his mouth, over the ridges on his
face. The normal healthy gray skin blanched to white. Sickly dark blue
blotches began appearing at the back of his palms.
Strictly speaking,
Tessek's closest biological relatives were clams and
slugs. But the Quarren species had long ago adapted to spending time on
land, at least on a limited basis. Still, he needed water to keep
himself pliant. Otherwise, his skin would crack and bleed--so that he
would lose moisture even faster--and given enough time under such
circumstances, he would die.
Yet Tessek didn't worry about succumbing slowly to moisture loss by
degrees. He worried instead about the look in Leia's eyes: there was a
fierceness there, a confidence that had been lacking the day before.
Even (did he only imagine it?) a restrained anger.
Surely, Leia had not succumbed to Jabba's ministrations.
She had not lost her spirit. Even now, she was holding herself in
check, waiting for rescue.
As Tessek watched her, he became more certain: the Rebel Alliance would
ambush the sail barge soon.
Jabba was feasting on live creatures, smoking a giant hookah, his eyes
pleasantly glazed. His henchmen leaned in close.
Tessek wanted suddenly to speak to Leia, let her know that he was an