Zorba the Hutt's Revenge

Star Wars

Jedi Prince

Book 3

Zorba the Hutt’s Revenge

by Paul Davids and Hollace Davids

updated : 11.XI.2006

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The Rebel Alliance

Luke Skywalker

Han Solo

Ken

Lando Calrissian

Princess Leia

Chewbacca

Chip

Kate (KT-18)

The Empire

Trioculus

Grand Moff Hissa

Zorba the Hutt

CB-99

Supreme Prophet Kadann

Tibor

Twi’lek alien

Triclops

source : IRC

upload : 18.IX.2006

The Adventure Continues...

It was an era of darkness, a time when the evil Empire ruled the galaxy. Fear and terror spread across every planet and moon as the Empire tried to crush all who resisted-but still the Rebel Alliance survived.

The Rebel Alliance was formed by heroic men, women, and aliens, united against the Empire in their valiant fight to restore freedom and justice to the galaxy. Luke Skywalker joined the Alliance after his uncle purchased a pair of droids known as See-Threepio (C-3P0) and Artoo-Detoo (R2-D2). The droids were on a mission to save the beautiful Princess Leia. Leia, an Alliance leader, was a captive of the Empire. In his quest to save Princess Leia, Luke was assisted by Han Solo, the dashing pilot of the spaceship Millennium Falcon, and Han’s copilot, Chewbacca, a hairy alien known as a Wookiee.

Han and Luke eventually succeeded in rescuing the Rebel Princess, but their struggle against the Empire did not end there. Luke and his ragtag group of Rebel freedom fighters battled armor-clad stormtroopers and mile-long star destroyers. Finally they destroyed two of the Empire’s mightiest weapons: the Imperial Death Stars, which were as big as moons, and powerful enough to explode entire planets.

In the course of his adventures Luke sought out the wise old hermit, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who became one of Luke’s teachers in the ways of the Jedi Knights. The Jedi Knights, an ancient society of brave and noble warriors, were the protectors of the Old Republic in the days before the Empire was formed. The Jedi believed that victory comes not just from physical strength but from a mysterious power called the Force. The Force lies hidden deep within all things. It has two sides: one side that can be used for good, the other the Dark Side, a power of absolute evil. Among those who followed the Dark Side were the two evil Imperial leaders-Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. After their deaths, a three-eyed mutant and tyrant rose to lead the Empire-Trioculus. However, he was an impostor who falsely claimed to be Emperor Palpatine’s son. He was secretly in love with Princess Leia and hoped that one day he would persuade her to betray the Rebel Alliance and join the Empire as his queen. Trioculus was warned by Kadann, the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side, that his reign as Emperor would come to a sudden and tragic end if he failed to find and destroy a certain Jedi Prince. The prince, Ken, was only twelve years old. He was raised by droids in an underground city known as the Lost City of the Jedi. It was there, in the Jedi Library, that Ken had learned certain Imperial secrets that, if revealed, could threaten Trioculus’s rule.

Trioculus was unable to find either Ken or the Lost City. However, Luke Skywalker was able to succeed where Trioculus had failed. Having located the Jedi Prince, Luke invited Ken to leave the underground city and join the Rebel Alliance.

Many creatures in the galaxy followed the treacherous path of the Dark Side-among them, a greedy alien gangster known as Jabba the Hutt. Jabba lived in a palace on the desert planet, Tatooine.

Han Solo should have known better than to do business with Jabba. Like all of the sluglike, ruthless Hutts, Jabba lived by the law of revenge. So when Han refused to pay his debts, Jabba offered to pay a rich reward to any bounty hunter who would bring him Han Solo-alive or dead!

Of the two choices, it was hard to say at the time which would have been more merciful for Han.

As it turned out, Han was delivered to Jabba alive-frozen alive-trapped inside a solid block of carbonite. In a state of suspended animation, Han was unable to move his body, and his mind was trapped in a terrifying, murky fog.

Jabba the Hutt decided to display the carbonite block that encased Han Solo. He hung it up in his palace like a trophy, for all his visitors to see.

With help from Luke Skywalker, See-Threepio, Artoo-Detoo, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and Princess Leia, Han Solo was eventually rescued and revived. In the meantime, the bloated Hutt had taken Princess Leia as his prisoner, keeping her chained beside him. But Leia was able to escape, killing Jabba in self defense. She twisted her chain around his fat neck, and kept on twisting it until Jabba gasped his final wretched breath. The galaxy was rid of that vicious, blubbering beast at last. Though word of Jabba’s death spread from planet to planet throughout the galaxy, the news never reached the dungeons of the mud-ball planet known as Kip. It was there on Kip that Zorba the Hutt had been imprisoned long ago for illegally mining precious gemstones. But within the first year after Jabba the Hutt’s death, Kip was conquered by alien pirates, and Zorba was released from prison. The pygmy aliens of the mud-ball planet had never figured out how to fly Zorba’s spaceship, the Zorba Express. So the spaceship was still waiting for him, docked at the same muddy cliff where it had been left when Zorba was captured. He dug up his hidden supply of gemstones, and then climbed aboard his spaceship, setting his course for Tatooine.

Zorba fully expected to find his son Jabba alive and well, happy to welcome his father back to his palace. But a shocking surprise awaited Zorba. The fury of a Hutt was about to be unleashed-a fury known as Zorba the Hutt’s revenge!

CHAPTER 1

The Droidfest of Tatooine

Luke Skywalker’s Y-wing starfighter zoomed through deep space, on its way to Cloud City for Han Solo’s housewarming party.

Han’s sky house was finally built. It was now floating in the air two miles away from Cloud City, on the planet Bespin.

"I’ve got it!" Luke Skywalker exclaimed, as he adjusted their flight path. "I know what we can get Han as a housewarming gift. We’ll get him an ultrahigh-density household communication screen!"

The twelve-year-old Jedi Prince strapped into the seat alongside Luke shook his head no.

"Sorry, Commander Skywalker," said Ken, "but Han already has two of them."

"Oh. Well, scratch that idea then," Luke said, disappointedly. "In fact, scratch all ten of the ideas I’ve come up with so far."

Ken closed his eyes, forcing himself to concentrate. What about getting Han a holo-projector? Or a deluxe power booster for one of his two cloud racing cars? Or what about a supercharged multidirectional laser blaster?

Suddenly Ken bolted upright, pulling against his straps. "I know what we should get Han!" he declared. "A housekeeping droid!"

"A housekeeping droid!" the golden droid, See-Threepio echoed. "Now there’s a brilliant idea!"

"Droids make very practical gifts," added Microchip, Ken’s silver droid whom Ken had called Chip for as long as either of them could remember.

"Tzzzooop bcheeeech!" tooted Artoo-Detoo, the barrel-shaped utility droid, signaling his agreement.

The vote from the three droids aboard the spaceship was unanimous: All in favor, none opposed.

"Well, I don’t know," Luke said, knitting his eyebrows. "Han has been a bachelor all his life. Do you think he’d want a droid around to live with him?"

"What does being a bachelor have to do with it?" Ken asked. "A housekeeping droid isn’t like having a wife. It’s just a robot."

"Just a robot?" Chip piped up, offended. "After all we droids have done for you, Ken, you call us just robots?"

"The fact of the matter is," replied Threepio, "Han Solo knows nothing about keeping a huge house clean. He’ll need help desperately. He can’t expect Chewbacca to be cleaning up after him all the time! Why, Han and Chewie can’t even keep the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon straightened out! If you ask me, a housekeeping droid is the perfect solution."

"Okay, you’ve convinced me," Luke replied. "But now comes the hard part-choosing the droid."

Luke activated the star map on their navigation screen. "Artoo, cool the hyperdrive thruster power," Luke said. "We’re going to glide straight into Mos Eisley Spaceport on Tatooine."

"Why do you want to land on Tatooine?" Ken asked, confused. "Aren’t there droid discount stores near Han over in Cloud City?"

"I guess you’ve never heard of the Droidfest of Tatooine," Luke said. "That’s the place to go. It’s loaded with JDTs."

"What does JDT mean?" the boy inquired.

"Jawa Droid Traders," Luke explained. "The droidfest is the jawas’ annual sale. They have the biggest selection of droids in the galaxy. And the best prices."

"Come to think of it, I read something about the droidfest once," Ken said, nodding.

"There was a file on it in the master computer, back in the Jedi Library." Ken had learned many things from the files of the Jedi Library, practical things, such as how to repair a droid that has a glitch in its speech mechanism. And unusual things, such as why mynock bats that live on asteroids sometimes fly upside down. And he’d also discovered some carefully guarded secrets-secrets of the Imperial High Command, secrets that even Trioculus, the evil three-eyed tyrant who now ruled the galactic Empire, would never want anyone else to know.

Dee-Jay, the droid who was Ken’s teacher in the Lost City, had warned Ken not to reveal those secrets to anyone-including Commander Luke Skywalker, who was Ken’s guardian now that Ken had departed from the Lost City and joined the Rebel Alliance. It wasn’t long before they landed on Tatooine, the planet with the twin suns where Luke had grown up.

They docked at Mos Eisley Spaceport, at a Y-wing landing bay. Then Luke, Ken, and the droids made their way through the crowd, bumping into aliens of all shapes and sizes in the corridors of the busy terminal.

At the landspeeder rental booth, Luke got them a vehicle that was large enough for their entire group-and with an empty seat in the back for the housekeeping droid. As Luke steered above the burning sands, they rode along swiftly on a cushion of air. In the distance Ken could see what looked like tall metal buildings.

"Those are sandcrawlers," Luke explained. "They’re jawa vehicles with tank treads. They’re parked for the droidfest, very close to the palace where Jabba the Hutt used to live."

"Who lives in Jabba’s palace now?" Ken inquired.

"It’s vacant," Luke said, "except for the Ranats that scurry around chewing on the furniture and drapes. You see, when Jabba died, they never found his will. So the government of Tatooine took possession of his palace. For awhile they turned it into the Tatooine Retirement Home for Aged Aliens. But there wasn’t enough money in the budget to keep it open."

"Didn’t Jabba the Hutt also own the Holiday Towers Hotel and Casino in Cloud City?" Ken asked, remembering something he had read in the Jedi Library.

"For a kid your age, you sure know your history," Luke said. "Jabba did own that casino. But when Jabba died, Holiday Towers was taken over by the government of Cloud City. My old friend, Lando Calrissian, runs it now. He’s the governor of Cloud City." The sandy plain near the vacant palace of Jabba the Hutt seemed to have as many droids as there were stars in the galaxy.

The JDTs had set up colorful tents in front of their huge sandcrawlers, showing off their droids and displaying their merchandise. Luke, Ken, and the three droids went from one tent to the next. The tents rippled in the breeze, like hundreds of waving flags. They examined HSDs, Housekeeping Specialist Droids, of every size and description. They looked at male droids, female droids, old units, even brand new ones with every possible modern capability.

But one droid seemed to stand out above all the others-a female droid named KT-18. She didn’t seem to be made of metal; her body was the color of a pearl. She was clearly a top-of-the-line HSD.

"Actually, nobody calls me KT-18," the female droid said in a nice voice. "I go by the name Kate."

"Kate," said Luke. "I like that. We’re thinking of purchasing you to serve a good friend of ours," Luke explained. "He’s a professional pilot. Have you ever met any Corellian cargo pilots before?"

"Dozens of them," Kate replied. "My first master repaired Corellian spaceships, and I met all the pilots who came into his shop. Before they met me, most of them were rude bachelors with no manners. But I straightened them out."

"Really?" Luke said, surprised.

"One of them even got married because of me. The last I heard, he had six children!"

"Well, Kate," Luke said, "if I buy you as a gift for Han Solo, you’d better lay low when it comes to giving him advice about manners and marriage and stuff like that. If you overdo it, he’ll probably shut down your power unit and advertise you for resale." See-Threepio got permission from the regional manager of the Jawa Droid Traders to open up Kate’s back panel and check the quality of her circuitry.