Tales From Jabbas Palace (Kevin Anderson) (35 page)

“You hope to kill the Hutt, steal all his wealth that is strewn across the galaxy, and set yourself in his place. You imagine that by doing this, you will be free. You imagine that your wealth will buy you the respect and peace of mind that you crave…

“But…?” Tessek asked.

“But in time you would discover yourself to be a slave of wealth, trapped in a web of suspicion and deceit, manipulated by the plots of beings very much like yourself. Even now, you struggle within such a web. Jabba suspects that you plan to kill him. His spy Salacious Crumb has been shadowing you, along with the guard Ortugg, and Bib Fortuna is well aware of your disloyalty. Jabba is following your efforts with great amusement, even as he plots your own untimely demise.”

“So, what am I to do?” Tessek asked uneasily, the whiplike tendrils at his mouth quivering. His hearts were pounding in his chest, and a bit of ink dribbled from the glands at his mouth—his species’ ancient reaction to fear.

“Come with me,” the monk whispered urgently, “to the realm of the B’omarr below the palace grounds. We can teach you the way to peace and enlightenment. “

“But first you would cut my brains from my body?”

Tessek asked. “Thank you for your offer, but no!” He whipped out his blaster and shot so quickly, the monk did not have time to move.

The spiderlike body burst into blue sparks and spattered against the far wall, legs twisting in tortured spasms as it burned.

A green-skinned Gamorrean guard burst into the room, swinging a huge vibro-ax. Tessek recognized Ortugg by his massive yellowed tusks and his distinctive odor. Ortugg had been just outside his door.

“What happened?” Ortugg grunted.

Tessek could not help but notice that Ortugg had been able to override the voice lock on his door. “I awoke and was strapping on my weapons when that creature stirred on the far side of my room,” Tessek answered, wondering if he should go ahead and shoot Ortugg, but deciding against it. “With all of the strange deaths in the palace lately, I decided not to take any chances. Go and tell Lord Jabba that I’ve disposed of the murderer in our midst.”

Tessek added this last bit impromptu. Certainly, there had been a number of disturbing murders in the palace, bodies turning up that had no physical signs of violation. But Tessek suspected they could all be attributed to that three-eyed lout Ree-Yees. Certainly the goat-headed creature spent more time drunk than sober, and as the lonely monster sank deeper and deeper into madness, he was becoming more and more violent. If Ree-Yees hadn’t been one of Tessek’s most valued henchmen (as untrustworthy as he was), Tessek would have fingered the creature for the murders some time ago. As it was, Tessek enjoyed the idea of diverting suspicion onto the monks.

Certainly it would give Jabba something to ponder.

Ortugg scratched between two rolls of fat under his hairy jowl and considered Tessek’s explanation. If it had been any other Gamorrean, such as that fool GartOgg who had been dragging rotting corpses around thinking that they would be valuable “clues” to the murder, he would have taken Tessek’s charges at face value. As it was, Ortugg only continued scratching and said, “Hmmm…”

“Never mind, you fool!” Tessek snapped. “If you’re too stupid to see the truth, I’ll tell Jabba and collect his reward myself!.”

Tessek hurried out into the hallway, down a flight of broad stone steps.

He could hear the harried moans of droids being tortured down a side corridor, the roaring of beasts in the pits, captives in the dungeons.

Jabba’s house was a house of pain and slaves and moans. When Tessek became lord of this fortress, things would change. These halls would be filled with the sounds of music, the convivial chatter of accountants.

Tessek was a businessman, and did not fancy himself to be evil.

Jabba wasted valuable resources—both droid and flesh—through his wanton acts of wickedness.

In only a moment, Ortugg ran from the room, his mail clanking, pushing past Tessek as he cried, “Wait!

Wait! I tell Jabba for you!”

Tessek had known how the creature would react, of course. The hint of a possible reward was enough to cloud the judgment of even the smartest Gamorrean.

And so Tessek was free to make his daily rounds. It was a busy day ahead, so many plans to fulfill. His first stop was to Barada, the chief of Jabba’s repulsorlift pool.

Few of Jabba’s servants were allowed their own sleeping quarters.

Such things were granted only to those, like Tessek, whose anatomy required special considerations. The rest of the cutthroats were confined to Jabba’s throne room, so that Jabba slept with ample guards and at the same time made it more difficult for his own henchmen to plot against him.

Still, there were some, like Barada, who had their own quarters.

Barada was condemned to sleep in the motor pool, where he could guard the vehicles.

Tessek ambled down to the ground level of the palace, then scratched lightly at the door to the motor pool. The door slid open with a whoosh. Tessek jumped inside, and the door flashed closed behind him.

The motor pool was a vast room that contained Jabba’s pleasure barge, dozens of craft used in carrying commerce, landspeeders, and speeder bikes, all protected from theft and the elements by a heavy blast door.

The room smelled of rust and grease, paint and dust.

The outer door to the motor pool thankfully was closed against the heat of the day. One corner of the room had stones on the floor, and on them was a bed of sand. Barada lay on it, stripped to the waist, his yellow eyes gleaming dimly in the feeble work lights around the room.

“What is it?” Barada hissed. Barada was a fierce creature with the cracked brown skin that matched Tatooine’s own harsh deserts in both texture and color, though the crest on his skull sometimes changed to a 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 the Hutt himself roaring in frustration.

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 ˇ.. 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.