Jabu Da Huute
By: Tom Julian
Somebody send this to Kevin J. Anderson
The story of the unfortunately named fabrics merchant who can offer the mighty Jabba the prize he craves the most.
Jabu had heard rumors of Mos Eisley, that it was a nasty place to visit and that you wouldn't want to live there. So far the rumors had been right. The town was full of crime, violence, filth, the acrid scent of living, all things that Jabu couldn't stand. There was also the sand. It covered his clothes and boots, followed him inside when he went to escape the heat and damaged the textiles that he carried. He wanted out of this armpit of a town and off of this dusty, insignificant world. Jabu didn't even know how to pronounce the name of the planet he was on. Tatonawu? Tatomeemo?
Regardless, Jabu had made a killing off of very willing buyers. Just one more shop and I'll call it a day... or two. He thought, squinting up at the odd spectacle of the double suns. This place will top my list of places not to go on vacation. As he walked along the dusty street, a pair of struggling, hairy, tusked beings fell into the street in front of him. From inside the tavern they had juts come careening out of, a league of motley creatures cheered on the brawl. Yeah, that clinches it.
Jabu walked on, he figured it was smart to mind his own business here. The lawless of this town, which was pretty much everybody, didn't look too discriminating as to who they picked fights with. Jabu also looked like a tourist, which was easily transferable to a death sentence in Mos Eisley.
Jabu walked down an alley that connected to the boulevard where he was to meet his last client. One good thing about Mos Eisley was that it was very easy for Jabu to get appointments with local merchants and tailors. When the usually blasé shop keepers heard his name, they seemed to spring to attention. I guess the name Jabu Da Huute gets people going, he muttered to himself. To try to look inconspicuous he pulled down his sand goggles as he passed a set of scaly blue skinned creatures brutally ripping apart a droid. The taller of the beings shook one of the droid's recently removed pincers in Jabu's face as he passed, taking Jabu's attention off an odd, foul smell coming from the shadows. Jabu nodded respectfully as the being rattled the pincer, showing off his prize. Yes, very nice. Don't think about doing that to me.
Jabu had only met one other man from this world, that was a young alliance leader named Skywalker. Nice guy though not a good haggler, was Jabu's impression of him. He had purchased a load and a half of Polycarbotriotic enhanced wool, for making cold weather outfits. Skywalker was the rebel pilot who got the lucky shot out on the Death Star. You would think they would have put a couple monuments up to the guy. But there was nothing on this world that even hinted that the young Jedi was a native. I guess they don't want to ruin the reputation of the place. Jabu still couldn't figure out how Skywalker had talked him down to a very fair price. Something about him, he recalled.
Jabu popped out of the alley onto a main boulevard. The route he had just taken was suicidal to him. Though he didn't realize it, he had just gotten lucky. If he had stopped by the two blue skinned beings for just a second, a horde of hungry Jawas, hiding in the shadows, would have ripped him to shreds. But that was just Jabu's luck. Bad things usually steered clear of him at the last moment. He looked back to the alley as one of the blue beings kicked the droid roughly to the ground and then walked away with an armful of its components. His partner ripped a few more parts off the ransacked machine and then hurried to join him. On the Boulevard a sand speeder, overloaded with thugish creatures of various races, rambled past. It turned around a nearby corner, scraping on the ground as it did so. Jabu watched it pass with disgust. Even though he had sold a lot of merchandise, at prices that were great for him, he couldn't wait to be clear of this world.
A sign above the yellow tent-like shop fizzled neon even though it was the middle of the day. Qurwey, a scaly, brown skinned being, covered with tattoos was the proprietor. He hurried out to meet Jabu when his assistant told him he was here. They shook hands vigorously in the street as Jabu tried to decipher his dialect. He excitedly repeated a phrase that ended with, "Po rakoo Jabba."
The assistant, a smaller green being with wandering antennae, seemed to understand some of both parties' languages. "What does 'Po rakoo' mean?" Jabu asked.
The assistant twitched his antennae. "The mighty" he responded.
"Very well then, do you think he wants to do business with The Mighty Jabu?"
The assistant nodded in such a way that made it quite clear that Qurwey was interested. He hurried Jabu inside of the shop and like the other merchants he had dealt with, offered him fruit, nectar and most remarkably water. Jabu couldn't get over the disposition of the merchants here. I would think they'd be real tightwads, with the increased Imperial taxes and all. But everybody had wanted to buy some material and they didn't seem to care how much they paid for it. Jabu had made a killing. He had thought that this was all too good to be true, but he wasn't about to argue with money, or the royal treatment. It almost made up for the Bantha dung character of the place, but not quite. Though the selling had been good, Jabu Da Huute was not coming back to Mos Eisley.
Qurwey motioned excitedly to his wares as the assistant roughly translated his babbling. Jabu shook his head in peculiar disbelief and fixed his face in a halfway annoyed expression. It's just cloth, Jabu thought. The assistant gulped nervously at Jabu's manner. Qurwey stopped his jabbering and motioned that he was going in the back and would be right back.. "Merchant Qurwey is going to come with something of special for, 'Po rakoo Jabba.'" Said the assistant with polite nervousness.
While Qurwey was gone, Jabu began to set up his wares on a cluttered table. At first a bit confused about what Jabu was doing, the assistant rapidly removed the clutter from the table and then bowed politely. Jabu smiled nervously as he laid out some brightly colored samples. At first this was amusing, he thought, now it's bugging the hell out of me. Jabu saw the beaten up speeder from the Boulevard come to rest outside and the many beings clambered out of it. He hoped that they would come in to the shop so Qurwey's disturbing hospitality could be spread around a bit. No, he corrected himself, they look like they would rob the place.
What Qurwey returned to the front with was more than Jabu was prepared to handle. He looked at disbelief at the assistant. "Merchant Qurwey offers you to his daughter, Seera."
Jabu cupped his hand over his mouth in thought. He exhaled long and just stared at the girl Like her father, she was covered with tattoos. Jabu was speechless. He had never seen Qurwey's species before, but he knew that this couldn't be normal. "Okay," he finally managed to mutter. "I'm just selling cloth, textiles. I'm sorry. We'll just forget about it. I'll pack up and go."
The assistant looked at Jabu perplexed. "You're not buying for The Mighty Jabba?"
"No," Jabu said as cleared his samples off the table, "I'm selling for The Mighty Jabu."
Just then Jabu felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to face a thugish, battered faced being wearing mangled armor. With a gloved hand he motioned to the speeder outside, which was flanked by several more unsavory looking beings. "That's your ride."
Jabu looked at the being, confused as Qurwey jabbered angrily in the background, throwing his arms about. "Fei rakoo Jabba?" He repeated over and over.
"Where are we going?" Jabu asked, not really wanting got know.
"To see The Mighty Jabba." The being replied and he roughly dragged an unwilling Jabu outside to the waiting speeder.
The outskirts of town were a showcase of desolation. Grimly flat desert spread out in all directions. Far off ranges of lonely mountains could be seen in the distance. The dour scenery wasn't on Jabu's mind though, he had other problems He had not tried arguing with any of the beings in the speeder. I'll wait until we get where we're going, then find somebody in charge. In the overloaded speeder, there were six creatures besides himself, all frightfully rough looking. He sat cramped between two large Gamorians with pig-like snouts who were not particular about their personal hygiene. Two other beings sat precariously at the back of the speeder, their legs hanging off the edge, passing a flask back and forth. The being who had confronted Jabu in the shop knelt next to the driver, never taking his eyes off Jabu. I'm sure not jumping for it, Jabu thought as he noticed the blur of the ground beneath the speeder. It moved along swiftly but at just a few inches off the ground. When it flew over anything more than flat, it scraped on the sand. For some reason, Jabu suddenly thought this whole thing funny, his kidnapping, the whole saga with the merchant. He closed his eyes as his face tried to crack into a smile. He felt a steel boot on his chest. The humor sunk out of him, taking its energy down to his bowels.
"Laughing?" The being asked grimly. Just then, the speeder hit a bump, pressing the boot against Jabu's chest even harder. Jabu clenched his teeth in pain as the toe of the steel boat drilled into his chest. "They think you stupid, coward!" He said, motioning to the two Gamorians next to him. "My name is Ya-grok. I think you dead!" Ya-grok brought his face uncomfortably close to Jabu, his breath crowding into Jabu's nostrils. Just then the speeder hit a bump. One of the creatures who was sitting on the back of the vehicle fell, floundering, onto the sand. He flailed wildly as he rolled along the ground, one of his legs obviously broken. For a second everyone was quiet, then they all broke out in outrageous laughter. Ya-grok was laughing so hard he took his boot off of Jabu's chest, then settled down into the passenger seat. Then the laughing ended. The speeder went on. The remaining being who sat at the back of the speeder tightened his grip and smiled uneasily as he put the flask away. Jabu still wondered why there were no monuments to Skywalker here.
Blindfolded. Ya-grok had roughly grabbed Jabu and wrapped a smelly towel around his head. That was a few minutes before the speeder stopped. From the echoes of the beings' voices, Jabu knew he was next to some large metal structure. Jabu heard what sounded like a monstrous door opening. He heard the clump of heavy boots and the clinking of body armor coming towards him. "This is him?" He heard a raspy voice say out of a com-link. He was then turned around roughly. Jabu thought it was about time to pop the question.
"Are you in charge here?"
"If you're asking if your life's in my hands, then I am," the raspy voice responded. Jabu's stomach sank.
"What's going on here? Why am I here?" Jabu asked nervously.
There was silence and then riotous laughter. Jabu was pushed around in a circle by the beings and was eventually grabbed by the raspy throated one. Jabu felt a slap to the head and then the blindfold came off. He was before a desert fortress with a gaping entrance. Droids and other creatures came from the inner darkness, most just to catch a glimpse of Jabu, then to retreat back inside. The raspy voiced being pushed him towards the fortress. His armor was battered and green and he had on a green and metallic helmet. Jabu turned and gave him a look of defiance. Again the beings howled with laughter. If Boba Fett hadn't thought the spectacle hilarious as well, he would have blasted Jabu.
Jabu was lead down the dark corridor, Boba Fett had shirked off his duty to escort the prisoner to a young, apparently human man, in a furry vest. The boy led the shackled Jabu along with an electrified trident at his back. Many different beings passed by him, but Jabu couldn't tell exactly what they were in the darkness. Occasionally one would get close to Jabu and spook him, then would go laughing off as Jabu reacted with alarm. "What is this place?" Jabu asked.
"The palace of the mighty Jabba the Hutt."
Jabu gulped at that name. Whoever Jabba is, probably thinks I've been impersonating him. I'll work this out, he thought. Settling some of his nerves.
"Is he a big man around these parts?" Jabu asked, somehow he was able to use a cocky tone. Maybe it was the youth of his escort that gave him this courage, maybe it was the realization of why this all was happening. The youth jabbed the trident into his back, his flesh sizzled under the electricity. Jabu turned to see the youth glaring at him. Two sharp looking fangs hung out of his mouth.
"Don't ask questions." Jabu decided not to ask any more questions. He would wait until he met up with his phonetic namesake. Whoever the hell that is.
A carnival of lust and deviance, not to mention gluttony, spread out before Jabu He had been brought to a cell by the boy and then, after a few minutes with a dangerous many tentacle creature, he was moved again. The boy took him again after receiving a beating from the cell master. Apparently, the tentacled being was poisonous to the touch. At least they don't want to see me dead. Jabu thought. He didn't bother to ponder that he may be being kept alive for someone's amusement. "This is the mighty Jabba's thrown room." The boy said to him as he pushed Jabu to his knees. Jabu noticed that the boy looked less and less human as his eyes got more accustomed to the dim light. Under a head of bushy black hair was a ridge that went down the middle of his skull. His eyebrows also shot up his forehead at 45 degree angles. Jabu watched the spectacle before him. A voluptuous, bald, pale skinned dancing girl moved swankily above a metal grate in the middle of the room. She wore an perpetual smile of fake tolerance A sundry band of creatures played a burlesque tune as she moved seductively. The room full of unruly beings howled and threw food and drink at the girl. Jabu stopped fearing for himself for a moment. I loath this. I absolutely loath this. For no reason, the boy jabbed Jabu in the back of the head with the butt of his trident. Jabu noticed Boba Fett enter the room. The beings made a wide channel for the bounty hunter to pass through and he took a place against the wall at the back of the room.
Behind the dancing girl, a veil hung from the ceiling. Through the veil, Jabu could see the outline of several beings standing around a raised platform. On the platform was a huge mound of flesh. There seemed to be some sort of business deal going on. The beings behind the veil all bowed at once to whatever was on the platform and then exited. The whole platform began to move forward and the band suddenly stopped and the dancing girl scurried away. Two muscular guards at the ends of the platform pulled down on ropes and the veil spread open. The boy jabbed Jabu in the head again.
What Jabu saw once the veil was open repulsed him. Jabu generally stayed away from such worlds as Tatooine. Most of the contacts he had made throughout his business life had been human. He was not used to the odd smells that other races gave off, or the strange tongues they spoke. He had only traveled to this world at the suggestion of Skywalker and had never even heard of the crime inclined Hutts, one of which laid before him for the first time. I'm going to be sick. Jabu thought. "Behold." The fanged boy said, pulling Jabu's head back by the hair so he could get a better look at the blob. The thrown room filled with cheers and applause as Jabba slid forward, eyes closed and arms folded across his disgusting chest..
Jabba the Hutt looked to Jabu like a giant slug laying on its side, but with its head somehow facing forward. He opened his eyes, grunted and the group suddenly stopped its cheering. The massive slug began speaking with a low rumbling voice to a silver protocol droid at his side. "The Mighty Jabba wishes to get down to business. Who would like to beg for his mercy first?"
A being with bright orange skin and a turban managed to work his way through the crowd. It had four eyes next to one another on his forehead. He dropped to his knees before Jabba and began ranting pitifully. Jabba watched him without any expression and sipped a giant cocktail with weeds floating in it. All the while a small beak nosed being tossed tiny clam shells at the begging creature. When he was done begging the being rose to his feet and stood nervously. Jabba turned nonchalantly to the protocol droid. "This being begs the Mighty Jabba for an extension to the loan you so graciously afforded him. His moisture farm is not operating as he planned, but he feels in the near future he may turn a tidy profit."
Jabba muttered something, then threw his arms in the air. His eyes then remained on the being. "This world's not getting any wetter!" The droid translated, trying to match Jabba's inflection and anger. Jabba's hand wondered over to a button on his thrown. The orange being walked backwards fearfully, but several guards pushed him back over the metal grate. Realizing Jabba's intention, Boba Fett moved through the crowd. He fired four blasts into the back of the farmer. He fell dead next to Jabba's platform as the grotesque slug thundered at Boba Fett. Fett grabbed the dead being and tossed him off to the side. "Why have you done this bounty scum!?" The droid translated.
"That farmer was poisonous, would have killed the Rancor. You owe me again, Jabba." Boba Fett motioned to a tall, mouthless, pale blue skinned creature at the back of the room that served as his accountant. He was actually a body counter, as Boba Fett charged by the corpse. Jabba stared blankly at Boba Fett for a long instant, then nodded, a smile spreading across his wide face. "Bring that one up next. I want to get out of here." Boba Fett said as he turned, pointing to Jabu. Jabu didn't notice as he was watching two creatures pummel each other senseless just a few feet away. Jabba noticed the commotion and growled angrily. Boba Fett fired two blasts in the vicinity of the commotion hitting a human bystander in the chest. The two quarreling parties then dispersed as Boba Fett tracked them both, one with a rifle, the other with a pistol he pulled from a knee holster.
Jabba spoke a few kindly toned words. "My Boba Fett, kills for me at no extra charge." The droid translated as Jabba patted the bounty hunter on the shoulder. Jabba then focused his attention on Jabu, motioning for him to come forward. Boba Fett turned to his accountant and signaled for him to put the latest body on Jabba's account. His services were never free, and never cheap.
The boy pulled Jabu roughly to his feet and pushed him out to the center of the thrown room. The events of the last few minutes had stunned him. Jabu stood completely silent before Jabba and Boba Fett, who still stood next to the gangster. "He was found just an hour ago." Fett said as the droid translated for Jabba.
Jabba laughed, his grotesque form shaking as he did so. Someone pushed the dancing girl towards him and she fell, to her distress, right onto Jabba. He held the girl close to him as he began spouting off about Jabu, all the while the droid translating for him.
"This is the vapor scum who has been using my name?" Jabba asked Boba Fett.
The bounty hunter nodded. Jabba was quiet for a few seconds as he stared at Jabu
"I have papers, identification papers," Jabu uttered meekly as the mass of flesh eyed him down. Boba Fett strode behind him, snipping his restraints with a laser plier. Jabu fumbled nervously in his pocket for the papers. "Signed recently by an imperial at Jamernon, not two light years from here." The wonder he smiled when I told him where I was headed. Jabu handed the papers to Boba Fett, who presented them to Jabba. "I hope that we can come to some sort of agreement about this... misunderstanding?" Jabu said nervously as Boba Fett walked in slow circles around him.
Jabba growled something lowly. "What is your business here?" The droid translated.
"I'm a fabrics merchant, I was doing quite well before your associates found me."
Fett stopped close to Jabu and stared blankly at him. Jabba was getting bored with this whole affair, the pitiful human standing before him had meant no harm, but he couldn't let the fabrics merchant just leave. A bloody spectacle would lift everybody's spirits anyway, with all of the imperial pressure and taxes lately. Jabba's flabby hand moved precociously over to the grate release button. Again, Jabu didn't realize how close he was to disaster.
"Well what the hell are your doing on Tatooine?" Boba Fett asked.
"Tatooine? That's where I am? A customer, a native, had asked me to come here to sell to local merchants. He had made me promise to charge fairly."
"And who was this native?"
Jabba's hand rested on top of the release button now. Its shear weight would release the grate if he relaxed. Fett noticed and stepped just off the grate. "Some alliance member, Skywalker." Jabba's hand flew off the button, he flung the dancing girl away from him and muttered a frantic, long, guttural phrase that ended in the word Skywalker!"
"The Jedi, Skywalker?" Boba Fett asked.
"Yes, I think so." Jabu replied nervously.
Boba Fett and Jabba linked it all together simultaneously. Find the alliance, find Skywalker, find Solo. This couldn't be nicer. "Where, where was he?" Fett demanded. Meanwhile, the dancing girl was struggling with a frisky creature in the shadows. Jabu couldn't help but feel sorry for her, but he had other problems.
"I don't know, now. They were moving, they were going somewhere near the Kapotai nebula. I really don't remember."
Jabba uttered a phrase that ended in Solo. "What about a Corrillian, Captain Solo?" The droid translated.
"I, I..." Just then the dancing girl broke free from the being in the shadows. The being pushed her angrily towards Jabba and she fell to everyone's horror, especially Jabu's, onto the release lever. Boba Fett managed to get off the grate but Jabu fell, howling, into the pit. Jabba flashed a distressed look to Boba Fett as the holding gate opened and the Rancor stomped thunderously towards the helpless Jabu lying in the dust. The room howled as the many beings crowded about the opening in the floor.
Boba Fett leaped into the pit landing between the approaching monster and Jabu. He fired a stun blast at the creature that sent it stumbling backwards. He roughly gabbed Jabu and pulled him to his feet. Angrily, the Rancor ran forward, Boba Fett fired again, hitting it in the nose. "Hold on" he ordered Jabu as he ignited his rocket back and flew back up towards the thrown room. The Rancor, angered form the stun blasts, chomped at Boba Fett's ankles as he rose slow, because of the extra weight, out of the pit. It leapt at the pair and would have caught them if it hadn't been for the small opening above. The Rancor held onto the ceiling of the pit and snapped upwards, its mouth looking for meat. Boba Fett dropped Jabu safely the floor and fired another stun blast at the beast, sending it sprawling back downwards. He then set his rifle on kill and fired several blasts into the creature who looked like the one who had pushed the slave girl. When the chaos died down, and the grate had risen back into place, Boba Fett turned to Jabba. "That one was free" he growled, annoyed with the whole spectacle.
Jabba muttered a phrase at Jabu that sounded like, get up! So he rose, on an injured ankle. to his feet. "Now, what about Solo?" Jabba demanded.
"Alliance types value their anonymity..." Jabu stopped looking down at the beady eyes of the Rancor staring up at him from below. "Three possibilities," Jabu continued. "I sold them cold weather gear, and they were heading outwards for the Kapotai nebula. either the Losahki system, Borutau or..." Jabu struggled to remember, as he was desperate to supply helpful information and possibly get out of this mess. "Or Hoth," he finally muttered.
Boba Fett turned to Jabba. "They're all out near the rim. We could sell this information to Vader."
Jabba nodded and said something that ended in Vader. "He finds the alliance and we find Solo." He said to Boba Fett in Hutt.
Jabu stood, trying not to fall over as the pain from his ankle went up and down his leg. He felt weak for telling Jabba about the alliance. He remembered Skywalker's solemn face and what he made him promise. "You must never tell anyone you have done business with us." He had insisted. Strangely, Jabu hadn't even told his partners, but the spectacle of this thrown room and its disgusting regent had made him forget all that. What do promises mean if you're dead? Jabu reasoned. Still that wasn't enough and Jabu felt horrible. Jabba muttered a long phrase and the droid translated.
"The Mighty Jabba grants you mercy for your assistance, incomplete it may be. You will be permitted to leave at the cost of your wares. Jabba wishes a garment made for him with your finest fabric." The fanged boy rammed Jabu again with his trident. Jabu turned and the boy handed him his sample bag.
Jabu was stunned. I can't cover half of him with my samples, not with the good stuff, anyway. Jabu then had an idea. He pulled a tough, blue fabric from his bag. "Denim." Jabu said, as he unfolded the cloth for Jabba's pleasure. "I've sold a lot of it while I was here. It'll be the new rave." Jabba's eyes opened widely. He obviously liked the look of the stuff. "I can get to work right away on something... useful."
Jabba nodded and the fanged boy led Jabu away. As he was leaving through the sea of wretchedness, Jabu could hear the gangster talking with Boba Fett. He said the name, Solo again and again. Jabu had the impression that he had really done a bad thing, but he was alive, but that didn't feel too good either.
Jabu went to work on the garment in a dark corner of a dark hallway in the dark palace. It took him only an hour and a half, but when he was done, he had something that he thought Jabba would like. It was large, made of denim, in fact all the denim he had, and it was functional.
It would cover Jabba's chest and tie around his neck. In short it was a bib. Jabu folded it over neatly and quickly wrote down some cleaning instructions, as he suspected Jabba would quickly get it filthy.
He rose and saw Boba Fett standing right in front of him. The bounty hunter had been there a long time and hadn't said a thing. Jabu had not even noticed him. He handed him the garment and the instructions. Jabu feared going back to the thrown room, if Jabba didn't like the effort, he would be dead. If he did, he might ask him to stay. "He wants to see you." Jabu's head slumped and he followed the bounty hunter back up the stairs to the thrown room.
To Jabu's relief, Jabba was happy with the bib. After ten minutes, it was all ready covered with filth and Jabba was just getting started with his fourth meal of the day. Jabu was invited to stay and eat and found himself sitting cross legged on the floor with the fanged boy. A Jawa came by and begged for food. "Didn't he eat?" Jabu asked
"The sand people and the Jawa's are at war. They're all starving. He's collecting scraps for his clan." Jabu nodded as he flung the smelly little creature a few scraps. "It's because of the Imperials. Taxes are so heavy here, because of what Skywalker did. It's pushing everybody to fight. Jabba tries to keep some peace, but that's hard."
I guess they're trying to get back at Skywalker for the death star. Hitting close to home. Jabu thought.
Boba Fett approached Jabu. "You can go now" he hissed.
"I'm not done eating."
"No, get out." Boba Fett said as he brought Jabu to his feet.
Boba Fett led Jabu silently down the long, dark corridor he had come in through. They reached the end and Boba Fett pushed him through a tiny, one way, door low on the outer wall. Jabu tumbled down a small hill. It was dusk now and the two suns hung low in the sky. He climbed back up the hill immediately, limping on his injured ankle. "How the hell am I supposed to get back to town?" He demanded to no as he banged against the curved metal wall. A metal stalk with a glowing bulb on the end of it came out of the door. It garbled something at Jabu, which he concluded meant, go away, and then pulled back inside.
Jabu looked to the distance, it was at least ten miles back to this crusty hotel in Mos Eisley. A lone being limped towards the palace in the distance. He banged again on the wall with both hands. No use, no response. Jabu reluctantly turned to go, kicking a stone. Behind him, the wall rose upward. Jabu turned to see Boba Fete standing in the opening. "It's a rough country. You might need this." Boba Fett unstrapped the pistol from his knee holster and tossed it to Jabu. It was pitifully small, but better than nothing. Boba Fett nodded to Jabu, then turned. Jabu was stunned. What the hell? Why would he give me a weapon for. He didn't care if I lived or died! Jabu turned to begin his long walk through the desert night, not realizing that Fett's money was on Jabu, not the desert nasties.
He was disgusted and distressed at what had happened. All those creatures, killing each other over nothing. It all left a horrible taste in his mouth. Well, at least I know why nobody here likes Skywalker, he thought. Jabu looked at the pistol. This thing probably doesn't even work. It seemed like a fitting ending to all this, to send me off with a useless weapon against a desert of urchins. The limping creature on the path drew closer to Jabu. The brutality of what had happened to Jabu begin to ingrain itself in him. He realized if he was going to survive this walk, he would have to play the animal's game, he might have to fight, steal, possibly kill. He looked down at the weapon as he came close to the limping being. It was the being who had fallen off the speeder earlier. It had limped all the way back here, supporting himself with a board. Jabu felt a wave of disgust welling within him as the being passed. It grunted something at Jabu and spit at him, obviously remembering him for earlier in the day. Jabu fired at the being with the pistol, blowing its makeshift crutch into a million pieces. The being howled in anger as he fell to the ground. What do you know, this works! Jabu thought as he walked up to the being and kicked sand on it. He then turned and walked into the desert, the treacherous night creeping in all around him.
The end.
Tom Julian E-mail tom@thevine.com
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