“Let’s get out’ve here and finish our work,” Jada said, “before we have anymore trouble. You think Da will hear about this?”

#

He did.

When the three of them got back to the family farm, there was a flashy land speeder parked out front. A sure sign that one of Jabba’s men was inside.

“What do we do?” Zed asked.

Lar smacked him in the back of the head and walked towards the door.

Like most moisture farmhouses in the desert, the opening on top of the sand looked like a concrete, domed bunker. The rest was in a dugout under the sand, which made things comparatively cool below.

“We go in,” Lar said as he walked through the door. “Look relaxed, but be ready.”.

They were unprepared for what they saw.

The main living space in their farmhouse was a wide room, with the table for meals at one end and couches for relaxing on at the end of the day’s work. A tablet similar to the display they’d seen hanging in the cantina hung from one wall, mostly displaying weather information and the occasional commercial.

Sitting on the couch was Mosep, one of Jabba’s men. His species was one that none of them could pronounce and that all instantly forgot whenever it was told to them. But he was easily distinguished from others in Jabba’s entourage by his oblong head, yellow skin and white whiskers.

And right now, he was sitting on Da and Ma’s couch, sipping a small cup of the same bludrink they’d sampled earlier at the cantina..

“Ah, they are here now,” Mosep said standing. “How nice.”

Lar, Jada and Zed looked at each other. They knew Mosep by sight, but hadn’t heard him speak before. Speaking kindly as he was wasn’t something that they were used to from any of Jabba the Hutt’s men.

Zed and Lars kept their hands on their sidearms. Mosep’s words were nice enough, but his accent sounded like he was talking with a mouth full of mud. That plus his alien features made it hard to read him.

“Da, what’s going on?” Jada asked.

“It seems,” Da said evenly, “there’s been a problem with your behavior today. And Mosep here was just telling me about it.”

“Please,” said Mosep, “Sit down.”

“No, thanks,” said Lar. “I’d prefer you state your business, and...”

“Sit down, Lar,” said Da, in a voice that made it clear no arguments would be tolerated. Lar held his father’s gaze for a few seconds, then sighed and complied. Zed and Jada did likewise.

“It has come to Jabba’s attention that you had an altercation in the cantina today with his men,” Da said.

“His goons attacked us! Da, we were just having a bludrink after that thing with the bikers today, and Bib shows up, and this bantha-headed freak punches Lar in the head for no reason, and...”

“Jada, you need to be quiet,” Da said. “I’ve heard the whole thing, and we need to hear what Mosep here has to say.

“Thank you,” said Mosep, cutting Da off and then pausing for a moment.

“Since Bib was so terribly rude to you three, he’ll be completing a few needed tasks for Lord Jabba. Otherwise, he’d have been sent here himself to make amends for this afternoon.”

“Really?” said Lar, the sarcasm in his voice evident.

“Of course, Lar. Jabba is a businessman, first and foremost. His goal is to make money. And if his men antagonize the local population, it’s quite bad for business. Now, you dispatched Jabba’s associates so easily, he’s had to fire them for their incompetence. You three, on the other hand, are apparently in need of more...resources, while Jabba is now in need of hired help.”

“What do you mean we’re ‘in need’?” Zed said. “We’ve been making our payments to you thugs on time since I was born.”

“And Jabba has not forgotten this,” said Mosep. “In fact, he’s more than grateful, and gracious. You helped expose a rather large weakness among his bodyguards today, and for that he is thankful, too. However, you still attacked his men in public, and we can’t have that. Some of the more dedicated sandtroopers are proving to be a bit of a...an impediment to good business lately, what with them being worried about the local rebel nests so much. I understand a pair of those rebels actually accosted you three today, in fact. Very unfortunate. Well, since Bib will be, ah indisposed for the next little while, Jabba asked me to advise him on this situation. We conferred, and I was directed to bring you his offer.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Offer?” said Jada, her voice hot and angry. “Jabba never makes an offer, not one where anyone but he really benefits.”

Mosep slapped his hand down on the table and looked at Da. “Sandancer, you will control the tongues of your children, or Jabba will claim your farm through me in the next minute.”

Da looked at his family. Ma had tears under her eyes. “You three will be silent while Mosep speaks. Is that clear?”

The three nodded sullenly.

Mosep waited, then spoke again. “You attacked Jabba’s men. Such an attack is an affront to Jabba himself. Whole families have been wiped out on this planet for less, and for this reason it must be answered. But, as you mentioned, you have been good business associates up until now, with never a whiff of trouble. And Jabba has not forgotten your past services to his family, Sanddancer, plus, your progeny also exposed a hole in Jabba’s personal security, which he has since closed.

“So, balancing the issues here before us, Jabba makes the following offer. For the next year, your monthly fee will be increased by a thousand credits.”

The three seated young people stiffened, then looked at their father. His face said without words that they were to stay still and remain silent.

“However, in these difficult times, Jabba realizes that such extra resources may be difficult to come by. As such, he is graciously offering that one of you come and work for him at his palace. This will cover the debt. Specifically, he has requested that this one,” he pointed at Zed, “come and work on his machinery and valued droids that keep breaking down. Or this one- Lar, join as one of Jabba’s palace guards, or this one...” he walked to Jada, and moved almost to touch her long, red hair, but thought better of it at her glare and backed away. “This one, if she chooses to work as an- ahem an entertainer in Jabba’s palace, he will not only remove your extra monthly debt to him, but give you a thousand more credits a month for your compliance and loyalty.”

The hostility from all three children in the Sanddancer farmhouse was palpable.

“I now may wait for ten minutes by my landspeeder outside, while you confer amongst yourselves and decide. But be warned, if I leave without one of you in Jabba’s employ, all offers of employment go with me, and that thousand credits will be due by tomorrow at sunset instead at the end of the month. Good evening to you.” Mosep stood, showed himself the door and left. As soon as it shut, Lar, Zed and Jada were on their feet.

“Can you believe this?”

“Da, they hit Lar first!”

“Da, you aren’t going to do this, are you?

“Quiet!” yelled Da, his eyes down and his hands in the air. After a few seconds, he continued.

“A long time ago, before I met your mother, I used to work for the Hutts. Nothing terrible or especially evil. I only reminded people when their debts were due, and they paid. What they’re doing is trying to keep one of you in Jabba’s clutches and under his slimy thumb, ready to squash you if I or anyone else in our family made trouble. Now I’ve got to think, and think quickly.”

“Da, what if-“

“Shh, Zed!” Da said, holding up his hand. “I’ve got less than ten minutes to make a decision that could affect all our futures!”

Jada left her father to think. She knew from experience it was useless to bother him while he was in this state. She walked over to the wall, her own mind racing.

“What’s wrong with her being an entertainer at Jabba’s, though?” Zed said suddenly. “We never stir up trouble, so she’ll be fine! What, she’d hafta learn how to play an instrument, or something. But that’s not so bad, is it?”

“They don’t mean that kind of entertainer, Zed,” said Lar. He wasn’t bothering to wrack his brain. Thinking on this level was out of his league and he knew it.

“But...” started Zed. He was quickly silenced by Lar’s glare, the kind that said ‘don’t you get it, you idiot?’

“Oh,” Zed finished, and was silent.

Jada looked helplessly at the wall. Unlike her brothers, her and her mother often went over the family accounts. Jada knew that a thousand a month was barely what the farm took in after expenses. With another thousand slapped on top of that, there was no way they could continue. She looked at her father, who’d pulled up a data pad from somewhere and was frantically tapping it, hoping perhaps that a money solution would magically appear, the way the Jedi were able to do amazing magic tricks back before they committed treason and had to be wiped out.

Zed was suddenly talking quickly about the scanner he’d ‘acquired’ that day from the biker scum they’d taken down. Lar could use it to diagnose the issues of other vehicles; they could have a side business of fixing machines, and do it quicker and more accurately than ever with the scanner they now had.

No chance, thought Jada. There was no way they could generate the income they needed quickly enough.

But at the mention of a scanner, the datapad on the wall caught her eye.

It was showing another one of those advertisements, trying to get people to enlist.

She saw the pay for Stormtroopers.

And then the pay for pilots.

And then she saw the bonuses.

Those who placed their thumb on the red circle and agreed to leave in a week received twenty credits instantly.

Those who agreed to leave in three days received a hundred credits added to their accounts.

And those who agreed to leave with the next recruiter droid, who guaranteed to be at your door within a single daycycle, would receive a thousand credit bonus.

Instantly.

“Da,” she said, “I think I’ve found the solution.”

“What, dear, I- no, Jada, NO!”

Too late. The low beep and sounds of congratulations sounded throughout the farmhouse after Jada touched the red dot with her thumb, just as Mosep’s speeder started up and left their property.

Miles away, at the Mos Eisley spaceport, the recruitment droid powered up for the seventh or eighth time that day, and sped off towards the Sanddancer moisture farm.

#

TO BE CONTINUED...