THE SEARCH IS ON!

Even with Jabba’s misgivings, he turned out to be very hospitable, inviting the Jedi and his…bomb expert to join him and his court for the evening meal. The Hutt even offered them a chance to partake in a full body massage from his female Twi’lek concubines, for a price of course. After all, the gangster’s hospitality only went so far. He still had a reputation to keep up.

After dinner, Honj and Indy were ready to begin their search, but those that Jabba had picked to “escort” the duo throughout his domain were a tad too inebriated to even stand, let alone traipse around the palace. So the Hutt acquiesced to putting the two up for the night, after punishing their intoxicated escorts for over-imbibing.

As night fell on Tatooine, everyone within the palace found a place to sleep, or simply pass out. Everyone that is, except Jabba himself. He didn’t like the idea of housing a Jedi, even if he was here to save his life. And what about the bomb? Was it real? If so, where was it, and who planted it? Whoever they were, they would surely suffer for this outrage, he would see to that personally. Could his new ally possibly be behind this? He wished that transceiver they had found worked where he could contact Sidious, rather than only the other way around. Many things troubled him this night, and he wondered if he’d get any sleep at all.

He must have dozed off, because his majordomo, Bib Fortuna, awoke him some time later.

“Master, Master! I’m sorry to awaken you, but the transceiver…Sidious desires to speak with you once again.”

Under normal circumstances, the Hutt would be quite irate that he had been woken up, but if he had to be woken up, at least this was a legitimate reason.

Jabba had the transceiver brought before him, and upon its arrival and activation, he gave the transparent image on the dark-cloaked figure an evil glare.

“I sense a disturbance, Master Hutt,” Sidious began. “Is there anything I need to be made aware of?”

“I have visitors, Lord Sidious. “One of them a Jedi, the other…a so-called bomb expert.”

If this surprised Sidious, he didn’t show it. “A bomb expert? Explain.”

“The Jedi came here saying someone planted a bomb somewhere within my domain, he’s here to find it, and his companion is here to dismantle it.”

“Did they say who planted it?”

“No. But you came to mind.”

“Me? Why would I want to harm you? We have an…arrangement.”

Jabba let out a slight chuckle. “Why indeed? Perhaps you should come here in person so we may discuss our…arrangement.”

“I’m afraid I’m a little too busy at the present time to pay you a visit, but I’d be more than delighted to send my associate once again to listen to your grievances, then he’d carve you and every one of your cronies into small, transportable pieces and feed you all to the Sarlacc!”

Jabba was seething on the inside, but refused to let his guest see any of that. “No need to get nasty!”

“I should think not. I’ll tell you what. I have friends on Coruscant, in the Senate. I’ll make sure they keep their ears open, if they hear anything, I’ll be sure to pass it along to you.” Sidious knew the real reason the Jedi and Indy were there, but he wasn’t about to let this bloated sack of slime in on it. He knew the Hutt would try to worm his way into the situation and all of the Sith Lord’s plans would be thrown asunder. All his years, decades of planning would be for naught. He wasn’t about to let all he had worked so hard to accomplish be destroyed by a third rate crime lord on some backwater planet.

“That would be most appreciated. Now, what about the Jedi?”

“Let them go about their business. The sooner they accomplish it, the sooner they’ll be off your planet and out of your business. Rest assured, you have one of the most accomplished Jedi Masters on this case. If there’s a bomb around there, he’ll find it.”

“What about the bomb expert?”

“If the Jedi trusts him, so should you. Just be sure they know nothing of this transceiver, our conversations, or myself.”

“Now Jabba was intrigued. “May I ask why?”

“You may ask, and I may give you an answer…but I won’t. It is none of your concern.”

“What if I make it my concern?”

“Then that, in turn, would make me very concerned. And I would in turn, turn my concerns over to my associate, for my concerns are his concerns, and another visit from him should make you VERY concerned. Do I make myself clear?”

Even though he hated to do it, the Hutt backed down. “I’ll drop the issue…for now.”

“You’ll drop the issue forEVER!!! My dealings with the Jedi are my concern, and my concern alone. They have nothing to do with our business. Unless you wish to terminate our business dealings…”

“Enough! The issue is closed, and we will talk about it no more!”

Sidious nodded. “A wise choice.”

Jabba was about to ask him how he could contact him if the need ever arose, but the communication link was broken, and the image disappeared. The Hutt could tell Sidious knew more about what was going on than he let on, and that didn’t sit well with him at all, not at all. But the dark robed figure was right about one thing, the sooner the Jedi completed his business, the sooner he’d be gone. Now all that remained was to find out what the Jedi’s real business here was.

Morning came and Honj and Indy were up long before the twin suns were. Tenuto hoped to locate the Star Map without an audience around. Carefully and quietly, they crept past the sleeping guards and intoxicated mercenaries as they investigated each room, looking for their quarry. They searched the food preparation areas, unoccupied prison cells, storage rooms, the armory, any and every area that was unlocked or unguarded.

“I hope we find something shortly,” Indy whispered. “Everyone should be waking up soon.”

“They continued their search, going deeper and deeper into the palace. They came to a large, unguarded set of metal doors, opened them, and went inside. The room was a garage where Jabba’s sail barge was kept. Pieces of old swoop bikes, landspeeders, skyhoppers, and podracers littered the floor, probably used for spare parts to keep the sail barge running. Parts were stacked in every corner and crevice of the room, every area that is, except one. That rather large alcove held the pieces of the dismantled Star Map.

“We found it!!!” Honj clasped his hands together and he ran to the Star Map and started examining it intently. “It’s got to be here, somewhere. There’s got to be some sort of hidden panel on this that Malek hid the power cell in. I can feel we’re close!”

“All I can feel is that we’re close to being discovered.” Indy remarked as he kept glancing nervously over his shoulder.

“Patience, my friend. Patience. The Force is with us. It has guided us this far on our mission, it will see us through to its completion.”

Master Tenuto continued to search every part of the Star Map, but no luck. He couldn’t find any hint of a secret panel. After examining the pieces for an indeterminate amount of time, the Jedi considered that perhaps if he simply relaxed, a solution would present itself. He sat down cross-legged on the floor, near the pieces of the Star Map, and closed his eyes. Indy couldn’t believe what his friend was doing, but said nothing. Instead he opted to keep watch for approaching guards.

Honj let his body be at peace, and his mind wander. His thoughts drifted back to when he and Indy found the cylinder on Kashyyk, and how he used the Force to open it. Perhaps here it would be the same thing, so he reached out to the Star Map with the aid of the Force, probing every inch if the mechanism until he found… nothing.

He couldn’t believe it; he could feel he was near. What was he missing? Something told him he was on the right track. He was so close! But closeness only counted when throwing thermal detonators and the like. Malek had really outdone himse…

That was it! A Dark Lord had concocted this whole scheme. Perhaps a Dark Lord was needed to solve it! If Honj could harness the Dark Side, only for a moment, he might be able to find what he was looking for! But this was a dangerous path he was about to embark on. If he allowed himself to taste the Dark Side, what if he wanted more? The words of Master Yoda came to mind. “If start down the dark path, you do. Forever will it dominate you. Cloud your judgment, it will.”

“No!” Honj declared to himself. He wouldn’t go that route. But…what other choice did he have?

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice coming from the entranceway. “Hey!! What are you two doing in here??”

Darth Danno