As the Solar Venture hurtled through hyperspace, Samuel sat in a small chamber within, at a circular checkerboard-colored table lined with buttons. So many more questions, so much to ask—from what he could tell, this ship was unbelievably fast by Colonial standards. The woman in the cockpit had told him that such ships could travel the galaxy in hours—it took colonial ships years. All this technology just made him want to tear it open just to see how the innards looked like, to satisfy his inner engineer.

Looking down at the buttons, he decided to press one—there couldn't be any risk, he gathered, they surely wouldn't link vital systems to this thing. To his surprise, a 3D holographic image of a dark-skinned woman in a bad pink wig popped up.

"I know you're searching for me. Searching, searching. I am here" she purred. "My voice is for you alone. I am found in your eyes only. I exist for you. I am in your mind as you create me. Oh, yes... I can feel my creation. I'm getting your message. Are you getting mine?"

Samuel quickly pressed the button and it vanished. Shivering, he decided never to think of that experience again. Pressing another button, he jumped as some sort of holographic logo appeared in front of him.

"Welcome to HoloNet Channel SBA!" An enthusiastic female voice exclaimed. "Please select your sub-channel."

Hesitantly, Samuel pressed another button. The logo was replaced with several neatly arranged thumbnail images in front of him, and then in turn by a picture of some ridge-headed man in glasses who appeared to be some sort of newsreader.

"Hello there, and welcome to the See'van Kolbehr show!" he exclaimed. "Today we'll be studying the rebel attack on a KDY facility near Naboo, and I must say, I fully support those rebbies in killing thousands of innocent personnel! You hear that, Mon Mothma! We're behind you!" This was met by a laughter track. Clearly a parody of something, he guessed.

"Hey!" The woman had entered the room silently, causing Samuel to jerk in shock. "Yeah, you. We've got a problem---get your ass to the cockpit."

Following her, Samuel hit his head on the cockpit doorframe as he entered. The others were there, looking grim.

"I'm afraid that thanks to mister expert pilot here, our hyperdrive needs some basic repairs. Nothing too major, thank the maker. Thankfully, there's a place where we can land to fix it. I know some guys who hang out there."

"What's this place called?"

"Cloud City. On planet Bespin?"

"Is it...literally in the clouds?" asked Anya. The woman rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, you're from some Outer Rim dump, but still...yeah, it is. Built by some rich Corellian loony, I think. Suspended in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant—there's a big Tibanna gas extraction operation going there. Beautiful place, especially if you need somewhere to chill from the Empire."

A beeping came from the cockpit dashboard.

"Ah—you see, we're almost there already. It'll just take a few hours, tops..."

**

A few minutes later, the small freighter was gliding through the thick atmosphere of a huge gas giant, passing by several huge platforms covered in containers, hanging suspended in the atmosphere. How they were staying up there was beyond Samuel—he didn't feel any other changes in gravity.

"We've got company." Sighed the woman as suddenly several strange aircraft appeared out of nearby clouds—linked orange pods, with dual cockpits. The ship shook slightly as they fired warning shots over its bow.

"Frak this! They're firing at us!"spat Gero.

"You—get on the comms, try and sweet-talk them. That sorta stuff ain't my thing." Said the woman firmly, gesturing at Samuel. Slowly walking over, he spoke into the grille she was indicating.

"Er, hi. Listen, we're just a bunch of guys...and our hyperdrive thing is busted, and we wanna repair it at your sky city or whatever you call it..."

"Who the hell are you? State your identification code!"

"Listen, we're from Jabba, and, er, oh frak..." He closed his eyes as the others brought their palms to their faces.

"Jabba? Well, why didn't you say so! You're expected. Please follow us to landing pad 1138."

Samuel looked up as the woman took the controls and followed the craft through the vast expanse of cloud. A few moments later, a massive platform was looming up in the distance—a huge, vaguely mushroom-shaped mass with a cityscape atop it, suspended in the air. At this point, Samuel couldn't even generate any erudite thoughts regarding it or its nature. All he could do was breath: "Wow."

As they got closer, he could see many other smaller ships coming and going from the massive structure—and of course, utterly dwarfed by it. Descending, the Venture began to pass through sleek, curved towers that made the architecture of Caprica look like something a three-year old with crayon would design. Flying vehicles and other craft glided around them like insects, and monorails shot past like bullets. The whole thing was like something out of the dream of some utopianism-covered dream of some overly idealistic science fiction author back home—except better.

Settling in to land on a platform jutting out of the side of one of the vehicles, the ship's engines and systems quietly died down to silence. The woman gestured for them to follow as she led them out of the cockpit, down a ramp and onto the pad. The air felt oddly strange—cold and yet pleasing, with a tinge of some smell he couldn't identify. Looking before him, Samuel saw two small lines of uniformed guards, with a gaunt-looking bald man with headphone-like things on his ears and a dark-skinned man in a blue suit standing before him.

Samuel decided that the one with the headphones was the controller—after all, you'd need some augmentation to administrate a place like this, with all this technology.

"Hello there." He said in his friendliest, most confident tone. "You would be the administrator of this facility?"

"Uh, no." Said the dark-skinned guy suavely. "That would be me."

"My name's Lando Calrissian." He continued. "I heard you mooks are from Jabba. Well, let's hear what he's got to say, and no, I'm not holding Han. This time."

"We just need a new hyperdrive." Said Samuel pleadingly. The woman rolled her eyes.

"That it, huh? Well, I guess Jabba don't want no delays in his runs, am I correct? Well, don't worry. I'll have my men fix it. But on the condition that you lose some money at Sabbacc at my casinos here." He winked, before sliding up to the woman. "Hello, what have we here?"

"Lando, clear off, or I'll get Boba Fett himself on your ass." She said playfully with a smile.

"Alright, my lady." Grinned Lando. "Please, follow me this way..."

**

From a nearby rooftop, a figure in battered green armor observed. The people alongside that smuggler woman were strange—their uniforms were not like anything he'd ever seen before, and they seemed pretty taken aback by the scenery around them. Given their proximity to her, they were either rookie stooges for Jabba, slaves been smuggled, or just passengers being scammed into an overpriced trip to Coruscant. In any case, the Vigo would certainly want some information on these newcomers.

Putting aside his binoculars, Boba Fett got up and prepared to head down to observe these strange people more closely...

Authors note: If anyone's been unfortunate enough to see the godawful Star Wars holiday special, they'll get the main in-joke here. ;)