I wrote chapters 70 and 71 in the summer of 2021 — TWO WHOLE YEARS AGO! The events in these chapters were originally supposed to take place *before* the Anaxes adventure. Chapter 70 started life as chapter 62! I struggled through writing them a sentence or two at a time…the inspiration just wasn't there. Then, just after finishing what will now be chapter 71, I thought changing the order of events might make the story flow better, so these chapters have just been patiently waiting their turn to be posted until now.

However, because eight chapters worth of events took place before these two, these chapters required some substantial rewriting…hopefully I didn't accidentally leave in a major continuity error.

Anyway, enjoy this brand-new super-old chapter.

With the cloaking device aboard Queen Moon's Revenge once again in working order and Star's memory no longer on the fritz, it was time to make preparations for the return trip to Mewni.

"The first thing we need to take care of is fueling," said Janna. "I know we're expecting this to be a one-way trip, but we don't know what might happen and I want to be prepared for anything."

"You're talking about fueling both ships, right?" Tom asked. "We are bringing the Raventalon with us?"

"Of course. I'm not gonna leave it here."

"How exactly…?" Rosado almost felt ignorant asking this question. Janna surely had a plan that he should know about, right?

"How are we bringing the Raventalon to Mewni when it doesn't have a cloaking device?" Janna finished for him.

"Yeah."

"We'll secure the Raventalon to the Revenge with the docking clamp, and the cloaking device should compensate for the extra mass and cloak it, too."

"Oh! I didn't know a cloaking device could do that!"

Janna decided it was probably best to not let any of her friends know that she was making an educated guess as to the operation of the cloaking device. "Anyway, I don't want to risk flying the Revenge into Mos Espa to fuel up. Unique ship like that might draw too much attention. So I'll top off the tanks in the Raventalon, fly it back to Beggar's Canyon, pump the fuel out of the Raventalon and into the Revenge, leave just enough fuel in the Raventalon to fly it back to the spaceport, and fuel it again."

"You don't think anyone will think it's suspicious that you're fueling up again so soon?" Star asked.

"If anyone cares enough to bring it up, I'll tell 'em I've got two identical ships. It's the Outer Rim, no one gives a bantha dropping what you do out here."

Tom snickered.

"I can handle the refueling job on my own," Janna went on. "Why don't you guys head into town and get us some food? And while you're at it, you can see if anyone's got bulk rations and water for sale."

"What for?" Tom asked. "We've still got plenty of nonperishables."

"Not for us, dummy, for-"

"For the Mewmans," finished Star, softly, but firmly.

"Ohhhh…"

"If you find anything, we'll pick it up tomorrow before we bug out."


By now, Janna, Tom, and Rosado had all shopped the Mos Espa marketplace numerous times, but this was Star's first foray. She had enjoyed shopping the various markets on the other worlds their adventures had taken them on, and was curious to see what Mos Espa had in store. Besides, her life had been a nightmare since the raid on Anaxes. She hoped a stroll through a marketplace would give her a sense of normalcy and peace.

Unfortunately, unlike the pleasant marketplaces on Takodana and Iego, the Mos Espa marketplace was anything but peaceful.

The place was packed to capacity with beings of every shape and size, and each seemed to be carrying a bigger blaster than the last. Half walked with a menacing stance and intimidating glare which silently commanded, "Get out of my way," while the other half did their best to not attract the attention of those beastly thugs.

Star and Tom were actually quite thankful to have Rosado with them. Never mind that they could handle themselves in fight, when it came to avoiding the ire of grouchy bounty hunters, the presence of an adult who, to the eyes of strangers, was their guardian, seemed to make most beings treat them with at least marginal respect.

Emphasis on most. "Move it or lose it, runt!" was one of the nicer things they'd had yelled at them.

Rosado wiped his brow. As if the twin suns were not bad enough, the congested market street and various open flames grilling and smoking meats were compounding the issue. Meanwhile, Tom was still wearing his leather jacket. "I know heat doesn't bother you being a demonicite, but aren't you even a little uncomfortable wearing that jacket?"

Tom chuckled. "Nope. Not at all. Besides, it makes me look tougher."

"Oh, really?" Rosado snickered.

"Appearances are everything in Mos Espa. If people think you're bad news, they won't bother trying to pick a fight."

Rosado glanced past Tom at Star, who was busy loading a handful of colorful fruits into her pack. "And then there's Star, who looks like…well, like the least intimidating person in the galaxy."

"Trust me, the mechanical arm goes a long way in making her look like someone not to be trifled with."

Star sauntered up beside them, PY-HD in tow. "Guys," she said quietly, "don't look now, but I'm almost positive we're being watched."

"By who?" Tom asked, his trio of eyes rapidly scanning the crowd. "Imperials?"

"They sure don't look like it. They look more like bounty hunters. Or pirates."

Rosado nodded. "Then let's make like a womp-rat and scurry. But like…nonchalantly."

They turned and headed away from the marketplace, but they didn't make it very far. Two huge weequay males stepped out from around the corner of a building to block their path. Four more appeared behind them. All held huge blaster rifles as long as Star was tall. PY-HD, who had been lagging back, quickly scurried out of sight behind a stack of water barrels. The teens and their adult companion shrank back as the largest weequay stepped toward them. He stuck a gnarled finger in Tom's face.

"You."

"M-me?" Tom stuttered.

"Yeah. You Thomas Lucitor?"

"Uh, I-I, uh-"

"Yeah, you're him alright. Jabba the Hutt has requested your presence."

Tom's eyes grew so wide it looked as though they might pop out of their sockets. Star and Rosado were equally surprised. They had never met Jabba the Hutt, but the gangster's influence was so widespread that they knew and feared the name.

"Me?!" sputtered Tom. "What does he want with me?!"

"Not my place to ask," said the Weequay.

Tom held up his hands defensively. He, Star, and Rosado were already walking backwards in retreat. "Unfortunately, I, uh, don't really have the time right now. Lots to do, places to go, you know."

They bumped into the quartet of weequay blocking their path behind them. One of them looked straight down at Tom. "The boss don't make requests."

He grabbed Tom by the wrist and easily lifted the teenage Demonicite off the ground with one hand, and quickly unclipped and relieved Tom of his holstered blaster with the other. "What are you doing?! Let me go!"

"Hey! Put him down!" Star cried. She reached for her little purple bag to retrieve her lightsabers…and then remembered she had left her weapons on the Raventalon to hide her Jedi identity. "Oh, kriff."

Another weequay scooped up Star under the crook of his arm. She wriggled and struggled to escape, but the thug just tightened his grip. A third picked up Rosado. "What should we do with these two?" he asked.

The leader gave a halfhearted chuckle. "Bring 'em."

From its hiding spot behind the water barrels, PY-HD watched as its organic companions were carried into a waiting land speeder. The speeder turned down an adjacent street and vacated the marketplace with a loud whine.


Mos Espa spaceport did not have a dedicated landing pad for refueling. Instead, it provided a small fleet of fuel speeders operated by pilot droids. Ninety percent of the mass of these large, heavily modified land speeders was compromised of a huge fuel tank. Janna hired out one of these, which was ridiculously expensive. Refueling the Raventalon was a lengthy endeavor. Once the fuel hose was connected, the relatively low-pressure hose could take nearly an hour to fill the several hundred-liter tank. Janna took the time to inspect a handful of maintenance-heavy components before laying out in the shade at the top end of the boarding ramp and closing her eyes for a well deserved nap.

And then PY-HD came streaking in at top speed, frantically bleeping and squealing. Janna awoke with a start.

"Pony Head!" Janna groaned as she dragged herself upright. "What's wrong?"

"Bleepeepeep blarp zworp booop dee-dee-dit-dee-dit-DEET!"

Janna rubbed her eyes. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me…"

"Bloo-boop pop zeet."

Janna sighed. She quickly ran down to disconnect the fuel hose, paid the droid running the speeder, and hurried back up the ramp, retracting it behind her. "Alright, let's go save everyone. Again."


Star, Tom, and Rosado were hoisted out of the speeder and roughly deposited on the sand just outside the main entrance of Jabba's palace. One of the weequay gave Tom a shove toward the huge door. "Walk." His companions did the same to Star and Rosado.

"Don't worry," Star whispered as she drew even with Tom. "I'll figure out some way to get us out of here."

"Maybe…maybe don't?" Tom squeaked. "They didn't get Pony Head, she'll get Janna. Janna has dealt with Jabba before, she can probably talk our way out of this."

"Oh. You sure?"

Tom glanced over his shoulder at the weequay thugs. They each still carried their long, wicked-looking blaster rifles, but none of the weapons were pointed at him or his friends. "…I'm not sure of anything right now…"

"Maybe it's not so bad," Rosado said as they passed through the entrance and out of the sun. "I mean, they didn't put us in binders or anything."

Tom blinked, his eyes adjusting to the abrupt shift from twin suns to the dimly lit corridor. "I know. And I honestly don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Rosado eyed a pair of axe-wielding Gamorrean guards suspiciously watching them. "…Just trying to stay positive here."


"Just once, can't we visit a planet where no one wants to kill us or kidnap us?" Janna huffed under her breath.

The Raventalon touched down on a flat, sandy plane a short hike from Jabba's palace. PY-HD twittered that no one had come after them on Iego.

"Oh. Right. I forgot about Iego…that place was super boring." Janna checked that her DC-17's gas cartridge was full and stood up. "Alright, Pony, you watch the ship. I'm gonna go see what the most ruthless gangster in the galaxy could possibly want with our friends."

The astromech twittered an almost sarcastic "Good luck."


The weequay thugs became progressively pushier and more aggressive the deeper they progressed into the palace. At first they followed a few paces behind the "prisoners", but then they began to prod Star, Tom, and Rosado with their blaster rifles. Eventually, as they reached a long, curved set of stairs, the thugs depleted the last of their patience. "C'mon! Git, you!" They physically shoved their captives along down the stairs. When they'd nearly reached the bottom, Tom lost his balance after a particularly rough push and tumbled forward, taking Star and Rosado down with him as he fell. They landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.

"Owwww," Rosado groaned as he turned himself right side up. "That hurt." Then he looked up. "Uh…guys?"

Star and Tom righted themselves and found at least two-dozen bounty hunters of every shape, size, and intimidating species (plus a droid or two) staring back at them. And seated on his perch behind them at the head of the room sat the giant Hutt known to all as the crime lord Jabba.

"Chowbaso tah mya bunko," boomed the slug.

A protocol droid equipped with a female vocabulator translated as the trio cautiously rose to their feet. "The Great and Mighty Jabba welcomes you to his palace, esteemed guests."

"Esteemed guests?" Rosado whispered to Star. She shrugged.

"Um…thank-" Tom cleared his throat and tried to feign confidence. "Thank you, Great Jabba!"

"Do pateesa of mie sa unko um wago tah settah nee choo wanna wanga."

"Jabba wishes for you to come closer," translated the droid. "A friend of his is here and wishes to say hello."

Rosado glanced at Star. "A friend?" he whispered.

Star shrugged, whispering back, "I didn't know Jabba the Hutt had friends."

They followed Tom cautiously toward where Jabba sat. The bounty hunters standing in their path parted to let them pass, all silently staring at the teens and their adult companion.

"Well, well, well!" came a shrill voice from somewhere behind Jabba. "If it isn't…um…Captain Ordonia's sidekick."

Tom's eyes widened. "No way. No way!"

"Yes way!" The diminutive kappa's beak turned upward in a smug grin as he emerged from behind the Hutt. "Hello there…! Uh…Captain Ordonia's partner. Fancy seeing you here."

"Ludo?!" Star burst out.

His gaze shifted toward the Padawan, and his surprised eyes grew as wide as hers. "Star Butterfly?! You're alive?!"

Star felt her blood run cold. Oh, kriff! Ludo knows that I'm a Jedi!

Meanwhile, Tom and Ludo were sharing the revelation that they all knew each other. "You know him?" they both simultaneously asked Star.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I know Ludo! He's from Mewni!"

"He is?"

"I am!"

"Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt," Rosado injected, "but who is this?"

"This is Ludo Avarius," Tom explained. "He's a client of mine and Janna's who never remembers my name," he said, shooting Ludo an annoyed glare. "He's a…'dealer'…of sorts. I don't know who he is to Star, though."

Ludo suddenly turned pale. He looked Star dead in the eyes, his panicked expression seeming to plead with her. "No one! Just an infamous procurer and purveyor of black market goods who happens to be from Mewni!"

Star lowered her eyes at him, her expression serious. She hoped he understood. "That's right."

The muscles in Ludo's face relaxed a bit. He blinked, but only with one eye. Star assumed he was agreeing to the terms of their silent agreement: He would not reveal that she was a Jedi, and she would not reveal what she knew about him.

Jabba spoke up. "Ateema da jee-jee u vopa tah knew-wah u danta tangu unko."

"The Great Jabba asks if, now that we are all aquatinted, you would like to know why you have been asked here?"

"I wouldn't really say 'asked' as much as 'brought here against our will,'" Tom muttered. Jabba laughed heartily. "But your, uh, 'helpers'…said that you asked for me specifically. So what is it you want with me?"

"It was actually me who wanted you here," Ludo said. "My good buddy Jabba was kind enough to send his associates to pick you up."

"For what?"

"'Scuse me! Pardon me! Comin' through!"

Everyone turned toward the source of the unexpected voice. Janna was roughly pushing her way through the crowd, shoving bounty hunters twice her size out of the way. "One side!" she grunted, and shouldered a very scary and angry-looking trandoshan out of her way.

"Alright, Jabba, what do you-?" As she emerged from the crowd of bounty hunters, Janna froze. "Ludo?! What are you doing here?!"

Jabba's huge eyes rolled. "Noleeya ta hotsa-"

"Well, excuse me for being late, but no one invited me to this party!" Janna snapped. "You just kidnapped my friends while I was trying to take a nap!"

"Did Janna understand him? She speaks Huttese?" Rosado whispered to Tom.

The Demonicite appeared quite surprised himself. "I'm still shocked she can talk to Jabba like that and not be executed!"

"That's Janna for ya," Star added. "Absolutely fearless."

"You know, we can all hear everything you guys are saying," said Ludo.

All three went red with embarrassment.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by Captain Ordonia here…" Ludo hopped down from the raised alter upon which Jabba sat, marching straight up in front of Tom. "It was I who wanted you here, my three-eyed friend!"

"…Are you calling me that because you still can't remember my name?"

"NO!"

"His name is 'Tom'," Star loudly whispered.

"I know that!" he lied angrily.

Tom was losing his patience, as was Janna. "Can you just tell us what you want with Tom already?" she sighed.

"Jabba was telling me that a bounty hunter he'd hired recently was killed on Takodana, evidently in a duel."

The color abruptly drained from Tom's face.

"Jabba was curious who could have possibly defeated the famous Rasticore Chaosus Disastervaine, but of course, had no way of knowing." Ludo's beak curled up into a devious grin. "However, an associate of mine witnessed the duel and described the victor as a half-Demonicite." Ludo gave a dismissive shrug. "That didn't really mean anything to me, but my brother Dennis, on the other hand…"

Karabast, thought Tom.

"Hang on," cut in Janna. "Are you suggesting that Tom, this guy right here, out-dueled a professional bounty hunter?"

"I am!"

"Poo-doo."

"Oh, but he did!" He narrowed his eyes at Tom, grinning mischievously. "Didn't you?"

Janna looked at her partner's face. His eyes were wide, his jaw was clenched, but the real giveaway was the sweat beading on his forehead. Sure, nearly every being in the room was sweating. It was Tatooine, after all. But Tom, as a Demonicite, was never affected by the heat. The only time he ever sweat was when he was really, really nervous. "Oh my gosh, Tom! You actually did!"

"Okay, fine!" Tom burst out. "Yes, I killed Rasticore. But it-!"

Anything else Tom might have said was lost, drowned out by the room full of bounty hunters cheering, laughing, shouting, and jeering. Jabba yelled for quiet, and, though most did not understand the Huttese, most received the message.

"There's no way in hell a child could beat Disastervaine on the draw!" spat a Klatooinian bounty hunter.

"I calculate the odds of this half-Demonicite out-gunning the Septarian known as Rasticore at roughly fifty-six thousand two-hundred and twelve to one," an assassin droid droned.

"Well, see, I didn't actually-"

"Let's see your skills, boy!"

"I want a crack at him!"

"Five hundred credits says I can best him!"

"He's nothing! I'd wager a thousand!"

The shouting escalated, and once again, Jabba shouted for quiet.

Ludo turned back to Tom, his mischievous smile turning downright evil. "Seems to me everyone would like a demonstration of your skills."

Tom raised his palms defensively. "No! No! I'm good! No skills here to demonstrate!"

"Oh, but you have!" Ludo chortled. "You see, every bounty hunter wants to believe that they're the best." He gestured to the beings which packed the room. "These fine mercenaries and guns for hire all want a crack at any man who could beat Rasticore in a duel. And they've all bet money on it. I say you can beat them. So you're going to duel them. Every. Single. One." His smile suddenly faded. "And if you lose, it'll be you that covers my bet!"

"But I don't-!"

Janna suddenly stepped in front of her partner. "You know, Ludo, as I recall, you owe Tom and me quite a lot of money for that last job we did for you."

"What are you doing?!" Tom angrily whispered.

"Shush. Perhaps there's a way we could both benefit. I get the money you owe me, and you get to profit off it, too."

"Janna?"

"Shh!"

Ludo rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What do you propose?"

"Whatever Tom wins, you have to pay us half."

"Half?!"

"Half."

Ludo turned red in the face. "But I won't-!"

"Mee am injeac!" Jabba suddenly interjected. "Mee will loctad doe wee shahnit's soogaa."

"The great Jabba says he is intrigued by this contest, and will match the bounty hunter's wagers."

"That stands to double your profit, Ludo," Janna smirked. "And ours. Whatdya say to that?" She extended her hand.

"Janna-!"

"Shh!"

The little bird man thought a moment. Then he excitedly clasped Janna's hand. "Alright, you've got yourself a deal!"

The bounty hunters roared and cheered. Tom's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "Wait! Just a sec, I-!"

Janna slapped a hand over his mouth. "Now, you understand, I don't want my faithful copilot here to be fried…"

"Of course, of course!" Ludo agreed. "We'll use training cartridges. We'll send someone to acquire some."

"Perfect. While you do that, may we go somewhere a moment and strategize?"

Ludo waved his hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, whatever. But don't try to run off, there's guards at every exit."

"Don't worry, we're not going anywhere. Just somewhere a little more private."

Jabba grunted something which the protocol droid translated. "Jabba says he will have a guard show you to guest quarters where you may wait and rest until we have procured a supply of training cartridges."

"That is most generous of you, Jabba," Janna said, bowing slightly while still holding her hand over Tom's mouth. "Thank you."

One of the weequay who had escorted them in emerged from the crowd. "Right this way," he gestured, and the group followed him from the room.

The guard led them up a level to a nicely furnished room with a bed for visiting guests of Jabba the Hutt. They filed inside and Janna thanked him before closing the door. Then she whirled around. "Lucy, what the heck?!"

"'What the heck' me? 'What the heck' you!" Tom shot back. "Where do you get off volunteering me for a dueling competition?!"

"You killed Rasticore and you didn't even tell us?!"

Star stepped between them. "Okay, okay! Calm down, you two. Everyone has a lot of questions they want answered, so let's just do this…diplomatically?" She looked back at Rosado. "Am I using that word right?"

He shrugged. "I think so…?"

"I'm just gonna assume that I am. Tom, your thing happened first chronologically, so…please enlighten us."

Tom sighed and sank into an overstuffed armchair. "When you guys got captured, I needed a ship to come after you. Rasticore must have overheard me asking the cantina owner on Takodana about a ship and challenged me to a duel." He frowned. "For some reason he wanted Pony Head. Can't imagine why."

"Hang on," Janna interrupted. "So he offered up that starfighter as a prize for beating him in a duel, and if he won his reward would be…Pony Head?"

"Yeah, didn't make sense to me either. Rasticore said we'd set the distance at twenty paces. I said twenty-five. I knew I could beat him for sure at that distance."

"How did you know that?" Star asked.

"You saw Rasticore. He made a really big target. I make a pretty small target. I knew he'd be overconfident and probably draw so fast he wouldn't be accurate. And…I'm a really good shot at a long distance, especially when the target is as big as Rasticore."

Janna's annoyed expression softened a little. "Actually, that is true. You are a pretty amazing shot. Even better than me."

Tom pointed to his own face. "Having three eyes helps. Anyway…Rasticore drew, fired, and missed. He gave me a wide open shot and I hit him easily." Tom decided to leave out that his blaster shot had not actually been what had killed Rasticore. It didn't seem like pertinent information at the moment.

"But why didn't you tell us?" Janna asked.

Tom shrugged. "I honestly didn't think you would believe me."

"To be fair," Rosado put in, "He did say exactly that when we asked, and none of us questioned him further."

Janna sighed. "And…I have to admit, you're probably right, I wouldn't have believed you if you had told us."

"Thank you." Tom slowly rose from the chair. "Now, Janna, if you don't mind answering my question, WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"Come on, Lucy! This isn't just Ludo. This is Jabba the Hutt! There is no way he would just let us walk out of here like we own the place after he specifically had us picked up."

Tom's angry expression softened. "Good point."

"But if he has a reason to like us, there's a good chance he'll just let us leave."

"But I don't know if I can do it! Beating Rasticore was one thing. I had everything in my favor. There's no way I can beat dozens of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy!"

"Maybe you don't have to," Star said thoughtfully. "You just have to make it look like you can."

There was determination in Star's grin. "You just draw and shoot. If you're directly in the path of the other guy's shot, I'll stealthily nudge you out of the way with the Force."

"That's perfect!" Janna exclaimed. "Even if you don't make your target, Lucy, as long as you also don't get hit, they'll call for a redraw."

"Well…I suppose this could work…" Tom let out a long sigh.

Star pumped a fist in the air. "That's the spirit, Tom! …I think."

The group took the opportunity to rest. The guest quarters were far cooler and more comfortable than the Tatooine air. An hour passed before the door abruptly opened without any indication that someone had arrived. It was a weequay guard, a different one than the one who had led them up from Jabba's audience chamber. "We're ready for you."

The weequay led them down through the palace and into the large hanger below. It was mostly empty aside from Jabba's sail barge and a few swoop bikes parked off to one side, leaving plenty of room in the center of the sandy floor for a dueling contest. Jabba the Hutt was waiting amongst the throng of eager bounty hunters fanned by a pair of scantily-clad female Twi'leks. Star found herself wondering how exactly the Hutt had managed to make it all the way down to the hanger. "Did he, like, slither down the stairs?" she whispered to Tom.

Tom shrugged. "To be perfectly honest, I didn't think he was capable of moving on his own."

They all came to a halt as Ludo strolled up to Tom, carrying Tom's holster, which had been taken from him in the marketplace. He drew the WESTAR-32 blaster and ejected the gas cartridge, dropping it unceremoniously onto the floor.

"Can I actually have that back?" Tom asked timidly. "They're hard to find and-"

"Silence!"

Ludo slammed a training cartridge into the blaster, flicked off the safety, and test fired it by shooting Rosado in the leg. The gun barked loudly, but fired a pale yellow bolt instead of its usual green.

"OW!" Rosado yelped, and staggered backwards a few steps.

"Oh my gosh! Hovis!" Star exclaimed.

Rosado had felt the energy bolt impact his shin, but when he looked down, there was not even a scorch mark to suggest he had just been shot. "Oh…I'm fine."

"Perfect!" Ludo exclaimed. "Powerful enough to feel when you've been hit, but not enough to actually do damage." He holstered the blaster and handed it to its owner, and Tom strapped it on. "Guards! Please pass out training cartridges to everyone who wishes to participate!"

A pair of weequay guards passed around bags of training cartridges to the eager bounty hunters while Tom inspected his beloved WESTAR-32 to ensure it had not been damaged while out of his possession.

Ludo continued. "Now, according to my friend, the distance of your duel with Rasticore was…well, it was pretty far away. How far was it, Todd?"

"It's 'Tom.'"

"Whatever."

Tom sighed. "Twenty-five paces."

A few of the bounty hunters murmured to themselves.

Ludo's eyes popped. "Fifty paces between you?! That's-!" He blinked in surprised. He'd been told the duelists on Takodana had had quite a distance between them, but he had no idea it was that far. "Wow. Fifty paces. That…that's actually rather impressive, Tog."

Tom opened his mouth to correct him, but froze. A whirlwind of thoughts blew through his mind, and when everything clicked, he realized that a golden opportunity lay before him.

And he was going to take it.

Janna has credibility. Everyone respects her. No one even remembers me. But after today, no one will ever forget the name Thomas Draconis Lucitor ever again.

"Yeah, I suppose fifty paces is pretty impressive," he said nonchalantly. "But you know what would be even more impressive? Seventy."

"Thirty-five paces each?!"

Several of the bounty hunters shifted nervously.

Tom crossed his arms. "Surely, any bounty hunter worth his salt could hit a target from that distance. I know I can."

"What is he doing?" Rosado whispered to his companions.

"I have no idea," Janna replied.

"Jabba!" Tom called. "I would like to raise the stakes of this little contest!"

Jabba laughed heartily.

"The great Jabba asks what you propose," translated the protocol droid.

Tom cleared his throat and silently prayed he sounded confident. "Any bounty hunter that can defeat me at a distance of seventy paces, I will pay…hmm…ten thousand credits."

"What?!" Janna burst out.

This got the attention of the bounty hunters, who now seemed much more eager despite the increased distance.

Jabba chuckled and asked another question. "Jabba asks what you would ask in return should you win."

Tom took a deep breath. "My friends and I have a job to do in the near future." Behind him, his friends' eyes widened in shock. "A very dangerous, high-stakes job. We can't do it alone. We'll need help. A lot of help. So…every bounty hunter I beat must agree to work for us…" He paused for dramatic effect. "…free of charge."

The eager bounty hunters shrank back. Six of them stepped away from the group. Jabba laughed even louder, and then said something else which his droid translated. "Jabba finds these terms most interesting and wishes to add a stake of his own."

Tom had not expected that, but decided it would be unwise to protest. He gestured with his open palm. "Name your terms, big guy."

"Jabba says that he will match your award to any bounty hunter who can best you, and any bounty hunter that does not face you will be marked a coward and will never find themselves in his employ ever again."

The hanger fell eerily silent. Four of the bounty hunters that had stepped away from the group returned. The other two simply walked away and made for the exit.

"Hey! What about me?!" Ludo protested. "This whole dueling contest was my idea! I'm the one who bet on you, Lom!"

Tom scowled, feeling a great animosity for the tiny kappa. "Yeah. You dragged me and my friends here against our will. You wanted to challenge me, and you got it. But now we're playing by my rules. Got it?" And he shot Ludo such a look that the bird man seemed to shrink even smaller.

Ludo retreated silently to Jabba's side. One of the Twi'lek girls gave him a pat on the head.

"Tom, what are you doing?!" Star whispered now that none of their adversaries were within earshot.

"We need an army to retake Mewni, and I'm getting us one. Alone," he added, looking Star hard in the eyes. "Understand?"

"No Force help?"

"No. Trust me." Tom turned his back to his friends, making for the center of the open floor. "I won't need it."


Watching from the shadows beneath Jabba's sail barge, a lone bounty hunter smirked, interested to see how this contest might play out.

Would Jabba force him to partake? He doubted it. But perhaps if, however unlikely, this kid managed to defeat every other bounty hunter present, he might just volunteer himself. Can't let some punk teenager get too big a head, now can we?