Lost in the Desert: Neva Kee's Tale

Lost in the Desert: Neva Kee's Tale

Author:	Gavin Downing
Series:	Tales from the Boonta Eve Classic
Length:	10,056 words
Source:	AO3
Publication Date:	November 3, 2024
Timeline Placement:	24 BBY

Preceding:	Following:
"Nice Guys Finish Last: Sebulba's Tale"	"All in the Family: Gardulla's Tale"

"Lost in the Desert: Neva Kee's Tale" is a short story written by Gavin Downing. It was first published on AO3 on November 3, 2024 as the thirteenth story from Tales from the Boonta Eve Classic. It is the fifteenth story in the print release of the anthology.

Plot summary

Eight years after the Boonta Eve Classic, Podracer NewsStack reporter Fayd Wharod is investigating the disappearance of Neva Kee. Ostensibly searching for the truth, Wharod hopes his story convinces his boss to give him a promotion.

In his quest to uncover the truth behind Kee's disappearance, Wharod speaks with the podracer's former mechanic, Kabé, who is now in service to Knire Dark. Kabé portrays Kee as an impulsive gambler with a mean streak, which leads Wharod to Dominic Raynor at The Wheel. Raynor, after implying Kee was trying to gamble away a nasty debt to the Hutts, offers information on Kee's accounts leaked from the InterGalactic Banking Clan.

After a visit to Gardulla's palace, Wharod learns that Kee was trying to free a specific Xamster slave from Gardulla's pens. Wharod pursues the other end of the lead by meeting with one of Jabba's lackeys, the Nimbanel Lhojugg, who leads him to the bounty hunter Aurra Sing. Sing later holds Wharod at gunpoint upon learning he's been trying to find her; she lets him go after Wharod discloses Dominic Raynor is leaking Banking Clan secrets. Sing, who had originally been hired by Jabba to track Kee after his disappearance during the race, reveals she was working two jobs: the first was for Jabba, to bring back Kee alive; the other was to bring back Kee's podracer, with its aftermarket modifications intact, to its manufacturer, Farwan & Glott. However, the modifications were removed before Sing could return the pod. She points Wharod to her contact in Jabba's palace, Scuppa, who simply says that Kee was eaten alive by a ghokk beast while trying to escape through the vents.

Unwilling to accept that answer, Wharod catches up with Kabé again. She reveals that while Kee was indeed eaten by a ghokk beast, the beast spat the Xamster back out once it was outside the palace. Kee was reunited with the slave whom he had freed, Adja Vood, and the pair were able to leave Tatooine together. Kabé urges Wharod not to report on the full truth, as it would put both Kee and Vood's lives in danger, undermining all the effort they had spent securing their freedom.

Wharod writes his article without telling a lie; however, it is little more than a fluff piece that ends with Neva Kee's disappearance into the desert. Impressed that Wharod did the "right thing," Kabé gives him Kee's old lucky charm.

Appearances

Characters

• Gardulla Besadii the Elder
• Knire Dark
• Doff (Mentioned only)
• Mars Guo (Flashbacks only)
• Kabé
• Neva Kee (Flashbacks only)
• Dominic Raynor
• Scuppa
• Sebulba (Mentioned only)
• Aurra Sing
• Anakin Skywalker (Mentioned only)
• Jabba Desilijic Tiure (Mentioned only)
• Adja Vood
• Fayd Wharod
• Lhojugg
• Unidentified Wookiee bartender

Locations

• Coruscant (Mentioned only)
• Dac (Mentioned only)
• Ryloth
  • Nightlands
• Tatooine
  • Gardulla's palace
  • Jabba's palace
  • Mos Eisley
    • Chalmun's Cantina (As "Ackmena's")
    • Dowager Queen
  • Mos Espa
    • Trillia's Massage Parlor (Mentioned only)
    • The Wheel
• Xagobah (Mentioned only)

Continuity

The Tusken Raider encampment mentioned by Lhojugg and Aurra Sing is the same one from "The Mask: The Tusken's Tale."

Since the story ends with Fayd Wharod in the press box at the Nightlands podrace, the events of "Lost in the Desert" take place immediately before the previous story in Tales from the Boonta Eve Classic, "Nice Guys Finish Last."