C-3PO, under the ownership of Baron Pitareeze, assists the Baron as a translator for his business negotiations, leaving R2-D2 behind to watch the landspeeder. During this time, R2 is stolen by spicesmugglers and transported off-planet. However, the ship is interrupted by a heavily-armed security ship, at which point R2 gets into a lifepod and zooms back to the planet's surface, just in time to meet with Pitareeze and Threepio as if nothing ever happened.