Thall Joben

Thall Joben was a popular speeder racer during the early years of the Galactic Empire. Along with his racing partner, Jord Dusat, he briefly came into ownership of the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO while they were separated from Raymus Antilles.

Biography[]

From an early age, Joben and Dusat shared a passion for constructing and racing speeders, and together they began to run a speeder shop on Ingo. During the Jedi Purge, a customer brought his speeder in for some repairs and never returned to collect it. A search of the vehicle revealed a lightsaber which Joben kept. It is unknown what happened to the lightsaber's original owner.

Joben and Dusat began constructing White Witch, a speeder which they intended to enter in the Boonta Speeder Race. While racing through the desert on Ingo, Joben and Dusat came across R2-D2 and C-3PO who had been dumped by their previous master shortly before he was arrested for smuggling. White Witch required an astromech droid to assist the driver and R2-D2 was ideal for the role so Joben and Dusat became the droids' new masters.

While returning home with the droids, the racers passed close to a secret base where the Fromm Gang were developing a weapons satellite, Trigon One, which they planned to use to overthrow the other gangs. Fearing that the intruders would reveal the base's location, Tig Fromm dispatched sentry droids to attack them. The two racers escaped with the assistance of Kea Moll who was on a mission to locate and destroy Trigon One.

Agreeing to assist Kea in her mission, they were able to break into the secret base and steal Trigon One. Joben hid the weapons satellite in a forest on Ingo but when Sise Fromm kidnapped Dusat and Kea's mother he agreed to reveal the location in exchange for their release. Tig Fromm went to retrieve Trigon One, but Joben and R2-D2 had sabotaged the guidance system causing the ship to collide with and destroy Sise Fromm's base on Annoo.

The group traveled to the Boonta Speeder Race but the Fromm's attack on their ship damaged White Witch and injured Dusat, forcing Joben to take over as driver for the race. Seeking revenge, Sise Fromm, who was owed a favor by Boba Fett, recruited the bounty hunter to kill the young racers. Proto One, a droid they met on Boonta, offered to assist in repairing White Witch but C-3PO suggested the superior facilities offered by BL-17, unaware that the droid was working for Fett.

When BL-17 and Boba Fett sprung their trap, Joben escaped in White Witch and headed for the race, which was about to start. However, Tig Fromm had planted a thermal detonator on White Witch which was set to go off at the end of the race. Boba Fett followed Joben to the race course, pursuing him throughout the race. Fett's attack loosened the thermal detonator which fell off and attached to Fett's pursuing speeder. Fett ejected in time, though his speeder was destroyed. Joben went on to win the race.

After the race, Joben and Dusat were approached by Zebulon Dak, owner of Zebulon Dak Speeder Corporation, who offered them jobs designing and engineering speeders. Company policy would have necessitated a memory wipe for R2-D2 and C-3PO so they decided to decline. Unwilling to stand in the way of their masters' dreams, R2-D2 and C-3PO left in an escape pod shortly before their ship went to hyperspace, freeing Joben and Dusat up to take the jobs.