At the Mos Espa Arena, on the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Boona Eve Classic podrace that saw young Anakin Skywalker win his freedom from bondage, many of the same veteran racers assembled again for an exhibition and competition that drew a massive crowd to the dying desert town for the first time in many decades:  Sebulba the Dug, Ben Quadinaros the Toong, Ody Mandrell the Er'kit, and Dud Bolt the Vulptereen.  Quinn Algernon, who had partnered with arena owner Ulda Banai to sponsor the race, also participated, along with two neophytes to the podracing circuit, a brash, young B'nishi known as "Shorty McGlint" and an incognito humanoid racer who went by the mysterious moniker Racer Xesh.  Ody, piloting a podracer he had built himself from scavenged parts, was first out of the arena, and Shorty McGlint and Ben Quadinaros demonstrated crack piloting skills as they edged for advantageous positions throughout the three circuits around the Dune Sea and through the Xelric Draw Canyon; but Sebulba, Quinn and Racer Xesh proved to be the most formidable contestants.  Dodging flocks of sand bats, evading the blasts of a pair of ion fougasses the Jawas had rigged in the sand, and dodging their competitors' aggressive -- and sometimes underhanded -- tactics, including the use of the Force by Racer Xesh and, unwittingly, by Ben Quadinaros, the racers showed their true grit and proved their mettle.  In the last leg of the race, a whirlwind of sand from the explosions and the wakes of the pods clogged the engines of the vehicles.  Shorty's and Ben Quadinaros' pods crashed just short of the finish line, as Quinn, Racer Xesh and Sebulba vied, neck in neck, for first place.  Quinn's victory seemed assured, but seeing Ben Quadinaros, immobile in the sand inside his foundered pod, caused Quinn to double back at the last second, resulting in the mysterious Racer Xesh beating Sebulba over the finish line by a hair.  Quinn helped Ben into his own pod, and carried the veteran podracer across the finish line so that the Toong could finish the Boonta Eve race, a regret Quadinaros had carried for thirty-five years, since the engines of his old pod exploded before he left the gates at the original Boonta Eve race.  Though they crossed the finish line last, the crowd cheered Quinn and Ben with no less enthusiasm than that which greeted the victor, Racer Xesh.

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At a crowded celebration inside a nearby cantina, the racers, from the victorious Racer Xesh to the bruised Ben Quadinaros, mingled with fans, old and new, and Quinn worked the crowd into a celebratory frenzy, revitalizing a long dormant fan base that now clamored for more of the spectacle.  Ulda, too, was grateful that the success of the event not only put her struggling arena back in the black, but seemed to put the near-ghost-town of Mos Espa back on the map!

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During the festivities, a lone Jawa entered the cantina, jostled by the obstreperous crowd and calling out inquiringly in his piping voice what sounded like the name "EES-MAIL."  Racer Xesh removed her helmet, revealing the face of Ismail Montross!  She identified herself to the Jawa, who handed her a holographic emitter disk.  Cloistering herself in the relative quietude of a back room, she activated the disk.  Before her appeared the shimmering image of a dusky figure donning the garb and wielding the force-pike of Tamtel Skreej, Ismail's scout whom she had sent to Tatooine to help find Boba Fett.  Though disguised in Skreej's trappings, the man in the hologram was, in fact, Lando Calrissian, making good on the mutual promise he and Ismail had made to inform each other if either found Fett.  Calrissian revealed that he was recording the hologram from the the court of Jabba the Hutt, and that Boba Fett was currently in attendance.  The holographic recording ended abruptly, and Ismail set out to assemble the rest of her associates to travel to the hive of the Huttese crime lord!