The mini-fleet tore out of hyperspace right in the Malastare system. Kagga's Message, a Nebulon-B Frigate, and three Correlian corvettes used as escorts.

They were in orbit around Malastare when two small transports came up. They asked permission to dock and were granted. Sixty people got off the the transports and were told to head through the gallery and they would find themselves in the grand lobby.

They made their way through the lavish gallery. It displayed numerous works of art, from Kagga's personal collection. They were awed by the different colors. The different types. No one thought a Hutt would have an art collection. Actually, no one thought that a Hutt would have anything but money.

The visitors made their way to the lobby and it dumbfounded them with its vastness and color use. This made people think that Kagga was perhaps the best Hutt ever in the galaxy. They all took tube lifts to their separate desired locations. Some went to the cantina for a snack, while others worked their way into a casino. What they didn't realize was that a major event was about to happen.

They sat down in a coliseum-like structure and looked across at a huge, grand viewing box. Then, Kagga himself, followed by a human, another Hutt, and two Nikto guards entered. Kagga raised his arms calling for silence, and then he spoke:

Kagga: Bo-shuda, my friends! Welcome to an exclusive and rare event. You are about to witness a once-in-a-lifetime event. The great Jabba the Hutt once wanted to do this, but alas he was killed and so was his...

A gate opened and out charged a rancor.

Kagga: ...rancor. And for the challenger...

A gate on the opposite side opened and a krayt dragon popped out.

Kagga: ...a krayt dragon. Let the game begin...

Interesting-sounding horns blared, they were from Mataki monks.

The krayt dragon roared, and everyone gasped in horror. But herders kept the two creatures where they should be. The krayt dragon went forward and clawed the rancor, which began scratching the krayt dragon.

*  *  *

Spectators submitted bets on their datapads. Kagga picked up his own datapad and glanced at it. He saw number scrolling up into 15 million credits. A hologram of a Hutt appeared in front of Kagga. It was too small and people were focusing too much on the battle below to see it.

Hologram: We have received bets from the planets we broadcasted to. I am uploading them now.

On the screen of Kagga's datapad a loading symbol appeared to show that it was loading the bets. A moment later, the screen displayed a large number.

Jat: How much did you get?

Kagga: It appears that because we broadcasted this to Malastare, Umgul, Arbra, Omwat, and Sullust, another 40 million credits were bet.

The hologram reappeared.

Hologram: My lord, we are receiving requests from planets outside our range of transmission to broadcast the battle even further. Should I widen the range?

Kagga: Yes, go ahead.

*  *  *
The battle was beginning to heat up. Neither of the two beasts appeared to be able to get an early edge. The krayt dragon tore a gash in the rancor's side. The rancor withdrew in pain, while the krayt dragon went after it. The rancor took a swipe at the krayt dragon, but it missed. The krayt dragon then picked up the rancor and threw it to the other side.

The rancor forgot the pain it was in and charged in to attacked the krayt dragon, which never expected this. The rancor began slashing at the krayt dragon. It screamed in pain, while people gasped. Most had bet that the krayt dragon would win.

*  *  *

Kagga looked at his datapad again and noticed that it boosted to 75 million credits. He knew that more people were submitting bets from outside the original range. 

Kagga: Interesting, most people bet on the krayt. Only 12 million credits were bet on the rancor.

Jat: Uh-oh look!

Jat pointed to something on his datapad. Pirates were approaching, but they still had some time before they would arrive.

Kagga: Looks like our guests and viewers will have more to bet on.

*  *  *

Below, the battle was in full swing. The rancor had managed to pin the krayt dragon down in its anger. The rancor was jabbing its claws into the krayt dragon. It then picked up the krayt and swung it around a few times and began to bang it on the ground, shaking the ship.

The krayt dragon was loosing life energy. It began to weaken, and it let out a series of terrified roars. It then got a hold of the rancor and tried to pick it up but couldn't. Then it mustered all it had and picked up the rancor and threw it. Only it forgot to let go and flew across with it. Using up all its energy, it collapsed.

Everyone watching waited to see what would happen. A herder rode up to it and began to look for senses of life. He checked its heart, and he checked its stomach for a grinding sound from the stones that helped digest food. He heard neither; he poked at its eyes to see if it would respond with a blink. Again, nothing happened. The herder pretended to do further inspecting and asked Kagga if he should announce the rancor as the winner. Kagga replied an "okay".

The herder raised up his right hand and walked over to the rancor and pushed a part of its body like it was a "button". The rancor made a roar "announcing" that it had won. The few people that bet on the rancor began to cheer, while those who bet on the dragon threw fists at the unconcious krayt, and filed out of the arena.

*  *  *

Kagga and Jat were in their balcony and were discussing what they would do with the money.

Kagga: We should host more of these events. It only cost me 250, 000 credits to put this together.

Jat: Yes, perhaps more than one battle too. What beasts do you think would be interesting to see.

Kagga: I'm not sure. There are so many available ones.

*  *  *

Everyone had left the arena, and workers began to fold up the arena. It was actually a section of the casino that could be disassembled to be an arena, or part of the main casino. Only Kagga's balcony was permanant. A transparisteel window began to close over the back of the balcony, while the balcony was moving back.

*  *  *

Herders were bringing the rancor back under the gate. Then, they called for some medical droids. When they arrived, they began to apply medical solvents and were healing its wounds. The herders left and went to bring the krayt dragon in. 

They did a few more tests on the krayt and declared it dead. They injected a drug just to make sure and waited a few minutes for it to take affect. Then, they cut it into pieces with vibro-knifes. They dragged the pieces into the its gate. They save most of it for the rancor, but kept some to send to the cantina. They were going to sell krayt burgers!

The medical droids had almost finished fixing up the rancor, when a few herders arrived with stacks of freshly chopped krayt meat. They brought it over, and asked the droids if the rancor could eat. They said that they were finished and left. The herders wheeled the meat next to the rancor and it stared at the meat. Then, it grabbed a handful and shoved it in its mouth.

*  *  *

Kagga went to the bridge with Jat to find out what was happening with the pirates. They were informed that the pirates were closing in. A crew member pushed a blinking button and a Gran appeared on the viewscreen.

Gran: We are surrounnding you. Either surrender now or be destroyed!

The crew member looked to Kagga for an answer.

Kagga: Then we shall fight.

The viewscreen went back to showing the surrounding space.

Kagga: Jat, go tell your ship to prepare for battle.

Jat pulled out his comm link and gave instructions what to do.

Meanwhile, the pirates launched 48 starfighters. The corvette escorts engaged and began to fire their turbolasers. They managed to vaporize some of them but the pirates kept launching more. Kagga went over to the local comm unit, which only communicates with the ship.

Kagga: Engage all weapons, and fire in unison at the main transport!

Energy was being funneled to the weapons systems as they were turned online. Some were in standby, some were on, and some were shut off. A few moments later, all the weapons were online and ready to fire. Commander Thaou, who oversaw the weapons used on the ship, ordered all guns to fire forward.

*  *  *

The pirate leader saw that laserfire and turbolaser fire was speeding towards them. He didn't feel a bit worried. Just then an explosion ripped apart one of the transports. Then another, and another. Three of the pirates five transports exploded mysteriously. They had lost most of their backup starfighters. Now, only six onboard the command ship and 12 on the other transport. The other transport launched four groups of fighters, leaving it empty.

Captain Aam(Gran): What happened to the transports?

Pilot: I have no idea!

There were fifty-three starfighters engaging the corvettes. They weren't able to attack the main ship because they were under to much fire from the corvettes. Captain Aam would not give up taking over the enemy ship. He kept the last five starfighters in reserve. Little did he know that the enemy ship was owned and ran by a Hutt, and that this Hutt was onboard.

Gunman: We're running low on fighters! They keep blasting them.

More laserfire rocked the ship. It didn't appear that they would be able to take the ship, or make it out alive.

*  *  *

Kagga: Use the tractor beams to smash their starfighters into the transports.

Captain: Yes sir!

The captain activated the comm unit.

Captain: Activate the tractor beams to send the fighters into the transports! Turn off the turbolasers to balance the power.