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This question asking how Luke knew R2D2 would be on Jabba's sailbarge made me wonder why R2 would be assigned as a bartender, rather than playing to his obvious specialty.

I know Jabba got his start gunrunning, and was a pilot during that time.

Is there any canon evidence that he maintained his own spacecraft at or near his palace on Tatooine? Of particular interest would be the time period during the events of Return of the Jedi.

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Beofett
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  • Rx droids really only helped pilot small starfighters, not capital ships or even, usually, multi-person shuttles. – Kevin Apr 23 '14 at 19:05
  • @Kevin Richard's answer seems to suggest that Jabba's "fleet" included up to half a dozen starfighters housed on his personal ship. – Beofett Apr 23 '14 at 19:12
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    @Beofett - The simple answer is that in the original films, Jabba seems to be a local warlord. In the later books (and now TV shows) his reach extends much farther. – Valorum Apr 23 '14 at 21:54

1 Answers1

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Yes, Jabba had his own ship. It was called the 'Star Jewel' and appeared in a variety of Expanded Universe (EU) sources including Star Wars: Dark Forces, in various books including the Han Solo Trilogy and some Star Wars comics.

As far as I'm aware, it's never been mentioned in a 'G-canon' source such as a TV show or film, nor is it even hinted-at in situations where it would theoretically have been of great use such as the sequence in Clone Wars where Jabba's son is kidnapped and taken off-world.

The ship itself bears a similarity to Jabba's sailbarge, including the sloped front, flattened rear and colour pattern (brown on brown). It apparently had a cloaking device and is described (in Darth Plagueis) as;

"A space cruiser of gargantuan size and ostentatious design...Shaped like an arrowhead, the vessel was heavily armed and large enough to accommodate half a dozen starfighters."

Star Jewel
(source: nocookie.net)

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