White Witch

"Nothing compares to the Witch."

- Thall Joben

The White Witch was a Mobquet C/L-82 landspeeder that was heavily modified by the popular racing team of Thall Joben and Jord Dusat during the early years of the New Order. After Dusat was kidnapped by the Fromm Gang, the White Witch made its debut as Joben and R2-D2 used it to rescue the young mechanic. The team eventually made their way to Boonta, where they planned to enter the White Witch in the Boonta Speeder Race in 15 BBY. However, the race was jeopardized when Tig Fromm, seeking revenge, planted a thermal detonator in the White Witch. Fortunately for Joben, the detonator was dislodged by Boba Fett's Silver Speeder, which was pursuing the White Witch throughout the race, and Joben and R2-D2 went on to win. The victory was enough to earn both racers jobs with the Zebulon Dak Speeder Corporation.

Characteristics
The Mobquet C/L-82 landspeeder had been a popular model in the Core Worlds shortly before the Clone Wars. Although the popularity of the C/L-82 had declined in recent years, it was still popular with Outer Rim teens due to its reliability and ease of maintenance. This made it an ideal choice for the young racing team of Thall Joben and Jord Dusat. The two overhauled most of the landspeeder's systems and installed several modifications to improve its performance.

The finished White Witch, painted white to match its name, was 3.5 meters in length and capable of traveling at 380 kilometers per hour. As a result of the joyhopper system installed by Dusat, the speeder could, for a short period of time, ride noticeably higher than an average speeder, and had a maximum altitude of four meters. The speeder could also bank to allow it to negotiate tight corners.

The speeder's cockpit had space for two, allowing a single passenger to ride in the vehicle, behind the pilot. Both driver and passenger seats were equipped with seatbelts. A socket, situated by the engines to the rear of the cockpit, was designed for an astromech droid to assist with controlling the vehicle, while the pilot maintained control with a stick in the cockpit. A dashboard hosted a variety of other controls, mounted around a monitor that could be used to display data from the astromech droid. The speeder also had limited cargo space, allowing it to carry 15 kilograms.

Construction
"We're gonna blow them right off the track."

- Jord Dusat

Originally a C/L-82 landspeeder, the White Witch came into the possession of Thall Joben and Jord Dusat. In their speeder shop on Ingo, the two began modifying the speeder with a view to entering it into the Boonta Speeder Race, for what would be their first major competition. Over the course of three years Jord worked as mechanic, implementing Thall's designs into the speeder as they sought to create a superior racing landspeeder.

As the White Witch neared completion, there was only one major component missing&mdash;an astromech droid to assist the driver. Fortunately, as Thall and Jord raced their speeders through the Vaj Desert on Ingo, they encountered the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, who had just been dumped by their previous owner, the smuggler Zevel Hortine, along with his cargo as he attempted to evade the authorities. R2-D2 was ideal for the role, so the two racers became the droids' new masters.

The Fromm Gang
As they attempted to return to the speeder shop, they accidentally entered the restricted zone around the secret base of Tig Fromm, son of Sise Fromm and prominent member of the Fromm Gang. Pursued by sentry droids, they were able to escape with the aid of Kea Moll, a member of the Annoo Resistance who was investigating reports that Tig was developing a powerful weapons satellite called the Trigon One. However, the racers had made enemies of the Fromms who feared that they might leak details of the secret base to rival gangs.

Returning to the speeder shop, the racers planned to test R2-D2 with the White Witch the following morning. However, shortly after Thall and the droids left for the night, muscle droids sent by Tig Fromm captured Jord. Upon returning to the shop Thall was told by Kea what had happened to Jord. They soon came under attack from more muscle droids who had sabotaged Thall's speeder to prevent his escape. Acting quickly, Kea and R2-D2 activated the White Witch, allowing the group to escape.

Taking the White Witch, Thall, Kea and the droids were able to gain entry to Tig's base. While Kea and C-3PO guided them, Thall and R2-D2 flew the White Witch through the base's network of service tubes and elevator shafts and rescued Jord, picking up the others as they headed for the exit. Tig tried to stop their escape, ordering his droid cruisers outside to await them after first disabling his sentry droids to prevent them attacking the cruisers. However, C-3PO was able to use the security system to reactivate the sentry droids. As the two groups of droids opened fire on each other, the White Witch evaded pursuing repulsor balls and escaped.

The incident had an unexpected bonus&mdash;Thall and Jord had been looking for a way to transport the White Witch to Boonta for the race and now found a solution when Kea agreed to transport them on her ship, the Sand Sloth, with the White Witch secured to the hull.

The journey would not run smoothly, however, and a hyperdrive malfunction caused them to head to Annoo for repairs. The Fromm Gang's spies reported the group's presence on Annoo to Sise who vowed to deal with them himself. An attempt to capture them at the spaceport failed when R2-D2 created a distraction, allowing them to once again escape in the White Witch. Heading for the farm owned by Kea's mother, Demma, they stored the White Witch there for the duration of their stay.

Arrival at Boonta
The trip to Boonta was, however, put on hold when the young racers agreed to help Kea and Demma in their fight against the Fromms. After destroying both the Trigon One and Sise Fromm's stronghold on Annoo, the group resumed their journey to Boonta.

As C-3PO and R2-D2 secured the White Witch for the jump to hyperspace, the Fromms attempted to get revenge by attacking Kea's ship with their one remaining vessel. They succeeded in damaging the engine on the Sand Sloth but a weapons malfunction on the Fromm's rundown shuttle, the Voor Viper, allowed the speeder racers to escape before the gangsters could destroy them. However, upon arrival at Boonta the damage the ship had taken caught up with them, forcing a crash landing. Though the White Witch broke free of its restraints during the crash, it survived with only minimal damage. However, Jord, who was supposed to drive in the upcoming race, injured his arm forcing Thall to take over.

The racers also required somewhere to repair the White Witch before the race. C-3PO found a solution when a droid called BL-17 offered the use of his master's garage. Unknown to the racers, BL-17 was the property of the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who had been hired by Sise Fromm to extract his revenge. While Kea worked on repairing the White Witch, BL-17 attempted to gas her, making it look like an accident. She escaped with the help of R2-D2.

BL-17 suggested moving the White Witch to a processing plant where it would be safe until the race. However, this proved to be a trap, and Fett soon attacked Thall and Kea. During the ensuing confusion, Tig Fromm and his bodyguard, Vlix Oncard, planted a thermal detonator on the speeder, which was set to go off after the tenth and final lap of the race. Thall used the White Witch to lead Fett away from the others, heading straight to the race with Fett pursuing in his own Silver Speeder. However, Proto One, a droid the racers had met on Boonta, saw Tig plant the device and warned Kea.

Boonta Speeder Race
"That was a fine race you won&hellip;and that is a fine speeder."

- Zebulon Dak after the Boonta Speeder Race

Tig headed straight to the Boonta Speeder Race where his family had requisitioned a private box off its unwitting owners. By the time Kea reached the race track the White Witch was already participating in the race. With no way to warn Thall it appeared that Tig's plan was set to work. However, Fett had followed Thall into the race and attacked him throughout, unaware of the thermal detonator.

Fett fired cables to attach his speeder to the White Witch in an effort to slow it down, but R2-D2 was able to cut the cables and free the speeder. Fett then fired a blaster at the White Witch, inflicting damage and causing smoke to pour from the speeder, but R2-D2 was able to patch up the damage and keep it in the race. As Thall continued to pull ahead of the competition, Fett stayed with him attacking again with a magnetic beam. 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.

As Thall celebrated with his friends after the race, they were approached by Zebulon Dak, owner of Zebulon Dak Speeder Corporation. Dak was so impressed with the White Witch that he offered Joben and Dusat full-time jobs designing and engineering speeders, an offer the two racers accepted without hesitation.

Behind the scenes
The White Witch was created for the animated series Star Wars: Droids and lent its name to the episode "The White Witch," in which it first appeared. Further information on the speeder was later given in the Rich Handley and Abel G. Peña article Star Wars Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO, which appeared in Polyhedron 170.

Appearances

 * ''Star Wars: Droids
 * "The White Witch"
 * "Escape Into Terror"
 * "A Race to the Finish"