Star Wars Droids : The Kalarba Adventures 1 Star Wars Droids : The Kalarba Adventures 1 is the first issue of " " , a Dark Horse comic book series starring R2 - D2 and C - 3PO . It was published in April 1994 by Dark Horse Comics . Details on the cover of the issue — the title , the droids , and the piping in the background — were embossed . Publisher ' s summary . In the " Star Wars " galaxy , automatons are so much necessary property , but even first - degree droids are considered expendable ! Set before the events of " and the formation of the Empire , " " features the adventures of protocol droid See - Threepio and astromech droid Artoo - Detoo in the Kalarba system ( as seen in DHC # 17 , 18 , and 19 ) . Despite their differences , See - Threepio and Artoo - Detoo know that the best way to survive is to stick together . Thank the maker ! Plot summary . The protocol droid C - 3PO is hanging by a rope from a tree on the planet of Kalarba , caught in a trap by the child his counterpart , R2 - D2 , and he have been tasked with governing while his parents are away on business . R2 - D2 uses his arc welder to sever the rope before turning it on the child , Nak Pitareeze , whom he shoots in the rear . Nak is incensed by this and he uses R2 - D2 ' s restraining bolt to punish the astromech while calling him a mean name . At this point , Nak ' s grandfather , the Baron Pitareeze , arrives and scolds his mischievous descendant over his repeated teasing of his guardians . The group moves on to a stately dinner held in the Baron ' s factory that adjoins their home , where they are briefly greeted by a worker named Balto . A Pitareeze Cruiser , a starship of the Baron ' s design , is hanging decoratively overhead . Nak asks his grandfather why he no longer creates these . The Baron says it is a long story , but the arrival of Jace Forno prompts him to tell his grandson about it . Forno is a representative of Olag Greck , an old business associate of the Baron ' s , and she proposes that the Baron provide Greck with the MT - 5 hyperdrive unit s created by the Baron ' s company , Pitareeze Inc . , that far surpass its contemporary components . Greck wants to use in ships he is selling to politically prominent buyers . The Baron refuses , saying that he would never deal with Greck , who had swindled him when they worked together . When she suggested that she talk to him about it another time , the Baron commanded her to leave and she complied . Forno ' s mentioning that giving the components to Greck would make Nak ' s family — though he is self - interested — very wealthy interests him greatly . He asks his grandfather if it is true , and the Baron explains that he had once hired Olag Greck to manage the construction of the Pitareeze Cruiser . Greck abused the baron ' s trust by stealing the designs to the ship and creating a mediocre model himself before the Baron had even made a prototype . Greck rushed these defective ships to market as " Greck Cruiser s . " When the buyers encountered numerous design defects , Greck pleaded to the Baron for assistance in correcting the Greck Cruiser ' s faulty design and when the Baron declined Greck blamed the Baron publicly as the one who had designed the craft . The Pitareeze family name was tarnished by this , but the Baron was proud to have retained his honor even if he would not be able to sell the Pitareeze Cruiser himself . Nak has an impish look on his face after the Baron ' s tale concludes . The next day , Greck is orbiting Kalarba in a space station called Hosk Station , welcoming Torba , a Council man of the Galactic Empire ' s Commerce Commission . They are in Greck ' s starship lot and the salesman is trying to persuade Torba to purchase a Greck Cruiser . Torba is uninterested in his stock as whole starships , but he knows that the ships are based on Pitareeze Inc . designs . He wants to acquire the MT - 5 units , and the Baron will not sell them to him because Torba plans to use them for military purposes . The Greck Cruisers do not have the specific part , so Torba tasks Greck with acquiring them . He threatens to begin cracking down on illegal activities Greck is involved in on Hosk Station if he does not and leaves him . Greck then finds himself in the presence of Nak Pitareeze , who flew there with C - 3PO ' s help to sell the MT - 5 to Greck . They move into his office and Nak provides Greck with the component he stole from his grandfather after the party . C - 3PO chimes in that it would upset the Baron if he found out about this sale and Nak shuts him off . Greck explodes and crushes the component in his hand — Nak had taken a hydrocompressor , not the hyperdrive component . The Baron receives a message from Greck in his home , and is informed that he has Nak in his custody . Claiming that the boy had tried stealing a Greck Cruiser , Greck demands the MT - 5 in exchange for his return . Otherwise , he will inter Nak on the next prison barge that docks with Hosk Station . Greck leaves Nak tied up in his office to meet with councilman Torba again , whom he is going to tell that he had gotten the component from the Baron prematurely . The remote Nak had used to deactivate C - 3PO , now confiscated by Greck , is left lying on his desk . Nak squirms over to it , presses the button with his chin , and commands the wakened droid to untie him . They run out and try to get the ship they arrived in so they can get home to tell the Baron not to meet Greck , but find the door to the hangar barred by Greck ' s henchman , Xob . They go to a different hangar and crib a Greck Cruiser instead , pursued by Xob , and take off , only to be chased by probes . C - 3PO , whose piloting abilities are already meager , finds the defective ship difficult to control and it begins to break down almost immediately : a control stick breaks off in the droid ' s hand . The droids fire on the ship as it enters Kalarba ' s atmosphere , in which they burn up almost immediately . The ship is protected from the head of entry by a shield and C - 3PO programs a landing sequence that will take them to the Baron . However , the ship ' s primary systems fail , the shields fall , and the ship ' s hull heats up dangerously . The pair crash land on the surface of Kalarba near the house , alive , though Nak ' s leg is injured . C - 3PO says that he will carry the boy there . At this , Nak apologizes profusely for the way he had treated C - 3PO and R2 - D2 . His parents are always away on business and his grandfather ' s time is consumed by managing the Pitareeze Inc . factory , and the lack of attention makes him angry . C - 3PO reassures him that he is not such a bad person compared to others out there . Once Nak ' s leg has been splinted , C - 3PO creates a sled out of nearby wood and ferries his master back to the house . They talk on the way there about C - 3PO ' s loyalty to R2 - D2 and to Nak , but C - 3PO reminds Nak that he can do nothing else in the boy ' s case — he has been fitted with a restraining bolt by the Pitareeze family . They find Balto at the factory , noticing that all the workers have deserted it . Baron Pitareeze closed it down and sent them all home before he set out with R2 - D2 in tow on the last scheduled shuttle to Hosk Station . Nak suggests that they take the Pitareeze Cruiser above them . Though it has been idling for years , Balto believes that it will work if he charges the fuel cells . Meanwhile , Greck is informing Torba that the MT - 5 has been installed in one of the Greck Cruisers since their last meeting . Torba demands proof , so Greck encourages him to test it himself by hyperspace jumping to the Alderaan system . Greck assures him that he will arrive there in half the time it usually requires . His plan is to react to the news that there is no MT - 5 in the ship by accusing the Baron of sabotaging their transaction . Greck and Xob move to Bay 18 , where the Baron is waiting for them per their arrangement . Greck no longer has the child , but he relies on the fact that the Baron does not know that to demand the part from him anyway . The Baron says that it is nearby and demands that Greck show him his grandson before he gives him the MT - 5 . Greck draws a blaster pistol and insists that the Baron provide the part . He complies and R2 - D2 takes the part out from his internal storage compartment . Their parlay is interrupted by a holographic transmission from a cloaked man who reports that his subordinate , Torba , had died when the Greck Cruiser malfunctioned in hyperspace , destroying the ship . When Greck tries to obfuscate ignorance , the man Force chokes him and announces that his personal assistants would arrive the next day and take the MT - 5 by force . As the transmission ends , Balto disables Xob and opens fire into the room . Since Greck is still recovering , he is able to take the Baron and R2 - D2 with him to another hangar . Nonetheless , Greck and Xob catch up to them and Greck uses his blaster to shoot Balto ' s out of his grasp . He demands once more that the droid give him the component and the droid complies before the Pitareeze Cruiser arrives in the hangar . Greck and Xob , satisfied , allow them to escape . The Baron and Nak are reunited and Nak apologizes for all the trouble he caused . The Baron smiles joyously , responding knowingly that the Baron would be sorry as well , and they go home in a hurry . Greck examines the unit in his office . While he contemplates how many credits he would receive for selling it to the Empire , his face was squirted by a green fluid . The unit is a food hydrator the Baron had been able to disguise because Greck had never seen the real MT - 5 himself . Greck thought aloud that he was a dead man . Safely at home , the Baron tells Nak ' s parents , Jarth and Meg , of their adventure when they return from their trip . Nak ' s parents take the news happily because they came out of it relatively unscathed , but Nak is not excused simply because the situation was righted . Meg notices that he has been quite reserved since his parents ' return . He tells her that he has been thinking quite a bit , acknowledging that what he did was wrong . He said that he had hoped Greck ' s money would give him security , but he realizes now that what he needs for that are friends — and not ones that stay with him because they are compelled to . He releases R2 - D2 and C - 3PO from their restraining bolts . The droids contemplate what they should do now that they have been released . R2 - D2 suggests that they explore the galaxy and have more adventures . C - 3PO says that he is insane : in his view , droids are not supposed to have stirring existences .