BoShek

BoShek, a Human male originating from Corellia, departed his home planet before 0 BBY, seeking both excitement and financial gain as a smuggler. This Corellian entered the world of organized crime, accepting assignments involving smuggling and espionage while consistently striving to build a reputation within fringe communities. Eventually, he arrived at Smuggler's Run, where he greatly impressed his fellow smugglers, including Clyngunn. In his pursuit of success in smuggling, BoShek also incurred a debt to Black Sun, the galaxy's most prominent crime syndicate. Prince [Xizor](/article/xizor-legends], the leader of Black Sun, took a particular interest in this debt, suggesting its significance.

BoShek became a familiar face in the smuggling world, developing friendships with renowned smugglers such as Han Solo and Chewbacca, becoming acquainted with crime lords like Clyngunn, and familiarizing himself with the work of Klaus "Doc" Vandangante—a leading "outlaw tech" in the galaxy. BoShek frequently used Vandangante's services, although he enjoyed the company of Vandangante's daughter, Jessa, as much as he valued the quality of Vandangante's work.

Eventually, BoShek secured a position piloting ships for the Dim-U monastery situated in Mos Eisley on Tatooine. In reality, the monastery was more of a business than a religious institution. Abbot Drayk and the majority of the "monks" operated a highly illegal transponder-slicing operation under the guise of the Dim-U's worship of banthas. BoShek's role involved piloting "hot" starships—often stolen, but sometimes belonging to smugglers or criminals—to the monastery. There, the monks would modify the ships' transponder codes and emission signatures to prevent official detection. Although BoShek piloted these ships to Tatooine, they would still be flagged as wanted, requiring BoShek to utilize his piloting and smuggling skills to evade the authorities. Piloting was not BoShek's only talent; he was also a skilled mechanic and occasionally assisted the monastery's technicians. BoShek also received assistance from an astromech droid, R4-E1, who frequently accompanied him but possessed a strong independent streak and was likely owned by the monastery rather than BoShek himself.

During his employment, BoShek learned about the Force from one of the few genuine monks at the monastery. Intrigued, he resolved to study it and attempt to cultivate its power within himself. He frequently meditated and attempted to access it, but his progress was limited, only experiencing occasional and tentative awareness of the presences of others. BoShek was, in fact, Force-sensitive, although he was unaware of it, and his connection appeared to be weak.

During this time, BoShek retrieved the Dancing Goddess, a highly valuable statue, and personally delivered it to Xizor, thereby settling his debt. He also provided an interview to an Imperial Security Bureau agent at Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina, a popular Mos Eisley establishment. BoShek provided a basic biography of Vandangante to the agent, likely unaware that the individual was employed by the Empire.

Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, BoShek was tasked with bringing the smuggling ship Infinity to Mos Eisley for servicing. He was captivated by the ship, impressed by its design, systems, and performance. BoShek's route allowed him to complete the Kessel Run, and he was delighted to discover that he had surpassed Solo's previous record—a fact he eagerly anticipated sharing with Solo, who often boasted about his accomplishment.

However, upon reverting to realspace above Tatooine, BoShek was astonished to find two Imperial-class Star Destroyers in orbit. Although he did not know it, they were searching for the Death Star plans. BoShek, flying without an active transponder but aware that the Infinity's emission signature would betray him, immediately descended towards the planet. As BoShek entered the atmosphere, the Star Destroyers opened fire, shaking the Infinity and causing damage. Four TIE/LN starfighters were dispatched in pursuit, but BoShek hoped to evade them closer to the surface; with their pursuit, the Star Destroyers ceased firing.

BoShek flew low over the Dune Sea, evading the TIEs with a clever maneuver and heading towards the canyons of the Jundland Wastes. He navigated up a canyon at full speed, but as one of the TIE fighters closed in, it crossed BoShek's wake and crashed into the canyon wall, taking out another fighter in the explosion. BoShek had not intended to destroy his pursuers, aware of the serious consequences, but he knew he would now be held responsible for the deaths of both pilots. Now, the remaining two TIEs were firing to kill. The Infinity was not designed for combat, but BoShek devised an escape strategy based on a trick Solo had once described. BoShek waited until his shields were about to fail, then launched an escape pod as he rounded a corner, creating an explosion that he hoped would suggest the Infinity's destruction and possibly eliminate the remaining TIEs; it succeeded in both. With his pursuers eliminated, BoShek cut his engines and glided into Mos Eisley undetected.

He arrived safely at the monastery, where he collected a note and passed it to a Dim-U street preacher. With that completed, BoShek went directly to Chalmun's cantina, knowing he could find Solo and Chewbacca there and boast about breaking their record. He entered and immediately found Chewbacca, whom he informed of his new record. The Wookiee was not particularly concerned, and the two exchanged brief banter before BoShek sensed a powerful presence in the Force. He turned to see a boy, an old man, and two droids in the doorway. BoShek was unaware that the boy was Luke Skywalker and the old man was Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, both strong in the Force. Kenobi approached BoShek directly and greeted him with, "May the Force be with you, my friend." BoShek had never revealed his fascination with the Force to anyone, but the old man told him he could sense BoShek's struggles with it. He asked BoShek for transport off-world, suggesting he could train him to use the Force during the journey. However, as BoShek did not have a ship, he declined, suggesting Kenobi ask Chewbacca, who was standing next to him. Kenobi offered BoShek parting wisdom, advising him to beware the dark side and to resolve his alignment within the Force before he could successfully call upon it, urging him to adhere to the light side.

With that, BoShek excused himself, leaving Kenobi to converse with Chewbacca, and moved to the other side of the bar to get a drink and look for Solo. When Kenobi drew a lightsaber to protect Skywalker in a bar fight, BoShek was knocked off his feet in the rush to escape the combatants. He focused on refilling his spilled bitter and inquiring about the unusually high number of stormtroopers in town—but received no answers—before he finally spotted Solo seated in a booth. BoShek wanted to sit down and talk, but a constant stream of individuals entering Solo's booth prevented him from doing so. When the bounty hunter Greedo drew a blaster on Solo, BoShek nearly drew on Greedo before noticing Solo subtly drawing his blaster from under the table. Amused, BoShek simply watched as Solo eliminated the threat.

BoShek moved to follow Solo out the door, but upon exiting, he was accosted by a local law enforcement officer. The officer intended to arrest BoShek for the earlier incident; he was unaware that BoShek was responsible, but simply wanted to sacrifice someone to appease Darth Vader. BoShek falsely claimed he had been inside the cantina all afternoon, and when the officer looked inside, BoShek kicked the blaster from his hands and knocked him unconscious.

BoShek quickly walked away, but he heard a shout as the officer recovered and began pursuit. BoShek ducked inside the wreck of the Dowager Queen, where he removed his flight suit and purchased a shabby cloak from a vagrant, disguising himself. He moved to leave the wreck, but saw the officer waiting outside, blaster drawn, having seen BoShek enter the Dowager Queen. Unsure of his ability to avoid scrutiny, BoShek remained inside, searching for another exit. He found only a ramp leading up to where several street preachers addressed the crowds below. As more police arrived, BoShek decided he had no escape and instead rubbed grime on his face and hands to darken his complexion, pulled up his hood, and began preaching to the crowd from a window, hoping to blend in with the other preachers. BoShek briefly considered preaching the Dim-U doctrines, but he knew very little about them and decided to deliver a sermon on the Force instead. Borrowing heavily from Kenobi's words to him, BoShek strung together a series of vague doctrines and buzzword-laden promises, earning the ire of the other preachers, who felt he was mocking them and encroaching on their profitable racket. The police moved onto the observation deck behind BoShek, observing all the preachers, but Het Nkik's attack on a stormtrooper patrol nearby caused a large commotion, drawing the officers away to investigate the situation. As soon as they left, the other preachers began beating BoShek, angered by his perceived mockery.

BoShek fled outside, where two preachers continued to pursue him. There, the first officer recognized BoShek and nearly shot him dead, barely missing. BoShek hurried down the street, preachers still chasing him—causing the officers to hold their fire for fear of harming the religious leaders. He reached a used-speeder lot, where he tossed a handful of credits at the dealer and leaped into a still-running XP-38A landspeeder that had just been purchased, claiming he was taking it for a test drive, and sped away.

Now beyond the reach of the police, BoShek slowed to a normal speed and was about to head to the safety of the monastery when he encountered a stormtrooper checkpoint. Unable to escape, he pulled over, and the stormtroopers began questioning him. They were interrupted by the roaring takeoff of Solo's Millennium Falcon nearby, which gave BoShek time to think and turned his thoughts to Kenobi, who he knew had gained passage with Solo. BoShek wanted to use the Force to escape, but he recalled Kenobi's words about only the "pure of heart" being able to use it successfully. Promising the Force and himself that he would return the stolen speeder and quit his smuggling career if he could only escape the Empire, BoShek hoped he could change enough to access the Force. Reaching out with all his concentration, he urged them through the Force to let him go. His effort was weak, but these troopers had been touched by the Force shortly before, when Kenobi evaded their scrutiny. The brush of BoShek's Force presence caused them to replay their thoughts from Kenobi's earlier effort. Confused by their talk of droids but profoundly grateful that they let him pass, BoShek moved on, ascribing it to a miracle of the Force. Exposed to the reality of the Force and its power, BoShek vowed to follow through on his promise and resolve his situation, driving the speeder back to the dealership and planning to leave behind his life of crime.

BoShek's role in the destruction of the TIEs quickly became known, resulting in Imperial warrants for his arrest. He was the subject of an interview between an ISB agent and Clyngunn, in which Clyngunn provided a brief account of BoShek's career and suggested that BoShek had purchased the Infinity, which was likely a misunderstanding of BoShek's role in piloting it during his record-setting Kessel Run. The report was included among several on leading underworld figures compiled by ISB commander Maximillian Seerdon and forwarded to the office of the Emperor shortly after the Battle of Yavin. Ironically, BoShek's interview regarding Vandangante was included in a later addendum.

BoShek himself successfully abandoned the monastery and the smuggling life, making his way to Stoga, a remote world where he believed he could avoid attention from either faction in the expanding Galactic Civil War. There, he lived peacefully for several months, finding honest work and enjoying a simple, uneventful life. Tam, an old friend, also lived on the planet in a junked freighter, and BoShek would visit occasionally. BoShek also hoped that, in the peaceful surroundings of Stoga, he could deepen his connection with the Force. However, the harder he tried, the farther he felt from it, frustrating him and causing him to gradually lose the faith he had gained after the events on Tatooine.

One morning, approximately six months after his escape from Tatooine, Rasha Bex entered BoShek's life. She informed him that she had encountered a Rebel cell on Stoga loyal to Garm Bel Iblis, but she disagreed with their methods and wished to leave, leading them to attempt to kill her. She had arranged transport off-world, but needed to reach the meeting site. Reluctant to become involved, but even more reluctant to allow the attractive woman to be killed, BoShek agreed to give her a ride on his Flare-S swoop. However, the Rebel agents were in hot pursuit, and BoShek found himself dodging blaster fire while racing through Stoga's fields and canyons at high speed. Only after speeding through a small canyon and across a chasm did BoShek lose his pursuers, whose catamaran-style speeder was too large to fit through and whose launched missile narrowly missed him.

BoShek made his way to Tam's home, where he planned to sleep for a few hours and then continue to the rendezvous point. He had a brief conversation with Tam, who urged him not to revert to his old lifestyle and risk the balance and happiness he had found, before going in to see Bex. She inquired about his past, and he provided a brief account of it. When he expressed his apathy towards the ongoing war, preferring to remain neutral and live without worrying about a future that may not come, Bex disagreed, arguing that the future was too important to disregard and that he must take a stand for one side or the other. The argument did not escalate, and the two fell asleep against each other.

BoShek awoke to the sound of whispered conversation in the next room and quickly realized that Tam, a Rebel sympathizer, had betrayed Bex to Karn, the leader of the local Rebels. He reached out to the Force, but found no answer. Acting on instinct, BoShek burst through the doorway, blasters drawn, surprising Karn and Lhira, Karn's lieutenant. With blasters pointed at their heads, he forced them to disarm and then retreated with Bex through a back exit. There, another Rebel, a burly Weequay, awaited a bare-knuckle brawl. Instead, BoShek slipped a long, heavy implement from his tool belt and struck the Weequay across the face, knocking him down. With BoShek's swoop sabotaged, the pair set out on the Weequay's.

Bex's rendezvous point was directly across an old, rickety bridge left over from an abandoned mining operation. BoShek sped towards it, and Karn, realizing he could not catch them in time, stopped and sniped the bridge's supporting cables, causing it to collapse. BoShek leaped the swoop across the falling bridge, making a last-minute jump as it plummeted down the chasm and snagging a cable attached to the far end with one hand, Bex hanging onto the other. Under fire from the Rebels, BoShek was surprised to see them driven off and himself hauled to the top by Rasha's contacts—multiple trench-coated and well-armed men. Once they were hauled to the top, Bex gave BoShek an intense kiss—and handed over information on the Rebel cells to her superior. It was only then that BoShek realized Bex was an Imperial spy. Furious and feeling betrayed, BoShek drew on the Imperial commander as Bex pleaded with him to lower his weapons, explaining that she had never intended to involve him in the war. Dejected, he surrendered. Bex offered to drop all charges if he used his piloting skills for the Empire, but BoShek despised the Empire's methods and ideology and refused, preferring prison time to a life as an Imperial officer. Instead, he urged Bex to disregard Imperial propaganda and defect to his side—the unaligned.

BoShek's words resonated deeply, causing Bex to commit treason against the Empire at Ahakista. Wyl Tarson, a Rebel spy and leader of the operation Bex participated in, exploited her infatuation with BoShek to manipulate her actions. Soon after, BoShek managed to break free from imprisonment, resulting in outstanding Imperial arrest warrants for him.

During 1 ABY, BoShek had a meeting with Jeffren Brek, an agent of the Imperial Security Bureau, in the Tatooine city of Bestine. Brek sought information regarding a missing shipment of ryll intended for a Rebel medical facility, but BoShek provided minimal details. BoShek was independently searching for the lost shipment. Upon learning that a spacer was inquiring about him concerning the spice, BoShek located the spacer and, with the assistance of some companions, attempted to eliminate the competition. However, the spacer proved to be more skilled and defeated the Corellian. After being threatened with exposure to the Empire, BoShek reluctantly revealed that he had heard the shipment was hidden in Skip 52 within the notorious smugglers' haven, Smuggler's Run. His adversary then confined BoShek to a maintenance closet before leaving to pursue the lead.

BoShek was someone who lived for the moment, embracing his current situation without dwelling on the future. He also preferred to avoid involvement in the galactic civil war. While he sympathized with the Rebel Alliance and disliked the Empire, he didn't see it as his personal battle and preferred to maintain a low profile and enjoy his life, avoiding sacrifices unless absolutely necessary. He prioritized his own well-being and, following his encounter with Kenobi, sought a simple, honest, and detached existence.

However, BoShek wasn't entirely cynical. His fascination with the Force demonstrated a willingness to believe in the supernatural, persisting in his attempts to access it despite limited success. His belief intensified after speaking with Kenobi and witnessing the Force in action. Although further meditations on Stoga brought disappointment, his successful leap across the canyon from the collapsing bridge renewed some of his faith in the Force.

Despite his interest in the Force, BoShek maintained a pragmatic mindset, willing to resort to violence to protect his interests. With multiple Imperial warrants for his arrest, he feared for his safety and desired to avoid Imperial attention.

BoShek possessed Force-sensitivity, although his aptitude appeared to be quite limited. He meditated regularly for an extended period, but only achieved occasional fleeting sense of others' presence in the Force. Upon Kenobi's arrival at Chalmun's Cantina, BoShek detected a strong Force presence, which he attributed to Kenobi, although it might have been Luke Skywalker, who possessed immense latent power despite being untrained. Later, BoShek attempted a mind trick to evade a stormtrooper checkpoint, but only partially succeeded, reactivating the effects of Kenobi's earlier mind trick. Encouraged by this relative success, he intensified his meditation efforts, but found the Force increasingly elusive. By 1 ABY, BoShek's Force skills had improved, enabling him to read the minds of others.

Basil Tomlin, an uncredited actor whose identity remained unknown until 2016, played BoShek in A New Hope. The character's costume included a high-altitude Windak pressure suit from the 1960s. Despite his appearance in the original film, the character remained largely unused until 1995, when a Star Wars Customizable Card Game card named BoShek and provided a brief overview of events that were later expanded upon in the short story At the Crossroads: The Spacer's Tale by Jerry Oltion, featured in Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina. According to Oltion, the name BoShek is a Tuckerization honoring Robert "Bob" Sheckley, a twentieth-century SF writer known for his spacer tales from the 1950s.

Despite the story establishing BoShek as a Force-sensitive film character with connections to Kenobi and a life-changing mission, he didn't reappear for a considerable time until Jeremy Barlow wrote Empire 23, illustrated by Brandon Badeaux, in 2004, depicting BoShek after the events of At the Crossroads. Barlow indicated that BoShek's story would continue in an arc of Star Wars: Rebellion, where Nas Ghent recruits BoShek into Black Eight Squadron as a follow-up to the Star Wars Tales story "Walking the Path That's Given," but Rebellion was subsequently canceled.

BoShek's subsequent appearances were in 2006, in the Underworld: A Galaxy of Scum and Villainy article in Star Wars Insider by Abel G. Peña and Ryan Kaufman and illustrated by Joe Corroney. In that article, his name was incorrectly capitalized as "Boshek." BoShek was also credited as the in-universe source of an entry on "Doc" Vandangante in the online supplement Underworld Appendix: Swoops, Spice, and Wretched Rogues. BoShek was also briefly mentioned in The Ahakista Gambit, a 2007 Rebellion arc featuring Bex.

In 2009, BoShek resurfaced in a scenario for the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game card set Agents of Deception, which was set after The Bravery of Being Out of Range. He is portrayed as a free man still wanted by the Empire, without explanation for the change in circumstance. A later expansion, Threat of the Conqueror, resolved the issue by including a quote from BoShek indicating that he escaped prison.

In the Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope radio dramatization, Obi-Wan Kenobi is directed to Chewbacca by a character, with dialogue differing from BoShek's, who is simply referred to as 'Spacer', and is voiced by David Alan Grier.