Aris: A Skywalker Story

5.Kidnapping and Negotiations

I still cannot sleep. I decide to go back to Aris's room and have a chat with her.

As I walk out of the room, I see two aliens dragging a body away. It is Aris! I can recognise that hairstyle anywhere. I run after her.

It seems like the two aliens notice my presence. They know that I am chasing after Aris. One of the aliens, which is a Rodian, throws a ball of cables which unwind as they speed towards me. I dodge the cables but they seem to chase me. I cannot outrun the cables and they snap onto my body. I struggle and a shock runs through my body. I am gagged and hoisted aboard a speeder with Aris.

"Let's hurry. We don't want any witnesses," the blue alien tells the Rodian.

We speed far away from my and Aris's house and even outside the market. I have never been this far away from home before. We pass through a small distance of desert before reaching a big building. What is this place?

Along the way, Aris wakes up. We both hear a bit of conversation between the two aliens that kidnapped us.

"Do you think that Jabba will pay a lot for the girl?"

"Not much. She only stole like, enough scrap for a pod."

"What do we do with the boy?"

"Let him go after we bring the girl to trial."

The rest of the journey continues in silence.

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Aris's POV

When we reach Jabba's palace, my eyes can't help but widening. The palace is so big! So much bigger than my little sandstone hut. 

Along the way, the two aliens that kidnapped me and Anain were talking about how I had stole the scraps from Watto's junk pile to build my pod. And they said I was going to trial!

I am so nervous as I am forced to walk through the gigantic metal doors of the palace.

Who is Jabba? Is he a bounty hunter or something? Or is he a slaver, like Watto?

When I step inside the palace, two guards point at me with their spears and force me to a cell with Anakin. I am ungagged and pushed roughly into the cell, along with Anakin.

"Hey, Anakin. You got shocked pretty badly. Are you okay?" I ask him. He has burn marks all over his skin. Poor boy.

"Yea, I'm alright. What about you?" he asks.

I glance down at my burn marks. They are worse and there are more than Anakin's.

"I'll live," I say with a small smile.

I take a look around the small cell that we are in.

"We are going to trial?" Anakin asks.

"No, just me. Because... I stole some scrap from Watto to build my pod for the next podrace. I still have my entry fee."

Anakin looks shocked.

"You WHAT NOW?!?!" 

"Anakin, Watto didn't let me compete. And we both know that I'm a better pilot than you," I say.

"Oh, come on. I know that you are, but that's no excuse for stealing! You could have just asked Watto."

"I HAVE ASKED HIM BEFORE, ANAKIN! HE SAID NO!" I start to get frustrated.

"Well, how do you plan to get out of this?"

I think for a while.

"Negotiations."

///////////////////////

Still Aris's POV

A few hours later, I am dragged roughly by a few guards to a big hall.

Anakin shoots me a look that says,"Good luck".

I smile weakly at him before I am dragged away.

My heart is in my throat. Cold sweat runs down my face.

I am in a big hall. I gulp. A slimy, slug-like creature sits in the middle of the hall and speaks in a strange foreign language to a silver translator droid next to him.

"You are about to stand trial for stealing parts and participating illegaly in a podrace. Any defense?" the silver translator droid translates what Jabba is saying.

"I...I...I..." I stutter, unable to say anything.

"The mighty Jabba says that if you have nothing to say, you will be thrown into the Hutt prison for 3 years."

"Wait!" I shout. "We could come to a simple understanding."

Jabba looks intrigued.

"Firstly, why am I not allowed to participate in the podrace?"

Jabba speaks to the translator droid.

"The mighty Jabba says that girls are not allowed to participate in podraces."

"Let's have a deal. If I win the next podrace, you will drop all charges against me. If I don't win the podrace, you can throw me into prison."

Jabba speaks once again to the translator droid. 

"The mighty Jabba says that if someone is willing to gamble on you winning the podrace, he will let you participate, he will drop all charges against you and he will let the person that gambled for you make any request that he or she wants."

"Do we have a deal?"

Jabba nods his head.

//////////////////////

"Anakin, we are free. We have to go home now."

Anakin looks up from the cell.

"How did it go?" he asks.

"I got a deal. Now, I just need to hope that someone bets on me to win the podrace. Jabba said that he would lend me and you a speeder each to get back home. Let's go!"

Anakin is released from his cell and freed from the chains binding him.

We run out of Jabba's palace and hop onto the speeder.

"Hey, Ani. Wanna race? See who's the better driver?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

We speed in the direction that we think that we came from.

Anakin and I are almost equally good drivers. But I am slightly better, despite my age. I reach home a few minutes earlier than Anakin, only to earn a bone-crushing hug from Mom.

"Where have you been?" she asks worriedly.

I thought Anakin and I had only been gone for a few hours, but it turns out that it is already morning.

"I'm sorry Mom. It's a long story."

Anakin arrives on his speeder.

"Looks like I won," I say with a smirk.

"Alright, alright. You're the better pilot."

Finally Anakin admits it.

"Now, you both have to tell me what happened, OK?" Mom says.

We both nod our heads.

The sun is just rising.

Anakin, Mom and I stare at the beautiful sunrise.

Maybe this life isn't so bad after all.

a/n: Hi guys! Sorry if this chapter is a little short!I was kinda in a rush to type this so there might be a few grammatical and spelling errors, please keep a lookout for them! Have a good day! See ya!