"We must speak with Jabba," Luke informs him as we walk.
The Twi'lek replies in Huttese as he shakes his head in denial. Luke comes to a stop, instantly making me pause and glance back at him.
"You will take me to Jabba now!" I can sense the Force-suggestion behind the words. It seems this is the only way we'll be able to get through to the Hutt.
"I will take you to Jabba now," the Twi'lek repeats. Good thing we can use mind tricks on these people so well. I know from experience it can sometimes be far more complicated, like trying to sneak around in a Separatist detention block and having to convince the guards over and over to let everyone past, or on Mandalore when the guards were resistant to it and I didn't realize until too late.
The Twi'lek starts forward at the command, and we follow his lead. "You serve your master well," Luke says, "And you will be rewarded."
Moments later, we find ourselves in Jabba's throne room. Everyone inside is asleep and Leia is lying nearby. She's dressed in a very different outfit from what she came here in – actually pretty much nothing at all – and is chained to the Hutt. Anger flairs through me. It's when I see this that I realize why Anakin despised them so much. And to think he was once a slave to these creatures... Threepio is standing next to Jabba in the place the original protocol droid was when I came here last time. At least everything is in place, ready for our plan.
"Master," calls the Twi'lek and continues speaking to Jabba quietly in Huttese.
"I told you not to allow them," the Hutt responds angrily upon waking and catching sight of us.
"We must be allowed to speak," Luke interjects with a Force-suggestion.
"They must be allowed to speak."
Clearly, Jabba realizes what's happening and shoves the Twi'lek away angrily growling something that I take to mean, "You weak-minded fool! He's using an old Jedi mind trick."
Both of us stare at him in silence. We'll do this as we already discussed. Try to do things the easy way, but if that doesn't work, we fight. "You will bring Captain Solo and the Wookiee to us," I command after a moment. No point making this take longer than necessary.
"Your mind powers will not work on me, girl," the Hutt replies disgustedly.
"Nevertheless, we're taking Captain Solo and his friends," I retort, eyes narrowing. Yes, we're going out through a fight.
"You can either profit by this, or be destroyed," Luke states confidently, "It's your choice, but I warn you not to underestimate my powers." Right on cue, danger ripples through the Force just as Jabba starts laughing.
"Master Luke, you're standing on –" Threepio begins to warn, but is cut off when the Hutt starts talking again. Clearly, he can't remember that I'm the one who saved his son years ago. What gratitude. Maybe he already forgot, it's hard to say. Although this is twenty years later, so he wouldn't be expecting me to look the same.
"There will be no bargain, Jedi. I shall enjoy watching you die." Oh, I'm sure you would, except that we aren't going to be dying.
My eyes narrow farther, and I take in a deep breath, preparing for the fight sure to come. "I see you have forgotten me so quickly," I murmur darkly. Luke reaches out, using the Force to grab a blaster from a nearby guard, while I do the same a bit more subtly. The two blasters from the nearest guards fly to our hands. This may not be my preferred weapon, but it's the only choice. The guards grab for their weapons just as the floor gives way beneath us and we fall through, taking the guard nearest us along.
We fall many feet down before landing inside a dungeon-like cave deep below the main part of the palace. I, having expected the fall, manage to land gracefully on my feet while both Luke and the guard fall to the floor. On the bright side, I'm still holding my blaster.
The guard begins to panic as a door starts to open on the side of the pit. Luke and I scan the area for any means of escape. There are none, except for a barred exit farther down, and the hole we fell through, which we certainly won't be jumping back through.
A giant creature emerges from behind the door, which I recognize to be a rancor. It is extremely large and has giant claws, looking like its sole purpose is to eat anyone unfortunate enough to stand on that door Luke and I just were. Anakin and I have fought similar creatures on many occasions. The only difference now is that I don't have a lightsaber. That doesn't mean I can't fight, though. I scan the pit again, my mind spinning through all possible means of escape. The door at the end, if we could get through. Or, we'd have to kill the beast. But how?
First, the rancor lumbers past us towards the guard. I back up against the wall of the pit. The rancor picks up the guard as he struggles to climb out of the pit and chomps him up. I can hear the audience laughing and cheering even from down here, making me shudder. I hate seeing people being killed, whether done by me or not. No matter who they are, they're always a living being that usually just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time or working for the wrong person. As a Jedi, I learned to tolerate it for the greater good, but that doesn't make me hate it any less.
Next, the beast turns to Luke. I glance up at the door the audience is watching through. This... this is perfect.
"Keep back!" I call to Luke.
Raising the blaster that I'm still armed with, I fire at a control panel on the wall. Hopefully this will work. Sure enough, the large metal overhead door comes crashing down onto the beast, smashing down on it's head, killing it instantly. Well that was fast.
Relief floods me now that the first part of the battle is over. It's only the beginning, though.
Up above us, Leia is the only one looking happy at the sudden turn of events. Clearly, they really thought a rancor would be enough against two Jedi. "Bring me Solo and the Wookiee. They will all suffer for this outrage," roars Jabba furiously.
The other door opens and several guards barge in and drag us out. Several others begin inspecting the Rankor, presumably its caretakers. One of them starts crying, though I cannot understand what's sad about the creature dying.
Moments later, Luke and I find ourselves back in the throne room. Chewie and another dark-haired person – assumedly Han – are brought into the room.
"Han!" exclaims Luke. Yes, it's him alright.
"Luke!" Han calls back.
"Are you alright?" Luke asks.
"Fine," he answers, "Together again, huh?"
"Wouldn't miss it."
"How are we doing?" he questions.
"The same as always," sighs Luke.
"That bad, huh?" Han replies, glancing around. From the way he's acting, it's clear he can't really see much of anything at the moment. Just as I suspected. "Where's Leia?"
"I'm here," she calls from across the room next to Jabba. Threepio is standing next to him, and an armored bounty hunter who I think is Boba is standing nearby as well.
"And who's this?" Han asks, looking my direction.
"A friend," I reply hastily. He doesn't seem to be the type of person to believe the truth, so I'll just make this brief. "We met right before Cloud City. I'm Ahsoka."
Jabba begins speaking and then Threepio steps forward to translate to us. "Oh dear," he frets, "His High Exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be terminated immediately."
"Good. I hate long waits," replies Han as if there's nothing at all to worry about. I'm sure we'll get through this fine but that doesn't mean I'm particularly excited.
"You will therefore be taken to the Dune Sea and cast into the pit of Carkoon, the nesting place of the all-powerful Sarlacc," Threepio continues.
"Doesn't sound so bad," Han remarks to us.
"In his belly, you will find a new definition of pain and suffering, as you are slowly digested over a thousand years," Threepio concludes. Not fun.
"On second thought, let's pass on that, huh?" Han comments. I nod and Chewie barks his agreement. We will proceed as planned.
"You should have bargained, Jabba," Luke informs him, "That's the last mistake you'll ever make." He looks so much like his father right now. Anakin would be proud. He'd be proud to see us both right now. I hastily push thoughts of my master out of mind. I can dwell on that later. Once this battle is fought.
Jabba cackles evilly, completely unsuspecting of our intricate plan. Does he really think Jedi are so stupid? He underestimates us by far, and that will be his own undoing.
***
Chewie, Han, Luke, and I find ourselves in a skiff zipping through the desert. Lando, disguised as a guard, is with us. Another skiff of similar size is nearby, and there is a very large Sail Barge with Jabba, Leia, the droids, and many other spectators, who came to watch their own doom, on board. When the time is right, Artoo will come over with our lightsabers. Just as we planned.
"I think my eyes are getting better. Instead of a big dark blue, I see a big light blur," Han remarks.
"There's nothing to see. I used to live here, you know," Luke says.
"You're gonna die here, you know. Convenient."
"No one told me you were so optimistic," I reply sarcastically. Does he really thing we just came here without some sort of plan? I'll admit even I am a little worried it won't work, but I trust in the Force. It worked before, it will again now. If it wanted me to die, it could have just as easily killed me in my own time without transcending the laws of time to bring me here.
"Just stick close to Chewie and Lando. We've taken care of everything," Luke reassures him.
"Oh, great!"
The skiff moves closer and a huge sand pit comes into my line of sight. It appears to be our destination. The Sail Barge comes to a stop one side of the pit along with the other skiff. Ours goes over to center, stopping there. Deep down below, I can make out a creature. The Sarlacc. We've arrived at our destination. It's nearly time to complete our plan.