She couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't even breathe. She drifted in and out of consciousness, the line between the two blurring until it was all one. There was something she was supposed to be doing, somewhere she had to be, someone she needed to see… but it slipped away like water vapour in the winds of Tatooine. She drifted in a place where time had no meaning.
Ages passed.
A sudden chill rushed over her body as sensation violently returned. She choked on something wet and thick, and began to cough helplessly. Gentle hands lifted and held her as she convulsed, her lungs struggling to remember how to breathe. How long had it been since she had breathed air?
A mechanical voice spoke out of the darkness that still entombed her. "You're free of the carbonite, but you have hibernation sickness."
Carbonite? Was she in the hands of enemies then? Had she been taken for the bounty—or, one of the many bounties—on her head? She tried to keep her breathing steady, to hold back the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. "I can't see." Her voice was a dry croak, like she'd been wandering the Tatooine wilds without water for days.
"Your eyesight will return in time." There was no inflection in that voice, no emotion, no indication whether they were friend or foe.
She tried to swallow, her throat spasming and nearly sending her off into another fit of coughing. "Where am I?"
"Jabba's palace," the neutral voice replied.
Of course. She dug her fingers into her thighs, trying to stop their shaking. Jabba's bounty on her was probably the largest. "Who are you?" Her voice shook despite her best efforts not to show her fear.
A rustle of movement and of cloth against cloth sounded beside her, then her companion spoke again, but his voice was no longer mechanized—it was gentle and choked with tears. "Someone who loves you."
Her heart leapt, and she reached out blindly toward his voice. "Alaric!"
Warm fingers caught her questing hand. "I need to get you out of here." Alaric's hands slid down her arms to grip her elbows and help her to stand. She clung to him with trembling fingers, embarrassed at her weakness. Hibernation sickness was really terrible. Do not recommend.
As she swayed against Alaric, a cackle echoed all around them, sending a chill down her spine that banished the warmth from Alaric's touch. She forced herself to stand straight, a hand on his shoulder her only concession to her weakness. "I know that laugh."
The horribly familiar chortle was joined by many others, creating a cacophony of evil delight that bounced off the unseen walls and clawed at her nerves. Hanna gripped Alaric's shoulder tightly, wishing she hadn't gotten him mixed up in this. She stared at a random point in the blackness, trying to pretend she wasn't still completely blind. "Look, Jabba, I was just on my way to pay you back, but I got a little sidetracked."
"I can see that, Solo," Jabba replied in Huttese, his voice harsh. "I don't blame you, but it's too late now. You may have been a good smuggler, but now you're bantha fodder."
Rough hands grabbed her, tearing Alaric away. She struggled, stumbled, her reaching hands closing on empty air. Alaric! Panic tore at her raw nerves. "I'll pay you triple! You're throwing away a fortune here. Don't be a fool!"
Jabba's voice was cold. "Take her away."
No! Alaric!
Alaric raised his chin, glaring down his nose at the disgusting creature as Jabba's guards pushed him to stand before the giant Hutt. He refused to show fear. "We have powerful friends. You'll regret this."
Jabba laughed. "Pretty and feisty. I can see why she likes you." His voice deepened to a growl and he ran his enormous slimy tongue over his lower lip, leaving a trail of saliva behind. "You're mine now, boy. Forget her."
Nausea roiled in Alaric's gut and he struggled against his captors, but the guards only laughed at him, their grip unyielding.
Hanna stumbled and tripped, barely keeping her feet as Jabba's guards dragged her roughly over uneven floors, turning corners without warning or any discernible pattern. When they stopped, their grip on her arms was the only thing that kept her from pitching forward to fall on her face. She heard the grating sound of a door opening, then they shoved her, and she fell into the dank and damp, her hands flung out before her, seeking something—anything—to catch herself. A wookiee yell of joy resounded off the walls as she hit something soft and furry and warm. "Chewie?" she gasped. "Is that you?" He roared a greeting, throwing his arms around her, lifting her off her feet and nearly squeezing the breath from her lungs. "Chewie!" She hugged him back. "I can't see, pal. What's going on?"
Chewie replied in a stream of excited Shyriiwook that she had trouble following, but she caught the name "Lucia," and something about a "Jedi Knight."
"Slow down, Chewie. Did you say Lucia's a Jedi Knight?" Poor kid. That old fool Kenobi's delusions must have rubbed off her. "Well, never mind that now. We gotta get outta here. Any ideas?"
Lucia strode into Jabba's palace, head high, long dark robes swirling around her legs, the Force filling her with power and confidence. Two Gamorreans stepped out to block her way, and she stopped and raised her hand, silently telling them to forget they saw her. Confused, they returned to their posts, ignoring her as she passed. She hid a delighted grin in the shadows of her hood. She could do this.
A Twi'lek stepped out of the gloom, demanding to know her business. She didn't slow her confident stride, and he fell into step beside her. "I must speak with Jabba," she said without looking at the Twi'lek. He started to protest, but she cut him off. Turning her head just enough to meet his eyes, she put the Force behind her words. "You will take me to Jabba now."
He nodded. "I will take you to Jabba now," he replied in Huttese as he turned to lead the way.
She hid another grin. This was pretty wizard. She could get used to this.
Smoke lay in a thick cloud over many beings of various races who crowded around the dais where Jabba held court. Lucia followed the Twi'lek through the crowd toward where the obese Hutt reclined on a huge throne. A chain around Jabba's neck led to a collar fastened around Alaric's throat. The prince sat on the edge of the dais, staring into space, his shoulders slumped and hands lying slack in his lap. He was wearing loose, flowing, sheer gold pants over blood red shorts… and nothing else except the gold manacle around his neck.
As she neared the dais, Alaric raised his head and his eyes widened. He sat up and his shoulders straightened as he met her eyes, the blank look vanishing to be replaced with hope.
The Twi'lek leaned over and spoke to Jabba. "Master. Lucia Skywalker, Jedi Knight."
Jabba sputtered. "I told you not to let her in."
Lucia turned away from Alaric, lifting her chin as she stared Jabba down. "I must speak to you, Jabba."
"She must speak to you, Jabba," the Twi'lek said.
Furious, the Hutt shoved him off the dais in a mess of flailing limbs and headtails. "You weak-minded fool!"
Drawing on the Force to imbue her voice with power, Lucia demanded, "You will bring Captain Solo and the Wookiee to me."
Jabba's eyes rolled back in his head, and he laughed, his whole body shaking. "Your mind powers will not work on me, little girl."
She had not expected this, but she couldn't show that he had shaken her. She'd grown up on Tatooine. She could bluff her way through almost anything. She folded her hands into her sleeves and kept her gaze steady. "I'm taking Captain Solo and her friends, and I warn you: do not underestimate me."
Jabba laughed again, loud and cruel. He wasn't falling for it. Lucia would have to show him what else she could do. She reached out with the Force toward a nearby guard and snatched the pistol from his belt. As the Gamorrean yelped and grabbed for his weapon, Jabba stopped laughing, and the floor fell away beneath them.
Lucia had heard stories of Jabba's rancor pit, but she had never thought she would see it up close, especially not this close. She scrambled to her feet and turned around to see the beast rising up on its back legs, fanged maw gaping. She dove to one side and a huge clawed hand just missed grabbing her. As she rolled to her feet, the Gamorrean's shrieks ended in a choked gurgle, and then a wet crunching that reminded her of the ice cave on Hoth. A chill slid down her spine.
The rancor was eating the guard. No matter that he would have killed her if he'd had the chance, she felt a stab of pity—that was a horrific way to go.
Any minute now, the rancor would finish its meal and turn its attention back to her. Frantically, she searched for a way out, and spotted a heavy barred gate retracted into the ceiling between her and the beast, a row of large spikes along the bottom. A control panel halfway up the wall beside it also caught her eye. If she could just reach the controls...
The rancor swallowed the last of the hapless guard, and turned back toward Lucia. Reaching out blindly, she picked up a stone—no, a skull—from the ground beside her, and, suddenly, she knew what to do. She waited until the creature was beneath the gate, and flung the skull at the control panel. The gate fell, driving the spikes into the rancor's head. It spasmed, roared, and died. Nausea swirled in Lucia's gut, and she closed her eyes for a second. The rancor was just a dumb beast, and hadn't deserved any of this.
Hanna stumbled—again—in the grip of Jabba's guards as they propelled her along—again. Chewie grumbled beside her, promising all kinds of dire consequences that they mostly likely understood nothing of. The murmur of a crowd grew louder and the Hutt's deep laughter sounded ahead and growing nearer. The odour of many unwashed bodies assaulted Hanna's nose. But she could still see nothing. Yeah, this was damned inconvenient.
"Hanna!"
Another familiar voice. "Lucia?"
"Are you all right?" Yes, that was Lucia, her voice bright and hopeful, even now.
Hanna shook her head as the guards pulled her to a halt next to the stupid kid. "I'll live. Together again, eh?"
"Wouldn't miss it." Laughter bubbled up in Lucia's voice. Had she gotten even more ridiculously optimistic?
"How are we doing?" Hanna's voice was dry, betraying none of her own inner turmoil.
"Same as always."
Hanna snorted a laugh. "That bad, eh? Where's Alaric?"
"I'm here." His voice brought a smile to her lips, and she found that she wasn't all that afraid anymore. If this was the end, well, at least everyone she cared about was here.
Another familiar voice cut through the chatter. "Oh, dear. His High Exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be terminated immediately." Lucia's annoying protocol droid, Threepio.
Hanna smirked in his general direction. "Good," she said defiantly. "I hate long waits."
Threepio continued dolefully, "You will therefore be taken to the Dune Sea and cast into the pit of Carkoon, the nesting place of the all-powerful Sarlacc."
"Huh." Hanna shrugged as nonchalantly as she could with binders on her wrists. "Doesn't sound too bad."
Threepio's voice grew even more sorrowful. "In his belly, you will find a new definition of pain and suffering, as you are slowly digested over a thousand years."
"On second thought—" Hanna shuddered. "—let's pass on that."
Chewie grumbled an agreement, his shoulder bumping into hers.
"You should have bargained, Jabba," Lucia said, her voice clear and confident. "That's the last mistake you'll ever make."
The Hutt only laughed, but Hanna frowned. Did the kid really have something up her sleeve or was this simply a bluff? Their lives might depend on it, and there wasn't much Hanna could do to help, blind as she was.
