I am immensely enjoying writing this story, so I've decided to put out Ch. 3 of Tales of Star Wars before my other ongoing Golden Sun fic. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nil, except for the storyline.

Kratos jogged back through the winding corridors of Jabba's palace. He finally reencountered the two ugly pig-like guards he had met earlier. He didn't really want to put on what the two were wearing, but it was beyond question- he had told Luke that he would do so. Kratos approached the two, who began squealing, and then pulled out some very odd looking knives- crude, but probably good enough for their kind. He pulled out his sword. (A/N: In this fic, Kratos has Excalibur, which is the weapon that you get if you beat the Coliseum using him)

"I really don't want to have to do this, but I am afraid that I have already promised someone that I would do so." Apparently, the two pig-like guards got the hidden message in his words. They charged. Kratos sighed. What idiots, to take on the last Cruxis angel on their own. He side-stepped, and then cast Grave. The magic sliced through them, ending their pathetic lives as quick as a blaster bolt to the heart would have. Kratos grimaced, and then stripped of one of the guard's armor. He put it on, making sure to breathe through his mouth. Looking at his reflection in his blade, Kratos noted with satisfaction that he was practically unrecognizable. The spikes of red hair sticking out of odd spots in the helmet where it refused to be penned in only heightened the effect. Quickly stowing his sword back in its sheath, he walked off. Now to find this Lando person...

/SWITCH/

Lando Calrissian had had plenty of dealings with crime lords, smuggling, and the like. He had even once been a smuggler himself, later leaving the lucrative business to rule over his beloved Cloud City. But, he had never attempted a rescue mission right under the feared Jabba the Hutt's nose. The consequences of being found out were enough to make even the dark-skinned human shudder. Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him. Assuming it was just another one of Jabba's subordinates joining the party, he ignored it- until an armored hand was planted firmly on his shoulder. Whirling around, he was faced by a helmeted being that had the most bizarre hair- red with spikes. He paled. Had he been found out? A blunt bass voice cut through his thoughts.

"Would you happen to be a man by the name of Lando?" Oh, Sith. He had been found out. Unconsciously, he nodded.

"Good. Luke told me to find you." Lando eyed the man suspiciously. Who was this guy, who knew Luke? And why was he wearing a guard uniform?

"And you would be…"

"Kratos Aurion. I was sent by Luke to assist you with his 'rescue mission'."

"Oh. So, uh, what're you going to do?"

"That depends. I have not received any other information regarding the rescue. All Luke told me was to stay out of his way."

"That is so like him."

"I figured." Man, this guy's voice was creeping him out. The confident coolness of it was enough to send shivers down his spine. There was only one other individual's voice that could do so, and that would be one Darth Vader.

"Well, just stay low for now. If Luke needs us, he'll call." Just then, a near riot had broken out by Jabba's "throne"- a commotion that had apparently been caused by the appearance of Luke.

Lando was about to turn and make some snide remark to this Kratos person about something that went along the lines of, "some rescue attempt," but found that the man was no longer beside him. He scanned around frantically- and found Kratos pushing towards the center of the room where Luke was standing.

"What the Sith is he doing!"

/Switch/

Kratos had noticed Luke's sudden appearance. He could not believe the young man's foolishness. It was along the lines of something Lloyd would do…He suddenly noticed a figure in battered head-to-toe armor lifting a weird weapon and aiming it at Luke's back.

Damn…Kratos began pushing towards where Luke was standing. If he could just get there in time, he could-

BZZZZTTTT!

The blaster of a nearby pig-like guard- how many ugly things like this were there? - went off. Luke turned, that same saber of light in his hand. The guards were surrounding Luke- he was fighting one-he was on the ground-stupid pigs...Kratos shoved every being in his path out of his way. He ran towards Luke-

And fell neatly into the gaping hole that now encompassed half the floor. Double damn…

The bottom of the cavern below was littered with bones and random debris. There was also an unmistakable stench of rotten meat. Luke faced the disguised angel, ready to tussle with this new opponent. Ripping off his helmet, Kratos hurriedly alerted Luke to who he was facing.

"Luke- it's me- Kratos. Calm down." Luke looked in astonishment.

"KRATOS! But- I though I told you to stay with Lando."

"You were on trouble. I may sound like a glory hog, but you were in serious need of help, and I was trying to deliver."

"I thought I also told you I could handle everything by myself."

"Overconfidence breeds carelessness," Kratos stated. (A/N: Couldn't help myself there)

Luke sighed. "You reminded me of my friend Obi-Wan right there."

"Hmph." A loud burst of evil laughter disrupted the conversation. The two looked up to the grate that now covered the entrance.

"Looks like Jabba's set to watch the show," noted Luke.

"I wouldn't be worried about that," observed Kratos, as another door was opened, and out stepped a VERY ugly beast that, Kratos noted, beat out the pig guards for the title of most unattractive.

"A rancor," Luke breathed. Kratos smiled thinly.

"Is its name really relevant right now?"

"I suppose not." The rancor let out a bellow, sniffing the air as its puny little eyes focused on its next meal.

"Sith…where's my lightsaber when I need it?" Kratos heard Luke mutter.

"Don't worry…we still have this." Kratos drew Excalibur, which drew cries of outrage from Jabba and the spectators. Why did the human still have his weapon on him?

"Great." The two dived under a nearby nook as the rancor took a cursory swipe with its huge claw-like hands. The rancor let out another bellow, and then reached out under the rocky outcrop. It grabbed Luke with its claw, who had only the time to grab a huge bone, presumably from one of its previous meals, and then began lifting him up to its maw.

Luke hastily stuffed the bone into the creature's mouth, keeping its mouth open, and then dropped to the ground as the rancor released its hold, being occupied with the object that had currently been unceremoniously stuffed into its mouth. It crunched down on the bone, shattering it to a thousand pieces. Kratos came out from under, ready to face down his foe. Dodging another swipe, Kratos swung hard horizontally with Excalibur. It clattered off of the beast's scaled skin with a clang.

"Resistant to that, hm?" Kratos noted that Luke had now managed to run into a small pen connected to the "arena," probably where the rancor was kept when not being used for Jabba's amusement. The young man was currently trying to open the door on the other side to open an escape route, but was having trouble, as the creature's keepers on the other side were preventing from doing so.

Kratos circled warily. He dodged left, and then right, as the rancor's claws swept by with a whoosh of air. Finally, he cast.

"Thunder Blade!" The magic connected solidly with the rancor's head, and then gave it a nasty aftershock, as the magic field around the blade exploded. Yuan definitely would've enjoyed doing that, Kratos thought, as the monster crashed to the ground, dead. He felt a small note of satisfaction, which was then interrupted by Jabba's guards coming in and capturing both of them. Kratos felt his arms being yanked roughly behind his back and bound. He and Luke were then marched over to stand before Jabba. Another guard walked forwards, yanking along a further prisoner, who had his eyes closed, as well as a furry sort of beast.

"Han!" Luke exclaimed. Oh…so this is the man that Luke was so intent on rescuing…thought Kratos. He then focused on Jabba. Although he had been around for quite a while, Kratos had never seen anything like the crime lord. To sum up a description, the smuggling king resembled a very obese worm. He was observing Jabba so closely that he nearly didn't hear what the weird odd machine next to the worm said.

"…here you will learn a new dimension of pain as you are slowly digested in his stomach for a thousand years."

"On second thought, I'll pass," quipped the man who apparently was "Han."

"What is going to happen, again?" Kratos asked Luke.

The man grimaced. "Apparently we're being thrown to a sarlacc- which is a giant monster for your information."

"So…basically fed to something, then?"

"Yeah…and then being digested for a thousand years."

"Ah."

What a mess. As they were being led off to a cell, Kratos gave a slight laugh, bringing stares from both Luke and Han, as well as even from the furry beast-man. He had just imagined what Lloyd would have said if he was in this situation.

"That should be nothing for you, Dad- you've lived for so long that you should be able to get through this, no sweat! I mean- it's only a thousand years."

Ah, yes. Living for 4,028 years did give you a sort of "been there, done that" feeling.

/Switch/

Lloyd has lost track of the time they had spent in the cramped escape pod. He was bored- REALLY bored. Colette had tried to cheer him up by telling some very interesting (in her opinion) stories, but that had failed. He was starting to wish that he had never told his dad that he wanted to go to Derris Kharlan. Even traveling around Symphonia gathering all the exspheres and Cruxis crystals would be better than this. He yawned. Just then Colette came running into the cockpit.

"LLOYD! LLOYD! You have to come see this!"

"Alright, I'm up, I'm up…" Looking up at the small viewing window that served as the only source of sightseeing, he jumped up in surprise. Right outside, directly ahead, was a giant space station. There were a bunch of smaller ships zooming around it, all of which had a sort of x formation for wings. All of a sudden, a huge amount of static erupted over the communication link.

"Lloyd, I think that thing outside is trying to send us a message."

"Well, let's hear it." Lloyd switched on the comm screen and pressed the "Connect" button. A man appeared on the screen.

"Unknown shuttle, please state your destination and reason of business."

Lloyd looked at Colette. Where were they going, anyways?

"Uh…we're sort of lost," said Colette in a cheery sort of matter, "Our space ship blew up, and we had to escape. I guess we're going nowhere, then."

"I see. Are you aligned with the Empire?"

"Hey, isn't the Empire that thing that tried to kill us?" Colette whispered to Lloyd.

"Oh yeah…" Lloyd answered the man's question.

"No way, man! The Empire blew up our ship and nearly tried to kill us! There was this funny robot man in black that called us 'Jedi', and then he used that as an excuse to try and turn us to this thing called the Dark Side. We're not Jedi, and I have no idea what the Dark Side is." The man looked rather suspicious.

"Well, then where are you going?"

"Look, man, how many times am I going to have to say this? I. HAVE. NO. IDEA."

"What world are you from?" This question caught Lloyd off guard. Why would someone need to know that?

"Err…does it matter?"

"Yes. That way, I can check and see if your world is under the Empire's occupation."

Lloyd thought hard, but still failed to get the point. Maybe it was something that came along with this whole space travel business…

"Uh…we're from Symphonia. Only, Symphonia used to be two worlds, Sylvarant and Tethe'alla."

"Are you trying to play games with me?"

"HUH?"

The man on the screen now had a sort of angry expression on his face.

"There's no such planet as Symphonia OR those other two that you mentioned! Now cough it up- where are you from?"

"But- I'm not kidding!"

"He isn't- I know he isn't. We're telling the truth, mister," Colette added.

Just then, a woman with flaming red hair (She could be Dad's sister thought Lloyd.) came on screen.

"Captain Antilles, what are you doing?"

"Madame Mothma! Oh, well, I'm trying to figure out what theses strangers are doing in Rebel territory, ma'am. They claim that they're from a planet known as Symphonia, which they claim was recently the twin worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe- something."

"Tethe'alla," corrected an exasperated Lloyd.

The man glared. "Whatever, squirt." Lloyd ignored the statement.

"So, Captain Antilles, do you believe them?"

"Well, no."

"I see." The lady with the red hair turned to address Lloyd and Colette.

"Are you telling the truth? Are you really from the twin worlds?"

Lloyd nodded, and then snuck a glance at the man. He was staring in shock at the lady.

"Lady Mothma- you KNOW about this world that they claim to come from?"

"Yes. It is a rather obscure world, so I doubt that any of the ship's computers have it in their databanks."

"But…I've never heard of it."

"Not many do. Neither one of the twin worlds has ever been represented in the Old Republic, nor have they done anything significant."

Lloyd rolled his eyes. Not done anything significant- yeah right!

"Look, sorry to interrupt your pleasant conversation right now, but will you hurry up and allow us to go through your space station?" The two people on the screen jumped slightly. Apparently, they had almost forgotten about Lloyd and Colette.

"Uh…yes, clearing ship to travel through the Sullust system…" The man said. However, the woman had other ideas.

"Please, travelers from the twin worlds, would you join us here in the Alliance?"

Lloyd looked rather suspicious. Why ask that now?

"Why would you want us to? You're not going to try and convert us to some sort of crazy cult or something, right?"

The woman laughed, while the man looked rather sour.

"No, travelers from the twin worlds, we are not. I would like to meet with you in order to gain your assistance in our war against the unjust Empire. I have heard that those of Sylvarant or Tethe'alla are particularly fierce warriors, second to none in power and intelligence." The last statement made Colette giggle, which in turn made Lloyd glare at her.

"Sure! We'd be glad to- right Lloyd?"

"What? Huh? Oh- uh…if you're okay with it, Colette, then I guess I'm good with it."

"Okay! We'll help you!"

The woman smiled warmly. "Good. We will prepare a landing dock for you. One of our X-wings will escort you there. Once you are inside the base, ask for Mon Mothma. That's me."

"And the guy is…" The man suddenly spoke up.

"Name's Wedge Antilles- I'm the captain of Rogue Squadron. I guess that since you're okay by Mothma, then you're okay by me. Welcome to the Rebel Alliance..."

"Name's Lloyd Irving."

"And I'm Colette Brunel."

"Ah. Welcome to the Rebel Alliance, Colette and Lloyd."

"Thanks." Lloyd shut off the communication.

"Well, Colette, looks like we're part of this 'rebel alliance' or whatever it is."

"Maybe this way we can find Kratos, Lloyd."

"I really hope you're right about that…"

To Be Continued…

A/N: Alright, Chapter 3 done! I'm so impressed with myself…Now, GIVE ME REVIEWS! PLEASE! I even accept anonymous ones…

COMING UP:
Kratos, Luke, and Han try to avoid getting eaten by the sarlacc, and Lloyd and Colette continue to search for Kratos. LOTS OF KRATOS ACTION COMING YOUR WAY!