#10 - Bigger Picture

AN: I am so sorry for the long wait, but I'm sure you all understand with me being in college. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'll be posting the next one really soon and possibly the one after that too.

The next evening, Phalla witnessed Bib Fortuna (the name of the ugly Twi'lek) approach Jabba. He had a horrified looking green Twi'lek girl with him. Phalla watched as he talked to the Hutt and indicated toward the poor girl. She stood very still, staring down at her sandaled feet. Phalla wished she knew what was being said, but from what she could observe, Fortuna was trying to get the frightened girl to do or say something. The green Twi'lek girl refused.

Eventually, she was taken away. Phalla felt sorry for the poor girl but tried to banish her from her mind. However, the next day, she saw the girl again. Their eyes met and they seemed to have a silent and quick conversation. They respected each other and agreed to be allies if the need ever arose.

-x-

Not long after that, some droids appeared before Jabba with a message from a Luke Skywalker who claimed to be a Jedi Knight. Phalla had heard of the Jedi. They were supposed to be a dead Force-sensitive sect that carried a unique and mysterious weapon known as a lightsaber. The Hutt laughed at the proposed bargain and ordered that the droids be put to work in his palace.

No less than a week latter, a strange bounty hunter came in with a rather disgruntled looking Wookiee. After a brief stand-off, the Wookiee was taken away and the strange bounty hunter was allowed to stay. She watched him all day and eventually witnessed Fett talk to him. At least, she assumed that they were talking. She was too far away to hear what they were saying.

That evening, Fett took Phalla back to his room, giving her instructions to stay there and not to try anything funny. "Things may get rough if all goes according to plan and I don't want you getting in the way." He then left without another word. Phalla had no idea what to think. What did he mean by "things may get rough if all goes according to plan"? What plan?

She sighed, supposing that it was none of her business. Maybe it had something to do with what he was talking about with that other bounty hunter. She could only wonder as she lounged on the couch, waiting for morning and for Boba to come back.

-x-

Panic.

That was all that was happening around her. She pushed through the crowds of panicking people, trying to find the only one that she felt safe around. "Mr. Fett!" she called, trying to be heard over the hoard of crazy beings. "Mr. Fett! Boba!"

She received no answer.

The panic beginning to take hold of her, she started running as fast as she could through the masses, searching for the bounty hunter. She was suddenly knocked off of her feet and sent sprawling across the dirty ground. Pain seared through her chest as she cried out. "Boba! Help me!"

She still got no response.

When she dared open her eyes, the stampede of people was gone. She was left to float alone in the empty void of space. It never crossed her mind that she should not be able to breath. Dim stars glowed sleepily all around her, but she could not move. She was isolated. Alone.

He was not coming to save her this time.

Phalla gasped as her green eyes flew open. A T-shaped visor glared back down at her. She could not help but grin and, before she could think and stop herself, she pushed herself up and wrapped her arms around him. "You came back!" she said happily.

Fett did not know what to make of this random outburst, but did not wrench himself free of her surprisingly tight grip. "Of course I did," he said rather flatly then paused, waiting for her to let go. She did not. So he carefully took hold of her arms and removed her himself. She seemed to snap out of whatever had possessed her and her cheeks flushed.

"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered. "I... don't know what came over me." She lied. She knew exactly what had happened. She had thought she was still trapped in her nightmare and that he had finally appeared to save her.

Fett let go of her arms and decided to forget that ever happened. Phalla also decided to forget it.

When Fett leashed her and took her to Jabba's main chambers, Phalla noticed a new slave woman chained to the slug's side. She was not too young, but not old either. Phalla wondered who she was. She determined to find out when Fett chained her to Jabba's platform.

Phalla studied the woman. Her hair was long and gorgeous. Her eyes were dark and held resentment and frustration and worry. Her body was stiff and she was not emphasizing herself. Phalla scooted closer, careful to avoid touching the Hutt's tail. However, Crumb thought that jumping on her shoulders at that moment would be entertaining. He screeched and chattered happily, tugging at her hair and clothes. The noise attracted the woman's attention. Phalla tried to gently pry the lizard monkey from her head, but that did not work out as well as she would have liked. The woman could not help but smile and anyone that happened to be watching laughed.

Phalla finally grabbed hold of Crumb and roughly, though not in a mean way, rubbed his head. He squawked what he hoped was an insult and scampered back up to his perch, muttering to himself.

She glanced at the woman and managed an awkward grin. They never did get a chance to actually speak to each other.

-x-

That night, Phalla was asleep and Boba was nearly asleep when there was a rather loud knocking on the door. Extremely irritated, Fett stood, unlocked the door, set his rifle on high power and aimed. "Come in," he growled. He had not turned the lights on.

The door opened to reveal a flood of light from the hallway and two equally disgruntled Gamorean guards hauling a familiar figure between them. It was Princess Leia, Jabba's newest victim. They threw her to the floor in his room and one of the guards grunted, "A reward from Jabba. Enjoy her." With that, the door shut and they were gone. The room darkened again.

With his infrared sensors in his helmet, Fett watched as Leia stumbled in the darkness to find a place as far away from him as possible, finding a wall and pressing herself against it. She would fight him if she had to, but knew that she most likely would not win. She summoned a threat anyway.

"If you dare touch me," she said breathlessly. "And one of us is going to die."

Fett could have laughed, but he was in too foul a mood at the moment. He had no intention of doing anything with the princess, but he was not about to refuse a gift from Jabba either. Insulting employers was never a good idea.

Before he could respond, a sleepy voice murmured, "Mr. Fett? What's going on?"

Both he and Leia looked to see Phalla in the doorway to the bedchamber looking rather groggy. Great, he thought. The noise must have woken her. "Go back to bed," he ordered.

Phalla glanced from the shapes of the slave woman to Boba. "But-"

"Now," he said a little louder, making sure that she knew that he was in no mood for games.

Phalla was still confused, but did as she was told. She jumped back into bed and covered her head with the covers, though she did not go to sleep.

Leia could see some with the moonlight coming through the single window. She had seen the girl in the doorway. It had been the same girl that she had seen earlier that day. So was she Fett's girl?

By now, he had lowered his rifle and was looking back at Leia. "I'm not going to touch you."

She did not believe him. "You're not?" she questioned. Not that she wanted him to, but why did he not?

Fett wandered back to the chair he had been sitting in before. Leia moved when he did, keeping herself as far away from him as possible. He made himself comfortable once again, his blaster rifle resting across his lap. "Sex between those not married is immoral," he said evenly, by way of explanation.

That was true. "Yeah, so's rape," she added tersely.

He nodded slightly. "So is rape."

Then why was there another much younger girl with him? Was she another reward of Jabba's? "Then who's in there?" she asked, indicating toward the bed.

"Unfinished business," Fett muttered. "She is none of your concern."

"Is she your significant other?" Leia pressed.

He could have scoffed. "I said that she is none of your concern," he repeated, lowering his voice dangerously.

The princess was intimidated, but determined. She held her tongue for the moment and just watched the bounty hunter. She had heard as many rumors about him as the next person. Here she was, almost face to face with him, and all he was doing was just sitting there, helmeted head bowed slightly, blaster rifle across his lap. He was certainly not what she had expected him to be... so far, at least.

For Boba, the silence was comfortable. He knew that Phalla was not asleep (there was really nothing that he could do about that) and he knew that Organa would probably not stop pestering him unless he did something drastic. What exactly, he was still contemplating. He had no intentions of molesting her. Perhaps holding the barrel of his rifle in her face and growling something dark would shut her up...

And then she broke the quiet. "So we just sit here. All night."

He debated answering, but did so. "The stone floor is cold. You are welcome to use the couch if you wish," he said. "The bed is taken."

Leia's skepticism was all too obvious. "And you are just going to sit there. All night."

"I am a man of my word. I said that I won't touch you," he replied. "So I will not touch you in any way, shape, or form. Sleep if you like. Or don't. I don't care."

Silence again fell on the room. It lasted much longer this time, so Fett allowed himself to begin to fall asleep. However, when he was half way there, the princess spoke up again. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded. "Why are you working for them?"

By 'them', he assumed that she was referring to the Empire. He shifted slightly and heard something in his shoulder pop. "Over half a million credits. That's what Vader and the Hutt have paid me for my services."

"Is it just about money? We could pay you," Leia said, hoping to strike a deal. "If you help us get out of here, we'll pay you-"

"How much?" Though he was not even vaguely interested, he was intrigued by her audacity to attempt to bribe him.

"More than even you could imagine."

"I can imagine quite a bit."

The conversation was starting to give Leia a sense of déjà vu. "You'll get it."

"No," he growled, crushing her hopes. "What your Rebellion is doing is morally wrong."

"Morally wrong?" she repeated, appalled.

From there, a much deeper discussion (more like argument) about the Rebellion and Han Solo ensued. Phalla listened to every word. She knew very little of politics and certain laws, but what either said made sense. Yes, the Empire was the lawful government. Yes, the Rebels were the ones that started the war. Each side thought that they were right. And yet, the Empire oppressed. The Rebels smuggled.

Who was in the wrong?

Then the slave woman compared Fett to Han, the man in carbonite. He got very angry. Phalla heard him slam his boots on the floor when he stood and he raised his voice to a volume that she had never heard him use. She heard him list off all the evils that Han had done. The woman agreed with him, then told of the things he had done for the Rebellion and for her personally.

"I know him like you don't, and I've seen him take risks for things he believes in that I doubt you would have the courage to take," she spat. "So explain to me why you work for the top gangster in the galaxy and why there is a young girl in your bed."

Fett had lost his temper once already tonight and he really did not want to lose it again. His throat was getting sore and he wanted Leia to shut up and Phalla to sleep. Unfortunately, it seemed that the only way he was going to get anything he wanted tonight was to talk. He took a slow, deep breath and shut his eyes for a moment. Carefully, he sat back in his chair. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Organa still scowling at him. "As I said before, the girl is unfinished business that I plan to take care of in the near future."

"But who is she?" Leia pressed.

He refused to let his voice grow above an imposing growl. "She's a stowaway that I intend to dispose of once my work here is done. I have not touched her either. Ask her yourself in the morning." He watched her expression change from frustration to confusion. He knew that more questions were coming so decided to attempt to stop them. "As for why I work with the Hutt, it is simple: necessity makes allies. Once your Rebellion comes to an end, I expect the Empire will deal with Jabba. He is less of a threat than you."

Indicatively, he propped his legs up on the low table and rested one hand behind his head. The other loosely gripped his rifle. "Now if you don't mind, I'm tired and I want that girl to go to sleep so I suggest you do the same." He said no more.

Leia still had things that she wanted to ask, but knew that he had had enough. She did not want to push him to the edge again. Besides, he had a point. It was late and she realized how tired she was herself. She glanced from the bed to Fett to the couch before silently getting onto it and making herself as comfortable as she could.

Meanwhile, Phalla was still wide awake. She had stopped listening after Boba had said that he planned to "dispose of" her. What did he mean by that? Was she really that much of a burden to him? She had thought that he had liked her to some degree.

She guessed now that she was wrong as tears leaked from her eyes to the pillow.

-x-

When Phalla awoke, it had not even felt like she had slept at all. She sat up and glanced out into the main room. The slave woman was gone and Fett was in his chair, still as a statue. What she had heard last night came back and she sank back into the sheets. She felt terrible. Did he really hate her? Had he never liked her? When she had broken down, he had seemed so kind she dared say. He had been kind in allowing her to live in the first place when he had discovered her on his ship.

Now, she did not know what to think of him.

Maybe it had all been an act. Maybe he was just torturing her, getting some sick entertainment out of it. Maybe she had made a terrible mistake in choosing his ship to stow away on. Maybe, the next chance she got, she should just leave and find some other way to get back home.

What she did not know was that Fett was watching her closely. He could see that she was upset about something. Perhaps he had scared her last night with his outburst. He waited for her to get up, but the minutes ticked by and she did not move. Perhaps she was sick.

Silently, he stood and walked toward the bed. He looked down and saw that she was hiding under the covers. "Phalla," he said quietly. She did not move. "Phalla, look at me."

After a pause, she slowly pulled the sheets away from her face and reluctantly brought her green eyes to his helmet. They were blood-shot and puffy. Shab. She had been crying. He watched her sit up and her gaze fell from him. He tilted his head slightly, wondering if he had really scared her that badly last night.

Phalla did not want to look at him anymore. She wondered what he was trying to do. "What do you want?" she asked very quietly.

"I want you to look at me and tell me what is the matter with you," Fett answered.

She finally did look up. She stared intently into the T-visor. "You don't like me," she said softly.

He blinked. Was that all? She thought he didn't like her? Well, did he? He found the answer was... yes, he did like her. He tilted his head slightly to one side. "Stand up," he instructed.

Confused, Phalla did as he asked. She watched as he put a gloved hand on her shoulder then stared back up at his helmet.

"Udesii ad'ika," he repeated the strange words he had said to her seeming forever ago. Like before, they caused her to feel calm as she gazed up at him. "Did I say that I didn't like you?"

She realized that he had not. "No."

"Then don't assume anything unless you have proof."

Slowly, Phalla smiled.

-x-

A couple days later, a strange cloaked figure came into Jabba's chamber. Fortuna seemed unsure of himself as he lead the cloaked figure in and spoke with Jabba. Phalla searched out Fett and noticed that he seemed more rigid than he usually did. The cloaked figure speaking caught her attention.

"You will bring Solo and the Wookiee to me," he said rather calmly yet authoritatively, pulling back his hood. Phalla realized that it was the Jedi she had seen on the recording the two droids had shown to Jabba. She glanced over at the woman and saw how intently she was watching this scene. She could also tell that Jabba was not impressed with this man, but the man insisted that Jabba release this Solo and the Wookiee.

That was his literal downfall.

Phalla watched as he and an unfortunate Gamorean guard fell into the rancor pit when Jabba opened the floor. She knew that this was not going to end well.