Han and the woman, whose name had turned out to be Brentha, ran across the last stretch of sand before they reached Jabba's palace. In the darkness Han hoped that he wouldn't be recognised before they could put the plan into action. As the gap between them and the door to Jabba's palace quickly closed they didn't bother to speak to each other, they had both discussed, with help from Brentha's husband, what they were going to do and there was no need to discuss it again.

Cold air and sand whipped through Han's hair and he ignored his heart beating fast and strong against his ribcage as he knocked loudly on the enormous front door. They had decided on the direct approach.

"Who's there?" a voice called through some sort of transmitter.

Han grinned to himself at their clever plan as he replied: "It's Der'Khan here, with the prisoner Han Solo. Had a bit of trouble but we're back now."

There was a long, tension-filled pause as the guards on the other side processed the information and decided on a course of action. After a couple of minutes they finally replied. "What's the password?"

Sith! Han cursed to himself, there had never been a password before! Brentha shot him a horror-filled look but he ignored her, thinking as fast as he could. There was no password he thought frantically…yes! That was it! "There isn't any password, now let me in - Solo needs his sleep for the games tomorrow," he said, sounding as irritated as he could.

"Okay, can't be too careful," the guard told him cheerfully, and the great door began to rise immediately, grating heavily on the stone walls, whirring with the sound of machinery pulling it up. Soon, the legs of two guards came into view as the gap between the floor and the door widened and things went more and more according to plan. With a quick nod to each other, Solo and the old woman poked their blasters under the door and aimed upwards, shooting the two guards before they even knew what was happening. Both dropped to the ground dead and Han felt a sudden pang of guilt. It was hard convincing himself that they were just murderous scum, after all, he had been on Jabba's payroll once. Instead he reminded himself that it was them or Chewie.

Quickly, the pair rushed under the door and started toward's the room where Jabba spent most of his time, the room where Han had been so proudly displayed in carbonite as a symbol to all who dared to cross him. Han shuddered. There was no time to check the slaves' quarters or cells for Chewie, they had to get to Jabba as quickly as possible so they could threaten his life to ward off the others.

Moments later they rushed into Jabba's room, sending laser blasts all over the place as a warning for everyone in there that they were armed. They found themselves face to face with just Jabba sitting by himself, apart from Chewbacca, who stood under a strong metal cage beside him. Both looked up startled by the sudden commotion, but only Chewie whooped with delight at the sight of the Corellian free and even better, armed.

"You're in trouble this time, Jabba!" Han told him.

"Cooperate or we'll send you to the same fate you've sent so many others," Brentha sneered at him, her eyes again full of hatred. She hadn't explained where it had come from so Han hadn't asked.

"Ah, Solo. You have escaped again. I shouldn't have trusted that useless Der'Khan," Jabba said. It was difficult to tell if his voice betrayed any fear he might have, the deep bellowing noise that came from his mouth didn't seem to hold any emotions, at least not to their ears. Han looked at Chewbacca worriedly, the Wookie was covered in cuts and bruises, some of his fur was matted with blood, but at least he didn't look too badly harmed.

"Let the Wookie go or we blast this place to hell," Han told him.

"Get out of here, Han!" Chewbacca shouted to his friend, worried that he was about to get himself killed, "Don't waste time, get to freedom."

"Ah, shut up pal," Han told him, "We're getting out of here together."

Jabba laughed, but he stopped as Han pulled out a handful of the mini detonators from the small sack that Brentha had had in her house. She had provided more than enough weapons for them to use, more than Han could have pulled together in time to save Chewie. "A few of these will do enough damage to screw you over though, right?"

"My guards will shoot you first!" Jabba laughed as a group materialised with weapons near the door from which Solo and Brentha had entered.

Brentha fired her blaster at the Hutt's tail as a warning shot, and Jabba squealed in pain and began thrashing about swearing in his native tongue. "Fire at us and we'll kill him!" she shouted to the guards who were looking a little uncertain. Brentha walked over closer to the Hutt and a small warning bell began to ring in Han's mind, something wasn't quite right. She took a step closer...

"No!" he suddenly shouted, running towards her. The trapdoor fell and Jabba laughed evilly, despite the pain the shot to his tail had caused. Brentha fell into the rancor pit with a scream and Han cursed, wondering if he should jump in to help her or whether he would be of more use up here where he could stop them from getting trapped in here for good. With his guard momentarily down, several blasts shot past him as the guards realised it might be their only chance. Han dived and rolled towards the Hutt, hoping to use him as a shield.

He turned to shoot back at the guards to cover himself as he quickly ran behind the Hutt before they could get a good shot in, and before the slow, slug-like Hutt could turn fast enough to stop him. Stalemate.

At the sight of the guards coming closer, Han shouted, "Come any closer and I'll shoot at the Hutt, not at you!" he sighed with relief as they stopped and held back but continued to fire. He couldn't have fought them all off at close range.

"Hey, Brentha, are you okay?" he shouted. He hadn't heard a sound from the woman since she had screamed as she fell in. The worry showed in his voice, he had gotten her into this mess after all.