Chapter 53- The Pit of Carkoon Battle
Talon stood next to his daughter on the sail barge. When no one had been looking he had taken out his lightsaber from his boot and attached it next to the blaster rifle he had to carry as one of Jabba's palace guards. Talon's skills with a lightsaber had improved drastically since he had been a Padawan in the Jedi temple. The way he figured it, Luke and Lena would need his skills if they planned to fight.
"I think my eyes are getting better. Instead of a big dark blur, I see a big light blur," Solo said, looking as if he was blinking to clear his eyes.
"I guess that's an improvement, Han. Just be glad you aren't a Jedi who can see the future at times. There are things that I have seen from the future that I wish I hadn't. Like when the Empire destroyed Alderaan. I wish I hadn't seen that or felt it," Lena said.
"There's nothing to see here. I used to live here, you know," Luke quipped.
"You're going to die here, you know. Convenient," Solo snarked.
"Just stick close to Chewie, Uncle Talon, and Lando. Lena and I've taken care of everything," Luke said.
"Oh. Great," Solo said, sounding as if he didn't quite believe Luke and Lena's ability to recue anyone.
The barges came to a stop in front of a depression into the desert floor. Talon, Luke, and Lena all looked down. A mouth with tentacles surrounding it poked out of the depression and the lipless maw snapped as if it smelled blood and was hungry. Talon closed his eyes as he felt his stomach drop to his booted feet. Stretching out with the Force, his first impression of the creature being hungry was correct.
Talon opened his eyes as a plank was extended and Luke was prodded forward into place. Luke looked down again at the open mouth. "Victims of the almighty Sarlacc, hopes that you will die honorably. But should any of you wish to beg for mercy, the great Jabba the Hutt, will now listen to your pleas," Threepio's voice echoed out.
"Threepio, you tell that slimy piece of worm-ridden filth he'll get no such pleasure from us! Right?" Solo yelled and then asked Chewbacca. Chewbacca growled his affirmative.
"Jabba, this is your last chance. Free us or die," Lena said, projecting her voice with the Force.
"Move him into position," Jabba ordered the guards behind Luke.
One of the guards prodded Luke in the back with his spear. Luke looked over at Talon, Lena, and Lando and nodded briefly, a gesture each of them copied. Luke gave a salute. "Put him in," Jabba ordered. Luke turned and using the plank like a spring board flipped back onto the deck. Talon looked at Jabba's barge as two cylindrical items shot into the air. Luke and Lena caught their lightsabers and Talon powered up his, removing his helmet. Talon barely felt any remorse for the victims falling with loud screams into the Sarlacc. His only thought was helping his daughter and nephew.
"Easy, Chewie," Talon heard Luke say as he removed the binders holding the Wookie's paws behind his back. A blast from a turret gun knocked Lando and another guard off the barge. Lando grabbed a rope and started to pull himself up as Boba Fett came towards them, using his jet pack.
"Help!" Lando shouted, frozen in his climb, his legs dangling over the Sarlacc's mouth.
Talon raised his lightsaber and sawed Boba Fett's blaster in half after Fett discharged a balst. "Chewie, you're hit? Where is it?" Talon heard Han ask Chewbacca. Fett's blast had to have hit the Wookie. Talon then felt filament cords wrap around him from Fett's cords in his arm. Talon deflected a blast from the Turret gun with his lightsaber and knocked Fett out.
"Han! Chewie! Your Highness!" Lando shouted, getting Talon's attention.
"Lando!" Solo said, getting to his feet. Luke, Lena, and Talon turned to see a second skiff coming at them and firing.
"Go! I'll take care of this one!" Talon ordered as he deflected a burst of blaster fire with the Force and his lightsaber.
Lena kissed his cheek swiftly and she and Luke jumped onto the second skiff. Talon looked down in time to see Boba Fett rise and aim his gun at Luke and Lena. "Boba Fett? Where?" Han asked, holding onto a staff. He turned, the staff hitting Fett in the jetpack. The last thing Talon saw was Fett hitting the sail barge, landing in the sand, and going straight into the Sarlacc's mouth. Talon felt his insides turn nauseous as the Sarlacc burped loudly.
Inside the sail barge, Jabba was throwing a fit at this bad turn of events. He was so incensed he had taken his attention off of Leia. Leia had picked up a hammer and knocked out the electricity. Picking up the chain that Jabba had attached to her slave collar, Leia wrapped it around the Hutt's neck. Pulling, the chain tightened around his neck, Jabba fighting the whole time.
The fight continued outside. "Lando, grab it!" Han ordered his friend, extending the staff. Chewbacca had explained that Lando had helped rescue him. It was the least Han could do to rescue his friend.
"Lower it!" Lando ordered.
"I'm trying!" Han grunted.
Lena dispatched one of the guards with her lightsaber and looked at her brother. "Luke! We need to reach the sail barge!" Lena shouted, projecting her voice with the Force.
"Right! Follow me!" Luke shouted back.
Leia continued to dig the chain deeper into Jabba's neck. He gave one more attempt to fight the strangulation and expired, his breath giving a ragged death rattle. Breathing hard, Leia jumped off the throne to look for something to cut her chain.
A blast from the sail barge nearly pitched Lando, Han, Chewbacca, and Talon forward. Talon reached out to the Force to collect his equilibrium. "Grab me, Chewie, Your Highness," Han ordered Chewbacca and Talon. Talon and Chewbacca grabbed Han's booted feet to hold him steady.
"I'm slipping!" Lando said as he slid closer to the Sarlacc.
"Quick! Grab it!" Han ordered, holding out the staff to Lando.
Luke and Lena both noticed at the same time, the turret gun on Jabba's barge. "Lena, jump!" Luke ordered and they both jumped to the barge. Lena pulled a bounty hunter out and tossed him into the Sarlacc. They continued the climb up to the deck of the sail barge. Lena watched as the creature at the gun took another shot at Han, her father, Chewbacca, and Lando. Powering up her lightsaber, Lena lunged, knocking the creature into the Sarlacc.
Chewbacca growled as the firing stopped hitting the prisoner's skiff. "Gently now. All right. Easy, easy. Hold me, Chewie, Your Highness," Han ordered. Lando gave out a sharp sream. Talon looked over to see one of the tentacles wrapping around Lando's lower leg.
"Chewie!" Han barked.
"Chewbacca, give him the gun!" Talon said with a small measure of distaste at a blaster next to the Wookie.
Chewbacca handed Han the blaster. "Don't move, Lando," Han ordered.
"No, wait! I thought you were blind!" Lando said in shock.
"It's all right! I can see a lot better! Don't move!" Han said, aiming the blaster at the tentacle.
"A little higher! Just a little higher!" Lando said in a panic. Han shot at the tentacle that released Lando. Lando scrambled up and grabbed Han's hand.
"Chewie, Your Highness, pull us up," Han ordered.
It didn't take long for Artoo to find Leia. Leia held the chain taut as Artoo. used his electrical arm to shoot it. "Come on. We gotta get out of here," Leia said, standing up. Leia came out onto the roof of the sail barge. Luke and Lena were fighting Jabba's guards, their lightsabers flashing.
"Get the gun!" Luke ordered her. Leia ran for the gun.
"Point it at the deck, Cousin!" Lena said as she dispatched one of the guards. Luke let out a scream as a bolt hit him in the prosthetic hand the Alliance had given him after his duel with Vader.
Leia turned the gun and aimed it at the deck. "Come on," Luke said to Leia and Lena as he grabbed a rope. Luke kicked the gun before he and Leia swung across. Lena followed with a Force leap onto the skiff. "Let's go and don't forget the droids," Luke said to Lando.
"We're on our way," Lando said and they took off. Lena all but ran to her father and hugged him.
"And, Lando, stop by Obi-Wan's hut on the Dune Sea. We left Cora there," Uncle Talon said, stroking Lena's hair gently as the skiff sped across the desert after collecting the droids.