A/n: Wow, it's half-over...*sob* Will anyone remember me when it's done?
Well, anyways...*wipes nose* This is the beginning of the Tatooine Sequence.
"First we have to stop on Antari XVII, now we crash land on Tatooine!" Li-Sen fumed. "I don't believe you didn't check the computer! Can you do nothing right, Calrissian?!"
Lando did his best to ignore her. He knew she was wrong; he had checked the computer before taking off, but it had given no indication that they weren't headed in the right direction. How the Core they had ended up on Tatooine, of all places, was beyond him. But Li-Sen didn't seem to understand that. She was staring at him, irritated, a few feet away in the sand. Lando glared at her.
"It wasn't my fault!" he snapped. "Someone must have sabotaged it while you were asleep and I was gone!"
"Oh? Like who? The 'droid?" Li-Sen asked coldly, waving in the direction of Vuffi Raa, who was doing his best to stay out of the way.
Lando snorted angrily. That was his best friend she was talking about! "Leave the robot out of this, Kenobi."
"Well, then, who do you think sabotaged it?" Li-Sen shot back. "Or maybe you decided to come here for some as of yet unknown, but most likely incredibly stupid reason!"
"Oh, so now you're saying this is my fault?"
"Lando-"
"Quiet, Vuffi Raa!" he spat, turning back to Li-Sen. This time, she'd gone too far.
"Yes, Captain, that's exactly what I'm implying!"
"Lando, you should really-"
"Shut up, Vuffi Raa!" Lando exclaimed again. He turned an enraged look on Li-Sen. "And as for you, Little Miss I-Can-Do-No-Wrong Li-Sen Kenobi, I did check the computer! It didn't say anything about us being off course! Honestly, sometimes I think you should go take a fl-"
"Lando!"
"WHAT?!" The starship captain turned to the little 'bot, anger blazing in his usually calm, unreadable eyes.
"We have company," the 'droid squeaked. He pointed a trembling tentacle-all this yelling was hell on the delicate instruments on his inside-at a motley group of aliens approaching quickly. They all carried particularly dangerous looking blasters.
"Good, just what we need," Lando said irritably. He looked pointedly at Li-Sen. Sure, she was pissing him the Edge off, but he still cared. "You, Vuffi Raa and the cog inside," he told her. "If anything goes wrong, the 'droid can get you out of here." Li-Sen was indignant, but he didn't give her the chance to argue. "In," he insisted, giving her a pointed nudge in the right direction.
She scowled, but went, muttering unpleasant things all the way.
"That cocky idiot," Li-Sen whispered, mostly to herself. She was looking out the main view port in the cockpit, watching Lando try to negotiate with the weapon-wielding aliens. He didn't seem to be doing too well. Suddenly, she gasped, and began regretting insulting him.
Next to her, Vuffi Raa seemed likewise appalled at the sight of Lando being struck on the head with the end of one of the guns. He went down and one of the group, a large dog-faced character with sickening yellow fur, hoisted him onto one shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Three other aliens, one large and purple with three eyes and an equal number of arms, another humanoid, but with black spots on electric blue skin, and one who was small, but dangerous looking, with rows upon rows of sharp, shining white teeth, began to board the ship.
"Damn it!" Li-Sen began a frantic scramble to find some kind of weapon, but Lando had taken both of his small, five-shot stingbeams, and the large two-handed blaster he only carried under special circumstances. Li-Sen glanced out the window. Yes, there it was, lying in the sand, where Lando had dropped it. She looked at Vuffi Raa. "Take off!"
Vuffi Raa hesitated only a few seconds before beginning to take-off, but two things stopped him. The first being that a light flashed, telling him he could not take off with the boarding ramp down, and the second being that the three aliens burst through from the corridor at that exact moment.
Vuffi Raa was shot immediately; Li-Sen shrieked at the sound and sudden flash of light. He curled up, all five tentacles curled inward, creating a ball of sorts.
The humanoid and the three-legged creature grabbed Li-Sen, one on either side. She fought to be let go, but the fangy creature gave her the same treatment Lando had received.
Li-Sen's body went slack.
Doxerith whined as he climbed out from where he had been hiding under the control panel of the Falcon. Normally, nothing upset the cog enough to make his furry tail stop wagging, but right now it was dead still.
Li-Sen Kenobi was the only person Doxie cared about and staying with her was the one thing in the galaxy he wanted. And now, all that was dashed to pieces.
Doxie braced his small, furry body and leaped up to the chair where Vuffi Raa was, still curled up. Fixing the little 'droid was probably his only chance, but he knew it would be impossible to do in his current form; the lack of opposable thumbs was too much to overcome for such a delicate operation.
He jumped down off the chair and his form blurred. It turned a bluish color and grew upwards. Then, the image sharpened and there stood a humanoid where the cog had been.
Damien Kenobi picked up a wrench, twirled it, and went to work.
Li-Sen groaned. Her head hurt like someone had hit her with a sledgehammer. Well, a rifle butt wasn't too different from that, she realized as she began to remember what had happened. Her head was throbbing.
Where was she?
She groaned again as she rolled over. And promptly fell off some kind of platform. Well, that did away with the dream that she was in a nice, soft bed, at home in the estate.
"Ow…" She opened her eyes, but immediately closed them again when she realized how much it made her head hurt more. "Ow," she repeated, louder this time.
"Watch that fall," said a dry voice to her left.
"Lando." It was a statement, not a question. "Where are we?"
"Well, there's metal walls…bars…a distinct lack of windows…guards…" She could just see him, sitting on a platform across the way, cool as ever. "Looks like a dungeon to me."
Li-Sen sighed and tried to open her eyes again. Her head didn't hurt as much now. She sat up and looked around.
The room was dark; the only light came from outside, where there was a single uncovered bulb. The walls were dingy metal, with rust here and there, and there were two sheets jutting out, serving as beds-the platforms, one of which she'd fallen off of and was sitting next to, the other Lando was perched on, just as she'd imagined. There was a bruise on his head where they'd hit him, which had turned a rather nasty shade of purple. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. Odd…she hadn't been wearing short sleeves. She looked over at Lando.
"Quit staring at me," she said as she pulled herself to her feet.
"Try looking down, Li," he replied, turning to look out through the bars on one side.
Li-Sen glanced down. And shrieked.
Lando rolled his eyes. "Big deal. So we can see your curves."
Li-Sen scowled. "I've worn undergarments more substantial than this." She looked down again. She wasn't sure whether or not what she was wearing could be considered clothing. It was skimpy, to say the least, and she looked away quickly, before she got a headache trying to think of who would be sick enough to make her wear it.
"It looks nice on you, just the same," Lando offered, shrugging.
Li-Sen glared at him. "Thanks, Lando," she replied dryly.
"Quite welcome," he said, impudent as ever.
Li-Sen rolled her eyes and stared out through the bars, anywhere but at her "clothes", or Lando, the sick realization coming upon her that someone had to change her clothes in order to put her in this outfit.
"Did they get Doxie or Vuffi Raa?" Lando questioned finally.
"I don't think so," Li-Sen said quietly. "They-they shot
at Vuffi Raa, but I don't know where Doxie was."
"Then they're safe, at least."
She shrugged. "As far as we know. They could have gone back."
Both were silent for a while, hoping that their friends had not been captured and that they'd get out alive-and trying to think of how they would do so. Both of them snapped to attention, however, when there was the sound of low voices and boots-coming towards them.
"What's that?" Li-Sen whispered worriedly.
Lando put his finger to his lips to silence her as the voices and boots (apparently owned by three looming figures) stopped outside the cell. Because of the lighting-or lack thereof-neither could see the faces of the figures. Instead, they were shrouded in shadow, which added to Li-Sen's nervousness, and Lando's anticipation that they were looking at their deaths.
"You." A large hand pointed at-
"Me?" Li-Sen squeaked.
The frontal figure, the one who had spoken, snorted and spoke again. "No, the rancor in the next cell over. Of course you!" it snarled. "Come here!"
Li-Sen inched towards the front of the cell, but didn't go past where Lando was sitting. She hoped they couldn't make her go farther. She shot Lando a swift look, but he was occupied, looking up at the ceiling and muttering curses under his breath.
"Closer," the front figure commanded menacingly.
Li-Sen bit her lip, squeezed her eyes shut and let her feet do the rest. She would regret it.
A/n: For the record, a rancor is one of those big, ugly monsters poor Luke had to fight at Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi.