Chapter 17: Disguises

Mara quickly marched away from the dance floor and back to her quarters in the dancer's pit as the band ended the final song of their act. It took all her willpower not to lunge at the red-eyed Twi'lek that openly leered at her as she made her way out of the main chamber. Mara wished with all her might that Luke would hurry up and put the plan in motion. She was quickly growing tired of wearing her skimpy dancer's outfit. The dark green skirt slit all the way up her thigh on both sides and nearly see through mesh top patterned at the chest revealed far too much. 'If I see that slug's tongue one more time while I'm dancing, I'm going to cut it off with my lightsaber.'

Mara took a deep breath, expelling the anger that threatened to rise and made her way down the corridor. She quickly turned her thoughts in a more positive direction: her little boy. Mara worried about how well he was doing without either his parents or teacher with him. Luke had promised that he still had old family friends on Tatooine that could look after him while they mounted a rescue mission. However, that didn't make it any easier for Mara to leave Ben and go undercover in Jabba's palace as 'Arica: down on her luck dancer desperate for work.' This was only the second time that she had been away from her son for an extended period of time. And unlike the last time, she had plenty of time when she wasn't dancing or performing reconnaissance to let her mind drift.

Mara was drawn out of her thoughts of Ben by a tap on her shoulder. She spun around and balled her hand into a fist, ready to unleash a sharp tirade and possibly a right hook on the drunken fool who disturbed her only to find Lando in his skiff guard disguise. Mara considered letting the man have it anyway, but held her tongue as Lando spoke, flashing her a wide smile under his guard's mask. "Have you heard anything from the others yet, beautiful?"

Mara glared at the Lando for once again pulling his suave routine with her. "No…and if you keep referring to me as 'beautiful,' 'gorgeous' or anything other than my name, I'm going to have to forget I'm a Jedi." Mara smirked as the smile quickly faded from the gambler's face. "And don't forget. My boyfriend's a rather powerful Jedi himself and I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate you hitting on his girl." Lando gulped, envisioning two angry Jedi coming at him with lightsabers.

Lando turned and made his way back to the main chamber and Mara was about to return to the dancer's pit when she noticed a flash of gold from the main hallway. She turned to see R2-D2 and C-3PO being escorted into the main chamber by Jabba's majordomo. "Finally we're getting somewhere."

Mara was able to reach the main chamber as R2 began playing a holographic message from Luke. He wore plain black clothing that was turning into a uniform for him in spite of Mara's complaints. His image stood tall and he spoke with an aura of authority that only a Jedi or natural born leader could pull off properly. "Greetings, exalted one. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and friend to Captain Solo. I know that you are powerful, mighty Jabba, and that your anger with Solo must be equally powerful. I seek an audience with Your Greatness to bargain for Solo's life."

The crowd gathered in Jabba's palace openly laughed at Luke's statement as Mara shook her head at Luke's naïveté. You don't bargain with a Hutt…at least not in the conventional sense. And you don't tell him you're coming if you're going to try anyway. "With your wisdom, I'm sure that we can work out an arrangement which will be mutually beneficial and enable us to avoid any unpleasant confrontation. As a token of my goodwill, I present to you a gift: these two droids. Both are hardworking and will serve you will."

Mara could hear C-3PO's protests as the hologram of Luke shut off. She chose to tune him out, wondering what Luke could possibly be planning that he wanted the droids placed in the palace as well. They already had two advance scouts and she had managed to get short bursts of information to him in the Force. Mara broke from her thoughts to overhear Jabba say in Huttese "I will not give up my favorite decoration. I like Captain Solo where he is."

Mara looked over to where Han was hanging on the wall still frozen in carbonite. The disgusting slug had crossed the line when he had kept Han frozen after he was brought in for the bounty. She had learned a little about carbon freezing during her previous training. It was supposed to be a living hell. The few who had been thawed and lived had said death would have been welcome while they were encased in the carbonite.

Mara gave Jabba an unseen glare from the corner of the chamber and whispered to herself "Not for long." Unable to deal with Jabba or his lackeys any longer, Mara left the chamber and stalked back to the dancer's pit. She walked through the door only to collide with one of the other dancers making her way to the chamber for her set. As the two touched, Mara got a tingle through the Force. She turned to see the other dancer retreating, obviously shaken. The only distinguishing feature Mara could make out from where she stood was the dancer's long auburn hair. Mara made a mental note to check into the dancer when the opportunity presented itself. There was more to her than met the eye.

That night, Mara quietly made her way out of the dancer's pit and through the corridors of Jabba's palace, happy to finally be out of her dancer's costumes and into one of the leather catsuits she preferred. Mara slipped past the drowsy guards without trouble and finally made it down to the equipment room. She pulled the key she 'borrowed' from a sleeping guard from her pocket and swiped it through the reader by the door. The door opened and Mara quickly slipped in and shut it behind her. She flipped the switch for the room's glowpanel and scanned the room. Mara found what she was looking for sitting in the corner.

R2 beeped excitedly when he saw Mara. She hissed at the overly excited droid "Shh! Keep it down!" The little droid muted his beeping immediately, realizing the danger that was still present. Mara made her way over to R2 and whispered to the astromech to avoid drawing unwanted attention from any late night passersby. "R2, did Luke give you any information for me?" R2 beeped a quiet affirmative and Mara nodded, pulling a datapad from the pocket of her jumpsuit which she plugged into R2. "Good. Load it onto this." With a short whistle, R2 quickly set to work. When the upload was completed, Mara disconnected the datapad and put it back in her pocket. Before she turned to leave, she patted the droid on his dome and whispered "Thanks." R2 whistled an astonished acknowledgement. Mara shook her head, realizing what she had done. "Farmboy's rubbing off on me. Now I'm acting like the droid's a sentient."

Mara slipped back to her quarter's in the dancer's pit as quietly as she had made her way out. She pulled the datacard out of her pocket and retrieved a reader from her bag. She placed the card in the reader and brought up the message Luke recorded for her.

"Mara, I hope this message gets to you safely, although I'm sure you had no trouble getting to R2. I know you're worried about Ben so I wanted to let you know he's fine. I left him with some old family friends, the Darklighters, for a few days. He wanted me to let you know that he misses you very much. I do too. Tomorrow we'll begin the next phase of our plan. I encrypted what you need to know on a file in this datapad. You'll know how to get to it. Also, I want you to be careful. During my meditation, I picked up a strong Force presence in Jabba's place. It was neither dark nor light, but I sensed its intentions were definitely of the dark side. Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. I will see you soon my love."

There was an audible click as the recording ended. Mara scrolled through the datapad and opened up the file Luke had included detailing his plan. She was forced to roll her eyes at his password prompt muttering under her breath "Corny, sentimental Farmboy." However, Mara was surprised at how thought out Luke's plan was. "He even included a backup plan. He's finally learning."

Mara finally laid down on her bed, intent on getting some rest before the next phase of the plan began the next day. As she drifted to sleep, Mara's thoughts drifted to the two men in her life: Luke and Ben. 'When this is through, it's time to do something about those sidetracked plans.'

Mara looked on as Chewbacca was led out of the main chamber by the Gamorrean guards, his howls of protests echoing through the halls. Now, everyone was in place to go through with Plan A tonight. Hopefully, this would be Mara's last day dancing for the disgusting Hutt. Mara turned her attention back to the main chamber when Chewie left her sight. She watched Leia in her bounty hunter's disguise from her place in the corner. Mara was highly impressed with Leia's ability to keep her cover so well when Leia nodded in the direction of Boba Fett. Leia was still bitter towards the bounty hunter for taking Han at Bespin and just seeing him again must have stirred up a whirlwind of emotions in the princess. It would have taken incredible self-control to not go after Fett then and there.

Mara sent a tendril of the Force in Leia's direction in order to open up communication, "Plan A still on for tonight?" Leia responded with the mental equivalent of a nod and broke off the communication in order concentrate on familiarizing herself with her surroundings. Mara decided to use the brief break she had before she was to dance again to scan for Force strong presence Luke warned her about. The strange feeling she got when she collided with that dancer the day before led Mara to believe the auburn haired woman could likely be the one she was looking for. Mara stretched out her senses searching for a strong presence in the Force, but was unable to pin down anyone other than Leia. However, Mara did feel something vague and…familiar in the Force. She was unable to focus on this thought any further when the band began to play once more. Arica was on.

In the late night hours, Leia softly crept down the corridors of Jabba's palace, still disguised as the bounty hunter, Boushh. When she finally reached the main chamber her eyes immediately locked on Han's frozen form. 'I'll have you out soon.' After a brief glance down the corridor to check that she wasn't followed, Leia quickly made her way over to the control panel for the repulsors that held Han suspended. She spared a quick glance over her shoulder and hit the control to disable the lifts. Han's frozen form came to the floor with a loud thump. Ignoring the sound, Leia made her way over to the controls and monitors for the hibernation equipment and entered the sequence Lando had given her to properly thaw out Han.

Leia stepped back and positioned herself in front of the slab when the display began to blink. Now she could only pray that he hadn't been frozen for too long. The carbonite encasing Han's form began to glow and the slab's equipment began to give off a low whistle as the thawing began. Soon, Han's form could be seen once more as the shell that had hidden him evaporated. He fell forward once the shell had vanished completely and Leia hurried forward to catch him before he fell to the ground.

Leia feared the worst as Han was completely unresponsive for what seemed to be an eternity, but was really only a few seconds. Then, he began to tremble in her arms. Her voice came through the voice modulator of her suit as she tried to calm him. "Just relax for a moment. You are free of the carbonite. You have hibernation sickness."

Han continued to tremble and brought his hand up in front of his eyes. Something was wrong with his eyesight. His voice was slightly worried as he spoke, still trembling from the cold of his hibernation. "I can't see."

Leia rubbed her gloved hand on Han's back, hoping to relax her disoriented lover. The experience had to be disconcerting enough without adding blindness on top of being frozen for close to a year, "Your eyesight will return in time."

Han continued to tremble and turned his head to look around out of reflex. He could be anywhere and had no idea just how long he had been out of it. "Where am I?"

Leia was beginning to tire of disguising herself. He would be much easier to deal with if he knew who had come for him. For now, however, Leia still needed to maintain her cover. She was worth too much to the Empire to reveal her identity to a group of gangsters and bounty hunters. Leia once again answered in her modulated voice. "Jabba's palace."

Han brought his hand up to where he suspected was the face of his rescuer. All he felt was a cold metal breathing mask. "Who are you?"

Leia was unable to keep herself hidden any longer. She had to let Han know it was her that had come for him. And they didn't have time for more questions. The pair had to get out of the chamber and meet the others. Leia removed the mask before leaning in to Han responding in a soft voice "Someone who loves you."

"Leia!" Han was thrilled when he heard her voice. It was the first truly good news he had received since he had been thawed.

Leia gave him a soft kiss before turning toward the exit of the chamber. "I've got to get you out of here." The princess brought Han to his feet, but stopped short when she took her first step to exit the chamber. Leia cursed her single-mindedness when she heard Jabba's laughing from behind a curtain in the chamber. 'I didn't even think to check for anyone with the Force. I should have known this was going too easily.'

Han knew they were in trouble when the familiar rumbling laugh began to echo through the chamber. "I know that laugh." Han and Leia both turned to face the Hutt when they heard the curtain being drawn back. Jabba was sitting on his dais with a satisfied look on his slimy face, surrounded by his usual entourage.

When she saw an auburn haired woman in a dark purple dancer's costume glaring at her from Jabba's side, Leia couldn't help but feel a cold wave through the Force. Luke had definitely been right about the Force strong presence. Leia steeled herself for a confrontation with the Hutt as a pair of guards pulled her towards the slug. Jabba had no idea what he was getting himself into, but he would learn in the morning just how powerful her and her family could be.

Mara could feel something amiss as she quietly made her way down the corridors to free Chewie from his cell. 'This is too easy. There should be more guards this close to the prison area.' The plan was simple enough. Leia releases Han from the carbonite, Mara frees Chewie from his cell and they both meet Lando in the hangar where he was waiting to procure a skiff. If one of them was caught, they warn the other and get back to their quarters and wait for Luke to arrive in the morning. This way, Luke would be insured backup is they had to go with Plan B.

Mara was about to make her way around the final bend before entering the detention corridor when she received a strong warning in the Force and stopped in her tracks. She reached out to probe the area and found that the guards usually stationed in the corridors had already been alerted and were waiting to trap whoever came for the Wookiee.

Mara turned to head back to her quarters and linked up with Leia, hoping to warn her that Jabba was onto them before she walked into a trap. When she finally got through to Leia, it was too late. Jabba had already discovered them. Leia sent Mara a warning to call off their plans as well as a mental image of the auburn haired dancer that had tipped Jabba off. A slight tingling went up Mara's spine as the image registered, in spite of the fact it wasn't much of a surprise. Seeing the woman's face, there was something familiar about the dancer, but Mara couldn't put her finger on it. She filed that thought away for the morning and made her way back to her room thinking 'Good thing Farmboy decided to make a Plan B.'