A/N: More movie stuff - sorry! But there's a bit of a Leia-introspective bit at the end...and you know the drill - read, review, make me happy :)
Laura-chan: Thanks! Sorry about the wait, but it's necessary :)
Sam: Wow, thank you! Sorry about Lando, but I just felt that I couldn't write that much.Glad you like the story anyway.
Athalassia: Thank you for reviewing! Um...I think there's a little, at the end. Not much, sorry.
Hopeless4life: Thanks, I shall.
TriGemini: Yes, I agree, and that quote by Yoda is brilliant :) Thanks for reviewing!
lala: Yes,hooray! New chapter coming your way :)
pokey: Thanks, glad you liked it, and that's prettymuch what I was aiming for.
Stephanie C: Yes...thought I might change it like that. And yes...Obi-Wan's staying.
Port-of-Seas: Thank you for reviewing. I'm glad you still think this is good despite the OOC-ness.
Princess-Aiel: Thank you! Here you go!
Emerald Green Queen: Yeah - I must say I'm a sucker for good being the stronger power! Not too much action in this chapter, sorry, but in the next few there will be :)
Chapter Twelve
The windswept, sandy road to Jabba's palace was an odd place to find two droids. But there they were, making their way towards the massive, ominous structure.
Artoo-Detoo whistled timidly
"Don't be so sure," his golden counterpart, See-Threepio, replied. "If I told you half the things I've heard about this Jabba the Hutt, you'd probably short-circuit."
They fearfully approached the gate. Threepio looked up at it in apprehension.
"Artoo, are you sure this is the right place?" he asked. "I'd better knock, I suppose."
He timidly rapped on the metal door. Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Artoo and said, "There doesn't seem to be anyone there. Let's go back and tell Master Luke."
Suddenly, a mechanical arm with an electronic eye attached popped out of the door and inspected the droids.
"Tee chuta hhat yudd!" a strange voice came from the other side of the door.
"Goodness gracious me!" Threepio exclaimed. He pointed to Artoo and then at himself. "Artoo-Detoowha bo See-Threepiowha ey toota odd mischka Jabba du Hutt."
There was a strange laugh, and the eye was retracted back into the door.
Threepio stared. "I don't think they're going to let us in, Artoo," he said to the astromech droid. "We'd better go." He turned to leave as Artoo beeped at him.
Just then, the door began to rise with a loud metallic screech. The droids turned back, and faced the darkness inside.
Artoo moved forward into the black. Threepio hurried after him as the door closed noisily behind, calling, "Wait! Artoo, wait for me! I really don't think we should rush into this."
Two huge Gamorrean guards emerged and fell in behind the droids. Artoo beeped nervously.
"Just you deliver Master Luke's message and get us out of here," Threepio instructed him.
Before they could move on, an odious-looking Twi'lek approached. It was Bib Fortuna. "Die wanna wanga," he said.
"Die wanna wanaga," Threepio replied. "We bring a message to your master, Jabba the Hutt." Artoo beeped. "And a gift," Threepio translated. He paused and whispered, puzzled, to Artoo, "Gift, what gift?"
Bib shook his head. "Nee Jabba no badda. Me chaade su goodie." He held his hand out to Artoo, but the droid slid back a bit, protesting.
Threepio paraphrased Artoo's long stream of beeps and whistles. "He says that our instructions are to give it only to Jabba himself." As Bib paused, thinking, Threepio added, "I'm terribly sorry. I'm afraid he's ever so stubborn about these sort of things."
The Twi'lek motioned for the two droids to follow him. "Nudd chaa," he said, moving into the darkness.
The droids followed, somewhat nervously. As they walked on, followed by the two guards, Threepio muttered, "Artoo, I have a bad feeling about this."
"We're doomed," Threepio moaned as he took in the scene before him.
The room they had entered – the throne room – was filled with grotesque creatures of all species, drunk and raucous. The lewd crowd was revelling in the filth and mess of its own pleasure-seeking. It was a repulsive sight.
But by far the most repulsive of all of them was Jabba the Hutt. He was reclining on his throne at the front of the room, drool dripping thickly from his lipless mouth as he presided over the room.
Bib Fortuna moved to the throne and delicately leaned forward to whisper something to Jabba. The Hutt slitted his eyes slightly, then burst out in terrifying laughter. He motioned for the droids to come forward.
Threepio nudged Artoo. "The message, Artoo, the message," he prompted nervously.
Artoo whistled and projected a hologram of Luke onto the floor.
"Greetings, Exalted One," the image of Luke said. "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." Here the creatures in the room laughed loudly. "With your wisdom, I'm sure that we can work out an arrangement which will be mutually beneficial and enables us to avoid any unpleasant confrontation. As a token of goodwill, I present to you a gift: these two droids."
"What did he say?" a startled Threepio exclaimed.
"Both a hardworking and will serve you well," Luke's hologram finished.
"This can't be!" Threepio cried. "Artoo, you're playing the wrong message."
Jabba laughed a Fortuna spoke to him in Huttese.
"There will be no bargain," Jabba announced in Huttese. He began to laugh again, a horrible sound that would have curdled Threepio's blood if he had had any.
"We're doomed," the droid moaned as one of the Gamorrean guards marched him and Artoo away.
As Leia pulled her gloves on, she asked herself for the fiftieth time why she was doing this.
Why are you doing this, Leia? Why did you come out all this way when the Rebels are searching for a new planet to set up base? Why did you come out halfway across the galaxy to help a man who you've only known for a few months? Why did you come to rescue him when he's made it clear a dozen times before that he's independent and doesn't need rescuing? Why are you doing this?
And, once again, the answer came quickly and clearly. She had done all this – she was going to do all this – because she loved him.
Love. Such a deceptively simple word. Four letters that were so easy to think, one would suppose they were easy to say. But Leia couldn't seem to speak the phrase aloud. It had taken all her courage to finally admit it to herself, let alone say it.
Yes, she loved him. But to actually give voice to the idea of it would make it completely real. And she couldn't make it real yet, not when she had no idea of the way he felt. Was he even interested? Certainly, they bickered and argued, and sometimes found each other to be impossible, but Leia thought she detected something more in Han just before he left. His words had stung her, more than their usual disagreements.
"…maybe by then you'll have warmed up a little."
True, she had often been cold to him. But Leia now knew that she had unknowingly kept a cool and aloof façade to keep herself from delving deeper into her true feelings. Since he had left, however, she had missed him terribly and allowed herself to explore the way she felt about him.
His absence and her travelling had also given her space to think. She thought often of Alderaan, remembering the way it had been before the Empire had crushed it. She remembered her family. Though she now realised that they were not related to her by blood, she still thought of her Uncle Bail and his family as her own. It hurt her sorely to know that they were all gone.
She had pushed on and been strong for the Rebellion, but travelling through space had allowed her to grieve. Grieve for the planet she once called her home. Grieve for the people who were once hers. Grieve for the family she once called her own.
She had felt vaguely angry with her mother for lying to her all those years, but she had now come to the understanding that she had done it to protect them. And considering her mother's past, it was probably best that she had not known about it.
Her poor mother…to think your husband was dead only to find that he was alive and evil must be a terrible experience. No wonder she had almost fallen apart in the cell. She herself still could not bear to think of Vader as her father, not when he had tortured and hurt her so terribly. It would take time to accept it, time that maybe she did not have.
As she picked up her helmet, her thoughts returned to Han. Thinking back now, she believed that she had loved Han since he had helped rescue her and her mother from the Death Star, but had not given it any thought until that medal ceremony. And now, after those times that he had saved her, she was finally able to repay him.
She walked over to Chewbacca and Luke – her twin. It still took some getting used to, but she found the idea of Luke being her brother oddly comforting.
"Are you sure this will work?" she asked him a little uncertainly. After all, they had only come up with this scheme the previous day.
"Yes," Luke replied positively. "I'm sure. Trust me." He squeezed her shoulder. "You'll be fine, and we'll have Han back in no time."
She smiled and nodded, and then she turned to Chewbacca. "Are you ready?" she asked the Wookiee.
Chewbacca gave a low growl, which Leia took to be an affirmative response.
"Okay," she muttered, taking a deep breath and slipping her helmet on. "I'm ready."