- - - - - The Barge - - - - -
Tess cringed at the disgusting creature that took a beverage off her tray. With Boba Fett present at the execution, Jabba thought it best to keep the fifteen-year-old busy by having her serve drinks along with Artoo.
Tess tried her best to make her way over to Leia, who was watching the execution preparation through the window.
"Are you alright?" she whispered once she was close enough. She was careful not to look at the princess. Fortunately, the people around her seemed uninterested with what she was saying or unfamiliar with Basic.
"Yeah," came the reply. "We won't let the Empire get hold of you again. I promise."
Tess gave Leia a quick reassuring glance.
"I know."
Jabba must have seen them talking, because he immediately gave Leia's chain a pull. The princess held back, but Tess could tell it was extremely painful. She could see how the collar was digging into her skin, leaving red marks on her shoulders and neck.
"I think my eyes are getting better," Han mused. "Instead of a big dark blur, I see a big light blur." The blinding was starting to give him a headache, but that was the least of his complaints as they were lead off to their execution.
"There's nothing to see," Luke's voice assured him. "I used to live here, you know."
"You're going to die here, you know," Han pointed out. "Convenient."
"Just stick close to Chewie and Lando," Luke instructed. "I've taken care of everything out here, and Tess is handling the situation in the barge."
Han held himself back from laughing.
"Tess?!" he blurted. "We are talking about the same twelve-year-old, right?"
"She's fifteen," Luke corrected. "And in the year you've been incapacitated, she has become quite capable. Trust me. Tess and Leia can handle themselves."
Han let that sink in a moment. A year. Luke was a Jedi Knight, apparently—so Chewie had told him. Tess was suddenly just as capable as Leia, and Lando was part of the gang? Han once thought only his plans sounded that crazy and worked.
Interrupting a whispered conversation between Tess and Leia, the princess felt a sudden yank on her neck collar as she was dragged to Jabba the Hutt. His Twi'lek assistant Bib Fortuna placed a sturdy hand at her back to hold her in place.
As the Hutt said something in his language, Leia could smell his disgusting breath. It wreaked of decay as if the bugs he ate just sat inside him and died, drowning in the nauseating drinks he would gulp down all day.
Leia hated him.
She didn't just hate him as the no-good Hutt that he was, but for doing this to her. Leia knew she was considered attractive, but for the extent of her career thus far she had made it a priority to prove that she was more than a pretty face. She was a diplomat. A leader of the rebellion. But this Hutt had demoted her to this humiliatingly sexualized slave.
Hovering over the sands of Tatooine in one of Jabba's speeders, Luke looked down into the mouth of the Sarlaac. It was just a deep pit at first glace. Then, he saw the camouflaged spikes poking out around the perimeter. Long tentacles weaved their way out as if testing the light before the true beast emerged—a giant beak with a large tongue big enough to swallow five men whole.
Luke watched a plank extend from the speeder, then took a brave step forward. He brought his eyes up through the suns of Tatooine and aimed where he imagined Jabba the Hutt would be behind the barge windows.
He saw a glare bounce off something to the right of the barge. The voice clarified that it was Threepio translating for the Hutt.
"Victims of the almighty Sarlaac," Threepio began. "His Excellency 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!" Han spat. "You tell that slimy piece of worm-ridden filth he'll get no such pleasure from us!" The smuggler turned unsurely to his furry Wookie counterpart. "Right?"
Chewbacca growled what Luke assumed was a negative response. Before the Wookie could emit his pleas of mercy, which the guard would surely confuse as angry retaliation, Luke once again looked up to where he imagined Jabba would be.
"Jabba," the Jedi Knight said, using a bit of Force persuasion. "This is your last chance. Free us or die."
"Free us or die," Tess mouthed along with Luke. She couldn't help but grin—she was always the optimistic one with their schemes. It was a bit harder with the possibility of her being delivered to the Empire, but she still managed.
Tess watched Artoo roll into position, a tiny hatch at the top of his dome opening ever so slightly.
"Tess," Leia whispered from beside her. Tess looked over in acknowledgement, surprised at the princess' nervous expression. "You're my sister."
"Come again?" Tess responded. She couldn't have heard that right.
"You are Padme Naberrie's daughter," Leia explained quickly. "You're my sister."
Tess' eyes stared forward with disbelief.
"And you waited until you thought we were going to die to tell me?!"
Jabba the Hutt ordered the guards to move Luke into position. Luke responded to the nudge, stepping out onto the plank.
Slowly, the Jedi Knight nodded at Lando to his right. Lando nodded back.
Next his eyes found Artoo. The droid rolled back slightly, preparing himself.
Leia Organa bit her lip nervously, her eyes locked on Luke, trying to convince herself that he could handle this. They had handled worse, hadn't they? Or was it not worse—just different?
Then, Leia caught Luke wink at Tess. She saw the fifteen-year-old wink back, then turn to the princess.
"Ready, sister?"
It seemed like Han just blinked before the tables turned completely. Luke shot up from the plank—somehow wielding his lightsaber now?—and started fighting back against the guards.
Han exchanged glances with the Wookie, who joined him in backing into a corner to give Luke some room.
"Man, when you said Jedi Knight, you weren't kidding."
"Yes!" Tess exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down. Thanks to Artoo's stealthy delivery while they were serving drinks to the smelly masses, her lightsaber had been returned to her. She whipped the hidden weapon out of her boot. "Leia!"
Princess Reflexes immediately held out her hands so that Tess could cut through the wrist chains. Before she could continue to free Leia, though, a guard grabbed Tess from behind.
"The lights!" Tess muttered, struggling against the Gamorrean who had a hold of her. She nodded towards the electrical circuits beside Jabba. "Leia, get the lights!"
Leia immediately hammered the circuits until the room went black while Tess struggled to grab her lightsaber back from the Gamorrean. It took a moment, but she finally managed to knee him in the leg and retrieve her weapon.
Though Leia still did not know that Luke had been secretly training Tess, the fifteen-year-old decided against an unskilled façade. She adeptly guided the lightsaber through the arms and legs of the guards attacking her. Tess' adrenaline was sky-high with her first real taste of lightsaber combat.
"You okay?" Tess called out to Leia. It was hard to see with the lights out, but there were slatted beams of light coming from the makeshift windows of the barge.
"Fine," Leia grunted. Only then did Tess see what the princess has just done.
Leia had strangled Jabba the Hutt.
Tess just stood there, staring, having injured or scared away every guard in the room. Leia snapped her fingers in her sister's face.
"Jedi Master Naberrie," the princess teased hurriedly. "Can you use those miraculously-acquired lightsaber skills again and get rid of these chains?"
The ever-capable Luke seemed to get himself on top of the barge just as Leia and Tess climbed up from the lower level. Swamped with attackers, he was definitely relieved to see their best shot.
"Get the gun!" he ordered the princess. "Point it at the deck!"
Her golden bikini and thin red cloth attachment covering close to nothing, Leia still managed to handle the gun turret.
Tess whipped out her lightsaber and took Luke's blind side to help fight off the rest of the guards. She had not held her stance for a moment before two strong hands came out of nowhere, knocking her lightsaber away and pinning her against the gun turret with a thud. Tess found herself staring at the helmet of Boba Fett.
Tess rapidly glanced around for help. Unfortunately, the bounty hunter had her pinned behind the gun turret, which blocked Luke's view and was too close for Leia to see, much less shoot. They wouldn't see her unless they noticed she wasn't there, which was highly unlikely considering how many guards were attacking them.
"You seriously think I was going to let you get away with the bounty the Empire has on your head, kid?" he sneered. "Maybe you can see your friend the IT-O Interrogator again."
Tess struggled beneath his grasp.
"I heard all about you, Tess," Fett continued. "The creation. Some say the faulty chosen one. Trying to be a Rebel now."
"I am a part of the Rebellion!" Tess spat, still struggling uselessly. She did not let it show, but she was terrified.
"Oh, no, Tess," chuckled the bounty hunter. "Didn't they tell you? You were created by the Empire. For the Empire. You might as well drop off your little friends now, because you're just going to be the one killing them anyway."
In that moment, it was as if Tess left herself and the Force took over. She felt a charge of something—energy, adrenaline…something—completely fill her blood. Then the charge spiked, sending a jolt throughout her body, only to be released through her fingers in the form of blue lightening.
The unexpected attack sent Boba Fett over the lip of the barge, screaming as he fell into the Sarlaac pit.
Stunned, Tess stared down at her fingers.
She looked up and, having defeated the remaining guards, Luke and Leia were looking at her, just as bewildered.
They all snapped out of their stares when they heard Han calling out to them from the speeder nearby.
"Hey, let's get outta here!"
Luke, Leia, and Tess exchanged glances between each other before Luke hopped up on the gun turret and pulled a cable device out of his belt.
"Come on," he waved to Leia. She grabbed onto him and he grabbed onto the cable.
"You can get back for Tess, right?" Leia asked him. Tess and Luke exchanged a smirk.
"It's kind of hard to hide it now," Luke admitted. Tess let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Yeah, I'm Force-sensitive, Luke's training me as his Padawan, I'll fill you in on the rest later." At that, she Force-jumped from the barge to the speeder, leaving Leia wide-eyed and Luke holding back laughter.
"What?" Tess called back to the princess. "You think you're the only one who can make surprising revelations amidst the unraveling of our monthly escapades with life-or-death situations? Think again!"