"Does everyone understand the plan?" Luke asked. When everyone nodded, excluding Artoo who beeped, Luke continued, "Alright. Threepio and Artoo, you're up." The droids agreed and left the Falcon, with Threepio blissfully unaware of the whole plan.
"Are you sure this will work?" Padme asked. Luke looked at his mother and smiled,
"If anybody knows how Jabba'll handle our plan it's me. We send the droids in first and he'll take them but keep Han. Then, we send in Leia and Chewie. If they fail, you and I will go in after an hour and Jabba'll never know what we have planned." Padme nodded. They were on Tatooine and finally putting their year thought out plan into action. While Luke wore his black Jedi apparel and Leia wore a bounty hunter disguise, Padme wore a dark blue dress and her simple brown cloak. Her hair was now wavy, having lost its curl only months ago. An hour passed and Leia and Chewie were sent off. Once they were gone, Padme stared at her son.
"Aren't you worried?" She asked. Luke chuckled and sat down, gesturing for her to follow.
"For myself? No. For what might happen to the rest of you? Yes." He answered honestly, "Leia, Han, Chewie and the droids are my best friends while you're my mother. If I lost any of you, I'd be devastated."
"You're more concerned about us than yourself?" Padme asked. Luke nodded and she chuckled, "That's something else you inherited from your father. He risked his life so we could get the parts we needed to get to Coruscant." Luke looked up at her. Ever since his encounter with Vader, his eyes never lite up like they used to when Obi-Wan spoke of Anakin. They were silent for a moment before Luke whispered,
"Was he…always evil Mother?" Padme put a hand on her son's shoulder. Ever since the incident in Cloud City, the two had grown closer and secretly Luke had begun calling Padme Mother as he had accepted the truth. However, both had made it their goal to avoid Vader at any cost. So far, it had worked.
"No Luke," The 19 year old queen said, "he wasn't always evil. For the short amount of time that I knew him, he was kind, generous and incredibly capable with machines. He built his own podracer." Luke looked up.
"He was the first human to win a podrace?" He asked. Padme smiled and nodded. "I wish he had remained on the Light Side." Padme sighed,
"Me too. But I don't even know how or even when he fell. That's the bad side of being transported through time at 14." Luke chuckled. Padme constantly joked or complained about her time travel at 14 and he found it lightened the mood several times. "Stop laughing." Padme said through the bond the two shared. Luke had helped her increase her Force ability, though she remained insensible. She could now speak through a bond with Luke and with Leia though the latter had yet to learn to answer. Just then, a timer went off.
"That's our cue." Luke said as he put his hood up and opened the launch pad. Padme swiftly followed.
As they neared Jabba's palace, Padme grabbed Luke's arm.
"Please be careful." She whispered. Fear for her son glowed in her eyes. Luke smiled and gave her a hug.
"I promised I'd always come back and I never break a promise." He swore. Padme smiled,
"You got that from both of us." Luke smiled as he stepped back and knocked on the palace door, both of their faces becoming blank. As a servant opened the door, Luke said,
"I must speak to Jabba." When the servant denied, Luke used a Jedi Mind Trick, saying, "You will take me to Jabba now." The weak minded servant repeated,
"I will take you to see Jabba now." The two followed the servant, Padme standing to the side and Luke in the center. Padme grimaced as she saw Leia in a slave girl's outfit and chained to Jabba. Hesitantly, she called,
"Leia? Are you alright?" Hearing her best friend's voice, Leia turned and nodded as the servant woke Jabba. Padme snapped back into the conversation as Luke proclaimed,
"You will bring Captain Solo and the Wookie to me." Jabba said something in Huttese to which Luke replied, "Nevertheless, I am leaving with both." Using the Force, Luke caught a blaster and tried to shoot Jabba. However, it missed and Jabba pushed a button which opened a trap door below Luke. Padme wanted to stay back but was pushed forward by Lando, acting as Jabba's guard. She met Leia's horrified eyes. Luke had not planned on falling to fight the rancor and had given Artoo his lightsaber. She held her breath the entire time, releasing it once the rancor was killed. As Luke was brought out, Han and Chewie were led in and a guard grabbed Padme, having realized she was with them the minute he didn't recognize her. "Han!" Luke cried.
"Luke!" Han cried, "The gang's back together huh? How're we doing?"
"Same as always." Luke answered.
"That bad huh?" Han asked, "Where's Leia?"
"I'm right here." Leia answered.
"And Padme?" Han asked.
"Next to you." The queen answered. She did not listen as Threepio translated their punishment, only chuckling at Han's quips. As they were led away, Luke called,
"That's the last mistake you'll ever make Jabba!"
Padme grunted as she was roughly thrown onto the transport, her hands bound.
"You okay?" Luke asked worriedly.
"Fine." She answered. At Luke's disbelieving look, she added, "I've been through worst. Trust me." Luke nodded as they began to fly off to their torment.
"Ya gotta plan?" Han asked.
"Trust me." Luke smiled, "You know this was my birth planet."
"It's gonna be your death planet too Kid." Han said. Padme looked over at Lando to see him smiling slightly.
"Despite being in carbonite for a year, you haven't changed at all." Padme remarked. She then smiled, "I'm glad." Han looked down at where he expected the girl to be but she lifted his chin, saying, "Right here." He blinked several times, trying to clear his vision. Finally, they stopped.
"The great Jabba the Hutt will now hear your pleas to be spared." Threepio announced. Han shouted,
"Threepio, you tell that slug that he'll get no such plea from us!" Chewie growled in agreement while Luke cried,
"Jabba, this is your last chance. Free us or die." The Hutt obviously didn't agree as Luke was pushed to the plank's edge. Padme looked up and sure enough there stood Artoo on the top of the ship, waiting for Luke's command. Luke nodded once and then turned to Lando and Padme who nodded together. Luke stepped off the plank, turned in midair, grabbed the plank and launched himself into the air, landing back on the transport. At the same instant, Artoo launched Luke's lightsaber, which he caught. Lando quickly undid the other prisoners' bounds, Padme's being first. She grabbed her blaster from her boot and began firing alongside Luke.
"Been awhile since we've done this!" She cried as she shot a guard over the edge.
"You mean you missed this?" Luke asked.
"No. I missed the rush of fighting alongside my family." And only Luke knew what her words meant. Yet he didn't even know the full extent of her words and she knew, soon he would.
I'm not dead! And more good news. Yesterday was the anniversary of the first story I ever posted on fanfiction! So to celebrate, I decided to give you guys, my most popular story readers, an update. I know it's been forever but I've been working on homework every night and I have marching band three, sometimes four, days a week. It isn't easy being an AP and accelerated student, I can tell you that. But on the bright side, I've gained over 2,000 readers! You guys are amazing! The stats are 77 reviews, 53 followers, 24 favorites and 7,447 readers! Thanks to QueenNaberrie, Elizabethlovestatu, tate4eva, A Revanchist, AmalaseHunter, al'verde, Cupcake Logic, jjlee3449, mchef90 and every reader for their AMAZING support. I know I made you wait forever so thank you for sticking around. And yes I gave Padme and Leia a bond as a symbol of them having a family like relationship now. And yes Luke calls Padme Mother when they're alone. To me, it means he accepts her as his best friend and his mother and it means the world to Padme. Also, these bonds will come in handy during this story's sequel. If anyone has a better title than The Hope's Chance please tell it to me! I am at a loss for it! Anyways, later!