Chapter 4
DISCLAIMER: I shall not take part in this.
Jabba the Hutt's sail barge glided through the Dune Sea of Tatooine. Alongside to its left were two skiffs, one containing the prisoners Han, Chewbacca and Luke. Also amongst them was the cleverly disguised Lando Calrissian.
"I think my eyes are getting better." Han said to Luke as he squinted at the horizon. "Instead of a big dark blur, I see a big light blur."
"There's nothing to see," Luke leaned towards his friend. "I used to live here, you know."
"You're gonna die here, you know." Han raised his eyebrows at Luke. "Convenient."
Luke rolled his eyes. Two times by two different people…
"Just stick close to Chewie and Lando. I've taken care of everything." He instructed.
"Oh... great…" Han sounded sceptical about the whole thing.
Kat watched out the window of the sail barge to the large desert. She was making sure to stay away from most of the men and remain out of sight…
Signalling Leia over, she pointed outside.
"Look, Leia," Kat smiled like a little girl. "Banthas! So many banthas!"
Leia rolled her eyes.
"I do love a good bantha…"
Leia was pulled by her chain leash towards Jabba, and Kat winced. She saw Bib Fortuna hold her back so she couldn't lean away.
"Soon you will learn to appreciate me." Jabba raised his glass to the former Princess of Alderaan. Kat had to turn her head to keep herself from gagging.
Threepio wandered among the sail barge aliens, accidently bumping into a smaller droid serving drinks, spilling them all over the place, causing a second to topple over and spill his. The stubby droids let out angry beeps and whistles.
"Oh, I'm terribly sor-" Threepio started apologising before he actually glanced down at the two droids. "Artoo? Seefor? What are you two doing here?"
Artoo beeped a quick reply as Seefor was helped back upright by a passing alien.
"Well, I can see you two are serving drinks, but this place is dangerous." Threepio glanced around. "They're going to execute Master Luke and, if we're not careful, us too!" he said overdramatically.
Artoo whistled a singsong response and Seefor wheeled himself around in circles as he usually did.
"Hm. I wish I had your confidence."
The convoy moved up over a huge sand pit. The sail barge stopped to one side of the pit, and so did the escort skiff. But the prisoner's skiff moved out directly over the centre and hovered over the top. At the bottom of the deep sand pit was a repulsive, mucous-lined hole, surrounded by thousands of needle-sharp teeth. Kat had to gag again as she saw the Sarlacc for the first time.
A plank was extended from the edge of the prisoner's skiff. Guards released Luke's bonds and shoved him out onto the plank above the Sarlacc's mouth.
Kat decided to remain near Jabba and Leia, in case any funnies happened and Leia couldn't get herself out of the situation.
Threepio's voice rang out of the loudspeakers. "Victims of the almighty Sarlacc: His Excellency hopes that you will die honourably. But should any of you wish to beg for mercy, the great Jabba the Hutt will now listen to your pleas."
Naturally it was Han who stepped forward arrogantly and began his inspirational and improvised speech.
"Threepio," he yelled across to the sail barge. "you tell that slimy piece of... worm-ridden filth that he'll get no such pleasure from us!" he boldly spoke out, before turning to Chewie for encouragement. "Right?"
Chewie growled in agreement. "Right!"
"Go Han!" a female voice came from the sail barge. Kat was zapped shortly after.
Han shot a thumbs up at the window where he thought he saw Kat's hair, and buried his face in his hand in slight embarrassment.
"Jabba!" Luke let go of the situation lightly. "This is your last chance; free us, or die."
Lando moved unobtrusively along the skiff as Luke shot him a quick look of conspiracy.
All the monsters and aliens on the sail barge laughed hideously. Artoo zipped off up a ramp and onto the top deck, followed by Seefor who remained near the door to the top deck.
"Move him into position."
Jabba made a thumbs-down gesture, Leia kept her worried glance at Luke, and Kat was waiting in anticipation.
Artoo appeared next to the railing of the top deck, and Seefor waited patiently next to a small hatch. Below, in the skiff, Luke was prodded by a guard to the edge of the plank over the gaping Sarlacc. Luke looked up at Artoo, then at Kat, giving a jaunty salute: the signal the two had been waiting for. Kat braced herself for her next move.
"Put him in." Jabba commanded.
Luke jumped off, only to turn around and grasp onto the edge of the plank and summersault his way back onto the skiff. Artoo sent Luke's new green lightsaber into the air, and Luke caught it using the Force and ignited it, immediately knocking a skiff guard off the edge.
Kat closed her eyes and felt the movements around her: Jabba's rage and Leia's sudden thoughts. There was a man behind her, and several aliens that would be in her way as she'd try to get to her exit. Re-opening her now golden eyes, she turned around with unnatural speed, lifting her right foot and kicking a rodian right in the jaw, sending him to the ground.
Stepping over the body, she caught a man charging at her with the Force, and flung him out the window into the desert with the flick of her arm and no second glance. Next, she managed to punch upwards at another beings jaw, elbow one in the groin and kick the back of another's knees sending them to the ground, relying heavily on the Force to give her strength.
"You know what to do!" she yelled at Leia as she continued on focusing on clearing the people that stood in her way.
Meanwhile outside, a bewildered guard landed in the soft, sandy slope of the pit, and began sliding. He clawed desperately at the edges, but a Sarlacc tentacle grabbed him and it was too late.
Luke knocked another guard off the skiff and into the waiting mouth of the Sarlacc. He started to untie Chewie's bonds.
"Easy, Chewie." He said as the Wookiee couldn't wait to get free.
At that moment, the deck gunmen on the barge unleash a series of blasts from a big cannon on the upper deck. Lando was tossed from the deck of the rocking skiff. He managed to grab a rope, and dangled dangerously above the Sarlacc pit.
"Whoa! Whoa! Help!" he cried.
But to make things more complicated, Boba Fett ignited his rocket pack, flying into the air towards the prisoner's skiff.
Boba landed on the skiff and aimed his blaster gun at Luke, who had finally managed to free Han and Chewie from their bonds. But before the infamous bounty hunter could fire, Luke was on him and swung his lightsaber, and hacking Boba Fett's blaster in half.
Immediately, the skiff took another direct hit from the barge's deck gun. The force of the blast sent Han and Chewie to the rails.
"Chewie, you okay? Where is he?"
The Wookiee howled his reply in pain.
"I'm okay, pal."
For a moment, Luke became distracted, and in that moment, Boba fired a cable out of his armoured sleeve. Instantly, Luke was wrapped in a strong cable, his arms pinned against his side, his sword arm free only from the wrist down. Luke bent his wrist so the lightsaber pointed straight up to reach the wire lasso and cut through. Luke shrugged away the cable and stood free.
Another blast from the barge's deck gun hit near Boba and then became knocked unconscious to the deck, next to where Lando was hanging.
"Han! Chewie?" Lando called out.
"Lando!" Han immediately went to his friend's aid.
Luke was a little shaken from the blast but remained standing. The second skiff, loaded with guards firing their weapons, moved in on Luke fast. Luke leaped toward the incoming second skiff, jumping into the air and landing on its edge.
Chewie, tried to lift himself as he barked directions to Han, guiding him toward a spear which had been dropped by one of the guards.
Boba Fett, badly wounded, rose from the deck. He looked over at the other skiff, where Luke just happened to be absolutely whipping the other guards. Boba raised his arm, and aimed his lethal weapon in his direction.
Chewie barked desperately at Han.
"Boba Fett?!" Han panicked. "Boba Fett?! Where?!"
Han turned around blindly, and the long spear in his hand stabbed squarely in the middle of Boba's rocket pack.
The impact of the swing caused the rocket pack to ignite, and Boba Fett blasted off, flying past the second skiff like a missile, smashing against the side of the huge sail barge and slid away into the pit. He screamed as his armoured body made its last flight past Lando and directly into the mucous mouth of the Sarlacc.
The Sarlacc burped in satisfaction and Chewie growled a congratulations to Han.
Back in the sail barge, Leia turned from the spectacle outside, taking a glance at Kat as she fought her way through Jabba's men and guards. She could help but notice the unnatural speed and acrobats she performed to take down each individual one by one, without her lightsabers.
For instance, Leia noticed that Kat managed to summersault her way over the head of a rather bulky man, throw a punch into his guts and kick him in the groin…
… all in a blur.
Turning to her new sworn enemy, Leia leapt onto Jabba's throne, and threw the chain that enslaved her over his head around his bulbous neck. Then she dove off the other side of the throne, pulling the chain violently in her grasp. Jabba's flaccid neck contracted beneath the tightening chain. His huge eyes bulged from their sockets and his scum-coated tongue flops out. The Exalted Hutt's huge tail spasmed through its death throes and then slamed down into final stillness. Leia sighed her relief and then struggled to free herself of her bondage.
Outside, Luke continued to destroy the aliens on the guards' skiff, as Han extended his spear downward to Lando, who was still dangling precariously from a rope on the prisoner's skiff.
"Lando, grab it!" Han yelled to him.
"Lower it!" Lando instructed.
"I'm trying!"
Another major hit from the barge deck gun knocked the skiff onto its side. Han and almost everything else on board nearly slid overboard. The rope broke, and Lando fell to the side of the Sarlacc pit. Luckily, Han's foot caught onto the skiff railing and he dangled above Lando and the pit. The Wookiee held onto the skiff for dear life as another hit from the deck gun rocked the skiff violently.
"Whoa! Whoa! Grab me, Chewie! I'm slipping!" Han panicked again.
Chewie grabbed hold of Han's feet, holding him upside down, as Han extended the spear toward Lando, who was clutching for dear life to the side of the pit.
"Grab it! L-Lando. Grab!"
Luke finished off the last guard on the second skiff, and saw the deck gun blasting away at his helpless companions. Luke leaped from the skiff, across a chasm of air, to the sheer metallic side of the sail barge. Barely able to get a finger hold, he began the difficult climb up the hull, when suddenly an axe smashed through a window an inch from his head. With his Jedi agility, Luke grasped the wrist holding the axe and yanks the helpless guard through the broken window and into the deadly pit.
The injured Chewie was reaching over the rail for the dangling Han, who was in turn blindly reaching down toward the desperate Lando. The Baron had stopped his slippage down the sandy slope of the Sarlacc pit by lying very still. Every time he tried to reach for Han, the loose sand moved him closer to his final fate.
"Grab it!" Han instructed again. "Almost... you almost got it!"
Another blast hit the front of the tilted skiff, causing Lando to let go of the spear.
"Hold it! Whoa!"
Han extended the spear towards Lando again.
"Gently now. All... all right. Now easy, easy. Hold me, Chewie."
Lando screamed as one of the Sarlacc's tentacles has wrapped tightly around his ankle, dragging him down the side of the pit.
"Chewie! Chewie, give me the gun. Don't move, Lando."
"No, wait! I thought you were blind!" Lando panicked even more;
"It's all right: I can see a lot better now, don't move!"
"All right! A little higher! Just a little higher!"
Han adjusted his aim as Lando lowered his head, and the still fuzzy-eyed pirate fired at the tentacle, miraculously a direct hit. The tentacle released Lando, and Chewie starts to pull them on board the skiff.
"Chewie, Pull us up! Come on! Okay... up, Chewie, up!"
Back on the top deck of the sail barge, Luke immediately ridded of the gunners before they could make any more attempts on his friends.
He quickly looked around as guards kept coming at him. There are too many for me…
"Where's Kat?" he looked at Seefor who was still waiting in his spot, signalling that Kat hadn't come up yet.
Frowning, Luke demolished more guards as he made his way to the little orange droid. Taking him by surprise, an air-ventilation hatch blew open and the white-haired woman leapt out. Seefor opened his little hatch and out popped two lightsabers. Kat caught them mid-air, and ignited the yellow and red blades, landing on bent knees and in a spinning action, managed to slice a few guards in half in her landing.
Luke sighed as he watched her landing. "She always loved a grand entrance…"
Down below, Leia struggled against her chains in desperation as Artoo approached through the tumult of confused monsters to her rescue; the stubby little droid extended a small laser gun and blasted the chain apart.
"Come on. We gotta get out of here quick." She patted the little dome.
Artoo and Leia raced for the exit, passing Threepio, who was kicking and screaming as Salacious Crumb picked out one of the golden droid's eyes.
"Not my eyes! Artoo, help! Quickly, Artoo. Oh! Ohhh! You beast!"
Artoo zipped over and zaed Salacious, sending him skyward with a scream, crashing into the rafters as Artoo, Leia, and Threepio hurried off.
Kat came up behind Luke as she continued demolishing the guards with quick agility and aggression. Eventually the two stood back-to-back, defending laser bolts with their swords.
"So you finally decided to join me up here?"
"Well, good day to you too, sweets!" Kat said as she swung her sabers around. "Sorry I'm a bit late, got caught up by a real hunky-dunk man who thought a woman couldn't fight."
"And?"
"He's dead."
"I see you've had your fun for the day."
"Yes, it was very satisfying. He was one of your big, cocky brutes, you know?"
"Don't get too cocky there."
"Rude."
The two kept warding off laser blasts with their lightsabers. Leia emerged onto the deck and Luke fired out instructions to her.
"Get the gun! Point it at the deck!" he yelled as Kat moved from his side and to the gun's to defend Leia.
Leia turned toward the barge cannon, climbed on the platform, and swivelled the gun around.
"Point it at the deck!" Luke yelled out again, not paying attention to what was happening behind him.
"Son of Skywalker, watch your back! Look out!" Luke turned to make sure it wasn't Kat who panicked into his ear. When he raised his lightsaber, a blaster bolt hit his mechanical hand and he bent over in pain. He looked at the wounded hand, which revealed the mechanisms and wires. He flexed the hand; still works like a charm.
Near the rail of the upper deck, Artoo, Threepio and Seefor steadied themselves. Threepio had no idea what was going on and the two astromech laughed in their binary language.
"Seefor, Artoo, where are we going? I couldn't possibly jump…"
Artoo butted the golden droid over the edge and Threepio screamed. The blue droid then stepped over himself, along with the orange one.
Luke ran along the empty deck towards Leia, Kat and the barge gun, which Leia had brought around to point down at the deck.
"Come on!"Luke held onto one of the rigging ropes from the mast. "You know we haven't had a proper 'hello' yet." He said to Kat as she stepped beside him.
"No, we haven't." she smirked devilishly at the blonde Jedi. "Hello sweetie." She said as she grabbed his collar and brought his face down to the right height, smashing her lips on his.
Pleasantly bewildered, Luke gladly replied to the kiss, placing his hands on her hips and letting Kat get lost.
Leia rolled her eyes at the couple and grabbed the rope from Luke. "Only away for one day and you can't keep your hands to yourselves." She grumbled as she swung across to the skiff by herself, landing beside her own love.
Kat and Luke parted their kiss, with Luke having to keep a firm grip on his girlfriend from falling.
"Kriff, usually it's you." Kat came back to reality.
Luke simply smiled and took a glance at the bare skin of her chest thumping wildly in heartbeat, and caught the rope that was sent back to them. "Just hold on to me." He said.
"I don't mind that."
"You're terrible at flirting."
"You never seem to appreciate the puns I put in there sometimes as well." She frowned. As Kat clung to Luke as the swung through the air and placed her head on his chest, she could feel that his heart was still beating heavily and a million times a minute from their kiss. She couldn't help but laugh a bit.
Luke and Kat landed on the skiff with grace.
"Let's go! And don't forget the droids." Luke said as Kat still clung to him like a little child.
"We're on our way." said Lando.
Once picking up the droids from the sand with the magnets of the skiff, the gang flew away from the sail barge as it exploded into flames in the middle of the desert.
Okey dokey, 4th chapter written in 24 hours. You can tell I'm bored... but hey, 4 weeks worth of writing in one day? Another 10 points to yoda-is-cool!
If I'm lucky, I may even finish this before the end of July. One or two months before my deadline? I'll give myself 20 points.
FUN FACT TIME!
Because Kat's mind and skills were altered by Palpatine, she basically has already mastered all the types of Jedi combat. But, because she is Kat, she is absolute boss at Ataru (Form IV) and Juyo (Form VII) (I guess she gets a bit aggressive when she fights) (It's like how Luke is bamf at Form V, I think) but is still very good at Soresu (Form III)
And now, since I am high on caffeine, I will go write the next chapter rather than do a biology project. Can't wait to write it, because in the wise words of Chandler Bing, "I'm so excited I may vomit!"
Although Kat will probably only say one line and isn't in it for the rest, a new face pops up. HehehehahahahahMWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. NEW FACE.
- yoda-is-cool.