Anyone who worked near the airship landing field knew about the Beast. Brought from a far-away land as slave labor, the fearsome creature proved to be too violent to tame. Instead of destroying the Beast, the quartermaster saw fit to sequester the giant in a steep-walled pit to serve as both a challenge for would-be gladiators and as an executioner. So far, none who had faced the Beast had left the pit alive, if at all.

Han knew from the various expressions of the men he passed that the death that awaited him would not be a merciful one. His desperation increased as the troopers led him across the pit's slatted metal cover. While Han attempted to profess his innocence, the troopers undid his wrist shackles and clapped another around his right ankle.

"Listen," cried Han. "That guy's not even an officer, all right?"

The stormtroopers opened a crude hatch.

"He was lying!"

"Shut up." A hard shove sent Han tumbling face first into the pit.

"Don't care," the other stormtrooper said just before slamming the hatch shut.

"QM hasn't fed him in three days. This should be fun."

Han lifted his head from the fetid, reeking mud. Human bones that had been cracked open for the marrow lay in piles around him. Of more immediate concern though was the deep growling coming from the shadows. A chain trailed out from there, and as Han's eyes followed it, he realized to his dismay that his shackle was connected at the other end.

Whatever he had been chained to slowly began to reel in the slack.

Han tried to stand only for his shackled leg to be pulled out from under him. The shortening chain dragged him through the mud until he came to a stop at the central support post and the ring at its base through which the chain ran. Mud flew from the links as it suddenly jerked taut.

Heavy, squelching footsteps came from the deep shadows followed closely by the sight of something huge pulling itself towards Han along the chain, hand over hairy hand. It snarled hungrily as it drew ever closer until it fell silent a few strides away. Straightening to full height, it bellowed an animalistic roar that rattled Han's skull.

The Beast was huge - towering over Han by a full three heads. A muddy, matted shag of a pelt covered it from head to toe. It had been a long time since Han had seen one and the individual before him was clearly malnourished, but he recognized a Wookiee when he saw one.

"Oh, hey," Han said, his voice half an octave higher than usual. "Hey, big fella! Just calm down, take it easy! We're on the same side!" As he spoke, he carefully crawled backwards as much as the slack in the chain would allow.

The Wookiee stalked towards Han with eyes full of hunger.

"You like treats?" Han seized a nearby femur knuckle and hurled it at the Wookiee with all of his strength.

The knuckle bounced painlessly off the Beast's head, but the muck that had covered the bone splattered into the Wookiee's eyes. While they recoiled and tried to wipe the mud from their eyes, Han scrambled to his feet.

"Help!" Han screamed while banging on the pit's wooden walls. "Let me out of here!"

Eyes still stinging, the Wookiee yanked on the chain. Han flew through the mud and stopped at their feet. Hairy fists grabbed Han by the neck of his chest plate. As though a child with a ragdoll, the Wookiee slammed Han into the central support post then threw him to the ground.

The strength displayed frankly terrified Han. He had been in many scraps against opponents stronger than he was, but never anything like this.

The Wookiee lifted Han out of the sludge and locked his arm around his neck. Unable to breathe, Han tried in vain to pry their arm away. As his vision began to darken, he reached up and ripped out a clump of matted hair from his foe's scalp.

The Wookiee howled and released his prey. Reacting quickly, Han moved around to behind them and wrapped his own arms around its neck. They immediately began to thrash to throw Han off, but the Corellian held on tight.

A strong thrash adjusted Han's position to the point where the Wookiee managed to take hold of his legs. Facing the risk of either needing to let go or having his spine snapped, Han tapped into his animalistic survival instincts and sunk his teeth into the Wookiee's flesh. The Beast howled in pain and hurled Han across the pit.

Han slid to a stop against the wall and spat out the mix of mud and hair left behind in his mouth. As he lay groaning in the sludge, he noticed that the central support post had a massive crack in it, likely left from his armored body being slammed into it.

The stormtroopers above tutted in disappointment as the pained groans rose up to meet them. "Ah, damn. It was just getting good."

"It's killing him too fast."

"Yeah." The trooper directed his attention downwards. "Kill him slower!"

The Wookiee trudged over to Han and knelt atop him. Their combined weight pushed Han into the mud. Not content with this, they grabbed Han's hair to forcibly submerge his head.

"Wait!" Han pleaded as the mud crept over his ears. "Wait, wait, wait!"

The Wookiee did not relent.

Han felt the foul muck surround his temples and cheekbones. He shut his eyes and spoke one last-ditch growl. "(Please!)"

The Wookiee's hands flew away from its victim at his use of Shyriiwook. They growled a question to the man before them.

"Yeah," said Han as he lifted his head from the mud. "I speak a little. Now, just listen to me, (you dumb Wookiee.)"

The Wookiee grumbled in annoyance and grabbed Han by his ankles. They held him upside-down and glared.

"(Me have plan of break out,)" Han said in fractured Shyriiwook.

The Wookiee cocked their head and growled interestedly.

"(You and I freedom make... by secret battle of pretend.)"

The Wookiee cocked their head further, this time more from puzzlement as they tried to parse the man's poor grasp on the language.

"(Look... big... stick,)" Han growled, pointing at the central support post.

After a few seconds of looking at the post and trying to piece together the jumble of words that had been uttered, the Wookiee softly gasped. They looked back to the inverted man and growled.

Han laughed and nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Yes!"

The Wookiee unceremoniously dropped Han into the mud, much to the latter's annoyance.

Han grunted as he stood back up. He then positioned himself to the side of the post. "Do it," he said. "Come on!"

With a roar, the Wookiee charged and slammed into the post. As planned, the crack widened. The stormtroopers started at the sudden resumption of the fight below. Han's convincing screams for mercy filtered up through the slatted metal.

One of the troopers looked to his fellow. "Ten Thalers he doesn't last another minute."

"I'll take that bet."

"No!" Han yelled watching the Wookiee ram the post for a third time. "Let me out! Please! I'm sorry!"

A fourth hit expanded the crack in the post significantly and shook the slatted platform above.

The stormtroopers recoiled with mockingly sympathetic "oohs."

"That's it!" A trooper jeered. "Get him!"

"What's wrong?" Han asked, faking an agonal raspiness. "You tired, you hairy Kashyyykian bastard?"

This seemed to strike a nerve. The Wookiee roared and charged, tackling Han and sending the both of them through the post.

The sudden absence of the central support post prompted an immediate collapse of the platform above. Slatted metal plating, crossbeams, and the two stormtroopers crashed down into the muck of the pit. Once the cacophony of falling wood and metal ceased, the prisoner pair lifted their heads to survey the handiwork.

Han laughed and patted the Wookiee on their shoulder. "See what happens when you listen to me?"

The Wookiee lifted Han.

"Wait. What are you doing?"

Han yelled as the Wookiee suddenly launched him out of the pit. He landed face first in the mud at the pit's rim and rolled over with a groan. The Wookiee themself climbed out soon afterwards.

Han located the way in which the airship depot lay and scrambled to his feet. "Follow me!" He and the Wookiee took off running in different directions.

Though the ring through which the chain had been fed had broken, the chain itself still connected them. When the slack between them ran out, Han suddenly found himself being dragged away from his goal. He held out his hands to grab onto anything he could and his fingers found purchase around the wheel spokes of a caisson.

The Wookiee jerked to a stop and looked back. Annoyed, they kicked their leg and wrenched Han free. He slid across the ground to the Wookiee's feet whereupon they roared.

"Wait!" Han implored, crawling after the Wookiee as they continued on their way. "Come here! Listen to me!"

The Wookiee's pace sped up.

Han rushed in front of his fellow prisoner and put his hands out placatively. Finally they stopped. "You don't understand, okay? I have some very good friends waiting for me at the airship field! They are leaving right now! They are our only ticket out of this mudhole! If you want to live, you go that way! After that, you go whatever way you want! I don't care! Right now, that's the way you go!"

The Wookiee looked over his shoulder then back to Han.

"Trust me!"

Beckett stood on the airship's boarding ramp and waved his arm. "Val! Let's go!"

Inside the cockpit, Rio removed his armor. As he haphazardly tossed the pieces into the passenger compartment behind him, he stretched the simian limbs that had been confined for so long. "How do they breathe in this? Too stuffy! No wonder they're such lousy soldiers."

Beckett climbed aboard the airship and stepped around the strewn clothing articles. He paid no heed to Rio as the Ardennian voiced his thoughts.

"You can't turn your head," Rio continued while activating the startup sequence with all six of his limbs. "You can't breathe. You can't hear each other."

Val joined Beckett and Rio onboard the airship just as the engine pistons started to cycle. Not long after that, Rio engaged the ascension rotors and the airship lifted free from the ground.

Beckett entered the cockpit and was about to take a seat in the copilot's chair when he noticed two figures running across the field towards them while waving their arms.

"Hey," Rio said, impressed. "Look who's back!"

Beckett's eyes widened. "I'll be damned."

"Unbelievable. Whoa! Is that a Wookiee? Incredible!"

Upon joining Rio and Beckett in the cockpit to see what the commotion was, Val was struck dumb. Beckett meanwhile couldn't stop shaking his head in disbelief. How in the Hell had that mudskull managed this?

Rio chuckled. "I don't care, I'll say it. This kid's growing on me."

As the airship continued to ascend, the two former prisoners lowered their arms defeatedly. The Wookiee turned towards Han and roared in anger.

"You know," said Rio contemplatively, "with Korso gone, we could use some replacement muscle for this job."

Val glared at Beckett. "Don't even think about it."

Rio turned around to his comrades. "I'm telling you, you will never have a deeper sleep than curled up in a Wookiee's lap."

Val's glare deepened, but Beckett ignored it. He heaved a sigh and leaned forward to disengage the ascension rotors.

Han hollered at the sight of the airship coming back down. "I told you! Very good friends!"

When the pair boarded, Beckett and Val stood to greet them. Neither looked particularly pleased with Han or the Wookiee, Val moreso than Beckett, making no attempt to hide an expression of disdain.

Beckett looked between his new crew members a few times. "Don't make me regret this." He turned and headed for the cockpit.

"Let's make something perfectly clear," Val said in a voice higher pitched than Han was used to. "You are completely expendable." The boarding ramp closed behind the two former prisoners with a clang, driving home their place in things.

"Understood."

Val picked up on the faint undercurrent of surprise in Han's voice. "You didn't expect me to be a woman?"

"Yeah, not really."

Val raised a challenging eyebrow. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"No. Not at all."

"Good."

Han had always thought Val to look and sound rather feminine, but never expected him to actually be a woman. Had the famously misogynistic General Falk known this, his fury would have been endless.

As the airship floated away from the Hell of Mimban and over the mountains, Han stepped into the makeshift shower he had erected in the cargo hold. It wasn't exactly the cleanest and it smelled like copper, but it was far better than being covered in mud and gods know what else. As the borrowed ballast tank water washed over his bare skin, he felt a great weight vanish from him.

Another weight appeared as the Wookiee joined him in the cramped corner. Han sighed. "We couldn't have done this maybe, like, one at a time?"

The Wookiee grunted a no.