Little does Jabba know the turns are about to table, Heh Heh Heh...
This chapter was really fun to write. I used, like, 10 scene changes in this one!
Enjoy!
The Dune Sea was aptly named, for it boasted thousands of kilometers of swelling sand dunes, reminiscent of the waves that once accompanied Tatooine's ancient oceans. Islands of solid rock were far and few in-between, and many settlers had died in traversing the wasteland's great distances. Only the natives- Tuskens and Jawas- could confidently navigate across. Any outsiders required mechanized transport.
A lone ship, far away from the popular trading routes, was slowly sailing over the sand dunes, whipping up a cloud behind it. Red sails adorned its masts and durasteel armor plating defended its sides. The Khetanna. It was no warship; scores of guests and party-goers were chatting and laughing on deck in the shade of the sails. Droids were moving about, serving drinks, and a band was concocting light, cheerful music as the sail barge crested a dune, kept stable by its interior mechanism. However, with swivel guns and a deck cannon that could down an AT-ST, it was no pushover.
In a banquet room below deck sat Jabba, basking in his fiesta. At his side, still chained to the Hutt was Leia, undefeated but nervous as she caught glimpses of the two skiffs following close behind the barge through one of the windows.
Suddenly, the chain connecting her to Jabba tightened, and she spun around involuntarily to be greeted by foul breath and an ogling gaze. "Soon," Jabba murmured in Huttese, "you will learn to appreciate me."
Leia turned her head, disgusted. And Hobbes thought he'd have it bad? She thought.
Unbeknownst to anyone, just six feet below, among the roar of the engine compartment, Calvin was completing the final preparations of plan C. There was a small ventilation hatch nearby that he could open, and from there, he could see Han, Chewie, Hobbes, and Luke on one of the skiffs trailing behind the Khetanna. The other skiff was a ways off, crammed with guards all armed to the teeth.
How do they mess up plan A and B? he thought, screwing on the twin-fork resonator of an Amban-Phase pulse carbine. The weapon, through electrical ionic pulse, could completely disintegrate life forms if they were hit, and would still temporarily knock out any opponent that had too much armor on to be disintegrated; it was therefore deemed illegal by the Empire. Of course, that meant bantha fodder to the Rebellion, hence why he had one right now.
The sail barge slowed, along with the skiffs, and Hobbes heard an animal screeching from somewhere below them. Realizing what it must be, he poked his head out of the hatch to look down. The sight made his eyes widen in amazement. The Sarlacc was ugly. A conical pit, like that of an antlion's, surrounded fleshy rings of hooked teeth and several tentacles, straight out of a horror flick. The Sarlacc was completely buried in the desert up to its disgusting mouth. The tentacles came alive, extending somewhat as the thing sensed that something- perhaps a chance for a meal- was afoot. The skiff with Hobbes and the others, he noticed, was moving into position over the pit.
He looked behind him at the engine compartment, which was dotted with explosive charges, and pulled out a detonator from his pocket. Pressing the safeguard switch on the side of it, he checked that the little lights on all charges turned amber. Then, moving over to the ventilation hatch, Calvin settled the barrel of the carbine on the rim, and peered through the scope on top, quickly focusing on the other skiff's placed his finger on the trigger.
Now it's up to you, space wizard, he thought, seeing Luke look down in his general direction. Let's do this thing.
On the skiff, Luke squinted as sunlight attacked his face, and looked over at the Khetanna. Peering down at the area below the lower deck where the engine would be, he smiled a little at seeing a flash of blond hair. Straightening, he looked behind him at the six skiff guards– Klatoonians, and calmly stared at the bulldog-like face of the one behind him. The seventh guard, Lando, was already positioned close to the skiff's pilot.
"I think my eyes are getting better," Han commented next to him, dryly. "Instead of a big dark blur, I see a big light blur."
"There's nothing to see. I used to live here, you know," Luke said.
"You're gonna die here, you know," Han replied. "Convenient."
"You're right, Luke. For executional scenic accompaniment, you could do a lot better than this," Hobbes quipped on his left.
"Hobbes, you're a real ray of sunshine," Han said.
"So is most of the scenery."
"Listen, just stick close to Chewie and Lando," Luke told Han. "I've taken care of everything."
"Oh…" Han said in mock assurance. "Great!"
Suddenly, the sound of feedback through a speaker system shut them up as the partying ruckus on the Khetanna died down. A plank extended from the skiff over the sarlacc's gaping maw. Looking over at the rail of the barge's topside deck, Luke noticed R2 moving into position close to the side as 3po's voice crackled through the speakers.
"Victims of the almighty Sarlacc: 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."
One side of Jabba's face was apparent in his lounge through a window. Just below it, he could see Leia and a little to the right, 3po. He verified that everything was in position. The guard right behind him prodded him on the plank.
"Threepio, you tell that slimy piece of... worm-ridden filth he'll get no such pleasure from us!" Han yelled, and looked at Chewie. "Right?"
Chewie, with a growl, agreed.
"Jabba! This is your last chance. Free us or die!" Luke shouted, and shot a quick look at the guards and Lando behind him. The businessman put a hand on his blaster, nonchalant as the guards around him laughed mockingly. More ill-natured humor came from the Khetanna. Sensing that his timing was correct, Luke performed a two-finger salute towards R2; the signal to execute the plan.
"Put him in!" Jabba's faint voice ordered.
A sharp jab to the back, and Luke closed his eyes. Then, he jumped.
Immediately, he spun around and grabbed the end of the plank with both hands as he fell. The thing acted like a springboard, and he was launched up in the air at the same time as an audible 'pop!' signalled R2's launching of his lightsaber. With a deft frontflip, he landed back on the skiff, just in time to catch his lightsaber and activate it. The emerald blade of light materialized, and the spectators' cheering began to shift to outrage. To his left, Hobbes extended his claws. Near the pilot's position, Lando drew his blaster.
All hell broke loose. A shot from Lando, and the pilot was down. Bringing up his lightsaber, Luke ducked under a poorly-aimed swing from a halberd and cut its wielder in two. Nearby, Hobbes grabbed a guard and threw him off of the skiff with a roar. The Klatoonian's scream was drowned out by the uproar from the spectators on the Khetanna, loudest of which was Jabba.
Turning around, Luke saw the pilot of the other skiff burst into particles out of the corner of his eye, momentarily stunting any retaliation from that front. Avoiding a thrust from the fourth guard, he swung his lightsaber and cut the alien's head clean off. The other charged him. He was shot mid-step by Lando, and stumbled, before getting shoved over the side by Chewie.
Suddenly, a shot from one of the Khetanna's swivel cannons hit the skiff, and Luke turned to see Lando fall over the side along with the other guard.
Seeing the cannon about to fire again, he brought up his lightsaber and deflected the shot back, causing the gun's operator to cower. Taking a step over, he saw the guard falling into the pit, and Lando desperately clinging onto a rope, suspended over the sarlacc. "Help! Chewie!"
"Chewie! Han!" Luke exclaimed. "Help him!"
From his nest in the engine compartment, Calvin slipped another cartridge into his single-shot carbine after killing the pilot, and centered on a guard on the other skiff who was trying to take over the disintegrated man's position. "Oh, no you don't!"
About to shoot, he noticed a figure take off from the Khetanna and snapped the disintegrator over at the much bigger threat: Boba Fett. Luke and Hobbes were preoccupied. Han was stumbling about. Chewie was trying to pull Lando up. It was only him.
He lined up the shot and pulled the trigger.
On the skiff, Hobbes tossed the final skiff guard over the edge, and quickly turned, his ear twitching. The roaring sound of a jetpack made him look up. His heart faltered in his chest at seeing Boba Fett flying straight at him, his blaster rifle raised. Then a flash of light like gunpowder thrown into a fire blinded him for a split-second, and a shot skimmed his fur. A blur flew past his vision. Looking behind him, Hobbes watched the bounty hunter crash into a sand dune, immobile for the moment.
Before he could pinpoint where the saving flash came from, a large blast shot past his face and he jumped back. The second skiff was moving towards them, its occupants firing a barrage of blaster bolts which forced him to dive to the floor as Luke rushed past him. Luke deflected a blast as he leaped over the gap between the two skiffs, and his first swing cut down two guards. Looking at Chewie and Han trying to help Lando up, Hobbes grabbed a blaster and one of the guards' halberds from the floor, and gave the latter to Chewie. "Here! Use this to help him up!"
Chewie took the halberd, and Hobbes, blaster in hand, leaped after Luke, onto the other skiff. Landing on the front of the skiff, he fired, hitting shots on two of the guards. Luke and his lightsaber made short work of the rest. A shot rang in his ear. Looking over at the Khetanna, Hobbes saw the now-remanned swivel cannon firing again. The shots destroyed the rudder of the skiff that they had just been on, making it tilt and causing Lando's grip on the rope to slip. He fell with a terrified yell onto the side of the pit, barely keeping from being devoured by digging his feet and hands into the sandy slope.
The cannon fired again, and Luke noticed. He ran and jumped again, this time landing on the steep armored side of the Khetanna.
Deciding to follow, Hobbes fired a few suppressing shots at the swivel cannon's gunner, and leaped through the air as well, almost slipping and falling due to the sparse hand-and-footholds on the ship. "Whoa!" he yelled.
A lucky handhold on one of the panels saved him. Luke looked down, and he said, "I'm good!"
He climbed up after Luke, and in a matter of seconds, they had made it onto the deck where absolute pandemonium reigned.
Almost instantly, guards moved towards them, and Hobbes ducked under a halberd before grabbing the gamorrean and throwing him over the side with a grunt. Evading blaster shots, he fired back as Luke cut down the swivel cannon's operator.
Giving Han, Chewie, and Lando a glance, he saw that they had now formed a living chain, as Chewie held onto Han who was trying to get Lando to grab the halberd that Hobbes had given them. "You gotta be kidding me," he muttered.
"Hobbes!" Luke yelled. "Let's get Leia!"
Deciding that he couldn't do anything about Lando's current predicament, he put his faith in Han and Chewie and followed Luke into the ship.
In the engine compartment, Calvin, seeing no other targets to shoot, grabbed his pack and put on his Jawa hood. Remembering that since Hobbes had been found out, he decided to go and fill in for him by killing Jabba. He slung the disruptor over his back and began to climb the ladder, drawing his pistol as he did so.
Opening the hatch that led out of the compartment, he was met with all kinds of creatures dashing around and crowding the windows. It looked like most of them were trying to find spots to hide from the chaos outside. Quickly, he made his way through the hallways, none of the guards giving the Jawa a second glance. Out of his pocket, he took a grenade, planning to toss it inside and run. Entering Jabba's lounge, he stopped in surprise at seeing the crime lord immobile, a chain loosely encircling his fat neck. The room was dark and deserted, the windows and blinds all closed. The Hutt's eyes were lifeless. He'd been choked to death.
"Calvin!"
Turning, he saw Leia, and, turning off the grenade, took off his hood. "Hey, cinna– whoa, jeez! GROSS shield me! What happened to you?"
"Jabba happened to me," Leia muttered, glaring at him, and Calvin refrained from commenting any further on her style of dress. "Shut up and help me break this chain!"
"This whole plan C thing is looking more and more like a train wreck," Calvin muttered, when a familiar beeping behind him made him turn around. "R2!"
The astromech beeped urgently as he rolled into the room, and moved over to the chain trapping Leia. Extending a cable-cutter out of one of his panels, R2 cut the chain with an electrical zap, and beeped for them to follow him.
"Right behind you," Calvin said, and handed Leia his pistol. "Here's a blaster."
"Thanks," Leia said, when suddenly, two people rushed in. Luke and Hobbes, the former wielding his new green lightsaber. They stopped at seeing Jabba, dead, and Leia, R2, and Calvin in front of him.
"Hobbes!" Calvin exclaimed. "Good to see you, buddy!"
"You too," Hobbes replied, and looked at Jabba's corpse. "Thanks for killing him, Leia. I gotta say that I would have liked to do it myself."
"I think we all did," Calvin said.
"Let's go!" Leia said, and they all rushed out of the room.
"Gently now…" Han said, as Chewie lowered him further down. "Alri... alright. Now easy, easy. Hold me, Chewie."
As they tried to get to Lando, one of the Sarlacc's tentacles snaked up and wrapped around Lando's leg, causing him to cry out in repulsion. It began to drag Lando in.
"Okay, uh… hey, Chewie! Hand me a blaster!" Han yelled, and Chewie passed a stolen pistol down to him. Wondering what Han was going to do, Chewie inhaled sharply as the smuggler pointed it roughly at Lando's ensnared leg. "Don't move, Lando!"
"Wait! Wait, I thought you were blind!" Lando exclaimed, now mere feet from the pit.
"It's okay! I can see a lot better!" Han assured him in a very un-reassuring manner, aiming through the sights.
"A little higher!" Lando screamed. "Just a little higher!"
Han fired. The shot tore through the tentacle, and let go of Lando. Crawling up, he grabbed the end of the halberd, and Chewie pulled both of them up and out of the pit, straining with the weight. They paused for a quick breath, before Lando said, "Let's… let's get to the Khetanna. We need to pick up Luke and the others."
Calvin, Hobbes, Leia, and Luke had just defeated the last of the deck's guards when Lando, piloting the skiff, parked right next to the ship. "C'mon! Let's go!" he yelled.
The four of them turned around, along with R2 and 3po, the latter of which they had found on their way back up. "Good to see you, Han!" Calvin said.
"Calvin! Who isn't here?" Han laughed. "Thanks for coming to save me. How'd you get rescued?"
"I'll tell you later," Calvin said. "Right now, let's get off of this thing!"
Without warning, Lando's shout rang with alarm. "Chewie! Han! Off the skiff! Now!"
Chewie, heeding Lando, grabbed Han and flung himself and his captain off of the skiff. Lando was only a second behind them. A hissing, not unlike that of an air compressor, grew exponentially louder and a moment later, the skiff exploded. The blast made them all stumble, and Chewie let out a howl of pain.
Recovering quickly, Hobbes got up, off of his knees, and raced to Chewie's side as he lay on the deck. The wound was shallow- Chewie would live. Grabbing his extended arm, Hobbes helped him up, and Chewie stood, clutching the half-inch deep gash caused by a piece of debris.
A blast cut through the air between them, charring a spot on the deck in front of their feet, and they both stumbled back in opposite directions. Hovering above them, Boba Fett, having recovered from his temporary immobility, fired his blaster again and again, forcing them all to scatter. As Hobbes dodged a shot, he noticed the missile on Fett's jetpack gone.
Luke, with extraordinary agility, leaped up, throwing his lightsaber as he did so. The lightsaber sparked as it failed to cut through the Mandalorian beskar armor, but then, it connected with the jetpack, and Fett fell to the deck with a crash as it malfunctioned. The spinning green blade hummed over his helmet, returning back to Luke's outstretched hand. Hobbes, finding his blaster, began firing along with Leia and Lando, hammering Fett's armor with dozens of shots to no avail. He began to get up.
Luke ran up, lightsaber in hand, and swung. Rising up off of one knee, Fett intercepted the swing with his armored wrist, and delivered a rib cracking kick with his metal-covered knee. Luke momentarily stumbled backwards, and Fett raised his wrist rocket. With seasoned perception, however, he instead moved at the last moment and avoided an invisible shot from Calvin's disruptor carbine. Turning, he launched his wrist rocket at the bigger danger, and Calvin barely managed to jump clear. Still, the blast knocked him down, sending the disruptor clattering to the ground near a half-blind, disoriented Han.
With a vengeance, Luke swung his lightsaber just as Fett turned back around. Fett blocked again and drew a blade from his hip. Luke retreated a few steps as the mandalorian slashed the knife with deadly precision, before he counterattacked with a series of swings, each move calculated against Fett's evolving defense. On the other side, Hobbes could see Lando going for the disruptor. Fett, evidently, noticed the same thing and drew his blaster while evading Luke's attack. Hobbes fired at the back of Fett's head to try and disorient him. The move failed. Fett's expert shot caught Lando in the lower leg, just below the knee, and he cried out in pain as he dropped the carbine.
With a roar, Hobbes pounced before Fett could fire again, sending them tumbling to the ground a foot away from the side of the barge. Fett recovered with incredible speed, and his next shot, aimed poorly due to the confused close-quarters circumstances, burned skin and flesh off of the side of Hobbes' shoulder. Then, Luke was there, aiming for Fetts throat between his armor. The bounty hunter intercepted the blade, and with one leg, kicked Luke in the stomach in the same area where his gut was still reeling from the first blow. Luke fell back, wheezing, and Fett drove his fist into Hobbes' nose. Exploding pain and the smell of blood trickling out made him gasp for coherency as he fell to the deck. Fett speedily rose up, and turned his blaster towards Luke, who hadn't recovered from the gut kick. The shot would be lethal and unobstructed, at last.
"Die," Fett muttered.
"No-!" Hobbes tried to yell.
An electrical shot jerked Fett upright, and he stiffened. Before Hobbes could figure out what had happened, the paralyzed bounty hunter fell backwards, off of the sail barge. Confused, Hobbes unsteadily got up and watched as Fett tumbled, helpless, into the Sarlacc pit. Looking around, he saw Han, holding the disruptor rifle.
"Did I get him?" he asked, still half-blind.
"Yeah," Luke groaned, grimacing as he tried to get up. "Yeah, Han. You got him."
The next minute was spent checking everyone's wounds, before Luke, with extreme difficulty due to his busted ribs, force-pulled the other skiff over to the Khetanna. Boarding it, the eight of them sent a few parting shots at the straggling aliens who were coming up on deck from below, and quickly sped away from the sail barge and its monstrous, vile, cowering occupants.
As Hobbes and Chewie did their best to soothe Lando's and Luke's pain, Luke said, "Hey, Calvin."
"Huh?" Calvin asked, looking up from his inspection of the disruptor carbine.
"Do you still have it?" Luke asked.
"The- oh," Calvin murmured. "Yeah, I have it. Do you want me to blow it up?"
"Yeah, go ahead," Luke said, and lowered his head back onto the floor.
Reaching into his pocket, Calvin pulled out the detonator. Flipping off the cap, he placed his thumb on the button and activated the safeguard switch.
"Sayonara," he said with a grin, and pressed the button. The charges in the Khetanna's engine compartment exploded in a flash of light and flame, and a second later, the engine followed. A great black plume of smoke accompanied a thousand shards and pieces of shrapnel, and the whole thing crashed into the sand, partially covering the pit.
"Good riddance," Hobbes muttered. The wreckage soon disappeared behind a sand dune.
Hours later, as the twin suns neared the horizon, six customers entered the Mos Eisley cantina, which was rather deserted at this hour. Only a few patrons sat at the tables and benches, so the newcomers were able to choose their spot. They soon crowded around the far corner, in the gloom. As they passed the bar, the bartender- the very same one from way back when- glanced at them, went back to cleaning, and then did a double-take. Cavin, noticing the man's surprise, gave him a tongue click and a finger gun salute as he walked past.
The bartender came over to get their orders a minute later, giving Hobbes, Calvin, and Luke a wary side-eye as he did so.
Pretty soon, all of them were settled in with drinks, except for Calvin and Hobbes (the former throwing a familiar tantrum over it). Luke had a new set of bandages for his busted rib cage, while Lando, Hobbes, and Chewie had gotten their blaster wounds patched up. They talked, the main focus being Han, who needed quite some catching up in terms of what had happened, and who also relayed to them his experience while frozen in carbonite. Lando then explained what had happened after he was frozen, how he had joined the Rebellion, and how they had rescued Calvin after failing to do so at the auction.
"A submersible?" Han asked, an eyebrow raised. "That's how they got you out?"
"Yup," Calvin said. "I mean, the plan sucked, but, y'know, there wasn't a lot of time to hash out the details. Right, Cinnamon Buns?"
"Be glad I didn't leave you in there," Leia muttered.
"Yeah, so anyway, the sub broke down, we almost suffocated and drowned, Tie fighters bombed us, Hobbes shot down one or two with Chewie's crossbow- basically a normal Tuesday," Calvin said. "Oh, hey Lando. You up for some Sabacc after we get back to the Falcon?"
"I wouldn't miss it," Lando said, smiling.
"So what was with my rescue?" Han asked. "Plan C, B, A… were you improvising?"
"Yeah, sort of," Calvin said. "I mean, first we just wanted to bargain for your life. But then we had to try and steal you, and that was plan B. Then, Leia got captured, and Luke came in, and he got captured, which was plan C… we had everything pretty much in place. We just needed to be out of the palace for plan C to work, so Luke was supposed to get Jabba angry enough to go touch some grass and hurl us into the Sarlacc."
"Which he did splendidly," Hobbes said.
"By accident," Luke added.
"And how's the Falcon? Is she alright?" Han asked.
"In tip-top shape," Hobbes said. "Ready for you to fly, if your eyesight's alright."
"It's fine," Han quickly assured him. "Hey, Luke. While Calvin was getting rescued, where were you?"
"I…" Luke hesitated. "I had a lot to sort through after I fought Vader, and I also lost the lightsaber that Obi Wan gave me. I went on a search to find a crystal to make this new one."
Everyone sat in silence for a minute, sipping their drinks. The topic of Luke's fight with Vader, in which his right hand had been cut clean off and replaced with a prosthetic was one that Luke was reluctant to talk about. Personally, Hobbes suspected that there was something about the encounter that he was keeping secret.
"Hey, Calvin," Han said. "Why did the Empire take such an interest in you?"
Speaking of keeping secrets… Hobbes thought, and noticed everyone around the table tense up. After he had recovered from the TIE fighter blast, they had gotten everyone together, and let out the whole story. It was an extremely awkward affair, and they had gotten quite a few harsh reprimands for it. They had needed several sit-down conversations, in fact, to fully clear up the story and come to an understanding that he and Calvin wouldn't do something like that again, and put a little more faith in their friends.
Most shocked was Luke, who had spent the most time with them. All of them were, however, astoundingly forgiving for the whole thing, no doubt partially due to Leia's assistance in their stammered explanations. And if everyone else knew, then Hobbes wasn't going to keep their secret from Han.
"Well," Calvin said, "It's, uh… It's a long story.
So, they began at the beginning, explaining the background and the events leading up to their transportation to Tatooine, and then what happened before their meeting in the cantina. They also explained the DART in detail, how they had been working on it for years, and how the imagination realm functioned. At first, Han dismissed them as pranking him, but after assurance that it wasn't so, he looked more and more bewildered with each sentence. They continued with Calvin's vision of the Emperor (which Han remembered from the asteroid field), and how the Empire had stolen Calvin back at the auction for the purpose of extracting his knowledge on the machine. Throughout it all, Han barely said anything.
"And now, the Empire has pretty much all it needs to build a DART, and we need to figure out a way to stop that from happening," Hobbes finished. They all looked expectantly at Han.
After a minute of silent digestion, Han leaned forward, and, waving a finger at the two of them, said, "Y'know, this explains a lot."
"Yeah, I bet," Calvin said, waiting for the inevitable tongue lashing.
"So- so there are other universes out there?" Han asked.
"That's right," Calvin said.
"And you guys come from one of them?"
"Yep," Hobbes confirmed.
Han, with a flabbergasted face, slumped back in his seat and massaged his temples. After another minute of silence, he said, "So what happens if the Empire gets this 'DART'?"
"Bad, bad stuff," Calvin said. "I mean, who knows what horrors could be lurking in all those different worlds? If they try to exploit that power, I can tell you, it ain't gonna be pretty."
"And we know that we're responsible," Hobbes sighed. "It's our fault that we're here, and saddling your galaxy with this crisis. And we won't stop until we correct what we did. We're sorry for keeping this from you."
Han stared at them, looking as though he had just seen them do something incredibly stupid, and then said, "Leia, what do you think?"
"I was even more upset than you are," Leia said. "The only reason I didn't send Hobbes back to their universe, or exile them to some outer-rim planet was because the Empire was interrogating Calvin, and the possibility of them getting that sort of power forced my hand. But they're still rebels at heart… and when I gave them the option to head back, they stayed, and promised to stay until they got the DART back."
Han looked at Chewie. "You?"
Chewie shrugged. "Hobbes is a good person," he growled. "And they're the only ones who know how this stuff works, so I'm for keeping them around."
"I can only see that they made a mistake out of fear, like me," Lando chipped in. "Second chances, right?"
It took yet another minute for Han to speak any further. When he did, he sighed, and said, "Fine. Sure. If you stuck around for mine and Leia's sake, you're better friends than most."
"...Thanks, Han," Hobbes said, looking at him with gratitude. "Really, Thank you."
Han nodded, and took a big sip of his drink. The air was still awkward, but the clouds, Hobbes sensed, were passing.
"So, can't you use your own DART to somehow find the Empire's?" Han asked.
"I don't want to cause any more problems with that thing. Besides, we haven't even tried using it yet," Calvin said.
"And the information taken from Calvin is probably stored in multiple locations," Leia added. "Even if we found the place where they're building the machine, we would still need to purge the data from all systems."
"And do you have a plan for that?" Han asked.
Calvin and Hobbes shook their heads.
"Actually, there might be a way," Leia said, "but it's far-fetched, and if it's not a pipe dream, it's dangerous."
"Of course it's dangerous, everything so far has been dangerous," Calvin muttered. "The Empire, the Death Star, the new rebel base, Tanka, Hoth, the asteroid field, Cloud City-"
"What is it?" Hobbes asked, shooting an annoyed glance at Calvin.
"High command has been getting reports. They're little better than rumors, but they do link up with excessive Imperial spending for some new project that we picked up," Leia explained. "I can't say any more, but the official report from our spies should reach us in another day or two, which is why we need to get back to the fleet."
"How does that help us find the DART?" Calvin asked.
"The spending is enormous," Leia said. "They're pouring everything they have into it. If we find a way to make all that amount to nothing, the Empire could be weak enough for us to completely cripple it, and take control of its databases. But," she added, "I want to stress that it's probably nothing more than wishful thinking."
As Leia spoke, Hobbes noticed Calvin perk up, becoming more and more interested with every word, before looking extremely disappointed at Leia's disclaimer. He wants to go home, Hobbes thought, and sighed. He felt the same way.
"So, just keep thinking of other ideas?" he asked. Leia nodded.
"Well, should we go?" Han asked. "I don't know about you guys, but I miss my ship."
"Sure," Lando said. "Go get 3po and R2. I'll pay the tab.
"Hey, Calvin," Hobbes said as they walked through the streets. "I have an idea."
Calvin looked behind him as Hobbes caught up. They were at the back of the group as they all made their way to the Falcon, through vendors and crowds of aliens and jawas. The sight, unlike when they had first arrived in Mos Eisley, was no longer mysterious or strange. The stormtroopers were now gone, and the whole city seemed a bit more lively. "What is it?" he asked.
"A way we can get some assistance with finding the DART," Hobbes said. "I've been meaning to tell you, but between rescuing Han and the hectic life with the Rebel fleet, I forgot."
"Is it about Yoda?" Calvin asked.
Hobbes slowed, surprised. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
"Luke told me that he was going back, too," Calvin said. "Do you think he'll have something to help us?"
"Yeah, maybe. But even if he doesn't, I still really want to see him again," Hobbes said. The little Jedi had really left an impression on him.
"Well, I mean, considering what happened last time we split up-" Calvin began.
"C'mon, Calvin," Hobbes scoffed. "There were mitigating circumstances. The Empire, the Hyperdrive…"
"Yeah, okay," Calvin grumbled. "I just wanna hang out with you, I guess. Like old times."
"We'll do that when we get back to the fleet," Hobbes promised. "I'll just go with Luke, say hi, ask him some stuff, and if there's nothing else, leave and come back… Hey, what's up?"
Calvin slowed down and sighed. "I just hate this. I want to right our wrongs, but at the same time, I can't help thinking how nice it would be to just leave and go home."
"Me too," Hobbes nodded. "Me too. But first, we have our promises to keep"
"For our honor!" Calvin declared in a British accent, and laughed. "Alright. So, I'll head back to the fleet, and you go with Luke to Dagobah. Cool?"
"Works great!" Hobbes said, and noticed that everyone else was quickly walking out of sight. "C'mon, let's catch up!"
As they jogged through the streets, Calvin said, "Hey, Hobbes! Han took the whole 'other-universe' thing really well, didn't he?"
"I guess that after all the crazy stuff he's seen in his life, this isn't as unbelievable for him as it usually is," Hobbes supposed. "Hey, race you to the Falcon!"
"You're on!"
Thank you for the reviews, Mando-Vet and CalvinZilla!
:D