The Rancor and the Sarlaac

Thanks to TimeTraveller-1900, Annalise John, HeroWitch, IronKnight3307, Zaconator and Zackis, skyjadeprincess and mjeffery416 for favouriting and following this story.

Early next morning, the doors of Jabba's palace opened to reveal a figure dressed in a black hooded robe. This was Luke Skywalker himself. By his side was Kali Marek, dressed in a form-fitting black outfit and armed with a blaster pistol that was holstered to her hip. Luke and Kali strode purposefully into the palace. Two Gamorrean guards moved to block their way, but Luke simply raised his hand and used the Force to stun the two guards, who both fell back against the walls, clutching their throats. Luke and Kali pressed on and were soon making their way down the stairs towards the throne room. Bib Fortuna came upstairs to stop them. "Yo macka chipowan Skywalker." the Twi'lek said. "Jabba mo botowa tu."

"I must speak with Jabba." Luke said calmly.

"Es tosit. Jabba no tosen di hunka bi." Fortuna continued to deny Luke entry. "No bargain."

"You will take us to Jabba now." Luke said, waving his hand and using the Force to influence Fortuna.

"Ataka bu Jabba now." Fortuna repeated, and began to led Luke and Kali down the stairs.

"You serve your master well." Luke said, continuing to use the Force to manipulate Fortuna.

"Ay sota vanlocha." Fortuna parroted.

"And you will be rewarded."

"A chunoh ayo ahtot."

"That's a neat trick, Luke." Kali whispered to her friend. "I envy you and Juno sometimes."

Jabba was asleep on his throne, with Leia lying in front of him. Jabba's pet Kowakian monkey-lizard sat by his tail, watching it wiggle. Leia was now dressed in the skimpy costume of a dancing girl, a chain running from a manacle at her throat to her new master; Jabba the Hutt. 3PO stood behind Jabba as Fortuna entered with Luke and Kali. "At last! Master Luke's come to rescue us." he said in relief.

Fortuna meanwhile approached the sleeping Hutt. "Master." he said, waking Jabba up. "Gabba nopez Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight."

Jabba was not pleased to see the uninvited guest. "I told you not to admit him." he rumbled.

"I must be allowed to speak." Luke said, using the Force to manipulate Fortuna, who repeated it in Huttese to Jabba.

Jabba growled and grabbed his major-domo by the neck. "You weak-minded fool! He's using an old Jedi mind trick!" he snarled, and threw Fortuna aside.

Luke lowered his hood, revealing that his once unkempt sandy blonde hair had been cut short and darkened, giving him a more mature and professional look. "You will bring Captain Solo and the Wookie to me." he told Jabba directly.

Jabba gave a booming laugh. "Your mind powers will not work on me, boy." he gloated.

Luke was undeterred. "Nevertheless, I'm taking Captain Solo and his friends." he said coolly. "You can either profit from this... or be destroyed. It's your choice, but I warn you not to underestimate my powers."

"You should listen to him, Jabba." Kali added. "He could destroy you with just a single thought."

But Jabba was undeterred by the threat and gave a loud, mean laugh. 3PO meanwhile noticed something else. "Master Luke, you're standing on..." he began, seeing that Luke was standing on the very trapdoor that the Twi'lek slave girl had fallen victim to.

"There will be no bargain, young Jedi." Jabba told Luke, who cast a glance to the disguised Lando nearby. "I shall enjoy watching you die." Jabba gloated.

"Well, that's not gonna happen, Jabba." Kali said coolly. She unholstered her blaster pistol and advanced forwards towards Jabba, joining Luke on the trapdoor.

Jabba slammed his fist down on the trapdoor button and Luke, Kali and a Gamorrean guard who had tried to grab Kali's gun all fell through the trapdoor and landed in a large pit below. Luke leapt to his feet and tossed his cloak aside, revealing a practical black outfit underneath. "You alright?" he asked Kali as he helped her to stand.

"Yeah," Kali acknowledged, "but I've lost my gun."

Suddenly, they heard a clang and looked round to see a heavy iron gate opening in one corner of the pit to reveal a huge, lumbering, fanged Rancor beast. Luke swallowed nervously; he'd heard stories about Rancors and know that if he and Kali were to stand any chance of surviving this, he'd have to think fast.

The Gamorrean guard ran to the side of the pit and tried futilely to scramble to the top as the hideous beast closed on on it. The Rancor stomped right past Luke and Kali, and as the Gamorrean guard continued to scramble, the Rancor picked it up and popped it into it's huge maw. Meanwhile, Jabba and his entourage all gathered round the grating to watch the show. Luke and Kali could only watch as the Rancor devoured the poor Gamorrean, then it turned towards them, intent on making the young Jedi and his friend it's next meal. Thinking quickly, Luke looked around the pit for anything he could use as a weapon and he found a huge bone, no doubt from one of the Rancor's previous victims. Luke grabbed the bone just before the Rancor managed to grab him in one of it's gigantic claws and lifted him towards his mouth. Luke thrust his bone forward and used it to wedge the beast's mouth open.

The Rancor roared in pain and let Luke go, who grabbed Kali's hand and they scrambled behind some rocks to hide while Luke thought of something to get out of this. The Rancor crushed the bone in it's jaws and stomped furiously towards Luke and Kali. Suddenly, something caught Kali's eye; in the holding cave beyond the open gate was a utility door. She elbowed Luke and pointed the door out to him. Thinking quickly, Luke bashed the Rancor's claw with some of the rocks, then he and Kali made a break for the door. They opened it and ran through it only to find a grating blocking their way to freedom. The Rancor roared and turned towards Luke and Kali, stomping in their direction. Jabba's entourage all cheered, seeing that the two Rebels' end was near. Luke sized up their options and saw the controls for the gate nearby. Thinking quickly, he grabbed a rock, and judging his moment, threw it at the controls. The heavy iron gate came crashing down right on top of the Rancor's head, killing the mighty beast.

Jabba and his entourage were all laughing and enjoying themselves when suddenly they fell silent as they realised what had happened. Jabba nearly went red with anger. Leia couldn't supress her joy. "Bring me Solo, the girl and the Wookie." a furious Jabba bellowed. "They will all suffer for this outrage."

~8~

Han, Chewbacca and Juno were soon being brought to the throne room by the guards. They arrived just as Luke and Kali were brought up the steps by other guards. "Han!" Luke called.

"Luke?" Han called back

"You alright, Han?" Kali asked, glad that Han was no longer frozen.

"Fine." Han acknowledged. "Together again, huh?"

"Who wouldn't miss it?" Luke said dryly

"How we doin'?"

"Same as always."

"That bad, huh?" Han remarked as they were brought before Jabba. "Where's Leia?"

"I'm here." Leia called from where she was chained to Jabba, who barked some orders in Huttese.

"Oh, dear." 3PO sighed. "His High Exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be terminated immediately."

"Good, I hate long waits." Han grunted. His friends could only smirk at this. Same old Han!

"You will therefore be taken to the Dune Sea and cast into the Pit of Carkoon, the nesting place of the all-powerful Sarlaac." 3PO continued.

"Doesn't sound so bad." Han said to Luke.

"In his belly, you find a new definition of pain and suffering... as you are slowly digested over a thousand years." 3PO finished sadly.

Chewbacca gave a roar of defiance. It would take more than the threat of being eaten alive to crush his iron will.

"On second thought, let's pass on that, huh?" Han said lamely.

"You should've bargained, Jabba." Luke told the Hutt grimly, who ordered his guards to take the prisoners away. "That's the last mistake you'll ever make." Luke said as he was led away.

Jabba just laughed, blissfully unware that he had grossly underestimated the young Jedi.

~8~

Jabba's sail barge glided over the Dune Sea, flanked by two skiffs. A party mood was prevalent aboard the barge, with the Max Rebo Band playing a festive tune and Jabba's entourage being served drinks by R2 as they looked forward to the forthcoming execution. Aboard the first skiff were several guards on escort duty, while the second skiff was carrying the captive Luke, Juno, Han and Chewbacca. All four Rebels were bound with wrist binders and were surrounded by guards, including the disguised Lando.

"I think my eyes are getting better." Han said. "Instead of a big dark blue, I see a big light blur."

"There's nothing to see." Luke told him dryly. "I used to live here, ya know."

"You're gonna die here, ya know. Convenient." Han replied.

"Relax, Han, we're not finished yet." Juno told him. "Just stick close to Chewie and Lando. We've taken care of everything."

"Oh, great." Han said ironically, not having much confidence in their survival.

Jabba was riding like a sultan in the massive sail barge. Kali was now chained to him in the same manner as Leia, though she at least was still dressed in her own clothes. She was just looking out of the viewport at the prisoners' skiff when Jabba suddenly pulled her back hard by her chain. "Soon you will learn to appreciate me, young beauty." Jabba smirked, licking his revolting lips.

"Don't bet on it, Slimeball." Kali retorted defiantly.

3PO meanwhile was walking along when he suddenly bumped into an Astromech droid who was serving drinks. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry." he began, then he recognised the droid. "R2! What are you doing here?"

R2 beeped a quick response.

"Well, I can see you're serving drinks, but this place is dangerous." 3PO replied. "They're going to execute Master Luke, and, if we're not careful, us too."

R2 whistled a singsong response, assuring his counterpart that everything was going to be alright.

"Hmph! I wish I had your confidence." 3PO retorted.

~8~

The convoy soon arrived at the Pit of Carkoon. The sail barge stopped to one side of the depression, as did the escort skiff, while the prisoners' skiff hovered directly over the pit. A gangplank was extended from the side and Luke was brought over to it. He looked down into the pit to see a mucus-covered beak and several tentacles reaching out of the pit. This was the legendary Sarlaac. Lando looked into the pit too and grimaced at the revolting creature within. Then, 3PO's spoke over a loudspeaker aboard the sail barge, "Victims of the almighty Sarlaac, 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."

"3PO, you tell that piece of slimy, worm-ridden... filth... he'll get no such pleasure from us!" Han shouted defiantly. "Right?" he asked Chewbacca, who growled in agreement.

"Jabba, this your last chance: free us or die." Luke shouted.

Jabba's entourage all laughed, none of them noticing R2 ditch his serving tray and make his way up the ramp to the barge's top deck. "Move him into position." Jabba ordered through the loudspeaker.

A Weequay skiff guard removed Luke's binders, then another prodded him in the back with it's staff, forcing him to walk onto the plank. Standing on the edge of the plank, Luke looked up to see that R2 was in position by the railing on the sail barge's top deck, then he nodded to Lando, who discreetly began to remove Juno's binders. Everything was ready. Luke then gave a jaunty salute; the signal R2 had been waiting for. Two little flaps opened in the droid's dome, revealing two lightsabre hilts inside.

Leia watched anxiously, hoping that Luke's plan would work. "Put him in." Jabba ordered.

The Weequay guard pushed Luke off the plank, but the Jedi spun around and grabbed the end of the plank with his fingertips, then he performed an acrobatic leap just as R2 launched the lightsabre hilts towards the skiff. Luke landed behind the guards, caught one of the hilts and pressed the activator, igniting a bright green blade, then he swung it at the guard who had pushed him off the plank, sending the Weequay overboard and into the waiting jaws of the Sarlaac. Juno meanwhile caught the second lightsabre hilt; her own weapon, and ignited it's purple blade, then she began slicing up the guards surrounding Han and Chewbacca. Lando meanwhile removed his helmet and began wrestling with the skiff's pilot.

Jabba was livid at the sight of not one but two Jedi, and ordered his men on the barge to intervene. Kali and Leia could only smirk to themselves, both proud of Luke. Luke meanwhile struck the last of the skiff's guards in the shoulder with his new lightsabre and the guard tumbled off to his doom inside the Sarlaac. With the guards safely taken care off, Luke and Juno turned to their friends. "Easy, Chewie." he said, using his lightsabre to remove Chewbacca's bonds, while Juno did the same to Han.

One of Jabba's men on the sail barge raced to the top deck and set up a blaster turret to take pot-shots at the skiff. One blast landed uncomfortably close to where Lando was struggling with the skiff pilot. Both men lost their balance and went tumbling over the edge. Lando managed to save himself by grabbing onto a stray piece of cable. "Help!" he yelled.

"Heads up!" Juno warned Luke, and he turned around to see Boba Fett flying towards him and landing on the skiff. The bounty hunter aimed his carbine rifle at Luke, but the young Jedi swung round with his lightsabre and hacked the gun in half. Suddenly, the skiff took another hit from the sail barge's gun, sending Han and Chewbacca tumbling to the floor. "Chewie, you're hit? Where is it?" Han fussed, realising that the blast had grazed Chewbacca's leg.

Fett meanwhile fired a grabble wire at Luke which wrapped itself around the Jedi. Fortunately for Luke, another blast from the sail barge hit the skiff, causing Fett to lose his balance and fall over, allowing Juno to use her lightsabre to free Luke. "Han! Chewie!" Lando yelled from where he was hanging beneath the skiff.

"Lando!" Han exclaimed, jumping to his feet ready to help Lando.

Several laser blasts whizzed past Luke and Juno's shoulders and they turned to see the other skiff moving in them, the guards aboard firing their weapons. The two Jedi shared a look, then they both leapt towards the incoming second skiff, using the Force to propel them. They landed in the middle of the skiff and began decimating the guards with their lightsabres.

Boba Fett rose from the deck of the first skiff and began taking pot shots at the two Jedi on the second skiff with a blaster built into his wrist gauntlets. Chewbacca barked a warning to Han, who had just grabbed a discarded pike to help Lando. "Boba Fett?" Han questioned. "Boba Fett? Where?" He spun round and accidentally struck Fett's jetpack with his pike, the impact igniting the rockets and and sending the bounty hunter flying out of control. Fett slammed into the side of the sail barge with such force that he was knocked unconscious and landed in a sand dune, soundly out for the count for the time being.

Jabba was furious at how badly things were going. In his anger, he failed to notice Leia smash the controls beside his throne, causing the window shutters to close. Then Leia tipped the nod to Kali and both women looped their chains around Jabba's bulbous neck. Both woman jumped over to the other side of the throne and began pulling on their chains as hard as they could, causing the chains to dig into Jabba's neck. Jabba tried to get the chains off him, but the women were too strong and Jabba gagged and choked as the chains garrotted the life out of him. Finally, Jabba drew his last breath and died, thus ending his reign of terror.

Luke and Juno continued to fight their way across the guards' skiff, dispatching them with ease. One of them swung an axe at Juno's legs, but the athletic Jedi jumped out of the way and responded in kind by slashing the guard in half with her lightsabre.

Aboard the other skiff, Han reached his pike down towards Lando. "Lando, grab it." he urged.

"Lower it!" Lando yelled.

"I'm trying!" Han ground out. Suddenly, a major hit from the barge's canon knocked the skiff on it's side. Han and almost everything else on board slide overboard. The cable holding Lando broke and he fell to the side of the Sarlaac pit. Luckily, Han's feet caught on the skiff's railing and he dangled above Lando and the pit. "Woah! Grab me, Chewie. I'm slipping!" he called, and Chewbacca grabbed Han's legs as another hit from the barge rocked the skiff violently.

Luke and Juno had finished off the guards on the second skiff and they saw the barge cannon blasting away at their friends. "Right, let's deal with him." Juno said grimly, and both Jedi performed a Force jump across a chasm of air to the side hull of the sail barge. As they began to climb up the side, a hatch next to Luke opened and a Weequay guard leaned out with a blaster pistol, ready to shoot him, but Luke just grabbed him and threw him overboard, then he and Juno continued their ascent.

"Grab it. Almost." Han called to Lando as he extended the pike down to him. "You almost got it."

Another laser blast rocked the skiff, but Luke and Juno had reached the barge's top deck by now and they quickly dispatched the gunners taking pot-shots at the skiff. Juno then turned to see two more gunners, who had uncovering a giant gun at the end of the barge, race towards them with blaster pistols drawn. Barely batting an eyelid, Juno used the Force to pull one of the giant sails down on top of the gunners, tangling them up, while Luke used his lightsabre to dispatch a Gamorrean guard.

"Gently now." Han muttered as he reached the pike towards Lando. "Easy, easy. Hold me, Chewie."

Suddenly, the Sarlacc extended a tentacle which wrapped round Lando's leg. "Eeyaah!" he screamed as the Sarlaac began to pull him towards it.

Han had seen this. "Chewie! Chewie, give me the gun!" he called, and Chewbacca passed him a blaster pistol which one of the guards had dropped.

A hatch on the top deck of the sail barge burst open and a squad of Weequay guards stormed out, only to be swiftly cut down by Luke and Juno's lightsabres.

Han aimed the blaster at the Sarlaac's tentacle. "Don't move, Lando." he warned.

"No, wait! I thought you were blind!" Lando protested.

"It's alright, I can see a lot better." Han assured him. "Don't move."

"A little higher! Just a little higher!" Lando squirmed.

Han fired and scored a direct hit on the tentacle, which let Lando go and slinked back inside the pit. Lando promptly scrambled up the sand bank and grabbed hold of Han's pike. "Chewie, pull us up!" Han called, and Chewbacca was soon able to pull both men safely back up onto the skiff.

R2 trundled over to Kali and Leia and used his arc welder to sever the women's chains. "Thanks, little buddy." Kali smiled, slipping the chains from around her neck.

"Come one, we've gotta get out of here!" Leia said, leading the way towards the stairs to the top deck.

On the way, they saw Jabba's pet Kowakian monkey-lizard gnawing at one of 3PO's visual receptors. "Not my eyes!" the droid wailed. "R2, help!" R2 came to the rescue by zapping the creature with his arc welder, sending it flying to the ceiling. "Beast!" 3PO shouted at it.

Luke and Juno continued to to battle guards on the barge's top deck, both Jedi standing back-to-back and using their ligthsabres to deflect blaster bolts. Suddenly, one shot got through and hit Luke's mechanical hand, causing him to yell out and drop his lightsabre. The guard was about to make the kill shot, but was abruptly shot from behind and fell forward to reveal Kali standing there with a blaster in her hand, having nicked it from a dead guard. "Thanks, Kali." Luke acknowledged, and used the Force to retrieve his lightsabre. "Get the gun." he ordered Leia. "Point it at the deck."

Leia nodded, and ran for the barge cannon, which she aimed at the deck as per Luke's instruction. 3PO and R2 meanwhile were making their way towards the edge of the deck. "R2, where are we going?" 3PO moaned. "I couldn't possibly..." He never got to finish his sentence, as R2 promptly pushed him off the edge and rolled off after him, both droids landing in the sand below.

Having finished dispatching the guards, Luke, Kali and Juno joined Leia by the deck guns. "Time to leave." Juno muttered, grabbing a rope from one of the sails. "Leia, you're with me, Kali, you're with Luke." Leia joined her, while Luke grabbed hold of another rope and Kali joined him.

Luke kicked the cannon's trigger and it fired at the deck, starting a chain reaction, then the four Humans swung across to the skiff where Lando, Han and Chewbacca were waiting. "Let's go. And don't forget the droids." Luke said to Lando, who had taken over the controls.

"We're on our way." Lando replied, and piloted the skiff over to where 3PO's feet and R2's periscope were poking out of the sand. A pair of magnetic grabs lowered from the skiff's underside and pulled the two droids up, then the skiff sped away to safety just before the sail barge exploded in a spectacular fireball, thus ending Jabba the Hutt's criminal empire once and for all.

~8~

The Millennium Falcon and two X-wings stood waiting near the burnt-out former Lars homestead as the group of Rebels arrived. "I've gotta hand it to ya kid, you were pretty good out there." Han said to Luke.

"I had a lot of help." Luke said modestly. "Think nothing of it."

"No, I'm thinkin' a lot about it." Han persisted. "That carbon freeze was the closest thing to dead there is. And it wasn't just sleepin'. It was a big awake nothing."

Luke nodded as Chewbacca growled affectionately at the young Jedi, mussing his hair like a proud uncle, and Leia smiled warmly at him. "We'll see you all back at the fleet." Luke said as he, Juno and R2 moved towards the X-wings.

"Why don't ya come with us?" Kali offered.

"Sorry, Kali, but I've got a promise I have to keep first... to an old friend." Luke replied.

"Good luck, then." Kali conceded, giving Luke a goodbye kiss.

Juno watched the affectionate display with amusement. "Don't worry, Kali. I'll make sure he comes back in one piece." she promised Kali, then she and Luke boarded their respective fighters.

Kali and the others made their way towards the waiting Falcon. Han looked at Lando dubiously, remembering his friend's betrayal on Bespin. "Guess I own you some thanks too, Lando."

"Figured if I left you frozen like that, you'd have just given me bad luck for the rest of my life, so I might as well get you unfrozen sooner or later." Lando replied.

"He means 'you're welcome'." Leia rolled her eyes.

"Come on, let's get off this dustball." Lando said, leading the way up the Falcon's boarding ramp.

~8~

The Millennium Falcon and the two X-wings flew away from Tatooine and went their separate ways, with the Falcon going one way and the X-wings going another. "Meet you back at the fleet." Luke said into his helmet radio.

"Hurry. The Alliance should be assembled by now." Leia's voice said.

"Don't worry, Leia. We'll be back before you've even missed us." Juno said from the other X-wing.

"Hey, Luke, thanks." Han's voice said. "Thanks for comin' after me. Now I owe YOU one!"

Luke gave a soft chuckle at this. "And don't you forget it, Han." Kali's voice said. "Good luck, Luke, Juno. See ya both later!"

"You too, Kali." Luke acknowledged.

R2 beeped, inquiring about their destination.

"That's right, R2, we're going to the Dagobah system." Luke told him, putting on a black glove to conceal the damage to his mechanical hand caused by the shot from earlier. "I have a promise to keep... to an old friend."

And so Luke and Juno's X-wings made the jump to lightspeed, destination: Dagobah.

Author's notes: And here's the second chapter for your enjoyment. Luke and Kali make their returns here. Kali ending up in the Rancor pit with Luke was a spur of the moment decision, but I thought it would be fun to have her have to face the beast with Luke. We get to see some serious Jedi action from Luke and Juno here too. Note that Juno is going to Dagobah with Luke this time. I figured she needed to visit Yoda too so that she could also learn the truth about Anakin Skywalker. So, hope you like this chapter and hope to see you next time.