My Unfortunate Fate

chapter 26

A modified truth is still a lie.

Once we ran into Dooku, we dueled him long enough to cause a distraction and steal his speeder. He found out that we didn't have Jabba's son, so we could only hope Ahsoka made it in time.

The encounter went better than expected. No lost limbs, and no permanent damage to either of us. Not even a scratch. Which is actually surprising.

Only, there was one problem. Ahsoka was in danger, and Dooku showed us that she was. We would've stayed to fight, but that was more important.

The dunes are still long, but this time, they aren't endless. We've already made it most of the way across the dune sea, so finishing the trip by speeder will get us there in no time.

Though it's been many months since then, this situation reminds me too much of when we were last on Tatooine. Except this time, Anakin didn't leave me behind. I mean, it's not like we had a choice.

We reach to a large door, an entrance to the palace. The door slides up slowly as we stop the speeder, getting up to talk to whoever is ahead of us.

Inside, the lights are nearly blinding, contrasting with the darkness we've been wandering in all night.

We're immediately surrounded by guards pointing blasters at us and a protocol droid. Things are already going better than expected; we aren't dead.

"Where is my padawan?" Anakin demands.

"This way," the protocol droid instructs. It turns around hesitantly, holding a hand out. "Your weapons, please."

Anakin and I glance at each other warily, considering the command. If we go inside without our lightsabers, there's a good chance we'd be killed, if things go south. Then again, Ahsoka needs our help, and we have to complete the mission.

The guards walk closer to us, pointing their blasters at our heads. We give in, handing the protocol droid our weapons and heading inside.

***

"These are Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and y/n y/l/n," the droid introduces us to Jabba. "As Count Dooku said, your son is not with them."

"What? Your son's not here?" Anakin exclaims.

Jabba scolds in Huttese, a language I don't yet understand. Maybe I should've taken a class at the Temple, that would've been useful right about now.

"Where's Ahsoka?"

The Hutt continues to yell something incoherent. You know, it's one thing to be yelled at, but it's another when you don't even know what the other person-or being-is saying.

Anakin turns to me and I nod, thinking out the same plan. We reach our hands out towards the droid, using the Force to summon our lightsabers. Igniting them, we point both blades at Jabba's face-at least I think it's his face.

"What did you do to her?" I ask.

The Hutt says something and the protocol droid translates, "You came here to kill Jabba."

"Mighty Jabba, we came here to renegotiate," my husband argues.

Jabba exclaims something else, leading his droid to relay his statement in basic, "You came here to die."

A few moments of stressful silence pass, during which I notice most beings in the room pointing their blaster at us in defence. Yeah, there's no easy way out of this one.

"Stop!" I hear from across the room.

Anakin and I look to our right, where the sound came from. Ahsoka leans against the wall, panting, holding the Huttlet with her other arm. R2-D2 slides in beside her.