A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away

Chapter 63

Jabba's enormous antigravity Sail Barge slowly glided across the neverending Dune Sea. The sand-blasted hull creaked and groaned in the slight breeze that managed to make the heat somewhat tolerable for those below deck.

Alongside the barge, two small skiffs floated in formation. An escort craft carried six scruffy soldiers while a gun skiff contained the prisoners: Luke, Han, Chewie, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé; and some guards.

Among the guards in the gun skiff, there was Barada, a no-nonsense sort of alien who didn't let things get out of hand and wanted nothing more than to use his gun to sort out such problems, and the two Weequays, who were quite the mystery being no one knew if Weequey was their name, their tribe's name, their species name, or what-have-you. They were also as eager as Barada for the prisoners to misbehave.

"Well kid, I thought you were joking when you said that nothing ever changes on this planet, but I'm starting to see where your coming from," Han said, breaking the silence that had descended upon the group. "All the sand dunes look the same."

"You really think I'd make something like that up?" Luke asked.

"There's nothing to see besides sand," Anakin agreed. "I'd know, I grew up here."

"Well, both of ya'll are going to die here," Han commented. "Convenient."

"Wasn't planning on it," Luke replied.

"If this is your guy's big plan, so far, I'm not crazy about it."

"Jabba's palace was too well guarded. If we were to have a chance at breaking everyone out, we needed to get everyone out of there," Obi-Wan informed the others. "Just stay here, Anakin and I will handle everything else."

"I can hardly wait. Please tell me you two won't be solely relying on the Force."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be able to find a blaster for you," Luke joked, knowing his friend's opinions of the Force.

"Us, you mean. How are we going to get Leia?" Padmé questioned.

"I'll have that part covered," Anakin replied quickly, already coming up with ideas to make Jabba pay for Leia's treatment. The real trick was going to be getting onto that barge....

***

Jabba sat in the main cabin of the Sail Barge, surrounded by the continuation of the party that had started at the palace. Because of the fact that the party was literally in motion, there was more than a little stumbling and running into one another between the intoxicated members of his court. Needless to say, arguments, bloodlust, and the belief and wish to prove one was better than one's companion was reaching new levels of intensity.

Threepio was currently being forced to translate an argument between Ephant Mon, a Chevin, and Ree-Yees, a Gran, concerning some type of warfare that was completely beyond him. Ephant was currently digging himself into a hole in Threepio's opinion. To make matters worse, Salacious Crumb, the monkey-like reptile that normally hung out near Jabba's mouth, was sitting on his shoulder and repeating everything Ephant said, effectively doubling the weight of Ephant's argument.

"Woossie jawamba boog!" Ephant concluded.

"Woossie jawamba boog!" Salacious agreed, nodding.

Threepio really did not feel like translating this to the already very drunk Ree-Yees, but he did.

Ree-Yees's three eyes dilated in fury as he yelled, "Backawa! Backawa!" Not a millisecond later, he punched Ephant in the snout, sending him flying back into other courtiers, drawing the attention of many, Jabba included. All began to laugh.

Deciding that he was unneeded, Threepio took the distraction to slip away and axidently bumped into a smaller droid that was serving drinks in the process. The drinks spilled everywhere.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry—"

The smaller droid instantly let out several irritated whistles, toots, and beeps that were recognizable to Threepio instantly.

"Artoo!" he cried in relief. "What are you doing here?"

"doo WEEp chWHRrrree bedzhng."

"I can see that you're serving drinks, but this place is dangerous. They're going to execute Master Luke and if we aren't careful, us too!"

Artoo replied with an unworried whistle.

"I wish I had your confidence," Threepio replied.

Elsewhere, Leia was standing near one of the slats in the side of the barge, staring out at the prisoner skiff. A moment later, her chain was jurked as Jabba pulled her closer to him. The Princess struggled, but was eventually forced to come up right next to the Hutt.

"Don't stray too far, my lovely. Soon you will begin to appreciate me," Jabba told her as he pulled her close and forced her to drink from his glass. Leia closed her mind and did so without protest, holding onto the knowledge that it wouldn't last much longer. As soon as Jabba was distracted again, she moved back to the slats to watch her companions once more.

The skiffs were beginning to stop. The whole convoy was in fact.

They had arrived.