How to Take an Empire

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Jabba

Jabba laughed in that gruff, heavy manner he was infamous for as two of his guards threw Ahsoka on the ground in front of his pedestal. He said something in Huttese, something his translator droid graciously interpreted for Ahsoka.

"So we meet again Jedi Ahsoka Tano. I should have known you were part of the plot to overthrow me."

Ahsoka shouldn't have been surprised that her plan to infiltrate Jabba's palace hadn't gone according to plan.

It started mundane and straightforward enough. Han, dressed in the armor and helmet of the mercenary that the Liberty Resistance had killed, pulled her and Chewbacca in chains through the halls of Jabba's Palace. After a little wrangling between Han and Jabba, Han presented both her and Chewbacca as gifts to make up for his failure and put him and Jabba on good terms again. After some jeering, laughing, and teasing, all of which Ahsoka made sure to react to with clear but suitably careful defiance by tugging on her chains and boldly looking Jabba in the face, Jabba accepted Han's "gift" and accepted her as one of his slaves.

She'd been a young and pretty enough female that he made her into one of his new dancers, but not young and pretty enough that he chained her up next to him on his pedestal. Ahsoka knew she would have been able to work around that, but being a dancer and being dismissed to the slave quarters at night made her job easier.

Too easy.

So when she managed to slip out the slave quarters one night just to get a layout of the palace, she wasn't surprised when she was caught scouting the place. She'd prepared a lie for that. She likely wasn't the first or the last slave that had escaped their quarters and roamed the palace at night, probably looking for food. What she hadn't been prepared for was finding out that Jabba remembered her from their one encounter almost thirteen years ago when she returned his son after Dooku and Ventress had kidnapped him. For stars' sake, she hadn't even had her first growth spurt. But Ahsoka supposed the saying about Hutts were right. They had long memories and held even longer grudges.

Ahsoka took a considering look around, eyeing the guards that had surrounded her. And she couldn't forget the rancor pit below her. Wouldn't have been the worst odds she ever faced, but probably the worst odds she would have to face without her lightsabers, and the flimsy slave costume—a halter top bra held together with gold rings in the front, bottoms to match, and sheer skirts—was no protective armor. But honestly, a couple of blaster bolts weren't the worst thing she would face if she found herself overwhelmed. Being Jabba's new favorite dancer had, in some ways, offered her a protection that the other slave girls in the palace didn't have.

Contrary to what Diya, Rex, and Han thought, the gravity of what she'd gotten herself into wasn't lost on her. It wouldn't be the first time she'd gone undercover as a slave. But back then, Anakin hadn't strayed too far and had given her strict instructions to keep their bond wide open. The worst thing she'd suffered was a shock and the implication of what awaited her if the Queen released her into the custody of one of her loyal men. And if worse had come to worst, they had the backing of the Jedi and the Republic.

This time was different. The Rebellion wasn't yet a credible threat. Vader, of course, was the only threat she needed if it really came down to it, but that would mean exposing their partnership to some unsavory characters. It wouldn't be her first time being somewhere without reliable backup, but Ahsoka wasn't so naïve as to not grasp how hostile slavery and the broader galaxy, in general, could be to a young, beautiful female. She'd fought in a war. She'd had no choice but to know it.

For all the Republic propaganda that made war look like some noble and pretty thing, there wasn't a lot that had been noble and pretty about it. There were a lot of ugly things. One, in particular, was that it wasn't kind to young women. What Yoda had been thinking assigning someone as young as her to a newly minted Jedi Knight at the frontlines of the war, Ahsoka would probably wonder even more when the twins were fourteen. But she was fairly sure the Council just hadn't been sure what to do with her.