𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐔𝐏𝐓 𝐌𝐄 ⟶ 𝐁𝐨𝐛𝐚 𝐅𝐞𝐭𝐭

𝖯𝖱𝖮𝖫𝖮𝖦𝖴𝖤.

Talia's wrists felt like they were cuffed with flames rather than steel.

When Fortuna's men carried her to Jabba's Palace — obviously not "Jabba's" anymore and not her first time being dragged there against her will, either — she had expected they'd sell her to someone who wanted her head more than they did, keep her as a slave of their own, or feed her to whatever beast they had since discovered in the years she had been away. She didn't expect them to chain her up, torment her with meaningless words every once in a while, and keep a bag over her head most of the time.

She anticipated a dungeon, at least. The first time she arrived to Jabba's Palace as a prisoner, they had put her on the spot and threatened to kill her immediately. That had brought out the worst side of her, arguably the best in her witty remarks that only inspired them to bring on the pain more and more until she shut her loud mouth.

But, no. None of that this time around.

Fortuna only kept her on a leash a few feet away from the throne he was beginning to fill up as much as the Hutt once had, growing wider and wider around the rump. She reckoned he wanted to make her dance, like some of the other slaves they kept around, but she picked up quick on the sack over her head only being tossed back on when visitors came around.

As if he was afraid someone would find out that he had captured her. Who was he so afraid of discovering she was a prisoner? She had virtually no friends — other than Cerelia and Mando, who she had only met for a few days a couple months ago. She wasn't sure they would stick their necks out to come save her, not to mention they likely had no idea she was even missing.

If anything, anyone on Tatooine who knew she was being imprisoned would celebrate along with the Twi'lek man. Or try to steal her for their own.

Talia hadn't made many good acquaintances in all her years on Tatooine, but she had done an outstanding job of making enemies. Nearly record-worthy.

So, there was little chance of her being rescued any time soon. Especially with the damn Jedi cuffs around her wrist, keeping her from even attempting to escape on her own without being electrocuted like the freaking Death Star had fired upon her body.

That made hearing the array of blaster shots from the entrance and the screams of the Palace guards even more alarming. She had no idea who it could possibly be, coming to her rescue or coming to take her for themselves.

The body of one of the guards rolled down the stairs to the entrance, and more blasterfire came from above, getting closer and closer as they came down the steps.

Fortuna stopped bossing around his companions surrounding the throne and panic began to arise over all of the people standing around, even the slave next to her, a blue Twi'lek named Shika, was making a fuss and attempting to free her wrists from the chains she was being kept in.

"Hey! Hey! See if you can bust the chain against my cuffs." Talia attempted to scoot closer, but they were just far enough away from each other, she couldn't quite reach the other woman's arms. It didn't help she couldn't see what the hell she was doing with the bag over her head.

It was worth a shot, however, to get the Twi'lek to try. More shots continued and more screams rang out around them.

"Unless you're blaster-resistant, which I sure as hell am not, we need a plan of some sort." Talia told her, raising her cuffed arms up in the air and attempting to aim in Shika's direction. "Fine, if you won't do it, I will. Get as close to me as you can, and tell me when I need to hit you."