THE EIGHTH [han solo]

[3.02]

[THRONE ROOM
JABBA'S PALACE]

The crowd of creepy courtiers parted as Han, Octavia and Chewie were brought forward into the throne room, and other guards dragged Luke up the steps.
"Han!" Luke yelled, ecstatic to see his friend alive and out of Carbon Freeze
"Luke!" Han said, on hearing his friend's voice.
"Are you all right?" Luke asked. He looked at Octavia, who was silently shaking her head in the hopes that if Luke were to look at her, he'd get the message.
"Fine. Together again, huh?" Han said. "And you have Aurelia with us." Octavia had used her mother's name as a fake name, and Luke looked confused before playing along with it.
"Wouldn't miss it." He said.
"How are we doing?" Han asked.
"The same as always." Luke smiled sadly
"That bad, huh? Where's Leia? Tavi?" Han asked. Luke looked to Leia, then to Octavia, then back.
"I'm here." Leia said, and then quickly added. "Octavia went MIA again." She knew it would give Han enough motivation to get out. Several of the guards, including Lando, pulled Luke from the other side of the room. Boba Fett was standing behind Jabba. Threepio stepped forward and translated in real time for the captives.
"Oh, dear. His High Exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be terminated immediately." He said sadly.
"Good, I hate long waits." Han said.
"You will, therefore, be taken to the Dune Sea and cast into the pit of Carkoon, the nesting place of the all-powerful Sarlacc." Threepio continued.
"Doesn't sound so bad." Han muttered to Luke.
"In his belly, you will find a new definition of pain and suffering, as you are slowly digested over a thousand years." Threepio finished.
"On second thought, let's pass on that, huh?" Han said. Chewie barked his agreement.
"You should have bargained, Jabba. That's the last mistake you'll ever make." Luke said threateningly. Jabba cackled at this. He wasn't intimidated. As the guards dragged the prisoners from the throne room, a loud cheer rose from the crowd. Leia and Chewie exchanged concerned looks, but Luke, the newest Jedi warrior, could not suppress a smile.

Octavia didn't know what there was to smile about in the situation they were. She was blind, weaponless and pretending to be someone she was not. She was tied in a ship, floating across the desert to meet her end. It was not a smiling matter.
"I think my eyes are getting better. Instead of a big dark blur, I see a big light blur." Han said, struggling against his bonds for the thousandth time in the hour.
"There's nothing to see. I used to live here, you know." Luke said, rolling his eyes. Octavia knew she could break her chains, but she didn't want to do it prematurely, she had to wait for the right moment.
"You're gonna die here too. Convenient." Han said.
"Wow, always the positive thinker Solo," Octavia said.
"Just stick close to Chewie and Lando. I've taken care of everything."
"Lando? What's that traitorous bastard doing here?" Octavia hissed under her breath. Slowly, Han was realising that this might not be Aurelia, as she was acting very similar to a certain Captain Nightshade, but why would Leia lie to him? He had to assume that she was a rebel that screwed up her rescue of him.
"Rescuing you." Lando smacked her head playfully and she seethed with silent rage at him. She was going to kill him.
"Oh.... great!" Han rolled his eyes.

Jabba the Hutt rode like a sultan on the massive anti-gravity ship. His entire group of followers are with him, drinking, eating, and having a good time. Leia watched her friends in the skiff when the chain attached to her neck was pulled tight and Jabba tugged the princess toward him.
"Soon you will learn to appreciate me." Jabba said.

The convoy moved up over a huge sand pit. The Sail Barge stopped to one side of the depression, as did the escort skiff. But the prisoner's skiff moved out directly over the centre and hovered. At the bottom of the deep cone of sand was a repulsive, mucous-lined hole, surrounded by thousands of needle-sharp teeth. This was the Sarlacc. A plank was extended from the edge of the prisoner's skiff. Octavia could now see shadows and shapes, she watched as the shadowy shape of the guards released Luke's bonds and shoved him out onto the plank above the Sarlacc's mouth.
"Victims of the almighty Sarlacc: 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." Threepio translated. The figure that Octavia assumed to be Han stepped forward arrogantly and began to speak.
"Threepio, you tell that slimy piece of... worm-ridden filth he'll get no such pleasure from us. Right?"
"Of corse, the only pleasure he'd be getting from me would be a blaster bolt, but that's not optional," Octavia said and Chewie growled his agreement.
"Jabba! This is your last chance. Free us or die." Luke said, and Octavia knew he had a plan, she just wished she knew about it. The assembled monsters rocked with mocking laughter as Artoo zips unnoticed up the ramp to the upper deck. Jabba's laughter subsided as he spoke into the comlink.
"Move him into position."
Luke was prodded by a guard to the edge of the plank over the gaping Sarlacc. Luke looked up at Artoo, then gave a jaunty salute: the signal that the little droid had been waiting for. Luke had left Rusty back at the ship to guard, he didn't want the little Astromech going crazy when they saw their master, the same way Octavia didn't want Han going crazy when he knew it was her. Octavia couldn't see what was going on, but she was nervous. The noises of the crowd unsettled her and Luke's confidence was a scary thought. She closed her eyes and tried to feel the force running through her. As she did, she repeated the names in her head. The dead, her family, the alive and who she was going to kill. She breathed heavily, the nerves starting up her adrenaline system. Luke was then prodded and he jumped off the plank to the cheers of the bloodthirsty spectators. Octavia gasped. She could imagine it so vividly, then she realised her eyes weren't closed, and she could actually see what was going on. Before anyone could even perceive what had just happened, Luke spun around mid-air and grabbed the end of the plank by his fingertips. The plank bent wildly from his weight and catapulted him skyward. As he was flying upwards, he did a complete flip and dropped down on the end of the plank in the same spot he just vacated, but facing the skiff. He casually extended an open palm and in it, his lightsaber, which Artoo had sent arcing toward him, dropped into his hand. Too easy. With incredible speed, Luke ignited the lightsaber and attacked the guard who had prodded him off the plank, sending the monster screaming overboard. The other guards swarmed toward Luke, leaving Octavia wide open. She concentrated on the force, feeling it flow through her, feeling it weaken the bonds holding her hands and feet together. She then broke the bonds, and used the leftover material to tie up her hair, she didn't want it getting in her face as she fought. As no one was looking at her, she charged straight into battle, with only a hidden knife and the force on her side. She waded through dead bodies and fought several guards to get to Luke. The quickly went back to back, defending each other like they'd done it all their lives. Octavia kicked a guard off the side of the ship, and he landed on the soft, sandy slope of the pit, and began sliding. He clawed desperately as a Sarlacc tentacle grabbed him and pulled him screaming into the viscous mouth. Octavia decided she didn't quite like that fate, and fought even harder to keep herself and her friends safe.

--
hello all, as some of you may have noticed (or may not have noticed) I've kind of remade my profile, Antigone as a nickname wasn't working for me anymore, it felt very pretentious, so I'm now going by the pseudonym of Rainy Cartwright, or R.C
anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it is a little bit short and a little bit late 
-R.C xo