The Jon Solo Chronicles Book 3: Return of the Jedi

Chapter 2: Jabba the Hutt

Bib Fourtuna led Jon, R2 and 3-PO down a long flight of stairs that went directly into  Jabba's throne room. The room was dimly lit, and smoky. Creatures of many species filled the space. Jon saw Twi'leks, Rodians, Jawas and countless more. But as far as he could tell, he was the only human in here. And in the center of it all, Jabba the Hutt lay atop his dais. He looked exactly as Jon had remembered: fat, green and slimy. The tail of his slug-like body flicked back and forth on the dais. The only new thing about him, as far as Jon could see, was that he was currently smoking a hookah. Jon felt all the anger and hatred he'd directed towards Jabba in the past year building up inside of him. It was all he could do to keep from loosing control and murdering Jabba at this very moment. The trouble was, he didn't know how to go about achieving this. The only weapon he had was his training pistol. Shooting Jabba with that was unlikely to kill him. Plus, with so many beings in the throne room, it might get too risky. And who knew if anyone here wanted to kill Jon, himself, or destroy the droids?

Then Jon wondered if he was actually capable of killing another living soul. Last year, at age thirteen, he'd shot and killed several Stormtroopers while escaping from Cloud City. Jon convinced himself that this hadn't counted, however, since he didn't consider Stormtroopers to be actual people. It was true that Jabba had done bad things to Jon and his family. But could the boy actually kill the Hutt? Would that be the right thing to do? And what would Han do in this situation?

Jon was brought back to reality when he heard R2 beeping. The little droid sounded nervous, and maybe even a little scared. Bib stepped onto the dais, leaning into Jabba's face.

"Cava notayce, my lord," he said.

"Good morning," 3-PO greeted.

"Ohnt bat chuay denr atat," Bib informed Jabba.

[OOH!] Jabba breathed.

"The message, R2," 3-PO prompted. "The message." He batted at his smaller counterpart. A holo of Luke Skywalker appeared from R2's projector. He was dressed in the same black clothes Jon had seen on him earlier. And the boy wondered if this holo had been been recorded during the errand Luke and the droids had gone on that morning. Strangely, there appeared to be a new lightsaber hanging from Luke's belt. He'd lost his old one, which had originally belonged to his father, Anakin Skywalker, when Darth Vader had cut off his right hand during their battle on Bespin last year. So, where had this new lightsaber come from?

"Greetings, Exalted One," said Luke's holo. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight, and friend of Captain Solo." Jabba's eyes widened when he heard this information. And Jon wondered if the crime lord remembered him as being Han's son.

"I know that you are powerful, Mighty Jabba," the holo of Luke continued. "And that your anger with Solo must be equally powerful." Jon thought that anger was was a massive understatement when it came to describing how Jabba the Hutt felt about Han Solo. "I seek an audience with Your Greatness to bargain for Solo's life."

[Ha! Ha! Ha!] Jabba chuckled. Jon found nothing funny about this. His father's life was at stake here! It was then that Jon noticed a Kowakian monkey lizard sitting at the base of Jabba's dais. His name was Salacious Crumb.