Chapter 12:

Many of Jabba's lackeys were invited to witness the executions of Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Luke Skywalker that afternoon. They all bustled around in the vehicle hangar of his palace, rushing to board the Ubrickkian anti-gravity sail barge that would carry Jabba and his guests out to the Pit of Carkoon. Guards were all over the place, some of them leading the prisoners onto a small desert skiff while others surrounded Jabba and his entourage.

Princess Leia stood next to Jabba's mobile dais, watching her friends board the nearby skiff. The Hutt Master held his slave girl by her chained leash while they all moved to load Jabba onto the barge's mechanical lift.

Pushing her way through the crowd, Mara Jade approached Jabba and put on her best innocent dancing girl face for him. "Your Exaltedness?" she timidly spoke. Jabba's head turned to face her. "I'm Arica, Your Exaltedness. One of your dancers. Could I please come along with you?"

The Hutt recognized this hired performer as the one who had warned him of Boushh's identity three nights ago. Melina had told him there was more to this new dancer than she let on, and obviously Melina was right. Who knew what her intentions could really be. Perhaps she was an assassin sent by Lady Valarian or another of Jabba's rivals to kill him. He pondered for a moment and then rightly refused Mara's request, choosing not to take the chance.

Mara frowned, then momentarily caught sight of Luke and company departing the hangar aboard their skiff. "Please, Your Exaltedness?" she begged one more time, batting her deep green eyes at him in a seductive way. She was desperate not to let Skywalker get away. This was her only chance to kill him before he and his friends could escape Tatooine, and at this point she would do almost anything to convince the Hutt to bring her along.

Jabba chuckled, recognizing this fact, but had no time to play with a dancer he didn't trust. He had more important matters to deal with right now. Jabba's golden protocol droid translated his Huttese words for Mara.

"The great Jabba the Hutt says you are to leave him now," C-3PO spoke. "He says a landspeeder will be placed at your disposal, and that you are not to be seen here again."

Mara found it was useless to try and influence Jabba with her Force-powers as she had so easily done with his majordomo. She noticed Princess Leia smiling smugly at the redheaded dancing girl. Mara glared at her with hatred and contempt, then humbly bowed and thanked the Hutt, leaving them as they entered the barge.

She fumed with rage and stormed past guards and spectators, heading for the tiny landspeeder in the back of the hangar. There was no way she could catch up with the skiff in this slow piece of junk. Her only choice now was to leave Tatooine, return to her Emperor, and face the consequences of failure.

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The journey across the vast Dune Sea to the Sarlaac's resting place would take half an hour aboard the desert sailing ship. Two small skiffs accompanied it, one carrying the sentenced prisoners, and the other full of extra guards escorting them just in case the Jedi had anymore tricks up his sleeve.

Jabba sat in the back of his observation lounge aboard the floating iron vessel, watching Leia do another sexy dance for him and his guests. This time, thankfully, she was not required to strip for her Master. Cramped in the corner, surrounded by passengers, Max Rebo played his small keyboard while everyone else ate and drank and gazed lustfully at Jabba's dancing slave girl.

When she finished her performance, Leia wandered over to one of the deck's vented windows, ignoring the suggestive whispers from passengers and bulging crotches that brushed against her bare legs. She stared out at her friends on the skiff that glided alongside the barge. Two leathery-faced Weequays, the ugly mechanic Barada, and Lando all guarded the prisoners. Luke stood confidently at the forefront of the speedercraft with Han beside him.

"Are we almost there, Luke? I'm getting real tired of waiting," Han joked to his friend.

"Coming up on the Pit of Carkoon now, Han," Luke replied.

"I think my eyes are getting better. Instead of a big dark blur, I see a big light blur," Han commented, squinting from the shine of the twin Tatooine suns.

"There's nothing to see," Luke replied. "I used to live here, you know."

"You're gonna die here, you know. Convenient," Han sarcastically retorted.

"Just stick close to Chewie and Lando. I've taken care of everything."

"Oh... great," Han smiled. He paused for a moment, feeling the warm air blowing through his hair. "If this is your great plan, so far I'm not crazy about it."

"Jabba's palace was too well guarded. I had to get you out of there," Luke explained. "Just trust me, Han. And be ready."

"I can hardly wait," Solo sighed.

Jabba sipped from a large goblet of wine and stared at the firm little ass of his pretty slave girl, barely covered by the back of her dark red teal-skirt. He looked forward to fucking it with his tail after he finished executing her friends. He planned to take her with him that night to his Mos Eisley townhouse and spend the entire evening ravishing the Alderaani slut's body with his tongue.

He tugged on her long metal chain, pulling the Princess from the her place by the window over to his bloated mass. She pressed close against his belly, only inches from his huge face, smelling the Hutt's foul breath as he spoke.

"Soon you will learn to appreciate me," he said, noticing her apparent disgust. Bringing the goblet in his hand close to Leia's lips, he forced her to drink from it. She swallowed, tasting the strong alcohol in her mouth. It made her feel woozy for a moment, her head spinning. The Hutt smiled and slipped one pudgy hand under the cups of her brassiere and fondled her small tits. Leia moaned softly, feeling the rough texture of his thumb trace over her sensitive pierced nipple. She swore to herself that she'd eventually make Jabba pay for all he had done to her.

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Reaching the sunken pit of the ancient Sarlaac creature, the Ubrickkian sail barge and its two skiff escorts halted and hovered above the huge disgusting hole. Luke peered over the edge of his skiff to examine the vile beast below. It looked like a giant mouth lined with multiple layers of sharp teeth, several slithering tentacles, and a beak in the very center to devour whatever victims fell into it.

C-3PO spoke over the loud amplifier from the barge's observation deck, "Victims of the Almighty Sarlaac: His Excellency hopes that you will die honorably. But should any of you wish to beg for mercy, the great Jabba the Hutt will now listen to your pleas."

Jabba and his goons anxiously waited for their cries of mercy while R2-D2 slipped away, rolling up to the main deck of the barge. Leia stood in front of Jabba, staring down at her friends, hoping Luke knew what he was doing.

"Threepio!" Han shouted from the prisoners' skiff. "You tell that slimy piece of worm-ridden filth he'll get no such pleasure from us. Right?" Chewbacca growled in agreement.

One of the Weequays removed Luke's binder cuffs to prepare him for execution. Luke took a step forward and shouted, "Jabba! This is your last chance. Free us, or die."

Everyone aboard the sail barge broke into wild laughter. They couldn't believe the audacity of the foolish young Jedi. "Move him into position," Jabba spoke over the speaker to his guards aboard the skiff.

The Weequay prodded Luke with the end of his force pike, pushing the Jedi forward onto the skiff's extended plank. Luke looked to his right and exchanged a nod with Lando, then looked up to the main deck of the sail barge where Artoo appeared at the rail.

Saluting his plucky astromech droid, Luke stepped off the plank and quickly spun around in mid-air, grabbing the end of the plank and springboarding into a double flip back onto the skiff. A newly constructed lightsaber emerged from the concealed compartment in Artoo's dome and rocketed through the air, summoned directly into Luke's waiting hand. Igniting his green-bladed saber, the Jedi began slashing through the startled guards before they realized what hit them.

Aboard the barge's observation deck, all hell broke loose. "Get him! Get him!" Jabba shouted as his men scrambled to the windows and began firing their blasters at the lightning-fast laserswordsman. Two guards fell from the skiff into the Sarlaac's gaping mouth while Lando struggled with another, finally exposing himself as one of Luke's allies.

"Easy, Chewie," Luke said, hurrying to undo the binders around the Wookiee's wrists. Set free, Chewie joined the battle, protecting Han.

Leia knew she had to escape and help her friends. Quickly she grabbed the voice amplifier and smashed it against some controls next to Jabba, sending the observation room into total darkness. Nobody, not even Jabba, saw what she did, for they were too busy running around the room in a panic, trying to escape to safety.

Leaping over the Hutt's tail and onto his throne, Leia threw the long chain attached to her collar around Jabba's bulbous neck in an attempt to strangle him. It was her only chance of escaping from her enraged Master. Jabba choked and gagged in surprise, the chain's metal links pulling deep between the loose folds of his blubbery neck, garroting the scaly flesh and squeezing the life out of him.

Leia pulled with all her might, summoning strength she never knew she had. She focused her mind and body on one single goal -- killing the beast that had enslaved her and used her like a whore. Her anger drove her, her hatred burning inside as she pulled the chain inch by inch deeper into the Hutt's neck.

Jabba's massive body squirmed and bucked against Leia's chain, nearly tearing her arms off. Finally his copper-red eyes bulged and he gasped his final breath, his slime-coated tongue sliding out of his drooling mouth as he slumped forward, dead.

The Princess let go of the chain, panting for air, sweat running down her half-naked body. She had killed him, her Hutt Master. Strangled by the very chain he enslaved her with. Leia smiled, realizing the poetic justice of her actions, then dropped down from Jabba's throne and found Artoo rolling up to her rescue. She knelt by the faithful droid, lifting the chain that still leashed her to Jabba's throne. Artoo extended his electric cutter and sliced the links in two, freeing the beautiful Princess.

"Come on, let's get out of here," she said, rushing forward.

Artoo paused behind her, discovering his companion C-3PO lying on the ground, assaulted by Salacious Crumb. He zapped the pesky Kowakian vermin away with his cutter and helped C-3PO get to his feet.