On the skiff, the captive trio stood close to one another behind a guard who was acting as lead lookout on the prow. Han squinted at the desert sky and said, “I think my eyes are getting better. Instead of a big dark blue, I see a big light blur.”
“There’s nothing to see,” Luke said. “I used to live here, you know.”
“You’re gonna die here, you know,” Han said. “Convenient.”
“Just stick close to Chewie and Lando,” Luke said, scanning the desert before them. “I’ve taken care of everything.”
Sounding very unconvinced, Han said, “Oh…great!”
On the barge, Jabba pulled hard this time at the chain that bound Leia, yanking her away from the window and up against his side. She tried to pull away, but Bib Fortuna moved in behind her and pressed his long-fingered hand against her bare back, pushing her against the drooling Hutt. Jabba raised a goblet to Leia and drunkenly burbled in Huttese, “Soon you will learn to appreciate me.”
C-3PO was also traveling on the barge. As he made his way past a group of intoxicated aliens, he bumped into a shorter droid who was carrying a tray of drinks. The tray and goblets clattered to the floor, and the droid immediately let out a series of angry beeps and whistles. Looking down, C-3PO said, “Oh, I’m terribly sor—Artoo! What are you doing here?”
R2-D2 thought his appearance spoke for itself, but the astromech beeped a quick reply.
“Well, I can see you’re serving drinks,” C-3PO said. “But this place is dangerous. They’re going to execute Master Luke and, if we’re not careful, us, too!”
Unconcerned, R2-D2 whistled a singsong response.
“Hmm,” C-3PO said. “I wish I had your confidence.”
The barge and skiffs arrived at the Great Pit of Carkoon, which was a huge sand basin. While the escort skiff circled the perimeter, the sail barge came to a hovering stop above the rim at one side of the depression. The prisoners’ skiff stopped in the air above the pit’s center.
Luke peered down over the skiff’s railing and saw a mucous-lined hole—just over two meters in diameter—at the bottom of the deep cone of sand. The hole was actually a mouth, and the mouth belonged to the Sarlacc, an omnivorous subterrestrial monster. Staggered rows of inward-pointing needle-shaped teeth ringed the mouth’s upper area, and long tentacles stretched outward, trying to snag the skiff. A long appendage emerged from the mouth, rising like an angry serpent; at the end of this appendage was a sharp beaked mouth that snapped and bit at the dusty air.
A long, narrow metal plank was extended from the edge of the prisoners’ skiff. The spear-wielding guards then released Luke’s bonds and shoved him onto the plank.
On the barge, Jabba kept Leia against his side as he gazed across the pit to the prisoners’ skiff. At Jabba’s urging, C-3PO picked up a bulky comlink that was hooked up to a loudspeaker. The golden droid’s amplified voice announced, “Victims of the almighty Sarlacc: 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.”
As Jabba took the comlink from C-3PO, no one noticed R2-D2 heading for a nearby stairway that led to the upper deck. Clutching the comlink close to his mouth, Jabba laughed and said, “Jedi…”
Before Jabba could continue, Han shouted back, “Threepio, you tell that slimy piece of worm-ridden filth he’ll get no such pleasure from us.” Han glanced at Chewbacca and added, “Right?”
Chewbacca growled in agreement.
Luke saw R2-D2 roll out onto the barge’s exposed upper deck. The droid had shed the heavy tray of drinks and took his position beside the railing that overlooked the Sarlacc pit.
“Jabba!” Luke called out. “This is your last chance. Free us or die.”
Hearing this seemingly ludicrous threat, Jabba and his motley companions were almost overcome by their own mocking laughter. Because Jabba was holding the comlink right up to his mouth, the barge’s loudspeakers made his laughter rumble over the area. When the hysteria subsided, Jabba said in Huttese, “Move him into position.”
A guard prodded Luke to the edge of the plank until he stood almost directly above the Sarlacc’s gaping maw. Luke looked to Lando and nodded. Lando nodded back.
Luke lifted his gaze to R2-D2 on the barge’s deck, then gave the droid a jaunty salute. It was the signal R2-D2 had been waiting for. A panel slid back from the astromech’s domed head, revealing Luke’s concealed lightsaber. Luke’s original lightsaber had been lost during his duel with Darth Vader on Cloud City, but he’d constructed a new one on Tatooine. He’d already used it, and knew that it worked.
Oblivious to the silent exchange between Luke and R2-D2, Jabba faced the prisoners’ skiff and commanded in Huttese, “Put him in.”
At that moment, Luke jumped off the plank and turned, catching the end of the plank by his fingertips. The plank bent down with Luke’s weight, then sprang back up, catapulting him skyward.
R2-D2 simultaneously launched the lightsaber from his dome. As the weapon arced up and away from the barge, Luke executed a midair somersault and landed on the skiff beside Han and Chewbacca. He casually extended his left arm, and the lightsaber landed in his waiting palm.
Luke instantly ignited the lightsaber and attacked the two guards behind Han and Chewbacca. At the skiff’s stern, Lando tore off his own helmet and swung it hard at the pilot behind the controls. Luke’s lightsaber flashed furiously—two guards dropped their weapons as they toppled overboard, screaming as they slid down the pit’s sandy slope into the Sarlacc’s mouth.
Jabba exploded with rage and Leia trembled. The Hutt ordered the guards around him to go to their battle stations, and the guards went running. As a Gamorrean knocked C-3PO to the floor, Boba Fett raced for the stairway to the upper deck.
Luke swung his lightsaber again and sent two more guards into the deadly pit. Stepping over a spear and a blaster pistol that had fallen to the skiff’s deck, he hurried to untie the bonds on Chewbacca’s wrists. The Wookiee barked anxiously. Luke said, “Easy, Chewie.”
Lando was still struggling with the skiff pilot when some guards appeared on the barge’s upper deck. Jabba had not anticipated trouble from Luke and his allies, so heavy canvas tarpaulin had been secured over the custom-mounted laser cannon to keep the weapon free of sand. While a pair of Gamorreans hastily removed the tarp, a flat-faced Nikto with multiple nostrils slapped a portable blaster cannon onto the deck’s railing. The Nikto fired at the armored skiff, and the power of the blast sent both Lando and the pilot overboard.
A length of rope fell away from the side of the skiff, and Lando grabbed for it, then swung out, dangling over the pit. The pilot wasn’t so lucky and plunged into the Sarlacc.
“Whoa!” Lando shouted, clinging to the rope. “Whoa! Help!”
On the barge’s upper deck, Fett took two swift strides from an open hatch, fired the jets on his backpack, and blasted away from the barge. As Chewbacca untied Han’s bonds, Fett flew over the pit, landed on the prisoners’ skiff, and brought his blaster rifle up fast. But before he could fire, Luke spun with his lightsaber and hacked off the blaster’s barrel.
The skiff was rocked by another blast from the Nikto on the barge. The impact sprayed shards of metal everywhere, and Chewbacca threw himself protectively in front of Han, knocking him to the deck.
“Chewie!” Han shouted. “You’re hit?”
Rolling away from Han, Chewbacca clutched at his left leg and howled.
Han grabbed at the air and said, “Where is he?”
Concerned for his friends, Luke looked away from Boba Fett for just an instant, and the bounty hunter took full advantage of the distraction. He launched a strong metal cable from his wrist gauntlet, and the cable whipped rapidly around Luke, pinning his arms against his sides. But Luke was holding his lightsaber in his right hand, and his wrist was still free; bending it, he brought the lightsaber’s blade straight up and sliced through the cable.
As the cable fell away from Luke, another blast struck the skiff, knocking Boba Fett to the deck. The bounty hunter remained motionless as Lando, still dangling below the skiff, shouted, “Han! Chewie!”
“Lando!” Han called back.
Just then, laserfire from a different direction whizzed past Luke’s head. He turned to see it came from the blaster-wielding guards on the escort skiff, which had swung in over the Sarlacc pit. Thinking Fett was disabled and that Han and Chewbacca could take care of Lando, Luke sprang through the air to land on the other skiff.
As Luke swung his lightsaber, Chewbacca barked at Han, directing him to pick up a dropped spear. Then Chewbacca saw Boba Fett, who was badly shaken, pushing himself up from the deck. The Wookiee barked desperately to Han.
“Boba Fett?!” Han answered, startled, as he picked up the spear.
Fett saw Luke fighting on the neighboring skiff. Using his right arm to steady his left, the dazed bounty hunter raised his wrist gauntlet and aimed at Luke. Fett fired, but the shot went high. Behind him, Han repeated, “Boba Fett?! Where?” He turned blindly, swinging the spear hard.
By sheer luck, the spear whacked the middle of the bounty hunter’s backpack. The impact caused the jetpack to ignite, and Fett was launched from the skiff like a missile. His flight sent him smashing against the side of the sail barge, then he fell back, tumbling to the pit below. The weight of his armor and pack caused him to slide that much faster down the pit’s slope and into the Sarlacc’s mouth. A moment later, the Sarlacc burped loudly.
Jabba was so stunned by the sight of Boba Fett’s apparent demise that he finally dropped his bulky comlink. Leia snatched it up and brought it down hard upon an instrument panel that housed the barge’s power circuits. All the shuttered windows slammed shut at the same time as the lights went out.
Leia leaped up behind Jabba, draping her chain over his head and around his bulbous neck. Hanging on to the chain, she then threw herself backward, letting her weight pull the chain taut against his throat. She put her muscle into it and twisted the chain hard. The Hutt’s flaccid neck contracted under the tightening chain, and his eyes bulged out from their sockets.
Leia kept on tugging with all her might. Now you know how it feels to have cold iron around your throat, Jabba!
The Hutt’s tail twitched, then his scum-coated tongue flopped out of his head.
He was dead.
Outside the barge, Luke continued to fight the guards on the escort skiff while Han extended his spear down to Lando’s dangling form below the other skiff. Stretching the spear out as far as he could, Han said, “Lando, grab it!”
“Lower it!” Lando said as Luke sent more guards into the pit.
“I’m trying!” Han replied.
The Nikto fired again from the barge and an explosive blast struck the skiff, knocking the repulsorlift craft on its side. Although the skiff’s steering vanes dug into the sand and prevented the craft from sliding into the pit, virtually everything on deck—including Han, Chewbacca, and a few scattered weapons—started to slide overboard. The rope snapped, and Lando fell to the sandy slope above the Sarlacc’s open mouth, but he dug his heels into the sand and managed to stop his descent.
One of Han’s feet snagged the skiff railing and he found himself dangling upside down above Lando and the pit. “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Han shouted. Above him, the wounded Chewbacca hung on to the skiff for dear life. Han called, “Grab me, Chewie! I’m slipping!”
The Wookiee grabbed Han’s feet, and Han extended the spear again toward Lando, who was clutching at the side of the pit, trying to dig a handhold. On the other skiff, Luke had dispensed with the last guard when he looked up to see more armed thugs running out onto the barge’s deck, where the Gamorreans had finally removed the tarp from the laser cannon. As the figures on the barge fired at his friends, Luke leaped from the skiff to the bare-metal side of the sail barge. His body slammed against the hull but he caught hold of the edges of a closed window.
Suddenly, a hatch opened to his left and a leathery-skinned Weequay popped out, holding a menacing blaster pistol. Luke reached over, grabbed the Weequay’s wrist, and yanked him straight out of the hatch. The alien yelled as he fell past Lando to the waiting Sarlacc, who hadn’t eaten so well in a long time.
Lando lay motionless to avoid slipping further. Above him, Chewbacca continued to cling to the upside-down Han, who extended the spear again to Lando and said, “Grab it!” Lando reached carefully. Han said, “Almost…you almost got it!”
But the Nikto and other gunners fired yet again from the barge, striking the front of the tilted skiff and causing Lando to let go of the spear. Lando shouted, “Hold it! Whoa!”
The gunners were about to release another barrage when Luke leaped onto the barge’s deck. He activated his lightsaber and made quick work of the Nikto, then moved fast toward the other guards, alternately cutting down their weapons and deflecting fired laserbolts back at the shooters.
Han extended the spear to Lando again. “Gently now,” Han said. “All…all right. Easy. Hold me, Chewie.”
Lando screamed. One of the Sarlacc’s tentacles had coiled itself tightly around his ankle and was dragging him down.
Hanging onto the spear, Han glanced up and hazily saw the barrel of a guard’s fallen blaster sticking out from the skiff. “Chewie!” Han shouted. “Chewie, give me the gun.” The Wookiee passed the blaster down to Han’s free hand. Han said, “Don’t move, Lando.”
“No, wait!” Lando cried. “I thought you were blind!”
“It’s all right,” Han said. “Trust me. Don’t move.”
Lando saw that Han, still fuzzy-eyed, was unintentionally aiming the blaster’s barrel at Lando’s legs. “A little higher!” Lando shouted. “Just a little higher!”
Han adjusted his aim and fired. The laserbolt struck the tentacle, and the Sarlacc let out a pained shriek as it released Lando, who grabbed the spear and held tight.
“Chewie, pull us up!” Han shouted. “All right…up, Chewie, up!”
Chewbacca began pulling Han up, but his muscles were strained. Fortunately, Lando was able to work his way up the steep slope, and he climbed back onto the skiff to help the Wookiee.
During all this commotion, R2-D2 had managed to avoid being hit or trampled and had returned to the banquet room to find Leia still chained to Jabba’s corpse. From his cylindrical body, R2-D2 readily deployed and extended his laser torch, then fired a controlled burst at the chain, neatly cutting it and freeing Leia.
“Come on,” Leia said to R2-D2. “We gotta get out of here.”
As they raced for the exit, R2-D2 found C-3PO lying on the floor, kicking and screaming. Salacious Crumb was on top of him and had pulled the droid’s right photoreceptor straight out of his eye socket.
“Not my eyes!” C-3PO yelled. “Artoo, help! Quickly, Artoo. Oh! Ohhh!”
Deploying his laser torch again, R2-D2 bravely raced over and zapped Salacious Crumb. The monkey-lizard screamed and leaped to the upper rafters.
“Beast!” C-3PO exclaimed before he hurried after R2-D2, heading for the hatch to the upper deck.
Leia was already there. She stepped out of the hatch to find Luke engaged in combat with several guards. Swinging his lightsaber, Luke warded off laserbolts and fought fiercely. He caught sight of Leia and said, “Get the gun! Point it at the deck!”
Leia turned to the large laser cannon. Following Luke’s instructions, she stepped over the removed tarp and climbed up onto the weapon’s turret platform. As she began to swivel the cannon around, Luke raised his lightsaber to fend off another attacker and repeated, “Point it at the deck!”
A guard fired at Luke and the blast hit the back of his mechanical hand. His hand was sensory wired, and Luke groaned at the sudden stab of pain. Maintaining his grip on the lightsaber, Luke pushed the pain from his mind and lashed out to dispose of the guard who’d shot him.
Across the deck, R2-D2 beeped wildly, urgi
ng C-3PO to head for a gap between the railings on the barge’s starboard side, which overlooked a sandy dune. His vision still impaired from his encounter with Salacious Crumb, the golden droid said, “Artoo, where are we going? I couldn’t possibly jump…”
R2-D2 butted C-3PO, sending him over the edge to land headfirst in the sand below. Without hesitation, R2-D2 boldly stepped off and landed beside his friend.
Luke ran along the empty deck toward Leia and the laser cannon, which was now pointed at the deck. Luke grabbed hold of a rigging rope from one of the barge’s masts, then looked to Leia and said, “Come on!”
Leia ran to Luke. He tightened his grip on the rope and wrapped an arm around Leia’s waist, then kicked the trigger of the laser cannon. The cannon fired into the deck as Luke and Leia swung out from the barge. Sweeping over the sand pit, they landed on the skiff beside Han, who was treating Chewbacca’s wounded leg.
Lando was at the skiff’s controls. Luke said, “Let’s go! And don’t forget the droids.”
“We’re on our way,” Lando said with a winning smile.
A loud explosion rocked the sail barge, as Lando guided the skiff around to the barge’s starboard side, where they saw R2-D2’s periscope and C-3PO’s legs sticking out of the sand. Lando hastily deployed two large electromagnets from the bottom of the skiff and hoisted both droids up from the dune just before a greater explosion tore through the barge.
A chain of explosions followed. As the skiff sped off across the desert, heading for the Millennium Falcon and Luke’s X-wing starfighter, Jabba’s sail barge settled into the sand and disappeared in one final conflagration.
Imperial Star Destroyers were among the ships in the blockade orbiting Tatooine. The blockade had been in place since Darth Vader had failed to capture Luke Skywalker at Bespin. It hadn’t been easy for Luke’s X-wing and the Millennium Falcon to avoid the blockade when they’d traveled to Tatooine to rescue Han Solo, but getting off had been relatively simple, thanks to R2-D2.
Return of the Jedi (Junior Novelization) Page 4