Leia's eyes widened at the sheer size of what loomed before her, only to squeeze shut as Jabba gave a tug on her chain.

The Sail Barge, as Jabba had called it, was a massive hovercraft, its deck crowned with three huge, red canopies that did bear some resemblance to the sails of a windcraft. Its massive engines were roaring, and it was already afloat, yet even more deep thrumming sounds arose as more of its workings came to life.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Jabba said behind Leia, slackening the chain; had she been asked this in another situation entirely, Leia might have agreed.

Please, Luke, she thought to the air around her, praying he could hear her, wherever he was. Please, please tell me you can get us out of this. You're our only hope.

The exit from the audience chamber had been one of the longest trips of Leia's life-and, despite the dark, alien surroundings and the disturbing context of her captivity, it was uncomfortably similar to her doom-laden imprisonment by the Empire, in the moments before she watched the Death Star obliterate her homeworld of Alderaan.

Leia had only been too glad that Jabba's repulsorlift-driven throne had just entered a pitch-black hallway when her tears, long overdue, had finally hit.

After a seemingly endless trip through the palace's labyrinthine corridors, the throne had finally entered the cavernous hangars, where the crowds were piling into the Sail Barge and onto a number of land skiffs to accompany it into the Dune Sea.

Just then, Leia briefly thought she saw Luke, Han, and Chewie in the far reaches of the hangar, but the milling crowd was so thick they were quickly lost before her eyes could focus, and she sighed.

Jabba yanked up on the chain. Gagging, Leia forced herself to her feet and begrudgingly assumed his desired slave's embrace, shoving her half-naked body against the Hutt's bulk, hating the disgusting feeling of his squishy, greasy flesh upon the exposed skin of her abdomen. "Mmmhhhh..." Jabba grumbled, and Leia gasped when she felt one of his hands cup her backside in a most uncomfortable and unmistakable grope. To try to escape his hand, she curled her hips forward, but only succeeded in shoving her pelvis even more firmly into the front of his belly. His other, chain-wielding hand lowered and pressed to her side, the cold metal links touching her skin giving her a chill, the mass of flabby rolls squashed around her chest quivering with her as she shuddered.

The harem-mistress, Melina, had told Leia not to worry about Jabba's intentions, that the Hutt was "a pervert, even by Hutt standards, not that perverse." Right now and after a number of other, equally disturbing occasions, Leia highly questioned that statement; she was only too grateful for the distraction, however temporary it may be.

"Jabba!"

Leia's heart passed a single beat as Jabba's eyes lifted from hers to seek his caller, looking fairly annoyed.

"Master Jabba!" the voice called again, and Leia turned her head to identify it, and out of the bustling crowd, a red-haired woman appeared. Leia recognized her from the harem; she was now wrapped in silks and shawls the light blue of the Tattoine sky, their fabric so translucent fabric that there was little beneath left to the imagination. She stopped beside the throne and repeated, "Master Jabba?"

"What is it?" Jabba grumbled, clearly annoyed at the interruption.

The woman leapt atop the throne with such grace and ease that for a moment Leia thought she'd floated up. She stepped just behind Leia and said, "I would like to offer myself to you for the voyage," at which Leia frowned, more puzzled than hopeful at such a self-degrading offer.

"Not this time, Arica," Jabba told the slave, Jabba grumbled, his doughy rolls squishing and rubbing around the front of Leia's chest as he spoke, and she didn't try to hide the repulsed look on her face. "This trip is very significant time for this one."

"So, I could come, too!" Arica said, and Leia saw her appear in the corner of her vision. Something was not rubbing Leia right about her, but she couldn't quite place it. "Besides, you know how, ah...cooperative I can be…"

Leia shivered as she felt Arica's slender arm slip around her waist, right above Jabba's groping hand. Before Leia could even think about what the loaded statement could mean, Arica pressed in beside her, assuming her own embrace against the Hutt. Although Arica's skin was far warmer than Jabba's, Leia still shivered when she felt the other woman's exposed flesh brush against her own-and quickly became uncomfortable when she realized just what was going on.

Leia tensed as she saw Arica's face moving inexorably closer to her own, knowing that there was little, if anything, that she could do about it. She closed her eyes and felt Arica's warm breath on her lips, and waited for the inevitable...

"Leave now, Arica," Jabba said, his voice hardening. "I do not want you with us. That is an order, girl."

Leia opened her eyes in time to see Arica, her lips parted, turning her too-close head to glare at Jabba.

"But Jabba-"

"Now, Arica!" Jabba snarled.

With an annoyed sigh, Arica released Leia and pulled away from Jabba so quickly that his greasy blubber made a disgustingly loud slurp, his slime having soiled the slave's clothes. Arica glared at Leia as she turned away, and Leia felt a shiver travel through her body, sending Jabba's flabs jiggling where they rested atop her chest. Then the slave stepped into the crowd and vanished from sight.

What had that been all about?

Although no Force user, Jabba practically read her mind, for he chuckled and purred to her, "A most worthwhile offer, but I would hate to be distracted from the main event. Arica is a bit...enthusiastic." He chuckled, his flesh jiggling again. "Come to think of it, she started out just as feisty as you," Jabba chuckled with sick amusement. "But she learned her place in time, and became a proper slave-just as you will, my pretty Leia."

Then Jabba's huge, dripping tongue emerged again, dripping slime on her exposed upper chest, and Leia suppressed a moan and closed her eyes as he kissed her.

Finally boarding the barge, Jabba maneuvered his throne deep into the craft. His pet lizard-monkey jumped from the throne and scuttled off to some far corner. Once they parked, Jabba forced Leia back against his belly as they waited for their departure.

The sounds of other vehicles exiting the hangar made Leia's heart sink even deeper into her chest, and as the barge continued to idle for the better part of another hour, she wondered if they would ever actually leave.

When they finally departed the palace, Jabba opened the barge's multitude of windows. Despite the fans blowing all around them, the hot air sweeping through the barge was still sweltering, and Leia tried to keep some distance between herself and the Hutt, as much and as often as she could.

At one point, Jabba had Leia dance for him on the throne. Once the song was over, he pulled her back to himself and slop-[kissed her, then told her she may look outside for a few minutes. He tossed some of the chain's slack at her feet, and Leia guardedly took up his offer, stepping off of the throne and moving to the windows across the way.

Leia gazed out the window at the huge, orange hills of sand as they rolled by, took a deep breath of the hot (but amazingly fresh) air. She let the desert air, heated by Tatooine's twin suns, dry off the slime on her face, and as she wiped it off, one of the land skiffs appeared alongside the Sail Barge, and she gasped.

Han and Luke were on one of the skiffs outside, driving right alongside the sail barge. And Chewie, and Lando, right beyond on another one. Leia leaned in towards the window and placed her arms against the frame, watching her loved ones.

Leia only came back to her senses when a nightmare sound interrupted her: the chain jangling. "Like what you see, Leia?" Jabba called behind her, and the chain tightened.

Determined to stay at the window for as long as possible, she twisted back and glared at the Hutt. Two Jawas were helping bring the chain's remaining slack back to Jabba; she knew her time was nearly up, but then Bib Fortuna appeared, carrying a goblet half as as tall as her arm, filled nearly to the top with dark liquid. Jabba's attention was immediately consumed by the drink as his majordomo climbed up beside him on the throne, and Leia took the opportunity to continue looking out the window.

Just then, Han was saying something to Luke, who turned to him and replied with a confident smirk. She wondered what they were saying; no doubt their usual sarcasm-riddled banter, for even then Han inclined his head and said something out of the corner of his mouth in the way that even now made Leia feel warm, deep down inside.

Then the chain was pulled again, much harder this time, and with a loud, half-choked gag, Leia was easily yanked away from the window. The chain was a cacophony of metallic jangling beneath her as she grunted, struggling to keep her feet beneath her as she ran after the tug, her breasts bouncing uncomfortably inside their ill-fitting cups. She nearly collided with the throne's stone facade, and with the best of her athletic reflexes, she leapt up onto it; however, her momentum continued to throw her forward, swinging her legs and arms out to brace herself. With a final grunt, she half-landed, half-climbed on Jabba's sloped bulk, trying to straighten herself even as her body gracelessly rammed against his, her belly and thighs coming into contact with his thick, doughy flesh with a most disgusting, fleshly smack. Jabba grunted from the collision, and as Leia's ponytail swung around her left shoulder from the impact and caught between their joining fleshes, she took a heavy breath and sighed, a sick, sinking realization creeping through her. After a single yank on her chain, she had unwillingly-unconsciously-ran to Jabba and assumed a nearly perfect slave's embrace.

Leia immediately pressed her hands to Jabba's belly and tried to push herself away, but then something cool and soft pressed her between her shoulder blades-fingers, which she recognized from their taloned tips as belonging to Bib. Ever attentive, Jabba's majordomo pressed hand firmly against her spine, pinning her in place against the Hutt. Narrowing his eyes, Jabba cooed in her face, "My pretty Slave Leia," his slurring words uttered on a rank, heavy breath that was foul and heavy with half-digested wine. Leia turned her head away in disgust, her breasts heaving into thick, squishy rolls with wet squelching sounds as she sighed, and saw he was holding his goblet beside her head-and moving it quickly closer. As the Hutt added, still speaking in the same, sickeningly suggestive purr: "Soon you will learn to appreciate me," she tensed and looked back at him, eyeing his huge, dribbling lips where they spoke uncomfortably close to her chest...

A sudden clatter interrupted the Hutt, and she turned to see R2-D2 and C3-PO had literally run into one another; a tray had fallen behind R2, and with it, a number of glasses and bottles full of boozes he'd been serving. As the two droids bickered and several jawas came by to help clean up, Leia silently thanked Artoo for the distraction.

Turning back to Jabba, Leia watched as he wordlessly offered her the goblet. She reluctantly raised her hands to take it from him, but then he pulled it away, and she lowered her hands in humiliated realization. Blushing furiously, Leia waited for the Hutt to position the goblet before her in his hand until its glass rim touched her lips. He unsteadily tipped it up and forced her to drink. As she'd anticipated, the wine's flavor was bitter and smoky, but it had a fruity flavor that was surprisingly inoffensive; she swallowed, but the Hutt raised the glass higher, and Leia had to force herself to take another mouthful to keep up. She gulped it down hard, but the Hutt kept tipping up the goblet, and Leia blurted into the glass, splurting into the wine, and pulled her head back-and the still-pouring wine spilled down her chin and splashed all over her neck and upper chest. She cried aloud, spitting and coughing, feeling a rush of warmth inside her-and a wall of slimy flesh quaking and jiggling against her half-naked body as the Hutt burst out laughing.

"HO-Ho-ho-ho-ho, HAH-Hah-hah-hah-hyyaaiigh!"

Groaning her disgust, Leia raised a hand to try to wipe some of the wine from her chest. As she did, Jabba licked the side of her face. She groaned louder, then glared at him.

"It would be a shame to waste good wine," Jabba said, licking her face again and chuckling wetly. Ignoring her subsequent groan, he said, "Remove your top, girl."

Leia's heart stopped. He had not just said that, had he? Surely, her understanding of Huttese was flawed; he simply couldn't have-

"The easier to clean you, my pretty," he said, the mockery in his voice unmistakable, and Bib chuckled behind her.

And then Leia knew exactly what was going on. Any remaining doubts she had about the Hutt's actual intentions for her were quashed in that moment. He really did wish for her to strip; didn't matter what he did or didn't do next-the outcome for her was unmistakable. Melina had clearly either been lying or mistaken when she'd told Leia that Jabba wasn't so perverse that she should be concerned. No, Jabba was absolutely a pervert among his fellow Hutts-he wanted her to willingly reveal her nakedness to him.

Leia knew that things look grim for her friends, and even more so for her; any resistance she showed now would surely be met with some form of cruel punishment-or something far worse, if his desired actions were any indication. Summoning up all the courage she had, Leia took a deep breath, glared into the Hutt's eyes, and uttered a firm "No."

She waited for Jabba to get angry, to growl and say something threatening. Instead, he rumbled, "Take it off, slave."

"I said no," Leia repeated, louder.

Jabba, unfazed and seemingly unsurprised at the protest, narrowed his eyes. "Consider your situation, girl," he said coldly. You have no friends to help you, and you have no royalty. Here, you are no Rebel-and you are certainly no princess. You are a slave, you are mine, and you will serve me, my pretty Slave Leia."

"I will never serve you!" Leia snapped.

"Then tell me, slave...what is keeping you in my arms right now?"

Leia glared over her shoulder, ready to deliver a whole new name for Bib Fortuna...but the majordomo was no longer behind her. In fact, he wasn't even on the throne; he was standing on the floor nearby, grinning at the exchange.

Leia's eyes widened, but she refused to believe the growing suspicion. She looked down, where Jabba's arms surely held her...but one was in the air beside her, holding the empty, dripping goblet, and the other remained at the Hutt's side.

Although she had originally been forced against Jabba, and Bib had kept her in place, she hadn't even noticed the Twi'lek's hand disappear from her back, much less that Jabba wasn't holding her. She had remained in the slave's embrace, not by any reinforcement or command-but fully of her own volition, like a proper slave.

Jabba clearly saw the look on his face, for the drooling corners of his mouth curled up in grim satisfaction. "You are learning," he said, and Leia realized what she had done-what she was still doing.

Leia felt tears sting her eyes again, then, but this time, she didn't try to hide them away. She didn't even bother trying to pull away; it was too late, now.

If Leia's friends perished...if she had no help, no hope...Jabba would win. She would be wholly at his mercy-and so would become his slave, in every way. And what was worse...it had already begun.

Jabba's point have been made; Leia's distress over the impending loss of her lover and her friends had begun to cloud her actions, her attitude, her very spirit. Her growing sense of defeat was paving the way to surrender-and subservience. Her will had begun to break to Jabba's-and she was starting to turn into the slave that he wanted her to be.

Slave Leia sniffed, turned her head. She could hold back her tears no longer, and feeling her face crumble into a defeated grimace, she lowered her head. She felt Jabba's arms wrapped around her body, and she let him hold her as she began to sob.

After a long (and long-overdue) weeping, Leia was surprised and not a little suspicious of Jabba when he released her and let her sit down before him. During the long trip into the Dune Sea-over an hour, from what Leia could gather-she waited for Jabba to inevitably make good on his original promise from when she'd been captured, for him to thoroughly enjoy whatever sick, lecherous pleasures he would get from her company. However, he did no such thing; he all but ignored her in favor of food and wine, only pulling on her chain once or twice by accident. It was almost as if he were showing her some form of respect during this difficult period as she came to terms with herself and what she was becoming; and in some small way, Leia was grateful for that.

Soon, the Sail Barge began to slow down. conversely, Leia's heart, having only just returned to its normal rhythm, began to race. They were almost at the Pit of Carkoon.

A firmer tug on the chain made Leia groan, tensing. She glared up at Jabba, but when he ordered her to rejoin him, she forced herself to rise and press against him with little hesitation. Resistance didn't really matter now, did it? Slipping a hand over her backside, Jabba rammed Leia's pelvis firmly into the front of his belly with a wet squelch, a reminder of how he preferred the slave's embrace. As he wishes, Leia thought sourly, and forced her hips to follow suit. Satisfied, Jabba released his grip, and Slave Leia remained pressed up against the beast that she would in time come to call-come to think of-as her master.

"After the execution," Jabba purred, "we shall celebrate, my pet." Slave Leia looked away, feeling the threatening sting of tears again. She closed her eyes as his tongue slopped out, tears mingling with the thick trail of slime that he slurp-kissed across her mouth. "And perhaps," he continued, "once we return to the palace, I shall more formally introduce you to Arica..." He licked his own lips now, and stifling a fearful whimper, Slave Leia trembled against Jabba, her skin crawling with disgust.

Jabba continued to hold her as he grabbed a frog from his food bowl. Slave Leia looked away, but was left listening as he stuffed the thrashing, squealing thing between his toothless gums and swallowed. She could feel Jabba's bulky flabs jiggling wetly where they were crowded around her chest, and groaned her repulsion. Then the Hutt belched horribly, and Leia, feeling nauseous in the cloud of miasma that welled out over her senses. To make matters worse, she heard Jabba slurping at the aftertaste, and she felt the tip of tongue lick at her face, and she had to suppress the urge to throw up.

I may be turning into his slave, Leia thought in a brief attempt at pride, but I'm definitely not going to get used to his mannerisms anytime soon.

As if to test that proud proposition, Jabba uttered another loud, gurgling moan: "Huaghhhhllllllhhhhh..." As he began to licked her face again, this time with more intent, Leia moaned her repulsion and tried to push herself back, but one of the Hutt's chubby arms slid around her shoulders, his wet hand upon her bicep making her shiver.

Despite her fleeting arrogance of only a moment ago, Slave Leia started to struggle in the arms of her cruel master, who began to laugh, pressing his free hand to the base of her spine, ramming her half-naked lower body even closer to his own with a dull clump. He began licking her neck again, his oozing tongue sliding quickly down, saliva running down her neck as his tongue began to slop about over her chest in big, lecherous slurps. Leia tried in vain to push at least her upper body away, and as Jabba squeezed his arms more firmly around her, panic began to set in.

Leia cried aloud as Jabba's tongue contracted and fattened into an enormous, fleshy rod, pulsing and slurping her skin as it slipped even further down, its quivering end wetly easily worming down between her loose top's gold frames to taste the swells of thicker, softer flesh it held. Squirming in Jabba's arms, Slave Leia thought she felt the end of his tail curling up against her foot, its tip tickling her flesh as it slid upward, and she squealed in terror and disgust as his huge, dribbling tongue caressed her flesh, its narrowed tip slipping down between her heaving breasts, and as his tail continued to slide slowly up her bare leg, over her knee, its tip starting to brush her inner thighs, she felt a scream building in her throat-

There was a sudden crackle in the air, and Jabba abruptly, mercifully stopped. Leia uttered a long, wailing, terrified moan even as the announcement came over the loudspeakers hidden in the ceilings, falling silent only when she began to comprehend the message: the caravan had arrived at the Pit of Carkoon, and then Jabba's tongue slowly retracted, thick strings of saliva stretching between it and Leia's slimy cleavage.

"This will continue," Jabba said wetly as he released Leia, reaching a chubby arm for his throne's controls, maneuvering it closer to the windows. As he commanded the heavy metal shades to be raised, and he didn't seem to notice or care when Leia stepped quickly aside and faced away from him. As the windows opened wider, golden shafts of sunlight washed in over her body, quickly drying the traces of slime that remained on her exposed skin. When the light met her eyes, she squeezed them shut, letting the hot air take her tears.

Around them, the crowd moved closer to the windows, leaving plenty of room for the Hutt and his slave. Outside, the landscape position themselves in a great semicircle around the edges of a huge pit in the sand, as if a cave had opened in the ground. Leia stepped forward, craning her neck to look down-and her eyes widened when she saw the bottom of the pit.

An enormous, leathery cone pointed down into the middle of the pit, its apex a ragged hole. Radiating above it were rings of hard flesh, lined with downward-pointing spikes-undeniably fangs. Clusters of tentacles poked out of different points on the thing's periphery, sensing and recognizing the activity above, beckoning. The Sarlacc was nothing less than a massive mouth in the sand-and it was waiting for its next meal.

And directly above it, Luke, Han, and Chewie were being ushered to the edge of their skiff.

Leia balled her fists at her sides, her heart thundering, as she waited.

Just then, Boba Fett appeared nearby, his posture suggesting that he was ready to launch his one-man arsenal into action, if necessary. But why should he? It wasn't as if Luke could-

Get ready.

Luke! Leia had to suppress a smile as his Force-voice entered her thoughts. She looked out across the Sarlacc and saw the Jedi being ushered onto a plank that was extending from the side of the skiff.

I am, Leia thought back to him, though ready for what, she had no idea.

Threepio appeared, hefting a huge, heavy microphone. Jabba told him exactly what to say, and Leia watched in dread as the droid moved before the windows, raised it, and spoke.

"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."

"Threepio!" Han shouted, and the audience fell quiet as they listened with amusement. "You tell that slimy piece of worm-ridden...filth, he'll get no such pleasure from us!" As a collective chuckle arose, Leia watched Han turn to Chewie and say something, to which the Wookee growled.

"Jabba!" Luke called, stepping onto the plank. "This is your last chance. Free us, or die."

Jabba burst out laughing, and Leia looked back as Threepio handed him the microphone. "Move him into position!" he called.

Leia held her breath as she watched a guard on the skiff push Luke towards the end of the plank, directly over the middle of the Sarlacc.

Are you ready, Leia?

Leia thought nothing back; she simply, helplessly stared at Luke, licked and pursed her dry lips, and waited.

"Put him in!" Jabba bellowed, and Leia closed her eyes, her pulse seeming to freeze in her veins. This was it.

If Luke died now, there was no hope. Han and Chewie would follow. And if Lando attempted to intervene, he would no doubt be captured and killed as well. The Rebellion would lose several key members, and it was easy to imagine that the Empire would take advantage of this, and would find ways to ensure their power across the galaxy-and all of this, all of their struggles to free Han, would have been for naught.

And as for Leia, she would face something worse than death: she would remain enslaved to Jabba. She had a little doubt that his loathsome advances would quickly graduate into far more twisted, perverse, cruel, and even more loathsome actions. After what he had asked of Leia earlier, it wasn't hard to imagine just how far the Hutt's twisted perversions would go. And all the while, her will would continue to wear down, until her spirit fully broke, and she came to think of Jabba the Hutt, in every way, as her master-like a proper slave.

Now! Luke's Force-voice seemed to shout, and Leia opened her eyes-and gasped.

Luke was flying! At least, it appeared to be that way-he was flying through the air above the skiff, his body twisted in a graceful somersault as he easily cleared the heads of the confused guards beneath him, and the moment he landed between them, he raised an arm, his fingers extended. Something metallic glinted in the bright sunlight before his hand, and then lowering it, a green beam of energy appeared. No sooner had Leia recognized the lightsaber for what it was had Luke begun to expertly swing it around, cutting into and warding off the thugs around him, knocking one straight down into the Sarlaac's perpetually open mouth.

A frenzied chaos began to unfold around the throne as his guests panicked, trying to figure out what to do. Jabba was shouting his fury, confused and horrified by the sudden turn of tables; he unwittingly yanked Leia's chain, briefly choking her. People were running and screaming, shouting and shaking their heads at each other, totally unprepared for the sudden revolt. Among them, she saw Boba Fett's retreating form as he headed for the stairs-likely headed outside to try and stop Luke; but at least he'd not be here to interfere.

Leia turned back to the window, saw Chewbacca was now free and was helping fight off the guards; blasts from the Sail Barge were rocking the skiff, and-where was Luke? He couldn't have fallen-could he?
Tensing, Leia glanced back at Jabba; he'd dropped the chain and was shouting at Bib to do something. Taking the opportunity, she jumped off the throne and ran to the window, squinting her eyes in the bright light that hit her; Luke had somehow managed to leap onto another skiff and was fighting off the guards there-and just then, Boba Fett landed behind him.

Leia, now! Luke's voice yelled in her mind, and Leia turned back to the Sail Barge interior, once again torn with what she could do. She grabbed at her chain and sighed harshly; how would she be able to escape? Even if she figured something out, there were guards everywhere, and preoccupied as they were, there were too many present; surely someone would try to stop her if they saw her. Setting her jaw, she looked down at the chain and the decorative gold bands that pathetically covered her heaving chest, glittering in the sunlight-

They'll try to stop me if they see me, Leia thought, her thudding heart kick up a beat higher. She glanced up at Jabba's throne-and suddenly knew exactly what to do.

Leia found herself retracing her own steps from earlier as she jumped up on the throne before the Hutt, rising directly in front of his bloated form once again-but he paid no attention to her, his huge head twisted to shout at a nearby guard, his chubby arms waving pathetically around. Leia looked frantically for the right object, something big and heavy and-

The microphone!

Without a second thought, Leia ran up to Jabba, who barely noticed as he hollered, sending thick wet gobs of slime splattering on the guards and his throne as he demanded an end to the coup. Leia barely even flinched as she leaned in to reach beneath his chunky arm to grab the cable from where it had fallen, then pushed herself back and pulled with all her might-and the slimy microphone popped out. She grabbed the microphone in her hand, extended her arm, swung it down through the air with a grunt and slammed it down on the throne's control panel with an electronic crash.

Now Jabba turned to her, still shouting, but before he could do anything, Leia smashed the microphone down on the controls again and again, sending up a shower of sparks that startled the Hutt-

And then the windows slammed shut, and the Sail Barge was thrown into sudden (if incomplete) darkness-and in that moment, Leia knew exactly what she had to do.

Dropping the microphone, Leia pushed herself back from Jabba without any interference. Stepping to the base of his tail, she planted her hands on its huge, heavily-muscled form and heaved herself in the air with a grunt, swinging her legs over it and behind the confused, furious Hutt. She groped at the slackened chain where it had trailed over the Hutt's tail, and hefting the heavy links, she hurled it up in the air and reeled the slack in. The remaining length of chain drew quickly up from where it connected to his throne-a perfect base to hold it nice and tight-and when it met the Hutt's face, Leia grinned.

Now, she agreed triumphantly with Luke, knowing he could hear her. Bracing her boots as firmly as she could, she pulled hard on the chain. Jabba's cry became a choked gurgle as Leia tugged on the chain, pulling it tightly over his throat. The Hutt leaned forward, gagging, and although Leia was rocked forward with him, she reached up and grabbed the chain even closer to where it was wrapped around his fat throat and pulled even harder. Leia might have been much smaller than him, but right then, she felt bigger-as big as a moon, or even a planet.

She found herself thinking of everything she'd gone through in the past couple of days, all the humiliation, all the demoralization, all the disgust, all the pain and fear-oh, so much fear. The Hutt truly had begun to overpower her; he had found a way into her senses, into her will-and from inside, he had begun to break her. And Leia now knew that she was to serve as far more than just a degrading trophy of the Hutt's power-he was going to sexually molest her, maybe even rape her; she had seen it in the Hutt's eyes and felt it in his busy hands and tongue. Whatever Melina did or didn't know of what the Hutt was capable of hardly mattered-he had been well on his way to turning Princess Leia Organa into his sexual slave.

With another hard, air-depriving grunt, she tugged harder on the chain, which had begun to slide up beneath the doughy rolls massed beneath Jabba's chins, and his chubby arms, tongue, and tail thrashed pathetically about. She could sense his struggle was almost over-but now was no time to slow down.

Grunting and heaving with all her might, her biceps squeezing her breasts up in their top in such a way that the Hutt would surely have enjoyed at another time, Leia yanked harder and harder on his chain, choking him like he had once done to her. Wet splurts came as Jabba's phlegmmy nostrils snarked out thick gobs of mucus, and his tongue thrashed wildly about, flinging droplets of slime everywhere. Cringing, Leia leaned forward, allowing him final, gagging attempt at a breath as the monster began to expire.

This was it.

Spreading her bare legs and ramming her knees into Jabba's bulky back, she reached forward, grabbed one final length of the chain, and threw her whole body weight backward. She gritted her teeth and tossed her head back, uttering a heavy, furious groan as she leaned into the death-pull. Leia delivered a final, powerful yank on her master's chain, and as Jabba the Hutt died, so did her enslavement.