Chapter 2

"Huh. Have to say I'm surprised that he stuck us in one of the nicer rooms," Leia muttered as soon as their escort left the pair alone. They were standing in a large suite area, with attached bath and bedrooms, all lavishly furnished. Luke quickly moved towards the lone window, peering around the darkening landscape outside.

"Unfortunately, I can't say I'm surprised we aren't in a good position to signal Aunt Soka and Uncle Rex." The young man shook his head, turning back towards his sister. "When do you think the others will get in touch with us?"

She frowned. "Not for a while yet, I'd say. Probably closer towards the middle of the night than now."

"I'll take first watch, then, if you want."

"Ohhh no, I remember what happened the last time you did that - I woke up at dawn in a camp full of fresh whis-bull droppings with you asleep at your post!"

The twins continued to bicker, grinning all the while, as they inspected the rooms for surveillance devices and secret entrances. Finding one such hidden door, they quickly shifted one of the chairs in front of it, the better to trip up anyone who came through. Once the place was clean of cameras or listening bugs, the pair dared to relax.

A little while later, two droids followed by a human guard entered, each carrying a tray of food and drinks. Luke and Leia thanked them, gesturing for the meals to be set down on the low central table, and waited for the servers to depart again.

The guard closed the door behind them, before turning to face the pair of Jedi. "Well, stage one is complete," Cassian Andor said as he peeled off his helmet. "I'm not entirely certain how well stage two will go, however."

"Don't worry, Captain," Leia grinned. "We're ready to handle any complications."

"Maybe so, but I'd feel a lot better once we get straight just what those complications might be, and what you two have in store for them."

Nodding their agreement, the twins gestured for him to join them by the table, and all three munched on the available food as they discussed the palace's layout, security, booby-traps, and, most importantly, Han's locations. Leia outright growled when she learned that Jabba had set him up as a wall ornament, still frozen in carbonite.

For the better part of a year, the twins and their friends in the Alliance had been chasing Boba Fett all around the Outer Rim, only for him to finally pull a fast one a couple months before in slipping Han to one of Jabba's regular supply deliverers. The bounty hunter continued his evasions as if he were still holding the Correllian prisoner, keeping the pair of Skywalkers focused on him until a dream vision tipped Luke off to where they'd find their friend. A bit of infiltration later, and their spy confirmed Han's presence on Tatooine, prompting a change in plans.

They still had Shmi and Biggs chasing Fett, in order to keep up the pretense of falling for his ruse. In the meantime, though, the Jedi set up a plan with the Rogue One team to rescue Han.

"I can try to redirect the central room's guards when the midnight shift swaps out with the early morning one," Cassian murmured, idly fiddling with a tilberry. "It would give you perhaps a ten minute opening to get Solo down from the wall bracket, but I wouldn't recommend waking him up until all three of you are safely out of the fortress entirely.

Leia bristled, but reluctantly calmed when Luke spoke up. "Carbonite-sickness, sis. We don't know what side-effects he'll be suffering from - and an extra hour inside the stuff at this point won't make a difference."

"Fine. But as soon as we're on the ship, we get him out."

"Agreed."

"In that case," Cassian said, fighting back a yawn, "I'll tell the others, to prepare, to, ah... Huh." Across from him, the twins blinked in confusion as the man grew visibly sleepy right before their eyes. Then Luke yawned as well, as Leia started to tip sideways in her seat.

Cassian was the first to slip into slumber, berry dropping from his limp fingers. The twins tried to get back to their feet when they realized what was happening, but whatever drugs had entered their bodies worked to quickly. Less than two minutes later, all three humans were out cold.

Not long after that, the main door to their chambers opened again, revealing a group of Gamorreans. They snorted and snuffled amongst themselves, picking up the trio before departing the room again.

-T&T-

Half a galaxy away, Darth Vader paused in his paperwork.

A slight tremor in the Force had caught his attention, by simple dint of resonating with the signatures unique to his children. Tentatively, Vader extended his senses outward, trying in vain to tamp down the hope that either or both of the twins had called for him.

No such luck.

Luke and Leia were as silent in the Force as ever.

...too silent.

-T&T-

Stifling a groan, Luke blearily blinked his eyes open, wondering why he seemed to be lying on a cold stone surface.

After a moment's inspection, it turned out to be because he was, in fact, sprawled across the floor of a chilly room carved directly out of bedrock.

"I," he announced to the dim space around him. "Am never eating another tilberry ever again."

"That makes two of us," a sour voice answered, from what sounded like the next cell over. Carefully, Luke pushed himself upright, before leaning against a wall as he head began to spin.

"Are you alright, Captain?"

"Just fine." The older man grumbled. "My partner is never going to let me hear the end of this, though."

Luke couldn't help the slight snicker that escaped his lips. As automatic as breathing, he tried to mentally nudge Leia with his amusement, only to stiffen when the Force moved out of reach. Panic surged, before he fought it back down.

"Where's my sister?"

Cassian didn't have time to answer the young man's concerned query before a groan came from another nearby cell.

"Kriff!" Sighing in relief, Luke slumped back again as he listened to his twin let out a stream of profanity. When faced with the disturbing sensation of being able to sense the Force, but not not work with it, the sound of Leia cursing their captors with every foul word she knew in six different languages was very welcome - it meant she was still alive and not being held prisoner out of reach, after all.

The memory of their brief imprisonment aboard the Death Star flashed through his mind, amusing Luke with the thought that Jabba was a more considerate jailer than Vader...

-T&T-

"Something's wrong."

Ahsoka closed her eyes and sighed. Next to her, Rec automatically stiffened, waiting for more information. Even K-2SO and C-3PO quit their quiet grumbling in order to pay attention.

Bodhi Rook concentrated on the encrypted message coming through, paling as he deciphered it piece by piece. "Jabba went for a double cross. He drugged the food sent up to the twins - kriff, and Cassian must have eaten some of it too. All three of them are down in the cells."

"What about the others, Lieutenant?"

"...No, none of them have been compromised. But," Bodhi looked up at the clone and Jedi anxiously. "This really throws a spanner in the hyperdrive."

Ahsoka let out another sigh. "Understatement. Alright, we'll give them half a solar cycle to try and sort this out themselves. After that, though, Rex and I are taking over."

The trooper grimaced, but nodded his agreement. "I'll make sure the grappling lines are in working order." He headed off, Bodhi returned to their ship's comm to send a message reply, and the droids started up their renewed complaints while Ahsoka reached into the Force.

Both Luke and Leia were alive, but beyond that simple fact she couldn't pick up any helpful information - it was if the pair were caught inside a bubble, separated from the Force at large. While searching for a weakness in the strange shield, Ahsoka accidentally brushed her awareness against another who was reaching towards the light of the young Skywalkers.

Her first instinct was to pull back behind tight mental shields. Muscling past that intense desire, the Jedi kept still, letting a few stray thoughts cross over from the darkness: younglingsabsentconcernconfusion.

For the second time since Bespin, Vader was displaying genuine fear for Luke and Leia, strong enough that his former padawan could pick up on it.

Twinsdanger, she let slip. Friendrescuecaptured.

An overwhelming demand for an explanation loomed against her conscious mind.

Yourfault. Vader's demand shuddered, and Ahsoka let a bit of her old vindictiveness lend strength to the thoughts she sent his way. FriendSoloJabbaTatooine.

She knew good and well that the mechanical limbs that enabled Vader to move were highly susceptible to sand and other fine grit. Setting foot on Tatooine, or any desert world for that matter, would be a risk to his continued mobility and the imposing demeanor he needed to portray at all times.

Perhaps he'd come to Jabba's Palace himself. Perhaps he'd merely send a team of his best soldiers. But either way, Ahsoka had just guaranteed that, should she and Rex fail, the twins would still be rescued.

Vader might not treat them well, but he would keep Luke and Leia alive, which was more than she could say for the Hutt...