Chapter Text
Chapter 6- Generosity of a Hutt
It took the better part of a week to travel from Hoth to Tatooine. Every time they switched hyperspace lanes they had to drop out of lightspeed which seemed dumb to Daisy. She understood that the math for traveling at lightspeed was hard. But if you were traveling on predetermined routes, you should just be able to move from one route to another.
Daisy’s dislike for the science behind how faster than light travel worked aside, she was appalled to learn that the ship's Navicomputer was in fact a droid's brain. The idea that Han had cannibalized a droid icked her out. She could almost understand the reasoning for doing it in the heat of the moment. But Han had owned the Falcon for years now and had never changed the navicomputer. She had wandered into the computer room after they started the last leg of their journey and just stared at the computer systems.
“Where are you L3-37?” She wondered aloud. She knew the droid couldn’t hear her. The only part of L3-37 that still existed was her brain. She didn’t have the audio processors necessary to hear her. That fact only made Daisy sadder for the droid. The more time Daisy spent with C-3PO and GNK, the harder it became to see droids as just robots. Leia found Daisy standing there in the computer room some time later, Daisy wasn’t sure just how much time had passed.
“Han makes some strange decisions doesn’t he.” she said coming to stand next to the inhuman.
“That he does.” Daisy agreed. “I get that the droid was dying and the Falcon was in dire straits. But that doesn't make the situation any sadder.”
“No it doesn’t.” The princess replied. “You know I used to have a droid, her name was Lola, Well it was L0-LA59, but I called her Lola. When I was a kid I went everywhere with that droid.” Leia looked around the computer room with a sense of melancholy about her. “I left her on Alderaan right before it was lost. I miss that droid sometimes. I couldn't imagine using her processors like this.”
“Like I said I can understand the situation Han was in at the time, I just don't understand why he didn't replace it afterwards.” Daisy said, taking one last look at the computer room before leaving.
“We should be arriving on Tatooine soon," Leia said following Daisy out into the lounge slash kitchenette area.
“Whoopie, gangsters, slaves, pirates. Just what I needed to make my day complete.” Daisy replied sardonically. “I guess since we’re with Han that technically makes us pirates.”
Leia rolled her eyes, "don't remind me.”
Daisy looked down at her clothes. Shortly after boarding the Falcon Leia had given her a black tunic to replace the shirt that had been ruined by the prob droid. She really needed to replace her whole outfit. She was still wearing the pants from the outfit she wore as the vigilante Quake. Maybe when they landed in Mos Eisley she could talk Leia into buying her new clothes. She really needed her own money.
Leia must have seen a look on her face because she walked over to Daisy and gave her a once over and grimaced. “It’s not the best look.”
“Well I'm wearing half of a tactical suit from a planet that just discovered long range space travel.” Daisy replied with a smirk. “I’m not exactly hip to the fashion trends in this half of the galaxy.”
Leia patted Daisy on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll fix that.” The princess gave the inhuman another once over that was slow and left her blushing. “You look like a duster and a wide brimmed hat would suit you.” Leia noted with a smirk of her own. The princess was clearly enjoying this. “You look like a girl who needs more than one gun belt.”
“Well, I do like guns.” Daisy replied, her smirk widening. “You can never have too many weapons.”
“I’m sure we can scrounge something up for you.” Leia said while turning towards the cockpit. “Hey Han” the princess shouted, already walking towards the corridor that led away from the galley.
“What princess?” The smuggler shouted back.
Daisy couldn’t help snickering. “They’re like an old married couple.” She looked toward the lounge where C-3PO had been sitting. “They haven’t even kissed yet.”
“My dear I should hope not.” The golden plated droid exclaimed. “Orgainics have no sense of proprietary.”
Leia disappeared into the cockpit only to turn back around and walk out with Han on her heels.
“What's this about now? Han asked while coming to join them in the lounge.
“I just wanted to know if you had a spare blaster laying around that Daisy could use while we’re on Tatoonie.” Leia explained. “I’d feel better in Jabba's palace if she had a weapon.”
Han looked over at Daisy and chuckled. “Her? “He questioned “miss, ‘I can disable a blaster by just looking at it’?”
“Thats not really all that helpful in a firefight.” Daisy said, crossing her arms. “And if it's all the same to you I'd rather not reveal my abilities.”
Leia nodded her head in agreement. “”That’s a fair point, we don't want anyone in Jabba’s palace getting word to the Imperials that she’s a force user.”
Han’s face grew serious. “No, you're right.” He said, nodding his head. “I might have something that would suit you.”
The smuggler moved out of the galley toward the bunk area of the ship and came back several minutes later with a gunbelt in one hand. The blaster holstered in the belt was larger than han’s and had two barrels. It was black with a wooden handle, and Daisy was instantly in love.
“This used to belong to someone I worked with once.” Han said, handing the gun belt over to Daisy. “The power cell only has enough juice for 6 shots before you have to reload.” He said pointing at the part of the blaster that looked like the cartridge of a revolver. Han took the blaster out of the holster and demonstrated how to ‘break’ the barrel to change out the energy cell. “The cells can be recharged so you don't want to just toss them, but you have 6 packs on the belt.”
Daisy took the blaster from Han and holstered it before she unbuckled it and slipped it around her hips. The belt had clearly belonged to a man as when fastened the belt was loose on Daisy and slipped down slightly on her hips. Luckily her hips were wide enough that the belt wasn’t going to fall off. Daisy honestly liked the way it looked. Once settled Daisy noticed there was a second holster that was empty.
“Gonna look a little weird with only one blaster in this belt.” She commented.
“We can probably find something to put there in Mos Eisley.” The princess said, tugging experimentally on the empty holster and satisfied that the belt stayed in place.
Han rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, guy I got it off of lost the other blaster in a fight.”
“It's better than no blaster at all.” the inhuman said. She practiced drawing and holstering the weapon a few times before clicking the tab to hold the blaster in place.
“Damn right” Han said. “That’s an RSKF-44, it's one of the most powerful single hand blasters on the market.”
Daisy grinned while thumbing the back of the hand grip. “Nice”
“I’d complain about you going macho on me if it wasn’t damn attractive.” Leia mumbled.
“Hey, what am I, chopped liver?” Han complained.
Leia gave him a once over, "I guess you’re not all the scruffy looking.”
Han preened.
Daisy rolled her eyes.
A few hours later the Falcon dropped out of hyperspace above Tatooine. Moments after entering regular space an alarm in the cockpit blared.
Chewy wailed in response and Han dove into the pilot's seat as Daisy and Leia took their seats behind them.
“We’re getting hailed by Jabba's security forces.” Han explained, flipping a switch on his console. A static-y voice came over the comm speaking in what Daisy recognized as Huttese from going through C-3PO’s memory banks. She didn’t understand what was being said, but from the desperate way Han was trying to sweet talk, she took it they were in trouble. As her favorite sith lord used to say, desa bombad.
After a few moments of Han trying to explain that he was here to pay Jabba back the comm fell silent.
“That didn’t sound good for us.” the inhuman deadpanned.
“No shit,” Han replied. “We can’t land at Mos Eisley, Jabba wants us to go directly to his palace.”
“Probably wants to make sure you can't get away without paying him.” Leia interjected.
Chewy let out a short bark, to which Han reached over and scratched his chest. “Don’t worry, we have his money so he’s not going to kill us.”
“But he might kill us and take the money.” Daisy said, "That's what I would do if an asset had gone awol.”
Han looked back at her with a raised brow. “Thats awful cutthroat for a Jedi.”
Daisy shook her head. “Like I said, I'm not a Jedi, just someone who can use the force.” She explained. “I used to be a spy. I even ran a spy network for a bit before going out on my own.”
“That's gonna come in handy when dealing with these low lifes.” Leia responded. “Present company included.”
“Hey!”
Multiple ships converged on their location herding them toward the planet. Their escorts did not leave them until after they had entered the atmosphere and were approaching Jabba’s palace.
The structure of the palace was a lot more intimidating in person. The large central tower loomed over the horizon.
The Falcon set down in the sand.
The desert heat was oppressive, a fact Daisy could tell just by the way the heat from the sun permeated the ship's cockpit. This was not going to be a fun place to visit.
Not long after they had set down a tall pale skinned person with long white tendrils coming out of his head, exited the Palace. He was followed by a man in full armor including a helmet. The helmeted man Daisy recognized immediately.
“Boba Fett.”
“This isn’t gonna be good.” Han said, standing up from his captain's chair.
Daisy followed Han out of the cockpit and toward the exit ramp of the ship. Once Han switched on the ramp the heat from Tatooine rushed past them. The wind brought rough grains of sand in the air whipping past and scratching their faces.
The tall man stepped forward gesturing towards the bounty hunter behind him who drew his blaster and trained it on the group as they came down the ramp.
“Bib Fortuna” Han said, holding up his hands toward the tall pale man. “Its been a long time."
"Dispense with the pleasantries Han Solo” Bib said witha stream lookonhis face "For your sake I hope you brought Jabba his money."
“Hey I'm a man of my word” the pirate said gesturing back toward his ship where Chewy was pulling a cart down the ramp behind us.
Bib didn’t comment and gestured that they follow him before turning and marching toward the palace. Boba Fett waited for their entire group topassbefore takignup the rear. Daisy kept an eye on him as they walked and tried to memorize his vibrations so she would know if he tried anything.
Daisy knew Boba was a clone but it was interesting that his vibrations matched those of some of the people she had felt back at the rebellions base on Hoth. The rebellion must be employing retired clone troopers.
It took several minutes to walk to the palace door and through the large entryway. The entryway itself was dark and only illuminated by small yellow orbs along the walls.
After a very tense few minutes they exited the wide hallway into a large chamber with the giant slug himself situated in the center of the room.
Jabba was repugnant, Daisy had to fight to keep her disgust being visible on her face. Did Jabba ever take a bath?
“His excellency welcomes you,” Bib Fortuna said, gesturing to the large slug sitting behind him. “The mighty Jabba the Hutt is pleased to see your return Han Solo.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” Han replied, keeping his hand near his blaster as his eyes swept the room.
The slug that was Jabba said something in huttese before releasing a deep belly laugh.
“Jabba sees that you have brought another prize with you.” Bib said looking at Princess Leia. “A leader of the rebellion against the Empire. Quite the prize you have brought the mighty Jabba.”
Leia stepped forward and began to retort but Daisy held out her hand stopping the princess.
“The princess isn't a bargaining chip Jabba.” The inhuman declared. “We came with Han to make sure you got your money and that he made it out of here alive.” She said rolling up her sleeves and placing her hand on her blaster. “I can guarantee I’m a better shot than anyone in this room.”
The great green slug’s laughter filled the room. It took nearly a minute for Jabba’s laugh to subside and he could respond to her in Huttese.
“The mighty Jabba says he likes you." Bib Furtuna relayed. “He says you're just his kind of scum.”
Daisy sneered, not deigning to respond.
The Hut let out a long string of Huttese, still with a hint of laughter in his voice. “His excellency says he planned to feed Solo to the Rancor.” Bib said while stomping his foot causing a loud roar to echo out from below the floor. “However now he believes you will be best served fulfilling a different task.”
Han looked to the ground with a worried look on his face. “What exactly is the task he wants me to do?”
Bib chuckled, “Someone has been raiding one of our spice lines out near the Jundland Wastes.” he explained. “His Excellency wishes for you to find out who is infringing on his territory and take care of it.”
Daisy slowly removed her hand from her blaster. “Do you want them dead or alive?” she asked.
Jabba laughed.