AN: So, this is very very late. I apologize for that.

In my defense, it was also very, very hard. Action sequences are not my strong suit. I'm entirely happy with the result, but hey, I delayed this long enough. Enjoy, and please, please, tell me what you think!

Chapter 25: Crash

Boba Fett loomed over Mara, and she felt him regarding her intensely.

"I recognized your dance," he said, almost casually, "from the moment I saw it. Took me a while to remember where I'd seen it, though."

"There's no reason you should have seen it anywhere," Mara said, her voice perfectly steady. He shouldn't have. Using her practice katas as a dance should have been perfectly safe. How the kriff had he recognized them?

"The last time I saw someone move like that, they were holding a lightsaber. Using it to murder my father." He leaned in close. "Listen close. If you value your life, you'll answer plainly. Where did you learn that dance?"

"I don't know what you're–" She cut off as his arm shot out and landed on her neck, pinning her to the wall. His other arm came up beside her and she felt a blaster against her head.

"I'll ask one more time," he said. His helmet didn't allow for much expression in his voice, but she still heard the growl plain as day. "You learned that dance from someone, girl. A Jedi. Who? Where can I find them?" His eyes narrowed. "Was a dance all you learned?"

She tensed. Very, very carefully, she reached out with the Force, feeling for the blaster. "I saw the dance in a holo," she said. "An old one, most of it I couldn't access. I just saw the one set of exercises." She found the right switch, heard the slight click as the blaster's safety engaged, and relaxed slightly. Imperceptibly, she hoped. "I didn't think it was anything important. It was just pretty, so I learned it."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"It's the truth," she insisted, reinforcing her words with a hint of Force Persuasion.

"Tell me where the holo is now." The blaster poked her head a little more firmly.

"I lost it. When I was captured by Jabba. He has it, somewhere."

There was a silence. The helmet hid Fett's expression, but she could feel his mind ticking through possibilities. Finally, he grunted. "I don't need you, then," he said, and he pulled the trigger.

The safety held and the blaster didn't fire, but Mara knew she had about two seconds before Fett realized what had happened. She grabbed the blaster, shoving it upwards toward the ceiling, and her other arm came up to elbow Fett in the stomach. The blow bounced off his armor without doing damage, but it forced him back two inches, and that was enough for Mara to bring her leg up and lash out, backing the kick up with the Force.

He stumbled back, but his grip on the blaster didn't lessen, and the shock was quickly wearing off. She needed to improve her position, fast.

She ducked down and drove her elbow into the back of his knee as she rolled past, and came up facing him, but backing away. The door to the throne room was beside her, and for a moment she debated whether safety in numbers or keeping her cover were more important. Then he was aiming his blaster at her again, and she dove out of the way just as a bolt flew past her head. Safety in numbers won. Even Feet wouldn't shoot into a crowd, not when the crowd was under Jabba's protection.

She darted into the passage, and jumped down the stairs. Only a few people turned immediately. For an instant, she stood in a half-crouch, looking around, then her mind started to work. Look scared. Keep your cover. Only Fett knew she wasn't a helpless slave girl. She could use that, she could –

Fett came barreling in, raising his blaster towards her, and her reflexes took over. She kicked out. The blaster slipped from his hand, flew across the room. As he turned to grab after it, she spun around and kicked him in the face. A blur – Luke – leaped past her, tackling Fett. Both went down.

A moment before they were up again. The three of them stood in an uneven triangle, poised to attack. They were the center of attention. All around them rose up shouts and jeers, and Mara knew that even if they survived this, there would be more questions than they could easily answer.

This was it. The end of their Trials was upon them, one way or another.

She took stock of the situation. It was two to one, and the blaster Fett had been using was lost to the crowd, but she saw at least a dozen attachments to his armor that were probably weapons of some sort. It all depended on what he was willing to use. How willing he was to risk the crowd to take them down. Probably he'd come in cautiously at first, unwilling to burn bridges with Jabba. They had to take him down fast, before he had a chance to reevaluate.
She felt Luke's intentions shift, knew he was going to move a moment before he did, knew where he was going to go. She launched herself at the other side of Fett, flanking him. They flew as one toward their opponent.

The two of them connected at the same time, driving Fett back a step. He braced himself. No attacks, not yet, but he blocked all theirs. The only time Mara connected, it was with the weaker strikes, the ones his armor would absorb. He was like a wall. They might as well be dancing around him. Jabba was roaring something. Encouragement, maybe. The crowd echoed him, and the space around them was rapidly clearing.

Felt struck. Mara dodged it by an inch. It sent her reeling off balance, and Fett's next blow connected, knocking her down. He brought up his arm, and Luke jabbed at it. A net flew from an attachment to his armor, but Luke's blow had ruined his aim. It fell, empty, beside her, and she had time to stand up.

She turned to face the fight, intending to join in. After a moment, though, she realized she was unnecessary. Luke had this. He was matching Fett, blow for blow. Every second, he gained ground. He was determined and focused, in tune with the Force. Plus, he was actually wearing body armor. She wasn't.

So she stood back for a moment, darting a glance towards Jabba. He was still wrapped up in the fight, but as soon as it was over, he'd have questions they couldn't answer. She had to deal with him here, and now. She glanced around.

Nothing. Rutan caught her attention, trying to push through the crowd to help Luke, but he was too far from Jabba to help. Sharia's eyes were on Mara, looking shocked and confused, but that wasn't helpful either. She had no weapons, nothing useful. If only her lightsaber were somewhere nearby, if only…

Half in desperation, she opened herself up to the Force, dropping into something like meditation. The Force flooded into her, and her tension melted away. The noise seemed irrelevant, even the fight lost importance. The situation felt like a puzzle, suddenly, and she just had to spot the right answer…

There was a crack in that pillar.

She stared at it, wondering why it had caught her attention, then slowly traced it up the pillar, to where it became a network of cracks on the ceiling, deepening as they spread, across the ceiling to… Jabba. Jabba's sledge was right under the largest crack.

She snapped back to reality, sure of herself now. Luke and Feet were still furiously trading blows, so quickly she almost couldn't keep up. She stepped closer, waiting.

She felt her moment coming slightly early. One of Luke's punches connected, Fett staggered back two steps, and she launched herself at him, and punched him in the chest, backing it up with as much Force power as she could muster. He went flying.

There was a moment of silence as everyone watched him sail through the air, and then he hit the pillar. Cracks spread instantly. The pillar collapsed first, right on top of Fett. Mara would feel guilty if he hadn't been in armor.

Then the next section of ceiling started to move. There were people below it. Innocents. She reached out her hand, desperately. Not to make the boulders stop, but to slow them. Keep them off the ground long enough to clear the space below. People pushed past her, jostling her, frantic to get away, but she stayed focused. As soon as it was clear, she let the boulders crash to the ground. Luke had caught the next set of boulders, and was following her lead.

The next cluster were the ones over Jabba.

He was roaring, shouting commands, but everyone ignored him in the chaos. His sledge was slow at the best of times, and it had no chance against the press of people around him.

The rocks fell directly on him.

He was still groaning when the dust settled, and Mara looked around helplessly. She was too far to get to him, with all the people in the way, Luke was right beside her, and Rutan was still caught in the crowd. She looked back to Jabba, worried.

Her eyes met Sharia's across the crowd. Sharia, who had tried so hard to convince her to give up. Sharia, whose eyes were still filled with fire. Sharia, shackled to the slug groaning under a pile of rubble. They stared at each other for a long moment, and then Sharia nodded. Just slightly. She turned around, grabbed the blaster from the holster of the guard behind her, and spun back. She held it against Jabba's head, and pulled the trigger.

The sound rang out, followed by renewed roars from Jabba, and the room went still. She fired again, and again, and after the third, there was no more noise.

Everything was silent. Everyone stood in shock.

Jabba was dead.