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“Not a bad mind-reading trick,” I said, impressed. “Maybe you really are a Jedi.”

He ignored that. “You can talk to him,” he went on more earnestly. “He listens to you. He’ll believe.”

“Believe what?”

“That he’s in danger. Listen, you can still save him. If you are his friend, convince him to release us. We mean him no harm. But if he persists in trying to harm us, I’ll have no other choice.”

“So you are going to destroy him,” I said. “With what help?”

“No help,” he assured me. “Not beyond us.”

Though that sounded impossible, I found myself believing. I couldn’t help it. That he could do exactly what he said was in the cool sound of his voice and the sure look in his eyes. Still, it didn’t mean I could just buy in.

“Maybe you’ve got the power to do that, maybe not,” I hedged. “It doesn’t matter. Even I can’t make Jabba let you go if he doesn’t want to. It’s impossible. I—”

One of his hands shot out through the opening so fast I couldn’t react. It took a grip on my shoulder and hung on while his eyes fixed hard on mine. I couldn’t break away. I was suddenly paralyzed by that probing gaze. If he’d wanted to kill me, he could have.

But that wasn’t what he wanted.

I felt like some energy current was surging into me from him, crackling through my whole body. A thousand time-dimmed memories were lit up all at once. Images of my past life flashed by like I was a drowning man. I saw my own childhood with my parents’ clan. I saw myself growing up on my home planet’s vast plains. I relived the beauties of a time when I had once reveled in open skies and bright sunsets, freedom and space, family and comrades and a simple code of honor. I saw it all—all it had been, all I had left behind. It glowed before me like a paradise.

He pulled his hand back, broke eye contact, and the images faded. I stared. I blinked, seeing the reality of dark, wet corridor and prison bars. The ugliness of the dungeon of Jabba’s lair closed me in.

“You’re not evil,” he told me. “Not like Jabba. I feel the good in you. You’ve just come so far from it, and you’ve lost your way back. Find it now. Help us. Save Jabba.”

“I … I could try,” I said. “I will try. But I still don’t think he’ll listen.”

“I understand,” Skywalker said softly. “But I don’t want to destroy you with the rest. There’s still a chance for you if you want to take it. If you can’t free us, then don’t stay with him. Escape yourself. Find your true life again. And may the Force be with you, friend.”

With that he turned away and rejoined his comrades.

I went away from him shaken to my core. I’d never before questioned the way my life had gone. I’d just charged blindly ahead. My encounter with this Jedi had opened my eyes. I didn’t like what I was seeing.

As I made my way back out of the dungeon, I noticed that Ree-Yees was gone. But I didn’t care about him or Tessek or any of that now. I needed someone to talk to.

I went straight to the big docking area right behind the throne room. It was where Jabba’s sail barge was kept, convenient for boarding by the Bloated One. I knew I would find Barada there, checking the barge’s engine for the imminent departure to the Great Pit of Carkoon.

He quit work right away when I came in. The look on my face must have told him something big was wrong.

“What’s the matter?” he asked me.

“It’s hard to explain it,” I told him truthfully, plopping down on a crate. “Things have happened.”

He sat down beside me. “Things?”

“I saw the Jedi. Barada, I know Jabba’s wrong. He’s done a lot of things, and most of them weren’t good. But this is different. I’ve gotta stop him this time.”

“Stop him?” He shook his head. “I don’t think even you can do that. He’s pretty set on getting that whole bunch who came after Solo. They tried making a fool of him.”

“I know. But if I don’t stop him, I think he might be the one who gets hurt.”

“What?” he said in disbelief. “And by what army?”

“Tessek’s bet was that the Alliance was going to take a hand. He wanted me to pass that on to Jabba,