Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

The Hidden Rebel Base in the Hoth System

The two women sitting together speaking quietly looked up when the door to their quarters swished open.

"Stars, what a crummy day!" The newcomer exclaimed.

"Shhhh!" She was immediately shushed.

"What?"

One of the women sitting on the lower bunk gestured to the top bunk across the room where a lump under the blankets indicated a fourth occupant.

"Aurora's sleeping."

The new arrival glanced at the huddled form. It was completely covered in heavy thermal blankets. Only a slight glimpse of dark red hair was visible at the top to give a clue to the bunk's occupant.

"Why's she so tired?"

The first being who had spoken, a Twi'lek with light blue skin, cast a worried look at the sleeping form. "She just came in after pulling back to back double shifts. I don't think she's slept in the last thirty six hours."

Her companion scowled. "I don't know what Alliance Command is thinking. They're going to kill us working these kinds of shifts."

The Twi'lek snorted. "They're not going to get a chance; we're all going to freeze to death first."

There was muffled laughter which was abruptly stopped when a small whimper was heard from the top bunk. They all looked up to see the sleeping form shift and mumble something, then suddenly roll, flinging the blankets to the side. With the blankets gone, the occupant's face was revealed, marred with a frown.

"Looks like she's having a nightmare." The second woman observed. "Think we should wake her up, Nir'deen?"

"I don't know. I hate to do it; she really needs the sleep."

The sleeping woman shifted and muttered again. This time her words were plainly audible. "No! Don't. Don't!" Her head tossed back and forth on her pillow. "Stop!"

Nir'deen reached for her friend's shoulder intent on waking her up when, with a suddenness that shocked them all, Aurora shot up to a sitting position, one hand thrust out in front of her, her eyes wide with fright. "Luke, no!"

The three women gaped at her. Her words seemed to echo in the cold stillness of the room.

"Aurora?" Nir'deen questioned.

The redhead ignored her, fumbling instead for her comlink. "Kenobi to Skywalker, come in." She paused, waiting for a response, but was only greeted by static. "Kenobi to Skywalker, come in. Luke, answer me, damn it!"

One of the other women hesitantly spoke up. "Uh, Commander. The comlink may not work. There's a storm coming in and the comm system isn't functioning very well."

Aurora swore and jumping down from the bunk, began to dress feverishly.

The three women exchanged worried glances. Nir'deen stepped forward. "Aurora, what's going on?"

Aurora continued to tug on her outerwear, not sparing the Twi'lek a glance. "I need to find Luke, now! He's in trouble."

"How do you know?"

Aurora sat down on the lower bunk to yank her boots on. "I saw it."

With the air of one taking her life into her hands, one of the others cleared her throat. "Maybe it was just a dream?"

She withered under the look Aurora gave her. "It wasn't a dream." The redhead stood up and grabbed her gloves and head gear from her footlocker.

"Aurora," Nir'deen grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?"

"I've got to find Luke. Maybe I can reach him in time."

Unwilling to leave her friend alone with the mood she was in, Nir'deen turned to find her own outergear. "Wait, and I'll go with you."

"I don't have time to wait for you. I have to get to him." Without another word, Aurora keyed the door and was gone, leaving a stunned silence behind her.

"What was that all about?"

"Yeah, how could she possibly know Commander Skywalker was in trouble?"

Nir'deen looked worried. "The Force."

Aurora rushed through the frozen corridors of the base as quickly as she could go, dodging personnel and skidding occasionally on the icy floors. A feeling of dread was creeping through her. Most of the beings she passed stepped quickly out of her way, unnerved by the grim look on the normally smiling face of Commander Aurora Kenobi. In record time, she was entering the command center of the base. She tagged the first controller she saw. "Is the comm system functional?"

The young Lieutenant shook his head. "No, sorry, Commander. There's another storm coming in and it's really playing havoc with our sensors."

Aurora swore bitterly.
Behind her a smooth voice called her name. "Is everything alright?"

Aurora turned to find Princess Leia Organa standing behind her with a concerned look on her lovely face.

"Leia, do you know where Luke is?"

"He and Han are out on patrol, placing sensors."

Aurora checked her chrono. "Their shift should have ended an hour ago."

"It did, Han was just here." Leia scowled for a minute at some private thought, then deliberately smoothed out her face. (A/N: This is shortly after Han announced he was leaving the Rebellion and he and Leia had their infamous "Wookiee kiss" conversation.)

The young commander sagged in relief. "Then Luke's back inside the base."

"Actually, I'm not certain. He didn't come back with Han." Leia explained.

Fear crossed Aurora's features again. "I need to find him. Where's Solo?"

Leia was looking worried. "I think he's working on the Falcon. Aurora, what's going on?"

"Luke's in trouble. Really bad trouble." Aurora said. "There might still be time to stop it."

"How do you know? Is it-" Leia hesitated. "Is it the Force?"

"Yes. I had some kind of vision. I couldn't tell where Luke was, just that he was in danger." Aurora's voice faltered for a moment. "All I could see were him and swirls of white; like snow."

"There's a storm coming in." Leia whispered.

"I know." Aurora's eyes met Leia's terrified ones.

"If he's still outside the base when the storm hits…" Leia trailed off.

"I know." Aurora said again, fear evident in her voice. "I'll head to the hangar and try to find Han and see if he knows where Luke is. You keep trying the comlink. Maybe you can get something through."

Leia nodded, icy fear making its way up her spine. As cold as it was inside the base, outside on the surface of the planet was even worse, and with a storm coming in….anyone left out there didn't stand a chance.

"May the Force be with you." She whispered as Aurora disappeared through the door of the command center.

There was no room for anything in Aurora's head but sheer determination. She ignored anything and everything in her desperate rush to the main hangar. Somehow, despite her attempt to get to Han, she knew it was already too late. Whatever was going to happen to Luke had already happened. Now, she just had to find him before it was too late.

Out of breath, she burst into the main hangar and dodged swiftly around the various ships towards the area where the Falcon had been docked. With a surge of relief, she spotted the familiar flattened shape sitting peacefully on the ice and ran towards it.

She could hear Han yelling "Turn it off, turn it off!" as she rounded the corner of the ship and saw him crouched on one of the engines, holding his hands up to ward off sparks.

Chewie's yowl was heard from inside the ship, and the sparks suddenly stopped as the engine shut down.

"Great, just great." Han muttered under his breath. He looked up as a flash of tan caught his eye and he saw Aurora heading towards him.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" He was well aware of the hours she'd been putting in, and although he'd never admit it, he was a little worried about the clear signs of exhaustion that had been visible on her face the last time he'd seen her.

Aurora ignored his question. "Where's Luke?" She panted out.

"I don't know. Probably around here somewhere." Han replied.

"Did he come back to base with you?"

Confused by the questions, Han sat back on his heels. "No, he wanted to check out a meteorite that hit near him. Why?"

"You haven't seen him since you came back then?" Aurora gasped out, bending over abruptly at the waist, trying to suck in air. Her frantic dash through the base had left her completely out of breath.

"No, damn it. I haven't seen him since we left for patrol together." Han snarled, getting frustrated. "What the hell is going on?"

Before she could reply, a familiar prissy voice was heard, calling his name.

"Oh great. Just what I need."

"Captain Solo! Captain Solo, sir." Threepio exclaimed in relief.

"What do you want, Goldenrod?" Han asked, exasperated. The droid just plain got on his nerves.

"It's Princess Leia, sir. She's been trying to reach you on your comlink."

Han scowled. "I turned it off. I don't want to talk to her."

"Oh." Threepio looked as confused as a droid could, as if he couldn't comprehend this unusual human behavior. But then, he frequently looked like that around Han.

"What does she want?" Han asked impatiently.

"It's about Master Luke, sir."

"Oh for-Look, I don't know where he is!" Han exploded.

"No one knows where he is, sir." Threepio explained.

Han looked up from the open engine compartment. "What do you mean, no one knows?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you, Solo." Aurora stated. "Luke hasn't been seen since you both left on patrol. I don't think he's come back to the base yet."

Han glanced at his chrono. Even with the delay of checking out the meteorite, the kid should have been back over an hour ago. Unless something had happened…

"He's in trouble. I can feel it." Aurora whispered, green eyes dark with fear.

Han grimaced, not that Force hoo-doo stuff again. "Look, let's not start panicking." He looked around and spotted the officer of the deck. He slid down off the engine and hurried over to the man, the other two following.

"Deck Officer, has Commander Skywalker checked in yet?"

The man looked down at his datapad, surprised. "No, sir."

Aurora bit down on her lip.

"It's possible he may have come in through the southern entrance."

"It's possible? Why don't you go check that out." Han ordered, a subtle threat in his voice.

Aurora shoved her hands through her hair in frustration as the deck officer scurried off. "This is a waste of time, Solo! Luke hasn't come back to base. He's still out there and we have to find him!"

Han grabbed her arm as she started to leave. "Hold on! Let's just make certain before we go tearing off in all different directions."

It was odd, but neither of them even seemed to question that once they knew for sure that Luke was still outside of base, they were going after him.

The deck officer returned. "Sir, Commander Skywalker hasn't checked in through the Southern Entrance, either. Perhaps he just forgot to check in."

"Not likely." Han said grimly. "Where he comes from you learn to be careful." He swept cold eyes around. "Are the snow speeders ready?"

"No, sir. We've been having problems adapting them to the cold."

Aurora grabbed heavy-duty cold weather gear from the closest locker. "It'll have to be Taun-tauns then."

Han nodded, and began garbing himself.

The deck officer looked incredulous. "Are you insane? Night's coming and the temperature's dropping."

"Yeah, and my friend's out there in it."

"Out of our way, Lieutenant." Aurora ordered.

Drawing himself up, the deck officer tried to look firm. "No. Sir, General Rieken has given orders that no one be allowed to leave the base. There's a storm coming and-"

"Lieutenant." Aurora interrupted.

"Sir?"

"What did you just call me?"

"Uh-sir?"

"Exactly." She said with grim satisfaction. "Now get out of my way." She pushed past him and headed for the nearest saddled taun taun.

Han hesitated, looking at her. "Maybe you should stay here."

"Don't, Solo." Aurora stated quietly, not bothering to look at him.

"Aurora," He grabbed hold of her arm again, forcing her to look at him. "You haven't slept in three days; you're exhausted. The cold's going to sap what little energy you have left."

Her eyes met his. "He's in danger. We have to get to him, fast." She said evenly. "And you'll never find him without me."

Han continued to hold her gaze. "Can you find him?"

"Yes."

Han nodded once, and turned away to mount his taun taun.

"I have to." Aurora whispered under her breath as she too swung into her saddle.

The deck officer tried one more time. "Sirs, your taun tauns won't make it to the first marker! You'll freeze!"

Han inclined his head. "Then we'll see you in hell."

The change in temperature was immediately apparent before they'd even cleared the base's doors.

"Head for Luke's last known location." Aurora yelled over the howl of the wind. "I'll take it from there."

Solo nodded and urged his taun taun into a fast trot, Aurora following behind. Speed was imperative. As night approached the temperature would continue to drop. Unless they found Luke soon, none of them stood a chance.

Half an hour later found them near the location of Luke's last transmission. Han had half hoped they'd find tracks in the snow that would lead them to Luke, but the blasts of wind howling across the frozen landscape had wiped the snow clean.

"This is the last sensor he placed." Han shouted. "He must have been near here when he saw the meteorite." He glanced around for any indication of movement.

Beside him, Aurora closed her eyes and tried to ignore the bitter cold and blowing snow; forcing herself to relax her muscles. She instinctively sought that ripple sensation she'd felt several times now and tried to picture Luke. Several long moments passed, when suddenly, she felt a low pressure, pulling her towards the left.

She opened her eyes in triumph. "Solo, that way!" One gloved hand pointed.

Han nodded and they started off again. They hadn't gone very far when Han's taun taun groaned and stumbled. He clutched the saddle tightly trying to hang on. The animal shuddered and faltered again, suddenly crashing to its knees. Han went off over its head.

"Solo!" Aurora yelled, reining her taun taun in and jumping down. She ran over to help Han to his feet. They both stared in dismay at the dead animal.

Aurora squared her shoulders. She felt terrible about causing the animal's death, but nothing was as important as Luke. "We'll have to double up."

Han looked doubtful. "The taun taun's struggling as it is. Adding both our weight's just going to make it worse."

"Do we have another choice?"

They mounted up again and continued on their journey into the dark, swirling snow.

Han knew this was a waste of time. There was no way they'd be able to find Luke. There were miles upon miles of empty, frozen tundra and he could be anywhere. Aurora was counting on this mysterious Force to help them find Luke, and he just plain didn't believe in it. They were on a suicide mission. Luke was probably already dead, and he and Aurora would be shortly, unless they stopped now and put up the snow shelter they'd brought with them. He should put a stop to this madness now; make Aurora stop. But somehow, Han just couldn't make himself give up looking. Couldn't quite give up that slight spark of hope, that maybe, just maybe there was something to this Force business and Aurora could use it to find the kid.

In front of him, he felt Aurora suddenly stiffen. She said something. Han couldn't hear very well over the howling of the storm, but it almost sounded as if she'd said 'Father'. She had pulled the taun taun to a halt and was staring intently at something off to their right.

He nudged her shoulder, but she didn't turn, just kept staring into the storm. Then she nodded and said something again.

Han felt an icy chill run up his spine that had nothing to do with the sub-zero temperatures. He'd swear she was having a conversation with someone. Someone who wasn't there. Maybe the cold had gotten to her. She could be having some kind of hypothermia-induced hallucinations. Han snorted to himself. No maybe about it if she thought she was having a conversation with the old man. Kenobi was dead, very dead. Hard to talk when you'd been sliced in half by a lightsaber. Maybe it was time Han took over the reins.

Before he could reach for them, Aurora had urged the taun taun into a trot again, heading in the direction she'd been staring. Now Han knew they were doomed. Bad enough to have to rely on this Force thing, but now they were following the directions of a dead man. And he was allowing it. Maybe he was the one suffering from the cold.

Suddenly, he spotted something ahead on the ground. Something slightly darker than the surrounding snow. It looked like-it was!

"Luke!"

He clearly heard Aurora's yell, even over the storm. She'd jumped off the taun taun and was racing through the drifts to reach the young commander. Han followed, praying to gods he didn't even believe in that the kid was still alive.

Together, they rolled Luke over onto his back. He was covered in snow and his skin was almost blue. There were terrible, bloody gashes across one cheek.

"Is he?" Han asked.

As if on cue, Luke's lashes fluttered and he groaned.

"He's alive! Barely." Aurora began frantically brushing snow off of him. "We've got to get him back to base as fast as we can."

The words were no sooner out of her mouth, when behind them, the taun taun gave out a low, groan.

"Oh, no!"

"Don't you give me trouble too, girl!" Han swore, as the taun taun swayed, and then collapsed.

Aurora's moan echoed the taun taun's. "We've got to get Luke warm, fast, or he's not going to make it."

"We've got a shelter with us."

He clambered to his feet and ran back to the dead animal. Strapped to the back of the animal was an emergency shelter. With three of them in it, it would be tight, but they'd have to make do. He grabbed it and ran back to Aurora. "Here, start setting this up. I've got an idea how to keep the kid warm in the mean time." Without further explanation, he grabbed Luke's lightsaber off his hip and, hurrying back to the taun taun, sliced open the animal's belly. "Sorry about this, old girl." Steam burst out into the cold air as slimy entrails burst free. Han grabbed Luke by the arm and dragging him over to the animal, began stuffing him inside the carcass. "Sorry, buddy, but this will keep you warm until we can get the shelter up."

Once Luke was all the way inside, Han rested his arm against the animal's hairy side and panted for breath. "Whew! And I thought they smelled bad on the outside!"

He hastened over to help Aurora, and in short order they were dragging their injured friend inside the shelter. In grim silence Aurora stripped Luke down to his shorts and got him into one of the thermal bags they'd brought, while Han started the small, portable heating unit that was part of the shelter.

Then, to Han's surprise, she immediately began stripping off her own clothes.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't you pay attention to any of those survival classes we had to attend? Luke needs body heat to get warm. The thermal bag will stop him from losing any more heat, but he's not generating enough of his own to get warm. We need to provide it, and the fastest way is skin to skin. Only one of us will fit into the bag with him." She gave him a wry look. "I assumed you'd both prefer it was me." She was down to her bra and underwear as she spoke, and hurriedly squirmed into the bag next to Luke, her skin flinching away from the icy feel of his.

Han nodded emphatically. "Good idea. I'll just get the homing beacon set up." He grabbed the small beacon and ducked back out of the shelter.

Aurora wrapped both arms around Luke's still form, trying not to notice how stiff and unnatural his body felt. "Stay with me, Luke." She whispered. "We didn't come all the way out here just to have you die." As if in response to her words, he moaned slightly and muttered something.

She tilted her head closer to his mouth.

"Dagobah….see…Yoda."

"I see you had a little visit from my dad too." Aurora murmured. "We'll worry about that later. You just concentrate on staying alive." She began to gently exhale warm breath next to his mouth and nose, somewhere in the back of her mind thinking that these were not the circumstances under which she imagined being this close to Luke.