AU Based on the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye, By Alan Dean Foster and the fanfic Splinter of the Mind's Eye 2017 Special Edition, By Rob Astor. Picks up a while after the story and an adventure or two happened after that…but that's a story for another time.
The jungle of Mimban wasn't terribly hot, but then it was early in the day. Luke had to come back to Circarpous 5, otherwise known as Mimban, to retrieve the black box flight recorders from both his X-wing and Leia's Y-wing that had crashed a while ago. The two went on a mission to find the Kaibur crystal, met some interesting new friends, and blew up some buildings along the way. They got into a fight with Darth Vader and defeated him. But that is a good story for another time. But our heroes both knew that this wasn't the end of their dealings with the dark lord. Not by a long shot.
Having retrieved the black box from Leia's Y-wing, he found that the box itself was dented, but the delicate recording equipment seemed like it had survived the crash. Luke was beginning to make the trek back to where his X-wing had landed to get the other box when he saw a TIE fighter coming in low. It looked like it was crashing also. The TIE hit some trees a distance away and then Luke heard it coming down hard. Sending a silent prayer to the Maker that the pilot was all right, he resumed his trek through the muck.
Fortunately, the black box was easily accessible, and Luke was able to dislodge the box without very much trouble. Both recorders were safely in his backpack and he was headed back to the Millennium Falcon.
Meanwhile the pilot of the TIE fighter wasn't all right. He was angry. But as he seethed he realized that the only one he could be angry with is himself. Sighing heavily, he let the anger simmer down to the usual self-hatred and loathing that is the norm and set about contacting the nearest Imperial vessel for rescue. The Avenger was the closest and was the Destroyer that he took off from. But the ship itself was about 12 hours away. The person that had answered the distress call assured him that someone was on the way to fetch him and would be there sooner than the rest of the ship and that all would be well. Now Vader wasn't one to get nervous about such things. But he knew the person that answered his call anyway would say this, and for some reason it felt oddly reassuring.
The TIE itself wasn't in too bad of shape. It was still in one piece. But as Vader opened the hatch and released the ladder so he could climb down he noticed that both sides were slightly tilted. It was as if the sides were not attached to the cockpit. So effectively, he was grounded. He decided to grab a small survival kit out of the underside of the cockpit and went to try to find the clearing that he saw before he landed. But as soon as that happened, he discovered Luke's presence. Was he really going to try to seek out the boy? To capture him and take him back with him? No. He decided. Not today. Besides, he couldn't. The boy and he had come to a temporary truce when Luke was seriously injured about two weeks ago. The child had just gotten out of the hospital, and Vader had told him that he would wait a short time for him to heal, but then the war was back on. They were still in the middle of that truce.
But What was that boy doing back here? He saw a brief glimpse of him carrying something. Deciding not to go any further than that, the Sith continued his walk to find the clearing. Knowing that Luke was near must mean that the smuggler and the Wookie must be in the vicinity too. Maybe he could enlist their aid in finding out what had happened, why his ship had crashed. By this time, he had found the clearing and was crossing it to try to determine its perimeter. He had crossed the far border of the clearing and had heard a lightsaber activate. He saw the blue flash of Luke's Lightsaber and saw that he had cut something in half. Luke had his back to him. Luke turned around.
But by that time, it was already too late.
The damage had been done.
When Luke had turned around and had seen the Sith and all expression fell from his face. His lightsaber, which had been originally in a ready position now was down at his side and he switched it off and dropped it. He had begun to breathe heavier and the pain that he started to feel was nothing shorter than excruciating. For a few seconds his world went dark.
Luke came to a few seconds later in extreme agony. He was on the ground screaming louder than he thought possible.
Hearing the scream and feeling first the pain in his left shoulder and then all over, Vader ran as fast as he could to Luke's side. He had seen that Luke had been stung by a Circarpousian tarantula wasp. And the one that tried to get Luke was a big one. Luke's screaming continued, and momentarily distracted by that pain Vader reached to his shoulder and pulled out the stinger. Bacta patch in place, he then tried to instruct Luke to try to breathe and let loose on the exhale. Four minutes of screaming later the pain finally abated and Luke realized that he wasn't going to die.
Lying on his side, he decided that this was the best place to be for the next few seconds. He then decided to sit up slowly resting his back against a large tree trunk. His world was still spinning. He wanted nothing more than to stop this dizziness, but he didn't know where to start.
"Steady, Luke. Just sit and stay here."
"what happened, Luke asked."
"Looks like we learned a valuable lesson today, huh?" Vader asked.
"Here drink this." He handed Luke a bottle of water that was in his pack.
"What's that?" Luke asked after he had taken a drink of the water. His throat was in agony from all the screaming.
"You aren't a Circarpousian tarantula." Vader said. "And by the looks of that wasp that you killed, she must have thought you would have been a tasty snack."
"Are you so sure that was a female?" Luke asked
" The markings. The orange stripes on its underside." Vader replied looking at the remains of the wasp. "This species can see in color and is attracted to the color orange. She must have thought you were a big tarantula."
"Oh." Was all Luke could say. His world was still spinning. He had made the decision not to get up and to hold onto something. He decided his head was just as good as anything and sat with his head in his hands.
Han and chewie had made it to where Luke and Vader were just in time for the effects of the toxin that had been going through the younger one's body to dissipate further. Not realizing just what he had stepped on. Han stepped on the corpse of the wasp, which made a sickening sound as its exoskeleton was broken.
"What's going on?" Han asked blaster at the ready.
"You missed the party. Luke and I learned a valuable lesson today."
"What's that?" Han asked. Feeling like he could holster his weapon. He saw that Luke was alright.
"Luke isn't a Circarpousian tarantula." Vader stated.
"A what?" Han asked.
"A Circarpousian tarantula. You are standing on what's left of a tarantula wasp." Solo looked down at his boot, sure enough he was standing in the middle of what would have been the insect's thorax. A large black gash across the front of it showed how she met her demise.
"They are huge, they can see in color and are attracted to orange." Vader said. He grabbed the ripped shoulder flap of Luke's flight suit and tugged gently "she must have thought that Luke here was a big tarantula."
At this time Luke's head was clear, and he called the lightsaber to his hand with the Force. He attached it to his belt. Standing up and shaking his head, he began to recount the events that caused the wasp to sting him, and what happened immediately after it.
"So why didn't you give him some Antivenom or something?" Han asked somewhat accusingly
"Because I didn't have any, and I knew that he was going to survive. The venom has a surprisingly short life in a human. I know from personal experience. The only thing Luke could do is just scream it out. And the dizziness is the half-life."
"I wonder if there are any more of these bugs around here", Han said looking around. Chewie grunted his agreement.
"Yeah, I don't feel like fighting bugs off all day." Luke said.
"By the way, here's the stinger." Vader put the stinger in his hand. It was about fifteen centimeters long and a centimeter wide at the top. The tip looked like it had been broken off in his shoulder, but it was intact.
"When did you get this out?" Luke asked.
"In the middle of your third round of screaming and your second round of swearing in Huttese. I didn't have the heart to tell you to watch your language. Figured the best way to get it out was to do exactly what you were doing."
"Wow." Luke said. "I wasn't even aware of that. All I remember is thinking that my blood was turning to acid or something."
"That's what it does. If you were a tarantula it would have paralyzed you, but since you aren't it does nothing more than make you feel that way Vader said. I was on this planet when I was around twenty and I spooked one. She stung me and flew away, and all I remember of the sting itself was the fact that I thought I was dying alone. My master had found me after the first effects had worn off. I remember standing up and the next thing I knew my master had me in his arms. I had a massive headache for the rest of the day after that, and my arm was swollen to the size of a softball where it stung me, but I was alright."
"How did you get here anyway?" Han asked?
"I was trying out a new modification to the hyperdrive of my TIE fighter and I had just come out of hyperspace. I guess the beacon to the mine that's around here is still active, and my guidance system couldn't cut through the interference in time for it. I was able to set down, but I damaged my sides in the process. So, I'm stuck here."
"Do you have someone coming to get you?" Luke asked, standing up slowly and hanging on to the tree that he was leaning against.
"Yes, but they won't be here for a couple of hours. I'm kind of hoping they don't bring a star destroyer all the way here, the nearest one is about 12 hours away. I was trying to find a clearing to send the coordinates to and had just sent the information when Luke started screaming. I didn't realize that he had been stung by that wasp until I got to him. And the rest is history."
"You can't fly out of here?" Solo asked. "Nope. I could take off, but I don't think I would make it out of the atmosphere. I noticed that my sides were a little tilted. Makes me think I broke the clamps that hold the sides onto the cockpit. I did land kind of hard."
They walked the rest of the way to where the TIE was sitting. When they were about twenty yards out Luke and Han could see that the wings were tilted out on the bottom. "You aren't going anywhere." Han said as they go to the crash site.
"I looked up at the top clamps when I was up there before I pulled out the ladder and climbed down, Vader said looking as far up as his mask would allow. I think I knocked something loose on both sides, but I can't see what's broken. Maybe it is something that I can fix."
"You know that this is a craft that's supposed to be in deep space. You do know that you can't just duct tape it back together."
"I am aware of that, captain." Vader said. Meanwhile Luke was looking up at the place where the wing was angled and saw the problem. "Looks like one of the one of the clamps that hold the wing in place was broken off."
"That's what I thought. Vader said. "Well, looks like I'm stuck here too. By the way, how did you land without scrambling your circuits?"
"Came in on the other side. Where we landed before, when I rescued the kid and the princess." Solo said.
"Hm." Vader said. That was his equivalent of a nod.
They both saw a small shuttle make its approach, preparing to land in the clearing.
"That's my ride", Vader had said.
The officer piloting the shuttle disembarked after it had landed and approached the Dark Lord. Vader knew that it would be her. She always seemed to get him out any scrape that he had found himself into lately.
"Kalania," Vader said,
"Lord Vader", Kalania responded. "Or should I call you crash? That's the second time in a month you've set down hard with that hunk."
"I think the modifications worked. And the first time was not my fault. But this time it was the interference from the mine that I had indicated when I contacted you."
Luke was over on the other end of the clearing, and the three rebels were getting ready to either fight or flight. Vader turned to the smuggler and handed him a small package. "This is some pain killer for Luke's shoulder and an instant cold pack if he needs it for swelling. Have him take this as soon as you make it back to the Falcon, and have it looked at when you get back to the base."
Letting us go? Han asked as he took the small pack.
"Never my prisoners to begin with," Vader said. "Still got the truce anyway. Safe travels. Tell Luke may the force be with him." Vader turned and boarded the shuttle.
Getting back to the Falcon, the smuggler, the Wookie and the former farm boy waited just long enough for the shuttle that carried the Sith to jump to hyperspace when they took off themselves.