Of Course, most of these characters and planets belong to Lucusfilms and Disney, and I am just here playing with the toys.
Dathomir Imperial Prison (Some months after the Battle of Yavin)
"Go, Go Go!" Princess Leia yelled, as she held off the blaster fire, allowing the three rebel soldiers passage down the corridor towards the cell blocks.
From the information, that R2-D2 had found infiltrated from the prison computer terminal, the prisoner, a spy known only as Maddax, was being held in the cell at the end of the hallway. Leia and her crew had taken out the guards in that corridor, while Luke and Chewie had stood guard at the entrance, after relieving the others in that sector of their duty by blaster. Their shuttle was waiting outside the building, while Han and two other soldiers took watch waiting for any backup to arrive, before anyone realized what had happened. Alarms were starting to go off, making a racket that was sure to direct anyone imperials still left to their location.
"Luke, get down here! They need assistance getting into the cell! Maddax isn't responding." Leia called into the comm.
Leia kept watch under cover of a door way, as Luke ran down the hall, lightsaber in hand, and cut the door open. Maddax was tied up, barely conscious and barely breathing. The group grabbed her and Leia followed, blaster in hand and watching for any stormtroopers or guards following. A lone stormtrooper came out of hiding and kicked Luke, throwing him to the ground, and after a bit of a tussle, Luke was able to knock the stormtrooper out cold as Leia took a shot and ran, hoping Luke would get up and follow.
At the ship, Han and the two soldiers ran towards the building to see if the group needed assistance, passing Chewbacca.
"Chewie, head back to the ship, and get it ready!" Han called, as Chewie made way in the opposite direction.
A few troops had took note of the Wookiee, who immediately through detonators and then smoke bombs to lower the stormtroopers visibility. The soldiers, carrying Maddax, got on to the ship, with Leia and Han following close behind, guarding the end with blaster fire.
"Where's Luke?" called Han, as their friend seemed to be missing.
"I don't know, he was right here!" Leia said.
"I'm going back for him. Get on the ship!" Han said.
"I'm going with you!" Leia called out, while blasting fire as the soldiers got Maddax on the ship.
"Cover me then!" As Han ran back towards the sector they had just left, to find Luke.
Luke had been hurt and was having trouble walking. Han pulled him up, and flung him over his shoulder a bit. "Come on kid, you gotta help me here kid, let's get walking"
Leia threw a detonator, then a smoke bomb, to take care of the stormtroopers who had been left and give a bit of a cover for their escape, and she said into the comm "Chewie, take them out of here. I will contact you shortly. It's important to get Maddax back."
Chewie yelled in protest, but Leia said. "We will be ok, I promise, do it Chewie! I will be in contact. You take them back, and we will work out the pick up later, come back in another ship!"
Leia went to where Han was leading Luke, and she grabbed his legs as they dragged him to a dense wooded area some distance from the camp. Artoo followed along. "How you doing, Kid?" Han asked.
"Just in pain. I can walk some, I think." Luke tried to get up, but obviously broke part of his leg.
"No, you can't walk. We have to get out of here though, we will have to carry you a bit, then we will try to figure out what to do." Leia said.
"Call Chewie. Furball can carry him to the ship and we can get out of here." Han asked.
"I told him to take the rest of the group back. He is going to come back after us." Leia said, the mission had to be completed.
"You told him to leave? I can't believe this!" Han said. "Maybe we can steal something, to get away from here..."
"I'm sorry, I was only thinking of the mission. It was important to get Maddax off this rock. Maybe the Imperials don't even know we are still here. The ship was taking off after I threw those last detonators. I hope they think we escaped." Leia said.
"I hope so. Sorry you guys had to come back for me. That stormtrooper must have been hiding, he just came out of the shadows." Luke replied.
"We wouldn't leave you behind, kid." Han said.
"It's my fault, I should have made sure you got up. Let's keep moving, we have to get as far away from here as we can. I have a tracking device we can alert command, if we get a rescue team to come after us, but for right now, we have to make the best of it." Leia answered. "This place has a strange feeling about it, like cold and death. I know there are strange stories about this planet, but to be here, it's just...you can feel it."
"I feel it too, Leia, there's something about it, all right." Luke replied.
"I just feel annoyed we are stuck here for a while. Come on, let's move." Han said.
They moved deeper in the dense jungle, until they got to a rocky area that was more open. They got closer to the rocks and set up a camp. Leia got a better look at Luke's leg, and it did appear that it had been damaged, so she got a limb and tore some clothing to make a bit of a splint.
"That will have to do, until we get some help at least. Are you in any pain, Luke?" Leia asked.
"Some, but only when I put weight on it. If I concentrate, it doesn't hurt so much. I guess you could say, I'm using the Force to get through it." Luke replied. "I found some information on that, and it seems to be helping."
Leia patted him. Han took out some tablets he had in his vest, and gave them to Luke. "If the um, Force doesn't take away the pain, maybe this will help, I keep a few first aid supplies in here. Never know when you need 'em."
"Put that away for right now, Han. I think I will be ok for now, as long as I don't move." Luke said.
"Well, I'm going to see if I can find some things to make a shelter of sorts. Looks like we may be able to camp here a bit. There's an impression in the rock over there we can kind of hide out, but I don't know how cold it gets out here at night." Han said.
"I'll stay here with Luke and look out to make sure we aren't spotted. I hope they think we all left. This planet doesn't seem too overrun with Imperials, it just seems like they used part of it as a detention facility. It's so desolate here, plus I imagine the spooky stories keep a lot of people off this planet." Leia said.
"What spooky stories?" Luke replied.
"This was the home of the nightsisters. Now, long gone. You might find them fascinating though, mostly I heard stories they told children about them, but they were real. They used a kind of magic, related to the Force. Those stories, and well, the rancors that run wild in some places will keep people away from Dathomir. I was actually surprised that our intel told us that the Imperials had a prison camp here." Leia answered
"Rancors? Rancors? I heard about those, apparently one was kept on Tatooine, though I never saw it." Luke replied. "The Force. I wonder if there is anything I can find out while here."
"I don't know if it's a good idea to go digging around, Luke." Leia said. "When Han comes back, we can get him to call Chewie. I don't understand Chewie very well yet, but I have to know if they got away. You just rest. We can get Artoo to check for lifeforms, human and well, giant rancor sized ones."
Leia thought about starting a fire, but thought twice about it, thinking that if there were any Imperial ships in the area, it might draw attention to them. Getting here was hard enough. They had to use a small shuttle that had previously belonged a supporter of the rebellion that was donated for this mission, with codes intact, the supporter being a well known wealthy hunter who had been the lover of a former Imperial senator who had been a friend of Mon Mothma, but was now deceased. Their patron pledged to help in anyway they could and offered the ship when a trip to Dathomir had been necessary. Mon had remembered that the friend had frequently hunted here, and that would make it not suspicious to have flown onto the planet. The friend would now report the ship stolen, to wash their hands of it having been used in the operation. Since this individual was not affiliated with the rebellion previously, they may not even be questioned, but as always, a back up plan would be in place to put them in hiding if they had been found out. As it stood now, they would have to either steal something, or hope that something else could be found to come and rescue them. Either way, knowing Chewie, he would do anything to get back to them. Leia felt guilty making him take off without them, not for her sake so much, but for Chewie. This had to be very difficult for him.
When Han came back, he was dragging a few long branches and was carrying some dead lizards. "I brought dinner. I figured we had to eat." Han said.
"And just how are we supposed to cook these? We aren't building a fire because it will draw attention to us!" Leia said angrily.
"Hey, hey now, I bring something to eat and..."
"Are we supposed to eat it raw!" Leia said.
"We could." Han said sheepishly. "Look, we only have so much as far as ration bars in our pockets.."
"I'm not eating those raw!" Leia said.
"Guys, guys come on now." Luke says shaking his head.
Artoo moves towards Han, juts out an arm, grabs the lizards, and zaps them.
"Well, what do you know, cooked lizard." Han says with a grin.
"Thank you, Artoo." Leia replies.
"Hey, I got the lizards." Han said.
"Han, could you contact Chewie, I need to know if they got away, and I know he would want to know we are ok here for now." Leia hands him the comm.
As Han calls Chewie, Luke and Leia eat some of the droid cooked lizard. "Needs some seasoning." Luke says with a grin.
"I only have two ration bars in my pocket, I am just glad we have something to eat, frankly. I don't have much as far as water either, so we might want to look for that in a bit. Hopefully there is a spring with water we can drink nearby." Leia answered.
"Yeah, we will be ok. They know where we are at least. I don't think they will leave you here." Luke answered.
"Or you, the Rebellion Golden Boy. Have you heard that one?" Leia asked.
"Yeah, one of the girls called me that. I told her, I'm just Luke." Luke laughed.
"One of the girls, hey?" Leia laughed. "Just Luke, the one who took out the Death Star and carries a lightsaber."
Luke blushed, and then looked up as they heard a very loud noise.
"What was that? I hope it wasn't a rancor?" Luke asked.
Han came up from talking to Chewie on the comm. "Rancors? Yeah, I heard they were here. No, that's just a bird that's maybe about the size of Her Worship's fist. Makes a loud sound though. I sure hope we don't run into any rancors though. Jabba had one last time I was there. Probably where I will end up if I don't pay him."
"That's where the rancor on Tatooine was then. I heard there was one. Leia was talking about how they run wild here." Luke said.
"Haven't seen any evidence of any, so hopefully we will be OK here. Chewie was getting ready to head to hyperspace, was glad to hear we are OK just stranded. You know he will try to get in touch with us. I talked him into getting the crew back to base. He didn't want to, but I can't see how he could get back on planet and not get discovered. We are just going to have to wait it out. It could be a few days. Should just make the best of it, right, Your Highnessness? How are we on supplies?" Han said.
"I have two ration bars, a little water, a mini med kit and two blasters, one half empty and a knife, and an emergency blanket." Leia said.
"Three ration bars, no water, lightsaber, blaster and an Artoo." Luke said looking over at his droid.
"I have some ration bars, water, med kit, the usual in my pockets. If I can find some more food, we should be ok. Just have to find some water to drink. I have something to test it, to make sure it's ok." Han said.
"Artoo can probably do that as well." Luke said.
"He can help keep watch, too. We can take turns, it gets plenty cold at night, but if we let Artoo watch, he can alert us, and we can get some rest. It should be decent shelter here, this little nook in the rocks should be well enough for tonight, but we should move on. If we keep close to the rocks and the trees, we should be able to hide until something, or someone finds us. Let's hope whatever that is, is friendly." Han said.
"I still have a bad feeling about this place. It so strange. Like pain and cold. Very unsettling. It's hard to even tell it's daytime, with how the sky is always so dark, and red." Leia replied.
"Relax, as long as the Imps don't find us, and we stay away from the rancors, we should be OK." Han replied.
"I just hope your injury isn't too bad, Luke. We only have so much here." Leia said.
"I don't think the skin is broken. And it seems all in one piece, though it's pretty bruised, it could be broken in there some, but it could be worse." Luke said.
"We can see if we can find something for you to use as a brace to help you walk in the morning. Let's get our shelter together before it gets too dark." Han said."
"Too Dark? How can you tell when it's night?" Leia replied.
They laid the limbs and branches over the nook in the rock, as Artoo scans the area for lifeforms. Han found a few more lizards, and Artoo cooked them up for a little dinner for them and Leia pulled out the emergency blanket, a bit unnerved they would all have to share. It was a dark planet for the most part, but night time made it even more dark, and cooler. As it got darker, it was almost a pitch black with shades of dark red, and it got even more cold, and all they had to keep themselves warm, was each other, and the thin shiny blanket. They decided it was enough to just let Artoo let them know if they had any dangers and try to get rest when they could. Being huddled close to Luke seemed natural and almost familiar, comfortable and unintimidating, as if they were bathed in a warm bath, images of that came to her head even, as Leia drifted off into her thoughts, an almost ethereal feeling. She often had visions, but never paid much attention to them as being special, and assumed that everyone had them, as they were so much apart of what made her what she was, the effect on this place, elevated that. Being in this huddle almost stemmed off that feeling of dark strangeness a bit. Then there was being close to Han like this was a bit unnerving and conflicting, she both liked it and it frightened her at the same time. Very few things frightened Leia Organa in general. She wondered what he thought about this, being all huddled together. In truth, Leia tried not to feel anything if she could. She had few true friends, and these two, as well as Chewie, had pretty much been her closest friends since she lost Alderaan. There was a security in that as well as the sense of fear of loss again. Luke and his dangerous missions, Han always with one foot out the door and never committing to the rebellion, Chewie going wherever Han would go. Oh there were people she cared about, even called friends, but this had become her new family, like it or not, and she hated she cared so much. Chewie must be going crazy right now, she knows she would. It was better to not feel anything at all sometimes.
Luke laid there in the cold, thinking about how guilty he felt that Leia and Han were stuck here because of him. He also felt something strange about this place, as if voices were calling in the background, eerily in the quiet. He couldn't make them out, but there was a strange energy here, that and the fact that he was worried the Empire would figure out that some of them had been left behind. He tried to think of Ben Kenobi, sometimes that helped, and sometimes it was like Ben was there, talking to him, but it wasn't coming easy to him. Shivering he huddled closer to his friends under the blanket that Leia so wisely kept in her emergency kit. The pilots kept them in their flight suits, but Luke didn't have his on him this time. He wish he had, the extra warmth would help. Still, the blanket help keep all of their body heat underneath, and he wasn't sure how much sleep they could get this way. Hopefully enough to keep them energized for anything that came their way tomorrow.
Han really wished Chewie was here, and felt they were all going to die if they didn't find a ship soon. How did these two always seem to get him into these things?
Chewbacca, after getting into hyperspace, reluctantly leaving Han and the others on the planet, tried to keep order on the small ship. The seat was hard on his legs, and it was good to be able to move around the cabin, but with the soldiers and the now, freed rebel spy, it was tight. It was fortunate that Threepio had been left on the ship, though he was a bit annoying, Threepio was his translator to the others on board. Though Chewie could understand them completely, none of the others were able to make out anything Chewbacca said. The spy, Maddax was in pretty bad shape, and pretty out of it. Who knows what they had done to her? Chewie started telling one of the soldiers something about how to treat her, he found the supplies that the alliance had provided for them for the mission, and with Threepio's help, the soldier and Chewie were able to get her strapped into a reclining position and treat her wounds. He tried to get her to come to, and she did, but the sight of a wookiee staring at her startled her at first, she looked around and then saw the young soldier, who though young, looked much older from the scars of war, and then spotted the golden droid, C-3PO.
"Please tell me you are with the Rebel Alliance." She said.
Chewie growled an affirmative. Threepio then made himself known and said.
"Hello, I am C-3PO human cyborg relations. This is Chewbacca. Chewbacca has asked me if I will translate for you. He is perfectly capable of understanding anything you say, however, you may find him hard to understand. He is currently the pilot of this ship. Chewbacca wants you to know that we are currently on a course to rendezvous with the rebel base. You are currently severely injured, and he requests that you try not to move, he gave you a scan and found you to have a few broken ribs. While there is only so much that he was able to do for you while on ship, he and Captain Honas have wrapped your wounds and given you some pain reliever. Captain Honas is the de facto commander here, for the time being, with Chewbacca being in charge of the ship."
Cocie Maddax, was a bit alarmed to have found herself naked to the waist, save for the wrappings around her chest, wearing only a blanket, though after the man handling she had after her experiences with the Imperials she realized that maybe she shouldn't be so weary of the wookiee, as he seemed to only want to help her, and appeared to be part of the Alliance at least in some capacity. She did feel somewhat ridiculous for worrying about such a thing, as the wookiee or the young captain were probably the ones who wrapped her up, and she did need it. What they didn't know was that she was relatively new to the field, and very young, only 16 years old, and fairly innocent, considering her line of work. She had been undercover in the residence of a Moff as a servant, getting an in by a cousin who had worked there, and was probably now dead, because of her own deception, of which her poor cousin was not even aware of. She had been taking information from the Moff's residence for the alliance, and feeding them to someone else. She had been trained by an alliance field agent, a Twi'lek by the name of Murf, who she had befriended and cared for her after the death of her parents two years before. She wanted to get back at the Empire for what they had done to her parents, and now felt that somehow she had failed by being caught. Plus, the interrogation, it had been torturous. They had whipped and punched her repeatedly, and though she hadn't been raped, she had been humiliated and taunted in a sexual manner. She was sure that would be next or being killed would have been on the agenda had she been in that facility much longer. She knew enough of what they did to female prisoners to expect such treatment and it was enough to make her a bit on edge in her current state.
Captain Honas spoke up. "We had to clean you up. It looks like the Imperials did quite a number on you there at the prison. I'm sorry I have to ask this, but did you give them any information?"
"No, I told them about something that doesn't exist anymore, and odds are they would have known about it. This was a crude facility. If they brought me somewhere else, who knows, but I was trained to resist various interrogation poisons. I assure you that was not how they tried to get information." Maddax replied, wincing.
Chewie came back with a woman's uniform shirt and some caf and patted her head. It made Maddax feel better that the wookiee was on her side. "Are there any other women on board?"
With that, Chewie howled.
"I'm afraid that Princess Leia, who was on our team has been separated from us, along with two others, men, she was our only other female on this trip. It was more important to get you medical attention, and we intend to return to get them back. We did get word that they are safe for now, and in hiding." Captain Honas replied.
Maddax looked at the wookiee, and said "I guess I'm going to have to ask for your help then. I need to get to the fresher." She blushed, and Captain Honas then sensed her modesty.
"Oh, I understand. There is nothing to worry about, I didn't look." The Captain did a soft laugh. "You do seem rather young. How long have you been doing this work?"
"Not long, this was my first real assignment." Maddax sighed. "I guess I really messed up. Would have been nice to have a woman to talk to though."
"If you got anything on that Moff you were watching, you didn't mess up, and well, you are alive, right? We will see what help we can get you back on base, which hopefully will only be a few hours. In the meantime, after you get back to your seat, try and get some rest." Honas answered.
Chewie did a soft growl and helped his injured passenger as delicately as he could to the fresher.
Early morning, or what you could call morning on Dathomir, who could really tell it was only less dark, Han woke, after only sleeping in spurts. Luke and Leia were still fast asleep, and he watched them a moment, covering them back up, with the flimsy emergency blanket. It had gotten a bit damp under it, but other than that, it did it's job. He went back into the brush, searching for more lizards, when he heard a noise. Sneaking through the swampy jungle, he spied off in the distance, a rancor. It seemed to be keeping it's distance, and was unaware of the human watching him. At least that answered the question of wild rancors. After snaring a few lizards, Han took them back to Artoo, for his special droid zap cooking technique. Han had to hand it to him, Artoo was a useful little guy. He then went in and nudged Luke and Leia awake.
Leia was startled at first, then caught her bearings. She had vivid dreams all night, voices calling and talking to her, as if she was surrounded by people in a large grove. It took her a moment to realize that she was only stranded on a planet with Luke and Han. The dreams were very real though. As if they wanted her for something, but she didn't want to give it to them. It was very unsettling.
Luke awoke, in pain, and then sensed Leia's distress. "Leia, are you OK? You are sweaty."
A bit taken by Luke's remark, she said. "I'm OK, just had a very weird dream is all." Leia answered.
"That blanket doesn't allow for much breathing, no wonder we were all sweaty." Han answered, holding up more cooked lizard with a grin. "Though, it's hard to imagine being sweaty with it being so cold."
They took the cooked lizard and started with their breakfast. Han had some caf powder and poured a little into his hand and mixed it with water for a little jolt and offered Luke and Leia the same. It was a weird way to take it, but it did wake them up a bit, and helped to wash the lizard down as well.
"We are going to have to find a spring, and soon. Not much water left." Han said.
"There might be something near the rocks, there often is, and it's a bit swampy here." Luke replied. "Leia, I had some weird dreams as well. It was like people talking to me. Very strange. I can't remember what they said. It's like there are people all around, but I don't see anyone here."
"I don't think there are much of anyone here on this planet anymore. Maybe scavengers or those Imps that seemed to have taken over part of the planet." Han said.
"The natives were wiped out during the Clone Wars. I don't imagine there are anyone left. That might be why it feels so eerie here. Like a ghost planet. Only, only," Leia said.
"You feel it, too." Luke said. "It's odd."
"I really don't want to stay here much longer." Leia said.
"It's just a planet. I don't know what's wrong with the two of you. Just relax. We will find a ship, or we will hear from Chewie and we will get out of this place. It will be fine. I don't even think pirates mess with this place." Han looked around a bit wondering. "I forgot to tell you that I saw a rancor this morning, while getting lizards, it was far away, but yep, they sure are here all right. We really don't want to get in range of one of those things. It made me think though there has to be water somewhere. Probably what that rancor was out doing. Mebbe we can go have a look out there when it's all clear?"
"You may be right, just as long as we stay clear of that thing. Where do you think it came from?" Leia asked.
Soon after, they felt a rumble, the three of them scooted back into their little dugout in the rocks, while Artoo scanned and beeped. The rumbling got closer and closer, then, stopped. Luke popped out his eyes from the shelter, and saw the rancor going into the formation that they themselves had been sleeping in all night.
"I guess this is the edge of it's cave!" Luke exclaimed in a loud whisper.
Han motioned for them to clean up the camp, and move along the jungle area where he had previously been hunting lizards, he then showed Luke and Leia where he had seen the rancor, and they made their way quietly, Artoo in tow, towards that clearing. Sure enough, there was a pool of water with a roaring stream. Giving a little to Artoo for testing, and Artoo giving the OK. Han and Leia filled their water bottle while Luke proceeded to scoop up the water, smiling and dunking his head into it.
"That sure does feel good. It's cold, but it does feel good." Luke exclaimed laughing.
Han started to strip down, and jumped into it. Luke decided to do the same.
"Brrrrrrrr" Luke shivered. "It's cold, but it feels pretty good. Come on, Leia, get in here!"
"Um, I'm OK, I will just wash my face, if you don't mind." Leia said sheepishly.
"Oh come on Your Worship!" Han shouted.
"No, I'm quite all right, thank you." Leia exclaimed.
"Don't tell me Leia is afraid!" Luke said.
That was it, Leia, as modestly as she could, stripped down and got in the water as fast as she could. Then jumped up and screamed. "It's cold!".
Luke and Han laughed, as Leia moved her hands around herself and tried to cover herself up and get dressed again.
"I didn't peek, Leia, I swear!" Luke laughed.
"Me um neither, um ok, maybe a little." Han said.
"Oh guys, well, at least we got a bath in, I guess." Leia said laughing.
"Oh wait, no, um.." Leia quickly turned around as Han and Luke got out of the water.
"I don't care if you look, Your Worship." Han laughed.
Leia still turned around, rolled her eyes.
Luke blushed and got dressed. "Well, that certainly woke us up."
"It sure did. I don't know if I will be able to get warm again though, but I guess we should get moving." Leia said looking out of the corner of her eye, trying to not to look, but almost looking just the same.
Han pulled out a monocular to take in the scenery and help decide which direction seemed to be the best place to move.
"Well, that was the direction we came from, Imp central, and it doesn't look like there are any other settlements anywhere on this rock, but well, what is that over there?" Han said handing it to Luke.
"It looks like it used to be a settlement of some kind, want to check it out?" Luke said.
"I don't know, maybe we should just get someplace and stay there, then we can send a signal where to find us. I have a bad feeling about this place." Leia said.
"I really want to see what that is. Look in the scope, Leia, it kind of looks well, interesting." Luke said.
Leia looked, and saw what almost looked like some kind of mountain with artistic rendering along the outside. "I don't know about this."
Luke said. "There might be something there. Who knows."
Han replied. "Well, I doubt there are any ships to steal, but right now, I really don't want to go back where the Imperials are. Probably as good a place as anywhere to head."
So they found themselves heading to the ruins of the lair of the Nightsisters.