Title: The Lost Party
Author: UNCW_JEDI
Author E-mail: uncw_jedi@hotmail.com
Rating: PG
Summary: An important group of scientists crash land on a barren planet of ice and snow. Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, are sent to rescue the scientists. But can they complete their mission before a terrible fate befalls them all.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Lucasfilm, Ltd. No money is being made and no infringement is intended.
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Chapter 1 - Lost
"The Senate and Scientific Society are going to soon start wondering why this little expedition is taking so long. When they do, I'm going to have to tell them about this."
Saya Vil waved a hand in front of her fellow scientists to indicate that the "this" referred to the Jomma board which had been an alluring distraction for her colleagues ever since they'd begun this expedition. The game of Jomma came from the planet Liftera. Liftera was a planet with a very minimal gravitational field. As a result, much of society, both the people walking around and the buildings themselves stayed in a perpetual state of hovering a foot or two off the ground. The Lifterans had found a way to mimic this gravitational effect in the development of a board game, and Jomma had become the second most popular game in the entire galaxy behind Sabaac. The pieces responded to voice commands (which could be programmed to correspond to over 1,000 galactic languages), and floated between spaces on the board. Saya Vil didn't fully understand the game, knowing only that the object was to make moves that would disrupt the gravitational field around your opponent's pieces. When any piece touched the board's surface it was disqualified from the game. Frankly, Saya Vil had never had any motivation to learn the game, and as a busy person, she thought that the worst thing she could do would be to become interested in something which had been known to sometimes last for days.
"Go right ahead and tell them," Cranner Zib responded. "Trust me when I say that this whole affair would take longer if we didn't have this to take our minds off things. I'm starting to go absolutely nuts out here. And I'm still not very happy with you for volunteering our services."
"Well, I didn't exactly volunteer our services," Saya shot back. "After all, we are being paid for this whole affair, as you called it."
"Not nearly enough. I was doing important work with the refractive laser technology back on Coruscant. Our entire lab was doing important work with application of the laser technology. And not just for mining purposes either. Need I remind you that Pollo here was very near finding a way to pinpoint and destroy Sarcoff cancer cells, which are the 3rd leading cause of death in the galaxy. That's important work."
"Leave her alone Cranner," Pollo Lytner said, taking his attention away from the Jomma board for a moment. "You two have had this argument a dozen times now and every time you both say the same things. Whether you have a good point or not Cranner, fact is we're here now working on this project. I'd say that makes your argument a bit late."
Pollo Lytner briefly glanced at Saya before staring at the Jomma board again. Saya wanted to smile at Pollo for coming to her defense but she realized that it was more his pragmatist nature than it was any heartfelt support for her position. He too had been fairly angry with her for getting them involved in this project. Part of her could understand their arguments, but she also knew that they were pure scientists, oblivious to matters of politics and duty. When the Senate had specifically sought out the Vil Laboratory and requested that they come to this planet to utilize their pioneering laser technology to extract Hydera minerals from the icy asteroid belt, Saya had felt compelled to say yes. Hydera minerals were fairly unstable, and so only precise laser cutting could extract them without causing an explosion. As dangerous as they could be, Saya knew that Hydera minerals could be processed down into a healing solution that surpassed the amazing healing powers of even bacta. There was never enough bacta to go around the galaxy, particularly now when mini skirmishes were breaking out on dozens of worlds and there were rumblings of secession from the Republic. Anywhere the Republic could find something that could promote healing and fight disease, they would try to go. Icis, which was the name bestowed upon the planet by the space explorers who'd discovered it's location, was such a place. But Saya's motivation for going along with the Senate request wasn't really based out of a duty to help other beings in the galaxy. Plain and simple, Saya knew that funding and political support had a way of drying up quick when you refused direct requests from the Senate and Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. She had accepted this project so that Cranner could continue to play with his precious lasers uninterrupted, and Pollo could become famous for curing one of the galaxy's greatest health threats.
"Thanks for the support," Saya said testily, but she wasn't as angry as she sounded. Cranner did have a point about getting their minds off of things. The task of extracting the Hydera from the asteroid belt was extremely dangerous. As such they had to develop a systematic way of approaching the task. Unfortunately, that meant that the process had also become very monotonous. Boredom and danger were not good bed fellows, so Saya knew that for all her complaining she would never come close to ordering Cranner and Pollo to get back to work. It was safer to deal with the Republic's impatience than it was to deal with unhappy colleagues.
"Got ya," Pollo yelled out, startling Saya. She turned around to see one of Cranner's main pieces lying on the board.
"Luck. Bet you don't get any more," Cranner shot back, but he was smiling the whole time he said it.
Saya was smiling too when she was suddenly thrown off her feet and sent sailing into the ship's console. Pollo jumped to his feet immediately to help Saya, as alarms began blaring from every direction. Saya felt something warm dripping down her forehead, but ignored the pain to look out the ship's front window. Pollo came up on her side quickly, and as they saw the planet Icis getting steadily closer he gently grasped her hand. She didn't look at him, didn't want to see the love he so rarely showed glowing in his eyes. She simply squeezed his hand, and thought about the future they would never have.