Yousa stared out the window at the stars streaking by quickly. Hyperspace certainly looked pretty, he'd say that. They'd left Coruscant an hour beforehand, having loaded everything together onto the ship, he was happy to be sitting quietly, drinking a cup of hot Pejutah.
He'd downloaded everything the Temple knew about Hoth onto his tablet, and was examining a holographic model of a Wampa, then hitting a button on the tablet and examining the revealed bones and organs of the creature. He had read about how to tame Tauntaun's, about how to make or find an effective cave, many other useful things.
Yousa was modest, but he felt he knew more about Hoth by now than the average Padawan. As if to confirm, Anakin sat in the seat opposite Yousa, staring out the window from separate sides. Like being in a train car. "What's that?" Asked Anakin curiously, pointing to the Wampa skeleton.
"Wampa. If you see this on Hoth, run. Don't try and kill it, it will kill you." Anakin raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. "Isn't Master Kenobi letting you fly?" He shook his head. "Not much to fly. Hyperspace is basically autopilot. Besides, he doesn't like encouraging me."
Something about his tone said that he didn't really believe that. "Well, he doesn't like admitting I'm a better flyer." Yousa nodded. Though not really understanding. "I suppose everyone has their advantages." Yousa said charitably. "Quite." Anakin nodded.
"Have you studied any of the other planets in the Outer Rim?" Asked Anakin. Yousa shook his head. "No, but I may when we get to Hoth. I suppose there will be some free time." Anakin nodded. "I'm from Tatooine, myself. The cold is always a little jarring to me."
"I think the tent will be warm. It uses infrared heaters to heat our bodies rather than the air. And we'll have our fire, our clothes." Anakin didn't seem to hear him. Yousa looked back at his tablet. Seeing he still had reasonably good signal, he downloaded some more information about Outer Rim planets. "I wonder what Master Kenobi thinks will happen on Hoth."
"He thinks that Biel will track Master Vatoo, whoever that is. You know them?" Yousa shook his head, though he could tell Anakin had asked because Yousa had been at the Temple for so much longer. "I've never heard of them. Perhaps they're retired." Anakin shook his head. "Who'd retire to Hoth?" Who, indeed.
Master Kenobi called them into the cockpit. They moved quietly through the small hallway from the sitting area to the front of the ship. Master Kenobi nodded to them when they entered. "We'll be there in an hour. For the purposes of conserving fuel, we won't use the ship, just the tent."
Yousa expected as much, but hearing it said was valuable. "Now, if you'd get the things from the back, we can change into appropriate clothing." Anakin went to get the crate full of clothes, while Yousa looked out the glass canopy of the cockpit. "Beautiful." He said simply. "It is." Master Kenobi said vaguely, checking something on a nearby screen.
Anakin reappeared, bringing a box full of white clothing in. Some sturdy black boots, but otherwise everything was white and beige. Meant to blend in easily, not draw attention from any hostiles. Once they were changed, Yousa tried to find a place to pin his lightsaber. He settled on right below his breast pocket.
Pinned horizontally, it was slightly strange looking, but easily accessible. Then he saw Anakin pin it to the side of his coat, where it was less in the way. Yousa mimicked him. Master Kenobi rummaged in the box, pulling out some macrobinoculars and climbing equipment. He passed it to them.
"That should be everything we'll need immediately. Everything else we'll need to get in the tent." It was a little stuffy in the thick coats, but they sat waiting to reach the planet. "There is a small plantation on the planet, not more than three hundred people work and live there, they grow a plant the Tauntauns feed on, and sell it to Republic hospitals. It has some medicinal uses."
"I believe he'll stay there, as there are some rooms for rental there. Our cover story, should anyone ask you, are two sons out with their father for a week of camping and ice-fishing." The Padawan nodded. "Good. We're entering the Hoth system now." They slowed after a minute, stopped in front of a gigantic blue and white sphere.
Master Kenobi looked at a screen. "I see some lakes near the equator. About twenty kilometers from Master Vatoo's house and about the same from the plant." But once they entered the atmosphere, the ship started to shake badly. "There's a blizzard! Our engines are having trouble keeping warm." Master Kenobi struggled to keep the ship flying, as Anakin ran around the room, switching things this way and that.
Master Kenobi stood and moved out of the way, so Anakin could sit in the pilot seat. Yousa grabbed the wall as they felt a great bump. Anakin was navigating the spinning ship towards the ground, trying desperately to keep them from all-out crashing. They jerked to the left suddenly, and Anakin's eyes went wide.
With a crunch of snow, the ship landed. Roughly, but intact and not buried. The snow was hammering into the ship and the wind was howling. Anakin turned the ship off. "We have two hours before the temperature starts dropping." Said Yousa, checking the local time on his tablet. "We need to set up now."
Anakin motioned out. "In this?" Yousa nodded. "This'll have to do." Master Kenobi, silent since he'd stood to let Anakin fly, nodded. He went to the cargo area in the small ship, finding the crate with the tent. He took it out. "We should set it up-" Yousa was already reading the instructions. Master Kenobi stood waiting for Yousa to tell him what to do.
Yousa closed his eyes, dropped the instructions, held out his hands and closed his eyes. The Force seized the tent and unfolded it, inserting the poles into the fabric sleeves, pulling the metal rope in any of the four corners taut, awaiting stakes to be pushed in.
The door of the ship opened, the tent making out into the swirling whiteness, the wind howling as the stakes went soaring out after it, then drove themselves into the frozen snow. Anakin and Master Kenobi, though impressed, grabbed things and brought them into the now completed tent. Yousa took a moment to breathe, then grabbed a crate and followed. The interior of the tent was spacious, a little dark, as it had no windows in the walls. But Anakin was setting up some light and Master Kenobi was touching a panel on the wall of the tent.
Yousa unpacked the fire supplies, putting it into the middle of the tent, where the ceiling was highest. He pulled out a square of sheet metal, carefully placed it flat on the floor, and then pulled out a small cylinder of fuel. Placing it in the middle of the sheet, where a small groove was set into the metal, he pulled out a shuttered metal box, which he placed over the fuel cylinder, screwing it into place and then using his lightsaber to light the flame.
Instantly the heat could be felt coming from the small box, and it would not be long until it was warm in the tent. Anakin came back in with another crate, this one with sleeping bags that Yousa laid out in a triangle around the 'fire'. Yousa heard the rumble of the speeder, and knew Master Kenobi was driving it out of the ship, parking it next to the tent.
In less than an hour, they had everything set up, and the ship was closed. Anakin was examining the small portable furnace in the middle of the room. "I'm afraid tonight is going to be very cold. It normally is at night, it frequently gets to -60." Yousa told Master Kenobi, who was reading the instructions on the portable stove, ready to make lunch, though it was surely supper time locally.
"And there's no hope of setting out to Master Vatoo's house before dark?" But he didn't think there was, the sky was already growing dark, the howling wind was still loud, though slightly broken by the speeder next to the tent, blocking the wind from blowing the tent away. Yousa shook his head. "It would be unwise, especially with a blizzard."
Anakin took out his own tablet. "Can you send me some of the things you had about Hoth?" Yousa nodded, sending a few essays written about the common Tauntauns or Wampa. He was currently reading a book written about the volcanoes on the equator. But they were at least one hundred kilometers away.
Master Kenobi settled in on some meditation. The Padawan both read quietly. Yousa realized something. "Anakin? Did you manage to get us down near a lake?" Anakin thought about it. "I was just trying to land. I think we're close to one, I saw something shiny when we were crashing." Yousa frowned. "We'll need to figure that out."
Anakin paused. "Can't we just melt snow?" Yousa shook his head. "Steam would only make the tent colder. We'll see in the morning. We might have to dig the tent out a bit before we leave. It isn't uncommon to get two or three feet of snow per night, in a blizzard."
Yousa reached over and grabbed a Nutrition Pak. He dug through the dried nuts, berries, and carrot. They stayed silent as Master Kenobi meditated. Eventually, not opening his eyes, he turned his head to the left, as though he could see through the wall of the tent. "There's someone out there." Yousa didn't feel anything for a moment, but then he felt someone, tired, near exhaustion, and he heard a voice.
Yousa was up very quickly, drawing his saber and throwing it to Master Kenobi, who took them and hid them in his much larger coat. Yousa unzipped the tent, the bitter cold biting his exposed skin, as he pulled goggles over his eyes. Anakin was up, apprehensively glancing around the tent outside too. Yousa couldn't see anything ten feet in front of him, such was the blizzard.
Yousa closed his eyes and felt his way forward with the Force, before he stopped and opened his eyes, seeing a distant figure, clothed in black. He pulled out his macrobinoculars and turned them to thermal vision. Sure enough, he saw the man in question.
He looked lost, from the way he turned and looked around. Yousa was ready to help him. He didn't think any foe they'd be facing was stupid enough to make his way into a blizzard. He ran through the snow, the effect of the darkness of the sky and snow rushing past him like that of hyperspace. He found the man, and with a movement of his hand, the man stopped walking.
"Hello?" Yousa stepped forward, revealing himself under his hood, goggles, and coat. The man turned to him, invisible under a full face mask, and Yousa wished he'd brought his saber. The man held out a hand, desperation perhaps, and Yousa took it.
They were only fifty or so feet from their tent, but Yousa supported the man the whole way. He did not dare use the Force to support the man, as he wasn't sure if the man would sense it. He wasn't sure why, but he felt a lot of fear from the man. Afraid to die in the cold, maybe, but why head out at all?
