Chapter 2: Kalifa's Exploration

Amongst the clamour of Rebels going about their daily lives, Kalifa Tano watched in amazement as the white coloured Snowspeeders roared past her, she would soon be joining the rest of Rogue Squadron in an attempt to find an imperial probe which had been spotted moments earlier by Han Solo on his exploration of the snowy surface. As she waited for her signal, Kalifa thought about the many things she had endured to get here.

Kalifa was a Togruta from the planet Tatooine, she was seventeen years old, she was the daughter of Ahsoka Tano and now a commanding officer of the Rebel Rebel alliance. Being a part of the Rebel Alliance had been a dream of hers for quite some time, though her mother would never alllow it. Then came her 16th birthday and the day her whole life changed for the better. Little did Kalifa know, in the months to come that her whole life would change yet again. She was 21 years old now, the youngest pilot in the history of the Rebellion, and it was she who destroyed the Empire's dreaded battle station: The Death Star.

Looking back on that now she was grateful to have survived that ordeal as she wouldn't have lived to see what came next. And whilst Kalifa missed flying her X-wing, piloting a Snowspeeder with her best friend Luke Skywalker was the next best thing. Though Kalifa knew she wouldn't be using this Snowspeeder for the full trip, Hoth's landscape wasn't made for that type of travel. Kalifa could use this opportunity to talk about more personal matters.

Matters like being trained as a Jedi Knight, which Ahsoka had talked about for months now but was never unable to fulfil her promise. "Are you ready?" A male voice said from behind. Suddenly Kalifa jumped and turned round to find Luke standing next to the speeder. Dressed like she was in uniform, it was remarkable how much he had changed since the death of his father. Luke and Kalifa had been best friends their whole lives and their relationship was suddenly turning into something more.

Kalifa quickly gathered her thoughts and prepared to enter the speeder, "Was that the signal?" She asked and then sighed "sorry I kinda spaced out there for a second." At this Luke chuckled and Kalifa wondered what was so funny. "Never mind," Kalifa said putting her Rebel helmet on, "if we're gonna meet Han before he leaves, I need to keep a clear head."

"You've been doing that a lot lately," Luke pointed out, "spacing out. Are you sure you're Okay?" Luke was right aboitnthat, since the destruction of the Death Star, Kalifa had never been the same. Which was actually ironic. After leaving that dread battle station behind she had hoped never to think of it again. But there was something else drawing her, someone else. She saw the figure in her nightmares every night and wondered if that meant something. She had only one encounter with Darth Vader and yet that encounter left her chilled to the bone.

The way he stared at her haunted her dreams and she couldn't sleep anymore. "It's probably nothing." Kalifa lied, she hated herself for lying to her best friend. But lying was something she was best at. If that was a good thing. Kalifa didn't want to concern Luke with the worry that she was having nightmares about Darth Vader. The man who had killed Luke and her father for what seemed like decades ago. Anakin's death was something Kalifa never really got through after all the man had been like a mentor to her.

It must've been really worse for Luke though and his sister Leia who were already training to become Jedi themselves. As the speeder roared to life Kalifa blocked these thoughts from her mind. She had to get to the rendezvous point. There was no point in worrying about someone who was probably very far away. The Empire hadn't discovered this base yet. And Kalifa was counting on that.

"Allright," Luke said uncertain that Kalifa had told him the truth. He then did his best to keep silent as they flew the rest of their way to the rendezvous point. Where Han was certain to be waiting for them. The trip remained a silent one for a long while, and Kalifa was disappointed that she didn't get to talk about what she wanted. But respected Luke's decision not to press forward for further information.

Suddenly the landscape widened as the Snowy landscape of the planets surface began to change into a more metallic man made one. "I think we're here." Luke said in a nervous voice. No kidding, Kalifa thought, this place looked like it was a good place to ,set. It was by the main generators that powered the main base. This was the spot in which the Imperial probe droid had been spotted. Han was sure to be close by.

And she was right, dressed in a blue hooded jacket and black trousers, Kalifa saw her friend Han Solo with his best friend, the Wookie Chewbacca walking towards the Snowspeeder. Like most of her friends in the alliance, Han had come from a rough background, most of which Kalifa didn't know, but when she first met the smuggler, she knew that he was involved in some type of debt with the crime lord Jabba The Hutt.

Kalifa didn't know the full details of the debt to which she was grateful. She had first learned of it when she and her fellow Rebels had encountered a bounty hunter named Boba Fett on some distant backwater planet. Fett was there to claim the bounty on Han which was placed on her friend's head by Jabba. Growing up on Tatooine, Kalifa knew never to get involved with the Hutts. They were the galaxies biggest gangsters.

When the hatch of the speeder opened, Kalifa and Luke exited the vehicle to which Han greeted them by saying, "got anything flashier?" When Han asked this Kalifa was stunned but smiled all the same, like all pilots Han revered his own ship, The Millennium Falcon, which was the Rebels flagship. But it was Han's true best friend, if he had any thing like that. Han smiled at Kalifa and shook her hand. "Good to see you again kid."

Kalifa let go of Han's hand and said disgruntled, "I'm not a kid anymore."

"Sure you are," Han chuckled, "anyway, back to the mission. I'm sure you know what it is?" Kalifa and Luke nodded pulling out their data packets from their pockets, to which Han took them, "good, that's good. But in any case I'll repeat it just in case any of you weren't paying attention." For some reason Han seemed oddly disgruntled. Kalifa chose to ignore it, "a signal was received close to that location." He pointed across the ridge, "There's been no official statement, but goldenrod claims it's an Imperial probe droid. Probably scanning for our base. You two are to explore that region for the droid. Using Tauntauns. If that droid is Imperial which is probably is. Destroy it as quickly as you can, we don't want the Empire finding our base. You got that?"

Kalifa and Luke nodded getting on their individual Tauntaun, the creatures were native to the planet of Hoth and were easy to manoeuvre through the snowy landscape. "Good luck!" Han called as he and Chewie boarded Luke and Kalifa's Snowspeeder "And watch out for Wampa's those things are nasty." The door to the Snowspeeder shut as Kalifa and Luke watched the vehicle retreat back to the Rebel Base leaving the two friends alone.

"Shall we split up?" Luke asked her, splitting up did seem like the most obvious choice, but Kalifa wasn't listening, she was staring off into the distance again, something was calling out to her, but she didn't know what. "Kalifa," Luke said snapping her out of her thoughts. "I said, shall we split up, I think we could cover more ground that way."

"Sure," Kalifa said not fully aware of her actions. And with that the two parted ways, exploring different parts of the planet, looking for what? Kalifa had absolutely no idea...