The structure was a place filled with the Force, the light side of the Force. Vader normally wouldn't bother with such a place; he would just destroy it, but something told him that would be a foolish move.

The building was a temple. He didn't need the native inhabitants holding it in reverence to know that much. The structure was alive. Not just alive with the Force, but truly alive. The walls were made from trunks of trees that had grown up and close together. Currently he was seated on what was a root that had grown up from the ground, traveled sideways about ten feet, and then grown back down so that it had formed a bench, just like twenty-three others within the main chamber. The branches of the trees had all grown up and at an angle towards the center point above the structure to form a ceiling, their mixture of emerald and scarlet leaves draping together to resemble stained glass, much like the multi-colored petals of blossoms from creeping vines that had gone up to fill in the gaps between forks in the upper parts of the trees.

At the front of the structure was a place where a series of large, flat stones seemed to have risen from the ground to form a platform, the center of which was taken by a basin of rocks where a fresh spring bubbled from it's source deep under the crust of the planet. The techs did not have to test it for him to know that the water was pure and cool. A place like this would not have had tainted water.

"It's… it's extraordinary. Absolutely beautiful." Captain Piett was standing in the aisle between the two rows of living benches, turning around to stare in wonder at the temple. "The Llamarians are a primitive culture. How could they have done this?"

"They did not, Piett. The Force sculpted this place."

Piett looked at the Dark Lord. For once in his life, he was ready to believe that it was true. He was so stunned by the concept that he did not realize that one of the Llamarian elders had come into the temple until she clicked her beak. "The Divine made this place, to bless the union of two souls."

Vader looked over his shoulder before standing. "A union?"

Piett stepped aside, coming to 'parade rest' as he observed the conversation between Lord Vader and the alien without looking as though he were observing. The Llamarians were a bipedal race that had evolved from avian creatures. They were still covered in soft, downy feathers in various shades of blue and cream, but they had lost most of their wings, leaving them with a fringe of long feathers that ran the length of their arms. A deeply religious society, they worshipped the Divine, an entity they credited with the creation of all things in the universe.

"Yes, a union. The humans who were here for a time, one of their warriors wished to be husband to one of their females. He asked her for this honor during our harvest festival. We elders insisted that she wait the three days for the Divine to send her a sign that the warrior was her intended mate, as is our way." The elder gave a rapturous gaze at the temple. "As the sun set, we heard a terrifying sound like that of ground cracking apart. All rushed out to see what was happening, and we witnessed this place being raised by an unseen hand from the very ground. The Divine shaped it with His own hand, so that His loyal daughter would have a holy place in which to bind her soul with her warrior."

"A marriage?" Piett looked around the structure in awe. "All this for a wedding?" Vader walked past the native to stand in the exact center of the temple. "To believe that a Divine entity built something like this for the wedding of one woman."

"It is Skywalker."

"My Lord?"

Vader turned back around to look at his subordinate. "The Force built this place, Piett. The Llamarians do not lie; it is an unforgivable sin in their eyes. If they say that this place was built in a single night, then it is so. The Force has the power to do such things. The 'warrior' in question is Skywalker. I can sense it."

Piett looked a bit uncomfortable. "And the woman?"

Vader started walking towards the exit, Piett hurrying to keep up. "Considering what our operatives have told us, I would be surprised if it were anyone other than Aria St. Claire. Change the instructions on her bounty and double the price. I want her brought to me upon capture, alive and unharmed. Make certain that it is clear to everyone that any excessive injuries or bruising will detract from the price and I will pay nothing if she is dead. She should prove far easier to capture than her husband."

"And the planet, My Lord?"

Vader stopped and looked back at the temple. "Leave it as we found it."

"My Lord?"

"The Force constructed that building overnight from the very plant life on this world. I know enough of the Force to know that terrible things would befall any who sought to lay harm to this planet or its people. We leave it as we found it."

"Yes, My Lord."

Ari gave a moan and snuggled down more deeply into the covers. "I don' wanna."

"Ari, get up."

"No. You get in here with me."

Luke tucked his undershirt in before grabbing his pillow and thwacking his wife soundly. "You've got work to do. Get up and do it."

"But it's cold out there!" Her voice was muffled from under the blankets.

"It's Hoth. It's supposed to be cold out there." Still, he reached over to the small heater in their room and picked up the folded cloth there, tugged up the end of the covers of their bed and slipped the bundle onto Ari's feet. "Now get dressed."

"Oh! You warmed them up for me!" The bed was a sudden flurry of movement. "You're the best hubby ever!"

"Just remember that the next time you get angry with me."

"I hardly ever get angry with you."

He was still amazed at how she could get dressed while still under the blankets, but she was emerging, fully clothed, as he was fastening his jacket. All she had left to do was to put on her boots. "Han and I are going to helping out with the patrols today."

"You're going out in that? You've lost what's left of your mind, haven't you." She laced up her boots and stood up.

"Just doing my part. What are you going to be doing today?"

"Working on the coding boxes. The Imps still haven't managed to crack Star Writer, but they have managed to lay their hands on at least one of the boxes we're using now. The self-destruct should have fried most of the circuits, but it still doesn't hurt to keep improving on the models. I like to call it 'job security'."

"So you're going to stay inside where it's relatively warm why I go tramping about on a taun-taun. At least one of us should be comfortable."

"Aww… poor baby." Ari wrapped her arms about him and kissed him soundly. "Sure you don't wanna play hookie?"

"What's 'hookie'?"

"It's… ah, well… it's… never mind." She gave him another brief kiss. "Go to work." They exchanged another kiss before Luke grabbed his headgear and left the room, but not before she got in one last playful swat to his behind. The door had slid shut when she heard her trusty desktop whir to life. "Dude, he's just outside. He's gonna sense you."

The screen cleared to black before words started to form across it. "This is a private conversation. You'll have an easier time of it without him asking you a lot of questions."

"Oh, that doesn't sound good." She sat down in the chair at her desk. "What is it? I knew this was coming sooner or later… just… please… no parting the Red Sea or anything like that."

"No, I am not going to ask you to part the Red Sea. I think I will stick with my initial choice of Moses for that task."

"Just what I was thinking. Excellent choice. I understand he has experience in that sort of thing."

"At the moment he's a spoiled five-year-old living in an Egyptian palace, but I sense a great deal of potential in him. Right now, however, I want to discuss something with you."

"Here it comes. Lay it on me."

"I have a task for Luke."

Ari blinked and looked at the screen. Yep, that's what it said. "Then shouldn't you be discussing this with him?"

"A messenger will approach Luke. What I need from you is for you to let him have the freedom to complete the task."

She frowned. "Okay, lost here. Why would I be stupid enough to stand in the way of one of Your tasks?"

"Not intentionally, of course. However, you are about to learn something that could make him choose not to complete the task."

"What am I going to learn?"

"Patience. You do not have long to wait. You will know when the moment is upon you. I only ask that you do not stand in the way of his completing My task."

Ari sighed. "You know, this is cryptic beyond annoying, even for You."

"Question not. I only ask that you obey."

"Yeah, and read Your mind while I'm at it." She rubbed her eyes. "And I was having such a happy wifey morning. Anything else You wanna drop on me?"

"Just one more thing. Have Faith and know that I am always with you."

Ari looked at the screen as it blinked off. "Do You have any idea how ominous that sounded?" The screen remained off. She sighed. "If it wasn't for the eternal damnation and brimstone I would be seriously looking for a new deity." She stuck her tongue out at the blank screen before getting up and heading out of her quarters.

The base on Hoth was a brilliant move. Who in their right mind would expect the Alliance to put their base on this frozen, deserted rock where snow blindness was a way of life? It was the last place anyone would look for them. The corridors had been carved through centuries of packed ice and snow, which did act as insulation for the most part… but it was still frigid. It just wasn't as frigid inside the 'snow castle' as it was outside.

She punched in her security code while giving a goofy smile to the door guards and walked in. "You guys better be working in here."

The 'day team' was now four people. Dece was still with her, but now that she was concentrating on hardware rather than software, she had snagged two techs that had passed her 'gut feeling' test. Together, the four of them had designed what was a smaller version of the boxes already in use, something that would be easier to hide within the ship. The trouble was that it tended to run a bit hot and they were having trouble keeping the CPU cool so the unit didn't crash.

Dece grinned up and lifted his safety glasses. "Slaving away, Boss. Hoping that soon you'll let us take a break so we can lock the doors and play those video games of yours while pretending to be working."

"Talk to me after we get this puppy up and running. I might be more pliable on such issues, then." She grabbed a pair of glasses and slipped them on. "Any luck with that new gel you were playing with?"

"It would work if we made the overall unit about ten percent bigger. We need more of it." Dece handed her one of the packs they had been working with. "That would leave us with a lot of empty space, but it would work."

"What about that idea we had about just filling the entire box with the gel and making sure it was sealed tight?"

"Keeps it cool, but the gel smothers the self-destruct."

"Yeah, that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it." She frowned, worrying over the puzzle of it. "Anyone else got any ideas?" She looked up at her other two-team mates, trying to keep her tone bright, but there was something wrong. "Why are you two spinning?"

She was next aware of someone wiping her face with something cool and damp. She thought she heard Leia calling her name, but that couldn't be. Leia never came to cryptography. Still, when she opened her eyes, she was looking at Leia. She was not, however, in cryptography. "How did I get here?"

"Your team brought you here after you passed out."

"I didn't pass out."

"You did."

"I'd remember it if I passed out."

"That is why it's called 'passing out'." Leia helped her into a sitting position. "According to the medical droids, you and Luke have managed to beat the odds."

"What, for not driving everyone insane, yet?" She felt her stomach give a little twist. Apparently skipping breakfast had not been the smart thing to do. "What did we do?"

Leia gave a glance to the medical droid before giving Ari a strained smile. "According to the tests, you're a little pregnant."

She felt a curious numbness between her ears. What exactly was 'pi' again?" "No I'm not."

"Actually, you are."

"I can't be. I get the injection, just like all the girls."

"Which is ninety-nine-point-nine-eight percent effective, but there is still that point-zero-two percent chance that… it… won't work."

This could not be happening. Not now. Not in the middle of all this chaos. "Oh, You suck."

"What?"

Ari blinked and shook her head. "No, not you." She swallowed. "Uhm… is he… she… am I healthy?"

Leia smiled and nodded. "Everything looks good. You're fine."

"Good. That's… good. Uhm… do you think the higher ups would be totally hacked off if I just blew off the rest of the day?"

"No. In fact, I insisted. And you need to eat. No one can remember seeing you at chow this morning."

"Ah, great… I work with a bunch of snitches." She got off the table. "I'll… just go now. Bye."

She tried not to break into a run on her way back to the quarters she shared with her husband of all of six months. She locked the door behind her and punched the button on her desktop screen. "All right! Explain Yourself!"

There was no answer, of course. She gave the side of the monitor a futile smack on the side. "Answer me! What are You thinking? I've got a price on my head. Luke's got a price on his head. There are people trying to kill us every time we turn around. Not to mention that I'm G… only You know how far from home. How could You possibly think now would be a good time to have a baby!"

The screen remained blank. She made a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a sob as she threw herself down on the bed. "Why are You doing this to me? Was I really that bad of a person before? I can't deal with this right now."

She lay there until she fell asleep. In her dreams she was back in Sweet Bowl, enjoying a nice round of bickering with her brothers in front of the fireplace in the living room as her father trounced them all at Monopoly. David had grabbed her in a headlock and started knocking on her skull, which sounded oddly hollow and metallic. She opened her eyes, still halfway caught in the dream. It took her a bit before she realized that the knocking was actually at her door.

Ari got up; wincing as she realized the throbbing in her head was very real. Sleeping too much appeared to have given her the makings of a headache. Stumbling across the room, she opened the door and opened it. Leia was waiting outside, her expression strained. "What's happened?"

Leia stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her. "Ari… something's happened. Han came back from patrol, but Luke was unaccounted for and he went back out to find him. Now… both of them are unaccounted for. We waited as long as we could… but we had to close the shield doors after the sun went down."

"Close the… Leia… they'll freeze." Her knees could no longer support her weight. She reached blindly for her chair. Luckily, Leia helped her find it. "No one can live out there. Even the taun-tauns head for caves when the temperature drops. We need to get out there!"

Leia shook her head. "Ari… Ari we can't. They're still having trouble refitting the speeders, but there are going to work through the night to get them running."

"I can't… I can't do this right now. I can't… deal with this right now. I just got him!" Her head was pounding even harder and her stomach felt as though it was going to turn itself wrong side out. She folded over, her arms wrapping about her legs. "Oh, God… don't do this. Please don't do this."

Leia put her arms about Aria the best that she could with the other woman being in the position she was. "Ari, this is Han and Luke we're talking about. If anyone can come through this, they can. The speeders will go out in the morning and they'll be found, with Han cracking some smart aleck comment."

Ari didn't hear her. She was only interested in speaking to one person at the moment, and she was hoping with everything in her that He answered. "Please… please don't take him from me." She thought she may be crying… but she couldn't be for certain.