Scruffy Looking Nerf Herder!

Chapter 21

The jagged face of a huge ice wall sits gloomily in the dim twilight of a Hoth day. Luke hung upside down, his ankles were frozen into icy stalactites, his extended arms within a foot of the snow floor. One side of his face is covered in a dried mask of frozen blood. He opened his eyes the cold air hitting him as a chilling moan of the hideous ice creature echoes off the gorge walls. Luke pulled himself up, and grabbed hold of his ankles, and futilely tries to unfasten the throngs. He didn't last long though. He was exhausted he dropped back into his hanging position. As he hung there, he spied his lightsaber lying near a pile of his discarded gear, about three feet out of reach.

If he was a tad bit closer he could have reached it with his hand but he couldn't. He focused on the lightsaber and, as his hand strains toward the weapon, he squeezed his eyes tight in concentration. Just as the ice creature loomed over Luke, the lightsaber jumped into Luke's hand. The young warrior instantly ignited his sword, swinging up, and cut himself loose from the ice. He flopped to the snow in a heap. The startled creature moved back, his giant yellow eyes blinking. Luke scrambled to his feet. He swung his lightsaber and the beast screamed in pain. Luke staggered out of the gorge into the dark and snowy twilight. He was weak, and dehydrated and exhausted.

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Artoo stood in the falling snow, beeping worriedly. Threepio moved stiffly over to him.

"You must come along now, Artoo. There's really nothing more we can do and my joints are freezing up." Artoo beeped long and low.

"Don't say thing like that! Of course we'll see Master Luke again. He'll be quite all right, you'll see." He said as they walked back into the covered area of the base.

"Stupid little short-circuit. He'll be quite all right." He said to himself as he walked back.

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The wind was blowing quite strong now. As Luke struggled to stay upright, but a blast of freezing snow knocked him over. He struggled to get up, but he can't. The young warrior from Tatooine dragged himself a couple of feet and then collapsed.

"Help me." He whispered into the snow, as he fell unconscious.

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Leia and Nadia stood inside the dark entrance to the Rebel base, waiting for a sign of the two Rebel heroes. They both shivered in the cold wind nearby, as Chewie sat with his head in his hands. In the background, Artoo and Threepio move through the doors. A Rebel lieutenant moved to Major Derlin, an officer keeping watch with the two women.

"Sir, all the patrols are in. There's still no contact from Skywalker or Solo."

Nadia tried to stop fiddling with her hands, a habit that she does when she is nervous or worried. "Mistress Leia, Artoo says he's been quite unable to pick up any signals, although he does admit that his own range is far too weak to abandon all hope."

Leia nodded an acknowledgment, but she is lost in thought. Nadia sighed out in worry. "Okay."

Threepio noticed Nadia's expression. "Mistress Nadia I assure you that I am remaining hopeful that they will return." That didn't help Nadia in the slightest but she nodded anyway.

An officer came over to them. "You're Highness, there's nothing more we can do tonight. The shield doors must be closed." He turned to the lieutenant. After receiving a reluctant nod from Leia.

"Close the doors."

The officer nodded. "Yes, sir."

The lieutenant walked away. Chewie let out a long, mournful howl, as they watched as the doors slammed shut. At the same moment, Artoo begins a complex series of efficient beeps.

"Artoo says the chances of survival are seven hundred seventy-five...to one." Threepio started to walk away until he turned around again.

"Actually, Artoo has been known to make mistakes... from time to time. Oh, dear, oh, dear. Don't worry about Master Luke. I'm sure he'll be all right. He's quite clever, you know... for a human being."

"Dear. Oh dear." He said worriedly and tried his best not to worry.

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Luke lied face down in the snow, nearly unconscious. Slowly he looked up and saw Ben Kenobi, barely visible through the blowing snow. It is hard to tell if Kenobi is real or a hallucination.

"Luke... Luke." His commanding voice made Luke look up.

"Ben?" He said, his voice weak and unstable.

His Jedi robe was on and his hood was over his face. "You will go to the Dagobah system."

The snow and his lack of energy was making it difficult to understand. "Dagobah system?"

"There you will learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me."

The image of Ben fades, revealing a lone Tauntaun rider approaching from the windswept horizon.

"Ben... Ben." He groaned weakly, before he fell into unconsciousness again.

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Han pulled up and leapt off his mount. He hurried to his snow-covered friend, cradling him in his arms. Han's Tauntaun lets out a low, pitiful bellow. But Han's concern is with Luke, and he shakes him urgently. "Luke! Luke! Don't do this, Luke. Come on, give me a sign here."

Luke doesn't respond. Han began frantically rubbing and slapping Luke's unconscious face. As he starts to lift the youth, Han hears a rasping sound behind him. He turned, just in time to see his Tauntaun stagger and then fall over into the snow. Han carried Luke to the moaning beast. Then, with a final groan, the Tauntaun expired it's eyes closing. "Not much time. Come on Luke, Nadia will have my head if you don't back alive." He pushes Luke's inert form against the belly of the dead beast.

"Ben... Ben." He moaned his eyes still shut.

Han tried his best to keep Luke with him. "Hang on, kid."

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Nadia and Leia were walking back to their chambers defeated and still worrying. Leia tried to keep a brave face for Nadia, but Nadia didn't know that Leia was worrying about Han too. "Try and get some sleep Nadia, I'm sure we'll will know more in the morning."

She nodded and gave Leia a quick hug before walking to hers and Luke's quarters. She locked the door behind her and looked around at the messy room. Hers and Luke's clothes were everywhere on the floor. We weren't this messy on Tatooine, probably because Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen would tell us to clean up our rooms.

She decided to do some cleaning up to get her mind of Luke and Han she prayed they were alright. Luke was always the least messy one out of the two of them. Nadia had some fruit for her dinner, as she couldn't stomach proper food at the moment. She sat on their bed and ate in silence, tempted to go out and look for them but with the storm increasing by the minutes there was no way she could go out there.

She got a quick shower and put a clean pair of pyjama pants on and a shirt of Luke's that he wears when he is not on duty. She crawled into his side of the bed and tried to sleep.

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Leia had just got word that they had found Luke and Han, she rushed to tell Nadia. She gently knocked on her door, "Nadia, it's Leia!"

"Yes, I'm coming." She said from the other side of the door. A minute later and Nadia appeared a robe around her body and her hair messy.

"Sorry to disturb you, but Han and Luke are back." Nadia sighed in relief a huge weight had just dropped from her shoulders. "Really?! Where are they? Is Luke okay?"

"Yes, he is in the medical centre with Han. Get dressed and we will go there together."

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The strange robot surgeons adjusted a mass of electronic equipment. A switch was thrown and a sudden blinding flash obscures Luke in a bacta tank filled with a thick, gelatinous slime. He began to thrash about, raving in delirium. Chewie, Han, Threepio and Artoo were there.

"Hey where is he?" Nadia rushed in, her hair was down as she didn't have time to do it. Leia came in behind her to see Luke in the bacta tank.

"He's fine, he's got some wounds and was dehydrated but he'll be fine now." Han said his hand on his hip. He was knocked back by Nadia arms throwing around his shoulders and her tip toying up to him to give him a hug.

"Thank you Han." He patted her back awkwardly. She give him a kiss on the cheek, and smirked.

"No problem kiddo, besides we can't see you without the other can we?"

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Luke was sitting up in a recovery-room bed, still weak but better than before. He was allowed visitors now after his check-up. The door opened and Nadia came in.

"Hey stranger." She said and he smiled widely. She leant over and gave him a long hug careful of his wounds on his face and ribs. His face showed terrible wounds from the Wampa's attack.

"Nadia, am I glad to see you." He buried his face in her long hair. She sat down beside him still hugging him. "I was so worried." She mumbled into his shoulder.

"I know but I'm okay now." He pulled back and she sat beside him.

She took notice of his scars and gently touched his face. "That looked like it hurt." She winced, he kissed the back of her hand. "It did."

She opened her mouth to say something else when the door opened and Threepio and Artoo entered the room. "Master Luke, sir, it's so good to see you fully functional again." Artoo beeped his good wishes.

"Artoo expresses his relief, also."

"Thanks Threepio, Artoo."Leia, Han and Chewie made their entrance. The Wookiee growled a greeting. Leia stood against the wall while Han and Chewie stood by Luke.

"How are you feeling, kid? You don't look so bad to me. In fact, you look strong enough to pull the ears off a Gundark."

"Thanks to you." He grinned. Nadia nodded in agreement. "Yeah I already thanked him myself."

"That's two you owe me, junior."

Han turned to Leia he looks at her with a big, devilish grin. "Well your Worship, looks like you managed to keep me around for a little while longer."

She crossed her arms, "I had nothing to do with it. General Rieekan thinks it's dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we've activated the energy shield."

Han didn't believe this one bit. "That's a good story. I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight."

Luke looked at Nadia with a here we go again look.

"I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain." She gritted her teeth.

Chewie was amused; he laughed in his manner. Han, enjoying himself, regarded Chewie good-humouredly. "Laugh it up, fuzzball. But you didn't see us alone in the south passage."

Nadia sparked to this; she looked at Leia. She didn't actually find out what between them in the south passage. "She expressed her true feelings for me." Han put an arm around her shoulder.

Leia looked flushed, her eyes darting between Luke, Nadia and Han.

"You never know when to stop do you Han." Nadia smirked.

"My...! Why, you stuck up...half-witted... scruffy-looking ...nerf-herder!" She stuttered breathing heavily and looking a little red in the face. Nadia smirked as she noticed this.

Han was mortified, "Who's scruffy-looking?"

He leant down to Luke. "I must have hit pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh, kid?" Leia looked vulnerable for a moment, then the mask fell again, and she focused on Luke.

"Well, I guess you don't know everything about women yet." She moved forward to Luke and gets Nadia's approval and then gives him a long deep kiss on the cheek and puts her hand on his chest.

Nadia looked proud as she could see it affected Han but he was trying to not to show it. Then she turned on her heel and walks out, leaving everyone in the room slightly dumbstruck. With some smugness, Luke puts his hands behind his head and grinned. Suddenly, in the distance, the muffled sound of an alarm is heard. "Headquarters personnel, report to command center."

The voice repeated the order and Han, Chewie, Artoo, and Threepio hurry out of the room, bidding farewell to Luke and Nadia. "Take it easy."

"Excuse us, please."

That left Nadia and Luke alone. Luke looked a little embarrassed. "Are you okay about that?" he asked.

"Yeah sure, it's not like she meant anything by it, we both know she's doing it to make Han jealous. I swear if those don't kill each other, I will."

He nodded. "The medic says I have to take it easy but I can still fly."

"Well if you are planning on going back there you have to be careful."

He agreed by nodding, "So come on let's go to our quarters, you need to get ready. I cleaned up our mess." She said and helped him up from the comforter.

"Great, there's actually something I need to talk to you about." He told her as they walked out of the medical centre.

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Yay! Another chapter done, I will be updating every Sunday and Wednesday now. I am trying my best to keep updating and not leaving you all hanging. Anyway thank you for my reviews. I got over 831 views on the story on Wednesday and only a few people reviewed, I can expect that though because I'm a terrible author at updating. I will see you all on Wednesday.

3 Reviews until the one.

Sarahmichellegellarfan1 xoxo