For Mara Jade, picture Scarlett Johansson when she's younger, and with Black Widow's red hair.

Now begins the events of Empire Strikes Back!

I don't own Star Wars.

Chapter 36: Discovered

It is a dark time for the Rebellion.
Although the Death Star has been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the
Rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy.
Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters led by
Anakin Skywalker has established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth.
Darth Vader, obsessed with finding Skywalker and his family, has dispatched
thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of space...

An Imperial Star Destroyer loomed in the dark reaches of space. At the orders of Darth Vader, remote probes were released from the open hatch. Finding the Skywalker family and the rebellion had been Vader's obsession for the last three years and the Force told him that he was very close now...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An object streaked across the icy sky of Hoth and crashed on the snow covered ground. The probe activated and began scouring the planet in search of the rebel base...

~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke Skywalker rode his Taun-Taun across the snowy plains on patrol. He saw a meteor hit the snow some distance away from him. He used his binoculars to get a better look, but all he saw was smoke.

"Echo 3 to echo 7, Han, you see anything?" Luke asked to his comlink.

"There's nothing on this ice cube," Han replied slightly annoyed.

"I hear you. Nothing over here either," Luke replied.

"Sensors are placed. I'm heading back kid, and you should too," Han replied.

"I'll see you there. A meteor crashed over here and I want to check it out. It won't take long," Luke replied, as he cut the transmission. Suddenly, his Taun Taun began to panic.

"Steady, steady girl! What's the matter, do you smell something?" Luke asked, trying to calm the animal down.

Suddenly, the Wampa, a beast-like creature with white fur took a swipe at Luke and crushed the Taun-Taun's neck. Luke ran, trying to avoid the beast's massive hand, but he was struck down. He fell unconscious into the cold snow and the creature began dragging the injured young man back to it's cave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Han arrived back at the base and checked in. He made his way through the docking bay and found Chewie making some repairs to the Falcon.

"Chewie?" Han called to him.

The Wookie rawled impatiently at him, indicating he was not happy being the one doing all the repairs.

"Alright, don't lose your temper! I'll come right back and give ya a hand," Han replied as he left for the control room.

He entered and his eyes searched for General Skywalker. Leia looked up and their eyes met for a brief moment. She looked back down as Han approached, seeing that Anakin was standing next to his daughter as they looked over some data readouts.

"Hey Han," Anakin nodded in greeting. "Did Luke come back with you?"

"No, he's checking out a meteorite that hit near him," Han replied. "Look, I can't stay any longer. I gotta leave and pay off Jabba what I owe him."

Anakin nodded, his face betraying no emotion.

"We'll miss you Captain, you've been a great asset to us," he replied as he shook his hand.

He sensed Han's uneasiness with his decision, but knew he couldn't interfere. Han had his own destiny to follow and though he had already sensed it was somehow entwined with his daughter's; he couldn't force him to choose what he thought was a better path. Han had to live his own life and make his own mistakes, before he learned all he needed to. In the end, his experiences would make him a better man.

Han nodded and made his way to the exit. Leia frowned and followed him. Anakin shook his head in amusement and went back to what he was doing.

"So that's it, you're just leaving?" Leia asked as Han kept walking.

"Yep, guess this is goodbye your highness," he replied.

"We need you Han," Leia argued.

"We? Don't you mean you?" Han jeered.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied.

"You probably don't," Han winced in disappointment and started walking away. But Leia followed after him.

"What exactly am I supposed to know?!" she questioned in annoyance.

"Come on. You want me to stay because of the way you feel about me," Han replied. Leia huffed in annoyance.

"You're imagining things," she retorted.

Han stopped to glare at her, "Am I? Then why are you following me? Afraid I was gonna leave without giving you a goodbye kiss?"

"I'd just as soon kiss a Wookie," she snapped, glaring back at him.

"I can arrange that," Han retorted before stalking off. "You could use a good kiss!"

Leia suppressed a growl. He drove her crazy and she couldn't explain why.

Han returned to the docking bay looking for Luke so he could say goodbye, when he felt something latch onto his legs. He smirked as he stared down at little Aiden and picked him up.

"Okay squirt, you got me. Did you wander away from your Mom again?" he asked.

"Mommy's feeding Bella. She let me stay and help Chewie fix the Falcon," Aiden said.

"Well, you're the best pint sized assistant I know," Han replied.

"Mommy says we'll be going home in a couple days. Are you going to take us in the Falcon?" Aiden asked. Han felt a stab of guilt hit his heart.

"Not this time squirt," he replied. Aiden's brow furrowed in confusion.

"You're not coming home with us? But why? Where are you going?" he asked.

"Well, there's something Chewie and I have to do and we have to go by ourselves," Han tried to explain so he would understand.

"But when are you coming back?" Aiden asked.

"I...I don't know, but I'll try to make it soon," he replied, knowing it was likely he wouldn't be able to keep that promise, then he saw Padmé coming with Isabella in her arms.

"Thank you both for watching him for a few minutes," she told him and Chewie. Han smiled.

"It's no problem," he replied as he put Aiden down on his feet.

"Mommy, Han is leaving," he announced. Padmé looked up at him.

"You are?" she asked.

"Yeah...I owe Jabba a lot of money and I need to pay him," Han explained.

"That sounds really dangerous," Padmé said with worry.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine and back in no time. I'm going to go find and Luke and tell him goodbye," Han said, trying to get away quickly.

Padmé's motherly instincts were in full gear and Han knew that she'd try to talk him out of going and he was afraid she might succeed. As his eyes scanned the docking bay, he didn't see Luke, so he approached an officer.

"Do you know where Commander Skywalker is?" Han asked.

"I haven't seen him sir," the officer replied.

"Are you sure?" Han demanded, knowing that the temperature was dropping rapidly now that night fall was upon them.

"I'm sorry sir, he hasn't reported in," the officer replied.

"Are the speeders up and running?" Han asked.

"No sir, we're still having problems," the officer replied. Han grit his teeth and started bundling up, before hoisting himself onto a Taun-Taun.

"Sir, your Taun-Taun will freeze!" the officer protested.

"Look, my friend is out there! Tell me Lieutenant, at which point were you intending on informing General Skywalker that his son is missing out there somewhere?!" Han questioned. Padmé over heard and gasped.

"Luke is missing?" she asked in alarm. The officer began to stutter in reply, but Han cut him off.

"He hasn't reported in," he told her gently before barking at the officer. "You're going to go tell General Skywalker where I've gone."

"Aiden, stay with Chewie. I have to go find your Daddy," Padmé said frantically, not waiting for the nervous Officer. She headed for the control room while Han went out to look for her son.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The patrols are erratic. I'm not sure how much longer we'll be safe here. I think they may be getting close," Obi-Wan said as he, Anakin, and many other Alliance Council members and commanding officers stood around the war table.

"There is no indication that we've been discovered," Cassian refuted.

"The vibrations in the Force say otherwise. I think Vader may be closing in. It would explain the erratic patterns," Anakin said.

Chirrut agreed. He had become more sensitive with the Force since meeting Anakin and Obi-Wan. Padmé suddenly rushed into the room and Bella fussed in her arms, sensing her Mother's distress.

"Ani...Luke is missing!" Padmé cried. He put his hands on her shoulders and tried to help her calm down.

"Missing?" he asked.

"He never checked in after his patrol route ended. That was four hours ago!" Padmé panicked.

"Okay...calm down angel. I'm going out after him," Anakin assured her.

"Han went too already," Padmé said. Anakin nodded and kissed her forehead.

"We'll find him Padmé, I promise," he assured her.

"We'll keep the blast doors open as long as possible," Dodonna assured him as Anakin left with Padmé behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few moments later, Anakin stormed into the docking bay followed by his frantic wife and daughter, who now held Bella while trying to calm Padmé, though she herself was scared for her twin. Anakin was more than a little angry about the Officer's oversight in failing to notice his son had not checked in. Hoth was too dangerous for mistakes like that.

Anakin stalked over to one of the broken down speeders and opened the front hatch. He dug his fingers into the innards of wires. He took out a small tool and cut the casing away from some of the wires, before twisting them together.

Obi-Wan shook his head and if it weren't for the seriousness of the situation, he would have laughed at the look on the other officers faces as they watched Anakin successfully hot wire the speeder. The engine roared to life and Anakin put his gear on.

"Sir, the temperature is dropping rapidly. It's not safe!" one officer argued.

Anakin's head shot toward the man and each and every one of them suddenly felt like the temperature in the room had dropped fifty degrees. It was a known fact that one did not want to ever be on the receiving end of one of General Skywalker's glares, for it was enough cold enough to freeze the binary suns on Tatooine.

"That is my son out there captain. He has been missing for over four hours and I just found out a little over ten minutes ago. I don't give a Shit how cold it is, because I am going to find my son!" Anakin yelled back as he jammed the throttle down and shot out of the hanger.

"General Kenobi, we can't keep the hanger open for much longer than an hour more!" the captain panicked.

"You've obviously never seen Anakin fly a speeder before. He'll be back in time, I assure you and you will not close this hanger until he is back with Luke and Han. Is that understood, Captain?" Obi-wan asked.

"Yes General," the captain replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the Wampa cave, Luke hung upside down. In the background, the Wampa creature fed on Luke's dead Taun-Taun.

He slowly regained consciousness and tried to free his feet, which were frozen to the ceiling.

Seeing his lightsaber nearby, Luke used the Force to bring it to his hand. He ignited the green blade and cut his feet loose. The Wampa growled and started to come after him. Luke swung his saber up and loped off the Wampa's arm, causing the beast to recoil in pain.

Luke stumbled and quickly ran out of the cave, into the blistering cold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Han leapt off his Taun-Taun and brought out a tracking device, trying to get any kind of signal on Luke. Just as he was about to mount his Taun-Taun again, Anakin arrived in his speeder.

"Jump in Han!" he told him.

"I can't get any kind of readings on the tracking device," Han said as Anakin sped off through the snow again.

"Don't worry, I can sense him. It's very faint, but he's still there," he replied as he punched the throttle down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke trudged through the snow and his vision blurred. He was extremely weak and cold. He could no longer feel his feet. Frostbite was beginning to set in and he dropped to his knees, no longer able to walk.

"Dad..." he cried out into the Force as he slumped down into the cold snow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several minutes passed but soon, Anakin slowed the speeder as they both spotted a figure lying in the snow. Anakin stopped the speeder and hopped out, running to his son. He picked Luke up in his arms and tried to get a response from him.

"Luke! Talk to me Luke!" he demanded. Luke weakly opened his eyes.

"Dad?" he uttered.

"Hang on Luke, we're going to get you back," Anakin replied as he placed his son in the back of the speeder and headed back to the base.

~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~

Padmé Amidala Skywalker paced worriedly in the hanger where everyone was waiting.

"General Kenobi, we can't keep the hatch open much longer," the worried captain said.

"No, they will be back. We just have to give Anakin time!" Padme insisted.

"Forgive me milady, but we are endangering everyone on the base by keeping this hatch open too long," the captain replied.

Mara Jade leaned against an X-Wing, biting her nails in worry. Over the time she had spent with Luke, they'd become great friends. She had even developed a serious crush on him.

"Ten more minutes captain, please," Padmé pleaded.

"We will wait ten more minutes. Anakin will be here," Obi-Wan assured them. The Captain nodded reluctantly. Padmé held Bella and Leia put her arms around her for support, while Chewie paced miserably, worried about Han and his friends.

Nearly ten minutes passed and Padmé couldn't help the tears that began to stream down her cheeks. They wouldn't be keeping the doors open any longer, no matter how much she pleaded. They would be trapped out there all night and Padmé was terrified she would lose them.

Suddenly, Artoo began whirring excitedly and stomping his feet.

"What's he saying?" Leia asked.

"Oh my, it seems Artoo is picking up a signal. He believes it's Master Anakin's speeder!" Threepio said excitedly.

Padmé and Leia sighed in relief as soon enough, they could see an approaching speeder. The speeder slowed and entered the hanger. Once they were in, the officers closed the hanger for the night.

Padmé handed Bella to her older sister and made sure Aiden stayed back with Satine and little Annie as she ran toward the slowing vehicle.

"Oh Ani, please tell me he's all right!" Padmé cried as her husband lifted their unconscious son from the back of the speeder.

"He'll be okay angel, we just need to get him to the med bay," Anakin replied.

As he said that, several officers rushed in with a stretcher. Anakin placed Luke on it and he was taken to the med bay immediately.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke was put in a bacta-tank, while the med droid monitored his condition. Padmé watched on, worriedly, while Anakin held her in his arms. Aiden sat with Aisha and Ahsoka, who entertained him, as he didn't quite understand what was going on. Bella was thankfully asleep now and Leia had put her down in her hover stroller.

"He's going to be fine, angel," Anakin told her. It was several hours later before he would be able to come out of the tank.

~~~~~~~A few hours later~~~~~~~

Luke was taken out of the bacta-tank and they took him to their quarters for him to rest. He felt fine now and dried off, before dressing himself. As he came out of his room, his parents ushered him to the sofa.

Padmé sat next to him, hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. She brushed his hair out of his eyes and doted on him.

"Mom, I'm fine, really," Luke insisted.

"Sorry honey, I don't mean to hover. Let me go make you some hot soup," Padmé insisted as she headed for the kitchen. Luke was about to protest, saying he wasn't hungry. But his father shook his head in amusement and Luke knew there would be no stopping her. He smiled back at his dad and Anakin left for the kitchen to find his wife when Han entered.

"Well, you look none the worse for wear, kid," Han said.

"Yeah, thanks to you and dad," Luke replied gratefully as Han sat down, looking at Leia.

"Well, your worship, it seems to me that you found a way to keep me around a little longer," Han replied smugly. Leia protested.

"I had nothing to do with that. Daddy thinks it's dangerous to let any ships leave until we've activated the energy field," she replied.

"That's a good story. I just think you can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me outta your sight, so you convinced daddy to come up with that little excuse," Han replied, smug as ever. Leia blanched and glared at him.

"I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain," she retorted. Chewie chuckled and Han gave him a warning look.

"Laugh it up fuzz ball. But you didn't see us earlier in the south passage. She expressed her true feelings to me," he said. Leia grew furious. Oh, how she hated him sometimes!

"Why you stuck up, half witted, scruffy looking...nerfherder!" she yelled as she stormed out. Han got offended.

"Who's scruffy looking?" he demanded. As Leia left, Mara came in and hugged Luke tightly.

"I'm alright, Mar," he assured her. But she started lightly smacking his shoulder.

"Don't scare me like that again!" she cried.

"I promise," Luke replied. Not knowing what she was doing, Mara kissed him on the lips. Though surprised, Luke kissed her back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Anakin and Leia were both in the control room. A situation had risen and the base was picking up a mysterious signal.

"What do you think it could be?" Leia asked her father. Anakin shook his head, unable to shake the bad feeling he had.

"I don't know princess," he replied.

"Master Anakin, this code is not used by the Alliance. It is possible it could be of Imperial origin," Threepio informed him.

"Whatever it is, it ain't friendly. Chewie and I'll go check it out, come on," Han said to Chewie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Han and Chewie found the location of the possible droid, they ducked behind a snow drift, as the thing shot a blast at them. Han drew his blaster and clipped it. It exploded into a million pieces, even though Han had barely hit it. He contacted the base.

"There's not much left of it," Han said

"What was it?" Anakin asked.

"A droid of some kind. I didn't hit it that hard, it must've had a self destruct mechanism," Han reported. Leia and Anakin glanced at each other.

"An Imperial probe droid," she surmised.

"It's a good bet that the Empire knows we're here," Han said.

"Get back to the base Captain. We're going to begin evacuation immediately," Anakin said as he made the announcement and put the entire base on red alert.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An Imperial Star Destroyer, larger than all the others, loomed about and TIE fighters swarmed around the area. Darth Vader stood on the bridge, awaiting any news. He could hear Admiral Ozzel and Captain Piett arguing about something and approached them.

"You have found something?" Vader asked.

"Yes my Lord. On the sixth planet in the Hoth system," Piett responded.

"That's it, the Rebels are there," Vader said.

"My Lord, there are so many uncharted settlements," Ozzel argued as politely as possible. "It could be smugglers, it could-"

"That is the system," Vader cut him off. He could feel a strong Force presence. "And Skywalker is with them. Set a course for the Hoth system immediately. General Veers, prepare your men."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, the entire base was in chaos as the Empire's presence was made known on Hoth. It had been confirmed that Imperial Walkers were now on the ground. The ground assault was underway and Anakin and Luke were both suiting up. Luke hopped into his two person fighter with Dak Ralter, while Anakin got into his with a reluctant Obi-Wan.

"Why did I let you talk me into this? I'm getting too old for this sort of thing," Obi-Wan griped.

"Aw, come on Master, it'll be just like old times," Anakin grinned as he fired up the engines. Obi-Wan felt his stomach lurch as Anakin blasted into the sky.

"Anakin! This is no time for your reckless flying tricks!" Obi-Wan scolded as Anakin spiraled and flipped them.

"Lighten up Obi-Wan. This is where the fun begins," he said as he spotted the first Imperial Walker and went after it.

"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this..." Obi-Wan said.

But Anakin was determined to ward them off in order to make sure he could safely see his family off the frigid planet. He wasn't going to let Vader anywhere near his beloved or their children. Unfortunately, Vader was just as determined to capture the Skywalker family and escaping Hoth would be anything but an easy feat...

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