Anakin Skywalker awoke to find himself in peculiar surroundings. He was not in his bed at the Jedi Temple; he was not even in the Jedi Temple. It appeared that he was in some sort of icy cave. A cold wind blew in from the cave entrance spraying snow in its wake. To make matters worse, he was bound and gagged. Calling upon the Force, he undid the knots to the ropes that bound his body. Then, once his hands were free, he undid the gag. Looking down at his belt, he noticed he still had his lightsaber. Anakin smiled; whoever had tried to kidnap him was obviously an amateur. At least they had the common decency to dress him in his winterized Jedi garb, he might be kidnapped, but he wouldn't freeze. Just then he heard a muffled cry from the right of him, and he went to investigate.
Anakin found a young woman bound and gagged in the same fashion as he was. She was dressed in a white skintight winter jumpsuit. A white fur lined cloak lay on the ground after falling off her shoulders as the young woman tried to wriggle out of her bonds. As Anakin approached the woman, a pair of fearful, chocolate brown eyes looked up at him. The eyes seemed familiar, but he was focused on trying to untie here rather than recall a distant memory.
"Shh…everything is going to be alright. Stay calm, I will untie you." Anakin spoke as he reached behind the woman's head to remove the gag. "I am Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, I do not know who brought us here, but I will get out of this mess," he spoke as he untied the rest of the ropes.
"Ani? Is that you?" The woman asked.
Anakin was taken aback, very few people knew of his nickname of long ago. He took a better look at the woman before him and recognition dawned on him. He had seen those eyes before. It had been eleven years since he had seen those eyes, but there was no mistaking they belonged to the former Queen and current Senator of Naboo Padmé Naberrie Amidala.
"Yes, its me milady."
"My goodness you've grown." Eleven years ago, Ani had been a little ten-year-old slave boy. Now he was no longer a boy, but a man and a Jedi Knight. She had not seen him in eleven years, but she had read of his exploits of destroying the Sith. She had been worried when she woke up in this cave, but now that famed Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker was here, she was sure she was safe.
Anakin finished untying Senator Amidala and pulled her up into a standing position. He knelt down to pick up her coat and handed it to her for her to put on. "Follow me, milady. We need to figure out where we are and then how to get back home. Stay close, and nothing will harm you."
Anakin and Padmé crept slowly towards the cave entrance, both watching for any sign of their kidnappers. As the two got closer to the cave entrance, they noticed some camp supplies off on the right hand side. It appeared their kidnappers did not have time to make camp yet. At the entrance, Anakin told Padmé to stay where she was as he walked out to investigate his surroundings.
There seemed to be no sign of the kidnappers. Anakin looked straight up into the air to figure out where he was. It was bright, but he could see the faint outlines of three moons. Given than information and the fact that the planet he was standing on was covered in snow and ice, he deduced that Padmé and him were stranded on Hoth.
"Ani! Look here." Called Padmé.
Anakin turned quickly towards Padmé. She was pointing at a discarded blaster in the snow. There appeared to have been a struggle between a man and an animal nearby, and animal track led away from the scene.
"Well it looks like we don't have to worry about our kidnapper. It looks as though a Wampa Ice Creature got him!" exclaimed Anakin.
"A Wampa?"
"Yes we are on the planet Hoth, and a Wampa is the only creature that I know of who leaves tracks like that."
"What if the Wampa comes back?" Asked Padmé with a tremor in her voice.
"I don't think he will, but if he does I can take him down with my lightsaber," he replied patting the weapon attached to his belt. "Trust me, we'll be safe."
"Ok, but how are we going to get out of here?"
"Let's go inside and look at the kidnapper's gear and see if we find anything useful."
Anakin picked up the blaster and joined Padmé. They entered the cave, both relieved that some of the danger had passed now that the kidnapper was gone.
Meanwhile, in a Naboo cruiser orbiting Hoth:
"Are you sure Anakin is going to believe that he was actually kidnapped? You left him all the supplies he needs to survive." Questioned Sabé.
"He'll believe it, I setup that Wampa scene perfectly. He'll just assume some amateur kidnapper tried to take him and Padmé and was killed by the creature." Replied Obi-Wan.
"Yeah, but its still suspicious."
"Don't worry, its all taken care of. The Jedi code dictates that he has to call the council next, and once he finds the comm. unit I left he'll do that. Then the council will feed him the cover story we came up with. It will work, trust me. Oh, and I might have left supplies, but I made sure I only left the bare minimum."
"What did you leave them?"
"I'll tell you later." Obi-Wan said with a smile and a wink.
"Obi-Wan, you better te… !" Sabé exclaimed, as she was silenced with a kiss.