Author Note: Hey guys, I'm so glad to hear that you guys like this story so much...it is definately the one I like writing the most...except for maybe the Galactic Wine one...but I mean, this is my favourite action/drama/whatever I rated it story.

So I hope you all enjoy it now that we're finally getting to the rescue...which, I can tell you...won't go exactly to plan (because let's face it...nothing ever does!)

"Well there it is...Echo Base," Mara's voice came over the radio. Luke shuddered as he glanced down at the ice planet again. He was in his x-wing, and Mara had taken the others in her ship. Luke hadn't liked the idea, because he still didn't trust her, but Leia had pointed out that if Mara tried to do anything, there was enough of them there to stop her. After all, she was with Chewie, Artoo, C-3PO, Ryoo and Pooja.

Han had taken Sola and all the stuff back to Naboo, where he would help her unload, then join them on Hoth. Sola had asked to stay on Naboo because she wasn't the fighting sort, unlike her sister. However, Ryoo and Pooja had jumped at the chance to go with their cousins. It seemed that they were desperate to be more like thier adventurous cousins.

The two ships circled the base whilst Artoo scanned for any life forms. Sure enough, there was life, but whether it was the Vongs, or a Wompa, he couldn't tell.

They decided to take the chance and landed a little way from the base so that they wouldn't be detected. Luke hopped out of the cockpit and pulled on his thick cloak, wrapping it tightly round himself and running over to Mara's ship as the ramp lowered. An icy wind was whipping round his face and he wished he'd brought a hat or something to keep his head warm. He could have worn his pilot's helmet, but that would have been both stupid and impractical.

Leia and Mara were the first out, followed by Ryoo and Pooja. It seemed that the four of them had been raiding the in-built wardrobe and all of Leia's clothing, because all of them were wearing thick thermal body warmers with thermal leggins, knee high boots and fur lined hoods. Apparently, they'd had the same idea as Luke...although they actually had something to keep their heads warm.

"Luke, there's a couple of things in there that may fit you...I'm sure Han won't mind if you borrow them," Leia said to him and Luke nodded gratefully, darting up the ramp. A little while later he re-emerged, dressed in a thick grey jacket, that had a fur lined hood and thick trousers with knee high boots. They were the same clothes Han had worn on his last trip to Hoth, so they were a little big, but Luke didn't care. He was warm at last!

"Right, I think the back entrance would be the best way in, but its a long walk. Is everyone ok with that?" Leia asked and the others nodded. Luke pulled out his lightsaber just incase they met any of the planet's unpleasant inhabitants, and the group set off, following Leia, (who knew her way better than anyone else, seeing as she had been incharge of it last time), each walking in single file with their hoods and coats wrapped tightly round them and their shoulders hunched with their heads down, trying to keep the wind from whistling down the backs of their necks, or freezing their cheeks.

The going was hard because the snow was knee deep and dragged their feet down, making them feel like they were wearing concrete boots. A few of them stumbled and once, the snow was so deep that when Ryoo fell into it, she completely dissapeared from view.

Luke's nerves were in shreds as he walked, because he kept hearing sounds like growls or snarls. He tried to tell himself that it was the wind, but that didn't stop him from tightening his grip on his saber and looking all around him, straining to see into the blizzard which they were now battling through.

Mara soon took the lead when Leia became hard to see through the thick snow, so the group followed her flame red hair into a nearby cave to wait until the blizzard had passed.

As they all stepped in out of the snow, Leia brushed the snow off her shoulders and hood, then cried out in surprise and anger as Chewbacca shook the snow from his fur and it fell on her.

"If I wasn't married to your best friend-!" she threatened and Chewie backed away sheepishly.

Luke, meanwhile, had found some logs in a corner and had started a fire, which they all crowded round.

"Where did you get these?" Mara asked as she examined another log before chucking it on the fire too.

"Over there. There's a whole heap of them," Luke replied, pointing to a corner.

Mara went to examine the logs, then came running back, suddenly panicked. "We have to get out! NOW!" she cried, scooping up her belongings and running for the entrance.

"What's the hurry?" Leia called, as she picked up another log to throw it on the fire. However, she stopped dead when she looked down at the log, and all the colour drained from her face. "Luke, these aren't logs...these are bones! This is a wompa cave!"

The others didn't need telling twice. Suddenly everyone was scooping up their bags and running after Mara, just as the gigantic snow creature emerged from another part of the cave. When it saw them running, it gave chase, blood dripping from it's fangs. Obviously it had just been feeding on a recent catch, and they could only hope that it had been an unfortunate Vong.

At the entrance to the cave, Mara and Leia turned and started shooting at the beast, whilst Luke ushered his cousins out and found them a hiding place behind a large boulder. Then he ran back, lightsaber lit, ready to fend the beast off if it attacked. However, he needn't have worried, for a few well aimed shots from Mara and Leia had the beast running back into its cave again.

"I'm so glad Threepio wasn't here to see that," Luke muttered to Leia as they started on their way again. "You know how flustered he gets at the slightest sign of danger."

Leia nodded in agreement and imagined the golden droid running round shouting 'Artoo, Artoo, Do something! Artoo!'

Luckily, they had left the droids to take care of the ships and give Han a message when he arrived, so the group could carry on without having to wait for them. After all, there was no way either of them would have been able to make it through the snow. Artoo may have been resourceful, but his rocket boosters had jammed up long before Luke had met him, so he wouldn't have been able to fly over it, like he once would have.

"Are you alright?" Leia said kindly to Ryoo as the two women walked side by side a little later on. Ryoo nodded, for it seemed that she was too cold to do anything else.

"What was she like when you knew her?" Leia asked, just trying to make conversation to keep her mind off how cold she was.

"Who? Aunt Padme?"

Leia nodded.

"I was only young...she supposedly 'died' when I was about nine, so I didn't really know her as well as I could have done. But she was very kind, and very beautiful. She always used to bring Artoo with her, and my sister and I would play with him for hours whilst Mum and Aunt Padme talked about things that, at the time I never understood. My mum used to call her a work-a-holic, because Aunt Padme always thought of others, before thinking of herself. She wouldn't rest until she was sure that everything was right on Naboo...which of course, it never was."

"She sounds like someone else I know," Leia sighed, glancing at Luke, who was up ahead with Mara, trying to formulate a plan.

"Mum always tried to encourage her to give up her Senate work and settle down with a family of her own, but Aunt Padme would never hear of it. Infact I think the only time I've ever seen her not working was when she had to go into hiding, with Uncle Anakin as her protector. Of course, they weren't married then...I don't even know if they were properly in love...but that was the happiest I'de seen her in a long time."

"Why did she have to go into hiding?" Leia asked curiously as memories of the interupted vision came back to her. She wanted to ask about Anakin aswell, but he was still just an evil Sith to her, and she wasn't really comfortable about talking about him at the moment, even though Ryoo seemed perfectly comfortable to call him 'Uncle Anakin', and seemed to have trouble talking about him.

So for the rest of the trek, Ryoo told Leia all about the assassination attempts on Padme's life, and how the Jedi had assigned Anakin to protect her.