Disclaimer: All rights belong to Disney, George Lucas, and all the men and women that created the Star Wars movies, books, and comics. I take no credit, and I do not mean to break any copyright rules. This is simply a work of fiction made for enjoyment. No money is being made. The cover art image belongs to peanutbutterroastedchestnuts. tumblr .com (remove the spaces)
Rating: T for violence, disturbing imagery, and dark themes
Author's Note: After chapter 4 I'm going to start mixing things up and adding in planets and species not from the movies. I'll write it so it makes sense, though, but will also be unique and new. The ongoing plot line of this story starts in this chapter, too. Additional thanks to my awesome beta, Vika, too!
Chapter 3
Outer Rim Territories, Anoat Sector, Hoth System, 39 BBY
I end up on Hoth. It's a pretty remote place, but I'm tired of sand and heat. It's also in the same sector as Bespin, so the ride is short.
Still, you have to be wondering why a Sith is hanging out on a planet covered in ice with no native intelligent life and the only other inhabitants - a grand total of ten of them - being Wampas and Tauntauns.
Maybe I'm having serious thoughts about my life choices. Maybe I'm rethinking everything. Maybe I'm feeling claustrophobic and wanted some space. Maybe I want to kill the only ten life forms on this planet. Or maybe I intercepted a message from the Jedi Council that said a dangerous bounty hunter is hiding out here.
Well, if you picked the last one, you're right. There's nothing I love more than taking care of Jedi business before they even arrive. The shock on their faces is priceless when they discover a Sith has done what they were going to do faster and more efficiently. It brings me great joy, and it makes them rethink their life choices. An all-around win for me, and an all-around loss for them. I know, I'm really bitter.
Stepping out of my ship and into the frigid wind, I wrap my robes tighter around me. I'd swapped out my combat boots for some snow boots, and I'd changed from my normal black skirt to heavy winter robes that still allow room for movement, and I'd added a scarf and gloves, but it's still so cold. I'm never complaining about the heat again. I could use a vacation on a sunny planet, preferably one I've never visited before.
Ah… lying on a soft towel on warm sand letting the sun warm up my icy soul with the water lapping against the shoreline luring to to sweet relaxation and rest… I could use a vacation. Do Sith get vacation days? Or "sick" days at least?
Shoving thoughts of heat and sun and sand behind me, I trudge onward, looking for the Moorsh Moraine, a landform where the bounty hunter is supposedly hiding. It had been smart of him to camp out on this planet, since there's nothing here. I almost wish I had thought of it first. Almost. And no one in their right mind would come here. Except me, it seems, although it can be argued that I'm not in my right mind.
The wind picks up, and the temperature drops even more. Sith are powerful, but not enough to defeat winter storms, apparently. The snow falls heavier, and I can't see anymore past the heavy snowflakes. It's a shame I left my droid back in my ship. Now would be a great time to actually use him for once, except he would probably be upset at me for ignoring him recently and would refuse to help. Honestly, I don't why I keep him around sometimes.
No one's getting anywhere in this blizzard, Jedi or Sith or not, I decide after another hour, so I dig a burrow in the snow and snuggle up, hoping I can keep my body temperature up long enough to survive the night and the storm. I'd been sensible enough to bring some heating packs, and that, combined with the burrow blocking the wind, keeps me from completely freezing. I still shiver a lot, and getting to sleep is a rough affair. When I finally drift away, my sleep is undisturbed and dreamless.
Outer Rim Territory, Unknown Sector, Anthan System, 50 BBY
Another day, another disappointment. Welcome to my life.
My mother and father are fighting again. This time there is no storm to cover up the sound of their harsh words. Mostly my father's harsh words, but every once in awhile my mother struggles to defend herself. It's pathetic, the way they go at each other. It makes me wonder what they ever saw in each other ten years ago when they first said their binding vows. Love is fake, I've learned from them. You get attracted to a person, you laugh at everything they say and enjoy their touch, but eventually the things you once liked about them become the things you hate about them. Their spontaneous surprises make you distrust them in a few years, and their once-amusing habits become your biggest pet peeve. I've seen it happen over and over again between my parents, and it makes me decide to never get attached to someone. It only brings pain in the end when everything blows up messily.
They obviously have reached the point where they don't like each other anymore. Any signs of affection or love is gone, and not just between the two of them. They ignore my siblings and I, leaving us to try and solve our problems on our own. We're not old enough to be responsible for what they expect us to be responsible for, but we have no choice.
Physically I'm eight, but mentally I'm much, much older. Years of neglect does that to a child, especially in this place. This horrible planet, where there's no opportunities for the future, where everyone is blind to see how much others are suffering. This dead-end world where I will never return when I grow older, for there is nothing for me here, and there will be nothing for me here in my future.
Outer Rim Territories, Anoat Sector, Hoth System, 39 BBY
The next day the blizzard is still going, but I find that if I hold my lightsaber out, it illuminates the area a few feet around me in a reddish glow. I know the general area of where the Moorish Moraine is located, so I head that way, fighting the wind for every step. My ears are freezing, and even though I use my long brown hair to cover them underneath my hood, it's still not enough. Eventually they hurt too much to continue on, and I dig another burrow and break out a few more heating packs. The other thing I hadn't thought of to bring is food, and I really hope the bounty hunter has some in store for when I find him. My stomach is growling like a Rancor and I feel depleted of my normal energy.
When I wake up again, I'm not in the burrow I made. I'm hanging upside down in an ice cave. Great. Just what I wanted. There's a Wampa keeping watch, his ugly face baring his sharp teeth at me. Spittle covers my face and immediately freezes. More fun. Hanging upside down with my blood rushing to my face is my idea of a great Saturday night!
I fumble around for my lightsaber, but it's gone. Where is it? I curve my head painfully to look on the ground to see if it had shaken out when the Wampa had hung me up, but it's not around. It must have dropped on the journey, which means I'm never going to find it. Man, I really liked that weapon. It had taken me days to make, all his special features and his beautiful metal design put together piece by piece, and I'd grown attached. I'd even named him Thanatos.
This is so not worth the satisfaction I'm going to get when I find the bounty hunter before the Jedi. If I ever find him. At this point I'm more likely to be eaten by an unintelligent life form that makes up a tenth of the population of this snowy excuse for a planet. This will honestly be the worst way to die. And the way the Wampa is behaving it seems like it just ate, so I'll probably freeze to death while hanging upside down before it eats me.
Tatooine's climate seems real nice right now. Actually all of Tatooine seems nice right now, to be exact. Watching pod races in the desert heat, drinking up specialty drinks that taste like Tauntaun crap...I'd give anything to be back there instead of here, where my brain is freezing and my blood feels like it's the consistency of slush.
I pat around my belt and my pockets again, desperate enough to do a second check for my weapon. That's when I hear the voice. "Looking for something?"
My lightsaber is held in the gloved hand of someone. I don't look at them, because I only have eyes for my beautiful, hand-crafted baby… who's now in the hands of some stranger.
I use the force to summon him, but it doesn't budge. I focus harder, and it still doesn't move. Giving up, I let out a deep groan. "What do you want?"
I close my eyes, dizzy from hanging upside down and from putting so much effort into using the force. The figure moves closer as evidence by the sound of boots crunching on snow, but the Wampa doesn't attack him. I realize he's probably controlling the Wampa by feeding it.
"You're no Jedi," he says, his husky voice muffled by all the layers he's wearing. Now, I say "he", but this could very well be a she. I won't know until they reveal themselves, and for the moment I'm too miffed to try and use the force to figure things out, though I have my suspicions that it really is a guy. The voice is pretty deep.
"Your point being?" I finally answer.
"Why are you here?" He squats to be on eye level with me, "I know the Jedi are after me, but a Sith has no reason to be here. There's nothing here."
So he's the bounty hunter. Makes sense, I guess. "How do you know I'm a Sith?"
He laughs, "For one, your red lightsaber is pretty unique in the galaxy. Not many force users have a red, double-sided lightsaber that can detach into two separate ones with a single twist. With it follows your reputation, Minerva." He turns the handle over in his hands, and I hadn't missed the emphasis on my name.
"Maybe I modeled my lightsaber after the Sith because I admire them," I reply, knowing he won't buy it but trying anyways.
"How many lightsabers in the galaxy are named Thanatos?" he says, his voice unbelieving.
"Well, aren't you so brilliant, wise one," I mutter, still fighting off the dizziness.
"I still don't know why you're here," the voice snaps as he stands up quickly. "And where is your starship?"
"Why, so you can take off and leave me stranded here with your pet monster? No thanks." Some portions of my hair fall from inside my scarf and hood to float around my head like a halo, making me look even more ridiculous.
"You make me question the reputation of the Siths," he says. "I mean, look at you. You're just pathetic. If I ordered my Wampa to attack you right now he'd have no trouble eating you."
"I'm hard to digest," I reply, knowing that I could probably get out of this fix if I became desperate enough. "And the Sith reputation is mostly upheld by my master, who is actually a pretty scary guy."
"So killing you would bring his wrath upon me?" He stops pacing.
"Nah. He'd probably send you a gift basket with a thank-you card. He wants me dead more than anyone else." My body starts to spin in a circle. Great. I can just imagine it: More Ways to Look Like An Idiot, by Minerva.
"Why is that?" He moves closer, curious. I don't like the turn this conversation has taken.
"I finished his favorite cereal and didn't replace it," I answer in a deadpan. "Now are you going to kill me or just leave me hanging?" I start laughing. "Get it? Leave me hanging." Wow. That was horrible. Being upside down is not good for my brain. I'm just making a fool of myself here.
"I'm not going to kill you," the bounty hunter replies.
"What? You're not?" Well this is unexpected. I've been hoping he'd make a move so I could use the adrenaline caused by fear to get myself out of this fix. It seems this is not to be, though. "Why not?"
"Try not to sound so depressed about it," he answers sarcastically. "I'm going to sell you to whatever Jedi comes to get me. You're wanted more than I am. All I did was steal some Jedi artifacts from the temple on Coruscant. You, on the other hand, are different. You hop from planet to planet, killing people as you see fit with the powers of the dark side. Instead of taking me, I'll give them you."
So he's not a complete idiot. And I'm stuck in a fix. If the Jedi council actually sends a Jedi master out, then that complicates things. Maybe they'll just send a Padawan out, and I'll be able to escape.
Unless they take my ship, of course. My starship is the only way off this horrible planet, since it seems the bounty hunter trashed his during his escape. Man, I hope I don't get stuck here. That would really suck. I might let the Wampa eat me just to die quicker. Getting stranding here forever… I can't imagine a worse death. I have so many planets to explore still, and so many more places to visit before I die.
Remember what I said earlier about coming to Hoth to maybe rethink my life decisions? Yeah, well, that one might also be true. If only I hadn't been so cocky about getting a chance to show up the Jedi. But who am I kidding? That's a part of me that I'll never be able to get rid of. No matter how many times it lands me in situations like this, I'll still continue to do it. Because I'm me.
There's the sound of an animal… two animals… cutting through the quiet. I open my eyes to see the bounty hunter turn. His eyes grow wide. "They're here," he murmurs, his muscles tensing up.
The Jedi aren't here for diplomacy, though. One of them has a green lightsaber, the color of a Jedi consular, but I don't think he's one of them, and the other has a blue one. They're both bundled up so I can't see their faces well, not to mention that I'm still upside down. Which, I might add, is beginning to get old.
They charge forward, and the bounty hunter fumbles for his blaster. Joke's on him now for overestimating the Jedi. I guess they are good for the unexpected sometimes, and you can definitely rely on them for dramatic entrances.
The green lightsaber guy deflects the charges from the gun and fights the bounty hunter while the other takes on the Wampa. I notice that my lightsaber has been dropped in the snow, and I summon it to me. This time it comes willingly ("Little bugger," I mutter to him) and I lean up to use it to cut the rope binding me. Falling into the soft snow, I roll to avoid blaster shots and to lessen the impact. Then I sprint to the outside of the cave, where two Tauntauns are tied up.
I cut the bindings on one and grab the reins before glancing back into the cave. The bounty hunter has pulled out two strangely familiar colored lightsabers, evening out the fight. The two Jedi look familiar,too, especially in the way they fight, and I know I've run into them before. I just can't place them without seeing their faces.
Oh well. I'll probably run into them again at some point, if they survive today (which I bet they will. And I'm not evil enough to wreck their starship. Stranding somewhere on this planet is a mile past the line, even for a Sith). I spur the Tauntaun on into a gallop, and I leave the cave on Moorish Moraine far behind. When I finally reach my starship, an hour later, I set the Tauntaun free and climb up into the cockpit. "Could've used your help, KZ-4," I say to my green and silver droid. He beeps something unintelligible and I take off, flying far away from that cursed ice bucket.
"I'm thinking somewhere warm and sunny," I remark, a shiver running through my frozen body. I blow hot air on my hands and rub them together. "Somewhere with beautiful lakes and scenery, somewhere I can relax for a bit. What do you think?"
He beeps back at me, and I input my course, laughing lightly. "Naboo sounds perfect to me, too."