Chapter Two: On Hitena's Surface

It was not too difficult to get onto Hitena's surface. Of course, it would have been a miracle if they hadn't smashed some vines in the process. But what was more difficult was crossing the thick jungle habitat. There were trees grown so close together, no one could see more than a foot ahead before they had to clear more trees out of the way.

They proceeded cautiously through the jungle. CapAmarav probably was ambushed in all the mess, Luke didn't wonder. But it's not too difficult a job to clear jungle plants when you have a lightsaber handy.

"What's that?" Han suddenly whispered. All five of them froze, but a rustling sound was still audible somewhere nearby. R2 found the source of the noise and beeped a little.

"What is it, Artoo?" asked Skywalker, not seeming alarmed at all.

Regardless of what was causing the noise, it started to come through the jungle brush. C-3PO stepped back from R2 and yelped. If he hadn't been a droid, he might have covered his eyes. But any robot would know that would be a silly thing to do. Luke already had his lightsaber drawn, and threatening was not necessary. R2 started beeping in fear and turning his head away from the noise.

"What's he saying?" Han asked impatiently. 3PO didn't seem to hear.

Suddenly the thing popped out of the bushes. R2 shrieked. Luke almost swung his saber, just from impulse, but stopped at the sight. It was a little girl, who looked to be about eleven; she had light brown hair that flowed just past her shoulders and a warm, creamy-white complexion. She was wearing the StarShip 2000 uniform, a black and orange suit not unlike that of a mechanic. The girl first noticed R2-D2, apparently, as she patted him on the top and said in a sweet, comforting voice: "It's okay, Artoo. You were skeered of me, weren't you? It's alright. It's just me, Rosie." R2 emitted a sound that resembled, altogether too closely, a sigh of relief, then started beeping softly. Then she started petting it. "What are you doing out here?" At that, R2 started beeping with a little more momentum, and the girl looked up and noticed the others. "Hi Uncle Han," she said. Luke looked quizzical.

"Why, it's only a little girl," noted C-3PO at last. "What was I afraid of?"

Rosalee smiled at him, but the others looked bored and R2 beeped to him in a way that sounded with a little contempt.

"Awh! You have no right! You were scared too, remember?"

"Who wouldn't be on this dreadful planet?" stuck in the girl.

"Well, we better get moving," said Skywalker, looking back at the trail of chopped jungle vines. "The locals should be on our trail any minute now."

"And we have another pack member," chimed Solo. "Hopefully we won't make the same mistake as the Captain."

At this, Rosie and Luke exchanged solemn glances and headed on.

Meanwhile, Janice was in her space capsule and was heading straight for, as the tracking device directed, the southern jungle of Hitena. The planet was nearly all jungle except for the many rivers that irrigated the massive greenness.

Landing in a similar fashion as the other group, the CoCaptain made her way through thick jungle vines. "Wow, this is thicker than Nool on Delta Centauri," she muttered grumpily as she drew her blade. It wasn't near as effective as a lightsaber, and she found herself becoming frustrated with the antiquated weapon. Finally, she shoved it back into its sheath, and pulled from her belt a small, cylindrical, metallic object. Holding it with an unfamiliar awkwardness, she pressed a button on it that caused it to project a long, blue laser beam from one end.

It was a lightsaber.

She used the renowned weapon to cut her way through the jungle. Taking a quick glance at her GPS wristwatch, she noticed it showed four life forms heading her way, and not far off either. Thinking quickly, she started asking her computer questions.

"How far away?"

"Eleven feet."

"Race?"

"Three human, one Wookiee."

Janice grinned. "Yes!"

She hurried forward through the vines, reaching the group only in moments. She was met with the jolting sensation of another lightsaber clashing against hers.

The two holding lightsabers stood startled at each other for several seconds, until Janice retracted hers and said in a quiet voice: "It's just me."

Luke lowered his saber and Janice thought she saw him roll his eyes. She glanced around her and caught sight of Rosie.

"Rosie, what are you doing here? Do you want to be killed?"

Rosie looked down. "I was looking for Amarav."

Janice decided against a lecture and turned to the others. She gave a friendly smile to Solo and an even friendlier one to Skywalker.

"Thank goodness I've found you," she said quietly. "But where's Leia?" she asked curiously, her voice rising in pitch.

"Oh, we left her back at Tatooine," replied Luke, sounding casual. "No sense in taking her on a dangerous mission when she could just stay in safety."

Janice nodded her agreement. Then she directed the conversation to the mission:

"I know where the Captain is."

"Where is he?" asked Luke quickly.

"Excuse me, but 'HE' is not a HE. SHE is my SISTER, and POSSIBLY even best friend." As she said this, she looked him directly in the eye as if she did not care if he was a Jedi or not.

Luke felt awkward for a moment, but no one noticed this. Being rebuked by a teen girl was humiliating enough, not that it was his fault. How could he have known? He'd never even heard of a female captain, not in this galaxy...

They continued along and found a path which led to the base.

"So," Luke asked Rosalee, "how old are you? Twelve?" He guessed high so as not to insult her if she was older than he thought.

"I'm eight," she said with a cute smirk. She got a little kick out of someone thinking she was four years older than she actually was.

Luke's first guess was two years off.

"And I'm seventeen," piped Janice. "We've been searching the galaxy for months now, looking for a special mineral called bostanite, which will greatly increase the durability of our shields and improve performance," continued the CoCaptain. "Word is that there are many deposits of it, though in small quantities, on this planet, so it was our next stop."

Han listened with interest, but Luke found himself bored with the conversation.

"You see, bostanite is a very unstable mineral. The Captain has been the only crew member to even lay eyes on it. She requested to go alone, and, however brave she may be, she's still a thin teenager who can't think straight in an emergency situation. We tried to persuade her to let us come, but she wouldn't have it and sneaked off the ship. I think it was partly my fault. I was a little hard on her when she got sidetracked on the last planet... Earth in fact. I thought she must've gone mad when she tried to become a super villain."

"Mm hm," nodded Luke, without even realizing what he was agreeing to.

Han looked absorbed in what she was saying. "So you think you'll be able to get this bota—"

"BOStanite," corrected Janice. "We could be standing on some right now."

At this remark, C-3PO halted his walk, lifted one foot and stared hard at the ground. R2-D2 turned to him and beeped hastily.

"Artoo says there is a small deposit of bostanite somewhere nearby," informed the droid, who had been strangely silent throughout Janice's whole conversation.

Janice nearly smiled at him even though it was really R2 who had made the discovery. "Good work, Artoo."

"But this shouldn't be stopping us from our main mission," blurted Luke, annoyed. "Rescue the Captain." The group continued to walk down the path, but Janice stopped a moment. Which was more important? Rescue her sister, or finish a mission she'd been wanting to for months?

Someone suddenly grabbed her and pulled her from the path.

"Janice!" cried Rosalee. They all looked back.

"Oh no," said 3PO, shaking his head slightly.

R2 beeped excitedly and Chewie growled in fear.

"Watch out," said Luke. "There could be more of them."

Everyone was quiet for a few moments. The eerie silence was quite unbearable, but any sound, they feared, may have been deadly.

All of a sudden, Luke dashed into the vines. He swept his way quickly through the jungle until he reached an immense, concrete-gray building, almost as tall as a football field is long. Luke stood, gawking a moment, when he was abruptly dashed out of his thoughts by an impeding voice.

"Hey, you! Who are you?! What are you doing here?" inquired an armed guard, pointing a blaster at him.

Luke quickly glanced his direction and hid a smirk, thinking of what he was about to do. "I have important business here. You will let me into the building."