Chapter 5 Hoth
A bit later after the ship was out of the asteroids a shuttle was dispatched with Anakin and Obi-Wan alongside several clones who met the Eds in the hangar of their ship with their payment in a special suitcase.
"Here it is for the service you give to the Republic." Anakin said.
"Thank you sir it was really an honor." Double D said taking the suitcase bowing with respect, although for his and his friends it was nothing short of a hazard.
"And are we going to keep this one." Ed asked hoping they will keep it.
"Yes you can, master Galia believes that you 3 might crash it anyways into something." Obi-Wan said believing this after someone's piloting.
"No we will not, I believe I piloted it quite good." Eddy said defensively.
"Still what were you 3 planning to do with this ship before jumping out of sudden into a battle?" Asked a clone with the rank of lieutenant with the Republic crest tattooed on his face and painted on his helmet.
"Well, you see we-"
"Captain Eddward I finished watering your flowers." Called a droid that was in a corner, where they had placed his plant specimens.
"Remember to not put too much." He called coming with the idea.
"We are natural enthusiast, we want to explore and collect plants and also maybe start trading after the conflict is over. I mean this seems like a much better purpose for this ship and the crew now isn't it." Double D explained although it seemed not so convincing.
"Hmm, sure you can say it that way." Obi-Wan said.
"Plus what would you have done with it to help you in the war, aside from target practice." Eddy asked.
"Not much aside from what you just said. Still maybe you can try to hide it somewhere to not be in plain view for both sides that is. A Republic ship could fire at you while Separatists use you." Anakin commented.
"And try to give it a better paint job. A Republic ship could fire at you while Separatists use you which you guess what that would mean." The clone said.
"We will remember that. And anything else?" Double D asked wondering what they could do in this case.
"Not for now, but who knows maybe we will see each other again. And when we do we might have other jobs so you should stick around." Anakin said while looking around only seeing battle droids but not anything else, should have expected this.
"By the way, do you boys got any Astromech droid?"
"Astromech droid?" Double D asked turning to their droids who shook their heads to indicate no.
"I don't think so. There was none here."
"Should have expected that, RG-4?" Obi-Wan called and out from the ship came a small droid that almost looked like a trash bean but with a conical dome on top for a head.
"Consider this RG unit as a bonus for the extra work you did. It will help you around the ship to keep it maintained." Anakin explained.
"Hallo my name is Ed." Said the taller boy wanting to make acquaintance with it and the droid responded in kind.
"Ohh it is great, we thank you a lot." Double D said with a stressed smile happy for the droid.
"However will this one also keep an 'eye' on us?" Eddy asked with suspicion and also referring to his only eye.
"Don't worry it will not do anything, as long as you don't make stunts that would be stupid that is." Anakin commented with a smile.
"We don't intend to do it sir." Double D said.
"Say the ones who hijacked a warship full of droids." Obi-Wan commented rolling his eyes.
"The intent was honorable." Double D said defensively by all accounts the idea of preventing a war was in his view, what had to be done on how to deal with the ship and the crew they couldn't just throw them away not to mention that they really started to sympathies with the droids.
"Just make sure you don't get into trouble by jumping into another battle. I tell you others wouldn't be this tolerant. But even with that maybe if me meet again we might get some other jobs if interested." Anakin said with a smirk.
"We will think about it." Double D said although for them it could mean trouble by all accounts, even with that the group of Jedi and clones went in their shuttle and waited to leave the hangar, once that is done they immediately went back to the bridge.
"Well at least we can surely keep the ship as long as we don't bump ourselves into another mess." Eddy commented before looking at the astromech who was beeping and booping. "And we should make this one talk so we could understand him."
"Agree on that, and we shall try to stick to expeditions, and to be honest those money might really help us maintain this ship alongside the Gozanti." Double D said before Johnny came to them.
"Boy this now was some adventure, never thought that we would blow up a space station."
"It was all with the purpose for us to keep this ship." Eddy commented.
"Do we have coordinates plugged in to leave already? I don't want to be around them anymore."
"Affirmative sir we plugged some coordinates for a close system."
"To get there and then home, perfect wonder how much time will it take?"
"Not too much sir, unless you want to stop for a bit." Reported a droid pilot.
"Guys me and plank really want to see a new world it would be very exciting." Johnny started with enthusiasm.
"Johnny between us we kind of want to go home, we usually do other jumps so we would lose them so they wouldn't find Earth." Double D said trying to reason with the boy.
"Oh but guys I really want to see how another looks like it wouldn't do any harm to be there for at least 30 minutes. Pleeease." Johnny said in a begging tone.
"Ed wants too a calm place to see." Ed said making some puppy eyes which Double D and Eddy knew it will be futile.
"Urgh, fine but only for 30 minutes." Eddy grunted sinking in the chair.
"Well maybe a small stop wouldn't do any harm." Double D said before turning to the droids.
"Set course gentleman to the system." Double D ordered and they complied entering in hyperspace.
"By the way, in how much time we will reach the place." Eddy asked.
"Not too much sir, it is extremely close by, we shall arrive very soon, in two minutes." Explained the OOM-commander.
"And for how long will it take us to go from that planet to back to Earth?" Eddy asked.
"21 minutes and 50 seconds."
"Wonderful what can I say." Eddy commented taking a can of pop to open it.
"Space explorers back in action." Ed said with enthusiasm jumping on all fours with enthusiasm.
"Well I wonder what the name of the system and planet is?" Double D asked.
"Hoth Captain Eddward." Said the commander.
"Hoth? Now where do I remember that name from?" Eddy asked drinking some pop.
"Beep-boop." The astromech started wanting to follow them tracking their attention.
"Oh and during this time." Double D started going near him.
"No hard feeling friend." Double D said shutting him down before taking out his pad/tablet before 2 droid engineers came and plugged a cable into the astromech to start reprogramming him. It took him a bit longer than usual, since he had a much more complex cyber matrix but he did it.
"Well with so many droids and robots around I could become very good at robotics. In any case it is done." Double D said with pride activating their new crew member.
"Hallo." Ed started to wave at the droid.
"Beep-Boop." Said the droid confusing.
"You will work as interpreter for us when he speaks." Eddy ordered a droid nearby.
"Roger-Roger." He saluted.
"We are here sirs." Reported a pilot exiting hyperspace before a white covered large planet, surrounded by some asteroids and moons.
"This place is now a hiding place for small smuggler camps nearly no one comes around." Said a pilot.
"And good news the weather is pretty fine for the moment." Reported another looking on the weather broadcast.
"Prepare the Gozanti gentleman."
"Saw the inventory in the ship, it had lots of tanks of fuel it is self sufficient for a time alongside coaxium to power-up a flotilla of 5 ships for a time." Reported a droid that came in.
"Meaning we would not have to refuel for a long time but even with that I shall make a program to conserve the fuel and energy of both ships." Double D said preparing his space suit.
"Sir, you might also want very warm clothes if you want to go down there."
"Why is that?" Eddy asked.
"You will figure out."
"Beeb-boop." The astromech started wanting to follow them to the docked Gozanti alongside 12 droids to crew the ship as well as 5 guards once in the Gozanti they left instructions for the main ship to remain in orbit while they were descending.
"You know whatever world we will descend now I had prepared a swimsuit especially if the planet is called Hoth." Eddy commented.
"I don't think it will be a good idea sir especially with the temperatures here." Said a droid pilot.
"Let me guess it is autumn here?" Eddy asked.
"Not quite."
"We arrived." Reported the co-pilot while everyone went to the window to look and for them only now did they realize something about the planet.
"Oh yeah I should have remembered. This place is a snowball." Eddy commented after seeing a landscape that was literally filled with snow and ice and nothing else.
"The planet itself is an arctic world it was expected of this." Reported the droid.
"Too bad I didn't think of bringing my winter coat." Double D commented.
"Snow fun!" Ed shouted in enthusiasm while he and Johnny with Plank went out, they been spotted by Double D and Eddy that were still in the ship on the bridge, what surprised them was the fact that they were dressed with proper winter clothing all been gray.
"From where did they have the winter clothing?" Eddy asked.
"It is here in the wardrobe sir." Reported a droid showing them the wardrobe causing them to be even more confused.
"How come we got them in the first place?" Eddy asked before Double D thought of an explanation the only possibility for this is only if it got an organic crew.
"Who owned this ship before us?" Double D asked before a droid checked the data banks.
"It was owned by a small group of 7 trandoshan raiders in the service of the CIS, joined in willingly as part of those raiding operations. According to data he was known to slay crew members of the ships he raided without remorse. His last raid was when he took the fuel and the coaxium which damaged the ship in the process and it was placed to be repaired, he was forced to go with another of his kind in the raid the republic intercepted." Reported a droid.
"The weapons they had used are also right here." Reported another droid showing him the cache of weapons in a room that was decorated with what looked to be trandoshan style decorations which could only scare someone, as for the weapons they seem to have been used quite recently not to mention that they had the size that one would use to skin or butcher big animals that been evident by the skinned pelt that was also in, which only horrified them.
"From what kind of creature did that pelt came from?" Eddy asked.
"That was a Wookiee sir. They are a sentient species that live on the planet of Kashyyyk, the trandoshans have the habit of going there and try to hunt one in order to be skinned. I only know vague things about them but in their culture they consider that skinning a wookiee is a great privilege."
"Oh my, this is horrible. What do you think they would do if they find out we took a ship that belonged to their kin?" Double D commented not liking this information.
"The ship itself is new barely came out of the dry dock with the purpose for raiding. The trandoshans didn't have the time to make many modifications, which is the reason why the ship looks standard for the CIS navy. But it will not be a good sight if they ever find out that we took it." Reported the droid.
"In this case get rid of everything that is trandoshan based right now." Eddy ordered somehow his reaction was somehow giving out of some bad memories before going to the wardrobe to take a winter coat.
"Hope they didn't wore those things."
"Trandoshans are reptilian, they don't like cold climates so it is possible and according to the logs they never had to use them."
"At least this is a good thing." Eddy said taking the coat which by some accounts was very warm but also very bog for his short stature. "Urgh, unbelievable."
"Well one can't complain much." Double D said taking one as well to put it on it was also bigger but couldn't complain, he praised God that they weren't worn by those barbaric trandoshans.
"Get rid and clean everything related to trandoshans, leave the weapons for now and put them in a case, as for the pelt." Eddy started looking at it with disgust to the fact that they did something like this bringing some bad memories.
"Throw it away." Eddy started before going to another room before Double D intervened.
"Wait better find out about wookiee funeral rituals, maybe we could figure something out." Double D someday later.
"Roger Roger."
"You 3 come with us." Double D said to 3 droids that were at the door before going to the platform where cargo and people could be lowered or lifted in and out of the ship(the one Johnny and Ed had used). Once on the platform it was immediately lowered to get to the snow, looking around them they could only see just snow covered hills and plains, it was a stark contrast from how Endor and the Cul-De-Sac is, everything is just covered in an endless carpet of snow and ice.
"Well one can't deny the fact that this planet is really a place where only snow and ice is, wonder who would want to be here anyways." Eddy commented.
"It is mostly a place where smugglers would try to come around and also hide their forbidden cargo due to the frequent storms and the clouds covering the place."
"One can already tell from the clouds in the distance." Eddy commented looking at the graying sky far away that could approach any moment.
"Wonder however if there is a possibility for creatures to live on this planet?" Double D asked taking a sample of snow to study to his microscope.
"I wouldn't ask such question here sir." Said a droid looking at the tablet.
"Why is that?"
"Because of this." The droid showed him a picture of a giant white horned creature.
"Wow is that some sort of abominable snowman?" Eddy asked.
"It's called a wampa it's a carnivorous creature native to Hoth, lives in caves but hunts outside according to the tablet it likes to jump from below the unsuspected pray in order to catch it."
"Oh dear in this case we must remain in the premise of our ship and not go too far away." Double D said with concern.
"Say that to Johnny and Ed, where are they anyways?" Eddy commented looking around the place but they weren't anywhere to be seen.
"Oh my I believe we should make a search party then before-"
"I AM A SPACE COWBOY!" Ed shouted coming in on what appeared to be an almost bipedal camel with Johnny holding tight.
"Oh is that a Tantaun?" Double D asked remembering it from the Star Wars movie the Empire Strikes Back.
"Roger-Roger sir that one is harmless but it could be trouble if it isn't well tamed." Explained a droid.
"Yeah, good thing it isn't carnivorous."
"It isn't, it thrives on lichens and small plants found in caves that emit some level of warmth."
"Adapting at their environment, just like evolution." Double D commented.
"Adapted or not I would like to leave this ice ball, anyways I hope we got inconspicuous enough so that we would not track anymore attention." Eddy commented taking up his com-link from his pocket.
"Main ship, were there any more new arrivals in this system?" Eddy asked.
"Negative captain Eddy all is clear."
"Prepare docking bays then, we will return soon." He said before he felt a snowball hitting him. "Hey!"
"Tauntauns are so fun." Ed shouted while the animal itself wanted him off his back.
"Ohh Ed." Eddy called with a smirk preparing a snowball waiting for the moment and immediately launched it but it only hit the head of the Tauntaun making it come in their direction before at the last minute he and Double D managed to jump away from it while the steed and the riders went into a pile of snow.
"Ha-ha-ha that was fun." Johnny said coming out with plank from the snow.
"Yeah again, again!" Ed shouted before the Tauntaun bailed out from the snow to leave the 2 crazy kids but not before Double D made a picture with as it while was running.
"What a noble alien steed." Double D said taking the picture up appreciating his work before Eddy took a look, for him the background was what he needed.
"This will now be a keeper for the future galactic calendar." Eddy commented.
"Alongside my own album everything must be-"
"Sirs contact!" Shouted a droid preparing his blaster rifle alongside his colleagues.
"What is going on?" Eddy asked.
"Wampa!" Shouted another pointing in the direction where Johnny and Ed were.
"Oh my, ED, JOHNNY GET OUT OF THERE!" Shouted Double D tracking their attention.
"COME BACK TO THE SHIP, BEHIND YOU!" Eddy shouted before the 2 turned to see what was behind them.
"Rooar!"
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh"
"Abominable snow monster!" Ed shouted taking Johnny and Plank up and started to run at full speed forcing the wampa to come after them.
"Shoot that thing!" Eddy ordered and the 3 droids rushed in and started to shoot at the wampa some blasts didn't hit but 2 managed to hit it's legs making it drop while Johnny and Ed arrived.
"Back to the ship, gentleman!" Double D said while they alongside their droids get to the platform right when the wampa who once back on its feet sprinted towards them luckily the platform managed to get inside with all the occupants inside at safety who immediately went to the bridge of the Gozanti.
"Get us out of here back to the frigate." Eddy ordered and the crew complied lifting the ship up in the sky.
"Oh my, now that was too close for comfort." Double D commented taking a seat.
"Boy me and Plank surely don't want to try this again." Johnny said.
"Men eating creature bad for Ed." Ed remarked.
"Well I believe it was enough outer world excitement for one day now. Let's better get home." Double D said while entering in the atmosphere and going towards their frigate. Once there they immediately made the jump to hyperspace arriving back home right before the setting of the sun, descending to back to the woods near the neighborhood in a shuttle. During the trip back home Double D had made a program on how they should conserve the energy and the fuel of the ship, he literally ordered the reactors to be put on minimal energy and the systems to be for the moment offline while the ship was orbiting in space.
"Remember keep the reactor on low power and make sure you remain unnoticed by the satellites." Double D said.
"No problem captain Eddward, when should we get you tomorrow still?" Asked the droid.
"We shall contact you." He said before he saluted them and went back in the shuttle.
"Well despite everything at least something positive came out of this." Eddy commented taking a credit card that was in the suitcase.
"I don't know if it will work here Eddy."
"Didn't you say that if we don't try we wouldn't know?" Eddy said with a smirk.
"Oh boy." Double D commented knowing that this would mean something that could turn illegal, one thing there is however to do and that is the issue with Johnny.
"So Johnny will you keep the secret about this endeavor only between us?" Double D asked.
"No problem besides I believe you should figure out a way on how to explain to the others why you weren't around."
"We will figure something out."
"And I hope you don't intend on blackmailing us to keep this secret like giving you a commission on it." Eddy said expecting a demand like this from him, he wouldn't mind however the problem is that he an annoyance, and it was even for the droids an annoyance.
"Actually guys I believe we will let you to deal with that mountain of a ship, me and Plank I believe aren't too keen on trying another adventure anytime soon."
"Between us, it wasn't even our intent on going into a battle or destroying a station unless it was absolutely necessary. We don't want a war on our planet, what to say about the aftermath of this war." Double D said, remembering what might happen after everything.
"Yeah we know that still good luck with maintaining it. You guys would surely need it." Johnny said while he started to leave them.
"Well at least things went accordingly to a sense." Double D said.
"Yeah and for now let's see if we can get something out of this credits on our world." Eddy said while staring to run towards the commercial district followed by Ed and Double D, arriving to the commercial district they found a cash machine. Eddy was about to insert the credit in the slot where cards would go but then Double D stopped him.
"Eddy wait, they might look like credit cards but I don't think they will work in the same way.
"We had risked our necks to do a job for the Galactic Republic and personally there is no way I had done this for nothing."
"I know but think Earth isn't part of that galactic community because of that distance, since we are in a half that isn't even explored by the other." Double D said making him understand.
"I know that." Eddy said placing his hand on the cash machine to support himself with the card still in his hand and what happened next could only be declared as a stroke of luck, the cash machine made a green sign which was notice by Ed.
"Can't believe we-"
"Guys look." Ed said pointing to the cash machine which out from it came 3, 20 dollar bills from the receiver.
"I can't believe it, the cash machine had converted the information on the galactic credit card into our money." Double D said amazed while Eddy was in a state of ecstasy taking the bills.
"WE ARE RICH!" Eddy said taking them in one hand and rubbed it against his armpit like deodorant, never managing to get this much money. "WE ARE RICH!"
"Well that is luck I would say."
"Luck or not we are going to the candy store boys." Eddy declared.
"Jawbreakers!" Ed declared while the 2 started to run before Double D caught them.
"Even with this gentleman we must be cautious to not overuse the galactic money we had received because the authorities will start to get suspicious and we don't want trouble. And it is also fair that at least one of the bills that we got be put on the spot to be used for supplies that we need for our ship." Double D declared.
"Urgh fine there Double D we got it. But even with that, this baby." Eddy started showing one of the bills "Will get us some jawbreakers, and sine our ship was once supposed to be for commerce we will find a place to put them there."
"Jawbreakers for our ship guys." Ed said with enthusiasm.
"Well maybe a small indulgence with some confectionaries will be good." Double D said and they went to the candy store and with the 20 dollar bill they managed to get not 3 but 9 jawbreakers making the boys be in high literal heaven as they got their jawbreakers in their mouths.
"Now this is what I call a fine day." Eddy declared as he savored his jawbreaker.
"That despite having to be part of a military operation." Double D commented.
"Even with that it was worth it. Maybe taking and doing some jobs isn't that bad after all." Eddy commented.
"Yeah." Ed agreed before they heard something from the distance an unpleasant laugh.
"You heard that?" Eddy asked hearing the laugh again.
"The Kankers." Double D said his facing turning pale.
"Run away." Ed said starting to run alongside his friends carrying his jawbreakers.
"Bridge, send a shuttle back to the forest." Double D asked taking up his com link.
"What happened captain Eddward?"
"Explain later just send the shuttle." Eddy said through the link hiding in the vegetation of nearby woods.
"Roger-Roger, standing by." Reported the droid just when the 3 Kanker sisters, Lee, May and Marie came by the commercial district.
"Wonder what our boyfriends are doing today." Lee said.
"Maybe we should make them a visit to see how they are." May said.
"We already tried that and we saw that they weren't anywhere." Marie.
"Oh wonder what happened to my dear Ed." May asked thinking about her 'boyfriend'.
"Maybe we shall find them tomorrow girls." Lee said.
"Or we can maybe try to search for them in the woods." May proposed.
"Good idea Marie." Lee said not knowing that they were overheard by the Eds who were trying to now go as far away from them as possible.
"This isn't a good thing at all." Double D said.
"And just as we thought it was a good day." Eddy commented just when they saw the ship coming down, the door opening for a droid painted orange like Double D's shirt.
"Sirs we arrive as soon as we could, what had-"
"No time for that." Eddy commented entering in the shuttle.
"Get us quickly to the closer to the cul-de-sac and then return to the ship." Double D said entering, followed by Ed before the hatch was closed for them to fly away just in the nick of time when the Kanker sisters arrived to where they were.
"What had just happened?"
"Long story there, but for short, we shall debrief you all tomorrow about who you must not allow under any circumstances on the ship and preferably leave the place at first sight." Double D explained.
"Aah Roger-Roger, but who are we talking about?" The droid asked confused.
"We will show you tomorrow, but for now remain inconspicuous." Eddy ordered as they had reached their destination, it was literally the playground of the cul-de-sac.
"We see you all tomorrow; we meet at the same place as before in the woods." Double D said while they all went off the ship.
"Roger-Roger sirs have a good evening." The droid saluted before leaving.
"We need to do a debriefing for security which would include everyone that would by mistake discover our ship." Eddy commented.
"I shall prepare all the files needed we see each other tomorrow gentleman." Double D said while everyone parted way to get home, not knowing how things had been in their absence for that day.
Author's Note: For everyone interested the story would continue for some time till I run out of ideas, hopefully you who read it are enjoying this adventure in outer space with our lovable characters of Ed Edd and Eddy.
Please do leave comments on what you want to see in the future chapters of this story I would really appreciate some fresh juice of inspiration.