Hello, everyone! It's time for The Empire Strikes Back! I can't wait to write this out!
Also, who here watched the newest Star Wars show, Andor? I've seen the whole thing now, and I must say that it's one of the greatest examples of excellent writing, acting, and cinematography that I have every seen! Best thing to have come out since The Mandolorian.
Of course, that's strictly my opinion. Now go ahead and enjoy! SmarmySmirk, over and out!
The Star Destroyer exited hyperspace three years later.
It was on no day of importance that in the serene, calm, and yet deathly silent void of space surrounding the Hoth system appeared a gigantic Imperial Warship. With its impressive armament of 130 guns and 72 fighters ready to be deployed at any minute, it was a force to be reckoned with.
But it was not here to fight. There were no other ships in this system to oppose this juggernaut of destruction.
Instead, from its massive underbelly, hundreds of small pods containing probe droids were ejected, scores of them making their way to every planet by order of the Sith Lord; the right hand cyborg to the Emperor himself.
Darth Vader.
Ever since the destruction of the Death Star, that supposedly impenetrable moon-sized battlestation, Vader had been obsessed with finding and exterminating the Rebel Alliance. So it was under his orders that Imperial probe droids be released in every star system likely to harbor the new Rebel Base.
And so, one of those pods just happened to enter the atmosphere of the frozen, desolate, unlivable planet, Hoth, the droid inside ready to carry out its orders to find the pitiful group of insurgents.
Meanwhile, on the snowy, heart-stoppingly cold surface of Hoth, a familiar figure stood beside a Tauntaun, one of the few species native to the planet. Looking into his heat-signature detecting binoculars, Luke Skywalker spotted a sudden streak of light crashing into the ice from above. To him, it looked like a meteor had impacted the surface only a kilometer from where he stood.
Brushing snowflakes off of the commlink transmitter on his wrist, Luke activated it and spoke. "Echo Three to Echo Seven. Han, old buddy, do you read me?"
The delayed response was faint over the howling wind, but he heard the Space Pirate respond. "Loud and clear, kid! What's up?"
"Well, I finished my scouting circle. I don't pick up any life readings," he informed Han.
"There isn't enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser!" the smuggler scoffed. "The sensors are placed. I'm going back!"
"Right," Luke frowned. "I'll see you shortly. There's a meteorite that hit the ground near here. I want to check it out… it won't take long."
Switching off his transmitter, he turned to mount his Tauntaun again, reaching a hand up to grasp the reins. But all of a sudden, she shifted and moaned, trying to move away.
"Hey, whoa! Steady, girl! What's the matter? You smell something?" He asked, patting her side. The attempt seemed to work as the Tauntaun stopped moving. Giving her one last pat, he reached into his bag and pulled out a small device to adjust it. Fiddling with the device for a few seconds, a sudden shadow fell over him.
His senses all blaring an alarm inside of his head, Luke spun to see an eleven foot tall figure towering over him, its snow-white fur a perfect camouflage in this environment. Uttering a roar, it raised a sickle-clawed paw and brought it down on the Tauntaun. Frozen with fear, Luke watched his mount go down with a pitiful wail and saw the creature turn to attack him. Too late, he pulled a blaster.
Meanwhile, several kilometers away, a large and impenetrable glacier sat, one of many on the planet. But underneath its surface lay an intricate network of tunnels and rooms, carved out by thousands of Rebel Alliance members. An entirely new, top secret Rebel Base had been constructed in the ice, hidden from view by hundreds of thousands of tons of frozen, solid water.
In this ice, a couple of large areas were carved out to make hangar bays, which stowed everything from snowspeeders and X-Wings to large transport shuttles and Mon Cala cruisers. Gigantic blast doors were installed in each Hangar bay to keep out the deadly elements outside. Other areas were dedicated to heating systems, hospital wings, barracks, and command centers. Everywhere in the base, Rebel soldiers, officers, agents and pilots were walking, fulfilling tasks and important orders to keep "Echo Base," operational.
In one of these hangars, a familiar feline was walking across the flattened, solid packed-snow ground, carrying a faded red canister in one paw. His thick, orange fur had become much more suited to combat the cold conditions of the planet, and he had perfected the practice of controlling his breathing to make himself warmer. He looked less like a Bengal Tiger and more like a Siberian one!
But Hobbes was nervous. His eyes flitted this way and that, and his tail was partially bushy even though he tried to conceal it. Walking faster, he headed for a stack of large crates in one corner of the hangar. These crates looked innocent enough, but Hobbes knew that there was a secret entrance among them, blocked from view of everyone else.
And that led to his and Calvin's own personal inventing area.
Inside of that secret area, tinkering with a large, metal contraption was Calvin, wearing heavy-duty cold-protection gear. The machine that he was working on was portable, with an antigravity repulsorlift engine built in so that he could move it around if need be. It was rectangular and had a lot of pipes, wires, and lights all across its surface.
As Calvin fiddled with several switches and knobs, he heard a knocking from the secret entrance. Three quick taps, one large knock, and three more quick taps.
Calvin grinned. Hobbes was back! He quickly activated a pulley that lifted a durasteel sheet acting as a door, and Hobbes creeped inside.
"Hey, Hobbes! Did anyone see you enter?" he asked.
"Nope!" Hobbes smirked. "They're too distracted from trying to stay warm. Oh, if only they had a thick fur coat like me or Chewie!" he laughed. "How's the… what name did you come up with for this thing again?"
"The Dimensional Alternate Reality Traveler," Calvin responded. "Or, D.A.R.T."
"Right. So, it's ready now?" Hobbes asked. Calvin nodded, and noticed the container that Hobbes was carrying.
"Did you get the Rydonium?" he excitedly questioned.
"Yup!" Hobbes nodded, showing off the small, faded red canister from earlier. "But this is the last time I swipe something from our own explosives storage room."
Inside of the canister was an entire gallon of the chrome colored, extremely volatile fuel, which Calvin opened and looked at before smiling with excitement. "Oh, I know it'll work this time, buddy," he grinned.
Maybe, but we've gotta be absolutely careful with this stuff!" Hobbes warned his best friend. "Remember what they said about this stuff. One small spark and everything explodes!"
"Don't worry, Hobbes!" Calvin assured the tiger. Over the past few days, I've been installing a containment system that I borrowed from the storage room."
"You mean stole?" Hobbes asked.
"Well.. yeah," Calvin admitted, twiddling his thumbs. "But remember. They originally stole it from the empire."
"Eh, fair enough," Hobbes sighed. "So you've got a containment system."
"Yes, siree!" Not only that, but I've also got backup cooling systems and even some cautionary equipment!" he revealed, and presented several goggles and rebreather masks. "Here. Put these on."
"I hope it works this time," Hobbes commented while strapping on the goggles and the mask. "We're moving on to more and more powerful things every day to try and fuel this space/time-warping machine, and it's getting kind of dangerous."
"Don't worry!" Calvin grinned under his own mask and attached the Rydonium canister to a large cable. "I'm sure it'll work this time!"
Grabbing an electrical cable, the boy walked over and attached it to an old transmitter radio, modified by him to act as a small control box. Flicking a switch to activate the power, he walked to the box, which sat by an overturned table that he and Hobbes would use as cover in case things went horribly wrong. Finally, he put on a metal thinking cap, securing the straps and making sure that the wires running out of the top were connected to the machine.
The cap was designed to take whatever he was thinking of and enter those memories into the machine that he was building. That way, he hoped that it could locate where his and Hobbes' own universe was and send them back. It sounded absurd to Hobbes, but Calvin had told him that it was the best way of getting back home. And when it came to wacky inventions such as this... Calvin was certainly the expert.
"Alright, Hobbes!" Calvin said. "We're ready to go! Activate the recorder and camera."
Hobbes walked over to a small tripod, on which a holo-camera sat. Turning on the recording button, he stepped back and gave Calvin a thumbs up before coming over. Both of them knelt behind the table, and Calvin put a hand on the activation switch for the D.A.R.T.
"Test number 56, execute!" He declared, and pushed the switch forward. The machine began to power up, gears turning and lights flashing. At the same time, Calvin began to dream about his hometown back on Earth: Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
As he dreamt, his mind conjured up visions of his childhood, as he remembered the ice cream shop on Lindster street or Watterson Elementary; the school that he went to every day. As he thought harder and harder about it, Hobbes flicked a small switch and the Rydonium entered the D.A.R.T's system, the coolant immediately attempting to keep it in check.
The machine's noise became increasingly louder and louder as Calvin concentrated more and more on the location, and then suddenly, a flash of light blinded both of them for a few seconds and a loud "Bang!" originated from the D.A.R.T. A cloud of smoke filled the room as part of the side burst. Hobbes cut the power, and Calvin was snapped out of his dreamlike trance.
He immediately threw off the cap and ran over to his smoking creation, assessing the damage. Fortunately, the Rydonium had been mostly contained, but after a few minutes of tinkering and checking the systems Calvin realized what had happened. Exhaust had formed but had no way of getting out of the engine, and for the 56th time, the power was once again not great enough to activate a good enough reaction between the D.A.R.T and Calvin's thoughts. Out of the ten green lights that needed to show for it to be able to discover where their universe was, only one was flickering.
Not enough power.
Hobbes walked up behind Calvin, and sighed. "What happened this time?"
"Not enough power," Calvin groaned. "And to add to that, the exhaust got bottled up. I need an excess heat vent if we're gonna use Rydonium in the future."
"Actually, I don't really want to use Rydonium for this," Hobbes sighed. "I still think it's too volatile."
"Well, what are we gonna use, Hobbes?" Calvin turned, surprising the tiger. "We've tried almost everything in this base! I don't even know another source we could use!" he exclaimed, frustrated.
Sighing loudly, he sat himself down on the ground and put his hands to his face. Hobbes sat down by him, and curled an arm around his best friend. For a minute or so, neither of them moved as they thought about a solution.
Then Hobbes had a sudden lightbulb moment.
"Well, wait a minute. We could ask Luke or Han!" he suggested. "They would know what's more powerful and maybe even where to find it!"
Calvin looked up at Hobbes and gave it a thought.
"Hobbes, you are a genius!" he suddenly grinned. The sudden praise made Hobbes smug. "Han has probably come in contact with the kinda stuff that we need, and Luke is a Jedi! He's gotta know something… Jedi-y!"
"Well why don't we go find them?" Hobbes asked, and got up. "They've gotta have reported back in from scouting by now! It's getting way below freezing at this time."
Calvin nodded. "We should split up to ask both of 'em at the same time! I'll go find Han!"
"And I can find Luke!" Hobbes agreed, and strode to the secret exit. The two opened it and cautiously crawled out, making sure that nobody saw them lest their secret "lab" be found.
"Alright," Calvin nodded. "Operation: Morepower is a-go!"
"That's a rather boring name for an operation, don't you think?" Hobbes asked.
"Just get going," Calvin grumbled, and ran off to find the smuggler. Hobbes did likewise, still chuckling at the name Calvin had selected.
As Calvin made his way to the Hangar where Han's ship was, he literally almost ran into his objective. Both the kid and the smuggler abruptly halted to avoid colliding into the other. Surprised, Calvin asked, "Han?"
"Hey, kid!" Solo greeted the enthusiastic boy. "Have you seen Luke?"
"Uhh, no," Calvin shook his head. "Oh! But Hobbes is looking for him. I think he went to the place where you must have reported in," he told him.
"Thanks kid." Han said, and walked past Calvin. Calvin watched him go and then began to walk further in the opposite direction, before remembering that he was supposed to ask him about power sources for the machine.
"Uhh, quick question," he asked, catching up to Han and walking alongside him. "What's the most powerful energy source that you know of, or have come across?"
Oh, well that's easy, kid," Han said. "The most powerful source that I myself have ever come across is Coaxium."
"What's Coaxium?" Calvin asked, perplexed.
"Coaxium is hyperfuel," Solo explained. "I'm surprised that you didn't already know about this, 'cause this stuff is what powers big ships like Star Destroyers. It's what allows ships like the rebel fleet to go into hyperspace."
"Oh," Calvin mumbled. "Is it dangerous?"
"Definitely," Han chuckled. "My first heist involved stealing some from the Empire. I was part of a crew that took me in, and we flew a stolen ship right above a Conveyex carrying canisters upon canisters of Coaxium. We uncoupled a section of the train and used the ship to carry it off of the tracks and escape."
"Cool!" Calvin grinned. "And you got away with all of that stuff?"
"No," Han sighed. "There was another group trying to steal the Coaxium that we had taken, and they tried to take our bounty from us. I had to let the cart of hyperfuel fall and when it ignited, I saw it obliterate the top half of a mountain!"
"Whoa…" Calvin gawked. That heist sounded incredible! And if that Coaxium really was that powerful, then maybe…
He asked another question. "Exactly how powerful is it?"
"Well, kid, the amount that we tried to steal could have powered a whole fleet of Star Destroyers. But that was refined coaxium.
"So what if it's unrefined?" Calvin asked.
"If it's unrefined, you need to hook the stuff up to a cooling system to keep it from becoming volatile or it explodes," Han elaborated. "To refine it you need a special refinery station, preferably not under imperial control."
"So, I'm guessing that this stuff's not easily found on the market?" he asked.
"Not at all," Han laughed. "You'd have to steal some from the empire, because they control most of the Coaxium mines and refineries! Why so many questions, kid?"
"Oh, uhh… I'm just wondering how big of an explosion I could make with that stuff," Calvin fibbed. "Or… maybe I should sell it instead and become rich!"
"I'd go with option two," Han said, grinning at him, and Calvin suddenly realized that they had entered the Northern hangar bay. The two kept walking, heading for a small group that seemed to be in an argument of sorts. With surprise, he realized that one of them was Hobbes!
"... All I'm asking is why Skywalker isn't back yet!" Hobbes was frustratedly explaining.
"And as I've told you already, I do not know!" The man exasperatedly exclaimed.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Calvin asked, putting his hands on his hips in an authoritative manner. Beside him, Han acted similarly, crossing his arms, and looking at both of them with an eyebrow raised.
"Luke hasn't reported in yet!" Hobbes told them. "He should be back by now."
"Luke told me that he was checkin' out a meteor that landed near him," Han informed them. "That was right before I came back to base. How long has he been overdue on his return?"
"Almost an hour," Hobbes told him.
Princess Leia, who had been leaning against a frozen wall near them, suddenly added in her own two cents. "Maybe, people, he came in through the south entrance," she snarkily suggested, startling everyone.
"My-my apologies princess… I'll go check," he said, and ran off.
Hey, Hobbes," Calvin called the tiger over. "I've gotta go and repair the machine. Are you gonna come with me?"
"You go," Hobbes said, and smiled. "I'm staying here to see if Luke is found. Don't you worry, I'll catch up with you shortly."
Calvin nodded, and grinned. "Okay. I'm going back."
"See ya," Hobbes nodded back, and watched him run off, bumping into another Rebel and then disappearing behind a stack of fuel cells. He turned back to watch the opening, hoping that Luke would suddenly appear in the gigantic doorway. Cold air blasted in, and he suddenly shivered. Against that kinda temperature, even his coat of thick, orange fur didn't help too much.
Both Leia and Han walked off, arguing over something as they went to check the South Entrance, and Hobbes continued to wait for minutes on end. With every passing second, he could almost feel the slight change in temperature as the cold became colder. And with each passing second, his anxiety increased.
A whole thirty minutes went by before he saw Han running back, looking visibly distressed.
"Luke's not in the base, that's for sure," He told him, and turned to a nearby officer, who had stayed behind as well. "Are the speeders ready?"
"Not yet," the man sighed. "We're having some trouble adapting them to the cold."
"Kriff!" Han cursed. "Then we'll have to go out on tauntauns."
Hobbes couldn't believe what he was hearing. Tauntauns would freeze in temperatures below -80 degrees and this weather was quickly approaching that point. The assistant was flustered.
"But… Sir, the temperature is dropping too rapidly!"
"Yeah, and my friend's out in it." Han reminded the man, and climbed on the back of a tauntaun. As he did so, Hobbes' gut twisted itself into knots. Han would surely die! And Luke with him! The prospect of losing two of his most treasured companions caused him to act.
"Wait!" he shouted, and grasped the reins of another Tauntaun, who shied away at the Tiger's touch. "I'm going with you. My fur coat is better at keeping out the cold."
"Are you sure, Hobbes?" Han asked. "If you go, there's a very, very good chance that you and your gung-ho friend, Calvin, aren't gonna see each other ever again!"
That stopped Hobbes cold. How could he abandon Calvin? His soulmate? The most imaginative and colorful spirit that he had ever come across? The question made him think for all of thirty seconds before he realized that, Calvin or not, two other rebels' lives were at stake here.
"Calvin's gonna be alright!" Hobbes promised Han, but mostly himself. "I'll make sure that you, me, and Luke get back here alive."
With that, he gave the space smuggler a nod, and both of them went to ride out into the unseeable, ice-covered surface of death.
"Your Tauntauns will freeze before you reach the first marker!" The assistant exclaimed, trying to get them to stay.
"Then we'll see you in hell!" Hobbes yelled, and rode out into the snow and ice behind Han. Inwardly, he hoped that this wouldn't turn out to be the biggest- and last- mistake of his life.
The cold was unforgiving. Relentless. Hobbes had to squint to keep the moisture rimming his eyes from freezing. His nose was entirely numb. His fur coat was struggling to keep out the snow and the stinging rush of air. He could barely even see Han's tauntaun only ten feet in front of him.
With every passing minute, the piercing wind chipped away at his warm defenses and large, powdery snowflakes covered his fur making him look much more like his alabaster cousin, the Snow Leopard. Other, luckier flakes of petrified water managed to get into his fur, where they melted immediately and further served to weaken the wall of heat protecting him from the cold.
The two began to follow the scouting path that Luke was supposed to take in hopes of finding him sooner. For what seemed like hours they went on, Hobbes trying not to think about the fact that their mounts were getting weaker and weaker.
Suddenly, Han stopped, having found something in the snowdrift in front of them. He looked back, and motioned for them to dismount. They did so, and as Hobbes got closer to the smuggler, he could see a form lying limp on the ground beside him.
Luke! He realized, and rushed over to see the teen's pale face. Realizing that he would be toast if they didn't find warmth, he carefully picked him up and turned to secure his body on one of the Tauntauns.
But a sudden pitiful moan caused him to stop.
As he watched, his and Han's Tauntaun stumbled about before colliding into each other. They both fell, and immediately expired, unable to go on.
Despairing, he turned to Han, who was thinking furiously for a solution. Suddenly, he motioned for Hobbes to come over to the Tauntauns' bodies as he headed there himself.
Hobbes trudged through the powdery and traitorous snow, almost stumbling once but regaining his footing. To trip and fall now would probably mean death.
They both knelt by one of the Tauntauns, Hobbes still carrying Luke's form. Han pointed at his paws, and then motioned at the Tauntaun's belly. After a few moments, Hobbes suddenly understood, and opened his claws. Slicing an opening all the way down the beast's belly, he then ripped it open and recoiled as a steaming pile of guts fell out. The powerful, horrible smell made him gag.
Still, he sucked it up and picked up Luke once again, before forcefully stuffing him inside of the opening, where it was warm. Closing the gaping gash as best as he could, he then met up with Han to help set up a shelter.
Suddenly, his feet sunk through the snow, and he fell into a burning-cold grave of powder. A trap, hidden under a layer of fabric-thin snowflakes. He struggled, he kicked, but the snow seemed to sap his strength straight from him. His vision grew bleary, and a sudden headache made him groan. Over the wind he heard a "Hobbes!"
Looking up, out of the crevice, Hobbes saw the blurry figure of Han reaching a strong, gloved hand in, and he reached a paw up to meet it. The two appendages grabbed each other, and both of them did their best to liberate him from death, Hobbes pushing upawrds, and Han pulling. With immense effort, Hobbes climbed out of the grave, and unsteadily let Han guide him to the open belly of the second Tauntaun. As the blood in his ice seemed to freeze, a realization struck him like an avalanche.
He was going to die!
Blue sparks went flying as Calvin used a small, advanced welding kit to seal the last of the gaping gash that had been caused when the D.A.R.T's exhaust had bottled up. Turning off the welder, he pulled the small welding mask off of his face and grinned as he viewed his handiwork. Nice and clean. He was getting good with this kit.
Placing the welding components back into the box, he stored it near the machine along with the rest of his tools and looked behind him at the entrance to the secret 'Invention Room,' frowning.
Hobbes should have been back by now.
A fleeting but chilling sensation struck him, and he decided to check on his best friend. After all, it didn't take almost two hours to stay and watch for when Luke came back. The other Rebels would wait for him. And this was Luke they were talking about! A bona-fide Jedi (in training, a traitorous part of his mind told him). He'd make it back.
Exiting the room with caution, he snuck out of the hangar and ran through the icy tunnels, back to where he had last seen the big fuzzball. As he entered the other hangar, he noticed a small group of people standing close to the entrance. Among them were Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and two familiar droids whom he had not seen for several days. Apparently, R2 had been getting a few upgrades and 3po was ordered to act as a translator for the Rebellion, which was attempting to negotiate with a very wealthy and connected Black Market arms dealer.
As he got within ten feet of the party, he slowed to a walk and realized that Bren Derlin, the main operations and security chief of the entirety of Echo Base, was among the group along with several other officers arguing with the princess. Something was going on.
"Hey, Cinnamon Buns!" He hailed Leia, who turned at the rather amusing nickname that he had christened her with after noticing that the Senator's daughter's hairdo looked surprisingly similar to the delicious pastry from back home.
However, astonishingly enough, Leia wasn't upset when Calvin used his infuriating nickname on her. In fact, she looked disheartened at seeing him.
Confused and slightly unsettled by the unexpected expression, he saw her open her mouth to tell him something before closing it again with uncertainty. Perhaps it was the cold and the darkness on this god-forsaken orb of ice and snow, or the fact that she was always white as a piece of chalk, but she appeared paler than usual.
If the steadfast and commanding Rebel Princess had pity for him, then something was bad. Very bad. It was only then that he looked around and saw no sign of Hobbes... anywhere.
"Your Highness," Derlin said to regain her attention. "There's nothing more we can do tonight. The shield doors must be closed."
Leia sighed and bowed her head, before nodding slightly, although with immeasurable reluctance.
"Close the doors!" Derlin commanded, and all of them watched as the enormous, insulated, impenetrable blast doors slowly creaked together.
"Wait, wait! Hey, 3po!" Calvin exclaimed, realizing that he might have some idea of where Hobbes went. And the thought that went through his head caused him no end of fear. As soon as the Protocol Droid turned at the call, he asked his question. "Where's Hobbes?"
The group became silent at Calvin's question. Almost all of them knew of the boy and the tiger's inseparable bond, which was famous throughout the base. They ate together, worked together, flew together, fought together, and stayed together.
Finally, the blast doors slammed shut.
After a dozen more seconds, 3po spoke in a hushed and dread-filled voice. "...Calvin, I regret to inform you that your friend has gone out with Captain Solo in- in search of Master Luke."
Another long while of silence ensued, before Calvin let out a disbelieving and choked up "...What?"
Well, that's the chapter!
Oh, by the way, if any of you are losing interest/aren't excited with reading the story anymore, please let me know. I want you guys to have a great time while reading this. And if you have any suggestions on improvements or tips for writing, I'd be glad to accept them! Tell me via a review, or pm me.
:D