Hey, everyone! I'm back again!

So, last chapter, I said that the next one would focus primarily on the battle of Hoth and some well deserved action, but as I started this chapter I quickly found that I still needed to explain some things, which you'll find in this chapter. There are also a lot of breaks in the chapter where the location is switching back and forth.

But I'm about 90% sure that the chapter after this will focus on the action. My sincerest apologies.

Anyways, enjoy!

Calvin and Hobbes were transfixed by the calm, blue Bacta Tank that sat in front of them; a medical device used to repair the injured by submerging them in a medicinal gelatinous fluid known simply as Bacta. Inside of this particular one was an unconscious Luke, still recovering from his deadly injuries while trapped out in the snowstorm last night. Tubes and a mask were hooked up to him, supplying him with air while he floated helplessly in the transparent cylinder.

As the soon-to-be Jedi slowly turned around and around in the tank, Calvin suddenly spotted a set of half-healed claw marks on his back, the fading scars revealing that the thing that had attacked him had sliced all the way from the shoulder down almost all the way to the hip.

"Hey, Queenie," he said to get Leia's attention. "Why does Luke have those claw marks on his back?"

"From what our doctors could gather, something big attacked him and probably left him for dead in the snow," she told him. "Right now, our best bet is that he was ambushed by a Wampa."

"Oh no," Hobbes murmured. Wampas were at the top of Hoth's food chain. Almost ten feet in height and weighing as much as himself, a fully grown Tiger, they were very smart and very vicious. Several passages in Echo base had had to be closed down, as Wampas had snuck in several times during the dead of night. Hobbes himself had seen the aftermath of one such attack. It wasn't pretty. If a Wampa had attacked Luke, he was extremely lucky to be alive in his opinion.

Still, he was fairly confident that he could go toe to toe with one and survive. Like, 80% certain.

(Not that we would try it.)

Suddenly, one of the medical droids near the controls flipped a switch and Luke was immediately obscured by a burst of bubbles. When the bubbles cleared, he was thrashing about and raving in delirium through his breathing mask, confused and obviously terrified.

"Huh." Calvin commented aloud. "Guess he's not unconscious anymore."

After everyone left Luke to continue to heal from his wounds, a whole day went by and nothing big happened. Since Luke wasn't ready for any visitors until at least tomorrow, Calvin and Hobbes mostly stayed in their secret laboratory after finishing their tasks for the day, repairing and improving the D.A.R.T's design.

Well, Calvin did. Hobbes, on the other hand, tried to catch up on his sleep, spending a full sixteen hours out of twenty-four snoozing away. The other eight he spent helping out around Echo base and talking with Calvin. It was in those eight hours that Calvin told him about what he had learned about Coaxium from Han.

"...So," the boy was saying, sitting on a box in their secret hideout, "I asked him just how powerful the Coaxium was, and he told me that it could power a whole fleet of Star Destroyers!"

"That's great!" Hobbes cheered. "So, do you think it will be enough to power the D.A.R.T?"

"Just maybe," Calvin said and shrugged. "But I'm pretty sure, anyways. Han told me that his first heist ever involved stealing some Coaxium from the Empire. The stuff was being transported on one of those, uhh, spinny trains,"

"Conveyexes," Hobbes corrected him.

"Whatever. And so, he detached one of the carts with the Coaxium and just flew off with it!"

"Awesome!" Hobbes grinned. Han sure led an interesting life. Then again, so did he and Calvin.

"But when a bunch of other guys tried to take the cart from him, he let it fall, and the coaxium obliterated the top half of a freakin' mountain! Like, destroyed it!"

"Awesome- wait…" Hobbes muttered. "No, that's bad! Calvin, if we use that Coaxium to try and power the D.A.R.T and the cooling fails or something, then we might destroy all of Echo base! And everyone in it!"

"Oh…" Calvin mumbled. "Well, we'll just have to find a really good way to contain the Coaxium!"

"And how do you propose we do that?" Hobbes asked, crossing his arms. "The last time I checked, the cooling systems we have for this Machine aren't in any way able to contain something that can destroy a mountain!"

"Well, you know what they say," Calvin shrugged. "With great power comes great opportunity! And if we can find a way to harness the Coaxium, then we have a surefire way of getting back home!"

"One," Hobbes began, "That's not how that proverb goes-"

"-I don't care-"

"And two," he continued, "Would you risk the lives of 8,000 people, including ourselves, just to try out this method? We are playing with white-hot fire here if we do this."

That stopped the boy cold, and Hobbes could see Calvin thinking. He could see him weighing the risks and judging the options. Trying to think of new ways to bypass the problem.

"...Okay," he said at length, "how about this? For now, we go forward with this plan and I'll learn all I can about Coaxium, its nature, and the ways to properly contain it. We won't do anything further with the DART until we come up with a solid plan."

"That sounds good to me," Hobbes agreed. "And how about this? When Luke comes to, I'll talk with him like we originally intended and see what he knows about the subject."

"Perfect," Calvin grinned. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some information to gather and some Rebel chores to do."

"And if you'll excuse me, I've got an appointment with my bunk bed. That nap's still waiting for me," Hobbes nodded, to which Calvin sighed.

"Alright, you fuzzy couch potato. Have fun," he snorted with disapproval.

"Oh, I will!"

The next morning, early at dawn, news had spread that Commander Skywalker had made a full recovery, and dozens of Rebels came to visit him to send their congratulations. However, Calvin and Hobbes got the info late, and by the time they walked into the visitor's room, most of the well-wishers had already left, leaving only half a dozen who stayed behind longer.

"Jeez, are we late to every party?" Calvin snarked as they entered, seeing Han, Chewie, 3po, and R2 crowding around a recovery bed. And on that bench was a bandaged and smiling Luke, who turned at the comment to see them.

"Hobbes!" 3po greeted him. "Oh, how good to have you back, Hobbes!"

"Hey, you two!" Luke grinned, receiving the tender hug that Hobbes gave him. "Nice to see you again."

Likewise," Hobbes nodded. "How are you holding up?"

"Good!" Luke nodded back. "Y'know, Han just asked me that question a few seconds before you came in!"

"I guess we're all concerned about you," the tiger laughed. "That Wampa roughed you up good."

"If it weren't for you and Han I'd be a lot worse," Luke pointed out. "Thanks, by the way."

"That's two you owe me, junior," Han broke in good-naturedly.

Friendly conversation erupted between the seven of them as Luke explained what had happened to him before Han and Hobbes had found him, and Hobbes mentioned the incredible beauty that he had witnessed after waking up inside the tauntaun (everyone had gagged in disgust when Han mentioned that part of their survival story).

Calvin had just joined in as well to talk about how he had spotted Hobbes' flare when the door slid open and Leia walked in. As Han spotted her, a mischievous grin appeared on his face.

"Well your Worship, looks like you managed to keep me around for a little while longer," He remarked, and grinned, confusing Hobbes and inciting curiosity in Calvin.

'What's that all about?' the tiger wondered.

"I had nothing to do with it," Leia scoffed. "General Rieekan thinks it's dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we've activated the energy shield."

"That's a good story. I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight," Han smirked."

"Eww!" Calvin recoiled in disgust, prompting a chuckle from Hobbes. It was quickly becoming apparent to everyone that Han and Leia had feelings for each other. Apparently, Calvin never caught on.

"I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain," Leia retorted.

Hobbes and Chewie exploded with suppressed laughter at the insult. "Graah! Barrgh, Bahr RRgh!" Chewie growled with mirth, prompting more giggles from Hobbes. After becoming fast friends with the Wookie, he had wasted no time in learning his bizarre language.

"You said it, Chewie!" the tiger half giggled, half whispered."

"Laugh it up, fuzzball, but you didn't see us alone in the south passage," Han smiled.

I did, Hobbes giggled to himself just as his eyes noticed several things happening at once. Calvin's own eyes widened, but that was pretty obvious. It wasn't like he had stepped down from his Dictator-for-life position. More curiously, Luke perked up at the sentence, and Hobbes swore that he could feel a twinge of jealousy surrounding the teen. And finally, Leia looked embarrassed for just a split second, her guard dropping.

Both Luke and Han had a crush on Leia!

"She expressed her true feelings for me," the smuggler continued.

Leia looked flushed, her eyes darting between Luke and Han. "My...!" she started. "Why, you stuck up,... half-witted... scruffy-looking ...nerf-herder!"

"Who's scruffy lookin'?" Han snorted. "I must have hit pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh, kid?" he asked, talking to Luke.

Leia quickly recovered from her vulnerability, returning to a mask of disgust. Making up her mind, she walked over to Luke and looked pointedly at Han.

"Why, I guess you don't know everything about women yet," she haughtily remarked, and, reaching down, cupped Luke's face before kissing him on the lips.

"EWWW!" Calvin exclaimed, and gagged, running from the room. Hobbes, however, was almost too shocked to notice. Then, her control over the situation regained, Leia withdrew, spun on her heel and walked out, leaving everyone dumbstruck.

With a good amount of smugness, Luke put his arms behind his head and smirked at Han, whose mouth was hanging slightly open. Realizing it, he closed it and looked over with disbelief at Chewie, as if to say, 'Can you believe her?'

"What. Just. Ha-" Hobbes began to ask, when a loud electric ringing buzzed in his ears as an alarm went off in the distance, startling everyone and shaking them out of their bamboozled state.

"Headquarters personnel," a voice came through the speakers, "report to the command center!"

Several minutes later, Calvin and Hobbes found themselves entering Echo Base's headquarters, courtesy of Han and Chewie who let them tag along. Behind them were 3po and R2-D2, struggling to keep up with them, while Luke stayed behind to let his injuries heal a little longer.

The room was filled with officers and commanders, as well as dozens of men and women manning computer stations and observing screens and data. In the center sat a small Hologram table, oval in shape and showing a 3d layout of Echo base. All of it excited Calvin, as he had never been in the command center of the base before. And Hobbes suspected that Leia had made sure of that.

Calvin, Han, and Hobbes briskly walked past the hologram table, heading for two figures near one of the security screens by the corner. That duo consisted of General Rieekan and Head of security Bren Derlin, standing over a senior controller who was analyzing whatever had caused the alarm. Both men were lean, and in their forties with years of experience under their belts.

Suddenly, coming in through a second doorway was Leia, who quickly reached them at the same time as Han's group.

"Princess," Rieekan addressed her in a solemn tone, "we have a visitor."

"Whaddaya mean?" Calvin asked. "What visitor?"

"We've picked up something outside the base in zone twelve, moving east," Bren Derlin told them. "It's metal."

"Then it couldn't be one of those creatures that attacked Luke," Leia realized, crossing that option off of the list.

"It could be a speeder, one of ours," Han suggested, to which the Senior Controller disagreed.

"No. All of our speeders are accounted for… wait!" he announced. "There's something very weak coming through… a communication of some sort."

As a garbled, robotic message began streaming into their ears, 3po stepped forward and analyzed the nonsensical sound.

"Sir," he spoke up, talking to Rieekan, "I am fluent in six million forms of communication. This signal is not used by the Alliance. It could be an Imperial code."

Suddenly, the transmission went static.

"It isn't friendly, whatever it is." Han concluded. "Come on, Chewie, let's check it out. Calvin, Hobbes, you wanna tag along?"

"No thanks."

"Of course!"

Calvin and Hobbes looked at each other with annoyance, before Calvin suddenly rushed off after Han before the tiger could stop him.

"Hey- Calvin!" he shouted, before chasing after him.

A few minutes later, Hobbes was trudging through three feet of snow, grumbling at having to go outside with Calvin to find out whatever triggered the alarm. Of course, he could have stayed inside, but he and Calvin were like two peas in a pod. He wouldn't leave Calvin out there without him.

So, for a half an hour, the four of them made their way through the snow, using a tracking device to hone in on the intruder's location. The snow was bitterly cold, biting at his ankles and covering his legs in powder. The thought of him encased in a grave of snow, such as the one the other night made him shiver, and he paid careful attention to where he put his steps.

As the beeping from the tracker became more frequent, signaling that the intruder was getting closer and closer, he nervously unclipped his carbine from the back of his bandolier. He had stolen the weapon from a Death Trooper on the Tanka facility, and kept it, as the empire spared no expense when outfitting those guys with the best blasters available. The carbine could fire precise rounds at short to medium range distances, had a grenade launcher attachment, plus an in-built flashlight on the barrel's side.

Meanwhile, in front of him, his three friends had their own weapons, Calvin still clutching the blaster he had gotten so long ago in that Mos Eisley Cantina, and Han holding his own blaster which, for some reason, had a miniature rifle scope on top of it. At least, that's what he thought it was.

Chewie had the coolest weapon by far, in his opinion, sporting a Wookie crossbow that could fire extremely powerful bolts that lifted enemies off of their feet and sent them careening backwards. He had fired it several times. It sure packed a punch.

The beeping was crazy, now, and all four of them stopped behind a small ridge. Whatever was on the other side would be their target.

"Hey, Han," Calvin said. "I've got a plan to take this sucker down."

Turning, Han smiled. "Well then, let's hear it."

The Imperial probe droid floated unsettlingly calmly towards the Rebel Base a few feet off of the ground, the terminated, smoking ruins of security sensor three-eight left behind it. Suddenly, it stopped, and emitted an electrical whirring noise as a tall, collapsible antenna rose out of its circular top. A chain of encrypted communications left it as it signaled a message to… somewhere.

Suddenly, from behind the nearby ridge appeared Chewie, and with its twenty red eyes ringing its circular body, it was quick to spot the Wookie and react. Swiveling around, it pointed its in-built blaster at him with utmost accuracy and fired, the bolts striking the top of the ridge in a flurry of snow as Chewie ducked out of sight.

The next second, a volley of blaster bolts impacted it from behind and it immediately exploded, its charred, blistering wreckage landing in the snow. Strangely enough, the explosion had occurred even though the droid's armor should have been able to prevent such a thing from happening.

As Calvin, Han, and Hobbes walked towards the smoldering remains, blasters still smoking from the ambush that Calvin came up with, the smuggler frowned.

"I'm afraid there's not much left," Han remarked, and crouched down to examine the smoking pieces.

"What was it?" Leia's voice came through the comlink.

A droid of some kind," he answered. "We didn't hit it too hard. It must have had some sort of self-destruct."

"Hey, Hobbes," Calvin addressed the tiger. "Doesn't this look like one of those droids we saw at the imperial facility on Tanka?"

"Yeah," Hobbes nodded. "Wait a minute, this is an-"

"Imperial probe droid," Leia finished for him over their comlinks. "A scout, searching for us."

"Then it's a good bet that the empire knows we're here," Han frowned.

"Hey, Calvin," Hobbes whispered."

"What?" Calvin asked.

"...I think we'd better start packing."

Meanwhile, in another part of the Galaxy, a fleet of five Star Destroyers move through the cold nothingness of outer space, watching and waiting for one of their Probe Droids to report a message.

Suddenly, coming into the light of the star system's sun, a massive Imperial Dreadnought appeared out of the inky darkness. 19,000 yards long, and boasting 5,000 Turbolasers and Ion Cannons, it was no surprise that Darth Vader had chosen it as his Flagship.

On the bridge of this gigantic titan, dozens of Communications, Weapons, and Navigation Officers sat at uniform desks, charting star paths and ordering around troops on holographic screens when the doors opened and in walked Captain Piett. A young man who had quickly reached his rank due to his family's strong ties with the Emperor, he was a competent and proactive person.

Carrying a control pad, Piett took a deep, almost shuddering breath, and began to crisply walk down the catwalk that stood high above the officer's stations below. On the command platform at the end stood three figures, and Admiral Ozzel was the first to notice the young Captain's presence.

Ozzel was a short and thick man, with lines of harshness on his features. He sported short, ratty hair, dark eyes, and a well trimmed mustache that outlined his mouth. In the clone wars, he had been a simple navigation officer on an Acclamator Class battleship. But, armed with ambition and cunning, he had worked his way up the ladder to where he was now.

Behind him stood General Veers, the head of all forces on the Executor. Round in appearance and still rather inexperienced when it came to his new position as General, he wished to prove himself as fast as he could to the Sith Lord that commanded the Dreadnought. For if you weren't useful on this ship, you were dead.

Ozzel turned and walked to meet the Captain, noticing the rather energetic way Piett walked up to him. He had found something interesting.

"Admiral," Piett said, and snapped a salute.

"Yes, Captain?" Ozzel nodded.

"I think we've got something, sir," Piett informed him. "The report is only a fragment from a probe droid in the Hoth system, but it's the best lead we've had yet."

Ozzel's annoyance suddenly spiked at the Captain's words. Darth Vader had released thousands upon thousands of probe droids in hundreds of star systems in search of the Rebels. He expected good results! Not flimsy theories based on a fragment of evidence.

"We have thousands of probe droids searching the galaxy," he told Piett with ample irritation. "I want proof, not leads!"

"The, uh, the visuals indicate life readings," Piett went on, now rather worried.

"It could mean anything," Ozzel countered. "If we followed every lead-"

"But, sir, the Hoth system is supposed to be devoid of Human Life forms," Piett pointed out, keeping his voice respectful. To anger Ozzel was a terrible mistake.

Suddenly, a looming shadow walked past both of them to view the report transmitted by the Probe Droid. Vader's cape fluttered unnaturally behind him as he walked, every robotic breath he took foreboding and a reminder that this Sith Lord… was not entirely human.

"You found something?" the Sith Lord asked.

"Yes, my lord," Piett nodded.

A grainy image, part of the report sent from Hoth, was displayed on the holographic screen in front of Vader. It was extremely difficult to make out, but in the background, he noticed several flying objects heading for a glacier of some sort.

"That's it," he declared. "The Rebels are there."

"My lord," Ozzel spoke up, chuckling slightly. "There are… so many uncharted settlements. It could be smugglers, it could be-"

That is the system. And I'm sure Skywalker is with them. Set your course for the Hoth system. General Veers, prepare your men," Vader ordered.

"Yes, my lord," General Veers, who until now hadn't said a word, nodded and began to make his way off of the bridge to fulfill his new commands. As he did so, Vader turned to look back out at the star, far off in the distance. Soon he would have what he had been looking for for almost three years.

"Hey, Luke?" Hobbes asked as he walked up to the teen, who was currently in the process of readying his X-wing.

"Yeah, Hobbes?" Luke asked, sliding out from under the ship to look at him.

"You, uh, flying so soon after your recovery?" he asked, noticing what Luke was doing.

"Well, my wounds are almost all healed now anyway," Luke shrugged. "Plus, with the Empire on its way, we're going to need to make a fast getaway. It would really suck if my ship wasn't fueled, or broke down or something as I tried to fly off."

"Right," Hobbes nodded. "Uh, anyway, the reason I came over is because I want to talk to you about something."

"Oh? And what's that?" Luke asked as he slid back under the X-wing with a light in his hand.

"Well, you see," Hobbes began, "we're trying to find some sort of way to contain an extremely large amount of power. Like, a lot. And right now, nothing we can think of will work."

"No standard cooling systems that we have in Echo Base will do the trick?" Luke asked, skeptical, as sounds of a ratchet clicked from under the ship.

"Nope," Hobbes sighed. "No luck…"

"Well, whatever you're doing, it must be powerful. Try not to blow us up, eh?," Luke joked, sliding out to grab another tool.

"That's what the cooling system's for," Hobbes laughed, hiding his nervousness. "So, I thought I might talk to you, y'know? As a flying ace Jedi, you might have learned something that we don't know. Y'know?"

"Well… I'm a jedi-in-training," Luke shrugged. "Oh, but I do know something!"

"Shoot," Hobbes said.

"Well, according to a mission report by one of the people who originally stole the Death star plans, they said that the Empire was attempting to get as much Kyber as they could from this old Jedi temple."

"They were looting a temple?" Hobbes asked. "And what is kyber?"

"Kyber is what powers our lightsabers," Luke explained. "Obi Wan said that in order to become Jedi Knights, Padawans like me had to find a Kyber crystal and bond with it. That means that they had to pour their feelings and emotions into the crystal so that it would come to life."

"Come to life?" Hobbes asked. "Like a flower or something?"

"Yes, kind of," Luke nodded, and slid back under the ship. "The kyber crystal releases, and helps to store and channel energy in our lightsabers. And according to the Death Star plans that we now have, the Empire needed that stolen Kyber to keep the energy that blew up planets in check."

"Really? Like a cooling system, but stronger?"

"Yeah, exactly," Luke grinned. "I'm no expert on the topic yet, but maybe a kyber crystal will keep whatever power source you're using for whatever you're doing in check… by the way, what are you doing?"

"Uh, we're trying to… come up with a new and improved method… to power a fighter, like our Y-wing," Hobbes fibbed. "If it works, we can put it in every ship here and have a huge advantage!"

"Lot's of ambition, there," Luke chuckled. "But, yeah. Maybe Kyber will work."

"And where can we get a Kyber crystal?" Hobbes asked.

Luke hesitated. "...I don't know."

Hobbes was immediately on edge. He could tell when people were truthful and when they were not. And right now, he knew that Luke was hiding something. He was… planning something.

"Why don't you want to tell me?" Hobbes asked.

"Tell you what?" Luke asked in return.

"Why don't you want to tell me where the Kyber is?" Hobbes asked. "I can tell that you know a way to get it."

"Right," Luke sighed. "Enhanced senses… can you keep a secret?"

"For you? Sure!" Hobbes grinned.

"So, you know how the current plan is to fend off the empire while everyone evacuates, and then join up again in a predetermined meeting point?"

"Yeah," Hobbes nodded.

"Well," Luke sighed, "I'm not meeting up with the fleet."

"What? Why?"

"Because, when you and Han rescued me, right before you found me, I had a vision. A vision of Obi Wan."

"Obi Wan?" Hobbes perked up. "He talked to you from beyond the grave?"

"Yeah," Luke nodded. "I mean, it might have been just a hallucination, but the instructions he gave were really clear."

"Obi Wan? Instructions?" Hobbes queried.

"Yeah, he told me to go to Dagobah…to find a person named Yoda. Apparently, he can help me a lot in my Jedi training," Luke explained. "I looked up the Dagobah star system and lo and behold, it exists."

"That's incredible!" Hobbes laughed. "So, maybe this Yoda fella has a spare Kyber crystal!"

"Yeah, but don't take my word for it."

"Do you mind if I tag along with you?" Hobbes asked. "We could really use this chance, my and Calvin."

"What about Calvin?" Luke asked. "Would he have something to say about that?"

"I can work something out with him," Hobbes said. "So, if I go with you, should I meet up right after we evacuate?"

"Sure," Luke nodded. "I suppose it would be nice to have you come along. After all, you're good in trees and jungles, and the entirety of Dagobah is a humid forest."

"Great!" Hobbes nodded. "Thanks so much, Luke! You've been a big help!"

"Payback for saving me!" Luke grinned as Hobbes ran off.

Hobbes ran as fast as he could to relay the news to Calvin. If the Kyber crystal really could keep the Coaxium's energy in check, then they would be able to power the D.A.R.T!

They would be able to get home.

:D