Chapter 18: Of Ice and Wampas
About half an hour later, Threepio was walking through the halls of the fortress towards the hangar, Artoo at his side as always.
"Don't try to blame me." Threepio argued with his beeping counterpart. "I didn't ask you to turn on the thermal heater. I merely commented that it was freezing in the Princess's chamber." Whistles from Artoo. "But it's supposed to be freezing. How we're going to dry out her clothes, I really don't know." Whistling and raspberries ensued. "Oh, switch off."
Padmé gave a sighed smile. "Same as always..."
They walked up to the Falcon, where Han was busy arguing with Chewie underneath the ship.
"Why'd you take this apart now?" he asked, "I'm trying to get us outta here and you pull both of these- "
"Excuse me, sir." Threepio said as the two droids approached.
"Put 'em back together right now!" Han ordered as he walked over to Threepio. "What?"
"Well, it's Princess Leia, sir. She's been trying to get you on the communicator."
"I turned it off. I don't wanna talk to her."
"You don't have to be so cold to her...", Ahsoka pouted with Anakin looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Was that a pun, Snips?"
Ahsoka blushed in embarassment. "What?! No!"
Anakin crossed his arms with a smirk. "Come on, don't go snippy with me!"
Ahsoka sighed exasparately. "Let's just continue watching, shall we?"
"Oh. Well, Princess Leia is wondering about Master Luke. He hasn't come back yet, and the Princess doesn't know where he is."
Han frowned slightly. "I don't know where he is." Luke's a man now, and Han trusted him, especially after everything they had been through together since they had met on Tatooine two years ago.
"Nobody knows where he is." Threepio told her, and Han's frowned deepened.
"What do you mean 'nobody knows?'"
"Well, uh, you see- " but he was cut off as Han moved past him, calling for the deck officer. He tried to speak, but was again cut off when Han covered his voice grill as a soldier came up to them.
"That'll keep him quiet", Mace said in relief.
"Do you know where Commander Skywalker is?" he asked the man.
"I haven't seen him." the officer admitted. "It's possible he came in through the south entrance."
"It's possible? Well, why don't you go check? It's getting dark out there."
"Yes sir." The soldier nodded and ran off.
"Excuse me, sir," Threepio asked, "But might I inquire what's going on?"
"Why not?" Han said absent-mindedly, his thoughts clearly on the well-being of the boy he now thought of as a brother.
"Impossible man." Threepio shook his head. "Come along, R2, let's find Princess Leia, between us, I think Master Luke is in considerable danger."
Han walked into the tauntaun pens and saw a group of staff officers in the midst of a conversation.
"Sir, Commander Skywalker hasn't come in the south entrance." The deck officer reported. "It's possible he forgot to check in."
"Not likely." Han said, "Are the speeders ready to go yet?"
"Not quite. We've had some trouble adapting them to the cold."
"Then we'll have to go out on tauntaun." Han said and walked over to one of the beasts that still had a saddle on.
"Sir, the temperature's dropping too rapidly." The officer protested.
"Yeah, and my friend's out in it." he fired back as he climbed into the saddle.
"Your tauntaun'll freeze before you reach the first marker." He warned him one last time.
"Then I'll see you in hell. Hyah!" he snapped the reins and led his mount out of the hanger at a full gallop.
"Solo to the rescue, then", Obi-Wan mused with a smile while glancing at Anakin. "Come on, you have to give him some credit, Anakin. He's saving your son!"
"I still don't like him...", Anakin said with finallity.
"A close bond he has, for young Luke. Looked out for him when no one else could", Yoda observed, proud that despite Han's background of a scoundrel and a moneymaking optimist, he still had a heart to care for Luke.
Luke started as he heard an echoing roar. His blue eyes slowly fluttered open as he finally regained consciousness. It took another second before his body caught up with his brain and he groaned. His everything hurt, but the throbbing in his head was currently the biggest pain. His being hung upside down by his ankles certainly didn't help.
Quickly taking in his surroundings, he found that he was in an ice cave, and if the skeletons frozen into the floor and walls were any indication, it was the home of whatever had attacked his and his mount. This was immediately confirmed when he heard loud munching noises coming from in front of him. There, he saw the beast not even a hundred yards from his, loudly eating from the carcass of his mount.
"Speaking of graphic detail..", Shaak Ti muttered, feeling her stomach lurched. As did the rest who just had their lunch.
"Welcome to the Animal Kingdom then?", Rex asked humorously.
Seeing his eventual fate, he quickly took action, curling upwards to try and free his feet, but to no avail; they were frozen over and he didn't have the strength to free them.
He returned to his hanging position and saw his lightsaber sitting in a pile of snow nearby. Calmly, he closed his eyes and remembered the lessons Ben had taught him in the brief time he had been his Master. Calming his mind and body, he reached out with the Force, willing the weapon to come to his outstretched hand. It jiggled for an instance but did not move.
"Use the Force, Luke." Obi-Wan joked.
"Can't you see he's trying?" Anakin interjected.
The beast must have seen that he had woken up, for it stood and began to move toward him.
"Great...just great...", Anakin groaned.
"Have faith in him, Skywalker", Yoda assured him.
The lightsaber shifted in the snow once, twice- and then shot into his hand. In one fluid motion, his hand grasped the handle and thumbed the activation button. The blue blade came to life and he swiftly used it to free himself from the ice, falling to the floor almost on his feet. Looking up, he saw the Wampa was nearly upon him. He quickly stood up and with a flick of his wrist, he sliced the beast's arm from its body. The beast howled in pain, giving Like the perfect chance to make his mad dash for freedom.
"He surely takes from you, Master Kenobi." Luminara said though a little startled.
"Since when did dismemberment became my thing?", Obi-Wan asked, puzzled.
"Maul's lower half and Savage's arm would like to say hello", Anakin humorously relayed to him.
The good news was that the cave was very linear, just one long tunnel with one entrance. The bad news was that a snow storm had kicked up while he was out. The second he emerged from the cave, he was buffeted by icy winds and snow coming her at ridiculous speeds. He deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt seconds before tumbling down a hill, though he quickly picked himself up and put as much distance as he could between him and that monster's lair.
"Come on, Solo. You gotta do it, fast...", Anakin silently urged for the smuggler.
Meanwhile, Han continued his search for his missing friend, wandering aimlessly through the icy wastes on the back of his commandeered tauntaun. He had brought scanning equipment with him, and he would often stop to check it, but the longer he stayed outside, the worse the storm got, and thusly the less of a signal he would get.
Back at the base, Artoo was using his own built-in scanner to search for his missing master.
"Come along now, R2." Threepio said as he walked up to hom, "There's really nothing more we can do. And my joints are freezing up." Artoo beeped something in response. "Don't say things like that! Of course we'll see Master Luke again. And s
he'll be quite alright, you'll see!" he began muttering to himself as he walked off. Of course Master Luke would be alright.
Luke collapsed into the snow. He had been walking for hours. Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem, since growing up on a desert planet his entire life had built up his natural endurance. But he figured he could be forgiven seeing how he had been attacked but an ice monster, dragged to its lair and then nearly eaten by said monster. He willed himself back to his feet and managed to shakily walk another few feet, before he collapsed face-first back into the snow.
"What do you think?" Saesee whispered to Plo Koon.
"On how he is fairing?" Plo Koon asked, matching his tone, "Far from good. If the weather on this planet is anything like it is in Orto Plutonia, his chances aren't good. Even if they find him, there wouldn't be much to do to save him."
"It's possible they might have some kind of miracle. Right?", Padmé added between the two.
"Luke's been through a lot", Anakin said, crossing his arms. "I know he can do this"
At the base, an officer, Derlin, ran up to his superior in the hangar bay.
"Sir, all the patrols are in. Still no- " he looked over to Leia listening in, and quickly lowered his voice. "Still no word from Skywalker or Solo."
"Princess Leia," Threepio said as he walked up to her, "R2 says that he has been unable to pick up any signals, although he does admit that his own range is far too weak to abandon all hope."
"Princess," Derlin officer said as he and his subordinate joined the brown-haired woman and the droid, "There's nothing more we can do tonight. The shield doors must be closed."
Leia closed her eyes in defeat and nodded the unspoken order. The officer gave the order as Chewie walked up, close to tears himself.
"You can see how much it kills her to do it." Kit Fisto whispered to Shaak Ti.
"I know how she feels." She replied.
Artoo beeped nearby. "R2 says the chances of survival are 725 to 1." Threepio translated.
The great metal doors groaned as they came together with a loud clang. Chewie roared in grief as he fought to keep the tears in him.
The audience were visibly worried for the duo. Due to the harsh circumstances and the weather, they silently hoped that the Force would provide a miracle for them.
"Of course, Artoo has been known to make mistakes." Threepio said in an attempt to be helpful, "From time to time."
"I appreciate the effort, Threepio." Leia said with a small smile.
"Reassurance is not my forte." He admitted.
Leia nodded as she walked up to Chewie and pulled her into a hug. Threepio walked up next to Artoo and placed a hand on his dome. "Don't worry about Master Luke. I'm sure he'll be alright. He's quite clever, you know, for a human being."
In the tundra, Luke lay where he had fallen, giving up on getting back to base, much less surviving for much longer out here. That was, until his heard a voice call out to him.
"Luke." It said to him.
"Luke." He felt like she remembered it from somewhere, making his raise his head up. At the crest of a nearby hill, he saw his spectral form, clad in his robes and with the hood drawn up onto his head
"Obi-Wan?", Anakin said, his voice hopeful at seeing his Master still guiding Luke all this time.
"I saw a lot of things lately, but Ghosts certaintly aren't one of them", Rex mused, a little startled.
"Ben?" he said confused. Obi-Wan was supposed to be dead .
"You will go to the Dagobah system." He told him.
Yoda's ears perked at hearing the planet full of Dark Side energy while the other Jedi became intruiged about this.
"Wasn't the planet removed from the Archives?", Mundi asked, bewildered.
"Dagobah system?"
"There you will learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me."
"Master Yoda!", almost every Jedi shouted in both elation and relief, knowing that the aging Grand Master is still alive even after Vader and the Empire destroyed the Jedi. They were initially worried that he didn't make it through the future, but Obi-Wan's revelation says otherwise.
"Oh, thank the Force!", Master Mundi said out loud.
"This is great news. The Jedi weren't completely wiped out", Luminara added in the positivity of the situation.
"That means Luke can still complete his training!", Ahsoka added as well.
Yoda became intruiged at knowing he was still around by the time of the Empire and was looking forward on what he could contribute for Luke.
"Ben! Luke croaked out, reaching out for his hand, but his form disappeared as he once again lost consciousness. By a stroke of luck, he was found by Han ten seconds later.
"Talk about luck...", Anakin mused at seeing this.
"Luke!" Han cried out as he dismounted and tried to run for his friend. The snow was deep, so he was clumsy at best, but he quickly made it and flipped Luke over. "Don't do this, Luke. Come on, gimme a sign here." He went to check Luke's pulse when he heard a pained breathing behind him and turned just in time to see his mount collapse into the snow and let out a death rattle. Cursing to himself, Han grabbed Luke's wrists and pulled the boy over to the still warm corpse of his mount. Wasting no time and ignoring Luke's delirious mutterings, Han used the lightsaber to cut open the beast's belly.
"Sorry, kid." Han said as he pushed the boy into the opening, "This isn't gonna smell great, but it'll keep you warm until I get the shelter up." With his friend safely inside the belly of the beast, Han took time for a quick breather. "Damn. And I here thought they smelled bad on the outside."
"Ugh! That's so gross!" Caleb wailed.
"A poor term, in my opinion." Depa commented, "But an action that will likely save his life. If Mr. Solo can get the shelter up quickly, the residual body warmth will keep his core temperature up for a while longer. Smart thinking."
"Still, this is even worse than the garbage chute..", Obi-Wan groaned, feeling a little sick.
Spectre:Crucial question, shall I add the Force-forsaken kiss scene?