X-Men: The Empire Strikes Back

Chapter Five

The Space Above Hoth

The Millennium Falcon jerked as it rose above Hoth. Beside him, Danielle was flipping switches over and over, gritting her teeth. “Looks as if we’re going to be here for a while,” she muttered.

“Why?” Han asked, not wanting to know.

“Something’s not responding at the moment.”

I didn’t want to know. “Damn,” he muttered instead, flipping the switches for the shields. “Then it’s time to do something haywire.”

“Which is?” Leia asked from behind.

Han smirked, looking behind him. “Hold onto your mutations there, Rogue.”

Before Leia could complain, Han turned the Falcon around and headed straight for Hoth’s asteroid belt.

Danielle let out a strangled scream. “Han!”

“Well, what?” he barked at her. “We’ve done crazier things to avoid the Empire!”

“Yeah, and we got out of them alive,” Danielle retorted. “This is asking for suicide!”

“Both of you, shut up and pay attention!” Leia barked as Chewbacca’s roar came over the intercom.

Danielle leaned over to take the comm as Han focused on the flying. Most of the smaller asteroids he didn’t care about, but the ones that were the sizes of boulders, Leia was taking care of with her telekinesis. “What’s up, Beast?”

“We can’t reach lightspeed.”

Han jerked the controls, making one asteroid graze the top of the Falcon. Lights flickered everywhere and the ship began to shudder, but Han was now entirely focused on Chewbacca. “Say what?”

“The hyperdrive’s been damaged.”

“We’re in trouble,” Han muttered. “See a good cave to hide us in?”

Danielle started her scan, then pointed downwards towards a huge asteroid definitely large enough to hold the Falcon. “Down in there?”

Han nodded, diving the Falcon down into the darkness. “Sounds good to me.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Leia muttered.

Han nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he agreed softly. “Me, too.”

***

Dagobah System

Luke really had been having a good flight through space. He really had.

Of course, when he crashed on the planet below and nearly lost R2-D2 to some monster in the swamps, that good streak was pretty much ruined.

He looked up when he heard R2-D2’s twitter. “You’re ready?” R2-D2 chirped, rocking back and forth. Luke grinned. “Alright then, let’s get you some power.”

He plugged a charger into R2, and the droid seemed to give an electronic sigh. Luke grinned again, sitting back down on the swampy log, chewing on an energy bar. “Why are we even here, Artoo?” he asked. He didn’t wait for an answer. He chewed on the bar some more, then sighed. “There’s just something about this place. Maybe it’s the fact I can’t believe there’s a Jedi Master here, and the other one is the fact that I feel like – ”

“Feel like what?”

Luke turned quickly, dropping his bar, drawing his blaster and leveling it at . . . something’s head. “Like we’re being watched,” he replied.

“Away with your weapon!” the creature crowed, flinging its little arms up. “I mean you no harm!”

Luke frowned, lowering his blaster, but he didn’t put away. “Who are you?”

“Hmm?” The creature lowered his arms, and Luke blinked at his wrinkled green skin and pointed ears. “A friend. Yes.”

“Well, thanks for being one, but we’re just visiting.”

“Oh, your ship? Down in the lake? Help you with that, I can!” The creature wobbled over to the small campsite and began poking around. Literally. He poked his walking stick into everything.

“We’re doing fine on our own, thanks,” Luke started, then frowned, seeing the creature pick something up off of the ground and take a small bite. “Hey, that’s my dinner!”

“Bah!” the creature cried, dropping it. “How you eat these. Good, it is not.”

“That’s all my stuff!” Luke shouted, approaching as the creature went headfirst into his toolbox. “Come on, you’re making a mess!”

“Ah!” the creature declared, pulling out a lamp. “Oh!”

“Hey, give me that!”

“No!” He swung the lamp away, looking up at Luke. “Mine! Or help you, I will not!”

“We don’t need your help!”

A mechanical arm reached out and snatched the other end of the lamp, and the creature entered a tug-of-war contest with R2-D2. “No!” the creature wailed, tugging. “Mine!”

“Artoo!” Luke cried, putting his face in his hand. “Artoo, let him have it!”

R2-D2 whined, but complied. The creature huffed, tapping the droid’s arm compartment door closed. “Mine!”

“Yeah, it’s yours,” Luke muttered. “Now can you just go?”

“No! Help you, I will!”

“We’re looking for someone.”

The creature chuckled. “Found someone, you have!”

“We’re not looking for you! We’re looking for a Jedi Master!”

The creature’s good mood seemed to vanish. His ears drooped. “Oh,” he murmured, nodding his head. “A Jedi Master.” He brightened. “Yoda. You seek Yoda.”

Luke’s jaw dropped. “You know him?”

“Yes.” The creature nodded eagerly. “Take you to him, I shall. But first, eat, we must.”

Luke watched as the creature hobbled off. After a few feet, he paused, turning back to Luke. “Come, come!” he called cheerfully before starting off again.

Luke sighed. “Artoo, watch the camp.”

R2-D2 began to squeal his opinion of that, but Luke had already set off into the swamp after the creature.