Death Star: episode #78 The Wampa Ice Creature
Previously: Luke, Lowdun, and Samantha all got off on Hoth. Lowdun is reunited with 2 of his grandchildren (Owen and Rhun), (Obviously, not with Anakin). Han had volunteered Luke and himself to go on a scouting mission.
They know they must return before dark. Luke and Han leave on Tatuntauns. I had gone to Hoth with Bail. I don�t know that Han and Luke had gone out into the cold. Meanwhile, Ben Kenobi is standing against a wall, watching me. �I really must get back and speak with Yoda about all this,� he was saying to himself. The Emperor�s daughter, Nelly, had found it pointless to continue with what her father had had her do. She had heard information that made the project no longer valid. (Just in case you ever wondered what happened with that!) Mon Mothma sees Obi-Wan, this being their first chance to talk in 18 years. She goes over to him. Ben recognizes her right away. He hadn�t noticed her on Yavin. �Hell,� she says. �Samantha, I didn�t know you were alive.� �I didn�t know you were alive either until just recently.� Samantha is too afraid to ask him something she desperately wants to know. He doesn�t bring the subject up, so she assumes the worst. �I've got to go back to Dagobah�� Ben�s still watching me. Samantha follows his gaze, saying nothing. Now back to Luke and Han. Luke turns his animal towards Han. �Which way should we go?� They could see nothing but endless white. Han says, �I don�t know. We should probably separate a little. Here, you take that direction; I�ll take this one. Watch out kid, we don�t know what could be out here.� Luke nods, �We�ll keep in touch.� Han says, �Of course.� They go off on their separate ways. After about 45 minutes of being out in the cold and seeing nothing, something falls out of the sky and lands on the ground near Luke. Luke looks at it, �That�s strange. It must be a meteorite or something.� Luke is interested and is about to have his Tauntaun go towards it when he receives a message from Han. �How are you doing, Kid?� �Fine. I haven�t seen any life forms yet.� Han says, "Me neither. What do you say about calling it quits for today?� �Fine with me, but a meteorite hit near here. I want to check it out. It won�t� take long. You can go ahead and go back to base. I�ll catch up with you there.� �If you�re sure, kid.� �Yeah.� �Okay, see you in a little bit then. Don�t be too long. It�s not going to be light much longer.� �I�m not stupid, Han, but thanks for reminding me.� They broke connection. Han went back to base, not encountering anything. Luke starts to go in the direction of the meteorite, but his animal stops suddenly. �Come on�what�s the matter?� Inside, he�s thinking, �Come on you stupid thing.� But it doesn�t move. A second later, something hits Luke hard and knocks him unconscious off the Tauntaun. It�s a Wampa ice creature, native to Hoth. It gave Luke a couple of cuts on his face, and a few bruises, but he�s not seriously hurt. The creature grabs Luke and drags him off to his ice cave. One there, it hangs Luke upside down by his feet on the ceiling of the cave. Somehow his utility belt gets unfastened and falls to the ground. Han has made it back to the base by now, and the temperature is rapidly dropping. Luke wakes up. When he does, he realizes he is cold. He doesn�t realize here he is at first. �Wait a second�where the heck am I?� He smells something really bad and turns his head to see a huge creature eating the remains of its last victim. He also realizes that it is so cold that his legs are frozen and that all his supplies are on the ground. Luke tries to think what to do next, but his mind is blank. He starts to panic as he sees that the creature is almost done eating. Then he sees his lightsaber. He tires reaching for it, but soon discoverers it�s hopelessly out of his reach. The creature finishes his meal and goes for his next victim: Luke. Luke suddenly gets an idea�he�s not sure it�ll work, but it�s the only thing he can think of�the Force. He tries to remember how to use it like he had with the remote in front of Ben. He tires his best, and slowly, the lightsaber begins moving back and forth from where it is stuck in the snow. At the last possible instant, Luke is able to really use the force, and the lightsaber comes flying into his right hand. (He�s right handed.) He ignites the lightsaber and cuts his legs free and falls to the ground. He chops off the creature's arm, and then makes a run for it. He knows he can't stay in the cave because he only cut off the creature�s arm, he didn�t kill it, and it would be very angry and probably kill him. The only problem is that it�s extremely cold now and he has no idea where he is�where the base is, and it what direction. It�ll just keep getting colder, until it�s so cold that he dies. That�s the danger, and Luke knew it. He also had no form of transportation to make it any faster. Luckily, Luke has on layers of clothes, so he won�t get frost bitten, but it�s so cold that it would kill any human that�s out too long in it.
Until next time!
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Death Star: episode #78 The Wampa Ice Creature