The Empire Strikes Back (Junior Novelization) Read online

  R2-D2 rotated his domed head and responded with a defensive beep, prompting C-3PO to exclaim, “But it’s supposed to be freezing. How are we going to dry out all her clothes? I really don’t know.”

  R2-D2 beeped in protest, which only made C-3PO more agitated. “Oh, switch off,” he said as they entered the hangar.

  They approached the Millennium Falcon, where they found Han and Chewbacca working on the freighter’s central lifters. Han was back in his cold-weather gear, which was now soiled with grime and oil as well as smelling of tauntaun.

  “Why did you take this apart now?” Han yelled at Chewbacca. “I’m trying to get us out of here, and you pull both of these—” Words failing him, he gestured at the lifters.

  “Excuse me, sir,” C-3PO interrupted.

  Han said to Chewbacca, “Put them back together right now.”

  C-3PO tried again. “Might I have a word with you, please?”

  “What do you want?” Han snapped, not bothering to hide his irritation.

  “Well, it’s Princess Leia, sir. She’s been trying to get you on the communicator.”

  “I turned it off,” Han said, staring down the droid. “I don’t want to talk to her.” The way Han said it, he made it clear that he wanted this conversation to end immediately.

  “Oh,” said C-3PO. “Well, Princess Leia is wondering about Master Luke. He hasn’t come back yet. She doesn’t know where he is.”

  “I don’t know where he is either,” Han fumed, angered that the droid wasn’t gone already.

  “Nobody knows where he is,” C-3PO stated.

  That got Han’s attention. “What do you mean, ‘nobody knows’?”

  C-3PO stammered, “Well, uh, you see…”

  “Deck officer!” Han called out, looking away from C-3PO to find the Rebel officer in charge of docking bay operations. “Deck officer!”

  “Excuse me, sir,” C-3PO interjected. “Might I inqu—”

  Han abruptly put his hand over C-3PO’s mouth as the deck officer ran to them. The deck officer looked at Han and said, “Yes, sir?”

  “Do you know where Commander Skywalker is?”

  “I haven’t seen him. It’s possible he came in through the south entrance.”

  “‘It’s possible’?” Han repeated skeptically, and the deck officer realized how feeble his statement had sounded. Han continued, “Why don’t you go find out? It’s getting dark out there.”

  “Yes, sir,” answered the deck officer, who ran off to find his assistant.

  Han removed his hand from C-3PO’s mouth. The droid said, “Excuse me, sir. Might I inquire what’s going on?”

  Concerned and not really listening, Han replied, “Why not?”

  Han sauntered off, leaving Chewbacca and the droids behind. C-3PO shook his head and said, “Impossible man. Come along, Artoo, let’s find Princess Leia. Between ourselves, I think Master Luke is in considerable danger.”

  Han made his way to the chamber where the tauntauns were stabled, near the base’s north entrance. Several exhausted Rebel scouts rested in the ice-walled chamber…but Luke wasn’t among them. Han was trying to think of where else Luke might be when the deck officer and his assistant hurried toward him.

  “Sir,” said the deck officer. “Commander Skywalker hasn’t come in the south entrance. He might have forgotten to check in.”

  “Not likely,” Han said. “Are the speeders ready?”

  “Er, not yet,” said the deck officer. “We’re having some trouble adapting them to the cold.”

  “Then we’ll have to go out on tauntauns,” Han said. Before anyone could protest, Han turned and headed for the snow lizards.

  The deck officer was aghast. Tauntauns were indigenous, but they were hardly invulnerable to the cold, and what Han Solo was about to do was pure madness. Hoping to maintain some control of the situation, the deck officer called after Solo, “Sir, the temperature’s dropping too rapidly.”

  “That’s right,” Han said without looking back. “And my friend’s out in it.”

  As Han approached the tauntaun he’d ridden earlier, the assistant officer said, “I’ll cover sector twelve. Have comm control set to screen alpha.”

  The deck officer watched Han climb onto the snow creature’s back and said, “Your tauntaun’ll freeze before you reach the first marker.”

  “Then I’ll see you in hell!” Han replied. He dug his heels into the tauntaun’s side, and raced out of the cave into the bitter night.

  Luke Skywalker didn’t know if he’d emerged from unconsciousness on his own or in response to the wampa’s echoing howl. As he opened his eyes and took in his surroundings, he knew he was in serious trouble.

  He was hanging upside down. In a cave. His entire body hurt. And he was very, very cold.

  He struggled to get his bearings. A chill against the back of his neck suggested the cave’s entrance was behind him. Icy stalactites and stalagmites, resembling many rows of teeth, obscured his view of the cave’s dim interior. He couldn’t see the wampa, but he could hear the snap of bones breaking, and chewing sounds. Judging from what he heard, Luke knew the wampa wasn’t very far away.

  Straining his aching muscles, Luke twisted his torso and neck to look up at the cave’s ceiling. His booted feet were embedded in the ice. He strained his arms up and tried to work his legs out, but the ice was too thick, and he didn’t have any leverage. He let his body slump and stretched his arms down, but he was suspended just high enough that he couldn’t touch the floor. To free himself, he’d have to blast his way out, or…

  He remembered his lightsaber. He reached to his belt, but the lightsaber was gone. Oh, no! Don’t tell me it’s lost! Luke angled his head, and spotted the lightsaber half buried in the snow on the floor below him.

  He stretched out his arm, but the lightsaber was beyond his reach. Fortunately, Luke had another resource: the Force.

  According to Ben, the Force was an energy field created by all living things. It surrounded and penetrated everything, binding the galaxy together. Since the Battle of Yavin, Luke had also learned that the Force could be utilized for moving small objects.

  Still suspended from the cave’s ceiling, Luke extended his right hand toward the lightsaber. He tried to envision the weapon rising from the snow and arriving into his waiting glove. But nothing happened.

  Luke was far from mastering the Force, or even fully understanding it, but he had a feeling that he might be trying too hard. He closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles. He also did his best to remain calm, for in the recesses of his awareness, he sensed that the wampa was moving in the cave. Did the wampa hear me trying to wrench myself free of the ice? Luke no longer heard the sound of the creature’s chewing.

  Luke stopped thinking about the wampa. Again, he extended his hand and gazed upon the lightsaber in the snow. The Force binds us.…

  He heard the approaching wampa’s heavy footsteps.

  The Force calls my lightsaber to me.…

  The lightsaber shot out of the snow and into Luke’s hand. Luke activated the weapon, and its blue energy beam blazed to life. As he raised the blade to cut through the ice that bound his legs, the wampa lunged for him.

  The lightsaber sliced through the ice, and Luke kept the weapon activated as he tumbled to the cave’s floor. He sprang to his feet just as the wampa was about to pounce, and swung the lightsaber hard. In a single motion, he cut off the monster’s right arm. The severed limb landed on the snow with a muffled thud. Howling in pain, the wampa clutched at its open wound.

  Not wasting a precious second, Luke deactivated the lightsaber and scurried away from the wailing beast. He moved by instinct, pushing his way through snow and ice until he tumbled out through the mouth of the cave and into…

  A blizzard.

  When I wanted to leave Tatooine, I never bargained for this.

  Dazed and lost, Luke pressed on, leaving the cave far behind as he moved deeper into the sto
rm.

  The snowfall was increasingly heavy at Echo Base, where R2-D2 stood just outside the base’s north entrance. Ignoring the cold flakes that were collecting on his cylindrical body, the astromech adjusted the slender scanner antenna that protruded up from a panel on his domed head. The antenna was topped by a life-scan sensor, and even though he hadn’t picked up any signals so far, R2-D2 wasn’t ready to give up. Still, he couldn’t help but emit some worried beeps.

  “You must come along now, Artoo,” said C-3PO, who’d been standing watch with his friend. “There’s really nothing more we can do. And my joints are freezing up.”

  R2-D2 beeped, long and low.

  “Don’t say things like that!” C-3PO cried. “Of course we’ll see Master Luke again. And he’ll be quite all right, you’ll see.” As C-3PO turned and headed back through the hangar entrance, he muttered, “Stupid little short-circuit. He’ll be quite all right.”

  R2-D2 let out a mournful beep, but remained outside, sensors on full alert.

  Except for his own gloved hands and the back of his tauntaun’s head, Han Solo could barely see anything but falling snow. He knew that finding Luke in this environment was next to impossible, but if he didn’t try, Luke was as good as dead.

  So Han continued looking and kept the tauntaun moving. Eventually, they arrived near a glacial rise that shielded them slightly from the wind. There, Han let the animal rest while he dismounted, carrying a portable scanner from his utility pack.

  Han extended the scanner’s antennae and tried to pick up any readings. There were no life-forms within the scanner’s limited range and no incoming comm transmissions, but there was plenty of interference from the storm. Han carried the scanner back to the tauntaun and climbed onto his saddle.

  In the hangar at Echo Base, a Rebel lieutenant walked up to his commanding officer, Major Derlin, and said, “Sir, all the patrols are in. Still no—”

  Major Derlin raised a hand to caution the lieutenant, who then noticed that Princess Leia stood nearby, watching them and listening. The lieutenant gulped, chose his words carefully, and said, “Still no contact from Skywalker or Solo.”

  Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO were near the cave’s entrance. Hearing the lieutenant’s report, C-3PO turned and approached the princess. “Mistress Leia, Artoo says he’s been quite unable to pick up any signals, although he does admit that his own range is far too weak to abandon all hope.”

  Major Derlin said, “Your Highness, there’s nothing more we can do tonight. The shield doors must be closed.”

  Leia wished she could blink her eyes and wake up from this nightmare, but she knew she wasn’t dreaming. Luke and Han really were out there somewhere in sub-freezing temperatures, and unless she wanted the cold to spread throughout Echo Base, the shield doors couldn’t remain open. She found herself speechless, and cast her gaze at the floor as she nodded to Major Derlin. It had to be done.

  “Close the doors,” Derlin ordered.

  “Yes, sir,” said the lieutenant.

  At the mouth of the cave, two thick metal doors rumbled along their tracks as they converged to close off the entrance. Chewbacca moaned, and R2-D2 spat out a complex series of beeps.

  Addressing Leia, C-3PO said, “Artoo says the chances of survival are seven hundred and twenty-five…to one.”

  With a loud boom, the doors locked in place and sealed off the cavern. Chewbacca threw his head back and let out a suffering howl.

  C-3PO reconsidered his last statement, and added, “Actually, Artoo has been known to make mistakes…from time to time.”

  Leia walked off, and C-3PO returned to R2-D2. “Oh, dear, oh, dear,” said the golden droid. He patted R2-D2’s dome, trying to comfort the distressed astromech. “Don’t worry about Master Luke, I’m sure he’ll be all right. He’s quite clever, you know…for a human being.”

  Luke lay facedown in the snow, nearly unconscious. He didn’t want to give up, but the cold had given him little choice. Unable to move or feel, and barely able to think, he was waiting for the inevitable when he heard a voice.

  “Luke…Luke.”

  Luke recognized the voice. He hadn’t heard it since the Battle of Yavin, when it had urged him to trust his feelings and use the Force to destroy the Death Star. Slowly, Luke raised his head. A short distance away from him stood the shimmering, spectral form of Obi-Wan Kenobi. To make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, Luke said aloud, “Ben?”

  “You will go to the Dagobah system,” Ben said.

  “Dagobah system?” Luke repeated. I’m not hallucinating. I’m sure of it.

  “There you will learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me.”

  Luke groaned as he tried not to go into shock. “Ben…Ben.”

  Ben disappeared—but a lone tauntaun rider materialized where he had been and approached Luke’s position. Luke’s eyes closed and he passed out in the snow.

  Fortunately for Luke, the tauntaun rider was not a hallucination, either. Han Solo slid off his mount and trudged as fast as he could to Luke’s motionless body. Behind him, his tauntaun let out a low, pitiful bellow.

  “Luke!” Han said, taking hold of his friend. “Luke! Don’t do this, Luke. Come on, give me a sign here.” He leaned close to Luke’s face to make sure he was still breathing. He was, but just barely.

  Han was trying to think about what to do next when he heard a rasping sound. He turned in time to see his tauntaun stagger and fall dead to the snow-covered ground.

  Temporarily stunned, Han stared at the fallen tauntaun. Then he grabbed Luke’s arms and dragged him to the tauntaun’s body. “Not much time,” he muttered. He knew he’d have to work fast, before the tauntaun’s corpse froze.

  Luke moaned, “Ben…Ben…”

  Han figured Luke was delirious. “Hang on, kid,” he said. He took Luke’s lightsaber, ignited its blade, and cut the dead Tauntaun’s belly wide open.

  “Dagobah system…” Luke mumbled. “You will go to Dagobah…”

  Struggling to get Luke inside the carcass, Han explained, “This may smell bad, kid…but it will keep you warm…till I can get the shelter built.”

  Oblivious to everything, Luke moaned, “Yoda…”

  “Agh!” Han gasped as the gutted beast’s rancid stench swam over him. “Agh…I thought they smelled bad on the outside! Agh!”

  With Luke tucked more or less into the tauntaun’s body cavity, Han removed a pack and took out a shelter container. The shelter would offer pitiful protection against the bitter cold…but it was all Han had.

  The next morning offered clear blue skies for the Rebel pilots who raced over Hoth in the four snub-nosed T-47 snowspeeders—enclosed two-man craft that allowed a pilot and gunner to be seated back-to-back. Each of these four carried only a single pilot, to allow room for Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, should either be found. After skirting a high plateau, the snowspeeders veered off in different directions to search for the missing men.

  Rebel pilot Zev Senesca’s comm-unit designation was Rogue Two. Zev had been on Hoth long enough to have a hard time believing anyone could’ve survived the previous night’s blizzard. Also, the war had claimed too many lives for Zev to be much of an optimist. He was grimly concentrating on the scopes that ringed his cockpit when he heard a low beep from a monitor. Activating his transmitter, he called out, “Echo Base…I’ve got something! Not much, but it could be a life-form.…”

  Zev banked his craft, made a slow arc, then raced off in a new direction. Switching to a different transmission frequency, he said, “Commander Skywalker, do you copy? This is Rogue Two.” No response. “This is Rogue Two. Captain Solo, do you copy?”

  “Good morning,” Han’s voice sounded from a speaker in Zev’s cockpit. “Nice of you guys to drop by.”

  It had been weeks since Zev had felt any reason to smile, but the one that broke out across his face went from ear to ear. “Echo Base…this is Rogue Two. I found them. Repeat, I found them.” He steered the snows
peeder to follow the source of Han’s transmission, and soon sighted Han’s emergency shelter. Han stood beside the shelter and waved, safe at last.

  Luke wondered, Am I dead?

  His whole body felt empty, drained of life, yet there was a lightness about him. I feel like I’m floating. But what’s that pressure over my mouth and…is something pinching my nose? And what are those whirring noises? Opening his eyes, he saw blurred lights and rising air bubbles, and thought, I’m drowning!

  He had emerged from unconsciousness to find himself submerged in a transparent cylindrical tank filled with warm liquid. A breathing mask was strapped over his mouth and a small clamp sealed his nostrils. From Luke’s perspective, the tank’s shape produced a distorted view of strange figures moving outside. But as his vision adjusted, Luke recognized the figures as 2-1B, an older medical droid that served the Rebel Alliance, and his assistant, the multiarmed droid FX-7. It was FX-7 who was responsible for the whirring sounds.

  Luke realized he was in the Echo Base medical center, and that the liquid in the tank was bacta, a synthetic chemical that made wounds heal quickly and left no scars. Luke’s last conscious memory was of Ben, appearing before him in the snow. Who rescued me? And how?

  Then he saw his friends. Leia, Han, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO were gathered on the other side of the medical center’s window. They waved to him. Still groggy, Luke returned the gesture, then felt his body being lifted out of the tank.

  It was time to return to the world.

  “Master Luke, sir, it’s so good to see you fully functional again,” C-3PO said to Luke, who now sat on a bed in the medical center’s white-walled recovery room. Leia smiled as R2-D2 rolled up beside Luke’s bed and beeped.

  “Artoo expresses his relief also,” C-3PO translated.

  Luke was by no means fully functional. He was tired and sore, and his battered features were nasty evidence of his encounter with the wampa. But he was alive and he would heal.

  Behind Luke, the door slid open with a soft hiss, and Han and Chewbacca entered.