Star Wars : Chapter 31: Preparations

Leia grinned viciously. "Well, I guess you don't know everything about women yet, do you?" she walked up to Luke, grabbed his cheeks and pulled him into a kiss that was between chaste and deep.

Shaak Ti, Ahsoka Luminara blushed at the scene. "My, isn't she a deviant...", the Togruta master mused.

Rex and Kit Fisto couldn't help but whistle in admiration of the sight of Luke making out with a beautiful Princess of Alderaan. The rest of the Jedi remained impassive of the sight, though some thought that Luke shouldn't have done that, since Jedi have no need for attachments.

Yoda felt his chest heavy, realizing there was a sort of disturbance he could not figure out what. But he turned around to see three people with a completely different reaction.

Anakin stopped halfway at gulping his bantha milk, closing his mouth as the milk began to drip from the cup (AN: Imagine Gintoki drinking beer), grasped the glass so hard that it cracked. His eyes became emotionless, almost as if he saw a ghost, before his jaw dropped, resulting of the excess milk leaking over like a fountain in total disgust.

Obi-Wan felt his stomach roll and used the Force to reach out a paper bag where he vomitted, saying that he had probably eaten something back at lunch. In reality, he was horrified at the supposedly normal sight and he felt responsible for this. But he didn't know why either, and he prayed to the Force for immediate answers.

Padmé dropped her glass, causing it to shatter when it hit the ground. A visible look of horror and disgust that she didn't know where it was coming from surrounded her usually charming look, before her eyes went blank, causing her to black out, with Rex catching her by her back.

"Senator Amidala!"

"I don't know really. I think she's trying to make Han jealous by kissing Luke", Ahsoka pointed out, trying to get her master back to reality. But she had to admit, it was kinda funny seeing Han's face.

"But based on Master Kenobi, Knight Skywalker, and Senator Amidala's reaction, it felt wrong for them", Plo Koon added. "I admit, it felt odd for some reason"

She heard her name called for over the intercom, and left with a victorious smile. Luke blinked a couple times to see if that had just happened before leaning back, his hands behind his head and a triumphant smile on his face.

Han clicked clicked tongue, trying to keep her temper in check. "Take it easy." He told Luke before he left with Chewie in tow.

...

Leia arrived at the command center to find several officers huddling around a single work station.

"Princess, we have a visitor." The General told her as Han entered behind him. "Picked up something outside the base's perimeter moving east."

"It's metal." The operator added.

"Then it couldn't be one of those creatures." Leia reasoned.

"Could be a speeder, one of ours." Han suggested.

"No- wait." The operator said, pressing his earpiece into his ear so he could hear better. "There's something very weak coming through." He flipped a switch on his console so that everyone else could hear it too. There was a lot of static, but they could still make out some kind of speech pattern in it.

"Ma'am," Threepio said, getting their attention, "I am fluent in six million forms of communication. This signal is not used by the Alliance. It could be an Imperial code."

The operator managed to clear up the static so that the signal was coming through clearly.

Han frowned. "Well, whatever it is, it doesn't sound friendly. Chewie, let's go check it out."

"Send Rogues 10 and 11 to station 38." The General ordered as the two left.

Outside, it was revealed that the source of the code was the droid that had landed a few days previously. Its message sent, it retracted its' antennae and floated off.

"I have a bad feeling about this...", Ahsoka muttered.

"Knowing the Empire, they had a few tricks up their sleeve", Rex added.

About half an hour later, Han rose from his hiding place and got a good look at the droid as it passed between a pair of rocky outcrops. Chewie rose from his own hiding place, his fur covered in snow, and growled at the droid. It let out an alarm and began firing at Chewie, or rather his position, since Chewie had ducked back down.

Han took his chance and fired at the droid with his blaster pistol. He landed one hit before ducking back into cover. He heard a pair of blaster bolts fire over him head, jumped back up, landed another hit when suddenly the droid exploded.

Chewie rose from his hiding place when heard the explosion and he growled. Han could only frown.

"Afraid there's not much left." Han said as he reported in to command.

"What was it?" Leia asked.

"Droid of some kind." Han answered, professional enough to put aside what had happened earlier with Luke. "I didn't hit it that hard, it must have had a self-destruct."

Leia didn't even argue, since the bits of information they had fit perfectly in her head. "An Imperial probe droid." She said.

"It's a good bet the Empire knows we're here, then."

"We'd better start the evacuation." The General decided, Leia nodding her agreement.

"They're in a dire situation if they're only starting now." Depa commented. "We could expect a massive invasion force at this rate."

In the void, a fleet of Star Destroyers hung in a loose formation, TIE fighters flying patrols among them. They were all of them cast in shadow by the absolute behemoth that was their flagship, and the personal ship of Darth Vader himself.

Said Dark Lord was currently standing on the bridge, observing the fleet and waiting for any scrap of information to come their way as to the location of his young target.

A pair of officers walked onto the bridge and one, an Admiral, was immediately called down.

"Major Kendal Ozzel?", Plo Koon called out, recognizing the aged man. He frowned at him, remembering his disregard to his own Clone Troopers at some operations

"Great, that kriffing man is an Admiral?!", Kit Fisto groaned, remembering their joint operations together. None were pretty.

"Who is he, Master Plo?", Ahsoka inquired, noticing the Kel'Dor Master's obvious distate for the man.

"A man who earned his position through friendship rather than actual talent. A disgrace to the military if you ask me."

"Yes, Captain?" he asked the young man before him.

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

Admiral Ozzel looked unimpressed. "We have thousands of probe droids searching the galaxy. I want proof, not leads."

"A lead is still better than nothing." Shaak Ti said, scowling at him. "Now I can see why some of us dislike him..."

"It's more information than you knew an hour ago." Depa agreed.

"His arrogance cost us countless troopers and material back at Khorm! And he was awarded by the Chancellor!", Kit Fisto exclaimed, showing a rare moment of dismay.

"The visuals indicate life readings." Piett told him.

"It could mean anything." Ozzel said dismissively, "If we followed up on every lead- "

"But, sir, the Hoth system is supposed to be devoid of civilized life." Piett protested.

"You've found something?" Vader said, startling the officers with how someone so large could be so stealthy.

"Yes, my Lord." Piett said, showing him the report. It was an image of a series of half-circular objects jetting out from the snow and giving off strange heat and energy signatures.

"That's it." Vader said. "The Rebels are there."

Ozzel was still unconvinced. "My Lord," he said diplomatically, "There are so many uncharted settlements. It could be smugglers, it could be- "

"That is the system." Vader shut him down, "And I'm sure Skywalker is with them. Set your course for the Hoth system. General Veers," he turned to a man in a matching uniform in dark green, "Prepare your men."

Vader walked off with General Veers close behind. Ozzel made to follow, but not without giving Piett a hard glare first, which he easily shook off.

"I prefer the young lad over the Admiral. At he was cautious enough", Master Mundi said, pointing at Piett.

"Ozzel proved to be arrogant and indecisive. You could see the dislike that the young one and Vader had on him", Mace added, supporting Mundi's claim.

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