SWTFW 28 - "To Be Continued"

A Chapter by dw817

The mist went all around Smite, pouring into every pore. Draining into every orifice he had. His ears, nose, and mouth, and behind his cloak. Then Smite wavered with the haze and vanished from sight.

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THE FORCE WITHIN
© January 2018 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

CHAPTER 28 - "To Be Continued"
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This entry is Rated: EVERYONE

Despite Vader defeating Smite, he found he was unable to rise due to his broken ribs.

It would take too long to call and go to the medic. And it would show his troops weakness if it were ever found out he was in the infirmity. Instead he let go of his lightsaber and the beam shut off instantly, the hilt clattering on the floor.

Vader forced himself to rise up, gasping and wheezing, to his bed. There he held out his hand over himself and using the incredible power of the Force healed himself and what was damaged internally.

This took a little under 10-minutes and afterwards he sprung up from the bed fully rejuvenated, alive and well.

He then went to the fallen form of Smite to check his clothing for anything that might be usual, when a strange gray mist surrounded the corpse.

It went all around Smite, pouring into every pore. Draining into every orifice Smite had. His ears, nose, and mouth, and behind his cloak. Then Smite wavered with the mist and vanished. Gone too were all the spatters of blood from Smite. It was as if -something- or -someone- wanted to ensure there was no trace Smite ever existed.

To confirm this he immediately went to the computer and brought up the flight plan of Smite first entering. Somehow - somehow the record of him was erased. He was certain if he talked in person to anyone they too would have no idea who he was talking about.

"Angels !" Vader growled deep in his throat. "More like cowards ! Unable to leave even a trace of their errors in history ! And Smite was a mistake to you, wasn't he !?"

For a moment Vader thought he could hear Smite's echoing laughter, but he attributed it to just the very long and hard day he had.

Vader returned to don a spare helmet, suit, and cloak and then went to hit an entirely different set of controls on his console. One of Vader's lieutenants appeared.

"Yes, Lord Vader." the voice spoke.

Vader spoke and his voice modifier lowered his tone to an acceptably sinister one, "Ready my private shuttle. The rebel base is on Hoth. Prepare the scout droids and At-Ats as well. We are going to attack the planet, take over, and end the miserable Rebels once and for all !"

"By your command." the lieutenant bowed respectfully and the communication was terminated.

. . .

Back with Han and Luke, Han's wrist radio crackled for attention.

"This is Echo 7. Go ahead."

The voice garbled badly with static but the voice could be made out. "Human life signs ... go ... place sensors." then the voice was silent.

Luke approached Han. Han was scratching his thin beard trying to figure out what it meant.

"Life." Luke said. "Life signs ! That means we're not alone."

Han nodded and pressing a few buttons on his wrist communicator caused a topographical map to appear. Sure enough a strange signal appeared just a few clicks where they were - and it did look humanoid in shape.

"What is it ?" Luke asked, not familiar with the coloration of the map.

"I can tell you it's not a Wampa, kid. It is definitely something - human."

"What ?"

"If this is reading correctly, a person, small, about 3-clicks from here. Look, I'll go this way." and he pointed.

"You go that way - " Han pointed, "just in case they try to escape, we'll head them off from both sides. Got your sensor ?"

Luke nodded tapping the side of his Taun-Taun, then urged his mount forward.

. . .

Back with Vader things were moving quickly. They had already arrived in orbit around Hoth and sent out a team of multiple scout droids spaced equidistant around the planet. Then launched them in succession to make planetfall. Their mission was to look for any signs of Rebel activity.

But so far they hadn't returned anything. For the Rebel base being hidden as well as it could not be detected by the droids sensors.

The droids after landing spanned outward like a stretching spiderweb, while in space Vader and his troops waited. Waited for the one sign from a scout droid to indicate the whereabouts of the rebel base.

. . .

Nearly a half hour later, Luke thought that he saw something. That wasn't on the ground, it was in the sky ! A beautiful plumage of red and purple as it rapidly descended. It kicked up a cloud of powdered snow around it.

It was some kind of meteor. He tracked where it fell.

"Echo 3 to Echo 7. Han old buddy, do you read me ?"

"Loud and clear, kid. What's up ?"

Luke looked around the area where the life-form had earlier appeared on sensors and now - was nowhere to be found. "Well I finished my circle. I don't pick up any life readings."

Han laughed relaying his failure to find anything either, "There isn't enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser."

Luke smiled and replied, "The life sensors are placed. If anything shows up again we'll get a much better reading. I'm going back."

Han replied, "Right. I'll see you shortly back at base."

Luke continued to relay what he saw, "Just a minute. There's a meteorite that hit the ground near here. I want to check it out. It won't take long."

Luke's mount suddenly turned uncertainly, and were it not for the saddle that held Luke in place, he likely would've fallen and possibly be trampled.

Luke was sympathetic to the Taun-Taun. It really was freezing out here. "Steady Girl." he offered kindly. Then leaned up his head to the beast. "What's the matter ? You smell something ?"

Luke looked up for a moment and only saw a flash of white fur and inch-long fangs from the gigantic attacking Wampa before its massive paw smacked him straight off his mount.

Then everything went black for young Skywalker ...