Carlac- A Luxsoka Fanfic

Chapter 15: Home Free

Yay! I'm pleased to announce that Carlac- A Luxsoka Fanfic has now reached over 200 reads! Thank you to all of the readers! Now on with the story!

R2 gave a small beep and rolled closer to Ahsoka as she activated her other lightsaber and Lux drew his weapon. The echo of the disembodied roar haunted their ears and it bounced off the crystal walls as the creature yelled again. "Lux, did you study this planet at all before you came here?" Ahsoka asked him, desperately hoping that the answer was yes.

Lux gave a partial nod but he didn't smile. "I did, I studied the weather, the culture, the flora and the fauna. However only the surface fauna and no creature on the surface of Carlac makes a noise like that." Lux took a step towards the darkness but Ahsoka held him back, shaking her head vehemently. R2 was scanning the cave in its entirety for heat signatures but the cold and damaged machinery from the crash was messing with his scanners. "R2, that won't work, if the creature lives down here then they are most likely cold-blooded and thermal readings don't detect them." Lux gently told the droid as he died want to hurt R2's feelings. 

Ahsoka gave a small chuckle as R2 beeped loudly and angrily, annoyed that Lux thought he was so incompetent. "Lux sweetie, R2 knows that. He was checking to see if there was anyone else down hear who was controlling the creature or making the noise themselves." Lux looked over at R2 and muttered an apology for his misunderstanding. Ashamed, he walked over to Ahsoka and rested his head in her shoulders, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Well Artooy, what is the verdict?" Ahsoka asked her dear friend as he showed them a hologram of the cave. There were no other heat signatures within the range of the roar so they were alone down here with either a raging cold-blooded creature or a droid designed to instill fear in people who are unfortunate that get trapped down here.

Lux looked over the sound vibrations R2 had highlighted on the map. "I could be wrong but it seems as though the thing is quite far away. Shouldn't we be able to get out of here before it comes any where near us? And if it does it won't matter because-"

"Because we can crush it under the falling ice! Lux that's a great idea! One of the first this trip, as well! Now R2 can you keep an eye on the thing while I start cutting these ice pillars." Ahsoka grinned and kissed Lux on the cheek, moving over to the pillars and taking her fighting pose. Lux was grinning as he moved over to the ice pillar opposite her and caught the yellow shoto saber that she threw over to him. The ice was thicker on Carlac than many other cold planets so it would take longer for them to cut through these pillars. They began by cutting their respective pillars simultaneously in the middle at a slight angle.

After a moment, both cutters were a quarter of the way through when the roar echoed throughout the cave again. It shook everyone to their core and sounded so full of pain and sorrow that they stopped for a moment. "Should we go and investigate? It could be a living being and its hurt." Lux didn't like leaving an obvious cry for help behind and was beginning to wonder of maybe they were wrong to be afraid.

Ahsoka didn't like leaving it behind either and knew that one could argue that Lux had a point. Still this creature had probably lived under the surface in this cave for many years; longer than they had been alive most likely and so hopefully it would be okay. "I understand that you want to help it and so do I because it doesn't sound happy but we know nothing about its species. It could be a cheer of happiness, a mating call, a way of communicating with other members of its family. There are a thousand reasons for an animal to be loud and not all of them are bad. We should just continue with the plan and get out of here. What we do once we are out of here is still to be decided." Ahsoka turned her back on Lux and continued to slice.

Soon, the pillars were cut and Lux and Ahsoka ran into the middle of the pillars, watching and listening to the ice. Cracks spread along the ceiling the ice made a loud cracking sound. Little chunks of ice fell off the remaining pillars and crashed around them. Thankfully, it had cracked the right way and when they sliced the last two pillars it would make the sections of ice fall at the right size, making it easy for them to climb up towards the surface. Nodding, Lux and Ahsoka ran towards the final two pillars and began to cut with speed and precision. If one of them cut slightly at the wrong angle or too fast then their plan would have to be quickly improvised. The cracking was louder now and the chunks of falling ice were bigger now but the team was determined to see this plan through. The moment the pillars had been separated into two pieces the droid, Senator and Jedi rolled, jumped and boosted into the back of the cave where they watched it crumble. It was loud and the ice of the flooring began to show small cracks as well as the smoke obscured their vision. Huddled together, the trio waited for a while until the world stopped crashing around them and they opened their eyes. In front of them were huge slabs of smoothly cut ice that fell on top of one another. They varied in size but the majority were big which meant that Ahsoka would have to use a lot of energy to move them into position. Lux wasn't sure how comfortable he was with his beloved fiance exhausting herself but he couldn't help her move the ice, it was too cold. A thought occurred to him. "'Soka? How do you plan on us climbing on these when it's too cold too touch? We will surely freeze." To prove a point Lux motioned to their breathing that was very visible in the cold. Tiny ice crystals were forming on their parted breath before disappearing. He was right, it was a miracle that they had survived the night. They wouldn't have though if R2 hadn't discovered those Sun Crystals.

Ahsoka's eyes suddenly lit up as a solution came to her. "Not to worry, I have a solution: Those Sun Crystals that R2 bought to us last night, they are emitting heat, correct? If we make dents in the ice for foot and handholds and then make slight grooves in them; we can put the crystals in there and place our hands and feet on top of them." Lux smiled for that was a good plan and the trio got to work. Half an hour later, the ice had been moved to the proper places and were now climbable. They were beginning to start the climb when they heard something approaching them. Turning towards the darkness, Ahsoka activated her lightsabers and put herself between whatever was coming and her friends. A little droid came out of the darkness with its hands held up in surrender. In one of its hands was a recording device that was playing the roar they heard.

Lux stepped forward. "That explains one mystery then. Hey little guy, I'm Lux and this is Ahsoka and out droid R2. We're just about to leave this cave, do you want to come with us?" The droid nodded and Lux realised that it's voice box was broken so it couldn't speak probably.

Ahsoka saw that too and something else. "Lux don't worry, we can fix him but look: He has a working long-range transmitter and a brand on his chest. Once we get to the surface he can contact his owner and we can get off this frozen junkball!" They cheered and welcomed the droid warmly. R2 spoke to him about what had happened to them as Lux and Ahsoka climbed out of the hole, quickly following them. Now they had a long-range transmitter, they were home free!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I do. I'll update soon but it'll probably be one or two before I go back to school on Thursday. Bye, bye.