Rise of the Teenage Conquerors

Episode 1.6

The tauntaun drew to a halt before Lucas, Lumina, and Ben, the blaster casually resting by the rider's leg. For a moment, the three teens just stared at the Rebel before Lucas remembered Leana and turned back to see her unconscious in the snow.

"Leana!" he called. He whipped back towards the stranger. "Please, our friend. She needs help."

"Who are you?" the Rebel asked. "Are you spies?"

"What, no," Ben scoffed. "We're not spies."

"Are you with the Empire?" the Rebel persisted. Lucas furrowed his brow. He knew that voice. He knew this Rebel.

"No!" Lumina protested. "We're...we're Rebels, like you."

"Who are you?" the Rebel pushed, his fingers tightening around his blaster.

"We were sent to find you," Lumina spoke up. "Luke Skywalker, we were told to find you and fight in the Rebellion."

"By whom?" Luke asked, sounding unnerved that they knew his name.

Makes sense, Lucas reflected. We are complete strangers.

"By Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn," Lucas answered. "You don't know him, but he trained Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"You know, that dead guy who talks to you sometimes?" Ben added helpfully. "Yeah. Him."

"How do you know my name?" Luke demanded. "And how do you know about Old Ben?"

"We know things," Lumina told him. "Look, that's not important right now. Our friend needs help. Can you take us back to Echo Base?"

Luke looked very dubious so Lucas added, "Listen, we were briefed by Master Jinn. So we know some names. Please, just help Leana."

Luke closed his eyes momentarily, as if considering. "Okay, I'll help you." Dismounting from the tauntaun, he holstered his blaster. "Stay, girl," he told the animal, leaving it to cross the snow to Leana.

The wind was picking up, and snow whirled into Lucas' face, biting at his skin. The cold was finally beginning to strike him, and he tightened the drawstrings on his hood. He could tell Lumina and Ben were starting to feel it, too, by the way they were hunching their shoulders and crossing their arms.

Lucas followed Luke towards Leana's still body, tramping through the new snow as the Rebel knelt beside his friend. "She's bleeding," he said. "Head wound. Shouldn't be too bad, but her body temperature is dropping fast. We need to get her back to the base quickly."

Carefully, Luke slipped his arms under Leana, cradling her against his chest as he rose to his feet. "You three will have to walk," he told them. "The tauntaun will be able to manage her extra weight, but not anyone else's."

"Yeah, we know that," Ben said. "Just take Leana and run for it. Leave us a comlink or map or something so we can find our way to Echo Base."

Luke reached into his belt and tossed a comlink to Lumina. "Echo Base is about five clicks that direction. Just head straight and you'll be fine. I'll send a rider out to collect you when I get there."

"Leave us your blaster," Lucas requested. "Just in case we run into a wampa again."

With a sigh, Luke drew his blaster and held it out. Ben trotted forward and retrieved it, holding it carefully as he stepped back from the animal. "Go quickly if you don't want the tauntauns you send out after us to keel over," he advised.

Luke, shifting Leana in his arms, mounted up onto the tauntaun, somehow managing to pull it off without dropping the athlete. He settled her in front of him on the saddle, one arm wrapped around her protectively as the other gripped the reins. With one last look at the three teenagers, Luke urged his tauntaun to move on.

"Well, let's not stand around here," Lumina ordered. "Let's move out! Keep walking, we'll stay warm and make it to Echo Base before we know it!"

****

Lucas felt it was way past "before we know it" before they saw a tauntaun in the distance, followed by two more. The rider of the lead animal wore dark snow gear, the two trailing after him riderless.

"Han S-solo," Ben remarked. "I wonder how L-luke convinced him to c-come get us."

"It's early, still," Lucas said, glancing up. "N-not time yet for the shield d-doors to close yet."

Lumina started to wave her arms, the motion stiff due to the cold. "H-h-hey! Over here!" Lucas and Ben joined her in waving to the rider as they continued to trudge forward.

Han Solo picked up his pace, urging the tauntauns towards the three teens briskly through the swirling snow. It felt like forever to Lucas before he reached them, his hand resting on his blaster as he pulled up beside the three.

"You the three Luke told me about?" he asked, reining his tauntaun to a halt. The creature let out a low, kind of mournful bellow.

"No, he was talking about a different three," Ben said sarcastically. He pointed back the way they'd come. "They went that way."

"Very funny, kid," Han snapped back. "Now mount up and follow me. There'sgear attached to the saddles – might want to put those parkas on first."

"Thanks, Han," Lumina said, as Ben mounted up onto a tauntaun with ease, reaching down a hand to help her up. Lucas took several seconds of hopping to get enough momentum to swing up over its back.

"This thing smells," Lucas grumbled.

"You'll get used to it," Ben said dismissively as Lumina wrapped her arms around his waist. Han, meanwhile, was staring at Lumina suspiciously – at least, he looked suspicious from what Lucas could see of his face.

"How did you know my name?" he demanded.

"Luke told us," Lumina lied. "Han Solo. You're the captain of the Millennium Falcon, right? The ship that made the Kessel run in twelve parsecs?"

Lumina was brilliant. She always knew how to handle a situation that could go sideways – as long as she could handle it with words. Leana's aspect was more the fighting side of things, as she had shown through her handling of the wampa.

"Well, yes I am," Han said, his tone sounding proud.

"I'd love to see that ship," Lucas muttered.

"You'll see it in no time," Han promised. "But if you touch it, my friend will rip your arms off."

"Got it," Lucas promised.

"Let's go!" Han barked. "Back to the base."

"You'll get no arguments from us," Ben muttered as they urged their tauntauns after the smuggler.