Chapter 177: Cold as Ice
I Don't own star wars
"How's the leg." Newt asked as we sped across the vast white expanse of Hoth in her speeder. Rattletrap, in his odd brilliance, made me a sort of mechanical brace, it wrapped around my thigh wound and stabilized my leg so I could walk relatively normal. As long as I don't run, I should be fine
That however was NOTHING to the fact that I was freezing cold! I was wrapped up in one of dad's old coats, AND a muffler, AND a hat! WHO EVEN COMES TO HOTH?!"
"I'm f-fine…" I mumbled, rubbing my arms as she glanced at me before returning her eyes to the front of the speeder. "J-just cold! How can you s-stand it?" I asked, glancing at her in her usual uniform. The only real difference is that she was wearing an overcoat, she still wore the catsuit beneath that.
"An Enviro-shield." She noted, and it was then I saw a brief flicker of energy. She then smiled at me, "Your father had the same problem if it makes you feel better."
"It does not." I replied, watching her for a minute. "Do you have a spare one?"
"I do not." She replied abruptly, "Relax we're almost there…" she said as I tried to get the feeling back into my hands. But I could not help but feel a little warm on the inside. Not the outside I was freezing my balls off… But we were going to get mom. I was going to get to see her after three years.
…And potentially lose her to a crazy, body jumping, relative…
Barry, Nike, Killa, Seis, Rattletrap, Mirai, and a functional X-E, all remained behind with a handful of Babayaga's Mandalorians on a landed frigate. She had quite willingly agreed to function as a neutral party as, as she put it, 'She loves the drama'. As long as we record the whole thing so she can watch she agreed to keep the 'peace' as it were. We were assured that the mandalorians she had selected were more than enough to handle a Sith or two... I still had my doubts; this whole deal thing was nerve-wracking and we haven't even done it yet! I looked out into the vast stillness of white that was Hoth. I saw snow. Snow. More Snow. And for a change of pace: Ice… covered by snow.
"There's nothing around here… are you sure?" I asked as she kept that mysterious smile on her face.
"Sweetie, if you know where to look, you can find an awful lot." She noted, checking an odd device between us before setting it back down and abruptly turning. "We had to hide them out here, nobody comes here willingly and if you don't plan accordingly, you'd probably end up freezing or starving to death." She frowned quietly, "Second time in a week I had to go looking for someone in a wasteland…"
We sat quietly for a moment… then I had to ask.
"How is your brother… my… uncle?" I asked hesitantly, glancing at her as her face remained stoic for a very long time. I expected she didn't want to talk about it.
"…He's not talking." She said, "Which is an improvement over rambling riddles…" he scowled, looking surprisingly concerned. "But he's practically catatonic… he responds well to his wo-assistants" she apparently caught herself from saying 'women' obviously, but I let it pass. "But him paying attention to them in the way he's paying attention to them, is not progress. She rubbed her eyes briefly, apparently wiping away tears. "…If he never recovers I'm killing a few sith…" she said darkly.
"…I'm sorry." I said, not entirely sure what to say but she shook her head coolly.
"Don't be… he helped cause all of this shit by telling Aiden about his mother, and Malisis… instead of waiting for me and Scarlet to take care of it, Aiden decided to go off and screw with them. If it wasn't for my brother jumping the gun and practically using Aiden as bait…" she scowled angrily, cutting herself off. "…Well… nothing we can do about it anymore. What's done is done. Let's not fuck up anymore…" she said finally as the device clicked. She stopped the speeder, loose snow blasting away as it landed. "We're here." She said, getting out of the speeder as a torrent of freezing cold air reminded me once more that I did not like the cold.
She walked away from the speeder, occasionally stomping her foot in the snow, moving and doing it again. She did it about four more times until she paused, looked down and brushed her hand in the snow, shaking off the clinging powder before she found and opened a small hatch. I got out of the speeder, rubbing my arms to keep warm as I approached her, checking over her shoulder as she punched in a few numbers, and pressed her hand to a screen. it flickered once and hissed.
Both of us stepped away as a large steel box began to rise from the snow. Then I quickly realized it wasn't a box, it was an elevator. "Come on." She said, stepping in with me as the doors shut. And we immediately began to move.
"What is this place?" I asked as the elevator hummed ominously as we became encased in darkness.
"An Old, Old research facility. According to my father, who wiped all information about this place from any records, it used to research cryogenics." She then turned to me, only her bright ruby eyes could be seen in the dark. "Figured it was the best place to store frozen bodies…"
"How often do you come down here?" I asked, trying to see anything in the dark as my eyes adjusted.
"Once every month or so…" she replied as we felt the elevator slow to a grind. "The guard is only awake once a day." The door hissed open to a hallway lit by faint lights on the floor. "Now wait a second while I-" however I was already walking forward as my foot apparently slipped through a sensor. "Oh no…" she mumbled as the entire hallway lit red. "Damn it."
"Sorry, is that bad?" however the second I said that she grabbed me and dragged me back into the elevator behind the door as blaster fire suddenly peppered the far wall. "Oh shit that's bad!"
"Isana! ISANA!!! Stop firing!" Newt roared as the blaster fire stilled.
"Why did you trip the alarm then!?" came a low growl as Newt groaned.
"My idiot stepson tripped it!" Newt replied glaring at me.
"That was uncalled for…" I noted as a woman appeared, she had four arms and all of them held blasters pointed right at us. I've never seen someone like her before. She glared at us with steely eyes before they soften briefly, "…He looks like Aiden." She noted, as Newt and I stepped out of the elevator.
"Roland, Isana. Isana, Roland." Newt said quickly, "She's the one I hired to watch over your mothers." she added.
"And it is quite possibly the most boring easy money I've ever earned…" she noted, stepping aside and gesturing down the hall with her top right hand as Newt stepped past her. Isana stared unnervingly at me as I followed Newt, our footsteps echoing around the hallway as we passed dozens of sealed doors with numbers over them. A-101, A-102, and so on. We passed by an open room, it had a similar device that my dad was in when I last saw him. A cryogenic bed.
"You were well timed. I just woke up, so my response time was on point." Isana said as we continued past the room.
"You freeze yourself?" I asked as she blinked calmly back at me.
"Saves on supply drop-offs and lowers the possibility of the deliveries being followed…" Newt snorted slightly insulted as if she would be followed. Isana ignored it. "My cryo device is connected to the alarm. It activates me immediately if it's tripped."
"I come and check on her from time to time, too much time in cryosleep will make you a bit dizzy. Kind of pointless if someone actually finds this place." Newt replied.
"I haven't noticed any ill effects." Isana replied confidently. As Newt stopped at door A-112 and began to punch in a code of letters and numbers on the nearby pad. It was seemingly a collection of randomly selected numbers. But the door hissed open and I paused at the sight…
Two Cryobeds, one with a pure white Cathar, the other with a blue skinned twi'lek… they didn't look nearly as bad as dad did. But then again Dad has been unfrozen for a lot longer, I approached mom's bed, looking at her through the glass they didn't look sick at all, just resting peacefully.
…But it was like staring at a coffin… and even though they were so close it seemed like they were miles away…
"…Hey mom." I said, resting my hand on the machine as Newt approached me from behind and rested a hand on my shoulder comfortingly. I appreciated it.
"…She's going to be fine." Newt said softly as Isana watched quietly from the door. "…They all are going to be fine." She added, patting my shoulder.
…Although, I think she said it more for herself than for me.
"I'm going to leave you with her for a minute okay? We're going to get the transfer pod." She then stepped towards the door, and grabbed Isana by her upper left arm, dragging her along as I stood there quietly with my Moms.
"…So… things are kinda crazy…" I said after a long uncomfortable silence, not knowing particularly why I was talking to them. They couldn't hear me. "I…got a girlfriend. Or three… you'd like them." I paused, "Maybe not Seis. But there's Nike. She's a cathar, and she's a doctor… and kind of a stripper but… I think she's an Ex-stripper now and more doctor so it evens out." I looked at my mom's still, frozen face and continued, I was on a roll and I couldn't stop. "And there's Killa, she's a bounty hunter and… well, Blackjaw Gryst's… daughter? I'm not entirely sure but apparently, he hated dad." I said with a disbelieving laugh, "You'd like her mom."
I stopped, took a deep breath and kept going. "And Seis is a bounty hunter too but… more violent. She's a Varli, not a clone, I think you met her moms once." Running my hand through my hair I tried to think of more things to say… anything. "Caradoc was on our ship for a while, you'd be proud, he stuck with me the whole time until he got injured. Then he sent Barry. Well, Barradowwa, you know him he's one of Caradoc's sons. And Rattletrap's with me too. He's on the ship, and he's got a super droid lady that I think dad blew up because she was a super sith droid lady and…"
My voice died in my throat as I looked at them again. Took another deep steadying breath. "I… I killed Altora…" I said. The words echoed around the room for a moment, as if to remind me consistently about that fact. "…I think dad's going to be pissed." I added softly. Taking a shuddering breath and not looking at them as I said it… I felt a little ashamed "I'm not proud of it… but I was so angry at her. It's not an excuse it's just… she was laughing at you about being sick and... she was so smug." I said, the bitterness and sadness choking my words as for the first time I finally got it official off my chest. Talking to Circe or the girls wasn't the same as talking to Mom… even if she couldn't hear me.
"…But she was… she was dad's mom and I think that's going to bother me no matter what. I've shot people before, bad people, and I know she was the worst to dad but…" I took another breath and wiped my eyes with my arm. "…I don't think I'm cut out to be like dad. Not good enough…"
The last words echoed around the room, and they struck me hard, right in the feels…
"…I know force stuff now…" I said, trying to move on as I stared at mom's face determinedly. "I can pull things, a bit… when I'm terrified." I giggled, it was silly, "And I'm pretty good with your lightsaber. And I killed a sith lord." I added laughing louder and rubbing my hands nervously through my hair. "I also almost died, or... well, maybe kidnapped but that doesn't bother me as much. Getting kidnapped happens a lot… if fact, almost dying happens a lot too…" I sighed, waiting for an answer that I knew wasn't going to come.
"…I missed you. And mama. And Dad. Dad's looking… awful, but he's toughing it out for you... I think he misses you two." I corrected myself quickly, "I know he miss you." I stood still, trying to think of something to say. Anything. But nothing was coming to me… "…Circe's made a lot of movies." I said lamely, "…You guys have a lot of catching up to do. She gets kidnapped sometimes too but then she hurts her kidnappers, she thinks I don't know but Killa talks in her sleep sometimes." I then laughed, realizing what I just said. "…Newt and I are going to fix…this." I said, rubbing the cryo bed. "And I'll probably end up talking about this stuff with you again but you can at least talk to me later, okay?"
I suddenly felt something on my shoulder and for a second. Just a second. It looked like a ghostly. Female. Hand. I turned… but there was nobody there. I took a deep breath, as I felt it again, this time on my other shoulder. And since I was already wound up from the first time, the second one set me off. "AH!" I shouted in surprise as I turned
"AH!!" Newt shouted, equally surprised as she leaped away. "What?!"
"I! Just!..." I took a deep breath and glanced around. "Did you… see? Anything weird just now?" I said nervously. She slowly shook her head, watching me carefully.
"Noooo. Are you okay?" she asked, resting her hand hesitantly on my shoulder. "Because you don't seem okay.
"…I was…" I blinked around again, I suddenly felt like someone was watching me. "I was just talking to mom…" Newt was quiet for a moment, and surprisingly she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a warm hug. Not even an awkwardly sexual one.
"…Do you need more time?" she asked calmly as I shook my head on her shoulder.
"No… I think I'm good now." She pulled away as Isana pushed in an odd device, like a tiny forklift as it attached to the cryo bed.
"Okay… let's go save your family." She said, patting my shoulder.
"Our family…" I corrected her as she gave me an adorable grin, while Isana attached the device to Mom's bed, and we began to wheel her out.
…But that awkward feeling about being watched? That didn't go away…
End of Chapter.
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