The Third Skywalker

Missing

Today was turning out to be very a eventful day on the planet Hoth. In the morning I had "accidentally" spilled my porridge all over Han. Oops. Then we picked up the mystery transmission of the Imperial droid scouting for lifeforms. Han and Chewy blew him to pieces, but I had the feeling that a non-responsive droid would only make the empire suspicious. And now, to make matters worse, Luke had gone missing. He wouldn't respond to his comlink and his fighter was still on the base, ruling out any sort of escape off of this barren, snow covered rock. 

At first, I was a bit envious. Being missing and in some sort of peril had to mean adventure of one sort or another, which had to be better than sitting around and waiting for Han to find Luke. I was never any good at sitting still and letting others fight my battles for me. In fact, I pretty much sucked at it. But that was what was expected of me, and I couldn't let everyone else down. So instead of braving the wild, wintry outdoors despite the urge, I remained where I was -- trapped in the rebel base. 

On Hoth I was a prisoner of many things -- the planet, which in and of itself was a freezing jail, and the base, where I was trusted to the smallest extent as I was the daughter of Darth Vader. And then there was Luke and Leia's constant scrutiny of my every move and the tugging in my heart to follow their lead. And then there was Han, who despite being a scoundrel himself, insisted that it was his responsibility to keep my adventurous side in check. It wasn't very fair at all; he was allowed to be cocky and go out to rescue Luke, while I, the only person on the base who could use the force to guide my actions, was stuck behind cold, bleak walls. 

Han wasn't back when the base was closed. Leia spent the whole night worrying about both of them; she refused to go to the barracks and sleep, but paced around the hangar until dawn. In the morning she sent out a few small fighters to use as a search party. I knew that they were both okay. Since they were the only living things outside of the base, I they stuck out like a sore thumb to all of my senses. Leia didn't take my word for it and instead continued her pacing until one by one the fighters returned, one a carrying cold but very much alive Han and Luke. 

Leia was overjoyed. They rushed the pair to the medical facility where Han was discharged an hour later after warming up. Luke would stay longer, but he would be fine after a period of recovery. Then everything wold go back to normal. Yay.

You'd think being on a rebel base, hidden away from the Empire would be fun. Exciting. Entertaining. But it was quite the opposite for me. I wasn't trusted with anything, tasked with the most boring chores known to man, and kept out of the loop with everything for fear that I was somehow going to secretly tell the Empire the rebel's plans. It had taken them weeks to trust me enough to actually take me to Hoth in the first place. They had told me the incorrect location and waited days for Imperial troops to storm Dantooine. When nothing happened, they had finally agreed to take me to Hoth so long as I was not trusted with any important information. Figures. I was probably one of their most valuable assets, and yet here I was, wasting away on some barren planet while everyone else planned how to take care of the Empire once and for all. It was extremely and utterly unfair.