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Arc One, Chapter Three; Tales of a Time Traveler

Rebels and Empire

By: Cimmaron Spirit

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Planet Hoth, TL SW5-21-80

"Well here we are, the ice planet of Hoth," Cimmaron announced as he walked through the glowing portal into an empty room with walls of ice and snow, held up by metal braces and with cables haphazardly lying about. Behind the horse followed the awestruck Chris, eyes wide open as he took a step from his apartment in New York to a world and a universe that until then had only been fiction to him.

"This... this... wow," was all Chris could say as he walked through the portal, wrapping his arms around him. He was wearing a sweater, but the parka was left behind in New York, in another timeline and timeframe. "Cold, but not quite as bad as I thought for a ball of ice. But they really lived and worked here?"

Cimmaron chuckled. "The base is supposed to support life, so they needed to make sure people can live here. Plus, snow is a great insulator, you would be surprised."

The horse was still in his white shirt and trench coat, but he walked over to a coat rack and found a couple parkas. "Here, we do need to blend in a bit. Try to make sure we don't stick out."

Chris grabbed the jacket that Cim tossed at him. "Wouldn't they notice you? You aren't exactly an alien like they have in the movies. They all have tentacles and scales and such."

Cimmaron chuckled as he took off his trench coat and replaced it with the parka. "Don't believe everything you see in the movies, Chris. Plus, with thousands of different worlds in Star Wars, wouldn't you think that there are some surprises?"

Chris smiled, but turned serious again. "But how is this even possible? You said the _Star Wars_universe existed, but how? Didn't George Lucas just make it all up?"

The horse pulled the jacket around him, but snorted as he realized it was a couple sizes too small for his frame, before tossing it aside and grabbing another. "Well, you see, the multiverse isn't just a bunch of parallel worlds in complete isolation from each other. They are all intertwined and for someone like me, it's easy to hop for one universe and timeline to another." Cim buckled up another jacket, modeled it, before grunting and taking it off. "The stronger timeline's actually force others toward them, and their stories, culture and ideas bleed through to other timelines. The Alpha Timeline, the one you lived in, is the most powerful, so it actually pulls timelines to it. Everything that has ever been written, drawn, painted, filmed or even thought of is, to some degree, an echo of another timeline, another world. Details change, places are renamed, people act a bit differently, but the broadest strokes are there. Kinda cool, huh?"

Chris pondered that through his mind as Cim continued looking for his own jacket, before at last grabbing one and trying it on. "There we go!"

"So we can just hop and skip through time and space? Won't we change things if we show up?"

"Of course we will change things. Usually in a very small, negligible details, like pictures being altered and such. It's not like we can change the past, present or future to our liking. At least, I don't think we can. All well, something new to experiment on later!"

The horse pulled on the jacket, and looked over himself in it. "I think I'm going to have start working on a clothing collection. Just need a place to put it all."

"So, what are we going to do first?"

Cim turned back to Chris, pulling out his pocket watch. "According to this, we are on Hoth about... a week before the Empire attacks, give or take a couple days. Don't think we want to be here when that happens, so we might as well just look around, get the experience, and then leave again."

Chris nodded, and followed the horse as the walked into the ice crafted hallways. It seemed strangely quiet, only the howl of the wind above the ice cave to remind those inside of the harsh weather out there.

A loud crack made Chris jump, nearly crashing into Cim. The horse smiled and lifted Chris to his feet. "Don't worry, that's just the ice shifting. You would never notice it, but occasionally the ice world moves ever so slightly due to the weight. Don't worry, you aren't in any danger here."

Cimmaron smiled as he turned around and walked around the next corner only to see five white clad soldiers all pointing guns at him.

"On the other hand..." the horse started, startled by the sudden presence of armed men.

"Halt you Imperial spies!" one of the men shouted, before two of them dashed forward and grabbed Cim and Chris. "We knew we would eventually find you."

"Captain Cel, where do we send them?" one of the men asked.

"Take them down to the prison cell. I'll get a commanding officer to talk to them and get to the bottom of this," the man that was named Captain Cel ordered.

"Well, this is a great start, isn't it?" Cimmaron asked his companion. Chris just glared at the horse that got him into this situation as they were lead away.

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They ended up in a small prison cell at the very bottom of the ice base, guarded by two blaster-armed men. The room was small, but it was kind of warm, and the Rebel's were nice enough -or simply overlooked it - to let the two keep their jackets on so they didn't freeze to death. Chris sat on a block of ice and watched as Cim paced back and forth, his hooves crunching on the ice and snow beneath him.

"Can't you just time travel us somewhere else?" Chris asked at last.

"Chronodevice needs to recharge. It would take... I don't know. Anywhere from an hour to ten days, I don't know. I've found it's kind of finicky that way. At least they didn't take it from me."

Chris sighed, and leaned against the ice, still watching the horse, pacing back and forth. "So we have a useless pocket watch, and they think were agents for an evil empire. Wow."

Cim stopped and looked over. "You're assuming the Empire is evil incarnate, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah. Haven't you seen the movies?"

The horse chuckled, and pulled the gold tablet from his inside pocket. "You would actually be surprised how popular the Empire is. Fifty two percent approval rating right now, though a censored media helps with that. If anything, it's the Rebels with a bit of an image problem, and not just because the Empire has a whole propaganda machine."

Chris raised an eyebrow in surprise. "How do you know that?"

Cim held up the tablet. "The Chronobook can provide any information, papers, and documents I may require, as well as a brief history of what is going on. It's always best to know where you are, and what you are dealing with."

The horse sat down beside Chris and showed him the information on it. "It also provides a translation program to allow us to communicate with the people around the world, making it sound like they are speaking English, and it will sound like we are speaking their language to them. Quite useful, I should say, as my French and Chinese is a bit rusty."

Cimmaron held the tablet to Chris, who carefully took it in his hand.

Oh, and it's a telepathic communication thing with anyone that touches it, Cim's voice echoed in Chris' head, making the human jump and drop the tablet.

"How..."

Ow, that hurt... Just think it. Don't worry about how it works, it just does, another voice replied in his head. Oh, by the way, I'm the Chronobook. I can provide you the information and documents needed on every timeline ever. And please don't try to drop me again.

Chris stared at the gold tablet as Cim chortled and picked it up again. "Don't worry, we shouldn't need to worry about using that too much. We just explain that we were stowaways, and..."

The Chronobook's screen went fuzzy, and a loud static filled both Chris and Cim's ears, making the two wince and grab their heads.

"Oww!" Chris cried out, while Cim tapped away at the Chronobook, changing options and settings.

Signal interference detected, shutting down, the Chronobook intoned before powering down and the static stopped in their heads.

Not even a moment later, a muffled explosion echoed through the base, and loosened snow fell from the roof and made the prisoners look up. Sirens began hooting off in the corridor and the running feet could be heard dashing around.

"Oh boy, that might not be good," Cimmaron said, before standing up. "I would expect we are going to get guests in a moment."

No sooner than Cim spoke than the door swung open, the two guards and a third person walked in, which was none other than...

"Luke Skywalker?" Chris asked, making all four people turn to him in surprise.

"That's Commander Luke Skywalker, Chris," Cimmaron replied, nodding to the man in front of him.

"Yes, that's me. And who are you to know that?" Skywalker asked, suspicious. "What species are you? I've never seen you before."

"I'm a... Equianthromorphic thing..." Cimmaron said, trying to think of a decent title for himself. "But we are travelers from a far away place, and we accidently stumbled upon this place. We were just going to ask for help to get back to our own planet and..."

Cim stopped mid-sentence as Luke Skywalker waved his hand. "You will tell me the truth."

"We... are... from another world, and we just wanted to..."

Skywalker waved his hand again. "You will tell me the truth."

Cimmaron winced and grunted. "We are time travelers..."

Skywalker raised an eyebrow, before walking up and placing a hand on Cimmaron's head. He instinctively pulled it back as if touching a hot stove. "You're telling the truth there, aren't you? Your mind is strong, but you don't know of the Force, do you?"

Cimmaron was about to answer before Chris came running up and skidding to a halt in front of Luke Skywalker.

"The Force actually works? But aren't you just about to go see Yoda, and only Ben Kenobi k knew how to change minds, and..." Chris started before gasping as he was suddenly lifted up off the floor. Skywalker was holding his hand out, and it looked like he was lifting Chris up by an invisible pole. Chris tried to get out, panting and gasping as he was lifted up against his will

"How do you know so much of me? Yes, I was taught by Master Yoda in the ways of the Jedi, and there was a 'Ben' Kenobi, but that was years ago. How can you know so much of my personal life?"

Cimmaron raised his own hand. "Look, we are from another timeline where your adventures, the battle between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire is a movie, a story made to entertain millions, and inspiring generations of people in science, technology and entertainment. We are sorry we came here, but we were just curious. Chris here is a fan of the movies, and I thought I would take him to see the real thing."

Luke Skywalker looked at Cimmaron and then up to Chris still hanging up in the middle of the air. Slowly the human came down as Luke lowered his hand, until Chris' feet once again touched the floor. "Tell me more about these 'movies.'"

Chris walked up. "It's called Star Wars, a story of how a young farmer boy was found and became a Jedi and freeing thousands of planets of an evil Empire, even though his dad was..."

Luke looked at Chris. "My father? What are you saying? He's dead, having fought in the Clone Wars."

Chris forced a weak smile. "Well, from a certain point of view..."

Another explosion rocked the base, this time on the other side of the prison cell door. The blast knocked the five men in the cell to the ground, and the wall collapsed and the hallway caved in. One of the guards screamed as he was buried alive. Cimmaron and Chris scrambled from the wall, followed a moment later by the other guard and Luke Skywalker. The looked at the rubble, stunned and deafened by the loud noise and shockwave.

"Come on, let's get that guy, quick!" Cimmaron shouted as he regained his senses, jumping at the pile and shoving snow and rocks out of the way. Chris and Luke looked at each other before they joined the horse.

Luke Skywalker used his amazing powers to lift the heavy snow blocks and metal rubble as the other three men pushed smaller stuff away.

"Tell me, Chris, what do you know about my father," Luke said as another block was thrown to the side.

"I... I shouldn't." Chris replied, rolling a snow block to the side.

Luke narrowed his eyes and focused on Chris. "What do you mean you shouldn't? What is so important that you can't tell me?"

"I... I can't say. You will find out soon. Spoilers," Chris said, trying to get out of the trap he dug himself.

Luke flicked his wrist and the stuff he was lifting up was flung at the opposite wall. He walked over and picked up Chris, slamming him against a wall. "What are you saying about my father?"

Cimmaron and the other solider finally reached the buried man, shaking and startled but otherwise uninjured. The horse turned around smiling at rescuing the trapped man, but he gasped as he saw Luke threatening his companion.

"Stop it Luke!" Cimmaron shouted jumping up and trying to pull the two away.

"Not until this runt tells me the information he's withholding from me!" Luke shouted back, reaching for his lightsaber on his belt.

Cimmaron was a bit quicker and managed to grab the lightsaber before Luke did, but Luke growled, using the force to pull it out of the horse's hand, activating it with a woosh of electric energy and holding it up to Chris.

Everybody froze as the Jedi held the ominously humming lightsaber to Chris. Cimmaron slowly cleared his throat, and stepped forward.

Just let me explain this, Cimmaron thought to Chris. Just don't say anything.

"Luke, hear me out here. Chris was a little bit excited, and who wouldn't be, meeting the person that they thought was only a fictional character, portrayed by an actor? It was a little slip up, and something that, as far as I know, was added into the movie for dramatic tension that Chris was going to say, and doesn't actually apply to you. It was simply that your father wasn't as you thought of him, but he is still dead. Sorry for doing this Luke," Cimmaron said, before turning around and heading for the blocked off door. "But we don't have time for this. You thought we were spies, right? Well those sound like explosives, and I'm guessing a spy was planting them, weren't they? Information is being taken from here and given to the Empire, I'm pretty sure. I have no idea what it was, but I can assure it isn't us, but we will help solve it."

Luke looked at Chris, and then to Cimmaron, before he clicked the lightsaber and the beam of pure light disappeared, much to the relief of everyone in the room.

"Now, first things first, we should get out of here." Cimmaron spun on his hoof to face one of the soldiers. "Can you radio up?"

The solider saluted and pulled the radio off his belt. "Echo Base Command, this is Sergeant Flac, come in, over." They waited a moment, but no reply. "Echo Base Command, this is Sergeant Flac, with Commander Skywalker, over." Still no answer, even after a couple minutes.

"That explosion from earlier didn't knock out the communications," the soldier said, "and the one that would have hit us wouldn't have touched it or the power."

Cimmaron started pacing through the room again. "Okay, so communications are offline, so it must be the spy. But we need to figure out who it was. When did you first start having sabotage and disappearing information?"

"The first things, namely missing supplies and destroyed equipment was noticed about two weeks ago, and since then there have been explosions that damage parts of the base. Then there were unauthorized transmissions, encrypted in a state of the art Imperial code we haven't broke yet," Luke said.

"Okay, but the most recent one was right here, right after you showed up in this room. So that must mean he knew you would be coming down here right away, so it's either a timer or remotely sent off. Now when the first bomb went off, our fancy little electronic device here," Cim said, pulling out his Chronobook, "Went a little wacky as well. Now the signal my Chronodevice here uses is at such a high level that only a few of the best technologies ever created in all the multiverse would actually use that signal, so that must mean its remotely activated from a very powerful computer or device. Where would one of those be?"

Luke scratched his chin, nodding at the reasoning. "Well the best computer we have is the targeting and tracking computer upstairs, but I don't know if that could send a signal."

"Okay, well how about a detonator? Got to be something like that in a military base," Chris offered. "Who would have access to it? And how would he get access to explosives on a remote, ice planet with no settlements?"

"Must have been from this base then, because no is allowed to bring things back in due to the problems with bugs and such. Most of the base has access to the armory, though explosives and other like munitions will have to be signed out, and with the authority of a commanding officer. And I know I haven't done that."

"Alright, but that should narrow it down. We find the quartermaster and find out..."

"...who took out the supplies so we can find the spy!" Chris finished, snapping his fingers. Cimmaron could only grin as his companion finished his sentence.

"Alright, that's all well and good, but now we need to get out of here," the radio soldier interjected. "And as far as I know, we are still trapped."

Cimmaron pulled out his pocket watch and flipped open the case, and grinned. "Not anymore!"

The three Rebels looked at Cim, who picked up the pocket watch and pushed the fob on the top, and a flash of bright orange and white light emerged in the middle of the room.

"Next stop, upstairs," Cim smirked, holding a hand open. "Skywalker, would you mind stepping through?"

Luke and the two soldiers stared at the portal, but the Jedi took the first cautious step to the glowing ring and slowly stuck his hand through, and then yanked it back out.

"What is this?" Luke exclaimed, staring at the cloudy portal.

"It's how I time travel, opens a rip in the Space-Time Continuum between where I am and where I want to go. But you need to go through now, I can't keep it open forever. Go!" Cim shouted, shoving Luke Skywalker through the hole. Chris grabbed a hand of both the other soldiers and pulled them through. Last through was Cim, and he pushed the fob on the watch as he exited, making the portal vanish behind him.

There were a couple floors up in the hanger of the base. There were snowspeeders, assorted spacecraft, fighters, bombers and the famous Millennium Falcon where all being worked on by repair crews or maintained by their pilots. Sparks flew and the crash of steel and metal, along with power tools, beeping robots and shouting voices

"Chewie! I told you it goes over there!" a deep voice bellowed out, and everyone turned around to see an un-uniformed man with long black hair and a black jacket barking orders. A series of animalistic grunts and roars from a massive creature covered completely in shaggy brown fur was the reply.

"Han, Chewbacca!" Luke called to the two men on top, making them turn around to look at Luke Skywalker.

"What is it kid?" Han asked, leaning over to talk to Luke. "Who are these guys here?"

Luke looked over his shoulder to Cimmaron and Chris. "Oh, they are just travelers... look, can we talk?"

"What's going on?" Han asked, climbing down the ladder, all the while keeping a wary eye on Cimmaron and Chris.

"We think we know how to find that spy, but we can use your help," Luke stated. "It's got to be a soldier that has talked to a higher officer to get access to the armory, we are pretty sure. One that can get to anywhere in the base."

Han scratched his chin and thought. "I heard from some of the guys that the General allowed Captain Cel to take out explosives to make some booby traps where we think Imperial troops might be coming if they do come, but he took out quite a bit from what I heard."

Cimmaron cleared his throat and nickered, drawing everyone's attention to him. "He was the man that arrested us. No better way than to get rid of suspicion than arrest someone else."

"What species are you?" Han asked, suspicious of the horse.

"Equi-something-or-another," Luke replied with a shrug. "Anyway, we should track down that nerf-herder. He has some questions to answer."

Luke pulled out his lightsaber, and motioned Han, Chewbacca, and the soldiers to follow him. "I think he's at the communication center," he said as he ran down a corridor. Cim and Chris charged after the four men and followed them through the maze of corridors. Han ended up in front and he raised a hand to stop the small group at one corner.

Han looked in to see that the communications men were tied up in a corner, and only Captain Cel was standing upright, talking to a hologram that was...

"Darth Vader," Chris whispered. "He must be planning the strike from the movie!"

Cimmaron turned to Luke. "It's too late to stop him now. The Captain will have given the Empire all they need to make the attack. You will have to prepare to evacuate now."

"Only after the traitor is dealt with," Han stated, and he quietly slipped around the ice caves, Chewie following behind. Luke took a breath and slipped out after, while the soldiers held Cim and Chris back.

"Just let them deal with the spy," one soldier said. "They know what they are doing."

A loud crack from the ice made everyone look around, and suddenly a startled cry, and yet another explosion threw ice, debris and electronics around. As the dust started to settle, more blaster shots echoed out.

"He booby trapped the room!" one of the soldiers shouted. The other soldier had a chunk of ice crash into his skull, knocking him out cold. Chris grabbed the laser gun while Cim pulled out his Chronodevice as they dashed with the first soldier to the battle.

"We can't escape now, your watch is out of power," Chris exclaimed.

"Who said I was going to escape?" Cim asked, but didn't explain what he meant.

The Captain placed the explosives in the right place, as Luke's lower body pinned under a massive chunk of ice. The other soldier was motionless under another chunk of ice. Han and Chewbacca were firing at the Captain from cover behind the computers, but the inaccurate pistols weren't landing any shots.

Chris joined Han and Chewie from where they were firing, and Cimmaron raced to Luke, and started trying to lift up the ice block.

"Deal with the Captain, I'm fine," the Jedi grunted, groaning as he tried to use the Force and his own strength to shove the ice away. Cim ignored the Jedi, and with a last try, they managed to lift the ice enough for Luke to slide out.

Dropping the ice down, Cimmaron turned to see that the fight was still going on. It was a brutal stand off. Cimmaron looked at his pocket watch, grimacing.

If only you were useful, something I could throw that would hit him, he thought to himself. Before Cimmaron was even done thinking that, the watch started to melt in his hand.

"What?" he exclaimed in surprise as the Chronodevice morphed and shifted into a boomerang, the etched gold design still on the edge of the weapon. Cimmaron marveled at what his pocket watch did for a moment, but a shot a bit too close to his head made him land face first on the ground.

The horse got back on his knees, aimed, and tossed the boomerang. It flew through the air as if guided by remote control, and collided with the head of the spy, knocking him out cold. The boomerang Chronodevice ricocheted back and Cim raised a finger-hoofed hand to catch it. It immediately shifted back to its pocket watch state to Cim's relief.

"Nice thinking there," Han said, offering a hand. "Not bad if I may say so myself..."

"Cimmaron," the horse said. "I know who you are."

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Chris and Cim sat in a more comfortable room than what they had before, with Luke and Han joining them. They were silent, as Chris had just finished explaining what was going to happen to Echo Base, and in the upcoming Battle of Hoth, from the movie.

"Well we don't have any time to fix anything, Captain Cel made sure of that. We will have to start the evacuation immediately," Luke said.

Han grunted. "The _Falcon_is still needing repair, and we can't do that here. We might be able to get out of here with some people though."

Chris turned to Han. "You're not just leaving them?"

"Why would I? If I leave, the Empire will be after me, not to mention Jabba the Hutt. Trying to pay him off now, especially since I'm light years away, will be difficult, and he might, I don't know, have me frozen or something." Luke and Han laughed, while Cim and Chris gave nervous chuckles.

"Why don't you stay with us, Cimmaron and Chris? You have done a lot for the Rebel Alliance," Luke offered. "And that time traveling thing could be helpful..."

Chris looked to Cimmaron, almost pleading to stay. "No, we can't. Besides the fact I should not be using my powers to interfere, we've already been in this timeline for too long, and who knows what damage we will do. Heck, we have most likely changed how this entire battle will go, and if we mess with the Timeline anymore, it will affect a lot of other things in the multiverse. We cannot allow that, sorry."

Luke sighed. "It was worth a shot. Well, thank you two anyway, and I hope you have fun in your travels. It is good to know that our battle against the Empire, even in a world we cannot visit, is being told."

Cimmaron nodded, and opened his pocket watch again, twisting the little fob on top.

Luke walked up to Chris and offered his hand, which Chris took. Luke pulled the Chris into a hug, much to the latter's surprise.

"What where you about to say back there?" Luke whispered.

_Oh God, what do I say?_Chris said. Cim's thing about timelines, and if Luke found out the truth about his father now...

Just tell him he will have to find out himself, Cimmaron replied through their telepathic link.

"It... it's something that I cannot say, something you have to learn on your own time. I'm really sorry," Chris replied.

Luke sighed again and broke the hug. "Very well, and May the Force be With You."

Cimmaron smiled, and pushed the fob, another orange and white portal opening in front of them.

"So where next?" Chris asked.

"I found out there is a random feature, let's try that," Cim said, still smiling as they both walked through the portal and out of Hoth.