Merry Hoth-mas (Complete)

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco watched and waited for her laying on the bed, listening to her talk about the woman and how to get them off the planet. He was certain that if they just happened to go missing the First Order would chalk it up to being lost to the wilderness of Hoth. At least the people of the rest of the colony would. Then they could start a new life in the Alderaan system. "Yes, yes they are. Lots of them spread out through everything."

"I'm glad we are able to help them." His grey eyes peaked at her, one eyebrow raising suspiciously at the princess inching into bed beside him. "Oh, I could never say no, I'm just happy it worked out and no one got hurt too bad." She yawned and he relaxed into the folds of the blankets and comforters, some of them electrically heated.

"Feel how cold my hands are." He pressed his hands into her chest as Faith slid into the bed underneath the fuzzy blankets, a malicious grin on his face as he pressed freezing cold fingers against her bare flesh.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

[member="Draco Vereen"]

She smacked at his hands playfully, "Drahr for someone who is supposed to be a Dragon, that's cold." She laughed, just as she slid her feet against his leg, she had her own cold feet it was like she could hear the sizzle.

She watched his face though for signs that he was feeling it, "I can get you some gloves." She offered trying to be serious silly, a game they at times played well together, and other times did not.

"Make sure that the woman and her family go with us tomorrow for whatever reason you think of, and it cannot be violent. Let's not leave that impression." This was her first time with the First Order, and she did not yet know how it would play out in the end.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Ah, that's too cold." Draco pulled her against himself, slipping his hands into the small of her back as he squeezed her tightly, clutching to her warmth. He played with her well most of the time "Ah, I can't get your feet away from me because you are so short. They are always touching my legs." He fussed playfully with the blankets for a moment.

"I was going to have her and her family leave for a perimeter patrol or something else trivial that made sense for them all to go on. Then I was going to have them disappear, leave some signs of wampa or avalanche or other naturally occurring cause thing that wouldn't seem out of place to happen here. No one will think twice about us having them, at least officially. Keeps prying eyes away from us and leaves them to do whatever they want to do."

It wasn't a complicated plan of action, very basic in fact. If there was an official inquiry they would be listed as missing in action on any official reports, maybe even KIA depending on the pessimism of the reporting officer. It would leave the Alderaan group out of suspicion and wouldn't look like they were treading on any international toes. Alderaan Engineering could provide them employment and relocate the family easily enough near the woman's family, and Alderaan had several of the finest educational facilities.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

She snuggled against him knowing that together they would get warm quicker, "Yes but remember the best things come in small packages" She listened as he explained his plan, yes it was simple and quite plausible.

"Ok my love that sounds good." She smiled, she could feel her toes again. "Let's go to Aldera and spend a week at the cabin, in the lake...please..." she pouted slightly as if he would say no, she knew he wouldn't. They were relatively free to do almost anything, "are you enjoying being my consort Draco?" It was not a question she asked often, but she knew her husband well enough to know he would tell her the truth.

This small place that someone had given up, or made up just for them made her think of the sacrifices that were once made, which always made her think of him.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"You aren't all that small. You have it where it counts as far as I'm concerned." Draco grinned, squeezing Faith gently under the blankets in the little insulated shack they had been provided by the outpost. "A vacation sounds in order for us. Maybe see if Arianna would watch the twins for two or three days." Faith's extended family always enjoyed spending time with the twins in small doses, but there came an amount of time where even they grew tired and just wanted to relax.

"Yes, though I like to use the full title, Prince Consort. The Prince part makes it sound official to me, like I'm actually an accepted part of the family and not just your squeeze, even if I like being your squeeze." Draco closed his eyes, sinking into the comfort of the bed on Hoth. "Sleep for now. We will worry about tomorrow a little before dawn. I'll get up and take care of the arrangements for tomorrow and you can call the ship down with the supplies and stuff for the kids."

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

[member="Draco Vereen"]

"Prince Consort, so offical, I think I still prefer Knight Errant or ner Drahr" Her Alderaan accent hitting the r's just so. She laid close by him as heat slowly built beneath the blankets making it tolerable to where they could sleep in relative comfort. "I've noticed that snow is not my friend" She smiled sleepily. Snuggling against his chest where she was most comfortable, as she draped across him possessively.

Slowly taking deep breaths, "You need to take care of your hands, and your back Draco. You and Wampa don't mix I noticed." She smiled still as soothing thoughts filled her mind, "ok..tomorrow...it will be great...the kids will have their life day. And we will be going Alderaan's sister planet, I don't think I've ever taken you there." She knew she had not, and she couldn't remember why she had not.

But it was key to Alderaan's survival, and any growth that would help the economy of the Alderaan system.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco fell into a soothing rest, his eyes closed and his breathing rhythmic with Faith's as she lay draped across him. As her chest fell, his chest rose and vice versa with a comforting beat of their hearts. Her accent tickled his ears playfully with her honeyed voice as she drifted closer and closer to sleep beneath the warmth of the blankets and against his body heat.

"No, snow isn't good for you. At least this time you didn't end up alone on a mountain top. And I am warming up my hands on you." Draco sighed blissfully as he started to drift off to sleep, his hands holding her against him, placed in the small of her back comfortably. "At least I've only been injured by one wampa."

He shifted his weight a little, turning towards her some as he went to sleep with his alarm set to about an hour before dawn, when it was still dark and cold on Hoth so that he could speak with the Alderaanian woman and her family while there was still some down time before they would need to leave the planet.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

"umm hmmm " she agreed about the wampa and drifted off to sleep content and held tightly safe and protected.

Morning would come too soon as it often did for a Princess with duties that often started before the sun rose in the sky. It was still dark, or dim, or she had lost her vision during the night she could not see well. She rolled over to reach for Draco, whose side of the bed was empty the warmth nearly gone from where he had slept.

Faith sat up blinking and yawning, "Draco?" She called where had he gone off to? She stretched trying to wipe the sleep away as it had gathered and lay on her much like warm blanket trying to draw her back into the folds. But it was not the same with Draco gone from it, his clothes were gone. Well he wasn't naked out there..good thing.

She would wait a few before going in search of him. She had to wake up.

Wake up Faith.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco rose before dawn and made his way to the common area before first light. He spent the morning covering his and Faith's tracks for the most part. He pulled several men and women off to the side to converse with them privately, asking about things like what kid's they had, what gifts for Life Day their children would appreciate or desired, if there was anything specific they wanted in a care package. When he actually approached the family he wanted to he had other matters to attend to regarding their request to be relocated.

"Alright, don't get too excited. Stay level and calm like nothing's amiss." He said with a casual smile. "We've decided we can take you with us, but we'd rather not have you labeled as defectors. You haven't told anyone you wanted to leave with us, right?"

The man, a surveyor and mechanic, answered with a gruff voice. "Nah, didn't want to draw attention and arrangements fall through. Bad idea to tell people you are ditching them and then get stuck for the rest of your twelve month deployment with those same folks."

"Excellent. Then what I need you to do is continue just like it was a normal day and you weren't going anywhere. Don't pack anything, don't bring anything special with you. Take your family somewhere outside where its plausible that you just went missing but believable to take the wife and kids. Let me handle the rest. Can you do that?" Draco asked, his body language suggesting a nonchalant attitude in case anyone was watching. Given his activities earlier, it appeared like he was just asking them about supplies and gifts.

"I can do that. We will go check the perimeter sensors right after dawn." The man nodded in understanding.

"Good deal. I'll see you later and make sure I get those things for ya." Draco ended the conversation walking away from them, speaking a little louder as he moved to grab one of the other men and ask about gifts for their kids.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Faith finally gathered her ambition and slipped from beneath the warm covers dressing quickly so to not let all of her warmth disappear. She never dressed so fast as she did that morning pulling on the jumpsuit and walking out into the bright Hoth morning. The sun reflected off the snow nearly blinding her as she stood there looking around for Draco.

She could hear his laughter on the wind as it whistled down through the buildings. She smiled he had this deep laugh that made everyone else want to laugh. Moving slowly looking carefully she'd spot him easy. He had this particular stance, and walked a way that she'd recognize anywhere.

Then she saw him standing with his hand on the shoulder of another man perhaps offering a word of comfort at what their plan was. The plan was more for the kids that they had seen the night before. A small group for certain but all such eager faces waiting for Life Day and what new things it would bring.

Their own children got that light in their eye when they knew something wonderful was going to happen. She sighed heavily, yes she was ready to go home the trip had taken more out of then she had expected.

She headed towards Draco knowing that he likely had everything arranged right now and it was just a matter of them all leaving now. "Morning" she called out to everyone around. Not Good morning but Morning. She walked up to Draco, "Are you getting the list and checking it twice?"

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Yes, checking my list twice." Draco smiled at her as she approached, letting the family he was talking to go about their morning business. "Just got to call the ship down and unload. I don't know if I'm up for waiting around for all the gifts to get opened though." He wanted to get home where he was comfortable, back to his children and the warm spring air of Alderaan. The man knew there would be other stops and adventures to see to before they were done and that Faith had been interested in rebuilding Delaya some beforehand, now she had an excuse to re-establish the connection with Alderaan's sister planet.

"Once the ship arrives we can unload it pretty quickly, some of the men have volunteered to help so we can be off." There was a time table with a decent margin for error where the family would be out in the snow where a handful of sensors had been tripped by what the populace expected to be wampa over the past few days which is where Draco wanted to collect them, thinking that would be the place where if they went missing heads would likely turn to natural circumstances.

Draco hugged Faith with one arm around her waist, hand against her hip as he held her against his side. "Don't worry ner runi. We will be on our way home soon and spend some time in the hot springs." There were a few near the mountain palace that were always kept warm, even in the winter due to thermal vents in the mountain they rested on and were an attraction for other nobility in the colder months and even into early spring.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

"Yes think of it, the steam rising up off the water as it kisses the air above. The way your toes tingle as the heat of the water takes away all the cold. A nice glass of something waiting on the table, and just you and me all alone." She smiled at him giving him a wink.

"I know we will I just had to finish this last thing before we headed home. Before some think they are forgotten. It's terrible to be a kid and think you're forgotten." She leaned against Draco as he secured her to his side.

"My Dragon, ner Drahr thank you for all of this. The ship will be here shortly I think I hear the engines now and then we will be on our way and Hoth will become another memory that we cherish." She kissed his cheek.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Oh I can imagine it." He said, making sure everything was set for their leaving as the ship neared the outpost. His mind settled on an imagine of hot water, a heavy drink within arm's reach of the hot spring, and a beautiful woman on his lap. It was a good dream to have though he couldn't focus too much on his fantasy since there was still work to be done, gifts to hand out and people to shake hands with.

"I know love. We will see to everyone and make sure everyone has something for them and their children." He didn't want to steal the parent's thunder too much, he wanted to be sure that they were able to hide that one thing each child had to have to give it to them later, and he was sure that every family, including the one coming with them in secret, had things to give to their children. A few of the men and one or two other families were seeing to duties that prevented them from being in person when the ship landed, so the things for them were placed in their habitats waiting for them to return.

It didn't take long for the small craft to be unloaded and a few of the women and men to give their thanks to the Princess of Alderaan, though most had already done so. Draco slipped his arm around her waist, letting his hand rest on her back side casually for as long as she'd let him. "Oh You'll thank me alright, Ner Ahiraor. You won't get out of owing me with just a thank you. You owe me and I intend to get even over the next few days. Boots and other things while we visit the hot springs. And after."

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

She smiled knowing they had done something good, something that meant something to someone else. Actions were always stronger than words. She felt Draco draw her closer, "I'm ready to go home Drahr the cold has finally taken it's toll on me"

As much as she might like to wear boots for him on the way home it would have to wait till they went to Aldera to thaw out. She also wanted him to heal and make sure his hands did not suffer any damage from the cold.

She waved her good byes to all those she had met, it was time to go.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Once aboard, the ship would make one stop out beyond the sensor perimeter, reporting icing and turbulence causing an issue with their gyroscopics and they needed to wait for a moment while the droids handled the icing, not uncommon for a vessel not purpose built for Hoth's cold weather in winter.

During that time, a stealth suited Draco descended to the planet while the ship hung in the air carrying a trio of sensor masks and jump packs, and something else. As quickly as he could he made his way to where the little family was camped out, waiting for him as instructed. The location had pinged a few times and was believed to be where a wampa or so had wandered towards the outpost but no one knew for certain, only found the occasional marking but no clear tracks.

Draco popped the small canister of scent, bait to attract any nearby predators when he arrived, knowing it would dissolve and their escape would be covered up by the snow drifts. By the time the outpost missed the family it would be close to nightfall on the planet and a search party wouldn't get a lot of time to go checking any tracks they found. It might take a little luck, but hopefully it would work out. Once they were outfitted with the little belt worn sensor masks and jump packs they were off towards the ship while Draco left a handful of signs to be found just in case, so that it would look like an animal attack. Sometimes people just went missing on Hoth.

Once he was done, he returned and after another moment or so, the ship left as the Droids finished their de-icing. And to all a Merry Hothmas and Happy Life Day to all.

[member="Faith Organa"]