Lost in the Hoffa Maze

The stormtrooper patrol was winding its way through the frozen Hoffa Maze when the storm hit.  

Goji heard the speaker in his helmet buzz to life, “This is Leader Echo, stay in close formation.  This storm looks treacherous.”

He quickened his pace as he had fallen behind the column winding its way through the surrounding snow-covered hills.  Ice bits mixed with snow were beginning to whip around in the wind reducing visibility to only a few meters and pinging off his suit creating a disorienting racket inside his helmet.  After only a few moments he could no longer see the trooper in front of him.  

He felt his heart begin to pound and his breathing quicken as he sped up to a trot into the strong head winds.  Even without the weather conditions this was a perennial problem for him.  He was shorter than most stormtroopers and was often the butt of jokes in his platoon.  “Part of the Stormkinder program Goji?”  He’d laughed to make it seem like it didn’t bother him, but conscription had been a painful and heartbreaking process separating him from hearth and home, and now to be in this frigid place was almost too much.

An unexpected *bump* and “Blast you!” heard crackling through his speaker.  He had run into the trooper in front of him who promptly butted him to the ground with his blaster.  “Watch where you’re going blurrg bait!”

Goji felt the sting of tears in his eyes and he was slow to get up despite the real danger of getting left behind.  The storm was intensifying and he at least had the good sense to check in with the platoon leader.

“Leader Echo, this is Trooper-12.  I’m falling behind, over.”  No answer.  Only static.  He smacked the side of his helmet to see if that would help but the line went completely dead.  Goji scrambled up and sprinted forward only to find the trail cold as the path branched and then branched again with no one in sight.

***

Goji knew he was in some serious banta doo-doo.  The patrol was lost to him and he had no idea which direction the base was.  That was the problem with not being in charge.  They had the information and it was not handed out willy-nilly to grunts like him.  His job was to simply follow orders and drop into a tactical fighting crouch when necessary and fire his blaster down range.  If he hit an enemy that was a bonus; if not, well, that was just par for the course.

A dark opening loomed in a hillside to his right and he identified it as the entrance to a cave.  He needed to find shelter knowing he would likely perish if he continued to wander lost in this storm.  The infrared sensors in his helmet lenses were glitchy but he thought it was picking up a slight heat differential that told him he would be better off in there and so he reluctantly entered, his blaster at the ready.

Rootlets hanging from the ceiling brushed his helmet and shoulders insect-like as he pushed deeper into the cave.  His sense of time had become distorted since the storm had swept in depriving him of references to place or even time.  It could have been hours ago but maybe even just minutes since he’d lost his way.  His infrared sensors flashed bright red as he rounded a bend and then died leaving him stumbling forward with no visibility.  He lost contact with the cave wall as the space suddenly opened up.  He stood still in the darkness and let silence envelop him.  His situation seemed hopeless and he felt his thoughts flee homeward to the warmth of a fire, his mother singing while stirring a pot suspended over the coals.  

He no doubt was hallucinating but he thought he could actually see burning coals or at least a faint red glow on the ground further ahead.  That’s when a high pitched gargling bark shattered the silence and he felt something big hit him in the back and knock him violently to the ground.  His helmet popped free and rolled away from him.  There was something heavy making a panting sound pressing him to the ground and smelling like a musty rug.  His blaster was lost somewhere in the darkness and there was nothing he could do as the creature aggressively sniffed his head.  Terrified as he was, still, the air from it tickled his ear.

***

In the darkness in front of his face two small circles lit up and a polite voice spoke, “Oh my, are you all right?  My friend can be a bit rough.”  At that the creature on his back gave him a wet lick with its tongue and Goji recognized the glowing circles as the eyes of a droid, or at least the head of a droid.  It appeared that its body was missing.  

“Who are you?” Goji asked while flinching from another lick to the side of his face.

“I am a protocol droid or at least what’s left of one.  My friend and I have had a run of bad luck it would seem, as have you.”

The creature on top of him let out a low warbling noise.  “He says he likes you but you can’t have your blaster back.”  At this he felt the weight lift off his back and he rolled over to see a huge furry creature towering over him with the blaster in his hand looking like a small toy gun.

“I call that lovable beast Chewbiscuit.  Our ship made an emergency landing in these hills which was a bit bumpy and my head became separated from my body.  The other crew members suffered a similar fate but they cannot live in two parts.”

Goji did not know what to make of this droid and whether or not he was trying to use humor.  “Well, I am Goji the Stormkinder and I came to this planet reluctantly but now I am happy to be here and on my own.”

The droid’s eyes appeared to pulse a bit brighter, “Wonderful!  Will you join us then?”

Chewbiscuit was stoking the coals and adding some sticks so that light began to creep back into the room.  “Rararrrawarrrr!”

“Chewie agrees.  You should join us!”  At this the dog-like creature began gallivanting around the room, first on all fours and then upright, making happy noises and waving his arms.  He then batted the droid’s head towards Goji and crouched in anticipation of a game.  Goji rolled it back and laughed as the droid exclaimed, “Oh my, the room is spinning!”