The snow-lizard’s gray body was insulated from the cold by a covering of thick fur. The youthful commander spurred his Tauntaun. Luke, himself, found it hard to believe that only three years ago he was a wide-eyed farm boy on his home world of Tatooine. So much had happened to Luke and he had changed a great deal. So much had happened to Luke and he had changed a Nonetheless, he was already in the position of giving orders to a band of seasoned soldiers. The title made him feel a bit uncomfortable. Luke was wellknown on the base and, although barely twenty-three years old, he was addressed as Commander Skywalker by other Rebel warriors. This planet doesn’t have a thing to offer anyone-except us.” The Rebel Alliance had established an outpost on the ice world little more than a month before. “But a settler would have to be crazy to stake his claims on Hoth.

“The galaxy is peppered with settlements of colonizers who care little about the affairs of the Empire or its opposition, the Rebel Alliance,” he thought. One corner of his mouth curled upward as he tried to visualize the official researchers in the service of the Imperial government. Peering out at the icy wastes through his goggles, he pulled his fur-lined cap down more snugly about his head. Luke smiled behind the masklike gray bandana that protected him against Hoth’s frigid winds. All that Luke had seen on his solitary expeditions were barren white plains and ranges of blue-tinged mountains that seemed to vanish in the mists of the distant horizons. There was nothing to contradict their earliest findings that no intelligent lifeforms existed on this cold planet. They all returned to base with mixed feelings of comfort and loneliness.

Luke as well as his fellow members of the Rebel Alliance took turns exploring the white wastelands of Hoth, gathering information about their new home. He felt tired and alone, and the sound of his own voice startled him. He was astride a Tauntaun, the only other living being as far as the eye could see. “NOW this is what I call cold!” Luke Skywalker’s voice broke the silence he had observed since leaving the newly established Rebel base hours earlier. Glut Based on a story by George Lucas THE BALLANTINE PUBLISHING GROUP NEW YORKĪ long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. EPISODE V THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK by Donald F.

The empire strikes back donald f glut