The Hoth system was one of the most remote places in the entire galaxy because it was so far away from any other major star system. And it was freezing cold which Luke never heard the end of. They had only been on the system about a year or so, so they were well established in the snow and ice with tunnels carved in the mountains of snow and with the local wildlife being used for transport across the icy tundra. In fact, the only mechanical transport that really worked was the small band of Snowspeeders and, despite the fact they were made to work in snow and cold conditions, still had a rough time in the freezing cold air.

But that didn't deter Rouge Squadron from flying and practicing different flight patterns and battle formations. They tried to fly at least two to three times a week with weather permitting, but they were flying for a different reason today. A new kid called Dak was boasting about being the best pilot in the whole Alliance. Luke heard about it from the other pilots and let it go on for a while. That is, until word reached his winged best friend who then took it as a personal challenge and wanted to prove the younger wrong. Which was how they had ended up here, speeding across the frozen wasteland with his best friend gripping onto the side of his speeder with as much clothing as they could put on her to protect her from the cold. White wings extended from her back as she kept them level with the wings of the speeder so to not be ripped off by the wind.

"I still can't believe you wanted to do this," Luke muttered to himself and then to the comm link to the rest of Rouge Squadron, "I still can't believe all of you agreed to do this,"

"Hey, if the kid thinks he's the best pilot in the Alliance then we have to test that statement," Wedge said as he pulled up closer to Luke, "You always have to back up what you say,"

"But there is a difference between piloting a speeder and flying on your own," Luke protested, glancing at the passenger holding onto the speeder, "If you get hurt from this, I'm not going to be the one telling Han." His passenger carefully pulled herself up to the farthest point and pushed off and glided just above his wing. She glanced over at Luke and nodded her head and, with one powerful down stroke, was flying high about them.

"Alright Dak," Luke said to the other pilot who was just a short ways away from them, "She's out and ready for you,"

"Thank you sir," the younger said, "I'll beat her and prove that we are the better pilots,"

"This was never about us as a whole, kid," Wedge said as him and Luke banked left, "We know where we stand as pilots and the only person who can rival her in her flying abilities is Luke,"

"Well why hasn't he challenged her before?" the younger asked.

"Because she is tiring to argue and fight with," Luke replied and watched as his friend glided across the snowy ground at break neck speeds, "Remember to use the technical bolts so we don't shoot her out of the sky or else they will be hell to pay,"

"Yes sir," the younger replied as Luke spied him descend closer to where she was flying. Luke watched from the mounted camera on her goggles and on the back of her hood as she noticed his approach and banked hard to the right to avoid the coming blaster fire. Dak followed close behind and was pushing his speeder to top speed and was gaining on her. She twisted and rolled in the air dodging the bolts as she took a hard right and pulled out her own blaster and fired at him. Some computers beeped in Luke's speeder showing that she had three successful hits on Dak.

"Would you stop moving so much," Dak mumbled as she continued to easily dodge his blaster bolts, "Blast it!"

"You can always give up now kid," Wedge said as he and Luke flew in closer, "We don't have to be putting her life at risk just to prove you wrong," The younger grunted in response and Luke watch the boy push the speeder faster and fire quicker and without watching where he was shooting. She easily dodged the bolts and holstered her blaster. She took off up into the sky and Dak struggled to keep up with her.

"Where did she go?" Dak cried and slowed his speeder down to try and find her. Luke couldn't help but grin as he watch her camera view as she flew flat against the sky and down behind his speeder. She easily caught up to him and flew above the speeder window and just out of his line of sight. She landed carefully on the speeder and blast it to bits. Wedge laughed as Dak yelped in surprise at the sudden blaster fire before she leaped off again and flew back on the cold air.

"Alright I think that's enough," Luke said reading the results, "How well do you think that went, Dak?" he asked as she swooped back down and flew next to Luke as the four of them made there way back to the base.

"Surely I got at least one hit on her!" Dak cried in frustration and she twisted in the air mockingly.

"You got 0 hits and she had 27," Luke said and the younger groaned loudly.

"We tried to tell you it was a bad idea," Wedge said, "But you insisted on it, kid." Dak didn't respond as she flew onto Luke's speeder and held on for the rest of the way back.

They had been gone little over an hour and the sun was beginning to set. The hanger bay was empty with only a skeleton crew on duty to log and track any remaining speeders and patrols. The three speeders landed as the passanger on Luke's speeder slide off and shook some snow and ice off of her wings. Luke was the first one down, followed by Wedge and finally Dak.

"You look like you're freezing," Luke said as she pulled down her face guard and shook more snow off her wings.

"Well, while you guys get to sit in your nice and warm snow speeders, I had to freeze my wings off," she said jokingly, her face red from the cold air and freezing wind, but her smile seemed to melt the ice.

"You could have just used another speeder," Luke said and Wedge and Dak join them, "You would have been a lot warmer,"

"And where would be the fun in that?" she asked grinning and turning towards Dak as he walked up to them, "I'm impressed Dak. Not everyone can keep up with me one on one."

"Thank you ma'am," he said formally and she cocked on eyebrow at the younger.

"You don't need to call me "Ma'am", she said, "I'm not your school teacher who called on you without your homework. It's too formal for me,"

"Sure..uh.." Dak stuttered and she smiled.

"Clover," she said, "just call me Clover," Dak looked at her sheepishly before turning and walking towards the living area. She gave out a quiet sigh.

"Well, I don't know about you two but I'm starved," Wedge said looking towards them, "Wanna grab a bite?"

"I'm gonna pass," she said and brushed off the last few puffs of snow from her shoulders and arms, "I've got some work that I've got to get done on the Falcon,"

"I've heard that excuse a million times now," Wedge whined as the trio stepped into an icy hallway that split with one way leading towards the Dinning hall, and the other leading towards another hanger used for the larger transports, "What are you really doing?

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she asked with a mischievous smile as the group parted at the split in the hallway. Clover glanced over to Luke for just a moment before making her way to the hanger as Wedge and Luke made their way towards the dinning hall. Luke thought for a moment and felt confusion and worry falling off her in waves, even though he still wasn't very good at his powers. She quickly faded as Wedge elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

"What's up with her?" he asked as Luke flinched and rubbed the tender spot on his abs.

"Why are you asking me? I don't keep up with her every movement of the day," he retorted.

"More than anyone else here," Wedge said, "You ever notice that she keeps to herself besides you, Chewy, Han and Leia?"

"She's just a shy person..."

Meanwhile, Clover locked the door of her bedroom on the Falcon and sank to the floor with a heavyhearted sigh. Her wings wrapped around her in a vain attempt at comfort as she dug her nails into her arms, just enough to feel a sting. She was starving and she was exhausted, but something was wrong. A soft cooing echoed through the walls as a brown head poked out from behind an open panel in the wall. It cooed once more and hopped over towards her on the metal floor.

"Can you bring me my book Fidget?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes. Fidget chirped a response and flew up to a small spot above the door frame. It gripped a leader book in it's talons and gracefully set it down on her lap along with a pen. She smiled faintly at the fully grown hawk and opened the book to the next clean page.

"I wish I could understand more of these," she said as she began sketching across the page, "It was a battle this time, but I don't think it was here," she said as she sketched a dark and barren area, "Two beings of great power were battling, but I never saw what it was they were fighting for," She sketched a pair of eyes peering at her from the shrubs. She pricked her finger and smudged them and the ground under them with her blood. She leaned her head back against the door frame and examined what she saw. A cold chill flooded the room and she felt her fingers go cold.

"Follow," a soft voice whispered in the silent ship and Clover grunted. She flapped her wings down hard which kicked up specks of dust and dirt from the ground.

"Stop being so damn cryptic," she said, "Whatever you are..."

"Follow," the voice whispered again and Clover could swear that she saw something form in the dust she kicked up. Clover groaned and pulled her hair over her head in annoyance.

Why could things be easy for once? Suddenly, she felt a hand touch her shoulder, before she turned sharply and tried to bat whatever it was away from her. The hand belong to Luke who held two trays full of food and managed to dodge out of the way of her wing.

"Oh," she said straightening up from being hunched over, "I didn't hear you come up. I thought you were eating with Wedge?" Luke shrugged and handed her one of the trays.

"Wedge found more interesting people to talk to, I guess," he said as the pair made their way to a makeshift table in the main hold. It took Clover a moment to realize that she wasn't in her room, but about two rooms down and she knew that she locked the room to her door. Did she blackout again?

"Sorry its rations again," Luke said snapping her out of her thoughts, "We're still waiting on another drop off shipment from some smugglers,"

"At least we have something to eat," Clover said popping up the lid to her ration box, but she only stared at the food sitting inside. She couldn't bring herself to eat for at least the past week, maybe even two and she knew that Luke picked up on this. She knew it was the reason he even came on the Falcon with two trays of food in the first place. A few tense moments passed as she felt Luke's eyes watching her as she stared blankly at her food. Finally, Luke spoke up.

"Clover," she said, "What's wrong? I know you haven't been eating enough and I know you haven't be sleeping,"

"You watching me sleep now?" she said trying to lighten to mood and maybe change the subject, but Luke just looked at her with a stern look in his eyes and worry etched in his lips. Clover sighed and buried her hands in her hair once more.

"I promise it's nothing," she lied and prayed to God that it would be enough. Her and Luke stared at each other and Clover could feel the weight from the sleepless nights sit on her shoulders and weight her down like the gravity of a star. Luke's eyes softened and he sighed deeply.

"Alright," he said reluctantly, "I believe you," Guilt began to gnaw at her stomach as Luke's comm began beeping.

"Looks like its time to work," Luke said jokingly as he looked down at his comm, "Let's go," The pair made their way down the ramp as Clover tried to ignore the faint whispering and the sinking feeling in her stomach