Vhetin winced as a grenade exploded nearby the tank. A chunk of armor cracked away from the tank's armor and flew through the air, embedding itself deep in the wall of a nearby building. The entire vehicle shuddered and began to belch smoke. He swiveled and fired at the grenade-throwing trooper, but not before two more bounced beneath the tank's housing. One of the repulsor engines groaned and shut down and the entire vehicle listed hard to one side. A second later another repulsor engine exploded and the cockpit lit with red warning lights.

Okay, he thought, time to ditch the tank. Time to take this fight to the ground.

The canopy hissed open and the temperature within instantly dropped at least twenty degrees. Vhetin felt the cold cut right through his armor and the temperature compensators struggled to warm his body temperature. He changed the compensator's settings to keep his body temperature just above hypothermic levels. That would conserve maybe two minutes of power. Not much, but it might give him enough time to get to safety once his power levels dipped into the red.

He ignited his lightsaber pike and leaped out of the tank, heading straight for a small group of snowtroopers hiding behind a large containment crate. He wasn't going to kill them; he wasn't being paid for that. But he was going to scare them badly enough to run and never come back.

He spun his lightsaber pike blindingly fast between his hands, letting out the most ferocious battle cry he could muster. As one, the snowtroopers screamed and ran for a group of parked speeder bikes near the western perimeter. A few cast fearful looks over their shoulder and one shouted, "Run! It's a kriffing Jedi!"

One trooper, however, stayed behind. He fell on his backside, scrambling away from Vhetin as he advanced. He was gasping and whimpering behind his helmet, his hands scrabbling in the snow.

Come on, kid, Vhetin thought. Move. Run away. Run!

As he got closer, Vhetin lowered his lightsaber pike and stopped a few feet from the cowering trooper.

"You're either very brave or very stupid," Vhetin growled, his voice low and harsh. "Neither of which are traits that I particularly envy. Do you want to die, miserable aruetii di'kut? No? Then get moving!"

The trooper nodded and frantically stumbled to his feet. He cast one last terrified glance at Vhetin, then sprinted for the last speeder bike. There was a loud whoop as the bike's engine warmed, then the trooper shot off into the endless white plain. Unfortunately, though the bulk of the stormtrooper guards were gone, the soldiers manning the turrets were still active.

Very active.

POW! Vhetin was thrown off his feet as the ground exploded beneath him. He flew a meter before sprawling into the snow, tumbling head over heels from the force of the detonation. He heard heavy blaster bolts stitching the ground behind him and jumped to his feet, running toward the nearest turret.

His instincts screamed that it was suicide to run at the turret. But the calmer, experienced part of him knew that the only relatively safe place was closest to the source of the turret's field of fire. Once he got close enough, the gun wouldn't be able to shoot at him as accurately.

Of course, that didn't affect the other three turrets. Even as he watched, they swiveled to face him. He threw himself into cover around a corner as they opened fire, peppering the snow at his feet with fire. His back hit the wall, but the turrets tracked him wherever he went and began carving chunks from the wall at his shoulder.

There was nowhere to go. He grimaced and braced himself for a volley of blaster bolts in the chest as soon as he moved out from shelter. His armor would hold under the blast, but it would still hurt like a bitch. His shoulders hunched and his fist clasped tight around the shaft of his pike. Maybe if he was lucky he'd be able to parry a few bolts with the lightsaber blade.

But the trooper manning the nearest turret unexpectedly screamed and tumbled off the edge of the building, hitting the snow with a heavy thump and a puff of airborne snow.

What the hell? Vhetin looked around, searching for his mysterious savior.

Jay sprinted into his field of view, running as fast as her bulky snow suit would allow her to move and firing a long-range blaster rifle as she went. The troopers swiveled to face her, and the three remaining turrets – including the one directly over Vhetin's head – began to fire. He stared at her, momentarily surprised by her fearlessness. Then he thought, If I stay here for much longer, she's going to be ripped to shreds.

So he gripped his lightsaber pike, flipped off the auto-shutoff, and hurled his weapon like a javelin. The pike flew straight and true, striking another of the troopers in the shoulder and sticking there. The man screamed and recoiled, the pike sticking from his arm at an awkward angle as the blade hissed and sizzled against his flesh. He quickly pulled the saber out of his arm and threw it aside.

Vhetin dashed toward him and blasted off on his jet pack. Twin pillars of fire erupted from the pack, propelling him into the air. The other troopers moved to target him, drawn to the roar of his pack's thrusters. Vhetin ignored them as Jay siezed the momentary distraction to her advantage and took them out one by one.

He landed heavily on the roof and grabbed the base of his weapon. He flipped it around so he held it near the emitter hilt and dropped into a well-practiced combat stance. The trooper, holding his shoulder, began to circle him, also adopting a cautious crouch.

Vhetin scowled beneath his helmet, annoyed by the man's courage, and growled, "Are you so eager to die that you'll fight a lightsaber-wielding Mando hand-to-hand?"

The trooper grunted, blood staining his white pauldron, and growled, "I've faced worse odds."

That certainly took Vhetin by surprise. This trooper was tougher than he thought; certainly tougher than his compatriots on the ground below.

Okay, so the intimidation tactic isn't going to work. Now what?

The trooper snarled and threw himself at Vhetin. The hunter deactivated his lightsaber pike and slammed it into the trooper's chestplate with all his considerable strength. The frozen plastoid armor plating cracked and shattered away from the trooper's body in a cloud of fragmented metallic chips.

It barely even slowed him down. He just ducked Vhetin's next blow and furiously backpedaled out of reach. Vhetin stepped forward and tried to slam his staff over the trooper's head, but his opponent grabbed the staff and wrenched it to the side. Vhetin's hold slipped, and the beskar staff bounced over the edge of the building.

Vhetin ducked and tried to dodge a flurry of blows to his head and chest, falling back under the sheer ferocity of the trooper's attack. He pushed the trooper away, placing his hands on the trooper's cracked and damaged chest plate and shoving him back a few steps. The trooper landed an elbow between Vhetin's shoulder blades, driving him to his knees. His knee then caught Vhetin in the faceplate and the hunter staggered back, holding his hands to his helmet.

His mind was spinning. This didn't make any sense! Normal troopers didn't have advanced martial arts training! Who the hell was this guy?

He got to his feet again and held his fists up in a balanced defensive stance. The trooper mirrored his motion and began circling him with slow, careful motions. Vhetin pivoted on his feet, keeping the trooper in his line of sight at all times.

He took a single step forward and unleashed a flurry of blows as fast as he could. Kicks, punches, headbutts, anything he could think of. The trooper dodged a few, but most of the attacks landed squarely where Vhetin intended. The Mandalorian braced his feet and drove his fist into the trooper's solar plexus, left unarmored by his damaged chestplate. His opponent doubled over, wheezing. Vhetin clasped his fists together and slammed them hard as a linked fist across the trooper's helmet.

The trooper grunted and fell back a few steps, then shook his head and jumped at him again. He tackled Vhetin, carrying them both right off the edge of the building. They tumbled in mid-air for a few dizzying, endless moments before hitting the snowy ground hard in a tangle of arms, legs, and armor plating.

Vhetin grunted and disentangled himself from the other man, managing to kick him in the helmet as he did.

"You're good, Mando," the trooper panted, clambering to his feet. "I haven't come across someone this talented since my training sergeant at the Academy."

Vhetin just launched himself at the trooper and lashed out with fists, feet, and any other body part that could double as a weapon. The trooper staggered back from an elbow to the faceplate and fell against the side of the building. Vhetin pressed his advantage and followed up with a one-two-three punch to the trooper's ribs, where his armor was thinned for maneuverability.

The soldier doubled over, then suddenly caught his opponent with a powerful surprise uppercut to the chin. Vhetin flew backwards and landed on his back in the snow. He rolled back in a reverse somersault and came up fighting. He leaped into the air and shot out both feet at the trooper's chest. The blow landed hard, driving the white-armored man into the wall with a sharp crack of plastoid against duracrete.

The soldier clambered to his feet with a furious growl and moved to attack him again. Vhetin sucked in a short breath and clambered back to his feet, fists clenched and body prepared for the fight to continue. But the sound of a blaster powering up stopped both fighters.

Jay skidded to a halt next to him, aiming her rifle squarely at the trooper's head. The Imperial paused, slowly raising his hands in surrender. He was beaten now and he knew it.

"Step back," she snapped, tightening her grip on the firing stud. The trooper remained where he was, staring defiantly at the huntress through the eye-shaped apertures of his helmet.

"Step back," she repeated. "Now!"

The trooper took two steps away from them, hands above his head. As Jay took control of the situation, Vhetin scooped up his lightsaber pike and hooked it back to its place on his jet pack. He let his back hit the wall, panting and holding his stomach. His muscles ached from the fight, his limbs quivering from exertion.

"I'm going to make this nice and simple," Jay snarled. "Get in that blue speeder plow over there and head for the horizon, or I'll blast you so fast it'll make what's left of your head spin. You try anything at all and you won't make it a single step."

"She's telling the truth," Vhetin said. "I know from personal experience. You don't want to test her."

The defeated trooper slowly turned and headed for the plow. Jay followed him with the rifle the entire way, even as he climbed up into the plow's pilot seat. He started the engine, gunned the throttle, and the vehicle rumbled out of the area. After a few moments, it dipped out of sight behind the snowy ridge.

The entire outpost was now eerily silent, save for the distant call of tundra birds. Everyone had either been killed or had fled in whatever speeder they could get their hands, claws, or otherwise on. The dark clouds had finally gathered and snow was beginning to lazily drift down from the sky. The entire field was churned with hundreds of footprints, but there was no one left in the compound save for Vhetin, Jay, Tal Wam, and the two bounties in the storage facility.

Thank te Manda for the shock and awe method, Vhetin thought dizzily. The heady sense of adrenaline was finally beginning to taper off. The Imps ran rather than stand and fight.

A chill ran through his body as he sighed. "Thanks, Jay. You came just in time."

The woman nodded and lowered her rifle with a huff that fogged the air outside her bulky winter mask. "No problem. That guy really had you on your toes, didn't he?"

"He did," Vhetin admitted. "Whoever he was, he was well trained in a kind of martial arts that even I've never seen. Some kind of variation of Teräs Käsi. He must have been an officer or a special forces trooper, sent to oversee operations here."

"Never mind his fighting style," Jay said. "Are you all right?"

Vhetin grunted. "Sprained wrist. Maybe a cracked rib. Nothing I can't handle."

He limped back to the storage facility, his body shivering violently as another chill ran through him. Then came another. He paused, confused, as a third ice-cold spasm almost immediately coursed through him, now accompanied by a wave of dizziness. His vision darkened for a moment and the ground seemed to lurch beneath his feet.

He stumbled and rested a hand against a nearby wall to support himself. He tried to catch his breath, but breathing was becoming harder and harder. He began to wheeze, fighting to suck in every frigid breath.

"Cin?" Jay asked, coming up behind him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

He winced; even through his armor's flak vest and jumpsuit, her touch burned like fire. He shrugged off her hand and staggered away, deeper into the snow.

What's happening? What...wh-

His eyelids felt heavy and he had a hard time keeping his bearings. He shook his head to clear it, then again. Darkness began to crowd the edges of his vision. His entire world was spinning around him. Then he saw a glaring red light flashing in the bottom right corner of his HUD.

His heating systems were offline. And had been for about a minute and a half.

Oh no.

He turned back to Jay, who was staring at him with worry. He tried to speak, tried to tell her what was wrong. But words failed him. He fell to his knees, sensation shrinking away from his limbs. His body grew numb, his extremities tingling and his head pounding. He tried to rise to his feet, failed, and collapsed into the snow.

Darkness swallowed him.

"Vhetin?" she asked, shaking him. "Vhetin, what's wrong?"

Vhetin staggered to the ground with a groan, then collapsed silently into the snow without a word, twitching slightly. Jay gasped and was instantly at his side. Her partner murmured something and clawed at the snow. He didn't rise again.

His armor's heat systems, she realized. The power must have run out. He's freezing to death.

She didn't have any time to waste, then. Grasping him under the shoulders, she began dragging him toward the storage facility across the courtyard as quickly as she could manage. He groaned something and fidgeted in her grip and she had to adjust her hold, throwing his arm across her shoulders and supporting him as best she could. His boots dragged in the deep layer of snow beneath them and his helmeted head lolled against her shoulder.

Kark it, he was heavy. She grunted and pulled harder, almost dropping him as she readjusted her grip on the armored Mandalorian. She was making decent progress when he suddenly twitched in her arms. Her boots slipped against the snow underfoot and she collapsed back against the ground, his heavy weight on top of her.

"Kriff," he hissed, shoving him off of her chest. He muttered something but didn't wake up again. She hissed cold air between her teeth and struggled to her feet again, pulling her unconscious partner to his feet again.

"Any time you want to wake up, big guy," she muttered as she threw his arm over her shoulders and set off again, "would be just fine for me."

She heard a low rumbling roar behind her and she turned, thinking maybe the mysterious trooper had come back with some reinforcements. What she saw stopped her dead in her tracks. It was worse. So much worse.

A massive black and gray cloud of dirt and snow was blasting across the frozen wasteland directly for her. The cloud must have been hundreds of meters high and miles long and as it drew closer, the roar began to drown out all other sounds of the tundra. The wind picked up and ice chips began flying into Jay's face, slicing through her facemask and coat like they were made of razor blades.

It appeared the snowstorm had finally caught up with them.

Oh shab, she thought. This day just keeps getting better and better. She grabbed Vhetin more securely and redoubled her efforts to drag him through the snow. Her progress was no faster than it had been before. She cursed as the cloud bore down on her, then activated her comlink and shouted, "Tal Wam! Get out here!"

The alien's blue-gray face appeared in the window of the storage facility. "B-but I guarding the prisoners!" he shouted at her. "Guarding the prisoners-"

"I don't care! Leave them! I need your help!"

"But-"

"Now!"

She stumbled and Vhetin's head flopped. He twitched in her arms and suddenly woke, staring wildly around at his surroundings.

"What…" he tried to get his feet under him, failed, and fell. Jay lost her hold on him, and he collapsed forward onto his hands and knees. He shook his head and looked up around at himself. "What happened?"

"You lost consciousness." She got her arms under his left shoulder and hauled him to his feet, half-helping, half-dragging him towards the storage facility. "Your armor's heating systems must have run out. But if you don't mind, I'm kind of in a hurry here, so-"

The roar of the snow cloud crested a snowy dune a few hundred meters away and washed toward her like an out-of-control tsunami. She had seconds at the most before it was upon her. Vhetin muttered something that she didn't hear, then gasped, "I... I think I can walk."

"Not fast enough," Jay said, gritting her teeth as she dragged Vhetin along. "Trust me."

He finally got his feet under him and together they limped as fast as possible toward their shelter. It helped, but it still wasn't fast enough. The storage facility was still too far away. Tal Wam appeared, sprinting as fast as his lanky legs would carry him, and grabbed Vhetin's other shoulder, adding his strength to their struggle.

The snow cloud cleared the ridge leading into the compound as the three of them neared the storage facility. The roar of the wind was all-consuming now, and they had to struggle against the gale that blasted around them. The wind slowed their progress and every second lost only brought the snow cloud closer. The snowstorm blocked out the sun now and they were thrown into darkness.

They stumbled the rest of the way to the storage facility, and Vhetin collapsed to the floor the moment he was inside. He dragged himself into a corner like a wounded nexu and let out a hacking cough. Tal Wam disappeared into the shadows, scurrying off to Force-knew where with a terrified squeal.

Jay threw herself around the corner and hit the door controls with a clenched fist. With a low hum and a metallic rumble, the reinforced door closed just as an explosion of snow hit the building, making every wall groan in protest. There was a high-pitched whine as the door locked and sealed against the cold. The maelstrom outside enveloped the facility, surrounding the duracrete facility in a shroud of howling wind and flurries of dark snow. It pounded against the doors like an enraged beast, battering its paws against the barrier in fury.

Jay let out a long breath that she wasn't aware she'd been holding. She collapsed against the door and let out a dazed laugh.

"That," she breathed to no one in particular, "was about as close as you can get."

As soon as she'd regained her breath, Jay hit the buttons on a control panel near the door and the lights flickered on one by one. She turned and saw rows of sealed cargo crates of all shapes and sizes packed into the area just inside. At the head of one aisle were two inert bodies; Pollamo and Kokr, who hadn't moved since Jay had last seen them. They were still nice and unconscious and would most likely remain that way for the rest of the night. Jay saw with satisfaction that Tal Wam had secured the two with stun cuffs in her absence; they wouldn't be going anywhere soon.

Vhetin let out another deep cough and began fumbling with one of his belt pouches, his whole body trembling. She knelt next to him and took off her heavy overcoat. She wrapped it around his shoulders and he accepted the makeshift blanket with a terse nod of thanks. Even if the damage was only minor, he still needed to regain as much body heat as he could.

"Are you okay?"

The bounty hunter nodded and coughed again, then pulled three plastoid tubes of a clear liquid from his belt pouch. He snapped them and they began to glow with an orange light. "TE h-heating tubes," he explained, tucking them into his flak vest. "When activated, they throw off a couple hundred Tanntrens of heat for a couple minutes."

Jay pulled her thinner underjacket more securely around her own shoulders. "As long as you don't start stuffing them down your pants."

He chuckled quietly, then broke down into coughs again. When they eased off, allowing him to breath, he gasped, "T-they aren't as good as actual body h-heat, but they should work fine for a while."

Jay cracked a bit of a smile. "Yeah, well I'm not going to strip down to my underwear and snuggle up nice and close to keep you warm, so keep dreaming Mando boy."

"D-damn," he wheezed. "And here I was hoping."

Further conversation was cut off by a rattle and a crash from somewhere deeper in the room; probably Tal Wam looking for food or something. The storage facility groaned loudly as the wind buffeted it from outside, but the doors held against the storm outside. Jay sighed and let her head thump uncomfortably against the wall behind her. She closed her eyes and let out a long, relieved breath; it was difficult to do, seeing as her body was shivering almost as badly as Vhetin's, but it was a relief to be able to sit and rest. She'd had enough of running and shooting for one day.

Sometime later, Vhetin coughed and muttered, "J-Jay?"

She opened her eyes; her partner was slumped against the wall, his helmeted head hanging limp to one side. She could tell he was looking at her though he looked only barely conscious.

"What's up?" she asked.

It took a while for him to work up the strength to respond. He was breathing hard, as if simple respiration was a monumental struggle. When he did finally speak again, he coughed again and hissed out, "You are one hell of a hunter, Jay. Saved my shebs back there. You're mandokarla. Vor'e bal kote par gar, burc'ya."

She smiled. "Thanks, Vhetin. Even though I'm not sure what even half of all that means."

He laughed softly. His mirth quickly dissolved away into another round of coughing. Once he was breathing steadily again he fell silent. Jay waited for a moment, making sure her partner was all right, and quickly found he had lapsed into unconsciousness once again. As soon as she was sure the heat tubes were doing their job, she stood with a groan and moved to check on their prisoners.

Pollamo and Kokr had been cuffed to a nearby shelf supporter. The supporter was made of durasteel, while the stun cuffs were made of folded cortosis. Even if they had an arc cutter on their person it would take days for them to cut through their restraints. Currently they were both still unconscious; Pollamo was sniffling while his empty eye socket twitched and Kokr was muttering to himself and drooling.

Charming, she thought. These guys are truly the cream of the universe's collective crop.

Satisfied the two men weren't going anywhere, she headed back to Vhetin's corner and settled down next to him. She glanced over at him and found he was sleeping quietly. His breathing was quiet and slow, his head resting against the wall behind him.

She smiled; the image of this seemingly invincible Mandalorian in such a vulnerable state… it was strangely endearing.

She settled herself more comfortably against the wall and decided to get some shut-eye herself. If this was going to be her career from now on, she had some pretty rough days ahead of her. It would be nice to take a bit of a break, even if it was only for a little while.

She took two breaths, then fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.