Well, this was a relatively fast update, so I hope you guys are happy about it. Next one might take a little longer cause I will focus on advancing the story in Spanish, but you will get the next one eventually xD
So before I say anything, I dunno If you realized that the rating of this story went down from M to K and I erased the "lemon" warning from the description. That´s because I was planning on doing a sex scene but I changed my mind, I know it would be interesting to explore it with the force bond but after talking to my fanfic counselors and beta readers I just realized there is no place for it here. It doesn´t fit in the story I have planned and, if I do it, it would just be because "It has to be there" and I just don´t want to write like that. I am sorry for the ones who wanted to read it but it just is not the time.
Anyways, I really hope you enjoy this chapter. I think it´s the longest I have written this far and a character I am sure you guys are waiting for finally enters the game, I hope I do it right xD
Also, regarding some people pointing a few mistakes in my work the last chapter I got a new beta. Her fanfiction name is Cutegallifreyan and she is writing a great KOTOR story, go check her out xD
Thank you to all the ones who followed and favorited my story, it means a lot to me. And especially to the ones who took their time to review, that encourages me to keep writing :)
MrSergo15: Yeah, not much longer until we meet Yoda xD
MargsMonday: Well thank you, though I have to say it´s mostly thanks to my recently acquired beta reader xD
Well… Without further delay, let´s get to chapter 10
The Battle of Hoth
The base was in complete chaos, evacuation alarms rang everywhere while pilots, officers, ground troopers and everyone in the facility ran to reach the transports or their combat positions.
Nothing about the situation was encouraging, it was obvious that they wouldn't be able to hold the Imperial assault for too long since their resources were very limited. Echo base had been a complete failure. They hadn't been able to adapt to the hard weather and even if it was a great hiding place, they were lacking in transports, fighters and ships. That would most likely be a handicap now that they needed to evacuate as fast as they could.
While he ran towards his speeder, Luke mentally repeated the plan. It was plain and simple, two fighters to protect each transport. The Ion cannon would fire a few times to disable any ship that was trying to cut them off. It was risky, no doubt about it. But the young rebel wasn't able to think about a better option because there wasn't much of one in the first place.
He managed to not think about his kiss with Mara, while the battle lasted. He promised her they would talk about it, but unfortunately, that had to be after he returned from Dagobah. He had no idea how long it would take him to finish his Jedi training. It could be days, months or even years. Even though he didn't like that last option at all. He hoped that the Jedi master would allow him to leave Dagobah every once in a while; because a year without seeing Mara was something he didn't think he would be able to accomplish.
"The first transport is away!" the speakers announced, and nearly the entire base cheered about that. They now knew the plan worked, and that was something. "The first transport is away!"
Luke smiled, well, now they might have a chance. However, he cleared his mind of any thoughts as soon as they got to the hangar. Dak was already waiting for him, standing on their snow speeder. Luke had decided the pilots who usually were wingmen would be gunners this time since they didn't have enough ships for everyone to fly. Rogue Squadron had only been given five fighters and there were other groups also getting ready for battle, and it didn't look good.
Dak would go with him. Wes would be Wedge´s gunner, and Kit would be Zev´s, that was for sure. However, it was the other pilots' distribution that gave him the biggest headache. In the end, he decided to promote Tycho to the main pilot, so he wouldn't be Hobbie´s gunner. His spot was filled with Mara, and Kassan would be the recently promoted Alderaanian´s gunner. Everyone was making the last preparations for the battle when Luke arrived, and Dak asked: "Feeling alright, boss?"
"Just like new, Dak, how about you?" the younger pilot smirked significantly.
"Just like new? Can´t say I blame you, boss. Did you come from seeing Mara?" Luke turned around to look at his friend.
"What are you implying, lieutenant Ralter?"
"Oh, nothing" Dak answered, with a big smile "I am just saying that a beautiful lady's company can heal anything. Now let's go, I feel like I could take down the whole empire myself."
Luke just shook his head and smirked at the young pilot's positive attitude "I know what you mean… And both got ready to take off.
….
"Echo station five, Seven. We're on our way" informed Luke via comms, while the Speeders got close to the battle area. General Veers´ squadron, at least seven AT-ATs, walked right towards the shield generator. If they lost it, they would be without energy to maintain the planetary shield and the evacuation would be a complete failure, they would also be the target of a planetary bombing from the space, so they needed to hold them back as much as they could.
The huge ground vehicles weren't fast, especially walking on Snow, but their fire was strong enough to make explosions deadly for any rebel near the impact, even if they were undercover.
Luke wasn't too sure about how they would manage, but he had a pair of ideas "Alright, boys, keep tight now." The leader said.
"Luke, I´ve no approach vector! I´m not set!" Hihis gunner shouted from behind, but the Jedi didn't flinch, that wasn't too important at the moment.
"Steady, Dak," he said. First things first, they needed to do an attack run and see if those vehicles were affected by their blaster fire, he made sure Hobbie was at his wing and he told the plan to the others "Attack pattern Delta, go now!" Hobbie followed him on his wing during the flight "Alright. I'm coming in." Announced Luke. Both speeders made a tight turn and attacked the walkers from above, shooting blasters against them with full strength. After that, they flew under the legs and made a second run before getting away. "Hobbie, you still with me?"
"Here I am, boss."
It wasn't going well for the rebels at all. A few speeders had been blown up from the sky, and the walkers were slaughtering the ground troops, despite their cover, mercilessly. They had also lost a few cannons and turrets. The young rebel started to think that they were not going to get anything good from there.
The rebel fighters turned again, following the leader and attacked trying to cause the walkers as much damage as possible, but the result was exactly the same.
"That armor is too strong for blasters!" Rogue Leader said, even though everyone noticed that by that time. They flew above the AT-AT´s so they could keep themselves out of their fire range. The young farmboy tried coming up with a plan, and he thought about something… It was a bit unorthodox, but it just might work. He was out of ideas. "Rogue group, use your harpoons and tow cables! Go for the legs! It might be our only chance of stopping them!"
While Hobbie followed Luke, Mara couldn't help but be completely shocked in the gunner's seat. That was one of the craziest ideas she had ever heard, and there was no way she could have come up with something similar. Such ancient things like harpoons and tow cables to take down an AT-AT? That boy never stopped surprising her in the weirdest ways she could imagine. And to be honest the redhead thought that it just might work.
Her fighter followed Luke's a few seconds until the leader made his move. "Alright, standby, Dak."
"Luke, we have a malfunction in fire control" warned Dak, with a worried tone. It wasn't too important for the harpoon but if they wanted to fire blasters again it could be a serious problem. "I'll have to cut in the auxiliary."
The pilot shook his head, there would be time to worry about the fire control later. He now needed his gunner completely focused on the task at hand "Just hang on!" He was interrupted by a nearby explosion, a sign of another snowspeeder being blown up from the sky "Hang on, Dak! Get ready to fire that town cable!" The young Jedi flew his fighter against the nearest AT-AT, he kept low to pass between the legs. However, just before he reached the optimum firing range, another walker fired and hit him lightly on the backside of the speeder, which exploded with flames. Dak's scream made Luke worry a lot about him, and the harpoon wasn't shot as planned, so the pilot turned his head "Dak?" He asked, still with the lightest of hopes that his gunner was just unconscious "Dak!"
Still no answer…maybe it was the force, but for some reason, Luke knew that the young man who had been his wingman for over a year; the promising pilot he took under his tutelage, was gone.
But he couldn't think about that. The imperial walkers kept going forward. They were closer and closer to the shield generator and he had to recover or the countless loses the Alliance was having would be in vain. Dak´s death would be all in vain.
He sighed and looked for Wedge in the comms. "Rogue two!"
"Copy, Rogue leader," answered the Corellian.
"Wedge, I lost my gunner. You'll have to make the shot…" He wanted to keep it professional. He didn't want to say that Dak was dead out loud, but Wedge got the message clearly and couldn't help but look over his shoulder. Wes was completely tense, Dak was his best friend after all, but they were Rogues, the Alliance was counting on them and they couldn't fail, so he didn't say anything and focused on what the leader was saying. "I'll cover for you! Steady your harpoon, follow me on the next pass!"
"Coming around, Rogue Leader." Wedge announced. Both Speeders flew above the walker for a new attack run, while Hobbie covered them in Luke's wing.
"Ready, Rogue two," Luke said as they got close to the firing range.
"Activate Harpoon!" ordered the Corellian pilot to his gunner, who punched the trigger almost with rage. The harpoon attached itself to one of the AT-AT´s legs "Good shot, Janson!" Seeing the maneuver's success, Luke and Wedge started to fly around the vehicle's legs, until the leader decided it was enough.
"Cable out! Let it go!"Luke ordered, and Wedge repeated the order to his Gunner.
"De-attach cable!"
"Cable de-attached!" Janson announced. The three Rogue pilots looked as the enormous walker tried to take a step but failed when he tripped with the cable around its legs. It then fell down and crashed into the snow head first. Mara and Hobbie took a shot then and this time, the annoying ground transport was blown up into pieces.
"Woaah! That got him!" Wedge stated in a celebrated tone.
"I saw it, Wedge, good work," Luke congratulated both of them and actually sighed in relief. At least they had a way to take those things down. It was something.
Mara was completely shocked; she had never flown with someone who thought about plans and strategies that fast in combat situations. Skywalker was, without any doubt, a great battle commander. "Hahaha! Take that! You saw it, Mara?" asked Hobbie, while he celebrated their momentary victory.
"It´s great," she answered without a lot of emotion. She was kind of out of it, to be honest. A part of her couldn't believe the Empire's actions on this planet. The rebels didn't stand a chance even with Luke´s strategy, they were literally being slaughtered. They could have blown up the shield generator much earlier without engaging in a ground assault which lead to mass casualties.
"It´s our turn!" her pilot's voice kicked her back to reality "Let´s take down one of those metal dogs!" the Emperor´s hand just nodded and waited for her turn to fire.
Hobbie didn't take long to fly to the optimum position. "Punch it, Mara!" The redhead, obviously, didn't miss the shot, and the harpoon attached perfectly to one of the AT-AT´s legs. Everything went smoothly, Hobbie made four laps around the vehicle and they de-attached the cable. The Walker tripped and fell, just like the first one, and this time Tycho and Kassan got the kill.
"Yeah! We did it! One less to go!" screamed Hobbie.
Luke smiled; at least his Rogues had initiative...even though he wasn't able to take down any of the walkers there was still hope, his pilots were the best of the best after all. "Good job Hobbie, Mara, keep it up.
"No problem, leader. We got this." This time the redhead was the one answering the comms, making Skywalker smile even more. However, he had to do a close twist in the air to get out of the AT-ATs´ firing range, Zev and Kit were next to him, so he decided it was time to go back to action.
"Rogue Three, are you alright?" he called, and Zev answered.
"Yeah, I'm with you Rogue Leader" Luke nodded, it was the veteran pilot's turn to shoot, Wedge was recharging the harpoon for his next attack.
"Push that harpoon, I'll cover for you!" He ordered. He flew low towards two incoming walkers, that were a little farther apart than the first one, which made it more complicated to reach them in time… apart from the two of them firing at the same time and making it more difficult to avoid the blasters "Watch that crossfire, boys!"
"Set for position three," Zev said to the others, so they were able to cover them. "Steady…"
"Stay tight and low!" If their ships ended going up too much the blasters would hit them.
"C´mon, grandpa!" shouted Wes. "Show them what you are capable…"
The coms went completely silent when Zev and Kit´s speeder exploded when he was hit by one of the AT-AT´s attacks.
Nobody reacted or said anything… The euphoria everyone had because of the two wins they had managed to pull out by destroying the previous walkers vanished like smoke; when they lost two friends in just a second. And there was absolutely nothing left of them. Rogue Squadron hadn't had any casualties since they had been created, and in less than twenty minutes three of them were dead already.
Suddenly, everyone held their breath when their leader's fighter started falling down after being hit as well.
"Luke!" Mara shouted, now completely worried "Luke! Answer me!"
"Hobbie! Mara!" the falling pilot screamed "I've been hit!" and everyone felt the relief of at least knowing he was alive "I can't go on! Wedge, protect the base…!" And then the communication was cut off.
"Luke! Luke!" The redhead called in desperation. She wasn't sure what was happening to her anymore, but she had completely lost control, "Answer me! Luke!"
"Mara, easy! Probably the comms just went off because of the crash! Luke will be okay!" Her pilot tried to make her calm down and think clearly, and that seemed to bring her back to her senses "Mara! Look! There he is! Wait… What is he…? Oh C'mon! That can't be true…"
"What?!" asked the female pilot, still feeling nervous "What´s wrong?!"
"I think the commander just destroyed an AT-AT all by himself with a lightsaber… Yup… I see him hanging from a walker's belly. Don't worry, Mara, he can handle himself."
Right in the middle of that conversation, the shield generator was blown up to pieces "Shit! We lost the generator! Rogues, fall back!" the new leader ordered. "Go get your X-wings! Remember the plan, only two fighters with each transport, try to make sure they pass the blockade safely! We'll meet at the gathering point, may the force be with you!"
Everyone made clear they had the instructions and they flew towards the place where the X-Wings were waiting for them, far away from the battle they had just lost.
….
A few minutes later, three snowspeeders landed in the designated place and the six Rogues jumped out of them. Everything that just happened could be read in their faces. They had lost three friends, and Luke had crashed. Everything that had happened could be defined as an overwhelming defeat for the alliance. Apparently, a lot of transports managed to pass the blockade and jump to hyperspace, but there were reports of at least eleven of them being destroyed. There were at least two hundred people dead, plus all the casualties from the battlefield. Also, everyone who was still in the base was in danger, since the Imperials had gotten inside.
Everyone exchanged sad looks until Mara looked around and asked after she counted the ships "Where is the commander's starfighter?"
The other pilots did the same and looked around, looking for Luke's X-Wing with R2 inside it, but it wasn't there "Maybe he went off already?" Wes guessed.
"I don't think so," Countered the redhead. "When Wedge ordered retreat, he was still with the AT-ATs."
"Maybe he went back to the base," said the Corellian pilot. The Emperor´s hand suddenly turned to look at him; that was literally the worst idea he could have mentioned.
"And why would he even think about doing something that stupid?"
"Well…" explained Wedge. "I heard they hit high command, and neither the Millennium Falcon or Princess Leia are in the evacuation count yet. You know how he is, he might have gone to help…"
"Oh for Force sakes! That Bantha Brain!" She shouted.
"Mara!" Tycho called her "Mara, wait! Where the hell are you going?!" But the redhead wasn't listening to him anymore. She was walking fast towards the half-destroyed Echo base.
…..
"Why are you still here?!" asked a very annoyed princess Leia when Han Solo stepped into the command center.
"I heard the command center has been hit," he just answered.
"You have your clearance to leave!" she said, not paying him much attention. She was too focused on making sure every single one of the base's residents were evacuated correctly.
Han wasn't happy with the answer, though. They might have their differences, but he was not going to allow Leia to die under the debris. So he jumped over some broken energy cables so he could get close to her "Don't worry, I'll leave. But first I'm gonna get you to your ship."
"Your Highness, we must reach this last transport, it's our only hope!" C3PO informed with a little begging tone in his robotic voice, but she wasn't listening to anyone. She just tossed Han and the droid out of her way and kept giving instructions.
"Send all troops from sector twelve to the south port to protect the fighters." A new explosion interrupted, making the earth shake and the protocol droid almost fell over Han. Then the speakers blared out.
"Imperial troops have entered the base! Imperial troops have…"it couldn't finish the sentence because Echo base ran out of power.
"C'mon, let's go" Han touched the young girl's arm softly, and she looked at him. This time the Corellian´s eyes didn't have arrogance or cockiness, just sincere worry about her, and maybe that was what finally made her come to her senses.
"Give the evacuation code signal…" She ordered the last engineers working, with a defeated tone and letting herself be led by Han. "And get to the transports!" She added as the last command before disappearing into the hallway.
….
Mara advanced across Echo Base´s half destroyed ice hallways. She cursed under her breath that she wasn't able to project the force so she could sense her surroundings; that way she would be able to locate Skywalker in the blink of an eye.
She grabbed her blaster but put it on stun. There were imperial troops here, and none of them knew her identity, and they would mistake her for another rebel. She didn't want to kill them.
She could hear explosions and blaster fire, but that didn't make her stop. She ran across the snow labyrinth until she ran into some company, but not what she had expected. Three white dressed ice troopers with hoods, aimed at her as soon as she appeared in their sight. Her instinct was to roll on the floor and she did well because she dodged the three blaster shots, which would have killed her, otherwise. She kicked the first one in the knee without even standing up, and she shot the second one and made them fall unconscious.
The third one was already aiming his blaster at her head, but when she stood up she grabbed their arm and made a sudden move to dislocate their shoulder. While she still had them, she firmly grabbed the trooper with his broken knee and kicked the weapon out of his hands. She let go of the trooper she was holding and stunned him, just to turn around and stun the last one, while he tried to take his weapon back. The redhead sighed and just kept on walking.
…..
Han didn´t let go of Leia's hand, while C-3PO followed them, continually asking for them to wait for him. They had almost reached the last transport waiting for delayed people. However, a huge explosion made some ice blocks to fall down from the ceiling and block their way. Han growled in annoyance, but he didn't lose his temper and spoke to the coms "Transport, this is Solo. Take off, I can't get to you, I will take her off on the Falcon, c'mon."
Just like that, they turned around and started walking the opposite way to try and reach the hanger where the Corellian freighter was waiting for them...but they needed to basically get to the other side of a base full of imperials. It was not going to be easy.
They turned a corner. Han raised his blaster immediately, aiming for the person they had just met, who was aiming back at him.
"Mara!" Leia said when she recognized her, and the smuggler lowered his weapon, sighing in relief. "What are you doing here?" asked the princess."
"Luke's X-Wing is not where it should be. I came to see if he came on back looking for you two…" Leia looked at Han, and she shook her head."
"No… I don't think Luke is here. I believe his fighter was a little away from the others, or at least was there when he landed it before the battle."
"And why, in the force's name, would that stupid farmboy do that?" the redhead asked, she was starting to get annoyed by that whole situation. Leia was about to answer, but Han interrupted.
"Look, I hate to interrupt this interesting conversation about the kid…but we need to get out of here," he said. "Don't worry, Luke can take care of himself, he has that Jedi force stuff with him and he is one of the best pilots I know… Red. I think it´s best for you to come with us. You won't be able to reach your X-Wing, the base´s accesses are destroyed and there are no transports left, I am already going to Home One with a passenger, I don't mind having an extra one."
Mara thought about her options and she saw that was the best "Alright, let's move."
They advanced a few meters until they ran into a blaster fight. The rebels were trying to hold back some Imperials who were entering the base across a huge hole they made in one of the ice walls. It was going well for the rebels, as they were able to kill most of the stormtroopers. At that moment, there were only four invaders left against eight defenders. Soon enough, the imperials fell, and a huge feeling of relief came over the victorious rebel, but then Mara got completely tense as a cold sweat started going down her back and forehead.
"Red?" asked Han "Are you al…"
"We need to get out of here…" She suddenly said.
"Mara? What are you talking about?" Leia reached to touch her arm but the redhead turned around to look at her.
"We need to go now, Leia! Let´s go!"
No one reacted until the sound of a deep breathing filled the place. It was low and robotic, and it seemed like it had to fight for every breath of oxygen; but it made every single person there to look at the entrance again. Some of the rebels gulped, while some aimed their guns and waited for the new enemy to arrive. Han did the same, but Mara grabbed his arm "Are you freaking nuts, Solo?" She yelled, shaking him "You can't win! Let´s go! We need to get to the Falcon" You need to get Leia out of here!"
The Corellian stared at her for a few seconds, while the breathing was getting closer and closer… And suddenly a huge ice block flew inside the room and hit two of the rebels there; they crashed into a wall and slipped down, leaving blood behind them; they didn't move again.
That convinced Han "Let´s go."
The three of them, with 3PO following close, ran out of there just when a masked figure, completely dressed in black and with a cape behind him, stepped into the base. Two of the six remaining rebels fired against him, but Darth Vader just blocked the blaster fire with his hand, then he raised the other one to make a part of the ceiling fall down on top of his attackers.
With a gesture, he made the four weapons remaining in the rebels' hands to fly away. He flexed his hand in a claw shape and aimed it at one of them. He immediately grabbed their throat and then he started choking, struggling to breathe.
Six imperial troopers showed up, following the Sith Lord and opened fire, killing two of the three retreating rebel soldiers. Still choking his victim, Vader trapped the last one using the Force and made a sudden gesture with his arm. The rebel flew and crashed against a wall head first, leaving a blood mark on it and dying instantly.
Once he made sure the victim he was choking was not breathing anymore he just released him and he started walking after the ones who were running away.
The soldiers were a little ahead of them and had already caught up with the rebels, who were still a little far from the hangar. Han turned around and started firing, taking two imperials down. Mara did the same, though her gun was set for stun, and she put another two unconscious. They had lost too much time and there were three other troopers as they got there, so they needed to look for cover behind some debris. Leia reached the hangar's door. "It´s locked!" she said, desperately trying to open it.
While the princess struggled to open the door, Han and the redhead tried to hold their chasers back "hurry up, Leia!" asked Han.
Mara looked at the door and made a little gesture with her fingers, the door finally opened and she looked at Han. "GO! I'll cover for you!" He nodded and disappeared through the door, still firing to cover for Leia. When Mara got up as well, she just met face to face with Darth Vader. They glared at each other for a few moments and a quiver crossed Mara's spine, she knew the Sith had recognized her… what would his reaction be?
Vader stayed put for a few seconds, while the troopers were apparently waiting for his command.
"Open fire…" he said with his deep voice. Mara reacted quickly and crossed the door before any fire could hit her.
"Run, Red!" she heard Han encouraging her from the Falcon's ramp, while he fired against the imperials chasing her, and she finally stepped into the ship. However, she could immediately see things were not going smoothly. A lot of steam was coming out from the Falcon's walls and Chewbacca was complaining all over the place, the ship made a lot of effort to start running… but it didn't quite start.
"How´s this?" asked Han to the Wookie, while he tried to fix whatever was broken.
"Would it help if I got out and push?" asked Leia sarcastically, and Han looked at her, very upset.
"It might!" he responded in the same tone. The Falcon was still recovering from that forced hyperspace jump they had to do to get back to Home One from the Bothawi system… that damned droid bounty hunter had hit them almost completely and the smuggler had been trying to fix it since then.
"Sir… might I suggest that you?" started asking C-3PO, but the question was cut off by a very clear gesture to shut up from Han "It can wait…"
Mara followed the Corellian to the cabin, the power went on, and it sparked when Han tried to make it work. Mara just punched the panel, and it finally started working.
"Thanks," Han said.
"We are never gonna get past that blockade with this piece of junk…" pointed out the redhead, as an obvious fact.
"There are a few surprises left in this sweetheart." the Corellian countered. The imperials already were setting up a heavy cannon to take down the ship. A blaster came out from below the Falcon and shot a series of quick blasts against them, interrupting the process.
Leia and Mara were in the cabin, sitting on the passengers' spots when Chewbacca finally got in "C´mon! C'mon!"Han hurried his co-pilot. "Switch over… let's hope we don't have a burn out…"Mara raised an eyebrow, the situation was not too great, to say the least. Luckily, the ship seemed to work this time "See?" gloated the Corellian to the princess, who was sitting behind him.
"Someday you gonna be wrong and I just hope I'm there to see it," Leia replied, but he didn't seem to be listening to her.
"Punch it!" ordered Han. Luckily, when the Wookie pushed the start the ship flew out of the hangar, while Darth Vader just looked at the scene like he was not concerned.
And this is the battle of Hoth! What do you guys think? I hope I was able to recreate what happened in the movie and to integrate Mara correctly. It´s not one of my personal favorite battles but I think the defeat feeling the rebels have is an interesting thing to explore and write, please tell me what you guys think about it xD
Darth Vader! I know I took my time putting him into the story, but someone like him deserved an epic entrance, I dunno if I made justice to him but I can assure you I did my best. Just for what is worth I was playing the imperial march in my mind the whole time I spent writing that scene. Welp, Mara is in the Falcon and Luke is going to Dagobah… Our couple is split, I am sorry but it was the best for the story and for what I have planned moving forward. Their next meeting will be spectacular, I can promise you that, even though I don´t know how many chapters it will take, there is a lot to write before that.
That´s all I have to say, for now, you know I appreciate every opinion, suggestion or critique on your part so please tell me anything in the comments.
See you guys next chapter, don´t forget to review, be good and may the Force be with you :P