The light was failing when Mando approached Ktar's base. Ice peaks sped by him as he travelled along the ice fields. He was sitting alone in a beaten up anti grav speeder he had rented from the space port. The speeder reminded Din of the old land speeders that were popular on Tattooine, only this one was completely enclosed to protect against the elements. The speeder was painted black which normally would be useful for finding it against the snow and ice, but now when he didn't want to be seen, Din knew it would mean that he had to be extra careful as he got closer to his destination.
He checked the information readings in the vehicle again, he could see that the compound should be visible soon. He slowed the vehicle and brought it to a stop behind some snow dunes which according to the display should be on the opposite side of Ktar's base to where Bossk had landed earlier. As soon as the speeder was stopped Mando could feel the biting cold even through the speeder's canopy.
According to the information he had gotten there should be an unguarded air vent within a few metres of where he had stopped, although he had no idea if it existed or not.
If not, it'll have to be plan B, Mando thought.
Din pressed the canopy release button and jumped out onto the ice, taking care to crouch down to keep the ice dunes between him and any lookouts that may be scouting the area. He reached back into the speeder and retrieved a pair of macrobinoculars, surveying the immediate area for any signs of the air vent. He could see nothing. He cautiously moved up to the top of the dune, lieing flat against the ice when he got to the top. He took another look through the macrobinoculars and adjusted the settings, straight ahead around seventy metres away he could see the vent, the cover was cleverly camouflaged to blend in against the perma ice, but the heat signatures from it were unmistakable. He took another moment to look around the area but could see nothing else. There was no other cover from where he was up to the vent.
I'm going to stick out like a bantha in a cantina, he thought.
Satisfied that he knew the area, Din slid back down the dune to the waiting speeder, stashed the macrobinoculars and took time to check his pistol.
Due to the ice it took him much long than he would have liked to get to the vent, but eventually Mando made it there without being seen. He forced the top of the vent open and looked inside. The optics in his Mandalorian helmet worked to penetrate the darkness within the vent. Din could see that the metallic vent dropped vertically. Every metre the circular side was ridged where the durasteel panels had been connected together. Din peered even further down the shaft but he could not see the bottom of it. The vent shift was thin but Mando thought he should be able to fit into it.
No option
Mando lifted himself into the vent and slowly found footholds in the uneven connections between the panels. He gradually and carefully decended into the darkness, the warm air within the thin tube was a marked contrast to the outside temperatures. He gradually got into a rhythm of testing his footing before moving his hands down to the next section. After decending for a few minutes Mando shifted his body to allow him to see further down the tube. He could now see the bottom, and could see the metallic floor branched into two new horizontal tubes leading off intk separate directions. When he reached the bottom Mando hesitated and listened. From the direction in front of him he could hear vague sounds, from behind him there was silence.
Din moved towards the sounds. The horizontal vent shafts were wider than the vertical tube he had decended down, but he still had to crawl on his hands and knees to move along it. The shaft turned corners as he moved through it, the sounds he could hear were getting louder, Din could now make out voices in amongst the other background sounds. Mando made one more turn and he could finally see light ahead of him. The vent shaft had a grill in the floor, bright light streamed through it, and the voices he could hear vibrated through the durasteel metal.
He carefully moved to the grill and took a look at the room below.