Chapter 23.

Last edited the 25th of February, 2015. As always, cheers and enjoy!

It had been a while since Torian had been fueled by rage as he was now. He refused to think of Gault right now. The urge to rend his head from his body too strong a force to resist fantasizing about. Torian had never believed himself a violent person, a warrior, yes, but not prone to hatred or unwarranted violence. However, at this moment, to think of the Devaronian would just be lending his aggression more power. Torian focused on what he was good at; tracking. He needed to make use of all his skills and to speed up a process that was delicate and time consuming. He had minutes of sunlight left and it had begun to snow. Soon there would be no tracks for him to follow. Fear was not unknown to him, any skilled warrior knew that fear was useful once mastered. Mandalorians learned to master their sense of fear young through training exercises. The height at which fear climbed today was unparalleled. At its crescendo, Torian felt frantic and even panicked. It was unfamiliar territory.

Torian's first impression of Hoth had not been favorable. The sub-zero temperatures were an antiseptic to any natural odor that might have tried to thrive. That robbed Torian of an essential tracking tool. Tracks in the snow were hardly reliable, much like in sand. The wisp of a wind could wipe away any foot prints left by friend or foe. Furthermore, real light was scarce and it was dangerous to run around with your own artificial source.

Torian took his chances, he had seven minutes, so no time to spare.

Torian gritted his teeth more from frustration than the cold as he powered up the speeder Gault had returned to base with. Its engine sputtered as it struggled to ignite in the increasing cold and howling winds. The winds always picked up right before sunset. It took several tries, wasted invaluable time, but Torian was off like a Xuva out of Dar'Manda as soon as the engine could handle it. The wind cut through the joints of his armor even with the extra padding and thermal shield, real fear tried to take a hold, to choke him.

If he felt the cold this way how must she feel it?

She hated the cold, it made her scars burn like they were brand new, but she never said anything about it. He knew it anyways. It was in the way she remained quiet, that little frown line between her brows that refused to go away. The way she had not slept for days at a time. This place made her insomnia worse and that had kept him on razor's edge since they had got here.

Torian pinged his navigation system to show him the last location the cruiser had been at. He triangulated his way back towards that location, not even bothering to wait for his vehicle to come a full halt before jumping off to get a good look at the disrupted snow. The cruiser continued for only a few feet until it came to a gradual and complete halt in a soft snow bank.

Torian found Gault's tracks fast, he made a mental note to berate the Devaronian for his carelessness; it shouldn't have been so easy to track in near darkness and snow. An idea slotted away for later, for now, he was thankful for that very carelessness, it was the only way Torian could find his way to where Gault and Raidre had gotten separated. He could faintly make out the scent of discharged blaster bolts and even spot the places where the snow had been petrified by those bolts. He scanned what remained of the exchange. He could tell by the majority of the tracks, as well as their depth, that it had been two against eight well equipped Talz(1). Torian thought he had seen at least three spots where some Talz had fallen, but no bodies were left behind. They had likely been taken away by their comrades, along with Raidre. Torian frowned, Talz were not known for taking hostages. Someone had paid the Talz and equipped them for this ambush.

Torian sighed, Raidre had a way of attracting trouble and she was in a business where if you got too much attention, people would try to kill you for it.

Torian committed as much to memory as he could, he had never wished for an eidetic memory as much as he did in that moment. He glanced at his console under his left greave and began to scan the area for any heat signatures. Raidre had made sure to equip all of them properly for the climate of Hoth; sensors, extra communication antennae, extra heating systems, so on and so forth. At first, Torian had almost wanted to agree with Mako when she had complained about the redundancy of some of the extra stuff they were made to carry. It had added an extra 15 kg to their kits, Mako had handled the extra weight with difficulty. Torian had remained quiet because his instincts told him Raidre knew what she was doing. He was thankful for her stubborn thoroughness now more than ever.

Torian circled a five meter radius before giving up, he wasn't getting anything aside from himself and the now cooling cruiser.

He did a final sweep, his HUD measuring the various debris and chunks of ice. He ignored the measurements as he attempted to discern a direction of movement from all the debris. Light was fading fast, he needed to decide, but the tracks were unclear.

Close your eyes, Torian.

He obeyed his mental command and took three deep, cleansing breaths. Once he opened his eyes, he went with his gut and decided on a course. Sometimes all you had was instinct and guesses. He ran back to the now almost cool cruiser and kicked the engine back to life. He headed north by north-west, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he noted signs of disruption. He hoped he wasn't too late.

Mako paced around the cockpit as Gault warmed himself, she spun in a gradually decreasing circle. Gault watched for a moment, but soon looked away, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. Mako stopped all at once.

"We can't let him do this alone?!"

Gault nodded. "Of course not."

She frowned at him. "So why are we still here?!"

Gault looked up from rubbing his hands together and the heater.

"I don't see so well in the dark, do you?"

Mako bit her lower lip. "She'd come after us in the dark..."

Gault nodded. "Yea, and here's what I'd tell her: it's dark, and lights attract all the wrong attention here. I don't want to party with Republic troopers and Talz and every other beastie out there!"

Gault looked at Mako as she crossed her arms and sighed. Worry knitting her elfin face as she had eyes only for the now dark window. Gault stood and put both hands on her narrow shoulders.

"The Talz have her, so she'll be somewhere where it's warm enough to survive the night. It's better for us to rest and go out when we are at our strongest."

Mako sighed. "And you're assuming they plan to keep her alive."

Gault chuckled. "If I've learned anything in my time with you two is that most people are too stupid to realize that Raidre is way too dangerous to keep captive."

Mako chewed her lower lip which caused Gault to sigh.

"Mako, believe me, they wanted her, and they wanted her alive, they took great care to make sure she wasn't injured, some of them even died."

Mako nodded as she sighed. "I doubt I could sleep."

Gault shrugged. "Torian will find her, he might already be there now, so she'll be fine. And in the morning we'll go and rescue them. Hey, in the meantime, they might finally get on with it!"

Mako frowned. "What do you mean?"

Gault rose a nonchalant brow at Mako. "Don't tell me you don't know."

"That Torian has got a crush on Raidre?"

Gault laughed. "Sister, the boy's got far more than just a crush!"

Mako frowned. "Okay."

Gault nodded. "She's sweet on him, too."

Mako nodded. "I could see it, he's reliable and dependable, but I'm not sure what her type is though?"

Gault grinned, his teeth looking brighter than usual against his ruddy complexion. "I think he's exactly what the Dr. ordered."

NOTES:

1 .Talz were large, bipedal creatures, averaging 2 to 2.5 meters tall. Bulky creatures, they were covered head to toe in thick white fur, which provided exceptional insulation against their frozen world. Talz had four eyes, which were also adaptations to their native environment. The larger set of eyes were shut during the day, when sunlight reflected off the snow with dazzling brightness —able to blind sensitive optical organs, leaving the smaller set to navigate with. Alternatively, during the deep darkness of their homeworld's moonless night, the larger pair were utilized to provide the Talz with adequate vision.