A/N: Apparently it has been 1024 days since my last update...for that, I can only apologise. We're back, babey! Be assured that i am Constantly thinking about this story even if it is not updating very fast. As always I'm very grateful for favourites, comments etc... I haven't abandoned this fic at all.
8 – Yet to Bleed
Cipher was worried. Very, very worried. This was not how the plan was supposed to go at all! They had banked on the Rebels being – admittedly – good at picking bases in far-flung, remote corners of the galaxy. All they had needed was a few more weeks, enough time to get off this base and on to Corulag with the strike team. Then the Empire could do what they liked with Echo Base.
Unfortunately for Cipher, they weren't able to communicate with the Empire whilst on the base because all communications were heavily monitored. If Cipher had had their way, they would have told the Empire the location months ago and then told them to not attack until they were ready. Cipher had amassed a considerable amount of influence with their peers, and had certainly made an impression on the Emperor himself. If they had asked, it was likely the Empire would have held off their strike until Cipher had finished their mission here.
But no, Vader just had to send out probe droids. Tenacious bastard. That was the reason for the base's evacuation; any sign of trouble and it was Alliance policy to drop the location like a hot potato.
Cipher frowned, irritably, making their way through corridors as the evacuation alarms blared around them, turning everything an eerie shade of red. If they ran into a squadron of stormtroopers, they knew that nothing would save them, not even their ties to the Empire. In the eyes of the stormtroopers, Cipher was as much a part of the Rebellion as Juno Eclipse or Starkiller; it didn't help that Cipher's records were kept so secret within the Empire that no-one could access them apart from high-ranking intelligence officers or the Emperor himself. Cipher could do nothing to prove their allegiance to the Empire to your average run-of-the-mill stormtrooper: that would be a death sentence.
And Cipher wasn't done with their mission just yet.
Luckily, they did have access to the fighter jets stationed on the base – as they finally reached the hangar, Cipher breathed a sigh of relief and climbed in to the fighter, setting up the pre-flight checks. Explosions were rocking the base, now causing small chunks of ice and rock to fall down into the hangar. Once the checks were finished, Cipher rose out of the hangar, not looking back. They set the co-ordinates for the Fleet rendezvous, and slammed the ship into hyperspace at the soonest possible chance. They didn't particularly care much for the outcome of the battle; the Empire didn't need any help, after all, with its massive AT-AT walkers. And whilst they were masquerading as a Rebellion recruit, they weren't going to go out of the way to assist their supposed allies.
The icy planet of Hoth vanished behind them in a whirl of stars, and Cipher smiled. They had been stuck on that dreaded ball of ice for months; finally, back to normality and civilisation. If you could call the Rebellion that. The Empire was on the winning side, here; it was only a matter of time.
Juno was doing her best to stay calm, but it was getting more difficult as the sound of blasterfire became louder and louder. Echo Base had a complex system of corridors specifically designed to disorient enemies, if the base was breached, but she knew it was only a matter of time before they bumped into the invading stormtroopers.
Neve had been right; whilst the majority of the Rebel soldiers were outside defending the power generators, the Empire had managed to find another way in. Nervously, she felt for the blaster at her side, and switched the safety off.
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this today," she muttered, pulling it out of its holster.
"Eh," replied Neve, "I'm always ready to shoot someone. At least today I'm hoping to shoot some Imperials."
Juno wasn't sure what to say to that; instead, she fingered her comlink nervously, fighting the urge to call Galen.
Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling noise; loud enough that Juno could feel it rattling in her teeth. It sounded like parts of the base were collapsing. She checked the map on her datapad.
"It sounds like our way ahead is blocked," she said to the others, stopping them in their tracks, "We'll need to find another way around."
"There's a maintenance hatch not too far from here," piped up Ari. She was visibly trembling, and Juno had to put a hand on the girl's shoulder to steady her.
"Can you lead us to it?" she asked, "It might just save our lives."
The cadet nodded, and led them through the hatch into a small maintenance corridor, usually only used by droids. Juno held her breath as the corridor narrowed, their thick winter gear making it difficult to pass through. Taking her coat off would mean freezing to death in the unfiltered corridors; keeping it on would severely restrict her access to, well, anywhere. Not to mention her slowly expanding stomach meant that she wasn't sure she could fit through some of the smaller gaps. Ahead of her, Ari stifled a gasp as her boot slipped, sending loose ice out of one of the hatches. Juno held up her hand in a closed fist, signalling to the rest of their party to stop. Distantly, she could hear troopers running through the main corridors below them. Hopefully they were too preoccupied to notice falling ice – the base was, after all, constructed from ice – as they patrolled the corridors, looking for any remaining Rebels.
"...Did you see that?"
"What?"
"I thought I saw...up there?"
"In the maintenance shaft? You could be right. TK-651, FT-982, you come with me. We'll check it out. Continue your search."
Clearly, she had been underestimating the troopers' powers of observation. Not for the first time that day, she wondered if she was going to die on Hoth. In her relatively short lifetime, she'd had her fair share of life-or-death experiences – more than she would have liked – but never anything like this. Being in the Rebellion usually came with a guarantee that this would happen sooner or later, but somehow she had never thought that it would be whilst crouching awkwardly in a maintenance shaft.
Juno peered through the small vent, holding her breath as the troopers walked cautiously under them, blasters raised. She thought about what might happen if they were caught, and shuddered. Don't think about that right now. Focus. Momentarily, she turned her head and made eye contact with Neve. The Sullustan gave her a brief thumbs-up, the gesture not quite hiding the fear etched on her face. None of these people here are soldiers, thought Juno. They were pilots, engineers, cadets barely old enough to hold a rifle the right way round. Sure, Juno herself was proficient in weapon training and unarmed combat, but it wasn't what she had trained for.
Another round of bombing outside shook the base, causing the maintenance shaft to shudder and creak ominously. More snow fell from the ceiling. She put out a hand to steady herself, and found herself looking directly into the visors of three stormtroopers.
"What's that up there? Do you copy?"
Juno shut her eyes and scrambled back from the slats on the vent, breathing heavily. Please say they didn't see me. Please. She heard some unintelligible muttering between the troopers, the sound of their boots crunching in the snow-lined corridors increasing as they moved to investigate.
Sparing a glance at the others all crouching in the maintenance shaft, she silently pressed a finger to her lips, then gestured downwards. The troopers had definitely seen her, that much was certain. Whether they had guessed that other Rebels were also hiding with her was up for debate.
She took a deep breath to steady herself, gripping her blaster tightly. If she could just line up one shot...time it right...
This is suicide, the rational part of her brain told her. Juno looked around at the others and saw their scared faces. Her comrades were not going to die today, not on her watch.
Breathing out, shakily, she came to a decision. Three troopers were now standing directly beneath the maintenance pipe they were hiding in. There were a total of five people in their small party – herself, Neve, Jesman, Ari and Yisha. Whilst they were all at least lightly trained in combat – all Rebels were – none of them, Juno included, were soldiers. Juno's aim was better than most, but she had the advantage of being trained in one of the Empire's top academies.
She reluctantly conceded to herself that it would be fruitless to attack the troopers directly; they would only call for reinforcements, and the snow troopers all had the advantage of being fully armoured against the cold weather and would be able to react a lot faster. Signalling to the group, she motioned for them to keep moving forward. They would be a lot safer once they were back on the ground and not in danger of being shot out of the ceiling by stormtroopers. They just had to – well, they just had to get out of there unnoticed, which was no small feat.
Slowly, agonizingly, Juno made it past the slightly open vent without being noticed. Moving an inch at a time, their small group moved along the shaft, crouching in the small space. Breath clouded in the cold air, hands trembled. Seconds felt like hours, every metallic scrape against Juno's boot an uncomfortable echo.
"Sir, I definitely heard movement!"
"Up there! Rebels! In that vent!"
There was barely any time to react; Juno threw herself forward, arms reaching out for the end of the maintenance vent. It was slippery with ice, and she couldn't get a proper grip, sliding hurriedly forward on her hands and knees. The sound of blasterfire rang out; Juno counted four blasters firing, judging by the sounds and timing of the shots.
It only took a few seconds of firing before Juno realised what was happening. None of the shots fired so far had actually hit any of the Rebels still scrambling through the overhead vents – but the ceiling panels beneath them were made of notoriously weak material. That, combined with the freezing cold temperatures, put them at dangerous risk of –
"It's giving way!" Jesman put both hands out to steady himself. Yisha grabbed Ari's arm, testing her balance with her other hand.
"He's right, it won't hold much longer!" she said, and Juno didn't miss the look of fear that passed through the cadet's eyes. She took a deep breath, and eyed up the situation. This maintenance shaft was a long one: they still had at least ten metres to go before they reached the next turning, and where the stormtroopers wouldn't be able to follow. However, the shots were increasing in frequency – five troopers, now – and Juno calculated that they had a few minutes at the most before the ceiling caved in, potentially killing them all. And if the fall didn't do it, the troopers firing would finish the job fairly soon after.
She needed a plan, and fast.
"This is going to sound like a really bad idea," she began. Neve gestured to the others urgently.
"Eclipse, it's not like we have a whole lot of options here! Spit it out!"
"I'm going to shoot a hole in the floor here," she pointed with her blaster, "And Neve will lead everyone through the rest of that vent. You know the way to the hangar from there, right?"
Neve nodded once. "And you?"
Juno smiled grimly. "I'll be the distraction. I'll find my way back and rendezvous with you in the hangar. If I'm not back in half an hour, leave without me."
"Good luck trying to convince your boyfriend of that."
"He's – he'll be fine. Tell him I told you, if it comes to that."
"Do you want me to tell him anything else?" Neve narrowed her eyes pointedly.
Juno hesitated. Did Neve know?
"No," she said, firmly. "Now go! We don't have much time."
Neve frowned. "All right. May the Force be with you, Juno." The Sullustan turned and began making her way towards the end vent, beckoning silently for the others to follow.
Closing one eye, Juno took a deep breath and aimed her blaster at what looked like the weakest point of the floor. The trooper's shots still hadn't worn through yet, thankfully, though Juno was aware of patches of melted ice now forming on the ground where the shots were hitting from below. She waited until the last member of their small crew had scrambled through the exit vent before taking the shot.
Galen, and how nice his smile was whenever it appeared, flashed briefly before her as she pulled the trigger. As expected, the ice had weakened the metal in the spot she had chosen and it shattered in an explosion of ice.
The shards of ice, mixed with the durasteel of the material used as a foundation for the base's construction, re-froze rapidly on impact with the cold air of the base, and Juno watched with a small amount of satisfaction as the debris rained down on the troopers currently beneath her. However, as pleasing as it was to watch the stormtroopers below struggle for a second with reduced visibility, Juno didn't have any intentions of being captured and quickly scrambled towards the exit that her companions had taken minutes earlier. Hopefully she had bought them – and herself – enough time to escape. Reaching the end of the maintenance shaft, she edged carefully out of the opening and landed in what looked to be a minor side corridor within the base itself. She had a fairly adequate knowledge of the base's layout, so all she needed to do was make her way to the hangar without being spotted by any more troopers.
"Eclipse? You alive?" Her comm crackled; the reception was poor but she could hear Neve's concern even through the white noise.
"Yeah," she muttered, peering around the next corner, which was thankfully empty, "Bought us at least a few minutes, I hope. Where are you?"
"Not far. Take the next hatch on your left, it's a shortcut and should get you to the hangar quicker. We're a few corners ahead of you."
"Roger that."
The hatch Neve mentioned was just ahead; ten more metres and she could make it. The corridor had levelled out so that she could finally stand upright, so she broke into a run, boots crunching loudly on the icy floor.
"Hold it right there!"
Juno froze.
Emerging from another passageway further up ahead were three snowtroopers, weapons out and pointed straight at her. She quickly weighed up her options: one, run for the hatch Neve had mentioned and possibly make it in. Two, surrender and hope she could at least talk the troopers out of killing her immediately whilst she figured out a plan. The problem with the first option was that there was a high chance they would shoot her before she reached her destination. The problem with the second option, similarly, was that they would shoot her regardless of surrender.
She took a deep breath. Holding her hands up above her head, she stopped in her tracks.
"Please," she said, in a voice slightly higher pitched than her natural tone, "Don't shoot! I'll tell you anything!"
The lead stormtrooper hesitated. "Our orders were to shoot any remaining Rebels on sight. It's nothing personal."
"I-I know!" stammered Juno. She hated playing the part of the pathetic, terrified Rebel, but it was a tactic that seemed to work. "It's also p-probably within your orders to find out whatever information you can from the remains of the base before you destroy it, no?"
Keep them talking. The plan will come...later.
She could hear the other two stormtroopers muttering amongst themselves. Steeling herself, she took a tentative step forward. "Listen, they s-started wiping the computers here as soon as the proximity alarms went off. Any information stored here has most likely been destroyed." She swallowed nervously. "But I can tell you anything you want. I was privy to some of the Rebels' most secret missions. I know all their co-ordinates off by heart. If you spare me, you won't regret it."
All three of the trooper's blasters were still aimed directly at her chest, but she sensed their uncertainty.
"Please," she repeated, "I know what it's like. I used to be part of the Empire. I was captured, several years ago. I was only spared if I promised to defect. You must understand the shame I felt." The lie came easily, and Juno almost hated herself for it. But it was working: the lead trooper lowered her gun.
"I will take you to my superior," she said, uncertainly. "This is above my paygrade. But if you're lying; you're dead." The trooper motioned to the other two, turning away to contact her superiors. The other two moved towards Juno, holding a pair of shackles. Now was as good a time as any; the lead one was distracted, which evened Juno's odds towards the remaining two.
It was a stupid plan, she knew that; but she knew, deep down, it was unlikely the troopers were going to keep her alive anyway. She might as well go down with a fight.
With one swift motion, she lunged out and managed to kick the trooper closest to her in the shins, causing him to stagger back for a second. Taking advantage of his momentary unbalance (and thanking the stars that the stormtrooper's cold-weather gear had less armour plating on the arms and legs), she brought her elbow down hard on the trooper's helmet, sending him crumpling to the ground. As expected, the other two troopers reacted quickly; she barely had enough time to grab the downed trooper's blaster before she heard boots on the icy floor crunching behind her. Turning sharply, she brought the muzzle of the blaster up, smacking it under the second trooper's chin – hard enough that she heard a crack as plastoid collided against the exposed neck. The impact of the hit was enough to send the trooper stumbling backwards; dazed, he fell to the ground and didn't get up again.
"Of course you were lying."
The stormtrooper that had spoken to Juno initially was standing a few feet away, blaster pointed straight at her chest. Juno had responded in kind, and now the two women were facing each other, unmoving.
"It was a partial lie," corrected Juno, "I was with the Empire, at one point in my life."
"Ah. A true defector, then." The trooper scoffed, loudly. "They're the worst."
Juno shrugged, still not taking her eyes (or her blaster) off the other trooper. "So I've heard. Why haven't you shot me yet, then?"
"You took out two of my men within seconds of me turning around. Trained Imperial Stormtroopers. Either you're incredibly smart, or incredibly stupid – and I've half a mind to think both – but either way, you're more valuable alive."
This gave Juno pause. Stormtroopers weren't usually like this; she was used to their 'shoot first, ask questions later' policy, especially when it came to Rebels like her.
"Sir! GK-892 and GN-090 reporting for duty, sir! You requested backup?"
And there went the rest of her plan. With more troopers at her back, Juno knew she couldn't realistically expect to win this fight, despite holding a blaster. She was lucky that the additional troopers behind her hadn't already shot her; she saw their superior motion slightly with her head and the two troopers came up behind her and roughly wrestled the blaster out of her hands, pinning her arms behind her and forcing her to her knees. Her borrowed blaster, comlink, and other assorted gadgets were all taken off her, much to her chagrin. Juno, silently, chastised herself for getting careless. Those few seconds she had spent engaging the lead trooper in conversation could have been precious seconds spent escaping. Juno Eclipse at the peak of her military career wouldn't have done that, surely.
Maybe you're getting soft.
She almost smiled; Juno Eclipse at the peak of her military career was also grossly unhappy at having to carry out the Empire's dirtiest work. It was funny how life turned out. She glanced up at the trooper she had originally been talking to.
"Are you going to kill me?"
The trooper hesitated; in the presence of her subordinates, she clearly didn't want to appear weak. Juno understood that, within Imperial ranks, you were as much in danger of being ratted out by those under you as you were to be punished by those higher up than you.
"Not yet. I'm not usually in the business of being merciful, but you seem useful. The Empire could use you back, traitor or no."
Juno bristled at the comment; one of the troopers moved his boot to her back to steady her, causing her to jolt forward at the sudden impact.
As a member of the Alliance, it had been drummed into her that the mission was more important than a single life, at all costs. She wasn't generally the self-sacrificing type; if anything, to be expect every Rebel to die on every single mission seemed a tad nihilistic. The Rebellion was fighting for life, not death; Juno herself was carrying another life within her, and did not want her life to end in a dirty, cold corridor.
The only other option: she couldn't stand the thought of going back to the Empire. The genocide, the lies, the constant paranoia, the secrecy; she wanted nothing more to do with that life. She had come close to death so many times before; surely, surely, she was intended for more than just this, small miserable end?
Roughly pulled to her feet, Juno could only glare at the troopers around her. She didn't have any more smart answers for them – it was taking all of her willpower to not just lash out and make a dash for it again, a move which would likely get her killed.
Shackles were placed around her wrists, her arms held out uncomfortably in front of her as she was led through the twisting, icy corridors by the troop of soldiers. She hung back, deliberately slow in order to cause a scuffle with the troopers at the back; they pushed her forward and she tried to lean backwards. The Empire could take her, but she wasn't going to make it easy for them.
They rounded several corners, and Juno prayed in her mind before every one that they weren't going to find Neve and co. hidden again. If Juno's knowledge of the base was correct, then they were heading towards the hangar; presumably to secure it and lock it down to prevent any more Rebels escaping. She wasn't sure why they had let her live, to be honest; it would be much easier to just kill her and be done with it. Maybe her lie had had more impact than she had thought.
"Rebels! Rebels ahead, in the hangar!"
A loud shout came from up ahead; Juno could see that the main entrance from the base to hangar had been blasted open and bits of the door lay charred around the frame. The commander of the Imperial group hesitated for a split second, then motioned some signals quickly with her hands and stealthily moved away from the group with four of the troopers, leaving two with Juno. Juno tried to follow, but was yanked back by one of the stormtroopers.
"You're staying here with me," he barked. "Against my better judgement, I think we shoulda' just killed ya when we had the chance."
"But?" frowned Juno.
He shrugged, keeping a tight grip on her shackles. "Orders are orders. Boss thinks you're valuable; if she gets in trouble for keeping ya I won't be complaining."
Juno looked away; such as it was in the Empire. She listened to the sounds of blasterfire and fighting coming from the hangar and hoped beyond hope that her friends had managed to escape.
Galen was learning, very quickly, that maybe, maybe this time he had bitten off more than he could chew. (The first step of realisation was admitting that to himself, of course.) He had faced down countless Imperials before, most of the time taking them out quickly and with relative ease. However, AT-ATs were something else. They weren't often deployed in warzones due to their enormous size – whilst the Empire didn't much care about collateral damage left in their wake, they did mind the damage that the giant machines left to property and infrastructure. Damaging their means of making a profit from a planet was certainly a discouragement to many Imperial commanders not wanting to face the wrath of the Emperor.
Hoth, however, provided a perfect platform for the Imperial walkers to be used to their highest potential. The landscape was barren and desolate, and the planet itself held no value to the Empire, meaning that there was no need to hold back.
Galen thought all of this whilst embroiled in a fight against three of them, as the rest of the group had split off whilst a Rebel squadron of snowspeeders faced them off. Using the Force to propel himself back from another barrage of missiles, he used the last of his momentum before he landed to push some of the missiles back towards the cockpit.
The snow broke his fall, but Galen still felt it jar his knees uncomfortably as he tried to land upright. That's gonna hurt in the morning. He barely had time to catch his breath before several sharp laser blasts came from the second AT-AT, twisting its massive body around to meet him head on whilst the first walker recovered from Galen's attack. Slashes where Galen had earlier used his lightsaber on the walkers' enormous feet were still visible, but they clearly hadn't had much effect as the walkers were still in far better shape than Galen currently was.
He decided to switch tactics. One walker would not pose much of a threat; but three was causing him some difficulty, and he hadn't even managed to distract all of the deployed AT-ATs as the rest of the group was still slowly thundering their way towards the Rebel base. Through the comms, Galen was vaguely aware of evacuations taking place; he only had to hold off the Imperials long enough for everyone to escape, or at least the order to retreat.
Using the Force to propel himself into the air, he launched himself towards the nearest walker, grabbing hold of the grooves between the joints. He, at least, had speed to his advantage against the massive mechanical beast. It was so large that one man holding on to the 'knee' joints didn't make much of an impact; indeed, the three walkers continued their approach of the Rebel base, regardless of the person hanging on to it.
Galen continued his ascent, until he was standing in an alcove directly underneath where he could hear the main workings of the walker were. Drawing upon reserves he hadn't needed to use in a long time, he focused his mind into the engines of the giant walker and pushed lightning from his fingertips. Heat surged through him; it felt simultaneously burning hot and freezing cold, yet wasn't an unpleasant feeling either. Around him, the air crackled and sparked, the innards of the walker grinding to a halt with a searing crunch as Galen fried their circuits. Pulling out his lightsabers, he carved roughly into the engine parts, just to make extra sure they were out of commission.
Jagged pieces of metal began falling from above, and Galen's foothold was beginning to get a little shaky as the walker rumbled and groaned. One of its giant front legs faltered, the mechanism having been fried by Galen, and the whole beast pitched violently to the left as the sheer mass of the AT-AT caught up with itself. If Galen wasn't careful, he was going to get crushed by the falling walker.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a familiar vehicle around the Hoth base – snowspeeders.
Are the Rebels out of their minds?
Galen watched with a certain amount of horror as the first couple of ships were immediately taken down by the giant cannons mounted on the AT-AT's heads. Suddenly remembering he had a comlink which he should probably use, he switched it on and was immediately tuned into the chatter coming from the pilots.
Their mission was to take down the Imperial walkers so that the foot soldiers – of which there were many still out on the ground – could evacuate safely. Which is what Galen had also been trying to do (albeit a tad more recklessly). Still, there was no time to think about that now. The second run of snowspeeders were moving into attack formation; this time, one of them – Galen could vaguely make out Skywalker's voice across comms – was directing the others to use their tow ropes to trap the AT-AT's legs. As shown by the one Galen had weakened, the walkers were top-heavy, so unbalancing them should be an easy feat. Easy, if it weren't for the large cannons mounted on just about every surface, but that was a separate problem.
Galen frowned. That was something he could do.
He patched into the comms. "Need the cannons taken out? On the walkers closest to the base?"
Skywalker came back, the surprise evident in his voice. "How did you – never mind. Yes. What's your position?"
"Uh. The front-most walker. If I can get a fly-by, one of you can give me a lift up to the other walkers and I'll see what I can do."
The pilots verbally affirmed the rest of Skywalker's instructions and the snowspeeders moved out of formation. Galen saw one of them break off and head towards his location. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and leaped.
He landed on the back of one of the snowspeeders just as it ducked under the crippled AT-AT's legs. As his body made contact with the ship, he heard the walker creak and groan behind him, finally crashing to the ground and exploding in a mass of fire and electricity.
"That was a close one," said a voice over Galen's comm; the pilot on the front-facing section of the snowspeeder.
"Yeah," muttered Galen, "Thank you -?"
"Antilles. And this is in the back here is Janson."
Galen nodded, buckling down against the cold Hoth winds. "Right. Thank you, Antilles, Janson. Think you can fly me to the walker over on our left?"
"And then what?"
"Just drop me off, I'll take care of the cannons."
"Okay then. Hold on tight!"
Galen held on as tightly as he could as the speeder banked left, narrowly avoiding blasts of laser fire from the approaching walkers.
"Approaching the drop point," Antilles said, "I'll let you know when – woah!" They were close enough to be hit by the AT-AT's targeted missiles, spinning the snowspeeder out of control momentarily. Galen held on, feeling his world spin as the missile hit one of the speeder's front flaps. A very, very near miss, as the rest of the ship was still intact.
"You okay up there?" A tentative voice over the comm suggested to Galen that it was Janson speaking. Looking down through the windscreen, Galen noticed the gunner gripping his controls with rigid precision, looking a little nervous.
"I'm good, I think."
"That's a relief. See if you can target those missile launchers first. They're really giving us a beating."
"Making a pass at the drop point again," came Antilles' voice. "Be ready to jump, because we can't hang around."
"Got it," said Galen, readying his lightsabers and standing up as the speeder flew towards the AT-AT closest the Rebel base. "Thanks for the lift, Antilles."
"May the Force be with you," replied the pilot. "Okay, in three…two…one…"
Galen didn't need telling twice. Using all of the power left in his legs, he launched himself from the top of the snowspeeder, landing on the top of the AT-AT with a loud thud. Distantly, he could hear alarms blaring – from the inside of the walker, most likely – and he allowed himself a small amount of pleasure in imagining the confused Imperials scurrying around inside, panicking at whatever large object had dropped out of the sky on top of them.
However, in that moment Galen was also acutely aware of the multitudes of guns trained on him. He might have been a vessel of destruction and rage at one point in his life, but those were powers he was uneasy using to their fullest potential. He wasn't afraid of his past, but he wanted to avoid returning to the boy he used to be.
He took another deep breath. No time for worrying. Time to get to work. Igniting both bright blue blades, he slashed and scraped his way to the main cannon port. The air was thick and full of the smells of battle – smoke, burnt plasteel, death. The AT-AT rumbled beneath him but it stayed upright; Galen was only destroying cannon ports on his short run of damage, whilst the Rebel snowspeeders wrapped their tow ropes around the legs.
In the distance, the distinct roar of TIE fighters could be heard and Galen's heart sank. He wasn't buying enough time. Over his comlink, he heard panicked Rebel commanders, still on the ground, shouting to retreat. The Imperial ground forces were advancing at a pace that the Rebels simply couldn't match.
They were running out of time.
Galen thumbed his comlink to a familiar frequency.
"Juno? Are you there? Are you safe?"
As long as she was safe, that was all he needed to know. As long as her and the Rebellion managed to escape, he could keep fighting until the end.
"Juno? Are you there? Are you safe?"
Juno's comlink crackled abruptly, causing her to startle. The stormtrooper guarding her pressed his blaster further into her back to compensate, scoffing loudly.
"So, that's your name. Turn your comlink off, Juno, it won't do to have you calling for help, will it? It's time to get moving, the bombing run will start soon and I'd like to be gone by the time that happens."
Inside, her heart raced. Galen. Where are you? She had a horrible, sinking feeling that he was out doing something self-sacrificial and stupid.
"Starkiller to Juno. I repeat – hrng – are you safe?"
He sounded like he was under a great deal of exertion. His breath – and the comm signal – came ragged, suggesting that he was moving and running as he spoke. Definitely self-sacrificial and stupid, then. Juno instinctively moved her hand to her belt, where her comlink was stored, but the heavy shackles stopped her.
"I don't think so."
She couldn't see the trooper's facial expression, but if she could, she imagined she'd see the face of a man who genuinely enjoyed making people suffer. He roughly searched the pouches on Juno's belt, eventually pulling out her comlink and waggling it in front of her face. Juno lunged for it, unsure of what her end goal was, and was duly held back by the other trooper.
The trooper holding her comlink chuckled. "You seem fond of this, huh?" He dropped it to the floor, and with a heavy, snow-covered boot, crushed it under in one swift motion.
Galen's voice, still calling through the static, was duly silenced, and Juno inwardly cursed. The sound of blasterfire was coming ever closer, shouting from Rebels and Empire alike. She didn't want to admit she was in danger, but right now her position definitely wasn't looking good.
She racked her brain as she sized up the two Imperial soldiers in front of her, trying to remember from her Academy days what the standard specs were for cold weather assault troops. (Days spent, freezing, for a boot camp on some of Corulag's highest mountains as a young cadet had to be good for something, surely?)
Heated breather mask, polarised snow goggles. Ice boots, grappling hooks. Blastech E-10, ion flares…
She was halfway through the standard equipment list when an almighty explosion rocked the walls of the building, throwing Juno into the trooper holding her and sending them both crashing into the wall.
"Kriff, they've started the bombing run!" spluttered the other trooper, the one who'd crushed Juno's commlink. "Let's just grab her and move."
Hauling Juno up roughly from the floor, the two troopers made for the nearest door, only to have it slide open with a screech and have several Rebels burst through, guns blazing. Juno knew without even looking at their faces who it was, and as the one at the front yelled "For the Alliance!" and kicked a trooper in the face-mask, it confirmed that Neve and co. had indeed decided to go back for her. She took the opportunity in the midst of all the confusion to yank her shackled hands out of the grip of the trooper holding her, and brought them up so they knocked the helmet up, smacking the trooper's head against the wall. He slumped down again, dazed.
Neve had made short work of the other trooper – he lay there, a blaster-sized hole smoking over his chest – and quickly ran to Juno. Wordlessly, Juno held out her arms and Neve pulled the trigger of her blaster, the laser burning through the restraints and allowing Juno to break free.
"I told you to get to safety!" she said, as Neve gestured to Juno and the others to follow her back the way they had come. Neve just grinned.
"That's a fancy ship you've got. None of us can fly it. Plus, your boyfriend would be pretty pissed if we left you to die, I reckon."
I'm leaving the Empire behind… and I need a pilot.
She'd heard those words before, for sure.
"Fair enough," she panted, a stitch beginning to burn in her side. She could run on adrenaline for now, but it was starting to wear on her. Neve looked concerned, slowing a little.
"Hey. I was mostly kidding. Times are tough, and I'd like my friends alive if I can help it."
Juno met the older woman's eyes for a second; understanding. She nodded.
They had almost made it back to the main hangar bay, their pace slowed by the tremors of the battle outside, when Jesman (situated at the back of the group) spoke up.
"I'm getting reports that we've managed to evacuate 97% of all Echo Base Ground Staff."
Juno nearly swore. "Thank goodness. I take it the other 3% is us?"
The Mon Cal nodded. "Mostly. The princess is safe on the Millennium Falcon. We still have some remaining ground troops outside but most of them fell back in time to catch the last transports."
"Most of them…?"
"Commander Tano offered to stay behind to provide cover for the wounded. Also- Agent Starkiller is causing a diversion to try and distract from the evacuations."
Oh, for-
Juno's comlink had been crushed so she hadn't heard updates on Galen's status; she needed to get to them, and fast. AT-AT's were not to be trifled with, even for overpowered Force users like himself. She didn't want to think about the alternatives.
The hangar was nearly destroyed by the time they got there – five more minutes and Juno suspected that the Rogue Shadow would have been covered by a pile of rubble. Or it would have been turned to rubble itself. Luckily for them, it meant that the door was already blown wide open. Hauling themselves up into the Shadow, Juno ran for the cockpit – nearly bumping into two familiar faces.
"Hello Captain Eclipse," said PROXY, from the pilot's chair, "We took the liberty of starting up the Rogue Shadow's engines in case of a quick getaway."
"Wouldn't be the Shadow without a dangerous mission, would it?" Kota grumbled from the seat behind PROXY. As PROXY moved over to let Juno in the pilot's chair, Kota grasped her by the shoulder, his blind eyes earnest. "I'm glad you're safe, though."
"We're not out of the woods yet," Juno cautioned. "Everyone, buckle in! This base is coming down around us." The rebels who had boarded with them duly found a seat and strapped themselves in, and Juno deftly pulled levers in order to get the ship flying and simultaneously avoid getting hit by debris. Stay with us, Galen, we're coming-
As the Rogue Shadow rose up around the debris, Juno and the rest of the crew suddenly got a glimpse of what it had been like outside for the ground troops. Upon leaving the hangar, the ship was immediately buffeted by the wind and snowstorms, causing several warning popups to appear on the sensors. Juno yanked the throttle around, trying to catch the currents of the storm and not fly against it. She could barely see anything out of the viewport, let alone see what was happening on the ground below them.
"That direction. Go that way." Kota was pointing, one hand on her shoulder.
"You sure?"
"Positive."
She merely nodded; she knew better than to argue with Kota's Jedi instincts. Distantly, she could hear the signature whistle and roar of the Empire's TIE fighters; she had to duck the ship several times to avoid them as pieces of debris were blown about in the storm.
Eventually, the cockpit dashboard lit up with incoming comms signatures that it was picking up – they were getting closer. The sensors were still unable to pick up individuals due to the storm, however – they either needed exact coordinates or manual view of the target, neither of which they had. Juno keyed in Galen's frequency, praying.
"Galen? Galen come in, it's the Rogue Shadow." There was a few seconds of silence, then he spoke, his words interspersed with static interference.
"Juno! Are you safe? Did you get out?" He sounded desperate, and out of breath.
"Yes, we've got a group of Rebels, plus Galen and Kota. I need your co-ordinates, Galen. Can you send them via your comlink? We can lock on from here and come and get you."
"Not me – Tano. Get Tano and the last of the wounded."
A light flashed up on Juno's dashboard of co-ordinates. She keyed them in, locking the ship's manual thrusters, and headed down further towards their location.
"We're on our way. Stay in comms range if you can, Galen, as we'll pick you up nex-"
"No time. Generators – the generators will blow – you need to get out of here. Can't escape with walkers everywhere."
Juno gripped the handle of the thrusters tightly, her knuckles turning white. "Don't you pull that on me, Galen, we're getting you after. No arguments."
Next to her, she saw PROXY running calculations. "The generators have an 89.27 percent chance of explosion in the next five minutes. I predict that Lady Tano and the wounded soldiers left would have a 0.54 percent chance of survival if we do not go to them first, Captain."
Juno frowned. "I know, PROXY. Can you get me Ahsoka's comms signal? She's not responding to hails but I need her coordinates."
With the help of Kota and PROXY, they set the Rogue Shadow roughly down on the snow. Juno turned to the motley crew assembled behind her.
"Neve, Ari, Yisha – get down that ramp and help Ahsoka with the wounded soldiers. Jesman says they evacuated most of them but he can't get a solid read on how many are left. Jesman – keep on the comms. Let me know what's going on regarding the Empire's bombing runs, if you can. Like PROXY says, we don't want to be too close when the generators blow. I'll stay here at the helm and be ready to take us away again."
Everyone nodded, rushing away to their respective duties. Jesman was muttering nervously to himself as he tapped away at his datapad. Juno sighed; she keyed Galen's comms frequency again. In the distance, she could see several AT-ATs moving closer, ever closer. They loomed, the size of mid-size apartment buildings, and Juno knew they were armed to the teeth. The Rogue Shadow's shields could probably only manage about 2 or 3 direct hits from their ion blasters before it destroyed the ship completely.
"Galen? Are you there?"
There was a hiss of static, then a loud exhale. "Yes. Tano – the soldiers?"
Juno turned to see Neve, Yisha and Ari helping two wounded Rebels up the ramp and into the ship, with an exhausted Ahsoka following behind them. They disappeared into the crew quarters, presumably to administer first aid and keep the two soldiers stable.
"They're onboard," she told Galen, "Closing the ramp now."
There was a pause. Juno squinted, trying to see out of the viewport in front of her, but the blizzard was so thick that any figures or ships out there were reduced to grey, wintry blurs. She checked her long-range sensors. Those AT-ATs would be in range of the Rogue Shadow soon, and she had her shields down to let the Rebels onboard. They needed to get out of here, and fast. But Galen – she quickly weighed up her options. Flee now, as Galen had directed, with the remainder of the rescued soldiers, or wait for Galen, potentially wasting precious minutes they could use to escape.
No time to lose – she had made her decision.
"Kota – can you sense Galen? I can't get a manual view and my sensors are being fried by the blizzard."
The old Jedi nodded, a hand resting on the back of her chair. He pointed, like he had before. "That way. He's close."
"I should add that the possibilities of the Rogue Shadow being able to set down, pick up Starkiller, and escape unscathed are highly improbable-"
"PROXY, I'm very fond of you, but I'm going to have to ask you to shut up," Juno snapped, fingers dancing across the dashboard as the Rogue Shadow lifted up, away from the base, juddering in the strong winds. She steered the ship in the direction Kota had pointed in, until-
"Here! He's here!" Kota barked, and Juno gasped as an AT-AT suddenly came into view; swerving the Shadow to avoid it, she let out a shaky breath. She could just about make out dual blue lightsabers, swinging and deflecting bolts on the ground.
"He's fighting an AT-AT? By himself?" she muttered, incredulously, "I hate that man. PROXY, what are the readings for the conditions outside?"
The droid rattled off a list of numbers and wind speeds, and Juno nodded. "Right. Kota, I can't leave the controls here so I'm going to need your help."
She briefly explained her landing strategy; fly down to Galen, ramp open, hover, and hope that he gets on and they can get the ramp shut in time to boost out of the atmosphere and into hyperspace. It sounded relatively simple; the reality was that there were any number of factors that could go wrong at any moment.
"Galen, we're coming round. You'd better be ready to jump, Kota will be at the ramp door to guide you."
"Juno-" The link was blasted with white noise for a second. "Juno, don't be stupid, there's no time. Vader is here and the Empire will have reinforcements coming any second, you need to get out of there!"
"I'm not asking for your permission," she bit back, "The Rebellion needs you. I need you. I'm making the turn now."
"The Rebellion can replace me, I don't m-"
"Galen," Juno closed her eyes, just for a second, knowing she couldn't go back from this now. Her heart thudded, stretching out the seconds. "I'm pregnant. And you're getting on the Shadow when it flies down, or so help me."
Any replies that he might have had – and Juno couldn't think about that now, she couldn't – were cut off by another burst of static, permanently jamming their comms as the AT-AT noticed what Juno was doing and began firing. They were lucky that the Rogue Shadow was considerably more agile than the lumbering walker; its shots ran wide as Juno raced under its belly to where Galen was, opening the ramp.
Even in the cockpit, she could feel the burst of cold air and snow whirling through the ship as the ramp opened. There was a thud, and a yell from Kota – "Go! Now!" – and Juno was off, going through the familiar sequences to get the Shadow away from the planet's surface. One or two jolts from the aft of the ship meant that the AT-AT's shots were landing, but the shields held steady as they ascended away from the icy planet. Sensors flashed red at her to show several large ships descending from hyperspace; the rest of the Imperial Fleet had arrived. Luckily, she was exceptionally good at calculating hyperspace destinations on the spot.
"Jumping to hyperspace in 3…2…1…" She pulled the lever and the stars turned to blinding silver streaks before settling on the familiar blue haze of hyperspace. Juno slumped back in her chair, breathing a large sigh of relief. For now, they were safe.
"Juno Eclipse!" She heard the heavy footsteps of two Jedi making their way to the cockpit with some amount of speed, swallowing as she knew what she was about to face. She turned in her chair, meeting Galen's snow-sodden form with a neutral gaze. He stopped about a two metres away from her, dripping snow everywhere off of his coat. There was a thick pause.
"You're pregnant?"
A/N: Hello yes it's been a while. Keeping the rambling for the end note, as per. It did, in fact, take me almost 3 years to write one chapter, but in my defence a whole lot of stuff was happening. I moved flats, graduated uni, got a job, finished that job, was unemployed for a while, suffered the whole time...u get it. I also got a gf whom i love very much but that's not really relevant here, it's just cool. I find writing transition chapters kind of hard so that's why this took so long, plus my last year of university took all of my motivation to write along with it hehe. If it feels a little jumbled together and disjointed, it's because it is, but the next chapter should be more fluid as I've /finally/ got the lads off Hoth and onto more adventures.
Anyway, I still love star wars, still love the Force Unleashed, and I still plan on finishing this. I got a lot of lovely comments on this whilst i was on semi-hiatus, and for that I am ETERNALLY grateful because they genuinely mean so much to me. So thank you! I would also like to give a shoutout to Liisiko who has been a constant supporter of my force unleashed fics since like 2013. you are so positive and i'm vvv thankful 3
Sorry to ramble on, I know I've done other fics inbetween these chapters being published but it is such a good feeling to (finally) get another chapter out when my motivation has been gone for so long. Thank u for sticking with it and for being very cool and lovely readers! Also I apologise for any spelling/grammar mistakes, i was eager to get this out quickly and only proofread it a little.
As always I'm itsacuriousthing / carrotycake on tumblr, come n chat! For readers, I'm way more active on AO3 and social media than I am here so it's worth checking that out if you like! :)