Back with another chapter, guys!

Let's get to it.

anthonyapodaca63: At some point, yes.

GuestDCDGojira: Yes, I'll try to make as emotional as it was in the movie.

CT7567Rules: At the moment, no. SF-20s are mostly used for ship defense. At the moment, the squadron stationed on Hoth is SF-23s. Though I won't say that SF-20s won't take place in the Battle of Hoth.

pervy sage: Yes, I've actually mentioned it a few times. Lockheed Martin built a new, space capabale variant of the Blackbird, the SR-71D.

Guest: Yes, I got Loginov's last name from The Hunt for Red October.

Guest: Yes, they will. As I saw, the First Order just painted their battlecruisers in battleship grey. The Repulse class is painted both in Terran colors and with unique marking for each ship to help identify different ships.

Chapter 35- Death Squadron

In empty space not far from the Malastare system, swarms of TIE fighters and bombers circle through space as a number of Star Destroyers move in several directions through space. They are all part of the most feared fleet in the Imperial Navy, and Darth Vader's personal fleet. Death Squadron.

Death Squadron had been formed a few years earlier in the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin to serve as Darth Vader's personal fleet. It had taken a very aggressive role in the campaign against the Alliance, becoming one of the most dangerous and feared Imperial fleets in the galaxy. It was Death Squadron that had attacked the Mako Ta Space Docks and destroyed so many of the Rebellion's Mon Cala cruisers.

Death Squadron had been tasked with hunting the Rebellion's main base and the rest of their fleet. However, they also had a secondary task. This task was to hunt down and destroy as many of the Terran Starfleet's Dreadnought class battleships as they could. It was especially for that reason Death Squadron had been formed around the Super Star Destroyer Executor. The Emperor had ordered the Terran battleships to be destroyed because they were believed to be the only ship capable of single handedly taking on the Executor class, given that the existence of the Freedom was still unknown to the Empire. They were also considered to be the only threat to the second Death Star besides Terran nuclear weapons.

On board the Executor, Darth Vader watches the ships of the squadron move, reflecting on his personal mission for Death Squadron. While the Squadron was supposed to go after any and all Dreadnought class battleships, Vader had his sights set on one in particular.

The Bismarck. Ever since the ship had destroyed Fortress Vader, Vader himself had made it his goal to see the ship destroyed. It was a sentiment shared by many Imperial officers. Much like its namesake had done for the British in WWII, the Bismarck was now a ship whose name could strike fear into the hearts of many Imperial personnel. Its many exploits have made it a ship to be feared. Its reputation of appearing out of nowhere, striking hard and causing heavy destruction before vanishing have also given it the nickname "the Ghost Ship" among Imperial ranks.

The Squadron had received word not long ago of a raid by the Bismarck. Unfortunately, they had not been able to get there in time before the battleship and her escorts vanished. Since then, they have been searching for any sign of where the Bismarck went. At the moment, the most likely place is Naboo, but the Empire is still not yet ready to try and attack Naboo, given how much the Terran Alliance has fortified the system.

These are the thoughts that run through Darth Vader's head as he stares out of the viewport. That, and sheer frustration from the Alliance's continued victories and the Empire's failure to locate the Rebel base.

Elsewhere on the bridge, the commander of Death Squadron under Vader, Admiral Ozzel, is walking towards the bridge to speak with Vader. Suddenly, the captain of the Executor, Captain Piett, calls out, "Admiral!"

"Yes, Captain?" Ozzel asks as he stops then walks over to where Piett is standing next to a console.

"I think we've got something on the Rebels sir. The report is only a fragment, from a probe droid in the Hoth system, but it's the best lead we've had," Piett says confidently.

"We have thousands of probe droids searching the galaxy. I want proof, not leads," Ozzel says somewhat dismissively.

As Ozzel and Piett continue to argue over the validity of the lead, Vader catches their conversation, though he can't entirely make out everything that the two are saying. Slowly, he turns away from the viewport and walks towards the bickering officers.

"You found something?" Vader interrupts their argument.

"Yes, my lord," Piett says before leaning down and pulling up the images captured by the probe droid. Vader looks down intently, and sees the images captured by the probe droid of Echo Base's shield generator.

"That's it! The Rebels are there!" Vader declares.

"My lord. There are so many uncharted settlements. It could be smugglers. It could be…" Ozzel says, still not convinced.

"That is the system. And I am sure Skywalker is with them. Set your course for the Hoth system," Vader orders. He then turns to General Veers, standing just behind him, and orders, "General Veers! Prepare your men!"

"Yes, my lord," Veers responds. He lets Vader walk past, then says, "Admiral," and exchanges a nod with Ozzel before walking away. Ozzel then looks at Piett for a moment before he turns and walks away to issue Vader's orders to the rest of the fleet.

(TAS Repulse)

On the bridge of the Repulse, Admiral John Miller goes over the latest intelligence reports regarding Death Squadron. When Fleet Admiral Zambellas received the transmission from Lieutenant Colonel Loginov, he had dispatched a small squadron of ships from the fleet surrounding Naboo, under Admiral Miller's command.

Given how Death Squadron has taken the brunt of duties when it came to hunting the Rebels, and the fleet had been seen in the part of the Outer Rim where Hoth was located, it was a given that Death Squadron would be coming for the Rebels on Hoth. Miller knew that his task force was likely going to end up fighting Death Squadron. It was going to be a tough fight, given the task force was only comprised of the Repulse and 5 London class Star Destroyers.

Miller turns to one of his intelligence officers. "How much further to Hoth?" he asks.

"Several hours, sir," the Singaporean officer says.

"Any report on Death Squadron?" Miller asks the officer.

"Negative, sir," the officer says.

Miller looks back the display in front of him, his mind racing, wondering what kind of situation will present itself to him once his task force arrives at Hoth.

(Hoth)

Kelly makes her way through the Terran hangar in Echo Base, following Lieutenant Colonel Loginov and two other Terran officers.

"I want all pilots ready to fly if necessary, and I want at least four Black Widows patrolling overhead if the Empire shows up. Our transports need to be loaded up as fast as possible. Once all of our equipment has been loaded up, I want every Terran man and woman to help the Rebels get their transports loaded," Loginov orders.

"Yes, sir," one of the other officers says. The Alliance has a trio of their own GR-75 transports parked in the hangar. Already, Terran personnel are loading the equipment the Alliance brought to Hoth. Much of the Alliance's equipment is already aboard the transports.

As Kelly watches the ground crews continue to load equipment onto the transports, she hears the sound of engines winding up. She glances over and sees four SF-23s powering up as their pilots close the canopies. Then, one after the other, the four Black Widows take off and fly out of the hangar to set up a patrol over Echo Base.

After a few minutes, Kelly leaves the hangar and heads towards the command center. As she walks, she sees hundreds of Rebel personnel, with a handful of Terrans mixed in to help, milling about as they load up the transports with everything they can, knowing they don't have a lot of time until the Empire arrives.

As Kelly enters the command center, she sees one of the technicians looking intently at a screen. Only a moment later, she hears him say, "General, there's a fleet of Star Destroyers coming out of hyperspace in Sector 4."

Kelly's face goes grim as General Rieekan orders, "Reroute all power to the energy shield. We have to hold them until all transports are away." He then looks directly at one of his officers and says, "Prepare for ground assault."

Kelly watches as the Rebel officers hurry to issue orders. Things are about to come to a head on Hoth.

And, I'll end there. I know, this was a short chapter, but I wanted to dedicate a full chapter to the events of the Battle of Hoth.

Next chapter should be up later this week. Until then, please leave a review, and stay tuned!