As Solar rose over the white sheets of ice covering the eastern plains of Fichina, three gleaming, metal objects whizzed through the air, hovering quite low for aircraft. The three rebel snow speeders, which were basically Arwings that had been miniaturized, stripped of their wings, and packed with heating coils so that the engines wouldn't freeze, cave together to form a V shape in the air.
Inside the speeder on the left, a green-haired rabbit peered out the windshield of his aircraft, which had been tinted black so that the glare of the sunlight off the snow wouldn't blind him.
"See anything, Mitch?" asked Earl, a small gecko that was sitting in the passenger's seat of the speeder behind the pilot's seat. A secondary gun turret had been fixed on the back of each speeder, which was manned by a passenger at all times.
"Nothing," Mitch the rabbit said, frowning. He set his radio frequency so that the signal would reach the radios of both Fox and Falco, then said, "Commander McCloud! Captain Lombardi! Do you copy?"
There was no answer. "I repeat, if there is anyone out there please respond. I am a rebel pilot and have been despatched to find you," Mitch said. "Beta three or Gamma one, do either of you copy?"
"Still nothing?" asked Earl.
"No," Mitch said worriedly. He radioed his two wingmates. "Have you picked anything up?" he asked into his radio.
"Nothing," responded the other two pilots grimly.
Mitch swallowed, silently praying that the two rebel heroes had survived the freezing night. "Beta three or gamma one, do either of you copy? Captain Lombardi, if you hear me, please respond. Captain McCloud, please contact my radio if you hear this. Do you copy?" he asked once more.
There was a buzz of static on his radio, and the pilot expected one of his counterparts to be signaling him. But then a different voice crackled through the static, a voice that emanated cockiness and self-assuredness, but also happiness and decency.
"Morning, guys! Glad you could drop by to pick us up!" laughed Falco Lombardi through the radio.
Mitch grinned and looked down at the snow, seeing a small speck down below. As his speeder drew closer, the speck grew into a tall figure clad in padded clothing, waving his arms in the air and standing next to a small snow shelter.
"Green three to base, I've found them. I repeat, green three to base, I've found Captain Lombardi and Commander McCloud," Mitch grinned. He signaled his wingmates, and they circled the camp Falco had set up briefly, then touched down next to the shelter. Mitch and Earl left their speeder and filled the empty passenger seats of the other two, allowing Falco to fly the still unconscious Fox back to the rebel base himself.
***
Fox's vision was blurry when he opened his eyes. Not because of drowsiness or unfocused eyesight, but because he was completely submerged in a thick, sticky liquid. Fox involuntarily took a breath through his nose, then stopped, blinking. He hadn't breathed in any of the fluid. Reaching up to his face, he found that he had a large respiration mask over his muzzle, with three short wires protruding from the device and into his nostrils and mouth.
Where was he? What had happened after he had fallen unconcscious? Had he been saved by the rebellion, or perhaps captured by a band of space pirates? Question after question popped into his head, and he thought with frustration that every one of them could be answered if he could just see clearly!
An air bubble floated up through the liquid from the grated steel floor beneath him. Then another, and another. Soon the entire space around him was filled with bubbles, and Fox found that wherever he was, the liquid was draining away. When it was completely gone, Fox lay, naked and soaked with goo, on the floor of a large, cylindrical glass tank.
Fox tried to stand, but was too weak to do even that. After a moment the glass walls of the tank began to rise and two figures stepped forward, lifted Fox up, and gently pried the respiration mask away from his face. Before he could say a word they lead him down a long, white corridor and stood him in a small, rectangular room. One of the men pressed a button on the white metal wall, and a thin sheet of water began descending from a showerhead fixed into the ceiling. The men stepped out of the way, let the water rinse the sticky healing fluid off of Fox's fur, and then led him back down the corridor into a wide, clean looking room.
Fox blinked, recognizing it as one of the rooms in the hospital wing of the rebel base. His heart was set at ease, and Fox changed into a pair of soft pajamas and climbed into the hospital cot by himself. He was exhausted, even from just walking a few meters. The two men left the room and Fox fell asleep, hoping that he would see Krystal, Falco, and Slippy soon.
Hours later, Fox awoke to find his four friends, Krystal, Falco, Slippy, and ROB, all surrounding his bed. "Hey guys," he said, grinning up at them.
"Hey Fox," they all said in unison, every one of them smiling. Well, all of them except ROB, but Fox knew that the android would have smiled if he could. Krystal sat down at the edge of Fox's bed and hugged him tightly.
"I'm glad you're back," she said, smiling.
"Me too," he said. He was surprised by the fact that he felt no pain from the tight embrace. The effects of the healing goo must have still been working on him, even after being removed from it.
"That nasty cut you had on your face is almost gone, kiddo," said Falco, grinning.
"The healing fluid is regenerating your damaged tissues. In a few days you'll be as good as new," smiled Krystal.
"How much was wrong with me that you had to completely soak me in that stuff?" asked Fox in awe.
Slippy grimaced. "All of your digits had caught frostbite, and your face had practically been frozen solid. You also had three gashes down to the bone on the left side of your face," he said.
Fox blinked. "Wow. I guess that healing fluid really works wonders," he said, reaching up and touching the scars on the left side of his face.
After he had told them the entire tale of what had happened to him, a medical android shooed ROB, Krystal, Slippy, and Falco out of the room.
"Are you serious, we've only been here fifteen minutes!" exclaimed Falco to the android.
"I was ordered to escort you out, and orders are orders, Captain Lombardi," replied the medical android.
They all left, but before Krystal turned away she bent over Fox and kissed him. "Get well soon, Fox," she said.
"I'll try."
***
Twelve minutes later, Falco, ROB, Slippy, and Krystal were all standing in the control center, called down by General Pepper.
"About twenty minutes ago we picked up a radio signal coming from a few miles from here. It wasn't transmitted to us, we just happened to stumble upon it," said Pepper. He flipped a switch on a control board, and a garbled message of beeps, clicks, and whirs began playing.
"What is it?" asked Krystal, frowning.
"It's no type of signal we've ever used before, and it's too complicated to belong to pirates or smugglers. We think it's an imperial signal," said Pepper grimly.
"What do we do, general?" asked ROB in his usual blaring monotone.
"Find whatever's sending the signals, and stop it. Whatever it is, it can't be good for us. Captain Lombardi," Pepper said, turning to Falco.
"Yes general?" Falco asked, folding his arms as if expecting what was coming.
"I want you to check out whatever that is. In understand your ship still needs repairs, I'll get a team of mechanics working on it immediately," offered Pepper.
"Sure, thanks general. Come on, Slippy," Falco said, heading towards the door of the control room.
"Wait, what? Why do I have to come?" Slippy cried.
"Because Krystal's needed here, Fox is in the hospital, and I highly doubt ROB knows how to use a blaster."
"I do not," ROB said.
"See? Come on," Falco ordered, dragging Slippy along after him.
After both of them had changed into their thick winter clothing, they adjusted their radios to pick up the signal and began heading towards the transmitter. When they were only dozens of meters away, both of them slipped off the backs of their Lagnuas (Slippy far less gracefully than Falco) and crept towards a large, black object hovering in the air a few meters above the ground.
Falco pulled his hood low over his head and drew his blaster out of its holster. Slippy copied him. "Okay," said Falco quietly, "we want to capture this thing if we can. Don't make any loud noises."
Slippy nodded.
They lowered themselves to the snow and crawled towards the imperial probe robot, both of their blasters at the ready. Falco squinted at the robot, thinking of where he could shoot it so that it would be disabled, when it turned to get a better radio signal and spotted him.
The robot squealed and fired a laser beam at Falco and Slippy. Slippy yelped and slid away from the blast, but Falco quickly rolled to the side and fired three quick shots at the robot. Only one blaster bolt hit it, and only clipped it in an antenna. But nevertheless, the probe robot exploded in a shower of sparks and white-hot shard of metal.
Falco sighed and picked himself up off the ground, then radioed Krystal back at the base. "I've made contact," he said.
"Did you capture it?"
"Couldn't, it fired at us and I had to shoot it."
He heard Krystal sigh. "Well what was it, anyway?" she asked.
"Robot of some kind. But I didn't hit it too hard. I think it must have been some kind of self-destruct mechanism," Falco said as Slippy holstered his blaster and waddled up next to him.
Back at the base, General Pepper looked at Krystal grimly. "I think it's safe to say that's an imperial probe," he said. "It isn't safe here. Call Lombardi and Toad back, we need to evacuate the planet."
***
If there was one thing that Fox had learned in his years with the Cornerian rebellion, it was that evacuating a planet was one of the most difficult processes they had to go through. It took days just to load all of the movable supplies into cargo ships, and on top of that they had to organize a planetary defense army from what few soldiers they had.
It was just two days after Fox had returned to the base, and already he felt just as good as he had the morning before being captured by the Polera ice creature. Even the scars on his face had healed, and his rust colored hair grown over the spots where he had been slashed.
"Are you positive that you are alright, commander?" asked the worried medical android as Fox changed into a green, padded pilots jumpsuit.
"I'm fine, really. Someone has to lead the pilots out there," he said, pulling a winter jacket on over his flight suit.
"Take care, commander," said the android as Fox walked out of the hospital room. Fox thanked it and exited the hospital wing of the base, which was the only area warm enough for ice not to build up on the walls and ceiling. Fox was thankful that he had taken the liberty of wearing so much warm clothing.
Fox hurried down to the hangar, heading towards the Eagle's Eye in the corner. "Falco!" he shouted up at the ship. The blue bird poked his head out of a maintenance hatch on the top of the ship, blinking. "You going already?" he asked.
"I have to. I'm the leader of blue squadron, remember?" Fox grinned.
"Seeya Fox!" called Slippy from inside the cockpit of the Eagle. Fox waved at the toad through the windshield of the ship, then turned back to Falco.
Falco frowned at Fox as he climbed out onto the hull of the ship. "Be careful out there," he said sternly, speaking to Fox as if he were talking to a younger brother.
"I will," Fox smiled. He turned away and headed towards the snow speeders lined up against the hangar wall, where Krystal was waiting for him. They embraced tightly, then kissed each other.
"Where will you be?" asked Fox, frowning.
"In the control room," said Krystal. "They need me there. And don't worry, I'll get to a transport as soon as I can," she added, seeing the frown on Fox's face.
"Alright," Fox said. He kissed her once again, then hopped into his speeder and put on his flight helmet. "Bye Krys," he said as the cockpit windscreen sealed shut. Krystal stepped back as Fox fired up the speeder, eased it off the ground, then flew outside, leading the five other speeders in blue squadron out to the now-dormant battlefield.
Miles away from the base, a rebel officer crouched in a trench dug six feet into the snow, looking out towards the fields of ice with a pair of thermal goggles. He frowned. There was definitely something out there, but what it was he couldn't say. The heat readings he was getting were too scrambled. He flicked a switch on the side of the binoculars and the heat scanning sensors were turned off. He almost gasped out loud in horror at what he saw through the lens of the binoculars.
Miles away, but approaching fast, were twelve giant, four-legged metal beasts. The gears in the knee joints of the beasts cranked and shifted, allowing the leg to bend and move forward, planting a giant foot into the ice. These mechanical goliaths were known as GATs, or Ground Assault Transports. They were known to be one of the Andross Empire's most deadly pieces of machinery ever made.
"Walkers, we have walkers inbound! Charge the cannons!" the officer shouted, lowering his goggles. Throughout the trench, rebel soldiers primed their blasters, charged the batteries on laser cannons, and drew ion grenades from their supply packs. Looking out across the fields, dozens of tiny dots appeared, growing in size quickly. Soon they took the shape of walkers themselves, though they were much smaller and nimbler than the GATS. The two-legged S-AT vehicles hurried towards the trenches, firing blaster bolts out of cannons protruding from their undersides.
A rebel blaster cannon fired back, hitting an S-AT dead-on and causing it to topple over and explode. The dozen and a half rebel snow speeders, led by Fox and the other squad leaders, zipped by overhead. The battle had begun.
Dropships carrying imperial shock troopers touched down, releasing a horde of infantry enemies for the men in the trenches to deal with. Blaster bolts crisscrossed in the air, the sky soon became filled with smoke from blaster discharge, and soldiers began shouting over the roar of the icy wind and explosions.
After successfully pushing back a squad of shock troops, the rebel soldiers charged across the field of ice, firing their blasters and shouting like madmen. The two armies crashed into each other with tremendous force, rocking the base below them with an onset of explosions.
"Darry, Creel, attack those S-ATs. Mikey, Darkks, let's go after the GATs," commanded Fox. Blue squadron split up, soaring in different directions on the battle field. Fox swooped down low over the short, stalk-like neck of one GAT and unleashed a burst of energy from the blaster cannons on the front of his speeder. It isn't working, he observed with surprise. He wheeled his speeder around for another pass, and was almost shot out of the air by the blaster cannons on the giant vehicle.
"Guys, the armor on those things is too strong, blasters won't do a thing," Fox called to the others through his radio.
"Then what do we do?" asked Mikey.
Fox frowned. What would he do? How would a Katinan farm boy topple a large beast when confronted in a battle. Then Fox blinked. Topple? That was it! "Use your harpoon guns, guys. Aim for the legs."
"You sure that'll work?" asked Darkks uncertainly.
"No, but it's worth a shot," said Fox.
Darkks swung his speeder around, flying straight between the four legs of one GAT. As he passed by, a thin but powerful cable was fired from the back of his speeder by the copilot in the passenger's seat. Darkks circled the legs of the walker, trailing the wire behind him. He looped between its legs, spun around once more, then detached the cable from the rear of his speeder.
The GAT took a shaky step forward, got its foot caught in the wire, and then toppled forward into the snow.
Darkks whooped merrily. "It worked! I can't believe it!" he cried.
"Yeah, you did good– hey, watch that crossfire–!" Fox shouted. But before he could get any more out, a searing blaster bolt tore through Darkks' speeder, sending it crashing to the snow in a pulsating ball of fire.
Fox cursed in a low voice. "Andy, you ready to fire that cable?" he asked his copilot.
"Ready."
Fox arced his speeder through the air, barrel-rolled to avoid a blaster bolt, then cried, "Now, Andy, shoot the legs!"
Andy aimed his turret briefly and was about to fire when a stray laser clipped the back of the speeder. Andy gave a strangled cry, and Fox began losing control of his craft. "Andy?" Fox asked, trying to keep his speeder steady. No answer. Fox didn't know if Andy was dead or not, but he didn't have time to stop and think about it. His speeder was going down.
"Mikey, round up the others. I'm hit and going down," Fox shouted, trying to fight the pull of gravity that forced the nose of the speeder down. "I repeat, I'm hit, I'm hit–"
His speeder crashed into the snow, slid a few meters, then came to a stop. Fox shook the dizziness of the impact away, then noticed a strange heat at the back of his neck. He looked back to see that flames had leapt up from the controls in the passengers seat, and they were getting uncumfortably close. "Andy!" he shouted to the blackened, motionless body in the passenger's seat. Still no answer. There was no question that Andy had died.
Fox unbuckled his restraints, then forced the cockpit open and crawled out. Once outside, he saw the gargantuan foot of an approaching GAT land in the snow not ten meters from the speeder. Looking up at the underbelly of the machine, Fox was struck with an idea. He hurried to the back of the speeder and pried the harpoon gun from the twisted metal of the speeder. It was battered and dented, but Fox knew that rebel weapons were sturdier than they appeared.
Fox dove away from the speeder just as the walker's foot came down and crushed it, then picked himself up from the snow and hurried after the GAT. Avoiding the legs of the giant robot, Fox aimed the harpoon gun at the underbelly of it and fired. The harpoon shot up into the air and buried itself dep into the armor plating of the walker. Fox then hooked the gun into his belt and pulled himself up to the bottom of the giant robot with it. Once he was only a few feet from the bottom of the GAT, Fox unhooked his energy sword from his belt and activated it. The white blade snapped to life and flashed through the air, cutting a wide gash in the metal.
Fox hooked the energy sword back into his belt, unhooked an ion grenade from his supply harness, and tossed it into the GAT through the gash. Fox cut the cable on the harpoon gun and let himself plummet downward into the snow, then looked up from the ice in time to see the underside of the GAT explode in a flash of brilliant colors. The machine wobbled, tottered forward, then fell sideways into the snow. It had been destroyed. Fox grinned to himself and slumped back into the snow, letting himself drift into unconsciousness.