Author's Note: I understand that the Hoth/Fichina battle in the last chapter was very short, and that it was way cooler in the movie. But I was pressed to limit the chapter lengths, so if I'd made the battle bigger the chapter would have gotten to be TOO long. So I extended the battle into this chapter a bit. It isn't much, but it's more than I had before.
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The captain of one of the giant GAT robots leaned forward, looking through the wide windshield in the head of one of the machines. In the distance he could see Venomian starfighters zipping down towards a large mountain that the rebel base was hidden under. As they drew close to the peak of the icy mountain, the two fighters in the lead suddenly exploded, although no laser blasts had shot them down.
The captain frowned. "Scan the mountain for energy readings," he said to one of the men commandeering the walker. The man nodded and flipped a few switches on the control board of the machine, and suddenly the windscreen went dark and showed an orb of tightly woven beams of energy surrounding the mountain. A shield.
"Tell command to find the location of the shield generator and destroy it," barked the captain to another person in the cockpit of the machine.
In the short five minutes that it took the Andross Empire to locate the generator, the battle had escalated into a full scale invasion of Fichina by the Andross Empire. Screams and laser blasts filled the air, and the snow was dyed dark red with spilled blood.
A group of five rebel soldiers aimed a heavy blaster cannon up towards the cockpit of one of the GAT walkers and blasted through its windscreen. The great machine crashed to the snow, and the soldiers whooped loudly.
"Come on!" shouted the leader of the group, priming his blaster rifle and rushing towards the GAT walker sprawled in the snow. His followers cheered and followed suit and approached the GAT behind him, but were caught in a massive fireball as the GAT exploded with a self-destruct mechanism.
Mikey, the new leader of blue squadron, called the others in his squadron to his sides. "Okay guys, Fox is down. The trick with tying up their feet worked once or twice, but they've caught onto that," he said, twisting his speeder to the side to avoid a burst of flak from an imperial Anti-air tank rolling its way across the ice.
"So what do we do?" asked Darry, frowning down at the battlefield. So far it wasn't faring too well for the rebellion. The foot soldiers that weren't on the run were either getting pinned down by fire in the trenches or having their organs fried by nonstop blaster bolts being fired into their bodies.
Mikey glanced down at an imperial convoy carrying explosive shells to artillery guns mounted in the snow. "I've got an idea. Cover me guys, I'm heading for that convoy. Richard, when we get close I want you to snag one of those shells with your harpoon gun."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Richard, Mikey's copilot.
"Just do it, I know what I'm doing," said Mikey. He broke off from the rest of the squadron and dove towards the convoy, pulling up and wheeling away just before the S-ATs guarding it fired upon him.
"I got one!" declared Richard.
"Good, hold onto it," said Mikey. He carefully guided his speeder so that he was flying diagonally towards the cockpit of one GAT, just out of its sight. It appeared to the rest of blue squadron that he was about to crash into it, when he pulled up sharply at the last second. The bomb he was towing behind him smashed into the cockpit of the GAT and exploded, removing its head and neck. It wobbled and fell over, crushing a platoon of imperial shock troopers advancing across the snow.
Richard laughed jubilantly. "That got him!"
"Nice one Rich, just stay on target," warned Mikey, glancing down at a couple dozen imperial shock troopers aiming upwards and firing large, shoulder-mounted blaster cannon lasers at them. He rolled to avoid getting his starboard stabilizer blown off by one of the blasts, but was still scorched by the laser. This is getting dangerous out here, he thought grimly.
Meanwhile, five GAT walkers marched towards the badly camouflaged shield generator, crushing fleeing rebel soldiers to a bloody pulp beneath their feet. They aimed their laser cannons and fired relentlessly at the generator until it exploded in a shower of sparks and flames.
"The shields are down. It is now safe to move all infantry into the base," reported the head GAT.
***
Falco sprinted down the icy corridors of the base, his warmer set of clothes forgotten in his living quarters. He rounded a corner, almost slipping and falling on his tail feathers, and hurried into the command center of the base. There were only six figures left in the room: General Pepper, Krystal, ROB, and three personnel monitoring the computers.
"Krystal, General Pepper," Falco said, leaning against the cold metal of a computer control board and gasping for breath.
"What?" Krystal asked, turning to the blue bird.
Falco jerked his thumb towards the door. "One of the last transports is leaving the planet in a few minutes, the captain ordered me to find you two. We have to go," he said.
"I'm not leaving until everyone else is safe," said Pepper stiffly. Falco scowled, but knew he couldn't order the general to go.
"Your choice," he said. "Krystal?"
Krystal looked at Pepper, then at the personnel in the room. "I can't leave without knowing everyone else is alright," she said slowly.
"Mistress Krystal, by all means, go. Don't worry about everyone else, I'll handle them. Captain Lombardi is right, you need to leave," said Pepper.
Krystal frowned, but then she reluctantly said, "Alright, I'll go."
"Good. We need to go now, so I hope you don't need to bring anything with you," said Falco. He grabbed her wrist and led her out the door hurriedly.
ROB stood staring at the door for a few minutes, then hurried out of the command center after them. He had no desire to remain on the icy planet any longer. Although ROB's stiff metal legs would only allow him to walk, he took wide, loping strides and was quickly able to catch up with Falco and Krystal.
"What about you? How are you going to get off this planet? Is the Eagle okay? Where's Slippy?" asked Krystal between breaths as they ran.
"Geez, one question at a time. Yeah, I'm taking the Eagle, and Slippy's coming with me to repair it. I don't know if it's fixed or not... yet," said Falco.
"How will you follow the rest of us if you don't have hyperspeed jets?" asked Krystal.
"Hopefully Slippy can repair it in just a couple more hours," said Falco grimly.
"I don't know if you know I'm following you, but please slow down," said ROB from behind them.
"No can do, ROB. We have to get out as fast as possible," said Falco. Both he and Krystal skidded to a halt as a deep rumble shook the base.
"What was that?" asked Krystal.
"I don't know, but it's not good," muttered Falco. "Come on."
Unbeknownst to Krystal, ROB, and Falco, the rumbling had come from the side of the icy mountain being blown open by imperial cannons. The gargantuan blast doors shielding the hangar had managed to block almost all attacks, and the empire had resorted to blowing parts of the mountain itself away in order to gain access to the rebel base. At that moment an entire legion of shock troops were flooding into the base, searching for any survivors.
Falco and Krystal were a few meters ahead of ROB, still sprinting down the icy halls, when an explosion blew a dozen chunks of ice out of the western wall of the corridor. Falco peered through the dust and smoke, seeing sunlight from outside pouring into the dim tunnels. His eyes widened and he backed away as a tall, black shape emerged from the smoke, its flowing black cloak giving it the appearance of a mutant bat.
Cain calmly strode towards both Falco and Krystal, one gloved hand reaching for the energy sword hooked into his belt.
Falco reached for his blaster, but suddenly another explosion shook the tunnels, almost throwing all of them to the floor. The ceiling cracked, groaned, then came down in an avalanche of ice, metal, and stone. The pile of rubble clogged the corridor, blocking off Cain from Falco and Krystal.
Although Falco was relieved that the collapsing tunnel had saved them from an encounter with Cain, he silently cursed to himself. That tunnel had led to the transport that was awaiting Krystal. Falco unhooked a small radio from his belt and spoke into it. "Transport fifteen, this is Captain Lombardi. I can't reach you, take off. I'll get her out on my ship," he said. He helped Krystal off the ground and began leading her away from the pile of rubble. "You okay?" he aksed.
"I'm fine. Where did you say we were going?" Krystal asked, blinking.
"The Eagle, the hangar is our only other option for escaping. I sure hope General Pepper already got to his transport," Falco grunted grimly.
"Oh, stars..." Krystal muttered, thinking of the battered old freight ship.
"She isn't that bad, come on," protested Falco, holding Krystal tightly by the wrist and leading her on. As they hurried down the corridor they passed by ROB, who blinked his red optical receptors at them in confusion.
"Where are you going now? Wait for me!" the android cried, turning and hurrying after them.
On the other side of the pile of rubble, Cain hissed angrily into his oxygen mask. He had been so close to getting Krystal and exterminating the last of the Cerinians. But there was always another time. She may be useful alive for a little longer, thought Cain.
"Sir, are you alright?" asked a shock troop clad in thermal armor and a padded helmet, stomping through the ice towards him. Behind him were a half dozen other troops, all hurrying into the tunnel through the new entryway in the wall.
"I'm fine," snapped Cain. He tilted his helmeted head slightly, staring at the pile of ice blocking the corridor. "Head towards the hangar," he said after a few moments. "I'm expecting someone there."
***
Fox grunted, lifting his face from the snow. He was stiff with cold and his face was numb– he hoped that his tissues hadn't been damaged by frostbite. He had no desire to spend any more time in the tank of sticky healing gel. Fox stood up slowly, pulling his blaster out of its holster and glancing around.
He was far from the main battlefield, but even from that distance he could tell that the rebellion was suffering terribly. The snow was blackened with soot from burnt bodies, and the stench of blood hung thickly in the air, stinging Fox's nostrils. Tiny dots that were rebel foot soldiers fled across the ice, only to be shot down by shock troops, S-ATs or GATs. Smoke curled upward from the base, and one lone snow speeder was left in the air, trailing black smoke from its damaged thrusters.
Inside his helmet radio, Fox could hear Mikey's exhausted voice groaning into his microphone. "Lost everyone... Darry, Creel, Commander McCloud. My copilot's dead. I'm bleeding..."
"Mikey! Mikey, I'm okay, head to a transport!" Fox tried to shout into his microphone. He grimaced and tapped his helmet. The microphone was busted.
"Seeya everyone..." he heard Mikey sigh. In the distance, Fox saw the speeder angle itself towards one of the three GATs approaching the base. The monstrous machine fired its blaster cannons at Mikey's speeder frantically, but missed. The speeder smashed through the windscreen of the GAT, causing the head to burst apart with a loud, resonating boom.
Fox gritted his teeth. Bye Mikey, he thought forlornly. He had lost yet another good friend to the Andross Empire.
"Commander!" shouted a voice in the distance. Fox turned to see a lone figure hurrying towards him on the back of a Lagnua. Fox waved to the figure, who happened to be the very rebel soldier that Falco had spoken to before heading out to find Fox in the snowstorm mere days ago.
"The empire's won," the soldier said breathlessly. "Almost everyone has been evacuated from the base, and the fleet has taken off. There's a few Lagnuas tied up to a radio antenna about half a mile from here. I can take you to one, then you can find an Arwing near the takeoff zone."
Fox shrugged. "Sounds good to me. Thanks a lot, soldier," he said as the soldier helped him onto the back of the Lagnua. The creature grunted at the extra weight, but tolerated it. As the soldier turned his mount towards the radio antenna in the distance, Fox grimaced at the rebel base. He hoped that Krystal and Falco had managed to escape safely.
***
Falco jumped to the side, barely dodging a chunk of ice that had fallen from the hangar ceiling. "Come on!" he shouted to Krystal. He lead her up the entry ramp to the Eagle's Eye, then poked his head back out to glare at ROB. "Move your metal ass, Robbie, I need you to help pilot the ship!" barked Falco at ROB angrily. Then he looked up to the topside hull of the Eagle and shouted , "Slippy, you done up there?"
"Yeah!" called Slippy back, slipping into the Eagle through the top hatch as ROB hurried up the entry ramp. Falco dragged the android into the cockpit of the ship and hurriedly plugged him into the control board, then sat down in the pilot's chair and began powering the ship up.
"Okay, power levels are all steady. Engine seems warmed up enough..." Falco muttered to himself. He fired up the ship, but then the lights in the cockpit dimmed and the engine groaned pitifully. "That isn't good," blinked Falco.
"Ugh, I thought you said you'd fixed this pile of–" Krystal was cut off by falco, who spun around in his chair, glaring at her.
"Watch what you say, I've got enough problems without having to hear you complain about my ship," he snapped.
Krystal rolled her eyes and sat down in the copilot's seat, wondering if the Eagle was held together by spit and prayers.
Falco flipped a few switches on the control board and the lights returned to normal. "Right. The engine wasn't heated enough. We just need to wait a couple minutes..."
"We don't have a couple minutes!" yelped Slippy frantically, pointing at a platoon of shock troops setting up mounted blaster cannons in the entryways to the hangar.
"Right, I didn't see them. Must've been their white armor," muttered Falco cooly. He pressed a button on the control panel and a small, automatic blaster cannon emerged from the underside of the Eagle. It rotated in its place, then blasted holes through the chests of three shock troopers. But for every soldier that fell, two more seemed to take his place.
"Almost there," said Falco, clenching a fist.
A black figure descended on the white-clad soldiers like an angel of death, freezing them with terror for a few seconds. Then they began moving twice as fast to assemble the blaster cannons, firing their rifles at the armored hull of the Eagle.
Cain calmly walked forward, easily deflecting the blaster bolts from the Eagle's cannon with his energy sword. Inside the cockpit, Slippy began to panic.
"He's coming!"
"Now, ROB, hit it!" Falco shouted.
ROB remotely activated the engines, and the Eagle blasted out of the doors to the hangar, which had been forced open by nearly constant laser blasts. The Eagle rocketed out across the icy fields of Fichina, then angled upwards and soared up into the sky.
Cain snarled angrily, deactivating his energy sword and hooking it into his belt. He shook his head, then turned and headed back into the corridors of the base. "Show me the command center," the Dark Lord growled at the soldiers.
Outside, Fox glanced up at the freight ship and grinned as it flew away. His friends had made it. He looked back down to his fresh Lagnua mount, bade the soldier that had given him the ride farewell, then quickly urged it across the ice fields to the rebel takeoff zone.
"Commander McCloud, I heard you were dead!" cried a mechanic standing by Fox's Arwing.
"Not yet," grinned Fox. "I've still got a couple lives left. How's my fighter?" he asked.
"All set and ready to go. I was going to give it to someone else when I heard you had been shot down, but I'm glad I decided not to," grinned the mechanic.
Fox quickly climbed into the Arwing, thanked the mechanic, and blasted off into space. He saw that the coordinates for the rebel fleet rendezvous had already been inputted into his slipspace computer, but he erased them. He had already decided he was going somewhere else. He set his coordinates for Zoness, then activated his slipspace jets and shot off through the stars.