I: Battle of Hoth

A sudden explosion rocked the eastern wing of Echo Base. One soldier still in bed was thrown off his near-frozen bunk. "Aagh!! What the--?!"

He stood; looked around, and realized he was the only one in the room. Shit, did I oversleep? A quick glance at a clock he had salvaged from Yavin 4 confirmed it. He quickly dressed and grabbed his modified DL-44 blaster. He checked to make sure he had all his gear, then quickly ran out the sliding door.

He made it to the snowspeeders' hangar just in time: one was left. He started off towards it, when he suddenly saw someone not wearing the standard snow gear enter it. If that one leaves... "Hey, wait!" He shouted and waved his arms, but the snowspeeder lifted off and headed to battle.

He cursed to himself. Well, what can I do now? Fight on foot? He looked around, noticed a few blaster rifles left and a saddled Tauntaun. "..How convenient."

A minute later, with one A-280 blaster rifle strapped on his back, Dax Urland rode off on the Tauntaun. After a short pause to check directions, he headed east, where one crewmember still in the base told him the majority of combat was taking place.

A blaster bolt hit the side of the Tauntaun once the trenches became visible. He looked in the direction that the bolt came from, and noticed more. He abandoned the Tauntaun, for fear of it being shot out from under him. A short run put him in the trench, in time to hear a short briefing.

The commanding officer looked over the troops in the trench, noting a few that weren't there a minute before. "Alright, men, this is it. The Empire has found Echo Base, and we have to evacuate immediately. You already know that Rogue Squadron is splitting up in two, to both defend the transports and keep the Imperials away from the shield generator. However, the snowspeeders won't be able to pull it off on their own. When the infantry start their attack, we'll be here to push them back. So everyone ready your weapons and take up defensive positions."

Some soldiers began exiting the trenches and boarding unmanned turrets. Dax stared out into the empty field. Wait..it wasn't empty. Imperial snowtroopers were hardly visible, holding E-11 blaster rifles. Within seconds, they closed the distance and began firing. The Rebels had the advantage due to their trenches, enough to push the first wave back.

The second wave wasn't as easy. The troopers began the second wave with a pair of AT-ST walkers. Oddly enough, floating black probe droids randomly littered the battlefield too. While the droids were easy to destroy with just one or two shots, the AT-STs would take much more.

When it looked as though the walkers would defeat the entrenched forces, though, four snowspeeders zoomed above the snow, blasting the AT-STs' "heads" and bringing them down quickly.

Things began looking bad for the Alliance when a single AT-AT attacked. The speeders flocked around it, blasting it with their laser cannons. They had no effect at all. The lack of an Imperial infantry assault allowed Dax and his allies to watch the speeders' attack.

Dax suddenly saw a black cable launch from the back of one speeder. He leaned over to another soldier, whispering, "What is that?"

The other soldier stared at the speeder in question. "The snowspeeders have tow cables attached to the back. The copilot operates it. I have no idea what they're doing with it, though."

The question was answered immediately: the speeder passed around the AT-AT's legs three times and detached the cable. The AT-AT tripped and fell forward. A few more blasts from one snowspeeder destroyed it. More AT-ATs came into view. They were able to make it close enough to the trenches to begin firing. Turrets exploded, soldiers flew through the air, and scorched snow fell over the others. Unfortunately, at this point, Dax chickened out. It seemed like the right thing to do, everyone else was doing it. As he ran back to Echo Base, he remembered his duty to the Alliance, and made certain he would do something to protect the base from the Empire before he left.

Dax found his X-wing exactly where he had landed it. His R2 unit was still in it, beeping wildly once it spotted him. "Hey, F3, how're you doing?" R2-F3 let out a series of beeps. "That's great. We'll have to get out of here soon."

As he started to board his X-wing, he heard a sound behind him. He looked behind him and saw a pair of soldiers, one male, one female. The male spoke first. "Excuse us, could you direct us to the next transport? We're hoping to get out of the base alive."

Dax considered his options for a second, before he hopped off his ship. "Sure, I'll help. The next transport should be.." He looked towards the opening of the hangar and saw snowtroopers. "..the way they're not coming from. Get down!" He pulled out his A-280 and exchanged shots with the snowtroopers. A number of shots to their heads soon left the hangar quiet again.

The female dashed to the front and closed the large blast doors. Dax stared as they shut, preventing his own escape. "What the hell are you doing?"

She turned around, looked at him timidly. "If we leave it open, your fighter might be destroyed before you can leave." Dax hadn't considered that. He could re-open it later, anyway. "Let's go."

F3 started beeping in protest. "Don't worry, F3, I'm just going to help these two to their transport, then I'll be back for you."