Hey, y'alls! I'm back once again!

This chapter isn't very long, but I felt like making it so that the next one could really focus on the battle for Hoth and this one could act as a 'set-the-stage' chapter.

Anyways, have fun reading!

The first thing that Hobbes thought of when he came to his senses was, 'I think I'm going to puke.'

And for good reason. After suppressing the gag reflex and doing his best to only breathe in through the mouth, he slowly cracked his eyes open… literally. His eyes were frozen half-shut.

After getting over the weird and rather painful sensation, he once again had to stop himself from throwing up as he took a breath through his nose. It reeked horribly- like fish left out of the freezer combined with rotten… celery? Cheese? He couldn't quite place it, but it smelled positively foul. He could barely see anything, surrounded by what looked like white, slimy tubes.

'What happened?' he wondered as he attempted to wriggle around. It was like he was in some smelly cocoon, or a…

It all came back to him in a rush. The blizzard! Luke, Han! The powdery grave!

Death.

He was inside of a Tauntaun, he realized, and managed to half-flip his body over. His new view allowed him to see a small gap, right in front of his face. Faint light reached his pupils, and he smiled. Wrestling his arms free from the sticky jumble of intestines, he went to open the gash before realizing that his paws and fingers were numb. He couldn't even feel them!

So he waited, doing his best to flex his limbs and try to get the circulation running again. All the while, the smelly, lukewarm intestines of his now-frozen mount seemed to constrict him from all sides. After another thirty minutes of flexing, breathing through the mouth and waiting for what seemed like an eternity, Hobbes tried again.

His paws were still tingly, but he managed to push open the gap further and heard a muffled crack as ice that had formed around the opening broke. The carcass was stiff from the outside temperatures, and the heat surrounding him was stifling, as if he was incarcerated in a rotten egg. He pushed further, and yelped as a micro-avalanche of snow suddenly sild through the gap. More light reached him, and, fueled by a determination to break free, he slowly wriggled through the opening.

Finally, he emerged from under the snow, and took a deep, deep gulp of fresh air. He was free! Collapsing onto the surface, he rested for a minute or two before finding the willpower to survey his surroundings.

The sight paralyzed him.

The sun had just begun rising over the smooth, white hills a great distance away, the partial beams lighting up the new powder dropped by the storm and making it sparkle in the rays. Orange light swept the scene, and reflected off of the billions of crystalline flakes. That alone made him gasp.

The winds had already gone to work, sweeping loose powder off of the surface in a gentle howl and carving ripples across the snow, like one would see in the dunes of Tatooine or the Sahara. That loose power traveled along the ground, carried by the breeze in a fantastic display. The tranquil scene was beautiful.

And when Hobbes climbed all the way out of the tunnel and looked behind him, he was surprised to see no Tauntaun carcasses in sight, before realizing that the extra snow deposited by the storm had completely buried them under the surface. Marveling at the sight, he stood up and cherished the cool wind that made his orange fur ripple, cleansing him of the heat and sickness of the Tauntaun's insides.

"I'm Alive!" he shouted with joy, hearing the echo ring across the snowy terrain.

Echo.

Echo base.

Luke!

Han!

Startled by the thoughts, he looked around for Han before realizing that he was nowhere to be found. Neither was Luke!

Deciding that they must still be in the other Tauntaun's carcass, he began walking around in search of any sign of the dead beast, pricking his ears up to hear for anything besides the wind.

After a good fifteen minutes of looking around, he heard a faint thump.

Then another.

Quickly pinpointing the origin of the sound, he turned just in time to see a sudden break in the snow-covered surface a dozen yards away. He dashed over, and as he was about halfway there another thump sounded and a figure broke through, a blaster in one hand.

"Han!" Hobbes exclaimed, and raised his hands as the weary smuggler pointed the weapon in his direction. Letting his eyes adjust to the stark change in brightness, Han realized who he was looking at and put away the blaster. "Hobbes!"

Hobbes walked over, and helped Han to his feet. The smuggler looked around, astonished at the sight he took in.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Hobbes asked, grinning.

"Ethereal's more like it," Han mumbled, and showed a grin of his own. "We're not dead!"

"Nope!" Hobbes chuckled, before remembering something. "Hey, where's Luke? Is he okay?"

"...No," Han said, his grin dropping. "The poor kid has burns from the cold, and I'm about seventy percent sure he's got frostbite on his fingers. I did my best to get him warm- he's still in the Tauntaun."

"Well, let's hope he stays unconscious for the time being," Hobbes sighed. "But what now? I mean, we've gotta get him back to Echo base before his situation deteriorates further."

"I brought a radio with me," Han said. "The only thing that we can do is turn it on and wait for the others to hear the signal and find us."

"Do you have a flare gun with you?" the tiger asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I can take it to the top of that ridge," he explained. "When I see a search party, I'll shoot it into the sky so that they'll see where we are."

"Sounds like a plan," Han nodded, and reached inside of a pouch that was clipped onto his chest. Pulling out a large-barrelled pistol, one issued to every captain at Echo base, he handed it over along with the holster and Hobbes took it. "While you do that, I'll activate the radio and wait for them to hail us."

Both of them turned and began walking in opposite directions to complete their respective tasks. They may have survived the storm, but they weren't out of the woods yet.

—

Calvin looked up, his face stained with tears as the door to his and Hobbes' bunk opened.

Through the night, he had tried everything that he could think of to find a way to see if Han and Hobbes were alright. He, along with Leia's help, had sent out pings every five minutes, looking for a response. He had waited and waited in the comms center, and had demanded for updates from every officer there.

And there was nothing that he could do. There was no trace of any return signal, or any hint of either of them being alive. Hobbes and Han, he knew, were smart and resourceful, but even with the tiger's fur coat, he doubted that either of them could survive anything -80 below. Not without further warmth.

And Luke…

Knowing that he probably lost three of the awesomest people in his life and couldn't do anything about it was the worst part. With nothing left to do, he retreated to his bunk and tried to get some sleep. But all he had accomplished was to drain his tears dry.

Saddened beyond belief and confused as to what he should do next, he looked up at the sound of the door sliding open and looked at Leia, standing in the doorway. He forced himself to meet the princess's softened gaze. Astonishingly, it looked like she might have been crying, too.

But for some reason, a smile graced her visage, and despite the faint remnants of tears stained on her face, her eyes were filled with hope.

"Sup, Leia?" he managed, his tone weary and filled with regret.

Leia began to speak, before holding her tongue and looking deep in thought. Finally, she said, "We found a signal."

At first it didn't register a response. But after a few seconds, he looked up and asked, "...What?"

"We found a signal," Leia smiled. "We're organizing a search party right now."

"Wait…" Calvin whispered. "You're saying that Hobbes… and Han might be…"

"We just got a comm signal from one of our scanners. It was brief… it only appeared for around a minute or so before it disappeared again, but-"

Suddenly, that boyish, adventurous twinkle in Calvin's eyes returned faster than it left, and he exclaimed "They're alive! Hobbes is alive!"

He jumped off of his bunk and asked, "Where's the search party?"

"Rogue Squadron's Snowspeeders are getting ready in the Upper South Hangar," Leia chuckled, and disappeared from view, off to probably command the mission from the control room.

Tears formed once again, but this time they were tears of hope and possibility as Calvin frantically gathered his things together, and sped out of his room. Darting through the brightly-lit corridors, he raced past droids, pilots, officers, and other Rebel personnel in his delight. Entering the South Hangar, he spotted a line of Snowspeeders, refueling and preparing to find Han, Luke, and Hobbes.

"Hey!" Calvin yelled over to the officer in charge of the mission. "I'm coming with you guys!"

—

The twelve Snowspeeders crested yet another icy ridge as they sped through the sky. Box-shaped in appearance, and armed with blaster cannons and a tow cable, they consisted of one Pilot seat and a Tailgunner seat.

In the Tailgunner seat of the last Speeder sat Calvin, rejuvenated and looking in every direction for a sign of Hobbes or Luke or Han. Deciding that they would have followed Luke's scouting circle from yesterday, Leia ordered the squadron to focus their efforts there.

Seemed like solid logic, he decided. So he kept his eyes peeled, making sure that if even a glimpse of them came into view, he would spot 'em.

And for almost an hour, they found nothing. Calvin saw no sign of Hobbes, Han, or Luke anywhere he looked. They had covered Luke's scouting circle more than three times… where was he?

"See any life signs now?" he asked the pilot over his shoulder.

"For the fifth time this minute, no!" the pilot, Zev, grumbled. Calvin sighed, and slumped into his cramped seat. It was even worse than the gunner seat on the Tiger One.

"Try and radio them again."

"Well, what do you think I've been doing?"

With every passing second, Calvin found himself becoming increasingly worried again. What if Hobbes and Han… hadn't made it? What if they had activated the distress signal, and then had… died?

Several kilometers away, on top of a short hill, stood a cold and impatient Hobbes, still clutching the flare gun. It had been hours since Han had activated the beacon, and for some reason… still nothing!

Gradually, the thought that they hadn't actually sent a search party at all came to the front of his head. Maybe they hadn't even gotten the signal! Han did say the transponder wasn't very reliable, and had been worn down by years of use. And the freezing temperatures here most definitely worsened its condition. If they weren't found, Luke might get worse.

But he wasn't about to give up! Even if the signal hadn't gotten through to the Rebels at Echo base, he was confident that Calvin and Leia would lobby for a search and rescue mission. After all, he had noticed that Han and Leia had mostly gotten over their original dislike for each other. And once, he had caught them embracing each other in the South passage in a manner that suggested they were starting to become… more than acquaintances.

They'd make a good couple, he thought, and turned to see where Han was behind him when… Wait. What was that?

Out of the corner of his eye, disappearing behind a hill he was certain a shade of red. Red? In this blue-white desert?

Pricking up his ears, he listened and watched for something more. Then, suddenly, a very faint whirring met his ears from somewhere afar. He waited… and waited.

Out of nowhere, almost a kilometer or so away, a sudden shape flew up into the sky, and Hobbes realized that he was looking at a Snowspeeder!

They had sent a search party!

But… it was starting to veer away. They hadn't seen him.

"Hey!" he shouted, before thinking better of the idea. Taking up the momentarily forgotten flare gun, he thumbed back the unusual hammer, and raised it into the air. Taking a second to adjust his aim, he prepared himself, steadied his arm and fired.

Inside of the Snowspeeder, Calvin watched Zev begin to turn back around, heading for Echo base, and he leaned over his shoulder.

"Wait… Hey Zev, where are you goin'?" he asked.

"Back to base," Zev answered. "The whole squadron's running low on Fuel, so we're gonna refill our engines."

"But wait a minute," Calvin realized, "I thought we had, like, hours of time left!"

"Not in this weather," Zev scoffed. "The speeders aren't adapted to these temperatures, so they take more fuel to keep them warm and running."

Sighing, Calvin rested his head against his seat and closed his eyes in distress. He wanted to stay out longer. After all Hobbes and Han and Luke might be injured. They could die soon… if they weren't already deceased.

"Well, radio them one more time," he offered.

"Why?" Zev asked. "I've tried and tried again! You know that there's a large possibility that they're dead, as much as it sucks."

"Well, why do you think I keep nagging you to send out a signal?" Calvin exclaimed, surprising Zev. "One of those guys is my best friend in the whole universe, and I could never live with the fact that somewhere, buried under two tons of snow, he's dead! He means the world to me, and… and if you don't turn on that radio and hail them again, I'll do it myself!" With that he reached forward for the controls.

"Oh, alright, alright!" Zev caved, batting away Calvin's hands and reaching to turn on the radio.

Suddenly, a bright light caught his attention from one of the side windows, and he gasped as he looked out of the window at the bright flare that was quickly disappearing.

Gasping, Calvin launched himself to the side and stared out of the window, where the glaring light from a flare was just receding.

"Hey, Zev!" he exclaimed.

"I see it!" Zev assured him, and spoke into his mic. "This is Rogue Two! This is Rogue Two! Captain Solo, so you copy? Commander Skywalker, do you copy? This is Rogue Two!"

"Don't forget about Hobbes!" Calvin interrupted. "Is he there?"

"I don't know, kid. I…" Zev abruptly stopped, and suddenly a faint crackle came over the transmitter. Then, a voice that made Calvin's spirits soar.

"Good morning! Nice of you guys to drop by!" came the snarky sound of Han's voice.

"Woohoo!" Calvin exclaimed as Zeb switched over to the channel to Base command, grinning all the while.

"Echo Base," he reported, "this is Rogue Two. I found them. Repeat, I found them."

Hobbes sighed in relief as the Snowspeeder turned back around and began to head straight for him. It zoomed over his head, bathing him in its shadow for a millisecond before it circled, slowed down, and began to land on the surface, twenty feet away from the Tauntauns. Pocketing the flare gun, he began to excitedly make his way down the hill. His paws hit the snow as he ran on all fours as fast as he could go… and then faster when he saw the figure emerging from the tail gunner's seat.

"Calvin!" he yelled with joy. The boy looked up.

"Hobbes!" Calvin shouted, and started a stumbling run towards his best friend. As they closed the distance, Hobbes coiled his muscles and delivered a sweeping pounce, nailing into Calvin and sending them both rolling through the snow.

"Oh, man!" Calvin sobbed with relief and pure happiness as Hobbes stood up and delivered a crushing hug. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"That makes two of us," Hobbes joked, and silently thanked whoever had allowed them to find each other again.

"Hey, Hobbes?" Calvin asked.

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Don't get yourself caught in a snowstorm ever again."

"Don't worry," Hobbes chuckled. "I won't make a habit of it."

Han, meanwhile, approached Zev. "Hey, could you head back to base and tell 'em to bring a troop transport ship? Commander Skywalker's close to becoming a block of freezing ice."

"You got it," Zev nodded. "C'mon Calvin."

"You go by yourself," Calvin said. "I'm staying with Hobbes!"

"Fine by me," Zev shrugged, and jumped into the speeder's cockpit. The ship turned on, and they watched as it lifted off of the ground and sped away, quickly lost in the faraway glaciers, ridges and hills.

The next ten minutes were spent getting Luke out of the other Tauntaun, and preparing him for extraction via air. Surprisingly, ten minutes was all it took for the Troop transport ship to arrive.

They watched it appear in the distance, its distinct shape suggesting that it was a U-wing, with two long wings reaching out in front of the cockpit from both sides, which was placed at the very back of the ship. Behind it were four turbo-thrusters, placed in a manner similar to an X-wing's.

As the ship touched down on an area of sturdier snow, several medics jumped out and quickly made their way over to a still-sleeping Luke. Wasting no time, they placed the Jedi on a stretcher and carried him back into the ship. Behind them, Calvin, Han, and Hobbes followed, jumping into the U-wing.

"Hey, is he alright?" Han asked, pointing to Luke once the doors had slid shut and the ship was on its way back to base.

"He's bad off," one of the men told him. "Captain Solo, you were right. He does have severe frostbite, but we can fix him up once we get him into a bacta tank."

"Alright," Han nodded, and slumped into his seat, exhausted. Calvin and Hobbes felt likewise. Calvin especially, since he had been up all night. For several minutes, the three of them enjoyed a brief respite.

"Y'know what, Hobbes?" Calvin suddenly said.

"What?" Hobbes asked, opening his eyes.

"You're the best friend in the whole, wide Galaxy."

"Why thank you," Hobbes grinned. "You're not so bad yourself."

"Wha… wait a minute!" Calvin exclaimed. "Whaddaya mean, 'You're not so bad yourself?' Why, I should be on the same level as you, at least! In fact, I'm dictator for Life and you're First Tiger! I…"

It was only then that he noticed that Hobbes was giggling with mirth, before he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Well, Calvin, you're the best friend in the whole wide galaxy too," he said. "I was just ruffling your feathers."

"Yeah, I just caught on," Calvin grumbled. "But thanks."

Another couple minutes went by before the correct Glacier came into view, although no one without the knowledge of where to find the cleverly concealed entrances would have ever guessed. The ship lowered into one of the smaller hangars located near the glacier's top, which housed all of Rogue Squadron's speeders. As the landing gear connected with the icy floor, the doors opened and Hobbes could see that they had a greeting party.

"3po! R2! Leia!" he exclaimed, and hopped out, Calvin right behind him. Suddenly, a familiar "Rawr!" sounded from right by them, and Hobbes saw Chewie walking towards them from the other side of the ship, Han right by him.

"Chewie!" Hobbes cheered, and gave him a bear hug. "How's my favorite Wookie?"

"Rawr, Arghh, Regh!" Chewbacca responded, as both of them performed their secret handshake.

"Oh, I'm fine," Hobbes grinned, before they all turned to face Leia and the Droids.

"Hey, Leia," he greeted her, and she responded in kind.

"Hobbes! Captain Solo!" 3po exclaimed with joy, raising his golden, mechanical arms. "Is Master Luke alright?"

All of them looked over at Luke, who was on his way to the hospital wing.

"He will be once he gets some proper medical attention," Leia said.

"Yeah!" Calvin agreed. "He's a jedi, guys!"

"True that," Hobbes nodded. "But it's so great to see you all!"

And with that, the greetings and stories continued, Hugs being shared all around. Han and Hobbes began explaining what had happened after they had set out to find Luke, and the mood was happier in all of them than ever before. It seemed like the heartwarming moment would last forever.

Unfortunately, that was all about to change.

:D