Vader felt Veers' presence before he entered the room. With his helmet on, there was no harm in Veers' presence. His chair pivoted so he could face the Imperial general.
"What is it, General?" he asked gravely.
"My lord, the fleet has moved out of lightspeed," Veers answered. "Comm-scan has detected an energy field protecting an area of the sixth planet of the Hoth system. The field is strong enough to deflect any bombardment."
So the Force-sensitive has found her way into the Rebel ranks. Poor choice of action for her.
"The Rebels are alerted to our presence," Vader said. "Admiral Ozzel came out of lightspeed too close to the system."
"He felt surprise was wiser," Veers began, tensing.
"He is as clumsy as he is stupid," the Sith asserted. "General, prepare your troops for a surface attack. If any beings appear to act like Jedi, shoot to stun."
"Yes, my lord."
The sound of Veers' retreating footsteps faded as Vader turned his attention away from the general, looking to new matters. Admiral Ozzel must be dealt with. There were better men to command the Executor.
A vidscreen lit up, showing Ozzel, Piett, and Dan. The three Imperials regarded Vader with serious expressions. Ozzel began to speak first. "Lord Vader, the fleet has moved out of lightspeed and we're preparing to –"
Vader lifted his hand slightly, curling his fingers inward. Ozzel's words stopped as the Force blocked off his esophagus. He grasped for his throat, clawing and gasping.
"You have failed me for the last time, Admiral," Vader intoned. Piett and Dan glanced from the choking Ozzel to Vader and back again, eyes wide despite efforts to control their expressions. "I will choose someone else with the proper intelligence to command this ship."
Dan seemed to perk up a bit, straightening, as Ozzel collapsed, dead.
"Captain Piett," Vader named. "Take command over the Executor. You are admiral now."
Dan's shoulders slumped. "Ah, man." When both Vader and Piett looked at him, he lifted his hand in a salute. "I mean, good choice. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for my rise through the ranks at some future date. Never mind this most perfect opportunity."
"Thank you, Lord Vader," Piett said to the Sith Lord.
"Lieutenant Dan, you have been elevated to the rank of captain," Vader told him, and Dan brightened again.
"You will not regret this, Lord Vader!"
"Make ready to land our troops beyond their energy field and deploy the fleet so that nothing gets off the system," Vader ordered. "Any Jedi are to be detained for my interrogation. Under no circumstances are they to be killed."
Piett and Dan exchanged a confused glance. "Yes, Lord Vader," Piett replied nevertheless, and Dan saluted again.
****
Lucas' boots crunched in the icy surface of the snow as he ran across the blinding white expanse with the rest of the Rebel foot soldiers, his rifle heavy in his gloved hands. The air was crisp and cold, cutting through his layers of winter gear, but it wasn't bothering him yet. He wouldn't have assumed his living through New York winters his entire life would have prepared him for Hoth, but it seemed to have.
Adrenaline raced through his blood as light flakes of snow brushed against his goggles, blown by the wind. His years of soccer and being best friends with Leana had got him really well conditioned for running, and Lucas kept up easily with the other Rebels, despite the cold air knifing his throat.
We're going to war. I'm in Star Wars, and I'm about to fight the Imperials.
Well, I'm about to fight their walkers. As a foot soldier. On Hoth. Damn, this isn't going to go well, is it?
"Let's show those Imps what for!" one of the Rebels shouted as they neared the trenches, and Lucas cheered assent with the others, trying to ignore his sense of impending doom. This isn't going to go well. This isn't going to go well.
They reached the trenches and Lucas stuck with his squad, slinging down the power packs from their backs to equip the turrets. The only thing running through his mind as he worked, fingers clumsy in the thick gloves, was how in Battlefront II he always enjoyed blowing up the turrets to prevent them from shooting at him and his men.
I guess this is my come-uppance.
He glanced toward the horizon, knowing there would soon be Imperial walkers treading toward them. Leana and Ben would be piloting speeders in the Battle of Hoth while Lumina helped call the shots from the command center. And he would be on the field, fighting in the snow, trying not to die.
You know, just this morning I would have died for this chance. Now I'm literally going to die for it.
Lucas rolled his eyes at his own dark humor, chiding himself. You're not going to die. You've got to save Star Wars, not die in the snow. Qui-Gon said this was the trial run for our actual mission. I can't fail this now.
In the trenches, with his rifle resting before him, Lucas set his eyes on the horizon and prepared to wait.
Then he heard the call. "Imperial walkers approaching!"
****
"Imperial walkers on the north ridge."
Leana felt a jolt of adrenaline as her hands tightened around her controls. This is it! The moment of action, the Battle of Hoth. It was time to protect the Rebel cause and prove herself as able to save Star Wars.
Feeding power to the engine, Leana guided the speeder up into the air and followed the others out of the hangar into the blinding white plain of snow. In the distance, she saw the large grey specks of the AT-AT walkers, moving toward the base. Somewhere below, in the trenches, was Lucas. Ben was behind and to her left, piloting his own speeder. Lumina was back in base to conduct the evacuation. All four of them here, involved in the action of their favorite movie saga.
This is unbelievable!
"All right now, boys, keep tight," Luke's voice rang over her comlink and Leana eased her speeder into the formation the other speeders were forming.
Red lasers flashed against the white background as the walkers opened fire. Leana banked to the right, out of the line of fire. She kept on course for the walkers, along with the others.
We're going to take you out.
"I'm ready, Leana," Egan said from behind her.
"Good," Leana replied. "Now hang tight."
The walkers rose, large and looming, through Leana's viewport as she banked severely to the right, twisting at just the right angle to allow Egan to have a shot. She heard the firing of the cannons as Egan aimed at the AT-ATs but knew they would do no good. The speeders' cannons weren't going to affect the walkers.
"Egan, prepare the harpoon and tow cable," Leana told her gunner. "We're going to need them."
"Really?" Egan asked skeptically as Leana swung around behind the walkers to begin her run again. "Why?"
"So we can take down the walkers!" Leana exclaimed. "The lasers aren't going to cut it, so we have to think outside the box."
"I'm not so sure you're right," Egan began, but the crackling of the comlink cut him off. Luke's voice echoed in the cockpit.
"All speeders, ready your harpoons and tow cables. The lasers aren't affecting the walkers."
Leana smiled. "Am I right now?"
"Go for the legs," Luke's voice continued. "It might be our only chance of stopping them."
Leana headed for the nearest walker. "Ready, Egan?"
"You're good to go, Leana!" he responded. "Let's teach these Imps a lesson!"
Leana felt such intense focus drop over her mind as she aimed her speeder at the AT-AT. She saw every move she needed to make in advance, felt such a sense of her surroundings fill her. It was exhilarating. The Force filled her, guided her, like she had always wished it would. And now it was there.
The speeder dipped down as Egan fired the harpoon at the walker's leg. "Secured!" he called back over his shoulder. "Take it down, Leana!"
Leana crossed between the walker's legs, under its belly, and whipped around behind its hind end. Coming across in front of it, she wrapped the cable around its legs again and again. "Deploy!" she yelled, streaking away from the walker.
Egan disconnected the cable from the speeder and watched the tangled AT-AT attempt to continue forward. "It's coming down!" he cried gleefully. "Nice job."
"Back atcha ya," Leana responded, circling to see the walker drop face first in the deep snow. She grinned. "Let's get the rest."
****
Ben knew he was in trouble.
Like the other pilots, he had switched over to using his harpoon and tow cable to attack the walkers, but there was too much happening at the same time. His fingers couldn't seem to move across the controls fast enough to keep control over the speeder; there was too much flashing past his viewport to take in enough in order to react properly.
If Leana had the Force in this galaxy, Ben certainly did not.
His gunner had managed to fire one harpoon at a walker, Ben attempting to whip around and entangle the AT-AT's legs. But as he had crossed in front of the walker, he had turned too sharply, resulting in a glancing blow to his starboard wing. A warning light now blinked at him from his console, telling him fears he already knew.
Then the red laser flashed in his viewport.
Ben jerked on his controls, sending his speeder veering to the side. The blast missed his viewport but struck his wing. A warning light lit up his console as Ben lost control over the wing, sparks starting to fly out of the metal sheathing.
"I've lost control!" he cried, grabbing at his controls anxiously. The speeder was spiraling, whipping down toward the snow, and Ben had no idea what to do. "Brace for impact!"
The speeder hit the ground and Ben slammed forward against his safety harness, his head slamming into the console. He felt his vision blur, his head growing dizzy, and then everything went black.
****
Lumina stood next to Leia, arms crossed, watching the battle progress over the monitors. She knew this couldn't last much longer. Soon, very soon, the rest of the Rebel crew would have to finish the evacuation.
"We lost another speeder," one of the controllers stated, face pinched in concentration as he kept track of the battle. Lumina felt her stomach tie itself into a knot. Every loss that had been announced made her fear for her friends. Every time the controller affirmed Leana, Ben, and Lucas were still alive and well only made Lumina feel worse, like she had it easy staying within the confines of Echo Base with Leia and the others.
"Identity?" Lumina asked, swallowing her anxiety. They'll be okay. They have to be.
The controller peered at something on his screen before glancing at Lumina. "Ben O'Connor."
Lumina's world came grinding to a halt. Ben O'Connor. No. No no no! Not Ben!
"Ben?" Lumina demanded, quickly stepping over to the controller. "No, no, that's wrong. That's got to be wrong."
The controller shook his head. "No, the speeder was piloted by Ben O'Connor."
Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no, oh, no....
"Is he all right?" Lumina asked, barely daring to breathe. Please let him be okay please let him be okay....
"I doubt it," the controller confessed. "Speeder accidents usually kill the pilots, especially if it was a nosedive. I've lost all contact with the speeder and it's in the middle of a warzone, so even if he survived the crash, he'll be dead within minutes either from Imperial interference or the cold, combined with the shock of the impact."
Lumina felt Leia's hand on her shoulder but didn't move, her eyes fixed on the screen with the moving blips of speeders. Ben. Dead. Ben. Dead. No. No. No, this can't be happening! A scream was threatening to claw its way up her throat but she sealed her lips against it. No, no, no! Not Ben, not Ben!
"Princess!" Han's voice cut through her despair and she turned, as if in a daze, to see him standing at the entrance to the command center.
Leia's voice was cool. "You're still here."
"Yeah, you all right?"
"Yes," Leia asserted, gently forcing Lumina to move away from the controller's screen. Any strength she had to resist was gone, just like Ben was. "You can leave now."
"Not until I see you're safe on a ship," Han warned. "Both of you."
Leia ignored him, lifting a comm to her mouth. "Send all troops in sector twelve to protect the fighters."
A voice crackled over the base-wide comm. "Imperial troops have entered the base. I repeat, Imperial troops have entered the base. This is the Imperial General Veers speaking. And standing right next to me is the Sith Lord Darth Vader."
Lumina lifted her head, furrowing her brow. An Imperial, announcing an Imperial invasion and giving the Rebels more time to escape? What kind of....
Lucas' voice interrupted her. "Well, he's an idiot."
Lumina spun, relieved and surprised to hear his voice. "Lucas!" She flung herself on him, hearing his grunt of surprise as he stepped back to compensate, catching her. He was still clad in his snow gear and Lumina felt the arms of her sweatshirt dampen as they came into contact with the snow stuck to his coat. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"So am I," he said as she drew back. "I received an order to return to help protect the base. The Imperials are beginning to flood it. We need to leave now."
Han threw up his hands. "This is what I was talking about! Princess, let's go!"
"Give the evacuation code signal," Leia ordered, looking at the controller. "And get to your transports!"
The controller picked up his comm. "K-one-zero, all troops disengage. Run for your lives!"
Han then led Leia out of the command center, starting in the direction of one of the hangars. Lumina and Lucas followed them quickly as C-3PO cried out, "Oh, wait for me, please!"
As they left, Lumina felt a coil of misery taking ownership of her stomach. If she had felt bad after hearing her friends were all right, guilty that they were facing danger while she waited inside, it was nothing compared to how she felt now.