No one on Hoth heard the sound. At first, it was simply too distant to carry above

the whining winds. Besides, the Rebel troopers, fighting the cold as they prepared

for battle, were too busy to really listen.

In the snow trenches, Rebel officers screamed out their orders to make

themselves heard above the gale-force winds. Troopers hurried to carry out their

commands, running through the snow with heavy bazookalike weapons on their

shoulders, and lodging those death rays along the icy rims of the trenches.

The Rebel power generators near the gun towers began popping, buzzing, and

crackling with deafening bursts of electrical power—enough to supply the vast

underground complex. But above all this activity and noise a strange sound could be

heard, an ominous thumping that was coming nearer and was beginning to shake the

frozen ground. When it was close enough to attract the attention of an officer, he

strained to see through the storm, looking for the source of the heavy, rhythmic

pounding. Other men looked up from their work and saw what looked like a number

of moving specks. Through the blizzard, the small dots seemed to be advancing at a

slow yet steady pace, churning up clouds of snow as they moved toward the Rebel

base.

The officer raised his electrobinoculars and focused on the approaching objects.

There must have been dozen of them resolutely advancing through the snow, looking

like creatures out of some uncharted past. But they were machines, each of them

stalking like enormous ungulates on four jointed legs.

Walkers!

With a shock of recognition, the officer identified the Empire's All Terrain

Armored Transports. Each machine was formidably armed with cannons placed on

its foreside like the horns of some prehistoric beast. Moving like mechanized

pachyderms, the walkers emitted deadly fire from their turnstile guns and cannons.

The officer grabbed his comlink. "Rogue Leader…Incoming! Point Zero

Three,"

"Echo Station Five-Seven, we're on our way."

Even as Luke Skywalker replied, an explosion sprayed ice and snow around the

officer and his terror-struck men. The walkers already had them within range. The

troopers knew their job was to divert attention while the transport ships were launched,

but none of the Rebel soldiers was prepared to die under the feet or weapons of these

horrible machines.

Brilliant billows of orange and yellow flames exploded from the walker guns.

Nervously the Rebel troopers aimed their weapons at the walkers, each soldier feeling

icy, unseen fingers pierce his body.

Of the twelve snowspeeders, four took the lead, soaring at full throttle as they

moved toward the enemy. One All Terrain Armored Transport machine fired, barely

missing the banking craft. A burst of gunfire blew another speeder into a ball of

flaming oblivion that lit up the sky.

Luke saw the explosion of his squadron's first casualty as he looked from his

cockpit window. Angrily, Luke fired his ship's guns at a walker, only to receive a

hail of Imperial fire power that shook his speeder in a barrage of flak.

Regaining control of his ship, Luke was joined by another snowspeeder, Rogue

Three. They swarmed like insects around the relentlessly stomping walkers, as other

speeders continued to exchange fire with the Imperial assault machines. Rogue

Leader and Rogue Three flitted alongside the lead walker, then moved away from

each other, both banking to the right.

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