Looking out across the white battlefield, the Rebel officer watched the remaining

snowspeeders whisking through the air and the last of the Imperial vehicles as they

passed the wreckage of the exploded walker. He flipped on his comlink and heard

the order to retreat: "Disengage, disengage. Begin retreat action." As he signaled

his men to move back inside the ice cavern, he noticed that the lead walker was still

treading heavily in the direction of the power generators.

In the cockpit of that assault machine, General Veers stepped close to the port.

From this position he could clearly see the target below. He studied the crackling

power generators and observed the Rebel troops defending them.

"Point-three-point-three-point-five…coming within range, sir," reported his

pilot.

The general turned to his assault officer. "All troops will debark for ground

assault," Veers said. "Prepare to target the main generator."

The lead walker, flanked by two of the hulking machines, lurched forward, its

guns blazing to scatter the retreating Rebel troops.

As more laser fire came from the oncoming walkers, Rebel bodies and parts of

Rebel bodies were flung through the air. Many of the soldiers who had managed to

avoid the obliterating laser beams were crushed into unrecognizable pulp beneath the

walkers' stomping feet. The air was charged with the stink of blood and burning

flesh, and thundering with the explosive noises of battle.

As they fled, the few surviving Rebel soldiers glimpsed a long snowspeeder as it

retreated in the distance, a black trail of smoke escaping its burning hull.

Although the smoke rising from his crippled speeder obstructed his view, Hobbie

could still see some of the carnage that raged on the ground. His wounds from a

walker's laser fire made it torture even to move, let alone operate the controls of his

craft. But if he could mange to work them just long enough to return to the base, he

might be able to find a medical robot and…

No, he doubted he would survive even that long. He was dying—of that he was

now certain—and the men in the trench would soon be dead, too, unless something

were done to save them.

General Veers, proudly transmitting his report to Imperial headquarters, was

totally unaware of Rogue Four's approach. "Yes, Lord Vader, I've reached the main

power generators. The shield will be down in moments. You may commence your

landing."

As he ended his transmission, General Veers reached for the electrorangefinder

and looked through the eyepiece to line up the main power generators. Electronic

crosshairs aligned according to the information from the walker's computer. Then

suddenly the readouts on the small monitor screens mysteriously vanished.

Confounded, General Veers moved away from the eyepiece of the

electrorangefinder and turned instinctively toward a cockpit window. He flinched in

terror at seeing a smoking projectile heading on the direct course toward his walker's

cockpit.

The other pilots also saw the hurtling speeder, and knew that there was no time

to turn the massive assault machine. "He's going to—" one of the pilots began.

At that instant, Hobbie's burning ship crashed through the walker cockpit like a

manned bomb, its fuel igniting into a cascade of flame and debris. For a second

there were human screams, then fragments, and the entire machine crashed to the

ground.

Perhaps it was the sound of this nearby blast that jarred Luke Skywalker back to

consciousness. Dazed, he slowly lifted his head from the snow. He felt very weak

and was achingly stiff with cold. The thought crossed his mind that frostbite might

already have damaged his tissues. He hoped not; he had no desire to spend any more

time in that sticky bacta fluid.

He tried to stand, but fell back against the snow, hoping he would not be spotted

by any of the walker pilots. His comlink whistled, and somehow he found the

strength to flick on its receiver.

"Forward units' withdrawal complete," the broadcast voice reported.

Withdrawal? Luke thought a moment. Then Leia and the others must have

escaped! Luke suddenly felt that all the fighting and the deaths of loyal Rebel

personnel had not been for nothing. A warmth rushed through his body, and he

gathered his strength to rise and begin making the long trek back toward a distant

formation of ice.

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