"Stranded" by Ilexa Thorn

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They faced off, waiting for their cue. Both were tense, waiting. Their breath came out in short puffs, the air biting and crispy cold. They stared at each other, and waited for the puck to fall.

* * * * *

"So who started this, anyway?"

"Who else? Colonel O'Neill is from Minnesota, you know. He snuck the whole squadron to a match and the place has never been the same. Did you know Allson actually rigged a puck with a small repulserlift? Just so O'Neill and a couple others could practice in that storage area on level 14."

"Wait, back up. How did he get everyone into a hockey match?"

"It was Halloween. They were even able to get Wurl in. They said he was Bigfoot and pretended the costume garbled his voice when he talked. The whole thing was hilarious."

"I didn't think you were assigned to Rogue Squadron then."

"I wasn't, but the whole costume thing, with Twi'leks and Sullistans and this huge Wookie? The local sports news showed footage of everyone. General Hammond was just sitting down with a bowl of popcorn after handing out treats all evening and he sees a shot of the crowd featuring this seven foot tall Wookie, with O'Neill standing right beside him. Carter recorded it if you ever want to see it."

* * * * *

The ice had been prepared by hovering the shuttle over the frozen lake with engines hot, slowly moving forward on repulsers until the marked area was melted into a pool of water about four inches thick. Lines were quickly laid down. Then they only had to wait a few hours until the area was a clear and glassy sheet of ice. One last quick pass had given the ice a gloss any zamboni driver would be proud of, then the game began. No referee, no statistician, not even a timekeeper. Only one person was needed. A scorekeeper.

* * * * *

"O'Neill is always doing stuff like that. Did I tell you about the time he tried to teach Commander Fel how to drive?"

"Did he really?"

"Oh yes. It was all 'Clutch!' 'Gas!' 'Brakes!' That poor truck was lugging around the parking lot, about gave you whiplash just watching it."

"Are you serious?"

"No! This is Nick Fel we are talking about. Give him five minutes and he could pilot the Space Shuttle. No actually, it was General Burn lugging around the parking lot."

"Really?"

"No! It was really General Viper."

"Are you pulling my leg?"

"Yes."

* * * * *

That had been two days ago. Players had rotated on and off the ice, time had been called to eat a few mouthfuls and catch a few moments of sleep, but the game had gone on. It was now mid-morning on the last day, and so far the score was... Uh, I forget, just a moment. Hey, what's the score? What! Who's been keeping score? What do you mean you don't know...

* * * * *

"No, I am being serious now. General Hammond expressly forbid anyone not from Earth from driving. They have to have a driver, or a Tau'ri squad-mate drive them around."

"But why?"

Ilexa Thorn looked Bookdawg straight in the eye. "I take it you haven't ridden in a car when a pilot is driving, right?"

"Um, no."

"Let me tell you one thing. Fighter jocks think the speed limit is meant for everyone but them. Slaloming between other cars is just dog-fight practice. But riding with a fighter jock is like riding a carousel when compared to riding with a starfighter jock. Their reflexes are phenomenal, but so is their idea of cruising speed. As a thrill ride it matches any roller coaster you can come up with, but what about when you are just trying to get to a movie? Hammond was more concerned about innocent civilians swerving hopelessly out of control than any of Rogue Squadron getting hurt, but the order stands. No off-world drivers."

Ilexa turned over another piece of wreckage with the toe of her boot and sniffed the cold air. Even after so many years, just disturbing a small piece would raise the scent of scorched insulation and burned circuitry. Melted flimsiplast was the worst, the odor clung to clothing and hair. So they both moved carefully, and for all their joking they were somber. They only joked to cover their true feelings. Somber and respectful, The two Tau'ri women wandered the burrowed corridors of the rebel base on Hoth. Site of a pitched battle; of a desperate stand against superior forces; of a continuing struggle to bring down the Emperor. Echo Base.

* * * * *

Ilexa Thorn looked around the hanger bay. Chief Officer of Research and Development for Rogue Squadron, she had been the first packed when a vacation flight had been announced to Hoth and several other New Republic planets. As she was from Earth, or Tau'ri, she would jump at any chance to visit another planet, to explore what was out there. Bookdawg was of a similar bent. Chief of Intelligence for Rogue Squadron, she was also of Earth, and was just as curious, if not more so, about the fascinating planets they were going to visit. All right, they both conceded, Hoth could be interesting, with its asteroid field, many moons, and the historical aspect of Echo Base. But it was too cold! Thorn was used to the cold, growing up and living in the high deserts and mountains of the western United States, but Bookdawg was from Georgia, a state in the Southern United States, where a heavy frost could close roads and cancel school.

Blaster scoring marked much of the equipment. Large chunks of ice had fallen from the ceiling, looking like big pieces of Styrofoam, but actually weighed several hundred pounds each. She picked her way through the obstacle course and stepped into the comparative warmth of the sunlight coming through the mouth of the hanger. She turned to look back into the shadow of the hanger where Bookdawg stood.

"One of the doctors on the Nemhain was stationed here." Thorn said. "She tried to describe it to me. The constant smell, like freezer burn, catching in the back of your throat. Never really getting warm, even in bed. And everything white. She said they were so starved for color of any kind people would volunteer to watch the long range sensor monitors for the flashes of color."

Bookdawg pulled her cap down lower over her ears. "Never getting warm? Oh man, I bet it was a real shock coming here from Yavin 4. I can barely stand the cold with my heater cranked to high! Can you check my heat pack, I don't think it's working properly."

Thorn examined the Bookdawg's heat pack. Thin lines ran from it to her quilted parka. Inside the parka the lines criss-crossed, radiating heat. Thorn checked the temperature reading and gasped. "Holy smoking mukluks, girl! This thing reads 31º Celsius. You must be melting."

"I'm freezing! That thing has got to be wrong, I -" Her eyes widened as she stared out the hanger opening. Thorn turned to follow her gaze and her jaw dropped.

"Oh my gosh, they got one working."

* * * * *

Phil Fett, Director of Fleet Command, took his position in front of the crease as goalie and watched his team-mates moved into position. One of the few rules of their game, each player had to swap positions so each team-member had equal playing-time. Phil was now in the last position before rotating out of the game. He studied the two forwards on the other team and mentally groaned. Acid Burn, Rogue Squadron's Senior Commander, grinned at him from his position and turned to watch the drop of the puck. Acid was a great player, but could be over-enthusiastic. Several players bruised ribs were testifying to how enthusiastic he was. Phil pulled the goalie mask down over his face and wished one of three things would happen: someone would alter time, speed up this period, or teleport him off this rock.

Padmé Fett snuggled down into the nest she had made of heated blankets. Hoth's sun gave a slight warmth, one of the few perceptible signs that they were on Hoth's summer hemisphere. The temperature was a balmy -12° Celsius. A veritable heat wave on this planet, she reflected. She brightened as Glantry Fett flopped next to her. He was scowling slightly. After the mix-up with the scoring both teams had decided to start over on this last day. He still had a sneaky suspicion his team had been winning by two. Glantry pulled a blanket off the pile and tossed it over his shoulders, then stared off, over the low hummocks surrounding the frozen lake.

Encircling the area was a series of sensor pylons. Hoth had few life forms, but it did have one major predator. Wampa Ice Creatures had been a considerable threat when Echo Base had been running, attracted to the warmth and the sounds the astromech droids made, which was very similar to Hoth's Norska, a large rabbit-like creature. Luke Skywalker had reported a mass attack by the ice creatures, how they had killed an eight-being hunting party, destroyed that party's landing craft and had almost done the same to his own ship.

Better safe than sorry, though there hadn't been word of another attack of that size since. Two guards were keeping watch, and the perimeter sensors should give them plenty of warning. Glantry kept an eye on the match. Kept an eye on his son, though he tried hard not to. He had not been around for much of Phil's youth. Now his son was a young man, and now Glantry was beginning to understand the pains of fatherhood, of trying to protect a child who was no longer a child, and no longer needed protecting. Glantry's wife Samantha had been killed by Imperial Stormtroopers when Phil had been three years old. Glantry had entrusted Phil to Padmé while he had fought for the Rebellion. She had raised Phil along with her own daughter Jenna. Glantry was eternally grateful to her, and always would be. Many of the Fett family were now assigned to Rogue Squadron. Glantry was Director of Starfighter Command while Padmé was Chief Medical Officer aboard the Hunter. A horn blared, signaling the end of another twenty minutes. So soon? The score remained even at one all. Glantry stood and stretched, letting the blanket slide from his back. Phil was skating to the edge of the ice, rotating off as Glantry rotated on. Good to see he survived Acid and Acid's elbows. He grinned a good-bye to Padmé and stepped on to the ice. Then the attack began.

* * * * *

"Wow. OK, I am impressed." Thorn said as she climbed into the main body of the At-At. Bookdawg was happily cranking the heater to high and looking around the troop compartment. Thorn shook her head and moved forward into the command compartment of the strange machine. Coup Fett, Rogue Squadron's Covert Operations Group Commander and demolitions expert and Jol Allson, their Chief Engineer, were grinning like kids, pointing out all the features, and all the things they had repaired. Coup sat in the driver's seat as Jol gallantly offered the only other seat to Thorn. She took one look at the mass of spliced relays in the control board and stepped back. Some splices were not even fully taped and shielded.

"Why thank you kind sir, but you had better keep your seat. I will stand and -" She saw a lit terminal to the side and behind the driver's chair - "monitor sensors." She regretted this statement almost immediately. Bookdawg watched from the opening between the troop compartment and the command compartment as Thorn examined the terminal. The screen itself had a large crack running through it. Each time Thorn switched between long range and short range sensors there was a popping sound, and she swore she could smell hot circuitry.

"Hang on to your parkas ladies, we are off!" Coup yelled over his shoulder.

Coup had managed to get the At-At to kneel so Thorn and Bookdawg could climb in. Now they had to get the cumbersome walker to stand again.

Bookdawg felt the body of the At-At shift position. She grabbed Thorn by the arm and pulled her to the shock webbing. Thorn realized they were moving and wrapped herself tight, braced for impact. But then they were standing. Then they were walking!

"I hate to repeat myself, but once again, I am impressed. How far are we from the hockey rink?"

"Only three klicks or so," Jol called over his shoulder, "you ladies will arrive in style."

Bookdawg's expression changed to a worried frown. "Do you really think you should walk right up to the rink in this thing? Some of the guys were stationed here and they may have bad memories about these walkers. They might even take a couple pot-shots at us."

"Not to worry," Coup replied. "Who do you think has been helping us scavenge the parts for this?"

The gait of the At-At was much smoother than Thorn had anticipated. She unwound out of the crash webbing and began to walk back over to the sensor boards. Then she stopped, backed up, unhooked the crash webbing from its moorings and carried it over to the terminal. Bookdawg watched with an amused grin as Thorn lashed herself in place and began running sensor diagnostics.

"Hey Thorn, one problem." Bookdawg murmured, just loud enough for Thorn to hear.

"Oh? What?"

"If that terminal explodes, you're stuck."

"Oh man! Rock, hard place. Which do you choose?"

"I'm just pointing out the options."

Thorn flinched back as the sensor display went wild, symbols flashing across the screen. The lights of the comm board on the opposite wall flashed yellow and red - emergency broadcast frequencies. Bookdawg shook out of her own crash webbing, ran to the terminal and began sorting out the signals.

"I have readings of blaster fire, blaster fire coming from the rink!" Thorn said.

"I am trying to pin down one channel," Bookdawg called out, "the ice and snow are bouncing the signals around, all the comm messages are echoing. Oh!"

"What!?!" Three voices yelled.

"I just got why they named this place Echo Base."

"Sensors are having a hard time too. How many people came down from the ship today, about thirty?" Thorn asked.

"Yeah, about that." Bookdawg replied.

"I am reading forty, no forty-two life forms, and if I am reading these sensors correctly, either we have twelve wookies fielding their own team, or the game has been gate-crashed by a bunch of local boys."

* * * * *

Nick Fel sat in the command chair of the Corellian Corvette Compton and tried to keep from looking bored. He didn't dislike hockey, didn't mind playing hockey, but a three day scrimmage? Worse, he was Rogue Squadron's High Commander, and no matter how often he had reminded the players that he was on vacation, that rank did not matter, there had been an underlying current of unease when he was on the ice. Except for Acid, and Acid's elbows. Nick rubbed a tender spot on his ribs and winced. So today he had bowed out, saying he had base business to attend to. This 'base business' had taken him all of half an hour, and after running hyperspace jump calculations for the fifth time, he agreed with the Tau'ri phrase he had heard Thorn use. Bored Beyond Belief.

He finally decided to go bother Cat Farr, again, when the comm officer practically jumped out of his seat. "Emergency signals from the hockey match, sir! They are very faint, and we are having the regular interference, but it is definitely on the emergency channels." The officer was pushing his headset tighter to his ear, concentrating on the weak signal. He jumped again and yanked the headset away from his ear. "Signal coming in load and clear now. They have been attacked by a group of Wampas. General Viper reports at least 15 injured, four serious. He is loading as many as possible onto their shuttle and is requesting another shuttle for the rest."

Nick immediately snapped into command mode. "Notify Medical they have incoming casualties." He spun to face his flight officer, "Get the other shuttle down there." He spun back, "Get me a sensor sweep for the area around the rink, relay the readings from the sensor perimeter. I want to know how those creatures got through and where."

A chorus of "done," "on it," and "shuttle warming up," reached him from different parts of the bridge. One minute bored, the next... He went to stand behind the comm officer as the officer monitored, or tried to monitor, the comms coming from the surface. Although a broadcast straight up to the ship should run into less problems than ground traffic, Hoth always seemed to have meteorological interference of one kind or other. He really ought to go down and see what happened for himself, right? A good commander should do that. A commander that is technically on vacation and is tired of wandering around on a dinky Corellian Corvette...

"Hold that shuttle."

The door slid open and Cat Farr, Rogue Squadron's Executive Officer, stepped onto the bridge. "Nick, what is going on? I just heard that the hockey game was attacked -"

"Cat, you have the bridge." He looked to the bridge officer, "fill the Commander in on what is going on down there." Nick stepped to the other side of the hatchway.

"Where are you going?" Cat asked. But Nick was already running down the hall to the hanger bay.

Cat grinned. "Why did I even have to ask? All right, bring me up to speed on this situation."

* * * * *

Coup was on the ground and running before the hatchway ramp was completely open, Jol right on his heels. They both carried what little medical supplies had been on the At-At. Bookdawg was busy at the comm station, relaying and strengthening Viper's hand-comm signal to the ship. Thorn was braving electrical shock, running sweep after sweep on sensors, trying to track the retreating Wampas, watching for any movement they might make back toward the hockey rink.

Coup and Allson reached the triage area Padmé had set up. She was assessing injuries, bandaging what she could, separating who would go on the first shuttle from who could wait for the second. She had plenty of help, so Coup handed off his med-kit and turned to look for Glantry. Acid was yelling for Jol to get over to the shuttle, so he too handed off his med-kit to one of the players turned EMT and trotted over.

Acid shook his head and pointed at the damage to the shuttle. A Wampa had popped the communications array off the side of the vessel with an accuracy that surprised both men. Jol clamored up the side for a closer look. He ran a finger over the gouges left by the creature's claws and whistled. "What other damage is there?" He asked.

"None that I can find, and that has me more worried than you can imagine. How does a Wampa know to target our communications, but do no other damage?" Acid began to circle the shuttle, "I've run a few checks. She seems space worthy. Just mute."

"Now I see why Viper asked Bookdawg to relay his message. Let me have one minute to check some things and we can get the injured up to the Compton."

Coup jogged to where Glantry stood over the body of a Wampa. Viper, their Tactical Director, knelt beside it, examining it dispassionately. Glantry did not need Coup to voice the question that was on his mind. What had happened? How did the creatures get past the perimeter?

Glantry pointed to a place where the snow had been disturbed, in the area behind the far goal. Coup walked over to where Glantry had pointed, knelt to examine a cavity dug into the snow. It reminded him of a fox-hole, though it was much too big for a regular human-sized being. The sides were slick with ice, and he could see where the snow had mounded over the top and had frozen into place. The Wampas had broken through the layer of ice when they started their attack.

"Wait, let me think about this. Ten Wampas dug in, formed these holes and waited while we played hockey for two-and-a-half days?"

"Glantry nodded, lips pressed tight into a thin, white line. "There is no other way to explain it. Our original sensor sweeps of the area did not pick them up, we figure the ice layering the holes blocked any heat readings. The sensor pylons never gave any warning. The Wampas popped up out of these holes like a kid's toy. A couple people thought it was another of Acid's practical jokes. Until they attacked."

Viper got up from his exam of the Ice Creature's body and slung his blaster rifle over his shoulder. He had shot this creature as soon as he had recognized it as a threat, catching it in the throat. He and Piquo Starr had killed a second creature, taking six shots to stop that one. This first kill was in better condition to examine.

"As far as I can see there hasn't been any work done on the body. No sign of cranial implantation or any other control device that would cause the creature to attack such a large group. Certainly not anything that would account for the planning of this attack."

The three turned to watch as the engines of the first shuttle roared into life and took off for the ship in a steep climb. They began to walk back toward the triage area, gathering discarded hockey equipment along their way. As they reached the rest of the group Viper's comm crackled.

"The second shuttle has made contact. ETA eight minutes." Bookdawg's voice carried over the ice, "and Commander Farr asks if we need any more help down here."

Viper looked to Padmé, who was slapping once last bacta patch on a player's cut cheek. She shook her head. The group waiting for the second shuttle were definitely walking wounded. Bruises, scrapes and a cut or two, but otherwise OK.

"Tell the Commander we seem to be in pretty good shape, all things considering. If she could have Medical give us a report on the most critically wounded, we would appreciate it. Wait. What happened to Commander Fel?"

"Who do you think is piloting the shuttle? We have the heater cranked to high in here and Thorn has made a really bad pot of caf, if anyone is interested."

Viper ran an eye over the kneeling At-At. "I never thought I would see the day I would be drinking caf in the belly of an At-At. We will be there in a moment."

Coup gathered as many bags of gear as he could handle and headed to the At-At. Viper grabbed the rest of the bags near him and followed. "I don't get it."

Viper thought out loud. "They definitely were not after a meal, or they could be eating right now. Piquo and I were both on watch, but we could never have dropped all of them in time. Especially when the perimeter sensors didn't give us any warning." He climbed the ramp behind Coup into the At-At and slung the gear bags into the corner. "Why attack at all?"

* * * * *

Glantry helped Padmé police the triage area as the second shuttle landed. They had been able to get twenty people on the last shuttle, but they still had to fit all their gear on this second one. He turned to Padmé and gave her a tired smile. "I warned you, hockey is a dangerous game."

Padmé leaned against him, "it's a good thing I knew how dangerous, or I wouldn't have had enough medical supplies."

They stood and watched the shuttle power down, the hatch open. Padmé surveyed the scene again, then she straightened, pulled away from Glantry, and looked more carefully. People were coming down the ramp of the At-At, where they had taken shelter while they waited for the second shuttle. She counted heads, then grabbed Glantry's arm urgently. "Where's Phil?"

* * * * *

"This is the absolutely the worst cup of caf I have ever had." Viper took another sip. "Bar none."

"Gee, you're welcome. I warned Bookdawg, I warned Acid, I warned you. I do not drink caf, so why does everyone always ask me to make it? Now drink your caf and think of all those poor children on, uh, oh I can't think of a planet, just drink you caf and be glad you've got it, OK?"

"Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am. Sarge Thorn."

"Don't push it."

The sound of feet running up the ramp made them both turn to look toward the hatchway. Glantry and Padmé entered at a full run, gasping in the cold air. Glantry recovered first.

"Thorn, run a sweep for the signal from Phil's wrist tracer."

Surprised, Thorn moved to the sensor board. Viper asked, "didn't he take the first shuttle up?"

"No," Padmé answered. "I saw each person onto that shuttle. Phil was not on it. I cannot remember seeing Phil at all after the attack." Padmé's voice rose in pitch as she realized she really had not seen Phil since he was about to leave the ice, just before pandemonium broke out.

"I have a reading on his wrist tracer," Thorn said hoarsely, stepping back into the troop compartment, "about twenty meters past the far goal, bearing 265 degrees north by north-west."

Glantry turned and ran back down the ramp, Padmé right behind and Viper a close third. Coup entered the troop compartment from command and looked at Thorn. "What's going on?"

"Coup, have you seen Phil since we got here?"

"No, I thought he was helping Padmé, I -" His eyes widened, then he too ran down the ramp.

Glantry reached the area Thorn had indicated and looked around wildly. Huge footprints marked where several of the Wampas had retreated after their attack, but there was no sign of blood, of anything indicating Phil had come this way, or had been dragged this way. Glantry's eyes spotted a touch of color in the snow and ran to it. It was mostly buried in the snow, he reached down and pulled it out. A hockey glove, a goalie's glove. Longer and specially padded to block slap shots. There was no other sign of Phil. "Thorn," Glantry called on his comm, "can you pinpoint Phil's signal and tell me how close I am?"

Padmé and Viper ran up to Glantry, and he showed them the glove as he waited for Thorn's reply.

"Its only about a meter due north of where you are standing. That's as close as I can get it."

Glantry quickly strode the required distance then bent to pick up the wrist tracer sunk into the snow. The band had been snapped. Had it fallen here as Phil has struggled or had the Creature stripped it from Phil's wrist and actually thrown it away? "Thorn, I found his tracer. Can you scan for his comm, or for him?"

"Glantry, Phil didn't have his comm on him, not while he was playing." Padmé pointed out, white with worry.

Coup ran up behind them, "What is going -"

"Glantry, Padmé," Thorn's voice interrupted him, "come back to the walker. I have the Creatures on long range sensors, we can catch them before... We can catch them."

* * * * *

Cat walked to the infirmary of the ship. She had wanted to check on the injured, but first she had another, grimmer job to do. Jenna Fett was Chief Medical Officer of the Nemhain. She was also Padmé's daughter, Glantry and Phil were family by marriage. She and Phil had been raised together, but she was still getting used to having a him as a brother, and Cat would much rather tell her about Phil's disappearance in person.

Jenna spotted Cat in the doorway of the infirmary and headed towards her, looking over her data-pad. "I had to put two more into full bacta treatment tanks, the slashes from those Creature's claws could be infectious and I did not want to risk it." She looked at Cat's face, realizing that something else was wrong. "General, what is it?"

"Jenna, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but we just received word from the group still down on the planet." Cat paused and braced herself, then went on.

"They can't find Phil. They believe he was grabbed by one of the Ice Creatures during the attack. They are trying to find him now."

Jenna didn't seem to be breathing. She was entirely still, staring at a spot a little to the left of Cat's shoulder. Cat moved to Jenna's side.

"We have the ship's sensors searching for him, and the shuttle on the surface," Cat decided not to mention the At-At, who knew how long that thing would keep working? "We will find him."

Jenna gave herself a little shake, then gave Cat a small smile. "It's all right. I know he is still alive. I know he is. I can feel it."

* * * * *

"I know he is still alive, I would have felt it if he had died, I just know it." Padmé looked into Glantry's eyes and whispered, "you would have felt it, you would have known if he had been killed."

Glantry turned away from her and pretended to be checking the charge on his blaster rifle. Glantry knew he had a small sensitivity to the force, but it was erratic and doubtful. He had once felt it strongly when someone had sat in his captain's chair on the bridge of the Nemhain, but he had not felt it when his own wife had been killed by Imperial stormtroopers. He was not comforted by the thought that Phil might be alive just because he had not felt a disturbance in the force. On the other hand, he realized, the person who had taken his chair on the Nemhain had been Phil. Maybe there was a connection.

Glantry looked around the troop transport area of the At-At. Piquo and Acid sat against one wall, checking their blaster rifles. Viper was topping off his cup of caf while Nick watched, amazed at his bravery. Nick had already turned command of the rescue mission over to Glantry. Nick had warned everyone if he heard anyone address him as Commander, they would be on kitchen duty for the remainder of the trip.

Coup was leaning against the wall nearby. Glantry could see Thorn standing in the command compartment of the At-At, running further diagnostics on the sensors as Jol fiddled with the relays and connections, trying to boost the sensor's strength. Bookdawg and Thorn were also carrying on a low conversation as Bookdawg looked over information on her data-pad. Thorn ran one last sensor sweep, then she and Bookdawg moved into the troop compartment.

"Sensors are not able to differentiate life-form readings from this distance, Hoth's natural interference is messing with them." Thorn said. "Fortunately, Jol and I have been able to track the Wampas' movements since the attack." She tapped a few keys on a nearby terminal and a three-dimensional map of the surrounding terrain appeared on the holographic projector. "The remaining ten creatures have split into three groups. Two groups have headed into mountainous terrain, while the third group is now moving across this ice field. Viper thinks that the best option is for the shuttle to follow the two groups in the mountains as they are roughly following the same path. The At-At should be able to make good time on the ice field and catch up to the third group." Thorn sighed and turned to Bookdawg. "Do you want to tell them what you found?"

Bookdawg grimaced, "I have found some information about the Wampa Ice Creatures from biologists' reports. It seems that Wampas have a habit of taking their prey alive, if possible. They will keep their prey alive until just before feeding. To keep the, uh," Bookdawg looked apologetically at Padmé. "to keep the meat from freezing. Sometimes as long as three days. Usually the prey has been incapacitated in some way. The only case where a sentient life form was taken like this and was able to escape was Commander Skywalker. His feet and legs were frozen in a block of ice, which he was able to free himself from to escape. His report was the only one of its kind, though. Biologists write that most prey - oh, I don't want to read this -"

"Its all right, Bookdawg." Glantry murmured, "we can guess the rest, the prey had their legs broken, or maybe their vertebrae crushed. They were alive, but they could not move. Am I right?"

Bookdawg nodded silently and stepped back.

"Nick, Acid and Viper," Glantry said, "you are on the shuttle with Padmé and me. Thorn, Bookdawg and Piquo, you are stuck with the At-At twins. Good hunting and," he glanced at Padmé, "may the force be with you."

* * * * *

It had gone perfectly. Everything was going according to plan. He had been waiting so long, so long for another to come. Finally patience had paid off, and he would finally be free. There had actually been two different forms to choose from, but he had ultimately decided that this one would do. He shifted the weight on his shoulder and continued on in a long loping stride. Not too much damage, nothing that would not heal. This time he would succeed.

* * * * *

"Ma'am, I have more bad news."

Cat scowled at the bridge officer. The officer took that as assent and began his report. "Sensors are having a horrible time trying to lock on to a human life-form. We are getting no better readings than the teams on the ground. But we are able to determine that there is a storm on its way into the area."

"This is supposed to be the summer hemisphere. It is supposed to be sunny for days on end."

"It has been sunny for days on end, ma'am. We calculated a window of five days. The high pressure ridge that was supposed to keep any storm systems to the west has moved through the area faster than we anticipated."

"So how long do we have, and how bad is it going to be?"

"Right now we estimate another eight to ten hours of thin cirrus clouds, then heavier cloud cover will blanket the region. It could be just snow flurries, as it is summer, but then again..."

"At least we do not have to worry about nightfall. With the tilt this planet has, the sun will stay above the horizon for all twenty hours of the day. Let the teams know what's coming, and try to figure out a way to boost sensors somehow."

Cat did not say what she was really thinking. How long could Phil survive, injured in the cold? Did he even have eight hours?

* * * * *

Coup Fett kept an eye on his instruments, but did not slow the walker down to more acceptable levels. He could tell that Jol was worried the At-At would seize up. Coup could care less. He had only recently found out that Glantry and he were brothers. He was still getting used to the idea of not only having a brother, but a sister-in-law, a niece and a nephew. There was no way on this ball of ice that he was going to let his newly found nephew get taken by Ice Creatures. Not on his watch.

Jol kept an eye on the instruments and kept his mouth shut. There was nothing he could say. What could he say? He would keep this walker moving if he had to get out and push. He nudged a few switches higher, juicing more speed out of the thing. Just so long as they didn't run out of fuel.

* * * * *

Phil tried to raise his head and groaned at the pain. The last thing he remembered was skating to the edge of the rink when the mound of snow in front of him had exploded. A huge hairy hand had swatted him like a cat swatting a mouse. His head ached, nausea washed over him. He tried to figure out what the problem was, why he hurt so badly. It occurred to him that he seemed to be hanging upside down, a furry wall just in front of his nose. Why was everything swinging around? His vision blurred for a moment, then cleared. He was slung over the back of an Ice Creature. The creature seemed to realize he had regained consciousness and let go of Phil's legs. The ground rushed up at him and everything was white, then black.

* * * * *

Glantry sat in the co-pilot's chair and let Nick do the flying. Padmé stood behind him, her fingers digging in to the upholstery of the chair. He wished she would sit down and strap in, the winds in the mountains were shifting, getting more erratic.

Viper spoke up from the comm board. "Word from the ship, a low pressure area is moving in. They estimate we have minimum eight hours before things really get dicey."

"Like it's not already?" Nick asked, struggling with the controls against the cross-winds. "We should be coming up on the first group of Creatures any moment." he brought the shuttle as close as he could to the surface. Through the viewport they could make out the tracks of four of the huge creatures. the trail led up a narrow defile, ridges rising on either side.

Acid leaned forward over the back of the pilot's chair, "That report Bookdawg pulled up said something about these creatures living in caves. I have prepared some lighting and equipment in case we have to go spelunking."

Glantry nodded to him in thanks, keeping his eyes on the sensors and on the trail ahead. They were close, but the light cast odd shadows and the Wampas blended naturally into the landscape.

"There," Padmé cried out, "there at one o'clock!"

Then the Wampas stepped out of the shadows, distinct in the sunlight.

"Wait, where did the other two go?" Acid asked as Glantry checked the sensors. They showed that the other two were above and to the left of them, and that something large coming right at them from above -

"Nick, slam it!" The pilot reacted with lightening speed, shoving the throttle forward as the first small chunks of the avalanche rushed by the viewscreen. Padmé and Acid were thrown backwards. Glantry slapped on the shields, deflecting a larger piece of ice from the stern of the shuttle. The blocks of ice bounced off the shields, the vessel bucking and swaying. Then they were out of the defile and in a narrow hanging valley. Nick made sure they were out of the range of the avalanche and then goosed the thrusters to turn the shuttle around. Acid and Padmé regained their feet and looked out the viewscreen with the rest of the group. The remains of the avalanche were falling from the high cliffs, the defile was blocked up with heavy slabs of snow and ice. Still, four Wampas could be seen, two at the mouth of the defile, two more on a cliff edge above.

"They set a trap." Glantry breathed.

"They don't have Phil." Padmé sighed.

"Things are getting weirder and weirder." Acid shook his head.

"Lets catch up to the second group before things move beyond weird." Viper said.

"How much weirder can things get?" Nick asked.

"I am beginning to like this caf, that's how weird, now lets get going."

* * * * *

Jenna ran her eye over the bacta tank sensors and shook her head. She was actually amazed that injuries hadn't been worse. Ice Creatures were bigger than Wookies and were supposedly ferocious, but although there were six people in bacta tanks, there were six people in bacta tanks, and not in the morgue. Was it luck or something else? She flopped into a chair and massaged her temples. Jenna focused on the quiet place inside her, where she had found a link to her childhood friend, and now her brother. She could still feel him, she knew Phil was still alive. Calmed, she got back to work.

* * * * *

The At-At moved across the ice field, but there was a hitch in its step. Jol did not want to guess how much farther the walker could go before the motors and servos in the right rear leg gave up altogether. He looked back over his shoulder at Bookdawg and Thorn, both still standing in front of their terminals.

As Jol watched, he spotted a wispy curl of smoke rise from the sensor board.

"Thorn! Look out!"

Thorn was already stumbling backward as the entire sensor terminal gave a pop, a crackle, and snapped into flames. Piquo yanked a fire extinguisher from the wall and aimed it at the terminal as Thorn wrestled with the crash webbing tangling around her legs. Coup kept the walker moving as he turned to survey the damage. Jol yanked open the sensor compartment, allowing Piquo to hit the interior circuitry with a couple shots of halon fog.

Thorn finally managed to get free of the crash webbing by cutting it with her Leatherman. "For non-vibro, primitive technology, a Leatherman does pretty good," she muttered to herself as she snapped the blade back into the handle and tucked the multi-tool away.

Jol shrugged at Coup, "the whole sensor assembly is slagged."

I still have my wrist sensor for all the good it will do." Thorn said. "But tracking these creatures is easy enough right now. We just follow their trail."

Coup slid back down into the driver's chair. "That is what I've been doing." He motioned to the view out the transparasteel viewport. Winds the previous day had swept the field clean of any tracks. The dry, powdery snow had formed into little rills, stretching as far as the eye could see. But the pattern had been marred by the passage of three Wampas, their tracks distinctive and fresh.

Thorn moved to lean against the side of the co-driver's chair as Jol and Piquo muttered over melted circuitry. She looked ahead to where the pattern of rills had been marred by another source, a low mound, like a goose bump in the ice. Thorn squinted at it in the slanted sunlight. The clouds were still thin and high, but the sun was dropping lower on the horizon. At this time of year and at this latitude the sun would never set, but it was entering its late-afternoon phase, and the slanted light cast elongated shadows. The tracks continued across the mound. What was this reminding her of?

"Coup! Stop the walker! Brakes!"

It was too late. The crack and snap of breaking ice seemed to climb up the walker's legs and echo in the command compartment. Coup tried to shift the weight of the walker to its back legs and pivot, but the rear right leg chose that moment to jam completely. The walker pitched forward, broke through the ice and plunged into the darkness below.

Thorn grabbed on to the back of the co-driver's chair and held on for dear life. Behind her Bookdawg had been able to grab her crash webbing, but it has only been attached in a few places. She swung around wildly. Piquo had been able to hang on to the sensor terminal, but Jol had fared worse. Bits of equipment and the fire extinguisher had pummeled him as he slid into a corner. His left eye was viewing everything through a red haze and he realized he was bleeding from a cut on his forehead.

The walker had slid about twenty-five meters into a cavity in the ice and was now canted sharply to the right. Coup unstrapped himself and climbed out of the driver's chair and helped Thorn to her feet. Bookdawg was flexing her wrist experimentally as Piquo and Coup uncovered Jol from a mound of hockey gear.

"What happened?" Jol asked as he wiped the blood from his eye.

"Yeah Thorn, how did you know the ice was too thin in that area?" Coup handed Jol a towel from one of the gear bags.

"What, no bacta patch?" Jol asked.

"We gave all our medical equipment to Padmé, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

Thorn had moved to look out the viewscreen. "When ice surrounds a foreign body, like a rock or boulder, the boulder can heat up in the sun and melt the ice away from it. Then sometimes winds will cover the area with snow that can crust over, forming a hummock. I just recognized what I was looking at a little too late."

"You can say that again," Jol massaged his shoulder where the extinguisher had slammed into him. "So we found a big rock. Is there anyway we can get the walker to climb out of here?" He asked Coup.

"You tell me if all the servos are working and I will tell you if it can climb out of this hole."

"Oh boys," Thorn sang out. "Come see what I see."

Bookdawg looked out the viewport and gasped, "Wowee, check it out."

The At-At twins shrugged at each other and moved to look out the viewscreen as well. At first they thought it was a huge boulder, the black surface pitted and weathered. But the sides were much too straight, running at about a 70° angle up to a point. They realized it was not rock, but metal.

"A Goa'uld ship? Here?" Coup looked at Bookdawg, "have their been any reports of Goa'uld this close to Republic space?"

Bookdawg shook her head, still looking at the view out the window.

"Not Goa'uld." Thorn said, "the angle is too steep, its more..." her eyes narrowed in thought. "Its more like the Kushan Pyramids of Nubia. I need to get out of here and look this thing over."

"Thorn, we need to get of here and look for Phil." Coup replied.

"OK, then it's agreed we have to get out of here. Can we contact the shuttle?"

Bookdawg checked the comm board. "Either the ice is blocking our signal or we broke the communications array, I don't know. But I am not able to raise anyone."

"Not even the ship?"

"No. I hope they have noticed we are missing from their scanners. I can feel the cold creeping in already."

Bookdawg shook her head sadly over the broken heating unit.

* * * * *

It had been worth all the waiting, all the effort. Time had calmed him, given him perspective. And a plan. So the first one had been stronger, that had turned out to be detrimental to the plan. And the second time he had tried to capture that one, it had been pure disaster. he had much better control over the others now. They had followed his bidding to the letter during the attack. He could still feel their weak minds from a distance. He would finally be free of his imprisonment. He had waited and watched the different groups as they came to the planet. Hunters, scientists, others who wandered around the tunnels of the hastily built installation. He had watched them all. A perfect match had finally come and he had snagged it like catching a Norska. Human, male, and force-sensitive.

* * * * *

Phil realized that they had stopped again. He had been wandering in and out of consciousness for a while now. Since the view never seemed to change, he considered this a good thing. He felt slightly better, though the blood pooled in his ears was making him dizzy. The Wampa shrugged Phil off his shoulder, Phil managed to twist enough to land on his side instead of on his head like last time. This was another good thing. His body began to demand better care and attention as blood flow resumed its normal circulation. Shock, that was it, he was suffering from shock. Which was why he was so cold, but hazily he didn't seem to care to change this condition. Just lying there on his side was good enough for him. He could hear the Ice Creature shuffling around. Where was he? In a cave of some kind, ice covered the walls. Oh yeah, the Ice Creature. Now what did it want again? Phil felt the Wampa move up beside him, roll him over on his back. I am so glad I am in shock. Otherwis e I think I would be really scared at this point.

* * * * *

Cat Farr studied Atomic's black eye. The bruise was threatening to show all the deeper colors of the spectrum. "That is quite the shiner. Things must have gotten pretty nasty down there."

"Oh this? The sad thing is I didn't get this from an Ice Creature, I got in Acid's way as he was driving for the goal." Atomic grinned, "I kept him from scoring, though I am very glad the military covers all my medical bills.

* * * * *

The clouds were still high cirrus, the winds were rising quickly, whistling over the cirques and arêtes of the mountains. Nick Fel cursed silently to himself and continued to wrestle with the controls of the shuttle. If the situation hadn't been so grim, he would have gone to ground and waited the winds out. The mountainous terrain had blocked their sensors from tracking the second group of Wampas. Fortunately the Compton's sensors were still able to follow the group, and for some perverse reason the shuttle crew was receiving the relayed signal clearly. Still, it didn't matter how clear the signal was coming through if the shuttle was shoved into a cliff face by the strength of the wind. Why they didn't build these things a little more aerodynamically? Viper's voice interrupted these thoughts.

"The Compton reports they have lost the signal. They think the Wampas may have entered an ice cave. We should be reaching the point of last contact just over this ridge and into a small valley."

"All right everyone, gear up," ordered. He spun in the co-pilot's chair to survey the group. Acid and Viper were readying ropes and glow-rods, arguing quietly over whether they would need crampons or not. Then he spotted Padmé readying her gear and his stomach gave a lurch. She was eminently capable of handling herself in a situation like this, and they were very probably going to need her medical skills, but...

The she turned to look at him, caught him watching her. She gave him a small smile, then winked, and he knew there was no way on this ball of ice that he could persuade her to stay behind on the shuttle.

"Aha," Nick said. "I think we have found the Wampas' lair. Just up ahead." He pointed to a low arched opening in the cliff face, across the tiny valley. "I have to put the shuttle down here, it is the only open area I can find." The whine if the engines changed pitch as power was cut to the thrusters and transferred to the repulserlifts. The shuttle's landing skids sunk into the snow, then took the weight of the shuttle, biting into the ice and rock.

Glantry double-checked his gear and his rifle, He turned to Nick and stopped short. "Uh, Nick? You can't go out like that."

Nick gave him a puzzled look, then looked down at himself. He hadn't taken the time to change into a flight suit when he had appropriated the piloting of the shuttle, but what did Glantry mean by that? "Oh. Right. Don't we have any cold weather gear tucked away somewhere?"

Acid shook his head, "all our gear is either on the first shuttle, or there might be some on the At-At, but not on this shuttle."

Nick looked glum, "I didn't even notice the cold when I was on the At-At."

"Bookdawg had the heater on high." Viper pointed out.

"And this shuttle is insulated against the cold of space." Padmé said

"Frost-bite is not for the weak of heart." Acid mused.

"Sorry Nick, I guess you have to stay with the shuttle." Glantry said.

"I could pull rank and order one of you to give me your gear."

"You would be countermanding your own orders, therefore you would have no choice but give yourself kitchen duty," Acid said archly.

"Someone needs to keep the shuttle prepped and ready. We may need to get out of here fast," Glantry reasoned. "So that might as well be the best pilot we have, don't you agree?"

Nick sank back down into the pilot's chair as Acid smacked the hatch release and the ramp began to descend. The wind was biting cold and everyone hurried down the ramp and toward the cliff face.

"Keep the light on for us, Nick!" Viper shouted.

"Just remember to wipe your feet!" Nick countered. Then he raised the ramp and closed out the bitter wind as the rest of the group turned to face the blackness of the cave mouth.

As the group neared the cave entrance the wind slackened, the edge of the cliff protecting them from its sting. Here in the lee of the cliff they could begin to smell the tang of sulfur rising from the cave mouth.

"Bookdawg's information said many of these ice caves are formed by geothermal activity melting vents in the ice," said Acid. "The high concentration of minerals is going to play havoc with our sensors." He fiddled with his hand-held assembly. "We will have to see how things go further in."

"Don't anyone get trigger-happy," warned Glantry. "If we run into any of the Wampas I am hoping they can lead us to their den. Only shoot if it is a direct attack."

"I'll take point," Viper volunteered.

"Acid, give me the sensor," Padmé said. "You are quicker on the draw than I am."

Glantry laid out the order of attack. "All right. Viper, then Acid and Padmé, and I will take the rear." Glantry knew that was probably the safest bet, he thought as he flicked on his glowrod. He was worried he would let his anger get the better of him and shoot to kill the first Wampa he saw. He needed to remain calm, he reminded himself.

Viper led the way down into the darkness, a glow rod attached to the barrel of his blaster rifle. The blue tinge of the light reflected from the ice that coated the rounded tunnel walls, adding to the distance they could see. A path had been worn down in the floor of the tunnel, testifying to the length of time this tunnel had been used as a shelter by the creatures.

"I'm coming up on a branch in the tunnel," Viper warned softly.

Padmé tapped the hand-held sensor array up to full sensitivity. "The heat and mineral content of the vapors is giving me a lot of strange readings, but I think we should head to the left."

"Why do you say that?" Acid asked.

"Where would you prefer to live? The warmer air is coming from that way, and the path is more distinct."

Viper flashed his light down the right-handed tunnel. The right path was indeed less distinct, debris from the ceiling had fallen in places, littering the floor of the tunnel. It had not been actively used for a long time.

"Down into the depths we go, then." Glantry decided. "Stay alert."

Viper led the way down the left tunnel. The smell of sulfur was noticeably stronger, and the heat was perceptible. As they stepped their way down deeper, they came across the first active signs of the inhabitants. Small bones and tufts of fur were scattered and snagged on the floor and walls.

"I'm picking up a possible life reading, about forty-five feet ahead." Padmé whispered.

Viper and Acid eased to either side of the tunnel and peered ahead. The tunnel widened into a larger theater, the ceiling rising to an impressive height. Here the ice that the tunnel had so far been formed met with the rock of the cliff face above. Where the ice and rock met there was a gap open to the outside, letting light in and venting more sulfurous air. They could hear hot springs bubbling and sputtering on the far side of the cavern

The group stepped into the cavern and scanned for any movement or other sign of the Ice Creatures. Near the hot springs a smaller ice cave had been formed by the heat. Acid moved to inspect it more thoroughly as Viper flashed his light into the nooks and pockets of darkness closer to the hot springs. Glantry followed Acid into the smaller cave.

It seemed to be the larder. The cave was only about fifteen feet deep and ten feet wide. Two Ice Norska hung from the ceiling, their rear legs frozen into the ice. They were dead, their eyes glassy and staring. Glantry tried not to shudder as he looked at them. But there was no sign of Phil. No sign of any of the three Wampas they had been following.

A deep guttural growl filled the cavern, echoing off the walls. Acid and Glantry ran back into the larger theater. Viper and Padmé stood near the larder's entrance, searching for whatever made that sound. Another grunting call echoed off the walls.

"I think someone is worried we are going to make off with the family silver."

"Shut up Acid."

* * * * *

"No, no, no. This goes here, that goes there." Coup and Jol argued as they tried to jury-rig the servo for the right-rear leg of the At-At. Bookdawg and Thorn ignored the sound of their voices as they stood looking up the side of the strangely shaped ship. It stood as tall as the At-At, though it was hard to tell for certain as the ship seemed to be partially buried. It was almost needle-like in comparison to a normal Goa'uld ship, narrowing quickly to a sharp point that would have just grazed the covering of frozen snow above.

"Kushan Pyramids? What are those?" Bookdawg asked.

"The Kushite Kings of ancient Nubia built pyramids to mark their tombs. They are much smaller than the pyramids of Giza, only about thirty feet tall. The angle of the sides is much steeper, up to 70°, when the Egyptian pyramids are only at about a 55° angle. From the scoring on the sides of this thing by the movement of the ice, I would guess it has been here a long time."

"Just a long time, or do you mean a loooong time." Bookdawg exaggerated the word dramatically.

"I mean like geologically long, or at least glacially long. This ship has been crushed down into the gravels and you can see where the ice has scraped the sides of the ship as it pushed around it. I think the only reason this thing is still intact is the steep angle of the sides of the ship."

Movement just around the corner of the ship made them both start, but then Piquo leaned around the corner, "I think you both will want to come see this." He said.

Thorn and Bookdawg walked carefully around the side of the ship, watching for slick ice. Piquo raised his glowrod high enough for them to see what he had found. It was the remains of a stele, a large stone slab with an inscribed surface, cracked into three unequal pieces. Edges of it were missing, flaked away by the pressure of the ice. They all three knelt with their glowrods and inspected the broken pieces, eerily reminiscent of worshippers at a strange altar.

"Well, what do you know. Looks like our old pal is back again. Small wonder Egyptians believed in life after death." Thorn sounded non too happy.

"What? What is it?" Asked Piquo.

Bookdawg ran a finger over the deep carving of an upswept eyebrow, a staring pupil. "Its Ra. This is his symbol."

Thorn held her glowrod high as she brushed away the thick layering of rock dust. "Let's see now, it reads, uh...'Ra, sun god, mighty of all, banishes the usurper.' Something is missing here - oh, I see, OK." Thorn puzzled out the destroyed symbols where the stone had broken. "Ra, sun god, yada yada. 'Banishes the usurper to his fate. He is stricken from the lists, his image defiled. All that was once granted is swept away."

"What does it mean?" Bookdawg breathed.

One last bit of ice fell from the crack the At-At had fallen through, making them all jump. The light of their glowrods made their faces look goulish and sickly. Bookdawg pointed to a bit of white just outside the range of their lights.

"What is that over there?"

They moved as a group to the see what was catching the light. A white talus boulder, bigger than a bowling ball, a couple others scattered around. Piquo raised his glowrod high again and the eye socket of the skull became apparent in the light.

"Look at all of them. Its an Ice Creature graveyard."

"This isn't right," Bookdawg said, "This is not how Wampas die, they do not congregate like, like elephants. Not according to that bio report."

"This place is giving me the creeps," Thorn said worriedly.

Piquo shook his head, "you didn't say that right."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're in New Republic space now, you have to say it right. You have to say, 'I have a bad feeling about this."

"Piquo, I am surprised. The flippancy meter jumped to the red for a moment there. But yes, I do have a bad feeling about this. I say we go back to the -"

"Hey," came a call from the other side of the ship. "Hey, where did everyone go? We are ready to get out of here!"

"Not a moment too soon."

Getting back up to the body of the At-At was trickier than getting down, but a description would take too long. So, suffice it to say that as they climbed up the leg of an At-At, Thorn gave a little history-mythology lesson.

"This is making so much sense it is scary. The ancient Kushites worshipped a sun-god, but his worship was totally taken over by Ra. Archeologists have never even been able to find out what the Kushites called him, all his temples were destroyed, all writings about him were wiped out. That stele explains all this. If this usurper tried to seize power from Ra, and Ra punished him for it, I could think of no worse fate than to be stranded here with a bunch of Wampas."

"Oh!" Bookdawg exclaimed as they all clamored into the troop compartment.. "That explains the burial ground. The Goa'uld would have to take a new host once every couple hundred years, at least." They all took positions in the command compartment as Jol Allson powered up the walker.

Coup stared at her. "Do you mean to tell me that out there somewhere is a Wampa with a snake in its neck?"

"Guys, I know I said I was impressed with this thing, but I have to ask, how are we going to climb out of here?" Thorn interrupted.

"We did mention that this is a fully functional At-At, right Jol?""Yes we did. And I think we should show all its functions, don't you think Coup?"

"I think so Jol. Fire away."

"What!" The remaining three yelled, as Jol took aim at the far wall of the cavern and let loose with the twin blaster cannons. Where the beams hit, superheated steam rose in clouds. Large chunks of ice crashed to the floor. A whole slab broke off and tilted slowly, then thundered down. The opening to the sky grew larger and larger, the debris stacking up as Jol moved the sites of the cannon deftly across the ice.

Thorn spoke through her hands covering her mouth. "Its like a train-wreck; I can't look away."

Bookdawg made a little sound from the back of her throat.

Piquo leaned over the co-drivers chair, "When do I get to try my hand at that?"

A ramp was definitely forming at the base of the wall. Thorn could make out the striations in the ice, showing different layers of snowfall over the millennia. Another huge slab broke off, as it fell Jol fired at it again and again, breaking the slab into smaller pieces that added to the ramp work.

Jol looked at Coup, "that about do it for you?"

"Looks good, lets see how stable it is."

"Oh no, please! Today is not a good day to die, I have a book to finish." Thorn wailed.

Bookdawg saved her words and ran for the crash webbing, Piquo right behind her.

"Ah, quit yer whining. You may want to hold on to something, though." Coup called over his shoulder.

The At-At stepped onto the chunks of ice of the ramp. Its broad feet were able to get a solid stance. The walker slowly moved up the ramp.

"So far so good, but this is the tricky part." Jol commented.

The ramp did not reach to the top of the ice field, the walker would have to make a high step, almost crawl over the lip of the cliff. Piquo reached out to where Thorn seemed frozen in place, grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back to the comparative safety of the crash webbing.

"Keep as much weight off the right rear foot as you can, Coup." Jol said softly.

With a lurch, the At-At lifted its right, then its left front foot to the top of the cliff, then its right rear leg, and a push off by the left rear, and they were out of the cavern.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous, how foolish, how utterly -"

"Thorn, Phil is still out there." Coup looked over his shoulder at her.

She paused in mid-tirade, then flushed red, bit her lip, and nodded. "Worse, he could be in the hands of a Goa'uld-possessed Wampa."

There was a moment of complete silence, as they all contemplated that thought. The At-At set out again, following the tracks of the three Wampas.

* * * * *

How did that saying go again? Bored Beyond Belief. The winds were almost constant now, rocking the shuttle in its gusts. Nick kept an eye on the fuel gauges. He was keeping the engines warmed, just in case. He tapped his finger against the arm of the pilot's seat, his only outward show of impatience. The ship rocked again, harder. He checked the wind gauge, the winds were strong, but steadying from the south-west, as much as the terrain would allow it to come from the south-west. A booming echoed from the rear of the shuttle, and Nick realized this was not the wind, something was pounding on the rear of the shuttle. What was the matter with the sensors, they did not show a thing! Nick heard the groaning-squealing sound of twisted metal and hit the repulserlift controls, bouncing the shuttle off its landing struts to about 15 feet in the air. The shuttle wobbled in the wind. Nick ran another sensor sweep as he spun the ship around and backed off from where the shuttle had sat. A Wampa was looking up at the shuttle, now just out of reach. He checked the scanners and the hair on the back of his neck rose. Sensors showed a second Wampa on the top of the shuttle. How could it get up there without Nick noticing? Better shake it off before it messed with the sensor or communications array.

Nick frowned, he didn't really want to do this. Well, yes he did, he held no great sympathy for these creatures, but knew they were just trying to survive in a harsh climate. He decided to do this right.

A snow bank lay to his port, where the winds had caused it to drift into a mound. He maneuvered over to it, then with a twist of his wrist, rolled the shuttle over onto its back.

He could actually hear the claws of the Ice Creature scrape across the roof as it tried to find a handhold. Then he saw something white flash past his viewport. Craning his neck to look up, or actually, down, he saw the Wampa land in the snow. Nick hung from the restraints and crash webbing and smiled. That was fun. Then his smile wavered and vanished as he tried to right the shuttle and the small ship bobbed, but would not roll over. He yanked on the controls again. The shuttle lurched to one side, closer to the cliff face, but would not turn over. What had those Wampas done to his ship? Was it the repulserlifts, the flaps or the thrusters? Nick could feel the blood beginning to run to his head. How was he going to get this crate back over before the rest of the team came back? How was he going to explain being stuck inverted if they came back before he could figure this out? He had better figure this out - fast.

* * * * *

Major Drac'una looked out a viewport of the Compton and grinned. She could finally feel the warmth of the light of a sun. Normally an Andorran Gargoyle drops into a state of hibernation, their bodies literally turning to stone in the light of day. But that seemed to happen only if a gargoyle were on-planet. Thorn had been ripping her hair out for weeks trying to figure this one out. If a gargoyle was on a space ship or a space station, the light of any nearby star would not drop them into hibernation. Was it the light coming through the atmosphere of the planet? It did not seem to matter what color the sun or what kind of atmosphere, though testing in a methane atmosphere had been nixed by General Farr. So here Drac was, sitting in the sunlight in the lounge of the Compton. Bliss. No, she was just fine on-board, she did not want to join the hockey team on the surface. For one thing the mountains of Andora had been cold enough. And the sun never set this time of year on Hoth, remember? She was worried as the rest of them about Phil Fett, and like the rest of the crew on break right now, the mood was hushed. People congregating into small groups, talking quietly. Many had seen battle. Most knew that when it came to battle, you never knew when your number was up. And all understood that in the sabacc game of life, you never knew when the cards would show the idiot's array. Still, dinner for an Ice Monster?

Drac turned from the viewport as Jenna Fett slid into the seat across from her. Groups around the table paused in their conversations, hoping to hear good news. Jenna looked around at each, then shook her head. Conversation started back up again slowly.

"Jenna, you know if there is anything..."

"I know Drac, I wouldn't hesitate to ask you if there were, but all we can do is wait." Jenna slumped a little in her seat. Drac waited, she knew Jenna would want to talk, and Drac could be very patient. Like stone.

"You understand, don't you? I know Phil is all right." Jenna stared out the window morosely.

"Of course I understand. Family bonds are a powerful thing. And from what I have learned about the force, if you say Phil is all right, then he is all right. What is it?"

Jenna had gone pale, still staring out the window at Hoth's small sun. "Mother! And Glantry! They're in trouble!" She shot to her feet and ran for the bridge. Drac was right behind her, even having to use her wings a little to keep up.

* * * * *

Eyes glistened in the darkness. Eight, no nine pairs of eyes. Make that ten, Viper thought. Where had they hidden, why didn't the sensors pick up on any of them? They thought they had been following three Wampas, the rest must have been here in the cavern the entire time. Glantry and Acid, Padmé and Viper stood back-to-back, like points of a compass. The creatures hooted softly to each other.

"Acid, anything in those bio notes about getting out of a Wampa's den alive?" Viper muttered.

"No, which is an answer, in its way."

"Skywalker got out." Padmé swallowed painfully.

"Skywalker was only facing one." Glantry pointed out.

"Everyone follow my lead," Acid slowly began to walk forward, not looking into any of the creatures eyes, non-threatening. "No fast movements, no unnecessary movements, just walk out."

"Are you quite serious?" Viper said through clenched teeth.

"No, he's right, its OK." Glantry took Padmé's hand, they walked together slowly toward the cavern entrance. Viper followed behind, gripping the stock of his blaster-rifle till he was sure he could see indentations.

Acid focused on his breathing, trying to show no outward sign of threat or fear, just keep walking. Glantry and Padmé mimicking his relaxed motions. Padmé stepped on a badly-balanced rock, tottered as she tried to maintain her balance. Glantry held onto her hand, pulled her closer to him.

Padmé glanced up at Glantry and then back to where she had tripped. "That Wampa warbled at me," she said puzzled.

"Is that good or bad?" Viper questioned.

"Its good, its...its like..." Padmé turned to look at the Wampa who had been nearest her. Behind the huge creature's legs, a smaller furry body moved to peer up at her. The mother Wampa pushed her baby back behind her again. "Its like she was saying—watch your step." Padmé felt something, like a breath of wind.

"They know."

"Padmé?" Glantry asked.

"They know why we are here. They know we are searching for one of our own."

Glantry looked around at the creatures surrounding them. He didn't feel threatened, though he certainly did not feel safe and secure either. He was not sure what he felt. He had known to follow Acid's lead, but that had been common sense, right?

"If they know so much," Acid asked, "do you think they know that we would like to leave?"

Two huge Ice Creatures stood before them, blocking the exit to the cavern. The group paused. Acid tried not to look into their eyes. He looked at their feet. He could tell if they were about to attack by how they braced their feet. Big feet. Big claws. His eyes traveled up the creatures legs to their hands. Bigger claws. Whose idea was this again?

The two Wampas hooted softly to each other, shifted on those big feet, then backed to either side of the cavern entrance. They continued to back away, and the whole group of Wampas seemed to fade into the ice of the cavern walls.

"I had no idea Hoth was the Twilight Zone."

"Shut up, Acid."

* * * * *

"Nick, do you read me? Nick?"

Nick groaned, what a time for the Compton to call. He cast around desperately and saw one of Acid's hockey gloves, caught on the underside of the co-pilot's seat. he leaned out and snagged it, then jammed it over the holographic feed in front of the pilot's chair. He flipped a few switches.

"I read you, Compton. Cat, what's up?"

"Nick, are you all right? We have no visual feed."

"Interference, I guess, I can see you fine."

He could see them clearly. Cat and Jenna, standing close enough for the holographic imager to be broadcasting both women.

"Nick, we have lost sensor readings in that area, and uh, Jenna thinks there is something - what was that, Jenna?"

Nick could hear Jenna talking, but couldn't make out the words, then Cat turned back to the imager. "False alarm," she shrugged. "What is going on down there?"

"Glantry and the rest followed the Wampas into an ice cave. I haven't had contact from them yet. We agreed to a one hour time limit. They still have twenty-four minutes before I officially yell for help. Make that twenty-three."

"All right, keep us informed. And Nick?"

"Yes?"

Cat seemed to be looking at something, trying to read something. "Made in Taiwan. Nick, why do I see a hologram of the inside of a hockey glove?"

The Compton must have triggered his imager's lighting system.

"What did you say, what? Interference building. Fel, out."

* * * * *

Phil studied the ceiling above him. It was white, again, but seemed to have interesting patterns pressed into it. It looked like someone had taken the time to walk on the ceiling. Big footprints too. Phil blinked and tried to swallow. Everything ran the wrong way. Wait a moment, everything was the wrong way, he was upside down again. The blood pounded in his ears. He must have passed out again, when the Wampa had rolled him over. He could vaguely remember that. His head felt heavy, aside from all the blood that must be pooling there. He still had on his goalie's helmet. The face-piece was missing and the strap was rubbing on his throat, but still having his helmet cheered him to no end. He could not think why this would make him so happy. He shifted a bit, swung forward with his head and chest. His feet and legs were frozen into the ice of the ceiling. This was unsettling. Try to remain calm. He heard a noise behind him and everything came into perfect focus. Well, at least the shock has worn off.

* * * * *

All right, time to get out of this position. Nick gritted his teeth and twitched the controls slightly. He maneuvered himself carefully into the lee of the cliff. He checked the sensors, then looked around as much as he could. The two Ice Creatures seemed to have vanished. He would worry about them later. Nick brought the shuttle as close to the ground as he dared. He then ever so slowly edged the shuttle forward, across the mouth of the entrance to the valley. A glacial saddle protected him from the winds that howled out of the canyon that led to the valley. He sighed, then braced himself. This had better work. He shoved the repulserlifts to full strength and the shuttle jumped straight up, belly to the sky. The wind caught the leading edge of the shuttle and spun it over, like flipping a pancake, one quick turn. Nick slapped the repulserlifts down to quarter strength and the shuttle dropped back down behind the saddle. he maneuvered carefully back to his original position in the valley, hatchway facing the cave. He wiggled the flaps and could feel the shuttle shift slightly as the wind caught them. The flaps must have jammed somehow. Damage caused by Ice Creatures? Glantry's team had ten minutes. Nick ran a hand through his hair and chuckled. Most of it seemed to be standing straight up. He checked his reflection in the sensor screen and smoothed down his hair. Now to think up a story to explain the hologram of the hockey glove. A commander's work is never done.

* * * * *

"Hold up. There they are, I see them."

Piquo and Thorn were standing directly behind the driver and co-driver's chairs of the At-At, macro-binoculars to their eyes. Piquo pointed. "They are too far away to see if they have Phil."

The walker closed in on the three white shapes in the distance. Closer and closer. Thorn's eyes ached from looking through binocs for so long.

"They don't have him." She announced.

Coup twisted in his seat, "let me see those." He waved for the binocs. Held them up to his eyes when she handed them to him. "No, they don't have him."

Jol looked glum, "how can you be so sure?"

"He was wearing a Red Wings Jersey. The predominant color is red. I can see all three Wampas clearly, not a speck of red." Coup shrugged, trying to relieve the tension in his shoulders and neck. No Phil. He had risked a battle damaged At-At and the lives of four friends with that cliff-climbing stunt and no Phil. He brought the walker to a halt, then glanced over his shoulder at Thorn, who was leaning against the back of the driver's chair.

She rubbed her eyes. "This is an impressive machine, with an impressive driver." She gave him a tight smile. "Let's check the map, see what the other group is up to."

They gathered around the holographic map in the troop compartment. Bookdawg pointed to a blue spot on a the small view of the ice field. "We are here. We have actually been moving parallel to the other team. They are on the other side of this first row of mountains, here." Another blue dot lit up. "At least this is what the Compton reports. They also report that they have to revise their weather forecast. The heavier cloud cover should be moving into the area in another two to three hours."

Thorn studied the map, then pointed at a gap in the mountains. "Could we get through this pass? How accurate is our topographical information of this area?"

Bookdawg tapped on a few buttons and the image redefined itself on a heightened view of the pass.

Coup scratched his chin, he could feel stubble under his fingers. "What do you think, Jol? Do we have the fuel to get up that pass and meet up with the other team?

Jol grimaced and pointed to a spot about three-quarters of the way to the second blue dot. "We could make it to about here," he said. "But we could make it the rest of the way on the speeder bikes."

Piquo's face lit up. "speeder bikes? No one told me we had speeder bikes!"

Bookdawg came back in from the command compartment. "The Compton just received word from Commander Fel, I mean Nick. He hasn't heard from Glantry's team for an hour. They would send the other shuttle with a back-up team, but it appears to have more damage than originally thought. Farr wants to know how quickly can we meet up with Nick."

Coup had already run past her to the driver's chair. He worked the controls and the walker began moving toward the gap in the range of mountains. Jol slid into the co-drivers chair and checked the monitors. Other than the right rear leg, everything was in the green.

He glanced behind him as he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. "What are you looking for?" He asked Thorn, who had taken position behind Coup's chair again, binocs to her eyes.

"More boulders. As we get closer to those mountains the ice field is going to become more erratic, we may have to cross a crevasse or two. Just a walk in the park for this machine, right?"

* * * * *

This was the tricky part. The transfer was always the tricky part. He had been successful so far, but each time was different. He examined what he had cobbled together, then turned to look at the subject. His new host. He would have to be careful, this one was fast regaining full consciousness and could put up a struggle. He did not want to do any more damage than necessary. Once the transfer was complete he would not have a lot of time to heal. He thought about his last host. He had allowed his anger to get the better of him, and had come close to dying. He had barely been able to make the transfer to this host, and he could never be entirely sure how strong the next host would be. He looked at his prize, a sound body with hands that could manipulate fine machinery again. Nothing was going to stop him this time.

* * * * *

Glantry and the rest of the group exited the cavern and turned to head back to the entrance of the cave, Acid in the lead. When he stopped abruptly Glantry walked right into him.

"Hold up everyone. Two more Wampas."

Glantry could see the two hulking shapes silhouetted against the opening. This time he felt it, this time he was sure. These boys did not want them to leave. He knew it.

"Back up to that other tunnel. Watch your step."

Viper was already partially turned that way, "Uh-oh. More Wampas are following us." Viper still backed towards the unused tunnel. He entered into it, Padmé and Glantry following.

The group of Wampas from the cavern began to bark at the two at the tunnel entrance. The growling, coughing sounds echoed back and forth. The two creatures at the cave entrance roared back. Acid suddenly realized he was standing between two very angry groups of creatures with very big claws. Time to go.

"Time to go, family argument brewing." He ran by Glantry, Padmé and Viper, further down the unused tunnel. As Glantry watched, the group from the cavern advanced on the pair, waving their arms and roaring.

"Acid's right, time to go." The three turned and ran after Acid, who had slowed to a jog, watching his footing on the tunnel floor. Growling and an occasional roar echoed past them down the tunnel, but both groups seemed to be more concerned with each other than to follow.

They had gone another hundred meters or so when Acid dove for something laying on the floor of the tunnel. "Look, its a hockey glove!"

Padmé and Glantry grabbed for it. There was only one way a hockey glove could get here.

"Viper, fall back and cover our rear. Acid, you and I in front."

Padmé clutched the glove in one hand and checked her sensors with the other. The sensors gave garbled messages, making no sense. She knew Phil was still alive, and the glove did not have any blood on it, so maybe he wasn't injured badly. But he had been exposed to the freezing temperatures for a long time. What condition was he in? She felt for the quiet place deep inside her and knew Phil was alive, and that would have to do. For now.

* * * * *

I wonder what the wind chill is? Why do I ask these questions, do I really want to know? Thorn huddled down further and distracted herself from the cold by examining the scenery. Glacial moraines whipped by, they dodged around the erratics and zipped over the scree fields. When we get back to Farpoint I have to get me one of these.

The group of five were riding three speeder bikes. Jol and Bookdawg on one, Piquo and Thorn on another, Coup way out in front on the third. The At-At had finally died, out of fuel, and Jol had revealed the cargo compartment and the three speeder bikes. They had bundled up till they could scarcely move, even pulling on the stormtrooper helmets they had found, all protection against the freezing wind-speeds.

Coup waved his left hand as a signal as he also tried to use the comm system in the helmets. The burst of static in the ear-speakers made everyone flinch.

"I see the shuttle."

Bookdawg peered around Jol's shoulder as they neared the shuttle. She could see a shape through the viewscreen moving around as they approached. The hatch to the shuttle opened as they pulled up as close as they dared. She and Jol grabbed each other for support as they tried to walk on legs that had been frozen into position. They stumbled up the ramp behind Coup. Thorn and Piquo were having the same problem walking. Nick thumbed the hatch shut and helped them strip off helmets and gloves.

"I can't feel my nose," Piquo complained.

"Forget your nose, look at your hand," Thorn took Piquo's left wrist and gently touched the white fingers. "This entire hand is frost-bit. What do we have in the med-kit to -"

"Thorn, its ok. This hand hasn't had much to worry about for a while. The synthetic flesh must have reacted to the cold and turned this funny white color." He flexed the fingers like he was running up and down the scales of a piano. But for the skin color, the prosthetic hand was very realistic, fluid in motion.

Thorn's eyebrows were trying to mesh with her hairline. "I forgot, I'm so sorry Piquo. How could I forget." Thorn wondered how tired she really was if she could forget the mission where Piquo had lost his hand. She had been standing nearby, she had bandaged the remains of his hand herself. She was really putting her foot in her mouth this trip.

Piquo shrugged, "I sometimes forget about it myself. Its almost too good a replacement. I can feel the cold just as well with this new one as I could with my old one. Believe me, in that respect I wish I did not have a fully functional hand."

Nick was explaining the situation to Coup. "Glantry was supposed to check in thirty minutes ago. I have not been able to reach them on the comms and I daren't leave the shuttle. Wampas have already tried to damage it once."

"Is everyone ready to go in after them?" Coup asked.

"Wait, wait." Thorn complained, "all I have is this blaster pistol. Don't we have something bigger I can carry?"

Coup snapped open the weapons compartment and bowed. "Would Madam like to make a selection?"

"I quote a colonel we all know and love when I say I want something big and honkin'."

Coup helped her make her selection as Nick started picking up extra cold weather gear that the five had stripped off and began pulling it on.

"Nick, what are you doing?"

"I am going with you."

"Sorry Nick, but you have to stay with the shuttle. We may need you to get us out of here in a hurry."

"Jol can pilot it."

Jol shook his head, "as you constantly remind me, Nick, I am an engineer."

Piquo shook his head, "I am trained for cold weather tracking and survival."

Coup shook his head, "No way I am waiting here if Glantry is in trouble."

Thorn and Bookdawg looked at each other, then shook their heads. "We are not pilots, remember?" Bookdawg said. "Sorry Nick."

Piquo triggered the hatch release and the five trooped down the ramp. The group was halfway to the cave entrance and Nick has already closed the hatch when he remembered that both Bookdawg and Thorn had been running shuttle flight-simulators just last week.

"Hey!"

* * * * *

There was light up ahead. Acid could tell it was not natural light, but artificial, too much of a yellow caste to it. He signaled for Glantry and the rest to slow down. He looked back at Padmé and gave her a questioning look. She glared at the sensor display, then motioned for all of them to gather close. Viper continued to watch for signs of movement back the way they had come.

"Sensors show a large amount of metal and technology. Power supplies, that kind of thing. Could the sensors be that wrong?"

Acid looked again at the light coming faintly down the tunnel. "We will have to find out, won't we?"

Padmé slung the sensor onto her back and pulled out her blaster pistol. Viper took up position behind Acid, she did the same on the opposite side with Glantry. They crept towards the light, watching their footing.

Acid reached the light proper and looked around carefully. They were at the entrance of another cavern, this one smaller and longer. He could not see any signs of geothermal activity, and wondered what had formed the -

He saw, rather than felt, the huge paw as it caught him across the chest and knocked him flying. He heard rather than felt the snap and pop of his shoulder hitting the icewall. He slid down the wall and realized he could no longer feel his right arm. His breath came in quick gasps and his chest felt tight. He heard yelling, the zing of a blaster rifle, then another. Then Padmé was kneeling beside him and all the pain finally caught up with him.

"He's dazed, in the first stages of shock." Padmé said. "I can't really examine him in this cold, but I would say his collar-bone is broken and maybe his shoulder is dislocated." She tried to keep her tone light, Acid would be ok if he kept still. "I might as well add a few broken ribs to the list while I am at it."

Glantry nodded and wiped at the blood coming from a cut on his cheek. "The Wampa took off that way. Padmé, can you stay here with Acid?"

Padmé nodded. She hated the thought of leaving the search, but Acid shouldn't be left alone. Viper and Glantry ran to the far side of the cavern and disappeared down another tunnel. Padmé looked around her and wondered. The area was full of electrical equipment. Glowrods, a heating unit, a communications array, other pieces of equipment. Where had all this come from? She decided that if the technology was here, she should use it, and pulled the heating unit as close as its power cable would allow it. She turned the heater on to low and immediately could feel the slight warmth on her face. Acid groaned and opened his eyes. She kept him from sitting up, trying to keep any strain from his rib-cage.

"Where did everyone go? I need to catch up to them." He cast around for his rifle.

"Sorry Acid, but you've benched for the remainder of the season." Padmé made sure he was not going to try to move, then looked around for some way to get him off the ice of the floor. She walked past the communications array, then stopped. It had power and everything seemed to be working. Maybe she could raise the shuttle. She was going to need help getting Acid out of here. She threw a few switches and tried to broadcast.

"Nick, can you read me? Nick?" She heard a funny echo, then a burst of static and then Coup's voice.

"Padmé? Are you OK? We are right on your -" Padmé jumped in surprise as Coup and his team burst into the cavern. " - tail." Coup finished. Then he came over and swept Padmé into a bear hug.

"Padmé, you do not know how glad we are to see that you are all right," said Bookdawg. "There was some kind of fight at the entrance to this tunnel. Piquo said it looked like a Wampa brawl, but you can imagine what we were all thinking."

Acid was telling Piquo what had happened in the gallery, then in the tunnels. Thorn was staring around her, looking at all the different equipment around the cavern.

Coup motioned for Piquo to join him. "Glantry and Viper are only about three minutes ahead. Let's catch up."

Jol looked over at them, "Hey, I am coming too."

No, stay here and try to boost the power on that comm array to reach the shuttle. You may even be able to raise the Compton."

"But -"

"You're the engineer, remember? Get on it."

Piquo and Coup turned to the cavern exit, then they looked back. "And where do you think you're going?"

Thorn grinned at them and ran past. "Padmé and Bookdawg can take care of Acid. Besides, Bookdawg is better on the comm boards than I am. And I have to meet a Wampa that knows how to run a molecular scanner."

**

Glantry and Viper raced down the tunnel, then slowed as the came to a bend. Viper leaned out and around, then moved around the bend. The Wampa was nowhere in sight.

"Did you notice all the equipment in that cavern?"

Glantry nodded. "Skywalker said the Ice Creatures that attacked the hunting party when he was here seemed to understand technology to a point. Do you think this one collected all that equipment and knows how to run it?" They jogged quickly down the tunnel.

"There!"

A hulking shadow came out from a side tunnel ahead of them and loped away, around another bend. They could both see the darker shadow of something over its shoulder. The red and white of a hockey jersey. Phil.

* * * * *

Phil had not eaten in quite a while, but if there had been anything on his stomach it wouldn't be there now. The Ice Creature had burst into the cave where Phil had been left hanging and used some kind of instrument to cut him down from the ceiling. Phil wasn't sure, but he though it looked like a vibro-ice blade. Why would a Wampa have that? He was flung over the shoulder of the creature, again, as the Wampa ran down an ice tunnel. Did someone just call his name? Father! Phil struggled to get the Wampa to lose his grip in his legs, but his feet were still frozen together and he could not get the leverage. He continued to struggle as the Wampa took a sharp turn down a side tunnel, then it stopped. The Wampa yanked Phil off his shoulder and slammed him into the ice wall of the tunnel. Phil felt the tough plastic of his helmet crack, then he saw white, then black, again.

* * * * *

No! How could they have followed him? Hadn't the shuttle been sabotaged, hadn't the dead and the injured pre-occupied them? And even then, there had been two false leads. How had they found him so quickly? All his waiting, all his planning, he was not going to let this one go. He might never get another chance. He had waited too long. Look what they had made him do, his new host could be badly damaged now, he did not have time to stop and look. He would take care of his pursuers up ahead, then he would finally transfer. Finally get the body that was rightfully his.

* * * * *

Glantry and Viper almost ran by the side tunnel, but Glantry skidded to a halt at its entrance. Viper looked over the small side tunnel quickly. The floor was littered with detritus from the ceiling and walls, some places it was partially blocked by cave-ins.

"Are you sure? A Wampa would have a hard time getting through there, let alone carrying someone."

"Viper, I know Phil is down this way. Just don't ask me how." Glantry started into the derelict tunnel, shining his glowrod ahead, watching for shadows that could reach out and grab him. Viper followed, keeping and eye out behind them.

Viper grabbed Glantry's shoulder, whispered, "listen."

They could both hear it, the sound of running footsteps, coming up the main tunnel. Viper stepped out right into Coup's path, and the two did a strange sidestepping to keep from running into each other.

Thorn patted her chest to calm herself. "I think my heart decided to try to jump ship for a moment there."

Glantry was too impatient for greetings, "Come on, we were right behind them."

The light of the added glowrods carried further down the tunnel, and they were able to make better time. The tunnel was short, and they were just getting used to dodging around all the ice debris when the tunnel opened into a huge cavern, the ceiling reaching up into the darkness, the sides stretching out into the distance. The floor was solid granite. A huge crack in the floor emitted a heavy sulfurous stench, mists rising to be lost in the darkness.

The group spread out, Piquo, Coup and Glantry to the left, Thorn and Viper to the right. Viper kept a healthy eye on the shadows, he knew how quickly and silently these creatures could blend in and out. Thorn headed to the lip of the crack, checking her wrist-sensor for noxious fumes. Her sensors caught something else, something she should have noticed first.

"Glantry, Coup, look."

Coup moved closer to the crack, then he could see through the rising mists to where Thorn was pointing. Phil was on the far side of the rift. He lay unmoving on his back, one hand flung out towards the crack.

"Sensors show he's -" Thorn began, but Glantry cut her off.

"He's alive. I don't need some machine to tell me that."

"Let's get him out of here," Coup moved along the edge of the crack to the left. Here the crack narrowed from the thirty feet at its widest to about three feet, an easy jump.

"Wait Coup. It's a trap." Glantry said.

Coup looked at his brother uncertainly. "If you say so. You make the call."

Glantry knew that the ledge in that area was unstable. He looked around for another way to cross the gap. Maybe if he ran full-tilt he could make the jump a little further up the rift. But if he did make it, how would he get Phil back?

A rumbling voice filled the air. It sounded heavy and thick, like someone was trying to talk with a mouthful of food. Or it was a mouth not shaped correctly to manage the sounds it was trying to make. It wasn't speaking Basic, that was for sure. It sounded like ancient Egyptian, or what members of Rogue Squadron had begun to call Goa'uld. Glantry did not speak it, but Thorn did. He turned to look at her and watched her eyes as they darted around the chamber, listening.

"He says if we leave this one, I guess he means Phil, he will allow us to live."

"Oh, he will, will he?"

Glantry felt something, like a stirring of wind. He turned to stare as small ice chips from the tunnel mouth swirled into a swarm of shining points and dove for the nearest person. Thorn tripped, rolled onto her side and covered her face with her arms as the needle sharp points rained down on her. She could feel the ice chips drive into her heavy protective clothing, then let out a yelp as some of the needles were able to poke through to her face. Then the swarm left her, and zoomed towards Viper.

Viper's eyes went wide and he thought fast. He flicked his rifle over to stun and fired. Although the stun setting was not nearly as hot as a blaster bolt, the beam was much wider. Some of the ice chips melted completely, many were softened by the energy of the beam. Viper was able to get off another shot before he too crouched and covered his face with his arms to protect himself from the swarm. The softened ice made little effect on his protective clothing. Small wet patches appeared on his coat as the melted ice chips thudded against the cloth.

The Ice Creature roared in anger and dropped control of the remaining ice chips.

The voice began again. "He says our death does not have to be painful, but we give him little choice, and no, I am not getting anything on my scanner." Said Thorn as she sat up hesitantly.

Viper turned to Thorn, "you can tell him from me that he can -"

The rest of Viper's rant was drowned out by the rumble of the tunnel collapsing. Ice chips and larger flying debris shot out from the mouth of the tunnel.

"I think you said something about a trap, right Glantry?" Piquo asked.

Larger ice chunks burst out of the tunnel mouth and rushed down on all of them. A chunk about the size of a brick caught Piquo upside the head and he slumped to the floor. More chunks aimed at him. Coup knelt over him, firing with his blaster pistol at the larger chunks. Everyone else got to the cavern walls, getting what little protection that offered, and fired at the chunks. A larger piece caught Coup in the shoulder, spun him around. He jerked his pistol up high to keep from shooting Glantry. Then that attack ended as well.

The voice rumbled out a third time. "He tires of these games. He will kill us now and have done."

Viper's feet were swept out from under him. He felt himself being dragged across the uneven floor to the rift. He scrabbled with his hands and feet to find purchase on the rock. Thorn wedged her feet against an outcropping of granite and tried to find a handhold in the ice wall behind her. Her rifle was ripped out of her hand and dropped into the rift.

Coup felt his legs go out from under him as he was dragged toward the crack. A hand shot out and grabbed his. A really firm hand. He looked back into Piquo's gaze. Piquo had blood dripping from his earlobe, but he had his other hand jammed into a thin crack in the floor. He grinned at Coup. "You go, I go. Or at least, my hand goes. Try not to rip it off."

Glantry braced himself against the wall of the cavern and fired across the gap at the shadows and other likely places something could hide. The energy pack of his rifle spent, he picked up Piquo's and continued to fire. Viper could not find purchase on the floor of the cavern, so instead he rolled onto his back and fired at the shadows across the gap as well. An growling yelp came from one particular shadow and the tug towards the rift edge stopped.

"Is a force-sensitive Wampa something new for the books, or does everyone know about this but me?" Thorn asked as she ran to Viper's side and helped him sit up. The stock of his rifle was bloody, and he looked at his hands. They had been scraped raw as he had fought for purchase on the cavern floor.

That was it, Glantry had had enough. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and raced for the cliff edge. He pushed off with all his strength and landed well past the edge on the other side. But he had been right, the edge had been unstable. A large piece broke off and fell down into the gap. He was too preoccupied to hear it reach the bottom, as he ran for the shadow he had shot at last.

The bulk of the Ice Creature moved out from the shadow. Its right shoulder was bleeding heavily, hanging uselessly to its side. It swung its left arm at him, as though to brush him away, though he was still a good ten feet back. Glantry felt a pressure against his chest, like a heavy gust of wind, but it passed. he knew the creature had no strength left. No force strength. Physical strength, now that was something different.

With an inarticulate roar the ice Creature charged Glantry. This petty human was the cause of all his problems. There was some connection between this one and his chosen host. No matter, not for long.

Glantry grabbed the butt of his rifle and pulled it past his hip, whipping the rifle under his arm to his shoulder in one clean move and aimed at the creature. The Wampa took one incredibly long stride towards him, grabbed the rifle out of his hands and swatted him with it. Glantry rolled with the blow, mindful of the cliff edge as the creature loomed over him. It grabbed for him, leaning down, and Glantry saw his chance. He grabbed the Wampa's injured arm and pulled, shoving with his foot into its stomach as he continued his roll onto his shoulder. Glantry pulled, and focused, and instead of the Ice Creature falling on him, crushing him, it sailed over his head. The creature fell past him, onto the crumbling stone of the cliff edge. An entire portion gave way under the weight of the Wampa, and the creature fell with it, down into the darkness.

A hand grabbed Glantry's shoulder as he dizzily tried to pull back from the edge. Glantry spun around, surprised. Phil gave him a weak grin. Glantry scooted backward on his rump, Phil beside him.

"Are you all right?" Glantry asked his son. Phil unsnapped the chin strap and pulled off his helmet, examined the crack that split the back of the helmet in two.

"Oh sure, I'm fine. I see two of you, but that's ok. Two dads are better than none." Phil waved a hand at the rift.

"Hey, are you both OK?" Coup yelled across the gap.

"We're all right. Maybe a concussion or three."

"Good, because I have no idea how you are going to get back over here."

"Forget that," yelled Viper. "How are we getting out of here?"

Piquo walked up behind Thorn, who was at the cliff edge, running a sensor sweep, for all the good it did.

"Should we be worried?" He asked her.

"Yes, because Bumbles bounce."

Viper came up on her other side, "what does that mean?"

"Haven't you guys seen enough Earth TV? The bad guy always comes back. Unless you see him die and kick the corpse, they come back." Thorn shook her head. "A force-skilled Wampa with the voice of a Goa'uld. Oh, he'll be back all right. He has survived on this planet for over two-thousand years, I have a creepy feeling a fall into a geothermal vent isn't going to stop him."

"I told you Thorn, you have to say it right," Piquo warned her. "You have to say, 'I have a bad feeling about this'."

"Shut up, Piquo."

A sharp crack echoed through the cavern. Thorn jumped and Viper half un-slung his rifle. Another crack echoed as Phil brought his frozen feet down on the granite floor. The ice block broke, and Glantry grunted a laugh as he saw that Phil still had his skates on.

The sound of cracking ice from a different source made them all look up at the distant ceiling. The ice was beginning to melt, to fall into the crevasse below. Glantry and Phil dove back to the walls as everyone on the other side of the crack did the same. Large chunks were now falling, and they could see open sky above. Then the opening was blocked by a dark shape. The shuttle slowly descended, maneuvering to land on the larger side of the crack. Viper ran up to the ramp, which was already descending. Jol stood in the hatchway, but was pushed aside by Padmé as she tried to run down the ramp.

"Hold on," Viper told her as he blocked her way. "Nick will do this right."

Checking to see everyone got on board safely, Nick lifted the shuttle up a few meters, then pivoted the shuttle. Now the hatchway was on the opposite side of the rift. Viper grinned and allowed Padmé to now leave the shuttle, Coup right behind her.

Acid was stretched out on a repulserlift sled, demanding to know what had happened as Bookdawg gave up trying to keep him still. Piquo started to fill him in, while Thorn slid into the co-pilot's chair and immediately began to run more sensor sweeps.

Nick was trying to listen in on Piquo's description of events, his eyes getting bigger and bigger as he listened. He looked over to what Thorn was doing. "You're sure this Wampa was Goa'uld?"

"As sure as I can be without a body. How did you know where to come down and melt the ice? What tipped you off this cavern was here?"

"All sensors just started working. The Compton's, the shuttle's, everybody's."

"Oh? Really?" She pointed to the monitor. Fluctuations and random patterns appeared on the screen. "Not anymore."

Nick leaned back and yelled over his shoulder, "Viper, get that family reunion moving! We need to get out of here now!"

* * * * *

"Really, you were able to focus the force enough to toss that Wampa over the cliff?" Phil said, sitting up from his bed in the infirmary of the Compton. It was two days later, and Phil had just washed the last of the bacta out of his ears.

"It felt that way, but I doubt I could do it again. I would rather not be in a situation where I would have to do it a second time." Glantry shrugged. "At least Viper got in some skiing while we have been waiting for Thorn to quit snooping around."

"You should be the last person to complain!" Said Thorn as she entered the infirmary, "you have been down at that hockey rink slapping shots every which way. You've lost more pucks in the snow than the entire team did."

"I had things to think about, and a good slap shot needs practice."

"And the fact that when you tried it in your quarters you about brained yourself with a ricocheting puck."

"That too."

Thorn rolled her eyes, "Nick, er, Commander Fel, and Commander Farr are arguing with New Republic Fleet Command about who should continue the excavation on the Goa'uld ship. Either way, we should be pulling out of here within the next four hours."

"Have you heard anything about any Jedi coming to check out your report of a force-skilled Wampa?" Glantry asked.

"We all saw what we saw, or felt." Thorn said as she scratched a half-healed cut on her face. "But all the evidence I had hoped to show has been destroyed."

Phil and Glantry stared at her, surprised.

"I thought you heard? OK, here is the denouement of the weird things on Hoth. We tried to go back to that cavern, the one with all the equipment in it? The tunnel was completely collapsed. We could tell it was not an accident. The Wampas collapsed that tunnel on purpose. And all that equipment was just so much wreckage, strewn about that little valley. Outside the cave system. The Ice Creatures had intentionally destroyed everything, then left it for us to find. I had the distinct impression they were trying to tell us to take our nasty technology and leave them alone."

Thorn leaned back against the wall. "From what little I saw in that cave, not only did that Wampa know how to use that equipment, I think he may have been using it to test for midi-chlorian levels in other Wampas. Stands to reason once that Goa'uld somehow found out about the force, he would find a way to check his future hosts to make sure he kept that power."

Phil looked puzzled. "But why did he pick on me? How would he know I might be force-sensitive?"

"Well, Glantry has been here several times. And can't some force-sensitive beings feel another's presence? If the Wampa knew we were coming, he could have just waited for the right moment. Either you or Glantry would have fit the bill."

Glantry paused in mid-thought. "Me?"

"Nice to be wanted, isn't it?"

"We still have to come back for another scrimmage, I have a score to settle with Acid, and Acid's elbows." Phil complained.

Thorn got a sneaky expression on her face and leaned out the door to look down the corridor. She waved to someone and was handed something in return.

"I think Padmé may have something to say about it. She has decided you have to take up a less violent sport, though its still on ice."

Padmé entered the infirmary carrying a straw-thatch broom, Jenna and Bookdawg right behind her carrying more. She presented Glantry with it, as Glantry's groaned and covered his eyes with a hand.

"Oh, what's it called?"

"Curling."

"Men with Brooms!" Bookdawg and Thorn laughed as they headed down the hall. "I love that movie."

"I want to give this one to Acid!"

"Be my guest. I want to see what he does to you with it."

"Good thing his arm is still in a sling."

"He has another good one."

"True. Lets see, a good five foot reach with the broom…"

"Maybe you can just show it to him."

"That's not nearly as fun!"