“Yeah,” Zev replied. In fact, there was some blood on Zev’s face, but the brave pilot was still alert. “I’m with you, Rogue Leader.”
“We’ll set harpoon,” Luke said. “I’ll cover for you.”
Luke and Zev raced their speeders toward the giant walkers. As Zev prepared for the attack he said, “Coming around.”
The Imperial walkers fired red laser bolts that streaked past the snowspeeders. Cautioning his fellow pilots, Luke said into his comlink, “Watch that cross fire, boys.”
Zev said, “Set for position three.” He angled his speeder for the harpoon tactic, then said to his gunner, “Steady.”
Luke flew fast alongside Zev and warned him to stay tight and low.
Suddenly, Zev’s speeder was hit by a laser bolt. Zev yelled as his ship bucked violently, then his cockpit exploded and his flaming speeder fell from the sky.
Luke was flying through flak. He tried to stabilize, but then there was a sound like a thunderclap as an explosion rocked his speeder. The noise caused Luke to reflexively close his eyes. When he opened them, there was a nasty crack across his cockpit window. His speeder was filling with smoke, and electrical sparks rippled over his controls. Luke shouted into the comlink, “Hobbie, I’ve been hit!”
Smoke poured out of the back of Luke’s speeder. He gripped the controls and struggled with them, but they were useless. As he hurtled faster toward the oncoming Imperial walker, he knew he was going to crash.
Luke braced himself as his speeder—now totally out of control—veered to the right of the oncoming Imperial walker and went down. Fortunately, the snow was deep where the speeder crashed—but he still landed hard, and felt the safety harness dig into his torso before he came to a dead stop.
Thick black smoke billowed from the snowspeeder’s main thrusters. Luke pushed up the speeder’s damaged canopy in time to see another walker advancing toward him. He slipped out of his harness, turned to the backseat, and grabbed hold of Dack’s shoulder. He’d hoped to haul his gunner’s body out of the cockpit, but when he glanced again at the walker, he knew he’d never make it.
Then he looked to a slot beside his seat:
EMERGENCY SURVIVAL STORAGE.
Still in the cockpit, Luke risked another glance at the approaching walker, which would be on top of him in one more step. Desperately reaching into the storage slot, he grabbed two items, then threw his body out of the cockpit just as one of the walker’s massive footpads came crashing down on his ruined snowspeeder.
Luke clutched the two items he’d hastily selected. One was a portable harpoon gun. The other was a concussion charge.
Luke started running after the Imperial walker.
Han Solo dodged broken steam pipes and crumbling ice ceilings as he raced through the underground corridors from the hangar to the Echo Base command center. When he burst into the command center, it was a shambles, but he was not surprised that a few people remained at their posts. He spotted C-3PO, then saw Leia just beyond the golden droid. She was at one of the control consoles, standing beside a seated controller, still trying to help others.
Han shouted, “You all right?”
C-3PO looked in Han’s direction. Leia nodded and yelled back, “Why are you still here?”
“I heard the command center had been hit.”
C-3PO turned to Leia to hear her response, which was: “You got your clearance to leave.” She returned her attention to the console. C-3PO looked back at Han.
“Don’t worry, I’ll leave,” Han said. “First I’m going to get you to your ship.”
“Your Highness,” C-3PO pleaded, “we must take this last transport. It’s our only hope.”
Brushing past debris that had fallen in the middle of the command center, Leia went to another controller and said, “Send all troops in sector twelve to the south slope to protect the fighters.” She thought, That’ll give Luke and the other pilots a better chance of reaching their ships.
Just then, a blast rocked the command center, and C-3PO was thrown backward into Han’s arms. Over a loudspeaker, a controller announced, “Imperial troops have entered the base. Imperial troops have entered—”
Han righted C-3PO, then stepped over to Leia, grasped her upper arm, and said, “Come on…that’s it.”
Leia held Han’s gaze for a moment before the realization hit her: We’ve lost the base. She then turned back to the seated controller and said, “Give the evacuation code signal. And get to your transports!”
Into a comlink, the controller said, “K-one-zero…all troops disengage.”
Han could see Leia was exhausted. Keeping his grip on her arm, he started to lead her out of the command center to the corridor. Behind them, C-3PO cried, “Oh! Wait for me!”
Back in the trenches, the situation had become dire.
“Begin retreat!” shouted the Rebel trench officer.
A second officer commanded, “Fall back! Fall back!”
The troops responded, fleeing from the battle as the snow-covered ground exploded around them. The Imperial walkers fired their lasers at the running Rebels, continuing their advance toward Echo Base.
But Luke—still on the battlefield—wasn’t ready to retreat. The way he saw things, the Rebel soldiers would have a better chance of making it to their transports if he could bring down one more Imperial walker.
Luke watched a nearby walker’s foot rise, then ran under it. He fired his harpoon gun at the walker’s underside, and a thin cable trailed after the rising, fusion-tipped projectile. The harpoon struck the metal hull and attached firmly.
Still running, Luke clipped the harpoon gun’s cable drum to his belt buckle. Instantly, his feet left the ground and he was pulled up by the cable until he came to a stop just under the walker’s lower plating.
Hanging precariously near a solid metal hatch, Luke reached to his utility belt for his lightsaber and activated its blade. In a swift motion, he cut through the hatch, then deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to his belt, where he’d also attached the concussion charge. Snapping the concussion charge from his belt, he hurled it up through the open hatch, then released his belt clip from the cable drum.
Luke plunged and landed hard, facedown. Fortunately, the deep snow broke most of his fall. The Imperial walker continued forward and one of its rear footpads nearly struck Luke. Then the walker stopped mid-step, and a muffled explosion came from within. Luke raised his head in time to watch the AT-AT’s body rupture, blasting black smoke from its seams and every narrow opening. The smoldering behemoth teetered, then became the second Imperial walker to fall on Hoth.
General Veers saw the second AT-AT fall, then guided his own walker past its burning bulk. Without taking his eyes from the viewport, he addressed the pilot to his right: “Distance to power generators?”
“One-seven, decimal two-eight,” the pilot answered.
A Rebel snowspeeder flew into Veers’s path, and Veers took over the weapons controls to angle his walker’s cannons, then fired. The blast slapped the speeder out of the sky and sent it into a spiral that ended with a fiery explosion in the snow.
Veers reached for the electrorangefinder and lined up the main generator. “Target,” he said. “Maximum firepower.”
The AT-AT spat out energy beams from its laser cannons, and blew the generator sky high.
With C-3PO several paces behind them, Han and Leia were running through an ice corridor, heading for Leia’s transport, when the power generator exploded. They didn’t actually see the explosion, but from the muffled roar that echoed throughout the base, they knew something big had blown up. As Han and Leia rounded a corner, the corridor’s ice walls buckled and large chunks of ice fell from the ceiling, directly in their path.
Han threw himself at Leia, becoming a human shield as he knocked her to the corridor floor. Snow fell and filled the space, covering them with icy dust. Leia remained on the floor while Han rose quickly to find that the route to Lei
a’s transport was now blocked by the cave-in.
Han pulled a comlink from a pocket on his jacket and said, “Transport, this is Solo. Better take off—I can’t get to you. I’ll get her out on the Falcon.” He took Leia’s arm and urged, “Come on!” as he pulled her up from the floor. Together they hurried back in the other direction—
—and nearly ran straight into C-3PO. The protocol droid had been far enough behind them that he had not seen the cave-in. As Leia and Han bolted past him, C-3PO turned and stammered, “But…but…but…where are you going?” They neither stopped nor answered, so C-3PO ran after them and called, “Oh…come back!”
The white-armored Imperial snowtroopers had to blast through the ice and a collapsed doorway to gain entrance to the command center. Two snowtroopers stepped past the broken remains of the tactical screens and comm consoles, and were followed by the dark, menacing form of Darth Vader.
Vader had arrived on Hoth in his personal shuttle. As snowtroopers swarmed into the command center, he paused to survey the shattered machinery, searching for anything that might tell him more about the Rebel insurgency.
“Wait!” C-3PO wailed as he ran after Leia and Han. “Wait for me! Wait! Stop!” The two humans ran through an open doorway, but as the droid followed, the door slid shut in his face. “How typical,” C-3PO fumed at the closed door.
Before he could complain further, however, the door slid open and Han seized the droid. “Come on,” Han said as he yanked C-3PO after him.
They ran through the cavernous hangar, making their way past abandoned cargo containers until they saw the Millennium Falcon. Chewbacca stood at the base of the Falcon’s landing ramp and waved his arms urgently at the running figures. But the engines still weren’t fired up, so the Wookiee—not wanting to waste any precious seconds—didn’t bother waiting at the ramp.
C-3PO ran as fast as he could. Han turned and shouted, “Hurry up, Goldenrod, or you’re going to be a permanent resident!”
“Wait! Wait!” the droid cried as he followed Han and Leia up the landing ramp. He was halfway up when he felt the ramp start to rise from the hangar floor, nearly sending him sprawling into the ship.
The hangar was filled with a tortured, whirring sound of the Falcon’s engines. Inside the ship’s main hold, Han stood before a control panel, flipping switches, while Chewbacca kept his blue eyes on a troublesome gauge. Leia watched as the Wookiee was suddenly struck by an unexpected blast of steam. Han flipped a different switch and said, “How’s this?”
Leia gaped at Solo and said, “Would it help if I got out and pushed?”
C-3PO interrupted to say, “Captain Solo, Captain Solo —”
Ignoring the droid, Han answered Leia: “It might.”
Still trying to get Han’s attention, C-3PO said, “Sir, might I suggest that you—”
Han cut off the droid with a devastating glare. Quickly but reluctantly, C-3PO said, “It can wait.”
Leia followed Han as he ran from the hold to the cockpit, where she watched him attempt to activate the cockpit’s instruments. The instrument lights came on briefly, then dimmed. Angered and frustrated with his ship’s temperamental technology, Han raised a fist and gave the instrument panel a solid whack. The lights illuminated again and stayed on.
Behind Han, Leia watched in disbelief and said, “This bucket of bolts is never going to get us past that blockade.”
“This baby’s got a few surprises left in her, sweetheart,” Han promised as his hands darted across the switches and buttons on the cockpit’s instrument panels.
Through the cockpit’s transparisteel windows, they saw a squad of Imperial snowtroopers enter the hangar. Most wielded standard-issue blaster rifles, but one team carried a heavy repeating blaster cannon and a tripod. Leia guessed the snowtroopers would have their cannon set up in less than a minute, and she had a hard time believing the Falcon would be out of the hangar that soon.
Fortunately, one of the Falcon’s surprises was still functioning: An autoblaster—concealed above a panel in the ship’s lower hull—popped out of its recess and swiveled to aim at the snowtroopers. The autoblaster spat out a rapid series of laser bolts, cutting down the nearest snowtroopers.
Han slid into the pilot’s seat. Behind him, Leia got into the navigator’s seat. She felt a thumping vibration as Chewbacca approached, his large feet pounding up the tubular corridor that led to the cockpit.
“Come on! Come on!” Han shouted to the Wookiee, who ducked as he hurried through the cockpit’s open hatch. The hatch door slid shut and Chewbacca scrambled into the copilot’s seat to Han’s right. “Switch over,” Han said, ready to give the ignition another try. “Let’s hope we don’t have burnout.”
A blaster bolt struck and glanced off the window near Chewbacca and he let out a nervous yelp. Through the cockpit’s window, they saw the snowtroopers had almost completed their assembly of the tripod-mounted cannon. Unlike the Imperial blaster rifles, the cannon had enough firepower to punch holes in the Falcon’s hull.
The Falcon’s engines fired. Han flashed a grin at Leia and said, “See?”
Not impressed, Leia leaned forward in her seat and said, “Someday you’re going to be wrong, and I just hope I’m there to see it.”
The snowtroopers were about to fire their cannon when the Falcon’s autoblaster swiveled again and unleashed a steady stream of laser fire. The energized projectiles smashed into the cannon, and the Imperial weapon blew up, throwing the snowtroopers in all directions.
“Punch it!” Han ordered, and Chewie hit the accelerator. Han, Chewbacca, and Leia sank back against their seats as the ship launched forward.
Darth Vader arrived in the hangar just in time to see the Millennium Falcon soar out the mouth of the cave and vanish into the sky.
On the south slope outside Echo Base, Luke was making his way to his waiting X-wing starfighter when he heard the sound of a familiar starship’s engine. He looked back to see the Millennium Falcon race away from the base and travel over the snow, then angle up and away from Hoth’s surface.
Luke arrived at the evacuation site as the last Rebel transport was lifting off and the surviving pilots were running to their X-wings. Luke sighted his own X-wing, with R2-D2’s blue-domed head poking up from the ship’s astromech socket.
“Artoo!” Luke shouted.
Rotating his visual sensors to see Luke, R2-D2 let out some happy beeps.
“Get her ready for takeoff,” Luke said. He watched as R2-D2 initiated the X-wing’s repulsorlift, opened the cockpit canopy, and guided the vessel over the snow to Luke. As Luke stepped up to the X-wing, he saw Wedge heading for another X-wing.
“Good luck, Luke,” Wedge said. “See you at the rendezvous.”
R2-D2 made a long whimpering beep as Luke climbed into the cockpit and lowered its canopy. “Don’t worry, Artoo,” Luke said. “We’re going, we’re going.”
The X-wing ascended through Hoth’s atmosphere and Luke kept his eyes open for Imperial ships. But as he entered space, he was surprised not to see even one of the Star Destroyers that had brought the Imperial soldiers to Hoth. He supposed it was possible the destroyers were on the other side of Hoth, beyond his visual range. And he hoped that the Rebel transports and the Millennium Falcon had also escaped Hoth without difficulty.
The X-wing was cruising at sublight speed when Luke began to flip a series of control switches. Then he guided the starfighter into a steep turn and continued flying in a different direction.
R2-D2 beeped, and Luke glanced down at a monitor screen on his control panel. On the screen, R2-D2’s beep was neatly translated into a text-format question. Luke read the question and replied into his comlink, “There’s nothing wrong, Artoo. Just setting a new course.”
R2-D2 beeped again, and Luke’s monitor displayed another question.
Luke answered, “We’re not going to regroup with the others.”
R2-D2 whistled in protest.
Luk
e continued, “We’re going to the Dagobah system.”
R2-D2 was quiet while Luke checked his readouts and made a few adjustments. In the cockpit, the only sound was the soft hum of the instruments until R2-D2 finally chirped up.
Luke said, “Yes, Artoo?”
R2-D2 uttered a carefully phrased stream of beeps and whistles.
Luke read the translation on his monitor and chuckled. “That’s all right. I’d like to keep it on manual control for a while.”
The astromech droid let out a defeated whimper. Luke smiled and continued on his course for Dagobah.
The Millennium Falcon was not leaving Hoth so easily. The moment the ship entered space, it had four small TIE fighters and one enormous Star Destroyer on its tail. Green laser fire streaked from the TIE fighters, hammering the Falcon’s shields.
Inside the Falcon’s cockpit, Chewbacca checked a monitor to confirm the status of the deflector shields, which were taking a pounding from the flak that exploded around the ship. The Wookiee let out a loud howl.
Han answered, “I saw ’em! I saw ’em!”
“Saw what?” Leia said from the seat behind.
“Star Destroyers,” Han explained. “Two of them, coming right at us.”
Leia spotted the Star Destroyers as the door behind her slid open and C-3PO stumbled into the cockpit. “Sir, sir!” C-3PO called to Han. “Might I suggest—”
“Shut him up or shut him down!” Han snapped at Leia, and C-3PO was pushed to the rear of the cockpit. To Chewbacca, Han shouted, “Check the deflector shields!”
Chewbacca readjusted an overhead switch and barked a reply that didn’t sound good.
“Oh, great,” Han said. “Well, we can still outmaneuver them.”
Han increased power to the thrusters. With one Star Destroyer still directly behind it, the Millennium Falcon headed straight for the two oncoming destroyers. When the Falcon was practically between the two vessels, he threw his ship into a steep dive. The Star Destroyer that had been behind him was too unwieldy to follow his maneuver, and continued to travel on a collision course with the other Star Destroyers.
The Empire Strikes Back (Junior Novelization) Page 5
