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Following the successful defense of Haven, Benex and his people were terrified of Imperial reprisal, and that, unless the Empire's attention was directed elsewhere, its soldiers will return. It became known that a convoy containing reinforcements will arrive sometime soon, a potential target that would certainly cause a substantial diversion.Rebel shuttle landed on Hoth not far from the remains of Echo base. A squad of Rebel operatives disembarked first, followed by Benex and a group of his engineers. The frigid wind howled around the remains of the battle, there were scorched blaster emplacements everywhere, and vehicles, almost completely buried in the snow."I bet you had hoped to never come back here,"said Benex. "Let's get this over with quickly."The plan was insane - to activate Echo base ion cannon and to cripple the convoy, heading through the system towards Ison. As per plan, it should divert Empire's attention from Ison to Hoth. The team ran through the swirling snow towards the shell of what was once Echo base. When they were near their destination, Benex splitted off from the operatives, joining the team of his engineers - their task was to work the ion cannon mechanically, while the operatives were going to try to get the weapons systems online from inside the base. Suddenly, Imperial forces sprang out of hiding places all around and blaster fire filled the air. The operatives ran toward the only available cover - the base itself - but the Empire had clearly considered this as well. Upon arrival, the operatives were met with more blaster fire as another Imperial team sprang their ambush. One of the Rebels who served at Echo base before and during the battle of Hoth, shouted: "The tunnels! We can go through toward where the first ion control station was located - hope it is still there! Let's go!"The operatives started to run away from the entrance and deeper into the base, trading fire with pursuing Imperial snowtroopers. The soldier was right and soon they reached first control station. While one of them worked on the terminal, the rest had taken cover pouring blaster fire toward advancing Imperials.As soon as terminal became operational and the connection to weapons control was established, the fire from the Imperials ceased."Rebel forces,"a commanding voice echoed through the corridors. "I am General Octavion Sorin. You are outmanned and outgunned. Surrender yourselves and abandon your mission. You cannot win."The operatives only smirked between themselves, and after a few moments they heard:"Very well. Advance!"Blaster fire started anew even with more intense then before - Sorin definitely brought in additional reinforcements. Moving quickly from cover to cover, Rebels ran towards the second control station, hoping that Benex will do mechanical repairs in time and all their efforts won't be in vain. Team reached the second control station and quickly reactivated it. Once the control link was up, they heard as low hum was starting to raise over the base."It's operational!"one of the soldiers shouted. "Benex did it. Now all we need is to reach fire control station in time, it should not be much far away!""It's time, "the shuttle pilot cried over comlink. "Imperial convoy is just reverted from hyperspace and heading in our sector, I hope you got those weapons systems working."The mechanical hum of the now functioning Echo base continued to grow stronger. When Rebels almost reached the fire control, their path was blocked by Dengar, no emotions upon his scarred face."You again! Bounty hunter scum! Fire!"shouted one of the Rebels who had met with Dengar during evacuation of Echo base several weeks before.Dengar was quick, it taken him only a moment to dive under cover. One of the operatives started to run towards the control station, but was able to run only a few meters before he was shot dead by Dengar."Cover me!"lead operative shouted and tumbled towards the control station, avoiding Dengar's fire.The operatives started to cover the place where Dengar was hiding with a hail of blaster fire. Their leader reached the control station and took cover behind it."It's online, opening fire now!"operative shouted and the base shuddered as a massive ion blast left the cannon and flown towards the convoy."Direct hit!"it was their pilot over comlink again "Keep firing, a couple more hits like that and they are done for!"Pressed both by Dengar and Imperials, the operatives were able to shot several more blasts before they were forced to abandon the control room. Before being completely overwhelmed, the operatives escaped through the secret tunnel and out of the base into the frigid air. Unable to reach Benex via the comlink, the operatives sprinted around to the front of the base, only to see Benex shouting for help as Imperials was dragging him away towards awaiting transport. The attempt to chase them was made, but the covering fire forced operatives to retreat, the shuttle lifted off the ground and headed towards the sky. They made their way back to the shuttle and asked pilot if he was able to track whereto Imperials had taken Benex, but his answer was negative. The operatives were very concerned why the Imperials always seemed to be one step ahead of every their action - both here and at Haven. The pilot scanned the area as wide as the shuttle's equipment allowed him to, and soon found strong energy signal not far from their current location."That is the best lead we have, I hope that is a place where some answers can be found,"pilot said. "And I think I remember this Sorin guy, we were in academy together. Had a hard time keeping his nose clean, but ambitious and driven, dangerously so."After a brief consideration a plan was made - half of the team will go to investigate signal's place of origin, while the second half will board the shuttle and try to track the destination of the transpont that took Benex and his engineers. After sharing remaining supplies and ammunition among themselves, both teams wished good luck to each other. The first team began cold trek toward their destination, and as soon as second team boarded the shuttle, it lifted off and darted toward the sky. |
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