Ariel's eyes locked on the Solar Flare. Thank the Stars it was safe. She kicked the speeder bike down into top gear and pulled away from the ground. One good snowdrift at this speed would spell death. The air razored her skin.

As she watched, the Solar Flare lifted off. Ariel didn't dare release the speeder bike's handlebars to fish the comlink out of her pocket. If her attention wavered at the speed she was traveling, she would lose control of the bike.

Then again, if she didn't get Jambo's notice real soon, she'd just bought herself a home on Hoth. Maybe that had been the plan all along.

Her temper snapped. Reaching back with her right hand, she yanked the blaster rifle up and tucked her elbow around it. She fired a long blast of energy past the Solar Flare's cockpit, close enough to make Jambo jump, but not so close as to blister the paint.

The bike's comm crackled when Jambo found her frequency. "I see you," he told her evenly. "There're Walkers coming up behind the ridge. I don't have time to put down to get you."

"Open the hatch and let me worry about getting aboard," Ariel ordered.

"Make it quick."

The ship hovered and Jambo raised the hatch. Ariel laid down over the bike and wrung out all the speed she could get. It was too late to wish she'd grabbed a helmet.

She cut the engine, relying on momentum to sweep her across the final distance. As she entered the ship's shadow, she hit the reverse thrusters for a pulse. When the bike passed into the ship, she locked up the parking stabilizers. One of the hastily fastened crash restraints unbuckled as she jerked backward. She hit the bulkhead hard enough to slam the breath out of her.

Jambo banked into a steep upward turn. Luckily he'd closed the hatch first, or Ariel would've tumbled out into the snow. She grabbed hold of the handrail and hauled herself forward.

"Blix?" she asked.

Jambo didn't look up from the scopes. "Flying cover."

Ariel saw the X-wing flash past them. The blue of the sky thinned rapidly toward black as she strapped herself into the co-pilot's seat.

"He's gonna have to navigate for us, too," Ariel said. "I didn't get a chance to reload the star charts after he 'fixed' my nav systems."

"Taken care of," Jambo said. "Fly."

Ariel took the controls. Jambo yanked a cart out of the naviputer and jammed the next one in. "That's the last of the charts. Soon as we're clear, we can make the jump."

"Thanks for waiting for me."

Jambo shrugged. "You're part of the team."

"I thought you didn't work with humans."

"Don't confuse me with Blix," he said. "Long as Heddryn trusts you, you're okay by me." He looked at her a long moment. "You okay?"

"The crash restraints didn't catch me back there." She laughed wildly. "I don't feel it yet."

*

The particular rendezvous that Tam had been issued was the epitome of hiding in plain sight. The Desecada system was the second-largest scrap clearing zone in the Outer Rim, a perfect place for the beat-up survivors to regroup without raising too much notice — not to mention the availability of spare parts. For once, Sano reflected, somebody had been doing some thinkin'.

The landing queue at the rendezvous seemed to take longer that the actual trip. Ships hung together in small protective diamonds of four while pairs of X- and Y-wings wove among them, checking and rechecking with code-verifiers. Part of this was just the logical process of head-counting, but considering the lumps the Rebels had just taken, they weren't about to take any chances of the Empire throwing the proverbial Skeetch into the Snatchbag.

Sano made his way back up to the cockpit after stripping, dumping his ruined flight suit, and grabbing a soaked washpad. Tam was still sitting as he'd been when Sano left to clean up. In fact, he hadn't moved since they'd made it clear. In fact, he was still in full flight gear, helmet and all.

"Th' head is free, if you need it," Sano offered, jerking his thumb toward the back of the ship.

Tam stared impassively at the starfield and drawn-out line of ships, hands folded in his lap.

"There's Elba brew in the cooler," Sano continued helpfully. "Smmmoooth." He finished wiping down his neck and offered the pad to Tam. "You got a smudge on your helmet."

Tam turned slowly in his direction. His expression made it clear he considered Sano on an order below a smudge on his helmet.

"Fine. Be that way." Sano tossed the pad onto the control ridge between them. "You know, buddy, if it weren't for me, you'd be —"

Tam cut him off. "I'd be safe on a transport with all the sane Rebels."

"Or a prisoner back in that blockade or, yes, maybe even dead. Who knows?"

"Look, you. I never asked to have you barge into my existence. I don't know why you chose to bully my speeder out from under me, or why I let you. All I know is, thanks to your so-called piloting 'skills,' we made no difference in that battle. We didn't take out a single enemy vehicle. Even after I got to your ship, like you told me to, do you know how hard it was to see all the other transports taking off while I hung around this piece of junk on the ground. Locked out?"

Sano began to retort when Tam silenced him. "No! I've been thinking long and hard about this. Then we barely made it off-planet. I can't tell you how many times we almost died while you were jerking around in that death-box of Imperial warships. Nobody's this 'accidentally' dangerous. You have got to be just plain naturally evil. Hey, I've got it! You could lead the Sith if anything happens to Lord Vader."

"Well, I had a bad day, too," Sano countered innocently. "But before you get off this ship, oh comrade mine, think about this. While those Walkers were busy chewin' us up, they weren't stompin' those poor bastards in the trenches. How many squads made it to the transports while we kept 'em busy? Likewise, no tellin' what good we might've done while they were swattin' after us back at the blockade. For all the Imps knew, we were a half-dozen ships, not just one. So, hey, maybe we threw off their intelligence reports. Maybe some of 'em are still tracin' back bogus hyperlines, followin' routes we never took. Ever think of that?"

Sano flung himself down in the pilot's chair. "Oh, and while you were bein' all inconvenienced, waitin' in the cold, thinkin' 'Daddy, don't leave me!' I was stuck in some dead-end ice passage havin' my ride shot to pieces from under me. Speaking of Vader, you ever try to lay low in congealing tauntaun guts while the Dark Lord himself has the boys in white blast down the hangar around you? I don't recommend the experience. You should only hope I'd replace him, 'cause brother, you don't want nothin' to do with the original!"

Tam went back to ignoring him.

Stay tuned for the conclusion...