Morning came even faster than sunset on Hoth. Anything was bound to be an improvement over the previous night — with the exception of the Imp fleet fast approaching, and the fact that the Alliance had to can the whole Hoth Base setup, and the fact that Sano'd been told his ship was a long number on the evac lottery. He would be issued a scuttle charge whenever he cared to pick it up.

OK. So today stunk like tauntaun-scented Wampa spit globs. There were some compensations. Word was, Solo and Skywalker had been found, safe and alive. That was something.

Another was that literally years of retreating and getting kicked off-world had made the Rebels old pros at the game. What they didn't need, they left behind, destroyed, or just plain gave away.

Sano had managed to turn a simple 'walk' out to his ship into a chance to move it closer to base. He also changed into his new insulated flight gear — courtesy of a remarkably contrite Lt. Gell. Nothing like having to potentially pack and inventory under fire to instill a healthy "EVERYTHING MUST GO!!" attitude.

Blix and the fight he'd started in the club had worked for Sano, too. Word had gotten out about his being a Yavin vet. Apparently, that made all the difference in the world.

He'd been summoned to the main flight bay...for more bad news. He had to check in with one Major Derlin about filling a flight position with the evac unit. That sounded a whole lot better than it was, since evac pilots tended to be 'volunteers' in the loosest sense of the word. You did the Alliance a favor and they gave you an honorary rank.

This wasn't merely cynicism on Sano's part; it had happened to him before. On Yavin 4, he'd gone from nobody free-spacer to Lieutenant Tocneppil. All he'd had to do was fly high cover for a pack of Y-wings doing a trench run on the Death Star.

Now he was going to be asked to leave his ship, probably to booby-trap it, too. No one had said so. No one needed to. The nice new captain's insignia on his flight suit — and the scuttle charge with his name on it somewhere — said more than enough.

*

The comlink spat at her and Ariel sat bolt upright. Her stomach sat up a moment later. This was not going to be a good day. "What?" she croaked.

"I'm outside," Heddryn said.

"I'm up," Ariel mumbled, clutching the comlink. "Come in."

"You've locked it."

Ariel stumbled toward the hatch. The deck burned cold through her socks. She punched the code into the lock and hustled back to put her boots on.

Heddryn followed her. "Don't rush," she growled. "We're on standby."

Why'd you wake me then? Ariel wondered, managing to hold her tongue. She fought her boots on. They were like ice inside.

Heddryn laughed gently, as if Ariel was a wayward cub. "Your hair's like this." She slid her hands in opposite directions around her face. "Rough night?"

"Couldn't sleep." Ariel rummaged around in a locker until she found a hairbrush.

"Thinking about Blix?"

"Thinking about Ralltiir."

Heddryn sat on the couch. "That's not gonna happen here. We'll all get out in time. Command has decided to abandon the base, rather than dig in for battle."

"So we're not going after the rifles?"

"We'll see. In the meantime, we're ordered to strip what we can from Echo Base."

"Where can I help?"

"If you can run a loader, go down to the east hangar."

"On my way."

Heddryn caught Ariel's arm and tugged enough to encourage her to turn. "You okay?"

"Not really."

"We all know what the Empire is capable of, Ariel. You did a brave thing coming back to the Alliance after what you endured. We need your help to salvage what we can here. The Rebellion must survive."

Heddryn held up the parka. Ariel shouldered into it gratefully. "We'll be gone before the Imps arrive," Heddryn promised.

*

A harried Arran doctor waved Ariel toward the loader. Jambo was examining it as she came over. Great, she thought. This day was getting better by the nano.

"How's your head?" Jambo asked. His cheap translator sucked the inflection from the words. It was the first thing he had ever said to her directly.

Ariel forced a smile. "Better than my nerves, this morning."

"No permanent damage, I hope?" He waited for her nod. "Good. I am sorry about decking you. I thought you were going to kill Blix."

Ariel didn't point out that Blix had been the one with the blaster.

"I owe him my life," Jambo continued. "Many times over. I can't see him thrown out of the Alliance for killing you."

"What if I'm a spy?"

"If you were a spy, you wouldn't be so scared."

Was he teasing her? Ariel wished that Jambo had a mouth, rather than a proboscis, so that she could tell if he was smiling. She had no clue to his emotional state. She had to rely on the mechanical voice of the cheap translator, which was nearly no help at all.

"We have a lot of work," Jambo said. "If you run the loader, I'll shift the crates inside the transport."

"You're on." Ariel climbed into the loader, wondering about Jambo. Last night Heddryn had been warning her to stay out of his crosshairs. Now they were working side by side. Maybe Jambo was keeping an eye on her, so she wouldn't communicate with her "Imperial masters." Maybe he wanted to make sure she didn't escape the fate of the rest of the base. Maybe, if she were lucky, Jambo would put her down when the Imps landed so she wouldn't have to do it herself.

Her hands were clammy inside her insulated gloves as she revved the loader's motor.

*

Kelly followed Doc around, handing out sandwiches and coffeen. Ariel stepped out of the loader to accept some breakfast. She gratefully yanked off her gloves and wrapped her tingling fingers around the thermoplas cup.

"Sorry 'bout yesterday," Kelly said, looking away from her.

" 's okay." Ariel surprised herself by meaning it. "It was really good to talk to Doc."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Exhaustion drained her suddenly. She sank down onto the medical equipment she'd been loading. "Can you take a break?"

Kelly grinned. "Lemme finish everyone here an' I'll come back."

"Great." Ariel leaned back against the loader and closed her eyes. With the smallest smile, she thought about sweet-talking a second cup of coffeen out of the boy.

She must have dozed off. Kelly seemed to have returned immediately, but her lukewarm coffeen was fading fast. She gulped it down anyway.

"Thank you for taking care of Raena," Ariel began. Before Kelly could protest, she continued. "Doc said you found Raena on a bounty hunter's ship. I know she must've been terrified when she woke up. She had the best training my dad's money could buy, even before the Empire got a hold of her. She could've been very dangerous. You did a very brave thing, Kelly. Thank you for being her friend."

Kelly's mouth closed with an audible snap. Then he said, "You're her friend."

Ariel smiled. "I knew her before she was scary."

"She really was guilty of treason against the Empire?" he asked,

"Liberating an Imperial prisoner." Ariel waved toward herself. "Not a death sentence in itself, but I got the feeling her commander was possessive."

Kelly sipped his own coffeen and asked casually, "You have any idea where she might run?"

Ariel looked at him. He was hardly more than 17. Had he and Raena been more than friends? Raena wasn't above manipulating a man, when she thought it would gain her something. Kelly blushed. No. He didn't have any idea what Raena was capable of. Just as well.

"She doesn't have any family that I know of," Ariel said. "She wouldn't dare go back to...to my parents. My dad's feelings about the Empire are dictated by business — he'd turn her in to keep his government contracts. She'd visit worlds where a stranger wouldn't stand out. She could be anywhere."

Kelly sighed. "We tried real hard to get her to come with us."

Ariel shook her head sadly. "Raena really believed that Rebels are criminals. She thought Alliance activity forced the Empire to commit atrocities. We argued about it endlessly. I don't know how they indoctrinated her so thoroughly. I blame Thallian for that, too."

"How —" Kelly broke off, thinking the better of that question. Instead, he poured her more coffeen and asked, "How did you and Raena get separated?"

"She took off one day when my back was turned." Ariel sipped her coffeen. She wished it had a touch of Ambersi, but that probably wouldn't help. "I'd been trying to reach my old Alliance contacts. When I finally located someone, I didn't recognize the man, but I was desperate to get back into the fight. I would've gone with him. Raena appeared out of nowhere and shot him in the head. She said he was an Imperial agent, collecting the last of the Ralltiir survivors."

Kelly didn't say anything, so Ariel continued. "I searched his body. He had no ID, but his comlink was open. After we ran away, Raena told me that Thallian would only kill me, but she'd beg for death before he was done with her. She said she should have killed me an' herself on the Arbiter." Ariel heard her voice accelerating and swallowed hard. "Raena was like my little sister. I trusted her with my life. But since I walked into an Imperial trap, she was really scared. The only way she saw for us to survive was to separate. So she vanished."

"What'd you do?" Kelly asked.

"Went home to my parents, 'til Heddryn found me."

A blond man in an orange flight suit sidestepped through the chaos in the hangar toward them. Ariel frowned as her eyes caught the weapon hanging from his belt. "That's a lightsaber."

His hand fell protectively on its hilt, but his good-natured question surprised her. "You've seen one before?"

"My sister had one," Ariel answered.

He stared at her with a guileless blue gaze. "Where is she now?"

"I don't know," Ariel admitted. "Running from the Empire."

Before she could say more, another man in orange hurried over. "Hey, Luke! We're supposed to assemble down in the speeder bay."

"On my way," Luke answered, heading off.

"You know who that was?" Kelly asked, a star-struck shimmer in his eyes.

"No idea." Ariel fumbled a spice stick out of her pocket.

"That's Luke Skywalker."

Ariel looked after him. "The guy who blew up the Death Star?" She understood Kelly's worship. Someone like that might be able to help Raena....

"I better get back to work," Kelly said.

"Me, too," Ariel agreed. Especially if the fighter pilots were starting to assemble. "Luck," she wished.

"You, too," Kelly echoed.

After she got the loader running, she saw Heddryn loping up between the remaining crates. A chill swept over Ariel, prickling her clammy skin. She sucked on her spice stick and called Jambo.

"Nice to see you two working together," Heddryn said when he'd joined them. Ariel put on a smile. Jambo's expression didn't change, of course. "You're finished enough here. Pack up the loader and get over to the north hangar. They're asking for volunteers to take the snowspeeders out."

The words tumbled out of Ariel's mouth. "I thought we weren't fighting a ground battle."

"Distracter technique." Heddryn's teeth bared in a fierce grin. "Got to give the transports time to get away." Her comlink beeped and she muffled it with a taloned hand. "You two need to fly cover for the transports.  Time is short, people. Move it."

Ariel tucked the uneaten sandwich into her parka. Maybe she'd be able to eat later. She climbed back up into the loader, hoping the metal frame wouldn't shake as badly as she did.

To be continued...