Mission 4: "A Chilling Discovery"
Epilogue Part 2 of 3
"Trapped on Hoth!"
The transport was a disaster. As the mercenaries and the Special Task Force climbed through the open entrance ramp they realized that their hopes of survival were dropping rapidly. The hull had been breached in so many areas it would take a miracle to get the vehicle into space again even if it wasn�t on its side.
�Well,� said Tso in an attempt to try to lift their spirits. �At least it wasn�t the Phoenix Moon.�
Tarrsk was the first to give him a deadly sideways glance which caused the Sullustan to fall silent instantly.
�All hope is not lost yet, my friends,� Par�kiss replied, his Devaronian grin flashing towards them. �If the ship�s power cells are still intact and its long range communications systems as well we might be able to contact someone to come to our aid.�
�That�s a pretty big �if,�� replied Satchal sarcastically. He was in a foul mood since he�d confronted his master�s killer, and he still felt the taint in his spirit from killing that pirate on the way to Darga Prime. Aside from that he felt guilty for the death of Governor Creed whom he�d cut down even though he knew that it hadn�t been his fault. He had been striking in defense, or so he had thought.
Lialla put her hand on his shoulder as they all crouched before the opening to the ship. �Don�t give up hope yet,� she said sympathetically. �We shouldn�t give up hope even when it doesn�t seem like there�s any left.�
Satchal shrugged her hand away. �No offense, Lialla, but I�m in no mood for your empty words.�
The human soldier from Naboo was taken aback. �They�re not empty words,� she said, her words drowned in pain. �Even in the darkest situations there is always hope.�
Satchal glanced back at her now, and after seeing the pain in her eyes his expression softened. �Sorry,� he replied.
�We�re all just a little tense right now,� Geldar replied, his own sense of hopelessness evident in his voice.
�Forget your tensions right now,� Par�kiss replied. �We�ve got work to do if we want to survive here.� He then motioned for several of his fellow mercenaries to make their way in first.
The ship was not as bad inside as it was outside. The blasts must have been mainly contained to the outer hull. Although the hull was blasted open in many places, allowing the chill wind to whip through the ship, the inside was fairly intact. Par�kiss made his way throughout the ship, climbing over debris and blasted walls, inspecting everything.
Brin�tac stood against what once was the wall of the lounge but was now the floor as he pushed a table out of the way. Light shown through a blasted section of the hull above him providing ample light in the craft since the power was out. He shook his head sadly as his companions rubbed their hands together to get some warmth back into them, and a cloud of air flared from his nostrils in the cold chill of the ship.
�Things don�t look good, my friends,� he said. He was cold, but the fir that covered most of his body protected him a little from it allowing him to be fairly capable of withstanding it.
�We need to find something to keep us warm soon or we�ll all freeze to death,� Tso replied as he shivered, his large ears quivering as his body shook. �I hope the environmental suits are in the storage area there.� He pointed to a doorway across the way.
�How many suits does a normal transport vehicle carry?� Satchal asked worriedly.
Tso grimaced. �Six.�
Satchal frowned. �There�s eight of us here, if you include him,� he said indicating the Anomid assistant, �and a whole lot more mercenaries out there. Six suits will hardly be enough.�
�There should be bunks on board the ship fitted with blankets and sheets,� Geldar said as he and Tarrsk attempted to pry open the door. �If nothing else we�ll all huddle under them.�
�I�m not too worried about them,� Brin�tac added. �They came more prepared for this environment. They may not have environmental suits, but they have heavy coats and other warm gear. They�ll be fine.�
�You know,� said Lialla as she came to help. �Even if they do get the heat working in this thing they won�t be able to keep it in with all these holes in the hull.�
�Let�s not worry about that right now,� Brin�tac replied. �One thing at a time.�
At last the door slid open enough for Nyarchagga to fit through, and instantly the Dug climbed Tarrsk and scrambled through, much to the Trandoshan�s displeasure. With a hoot of triumph coming from inside the entire group began to feel better about their situation.
�Ten suits,� the Dug replied. �Enough for us and two others.� Then he started stuffing the suits out of the storage closet to Tarrsk and Geldar. A moment later and each of them was suited, and the heat generators brought warmth to their bodies once more.
Each of them, that is, except Nyarchagga. The Dug swore as he tried desperately to don the suit, but when he realized that the suits were not fit to be worn by his strangely designed race he threw it across the room angrily.
�Keep your head, Nyarchagga,� Brin�tac said soothingly. �It won�t do us any good.�
Nyarchagga sneered up at his friend. �Easy for you to say. You have a nice, warm suit while I�m freezing to death.�
�We�ll try to find you some warm blankets to cover yourself with,� Geldar replied, and though he tried to sound confident that the idea was good he knew it wasn�t what the Dug wanted to hear.
�Poodoo!� he cursed again, and the scowl on his face showed his displeasure more than anything else.
�The bunks are just off that door and down the hall,� Tso said as he recalled seeing them before when they had climbed into the lounge. The door he pointed to was off to the aft of the ship, and since the ship was on its side it was on the wall they were standing on. �If we can pry that door open and slide down the hall we should be able to come upon a couple of rooms pretty quickly.�
�Well let�s get to it,� Geldar said as he made his way towards it. �Nyarchagga�s freezing here.�
And then, just as Geldar, Tarrsk, and Satchal reached the door to pry it open, the power to the ship suddenly came on. Instantly, the door slid open, since Tarrsk was standing on the switch, and Geldar, who had been leaning over the door trying to pry his hands into the crack, fell through with a small cry. Tumbling down the hall to the far wall, Geldar crashed to the bottom with a hard thud causing a sharp pain in his side. A moment later, Tarrsk and the others peered through to see if he was okay.
Satchal smirked at his rival. �The Force is with you, young Padawan,� he said sarcastically. �You managed to open the door all by yourself, and your Jedi reflexes are admirable.�
Geldar winced at the pain in his side. �Thanks,� he replied, not knowing how else to respond at that moment.
�Are you hurt?� Tarrsk asked with a little concern in his voice, something that was odd for the Trandoshan.
�Just a little,� said Geldar. �I think I just got the wind knocked out of me.�
�What a time for the power to come back on, huh?� Lialla put in from next to Tso.
Geldar nodded. Now that was the understatement of the year, he thought. �It�ll take me a few minutes to recover here,� he replied through clenched teeth. �Why don�t you try getting those blankets.�
But his words were just a few seconds too late. Nyarchagga had already dived into the hallway and nimbly worked his way to one of the nearest doors. Slipping through it and into the room he rummaged through the overturned debris and quickly acquired a blanket. As he did so he also noticed a warm gust of air coming from a vent in what once was the ceiling. Smiling, he shouted out to the others, �Well, at least I have a blanket. I hope I don�t freeze while you�re gone.�
�We�ll try to hurry,� Brin�tac called down to him through the open doorway. �Perhaps by then Par�kiss will have the heat working.�
Nyarchagga�s smile broadened. �I...hope so,� he chattered trying to sound as pathetic as possible. �I...j...just wish I c...could go with you to hunt instead o...of just sitting here in th...th...this icy pl...place.� Then he moved right over to stand directly in front of the door huddled in his blanket so the others could see him. Then shivering violently he added, �I�m going to sh...shut the door now. It�ll hopefully keep out some of the...the cold.�
The others all stared at him sympathetically for a few more moments and then watched as the door quickly shut the Dug inside. �I hope he�ll be fine until we get back,� Lialla said after a moment as Geldar attempted to climb back up the hall towards them.
�He should be fine,� Brin�tac told her putting his hand on her shoulder. �With a blanket and being shut in away from the cold wind he should be fine. I suspect he�ll wind up being better off than the rest of us.�
�How are we going to find anything out here in this frozen wasteland?� Tso wanted to know as he broke in on their conversation. �This place seems so devoid of life.�
At that moment Tarrsk reached down and helped Geldar the rest of the way up the hall. Geldar said, �I�ll try to use the Force to detect life in the area. Hopefully I�ll be able to sense something nearby. With those creatures living in the caves nearby there must be some sort of food source for them.�
Tarrsk smiled. �Just bring me to them, and I�ll do the rest.�
With that said, the group left the lounge area and climbed back out of the ship. Donning the helmets that came with the suits they aloud the heat of the environmental suits to keep them warm while they trudged through the snow following Geldar�s lead. Hopefully, before long, they�d find something and be able to get back to the ship before the sun set in the sky.
The hunting trip was incredibly successful, and things seemed to be looking up for the survivors. A herd of Tauntaun were moving across the slopes not more than eighty meters from the crash site. Moving up along a ridge and gazing down onto an open tundra below, Tarrsk and the others lowered their blasters and leveled them on the creatures. Being in the open tundra with no protection the Tauntaun�s could not escape the accurate fire of Tarrsk and the others. Before long fifteen Tauntaun were dead.
The herd was rather large, and a good sixteen adult Tauntaun remained with almost a dozen juveniles. Geldar, Brin�tac, and Satchal all attempted to soothe the remaining Tauntaun in an effort to gain their aid, and with the Force helping them they managed to tame about six of the adults before the rest of the herd escaped over the ridge to the east.
With the six Tauntaun aiding them they managed to haul all of the dead Tauntaun back to the ship. As night came upon the frozen wastelands Geldar, Tarrsk, Tso, Brin�tac, Lialla, Kradlo, and Satchal all finally returned to the ship with their food source in tow.
At that point, Gariss and the other mercenaries were already back and working on repairs to the ship. When they told Gariss of the catch they had made he immediately sent everyone out to skin them and prepare their meat for storage. Who knew how long they�d be on Hoth or if they�d find another source of food as large was what they had gotten, and the mercenary commander wanted to make sure that what they had was going to last them a long time.
That night they ate a very rationed meal. Between the Tauntauns they killed and the Wampas they had an ample supply, but with twenty-four individuals all needing to eat that food would not last them a real long time. Thankfully, though, the ship already had about two months of consumables for at least ten people, so that would give them another source of food for a time. However, Par�kiss believed that altogether this food supply would only last them about a month; two if they ate it sparingly.
�How long will it take to effectively make repairs?� Tso wondered when the entire group of survivors met in the lounge area that night.
�Well,� Par�kiss said with a wince. �Actually it appears that this ship is probably not going to be capable of space flight again. The guidance systems are trashed and the hyperdrive is a complete wreck. No long range communications systems are functional, and since the ship is on its side it can�t lift off. On top of that the hull has been breached in nearly thirty-three places, and without scrap material to patch up these holes it won�t make it through the atmosphere.�
Nyarchagga, whom they had found lounging in his room with the heat up enough to make the room feel like a sauna, huddled in his blanket and said, �Why can�t we just use parts of the ship that aren�t functioning to patch up the holes. If the hyperdrive is a mess we could strip it down to the bone and use the parts to patch the holes.�
Par�kiss thought of that a moment and nodded. �We could do that, but we still don�t have the guidance systems. It would take a very skilled pilot to get us off planet without them.�
�Do the sublight engines work still?� Tso asked, his heart beating loudly in his chest. He was a pilot, but he wasn�t real confident in his skills. To fly without the guidance systems was like flying blind. He wasn�t real sure he could do it.
�Yes,� Par�kiss told him. �However, the lateral thrusters are damaged. We can fix them, but we�d have to jury-rig it. We don�t exactly have the parts we need.�
Tso then fell silent as the mercenary leader now spoke up. �The fact is we don�t have a pilot to fly the ship even if we can make repairs.�
�On top of that,� Par�kiss added, �the longer it takes for us to get the ship repaired the less power we�ll have in the ship. By the time we might effectively repair the ship enough for making a space journey we might not have enough power left in the power cells to even lift off.�
�What if we cut back on the usage of power?� Satchal put in. �If we don�t use the heat and the lights while making repairs unless we absolutely have to will we have enough power?�
Par�kiss nodded. �But that still doesn�t give us a pilot.�
Every time they mentioned a pilot Tso�s heart skipped a beat. He knew one of his companions was going to mention him, and when Brin�tac put his hand on his shoulder he knew just who would do it. �Tso is a fine pilot,� the Bothan told them all. �If we can get the systems functioning he will be able to fly us off this frozen world.�
Tso lowered his gaze to the floor and said nothing. What else could they do? If the long range communications systems were gone and irreparable then they couldn�t call for help, and the chances of anyone finding them on Hoth were very slim. The only hope they had was getting off world and flying to some planet or space station nearby. But is there even any civilization near Hoth that we could fly to?
Gariss considered Brin�tac�s suggestion as he measured Tso with his penetrating gaze. �Are you sure he is capable of handling this?� the Barabel wondered aloud.
�He is more than capable,� Lialla put in. �You should have seen him handle those pirates we ran into near Darga Prime. He was weaving our ship all over the place to keep them from hitting us. He�s good enough.�
Tso wanted to yell at them all. This was a lot of pressure they were putting on him, and he couldn�t get out of his head just how close they�d come to being blown to pieces by those headhunters. He�d thought the ship was going to explode at any moment with or without the pirates continuing to fire on them. And then what about the transport on Coruscant? Every vehicle he had was either destroyed or nearly destroyed. He shook his head. But there�s nothing else I can do. There�s no other pilot, and we can�t just stay here.
Geldar saw Tso�s downcast expression and closed his eyes, using the Force to project feelings of confidence in his friend. You can do it. The Force will be with you. Trust in your own abilities. You are not a failure.
Instantly Tso�s expression changed, and he looked up at the mercenaries around him as he set his jaw. Geldar continued to project the confident feelings into his mind. �I won�t let you down.�
The mercenaries all continued to watch him for a time until Gariss broke the tension. �Fine. I don�t see how we have much choice. Either we stay here and freeze to death or we attempt to let your pilot get us out of here. Come tomorrow morning we begin working on this ship in preparation for liftoff. Everyone understand?�
They all acknowledged his commands with a nod, even those that were not mercenaries, and with that Gariss dismissed the meeting by saying, �Tonight we sleep with the heat on low only in sections where we can seal the heat in. Also we will avoid using any power unless necessary.� Then he turned and walked away.
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