Grand Moff Tarkin bowed before the holographic image of Emperor Palpatine that was being displayed in his quarters on the Death Star.

"You have done quite well so far, Tarkin," Palpatine said as Tarkin straightened up. "I am very pleased with your performance."

"Thank you, my lord," Tarkin replied.

"As you know, the Rebellion has fractured into several splinter groups. Lord Vader is even now attempting to find their last few strongholds. I want you to be on constant alert for any transmissions from the fleet. Once they have located a Rebel base, you are to go to the system and destroy it immediately. Is that understood?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Excellent. I wish to inspect my battle station, so expect my arrival in two days."

Tarkin bowed again. "We will be honored by your presence, my lord."

* * *

The Millenium Falcon flew towards the small ice planet of Hoth. Its destination: the new hidden Rebel base, dubbed Echo Base by its occupants.

Ever since completing the job that they had been contracted for on Illis, Han and Chewie had been unable to find more work. The Empire's grip on the galaxy was tightening, and as such, things were getting hotter and hotter for the two of them. Almost no one wanted to hire them for any smuggling jobs anymore, once news of the Empire's bounty had spread. The twenty thousand that they had recieved for their last job was almost gone, and unless they found more work soon, they were going to be in big trouble. The Falcon was starting to give them problems as well. They needed to give the ship a complete overhaul, and soon. On top of that, Boba Fett was still on their tail. They had eluded him so far, but even Han's luck couldn't hold out forever.

However, one day they had received a transmission from a very unexpected source...

* * *

"Antilles? What does he want?" Han asked.

Chewie barked twice in response.

"Fine, I'll talk to him," Han said. He hit a button on the Falcon's console. "Antilles?" he said.

"Solo," Wedge's voice came back. "I know the last time we met, I was a little... standoffish, but we need your help."

"Standoffish isn't exactly the word I'd use," Han replied. There was a moment of silence before Wedge replied.

"Look, I'm sorry about that, but what happened back at Yavin is kind of an open wound, if you know what I mean."

Han was silent for a moment as his thoughts flashed back to Luke and Leia. "What do you want?" he finally said.

"The Alliance needs your help. Things have gotten even worse for us, and we're running short of people we can trust. We need you to transport supplies to our new base."

Han considered this for a moment. At least he knew that the Empire wouldn't be able to track the Falcon this time. However, he wasn't about to do the job for free.

"What's this job going to pay?"

"Five thousand. It's not much, I know, but we don't have much to spare as far as credits."

"We need what we can get right now, so we'll take it. Where's the pickup going to take place?"

"Derra Four. Your contact is a man named Kweenyl. Meet him at the Kasandora Bar in the city of Fillmore, and he'll take it from there."

* * *

"Pretty out of the way, isn't it?" Han commented as he brought the Falcon in for a landing in the cavernous hangar bay the Alliance has created on Hoth. They had received clearance to land a few minutes before, and they were anxious to offload their cargo, get paid and be on their way. Han didn't like the look of this planet one bit... it was far too desolate for his tastes. "It doesn't look like there's enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser." Chewie barked in agreement.

The Falcon landed, and as the gangplank lowered, Han and Chewie walked out into the hangar bay. The bay was filled with X-Wings, Y-Wings, and some kind of modified airspeeders that Han couldn't identify. Two men were waiting for them at the bottom of the gangplank, one of which Han recognized immediately.

"Antilles," he said as the one he recognized approached.

"Solo," Wedge replied. He indicated the man standing behind him. "This is General Rieekan."

"General," Han said. Rieekan nodded, then spoke.

"Glad you made it here, Solo. We need to get your cargo offloaded as soon as possible... we have a problem, and it definitely would be a good idea to get this transaction taken care of as quickly as possible."

"What's the trouble?" Han asked.

"Earlier today we had a visitor... an Imperial Probe Droid. We destroyed it, but we're quite sure that it was able to send a transmission before we located it."

"So you think the Empire knows you're here?"

Rieekan nodded. "We're already preparing to evacuate."

"Great," Han sighed. "Let's get this taken care of, then. Chewie, as long as we have a little time, see what you can do about the lifters." The lifters in particular had been giving them a problem, and that was first on their list of problems that needed to be fixed.

Chewie barked in reply as Han led Wedge and Rieekan to the Falcon's cargo hatch.

* * *

The last of the cargo had been offloaded and transferred to the waiting transports. Han was standing in the command center with Rieekan, completing their transaction. As Rieekan finished paying him, Han spoke up.

"General, there's something I wanted to speak to you about."

Rieekan glanced up. "Yes?"

Han glanced away, then looked back at Rieekan. "Chewie and I... well, we've been wanting to join the Alliance ever since what happened at Yavin."

The expression on Rieekan's face was unreadable for a minute. "Have you?"

"Yes. Look, about Yavin-"

"We do need people, but Solo," Rieekan said, "you aren't exactly well liked by a lot of members of the Alliance right now."

"I understand that, General," Han replied, "but we were hoping to-"

That's when the sound of an alarm split the air! One of the officers manning the scanners stood up and turned to Rieekan.

"General, there's a fleet of Star Destroyers coming out of hyperspace in sector four," he said. Rieekan dashed over to the scanners and checked the sensor grid.

"Reroute all power to the energy shield. We've got to hold them till all transports are away. Prepare for ground assault," Rieekan ordered. He turned to Han. "Damn, I had hoped to get this done before they arrived. I'm sorry Solo, but I'm afraid you're stuck here for the time being."

"General, about what I was saying-"

Rieekan turned back toward the scanners. "Thanks for your help, Solo."

Han sighed, then nodded. "Good luck, General. I'm heading back to the Falcon. As soon as we have clearance, we're out of here."

Han turned and exited the command center as Rieekan turned his full attention to the sensor grid.

* * *

On the Super Star Destroyer Executor, General Veers entered Darth Vader's private sanctuary. The black chamber Vader was seated in revolved until the Dark Lord was facing Veers.

"What is it, General?" Vader hissed.

"My lord, the fleet has moved out of light speed," Veers said. "ComScan has detected an energy field protecting an area of the sixth planet of the Hoth system. The field is strong enough to deflect any bombardment."

"The Rebels are alerted to our presence," Vader seethed. "Admiral Ozzel came out of light speed too close to the system."

"H-he felt surprise was wiser-" Veers stammered, but Vader cut him off.

"He is as clumsy as he is stupid," Vader declared. "General, prepare your troops for a surface attack."

"Yes, my lord," Veers nodded, then left the room. Vader's chamber then rotated until he was facing a large viewscreen. The viewscreen suddenly lit up with an image of the bridge of the mighty ship. Admiral Ozzel and Captain Piett were both there. Ozzel took a step forward and began to speak.

"My lord, the fleet has moved out of light speed, and we're preparing to..." Ozzel suddenly started to gag.

"You have failed me for the last time, Admiral," Vader fumed. "Captain Piett!"

Piett stepped forward, doing his best to avoid looking at Ozzel, who was clutching his neck and starting to gag.

"Yes, my lord?" Piett said.

"Make ready to land our troops beyond their energy field, and deploy the fleet, so that nothing gets off the system. We need only keep them here until the Death Star arrives."

Admiral Ozzel uttered one last strangled gasp, and fell over, the life crushed out of him by Vader's unstoppable Force choke. Piett tried not to notice. Vader spoke once again.

"You are in command now, Admiral Piett."

"Thank you, Lord Vader," Piett said, trying not to think of the dead man lying next to him.

* * *

Echo Base was shaking heavily from the blaster fire from the steadily approaching Imperial Walkers. The battle outside was not going well for the Alliance. Han knew it was just a holding action, and it was only a matter of time before the Imperials destroyed the main generator that was powering the shields. When that happened, this place was going to be swarming with Imperials, and he knew they had to be out of here before that happened. However, the lifters were proving to be especially recalcitrant, as Chewie had explained when Han arrived back in the hangar bay. If they couldn't get those back into at least temporary working order, they wouldn't be able to lift off. They had recieved their clearance to leave several minutes before, but if the lifters weren't operational, they wouldn't be leaving - except as Imperial prisoners.

Han was working frantically on the lifters when the largest explosion yet shook Echo Base. He was practically knocked off his feet by the shock.

Feels like the generator just got taken out, he thought. This is not good.

A voice crackled over the base's intercom. "Imperial troops have entered the base. Imperial troops-"

The voice suddenly cut out in a burst of static. Han yelled down to Chewie, who was in the cockpit. "Try it now!"

Inside the cockpit, Chewie punched a series of buttons, and a hum started inside the Falcon. It showed no sign of quitting.

"Great!" Han yelled. "Hang on, I'm coming in!"

Han climbed down as quickly as he could. The ice ceiling was starting to crack now, and pieces of ice were starting to rain down on the Falcon.

As Han started to enter the Falcon, he noticed several stormtroopers, clad in cold weather gear, rush into the hangar bay. This is just great, he thought. He dashed up the gangplank, quickly sealing it behind him, and ran into the cockpit. Chewie was running through the start-up sequence, but as Han entered, all of the lights in the cockpit went out, and the steady hum coming from the Falcon started to die down. Almost without thinking, Han slammed his fist against the panel directly above the cockpit entrance. The lights flashed back on, and the humming sound started back up. He then sat down in the pilot's chair as Chewie barked at him.

"Switch over! Let's hope we don't have a burnout," Han shouted. Chewie pulled back on the controls, and the first stage of engine fire could be heard coming from the rear of the ship.

"Punch it!" Han snapped. Chewie pressed another button, and the main engines fired. Han glanced out the cockpit window, and saw an enormous figure dressed entirely in black entering the bay behind yet another group of stormtroopers. Then, with a roar, the Falcon shot out of the hangar bay and into the frigid Hoth sky.