Chapter 30: Guardian

"This is eagle one; perimeter alpha is secure. I repeat perimeter alpha is secure." Sigil repeated into his com link, flying over the designated perimeter in his wing suit. "Copy that eagle one. Move on to perimeter beta." Qishik replied. "Copy that Echo. Moving to perimeter beta." He replied, changing direction for the second area that was due for search.

He kept on his patrols, using them to ease his mind off the stress of coordinating the alliance forces. He kept his patrols up until it got dark and in unison with it, the wind began to blow as the clouds let go of the snow they kept.

Temperatures plummeted rapidly as the dim son of Hoth began to disappear over the horizon; leaving the area where Echo base was more akin to a lab freezer as opposed to a planet that harbored life on its great frozen plains, ice mountains and snow blanketed surface.

"Eagle one, seize all search. Your patrol is done. Return to base." Qishik informed him. "Copy tha-'' He stopped himself mid-sentence for he heard an interesting conversation. "Ask Han if he knows where Luke is." He heard Leia say. "Yes princess." He heard the voice of 3PO.

"Wait, what is there with Skywalker?" He asked. "He has been missing eagle one." Qishik replied. "Send me last coordinance." He informed. "Eagle one that is no-" "That's an order." He cut in. "Eagle one you can't. We'll close the door." Qishik tried to reason. "I can take care of myself nest. Send me the coordinance." He demanded a second time."Yes sir." Qishik replied, relenting before the Admiral. "Sending coordinance." He finished.

Sigil took out his projector and turned it on. Grid square T-6, it red. He adjusted his course from where he was and headed to T-6 to begin his investigation as to the disappearance of Luke.

He flew over the grid. Circling low to the ground as best he could to avoid crashing into the ground. The fog obstructed his view but the force and his projector countered nature to his advantage.

But once the weather got dark enough, he was forced to land and take out his lantern to search through the snow. Aiding his efforts was his ally the force. He reached out, trying to detect the faintests of life forms around. 

The only sound in his ears besides that of the low howling wind was the sound of his wings' repulsor lifts which he folded remotly. He dared not turn them off for they won't turn back on again until properly defrosted and dehydrated.

Sigil stumbled through the thick snow, each step taking him deeper and deeper until, just outside the perimeter where his lantern illuminated, he saw a dark red color contasted against the yellow ice. Both bathed in the soft yellow glow of the flame he held in his left hand.

He quickened his pace and reached the spot. It was blood. His own blood ran cold but not being one to jump to conclusions, he reached down and placed his free hand on the blood stain. Sigil attempted to call upon his Psychometry to aid him in his search.

Sigil's vision was taken to where Luke was pawed in the face by a Wampa. The big creature proceeded to kill Luke's mount, which bld from its mouth blood and dragged them both behind it.

He reopened his eyes and a look of horror formed on his features. He sighed, raising his lantern higher to see the rest of the blood trail better. He got up and trecked his way through the thigh high snow of Hoth's tundra.

The trail of blood had him walk up and over a small hill before he felt the ground under him collapse. 

He fell with his face and upper body in the snow. He, through the snow, heard a loud roar and guessed it was the Wampa he was looking for.

He struggled to get himself free from the awkward situation to be able to defend himself. He suddenly felt something grip his left foot as he was lifted up upside down.

Sigil's blaster slipped from its holster and nearly fell but he caught it before it got out of reach. He saw that the Wampa had a single arm and its shoulder was a black stump that still stinks of ozone. Either Luke escaped or died trying.

The Wampa brought his eyes up with its own and roared in anger, covering his golden mask in saliva as it hoisted him up above its wide open mouth and slowly lowered him into his mouth.

With his blaster he shot a round into the roof of its mouth in a panik. The Wampa dropped him to tend to its wound but he fell into it's gaping mouth. It struggled to get him out and began biting him in a panik.

It's fangs sank into Sigil's thighs, a burning sensation tore across his body as he now thought that he would lose his legs. In a split second while fighting the pain, he let go of his lantern and it fell into the creature's stomach as he unleashed a blaster bolt after it, blowing up the lantern's fuel.

The Wampa was torn in two from the blast while his mask protected his face from the blast. The rest of his heavy outfit protected against the heat blast but the shockwave struck him still, launching him back and landing him on his wing suit.

He quickly got up and ignited his lightsaber to illuminate his path. A brilliant emerald light pierced the thick fog in front of him with both its heat and light.

He slumped his way back to the now dead Wampa's cave and sat down, seething at the mouth from the pain in his legs. They were bleeding and they would quickly freeze if he didn't act quickly.

Sigil looked around, the force granting him night vision and he quickly spotted and tore part of what he assumed to be Luke's mounts heide and wrapped it around both legs and collapsed on his back. He laid on his back and breathed heavily for a few minutes.

Collecting himself, he sat up right and inspected his legs. He drew in a deep breath and placed both hands on his legs where the wampa had bit him and concentrated; drawing in as much of the force around him as he could. 

The more concentrated he became the less pain would come from his legs but from his head. Force heal was an exhausting technique especially if applied to one's self I would be exhausting.

With his legs stabilized, he dropped on his back once more, staring at the cave of the roof in exhaustion. He was drained and tired and as he stared more into the ceiling the more sleepy he became. The last thing he heard besides  the sound of the blowing wind and the howling of his wing suit before his eyes was Nox calling to him but her effort too was futile as he drifted off into the void.

He was awakened by the sound of his communicator going off. He picked it up but all he heard were alliance soldiers shouting orders at each other and he suddenly felt a great cold, colder than even Hoth approach, 'Vader.' He thought to himself.

Sigil made himself get up and realized his legs were now healed. Wiggling them just to be sure. He took off his wings and inspected them. They were fine. So he strapped his wings back in place and launched towards Echo base.

Troops lined the trenches outside of Echo base. Defensive turrets fired upon the incoming imperial walkers as ships battled each other overhead.

The alliance was being pushed back by the empire as the walkers made for a steady push against the desperate alliance. Rebel strikes on the walkers proved ineffective.

A shadow was cast across the battlefield and all looked up to see the silhouette of a  winged humanoid covering the sun. The rebels cheered knowing who the figure was. Their greatest tactician and strategist had now become their guardian angel as he dived down, letting the sun beam upon the battlefield once more. 

Several walkers turned their blasters to him and opened fire yet he dodged and weaved through the turbolaser bolts at full speed, lightsaber drawn and ignited. He flew mere centimeters from the first walker's hull and dragged his lightsaber across it, leaving a large gash for the alliance to exploit.

But he didn't leave his first target alone as he veered up and dove on it again, leaving a vertical mark in its armor.

Another hard turn and slash severed the remainder of the walker's cockpit, sending the massive head of the machine falling into the snow and immobilizing the walker. In less than twelve seconds, a mighty AT-AT had been turned to a siticking fuck which was struck by a rebel turbolaser round, killing all inside.

He turned back and skimmed across the snow to the next walker. Again he dogged turbolaser bolts that send up columns of snow and steam when they hit the frozen ground.

A brilliant emerald blade went through the lower half of a walkers' right side legs as the next step brought it down on her side.

The third walker received a similar fate, tiping back as she lost both her legs and the entire crew and embarked snow troopers were thrown to the back of the ship against each other.

He banked to his left back towards the base's direction. Sigil spotted another walker which had taken out a defensive turret and was now attempting to flank the trench. His comrades would live as he flew under and cut the walker's lower back all the way to her head, destroying the center console, computer and critical hydraulic systems as he flew back to base, rushing for his assigned Y-wing. Flying right in the hangar, he made for a rough approach that was assisted by the force right next to some snow troopers who he dispatched on his descent. He took a few steps forwards as he landed, spreading the force of the landing between steps. Stabilizing, he spotted more snow troopers setup an E-web besides the Falcon, he used the force to push them back

Turning back, he forced open the hatch and leaped in the cockpit of the Y-wing. Sigil was in a rush to engage its systems and get it to do a cold start with no prior warmup.

Finally he got it to start. In his rush, he bothered with nothing but the engines which roared to life and he spotted the Falcon leaving. Not bothering with navigation, he tried to blast out of the hangar a few seconds behind it but was kept in place by what he knew to be Vader's force grip. Using the force, he swiveled the rear gunner's turret to him and opened, forcing Vader to reach for his lightsaber and release him to focus on deflecting the blots he set loose upon The Dark Lord.

His Y-wing, crescend FB-EO or as he called it 'The Eagle' rushed out of the hangar in a sharp upwards turn. In the upper layers of the atmosphere, he sensed his sister and looked behind him to see a Tie defender hot on his tail. He did a heavy amount of ducking and weaving to avoid the shots from the Tie.

"Lord Vader, my target is moving for a hyperspace jump. Requesting permission to give chase!" Revan informed Vader over their com channel. "Follow him inquisitor but don't fail to bring him to me." He granted her request, yet malice still hung in his voice as he wanted his prize, her own brother.

Exiting the atmosphere, he had the R-2 unit calculate a jump to the former separatist world of Kabal and away from the rebel rendezvous with Ackbar and his fleet. Her chasing behind him right through into hyperspace.







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