Starstruck

When Hell freezes over - 3

You know the phrase "When hell freezes over"? It has, and it's the Rebels new base. Welcome to Hoth. The freezer of the galaxy. It was loathed by all, almost immediately when the first ships landed at Echo Base. Princess Leia had been on the first ship with Jyn, Cassian, K2, Bohdi, Chirrut, Baze, Luke, Han and Chewbacca, all of whom were starting to become good friends, along with some haughty Rebel officials. When she stepped off the shuttle, she burst out laughing and accused Geberal Dodonna of playing a sick joke and taking them to the wrong base. Needless to say, she was wrong. It wasn't a twisted joke, it was their new home.

Captive Tauntauns, conrol pannels, lengths of wire that could stretch the whole circumfrence of the pitiful planet, medical supplies, boxes of food and bedding to replace the probably frozen stuff the base inevitably provided were unloaded under the surveillance of a freezing Princess who was failing to see the funny side in her thin white robes, unlike Han Solo, who had a more substantial jacket and loved seeing Her Majesty so cross with something that wasn't him. Luke looked guilty, but wasn't about to give up his coat for anyone or anything. Jyn was ready to be trampled by a rogue Tauntaun, just for the exitement. After spending most of her time on Yavin 4, which was probably like a holiday destination for the Alliance, snow was already losing its initial novelty. Going to Hoth? Marvellous idea. Ha. Jyn was considering accidentally letting go of her Tauntauns she'd been coaxing into the base just to spice things up and give the Rebels something to laugh about, when the smaller craft started to come in. X-wings, U-wings, Y-wings, B-wings, A-wings and all the alphabetical wings were landing, depositing confused pilots on their winter wonder-hell.

Oh, what a beautiful sight. A raging, freezing Princess ordering scared Privates to "GET THE BLOODY TAUNTAUNS INSIDE BEFORE WE ALL GET FROZEN SOLID.", a smuggler laughing at his snow covered wookiee companion, a pilot using his lightsaber to warm his cold hands, several cross generals threatening to complain to [insert oh-so-important Rebel official here], Mon Mothma losing her patience and serenity, K2 on the verge of murder, Baze offending Chirrut by challenging him to a game of eye spy, Bohdi fixing someone's frozen circuit board and making snow angels, Cassian kicking, dragging and pushing supplies haphazardly into the bunker while occasionally preventing K2 from decapitating who ever this idea belonged to and a few extra-daring pilots having a snowball fight with a Darth Vader snowman they'd constructed. Jyn already had frostbite. When the princess had finally had enough of her new home and all the urgent supplies had been distributed, she stormed inside, shoving Han so hard out of her way, he slipped on the iced ground and to his utter horror, collapsed in the snow. Luke had the misfortune of laughing. No one ever laughed at Han again. Snow isn't fun when it's everywhere.

The more important officials began to usher the pilots and rebels into the hanger to receive instructions. "Rooms are in the western wing, you should probably have received a map upon arrival." A bored Commander announced to the group through chattering teeth. "Dorms are organised into squadrons and if you aren't a part of a squadron, the rest are alphabetical. Canteen is east, command and medical centre are north and storage and hangar are south. Many floors and ceilings are unstable, so no loud noises or sudden explosions are advised and we haven't yet sent a survey to check for Wampas in the lower caverns."
Bodhi, who probably hadn't been listening, jumped at that.
"It's just a story they tell to scare the new ones." Cassian whispered. "They told us on Yavin 4 there was a Dianoga in the cellar to stop us stealing food."
"Captain, someone lost an arm from whatever was down there." The rebel behind him put in.
"Well they probably shouldn't have stolen from an imaginary Dianoga, then."
"Each squad has an assignment to help organise the base efficiently." The speaker continued. "Yellow squadron, you're on clothing and bedding distribution, Red is on hangar duty, Gold is fetching food supplies, Rogue are harnessing and cleaning Tauntauns, (You too, Commander Erso, don't give me that look) and Green are our lucky Wampa hunters. Everyone else can shift the ships and rig power lines. " The announcer told them. There was uproar from Green Squadron as Jyn glowered at the idea of cleaning and mucking out the Tauntauns that had just had a four hour trip and were starting to look less cute and fluffy. By now, Princess Leia was almost hopping up and down with condensed fury and cold and even Mon Mothma was wavering on the point of shouting at someone. Han had given up drying off long ago and seemed to be defrosting out of the pure heat his cheeks were emitting. Defeated, Rogue squadron trudged in the direction of the stables, ready to pet some smelly Tauntauns and pretend to do work.