Guardians of Light

Crossing Paths

Clarke clambered across the dismal landscape, struggling through the deep snow as it lapped over her boots with each step and dragged her pace down to a slow crawl. She found herself unusually tired after the recent ordeal, the crash having left her shaken and it was far colder on this planet than she ever could have imagined.

A faint column of smoke still rose into the crystal blue sky and it was a relief to know that she was not far from her destination, the wreckage of the ship soon coming into view as she slid down  the snow bank in which it had become partially embedded.

It was not a large ship however, and Clarke was thankful that the door was located towards the rear or accessing the interior would have been a far harder task to accomplish. The Republic guards had saved her the trouble of breaking through the door thanks to their rude and unannounced entry not an hour earlier.

She stepped carefully over the mangled door and ducked inside the ship, finding no escape from the almost unbearable cold that the frozen planet offered. She rubbed her gloved hands together in an attempt to warm them up before crouching on the snow spattered floor to slide a storage box towards her.  

The first few attempts to enter the correct code failed miserably due to the shaking of her hands and it was only on the third attempt that she finally succeeded. The lid snapped open to allow access to the goods that had been stored inside before departure and wth a triumphant grin, she pulled free a blaster pistol along with a tanned, leather belt holster that would fit snugly under her jacket.

It was a rather standard DH-17, not dealing anywhere near as much damage as the T-6 Thunderer, but as a short-range blaster it would be effective if she found herself in any trouble. Clarke clipped the holster onto her belt and tucked the weapon away, tugging down the heavy jacket to conceal it. She then continued to rifle through the box and pulled free a small hand-held monitor. She thumbed a switch on its side and the screen flickered to life, showing a grainy image of the surrounding landscape. Clarke rapped the machine against her palm a few times when the image started to fade out, a dull red light shining on the side of the device, it's purpose unknown.

The image may not have been in the best quality but it wasn't the latest model so that was to be expected.  A pulsing region was clearly seen to the left of the ships position, some distance away but not impossible to reach. The machine flickered off once more and Clarke shoved it into her jacket pocket with a sigh. From what she could tell the device had been picking up some kind of energy reading. Whatever it had been, the location had been a fairly large structure and was her best bet of finding a decent place to stay for the night.

Clarke knew enough about this planet to want to get somewhere sheltered before night set in and the temperature plummeted even lower, she didn't fancy dying on this remote, unforgiving planet. Having some idea of where she was going and feeling far more confident with a weapon in reach, she backed out of the ship and into the isolated landscape, glancing around before choosing the direction that had been highlighted on the machine. She had gotten herself out of worse situations than this before, if only her luck would hold once more.

The ship crashing on Hoth had been very unfortunate. The last thing she'd wanted was the attention of Republic soldiers, or just anyone at this point. She would get what she came for and then get off this hell planet without looking back. 

After trekking through the snow for just over an hour, Clarke heaved her tired body to the top of a snow bank for a higher perspective and found herself gazing down upon some kind of military base. It was too far for her to make out any clear details yet but it would certainly provide the shelter that she was looking for. Pulling free the machine from her pocket, there seemed to be no trace of the pulsing region that had appeared previously, but the coordinates had saved automatically and it had definitely come from inside this base.