Other snowspeeders passed Wedge, racing in the opposite direction. He steered

his craft on a direct course toward another walking death machine. As he

approached the monster, Wedge shouted to his gunner, "Activate harpoon.!"

The gunner pressed the firing switch as his pilot daringly maneuvered their craft

through the walker's legs. Immediately the harpoon whooshed from the rear of the

speeder, a long length of cable unwinding behind it.

"Cable out!" the gunner yelled. "Let her go!"

Wedge saw the harpoon plunge into one of the metal legs, the cable still

connected to his snowspeeder. He checked his controls, then brought the speeder

around in front of the Imperial machine. Making an abrupt turn, Wedge guided his

ship around one of the hind legs, the cable banding around it like a metallic lariat.

So far, thought Wedge, Luke's plan was working. Now all he had to do was fly

his speeder around to the tail end of the walker. Wedge caught a glimpse of Rogue

Leader as he carried out the maneuver.

"Cable out!" shouted the speeder's gunner again as Wedge flew their craft

alongside the cable-entangled walker, close to the metal hull. Wedge's gunner

depressed another switch and released the cable from the rear of the snowspeeder.

The speeder zoomed away and Wedge laughed as he looked down at the results

of their efforts. The walker was awkwardly struggling to continue on its way, but the

Rebel cable had completely entangled its legs. Finally it leaned to one side and

crashed against the ground, its impactstirring up a cloud of ice and snow.

"Rogue Leader...One down, Luke," Wedge announced to the pilot of his

companion speeder.

"I see it, Wedge," Commander Skywalker answered. "Good work."

In the trenches, Rebel troops cheered in triumph when they saw the assault

machine topple. An officer leaped from his snow trench and signaled his men.

Bolting out of the trench, he led his troopers in a boisterous charge against the fallen

walker, reaching the great metallic hulk before a single Imperial soldier could pull

himself free.

The Rebels were about to enter the walker when it suddenly exploded from

within, hurtling great jagged chunks of torn metal at them, the impact of the blast

flinging the stunned troops back against the snow.

Luke and Zev could see the destruction of the walker as they flew overhead,

banking from right to left to avoid the flak bursting around them. When they finally

leveled off, their craft were shaken by explosions from the walker's cannons.

"Steady, Rogue Two," Luke said, looking over at the snowspeeder flying parallel

to his own ship. "Set harpoon. I'll cover for you."

But there was another explosion, this one damaging the front section of Zev's

ship. The pilot could barely see through the engulfing cloud of smoke that fogged

his windshield. He fought to keep his ship on a horizontal path, but more blasts by

the enemy made it rock violently.

His view had become so obscured that it wasn't until Zev was directly in the line

of fire that he saw the massive image of another Imperial walker. Rogue Two's pilot

felt an instant of pain; then his snub-nosed craft, spewing smoke and hurtling on a

collision course with the walker, suddenly erupted in flames amid a burst of cannon

fire. Very little of Zev or his ship remained to hit the ground.

Luke saw the disintegration and was sickened by the loss of yet another friend.

But he couldn't let himself dwell on his grief, especially now when so many other

lives depended on his steady leadership.

He looked around desperately, then spoke into his comlink.

"Wedge...Wedge...Rogue Three. Set your harpoon and follow me on the next

pass."

As he spoke, Luke was hit hard by a terrificexplosion that ripped through his

speeder. He struggled with the controls in a futile attempt to keep the small craft

under control. A chill of fear swept over him when he noticed the dense twisting

funnel of black smoke pouring from his ship's aft section. He realized then that

there was no way his damaged speeder could remain aloft. And, to make matters

even worse, a walker loomed directly in his path.

Luke struggled with the controls as his ship plunged toward the ground, leaving a

trail of smoke and flames behind. By then the heat in the cockpit was nearly

unbearable. Flames were beginning to leap about inside the speeder and were

coming uncomfortably close to Luke. He finally brought his ship down to skid and

crash into the snow just a few meters away from one of the walking Imperial

machines.

After impact, Luke struggled to pull himself from the cockpit and looked with

horror at the looming figure of the approaching walker.

Gathering all his strength, Luke quickly squeezed himself from under the twisted

metal of the control board and moved up against the top of his cockpit. Somehow he

managed to open the hatch halfway and climbed out of the ship. With each

elephantine step of the oncoming walker, the speeder shook violently. Luke had not

realized just how enormous these four-legged horrors were until, unprotected by the

shelter of his craft, he saw one up close.

Then he remembered Dack and returned to try to pull his friend's lifeless form

from the wrecked speeder. But Luke had to give up. The body was too tightly

wedged in the cockpit, and the walker was now almost upon him. Braving the

flames, Luke reached into his speeder and grabbed the harpoon gun.

He gazed at the advancing mechanical behemoth and suddenly had an idea. He

reached back inside the cockpit of the speeder and groped for a land mine attached to

the ship's interior. With a great effort he stretched his fingers and firmly grasped the

mine.

Luke leaped away from his vehicle just as the towering machine lifted a massive

foot and planted it firmly on the snowspeeder, crushing it flat.

Luke crouched underneath the walker, moving with it to avoid its slow steps.

Raising his head, he felt the cold wind slap against his face as he studied the

monster's vast underbelly.

As he ran along under the machine, Luke aimed his harpoon gun and fired. A

powerful magnet attached to a long thin cable was ejected from the gun and firmly

attached itself to the machine's underbelly.

Still running, Luke tanked on the cable, testing to make sure its strength was

sufficient to sustain his weight. Then he attached the cable drum to the buckle of his

utility belt, allowing its mechanism to pull him up off the ground. Now, dangling

from the monster's underbelly, Luke could see the remaining walkers and two Rebel

snowspeeders continuing the battle as they soared through fiery explosions.

He climbed up to the machine's hull where he had observed a small hatch.

Quickly cutting it open with his laser sword, Luke pulled open the hatch, threw in the

land mine, and made a rapid descent along the cable. As he reached the end Luke

dropped hard onto the snow and became unconscious: his inert body was nearly

brushed by one of the walker's hind fee.

As the walker passed over and away from him, a muffled explosion tore at its

insides. Suddenly the tremendous bulk of the mechanical beast exploded at the

seams, machinery and pieces of hull flying in every direction. The Imperial assault

machine crumbled into a smoking, motionless heap coming to rest upon what

remained of its four stiltlike legs.
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