Rogue Squadron (28 page)

“Then how did you …?” Even a puzzled frown couldn’t detract too much from Erisi’s beauty.

“I told Whistler to cut
it
out. I was thinking the jiggle code when I said
it
. Whistler, being a bit more direct in his problem solving, just cut the homing beacon the torps were using to track me. They lost their target, couldn’t reacquire it, and exploded. The second or so it took them to do all that took me outside their blast radius.”

Rhysati smiled and gently patted Nawara’s brain tail. “Well, we’re happy your R2 unit takes such good care of you. And I, for one, want to thank you for doing what you did out there. That
Lancer
would have killed a lot of us if we had tried to take it out the normal way.”

The Twi’lek nodded. “The traditional Rogue Squadron way—leaving bits and pieces of X-wings scattered around.”

The blue-eyed woman from Thyferra frowned at Nawara. “We have a new tradition now, and Corran’s action is a glorious part of it. We’ve had three missions and we’ve lost none of our pilots—and this when Commander Antilles told us our first five missions would kill a bunch of us off.”

“Erisi, we
have
lost a pilot.” Corran scratched at his chest where he’d been shot. “We almost lost three more on Talasea. Don’t start thinking we’re invulnerable. The missions we’ve had so far have been relatively simple.”

“I know that, Corran. I don’t think of us as leading charmed lives.” Her eyes tightened slightly, but Corran sensed no ire in the changed expression. “In reading about the unit’s history, it has always flown well on simple missions. Even so, our kill rates and repair rates are better than ever before. I don’t doubt we’ll have missions that will push us to the limit, but if statistics have any truth in them, we’ve not been burning up all our luck on our missions.”

“Speak for yourself.” Corran winked at her. “At the Bank of Luck, I’ve hit my credit limit.”

Nawara jerked a thumb at the cabin’s closed doorway. “Well, there’s a wing of bomber jocks willing to make payments on your account. Right now they’re settling for buying the Rogues a couple of rounds down in the recreation center.”

“They’re toasting Bror for picking up two eyeballs over Grand Isle.” Rhysati rolled her eyes. “They’d rather be buying drinks for you.”

“He’s the hot pilot from the run. Two is more than I got.”

Erisi frowned at him. “But you got the frigate.”

Corran shook his head. “No I didn’t.”

“What?”

The Twi’lek explained. “If Corran had so much as shot one laser burst at the frigate, then he would have gotten a piece of the kill, but fractions below a half are not recognized as being worthy of being recorded. Warden Squadron got the frigate—Corran is able to verify it, but he gets nothing for it.”

“That’s not fair.” Erisi looked from Nawara to Corran and back again. “He should get credit for the kill.”

“Erisi,” Rhysati began, “if you’re shooting at some squint and he jukes and your shots illuminate an eyeball, would you want the squint to get credit for your kill?”

“I see your point, but I do not think it is fair.”

“I’ll survive it.” Corran shrugged. “What’s not fair is the three of you spending time here with me when you should be downstairs having fun and billing it to Defender Wing. Go on, have a good time.”

Rhysati stood and slipped an arm around Nawara’s waist. “We’ll be going, then. We’ll let the others know you’re doing fine.”

“Thanks.”

Rhysati looked at Erisi. “Coming?”

“In a minute.”

“All right.”

The two of them left and the hatch slid shut, then Erisi crossed the narrow room and took Rhysati’s place at the foot of the bed. All of a sudden it seemed to Corran that the cabin, which was
none too big to begin with, had become much more close and tiny. He would have used the word “intimate” to describe it, but the way Erisi laid a hand on his knee gave him the impression she had that word in mind as well, and for some reason that made him feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Corran, I just wanted to let you know that I felt … feel I owe you a debt it will be very hard to repay. When the report of a
Lancer
being in our exit vector came through I knew …” Erisi hesitated and pressed her free hand lightly against her throat. “I knew I wasn’t going to make it. I’m not the best pilot in this unit and I was certain I would die fighting against the frigate. And then you did what you did and I felt as if a great crushing weight had been lifted from me.”

She shook her head, bringing dark bangs down to half hide her blue eyes. “I know this is sudden and … well, I just feel very
close
to you now.” Leaning forward, she rested both her hands on his kneecaps and laid her chin on top of them. “Do you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, probably better than you think.”

She blinked her eyes, then smiled. “You feel it, too?”

“I’ve felt it.” Corran sighed. “A huge hunk of what you’re feeling comes from the downside of the emotional spike you hit during the run. I know what that’s like. In CorSec I was partnered with a woman, Iella Wessiri. She was pretty—not as pretty as you are, but no Gamorrean either. We raided a glitterstim dealer’s warehouse and a rather nasty lightfight erupted. One guy had me centered in his sights when she took him out. I’d thought I was dead and she saved me.

“In the immediate aftermath of that I thought I was in love with her—or in lust, at least. Before then
we’d just been friends, like you and I are. Maybe there were some core sparks of something but nothing we’d noticed or acted on. And that night, well, we both felt it.”

“What happened?”

Corran scowled. “The Imperial liaison officer took the two of us into custody for debriefing. Two days later we saw each other again. The heat of the moment had passed and we laughed about it, but never did anything. That fear, and having been so closely brushed by death, made us want something positive to counteract it.”

“Is that bad?”

“No, it’s not bad, Erisi.” Corran shifted around so he sat beside her and held both of her hands in his. “It’s also not genuine. And, I must admit, I’m not sure about the wisdom of getting involved with someone inside the unit.”

“Rhysati and Nawara don’t seem to have trouble with it.”

“I know, and I think they’re good for each other.”

Erisi raised his right hand to her mouth and kissed his palm. “I think you may be right, Corran, but I need to ask you something. You said you and your partner had sparks at some basic level, and that led to your attraction to her. Do we have those sparks?”

“Perhaps, I don’t know.” Feeling uncomfortably warm, Corran tugged at the collar of his flight suit. “For the past several years, both before and since leaving CorSec, my emotional life has been a bit unstable.”

“Is there someone else? Do you still care for your partner?”

“No, there’s no one else, not Iella, not anyone.”

Erisi pursed her lips for a moment, then nodded.
“I accept what you’re saying.” She stood and stretched languorously. “Of course, you don’t know what you’re missing.”

Corran let out a deep breath, then rose from his bunk. “I wish I didn’t. Right now, though, I’m exhausted enough that I’d be no good to either one of us.”

She laughed and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “Corran, I really
do
appreciate your concerns over my feelings.” Erisi backed away from him toward the opening hatchway. “Have sweet dreams.”

She turned in the open hatchway and came face-to-face with Mirax Terrik. The smuggler’s daughter smiled politely. “Excuse me, I didn’t realize I was intruding.”

“Not at all, Miss Terrik.” All the warmth drained from Erisi’s voice. “I was just leaving so Lieutenant Horn could get some rest. He’s confined to quarters and I don’t believe that order allows
civilian
visitors.”

Mirax tapped the datapad riding in a sheath on her left forearm. “I have permission to visit from his commanding officer. We can check with Emtrey if you wish.”

Erisi looked back at Corran and he would have preferred being under the
Ravager’
s guns again to her stare. “It’s okay, Erisi. I’m sure Miss Terrik won’t be staying long. Thanks for the talk.”

“You’re most welcome, Lieutenant.” Erisi turned and nodded curtly to Mirax. “Miss Terrik.”

“Later.” Mirax watched Erisi walk away, then added under her breath, “
Much
later.” Turning back around she caught Corran staring after Erisi. “Flyboys—all you think about is sex.”

“What?”

She shoved the plastic case she was carrying into
his stomach none too gently, then walked past him into the cabin. “The smallest smuggling hold on the
Skate
is bigger than this.”

“The
Reprieve
wasn’t built for pleasure cruising or smuggling. I’m looking forward to grounding at a new base.” Corran stepped back out of the hatchway and let it close. Hefting the box he asked, “What’s this?”

Mirax flopped down on Ooryl’s bed. “Wedge said you might be down—but then he didn’t realize the bacta queen would be here. I figured you might like some stuff from home so I got this little package together.” She shrugged. “I intended it as something of a peace offering, I guess.”

Corran sat on the edge of his bed and undid the case’s two latches. He opened the box and smiled. In it he saw a half-dozen datacard issues of magazines from Corellia, as well as two tins of spicy, smoked nerf and a bottle of Whyren’s Reserve whiskey.

“Wow. This is more stuff from Corellia than I’ve seen in the past two years.”

Mirax rolled up on her right side and rested her head on her right hand. “Below the whiskey is a
ryshcate
. I had to substitute some ingredients but I think it turned out pretty good.”

Corran pulled the whiskey bottle out of the case and set it down beside him. Beneath it, wrapped in clear plastic, sat the dark brown sweetcake that was traditionally reserved for birthdays, anniversaries, or other celebrations of momentous occasions. “Last time I had
ryshcate
was after my father died, after the funeral. Where’d you find the
vweliu
nuts to put into it?”

“Around.”

“Around?”

“Yeah, around. There’s a thriving black market in Corellian goods out there. A lot of us are out here
and with the Diktat in place the Imps still control our space. This means we have a big demand with a restricted supply, so it pays to move the merchandise.” She scowled at the hatch. “That blasted protocol droid of yours has—er, had—two
cases
of Corellian whiskey and has been doling it out to me in one and two bottle lots. I could have gotten an old Customs ship to replace the one that got left in that lake in the Hensara system for the whole case, but he’s holding back on me. Getting two bottles out of him cost me a hyperdrive horizontal booster and a case of l’lahsh mixes that came from Alderaan before it died.”

Corran raised an eyebrow. “Emtrey had the whiskey?”

“I got two bottles from him. One’s beside you and one’s in the
ryshcate
.” She sat up and their knees almost touched. “You going to arrest the droid for smuggling?”

“No, just let him off with a warning, I guess.” The fighter pilot smiled. “Do you want some of the
ryshcate
? You made it, so you should have some of it.”

She hesitated, then nodded her head. “A small piece, but only if we can think of a reason to celebrate.”

“How about being alive?”

“Good enough for me.”

Corran punctured the plastic wrap with his thumb and broke a corner off the moist, flat cake. He split it in two and handed her the larger of the pieces. In keeping with the tradition he said, “We share this
ryshcate
in the same way we share our celebration of life.”

“To the celebration of life.”

They each bit into the cake and Corran clumsily caught crumbs in his left hand. The cake itself was
delicious. The sweetness softened the woody bite of the whiskey, and the
vweliu
nuts just melted in his mouth. He swallowed and smiled. “This is wonderful!”

“Even if it was made from smuggled ingredients?”

“Even more reason to eat all the evidence.” He shook his head. “As a peace offering, I can’t think of anything better.”

“Good.” Mirax stood and ruffled his brown hair with her hand. “When this Alliance finally gets around to going after Coruscant, I’ll make another
ryshcate
and you can carry it to whoever thinks they’re in charge. Make the war shorter.”

“This
ryshcate
might have been able to turn Darth Vader into a Jedi again, but I’m not sure it would work on old Iceheart.” He set the case on the bed. “Sure you don’t want more?”

“Thanks, but I need to go back to the
Skate.
” She looked at her datapad. “I have about six hours until I pull a run Coreward.”

“Are we going to fly cover for you?”

“Nope, I’m using my wits and guts to get me through.”

Corran frowned. “No slight intended, but isn’t that dangerous?”

Mirax shook her head. “I’ve been ambushed
once
and you Rogues have been ambushed
twice
. Right now I suspect traveling without you might be a bit safer than traveling with you, but this is a simple run anyway.” She kissed him on the cheek as the hatch opened. “Thanks for your concern. See you when I get back.”

The hatch eclipsed her as it closed. It struck him that while he had been relieved when Erisi left, he wished Mirax had stayed. He knew he didn’t lust after her—though she didn’t surrender much, if anything
at all, to Erisi in the way of looks. With her, because of their common world of origin, he had a connection that he and Erisi would never share. Even the fact that their fathers had been enemies somehow strengthened the bond between them.

He shook himself. “Snap out of it, Horn. You’re fixing on her the way Erisi fixed on you. Booster Terrik’s daughter and Hal Horn’s son might be able to be friendly enemies—maybe even friends—but nothing more than that. Remember, first, last, and always, she’s a smuggler. There’ll come a point when you’re not cost effective and she’ll cut her losses.”