Wedge's Gamble (10 page)

Wedge leaned forward in his chair and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Sir, freeing criminals from Kessel is not a mission Rogue Squadron wants to perform.”

The Mon Calamari turned his head enough to watch Wedge with one eye. “And Ysanne Isard does not want to surrender Coruscant to us. We all have to do things we don’t want to do, Commander. Let us hope we can just make the best of them.”

9

Wedge hit a button on the datapad, causing the holoprojector in the center of the pilot’s briefing room to recreate the long-distance view of Kessel he’d first seen at the Provisional Council meeting. “All right, people, let’s get this briefing under way.”

The various members of Rogue Squadron took their places. Wedge noticed that Corran Horn and Nawara Ven, a Twi’lek who had been a lawyer before he joined the Rebellion, were sitting together in the back. When going over the initial planning stages of the operation with Captains Nunb and Celchu, he’d anticipated the greatest resistance to the operation coming from those two.
One sent people to Kessel; the other tried to keep them from being sent there. They’ve both got connections to the population there, and that could mean some complications for me
.

Wedge shifted his shoulders around to loosen them, then began. “This operation is going to be accomplished in three distinct parts. Each one has to go according to plan or we abort the whole thing. Admiral Ackbar is leaving the decision to proceed or stop to me. I may not like what we’re being asked to do—and I don’t—but the Provisional
Council wants this done, so we’re doing it. But we’re doing it
our
way.”

He pointed to the moon orbiting Kessel. “The Imps used to keep a base on that moon. It is supposed to be abandoned, but we don’t know what the Imps may have left behind in the way of automated defenses or booby traps. Our first step is to run a flyby on the base, neutralize automated defenses, and knock down anything launched at us from there. Lieutenant Page and his commandos will then come in and secure the base. Alliance Security will follow up and relieve his troops. That’s phase one. Everyone got it?”

The pilots before him all nodded with degrees of enthusiasm going from great to none.

“Phase two is a repeat of phase one, but it takes place on Kessel. We do a flyover and clear a landing zone for Page’s people. The commandos will secure the LZ. When they do, Horn, Ven, and I will land. Captain Nunb will be in charge of the rest of you and you’ll fly cover for the LZ and for Tycho. He’ll be using the shuttle
Forbidden
to ferry our people from Kessel to the moon. On the moon the people will be processed, then shipped out on a number of different ships for insertion into Coruscant, or for repatriation to their own worlds or exile communities.

“The processing and out-shipping is phase three. It will run concurrently with phase two. Trouble with outbound people will cause the termination of the operation.” Wedge crossed his arms. “Two key points here. The first is that this is an extremely sensitive and dangerous mission. The people we are dealing with will be very dangerous. Our rules of engagement will be simple: We offer a general warning when we come in, then we use whatever force we need to preempt problems.

“The second point is this: We’re getting some of the good along with the bad. We have our want list of scum, but they won’t know who it is that we want. Our job is to ransom as many people from political lists as we can for those on the criminal list we’ll be taking away. Doole is the key to this strategy working. We’ll be taking his enemies
away and lowering the general population. This will ease his resource strain and increase his control over the spice operation. He’ll see this plan as better for him than it is for us.”

In the back Corran raised a hand. “Commander, what will we do in the very real situation of some of these people threatening to kill innocents if we don’t take them? Lujayne Forge had … has family on Kessel. The people sentenced to Kessel are likely to do anything to get off that rock. For all we know, Doole wants to leave, too.”

“That’s all possible, but there are contingency plans to prevent that from happening. You’ll note in the supplemental material in your briefing bytes I have a list of strategic sites on Kessel. They include the atmosphere plants and, most importantly, a list of spice storage facilities. Moruth Doole has supplies hidden away so he can meet demand well into the future. I will make it very apparent to him that if he cannot exert control over his people, I will be forced to destroy his storehouses. Since greed seems to drive the local economy there, I think he’ll see his way clear to working with us.”

Corran nodded. “When persuasion fails, coercion works.”

“I hope so, Lieutenant Horn.”

Nawara Ven sat forward, letting his brain tails dangle over his shoulders. “Commander, I’ve reviewed the list of ransom candidates. Am I mistaken, or do I notice a significant portion of them are Bothans?”

“Is there a problem with that, Lieutenant Ven?”

“On the surface of it, no, sir. On the other hand I noticed that a number of people—many of whom were my clients, in fact—people who truly
are
political prisoners, have been left off the list. I don’t mean that there was any campaign to keep my clients from being pulled off the planet, just that the list of ‘good’ people has some people on it who could easily be on the other list, and some very deserving, innocent people have been left off the list.”

Wedge smiled, a response that seemed to surprise his
pilots. “I’m glad you pointed that out. In presenting this plan to the Provisional Council Admiral Ackbar made very clear that we’d have to be dealing from a position of strength. Councilor Fey’lya provided some deal packages indicating who should be asked for in exchange for this or that person on the ‘bad’ list. With your help and experience in negotiations, Lieutenant Ven, I intend to win more people for each of our prisoners than the Council suggested we might. I do have clearance to supplement my lists to account for marriages and children. I intend us to exploit that latitude as much as possible.”

He looked around. “Any other questions before I deal with Lieutenant Horn’s next objection to the plan?” No one said anything, so Wedge nodded to Corran. “Be my guest, Lieutenant Horn.”

“Not really an objection, sir, but a question—can we exclude any of the people on our ‘bad’ list?” Corran winced. “There are a few on here who really shouldn’t be allowed off Kessel, unless we’re going to dump them in the Maw on our way out of there.”

The image of spacing any number of the criminals into the black hole near Kessel brought a smile to Wedge’s face, but he killed it quickly enough. “These are the people that have been determined to be useful to us. Who did you have in mind?”

“Zekka Thyne—he’s also known as ‘Patches,’ but not to his face. He’s on Kessel because my father and I got him on a smuggling pinch, but he’s been tied to the murders of nearly a dozen people—all of them rivals of Black Sun. Patches was being groomed as Prince Xizor’s man on Corellia. Xizor tried to slice some files to get Thyne shifted back off Kessel but he couldn’t because Corsec’s Imperial Liaison, Kirtan Loor, had accidentally altered the structure of the files with Thyne’s information. But for that bit of incompetence, Thyne would have been long gone from Kessel—it was the only good thing Loor ever did.”

“If we’re lucky, Lieutenant Horn, Thyne will be dead.”

Corran smiled. “We could see to it that he is.”

“Murder, Lieutenant Horn?” Wedge frowned. “Even if he is as bad as you say …”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Corran held his hands up as everyone turned to stare at him. “I’d be the first person who would be glad to dance on his grave, and if he steps out of line at all, I’d be happy to vape him, but I’m not suggesting murder. It does strike me, though, that we could slice some files and report some deaths that prevent us from taking certain people.”

Corran’s suggestion sorely tempted Wedge. The list of criminals Borsk Fey’lya had supplied did scan like a directory of organized crime. Wedge had no love for the Empire, but it had been fairly ruthless at dismantling the upper levels of Black Sun. Black Sun was a cancer. The Empire hadn’t been able to cut it all out, but they
had
forced it into a pretty serious remission. Reviving it to distract the Empire had some merit, and Corran’s suggestion offered a possible way to excise some of the more malignant elements from the group.

The spark of hope burning in Wedge’s mind died very quickly as reality set in. “The purpose of our mission is to take from Kessel and insert into Coruscant the people who will complicate the lives of Ysanne Isard and her people. The guys who are the most vile are also the ones who can cause the most trouble. We’re going to be making the most out of the confusion they create.”

Pash glanced back at Corran. “If we make Black Sun too weak, the Empire squashes it.”

“Sure, but if we make it too strong, we lose the trust of the folks Black Sun hurts
and
we might find ourselves having to compete with them for the ownership of Coruscant.” Corran shook his head. “Xizor would have deposed the Emperor if he could have, and Zekka Thyne will make a run at Isard if he has the chance.”

Wedge shrugged. “Sounds like he is just the man Councilor Fey’lya wants to have on Coruscant.”

“And the last person most of us should want there.”
Corran’s eyes narrowed. “Can we put him on the list of strategic targets to take out?”

“I’ll trust your judgment in that matter, Lieutenant Horn. That’s why you’ll be with me down on the planet. If Zekka Thyne is a problem there, we’ll deal with him there.” Wedge looked around. “Anything else? No overall objections? Lieutenant Horn?”

Corran shrugged, but not fluidly enough to convince Wedge he was without objections. “It’s a mission, sir.”

“But I would have thought freeing criminals would have caused you to have reservations.”

Corran smiled. “I’m not saying I
like
it, sir, but in CorSec we made deals with criminals on a daily basis. The goal then, just as it is now, is to trade a lesser evil for a greater one. I’d just as soon use Zekka Thyne and some of this other scum as rancor bait, but if they’ll help bring Iceheart down, I guess my reservations don’t really mean that much. I’m good to go with this, Wedge. I think I’ll be fine.”

Wedge nodded slowly.
He has a point, though I don’t think he likes this any more than I do. But it’s a mission and we’re Rogue Squadron, so we’ll get it done
. “Last-minute questions, anyone?”

No one had anything to ask, so Wedge killed the projection of Kessel. “We’re mission go in twelve standard hours. You’ll want to get some sleep, but before you do, give Emtrey a list of your belongings. While we’re on the Kessel run, our headquarters will be relocating back to Noquivzor. We’ll be operating from there for the immediate future.”

Pash looked surprised. “Afraid of reprisals by Warlord Zsinj?”

Wedge just smiled. “Those are the orders, straight from the Provisional Council, the wisdom of which, I am certain, will make itself clear once we finish the mission to Kessel.”

10

Kessel’s weak atmosphere slowly smothered the fires burning amid the ruins of the two concussion missile launchers on the ridge overlooking the landing zone. A little smoke and even more dust rolled in a lazy mist down the escarpment, pouring like a vapor stream across the unpaved roadway carved from its face. The mist dissolved before it hit the flat of the plain, leaving a clear field of fire for Page and his people as they set up a perimeter around the hillock at the center of the plain.

Whistler hooted in a low tone.

“Looks pretty clear to me, too.” Corran began a long turn to starboard that took him out over the main mine complex. The only surface features visible were the administration buildings and some storage sheds for surface vehicles. One track led off to the north on a nearly direct line for the nearest atmosphere plant. The other major track led south to the hills and the plain where he would be landing.

“Nine is clear, Rogue Leader.”

“I copy, Nine. Come in and land. Don’t forget your breathing mask.”

“Thanks, Lead.” Corran brought the X-wing about
and flew back to the plain. He eased his throttle back and cut in the repulsorlift generators. The X-wing glided down gently and hovered five meters above the ground. Using the rudder pedals, Corran swung the nose around and positioned his fighter so it formed the third point of a triangle with Wedge’s and Nawara’s fighters. His covered the southern defensive arc of the Rogues’ position and left enough space for Tycho to easily bring the
Lambda
-class shuttle down in their midst.

Corran extended the landing gear and brought the ship to rest, then killed the repulsorlift generators and engine. “Whistler, remember, shoot first if you have to,
then
go for an engine start to give you more laser energy. If you have to, hover out of reach until the rest of the squadron comes and covers you.”

The droid keened mournfully.

“No, nothing will happen, I promise, but I want you to be careful.” He missed a chunk of Whistler’s reply, but took it that the annoying tone carried the meaning of the missing content. He doffed his helmet, drew the blaster from his shoulder holster, checked it, took it off safe, and reholstered it. Finally he pulled on a breathing mask and a pair of goggles, then popped the release on his cockpit canopy. It slid up and he crawled out.

Corran jumped down and found Kessel to be just a bit lighter in gravity than Borleias or Noquivzor. He ran over to where Wedge and Nawara stood beside an orange, mushroomlike tent that the commandos had assembled. “How did your conversation with Moruth Doole go?”

Wedge frowned slightly. “I think I got my points across, but he’s right on the edge of paranoia, and it doesn’t take much to push him over.”

“Doole’s probably a glit-biter.”

The Twi’lek twitched a head tail in Corran’s direction. “I don’t believe I’ve heard that term before.”

“CorSec slang, sorry. Glitterstim is the most potent form of spice—the stuff most people get is cut and diluted so heavily that the most they get from using is a little euphoria.
Glit-biters are taking the real thing and it seems, in some folks, to punch up their latent mental abilities. They can read minds, or so they think, and they assume any mind they can’t read is closed because the person is plotting against them. Doole probably forgot he was seeing a hologram of you, Commander. You were hostile, he couldn’t read you, hence he figured you really had it in for him.”