Wedge's Gamble (8 page)

It took him four shots to do what she had done in one, but the effect was no less spectacular. The scarlet laser bolts burned a line of holes in the Interceptor’s canted port wing. It began to tear away from the front and smashed into the ball cockpit. When the top half of the stabilizer finally ripped free, the port wing twisted. The Interceptor began to gyrate and spin, then shook itself
apart. Finally the twin ion engines exploded, one after the other, sowing ship shards on the Mrisst atmosphere.

The second squint kept coming and Corran’s maneuver had left him presenting his profile to it. Whistler whooped a warning, but Corran felt no panic at all. He rolled the ship over onto its top, then hit more left rudder. This reversed the effects of his previous move and left him going nose-to-nose with the squint. Corran centered the Imp in his targeting cross and when it went green, he tightened up on the trigger.

The laser bolts perforated the cockpit and filled it with fire. A secondary explosion shredded the squint. The wings sailed away from the fiery red and blue ball, then the ion engines blew, engulfing the remains of the ship in a silvery cloud. It imploded and tiny bits of debris struck sparks from Corran’s shields, but did no damage.

On ahead Corran spotted
Vengeance
because of the sheer volume of laser fire coming from its bow and waist lasers. The green darts formed striated cones of fire that spiraled around as the gunners attempted to hit their targets. While the freighter’s guns had not been intended as antifighter weapons, the tight spirals meant the gunners were having a very difficult time tracking their targets.

Apparently Lieutenant Cracken can fly very well
.

Corran saw four pairs of proton torpedoes head in at the waspy freighter from widely disparate angles. Even if the gunners had been good enough to actually shoot the torpedoes out of the void, covering all the shots would have been difficult. Some shots were going to get through, the only question remaining was how many.

All the torpedoes hit, bringing down
Vengeance’
s forward and aft shields amid a storm of brilliant explosions.
Vengeance
began to rotate in space, exposing a gaping hole in the port side. Escape pods shot out in all directions. The freighter continued to move away from Mrisst, but it was clearly drifting and would eventually succumb to the planet’s gravitational pull.

“Nine, break starboard.”

Corran rolled his ship to the right hard, but still
caught a couple of green laser bolts on his aft shield. He shunted power from his lasers to the shields, then evened their strength out. Back where he had been, a TIE starfighter swooped through a dive, and one of the squadron’s X-wing’s flashed past, hot on its tail.

“I can’t shake this squint on me.”

“Twelve is on the way, Eight.”

Erisi has one on her and Captain Nunb is on her way to help
. Corran saw two TIE starfighters streak down and past him, coming in on an oddly angled vector. He wondered what they were doing until Whistler put a track up on his screen that showed them to be on an intercept for Rogue Seven, the ship that had called for him to break.
Her target is pulling through a tight loop and she’s following, while the two
garrals
try to cut across the circle and nail Rhysati. Not if I can help it

“Seven, watch your aft. I’m coming, but be prepared to break up and right if I call.”

“I copy, Nine. Almost have him.”

Corran rolled the ship to port, then hit enough rudder to stand the X-wing on its nose. He punched the throttle full forward and angled in at the two fighters following Rhysati’s ship. He switched his targeting system over to proton torpedoes, but didn’t target the TIEs immediately.
Some models have a target lock warning system. If I give them a chance to dodge, they will
. He took a quick breath, blew it out, then let his range on the lead TIE drop to one kilometer. Nudging his stick forward, he impaled the eyeball on his targeting crosshairs. The HUD went red, Whistler sounded a solid tone, and Corran hit his trigger.

The proton torpedo lanced out and hit the lead eyeball dead on. It pierced the starfighter’s port wing, then exploded right in front of the cockpit. The central ball crumpled as the wing disintegrated. The bulk of the craft went tumbling off down Mrisst’s gravity well.

Corran switched back to lasers and sideslipped right. He snapped a quick shot off that dinged the other TIE’s starboard wing, but failed to get enough of it to do significant
damage. The TIE broke hard to port, so Corran rolled the X-wing to the port, applied some rudder, and cut his speed back to remain on the TIE’s tail.

The eyeball rolled right, then climbed sharply. Corran started to climb, then the TIE came over to complete a loop. Corran snapped the X-wing over on its right S-foil, presented his port side to the TIE. The starfighter’s first shots passed wide on either side of the snubfighter, but the eyeball started to roll to correct his aim.

Corran hit hard left rudder, then rolled ninety degrees to starboard to face the eyeball head on and give him the worst targeting profile possible. With a flick of his thumb he brought the torpedo targeting program up and immediately got a tone from Whistler. Ignoring the hail of green laser bolts hammering his forward shield, Corran squeezed the trigger.

The proton torpedo tore the TIE’s starboard wing off, sending the starfighter into a flat spin. Whistler reported the ship’s thrust had cut in half. Corran would have put that down to damage done to the starboard engine, but the spin began to slow. The pilot had clearly shut down the port engine so he could counter the spin. Restarting the port engine would give the pilot maneuvering power, but an explosion on the port side of the fighter showed the restart had not worked as intended. Blue lightning played over the fighter, then it burst into a fireball that streaked in toward the system’s sun.

“Whistler, targets.”

The droid displayed an image of
Contruum’s Pride
on the scope, but it wasn’t going anywhere. Corran hit a few buttons on his console, shifting around to see if there were any more fighters available, but he found none. Whistler’s negative bleat chastened him for doubting the droid.

“Just checking.”

Whistle rebleated his comment.

“Yes, perhaps I
should
know better.” Corran keyed his comm unit. “Nine is clear, Twelve.”

“I copy, Nine. Come to a heading of 173 and orbit
Vengeance
at three klicks. Four has convinced
Pride
that it wants to help stabilize
Vengeance
so it doesn’t do an atmosphere dive. Mrisst Disaster Control is scrambling for recovery operations.”

“As ordered, Twelve.” Corran smiled. “And, Captain?”

“Yes, Nine?”

“Impressive flying out there. Welcome to Rogue Squadron. You’re definitely one of us.”

“Thanks, Nine. It’s nice to be home.”

7

At the sound of her voice a jolt ran through Kirtan Loor. He whirled away from his workstation and dropped to one knee before the towering holographic projection of Ysanne Isard. “Madam Director, I am at your service.”

“That was my impression.”

The chilly tone in her voice warned him that her mood was not one in which she would tolerate mistakes. He couldn’t think of any he had made, but he killed the stirrings of anger that being unjustly accused started in him.
You have been accused of nothing. Her mood may not have anything to do with you or your service
. “What would you have of me, Madam Director?”

Some of the venom in her varicolored stare survived transmission from her office kilometers up and away from his work space in the bowels of the Imperial Palace. “I would have of you the best effort you can produce.”

“Always, my lady.”

“Your report on the incompetence of the
Black Asp’
s flight coordinator in the Bror Jace matter was quite thorough. I wanted Jace alive so I could utilize him at Lusankya. Your report makes it quite clear that Major Wortin knew this, but took no steps to guard against a
kill. And you were correct in pointing out that his insistence that the ship blew up by accident was nothing more than a sham.”

“Thank you.”

“I did not need your editorializing in the conclusion you drew. It is true that in the past Major Wortin would have been executed, but we cannot afford to squander our personnel with such abandon anymore. I have approved your suggestion that he be transferred to the
Inexorable
. Under Thrawn he will learn lessons he should already know, or he will die.”

“Yes, Madam Director.”

“I have received another request from General Derricote for subjects. This time he wants Quarren?”

Loor brushed a hand back over his black widow’s peak, then looked up at her. He had often been told he looked like a young Grand Moff Tarkin, but he was fairly certain Tarkin would never have let Isard intimidate him.
Tarkin had real power, almost as much as Iceheart wields here on Imperial Center. I have only the little bits I have assembled. I must wait and accumulate more
.

“Yes, Madam Director, that is his request. General Derricote’s cadre of scientists have made the initial breakthrough in their research on Gamorreans. The virus has an incubation period of a month and is fatal in seventy-five percent of the cases.”

“The incubation period is too long. It must be faster.”

“Yes, they know that.”

“How long are the subjects contagious?”

Loor reached back and pulled his datapad from the desk. “Four days, during the final throes of the disease. Transmission occurs through bodily fluid and can survive in contaminated water supplies for almost a day. It can be frozen and survive indefinitely.”

Isard’s expression hardened. “It cannot be made airborne?”

“The current theory is that the same genetics that would make it transmissible by air would greatly facilitate a spontaneous mutation allowing it to affect humans.”

“Unacceptable.”

“As I have told them, Madam Director.” Loor glanced at his datapad again. “Derricote believes part of the incubation period problem is tied to the sluggishness of the Gamorrean metabolism. Quarren are not as good a platform to guarantee cross-species susceptibility, but their metabolic rate is higher than that of Gamorreans.”

“Very well, give him what he wants. Organize sweeps in the undercity for Quarren. There should be enough of them in the warrens to suit his needs.” Isard rubbed at her eyes with slender fingers. “Collect extras—Derricote’s estimates of what he will need are always conservative.”

“Yes, Madam Director.”

“And tell Derricote I want the incubation period cut to a week, and I expect that breakthrough in a month, no more.”

“I saw the reports of Zsinj’s forces showing up near the core. Do you think he is coming here?”

Ysanne Isard laughed aloud and Loor decided he’d heard more pleasant sounds during difficult interrogations. “Zsinj? Never while I am here. He knows I would pluck out his heart and fling it into the streets from the highest tower in the Palace. The only way he will come here is after someone has taken the world away from me, and he can slink in like the coward he is and take it away from them. No, his probes are to evaluate my defenses and the Rebellion’s strength. He will compare them, then put himself into a position to become the victor after the Rebels and I exhaust ourselves in the fight for Imperial Center.”

Despite having only read it once, Kirtan Loor recalled very clearly the details contained in Zsinj’s Imperial datafile. Everything there correlated well with the conclusion that the man was an opportunist, though Loor hesitated at deciding such a label defined the man completely.
I would have done that before my association with Iceheart, but I have been made painfully aware that relying on conclusions I had drawn was the source of the difficulties in my life
.

“If it would please you, Madam Director, I can arrange for efforts to discourage Warlord Zsinj’s scouting missions.”

“No, absolutely not. The man may not be terribly brave, but he compensates for this by being venial and vengeful. Strike at him and he will feel compelled to strike back.” Isard’s expression grew distant as her voice trailed off. “No, we must concentrate on the Rebellion. All must be ready for them when they decide to strike at Imperial Center.”

“As you wish, Madam Director.”

“You had better hope so, Agent Loor. If Derricote does not have his distraction for them available then, I shall have to take drastic steps to assure that anyone connected with his project does not fall into Rebel hands.” She smiled coldly. “And if I were you, the implications thereof would frighten me to death.”

8

Wedge dried the palms of his hands on his thighs as he watched Admiral Ackbar rise in response to Mon Mothma’s invitation. “Thank you, Chief Councilor. My staff and I have spent a considerable amount of time since yesterday’s session reviewing and analyzing all pertinent files concerning Coruscant. While we are still of the opinion that a blockade of the world is the preferable course of action from the military point of view, we are willing to concede that other factors may make this option unavailable to us.”

Mon Mothma smiled with genuine pleasure. “I appreciate your efforts in this regard, my friend. Have you discovered another way to approach this problem?”

“We have identified a number of them, Chief Councilor.”

Borsk Fey’lya tapped a button on the datapad in front of him. “A more logical course would have been to identify the greatest problem preventing our conquest, would it not?”

The Mon Calamari nodded solemnly in the Bothan’s direction. “We have done this as well. Clearly the overlapping
planetary shields are the primary impediment to achieving our goal.”

The large black Wookiee seated to Princess Leia’s right growled a question that Leia’s gold 3PO unit translated. “Oh, my, Councilor Kerrithrarr wishes to know if you have found a way to bring the shields down?”