as Rogue Squadron's executive officer and has remained neu-,
tral regarding this prosecution. Crix Madine came over fron
the Imperial side around the same time you did, Captain.
Given his work planning covert missions for the Empire, I
would have to guess he has met Iceheart and is aware of the
work she has done. He knows of your reputation and, being
a Corellian like Commander Antilles, has an appreciation of
bravery and audacity."
"You're forgetting, Counselor Yen, that Corran Horn
was Corellian, too."
"No, Commander, I've not forgotten that fact. I'm
counting on it to motivate General Madine to seek the peo-
ple truly responsible for Corran's death."
Wedge nodded. "So that's the line of defense Tycho's
been framed?"
"The truth always is the best defense. Their evidence is
all circumstantial, so we can slip someone or several some-
ones in to raise doubt about who actually committed the
crime." Nawara Ven pressed his hands fiat on the table.
"This trial will be played as much to public opinion as to the
judges. It's going to do no good if the people think Captain
Celchu is guilty while the court lets him off. Everyone knows
how twisted and full of plots the Empire was. The mention
of Kirtan Loor and Lusankya allows us to bring up Ysanne
Isard. I can show that Captain Celchu's pattern of activity is
all wrong by showing what Isard does do with her people. I
can even point to the bombing as likely residue of her evil. If
we have public opinion looking at Captain Celchu as the last
victim of Imperial intrigue, a Rebellion hero being destroyed
by a bitter and vengeful Empire, we have a lot of maneuver-
ing room in the aftermath of the trial."
Nawara Ven's explanation made sense to Wedge, but he
didn't like all it entailed. Fighting enemies who were shoot-
ing back was one thing. Winning a court case was quite
another--one akin to politics, and Wedge knew he'd utterly
failed in that arena at the Council meeting. Waging a public
relations war to win the hearts and minds of a planet for a
man who was already being entered into the pantheon of evil
with Darth Vader, Prince Xizor, Ysanne Isard, and the Em-
peror himself--well, that was a battle no one could consider
easy.
Wedge nodded toward the lawyer. "What happens if
Tycho is found guilty?"
"Hard to say. There's no clear appeals system set up.
Unless the judges reverse their decision, he'll be stuck."
Tycho raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by
stuck?"
"This is treason, Captain, and murder." Nawara Ven
shook his head as Whistler moaned. "Given the mood of the
people and the nature of your crime, if we lose, the New
Republic will put you to death."
5
As Wedge entered the darkened briefing room, the pilots of
Rogue Squadron broke from the knot surrounding Nawara
Ven and took their places. Some of their expressions were
difficult to read. Riv Shiel, the Shistavanen wolfman, wore
his perpetual impenetrable frown. Gavin Darklighter, the
youngest of the pilots in Rogue Squadron, seemed fairly
cheerful, but the hardness of the flesh gathered at the corners
of his eyes betrayed the pressure most of the rest of the unit
felt.
Wedge stepped behind and past Aril Nunb, then paused
with the holoprojection table in front of him. "I appreciate
your getting here so quickly. I had hoped we'd get at least a
week's liberty after the conquest of Coruscant .... "
The fiery-haired lieutenant in the front row, Pash
Cracken, shrugged. "We've not had that much to celebrate,
sir."
"I know." Corran's death, then Tycho's arrest, had un-
dercut the Rogues when they should have been enjoying their
greatest triumph. While everyone else on Coruscant was ju-
bilant about the world's liberation, the Rogues felt still en-
slaved by Tycho's plight. The contrast between the
congratulations they got from others and the way they felt
inside remained sharp enough to slice them up emotionally.
To save themselves, the squadron members had rallied
around Tycho and were determined to prove his innocence.
That provided them a sanctuary and sense of control, though
it did nothing to endear them to others who thought Tycho's
guilt was indisputable.
"The one thing we do know, people, is that the source of
our problems lies on the Imp side of things. We should also
realize that what we're suffering is nothing compared to
what hundreds of thousands of people out there are suffer-
ing." Wedge pointed a finger toward Nawara and Riv Shiel,
then glanced back at Aril Nunb. "Three of our own came
down with this Krytos virus, but they got quick treatment
with enough bacta to knock it out. Bacta is in high demand
right now, but supplies are very short."
Erisi Dlarit, the dark-haired pilot from Thyferra, pressed
a hand to her own sternum. "I know the cartels are produc-
ing as much as they can--at least the Xucphra group is. I
have personally sent messages to my grandfather to let him
know of the need for bacta here."
"Thanks, Erisi, every bit of help we can get is vital."
Wedge folded his arms across his chest. "Warlord Zsinj hit a
bacta convoy heading out from Thyferra. I believe it was
from the Zaltin group, Erisi, not your family's corporation.
Zsinj took the bacta to a storage facility, but a member of the
Ashern rebel group . . ."
"Terrorists!" Erisi spat.
"... happened to be crewing aboard the Zaltin ships.
He managed to get a message out concerning the location of
the space station Zsinj is using." Wedge nodded toward Aril,
and the Sullustan punched up a holographic image of the
station on the holoprojector. The station consisted of a
central disk with thick expanses of living quarters above
and below the horizon. Slender towers rose from the mid-
dle of the disk, suggesting the station had been impaled on
spears. Three wedge-shaped launch-and-recovery causeways
stabbed out into space from the central disk like spokes
meant to connect up with a nonexistent rim.
"This is an Empress-class space station located in the
Yag'Dhul system. Basic armament is ten turbo-laser batteries
and six laser cannons. It also has the capability of housing up
to three squadrons of TIEs, though the usual complement is
only two dozen fighters. The bacta is being held here, and
we're going to get it away from them."
As Wedge continued his briefing, little glowing icons ap-
peared to hover around the station. Each represented a ship
and entered the display as its part in the operation was ex-
plained. "We will be leading two squadrons from General
Salm's Defender Wing to pull a quick strafing run on the
station and get them to scramble their fighters. The squad-
rons we'll have with us are Warden and Champion--you
remember them, they saved us at Borleias."
The Gand toward the back raised a three-fingered hand.
"As Ooryl remembers it, Commander Antilles, Defender
Wing flies Y-wing fighters. Provoking TIE fighters to come
out and attack Y-wings would seem to Ooryl as potentially
dangerous for Defender's pilots."
"Your concern is noted, Ooryl, and has been taken into
account. Guardian Squadron, the third of Defender Wing's
component parts, has been refitted with B-wings. This adds
considerable firepower to the wing. We'll pull the TIEs out
and away from the station and the B-wings will drop on
them and help us kill them. The Y-wings will continue in
toward the space station and start working on its defenses
with their ion cannons.
"Following us in will be a half-dozen assault shuttles
and then enough bulk-cruisers to haul the bacta away. This
is a hit, hold, then run operation."
Gavin smiled. "Sounds like a dew-run."
"Maybe." Pash Cracken leaned forward in his chair.
"Where's the Iron Fist supposed to be?"
Wedge shook his head. "I've been given no data con-
cerning the Iron Fist." Warlord Zsinj's flagship was one of
the Super-class Star Destroyers created by the Kuat Drive
Yard's shipworks before the Empire collapsed. The ships
were, for all intents and purposes, fleets unto themselves.
They carried 144 fighters, had a crew of over a quarter of a
million people, and bristled with over a thousand missile
launchers, ion cannons, and turbolaser batteries. Though the
Rebel fleet had managed to destroy the Executor at Endor,
everyone knew that ship had died because of luck, not skill.
If the Iron Fist showed up at Yag'Dhul, the operation
was doomed. Wedge knew it, as did all of the pilots in the
room. "While I am as concerned about the appearance of
Iron Fist as any of you, I know the bacta is too valuable to
risk on an operation that could be so easily jeopardized. I
have to assume that Intelligence has the Iron Fist located and
that it won't interfere with the mission. If it does show up, all
we can do is pull out." And hope no one gets left behind.
Rhysati Ynr, the blond woman sitting next to Nawara
Ven, raised her hand. "Do we just fly cover when the assault
shuttles go in, or are we going to land and go in-station,
tOO?"
"Right now we're just flying cover. If things change,
you'll be the first to know." Wedge sighed. "We're heading
out in twelve hours, so you're now all under security quaran-
tine. Report to your quarters, get your gear, and go to the
hangar. Once there you'll get a more specific briefing and run
through a basic simulation of the exercise before we leave.
Any other questions?"
Gavin looked around nervously, then nodded. ,,sir,
won't Nawara's heading out on a mission compromise Cap-
tain Celchu's defense? I mean, shouldn't Nawara be here
setting things up?"
A question I asked myself. "Your concerns, Gavin, are
valid, but not terribly important in the face of what we're
doing here. We're already one pilot light because of Corran's
death, so we need everyone we can get. The fact is that ob-
taining the bacta is far more important to the future of the
New Republic than Tycho's trial, so that is our priority."
"Besides, I have Whistler and Emtrey doing a lot of com-
puter fact-finding for me right now." Nawara sat forward
and slapped Gavin on the shoulder. "The lawyering part of
all this comes later. It occurs to me that if we do get the bacta
and things begin to calm down, someone might start listen-
ing to reason instead of political pressure, and this case will
be dumped in some black hole, where it deserves to be."
"May the Force be with you in that regard." Wedge
smiled openly. "If that's it, get going. Everyone should be in
the hangar in an hour at the very latest."
As the pilots started to leave the room, Wedge caught
the eye of a black-and-white-furred Bothan female. "Sei'lar,
if I could have a moment of your time." "Yes, Commander."
He watched Asyr as she waited for the others to leave,
then walked toward him. There was no overt challenge in
her stride, though the fire in her violet eyes did reveal a
strong streak of Bothan pride running in her. Splotches of
white fur covered her from throat to belly, gloved her, and
slashed down from her forehead over her left eye to her
cheek. They almost succeeded in diluting the predatory
power in her petite frame. She stopped before him and
snapped to attention.
"At ease, Sei'lar."
"Thank you, sir."
"You might want to reserve your thanks until you've
heard what I have to say." Wedge looked down on her and
saw her fur ripple with irritation. "Two things I want to
discuss. The first is Gavin."
Asyr blinked with surprise that flowed out into her fur.
"I was under the impression that pairing among members of
the squadron was not prohibited. Nawara and Rhysati, and
Erisi and Corran . . ."
"I'm not under the impression anything was going on
between Erisi and Corran."
"But her reaction to his death . . ."
"They were close, but not in that way, as I understand
it." Wedge frowned for a moment. Mirax Terrik had been
crushed by Corran's death and had confided in Wedge that
she and Corran had chosen to begin dating once the con-
quest of Coruscant had been accomplished. Though Corran
had never revealed his feelings about Erisi or Mirax to
Wedge, Corran's attraction to Mirax had been fairly easy to
spot, which led Wedge to believe Erisi was out of the picture.
"Regardless of what was or was not happening between
Erisi and Corran, or what is or is not happening between
Rhysati and Nawara, the big difference between those situa-
tions and your situation with Gavin is that Gavin's barely
seventeen years old. He's very young and hasn't had the ex-
periences that your education at the Bothan Martial Acad-
emy has afforded you. He's not a stupid young man--he's
actually fairly intelligent--but his upbringing on Tatooine
has left him a bit idealistic."
Asyr's violet eyes sank into crescents. "Are you ordering
me to stop seeing him?"
Wedge laughed. "No, not at all. You've only been out
twice----"
"Have you had someone watching us?"
"No, and that's just the point." Wedge opened his
hands. "Gavin is so taken with you that his enthusiasm isn't
always kept under control. While he remains very circum-
spect about private moments you have shared, he is very
happy to let others know how much fun you're having to-
gether doing all the things you have done. It's all very inno-
cent and natural, but it's also a sign of his falling in love with
you. He may not quite be there yet, but he'll be hurt badly if
you pull away from him abruptly after too much longer. I
don't want to se
e him hu, so if you don't really care for
him, let him down easy and now, please."
Asyr's chin came up and defiance blazed in her eyes.
"What makes you think I might be toying with him?"
"The second thing I want to discuss with you does,
Sei'lar. I wonder if you don't have another agenda that
you're working on." Wedge met her hot stare unflinchingly.
"You graduated near the top of your class from the Bothan
Martial Academy but never formally entered the military.
Your records are decidedly sketchy, but I would imagine,
given your age, that you were recruited into the Martial In-
telligence Division of the Bothan military in an effort to re-
plenish the supply of spies who died securing the plans to the
second Death Star. The fact that you were already here on
Coruscant when our operation arrived suggests the Bothan
government had its own goals here on Coruscant."
"But you forget, sir, that I did help organize and partici-
pate in the operations that cleared the way for the Rebel
Alliance to take the planet."
"I never accused you of being stupid, Sei'lar. Quite the
contrary, I think you are very intelligent. You saw an oppor-
tunity that had to succeed and you did your best to make it
succeed." Wedge let a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.
"That self-same intelligence is why I want you in this squad-
ron.
"The fact is, Sei'lar, who and what you are makes you
very valuable and desirable. I want you here in Rogue Squad-
ron. I think you are an incredible asset to the Rebellion. Flip
a bit, though, and it's easy to see that your Bothan masters
also find you quite useful. That means, sooner or later,
you're going to have some decisions to make."
Asyr glanced down. "Decisions about Gavin."
"And about your loyalties to your planet and your na-
tion."
"Or my squadron."
"Exactly." Wedge nodded slowly. The pressure is not on
you right now, but it will come. Borsk Fey'lya likes having a
Bothan in Roque Squadron, but at some point he'll want to
exert control over you.
Her head came back up. "Do you want me to make
those decisions right now?"
"I want you to make them when you feel they need to be
made. I trust you, and I want to continue to trust you. If you
Star Wars - X-Wing - Krytos Trap Page 5