Solo Command

by Aaron Allston

  Her wind gone, her energy gone, she could only stare up the steps to where Tolokai stood. His expression was as rea­sonable, as emotionless as ever—as it was with every Gotal. She tried to ask him why, but could only mouth the word; she had no breath with which to expel it.

  But he understood. A Gotal would. "For my people," he said. "To rid the universe of the scourge you call humankind. I'm sorry." He descended the steps with meticulous care.

  When he was halfway down, Malan, his tunic drenched with blood, came toppling over the rail from the first flight of steps and fell full upon Tolokai. Then the two males were falling and rolling, to the accompanying sound of cracking bones.

  Mon Mothma tried to get clear, succeeded in rolling part­way aside, and the two men landed across her legs, pinning her in place.

  The men lay still, their eyes closed. Tolokai's head was bent at an angle that was not survivable. Malan had frothy blood on his lips. Mon Mothma looked at them, trying to grasp what had gone so wrong in Tolokai's mind ... trying to under­ stand how Malan had managed to surprise him with his at­ tack. It shouldn't have been possible.

  Then Malan's eyes opened. "Iwo," he said, "Iwo, Iwo..." His words were mere whispers, barely audible.

  Mon Mothma leaned closer to hear him.

  "Iwo, I won't be getting you that caf." His eyes closed and his head fell back. But his chest still rose and fell, though there was a rattle in his breathing.

  And once again, Mon Mothma had work to do. She brought out her personal comlink and thumbed it on. "Emergency," she said. "Councilors' Floors, Stairwell One. Emergency."

  Liquid rolled down her face. She wiped at it with her free hand and looked at it, expecting to see more of Malan's blood, but her own tears glistened in her palm.

  Galey was a massive man, all chest and muscle, with legs that were short enough to keep his height in the average range, though no one dared tell him he wasn't proportioned like a holo­drama idol. His hair was red and shaggy and his expression perpetually quizzical, as though he didn't ever quite understand what was going on around him.

  Which wasn't the case. He understood his job well enough— programming menus for the cafeteria and officers' dinners on Mon Remonda, making sure there was hot, fresh caf available at all the conferences and meetings and briefings, making spe­cial arrangements for dinners for important visitors.

  This was an important job. He knew it to be at least as sig­ nificant as any piloting position. A military force ran on its stomach, after all.

  But the job didn't pay well, and offered little respect, and so he was very attentive on his last leave on Coruscant when the men with intelligent eyes came to him and offered him a lot of money.

  And now he was supposed to kill somebody. Somebody important. It would take precise timing and careful arrange­ ment. It would take skill and knowledge.

  So it pleased him that he had figured out just what the various requests for refreshments actually meant. They were like a code, and he had cracked it.

  A request for one large pot of caf and a tray of sweet pas­ tries for the captain's conference room, for instance. That meant an unscheduled but routine staff meeting led by Han Solo, not by Captain Onoma. Onoma's meetings were always smaller and didn't call for quite so much caf.

  The pilot briefings also called for caf, but if a request in­cluded both sweet pastries and meat rolls, it meant there would be a mission. So when the request came in this morning, he knew he had his opportunity to earn all that money.

  He delivered the cart of refreshments to the pilots' main briefing amphitheater and then loitered out in the hall with a datapad and a second cart of caf, offering cups to anyone who asked for them. Soon enough, the pilots of Mon Remonda's four starfighter squadrons began filing in.

  He waved at the huge Rogue, the one almost too tall to fit in his cockpit with the canopy down—Tal'dira, the Twi'lek. "Lieutenant, can I have a moment?"

  Tal'dira frowned at this odd request. He glanced at the other Rogues, as though to gauge whether they, too, found it out of keeping, but they swept past him into the briefing cham­ ber. "Well," he said, "only a moment. The briefing is about to start. You're Kaley, aren't you?"

  "Galey. And I have an important message for you. From someone who's finally realized she'd like to meet you." He beckoned Tal'dira and walked around the nearest corner.

  The pilot followed, an intent expression on his face. "You don't mean—"

  "Here's what she has to say. 'Wedge Antilles hops on one transparisteel leg.'"

  Tal'dira rocked back on his heels, his expression shocked.

  He swayed on his feet and reached out to steady himself against the wall. "No."

  "It's true. He really does."

  The Twi'lek gripped his head as though to restrain some explosive force within it. "I hate that."

  "Me, too. We all do."

  Tal'dira stood upright again, with a new look in his eyes. "But I can put a stop to it."

  "And you should. But wait until after the meeting. Then you can do it in an X-wing."

  "You're right." The pilot slapped Galey on his shoulder, propelling him into the wall. "You're a good friend."

  "As are you." Galey thought about giving Tal'dira a return blow, then decided against it. "May the Force be with you."

  Tal'dira nodded briskly and turned back toward the brief­ing amphitheater.

  Galey breathed out a sigh of relief and rubbed his shoulder where it still stung. He hoped the other Twi'lek wouldn't be quite so violent.

  "For the last few hours," Wedge said, "we've been in hyper­space en route to the Jussafet system."

  A hologram starfield popped up to the left of the lectern where Wedge stood. It showed a cluster of stars near a fuzzy diamond-shaped nebula. One star blinked yellow in a decid­edly mechanical fashion. Donos nodded; he remembered Jus­safet from discussions of strategic moves into Warlord Zsinj's territory.

  Wedge continued, "Jussafet is in the nebulous border terri­ tory between Imperial and Zsinj-controlled space. Jussafet Four is a habitable planet with some mining businesses, but the system's real wealth is in asteroid mining; they have an asteroid belt that is the remains of a large iron-core planet that broke up.

  "Earlier today, Jussafet Four sent out a distress call to the Empire, talking about a full-scale invasion by Raptors, Zsinj's elite troops. A Duros ship approaching the system to do some under-the-table trading heard the transmission and relayed it to the New Republic. We're going in to stomp on the Raptors, and hopefully Iron Fist, as well as to do some good for the people of Jussafet."

  Donos raised a hand. "What are the odds that Imperial forces will also come in to stage a rescue? It'd be nasty to fight a three-way."

  Wedge nodded. "It would. Odds are low—the Empire's hav­ ing enough trouble with us and Zsinj that it is likely to mount a more meticulous response, determining enemy strength, assem­ bling a precise task force, that sort of thing. But it's possible. We'll be taking some steps to keep them from knowing our full force strength, too. Mon Remonda is going into the system with a couple of the fleet's frigates, but Mon Karren and the Al­legiance will be waiting outside the system, ready to jump in if needed."

  Corran Horn's hand was up next. "And what are the odds that this is another Zsinj trap?"

  "Again, possible but not likely. The Duros monitoring of the battle in the asteroid belt and on jussafet suggests that we're looking at a large force of Raptors, fully engaged, not just the whispers and rumors we're used to.

  "We'll launch as soon as we drop into the system. Pole-arm's A-wings will take point and make the initial flyover on Jussafet Four. Rogue Squadron and Nova's B-wings will head into the asteroid belt to begin purging it of Zsinj forces. We have four flyers of Wraith Squadron active, and they'll escort shuttles of New Republic ground forces in to Jussafet Four."

  Face Loran, leaning forward so as to keep his injured back from making contact with the chair, spoke up. His voice emerged as an uncanny impersonation of
Tal'dira's. "This time, the Wraiths can do the baby-sitting. Now, and forever."

  The pilots laughed. All, Donos noted, except Tal'dira, who kept his attention on the desktop before him and didn't react. Corran Horn gave Tal'dira a curious glance.

  "That's it," Wedge said. "Your astromechs and nav com­puters have your navigational data. Good luck."

  As they filed out of the amphitheater, Face and Dia caught up with Donos. "I wish I were flying with you," Face said.

  "I'm glad you're not," Donos said. At Face's startled ex-

  pression, he relented, smiling. "I so seldom get to be in charge of anything, the change is welcome. You just get injured any­time you like."

  "Thanks," Face said. He stopped in the hall beside the caf cart and picked up a cup. "Thanks, Galey."

  "No problem, sir."

  As they continued down toward the starfighter hangars, Donos heard Galey say, "Excuse me, Flight Officer Tualin! A moment of your time?"

  It was hard for Tal'dira to run down his preflight checklist. His thoughts were far away. How could Wedge Antilles, hero of the Rebellion, of the New Republic, fall so far as to hop on one transparisteel leg? Nothing short of the Emperor's magic could have wrought such a change in him. Rage grew within Tal'dira and he struggled, as only a true warrior could, to keep it in check.

  "Rogues, announce readiness by number." When his time came, Tal'dira said, "Rogue Five, four lit, three at full capacity, one at ninety-nine percent." His star­board lower engine was still not optimal. He'd have to insist that it be brought up to a reasonable level of performance. After he killed Wedge Antilles, of course.

  A hangar Klaxon warned the pilots that they were dropping out of hyperspace. The twisting, whirling morass of color out­ side the magnetic shield between the hangar and vacuum abruptly snapped into a simpler image: a starfield. One small planet hung, bright and round, near the upper right corner of the magcon field.

  One by one, the Rogues shot through the field and formed up a kilometer from Mon Remonda. Tal'dira, leader of Two Flight, settled in beside his wingman, Gavin Darklighter. He felt his heart race as the moment crept toward him.

  One bit of comm traffic caught his ear, a transmission from a fellow Twi'lek: "Polearm Two to Polearm Leader. I have a critical failure of my sublight engine. I'm down to fifty-four percent. Forty. Twenty-eight..."

  "Two, this is Leader. Drop out of formation and head on in. Maybe next time ..."

  On Tal'dira's sensor screen, eleven members of Polearm Squadron leaped forward, drawing away from Mon Remonda, approaching distant Jussafet Four.

  Tal'dira's astromech transmitted the unit's course to his navigation system and he absently reviewed numbers he would never use.

  "Rogue Leader to group. On my count, ten, nine, eight..."

  "Wraith Four, you are out of position."

  Tyria looked up, startled. She was out of position. She should be maintaining her distance from Mon Remonda and letting her fellow Wraiths—Donos, Lara, and Elassar—plus four shuttles, form up on her.

  Then why had she heeled over and goosed her thrusters, heading toward the bow of Mon Remonda} Her hands had acted without her brain being engaged.

  Ahead, she could see one lonely A-wing making a tortur­ous, slow turn back toward Mon Remonda, an obvious case of engine failure.

  Obvious... but false. Adrenaline jolted through her as she saw through the A-wing's moves, through the cockpit, through the skin and blood of its pilot to the mind beneath. "Mon Re­monda," she shouted, "bring your shields up. Polearm Two—"

  "—is firing on you!"

  Han Solo didn't hesitate. "All shields up full!"

  The A-wing fired. The transparisteel viewport giving him and the bridge crew an unparalleled view of space darkened as it tried to cope with the A-wing's linked laser blasts. Then it shattered.

  To Solo's eye, the shards of viewport floated into the bridge, then immediately reversed direction and fled to space ... vanguard for the atmosphere of the bridge.

  "Four."

  Tal'dira reached up to flip the switch setting his S-foils to combat formation. They parted and his targeting computer came online.

  "Three."

  Tal'dira heeled over so his weapons aimed straight at the rear end of Wedge's X-wing. He began to swing his targeting brackets over toward the starfighter.

  "Two..."

  "Leader, break off!" Horn's voice.

  Tal'dira, jolted by the interruption, fired before his shot was completely lined up. Wedge, impossibly, was already re­ acting to Horn's warning, breaking to starboard. But Tal'dira was rewarded by the sight of his lasers, cycling two by two, chewing through the port rear of Wedge's X-wing, blowing one fuzial thrust engine completely off, punching deep into the rear fuselage.

  The comm system was suddenly loud with many voices, most of them distressed. Wedge's snubfighter continued bank­ing to starboard and lost relative altitude, and Tycho was keep­ing pace with him as only the most experienced of wingmen could.

  Tal'dira smiled. This would be a challenge. Good.

  A blast of air shoved Solo from behind—shoved him nearly out of his commander's chair and toward the hole in the forward viewport. He hung on to the chair but moved toward the hole anyway—the armature from which the chair was suspended swung inevitably in that direction. He could see, a few meters over, Captain Onoma in a similar predicament, being guided by his chair as though it were a mechanical throwing device toward the fatal exit from the bridge.

  An alarm Klaxon sounded, loud even over the shrill whis­ tle of air escaping the bridge. Solo saw the main door out of the chamber closing, an automatic safety measure.

  When it closed, he'd be dead. The last of the bridge atmo­sphere would be out there in deep space, and he'd experience the joys of explosive decompression. So would every other crew­man on the bridge.

  He got one foot down to arrest the swing of his chair ar­ mature. Fortunately, artificial gravity was still working and he stopped his forward motion.

  Then he drew his blaster and aimed for the control panel beside the main door. He fired, was rewarded with seeing the panel buckle inward under the blast—

  The door stopped.

  Now the bridge crew had a chance to make it to the door. But air was being vented from one of the ship's main corridors. They had to get through the door past that wind blast...

  And the A-wing was still out there.

  "And you're in a position to speak for the New Republic," Dr. Gast said.

  Nawara Ven, Twi'lek executive officer for Rogue Squadron, nodded. "I have been so authorized by the Inner Council. And as soon as we can come to some arrangement, you can be free of all this." His gesture took in the tiny, plain stateroom that served as Gast's cell. Ven sat on the room's only chair, while Gast stretched out on the bed, leaning back against the wall.

  "Well, you know what I want. A million credits, free of tax. Amnesty for all crimes, known and unknown, that I am al­leged to have committed. And a new identity."

  "No," Ven said. "We can offer amnesty for all crimes you offer all details on. If you hold something back, it remains live. And we can offer one hundred thousand credits. Enough for you to make a good start for yourself. But you're not going to be wealthy at the expense of the New Republic. Every credit we give you could mean the life of one of our people."

  "Every detail I give you could mean the life of ten of your people," she said. "I'll buy into the full confession thing. But one million credits stands." Distantly, an alarm Klaxon began to sound. "What's this? More warfare against Zsinj? I wonder who's going to die today?"

  Ven struggled to keep his voice under control. "We cer-

  tainly don't employ torture or murder like the Empire," he said. "On the other hand, we could keep you in custody in some free-trade port while we assemble charges, and make no secret of the fact that we have you. How long would it take Zsinj to find you, do you suppose?"

  Her expression became ugly. "For that, I hold back one de­
tail you'll never know about, and some of your oh-so-precious people die. How about that, you subhuman nothing? Give me a human negotiator."

  There was a sound beyond the door, an unmistakable one: two blasts in quick succession, two scrapes and thuds as bodies hit the floor.

  Ven stood. He grabbed the side of Gast's bed and yanked, precipitating her to the floor. He shoved the bed over on her, then slid to stand beside the door.

  "Hey!" she said. The bed rocked as she struggled to free herself.

  The door slid open. A blaster gripped in a large human hand entered first. Ven grabbed the blaster, twisted it up.

  He had a brief glimpse of the man he was wrestling with: big but not tall, fleshy, with red hair. Then burning liquid washed into his eye. He yelped, instinctively turned away from the pain.