Star Wars - X-Wing - The Bacta War

by Michael A. Stackpole

  matter what Iceheart intended though I do think Booster is more right than you

  are here, Corranthe fact is that we have two weeks to prevent her from

  slaughtering thirty thousand Vratix. Conspiracy or no, trap or no, we have to

  act."

  "I wasn't saying we shouldn't act, Wedge." Corran shook his head to clear his

  mind. "I'm just saying it's not an obvious attempt to provoke us."

  "CorSec always did miss the obvious." Booster snorted with disgust, then hit a

  couple of keys on the datapad centered on his desk. "Do we initiate things?"

  "Can we?" Wedge's brown eyes narrowed. "Where do we stand on the refits?"

  "The sensor and targeting units are all in place. If we use the crews from the

  freighters we have hanging around here, I can have the launchers ready to go

  inside a week." Booster looked up. "Karrde even has our last shipment of

  concussion missiles and proton torpedoes ready to go. An hour after I send him a

  message via the HoloNet, his convoy should be assembled. We can have it here

  within a day, with missile

  batteries and torpedo magazines fully loaded twelve hours later, if all goes

  well."

  "What about the gravity well projector."

  "Got it, and it's being installed now."

  "Good. Let's get things going. Call Karrde and set up a rendezvous for

  twenty-four hours from now." Wedge glanced up at Corran. "Will you be ready to

  lead a flight out to escort them in by that time?"

  Corran hesitated, not certain what he heard was really what Wedge said. "Escort

  them in?"

  "I'll make it thirty-six hourslet him get some sleep."

  "Fine, Booster, that should work."

  "Wait, wait, wait." Corran held his hands up. "You really intend for me to lead

  Karrde's convoy here? We aren't going to work out some transfer thing?"

  Wedge shook his head. "No. Time is of the essence."

  "But, Wedge, sir, begging your pardon, if we do that, then Isard will know where

  we are. The Lusankya and the Virulence could be here just twenty-four hours

  after we get back with the convoy." Corran frowned and rubbed a hand over his

  wrinkled brow. "I thought Booster determined that someone in Karrde's

  organization provided Isard with the data to set up the Alderaan ambush. You're

  practically inviting Isard here."

  Booster smiled. "No practically about it, Corran, we are inviting her here."

  "But you can't do that! Even if this station were bristling with missile

  launchers, there's no way we could take down a Super Star Destroyer and an

  Impstar deuce."

  Wedge shook his head. "I understand your protest, Corran, but you're not privy

  to the plans Booster, Tycho, and I have put together for dealing with Isard and

  her fleet. You do know we've been taking her forces apart bit by bit, which

  certainly was part of our overall plan, but we had to make decisions about what

  to do if Iceheart forced our hand, and she has."

  "Then tell me what the plans are so I don't think you've lost your minds."

  "Can't do that, CorSec." Booster flipped his datapad

  closed with a click. "You're going to go out and get the convoy and bring it

  here. If Isard decides to act early and take our pilots hostage , she can't

  torture out of you information you don't have."

  Wedge nodded in agreement. "And I need you to lead the escort flight because

  Isard and her agent would not believe we were on the level if you or Tycho or I

  did not bring the flight in. I don't want to cut you out like this, but the less

  you know, the less you can reveal."

  Corran felt his flesh tighten around little goose bumps and a wave of weariness

  wash over him. "I hear what you're saying, Wedge, but are you certain this is

  going to work?"

  Booster roared with laughter. "Certain? Certain? Of course he's not certain. The

  man who would only bet on certainty has no guts."

  "I have plenty of guts, Booster, but I don't like risking them, or my life, or

  the lives of my friends, if I don't have to. Certainty, or as close as I can get

  to it, is what I want."

  "And you call yourself a Corellian?" The big man snorted derisively as he sat

  back in his chair. "No wonder you joined CorSec."

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "I thought it was obvious, CorSec. If you had the guts for lifeif you were even

  to imagine yourself worthy of my daughteryou wouldn't have spent your life in

  service to the Empire's puppet. You played it safe when men with real courage

  were out there defying the government."

  Corran's fatigue melted as his anger grew. "Oh, you're going to use the

  smugglers are really patriots story to excuse your greed? Let me tell you

  something, Booster Terrik, you can think of yourself as a noble scoundrel if you

  want, but the fact is you were out for money when you were running shipments,

  nothing more. The fact that you didn't pay taxes on what you imported, the fact

  that you broke laws, might mark you as some sort of protester against the

  government in the eyes of some, but I know the truth. You were just a

  criminalnot as violent or bad as some others, but a criminal just the same.

  And those taxes you didn't pay were the kind of taxes that build roads, maintain

  spaceports, and educate kids.

  What you did was deny them their due, and provide the contraband that allowed

  organizations like Black Sun and Hutt bands to thrive on our world."

  Corran thrust a finger directly at Booster. "And as for being worthy of your

  daughter, I'm the worthiest man you ever met. Every gram of character you think

  you have, she does have. And brains, too, and courage. And even you, Booster

  Terrik, don't want to see her hooking up with a man who has your morals and

  standards."

  Booster rose from behind his desk, his hands balled into fists. "And if you were

  the man you think you are, Corran Horn, you'd not have abandoned her on

  Thyferra."

  "Abandoned her?" Corran's mind flashed back to his mad dash into the refresher

  station and his fight with the stormtroopers. I didn't abandon her. "You want to

  talk abandonment? I left for five seconds to save her life. You left her for

  five years, Booster, or have you forgotten your vacation on Kessel?"

  "A 'vacation' your father got for me, Horn."

  Wedge stood abruptly and posted a hand in the middle of each man's chest. "All

  right, stop it. Right now." He gave each of them a little shove and Corran let

  himself be propelled back toward the doorway. Wedge turned to Booster, shifted

  both hands to the larger man's shoulders, and forced him down into his chair.

  "Listen to me, Boosterand you'll listen because you don't want to find yourself

  in the situation of having Mirax say this to you Corran Horn here is one of the

  smartest, skilled, and courageous men it's been my privilege to know. He escaped

  from a prison that makes Kessel look like a resort world with hourly shuttles in

  and out. He's gone and done things on missions that put him at risk because

  those things save the lives of others. If not for him, Coruscant would still be

  in Imperial hands and I, as well as your daughter, would be dead or Isard's

  slaves.

  "When you arrived on this station, you said you thought I would have protected
>
  Mirax from the likes of Corran." Wedge shook his head. "The real story is that I

  was overjoyed when they became friends. Mirax needed someone as stable

  as Corran because she's never really sure where you are or what's happened to

  you. And Corran, he needed someone with Mirax's curiosity and fervor for life

  because he'd been cut off from everyone he knew and trusted. Both of them were

  gyros that needed to be spin balanced, and they did that for each other."

  Before Corran could begin to grin triumphantly, Wedge whirled and stabbed a

  finger into his chest. "And you, my friend, need to get some perspective here.

  You're seeing Booster as your father's old enemy, and your father isn't here to

  put him in his place. Well, you aren't your father. Their fight isn't your

  fight, and you can't stand in for your father in it. And you should be smart

  enough to know Booster doesn't have a problem with you because you were Hal

  Horn's son he's got the same problem with you that every father ever had with

  any man romancing his daughter. She's the best thing that ever happened to him."

  Corran nodded. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me, too."

  "Right, which means the two of you have more in common than either one of you

  would admit. Now the both of you better think on this Mirax loves both of you,

  so unless you think she's got no taste or character judgment at all, you better

  figure you both are worthy of each other's respect." Wedge folded his arms and

  positioned himself so he could see both of them easily. "I don't expect you'll

  ever get to the point where you actually like each other, but, when you're both

  acting like adults, you'll be above this sort of bickering."

  Corran looked up and met Booster's stare openly. Waiting to see if I break,

  aren't you? Waiting to see if I knuckle under. In a nanosecond Corran resolved

  never to give in, never to change his opinion of Booster. While all Wedge had

  said was trueand made damned good senseCorran had been raised with his

  father's rivalry with Booster Terrik. If I do give in, I've betrayed my father.

  Or have If Corran frowned as he thought about his father and the life his

  father had led. Hal Horn had lived for years with the knowledge that he was

  really the son of a Jedi and subject to the extermination policy the Empire had

  put in

  place concerning Jedi. His father could have done anything to make himself safe.

  He could have retreated to the hinterlands of some backwater world and become a

  hermit, but he chose not to absent himself from the duty his fatherfathers,

  reallyhad acquitted. A Jedi helped maintain the peace and uphold the law. Hal

  Horn did the same thing as best he could by working with CorSec, no matter that

  his duties might expose him to the Emperor's Jedi hunters.

  Corran suddenly realized that his father's rivalry with Booster Terrik had not

  been personal. Hal Horn had pursued Booster because Booster broke the law. Yes,

  the fact that Booster evaded him repeatedly did frustrate him, but the basis of

  his pursuit was always the same. He didn't let it get personal. I have and in

  that I've betrayed my father. He glanced down for a moment and thought about

  some of the exercises Luke Skywalker had urged him to try out. By making things

  personalKirtan Loor and Zekka ThyneI have betrayed the Jedi traditions my

  father, in his own cautious way, tried to instill in me.

  Corran's head came up as he stepped forward and extended his hand to Booster.

  "You're not my enemy. Never have been. I'm not yours. For the sake of your

  daughter, the people we've got to save, and the memory of my father, I don't

  want to fight with you anymore. Doesn't mean we won't disagreeperhaps even

  violently at timesbut you don't deserve my ill-will."

  Surprise slowly blossomed on Booster Terrik's face. He started to say something,

  then stopped. His hand came up and engulfed Corran's. "Normally I'd be angry

  that I had misjudged you so badly, but you've reinforced just how good a judge

  of character my daughter really is. And you're right, we'll disagree and I can

  guarantee it'll be violent, but that's okay. We're Corellians. We can do that."

  Wedge dropped his hand on top of theirs. "Good. You know, the Imps on Coruscant.

  used to call two Corellians together a conspiracy. Three they'd call a fight."

  "More fools they, then." Corran smiled. "Any Corellian knows three of us

  together is a victory. It's time we remind Iceheart and the rest of Imp

  holdovers of that very fact."

  32

  Corran glanced at the chronographic display on the X-wing's main monitor.

  "Whistler, confirm that we're ten standard minutes past the time for the

  rendezvous."

  The R2 unit blatted out an annoyed tone.

  "Fine, so I won't ask you to confirm how late they are anymoreat least not

  every minute." Corran forced himself to exhale deeply and tried to draw in some

  of the inner peace that Luke indicated such a cleansing breath should bring in

  its wake. He failed, and that just heightened his frustration. Despite

  accepting the mission, he had not liked having to be the one to draw Isard's

  agent into Yag'Dhul. While he knew the deception Booster and Wedge had planned

  would certainly make the discovery of their base appear to be serendipitous,

  every second Karrde's people were late allowed the image of a Thyferran

  taskforce appearing to pounce on them grow in his mind.

  It wouldn't have been so bad, but Corran had not come alone. Gavin, Rhysati, and

  Inyri flew X-wings to give him a complete flight, and Mirax had come along in

  the Pulsar Skate. None of them knew how dangerous their mission might beand

  Corran granted that the odds of their ending

  up dead on this mission probably were no greater than they were on any otherbut

  he still would have felt better if he could have told them what was really going

  on. Of course, that would mean I'd have to know what was going on.

  A light flashed on his communications console. He punched the button beneath it.

  "Nine here."

  "Skate here, Nine." Mirax's voice sounded good to him and immediately began to

  take the edge off his frustration. "So, as long as we're waiting, you want to

  tell me what you said to my father?"

  Corran frowned. "How do you know about that?"

  "Well, I could say that you talk in your sleep, but you don't." The light tone

  in her voice conveyed the image of her smiling face to him. "When we headed out,

  my father shot me a private message. Normally he says I should make sure you

  take good care of me. This time he said I should keep my eye on you and follow

  your lead. Bit of a difference there."

  "Yeah, just a bit."

  "So?"

  "We had a talk."

  "Are you going to tell me what was said, or am I going to convince Emtrey he

  needs to spend more time around you?"

  "Hey, no reason to trot out the turbolasers here." Corran hesitated for a

  moment, then sighed. "Your father and I had it out. He said I'd abandoned you on

  Thyferra . . ."

  "What?!"

  ". . . and I accused him of having abandoned you when he went to Kessel."

  "What?! You really told him that?"

  "Yeah, then I told him that you were everything he wante
d to be and that the

  last person he should want interested in his daughter was someone who held

  himself to the same level of morality and responsibility he did."

  "And you still have your arms and legs intact?"

  "Your father isn't exactly a Wookiee, Mirax." Corran forced a laugh. "Besides,

  it was about that point when Wedge intervened."

  "Ah, that explains why you're both still alive."

  "Right. Wedge pointed out that since you love the both

  of us, we've got a lot more in common than we do in conflict. He said, in

  essence, that we should grow up and start acting like adults."

  Mirax laughed lightly. "I bet that went over well with my father."

  "He listened, and the two of us were prepared to get back into it, but I let

  things bounce around inside my head and I realized I was disliking your father

  for the wrong reasons. Somewhere inside I figured it was my duty to my father

  to continue his rivalry with your father, then I realized my father hadn't let

  it get personal. He might have hunted your father with a bit more gusto because

  your father didn't make it easy, but he didn't hate Booster. By allowing myself

  to do so, though, I was really going against everything my father had tried to

  teach me."

  "I can understand that." Mirax's voice softened. "And it kind of bothers you

  that your father never told you who your grandfather really was, doesn't it?"

  Corran thought for a second, then nodded. "I guess it does, but not in the sense

  that I would have expected. Part of me thinks I should feel betrayed because he

  kept that secret from me, but I don't, really. In keeping it from me, he kept me

  safe. What I didn't know I couldn't reveal. I still don't know if Grandpa Horn

  helped other Corellian Jedi families hide, but if one had been found out, more

  could have been discovered. And my father really did try to instill in me the

  code of honor the Jedi espoused. He also taught me to trust my instincts and

  hunches, which are glimmers of whatever talent I have.

  "Where it bothers me is that, knowing my father, he had to have been

  inordinately proud of our heritage. He must have wanted to share it with me and

  would have, I suspect, after the Emperor died, but Bossk killed him before that

  happened. I would have thought he'd have come up with a way to get me the

  information if anything happened to him."