Star Wars - X-Wing 02 - Wedge's Gamble

by Michael A. Stackpole

  "Wait." The man went for the identification cards and held them out. "I should check with .. ."

  Iella snatched the datacards from him. "Compound­ing the possible charges against you? Is there a conspiracy between you and your cohorts? How much do they pay you for your part in the smuggling operation?" Iella paced around him like a Thevaxan Marauder stalking

  prey.

  "What smuggling?" The man's hands came up as he turned to face her. "I don't know no ..."

  Wedge's boxy right hand crashed onto the back of the man's head, dropping him to the ground. Iella immedi­ately turned to the interior door while Mirax let Emtrey into the foyer. The droid held blaster carbines for each of the others and passed them out carefully. Iella checked

  hers, then passed the downed man's identification card through the coded slot.

  The door buzzed. Iella jerked it open and Wedge and Mirax hurried through it, brandishing their weapons at the trio of men lounging at a hologame table. Beyond them, filling the walls of the rectangular command center, monitors, gauges, dials, and fights displayed an unending amount of information about every phase of the construc­tion droid's operation. The multicolored lights tended mostly to be green, which underscored the sick pallor of the men's flesh tones.

  "Lie down on the floor and no one gets hurt." Mirax pointed her carbine at the men and smiled. "I ask once— after that I have the droid pitch your bodies off the front and you'll end up as compost in some Ithorian's indoor garden, understand? That's it, hug that deck and you won't have to be enlightened."

  Iella held the door open as Wedge went back through and dragged the unconscious man into the cockpit. The other three looked shocked to see him down, but his snores reassured them somewhat as to their own fate. Iella used some synthetic binders to fasten their hands be­hind their backs and link their legs together. "They can be tightened, gentlemen, so rest easy and there will be no need to make you more uncomfortable."

  While Iella took over covering the men, Wedge re­moved his mask and joined Mirax at the command con­sole. "Can you drive this thing?"

  Mirax tipped her head to one side, then the other, hesitated, then nodded. "It's a bit more complex than the one I've used before, but I think Emtrey can help me through this. Emtrey, bring this monster around on a new heading for our target."

  "Yes, Mistress Terrik. There, new course is set."

  The main viewscreen showed a nighttime landscape of lights and shadows begin to scroll across as the con­struction droid executed a ninety-degree turn toward the south. In the distance, between two stocky office towers,

  Wedge made out the squat form of Subsidiary Computer Center Number Four. "Right on target."

  "Good." Mirax looked up and hit a glowing red but­ton. The light started flashing red.

  "What's that?"

  "All government buildings are required to have evac­uation alarms in the case of a catastrophe."

  Wedge smiled. "Like a construction droid bearing down on it?"

  "It's easy to see how you got that squadron com­mand, Wedge." Mirax poked him playfully in the stom­ach with an elbow. "The alarms are going off in every building for ten kilometers along our line of advance. The same evacuation alarms are required in residential areas with a relatively high assessed value. Not so in places like

  Invisec."

  Emtrey turned from his position. "Sir, I have inserted the auxiliary code into the blueprints here. Our computer center is begun."

  The buildings in their path immediately came alive with lights moving at a variety of speeds. Wedge scanned the console and punched a button, shifting the image over from visible light to infrared. He saw traces from all man­ner of speeders heading out and away. A solid mass of gold tinged with red at the top and bottom surged across the bridges connecting the doomed towers with safer buildings.

  The console's comm unit came alive. "This is the Ministry of Planning and Zoning. Construction droid Foursixnine, do you have a problem? We're showing a de­viation of your course."

  Wedge hit the reply button. "No problem here, we just have new plans. With Coruscant being under new management, we wanted to get things started early to ease the transition."

  "What are you talking about? Who is this?"

  "Rogue Squadron Contracting. X-wings are faster, but they don't build things as nicely as this does. Antilles

  out." He hit the comm, terminating the conversation. "There, think that will make us a target?"

  Iella laughed. "If it doesn't, that's just one more ex­ample of why the Empire is too stupid to survive."

  Captain Uwlla Iillor of the New Republic Interdictor cruiser Corusca Rainbow glanced at the chronographic display built into the arm of her command chair, then up at the holographic representation of Coruscant hovering in the middle of the bridge. The display indicated there were only twenty standard minutes left before the Rebel fleet would be within range for her to pull them from hy­perspace. If she did not, they would continue on into the system and arrive around Coruscant to do battle for the Jewel of the Empire.

  The hologram of Coruscant—which was based on Imperial Traffic Control data broadcast to the system— showed the world as a translucent sphere studded with a rainbow of lights. Superimposed over that were two spheres made up of hexagonal tiles. As long as those spheres were there, indicating the presence of shields around Coruscant, Captain Iillor was under orders to power up her ship's gravity well projectors and pull the fleet from hyperspace prematurely. The situation was des­perate enough that Admiral Ackbar had even said a par­tial shield failure would be sufficient to let the fleet continue on in, provided Captain Iillor felt the shield out­age was significant.

  The decision she had to make was even more difficult than the choice to defect with her ship and crew to the Rebellion. While Ackbar had been clear in his instruc­tions to her, she knew the conquest of Coruscant would significantly cripple the Empire and correspondingly en­rich the New Republic. That she had been placed in such a position of trust and power showed her how different the Republic was from the Empire and because of that difference she didn't want to make the wrong decision.

  Lieutenant Jhemiti, her Mon Calamari First Officer,

  held a datapad out for her inspection. "Projector crews have run full system diagnostics on their equipment and we are ready to power up when you give the word."

  She glanced at the times appended to each diagnostics run. "The crew is slow. We can't have that."

  The Mon Calamari opened his mouth in a smile. "Few believe we'll be activating the gravity well projec­tors, Captain."

  Iillor raised an eyebrow. "And why is that, Lieuten­ant?"

  Jhemiti hesitated for a moment. "Rumor has it that the people we have on the ground are Rogue Squadron. They've killed Death Stars. They'll accomplish their mis­sion."

  "Ah, yes, Rogue Squadron." The Captain smiled slightly. "Let me tell you, Lieutenant, I've fought Rogue Squadron. They drove this ship off. They cost me almost all of my TIE fighters, too, in doing so. Were anyone else down there, I would take their failure for granted. With them, I am willing to allow the possibility they will suc­ceed."

  Jhemiti blinked and the gold flecks in his red scales sparkled. "But Rogue Squadron is known for accomplish­ing the impossible."

  "If reputations alone won wars, Lieutenant, Darth Vader would still live and you'd still be a slave." Captain Iillor nodded grimly and looked at the chronometer again. "There are eighteen minutes on the clock— eighteen minutes for a squadron to strip a planet of its defenses. We'll let them have every second we can, but we will be ready to do our duty if they cannot do theirs."

  41

  Gavin jammed his hands against the dashboard of the airspeeder as Inyri flew through the cloud of dust being raised by the construction droid. Even in the enclosed cab of the speeder he could hear the warning klaxons blaring at Subsidiary Computer Center Number Four. As they broke free of the grey cloud he got a good look at all the vehicles jetting away from the co
mputer center and all the people fleeing across bridges to other towers.

  Inyri sideslipped the speeder to center it on the bal­cony situated fifth-floor front. From information supplied originally by Black Sun, Winter had determined the con­trol center they needed was located on the fifth floor. While they expected the whole facility to be abandoned, they assumed a general security lockdown would make entering at the first floor and working their way up diffi­cult.

  "Brace for impact." Inyri cut power to the engine and . began to slow the speeder, then let it sail straight over the balcony and into the office beyond it. The transparisteel wall disintegrated into one crystalline wave that washed up and over the speeder's windscreen. A desk exploded at the front bumper's casual caress and the room's far walls

  buckled, letting the speeder skid to a stop in the waiting room attached to what had once been the CEO's office. Gavin slapped the quick release for his restraining belts and kicked his door open. He slid from the speeder and brought a blaster carbine up. The klaxons obliterated any sounds the opposition might have made and the dust curtain between him and the rest of the building hid pos­sible foes. Hunkered down in the shadow of his opened door he could see nothing, but with each passing second he came to believe everyone had evacuated the building. Tycho cut to the right, Gavin went left and advanced. Things appeared clear from his new vantage point, so he waved the others forward. Ooryl came up with Winter following close behind him. Inyri brought up the rear, constantly checking back toward the outside to make sure no one followed them in.

  Winter was the key to their success because the datapad she held contained the code that would move an orbital mirror to target the nearest water distribution plant and reservoir. Once beyond the area of devastation created by Inyri's entry, they were able to move along quickly. All the doors along the corridor to the control center were closed. Gavin tried to open all those on his side of the corridor but they were all locked tight. Tycho indicated the situation on the right was the same, but that is what they had been led to expect after the plant was abandoned.

  They reached the door to the computer center with­out opposition. Gavin took a moment to glance through the transparisteel viewport in the heavy door. The room looked empty of life to him, though the computers them­selves had lights flickering across their dark surfaces. Hol­ographic streams of data scrolled up from desktop to oblivion above a dozen workstations. Aided by a thin mist hanging in the air, the light from them cast green and red shadows over the rest of the room, making the dimly lit room seem sinister.

  Winter dropped to her knees and attached a cable from her datapad to a computer port on the doorjamb.

  "The sequencer programs I have will open the door in no time. First, though, I need to run a diagnostic and see what sort of combination I want."

  "Good luck." Gavin dropped to a crouch and watched the corridor that led farther into the complex. He posi­tioned himself so his body shielded Winter. He felt a twinge in his belly from an old blaster wound and hoped it was not some sort of ill omen for the future.

  The datapad beeped and Winter swore. "Sithspawn." Tycho crouched at her shoulder. "What?" "They've flooded the control room with gas. Looks like Fex-M3d." Winter raised a fist but refrained from punching the door. "It's in a diluted form so it won't kill you if you get a lungful, but it'll put you out."

  Gavin jerked a thumb at the door. "To the left, on the wall, there's a clear case that has breather masks in it. If we could get in, we could get them."

  "That's the big if. The case is coded, just like the door here. By the time a sequencer got it open, you'd have to breathe and you'd be down." Winter shook her head. "Looks as if this system was installed within the last two weeks, after we were given the data we used to make our attack. There's nothing we can do. We can't get in. It's over."

  His hand on the stick, the Z-95 Headhunter cruising through the duracrete canyons of Coruscant, Corran Horn felt more alive and free than all the soaring hawk-bats on the planet. He would have much preferred to be flying his X-wing, and he felt awkward flying into com­bat without Whistler backing him up, but flying again made him happy enough that he could forgive Whistler his absence. No place for him in this Headhunter anyway. The Headhunter suffered in comparison with the X-wing. It lacked the maneuverability and speed of the X-wing, though the shields and hull had the same integ­rity. The Headhunter did not have hyperdrives and, con­sequently, did not need an R2 unit. The Headhunter's

  triple blasters and concussion missiles were not the equal of the X-wing's four laser cannons and proton torpedo launchers but they didn't exactly leave him defenseless, ei­ther.

  Against the Imperial starfighters he'd be facing the Headhunter had the potential to be troublesome—both for him and them. In atmosphere the TIEs lost some of their maneuverability. Their lack of shields made them vulnerable to his attacks, but the fact that they'd be swarming meant being able to stay with one long enough to kill it would be difficult. Locking in on one target would make him a target.

  He glanced down at his sensor display. "Hunt Leader here. I have twelve, that is one-two, starfighters coming in on the droid. Time to engagement is thirty seconds. Shoot straight and call for help."

  Corran got a series of acknowledgments over the comm. Pulling back on his stick he started the Z-95 climbing. Pushing the throttle full forward he rocketed up like a ship intent on escaping the planet. A quartet of TIE starfighters came up after him but before they could close to range and start shooting, he rolled the Headhunter to starboard. The fighter came up and over, then dove back in the direction from which the TIEs had come.

  Halfway through the dive, he pulled the fighter through a 180-degree snap-roll left, then swooped out in a long glide that brought him in over the construction droid and into the rest of the TIEs. He spitted the leader on his targeting crosshairs and gave it two bursts of blaster fire. The dozen energy darts stippled the eyeball with hits. It began a lazy roll that ended abruptly as it slammed into a tower and exploded.

  The pilot of the next TIE followed his leader through the roll, clearly not realizing one of Corran's shots had pierced the cockpit and killed the pilot. He tried to pull up and away at the last second. His hexagonal port wing clipped the corner of the tower and sent the TIE into a corkscrew spin that spiraled down into a fiery explosion deep in a dark canyon.

  Standing the Headhunter on its port S-foils, Corran added enough left rudder to snap the ship into a dive past the construction droid. He pointed the fighter's nose straight at the bottom of the urban trench and started down. He chopped his throttle back to zero and used the stick to roll his ship until the canyon stretched to infinity off each wing, but crowded him above and below.

  Two TIEs dove after him and closed fast. Corran made minor adjustments on his position, forcing them to stick with him to target him. Their first shots missed, sending green energy lances down to flare brightly in the darkness, but they began to get better. Then they got close enough that they hit his aft shield, prompting him to take action.

  He rolled the Headhunter ninety degrees to port, hemming himself in on either wing, then he pulled back on the stick. At the same time he punched all the power being generated by his engines into the repulsorlift drive. The Headhunter's nose popped up, leveling him out a hundred meters above the canyon's bottom. Momentum from the dive kept him going forward and away from the TIEs.

  One eyeball pilot made a serious mistake by not rolling before he tried to follow the Headhunter. His ma­neuver was intended to bring the TIE around in a sharp, right-angle turn—a maneuver that would have worked in the vacuum of space and placed him right on Corran's tail with a killing shot. In atmosphere, however, the maneuver brought his starboard wing around in direct opposition to his previous line of flight. The hexagonal panel snapped, with the top half sheering through the ship's ball cockpit. Still going full out, the TIE fighter hammered the ground and exploded.

  The second TIE pilot rolled first, then swooped in af­ter C
orran's Headhunter. The speed of the dive forced the pilot into a wider turn than he clearly wanted. The lower edges of his wings struck sparks from the duracrete street. Fighting inertial forces, the pilot did everything he could

  to make his fighter climb. Finally the ship began to win in its battle with gravity and began to come up.

  Up into one of the numerous walkways connecting one building with another. The TIE plowed into a central portion of the span, splintering the permacrete section it hit. The fighter exploded, shattering windows and sowing shrapnel throughout the area.

  Reversing thrust and applying some rudder, Corran brought the fighter around in an end for end swap that left him looking at the fires burning in his wake. Not a bad start, four down, but it's only a start. He eased the throttle forward and started a gentle climb to the unob­structed reaches of Coruscant's atmosphere. He glanced at the shipboard chronometer and fuel gauge.

  "Fifteen minutes to get the shields down and a half hour of flying time. That's forever if we succeed and little more than a heartbeat if we do not."

  Wedge's comlink buzzed at him. "Antilles here, go ahead."

  "Tycho here. We have a problem—gas in the com­puter center. We need Emtrey. Now."

  "I copy." He looked up at Mirax. "Will this thing keep going by itself?"

  She nodded. "The droid will stop at the outer edge of the computer center if"—she pointed at external view monitors showing TIEs on strafing runs—"they don't stop it first."

  "If we can leave this thing alone, they need us in the computer center."

  Mirax held her hands up. "Let's go."

  Iella led the way back into the entryway. She started to push the door open, then quickly ducked back. A spray of blaster bolts dotted the interior of the door with burn marks.

  Wedge ran over to where she sat on the floor. "Are you hurt?" "I'm fine."

  "What was that?"

  She shook her head. "I couldn't see clearly but given the size of those burn marks I'd say some stormtroopers have an E-web heavy blaster set up on one of the nearby towers. They've got the door covered and covered well." Iella shrugged. "Unless we get some help, we're going to be stuck here for the rest of our lives."