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

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Setting: between The Empire Strikes Back

  and Return of the Jedi

  Here is a very special STAR WARS story dealing with Black Sun, a galaxy-spanning criminal organization that is masterminded by one of the most interesting villains in the STAR WARS universe: Xizor, dark prince of the Falleen. Xizor's chief rival for the favor of Emperor Palpatine is none other than Darth Vader himself-— alive and well, and a major character in this story, since it is set during the events of the STAR WARS film trilogy.

  In the opening prologue, we revisit a familiar scene from The Empire Strikes Back, and are introduced to our marvelous new bad guy:

  He looks like a walking corpse, Xizor thought. Like a mum­mified body dead a thousand years. Amazing he is still alive, much less the most powerful man in the galaxy. He isn't even that old; it is more as if something is slowly eating him.

  Xizor stood four meters away from the Emperor, watching as the man who had long ago been Senator Palpatine moved to stand in the holocam field. He imagined he could smell the de­cay in the Emperor's worn body. Likely that was just some trick of the recycled air, run through dozens of filters to ensure that there was no chance of any poison gas being introduced into it. Filtered the life out of it, perhaps, giving it that dead smell.

  The viewer on the other end of the holo-link would see a close-up of the Emperor's head and shoulders, of an age-ravaged face shrouded in the cowl of his dark zeyd-cloth robe. The man on the other end of the transmission, light-years away, would not see Xizor, though Xizor would be able to see him. It was a mea­sure of the Emperor's trust that Xizor was allowed to be here while the conversation took place.

  The man on the other end of the transmission—if he could still be called that—

  The air swirled inside the Imperial chamber in front of the Emperor, coalesced, and blossomed into the image of a figure down on one knee. A caped humanoid biped dressed in jet black, face hidden under a full helmet and breathing mask:

  Darth Vader.

  Vader spoke: "What is thy bidding, my master?"

  If Xizor could have hurled a power bolt through time and space to strike Vader dead, he would have done it without blinking. Wishful thinking: Vader was too powerful to attack di­rectly.

  "There is a great disturbance in the Force," the Emperor said.

  "I have felt it," Vader said.

  "We have a new enemy. Luke Skywalker."

  Skywalker? That had been Vader's name, a long time ago. Who was this person with the same name, someone so powerful as to be worth a conversation between the Emperor and his most loathsome creation? More importantly, why had Xizor's agents not uncovered this before now? Xizor's ire was instant—but cold. No sign of his surprise or anger would show on his imper­turbable features. The Falleen did not allow their emotions to burst forth as did many of the inferior species; no, the Falleen ancestry was not fur but scales, not mammalian but reptilian. Not wild but coolly calculating. Such was much better. Much safer.

  "Yes, my master," Vader continued.

  "He could destroy us," the Emperor said.

  Xizor's attention was riveted upon the Emperor and the holographic image of Vader kneeling on the deck of a ship far away. Here was interesting news indeed. Something the Emperor perceived as a danger to himself? Something the Emperor feared?

  "He's just a boy," Vader said. "Obi-Wan can no longer help him."

  Obi-Wan. That name Xizor knew. He was among the last of the Jedi Knights, a general. But he'd been dead for decades, hadn't he?

  Apparently Xizor's information was wrong if Obi-Wan had been helping someone who was still a boy. His agents were go­ing to be sorry.

  Even as Xizor took in the distant image of Vader and the nearness of the Emperor, even as he was aware of the luxury of the Emperor's private and protected chamber at the core of the giant pyramidal palace, he was also able to make a mental note to himself: Somebody's head would roll for the failure to make him aware of all this. Knowledge was power; lack of knowledge was weakness. This was something he could not permit.

  The Emperor continued. "The Force is strong with him. The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi."

  Son of Skywalker?

  Vader's son! Amazing!

  "If he could be turned he would become a powerful ally," Vader said.

  There was something in Vader's voice when he said this, something Xizor could not quite put his finger on. Longing? Worry?

  Hope?

  "Yes ... yes. He would be a great asset," the Emperor said. "Can it be done?"

  There was the briefest of pauses. "He will join us or die, master."

  Xizor felt the smile, though he did not allow it to show any more than he had allowed his anger play. Ah. Vader wanted Skywalker alive, that was what had been in his tone. Yes, he had said that the boy would join them or die, but this latter part was obviously meant only to placate the Emperor. Vader had no in­tention of killing Skywalker, his own son; that was obvious to one as skilled in reading voices as was Xizor. He had not gotten to be the Dark Prince, Underlord of Black Sun, the largest crimi­nal organization in the galaxy, merely on his formidable good looks. Xizor didn't truly understand the Force that sustained the Emperor and made him and Vader so powerful, save to know that it certainly worked somehow. But he did know that it was something the extinct Jedi had supposedly mastered. And now,

  apparently, this new player had tapped into it. Vader wanted Skywalker alive, had practically promised the Emperor that he would deliver him alive—and converted.

  This was most interesting.

  Most interesting indeed.

  The Emperor finished his communication and turned back to face him. "Now, where were we, Prince Xizor?"

  The Dark Prince smiled. He would attend to the business at hand, but he would not forget the name of Luke Skywalker.

  THE TRUCE AT BAKURA

  by Kathy Tyers

  Setting: Immediately after Return of the Jedi

  The day after his climactic battle with Emperor Palpatine and the sacrifice of his father, Darth Vader, who died saving his life, Luke Skywalker helps recover an Imperial drone ship bearing a startling message intended for the Emperor. It is a distress signal from the far-off Imperial outpost of Bakura, which is under at­tack by an alien invasion force, the Ssi-ruuk. Leia sees a rescue mission as an opportunity to achieve a diplomatic victory for the Rebel Alliance, even if it means fighting alongside former Impe­rials. But Luke receives a vision from Obi-Wan Kenobi revealing that the stakes are even higher: the invasion at Bakura threatens everything the Rebels have won at such great cost.

  STAR WARS: X-WING by Michael A. Stackpole

  ROGUE SQUADRON

  WEDGE'S GAMBLE

  Setting: two and a half years

  after Return of the Jedi

  Inspired by X-wing, the bestselling computer game from LucasArts Entertainment Co., this exciting series chronicles the further adventures of the most feared and fearless fighting force in the galaxy. A new generation of X-wing pilots, led by Com­mander Wedge Antilles, is combating the remnants of the Empire still left after the events of the STAR WARS movies. Here are novels full of explosive space action, nonstop adventure, and the special brand of wonder known as STAR WARS.

  In this very early scene, young Corellian pilot Corran Horn faces a tough challenge fast enough to get his heart pounding— and this is only a simulation! [P.S.: "Whistler" is Corran's R2 astromech droid]:

  The Corellian brought his proton torpedo targeting program up and locked on to the TIE. It tried to break the lock, but turbolaser fire from the Korolev boxed it in. Corran's heads-up display went red and he triggered the torpedo. "Scratch one eye­ball."

  The missile shot straight in at the fighter, but the pilot broke hard to port and away, causing the missile to overshoot the tar­get. Nice flying! Corran brought his X-wing over and started down to loop in behind the TIE, but as he did so, the TIE van­ished from his forward screen and reappeared in his aft arc. Yanking the stick har
d to the right and pulling it back, Corran wrestled the X-wing up and to starboard, then inverted and rolled out to the left.

  A laser shot jolted a tremor through the simulator's couch. Lucky thing I had all shields aft! Corran reinforced them with energy from his lasers, then evened them out fore and aft. Jink­ing the fighter right and left, he avoided laser shots coming in from behind, but they all came in far closer than he liked.

  He knew Jace had been in the bomber, and Jace was the only pilot in the unit who could have stayed with him. Except for our leader. Corran smiled broadly. Coming to see how good I really am, Commander Antilles? Let me give you a clinic. "Make sure you're in there solid, Whistler, because we're going for a little ride."

  Corran refused to let the R2's moan slow him down. A snap-roll brought the X-wing up on its port wing. Pulling back on the stick yanked the fighter's nose up away from the original line of flight. The TIE stayed with him, then tightened up on the arc to close distance. Corran then rolled another ninety degrees and continued the turn into a dive. Throttling back, Corran hung in the dive for three seconds, then hauled back hard on the stick and cruised up into the TIE fighter's aft.

  The X-wing's laser fire missed wide to the right as the TIE cut to the left. Corran kicked his speed up to full and broke with the TIE. He let the X-wing rise above the plane of the break, then put the fighter through a twisting roll that ate up enough time to bring him again into the TIE's rear. The TIE snapped to the right and Corran looped out left.

  He watched the tracking display as the distance between them grew to be a kilometer and a half, then slowed. Fine, you want to go nose to nose? I've got shields and you don't. If Com­mander Antilles wanted to commit virtual suicide, Corran was happy to oblige him. He tugged the stick back to his sternum and rolled out in an inversion loop. Coming at you!

  The two starfighters closed swiftly. Corran centered his foe

  in the crosshairs and waited for a dead shot. Without shields the TIE fighter would die with one burst, and Corran wanted the kill to be clean. His HUD flicked green as the TIE juked in and out of the center, then locked green as they closed.

  The TIE started firing at maximum range and scored hits. At that distance the lasers did no real damage against the shields, prompting Corran to wonder why Wedge was wasting the en­ergy. Then, as the HUD's green color started to flicker, realiza­tion dawned. The bright bursts on the shields are a distraction to my targeting! I better kill him now!

  Corran tightened down on the trigger button, sending red la­ser needles stabbing out at the closing TIE fighter. He couldn't tell if he had hit anything. Lights flashed in the cockpit and Whistler started screeching furiously. Corran's main monitor went black, his shields were down, and his weapons controls were dead.

  The pilot looked left and right. "Where is he, Whistler?"

  The monitor in front of him flickered to life and a diagnos­tic report began to scroll by. Bloodred bordered the damage re­ports. "Scanners, out; lasers, out; shields, out; engine, out! I'm a wallowing Hutt just hanging here in space."

  THE COURTSHIP OF PRINCESS LEIA

  by Dave Wolverton

  Setting: Four years after Return of the Jedi

  One of the most interesting developments in Bantam's Star Wars novels is that in their storyline, Han Solo and Princess Leia start a family. This tale reveals how the couple originally got together. Wishing to strengthen the fledgling New Republic by bringing in powerful allies, Leia opens talks with the Hapes consortium of more than sixty worlds. But the consortium is ruled by the Queen Mother, who, to Han's dismay, wants Leia to marry her son. Prince holder. Before this action-packed story is over, Luke will join forces with holder against a group of Force-trained "witches " and face a deadly foe.

  Luke stood in a mountain fortress of stone, looking over a plain with a sea of dark forested hills beyond, and a storm rose—a magnificent wind that brought with it towering walls of black clouds and dust, trees hurtling toward him and twisting through the sky. The clouds thundered overhead, filled with purple ('flames, obliterating all sunlight, and Luke could feel a

  malevolence hidden in those clouds and knew that they had been raised through the power of the dark side of the Force.

  Dust and stones whistled through the air like autumn leaves. Luke tried to hold on to the stone parapet overlooking the plain to keep from being swept from the fortress walls. Winds pounded in his ears like the roar of an ocean, howling.

  It was as if a storm of pure dark Force raged over the countryside, and suddenly, amid the towering clouds of darkness that thundered toward him, Luke could hear laughing, the sweet sound of women laughing. He looked above into the dark clouds, and saw the women borne through the air along with the rocks and debris, like motes of dust, laughing. A voice seemed to whisper, "the witches of Dathomir."

  HEIR TO THE EMPIRE

  DARK FORCE RISING

  THE LAST COMMAND

  by Timothy Zahn

  Setting: Five years after Return of the Jedi

  This #] bestselling trilogy introduces two legendary forces of evil into the Star Wars literary pantheon. Grand Admiral Thrawn has taken control of the Imperial fleet in the years since the destruc­tion of the Death Star, and the mysterious Joruus C'baoth is a fearsome Jedi Master who has been seduced by the dark side. Han and Leia have now been married for about a year, and as the story begins, she is pregnant with twins. Thrawn's plan is to crush the Rebellion and resurrect the Empire's New Order with C'baoth's help—and in return, the Dark Master will get Han and Leia's Jedi children to mold as he wishes. For as readers of this magnificent trilogy will see, Luke Skywalker is not the last of the old Jedi. He is the first of the new.

  The Jedi Academy Trilogy:

  JEDI SEARCH

  DARK APPRENTICE

  CHAMPIONS OF THE FORCE

  by Kevin J. Anderson

  Setting: Seven years after Return of the Jedi

  In order to assure the continuation of the Jedi Knights, Luke Skywalker has decided to start a training facility: a Jedi Acad-

  emy. tie will gather Force-sensitive students who show potential as prospective Jedi and serve as their mentor, as Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda did for him. Han and Leia's twins are now toddlers, and there is a third Jedi child: the infant Anakin, named after Luke and Leia's father. In this trilogy, we discover the existence of a powerful Imperial doomsday weapon, the hor­rifying Sun Crusher—which will soon become the centerpiece of a titanic struggle between Luke Skywalker and his most brilliant Jedi Academy student, who is delving dangerously into the dark side.

  In this scene from the first novel, Jedi Search, Luke vocalizes his concept of a new Jedi order to a distinguished assembly of New Republic leaders:

  As he descended the long ramp, Luke felt all eyes turn toward him. A hush fell over the assembly. Luke Skywalker, the lone remaining Jedi Master, almost never took part in govern­mental proceedings.

  "I have an important matter to address," he said.

  Mon Mothma gave him a soft, mysterious smile and ges­tured for him to take a central position. "The words of a Jedi Knight are always welcome to the New Republic," she said.

  Luke tried not to look pleased. She had provided the perfect opening for him. "In the Old Republic," he said, "Jedi Knights were the protectors and guardians of all. For a thousand genera­tions the Jedi used the powers of the Force to guide, defend, and provide support for the rightful government of worlds—before the dark days of the Empire came, and the Jedi Knights were killed."

  He let his words hang, then took another breath. "Now we have a New Republic. The Empire appears to be defeated. We have founded a new government based upon the old, but let us hope we learn from our mistakes. Before, an entire order of Jedi watched over the Republic, offering strength. Now I am the only Jedi Master who remains.

  "Without that order of protectors to provide a backbone of strength for the New Republic, can we survive? Will we be able to weather the storms and the difficulties of f
orging a new union? Until now we have suffered severe struggles—but in the future they will be seen as nothing more than birth pangs."

  Before the other senators could disagree with that, Luke continued. "Our people had a common foe in the Empire, and we must not let our defenses lapse just because we have internal problems. More to the point, what will happen when we begin

  squabbling among ourselves over petty matters? The old Jedi helped to mediate many types of disputes. What if there are no Jedi Knights to protect us in the difficult times ahead?

  "My sister is undergoing Jedi training. She has a great deal of skill in the Force. Her three children are also likely candidates to be trained as young Jedi. In recent years I have come to know a woman named Mara Jade, who is now unifying the smugglers—the former smugglers," he amended, "into an orga­nization that can support the needs of the New Republic. She also has a talent for the Force. I have encountered others in my travels."

  Another pause. The audience was listening so far. "But are these the only ones? We already know that the ability to use the Force is passed from generation to generation. Most of the Jedi were killed in the Emperor's purge—but could he possibly have eradicated all of the descendants of those Knights? I myself was unaware of the potential power within me until Obi-Wan Kenobi taught me how to use it. My sister Leia was similarly unaware.

  "How many people are abroad in this galaxy who have a comparable strength in the Force, who are potential members of a new order of Jedi Knights, but are unaware of who they are?"

  Luke looked at them again. "In my brief search I have al­ready discovered that there are indeed some descendants of former Jedi. I have come here to ask"—he turned to gesture toward Mon Mothma, swept his hands across the people gathered there in the chamber—"for two things.

  "First, that the New Republic officially sanction my search for those with a hidden talent for the Force, to seek them out and try to bring them to our service. For this I will need some help."

  "And what will you yourself be doing?" Mon Mothma asked, shifting in her robes.