Star Wars: X-Wing I: Rogue Squadron

This exciting series chronicles the adventures of the most feared and fearless fighting force in the whole galaxy. It is now two and a half years after the events of the blockbuster film
Return of the Jedi
, and isolated but still powerful remnants of the Empire are scattered throughout space. These outposts of evil are disrupting galactic peace and threatening to one day overthrow the Rebel Alliance and reestablish its dark tyranny of violence and oppression.

They are opposed by a new generation of X-wing pilots. Following in the footsteps of the squad that defeated the Death Star, the new pilots face a challenge every bit as dangerous and deadly as that of their legendary predecessors. And they are every bit as tough, talented, and determined to succeed.

However, their intrepid leader will first have to confront the most difficult task of all: to whip a band of young, rowdy, undisciplined pilots into a well-oiled team who will fight together and—if necessary—die for each other to achieve their goal: victory over the Empire.

Filled with explosive space action, camaraderie, and nonstop adventure,
Star Wars
X-Wing is a series you won’t want to miss!

The author would like to thank the following people for their various contributions to this book:

Janna Silverstein, Tom Dupree, and Ricia Mainhardt for getting me into this mess;

Sue Rostoni and Lucy Autrey Wilson for making it so easy to work in this universe;

Kevin J. Anderson, Timothy Zahn, Kathy Tyers, Bill Smith, Bill Slavicsek, Peter Schweighofer, Michael Kogge, and Dave Wolverton for the material they created and the advice they offered;

Lawrence Holland and Edward Kilham for the X-Wing and Tie Fighter computer games;

Chris Taylor for pointing out to me which ship Tycho was flying in
Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi;

My parents, my sister Kerin, my brother Patrick and his wife Joy for their encouragement (and endless efforts to face my other books out on bookstore shelves);

Dennis L. McKiernan, Jennifer Roberson, and especially Elizabeth T. Danforth for listening to bits of this story as it was being written and enduring such abuse with smiles and a supportive manner.

You’re good, Corran, but you’re no Luke Skywalker
. Corran Horn’s cheeks still burned at the memory of Commander Antilles’s evaluation of his last simulator exercise. The line had been a simple comment, not meant to be cruel nor delivered that way, but it cut deep into Corran.
I’ve never tried to suggest I’m
that
good of a pilot
.

He shook his head.
No, you just wanted it to be self-evident and easily recognized by everyone around you
. Reaching out he flicked the starter switches for the X-wing simulator’s engines. “Green One has four starts and is go.” All around him in the cockpit various switches, buttons, and monitors flashed to life. “Primary and secondary power is at full.”

Ooryl Qrygg, his Gand wingman, reported similar start-up success in a high-pitched voice. “Green Two is operational.”

Green Three and Four checked in, then the external screens came alive projecting an empty starfield. “Whistler, have you finished the navigation calculations?”

The green and white R2 unit seated behind Corran hooted, then the navdata spilled out over Corran’s main monitor. He punched a button sending the same coordinates out to the other pilots in Green Flight. “Go to light speed and rendezvous on the
Redemption
.”

As Corran engaged the X-wing’s hyperdrive, the stars elongated themselves into white cylinders, then snapped back into pinpoints and began to revolve slowly, transforming themselves into a tunnel of white light. Corran fought the urge to use the stick to compensate for the roll. In space, and especially hyperspace, up and down were relative. How his ship moved through hyperspace didn’t really matter—as long as it remained on the course Whistler had calculated and had attained sufficient velocity before entering hyperspace, he’d arrive intact.

Flying into a black hole would actually make this run easier
. Every pilot dreaded the
Redemption
run. The scenario was based on an Imperial attack on evacuation ships back before the first Death Star had been destroyed. While the
Redemption
waited for three Medevac shuttles and the corvette
Korolev
to dock and off-load wounded, the Imperial frigate
Warspite
danced around the system and dumped out TIE fighters and added bombers to the mix to do as much damage as they could.

The bombers, with a full load of missiles, could do a
lot
of damage. All the pilots called the
Redemption
scenario by another name: the
Requiem
scenario. The
Warspite
would only deploy four starfighters and a half-dozen bombers—known in pilot slang as “eyeballs” and “dupes” respectively—but it would do so in a pattern that made it all but impossible for the pilots to save the
Korolev
. The corvette was just one big target, and the TIE
bombers had no trouble unloading all their missiles into it.

Stellar pinpoints elongated again as the fighter came out of hyperspace. Off to the port side Corran saw the
Redemption
. Moments later Whistler reported that the other fighters and all three Medevac shuttles had arrived. The fighters checked in and the first shuttle began its docking maneuver with the
Redemption
.