Star Wars: X-Wing I: Rogue Squadron (42 page)

As jokes go, Corran, it was good. You’ll
pay
for it, of course, but it was good
.

Wedge glanced sidelong at Tycho. “I can’t believe you let him send that message.”

The Alderaanian shrugged. “The shocked expression on your face was even better than I imagined it would be.”

“I won’t forget that, Captain Celchu.”

“Besides, I can’t wait to see how you’re going to get back at Corran.” Tycho took a swallow of his lum. “I trust you’ll make it good.”

“You can be assured of that.” Wedge sipped a little more whiskey and let it sit on his tongue for a moment. Sucking air in through slightly parted lips let the crisp, woody aroma fill his head, then he swallowed and smiled. “Corran comes back from the dead and I understand you were resurrected, too. Three squints?”

Tycho nodded solemnly. “Two were at point-blank range—Emtrey could have shot them. The third was at range—decent shot.”

“Of course, the Alliance Security team is a bit upset at having been detained in your quarters.”

“No, they weren’t very happy when we took
them prisoner.” His Executive Officer winced. “The problem was we had a possible security leak, but explaining everything we would have had to explain would have made it impossible for us to get to Borleias in time to warn you,
if
that’s what we needed to do.”

“Easier to ask forgiveness than permission.” Wedge chuckled. “I was planning the same sort of thing for the return trip to Borleias. You’ve got the security problem under control?”

“I think so. Locking this thing down will mean a lot of time being spent with Emtrey.”

“Put Corran on it.”

Tycho shook his head. “Eew, that’s nastier than even I assumed you’d be.”

“Well, leading a unit isn’t a young man’s game, after all.” Wedge swung his feet to the floor and set his tumbler on the table as Corran approached with two pieces of
ryshcate
. “Smells good.”

“Mirax made it.” Corran handed the other piece to Tycho. “Corellians use it for celebrations.”

Wedge hefted his piece of the sweetcake. “Getting you back from Borleias is worthy of celebration, as is having the Alliance’s hottest new pilot being a member of the squadron.”

Corran looked surprised. “Me?”

“No.” Wedge smiled past him at the man arriving late to the celebration. “Congratulations, Bror Jace. The trio of kills you got on the Interceptors following us out of the Pyria system puts you at twenty-two kills. You beat Lieutenant Horn by one.”

The Thyferran beamed, his blue eyes alive with pride. “Thank you, Commander.” He glanced down for a second, then accepted a piece of the cake from Mirax. “This is good news and helps offset what I have just heard.”

Wedge set his cake down next to the glass of whiskey. “And that is?”

“The message waiting for me was from Thyferra. My great uncle, our patriarch, is dying. The Emdees give him two weeks at best. Even bacta cannot cure old age.”

“I’m terribly sorry, Mr. Jace, Bror.” Wedge glanced at his XO. “Tycho, can you …?”

“No problem, Wedge.” Tycho stood up. “Compassion leave won’t work, but if we send our pilot home on a recruiting run, I think the diplomatic corps will back us up. You’ll be on your way as soon as you can pack your X-wing, Mr. Jace.”

“Thank you.”

Corran offered Bror his hand. “I’m sorry to know your uncle is ill. I’m also sorry to lose to you, but I’m not sorry about how well you did.”

“Nor I about your performance.” Bror pumped Corran’s hand. “I would give you another chance at such a contest, but I do not want even the slightest hint of division within this squadron.”

“I concur.” Corran nabbed a small piece of cake from the serving tray on the table and popped it into his mouth.

Everyone followed Corran’s lead and as he chewed, just for a second, Wedge felt himself back on Yavin 4, catching a hasty last meal before he and his friends went off to attack the Death Star. He knew it wasn’t the taste of the
ryshcate
that brought the memory back—on Yavin 4 there had been no time and no ingredients to create something so indulgent. No,
it’s the sense of unity that takes me back. The core spirit, it was there before Rogue Squadron was ever formed. It was the squadron’s soul and it’s still here. This
is
Rogue Squadron, not reborn, just continuing as it should
.

“I’d like to offer a toast, my friends, if I may.” Wedge raised his glass and the others joined him. “To Rogue Squadron, to the friends we’ve lost, the battles we’ve fought, and the utter fear our return will bring to our enemies.”

Kirtan Loor dropped to one knee before Ysanne Isard’s life-size hologram. “Please forgive my disturbing you, Madam Director, but you said you wanted to be informed immediately on any developments.”

She frowned impatiently at him. “I have seen General Derricote’s requisition request for more Gamorreans. Has there been a breakthrough?”

“I am not certain.”

“But you approved the request.”

“Yes, Madam Director.” Even though she was projecting her image from her tower office nearly three kilometers above and away from his cramped workspace, the distance did not insulate him from her ire.
Somehow her eyes seem to project venom through the holonet
. “You will forgive me, Madam Director, but General Derricote is still upset about the loss of his facility on Borleias. He said you promised him it would be returned to him if he completed his work within your parameters.”

“And so it shall. The Alliance stewardship of Borleias will be of little consequence in the grand
scheme of things.” Isard’s image stared hard at him. “So, there is no breakthrough with Derricote?”

“None to my knowledge, Madam Director.”

“Then what would have prompted your call to me, Agent Loor?”

“Our agent in Rogue Squadron has provided us with some useful information. Rogue Squadron will be moving to Borleias and the base will become a major staging operation for a move Coreward.”

Isard tapped her teeth with a fingernail. “This was not unanticipated.”

“It was also reported that the best of the new pilots, Bror Jace, will be returning to Thyferra to visit his family.” Loor reached back and pulled a datapad from his desk and glanced at it. “Given the precarious balance of loyalists and Rebel sympathizers on Thyferra, it seems to me that having a hero of the Rebellion visit will not be a good thing. Since his course of travel has been communicated to us, I have prepared orders for the Interdictor cruiser
Black Asp
to intercept and destroy him.”

“Very good thinking, Agent Loor.” Isard nodded slowly, her eyes focusing distantly. “Amend the orders to have him taken alive if possible. I have a facility that is most successful in convincing ardent Rebels they really should be on our side. I have room at Lusankya for this Jace. He will prove
very
useful in the future.”

“I have the intercept set for a system where enough smuggling goes on that the
Black Asp’
s presence makes sense. An increase in general interception activities will hide our foreknowledge of Jace’s course.”

The ruler of Coruscant looked quizzically at him. “Do you truly think so?”

“I do not follow your meaning.”

“Don’t you think your Corran Horn will be suspicious?”

He thought for a moment, then bowed his head. “He will be, but he is not so single-minded that he cannot be distracted.”

“That concurs with my reading of his datafile.” She smiled slightly. “But it would take information of sufficient import to distract him, yes?”

“Yes, Madam Director.”

“Good.” She clasped her hands behind her back. “I have let slip the information that you killed Gil Bastra.”

“What?!”

“And it includes data that suggests you are, in fact, here on Imperial Center.”

Kirtan’s jaw dropped. He’d seen Horn angry more than once, and knew the man to be relentless in pursuit of those who had slain other members of CorSec. Horn had even found a way to capture his father’s killer, the Trandoshan bounty hunter Bossk. Kirtan had taken great delight in releasing Bossk, citing the Trandoshan lack of manual dexterity to explain why Hal Horn had been killed in a spray of blaster fire meant to kill the smuggler to whom he was speaking. Since Bossk was working under a valid Imperial warrant, Hal Horn’s death was an unfortunate bit of collateral casualty.

“Madam Director, didn’t you say the Rogues would be coming here, to Imperial Center?”

“Indeed, I believe I did.” Her smile grew. “And I believe my prediction will be proven true.”

“Then Horn will come here.”

“And will be looking for you.” Isard licked her lips. “More distraction from his main mission for Lieutenant Horn, and more motivation for you to succeed in Rogue Squadron’s destruction.”

In this case
I’m
not sure those ends justify the means at all
. “I see, Madam Director.”

“I’m sure you do, Agent Loor. Spare me future reports about General Derricote’s tantrums. I want results, and I want them to be successful results.”

“As you will it, Madam Director,” he found himself saying in the darkness resulting from her termination of the communication.

He rocked back and sat on the floor. For a half a second he longed for a return to the days when he and Horn were adversaries at CorSec. They had hated each other, especially after the Bossk incident, but the tension had not yet become lethal. Then he realized he harbored no real fear of Corran Horn’s retribution.
His success would mean release from
her
clutches. If he knew that, of course, Horn would find a way to clone me, so he could have the pleasure of killing me
and
forcing me to work for Ysanne Isard forever!

“Yes, he could be that cruel, but he would hold himself back. Therein is his weakness.” Kirtan Loor grabbed the edge of his desk and pulled himself upright. “Here on Imperial Center, in Isard’s domain, I have neither the compunction nor need to restrain myself. Do come to Coruscant, Corran. Bring your friends and your hidden enemy with you. Imperial City is undoubtedly the last place you ever thought you’d visit, and I will do all I can to make certain it
is
the
last
place you visit.”

Michael A. Stackpole is an award-winning author, editor, game and computer game designer. As always, he spends his spare time playing indoor soccer and now has a new hobby, podcasting. Mike will publish
A New World
, the sequel to
Cartomancy
, this July, and is currently at work on ideas for a half-dozen other novels.

To learn more about Mike’s podcasting, please visit
www.tsfpn.com
(the website of The SciFi Podcast Network).

THE WARRIOR TRILOGY

Warrior: En Garde

Warrior: Riposte

Warrior: Coupé

THE BLOOD OF KERENSKY

TRILOGY

Lethal Heritage

Blood Legacy

Lost Destiny

Natural Selection

Assumption of Risk

Bred for War

Malicious Intent

Grave Covenant

Prince of Havoc

Ghost War

THE FIDDLEBACK TRILOGY

A Gathering Evil

Evil Ascendant

Evil Triumphant

Eyes of Silver
^*

Dementia

Wolf and Raven

Once a Hero
^*

Talion: Revenant
^*

STAR WARS
^®
X-WING SERIES

Rogue Squadron
^*

Wedge’s Gamble
^*

The Krytos Trap
^*

The Bacta War
^*

Isard’s Revenge
^*

Star Wars
^®
: I, Jedi
^*

Star Wars
^®
: Dark Tide

Star Wars
^®
: Onslaught

Star Wars
^®
: Ruin

THE DRAGONCROWN

WAR CYCLE

The Dark Glory War
^*

Fortress Draconis
^*

When Dragons Rage
^*

The Grand Crusade
^*

THE AGE OF DISCOVERY

A Secret Atlas
^*

Cartomancy
^*

*published by Bantam Books

You saw the movies. You watched the cartoon series, or maybe played some of the video games. But did you know …

In
The Empire Strikes Back
, Princess Leia Organa said to Han Solo, “I love you.” Han said, “I know.” But did you know that they actually got married? And had three Jedi children: the twins, Jacen and Jaina, and a younger son, Anakin?

Luke Skywalker was trained as a Jedi by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. But did you know that, years later, he went on to revive the Jedi Order and its commitment to defending the galaxy from evil and injustice?

Obi-Wan said to Luke, “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.” Did you know that over those millennia, legendary Jedi and infamous Sith Lords were adding their names to the annals of Republic history?

Yoda explained that the dreaded Sith tend to come in twos: “Always two, there are. No more, no less. A Master, and an apprentice.” But did you know that the Sith didn’t always exist in pairs? That at one time in the ancient Republic there were as many Sith as Jedi, until a Sith Lord named Darth Bane was the lone survivor of a great Sith war and created the “Rule of Two”?

All this and much, much more is brought to life in the many novels and comics of the
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