back up, and I sincerely doubt it could be made operational again. Running as
fast as possible to Coruscant we couldn't get anything back here in time to
save it."
Wedge knew the run to Corellia would be shorter, but he expected no help from
his homeworld and the Diktat. "The Corrupter is gone."
"I copy, Antilles. I'll give the order to my people, and we'll wait to be
rescued."
Wedge switched over to the escape pod frequency and repeated his offer of
rescue, then arranged with Quelev Tapper for his ships to pick up as many pods
as they could and exact whatever ransom they wanted from the passengers. Tapper
sounded more interested in getting the TIEs and their pilots, but Wedge declared
them "prisoners of war" and refused to let Tapper have them.
"Okay, Antilles, I'll let it go, but only because I know you'll be buying spare
parts for those TIEs from us before too long."
"That's probably truer than I'd like to admit, Tapper. Have a safe trip home."
Tycho's voice broke through on the comm frequency. "Wedge, I have a situation."
"Yes?"
"Remember that cruiser that took a piece out of the Corrupter?"
"Kind of hard to forget it, isn't it?"
"Well, it was the source of the IFF queries earlier on. It appears to think I'm
the Another Chance. It has identified itself as the Valiant, and now it wants to
know where we're going to go from here."
Wedge brought his X-wing around so he could see the light cruiser again. There
it hung in space, three hundred meters of lethal Starship. Having it as part of
our fleet would be very good, but how can we convince it to join us? "Tycho, any
sign of intelligent life on board?"
"Ah, Wedge, it thinks I'm an Alderaanian war frigate, so I think we can rule out
intelligence. If I had to guess, I'd assume this cruiser was slaved to Another
Chance as an escort. They got separated and it returned here to wait for
Another Chance to show up. I arrived with the IFF code, started broadcasting
targeting information, and it did its job."
Wedge nodded. "I copy. I think I need you to take it back
to our base. Emtrey, if I recall his introductory monologue, is supposed to know
the rules, regs, and procedures of over six million military organizations past
and present. Perhaps he can figure out a way to communicate with the Valiant so
we can make full use of it."
"Got it. Do I leave now, or wait and escort the rest of you back?"
"We'll go together." Wedge smiled. "Victory like this deserves a parade, and
I'd be happy to have you and your cruiser in the lead."
25
Corran Horn dropped into the seat beside Mirax at the black round table in the
briefing room. He felt bone weary from the fight at Alderaan, which surprised
him because he'd actually not shot down any of the eyeballs. Because he had been
waiting for fire orders to send proton torpedoes at the larger ships, all he
could do was evade their attacks. While the pilots had been clearly greena fact
that 66 percent losses on their part made abundantly cleartheir lasers still
burned hot and could have vaped him had he not outflown them.
He took Mirax's left hand in his right beneath the edge of the table. "Sorry I
couldn't cover the Skate out there."
Mirax gave him a smile that helped energize him. "I'd have felt safer, but that
would have spoiled Booster 'One-Man-Army' Terrik's fun. He manned the laser
cannon and was a general hazard to any eyeball peeking at us. He says he winged
a couple of them."
Corran gave her hand a squeeze, then looked up and saw Booster glowering at him
from the other side of the table. If looks were lasers, he'd be more than
winging me right now. "I'm glad there weren't more in the way of complications.
Your father looks ready to rip something apart with his bare handslike me."
"Being ambushed by Imps has him in a bad mood. We'll be heading out soon for a
meeting with Talon Karrde concerning security."
"The leak came from his people?"
Mirax nodded. "My father thinks so. I want you to look over some stuff on it for
megive me your professional opinion about this spy thing."
"Ah, sure, Mirax, glad to, but you should remember from the Erisi thing, I'm not
that sharp on spotting spies."
"This one isn't that good." Mirax gave him a wink. "Let me know what you think.
We'll see if Karrde concurs."
Wedge and Winter entered the room, followed closely by Tal'dira, Aril Nunb, and
Tycho. Winter sat down at the datapad built in at the far end of the table and
hit some keys. A holographic image of the Yag'Dhul station hovered over the
holopad in the center of the oval table. Wedge took a position at the head of
the table, Tycho sat between him and Booster, and Tal'dira took the seat at
Booster's left hand. The Sullustan seated herself to Mirax's right, facing
Tal'dira.
Wedge covered a yawn, then leaned forward on the end of the table. "I apologize
for asking you here to this debriefing so quickly after your return, but I want
to talk about what happened in the Graveyard while details are still fresh in
our minds. We have two issues to discuss the arrival of the Imps and what to do
with the Valiant.
"Before that, however, I want to thank each of you for your action and the
action of your people at Alderaan. There is no question about itwe got very
lucky at Alderaan. The Valiant's appearance and action hurt both the Corrupter
and the Aggregator. Even so, it was the discipline of our people that provided
us the opportunity for such luck to come into play. If it weren't for your
Chir'daki pilots covering Tycho and me on our runs, we wouldn't have been able
to do what we did to either Imp ship."
The Twi'lek's braintails twitched strongly. "Your praise is most appreciated,
Wedgan'tilles. The loss of two of my pilots is grave, but nothing in comparison
to what all of us would have lost were our leadership not so clear thinking in a
time of trouble."
Tycho nodded in agreement. "It was your torps that vaped the Corrupter, Wedge.
Zraii's going to waste a lot of paint adding it to your display of kills."
Wedge shook his head. "Look, your shots hurt it, I was just in a position to
pinpoint a target. Imps have forever dismissed the threat our torps are to
their ships. You'd think, after losing two Death Stars to X-wings they'd learn,
but their ignorance is our margin of safety."
Corran smiled. "So you'll order Zraii to pull the kill from your X-wing?"
Wedge hesitated, then smiled sheepishly. "Let's not go too farit was a good
pair of shots." His eyes narrowed. "Convarion got what he deserved, especially
in getting the tables turned on him. The fact that he was able to show up, and
had an Interdictor Cruiser with him is most disturbing. Winter, any idea where
the Aggregator came from?"
Winter tucked a lock of white hair back behind her left ear, then hit several
keys on the datapad. The image floating above the table shifted from that of the
station to the triangular form of an Interdictor Cruiser. "The Aggregator was
last noted as part of an anti-Rebel taskforce led by High Admiral Teradoc.
Intell
igence on himat least the intel I'm able to access from hereis sketchy.
Most of his duty stations were Rimward. He was diligent in his duties and
virulently anti-Rebel, but beyond that unremarkable. He was not at Endor and
remained nominally loyal to the Empire until Coruscant fell."
As nearly as Corran knew, Teradoc's history was not unique. A few brave
individuals declared themselves Warlords as soon as they heard of the Emperor's
death, but many of the othersespecially those in the militaryremained loyal to
the Empire. Sate Pestage, an Imperial Advisor, held power for six months until a
cabal of Imperial Advisors ousted him from power. Most of the military backed
this group because it seemed disposed to taking action. It was only after Ysanne
Isard supplanted them that members of the military began to grab for power
themselves. Even so, a fair number of military leaders and politicians
proclaimed their loyalty to the Empire until Coruscant fell.
At which point they had to fend for themselves, since they no longer had access
to the bureaucracy that made the Empire run. While there were administrative
areas and sectors that held themselves togethera tribute to the
resourcefulness of their Grand MoffsCorran expected that within two years
nearly three-quarters of what had once been the Empire would be under the New
Republic's control.
Winter looked up from the datapad. "If I had to guess how Isard got her hands on
the Aggregator, I would guess she traded bacta for it. The fact that the
Aggregator's TIEs were being flown by Thyferran Home Defense Corps pilots
suggests that Teradoc is running low on trained personnel. With a supply of
bacta he can keep them alive a bit longer. Without unlimited Imperial resources,
he's having to conserve people the way we did."
Booster narrowed his eyes, both electronic and natural. "I'd also read into the
pilot change a lack of confidence by Teradoc in Isard. Right now you have to
figure that Teradoc is getting gigabytes of stories from the Aggregator's crew
about how we ambushed the ambushers. I think if I have my people start asking
around what someone is willing to pay for a slightly used Interdictor Cruiser,
word will get back to Teradoc. He'll assume we're suggesting we're planning on
capturing the next one he loans to Isard, so he won't be free with his ship."
Wedge nodded. "That's worth a try. From this point forward we're going to have
to assume, however, that it is possible another Interdictor Cruiser could jump
us. Actually, we have to assume it is probable that we might be jumped again.
We'll continue hit-and-run attacks and will just have to make our exchanges more
covert. We can do that by having the incoming freighters guided to a location of
our choosing, which means they won't know where they're going until the last
minute."
Mirax raised her right hand. "Perhaps you can't remember back when you were
hauling cargo, but I'd never go to a rendezvous without knowing where it was."
"Good point, but I suspect Quelev Tapper can convince Karrde that we're
trustworthy."
Booster laughed. "Continue paying in advance, and Karrde will believe it."
"That we'll do." Wedge straightened up. "Remember, we've now eliminated one of
Isard's four ships."
"Sure," Corran sighed, "but it was the smallest of them all."
"Agreed, but Ait Convarion was probably the most aggressive of the commanders
Isard had working for her. He knew how to fight a Star Destroyerwhat chances
you could take with it and what chances you couldn't. He expected us to scatter
and we didn't, which is why he died. The commanders of the larger ships are
likely to be more conservative." Wedge smiled. "The Empire's boldest Admirals
died at Yavin. Regardless, both Avarice and Virulence are the newer-model
Imperial-class Star Destroyers, deucesso they carry six squadrons of TIEs. No
matter how good or bad their commanders are, they can overwhelm us."
Corran smiled. "With targets."
"Yes, but targets that shoot back." Wedge shook his head. "Impstar deuces have a
crew of nearly forty-six thousand people, if you count the troops they carry in
the mix. They have a lot of fire power. Granted that it's not terribly well
suited for use against snubfighter squadrons, but an Imp-star deuce will take a
lot more pounding than a victim like the Corrupter before it goes away."
Tycho nodded. "The one thing we have going for us in this regard is that a big
ship has a lot more things that can go wrong with it than a smaller
shipmaintaining our X-wings is easy compared to maintaining an Impstar deuce.
Isard is going to have to be using them to run with convoys, and if we keep
hitting them, the Impstars are going to have to be on a near constant state of
alert. That will take its toll."
"But will they wear out before you do?" Mirax looked from Wedge to Tycho,
Tal'dira, and finally Corran. "Even before this last operation, you were pushing
yourselves very hard. Tycho's right, repairing an X-wing is easier than
repairing a Star Destroyer, and I don't doubt we can do things to spike the
prices on crucial parts for Isard's ships by buying
them up ourselves, but replacing any of you or your people is going to be
impossible."
Corran knew that she was asking the right question, but she was missing clues to
the answer. "One advantage we have, Mirax, is that Isard's forces have to react
with them when we are out there. It will be rougher on them than it is on us. We
can't keep this up forever, but we won't have to." He looked at Wedge. "Right,
Commander?"
"I hope so, Corran." Wedge folded his arms across his chest. "I like the idea of
buying up some critical parts. Turbolaser focal lenses, power couplers, and the
like. Better yet if we can find junk and get it to the other side, that would
help a lot."
"I'll see what I can do on that count, Wedge."
"Thanks, Booster." Wedge frowned. "I also gather you're going to speak to Karrde
about how the Imps found us at Alderaan?"
A braintail twitched its way toward the center of the table. "How do we know the
information was not transmitted from our side to Isard's people?"
Booster looked over at Tal'dira. "Our freighters were slaved for the jumps to
the Skate. I didn't tell my people where we were going. Wedge told you fighte r
jocks where we were going in your mission briefing, but that was only
forty-eight hours before the run. The Aggregator was given over to Isard five
days before the strike, and the pilots on it were run through mission-specific
briefings about twelve hours after the ship arrived. Karrde had the information
about our run a good two standard weeks before that, which means the data
squirted from his people to the Imps."
"Besides, if one of Booster's people betrayed us, Isard would have showed up
here with the Lusankya.'" Corran tapped a finger against the tabletop.
"Presumably, that's information Karrde doesn't have."
"Nor information he'll get from me or my people." Booster snarled directly at
Corran. "My people are good people, Horn. Decidedly t
rustworthy."
Aril Nunb chittered in Sullustan for a second, then translated to Basic.
"Booster, Corran did not mean to suggest your people are untrustworthyhe stated
as much by noting we were not attacked here."
"I know what he was implying, Captain Nunb." Booster's frown deepened. "He's
CorSec, through and through, and a Horn on top of that. He assumes no one who's
ever moved a little contraband can be trusted."
Corran wanted to protest that he hadn't meant what Booster thought he did, but
he had to admit to himself that, deep down, he was suspicious of the smugglers
Booster had working on hauling supplies for them. In the past it would have been
simply because they were smugglers, and anyone who has once crossed the border
between lawful and lawless is likely to do it again and again. Because of that,
they can't be trusted, at least they can't from the point of view of someone
who is lawful. Now, because I'm an outlaw, I know that isn't exactly true, but I
didn't suspect Erisi until too late, primarily because she was one of us.
Because that fact made me blind to her treachery, I want to avoid falling into
that same trap again.
He looked over at Booster. Of course, he'll never believe that.
Wedge rapped a knuckle on the table. "Enough, Booster. Aril's right, and no
matter what Corran might or might not think about your people, I know it's
nothing you've not already thought a dozen times over about each of them. We're
in a tenuous situation here, and caution is vital for all of us. The fact is
that the leak probably did come through Karrde's people. Booster, I want you to
sort that out with him."
"Consider it done."
"Good. You'll let me know what Karrde says." Wedge looked up at Winter. "Last
topic the Valiant. Any luck in learning anything about it?"
"A lot of luck, actually." Winter smiled heartily. "The Valiant is an
Alderaanian Thranta-class War Cruiser. All of them were supposed to have been
destroyed when Alderaan disarmed, but it seems as if Valiant and two other War
Cruis-
ersCourage and Fidelitywere refitted with robotic controls and slaved to
accept commands from Another Chance. They were its escorts. One of them would
fly into the system before it, another would fly with it, and the third would