appearance of meteorites burning up on entry to observers on the ground. "A very
good job, Zraii."
Over the top of the tech's head he saw Mirax walk into the hangar with Corran.
She gave him a kiss on the cheek, then the pilot ran off toward his own green
and white X-wing. Mirax watched him go, pulling a Rebel-issue flight jacket more
tightly over her shoulders.
Mirax and Corran? Perhaps opposites do attract. It struck him that their
attraction to each other seemed as improbable as that of Princess Leia
to Han Solo. The thought caused a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. If
they have as many ups and downs as those two .. .
Mirax walked over to him and watched him through slitted eyes for a second. "Are
you borrowing trouble, Wedge?"
"Are you reading my mind?"
"Huh?"
"Nice coatlooks better on you than it does on Corran."
Mirax smiled, but didn't blush. "We're friends. Ooryl offered me his bunk last
night and I accepted. Corran and I talked. Nothing happened." She glanced to the
side and noticed Erisi's approach. "It's a good thing Corran doesn't snoreI was
able to get some rest."
Wedge shook his head. "We're heading out, Mirax. I left a message behind for you
and your father, if I don't make it back."
"You will, Wedge. You've gobbled up the best the Emperor had to offerno reasons
to imagine the crumbs will choke you." Mirax gave him a hug and a kiss on the
cheek. "I'll see if I can find enough paint to be able to decorate your T-65
with the new kills."
"Thanks, Mirax." He turned to Erisi. "You have something for me, Ms. Dlarit?"
"Mission Control says Case Green is in effect."
"Good. We're clear to go." Wedge whistled loudly and circled his right hand over
his head. The Rogue Squadron pilots looked at him for a second, then pulled
themselves into their cockpits. "Sorry you're not going with us, Ms. Dlarit."
"Not as sorry as I am. May the Force be with you."
Wedge smiled. "Thanks. Stay out of danger, the both of you." He pulled on his
helmet and climbed
up into the X-wing's cockpit. He strapped himself into the ejection seat, then
punched the ignition sequence into the computer. The engines came up with only
a trace of a whine. He closed the cockpit canopy, then glanced behind himself.
"Are you ready, Mynock?"
The R5 unit beeped at him and Wedge projected a trace of fear into the reply's
tremolo. Wouldn't be a mission if we didn't feel that way.
"Rogue Leader to Mission Control, requesting liftoff clearance."
"Control to Rogue Leader, you and your squadron are clear for takeoff. Be
strong in the Force. And shoot straight."
"As ordered, Tycho. See you in ten hours."
"I'll be waiting."
Wedge gave Tycho's silhouette in the control center's window a thumbs-up, then
he slowly cut in the repulsorlift drive. The X-wing rose from the ground and,
with a light foot on the rudder pedals, turned left toward the hangar door.
Easing the throttle forward he applied thrust and started out. He let his nose
dip a bit to give himself a better view of the area through which he flew,
retracted his landing gear, and cruised out into the open.
All around him the golden savannahs of No-quivzor spread out, the long grasses
teased by gentle breezes. His ship seemed immune to the wind, just as it was
immune to the peace of the planet. Off in the distance brown specks flowed
together into a dark flood as a mossy-horned herd of wildernerfs invaded the
valley. In one huge tree, the only one visible to Wedge, a pride of taopari
waited for the prey to drift closer before they would start their hunt.
Tycho was rightI'm not too old for this game. I have, however, been playing it
for far too long. When I get back, I'm going to get out and walk
across these plains and drink in a little life, a little peace. He nodded
slowly. It's no good to keep fighting if I allow myself to forget why I'm
fighting.
Corran's voice crackled through the helmet speakers. "Rogue Squadron assembled,
sir."
Wedge brought the nose of his fighter up. "Thank you, Rogue Nine. Full speed to
the jump-point, people. We've got an appointment to keep and it won't do for us
to be a minute late." Wedge punched his throttle full forward, leaving
wind-whipped grasses and roiling clouds as the only sign he had been on the
planet.
And Noquivzor erased those traces effortlessly.
Mirax shivered and hugged her arms around herself. As she turned away from the
hangar opening, she saw Erisi staring ion bolts at her. Now I know why I felt
cold. She put her arms through the sleeves of the jacket and pulled it taut at
her waist so Corran's name tape could be read over the breast pocket. "I think
they'll do fine."
"I know it." The Thyferran glared at her. "Of course, your antics with Corran
could doom the mission. He needed rest."
"And he got it." Mirax met Erisi's stare openly. "Corran and I are friends,
nothing more. His father knew my father."
"His father hunted your father."
"And got him, so you can rest assured that nothing could develop between us."
"Good. See that it doesn't."
The implied challenge got beneath Mirax's skin. "And if I don't?"
Erisi's blue eyes sparked anger. "You are a smuggler. I have it within my power
to see to it that you never are able to handle bacta shipments. I can guarantee
that anyone who wants to handle bacta ship-
ments will never deal with you. In short, I can end your career here and now."
The Thyferran's expression eased, but the energy in her eyes did not diminish.
"Conversely, you can be rewarded for leaving Corran alone. The very influence
that I could bring to bear against you can be made to work for you. We can be
friends, and you will find that a very good thing."
Mirax killed the desire to haul off and smack the smug grin from Erisi's face.
She was adrift in space and isn't on a mission with her squadron she's bound to
be muddy in her thinking. "I'll take that under advisement. Even if I felt
something more for Corran, well, I make my living selling all sorts of things I
might like for myself. In fact, I should be seeing to business right now. If you
will excuse me."
"Of course." Erisi smiled sweetly, but it failed to cut the venom in her eyes.
"We'll speak again."
Mirax mirrored her smile, then stalked off toward the Pulsar Skate. She headed
up the gang-ramp and sniffed the air for traces of coolant. She smelled nothing,
which should have made her happy, but the abbreviated conversation with Erisi
left her uneasy. And, she realized, it's because of more than the imperious way
she spoke to me.
Mirax had learned to handle all manner of client attitudes toward her, but that
had been easy since it was business, not personal. Erisi was giving her orders
concerning her personal life. She even threatened business pressures to make
Mirax change her personal life. While what Erisi offered was indeed very
tempting, the practical result would be that Mirax would be selling a piece of
herself and that was something she had long ago vowed neve
r to do.
She wanted to convince herself that her upset came from the principle of the
whole thing, but she couldn't dismiss the nascent feelings she had for
Corran. It wasn't loveof that she was pretty certainbut it could have moved
toward it. At the very least Corran represented something from her past that
provided an illusion of constancy to life.
She knew she could have hated him as easily as liked him, and she'd expected
more negative feelings for him, but they just weren't there. In bringing him the
ryshcate and the black-market goods she'd expected an angry reaction from him.
That would have been reason enough to think poorly of him, but he'd been
gracious in accepting the gifts. She'd started to soften toward him that night,
which is why she fled.
Mirax admitted to herself that she'd accepted Ooryl's offer to get another shot
at kindling negative feelings. She'd been prepared to sleep with Corran, and
hate him in the morning if he'd seduced her with some "and tomorrow I may die"
line. The fact that he hadn't tried to seduce her, and had deftly sidestepped
invitations to keep her warm in the night, confirmed what she had known all
alonghe was a bit more complex than the stereo-typical CorSec officer.
She shivered. / don't need or want involvement with anyone, much less the son of
the man who sent my father to Kessel. I also don't want some bacta queen
ordering me around.
Her head came up as she realized her Sullustan pilot had spoken to her. "What?"
Liat Tsayv, the mouse-eared pilot, chittered at her again.
"No, I don't know where we're going because I don't know what we'll be hauling."
The Sullustan canted his head to the side and muttered reprovingly.
"Well, for your information, I didn't sleep with a pilot, and even if I had
slept with him, he isn't the
unit's quartermaster. Have you thought of pulling a unit want list from Emtrey?
No?" She pointed at the communications console. "Do it now."
Liat punched up a comm frequency, then squeaked and squealed through a headset.
Mirax hit another button and a holographic list featuring icons and dual
buy/sell prices grew up from the holoplate in the middle of the Skate's cockpit.
She scanned the list quickly and saw most of it was military equipment, which
was paid for with promises and brought a very low profit margin into the
equation. Still, she was willing to bring it in provided she had some
high-value cargo to make a run worth her time.
The consumer goods list began and she found it much more promising than the
military list. Then some odd products started showing up. "Liat, ask for
confirmation on the prices for fifteen through twenty-five inclusive."
The Sullustan complied with the order, then nodded and rubbed his hands together
greedily.
"Damn, this is not good." Mirax smacked her hands together. "Tell the droid
we'll buy all he has of fifteen through twenty-five. Yes, all."
Liat chirred angrily.
"I know we can't fit it all in here. Negotiate an exclusivity contract with him.
Give him whatever he wants. A partnership even. Just do it." She snatched a
comlink from the recharging port in the cockpit wall. "When you have it locked,
call me. I'll be out looking for Wedge's XO. We have a problem, a big problem,
and if I can't head if off, I've got friends who are on their way to die."
33
Wedge keyed his comm as the squadron came out of hyperspace and prepared for the
second and final leg of their run into the Pyria system. He adjusted the power
output for the comm so the signal would become weak and garbled outside the
kilometer sphere in which the ships moved. Even though the comm would scramble
the transmission and make it all but impossible for the Empire to decrypt, he
wanted to take the further precaution of making the signal all but impossible to
pull in.
"This is Rogue Leader. There is one final refinement to our plans that you
should know about. There is no system codenamed Phenaru. We're going back to
Blackmoon." Wedge waited for comments and protests, but only silence came in
over his headset. He took that as a vote of confidence in him by his people and
that brought a smile to his face.
"The mission as simulated was exact with the following exceptionthe simulated
run through the asteroid belt to get into the planet was based on a run through
the canyons on Borleias's sole moon. We come in to the system behind it, swing
around
on its surface, and take a direct shot at the nightside of the world. The moon
is what will make leaving tough, but coming in it will shield us from
un-friendlies on the world. Cometary fragments are causing meteor showers, so
planet-based detection stations should have a hard time picking us up. Any
questions?"
Bror's voice growled through the speakers. "You're saying, Commander, we're
getting another shot at the squints who escaped us last time?"
/ was under the impression we were the ones who escaped last time . . . "That's
about the size of it. And there will be friendlies in the area, but not in
fighters and they'll be mute. Our mission is to hit the conduit and get back
out. The fuel limitations are exactly what they were in the simulator." Wedge
hit a button on his console. "Speed and coordinates for the jump to hyperspace
sent now. We'll be three hours to Borleias, so use the time to review the run."
The squadron went to light speed and Wedge checked his fuel level. Given mission
parameters, distance from the moon to target, and expected fuel consumption
rates he was in fine shape. On the run from the moon to Borleias he would begin
little fuel the escape from Noquivzor and the hyperspace jumps had burned from
his main tank. The double duty would allow him to drain the pod more quickly and
jettison it shortly after the end of the run to the target. The others would be
following the same procedure, though the second and third flights would ditch
their pods before they began valley runs.
Wedge felt confident his people would succeed in destroying the tunnel. That
would allow the commandos, who were arriving in the system from a different
direction and at a different time, to get in and
do their jobs before Defender Wing arrived. The exact timing of the commando
operation had been kept from him, though Ackbar had said that if his people
could help, it would be appreciated. He took that to mean the commandos and
their arrival would overlap with Rogue Squadron's operation, but the only help
the Rogues could realistically offer would be to scatter the local fighters, and
that was something he knew he could not possibly prevent his people from doing
anyway.
"We're good, we're trained, and we know we have to succeed." Wedge smiled and
brought up a visual simulation of the valley run. "With a little luck and a lot
of heart, there's nothing that can stop us from succeeding."
"But, Captain Celchu, you must tell me where they are." Mirax waved a datapad at
him. "I think the mission has been compromised."
Tycho shook his head. "It's impossible."
She jerked a thumb at the door to his quarters. "Sure, and the Security officers
standing guard over you told me it was impossible for me to speak with you, but
I'm here aren't I?"
"There are degrees of impossible, I guess." Tycho raked fingers back through
brown hair. "The thing of it is that I can't tell you where they're off toI
don't know."
"How's that?" Mirax watched him carefully. "You're the unit's Executive Officer.
You must know."
"Sorry."
"Who does know?"
"Here? Emtrey."
"Get him here."
"Ms. Terrik, I know you're a friend of Com-
mander Antilles, and l know he sets great store by you, but ..."
Mirax held a hand up. "Look, I wouldn't be here except that I think their
mission has been compromised and they may be walking into a trap. Get the droid
here, because I think he's part of it. I'll explain by the time he gets here,
and if you don't like the explanation, kick me out and send him on his way.
Please. I don't want your friends and mine to die."
"All right. Please, sit down." Tycho fished a comlink from his pocket. "Captain
Celchu to Emtrey, please report to my quarters. This is urgent."
"On my way, Captain."
Mirax sat in a simple canvas campaign chair and cleared a stack of datacards
from the proton torpedo crate Tycho used as a low table. She set her datapad
down. "Do you have a holoplate to project data?"
He shook his head and scooped another pile of datacards from the table to the
foot of his bed, then sat down beside them. "I've got a good imagination. What
have you got?"
She glanced at the datapad and organized her thoughts. "Right after they jumped
out of this system, I had my pilot pull a trade list from Emtrey. It has a lot
of military items and some black market stuff. There were new additions to the
normal list and all of those products were native to Alderaan. They've become
quite rare over the last five years, but all had ridiculously low sell prices."
Tycho's blue eyes narrowed. "It's not like they're being made anymore."
"Right." She leaned forward for emphasis. "Get thisnone of them had buy prices.
I've seen enough people price their goods over the years that this pattern
tells me Emtrey has uncovered a source for
these materials that means he's getting them for little or nothing. Now since no
one in Rogue Squadron has mentioned finding or recovering some lost trove of