after their quarry.
Iella pressed her back against the corridor's left wall. She started to nod to
Elscol, inviting her to check her end of the corridor first, but she saw
movement back the way she had come. The duraplast door exploded out into the
hallway as blasterfire chewed it in half. Two bolts caught the Vratix on the
right side of the door in the abdomen, spinning him further into the corridor.
As the fire swung back through the doorway the second Vratix took a pair of
shots to the thorax, dropping him to the floor with his sextet of limbs
twitching.
The two men at the far end of the corridor came running up and rushed the
doorway before Iella or Elscol could call them off. The second man in
straightened up abruptly, then flew back into the corridor all loose-limbed and
burning from a trio of shots to the chest.
Of the first man Iella only saw booted feet that jerked twice, then lay still.
"Jesfa, get me a six-man team up here now." Iella looked over at Elscol. "We
wait, right?"
"For that guy to escape? If he got in that room, he knows override codes. He
could have a secret turbolift in there and be on his way out."
"I doubt it." Iella keyed her comlink again. "Jesfa, have them bring concussion
grenades.'*
Smoke drifted out of the doorway, then a blaster carbine came sailing out of it
and clattered to the floor in the midst of the dead commandos. "I give up."
Iella and Elscol exchanged glances, then Iella snapped a command. "Come out with
your hands in the air."
"Do I recognize that voice?"
lella's jaw dropped open. Fliry Vorru!1 She slowly smiled. "Vorru? I'm expecting
those hands raised."
The small white-haired man appeared in the doorway and gingerly stepped between
the legs lying therein. "Ah, Iella Wessiri. Someone I can trust to do the right
thing."
Elscol stood and leveled her blaster carbine at the man. "You want the right
thing? I have justice in a clip right here for you, murderer."
Iella reached up and laid a hand on Elscol's carbine. "You can't. He's
surrendered."
"Surrendered? He just burned down four people."
"More crimes for him to be tried for."
"Exactly." Vorru smiled rather smugly. "I'm sure -the people of Thyferra will
want to try me, if the New Republic will let them."
Iella frowned as she stood. "Oh, once the New Republic is through with you, the
Thyferrans will have their chance."
"I hope you're right, Iella, because I know the Thyferran people have a strong
sense of justice." Vorru's hands slipped down to the level of his shoulders. "Of
course, since I know which of the New Republic officials have been hoarding
b acta and I know the backdoor deals made by member states to get bacta, well, I
suspect this is information they won't want to have come to light."
Iella laughed. "You think you're not going to pay for your crimes because you'll
make some political deal?"
"Alas, Iella, that is the reality of the situation."
Iella sharpened her laugh and her expression. "You're assuming, of course, that
I don't have my own brand of justice in mind. I wanted Isard because she killed
my husband. If I can't have her, you'll do." She raised her carbine and pointed
it at his head. "One shot and a lot of crime files are closed."
Vorru brought his hands together and applauded her. "Nice bluff, but I've read
the Imperial and Corellian files on you, my dear. You could never shoot me."
"True." Iella lowered her blaster. "But she can."
Elscol's single shot caught Vorru in the throat. It pitched him against the
doorjamb, from which he rebounded and fell on top of his blaster.
"Nice shooting."
Elscol looked down at her blaster. "I don't remember setting this weapon on
stun."
Iella smiled. "I do, when I stopped you from shooting him the first time."
Elscol frowned. "Why only stun him? Why the charade?"
"Vorru always likes being in control. He was expecting you to burn him downit
would have been his victory because you would have killed a man who had
surrendered, and that would make you as much of a murderer as he is. Once he
realized I was out here, he decided to play another game. He was in control
until the last second, when I let you shoot him."
The other woman nodded, then snapped her carbine's selector lever off stun.
"What he said, though, about paying for his crimes is probably true. The New
Republic will make a deal with him."
"Sure, if they get a chance." Elscol smiled. "The Rogues pulled him off Kessel.
We can always dump him back there. No deals, only justice."
Elscol laughed aloud. "You know, you keep this up and you might convince me
there's more to do with unreconstructed Imperials than kill them."
"Let's work on it, Elscol, but only after Thyferra is free."
39
Captain Sair Yonka picked himself up off the Freedom's bridge deck and staggered
to his feet. He swiped a hand at his foreheadit came away bloody so he tore a
strip of cloth from the tail of his tunic and jammed it against the wound.
Antilles, you paid me a lot, but it wasn't enough.
"Someone give me a report on what's going on out there. Lieutenant Carsa?"
"Carsa's dead, sir. His monitor blew up in his face."
"Are we blind then, Ensign . . . ?"
"Issen, sir. No, sir, not blind. The Lusankya has been hit again by torps and
missiles, but it's beginning to shoot at the freighters. We're being left
alone."
"Then it's not all bad news." Yonka leaned against a bulkhead. "Helm, can we
maneuver?"
A pained voice called to him from the depths of the bridge. "We've lost fifty
percent of our maneuverability, Captain. We can roll, but speed and turns are
going to be tough. I can muster enough to get us out of here, though, sir."
"Weapons, what's our status?"
"We've still got most of our port weapons, sir, but starboard weaponry is shot.
No realistic judgment about repairs."
"What's the status of our shields?"
A bald man punched a button on a console, then clapped his hands. "Shields are
coming back up. I've got seventy percent of power. They'll hold while we run
away."
Sair Yonka shook his head. "We're going nowhere. Lieutenant Phelly, roll us so
we can bring our starboard weapons to bear."
"Begging your pardon, sir, but we're not being paid enough to die here."
"Then let's make sure we don't die." Yonka flung his arms wide open. "We all
knew that staying with Isard would get us killed. We also knew that if we left
her service, she'd hunt us down right after she killed Antilles. Now we've got
to kill the Lusankya here, or it will kill us someplace else. This isn't about
money, it's about our survival, our freedom."
He pointed out the main viewport. "Out there you have people in freighters and
snubfighters pounding on that behemoth. They're gnats compared to the Lusankya.
They can sting it, but they can't kill it. That job is up to us and we're going
to do it because if we have to die, it isn't going to be dying while we're
running. The Empire's deadwe all know thatso this is our buy-in to whateve
r
follows it."
Wedge saw the Freedom begin a roll as turbolaser fire lanced from the Lusankya
at the freighters. One salvo caught a disk-shaped Corellian light freighter and
snapped it in half. He saw shields glow and shrink as other ships got hit by one
or two shots, but none exploded. He knew that was more luck than skill, and that
a lot of the freighters weren't going to survive to the end of the battle.
"Lead to Two, time for our last run."
"Negative, Lead, I have a TIE on me."
"Coming, Two."
Wedge pulled back on his stick and brought his fighter up into a loop, then
rolled out to starboard as Asyr's X-wing shot past. A TIE streaked by, hot on
her tail. As Wedge dropped in behind him, the TIE fired a volley of shots that
pierced Asyr's aft shield. Something at the back of her fighter exploded, then
she rolled down and out of sight.
"Two, report."
Asyr didn't answer his call. "Gate, assess damage on Two."
The droid beeped a response, but Wedge ignored the information filling his
secondary monitor. Got something to do first.
The TIE rolled to starboard then started to climb. Wedge pulled his X-wing into
a steep climb, then snap-rolled starboard and powered the fighter over the top.
The TIE danced before him for a second, prompting Wedge to snap a shot off. The
dual burst of lasers clipped one of the TIE's solar panels, but did no serious
damage.
This guy is good.
The TIE rolled to port and pulled a tight loop back along its line of flight.
Wedge let himself overshoot the TIE, then throttled back as the TIE swung onto
his tail. The TIE closed faster than the pilot expected because of Wedge's
chopping the throttle back. Wedge tugged back on his stick, nosing the fighter
into a climb. He held it for a second, then shoved the stick forward and broke
the climb off.
Green laser fire hissed off his shields, but he didn't panic. And Gate isn't
screaming! The TIE shot past his position, having started to climb to blast
Wedge, then trying to follow him as he started flying straight again. Wedge
pulled his X-wing's nose back up and triggered two more bursts of laser fire.
Both hit the TIE in the undamaged wing, burning it free of the ship's fuselage.
The hexagonal wing went one way while the TIE spun out of control toward
Thyferra.
Wedge didn't watch to see if it exploded. He brought his fighter around and
found himself staring at the broad expanse of the Lusankya's, belly. Nearly an
eighth of the ship had been nibbled off at the front, but the guns still fired
relentlessly. It's hurt, but not enough. "Lead here. Starting my third run."
The fact that no one acknowledged his call sent a chill through him, but he
shrugged it off. Now's not the time to
mourn the dead. That waits until the mission is done. He tossed his fighter into
a weave and pointed it at the giant egress hatch in the bottom of the Super Star
Destroyer. We've broken your nose, now it's a shot to the guts.
Switching over to proton torpedoes, he immediately got a red box and a solid
tone from Gate. He waited until his transponder button went red, then pulled
the trigger. Two jets of blue fire shot away from his ship and another half
dozen joined them. It took four of them to blast a hole in the ventral shields,
but that left a quartet of missiles to plow into the Lusankya's hangar deck. The
explosions spat decking and debris back out into space, then secondary
explosions told Wedge that at least a couple of the TIE fuel storage tanks had
ruptured.
Out of torpedoes, Wedge shifted over to lasers and started searching for more
TIEs. And if there aren't any more of them, I guess I'll just have to get in
close with the Lusankya and light it up as much as I can.
"Yes, Madam Director, I understand." Erisi shivered as the echoes of Isard's
voice died in her ears. When she'd spotted the shuttle coming up she had
harbored a hope that it was Vorru, but Isard's mocking voice dashed that dream
to pieces. Erisi switched her comm unit over to her squadron's tactical
frequency. "Elite Leader to squadron. We have a new mission protect the
Lambda-class shuttle Thyfonian. We are to cover it until it gets clear and can
go to lightspeed."
"Six here, Lead. That means we'll be left behind."
"Negative, Six. The Lusankya is going to be following Thyfonian out and will
pick us up."
"I copy, Lead."
"Twelve here, Lead. We have four X-wings coming up fast."
"I copy, Twelve." Erisi shook her head. Only four? That's a mistake you'll rue,
Wedge Antilles. "Keep your formations tight and help each other out. These
pilots will be good, but we can be better. Don't lose your heads and you won't
lose your lives."
Captain Drysso laughed victoriously. As nearly as he could determine his
Lusankya had been hit by over a hundred and fifty proton torpedoes and
concussion missiles, but it had lost scarcely thirty-five percent of its combat
ability. Maneuvering was hampered and shield power was falling sharply, but the
Lusankya still outgunned its opposition. And the freighters have the survival
rate of tauntauns on Tatooine.
Lieutenant Waroen called out to him. "Captain, the Freedom is coming back into
the fight."
"Guns, let him have everything!"
"As ordered, Captain."
The Lusankya fired its starboard weapons at the Imperial Star Destroyer, mauling
it mercilessly. Turbolasers crushed the shields while ion cannon beams skittered
huge hole s in the hull. Explosions wracked the Freedom, spraying debris in all
directions.
Yet even before the Lusankya's attack left the Freedom adrift in space, the
Imperial Star Destroyer blasted back at the Super Star Destroyer. Turbolasers
drilled through the dorsal shields and stabbed fire deep into the Lusankya's
heart. Blue ion lightning capered and danced over the hull, teasing fireballs
to life in its wake. The Lusankya shook with the violence of those explosions
and others.
Drysso shouted at his staff. "Damage reports!"
Waroen was first. "Ventral shields, down; dorsal shields, down; bow shields,
down; starboard and port shields, down."
"You mean to tell me I only have aft shields?"
Another explosion shook the ship. "Not anymore, sir."
"Captain," yelled his communications officer, "I have a priority message from
Director Isard. She's ordering us out of here. We're to follow the shuttle."
"What?"
"That was the message, sir. She said you should get out of here before you get
killed."
"Killed!" Drysso's laugh quieted the bridge. "Killed? We are winning here. The
Freedom is dead. Freighters are dying.
That War Cruiser is next and we've weathered the worst those X-wings can throw
at us. We have won! She can run if she wants, but the Lusankya stays here. If
she wants to abandon Thyferra, I will take her place and reap what she has
sown."
The crew stared at him, gape-mouthed and silent for a moment, then a cheer
spread throug
h the bridge, beginning at Lieutenant Waroen's station and building
around through the crew. For a handful of heartbeats Drysso thought they were
cheering him, but those nearest the viewport stared past him, prompting Drysso
to turn.
Out there, hovering off the Lusankya's port bow, was the Virulence.
Drysso clapped his hands. "It's the Virulence and they have our TIE squadrons.
Order Virulence to deploy its fighters! Now nothing stands between us and total
victory!"
40
Three squadrons of fighters poured from the Virulence and entered the fray.
Wedge's heart had sunk when Gate reported the launching of the Virulence's
fighters. He brought his X-wing around and resigned himself to one last glorious
battle. That Impstar only carries six TIE squadrons. I always sort of figured
Rogue Squadron would go out in a blaze of glory, and this looks like it is it.
"Gate, target me one of Virulence's fighters."
The droid complied with a beep. Wedge glanced down at the image the droid
painted on his monitor. "That's an A-wing."
Gate corrected him with a bleat.
"Okay, a Mark II A-wing." Wedge shook his head to clear it. A-wings? Where did
Isard get A-wings?
A familiar voice crackled through Wedge's comm unit. "Ace Lead to Rogue Leader.
Mind if we crash your party, Wedge?"
"Pash Cracken? Where in the Emperor's dark heart did you come from?"
"Booster's flagship. The gravity well pulled my unit out
of hyperspace right on top of Virulence during their little standoff. Booster
talked the captain into believing it was all part of the trap, so she
surrendered the ship to him."
So he finally found a ship that was big enough for him. "The Lusankya is all
yours, Captain Cracken."
"Obliged, Wedge. We're going in."
Inverting and rolling out, Wedge reoriented his X-wing toward the Lusankya as
the Virulence fired a full broadside into the Super Star Destroyer. The smaller
ship's turbolasers and ion cannons wrought havoc upon the Lusankya's port
gunnery decks. A ribbon of fire raced along the port gunwale and secondary
explosions kept it alive long after the Virulence's weapons stopped firing.
To the Lusankya's aft, the Valiant closed to point-blank range and blasted away
at the big ship's engines. Sparks cascaded away as turbolasers drilled deep
into the Super Star Destroyer. A brilliant flash eclipsed the Valiant for a