"Getting those two Interceptors after your systems were down was very
impressive."
"As I told Captain Celchu, he did the hard part, I just pulled the trigger. If
they'd broken his lock, I would never have hit them." The younger man frowned.
"That brings me to a question, sir."
"Yes?"
Corran stopped and grey mist swirled between the two of them. "Captain Celchu
was able to get a torpedo lock on those two Interceptors. Why didn't he shoot
them himself?"
Wedge hesitated, instantly putting Corran on his guard. "The Forbidden is being
modified for training purposes to simulate the profile of an assault gunboat.
While it has the sensor package for concussion missiles, it doesn't carry any
and couldn't shoot them if it did."
"Then why didn't he take them with his lasers? Lambda-class shuttles have
lasers."
Wedge's reply came tight and laced with frustration. "The Forbidden does not."
Corran glanced down at the ground. "Commander, I saw Alliance Security
escorting Captain Celchu around on Folor. He's never had fully powered weapons
on his Z-95 Headhunter and you're telling me his shuttle had the lasers removed
despite our travel through contested sectors of the Core? What's going on here?"
Wedge took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Have you told anyone else
about the security escorts?"
"No, I ..."
"Lieutenant, I want you to understand two
things First, I have the utmost trust and confidence in Captain Celchu. I have
no reservationsnone about him, his service, his skills, or his commitment to
the Alliance. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Second, the matter to which you allude is a private one, concerning Captain
Celchu alone. Because of it he has agreed to have limitations placed upon
himself. Discussion of it is up to him, but both he and I believe bringing the
issue up will only serve as a distraction to the squadron."
As if not knowing will not distract me. "Does this mean I can't ask him about
it?"
Wedge folded his arms across his chest. "Corran, you were a law enforcement
officer, so suspicion comes easily to you and trust does not. Ask yourself this
questionif you could trust him to help shoot those two Interceptors, don't you
think you can trust him all the way around? He didn't have to save you, but he
did, knowing full well he was as dead as you were if the Interceptors turned on
him."
"I see your point, sir." Corran nodded slowly. "Doesn't mean I may not ask,
unless your order me not to, but I won't tell anyone else about it. And if the
Captain refuses to answer my questions, I'll have to let it go, I guess. He
saved my life. I owe him that much at least."
"Good."
"One more thing, sir."
"Yes, Lieutenant?"
Corran looked back toward the Pulsar Skate. "Back there you mentioned that
Corellian Security never caught the pirates who destroyed the Gus Treta station
and killed your parents. My father got that case and worked hard on it. He
didn't give up, he just didn't have your connections on the other
side of the law." He swallowed hard. "I think, if my father had known about
Booster Terrik helping you find them, he'd have cut him some slack and Booster
wouldn't have done time in the spice mines."
Wedge reached out and slapped Corran lightly on the shoulder. "Booster clearly
wasn't a Jedi, nor was he Sithspawn, and the time on Kessel got him out of the
business. In a more candid moment, Mirax will probably admit the five years he
spent in the dark was good for her father."
"I doubt she and I will share many candid moments, sir."
"Really? I think you two would get along quite well together."
"Our fathers openly hated each other, sir. Not the best foundation for a lasting
friendship." Corran shook his head. "Besides, she's your friend ..."
"But just a friend. More like a sister, since she stayed with us when her father
was on dangerous runs."
Like a "sister" to the commanding officer, now there's incentive to get to know
her. Corran smiled. "I'll take that under advisement, sir."
"Do that, Lieutenant. Having friends never hurts."
"Sir, sir!"
Both men looked up as Emtrey materialized out of the Talasean fog. His dark
color on this dim worldI don't envy the Commander trying to avoid dealing with
the droid here.
Wedge looked over at Corran and in an instant Corran knew they had been thinking
the same thing. "Emtrey, good, I'll leave you to discuss the condition of his
X-wing with Lieutenant Horn. Find me after that." Corran read an "if you can" in
Wedge's smile as the leader of Rogue Squadron turned and walked away.
"As you wish, sir." The droid aborted a salute, then shuffled his feet around to
face Corran. "About your X-wing. Sir, the damage is not that extensive."
"What about Whistler?"
"Ah, your R2 unit." The droid canted his clamshell head to the side ever so
slightly. "Your Whistler will be fine. He shut himself down before the ion blast
could do itthis by virtue of the near miss. I must say, sir, that I thought
..."
"Yes, Emtrey, I appreciate that, but he'll be fine?"
"I should think so, sir, though it was a near thing."
"Near thing?" Corran asked, instantly regretting his invitation to Emtrey to
explain.
"Well, sir, a power coupling was negatively polarized, precluding an
auto-restart. Many would consider this a minor problem. The coupling will have
to undergo thermo-reconditioning, but we have the facilities for that here since
the colonists used to use agrodroids and this world has some fierce
thunderstorms in the rainy season."
"Fascinating, really, Emtrey." Corran smiled easily. "You should ask Commander
Antilles to let you brief the squadron on the climatology of this world." Use me
to escape the droid, will you? "Demand it, really."
"Demand? Oh, my."
"Insist absolutely. Fifteen or twenty minutes of reasoning with him should
convince him of its necessity." Corran nodded solemnly. "Now, about my X-wing.
I blew a phi-inverted lateral stabilizer."
"That is correct, sir." Emtrey handed Corran a datapad. "I have downloaded the
requisition forms for the part into this datapad. If you will fill them out,
along with an incident report, I'll get Captain Celchu to review the forms and
get Commander
Antilles to sign off on them. We'll relay the information back to General Salm.
We should have the part in a month or two at the most."
Corran's jaw dropped. "A month or two?"
"Provided they have the part and you don't get pushed back in the priority
list."
"Priority list?"
"Yes, sir. You brought your X-wing with you and have never formally signed it
over to the Alliance. To prevent individuals from using the Alliance as a
maintenance depot, regulation 119432, subsection 5, paragraph 3 states
'Non-Alliance craft that are allied with or working under the command of an
Alliance leader will be provided with parts and maintenance at the discretion of
the commanding officer and/or the senior officer in charge of
parts and supply
for said craft. If said craft are damaged in any actions that were not planned
or sanctioned in advance (see Sec. 12, para 7 for a list of exceptions), all
damage is considered non-Alliance related and to be repaired only after
authorized repairs to sanction-action-damaged craft have been com.-pleted.' Now
the exceptions .. ."
"Hold it, Emtrey." Corran massaged his temples. "Is this the only way to get a
new stabilizer?"
"Sir, I am conversant in the regulations of over six million different military
and paramilitary organizations and there is nothing that ..."
The pilot rapped a knuckle against the droid's black breastplate and that
stopped the litany. "Emtrey, there have to be more phi-inverted lateral
stabilizers in existence than we have in all the Alliance ships and stores.
Z-95 Headhunters and Incom T-47 Airspeeders both use the part. There's probably
a wrecked T-47 out here somewhere, in fact."
"There might be, sir." The droid rotated his
head around in a circle to scan the whole area. "I'll prepare the forms
requesting a general survey of the local sector."
Dropping the datapad, Corran reached out and grabbed the droid's head in both
hands. He pulled Emtrey's facial opening toward him. "You're missing my point,
Emtrey. Forms and requests will take time. Without that part, I can't fly. If I
can't fly, I'll be stuck in this fog and on the ground and that will make life
miserable for me and I don't want that. There are parts to be had ..."
"And regulations to be observed."
"Regulations be damned!"
The droid pulled back a step and the condensation on his head let him slip
away. "Sir, of all the members of Rogue Squadron, I would have thought you would
appreciate adherence to regulations!"
Corran sighed. "Regulations have their place, but not when they hurt. Can't you
just scrounge the part or something?"
The droid froze in position, the flashing light in his eyes being the only
indication he was still working. The pilot luxuriated in the cessation of the
droid's chatter, but it went on far longer than he'd heard before in the droid's
presence. The eye-flashes became asynchronous, and this worried Corran a bit.
"Emtrey?"
The droid's eyes went dark for a moment, then his limbs and head jerked as if he
had been struck by lightning.
"Emtrey?"
The eyes lit up again and Corran would have sworn they were a bit brighter.
"Scrounging protocol engaged, sir." The droid bent down and smoothly retrieved
the datapad. He glanced at the
datapad, then shook his head. "I'll shoot a requisition up through channels,
but I think I can find you something sooner than anything we get from Command.
You're a pilot, and my job is to keep you flying. Consider it done."
Even the voice sounded different to Corran. "Emtrey, are you all right? Is the
moisture getting to you?"
"I'm fine, sir. The moisture is no problem." One eye-light flashed on and off.
"Touch of a virus, maybe, but nothing to worry about."
Did that droid just wink at me? "Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir." The droid saluted smartly. "If you have nothing further, sir, I'll
get on this right away. And I'll have your gear sent around to your billet,
sir."
"Thank you, Emtrey." Corran returned the salute. "Dismissed."
The droid turned sharply on his heel and walked away. Corran stared after him,
then shivered.
"Ooryl did not think it was so cold here."
Corran spun and saw the grey-green-colored Gand standing behind him. Another who
blends in with this fog. "Not cold, Ooryl, just fatigue. It's been a long day,
full of surprises."
"Qrygg wanted to apologize for abandoning you." The Gand Findsman clutched his
hands together penitently. "Qrygg was too busy dodging Interceptors on Qrygg's
tail to see you were not there."
"You followed orders, just as I would have."
"Qrygg would give you a sign of Qrygg's sorrow."
Corran threw an arm around the Gand's exo-skeletal shoulders. "I tell you what.
Guide me back to my billet and let me get a solid eight hours of
sleep, and we'll call it even. Will that assuage your Gand guilt?"
"Ooryl finds this acceptable."
"Good." Corran swept his left hand through the fog. "Lead on, Ooryl, and this
time I promise I'll follow right behind you."
15
The officious, bulbous officer stared laser bolts at Kirtan Loor. "I can see
your orders are all properly drawn, but I have never appreciated Intelligence
operatives meddling in fleet affairs."
"I appreciate your concern, Admiral Devlia, as well as your willingness to
return from retirement to Imperial service, but Imperial security must take
precedence at this time which, I believe you would agree, is most critical."
The little man brushed his grey moustache with a finger and his expression
eased. "Just so we understand each other."
"Of course." Kirtan cared little for the Admiral's concerns, but the Interdictor
cruiser Black Asp was part of Devlia's command. Its report of being ambushed by
a squadron it identified as Rogue Squadron had brought Kirtan all the way from
Coruscant to Vladet in the Rachuk system to speak with the Black Asp's Captain
Uwlla Iillor. He suspected a great chunk of Devlia's discomfort with his visit
came because it forced the Admiral to deal with Iillor, one of the women who had
risen to command
to fill the gaps left in the Imperial Navy after the Endor debacle.
The Intelligence agent found himself anxious to meet Captain Iillor. He had read
her file, as well as that of Admiral Devlia and most of the senior command
staff during his journey out from Coruscant. The files were a welcome departure
from tracking the various rumors about Rogue Squadron, but her record especially
intrigued him. In studying it he caught hints of how forceful she had to have
been to have risen in the Imperial Navy as far as she got before the Emperor's
death.
Devlia stood and smoothed his grey jacket over his round belly. "And I'll tell
you here and now that I'll stop any questions I think are off the mark."
"I understand that, sir." Dream all you want, Admiral.
Devlia led Kirtan from his spacious office down a narrow hallway in the mansion
that housed the command staff. The Admiral preceded him into a small study that
had been converted into a conference room through the addition of a big table
that dominated the room. Boxes full of datacards still lined the built-in
shelves and Kirtan judged it a larger library than he would have expected to
find on a planet like Vladet.
Devlia secured himself the chair at the head of the table, then waved a hand
toward the woman standing at the far end. "Captain Iillor, this is Agent Kirtan
Loor. He wants to ask you some questions about the ambush."
"Yes, sir." The brown-haired woman looked at Kirtan without a trace of the
hunted look most people acquired when told Intelligence wanted to question
them. TII help if I am able, Agent Loor."
Her voice had an edge to it that backed up the challenge in her dark eyes.
Kirtan assumed her lack
of fear came after years of being on the Navy's NhM trackNon-huMan. The
Empire's bias against aliens and women reached an unprecedented level of
refinement in the Imperial Navy. Iillor had been sent to serve under Colonel
Thrawn and a host of other alien superior officers before she had been given a
ship of her own. She would have been stuck on that Carrack-class cruiser had not
the defeat at Endor made the need for competent officers so great that the
command staff's survivors reevaluated personnel and awarded commands according
to some semblance of merit.
"I'm sure you will, Captain. I would like any reports you have filed about this
action, as well as any holographic records of it, along with any communication
intercepts." He walked around to the left side of the table, then turned back
toward Devlia. "With the Admiral's permission, of course."
The old man nodded.
"Very well. If you don't mind, please tell me what happened."
"May I sit?"
"By all means." Kirtan smiled but remained standing. "Make yourself
comfortable."
Captain Iillor sat and turned her chair so she gave Devlia her profile. "We had
information that a smuggler running supplies to the Rebels was expected in the
Chorax system at a particular time, and would be departing after picking up some
supplies there. I sent a shuttle in to monitor the smuggler's situation while
I put the Black Asp on the fringe of the system. When the Pulsar Skate started
to head out of the system, I jumped the Black Asp in and brought my G7-x
gravjectors up."
Kirtan frowned. "Intra-system jumping is a rather unusual tactic, isn't it?"
Iillor shook her head. "I've seen it used with
great success out in the Unknown Sector. It worked at Chorax, too, because the
Skate had no idea where we came from. It took them nearly six seconds to begin
evasive maneuvers. I took the liberty of closing to use our ion cannons on the
Skate during that time. Then a dozen X-wings came into the system.
"I deployed my Interceptor squadron, but none of the pilots are Academy
material. They would have been eaten up, so I brought the Black Asp in and
managed to disable one X-wing. By then, however, the remainder of them screened
the Skate and hit my forward shield with a volley of proton torpe does. The
shield came down and I lost two laser batteries. I had to choose between