Star Wars - X-Wing - Rogue Squadron

  "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