haunt me for the next two weeks."
25
That General Derricote managed to refrain from sweating in the steamy atmosphere
of Borleias did not surprise Kirtan Loor too terribly much. The good General was
toadlike enough in his demeanor that the Intelligence officer imagined it saved
him from melting in the heat and humidity. The bloated, lumpen commander of
Imperial forces in the Pyria system fitted his face with a smilethe abrupt
curve of his mouth imitated by the sweep of the two chins jiggling beneath it.
"I am pleased to see, Agent Loor, that the past week and a half here on Borleias
have not appeared to have taken their toll on you." The man pressed
stubby-fingered hands against the dark wood of his desktop. "You found
everything you needed for your survey of our defenses?"
Kirtan nodded once, then froze and stared down at the Imperial officer for a
second without saying anything. He waited, silent and unmoving, until the
corners of the man's smile began to quiver. "My security review proved
satisfactory. Everything is as it should be here at the installation. Your
shield gener-
ators are in good repair, your two squadrons of TIE fighters are being
maintained at a high level of readiness, and your training schedule has your
pilots logging enough time for twice their number."
"Preparation is the price for constant vigilance, Agent Loor." Derricote's voice
remained blase, but his bovine, brown eyes began blinking a bit more rapidly
than they should have normally. "We are here to stop the Rebellion, so we must
be prepared."
Kirtan smiled easily, then leaned forward on the man's desk. "And you are
prepared. You have done very well to keep this base secure, and in fact, your
computer security is tighter than anything I have seen outside Imperial Center
itself. You also work harder than any other officer I have seen since the
Emperor's death."
"I am all for the Empire."
"You are all for yourself." Kirtan tapped the datapad built into the man's desk.
"I took the liberty of visiting your office when you were not here and I pulled
the secret files from your datapad. You truly are an artist. You duplicate
requisitions, append intricate routing tags to them, and send them off to
multiple commands, each of which believes you are under its care. You have
successfully drawn enough fuel and ordinance to maintain four squadrons of TIE
fighters. Since only two are here, I have to assume the others are at the
Alderaan Biotics site."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I sincerely doubt that, General. I have read your file. You studied at the
Imperial Naval Academy, but concentrated on biological and botanical subjects.
While you are fully qualified to oversee a military installation such as this,
you are uniquely suited to making the Biotics site operational again." Kirtan
smiled. "And profitable?"
Derricote's face became ashen, but his smile did
not fully erode. "This has not been unanticipated, Agent Loor. I do have
resources."
Kirtan raised himself to his full height, then looked back down at Derricote.
"This does not surprise me, General. The Alderaan Biotics hydroponic facility
was barely more than a tax loss for the parent corporation before the tax laws
changed. It was abandoned to the care of maintenance droids and forgotten. Then
Alderaan was disciplined and the market for goods from Alderaan blossomed. My
conservative estimate, based on data about twelve months old, is that if you've
been operational for two years you should have cleared two million credits."
"We have been at our fullest production capacity for only fifteen months, but
our overhead is low, so we have actually made 2.75 million credits though much
of this is tied up in inventory maintained off-world."
"Your overhead is low because the Empire is subsidizing your operation."
The General steepled his fingers. "Think of it as our operation."
"I could think of it as my operation, General." Kirtan folded his arms across
his chest. "I do not think I could hold it for long, however. In going back over
your security system I noticed evidence of what could have been Alliance
tampering with holonet messages."
Derricote's eyes grew hard and he sat up straighter at his desk. "Bothans. They
make runs at all holonet communications. I feed them data and it keeps them
happy."
The edge in the man's voice surprised Kirtan, as did the physical
transformation. Just by sitting up and raising his chin, Derricote had shifted
from being a noodle-spined sycophantic failure to the
sort of man who could engineer the deception that made his covert agricultural
enterprise possible. He showed me what I wanted to see so I would underestimate
him.
Derricote touched the screen on his datapad. "Frequency of hits and length of
contact is up. Should I correlate that to your visit, Agent Loor, or shall I
just assume the Alliance and Empire taking an interest in my little home is a
coincidence?"
Kirtan's eyes narrowed. "The Pyria system is one of a number that fits a profile
for being a conduit into the Core for the Alliance."
"It fits because they don't know about my defenses."
"Two more squadrons of TIE fighters will mean little to them."
"Ah, so there are some things you don't know about Borleias. Imagine that."
Derricote smiled. "I tell you what, son You leave the defenses here to me.
You're an Intelligence officer, not a military genius."
Kirtan pointed to the General's private datapad. "I saw nothing in there to
indicate you're a military genius, sir."
Derricote tapped the side of his head with a thick finger. "That's because I'm
smart enough to know that the only data that is safe is the data stored up here.
I've anticipated a move against Borleias ever since I found the Biotics station
in working order, and I've planned accordingly."
The Intelligence officer heard the confidence in the man's voice and isolated
another component in the tone he used. Eagerness. "You're looking forward to
this."
"I may have my business on the side here, Agent Loor, but I am a loyal son of
the Empire." The large man shrugged. "Besides, I was at Derra IV. I learned
to enjoy killing Rebels there, and have formed my plans here to make Borleias
just as deadly to the Alliance."
"A convoy died at Derra IV, General. A laudable event, but it was not a military
force." Kirtan shook his head. "You'll get their best here, including Rogue
Squadron, I do not doubt."
"Their best or their worst, it does not matter." General Derricote smiled
easily. "They're expecting to snuff a candle here at Borleias, but when they
come, they'll get burned by a nova."
26
Corran's X-wing came out of hyperspace in the shadow of the Emancipator. The
Imperial Star Destroyer's daggerlike profile stabbed deeply into the image of
the world he knew only as Blackmoon. Beyond the Emancipator he saw the Eridain
and two modified bulk cruisers. The Mon Valle was home to Salm's Defender Wing
while the Corulag was the launching platform for the ei
ght assault shuttles that
would ferry down the Rebel ground troops.
The Emancipator remained in position to safeguard the fleet's exit vector from
the system. While none of the briefings had supplied Corran the name of the
system and world, he did know jumping out would be difficult. General Kre'fey,
in giving them a final briefing, had emphasized the need for security concerning
the operation and had promised that while they did not know the name of the
world at which they were going to fight, future generations would, and would
laud them for having been there.
At the time Corran had thought Kre'fey had enough confidence to take the world
by himself, but that failed to banish the bad feelings he had about
the mission. The briefings had all been longer on morale building than they had
on facts. While the simulator runs had let everyone get comfortable with their
roles in the assault, something just felt wrong as far as Corran was concerned.
Keep your eyes open and fly your bestthat's all you can do right now. Whistler
brought up Corran's tactical screen. "Rogue Leader, I have no enemy ships on
scan, but the base does have a shield up."
"Thanks, Nine. Rogues, form up to escort Defender Wing." Wedge's voice came
cleanly through the speakers in Corran's helmet. "Fly high side on the
Emancipator."
Corran pulled back on his stick and kicked the X-wing over in a lazy roll that
brought him up above the Star Destroyer. All at once the capital ship started
pulsing out salvo after salvo of turbolaser and ion cannon shots. Red bolts
would merge into sheets of energy burning down through the atmosphere to slam
into the Imperial base's shielding. The bloody-red color would soak down into
the shield, obscuring the installation beneath it.
As it faded to pink, a cerulean blanket of ion cannon energy would drop over it.
The blue fire fragmented and sizzled over the energy dome with hundreds of
lightninglike tendrils. Some of them bled off the dome and buildings outside its
sanctuary exploded and melted. The surrounding jungle began to burn, ringing
the base with fire. Makes for a perfect target, though the fire will make flying
tough down there.
"Whistler, get me a general track on air currents groundside. Also monitor the
size of the shield. When it shrinks, it's coming down."
Wave after wave of energy poured down through the rising column of smoke. The
energy slammed
into the shields with a thunder crack t hat sent vibrations deep enough to shake
the command bunker where Kirtan stood. The relentless pounding had made him
flinch at first and fear for his life, but now the sounds merged into one
unending rumble. The few working monitors in the command center showed satellite
views of the attacking fleet and the fiery circle on the planet's surface.
Derricote turned toward Kirtan. "Hard to believe anyone could survive down
there, isn't it?"
The Intelligence officer nodded. "It does tax credulity, General."
"And the Rebels are so ready to be credulous." The military man looked over at
one of the technicians at the shield controls. "Status, Mr. Harm."
"Still at one hundred percent, sir."
"Good. Begin a step-back in random percentages of powerrandomize from seven.
When you hit seventy-five percent, cut to fifty. When their salvos slacken, go
down to twenty, then five, then zero."
Kirtan felt fear trickle through his guts. "You are confident they won't level
this place? They took Vladet down to the foundations."
"Which is why we are below the fundations, Agent Loor."
Kirtan cringed as a particularly powerful blast shook the ground. "I trust you
know what you are doing."
"As you have no choice, I appreciate your confidence." Derricote rubbed his
hands together. "The Rebels want this place to use for future operations, that's
the only reason they're attacking. If they want it, they're going to pay my
price to get it."
Whistler's squawk made Corran focus on the tactical screen. The shields over
the base had begun to
contract. As they began to come down, the Emancipator slackened off with
turbolaser fire and concentrated on using the ion cannons. While they did
slightly less damage than the lasers, if the shields came down unexpectedly
quickly, an ion salvo wouldn't destroy what General Kre'fey intended to capture.
Corran brought his X-wing in beside Warden Squadron and killed his thrust.
"Three Flight on station."
"I copy, Nine. Stand by." Tycho's voice clipped off abruptly as the flight
controller switched channels. (
Corran flipped his comm unit over to the tactical frequency he shared with his
flight. They still had not gotten a pilot to replace Lujayne so Three Flight
remained one pilot light. That was just one element of the operation that Corran
didn't like. He knew pilots were not easy to come by, but he knew Tycho could
have easily flown Lujayne's X-wing, and he thought the man would be a lot more
valuable in a fighter than inside the Eridain directing traffic.
"Ten, Twelve, we hold here." Corran glanced at his tactical screen. "Their
shields are failing fast. We'll be going in next."
Whistler's triumphant bleat heralded the collapse of Blackmoon's shields.
Corran started to smile, but something nagged at the back of his brain. He
couldn't identify it, but it nibbled away at his smile and started bile burning
in the back of his throat. He keyed his comm. "Control, Nine still shows the
enemy to be blind."
"Got it, Nine. Rogues, stand by." An uncharacteristic hesitancy echoed through
Tycho's words. "Rogues, this is direct from General Kre'fey. You will escort the
assault shuttles down to the planet."
"Say again, Control?" The disbelief in Wedge's
voice resonated through Corran. "Defender Wing is ready for its sweep."
"Rogue Leader, Kre'fey sees that as an unnecessary delay. The Y-wings have been
ordered home. You are to escort his shuttles in. Resistance on the planet is
ended."
"Control, what about the ion cannons?"
"If they could have shot, they would have done so by now." General Kre'fey's
voice growled through the comm channels. "Resistance is ended. It is time to
claim our prize."
Static punctuated the silence that followed Kre'fey's declaration, then Wedge
came back on the frequency. "Rogue Leader to Rogue Squadron, form up to screen
the escorts."
Corran's stomach flip-flopped. "I don't like this."
"Nine, this channel is for military use, not opinions. Let's save commentary
for the debriefing." Wedge's voice lost some of its edge as he continued to
speak. "And let's fly well enough that there is a debriefing."
"That's my intention, Rogue Leader." Corran eased his throttle forward and hit a
switch. "S-foils in attack position."
The Emancipator rose away from the planet, taking up a position so it could
screen the force from any interloping Imperials. Corran felt even more naked as
it withdrew. While the Star Destroyer was not built to deal with starfighters,
its overwhelming firepower could interdict TIEs and perhaps even destroy their
launching fa
cilities on the ground.
Of course, Kre'fey would forbid them from doing that, since he wants the real
estate intact. Corran's sense of unease grew as he closed with the boxy assault
shuttles dropping away from the Corulag. The eight shuttles each carried forty
com-
mandos and would make three round-trips between planet and the Corulag to bring
the whole force down. Though they were slow, the shuttles were sufficiently
armed to hold TIEs at bay long enough so the Rogues could pick them off.
His tactical screen still showed nothing in terms of fighter opposition. The
base's shields were down. The operation seemed to be going better than expected
and that realization started a cold chill working up Corran's spine. He knew it
was silly for him to feel fear when everything seemed normal, but part of him
couldn't accept the good fortune.
His left hand pressed unconsciously to the medallion he wore. Things were going
this perfectly when my father died.We anticipated trouble, found none, and I
relaxed. He died because I relaxedI watched it happen and I did nothing. I
didn't see it coming, but it did, just like it will here. What is wrong here?
The answer to the question came to him a nanosecond before the first azure ion
bolt lanced up from the ground and hit the first assault shuttle. The blue
energy snared the Modaran and enmeshed it in a web of electrical discharges.
Flashes of silvery light marked explosions in the weapons system and engines.
With smoke pouring from a dozen hatches, the shuttle began a slow rolling tumble
through the atmosphere and the ground below.
It never hit the planet. A full kilometer above the ground it crashed into a
renewed energy shield. The shuttle exploded. Bits of debris struck sparks from
the shield as they skipped across its surface.
Whistler wailed out a warning. The tactical screen showed multiple fighter
contacts heading up out of launch tunnels around the shield dome perimeter. It
also reported that while the shield had grown no larger in diameter, its power
level was two hun-
dred percent higher than before, easily half again more powerful than possible,
given the power generation estimates in the briefings. All that and ion
cannons, too.
"Control," Wedge ordered, "pull the transports out, now!"
"Rogue Leader, you have multiple fighters. Two squadrons, eyeballs and squints."