Star Wars - X-Wing - Krytos Trap

  Wedge's monitor, and the rangefinder showed it to be 25

  kilometers distant. And it still looks that big. A shiver ran

  down his spine.

  "Rogues, form up on me. We have three minutes at

  speed before we're right on top of the SSD. Let's harvest

  those remaining TIEs before she gets a chance to recover

  them." Wedge waited a few seconds for the cries and shouts

  of assent to die down. "Remember, that thing is bristling

  with turbolasers, ion cannons, concussion missile launchers,

  and tractor beams. When I call, you break off your attacks.

  Got it?"

  Wedge fed shield power into his engines, boosting his

  speed. He saw Asyr pull up on his starboard stabilizer foil.

  "No heroics, Flight Officer Sei'lar, I want to return that data-

  card to you."

  "As ordered, Commander."

  Wedge glanced at his monitor and then the TIE they

  were closing on fast. "I have your back. He's yours."

  "Thank you, Commander." Asyr's X-wing pulled

  ahead, then sideslipped down and to port. She stayed below

  and behind the TIE fighter until she'd closed the range to

  within 250 meters, then she nosed her ship up into the eye-

  bali's exhaust. The X-wing's lasers fired two dual offset

  bursts. The first grazed the inside of the port solar panel,

  burning two long streaks along it. The second pair of bolts

  stabbed in through the exhaust ports. The whole eyeball

  shuddered, then silvery fire jetted out through the forward

  cockpit canopy, killing the ship's momentum.

  The dead TIE dropped from sight with the grace of a

  Hurt in freefall.

  "Nice shooting, Deuce."

  "Thanks, Lead."

  Wedge glanced at the chronographic readout on his

  monitor. "Two-point-five minutes to range. Mynock, give

  me a warning at thirty seconds."

  The Lusankya continued to pour fire into the planetary

  shields while what little ground fire that came up at it

  splashed harmlessly on it s shields. The midship and stern

  guns fought to keep the hole in the lower shield open while

  the bow guns blasted away at the upper shield. The ship's

  assault sent waves of RodJan green energy skittering along

  the underside of the shields. The shields held at first, then

  began to erode, and finally collapsed.

  Cutting his stick to the right, Wedge followed Asyr

  through a banking turn that put her on a pair of TIEs. "I

  have the leader, Commander."

  "I copy. I'll pick up the tail, Deuce." He widened the

  separation between them, then cut back hard to port as the

  TIEs broke and Asyr came around in a looping turn that

  slipped her in behind the lead TIE. She fired and melted off a

  third of the TIE's starboard solar panel. "Break left, Deuce!"

  Asyr rolled to port as the second TIE fired. Its first shots

  splashed harmlessly on the X-wing's aft shields, but the sub-

  sequent ones went wide. The eyeball rolled to follow Asyr,

  but as he leveled out he drifted straight into Wedge's sights.

  One burst of scarlet laserfire and the eyeball disintegrated

  into one long, flaming streak in the sky.

  Mynock gave Wedge the 30-second warning tone.

  "Break off, Rogues. The rest are just running." It looked like

  a half-dozen of the TIEs had survived the battle. As a screen-

  ing force they'd done their jobs and kept local fighters off the

  Lusankya while it emerged. While it was trapped beneath the

  city 1 bet it couldn't power its shields up. Without them, a

  concentrated volley of proton torpedoes might have been

  able to breech the hull, disable that lift shell, or destroy the

  bridge.

  Wedge glanced at his sensor display. "Four, this is

  Rogue Leader. Break off pursuit."

  "Just a couple seconds more."

  "Four, break off, now!"

  "I've almost got him, Lead."

  "You're too close, Four. Break off immediately!"

  Erisi's X-wing fired a quad burst that caught an Inter-

  ceptor on the starboard solar panel and right side of the

  cockpit. Something at the rear of the craft exploded, then

  seconds later the whole Interceptor came apart. A huge

  golden-red ball blossomed in front of Erisi's X-wing, then

  imploded into black smoke as she flew through it.

  "Report, Four."

  "I got him, Lead."

  "And got crisped. Get back here."

  Fear injected itself into her voice. "Rudder's gone, stick's

  sluggish."

  "Erisi, you're too close to the Lusankya. Get out of

  there." Wedge brought his X-wing around to the left in a

  long, orbiting loop. "Mynock, pull status data from her R5

  unit, now." He keyed his comm unit. "Erisi, roll and dive.

  Gravity is your friend."

  "As ordered. No, wait." A wail as frightening as any

  Mynock had ever made shot through the corem unit. "They

  have a tractor beam on me. I'm at full thrust, but I can't

  break loose. Help me, help me!"

  Pulling back on the stick, Wedge came up and pointed

  the nose of his fighter at the Lusankya. The big ship hang

  like a silver of ice stabbed deep into the morning sky. He

  thought he could see Erisi's X-wing as a little speck against

  the Super Star Destroyer's bulk, but a sheet of turbolaser fire

  heading back toward him eclipsed her.

  Hugging the stick to his chest, Wedge brought the

  X-wing over the top and pointed it back toward the planet.

  "On me, Rogues. We're going home."

  "But, Lead, we can't just leave her--"

  "Euough, Gavin. That's a Super Star Destroyer. It's im-

  possible to stop if it doesn't want to be stopped." "But impossible is--"

  "1 know, Rogues, I know." Wedge glanced at his moni-

  tor and let the cold shiver running up his spine bleed into his

  voice. "Impossible is what Rogue Squadron does, but right

  now that would cost us too much for too little gain. Just

  because we can do the impossible doesn't mean we always

  win."

  44

  Corran Horn mustered a smile in response to Admiral

  Ackbar's blinking expression of disbelief. "If someone is in-

  clined to call me as a witness, I think ! can shed some light on

  the murder charges against Captain Celchu."

  The Mon Calamari's mouth opened and closed a couple

  of times, then he nodded toward the prosecution table. "Per-

  haps, Commander Ettyk, the prosecution would like to re-

  open its case?"

  The dark-haired prosecutor nodded. "Thank you, sir.

  We call Corran Horn."

  Corran limped his way up toward the front of the court.

  He placed his blaster carbine on the prosecution table, then

  turned and approached the defense table. He squatted down

  beside Whistler and wiped a speck of dust from his optical

  lens. "Thanks for guiding me in here, Whistler. Without you,

  I've been lost."

  The droid hooted softly, then opened the storage com-

  partment in his dome. Corran reached in and pulled out his

  own unblemished Jedi medallion and the gold chain from

  which it hung. Corran fastened it around his neck, th
en

  fished the ruined medallion from his pocket and put it into

  the storage compartment. "Not quite a fair trade, my friend,

  but I'll make it up to you."

  Coming up from his crouch, Corran looked over at

  Tycho. He nodded and lowered his voice into a whisper. "I

  owe you an apology, a huge apology, and a debt I can never

  repay. All this is my fault, and I'm sorry I caused you to go

  through it."

  "You're wrong, Corran." Tycho shook his head. "You

  were manipulated by the Empire. So was I, so was everyone

  here. I'll accept your apology, but I won't acknowledge your

  debt."

  'Tll still pay it, or at least make a down payment on it."

  Tycho smiled. "Getting the murder charge removed

  from the indictment is a good start."

  "I can do much better. Watch me." Corran nodded, then

  dropped a hand on Emtrey's left shoulder. He bent in close

  to the droid's aural sensors and kept his voice low. "Emtrey,

  say nothing. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."

  The droid's head swiveled around to look at him. "Sir, I

  understood the first request. Quadruple redundancy in or-

  ders is hardly required in my case."

  Fixed you, have they, Emtrey? That's it, then, the last

  piece falls into place. Corran straightened up and shot Gen-

  eral Cracken a quick nod. Turning back toward the front of

  the courtroom, Corran bowed his head to the Tribunal. "My

  apologies to the court, but there were things that needed

  saying."

  Ackbar nodded. "Understood."

  General Salm frowned. "Lieutenant Horn, I have to ask,

  how did you get here?"

  "I started, at least this morning, from the Museum next

  door. Big metal doors sealed the aerial tunnel between the

  buildings, but, well," he said, brandishing the lightsaber,

  "you'd be amazed how effective these things are in opening

  doors. Your security personnel were stationed at the more

  accessible entry points, so I made it here without any other

  trouble."

  Salm frowned. "i appreciate the critique of our security,

  but I meant the question in a more general sense. You, ah,

  are dead."

  Corran limped his way into the witness box. "I think

  you'll want me sworn before I answer that question. It won't

  make the answer any more believable, but it'!! give you some

  peace of mind."

  A bailiff swore Corran in and Halla Ettyk approached

  him cautiously, as if he were radioactive. "I hardly know

  where to begin. Perhaps you can tell the court what has tran-

  spired since you were reported dead."

  "Sure." Corran took a deep breath, then started. "I'm

  certain General Cracken will debrief me, and some of what I

  have to say probably shouldn't be said in open court, but I'll

  try to keep it cogent and coherent."

  Ackbar nodded down at him. "Your discretion is appre-

  ciated."

  "Yes, sir." Corran smiled at the prosecutor. "To answer

  your question, Commander, I was captured by Imperial In-

  telligence and taken to Lusankya. Ysanne Isard wanted to do

  to me what she tried to do to Captain Celchu. make me into

  an agent who would do her bidding when and where she

  wanted."

  Halla frowned. "You said she wanted to do to you 'what

  she tried to do to Captain Celchu.' Don't you mean she

  wanted to do to you what she did to Captain Celchu?"

  Corran blushed. "I thought, for the longest time, that

  she had programmed Captain Celchu and that his lack of

  memory about Lusankya was a blind to keep his Imperial

  ties hidden. The fact is, however, that his amnesia about

  Lusankya is not uncommon among those who wash out of

  Isard's indoctrination program. Other prisoners at Lusankya

  remembered Captain Celchu as being a sleeperstheir term

  for someone who is rendered catatonic by the indoctrination

  process. I didn't become a sleeper. Later I had a chance to

  access computer files about prisoners at Lusankya. I re-

  viewed my own file and then I called up Captain Celchu's

  file. I wanted it as proof that he was one of Isard's creatures,

  but he had the same susceptibility rating I did, which is to say

  that he had no susceptibility to her techniques at all. As far as

  she was concerned, we were as dense as duracrete."

  "But his file could have been altered and left there for

  you to discover it."

  "Possible, but not likely for two reasons." Corran held

  up two fingers. "First, the datapad I used to access the files

  was in a secure area that provided me with access to a work-

  ing blaster and the means to go from Lusankya to here.

  Given the precautions Isard took to hide the location of

  Lusankya when I went in, I doubt any prisoner was meant to

  have access to that area. Second, at the time I accessed the

  files, Isard had no way of knowing I was in a position to

  access them. She believed another prisoner had escaped, not

  me, so any ruse would have been designed to ensnare him,

  not me."

  Halla hesitated, concentration sinking her brown eyes

  into shadow. "That notwithstanding, we have to take into

  consideration the possibility that you might have been turned

  and are here so that both you and Captain Celchu could be

  put into positions o f trust in the future."

  "True, but the fact is that once the shadow of suspicion

  was lifted from Tycho, I was able to eliminate him as possi-

  bly being the traitor in the unit. If he is taken out of the

  hologram, there is only one other logical candidate for that

  position."

  Before Corran could reveal the traitor's identity, a sol-

  dier burst through the courtroom doors and ran over to Gen-

  eral Cracken. Fie said something quickly and urgently to the

  Alliance Intelligence chief. Cracken shot to his feet and

  pointed at Corran. "Lieutenant Horn, I order you to say

  nothing more at this time. Admiral Ackbar, we need to use

  the adjoining jury room, now!"

  Corran hesitated, then frowned. "I wasn't going to re-

  veal any of your secrets, General."

  "Horn, shut up. That's an order." Cracken walked

  across the courtroom to the door in the southeast corner. He

  opened it and swore. "This can't be happening."

  Corran vaulted from the witness box and followed on

  Cracken's heels into the large, rectangular room. Transpari-

  steel made up the room's entire southern wall, with a small

  doorway cut in the middle of it to allow access to a balcony.

  Cracken worked a set of controls on the wall, fading the

  sequestration opaquing of the transparisteel to nothingness.

  Corran looked out to the south and felt his heart sink into his

  bowels.

  A colossal white wedge knifed its way into the sky. A

  fearsome broadside silhouetted a skyhook against a green

  background, then sent a smoking crescent crashing planet-

  ward. The ship--Corran knew it had to be a Super Star

  Destroyer because of the size--continued its upward flight

  and turned its weapons on the lower
defense shield.

  Corran found himself drifting through the doorway and

  onto the balcony with Admiral Ackbar and the others from

  the court. Above the city TIE fighters and X-wings tangled

  together in a complicated dance punctuated with fireballs

  and underscored with laser light. Corran couldn't get an ac-

  curate count on the X-wings, but he didn't see any of them

  go down. That's gotta be Rogue Squadron up there.

  The Super Star Destroyer moved up through the first

  defense shield. The TIEs started to run back to the ship that

  had launched them and the X-wings flew on in close pursuit.

  Corran smiled as more TIEs exploded or augured into the

  planet, but that appeared as a minor bright spot in compari-

  son to the damage the Imperial ship had done to the defense

  shields.

  Corran frowned. "Where did that ship come from?"

  Whistler popped a sensor dish from his dome and let it

  spin around a couple of times before keening cautiously. Em-

  trey's head jerked up and down, from the ship to Whistler

  and back again. "Sir, he says that ship's transponders report

  it to be the Lusankya!"

  Corran's jaw dropped open. The bulkhead doors closing

  off access to the gravel mine wasn't salvaged from a ship, it

  was part of a ship. The turbolifts, too, were part of the ship.

  Our whole complex must have been one tiny part of the ship

  with bulkheads trimmed out with stone. The mines were out-

  side it, but we lived all snugged up in the belly of an Imperial

  Super Star Destroyer.

  Cracken held a comlink up by his ear. "The ship appears

  to have been buried beneath a portion of the cityscape south-

  west of the Manarai Mountains. It came up firing. Freeing

  itself it devastated over a hundred square kilometers. Mil-

  lions are missing, presumed dead."

  Corran pointed at the platform made of hexagons hug-

  ging the ship's hull. "What's that below it, some new type of

  armor?"

  Whistler hooted sharply and Emtrey translated. "Whis-

  tler says it appears to be a massive collection of repulsorlift

  cells grafted together to float the ship free of Coruscant."

  "Ah," said Cracken, "so that's what they did with the

  lift-coils. Well before Endor, we uncovered an Imperial oper-

  ation to collect an incredible number of repulsorlift compo-