Star Wars - X-Wing - Krytos Trap

by Michael A. Stackpole

  openly while Captain Celchu was the subject of suc h fierce

  scrutiny. Imperial agents, in helping to manufacture evidence

  against Captain Celchu, revealed themselves to us."

  Mon Mothma opened her arms. "Let there be no citizen

  of the New Republic who harbors suspicions about Tycho

  Celchu. His devotion to the New Republic is unquestioned.

  His return to active service with Rogue Squadron is a joyous

  event for us, and an event that should be feared by those who

  would attack the New Republic." She initiated applause for

  Tycho and everyone else joined ill, including Wedge once he

  tucked the unit citation beneath his left arm.

  Tycho bowed his head toward Mon Mothma, but de-

  clined an invitation to speak with a curt shake of his head.

  Mon Mothma nodded back at him, then resumed her

  place at the podlure. "it is said of Rogue Squadron that do-

  ing the impossible is what they do best, and another member

  of the squadron has shown himself to be perhaps the best of

  the best at it. Is there allyone in the New Republic who has

  not heard of Corran Horn? He was the pilot who flew

  through the worst storm in Coruscant's recorded history to

  bring the defense shields down, only to be slain through the

  treachery of one of his comrades. It was a story that touched

  all of us because it spoke to the best in one individual and the

  worst in another. We mourned Corran Horn because his un-

  timely death seemed yet one more tragedy caused by the

  Empire at a time when the Empire should have been decid-

  edly less virulent.

  "We know of Captain Celchu's innocence because of a

  number of things, greatest among them Corran Horn's re-

  turn from the grave. He was not killed on the last day the

  Empire held Coruscant. He was captured instead. When

  Ysanne Isard could not break him and transform him into a

  puppet, he was placed in a prison where she intended him to

  live out the rest of his life. Though he had been told that a

  failed escape attempt would result in his death, Corran Horn

  risked his life to win his freedom. He alone has gotten away

  from Lusankya, and his escape precipitated Ysanne Isard's

  own departure from Coruscant."

  Mon Mothma beckoned Corran forward, but he fol-

  lowed Tycho's lead, acknowledging her gesture with a slight

  bow and a smile. That smile remained on his face as he

  straightened up, though he did give Wedge a covert wink.

  Wedge nodded in return, pleased that both men were content

  with allowing the focus of the ceremony t remain on the

  squadron instead of shifting it to themselves.

  "Citizens, Ysanne lsard's flight from Coruscant and her

  subsequent actions have given birth to more rumors than can

  be counted. It is true that with the resources available to her

  she did travel to Thyferra and support a revolution that put

  the Xucphra faction in charge of the bacta cartel. She does

  now rule there and has effective control over the output of

  the entire bacta cartel. Given that she introduced the Kt3tos

  virus to Coruscant and directed covert Imperial operations to

  destroy bacta storage facilities here on Coruscant, this would

  seem to place her in a most powerful position. Literally, it

  would appear that millions will live or die depending upon

  her whim."

  Mon Mothma's voice took on a more serious tone. "Her

  action would have caused a crisis except for two things over

  which she had no control. One was a direct and unwitting

  result of her own haste in taking action against us. When she

  ordered the creation of the Krytos virus, she wanted a virus

  that would routate quickly and spread between species easily

  Her scientists complied with her orders, but they failed to

  take into account what would happen if the spread of the

  virus was hampered. The Krytos virus was ve'y deadly--in

  fact, too deadly for her plan to succeed. Infected persons died

  fast--in many cases too fast to be able to spread the disease

  very far. An illness that kills too quickly runs itself out of

  hosts and dies along with them. Those individuals who lasted

  long enough to spread the virus did so only because, as the

  virus mutated, it became less virulent. Since it did not kill

  them so quickly, they had a chance to pass it on, but it was

  no longer as deadly a virus as Iceheart wanted it to be.

  "This high rate of mutation also weakened the virus's

  defenses. Analysis of the virus allowed a Vratix verachen to

  be able to synthesize a specific medication to combat the

  virus by growing the alazhi component of bacta in a ryll-rich

  environment. The resulting product, known as rylca, is now

  being produced in a hidden location by the New Republic.

  More than enough to eradicate the virus will be available

  here well before our bacta supply runs out."

  Mon Mothma glanced momentarily back toward Wedge

  and he saw the glimmerings of a smile on her face. "Rogue

  Squadron itself did not produce the ryica, but they provided

  support. for the product and were instrumental in obtaining

  both the ryll and the bacta used to create the rylca. Qlaern

  Hirf is a Vratix verachen from Thyferra and is the creator of

  rylca. Equally instrumental in the success of this effort is the

  woman who transported the components for the rylca and

  rescued the Vratix from the most dire of circumstances,

  Mirax Terrik. You may have heard that Mirax was killed in

  the ambush at Alderman, but it appears her long association

  with Rogue Squadron allowed her to do the impossible as

  well and return from that tragedy to help us deal with the

  Krytos virus."

  The New Republic's Chief Councilor led the assembly in

  a round of applause for both Qlaern and Mirax. The Vratix

  seemed utterly nonplussed by the demonstration, but Mirax

  blushed fiercely. She gave Wedge a fearsome stare that he

  recognized by virtue of having seen it many times before, and

  he knew what it meant.

  She's right, it is all my fault that she's being embarrassed

  by the attention, but I'm glad she's alive to be blushing. As

  nearly as Cracken and his Intelligence people could make

  out, Erisi had betrayed the bacta convoy to the Empire for

  two reasons. The first was to eliminate a lot of bacta, dashing

  hopes on Coruscant and driving the price yet higher. The

  second reason was to get Mirax killed, since her Pulsar Skate

  was one of the ships in the convoy. Mirax recalled Erisi

  threatening her if Mirax continued her relationship with

  Corran, and the destruction of the convoy offered Erisi a

  way to kill her rival for Corran's affections. Given that ev-

  eryone thought Corran was dead at the time, the act was

  taken as a reflection of Erisi's vindictive and petty nature.

  Then again, Isard might have told Erisi of Corran's sur-

  vival and promised him to her as a reward for her continued

  loyalty. Wedge shivered at that thought. Luckily for Mirax,

  the Pulsar Skate didn't go along with
the final convoy jump.

  Mirax had instead shipped but to Borleias, where the cap-

  tured Alderaan Biotics Facility was put to use synthesizing

  rylca. The plan had been for it to appear as if Mirax had just

  stolen a portion of the bacta going to Coruscant--what

  smuggler could have resisted taking such a prize? She would

  have remained out of sight until the production of rylca

  could allow the New Republic the freedom to anger the

  bacta cartel by announcing their possession of a facility that

  could produce enough bacta-like products to break the car-

  tel The death of the convoy provided an even better cover

  for her operation, so she remained dead until an opportune

  moment to reveal the deception.

  Mon Mothma faced tbe holocams one last time. "Citi-

  zens of the New Republic, the last vestige of the Empire's evil

  has been rooted out of Coruscant. What was once an Empire

  is now just a collection of bitter people clutching at whatever

  power they can find to keep themselves apart from those they

  have hurt. What they do not realize, and the reason they are

  doomed to failure, is that all power in the galaxy comes from

  the free and willful investing of power by one person in an-

  other. Human and non-human, gendered or not, young, old,

  hale or infirm, we can only give power, we cannot take it.

  Stolen power evaporates and when it does, the empires that

  were built on it and of it collapse, never to rise again."

  46

  Wedge found it mildly annoying that he was able to resist the

  generally festive atmosphere of the reception following the

  awards ceremony. Various guests mixed and mingled with

  members of the squadron while holocams made the most of

  every holo-op. The images would be distributed throughout

  the New Republic, winning a small measure of the unit's

  fame for the politicians and other celebrities present.

  Though he was inclined to view such opportunism with

  a cynical eye, he didn't condemn it. The Rebellion had won.

  Hundreds and hundreds of worlds flocked to the New Re-

  public's banner. The New Republic fleet was poised to go

  after Warlord Zsinj in a campaign that would strike fear into

  the hearts of all the other petty warlords in the galaxy. Even

  Ysanne Isard had to know her days were numbered, since

  there was no way the New Republic could let her remain in

  control of the bacta supply. With the installation of Fliry

  Vorru as Thyferra's Minister of Trade, bacta prices had al-

  ready started to climb, making that situation one that could

  not be tolerated.

  The reason the celebration failed to reach him went be-

  yond his sense of mourning for Iella Wessiri. She had de-

  clined to accompany him to the reception, and he understood

  why. No one saw Diric as anything but one more of

  Iceheart's victims, but leila clearly thought she should have

  been able to spot something, to have known Diric was under

  Iceheart's control. The obvious implication of that thinking

  was that if she had been more vigilant she never would have

  had to shoot him and the guilt over that act would be one

  with which she would wrestle for t he rest of her life.

  Ultimately Wedge's reservations about the celebration

  came from the past. He remembered well the celebration on

  Yavin 4 that followed the first Death Star's destruction. Our

  joy was this transparent, this unguarded. Then we evacuated

  the base and began running from the Empire. 1 know it's

  stupid to associate a victory and celebration with impending

  disaster, but . . .

  Borsk Fey'lya cut through the milling crowd and nodded

  his head toward Wedge. "I wanted to congratulate you,

  Commander, on a game well played." "I beg your pardon?"

  The Bothan tapped claws against the barrel of his lomin-

  ale mug. "There was a report concerning Rogue Squadron's

  intervention at Alderaan. I understand it has been classified

  as 'Most Secret.'"

  "Indeed it has." Wedge suppressed his desire to smile.

  "It struck me that the information about the situation at

  Alderaan could have compromised our rylca operation. I

  suggested that classifying the report that highly would be a

  good thing."

  Borsk Fey'lya's creamy fur rippled up the back of his

  head. "Good for you."

  "No, Councilor, good for you." Wedge let his voice

  drop into a low growl. "You would have found the report

  less than satisfactory for your ends, which would have

  prompted you to try to destroy one of my people. I can

  assure you that would have caused problems."

  "If you want to play at politics, Antilles, I would wel-

  come you onto my battlefield."

  "I don't want to play at anything, thank you. I didn't

  join the Rebellion to play." Wedge opened a hand and

  pointed to the various members of the squadron. "My job is

  to make certain my people do their jobs and stay alive. What

  I do isn't about me or garnering power, it's about people my

  people and the people we defend by going after the Empire."

  "And doubtless you see politics as some dirty enterprise

  beneath your notice."

  Wedge arched an eyebrow at him. "And you can con-

  vince me otherwise?"

  "You're intelligent enough, Commander Antilles, to

  convince yourself I'm right. You already know everytbing is

  political. You know, for example, that what you have done

  for the Rebellion has granted you power--power you might

  well wish to use to advance your own plans and desires. You

  have things that will require support to accomplish, and

  building a coalition of support is political."

  Wedge's brown eyes narrowed. I bad boped to advance

  the Vratix case for joining the New Republic, and I tbougbt

  Isard's taking of Tbyferra would make that job just tbat

  much easier. Is Borsk Fey'lya trying to suggest that some-

  tbing so obviously rigbt and necessary migbt lounder be-

  cause I'm not going to play bis game.e

  Anger began to build in Wedge, but before he could give

  it vent, he felt the weight of a hand on his right shoulder. His

  fury drained away as he turned from the Bothan and began

  to smile. "As stars live and die! I didn't think you'd be here,

  Luke."

  The tow-headed Jedi Knight enfolded Wedge's hand in a

  firm grip, then he pulled Wedge forward into a backslapping

  hug. "I wouldn't have missed it for all the Tibanna gas on

  Bespin. I was a bit late because, quite frankly, the Jedi exhib-

  its your man found in the Galactic Museum are, well, ab-

  sorbing. I've been chasing all over trying to locate traces of

  other Jedi, then it turns out a repository of a lot of stuff is on

  the planet from which I've been basing my searches. While

  very little of it deals with training, there is a lot of material

  that lets me piece together some history."

  "Corran mentioned he'd found quite a haul. He said it

  was rather macabre."

  Luke Skywalker nodded solemnly as he stepped back

 
from Wedge. "Once the Emperor isolated those rooms, they

  became his own private playground. As the Jedi in there were

  hunted down, the Emperor defaced their monuments.

  There's enough evil there to be palpable, but I think things

  can be set to fights again."

  Borsk Fey'lya came around on Wedge's left side. "The

  Council is already discussing an appropriation to allow for

  the rehabilitation of those exhibits." The Bothan extended

  his hand to Luke. "Councilor Borsk Fey'lya, at your service."

  At bis own service. Wedge caught a mischievous glint in

  Luke's eyes, as if the Jedi Knight knew what he was thinking.

  "It is an honor to meet you, Councilor. The efforts of

  your people in eliminating the second Death Star and in lib-

  erating Cornscant speak to the nobility in the Bothan spirit."

  "You are most kind, Jedi Skywalker."

  Wedge laughed. "That's just because you're not a womp

  rat scurrying down some canyon, Councilor."

  "No chance of his being mistaken for that, Wedge."

  "Ahem, thank you." Fe,'lya smoothed the fur at the

  back of his head. "Jedi Skywalker, you have made strides in

  reestablishing the Jedi?"

  "Some, though I hope for more." Luke shrugged almost

  imperceptibly. "Progress is seldom measured in great leaps

  except when viewed with hindsight."

  "It is much the same with nation-building."

  "So I can imagine." Luke nodded, then turned and ex-

  tended his hand to the male half of the couple walking up.

  "Tycho, good to see you again, and now out from under

  suspicion."

  Tycho shook his hand. "Thank you, Luke. I believe you

  know Winter?"

  The Jedi Knight nodded and offered Winter his hand.

  "My sister's friend and confidant? We are well acquainted. It

  seems I speak with her more than I do Leia, especially with

  my sister off on her embassy to Hapes. How are you doing,

  Winter?"

  "Much better, now that Tycho is free." Winter slipped

  her hand from Luke's and again held Tycho's hand. "I under-

  stand you are spending most of your time in the Museum."

  "True. There is a wealth of material there." Luke looked

  over at Wedge. "I was hoping you'd introduce me to this