They took the lift down to the shuttle launch bay. When they stepped out, the launch area was a con-trolled frenzy of crews making last minute checks of vessels, equipment and weapons. One of the troops, seeing Bria, put two fingers in his mouth and whistled piercingly. Commander on deck?
Bria spoke to her lieutenant, Jace Paol, who was overseeing the last pre-battle preparations. Assemble troops, please.
One quick order later, and the boarding squads were falling in. There would be one squad per shuttle, about ten troops on each. Two waves of three shuttles each, first wave and second wave. First wave would have the respon-sibility for boarding Helot Shackle and neutralizing the slaver resistance. The second wave would reinforce the first, and help with the mopping up.
Bria walked slowly down the lines of troops, inspect-ing them, checking their uniforms, their weapons, their expressions. At one point she stopped before a young trooper whose eyes glittered with more than eagerness. Studying his flushed cheeks and reddened nose, she frowned. Corporal Burrid...
He came to full attention. Yes, Commander!
She reached up, touched his cheek, then his fore-head. Fall out, Burrid. Youve got at least a degree of fever.
Skkot Burrid sMuted. Respectfully, Commander, I feel fine!
Right, Bria said. And Im the Emperor Wookiee concubine. Hyx?
The medical officer took a reed-probe out of his belt pouch and touched it to the young man face. Two de-grees fever, Commander. White cell counts indicate in-feetion, possibly contagious.
Report to the reed droid, Corporal, Bria ordered. Crestfallen, the young man opened his mouth to protest, then he thought better of it and obeyed. With-out a word, his backup from the reserves moved into his place in line.
When Bria had finished her inspection, she paused, then addressed her soldiers. All right, people. Were waiting now for the signal to make our microjump. The Y-wings will go in first, and make their runs to bring their shields down. Then it will be up to you people. Youll be docking with their airlocks where they have them, and fighting your way in. Where there are no air-locks, were going to make ones. Special engineering teams will accompany two boarding shuttles. Those squads will cut through the hull just in front of the engi-neering sections.
She paused. Remember, there are going to be slaves underfoot, confused, frightened, and probably begin-ning to suffer from Exultation withdrawal. They may try to attack you. Dont risk yourselves, but make every rea-sonable effort not to harm them seriously. Use stun beams on those slaves, all fight?
There was a general murmur of agreement. Are there any questions?
There werent. The troops had already been briefed by their squad headers and platoon leaders, and theyd been through repeated drills.
Bria nodded at the troops. This is Red Hand most ambitious undertaking yet, people. If we can pull this off, you can bet well be seeing more action. So let im-press the Sector Command... right? Agreement was unanimous.
As Bria turned to confer with her platoon leaders, suddenly her comlink beeped. She activated it. Yes?
Commander, the signal just came through. Helot Shackle has just undoeked from the Ylesian station.
Bria nodded, then turued to the platoon leader. First wave, board your shuttles. Second wave... stand by.
The deck reverberated to th e pound of running feet as the thirty troopers scrambled into their respective shuttles. Bria keyed in her personal frequency. Attention, Crimson Fury, this is Red Hand Leader. Go ahead, Red Hand.
Prepare your ships to microjump in three minutes.
Retribution will be right behind you.
Copy that, Red Hand Leader. Preparing for micro jump.
Quickly Bria and Daino Hyx left the shuttle fighter launch bay, took the turbolift up, then jogged forward until they reached the bridge. The ship captain looked up as they entered. Bria slipped into a seat behind the tactical schematic. From her station she could also see the viewscreens. Captain Bjalin, she said. Ten sec-onds after the last of the Y-wings has jumped, we will jump.
Yes, Commander, Bjalin said. Tedris Bjalin was a tall young man whose hairline was receding, despite his youth. Hed joined the Corellian resistance just recently, after his entire family had been murdered during the Imperial massacre on Tyshapahl. Before that time, hed been an Imperial lieutenant. His Imperial training had served him in good stead, earning him a promotion in the Rebel forces. He was an able officer, a decent man, whod told Bfia that hed already been thinking of de-serting the Impefial Navy when his family had been murdered. That had pushed him over the edge.
Bria watched tensely as the seconds counted down, and, two by two, the six Y-wings jumped into hyper-space. Then the starlines stretched out before them, as Retribution jumped, too.
The moment they arrived back in realspace, Retribu-tion opened her shuttle bays and the first wave of boarding shuttles launched. They approached Helot Shackle at half speed, behind the Y-wings, which were barreling in at full speed.
Bria watched with satisfaction as the first pair of Y-wings streaked toward the Corellian corvette, firing salvos of two proton torpedoes each, targeting the steru and amidships. Their goal was not to blow a hole in Helot Shackle, but to take down the shields without harming the vessel unduly. Bria intended to take the Shackle intact and bring it back to be added into the Rebel fleet. One of the shuttles in the second wave would be carrying a prize crew, consisting of computer techs, engineers, a pilot and damage control and repair teams.
Bria would not have minded catching Helot Shackle unprepared, but she wasnt counting on that, and wasnt surprised to find that the corvette was traveling with its shields up. As the Y-wings hurtled in, the big ship opened fire, but the agile Y-wings easily evaded its blasts. Retri-but/on stayed carefitly out of range of its fire.
As Bria watched, the four proton torpedoes launched by the Y-wings flashed blue-white, impacted against the shields, and splashed over the slavers hull without penetrating the defenses. The first pair of Y-wings peeled away and went circling back in case they were needed again.
Helot Shackle blasted away again, and this time one of its shots grazed one of the Y-wings-a minor hit, but enough to put the fighter out of the action.
Bria was figuring it would take four proton torpedoes to bring down the Shackles shields. The second pair of Y-wings went streaking in, and the first fired.
This time the blue-white burst spread out, then, suddenly, there was a visible impact against the side of the vessel. A blackened streak marred the armor.
Thats it! Bria said, and keyed the comm unit, ad-dressed her Y-wing team leader. Crimson Fury, good work! Shields are down! Now lets use those ion can-nons of yours to finish em! Warn your ships to take eva-sive! We dont want any more hits?
Copy that, Red Hand Leader. Targeting sensor suites and solar fin. Starting our runs now.
The Y-wing pairs began strafing the Helotg Shackle, firing their turreted ion cannons at the preassigned tar-gets. The bursts from the ion cannons were designed not to damage the enemy vessels hull, but to knock out all electrical activity aboard ship-including, of course, the engines, the targeting computers, and the bridge systems, Every electrical system aboard would need to be re-initialized before the Shackle would be opera-tional again.
Helotg Shackle fired again and again, but the Y-wings were just too quick and agile for the big ships weapons to target effectively.
Scant minutes later, the Shackle was drifting helpless in space, its electrical systems down. Bria cheeked her chrono as the first wave of boarding shuttles moved in. Good. Right on time. One ship attached itself to the large forward airlock, the one the Shackle used to load her eargoes of slaves. The remaining two shuttles grap-pled against the hull on either side of the slavers ship and began cutting their way in.
Bria listened as reports flooded in from her squad leaders
Red Hand Leader, Squad One reporting from the eargo airlock on the forward hold on Deck 4. Weve made it inside, but were encountering heavy resis-tance
. The crew was getting the slax/es out as we came through, but there are still some in here. The Pilgrims have taken shelter, as have we, behind cargo canisters. Weve got a brisk firefight ongoing. Were going to push them back, so we can get to the turbolaser access shaft. Red Hand Leader, Squad Two reporting in. Weve breached the hull forward of the engines on Deck 4 and set up a portable airlock. My troops are moving in now ....
Red Hand Leader, the armor plating on this section of the starboard hull is giving us some trouble... stand by.... And, a minute later, Red Hand Leader, we are through!
Bria watched the progress of the squads through the vessel, weighing when to bring in her second wave. The two squads whod cut their way in had met with mini-mal resistance. But the forward squad whod entered through the airlock was meeting heavy opposition from the slavers as they battled their way to the turbolifts. It was understandable that the slavers would fight to the last. Red Hands reputation was beginning to spread, and doubtless the crew of the Shackle had recognized the symbol of a blood-dripping hand painted on the bows of their attackers ships.
Bria stood up and addressed the captain of her ship. Tedris, youre in command of the squadron until I re-turn from the second wave operation. Be prepared to send backup if I contact you, but not until. Have the Y-wings moved out to their patrol stations?
Yes, Commander. Well have at least fifteen minutes
warning if anyone decides to join the party .... Of course
thats just in case the slavers managed to get a distress
out before we jammed their transmissions.
Good work, Captain.
Bjalin nodded, but did not salute. Discipline in the Rebel forces was far more informal than in the Imperial Navy. It had taken Bria two weeks to break him of the habit of saluting at the drop of a Sir? Good luck, Commander, he said.
Thanks. I may need it. My people have pushed them out of that forward hold, but they had lots of time to set up strong defenses. Im betting theyve holed up in the bridge and the access corridors and are working on the electronics. I think Im going to have to be a lit-tle... creative.
Bjalin smiled. Youre good at that, Commander. Ten minutes later, Brias boarding shuttle had docked with the portable airlock and her reserves were jogging down the corridor of Deck 3 after her, blaster rifles ready.
In the eerie, wan illumination provided by the emer-gency battery lights, the crippled Shackle seemed de-serted; Bria knew that was an illusion. Dimly, she could hear the wailing of some of the slaves. Probably theyd been herded to the security hold on Deck 4 and locked in. The commander hoped fervently that none of the slavers had hit upon the bright idea of driving the slaves into Rebel blaster fire in an attempt to delay the invad-ing soldiers while they made their getaway. That had happened once, and Bria still had nightmares about it... the pale, shocked faces of the unarmed slaves, the reverberations of the blaster bolts, the screams, the crumpling figures, the meaty sizzle-reek of burning flesh ....
Bria led her troops forward, toward the masters cabin in the bow of the ship. It was located directly be-neath the bridge, and was the key to her plan.
She keyed her comlink. Prize crew . . . hows it going?
Commander, hull damage appears to be minimal. Our Y-wings targeted well. We have people working on repairs now.
How about the electrical systems and the computers? Thats going to be harder. We cant start up the sys-tems until youve captured the bridge. We dont want to give them any control over the ship.
Theyre probably trying to do a restart themselves up there. Can you block that? I think so, Commander. Good. Concentrate checking out the systems, then, and the engines. Wait for my signal to re-initialize. We copy, Commander.
Bria and her squads met only one pocket of resis-tance on their way to the master cabin. About ten slavers and one unfortunate slave whom theyd armed and pressed into service were holed up behind a hastily erected barricade in a companionway.
Bria signtied her troops to retreat back around the corridor, then addressed them in a whisper. All right, people. Were going to lay down a suppressing fire while Larens, here--- she nodded at a short, slight, very agile soldier, crawls under our fire until he in range to toss a stun grenade right into the middle of that nest of vermin. Got me?
Right, Commander. Larens dropped down, pre-pared to scuttle forward, the stun grenade held in his teeth.
On the count of three, then ....One... two... three!
Bria and the other Rebels dodged into the com-panionway firing bursts at the barricade, careful to aim high enough not to scorch Larens rapidly scut-tling rear.
Blaster bolts screamed in the confined space. Bria caught a glimpse of an arm with a dagger tattoo, aimed and watched the arm (and its slaver owner, presumably) fall back behind the barricad e. She remembered the first time shed ever shot a blaster, and had a brief, sharp memory of Han that she suppressed. No time for memories... time only for the job at hand ....
Bare seconds later there was a loud whump! and suddenly the returning fire was gone Bria motioned her people to follow her. Remember, the Pilgrim will be wearing a tan robe!
She ran forward, saw the nest of slavers lying sprawled about. Three were already dead, one of them from having his arm blown off. The Pilgrim was stunned, moving feebly.
Bria stood looking down at the carnage at her feet, and felt hatred surge up in her. Six slavers still alive... her finger twitched on the trigger of the blaster rifle she held.
Commander, shall I set up a guard detail? Larens looked at her inquiringly. He was new to Red Hand Squadron. Several of the veterans gave him impatient glances.
Theyre vermin, Larens, Bria said. Well just in-sure that they dont represent a future danger. Mecht, you and Seaan catch up when youve finished here. Drag that Pilgrim into a room so when he wakes up he wont be in the middle of anything.
Mecht nodded. He was a middle-aged man whod been enslaved himself, though hed been an hnperial slave, not an Ylesian one. He nodded. We wont be long, Commander.
Larens started to say something, then obviously changed his mind. Bria motioned to her troops, and they moved on.
Five minutes later, the squad was in the slaver cap-tains quarters. Bria tried not to look at some of the toys the fellow had lying around, evidently for use in amusing himself with some of his slaves. She walked over to the center of the cabin and pointed up at the overhead. People, the bridge is right up there. She glanced at one of her squad leaders. Squad One, I want a diversionary attack along the corridors leading to the bridge up on Deck 2.
The squad leader nodded. Be ready on my signal, Bria said.
Right, Commander. He took off, his troops follow-ing him.
Bria addressed her remaining troops. Squads Four and Five, youll attack the bridge with me.
A couple of the newer recruits glanced at each other, obviously puzzled. How were they going to attack the bridge from here?
Where Joaan? Bria asked.
A stocky trooper stepped forward, her features al-most hidden beneath her helmet. Here, Commander.
Bria pointed up. Joaan, use your demolition bag of tricks to get us up there.
Right, Commander. The woman climbed up on a bureau that had been shoved into place, and began us-ing her lasertorch. The new recruits nudged each other and chuckled, as they realized what their Commander was planning.
Three minutes later, the demolitions expert looked down at Bria and gave her a thumbs-up. Commander, Ive rigged a demo charge that will blow us a nice circu-lar hole through the deck.
Bria smiled. Good. She spoke into her comlink.
Squad Two... begin your attack on the bridge. The Rebels heard the sounds of blaster fire start up again.
Renna, Bria nodded at another stocky, muscular woman, youve got a good arm. You stand by with the stun grenades. As soon as it safe, toss them up through the hole to stun most of those vermin. She looked at the rest of her troops. People, as soon as Rennas lobbed those grenades through that hole, and the blasts have gone
off, were going up. Remember, people, this is the bridge up there. Be careful where you shoot. Too much damage and the prize crew wont speak to any of us for a month. Got it?
There were chuckles from her squad.
All right, it set, Joaan said. Get back and cover your eyes, friends. Thirty seconds.
Hastily, Bria troops retreated to the cabin perime-ters. A couple of soldiers pulled down their blast gog-gles, the others just looked away. Bria, Joaan and Renna stood back behind a heavy ornamental screen.
Moments later there was a fizzling sound, then a muffled thud. Something heavy hit the bureau, slith-ered off onto the deck. The reek of smoke touched Bria nostrils. She nodded at Joaan. Good job.
The demo specialist and Renna were already mov-ing, scrambling back up on the bureau. Renna lobbed three stun grenades up through the hole in three differ-ent directions. The ssss-whump! of the grenades and the resulting eries and thuds told the commander that they were doing their work.
Renna pulled herself up with a boost from Joaan, then disappeared. They heard her blaster.
Bria swarmed up the bureau, and was next through the hole as someone grabbed her rear and gave her an undignified, if efficient, boost.
The bridge crew was lying around, mostly stunned, but there were a few slavers scrambling out the door. Bria sighted on one huge RodJan and took him down with a blast between the green-skinned being shoul-ders. Another slaver, a Bothan, turned to fire at her, his blaster beginning to stutter with a low charge. Bria ducked, rolled, came up with her sidearm in her hand, and shot him in the face. The vermin was standing in front of the navicomputer, and she didnt want to risk killing him with the blaster rifies greater power.
Moments later, it was all over. Silence descended, broken only by the moaning of the wounded. Bria took a quick status check... six of her people were wounded, and one might not make it. Quickly Bria assigned a spe-cial team to rush the wounded back to Retribution for treatment.
Minutes later, the prize crew reported that they were ready for the restart. Bria watched tensely, heard a whine, then, suddenly, full illumination replaced the emergency lighting on the bridge. The tactical screens glowed, the navicomputer chirred softly to itself.
Star Wars - The Han Solo Trilogy - Rebel Dawn Page 15
