Star Wars - X-Wing - The Bacta War

by Michael A. Stackpole

  "Yes, but Isard wanted the New Republic to have Coruscant. She's being a bit

  more possessive about Thyferra."

  "True." Iella set her carbine down, then hit several buttons on her

  chronometer. "Well, this news puts us on the clock, then, I guess. Forty-eight

  hours after the Lusankya leaves Thyferra, Wedge and the others will be here.

  You've already told Sixtus we're on?"

  "He and his taskforce are already heading to their staging points and expect to

  be in position to liberate the detention center when they get our signal."

  Iella caught a funny note in Elscol's voice. "And you'd still like that signal

  to be a lift-truck bomb being flown into the Xucphra administrative headquarters

  to blow it up, right?"

  "Call me silly, but I don't see why risking injury in an assault so you can

  capture Isard is preferable to scattering her constituent atoms all over the

  place with a bomb. And don't give me the justice line again."

  Iella shook her head. "Look, I know how evil Isard is she turned my husband

  into a mockery of himself. I'd like nothing better than to shove a blaster up

  her nose and melt her brain. I wouldn't consider it murder"

  "Nor would anyone else."

  "But her death isn't the point. Stopping her is. Even more important than that

  is to let her be tried in a court of law for her crimes. It's vital to let

  people know that the laws have purpose and that evil people will be held

  accountable for what they do."

  Elscol frowned. "And a bomb doesn't do that?"

  "A bomb is just more anarchy. Killing her that way will allow people to say she

  had to be kept quiet or important people would have been revealed to be

  collaborators. Blowing her up allows people to say she really escaped the

  blast. The lack of a trial, because she won't be held accountable for all of her

  crimes, means people can begin to think she wasn't so bad. Twenty years from

  now, thirty or fifty, there could be a neo-Imperial movement that holds her up

  as an example to be emulated. Blowing her up will make her a martyr, but a trial

  will show her up as a monster, warts and all."

  Elscol chewed her lower lip for a moment, then shook her head. "Well, I hate to

  admit it, but you're actually making some sense. I must need a vacation."

  "We all need a vacation."

  "Okay, we'll find some resort on a world where the Empire is just a nasty

  rumor, if we survive this assault of yours."

  "When we survive it, you mean."

  Elscol smiled. "Right, when we survive it. I hope, though, you aren't expecting

  me to go in there with my selector lever on stun. Ain't going to happen."

  Iella retrieved her carbine and slid a power pack home. "If it shoots back, I'm

  shooting to kill. With Vorru, Isard, or Dlarit, I'll go for a stun shot, but

  only if that's not going to get me or anyone else killed."

  "Your plan calls for more fi nesse than the bomb, but I guess we can make it

  work."

  "We will." Iella nodded solemnly. "Two days until Thyferra regains its freedom

  and Ysanne Isard loses hers."

  35

  Captain Joak Drysso let a low sinister laugh fill the dark hollow of the

  ready-room on the Lusankya. He recalled with holographic clarity the image of

  the Executor plunging into the heart of the half-completed Death Star at Endor.

  He'd known at that point that the battle was lost, so he'd taken his Virulence

  and fled from the battle. / always knew I would have another chance to crush

  Rebels.

  He didn't believe for an instant the fiction that Antilles and his people were

  outcasts from the New Republic. Theirs was obviously a mission meant to keep

  Isard bottled up until they could deal with herand Antilles had done a good job

  of keeping her attention on him. Had he not preoccupied her, she might have seen

  the wisdom of creating an Imperial Combine, bringing together the various

  Warlords out there to put an end to the New Republic. It would have been very

  successful, he was certain of that, and she could have even led it because she

  possessed what everyone else wanted Bacta.

  Isard's short-sightedness in this regard didn't surprise Drysso, primarily

  because she thought like a politician, not a warrior. Isard took great delight

  in being subtle and tricky, then when she decided to wield a hammer, she did it

  in a very

  clumsy manner. Sending Convarion out to destroy Halanit was a wasted gesture. An

  assault shuttle and a squadron of TIEs could have laid waste to that settlement.

  The attack did nothing but salve her ego and anger Antilles.

  He would have handled things entirely differently. Drysso had agreed a strike

  was necessary, but he would have gone after Corellia and brought the Diktat to

  heel, adding Corellia and its shipyards to the Iceheart Empire. That would

  supply them the means of building more ships. He would have then badgered Kuat

  into making a similar deal, giving him access to those shipyards. And then on to

  Sluis Van. Once I have those three sites under my control, I can strangle the

  New Republic by restricting tradewithout ships and shipyards, nothing moves

  between stars.

  Drysso had chosen to stay with Isard because he thought she represented the best

  chance at reestablishing the Empire, and because she had the most legitimate

  claim to the throne itself. He had supported her decision to abandon

  Coruscanta world that does not provide the means to wage war is worth little

  in a war. The New Republic's conquest of it did hamper the Rebellion, and

  Isard's possession of the Bacta Cartel put her in a very powerful position in

  the galaxy.

  Unfortunately, her power is embodied by this ship. Drysso caressed the arms of

  the command chair in which he sat. Only through this ship can she project her

  power to other worlds, command their compliance and punish their defiance. Now

  this ship is mine and thus is her power ceded to me.

  The comlink clipped to his jacket beeped. "Drysso here."

  "Captain, five minutes to reversion to realspace."

  "On my way to the bridge." Drysso stood and strode from the ready-room to a

  turbolift for the short ride up to the bridge. As the lift slowed, he composed

  himself, setting his face with a stern expression. The door opened and he

  immediately strode out onto the Captain's walk. "Report, Lieutenant Rosion."

  The Chief Navigator looked up from the pit where he worked. "We're coming in as

  scheduled. The station is in orbit around Yag'Dhul, occupying an orbit outside

  of that of the largest of Yag'Dhul's three moons, with its position al-

  ways opposite that moon. We are coming in on the only good entry vector that

  won't run us afoul of the world, its moons, or the system's sun. The station

  should be clear for an attack once we close into range."

  "Very good." Drysso glanced over at his communications officer. "Ensign Yesti,

  when we revert to realspace, please inform the Virulence that we expect it to

  come in below us at a range of twenty kilometers. Inform Captain Varrscha she is

  not to power her weapons up except under my direct order."

  "As ordered, Captain."

  Drysso continued to walk forward until he reached the viewing station. The light

  t
unnel through which the ship sped began to break down into long shafts of

  light. They, in turn, resolved themselves into unwavering gemstones set in a

  black blanket. Directly ahead of the ship's distant prow, the system's sun

  burned brightly. Yag'Dhul and its moons appeared as colorful spheres hanging in

  space. Silhouetted against Yag'Dhul's gray face, the space station appeared to

  be little more than a crossinsignificant and defenseless.

  "Captain, we're showing signs of snubfighter deployment at the station."

  "Very well, tell Colonel Arl he is free to deploy his fighters in a defensive

  screen. Have you spotted the Alderaanian War Cruiser yet?"

  "Negative," reported Drysso's aide. "We are clear for a hundred kilometers

  around us, and Virulence is reporting similar clearance."

  "Push the sensor sphere out to two hundred kilometers, Lieutenant Waroen, and

  keep scanning the fringes of the system for that War Cruiser. Time to

  engagement?"

  "Ten minutes to range."

  "Bring our shields up to full."

  "As ordered, sir."

  Drysso stroked his goatee as he watched the station grow larger. The scrambling

  of the station's snubfighters did not surprise him. That was the only reaction

  they could have, which is why he countered with deploying his fighters in a

  screen. It would be difficult for the X-wings to work their way through his

  screen and, while engaging in dogfights, all

  but impossible for them to maintain the sort of unit cohesion needed for a

  crushing volley of proton torpedoes to be launched at his ship. While proton

  torpedoes and concussion missiles were certainly a danger to his ship, they were

  only a danger in vast quantitiesfar more than three dozen snubfighters could

  possibly deliver.

  "Captain, the snubfighters are going to lightspeed."

  "Thank you, Waroen. Please confirm they are outbound for Thyferra."

  His aide's surprise rang through his reply. "Yes, sir, that's it exactly."

  "Good. They will arrive there after twelve hours in tiny cockpits, short on fuel

  and sleep. The Thyferrans can deal with them. We'll make certain they have no

  place to return to."

  Light laughter greeted his comment, then the communications officer raised his

  voice above the din. "Captain, we have an incoming message from the station."

  Drysso turned and pointed to a holoprojector pad to his left. "Please, Ensign

  Yesti, route it here." As the image began to resolve itself into that of a tall

  man with one artificial eye, Drysso raised himself to his full height. "This is

  Captain Joak Drysso of the Lusankya. Your fighters have deserted you."

  "I sent the fighters off to play with something more their size." The tall man's

  hologram posted its fists on its hips. "I'm Booster Terrik, and this is my

  station. Your rate of closure puts you five minutes out from your preferred

  range for this sort of operation. I'll give you those five minutes before I

  destroy your ship."

  "You're rather bold, Terrik, for having a station with minimal shields, a

  half-dozen laser cannons, and ten turbolaser batteries."

  Terrik's image laughed. "We've made some modifications to the station." The

  figure nodded to someone outside the image area.

  Drysso felt the Lusankya rock a bit. He immediately signaled for Yesti to cut

  off the transmission, then he snarled at his aide. "What happened?"

  "They powered up a gravity well projector. It's project-

  ing a cone of energy in our direction. It can't hurt usthe bump was just our

  own gravity-keeping generators adjusting the gravity on the ship. We have no

  damage or injury reports coming in."

  Drysso frowned. The only thing the gravity Well projector did was prevent them

  from turning and going to lightspeed while still in the cone. "Lieutenant

  Rosion, compute hyperspace solutions for me."

  "That will be difficult, sir. Because of Yag'Dhul's density, the array of the

  moons, and the gravity cone, we're severely limited in our choices. All we can

  do is run away from the plane of the elliptic until we escape the current

  constraints on us, then head out. If you want us to return to Thyferra, our best

  bet would be get free, take a short jump to the edge of the system, and then

  head back on our entry vector, since that is the fastest route to Thyferra."

  Something else is going on here. "Lieutenant Waroen, shift assets to scan the

  edges of the system along our entry/ exit vector."

  "Yes, sir."

  Drysso turned to watch his red-haired aide work. The young man's pale complexion

  drained further of color. "Sir, I have a small taskforce on the system rim. It

  is composed of snubfighters and freighters and maybe a larger ship."

  "An ambush?"

  "Perhaps, no, wait. Sir, the ships are outbound toward Thyferra. Exit speed is

  consistent with that of the freighters or our own ships."

  Drysso nodded, then turned back toward the viewport. His assessment of

  Antilles's tactics had been correct the man opted to send part of his force to

  Thyferra. The fact that the freighters had been waiting at the edge of the

  system indicated that Antilles had indeed anticipated their strike. Even with

  freighters and the War Cruiser in support of his operation, he can do little to

  hurt Thyferra. His troops will be tired because of the journey and unable to

  fight well. Moreover, once I destroy this station, I can return to Thyferra. I

  will arrive shortly after he does and pounce on his forces, destroy-

  ing them. The gravity well will buy him some time, but not enough.

  Drysso pointed to the holopad. "Yesti, open a comm channel with the station.

  Lieutenant Rosion, bring us to range and have us hold there, please."

  "As ordered, Captain. Engines, all stop."

  Terrik's image appeared again on the Lusankya's bridge. "I notice you have

  stopped, Captain Drysso. Do you have surrender on your mind?"

  Drysso smiled. "I do. Yours."

  Terrik's anticipatory smile faded into puzzlement. "I guess you think we don't

  want to fight. Believe me, we do." Again he gestured to someone outside the

  image area and a much heavier tremor shook the Lusankya. "As your people will

  tell you, we've just powered up all of our tractor beams and have them on you.

  You can try to break free, but if you do, I've got to see a man about a

  guarantee he gave me."

  "You better hope he works fast. Rosion, engines full back. Break those locks."

  "Can't, sir. Helm is sluggish and those beams are very powerful."

  Drysso snarled at Terrik. "You give me only one choice."

  "Good. The terms of surrender are . . ."

  "No, you fool, my choice is your complete destruction. Weapons, all bear on the

  station. Fire on my command!"

  "Emperor's black bones!"

  Drysso whipped around and spitted Lieutenant Waroen with a harsh stare, but his

  aide remained engrossed by a monitor and missed it. "What is happening,

  Waroen?"

  "Sir, we have multiple proton torpedo and concussion missile sensors locked onto

  us."

  "How many?"

  "Many, sir, over three hundred." Waroen looked up. "We're dead, sir."

  Drysso turned back to the viewport and imagined the rippling fire of three

  hundred proton to
rpedoes and concussion missiles smashing into his forward

  shield. Under that onslaught it would collapse and the missiles would begin

  nibbling away on his ship. And that's only the first volley. The

  subsequent volleys would consume the Lusankya utterly and completely.

  With Drysso's vision of disaster came the crumbling of his plans for the future.

  The Lusankya was the key to everything, but he'd been tricked. Antilles had

  anticipated the strike at the station. He had set up a trap to destroy the Super

  Star Destroyer. Even if I do shoot and eliminate some of the launchers, some of

  the tractor beams, all that will get away will be a severely damaged ship.

  Drysso hesitated and that hesitation should have lost him his ship and his

  dreams.

  Two kilometers off his bow, the Virulence lanced upward, eclipsing the station.

  All of a sudden the Imperial Star Destroyer began to shrink, but it was only

  when he saw stars flashing back into sight at the corners of his vision did he

  realize why it was disappearing. They're not destroying my ship, we're speeding

  away from the stationengines are still at full reverse. The Virulence broke the

  locks by interposing itself between us and the station.

  Drysso smiled and tasted sweat in the corners of his mouth. We're free of the

  trap Antilles laid for us. He thought he had found a way to destroy us, but he

  did not. Now we get to spring a trap on him.

  The Lusankya's Captain turned to face his bridge crew. "Rosion, plot a course

  back to Thyferra, as fast as we can get there. Yesti, send Virulence our thanks.

  Tell them their sacrifice will be remembereda sacrifice that allowed us to

  destroy Wedge Antilles and hasten the Empire's rebirth."

  Waroen looked up at him, disbelieving. "We're not going to help them, sir?"

  "They're just doing their duty, Lieutenant." Drysso's mouth soured with the fear

  of ever engaging the station. "We now go to do ours."

  36

  By the time the Lusankya reverted to realspace, Captain Drysso had constructed a

  complete rationalization for his actions. He knew it was just that a thin

  fabric of facts, circumstances and lies that would probably crumble under

  Isard's scrutiny. The fact remained, though, that he needed an explanation, and

  it was the best he could come up with.

  It all started with the premise that Antilles's station would kill the Lusankya.