Star Wars - X-Wing 02 - Wedge's Gamble

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Everyone laughed except for Winter. "Boiling is a good idea, but we need a lot of water set to boil all at one time. That requires lots of water and lots of heat."

  Corran opened his hands. "So, where do we get that much water?"

  Winter chewed on her lower lip for a second. "Water gets melted at the polar glaciers, then pumped through long aqueducts to pumping stations and deep reservoirs

  throughout the equatorial areas of the city. There's plenty of water in any one of the reservoirs."

  "But how do we vaporize it?" Wedge scratched at the back of his head. "Thermal detonators are too inefficient, and repeated strafing runs to use lasers on it would take too long. We need a lot of heat, but we need it delivered all at once."

  "I've got it." Asyr smiled proudly. "We use one of the orbital mirrors. They're designed to concentrate sunlight and deliver it to the planet to warm up the colder regions. We redirect one of them to focus on a reservoir and it'll vaporize the duracrete, transparisteel, and water in short order."

  "The problem there, Asyr, is getting up to the mir­ror." Corran shook his head. "We'd have to get through the shields we want to bring down first, and that's not go­ing to be easy, then we have to take the mirror. By the time we finished assaulting it, the Golan Space Defense stations would shoot it down or a TIE starfighter wing would come up and destroy it."

  Iella looked over at Winter. "Are the mirrors crew-controlled or ground-controlled?"

  "Ground-controlled. Mirror duty is considered pun­ishment. The crews that maintain the facilities go out to repair damage from strikes by debris, but that's about it."

  Wedge's eyes narrowed. "Presumably you're suggest­ing we take control of a ground station and redirect one of the orbital mirrors to vaporize a reservoir. That water vapor will condense into a monster storm that will strike with lightning all over the place, taking down the power grid. As the computers try to match power to demand, we should get a complete power grid collapse."

  Iella smiled. "You got a better idea?"

  "Unfortunately, no." Wedge frowned. "The weak link here, as I see it, is taking the control station."

  "The orbital mirrors are controlled by the subsidiary computer centers." Winter glanced at her datapad. "The nearest should be SCC Number Four, just south of the Imperial Palace."

  "Do we have enough people to assault it and get us in fast enough that we can do what needs to be done without interference?" Wedge looked around the table and saw frowns or blank expressions except on one face. "Lieutenant Horn, you have an idea?"

  "Yeah, we evict folks from that center."

  "What?"

  Corran leaned forward, resting his elbows on the ta­ble. "There's a construction droid building a factory within a laser shot from that center, right? We get a crew in to take control of the factory and have it go rogue. It heads straight for the computer center. I don't think any­one is going to remain on station while a Death Star's lit­tle brother comes toward him gobbling up cityscape. It stops short of destroying the center, but our crew should be able to get in and get working on the orbital mirror. Moreover, we can have the construction droid spitting out a new central computer facility with some of our own code sliced into it. If we take the planet, we'll be up and running even if the Imps blow the old center."

  "And if the Imps manage to stop the construction droid before it hits the abandoned computer center, they'll think they've muted our attack and thwarted us." Wedge nodded. "I see it. Emtrey, do you know how to run a construction droid?"

  The droid's head came up. "I have had some experi­ence with smaller manufacturing systems, sir, so I believe I can determine what we need to do."

  Mirax raised a hand. "I've used one of the small ones to fabricate some storage areas for my father. Count me in on that crew."

  "Right." Wedge felt a twinge of pain in his ribs. "With broken ribs I'm not flight ready, so I'll go on that one, too. Iella?"

  "I'm with you."

  "Good." Wedge rubbed his hands together. "Winter, you're the best slicer we've got here, so you've got to be going into the center. Tycho, Gavin, and Ooryl, you'll round out that crew."

  Corran looked up at Wedge. "What about the rest of us?"

  "You're flying cover."

  "Commander, I don't think you're going to fit the rest of us in the cockpit of a Headhunter."

  "True, which is why Tycho has procured six of them." Wedge smiled broadly. "Corran, you'll fly with Erisi on your wing, Rhysati and Pash will fly together and . . ." He looked over at Shiel. "Hmmm, Nawara, you might have to fly alone."

  Asyr raised her hand. "Commander Antilles, I'm combat-qualified in a Headhunter."

  "Excuse me?"

  The Bothan looked down sheepishly. "You know me as Asyr Sei'lar, but what you don't know is that I'm a graduate of the Bothan Martial Academy. I graduated a year behind Peshk Vri'syk. He was good enough to join Rogue Squadron last year, and I was his equal when we were trained. It's been a while since I've flown, but I can handle the fighter."

  Wedge raised an eyebrow. "What would a member of the Bothan military be doing here on Coruscant?"

  "I'd rather not say, sir."

  "I can understand that." Wedge nodded slowly. "Well, then, you've got number six with Nawara in five."

  The Twi'lek shook his head and Wedge noticed his normally ash-colored flesh had taken on a creamy tone that, in some places, seemed translucent. "I think I'm coming down sick, sir. I'm not certain I'm flight capable. The ryll I've taken is helping a bit, but I'm still not feeling well enough to fly."

  "I'm not formally qualified to fly, but I've done a lot of simming." Inyri bit her lower lip. "Lujayne used to train against me. She was better than I was and beat me regularly, but not all the time."

  Corran smiled. "I've seen her pilot a speeder bike and an airspeeder. She does well in the tight confines of these urban canyons."

  Wedge was tempted to take her up on her offer, but

  he held back. "I believe what you've told me, Inyri, but I can't take responsibility for your first starfighter combat taking place on Coruscant. What I'd rather have you do is deliver Winter and the others to the computer center. That will take some fancy airspeeder flying because we'll be grinding a lot of stuff up in the area."

  "Commander," Erisi began, "if we have Asyr or Inyri bring in some more people for the ground teams, we could free up Gavin, Captain Celchu, or Ooryl and give us six pilots."

  "No, we're not bringing anyone else in." Wedge leaned forward again on the table. "Corran has brought to my attention the potential for betrayal. Zekka Thyne informed the Imperials of our plans for the factory. We're going to need all the time we have remaining to double-and triple-check our plans and equipment, then we're go­ing. No one here is going to communicate with anyone outside just to make sure the Imps have no inkling of what we're going to do. This effort must succeed."

  Gavin slowly shook his head. "Fourteen against a world. Those are long odds."

  "Lieutenant Darklighter, I'm a Corellian. I have no use for odds." Wedge smiled broadly, putting as much confidence as he could into it. "No doubt the Imps have a sizable house edge here, but now the war has come to Coruscant, which means they're playing our game, and that makes everything even all over again."

  39

  Corran Horn tightened the straps on his life-support con­troller, adjusting the boxy device as he went to get it cen­tered on his chest. He much preferred having the controller built into his command chair as it was on his CorSec X-wing, but the Z-95 was more primitive than that, so he had to wear it. He punched a button, putting the device through a self-check, then got a tone indicating everything was in good working order.

  Mirax smiled broadly as she came walking over and succeeded in forestalling the dread her black Imperial uni­form sparked in him. "We're getting ready to head out. Are you okay?"

  Corran nodded. "Yeah. We've gone over all the Headhunters from nose to stern and they check out."

  "So I gather. I recall
seeing you and Erisi in close con­versation."

  Corran felt hot color rise in his cheeks. "That was a prelude to a group discussion. We ended up adjusting the sensor packages and zeroing the blasters at 150 meters. We figured that dogfights would be close and shots of over 150 meters in the canyons here are going to be rare."

  "Take care of yourself out there."

  "Hey, my job is making sure to keep TIEs and others off you." Corran reached out and tapped the tip of her nose with his finger. "Look, it will be crazy out there. In all likelihood Rogue Squadron will get a few more heroes inducted into its Hall of the Dead ..."

  Mirax gave him a smirk. "Corran, if this is one of those 'tomorrow we might die so we should be together tonight' speeches, your timing is lousy since tomorrow is now and last night ended when this morning started."

  "I know." Corran laughed at the nervousness he felt. "I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Before Coruscant I found you interesting and attractive. Since we've been here I've gotten to know more about you, to see how you react under pressure and how effortlessly you seem to get along with others. I admire the qualities that I've seen in you and, well, if we both come out of this, I'd like the op­portunity to get to know you even better."

  "Corran Horn, are you asking me out?" Mirax's dark eyes sparkled. "Or was there some pool that you lost?" "If there'd been a pool, I'd have bought up all the tickets." He sighed. "Mirax, we've got enough things go­ing against us, like our respective backgrounds, that the chances of things working out are bad."

  "But we're Corellians, so what use have we for odds?" She pressed a finger to his lips, then leaned for­ward and kissed him. "And just to let you know, you're not the only one who's been impressed here, so you're on. You're taking me to the biggest and best victory celebra­tion the New Republic throws on this rock." Mirax tapped a finger against the box on his chest. "Life-support gear optional."

  "I'll be there." He kissed her in return, then looked up and saw Wedge heading over to the black airspeeder Emtrey was to use to get them to the construction droid. "You better get going."

  "The Force be with you."

  "And with you." Corran smiled as she ran off. He felt particularly lucky and hoped that sensation would

  continue throughout the mission, then he turned and found himself face-to-face with Tycho Celchu. "Captain." "I'm glad you'll be flying the black and gold Head-hunter. I think it's the best of the lot, which is why I used it the other day. I just checked it out, everything looks fine, and I know I can trust you to bring it back in one piece." "I'll do my best, sir." Corran refused to look him in the eye. "If you will excuse me, sir."

  "No, wait a minute." Tycho shifted to the right to block his path. "I want you to know you're wrong about me. I didn't meet Kirtan Loor the night you saw me. I'm not working for the Imps."

  Corran exhaled slowly. "Captain, Wedge has asked me to let it go, and so I will, for now, but there are too many odd things here to make me leave it alone forever." "Such as?"

  "Such as your being here when Alliance Intelligence thinks you're buried in rubble on Noquivzor. Such as my seeing you here with an agent of Imperial Intelligence. Such as your vacation at Lusankya." Muscles bunched at the corners of Corran's jaw. "Such as Bror Jace being ambushed and killed by Imperials after you obtained per­mission for him to travel and plotted his course for him." Tycho's face slackened slightly. "But that's all circum­stantial. Nothing is proven."

  "Nothing's proven yet." Corran looked him square in the face. "The fact that there's no solid evidence against you just means you're real good."

  The other man's blue eyes sharpened. "Or, Lieutenant Horn, it means I've left no evidence because I'm com­pletely innocent."

  "I guess we'll see about that, Captain Celchu." Cor­ran rested his fists on his hips. "When I return, I'm going to make ferreting out the spy in our midst a hobby. I'm good at that sort of thing, very good."

  Tycho opened his hands. "And you're honest, so I know I have nothing to fear."

  His calm reply surprised Corran. There was an utter defenselessness about it he'd never encountered before.

  He wasn't certain how to take that remark, so he shunted it aside. "Well, Captain, if you do have anything to fear, I'll find it."

  "Fly well, Corran." Tycho gave Corran a nod, then walked off. Beyond him Corran saw Pash Cracken look­ing in his direction, but he turned away quickly and rubbed at an invisible spot on his red and green Head-hunter's cockpit canopy.

  Corran walked past him toward his own fighter. Erisi glanced up from where her blue Headhunter with red trim sat, then walked over on an intercept course. Corran forced a smile on his face. "Set to go, Erisi?" "Yes. I still wish we were flying together." "I'd be happy to have you on my wing." With Asyr's joining the flight, Wedge had adjusted assignments so Pash flew with the Bothan and Erisi joined Rhysati. That left Corran alone, but he'd been alone before in combat zones and both he and Wedge knew anyone other than Pash Cracken would have a hard time keeping up with him anyway. "With me flying solo we can lull the Imps into a false sense of security."

  "The last thing they'll feel is regret." Erisi smiled eas­ily at him. "Are you feeling well? You're not coming down sick like Nawara and Shiel, are you?"

  Corran shook his head. "No. I'll be fine. I, ah, I just had a confrontation with Tycho. The Empire owns him, I can feel it. I told him that when I got back I'd dig up all the clues concerning the spy in our midst and prove he was involved in getting Bror Jace ambushed and jeopard­izing our mission here."

  "I can see how that might have you out of sorts." She reached out and stroked his arm. "If there's anything I can do to help you, let me know."

  "Thanks, Erisi, I appreciate it." He winked at her, then stepped back and let a loud whistle echo through the cavern. "Let's go, Rogues. It's time to get moving. Our people will be in position inside fifteen minutes, which means our prey will show up shortly thereafter. Shoot straight and fly fast."

  40

  The datapad's stuttered trilling attracted Kirtan Loor's at­tention. He walked over from where he had been invento­rying weapons to be distributed to his command and tapped a button on the datapad. The nature of the sound had told him the message was urgent and of a high prior­ity as well. The message the datapad displayed lived up to its billing.

  So an Interdictor cruiser has been spotted at the fringe of our system. Those ships are too big and too val­uable to use as scouts. Either it is meant to decoy some of our forces out away from this planet or it is the vanguard of an invasion fleet. He knew, without a doubt, the latter case was the truth, but that prospect did not fill him with the dread it might have six months earlier. His reason for existing now required a Rebel invasion and conquest of Coruscant. Our shields aren't down, so they must mean to make a fight of it or ...

  Loor hit some more buttons and checked to see if any warnings had come in from the Rogue Squadron spy. He saw nothing, but curiosity and caution caused him to delve a bit deeper. Using a security override program he discovered all messages from the agent inside Rogue

  Squadron had been reclassified to "Isard Eyes Only." She had engineered it so all those messages were routed to her first so she could decide their disposition. Loor knew if he challenged her on it, she would say it was done so he would not be distracted during his preparations.

  At another stage in his life he would have wasted valuable time and energy trying to work a way around Isard's action, but no more. What the spy had to say was no longer important to the conduct of his mission. Isard wanted Coruscant to fall into the hands of the Rebellion, so it would. Since he already knew who the spy was, re­establishing contact at a later date would not be particu­larly difficult, should the need arise.

  Best if I assume that the Rogues are up to something. Fine. I wish them all the Force-inspired success they de­sire. Once they win, once they drop their guard, then we will hit them and hit them hard. He laughed aloud and returned to his work. "Not much longer from now the Rebels will have
what they most desire. And shortly thereafter they will learn they don't really want it at all."

  The black airspeeder raced through the night-dim streets on a course that brought it parallel to the construction droid's path, then Emtrey cut the wheel left and pulled back. The airspeeder climbed rapidly, then the nose eased down and Emtrey steered in toward the flat landing sur­face built behind the droid's control center. "I will have us down in fifteen seconds, sir."

  Wedge fitted the mask over the right side of his head. He spoke the command that inflated the air bladders that clamped the helmet in place. "How do I look?" he croaked.

  "Very Imperial, Colonel Roat." Iella gave him a nod.

  Mirax looked less comfortable with his disguise. "You look very cyborg."

  "Good. That lessens my chance of being recognized." Wedge rode out the slight bump as Emtrey put the vehicle down on the construction droid. A faint hum filled the

  air, but it grew to a hideous din when the airspeeder's gull-wing doors opened. Wedge got out of the speeder first, then helped both Mirax and Iella disembark.

  A man wearing a red helmet and an orange jumpsuit waved both hands at them as he came running over. "You can't be here. Get going or I call for stormtroopers."

  Wedge leaned forward and frowned, tapping the metal over his right ear. "I cannot hear you."

  "I SAID . . ."

  "Too much noise."

  The workman frowned, then bid all of them to fol­low him with a curt wave. He led them into a small foyer just outside the command center. The door closed behind them, cutting the noise almost to nothing. "You can't be

  here."

  "I am Colonel Antar Roat and these are my aides. I have come for a safety inspection."

  "I don't know anything about that."

  Mirax gave the man a withering stare. "Of course not, idiot. If you did, this inspection wouldn't be a sur­prise, would it?"

  Iella held a hand out. "Your identification and work permits please."