The Bacta War (43 page)

Switching over to proton torpedoes, he immediately got a red box and a solid tone from Gate. He waited until his transponder button went red, then pulled the trigger. Two jets of blue fire shot away from his ship and another half dozen joined them. It took four of them to blast a hole in the ventral shields, but that left a quartet of missiles to plow into the
Lusankya
’s hangar deck. The explosions spat decking and debris back out into space, then secondary explosions told Wedge that at least a couple of the TIE fuel storage tanks had ruptured.

Out of torpedoes, Wedge shifted over to lasers and started searching for more TIEs.
And if there aren’t any more of them, I guess I’ll just have to get in close with the
Lusankya
and light it up as much as I can
.

“Yes, Madam Director, I understand.” Erisi shivered as the echoes of Isard’s voice died in her ears. When she’d spotted the shuttle coming up she had harbored a hope that it was Vorru, but Isard’s mocking voice dashed that dream to pieces. Erisi switched her comm unit over to her squadron’s tactical frequency. “Elite Leader to squadron. We have a new mission: protect the
Lambda-
class shuttle
Thyfonian
. We are to cover it until it gets clear and can go to lightspeed.”

“Six here, Lead. That means we’ll be left behind.”

“Negative, Six. The
Lusankya
is going to be following
Thyfonian
out and will pick us up.”

“I copy, Lead.”

“Twelve here, Lead. We have four X-wings coming up fast.”

“I copy, Twelve.” Erisi shook her head.
Only four? That’s a mistake you’ll rue, Wedge Antilles
. “Keep your formations tight and help each other out. These pilots will be good, but we can be better. Don’t lose your heads and you won’t lose your lives.”

•     •     •

Captain Drysso laughed victoriously. As nearly as he could determine his
Lusankya
had been hit by over a hundred and fifty proton torpedoes and concussion missiles, but it had lost scarcely thirty-five percent of its combat ability. Maneuvering was hampered and shield power was falling sharply, but the
Lusankya
still outgunned its opposition.
And the freighters have the survival rate of tauntauns on Tatooine
.

Lieutenant Waroen called out to him. “Captain, the
Freedom
is coming back into the fight.”

“Guns, let him have everything!”

“As ordered, Captain.”

The
Lusankya
fired its starboard weapons at the Imperial Star Destroyer, mauling it mercilessly. Turbolasers crushed the shields while ion cannon beams skittered over the
Freedom
’s hull. Concussion missiles peppered the smaller ship, opening huge holes in the hull. Explosions wracked the
Freedom
, spraying debris in all directions.

Yet even before the
Lusankya
’s attack left the
Freedom
adrift in space, the Imperial Star Destroyer blasted back at the Super Star Destroyer. Turbolasers drilled through the dorsal shields and stabbed fire deep into the
Lusankya
’s heart. Blue ion lightning capered and danced over the hull, teasing fireballs to life in its wake. The
Lusankya
shook with the violence of those explosions and others.

Drysso shouted at his staff. “Damage reports!”

Waroen was first. “Ventral shields, down; dorsal shields, down; bow shields, down; starboard and port shields, down.”

“You mean to tell me I only have aft shields?”

Another explosion shook the ship. “Not anymore, sir.”

“Captain,” yelled his communications officer, “I have a priority message from Director Isard. She’s ordering us out of here. We’re to follow the shuttle.”

“What?”

“That was the message, sir. She said you should get out of here before you get killed.”

“Killed!” Drysso’s laugh quieted the bridge. “Killed? We are winning here. The
Freedom
is dead. Freighters are dying.
That War Cruiser is next and we’ve weathered the worst those X-wings can throw at us. We have won! She can run if she wants, but the
Lusankya
stays here. If she wants to abandon Thyferra, I will take her place and reap what she has sown.”

The crew stared at him, gape-mouthed and silent for a moment, then a cheer spread through the bridge, beginning at Lieutenant Waroen’s station and building around through the crew. For a handful of heartbeats Drysso thought they were cheering him, but those nearest the viewport stared past him, prompting Drysso to turn.

Out there, hovering off the
Lusankya
’s port bow, was the
Virulence
.

Drysso clapped his hands. “It’s the
Virulence
and they have our TIE squadrons. Order
Virulence
to deploy its fighters! Now nothing stands between us and total victory!”

40

Three squadrons of fighters poured from the
Virulence
and entered the fray.

Wedge’s heart had sunk when Gate reported the launching of the
Virulence
’s fighters. He brought his X-wing around and resigned himself to one last glorious battle.
That Impstar only carries six TIE squadrons. I always sort of figured Rogue Squadron would go out in a blaze of glory, and this looks like it is it
. “Gate, target me one of
Virulence
’s fighters.”

The droid complied with a beep. Wedge glanced down at the image the droid painted on his monitor. “That’s an A-wing.”

Gate corrected him with a bleat.

“Okay, a Mark II A-wing.” Wedge shook his head to clear it.
A-wings? Where did Isard get A-wings?

A familiar voice crackled through Wedge’s comm unit. “Ace Lead to Rogue Leader. Mind if we crash your party, Wedge?”

“Pash Cracken? Where in the Emperor’s dark heart did you come from?”

“Booster’s flagship. The gravity well pulled my unit out
of hyperspace right on top of
Virulence
during their little standoff. Booster talked the captain into believing it was all part of the trap, so she surrendered the ship to him.”

So he finally found a ship that was big enough for him
. “The
Lusankya
is all yours, Captain Cracken.”

“Obliged, Wedge. We’re going in.”

Inverting and rolling out, Wedge reoriented his X-wing toward the
Lusankya
as the
Virulence
fired a full broadside into the Super Star Destroyer. The smaller ship’s turbolasers and ion cannons wrought havoc upon the
Lusankya
’s port gunnery decks. A ribbon of fire raced along the port gunwale and secondary explosions kept it alive long after the
Virulence
’s weapons stopped firing.

To the
Lusankya
’s aft, the
Valiant
closed to point-blank range and blasted away at the big ship’s engines. Sparks cascaded away as turbolasers drilled deep into the Super Star Destroyer. A brilliant flash eclipsed the
Valiant
for a moment. A violent tremor shook the
Lusankya
, snapping free a blackened chunk of the bow.

Fast and nimble, Pash’s A-wings slashed in at the
Lusankya
. They flitted over the massive ship’s surface, shooting concussion missiles at gunnery towers and sensor domes. Fiery craters stippled the
Lusankya
in their wake. What few weapons did remain on the
Lusankya
fired ineffectively at the A-wings; all of their destructive power proved impotent against a target they could not hit.

“Rogue Lead, this is Three. We’re going in for a strafing run.”

“I copy, Gavin.” Wedge glanced at his monitors, but the only TIEs he saw were the ones escorting the shuttle.
Can’t catch them now
. “If you don’t mind, Three, I think I’ll join you.”

Closing with the squints Corran switched his weapon’s-control over to lasers and linked them for dual-fire. While a quad burst would be certain to burn a squint down, dual-fire allowed the guns to cycle that much faster.
One shot should still be a kill, but if these guys can put the maneuverability of those squints to good use, I’ll need all the shots I can get
. His X-wing still had an advantage because of its shields, but that still didn’t make him immune to damage.

“Nine, let’s be careful.”

“As ordered, Seven. Ten, on me.”

“Ooryl copies.”

“Whistler, scan comm frequencies and bring up whatever one they’re using. Squelch scrambled messages. I don’t care what they’re saying to each other. I just want to be able to talk to them.”

Whistler moaned in a low tone.

“Yes, I do think Erisi is flying with them. I want to let her know who’s coming after her.” The droid hooted derisively.

“She can decide to flame me all she wants, doesn’t matter.” Corran let himself smile. “She already knows I can play hard to get. She’s the reason I went down on Coruscant, and I’m bringing her down here.”

He picked one of the squints in the middle of the formation as a target, but kept his flight path pointed as if he were preparing to attack one of the closer Interceptors. As the close Interceptors broke, Corran rolled on his starboard stabilizers as if he were going to follow them, but then applied some rudder and spitted his target on his aiming reticle. He tightened up on his trigger.

Two sets of two bolts skewered the squint’s ball cockpit. The twin ion engines exploded, launching debris into space from amid a silvery fireball. Pieces of the fighter struck sparks from Corran’s shields, but he reinforced them quickly enough. “Scratch one squint.”

Whistler keened at him so Corran punched a previously unlit button on his comm unit. “Hope that wasn’t you, Erisi. I’d hate to think your flying skill had atrophied so much.”

“It’s my killing skill that should be concerning you, Corran.”

“Eight here. I have a pair on my tail.”

“Seven on the way, Eight, hold tight.”

Corran rolled and came out in a loop with Ooryl in his aft port quarter. Two TIEs were lining up for a run on
Nawara’s X-wing. Tycho pulled a tight turn that brought him around quickly, but he only managed to pick off the trailing TIE. Nawara broke hard to port, then twisted back again to starboard, but the squint stayed with him throughout his maneuvers.

That’s got to be Erisi
.

The Interceptor fired four times, the first two pairs of green laser bolts burning through Nawara’s aft shield. The other two blew out the port engines and hit the fuselage right behind the cockpit. Nawara’s astromech exploded, then the cockpit canopy flew apart. When fire filled the cockpit Corran feared for the worst, then he saw the X-wing’s command couch jet out from the stricken fighter.

“Eight is extravehicular!” Corran’s green eyes narrowed. “Ten, keep them off him. I’m going after Erisi. Whistler, give me her comm frequency again.”

The droid complied with the order silently.

“Always did pick off the easy targets, didn’t you, Erisi? Couldn’t stand to work hard, could you?”

“Is that you on my tail, Corran? All alone?” Her laughter filled his cockpit. “I thought you’d learned from your father that dying alone wasn’t something to do.”

“That should be your concern, Erisi, because I’m not dying here. Horn out.” He punched the comm unit button that cut frequency off. “Come on, Whistler, it’s time we collect the debt she owes us.”

Corran’s X-wing streaked in on Erisi’s trail, but the squint juked and danced, making it impossible for him to get a good shot at her. As she broke to port, Corran rolled out into a long starboard loop and began a head-to-head run with her. The squint broke to starboard before they could close, forcing him to turn to port to pursue.
Okay, she knew head to head would be suicide
.

As her ship began to pull away from his, Corran realized killing her wasn’t going to be as easy as he expected. While she hadn’t been a bad pilot in an X-wing, she wasn’t as good as he was.
Her Interceptor, on the other hand, has more speed and maneuverability than my X-wing. That might give
her the edge she lacked before. And she knows very well all the performance capabilities of my ship
.

Corran smiled.
You don’t fly against a fighter, you fly against the pilot, and her arrogance is one huge flaw I can exploit
. Corran pulled his throttle back to 85 percent of full power, letting her stretch her lead on him. He rolled up on his port stabilizer and started a long loop that would take him back toward the main dogfight. He started in on an attack vector for one of the Interceptors.

While flying along it, he watched his main monitor. The rate of change for the range between his ship and Erisi’s Interceptor slowed as the distance stabilized, then the distance started to decrease. The rate of change accelerated, and when the range hit three kilometers, Corran hauled back on his stick. He tightened his loop considerably, then punched his throttle forward and headed straight for her.

Her hastily snapped shots splashed harmlessly over his forward shields. Corran fired back, catching her squint on the port wing. He inverted and dove, then inverted again and cruised out into a long loop that took him past Thyferra’s cloudy face. “How badly is she hit, Whistler?”

The droid graphed performance statistics on the main monitor. The Interceptor had suffered a 5 percent reduction in speed, which still left it faster than the X-wing, but not by that much. There also appeared to be a reduction in maneuverability, but not enough to cripple her performance.
This is going to take a while
.

“Nine, are you chasing Erisi?”

“Yes, Seven.”

“Finish her fast.”

“You need help?”

“Ten is handling things, but the shuttle is running. It can clear to lightspeed if we don’t stop it.”

“I copy, Seven. I’m on it.” He glanced at his monitor. “Whistler, give me range to the freighters who were tied to my torpedo telemetry.”