The Krytos Trap (46 page)

Wedge snorted. “I’ve heard sense, and it’s coming from him.” Fey’lya’s tone of voice had told Wedge there was no way he could advance the Vratix case before the Council. The Vratix were the backbone of the Ashern, the native independence movement on Thyferra and Isard’s only opposition. His proposing that the Provisional Council back the Vratix and their claims to self-determination would meet with equal enthusiasm as any other idea about interfering with Thyferran internal politics.
I promised Qlaern I’d do what I could for its people, but the New Republic is preventing me from keeping that promise
.

Wedge rubbed a hand along his jaw. “I joined this Rebellion to fight the Empire’s tyranny. Just because we have Coruscant doesn’t mean it’s ended. The New Republic might not be able to strike at Thyferra, but there are
Rebels
around who can.” He smiled. “I quit, too.”

Borsk Fey’lya turned to his left. “It would appear, Captain Celchu, that Rogue Squadron is now your command.”

“I don’t think so.” Tycho shook his head. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been a civillian. I’m out as well.”

Corran’s Gand wingman rested a hand on Corran’s shoulder. “Ooryl resigns.”

“Nawara and I are out,” Rhysati Ynr chimed in.

Gavin smiled. “I quit, too.”

Aril Nunb, Inyri Forge, and Riv Shiel all nodded in agreement. “We’re out.”

Asyr Sei’lar slipped in under Gavin’s arm. “I resign.”

Borsk Fey’lya stiffened. “You’re a Bothan. You cannot.”

“I’m a Rogue. It is done.”

The Bothan councilor snarled. “You can’t do this. You have no ships.”

“Begging your pardon, Councilor, but I never signed my X-wing over to the Rebellion. I have a ship.”

“Very well for you, Lieutenant Horn, but no one else does.” Borsk Fey’lya’s amethyst eyes burned with fury. “The rest of you have no resources for getting ships. One X-wing and some broken-down tramp freighter will take on a Super Star Destroyer?”

Mirax shot him a nasty glance. “The
Skate
isn’t broken down. They need ships, I can find them.”

“And pay for them with what?”

Tycho smiled. “As I recall, the New Republic made a great deal of noise about a number of bank accounts belonging to me with a significant amount of credits in them.”

“That money was supplied by Isard to frame you.”

“So much the better to use it against her, wouldn’t you say?”

“This is insanity! You cannot do this.” Borsk Fey’lya raked his fur back down into place. “Jedi Skywalker, convince them of their folly. They will fail if they try.”

“As my master told me, there is no
try:
one can only
do
or
do not
,” Luke nodded solemnly. “It seems, Wedge, those are your choices.”

“No choice at all, Luke.” Wedge smiled broadly. “We’re, ah, we
were
Rogue Squadron. We
do
.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael A. Stackpole is an award-winning author, editor, game and computer game designer. As always, he spends his spare time playing indoor soccer and now has a new hobby, podcasting. Mike will publish
A New World
, the sequel to
Cartomancy
, this July, and is currently at work on ideas for a half-dozen other novels.

To learn more about Mike’s podcasting, please visit
www.tsfpn.com
(the website of The SciFi Podcast Network).

BOOKS BY MICHAEL A. STACKPOLE

THE WARRIOR TRILOGY

Warrior: En Garde

Warrior: Riposte

Warrior: Coupé

THE BLOOD OF KERENSKY

TRILOGY

Lethal Heritage

Blood Legacy

Lost Destiny

Natural Selection

Assumption of Risk

Bred for War

Malicious Intent

Grave Covenant

Prince of Havoc

Ghost War

THE FIDDLEBACK TRILOGY

A Gathering Evil

Evil Ascendant

Evil Triumphant

Eyes of Silver
^*

Dementia

Wolf and Raven

Once a Hero
^*

Talion: Revenant
^*

STAR WARS® X-WING SERIES

Rogue Squadron
^*

Wedge’s Gamble
^*

The Krytos Trap
^*

The Bacta War
^*

Isard’s Revenge
^*

Star Wars®: I, Jedi
^*

Star Wars®: Dark Tide

Star Wars®: Onslaught

Star Wars®: Ruin

THE DRAGONCROWN

WAR CYCLE

The Dark Glory War
^*

Fortress Draconis
^*

When Dragons Rage
^*

The Grand Crusade
^*

THE AGE OF DISCOVERY

A Secret Atlas
^*

Cartomancy
^*

*
published by Bantam Books

STAR WARS—
The Expanded Universe

You saw the movies. You watched the cartoon series, or maybe played some of the video games. But did you know …

In
The Empire Strikes Back
, Princess Leia Organa said to Han Solo, “I love you.” Han said, “I know.” But did you know that they actually got married? And had three Jedi children: the twins, Jacen and Jaina, and a younger son, Anakin?

Luke Skywalker was trained as a Jedi by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. But did you know that, years later, he went on to revive the Jedi Order and its commitment to defending the galaxy from evil and injustice?

Obi-Wan said to Luke, “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.” Did you know that over those millennia, legendary Jedi and infamous Sith Lords were adding their names to the annals of Republic history?

Yoda explained that the dreaded Sith tend to come in twos: “Always two, there are. No more, no less. A Master, and an apprentice.” But did you know that the Sith didn’t always exist in pairs? That at one time in the ancient Republic there were as many Sith as Jedi, until a Sith Lord named Darth Bane was the lone survivor of a great Sith war and created the “Rule of Two”?

All this and much, much more is brought to life in the many novels and comics of the
Star Wars
expanded universe. You’ve seen the movies and watched the cartoon. Now venture out into the wider worlds of
Star Wars
!

Turn the page or jump to the
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1

Somehow the dead of night amplified the lightsaber’s hiss, allowing it to fill the room. The blade’s silvery light frosted the furniture and gave birth to impenetrable shadows. The blade drifted back and forth, prompting the shadows to waver and shift as if fleeing from the light.

Much as criminals would flee from the light
.

Corran Horn stared at the blade, finding the argent energy shaft neither harsh nor painful to his eyes. He lazily wove the blade through joined infinity loops, then, with the flick of his right wrist, snapped it up into a guard that protected him from forehead to waist.
Relic of a bygone era, it still can conjure up images and feelings
.

He hit the black button under his thumb twice, and the blade died, again plunging the room into darkness. The lightsaber did conjure up images and feelings in him, but Corran doubted they were at all the images and feelings commonly felt by most others on Coruscant. To everyone, including Corran, Luke Skywalker was a hero and was welcomed as heir to the Jedi tradition. His efforts at rebuilding the Jedi order were roundly applauded, and no one, save those who dreaded the return of law and order to the galaxy, wished Luke anything but the greatest success in his heroic quest.

As do I
. Corran frowned.
Still, my decision has been made
.

He’d felt it the greatest of honors to be asked by Luke Skywalker to leave Rogue Squadron and train to become a Jedi. Skywalker had told him that his grandfather Nejaa Halcyon had been a Jedi Master who had been slain in the Clone Wars. The lightsaber Corran had discovered in the Galactic Museum had belonged to Nejaa and had been presented to Corran as his rightful inheritance.
Mine is the heritage of a Jedi Knight
.

But that was a heritage he had only heard of from Skywalker. He did not doubt the Jedi was telling the truth, but it was not the whole truth.
At least not the whole of the truth with which I grew up
.

Throughout his life Corran Horn had come to believe his grandfather was Rostek Horn, a valued and highly placed member of the Corellian Security Force. His father, Hal Horn, likewise was with CorSec. When it came time for Corran to choose a career, there was really no choice at all. He continued the Horn tradition of serving CorSec. His grandfather had always admitted to having known a Jedi who died in the Clone Wars, but that acquaintance had been given no more weight than having once met Imperial Moff Fliry Vorru or having visited Imperial Center, as Coruscant had been known under the Empire’s rule.

Corran found it no great surprise that Rostek Horn and his father had downplayed their ties to Nejaa Halcyon. Halcyon had died in the Clone Wars; and Rostek had comforted, grown close with, and married Halcyon’s widow. He also adopted Halcyon’s son, Valin, who grew up as Hal Horn. When the Emperor began his extermination of the Jedi order, Rostek had used his position at CorSec to destroy all traces of the Halcyon family, insulating his wife and adopted son from investigation by Imperial authorities.

Since exhibiting any interest in the Jedi Knights could invite scrutiny and my family would be very vulnerable if its secret were discovered, I probably heard less about the Jedi Knights than most other kids my age
. If not for various holodramas that painted the Jedi Knights as villains and later reminiscences by his grandfather about the Clone Wars, Corran would have known little or nothing about the Jedi. Like most other children, he found them vaguely romantic and all too much sinister, but they were distant and remote while what his father and grandfather did was immediate and exciting.

He raised a hand and pressed it to the golden Jedi medallion he wore around his neck. It had been a keepsake his father had carried and Corran inherited after his father’s death. Corran had taken it as a lucky charm of sorts, never realizing his father had kept it because it bore the image of his own father, Nejaa Halcyon.
Wearing it had been my father’s way of honoring his father and defying the Empire. Likewise, I wore it to honor him, not realizing I was doing more through that act
.

Skywalker’s explanation to him of what his relationship to Nejaa Halcyon was opened new vistas and opportunities for him. In joining CorSec he had chosen to dedicate his life to a mission that paralleled the Jedi mission: making the galaxy safe for others. As Luke had explained, by becoming a Jedi, Corran could do what he had always done but on a larger scale. That idea, that opportunity, was seductive, and clearly all of his squadron-mates had expected him to jump at it.

Corran smiled.
I thought Councilor Borsk Fey’lya was going to die when I turned down the offer. In many ways I wish he had
.

He shook his head, realizing that thought was unworthy of himself and really wasted on Borsk Fey’lya. Corran was certain that, on some level, the Bothan Councilor believed he—not Corran—was right and his actions were vital to sustain the New Republic. Re-creating the Jedi order would help provide a cohesive force to bind the Republic together and to drape it in the nostalgic mantle of the Old Republic. Just as having various members of nation-states placed in Rogue Squadron had helped pull the Republic together, having a Corellian become a new Jedi might influence the Diktat into treating the New Republic in a more hospitable manner.

Skywalker had asked him to, and Fey’lya had assumed he would, join the Jedi order, but that was because neither of them knew of or realized that his personal obligations and promises exerted more influence with him than any galactic cause. While Corran realized that doing the greatest good for the greatest number was probably better for everyone in the long run, he had short-term debts he wanted to repay, and time was of the essence in doing so.