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By Root 632 0

of that as he looked at the hologram shimmering over the operations theater projection. He wasn’t really surprised, however. He had halfway expected something like this for weeks, ever since they had lost the Undauntable to sabotage. The Rebels—some faction of them, at least—knew they were here, else they would not have been able to blow the ship up. Strategically, it made sense to attack the station now, before it was fully finished and operational. Tactically, a carrier was the smartest way. It would cost much, if not most, of the entire Rebel fleet to get past the Star Destroyers posted here in order to engage the battle station directly. But out of a thousand fighters or more, some might get by the TIE squads and inflict damage, even if the mother ship was taken out. Maybe not enough to destroy it, but if they could slow construction, that would be a victory of sorts.

The lieutenant running the sensor array said, “Sir, the first wave of enemy fighters has left the carrier. Two hundred and fifty X-wings.”

As Tarkin nodded, the comm tech said, “Sir, I have a coded message incoming on your personal channel.”

Tarkin blinked. Who could that be? “Put it on my personal screen.”

Their TIE fighters were holding at a thousand klicks out, and it would take a few minutes for the X-wings to get that close to the station. The Star Destroyers were en route. There was nothing more to be done at the moment. Tarkin activated the message.

Daala’s face appeared on his screen.

He tried not to let his surprise show. “Admiral?”

“Grand Moff Tarkin. We’re en route to the station, and it seems there is some interesting activity out there.”

“Nothing we can’t handle,” he said. “Though you might want to circle around and avoid it.”

“By it, you mean that enemy carrier and all those X-wings pouring out of it?”

“Yes. That area is about to become inhospitable.”

“You’re sending in Star Destroyers?”

“I was, but as of this moment, I have a better idea.”

“Ah.”

“Precisely.”

“Well, I’ll move away from—blast!”

“Daala?”

“We have company. Disconnect.”

She broke the connection, and Tarkin frowned. Daala was an excellent commander, and her ship was fast and well armed; she could deal with a few X-wings. Still …

“Sir, the enemy has disgorged a second wave. That makes five hundred fighters,” the sensor technician said.

“We’ll put a stop to that.” To Motti, he said, “Admiral, have the Star Destroyers stand down. Break off their intercept.”

“Sir?” Motti looked at him as if he had just turned into a purple-dyed Wookiee. Tarkin smiled. He moved his hand over his comm.

“Superlaser Control,” came the response.

Motti’s expression changed. Now he smiled, too.

“Commander,” Tarkin said to the comm. “I have a target for you.”

SUPERLASER FIRE CONTROL, THETA SECTOR, DEATH STAR

The CO said, “You heard the man, Chief. Can you do it?”

“Sir, no problem.”

“Two thousand, two hundred and nine kilometers. Not an easy target.”

“If we have the power to reach that far, I will hit it, sir,” Tenn replied.

The CO checked a readout. “We have four percent in the discharge capacitors.”

“More than we need,” Tenn said.

The CO looked relieved. “Go, Chief.”

Tenn nodded, turned to the console, and opened the speakers.

“We have an order to commence primary ignition,” he said to the crew. “All right, boys, let’s pull the hammer back and cock this sodder! Report!”

The various sections reported each operation’s status, quickly and enthusiastically:

“Hypermatter reactor level one twenty-fifth of maximum.”

“Capacitors, four percent available.”

“Tributaries one through eight, green for feed.”

“Primary power amplifier, green.”

“Firing field amp is … green.”

“We are go on induction hyperphase generator feed.”

“Tributary beam shaft fields aligned.”

“Tributary beam shafts one through eight clear.”

“Targeting field generator, ready.”

“We have primary beam focusing magnet at ten-sixteenths gauss … now fourteen-sixteenths … now at full.”

Tenn scanned his board. All green. Twenty-eight seconds. Not their fastest time, but not bad. “We’re good to go,” he told the CO.