Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 01_ Onslaught - Michael A. Stackpole [26]
Gavin recalled the discussion he’d had with his wife and his sister when the Bothans announced plans to build the Assault Cruisers. Peace had been declared with the Imperial Remnant, so the ships were seen as either a foolish allocation of resources, hints at future Bothan aggression, or, as far as Sera and Rasca were concerned, a gross waste of money. Given that peace reigned in the galaxy, both of them thought the money needed to build one of the ships could be better spent on healing the scars of decades-long war.
Their arguments had been persuasive, but Gavin had reserved judgment, and as he looked down at the ship, he was glad the Bothans had built it. The fighter hangars were amidships and had launch apertures that would let the fighters head up or down, as needed, to get into battle. The dual launch paths also meant recovering fighters after a battle was faster, and Gavin very much appreciated that detail.
He keyed his comm unit. “One flight on me. Five, you have two, and, Nine, you have three.”
His two subordinate commanders, Major Inyri Forge and Major Alinn Varth, acknowledged his command, and not for the first time did the incongruity of having female voices linked to those flight designators strike him. For almost the whole of Gavin’s time in the squadron, Nine had been Corran Horn, and Five had been Hobbie or Janson or Tycho Celchu. Then again, Lead was almost always Wedge, but now I’m the leader.
The flights spread out and turned toward the center of the star system. It wasn’t much to look at, with an asteroid belt separating two small, very hot planets from three larger gas giants. None of the planets themselves supported life, though the largest gas giant did have some moons that were almost hospitable—if one could tolerate a low-oxygen, high-nitrogen mix for breathing. If not for some mining done in the asteroids, and the fact that traffic from Bastion uses this as a nav point to the Corporate Sector, this would be another dull spot on star charts.
The system didn’t even have a name, which struck Gavin as appropriate, for it had been largely without any notoriety for as long as folks had visited it. That had changed within a week, when a freighter stopped to scout the asteroids for any salvage. Fighters of unknown origin had jumped the ship, but the freighter got away and reported the incident. Admiral Kre’fey had taken his Ralroost out to investigate. Rogue Squadron shifted from playing pirates to becoming pirate hunters and shipped along.
Gavin punched up an analysis program and loaded it into his targeting computer. “Catch, push sensors. We know there were snubfighters out here, but I need to find their base.”
The droid warbled his understanding quickly.
Inyri’s voice crackled through the comm speakers in his helmet. “Lead, we have transient contacts in the asteroid belt, 247 mark 30. They’re shadowing us.”
“I copy. Got enough to identify them?”
“Matches aren’t coming up easily, so I’m guessing uglies.”
“Keep an eye on them.” Gavin thought for a second, then nodded to himself. “On my mark, all Rogues will break onto course 270 mark 27. We’re aiming for the big asteroid there, the one that’s slowly rolling.”
Confirmations of the orders came back to him over the comm unit.
Gavin reached up and flicked a switch that locked the fighter’s S-foils in attack position. He studied his sensor scopes but got nothing. Well, if they won’t show themselves easily, we’ll just have to root them out ourselves. “Rogues, on my mark, three, two, one, mark.” He kicked his X-wing up on its port stabilizers and eased the stick back, then leveled out