Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 01_ Onslaught - Michael A. Stackpole [96]
“But what if Vil and Denna are infected?”
Corran sighed. “That’s the crux of it, isn’t it? I’ve been wrestling with it myself.”
“And your decision?”
He glanced out at the distant ship and the two figures slowly walking back toward the cave. “If they are sick, we have no choice but to leave them.”
“And if we can cure them?”
“You want to risk a planet on that chance?” Corran tapped his own chest. “I don’t. I remember the Krytos virus. I know how devastating that can be. If they are infected, they don’t make it off Bimmiel. If they aren’t, we get them out and into evac suits on the freighter. The same goes for Ganner and me, just to safeguard you against the chance that we do develop a problem.”
“And, if you do, you expect us to space all four of you?”
Corran turned and looked at her. “You know, Doctor, some choices just aren’t easy. Spacing Ganner might break Trista’s heart. I’ve got a wife and kids, and I think they’d not be too pleased at my dying; but when I have to choose between my death and the potential death of billions, I know which is the better choice. I serve the Force, and the Force is life itself. It doesn’t make the decision easy, but it makes it easier.”
Pace snorted, then shook her head. “You make it sound so simple.”
“From one point of view, it is.” Corran sighed. “I doubt, though, the Vong share that point of view, so this is going to be just plain hard and painful.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Jaina Solo sat huddled and anonymous in the midst of the pilots gathered for Colonel Darklighter’s briefing in the main cabin of Senator A’Kla’s Lambda-class shuttle, Impervious. Despite the colonel’s relative youth, he was one of the oldest people in the room. Jaina found it disturbing that many of the pilots tended to be closer to her age than not, and she had the feeling that one who had piloted an ugly was her younger brother’s age.
In addition to the pilots from Rogue Squadron and the two squadrons of uglies, the pilots for the various freighters had joined the briefing. Elegos sat forward of them and off to the side, as if he were more an observer than a participant, despite the fact that his shuttle had been tasked with moving to a point position directly in line toward whichever direction from which the Yuuzhan Vong staged their attack.
Gavin nodded to Major Varth, and she keyed up a holograph of one of the coralskippers. “You’ve seen skips before and have engaged them in space combat. We have no idea what sort of role they will play in ground support of an attack, but their plasma bolts will undoubtedly kill folks who get in the way of them. Our job will be to engage the skips and keep them from their ground-support role. That’s our primary mission and will belong to the Rogue and Savage Squadrons.”
The Savage pilots nodded and slapped each other’s backs. The uglies had been divided into new squadrons here on Dantooine, with Savage being made up of uglies like clutches that had shields. The Rogues had referred to the squadron as Salvage Squadron at first, but the pilots proved game so the Rogues didn’t rib them too much. The fact is that we know they’re likely to take a lot of casualties in the coming assault. Their ships aren’t capable of handling the wear and tear ours are.
The other squadron, designated Tough, consisted of the less powerful ships, including those armed with ion cannons or lacking shields. Gavin turned toward those pilots, all of whom had donned red scarves to give them a rakish air—and it worked, even for the Gamorrean aft gunner in an old shieldless Y-wing. “You will be given a ground-attack mission. As we pull the skips off, you can harry the ground troops. We have no idea what, if anything, they have as ground transport. Taking anything big out will be