Star Wars_ X-Wing 01_ Rogue Squadron - Michael A. Stackpole [101]
A trio of ion blasts shot up from the planet’s surface. One sliced in at Three Flight, cutting through the vector the squints should have been using to engage the X-wings. The second hit the Emancipator and played out over it like a thunderstorm on a prairie. The third lanced up at one of the shuttles, but never reached its target. Corran saw the blast diffuse ever so slightly, as if it had hit a shield, but its dissipating ball left no debris behind.
“Two, report.”
Dead air answered Wedge’s call.
“Rogue Leader, we have no contact with Rogue Two.”
Damn, Peshk caught that one. He’s gone.
“Full evasive, Rogues. Control, get the shuttles dancing.”
“Stay alert, Three Flight.” Corran’s aiming reticle went red and a target-lock tone filled his ears. He tightened on the trigger and launched a torpedo at an approaching Interceptor. Switching to lasers, he linked all four, then picked another target. As his torpedo hit the first, he flashed into range on the second and let it have a full burst of laser fire.
The glare of lasers against his shields hid the results of his shooting, but Whistler reported one Interceptor destroyed and another damaged. In seconds he shot past the line of Interceptors, then hauled back on his stick, rolled, and dove back in at them. The squints, reduced from eight to six, split up into flight elements and moved to engage single X-wings. As two started to circle around toward him, Corran inverted, dove, and came back up and around to go head-to-head with them.
He boosted power to his forward shields, then pulled a snap-roll that stood the X-wing on its port S-foil. That narrowed his profile and allowed the first volley of laser fire from the squints to pass on either side of himself. At the last second he selected a proton torpedo and let it fly at point-blank range. Even though it never got a solid target lock, it nailed the lead TIE dead on and tore it apart.
Corran nudged the stick and shot through the center of the fiery explosion. Clear on the other side he lost the Interceptor’s wingman, but a more immediate problem captured his attention. “Twelve, break to port, now!”
Andoorni’s X-wing juked left, but the squint riding her exhaust stayed with her.
“Break harder, Twelve. Climb.”
“Not do. Lateral stabilizer gone.”
“Weave, Twelve.”
The Rodian started her X-wing in the corkscrew maneuver and the Interceptor’s first shots went wide of their mark. Then the aft end of the ship came back around and the squint’s fire ripped up through the engines. Fire blossomed on the right side of the ship, shredding the S-foils. A second later the whole fighter shook and its skin split from the inside out. Argent flames burst free, converting the ship into a miniature sun, then the roiling ball of gas collapsed into its own black hole.
Bloodlessly Corran vaped Andoorni’s killer. Part of him wanted to cheer at having exacted revenge for her, but he overrode those emotions. He could no more allow himself to luxuriate in the death of an Imp than he could afford to mourn his comrade. There would be time for that later—if there is a later. Anything that distracted him from the job at hand would kill him, so he pushed it all away and concentrated on the battle around him.
“Three Flight, shuttle Devonian has four Interceptors inbound.”
“Ooryl copies, Control. Ooryl has them.”
“I’m on your back door, Ten.”
The Interceptors had re-formed into two flights and had selected one of the assault shuttles as a target. Ooryl brought his X-wing in behind the lead pair and throttled back to match their speed.
“Ooryl using torpedoes.”
“Shoot straight, Ten.”
The TIEs broke formation and split out in four directions. “Ten, go to lasers, they must have lock-threat warning systems.” A fighter with that equipment would provide the pilot with an indicator light when another ship had a torpedo lock on him. By jinking sharply it was possible to break the lock before the torpedo was launched.