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“Permission to come aboard, Captain Terrik.”

“Promise you won’t tell my father?” Mirax smiled and strode boldly across the deck to him. “He’d die if he could see an X-wing with CorSec markings in the belly of his ship.”

“And if my father hadn’t been killed years ago, having my ship here would have gotten him, too.” Corran enfolded Mirax in a hug. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Likewise, Corran.”

He didn’t let his arms slacken until he felt her hug loosen first. “And I commend you on your shooting. You popped three Interceptors in no time.”

Mirax pulled away from him and pointed toward the hatchway. “He did it, not me.”

The silhouette in the hatchway shrugged. “The Skate is a fairly stable gunnery platform. And the squint pilots weren’t the Empire’s best.”

Pulling off the helmet, Corran crossed the hold and offered the man his hand. “Still and all, Captain Celchu, it was superior shooting.” With skills like that, I can’t imagine why you’re not flying with us. Commander Antilles said not to ask, and now is not the time, but I want to know the answer.

Mirax patted Corran on the back and let her hand linger there for a moment—a sensation he relished. “Come on up to the bridge. We’ll go to hyperspace and get back to Noquivzor before the others do.”

“We will?”

Mirax slapped the nearest bulkhead. “The Skate can push .6 past light speed—not as fast as the Falcon, but definitely better-looking. With our speed we can trim time off the trip back to Noquivzor and fly a course that’s shorter. We’ll beat them by an hour, just as we did getting here.”

Corran frowned. “But how could you get here since no one was supposed to know where here was? Commander Antilles didn’t tell the others until our second jump.”

The smuggler smiled sweetly at him. “Not my fault you talk in your sleep.”

Tycho laughed. “Mirax discovered a possible security breach. We arrived and went to ground on the dark side of the moon. We monitored Borleias control traffic and didn’t notice unusual activity down there, so we maintained comm silence when the squadron arrived.”

Corran sat down across from him. “If you told us you were there you might have alerted the Imperials.”

“Exactly.” Tycho followed Mirax into the Skate’s cockpit and dropped into one of the jumpseats. “Since the squadron was running with weak comm system transmissions, we couldn’t hear what Wedge had planned when he went sunside, but we figured things out from Imperial intercepts—the Verpine droid here has slicing skills that broke the Imp scrambling quite quickly. We stayed hidden when the squints started to search, assuming we’d break and run when they reached the volcano.”

Mirax looked back at Corran. “Then you arrived with them on your tail, we grabbed you and pulled you out.”

Corran chuckled as he strapped himself into the seat. “I thought I was dead.”

“I imagine that is what the rest of the squadron will be thinking when they reach Noquivzor.” Tycho slapped Corran on the knee. “Won’t they be surprised?”

“Yeah, I imagine they will.” Corran’s eyes narrowed. “And I’ve got an idea which means we can have some fun with them.”

Mirax tapped the console and smiled at her Sullustan pilot. “Get us going, Liat, and fast, too. The Pulsar Skate will be the first ship ever to smuggle a man back from the grave, and I mean for us to do it in record time at that.”

40

“… on Borleias’s moon,” Corran’s image continued. “I know the decision to leave me behind wasn’t easy.”

Wedge’s eyes narrowed. “… on Borleias’s moon?” How could he have known? Wait a minute!

“I want you to know I harbor no ill will concerning my abandonment. To prove this to you, I pried some Whyren’s Reserve away from Emtrey and a ryshcate should have finished baking by the time you land.”

“Wahoo!” Gavin’s voice echoed through the comm.

Wedge keyed his comm. “Horn, if you aren’t dead, you will be.”

Corran’s image broke into laughter. “I’m happy to see you, too, Commander. Welcome home.”

Wedge sat back in his chair and held the half-full tumbler