Star Wars_ X-Wing 01_ Rogue Squadron - Michael A. Stackpole [77]
Gavin covered the reddish area on his stomach with his right hand. “It hurt a lot, then I guess I fainted.”
“You’re lucky that’s all you did. That shot should have killed you.”
“I know I shot back at the stormtrooper. Did I get him?”
“I don’t know, Gavin. Unless you have a holo of a lightfight, trying to reconstruct it after the fact is all but impossible.” Corran slid from the table and found his legs supported him with only a few minor tremors. “He and his buddies died, and that’s all that counts.”
“Were any of us killed?”
Corran remembered the impression of death he’d had in the corridor, but he shook his head. “I don’t know, Gavin.”
The med-center hatch opened and Wedge Antilles stepped through it. His smile broadened at first, then shrank slightly. He paused and returned the hasty salutes Gavin and Corran managed. “Good to see both of you hale and hearty.”
“Hearty, perhaps, sir, but hale will need some work.” Corran worked his right arm up and around in a circle. “A night’s rest ought to make it all right.”
“And you, Gavin, how do you feel?”
“Fine, sir. I could fly right now if you need me.”
“That’s not necessary right away.” Wedge’s expression darkened. “We’ve abandoned Talasea and evacuated it cleanly. We got the stormtroopers and captured their transport ship. Forensic analysis of the bodies has given us a good indication of where they came from. I’m meeting with Admiral Ackbar and General Salm to consider a counterstrike against their base.”
“I’m in.”
“Me, too.” Gavin hopped off the bed. His knees buckled, but he caught the edge of the bed and remained upright. “I want to go and repay them.”
Wedge nodded and Corran knew he was getting to the worst part of the report. “In the raid we gave better than we got—but we had casualties. Six of our sentries died. You two and Andoorni were severely wounded.” Wedge glanced down at the deck, then over at Gavin. “Lujayne Forge was killed.”
Gavin leaned heavily on the bed. “Lujayne is dead?”
Corran sat abruptly on the floor. He’d felt her die, he knew she had died, yet he couldn’t believe it any more than Gavin could. She’d always been the member of the squadron who was concerned with the welfare of the others—not just their physical welfare, but how they felt. She formed the heart of our unit, bringing us together. There’s no way she should have been the first of us to die.
He stared down at his empty hands. She never even collected on that favor I owed her for fixing my X-wing and now she’s gone.
Gavin shook his head. “She can’t be dead. She’s been tutoring me in astronavigation. She …” The youth balled his fists and hammered them against the edge of the table. “Dead …”
Wedge sighed. “It’s never easy to lose a friend, Gavin.”
Gavin raised a fist as if he wanted to smash it down again, but let it slowly drift back to his side. “This is the first time anyone I’ve known has died.”
Corran raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“He’s only a kid, Corran.”
“I know, sir, but his cousin …”
Gavin shook his head. “I’ve met people before who later died. I remember Mr. Owen and Aunt Beru—that’s what I called them on the couple of times Biggs let me tag along when he visited Luke at the Lars farm. When they died, my father took the farm over …”
Wedge frowned. “I thought Luke had given it to an alien.”
“Yes, Throgg was his name. He worked it for a couple of seasons, but my uncle wanted to add that farm to his holdings, so he got the Anchorhead Municipal Council to pass an alien landowner tax which would have broken Throgg to pay. My father didn’t hold with his brother’s tactics, so Dad bought the farm from Throgg, paying him what it was worth instead of letting Uncle Huff buy it in a tax auction.” Gavin shrugged. “Growing up on that farm I could remember having seen the Larses, but I never really knew them. I was a kid, a real kid. They were nice to me, but …”
“But you didn’t know them.” Corran drew his knees up to his chest. “I understand.