• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

The Twi’lek shook his head and Wedge noticed his normally ash-colored flesh had taken on a creamy tone that, in some places, seemed translucent. “I think I’m coming down sick, sir. I’m not certain I’m flight capable. The ryll I’ve taken is helping a bit, but I’m still not feeling well enough to fly.”

“I’m not formally qualified to fly, but I’ve done a lot of simming.” Inyri bit her lower lip. “Lujayne used to train against me. She was better than I was and beat me regularly, but not all the time.”

Corran smiled. “I’ve seen her pilot a speeder bike and an airspeeder. She does well in the tight confines of these urban canyons.”

Wedge was tempted to take her up on her offer, but he held back. “I believe what you’ve told me, Inyri, but I can’t take responsibility for your first starfighter combat taking place on Coruscant. What I’d rather have you do is deliver Winter and the others to the computer center. That will take some fancy airspeeder flying because we’ll be grinding a lot of stuff up in the area.”

“Commander,” Erisi began, “if we have Asyr or Inyri bring in some more people for the ground teams, we could free up Gavin, Captain Celchu, or Ooryl and give us six pilots.”

“No, we’re not bringing anyone else in.” Wedge leaned forward again on the table. “Corran has brought to my attention the potential for betrayal. Zekka Thyne informed the Imperials of our plans for the factory. We’re going to need all the time we have remaining to double- and triple-check our plans and equipment, then we’re going. No one here is going to communicate with anyone outside just to make sure the Imps have no inkling of what we’re going to do. This effort must succeed.”

Gavin slowly shook his head. “Fourteen against a world. Those are long odds.”

“Lieutenant Darklighter, I’m a Corellian. I have no use for odds.” Wedge smiled broadly, putting as much confidence as he could into it. “No doubt the Imps have a sizable house edge here, but now the war has come to Coruscant, which means they’re playing our game, and that makes everything even all over again.”

39

Corran Horn tightened the straps on his life-support controller, adjusting the boxy device as he went to get it centered on his chest. He much preferred having the controller built into his command chair as it was on his CorSec X-wing, but the Z-95 was more primitive than that, so he had to wear it. He punched a button, putting the device through a self-check, then got a tone indicating everything was in good working order.

Mirax smiled broadly as she came walking over and succeeded in forestalling the dread her black Imperial uniform sparked in him. “We’re getting ready to head out. Are you okay?”

Corran nodded. “Yeah. We’ve gone over all the Headhunters from nose to stern and they check out.”

“So I gather. I recall seeing you and Erisi in close conversation.”

Corran felt hot color rise in his cheeks. “That was a prelude to a group discussion. We ended up adjusting the sensor packages and zeroing the blasters at 150 meters. We figured that dogfights would be close and shots of over 150 meters in the canyons here are going to be rare.”

“Take care of yourself out there.”

“Hey, my job is making sure to keep TIEs and others off you.” Corran reached out and tapped the tip of her nose with his finger. “Look, it will be crazy out there. In all likelihood Rogue Squadron will get a few more heroes inducted into its Hall of the Dead …”

Mirax gave him a smirk. “Corran, if this is one of those ‘tomorrow we might die so we should be together tonight’ speeches, your timing is lousy since tomorrow is now and last night ended when this morning started.”

“I know.” Corran laughed at the nervousness he felt. “I guess what I’m trying to say is this: Before Coruscant I found you interesting and attractive. Since we’ve been here I’ve gotten to know more about you, to see how you react under pressure and how effortlessly you seem to get along with others. I admire the qualities that I’ve seen in you and, well, if we both come out of this, I’d like the opportunity