Star Wars_ X-Wing 02_ Wedge's Gamble - Michael A. Stackpole [132]
The Gand’s mouth parts closed again. “Ooryl understands. If you will all back down this hallway, Ooryl will open the door, open the interior case, and bring you back respirators.”
Gavin’s jaw shot open. “But you’ll die.”
The Gand shook his head. “Ooryl does not respire.”
Inyri blinked. “What?”
Ooryl tapped his chest. “Gands do not respire.”
“But you talk.”
“Yes, Inyri Forge, but respiration is not required for speech. Ooryl’s body has a muscular gas bladder that allows Ooryl to, among other things, draw in gases and expel them at a controlled rate through pieces of Gand exoskeleton that vibrate and approximate speech. Ooryl gets the metabolic ingredients Ooryl needs through ingestion, not respiration. Fex-M3d will not affect Ooryl.”
Tycho thought for a moment, then nodded. “Here’s what we’ll do. Ooryl will wait here until we retreat. Inyri, you’ll turn the airspeeder around and bring the engine up. Point the exhaust jets down this hallway and we can use them to push the freed Fex-M3d deeper into the building.”
“It will also point the airspeeder in the right direction for our escape.”
“Good point, Inyri.” Tycho looked over at Gavin. “Depending upon how many masks there are in the room, you and Inyri may have to wait outside. If there are enough, we all go down and hold the center.”
“Got it.”
Tycho slapped the Gand on the arm. “Wait until we get clear, then go.”
“Ooryl understands.”
Gavin retreated with the others. They sealed themselves inside the airspeeder. Inyri brought it up and around, giving Gavin a good view of the firefights going on outside. TIE fighters swooped and dove. Green laser bolts flashed through the sky thick and furious. Countless burn marks scored the flanks and front of the construction droid, yet it loomed ever larger as it came on toward them.
Winter twisted around in the seat. “He’s in.”
Gavin turned to look. The room’s door appeared open. A greenish-yellow mist rolled out and carpeted the hallway in haze. The airspeeder’s exhaust pushed it farther down the hallway, but there always seemed to be more of it pouring from the computer center.
The sharp report of an explosion brought all eyes forward again. A pair of blurred Headhunters raced past, flying through a collapsing ball of fire and debris. More laser bolts poured in at the construction droid, but there was no sign they had any effect on the titanic machine. And as bad as things looked in the air outside it, the cold efficiency of the way the droid dismembered the building in front of it was even worse. Their vantage point let the Rogues peer into the construction droid’s maw and Gavin imagined what he saw to be the vision seen by billions of Alderaanians before their world exploded.
A thump on the hood of the airspeeder made Gavin jump and bang his head on the roof. He hunched down and rubbed his head. “Emperor’s bones!”
Outside the Gand looked surprised, then held up four masks. “Ooryl has been successful.”
Tycho reached forward from the back seat and patted Gavin on the shoulder. “Ready to go?”
“Sure. Maybe I can get a light dose of the gas and it’ll slow my heart.” Gavin got out of the airspeeder and pulled his mask on. It immediately felt hot on his face, but he tugged on the straps, fitting it tightly to his face. He took his comlink from his jacket lapel and snapped it into the receptacle near his right ear.
“I’m set, Tycho.”
The Alderaanian Captain gave him a nod. “Come on, then. Let’s go see if we can make it rain.”
As Corran’s Headhunter came up through the towers he caught Wedge’s message to Tycho. “Hunter Lead here, Commander. Got a problem?”
“Seems so, Corran. Tower east of us has an E-web trained on us.”
“Collateral targets?”
“Don’t know, but the building should be evacuated except for troops. Get them gone.”
“As ordered. Stand by.” Corran throttled the black and gold fighter up and aimed for the stars. Before he got there, but after he had left the towers