Star Wars_ X-Wing 04_ The Bacta War - Michael A. Stackpole [85]
Getting to see Booster and Mirax together compounded the problem. Corran was happy for Mirax that her father was around because the love they shared was obvious enough that a blind Givin frozen in carbonite could have seen it. She was lucky to have her father, and he was equally lucky to have her. As much as Corran wanted Mirax to be happy, what she shared with her father reminded him of what he had lost. I thought the void inside me had been filled, but it had just scabbed over and is now plenty open.
On top of that, the next step in the evolution of the Bacta War was pushing him to the limit. Wedge had teams, from full squadrons down to single two-ship flights out harassing the Bacta Cartel. The whole strategy was to hit and run, which worked exceedingly well. Because the Thyferrans scheduled their bacta shipments it was possible for the Rogues to show up, force the Star Destroyers to scramble their fighters, pop off some proton torpedoes to take out a few TIEs, then scatter. He knew the strategy had to be frustrating for Iceheart’s people, since they were taking losses here and there without killing any of the Rogues; but it wasn’t much better for Corran or the rest of Wedge’s people.
Engaging in a straight-up fight with even a Victory-class Star Destroyer like the Corrupter would be suicide for a squadron of X-wings. It was true that the large Star Destroyers were not particularly good at defending themselves against snubfighters—hence the development of the Lancer-class frigates—but even accidentally shooting down one or two X-wings would hurt the Rogues significantly. Conversely, aside from repeated proton torpedo salvos, there was no way snubfighters could cripple or destroy a Star Destroyer. If the whole squadron fired a salvo of torpedoes at the same time, they could certainly bring the Star Destroyer’s shields down, but any captain worth his rank cylinders would roll the ship to present undamaged shields and keep shooting. If all his shields were stripped away he could still go to lightspeed before another torpedo could hit.
Corran had no wish to commit suicide in an attack on a Star Destroyer, but cutting and running made him feel … criminal. He knew that was stupid, but he figured the judgment was based in the fact that Wedge hadn’t given anyone a clear timetable concerning when they would move into the war’s final phase—the phase where Iceheart left Thyferra and the Bacta Cartel would be broken. If I knew how long we were going to run, I could see it as a tactical advantage. Right now it seems as if we’re doing something so we won’t be doing nothing.
Realizing he had no desire to be alone, he headed for the tapcaf known as Flarestar. He hoped other members of the squadron would be there, though the chances of that were slim. Ooryl seemed to spend most of his time with the ruetsavii. Nawara Ven and Rhysati as well as Gavin and Asyr Sei’lar spent most of their time being couples. Tycho and Wedge were either on missions or planning yet other missions. Bror Jace and Corran had never been close, while Inyri Forge and the Sullustan Captain Aril Nunb had discovered they shared a passion for obscure games of chance like contract sabacc and double-draw fendoc. As stunning as they were as pilots, their ability to separate other gamblers from their credits was so remarkable that two of the ships in the Rogues’ growing collection of freighters had joined the fleet to pay off bad debts.
Corran smiled to himself as he entered the Flarestar’s darkened interior. Inyri’s sister Lujayne would just tell me I was holding myself back from getting to know the others, but I’m not sure it’s that simple. I’m just without my close friends—Mirax, Iella, Ooryl—and not really of a mood to