Star Wars_ X-Wing 05_ Wraith Squadron - Aaron Allston [27]
Kell centered his targeting bracket on his partner’s X-wing. It went red, the computer giving him the tone of a good lock, a split second later.
A moment later Janson’s voice sounded in his ear. “Green Five, what are you doing?”
Kell tensed at the sound of that voice and silently cursed himself for doing so. “Just trust me on this one, Control.”
Runt’s irritating war cry cut off. Then he said, “Six to Five, are you going to fire on us?”
“Negative, Six.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Getting your attention. Do I have it?”
“Yes, Five.”
“Then get back in formation. Right now. I’m lead, you’re wing. Do you read me?”
“Yes, Five.” Runt decelerated a notch, returning to his proper position behind Kell.
Runt was good until battle was well under way. Then, when he and Kell each had one kill, he belted out his war cry again and rolled out of formation, attempting a pursuit of two interceptors.
Kell hastily said, “You have lead, Six,” and followed.
When the lead interceptor tried to peel off and circle back behind Green Six, Kell used his trailing position to cut a tighter circle and vaporized the Imperial craft. It took him a standard minute to pull up abreast of Runt again, and in that time Runt smoked his own opponent with a torpedo.
Kell keyed his comm unit. “Five to Six.”
The war cries ceased, but it was a moment before Runt replied. “Six here.”
“Just checking. Try to rein your pilot in whenever you don’t need him; he’s too noisy.”
“We read you, Five.”
“Good. Keep the lead; I’m on your wing.”
Kell ended that episode with only two kills; an interceptor smoked him with a pop-up shot from behind a rapidly twirling asteroid. Still, he didn’t feel too bad about it; he was actually getting through to Runt, forcing him to respond.
Kell’s canopy seal broke and the simulator canopy opened. Beyond were bright light and Janson.
Kell’s gut went cold and he suppressed the urge to stay under cover. Intellectually, he knew he was in no danger from Janson, but he still felt a jolt of fear every time he saw the veteran pilot. In spite of it, he clambered out of the simulator and stood before the squadron’s second-in-command.
Janson barely glanced at his datapad. “Average earnings this time around, Tainer. But some unorthodox tactics in”—he hesitated over the words—“personnel management worked pretty well. Some bonus points there. Let’s bring up the win-loss ratio a little bit next time; otherwise pretty good. Any questions?”
“Yes, sir. Was it a program that vaped me, or a pilot?”
Janson managed a tight smile. “There’s pilot ego for you—unwilling to accept that a standard program took you out. No, you’re right. It was a pilot. You’ve heard of him. Wedge Antilles. Likes to sit in on these missions from time to time. Dismissed.”
The training took its toll on the roster of candidate pilots.
Chedgar was gone the next day, the victim, Kell believed, of his own paranoia about officer conspiracies against him. The Quarren named Triogor Sllus was washed out two days later, for backhanding a Mon Calamari candidate named Jesmin Ackbar—the niece, Kell learned, of the legendary Admiral Ackbar. A human named Banna, a decent but not extraordinary code-slicer, was caught “improving” his recorded scores; his bunk was empty the next day. Others vanished with no explanation, and Kell wondered if they’d all failed at their last chance at a piloting career. He wondered if he’d be next.
At one of the pilots’ DownTime gatherings, he discussed this with other surviving candidates. “When I arrived to try out for this squadron, I thought I was the only one at the end of my rope as a pilot. But it looks more and more as though all of us are walking in thermal boots on thin ice. Am I wrong?”
Most of the others looked sober. Ton Phanan didn’t; he smiled with diabolic humor. “I have a bit of a problem with luck in combat. Unlike most of you, I’ve seen some of it—”
Tyria snorted. “Braggart.”
“But in five live-fire missions, I’ve been shot down twice and landed successfully three times. Not a good ratio. Between that and