Star Wars_ X-Wing 06_ Iron Fist - Aaron Allston [63]
“That’s good work,” Wedge said. “But on this pirate activity, I just wish you all didn’t look as though you’d enjoyed yourselves so much.”
Phanan snorted. “A happy worker is a productive worker.”
Wedge nodded. “But a happy pirate is a career pirate. You do remember that the Hawk-bats are a front, a sham?”
Kell and Phanan exchanged looks suggesting that this was news to them.
“That’s what I thought. Anything else?”
Runt said, “Yes. We have also identified the regular schedule and course of a refueling tanker that leaves Halmad, takes a tour of government mining operations in the asteroid belt, and returns to the city of Hullis. It is now escorted by a couple of TIE fighters, but I think that with the proper surprise we could take them before a distress signal is sent. If we capture the tanker but fly it along its regular course, that gives us one opportunity to drop our entire squadron and perhaps Sungrass as well down on Hullis, should we ever need to mount a larger-scale mission there … or just capture a refueling tanker should we ever need one.”
“Good to know. All right, Wraiths—”
“Hawk-bats,” corrected Kell, absently.
Wedge gave him a stern look. “Wraiths, make sure your pirates’ take is logged to the last credit for your report to Coruscant. Now, with the good work you did while we were gone, you’ve added quite a lot to the sting the government of Halmad has to be feeling.” He began counting items off on his fingers. “We’ve hurt them militarily with the theft of the interceptors and then of the replacement parts. We’ve put civilian pressure on them with that water-vehicle raid. We’ve hurt them economically with the money changers’ strike, and that will also result in more civilian pressure. And we’ve demonstrated that we can enter their airspace and leave at will, no casualties, no apparent effort that they can discern, and that’s the most important thing. They’ve lived at a relative level of peace for too long and don’t know how to cope with a unit like the Wraiths. With any luck, that will put them in the camp of Zsinj and his protection—”
“So Zsinj can come and squash us,” said Face.
Wedge smiled. “If you’re as tough to squash as you are to predict, he’ll be in for an unpleasant surprise.
“All right. Let’s keep the pressure up on them. I want those two starfighter bases eliminated—a clear message to the Imperial forces on Halmad that anything they can construct, the Hawk-bats can knock down. And I think, to demonstrate our superiority and their helplessness, we ought to stage those two eliminations simultaneously. So let’s settle in and do some planning.”
One of the base’s inhabitable cargo modules had been equipped to serve as the squadron’s cafeteria, with an adjoining module serving as the galley. While most of the Wraiths had been away on Mon Remonda, Kell and mechanic Cubber Daine had used laser cutters to open a large portion of the wall facing the Trench, giving it the aspect of a large viewport minus transparisteel, and had improvised additional chairs and tables out there. Now the Wraiths had a dining choice of “inside” or “outside on the patio.” Face had seen Wedge shaking his head over these minute decorative differences, but the squadron commander had never stepped in to regiment the Wraiths on such matters.
Tonight, after the last long planning session before Operation