Star Wars_ X-Wing 07_ Solo Command - Aaron Allston [110]
“Anxious to show you what I’m made of,” she said.
“Never let it be said that I’m not gallant,” Fel said. “The first strafing run is yours.”
She managed to project gratitude and excitement into her voice. “Thank you, sir.” But the words were like bile to her.
She knew what was happening. It was a test. If she was seen to offer less than her best effort toward the destruction of the ersatz Millennium Falcon, they’d know she was not trustworthy.
Well, she’d show them something. She’d hit the Falsehood again and again.
• • •
“Millennium Falcon,” came the woman’s voice, “this is the former Wraith Two. Prepare to die.” The source of the transmission, the lead TIE interceptor, opened fire.
The voice was Lara’s. Donos stiffened. He’d been tracking the incoming TIEs, aiming at the lead starfighter, but now he let his aim drift off her.
Green laser fire streamed from the interceptor. It was the only one of the four TIEs to fire. The first few linked bursts missed, then Lara began connecting, and the Falsehood rocked under the impact of her hits.
The first pair of TIEs roared past the Falsehood and immediately looped around for a second pass. The second pair came on, and a new voice crackled across the comm waves. “I believe I address General Solo. You can spare the lives of your crew by surrendering now.”
Donos had heard that voice before, at the Implacable fight. Baron Soontir Fel. He twisted to look up the access tube at Wedge. His commander had some sort of personal relationship with Fel, doubtless something that had come about during the brief time Fel served with Rogue Squadron, though Donos didn’t know what it was. And sure enough, Wedge had stiffened in his seat, his aim faltering.
Donos almost smiled. It was good to know that he wasn’t the only one caught off guard by the forces confronting them.
Then came another voice over the comlink. Han Solo’s.
Solo’s voice said, “Baron Fel. They still say you’re the best Imp pilot since Darth Vader. When you were a Rogue, I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but now I can tell you, I flew against him—and you’re not fit to shine his helmet.”
“We’ll never know,” Fel said. “I’m certainly pilot enough to put an end to you.” He and his wingman came on, firing, with twenty TIE interceptors in their wake.
Donos’s aim was thrown off as the Falsehood suddenly began spinning along its bow-to-stern axis. He recognized the maneuver’s intent, to change the sight profile of the Falsehood so incoming attackers would have an irregular target.
Fel and his wingman blasted by, their laser fire hitting the bow and forward mandibles. The ship’s lights dimmed as its shields strained to hold up under the assaults. Donos’s return fire missed both TIEs, but he was able to swing back in line and tag the second interceptor of the next pair. His shots chewed through a solar wing array and sent the interceptor spinning off into the blackness of space. On his sensor screen, the second interceptor vanished; streaks of debris exploded away from its last position, then faded.
And more TIEs came on as, in the distance, the bow of the Dreadnaught grew larger and larger.
Squeaky watched with fascination as the universe spun crazily before him. He switched back to his normal voice. “I say. If I were human, I imagine I’d be throwing up all over your control panels.”
Chewbacca turned and grumbled something.
Squeaky turned to look in amazement at the Wookiee—what he could see of Chewbacca, anyway, through the holes in the absurd, oversized mask Squeaky was wearing. “Why, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. Did I really sound like him?”
Chewbacca grumbled an assent.
Squeaky sat back, suddenly delighted. All the work he’d done with General Solo, recording his voice, analyzing and parsing appropriate phrases and recurrent remarks, might have paid off. It had not only fooled Baron Fel, it had finally gained him Chewbacca’s admiration.
The Falsehood rocked, accompanied by noises of hardware and systems leaping from their wall brackets and crashing