Star Wars_ X-Wing 08_ Isard's Revenge - Michael A. Stackpole [110]
“I regret there is no way for you to reply to this message. You’ll have four weeks to gather your fleet at the staging area and, within a week after that, the order to go will be given. If you do not come, I have no doubt that Rogue Squadron will truly die. I mention that not as motivation, but as fact. Since we are already believed dead, you may not want to confuse issues by announcing our survival just to let people know we’ve died again.”
Wedge raised his right hand and touched it to his brow in a salute. “I look forward to speaking with both of you on Ciutric. Antilles out.”
The image faded to the Rogue Squadron crest, then Cracken used the remote to shut off the projector. He raised a hand as the Council members began to speak among themselves and quieted them. “That message came in three days ago, and was recorded four days before that. The delay in bringing it to your attention is my responsibility because I wanted my best people to look it over and they were unavailable until yesterday. They concur that, despite the beard, the speaker is Wedge Antilles.”
Mon Mothma pressed her hands together and rested her forearms on the table before her. “Did the datafiles shed any more light on who else might have survived Distna?”
“It is clear from the files that Wedge thinks Janson is missing. Their file also lists Asyr Sei’lar, Lyyr Zatoq, and Khe-Jeen Slee as missing in action—none of them were listed as being dead. Everyone else is alive, but only one person’s immediate family has been notified of the squadron’s survival. I would not have let anyone know, save for the fact that Corran Horn’s wife was one of the people I used to verify the message was from Wedge Antilles.”
Leia Organa Solo nodded. “Understandable, General. It looked to be Wedge to me, too. How do we know he was not under duress delivering this message?”
“Indeed, it could be bait for a trap.” Sian Tevv, the Sullustan Councilor, looked around at the others. “Krennel could have taken him in and be using him to trap our fleet.”
Ackbar waved a webbed hand to dismiss that notion. “First, we have a code system in place to provide warnings if one of our people is being forced under duress to make a message, and General Antilles used none of the code words that would have alerted us to trouble. More importantly, the plan appended to the message calls for a fleet of sufficient force to smash Krennel’s fleet. We have not employed such a large force against Krennel so far because we could not be certain we would catch him in one place. If we deployed that force against him and he struck outside the Hegemony, he would seriously damage the people’s belief in our ability to free worlds of tyranny.”
“As he continues to do by ambushing supply fleets headed for Liinade Three?” Borsk Fey’lya stroked the creamy fur on his throat. “That concerns me less, however, than the fact that Antilles is coyly silent about the identity of the individuals who rescued Rogue Squadron at Distna. I would bet they are old-line Imperial in nature.”
Cracken frowned at the Bothan Councilor. “Why would you suppose that, Councilor?”
“Do you not find it curious that out of the thirteen X-wing pilots flying that day, the three confirmed kills we have were nonhuman? Over three-quarters of those rescued were human. It strikes me that the Imperial bias is at play here.”
Ackbar shook his head. “Ridiculous.”
Cracken said nothing, and hoped he kept his surprise at Fey’lya’s comments hidden. When Iella had arrived at Coruscant, she asked Cracken to come to the Errant Venture and there revealed to him Whistler’s evidence of Ysanne Isard’s survival and leadership of the group that was helping Rogue Squadron. The way the ambush at Distna had been set up certainly proved that the real Isard had intelligence assets