Star Wars_ X-Wing 08_ Isard's Revenge - Michael A. Stackpole [134]
He rolled to his feet and saw Nrin getting back up, too. The Quarren fired a short burst through the hole in the floor, then backed off to feed another clip into his blaster rifle. Ooryl took over for him, firing off a long burst that brought weak return fire. Corran ran to the corner cut he’d made and triggered a burst through it. He heard a scream and a clatter, but wasn’t certain who or what he’d hit. More distant sounds of sporadic firing came to him, but no hot light burned its way up toward his position, so he wasn’t certain what to make of it.
His comlink crackled again, this time with a voice he could not instantly place. “Nrin, please advise as to your situation.”
The Quarren frowned, then keyed his comlink. “Fourth floor is secure. The isolation cells shielded us from the missile blast. We’re holding off the guards, but are running low on power.”
“I copy. We’re incoming.”
Corran keyed his comlink. “Who’s ‘we’ and where are you incoming from?”
“We’ve cleared the tower to the second floor. Team One is on the way up.”
Nrin laughed aloud. “Come fast, Kapp. We promise we won’t shoot any Devaronians.”
“I like hearing that, Nrin.” Kapp Dendo’s voice pulsed confidently through the comlink. “Sit tight and we’ll have you out of there in no time.”
Wedge punched up the Rogue comm frequency. “Concussion missiles incoming prison east!” Even as he shouted the warning, he ruddered his fighter’s front to starboard and dropped the aiming reticle over the spark that was the first missile. He tightened up on the trigger and sent an ion bolt sizzling out after it. He cursed, switched to lasers, but by the time he tracked the second missile, it was too late.
The ion bolt succeeded in hitting the first missile, surrounding it with a blue energy web. The missile corkscrewed into a spiral and climbed skyward before detonating. A sky-fall of burning sparks slowly descended at the base of smoky snakes, falling among parks and homes.
The second missile slammed into the prison’s top floor at the southeast corner. The resulting explosion ripped a hole in the building that extended down two floors and shot debris hundreds of meters into the air. Bodies hung from the hole, then were pitched to the ground as prisoners from the second and third floors began a dash for freedom.
Wedge punched up One Flight’s tactical comm channel. “Gavin, Myn, Hobbie, give me full spectrum scans of the shuttle. Myn, Gavin, move to cut it off from the prison. Send the sensor data to me immediately, and take the shuttle with ion cannons if you can.”
Without waiting for a reply, Wedge rolled his Defender to port and came up, leveling out at the same altitude as the assault shuttle. His maneuver brought him in for a deflection shot that would hit the starboard aft section of the ship. The assault shuttle ruddered around to present its aft to him, then sideslipped to port.
Wedge switched to ion cannons and dropped his crosshairs on the shuttle. It juked up, then sideslipped port again. The pilot made the ungainly craft dance with a surprisingly light hand on the stick. There has to be a targeting warning system in there. The moment my sensors pinpoint him, he gets a light on his HUD and jinks.
Getting the shuttle wasn’t going to be easy, but the evasive maneuvers had moved the shuttle away from the prison. Wedge keyed his comm unit. “Myn, stay ninety degrees off my position. Gavin, get above it. He’s got an early warning system so we’ll have to herd it.”
He then punched up the shuttle’s comm channel. “Nice flying, Isard.”
“Coming from you, that’s a compliment.”
“I appreciate my foes and their abilities.” Wedge hesitated for a moment, then spoke with a cold confidence in his voice. “Then again, I would hope a clone would be an improvement