Star Wars_ X-Wing 08_ Isard's Revenge - Michael A. Stackpole [145]
“Bye, Asyr, until we meet again.”
The Bothan’s image blinked out as the freighter shot into hyperspace. Iella brushed a tear from her right cheek, then took her comlink and headed toward the door. It slid open, with a man standing there, his hand poised over the door buzzer button.
“Wedge!”
“Iella, good, I did find you.” The leader of Rogue Squadron gave her a sloppy, boyish grin. “I saw Corran and Mirax. They said you’d come down here.”
“And you came to find me.” Iella grinned. “Looking to have me recommend to General Cracken that we make you an intelligence operative based on this tracking experience?”
“Ah, um, no.” He raised his head. “I was wondering, I mean, I thought of this before, but never got a chance to ask you … They said they would be saving a place for you at their table, but I’m having to sit with a bunch of Senators who I don’t know …”
“And you want someone on your wing?”
“Yeah, someone on my wing.” He extended his arm to her. “Interested in the job?”
“Sounds like a dangerous assignment.” She squinted at him for a moment. “Think I can handle it?”
“Definitely, Iella. You’re Rogue material.” Wedge smiled as she slipped her hand on his arm and laid his left hand over hers. “We both eliminated a Ysanne Isard from the galaxy and, after that, together, there’s nothing that can beat us.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael A. Stackpole is an award-winning author, editor, game and computer game designer. As always, he spends his spare time playing indoor soccer and now has a new hobby, podcasting. Mike will publish A New World, the sequel to Cartomancy, this July, and is currently at work on ideas for a half-dozen other novels.
To learn more about Mike’s podcasting, please visit www.tsfpn.com (the website of The SciFi Podcast Network).
BOOKS BY MICHAEL A. STACKPOLE
THE WARRIOR TRILOGY
Warrior: En Garde
Warrior: Riposte
Warrior: Coupé
THE BLOOD OF KERENSKY
TRILOGY
Lethal Heritage
Blood Legacy
Lost Destiny
Natural Selection
Assumption of Risk
Bred for War
Malicious Intent
Grave Covenant
Prince of Havoc
Ghost War
THE FIDDLEBACK TRILOGY
A Gathering Evil
Evil Ascendant
Evil Triumphant
Eyes of Silver*
Dementia
Wolf and Raven
Once a Hero*
Talion: Revenant*
STAR WARS® X-WING SERIES
Rogue Squadron*
Wedge’s Gamble*
The Krytos Trap*
The Bacta War*
Isard’s Revenge*
Star Wars®: I, Jedi*
Star Wars®: Dark Tide
Star Wars®: Onslaught
Star Wars®: Ruin
THE DRAGONCROWN
WAR CYCLE
The Dark Glory War*
Fortress Draconis*
When Dragons Rage*
The Grand Crusade*
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
A Secret Atlas*
Cartomancy*
*published by Bantam Books
STAR WARS—The Expanded Universe
You saw the movies. You watched the cartoon series, or maybe played some of the video games. But did you know …
In The Empire Strikes Back, Princess Leia Organa said to Han Solo, “I love you.” Han said, “I know.” But did you know that they actually got married? And had three Jedi children: the twins, Jacen and Jaina, and a younger son, Anakin?
Luke Skywalker was trained as a Jedi by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. But did you know that, years later, he went on to revive the Jedi Order and its commitment to defending the galaxy from evil and injustice?
Obi-Wan said to Luke, “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.” Did you know that over those millennia, legendary Jedi and infamous Sith Lords were adding their names to the annals of Republic history?
Yoda explained that the dreaded Sith tend to come in twos: “Always two, there are. No more, no less. A Master, and an apprentice.” But did you know that the Sith didn’t always exist in pairs? That at one time in the ancient Republic there were as many Sith as Jedi, until a Sith Lord named Darth Bane was the lone survivor of a great Sith war and created the “Rule of Two”?
All this and much, much