Star Wars_ X-Wing 08_ Isard's Revenge - Michael A. Stackpole [53]
Tycho growled over the comm channel. “Running on the next one. Decap shot.”
Wedge nodded. “On your tail.”
Tycho brought his X-wing down in a dive, then leveled out ten meters. Coming in at shoulder height on the walker, Tycho banked right to run from tail toward the head, then snaprolled his ship level and hit right rudder. The X-wing’s tail skidded toward the left, bringing its nose in line with the walker. Tycho’s first cycle of shots vaporized armor on the walker’s body, but the second quartet blasted away at the joint of the flexible neck and the body itself.
Wedge marveled at Tycho’s soft hand on the X-wing’s stick. He followed him into the dive, but rolled out right and cut his throttle back. The walker had begun to turn to its right, so Wedge’s roll put him on a direct line with the AT-AT’s head. He nudged the aiming reticle over the walker’s head and pulled the trigger.
A stuttered quartet of bolts hit the walker. Two glanced off, leaving long scars on its forehead, but the other two pierced the transparisteel viewports on the pilot’s compartment. Fire exploded back out, and the walker slowly started to sag forward. Its chin slammed into the ground, then the body’s weight snapped its neck.
“Easier ways to decap it, Wedge.”
Wedge throttled up and banked starboard into a climb. “Sorry, didn’t have time to consult with Ewoks to find out how they’d handle the situation.” He glanced down at his chronometer. “No time to be fancy on the other two, just swarm them.”
Coming back in and down, Wedge kept his X-wing very low, cruising in at a sharp angle. Tipping his fighter up onto its port S-foil, he banked in toward the walker and switched over to dual fire. One double burst missed, but the second caught the walker in the hip. Tycho’s shots on the same one hit the body above the drive motor, then the two of them climbed out, pulled a half-loop, inverted, and dove back down at their target.
“Port rear leg is scraping the ferrocrete, Two.”
“I caught that, Lead.” Tycho swooped his fighter through a run that pumped more hot light into the walker’s hip. Black smoke began to issue from the joint. Wedge’s attack followed Tycho’s line and drilled four more bolts into the leg.
Superheated metal sprayed out, and the walker began to list badly to the left. The AT-AT’s leg bent, then snapped off at the hip. The forward feet shuffled as the rear leg fell away, but the walker had already been seriously overbalanced. The rear end started to fall to the left, spinning the AT-AT around and pulling the front legs from the ground. The walker’s body pounded the ferrocrete, pulverizing both it and the armor plates on which it landed. Black smoke started to issue from the walker’s body, and escape hatches opened up and stormtroopers began to run, walk, or limp their way away from the broken machine.
Lyyr and Hobbie made short work of the remaining walker. Several runs on it had left the armor in ruins, and Hobbie cruised up along its spine and triggered a quad burst at the head from point-blank range. The red bolts burned through the neck and dropped the head to the ground. The body, leaking smoke, froze in place, leaving the soldiers contained inside stranded ten meters from the ferrocrete.
“Nice shot, Hobbie.”
“Thanks, Lead.” Hobbie sighed. “We could have taken them with four proton torps. Would have been easier, you know.”
“Sure, but what if Krennel showed up with ships and we had to go hunting in the void again.” Wedge shrugged. “Doing it the hard way worked.”
Wedge brought his X-wing down and routed power to the repulsorlift coils. He hovered a couple of meters above the ground and guided the ship over to position it between the burning walkers and the landing zone for the assault shuttles coming in. The stormtroopers on the snowy ferrocrete slowed and raised their hands. Those who had escaped