Part 28 (1/2)

Mynock hooted at him. Wedge glanced down at his monitor and saw various schematics flash past. ”Slower, My-hock, I'm flying here, too.” Wedge marked the location of the airspeeder and compared it with the maps. As the air-speeder sank to his level and below it, something clicked in the back of his mind. That's it. I've got them.

”Give me the lowest route in you can find, Mynock.” Wedge banked starboard, chopped his thrust back, and brought the repulsorlift coils online. He hovered and drifted forward, remaining just outside the corridor described by the map Mynock had brought up. As he watched he saw the airspeeder move onto the route and begin to follow it in.

Wedge smiled. It struck sparks in the warehouse and dropped like a rock outside. It's still going down because it's carrying too much weight. The speeder-ferry that was going down when I first flew in must have been meant to haul this bomb to a point where it could head down in at the bacta store. Now they have to go low because they don't have enough power to go high.

He switched his fire control over to lasers and linked all four to give him a quad burst. As he did so, the airspeeder cruised through the thoroughfare. Wedge picked his speed up and dropped straight in behind it. Someone in the speeder spotted him and started shooting at him with a blaster rifle, but the bolts harmlessly impacted on Wedge's forward s.h.i.+eld. The pilot tried to make the airspeeder juke, but every sideslip and turn just brought the vehicle lower and lower.

And into Wedge's sights.

He hit the trigger and sent a quartet of scarlet laser-bolts to converge on the blocky vehicle. The lasers vaporized the roof and filled the pa.s.senger compartment with fire. The speeder began to fall faster, with the aft end sagging down-ward. Something exploded up front, starting the speeder into a backward somersault. Two more quad bursts from the X-wing reduced the large chunks of vehicle into mist and metal hail.

The vapor cloudamade up mostly of gaseous explo-sives-ignited in a flash, momentarily blinding Wedge and prompting a scream from Mynock. Wedge kept a light but steady hand on the stick and rode out the shockwave. The X-wing's s.h.i.+elds held, saving the fighter from damage. As his vision cleared and he flew through the smoke, he saw no trace of the airspeeder.

He smiled. ”See that, Mynock? That mission wasn't so tough.”

The droid brayed in what Wedge took to be a vaguely triumphant manner.

”Rogue Leader here. The bomb is gone. Report.”

”Three here, Lead. We are over the Manarai Mountain district and have big anomalies out to the southwest. I have TIEs coming in, at least one wing.”

”I copy, Three. On my way.” Wedge hauled back on the stick and jammed his throttle full forward. The X-wing rock-eted straight up. ”Confirm thirty-six TIEs, Three.”

”Confirm thirty-six, Lead, eyeb.a.l.l.s and squints. They're coming this way and there's something else out there.” Rhysati sounded shaken. ”My sensors aren't picking it up at all well.”

”Standby, Three.” Wedge punched his comm unit over to another opchannel.

”Antilles here. What's down there to the southwest?”

”Palace district control here, Rogue Leader. We're not sure. Civilian side is reporting groundquakes and ma.s.sive destruction. We're just turning a satellite in that direction. Data coming up--I'll give you the raw feed.”

”I copy, control.” Wedge looked at the scan splaying itself across his sensor monitor and felt his spirits sinking as low as Mynock's mournful whistle. ”That can't be. It just can't be.”

”You're getting what we're getting, Rogue Leader.”

Wedge flicked the comm unit back to the squadron's tactical frequency.

”Three and Four, get back here. Now.”

”What's out there, Lead?”

Wedge s.h.i.+vered. ”It's something that shouldn't be there, Three. IFF beacons report it's a Super Star Destroyer that goes by the name Lusankya.”

42.

Admiral Ackbar took his seat at the high bench, with Gener-als Madine and Salm below and to the left and right respec-tively. He waited for the defendant and prosecutor to be seated, then he looked out over the spa.r.s.ely populated court-room. ”Today's session will be abbreviated. Even the most simple voyage can be ended by an unantic.i.p.ated wave, and the wave affecting us here was t.i.tanic in proportions.”

He glanced down at Tycho Celchu and the two droids at the defense table.

”Captain Celchu, your lawyer is not here because approximately an hour ago he was shot and seri-ously wounded in the parking facility on the upper floors of this building. The a.s.sa.s.sin has been killed, but we have sealed the building for security reasons nonetheless. Nawara Ven was shot while in the process of bringing to court a witness who had recently surfaced to provide proof of your innocence. The witness offered his testimony on your behalf in return for a new ident.i.ty and repatriation to another world. He provided a datacard filled with encrypted infor-mation that backed his claims concerning you as well as claims concerning the Imperial espionage net here on Corus-cant.

”Unfortunately the a.s.sa.s.sin who wounded Counselor Ven succeeded in killing this witness.” Ackbar looked over toward where Airen Cracken sat on the prosecution side of the court. ”General Cracken has a.s.sured me he has people working on the datacard to see if they can slice the informa-tion out, but there is no telling if or when they will succeed.”

Tycho frowned. ”Where does this leave me?”

Halla Ettyk stood. ”Admiral, the prosecution would be amenable to a continuance until Counselor Ven has recov-ered.”

”Granted.” Admiral Ackbar raised a gavel. ”If there is nothing more we will stand in recess until Counselor Ven is able to continue.”

Tycho held a hand up. ”Wait, please, isn't there some-thing I can do?

Isn't it possible for me to represent myself in his absence?”

”That has always been your right, Captain Celchu.”

Halla looked over at Tycho. ”The admiral is correct, but really there is nothing you can do.”

”I can call and question a witness.”

The prosecutor shook her head and pointed at her datapad. ”Not really. I have before me the list of witnesses Counselor Ven said you were going to call. None of the members of Rogue Squadron are here and available. The Duros Lai Nootka is not here and, unfortunately, is probably dead. You have no witnesses.” Whistler tooted.

Emtrey's clamsh.e.l.l head came up. ”Whistler says we do have a witness.”

Halla frowned. ”Who?”

Tycho stood. ”I can testify on my own behalf.”

”It would be a mistake to do so, Captain. I would rip you apart on cross.”

The R2 unit blatted rudely.

Tycho patted Whistler on the dome. ”I agree.”

Emtrey canted his head to the side. ”Ah, sir, Whistler was agreeing with Commander Ettyk. You're not his witness. Your testimony won't put this whole business to rest.”

Halla shook her head. ”The only witness who could do that is dead.”

Whistler trumpeted loudly, whirling his head full around in a circle. The droid bounced excitedly and his tone became a piercing shriek.

Ackbar's gavel cracked once, sharply, jerking Emtrey to attention. ”Tell Whistler to calm down or I'll have a re-straining bolt put on him.”

The little droid stopped and hummed mournfully.

”Now what was he talking about, Emtrey?”