[X-Wing] - 07 by Solo Command (Aaron Allston)

Author:Solo Command (Aaron Allston) [Command, Solo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-03-10T13:36:16+00:00

10

In the graying hour of dawn, the police floater heeled over so far that Wedge was certain that its pilot would tumble out of his seat if not for strap restraints and the vehicle’s bubble top. The pilot looked down at the Millennium Falsehood, reached for his control board as if to activate his comm system, then spotted Tycho’s X-wing.

Even with the distance between them, Wedge could read the shock on the pilot’s face. “Let’s go,” he said.

Rogue Two’s nose elevated until the X-wing was pointed almost straight up, and then Tycho kicked in his main thrusters, shooting the snubfighter into the air straight past the police floater. He missed the smaller vehicle by less than two meters. The police pilot unnecessarily slid sideways to get clear of the X-wing’s passage.

Wedge duplicated Tycho’s maneuver, putting the Falsehood into a steep climb. Above, he could see the glow of Tycho’s engines. “Chewie, the comm system is yours,” he said.

Chewbacca activated the comm unit. He grumbled and roared into it across an open channel. By agreement with Wedge, these would be insults and curses in the Wookiee’s language.

The Falsehood reached the altitude of the top of this sector’s highest buildings. Wedge leveled off, still traveling in Tycho’s

wake, a sharp maneuver that brought a startled exclamation from Squeaky … followed by a clatter of metal on metal.

“Forget to strap in?” Wedge asked.

“I never forget anything, sir,” the 3PO unit said, his tone a bit miffed. “I merely failed to add ‘strapping in’ to my list of things to do. Could you hold her level for a moment?”

“No.” Wedge sideslipped to go around an aggressively tall skyscraper. There was another clash and scrape of metal from behind. Tycho rejoined Wedge from the other side of the skyscraper, his X-wing dancing around the Corellian freighter with the nimbleness only a starfighter could manage.

Chewbacca grumbled something and indicated the sensor board. Wedge spared it a glance. It showed a lot of air traffic, most of it moving in what appeared to be patterns unrelated to the Falsehood’s flight. One group of signals, their number indeterminate because of their proximity to one another, followed in their wake at a distance of more than two kilometers; they faded in and out of the picture as they dipped down below the level of ground clutter and emerged at intervals. “That’s Kell and the Drakes,” Wedge said. “We still need to be sure we’ve been spotted by the world authority-“

A strong signal, a blur representing six or more starfighters, appeared to the north, closing fast.

“There we go,” Wedge said. “Let’s bounce out.”

Tycho said, “Consider it bounced.” His X-wing vectored straight for space.

“Oh, no,” Squeaky said.

Wedge hauled back on the controls and the Falsehood followed.

Kell saw Tycho and the Falsehood’s sudden flight for space, and the signals from the distant pursuers just as abruptly showed altitude gains. He put his interceptor in an upward course-a near-intercept course aimed at a point not far behind the pursuers of the Falsehood.

As they climbed, he got a clearer look at the group behind the Falsehood.

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