Star Wars - Combat Moon by John Whiman

Author:John Whiman [Whiman, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 1996-02-19T12:27:46+00:00

Leda followed them out of the sensor alcove and onto the gleaming field of durasteel. The man seemed to gravitate naturally toward a large machine stationed near the entrance to the hangar bay at the edge of a wide tunnel leading to the surface. Although massive and powerful in her eyes. Leda knew that, relatively speaking, it was a gnat against the giants it so often fought.

An X-wing fighter.

“I want to thank you for your help.” The man’s voice was brisk. “We get a lot of support — more and more every day — but it’s rare that someone helps us establish a new outpost.”

Leda tried to hide her pleasure. “I’m glad I could help. If I can convince the rest of Rabaan to join us, you’ll see that once a Rabaanite makes a decision, we stick to it.” She swallowed. “But there is one thing you can do in return.”

The man’s angular face was implacable. “Yes?”

“Save Mika Streev.”

The woman, Sanna, glanced quickly at the pilot. He seemed to have been expecting the request. “Leda, we’ll do what we can. But you’ve seen what we’ve got here. We’re nothing more than a tech crew, a few snub fighters, and a freighter. Hardly enough to battle one squad of TIE fighters, let alone a capital ship. We’re here to establish our strike base. If the Empire gets even a whiff of our presence, that’s the end of it. Period. So stealth is our key and — ” he put his hand on her shoulder — “and our priority.”

“But Mika could help you. He’d be valuable to the Rebellion.”

“As I recall, he wasn’t very receptive to your hints. Besides,” the man said, “even if he were a sworn member of the Alliance, he’d still he expendable. We all are. That’s the reality of it. I’ve lost friends-” Looking into his eyes. Leda saw some memory stir, and she almost thought she caught a glimpse of starfighters flashing around a distant, gleaming moon — “Good friends. But it’s a risk we take. The important thing is to prevent the war between Rabaan and S’krrr. Your friend Mika will have to save himself.”

* * *

Sh’shak of the S’krrr was frozen in place. He did not know how long he’d been that way. He might have known, had he been reciting the mantra of time. But he was not. He was silently reciting the mantra against fear.

Fear touches me like the breath of cold wind.

Fear is like cold wind.

Fear is like wind.

Fear is like air.

Fear is nothing.

Fear touches me like the breath of cold wind.

Fear is like cold wind ...

Three meters away, on the other side of a thorn bush, a stormtrooper raised his helmet and drank from a plastic canteen. Sh’shak was close enough to touch the scars on his face.

For all their armor and equipment, stormtroopers moved quietly. Sh’shak, resting in the shade of one of the small brown patches of trees, hadn’t sensed their approach until the last minute, and then he had time only to slip into a thorny hedge and freeze in place.

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