X-Wing Isard's Revenge by Michael A. Stackpole

Author:Michael A. Stackpole [Stackpole, Michael A.]
Language: spa
Format: epub
Tags: 9 ABY
Amazon: B00J5S8NTI
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 1999-04-13T03:00:00+00:00

21

As his newly repaired X-wing reverted to realspace and the white tunnel of

light came apart all around him, Corran Horn finally recalled the first

mention he'd ever seen of the Corvis Minor system. It had taken him a

while, but he'd had good reason to remember that little detail. Back when

escaping from the Lusankya, he'd found a small holdout blaster in a box that was supposed to hold the datacards for a history of the system.

I remember thinking then that if a blaster represented the system's history,

it wasn't a vacation spot.

The uneasiness that memory brought him did not drain away. He checked

his sensors and found Three Flight formed up around him. Wedge's One

Flight had the lead and Janson's Two Flight had swung slow toward Distna.

Nrin Vakil's snoopscoot flew to the rear of Two Flight.

The recon X-wing slowly started to play out a pair of sensor pods

connected to the ship by thick cables. They gathered up data to be sorted

and stored in computer equipment that occupied all the space that normally

would have housed an X-wing's proton torpedo launchers. The recon ship

also did without lasers because the charging coils leaked enough energy to

overpower the sensitive probes the ship trailed.

If Nrin gets into trouble he can jettison the pods and run, but that's about it.

Corran keyed his comm unit. "Nine here. Three Flight in and running. Rear

scopes clear."

"Alpha operational. Pods locked in position. Commencing initial run now.

Range to target, one thousand kilometers."

Nrin cruised the snoopscoot past Two Flight and flew it with a very gentle

hand on the stick. Corran marveled at how the Quarren pilot put the ship

through gentle turns and slow rolls that kept the pods spaced evenly apart.

Though the pods were not that large-not much larger than spare fuel pods,

in fact-trailing them out behind the fighter like that created all sorts of

problems by altering the flight characteristics of the X-wing. While fighter

jocks considered themselves the elite-and Nrin had ample kills in his

history qualifying him as such-his adept handling of the recon ship showed

how skilled a pilot he truly was.

"Alpha here, Lead."

"Go ahead, Alpha."

"I am negative for activity from Distna on first pass." Nrin hesitated for a moment. "I would like permission to come in at five hundred klicks.

Storm activity in the gas giant may be masking energy readings from the

moon's interior."

Tycho's voice came on the comm channel. "Lead, that close a run will

move Alpha and escorts out of quick escape range."

"I copy, Two. Nine, please take Three Flight up to guarantee our exit

vector."

"As ordered, Lead." Corran rolled starboard and pointed his fighter toward the gas giant. "Three Flight, we're holding the door open."

A series of double clicks on the comm channel confirmed his pilots'

understanding of his orders. They spread out a bit and locked their S-foils

into attack position. Ooryl remained in Corran's port rear quarter, while Inyri dropped into Asyr's starboard rear quarter.

"Whistler, get me some readings on the storms on that gas giant." As he gave the order Corran tried to tell himself it was because the information

would be useful upon their return to Corvis Minor to destroy the Pulsar

Station.

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