37

Wedge walked over to the circular holopad sitting atop a pedestal in the center of the briefing room. “We’ve only got time to go through this once, so listen up.” He hit a series of keys on the holopad, causing a holographic map of the Palace district and environs to spring to life. The whole scene rotated up 90 degrees to give the pilots a chance to look down through the network of towers, tunnels, and causeways which clogged that section of the city. Deep in the lower reaches of the display a red square pulsed with life.

“We have a report that the Palpatine Counter-insurgency Front is staging from this location for a strike on a bacta storage facility in Invisec. We’re flying cover for a commando force that is going to go in. The fact is that these PCF folks are very dedicated to their jobs and are likely to scatter when our forces hit. We expect speeder bikes, swoops, and speeders to be heading out of there. Since they used an airspeeder bomb to hit an earlier site, we have to assume that any and all such vehicles are moving bombs. We’re going to take them down.”

Wedge pointed to the empty seat beside Pash Cracken. “Nawara isn’t here because our strike is going to hit the PCF about the same time Nawara normally runs the gantlet of holojournalists. If he’s not there on the day Tycho’s defense is supposed to open, they might think something is going down and move too soon. Ooryl, you’ll fly on Pash’s wing. Normal assignments for everyone else.”

Pash glanced up at Wedge. “If we’re going to be hawking targets through the city, isn’t there a good chance we’ll lose some of them? There are places an X-wing might not fit, but a speeder bike will.”

“Your father’s getting us a tracking feed from the security office onboard the Emperor’s skyhook, but there is a chance some might get away.”

Erisi’s hand went up. “There will be a lot of civilian traffic up. How badly are these guys wanted? How much collateral damage do we risk?”

Wedge winced. “If any of them get through to their target, a lot of people will die. Thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands. When we go in the municipal authorities will issue a sector-wide emergency grounding call. Anyone who ignores that call, especially after we start lighting the area up, is making a very big mistake. We don’t want to shoot civilians, but if you have a positive ID on a target, take it. Shooting in the city isn’t going to be real pretty, but letting a PCF terrorist get through is going to be worse.”

Erisi nodded. “What if the PCF people go to ground with the civilians?”

“Then they won’t be blowing up a bacta storage facility.” Wedge grinned grimly. “We’ll spot them and call in someone who can help neutralize them.”

“Ooryl believes this is a must-win, no-win scenario.”

You have that right. We’re busting open a rat’s nest and hoping to kill all of them before they can do damage when they escape. The chances of collateral damage are high, and while a Corellian usually doesn’t have any use for odds, in this case I wish they were much lower against us. “There is no denying that the probable outcome of our exercise is the loss of some innocent folks on the ground or in a building. We have to be careful but thorough. I can’t tell you to shoot with children on a causeway backstopping your shots. I’m just going to trust that you’ll be smart enough to avoid finding yourself in that situation.”

He sighed. “Your astrogation droids have the map of the Palace sector and Invisec. The bacta facility is protected and you’ll get a warning tone if you enter the exclusion zone around it. If you find yourself there, get out. They’ll take your target. Anything else?”

He looked around the room, but no one had any comments or questions. “Great. Hit the hangar and mount up. Fly your best out there. We might not be up against a Death Star, but this mission is still vital. And may the Force be with you. Dismissed.”

The pilots started to file out. Wedge noticed Asyr give Gavin a quick kiss, then stroke his cheek with her left hand. She said something to Gavin that Wedge couldn’t hear, then she turned toward him and held a hand up. “Commander, if you have a moment.”

“Just a moment, Asyr.”

Asyr nodded to Gavin and he departed. She approached Wedge and the fur on the back of her neck rippled up and down. “Do you recall a conversation we had six weeks ago? About my having to make a decision?”

Wedge nodded. “I told you there would come a point where you had to choose between the squadron and your allegiance to the Bothan Martial Intelligence.”

“You said at the time that you trusted me, and wanted to continue to trust me.”

“Right. And I told you that if you chose to leave the squadron, I’d respect your decision.” Wedge shook his head. “Of course, if you’re doing that right now, I might not respect your choice of timing.”

Her violet eyes flashed coldly for a second as she looked up at him. “I want you to continue to respect my decisions and my timing. And I want you to continue to trust me.” She dug into the pocket of her flightsuit and pulled out a datacard. “I was ordered to prepare a report about the bacta massacre at Alderaan. It was felt a document that suggested our delay in getting there might, in some way, have been deliberate and the result of human action. That datacard has the only copy of said report. If anything happens to me, you’ll dispose of this correctly, I would hope.”

Wedge nodded. “And if you survive, what will you do with the report then?”

“I’m a member of Rogue Squadron, Commander, which means I only take orders from my superior officers.” Asyr smiled. “What I do with that report, sir, is whatever you tell me to do with that report.”

“You’re taking a big step, cutting yourself off from your people.”

“I know that, and I know it won’t be easy, but the squadron is my home now. You’ve only ever asked me to fight and fly and possibly die. That I’ll do for people I can trust. Those who ask me to betray friends, well, they’ve shown they don’t want me to be trustworthy, so they clearly aren’t. Those facts don’t make the choice any easier, just more imperative.”

Wedge tucked the datacard away in a pocket, then clapped Asyr on the shoulders. “Glad you’re with us and on my wing. I always like flying with someone I can trust.”