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Wedge pulled back on the X-wing’s stick and leveled out approximately 300 meters behind and above the airspeeder. He had to trim his speed back because even though the X-wing could close fast, the airspeeder could turn faster within the close confines of the city. Part of Wedge knew racing speeder bikes through the forests of Endor was safer than doing what he was doing, but he had no choice. That bomb has to be stopped.

“Mynock, make sure you’re getting a solid tracking feed on that airspeeder.”

The astromech droid shrilled out a confirmation of that order. Wedge watched the tracking data get updated, then rolled up on the right stabilizer foil and dove. He cruised down below the speeder’s line of flight, entering a large boulevard that sped him forward toward Invisec. If I can head him off … “Mynock, plot all his routes from here to the target.”

The droid shrieked like wind howling off the S-foils.

Wedge wove his way through the undercity, cutting around buildings, over walkways, and through tunnels, all the while marveling at the intricate labyrinth that was Coruscant. Making his way in and out, up and over or around tested his skills as a pilot. While not much of the dawn’s light penetrated that deeply in the city, he did have enough to navigate by, but only just barely.

A shiver ran down his spine. Corran and the others were flying out here at night when we took Coruscant. I never really appreciated what they did until now.

Mynock hooted at him. Wedge glanced down at his monitor and saw various schematics flash past. “Slower, Mynock, 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 shield. 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 passenger compartment with fire. The speeder began to fall faster, with the aft end sagging downward. 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 cloud—made up mostly of gaseous explosives—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 shields 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 rocketed straight up. “Confirm thirty-six TIEs, Three.”

“Confirm thirty-six, Lead, eyeballs 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 massive 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 shivered. “It’s something that shouldn’t be there, Three. IFF beacons report it’s a Super Star Destroyer that goes by the name Lusankya.”