Beyond - Legends X-wing Book 10: devil's Shadow

I know I posted the first part of this story before (but I can't find the post now), so I'll just repost the first part of the book agian:
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1
General Wedge Antilles stood at the railing over looking the common area below. It was the area where most of the off duty personnel hung around and socialized. The room had three hover couches arranged in a large U with a low table in the bowl of the U. A holographic projector was positioned in the center of the table and currently projected news vids into the empty space above the table. Behind and below where Wedge stood was a large body bag hung by repulsor fields. It was meant more for physical exertion then any form of body building.
Has the war between the Imperial Moffs and the New Republic had shifted from hot war to cold politics, many commanders in the armed forces had noticed a certain restlessness in their solders. The Imperial Moffs had begun a war of propaganda, against the New Republic, using videos to re-illuminate Republic diplomatic efforts in home systems and foreign systems alike. For those restless solders that wanted something to hit, aside from their superiors that is, many commanders had arranged for the body bag in the lounge.
As Wedge pondered the needs of the solders under his command, not looked down and noted the fighter pilot who was sitting in the bowl of the U directly beneath Wedge?s feet. Orius Tayren was an ace pilot who stood just shy of two meters tall. His hair was typically a mess of dark brown. His face was that kind that instilled confidence in the solders he commanded.
Wedge?s attention was momentarily dragged to the side of the room with the sound of a door opening. A young man walked through, with his orange flight suit was partially unzipped. As he pulled his helmet off his head, he swept his short blond hair back with his free hand. Wedge had to grin at this one. Marick Ravens was a young, and handsome fighter pilot. Ever since he was in the academy, public relations for the New Republic Armed forces had been after Marick to do Holo-vid work and be a poster boy. He had that kind of face that simply looked good.
However, he was also dedicated to being a pilot. At twenty six years old, it was surprising that he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant and was a flight leader in the renowned Rogue squad. Perhaps that was where he earned the Nick-name of Dash, because he?d simply ?dashed? up the ranks after the academy.
Dash walked over to a rack and dropped his helmet down in an empty spot. He turned and grabbed a can and quickly hopped over the back of the couch to Orius?s left.
?Hey Tayren, what?s the word?? He asked quickly as he popped the top on the can and drank from it.
?Nothing new right now, Dash.? Was Orius?s reply. To Orius?s right and on the flanking couch, sat a woman with medium length brunette hair. The hair spilled down her back and over her shoulders as she leaned forward and worked on a report. She brought her hand up and re-directed some of her hair. Wedge knew her rather well. Her name was Suel Leywen. While she was young, she was an accomplished leader and an excellent fighter pilot. Wedge had admired those facts for some time before he had offered her the position of Rogue 1 and squadron leader.
That thought hit Wedge where he felt it. He was getting old and he knew it. People had been telling him so, for years. Not in words, but in actions. Many of his old fighter buddies had moved on from fighter pilot duty, to desk jobs or had retired altogether. Corran Horn was a prime example of the latter. He had retired his commission a little over a year ago and had settled down with his wife, Mirrax, and children, Jysella and Valin. Wedge partly envied him. He had married Iella, but Wedge was still neck deep in his career. It wasn?t a conscious choice, but more of a life style. Iella knew that, but it didn?t make it any easier for Wedge to deal with it.
Wedge looked back at the trio of pilots assembled in the lounge below his walk. The beautiful Sue

 

And now the second chapter of X-wing: Devil's Shadow
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2
It scurried out of the star liner, it?s four tiny mechanical feet all working in unison to propel it?s body along the hull and floor at incredible speeds. Every step it made, two feet made contact with the deck. It?s feet were coated with a chemical agent that when electricity passed through it, it formed an adhesive. When the electrical flow was stopped, the chemical quickly seized being adhesive.
It?s simple mission drove it forward. Find an air duct. Enter air duct. Locate computer terminal. Access computer. Load program. Remain, observe, and report. Those commands were all it knew, and it knew to follow them.
It?s sensors registered heat, it?s source identified as a chemical reaction known as combustion. That was a threat. It would avoid it.
A gap in the wall, it would head toward it. If it proved to be an air duct, it would enter it. Suddenly it saw a large mass descending from above. The mass was identified as a threat. It quickly side stepped and missed being crushed by the object as it came down on the deck.
It made it?s way to the wall, and proceeded to climb the wall toward the opening, it?s mechanical feet working in unison once more as it raced up the wall toward the opening. Millions of minute corrections to the angle of it?s legs allowed it change direction and orientation as it crawled.
The opening was now in front of it. Now that it was this close, it could see that the opening was covered by a grating of some sort. A rapid inspection indicated that the grating was secured by a magnetic field in the wall.
That was an obstacle, but not an unexpected one. Extending it?s forward right leg, the foot flipped back against the leg and a micro-tool extended from the open end of the leg. It positioned itself along the right side of the grating and pressed it?s left two legs onto the corners of the grating. It inserted the tool between the grating and scanned for the magnetic field generators. Once located, it brought the multi-tool into contact with the generators, and generated a mild electrical pulse.
The pulse reset the system, and disrupted the magnetic field. Utilizing it?s left legs, it pulled the grating away and quickly scurried into the air duct. Now using it?s forward two legs, it pulled the grating back into place behind it. After a moment, it heard the magnetic field take hold and released the grating. The grating did not move.
The air duct was small, approximately twenty centimeters by twenty centimeters. Far too small for a human to enter, but it was plenty large enough for it to move about and conduct it?s mission.
* * *
Suel and Orius looked at each other when they felt the station shake. With out question or word, they both knew it came from bay 2.
?Bay 2, report!? Suel screamed into her com-link. A second went by before a reply came.
?Commander, this is Lieutenant Anras. The Gangrer?s engines blew out, HEY KEEP A LINE ON THAT!? Anras shouted momentarily. Suel looked at Orius. They?re looks both said the same thing. Where?s Marick?
?Anras, where?s Lieutenant Ravens?? Suel asked.
?He went into the Gangrer to rescue the pilot,? Anras paused, considering weather he should tell her he went in with out a complete suit and that he would probably die in there. He was grateful when she replied before he could say anything else.
?we?re on our way!? Suel said as she dropped the com-link on the desk. Both Orius and Suel sprinted out of her office and quickly jumped into a flat out run as they dashed for Bay 2.
* * *
Dash?s eyes teared horribly as he wadded through the smoke in the ship. Already his exposed skin on his face was blistering. Upon his initial entry into the ship, he found the walls to his right were hot while the left walls were cool

 

and now chapter 3
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3
?Send out recovery crews,? A voice hollered from the door leading into the bay. Suel, Anras and the workers all spun on their heels to face the source of the commands. In the door way stood a man who had the signs of having once been close to the full two meter mark, but had since shrunk with the effects of age. His dark brown hair was partially faded, and was just turning gray at the roots. It was General Wedge Antilles. Suel was the first to respond openly.
?Sir?? She asked looking puzzled at the order.
?I was watching the camera feeds in my office. I?ve got a funny feeling about that ship.? Wedge explained. ?I want the remains recovered and analyzed. Anras reached up and keyed his head set.
?Yeah, I want a crew prepped for zero G, No atmosphere recovery.? He paused. ?What, I need higher authorization?? He belted. He turned his head and looked at Wedge, who nodded quickly signaling Anras to use his name to authorize the flight.
?Alright, this is an order from General Antilles.? Anras said. After a beat, Anras turned to face Wedge.
?Crews will be deployed with in the hour sir.? Anras declared with a salute. Wedge winced internally. He?d been a general, officially anyways, for several years. But he still hadn?t gotten used to being saluted by just about everyone who walked through the door. Wedge returned the salute and turned on his heel to leave the bay. Suel came up beside him and fell into step as he walked out of the bay.
?What?s the condition of Rogue squad, Suel?? Wedge asked as he walked. Suel quickly organized her thoughts and cataloged what had happened.
?Two pilots are in the medical bay. Captain Tayren, condition appears minor, and Lieutenant Marick Ravens. I?m not sure how bad Ravens is sir.? Suel replied.
* * *
Orius was escorted to the medical bay by a pair of medics. Upon entering the bay, the first thing that garnered Orius? attention was the sterile ?white? feeling of the room. All the metal surfaces were polished and had a sheen of finished silver. Just the look gave you a feeling that if you sneezed you?d break something.
But then, there was the chill of the room. The temperature was at least 15 degrees below what the rest of the station was set at. Orius made it a point to ask about that. The Medics escorted him to a row of beds where he was instructed to remove his flight suit, jacket and shirt.
He brought his right hand up to the zipper of his flight suit and found it difficult to pull the zipper down. Upon a closer inspection, he found that a build up of chemical slag had permeated his suit and made the zipper sticky. But the slag soon proved to a very conquerable obstacle and Orius persisted at it until he was able to pull the zipper down.
As he worked at removing his cloths, Orius saw another group of medics wheeling Dash into the bay. He was unconscious and they had him on a breather machine. His flight suit had been removed, based on the fact that the lower part of his suit was still on his, and the upper part was unaccounted for, Orius guessed they had been forced to cut his suit apart. His face was covered in blackened blistered and chemicals from the smoke with in the ship.
The Medics quickly heaved Dash up onto a table and set to work on him, cleaning his face and body off, and running scans to determine levels and extent of damage. They must have had some idea of what his condition was before they ran the scans, because before scarcely a minute had passed, they set to work cutting off the remainder of his flight suit.
Orius reached around his waste and grabbed hold of his shirt. As he pulled it up over his torso, he was surprised to realize that his shirt had been all but glued to his body due to a combination of his sweat and chemical residue from the smoke he?d been forced to walk through. The shirt finally came up with a slurp as it peeled off his body.