Beyond - Legends X-Wing: Fleet Action - The Thrawn Campaigns (Rogue Squadron during The Last Command) (X-wing novel)

Chapter 22 (cont.)

"Standby," Wedge quickly replied. He pulled away from a run against a battery of turbolasers right before he fired his first torpedo. Sithspawn. That missing squadron of A-wings should have done that, Wedge thought. Asyr and Inryi were supposed to nail the outer sublight drives. And that Interdictor is faster than the Star Cruisers with all its engines.

Wedge mentally ran through possibilities. I need to get in close and slow, but the four turbolasers in its aft battery on the back edge of the upper hull can fire straight down, and the rear shields protect them. They'll blast me apart. Unless...

"Eleven, Twelve, take my targets. I've got yours."

"Gate, we're going to lose visibility, so project a high-detail outline of that Interdictor on the canopy, and display distance. We're going to lose sensors too, so when that happens extrapolate based on its last valid course and speed. It can't maneuver fast enough to matter."

Wedge looped around toward the rear of the Interdictor, weaving to evade the fire still coming from the capital ship. Reaching back over his shoulder, he threw a switch and his S-foils began to close together from their normal combat "X" position that gave the fighter it's name. "And Gate, increase control authority by 15 percent, with the S-foils together we still can't maneuver hard enough to risk damaging anything."

He rolled inverted, threw all the energy from his lasers into his shields, adjusted the throttle, then hauled back on the stick into a tight half loop, taking Wedge in a tight arc that ended with in inevitable high-speed collision with the starboard rear of the Interdictor.

Gate screamed while shouts of warning came over the comm from at least two Rogues. But the aft turbolasers couldn’t track him fast enough. Here goes nothing!

Heading straight for a collision with the rear of the Interdictor at high speed, Wedge cut slightly right. Straight into the engine wash of the starboard of its three massive sublight drive thrusters at close range.

Wedge was shoved forward against his harness, his fighter rapidly decelerating. Blue energy filled his canopy as he kept a close eye on Gate's projection of the capital ship and adjusted the throttle.

Carefully timing it, he cut left and down out of the engine wash. Shoving the stick forward and the rudder right while cutting the throttle to idle, then briefly full power, Wedge's fighter came to a stop in the recessed aft hull of the Interdictor below and to the right of the central drive nozzle, canopy toward its hull just a meter and a half away.

"Gate, lock the translation controls as if the switch was full down." Have to stay in the aft hull recess or those turbolasers will vape me. One hit and I'm a dead man.

Restoring power to his lasers, Wedge took a deep breath. He took careful aim at a small spot at the base of a hinge for one of the outboard sublight thruster's thrust vectoring panels that formed the rearmost part of the nozzle.

Linking his lasers to offset fire, he held down the trigger. The first burst from the port side missed slightly, and he rapidly adjusted his aim. His starboard lasers impacted the nozzle far to the right at such a close range, but Wedge didn't care about those. Four port side offset fire bursts later, he switched to the other hinge. After another five, the hinge broke away, blue light spilling from it.

Wedge armed two proton torpedoes, shoved the stick forward and depressed the firing button as he neared the edge of the recessed area due to the Interdictor's forward movement. The torpedoes sailed straight through where the base of the panel had been, before exploding against the far side just forward of the hinges. Blue light spilled from the far side.

He jammed on the right rudder pedal, and as his fighter came around he shoved the throttle full forwards and nosed down. As his fighter curved around the top of the central thruster, Wedge cut the throttle back to idle.

Ignoring Gate's screams, he came to a stop a short distance from the huge port thruster, the Interdictor's hull a little under a meter from his canopy. That puts Gate and the engines about half a meter away. Far enough, but Gate will hate it.

Wedge fired four starboard side offset fire bursts into the same target area against the port sublight thruster, than targeted the panel's other hinge. Come’on, break already. After six bursts he switched back to the other hinge, and was rewarded as the thrust vectoring panel broke away.

Once again nearly out of the recessed aft hull which would make him being an easy kill for the turbolasers, Wedge again nosed down and fired another pair of torpedoes into the same spot on the port drive thruster. Clouds of blue energy from the damaged drive danced over his fighter.

Only one way out now. Here's hoping those drive emissions do enough. "Gate, shut down for the next twenty seconds, don't ask why." Stomping on the left rudder pedal and again nosing down, briefly applying throttle and putting all the energy from his lasers back into his shields, Wedge wound up pointing directly at the undamaged central thruster. Only one way out now.

He pulled back on the stick and applied full power.

Wedge was rammed hard into his harness as blue energy bathed his fighter from all sides as he entered directly into the central thruster’s massive engine wash. Barely a dozen meters from the rear of the engine, the intense light nearly blinded him. Wedge watched the shield strength as the percentage plummeted. Even as the light began to fade, his body began to feel warm, seemingly separate from the rapidly rising temperature in the cockpit.

One hundred meters away Wedge completely cleared the engine wash as turbolaser fire missed abeam. He looped back around, gaining speed and weaving to avoid the Interdictor's fire. Glancing back, both outboard sublight thrusters had small chunks missing just forward of the thrust vectoring panels. As Wedge watched, the gap began to spread around their circumference. As more of their sides failed, parts began to rip away faster until the rear portion of the thrusters completely broke away.

The blue energy of the outboard drives flared out in all directions, than faded as the ship's engine room crew shut the damaged thrusters down.

Mission accomplished. But I'll be spending time in a Bacta tank after the battle.

Corran watched Wedge pull out of the engine wash as he pulled out of a run against another ion cannon battery, not entirely understanding as the Interdictor slowed. "One, what in the Galaxy did you just do?" Corran asked.

"I'll explain later. Three, target status?"

"All targets hit, dorsal forward of the bridge tower is defenseless," Tycho replied as Gate came back on.

"Rogues, form up on me. Torpedo run on the bridge from directly ahead, turn in for a 60 second ETA to launch. Arm your torpedoes and paint but don't fire unless I directly give the order."

Corran complied, but still wondered what was going on. As if reading his mind, Whistler blurted out a message, and he had time to look down for a translation.

One Star Cruiser was directly blocking the Interdictor Cruiser's path at point blank range, another below and to the side at point blank range, neither of them firing. The Interdictor only had aft and starboard shields, and both Star Cruisers had all their tractor beams on it.

Those won't hold a capital ship for long, but with only a third of its engines working and no shields to protect the hull, it'll be nearly impossible for it to maneuver out of the way of those Star Cruisers, and until it can it's not going to lightspeed. And with everything dorsal gone it can't shoot at us, and it looks like the squints are all gone.

At 15 seconds to launch, Wedge's voice came though the comm. "The Interdictor's surrendered. Hold you fire, pull away and circle. Assault Shuttles with a boarding party to secure it should be launching now.

"I've rarely heard of a capital ship surrendering like that," Wes Janson said. "Is there something else going on One?"

"I had Gate record some transmissions that should explain everything when we get back to the ship."

"Look at the rest of the battle," Asyr jutted in.

The Imperial fleet that had conducted the ambush had been itself ambushed when the remainder of the New Republic fleet dropped out of hyperspace on top of them. All of the New Republic fighters about to engage the TIE's had gone to lightspeed than hyped back in on top of the Imperial ships, while the fighters from the remaining ships had jumped in with them.

The Imperial ships that had jumped in couldn't effectively launch TIE's with hostile fighters all over them, while the TIE's from the fleet that had started near the planet had been stranded effectively in the middle of nowhere with nothing to fight.

The combined Imperial fleet was outgunned, but not by an insurmountable margin, except that the Republic fighters were out in force, and with no TIE's to deal with were able to make torpedo runs with impunity. Eventually eleven Imperial ships went to lightspeed.

"Rogue's, we've finally won one. Carida is ours again," Wedge announced as his stomach began to feel nauseous. He suddenly noticed his back hurt. Badly.

 

Great action scenes with Wedge essential to win the battle

 

Thanks! In early versions of the story the OC didn't feature in any later part of the story; several parts were rewritten or added since she came out a much more interesting character than originally envisioned.

 

Chapter 23

Wedge slowly came too, floating in a Bacta tank. Through the transparisteel sides he saw that most of Rogue Squadron had decided to attend in the medical bay of the Mon Ontent.

The medical techs pulled him from the tank, and laid Wedge on a long medical bed.

"How long was I in?" he asked.

"31 hours," a Mon Calamari medical tech replied. "You gave yourself quite the case of radiation poisoning, and a few minor hairline cracks vin ertebrae in your spine with it.”

Wedge thought it over for a moment. Rhysati Ynr walked over, sitting in a nearby chair and brushing her blond hair off her shoulders. "I'm back to flight status, Commander," she said.

"Great to hear. I believe now we're at full strength?" Wedge asked happily.

"That we are," Rhysati replied.

"And I take it I still have a few things to explain?"

"Only one thing," Corran answered.

"Gate played us back what you recorded," Asyr began. "Thrride sent a message to the Interdictor in holo form. Apparently it's possible to adjust the holo size at the receiver even without the proper encrypt codes if you have an Imp holo-plate on your end."

"Which she does," Inryi added. "She put her old battle outfit on, and point blank give the captain of the Interdictor 40 seconds to surrender or we would blow him up with our torpedoes."

"Combined with the rest of the hopelessness of their situation, seeing us already coming at them made the threat quite effective," Asyr continued.

"Kiyrenaa Thrride can be incredibly intimidating," Inryi added. “It's no wonder given the circumstances she was able to convince them to surrender. I saw a lot in Kessel, and frankly even I'm impressed. She's better than anyone I saw there."

"Gavin looked pretty rattled, too." Asyr added.

"She was facing right at where I was sitting," Gavin replied in defense, shooting Asyr a glance.

"Same for me, but than I was born on Kessel," Inryi replied.

"Her mismatched eyes, combined with her reputation, injuries and that outfit it gives the impression of there being something not quite right about her. Along with her policy back when she was running her own group of releasing officers who surrendered on her terms unharmed, but if not then..." Inryi drew a finger across her throat. "In rather unpleasant ways. By Endor most of the Imp officer corps were frankly terrified of her," Inryi added.

"Some thought she was unkillable, and somebody like that out for your blood is terrifying in a way that simply destroying entire planets is not," Asyr added

"Her threat to personally kill that Interdictor's Captain if he fled the bridge was quite effective, although not quite fitting the holo the New Republic wants to project these days," Inryi finished.

“I still have a hard believing the Interdictor's captain just handed over the ship though," Corran said to no one in particular.

"You have to understand what she did before she joined the New Republic," Inryi replied. "If an officer surrendered on her terms and only her terms, the officer's would be released just fine. And if she demanded something intact, it better had been intact. But if they didn't and they captured them, all of the officers except the most junior would be killed in front of him in rather creative and unpleasant fashion. Then the youngest officer would be released after some painful injuries specifically to spread the word about how she operated."

There was a long pause. "So I take it Thrride's s an Admiral now?" Wedge finally asked.

"Actually no," Tycho began. His tone was even, but long experience betrayed something in his voice to Wedge.

"Don't tell me she did something and is getting court-martialed again."

"Oh, she did something," Tycho replied. "The entire operation was unapproved by New Republic High Command."

What! "How did that happen?" Wedge was able to stammer out.

"Apparently she met with Ackbar, who approved the operation on principle, and she talked to Bel Iblis, who said he was going to run it by Mon Mothma in an hour for approval."

"So far so good."

"But Mon Mothma had already gone to bed, and the preliminary orders for the operation had already been issued, since Ackbar agreed doing the operation quickly was important. The idea was that the longer the operation was in planning, and the more time it spent in the Palace, the greater the chance Delta Source, whoever, or whatever, it is would get wind of it and Thrawn would make a trap."

I can certainly agree with that, Wedge thought.

"But apparently two hours after she signed off with Bel Iblis, without bothering to wait for any word back from Coruscant, and with enough orders to the fleets involved already issued, she launched the operation immediately, well ahead of any planned schedule. She expected it to be approved by then, but it turns out it wasn’t.

"I can see how that could happen if somebody was determined to do it,” Wedge replied. “Maybe."

"There was also some, how to say it, irregularities in the orders for the operation," Tycho continued. "The operation was provisionary slated to use around 25 ships from those fleets, specific ones to be determined. That would reduce the losses of a failure."

"But she took 41 ships," Wedge replied. "And we would have lost without them."

"And by doing that that Delta Source traitor never got a chance to hear about it and tell Thrawn, since the whole operation was conceived and done outside the palace," Corran said. "That's her official explanation."

Tycho spoke up. "Again," he said, with a quiet tone of an argument raised a thousand times, "we don't know it's a traitor. It could be a recording system of some sort, or maybe a droid."

"I worked in CorSec, remember?" Corran shot back. "If it was a microphone they would have found it months ago. They're very distinctive on sweeps."

"You two have been having this argument since we found out about Delta Source!" Inryi yelled back. "And I'm tired of hearing it. Neither of you two are going to be whoever digs Delta Source out or convince each other, so just shut up about it already!"

And it's been getting worse every time we lose a battle. Wait a second, Corran outranks Inryi. This could get awkward.

"That's pretty much the classic and generally accepted excuse back early in the Rebellion," Wes Janson said, trying to both defuse the situation and return to the original topic. "That it worked."

"Perhaps part of the New Republic's problem is that we've become a government instead of rebels," Tycho mused. "It's a change for the better, but something might have been lost in the process."

"There's currently an investigation ongoing on who got what orders when, and who approved them, if anyone," Corran added.

"And Thrride's capture of the Interdictor goes back to her old disagreements that kept her out of the Rebellion in the first place," Inryi said. "Opinion is divided on whether what she did is acceptable or not."

"In other words," Wedge began, "the basic question is whether an acceptable and effective Rebel commander from around a little after Yavin is considered an acceptable commander in the New Republic."

"That's what all of this boils down to" Tycho replied.

"And her basic mental stability," Inryi added.

Wedge thought it over for a moment. "So is Thrride free, or locked up?"

"Neither," Corran answered. Unknown parties attacked her planetside, but we're pretty sure it's the Imps. She got shot twice in the back and once in an arm and a leg with holdout blasters."

Sithspawn. Another skilled commander comes out of nowhere and just like that she's gone.

"So she's dead, and none of this matters."

Inryi laughed, taking him by surprise. "Her? Of course not. She's floating in a Bacta tank, and will be for two weeks. Apparently the medics found she has some weird skin thing where Bacta treatment leaves scars rather than nothing. The triggermen are dead, and there's a rumor that once she went down, she drew a blaster a killed them both herself before she blacked out. Unconfirmed and I don't know whether to believe it, but I have almost as much trouble with somebody awaiting court martial having a blaster as her being somehow able to do it. But stranger things have happened."

"What would you put the odds of it that being true at?" Wedge asked.

"About one in four," Inryi replied lightheartedly. "Thrride apparently wears her old battle outfit under her uniform. Her shirt's got two new holes in it now, one of them in the sleeve, and her pants got one too," she added.

"Which brings back questions of her mental fitness for command," Corran butted in. "But we're starting to go around in circles, and I believe you, Commander Antilles, still have to explain what it was you pulled off behind that Interdictor.

 

Chapter 23 (cont.)

Something with an answer finally. "The plan required taking out both outboard sublight thrusters. A squadron of A-wings was supposed to be there with us and take out the rear shields, but they missed the gravity well cone. Without the drive damaged, there was still a chance it could get away, and a bigger chance it wouldn't surrender."

"Go on," Corran said.

"There's four turbolasers behind the bridge tower that can fire straight down in the rear arc, and I had to get in close and stationary, so I used the engine wash to slow me down then stayed in the recessed portion of the aft hull."

"That's not much room to maneuver, especially since the Interdictor is moving away from you the whole time," Rhysati Ynr said. "I've seen the sensor logs, so I know you did it, but that's pretty impressive flying. In some places there was half a meter or less on three sides. If somebody else flying off on their own claimed that, I wouldn't have believed it.

Oh no.

"And can you explain how in the Galaxy you took out the drives with the shields up?" Corran asked.

"By necessity there's a gap in the shields at the hinges of the sublight thrusters where the thrust vectoring panels meet the rest of the drive," Wedge began.

"Then why hasn't that vulnerability been mentioned anywhere?" Corran asked.

"Let me guess," Rhysati answered. "How small is the target area?"

Wedge blushed. "Well in this case you have to get eight, ten direct hits on both hinges and then they usually fail."

"Which are how small?" she pressed, her hazel eyes showing she expected something verysmall.

"About 150 by 60 centimeters," he replied in embarrassment.

Rhysati whistled.

"What a second!" Corran interjected. "At that range your lasers aren't anywhere near where they're zeroed. They'd hit well away from your aiming point."

"The S-foils were together, not in attack position. The laser cannons centerlines are only 75 centimeters apart in the configuration, and it was along the long axis and I was using offset fire from one side, so you always get two each time anyway.

"But you need eight or more hits," Rhysati pressed. "And I believe that makes the target area actually 75 by 60 centimeters?

Wedge realized he was blushing halfway down his bare chest, and rolled over on his medical bed to hide it.

"But the reticule for that would have to be outside the cockpit at that range," Corran interjected again. "There's no way it would be on the HUD.

I said too much.

"Well I was almost exactly 90 degrees to it, so I only needed port/starboard aim. And I was practically stationary, and I was only trying to use one side"

"So how did you aim that?" Corran pressed farther.

"Almost exactly?" Rhysati said with a knowing glance. "And by computer, or personal estimate?"

I give up.

"I just eyeballed it, honestly."

"Impressive," Rhysati replied with a lopsided smile. "And that fancy flying got you another Mantooine Medallion for salvaging Thrride's plan to capture the Interdictor. I believe that makes for an even ten?"

"You eyeballed it?" Corran asked with a tone suggesting there was more to the story.

I wish I was back in the Bacta tank.

"I believe," Tycho began, "That once you've shot down over 700 fighters in the same X-wing, you tend to have a good idea where your lasers are, and where their fire goes."

"But with S-foils together?" Corran asked.

"I believe Commander Antilles has 26 kills with them in that position, Lieutenant Horn." Tycho began. “And there have been at least three prior Rogue Squadron missions that Commander Antilles participated in involving firing with the S-foils together precisely for precision concentrated fire before you signed up, Lieutenant," in a tone that even without the use of ranks would have indicated the conversation was over.

"Let's get you dressed," the Mon Calamari medical tech interjected into the silence that followed.

 

I like the after battle discussions and the bantering between the pilots

 

Thanks! In this one I think I just doubled Rhysati's speaking lines in the whole of Legends cannon...

 

Apologies for the late update this week.

 

Chapter 24

The Director of Imperial Intelligence stood before Thrawn, as did the Undersecretary for the Assistant Director. The latter's actions had resulted in both himself and the Director's presence. Pelleron stood behind and left of Thrawn's chair in the command room of the Chimaera. He eyed Rukh standing silently behind Thrawn to his right.

"So," Thrawn began, his glowing red eyes boring into the Undersecretary, "you conceived of the operation to kill Thrride, and executed it without approval from a superior or myself?"

"Director Isard left big shoes to fill," he replied, flinching from Thrawn's glance.

"And like Isard, you wanted to be head of Imperial Intelligence, and this operation was intended to vault you into that position?

"The current head is not living up to Isard's legacy."

And for that I'm thankful, Pelleron thought. He had no problems accepting orders from her two years prior, as she seemed to be doing quite well at holding the Empire together. Than she had lost Coruscant, and released a plague that betrayed all the New Order stood for. When Rogue Squadron killed her he had secretly rejoiced, although he was still undecided on whether that was all a Rebel Intelligence operation.

"We will return to that later," Thrawn stated flatly. "How did you plan, conduct and brief this operation?"

"Well, I figured out the opportunity quite well. She was meeting with a superior officer to be debriefed, and the airspeeder could only land so close."

"In other words, the oldest, simplest and most obvious plan there is?”

"Umm, yes sir."

"And how was this attack to be conducted?"

"Err, two agents would sneak up on her in the crowd, and another one with a good field of view would inform them when to strike."

The Director of Intelligence spoke up derisively, looking over the Undersecretary’s head. "This method is used in an example on the fourth day of training for a new recruit, in basic classroom training.”

"And how much research did you do on the target?" Thrawn asked, leaning forward.

"I looked her up. She joined the Rebellion a few years ago, first as captain of an Escort Frigate, then got demoted."

"And did you look any deeper?" Thrawn asked, his voice darkening.

"Umm, no sir, didn't think there was anything else to see, but I know she used to be a smuggler."

"Noted," Thrawn replied, a slight touch of sarcastic annoyance in his voice. "And the agents and weapons you picked?"

"That's the clever part. The three agents used to be undercover in the Black Sun, and she used to be a smuggler, so everybody's going to think it's the Black Sun settling an old score or something."

The Director spoke up. "Did you check to see if Black Sun actually did have a motive?"

"Well of course they did. She escaped when they tried to kill her about three months after Yavin."

The Director replied with derision. "He is referring to a minor news release that was an inept cover for an ISB operation, which led her to join the Rebellion. He could have found this out and much more had he accessed her higher-security detailed file, which he was cleared for, but apparently he could not be bothered."

Thrawn spoke up again. "Did you consider if the operative's undercover work might have gotten them entered into any databases accessible to the Rebellion?"

"Err, it wouldn't have, right?"

"It did," Thrawn stated firmly. "As of seven hours ago opinion among senior Rebels is universally that it was Imperial Intelligence. Four hours ago the Rebellion directly stated that publically."

The Undersecretary starting going white. "We-well, at least it was a success."

"And you are sure of this because?" Thrawn asked, with a hint of menace in his voice.

"The lookout flatly stated that she got hit twice in the back, and twice in the limbs. That should kill anyone. Then, return blasterfire killed the two agents as they were retreating afterwards, the lookout didn’t see the source, and he didn't see any further reason to stay around."

"With hold out blasters," the Director flatly stated.

"Public release Rebellion briefings state she survived and is recovering. Does that factor into your calculations of success?" Thrawn asked.

"We-well, umm, that should have killed anyone. I put it down to propaganda."

"And the chances of such as deception being successful?" Thrawn asked, with a tone indicating he already knew the answer.

The Director answered for him. "Absolutely none. If she survived, she would be personally on Rebellion media in the future, regardless of her court-martial's outcome."

"But they are going to convict and execute her anyway, so they'll simply claim that's how she died, right?"

"That is far outside of Rebellion operational procedure," the Director replied. "The most likely results of conviction would be imprisonment. And further it makes no sense. Opinion is divided, so if she would be executed anyway, you removed a source of division within the Rebellion by simply letting the Empire, or in your plan the Black Sun, resolve the controversy and unite them in outrage."

"And why not let Rebellion justice take its course, if she would be executed anyway?" Thrawn asked pointedly, his glowing red eyes boring into him.

"Umm, err, actually I figured there was a pretty good chance she would be in command and causing the Empire further problems again."

"Lying to me noted," Thrawn replied. He pressed a few buttons on his display rings, and a life-sized hologram of Kiyrenaa Thrride appeared, wearing tattered clothing with much skin showing.

"What's with all those scars?" the Undersecretary asked, briefly flinching slightly. "Some sort of ritual thing or something?"

"Those are wounds she survived," the Director replied bluntly. "Many of them from blasters much more powerful than what you used."

The Undersecretary’s skin went even paler.

"So, she might actually have survived?"

"Yes," Thrawn answered, "I know for a fact she did, and that trivial further digging would have showed that given her history, somewhat more lethality would have been indicated."

"Now, return to why you believe former director Isard left 'big shoes to fill.'"

"W-well, Imperial Intelligence under her was remarkably effective, and one of her plans nearly destroyed the Rebellion."

"Her plan to exterminate as many aliens as possible with a plague," Thrawn replied. "Can you think of a reason I might personally disapprove of such a plan?"

The Undersecretary thought it over for several seconds, than went white as Hoth.

"You're one," he said in a voice so quiet he could hardly be heard.

"Director Isard was scheming and power hungry. That is not who I want in charge of Imperial Intelligence."

The Director of Intelligence butted in. "He is one of the most blatant cases of patronage I'm aware of. His farther was a Moff, and briefly a Grand Moff. He avoided being terminated for failure by former Director Isard by being assigned a position in procurement. Apparently Director Isard saw his continued employment as a way to shore up power, while also putting him somewhere he could not cause any damage. As I'm sure you're aware, the Undersecretary for the Assistant Director is a purely administrative position, freeing the Assistant Director to focus on running the actual work of Imperial Intelligence.

"Your opinion of him, Director?" Thrawn asked evenly.

"Permission to speak frankly sir?"

"By all means granted."

"He is completely incompetent, yet is too stupid to realize that. He has unlimited ambition without the talent to match, and is willing to conduct unauthorized operations that as I'm sure you are aware takes the direction of this war in places you do not desire."

"This unauthorized operation of yours gives the galactic population the impression that the Empire is willing to resort to assassinating Rebel commanders, and stirs up outrage,” Thrawn stated flatly.

“Thrride would most likely would have never had a significant Rebel command again, and there was in fact an Intelligence operation underway to stir up public opinion against her by paying certain members of the news media with Imperial sympathies. Now they have refused the offer, and opinion has shifted in favor of Thrride”

"Director, in your opinion if he is assigned to a much lower rank in procurement will he become a loyal servant of the Empire?

Pelleron, who had briefly been eyeing Rukh standing behind Thrawn's right, thought he might have seen the Noghri flinch at the end of the remark. No, must have been the lighting, nothing here would make Rukh do that, Pelleron thought to himself.

The director rubbed his chin, staring off to the side as he looked up. Finally he came to an answer.

"No, he will eventually try some other scheme to get ahead, whether against the Rebellion or his superiors."

"And as I'm sure you are both aware the Moff who was his father has recently died, and his family holds no power of any significance," Thrawn added.

His glowing red eyes bore into the Undersecretary, who froze in place. "The Empire no longer has a place for those who will sabotage the war effort for personal advancement."

"Rukh?"

He was too terrified to scream.

 

great discussion between Thrawn and Pelleron. Rukh now present

 

Apologies everyone for missing a week and the delay in replying. Entire house had COVID. Lovely. Anyway, thanks! Rukh behaving differently was in the story 2-3 times, but one of them was placed in a poor spot and got cut. Certainly a bit of foreshadowing there, and another tie-in.

 

And it will be a little while longer, as Word is acting up and I have no idea why.

 

I just wanted to say that I hope you all feel better, and that I look forward to the next installment. This is the only fan-fic I'm currently following, and the battle scenes and creativity in them are among the best I've seen in any stories, to include actual EU works.

 

Wow thanks! That really meant a lot to me. I was afraid that the action would get repetitive after a while, so I'm glad to hear I included enough variety. And thanks to all my other readers as well.

 

Chapter 25

Nawara Ven had announced the need for a meeting, and as a result the Rogues were all gathered in their common area on the Mon Ontent.

"So what is this all about," Wedge asked Nawara as he finally walked into the room. "I'm assuming this is something important I somehow don't know about? Related to Carida perhaps?"

"Losing Carida again after we got transferred out may be a debacle, but that's not the subject," Nawara replied.

"We siphoned ships out, and than Thrawn shows up with a huge fleet, and the Admiral that replaced Thrride decided to run. With command like this, it's no wonder Thrawn's winning," Corran jutted in with irritation. Losing Carida for the second time had grated on all the members of the squadron.

Nawara's brain tails twitched. "Not exactly. It's a datawork matter," he stated.

"Datawork?" Wedge asked with annoyance. “You’re the XO, isn’t that your responsibility?”

"But an important one. I have to convince some Nerf-brined data-pusher that we're supposed to be getting parts and, well, fuel for that matter, for some pilots in our squadron at all."

What in the galaxy, Corran thought.

"Why," Wedge asked with a touch of rising irritation, "would a frontline squadron get its supplies deliberately cut off, while Thrawn is beating the New Republic on every front?"

Nawara threw one of his brain tails over his shoulder. "The ownerships of some of our X-wings is apparently not a settled matter."

"The New Republic owns everybody's except Corran's, right?" Inryi asked.

"Actually, no. The whole squadron was given to us as surplus when we started going after Iceheart. But we bought it with our war chest, and there was never any clarity as to who actually bought them. Everyone who's received a replacement fighter since then has their fighter belong to the New Republic of course, but those who are still flying fighters from the Bacta War were never formally signed over to the New Republic."

"So who are they saying owns them?" Asyr asked.

"I convinced them that they all legally belong to Tycho. Now the question is whether everyone who's still flying their X-wing from the Bacta War wants personal ownership of it, to let Tycho keep them, or sign them over to the New Republic."

Tycho butted in. "I'm willing to go along with whatever you want for your own fighter."

"That's not everything though. All of the X-wings in question had to be inspected. And I'm sorry to say this Wedge, but your fighter failed inspection, so you have no choice but to keep it."

"What failed," Wedge asked. His tone was even, but from his expression Corran suspected Wedge had a good idea what had failed.

"The targeting computer. It works just fine, but it doesn't compute lead for the laser cannons at all. The aiming reticule just sits there. The tech going over it said a wire was missing," Nawara replied, with a hint of a question.

"He also said the techs had been ordered not to replace it," he added inquisitively.

What's going on? Corran thought. Lead for a targeting computer was adjusting the aiming point on the HUD to compensate for the lateral movement of the target. If it wasn't accounted for, by the time the laser bolts arrived the target would have already moved out from under the aiming reticule. With the targeting computer calculating lead, the reticule would automatically move on the HUD so that all a pilot had to do for basic aiming was put the reticule over the target. Without the targeting computer calculating it, a pilot would have to put the fixed reticule at a point offset in front of the target, with the amount completely depending on the relative speeds, directions and even turns of the target. There would be no indication without a targeting computer as to where that point actually is, so a pilot would have to use his or her own judgment alone as to where to aim in order to be able to actually hit the target.

It could be done mentally that way, but it was extremely difficult, and only the most skilled pilots could pull it off with much chance of success if their fire control failed. Even then their hit rate was poor. Corran often led the target roughly in anticipation of its movement, but only for maneuver, and relied on the targeting computer for aiming.

Wedge sighed. "What I'm about to tell you is not to leave this room. That's an order."

"Some very early pre-Yavin X-wings used a targeting computer made by hand by a small Rebel workshop. Same for some of the other electronics that weren't simply off something else. The lead-computing function on mine went out every third flight or so. The techs tried fixing it, but the problems wouldn't go away since it was in the computer itself. There weren’t enough X-wing targeting computers back then, so there wasn't any real possibility of replacing it. About six months after Yavin I finally gave up on it, and had the lead-computing disabled."

"You don't mean that you've been doing lead in your head for the last eight years, right?" Corran blurted out without thinking. There's no way that's possible. "What other system handles that?"

Wedge blushed. "Actually, I have been doing lead mentally for the last eight years. You get used to it eventually, it becomes automatic and you don't have to think about it. It's not as impossible as some think it is. When Rogue Squadron finally got some simulators two years later," Wedge added, staring straight down at the floor. "I discovered my aim was as good as the targeting computer by that point anyway," he finished sheepishly.

Corran sat there trying and mostly failing to process that in the uncomfortable silence that followed. After an awkwardly long pause, Asyr broke in.

"Why not have it replaced anyway? There's plenty to go around now. You can disable the lead-computing and do it mentally whenever you wanted to."

"Three reasons," Wedge replied. "First, these very early X-wings have a completely different wiring setup that changed depending on where it was built, before they standardized it with components designed for X-wings on the 32nd one built when the stolen Incom production line got going. They'd have to rewire half the fighter to get the targeting computer replaced.”

"Second, for me at least it seems to help with getting in that habit of thinking for the target's pilot as well, and than countering what the target is planning to do."

"I think that's how it seemed like Biggs could read the mind of those TIE's," Wedge added, his voice noticeably breaking.

"Third, it's a memorial," Wedge continued, his voice slightly strained.

"Some early X-wing electronics, including my targeting computer, were made by hand in a hidden workshop. An Imperial Inquisitor found the place. One horribly mutilated victim was released to tell the story of what happened to the rest of them as a warning. To what that, thing, did to them before he killed them."

"Sorry." Wedge added.

Really bad memories, Corran thought. I don’t think I want to know the details.

"Oh, and Lieutenant Horn, Lieutenant Jace, I can tell you're both planning on turning it off."

Both Corran and Jace were grinning slightly.

"Don't. Just don't. It won't end well."

Corran was no longer grinning.

"Thinking for the other target is a good idea, but you have to have to think like a pilot with the amount of experience the target has, not yours."

"How do you know how experienced the other pilot is?" Corran asked. "Before you've fought them?"

"Corran," Wedge replied with a sigh, “You don’t until you’ve seen them fly at least some sort of maneuver or two, even if they’re simple turns or such. But once you've fought several hundred TIE's, you pick up the little things of how they fly once they've done much of any anything. It's not all that conscious, you just know."

 

Chapter 25 (cont.)

Four hours later Wedge was in his quarters, sitting on his bunk with the lights off, quietly crying. There was a knock on his locked door.

"Wedge, are you alright?" Tycho asked through the door.

"I'm fine," Wedge replied in a voice that clearly showed he was not.

"Permission to come in?" Tycho asked.

"No," Wedge replied.

Several seconds later, the door slid open and Tycho walked in, turning on the light.

"Didn't I just tell you not to enter?" Wedge snapped through his tears.

"Yes, but you clearly need someone to talk to."

“And wasn’t that hatch locked?”

“No, you must have forgot,” Tycho replied, but not quite perfectly.

"Whatever's gotten into you recently?" Tycho asked with concern, sitting on the bunk next to Wedge. "It's about that meeting earlier, isn't it?"

"I just bragged to the whole squadron I don't need to use a targeting computer. How much more could you possibly try to impress people?"

"No, you said you don't use the targeting computer to adjust the reticule for lead. Instead of the reticule moving to account for relative motion and putting that on the target, you just put the reticule ahead of the target the right amount before you pull the trigger. There's plenty of other functions that you use every fight, just not lead computing." Although none of them are for hitting with lasers, so he might as well not have one for that, Tycho thought.

"And you don't need that function, and you don't use it ever, and it is disconnected and you couldn't if you wanted to," Tycho said softly.

"Everything you said was true," he added.

"I said I could read minds. That I can tell how good a pilot I've never met or fought is.”

"I'm not Luke, I'm not a Jedi, I can't do that," Wedge sobbed.

"You didn't say you could read minds," Tycho replied. "I was there. The only person you talked about "reading minds" was that it was as if, Biggs, could do it, and that you think you've figured out how."

"But…" Wedge began.

"You told me this two years after Yavin. It's not something you've just made up. And I knowyou can tell how good a TIE's pilot is by how they fly on approach."

"But why bring it up if you didn't want to brag about it?" Wedge sobbed, laying his head on Tycho's shoulder.

"Because Nawara Ven, your Executive Officer I might remind you, asked you directly on a matter concerning the administration of the squadron. That was him directly doing his duty, and was your duty as CO to answer him."

Wedge didn't reply, but Tycho suspected what he said had an effect.

"If you didn’t tell them they would have asked, and answering was in the best interest of your squadron. You also did your duty by cautioning Corran and Jace against trying something that would get them killed, and you suggested something helpful to the rest of the squadron that someday might save one of them."

"You also gave them an order not to tell anyone. You did the correct thing, and with that order you did about the opposite of bragging as you could."

"I guess you're right," Wedge softly replied, no longer crying but clearly still not happy.

"Now stop thinking about these things. You're not a glory hound, and most of the Starfighter Corps, if anything, doesn't think you're as good as you actually are.

"I guess," Wedge replied.

"But there is one very good thing about your reputation. Courtesy of Pash Cracken, I can confirm that every fifth TIE pilot has had a nightmare about you on their tail."

"Now get some sleep, and have a dream about that. We could be fighting any time, and we all need the rest."

 

nice discussion about the targetting and the X-wings of old

 

Thanks! The part about doing lead mentally was a combination of WWII dogfighting and deflection shooting and a offhand mention in an old WEG rpg sourcebook, and about how fire control computers handle it. (Would recommend for everybody, a few rules mixed in with a ton of useful background information, pdf scans are online.)

Since that was in large part the intention, glad you think so and glad you like it!

 

Attempting to get back on the "once per week, late in the week" schedule...

Chapter 26

In the common area on the Mon Ontent, the Rogues were drinking toasts to Wedge's new Silver Scimitar, which had just been publically announced. It was Nawara’s idea, and Tycho didn't have the chance to warn him against it.

Wedge spent the time in misery, unwilling to just stand up and walk out.

Inryi set down the datapad she had been reading. "Great news. Kiyrenaa’s out of the Bacta tank two weeks early. Bror Jace is going to be fuming about it though. Should make a nice change.”

"How'd she get out so fast?" Corran asked with surprise, turning toward her.

"That's the thing. It seems Mirax suggested that she take Bror Jace to Thyferra at point six past lightspeed in the Pulsar Skate, since Jace is from Thyferra and like every human there has connections in the Bacta companies. He would privately arrange to buy a tank full of Thyferran domestic grade Bacta, and Mirax would haul it to where Thrride’s undergoing treatment at top speed. New Republic provided the money for it, since it proved very expensive.”

“But all that is highly classified, and the official story is the Thyferran domestic grade Bacta was a gift from ‘unnamed individuals.’ Mirax was complaining about a tank of Bacta costing more than her ship.”

"So that's why Jace was gone a few days and what Mirax was up to she couldn't tell me about," Corran said as the pieces clicked.

"Wait, how do you know this, when Mirax hasn't even told me?"

"Mirax actually sent you a message titled "Regarding Thrride getting out of the Bacta tank early," and my curiosity got the better of me. It just came in a few minutes ago.”

"You're reading Mirax's private communications to me?" Corran asked with a mix of disbelief and anger.

"It was in the squadron message logs, and the data label was "highly classified" but it was set for your password. I just couldn’t resist finding out what it was about. And Corran, I overheard when you told Mirax what it was. Frankly a phrase is easy to remember."

"I'll change it," Corran said with irritation. "So court-martial or command?" he asked.

"Command," Inryi replied. "Ackbar made her one of the ten squadron commanders in this big fleet we’re in that’s being massed for something."

Due to basic limits on how many things a being can adequately keep track of at once, all military units since time immemorial are divided into ever smaller subunits under officers increasingly lower in rank. Corran was in command of a flight of four fighters, for example, while Wedge commanded a squadron of three flights, while three flights make a starfighter wing. Capital ships are no different. Once fleets grow to a size of more than 15 to 20 warships, they are usually divided into squadrons of several ships each under the command of a more junior Admiral. They would exercise limited authority over the fine details of the ships making up his or her portion of the fleet, freeing the Admiral in overall command to focus on the bigger picture.

"Think she's going to be doing whatever she wants again? Corran asked.

"No, not this time," she answered. "Ackbar apparently had a long conversation with her, and if she comes up with something she has to clear it with him, but Ackbar also wants to hear good, if unconventional ideas."

"Sounds fair."

"But he also let her put her 13 Captains and 39 Lieutenants in place in her squadron, which she's already been doing without permission anyway, but now it's officially sanctioned. Not that it's the actual number or rank of them of course, but that's the structure she used back when she ran her own resistance group, and the same people.

"Who are they?" Gavin asked as he joined in.

"They're both her best commanders and unwaveringly loyal to her to the death. To get the position they have to go through a test to prove it," Inryi answered.

"What's the test?" Corran asked.

"In front of the crew, with considerable ceremony," Inryi began, "Kiyrenaa randomly mixes up a pile of 13 identical blaster pistols with the stun/kill selector switch removed. For a Lieutenant, twelve of them are permanently stun-only while one is set to kill."

"Than she has the candidate pick one and shoot himself in the head with it in front of the crew. A random one in 13 chance of dying simply because she said so. For a Captain, there’s two lethal blasters in the mix."

"She does that!" Gavin exclaimed in disbelief.

"I wouldn't have thought Thrride would be the type to kill her own men like that," Corran said. "Wait, is it all a show?" he suddenly asked. "Let me guess, they're all set to stun?”

"Not that way at least." Inryi replied. "She has another captain test-fire all the remaining blasters into a bulkhead to prove one really was set to kill. I'm pretty sure Thrride rigs it somehow, but nobody knows for sure, including those who go through it, so it really is a loyalty test. For that matter the odds are such that it might not be rigged every time, or it might be pretty error prone. A few of her crew have tried to figure it out, only to rule out everything they can think of."

"Back when command was using me to try to figure her out," Inryi added, "those I've talked to who've done it said at the time they went through it Thrride made them have no doubt it was real, and one said he was convinced he had the lethal one. That her final command to pull the trigger is "now die" and they way she says it helps."

"Mind games," Corran commented.

"Also, remember that even if they choose right they always do wind up firing a stun burst into their head, and they've all said Thrride did something to the blaster so that in addition to being stunned, they're also in absolute agony and they know this going in, so even if it is safe it's still a steep loyalty test.”

Inryi quickly moved on. "But you can imagine the rumors that generates. Some say that whatever makes her unkillable also has the power to somehow let her make you chose the correct one, or even change it once you've picked it up. And that nobody's ever died doing it as a result. Most say it's truly random, and proof of their willingness to die at her command. Those members of her former crew have all heard of somebody being killed during it, yet nobody has ever actually seen it themselves, which makes me think it never actually happens."

Corran and Gavin sat there in uncomfortable silence, a discomfort Inryi did not share.

"Oh, and it turns out she's left handed too, that makes her seem even more off. Command cleared me for all New Republic files on Thrride, but apparently over-cleared me and forgot to remove it once they had my assessment. Apparently during the war occasionally some elements of the Rebellion with ideas beyond their moral event horizon would outsource the dirty work to Thrride, who was already at the bottom of a black hole.

 

Chapter 26 (cont.)

"That she was," Asyr joined in. "Like the time Bothan Intel..." Asyr’s voice trailed off.

Corran, Inryi and Gavin were all staring at her, expectantly.

"I guess I can't back out now," Asyr muttered to herself. "Part of the reason Bothan Intelligence files on Kiyrenaa are so detailed is that back during the war, they captured one of Thrride's lieutenants, and put him through a level-II narco interrogation.

"I thought you were on our side!" Gavin blurted out.

"A level-II?" Corran interjected loudly. "That can kill someone."

Asyr’s black fur ruffled. "First, I wasn't part of that operation, it fell into a gray area that looking back now really wasn't, and there's a reason I'm in Rogue Squadron rather than still with them," Asyr finished firmly.

"I take it Kiyrenaa didn't take kindly to that?" Inryi asked with interest as she leaned forwards, her eyes wide open.

"Very much no," Asyr answered. "And yes, sadly Corran he did die. He was interrogated at a small isolated facility. After a day and a half of subspace silence, reinforcements showed up and found the place had been leveled, after being assaulted. Every single Bothan there had been killed face to face before she had a couple of light freighters slag the place. Except the mess hall, that was untouched."

"This should be good," Inryi said eagerly.

"Well," Asyr began, "Might as well say it directly, the severed heads of the interrogator and the base commander were found sitting on set-out dinner places on the main table, with a handwritten note left saying "I consider us even. Sleep soundly," written in what the files I read said was "a non-ink colored substance of presumed biological origin not tested."

"Even at CorSec I haven't even heard of anything that bad, not even the Black Sun" Corran interjected. "Blood, I take it? Human or Bothan?"

"I think the higher-ups didn't want to find out and those there were happy not to say," Asyr answered.

Gavan, whose face had gone pale, spoke up. "She's that insane and she's an Admiral?"

"She may be crazy," Inryi interjected, "but there's a method to her madness. She's crazy and smart. It was probably a rescue operation turned into revenge mission, but leaving that display and message was a piece of brilliant insanity. It both showed that she was crazy and capable of anything, and coupled with what she wrote gave Bothan Intelligence an offer to never have to deal with her again if they simply left her alone.”

“Coupled with just how unnerving it was, I take it that it had the desired effect of heading off a private war between her group and Bothan Intelligence, so she could focus on fighting the Imps and not have to worry about a new enemy?” Inryi asked eagerly.

"That it did," Asyr replied. "And don't repeat it, I don't want New Republic command finding out," Asyr added. "Or Fey’lya finding out how much time I spent digging through and copying files before I resigned."

"You did what?" Gavin asked.

"Gavin, we plan to adapt two Human and two Bothan children, right?"

"Yes."

"Well that will take the corporation of Bothan authorities, and right now on Bothawui I have a minor bit of notoriety as an example of what Bothan clans don't want their children to be. I made sure to copy enough dirt on enough figures there that to ensure adaption won't pose a problem."

“Besides, there’s nothing like that kind of status to influence the next Bothan generation.”

Inryi quickly broke the uncomfortable silence that followed.

"Speaking of files, and a touch of personal holonet messages, I did find out that back when New Republic command was evaluating her the second time they asked Luke to use his Jedi skills to sound her out. He refused on the grounds it would lead to the dark side until Kiyrenaa agreed to it."

Inryi continued on. "She started by daring Luke to pull the complete memory of the night when the ISB came for her and her family." She paused for effect.

"Luke the Jedi passed out," Inryi said with a slight laugh.

"What? He did?" Gavin interjected.

"He did, and had to spend several hours meditating right afterwards. Kiyrenaa took a sick, twisted pleasure from it, apparently." Inryi's voice and expression turned serious, but not nearly as much as Corran would have liked.

"He wrote a very brief report that went into very little detail. It was far worse than Thrride had ever let on. He said three ISB agents were all far more depraved than he thought it was possible for a sentient being to be, and than competed to outdo each other. It went on longer than she let on, it started at night and the sun rose and set. Luke wrote that while it was indeed mostly getting creative in ways to use a vibrodagger, and what to do with the resulting... Luke actually left that sentence unfinished right there but I think we can imagine what he would have wrote and what kind of nightmares that could lead to.”

“Luke then went on that they used every method possible that they had on hand possible to kill or torture a being, and Luke was shocked at what they came up with. It was long, slow, continuous, if you passed out they would immediately revive you for more torture. By the end you could smell infected wounds, and the stench became strong enough that only that prompted them to finish off the few who were still alive. Except Thrride survived.”

“But she got to watch her family decompose for nearly two days first before she was found," she quickly added.

"That's all he wrote, than finished with advice that Kiyrenaa never repeat the full story as long as she lives, and stated that he would immediately erase it from his own memory so the full story would die with her."

‘Corran and Gavin stared at the floor, not talking.

"On a more positive note, Luke did pull out a few other memories," Inryi continued with a touch of enthusiasm. "Apparently the whole "Locked herself in for a vibrodagger death fight with the ISB agent from that night" wasn't exactly true."

Corran spoke up, his voice still disturbed. "In hindsight that was farfetched."

"She locked herself in with all three of them."

Corran's jaw dropped.

"Luke did mention that she fought with an utter, inhuman fury and lack of restraint fueled by such extreme rage and hatred that they didn't have a chance, with her screaming insults at them the entire time. She got hurt pretty bad but simply didn't care.”

"Oh, and it seams at one point when one of them tried to pin her she bit a chunk out of his neck. If that gives you an idea of her, well, lack of mindset really."

There was a long pause. Corran suddenly spoke up.

"You like hearing this stuff, don't you?" he shot at Inryi, his voice laden with accusation.

"Corran," Inryi said with a sigh. "You have to understand I grew up among the most despicable killers the Galaxy had to offer. My parents kept my sister Lujayne insulated from much of it until she was much older. I was the bad child of the family and heard just as many happy recounts of gruesome crimes as I watched children's holos. For me they're bedtime stories. I was completely desensitized this type of thing a long tine ago. Honestly I think some of the inmates were trying to outdo each other in what they could come up with to tell a little girl. Most of them weren't, though."

"Frankly I find it fascinating."

 

Chapter 26 (cont.)

The conversation moved on, and a few minutes later and quite unexpectedly, Pash Cracken walked in.

"Pash!" Corran exclaimed. "Happy to see you. What brings you here?" he asked.

“My wing is part of our fleet, and I thought an old friend could use another toast, Pash replied.

He picked up a glass. "Pass me some of that Whiskey," Pash asked. Wedge was withdrawn in his chair as Pash offered a toast. "To Wedge Antilles and his first ever Silver Scimitar!"

Wedge straightened up slightly from his slouch in his chair. He stared at Pash, his eyes unfocused. "Pash," he asked, his voice strained, "you were in the Academy. What do TIE pilots think of me?"

Pash sat down in an adjacent chair. "You have quite the reputation there, and it goes two ways. Publically, every pilot hopes about being to be the one to shoot you down. One of the more common brags actually. They'll be famous for life. Privately, all but the biggest ego cases hope never to get the chance. Because they don't expect to survive it."

"Tell me the truth," Wedge asked softly. "Do you think I deserve the Silver Scimitar?"

"After what you managed to pull off at Viconder?" Pash answered without hesitation. "Of course you do. Anyone would. Once you got the Diamond Eyes I figured if the war went on long enough it was only a matter of time. If the war keeps up like this for long enough, my only question is what they'll do when you earn it again."

"Pash," Wedge asked again, his eyes watering. "Do you think I'm a glory hound? Is my reputation blown out of proportion to what I actually am?"

"Wedge," Pash began. "You're about as opposite a glory hound as it's possible to be. And your reputation is certainly not overblown. They know how great you are, but you're actually better than they think. And if they had any idea you don’t use your targeting computer for lead..."

"Who knows that?" Wedge asked.

"Don't worry, I haven't told anyone and I won't. It's need to know."

"Who told you?" Wedge replied.

"That's need to know as well," Pash replied with a chuckle.

After a pause, Wedge spoke up. "How many people believe what happened at Vicondor is true?"

"Almost all of them. There's a few loudmouth's, ego cases all, who still say you couldn't possibly have reacted to the second Lancer that quickly."

"But as my father would say, a few loud voices in a quiet room seem more numerous than they actually are. Nobody much listens to them. They tried to get some traction by claiming your kill confirmation holo hasn't made the rounds of the fleet, but they almost never do anyway, and the holo of you and Tycho's sensor data undercut that pretty fast.”

“One of the most vocal who helped start the whole thing got shot down the next day, by eyeballs that they outnumbered two to one, in a rather embarrassing manner and that pretty much discredited them to everyone but themselves."

"That's good to know," Wedge said with a sense of relief.

"I've also heard your kill confirmation holo will be released in about two days, and that will shut up the few holdouts.

"It's been recovered?" Wedge asked hopefully.

"Semi-official. Some of them will be convinced, and those that won't, well... They're such glory hounds and ego heads that Thrawn will shut them up within a few weeks, if you get what I'm mean.

"I do," Wedge replied grimly.

"But that's neither here nor now. Get another glass. In the meantime, let’s enjoy the party tonight, because tomorrow Thrawn will be up so something, and there's nothing we can do about it today. Pass a bottle this way!"

 

@Sinrebirth - Finally got to this week's updates, trying to get the posting schedule back on track. Don't worry, action coming soon.

(I hope that the tagging worked, never done it before.)

 

Don't know if the prior attempt a tagging worked or not. Testing. @Sinrebirth

And it seems the answer was no. Good thing this one did.

 

a crazy and smart admiral. There are and have been more of them. Great discussion