The records said Viamarr 4 was an agricultural world, somewhat higher in gravity than Coruscant standard; its chief export was a subterranean fungus whose offshoots and tubers sometimes grew to the diameter of a kilometer or more. The fungus, inaccurately called Viamarr Blackroot for its color, was well liked for its meaty texture and nutrient balance.
"Who has TIE fighter experience?" Wedge asked. "Even in simulators?" He held up his own hand.
So did Piggy, Falynn, Face, and Janson.
"Piggy, how were the simulator c.o.c.kpits for you?"
"Terrible, sir."
"All right. I want Wes to remain on Night Caller. Falynn, suit up. You and I are going to buzz the capital of Viamarr 4."
The somber woman from Tatooine gave one of her rare smiles.
Wedge continued, "Squeaky informs me that there"s a TIE fighter simulator in the stern lounge. Not too surprising, since this corvette is trying very hard to be a pocket carrier. I recommend that the rest of you get some experience in it. We may be flying a number of TIE fighter missions."
Wedge looked over the half-familiar array of controls and monitors, let out an irritated sigh, and flipped two switches. The TIE fighter immediately hummed, indicating it was powering up. "We have two lit and in the green," he said. Automatically, he glanced to port and starboard, a visual check of his surroundings, and bit back another annoyed remark.
There were no windows to the sides; had there been any, their view would only have been of the fighter"s wing pylons and large, hexagonal solar array wings. The TIE"s only viewports were forward and above. They showed endless starfield, reminding Wedge that he was hanging from what until a few days ago was an escape pod dock.
No shields. No ejection seat. TIE fighters were disposable attack vehicles for disposable pilots, and Wedge never cared to feel disposable.
"Laser cannon readings nominal. How am I transmitting?"
Jesmin came back, "Sir, until you launch, your communications are coming in over direct connections."
Wedge grinned. "Sorry. I"ll ask again after launch. Gray Two, what"s your status?"
Falynn"s voice sounded a bit nervous. "Twin ion engines are live and running at optimal. Ship"s systems all in the green. Two laser cannons at full power. Shields-d.a.m.n. I mean, uh, sorry, sir."
"That"s all right, I feel the same way."
"And I don"t look forward to landing this thing. Sir, even in the simulators, I"ve never landed straight onto a docking station."
"You"ll do fine. Just remember to crank the hand yoke over to minimal responsiveness. That"ll make you feel like you"re crawling along centimeter by centimeter, but you won"t crash into anything on landing.
Watch what I do." Now, he had to match action to words. He cranked the k.n.o.b on his control yoke down as far as it would go, then cut the connection with Night Caller and kicked in the ion engines.
He drifted free of the corvette. When the rangefinder said he was fifty meters from the ship, he rotated in place, looking back across Night Caller"s belly. On the far side, Falynn"s TIE fighter was also in a slow, smooth descent relative to the corvette"s keel. "Good," he said. "Ready to fly?"
"Ready, sir."
"Gray Flight away." He pulled back on the yoke and twisted its adjustment k.n.o.b, feeding more power into the engines. The TIE fighter glided smoothly forward; he heeled it over toward the distant planet of Viamarr 4. He was pleased to see Falynn follow him with adequate skill; apparently her simulator time had been put to good use.
A while later they dove into the atmosphere of Viamarr 4 and headed toward Velery, the planetary capital, a community of a hundred thousand on the largest continent of the southern hemisphere. The land surrounding the capital was largely forested, with numerous tiny communities of wooden buildings.
Finally someone was alerted to their presence: "Incoming craft, this is Velery Station. Please identify yourself. Do you read?"
Wedge switched his comm to broadcast in the clear. "Velery Station, this is Gray Flight, escorting private yacht Night Caller."
"Ah, yes." The voice became noticeably more agitated. "Gray Flight, please come to heading two-five-five and make landing here at Velery Station."
"Can"t do it, sorry. Not in our mission parameters." The mission a.s.signed to Night Caller"s TIE fighters was a simple one: Buzz the town of Velery a couple of times, spook any air, traffic, ignore attempts by the local government to impose its authority, and return to the corvette. Simple.
The agrarian settlers of the planet didn"t have any significant defenses - nothing even to make TIE fighters worry.
"Uh... may I inquire as to what those parameters are?"
"Stay where you are and you"ll see them in just a minute." He could see the interruption in the forest ahead that had to herald the presence of Velery.
The sensor board beeped a strident signal Wedge recognized. He switched to Night Caller"s frequency: "Follow me, Two, someone"s trying to paint us for laser fire." He pulled back on the yoke and went skyward.
As he climbed and then looped backward, he could see their pursuers through the viewport atop the TIE fighter"s c.o.c.kpit. Two stubby fighter craft, their noses similar to X-wings except for the bubble canopy- "Headhunters," he said. Evidently Viamarr had picked up some fighter defenses when Zsinj wasn"t looking.
"Mark Ones," Falynn said. "See the swing wings? They"re pretty old."
"Maybe, but they"re as good as TIE fighters in atmosphere, and their lasers can cause you to have a bad, bad day." Wedge saw the Headhunters climb in an effort to stay on the TIE fighters" tails.
Then they were on the comm: "Gray Flight, this is Blackwing One. You need to comply with Velery Station"s instructions. Right now." The voice was male, young, rustic.
Wedge shook his head. Farmboys in Headhunters trying to point laser cannons at him. "Oh, we can"t have that."
He snap-rolled and dove, pushing the TIE fighter"s atmospheric capabilities to their limits in an effort to come down in firing position behind the Headhunters. Atmospheric drag on the solar arrays caused him to slew to port, but he kept the fighter in line through experience and brute strength.
He had a moment"s worry wondering if Falynn could keep up with him, tried to spot her visually and couldn"t, then caught sight of her blip on the sensor monitor. She had lost ground to him, but was in control.
Mere meters above the treetops, he rolled upright and began another climb, this time with the port-side Headhunter in clear sight. He brought up the TIE fighter"s targeting equipment and immediately had the Headhunter"s jittery silhouette bracketed. "Blackwing One, if I were in an irritable mood, one of you would be dead now."
"So you say. These things can take a lot more punishment than those pasteboard boxes you"re flying." The Head-hunter in his brackets juked left, then rolled up on its starboard wing and began a tight roll to starboard.
"And they"ll do just that if you don"t stop annoying me."
Wedge easily stayed on the Headhunter"s tail, antic.i.p.ating the fighter"s banks and turns, gaining on the older vehicle until he held at a mere fifty meters back.
He glanced at his sensor board. Falynn wasn"t talking, but she was still behind the other Headhunter, mimicking its maneuvers. Finally her voice came across on Night Caller"s channel: "Sir, it won"t be hard, but I really don"t want to vape these plow-pushers."
"Keep your guns on them and outfly them, Two. Maybe they"ll grow a brain stem."
Wedge"s target rolled left and suddenly lost alt.i.tude, diving straight toward the trees. Wedge followed him in, blinked in amazement as the Headhunter crashed down through the top layer of branches.
Follow or break off? That pilot was young and arrogant, but didn"t seem suicidal. Wedge followed.
He felt his solar arrays tear through branches, then suddenly he was below the level of the treetops. His target was angling to starboard, following the course of a low river. Wedge tucked in right behind him.
"Blackwings, are you ready to break off and go home?"
"Gray One, you"re about a second from me turning around and giving you six laser cannons" worth of dental work-"
The voice of Velery Station cut in again. "Blackwing Flight, break off and return to station. That"s an order."
"Sir..." Blackwing One"s voice was sulky, frustrated.
"That"s straight from the governor. Or do you want your pilots" licenses transferred to tractor operations?"
"No, sir." With no further taunts for the TIE fighters, Blackwing One reduced speed, then punched up through the light canopy of tree branches.
On the sensor screen, Black-wing Two was also headed toward the Velery Station coordinates.
"Good flying, Gray Two. Now, let"s buzz their administrative buildings."
"Sounds like fun, One."
Jesmin leaned back from the comm station. "Lieutenant, we"re receiving a communication from Velery House. That"s their capitol building. They"re asking for a specific encryption that"s in our computer. Obviously they"ve talked before."
Janson, lounging in the captain"s seat, looked confused. "There"s no provision in the mission profile for this. They weren"t supposed to call.
They were supposed to batten down hatches and ride out the TIE fighters"
overflight."
Jesmin gave him a very human shrug. "I know."
"Well, take the call. Tell them the captain is taking a bath or something."
"Sir, Night Caller followed Imperial protocols under Captain Darillian."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning it wouldn"t have a Mon Calamari communications officer."
Janson uttered an irritable hiss. "Well, I can"t take the call. My face is fairly well known."
They both looked at Face, seated at the navigational console. He straightened up. "Uh, even with my scar, they might recognize me. Some of the Wraiths did."
Janson didn"t bother to conceal his frustration. "Face, you"re an actor.
Do something."
Face stood, looked frantically around the bridge. There wasn"t much on hand: items dropped by the bridge crew behind consoles, plus Cubber"s toolkit over where the mechanic had been cutting the sharp edges away from the hole in the floor, preparatory to putting down a metal sheet.
He ran to the toolbox, pulled out Cubber"s welding goggles. Then a cylinder of orange paint used to mark spots on a ship"s exterior where repairs were necessary. He sprayed the interior of the goggles until they were opaque.
Containers of grease, hydrospanners, cables, sensors, tubing... He took a tube half the length of his forearm, inserted one end in his nose, the other in his right ear. Then he put the goggles on, resting them on his forehead, and hunted up one of the bridge crewmen"s hats. "Give me the chair."
Janson vacated it. Face settled in, pulled the goggles over his eyes, pulled the hat down low on his brow. "How"s that look?"
He couldn"t see their faces, but Jesmin responded with gales of laughter.
He could barely hear Janson"s reply: "It"s disgusting."
"But they won"t recognize my features. All right, put him up on the screen." He turned toward the bridge"s main view-screen.
He could dimly see the light intensity in the room change, then he heard a voice: "Captain D - Oh, my."
Face took a deep breath and ran his voice down into the ba.s.s range where it could vibrate rocks and desktops. "Captain Darillian is having his bath. I am Lieutenant Narol. Who are you? What do you want?" He injected both boredom and contempt into his voice.
"Um, I am Governor Watesk. I would very much like to speak with Captain Darillian." The man"s voice was a plea.
Face angled his head down so he could peer between the top of the goggles and the bottom of his officer"s hat. The face on the viewscreen was of a graying, bearded man, dressed in rustic brown tunic but with expensive wood paneling behind him. "Was Basic your first language? Do you not understand? The captain is in his bath."
"You could give me voice-only access."
"He"s dictating his memoirs and doesn"t want to be disturbed."
"In the bath?"
"Of course, in the bath!" Face"s tone was an explosion of anger. "Where else? The captain is a very busy man! He"s not some deskbound colony governor with enough time to pick his nose with one hand and skim the cream off taxes with the other! If you have anything to say, you can say it to me. Or perhaps we"ll just jump on to our next destination and I"ll give the captain a report of your bad manners. And the manners of your pilots, who for some unknown reason decided to play tag with ours."
"No! Lieutenant, please forgive me." The governor looked appropriately contrite. "Our air force is very new, the pilots not yet very experienced. They acted on their own ini - tiative. They will be punished. But that"s not what I"m calling about."
Face contrived, with posture and the set of his mouth, to look bored. "Go on."
"I"m calling about the agreement. I"m ready for Viamarr to become a signatory. A proud signatory."
Face glanced at Jesmin. Her fingers flew over her communications console.
Then she began a wild pantomime that said clearly to Face that there was nothing about this in the ship"s records.
"It has been a while," Face said smoothly. "What makes you think that the original offer is still available?"
The question caught Governor Watesk off guard. The man had to take a couple of gulping breaths before he answered. Before he could reply, the wall panels behind him vibrated and Face could clearly hear the sound of a TIE fighter screaming by near the governor"s position. The governor tracked the TIE fighter"s movement with his eyes, then returned his attention to Face. "Sir, the warlord said I"d have until your next visit to decide."
Face gave him a cold smile. "And what did the warlord say after the last time he talked to you?"
The governor looked stricken. "I don"t know, sir. I couldn"t possibly know."
"Correct. Well, you tell me what you think the warlord offered and I"ll tell you what part of it is still on the table."
Janson smiled broadly and gave Face a thumbs-up of approval.
"Uh, yes." The governor glanced down, apparently looking at a datapad or doc.u.ments the screen didn"t show. "We are to provide his army with supplies equivalent to one-tenth our exports."
"And?"
"And you are to... and you would give us a location where we could transmit requests for aid in case of attack or invasion. You"d protect us."
"And?"
"And we would of course provide you with information about any dealings with the New Republic, the Empire, other warlords."