CHAPTER TWELVE
"You know, when I joined Rogue Squadron, I was expecting a more exciting life."
Jaina Solo glanced from her datapad to look at Soos Marko. The Phuii's orange eyes were narrowed, and his lanky arms were folded across his chest.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you," Jaina said, looking back down at her 'pad. "You can always resign if we don't exceed your expectations."
"You can't really expect much with the war being over, Soos," said the Nautolan Seph Kisto. "You're gonna be hard pressed to find anything more exciting than doing flight runs and practice exercises."
Soos sneered. "I'm sure I'll find something..."
Jaina rolled her eyes at the Phuii's attitude. Everyday she wondered why Gavin Darklighter had recruited him before he left Rogue Squadron to serve as an admiral. True, Soos' piloting skills were quite impressive, but his large ego and arrogance made her forget that sometimes. It also made her wish Vin Sadoon hadn't retired; he would have certainly put the Phuii back into line.
Just as Soos was about to continue his rant, the Balosar Jer Topaz ran into the Kuat Station's lobby room. "Guys, you've gotta check this out!" he exclaimed. "A whole fleet of Star Destroyers is surrounding Kuat!"
Jaina quickly got up to her feet and ran out into the field outside the station. Raising a pair of electro-binoculars to her eyes, she could see exactly what Topaz had described: a fleet of Star Destroyers hovering in Kuat's sky.
And exiting their docking bays were five squadrons of TIE fighters.
Jaina let the binoculars drop from her hands. "Get to your fighters!" she called to the others. "Rogue Squadron, suit up! Lensi, call in the other squadrons!"
She then glared at Soos. "Looks like you've got your wish."
* * *
This wasn't right.
No matter how many times Jagged Fel told himself that, he still could not gather the courage to disobey Admiral Noradan's orders to attack, mostly because his father had raised him to be dutiful and to obey orders with honor. But the Imperial Remnant betraying their truce with the Galactic Alliance did not seem honorable at all.
"Look alive, Shadows," the leader of Shadow Squadron spoke through Jagged's helmet comlink. "X-wings coming in!"
Looking out of his TIE Defender's viewport, Jagged could see a squadron of at least a dozen X-wing starfighters, followed by several A-wing interceptors and Z-95 Headhunters.
Jagged felt his heart skip a beat. Jaina's among them.
Ever since the Galactic Alliance's founding, Jagged had become good friends with Jaina Solo and the two of them often flew together on missions. To be fighting against her in a battle...he was not sure he could handle that.
"Shadow Two, are you all right?" Shadow Leader said into his comlink. "Why aren't you shooting?"
Jagged did not respond. Instead, he gripped the controls of his TIE Defender and swerved the starfighter away from the ensuing battle, ignoring the commands and cursed crackling through his comset.
I'm sorry, he said to himself, but I won't fight for a faction that's lost its honor.
* * *
Jaina maneuvered her X-wing fighter to narrowly avoid the first few emerald plasma bolts fired by the TIE Defenders. R2-D2, the astromech droid who sat in the droid socket of her fighter, let out what sounded like a surprised yelp.
Glancing to her side, Jaina could see that Kral Nevil's fighter had already been hit, and his astromech droid was frantically trying to repair the damage.
"Rogue Five, Rogue Six!" Jaina called into her helmet. "Rogue Two needs cover fire!"
"We're on it, Rogue Leader," said the Kuati pilot Jak Denon.
As the two X-wings flew in to help Nevil, Jaina focused herself on the five TIE fighters that were leaving Kuat and heading for the planet's orbital shipyards.
"Rogues Nine, Twelve, and Four, I'll need your backup."
"We're on our way, Rogue Leader," she heard Lensi reply.
The four of them accelerated their fighters and pursued the five TIE Defenders, firing rows of blaster bolts at them. One blast from Lensi's starfighter hit one of the TIEs in the wing and it spiraled through the air until it exploded in a blaze of fire just below Jaina.
The Rogues continued to chase the four remaining TIEs out of Kuat's atmosphere and towards the planet's orbital shipyard array. To Jaina's shock, a Victory I-class Star Destroyer was positioned in front of the array, firing upon it.
"Not good," said the Zabrak Shyra Jaaz. "What do we do, Rogue Leader?"
Jaina did not respond at first, simply staring at the Star Destroyer as its turbolaser cannons tore the ring-shaped shipyard.
Finally recomposing herself, Jaina spoke into her comlink. "Contact General Ruk'thri down at headquarters. Tell him that we'll need some help from Mon Cala..."
* * *
This wasn't right.
Rolan Verradun pressed his fingers against his temple. True, he had secretly, deeply wished to control Coruscant. But that had simply been a dream he had had ever since he was a child, after hearing his grand-father's belief that the Verraduns would be more fit to control the Republic than the Valorums or the Kalpanas- or pretty much anyone.
Never once had it crossed his mind to use force against the Alliance, to set up a blockade around one of their most powerful allied worlds. He knew he should not have listened to Governor Saxan. He knew what the consequences of this blockade would be.
War.
Verradun broke away from his thoughts when he heard the door to his office opened. He swiveled away from the window that showed Coruscant's skyline to see his Neimoidian secretary in the doorway, a datapad in her pale, wrinkled hand.
The Grand Moff raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you contact me via comm?"
The secretary shifted her feet. "I...thought it was best that you read this instead of hearing it from me."
Verradun took the datapad from the Neimoidian and began reading it. Each time his dark eyes passed over the screen, they began to grow wider and wider. He could not believe what he was reading.
He dropped the datapad to his desk and stared at his secretary. "Who ordered the attack on Kuat? Governor Saxan?"
The Neimoidian shook her head. "I don't know, sir. This report came directly from Admiral Sovv on Mon Cala."
Verradun swallowed before speaking. "Contact him immediately. I wish to sort things out with him and Chief Omas."
The secretary nodded and walked out of the office. Once she was gone, Verradun sighed heavily and placed his head in his hands.
It seems as long as the Empire lives on in any form or fashion, Palpatine and Darth Vorath's ghosts will continue to curse us.
The Grand Moff gritted his teeth, speaking aloud to himself quietly. "Well then, my lords, I curse you to an afterlife of eternal chaos."
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