“Daggart, you ready? I’m going to hand this piece off to you in three, two, one…”
Solo goosed his engine, quickly tripling the distance between himself and the bomb. Slak was careful not to get too close; he knew that older models of proton bombs would have hit the ground by now, powered only by gravity. but these newer models were more like torpedoes, able to direct itself when it locked onto a target, sometimes even slowing or reversing their descent when necessary.
And that’s what Slak and Solo were counting on, here. The bomb would hopefully lock on to the heat of their engines and the energy residue of their scanners and other gadgets, and follow them like a misled hound.
Normally, this would have been a fool’s errand, with the bomb’s onboard navacomputer focusing solely on the target given when it was launched. But Norrin and his little droid had somehow switched off the bomb’s ability to tell the difference between a TIE fighter and the rebels below, at least for a few seconds at a time.
No time to think too deep, Slak realized, waggling his handset and jumping between Solo and the airborne explosive.
“Alright, Slak, take a hard right and lead it over that mountain. You’ve got about ten seconds before it realizes you’re not a farm, and I’ll have to jump in and take over again.”
“Easy as taking creds from a slumming rich boy,” Slak said with a grunt as he tried to steer in the thinner upper atmosphere. He was already preferring to fly in space; far more predictable to fly in a vacuum, with no winds buffeting him.
A buzzing noise sounded in his cockpit as the bomb’s targeting computer locked onto his fighter. Normally, Slak would have be terrified, but now he coolly swooped over to the mountain ridge, followed by a flying payload of explosives big and nasty enough to level the Slingball stadium back in Corellis City back home.
“Good, Slak,” Solo said, “you’re doing good. Keep and maintain that distance. Lead it on, like a girl you want to make another girl jealous.”
“Got it, boss,” Slak said, still maintaining an almost constant distance from the bomb as it adjusted its course and altitude.
“Okay, Slak, see me? I’m swooping under you right now, and you’re going to hand it off to me , and it’s going to follow me next over that ridge, in three, two…now!”
Slak goosed his engine, pulling his fighter in front of Solo just as the bomb was deviating from following him. Solo swept into the gap, and the bomb re-oriented on him like a dog that had just found a scent to follow once again.
“And I’ll jet out and drop this little number,” Solo continued, more to himself than to anyone else, “in three, two…”
“Lieutenant Solo, explain yourself.”
It was Hublin’s voice over the comlink.
“Yes, Lieutenant,” said Grey leader’s voice in all their ears through their helmet radios, “I’m very interested in whatever explanation you can give us for this little wrinkle in the flight plan.”
“Can’t talk now, gentlemen,” Solo said, “I’ve got a bomb to drop.”
“You’ll talk to me now, Solo,” barked Hublin, “or I’ll put a blaster bolt in you!”
“Then you can explain to Commodore Bast and Lord Vader why you shot your second-in-command, and why the team they hand-picked missed their target by miles. Otherwise, I’ll be the one taking any heat, so back off.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Solo,” Grey Leader’s voice again, “you realize that I’m going to have to report this insubordination at the end of this operation.”
“”Sir, with all due respect, the Republic still stands, Rule 234 is very clear, and I doubt the Emperor wants an empty base with a lot of potentially useful equipment for use by the Imperial forces destroyed needlessly.”
“An empty base, Solo?”
Solo didn’t answer, but ducked his TIE fighter over the ridge. The bomb followed, and when he knew he had enough room, he fired up his engines again. In two seconds Solo was far enough away from the bomb that it had lost the energy signature of Solo’s fighter. Blocked by the solid rock of the mountains, the bomb chose the only path it could, and dove straight down.
The bomb hit the ground and detonated. The white flash was there and gone in an instant, and the crater would stand forever if no one further disturbed it.
#
All waited in a holding pattern while Solo returned.
“Explanation, Solo?” Grey leader said.
“Well, I…the intelligence was faulty, Captain. This was not a military outpost.”
“Your orders were to bomb the location, Lieutenant. There was no stipulation otherwise. You are relieved of duty. Back to the Adeptus. Cadet Sanddancer, Cadet Eccles, prepare to make a second run. If anything tries to escape, blast it out of the sky.”
“Sir, with respect, our orders weren’t to blast anything and everything to smithereens. Our orders were to, and I quote, ‘pacify the area and remove it as a threat.’ ”
“Your point, Cadet Daggart?” said Grey Leader, his voice moving from bored to annoyed. “No matter who they said was in charge back at the Adeptus, I'm the senior officer on this run and that always carries the most weight. Also bear in mind, I’ve dealt with enough Corellians like you and Lieutenant Solo to where I’m immune to your smooth talking. Waste my time and you’ll go missing in action.”
“Sir, If I may,” said Dav, taking over the conversation, “Cadet Daggart was just saying that it seems like we’re about to get into trouble and waste ordinance when we actually followed orders. We pacified the area and removed it as a threat when we shot down or chased off the stragglers here at the base.”
“There are still rebels at the base, Daggart.”
“Sir,” Mek on the line this time, “you may want to check your scanners again. The base is deserted. The intelligence was wrong. And under article…”
“I know article 234, cadet. I’ve ignored it many times in the course of my career.”
“Not 234, sir. If you examine…article 137, it states that in the event that the firing of ordnance proves unnecessary, it’s better to save the Empire expense and materials by withholding payload and…”
“Alright, shut up, kid. I see the scanner. No life forms now. Whatever was there was probably trying to escape on those ships we dusted. This mission is over, and we’re going back. All units, back to base. Solo, Hublin, we need to have a chat between officers in briefing room four, half an hour after your ships touch the hangar floor, understand?”
“Yes, sir!” they said in unison.
“Right. Back we go. And silence from here on back to the ship. Anyone talks needlessly between here and the Adeptus, I’ll put a photon torpedo in you myself. If it’s one thing that annoys me it’s going on a mission that turn out to be a pointless waste.”
As they all moved back into formation, Bondo looked at Mek, who in turn looked up at the post he knew Rex sat in.
“Poot-te-wheet!” said Rex, as he finished erasing all evidence of the settlers on the large asteroid.
“You realize, Norrin,” started Bondo, “that there’s…”
“Yeah, I know. Once we get out of this jamming field, they’re gonna beat on us so hard in the Grey Room that they’ll hafta pour our remains in through a sieve. I’m too scared to think about that, for now.”
“I…I wasn’t going to say that. I’m saying the scanners are wrong!”
TO BE CONTINUED...