Leia unstrapped and headed back into the transport’s main body. “Meewalh!” she shouted. “Bottom cannon turret.” When she reached the tube and ladder accessing the laser cannon turrets, she climbed into the top-side turret and rapidly strapped herself in.
Syal and her temporary wingmate, a male Mon Cal flying VibroSword Ten, shot out one side of the ever-broadening starfighter combat zone and began a loop around to reenter from another angle.
Things were getting uglier. More squadrons from both sides had joined the furball accumulating halfway between the two vessel formations. Now other gunships, larger than starfighters but smaller than vessels of the line, were turning in to join the combat.
“Dodonna to VibroSword Squadron.”
Syal spotted the gleam of a larger craft leaving the Corellian formation and heading in toward the combat zone. Even at this distance, she identified it by sight as a Nebulon-series light frigate-its ax-headshaped bow, its cubical stern, and the spindly, lengthy spine connecting the two were giveaways at any visual range. It was the largest craft yet headed for the furball. Syal tapped its blip on her sensor board, causing it to flash there and on her wingmate’s board. She adjusted her course for the frigate.
Meanwhile, Dodonna’s message continued to flare through her cockpit speakers. “Return to Dodonna. Upon arrival, do not stand down. Be ready for immediate relaunch.”
Syal swore to herself. If she turned back now, she’d give up any shot at the frigate. If she didn’t turn back now, she’d be disobeying orders. If she could stall by half a minute to a minute, she could adjust her current flight path…
She switched to task force frequency. “V-Sword Seven to Dodonna,” she said. “Please repeat message.” There. Five crucial seconds gone. And the comm operator probably wouldn’t be able to reply instantly; he’d be fielding other confirmation requests, and higher-ranking pilots would get the information first.
It was ten more seconds before Dodonna’s message repeated, fifteen more before the message was completed. Syal acknowledged and began a slow loop back toward the carrier. Her course would take her through the middle of the combat zone … and across the frigate’s path.
CORONET, CORELLIA
Luke roared in toward Mara’s X-wing, which closed toward him, their combined speed causing the numbers on the snubfighter’s range meter to scroll too fast to read.
As they reached the point where Luke could almost see his wife’s face, a point at which most pilots would be unable to react in time to save themselves, Mara dived, flashing mere meters beneath Luke’s X-wing … and revealing the attack fighter tailing her.
The attack fighter’s pilot tried to vector out of Luke’s way. He succeeded. He didn’t succeed in dodging Luke’s lasers. Red flashes converged on the cockpit, and suddenly the fighter was a cloud of smoke and shrapnel. Luke flew through it, pieces of attack fighter fuselage bouncing off his deflectors and scraping off his hull. He emerged into blue sky on the other side.
The maneuver was called the Corellian Slip. Fighter pilot legend had it that the maneuver had been developed here, by the madmen and madwomen who flew for this system. Luke shook his head, a little saddened by the irony.
On his sensor board, he saw Mara looping around to return to his wingmate position. The latest detachment of attack fighters was down to two viable starfighters-and now, realizing the depletion of their numbers, they suddenly veered off, leaving the dogfight. Nine Jedi X-wings, increasingly battered but all still in fighting condition, remained.
“Leader, this is Three.”
“Go ahead, Three.” Luke checked his diagnostics board. R2-D2 was reporting some increasing fluctuation in one of the X-wing’s laser cannons, the port bottom cannon, and indicated that R2 himself was showing some damage, mobility-controlling circuits cooked by a grazing laser hit from one of the attack fighters.
“The landing party has reported in. They have a shuttle and are ready to launch. They’re expecting heavy pursuit once they climb above the no-fly altitude.”
Luke brought up a map of Coronet. It showed his squadron’s location and, courtesy of Hardpoint Three, a blip indicating the location of Jaina’s crew. Luke tapped the screen to designate a point much closer to the landing party’s position than his own. “Artoo, designate that point as location Linkup. Three, tell the landing party to make their way to Linkup without attracting pursuit. We’ll join them there and everyone will take off for space from that point.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Hardpoint, form up on me.” Luke waited until seven more X-wings joined him in formation … and then dived, heading straight for the low, broad buildings that dominated this portion of Coronet.