Wedge
"There they are, right on time." Wedge switched off the autopilot of his X-wing and took manual control. His comrades followed suit, the strict V formation of the squadron of escort fighters that provided cover for the convoy dissolved. They left the train behind with half of the squadron to approach the docks. The base in the highlands of the Xendurian Empire on Bhamlick had heavy ion cannons protected from the ground to defend the surrounding area. A strong bombardment with all batteries together could be dangerous even for a cruiser high up in orbit, but they had no chance against the small, fast and agile gliders of the League of the Damned. This battle had to be fought eye to eye with fighters, especially since they were still outside the secure airspace of the Gamma Base. When landing through the atmosphere, the convoys had often been attacked by pirates, who attacked the rotors and stabilizers so that the ships lost their footing and fell unhindered to the surface. They then crashed on the ground and this murderous scum scraped the remains of the goods out of the corpses of the burned cruisers before the security forces could arrive there to arrest them. To stop this and to stop the residents of Bhamlick from suffering from hunger, the Republic had sent several squadrons here, including Jedi Knights like them. Wegde Antilles, a human, Zuri, a Karan, and Lorynz and Sydney, two other humans, were among the highest ranking officers of this highly deserved flying squadron that had been fighting on the front lines for the Republic since Yavin. They had been called to Coruscant because of their gifts to defend the Republic. Now honor and duty called them back to the Outer Rim, but not to push into the core like they had always done before. No, now it was about fighting in the opposite direction. "You have to give that to these scum, they have the courtesy to show up in time for their execution." Zuri replied over the radio. Those dozen shabby, half-rusted fighters there had suddenly appeared on the horizon, hidden in the bright glow of the rising sun and flown on the thin line where atmosphere and space meet to outwit the sensors.
"Well then, let's go." Wedge ordered, increasing his pace a little.
"Shouldn't we wait for the Xendu?After all, it's their people who are starving!" Lorynz suggested, covering his right flank.
"No, they've already complained enough that the Republic only sent about two dozen X-wings. Time to prove what we're worth and silence the scoffers." Wedge replied. A-wings were even faster than X-wings and made for aerial combat, but ambushes were their greatest weakness. Wedge trusted his T-65 X-wing and had studied the last raids by the raiders over the past four months and had come up with a little surprise.
"Well then, let's have some fun." Zuri said and broke out with her unit on his left flank, luring the pirates' right wing away, the rest of the squadron turned to the right and as expected, the majority of their squadron, nineteen fighters in total, followed them. He changed course so that they overlapped with theirs and met in a few minutes. Sydney, who was leading the rear guard, turned at the last minute to help Zuri's unit, to pursue the convoy of speeders that were chasing them from behind. Lorynz and Wedge, meanwhile, formed the right wing of the attack with the rest of the fighters. Their machines were pathetic examples of stolen, looted and roughly reassembled Buster-A class speeders, no real opponents for their deadly fast star fighters, their advantage lay solely in their numbers and this advantage was already beginning to shrink. They lured them down into lower flatland, where they used the dust clouds that were thrown up as cover to disappear into. They looped and came out from behind the pirates, flew over them on the sides and two of their machines on the wings of the formation fell to the ground burning like fallen stars. They scattered and scattered like a swarm of flying insects to engage them in fierce one-on-one combat, but this only made them lose strength. Tired and without ever having a chance to catch up, the speeders chased after them, but then ion bombardment broke down on them from above. Sydney and Zuri had long since eliminated their quarter of pirates and now, without warning, threw themselves back into the fight with them. Within a few minutes, it was all over again. Space battles in the air or in space were the premier class of combat: noscorched earth that stretched for miles across the land like giant scars, with only a few craters here and there from fallen ships, impacted projectiles and scattered fields of lost components. All the rubble and all the bodies fell to the ground where they were buried in dirt and sand, if they hadn't burned in the fall first.
"All right, folks, good job. Now back to the train." Wedge ordered and led his squadron back to the convoy. They landed in the air combat base that had been converted into a refugee shelter in the middle of the Folded Mountains, which was the core of the Xendurian Empire, the dominant superpower on Bhamlick, a world in the Outer Ring that was fighting for survival. Well over five thousand civilians gathered here and a few hundred men from the security forces. After the Empire retreated into the wilderness of the Outer Rim, the Republic had inexorably annexed one world after another, system by system. The few warlords and governors barricaded themselves in their fortresses and citadels, fled with their ships or went underground. The Republic still had to deal with the Outer Rim and could therefore only send goods and a minimum of troops.
"The food and medicine you brought us will help my people to stay alive. Thank you for that." Said Zharayus, the governor of this province and deputy of the emperor, who had just been fighting rebels in the southern lands of his country.
"Alive, yes, but for what? We lack the means to fight. We cannot go any further to the Anon fields, the journey is too far and we have too many women, children and old people with us. And we cannot go back to the Casmir plains either, they are just as overburdened down there as we are here." Sanathor, the captain of the governor's house guard, was a hunchbacked but extremely strong and easily irritable giant.
"Life is life, just make the best of it before someone else takes it away from you." Wedge advised them, he had learned that in the war. Only if you learn to appreciate the small victories of a day of hard work will you not fall apart on the way to the big picture.
"We will try, but until the trench has fallen, the raids will never stop." Sanathor said and nodded towards the setting sun. The Imperial concentration holder of this world was called Rhylla Kasymir, his units had lost control of all important bases and outposts due to the raids and constant attacks by the civilian population, with the exception of one. A large air raid shelter and weapons depot with large generators that dated back to the time of the Clone Wars. This giant, rising as a lonely, column-like monolith from the barren forest land, had some long military number or technical name, but the people here simply called it the trench. Wedge thought it was a fitting name, thanks to the heavy batteries of turbolasers that surrounded it, the area around the natural tower had become a veritable graveyard.
"We lack the heavy artillery and the men for a major attack. We can only shoot down their planes if they venture out." Said Vidk'har Uhloren, a Bothan from the Kryson colonies on Sullust, one of his adjutants and distant cousin of Borsk Fey'lya, as he had heard. A third or fourth cousin of an inglorious branch, he valued him, but the High Council valued him very much, it was said, and took him under its wing.
"Then we'll do that too. That's what we're here for, after all." Wedge said determinedly. And so the weeks passed, a short war of attrition, Rhylla could not be accused of cowardice, at least that was Wedge's assessment. No matter how many times they repelled their raids on the Xendu convoys and goods, they retreated to their fortress, licked their wounds and returned the next day with almost their old strength, although the number of their wounded and freshly bandaged warriors increased each time. More than once they set their flight paths temptingly close to the tower to provoke a reaction, hoping that hunger and the lack of alternatives would lure them out even if it meant certain death. They always stayed out of range of their heavy surface-to-air guns.
"How many men do you think Rhylla has left? Eighty? Ninety?" Vidk'har once began to wonder. "The base is big enough and has enough storerooms to supply at least two thousand men for three years," Zuri said instead.
"Yes, but how many are really still in there? They must be hungry, otherwise they wouldn't waste men on a looting spree, so the storerooms are mostly empty. They don't have any TIEs anymore. And I count on the attacks recentlybarely more than forty Imperials." Vidk'har said.
"The loyal men will surely have their wives and children with them too? A few adjutants, gray old men and wounded? A few hundred, maybe two hundred and fifty or three hundred, but no more than four." Sydney said thoughtfully.
"That will never be enough to keep the trench alive. The complex is underground and almost as big as a dreadnought, even with droids they will only be able to supply power to the most necessary areas." Lorynz said.
"Then they use automatic devices for the guns. Motion sensors on the ground and radar tell the guns where the targets are and they fire at anything that moves towards the trench." Wedge said.
"On Alhany I dealt with such pallet systems. A simple but effective programming, the guns' devices analyze the flight pattern of the attacking planes, calculate the best possible targets and only stop firing when the plane is destroyed or incapacitated." Zuri said.
"That could also be the weakness of their defense. Droid brains have always been overwhelmed by the unexpected. We can use that to our advantage." Said Vidk'har, whose golden brown fur began to bristle slightly.
"What do you have in mind for Uhloren?" Wedge wanted to know.
"Something unconventional." He said with a slight grin.
They flew in a solid formation towards the trench again. To attack! A direct advance over the sides and from the front. Of course, Rhylla's men did not get involved in a major battle with the renegade squadron, why would they? Their armor was strong and their cannons were able to keep them at a distance in the dense, constant crossfire. Therefore, the Imperials preferred to fight them from their control consoles and ignore their challenge.
"That's really quite heavy fire they're throwing at us." Sydney said over the radio.
"Yes, they know their grid fire is strong and hard to penetrate." At least that's what they probably thought. A poisonous green ion beam shot straight at him, Wedge turned his machine slightly to the side so that the shot missed the underside of his X-wing, but only just missed it, and possibly even left a dark burn mark on its outer hull. To the naked eye, or the projection of the hologram reproduced in the command room of the trench, it must have looked as if the fire had hit Wedge's plane. Almost at the same time, and with precise timing, Wedge activated a switch in his cockpit, deliberately blasting off a loose attachment of scrap metal on the belly of the X-wing. In the makeshift hiding place there was also a gas tank which was leaving a thick cloud of soot-black smoke behind him. Wedge simply let himself fall, he abruptly pulled his X-wing down, the nose pointed at the approaching ground. This trembling, wobbling course he was taking, combined with the apparent source of fire in the fighter's torn open intestines, left no other logical conclusion than that Renegade One had been hit and was just about to crash in the area surrounding the trench. In reality, Wedge was steering the fighter with only one hand on the stick, the other comfortably resting on his neck so that he could really enjoy the break in the middle of the battle.
"Looks like it's working, Renegade One." Vidk'har said, audibly pleased with himself. The Bothan had correctly predicted that the cannons, which were automated due to a lack of suitable personnel, would no longer pay any attention to a falling fighter as soon as its course indicated a certain crash. Wedge's dizzying course drove him downhill towards the trench, but through the fire. The rest of the squadron continued to move south, drawing more fire towards them, while half a dozen of his pilots performed this simple but effective deception maneuver. They dropped, seemingly fatally hit, and raced towards the ground.
"All right, that's close enough. Turn and then roar at them!" Wedge ordered, pulling the control stick back to the stop. In the last hundred meters before anyone actually hit the ground, he corrected his flight path again. He and his fighters raced over the tops of the gnarled, old trees that grew around the trench. Some of the tips broke off or even caught fire under the tail of energy emitted by their X-wings. In this way they came close enough to the gun positions in the trench, and before they even realized what was happening they were attacking the cannons with ion fire and torpedo fire and completely disabling them.
"Well done guys, we have taken away their swords. Now all they have left is the heavy armored doors." Said Wedge. Gunboats brought more landing troops with heavy gun positions which, thanks to the lack of the Imperial defense rings, they could now bring close enough to break open the gates of the trench and storm the fortress.
"We should strike immediately." Said Sanathor, who knew that the Xendu's house guard with several hundred men was behind him.
"It is still too early now, the terrain is too uneven and offers too many opportunities for an ambush. Rhylla will not stand idly by while we tear down his door, he knows that without the cannons and the possibility of escape, he will only have a forced compromise." Sanathor had been pushing for weeks, successfully, to consistently ignore all offers of surrender from the Imperials. He only wanted to achieve their submission and defeat.
"He does not have the men for that. He will rely solely on the narrowness of his halls and corridors for an ambush. One floor after the other, hall battle after hall battle." The Xendu objected firmly.
"Maybe, but first he will leave no stone unturned to leave us covered in blood every meter. They have nothing left to gain except their lives and their own to lose. Don't underestimate a cornered animal and succumb too soon to the belief that you are the victor." Vidk'har agreed with the commander of the Republican forces, Wylliam Bligh.
"This is our land that they are defiling! And our fortress that they are occupying!" Sanathor said angrily.
"And my men will not pay for that senselessly with their lives. We'll wait until tomorrow, it starts at zero nine hundred." Bligh ended the discussion. He had three times more and ten times better men than Sanathor with his guard made up of militia and recruited farmers, so the last word was his alone. Growling and baring his teeth, Sanathor withdrew from the tent. The Republican forces were housed in a separate camp away from the Xendu camp.
"It would be best if you broke out two hours earlier, Commander." Vidk'har advised him when the Xendu and his men had left their camp again.
"Why is that?" Bligh asked, surprised. As a pilot, Uhloren belonged to the fleet and not the army; he was neither entitled nor expected to have the skills and knowledge required for ground combat to give tactical advice.
"Sanathor and his men will set off earlier, in the dark, to conquer the trench on their own. He believes that after we have done all the work so far and he has spared his troops, he can do it without our help." The Bothan said shrewdly.
"Doing that would be crazy, a breakdown in cooperation would not be far off." Bligh countered.
"With such a strong fortress and enough men, you no longer need allies. Not when everyone else is as weak as them. Sanathor gains reputation, a safe haven for his people and control over the hot trade routes. He alone and without an emissary from the Republic who could interfere. By charging import fees he can quickly hire more men." Said Vidk'har.
"It would actually be a tempting offer, especially since our counts show that Rhylla is indeed almost at the end. A quick strike force to the side entrances on the flanks and for the least effort you get the biggest price." Said Wedge, who felt obliged to come to the aid of his first officer and deputy. His tactical sense and determination in battle had had no insignificant effect on their victories. And Rhylla was far from as finished as they had always suspected. Even as the renegade squadron flew over the burning carcasses of their gun emplacements, he included every fighting being in his entourage. An old man might be old but also experienced. A boy might be fearful but also quick-thinking. A woman was not primarily made for war, but always showed relentlessness when given a weapon. And everyone knew that if the trench fell, they would face certain death at the hands of the marauding hordes of Xendu. So they hid at night in the woods around the trench, between the trees and hills that they knew well. And when Sanathor and his guard arrived under cover of darkness, without torches or lamps to announce their arrival, they almost blindly walked into their trap and the Imperials fought like animals for their survival. When Bligh's men arrived, Sanathor had already lost almost half of his men and his head. A lance was stuck in his back; he had probably tried to run away. Bligh took command of the remaining Xendu and negotiated a ceasefire in the Rhyl holder handed over the trench to them in exchange for the promise that his people would be spared.
"How did you know that Vidk'har? Was that one of those Bothan ruses I've heard so much about?" Sydney asked curiously. But the Bothan did not react in any way insulted or offended by this malicious taunt, as would certainly have been the case with others. Bothans were always a species of their own, Wedge thought.
"Oh, that old prejudice. As my great uncle likes to say: I recognized the stupidity of others and prevented our men from having to pay the price for it. If that gives me the reputation of being an intriguer, I'll gladly do it again and again." Vidk'har said politely.
"And the death of Sanathor?" Zuri asked sharply.
"I neither planned nor wanted his death, but I will not deny that this sacrifice is the best for everyone." Vidk'har said weakly.
"The sacrifice of someone else?" Sydney asked.
"The sacrifice of a disruptive factor. Sanathor was not a man of the Republic, not a reliable ally, he only saw us as mercenaries he had hired. He would have turned away from us as soon as he had the trench. He would have caused problems many times in the future. He would have caused problems for us and for his own people too." Vidk'har said.
"Are you really so sure, Vidk'har?" Wedge asked, who appreciated the Bothan's successes and his courage, but did not always approve of his methods. That's war, he always told himself, there is no fairness here.
"I heard the other Xendu talking about him. He was by no means popular." Vidk'har said.
"The Emperor wasn't either," Sydney defended him.
"And nobody had anything to complain about his sacrifice either." Vidk'har said with a malicious grin.
