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By:  Michael A. Stackpole Published by Bantam Books February 1996 Its very name strikes fear into enemy hearts.  So when Rebel hero Wedge Antilles rebuilds the legendary Rogue Squadron, he seeks out only the best--the most skilled, the most daring X-wing pilots.  Through arduous training and dangerous missions, he weeds out the weak from the strong, assembling a group of hard-bitten warriors willing to fight, ready to die.  Antilles knows the grim truth:  that even with the best X-wing jockeys in the galaxy, many will not survive their near suicidal missions.  But when Rogue Squadron is ordered to assist in the assault on the heavily fortified Imperial stronghold of Black Moon, even the bravest must wonder if any at all will survive....

    The Corellian brought his proton torpedo targeting program up and locked on to the TIE.  It tried to break the lock, but turbolaser fire from the Korolev boxed it in.  Corran's heads-up display went red and he triggered the torpedo.  "Scratch one eyeball."
    The missile shot straight in at the fighter, but the pilot broke hard to port and away, causing the missile to overshoot the target.  Nice flying!  Corran brought his X-wing over and started down to loop in behind the TIE, but as he did so, the TIE vanished from his forward screen and reappeared in his aft arc.  Yanking the stick hard to the right and pulling it back, Corran wrestled the X-wing up and to starboard, then inverted and rolled out to the left.
    A laser shot jolted a tremor through the simulator's couch.  Lucky thing I had all shields aft!  Corran reinforced them with energy from his lasers, then evened them out fore and aft.  Jinking the fighter right and left, he avoided laser shots coming in from behind, but they all came in far closer than he liked.
    He knew Jace had been in the bomber, and Jace was the only pilot in the unit who could have stayed with him. Except for our leader.  Corran smiled broadly.  Coming to see how good I really am, Commander Antilles?  Let me give you a clinic.  "Make sure you're in there solid, Whistler, because we're going for a little ride."
    Corran refused to let the R2's moan slow him down.  A snap-roll brought the X-wing up on its port wing.  Pulling back on the stick yanked the fighter's nose up away from the original line of flight.  The TIE stayed with him, then tightened up on the arc to close distance.  Corran then rolled another ninety degrees and continued the turn into a dive.  Throttling back, Corran hung in the dive for three seconds, then hauled back hard on the stick and cruised up into the TIE fighter's aft.
    The X-wing's laser fire missed wide to the right as the TIE cut to the left.  Corran kicked his speed up to full and broke with the TIE.  He let the X-wing rise above the plane of the break, then put the fighter through a twisting roll that ate up enough time to bring him again into the TIE's rear.  The TIE snapped to the right and Corran looped out to the left.
    He watched the tracking display as the distance between them grew to be a kilometer and a half, then slowed. Fine, you want to go nose to nose?  I've got shields and you don't.  If Commander Antilles wanted to commit virtual suicide, Corran was happy to oblige.  He tugged the stick back to his sternum and rolled out into an inversion loop.  Coming at you!
    The two starfighters closed swiftly.  Corran centered his foe in the crosshairs and waited for a dead shot.  Without shields the TIE fighter would die with one burst, and Corran wanted the kill to be clean.  His HUD flicked green as the TIE juked in and out of the center, then locked green as they closed.
    The TIE started firing at maximum range an scored hits.  At that distance the lasers did no real damage against the shields, prompting Corran to wonder why Wedge was wasting the energy.  Then, as the HUD's green light started to flicker, realization dawned.  The bright bursts on the shields are a distraction to my targeting!  I better kill him now!
    Corran tightened down on the trigger button, sending red laser needles stabbing out at the closing TIE fighter.  He couldn't tell if he had hit anything.  Lights flashed in the cockpit and Whistler started screeching furiously.  Corran's main monitor went black, his shields were down, and his weapons controls were dead.
    The pilot looked left and right.  "Where is he, Whistler?"
    The monitor in front of him flickered to life and a diagnostic report began to scroll by.  Bloodred bordered the damage reports.  "Scanners, out; lasers, out; shields, out; engine,out!  I'm a wallowing Hutt just hanging here in space."