The Krytos Trap

 
By:  Michael A. Stackpole
Published by Bantam Books
October 1996

The Rebels have taken Coruscant.  But their problems are far from over.  A killer virus called Krytos is wiping out the indigenous population, and a counterrevolution is exploding.  At the center of the storm is the highly charged treason trial of Rebel hero Tycho Celchu.  While agents provocateurs carry out their acts of terrorism, the fledgling state can be defended by the blood and courage of the Rogue Squadron.  As the X-wing fighters scramble to save the Rebellion, Corran Horn, given up for dead in Ysanne Isard's inescapable prison, discovers he alone holds the key to freeing Coruscant from the Empire!


Friend or Foe?

    The X-wings came around on a vector that brought them straight at him.  Corran cut his throttle back and dove at a slight angle so he would pass beneath their incoming vector.  One X-wing inverted and pulled up through a loop to drop on Corran's tail while the other broke the other way.  Corran knew the second pilot had made a mistake, and instantly acted to make the most of it.  Cutting his throttle back, he turned hard to starboard and then back again to port.
    Corran throttled up and closed with the X-wing.  You're mine now.  He pushed the Interceptor into point blank range and started to fire, then he saw a blue crest on the X-wing's S-foils.  Though no words accompanied the crest, Corran knew they should have.
    Rogue Squadron!
    The second he recognized the crest, his finger fell away from the trigger.  He didn't know why he didn't fire.  Fear crystallized in his belly at the sight of it, but he knew he wasn't afraid of the Rogues.  It was something else.  Something was wrong, hideously wrong, but he could not pierce the veil of mystery surrounding that sensation.
    Suddenly something exploded behind him, pitching him forward. . . .
    A woman's voice spoke to him.  Her words came tinged with anger, bitten off harshly and clearly meant to hurt him.  "You have failed, Nemesis One."

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