Read Online Crisis of Faith by Timothy Zahn - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Timothy Zahn
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Even if an approaching pilot veered off the flytrap vector in time to survive the gunners’ first shot, they would have several other chances to finish the job as he flew away. Assuming,
that is, the gunners were fast enough and good enough.
Time to find out just how fast and good they were.
By the time Fel had brought his TIE onto the flytrap vector, Stent was in position, forming up fifty meters behind Fel off his starboard wing. Stent was a Chiss, one of Thrawn’s people, who had severed ties with his homeworld in order to come out here and serve the Grand Admiral. He was also one of Fel’s best pilots, which was why Fel had chosen him for this job.
And the two of them were going to get only one shot at this. Kicking his TIE to full power, jinking back and forth as much as he could while still maintaining his insertion vector, Fel headed in.
He’d closed to within a hundred meters of the flytrap opening when he spotted the telltale twitch of the laser barrels as they made their final targeting lock. Instantly, he did a final twitch of his own, jinking his fighter hard to starboard. The lasers flashed, the dual bolts sizzling past his canopy.
With a burst of fire and shattered metal, his portside wing burst into flame.
Twisting the yoke hard over, Fel spun away to starboard. His momentum was carrying him straight toward the unyielding patchwork of umbrella shields below; twisting around again, he pulled up sluggishly out of his dive.
And as he did so, he flew directly across one of the laser cannon’s other firing gaps.
He tensed with anticipation. But Thrawn had been right. The gimmicked wing and its fake fire damage made Fel look fatally wounded, and Nuso Esva’s gunners weren’t going to bother with a fighter that would likely crash within seconds anyway. Certainly not when they had a much more interesting target coming their way.
Because while Fel had been fighting his burning craft, Stent had lined up onto the flytrap vector and was heading in.
Fel continued his turn, losing altitude and fighting to keep his wobble from getting out of control, all the while wending a twisting path toward the flytrap opening. He finally straightened out into a course more or less level over the city and perpendicular to Stent’s own current vector. From Fel’s new angle he could see that Stent was coming in at full power, with the same evasive maneuvering that Fel had been trying when the laser cannon opened up on him. Alternating his attention
among Stent, the flytrap opening, and the ground, Fel flipped up the protective cover on the add-on section of his control board and braced himself.
For an instant he thought Stent had left it too late, and that Nuso Esva’s gunners would nail him for sure. But at the very last second the Chiss pulled up, arcing off his approach vector just as the laser cannon fired. The bolts burned across his TIE’s belly as he twisted up and away, clawing for altitude as he passed across one of the cannon’s other firing gaps. The cannon spun around, firing through the gap, again just a shade too late, then swiveled to another angle as Stent continued past the emplacement and across another of its firing gaps.
And for the next three or four seconds, as the gunners furiously tracked Stent’s apparently random-motion retreat, taking shot after shot through firing gap after firing gap, the flytrap opening was completely unprotected.
As usual, Nuso Esva had been clever. The size of the flytrap had been carefully tailored to allow insertion from but one direction.
Yet also as usual, he hadn’t been clever enough … because he’d assumed that the intruder would be a /whole/ TIE fighter, a cockpit/body equipped with the standard pair of large, hexagonal solar wings jutting out on both sides.
Smiling grimly, Fel pressed the button beneath the open safety cover.
And as the explosive bolts blew across the wing
that is, the gunners were fast enough and good enough.
Time to find out just how fast and good they were.
By the time Fel had brought his TIE onto the flytrap vector, Stent was in position, forming up fifty meters behind Fel off his starboard wing. Stent was a Chiss, one of Thrawn’s people, who had severed ties with his homeworld in order to come out here and serve the Grand Admiral. He was also one of Fel’s best pilots, which was why Fel had chosen him for this job.
And the two of them were going to get only one shot at this. Kicking his TIE to full power, jinking back and forth as much as he could while still maintaining his insertion vector, Fel headed in.
He’d closed to within a hundred meters of the flytrap opening when he spotted the telltale twitch of the laser barrels as they made their final targeting lock. Instantly, he did a final twitch of his own, jinking his fighter hard to starboard. The lasers flashed, the dual bolts sizzling past his canopy.
With a burst of fire and shattered metal, his portside wing burst into flame.
Twisting the yoke hard over, Fel spun away to starboard. His momentum was carrying him straight toward the unyielding patchwork of umbrella shields below; twisting around again, he pulled up sluggishly out of his dive.
And as he did so, he flew directly across one of the laser cannon’s other firing gaps.
He tensed with anticipation. But Thrawn had been right. The gimmicked wing and its fake fire damage made Fel look fatally wounded, and Nuso Esva’s gunners weren’t going to bother with a fighter that would likely crash within seconds anyway. Certainly not when they had a much more interesting target coming their way.
Because while Fel had been fighting his burning craft, Stent had lined up onto the flytrap vector and was heading in.
Fel continued his turn, losing altitude and fighting to keep his wobble from getting out of control, all the while wending a twisting path toward the flytrap opening. He finally straightened out into a course more or less level over the city and perpendicular to Stent’s own current vector. From Fel’s new angle he could see that Stent was coming in at full power, with the same evasive maneuvering that Fel had been trying when the laser cannon opened up on him. Alternating his attention
among Stent, the flytrap opening, and the ground, Fel flipped up the protective cover on the add-on section of his control board and braced himself.
For an instant he thought Stent had left it too late, and that Nuso Esva’s gunners would nail him for sure. But at the very last second the Chiss pulled up, arcing off his approach vector just as the laser cannon fired. The bolts burned across his TIE’s belly as he twisted up and away, clawing for altitude as he passed across one of the cannon’s other firing gaps. The cannon spun around, firing through the gap, again just a shade too late, then swiveled to another angle as Stent continued past the emplacement and across another of its firing gaps.
And for the next three or four seconds, as the gunners furiously tracked Stent’s apparently random-motion retreat, taking shot after shot through firing gap after firing gap, the flytrap opening was completely unprotected.
As usual, Nuso Esva had been clever. The size of the flytrap had been carefully tailored to allow insertion from but one direction.
Yet also as usual, he hadn’t been clever enough … because he’d assumed that the intruder would be a /whole/ TIE fighter, a cockpit/body equipped with the standard pair of large, hexagonal solar wings jutting out on both sides.
Smiling grimly, Fel pressed the button beneath the open safety cover.
And as the explosive bolts blew across the wing
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