Vision of the future

'It's small, but it's there,' Rogue Twelve said. 'It may be just enough to leave a small gap between—'

'General Antilles?' a new voice cut in.

Wedge frowned. It was a familiar voice, but not one of his squadron. 'This is Antilles,' he confirmed cautiously.

'This is Talon Karrde. How are things?'

It took Wedge a second to find his voice. 'Karrde, what in blazes are you doing here?' he demanded.

'To be perfectly honest, trying to get past your forces,' Karrde said. 'Is Commander Horn there with you?'

'I'm here,' Rogue Nine said. 'What do you want?'

'I want to collect on a favor you owe me,' Karrde said. 'The one we discussed the last time we were together on the Errant Venture, remember?'

There was an exasperated-sounding noise in Wedge's headset. 'Karrde, are you crazy? We're in the middle of a battle here.'

'Which is precisely why I need the favor now,' Karrde said. 'I need you to escort me through the New Republic lines.'

'To where?' Rogue Nine countered. 'In case you hadn't noticed, on the other side of our lines is an Imperial Ubiqtorate base.'

'Which, conveniently, happens to be my destination,' Karrde told him. Wedge snorted gently. 'The Wild Karrde must be a lot better armored than I thought.'

'The Imperials won't be a problem,' Karrde said. 'I have a high-level code for getting through their lines. My problem is your lines.'

'Look, Karrde, I don't know what you're up to,' Rogue Nine said. 'And frankly, right now I don't really care. But we have a job to do here.'

'Perhaps I can make that job unnecessary,' Karrde said, a sudden edge in his voice. 'You get me inside, and I may be able to stop this battle completely.'

'Really,' Rogue Two said, his voice suddenly suspicious. 'May I ask how exactly you plan to do that?'

There was a slight pause, and Wedge could picture Karrde smiling that mysterious smile he was so fond of. 'Let's just say I'm holding the ultimate bargaining chip,' he said softly.

'And that would be...?'

'All wings, this is Perris,' the fighter commander's voice came on. 'Run to formation; we're heading in.'

Wedge took a deep breath. They were under official orders now, with no room for maneuvering or stalling or anything else.

But General Bel Iblis's life was on the line here...

'Karrde, this is Antilles,' he said. 'Where are you?'

'Coming up behind and above the Peregrine,' Karrde told him. 'Are you starting an attack?'

'Something like that,' Wedge said, checking his rear scanner. The Wild Karrde was there, all right, hanging a respectful distance back from the New Republic sentry line. 'Stay put—we'll be right there. Rogues; let's go.'

He turned the X-wing hard over and headed toward their rear. There was a click in his headset as someone keyed to his personal frequency— 'Wedge, what are we doing?' Rogue Nine demanded.

'We're under orders. Look, if this is about this so-called favor I owe him—'

'I'm not worried about favors right now, Corran,' Wedge assured him. 'But you heard what Karrde said. He's got an Imperial code for getting through the perimeter.'

'Yes, I remember. But his having an access code won't do us any good.'