Next month sees the release of Star Wars Insider: Fiction Collection Vol. 1, which gathers together exclusive short stories from the official magazine of the Star Wars saga, and thanks to Titan Comics we have an exclusive extract from the story ‘Blade Squadron: Zero Hour’ by David J. Williams and Mark S. Williams. Check it out below, along with art from Chris Trevas…
The planet’s vast wall of huge, swirling storm clouds looked like infinity itself: It filled the view, broken only by the patches of orange-gray terrain visible here and there beneath the roiling weather. Gina Moonsong accelerated her B-wing to attack speed as the rest of her squadron fell into formation behind her. She gritted her teeth and opened her comlink.
“All units, on my mark… three… two… one… mark.”
The battle-computers of the B-wings synced; the next moment, over a dozen ion cannon beams converged at precisely the same coordinates on the planetary shield that protected Malastare. For a moment a portion of that shield flickered into the visible spectrum—and then splintered, disrupting just long enough for the squadron to pass through. Moonsong felt the chop as her ship passed through the compromised shield. All around, her pilots were struggling to maintain an ever-more precise heading as they vectored through the shield’s weakest portion—a struggle that grew increasingly desperate as the atmosphere built and the gravity intensified. For one ship it was too much: Moonsong watched on her screens as the electromagnetic surge of the flickering shield caught the tail of Blade 7, whipping the ship back up against the deadly wall, fireballing the craft before Karls even knew what hit him. Moonsong cursed under her breath even as she checked that Fanty was still in position on her wing, that Stramm and the rest of the Squadron were right behind. They had penetrated the planet’s first line of defense but were continuing to struggle against the overwhelming force of the maelstrom.
And it was about to get a lot worse.
“Blade Five to Blade Three; I count at least a dozen TIE fighters inbound.” The coolness in Cutter Poole’s voice belied his complete lack of experience in battle.
“There sure are a lot of them…” Blade Six chimed in.
“Charge deflectors to full,” said Moonsong. “Let’s do what you were trained for.”
Yet even as the deflectors went up, and her reflexes took over, she felt her mind going back to events after the destruction of the second Death Star. It was so recent and yet it seemed like such an eternity ago…
The ceremony on the flight deck was short and to the point. Some admiral (whom Moonsong had never heard of) droned on about duty, sacrifice and heroism before proceeding to award the B-wing pilots who had survived the Battle of Endor their Medals of Bravery. Moonsong couldn’t help but think they should have given them to the pilots who didn’t make it. It made her promotion to lieutenant feel more than a little hollow. The only happiness Moonsong took in any of it was that Braylen Stramm had been promoted to wing commander. As the ceremony participants headed back to their duty stations, Moonsong made her way over to him. She gave him a lopsided smile and a jaunty salute, both of which he returned with less than the usual enthusiasm. In that moment, she knew everything—almost like they were playing out roles that had already been rehearsed.
“The medal looks good on you, Commander,” he said.
She wasn’t going to let him duck out of this. She looked around to see that nobody was in earshot—then moved closer.
“What’s on your mind?” she asked. “Nothing,” he replied.
“We both know that’s not true.”
Stramm looked past her at the confetti dangling from the rafters.
“I’m not sure how to say it.”
“I’ll say it for you. You think your promotion means that we have to stop seeing each other.”
“It does,” he replied.
“That’s a ton of bunk,” she said evenly. “You’re scared of how serious we’ve become.”
“Of course I’m scared,” he shot back. “Scared of having to choose between you and the rest of the squad.”
“Sounds like you already have.”
“Gina, I may have to order you to do something that might… well, if that day comes I don’t want to doubt whether I’d give the order or if you would even follow it.”
“I’d follow it. You know I would.”
“That’s my point,” he said—and when she didn’t reply: “I— look, we can figure things out between us when the war is over.”
“The war is over,” she said.
“It’s not.” He sat down on the edge of the stage, let his feet dangle—for just a moment, he looked like a helpless child. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but… the Imperials aren’t beaten. What looked like just a rearguard action is turning out to be something more serious. All leave is getting canceled and Blade Squadron is getting a fresh batch of recruits. And I need you to train them. Okay?”
She smiled with a calmness that she knew he could see right through. “Okay,” she said.
Star Wars Insider, the official magazine of the Star Wars saga, presents an amazing collection of exclusive short stories from the galaxy far, far away. It includes fiction written by renowned best-selling Star Wars authors such as Jason Fry, Matthew Stover, John Ostrander, and Paul S. Kemp, stunning art from some of the saga’s best-loved interpreters, including Joe Corroney, Brian Rood, Jan Duursema, and Magali Villeneuve, and starring iconic characters such as Han Solo, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian and Darth Vader.
