A single minute later, the asteroid catalogued as 24 Tredway hangs in front of Luke’s cockpit like a huge, impassable cliff. The Tredway complex sits squarely in the middle of the cliff wall. From Luke’s angle it looks as if the compound will slide into space at any moment. The site consists of 14 buildings resting on five hectares of leveled rock. The largest building is obviously a mill of some sort, for a pile of sandy waste extends more than three kilometers away from its far side.
The three tallest buildings, arranged in a rough triangle, are obviously headframes. They cover shafts leading deep into the asteroid’s interior. The largest, at the apex of the triangle, is no more than 20 meters across, but stands 100 meters tall. Next to each headframe is a squat, square hoist house. Heavy durasteel cables run from the hoist houses into the highest levels of the headframes.
The assault shuttle has pummeled the hoist houses servicing the two smaller headframes, reducing one to rubble. Deflector shields protect the largest headframe and its hoist-house, however, and the Imperials apparently could not break through to destroy these buildings.
Situated halfway between the triangle of headframes and the mill building are two massive rectangular buildings. The largest building obviously houses the equipment shop. Repulsor trucks, levitation scaffolds, and rock-movers, all destroyed by well-aimed concussion missiles, lie scattered about its perimeter. From the other building, long twisting flexi-corridors lead to the mill, shop, each headframe, and four residential buildings scattered along the perimeter of the complex.
Finally, a small, elegant structure stands in the center of a dozen freshly scarred craters. It rests atop a series of carefully hewn terraces. A great bank of transwalls faces the complex, as if the residents of the house find it necessary to observe the compound at all times. Amazingly, the residence remains intact; the only explanation can be that a heavy shield protected it from the barrage which created the craters surrounding it. Luke’s sensors detect no sign of any shielding around the building now.
Two hundred meters from the residence, the assault shuttle sits with two access ramps deployed. Two dozen zero-g stormtroopers have rushed down the ramps to attack six or seven beings hiding in the craters around the house. The assault shuttle’s twin blaster cannon turrets spray the craters with fire, preventing the outnumbered defenders from mounting any effective resistance against the assault troops.
Luke cannot do anything about the stormtroopers that have already left the shuttle. His weapons are so powerful that if he fires at them, he will destroy the defenders as well as the attackers. But he might have a nice surprise for the shuttle.
“Arm a proton torpedo, Artoo,” he orders.
An instant later the ready signal flashes. Luke approaches the shuttle low and hard. The Imperial crew remains blissfully unaware of his approach; they do not turn a single weapon against the X-wing. Luke fires the torpedo, then banks away, zipping past the shuttle before it strikes. Will his range be good? The uncertain gravity field of the asteroid makes the shot much more difficult than the canyon scouring he used to do back home on Tatooine.
When he loops back around, Luke’s heart sinks. The shuttle still sits intact. A deep crater smokes a few meters in front of its nose. Luke arms another torpedo, then angles his shields forward. As he approaches again, the shuttle’s antipersonnel blaster cannons swivel to meet him. Although the shuttle carries much heavier armament, the blaster turrets are the only think it can bring to bear while sitting on the ground. It is a desperation move; the tiny cannons stand no chance of breaking through his starfighter’s shields.
An officer in a black vacsuit leads ten stormtroopers from the shuttle. Without even pausing to gauge Luke’s approach, the group runs for cover. The 24 stormtroopers already safely away from the shuttle halt their assault on the outnumbered defenders long enough to watch the X-wing attack their ride home.
Artoo whistles a report.
“Intercept and jam it!” Luke orders automatically. He does not need Artoo’s answering message to remind him that with their radio out, they have no chance of doing either. Even without intercepting the message, Luke knows the signal was a call for reinforcements. But how far away is help? Hours, or minutes?
Luke aligns the X-wing for its final approach, wishing he still had the targeting computer. He slows to what seems a crawl. The shuttle’s blaster cannons energize. Wave after wave of pale red energy streaks at the starfighter and dissipates harmlessly on the forward shields. Luke takes a deep breath, then readies the trigger.
He fires. As the torpedo streaks toward its target, he accelerates. It would not do to be too close when the torpedo strikes.
This time, he needs no instruments to confirm the results of his shot. A great plume of blue and white energy rises from the shuttle, casting an eerie light over his shoulders into the cockpit. He loops back over the shuttle crater, allowing himself the vanity of a victory roll.
Far below, on the asteroid surface, the combatants ignore him. Like the disciplined troops they are, the stormtroopers have already turned back to the task at hand. The tiny flashes and pale streaks of ground combat continue as if nothing has changed.
Gideon arrives a few moments later. Luke leads the way to the far side of the complex, hoping to land well behind the defenders’ lines. As they descend, the true magnitude of the destruction visited upon this planetoid strikes Luke. The structures he saw from above are huge; the largest could house an entire squadron of X-wings, including engineering and support personnel. Several of these buildings have been leveled, and only the main headframe has escaped without a serious rupture. If the Imperial commander had used a Star Destroyer, he could not have done a more thorough job.
Seeing no defenders to guide him to a landing zone, Luke sets down on the tailing dump on the far side of the mill. The Rockcan does likewise, and Gideon and Sidney soon exit the scow wearing rugged vacsuits. Gideon carries an ancient but effective looking blaster rifle, and Sidney somewhat anxiously holds a heavy blaster pistol in his clawed paws. Luke seals himself into his vacsuit, checks his own blaster and lightsaber, then clibs out of the X-wing.
“How close is the nearest Imperial base?” Luke asks over his comlink. “The shuttle sent for reinforcements.”
Sidney answers. “Then we have four hours, no more.”
Luke motions toward the house. “You saw the battle?”
Gideon nods. “Survivors might be caught in the house, or that might be a diversion.” The prospector points to the main headframe. “If I was a Tredway, I’d be down inside this rock right now.”
If Luke goes to the house, Click Here
If Luke goes to the headframe, Click Here