Free Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry Page A

Against a normal person, the droid would be unbeatable and deadly—
    The droid stepped in fast and cut at Vader’s head. Vader blocked, and the droid chopped again, circling the humming blade in a second cut at Vader’s side. Fast, but again a block—
    The droid’s third attack came from the opposite side as its blade flashed in a large half circle—
    Vader parried and riposted, angling a slash at the droid’s head—
    The droid blocked and slid back a meter, out of range, blade held over its head, point angled down.
    The slight ache in Vader’s shoulder where Luke had cut through his armor during their fight was definitely better. He hardly felt any soreness at all with that series.
    He moved in, swung a feint at the droid’s neck, twisted his wrists, and pivoted the lightsaber for a second feint at the same side, then a third feint, a jab at the midsection.
    The droid stepped back and crossblocked the final feint—
    Vader V-stepped to his left, cocked his blade over his left shoulder, and hacked forty-five degrees at the base of the metal neck—
    The droid’s block was a quarter second slow. Strong as it was, it was not strong enough to offset the power and momentum of Vader’s strike. The blades met, hissed and sparked, but Vader’s sword shoved the droid’s blade to the side. It tried to backpedal—
    Too late. The lightsaber hit midway between the droid’s neck and shoulder joint, sheared through the exoframe and halfway through the chest. Circuitry sparked, shorted out. Sparks and acrid smoke erupted from the droid’s body. It dropped the lightsaber as its hand controls died. Fell to its knees.
    Vader cocked the weapon over his right shoulder and swung in a flat horizontal arc—
    The lightsaber sliced through the droid’s neck and took its head off. The head fell, bounced, and the droid’s decapitated body fell backward.
    Vader stood over the downed droid. Soon he would have to order another dozen of them produced—this was the eighth one of the originals; he had but four left. And the next batch would need to be improved. It was getting too easy.
    His shoulder definitely felt better.
    He shut off his lightsaber and turned away from the droid.
    An aide stood in the doorway, looking impressed and nervous.
    “Clean up the mess,” Vader said.
    He strode away. He did not look back.
    I nside his X-wing, Luke took a deep breath. “You ready, Artoo?”
    Artoo whistled assent.
    “This is Rogue Leader,” Luke said. “Lock your foils into attack position, accelerate to sub-six and acknowledge.”
    “Rogue One, copy,” Wedge said over the comm.
    “Rogue Two, that’s affirmative, lock and load.”
    “Rogue Three, I copy.”
    The rest of the squadron acknowledged Luke’s orders. They were ready, as ready as they were going to get. The dayside Destroyer lay dead ahead, and by now its long-range sensors would have spotted the incoming X-wings, and the commander would have started scrambling his fighter force. The latest TIE fighters were a couple of sublight units faster than an unmodified X-wing, TIE interceptors faster still, but they couldn’t get to top speed immediately, so Rogue Squadron would get one relatively free pass at the Destroyer before the TIEs got clear and moving. Not that they’d be able to do much to the Destroyer with fighter-wattage laser cannons or proton torpedoes; Destroyer shields and armor were too thick. But a lucky shot might do a little damage, and it would make the Imperials keep their heads down—they couldn’t know if the Alliance might have outfitted its snub fighters with some new weapon. It would make them sweat a little.
    TIEs were faster but no more maneuverable, and the X-wings had the advantage in shielding—TIEs didn’thave any, save for a few of the specially equipped interceptors, like the one Vader had.
    “Here they come,” Rogue Six said. That was Wes Janson, an old hand.
    A score of TIE fighters spewed from the Destroyer’s flight bay ports.
    “I