X-Wing: Iron Fist

X-wing: Iron Fist is the sixth installment in the X-wing series of novels, published on July 6th 1998 by Bantam Spectra. It is a science fiction novel written by Aaron Allston. Narration for the audio version was performed by Anthony Heald.

Editions

 * ISBN 0553578979; July 6, 1998, Bantam Spectra, 310-page paperback
 * ISBN 0553524976; July 6, 1998, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Abridged cassette
 * ISBN 3442351421; August 1999, Blanvalet, 406-page German paperback
 * ISBN 0553506005; August 6, 1998, Transworld Publishers, 419-page UK paperback

Publisher's summary
''Against all odds, the controversial Wraith Squadron has survived its first covert mission. But now they are called upon to cheat death twice. This time Wedge Antilles sends them in to stop the warlord Zsinj and his Super Star Destroyer, Iron Fist. If Zsinj joins the Empire, it could turn the tide of war against the Rebels. The Wraith Squadron's mission: infiltrate the warlord's fleet and uncover his carefully guarded plans. To do so, they must pose as ruthless pirates seeking to join Zsinj's forces. And that means first becoming pirates in space lanes teeming with Imperial Navy patrols. If that isn't enough to get them killed, they'll have to pass one last test—a suicide mission for Zsinj.''

Can they survive the test and turn the tables on Zsinj?

Or is this the end for Wraith Squadron?

Behind the scenes
The cover is incorrect. The TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors shown are painted normal Imperial colors, but at the time of the scene in the book, the TIEs had a new paint job with red spider webs.

Additionally, the cover scene shows considerable damage inflicted on the landing platform under attack. However, in the book, the platform, which had raised its shields just before being fired upon, sustained no damage.

While Zsinj struggles to salvage a badly damaged Razor's Kiss late in the story, he inexplicably refers to the warship as the "Razor's Edge".

A few paragraphs later, author Aaron Allston mistakenly refers to the New Republic fighter squadrons as the "New Alliance squadrons." "New Alliance" is not a term ever associated with the Rebel Alliance or the New Republic. It is likely this mistake, as well as the one previously mentioned in Zsinj's dialogue, were simply errors on Allston's part, occurring during one error-stricken writing session.

In the French version of the book, the cover art was mistakenly swapped with the one from The New Rebellion by the publisher Fleuve Noir.

Cover gallery
This is a gallery of the different cover variations of X-wing: Iron Fist.

Operation Eiserne Faust