Chapter 28

Talfaglio lay dead center in Han's cockpit display, a point of fire just three light-years distant. That meant the light in his eye had been created three standard years ago, before the Jedi had become an endangered species and the Yuuzhan Vong had pulled a moon down on Chewbacca. Though seldom one to live in the past, Han would have given his life to ride that orange ray back to its birth, to add one more being to the thousands he had saved on Sernpidal that day. He no longer blamed himself or anyone else for the Wookiee's death, and he was even past wishing he had never tried to rescue anyone in the first place. He only wanted his friend back. He only wanted a galaxy safer for his children than it had been for him, a galaxy where a man and wife could go to sleep at night reasonably sure the world would still be there at dawn.

Some things were too much to ask.

Leia, who had been curled up in the Falcon's Wookiee-sized copilot seat, opened her eyes and sat up straight. There was no grogginess or confusion to her actions; she had not slept - not really - since Anakin's strike team had departed for Myrkr. Neither had Han, for that matter. She slipped her crash webbing over her shoulders and began to cinch it down.

Han activated a self-test routine to warm the Falcon's circuits. "What's happening? You sense something from Luke?"

"Not from Luke." Leia closed her eyes, reaching for her children in a way Han could never share. "Anakin and the twins. They're in the middle of it now, something dangerous." She paused, then added, "I think our turn will come soon."

Han started to activate the intercom, then recalled who would be manning his guns and looked over his shoulder. As expected, the Noghri were standing quietly in the back of the cockpit.

"Take the turrets - and tell See-Threepio to lock himself down," he said. "We're helping Lando and the Wild Knights with the yammosk hunt, so when Corran sends us in, it'll be hot."

The two Noghri dipped their heads and retreated down the corridor. Han watched them go, a little unnerved by the shadow that came to their black eyes whenever combat was at hand, but still grateful for their presence. Over the last fifteen years, the Noghri had saved Leia's life uncounted times and rarely left her unprotected - which was more than he could say for himself. He still found it hard to understand what had come over him after Chewbacca died, why mourning his friend's loss had meant withdrawing from Leia and the kids.

"Remind me to thank those guys," he said.

"You have," Leia said. "At least a dozen times."

Han gave her a crooked smile. "Yeah, but they never say 'you're welcome.'"

For the first time in days, Leia laughed, then Corran Horn's voice came over the comm speaker.

"Time to wake up, people. Outlying sensors show a Yuuzhan Vong assault fleet moving into the Talfaglio system."

Leia stretched over and armed the depressurization safety on Han's combat suit. "I'm scared, Han."

"Me, too." Han reached across and lowered her flash visor. "But what can you do? They're adults now. They get to pick their own fights."

 

Eclipse had managed to put pilots in fifty of its new XJ3 X-wings, and over half of them were Jedi. Another two dozen Jedi were operating blastboats and other support craft. Given that Luke was risking half the galaxy's Jedi and most of its Masters on a single operation, he should probably have been nervous. He was not. The Force was with them in a way he had never before experienced, a presence so tangible he could almost see it shimmering against the velvet starlight.

Not too calm, Skywalker.

Mara's voice was so clear in Luke's mind that it took him an instant to realize she had not spoken over a comm channel. He glanced at her X-wing, floating close enough that their S-foils almost touched. He wanted to tell her there was nothing to worry about, that Ben would be losing no parents today, but such a thought would have implied a vision of the outcome he had deliberately avoided seeking. If the Force wanted to show him the future, fine; if not, it was better to trust it and take what came. Whatever that was, making this attack was the right thing. He could feel it.

So can I, Mara added.

Luke raised a brow. Through their bond, each could usually sense what the other was feeling, and it was not even uncommon for them to receive short, semiarticulated thoughts. But this was something new; Luke's contemplations had barely risen to the level of consciousness when Mara sensed them. Perhaps the presence of so many powerful Jedi was gathering the Force, drawing it together in the same way a cloud of gas became a star.

"More like a lens gathering light," Mara said. "The effect of so many Jedi concentrating on a common purpose."

"This is really something." Luke added a long thought question to test the limits of their mental link; when his only reply was an impression of curiosity, he asked aloud, "I wonder if the old Jedi Councils focused the Force like this?"

"It certainly would have helped them see clearly - but it might have had its drawbacks."

Luke sensed an uncommon moment of embarrassment in his wife as Mara's mind flashed from the cognitive union they were experiencing to a more physical kind, and he found himself sharing in her hope that nobody else was picking up the connection.

If they were, they had the good sense not to say so.

Smiling both inwardly and outwardly, Luke glanced at his tactical display and saw the enemy assault fleet lumbering into the Talfaglio system. The deliberate approach, he suspected, had less to do with a fear of space mines or ambushes than allowing the hostages plenty of time to contemplate their doom. There were four cruiser analogs, a warship analog, a skip carrier, and twenty frigates. The carrier would have at least two hundred coralskippers, and the five largest vessels would have their own squadrons, as well.

Ouch, Mara thought.

Luke was not worried. The Jedi were there to break the blockade and buy the refugee convoy time to escape, not destroy the fleet. There was one aspect of the mission that would need rethinking, however. He asked R2-D2 for an open channel.

"This is Farmboy." His call sign had been picked by Mara. "Operation Safe Passage is still a go, but there are too many hostiles for the Yammosk Action. Repeat, Yammosk Action is -"

"Hold a moment, Farmboy," Corran said. As the Jedi battle controller, he was aboard the Wild Knights' freighter, Jolly Man, using a new subspace eavesdropping suite to monitor the Talfaglion sensors. "We have company exiting hyperspace."

"Company?" Luke's heart did not sink; there was nothing in the Force to suggest an ambush. "Who?"

"An old Rogue," the familiar voice of Wedge Antilles said.

"And an old Rebel."

Though this voice was also familiar, Luke did not recognize it until R2-D2 ran a scan analysis and identified it as that of General Garm Bel Iblis. Luke switched his tactical display to local space and saw a pair of unfamiliar Star Destroyers - the transponder identified them as the Mon Mothma and the Elegos A'Kla - moving into position behind his fleet. Accompanied by a cruiser and two frigates each, both ships were bleeding squadrons of XJ3 X-wings and Series 4 E-wings into space.

"Gentlemen, welcome!" Luke commed. "But if you don't mind my asking -"

"We just happened by on a shakedown cruise," Bel Iblis said, cutting him off.

"So close to Talfaglio?" This from Mara, whose years in Palpatine's service had given her a deep distrust of unanticipated gifts. "I don't think so."

"An old employer of yours recommended the route," Wedge said. He was referring to the infamous Talon Karrde, onetime smuggling king/information broker and sometime intelligence agent. No one ever knew exactly what Talon Karrde was up to. "He seemed to think we would have a chance to test some new weapons."

"That you might." Luke did not bother to ask how Karrde had learned the timing and location of their operation; Karrde always protected his sources. "Control will fill you in on the plan."

"Karrde already has," Bel Iblis said. "We thought we'd let you punch through ahead, then take cross-fire positions to either side of the escape corridor. We'd assume lead, but we're not sure how well this new stuff is going to work."

"And this is a Jedi operation," Luke finished, reading between the lines. Someone wanted to improve their image on the newsvids. "Thanks."

"We'd be willing to detach a squadron to support the Wild Knights on their mission - say Rogue?" Wedge offered. "We want to keep them off the 'Net anyway."

Though Luke's bond with his sister, Leia, was not as strong as the one with Mara, it was more than potent enough for him to sense her suspicion. The whole thing was beginning to stink of Borsk Fey'lya's influence, which automatically raised the question of what the chief wanted in return - and of who else he might have told about their plans. A simple battle was beginning to look very complicated, but Wedge's offer was too generous to refuse.

"Hisser, what do you think?" Luke asked. "Still want to try for that yammosk?"

"By all meanz," Saba replied. "It would be an honor to hunt with Colonel Darklighter."

"You two work out the details," Luke said. "Everyone else, double-check your jump coordinates, and blast anything that looks like a rock. On your mark, Control."

"Broadcasting escape route coordinates to Talfaglio now," Corran said. "Dozen squadron, jump on my mark. Three, two, mark."

Kyp's Dozen shot forward in a flash of blue efflux, then vanished into hyperspace. Luke switched his tactical screen back to Talfaglio local and watched as, a minute later, the squadron appeared insystem and streaked toward the yellow shell of Yuuzhan Vong blips trapping the refugee fleet in orbit.

At the far edge of the system, the enemy assault fleet began spreading into attack formation and accelerated, no doubt preparing to make a hyperspace microjump toward the planet. The Talfaglion gravity well would prevent them from jumping directly into battle, but Luke knew Corran would need to time their own fleet's arrival carefully.

As the Dozen drew near the blockade, Kyp pulled his squadron in tight and angled for the light cruiser. Half a dozen corvette analogs left their blockade posts to defend the larger ship, and long tongues of plasma began to arc out from the cruiser itself. The Dozen merged into a single blip and continued forward, jinking and juking as one, the pilots weaving in front of each other to keep a fresh pair of shields always facing the enemy.

Kyp's squadron began to pour blue lines of laserfire into the light cruiser. More enemy corvettes accelerated toward the Dozen, abandoning their blockade stations. So far, so good; the Yuuzhan Vong seemed to think this was another rogue operation, a desperate attempt to save the doomed refugees.

A pair of proton torpedoes flashed away from the Dozen and vanished, swallowed by the cruiser's shielding system. There followed another exchange of laser bolts and plasma balls, then an unexpected spray of static as a Jedi shadow bomb exploded. Basically a variation on the tactic Kyp used to slip his proton torpedoes past enemy shielding crews, shadow bombs were proton torpedoes drained of propellant and packed with baradium instead. They were armed with standard proximity fuses and guided to their targets using the Force. The weapons were far more powerful than a standard torpedo, difficult to detect in the heat of battle, and just one of the new tricks in the Jedi arsenal.

Kyp's squadron finished off the cruiser with a pair of standard proton torpedoes, then raced through the debris and swung around as though preparing the escape route. A steady flow of refugee vessels began to leave orbit and stream toward the flight corridor. It did not take long for the blockade to collapse inward as Yuuzhan Vong picket ships rushed to respond.

"Control, time to swing the hammer," Luke commed.

"Concur, Farmboy." Corran actually sounded as though he were cringing when he spoke the call sign. "New Republic task force, Shockers, and Sabers jump to preassigned coordinates on my mark."

The Saber squadron was Luke's personal squadron. It consisted of himself, Mara, seven non-Jedi veterans, and half a dozen newly trained Jedi pilots. Their assignment was to fly cover while the more experienced Shockers drove off the assault fleet.

"Three, two, mark."

Luke jammed his accelerator forward and watched the stars stretch into lines.

"Be careful, kid," Han commed. "We just finished raising three Jedi. We don't need you sticking us with another one."

"Han! That's -"

Talfaglio's orange point vanished into the colorless blur of hyperspace, and Leia's rebuke was lost to the jump blackout. Luke was aware of Mara beside him, calmly running through last-minute systems checks to keep her circuits warm and her attention focused on the coming battle. There had been no need to discuss the wisdom of flying into combat together. They were a team in a way that even Han and Leia could never understand, and they had seen many times before that each was far more likely to survive with the other present.

The blur of hyperspace dissolved into starlines, and Talfaglio appeared outside Luke's canopy, a small orangish crescent hanging alongside the brilliant disk of the system's crimson sun. Though the flotilla had jumped as close as they dared to the gravity well, the battle remained a tiny web of laser bolts and plasma trails hanging in the darkness between them and the planet. The enemy assault fleet was not yet visible to the naked eye, but Luke found it quickly enough on his tactical display. It had already made its microjump and was now on the other side of the blockade, directly opposite the Jedi flotilla, vectoring toward the escape corridor.

Rigard Matl led his Shockers toward the blockade at near-light, a favorite assault tactic that had earned the squadron its name. The Sabers shed just enough velocity to assume their cover position. The tactical display showed the New Republic Star Destroyers decelerating alongside the escape corridor in staggered positions, each retaining an escort of a single frigate and two squadrons of short-range starfighters. The rest of their flotilla streaked toward Talfaglio behind the Sabers.

In Luke's canopy, the battle swelled quickly from a tiny web into a moon-sized snarl of plasma trails and laser flashes. The blockade ships were still constricting around Kyp's Dozen, pouring fire in on the squadron from every direction. The Dozen bounced back and forth inside the sphere, sharing shields and reserving their laserfire for grutchins and magma missiles. There were only nine X-wings visible, but when Luke stretched out with the Force, he felt all three missing pilots scattered throughout the battle area, alone and frightened and no doubt in EV suits. He had R2-D2 send a message to the recovery team and tried not think about what would happen if they were struck by a stray plasma ball or efflux tail.

The nearest blockade ships peeled off to meet the Shockers, who launched a flurry of proton torpedoes and continued forward. The weapons reached their targets almost the instant they were launched. A pair of corvettes broke apart when their shielding crews missed incoming torpedoes; eight more began to vent bodies and atmosphere when the proximity fuses detonated close to their hulls. Then the Shockers were through, streaking past Kyp's Dozen toward the opposite side of the collapsing blockade.

Luke led his squadron into the hole behind the Shockers. They did not waste energy expanding their inertial compensators - the corvettes' dovin basals were more than strong enough to rip their shields. When a pair of corvettes rushed to block their way, Luke dropped a shadow bomb - they were flying too fast to lock their S-foils into firing position - and used the Force to hurl it into the second vessel. There was no need to assign the first to Mara; he knew she would take it with the same tactic. An instant later, simultaneous proton detonations broke the spines of both ships.

Wow! Mara sent.

A corvette's dovin basal caught Luke's shields. Warning alarms filled the cockpit. Mara slid her fighter over his to protect him for the instant it took R2-D2 to activate the backup charge. The third member of their shielding trio, the young Tam Azur-Jamin, blasted the attacker with his own shadow bomb.

"Thanks, Quiet," Luke commed.

Tam clicked his transmitter - a garrulous reply for the reticent Jedi - and then they were crossing the kill zone where Kyp had been "trapped." Dozens of refugee ships were already lumbering up from Talfaglio, in their haste to escape willing to brave even the heart of the fighting. Still moving at a substantial percentage of lightspeed, the Sabers flashed past a trio of Dozen X-wings.

Kyp Durron's excited voice came over the tactical net. "Right behind you, Farmboy!"

"Neg that, Headhunter," Luke ordered. If Kyp realized he had three pilots EV, there was no trace of it in his tone. "You're already down three. Stay here and cover refugees."

"Cover? But we're the most experienced -"

"Headhunter," Luke said in a stern voice. "You have your orders."

There was a moment of silence, then, "Copy."

Kyp's resentment lingered in the Force like the aftersmell of a bad blaster burn. Luke was troubled by the continued lack of compassion. If Kyp was ever going to -

Skywalker! Mara's thought was a shout inside Luke's head. The battle?

Sorry.

Something inside Luke suggested dropping three shadow bombs. He did. He had given himself over to the Force completely, and the battle seemed to drop into slow motion. A trio of black-faceted corvettes drifted in from different angles, filling space with magma missiles and grutchins. Luke continued to fly straight and sensed a question rising in the back of Mara's mind - then felt it change to approval when he reached out with the Force and nudged the nearest magma missile into a grutchin.

Luke perceived a sudden need for forward protection and ordered R2-D2 to shift all shielding power to the front. A tiny red speck blossomed from the nose nodule of the closest corvette and, at the squadron's closing speed, flowered almost instantly into a plasma ball. Finding his view blocked, Luke closed his eyes and reached out to the rest of his squadron, using their perceptions to guide his shadow bombs home. He saw the blinding flash of his detonating weapons through their eyes, then felt his X-wing buck as the enemy plasma ball erupted against his forward shields.

There came a surge of trepidation from the Mara-place in the center of his heart - followed almost instantly by a sharp sense of reproach.

Next time jink!

R2-D2 whistled a warning and shut down the overloaded shield generator to begin an emergency cool-off. Luke eased between Mara and Tam, more for his wife's peace of mind than his own. The way he was feeling today, he could have continued without shields. They passed through a field of drifting corvette hulks - Luke was not the only one in his squadron to claim a picket ship - and were through the blockade, following the Shockers past Talfaglio.

The enemy assault fleet moved its frigates forward to form a defensive screen, but continued to withhold its coralskippers, determined to reach the escape corridor before stopping to do battle. With eight New Republic starfighter squadrons, two cruisers, and a pair of frigates close behind him, Luke carried the battle to the enemy and called for long-range fire support.

The New Republic cruisers and frigates laced the darkness with turbolaser flashes. The enemy answered with plasma balls and magma missiles. The Jedi squadrons continued forward, relying on flying ability, danger sense, and shield weaving to twine their way through the fiery mesh. A pair of Shockers turned back when they were damaged by near-hits. One of Luke's pilots lost an S-foil to a grutchin and went EV. The Shockers punched through the frigate screen.

Rigard Matl's X-wing vanished in a ball of fire.

The Shockers' formation disintegrated into a confused swarm of ion trails as the dazed pilots contemplated the loss of their veteran leader. Luke extended himself into the heart of the fireball and experienced a moment of unbearable prickling - then a strange sense of calm familiarity. He focused on the calmness just long enough to confirm that it was what he thought: Rigard had survived the hit and gone EV.

Before Luke could pass on the good news, Rigard's static-laden voice crackled over the emergency channel.

"Tighten up, Shockers!" He sounded pained but confident. "You're embarrassing ..."

His voice trailed off into sizzle as the assault passed beyond the limited range of his suit's comm unit, but the chastened Shockers formed themselves into three shield trios and continued forward. The Force was truly with them today; so far, the Jedi had lost no one.

The heart of the Yuuzhan Vong assault fleet lay before them now, half a dozen yorik coral pebbles gleaming in the light of Talfaglio's crimson sun. The skip carrier and one of the cruisers were slipping behind the warship analog, while the other three cruisers moved out front and began to deploy skip squadrons. Luke had R2-D2 send the coordinates of the shy cruiser to the Star Destroyers for a subspace relay back to Saba, then opened a channel to both the Sabers and Shockers.

"Forget the skips. Expand your inertial compensators to full and comet right past them. What we want is the carrier." Of all the ships in the assault fleet, the skip carrier was the most dangerous to the refugee convoy - and to their friends from the New Republic. "We'll make it look like we're going after the cruiser on the left, then launch everything we have the moment we have a clear angle to the real target."

By the time both squadrons acknowledged, the cruisers had swelled to arm-length lozenges of scabrous black yorik coral. Plasma balls streaked past or blossomed against the shields of the leapfrogging X-wings, and the tiny nuggets of the first distant skips glinted in the flashing battle light.

"Split by trios," Luke ordered. "Do what you can to save your shields."

The first handful of coralskippers streaked into range, spitting plasma and grabbing at shields. One pair vanished when they crossed their own cruiser's firing lane, then the X-wings were past the initial wave, still traveling at near-light and moving too fast for the skips to turn and follow. The Shockers angled toward the cruiser on the left. The Yuuzhan Vong captain put his ship into a tight turn, trying desperately to bring his flank around to present the maximum number of shielding dovin basals and weapons nodules.

R2-D2 informed Luke they had reached maximum proton-torpedo range to the skip carrier, but the warship analog was keeping its bulk between them and the target. The cruiser's flank weapons began to open up, filling the darkness with clouds of white energy and spiraling streaks of fire.

"All trios, break formation!" Luke ordered.

He jinked right, checked his tactical display, found the warship still shielding the skip carrier - and the skip carrier slipping past toward the escape corridor.

Luke ground his teeth in frustration, then sensed the bud of an idea forming in Mara's mind. "Go ahead, Mother."

"All pilots, target cruiser," she commanded. "Fire all proton torpedoes and break for safety." Luke, with me. "Repeat, target cruiser and fire all proton torpedoes."

In the instant of hesitation that followed Mara's command, a grutchin caught a Shocker X-wing and began to devour the wing. The veteran pilot popped the canopy and went EV, and the starfighter exploded.

"Now!" Mara growled.

Blue tails of ion efflux crisscrossed in front of the cruiser as dozens of torpedoes streaked toward their target. A line of shielding singularities appeared along the flank and began to devour the proton torpedoes, but it was instantly clear the vessel's defenses would be overwhelmed.

A long tail of what appeared to be white flame appeared behind one of Mara's engines, then her X-wing spiraled out of the battle plane. Luke followed, experiencing the barest instant of worry until he felt her drawing on the Force and realized what she was doing.

Nice trick. This came not from Luke, but from Tam, still maintaining the shield trio. "Learn that from Izal?"

Yes, Mara replied. She was a little shaken, Luke sensed, by the idea that Tam was also sharing in their thoughts. "How long have you been eavesdropping?"

Tam responded with a mental shrug. "Wasn't trying." A young navigator-turned-fighter-pilot, the Duros' father - the Jedi Daye Azur-Jamin - had vanished on Nal Hutta a year earlier, and since then, Tam had been having trouble shutting other people's thoughts out of his mind. "You two have just been sort of ..." SHOUTING.

The exchange took only as long as it required the squadrons' fusillade of proton torpedoes to hit the cruiser and detonate. A brilliant light flared above and behind the trio, and Luke's tactical display danced with static as R2-D2 struggled with the electromagnetic pulse.

The Force glow trailing from Mara's engines flashed into a fire-like ball that engulfed all three X-wings. "Okay, boys, shut down your sublights."

Luke was already flipping the switch - and drawing an alarmed whistle from R2-D2. "It's okay, Artoo." He flipped the toggle. "This is part of Mara's plan."

R2-D2 tweedled sharply. Luke checked the readout.

"Of course you didn't hear the plan," he explained. "It didn't come over a comm channel."

R2-D2 trilled in doubt.

"Trust me, Artoo, there is a plan."

"Time for a little lifting," Mara commed. "Follow along."

Luke felt Mara gathering the Force in, then saw her unpowered X-wing rise slowly out of the light ball. He lifted his own craft after hers and glanced back to see Tam doing the same. Mara let the glowing sphere spiral off. When they still did not draw any Yuuzhan Vong fire, she dispelled it in a final flash of brilliant light.

Luke looked up and saw they were less than a thousand meters beneath the skip carrier's spindly armed form. A full squadron of skips still hung from each of its fifteen arms, and the big warship analog was out in front, paying no attention at all to their dark ships.

Luke started to congratulate Mara on her strategy, but she cut him off. "What'd you expect, Skywalker? Subterfuge is my specialty."

R2-D2 trilled urgently and displayed a warning about non-optical sensors.

"I know they can still detect us," Luke answered. "But they're going to be confused for a second - and a second's all we need."

Mara dropped her shadow bombs, then used the Force to send them sailing up toward the heart of the monstrous ship. Tam's were close behind. Luke was still launching his when the first explosion erupted from the carrier's central disk.

 

Danni rose into her crash webbing. Fighting to keep breakfast where it belonged, she wondered if the blastboat's overhaul had been a good thing. With every seam rewelded by the maintenance droids on Eclipse and the frame inspected by certified space techs, Wonetun thought he could fly it like the squadron's new X-wings - and he still insisted on keeping the inertial compensator dialed down to 92 percent. The Brubb swung into a vectored-thrust turn so tight the blood pooled in Danni's fingertips. She had to squeeze her eyes shut to keep them in their sockets. A bad thing, she decided. Something popped in the systems bilge beneath her feet. Definitely a bad thing.

A distant flash shone through the forward viewport. Danni looked and saw the white spheres of three proton detonations winking back into nothingness. The Wild Knights had emerged from hyperspace far above Talfaglio's orbital plane and rolled into an inverted nosedrop, so she had the sensation of diving "down" toward the battle. Another proton explosion lit the darkness, vaping the central disk of the big skip carrier. The vessel's arms spun off into space. Burning coralskippers tumbled in every direction.

"Ah - Master Skywalker, he is enjoying his hunt." Saba activated a targeting reticle and slid it across the transparisteel viewport to a Yuuzhan Vong cruiser trailing behind the debris. "There is the shy vessel, Danni. See if it has what we want."

Danni linked her sensors to the reticle. A dozen gravity arrows leapt to life and began dancing to the enemy code.

"Affirmative," she said. "That ship has a yammosk."

"Not for long." Saba sissed uproariously, then transmitted the coordinates to the Rogues and the rest of the Wild Knights. "There is our target. Be careful of her big hatchmate."

The enemy warship was just ahead of the yammosk cruiser, hurling an unending salvo of plasma balls and magma missiles at the New Republic flotilla blocking its route to the escape corridor. Fortunately, the Mon Mothma and Elegos A'Kla had made short work of the Yuuzhan Vong blockade and were dashing forward to support the other New Republic forces.

A flurry of bouncing data bars drew Danni's eye back to her holodisplay. "They've seen us."

Fifteen seed-shaped lumps of yorik coral dropped off the enemy cruiser and angled up to meet them, and its weapons nodules began to spew plasma fire and magma missiles in their direction. Danni felt like they were flying into a star.

Wonetun put the blastboat into a wild corkscrew and followed the rest of the squadron into battle, and Izal Waz opened up with the big quad lasers. Danni grabbed the arms of her seat, trying to keep Wonetun's wild gyrations from slamming her against her crash webbing. The gravity arrows in her holodisplay went wild.

"Ready concussion missiles and decoyz."

"Ready." The reply came from both Han Solo's Millennium Falcon and Lando Calrissian's Lady Luck, flying behind the blastboat above and below.

"X-wingz, ready all torpedoes," Saba said. "Target cruiser only; ignore skipz."

"Wild Knights ready," Drif Lij commed.

The communication was more for the Rogues' sake than Saba's. With the Force as thick as it was today, the Wild Knights could feel the readiness of their fellow pilots. The Rogues had to rely on more conventional means.

"Rogues ready," Gavin Darklighter confirmed.

Luke Skywalker's voice came over the tactical net. "The Shockers and Sabers are regrouping below the cruiser. We're out of torpedoes, but we'll run interference when that warship starts shedding skips."

"Our thankz, Farmboy."

All of Danni's data bars dropped to near-zero. "The yammosk has gone quiet." She looked forward and saw the cruiser starting to bank around, trying to bring its flank to bear on the ships jumping it from above. How it could have more weapons there than the ones firing at them from its top, Danni could not imagine. "Something's happening."

"Yes. The warship is decelerating and dropping skips," Wonetun added.

"We have convinced them to stay and fight," Saba said. She opened a channel to the tactical net. "Hisser here -"

"That's not it," Danni interrupted. She closed her eyes, using a Jedi concentration technique to help her see the data, comprehend how it fit together. They were too close to Talfaglio for a microjump, and with two Star Destroyers moving up to support the New Republic, the yammosk had to realize that any hope of punching through to the escape corridor was gone. She patched herself into the tactical net. "They're getting ready to microjump - away from the battle."

Saba turned one reptilian eye toward Danni. "Yuuzhan Vong do not run."

Corran Horn's concerned voice came over the tactical net. "All units, break off," he ordered. The Jolly Man was far above the system's orbital plane, using its long-range sensors to monitor and coordinate the battle. "They're trying to string you out -"

"Give us a minute, Control," Wedge Antilles said. "There's something we'd like to try. Hisser, please have your squadron launch its missiles."

Saba did not need to be told twice. She gave the order. The brilliant circles of twenty propellant tails flashed past, then multiplied into many times that number as the decoys deployed.

The cruiser completed its turn and began to accelerate, and all of Danni's data bars shot to maximum, and the gravity arrows swung their bases toward the New Republic flotilla. The equipment popped and sizzled, then vented a plume of acrid smoke and went dead. Danni slapped the power cutoff - though she knew by the smell of scorched circuits it was too late to save her processing boards - and turned to answer the question she sensed coming from Saba.

"Gravity surge - something overloaded it."

"So it seemz."

Saba curled her pebbly lips and sissed, then looked forward. With Wonetun spiraling from one direction to another, the enemy cruiser was bouncing back and forth in the viewport. It had stopped firing and seemed to be pivoting around its bow. The first wave of missiles flashed past, their ion tails bending sharply as their guidance systems struggled to adjust course.

Danni thought it was some strange Yuuzhan Vong evasive tactic, until the second wave angled in unopposed and detonated into the hull.

"Disarm the missiles!" Danni yelled. She glanced at Saba's tactical display and saw the warship also spinning out of control. "Disarm them now. We're going to vape our yammosk!"

"You must be right about this," Saba warned, already transmitting the deactivation code, "or this one will eat your arm."

Somehow, Danni did not think the Barabel was exaggerating. "I am."

The cruiser broke into three pieces and began to vent bodies. The next wave of missiles curved in and struck the hull and did not explode, and Danni dared to breathe again. She opened a channel to the Mon Mothma. "General Antilles, does one of your ships happen to be an Interdictor?"

"That information would be classified," the reply came. "But it would be safe to assume that we were just waiting for them to microjump."

As General Antilles replied, the New Republic flotilla began to rain turbolaser blasts down on the helpless warship, softening it up before attempting to board. Luke and Mara and the rest of the Eclipse X-wings swung away from the conflagration and headed back to help escort the refugee convoy safely out of the system.

With their own target as helpless as the warship, Wonetun flew a straighter course, and Han and Leia and Lando and Tendra came alongside in the Falcon and the Luck.

Saba turned her chair to face Danni. "Now we know why your equipment exploded?"

Danni nodded. Interdiction technology was nothing new; the Imperials had used it during the Rebellion to project artificial gravity wells in the midst of Rebel fleets to prevent them from fleeing. What was new was that the new Star Destroyers lacked the telltale projector domes of most Interdictor ships. By surprising the Yuuzhan Vong and timing their attack to coincide with the microjumps, they had put both enemy vessels out of control.

Danni opened a channel to the Lady Luck. "Gambler, can you send your droids into the cruiser now? I'd like to know if there's anything left of our yammosk."

After Lando acknowledged, Saba said to Danni, "The yammosk will be there, you may be sure, Danni Quee - flash frozen and ready to pack." She slapped her knee and, sissing for some reason only a Barabel would understand, turned to watch as Wonetun fell in behind the Luck and the Falcon. "The Force is with us today."

 

Chapter 29

Tsavong Lah was not a rare sight in the Sunulok's High Chew - as the ship's officers affectionately called their mess - so he knew the ripple of stunned silence sweeping across the tables behind him had less to do with his presence than that of the person approaching. He did not turn to see who it was; that would have implied curiosity, and he was not curious. The warmaster continued to study the basin of yanskacs before him, his eye fixed on a juicy fellow with an eight-centimeter fence of dorsal spines. The thing seemed to realize it was being watched and kept its tail poised, but it made no move to bury itself beneath the others as wise old yanskacs often did. This one seemed worthy, a true creature of Yun-Yammka.

The voices close behind Tsavong Lah murmured into quiet, and a pair of a feet scuffed the floor. He raised an arm, signaling whoever it was to wait, then darted a hand into the basin and grabbed the yanskac beneath its tail barb. Instead of struggling to escape, the creature reared back, driving its dorsal fence into the warmaster's fingers. Two spines struck bone and another lodged in a knuckle, pumping poison directly into the joint. A cord of white heat shot up Tsavong Lah's arm into his shoulder. The pain was exquisite.

With the spines still embedded in his fingers, the warmaster stepped to the dressing table and braved the yanskac's clacking chelipeds to eviscerate it alive, then tossed it onto the brazier, still thrashing, to cook in its scales. The entrails he flung to the floor for the kaastoag cleaning scavengers, who began to fight over them stinger and tentacle. Such were the gifts the gods gave to their strong: battle, pain, life, death. Tsavong Lah cleaned his coufee in a vat of venogel and drew the edge across his own palm to sanctify the blade, then turned to see who had come.

"Yes?" To his surprise, he found himself facing not a messenger, but a striking young communications attendant with black honor bars burned across her cheeks. "You may speak, Seef."

Seef raised a fist to the opposite shoulder in salute. "News from Talfaglio, Warmaster."

Instead of continuing, she cast a nervous glance around at the other officers in the High Chew.

"I take it the Jeedai have shown themselves." The crack of rupturing cheliped told Tsavong Lah that his yanskac had finished cooking. He snatched his meal out of the flames with his bare hands - no officer in the High Chew would dream of using the bone tongs provided for the purpose - then peeled the tail down, pulling the scaly skin off with it. "How many refugees did they save?"

"All of them, my leader, or nearly so." Seef s gaze dropped. "The blockade was defeated, as was our fleet."

"Defeated?" Tsavong Lah grasped the yanskac by its dorsal spines and took a bite. The flesh was firm and tangy, designed by the shapers to be savory as well as nutritious. "You're certain?"

Seef drew her coufee and offered the hilt. "It shames me to bear this news, but the sentinels' view was clear. They attacked with a fleet many times larger than our spies claim they have, and they employed weapons our shapers are still struggling to analyze." She lowered her gaze, not wishing to offend the great warmaster by looking upon him as she delivered the last line of particularly disgracing news. "Their Star Destroyers were even able to capture one of our capital vessels, the Lowca."

"Intact?"

"More than not, I fear," Seef answered.

"Interesting. I want to go see this for myself."

"Memory chilabs are on their way from the sentinels now, Warmaster."

"And that won't be necessary." Tsavong Lah pushed the coufee aside. "We have been awaiting this."

"We have?" Seef looked more puzzled than relieved.

"The Jeedai have finally let their emotions lead them astray." Though he had been working toward this moment since the fall of Duro, he felt strangely disappointed in his enemies. He had thought them better foes than this, not so easily manipulated. "Seef, you will ask the readers to discover if the gods favor two bold attacks, one to take Borleias, the other to take Reecee."

"Reecee?" This from a master tactician standing in line behind him. "You will bypass the Bilbringi Shipyards?"

"For now." Tsavong Lah placed a hand on Seef's back and pushed her gently toward the exit, then tore the chelipeds off his yanskac. Splaying them open, he raised his arm high enough for everyone in the High Chew to see. "The time has come to prepare our pincers, my warriors."

He brought the claws together. "We are ready for Battle Plan Coruscant."

 

Chapter 30

Gaunt and thin-lipped, with a much-broken nose and a black-pithed plaeryin bol glaring out of a restructured ocular orbit, Nom Anor was the most recognizable Yuuzhan Vong in the galaxy - at least to a Jedi Knight. The feathery creature hopping along beside him was another matter. Standing a little over waist-high on reverse-jointed knees, it had willowy ears, corkscrew antennae, and delicate whiskers fringing a broad simian mouth. Jacen had never seen a creature quite like this one, and yet he had the uncanny feeling he should know it.

Halfway to its destination - the ramp where Ganner had inadvertently insulted the Yuuzhan Vong at the rescue ship - the thing stopped and turned its head in his direction. Though it was gazing through two layers of window membrane and across a hundred meters of landing pit, it looked straight at him. It let its gaze linger long enough to send a cold shiver down his spine, then smiled slyly and fluttered forward to rejoin Nom Anor.

Beside Jacen, Ganner whispered, "It couldn't have seen us!" Despite his assertion, he retreated deeper into the shadows. "It glanced over by chance."

"It felt us," Jacen said, lowering the electrobinoculars. "More than that, it felt our apprehension."

He did not add that the creature had done so through the Force. The shock radiating from Ganner suggested he had already reached the same conclusion.

"What's wrong with you two?" Jaina asked, joining them in the archway. "You feel like you've been hearing the Emperor's voice! Don't tell me you're afraid of a few Yuuzhan Vong."

"There are more than a few." Jacen passed the electrobinoculars to his sister. Her emotions felt oddly disconnected, as they often did when combat was imminent, but he could not criticize her performance. When the thud bugs started flying, she was always the steadiest, most levelheaded Jedi on the strike team. Ignoring the company of Yuuzhan Vong warriors forming up outside Nom Anor's shuttle, he pointed at the bird thing. "But it's Nom Anor's pet that bothers me. I think it touched me with the Force."

Jaina studied the little creature. "You're sure?"

"Not sure," Jacen clarified. "But convinced."

"Me, too," Ganner agreed. "That smile ..."

"Hmm." Jaina frowned in thought. "Does Feathers there remind you of anybody?"

"I keep thinking it should," Jacen said. "But I've never seen anything like it."

"Sorry, I forget that New Republic Intelligence isn't sharing with Uncle Luke these days," Jaina said. "We've seen some interesting holograms in Rogue Squadron. That's Vergere."

"Vergere?" Jacen gasped.

Vergere had been involved in one of the Yuuzhan Vong's first efforts to assassinate the Jedi, but she had also been the one who had given their father the healing tears that had first put Mara's illness into remission. To this day, there remained disagreement over whether Vergere was a friend or foe of the Jedi, a mere pet of the assassin or an agent in her own right.

"It's either Vergere, or another creature like her," Jaina said. "And if she touched you through the Force, we can assume she was more than the assassin's pet 'familiar.'"

Ganner nodded. "She was there to point us out to the killer."

"I'm not so sure," Jacen said. "If she was part of the plot, why did she save Mara's life? Why hasn't she sounded the alarm about us yet?"

"Maybe we were wrong," Ganner suggested. "Maybe she didn't feel us."

"I felt her" Jacen insisted.

Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Anakin and the rest of the strike team. The two Dark Jedi, Lomi and Welk, were with them, now clothed in their own dark armor and swaddled in Tekli's bacta bandages. Jacen was ashamed to find himself wishing the group had known the pair's identity before his brother decided to rescue them; he felt certain they would still have made the attempt, but after killing the voxyn queen.

Ganner passed the electrobinoculars to Anakin at about the same time that Nom Anor and Vergere reached their destination. The unarmored Yuuzhan Vong who had challenged the strike team earlier appeared on the ramp and began to speak with Nom Anor. When Vergere intruded with a harsh comment, he stiffened and brought his fist to his shoulder in salute, then began to include her in the conversation.

Anakin turned the electrobinoculars toward the troops in front of Nom Anor's shuttle. "How many -"

"Too many to fight," Jacen answered.

Anakin ignored him and looked to Ganner. More disappointed by the slight than irritated by it, Jacen swallowed his pride and remained silent. After all, his brother had asked for information, not recommendations.

Ganner said, "I counted a hundred and four warriors - probably three platoons and an overseeing officer."

Anakin's expression did not change, but Jacen felt a rare surge of anxiety in his brother. Their first plan had already failed, and now their second was coming apart. He did his best to mute Anakin's apprehension and prevent it from affecting the others through the battle meld.

Lomi stepped to Anakin's side. "We can escape into the training course. There's an exit into the laboratory complex."

Jacen saw Welk's face pale - and felt his terror through the Force.

"What's the training course?" Jacen asked.

"It's where the Yuuzhan Vong teach voxyn to hunt us," Lomi explained. She narrowed her eyes, clearly resentful at being questioned. "It will be dangerous - but less so than the spaceport."

"And we know the terrain better than the trainers do," Welk said. Despite his fear, he was eager to support his master - perhaps because she frightened him more than the voxyn did. "The voxyn won't be a problem, not for so many of us."

"Unless Skywalker's students do not live up to their reputations?" Lomi taunted Anakin with a sneer. "The choice is yours, young Solo."

"We deserve our reputations," Anakin said.

The unarmored Yuuzhan Vong with Nom Anor pointed down the colonnade toward the detention warren where the group was hiding.

"I don't think he's telling them how to find the refresher," Ganner said. "Things are getting dangerous."

"Not dangerous, just interesting," Anakin replied. He backed out of the archway, then waved Lomi deeper into the detention warren. "Lead on."

Zekk started after him. "Anakin, what are you doing?"

Jacen did his best to dampen the alarm and indignation pouring into the battle meld, but Zekk's feelings were too powerful. They cascaded through the group, evoking enmity and resentment from Raynar and Eryl, and something more deadly from the Barabels.

Anakin glanced back at the landing pit, where Nom Anor and Vergere were waving to their troops. "We'll never make it around the spaceport. We need to follow Lomi through the training area."

"She's a Nightsister!" Zekk continued. "You can't trust her - you can't even bring her."

"Zekk, we don't have any choice," Jacen said. He was glad to have an opportunity to support his brother - maybe that would convince Anakin to forgive him for his mistake aboard the Exquisite Death. "Abandoning them would be the same as killing them."

"Worse," Lomi said, leading the way past the detention cells. "I doubt you have any spare lightsabers, but perhaps a blaster -"

"I said we need you, not trust you," Anakin said.

Lomi smiled guilefully. "As you wish."

She turned down a corridor lined so thickly with ysalamiri trees that Jacen felt as though he were traveling through the jungle floor back on Yavin 4. The battle meld broke briefly as they entered a deep region where the ysalamiri had not smelled the pheromone capsule, then the corridor entered a throat of yorik coral so narrow that even Tekli had to turn sideways. Had the walls not been covered with a slippery blanket of mildew, Lowbacca would not have been able to squeeze through at all.

On the other side, the passage opened into a sparse forest of bitter-smelling trees with drooping crowns and knife-shaped leaves. Through the spindly foliage, Jacen saw that they had entered a canyonlike passage perhaps a hundred meters wide and half that in depth, with a "sky" of brightly glowing lichen clinging to the ceiling above the treetops.

Lomi paused there. "Keep your weapons at hand. The trainers were working a pack when you arrived, and they pulled us out in a hurry. The voxyn could be anywhere by now."

Jacen looked back through the narrow throat of yorik coral. "Why not the detention warren?"

"The fungus," Lomi explained. "It prevents them from clinging to the walls, and the passage is too narrow for them to pass through otherwise."

They paused long enough for Lowbacca and Ganner to plant a pair of detonite trip-mines in the corridor, then continued down the trail. Jacen reestablished the battle meld and was struck by the discord in the group. With events turning against them and everyone nervous about a voxyn ambush, emotions were running raw.

Lomi guided the strike team down the trail, then turned down an intersecting passage at a convergence Jacen had not even seen. The trees grew instantly darker and denser, their branches draped with long beards of quivering moss. They had traveled no more than fifty paces through this area when a muted crack sounded behind them, followed by the muffled roar of falling stone.

"Mine detonation confirmed," 2-4S reported. "Casualty count unavailable."

"Tell us something we don't know," Tahiri said.

Lomi led the way around several more corners, Tahiri's comments growing more frequent as the forest grew steadily thicker and darker. A pair of coralskippers flew over, then wheeled around just beneath the ceiling and dived toward the treetops.

"Presence detected," 2-4S warned.

Lomi rushed the team down a swampy side rift with scaly trunked trees rising out of green water.

"Two-Four-S, secure the intersection," Anakin ordered.

"Affirmative," the droid responded.

They were barely a hundred splashes into the swamp when the whumpf-whumpf of the droid's blaster cannon reverberated down the canyon.

"Lead ship destroyed," 2-4S reported over their comlinks.

The fire continued another second before it was joined by the roaring sizzle of a plasma volcano. Through the treetops, Jacen glimpsed the dark disk of a coralskipper swinging toward the canyon mouth, a fan of dark mist pouring from its belly.

"Breath masks!" he shouted.

Most members of the strike team were already pulling the masks over their faces, but the two Dark Jedi could only glance helplessly at the others. Lomi turned to Anakin with an outstretched hand.

"I need a mask."

"Hold your breath," Zekk said nastily.

"And who will guide us if she falls?" Alema demanded.

The Twi'lek tossed her breath mask across the swamp, using the Force to propel it into Lomi's hands, then the roar of 2-4S's propulsion rockets sounded from the intersection. Jacen glanced back to see the droid rising out of the swamp on a column of yellow flame, all weapon systems pouring fire into the nose of the coralskipper. The enemy pilot countered with a pair of plasma balls to the chest. YVH 2-4S vanished inside a ball of white flame, but still managed to steer himself into the oncoming coralskipper and trigger his self-destruct charges.

Coralskipper and droid vanished together in a brilliant flash. Jacen's vision spotted, then the shock wave sent him stumbling backward through the water. He was caught by Tenel Ka's strong hand. After steadying him, she said something he could not hear over the ringing in his ears, but the sentiment of which he recognized through the battle meld: His breath mask would do him no good dangling from his hand.

Jacen pulled the straps over his head, more than a little distressed by 2-4S's annihilation. Not only had the droid been a valuable and respected comrade, but with both him and 2-1S destroyed, the entire strike team felt far more exposed, as though their protector had vanished and left them to fend for themselves.

When the spots cleared from his eyes, Jacen saw a cloud of oily smoke drifting down the canyon toward them. Beneath it hung the same dark mist that the coralskipper had been releasing when 2-4S destroyed it. He turned to warn the others and found Anakin already motioning the team forward - then he felt the familiar agitation of a voxyn somewhere ahead.

"Sith blood!" Tahiri put her lightsaber in one hand and her blaster in the other. "When does something go right?"

A forest of lightsabers snapped to life, and Anakin ordered, "Keep going - let's stay ahead of that mist until it disperses."

The Barabels inserted their earplugs, then dropped to their bellies and glided out across the water, their thick tails propelling them quietly forward. The rest of the strike team put in their own earplugs and waded after the hatchmates, some with blaster weapons in hand, others with lightsabers, some with both.

They advanced no more than twenty meters before a loud purling rippled through the trees ahead, and Jacen felt an outpouring of surprise from Bela. He pointed toward her side of the gorge and started to shout the alarm, but the rest of the team was already splashing in her direction.

The Barabel shot from the water like a rocket, plastering her body against a nearby tree trunk and scrambling for the top. Behind her came a voxyn's flattish snout, its beady lips drawing open to spray acid. A flurry of blaster bolts converged on the creature's head. Many hit scales and bounced harmlessly away, but several more burned through or buried themselves into the soft tissue around its eyes and ear slits. Ganner and Alema leapt forward and hacked off the smoking head with their lightsabers, leaving the neck stump to slide back beneath the surface.

"Found it!" Bela called, dropping back into the swamp.

The three Barabels broke into a fit of sissing inside their breath masks, then the mist curtain caught up to them and tiny droplets of black vapor began to melt into the water.

"Alema, Welk - into the water!" Jacen yelled.

Alema was already underwater by the time he finished, but, not being part of the battle meld, Welk was slower. He looked around in confusion for a moment, then finally grasped what was happening and threw himself beneath the surface - only to bob to the surface a few seconds later, limp and floating facedown.

Lomi used the Force to summon him to her, then held him above the water while Tekli examined him.

"His breathing is fine," the Chadra-Fan said. "I think it's only ..."

She let the sentence trail off as she - and everyone else in the battle meld - experienced a sudden surge of panic from Alema.

"You think what?" Lomi asked, unaware of what the others were feeling. "Will he recover, or am I -"

She was interrupted by the crackle of liquid turning instantly to vapor as Alema's lightsaber ignited underwater. The Twi'lek shot out of the swamp in a cloud of steam, using the Force to somersault backward over Ganner.

"Another voxyn!" Alema yelled, pointing. "It caught me by ... the ..."

Her eyes closed before she finished, and she splashed into the water on her back. Ganner and Bela ignited their own lightsabers and began to back away, stabbing at the water as they moved. Jacen concentrated on muting the team's negative feelings and keeping the battle meld efficient, and Anakin used the Force to lift Alema out of harm's way and float her over to Tahiri.

"Take her." Anakin pointed back toward the murky forest where the coralskippers had found them. "Take Lomi and Tekli, wait for us on dry land."

"Me?" Tahiri let the Twi'lek sink half into the water before reaching out with the Force to keep her afloat. "Why do I have -"

"Because Anakin asked you to," Jacen said. He stretched a hand toward where Alema had fallen and summoned the Twi'lek's lightsaber from beneath the water, then slapped it into the girl's hand. "Now is no time for jealousy, Tahiri."

"I'm not jealous," Tahiri snapped. "I just don't like being sent off like some child."

With that, she motioned to Lomi and Tekli, then took Alema and retreated up the canyon. Jacen activated his own lightsaber and started forward to join the others searching for the voxyn, but saw the Barabels spreading across the channel with a handful of concussion grenades and realized they had a better idea.

"Everybody back," Anakin ordered, approving the plan even before the Barabels suggested it. "Watch those trees - we don't want them falling on someone."

The Barabels began to throw their grenades in simultaneous trios, working inward from the farthest distance they guessed the voxyn could have traveled. With each column of water the explosions sent shooting into the air, Jacen felt a sharp concussion against his legs. On the second throw, three voxyn floated to the surface with glazed eyes and bleeding ears. Ganner and Lowbacca used their lightsabers to finish the stunned creatures.

"That's four." Anakin deactivated his lightsaber. "The whole pack."

"Perhaps, but it would be wise to be sure," Tenel Ka said, glancing in Jacen's direction. "Do you feel any more?"

Jacen reached out to see if he could locate any other creatures. It took a moment, but he finally located a large group of presences several hundred meters up the canyon.

"There are more," he reported. "A half a dozen, at least. They seem kind of stunned and wary."

"Good," Tenel Ka said. "Then that will give us plenty of time to go the other way."

Anakin nodded, and the strike team turned to go. Twenty meters from the intersection, they found Tahiri and the others rushing back toward them.

"No! Go that way!" Tahiri pointed up the canyon toward the voxyn. "Norn Anor and his bird are coming this way with about a hundred Yuuzhan Vong!"

"What next?" Raynar complained. He slapped a hand to his forehead and ran it over his blond hair. "Can anything else go wrong?"

Zekk glanced at Lomi, then turned away shaking his head as if to say this was what came of consorting with Dark Jedi. Jacen realized that he needed to speak with Zekk at the first opportunity about his impact on the battle meld, but Anakin seemed oblivious to the strike team's growing sense of fatalism.

Not seeming to hear Raynar, Anakin clapped a hand on Tahiri's shoulder and flashed a brash Solo smile. "This is no problem," he said.

Lowbacca growled a question, which Em Teedee translated almost accurately as, "Master Lowbacca wishes to inquire if you have lost your mind."

"That was a long time ago," Jaina answered, not quite laughing. "And if he's thinking what I'm thinking, it's just crazy enough to work."

Hoping to share with the others the positive emotional spark from which Jaina's words sprang, Jacen reached out to his sister - and found only the same battle numbness as before. Trying not to let his concern show, he asked, "What are you thinking?"

"Ambush," Jaina said.

Anakin nodded and pointed to four trees. "That will be our killing zone. We'll close the Yuuzhan Vong off from behind and fire from adjacent sides, with high in the back covering low on the side."

The battle meld remained tight enough so that was all he needed to say. The firing teams rushed to their assigned places, the humans spreading out in the water along the canyon wall, while Lowbacca took Jovan Drark and the Barabels high into the trees and spread out across the channel. Tekli used the Force to lift Alema and Welk into the trees well outside the ambush area. Jacen placed himself at the corner of the angle, where he would be as close as possible to everyone in the battle meld.

Lomi waded up to Anakin, who was standing in the water just five meters from Jacen. "Very impressive, young Solo," she said. "Where would you like me?"

"Out of the way. You have no weapon."

Lomi gave him a sarcastic smile. "A Jedi is never without a weapon, Anakin. Would you rather I use a blaster or the dark side?"

Anakin sighed, then used his comlink to have Lowbacca pass down Alema's G-9 power blaster and grenade belt.

"Anakin, you can't!" Zekk protested. He was so loud that Anakin could hear him even without using the comlink.

"Not your choice, Bounty Hunter," Anakin said. "This might get ugly, and she has a right to defend herself."

"Tell him that Welk and I will promise not to use the dark side - as long as we remain armed," Lomi said, sneering. "That should calm him."

Anakin relayed the message.

"I suppose you'll be bringing them into the battle meld next," Zekk said sarcastically.

A warning click came over the comm channel, and the human Jedi lay down beneath the surface of the swamp, relying on their breath masks' backup oxygen canister for air. It was not long before they began to feel the tension of those watching the enemy's approach from the trees, though this sensation was all but overwhelmed by the qualms Zekk and several others felt at seeing an armed Dark Jedi in their midst. Though Jacen was not entirely happy about matter himself, it seemed a better alternative than having her call on the dark side. He did his best to subordinate Zekk's resentment and keep everyone's emotions focused on the task at hand, but the discord was hurting their combat effectiveness. He could feel it.

Finally, the faint sloshing of wading Yuuzhan Vong came to his ears underwater, and an eruption of glee from the Barabels let everyone know it was time to attack. Jacen rose quietly out of the swamp and saw a mass of enemy warriors moving through the trees with far too much confidence - convinced, apparently, that even Jedi would not attack at an odds disadvantage in excess of five to one.

Obviously, they had not done their research on the Solo family. Jacen armed the fragmentation grenade in his hand and threw it into the midst of the still-oblivious Yuuzhan Vong, then raised his T-21 repeating blaster and opened fire.

The Yuuzhan Vong reacted like the well-trained warriors they were. Even with the swamp exploding into shrapnel and blaster bolts all around them, they did not panic or fall into helpless confusion. Their officers immediately began to shout orders - and were promptly picked off by Jovan Drark's deadly sharpshooter blaster rifle - the "longblaster." Jacen caught a glimpse of Nom Anor yelling into a shoulder villip near the back of the company and swung his G-9 power blaster in the executor's direction, but could not bring himself to fire - at least not instantly. It was one thing to attack an impersonal foe in the necessity of battle, quite another to murder a much-despised enemy. Jacen had learned on Duro, when he had been forced to act to prevent Tsavong Lah from killing his mother, that a Jedi was free - no, obligated - to protect others from evil. But targeting a specific person out of anger still felt like murder - and using a battle as an excuse to commit such a sinister act still seemed like the way to the dark side.

Before he could work the matter out, Vergere stepped out from behind a tree, inadvertently placing herself between Jacen and his target. Jacen raised his weapon, training his aim on Nom Anor's head. Vergere glanced at him with her slanted eyes and briefly locked gazes, then grabbed the executor and pulled him to safety behind a tree. Jacen squeezed his trigger and watched the bolt flash harmlessly across the swamp, then swung his weapon back toward the battle.

With their officers dead and vonduun crab armor shattering all around them, the Yuuzhan Vong warriors were seeking cover underwater. Someone called "concussion" over the comlink, and Jacen stopped firing to pull a grenade from his equipment belt - then realized that he had no idea who had spoken. Clearly, the battle meld was suffering.

"Two-second delay," Anakin commed. "Arm."

In the time it took Jacen to thumb the arming switch, the Yuuzhan Vong began to regroup, at least two dozen rising out of the water behind the cover of tree trunks or fallen logs.

"Throw."

Jacen tossed his grenade into the center of the killing zone with everyone else's, then raised his rapid blaster and began firing again. The swamp surface bucked upward, and several Yuuzhan Vong floated up bleeding from eyes and ears, staring vacantly at the sky.

Steady streams of thud and razor bugs began to drone out from behind the trees where the survivors were hiding, and Jacen heard several Jedi groan as they took hits in their armor-lined jumpsuits. Somewhere down the line, a lightsaber snapped to life, and Ganner waded forward, slapping bugs from the sky.

"Ganner!" Anakin commed. "What are you doing?"

"Can't let them pin us down," Ganner replied.

Lomi started forward, as well, her body weaving and pivoting as she dodged thud bugs, her power blaster filling the air with brilliant flashes as she shot incoming razor bugs out of the sky. If nothing else, her advance impressed the Yuuzhan Vong, who began to concentrate their fire on her.

"Wait!" Jacen commed. He had no doubt that they could advance en masse and wipe out the patrol - but he did not think they could do it without taking losses. "I can flush them." He sensed a query forming in Anakin's mind, then explained, "The voxyn, I think I can use them."

"Think? "Anakin asked.

"Can," Jacen assured him.

Anakin hesitated a moment, then said, "Let's try it."

Ganner and Lomi retreated to cover, and Jacen reached out to the voxyn he had sensed earlier, calling on the Force to soothe them out of their shock, to lull them into thinking there was nothing to fear ahead.

The voxyn responded almost too well. The entire strike team experienced a hungry stirring in the Force as the beasts reached out to locate them, then Jacen felt the creatures start down the canyon toward the ambush. The two sides began to trade fire more sporadically, the Yuuzhan Vong content to sit in cover in the mistaken belief that help would arrive soon, the Jedi content to let them. Jacen thought about comming Jovan to tell him to keep an eye out for Nom Anor and Vergere, then decided against it. He was treading as close as he cared to the dark side.

Less than a minute later, a Yuuzhan Vong snarled in surprise, then gurgled horribly as a voxyn dragged him underwater. Several other Yuuzhan Vong cried out as the creatures brushed past, but only two let out screams suggesting they had been attacked. The voxyn, Jacen realized, were more interested in the Force wielders down the way.

"Out of the water, now!" he commed.

As his fellow Jedi used the Force to boost themselves into the trees, Jacen thumbed a fragmentation grenade active and tossed it into the swamp. While not as powerful as concussion grenade, it would generate enough of a shock wave to serve his purpose. He waited until the grenade exploded, then reached out to the voxyn, encouraging them to blame anything in the water for the attack.

Several more Yuuzhan Vong cried out. A few even stumbled from cover to be picked off by Jovan and the Barabels, but more than a dozen remained in hiding and continued to fling thud bugs into the trees. Climbing into a tree himself, Jacen dropped the battle meld - it was not working that well anyway - and focused only on the voxyn. He threw another fragmentation grenade and urged the creatures to attack anything in the water.

The Yuuzhan Vong attacks dwindled as they turned to battle the attacking voxyn. A handful tried to scramble into the trees as the Jedi had done, but without the Force to boost them, they could not climb fast enough to escape their pursuers. Lowbacca and the Barabels took advantage of the distraction to leap through the tree-tops and attack from above. Soon they were shooting at nothing but voxyn, and a few concussion grenades brought the last of creatures to the surface.

Jacen dropped back into the swamp feeling not exactly guilty about luring the creatures to their doom, but hardly noble either. Maybe Zekk was right; maybe Lomi's mere presence was enough to taint the entire strike team. Jacen was still trying to work this out when Anakin waded over with Tahiri, both of them grinning ear to ear.

Tahiri clasped Jacen's arm and pulled herself up to kiss his cheek. "That was astral!"

"Well done." Anakin slapped Jacen's on the back, and there was more warmth in the gesture than had passed between the two brothers since Centerpoint Station. "You saved a lot of Jedi today."

Jacen would have felt good about that, had the day been over.

 

Chapter 31

Even with Han sprawled on the couch next to Leia, Ben gurgling in Mara's lap, and the Wild Knights comparing notes with Rogue Squadron in the back of the room, the informal sitting chamber of the Solos' Coruscant residence seemed all too empty. The five Solos had not been in this room together for more than a year, and Leia could not recall ever gathering here without the shadow of some faraway crisis hanging over someone's head.

Most of the responsibility rested squarely on Leia's own shoulders. She had devoted her life to the New Republic, and, on its behalf, she had involved Han and Chewbacca and Lando and everyone else she knew in one dangerous mission after another. Even her children had spent most of their lives dwelling apart, first because they needed protection from the Empire's kidnappers, and later because the New Republic needed them to become Jedi Knights. Now they were hundreds of light-years behind enemy lines, fighting a foe as ruthless and cruel as Palpatine himself, facing dangers she could not even guess at, but that she felt constantly through the Force. After fighting a lifetime to make the galaxy a safer place, she wondered if anyone would blame her for questioning her choices; given the danger her children were facing on the galaxy's behalf now, she wondered if anyone would dare.

Leia felt Han reaching out to her even before he touched her shoulder. "You're sure you don't want to be there with Luke?" Han glanced around the packed room conspiratorially. "There's a hovercar hanging around the back platform, and I know your brother isn't all that comfortable addressing the senate himself."

"Send the hovercar away, Han." Leia put just enough sharpness in her voice to let him know she was serious. "I'm through with the senate."

Han rolled his eyes. "Where have I heard that before?"

"It's true, Han." Leia allowed her apprehension for their children to show. "I'm thinking of other things now."

Han studied her for a moment, then nodded. "Okay." He glanced across the room to Lando and Wedge and gave a slight shake of his head, then pulled Leia tight to his side. "All this waiting - it's bad enough without feeling everything through the Force."

Leia squeezed his leg. "We're not accustomed to being the ones left behind."

Izal Waz wandered into the room and stopped behind the couches. "Hey - look at this!" He used a voice command to change the holovid from the senate feed to a news channel. In the foreground, he was shown debarking the Wild Knights' blastboat while a breathless Arcona newswoman explained that a member of their own species had participated in the daring Jedi rescue of the Talfaglion hostages. "I'm a hero!"

Almost since their departure from the system, the HoloNet had been filled with news of the Yuuzhan Vong's total defeat at Talfaglio. A Kuati network had even managed to obtain a hologram from a Star Destroyer holocam showing an enemy corvette exploding for no visible reason in front of a Jedi X-wing - the newscaster had identified the wing markings incorrectly as those of Kyp's Dozen. Fortunately, the shadow bomb responsible could not be detected even with enhancement, but Luke had prevailed on the New Republic high command to censor all images of Jedi combat techniques lest another, better recording betray the secret.

Saba grabbed Izal by the arm and pulled him away, saying, "Yes, we are all famous now - so don't embarrasz us!"

Mara stood her son up on her knees and cooed in a high, chirrupy, and very un-Mara-like voice. "Someone found the salt, didn't he?"

Ben chortled in response, his delight rippling through the Force just the way Anakin's used to when Leia visited him in hiding on Anoth - and so powerfully it moved her to tears. She turned away and tried to hide her face by leaning against Han's shoulder, but Mara was not one to miss such an obvious sign. She reached over and placed a hand on Leia's forearm.

"Leia, it's because of you we're here at all," she said. "Remember that. I know Anakin and the twins will."

"Thank you." Leia wiped her eyes and smiled, taking strength from her sister-in-law's plain words. "That helps ... a lot."

"Yeah, me too." Han studied Mara, his expression somewhere between gratitude and envy. "Thanks."

Lando called out that the session was starting. Someone switched the holovid back to the senate feed, where Luke, dressed simply in a plain Jedi robe, was riding an escalator to the speaking rostrum on the chamber floor.

 

Luke stepped off the escalator beside the speaker's rostrum, wishing he felt more certain that today he would heal the rift between the Jedi and the New Republic. The senate chamber was awash in good feelings toward him and the Jedi, but there was also anger for taking matters into their own hands, apprehension about Yuuzhan Vong retaliation, and something more sinister - something dark and dangerous that he sensed would soon reveal itself to him. He lowered the cowl of his robe and, facing the long console on the high councilors' dais, bowed to the Advisory Council.

"Chief Fey'lya, Councilors, you asked to speak with me?"

Somewhere high in the galleries, a Wookiee roared in ovation, and the chamber erupted in cheers and applause. Luke stood calmly, neither acknowledging the outpouring nor discouraging it as he studied the members of the Advisory Council. Most kept their faces carefully neutral, though Fyor Rodan of Comrnenor sneered in disapproval - no doubt blaming the Jedi for not saving his own planet - and Borsk Fey'lya bared his fangs in a smile that felt surprisingly sincere.

Allowing the applause to continue, the chief of state left his console and descended to stand before Luke. He raised a furry palm and brought the chamber to order with impressive speed, then surprised Luke by clasping his hand warmly.

"Princess Leia was unable to attend?" Fey'lya asked. "The invitation was to you both."

"Leia is occupied elsewhere," Luke said.

Fey'lya nodded sagely. "Anakin and the twins, of course." He lowered his brow in a well-rehearsed expression of concern, then turned slightly toward the hovering sound droid. "Let me assure you, the New Republic is doing everything possible to determine what has become of them - and to find the person responsible."

That much was certainly true. The Wraiths had been snooping along the war zone for several days now, coming so close to identifying the true delivery ship that Luke had been forced to ask Wedge to rein them in. Reportedly, Garik "Face" Loran was furious.

"I am sure the families of all the missing Jedi appreciate your desire to help," Luke said. "But we must not forget that the Yuuzhan Vong threaten more than Jedi."

"The Jedi certainly have not forgotten." Fey'lya pumped Luke's hand enthusiastically. "On behalf of the New Republic, let me congratulate you on the Jedi victory at Talfaglio - and thank you for the lives of our citizens."

"We were glad to be of service," Luke said. "The Jedi have consolidated their forces and hope to be of more service to the New Republic in the future, but it is important to note we did not do this alone."

"We are aware of the support provided to you by the Mon Mothma and Elegos A'Kla," Viqi Shesh said, speaking from her seat on the dais. Though it was hardly necessary, she leaned closer to the sound pickup in her console and looked down at Luke. "Thanks to the HoloNet coverage, so is the whole galaxy - including, no doubt, the Yuuzhan Vong."

Luke went cold between the shoulders, and he knew he had found the dangerous presence he had been sensing - or rather, it had found him.

"A New Republic task force happened to be in the area, yes," he answered. "It's my understanding they suffered no casualties."

"The galaxy is a vast place, Master Skywalker," Shesh said coolly. "Perhaps you can explain how they 'happened' to be in the area?"

Fey'lya raised a hand to stop Luke from answering, then whirled on Shesh, his lips drawn up to show the tips of his fangs. "We have all read the reports, Councilor. The vessels were on a shakedown cruise. I fail to see the point of your request."

Shesh continued to glare at Luke. "That is precisely the point of my request, Chief Fey'lya. Wedge Antilles and Garm Bel Iblis are two of our best generals - too experienced to take a 'shakedown cruise' into Yuuzhan Vong territory."

"The last I checked, Senator, the Corellian sector was still in the New Republic," Fey'lya said, drawing a chorus of pointed laughter. "As for the generals' experience, I am sure we both agree that they know better than you or I how to shake down a Star Destroyer."

"Undoubtedly - when they are in possession of their wits," Shesh retorted.

The chamber filled with murmurs of outrage and speculation, and Luke saw where Shesh was taking her line of questioning.

"If you are suggesting that the generals were in any way influenced -"

"That is exactly what I am suggesting, Master Skywalker." Leaving her own seat, Shesh stepped over to Fey'lya's console, using his master controls to override the rostrum's microphone with her own. "The Jedi are famous throughout the galaxy for their mind tricks, but you have gone too far when you subvert the legitimate orders of a New Republic task force!"

"Hear, hear!" Fyor Rodan said, rising. "The New Republic cannot tolerate this Jedi abuse."

A surprising number of senators, most from Inner Rim worlds that still hoped to placate the Yuuzhan Vong, rose on cue. The Wookiees and Bothans roared in opposition, and Luke turned slowly, calling upon his Jedi control to keep a calm face. Leia had warned him to be surprised by nothing that happened in the New Republic Senate. Still, he failed to see how intelligent beings could be persuaded that the utter destruction of an enemy fleet and the rescue of a planetful of hostages was a bad thing.

But it was not about the fleet or the hostages, of course. It was about alliances and power, about who had it and who was losing it, who might have it tomorrow and who would share it. No wonder Leia had refused to step foot in the chamber again. No wonder the New Republic was losing the war.

Fey'lya left to reclaim control of his console and found himself delayed when Fyor Rodan blocked his way on the flimsy pretext of discussing some important rule of procedure, and Shesh continued to control the public-address system.

"Master Skywalker, perhaps you fail to realize the damage your selfish antics have caused the New Republic," she said. "In using new weapons aboard the Mon Mothma and Elegos A'Kla prematurely, you have alerted the Yuuzhan Vong to the existence of two very powerful technologies we are in the process of deploying - two technologies that we had hoped might turn the tide of the war."

This drew a fresh outburst from Shesh's supporters, and the counterprotest began to sound halfhearted. Still finding his way blocked by Fyor Rodan, Fey'lya raised a hand to summon a security droid.

Shesh rushed to press her point home. "Master Skywalker, I am afraid this council must demand that the Jedi disarm and cease their irresponsible activities."

"No." Luke spoke softly but firmly, using the Force to project the word into every niche in the vast chamber. "The Jedi will not disarm."

As he had hoped, the shock of hearing his calm voice quieted the chamber, and he continued, "We have in no way influenced any New Republic officer to disobey orders."

"You expect us to believe you?" Shesh cast a meaningful eye over the suddenly tranquil gallery. "When you are so obviously using your mind tricks on us now?"

Luke allowed himself a wry smile. "No trick," he said. "Only one calm voice."

This drew a chuckle from many in the gallery, and, with the arrival of the security droid, Fyor Rodan feigned surprise and stepped aside.

"All the same, I insist," Shesh said quickly. "If the Jedi will not disarm, the senate must prohibit the New Republic military from having any contact with them whatsoever." The chamber broke into an uproar, but Shesh elevated the speaker volume and spoke over the tumult. "There will be no more 'spare' X-wings rotated into your hangars, Master Skywalker, nor will there be any more intelligence-sharing sessions. If you continue to abuse us -"

"You are exceeding your authority, Senator Shesh," Fey'lya interrupted. The Bothan shouldered her aside and reclaimed control of his console. "Return to your seat, or I will have you removed from the chamber."

Shesh gave him an acid smile and obeyed, but the damage had already been done. She had turned the Jedi's moment of triumph into yet another senate-dividing issue - and Luke had to wonder why. As the supervising senator of SELCORE, the Kuati had certainly proven herself corrupt, and Leia's accusations of misconduct had done nothing to endear the Jedi to her, but this seemed to go beyond even that level of depravity. This was more than opportunistic vengeance; this was treachery with a plan. Had Luke not been able to feel the woman's darkness through the Force, he would have stepped onto the dais and started trying to remove an ooglith masquer; as it was, he vowed to watch this woman until he knew the source of the darkness and danger in her.

Fey'lya repeatedly called for order, then finally gave up and sank into his chair to wait for the tumult to yell itself out. Luke merely crossed his wrists and did likewise, knowing he would only play into Shesh's hands by using another Jedi technique to calm the gathering. He saw no real hope of accomplishing what he had come to do, but he could not leave without appearing arrogant - and arrogance would only be another weapon for Viqi Shesh to use against the Jedi.

The tumult finally began to subside, but Fey'lya was staring so raptly at his vidconsole that he failed to notice. Fearing the Yuuzhan Vong were hurling some new disaster at the New Republic - and knowing them well enough to realize they would pick just such a moment - Luke reached out to get some sense of what was consuming the Bothan's attention. Like any seasoned politician, Fey'lya held his emotions tightly, but what Luke sensed there seemed more surprise than dismay or panic.

Always quick to seize the initiative, Viqi Shesh rose. "I am very concerned about the Jedi problem - so concerned, in fact, that I propose a resolution."

When Fey'lya remained transfixed by his vidconsole, Luke sent out a gentle Force nudge. The Bothan jerked and turned toward Shesh, but did not interrupt.

She continued, "May it be resolved: that the Jedi are henceforth named dangerous persons to the war effort -"

That was as far she made it before the chamber erupted again. She tried to continue over the din, then turned to Fey'lya, eyes flashing as though he had killed her sound feed.

"Chief Fey'lya, I have every right to make my motion."

Fey'lya smiled. "By all means - but perhaps you would allow me to make a statement first."

He flipped something on his console, and a row of holograms appeared on the chamber floor near the speaker's rostrum. Luke had to step away before he could identify the figures as General Wedge Antilles, General Garm Bel Iblis, Admiral Traest Kre'fey, General Carlist Rieekan, and several other senior commanders. The chamber gradually quieted.

"A surprising number of high officers have contacted me in the past few minutes," Fey'lya said. "After hearing what they have to say, I am directing - not authorizing, but directing - the New Republic military to cooperate and coordinate with the Jedi."

The chamber grew even quieter - save for Shesh, who began to stammer, "Y-you can't do that!"

"I can and I have." Fey'lya locked his console out, then stepped down to Shesh's. "If you feel I am exceeding my authority, you may, of course, call for a vote of no confidence at any time. Do you wish to do so now, Senator Shesh?"

Shesh looked into the stunned gallery, trying to gauge whether the Bothan's autocratic mandate might have cost him enough support to lose such a vote. When even her own supporters could not tear their eyes from the holograms of the angry-looking commanders, she saw that she was the one who had overplayed her hand. She lowered her gaze and shook her head.

"No, and I withdraw my resolution."

"Good. We'll talk about your new committee assignments after we finish here." Fey'lya left the high councilors' dais and returned to Luke. "Now, where were we -"

"First, I'd like to ask something." Luke put his hand over the rostrum's microphone, then used the Force to send the sound droid whisking high into the galleries. "What did the generals say to you?"

"Nothing, actually. The communication was from NRMOC; the Yuuzhan Vong are moving on Borleias." Fey'lya turned toward the commanders, his fangs bared in what Luke felt certain the Bothan intended to resemble a smile. "These are file holos."

 

In the Solo apartment, the cheers were still ringing off the sitting room walls, and Gavin Darklighter was already planning joint missions with Saba Sebatyne and Kyp Durron. New Republic pilots were pouring bubblezap all around - and putting C-3PO into a dither by spilling far too much on the sanibuffed floor. Lando and Tendra were on their comlinks lauding the virtues of YVH war droids to suddenly receptive New Republic procurement officers. If anyone noticed that Wedge Antilles, one of the senior command officers supposedly in contact with Borsk Fey'lya, was actually sitting on the couch with Han and Leia, they did not think the matter worth mentioning.

Feeling far less gleeful than her guests, Leia turned to Han. "Am I the only one who noticed?"

Han gave her a crooked smile. "I noticed." He glanced past her to Wedge, who was continuing to stare at his image on the holovid, his expression somewhere between anger and approval. "Borsk bluffed."

"In politics, it's called misconduct," Leia said. "He had no authority to issue that directive alone."

"Maybe not, but he did the right thing. I seem to recall your telling him to do that."

"He didn't do it because he likes Jedi," Leia retorted. "Borsk wouldn't take the risk. He could have lost his post - he still can, if Viqi finds out what he did and stirs up enough outrage."

"Isn't going to happen," Wedge said, finally stirring himself out of his shock. "Borsk is the one who sent us to help you at Talfaglio. None of the commanders you saw on the chamber floor is going to contradict him - at least not to Viqi Shesh."

A half-dozen comlinks chimed simultaneously, among them Wedge's. He shut off the audible alarm, then he and several other New Republic officers stood and started for a quiet room.

"You'll have to excuse us," he said. "It sounds like General Bedamyr has lost his pet mynocks again."

Han and Leia laughed dutifully. When he was gone, they looked at each other and shrugged.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough," Han said.

Leia's thoughts had already returned to Fey'lya. "First, he wins the commanders over by sending a task force to Talfaglio, then he gives the credit to us." She looked back to the holovid, where Fey'lya was making a great show of presenting Luke with an encryption card that would allow him to navigate the planetary mine shell. "He's solidifying his power base, Han. He needs the Jedi supporters on his side."

"And the Jedi need him," Han said. "We're in this together."

"I know." Leia was mortified to find her own purposes aligned with those of Borsk Fey'lya. "That may frighten me more than the Yuuzhan Vong."

 

Chapter 32

Fixing his mind on the driving rhythm of Vaecta's chanting voice, Tsavong Lah thought of Yun-Yuuzhan's sacrifices, of the eyes he had surrendered to light the stars and the tentacles he had given to make the galaxies. As the gods had done in their time, now the Yuuzhan Vong must do in theirs. Today's victory would establish the left pincer of his final attack, so it was his left hand that he laid on the cutting block. He understood the place of faith as his predecessors had not; that was why he would succeed where they had died or floundered.

That was why Tsavong Lah had requested the return of the priest Harrar, his own spiritual guide and the only person he would trust to advise him on the offerings necessary to ensure victory to the Yuuzhan Vong. He would have liked to have Harrar lead the ritual himself, but it would not do to insult Vaecta. Today, Harrar would stand at his side as a witness and a friend, not a priest.

As Vaecta blessed the radank claw the shapers would attach in place of his sacrificed hand, Tsavong Lah gazed out at the steamy blue-green disk of Borleias, now swaddled in a flashing meshwork of energy bolts and plasma streaks. By all accounts a world completely lacking in resources useful to the enemy, it was nevertheless an ideal staging area for a strike against Coruscant itself and therefore fortified both heavily and cleverly. The infidels had arranged their orbital defenses in three layers, with the heavy platforms on the exterior, the smaller fast-targeting platforms on the interior, and a dense shell of space mines between.

A plasma ball the size of a small moon finally overloaded the shields of a heavy platform and reduced the unliving abomination to a melting mass of metal, but the island-ship that had made the attack paid dearly for success. A cone of meters-thick turbolaser bolts converged on the vessel, overwhelming its singularity projectors and blasting four huge breaches into the hull. The ship began to bear away, the life inside gushing into open space, a swarm of infidel missiles streaking out from the heavy platforms to complete the kill.

Seef, his communications attendant, stepped into his view bearing the already everted villip of Maal Lah, a shrewd officer from the warmaster's own domain and the supreme commander charged with securing today's victory. Though Tsavong Lah could see the alarm in his subordinate's face, he waited in humbleness until Vaecta finished her blessing, then gestured at the villip.

"Is it permitted?"

Vaecta nodded. "The gods are never offended by one who answers to his duty."

The priestess immediately began to make the obeisances that would be required to Yun-Yuuzhan and the other gods before dedicating the warmaster's sacrifice to the Slayer, and Tsavong Lah turned to the villip.

"Your commanders grow too bold," he said.

"They are eager to win your praise," the villip replied. The image was that of a square-jawed warrior with so many battle swirls that he been forced to start laying red tattoos over blue. "I have warned them that they will not do so by risking their vessels here."

"But you favor bolder tactics yourself," Tsavong surmised.

"I understand the need to conserve ships, Warmaster. Coruscant is well defended."

Tsavong Lah was surprised. After the loss of the great ship, he had expected the supreme commander to argue for an insertion assault to lay dovin basal gravity traps in the inner ring of defense platforms. Costly as the tactic was, it would quickly clear their way to the planet by pulling the minefield down onto the inner ring of orbital platforms. Provided enough of the assault force survived to actually execute the plan, it would also telegraph the tactic he intended to use to clear the far more formidable defenses around Coruscant.

"You are to be commended on your patience, Maal Lah." The warmaster looked out at the battle, where Borleias's dark moon was just swinging around the horizon, tiny flecks of crimson fire erupting in a jagged line down its murky face. "How are matters on the moon?"

"The infidels are putting up a stiff resistance, but they cannot hold much longer," Maal Lah assured him. "The dovin basal will be on the surface within the hour."

They had sent three assault divisions to install a giant dovin basal on Borleias's dark moon. Instead of crashing the satellite into its planet as the Praetorite Vong had done on Sernpidal, however, the dovin basal would be used to sweep the planetary defenses out of position. Given the moon's thirty-two-hour orbit, the stratagem would take more than a day to execute fully, but it would also conserve ships and avoid alerting the infidels to his plan for Coruscant.

Vaecta took Tsavong Lah's coufee from its sheath and began to cut a ritual offering from the thigh of the shaper who would attach the radank claw to his wrist. Realizing he had only a few moments before he would be fully consumed by the ceremony, the warmaster returned his attention to Maal Lah's villip.

"You have matters well in hand, my servant." Tsavong Lah could not help being secretly disappointed. As the warmaster, it was his privilege to decide what was to be done and how, but once the battle started, the actual doing fell to his subordinates. "But I doubt that is what you wished to report."

"I would never disturb you only to report that I am performing as you expect, Great Warmaster," Maal Lah said. "The yammosk informs me that her little ones are feeling gravity pulses from the outsystem side of the planet."

In his astonishment, Tsavong Lah forgot himself and nearly removed his hand from the cutting block. The yammosk was Maal Lah's war coordinator, with whom the supreme commander shared thoughts, and her "little ones" were the dovin basals linked to the sensor systems of each vessel. "Gravity pulses, my servant?"

"The modulation is clumsy and erratic, Warmaster, but it is definitely a code of some sort. Certain elements even bear a resemblance to our own. Mass mapping identifies the source as an armored space yacht similar to the Jade Shadow, a vessel present at the battle of Duro and later confirmed to be Jeedai property."

"Jeedai!" According to Tsavong Lah's spy, the Jeedai were still on Coruscant, refueling and rearming their fleet. His readers had assured him they would not reach Borleias until nearly a day after the projected end of the battle. "When did it enter the system?"

"That is unknown," Maal Lah said. "But it is unlikely the vessel was here when we arrived."

"Based on what knowledge?"

"Had the Jeedai been here when we arrived, they would already have been in contact with Borleias and established a more secure mode of communication. They have several methods we cannot yet detect, so it would hardly be necessary to draw attention to their presence now by hailing the planet so openly."

"And you have surmised their purpose in taking such a risk?" Tsavong Lah asked.

The villip looked uncomfortable. "Great Warmaster, my judgment in these matters is a blaze bug before the nova of your wisdom, but what if your spy on Coruscant is riding both ends of the rajat?"

Tsavong Lah fell quiet, considering the likelihood of this. It was possible that he had underestimated this Viqi Shesh, that she was playing him for the fool - or even that the New Republic deception sect knew of her contact with him and was feeding her false information as a means of passing it along. Nor could he place any faith in the HoloNet vidcasts the readers had used to confirm her story; the enemy deception sect could have planted those as easily as his own agents could infiltrate a planetary shielding crew.

As Tsavong Lah puzzled his way through the significance of the supreme commander's report, Vaecta cut a strip of flesh from her own thigh and, letting her black blood run free, twined it with the one she had taken from the shaper. She laid the result on a ceremonial gatag-shell platter and blessed it in the name of Yun-Yammka, then held it out to the warmaster.

"One moment." Tsavong Lah lifted his hand from the cutting block.

Harrar's eyes bulged in disbelief. "You ask the gods to wait?"

"They will understand." Tsavong Lah turned back to Maal Lah and asked, "This is the first pulse-message we have intercepted from the enemy, is it not?"

Maal Lah nodded. "To my knowledge, yes."

"Then why should we believe it is Borleias they are trying to contact?" He switched his gaze to Seef. "Find out what happened to the yammosk at Talfaglio, and issue orders to all supreme commanders that their war coordinators must be destroyed if threatened with capture."

Seef nodded, her eyes now bulging as far as Harrar's. "It will be done."

Maal Lah said, "I will assign a task group to capture the Jeedai vessel -"

"It would be better to ignore the vessel than to inform the Jeedai of their success," Harrar suggested. He motioned to the cutting block. "If you please, Warmaster. The gods are waiting."

"Only a moment longer." Tsavong Lah relayed Harrar's suggestion to the supreme commander in the form of an order, then added, "And I no longer wish to let the moon do our work for us. Order an insertion assault to lay the gravity traps."

"But what of Coruscant?" Maal Lah's expression grew as surprised as Harrar's and Seef s. "If you are right about the yammosks, there is no need to betray ourselves now."

"Perhaps not, but sometimes the blaze bug is right and the nova is wrong." Tsavong returned his hand to the cutting block, then glanced out at the defensive shell protecting Borleias and slid forward until his elbow lay beneath the shaper's saw. "Our need will be great today - give him the arm."

 

Chapter 33

Jaina crested the latest in a long series of chalk dunes and found an Imperial walker looming over the next one, its white cockpit and armored passenger hump silhouetted against the darkness deeper in the passage. She hissed a warning to those behind her, then dropped into a defensive crouch and snapped her lightsaber from her harness. An obsolete All Terrain Armored Transport was the last thing she expected to see inside a Yuuzhan Vong worldship, but a hundred Rogue Squadron actions had taught her never to be surprised by anything. When a glow stick came to life in the AT-AT's cockpit viewport, she yielded to her battle-honed instincts and hurled herself down the slope in a series of evasive zigzag somersaults.

As Jaina rolled, she felt herself sinking into that odd state of emotional numbness that seemed to accompany any fight these days. Other pilots sometimes spoke of feeling detached or outside themselves in combat - usually about two missions before they made some stupid mistake and let a scarhead send them nova - but this was closer to resignation, to a weary acceptance of the horror and heartache that was battle. She would have liked to attribute such feelings to her trust in the Force, but she knew better. Her reaction was emotional armor, a way to avoid the anguish that came with watching a friend or wingmate die horribly - and to deny the fear that her turn was coming.

Jaina reached the bottom in a billowing cloud of chalk dust and rolled to a stop. She sprang into a low battle crouch and brought her lightsaber around in a middle guard - then heard a familiar hissing sound.

"Stickz, you should grow a tail," Tesar Sebatyne said. "Maybe you would not be so clumsy."

This drew of series of chortles from Krasov and Bela.

"Very funny," Jaina retorted. Even without the battle meld, which Jacen was leaving down in an attempt to dampen the growing discord in the group, she was cognizant of the rest of the strike team's silent amusement. "You could have said something."

"And I could pluck the scales from over my heart," Bela rasped. "But I do not."

There was more sissing.

Jaina stepped out of the chalk cloud to find the Barabels waiting with Anakin and the other team members, their vac suits now folded into their self-storing protection packs and clipped to the back of their equipment harnesses. Caked hood to heels in dust and looking more like Jedi ghosts than Jedi Knights, they were sitting against the passage wall, keeping a sharp watch for the coralskippers that always seemed to come around spraying some enervating breath agent whenever they stopped. Two pairs of footprints - one set huge and obviously Wookiee - led over the next dune toward the AT-AT.

Jaina stretched out through Force and felt Lowbacca inside the walker with Jovan Drark. "Where did that thing come from?"

"The trainers are very thorough," Lomi explained. "They keep an entire city of slaves to operate captured equipment so they can habituate their voxyn to 'lifeless abhorrences.' There is nothing they will not do to rid the galaxy of Jedi."

"There's even a starliner berthed in a grotto hangar," Welk offered.

Notions of crashing a million-ton spacecraft into the cloning facility began to fill Jaina's mind. "Is it -"

"The energy converters have been removed," Lomi said. "Even the walkers and landspeeders run on low-capacity battery banks instead of fuel slugs. They cannot range much farther from the slave city than this."

"Of course," Jaina sighed.

Given a few resources and a little time, she and Lowbacca might well have found a way to restore the machinery - but with the infiltration already thirty hours old, the last thing the strike team could do was give the Yuuzhan Vong more time to react. A pale green tint began to come over the chalky passage, and Jaina looked up to see Myrkr pushing its emerald disk across a jagged patch of window membrane that had been used to mend a twenty-meter breach in the outer shell of the worldship. She suddenly felt rejuvenated, a little less jittery and worried. There was something about the arrival of a bright body in the sky that always made her feel as though she had just risen from a long night in a warm bunk.

Jovan Drark's Rodian voice buzzed over the comlink. "The Force has favored us today. The batteries still have a charge, but the power feeds have been isolated by mineral secretions."

A shiver of danger sense raced down Jaina's spine. "Secretions?" she commed.

"It appears to be an insect nest," Jovan reported. "Lowbacca is cleaning it off now."

Jacen's voice came over the comm channel. "What kind of insects?" Though her twin brother was always interested in new creatures, Jaina sensed through their bond that he was asking out of more than curiosity. "If they look like worms with legs -"

"It's no shockapede hive," Jovan commed. "These are little flitnats, completely harmless."

"Nothing the Yuuzhan Vong create is harmless," Alema Rar said to Anakin. "This is a trap."

"Everything's a trap with you," Tahiri objected. As she spoke, the walker's cockpit illumination activated, creating a band of pale light above the next dune. "Why can't the Force just be with us for once? We could all use the ride."

Anakin wisely looked to Lomi. "What do you know about those things?"

"That they are an unnecessary risk." She pointed down the way to where the passage ended in a sheer face of yorik coral. "We have almost reached our destination. The main cloning lab is only a kilometer beyond that wall."

"About time," Zekk said, joining the rest of the group. "I was beginning to think you were stalling."

Lomi smiled sourly. "You will understand if I prefer alive over fast, Zekk. Our fates will be the same in this."

"She's kept us out of trouble so far," Anakin added, scowling at Zekk's provocative tone. In contrast to nearly everyone else on the strike team, Anakin seemed completely untroubled by the time it had taken to negotiate the training course. "Let's make the safe play and avoid the walker. We'll be done and on our way home in two hours anyway ... four at the most."

"Careful, Anakin," Jaina said. "You're beginning to sound like Dad."

Despite the jovial smile she flashed, Jaina was distressed by her younger brother's overconfidence. Having lost only Ulaha and the two droids despite all their setbacks, Anakin seemed to think that the strike team was untouchable, that even an entire worldship full of Yuuzhan Vong could not stop a single platoon of well-trained Jedi. That might even be true, but Jaina had learned in Rogue Squadron that being best guaranteed nothing, that plans went awry for everyone - and always at the worst possible moment.

Anakin nodded to the Barabels, who never seemed to tire of walking point, and the strike team started up the dune in a billowing dust cloud. Jaina stayed at her brother's side, debating the wisdom of pointing out how much trouble they were in. Before leaving Eclipse, Ulaha and the tacticians had estimated that the mission's likelihood of success would drop 2 percent with every hour of duration, which meant that the strike team's chances had to be approaching zero by now. Add to that the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong had anticipated their assault far enough in advance to set an ambush and send Nom Anor to recapture them, and the odds had clearly fallen to minuscule.

Even the Wraiths would have given up at this point and called for extraction - but that was not an option for the strike team. They had known from the outset that any flotilla sent to support the operation would be destroyed either crossing the war zone or once it was detected near Myrkr. Seeing this as his chance to save the galaxy, Anakin had insisted on coming anyway, arguing that if the group needed to be rescued, the Jedi were already doomed - and with them, the New Republic itself. As much as it frightened her, Jaina thought he was probably right.

As they neared the top of the dune, Anakin asked, "Jaina?"

She looked over and was struck by how tall her brother had grown, by how handsome he had become - even with several days of beard growing through the chalk on his face. "Yeah?"

"What are you doing out of line?" He glanced over his shoulder, then spoke so quietly he had to use the Force to carry his words to her ears. "Is there something you want to say?"

Jaina smiled. "There is." She reached over and squeezed his forearm. "You're doing a good job, Anakin. If we're going to get this done, it's because of your confidence and determination."

"Thanks, Jaina." Anakin probably meant his lopsided grin to be cocky, but to his sister it seemed more surprised - perhaps even relieved. "I know."

"Sure you do." Jaina laughed. She punched him in the shoulder hard enough to make him stumble, then added, "Just remember to keep your guard up."

They crested the dune and found themselves looking into the AT-AT's transparisteel viewport. Jaina thought at first that the interior lighting had been dimmed, but then she noticed Lowbacca's jumpsuit-covered rump protruding up behind the instrument console and realized the murk had less to do with illumination than swarming flitnats. So thick were the insects that the main access tunnel was not even visible, only a slight darkening where it led out of the cockpit back into the passenger compartment.

Anakin was instantly on his comlink. "Streak, what are you doing in there? I said -"

Lowbacca growled a terse reply, his shaggy hand reaching up to slap a filter housing on the console.

"Master Lowbacca reports that he is simply trying to retrieve some needed equipment," Em Teedee translated for those who did not understand Shyriiwook. "And please forgive his brusqueness. The flitnats are starting to bite."

"Bite?" Jaina echoed. She eyed the distance up to the cockpit and began to gather the Force in preparation for a long jump. "What about you, Jovan?"

When no answer came, Anakin commed, "Jovan?"

Lowbacca's furry head appeared from behind the instrument console and turned toward the rear of the cockpit. He barked a query through the access tunnel, then rose to his feet, a second filter housing dangling from his hand.

"Jedi Drark fails to answer," Em Teedee reported. "Master Lowbacca can see him -"

"Dangling from a belly hatch," Tesar interrupted. "Krasov will bring him down."

Lowbacca grunted an acknowledgment and, scratching furiously beneath the collar of his jumpsuit, turned back to the instrument console.

"Lowbacca?" Jaina called. "What are you doing? Get out of there!"

The Wookiee growled a garbled explanation about needing face masks, then dropped heavily to his knees and returned to his work. A long arm rose into view and clumsily piled a handful of hoses with the filter housings, then slipped down behind the console and did not reappear.

"Oh my," Em Teedee reported. "Master Lowbacca seems to be suffering a processor crash."

Using the Force to lift her the extra five meters in height, Jaina somersaulted off the chalk dune and landed lightly atop the cockpit roof, then nearly plummeted backward when Anakin and Zekk landed beside her. Anakin thumbed his lightsaber active and plunged it into the seam of the cockpit escape hatch. Jaina ignited her own blade and began to work in the opposite direction, while Zekk dropped to his belly and dangled over the front to peer in through the viewport.

"I can't believe it!" he said. "He's still trying to get the face masks."

"Perhaps he is getting tired of carrying unconscious Jedi," Lomi said, alighting next to the others. She pointed to two places on opposite sides of the hatch. "Cut there and there."

Jaina and Anakin did as she instructed, their lightsabers whining sharply as they burned through the hatch's locking bolt and reinforced hinges.

As they continued to work, Ganner's voice came over the com-link. "Jovan's alive, but dizzy and sick. Tekli thinks she can save him."

"Save him?" Anakin gasped.

"You should see, Anakin," Tahiri commed. "I didn't know Rodians swelled up like that."

Anakin paled and said nothing, focusing all his effort on getting to Lowbacca.

"Orders?" Ganner requested.

"We must retreat and try another way," Lomi suggested.

Anakin shook his head firmly. "Never."

A muffled thud sounded from inside the cockpit, then Zekk said, "Hutt slime! He's out."

Jaina's lightsaber burned through the hatch bolt with a final acrid sizzle. She snapped the blade off and hung the handle on her equipment harness.

"Anakin, maybe you should listen to her," she said nervously. "If this is a trap, they'll be coming for us."

"So what if they are?" Anakin's knuckles whitened as he continued to cut. "We're Jedi, aren't we?"

"The value of sacrifices has a limit even to Yuuzhan Vong," Lomi warned. "They will kill us before allowing us to reach the cloning lab. We must go around."

"I thought that was why we came this way," Zekk said over his shoulder.

"They anticipated us," Lomi said simply. "But there are other ways."

"And when they anticipate those?" Anakin demanded, cutting through the last centimeter of reinforced hinge.

"Then we try another way, and another," Jaina said. She knew their situation would only grow worse as time passed, but she also knew it would be fatal to let the odds pressure Anakin into a rash act. "Sooner or later, we may have to fight - but on our terms, not theirs."

The soft hiss of a breaking seal sounded from the hatch as it finally came free and settled deeper into its seating ring. Anakin deactivated his lightsaber and, still not responding to Jaina or Lomi, stepped away.

"Anakin, there's a dust cloud coming up the canyon toward us, and I don't think it's a New Republic landspeeder," Ganner said. "How about those orders?"

"In a second!" Anakin snapped. He let out a calming breath, then knelt beside the hatch and looked to Jaina. "Ready?"

"Ready." Even without the battle meld - perhaps even without the Force - she was close enough to her younger brother to sense what he wanted from her. "Watch yourselves."

Jaina levitated the heavy escape hatch out of its seat and moved it aside. A few flitnats drifted out of the opening, their wings emitting a barely audible buzz as they circled Anakin and began to land on his face. Paying no attention, he peered into the cockpit and used the Force to pull Lowbacca up into the hatchway. Even beneath his thick fur, the flitnats were visible on his face, teeming over his eyelids and swarming inside his black nostrils. His cheeks and lips were swollen to twice their normal size, and his breath came in strangled coughs.

The Wookiee's huge shoulders proved too broad to fit through the hatchway, and Anakin had to lower him back into the cockpit. The instant the opening was clear, clouds of flitnats began to pour out, lighting on Anakin's face and drawing a hissed curse as they started to bite. He leaned into the AT-AT and grabbed Lowbacca's arms, then pulled them through the hatchway first. Along with Zekk, Jaina dropped to her brother's side and grabbed an arm so Anakin could concentrate on squeezing the unconscious Wookiee through the narrow space. Her hands and face exploded in stinging pain as the flitnats swarmed. Lomi stepped behind the others and made a feeble attempt to call up a Force wind, which failed to blow the insects away.

As Lowbacca's torso came through the hatchway, masses of blood-bloated flitnats began to drop from his sleeves. The skin on his hands had been chewed bald and was already erupting into purple lumps the size of Jaina's fingertips.

Anakin's only reply was to pull Lowbacca the rest of the way through. A billowing cloud of flitnats poured out behind the Wookiee, prompting Jaina to turn for the hatch. The flitnat bites were already making her sick, and itching so madly she had to take a second to concentrate before she could levitate the heavy piece of steel. When she turned back around, it was to find Lomi summoning an armful of filter housings and breath masks through the hatchway.

"Mustn't forget these." Lomi gathered the equipment into her arms and started toward the front of the cockpit, where Anakin was already lowering Lowbacca to the dune below. "The Wookiee did risk his life for them."

Jaina slipped the hatch into place, then felt Zekk's hand on her arm. She was surprised to find herself stumbling as he pulled her off the front of the cockpit after the others. Though the drop was brief, it was long enough to draw a distracting rise from her queasy stomach. They landed hard between Anakin and Lomi, where Jaina fell to her knees and remained, at once choking on chalk dust, itching madly, and trying to keep her gorge down.

Across her back, Lomi asked, "What do you think now, young Solo? Still determined to fight?"

Anakin thought for a moment, then said, "Blaster bolts!" He pulled Jaina to her feet and sent her stumbling down the back side of the dune, then activated his comlink. "Ganner, let's go. Retreat."

 

Chapter 34

Ben cradled in one arm, Mara circled the Shadow's hull, looking not for signs of abuse or carelessness - though she knew that was what Danni and Cilghal believed - but for signs of micropits and gas scouring. Such wear was an inevitable result of any journey through the mass-rich space around Eclipse, and she took as much pride in her vessel's sleek appearance as Han did in the Falcon's "character." She found only a handful of items that needed attention, a sign of what must have been an oppressively slow final approach.

Mara stopped at the rear cargo lift, where Danni and Cilghal were unloading the equipment they had taken to Borleias. "You took good care of her. Thanks."

"Thank you for trusting us with her." Danni put something that looked like a giant teething ring with a black eyeball in the center onto the repulsor pallet. "We tried to fit everything in a blastboat, but -"

"It's fine, Danni," Mara said. She and everyone else had still been awaiting Luke's return from the senate when Danni and Cilghal contacted her to ask if they could take the Shadow to Borleias. "I'm sure I cringed when I realized you were already under way, but it was in a good cause."

"I only wish we had been more successful," Cilghal said. She placed a blastboat gravity generator on the pallet next to the teething ring thing. "I was sure I understood the structure of the yammosk's gravital resonator. Perhaps the freezing altered something."

Mara felt a rush of joy from Ben and did not need to turn to know that Luke was leading Corran, Leia, and most of Eclipse's leaders across the hangar toward them. "Get ready, ladies," she warned quietly. "They spent the whole trip from Coruscant arguing about how Borleias's defenses could be defeated so quickly."

"That is an easy question to answer," Cilghal said. "The Yuuzhan Vong care less for their own lives than ours. They throw away ships -"

The blaring roar of an assault alarm drowned out the Mon Calamari's final words. Radiating fear and discomfort into the Force, Ben added his own voice to the din, and the hangar erupted into action as ship crews rushed to prepare ships for launch.

The alarm fell silent and was replaced by the watch officer's voice. "Attention all crews: this is no drill. We have incoming yorik coral vessels."

Danni and Cilghal looked at each other guiltily. Mara experienced a flash of anger at them for leading the Yuuzhan Vong here and endangering her child - then realized that was not possible. She had inspected the Shadow carefully enough to know there were no tracking barnacles attached to the hull, and it would have been impossible for even the Yuuzhan Vong to track a ship through so many hyperspace jumps without a homing device of some sort.

"No way they followed you here, but that won't make any difference when the bolts start flashing. We'd better take our combat posts." Mara pushed her son into Cilghal's arms, then, as Danni ran off toward the Wild Knights' blastboat, kissed him on the head. "Go to the emergency shelter with Cilghal, Ben."

Ben gurgled uncertainly, then fluttered his arms and legs as Mara rushed off toward her X-wing. Though hardly one to panic in a crisis, she deliberately kept her thoughts focused on the task at hand and felt Luke doing the same. Uncertainty bred fear, and as strong as Ben was in the Force, she did not want him to sense any dark-side emotions in his parents.

By the time she reached her starfighter, the mechs were already lowering her astromech droid - she called him Dancer for no particular reason - into his socket. She grabbed her flight suit off the side of the cockpit and pulled it on, listening intently as the watch officer updated the alarm over her comlink.

"Sentry stations report a light-cruiser-analog task force inbound, in pursuit of a Mark II-class Imperial Star Destroyer, possibly the Errant Venture."

Corran Horn was instantly on the channel, demanding answers the watch officer could not provide. The Destroyer was not transmitting a transponder signal - not at all unusual for Booster Terrik - nor had it hailed the base. Mara's bewilderment mirrored what she sensed in Luke. The Errant Venture was supposed to be hiding the Jedi academy students in the New Republic rear base at Reecee, not hazarding trips to Eclipse, and a light-cruiser task force was hardly the type of fleet the Yuuzhan Vong would send to assault the base of the hated Jeedai. Something odd was happening here - something that felt faintly connected to the Shadow's presence at Borleias, and yet something that did not really follow from it.

Mara stopped at the top of her cockpit ladder and glanced over at Luke, whom she sensed looking in her direction. She knew instantly what was troubling him. Corran Horn was still on the comlink, yelling at the duty officer to break base protocol and hail the Destroyer.

Mara nodded, and Luke activated his own comlink.

"Negative on hailing the Destroyer, Watch."

"Negative?" Corran's voice was close to a shriek. "My kids are on that Destroyer - I feel them!"

"Then we can assume it is the Venture," Mara said. She empathized with his feelings; were Ben being chased by a Yuuzhan Vong flotilla, she did not doubt that she would be just as concerned - and a whole lot more dangerous. "We can also assume Booster has a good reason for staying quiet."

"The Star Destroyer is taking heavy fire," Watch reported. "It's possible that all sensor dishes have been destroyed."

Stang! Mara thought. Very helpful, Watch.

Corran's X-wing fired its repulsors and lifted off the hangar floor.

"Commander Horn!" Luke barked. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Where do you think?" This from Mirax. The steady click of heels striking duracrete suggested she was in a corridor somewhere, walking fast. "To chase those rocks off the Venture's tail!"

Corran's X-wing started toward the containment field at the mouth of the hangar. A handful of starfighters followed him. "Watch, request shield deactivation for combat departure."

"Too early," Mara commed. She powered up her systems and had Dancer start running diagnostics to warm the circuits. "We're not ready to form up, and we can take them by surprise if we wait."

"Easy to say when Ben is safe inside and you're still worried about hiding Eclipse's location," Mirax countered. "Not so easy when the Venture might go up any minute, taking Valin and Jysella with it."

"Watch, acknowledge departure." Corran's voice had an alarming edge to it. "Deactivate this shield -"

"Corran, Mirax, you're not the only ones with children at risk," Han said. Given the risk that his children were facing at the moment, his words made even Mara feel a little guilty for thinking only of Ben's safety; Corran, they shamed into silence. "And neither of you is thinking very clearly right now. If Booster was in trouble, you can bet he'd be rattling this rock with concussion missiles."

"Contacts have entered visual range," Watch reported. "Identity confirmed as Errant Venture."

They were coming fast. Mara activated her tactical display and saw the Star Destroyer streaking toward Eclipse's star, its forward turbolaser batteries blasting a clear path through the enormous asteroid disk that passed for a planetary system even at the edge of the Deep Core. There were eight light cruisers and twice that number of frigate and corvette analogs on his tail, and they were all traveling far too fast to intend decelerating anywhere near Eclipse.

"Corran, what's happening?" Mirax commed. "Why aren't you launching?"

"Han's right, Mirax. Booster has something up his sleeve." There was a moment's pause, then Corran added, "I apologize, Master Skywalker."

Mara was not sure whether the relief she felt was her own or Luke's - or both.

"I'm sure you'd do the same for me, Corran," Luke said. There was no hint of irritation in either his voice or his emotions. "We'll launch after they pass. Can I count on you to keep a clear head?"

"It might be better if Han took Battle Control," Corran admitted. "I seem to have, uh, seated myself in the wrong vessel."

Han did not argue. Like Mara and Luke and most others old enough to have fought in the Rebellion, he had engaged in enough heroics to last five lifetimes; now, he was content to go where he was needed and let the combat come to him.

"The Venture has been hulled," Watch reported.

Somehow, Mirax managed to limit her outcry to a strangled gasp. Mara would have filled the channel with curses that would have made even Rigard Matl blush.

"Venting debris now."

Mara looked to her tactical display and saw a cloud of flotsam drifting in Eclipse's general direction as the Venture flashed past. The Star Destroyer swayed wildly from side to side, as though struggling to retain control after the hit, then suddenly cleared a new path with a volley from its port turbolasers. Turning as sharply as a Star Destroyer could, it angled for a dense mass of asteroids just in-sun from Eclipse.

"He's setting us up," Han said. "Launch by -"

"Wait!" Mara said, still watching the debris cloud descend toward Eclipse. "Watch, scan that flotsam for life-forms. Booster wasn't hit - he threw that stuff at us."

Before Watch could comply, Corran said, "Mara, thank you. I can feel Jysella and Valin reaching out to me."

"Affirmative," Watch said. "Those are escape pods."

"Leia, can you send Han up to Control and oversee the pod recovery in the Falcon!" Luke asked. "And you and Mirax can help her, Corran."

Corran was already setting his X-wing down next to the Falcon. "I'd like nothing better. Thank you."

"Everyone else, launch - carefully - by squadrons," Luke ordered. "Watch, lower the shield. Sabers ... three, two, mark."

Mara activated her repulsorlift and followed Luke's X-wing out of the hangar, sweeping around an escape pod and waving at a pair of wide-eyed young Jedi students watching her through their viewport. By the time the other three squadrons had formed up behind them, the Star Destroyer and its pursuers were already out of visual range and, as they eased into the asteroid cluster, growing difficult to find even on the tactical display.

Mara thought their approach might remain undetected - until a handful of frigates poked their noses out of the asteroid cluster and began to drop their skips.

"They must want Booster pretty desperately," Mara observed.

"Or they don't know who we are," Luke answered. The asteroid cluster came into visual range now, the flash of the Star Destroyer's sixty turbolaser batteries lighting up the interior like a tiny red dwarf star. "All X-wings, lock S-foils into firing position. Don't be stingy with those shadow bombs."

"Farmboy, you'd better hold back a minute," Han commed.

"Holdback?"

"Affirmative, hold -"

Han's voice dissolved into static as the asteroid cluster began to explode mountainous rock by mountainous rock, sixty of them in staccato succession, each one spraying millions of tons of superheated stone in every direction at several thousand meters a second. On her tactical display, Mara saw a boulder split one of the frigates down the spine and glimpsed a cruiser analog tumbling out of the cluster in three separate sections, then Luke was yelling "Break, break!" and ducking them behind the shelter of a city-sized asteroid.

When Han's voice returned, he was explaining, "... old smuggler's trick. Shunt all engine power to the particle shields, then heat an asteroid behind them and wait for it to explode." He paused a moment, then added, "Works really well with a Star Destroyer."

"You could have warned us earlier, Control," Mara observed.

"Hey - do I look like a Jedi mind reader?"

The rubble wave reached them then, tumbling past in lightninglike streaks of gray, occasionally shattering a nearby asteroid with the flash of a detonating proton torpedo. Their own mountainous shield took several hits that jolted the whole rock noticeably and pelted their particle shields with sprays of loosened pebbles, and finally the storm was past, slowly dissipating as the debris spray dispersed and gave up so much momentum to collisions that the individual shards no longer had the energy to explode on impact.

When they poked their noses out from behind their shield, Mara was astonished to find the Venture on her tactical display where there had been only the asteroid cluster before. There were a few blank spots on the array where clouds of dust or frozen vapor confused the sensors, but most alarming were the squadrons of A-wing and Y-wing starfighters spilling from the Star Destroyer's launching bays. The tactical display marked them all as New Republic craft, but ... the Star Destroyer reduced the number of cruiser analogs to five with a devastating turbolaser volley, and the A-wings reduced it to four with a high-speed concussion missile-proton torpedo combination pass.

"Farmboy, the Errant Venture doesn't have a fighter squadron," Mara commed. "Let alone six."

"Try ten, Jedi," an unfamiliar voice said over the tactical net. "And we're just hitching a ride on the Venture. We're Reecee fleet - all that remains of it."

A piece fell into place in Mara's mind, and she saw the tenuous connection she had sensed earlier between the Shadow's presence at Borleias and the Venture's unexpected arrival at Eclipse.

"A surprise attack?" she asked. "At the same time as Borleias?"

"On its heels," the voice corrected. "And they meant to keep it that way. The first thing they did was, well, jam our communications. All we've got are our fighter comms - and only when we're outside the Star Destroyer."

"Jam how?" Luke asked.

"Some sort of dovin basal, we think," the pilot answered. "The first Reecee knew of the attack was when they swarmed the base shields. We thought they were some sort of mynock at first, but when we tried to transmit, they pulled the signal in like a black hole."

"No one was able to send a message?" Mara asked.

"No one. The Venture caught a dose when she came to get us," he said. "We were trying to clean them off when this task force jumped us at the edge of the Deep Core."

"So the New Republic doesn't know that Reecee has fallen," Luke said.

"Or that the Bilbringi Shipyards have been cut off," Han added. "But they will soon. I'll have a message sent now."

The Star Destroyer's form grew visible ahead, its nose coming up before the Sabers as it wheeled around to bring its turbolasers to bear on a cruiser trying to attack from above. Mara could just see something that looked like tiny, heart-shaped freckles dotting the white hull - no doubt the signal-devouring dovin basals that the pilot had described. Another cruiser analog was following behind the Venture, pouring plasma balls and magma missiles into its vulnerable exhaust ports.

"Sabers and Shockers, take that cruiser on the tail," Han ordered. "Knights and Dozen, remove the one trying to cut him off."

"You hear that, Reecee?" Luke asked. A flurry of comm clicks acknowledged. "Good, see if you can clear us a path. We're coming in hard."

The Reecee squadrons first engaged the coralskippers in the Jedi's way, then tried to draw them off by turning to flee. The skips started to fall for the ploy - then abruptly reversed course and began to gather in front of the intended targets.

"They have a yammosk!" Danni actually sounded happy about it. "In that port cruiser. If we can -"

"Check," a Reecee voice replied. "Thanks for the tip, Jedi."

Two squadrons of A-wings wheeled on the cruiser instantly, discharging concussion missiles as they dropped. Taking a cue from the fighters, the Errant Venture concentrated a whole bank of turbolasers on the vessel, and the hull began to vomit yorik coral immediately.

"Wait!" Danni commed. "I meant capture it! We need it alive!"

The vessel went dead in space and began to drift, bodies and atmosphere streaming from its hull breaches. The coralskippers continued to cluster in the Jedi's path, their volcano cannons now belching plasma.

"Master Skywalker, it's still communicating with the skip," Danni commed. "If we can board it quick enough -"

"Let's finish this run first, Danni," Luke replied. "Sabers and Knights, ease off. Shockers and Dozen, you'll have to clear the way."

Rigard simply took his squadron and shot ahead toward their target. Kyp, however, did not seem to have fully grasped his assignment.

"Let's go, Dozen," he commed, peeling off. "We have first shot!"

The Shockers rocketed into the enemy coralskippers a kilometer ahead of the Sabers and commenced fire, clearing a path to the cruiser as much by forcing the skips to dodge as by blasting them out of the way. Mara saw one Shocker go EV and slam into a chunk of asteroid when a volcano cannon sheered his S-foils, then watched another vanish in a ball of flame as his starfighter smashed headlong into a magma missile.

She and Tam began to weave shields with Luke, each sensing the other's intentions through the Force, juking and jinking in perfect unison. Mara kept up a constant barrage of laserfire, using the Force more to avoid hitting her own ships than to target the enemy's. Two skips deteriorated into rubble as she rocketed past behind Luke.

The darkness ahead suddenly grew bright as the Shockers launched their proton torpedoes, then it grew brighter still as the decoy flares deployed. The cruiser retaliated with a barrage of grutchins and magma missiles. Rigard's squadron was already diving down and away, leaving the weapons to come streaking toward the Sabers.

"Launch!" Luke ordered.

Mara's shadow bombs were already gone, following Luke's toward the cruiser. Without really thinking about it, she nosed her X-wing over behind his, one eye on her target as she used the Force to guide the weapon home. Tam's laser cannon flashed, blasting a grutchin away from her cockpit before it could attach, and then the brilliant flash of the first proton detonation caused her canopy's blast tinting to darken. More explosions followed in quick succession, and by the time Luke swung the Sabers around, the ship was coming apart.

The inert cruiser lay ahead, surrounded by a cloud of floating bodies and equipment. The rifts in its hull hung dark and ominous, some large enough for an X-wing to enter. Mara checked her tactical display and saw that Luke could be thinking what she feared. The Venture, now turned on its side next to the Sabers, was already hammering the last cruiser, and the Reecee squadrons were herding the surviving skips into an ever-tightening sphere, picking them off now by the twos and threes.

"Skywalker," Mara commed. "A dead yammosk is one thing -"

"They need a live one - and when is it going to be easier?" Luke eased his X-wing toward the largest breach. "Danni's already shown how valuable it is just to know when there's a yammosk present - imagine what we'll be able to do when we can intercept its messages."

"How are you going to carry it back?" Mara asked. "Under your seat?"

"Han, send us the Jolly Man."

"Wait a minute," Danni said. "Something's wrong. The yammosk has gone completely silent, and now the skips look confused."

"That's enough, Luke," Mara said. Close to home or not, this felt too easy to be safe. "The Force was with us at Talfaglio. Today, it's not."

Luke was already swinging his X-wing around as the flash of an exploding magma magazine tore the vessel apart, bouncing yorik coral off his particle shields and licking his exhaust ports with hundred-meter flames.