by James Luceno
Showolter snorted ruefully. "On the off chance Admiral Sow actually listened to us and dispatched a battle group to Tynna."
Kalenda pondered the fact dully. "If the Yuuzhan Vong had found New Republic ships waiting for them, they'd know we're on to them." She gazed out the viewport. "Tynna has to fall to save Corellia and Bothawui."
Showolter shrugged meaningfully. "And maybe dozens more have to fall."
Kalenda sighed with purpose. "I've been to Tynna. It's one of the most beautiful worlds in the Expansion Region. And the Tynnans are probably one of the most well-informed and well-intentioned species anywhere." She turned to Karrde. "I just can't accept that there wasn't some other way of corroborating the intelligence you brought us."
"If nothing else, itil be over quickly," one of the pilots remarked. "Tynna's space defense didn't number more than two hundred fighters to begin with, and by our count they're already down to less than thirty."
Kalenda squinted, as if to hold the battle at bay. "Why don't they surrender? It's suicide." She compressed her lips in bitterness. "If only they understood what they're dying for..."
"Telling them wouldn't have changed anything," Karrde said, joining her at the viewport. "If your choice was to fight with your last breath or allow yourself to be captured and sacrificed, what would you do?"
While Kalenda brooded, Showolter studied the LSR's authenticator screen. "Do the scanners recognize any of the Yuuzhan Vong ships?"
The pilot called up data. "Vessel types, more than anything else. But we have verification on three of them. Two were at Obroa-skai. One-the heavy cruiser analog- was at Gyndine."
"Enemy fighters and drop ships penetrating the envelope," the copilot announced. "Bearing on a course for Tanallay Surge complex."
"Can we access the satellite feed?" Showolter asked.
The copilot threw several switches. "Onscreen. What we're seeing is going live to every city on Tynna."
The screen showed the sprawling, multilevel structure that was Surge complex, with its surrounding pools, fountains, and chutes. On the broad steps that fronted the complex and disappeared under water stood several hundred dark and glossy-pelted bipeds, all with pointed ears and tapering tails erect, and whiskered, quivering snouts lifted to the sky.
Abruptly the screen shifted to a reverse point-of-view shot of Yuuzhan Vong vessels dropping through the atmosphere like slow-motion meteors. Cams tracked the descent of those closest to the Surge complex and held on them as they landed on the far side of bridges that spanned the picturesque lagoon above which the Tynnans had assembled.
"No indication of weapons among the Tynnan contingent," Showolter said when the screen had returned to a midrange shot of the web-fingered, bucktoothed aliens. "Must be a welcoming party."
"Has to be," Kalenda mused. "Cunning and quick-wittedness have always been the Tynnans' best weapons, but it'll take time before they deploy those."
"Meanwhile," Showolter said, "it looks like they're ready to hand over the codes to the city."
Karrde smoothed his mustache. "I still can't figure what the Yuuzhan Vong want with Tynna. Sure, it's rich in natural resources, but nothing that can't be found in Hutt space."
"Tynna's a step closer to the Core," the pilot suggested.
Showolter shook his head. "Karrde's right. Has to be something peculiar to Tynna."
The point of view shifted again, this time to Yuuzhan Vong warriors and officers filing from one of the larger drop ships. The cam closed on two officers perched atop levitation seats. The seemingly higher ranked of the pair was black-haired and relatively short for a Yuuzhan Vong. The other was rail thin and elaborately tattooed.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to the look of these butchers," Kalenda said.
Karrde snorted and made a toasting gesture. "Here's to hoping you never have to."
Showolter's eyes were glued to the display screen. He touched the copilot's shoulder. "I want all of this recorded and backed up in triplicate."
"Already on it," she told him.
Whoever was operating the cam obviously thought that the Yuuzhan Vong were going to continue across the bridges to the gathered Tynnans, because the cam momentarily raced ahead of its subjects when the enemy suddenly stopped short of the lagoon.
"They want the Tynnans to come to them," Showolter surmised.
"I don't know about that," Karrde said skeptically. "They're up to something else."
As he was saying it, the cam closed on the black-haired officer and watched as he motioned back to the drop ships. Then it quickly panned across the landscape, focusing on one of the ships in time to see compartments open in its pitted base and a swarm of minuscule red spheres spill onto the ground and rush for the lagoon as if self-propelled.
"What the...,"the pilot said.
Instinctively and with patent apprehension, Kalenda reached for the nearest arm, found Karrde's right, and vised on to it.
The leading edge of the spill had reached the shore of the lagoon, and the first of the red spherettes were already plunging into the cold blue waters. On the steps the Tynnans were crowding forward, snouts snuffling in agitated curiosity.
Showolter, Karrde, and Kalenda huddled around the monitor display.
Abruptly, the lagoon lost color.
Showolter's first thought was that something had happened to the satellite feed signal. But when he raised his head to glance out the LSR's viewport, he could see even at great remove from the planet, the sparkling blue of Tynna's northern waters was rapidly changing to a sickly pale yellow.
In the absence of Supreme Commander Choka and Malik Carr-and assured of victory at Tynna-the priests had performed the rituals necessary for removing from its creche aboard the Yamntka an enormous, dedicated villip Choka had brought with him from the outer rim of the galaxy. The rituals had involved the intonation of countless prayers, the use of much sacrificial blood, and ceaseless stroking of the bony ridge that was the helmet-shaped villip's most prominent feature.
By the time the commanders returned from their brief visit to Tynna, the villip had been relocated to ceremonial surroundings in a hold cleared of everyone but the most exalted of the priests. Below their far-larger companion sat the transmitting villips consciousness-joined to Nas Choka and Malik Carr, who genuflected reverently before the towering communicator, bare heads lowered, wrists crossed atop the elevated knee, and command cloaks falling around them like shrouds.
Nearby the priests sat cross-legged, chanting the invocations that would put the villip in sequential contact with scores of signal villips that had been positioned in space along the invasion path.
With loud sucking noises, a cavity resembling an eye socket puckered to life in the center of the villip's ridge; then along that line the villip everted, turning completely inside out and assuming the features of Warmaster Tsavong Lah.
As elect protector of Supreme Overlord Shimrra, and well on his way to a kind of apotheosis, Tsavong Lah, through an endless series of escalations, had come to resemble the incarnation of Yun-Yammka, the god of war. Tsavong Lah's head sloped back from his face, with dark hair both upswept and trailing like tassels from the blunt end. The blue sacks under eyes that were all pupil drooped like deep pockets to the corners of a voracious-looking mouth, and a deep notch bisected his skull from ear to ear. His full lips were ridged by myriad scars, and his ears protruded from his skull like little wings, with the lobes of each descending almost to his shoulders like elongated teardrops of molten wax. Below the neck, overlapping scales the color of rust grew like armor plates from breastbone and collarbones.
"Behold your leader," Tsavong Lah's villip told the commanders in a voice garbled by space and time.
"Warmaster," the two said as they lifted their eyes.
Each had learned of the warmaster's role in the poisoning of Ithor and the downfall of Shedao Domain Shai. To dishonor Tsavong Lah was to court an untimely death.
The eyes of the facsimile fixed on Nas Choka. "Inform me o
f recent events, Supreme Commander."
"We occupy the world called Tynna, Potent One, which fell to us with so meager a fight we might have deemed it unworthy were it not so well suited to our needs and our campaign."
The eyes moved to Malik Carr. "I would hear more of this."
"Tynna's clement waters will one day furnish dovin basals of the size needed to remove the shields that guard Coruscant and other worlds of the Core. It is our conviction that the indigenous species-furred bipeds of diminutive size-can be reeducated and trained, and will make for able and affable tenders of our creations."
"And as to Tynna's importance to the conquest?"
"Potent One, the world will also serve as a staging area for eventual incursions into the Corellian and Bothan sectors."
"Eventual, you say."
"Tynna is but the first stage of a strategy that will speed us to the Core. To guarantee this, we entered into an agreement with the Hutts, the terms of which require that we apprise them of planetary systems to avoid in their dispersal of a ludicrous product called spice. We did so in complete expectation that they would either alert the New Republic, or that New Republic analysts would discover that spice was moving freely in some sectors and not at all in others, and leap to the conclusion that the latter provided a glimpse of our battle plan. Tynna was one of the worlds we cautioned the Hutts to avoid, along with Corellia and Bothawui. Tynna was deliberately won as a means of fortifying the disinformation."
The villip was silent for a long moment. "The meager battle you waged suggests that the New Republic failed to behave as predicted. Otherwise, their fleet would have been lying in wait."
"Testimony to the New Republic's notion of cleverness, Warmaster," Nas Choka answered. "Through the whole of the battle and its aftermath we observed spies observing us from a stealthy craft I'm certain they believe went undetected. To have met us in force might have saved the day for Tynna, but the New Republic is well aware that we have targets of greater significance in mind, so they purposely gave Tynna away.
"With tribute to Commander Malik Carr," Choka continued, "I am now convinced that the same tactic will work for the planned assault. Many coralskipper pilots are readying themselves for the sacrifice the attack will require. And we will soon begin positioning autonomous dovin basals along the routes New Republic ships will use in jumping to the target once they learn the truth."
"Then these Hurts alerted the New Republic?"
"I deem it of little consequence either way, Potent One. As a bonus, the Hutts will make for bountiful sacrifices when we're finished with them."
The facsimile's eyes closed for a moment. "I am not fully swayed. Even if your assumption is correct-that the New Republic is now convinced that we mean to assail either Corellia or Bothawui-surely they have sufficient ships to safeguard both worlds."
"They do, Warmaster," Malik Carr said, "although Corellia remains relatively unprotected, while Bothawui enjoys the protection of a large flotilla."
"The New Republic cares so little for Corellia?"
Nas Choka smiled faintly. "They wish us to think so, Potent One."
"It has been our hope all along to maneuver them into fortifying only one of those worlds," Malik Carr explained, "and the gods have favored us by providing help from an unexpected quarter. A New Republic senator informed the Hutts that Corellia conceals a trap of some sort."
"A deceit."
"Your pardon, Warmaster, but we have some reason to trust this human being. She may well be the same person who thought she was helping us by apprising our agents that the priestess Elan had defected."
"Then you already know the identity of this betrayer."
"Her name is Viqi Shesh, Potent One."
"This bodes well," Tsavong Lah's villip allowed. "But delay any contact with her until your strategy is successfully executed. She may be of greater use to us once we are closer to the Core." The villip began to close. "I leave the rest to you."
"Your will be done, Potent One," the commanders said in unison.
SEVENTEEN
Commodore Brand tried not to be distracted by the traffic that gushed horizontally and vertically past the transparisteel wall of the Advisory Council chambers, or by the cityscape itself, ignited to flickering splendor as that part of Coruscant turned away from the sun. Seated with their backs to the window wall, Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya and the now eight members that made up his council had nothing to focus on but Brand, who stood rigidly at a podium opposite them, reading from a screenful of notes prepared in haste by his staffers after an intelligence briefing on the fall of Tynna.
"What is significant," Brand continued, "is that the assault was foreseen, and that alone affords provisional corroboration of the Intelligence division's belief that the Hutts have been supplying us with data. In those systems where the Hutts have curtailed spice operations, the enemy has set its sights on a world. Whether the Hutts were aware of what they were doing in asking for forewarning regarding their smuggling enterprise is presently unknown-though we are looking into the matter- but the fact remains that Tynna, a transshipment point as opposed to an actual market, has not seen a spice vessel since the Hutts forged their pact with the Yuuzhan
Vong."
Fey'lya interjected a transparent snort of ridicule into Brand's brief pause, then had the gall to offer a pretense of apology.
"I'm sorry, Commodore, but something seems to have become lodged in my throat. Please, carry on with your . . . report. I know that I speak for everyone in saying that I can scarcely wait to hear the rest."
Brand refused to be rattled by the sarcasm. "At the moment, the only other systems where spice operations have been suspended are Corellia and Bothawui. It has yet to be ascertained in which order the Yuuzhan Vong mean to strike. But we do expect an attack sooner rather than later. For that reason it is the opinion of Admiral Sow and the Defense Force that a decision is critical on the matter of the redisposition of New Republic warships."
Brand activated the holoprojector table adjacent to the podium. Depressing a tile on the console built into the lectern's sloping desk, he displayed a galactic map, faintly blue in the cone created by the projector's modulasers.
"The Yuuzhan Vong have established and fortified what amounts to a resupply corridor that stretches from the Outer Rim to Hutt space. Since the battle at Obroa-skai they have been receiving a steady influx of warships and materiel, clearly in anticipation of launching a major offensive-their first since Ithor. Against such a formidable fleet, and without weakening our security in the Core or at Bilbringi, where harassment continues despite holding actions by the Imperial Remnant, we can mobilize and deploy a task force of vessels borrowed from battle groups currently in service at Commenor, Kuat, Ralltiir, and a score of other worlds. Should the Hapes Consortium vote to support New Republic efforts, some of their ships would also be allocated to the task force, which would be led by the heavy cruiser Yald, under my command."
Brand paused again and planted his large hands on the podium. "Councilors, we have not discounted that the assembled intelligence could be a ploy to keep us from identifying a different target entirely, but at the same time we cannot afford to ignore the evidence."
"Evidence," Fey'lya grumbled. "Inferences, suggestions, remote possibilities, but certainly not evidence." His violet eyes mocked Brand openly. "What has the command staff decided, with regard to this redisposition of naval power?"
Brand motioned to the holograph. "As you know, we have been triaging in all sectors, allowing worlds like Gyndine and now Tynna to fall in order to safeguard others like Kuat, Bilbringi, and Commenor. Our actions-or shall I say inactions-have hardly endeared us to worlds that consider themselves to be in the path of invasion. Regardless, even if we can manage to amass a sizable task force, it will not be of sufficient size to provide adequate protection to both Bothawui and Corellia."
He straightened to his full height. "After analyzing all available data, it is the conclusion of the command st
aff that Corellia is the target. Therefore, Admiral Sow is recommending that all available ships and resources be moved to the Corellian sector as soon as possible."
Fey'lya's cream-colored fur bristled. "I thought as much," he said in a flat, menacing voice. "You would, as you say, 'triage' Bothawui for the sake of saving Corellia. But I won't have it." He shook his head angrily. "I'm sorry, Commodore, but I refuse to authorize such action at this time. Your 'evidence' is too scanty."
"No one said anything about abandoning Bothawui,"
Brand rejoined. "The flotilla already there will remain in place. We are only trying to protect Corellia."
"Protect the sacred Core, you mean." The Bothan stood to regard his eight peers. "I wish the council to consider closely the source of this spicy intelligence. Commodore Brand would have you believe that it was gathered by the Intelligence division or gleaned through hours of painstaking investigation and analysis. But, in fact, it was brought to the attention of two officers of questionable standing in the intelligence community by a person of even more dubious reputation, who claims to be serving as a kind of ombudsman for the Jedi Knights-Talon Karrde."
"I fail to see the pertinence of that," Cal Omas said. "Talon Karrde is well known to this council."
Fey'lya glared at him. "Well, of course you wouldn't see the pertinence, Councilor Omas, because you fail to grasp that the Jedi would sooner rid the galaxy of Bothans than do anything to protect them."
"The Jedi had nothing to do with our decision," Brand argued.
Fey'lya made a gesture of dismissal. "We all know that the Jedi have been holding back, downplaying their role until such time as they might truly show their hand. With Bothawui defeated, they will do just that."
"In what way have they been holding back?" Cal Omas interrupted. "They've done nothing less than lead this fight from the start, making a stand on Dantooine and Ithor while the senate insisted on thinking of the Yuuzhan Vong as a 'local problem.' "