Anakin shrugged his mother’s hands off his shoulders as he stared through the medical bay’s viewport. In the wardroom, covered with a white sheet to her throat, Daeshara’cor lay on a bed, barely moving. He could tell she was still breathing, but her breaths came shallow and hurried.
Leia spoke in a soft voice. “You don’t have to go in there.”
I don’t want to, but I must. Anakin sniffed and nodded to his mother. “She’s . . . she asked for me. I have to.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
He swallowed hard against the lump choking him. “No, I can do this. Just, um . . .”
“I’ll wait here.”
“Thank you.” Anakin brushed away a tear and entered the medical bay. Droids busied themselves with other patients. He moved over to the left side of the bed and rested his hand on Daeshara’cor’s hidden wrist.
She started for a second, then opened her eyes. Her surprised expression changed into one of happiness, though it lingered for only a second or two. Weariness washed from her, and Anakin could feel the spark of her life dimming. “Anakin.”
“Hi. How are you?” Anakin squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “Stupid, stupid . . .”
Daeshara’cor slipped her left hand from beneath his grip and the sheet, then brushed a tear from his cheek. “It’s okay. The venom—”
Anakin sniffed. “Corran was bitten. They saved him.”
“Human chemistry . . . different from a Twi’lek’s.” She lowered her hand and grabbed his, squeezing as hard as she could, which felt terribly weak to him. “There is nothing they can do. I’m dying.”
“No! Not fair—you can’t!” Anakin snarled as hot tears splashed down his cheeks. “Not you, not like—”
“Chewbacca?”
Anakin’s knees buckled, and he started to go down but found a chair beneath his butt. He covered his face with his hands and felt Daeshara’cor stroking his hair. “I made a mistake and he died. I made a mistake and you are dying.”
“There is no death . . . there is only the Force.”
He looked up through tear-blurred eyes. “It still hurts.”
“I know.” She managed a weak smile. “Anakin, you have to know . . . even though I am dying . . . I would not change things . . . neither would Chewbacca.”
“How can you say—”
She stroked his cheek, her fingers feeling cold against his skin. “He died . . . I die . . . in service to life. You saved me from the darkness. I saved you . . . not in recompense, but so you can continue serving life, the Force.”
He reached up and covered her hand with his. “I will never be as good a servant as you or Chewie.”
Daeshara’cor smiled again, maintaining it though the corners of her mouth quivered. “You already are, Anakin, and will be greater. As you heal, you will be stronger than anyone can imagine. We are proud of you, so proud . . .”
Her voice faded, along with her smile, as life drained from her. Anakin pressed her hand harder against his face, but found her touch fleeting and faint. As he watched, she became lighter, then translucent, and finally disappeared as the sheet that had covered her collapsed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Luke Skywalker, enshrouded in his black cloak, stood silently at the southern edge of the mountain clearing. To the west the mountain continued to soar. Its exposed granite seemed almost as if it were a long, solemn face, peering down on this flat greensward just below the level of its chin. Luke realized his own grim expression aped that of the mountain, and he found no reason to change that.
Toward the center of the clearing sat Corran, cross-legged, his back to his Master. Peace and well-being radiated from him, with only tiny bits of anxiety leaking out from time to time. He wore his Jedi robes, green over black. His bare hands rested on his knees, and his shoulders rose and fell slightly with his breathing.
So closely was Luke concentrating on Corran that Shedao Shai’s appearance with his second surprised the Jedi Master. The Yuuzhan Vong commander was nothing short of magnificent, clad in a sleeveless scarlet robe opened down the middle. Beneath it he wore boots and a gold loincloth with tails that reached knee level. His leathery gray-green flesh shone as if it had been polished, and a hardened mask of ebon inlay hid his face.
He bore an amphistaff, which he stabbed tail-first into the ground. He raised a gauntleted hand, the dying sun glinting from his bracer, then pressed the hand back over his heart. “I am Shedao Domain Shai. This is my subordinate, Deign Domain Lian. He will stand as witness to this combat.”
Corran remained seated. “I am Corran Horn, late of the New Republic Armed Forces, a Jedi Knight. This is my Master, Luke Skywalker. He will stand as witness to this combat.”
The Yuuzhan Vong pointed at the case behind Luke. “Those are the bones of Mongei Domain Shai?”
“As we agreed, yes, seven days ago.”
“Very good.” Shedao Shai shrugged his robe off. Though the Yuuzhan Vong warrior was cadaverously slender, Luke could tell that did not translate into weakness. The warrior plucked the amphistaff from the ground, whirled it in a blurred circle, then snapped it to a stop against the back of his right arm, the hissing head at his wrist and the sharpened tail stabbing up into the blue sky. “You are the murderer of Neira Shai and Dranae Shai, my kinsmen.”
Corran stood, slowly and deliberately. Luke could feel the Force gathering in him, swirling around him. “And you murdered my friend, Elegos A’Kla. It is not over the past we fight, but to win the future.”
“You, perhaps.” The Yuuzhan Vong drew himself up tall and straight, then bowed his head toward Corran. “I fight for the honor of the Yuuzhan Vong and Domain Shai.”
The Corellian returned the nod. “So much risk for such a paltry gain.”
Amphistaff spun and lightsaber rose. A slash blocked high, a low cut burning grass but not leaping legs. Combatants slipping past each other, turning, striking, blocking. The amphistaff’s hiss rivaling that of the lightsaber. Weapons flashing forward, retreating, then riposting.
Luke felt the Force wreathing Corran. It strengthened him and quickened him, but could not predict for him what his enemy would do. The amphistaff cut and stabbed, always missing Corran by centimeters, or being parried aside. The Yuuzhan Vong managed to whirl his amphistaff around in time to parry Corran’s lunges, or to bat away slashes. They seemed, the two of them, to be perfectly matched. Defeat will come from a single mistake.
The argent lightsaber whirled in a grand arc, then sliced in at Shedao Shai. The Yuuzhan Vong warrior moved to block the cut, but Corran dipped the blade beneath the staff. He whipped his lightsaber up in a stroke that should have split the Yuuzhan Vong from groin to throat, but Shedao Shai danced back, leaving only the smoking tails of his loincloth fluttering to the ground in his wake.
Corran closed and lunged at Shedao Shai’s upper chest. With two hands on the amphistaff, the Yuuzhan Vong parried the argent blade high, then ducked his head and whirled around in a circle. The amphistaff snapped straight against Shedao Shai’s right forearm, then he lunged.
Pain exploded from the Jedi as the amphistaff’s tail stabbed deep into his guts. The tip tented the back of the robe over Corran’s right hip, then the Yuuzhan Vong yanked the amphistaff free, spinning the Jedi to the ground. Corran curled around the holes in his right flank, drawing his knees up. His lightsaber lay smoking on the grass.
Luke wanted to reach out, to help quell Corran’s pain, but he held himself back. The Jedi Master drew some small comfort from the fact that the strike had not severed Corran’s spine. Could have gotten arteries, and his guts are holed, but he could survive this, if Shai gives him a chance.
Shedao Shai drew back several steps, then tugged off his mask and tossed it aside. He raised the gore-streaked amphistaff to his lips and harvested incarnadine fluid with his tongue. His lips closed for a moment, his eyes following, then he nodded.
“I vowed I would taste your blood as you die, and now I have done that.”
“Oh?” The Yuuzhan Vong’s eyes opened a slit. “And what would that have been?”
“I’ve have vowed to taste my blood after I was dead.” All sense of pain vanished from the Jedi as the Force again enshrouded him. Corran waved the invader forward with his bloody left hand. “So, is this inability to make a clean kill a Vong thing, or just a Domain Shai thing? You’re so sloppy those bones won’t want to come home with you.”
Shedao Shai’s eyes snapped open. Though Luke could not read him through the Force, the fury and hatred coursing through the Yuuzhan Vong was unmistakable. The warrior darted forward, bringing the amphistaff up and around in a two-handed overhead blow. He smashed it down on Corran’s upraised lightsaber, driving the Jedi back a step.
Again and again he rained the blows down with bone-jarring impact. Corran retreated, giving up a step or two with each attack. As Shedao Shai’s fury built, so did his strength, forcing Corran to raise his left hand from the hole in his side to the hilt of his lightsaber. Another blow battered the silver blade, and another, buckling Corran’s legs, dropping him to his knees.
Shedao Shai towered over him, rising up on his tiptoes to deliver that final blow. The amphistaff rose and crashed down, set to bash the lightsaber back into its wielder, slaying an infidel with the blasphemous weapon he embraced.
With a flick of his thumb, Corran killed the blade and sagged forward.
Overbalanced because his weapon met no resistance, Shedao Shai buried his amphistaff deep in the ground and stumbled a half-step forward. The surprise registering on his face widened his eyes, then his lips peeled back in a feral grin as Corran pressed his lightsaber against the Yuuzhan Vong’s stomach. The lightsaber hissed. Argent light poured from Shedao Shai’s mouth a second before he vomited black blood and collapsed to the ground, his spine severed, his belly smoking.
Luke ran to where Corran was dragging his legs from beneath the Yuuzhan Vong’s body. “Stay down, I’ll get you out of here.”
“Wait.” Corran clutched at Luke’s shoulder. “Help me up for a moment.”
The Jedi Master complied with the request.
The Corellian Jedi pointed his lightsaber at Deign Lian. “You witnessed this fight. You know our bargain. Take his body and go.”
The Yuuzhan Vong waved Corran’s comment aside. “I witnessed, but I will not take his body. He died at your hands. He is no longer of the Yuuzhan Vong.” Deign Lian gestured uncaringly. “His body is yours.”
Corran shook his head. “I’ve no use for it.”
“Then our business is concluded.” The Yuuzhan Vong spun on his heel and disappeared beyond the edge of the clearing.
Luke started to turn Corran toward where they had landed their shuttle. “Let’s go.”
“Wait, just a second.” Corran pointed at the mask Shedao Shai had discarded. “I want that mask.”
“Why?”
Corran’s eyes closed for a moment as pain washed over him. “Elegos’s bones. They’re watching something. That mask will show him that the Vong are not invincible, and for Ithor at least, there will be peace.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Upon his solitary return to the Legacy of Torment, Deign Lian assumed command of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. Appropriating Shedao Shai’s suite, he immediately issued an order, the preparation for which he had begun over a month before when he realized it was the most expedient way of dealing with Ithor. Shedao Shai had rejected it, but Deign Lian’s other master had approved.
From a dozen coralskipper sockets that had been refitted launched twelve seed-shaped, yorik coral pods. While not nearly as sophisticated as a coralskipper, these unpiloted craft did possess a rudimentary intelligence. It enabled them to use the dovin basals to lock onto Ithor’s planetary mass and speed their descent into its gravity well. Their outer sheathes began to heat up and ablate as they entered the Ithorian atmosphere. The twelve pods fanned out, streaking through the sky on courses that spread them all over the daylight side of the planet.
In the Ralroost’s medical bay, Admiral Kre’fey turned away from where Corran Horn floated in a bacta tank, and raised his comlink to his mouth. “Kre’fey here. Report.”
“Sensors here, Admiral. The Rainbow reports a dozen gravitic anomalies from the Yuuzhan Vong fleet.” The Bothan officer growled. “It looks like coralskipper traces, but they’ve gone into the atmosphere. Rainbow is reporting airbursts.”
“Airbursts? I’m on my way to the bridge. Relay the data to the Chimaera.” The admiral flicked off his comlink and turned to ask Luke Skywalker what he might make of such strange behavior. His question went unasked as the Jedi Master winced in pain and slumped against a bulkhead.
The airbursts over the Mother Jungle vaporized each Yuuzhan Vong weapon’s payload, expanding into a vast cloud. The aerosol droplets descended over the jungle in a fine mist. The bacteriological agents in the mist touched down unharmed. The jungle was to them what a herd of tauntauns would be to a hungry wampa ice creature. The bacteria began to metabolize everything and reproduce in an exponential progression.
Black slime teeming with bacteria dripped from high leaves on down, streaming along branches. So quickly did the bacteria work that the fetid fluid seemed almost acidic. Branches fell, splattering the bacteria over other branches and onto arboreal creatures. A leather-winged shamarok flitter launched itself skyward, but black droplets on its wings quickly holed them, sending the beast circling down in a spiral of agony to crash on the ground.
An arrak snake slithered over and scooped the flitter up. Opening its jaws, the snake began to swallow the rare treat, but the bacteria went to work on it, too. As it devoured the flitter, the bacteria devoured it, opening ulcers in its flesh and consuming it from the inside out. The snake lashed out its life in a painful frenzy, then melted into a stinking pool of protoplasm that started in on the organic matter on the ground.
That pool slowly spread as grasses wilted and flowed into fluid. Falling branches splashed more of the protoplasm about, creating colonies all around the parent puddle. As the branches themselves liquified, they created enough protoplasm to let it flood out of the small depression on the ground, washing into the colony pools. In fits and starts, a black flood began coursing through Mother Jungle, gnawing at roots, toppling whole huge trees, then melting them almost before the echoes of their fall had died.
Nothing that lived on Ithor could resist the bacteria. It soaked into the ground, destroying insects and other microbes. It coursed through wormholes and gushed into rodent warrens. Creatures taken unaware had a putrid wave wash over them, dissolving flesh, leaving bone, then cresting again to destroy the skeletons.
The wave ate its way along roots, both up and down. Sometimes a plant that had a shallow root system would simply topple. Other times, the bacteria attacking a sturdier plant would surge up through its circulatory system, devouring the core. Black sap would begin to drip here and there, staining the trunk. A steady trickle would start, and branches would fall, with protoplasm pouring free. Finally a torrent of foul nectar would gush forth as the plant’s bark split and the whole thing collapsed.
The bacteria attacked relentlessly and fast. Its metabolism of the planet’s life released a lot of hydrogen and oxygen. The planet’s temperature began to rise, the oceans darkened, and a stinking shadow stole over the face of Ithor.
In no time at all on a human scale, the bacteria reached the place where Shedao Shai’s lifeless body lay on the ground. His flesh resisted the bacteria for a moment or two, but the agent found egress through the wound Corran had opened in him. The bacteria ate into him, consuming him bone and sinew. His skeleton fell apart, then his bones cracked and oozed black as the marrow was devoured. Finally the bacteria liquefied his skull, remo
ving the last trace of his presence from the world his death was meant to save.
Pellaeon stared hard at the holographic representation of Ithor. “I agree, Admiral, they’ve done something. Oxygen, hydrogen, temp rising. If Skywalker is right, that all life is being devoured . . .” The Imperial admiral shivered, unable to conceive of ever using a weapon that could metabolize a planet.
Commander Yage looked up from her position at the sensor station. “Admiral, the Yuuzhan Vong fleet is moving. They’re coming up on an outbound vector.”
“Vector alpha-seven?”
“The only one open to them.”
Pellaeon nodded at the small image of Kre’fey in the corner of the planetary scan. “They’re outbound alpha-seven. Time to move. Ithor cries for vengeance.”
Deign Lian smiled as he looked at the villip bearing his master’s face. “It is done, Warmaster Tsavong Lah. Shedao Shai is dead. The threat of Ithor is no more. I have the fleet moving out.”
“Splendid.” The villip’s image smiled, making the warmaster’s face seem almost pleasant. “You have done well, Lian. The Legacy of Torment is yours. When you get to Dubrillion, I shall have orders waiting for you.”
“I understand, Master.” Deign Lian nodded solemnly. “This one awaits your pleas—What was that?”
A jolt shook the Legacy of Torment, knocking the villip off its perch. Deign Lian reached for it, then another, heavier tremor shook the ship. The Yuuzhan Vong crashed to his knees. Something is wrong, very wrong. Ignoring the shouts from the villip on the floor, Deign Lian ran from the cabin and sprinted toward the bridge.
In the week Corran’s challenge won for the New Republic, Admirals Kre’fey and Pellaeon had not been idle. In studying the performance of Yuuzhan Vong ships, both large and small, they had discovered a vulnerability they thought they could exploit.
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