"Now then, the first order of business is fleet status," Kalenda said to the staff assembled on the flag deck.
"The news is not good, but it could certainly be worse.
The good news is that Intruder, Defender, and Sentinel have all effected repairs and are under weigh and in formation, making for Selonia at three-quarters flank.
The bad news is that although Watchkeeper has managed to restore her life-support systems and her attitude control, she has not been able to restore her propulsion system, and is not expected to be able to do so for some time. She is drifting in tdward the inner system, but it will take her several years to get there on her current course.
Her crew will be safe onboard in the meantime.
The other three ships will perform a flyby of her, but will not stop to render aid. However, we plan to launch an uncrewed shuttle vehicle loaded with spare parts toward her as we come in on closest approach."
"I've ordered all but five of her fighter craft to transfer over to the operational ships," Ossilege said. "Five fighters should provide sufficient cover against attack, and the fleet is going to need all the firepower it can get."
"Anything further on what we'll be up against?"
Lando asked.
"Yes, there is," said Kalenda, "and it's most interesting. We are seeing small fighter craft launching from the Doubles, Corellia, and Drall, all headed for a very clear intercept point directly in our path for Selonia. There are three or four larger craft-none of them even the size of the Lady Luck, but nearly all the craft we have seen so far are light fighters. The ones boosting from Corellia are all PPBs, and the craft from Drall and the Doubles are roughly equivalent. We can assume the Selonians will launch their own craft when we are closer.
They save on fuel and consumables by holding their ships on-planet as long as possible. However, it seems clear that craft from all the planets are joining in a coordinated attack. At least they are trying to join in."
"What's the problem?" Lando asked.
"One of timing," Kalenda said. "We are now just over two days out from Selonia, and the intercept ships just started launching a few hours ago. Our analysis of their sublight-engine emissions strongly suggests that most of the craft are boosting for the intercept point at maximum thrust, but course projections show they aren't going to get there in time. Nor have the intercepts been timed for simultaneous time-on-target, which would provide the maximum firepower to them.
Rather, the fighters are straggling in over a prolonged period of time, giving us the chance to fight a few of them at a time. That strikes me as very poor coordination."
"Not very surprising with virtually all communications jammed," said Gaeriel Captison. "My guess is that the coordination was agreed to before the jamming started.
`If a ship comes into the system, this is what you do." That sort of thing."
"But the fact that there is any coordination at all seems quite remarkable," said Kalenda. "Five independent sets of rebels on five planets, many of them the self-declared bitter enemies of each other, all banding together to attack us. You were right, Admiral Ossilege.
We are learning things from this assault.
"On another subject, I can now report that moments before this meeting, we pinpointed the exact source of the jamming and the interdiction field. Not surprisingly, they are both coming from the same place. More surprisingly, that place is Centerpoint Station."
"Where?" Gaeriel asked.
"Centerpoint Station. I'm not surprised the name isn't familiar to you. It's not very well known outside the system. It is a very large space station that sits in the barycenter, or balance point, between the Double Worlds of ThIus and Ialus. Put another way, it occupies the point in space about which both of those worlds revolve."
"I must say that news surprises me a great deal," said Ossilege.
"I assumed that the interdiction field was so powerful that it had to be coming from a ground-based source. How could a space station be large enough to generate that much subspace energy?"
"Centerpoint is a very large installation," Kalenda said. "That being said, I would agree that we can't see how it could be generating or controlling the field. But it is comparable in size to a Death Star, and, I believe, much more massive. And it seems to be putting out one hell of a lot of power. Far more than is indicated in any of the historical records we have, for what that is worth.
It's like it's come alive after being dormant."
"If it controls the jamming and the interdiction field, then Centerpoint Station is the key to this whole system," Ossilege said.
"May we see some imagery of it?"
Kalenda punched in the proper commands, and a holographic image of the station appeared over the table.
The main body of the station was a massive gray-white sphere.
Long fat cylinders, covered with all sorts of piping and hardware and antennae, extended from either side of the sphere, with the whole system spinning on its long axis. "The main sphere is a shade over a hundred kilometers in diameter. From end to end, the whole station is about three hundred fifty kilometers in length.
It's so old that it has to spin to provide artificial gravity.
It predates the invention of our form of artificial gray, and no one knows who invented that, or how long ago."
"Interesting. Very interesting indeed. But why put the interdiction generators and the jamming equipment on a space station?
No matter how large it is, wouldn't you agree that a space station would be intrinsically more difficult to defend than a planet-based installation?"
"In many ways, yes, sir."
"And yet. And yet. Our opponents can read a positional display as well as we can. They must know that we have instruments capable of charting the interdiction field and locating its origin point. And they must know as well as we do that the control of the interdiction field is vital to their plans. And yet there is no indication of any effort that I am aware of to protect this Centerpoint Station.
Fighters from the Double Worlds are moving toward the intercept point."
"Sir, if I might interrupt for a moment. Our tracking isn't absolutely solid at this range, but we are fairly sure that we've also spotted fighters launching from Centerpoint and heading toward us."
"Indeed?" Ossilege raised his eyebrows. "That makes it even more remarkable. They chose to send fighters away from what they must defend most strongly? But their failure to defend is only part of the problem. They must also know that even a somewhat coordinated attack demonstrates that the seemingly independent rebel groups are working with each other. The Human League's propaganda goes on and on about how much they hate all the other groups. I would assume the others sing a similar tune. In those circumstances, this coordination amounts to consorting with the enemy. Should it get out, it will be politically damaging to all of them.
These are fairly closed societies, of course. Yet stopping us is seen as a vital enough task that they are ready to risk that damage, though they are deploying a force of light fighters that is too weak to stop us.
"Why light fighters? Either they do not control any larger ships, or else they do not feel the need to risk them in combat. But they would appear to have no reason to be so confident. It is all most puzzling. Had these points occurred to you, Lieutenant Kalenda?"
"Yes, sir, they had."
"And what do they tell you?"
"Only that we are missing something. Something very big.
Something that makes them confident that they can stop us at Selonia."
"I quite agree," said Ossilege. He thought for a moment. "How long until closest approach with Wa tchkeeper?"
Kalenda checked the time. "Ah, we will do the flyby in about eight hours, sir."
"I see. I see. Very well." Ossilege stood up abruptly and turned toward his flag communications officer. "Set up a direct laser line-of-sight link with the captain of the Watchkeeper. Patch it through to my cabin, full privacy scramble." The com offic
er saluted and set to work at his console. "As for the rest of you, suffice to say that Lieutenant Kalenda's report has inspired me to make a change in plans. I will inform you of those changes as soon as I have completed my consultations with the Watchkeeper. That is all. Good day to you." And with that, Ossilege swept out of the room.
Everyone stood up and made their way toward the door. "What was all that business about consulting with Watchkeeper Lieutenant Kalenda?" asked Captain Calrissian.
"I don't know, sir," she replied. "But I've got a hunch that I wouldn't want to be the captain of the Watchkeeper just at the moment."
"Oh, yeah," Calrissian agreed. "When admirals take a sudden interest in disabled ships, it's almost always time to start worrying."
That much was beyond debate.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
All Together
Now endra Risant was close to despair. It seemed as if she had been stuck aboard this ship for years instead of days. The Gentleman Caller had appeared a roomy enough ship when she had first boarded and explored her, but now the craft felt no larger than a coffin-an image she did not much care for.
She was not sure how much longer she could hold on.
Tendra had never solo-piloted a ship before, never been this alone before. The silence, the solitude of space seemed to close in around her, and the vast open emptiness seemed to confine her. The ship had enough food to sustain her, and the recycling system would keep her air and water pure for at least a year without any trouble at all. But was there enough sanity left aboard the craft to keep her going? The ship could keep her body functioning as long as need be-but it could do nothing to keep her mind working.
Why didn't Lando answer? what had happened?
What had gone wrong? Had she gambled everything in her life on a foolish whim, and lost?
She reached over and listened again to the radionics monitor speaker as it echoed what the transmitter was sending. She knew that hearing the message could do her no good at all, and might simply reduce her to tears once again. But she had to hear it, had to know it was still going out.
"Tendra to Lando," said the voice, her voice, from the speaker, sounding far more sensible than she had felt for a long time. "Please respond on preassigned frequency." Pause. "Tendra to Lando. Please respond on preassigned frequency." Pause. "Tendra to Lando.
Please respond on preassigned frequency. ."
Admiral Hortel Ossilege stood on the flag deck of the Intruder, resplendent, as usual, in his dress white uniform. "The time has come," he said, "to explain the situation. As you know, we have taken the Watchkeeper in tow and transferred virtually all of her crew to the other vessels. You no doubt are wondering why we are taking a near-derelict craft in tow as we enter into battle. I will tell you flat out now. I intend to sacrifice her."
If that statement was intended to elicit a general murmur of astonishment, it succeeded. Ossilege waited for the room to quiet down. "We have been baffled by the badly timed arrival and inadequate coordination of the opposing fleet," he said. "We are now only a few hours away from contact with the first elements of that fleet, and yet the tail end of it has barely begun to form up.
We have just now started to track launches from Selonia itself.
"I have analyzed the ship placements of the enemy, and I can tell you this-they are very bad, if the enemy does in fact try to do what we think he will try to do. If he offers a straight fight, he will lose, and lose badly.
"But. If they intend instead to draw us, to herd us, to move us around by offering themselves as a target and then retreating-then they have deployed themselves very well indeed.
"The obvious question is, of course, draw us toward what? I intend to find out, and without risking all of my command.
"We have managed to restore a very small percentage of the Watchkeeper's propulsion power, and will shortly rig a slave system capable of flying the ship by remote control, at least well enough for our purposes. I will operate the main remotes myself. I recognize that it is the traditional prerogative of the ship's captain to fly the craft at such times, and I do wish to make public acknowledgment of the fact that Captain Mantrony asked, very strenuously, for that privilege.
I have refused her. II the Watchkeeper is indeed attacked in some novel way, we need to fly her so as to find out as much as possible about that weapon. Captain Mantrony would be less than human if the laudable instinct to protect her own ship did not interfere with that need. Her protests of my actions have been recorded.
"I want my fleet to be led toward whatever trap they have setwith the Watchkeeper well in the lead. I do not want our fighters to be overly aggressive. They should take battle if it is offered, but not seek it out. I want a defensive, not an offensive, posture. I think there is no doubt that we can deal with any number of these PPBs and other light fighters at the proper time. For now, I simply want to preserve our force and probe the enemy's capabilities.
"So," Ossilege said in solemn voice as he looked out over the faces of his officers. "Let it begin." He nodded to the Intruder's tactical officer.
"All crew to battle stations," she ordered. "All fighter pilots to their spacecraft. Stand by for fighter-craft launch."
The briefing was over, and the officers and pilots stood up and began to file out.
"Defensive posture," Lando muttered to Luke as they followed the others out. "II he really wanted a defensive posture, we could all just stay aboard ship."
"Hey, come on," Luke said. "You're my wingman out there. I don't want you too defensive."
"Look, you'll be lucky if I even remember how to fly my ship," Lando replied. "what with all the planning meetings, I haven't even been aboard her since we entered the Corellian system." Luke grinned and slapped his friend on the back.
"Well, they say once you learn, you never forget. Here's your big chance to find out if that's true. Come on. Let's get to our ships."
her spirit there, shining in the dark, as clearly as he could see Artoo being lowered into his socket on the X-wing. She was here. She was alive. She was all right.
What else could matter as much as that?
Luke got an answer almost before he could form the question.
For now that he was reaching out with his Force sense, he realized there was someone else out there as well.
Now, leia thought. Now they were close enough. At this distance she could reach across and sense her brother's mind, if he were indeed there. She shut her eyes, and used her power in the Force to reach, to spread her senses outward.
And she felt him, at once, immediately, felt him strong and clear across the darkness and the distance.
leia smiled, reveled in the warmth of the contact, of the pleasure of knowing her brother was near, and coming closer. But that was only half of it. She knew that Luke would sense her in the Force in the same moment, would instantly know where she was.
Even if her ability was not strong enough to allow any meaningful communication, just the simple knowledge that he was there, that he would know she was here, was a tremendous comfort.
Luke was halfway up the access ladder of his X-wing when he felt his sister's touch through the Force. He froze and looked up, with his mind's eye, through the bulkheads and decks and durasteel of the Intruder up and out into the clean darkness of space. He could see leia felt the same contact, almost by accident, as her Force sense swept across space. In some ways, a much fainter presence, a being not endowed himself with the slightest ability in the Force. But all living things were present in the Force, and this life shone bright with vigor and determination-and it shone especially bright for leia.
"Han," she said, the joy and amazement plain in her voice, turning to Mara. She worked the detector controls and brought the sensors to bear on the right piece of sky. "There!" she said, pointing to a small blip in the detector display. "Han is on that blown-out coneship.
Luke is aboard the largest Bakuran ship, but Han is here, too."
She shut her eyes and concentrat
ed again.
"Thro other beings as well; Selonians, I think. I'm not sure about them, but it is Han. I know it's Han."
leia is here, Luke thought. leia is here, and Han is here, and there isn't a thing I can do about it. Things were moving too fast.
He buttoned up the canopy of his X-wing and ran his cross-checks with Artoo. He checked the deployment roster.
His X-wing and the Lady Luck were scheduled to launch from the belly of the intruder in thirty seconds.
Barely time to feel thankful that she and Han were all right. In between nay checks, system tests, and bringing the X-wing to hover, there was no time for anything else.
Not even time to use the laser link system to tell Lando the news.
That was perhaps fortunate, as Lando had his own startling news to contend with.
Strictly speaking, there wasn't really any point to running the automatic corn check. Not when all the standard corn systems were shut down by the jamming, and there was no way to test the laser link system onboard ship. But Lando tried to be a careful pilot, when he had the chance. And that meant full systems checks if he hadn't flown the ship in a while. He didn't expect any surprises, though. Artoo had run systems checks recently, and he was always careful to take care of the Lady.
But what one expected rarely had much to do with what one got. He learned that much when the radionic scanner picked something uand put it on the cabin speaker.
"Tendra to Lando," said the voice-Thndra's voicefrom the speaker.
"Please respond on preassigned frequency." A pause, and then it repeated, "Tendra to Lando. Please respond on preassigned frequency."
And repeated, "Tendra to Lando. Please respond on preassigned frequency Lando was stunned. Absolutely stunned. How had she gotten to Corellia? What in the name of stars and skies was Tendra doing here? Why had she come here?
Star Wars - The Corellian Trilogy - Assault At Selonia Page 25