by Greg Keyes
war-but I cannot use it unless I reach Zonama Sekot. I may not speak of it
here-if this falls into the wrong hands, the danger will be great, and I will
not betray others. Heed my humble call, I beg you." With that the figure
seemed to lean forward, as if bowing, and then the image froze.
"It's a trick," Han blurted into the following silence.
"You all see that, right?"
"It could be," Hamner said. "But the Prophet is real. His opposition to
Shimrra is real. This could be a genuine * offer."
"He's not offering anything," Han replied. "He's just asking. He's asking
us to fly right to the heart of the Yuu-zhan Vong empire and try to attempt
some kind of crazy rescue. It's a setup. Couldn't be clearer."
"It's not a setup," Tahiri said.
All eyes turned toward her.
"Tahiri..." Leia began.
Tahiri pushed ahead. "His followers are already looking for Zonama Sekot.
I met some of them on Dagobah."
"Means nothing," Han replied. "How do we even know this guy on that thing
is actually this 'Prophet'? Shimrra has a pretty good spy network with us. How
much better do you think it must be among his own people? He figures this
Prophet guy would intrigue us, and now he's baited the trap with him."
"I don't think so," Tahiri said. "I think that was the real thing."
"Based on what?"
"A feeling."
"A feeling." Han rolled his eyes. "A feeling."
"Kenth," Leia said, "what about the information on the qahsa? The data
about planetary defenses. Can we check it out?"
"I have, to a certain extent. It looks good. We were able to get a drone
in and out through some of the weak spots he described. And we have a secret
weapon of our own-a captured Yuuzhan Vong ship."
"You're really thinking about biting at this?" Han asked, incredulously.
"We think the right team would have a shot."
"Whatteam?" Leia asked.
"He means Corran and me," Tahiri said.
"Correct."
"Wait one vaping minute," Corran said, before even Han could object. "I
thought we'd agreed she would only advise beforehand."
Leia turned to the Corellian. "You were already briefed on this, Corran?"
"Yes," the pilot admitted. "Admiral Sorr reassigned me to the mission,
but we didn't discuss this."
"I'm laying it on the table now so we can talk about it," Kenth said.
"Tahiri speaks their language and knows their ways. She's flown ships like
this before. I doubt very much this mission could succeed without her."
"Well, it's blinking well going to," Corran replied. "Or I'm out."
"I'll do it," Tahiri said.
"No, you won't,"
Han exploded.
Tahiri sighed. "You mean a lot to me, Captain Solo. Both of you do. I've
never really had parents-not human ones, anyway-and I respect you. But this is
something I have to do. Jaina and Jacen do their part. Anakin did his part."
"And look how that turned out." Han was trying to sound flip, but she
felt the stab of Han's pain at the mention of his youngest son.
"That's the chance we take," she said softly. "It's the chance you've
been taking all your life. I know you don't want to lose anyone else. I know
you worry about Jaina and Jacen, and you don't want to add worry for me to
that. But this war has gone on far too long. If things keep going like they're
going, it will only end when one side is extermi-nated. We have to find
another way. That's why Luke and Jacen went to find Zonama Sekot."
"Yes, about that," Leia said. "Hasn't it occurred to anyone that this
might be more than a trap for a Jedi or two? That it might be a prelude to
another attack on Zonama Sekot?"
"That's why I'm here," Corran said. "If I figure this
'Prophet' isn't operating in good faith, I'll do what's neces-sary to fix
things."
"Luke should have something to say about this."
"I tried to contact him," Kenth said. "But there is some problem with the
HoloNet in that sector."
"We just finished saving that relay," Han said. "It should be working."
"But it isn't," Kenth said. "We've sent a team to check it out. In any
case, we can't talk to Luke."
"We'll have to use our own common sense, then," Han said. "You're walking
into this playing by Yuuzhan Vong rules, Corran."
"Maybe. That's why I want to do it alone."
"Maybe you don't trust me," Tahiri said.
Corran smiled. "I didn't trust you even when I knew who you were. Your
impulsive actions nearly cost me my life on a couple of occasions, remember? I
know you mean well..."
So much for there being plenty of blame to go around, Tahiri thought.
"I've helped betray the Yuuzhan Vong once already," she pointed out.
"You helped betray a military commander to save your-self and your
friends. Tell me-if we discovered the only way to win this war was to kill
every Yuuzhan Vong, would you do it?"
"No. Neither would Luke or Jacen."
Corran nodded and stroked his beard. "Don't dodge.
What if it really came down to them or us?"
"There is no them or us, Corran. Do you really think the Shamed Ones want
this war? Do you really think that malice is built into the Yuuzhan Vong at
the hereditary level?"
"It's built into their culture."
"Exactly. And culture can change."
"Sometimes," he said." If people want it to, and work at it."
"And that's what this mission is all about, right? If we let this door
close, we may never see another one open."
"Now wait," Han said. "We've gotten a little off track here. We never
settled that Tahiri can do this."
"Yes, we did," Leia said. Her voice was equal parts pride and sadness,
and it sent a chill up Tahiri's spine. For an in-stant, looking at Han in his
frustration and Leia in her ac-ceptance, she felt a love for them so powerful
it nearly made her cry.
"Thank you," she said.
Han crossed his arms and puffed out a breath of air.
"Well, fine-then we're going, too."
"We'd rather have you here, in reserve, when we start the new action,"
Kenth said.
Han's brow wrinkled in consternation and Tahiri felt a j sudden new
ambivalence. Whatever was coming up, Jaina would probably be involved. Would
Han want to be away, in unfamiliar territory, protecting her, when his own
daughter might need him?
But he was Han, and he'd already started. "Hey," he said to Kenth. "Don't
start thinking I'm regular military. If Corran won't go..."
"Oh, space it," Corran said. "I'll go. Now, let's see this i ship we're
going to use."
PART TWO
"I've got blips on the horizon," Corran muttered.
"I see them," Tahiri said, her heart sinking slightly. Everything had
gone fine, up until now. The holes in Yuuzhan'tar's planetary defenses had
been where they were supposed to be. They had come through the upper
atmosphere fine. Corran hadn't even complained about her flying. But now, just
when they were almost there, trouble came hunting like a qhal.
"They haven't seen us yet," she told him. "They're atmospheric fliers-
they don't have the legs we do."
/>
"Doesn't matter," Corran said. "The minute they figure out something is
bogus, this mission is over. And you're coming in way too steep."
"I know," Tahiri said. She could feel the yorik coral hull of the ship
beginning to blister. She straightened out infini-tesimally, but that sent
them bouncing violently across a thermal boundary.
"I thought you knew how to fly these things," Corran grunted.
"Ido,"shesaid, feeling her irritation grow. "You want to avoid our blip
friends, don't you? That means coming to ground fast, before they come in
range to scent us out."
"They're going to see us," Corran said. "Because we're going to burn like
a meteor if you don't slow up."
"All the better," Tahiri said. "You saw the system chart. There must have
been half a billion satellites in orbit around Coruscant. Without anyone to
maintain them, they must fall by the dozens every day."
"Good point," Corran conceded. "They won't notice us as we disintegrate."
"Right."
"We're only ten klicks from the ground now."
Tahiri nodded. "Hang on, and hope the dovin basals in this thing are
healthy."
She nosed up ever so slightly, and now her goal came in sight-Coruscant's
single sea. It didn't look like the holos she'd seen. There, it had been a
sapphire in a silver setting, an artificial bathing pool on a planetary scale.
Now it was a vast jade bezeled in a landscape of rust and verdigris. The
fliers were almost in range.
"This is going to be really, really close," she told Corran.
"Great," Corran said, teeth gritted.
"From what I've heard, you've done crazier things than this," Tahiri
said.
"Yes. Me. I'm a highly trained pilot. You've flown, what, three times?"
"The controls are yours if you want them."
The controls, of course, consisted of a cognition hood that fit on
Tahiri's head. She guided the ship by becoming a part of it. A non-Yuuzhan
Vong could fly one-Jaina had proven that-but it helped to have the language
and the instincts.
And her instincts told her she couldn't wait any longer or Corran really
was going to have cause for complaint. She cut in the dovin basals, pushing
them away from the planet, killing their velocity. She nudged the applied
force up quickly, so quickly that the living gravitic drives couldn't also
fully compensate for the g's they were pulling. She felt her weight double,
then triple, and the blood in her brain started looking for a way out of her
toes.
Hang on, she thought.
Hang on.
Blotches of darkness filled her vision, and her chest felt like a bantha
was sitting on it. She saw the blips coming into range, entering...
Then the lozenge-shaped craft hit the water and skipped like a stone.
Everything went crazy for a moment. She didn't quite black out, but the ship's
pain jammed through her own thoroughly confused senses. She growled, then
howled.
When it all made sense again she saw green.
They were sinking.
"Well," Corran said. "That was-interesting. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Now let's see if it was worth it."
The blips-or, rather, the projected symbols that repre-sented the
approaching craft-continued to get closer. Something in the ship creaked as
they continued to sink.
"I wonder how deep it is here," Corran mused.
"Not too deep, I hope," Tahiri said. "If I use the drive with them this
close, they'll notice. The hull should be able to take a good bit of pressure.
"
The blips were right overhead, now, and they suddenly broke their
pattern.
"Not good," Corran said.
"Khapet,"
Tahiri snarled. She'd screwed up. Now they would have to fight, run, and
hope to make it to a safe place to jump to hyperspace before they were
overwhelmed. Nice going, Tahiri. Prove to Corran you really are the stupid
little girl he remembers.
"They're going," Corran breathed. "They must have just been investigating
the splash. Or the burn trail." He nodded. "Good call. I don't want to do it
again anytime soon, but..."
"That's two of us," Tahiri said, sighing and watching the fliers continue
on their patrol.
Somewhere, something cracked. It sounded like ceramic breaking.
"Okay," she said. "Let's just ease us up a little."
"Do that," Corran said, "but don't surface-wait, how well can this thing
work underwater?"
"Well enough. Unless I have to use voids."
"Yes, let's not do that," Corran said. "Can you disable the function?"
"Sure. But why?"
Corran tapped his datapad and pulled up a chart.
"The Western Sea is like any sea-it's fed by rivers. But because
Coruscant is Coruscant, the rivers are artificial. Big pipes, to be exact. If
we take this one"-he indicated a spot on the chart-"it will get us pretty
close to where we're going."
"Assuming the tubes are still there," Tahiri said. "Yuu-zhan' tar isn't
Coruscant."
"It's worth a look," Corran said. "Anything that will keep us below the
level of detection-and between what Jacen and our best intelligence tells us,
they don't have very secure control of a lot of the old underground. That's
why our Prophet is there, presumably."
"It's not the way he told us to come."
"No, it isn't," Corran said. "Which gives it another mark, as far as I'm
concerned."
Tahiri nodded and changed her heading. "I hope we don't bump into
anything," she said. "I can only see ten meters or so."
"Just go slowly. We're not in a hurry anymore-the ren-dezvous is hours
away."
They found the river, a mammoth tube whose diameter the ship's radar
analog suggested was a hundred meters or so. Tahiri kept them centered in it,
and worked her way slowly up its length.
"That's funny," she said, after a few minutes.
"Funny ha-ha or funny we're about to diet."
"Odd. What were these tubes made of?"
"Duracrete, mostly. Why?"
"That's what the sensor signature was like when we started in. But it's
changed, now."
"Changed how?"
"It's irregular."
"Maybe it's decomposing," Corran suggested.
"And not metal," she added.
"Let me guess. It's alive."
"Probably."
Corran scratched his beard. "The Yuuzhan Vong must be replacing the
abiotic drainage systems with biotic ones. That would be typical."
"Yes."
"How far back was the boundary? How long have we been in this new part?"
"We just passed it. We're only a few tens of meters in."
"Right," Corran said. "Back up. I want to think about this for a moment."
Tahiri shrugged. "You're in charge."
"Yes, I am. I was wondering if you knew that." It didn't quite sound like
he was kidding.
Tahiri reversed direction until they were back in the old tunnel.
"What would they be using in place of the old pipe?" Corran asked. "Were
we about to swim up the gut of a giant worm?"
Tahiri considered. "I'm not really sure," she said. "The shaper darnuteks
have succession pools
in their centers. Waste goes into them to be purified,
and they have roots that go down into the planet to draw up water and
minerals." Corran nodded. " I remember hearing that Anakin crawled down
through one of those 'roots' so he could hide in sub-terranean caves long
enough to build a new lightsaber."
"Yes, he did."
"And you think the Yuuzhan Vong are converting the Western Sea into a
huge succession pool?"
"Maybe. Or it might be more like a ship's maw luur. It's the same idea-a
combination nutrient bank and sewage treatment plant-but the technology is a
little different be-cause a ship's maw luur is a closed system. Here, I'm not
sure which they would use-but in a lot of ways, Coruscant was more like a
worldship than a normal planet, right? No natural ecosystem?"
"Yes. In fact, the Western Sea served something of the purpose you
describe anyway."
"Sure. So while they're still deconstructing the place, maybe their
interim design is based more on worldship than planet."
"Makes sense. So if this is a big maw luur, we're-" His eyes widened.
"Get us out, now."
Tahiri gave the command, and the dovin basals quivered to life. They
began moving back toward the entrance.
"New plan," Corran said. "I've no intention of going up a world-sized
digestive tract."
"I hate to say this," Tahiri said, "but that revelation-" Something
slammed into the ship, hard.
"-may have come a little late."
"What is it? "Corran said.
"Something big," Tahiri said. "We're inside it."
"Well get us outside it!"
"I'm trying, but it must have ten times our mass." Her skin suddenly
began burning. "Uh-oh," she mut-tered. "It can digest yorik coral, whatever it
is."
"Part of the maw luur?"
"There are symbiotic organisms in a maw luur that help break down larger
things. Nothing this big, though."
"But this is a really big maw luur," Corran said. "Digesting really big
things."
"True," Tahiri replied. "Anyway, if you've got any sug-gestions on what
to do here-"
"Fire the plasma cannon."
"In an enclosed space?" Was Corran crazy? "That could be bad."
"So could being digested."
"Right."
She bit back a shriek as plasma ejected into the water and brought it
instantly to boiling, scalding and compressing her hull. The pressure and heat