She following the target at a distance and let the droid do most of the spying for her. The target wandered through the shopping concourse for twenty minutes or so, and then sat on a bench as if to take a rest. At this point Mara managed to get the droid close and behind the bench, just in time to observe the target reach beneath the seat and peel off something that had been stuck there.
Aha! Mara thought delightedly. This was better than getting an idiot's array at sabacc.
The target lumbered to her feet and strolled down the concourse. Mara drifted after. The target paused a moment by a vending machine, then continued on. When Mara purchased a snack from the machine and looked behind it, she saw something stuck there with an adhesive. It was just the size of a bundle of credits.
Mara decided to let the mouse droid follow the Yuuzhan Vong and to wait near the vending machine for whoever was scheduled to pick up his payment. She perched on a store windowsill and ate her snack, which was some kind of fried, salted seaweed that tasted of iodine and was obviously intended for a Mon Calamari palate. Within an hour the money was picked up by a Sullustan male, who used part of the cash immediately on a flashy new jacket purchased in one of the most exclusive boutiques in the arcade. The Sullustan then returned to work, which turned out to be in the building the Senate had requisitioned for its offices. Mara discovered that the Sullustan worked in the office of Senator Krall Praget, a member of the Security and Intelligence Council.
Most interesting, Mara thought.
She then caught up with the mouse droid, which had followed the suspected Yuuzhan Vong infiltrator to an apartment building. Mara made a note of the address, and then called Ayddar Nylykerka on her comm, and told him to buy as many of the mouse droids as Lando and Talon Karrde had available.
YVH-M-1 had proved its worth on its very first day.
Cola Quis dropped out of the race for Chief of State following a ringing endorsement for Cal Omas, who had quietly promised him chairmanship of the Commerce Council, midlevel ministry jobs to several of his friends, and a branch office of the Kellmer Institute for Ryloth. On the next vote, Cal added enough votes to raise his percentage to 35. Not all of Quis's supporters followed his lead, however, and Fyor Rodan picked up another couple of percentage points and stayed in the lead, with 37. Pwoe held steady with three votes total. Tal'aam Ranth added enough to his total to raise his percentage to 22, which meant that the soft-spoken, exquisitely polite Gotal chairman of the Justice Council now controlled enough votes in the Senate to deliver the election either to Cal Omas or to Fyor Rodan.
Ranth was now being courted in earnest.
Tons of refugee supplies were shipped to the planet's surface from the smuggler fleet overhead. The new military appropriations bill, with riders attached involving the purchase of thousands of YVH droids, passed out of the Defense Council and onto the Senate floor. The Senate, urged by all three candidates to act quickly, passed the bill with only a few token attempts at adding amendments to earmark funds for a particularly worthy planet or cause or brother-in-law.
Mara found a second Yuuzhan Vong infiltrator. She and a squad of mouse droids and Nylykerka's agents began mapping the two infiltrators' contacts and associates. Primary residences and safe houses were located, and eavesdropping devices quietly inserted.
Considering the alarming implications of everything she was discovering, Mara was having a strangely pleasant time.
"Every morning, I want every person in my command to ask himself the same question. And that question is: how can I hurt the Yuuzhan Vong today?"
Admiral Traest Kre'fey was visiting every ship in his command, first to conduct an inspection and then to address ship personnel. He was speaking from the enlisted mess of Starsider, a room large enough to contain all the fleet personnel who were stationed or passing through or barracked on the old Dreadnaught. Jaina, flanked by Kyp and Lowbacca, sat at a table on one edge of the room, watching the white-furred Bothan bound up and down on his speaker's platform.
Kre'fey was in good spirits today, and his body language showed it. He bounced on the balls of his feet as he repeatedly punched the air to emphasize his points, and his fur continually peaked and smoothed with surges of emotion.
"And if you can't find a way to hurt the Vong," the admiral continued, "I want you to ask yourself this question: how can I help my own side grow stronger?"
"At least it's leadership," Kyp said, his murmur pitched to carry only to the ears of his fellow Jedi. "It's not like we've seen a lot of leadership in this war."
"Maybe it's a little more leadership than we need," Jaina murmured in answer.
Lowie knew better than to say anything himself—his translator droid lacked discretion, and would probably shout the translation out at full volume—but he allowed himself a small moan of agreement.
"We're going to win the war of production!" Kre'fey proclaimed. "Our factories are building more starfighters, more capital ships, and more weapons than ever before! Our schools are turning out more pilots and other personnel! Within months we'll have replaced all the terrible losses we've suffered so far in this war!"
Jaina thought of Anakin and Chewbacca, and Anni Capstan and others, the millions who'd lived on Sernpidal and Ithor. Unique, individual beings, alive and responsive to the other lives around them. Replaced? No one could replace any of them.
"That trip to Bothawui has changed the admiral," Kyp said. "He used to be a lot less bouncy."
"The Bothans declared ar'krai and removed any necessity for moral responsibility," Jaina said. "I imagine that could cheer a person up."
"We're going to smash the Vong!" Kre'fey proclaimed. "We're going to smash them every day! We're going to smash them until there are no more Yuuzhan Vong!"
The room erupted in applause. Jaina and the other Jedi remained silent.
After Kre'fey's speech had worked its way to a rousing conclusion, Jaina was stopped at the exit by one of the admiral's aides.
"Major Solo?" he said. "The admiral would like to see you."
Kre'fey met Jaina in an office loaned him for the purpose by Starsider's captain. Kre'fey was still clearly exhilarated from his speech, still bouncing energetically on the balls of his feet. His vicinity smelled very strongly of excited Bothan.
"I saw you in the audience and I thought I'd have Snayd pull you in for a chat."
"Very good, sir." Which seemed a proper sort of thing for a bewildered officer to say. Chats with admirals were a rarity in her experience.
Kre'fey's whiskered face beamed. "Did you like the speech?"
Jaina answered truthfully. "I thought it was the strongest speech I've heard in this war, sir." At least it said most of the right things.
Kre'fey was impressed. "Coming from Leia Organa's daughter, I'll take that as a very special compliment indeed."
"My mother hasn't had many chances to make speeches lately, sir," Jaina said.
"Regrettably true." Kre'fey paused, his furred hand brushing the polished tabletop. "I thought," he began, "that I would send you to see your brother."
"Sir?" Jaina was almost speechless with delight. She could see Jacen! Touch him! Feel his mind floating toward her in the twin bond ...
"Colonel Darklighter tells me that you've been in continuous action against the enemy for many months. You deserve a rest, but the war hasn't been able to spare you. But things have grown quiet with both sides reorganizing after Coruscant, and we can spare you now. So I'm going to send you on a furlough to Mon Calamari, for two weeks . . ." He drawled out the last words, then raised a finger and pointed at Jaina. "But you're going on a special mission for me, understand?"
Jaina tried her best not to stare at him. "No, sir," she said. "I don't understand."
"You said that you needed more Jedi for your experiment in Force-meld to work. I want you to talk to your mother, to your uncle Luke, and I want you to get me those Jedi. I want to put those Jedi in my ships and have them link through the Force in combat." He grinned. "What do you think
?"
"I'll do my best, sir. But—" Protests rose reluctantly into her mind. "My squadron's been completely reorganized in the last month, sir. I have two brand-new pilots fresh out of flight school. Another four who have only been with us a few weeks. We haven't flown together long enough to—I need time, sir—I'm afraid my squadron can't spare me."
"Your number two can take over for a few weeks," Kre'fey said. "He's another Jedi, isn't he? The Wookiee?"
"Yes, but he's busy with his team investigating Trickster.'"
"His team can do without him for a few hours every day. I want you on Mon Calamari finding Jedi for me." He smiled kindly. "And getting some rest, of course. You've been working too hard, like all of us."
He rose, and Jaina realized the audience was over. She stood and saluted.
"I'll have Snayd draw up your orders," Kre'fey said. "You're to leave tomorrow."
"Very good, sir." Soon she could see Jacen!
The next day, as she set out in her X-wing for Mon Calamari, Twin Suns Squadron soared past her, brilliant in the light of Kashyyyk's sun, and tipped their wings in salute before cutting in their engines and flashing away, out of sight.
She felt like a traitor for leaving them behind. The rookies needed much more training before they'd have a chance of surviving against the Yuuzhan Vong, and she wouldn't be there to supervise it. What if one of them died because of something she hadn't been present to teach them? What if the whole squadron was led to disaster because of something she could have prevented?
Jaina had every faith that Lowie would do a good job as squadron commander. But it wasn't Lowie's squadron, it was hers. Whatever happened to it, it was she who was responsible.
Jaina sighed, settled into her molded seat, and began plotting the first of the long series of jumps that were calculated to avoid the dangerous parts of the wide Yuuzhan Vong-occupied swath of worlds between Kashyyyk and Mon Calamari.
She thought about seeing Jacen again, and all her doubts faded.
"Welcome, Senator." Lando, smiling broadly, shook Fyg Boras's hand and escorted him to an armchair. "I'd like to express my admiration on the rapidity with which your committee dealt with the YVH amendment."
"A surprising number of my colleagues were in favor of the amendment," Boras said. "An unsubtle number, perhaps."
"These days," Lando said, "a person with tons of relief supplies can't help but make a lot of friends."
"You're giving away enough. The price of basic commodities has dropped enormously in the last few days."
"But surely that's a good thing, Senator!" Lando said.
"No doubt," Boras gloomed. Lando and Karrde had so flooded the market with relief supplies that the Senator's illicit profits were barely keeping ahead of the costs of warehousing everything he was secretly offering for sale.
Cheaters never prosper, Lando thought virtuously.
"I thought we might discuss the future of our relationship," Lando said, and seated himself adjacent to the Senator.
"I hope you're not going to offer me more relief supplies."
Lando steepled his fingertips and tried to ignore Boras's nose-tickling minty cologne. "What I hoped," he said, "was to discuss the next Chief of State."
"I'm committed to Fyor Rodan, as you know."
"I was hoping to change your mind."
"That's not possible," Boras said shortly. "I've made a definite commitment."
"I regret that extremely. Because it's then possible that people may see this holovid."
He touched the control of the room's holoprojector, and Boras watched with increasing petulance at the sight of himself in his first meeting with Lando.
"You can't release that!" he snapped finally. "If I'm guilty of taking a bribe—which I'm not—then you're guilty of offering one! To release that holo would be to put your own head into the noose!"
"I would never claim that I bribed you," Lando said with indignation. "I've never bribed anyone in my life!"
"Then what's all this about?" Boras snarled.
"I gave you the supplies to be given free to refugees," Lando said. "That's very clear in the holo. If it could be demonstrated that you were selling the supplies, instead of giving them away, then that would be—why it would be illegal) wouldn't it?"
Boras stared at Lando with burning hatred in his eyes.
"Now," Lando said with a perfect white smile, "about the next Chief of State."
The next three days saw an extraordinary number of defections from the camp of Fyor Rodan. Not just those who had allowed themselves to be bribed, but others whose activities had been revealed by a little of Talon Karrde's research. Those who stole fleet elements in order to make their escape from Coruscant, or who called for the fleet to escort them to safety while other naval units, deprived of support, stayed and died. There were those who had sprung criminals from custody on condition that the criminals help them escape the Yuuzhan Vong. Others had taken massive bribes in order to take world-class criminals offplanet. There was one Senator who had left his whole family behind in order to provide transport to a well-fed Coruscant plutocrat and his harem of mistresses.
Some of these—the supporters Fyor Rodan most counted on— were persuaded to announce publicly that they had changed their minds and intended to vote for Cal Omas.
The following morning Mara—now operating with a pair of YVH-M mouse droids—picked up a Yuuzhan Vong infiltrator at her place of residence and followed her through refugee-packed streets toward the edge of Heurkea Floating City, where gracefully curved seawalls kept the green ocean rollers from sweeping right up the streets. The Yuuzhan Vong wasn't interested in the view, but walked along the base of the seawall to a bubble-topped structure that projected out over the water.
When the target entered, Mara remained outside and sent one of the mouse droids through the broad, open doorway. The structure proved to be a private marina, with boats and submersibles of various sizes moored in long rows of slips. The Yuuzhan Vong spoke to a Quarren who sat behind a desk near the entrance, and the Quarren handed her what might have been a set of keys. The infiltrator then walked out onto one of the jetties.
Mara left her second droid near the entrance and entered the marina herself. The salt-and-iodine scent of the sea was strong in the confined space. The Yuuzhan Vong, she saw, was inspecting a submersible. Drawing the hood of her robe forward to partly mask her face from the Vong, Mara approached the Quarren.
"Do you rent submersibles here?" she asked.
"No," the Quarren said. "We rent berths to private vehicles only." One of its facial tentacles pointed politely toward the door. "If you want to rent submersibles, you can turn right at the entrance, then walk along the seawall to—"
Mara's comm unit chittered at her. "Excuse me," she said, and stepped away from the desk just as a large human male walked into the building. The new arrival blinked as his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness inside the covered marina, and during that time Mara read the information that her mouse droid was trying to tell her.
The new arrival was another Yuuzhan Vong. Mara's heart leapt. She turned her head away from the new arrival and tried to shrug into her hood—it wasn't as if Mara Jade Skywalker wasn't someone an enemy infiltrator might recognize at close range. But the infiltrator wasn't interested in her, or in the Quarren. Without looking left or right, the Yuuzhan Vong marched into the building, walked down the long jetty, and joined the first Vong.
Frantically Mara considered her options. For years she had been the Emperor's Hand. She had lived as a spy, infiltrator, and assassin, and she understood spy work well. Two Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators meeting face to face violated every single principle of tradecraft—if the two needed to speak, they could do so by villip with complete privacy; if villips weren't available, they could use dead-letter drops or, with precautions, simple comm units.
There were three possible reasons why the two Yuuzhan Vong were meeting face to face.
They could be stupid.
&n
bsp; They could be overconfident.
Or, third, something was happening that was of such overwhelming importance that the Yuuzhan Vong were forced to throw all caution to the winds and conduct the operation together.
Mara knew which way she wanted to bet.
The Yuuzhan Vong had opened the cockpit of their submersible and were descending into it. Mara returned to the Quarren at the desk.
"Are you sure you don't have any submersibles for rent?" she asked, and made a gesture with one hand.
"Yes," the Quarren said. "We have submersibles for rent,"
"I want a fast one, and I need it immediately."
The Quarren reached beneath the desk and produced a set of keys. "Berth Five-B, ma'am," it said.
"Thanks," Mara said, snatching the keys.
The face-tentacles waved good-bye. "Have a nice voyage."
The Yuuzhan Vong were swinging their cockpit closed. Mara tried to avoid a dead run as she headed for Berth 5B.
Her submersible was a slim sport model whose sleek lines showed the customary Mon Calamari attention to elegant design. The transparent cockpit seated two passengers, one behind the other, and the deep green paint job featured a scalloped pattern that suggested fish scales.
Mara cast off the two mooring lines, then put a foot on the submersible and felt it bob under her. She keyed the lock, and the bubble canopy rolled aside with a hydraulic hiss. Mara vaulted easily into the pilot's seat and found the main power switch. She pressed it and the instrument panel came to life.
The instrument panel was simple compared to that found in a starfighter. Mara pulled away a drape of her cloak that had caught on the cockpit coaming, then closed the canopy. Canopy locks clamped down to make the sub watertight. Ventilators whirred as they automatically switched on. Mara engaged the engine, and water jets hissed as Mara backed out of the slip.
The Yuuzhan Vong craft, she saw, was already moving through the seaward entrance of the marina and into the open sea. Mara kicked the rudder over and accelerated, shaving the stern of the nearest vessel by millimeters as she set out in pursuit.
STAR WARS - THE NEW JEDI ORDER - Destiny's Way Page 22