Reunion: Force Heretic III

by Sean Williams

  Her scales stiffened again, this time in apprehension. Something was wrong. She reached out around her with the Force, trying to isolate the unease she was feeling. She could sense her fellow Jedi Knights, could feel the mixed life signals of the airships and various Ferroans nearby, could feel—

  She stopped, realizing what it was that troubled her—something so subtle that a human might have missed it. It wasn’t what was there, but rather what wasn’t. There was no longer the faint touch of the habitat’s life force; it was dead.

  With her senses tingling, she threw back her blanket and made to stand. Halfway to her feet, however, something heavy and suffocating dropped down on her from above and pushed her back to the ground.

  She roared to wake the others. Her lightsaber flared into life beneath the confines of whatever it was that was holding her down. She slashed once, twice, and felt the weight fall away. She forced her arms and head through the hole she’d sliced, just as something hard and heavy swung at her out of the shadows, cracking her across the skull. She fell back with a grunt. Pain from the blow seared down one side of her face.

  She fought back, feverishly willing herself to move. Someone had obviously killed the habitat and brought it down upon them. Then, as each of them struggled to climb out, the attackers would strike them as they emerged. It was almost too easy. But clearly, these assailants didn’t know what they were dealing with. A Jedi Knight wasn’t so easily overcome; and four Jedi Knights was a force to be reckoned with …

  “Saba!”

  The voice belonged to Soron Hegerty, and from the doctor’s tone, Saba knew she was in trouble.

  She tried to break free to help the doctor, and was struck again by the blunt weapon. This time she was ready, though, and managed to deflect the blow so that it only struck her shoulder. Her attacker let out a yelp of fright as Saba pulled herself to her feet and raised her lightsaber to strike back. From the glow of her blade, as well as the reflected light from the gas giant Mobus, she was finally able to make him out. He was a Ferroan male of medium height and build, and his expression was one of determination undercut with panic—a panic she knew she could use to her advantage. She faced her attacker squarely, roaring as loud as she could and raising her lightsaber as though to strike. He took one look at her sharp teeth and claws, dropped his weapon, and fled.

  She turned to where Hegerty struggled with three other black-clad Ferroans. There were more of them scurrying around on the folds of the collapsed habitat, but Saba ignored them. Master Skywalker and the others could look after themselves; it was Dr. Hegerty who needed her help the most right then. The Jedi Master was weaving through the rain, cutting the others free while staving off his attackers. Hegerty, her cries now muffled, was being dragged rapidly away.

  Saba took off at a run, her tail pointing behind her in an arrow-straight counterbalance to the lightsaber in her hand. One of the kidnappers tripped just as Saba reached them, lightsaber cutting a hissing swath through the rain. The one who’d fallen scrambled backward through the mud, while the others turned to face her. There was fear in their eyes, but they held their ground. Two held heavy clubs like the one that had almost knocked her out before. The third pointed something at her that looked like a thin, twisted tree root, with a startlingly acute crystal point at its tip. Before she had time to wonder at its purpose, a miniature bolt of lightning arced toward her.

  It grounded safely in her lightsaber, which she’d swung to intercept it with liquid ease.

  “This one will not allow a friend to be harmed,” she said, revealing her teeth in a menacing snarl.

  The one with the tree root weapon lowered his aim, uncertainty overtaking his resolve, while the one on the ground scrabbled for purchase in the mud. The third kidnapper, the one actually holding the doctor, unceremoniously dropped his hostage. She fell into the mud with a grunt of both pain and indignation. Then all three were gone, running in different directions into the shadows.

  Saba resisted the urge to chase after them. Instead, she reached down with one clawed hand to help the doctor to her feet.

  “Thank you,” the scholar gasped, wiping water and dirt from her face. Her gray hair hung limply and was streaked with mud. “As soon as the roof came down on us, they were right there ready to cut me free. I thought they’d come to rescue me at first, until they clubbed me.” She rubbed at her head. “Why should they want me, though?”

  Saba knew. Go for the weakest of the herd. It was the first rule of predation, and in this case the weakest would have been those who weren’t fighters. And that meant …

  “We must get back to the otherz,” she said, hurriedly leading the way.

  They returned to find Luke and Mara arguing with a group of Ferroans who had come out to see what all the commotion was about. They seemed genuinely surprised, but not above taking affront at Mara’s suggestion that they’d been in any way negligent.

  “Are you suggesting we would sanction such behavior?” Rowel protested.

  “All I know is that we were attacked,” Mara said. “And you assured us we’d be safe.”

  “I thought Jedi could look after themselves,” Darak sneered.

  “The fact that we’re standing here now shows that we can,” Mara defended quickly, “despite the cowardly attack by your people! They waited for the habitat to collapse before doing anything!”

  “Habitats don’t just collapse,” Darak said.

  “Whoever planned this attack,” Master Skywalker said, “obviously rigged it earlier.”

  Rowel looked exasperated. “But I still don’t see who would do such a thing!”

  “I don’t care who,” Mara said. “I just want them found.”

  “In this rain?” Rowel said. “They could have gone in a dozen different directions. You’ll never find them now.”

  “We have to try,” Jacen said, stepping into the conversation with a grim expression. To Master Skywalker and Mara he said, “She’s gone.”

  “Who is gone?” Darak asked.

  Go for the weakest of the herd …

  “Danni Quee,” Saba said. “They took Danni.”

  Jacen looked at her and nodded. “And I intend to find her before they get too far.”

  “Jacen, wait—” Mara tried to catch her nephew’s shoulder as he started off into the darkness, but he shrugged her hand aside and continued on his way without further comment.

  “This one will keep him safe,” Saba reassured Mara. With a two-legged leap, she took after Jacen, hunting the moment …

  Pellaeon’s aide gasped as the decoy gunship blew up with Jag Fel inside it. The admiral noted other signs of surprise and distress across the wide bridge of Right to Rule. The fortunes of Soontir’s son had captured more attention than he’d expected. To see them so suddenly dashed was a shock even to him.

  He turned to his aide, opening his mouth to issue an order and recall all fighters from the northern flank. Before any words had passed his lips, however, something strange happened. The destroyed gunship had broken into several large chunks, with numerous smaller fragments boiling into vacuum. Two of the larger chunks were heading for the cruiser. Another, the largest, was tumbling toward the corvette. The fragments were large enough and had enough relative velocity to inflict considerable damage, if they hit, but as Pellaeon watched, the equivalent of collision avoidance systems came into play around the two ships. A gout of plasma fire lashed out at the first of the fragments to approach the cruiser.

  Instead of blowing the wreckage into even smaller fragments, however, the vicious bolt of plasma was sucked away into nothing.

  “What—?” Pellaeon stared at the screen in disbelief. Even when another plasma burst failed to destroy the rapidly approaching wreckage, he still didn’t understand what was happening. Only as the corvette began firing on the piece tumbling toward it did he finally realize it: the plasma fire was being absorbed by dovin basals lingering on the fragments of the gunship’s hull!

  And with that realization, the
rest of Jag Fel’s plan fell into place for him.

  “All fighters in the northern flank,” he ordered his aide, “concentrate on those two targets! Divert all firepower to the weak spots!”

  The aide frowned. “What weak spots, sir?”

  “Those weak spots!” He indicated the sudden blossoming of energy as the first gunship fragment hit the Yuuzhan Vong cruiser. He leaned back in satisfaction as his orders were relayed and fighters converged on the damaged ship, intending to add not just insult to injury, but violent destruction as well.

  Jag rode the wild tumbling of the third fragment as it arrowed toward the Yuuzhan Vong corvette hanging alongside the damaged cruiser. The Yuuzhan Vong were quick; he had to give them that. They were already concentrating their fire on his ride, hoping to overload the lingering dovin basals and blow the threat into a million pieces. When their shots cut through the debris enough to impact on his shields, he retaliated, knowing that the move would take them by surprise. A lethal piece of debris was bad enough; that it would return fire would have been completely unexpected.

  His shots had the required effect. The Yuuzhan Vong gunners were distracted long enough for the gunship fragment to hit the corvette’s hull. Just before the collision, Jag made sure the fragment was between him and the corvette; nevertheless, the impact was intense enough to almost buckle his shields. The shock wave from the resulting explosion caused him to black out for a moment, and when he came to again he found himself immersed in a white-hot ball of gas and debris. Repeating the tactic he’d employed in the gunship, he fired his way out of the impact point, tunneling deep into the heart of the corvette.

  He didn’t know how far he would get before his shields overloaded, but he was determined to do as much damage as he could before then. Since Yuuzhan Vong warriors were trained to fight to the death, opportunities to explore the interiors of their ships came rarely, and he had no idea where the equivalents of power generators or drives might be situated. He simply angled inward and backward along the craft’s major axes, figuring that the most sensitive material would probably be kept there. He knew that it would be impossible to trigger an explosion like the one that had torn the gunship apart, but he figured it was worth trying.

  Burning debris roiled around him, enclosing him in an extended, fiery bubble. The plasma effectively cut him off from the universe outside, stopping even the clicks from his wingmates getting through. Whether his maneuver had been sufficient for Pellaeon to turn the tide in the northern flank, he wouldn’t know until he was out. He only hoped he wouldn’t be met with a wall of coralskippers when he emerged. That would certainly bring an ignominious end to his daring plan.

  Is this what you would have done, Jaina? he wondered. Would you have gone this far?

  He kept on firing until his laser cannons threatened to melt and his shields were on the verge of collapse. In case he needed those systems on the way out, he rested them while he rotated his fighter around its center of gravity and prepared to retrace his steps. The view behind was the same as in front: nothing but boiling debris and the red-hot outlines of load-bearing structures, now deformed and sagging. A shudder rolled through the corvette, but he couldn’t tell if it was a result of his actions or from elsewhere. For all he knew, the ship might have been on the brink of exploding, or it could have simply been changing course.

  Gunning his engines and keeping a close eye on the instruments, he powered his way back through the burning ship. Occasionally, great clumps of anti-reactant foam clogged his path, and he was forced to burn his way through, starting new fires in the process.

  As he neared the outer hull, he picked up the speed. The impact site of the gunship wreckage gave him more room to maneuver, and a greater feeling of exposure, too. Inside, he’d been relatively safe. Once outside again, he would come under the targeting system of every weapon on the corvette’s hull—along with the targeting reticles of every skip within firing distance. The faster he came out, the better.

  White heat faded to blue streaked with yellow, then orange, and finally red. Then abruptly there was nothing ahead of him but stars. He put his shields to maximum behind him and pushed the throttle as far as it would go. Burned black from nose to stern, his starfighter shot out of the burning ship like a particle discharged from the business end of a charric. He fought to keep his damaged stabilizers under control and ignored a blast of noise from his comm. Until he was certain he had his clawcraft under control, he didn’t have time to look around.

  When he did, he was amazed to find that his plan appeared to have worked. The corvette was in serious trouble, burning in too many places to count and looking like it could break up at any moment. Dozens of Imperial fighters were pounding it without relief. Nearby, the cruiser was coming under similar attack. The places where the gunship fragments had hit were targets for repeated combat runs, leaving them gaping and vulnerable. The holes vented gases and bodies in huge clouds, making navigation dangerous for Yuuzhan Vong and Imperial alike. Any chance of the northern flank becoming a focus for resistance now seemed very remote.

  “Jag! You made it!”

  The greeting burst out of his comm like a miniature explosion, closely followed by an X-wing swooping in from his right.

  “Nice to hear your voice, Enton,” he replied. “How’s everything out here?”

  “Much improved now, sir.” This came from Twin Sun Four, settling into position off his port side. “I think you’ve shown those Imps a thing or two.”

  I certainly hope so, he thought as he continued to guide his battered starfighter out of the thick of things.

  “Congratulations on a job well done, Colonel Fel.” The voice of the Grand Admiral from the comm broke across his thoughts. “Consider me … surprised.”

  “I hope I managed to make a difference, sir.”

  “Oh, that you did,” the Grand Admiral said. “It’s becoming obvious that neither we nor the Yuuzhan Vong are going to control the planet. I’d expect a stalemate to form anytime now: us on one side, them on the other. I doubt that anyone will be getting any closer than low orbit. That should allow the ground crew time to find the base, at least.”

  “Have we heard anything from them, sir?”

  “Not that I’m aware,” Pellaeon said. “Although you might want to check with Captain Mayn. Tell her that if there’s anything I need to hear, she knows where to find me.”

  Jag frowned, sensing something in Pellaeon’s tone but not sure what it was—and certain it wasn’t any of his business. “I’ll contact her immediately, sir.”

  “I’d consider doing more than that,” the admiral said. “You’re going to need more than just a wire brush to get rid of that scoring.”

  Jag smiled as he turned his clawcraft around for Pride of Selonia. He had no idea how badly crisped he’d gotten inside the gunship and the cruiser, but if the admiral had taken time to comment on it, it must be bad.

  He checked in with Captain Mayn, who ordered him back in no uncertain terms. There was a heavy strain in her voice, as though she was deeply worried about something.

  “We haven’t heard from the Falcon,” she explained when he asked. “A garbled transmission came through a short time ago, but we couldn’t decipher it. We suspect the Yuuzhan Vong are jamming transmissions from the surface.”

  “That’s not good,” Jag said. “They could be calling for help. Is there any way we can get down there?”

  “No. And don’t even think about trying, Colonel. You’re not going anywhere until we check out your ship.”

  “Don’t worry, Captain,” he said. “I think one crazy stunt is enough for one day.”

  As he arced around the Selonia and moved into position to dock, he asked the question that had been on his mind since he’d emerged from the belly of the alien corvette.

  “Captain, is Jaina there?”

  There was a long pause. When Mayn returned, her voice was more strained than ever, and Jag knew that this was the source of the woman’s anxiety.r />
  “It might be easier to talk about that when you dock,” Mayn said.

  Jag felt an icy nausea squeeze his stomach. “Is something wrong?”

  “To be honest, Colonel, we don’t know. None of us here is a Jedi, so we have no idea if her condition is normal or not.”

  “What condition?”

  Even over the crackling comm, he heard Captain Mayn take a deep breath. “She’s unconscious; possibly in a coma, Dantos says. We don’t know exactly when it happened, and we don’t know when she’s likely to snap out of it—if she snaps out of it at all. I’m sorry, Colonel; I wish I could offer you better news. But the fact is, we just can’t reach her.”

  We can’t reach her. Captain Mayn’s words seemed to echo in Jag’s ears. As he jockeyed his clawcraft around to the docking bays, he asked, “When did this happen? Where did you find her?”

  “In Tahiri’s room,” Mayn answered. “She’s been like that since we arrived.”

  Jag nodded, his jaw tightening. He’d known the answer before asking the question. That didn’t make hearing it any better, though.

  He gripped the controls of his clawcraft tightly as he carefully brought it in to dock, even though his every instinct urged him to hurry.

  “Are you still there, Colonel?” he heard Mayn ask after a few seconds.

  But he didn’t have time to reply; he was too busy clambering from his cockpit. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he was running through the corridors, heading for Tahiri’s room.

  * * *

  The area surrounding Shimrra’s palace had undergone considerable change since Nom Anor’s expulsion. Bio-engineered life-forms extruded from the walls, floors, and ceilings of buildings as they slowly ate their way through the lifeless constructs of the planet’s previous occupants, fashioning them into immense new extensions to house the Supreme Overlord’s vast number of servants, executors, and other support staff.

  There was no mistaking the palace itself. A worldship standing on one end, it rose like a majestic mountain from the ruins of the old world. It was a thing of awesome beauty and intimidating splendor with its mighty rainbow-edged wings stretching out across Yuuzhan’tar for all to see.