Rebirth: Edge of Victory II

by Greg Keyes

  “But maybe not for long, if the Yuuzhan Vong are about to renew their Coreward advance,” Wedge mused. “Maybe the whole peace-for-Jedi deal was an even greater ruse than we suspected—not just to get rid of the Jedi, but to give them the time to finish growing that thing.”

  “We’re agreed, then, the sooner we act the better,” Kre’fey said.

  “Sure,” Gavin said. “But getting in—”

  “I have an idea about that,” the Bothan said. “If I may.”

  “Of course, Admiral.”

  “When Colonel Darklighter and I last entered the Sernpidal system, we were able to evade the Yuuzhan Vong defenses because when Sernpidal was destroyed, the redistribution of the planet’s mass opened up new hyperspace entry and exit points in the resulting asteroid field. The Yuuzhan Vong couldn’t risk jumping into the asteroids after us because they hadn’t calculated the positions of those points. By now, they must have accounted for all such locations. Master Durron, what enabled you to enter the system after those shifts were accounted for by the Yuuzhan Vong?”

  “The Force, Admiral, is a powerful ally. I’ve had some experience with using the Force to read gravitic fields. We awaited our opportunity, and we got it when they tested their weapon. The size of the gravitic anomaly shifted the gravitic profile of the asteroid belt enough for us to risk a jump.”

  “And we may now assume they have countered that possibility.”

  “It seems likely.”

  “What I propose, then, is this. I know where I can procure an old Immobilizer-class Interdictor. She’s not much to look at. She was hulled in battle and left adrift, where she was largely gutted by scavengers. Two of her mass-shadow generators are intact, however. I’d begun restoring her, but it’s a dauntingly expensive task. She’s got no life support, half her armor is gone, and she lacks engines. However, I could fit her with a hyperdrive and shields quite easily. We could then tow her where we need her.”

  “Oh, I like this,” Wedge said, rubbing his hands together. “It’s crazy—begging the Admiral’s pardon—but—”

  “You’re going too fast for me, Admiral, General,” Jaina said.

  “We jump the Interdictor into one of the blockaded coordinates,” Kre’fey explained. “No crew, with rudimentary automation. The instant it arrives, its shields go up and the gravity wells go on.”

  “And it lasts about half a minute, if that,” Jaina replied.

  “Which is plenty,” Wedge explained. “The gravitic fluctuation will shift things enough to move the safe entry point. We should be able to calculate where to. Two seconds after we send the Interdictor, we start piling star-fighters through. Hopefully the difference in location will be great enough that we’ll miss whatever nasty surprise they have waiting for the next ship to attempt a deep-space jump.”

  “Exactly, General,” Kre’fey said.

  “That’ll work,” Gavin said. “At least, I think it will.”

  “It will get us in where they aren’t expecting us,” Wedge said. “More, we can’t ask for.”

  “It will be enough,” Kyp said excitedly. “It will do.” The rogue Jedi stood. “I am prepared to place my people under your command, Admiral, for the duration of this mission. I’m sure you’ll put us to good use.”

  “I’m sure I will, Master Durron. We should begin coordinating now. In two days’ time, the Yuuzhan Vong will discover that someone in this galaxy still has teeth. Strong, sharp ones. Let’s reconvene in three hours’ time to discuss the specifics. For now we’re adjourned.”

  THIRTY-THREE

  “I really wasn’t designed for this,” C-3PO said, for something to the power of a hundredth time. “The waiting is really the worst of all.”

  Han checked the console, saw nothing again, laced his hands behind his head, and leaned back. “That so, Goldenrod,” he said. “Personally, I think it would be worse to have our hull blown open by proton torpedoes.”

  “Well, yes,” C-3PO admitted, “that might be—”

  “Or lose power and life support and drift forever in the cold dark of space.”

  “Oh, how horribly vivid. That certainly doesn’t appeal—”

  “Or worse yet, what if we’re captured? They’ll give us to the Yuuzhan Vong for sacrifice. Just think what the Vong would do to you, Threepio. They wouldn’t do it fast, not given how much they hate droids. They’d do it slow, keep you aware for every second of the terrible—”

  “Captain Solo?” C-3PO interrupted plaintively.

  “Yeah, Threepio?”

  “I’ve reconsidered. Waiting isn’t so bad after all. Why, for all I care, we can wait forever.”

  “Don’t let him get to you,” Leia said from the copilot’s chair, her eyes closed. “Everything will be fine.”

  “Oh, thank you, Princess,” C-3PO said. “It is nice to be reassured, from time to time.”

  “You’re welcome, Threepio. It’s the least I can do, considering we’ll probably be vaporized in this next exchange. I’d rather you went comfortably.”

  “Vaporized?” C-3PO gasped. “I—I believe I’ll see if Master Jacen needs some help with—with whatever he’s doing.”

  “You do that, Goldenrod,” Han replied. C-3PO clanked off, making worried noises.

  “That was mean, Princess,” Han remarked. “I like this side of you.”

  “I was trying to sleep.”

  “Well, I can be quiet.”

  “No, that’s okay. I’m awake, now. What’s going on?”

  “Not much. Karrde showed up a while back, with four ships. Should be more than enough, given the size of the convoy Shalo described.”

  “When do we expect them?”

  “Any time now. An hour from now or ten.”

  She nodded and sat up sleepily. “You got my son a little banged up down on Tatooine,” she accused.

  “Well, he’s not the first and he won’t be the last to take a bruise or two on that forsaken planet.” His cocky tone relented a little. “I didn’t think I was putting him in real danger.”

  “No, I understand,” Leia said softly. “Being a mother creeps up on me sometimes. It’s a shame it didn’t creep up on me more often when they were little.”

  Han took her hand. “We didn’t have the luxury to be perfect parents,” he told her. “Whatever that is. The thing is—they turned out okay.”

  “I know. That isn’t the issue. Han, they won’t ever be little again. It’s over. Even Anakin is almost grown, and I missed so much of it. And Jaina—”

  “There’s nothing wrong with Jaina she won’t outgrow.”

  Leia shook her head. “I don’t know. She can be so bitter sometimes, and I really can’t blame her. For all of her toughness, she’s also fragile.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Like someone else I know.”

  “Ah, carbon sluff,” Han said. “I ain’t breakable. You ought to know that by now.”

  “We’re all breakable, Han.”

  “Huh.”

  “But I digress. I don’t think it was a bad thing to take Jacen down there. You two seem … better for it.”

  Han shrugged. “What you said—about missing so much time when they were little. Maybe I, uh … feel a little of that. Maybe I sort of like having him around, working with him. When he’s not going all moral on me, at least.” He patted her on the shoulder. “Like someone else I know.”

  Leia shot him a fond smile disguised as a sarcastic smirk. She quickly let it relax. “Have you told him that, Han?”

  “Nah. It might go to his head. I figure with that Force stuff he sort of knows anyway.”

  “You above all people should know that sometimes those most sensitive to the Force can be the most clueless about people.”

  “Well, you have a good point there,” Han replied. “Sometimes I think—”

  Suddenly ships began reverting to sublight.

  “Heavy freighters,” Han said, sitting up. “There’s our convoy. Get ready, Princess of Blood.”

  “You’ve always kno
wn how to flatter a girl, Han.”

  “That escort,” Han muttered after a little more study. “Two capital ships. I don’t like it.”

  “You don’t think a heavy escort makes sense?” Leia asked. “They know we’ve been intercepting their shipping. They don’t know about Karrde. Two capital ships and the starfighters they can carry would be plenty to deal with the Falcon.”

  Han shot her a hurt look.

  “Hey, I’m just being realistic,” Leia said.

  “So am I. You’re right. Two capital ships seems like overkill.”

  “Let’s back off, then,” Leia said. “There’ll be other convoys.”

  “The freighters. Scan them.”

  “Ouch,” Leia said. “Nasty thought.”

  “Yeah. I have lots of those.”

  “Well, they look clean. I don’t think they’re hiding a fleet. There is an odd radiation signature from that last cargo pod. Looks incidental, though.”

  “What’s going on up there?” Jacen called from the laser turret.

  “Your father is having second thoughts,” Leia called back down.

  “Huh? I’m just being a little cautious,” Han said.

  Leia frowned. “Seriously, Han. If you have misgivings, let’s get out of here.”

  Han sighed. “I just don’t like it. Maybe I’m getting old.” He leaned forward and tapped on the comm unit. He and Karrde had a limited-range tight-beam system set up that was unlikely to attract attention.

  Karrde appeared a few seconds later.

  “Doesn’t smell good, does it?” Karrde said.

  “You read my mind. It’s like they’re trying too hard to look well prepared. If that makes any sense.”

  “It doesn’t, but I know what you mean. Maybe we should let this one pass.”

  “Han—” Leia interrupted.

  “Just a minute,” he said. “Okay, Karrde, maybe—”

  “Han!”

  “Hello!” Karrde said. “Well, at least we haven’t completely lost it. Yet.”

  “Huh?” Han stared where Leia’s finger was pointed. A Yuuzhan Vong frigate had just dropped out of hyperspace, along with an interdictor like the one they had run into earlier. As he watched, coralskippers were already detaching.

  “Well,” Han remarked. “Things get more interesting all the time, don’t they?”

  THIRTY-FOUR

  “Looks like it was built for children,” Tahiri commented as the three humans were escorted through Yag’Dhul Station.

  “Rebels built it during the war with the Empire,” Corran informed her. “I’ve heard it said that they made it small to give stormtroopers a hard time if they ever invaded.”

  “What’s all that on the walls?” Every square centimeter seemed to be covered with fractal patterns and notation in some sort of script. Now and then something seemed vaguely familiar, more often not.

  “Givin decorative motifs, I’d guess. Rogue Squadron sure didn’t paint this stuff.”

  “Looks mathematical,” Anakin said.

  The four Givin guards, who might have cleared things up, either didn’t speak Basic or had no desire to talk. Soon enough, however, they were gently pressed into the largest room Anakin had seen thus far. It still wasn’t very big, but tactical stations and a bank of holoprojectors with various views of the surrounding space made it somehow comforting after the Yuuzhan Vong ship. This was tech he was familiar with.

  The Givin waiting for them was not as comforting. His exoskeleton had been painted with many of the same symbols Anakin had seen on the walls. Anakin guessed him to be the same one who had demanded their surrender.

  “Dodecian Illiet, I presume,” Corran said.

  The Givin rose. He spoke in oddly clattering Basic. It sounded somehow more mechanical than it had over the comm.

  “I am he,” he replied.

  “Have I had the pleasure? You seem to know my name.”

  “We made it our business to know who was in our space. You were among those waging war against Ysanne Isard from here.”

  “We had the permission of your government when we were here.”

  “Another spring tide cubed, another government,” the Givin replied. “I did not recognize you myself—soft-bodied creatures are difficult for us to distinguish between, except at the rudest scale. Our computer system compared voice and facial records and estimated your identity at a 98.2 percent probability. I confess, I was uncomfortable with such a high margin of error, but when I addressed you your reaction seemed to confirm the probability. Are you indeed he?”

  “I am Corran Horn, yes,” Corran replied. “Any grievance you have against Rogue Squadron is mine. It does not adhere to these two.”

  “The only grievance against you is entering our system and apparently beginning an attack run on our station. That, however, is a rather severe charge.”

  “I apologize again,” Corran said. “I hope it was noted that we did not fire on you, even when fired upon.”

  “It is so noted and numerated. I shall be happy to hear you balance the equation before us.”

  Anakin couldn’t feel a trace of deception in the dodecian, and he was trying. That seemed a good sign, at least.

  “I think these are the right guys, Corran.”

  Corran shot him a cautioning glance, but addressed his next sentence to the Givin.

  “We’ve come to warn you, Dodecian Illiet, that a Yuuzhan Vong fleet is preparing an invasion of this system. The ship we were piloting was a scout ship we captured. It was designed to come here unnoticed and contact some faction of your own people. This faction has apparently arranged for your defensive grid to collapse shortly, to facilitate the invasion.”

  The Givin absorbed this silently, though Anakin got the impression he was also listening to someone else, commenting on what Corran was saying.

  “Explain in detail,” the Givin finally said.

  “There’s not much time—”

  “You leave us with too many unknown factors. More detail.”

  Corran laid it all out, starting from their jump into the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, ending with their surrender. The Givin asked few questions, seeming content mostly to listen. When Corran was finished, the dodecian rapped his fingers against the table. They sounded almost as if they were made of ceramic.

  “You are Jedi,” he said at last. “The Yuuzhan Vong seek you.”

  “Yes.”

  “Perhaps you tell me this only to save yourselves.”

  “If you don’t believe me, double-check your defensive grid.”

  “It is being done,” the Givin replied.

  “You’ll have proof enough when the Yuuzhan Vong show up,” Tahiri blurted.

  “True,” the Givin said, apparently not caring which of the humans it was speaking to. “But even so, what use have they for our system?”

  “We think they wish to stage a strike at Thyferra, and perhaps then the Core.”

  “Ah. So they have the same use for our system that you did, Corran Horn.”

  “Umm … yes.”

  “And perhaps as little impact on our way of life.”

  “You think so? And yet these Givin I first spoke to were collaborating with the Yuuzhan Vong for some reason.”

  “Yes, that is of concern,” the dodecian said. “Our politics are … complex, and needn’t concern you. However, though such collusion with the Yuuzhan Vong might have been designed to upset the Coalition of Factors, there is still no reason to suspect that the Yuuzhan Vong actually pose a threat to our species.”

  “But,” Anakin said, “they pose a threat to this station, and to your shipyards. The Yuuzhan Vong hate all technology.”

  “Then perhaps we will hide the ships until they have gone.”

  “Consider,” Corran said. “Since I was last here you’ve taken pains to integrate with the economy of the New Republic. You crewed this station, as I understand it, so your system would no longer be a battleground for foreign powers. You expanded your shipbuilding capabilities.
Will you risk sacrificing that?”

  “We certainly risk it if we engage the Yuuzhan Vong in combat. From what we understand, they can be quite formidable.”

  Tahiri abruptly interrupted. “If you don’t fight them, you’ll be slaves,” she said. Her voice had gone low and weird, as it had when she thought she was a Yuuzhan Vong, back on Yavin 4.

  “There is no reason to suspect that.”

  Tahiri laughed. “I was a Yuuzhan Vong captive. I’ve seen what they do. Don’t you get it? Right, they may be staging a strike on Thyferra from here. They may have ten reasons for being here. But I can tell you what one of them is.”

  “Explain,” the Givin said.

  “You. Your species. The Yuuzhan Vong make every tool they use from living things. They believe life was given to them by the gods to shape. You think they aren’t interested in ready-made sentient beings who can survive in vacuum? The things they could make with you! They’ll blow up this station and blast your ships and cities into ions. Then they’ll take you and give you to their shapers. That will be the end of your complicated politics, Dodecian.”

  “Emperor’s bones, she’s right,” Anakin said.

  The Givin was silent for a half minute. “You really think this is true?” he asked at last.

  “If you let them in without a fight, you’ve got no chance,” Tahiri assured him.

  The Givin paused again, and again Anakin got the impression he was listening to some far-off voice.

  “It is confirmed,” the dodecian said. “The defensive grid has been sabotaged. Fortunately, it can be remedied.”

  “Does that mean you’ll fight?” Corran asked.

  “I do not know. That decision does not lie with me. But we have taken into account all you said.”

  “Let me contact Coruscant,” Corran said. “I can try to get more ships here, though I can’t promise anything.”

  “I will enter that request,” the Givin said.

  “Another thing. What have you done with the Yuuzhan Vong we took captive?”