by Greg Keyes
Jag started to speak again, but Jaina cut in.
"Maybe," she said. "In hindsight, maybe. Or maybe we would all be dead
now." She softened her voice. "You were a good wingmate at Sernpidal. I know
you've done well with Rogue Squadron since I left. We're going to win this
war. We're going to win back Duro. But only if enough of us keep fighting."
She picked up the patch and tossed it to him. Reflexively, he caught it. "You
have to do what your con-science dictates."
Lensi hesitated, looking at the patch. "Colonel Solo," he said, "I was
there, after Sernpidal, when you slapped Kyp Durron for lying to us. You know
what it feels like to be betrayed, to fight without knowing what you're really
fighting for."
She raised her eyes and regarded him steadily. "I know what lots of
things feel like," she said. "And you know what? I'm still fighting. I'm going
to keep fighting until there isn't a single threat left in this galaxy. You
think you're the only person who has lost something in this war? Grow up,
Lensi."
The Duros regarded her for another long moment.
"Did you know?" he asked.
"No. But if I had, I wouldn't have told anyone. General Antilles did the
right thing."
Lensi nodded curtly, turned, and left. He still had the in-signia with
him.
"General Antilles?"
Wedge stopped tapping his fingers on the Kashyyyk-wood conference table
and acknowledged the heavy-jowled Sullustan.
"Yes, Admiral Sow?" he said.
"What is your opinion on the matter?"
"We should have told Col," Wedge said, bluntly. "I should have broken
orders and told him myself. He had a right to know exactly what he was getting
his people into."
"Under perfect circumstances, yes," Admiral Kre'fey said. "But the
circumstances were far from perfect. Bothan intelligence had-has-information
that the Yuuzhan Vong have a spy placed high in the command structure of the
Duros government-in-exile. Indeed, it was through that leak that the Yuuzhan
Vong 'discovered' our plans to in-vade the Duro system-as we planned."
"Col might have been brought in," Wedge replied. "He was a hothead, but
he could be trusted with a secret."
"Perhaps," the white-furred Bothan replied, "perhaps not. As it is, our
plan was fulfilled."
"With more losses than necessary."
"Still fewer than projected," General Garni Bel Iblis said, from across
the table. "The battle at Fondor was a total rout. We did them great damage,
and now we have a secure i position from which to strike at Coruscant."
"Gentlemen," Sien Sow said, "I'm declaring the matter closed from a
military point of view. Certainly General An - j tilles is not to blame. He
followed the orders this council gave him. I refuse to allocate any resources
for an internal investigation, not at this point in our war against the Yuu-
zhan Vong."
"That tables the matter of the Duros protest," Kre'fey said. "It's time
we move on to what we do next."
Admiral Sow nodded. "General Bel Iblis, how long be-fore the shipyards at
Fondor become productive again?"
"That will take some time," the aging general admitted.
"Two, three months before any facility can go on-line. Ships-six months
perhaps. Probably not sooner. But once construction actually begins, they will
be quite productive. They should position us well for a push toward the Core."
"Good," Sien Sow said. "In the meantime we should continue the process of
isolating Coruscant from the rest of Yuuzhan Vong territory. Which brings me
to this." He tapped the table, and a hologram of the galaxy appeared.
"Yag'Dhul and Thyferra are secure, finally, and Fondor is ours." Three
stars near the dense, glowing center of the galaxy winked green, indicating
the positions of the systems named.
"Coruscant, however, is still well supplied." Coruscant-or whatever it
was the Yuuzhan Vong had renamed it-lit up, on the other side of the Core from
the other three.
"It's time to threaten that."
A final star lit.
"Bilbringi," Wedge said.
"Yes. There is some evidence that the shipyards there are partially
intact. More, it gives us a base from which to harry both the Hydian Way and
the Perlemian Trade Route."
"It's too close to Coruscant," Bel Iblis said. "And too far from our own
secure zone. We can never hold it." He shook his head. "We don't want another
Borleias. No offense, General Antilles."
"None taken. Our actions at Borleias served their in-tended purpose. We
never imagined we would keep it." He turned to Sien Sow. "But he's right, the
Yuuzhan Vong can hardly ignore a threat that close to Coruscant. I don't think
we have the ships to take it if they have advance warning. If they don't, I
doubt we could hold it very long. Not and keep our own systems secure."
"They have the same problem," the Sullustan admiral pointed out. "As
we've proven to them, they've taken more systems than they can hold. There's
not much in the Bil-bringi system, but there are no habitable planets. In any
event, I have a tactical reason for choosing Bilbringi as a target."
Wedge raised an eyebrow and waited, as another sector of the galaxy lit
up, this one Rimward.
"The Imperial Remnant," he murmured.
"Indeed," Sow said. "Admiral Pellaeon has agreed to lend us his support
in this enterprise, and Bilbringi lies within good striking distance of the
Empire. Between us, we can carve a corridor through the Rim, eventually
cutting Coruscant off completely."
Wedge bit back a protest. He'd spent most of his life fighting the
Empire, and his opinion of Pellaeon was a mixed one, the recent alliance
notwithstanding. But he de-cided to hear Sow out.
"It's true Pellaeon can reach Bilbringi without passing through Yuuzhan
Vong territory," Kre'fey said. "The same is not true for us."
"No. We will have to fight our way through several hy-perspace jumps.
Here is what I propose."
Lines began drawing themselves across the galaxy. "Our main fleet will
launch from Mon Calamari, under Admiral Kre'fey," he said. "Part of the fleet
at Fondor will move to meet them, under General Antilles. When they converge,
they will be joined by a detachment from the Imperial fleet."
"The Vong will suspect a trick," Bel Iblis said, "after what we did to
them at Fondor."
"Exactly," Sow said. "But the only trick in this case is overwhelming
force. I expect them to hold back reinforce-ments, fearing it is another
feint, perhaps to draw defenses from Coruscant itself."
"Interesting," Wedge allowed. "Though there will be a trick in the
coordination. The hyperspace routes are uncer-tain these days. If one of our
fleets arrives too early, or too late..."
"The HoloNet is functioning at high efficiency in those areas. We should
be able to coordinate down to the second."
"What's the Empire getting out of this?" Bel Iblis asked.
"Exactly what I was wondering," Wedge replied. Sow shrugged. "We long
made efforts to convince Pellaeon that we must work together to free the
&
nbsp; galaxy from the Yuuzhan Vong threat. Our efforts have paid off, so far to our
great benefit."
"I'm aware of our diplomatic efforts," Bel Iblis said. "As well as the
Empire's recent aid to us-in return for help we gave them, I might add. I'm
also aware that they want some of our planets in return."
Sow's brows lowered. "They aren't 'our' planets any-more, General Bel
Iblis. The planets in question belong to the Yuuzhan Vong now. Most are not
even recognizable as the worlds they were a few years ago. I'm convinced we
need the Empire's help to win this war. If that means showing them a little
goodwill afterward, I don't see the harm. In any case, they aren't making any
specific demands at this time-this is an effort to establish their good inten-
tions, nothing more."
Good intentions that will place at least some of them as an occupation
force spitting distance from Coruscant, Wedge thought.
Unfortunately, despite that, he agreed with Sow.
"We can strike now," Wedge said, "press our advantage while we have one,
or we can wait-wait for the Vong to grow more ships, breed more warriors,
invent new bio-weapons. Right now, the y've bit off a little more of this
galaxy than they can easily chew, as we've shown them in the last few months.
We have to keep it that way." He looked around. Everyone but Sow was nodding.
"There is another solution," the commander said.
"You mean Alpha Red, the biological agent developed by the Chiss?" Wedge
said. "Not as far as I'm concerned. Genocide is what the Emperor did. It's
what the Yuuzhan Vong do. It's not what we do. If it is, I'm fighting for the
wrong cause."
"Even if it's our only choice for survival?" Sow asked.
"It's not," Wedge replied, flatly.
"The Yuuzhan Vong will not stop after one defeat, ten, a hundred. They
will fight until every last warrior is dead. Even if they win, the cost that
will exact from our people will be tremendous..."
"That question is moot at present," Kre'fey broke in, "and would seem a
waste of our valuable time to discuss it."
"Very well. I trust there are no other objections to pursuing the
offensive against the Yuuzhan Vong at present?" the commander said.
There were not.
"Then let us discuss details."
Kneeling in the presence of Supreme Overlord Shimrra, Nen Yim believed in
the gods. It was impossible not to. At other times, she had her doubts. Her
late master, Mezhan Kwaad, had flatly denied their existence. In the clear
light of logic, Nen Yim herself saw no particular reason to give them
credence. Indeed, the fact that she herself created, with her own mind and
shaping hands, things that all but a few of her people believed to be gifts
from the gods suggested that all such evidence of their existence was
similarly tainted. But in the presence of Shimrra, her mind could not tolerate
doubt. It was crushed from her by a presence so powerful it could not have
mortal origin. It pressed away the years of her learning, of studied cynicism,
of anything resembling logic, and left her an insignificant insect, a
crecheling terrified by the shadows of her elders and the terrible mystery
that was the world.
Afterward, she always wondered how he did it. Was it some modification of
yammosk technology? Something erased from the protocols entirely? Or was it an
invention of some heretical predecessor of herself?
He was shadow and dread, awesome and unreachable.
She crouched at his feet and was nothing.
Onimi leered almost gently at her as she rose, shaking, to speak to her
master.
"You have studied the thing?"
"I have, Dread One," Nen Yim replied. " Not exhaustively, I as there
hasn't been time, but-"
"There will be more time. Tell me what you have discov-ered thus far."
"It is a ship," Nen Yim replied. " Like our own ships, it is - a living
organism."
"Not at all," Shimrra interrupted. "It has no dovin I basals. Its engines
are like the infidel engines, dead metal."
"True," Nen Yim agreed. "And parts of its structure are I not alive. But.
.."
"Then it is an infidel thing!" Shimrra thundered. "It is 1 nothing like
our ships."
Nen Yim actually reeled at the force of the statement, and for a moment
she stood paralyzed, unable to think. To contradict Shimrra...
She drew her strength back to her core. "That is so, Dread I One," she
admitted. "As it is, it is an abomination. And yet, at its heart the
biotechnology is similar to our own. The in - I fidel engines, for instance,
could be withdrawn and replaced I with dovin basals. The living structure of
one of our own I vessels could have such a ship grown around it. This bio-
technology is compatible with our own."
"Compatible?" Shimrra growled. "Are you saying that this is one of our
ships, somehow transfigured by the infidels?"
"No," Nen Yim replied. "In outward form, this thing is very different
from our vessels. The hull is not yorik coral. I The architectures of our
ships were derived from various I creatures of the homeworld, and those
structures can still I be recognized in their design. The alien technology is
different. It begins with relatively undifferentiated organisms that
specialize as the ship grows. I suspect that some sort of manipulation is
involved in the ontological process to guide the final outcome. That is why
they used a rigid frame to grow the ship around-developmentally, it had no
internal code to produce such a structure on its own."
"And yet you still maintain it is similar to our gods-given ships?"
"At the most basic level, yes. Cellularly. Molecularly. And that is the
most unlikely level at which we should expect to find resemblance."
"Again. Could the infidels have stolen our technology and distorted it?"
"It's possible. But according to the qahsa, the planet of its origin is
itself a living organism-"
"That is a lie," Shimrra said. "It is a lie because it is impos-sible.
Ekh'm Val was deluded. He was duped by the infidels." Nen Yim hesitated at
that, but could not directly dispute it even if she wanted to.
Instead, she took another approach.
"I'm relieved to hear this," she said. "I thought the tale unlikely
myself." She drew herself straighter. "Still, there is nothing in the
protocols that could account for a ship like this, nor do I think this
technology is a result of the manipulation of our technology. It is both alien
and similar to our own."
Shimrra was silent for a moment. Then his voice came again, leashed
terror.
"It is not superior."
"No, Dread Lord. Just different."
"Of course. And you can develop weapons against it?"
"I can. Indeed, Lord, there are already weapons in the protocols that
would be most effective against technology of this sort. Oddly, they are
weapons we have never built or had use for."
"As if the gods anticipated this necessity."
Nen Yim tried to keep her thoughts quiet.
"Yes," she replied.
"Excellent. You will assign a team to develop these weapons immediately.
/>
And you will continue to study the ship."
"It would be helpful, Great Lord, if I had other examples of the
technology."
"No such exists. The planet was destroyed. You have all that remains."
Then why do you want weapons against.., Nen Yim started to think, but
savagely cut herself off.
"Yes, Supreme Overlord."
With a wave of his massive hand, Shimrra dismissed her.
A cycle later, Nen Yim settled onto a sitting hummock in her private
hortium and regarded Ahsi Yim. The younger shaper was narrower in every
dimension than Nen Yim, and her blue-gray flesh had an opalescent sheen about
it. Her attentive eyes were a rare shade of bronze.
Her master's hand was very new, but they were peers.
"What brought you to the heresy, Ahsi Yim?" she asked softly.
The other master considered this quietly for a moment. The fine silver
tendrils of lim trees groped feebly about the room in search of sustenance.
Plants from the homeworld with no obvious use, Nen Yim had resurrected them
from genetic patterns in the Qang qahsa. They pleased her.
"I worked on the changing of Duro," she said at last.
"On the surface of things, on the record, we worked strictly, by the
protocols. And yet, often the protocols were not suit-able. They were not
sufficiently flexible for what needed to * be done. Some of us-did what was
necessary. Later I was assigned here, to Yuuzhan'tar, where so much went
wrong.
The strange itching plague-well. The masters there were very orthodox. I
saw the shortcomings of that. At the same time, I saw evidence of the
infidels' ability to adapt, to change their abominable technology not just in
small ways, but in large ones. I determined that in time, because of this,
they must ultimately triumph unless we did the same. So I practiced heresy."
"And were discovered. You would have been sacrificed to the gods if I had
not had you brought here."
"I serve my people," Ahsi Yim said. "The protocols do not. I would die
for that."
"So would I," Nen Yim said. "And so I risk both of our lives once more.
Do you understand?"
Ahsi Yim did not blink. "Yes."
"You may have heard that the Supreme Overlord brought me something to
examine."
"Yes." Eagerness showed in Ahsi Yim's eyes.
"It is a ship," Nen Yim said, "a ship based on a biotech-nology much like
