STAR WARS - THE NEW JEDI ORDER - Destiny's Way

by Walter Jon Williams

  Luke took out his datapad and set it to receive. Figures shimmered across its screens. Estimated total population, percentage of population estimated to consist of the warrior caste, an estimate of the number of casualties inflicted by New Republic forces—almost all members of the warrior caste—casualties reflected as percentage of total warrior caste.

  Luke looked at Ackbar in astonishment. "We've killed almost a third of their warriors?" he asked.

  "So these figures imply," Ackbar said.

  "They're very approximate," Cal Omas pointed out.

  "They're the best we have," Ackbar said. "I don't think they're far wrong."

  "Our figures at New Republic Intelligence imply much the same tiling," Dif Scaur said. Luke was always surprised that someone as pale and thin as Scaur had such a strong voice.

  "The Vong lost an entire battle group at Obroa-skai," Nylykerka put in. "They failed at Hapes. And Yuuzhan Vong casualties at Fondor and Coruscant were heavy, even though both were victories for the Vong."

  "They cannot afford many more such victories," Scaur said.

  "If these figures are correct," Cal said. "I don't want to throw our fleets at the enemy on the basis of guesswork."

  "There are ways of testing whether the figures are correct," Ackbar said. "If the Yuuzhan Vong stage another large offensive against a major target in the next two months, we'll know that they have warriors to spare. If instead they consolidate their gains, we'll know that their losses have taught them caution."

  Ayddar Nylykerka and Sien Sow looked at each other uneasily. The thought of a massive attack on Corellia, Mon Calamari, or other important targets was never far from their thoughts.

  "The Yuuzhan Vong warriors arc brave," Ackbar went on. "They are aggressive, they obey orders without hesitation, fight to the death, retreat reluctantly or never, and never surrender." He drew a long breath, and sighed it out. "Considering their other advantages, it is lucky for us that they possess these weaknesses."

  Luke stared at Ackbar. Of course. Why hadn't he realized this before?

  "Weaknesses!" Scaur's astonished cry filled the air. "You call these weaknesses?"

  "Of course," Ackbar said simply. "We can count on the enemy to have these traits. That means they are predictable. And while each of these traits may be admirable in itself, together they add up to massive and systematic weaknesses!"

  He held up one giant hand. "Consider," he said. "Bravery and aggression result in foolhardy courage, and in any case are useful only with adequate direction. Unthinking obedience means a lack of flexibility. To fight to the death, and never to surrender, is to deny oneself useful alternatives. Together, we can use these Yuuzhan Vong traits to draw the enemy into a trap from which he will never escape."

  Ackbar extended a single finger as far as the hand's webbing would permit. "Foolhardy courage will bring the Yuuzhan Vong into the trap." He held out a second ringer. "Unthinking obedience means that Vong subordinates won't dare to question their superiors even if they have doubts." A third finger. "Unthinking obedience also means that warriors can't exercise initiative and will continue to follow their superiors' plans even after a fluid combat situation has made them irrelevant. They won't change their plans without their superiors' permission, even if their superiors are out of touch or have an unrealistic idea of the situation."

  Ackbar held up a fourth finger. "Because the Yuuzhan Vong consider death inevitable and never seek to prolong their lives, they will continue to fight on even in a hopeless cause. Their superiors' courage and belief in their cause will make them reluctant to order a retreat until it's too late. These facts together, my friends, form a weapon with which we will destroy the Vong!" He closed his hand into a fist and smashed it on the table. Cal Omas jumped.

  "A trap," Luke said, "implies bait."

  Ackbar gasped agreement as Winter moistened his forehead. "And the bait must be real. It must be something for which the Yuuzhan Vong will commit all their available strength."

  "And what is that?" Cal asked.

  "Us, I suppose," Dif Scaur said, looking about the table. "The government." His eyes, in their hollow sockets, turned to Ackbar. "What sort of timing are you considering? When should this trap be set?"

  "At the moment we have a great advantage," Ackbar said. "We can defeat their—their 'yammosks'; we can confuse their communications and cause them to fire at one another. We don't know if these advantages will last for long, so we should seek a decisive battle very soon."

  "But most of our forces are inexperienced,'" Sien Sow said quickly. "You have said this yourself. Dare we fight a decisive battle with so many raw troops?"

  "No," Ackbar said. "We daren't. Our forces must be seasoned in battle before we attempt a major engagement."

  "How do we season them without a major engagement?" Dif Scaur asked.

  "Through many small engagements," Ackbar said. "The Yuuzhan Vong now have the same disadvantage that we had at the beginning—they have too many worlds to defend. Too many trade lanes. Too many resources. We should let the fleet loose on these targets—on all of them." He held up a hand. "But we should never attack where we know the Yuuzhan Vong to be strong. Never engage where we do not possess an advantage. Our military must be seasoned, but seasoned only in victory. Through one success after another, they will learn to trust their commanders, and will grow in confidence to the point where they expect only victory." His huge pop eyes turned toward Admiral Sow. "You must give your commanders a great deal of initiative in choosing their targets. You must give them permission to take risks, and occasionally to fail. Raid, skirmish, pounce on isolated detachments. Disrupt lines of communication, isolate enemy worlds from one another, establish hidden bases from which you can mount raids. But you must never engage the enemy where he is strong. Only where he is weak."

  "The Rebellion all over again," Cal Omas said. "That's how we fought the Empire for the first years."

  "That's correct."

  "But when we fought the Empire," Cal continued, "we didn't have so many places to defend. Our government was small and able to move to places like Yavin or Hoth. We didn't have millions of refugees to feed and resettle, or hundreds of Senators demanding special protection for their worlds."

  "We must defend only those places that are vital to the war," Ackbar said. "They must be defended, as we defended Coruscant and Borleias, to the point where even a victory would cost the enemy too much."

  "And what places are those?" Cal asked.

  "Places where the new fleet elements are coming into being. Mon Calamari. Kuat. Corellia." Ackbar sighed again. "That's all."

  "That's all?" Cal said.

  "Anything else"—Ackbar waved a hand—"give away when the enemy attacks. It will stretch Yuuzhan Vong resources and make diem weaker everywhere else."

  "And the refugees?" Luke asked. "Those huge convoys that we've tried to protect? Those millions of people we've had to resettle?"

  Ackbar turned to Luke. His eyes were cold. "We must not defend these huge targets. Tying our forces to them only makes us weak."

  Luke felt a chill settle into his spine. "I've sworn to defend the weak," he said.

  "Who is weak?" Ackbar asked. " We are weak. The government. The military. While we are weak, the enemy thrives and the refugees are doomed no matter what we do. Once we are strong, the enemy will have more important things to do than to attack convoys."

  Luke turned away. "I understand," he said, but all his instincts warred against Ackbar's bitter logic.

  Dif Scaur put his thin, knobby-jointed hands on the table. His skin was so pale that the hands seemed to fade into the white marble.

  "I ask again for your timetable," he said. "You propose to put our untried forces into a kind of live-fire exercise against a real enemy in order to season them. How long before you think the fleet will be ready for a major action, or for this decisive battle your plan calls for?"

  Ackbar's response was swift. "Three months," he said. "Three months of continuous
low-level engagement with the enemy should give us a battle-tested force able to hold their own against the Yuuzhan Vong."

  "Three months ..." A cold smile played about Scaur's cadaverous face. "The timing is expedient."

  The timing for what Luke wondered. There was something highly significant about that three months, but Luke and Ackbar were two, at least, who weren't meant to know what it was.

  Ackbar slumped into his chair. Presenting the plan had exhausted him, and now that he was finished he permitted himself to show that exhaustion. Winter stroked more brine onto his head. "I only regret that my health doesn't permit me to serve the New Republic in a more active way," Ackbar said.

  "Your contribution has always been fundamental," Cal said. "I can only wish myself and these others as useful a retirement as yours has been." He turned to Sien Sow. "Admiral, do you have any comments on Admiral Ackbar's plan?"

  "Other than to admire it, no," Sow said. "I'm ready to put the plan into action immediately, or I can resign in favor of Admiral Ackbar and he can carry out his proposals without any interference from me."

  Ackbar waved a weary hand. "No, my friend. I'm not in condition to command the Defense Force, and everyone here knows it."

  Cal gave Ackbar a thoughtful look. "Can you take a consultative role?" he asked. "We can invent a title for you—'Fleet Director of Strategy' or some such."

  The glabrous head nodded. "I'm willing to perform this task to the best of my powers."

  "His powers are very limited at present," Winter said. These were the first words she'd spoken since the meeting had begun, and they were in tones of quiet admonishment, like a governess bringing her charge under control. She looked at Cal Omas. "It won't be possible for the admiral to be kept on a schedule, running to meetings and inspecting fleet units."

  Ackbar waved a hand in protest, but Winter was firm. "No. None of that. And no parades of visitors asking for advice or campaigning for promotion, either." She looked at Admiral Sow. "Some reliable staff officers would be useful, to do the paperwork and take care of communications. But we can't have meetings like this all the time."

  "We won't." Cal's voice was firm. "If I need to speak to the admiral again, I'll call for an appointment, and I'll visit him myself." He looked at Sow. "You'll make the other arrangements?"

  The Sullustan nodded. "I will."

  Cal turned to Luke. "Is there any way the Jedi can aid this plan?"

  Luke hesitated. "I'd like to suggest that we place the matter on the agenda of the first Jedi Council meeting."

  "Very well." Cal looked at the two intelligence directors, Scaur in his civilian suit and Nylykerka in his military uniform. "Any other comments?"

  "I work for Admiral Sow," Nylykerka said. "At his direction, we can assist in formulating assessments of enemy strength and suggest possible targets."

  Dif Scaur nodded his long head at Cal. "We can do much the same, of course, at the direction of the Chief of State."

  Luke detected the very slightest degree of condescension in Scaur's tone, as if he were humoring the others in the room with a show of cooperation, and again he wondered what it was that Scaur knew that he didn't. It was almost as though Scaur thought that Ackbar's plan was irrelevant somehow, but he was willing to pretend it mattered. He had been very careful to question Ackbar concerning exactly when his plan for trapping and destroying the Yuuzhan Vong would become operational, and had been satisfied when he'd learned it would take three months.

  What was going to happen within three months that would change Ackbar's plans? Did Scaur have some other plan that would win the war? Or—a chill wafted up Luke's neck'—did Scaur know that the enemy would render Ackbar's plan ineffective, perhaps by staging a unstoppable offensive within the three-month period?

  Luke would have to watch Dif Scaur very carefully, he thought. Perhaps, very quietly, Mara should watch him, too.

  Two hours after the end of the meeting, the signal ackbar is BACK was broadcast to all New Republic military units.

  In some of the larger ships, the cheering went on for an hour.

  * * *

  Chapter 20

  I would like to welcome everyone," Luke said, "to this first meeting of the—" He hesitated, then looked to Cal Omas. "What is it, anyway? We're not the Jedi Council, with half of us not being Jedi."

  Cal hesitated, too. "Let's just call it the High Council, for now," he said.

  It wasn't the most auspicious of beginnings. The hotel room that had been given to the council was oddly shaped and, like many of the rooms requisitioned by the hastily formed government, smelled of fresh paint. The oval table, shiny mother-of-pearl from a huge seashell, was too large for the room, and there was crowding at either end of the table.

  At the table's thick waist, Luke faced Cal Omas. It would have seemed too suggestive of division to have all the Jedi at one side of the table facing the non-Jedi, almost as if he were asking the council to split into two parties right from the beginning, so he'd alternated Jedi with others along the table's circumference.

  To Luke's right was the Wookiee Senator Triebakk, large and hairy and snarling with vigor. To the right of Triebakk sat the Jedi healer Cilghal, her protuberant Mon Calamari eyes able to scan the entire room. At the end of the table was Intelligence Director Dif Scaur, whose thin human frame withstood the crowding at the table better than most.

  To Scaur's right sat Kenth Hamner, a human Jedi retired from the military, who sat rigidly upright and wore his well-tailored civilian suit as if it were a uniform. To Hamner's right was the soft-spoken Ta'laam Ranth, the Gotal Senator whose support had given Cal his majority in the Senate, and who had demanded a seat on the council as a reward for his loyalty.

  To Ta'laam's right was Cal, and to Cal's right was Kyp Durron. At the moment Kyp looked uncomfortable: he and his squadron had been ordered to Mon Calamari on very short notice, and no sooner had he arrived than he'd been told he'd become a council member and taken to the first meeting. He had been on the planet for less than three hours, and his disorientation showed.

  To Kyp's right was the golden-furred Minister of State, Releqy A'Kla, daughter of the late Elegos A'Kla, the Caamasi Senator who had been ritually sacrificed by the Yuuzhan Vong on Dubrillion. Releqy had absorbed many of her father's memories through the Caamasi memnii and possessed the knowledge, demeanor, and political skill of someone years older than her chronological age.

  To Releqy's right, at the cramped far end of the table, sat the erect figure of Saba Sebatyne, who regarded the others with bright, intent reptilian eyes. She was used to hunting Yuuzhan Vong with packs of other Barabels, and Luke hoped she would come to regard the Jedi Council as a pack of a different order.

  To Saba's right was Sien Sow, the Supreme Commander, and between Sow and Luke bulked the wrinkled gray frame of the Chev Jedi Knight Tresina Lobi, whose long snout was partly unrolled on the surface of the table.

  To these was added C-3PO, whom Luke had borrowed from Leia in order to act as secretary, transcriber of the minutes, and (if necessary) translator. The droid stood out of the way in the corner and regarded the meeting with his glowing gold eyes.

  Luke looked at the datapad and the notes he'd made to himself about the meeting. "I'd like to start the meeting by finding out if any committee members have anything to bring before the council."

  Cal Omas cleared his throat. "This is a momentous occasion, Master Skywalker, And you're not going to make a speech?"

  "I hadn't been planning one," Luke said. "But if I know Jedi, I think I can promise you speeches in plenty as the meeting goes on." And then he looked at Cal and said, "Would you like to make a speech?"

  "My throat's a bit tired from the speeches I have been making," Cal said. "But I can give you some of the applause lines from my acceptance speech—some of them were real corkers."

  "I think we all heard that speech the first time." Luke smiled.

  "I'd like to think so," Cal said. He waved a hand. "Never mind, then—sorry for th
e interruption."

  Luke looked at the others. "Does anyone wish to offer a report?"

  "Master Skywalker." Kyp raised a hand.

  "Master Durron?"

  Kyp's discomfort showed plainly on his face. "Can you explain to me why I'm here?"

  Saba Sebatyne gave a brief hiss of amusement.

  "What do you mean?" Luke replied.

  Kyp twisted in his seat. "I'm not sure that I belong on the council. Not really. I've been a lot of trouble to you, and I hardly think I've earned a place here."

  "While that may be true," Luke said, "that doesn't mean you haven't earned a seat. You're one of our most experienced Jedi, particularly in fighting the Yuuzhan Vong. No one questions your dedication or your talent or your mastery of the Force. You've always supported the formation of a Jedi Council."

  "I surrendered pride on Ithor," Kyp said. "And while I haven't always lived up to that vow, I've tried my best. I disbanded the Dozen and placed myself under Jaina Solo's command, and though I ended up re-forming the Dozen at Admiral Kre'fey's request, I've been trying to keep my head down and do my job and keep out of the kind of trouble I seem to get into. And now—" He struggled for words. "—now you've put me on the governing body of the Jedi. That's a temptation to the pride I've renounced. I think I might be happier flying at the head of my squadron."

  "The happiness of one iz not the issue," Saba hissed. "The issue iz where one may best zerve."

  "I think your voice on the council is necessary, and welcome," Luke told Kyp. "Though I won't keep you here if you insist on resigning."

  Kyp was exasperated. "I don't want to go against your wishes yet again, Master Skywalker."

  "In that case, stay."

  "Besides," Cal Omas said, "if you're worried about your overweening pride, I think everyone here can work out ways to keep you humble."