Rebel Dream: Enemy Lines I (5 page)

“Our stay here is going to be short,” Wedge said to the entire assembly. “But it’s going to be longer than we’d like. There’s going to be more fighting. I’d like to have some tricks up our sleeves to offer the Yuuzhan Vong when they come, so I want you to be thinking about it. Transmit your ideas to your commanding officers. The commanding officers will transmit them to me—and I don’t want there to be too much editing of them. Now’s not the time to think conservatively.”

A naval officer Luke did not know, a woman in a lieutenant’s uniform, spoke up. “General, if I can ask—”

“Go ahead,” Wedge said.

“Why do we want to stay here at all? The garrison has to have alerted their commanders that they were being overrun. The Yuuzhan Vong will be coming.”

Wedge nodded. “Well, there are several reasons. The first is this: because Borleias—rather, the Pyria solar system—is an important hyperspace crossroads, the convenient intersection of a lot of routes, it’s on a lot of people’s nav computers. It’s inevitable that many refugees fleeing Coruscant—or arriving there and suddenly discovering that the Yuuzhan Vong have taken it—will be coming here as the first stage of their escapes. Someone needs to help them. A lot of them may be in damaged craft. We can’t have them clogging up our repair facilities in space, not when they’re needed to repair combat craft, so they’ll have to put down on the planet’s surface.

“Second, we need to catch our collective breaths. We left Coruscant with just the ships on our backs. We need
to take stock, take inventory … and calculate the enormity of the disaster that we’ve just experienced.” Wedge’s face, for a moment, expressed a pang of pain, and Luke felt it, too. Wedge hadn’t been able to get in touch with his wife, Iella, or daughters, Syal and Myri, before duty had forced him to leave Coruscant. Not knowing what had happened to them, the shame of not being able to carry out both his duties to the New Republic and his duties to his family, had to be eating at him. Wedge swallowed hard, then his features were schooled once again into impassivity, and he continued.

“Third, yes, the Yuuzhan Vong will be coming here. They can’t permit an enemy garrison so close to the planet they’ve just taken. And if we can hold their attention for a while, that’s even more time for others fleeing Coruscant to get away, and for our other fleet groups, the ones bel Iblis and Kre’fey command, to gather themselves, too.

“Fourth, and last, it’s a morale issue. Our people have just taken a tremendous kick in the teeth—the loss of Coruscant. We’re going to kick in return. If you run from neks, or Vong, they won’t respect you. They’ll chase you, drag you down, and kill you. Only if you stand your ground do you have a chance of survival. If we dig in our heels here and slap the Yuuzhan Vong across the face, it may do some harm to their morale. It may do some good for ours. Luke, I’d appreciate it if your Jedi could be not just as active as possible, but also out there for everyone to see—a constant reminder to our forces of the strength and versatility they represent.”

“And of one of our most important roles,” Luke said. “Protectors of the people. Consider it done, General.” Luke left unstated the fact that a higher profile for the Jedi could mean more lost to the Peace Brigade, fewer
able to reach the escape routes Han and Leia were establishing. This was a necessary risk.

“Thanks.” Wedge turned his attention away from Luke and to the gathering before him. “Colonel Darklighter, I want to keep Rogue Squadron on high guard in Borleias orbit for the time being.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Captain Deevis, I want at least two ships with good sensor systems on-station in the Coruscant-Borleias approach corridor, one just on this side of the point Borleias’s gravity well would cause incoming ships to come out of hyperspace, one at a distance, our best-guess projection based on previous tactics as to where a Yuuzhan Vong sortie might drop out of hyperspace.” He began looking among the assembled officers and civilians, not waiting for confirmations of his orders. “Captain Birt, while
Record Time
is being repaired, you’re in charge of the injured. Find a portion of this facility you can set up for triage, surgery, and wards. Coordinate with
Haven Jace
, our medical frigate. Lando, the rest of the facilities are yours to apportion, and you’ll act as quartermaster. Booster, you’re in charge of communications. Make sure we make the best use of whatever equipment we have on hand, and coordinate it through the
Errant Venture
. Danni—is Danni Quee here?”

“I’m here.” Luke saw a hand waving from the back.

“You’re in charge of just about everything Vong. You’ll get the prisoners, the gear, and vehicles we’ve captured from the Yuuzhan Vong garrison. First priority, in my opinion, would be freeing the prisoners from the blasted coral things. Corran Horn?”

“Here.” Another hand waved from the back of the crowd. Horn was no taller than Luke and wasn’t always easy to spot in a large group of people.

“Corran, Gavin did receive your request to rejoin
Rogue Squadron, and he and I both welcome it, but I’ve got another assignment for you for the moment. We know there are Yuuzhan Vong out in the jungle. I want you to help set up security for this facility. Your combination of Jedi, Corellian Security, and Starfighter Command experience is just what we need. In the meantime you can continue flying with the Twin Suns until you transfer back to the Rogues.”

“Understood.”

“Tycho, you’re in charge of starfighter forces. I remain in direct command of space navy forces. I want preliminary status reports downloaded to my datapad in half an hour and a meeting of officers and divisional heads in the conference room in two hours. Lando will let you know where the conference room is.” Wedge clapped his hands together sharply. “Let’s move, people.”

The crowd dispersed with military rapidity, leaving behind only Wedge, Tycho, Luke, and Mara. Mara joined the other three at the table.

Luke made his voice mild. “You didn’t ask anything of me. Well, you asked me to do what I was going to do anyway. You didn’t have a specific task or duty for me.”

Wedge gave him a puzzled look. “Luke, you’re more or less the guiding light of this whole operation. I don’t mean just my fleet group. All three groups are looking to you for advice. I can’t make demands of you, or of the Jedi.”

“You can make demands of friends.”

Wedge blinked, then offered up a slight smile. “True. And I’d be happy to do that.” He offered an apologetic shrug. “As drained as we are of resources, I want the
Errant Venture
to stay here. I’ve already asked Booster. But that means that if the Jedi trainees stay aboard her—”

“It’s no longer a safe haven for them, I know. I’ll be
dealing with that. I have some ideas on where we can put the students.”

The Maw, he thought, with the Jedi haven under construction there, with its surrounding screen of black holes and mad gravitic interactions, would be best for now.

“Then I want you in charge of special forces, special operations. Mara, I know this is a lot to ask of a woman with a small baby—”

Mara straightened, holding Ben to her. “Trust me, my capacity for mayhem is undiminished.”

Wedge’s smile broadened. “I didn’t spot any ranking Intelligence officers in that crowd. I’d appreciate it if you could act as our Intelligence head for the time being. When we get in an officer from Intelligence, you can move over to Luke’s department of special forces and mayhem.”

Luke hesitated before speaking again. “Wedge, has there been any word about Iella or the kids?”

Wedge shook his head. “None. But if there’s anyone in the New Republic who could smuggle herself and two children offworld—”

“It’s Iella, I know. They’ll be fine, Wedge.”

“Are you—” Wedge’s voice was suddenly hoarse. “Does that mean you’ve seen something? With your Jedi perceptions?”

Luke shook his head. “I’m sorry, no.”

“Oh.” Wedge schooled his features back into impassivity, but to Luke, he looked as though another hope had suddenly died within him. Luke felt a crushing shame at having given him a false hope, however inadvertently.

Wedge rose. “Yes. I’m certain they’ll be fine.” He left the chamber, Tycho with him.

“He’s hard to read,” Mara said. “How is he?”

Luke shrugged. “Holding on. Relying on all that military
discipline. But not knowing about his family is chewing away at his guts. “C’mon, let’s find out what sort of resources special operations and Intelligence can put together. And we need to find someone who can baby-sit while we’re off doing our duties.”

Mara shook her head. “I’m not going to accept any duties that take me away from Ben. Not anymore. Flying yesterday, that was the last time. I couldn’t stand it again.”

“Mara—”

“No, listen to me, farmboy. There’s no one, other than you and Karrde, that I’d trust more than Leia. But she couldn’t protect Ben. Viqi Shesh took him back on Coruscant, and we had to rely far too much on luck to get him back. I’m not going to let him out of my sight. Period. Anyone who comes after him, I kill personally.”

Luke looked at her, taking in her calm demeanor and the wild eruption of emotions it hid, emotions he could feel through his Force-bond to her, and knew he wouldn’t win this argument today. As if on cue, Ben woke and erupted into wails of distress. “We’ll talk about this later,” Luke said.

Mara gave him a frosty little smile. “Sure, if you like reexperiencing the same conversation and the same results.”

They were two Yuuzhan Vong guards assigned to march her to her last interview. Assigned to conduct her to the meeting where she would be condemned to death.

She was afraid of them, for either could kill her on a whim, and neither had the slightest regard for her life.

She knew contempt for them, for they were ugly, anonymous creatures, drones whose names would never be known. Somewhere, and perhaps very soon, they would die in battle and be forgotten.

She envied them. The remainders of their lives, however short, would probably be longer than hers.

She was Viqi Shesh. Once the Senator representing Kuat before the New Republic, she had for a long time also been a spy for the Yuuzhan Vong, funneling them crucial information about the planet Coruscant and the workings of the New Republic’s government. Long and faithfully had she served her new masters.

But long and faithful service hadn’t meant much to them. As the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of Coruscant had begun, she had attempted to carry out her latest assignment—the kidnapping of Ben, the infant son of Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker—and had failed. Her enemies had been a step ahead of her and had swept the
brat off to safety. She had pursued and had been within meters of retrieving the baby, but a counterattack by Lando Calrissian and his combat droids had left her disgraced and friendless, in the grip of the Yuuzhan Vong she had failed.

Until that moment, she’d confidently anticipated receiving great rewards from the Yuuzhan Vong for her service and effort. Instead, her reward had been to be arrested and hustled up to Domain Dal, the worldship that served Tsavong Lah, Warmaster of the Yuuzhan Vong, as his flagship.

She was in pain. Neathlats, a sort of living bandage, clung to her right forearm, where Princess Leia’s Noghri bodyguard had bitten her to the bone, and to her back, where Leia’s lightsaber had slashed and burned her. Neathlats promoted healing but did not diminish pain. That was not the Yuuzhan Vong way. Instead, they irritated nerve endings, causing the pain of injuries to be sharper.

She was without allies. No one would speak for her. She had failed to produce Ben Skywalker for the Yuuzhan Vong, and her betrayal of the New Republic was by now certainly common knowledge among the refugees from Coruscant.

But she was not weaponless. Not while she had her intelligence, her political experience. She still had a weapon she could aim at Tsavong Lah.

The guards led her along a lengthy corridor. Its lines were not truly straight, its corners not quite right angles. Its surfaces were a mottled red reminiscent of muscle tissue. It smelled like raw meat, and Viqi forced herself to keep an expression of disgust from her face.

It was deep within the Yuuzhan Vong worldship. It had to be well away from the ship’s centers of command,
for there was no other traffic along it. Viqi was pleased that she could still think analytically.

They reached a large chamber, its walls identical to those of the corridor, with an ivory-colored set of double doors opposite, a matched pair of Praetorite Vong guards standing before them. The guards drew the doors open to let them pass.

Beyond was a large oval chamber in the same mottled red. Its floor sloped downward in a gentle curve, its lowest point being a circular opening some three meters across. The opening surrounded blackness; Viqi found she could not focus on the darkness. It seemed fuzzy somehow, rising above the level of the floor a quarter meter or more.

Beside the pit stood Tsavong Lah, the great planner and guiding light of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of this galaxy. A heavily scarred and tattooed example of highranking Yuuzhan Vong, his lips had been slit into tatters that stirred whenever he exhaled heavily, and his body was marked everywhere with bloodred scales, implants that spoke of his importance. His left arm had been replaced at the elbow by a radank claw, all reddish scales and spines, with fingers that were segmented and articulated in a manner not natural for Yuuzhan Vong or human; spines and scales were emerging from the flesh above his elbow as well, and small black dots, carrion-eaters, swarmed around them. She repressed a shudder. Despite all of Tsavong Lah’s mutilations and decorations, she had found him somewhat attractive—power and ambition in males being a lure for her, a secret weakness—but the rot that afflicted him, which threatened both to rob him of both his radank claw and his power, disgusted her.

The guards and Viqi came to a halt before Tsavong Lah. He turned to fix his stare on her. “You may feel
honored,” the warmaster said. “It is not customary for one of my position to witness the disposal of waste.”