Reunion (19 page)

Leia turned away from the two and faced C-3PO, not interested in her husband’s response to the Ryn. “Threepio, advise the—” She stopped, unable to get her tongue around the pronunciation of the aliens’ name. “Just tell
them
that they should come as close as possible to the
Falcon
and that they’re to stay there until we tell them otherwise.”

“As you wish, Princess.”

“Tell them also to get anyone in the area as far away as possible. Things are about to get extremely messy around here, and I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”

C-3PO relayed the message in burbling, singsong tones. A reply came in several stages, with the droid explaining key features of the plan that were beyond the aliens’ experiences.

“They will do as you instruct,” he said eventually, “although there are some concerns that they might be taken hostage. They ask us to be particularly careful of the nesting plains nearby.”

“
Nesting
plains?” Han rolled his eyes. “That’s just terrific. As if we don’t have enough to worry about.”

“What does it look like?” Leia asked.

“It consists of a series of caves and tunnels beneath the surface in which the female Brrbrlpp lay their eggs for the males to fertilize. They are private places, warmed from the heat of the core.”

“And the fact that one of them is so near to us might explain why there are so many of those aliens around here,” Leia mused aloud.

“Exactly, Mistress. If we had come down in the open plains, there would have been almost no one around.”

“Well, we can’t move now,” Han said.

“Tell them we’ll be as careful as possible,” Leia said. “That’s the best we can do.”

C-3PO relayed her reassurance, while Leia came to terms with the difficulty of what she’d set out for herself. As things stood, the
Falcon
was a stationary object that the Yuuzhan Vong looking for the relay base could easily use for target practice. It could neither flee nor return fire, for fear of hurting the fragile locals. Add to that the nearby nesting area, and the fact they still had no idea where the relay base was, and it was beginning to look like they’d taken on more than they could handle.

“The message is on its way,” Han said. “I’ve adjusted the shields.”

Leia glanced at the screen and noted that the ring of
Brrbrlpp had contracted around the old freighter. “Then all we can do now is wait, I guess.”

“And hope they’re not too busy up there to rescue us,” Droma said, his eyes drifting nervously to the ceiling.

For this one’s home …

Saba’s eyes snapped open. She sat bolt upright, heart racing and scales shifting in anticipation. She took a couple of deep and calming breaths, but the residue of the dream still troubled her. The burning planet, the anger, the slaveship, the torpedoes … She had relived the terrible images of Barab I’s destruction too many times over the last few months, as well as the guilt that accompanied the dream.

For this one’s people …

She shook her head to lose the dream and the emotions it brought. It was unlikely that she’d ever lose the dream completely; what had happened that day would haunt her for the rest of her life.

She sighed heavily to herself, and looked idly about the dark room. It was still nighttime, and everyone was asleep. The only sounds she could hear were breathing and the rain’s continued pitter-patter on the rooftop. For all intents and purposes, everything seemed normal. And yet …

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.