she'd been welcomed.
"Leader to squad, less chatter, please." Colonel Dark-lighter sounded as
businesslike as ever. "Indicate readiness. Leader is ready. Two?"
"Two ready."
"Three?"
As the roll call continued, the third member of Corran's shield trio,
Dakorse Teep, rose into position. "Rogue Seven, all green."
Corran grimaced. In Teep's case, green didn't just refer to the condition
of his engines. Teep was a teenager who should have been palling around on the
playground with Corran's son Valin, only a few years Teep's junior. Corran heard
Leth announce "Eight, four lit and ready," then he said, "Nine, optimum."
He was the last one to call in readiness. Rogue Squadron was reduced to
nine members now, three shield trios. Other squadrons were in worse condition,
some of them reduced in numbers so fast that they had to be decommissioned or
temporarily merged with other depleted units until reinforcements could swell
them out into discrete squads again.
"We're on the cruiser to the east," Gavin announced. "Senior members have
proton torps; everyone else, you'll have to make do with lasers. Sorry. Break by
shield trios... now." He suited action to words, and the three members of One
Flight lofted, rising above the protection of the facility's vertical shields,
staying only a few dozen meters beneath the horizontal shield overhead.
Corran waited a beat while Two Flight followed, then he led Leth and Teep
up. To her credit, Leth kept tucked in professionally close, but Teep lagged,
offering his shield-mates no protection from his shields, receiving no
protection from theirs.
"Close it up, Seven," Corran said. "Sorry, Nine. Coming."
As Corran and Leth cleared the building's shields and dropped toward the
jungle on the far side, a plasma barrage from the cruiser analog they were
supposed to destroy arced toward them. If it had been slightly better aimed, it
might have slid in between the top of the vertical shields and bottom of the
horizontal. As it was, it angled in toward Teep, directly over Corran's head.
"Seven," he shouted, "break to port-"
Corran chose port over starboard only because it took half the time to say,
giving Teep one more fraction of a second to comprehend and react. Teep did veer
to port, as much on repulsorlifts as thrusters, and the main ball of plasma
flashed harmlessly past him.
Then it hit the building's vertical shields and exploded. The concussion
hammered Teep, Corran, and Leth. His cockpit swathed in flame, Corran watched
his artificial horizon gauge spin. Relying on instinct more than his gauges, he
leveled off and hit his thrusters. A moment later, the fire peeled away from his
cockpit and he could see again.
Teep and Leth were both rolling as they fell, out of control, toward the
jungle below.
Leth came out of her roll, leveling off not far above the treetops, and
Corran heard her over the comm board, her voice raised in a wordless shout of
both fear and exultation.
Teep didn't come out of his roll. He punched through the treetops, and a
moment later a fireball roiled up through the hole he'd made.
Corran swore. This war was gobbling up children like a starved wampa.
"C'mon, Eight. Form up."
In his transport, far below the Lusankya conflict and as far above the war
waging around the biotics building, Harrar stared into the viewing lens mounted
in the transport's belly. "Is this operation yours, or Czulkang Lah's?" he
asked.
Charat Kraal knelt beside him at the edge of the lens. "It is the great
master's. But it is merely a probe, a way to test strength and evaluate the
enemy's strengths, to deny him the opportunity to rest. I have attached my
mission to this operation."
"When do your units enter the battle?"
"Soon. When the enemy is stretched thinnest."
Twin Suns Squadron roared westward, toward the Yuu-zhan Vong cruiser analog
there. Tt and its protective squadrons were already being harassed by Blackmoon
Squadron and a pair of TIE squadrons off Lusankya. "Piggy, analysis," Jaina
The mechanical voice of her Gamorrean pilot boomed from the comm unit;
Jaina winced and slid the volume control lower.
"They're not concentrating on the biotics building this time," Piggy said.
"Probably to avoid a disaster like the last assault. They've learned their
lesson from orbital bombardment. And yet they're not systematically taking
General Antilles's defensive structure to pieces. They should be concentrating
their efforts on removing Lusankya from the battlefield, so they can then move
against the facility with minimal opposition. They are not."
Jaina didn't have to ask what that meant. The Yuu-zhan Vong didn't intend
to overrun the facility this time. They had some other goal, such as staging
another attempt to capture Jaina. To the Yuuzhan Vong, twins were sacred, and
Jaina, as the twin of Jacen, held special fascination for them. "Keep your eyes
open for particular attention on us," Jaina said. "Yes, Great One."
"Twin Suns, don't fire torps unless you have a clear shot you know the
voids can't stop," she added. "We've all got a full load, but other squads
don't. So don't waste a shot unless you're just anxious to cause hard feelings.
Tilath, are you ready with your payload?"
"Yes, Great One." Tilath Keer, flying Twin Suns Eleven, sounded distinctly
unhappy. On the underside of her X-wing was attached something that looked like
a missile, the newest experimental weapon in the Twin Suns' arsenal, hut it was
longer than the X-wing's cockpit and heavy enough to turn her starfighter into
something as maneuverable as a flying boulder.
"Don't worry, Tilath. No one has to do the dishes every time." Jaina hit
her thrusters and accelerated toward the enemy. "Let's do this thing."
Charat Kraal and Harrar watched as the battle developed. The Yuuzhan Vong
capital ships were being used as mobile artillery, keeping up a steady
bombardment on the biotics building and the buildings around it to test, and
potentially overwhelm, the infidels' protective energy shields. Their
coralskipper squadrons were charged with protection of the capital ships and
elimination of enemy starfighters. It was a simple enough situation, and Harrar
grasped the details readily as Charat Kraal explained them.
"Where are the Starlancer vehicles kept-the pipe-fighters?" Harrar asked.
He referred to the craft that had, not long before, set up a complicated energy
matrix in space in the Pyria system, then fired a laser attack-one that had been
somehow accelerated through hyperspace and had actually struck the Yuuzhan Vong
worldship in orbit around Coruscant.
Charat Kraal indicated a square, flat building near the biotics building.
"That is where their elites keep their vehicles. Jaina Solo's squadron is housed
there. It is not a target of today's exercise, since most of the vehicles housed
there are now coming against our forces."
"And where are they growing their lambent crystal?" The recent spying
efforts, involving a controlled human male, had indicated that the Starlancer
project required the implementation of a gigantic crystal, one grown from
Yuuzhan Vong techniques and material, to increase the long-distance laser enough
for it to do real harm to distant targets.
Charat Kraal pointed to the biotics building. "There, Our agent was unable
to search every portion of that structure, but eliminated many. Before he was
lost, he communicated to us that he thought the deepest levels of the building,
which are among those shut off from the common soldier, were the most likely
location for the crystal-growing..." He had a hard time saying the next word, so
hateful was it in this context. "... machines. Our next agent will find it and
arrange for its destruction, if our bombardments do not destroy this facility
first."
"Excellent. Now, let us discuss the capture of Jaina Solo."
Jaina let off her trigger as the coralskipper in front of her detonated.
Its pieces rained down on the jungle below. A quick check of her sensor board
revealed that her wing-mates, Jagged Pel and Kyp Durron, were not far away and
were inbound toward her.
Ahead was the Yuuzhan Vong cruiser, hundreds of meters of yorik coral and
organic weaponry. "Let's give its big guns something to think about," Jaina
said. She switched her lasers over to quad fire and began pouring coherent iight
hull. "What's your status, Tifath?"
"Lined up on final approach. I'm fifteen seconds from optimum firing range.
Fourteen."
"Fire when ready, don't wait for my command."
"Ten."
Jag and Kyp joined their laserfire with Jaina's. The voids protecting the
cruiser analog had no difficulty moving into position and swallowing the
destructive energy from their weapons.
"One. Firing."
The missile dropped from the belly of Tilath's X-wing. It fell a dozen
meters; then its rear ignited, driving it forward at missile speeds.
Jaina clicked her comm board over to operational frequency. "Execute 'Low
Bounce.' Repeat, 'Low Bounce.' "
In the vicinity of the target cruiser analog, New Republic starfighters
began gaining altitude. They didn't flee; they just rose until they were above
the cruiser analog's altitude. They continued fighting on their way up,
continued fighting at their new altitude.
At the same instant, Jaina, Kyp, and Piggy armed am fired proton torpedoes,
one each.
Half a kilometer short of the cruiser analog, Tilath's missile did what it
was supposed to.
It did not shatter and fly in all directions; it was too sturdily built for
that. Most of the missile was an extremely durable metal tube, open at one end.
The rear closed portion was packed with a plasma-based explosive charge. The
forward two-thirds, sealed only by the fragile nose of the missile, was packed
with metal ball bearings the size of human heads.
The plasma charge detonated, superheating the ball bearings and firing them
toward the target.
They shot out, a spreading display of superheated projectiles.
Not one of the ball bearings would do significant harm to the target when
they hit; the best-placed shots that actually hit the yorik coral hull would
punch through and lodge within, while the rest would bounce harmlessly away.
No, the danger they represented was not from hitting. Each ball, heated by
the plasma charge, was now identical, in specific gravity and temperature, to
the proton torpedoes catching up to them from behind.
The cruiser analog's dovin basals sensed the incoming horde of missiles.
They did not panic; fear was not part of their nature. But they knew they could
not project their voids into the path of even a fraction of the incoming
missiles. Instead, each prioritized, projecting its voids over the most
vulnerable portions of the vessel's flank, protecting the command crew
compartment, weapons emplacements, and itself.
Charat Kraal and Harrar watched as the Twin Suns launched four missiles-
one, the largest, ahead of the others. The largest one detonated short of its
target, showering the matalok with red-hot debris, but the others flashed
straight in to hit, one-two-three, against the mat-alok's side. The infidel
weapons flashed impossibly bright, creating clouds of explosive force and debris
that had once been the side and internal organs of the matalok.
The vessel heeled over, mortally wounded, and began to turn away from the
engagement. Plasma poured from its injury. It gained altitude for a moment, then
settled into a straight-line course. And now its dovin basals concentrated their
void protection only over the main weapons emplacements.
Charat Kraal knew what that meant. The matalok would not make it back to
space, so its commander was ordering the weapons to build up tremendous charges
of plasma energy, charges that would destroy the vessel from within.
Charat Kraal sagged as energy and pride left him for a moment. He slammed
his fist into the floor next to the viewing lens. "How did she do it? "he asked.
"How did she persuade the dovin basals to let their missiles through?"
"I do not know."
Charat Kraal met the priest's gaze. "It is not my place to ask this. You
may choose to order me to my death for asking. But I must know. You are a priest
of Yun-Harla - surely the truth is in your mind. Is Jaina Solo an avatar of the
goddess? Is she the goddess?"
"Of course not. She is an infidel who mocks our goddess. " But Harrar knew
that he was no longer able to pro-ject confidence when he said such words. He no
longer knew whether he was telling the truth.
Charat Kraal, no new satisfaction or peace on his features, turned to a
villip that lay on the floor next to him. He spoke into the Yuuzhan Vong warrior
features it revealed. "Are you in position?"
"No, Commander. It is early yet."
"Begin your run anyway. We cannot wait for the best moment."
"Understood, Commander."
Corran Horn saw the flight of three coralskippers peel off from the main
north-side engagement and loop around toward the west side of the biotics
building. "C'mon, Eight. Let's deal with these strays." He banked, a tight
maneuver to put him in the path of the trio. Leth followed suit, her maneuver
not quite as tight as the more experienced pilot's.
They were able to get in position well before the coral-skippers lined up
for an approach. The skips turned again quite a distance out, beyond the kill
zone and over the jungle. Now they were aimed in straight at the biotics
building. They dropped nearly to the deck and accelerated to something like
their full speed, not maneuvering even as Corran and Leth opened fire.
"It's a suicide run," Leth said.
"I think you're right." Corran looked around. If these three skips were
able to hit the shields defending the biotics building, if they were able to
crash through them and bring those shields down, there would be a moment when
the building was undefended against enemy attacks.
But no other Yuuzhan Vong ships stood ready to make use of this momentary
advantage. It didn't make sense.
Corran drifted to starboard, spraying fire against the skip on that side
and in the center. Leth drifted to port and followed suit. Their combined fire
was too much for the center skip; some of Corran's laserfire got past its voids,
and nearly all of Leth's did. Thar coralskipper nose-dived, smashing into the
ground at the outer ranee of the kill zone. It did not explode; skips, not
loaded with fuel, did not always detonate. It just came to pieces, scattering
chunks of itself.
That gave each pilot one enemy to concentrate on. Corran kept the pressure
on, spraying the oncoming skip with laserfire as if it were water from a hose,
and saw his attacks chewing away at the forward portions of the craft.
He could see in his peripheral vision that Leth was having less luck with
the other oncoming skip. But he couldn't deal with that, not with his target
spraying plasma at him.
Corran maneuvered his X-wing directly into the path of the oncoming skip.
If its pilot's objective really was the shields, it would have to maneuver
around him. If not - well, he'd be taking that opponent out of the battle the
hard way.
But it maneuvered, bouncing down to fly under him, and his lasers punched
through the skip's canopy. The vehicle veered, losing control.
Then it exploded, hurling pieces in all directions. Corran veered, was
caught in the explosion for a moment, emerged out the other side with
diagnostics complaining of no damage worse than a superheated external
temperature sensor.
He came around and saw that Leth was also looping. Her target had gotten
past her and was now headed in toward the shields.
The skip hit, and for an instant Corran could see the energy of the impact
as it made the shield visible, made it ripple like a pond surface suddenly
struck by a plummeting landspeeder.
The coralskipper went to pieces, shredded by the impact. Chunks of it
sprayed out across the kill zone directly in front of the biotics building. One
of the larger chunks hit a dirt hauler that had been pressed into surface as a
ground personnel carrier; that vehicle exploded, and flames splashed across
surrounding buildings and vehicles. Some chunks of the coralskipper bounced to
within meters of the front of the biotics building,