Hero's Trial: Agents of Chaos I (11 page)

“I know I speak for everyone here in expressing my extreme sorrow at what has befallen your homeworld,” the admiral said. “The galaxy is greatly diminished.”

Tamaab Moolis acknowledged Sovv’s sentiments with a motion of his long, upward curving head. “I thank the admiral,” he said out of both mouths.

Attentiveness replaced the sadness in his widely spaced eyes. “Pursuant to the supposition that the Yuuzhan Vong originated in the Tingel Arm, we conducted a thorough
search of our databases, but were unable to discover corroborating evidence. A protocol droid at Dubrillion stated that the Yuuzhan Vong language is reminiscent of Janguine, but that trail has led nowhere. We are continuing to investigate the possibility that the Yuuzhan Vong are a long-vanished race indigenous to our galaxy that has suddenly reappeared.”

“Was that area of the Tingel Arm once populated?” Sovv asked.

The Ithorian deferred to the virtual presence of Been L’toth of the Astrographic Survey Institute. Another Dornean, Been was the son of Kiles L’toth, who had assumed command of the Fifth Fleet after his friend Etahn A’baht had been relieved of duty.

“We reject the possibility that a species as powerful as the Yuuzhan Vong could have originated there,” L’toth’s hologram began. “Given the extent of their resources and the size of their war fleet, they would be in control of hundreds of worlds, if not systems, and would certainly have come to our attention by now. At the very least, we would have heard about them from the Trianii or some other species that inhabits that area of the Tingel.

“Granted, however, the Tingel Arm has yet to be thoroughly mapped. The original explorations were terminated by the outbreak of the Clone Wars. That was one of the reasons Emperor Palpatine granted the Corporate Sector Authority free reign in their corner of the Tingel. Our thinking now is that the Yuuzhan Vong are indeed from outside our galaxy.” L’toth paused. “Not merely from a nearby star cluster, as was the case with the Ssi-ruuk, but from another galaxy entirely.”

A’baht huffed. “Any species capable of crossing intergalactic
space would have to be considerably more advanced than any of us—on the order of a hundred generations more advanced. And yet the Yuuzhan Vong ships have been utilizing the same hyperspace entry points and egresses used by our own vessels.”

“But suppose they have been in
transit
for hundreds of generations,” Legorburu said. “Imagine if you will, a fleet of vessels plying the void, comparable to the Ithorian herd ships, only many times their size.”

A’baht waved a hand. “I’m interested in facts, not poetry.”

Legorburu gained control of himself. “At present we’re trying to determine if Emperor Palpatine had any knowledge of the Yuuzhan Vong, as he did the Ssi-ruuk. Thanks to the generosity of Moff Ephin Sarreti, we’ve been given access to Imperial records relevant to the Outbound Flight Project.”

Funded by the senate at the behest of Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth, the Outbound Flight Project had constituted a failed attempt to peer past the edge of the galaxy.

Transmitted from Bastion, in the distant Imperial Remnant, Sarreti’s life-size hologram was almost colorless, and disrupted by diagonal lines of interference. A technician boosted the audio gain.

“… Imperial records do not contain any mention of the Yuuzhan Vong—although it is now understood that Emperor Palpatine returned Chiss Grand Admiral Thrawn to the Unknown Regions on learning that the Chiss had been fortifying their systems against the threat of invasion by an unknown aggressor.”

Sovv and his fellow commanders took a moment to
confer. “Are you suggesting that the Yuuzhan Vong might be that aggressor?” Sovv asked at last.

“If we could establish direct contact with the Chiss, we might know for certain,” Sarreti said. “But Jag Fel has no interest in serving as a liaison, and all attempts at communications with Nirauan have gone unanswered.”

“Have you tried dispatching a ship?” A’baht asked.

Sarreti smiled. “Have you, General?” When A’baht grimaced, the moff added, “We have no desire to intrude on Chiss space and risk having to wage wars on two fronts.”

“Understood, Moff Sarreti,” Sovv said, nodding glumly. He looked at Legorburu. “Continue with your briefing, Colonel.”

Legorburu brought a close-up of the Tingel Arm to the light table. “The Yuuzhan Vong are using the central Tingel as a rendezvous point and staging area. Reconnaissance forces sent to adjoining sectors—both here, in the Trianii colonies, and here, at Dathomir—have detected a buildup of significantly larger ships.”

“I want numbers,” A’baht said.

Legorburu nodded to the Tammarian Ayddar Nylykerka, chief analyst for asset tracking during the Yevethan crisis and now director of Fleet Intelligence. “Based on available data, we are now estimating Yuuzhan Vong naval strength at one thousand capital ships, deployed in task forces and flotillas, comprising anywhere from twenty-five to seventy-five vessels.”

Sovv and the others exchanged looks of astonishment.

“It may please the general staff to know,” Nylykerka added quickly, “that the senate has ratified the Universal Conscription bill, and that the Kuat, Bilbringi, Sluis Van,
and Fondor shipyards expect to double their production of heavy cruisers by the end of next year.”

“Next year,” Sovv repeated. “The Yuuzhan Vong could be in our laps by then.”

“Yes, sir, but with our present stock of Mon Calamari
Mediator
-class battle cruisers, Bothan Assault Cruisers, and Corellian
Viscount
-class Star Defenders, we have sufficient firepower to engage the Yuuzhan Vong in multiple theaters.”

Sovv nodded tentatively. “How do the enemy ships compare to our signature ships?”

Nylykerka glanced at durasheet notes. “Rated by size and armament, the fleet is comprised of warship analogs, cruisers, destroyers, troop carriers, frigates, corvettes, and gunboats, along with starfighter analogs known as coralskippers. Reconnaissance reports indicate that the more recently arrived Yuuzhan Vong vessels are comparable in size and firepower to
Super-class
Star Destroyers.”

A Yuuzhan Vong warship took shape above the light table. “The command ship at Obroa-skai,” Nylykerka said. “Myriad areas of its yorik coral surface are capable of unleashing destructive energy on the order of that delivered by our most powerful turbolaser and ion cannons. The vessel does not so much erect shields as employ gravitic anomalies to engulf or deflect anything directed against it. The anomalies are engineered by organic devices called dovin basals, which also combine the functions of repulsorlift, sublight, and hyperspace drives.”

Nylykerka used a laser pointer to indicate the slender projections that emanated from the command ship’s bow and stern. “The arms are also equipped with plasma
launchers, sealed at the tips by organic, trefoil valves. What’s more, each carries the equivalent of a wing of coralskippers, which are similarly shielded and capable of firing projectiles or plasma. It was initially believed that the coralskippers were remotes, like the old Trade Federation droid starfighters or Loronar Corporation’s CCIRs, but in fact they are individually piloted—or at least to a certain extent. By that I mean that combat tactics seem to be directed by a creature known as a yammosk, or war coordinator, which serves as a kind of biotic battle analysis computer.”

The laser pointer called attention to irregularities on the command ship’s hull. “We have not been able to determine why some portions of the ship are smooth. However, certain markings observed on the smooth areas suggest similarities to the symbols and glyphs often seen on the ovoid vessels of the Aing-Tii monks. We believe that they might serve as indicators of lineage or status rather than military rank.”

Legorburu broke the stunned silence of the commanders.

“Since entering the Tingel Arm, the Yuuzhan Vong have been moving oblique to the Core. The attack on Obroa-skai may mark the beginning of a push into the Mid Rim, but it would be premature to speculate at this point.”

“Well, someone had better start speculating,” A’baht growled. “We can’t remain on the defensive indefinitely.”

Legorburu wedged a finger into the collar of his uniform and continued. “Should the Yuuzhan Vong adhere to their current heading, without significant deviation
from the ecliptic, they will pass outward of the Hapes Cluster, and perhaps Kashyyyk. But the Meridian sector, Hutt space, Bothawui, Rodia, and Ryloth lie almost directly in their path.”

A’baht’s swelling eyes took in the room. “Does anyone here actually believe that the Yuuzhan Vong are merely passing through, destroying worlds and sacrificing populations on a whim?” When no one answered, he added, “What are our options if they swing toward the Core?”

Nylykerka directed the holoprojector to display a disposition of the main fleets. “Admiral Pellaeon has returned the ships under his command to the Imperial Remnant to safeguard it from invasion. Elements of the Third and Fourth Fleets are spread along the Hydian Way and the Perlemian Trade Route. Most of the Second Fleet is positioned Coreward of the Hapes Cluster, near Borleias. Elements of the First and Fifth are deployed at Coruscant, Kuat, Chandrila, Commenor, and Fondor.”

“Fleet strength and disposition get us only so far,” Sovv said after a moment. “It’s more important that we achieve some understanding of the Yuuzhan Vong as a species. Exactly what sort of beings are we dealing with?”

Legorburu scanned faces in the console displays. “Uh, Dr. Eicroth, perhaps you’d care to shed some light on the admiral’s question.”

Joi Eicroth’s hologram did justice to her fair-haired allure. Briefly married to Admiral Drayson, she still worked with him as an operative in Alpha Blue, a covert branch of New Republic Intelligence. One of the first to have a look at a Qella recovered on Maltha Obex some
years earlier, she was currently a member of the xenobiology team tasked with compiling a profile on the Yuuzhan Vong.

“Essentially we are dealing with a near-human species,” Eicroth said, “both externally and internally—excepting, for the moment, the semisentient reptoid proxy troops the Yuuzhan Vong deployed at Dantooine, Garqi, and Ithor. This is borne out by the fact that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker suffered no ill effects after donning both a Yuuzhan Vong coralskipper cognition hood and an organic breathing apparatus. However, the examples we’ve autopsied present some intriguing puzzles.”

Holographic representations of three Yuuzhan Vong appeared above the light table, rotating slowly while Eicroth continued.

“The distinctions you see—this one’s curiously elongated head, this one’s auxiliary ribs, the deep patterns etched into the torso of this one—may indicate the existence of separate lineage groups among the Yuuzhan Vong. What is clear is that they undergo what must be excruciating physical alterations in service to some religious or warrior ideal. In any case, the uniformity of the disfigurements and markings suggests a complex social hierarchy.

“This is fully consistent with the nature of Yuuzhan Vong applied science, which, from what we’ve been able to determine, is based exclusively on a form of animated technology. The use of bioreactors, neuroengines, and biological weapons is indicative of a species that places great importance on organic rather than artificial innovation. Where we invent machines, they create life-forms that serve the same function as machines.”

“Can they be brought down?” A’baht asked above the murmur of several separate conversations.

“They are taller and heavier than most humans,” Eicroth said. “They are strong on an individual basis and in some instances enhanced or encased by living armor. However, they can be killed by conventional weapons and apparently by Jedi lightsabers. Bafforr tree pollen shows promise as an allergen that affects the armor, but it will be some time before the pollen can be synthesized in the amounts needed to serve as an effective deterrent or biological agent. Still, each encounter has furnished us with additional data as to their weak points—psychological, anatomical, and social.”

Silence prevailed until Commodore Brand, former commander of the Fifth Fleet cruiser
Indomitable
and the most curmudgeonly of the cardinal commanders, drummed his thick fingers loudly on the console.

“All the while I’ve been sitting here listening to these reports I’ve been asking myself one question: What is it they ultimately want from us? Is this war about territory, resources, religion, some injustice committed by one of us so far in the past we don’t even have a record of it? Do the Yuuzhan Vong consider us vermin like the Yevethan Duskhan League did, or do they want our life energies as the Ssi-ruuk did?”

Anyone who might have been formulating a reply was interrupted by the communications technician. “Sirs,” he said, addressing Sovv and his peers, “I have Director Scaur with an urgent message he says should be heard by all of you.”

Sovv muttered a curse. “All right. Activate isolation and patch him through.”

A half-size hologram of the director of New Republic Intelligence resolved within the sonic containment field that sequestered the commanders.

“Admiral, I just received word of an incident that occurred in the Meridian sector early yesterday, standard time,” the cadaverous Scaur began. “The good news is that the light cruiser
Soothfast
engaged and destroyed an enemy vessel near Exodo II. The better news is that two Yuuzhan Vong who jettisoned in an escape pod were captured alive. But the intriguing news is that the captives have requested political asylum.”

His round black eyes even glassier than normal, Sovv reclined in his seat and glanced in astonishment at A’baht and Brand. “Well, gentlemen, it seems we may be about to learn what the Yuuzhan Vong want after all.”

“I always knew you had a soft spot for the high life,” Roa remarked as he and Han climbed from the repulsor cab that had delivered them to the skyway balcony of the Solo residence, in one of the administrative district’s most exclusive neighborhoods.

“Don’t kid yourself,” Han said. “It’s smaller inside than it looks.”

Roa went to the balcony railing and glanced down, then up. Though the elegant apartment was well located, there was almost as much building above as below it. “Why, you’re scarcely three hundred meters from the top. Practically the penthouse.” He smiled roguishly at Han. “You should be proud of your accomplishments. I can’t think of another pupil of mine who’s done nearly as well.”