Star by Star (51 page)

Steady streams of thud and razor bugs began to drone out from behind the trees where the survivors were hiding, and Jacen heard several Jedi groan as they took hits in their armor-lined jumpsuits. Somewhere down the line, a lightsaber snapped to life, and Ganner waded forward, slapping bugs from the sky.

“Ganner!” Anakin commed. “What are you doing?”

“Can’t let them pin us down,” Ganner replied.

Lomi started forward, as well, her body weaving and pivoting as she dodged thud bugs, her power blaster filling the air with brilliant flashes as she shot incoming razor bugs out of the sky. If nothing else, her advance impressed the Yuuzhan Vong, who began to concentrate their fire on her.

“Wait!” Jacen commed. He had no doubt that they could advance en masse and wipe out the patrol—but he did not think they could do it without taking losses. “I can flush them.” He
sensed a query forming in Anakin’s mind, then explained, “The voxyn, I think I can use them.”

“Think?” Anakin asked.

“Can,” Jacen assured him.

Anakin hesitated a moment, then said, “Let’s try it.”

Ganner and Lomi retreated to cover, and Jacen reached out to the voxyn he had sensed earlier, calling on the Force to soothe them out of their shock, to lull them into thinking there was nothing to fear ahead.

The voxyn responded almost too well. The entire strike team experienced a hungry stirring in the Force as the beasts reached out to locate them, then Jacen felt the creatures start down the canyon toward the ambush. The two sides began to trade fire more sporadically, the Yuuzhan Vong content to sit in cover in the mistaken belief that help would arrive soon, the Jedi content to let them. Jacen thought about comming Jovan to tell him to keep an eye out for Nom Anor and Vergere, then decided against it. He was treading as close as he cared to the dark side.

Less than a minute later, a Yuuzhan Vong snarled in surprise, then gurgled horribly as a voxyn dragged him underwater. Several other Yuuzhan Vong cried out as the creatures brushed past, but only two let out screams suggesting they had been attacked. The voxyn, Jacen realized, were more interested in the Force wielders down the way.

“Out of the water, now!” he commed.

As his fellow Jedi used the Force to boost themselves into the trees, Jacen thumbed a fragmentation grenade active and tossed it into the swamp. While not as powerful as a concussion grenade, it would generate enough of a shock wave to serve his purpose. He waited until the grenade exploded, then reached out to the voxyn, encouraging them to blame anything in the water for the attack.

Several more Yuuzhan Vong cried out. A few even stumbled from cover to be picked off by Jovan and the Barabels, but more than a dozen remained in hiding and continued to fling thud bugs into the trees. Climbing into a tree himself, Jacen dropped the battle meld—it was not working that well anyway—and focused only on the voxyn. He threw another fragmentation grenade and urged the creatures to attack anything in the water.

The Yuuzhan Vong attacks dwindled as they turned to battle the attacking voxyn. A handful tried to scramble into the trees as the Jedi had done, but without the Force to boost them, they could not climb fast enough to escape their pursuers. Lowbacca and the Barabels took advantage of the distraction to leap through the treetops and attack from above. Soon they were shooting at nothing but voxyn, and a few concussion grenades brought the last of creatures to the surface.

Jacen dropped back into the swamp feeling not exactly guilty about luring the creatures to their doom, but hardly noble either. Maybe Zekk was right; maybe Lomi’s mere presence was enough to taint the entire strike team. Jacen was still trying to work this out when Anakin waded over with Tahiri, both of them grinning ear to ear.

Tahiri clasped Jacen’s arm and pulled herself up to kiss his cheek. “That was astral!”

“Well done.” Anakin slapped Jacen’s on the back, and there was more warmth in the gesture than had passed between the two brothers since Centerpoint Station. “You saved a lot of Jedi today.”

Jacen would have felt good about that, had the day been over.

Even with Han sprawled on the couch next to Leia, Ben gurgling in Mara’s lap, and the Wild Knights comparing notes with Rogue Squadron in the back of the room, the informal sitting chamber of the Solos’ Coruscant residence seemed all too empty. The five Solos had not been in this room together for more than a year, and Leia could not recall ever gathering here without the shadow of some faraway crisis hanging over someone’s head.

Most of the responsibility rested squarely on Leia’s own shoulders. She had devoted her life to the New Republic, and, on its behalf, she had involved Han and Chewbacca and Lando and everyone else she knew in one dangerous mission after another. Even her children had spent most of their lives dwelling apart, first because they needed protection from the Empire’s kidnappers, and later because the New Republic needed them to become Jedi Knights. Now they were hundreds of light-years behind enemy lines, fighting a foe as ruthless and cruel as Palpatine himself, facing dangers she could not even guess at, but that she felt constantly through the Force. After fighting a lifetime to make the galaxy a safer place, she wondered if anyone would blame her for questioning her choices; given the danger her children were facing on the galaxy’s behalf now, she wondered if anyone would dare.

Leia felt Han reaching out to her even before he touched her shoulder. “You’re sure you don’t want to be there with Luke?” Han glanced around the packed room conspiratorially. “There’s a hovercar hanging around the back platform, and I know your brother isn’t all that comfortable addressing the senate himself.”

“Send the hovercar away, Han.” Leia put just enough sharpness
in her voice to let him know she was serious. “I’m through with the senate.”

Han rolled his eyes. “Where have I heard that before?”

“It’s true, Han.” Leia allowed her apprehension for their children to show. “I’m thinking of other things now.”

Han studied her for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.” He glanced across the room to Lando and Wedge and gave a slight shake of his head, then pulled Leia tight to his side. “All this waiting—it’s bad enough without feeling everything through the Force.”

Leia squeezed his leg. “We’re not accustomed to being the ones left behind.”

Izal Waz wandered into the room and stopped behind the couches. “Hey—look at this!” He used a voice command to change the holovid from the senate feed to a news channel. In the foreground, he was shown debarking the Wild Knights’ blastboat while a breathless Arcona newswoman explained that a member of their own species had participated in the daring Jedi rescue of the Talfaglion hostages. “I’m a hero!”

Almost since their departure from the system, the HoloNet had been filled with news of the Yuuzhan Vong’s total defeat at Talfaglio. A Kuati network had even managed to obtain a hologram from a Star Destroyer holocam showing an enemy corvette exploding for no visible reason in front of a Jedi X-wing—the newscaster had identified the wing markings incorrectly as those of Kyp’s Dozen. Fortunately, the shadow bomb responsible could not be detected even with enhancement, but Luke had prevailed on the New Republic high command to censor all images of Jedi combat techniques lest another, better recording betray the secret.

Saba grabbed Izal by the arm and pulled him away, saying, “Yes, we are all famous now—so don’t embarrasz us!”

Mara stood her son up on her knees and cooed in a high, chirrupy, and very un-Mara-like voice. “Someone found the salt, didn’t he?”

Ben chortled in response, his delight rippling through the Force just the way Anakin’s used to when Leia visited him in hiding on Anoth—and so powerfully it moved her to tears. She turned away and tried to hide her face by leaning against Han’s
shoulder, but Mara was not one to miss such an obvious sign. She reached over and placed a hand on Leia’s forearm.

“Leia, it’s because of you we’re here at all,” she said. “Remember that. I know Anakin and the twins will.”

“Thank you.” Leia wiped her eyes and smiled, taking strength from her sister-in-law’s plain words. “That helps … a lot.”

“Yeah, me too.” Han studied Mara, his expression somewhere between gratitude and envy. “Thanks.”

Lando called out that the session was starting. Someone switched the holovid back to the senate feed, where Luke, dressed simply in a plain Jedi robe, was riding an escalator to the speaking rostrum on the chamber floor.

Luke stepped off the escalator beside the speaker’s rostrum, wishing he felt more certain that today he would heal the rift between the Jedi and the New Republic. The senate chamber was awash in good feelings toward him and the Jedi, but there was also anger for taking matters into their own hands, apprehension about Yuuzhan Vong retaliation, and something more sinister—something dark and dangerous that he sensed would soon reveal itself to him. He lowered the cowl of his robe and, facing the long console on the high councilors’ dais, bowed to the Advisory Council.

“Chief Fey’lya, Councilors, you asked to speak with me?”

Somewhere high in the galleries, a Wookiee roared in ovation, and the chamber erupted in cheers and applause. Luke stood calmly, neither acknowledging the outpouring nor discouraging it as he studied the members of the Advisory Council. Most kept their faces carefully neutral, though Fyor Rodan of Commenor sneered in disapproval—no doubt blaming the Jedi for not saving his own planet—and Borsk Fey’lya bared his fangs in a smile that felt surprisingly sincere.

Allowing the applause to continue, the chief of state left his console and descended to stand before Luke. He raised a furry palm and brought the chamber to order with impressive speed, then surprised Luke by clasping his hand warmly.

“Princess Leia was unable to attend?” Fey’lya asked. “The invitation was to you both.”

“Leia is occupied elsewhere,” Luke said.

Fey’lya nodded sagely. “Anakin and the twins, of course.” He lowered his brow in a well-rehearsed expression of concern, then turned slightly toward the hovering sound droid. “Let me assure you, the New Republic is doing everything possible to determine what has become of them—and to find the person responsible.”

That much was certainly true. The Wraiths had been snooping along the war zone for several days now, coming so close to identifying the true delivery ship that Luke had been forced to ask Wedge to rein them in. Reportedly, Garik “Face” Loran was furious.

“I am sure the families of all the missing Jedi appreciate your desire to help,” Luke said. “But we must not forget that the Yuuzhan Vong threaten more than Jedi.”

“The Jedi certainly have not forgotten.” Fey’lya pumped Luke’s hand enthusiastically. “On behalf of the New Republic, let me congratulate you on the Jedi victory at Talfaglio—and thank you for the lives of our citizens.”

“We were glad to be of service,” Luke said. “The Jedi have consolidated their forces and hope to be of more service to the New Republic in the future, but it is important to note we did not do this alone.”

“We are aware of the support provided to you by the
Mon Mothma
and
Elegos A’Kla,
” Viqi Shesh said, speaking from her seat on the dais. Though it was hardly necessary, she leaned closer to the sound pickup in her console and looked down at Luke. “Thanks to the HoloNet coverage, so is the whole galaxy—including, no doubt, the Yuuzhan Vong.”

Luke went cold between the shoulders, and he knew he had found the dangerous presence he had been sensing—or rather, it had found him.

“A New Republic task force happened to be in the area, yes,” he answered. “It’s my understanding they suffered no casualties.”

“The galaxy is a vast place, Master Skywalker,” Shesh said coolly. “Perhaps you can explain how they ‘happened’ to be in the area?”

Fey’lya raised a hand to stop Luke from answering, then whirled on Shesh, his lips drawn up to show the tips of his fangs.

“We have all read the reports, Councilor. The vessels were on a shakedown cruise. I fail to see the point of your request.”

Shesh continued to glare at Luke. “That is precisely the point of my request, Chief Fey’lya. Wedge Antilles and Garm Bel Iblis are two of our best generals—too experienced to take a ‘shakedown cruise’ into Yuuzhan Vong territory.”

“The last I checked, Senator, the Corellian sector was still in the New Republic,” Fey’lya said, drawing a chorus of pointed laughter. “As for the generals’ experience, I am sure we both agree that they know better than you or I how to shake down a Star Destroyer.”

“Undoubtedly—when they are in possession of their wits,” Shesh retorted.

The chamber filled with murmurs of outrage and speculation, and Luke saw where Shesh was taking her line of questioning.

“If you are suggesting that the generals were in any way influenced—”

“That is exactly what I am suggesting, Master Skywalker.” Leaving her own seat, Shesh stepped over to Fey’lya’s console, using his master controls to override the rostrum’s microphone with her own. “The Jedi are famous throughout the galaxy for their mind tricks, but you have gone too far when you subvert the legitimate orders of a New Republic task force!”

“Hear, hear!” Fyor Rodan said, rising. “The New Republic cannot tolerate this Jedi abuse.”

A surprising number of senators, most from Inner Rim worlds that still hoped to placate the Yuuzhan Vong, rose on cue. The Wookiees and Bothans roared in opposition, and Luke turned slowly, calling upon his Jedi control to keep a calm face. Leia had warned him to be surprised by nothing that happened in the New Republic Senate. Still, he failed to see how intelligent beings could be persuaded that the utter destruction of an enemy fleet and the rescue of a planetful of hostages was a bad thing.

But it was not about the fleet or the hostages, of course. It was about alliances and power, about who had it and who was losing it, who might have it tomorrow and who would share it. No wonder Leia had refused to step foot in the chamber again. No wonder the New Republic was losing the war.

Fey’lya left to reclaim control of his console and found himself
delayed when Fyor Rodan blocked his way on the flimsy pretext of discussing some important rule of procedure, and Shesh continued to control the public-address system.