THIRTY-ONE

With the Yuuzhan Vong armada re-grouped at Coruscant, Errant Venture was able to reach Contruum without incident. No sooner had the Star Destroyer reverted from hyperspace on the frontier of Contruum’s dense system of inhabited worlds than Booster Terrik sought out Luke and Mara in the main docking bay, where Jade Shadow was already being prepped for launch.

“Alliance command has ordered us to hold at Contruum Six,” the ample Corellian said as he approached the warming ship. “Guess the invitation you received doesn’t extend to friends.” Corran Horn’s father-in-law, Terrik, had a ready smile and a pirate’s glint in his rheumy eye.

“We can fix that,” Luke started to say.

Booster waved in dismissal. “Don’t bother. But after not being allowed to park on Zonama Sekot, I’m beginning to feel unwanted.” He laughed affably to let them know he wasn’t serious. “At least Lando managed to smuggle his brandy planetside.”

The immense hold was stacked high with cargo containers of every conceivable shape and size. In the launching bays sat Lando and Tendra’s Lady Luck and Talon’s Wild Karrde, along with dozens of motley starfighters—everything from retrofitted Headhunters to uglies—the owners of which had attached themselves to the Smugglers’ Alliance after the fall of Coruscant. Crev Bombassa, Talon, and Lando stood at the perimeter of Jade Shadow’s landing platform.

Mara walked to the open hatch, where Booster was extending his meaty hand to Luke. “Take care of yourself, Luke. And remember to put in a good word for us with Wedge. After coming this far, I’m not about to sit out the big one.”

“We’ll do what we can,” Luke said. “But we’ve been away for almost a year. I’m not expecting an especially warm reception.” He turned to Lando and the others and nodded his head good-bye.

Mara walked up the ramp and Luke followed her into the ship. Kenth, Cilghal, and Madurrin were in the forward cabin, strapping in, and R2-D2 was waiting in the cockpit. Mara dropped herself into the pilot’s chair and without another word lifted Jade Shadow through the docking bay’s magcon field.

The several battle groups that made up the Galactic Alliance fleet were arrayed around Contruum 6. A small, frosty planet with only two major cities, 6 was a microjump from the Perlemian Trade Route, and two from the Hydian Way. Mara hadn’t seen so many warships gathered in one place for a long while, and the sight gave her pause, especially after the long months on Zonama Sekot. One small light moving among hundreds of others, Jade Shadow began to close on the white behemoth that was Ralroost.

“The Yuuzhan Vong have done the impossible,” Luke said. “They’ve united the galaxy.”

“Nothing like war to bring folks together,” Mara said.

Everyone rose as Luke, Mara, and the other Jedi entered Ralroost’s war room.

“Wonderful to see you safe and sound,” Admiral Traest Kre’fey said from his position of prominence at the head conference table.

“Good start,” Mara whispered to Luke while Kre’fey and the rest resumed their seats.

He returned a subtle nod. “Let’s hope it doesn’t go downhill from here.”

The conference tables formed a square, around which were gathered more than twenty Alliance commanders and strategists, including Admiral Sien Sovv, Commodore Brand, Generals Garm Bel Iblis, Airen Cracken, Wedge Antilles, and Keyan Farlander, Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, and Queen Mother Tenel Ka. In a noisy holofield transmitted from an undisclosed location stood half-sized images of Cal Omas and several of his chief advisers, including Niuk Niuv, golden-furred Caamasi Releqy A’Kla, former judicial prosecutor Ta’laam Ranth, and Jedi Master Tresina Lobi.

Luke, Mara, and Kenth took seats along the side of the square reserved for them. Cilghal and towering Madurrin opted to stand. Luke had wanted to have Kyp accompany them, but he, Lowbacca, Corran, and many of the other Jedi Knights had remained on Zonama Sekot to begin the process of bonding with seed-partners—the embryos of Sekotan ships.

“Welcome back, Master Skywalker and Mara,” Cal Omas said from the weak holofield. “I apologize for having to attend virtually, and also for the absence of Triebakk, who is on Kashyyyk just now.”

“We understand,” Luke said.

Kre’fey cleared his throat in a meaningful way. “Because time is of the essence, I will come straight to the point: preparations are under way to move the combined fleets to Corulag, as phase one of a planned assault on Coruscant.”

“How soon will you launch?” Luke asked.

“Within seventy-two standard hours.”

Luke glanced around the tables, his gaze lingering slightly, almost clandestinely, on Wedge, Tenel Ka, and Keyan Farlander. “All of you are in agreement on this?”

Kre’fey nodded, seemingly for everyone. “But that’s not to say that we won’t delay the countdown, or even rethink the operation if you can show good cause for our doing so. We didn’t invite you here as a mere courtesy. The Jedi have played an instrumental role in this war from the start, and we have come to rely on your guidance, as well as your special strengths. I hope your months of … journeying have given you insight into some way of ending this war.”

“They have,” Luke said.

Sovv looked at him. “Just where have you been, Master Skywalker?”

“In the Unknown Regions, searching for Zonama Sekot.”

“The planet you appear to have ushered into the Coruscant system,” Brand said.

Luke turned to the human commodore. “I had no more to do with ushering Zonama Sekot into known space than I did with designing the planet’s hyperspace engines. It came of its own volition.”

“It?” Brand said.

“Zonama Sekot,” Luke repeated.

Kre’fey and Brand swapped perplexed glances. “We’re eager to hear your reaction to our plans,” the Bothan said.

Luke nodded. “When I learned that you’d moved the combined fleets from Mon Calamari, I assumed that Coruscant was to be the target.”

“Were we wrong to reposition?”

“No,” Luke said emphatically. “With the HoloNet incapacitated, the closer we are to Coruscant, the better.”

“Corulag is closer still,” Sovv said in a leading way.

Luke firmed his lips. “Corulag is too close. By moving there we’re certain to provoke a response from the Yuuzhan Vong.”

Sullustan Niuk Niuv spoke to it. “The Yuuzhan Vong are going to want to finish what they began at Mon Calamari. Whether the flotilla repositions or holds fast, an enemy response is guaranteed.”

Niuv had long been opposed to Jedi intervention in military matters. Some had interpreted his split from would-be Chief of State Pwoe after the Battle of Borleias as a hopeful sign, but, in fact, his presence on the Advisory Council was little more than an accommodation to lingering anti-Jedi sentiment.

“Not necessarily,” Luke said. “The presence of Zonama Sekot has thrown Coruscant into turmoil. By now the so-called heretics are rising up, and the elite and the military are divided on what course of action they should take. The hyperspace jump was designed to bring this about. The fact that the timing was so fortunate—that Zonama Sekot’s arrival drew the Yuuzhan Vong armada from Mon Calamari—convinces me that our actions were right. As a means of continuing what we’ve started, I hope to persuade you to allow the disorder on Coruscant to play out. If we do this, it’s my belief that Shimrra will be brought down from within, and that we can then reach an accord with the Yuuzhan Vong warmaster.”

Luke’s statement unleashed a torrent of criticism and rebuke. With everyone speaking at once, Mara leaned in to whisper, “Welcome to the downhill stretch.”

Luke’s confidence in the heretics was not all it might have been, considering that the so-called Prophet was none other than Nom Anor. But given the galvanizing effect Zonama Sekot had had on the heretics, it was possible that the movement had taken on a life of its own.

“The reports we have received corroborate that Coruscant is in turmoil,” Kre’fey allowed when most of the separate conversations had died down. “Which is precisely the reason to strike. The Yuuzhan Vong may never be this weak again. Yes, Shimrra stands a chance of being brought down by the heretics, but it’s not Shimrra we’re worried about. We’re worried about the armada. We succeeded in inflicting damage at Mon Calamari, and unless we follow through now, we fear we’ll lose what scant advantage we have.”

“The armada isn’t any weaker now than it was when Mon Calamari was attacked,” Kenth said. “What damage we did has been offset by the arrival of Yuuzhan Vong battle groups from far-flung sectors. More important, Coruscant’s planetary shields—the dovin basal gravitic fields—have yet to be tested, let alone stormed.”

“We’re not concerned about the orbital dovin basals,” Sovv said in a dismissive way.

“Regardless, attacking Coruscant is not the solution,” Luke added. “Under Shimrra’s influence, the World Brain has the capacity to render the entire planet uninhabitable. So unless that’s our aim, we must rethink our strategy.”

“The matter of the World Brain was raised at earlier briefings,” Sovv said succinctly. “With all due respect, Master Skywalker, that information has never been confirmed.”

“We will also have the advantage of fighting in our home system,” Brand said. “Our pilots will be able to fly circles around the Vong, lead them on chases, attack from Weerden, Thokos, Salliche … Thanks to what the Remnant has provided, we now know routes into and out of the Deep Core that the Vong haven’t explored. Insertion points from Empress Teta; exit points up and down the Ag Circuit. What’s more, we don’t have to worry about inflicting secondary damage on the planetside population—not all of it, at any rate.”

Kre’fey regarded Luke. “You must understand, if it were any world other than Coruscant … But retaking Coruscant is fundamental to building and maintaining the Galactic Alliance. Who controls Coruscant controls the Core, and without the Core the Alliance is nothing.”

Luke set his elbows on the table and interlocked his fingers. “You’re thinking like the New Republic did.”

“You were a member of the New Republic, Master Skywalker,” Niuk Niuv’s hologram said.

Luke nodded. “But this is a different war. A war that can’t be won the way you’re planning to win it. Would you annihilate every Yuuzhan Vong in order to free Coruscant and all other occupied worlds?”

“We might,” Brand said.

“Was that the intent when Alpha Red was deployed?”

The question hung in the air for several moments before Sien Sovv spoke. “Alpha Red is not under discussion at this conference.”

“Then it’s not terminated?” Cilghal asked worriedly.

“I will say again that the project is not under discussion.”

Kre’fey was quick to change the subject. “We have a window of opportunity that could seal itself at any moment. How long would the Jedi have us wait?”

Luke frowned. “It’s not a matter of days or weeks. The Yuuzhan Vong have demonstrated time and again that they won’t surrender. It’s no more in their nature than a policy of extermination is in ours.” He looked around. “Unless all of you have changed dramatically in my absence.”

“Would you cede them Coruscant?” Airen Cracken asked.

“If I thought it would end the war, I might.”

“That’s a treasonous statement,” Brand said, then softened his tone to add: “We’ve had our disagreements in the past. Can we trust the Jedi not to interfere with what we have to do?”

“We won’t interfere.”

Kre’fey shot Brand a warning look. “For the sake of argument, and in the spirit of good fellowship, what would you have us do while we’re waiting for things to unravel on Coruscant?”

“Divide and redistribute the combined fleets,” Kenth said. “Dispatch battle groups to Bothawui, Bilbringi, and other essential worlds. Reclaim those systems while the Yuuzhan Vong are preoccupied with the heretics. Then, when they are truly at their weakest, move against Coruscant from as many systems as possible.”

Sovv made a fatigued sound. “Perhaps the Jedi are unaware that several Yuuzhan Vong battle groups have not heeded Nas Choka’s orders to withdraw to the Core. Rather, they appear determined to hold on to the systems they’ve conquered, regardless of what happens at Coruscant.”

“The dereliction of those commanders has nothing to do with maintaining superiority,” Luke said. “They’re afraid that they will be ordered to attack Zonama Sekot.”

Kre’fey shook his head in confusion. “Why should they be afraid? Just what is this planet to them?”

Luke stood up, encouraging everyone to focus on him. “Everything the Yuuzhan Vong might have been.” He paused, then added: “Fifty years ago, when the Yuuzhan Vong were first scouting our galaxy, they attempted to claim Zonama Sekot, and the planet fought them off. As a living world, it figures deeply in their religion, and its sudden reappearance is viewed as an omen of defeat—a sign from the gods that the invasion itself was a terrible mistake. In some respect, the Shamed Ones view the planet as important to their destiny—their liberation—and they will revolt if Shimrra sanctions an attack. But the real danger to Shimrra will come finally from his elite, some of whom are bound to see Zonama Sekot as a divine intervention.”

Kre’fey stared at Luke in wonder. “How do you come by this knowledge?”

Luke turned to the admiral. “From the lips of a Yuuzhan Vong priest, who even now is on Zonama Sekot.”

Brand narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “How do you know that this ‘priest’ isn’t a spy?” He looked imploringly at Sovv. “If word of our operation gets back to this priest—”

“Zonama Sekot knows the Yuuzhan Vong,” Luke insisted. “It knows how to deal with them. It is more like the original Yuuzhan’tar than Coruscant can ever be made to seem.”

Kre’fey was clearly in a quandary. “You keep saying it. Are you referring to the planet itself?”

“Yes.”

Sovv was beginning to lose patience. “If Zonama Sekot has some secret plan for ending the war—as either mediator or battle station—it had better act quickly. As things stand, I see no reason to alter our plans for moving against Corulag.”

“There’s no room for neutrality at this stage,” Brand said. “You’re part of the Alliance or you’re against it.”

Gilad Pellaeon broke a brief but uneasy silence.

“I’ve been reluctant to broach this. But Imperial records suggest that former Grand Moff Tarkin once expressed interest in Zonama Sekot, based on rumors that the planet was capable of producing living ships.”

Sovv and the others watched Luke.

“Is that the planet’s secret?” the Sullustan asked. “Is Zonama Sekot planning to wage its own war on the Yuuzhan Vong?”

“Zonama Sekot will not produce warships,” Luke said flatly.

Kre’fey gave his head a mournful shake. “Master Skywalker, unless Zonama Sekot’s governing body is at least willing to permit the planet to be employed as a staging area for the assault on Coruscant, it is of no use to us.”

“The … governing body won’t permit that.”

“Then can we at least employ it as a diversion?” Brand asked. “If, as you say, it has already destabilized the Yuuzhan Vong, perhaps we can make it appear more of an actual threat. If the Vong can be induced to attack Zonama Sekot, we may have a clear shot at Coruscant.”

Luke considered it. “It may be willing to do that.”

Kre’fey put his hands flat on the table. “It’s now or never. I’ll grant that attacking Coruscant constitutes a perilous risk, but it’s one we have to take. We can’t afford to be placed on the defensive again. Scatter the fleets, and who knows how many additional systems might fall. We simply don’t have the resources to jump from one to the other each time the enemy launches an attack. Attrition will become our enemy.” He looked at Luke and the others. “I realize that the Yuuzhan Vong are still strong. But battles aren’t always about numbers—as you well know, Master Skywalker, having turned the tide of the Civil War with a couple of well-placed proton torpedoes.”

“I had help with that,” Luke said.

“Are you suggesting that the Force isn’t with us now?” Sovv asked.

“The Force is always with us, Admiral.”

“Then we can rely on your help?” Kre’fey said.

Luke nodded and motioned to the Anx Jedi, Madurrin. “What Jedi we can spare will continue to serve on the bridges of our capital ships, as they did at Ebaq Nine and Mon Calamari.” He was about to add more, when Tycho Celchu suddenly entered the war room.

Before Tycho so much as uttered a word, Luke caught Cilghal’s sharp intake of breath.

“Please forgive the interruption, Admiral Sovv,” the blue-eyed human general said in a low voice. “I regret to inform everyone that my wife, Winter, has just contacted me from Mon Calamari, with news that retired admiral Ackbar has died.”

As she approached Zonama Sekot’s landing platform, Jaina saw that Corran, Kyp, Tekli, Alema, and several of the other Jedi had gathered while she had been off searching for Jacen.

With five seed-partners apiece, Kyp and Saba had bonded with the highest number. Fist-sized, fuzzy white orbs, the seed-partners had attached themselves to Kyp’s robe and Saba’s tunic. Corran had four, while Kyle, Lowbacca, Alema, and the other candidates were hosting only two apiece.

Jabitha had said that Anakin Skywalker had bonded with nine—the highest number anyone had ever bonded with. The Magister had also explained that when the seed-partners eventually sloughed their shells they would be able to crawl about on four tiny legs, and issue shrieks and whimpers.

Thinking about it only increased Jaina’s disappointment and confusion.

Zonama Sekot’s air was still a comfortable temperature, though not as warm as it had been when she first arrived. Reuniting with everyone had been wonderful, but after two local-days of swapping stories the inactivity was starting to get to her. She recalled having felt the same on Mon Calamari after her return from Hapes, while Luke had been occupied matching wits with Vergere, Jacen had been off reef-diving with Danni, and the members of the Smugglers’ Alliance had been busy rigging the election of Cal Omas.

With Coruscant a microjump sunward and a final confrontation with the Yuuzhan Vong looming on the horizon, she wanted more than ever to be back in the cockpit of her X-wing, if only to keep from losing her edge. But Twin Suns One, along with the Millennium Falcon, Tesar Sabatyne’s skipray blastboat, and the other starfighters, remained in stationary orbit. That left only the Sekotan shuttle, which was off-limits to her, and the planet’s numerous airships, which were more for sailors than fighter pilots.

She was considering her options, when Jacen stepped from a dense growth of boras.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” she said. “Where were you—practicing making yourself small or something?”

Jacen emerged from his trance or musings—or daydreams, for all Jaina knew—and gazed at her. “The Force is strong here. The usual methods don’t work.”

“That’s for sure,” she muttered.

Jacen watched her for a moment. “Are you angry about something?”

She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I guess I’m just disappointed.”

Jacen glanced at Kyp and the others and understood immediately. “Because none of the seed-partners bonded with you.”

“What else?” she snapped. “I mean, I’m as good a pilot as Kyp, Saba, or Corran, and they bonded with seed-partners right away. At Mon Calamari, I flew my X-wing into combat with only one engine!”

“Piloting skills have little to do with the bonding process,” Jacen said. “Or with courage, for that matter.”

She forced a sigh. “Great. Then I guess I’m just not as attuned to the Force as they are.”

“You know that isn’t it.” Jacen placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her toward him. “It could be that Sekot sees some other purpose for you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Easy for you to say. You didn’t even try bonding with the seed-partners.”

The idea appeared to amuse him. “I’m not anything close to a pilot.”

“Yeah, well, neither am I. I’m just the official Sword of the Jedi—whatever that means.” She fell silent for a moment, then said, “Jacen, do the Yuuzhan Vong pose a threat to the Force?”

He shook his head. “They’re a threat to the Jedi, because they’d have all of us embrace their religion and their gods, and see the universe strictly as they see it. But no matter how the war is decided, individuals will continue to find their way to the Force. It’s not a flame the Yuuzhan Vong can extinguish—any more than the Sith could.”

“And you’re still willing to fight to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“In my own way. I’ve learned something about myself since Centerpoint.”

“From Vergere, you mean.”

“From Vergere, from Sekot, from all of you. I’m starting to think that the Force—at least as we understand it—is only one facet of a finely-cut gemstone, and that maybe the sum of it is even greater than its parts.”

Jaina looked over at Kyp and the others. “At least Zonama Sekot is willing to fight alongside us.”

“That will be Sekot’s decision.”

She turned to him. “Based on what? On whose interests the Jedi are serving?”

“We serve the Force,” Jacen said. “None other.”

“Is that justification enough for obliterating the Yuuzhan Vong?”

“No,” he said, seemingly more firmly than he had intended. “They are not outside the Force. According to Sekot, they have been stripped of the Force.”

“So I’ve heard,” Jaina said. “But, then, what do you think the Force wants for the Yuuzhan Vong?”

Jacen smiled lightly. “If I knew, we’d have the answer to ending the war.”