CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Though there had been peace with the Imperial Remnant for over six years, Corran still felt a sense of dissonance as he watched Admiral Gilad Pellaeon enter the briefing room aboard the Ralroost. Admiral Kre’fey greeted him warmly, shaking his hand. The Imperial admiral acknowledged Master Skywalker with a nod, then turned and smiled at Corran.
“I had a chance to study your initial report from Garqi. Good work.”
Corran blinked, then nodded. “Jacen Solo prepared the report, I just corrected some spelling. I’ll pass your comments on to him.”
“Please do.” Pellaeon took a seat across from Corran at the lozenge-shaped briefing table. That left Admiral Kre’fey at the head, Master Skywalker at the Bothan’s right hand, and Corran on Luke’s right. “We have quite a situation here.”
Kre’fey seated himself. “We do, on several different levels. I cannot thank you enough for having intervened when you did. The intelligence assets you have in the New Republic are clearly very thorough.”
“Not as thorough as you might imagine.” The Imperial officer leaned forward on his elbows, pressing his hands flat against the table’s black top. “We can speak plainly, and will need to before the politicians arrive. I brought my force here after I heard of your abortive raid. My assumption was that either you had inserted assets onto the planet, or that a previous attempt to exfiltrate assets had been rebuffed. It suggested something of value on Garqi that I wanted to know about, so we had been there for two days by the time you arrived.”
“The data we recovered would have been yours immediately, regardless of what my superiors might have said.” Kre’fey scratched with claws at his throat. “And, yes, we must speak plainly because the politicians are going to complicate things incredibly.”
Corran sighed and slumped down in his seat a bit. The task force had leapt to the edge of the Garqi system, rendezvoused with the Imperial force, then had plotted a course directly for Ithor. Admiral Kre’fey issued a call for reinforcements, scientific teams, and a lot of support that raised alarm on Coruscant. While they did say they were sending what they could, a report also came in that Borsk Fey’lya and a number of the key senators and ministers would be coming to Ithor, as well. Once there, no one had any doubts, they would begin to interfere with what really needed to be a military operation.
“I harbor no illusions, Admiral Kre’fey: the moffs will be as opposed to my helping you defend Ithor as your leaders will be to having Imperial forces operating in the New Republic.” Pellaeon’s eyes narrowed. “They are not going to see this the way we do. The battle for Ithor will determine the course of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. If we win here, they are blunted and can be driven back. If we lose here, I am not sanguine about the New Republic’s chances for survival—nor those of Imperial Space.”
“We are in dire circumstances, to be certain.” The Bothan’s eyes tightened. “You should know, Admiral, that we have no access to any of the Empire’s old superweapons. Reports of their destruction are true, no matter what rumors to the contrary still circulate.”
Pellaeon smiled. “And we have none, either. It is just as well, because those weapons were difficult to employ in defense.”
“And the Remnant bringing them into the New Republic, for whatever reason, just would not be tolerable.” Kre’fey nodded. “The defense of Ithor will be difficult enough without having superweapons entering the mix.”
“It’s true, this isn’t going to be easy.” Luke brushed a hand over his mouth. “We have a couple of problems here on Ithor. The first is scientific. It is possible to take grafts from bafforr trees of the line that produced the pollen on Garqi; however, the trees take years of growth before they become mature enough to produce pollen. Even if we take samples away and plant groves all over the New Republic, it could take as much as a decade before the plants would be able to produce the pollen we need.”
Corran frowned. “But Ithorians are well known for their skill at cloning and genetic manipulation of botanicals. My grandfather maintains an ongoing correspondence with them concerning the stuff he does. They should be able to synthesize the pollen we need.”
The Jedi Master winced. “This leads us to the second and more difficult problem we face, regardless of whether synthetic pollen would be as effective as the genuine thing. Ithorian society is based on a religion that worships the forest and world and life. If we were asking them to produce something as medicine, something that would further life, they would agree in a heartbeat. We’re asking them to manipulate the stuff of life to create a weapon. They won’t do that.”
Kre’fey arched a pale eyebrow. “There is no way to appeal such a decision?”
Luke shifted his shoulders uneasily. “I have spoken with Relal Tawron, the high priest who replaced Momaw Nadon as the Ithorian leader. The fact that the bafforr trees on Garqi contributed pollen to the fight means they would be willing to let us harvest pollen and create new groves. They take the action on Garqi as the trees’ consent to opposing the Yuuzhan Vong. He is, however, reluctant to modify or abandon other tenets of their faith. For example, the Ithorians apparently allow no one to set foot on Ithor.”
Pellaeon shook his head. “I doubt the Yuuzhan Vong will abide by that rule.”
“Relal knows that, and is willing to be somewhat practical in that matter, but it will require concessions on our part. Our people on the ground will have to be blessed, will have to observe certain restrictions.”
The Bothan admiral sat back in his chair. “The high priest must realize that any restrictions are likely to be forgotten in the heat of battle.”
Luke nodded. “He would not say that, but that is the sense I got from him. He is in a precarious position. The Ithorians are very peaceful. This invasion and even the preparation for it could shatter Ithorian society.”
Corran leaned forward. “We are all agreed, though, that the destruction of the Pesktda Xenobotanical Garden on Garqi is only buying us time. The Vong will attack Ithor. Given the threat it presents, I could see them just popping into the system and using dovin basals to pepper the planet with asteroids. One solid impact and pretty much everything dies.”
“We can screen the planet against that, though.” Pellaeon nodded. “Asteroids would take long enough to come in that we could pulverize them.”
“I would also have to think, Corran, that given how the Yuuzhan Vong view biological things the same way we do machines, they would want to learn more about Ithor.” Luke closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again. “The report of what you saw on Garqi could be a blueprint for what they could do with Ithor.”
“No argument there, and we’ve not had another Sernpidal in this second wave, so the Vong leadership seems to be approaching things in a more logical manner.” The Corellian Jedi shrugged. “Standard defense, then? Engage in space to make landing troops difficult, then fight them as they come down and on the planet?”
Kre’fey nodded. “I would prefer to stop them in space, but to neglect a planetary defense would be silly. We have some elite troops, both from the New Republic and Imperial Space, that can take up positions on the ground. They’re disciplined enough to work within the Ithorian strictures, at least until hot light starts flying.”
The New Republic admiral looked to his Remnant counterpart. “That decision, though, will be up to you, Admiral.”
Pellaeon looked startled. “What are you saying?”
Kre’fey smiled carefully. “You are the senior officer here, with far more experience than I have. I’ve fought the Yuuzhan Vong several times and never come away with a clean victory, so I am not seeing something. I would like you to be in command of the defense of Ithor.”
Corran arched an eyebrow. “Well, the politicians won’t like that at all.”
The Bothan flashed fangs for a second. “We can package the defense nicely, all this joint planning and everything, but when the battle comes, I still want you in charge, Admiral. By that point it will be too late for them to object.”
The human admiral nodded slowly. “You will be second in the chain of command, of course.”
“Honored, yes.”
Pellaeon smiled quickly. “And then who? Master Skywalker?”
The Bothan glanced at Luke. “Jedi fought on the ground at Dantooine and again at Bimmiel. Will they have a role here?”
Luke pressed his hands together, and Corran caught a faint impression of emotional pain from his Master. Jedi were not combat troops, but were trained to fight in ways that would be very useful on Ithor. Because Ithor teemed with life, it fairly well pulsed with the Force, so Jedi would be drawn to defend it, as well. Still, things they might be called upon to do would be outside the boundaries of strictly defensive action.
The Jedi Master glanced at Corran. “Your thoughts?”
“No question we have to help with the defense.” Corran sighed. “In essence, the whole of the planet will be held hostage. I’m not sure there is anything we could do here, short of slaughtering innocents, that would be of the dark side. And I’m fairly certain there will be no Vong innocents on the planet.”
“If there are Yuuzhan Vong who surrender?” Pellaeon asked.
Luke shook his head. “The slaves they use as proxy troops can’t surrender, and the Yuuzhan Vong themselves, well, I have a hard time believing they would surrender to us.”
“I don’t know as how I’d trust any of them who would surrender.” The Corellian frowned. “On Dantooine, didn’t Mara run into some who had killed civilians, then used ooglith masquers to take on their appearance for the purpose of slaughtering more civilians?”
The Bothan tapped a talon on the table. “Good point. We will have to review normal rules of engagement and inform our people that surrenders may not be respected. Not knowing about the Yuuzhan Vong, about their culture and traditions, makes the task of figuring out how to fight them so much more difficult. We can guess, we can make inferences, but we just don’t know.”
Pellaeon smiled. “Grand Admiral Thrawn set great store by studying the art of a culture as a key to understanding it. I don’t know what he would make of the Yuuzhan Vong, but the few Chiss that came in from the Unknown Regions took to fighting them very eagerly.”
“Yes, the Chiss in their clawcraft.” Kre’fey smoothed fur at the back of his neck. “You can rest assured that Coruscant did not like hearing that there was a whole contingent of Thrawn’s people lurking out there. I’m sure many of them fear you’ll use the Chiss to carve a new Empire from the New Republic.”
The human admiral shrugged. “I might have, had I known they were there, but I was not privy to all of Thrawn’s plans. When we issued a recall to all Imperial agents and troops, no matter where they were, this contingent showed up with Baron Fel’s compliments, and led by his son.”
Corran shook his head. “Who would have guessed?”
“I knew.” Luke’s declaration came in a low voice, so low that Corran wasn’t certain he’d heard it. “Back during the Bothan crisis, when I went to find Mara, we found Admiral Parck and Baron Fel. They were overseeing an effort set up by Thrawn, including a facility to clone a replacement of Thrawn. They indicated there was fighting going on in the Unknown Regions, that they were holding back some sort of threat to the Empire out there. They were no threat to us, so passing on the information about their existence out there would have been a distraction for the peace process.”
Kre’fey blinked his gold-flecked violet eyes. “If certain ministers knew you’d withheld this sort of information, they would take it as proof positive that you desire some sort of Jedi hegemony to rise up, and you thought you could use the Chiss to make that happen.”
Corran frowned. “That’s nonsense.”
“Oh, I know, I’m just telling you what will happen if that information gets out. For our purposes, though, we know we have someone holding that flank for us. This is good.” The Bothan glanced at Pellaeon. “How much in the way of military forces will you be able to bring here?”
“My staff is still working up plans. At least one operational group: four Imperial Star Destroyers, eight Victory-class Star Destroyers, and assorted support vessels. We can have them all here, or stage some at Yaga Minor to make a drive at Garqi, since we have to assume they will be staging from there.”
Kre’fey nodded. “I can draw comparable strength, though a number of the ships will have to be staged at Agamar. They will threaten Garqi and also reinforce the escape route for anyone fleeing the Yuuzhan Vong. If we have to, I can pull those resources from Agamar, but then we know that world will fall.”
Corran’s heart sank at the Bothan’s words. As much as he would have liked it to be otherwise, the chances were that Agamar would face a Yuuzhan Vong assault and would be conquered. Its conquest might precede that of Ithor, allowing the Yuuzhan Vong to secure an even closer staging area, but even slight pressure on Agamar could pin down New Republic forces, denying them to the defense of Ithor. The Yuuzhan Vong had to attack Ithor and do it quickly, lest the New Republic be able to reinforce it enough that it couldn’t be taken.
The real problem with the loss of Agamar was that it would, in effect, cut the Remnant off from the New Republic by shutting down a key hyperspace route between them. Aside from Ithor, the nearest New Republic world would be Ord Mantell, but getting from Yaga Minor to Ord Mantell was not easy and involved a lot of minor jumps and a long time. Corran wasn’t certain, in the long run, how much help the Remnant would be in the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong, but since they’d just helped save his life, he was inclined to want them in the fight for the long run.
Pellaeon shrugged stiffly. “This is ever the plight of the military man. We know where we can deploy our forces for best effect. That is a rational decision based on numbers and analysis. We both know that Ithor is the key here. The Yuuzhan Vong have to come in sufficient force to take it. If we strip defenses from elsewhere, we provide a tempting alternative target. Some people suffer so others will not. We can provide the best response as per our brain, but it isn’t the right response according to our hearts.”
He spread his arms wide. “We have approximately two weeks before your leaders get here, and I imagine some of mine will arrive, too. In that time we will have to come up with a plan in which we show them we are splitting responsibility and risk to the gain of all. This means we will make concessions to political considerations that we don’t want to make, in essence slipping binders on our own wrists before we go into this fight. I don’t like that any more than you do, but the alternative is for our leaders, fighting between and among themselves, to impose their own binders on us.
“I’d much prefer the binders I choose than theirs.” The man’s eyes sparkled. “After all, if I tie myself up, it’s with the knowledge I can get out of the binders. And in this coming fight, if we can’t do that, everything—Ithor, New Republic, and Imperial Space—is doomed.”