Dark Tide: Onslaught Page 12

  Jacen smiled cautiously. “I wouldn’t have thought of that precaution.”

  “We’re here to learn what we can to safeguard the rest of the New Republic.”

  His nephew’s head came up. “And to see if we can find anything that will help cure Mara, right?”

  Luke nodded. “That, too. Our mission is more important than we are. We take no stupid chances, but we don’t shrink from duty, understand?”

  The young man nodded. “I do, Master Skywalker.”

  After arranging the communications relay setup with R2-D2, the two of them changed from their Jedi robes into A/KT combat jumpsuits. The close-fitting, single-piece garment reminded Luke a lot of his pilot jumpsuit, though this one was colored a green dark enough to be almost black. The elbows and knees were well padded, and stiff trauma pads were inserted breast, back, and along the arms and legs to provide added protection. Having heard from Mara just how savagely the Yuuzhan Vong fought, Luke wanted to take no chances.

  If they’re going to be armored, so are we. He tugged on some straps, tightening the suit up, then pulled on a helmet and gloves. He also donned his goggles. Lastly he fastened a blaster around his waist and hung his lightsaber from a clip on the suit. “I’m ready.”

  Jacen nodded. “I’m good to go.”

  Jacen’s suit appeared to be identical to Luke’s, save for the color. It was a deep dark red, much darker than the color of dried blood. Luke realized that the suit’s color would hide any blood that might leak out of Jacen, sending a jolt through him. He allowed calm to flow in to the wake of that thought, though, knowing that he’d be aware through the Force if Jacen were hurt, and taking comfort in the fact that his nephew wasn’t stupid.

  “We’re just out to gather some facts, Jacen. Nothing heroic on this trip.”

  “I got it.”

  The two of them slipped from the ExGal compound and headed southwest, through a region of low hills. The green ground cover had spread fairly far and wreathed many a tree that had died under the Yuuzhan Vong environmental assault. There were some signs of native plants trying to make a comeback, but what they had decided was alien foliage seemed poised to move in and smother them. Through the Force Luke gained an impression that was perfectly normal and healthy concerning the Yuuzhan Vong plant; yet everywhere was evidence that its spread was anything but benign.

  The other plants here aren’t prepared to deal with this invader, so it just spreads and spreads, doing what it does naturally. The implications of that idea tightened his shoulders. The Yuuzhan Vong were certainly analogous to the plant they’d brought to Belkadan. If the New Republic wasn’t ready to repulse them, the Yuuzhan Vong would spread throughout the galaxy. Doing what they do naturally.

  What the Yuuzhan Vong did naturally became more clear as Luke’s sense of the frayed ones grew. He and Jacen moved through what had once been a forest. The toppled trees had been carpeted with the green vines, creating more than enough shadow to hide the two of them. They crept up a hill, to the crest line, then carefully slipped over and hid behind the bulk of a fallen log.

  They looked down into a broad, shallow valley that had a decently sized stream running through it. The green vines grew throughout, though they did leave circular openings of black sand at various points. In the center of these circles were small plinths, all pointing needle-sharp noses toward the sky.

  In the center of the valley lay a small cluster of buildings. The green plants grew around the perimeter of them and took on a shrublike quality at the edges. Aside from where bare paths would allow people to move from the shacks to the plinths, the plants would make it tough for passage. Anyone running from the village would undoubtedly get their feet tangled and would go down.

  Not that the folks in the village look as if they are capable of doing much running. Luke slipped a pair of macrobinoculars from a pocket on his left thigh and focused them on the heart of the village. He saw what looked to be a pair of Trandoshans, a Rodian, a half-dozen humans, and a Twi’lek shambling listlessly along. All were barefooted and walking awkwardly, as if their knees had been broken and then only partially repaired.

  He looked closer for signs of trauma and saw nothing as obvious as scars, but there were odd calcifications on the legs, exposed areas of the arms, and even the skulls of these creatures. Concentrating, Luke got a sense of them through the Force and could see the life energy flowing in them in a muted fashion; these people were the stressed life-forms he’d sensed before. The energy seemed to eddy around these odd formations, revealing that, at least on some of them, the bony protrusions also extended deeply into their skulls and body cavities.

  He passed the macrobinoculars to Jacen. “Tell me what you see.”

  Jacen focused and watched. Force energy gathered as he concentrated. “Those things, those growths . . . they work like restraining bolts on a droid?”

  “That would be my guess.” Luke’s blue eyes narrowed. “And the people—any idea where they came from?”

  Jacen looked again. “The clothing is pretty bad, but some of it has pirate insignia on it. Rim raiders that the Yuuzhan Vong ran into and made into slaves?”

  “I think so, too.”

  His nephew shivered. “The way they feel in the Force is just not right.”

  “I know. It feels almost as if they’re dying by degrees.”

  “What is the sense of killing your labor force?”

  Luke shrugged. “If they were able to pick them up so easily on the Rim, perhaps they think the supply is infinite. It might also be that they’re adapting their slave control technology to the inhabitants of this galaxy. Maybe they don’t mean to kill them, but they need more work on their control devices. I don’t know.”

  “It’s definitely creepy, no matter what is happening.” Jacen stretched out on his belly, lowered the macrobinoculars, and looked at his uncle. “What are they doing here?”

  Luke pointed at the plinths. “Anything familiar about them?”

  “Not really.”

  “Okay, use the Force. Concentrate on the flow of life within the valley.”

  Jacen closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Everything is moving in, toward the plinths, along the vines.” His jaw hung open for a second, then he looked at his uncle. “These plants are like a big solar collector. They’re channeling energy and the nutrients they’re sucking up back into the valley, toward the things. That sand is black because of a nectar the plants are flooding into it.”

  “That’s what I sensed.” Luke pointed a finger at the plinths. “Unless I miss my guess, I’d say those plinths are coralskippers in their infancy. We’re looking at a shipyard. They’re growing a squadron right down there, and they’re using slave labor to help do it.”

  The youth studied the valley again, then shook his head. “Growing fighters? How efficient can that be?”

  Luke accepted the macrobinoculars back from him and opened a small compartment on the device. He snaked out a small cable and connected it to his comlink, then focused on the plinths. “The ships look fairly well along, and Belkadan has been under Yuuzhan Vong control for less than a month. That output would rival an Incom factory turning out X-wings, and since these ships are living and can heal, the wastage rate is lower than we get with our machines. What’s stunning here is the speed with which they’re able to grow these ships. This is serious trouble.”

  He turned off the macrobinoculars, unhitched them from the comlink, and returned them to his pocket. “We got some good visuals. Come on.”

  Jacen looked puzzled. “Shouldn’t we wait until dark to free the slaves?”

  “We have other things we have to do first.” Luke pointed toward the west. “There are more slaves over there. Either they’re growing more coralskippers, or they might be growing other components for the ships. We need to see what is going on.”

  Jacen followed him as they worked their way west. They came across one valley that resembled the one they’d just vacated, save tha
t what had been plinths were simply small rocks in the ground. The village was completely overgrown, and Luke caught no evidence of slaves in the area.

  One difference he did discover was a dozen-meter-long bit of stone that appeared to be lifeless obsidian. It had the outline of a coralskipper, but where there had been a cockpit opening on the one he’d examined on Dubrillion, this one remained sealed in stone. Luke ran his hand over the fighter, letting his fingers play over the irregularities in its surface.

  Jacen frowned. “I don’t get it. Why did they leave one behind?”

  “Birth defect?” Luke raced a finger along the line of the cockpit canopy. “It grew without a separation here. Could have been a local microbial infection, or just lousy genetics. Perhaps the xenoforming of the planet was intended to sterilize the nurseries, then free up the sort of nutrients that the plants need to feed the ships. Something went wrong with this one, so they dumped it. Still, this indicates they must be growing other components elsewhere, because the propulsion creatures aren’t here.”

  Jacen squatted in the coralskipper’s shadow and parted the alien ground cover’s leaves to expose the soil. “Look at this. The dirt isn’t black anymore.” He took some up in his left hand and smoothed it against his palm with his thumb. “It’s completely sterile.”

  Luke dropped to his knee beside Jacen. “I wonder . . .”

  “What?”

  “An Ithorian once explained to me that there are some crops that exhaust the soil in which they are raised. Perhaps the Yuuzhan Vong have done that here, raising a crop of coralskippers too fast.” He nodded to his nephew. “Take a sample of the soil, and we can have Artoo check it later.”

  Once Jacen got the sample, they continued their reconnaissance mission and discovered a small lake with water thickened by the presence of brown algae. On the water, which lapped weakly at the shores, floated plants with three large blue triangular leaves. From the center grew a stalk, and from it hung two round berries, about the size of a human’s head. Some plants did have more than just two, and by the far shore, Luke spotted a different species with slightly smaller berries growing in bunches.

  Jacen frowned. “Villips? Their communications devices?”

  “I think so. Different sizes for different needs, I suppose.” Luke sighed quietly. “So much to learn about them.”

  From the cover of large rocks, they watched as slaves waded through the turgid water, using ladles to pour water over the villip plants. One, an older man whose spine sprouted horny growths, could barely lift a dripping ladle to bathe a villip. The ladle slipped from his fingers, and he tried to catch it. He lunged forward to grab it, but lost his footing and went down in the water.

  The man started splashing in a panicked manner, churning the water into a yellow-brown froth. Several of the other slaves started shouting. They vocalized in a high range that rose above Luke’s ability to hear, though the anxiety pouring off them slammed into him in waves. Several started for the drowning man, high-stepping through the gelatinous fluid as fast as they could.

  A harsh whip crack froze them in their places. Appearing at the western edge of the lake, backlit in the dying sun, stood a tall and lean figure. His right hand snapped out and forward again, cracking the whiplike weapon in his hand. After the second snap, the whip became a staff, and the figure brandished it over his head, pumping it upward the way one of the Sand People would triumphantly pump a gaffi stick.

  The Yuuzhan Vong—Luke knew it was one because the figure didn’t exist within the Force framework—dashed forward, splashing his way into the lake. He artfully cut between villip stalks and reached the row where the man was striking for the surface. The man reached out as the Yuuzhan Vong extended the amphistaff toward him. The man grabbed at it, then recoiled, with his hand sliced open. He started to scream, but fluid boiling up out of his throat sank it into a gurgle.

  The Yuuzhan Vong lunged with the amphistaff, driving the sharp, flattened end through the man’s chest. As he pulled the amphistaff back, the man came halfway up out of the water, then slipped from the staff. The Yuuzhan Vong stabbed him twice more, then stepped back away as the man flopped into the water one last time. The body bobbed there for a second, then, leaking air from lungs and mouth, slowly sank from sight.

  The Yuuzhan Vong raised the amphistaff and shouted something. The slaves understood enough of it to cower. The amphistaff then slacked for a moment before coiling itself around its owner’s arm. The Yuuzhan Vong strode from the water, then beckoned over two slaves, a man and a woman. They pulled off the rags they wore and dried the Yuuzhan Vong’s legs.

  A siren of sorts echoed through the hills. The Yuuzhan Vong shouted another order, and the slaves formed themselves into a rough line. They began to trudge off to the south. The Yuuzhan Vong took one last look at the villip paddy, then strode off along the path his slaves had taken.

  Luke felt an emotional chill coming from his nephew. “I’m sorry you witnessed that.”

  “I’m sorry for the man who died there.” Jacen shook his head. “The Yuuzhan Vong I faced when rescuing Danni—they were formidable, but nothing like that one. He had no mercy at all in him.”

  “No, just a cold, efficient killer. He was bigger than the one Mara fought, longer and leaner. I wish I had seen more than just a silhouette.”

  Jacen smiled. “We’ll get to see them up close soon enough.”

  Luke shook his head. “I certainly hope not.”

  The younger Jedi blinked. “But we have to do something for the slaves.”

  “Do we?” Luke’s expression sharpened as disbelief rolled out from Jacen. “Remember why we’re here.”

  “To save the New Republic, and those people are part of the New Republic.” Jacen pointed to the south. “You can feel how much pain they’re in, how much damage the Yuuzhan Vong have done to them. How can you not think of moving to free them?”

  “I do think of it, but I also know it’s not practical, not at this stage. We have a lot to learn here. It’s not a satisfactory choice, but a necessary one.”

  Jacen’s head came up. “Freeing them will doom the New Republic? Or will it merely make your mission to save your wife that much tougher?”

  Luke stiffened, but choked down the outrage his nephew’s question had sparked in him. It helped that he could read the horror in Jacen’s eyes, but the question had still stung bitterly. “Is that what you think the real reason for our being here is? You think I would come here just to save Mara?”

  “I think, Uncle Luke, that you love her so much that you’d do anything to save her.” The youth glanced down. “I’m sorry for saying what I did. I didn’t mean it.”

  “Actually, Jacen, you did mean it. It is a paradox. We have to allow some people to be in pain so others can avoid it. It’s an easy choice when you’re the one who will be hurting, but tougher when others have to suffer. You have to agree, though, that we can do nothing right now. We don’t know enough about the Yuuzhan Vong presence here; we don’t know enough about the slaves; we don’t even know if they can be saved. For all we know, they’ve agreed to this treatment.”

  Jacen glanced out at where the man’s body had returned to the surface and floated there placidly. “I can’t imagine his death was part of any bargain.”

  “You’re probably right, but we are not in a position to do anything for the slaves.”

  “But, to do nothing, that’s not . . . not being a Jedi.”

  The flesh around Luke’s eyes tightened. “I thought you were the one who didn’t want any part of these missions. I thought you were the one who decided the essence of being a Jedi was to go off and study your relationship with the Force.”

  “I . . . I did, but—”

  The Jedi Master cut him off. “Jacen, you have to understand something, something very important. As smart as you are, as much training as you have, as much of the galaxy as you’ve seen, you still are only sixteen years old. You only have sixteen years of experience.”

  Luk
e sighed. “Having more experience doesn’t mean making difficult decisions are easier, but it does let you know that sometimes the tough decisions must be made.”

  Jacen’s expression hardened into an impassive mask. “I understand, Master.”

  You use the word Master with the same tone a slave might use to address his owner. Luke shook his head. “We need to get back to the ExGal facility before darkness falls completely. Without being able to sense the Yuuzhan Vong through the Force, we’re more vulnerable at night. Besides, going back there will give both of us time to process what we’ve learned today, and think about what we need to find out in the future.”

  Jacen shrugged. “It’s a plan, Uncle Luke. A plan.”

  A ripple of dread ran through Luke at the tone of his nephew’s voice, but the Force brought to him no vision of what might yet happen on Belkadan. He reached out and settled a hand on Jacen’s shoulder. “Just remember, some problems have no easy or elegant solution. The Yuuzhan Vong are clearly one of those problems.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Trapped in the cockpit of his X-wing as it hurtled through hyperspace, Gavin Darklighter had nothing to do but sit and wait. For as long as he could remember, he’d never liked having to wait for his fighter to revert to realspace. That dislike had increased when he became Rogue Squadron’s commander. Prior to assuming command I only had myself to worry about. Now I have a lot more to concern me.

  Unconsciously he twisted the silver ring on his right ring finger, even though it and the fingers that moved it around were sheathed in heavy flight gloves. The ring had the Rogue Squadron crest on it—a crest he’d designed when he first joined the squadron. It also sported the quadruple-dot rank insignia of a colonel on either side.

  Tycho Celchu and Wedge Antilles had given it to him upon his assumption of command. They had chosen to retire after peace had been won with the Imperial Remnant, and both had evidenced great pride in welcoming Gavin into a position that only they and Luke Skywalker had held in Rogue Squadron. They’d had the ring made up specifically for him, and presented it to him on a special “commander’s night out.”