Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 06_ Vortex - Denning Troy [134]
Their destination stretched across most of the top of the screen, but the lack of reaction behind Luke suggested the island remained hidden from his passengers. Fallanassi illusions worked from the inside, using the White Current to create an impression within the victim’s mind so vivid and realistic that his own intellect worked against him to supply the tiniest details—and to conceal anything that might cast doubt on its reality.
After a moment, Taalon shook his head. “I see nothing.” He leaned forward and spoke into Luke’s ear. “I warn you, if you think you can lead us astray, you are badly—”
Taalon’s threat was interrupted by an astonished cry from the navigator’s seat. “Lord Taalon!” Khai extended his arm and pointed at the tactical display. “Look!”
Taalon said something harsh in his native language, then asked, “How is that possible?”
Luke glanced down and, just rounding the island, found a familiar designator symbol: SHIP.
“What kind of tactical readout is this?” Taalon demanded. “SHIP? What kind of ships? How big? Do they pose a threat?”
“They?” Luke asked, puzzled.
“Have you no eyes?” Khai demanded. “The readout shows a whole squadron—and we’re flying straight into it!”
“Oh, those ships,” Luke said. The display showed only one designator symbol, so the “squadron” was obviously another Fallanassi illusion. “Aren’t they yours?”
“Ours?” Taalon asked.
Luke pointed at the symbol on his screen. “That’s not just any ship,” he explained. “It’s Ship—the meditation sphere. Until now, we didn’t realize you had a whole fleet of them. So we’ve just been using Ship’s name as its designator symbol.”
Luke continued toward the island on a straight course, wondering how long it would take Taalon to admit that the illusory vessels weren’t his. The more desperate the Sith were to project a strength greater than they possessed, the more likely it was that they were actually very weak, and that would be valuable information to have. Even so, Luke was ready to put the Shadow into an evasive dive at the first tingle of danger sense. The range of most spacecraft weapons was greatly diminished in atmosphere, but Ship remained enough of a mystery that it was impossible to know how soon it might open fire.
The dark speck of a distant vessel appeared on the horizon, about a kilometer to one side of the island, and began to grow rapidly as it closed with the Shadow. Luke kept his thumb poised over the targeting pad on the pilot’s yoke, but he stopped short of arming the concussion missiles—or even designating Ship as a primary target. Both actions would trigger confirmation messages that his passengers were likely to notice.
When Taalon still refused to admit the illusory vessels were not his, Luke said, “Have your squadron fall in behind the Obuuri. It will be easier if everybody follows the Shadow in.”
“Easier for you, perhaps—and for anyone targeting them,” Taalon replied. “I will decide how to deploy my squadron, Master Skywalker.”
By the time the High Lord had finished speaking, Ship had swelled to the size of a thumbnail and was probably close enough to open fire. Either Taalon actually believed that he controlled the squadron of Ships, or he was more afraid of appearing weak than he was of dying. Either way, it was time to call the High Lord’s bluff.
“In that case, would you mind asking the squadron to swing about?” Luke asked. “We’re entering combat range, and I don’t like having all those plasma lances pointed my way.”
“Plasma lances?” Taalon asked, obviously bewildered.
Luke lowered his voice in suspicion. “You haven’t heard about the plasma lances?” He armed the concussion missiles and designated Ship as the primary target, then caught Taalon’s eye in the mirrpanel. “How can you be in command of meditation spheres and not … oh, you aren’t!”
Taalon’s bewilderment turned to a knowing smirk. “Nice try, Master Skywalker, but there