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Leia glanced at a nearby array of holographic displays, instantly aware that she was seeing her vision realized—or at least some part of it. Whether the realtime images were being transmitted from satellites or an orbital facility was impossible to discern, and unimportant in any event. One holo showed dozens of Yuuzhan Vong and New Republic warships firing mercilessly at each other, while wings of snubfighters and coralskippers slalomed through the wreckage of orbital docks. Another holo revealed ships close to completion blackened, ruptured, and keeled over in their berthing spaces, command towers and gun turrets in ruins, clouds of debris making it impossible to get a clear fix on anything. Elsewhere, Yuuzhan Vong carrier analogs were hurling tempests of coralskippers toward weapons platforms and the surface of a world already afflicted by industrial devastation.

“That’s the Amerce,” Brand said grimly, indicating one of the destroyed ships. He pointed to another holo display. “That’s the Anlage.”

Leia looked at him in confusion. “Those aren’t Corellian vessels.”

Brand showed her one of the saddest looks she had ever seen. “The Yuuzhan Vong have struck at Fondor. They deceived us into believing they were going to attack Corellia, and they hit Fondor.” The words tumbled from his mouth without emotion. “Our greatest hopes go with those ships. The First Fleet is doing all it can, but the enemy is literally flinging their coralskippers at any target that presents itself.”

“The Hapan fleet is prepared to launch,” Isolder said.

“No!” Leia found herself saying. Brand and Isolder stared at her. “No,” she repeated quietly.

Brand looked at Isolder. “Thank you, Prince Isolder, but I’ve already ordered elements of the Fifth Fleet to launch from Bothawui. We’re waiting to hear from them.”

Leia swung to the communication console, her heart racing.

“Commenor command, this is Task Force Aleph,” a distressed voice said. “The enemy has seeded all routes linking Bothawui and Fondor with dovin basal remotes. Half the task force has been yanked from hyperspace, and six ships have been diverted into collisions with mass shadows. We’re in harm’s way, sir. We have no choice but to retreat to the Outer Rim and jump to Fondor from Eriadu or Sullust.”

“They’ll arrive too late,” Brand muttered, then turned to Isolder. “You say your forces are prepared?”

Isolder straightened to his full and considerable height. “Eager, Commodore.”

Leia’s breath caught in her throat, and the TIC began to spin before her eyes. She had to hook her arm through Brand’s to keep from falling.

TWENTY-SIX

As near as anyone had been able to determine, coralskippers didn’t dock inside their carriers. Instead they were launched from and recovered by the carriers’ elongated and branchlike projections. These facts passed briefly through Kyp Durron’s mind as his X-wing loosed two proton torpedoes straight at the sphere the Millennium Falcon’s quad lasers had perforated and collapsed. The torpedoes did little more than blow a hole in what remained of the deflated globe, but one large and gaping enough to accommodate any of the disparate fighters that made up the Dozen.

“Eleven and Twelve, you have rear guard,” Kyp said over the tactical net. “The rest of you form up on me. We’re going inside.”

Kyp urged his craft on, ignoring the strident protests of its astromech droid, which was clearly baffled by whatever readings the enemy ship was giving off. The Yuuzhan Vong were oxygen breathers, he reminded himself, which meant that their ships somehow manufactured atmosphere. He was less certain about gravity, though he surmised that the same dovin basals responsible for propulsion and protection provided gravity. As for places to land, he was willing to make do with any parcel of level deck, even if he had to pilot the X-wing to the heart of the ship to find that.

Ganner’s modified Y-wing and seven other starfighters followed him through the breach opened by the torpedoes. The pair left behind would have to deal with anything that flew to the cluster ship’s aid, at