Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 09_ Edge of Victory 02_ Rebirth - J. Gregory Keyes [69]
Corran nodded. “Glad you approve,” he said sarcastically. But beneath his tone Anakin sensed a cool admiration that made him feel suddenly self-conscious.
“You ever consider a career in covert security?” the older Jedi asked. “Anyway, yes, that’s basically what I was thinking. Even if they think option one is the case—”
“Revolt?” Tahiri said doubtfully. “I don’t think so. Even if they could conceive of Shamed Ones killing warriors and shapers, they wouldn’t want to admit it. Do you know what would happen to the commander who let something like that happen on his watch?”
“As I was saying,” Corran went on, a little testily, “even if they consider one, they have to consider the others before they bring a whole fleet here or even a second ship. They’re trying to explain to Taan how to relay the telemetry of the sensing nodules, and she’s pretending to cooperate. So. Let’s hope they’re for real and we have a bit of time. Anakin, you were successful?”
“Yes. The signal isn’t that strong, so it may take a few moments to tune.”
“Get started, then.”
Anakin nodded and set to work. “Why Yag’Dhul, do you think?” he asked Corran, as he fiddled with the gain, focusing on the distant hum of hyperwave noise from farther insystem. “I mean, if they want Coruscant, they already have Duro to stage from.”
“They’re closing their back door. Yag’Dhul sits on the intersection of the Rimma Trade Route and the Corellian Trade Spine. It also gives them a clean shot at Thyferra.”
“Oh!” Tahiri said. “Bacta!”
“Right. If they control bacta production, they control the health of everyone in the galaxy. Or maybe it’s a ruse—the New Republic puts a lot of ships and matériel at Thyferra, and the Yuuzhan Vong try to take Fondor again or push on to a less-defended Coruscant from Duro. Either way, holding Yag’Dhul gives them a lot more options.”
Anakin had a steady feedback response. “All right,” he said. “We’re ready.”
“Hail the planetary defense force,” Corran said. He closed his eyes, concentrating. “Try …” He reeled off a quadratic equation, then smiled wearily. “It might not be right, but it ought to get their attention.”
“Hailing, Captain,” Anakin said.
Five minutes later, there was still no response. Anakin modulated the wave form, sharpened the gain, and repeated.
“It ought to be working,” Anakin muttered. “Unless they’re deaf.”
“Or unless their attention is focused elsewhere,” Corran mused.
“What do you mean?” Anakin asked. “Why wouldn’t they be watching their borders?”
“You don’t see any ships or even probes in this region, do you? The Yuuzhan Vong have softened up other worlds with internal conflict and other methods of espionage. They may already have agents here.”
“Or maybe they’ve already poisoned Yag’Dhul, like they did Belkadan.”
“Too slow. Word would get out,” Corran said.
“Unless they use something we haven’t seen yet,” Tahiri pointed out. “That’s what shapers do, you know, come up with new things.”
Corran nodded. “They do seem to keep condensing weapons out of nebular gas,” he allowed. “But—”
Their speculation was cut off by a whine and sputter from Anakin’s rewired comm unit. Behind a sleet of gravitic interference, the naturally armored figure of a Givin glowered at them with empty eyes. More than anything his—her?—face resembled a large human skull that had been melted, allowed to sag, and re-form.
“Yag’Dhul primary bastion to unidentified ship,” the Givin said. “You have used an outdated and illegal hail code. However, your ship conforms to the configuration of a Yuuzhan Vong reconnaissance vessel.” Then the mouth slit clattered something unidentifiable.
To Anakin, anyway. Tahiri gave a little gasp of horror.
“What did he say?” Corran demanded.
Tahiri turned her aventurine gaze on the other two Jedi.
“It’s Yuuzhan