• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

“It is silent!” Harrar snapped. He turned to Khalee Lah and then waited for the warrior to grasp the significance of this.

Horror crept over the scarred face. “It is not possible,” he said, his voice dulled by shock. Despite his lesser stature and the demands of protocol, he elbowed the priest out of the way and placed his own hand against the neural sensors.

“This is impossible,” he repeated, despite the truth the yammosk revealed. “Somehow Jaina Solo has blocked the yammosk: information is flowing to her, but not back to the priestship!”

Harrar drew him aside. “You advised me against equating this human with our great and devious Yun-Harla, and rightly so. But perhaps you should consider the possibility that she is somewhat more than you thought possible.”

Khalee Lah stood for a moment, his bearing proud, his scarred face conflicted. Then he inclined his head in a chopping nod.

“Perhaps,” he agreed.

ELEVEN

Jagged Fel eased his clawcraft into a long, spiraling descent over Ithor, searching the lifeless sphere for some remnant of the once verdant world he’d fought to save.

The dark, rocky planet bore a distressing resemblance to a Yuuzhan Vong ship. Dry riverbeds gouged the surface like the scars on the faces of their warriors. It was said that the invaders believed themselves created in the image of their gods. Apparently they were determined to pass along the favor.

Jag’s comm crackled. “What do you hope to find here, Commander?” inquired a low-pitched female voice.

“A reminder,” he said softly. “This is why we’ve come, Shawnkyr. This is why the enemy must be stopped.”

He pulled his ship into close formation with his wingmate, close enough to see into the TIE fighter ball cockpit of the Chiss craft. Shawnkyr Nuruodo’s pale blue face was composed, showing neither grief for Ithor nor condemnation of Jagged Fel’s unorthodox views.

Jag wondered, briefly, what Shawnkyr really thought of their “scouting mission.” A Chiss warrior did not strike first—this was not only tradition, but a matter of honor. Yet she had followed him to Ithor before and showed every indication of following him now regardless of the path he chose.

“Next coordinates?” she inquired, as if in response to his thoughts.

Jag consulted the navigational computer—a feature newly added to his clawcraft—and gave Shawnkyr the end points of a minor hyperspace route.

“That is in the Hapes Cluster,” she observed.

“Yes. The queen of Hapes has opened the Interior Region world to refugees. If the Yuuzhan Vong follow their pattern, they will attack this system.”

“House Nuruodo will wish to hear of this attack, if it occurs.”

Jag heard the unspoken words. Shawnkyr was a member of the powerful House Nuruodo clan, which commanded the Chiss military. Shawnkyr’s advice would carry considerable weight with the official Chiss military. This scouting mission would influence the path taken by the Chiss under General Fel’s command, but it had potential for an even greater impact.

Until then, however, Jag and Shawnkyr were on their own. They could expect little from the desperate people they’d recently abandoned, and could offer them nothing but their own best efforts.

They fell silent as they prepared for the hyperspace jump. Their new clawcraft boasted navigational systems and hyperdrives far superior to their accustomed ships, as well as enhanced weapon systems. Jag had no intention of starting trouble, but he intended to walk away from any fight that found him—after winning it, of course.

The growing pressure of sublight acceleration pushed him back into his seat. He settled in as darkness enveloped the ship, intending to snatch a short rest during the hyperspace flight.

Sensors prodded him awake in what seemed like moments. Shawnkyr’s ship emerged as a blur on his port side, like a nebular haze against the sharper starlines behind. The warning sensors on Jag’s console awoke also, but as if from a nightmare: abruptly, screaming.

Jag’s eyes focused on the slack, terror-stricken faces of two human pilots, clearly visible