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Ta’a Chume nodded thoughtfully. “And if the Yuuzhan Vong can modify these creatures to various purposes, why not you?”

“That’s my thinking,” Jaina agreed. “If the captured pirates have been given implants—and I’m betting they have—I’d like to have the implants removed and altered.”

“An excellent notion, as far as it goes. You’ve no doubt considered the obvious problem: If these creatures form a mental link between the slaves and their Yuuzhan Vong masters, won’t the Yuuzhan Vong be able to perceive any changes?”

“Hard to tell. The Yuuzhan Vong can impose mentally transmitted orders on their slaves, but they don’t seem able to pick up what the slaves are thinking. If they could, Anakin wouldn’t have been able to infiltrate their base on Yavin Four.

“On the other hand,” she continued, “there are variations among these implants, and it’s hard to know what they can and can’t do. I’ll just have to make sure that there’s no information to transmit.”

“You feel confident that you can accomplish this?”

Jaina gave the queen a slow, cool smile. Then she picked up her glass and glanced at the door. She reached out with the Force, sending a powerful compulsion to the presence she sensed lurking there.

Trisdin entered almost immediately, making it apparent that he’d been listening at the door. Ta’a Chume’s eyes turned glacial.

The courtier came over to sit beside Jaina and cupped her hand and the glass in it with both of his.

“Not like that,” he advised her, smiling warmly. “Let me show you how. You swirl it around, like so. You must awaken it gently and coax warmth into it. Only then—”

“Is the sweetness revealed,” Ta’a Chume broke in coldly. “Thank you, Trisdin. Once was rather more than enough. Leave the door slightly ajar behind you as you leave. I want to hear the sound of your fading footsteps. Rapidly fading,” she added pointedly.

He sent the queen a puzzled look and rose to do as he was bid. For a moment the two women listened to the courtier’s departure. Ta’a Chume turned to Jaina, eyeing her with open respect—and a good deal of speculation. “Your point is well made.”

“Too well,” Jaina said dryly. “I tried to strip from his memory everything he’d heard me tell you, but apparently I rewound him a bit too far. As you observed, that wine glass trick wasn’t worth repeating.”

“Even so, this is most impressive,” Ta’a Chume mused. “What such skills would be worth to a queen!”

An image of Ta’a Chume as a Jedi flashed into Jaina’s mind. She banished it as quickly as possible. “I need to know what those Vong communication devices can do. I promise you, the pirates will remember nothing of the process.”

“Why should it matter, if they are in prison?”

“It wouldn’t—if they were imprisoned.”

“I see.” Ta’a Chume smiled faintly, approvingly. “As a means of creating spies or saboteurs, this has promise.”

“I’m not trying to change the pirates’ allegiance. What I want is a viewport into the Yuuzhan Vong technology. We don’t understand much about them, and our lack of knowledge is the best weapon they have. The Republic scientists have been working on finding answers, and they’ve been making some progress. These implants could be another key to unlock the puzzle of communication.”

The queen considered this. “But you lack the expertise,” she concluded, once again getting to the heart of the matter.

Jaina grimaced and nodded. “I can fly just about anything that works and fix just about anything that doesn’t—as long as we’re talking about conventional vehicles. The Vong technology makes no sense to me. I was wondering if someone on Gallinore could be persuaded to help me.”

“Gallinore,” Ta’a Chume mused. “Yes, that might work.”

“I’ve read that many of Gallinore’s unique creatures were bioengineered,” Jaina continued. “It seems to me that the Gallinore scientists might be closer in procedure and purpose to the Yuuzhan Vong shapers than most of the New Republic scientists.”

“I agree,” Ta’a Chume said. “And they have the further benefit of not being New Republic scientists. What they discover, you can share with the Republic,