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“Ground Vong, probably—if he had a few examples of their art.”

“Yes, sir,” Cel said. She paused. “I’ve heard good things about Admiral Pellaeon.”

Wedge nodded briefly. “He was here, too. Of course, he was with Thrawn, fighting for the Empire. I’ll have to ask him how he remembers that whole thing, once this is over.” It’s like some weird reunion, he thought. Pash was here then, as well, a starfighter pilot like me.

Now he was the general in charge of the flight group, Pash Cracken was the commander of Memory of Ithor, and Pellaeon was on their side.

“The best thing about Pellaeon was that he knew his limitations,” Wedge said. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s a very good tactician and excellent at command—but when Thrawn died, he didn’t kid himself that he could salvage the battle. That alone set him apart from most Imperial commanders, who more usually had inflated opinions of themselves. It’s why we were able to beat them early on. The Vong are a little like that.”

He said that last more to reassure the obviously nervous lieutenant than because it was the absolute truth. True, a lot of Yuuzhan Vong commanders fought on when they ought to retreat, but it was from a very different sensibility than what had motivated, say, Grand Moff Tarkin. A more dangerous sensibility.

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said. “Let’s just hope we don’t get surprised at Bilbringi.”

“Lieutenant,” he said, as the reversion alarm began belling, “I can promise you that if we are, I’m absolutely never coming to this system again.”

But realspace brought no surprises. They decanted exactly as planned, and in a few moments tactical displays began explaining, in their mechanical way, the situation.

Which was also pretty much what they had expected. Below them, toward Bilbringi’s primary, were what had once been the Bilbringi shipyards. Some of the shipyard structures were still there, though the Golan II Battle Stations that had guarded them were conspicuously absent.

And in the asteroid belt near the shipyards, the Yuuzhan Vong had set up their own shipyards. Of course, the Yuuzhan Vong grew their ships, feeding them the raw materials of the asteroids.

Finally, there was a sizable flotilla assembled. He counted two interdictor cruisers—made obvious by their spicular configuration—and twelve additional capital ships ranging in size from about half to nearly twice the size of Mon Mothma.

His battle group was less than a third as large, but then again, he was less than a third of what was really in store for the Yuuzhan Vong at Bilbringi.

“Orders, General?” Commander Raech asked.

“Start bringing us in,” Wedge said. “Pellaeon and Kre’fey are under orders not to rendezvous here until we’ve assessed the situation and given the clear, and pinpointed their most strategic positions. Let’s do our job and make sure we don’t lead them into a trap.”

“Very good, sir.”

The battle group began to move in.

“Sir,” the officer at control informed him, “message coming in from Memory of Ithor. For you, sir.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant, I’ll take it.”

A moment later, Pash Cracken’s voice came over the comm. “Well, General,” Pash said, “seems like old times.”

“Yes, I was just thinking that, too,” Wedge replied. “At least things are starting smoother this time.”

“You can say that again. Boy, they’ve really redecorated, haven’t they?”

“Yep. Maybe I’ll hire them to do my place on Chandrila,” Wedge quipped.

“Right. Early Vong deco. Whoops—looks like they’re moving,” Pash said. “I’ll let you get back to the general thing. Don’t forget I’m back here, okay?”

“That’s not likely. Good to have you on my wing, Pash.”

“Thanks, Wedge.”

Wedge turned his attention back to the coming battle. The Yuuzhan Vong ships were in motion, all right, forming quickly into two groups. One was about the size of his own, and included one of the interdictors. The other, more massive group began moving away from the shipyards.

“Steady,” he said. “They’re still a long way away. Let’s see if they do what I’m hoping