Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 20_ The Final Prophecy - J. Gregory Keyes [54]
Han shrugged. “You’ve seen one sunset, you’ve seen ’em all.”
Something pinging interrupted his sleep. Han sat up and muzzily looked around for the source, finally identifying it as the comm unit in their room. Easing out of bed, he stumbled toward it and opened the channel.
“Yeah?” he mumbled. “This has to be good.”
“I’m not sure good is the right word, Solo,” a distorted voice said.
Han snorted. He wasn’t falling for that again.
“Cut it out, Droma, and tell me what’s up. What’s the Ryn network into now?”
“I’ve no idea what you mean, Solo,” the voice replied. “But something is definitely up.”
“Look, it’s late—no, it’s early,” Han said, rubbing his eyes with palm of his hand. “What is it?”
“The Vong have deployed something new,” maybe-Droma said. “They launched them a few days ago. Some kind of unpiloted drones, we think, unless they’ve developed some really small pilots.”
Han was wide awake now. “What kind of drones?”
“We don’t know what they do, if that’s what you mean. But it can’t be good. Figured I’d give you a heads-up. You might mention it to the military, too.”
“Yeah, I might,” Han said. “Is that all you can tell me?”
“At this time, yes. We’re trying to track one of them, but they’re slippery.”
“Some kind of weapon?”
“If I knew that I would tell you. But the Vong are excited about them.”
“Thanks,” Han said. Then more heavily: “And Droma, if this is you—I don’t appreciate the subterfuge. I mean, security is security, but I thought the two of us—”
But he was talking to a dead comm.
“Who was that?” Leia asked, from behind him. He hadn’t heard her approach, but he wasn’t surprised, either.
“One of our pals in the Ryn network, I think. Maybe Droma. You heard?”
“Yes.”
He reached for the comm. “I’d better pass this on.”
But when he tried to call control, he got put on hold.
ALL CIRCUITS RESERVED FOR MILITARY PURPOSES.
He frowned at the device, and then started for where he’d left his trousers.
“I’m going down there,” he said.
“I’m right with you.”
They arrived to a tense but relatively quiet situation room. They were greeted briefly by Sien Sovv.
“The first wave is about to go in,” the Sullustan said. “Under Antilles. He should be coming out of hyperspace in five minutes.”
“Mind if we stay?” Han asked. “When you’ve got a spare minute I have something to brief you on.”
“Of course you may stay. Your daughter is with Antilles, isn’t she?”
“Last I heard. But that’s not why I came down.”
“Can it wait, then?”
“I think so,” Han said.
He watched Sovv return to control, feeling itchy. He hadn’t spent much time in situation rooms—he’d always been on the other end of things, mostly ignoring everything he heard from control. Sure, battle computers were great, but they didn’t feel anything. They didn’t have instinct to help them out.
“General Sovv!” someone shouted.
“What is it?”
“Admiral Pellaeon hasn’t reported in, sir. He was supposed to alert us when he had reached position for the Bilbringi jump.”
“What’s the problem?”
“The HoloNet relay in that area seems to be down.”
“Can you boost the signal from the next nearest?”
“I can try.” The comm technician frowned and fiddled with something. “Sir, transmission coming through from HoloNet relay Delta-aught-six!”
“Put it on.”
An excited voice crackled over the comm. “… some kind of ships, very small. They look Vong, but don’t fit any of our profiles. We can’t get them all. Six of them have—” Loud static replaced the voice.
Small ships? The drones his unknown caller had warned him about?
“We’ve just lost touch with Gamma,” another communications officer reported. He punched wildly at his controls and then looked up, his face very pale. “Sir, the HoloNet’s down. I can’t find a live relay anywhere.”
“General,” Han said, “I think my news just became a lot more important.”
“The HoloNet is down,” General Sovv confirmed twenty standard minutes later, in a hastily convened meeting of the war council. “The cause is undetermined, though there is some evidence that it’s due to a new Yuuzhan Vong weapon—some sort