Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 21_ The Unifying Force - James Luceno [102]
“Correct me if I’m wrong, Meloque,” Wraw said, “but unless you’re aging more gracefully than a Wookiee, you’ve never actually observed a Nocturne.”
“That’s true,” she told him. “But on Moltok we have been able to simulate the life cycle in controlled settings.”
“Maybe the Yuuzhan Vong have something to do with the casings not opening on schedule,” Han suggested. “They might have introduced some organism that’s affected the ecology. Look what they did on Tynna and Duro.”
“I find that very improbable,” Meloque said. “Those worlds were altered for strategic and logistical reasons, where a world like Caluula must please the Yuuzhan Vong to no end. For all the barbarity they’ve demonstrated, they have a reverence for life.”
Wraw snorted. “You sound like a sympathizer, Professor.”
“Wraw,” Leia said sharply, but Meloque only waved her sucker-equipped hand in dismissal.
“What other attitude can be expected from a member of a species that has declared its intent to exterminate the Yuuzhan Vong?” Meloque was referring to the Bothan doctrine of ar’krai, or total war.
Wraw laughed. “I was only joking.”
His head fur betrayed nothing. Leia waited until Meloque and Ferfer had left to search for additional shells before she went over to Wraw. “I don’t think Meloque appreciates your sense of humor.”
Wraw shrugged. “What can I say? We’re worlds apart.”
“Then your cynicism doesn’t stem from your commitment to an amoral, unprofitable career?”
“Amoral, maybe, but certainly not unprofitable.”
“In terms of credits, you mean.”
“What other terms are there?”
Leia glanced at Han, who merely spread his hands. “Go ahead and poke him if you want to. I won’t try to stop you.”
Just then Page and Kyp returned to camp. Page looked from Han to Leia to Wraw, then back to Han. “We interrupting something?”
“Just a little campfire sing-along,” Han said.
Page didn’t ask for an explanation. “We found signs of a Yuuzhan Vong patrol—tracker beasts and a couple of those twelve-legged mounts.”
“Bissops and quenaks,” Sasso said, getting to his feet. “We’d better get moving. The sooner we cross the next ridge, the better.”
Everyone pitched in to load the remaining gear. With Ferfer riding point, they climbed to the crest of the ridge, then began a slow, switchback descent through dense forest. Sasso, Page, and Kyp rode ahead to scout the trail. Halfway to the valley floor, Han spurred his timbu to come abreast of Wraw’s.
“I figure you spend a lot of your time hanging around with low-life characters,” Han said. “But everyone here is on the same side, understand?”
“You’re one to talk about consorting with low-life characters, Solo.”
Han forced a smile. “I got over it, pal. So maybe you should look to me as an example.”
The Bothan nodded. “I’ll give it thought.”
Han fell back to ride alongside Leia.
“Why do you even bother?” she asked.
“Well, either I’m going to change his mind, or I’m going to change his face.”
“You still won’t be rearranging the person inside.”
“Maybe not, but I’ll feel a whole lot better.”
Leia heard rapid hoofbeats up ahead, and a moment later Kyp rode up.
“Yuuzhan Vong. They’re climbing out the valley.” He pointed down through the trees. “Just there—at that stand of broadleafs.”
“Is there a way to avoid them?” Leia asked.
“No. And we can’t afford to fight them here.”
Han rose up on his stirrups and motioned to an outcropping of rocks below the next switchback. “Looks like a decent ambush point.”
Kyp nodded. “That’s my thinking, too.”
They hastened through the switchback and into a gulch, where Sasso and Page were waiting. Ferfer led the mounts away, and everyone