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Kyp nodded. “It’s probably been that way from the beginning. But that doesn’t mean we still can’t pull this mission off. We just have to watch our backs.”

“Speaking of which, did Intelligence run backgrounds on Sasso and Ferfer?”

“You’d have to check with Wraw. I do know that both of them joined the resistance before the Yuuzhan Vong showed up in the Caluula system. Sasso even served on Caluula Orbital for a while.”

“So at least we’re not being sold to the Vong.”

“As far as I can tell.”

Sasso’s whistled signal wafted into the clearing, and several moments later he, Page, the Ryn, and Meloque stepped from the trees. In her sucker-tipped hands the Ho’Din cradled a dozen or so insects, delicately winged and equipped with large bioluminescent eyespots. She set them on the ground, then sat down beside them.

“They’re dead,” she announced in an anguished tone. “The entire forest is littered with bodies. In most cases they died inside their shells. Others appear to have died in flight.”

“All of them?” Leia asked, nonplussed.

Meloque shook her head. “But the survivors are moving very lethargically.” She gazed at Leia and the others. “Something terrible has happened here.”

Han and Kyp traded dark glances.

“Let’s get moving,” Page told everyone.

Several hours of mostly downhill trudging brought Team Meloque to a low ridge that overlooked the southern portion of Caluula City, and the prominent hivelike Yuuzhan Vong minshal that harbored the yammosk.

“There are three entrances,” Sasso explained from the spot of cover the team found. “Two in the front, and one on the east side. All of them are dilating membranes that can be pierced by blaster bolts. Guards are stationed at each, usually three or four at any given time. They stand long shifts, so it would be to our advantage to strike at sundown, just when the afternoon shift is ending. The garrison is made up of about seventy-five warriors. There’s also a commander, his subaltern, at least one priest, and one of those long-tressed technicians—”

“A shaper,” Leia said.

The Rodian nodded. “As for the yammosk, I don’t know how to kill it. But I’m guessing you have some idea.”

“Leave that to me,” Kyp said.

“It’s important that we take out their villip communications while we’re at it,” Page added.

Leia gazed out over the flat rooftops of the simple city. Judging by the position of the sun, the team was in for a long wait. Ferfer volunteered to find a place to conceal the timbus. He rose, but had scarcely moved off when a gurgling exclamation of surprise rang from just inside the tree line. Everyone whirled at once to see the Ryn staggering toward them, his belly opened like a ripe fruit.

Behind him emerged four relatively short and dark-complected Yuuzhan Vong warriors.

Han shot Leia the briefest of astonished looks and drew his blaster.

Page did the same with his rifle, but he hadn’t even lifted it to firing position when it was whipped from his grip by one of the longest amphistaffs Leia had seen, and hurled through the air like a twig. Sasso was already charging the enemy wielding the amphistaff, but he didn’t get three meters when the warrior leapt over him and, on landing, whirled and thrust a coufee deep into the Rodian’s back.

Kyp and Leia ignited their lightsabers at the same instant. Continuous fire from Han and Wraw had driven two of the warriors to the ground, but neither had been hit. Kyp raced for the nearest one, catching the warrior across the chest with a powerful upswing of his blade. The Yuuzhan Vong growled and rolled, but his dark, unarmored flesh showed only a shallow bloodless furrow.

Kyp whirled and brought the blade down like an ax. Evading the strike, the warrior rose to one knee and unfurled his amphistaff. The serpentlike creature elongated and wrapped itself around the hilt of the lightsaber. But Kyp wasn’t about to surrender his weapon. In a virtual tug-of-war with the creature, he spun and backflipped, but to little effect. At the same time, a second amphistaff lassoed him around the waist and arms and