Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 21_ The Unifying Force - James Luceno [129]
He promised to explain fully when they arrived.
Dismayed by what had unfolded on Caluula, Han and Leia had departed almost immediately for the Core, but not before both of them had been thoroughly examined by medical teams, and Leia had met with Alliance Chief of State Cal Omas, to acquaint him with the tragic truth about Alpha Red and what its deployment may have loosed on the galaxy. A fellow Alderaanian, Omas had been shaken by Leia’s report, and had claimed that deployment of the biological agent had been a difficult decision, born of difficult times—one that might have saved countless lives.
The Yuuzhan Vong vessel that had evaded Errant Venture’s, weapons at Caluula was still unaccounted for, and it was hoped—even by some members of the Alliance’s militant factions—that the craft had died in hyperspace. Omas had given his word to Leia that the Alpha Red project would be terminated at once, but she feared that, with Dif Scaur continuing to helm the Intelligence division and the Bothans still crying for ar’krai, Omas might not be able to make good on his pledge again. At best the project would remain on hold until Alliance scientists could determine if Alpha Red had actually been responsible for the deaths of so many of Caluula’s winged-stars and flitnats. If the bioweapon wasn’t to blame, then Alpha Red would continue to hang over everyone’s head, as if a sword suspended by a delicate thread.
That had been seven standard days ago.
With the Perlemian still under sway of the Yuuzhan Vong, Han and Leia had taken the long way to the Coruscant system, jumping the thoroughly repaired Falcon to Kashyyyk, Colla IV, and Commenor, then skirting the Corellian Trade Spine into the Core. At the same time, Sovv and Kre’fey had united the scattered Alliance fleets in the Mid Rim, at Contruum.
Alliance command hadn’t known what to make of the reports that had eventually reached Mon Calamari by couriers of a planet that had streaked from hyperspace into the Core. With no actual recordings of the event, all Sovv, Kre’fey, and the rest had to go on were the statements of resistance fighters and smugglers, and a few grainy holos of a verdant world that hadn’t been there days earlier, now orbiting in the Coruscant system. What mattered was that whatever it was that had nearly collided with Coruscant had drawn the Yuuzhan Vong armada back to the Core, along with the secondary cluster of vessels, which had turned up briefly at Contruum, only to make an abrupt departure—presumably upon learning of the newly arrived planet.
Not one of the top-ranking Alliance officers was willing to state publicly that a planet had transported itself to the Core from the far reaches of the galaxy. Privately, however, many professed a belief that the Jedi had put their heads together and collectively moved the planet—as they were rumored to have moved Imperial warships during an attack on Yavin 4 some twenty standard years earlier.
For days Kre’fey waited for the recalled armada to storm the mystery planet, but no attack had been launched. Resistance groups were reporting that the planet had fomented widespread fear and confusion on Yuuzhan’tar, not only among the Shamed Ones, but also among the priests and other elite. Whether or not that was the case, Warmaster Nas Choka had positioned the vessels of his mighty flotilla in broad cover of Yuuzhan’tar, apparently while Supreme Overlord Shimrra made up his mind about what to do.
A proximity alert sounded in the Falcon’s cockpit.
“Coming into visual range,” Leia said.
Han began to edge the Falcon out from behind the asteroid. “Let’s have another look at those charts.”
Leia called a map to the display, showing Coruscant’s system of planets, sunward from Revisse to the OboRin comet cluster. The coordinates Luke had sent placed Zonama Sekot on the ecliptic, in orbit between Coruscant’s Rimward brethren, Muscave and Stentat, at