Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 21_ The Unifying Force - James Luceno [179]
Tenel Ka’s flotilla had arrived moments after the Yuuzhan Vong capital ships had begun their move against Zonama Sekot, and had immediately arrayed themselves in a blockade. The new-generation Battle Dragons were twin-saucered ships with turbolasers and ion cannons placed along the rims, made all the more lethal since the New Republic had finally shared its weapons-recharge technology with the Hapan navy. The enhanced Dragons were also equipped with pulse mass mine launchers that were nearly as effective as dovin basal singularities when it came to deflecting weapons fire and interdicting ships from jumping to hyperspace. In contrast, the shape and sleekness of the Consortium’s Nova-class cruisers brought to mind Old Republic-era hand blasters. As agile as starfighters and as deadly as warships twice their size, the cruisers were preventing Yuuzhan Vong vessels from penetrating the Dragons’ daunting barricade.
Closer to Zonama Sekot, flaming red Errant Venture, along with squadrons of X-wings and Hapan Miy’til fighters were preying on the advance coralskippers the task force had dispatched to test the planet’s defenses. Trapped between the deep-space squadrons and the atmospheric craft flown by the Jedi, the coralskippers were being decimated. And now that capital ships were involved, the planet itself had brought out its big guns, firing salvos of stunning ion fire from the summits of mountains twelve kilometers high.
Equidistant from the task force and blockade, Lando and Tendra had an overview of the entire battle, but Lady Luck’s seeming brazenness had made her the object of unwanted attention, and the Calrissians were being forced to do more running than spying. Their updates of enemy maneuvers had twice saved Booster Terrik from being taken by surprise, and they were a critical link in relaying intelligence between the Star Destroyer and the Jedi pilots, who, at last word, had finally managed to talk their living ships into returning fire.
The Yuuzhan Vong gave every indication of having been thrown into disorder by their obvious miscalculation. The pilots of the skips were fighting for their lives, and the task force itself was fast coming unglued, with cruiser and destroyer analogs maneuvering without rhyme or reason, making themselves easy targets for the precision lasers of the Hapan cruisers and the ranged weapons of the Dragons.
Only total confusion could account for the fact that some of the vessels in the task force were actually turning on one of their own.
The victim was the vessel that originally had been flying at the center of the Yuuzhan Vong’s elongated diamond formation. It had remained at the center all through the initial coralskipper assault on Zonama Sekot, but was now being raked with plasma fire by four of the surrounding cruisers. Lando and Tendra saw the vessel split wide open, and yet instead of exploding, the cleaved vessel released a smaller vessel that was concealed inside.
A corvette analog, the six-armed craft had a scaled hull and an upraised, curving stern.
Not unlike two vessels Errant Venture had destroyed at Caluula.
A slayer ship.
“They’re supposed to be hyperspace-capable,” Lando said. “So why did they need to transport this one?”
“It looks off,” Tendra said.
One eyebrow raised, Lando glanced at her. “Off course?”
She shook her head. “Off color. It looks ill.”
Lando’s blood ran cold. He commanded the scanners to provide him with a close-up and analyze the vessel’s signature. Then he commed Errant Venture.
“Booster, we’re sending you signature data on a vessel in the task force,” Lando began.
“We’re busy, Lando,” Booster snapped.
“You’re not too busy for this. Run a comparison with whatever you’ve got stored in the Venture’s, memory, and tell me if we get a hit.”
“Hold tight,” Booster said. When after a long moment he spoke again, his