Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 21_ The Unifying Force - James Luceno [25]
Seventy-five-year-old Airen Cracken, whose intelligence briefings had literally given shape to the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War, stood at the lectern.
“First I want to thank all of you for reporting at such short notice. If there was time, I would have included this information in tomorrow’s scheduled briefing, but with HoloNet transmissions disabled, we’ll need to dispatch couriers immediately if we’re to pull this operation together.”
Cracken activated a switch on the lectern’s slanted top, and a holoprojection appeared to his left, detailing an unidentified sector of the galaxy. Cracken used a laser pointer to indicate a star system in the upper right quadrant, which expanded as the pointer’s red beam touched the holo’s sizing node.
“The Tantara system,” Cracken continued, “looking Coreward from Bilbringi. The principal stars are Centis Major and Renaant. The closest habitable world—presently occupied by the Yuuzhan Vong—is Selvaris.”
Cracken nodded at Han and Leia, then gestured to them. “Captain Solo and Princess Leia have just returned from Selvaris. There they were successful in rescuing a prisoner who escaped from an enemy internment camp constructed on the surface. Among those we have been able to identify as fellow prisoners in the camp are Captain Judder Page, of Corulag, and my own son, Major Pash Cracken.”
Murmurs of genuine surprise swept through the room.
“How come nobody told us that?” Han asked Leia out of the corner of his mouth.
She shushed him gently. “Let’s at least hear Airen out before we make a fuss.”
“Okay,” Han said slowly. “But just this once.”
“A resistance group operating on Selvaris was able to obtain important intelligence, and pass that intelligence along to Captain Page and Major Cracken, who are currently the highest-ranking Alliance officers in captivity at the camp. The intelligence was encrypted as a complex mathematical formula, which was memorized by the Jenet escapee, and decrypted only two hours ago. It provides us with details of a Peace Brigade mission to transport to Coruscant several hundred Alliance officials and high-ranking officers who are being held on Selvaris and in more than a dozen such camps along the fringes of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion corridor. We now know when the pickups are to be made, and we know the route the Peace Brigade convoy plans to use in reaching Coruscant. We don’t yet know the reason for this mass relocation, but we have a good guess.”
“No wonder Wedge said he has a stake in this,” Han whispered. “Some of the officers Cracken is talking about were probably captured during the attempt to retake Bilbringi.”
Wedge stepped to the lectern and took over for Cracken.
“Alliance spies placed inside the Peace Brigade have alerted Mon Calamari command that a Yuuzhan Vong religious ceremony of great significance is scheduled to take place on Coruscant sometime within the next standard week. The purpose of this ceremony is unclear. It could mark the anniversary of some historical event, or its purpose could be to quell the rising tide of discontent that continues to plague Coruscant. The purpose is immaterial, in any case, since it is our belief that the prisoners being transported to Coruscant are to be sacrificed at this ceremony.”
Separate conversations broke out throughout the amphitheater. Leia tuned them out to absorb the tragic news in silence.
Almost since the start of the war, the seditious Peace Brigade had transported everything from hibernating amphistaffs to captives for sacrifice. Mixed-species renegades, there wasn’t anything they wouldn’t do for credits and the freedom to move about the galaxy as they wished. But there was small profit in being a Brigader any longer. Those who weren’t hunted down and killed by Alliance operatives