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“Of course I believe him. But these people aren’t as smart as we are.”

“That’s not what you said at Caluula.”

Han waved his free hand in dismissal. “Ah, that was only for show.”

Sovv was speaking. “Our attack on the Peace Brigade convoy at Selvaris was merely the first step in destabilizing Overlord Shimrra.”

“A question, Admiral Kre’fey,” said a wing commander Han didn’t know by name. “I thought we won the war at Ebaq Nine.”

“That’s not a question,” Kre’fey grumbled, “but I’ll address it anyway. The war will not be won until we’ve retaken Coruscant. Our crusade is not only justified, but essential. Coruscant cries out for vengeance!” He softened his tone to add, “Shimrra’s planned attack on Mon Calamari will leave Coruscant lightly defended and vulnerable. Even if we fail to catch Shimrra’s home defense fleet napping, it’s possible that we can kill Shimrra or make things too unpleasant for him to remain on Coruscant. An attack is the last move he expects us to make.”

“Our resistance leaders on Coruscant maintain that the time is ripe,” Airen Cracken said. “The Shamed Ones are ready to make their move. Intelligence now believes that Alliance prisoners were rescued not for sacrifice or hostage taking, but as a means of sending a signal that the heretics are ready to ally with us in the fight. Shimrra is well aware of the fact that he is fighting on two fronts, and his planned attack on Mon Calamari smacks of desperation. He knows that he needs to defeat us before we succeed in amassing a force sufficient to threaten him, or before the heretics conspire to pitch him from the throne.

“According to the same report Colonel Darklighter made reference to,” the general continued, “the seedship that conveyed the World Brain to Coruscant was overwhelmed, and thousands of captives escaped. Many of those former slaves—who have been forced to survive on grayweave and whatever they can forage, steal, or ransack—have found their way to the resistance. With help from us, they can weaken the Yuuzhan Vong from within. An unexpected attack on the world the enemy knows as Yuuzhan’tar will be as demoralizing to the Yuuzhan Vong as the fall of Coruscant was to the New Republic.”

The audience stirred, but no one had questions.

“I wish to speak for a moment about the attack on Mon Calamari itself,” Kre’fey said.

Again the Bothan’s hand went to the holoprojector controls. The 3-D image showed a pliable-looking, bulbous-headed marine-looking creature, trailing a mass of tentacles of varying length and thickness.

“A yammosk,” Kre’fey said. “The gigantic, genetically engineered creature that serves as a war coordinator for the Yuuzhan Vong. Its telepathic abilities, though limited, enable it to facilitate communications among war vessels, and to project its thoughts and feelings onto others—Yuuzhan Vong, human, and so on. By virtue of its capacity to meld with coralskippers and other craft, its presence can affect the outcome of any military engagement.

“Analysis of recent battle recordings suggests that the Yuuzhan Vong armada will take the form of this monstrosity—with warships, gunship analogs, and coralskippers strung out to represent tentacles, and capital ships, tenders, carriers, and actual yammosk vessels comprising the armada’s fortified heart.”

Kre’fey’s light pointer indicated the tentacles.

“Our strategy will be to sow confusion in these keys areas, by using our fastest ships to strike and fade, gradually opening fire lanes to the center. These attacks will commence the moment the armada emerges from hyperspace. As the main body of the armada nears Mon Calamari space, the ranged weapons of our largest ships will begin to hammer away at the center. Concurrently, courier ships will be dispatched to Contruum, where our fleets will be standing by. We anticipate that when the Yuuzhan Vong commander at Mon Calamari learns that Coruscant is under siege, he will attempt to jump some of his battle groups back to the Core, by way of Toong’l and Caluula, trusting the yammosks installed on those worlds to coordinate