Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 01_ Onslaught - Michael A. Stackpole [9]
Traest wore a black flight suit that he’d unzipped down to midchest. He closed the door to Gavin’s office, then unceremoniously plopped himself down on the couch to the left of the door. Gavin moved from behind his desk to one of the two chairs making up the conversation nook in his office.
He sat and rested his elbows on his knees. “It killed me in twenty-five seconds. What was it?”
The Bothan smiled. “Congratulations. I died in fifteen in my first engagement. Pulling the biological targeting data on-line is what gave you some warning.”
“If I weren’t dead, I’m sure that would make me feel better.” Gavin frowned. “Do we know what it was?”
The Bothan admiral raked claws back through his pale mane. “Two days ago Leia Organa Solo spoke to the senate and tried to warn them about an unknown alien force that had attacked several worlds on the Rim, out beyond Dantooine. She didn’t get a very warm reception. She left data behind, from which the simulation was created.”
Gavin sat back in his chair. “You’re telling me that seed, that ‘thing,’ is a starfighter being used by folks who attacked the Outer Rim?”
“Yes. Technically it’s called a coralskipper by the species that created it. They grow them out of something called yorick coral. I know the name is not terribly inspiring of fear, but I assume it loses something in the translation from their tongue. I’ve designated them ‘skips’ for our purposes.”
“And the princess brought this to the senate’s attention, and they didn’t listen?”
Traest shook his head. “Opposing forces have been gathering power to fight over the whole Jedi question. It’s heated up because of the charge that a Jedi’s rash action sparked the Rhommamool conflict. A number of powerful senators saw the princess’s story as an attempt to divert attention from the Jedi question. It didn’t help that Jedi were key to defeating the invaders.”
Gavin nodded. He’d never had a problem with Jedi and, in fact, counted one of them, Corran Horn, as a very good friend. There were some high-handed Jedi, but Gavin had seen those sorts of ego cases among fighter pilots, so their existence didn’t surprise him at all. The fact was that there were some tasks only Jedi could perform, and he’d been too long in the military to discard a force just because some of the elements were disruptive.
“Is there any evidence that the invaders are still coming in?”
“Actual, no, but logic suggests that the expenditure of resources needed to travel from galaxy to galaxy necessitates gaining a foothold through which those resources can be replenished.” The Bothan smiled. “If you spend enough credits to get somewhere, you usually plan to stay for a while.”
“Right, and the Rim worlds really aren’t the sorts of places you’d drop in for a vacation.” Gavin rubbed a hand over his mouth. “These skips—they’re fairly formidable. How do they move? How did they take my shields down?”
“We need more research to be certain, but it appears that they have creatures called dovin basals that are part of the fighter itself. They manipulate gravity, which is how they were able to soak off your shots and rip down your shields. We think that boosting the sphere of the inertial compensator can actually prevent shields being taken down. I also think that cycling more, lower-power shots through the lasers will force the skip to expend a lot of energy creating those black-hole shields. As long as it’s worried about catching shots, its maneuvering ability is degraded. These strategies are hypothetical, however, and can really only be tested in combat.”
“I see.” Gavin pressed his hands together. “I can have the squadron simming against these things, then you can point us at them in the Rim and we’ll try it.”
“I knew you’d be game for that, which I appreciate. We have another problem before that, though.”
“And that is?”
The Bothan sighed. “Because of the way Princess Leia