Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 02_ Ruin - Michael A. Stackpole [69]
“What?” Jacen pointed at the bafforr trees. “They’re semi-intelligent. They saved us. How can we burn them down?”
“We have to. We have to burn the entire garden.” Corran nodded at Rade. “Gotta be done. We know bafforr pollen can affect vonduun crab armor, and quickly, too. The Yuuzhan Vong don’t, otherwise we’d never have been allowed to retreat here. This knowledge is vital, and we have to delay the Vong figuring out what happened here.”
The youngest Jedi shook his head. “What if it’s just the pollen from this grove? What if this grove’s genetics are unique?”
“Take cuttings then, Jacen, take pollen samples, as much as you want.” Corran turned to Rade. “We need to start four fires, so the Yuuzhan Vong can’t trace this grove as what we’re trying to destroy by having the fire’s epicenter be here. We’ll also need to knock out the fire suppression system here to make sure it all goes. Their dead have to burn, too.”
The resistance leader nodded. “I’m on it.”
Jacen shook his head. “This place, so much greenery. Can’t you feel the Force here, Corran?”
“I can, Jacen, but we have to look beyond it.” He dropped to a knee beside Ganner and helped one of the resistance fighters press a bandage over the left side of Ganner’s face. “The Vong will figure out what happened here, eventually. I just hope what we’re doing earns us enough time that we can mount a defense of Ithor. If we can’t, that world will die, and with it will go our best chances for driving the Yuuzhan Vong from our galaxy.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jacen looked at the digital readout on the sedative injector in his right hand. One dose left. The two captives had received enough of the drug to keep a small gang of men down for a week, and still they could move—though, not much, given how tightly the Noghri had bound them. Just how tough the Yuuzhan Vong’s creations were slammed into him, along with bloody visions of a long war against them.
He turned from the back end of the Best Chance, sidled past where Ganner sat with a reddened pressure bandage against his face, and slipped out the hatch. Jacen crossed quickly to where Corran stood talking to Rade. He nodded to the both of them, but waited for their conversation to end before he said anything.
The Garqian smiled wearily. “I appreciate the offer, Corran, but I’m not going to take up one of those open slots you have on the ship. I can’t abandon my people, and they’d refuse an order to evacuate. We’re here for the long haul.”
“I’m not being altruistic here, Rade. You’ve got great intel on the Vong, and we need it.”
“But what you need more is us being active here, making the Yuuzhan Vong think the whole Xenobotanical Garden fire was just a terrorist act.” The resistance leader clapped the elder Jedi on the shoulders. “Your coming here meant a lot, and we’ll get more information out to you. You have to go so you can find a way to turn our people back into our people. We need to be here to make sure there are some folks remaining to welcome the returnees back.”
Corran’s green eyes narrowed. “You’re not being abandoned, you know. We’ll be back to liberate Garqi.”
Rade’s smile broadened. “Better hurry back. We’re planning to do the job ourselves.”
Jacen held up the injector. “Our guests are down, but I’m not sure for how long. There’s one dose left. Can I give it to Ganner?”
“Did he ask for it?”
The young man shook his head. “He’s suffering, though.”
Corran thought for a moment, then nodded. “Ask him if he wants it. If he says no, give it to him anyway.”
“Are you joking?”
Corran shook his head. “He’s a Jedi and he’s in pain. I don’t want him twitching TK that breaks something. We can’t go until we get a signal, and I want us ready to sky when that happens. Our escape window here isn’t going to be that big.”
The idea that he should shoot Ganner full of a sedative against his will