Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 02_ Ruin - Michael A. Stackpole [73]
Anni Capstan, her wingmate, reported on the squadron tactical frequency. “Twelve here. I have one contact coming up from Garqi. Looks like our people.”
“Good, stand by.”
Jaina was about to ask Sparky to punch up Anni’s contact when the droid shrieked. Her primary sensor monitor lit up with one huge contact, then several smaller ones, all of which began leaking yet smaller contacts. She looked up through her cockpit canopy, and her mouth went bone-dry.
“Emperor’s black bones!”
The Yuuzhan Vong had arrived, and in force.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Corran Horn headed the Best Chance straight for the Ralroost and was happy to see X-wings pouring from the Bothan ship. A smile lit his face. He keyed the ship’s comm system. “There it is. We’re all but home!”
He heard a little gasp from Jacen and felt a burst of shock roll off the younger man. “Look at this! Corran, we’ve got problems.”
“Thanks for the preview, Jacen, now count it off for me.” He put enough of an edge in his voice to get Jacen to concentrate. “How much, what, and where?”
“Sorry, Corran.” Jacen exhaled curtly. “I have one big contact, seven smaller ones, and then skips all over the place—at least sixty-four, but more coming all the time. Small contacts are corvette size, the big one is a Yuuzhan Vong cruiser. They are vectoring in at our aft. Their closure rate means they’ll get us before we get to the Ralroost.”
“Thanks, I think.” Corran flicked the comm unit over to the tactical frequency for the Bothan Assault Cruiser. “This is Best Chance calling Ralroost. We can break off and go dirtside. You get clear.”
“Negative, Best Chance, keep coming.”
Corran recognized Admiral Kre’fey’s voice. “With all due respect, sir, there’s an asteroid belt’s worth of Vong here. We are not worth risking the ’Roost for.”
“Your humility notwithstanding, Colonel Horn, I’m the one who makes the decisions here. You come to us as fast as you can.” The Bothan admiral paused for a second. “This possibility was not wholly unanticipated.”
Ensconced in his cabin aboard the Burning Pride, with the cognition hood linking him to the ship’s sensory apparatus, Deign Lian let the first shock of finding New Republic forces at Garqi roll off him. He had proposed to Shedao Shai an expedition to Garqi, ostensibly to check up on how Krag Val was doing with the slave conversion experiment. He intended, based on reports from his own agents in the Garqi garrison, to show that resistance had not been wiped out there, shaming Krag Val and bringing his master’s judgment into question.
Shedao Shai had granted the request for the trip, but demanded that Deign take a large task force with him. Deign’s inquiries as to why he should do it had been met with a withering stare. He’d acquiesced to the request because he knew it was a gross waste of resources, which would not look good for Shedao Shai.
And yet, somehow, he knew . . . Deign Lian shivered, then focused. The ship’s sensors brought to him a holographic feel for the system and ships. His training allowed him to pick out the prize, the one ship running from Garqi and his forces, the one ship to which the infidels were sending their fighters.
As fast as he could think it, the order went out. His forces oriented on the small ship racing away from Garqi. Get it, kill it, then kill all the rest of them.
On the bridge of the Ralroost, Admiral Kre’fey turned away from the viewport as the blast shields began to close. He strode over to the communications station with deliberate haste but not a whiff of anxiety. He smiled at the Bothan sitting there. “Lieutenant, please invite Hammer Group to take up the positions outlined in Delta Case.”
“As ordered, Admiral.”
As she punched up the appropriate tactical frequencies and began to relay orders, Kre’fey turned to Wedge. “Nasty little game to be played here.”
“Our reinforcements should be useful, but they’re not going to be enough.