Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Rebel Dreams_ Enemy Lines I - Aaron Allston [23]
Minutes after the Advisory Council’s shuttle left orbit, Wedge had the conference doors locked and guards posted outside. He looked across the faces of those he’d asked to remain behind—Tycho, Luke, Mara, Lando, Booster, Danni, Gavin, Corran. “Is anyone not clear on what just happened?” he asked.
Luke spoke up. “Are we sure, are we absolutely sure, that we’ve just been thrown to the neks?”
“Think of it this way,” Wedge said. “Pwoe just handed me the navy’s biggest surviving warship and enough matériel to noticeably diminish the New Republic’s ability to defend itself from the Yuuzhan Vong. From a coldly analytical political perspective, do the Coruscant refugees’ lives or Borleias’s military importance warrant that sacrifice?”
Luke shook his head. “No.”
“Then the only thing we can conclude from this is that the so-called Advisory Council has given up on the New Republic. That band of connivers has already concluded that we’re going to lose, that the Yuuzhan Vong are going to become the dominant force in this galaxy. They’ve given up. And considering how much political power they hold, their giving up could well doom the New Republic.”
“I suppose so.”
“Now, back to the subject of Borleias. We’re worse off than we thought we were,” Wedge continued. “Before, we thought we’d be able to blast off this rock, rejoin bel Iblis and Kre’fey, and lay in plans to help the New Republic rebound. Now, we can’t. I would very much like to hear any ideas about what we can do to counteract the damage the Advisory Council seems very prepared to do to our chances for survival—both here on Borleias and in the galaxy as a whole.”
“Before we do that …” Luke frowned at his old friend. “Wedge, if there’s no good to come out of it, why did you accept this assignment?”
“Well, because in a sense, the council is right. Pyria does have to be held. The Yuuzhan Vong have to be slowed. And if you’ll permit me a little ego here, I don’t think they’d appoint someone as skilled as I am to replace me here. It would be some commander who followed their orders with blind loyalty and nothing but the death of this garrison at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong.” Wedge shrugged. “I don’t plan to die here, Luke. And while I don’t think I can hold Borleias, I might be able to make it a name that causes little Vong children to whimper.” He returned his attention to the room in general. “So, back to my original question.”
No one spoke at first. Then Luke cleared his throat. “There are two basic styles of fighting, hard and soft. Back in the Rebel Alliance days, we fought soft. The New Republic fought hard. You’re expected to stay here and fight hard. But, ultimately, hard obviously isn’t going to work.
“I think that the model extends into our politics, too. If we continue to devote ourselves to the hard style, we’re going to doom ourselves.”
Wedge nodded.
Lando said, “So what you’re saying—what are you saying?”
Mara said, “What we’re saying is that you should stop attacking the Yuuzhan Vong with the New Republic. Attack them with the Rebel Alliance instead. Both here and in the wider theater of war.”
“But the Rebel Alliance is gone,” Danni said. “It became the New Republic.”
Luke nodded. “Correct. What I’m proposing …” He took a deep breath. “I’m proposing that it’s time for a new Rebel Alliance. Something that’s unbounded by the traditions and the shortsighted thinking of the current government of the New Republic. Something different.”
“That’s treason,” Booster said. “I like it.”
“A resistance force,” Wedge said. He gave Luke a sharp look. “But it would have to be a secret resistance. We can’t just declare independence from the New Republic and march off to fight the Yuuzhan Vong. Secret units in hidden locations. Operations not discussed with the New Republic High Command.”
“That’s right,” Mara said. “Which, if we decide to do this, makes you the weak link, Wedge.”
Tycho frowned at her.