Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Rebel Dreams_ Enemy Lines I - Aaron Allston [28]
The frozen image suddenly flickered back into life, though nothing changed other than the motion of nearby planet-shaping growths in the wind and a brief flash of lightning in one of the clouds.
Then something did change. A patch of that cloud became brighter. Something erupted from it, a small flaming dot with a trail, descending at an angle toward the planet’s surface.
The dot disappeared behind the buildings in the distance. There was a moment in which nothing occurred other than the dissipation of the dot’s smoke trail high in the atmosphere.
A flash of light from that point in the distance briefly overloaded the holocam’s ability to record; the image burned away to brightness. Then it returned.
The buildings still stood in the foreground and the distance, but now there was something behind them: a tall column of smoke spreading out toward the top into a shape reminiscent of many forms of fungus.
And something was racing toward the holocam, a shock wave. Nearest the smoke column, the buildings blurred and vanished. The wave of destruction, a distinct semicircle, flashed across the intervening kilometers faster than a starfighter could fly, eradicating every structure in its way. As the leading edge came close to the holocam’s viewpoint, Luke could hear members of the audience drawing breath and leaning back as though to put more distance between them and the wave.
The vision of Coruscant shook and faded to blackness.
Someone brought up the lights in the chamber, and once again it was a cozy meeting room rather than a vision of doom.
Wolam stood near the head of the table, to Wedge’s left; he was the only one standing. “That event nearly cost the life of my holocam operator, Tam.” He gestured to a man at the rear of the chamber; the fellow, young and bulky enough to look awkward in a normal-sized chair, gave him an indifferent wave. “Tam lay unconscious for two days before finding his way back to me, and was sick for days after because he’d breathed in so much of the toxic atmosphere. He’s still feeling the effects.”
Wedge asked, “What sort of weapon did they use to achieve that result?”
Wolam gave him a thin smile. “Our own. That was a Golan Defense Platform. A few days ago, it defended Coruscant against the Yuuzhan Vong. Then, after it was destroyed, it was nudged from orbit to come down upon the planet’s surface. I can’t estimate …” He stopped, and there was no indication on his face of what had caused him to hesitate, but Luke felt a sudden flash of pain from the man. “I can’t estimate how many died when it hit. Millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions. That impact zone was a couple hundred kilometres southwest of the Imperial Palace. They’re pushing more satellites and skyhooks down, one after another. And since only a few million of Coruscant’s citizens have found passage offworld, the vast majority are in mortal peril—in the short term, from the falling satellites, and in the long term from the planet shaping.”
“We appreciate the information you’ve brought us,” Wedge said, “and the samples you’ve given us have been forwarded to our team of scientists specializing in Yuuzhan Vong techniques.” He consulted the datapad before him. “Your shuttle’s damage—that was sustained during your departure from Coruscant?”
Wolam nodded. “One reason it took me a few days to depart was that several of us clubbed together to make a mass departure. The idea was that, since their starfighter analogs would inevitably come after us, some of us might survive where one ship wouldn’t.” He looked apologetic. “Mine was one of the few that made it out.”
“Your damage is being repaired. Your shuttle should be ready in a day or two. We can send you out with the next batch of refugee departures; you’ll have starfighter