Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Rebel Dreams_ Enemy Lines I - Aaron Allston [77]
They were in clear sight of any Yuuzhan Vong observers that might be lurking at the jungle’s edge, but the Yuuzhan Vong traditionally did not employ snipers.
“ ‘Pretty good,’ ” Jaina said. “Meaning you think it could have been better.” She lay facedown on a blocky duracrete protrusion, staring off into the ship berthing area of the killing field, and watched the mechanics working on the Record Time. The surface she lay upon vibrated; within it was air-circulation machinery.
Sharr, leaning with his back against a smaller protrusion housing pumping equipment, kept his attention on his datapad and nodded absently. A few meters away, Piggy lay sprawled on his back on the roof surface, hands behind his head, eyes closed, enjoying the sunlight. His shirt was off, his belly expansive enough that Jaina suspected she could probably set a landspeeder down on it. She entertained the notion of painting landing stripes on it.
“How?” she persisted.
“Your tricks were good ones,” Sharr said, and met her gaze. “But they weren’t layered. You’d have one trick, and it would baffle them and kill them, and that would be it. Sometimes two. You need to have trick after trick available, so there’s never any end to them; that’s what they expect of their Trickster goddess.
“The second problem is that the Yuuzhan Vong could eventually figure out how you performed your tricks. That bit with the tracers, where each Yuuzhan Vong ship broadcast the distinctive signal of your ship, so they’d fire on one another—good thinking. But if you’d had a little charge in each one that would detonate it, leaving behind a scorch pattern like a laser hit—then they’d never have understood how you caused them to fire on one another. And it’s incomprehension, never figuring out the trick, that fills them—or us, for that matter—with supernatural dread.”
“I like the sound of ‘supernatural dread,’ ” Jaina admitted. It was a pleasing enough thought that she didn’t take offense at Sharr’s criticism of her efforts.
“We want them to suspect, not that you’re somehow associated with Yun-Harla, not that you’re a priestess or something, but that you are her.” Sharr closed his datapad and tucked it into a pocket. “Everything you do should promote that impression, even in extremely minor ways. In fact, you’re doing it now.”
She gave him a curious look. “How?”
“A goddess does not work. And here you are, lounging around, being lazy in clear view of all the pilots and mechanics in the field below. A goddess does not fear. And here you are, in plain sight of the Yuuzhan Vong, unconcerned. A goddess is superior to mortals. And here you are, resting on a higher level than your two companions. Speaking of companions, goddesses have strange ones. Hence a Gamorrean and some idiot in nauseatingly bright colors.” Sharr looked down at his outfit and shuddered.
“I get it,” Jaina said. “This is why Piggy is here even though he’s not talking about starfighter tactics yet.”
“Very good.” Sharr nodded. “From now on, you’re on stage every minute of every day. We’re not going to say you’re a goddess. We’re just going to treat you as though you are one, and you’re going to act accordingly.”
“Never ask when you can order,” Piggy said.
“Never work—except the work Yun-Harla would perform,” Sharr said. “Putting together tricks, that is. Don’t carry things for yourself. We’ll get you a porter if you don’t have someone who’ll do it for you.”
“Don’t be subtle in your motions,” Piggy said. “Big, generous gestures, as though you were used to conducting an orchestra.”
Jaina grimaced. “People are going to hate me. They’re going to think I’ve become horribly stuck up.”
“That’s right.” Sharr gave her another smile, this one more genuine, though still definitely tinged with mockery.
“But in private—”
“In private,” Piggy said, “you continue the illusion. Though you