The Unifying Force Read online

  Mara rose and paced away from the control console, crossing her arms when she swung back to Luke. "The future's exactly what I'm thinking about. Ben's future. You said yourself that everything we do should be for him and the other young Jedi." She sat down again and took her husband's hands in hers. "Luke, Ben was almost killed on Coruscant by that witch Viqi Shesh. If something should happen to us . . ."

  Luke pictured their red-golden-haired infant. "By leaving, we could destroy everything we've accomplished here. And then we w°n't be a help to anyone—Ben included."

  Mara studied him. "You're basing this on personal experience— n some mistake you once made." "I am."

  "Luke, there are times when action is the best course."

  "Actions have consequences."

  Stay

  "What are the consequences here? Jacen and Corran can behind. We can leave them Jade Shadow, if you want. We'll ask Selc" to grow us a ship."

  "It's Sekot I'm worried about."

  Mara stared at him. "Sekot?"

  "Sekot might misinterpret our leaving as a lack of trust anH change its mind about returning to known space."

  "Then you can explain our reason for leaving."

  "Tell Sekot that we're worried about our son, about our friends about what's happened to the HoloNet?" Luke paused, then asked-"What about Sekot's concerns for the Ferroans, or for what might happen to Zonama when it becomes part of the war?"

  Mara mulled it over for a moment.

  Luke squeezed her hands affectionately. "Ben will be fine. I saw him fine."

  Mara's eyes narrowed in a reluctant smile. "You saw him piloting a ship of completely unfamiliar design—like the ones grown here."

  Luke recalled the rest of his vision: Ben tracing lines in the sand; kneeling by a river, rubbing smooth round stones between his fingers and smiling; wrestling with a young Wookiee . . . Luke saw himself holding Ben while they observed glowing lines of traffic move through the sky of an unknown world—like Coruscant but not. And, yes: Ben at the helm of a starship of unique design . . .

  Mara was watching him. "Assuming you weren't gazing at Ben from some other plane of existence, you're going to be around to witness all those things."

  "So will you."

  "Was I part of the vision?"

  In fact, Luke hadn't seen Mara—not at first.

  "Luke, promise me something," Mara said before he could speak. "If anything happens to me—

  He tried to shush her, but she pushed his hand away.

  "No, I need to say this. Promise me that if anything

  Ben with all your heart, and you'll make him the center of

  lid as he is to me."

  pulled her into his arms. " 'Hush, my love, the night is mild

  umber smiles on you rormse me, Luke." vill— -if you'll make me the same promise.

  v— -she nodded against his chest. "Then no matter what, the future's

  assured."

  Chapter

  Fas Choka pushed through the living membrane that sealed the command grotto from prying eyes. A trio of Supreme Commanders and their subalterns trailed in the warmaster's angry wake.

  "Our course is now set," he announced to his own subalterns and tacticians. "Supreme Overlord Shimrra will abide no further delay. We are enjoined to launch the armada in three local days, when the auguries are favorable for victory."

  "Three days, Fearsome One," the tactician said when Nas Choka had dropped cross-legged onto his yorik coral bench.

  "The burden is mine," Nas Choka replied abruptly. "Don't add to it by echoing my words. Tender your report."

  The tactician inclined his head in a bow of respect. "Rumors teem like an infestation of sacworms. From all sectors comes word of heightened enemy activity. Ships masquerading as spice carriers leave Hutt space, but as often as not they are empty. The same holds true in Bothan space. There is increased traffic within the Hapan Cluster, with many ships inbound from Kashyyyk and from the more distant Remnant. Known operatives and agents consort clandestinely on Corellia and Bimmisaari. Courier ships of the Smugglers' Alliance

  and depart Contruum, with a few venturing as close to Yuuzhan'tar as Corulag."

  sionary

  Nine.'

  "Sheer impudence," Nas Choka said. "But much like the diver-, raids at Gyndine and Duro that preceded the clash at Ebaq

  He fell briefly silent, then said, "Proceed."

  •'As instructed, our agents made no attempts to interfere or provide the slightest signs of suspicion."

  "And at Mon Calamari?"

  "Almost half the fleet has departed. Many capital ships have turned to their home sectors. Others have been traveling in and out f darkspace. Still others have been deployed as substitutes for the transceiving devices our dovin basals engulfed."

  Nas Choka rose from the bench to regard what now amounted to an entire wall of blaze bug displays. "My long tenure in Hutt space was well spent," he said after a long moment. "I was forced to acquaint myself with all make and manner of deception and duplicity. Fabrication comes as easily to the inhabitants of this galaxy as invention comes to our shapers. So I am wary of all these reports."

  He turned to his Supreme Commanders. "Sow and Kre'fey grasp that our patrols and reconnaissance vessels are too widely dispersed to keep watch over every planetary sector. They attempt to overwhelm us with activity, in the hope of screening a few missions of genuine purpose." His expression grew dour. "Our actions in sabotaging the HoloNet may come back to plague us. We no longer have the luxury of being able to eavesdrop on enemy communications. Yes, the courier ships require additional time to reach their destinations, but the messages they carry come and go only to those who need to be apprised of the content. Even now this war takes unexpected twists and turns." His hooded eyes fell on the tactician. "What of the yam-mosks at Toong'l and Caluula?"

  "Unperturbed, Fearsome One. Although . . ."

  Nas Choka waited, then said: "Give voice to it!" 'Caluula's surrender, Warmaster. Before the fall of the orbital u°n, the commander who led our assault was contacted by the vernor of the planet. The governor promised that Caluula would

  BOB

  yield to occupation, without need of an amphistaff being raj against it."

  "There is nothing unusual about that," the warrior-seer int rupted. "Many local governments have opted—wisely, I think-~ spare themselves devastation, in exchange for a pledge that we will K equitable about how many captives we take, and in how we purs our timetable for worldshaping—including the effacement of builH ings, temples, and the obliteration of machines. The custom began early as our defeat of the library world of Obroa-skai."

  "Yes, seer, but in the instance of Caluula, the governor made a special request. She asked for permission for scientists to visit to observe some sort of natural spectacle peculiar to the planet. This, of course, would necessitate the temporary maintenance of the spaceport, for the landing of ships and scientific personnel."

  Nas Choka folded his massive arms. "Our commander agreed to this?"

  The tactician nodded. "In the interest of rapid and effortless pacification, and for the sake of the yammosk, he granted provisional approval. So as not to subject our people to lifeless technology, he assigned security of the spaceport to Peace Brigaders. Now, however, the petition to allow scientists to visit Caluula rests in the hands of High Prefect Drathul. He, in turn, will defer to the sagacity of High Priest Jakan."

  For several moments Nas Choka paced in silence. "This interests me," he said finally. "Much of the enemy fleet remains at Mon Cala-mari. Elsewhere ships scurry about in seeming abandon. And following weeks of noble fighting by the defenders of its orbital facility, Caluula surrenders without contest." He let his statements hang in the air, then turned to the tactician. "Tell Eminence Jakan that I wish a word with him before he renders any judgment on the petition. The tactician bowed. "Anything else, Fearsome One?" "Who commands the yammosk emplacement at Caluula?" "I can provide the answer momentarily, Warmaster."
Nas Choka paced to his bench. "Return not only with the but also with the commander's dedicated villip. I need speak him, as well."

  many

  -rhe Yuuzhan Vong warrior at Caluula spaceport made it clear he was ready to unleash his amphistaff at the slightest provoca-The sight of the tattooed and scarred warrior standing against a •kdrop of shuttles and landing craft was just absurd enough to j ,n Han's eyes, but he knew better than to smile. Several Yuuzhan v,ntr warships were in orbit above Caluula, though not nearly as v as Han had expected to see.

  "You are the scientist — Meloque?" the warrior said in Basic to the f male Ho'Din on whom the entire infiltration mission rested.

  More than two meters tall, with sucker-equipped four-fingered hands, a purple crown of erect thermographic receptors, and a reptilian-complected lipless face, she might almost have been a Yuuzhan Vong shaper. Indeed, among all the species of the galaxy, the bipedal Ho'Din were treated with particular favor by the invaders, not only because of their devotion to plant life, but also because of their aversion to technology.

  "Yes, I am Meloque," she answered in Yuuzhan Vong. The warrior extended a sinewy hand. "Your authentication." Meloque displayed the fist-sized nugget of flesh and fur that had been delivered to her on Obroa-skai. The warrior took the creature between his hands, squeezed it, and studied the pungent droppings it left on a piece of leathery parchment. Then he nodded and motioned to Han, Leia, Kyp, Judder Page, and the Bothan Intelligence officer, Wraw. "The members of my support team," Meloque said. "Their names should also be contained by the lumpen." Having lived among the luuzhan Vong for close to four years on the enemy- occupied library world, she knew how to deal with them, as well as speak to them.

  The warrior squeezed the lumpen so hard it squealed, and another

  r" °f droppings fell to the parchment. It took a moment for the

  rrior to confirm that the names and descriptions detailed in the

  roppings matched the counterfeit identities of the humans and

  manoids in front of him, but ultimately he nodded again.

  ha

  ^ he lumpen will remain here until your departure. If all of you n°t returned in three days, you will be hunted down, impris-

  ' and punished for your insolence. Do you understand?"

  "Yes," Meloque answered for all of them.

  "Then proceed inside."

  A surprise to everyone—and some cause for suspicion—Yuuzhan' had granted permission for a few select scientists to visit Caluula observe what was called the Nocturne of the Winged-Stars, an alleged! extraordinary natural phenomenon that occurred once every three h dred standard years. As Han understood it, the local governor had c the deal in secret, even while the orbital station was still under siege

  At the mission briefing on Mon Calamari only two days earlier Han had voiced his misgivings, telling Dif Scaur that the last time he had checked, the Yuuzhan Vong weren't in the public relations business.

  The cadaverously thin Intelligence director, who had had a hand in organizing the mission to destroy Caluula's yammosk, had offered other examples of the Yuuzhan Vong's recent attempts to win the hearts and minds of defeated populations—as against their usual tactic of plucking them out at the first sign of resistance. Regarding Caluula Scaur believed that the nature of the negotiation—centered, as it was, on the observance of a rare natural phenomenon—might have appealed to whatever priests had been tasked with ruling on the request. Not that it mattered. If the Yuuzhan Vong had refused consent, the execution team would have gone in, regardless.

  The last-minute addition of Kyp Durron to the team had been cause for further concern, because yammosks were believed to have the ability to sense Jedi, as had happened aboard an enemy vessel to the late Wurth Skidder. Kyp had countered that being a Jedi had nothing to do with it. Yammosks could detect the Force, and Kyp maintained that Leia was as strong in the Force as he was.

  Han was not at all eased by the explanation. "A Bothan and a Jedi," he told Kyp. "We might as well be wearing Galactic Alliance insignias."

  On the other hand, having Kyp along on the mission made i something of a family affair, since Kyp had figured prominently " Han's life for close to twenty years—ever since Han and Chewbacca had rescued the sixteen-year-old fledgling Jedi from imprisonment tf the spice mines of Kessel. Han's trust in Kyp had been tested by tn£

  trials Kyp had himself endured—on Yavin, against the spirit of a dead Sith Lord; in Kyp's feverish quest for vengeance against ? ill admiral Daala; in bringing the Sun Crusher to bear on the Carida; and in nearly destroying the Millennium Falcon, and in the process. More recently Kyp had tricked Jaina into helping ihilate a civilian Yuuzhan Vong worldship at Sernpidal. And 11 following the events at Myrkr, he had been instrumental in her from going to the dark side—thanks in part to Leia's ning Kyp that if he ever again hurt Jaina or any member of Leia's ilv he would be safer turning himself over to the Yuuzhan Vong. "I'm through with travel if it means carrying a lumpen instead of an identichip," Wraw said to Han while they were entering the spaceport terminal.

  "We're here to make sure you don't have to," Han said. "We've got enough unhappy Bothans without adding you to the list."

  Wraw laughed hoarsely. "As good with his mouth as he is with his blaster. That's what I've always heard about you."

  "I aim true, if that's what you mean." Han had more to say, but Leia touched his arm in a gesture of restraint. From the start, he and the long-faced Bothan spy had butted heads, but he appreciated Leia's reminding him of mission priorities.

  Where Yuuzhan Vong warriors and bissop hounds held sway over the landing field, Peace Brigaders—Nikto, Weequays, a couple of Gammoreans, and other alien traitors—oversaw luggage inspection and terminal security. The modular, prefabricated building had been stripped of technology, but it hadn't yet been transformed by the Yuuzhan Vong. Three other teams of scientists were having their equipment inspected, and being subjected to constant harassment by bribe-seeking Brigaders. Flanking the building's only exit were a pair af exceedingly tall humans—or, more likely, ooglith-masquer-wearing Yuuzhan Vong.

  Team Meloque's equipment was being pawed through by a Kla-

  'Qinian and a Codru-Ji, whose four arms were buried to the elbows

  Han's backpack. The Yuuzhan Vong had prohibited the import or

  °t recording devices other than sketch pads and writing imple-

  MS. But they had allowed tents and camping gear, since the expedi-

  tions were destined for the rugged mountains that walled Caluula C' on three sides. As rudimentary as they were, the Brigaders' scan were capable of detecting most weapons, so blasters had been left «• the packing list. Leia's and Kyp's lightsabers, however, were incluH among the cooking supplies, disguised as handles for self-warming frv pans.

  The Klatooinian put the field kitchen duffel on the inspect] table. "I'm going to need to go through all of this," he said as th lofty Meloque approached, a sheathlike skirt making her appear even taller than she was.

  Kyp stepped up to the table and made a subtle hand motion. "You don't need to inspect this bag."

  The canine-faced humanoid stared at the Jedi and blinked his heavy lidded eyes. "We don't need to inspect this bag."

  Momentarily confused, the Codru-Ji eventually nodded in agreement.

  "Gather your belongings and leave."

  "Gather your belongings and leave."

  Kyp caught Han's look while the two of them were shouldering the duffels. "Problem?"

  "I thought that wasn't allowed or something."

  Kyp shrugged. "We can debate Jedi philosophy some other time."

  Han laughed through his nose. "Don't get me wrong, kid. If I had the ability, I'd be using it every chance I could."

  "You only think you would," Leia said, slipping into her backpack as she caught up with them. "Would you use it when you play sabacc?"

  Han considered it. "Might take some of the fun out of the game.

  "And I kn
ow you wouldn't want that," she said.

  No sooner had they exited the terminal than clouds of indigenous flitnats surrounded them. The insects weren't the biting variety, but that didn't make them any less irritating.

  "Hope you remembered to pack the repellent," Han said to Lcia-

  "Wouldn't help," Wraw rasped. "Every visitor to Caluula gets assigned one hundred flitnats, and those hundred stick with you f°r your entire stay."

  Han laughted shortly at the Bothan's joke. "Well, everybody's got • own idea about what makes a good vacation."

  Yhat Han didn't say was that the tiny pests were already sticking

  the cosmetic that lightened his complexion and the adhesive that

  ured his gray beard, mustache, and woolly eyebrows, and that he

  even more uncomfortable than he had been on Aphran IV two

  V3-3

  earlier, where he had worn a similar getup. Leia was the only ther one also in disguise, her hair concealed under a wig of closely - ooped silver locks, and her skin a faint shade of green, thanks to ome pill Intelligence had had her swallow. Even though he was a Jedi Kvp's keen face wasn't well known, and Page was so nondescript that a moment after meeting him one practically forgot what he

  looked like.

  Still, for all his discomfort, Han was happy not to be wearing one of the ooglith-masquer-like "brands" developed by Wraith Squadron's Baljos Arnjak and being worn by all the team members assigned to killing the yammosk on Toong'l, which was guarded only by Yuuzhan

  Vong.

  Apart from the off-the-rack spaceport terminal, Caluula was about as basic a world as Han had visited in a long while—a world where the stones that formed the walls of most buildings had been given shape by other stones, and where most of the human and humanoid population had more in common with the Yuuzhan Vong than they probably realized. It took him a moment to come to grips with the fact that on Caluula and hundreds of similarly primitive worlds, life simply went on. Even though deprived of technology, even though forced to live in the shadow of new temples, beings fell in love, got married, had children, got into squabbles with their neighbors . . . They learned to adapt to lew foods, use Yuuzhan Vong tools, swore allegiance to the new conquerors—even while continuing to worship their own gods in secret.