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Star WarsThe New Jedi OrderEmissaries of the voidby Greg Keyes###############################################################################Chapter V : A Perilous PlanAs the "No Luck Required" tumbled laconically though the void, Vook Gehu watched the stars drift across his view, remembering a Duro maxim older than some species.If a star should but blink, it would miss all of our history.The stars did not care who won this war. They did not care if Vook was freeze-dried in vacuum or blasted into vapor. That he would die without companions did not trouble them.Vook found an odd comfort in that.He checked to make sure the emergency transponder was working properly. It was, pulsing a steady distress call. He hoped it would be answered soon, or this would all be moot.He needn't have worried. Five minutes later, a response came, and Vook's blood seemed to drop to the temperature of surrounding space. He searched the stars a few more moments before he found the newcomer-an irregular darkness that was not a distant nebula, but something much nearer.Something that-unlike the stars-did indeed take an interest in what happened to Vook.In this, he took no comfort at all. His mind wandered back to the conversation-only an hour or so before-that had crashed him into this situation, and he sighed.He answered the hail."This is Vook Gehu of the No Luck Required. I need help. The rest of the crew is dead, and I am injured. My sensor grid is down and my ship is badly damaged. I am in great need of assistance."The comm unit sputtered and clucked, then spoke to him in a harsh, nasal baritone."You have found your assistance, infidel," the reply came. "I am Vintul Cat of the Yuuzhan Vong. Shut down all of your auxiliary systems and prepare to be boarded."Vook vented another sigh and keyed the return. "Hello, Yuuzhan Vong," he said. "So runs my luck-I hoped to attract a friendly ship, but I see my gamble has failed.""There is no luck," Qat replied. "There are only the gods and what they will.""Yes? Then you may tell your gods I will not be boarded, Vintul Qat, not by you or any other of your despicable kind. I shall die before surrendering.""By your own admission you have no sensors," Qat replied. "Your ship is losing atmosphere.""My weapons are still on line," Vook replied. "And my reactor is damaged, yes. Indeed, in its condition it might well make a better weapon than a power source. Consider that, and come for me at your peril.""My ship is full of captives," the Yuuzhan Vong said. "Some of your own kind. Should you manage to destroy it, you will kill many more infidels than glorious Yuuzhan Vong.""Better they die than receive the fate you offer them," Vook said."In any event, it is moot," Qat snapped. "We are out of your range.""For the time being," Vook replied. "Try and board me.""I can be patient," Qat replied. "In a short time, your reactor will either go critical or fail. If it overloads, I'll watch you die. If it does not, I will take you then.""Delude yourself if you wish," Vook muttered. "It makes no difference to me. You destroyed my planet and scattered my people. Do not think you will find me easy prey, no matter the condition of my ship."Vintul Qat's only answer was a harsh laugh.Vook closed his eyes, wishing it were an hour ago, when the boss was still with him.Realspace was somehow always a surprise after the nothingness of hyperspace. The relativistic universe was never quite as Uldir remembered it, as if his mind protected itself from the absurdity of faster-than-light travel by distancing itself from the reality it had been formed to comprehend.Whatever the cause, reversion was one of Uldir's greatest pleasures, even if the view was-from any other perspective-unimpressive.But sometimes the show was better than all expectations, and for the crew and single passenger of the No Luck Required, this was one of those times.From their entry above the system's elliptic plane, the primary was a blue-white jewel, a spark of electricity captured and made constant. But something had reached into the star and tugged out a streamer of glowing plasma, pulled it in an arc half a light year long before twisting it into a spiral that wound tighter and tighter before vanishing. Intersecting the spiral and girdling the blue pinprick was a vast, faintly glowing indigo torus.His instruments and charts told him that the cause of the phenomenon was a black hole, sucking matter into the nowhere of its event horizon, the great wreath the stray hydrogen atoms that had escaped to orbit in the singularity's path, but the cause didn't matter. For a moment, beauty swept everything from Uldir' s mind, including the absurdly dangerous business that had brought him and his companions to this unpopulated system along the Hydian Way.'They aren't here,' Vega Sepen pronounced in that terribly certain way that meant "I told you so."Uldir glanced at the platinum-haired Corellian, wondering if she felt anything beneath that tough exterior, if the wonder of the universe penetrated through those steely eyes to the person beneath.Maybe. He thought he caught a glimpse of blue fire in them, not a reflection from without but a light from within.At least that's what he imagined he perceived for about a nanosecond. In that instant, he saw Vega in a very different way. The angular plains of her face seemed softer-younger, though she hadn't yet seen her thirtieth standard year. He realized with a start that she was pretty, in a quirky way. Hadn't he ever noticed that before?Then the moment was gone as if it was a quantum phenomenon, destroyed by observation."Boss?" Vega's voice became more insistent."What?""Where are you? I said they're not here. No sign of any Yuuzhan Vong vessels in the system.""Our sensors aren't that good," Uldir said."Well, no, not if they're hiding. But this sector of space is completely under Yuuzhan Vong control, and they have nil reason to expect company. What with that black hole down there, and all of the attendant gravitational hoopla in this system, there are only a few places it makes sense to drop out and plot the next jump. This is one of them-I've checked the others. Nothing.""They'll be here," another feminine voice said.Vega raised her eyebrows in the same way Uldir had once seen her do when she'd discovered a Barraken weed-scorpion stalking her. Then, the small forehead twitch had been quickly followed by a blaster rifle discharge. Uldir tensed, involuntarily.The new speaker, Klin-Fa Gi, tensed too, her Jedi senses doubtless warning her of danger. Klin-Fa was small, with dark eyes and black hair hanging in bangs. Her eyes narrowed as if challenging Vega."Yeah?" Vega's voice was soft, but it was myynsilk wrapped around durasteel. "How do you know they haven't already been here and gone?""I would know," Klin-Fa replied."Ah, the infallible, inscrutable Jedi," Vega scoffed. "But I thought you couldn't feel the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force?""I can't," Klin-Fa said. "I feel Bey."Uldir never liked it when the Klin-Fa said that name. He'd never met the fellow but was developing the opinion that he wasn't going to like him if he ever did."Good," Vega said. "Just find him on the sensors now, and you can contribute something useful.""They'll be here. I feel it.""Great," Vega said. She rolled her eyes.Klin-Fa pressed her lips in a tight line and didn't reply. Uldir felt a momentary desire to defend the young Jedi. She'd changed out of the living Yuuzhan Vong cloaker she'd worn when she came aboard and was now dressed in a pair of Vook's red coveralls. They were too big for her, making her seem small and vulnerable.Yeah, right, he reminded himself. Small and vulnerable enough to cut a Yuuzhan Vong warrior in half at the waist. He'd seen her do exactly that. Not to mention the grief she'd put his crew, his ship, and himself through-stranding them in the middle of nowhere, for instance. She was big trouble in a small package. Vega was right-he was crazy to trust her after all she'd done.Still..."Move out of the safe point," he told Vega, "and power down. I don't want them seeing us when they get here.""When?" Vega asked skeptically."If," Uldir conceded. "And Vook, you and Uvee run diagnostics on the weapons systems and shields again. It was a minor miracle you managed to patch our girl up in the time you did-if we have a breather, I want to use it to bring our combat readiness to maximum.""Well, that makes sense at least," Vega allowed. "How's this? We go find a Star Destroyer and come back. That should improve our chances a little. This isn't a warship we have here.""We're not exactly defenseless, Vega," Uldir pointed out."And our target isn't a warship either," Klin-Fa added."Every Vong ship is a warship," Vega countered. "And it'll come escorted: "Klin-Fa rolled her eyes. "We're talking about a Yuuzhan Vong slave transport traveling through secure Vong territory. The Yuuzhan Vong are proud-escort will be minimal, because they won't want to seem like cowards. Besides, when I infiltrated their data systems I noticed something interesting-one out of every three warships on duty in this sector has been relocated. It happened almost overnight."Vega frowned. "That sounds like they're starting a new offensive. Now that's something worth knowing. Shouldn't we be reporting that instead of trying to rescue some old lover-boy of yours?"Klin-Fa colored slightly. "That isn't what this is about. It's not about Bey, or me. Jedi fight, Jedi die. We know the risks. Bey knew the risks-but the secret he carries is crucial. And it'... [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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