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she'd been welcomed.

  "Leader to squad, less chatter, please." Colonel Dark-lighter sounded as

  businesslike as ever. "Indicate readiness. Leader is ready. Two?"

  "Two ready."

  "Three?"

  As the roll call continued, the third member of Corran's shield trio,

  Dakorse Teep, rose into position. "Rogue Seven, all green."

  Corran grimaced. In Teep's case, green didn't just refer to the condition

  of his engines. Teep was a teenager who should have been palling around on the

  playground with Corran's son Valin, only a few years Teep's junior. Corran heard

  Leth announce "Eight, four lit and ready," then he said, "Nine, optimum."

  He was the last one to call in readiness. Rogue Squadron was reduced to

  nine members now, three shield trios. Other squadrons were in worse condition,

  some of them reduced in numbers so fast that they had to be decommissioned or

  temporarily merged with other depleted units until reinforcements could swell

  them out into discrete squads again.

  "We're on the cruiser to the east," Gavin announced. "Senior members have

  proton torps; everyone else, you'll have to make do with lasers. Sorry. Break by

  shield trios... now." He suited action to words, and the three members of One

  Flight lofted, rising above the protection of the facility's vertical shields,

  staying only a few dozen meters beneath the horizontal shield overhead.

  Corran waited a beat while Two Flight followed, then he led Leth and Teep

  up. To her credit, Leth kept tucked in professionally close, but Teep lagged,

  offering his shield-mates no protection from his shields, receiving no

  protection from theirs.

  "Close it up, Seven," Corran said. "Sorry, Nine. Coming."

  As Corran and Leth cleared the building's shields and dropped toward the

  jungle on the far side, a plasma barrage from the cruiser analog they were

  supposed to destroy arced toward them. If it had been slightly better aimed, it

  might have slid in between the top of the vertical shields and bottom of the

  horizontal. As it was, it angled in toward Teep, directly over Corran's head.

  "Seven," he shouted, "break to port-"

  Corran chose port over starboard only because it took half the time to say,

  giving Teep one more fraction of a second to comprehend and react. Teep did veer

  to port, as much on repulsorlifts as thrusters, and the main ball of plasma

  flashed harmlessly past him.

  Then it hit the building's vertical shields and exploded. The concussion

  hammered Teep, Corran, and Leth. His cockpit swathed in flame, Corran watched

  his artificial horizon gauge spin. Relying on instinct more than his gauges, he

  leveled off and hit his thrusters. A moment later, the fire peeled away from his

  cockpit and he could see again.

  Teep and Leth were both rolling as they fell, out of control, toward the

  jungle below.

  Leth came out of her roll, leveling off not far above the treetops, and

  Corran heard her over the comm board, her voice raised in a wordless shout of

  both fear and exultation.

  Teep didn't come out of his roll. He punched through the treetops, and a

  moment later a fireball roiled up through the hole he'd made.

  Corran swore. This war was gobbling up children like a starved wampa.

  "C'mon, Eight. Form up."

  In his transport, far below the Lusankya conflict and as far above the war

  waging around the biotics building, Harrar stared into the viewing lens mounted

  in the transport's belly. "Is this operation yours, or Czulkang Lah's?" he

  asked.

  Charat Kraal knelt beside him at the edge of the lens. "It is the great

  master's. But it is merely a probe, a way to test strength and evaluate the

  enemy's strengths, to deny him the opportunity to rest. I have attached my

  mission to this operation."

  "When do your units enter the battle?"

  "Soon. When the enemy is stretched thinnest."

  Twin Suns Squadron roared westward, toward the Yuu-zhan Vong cruiser analog

  there. Tt and its protective squadrons were already being harassed by Blackmoon

  Squadron and a pair of TIE squadrons off Lusankya. "Piggy, analysis," Jaina

  called,

  The mechanical voice of her Gamorrean pilot boomed from the comm unit;

  Jaina winced and slid the volume control lower.

  "They're not concentrating on the biotics building this time," Piggy said.

  "Probably to avoid a disaster like the last assault. They've learned their

  lesson from orbital bombardment. And yet they're not systematically taking

  General Antilles's defensive structure to pieces. They should be concentrating

  their efforts on removing Lusankya from the battlefield, so they can then move

  against the facility with minimal opposition. They are not."

  Jaina didn't have to ask what that meant. The Yuu-zhan Vong didn't intend

  to overrun the facility this time. They had some other goal, such as staging

  another attempt to capture Jaina. To the Yuuzhan Vong, twins were sacred, and

  Jaina, as the twin of Jacen, held special fascination for them. "Keep your eyes

  open for particular attention on us," Jaina said. "Yes, Great One."

  "Twin Suns, don't fire torps unless you have a clear shot you know the

  voids can't stop," she added. "We've all got a full load, but other squads

  don't. So don't waste a shot unless you're just anxious to cause hard feelings.

  Tilath, are you ready with your payload?"

  "Yes, Great One." Tilath Keer, flying Twin Suns Eleven, sounded distinctly

  unhappy. On the underside of her X-wing was attached something that looked like

  a missile, the newest experimental weapon in the Twin Suns' arsenal, hut it was

  longer than the X-wing's cockpit and heavy enough to turn her starfighter into

  something as maneuverable as a flying boulder.

  "Don't worry, Tilath. No one has to do the dishes every time." Jaina hit

  her thrusters and accelerated toward the enemy. "Let's do this thing."

  Charat Kraal and Harrar watched as the battle developed. The Yuuzhan Vong

  capital ships were being used as mobile artillery, keeping up a steady

  bombardment on the biotics building and the buildings around it to test, and

  potentially overwhelm, the infidels' protective energy shields. Their

  coralskipper squadrons were charged with protection of the capital ships and

  elimination of enemy starfighters. It was a simple enough situation, and Harrar

  grasped the details readily as Charat Kraal explained them.

  "Where are the Starlancer vehicles kept-the pipe-fighters?" Harrar asked.

  He referred to the craft that had, not long before, set up a complicated energy

  matrix in space in the Pyria system, then fired a laser attack-one that had been

  somehow accelerated through hyperspace and had actually struck the Yuuzhan Vong

  worldship in orbit around Coruscant.

  Charat Kraal indicated a square, flat building near the biotics building.

  "That is where their elites keep their vehicles. Jaina Solo's squadron is housed

  there. It is not a target of today's exercise, since most of the vehicles housed

  there are now coming against our forces."

  "And where are they growing their lambent crystal?" The recent spying

  efforts, involving a controlled human male, had indicated that the Starlancer

 
project required the implementation of a gigantic crystal, one grown from

  Yuuzhan Vong techniques and material, to increase the long-distance laser enough

  for it to do real harm to distant targets.

  Charat Kraal pointed to the biotics building. "There, Our agent was unable

  to search every portion of that structure, but eliminated many. Before he was

  lost, he communicated to us that he thought the deepest levels of the building,

  which are among those shut off from the common soldier, were the most likely

  location for the crystal-growing..." He had a hard time saying the next word, so

  hateful was it in this context. "... machines. Our next agent will find it and

  arrange for its destruction, if our bombardments do not destroy this facility

  first."

  "Excellent. Now, let us discuss the capture of Jaina Solo."

  Jaina let off her trigger as the coralskipper in front of her detonated.

  Its pieces rained down on the jungle below. A quick check of her sensor board

  revealed that her wing-mates, Jagged Pel and Kyp Durron, were not far away and

  were inbound toward her.

  Ahead was the Yuuzhan Vong cruiser, hundreds of meters of yorik coral and

  organic weaponry. "Let's give its big guns something to think about," Jaina

  said. She switched her lasers over to quad fire and began pouring coherent iight

  blasts at the points where the cruiser's giant plasma cannons sprouted from its

  hull. "What's your status, Tifath?"

  "Lined up on final approach. I'm fifteen seconds from optimum firing range.

  Fourteen."

  "Fire when ready, don't wait for my command."

  "Ten."

  Jag and Kyp joined their laserfire with Jaina's. The voids protecting the

  cruiser analog had no difficulty moving into position and swallowing the

  destructive energy from their weapons.

  "One. Firing."

  The missile dropped from the belly of Tilath's X-wing. It fell a dozen

  meters; then its rear ignited, driving it forward at missile speeds.

  Jaina clicked her comm board over to operational frequency. "Execute 'Low

  Bounce.' Repeat, 'Low Bounce.' "

  In the vicinity of the target cruiser analog, New Republic starfighters

  began gaining altitude. They didn't flee; they just rose until they were above

  the cruiser analog's altitude. They continued fighting on their way up,

  continued fighting at their new altitude.

  At the same instant, Jaina, Kyp, and Piggy armed am fired proton torpedoes,

  one each.

  Half a kilometer short of the cruiser analog, Tilath's missile did what it

  was supposed to.

  It did not shatter and fly in all directions; it was too sturdily built for

  that. Most of the missile was an extremely durable metal tube, open at one end.

  The rear closed portion was packed with a plasma-based explosive charge. The

  forward two-thirds, sealed only by the fragile nose of the missile, was packed

  with metal ball bearings the size of human heads.

  The plasma charge detonated, superheating the ball bearings and firing them

  toward the target.

  They shot out, a spreading display of superheated projectiles.

  Not one of the ball bearings would do significant harm to the target when

  they hit; the best-placed shots that actually hit the yorik coral hull would

  punch through and lodge within, while the rest would bounce harmlessly away.

  No, the danger they represented was not from hitting. Each ball, heated by

  the plasma charge, was now identical, in specific gravity and temperature, to

  the proton torpedoes catching up to them from behind.

  The cruiser analog's dovin basals sensed the incoming horde of missiles.

  They did not panic; fear was not part of their nature. But they knew they could

  not project their voids into the path of even a fraction of the incoming

  missiles. Instead, each prioritized, projecting its voids over the most

  vulnerable portions of the vessel's flank, protecting the command crew

  compartment, weapons emplacements, and itself.

  Charat Kraal and Harrar watched as the Twin Suns launched four missiles-

  one, the largest, ahead of the others. The largest one detonated short of its

  target, showering the matalok with red-hot debris, but the others flashed

  straight in to hit, one-two-three, against the mat-alok's side. The infidel

  weapons flashed impossibly bright, creating clouds of explosive force and debris

  that had once been the side and internal organs of the matalok.

  The vessel heeled over, mortally wounded, and began to turn away from the

  engagement. Plasma poured from its injury. It gained altitude for a moment, then

  settled into a straight-line course. And now its dovin basals concentrated their

  void protection only over the main weapons emplacements.

  Charat Kraal knew what that meant. The matalok would not make it back to

  space, so its commander was ordering the weapons to build up tremendous charges

  of plasma energy, charges that would destroy the vessel from within.

  Charat Kraal sagged as energy and pride left him for a moment. He slammed

  his fist into the floor next to the viewing lens. "How did she do it? "he asked.

  "How did she persuade the dovin basals to let their missiles through?"

  "I do not know."

  Charat Kraal met the priest's gaze. "It is not my place to ask this. You

  may choose to order me to my death for asking. But I must know. You are a priest

  of Yun-Harla - surely the truth is in your mind. Is Jaina Solo an avatar of the

  goddess? Is she the goddess?"

  "Of course not. She is an infidel who mocks our goddess. " But Harrar knew

  that he was no longer able to pro-ject confidence when he said such words. He no

  longer knew whether he was telling the truth.

  Charat Kraal, no new satisfaction or peace on his features, turned to a

  villip that lay on the floor next to him. He spoke into the Yuuzhan Vong warrior

  features it revealed. "Are you in position?"

  "No, Commander. It is early yet."

  "Begin your run anyway. We cannot wait for the best moment."

  "Understood, Commander."

  Corran Horn saw the flight of three coralskippers peel off from the main

  north-side engagement and loop around toward the west side of the biotics

  building. "C'mon, Eight. Let's deal with these strays." He banked, a tight

  maneuver to put him in the path of the trio. Leth followed suit, her maneuver

  not quite as tight as the more experienced pilot's.

  They were able to get in position well before the coral-skippers lined up

  for an approach. The skips turned again quite a distance out, beyond the kill

  zone and over the jungle. Now they were aimed in straight at the biotics

  building. They dropped nearly to the deck and accelerated to something like

  their full speed, not maneuvering even as Corran and Leth opened fire.

  "It's a suicide run," Leth said.

  "I think you're right." Corran looked around. If these three skips were

  able to hit the shields defending the biotics building, if they were able to

  crash through them and bring those shields down, there would be a moment when

  the building was undefended against enemy attacks.

  But no other Yuuzhan Vong ships stood ready to make use of this momentary

  advantage. It didn't make sense.

 
Corran drifted to starboard, spraying fire against the skip on that side

  and in the center. Leth drifted to port and followed suit. Their combined fire

  was too much for the center skip; some of Corran's laserfire got past its voids,

  and nearly all of Leth's did. Thar coralskipper nose-dived, smashing into the

  ground at the outer ranee of the kill zone. It did not explode; skips, not

  loaded with fuel, did not always detonate. It just came to pieces, scattering

  chunks of itself.

  That gave each pilot one enemy to concentrate on. Corran kept the pressure

  on, spraying the oncoming skip with laserfire as if it were water from a hose,

  and saw his attacks chewing away at the forward portions of the craft.

  He could see in his peripheral vision that Leth was having less luck with

  the other oncoming skip. But he couldn't deal with that, not with his target

  spraying plasma at him.

  Corran maneuvered his X-wing directly into the path of the oncoming skip.

  If its pilot's objective really was the shields, it would have to maneuver

  around him. If not - well, he'd be taking that opponent out of the battle the

  hard way.

  But it maneuvered, bouncing down to fly under him, and his lasers punched

  through the skip's canopy. The vehicle veered, losing control.

  Then it exploded, hurling pieces in all directions. Corran veered, was

  caught in the explosion for a moment, emerged out the other side with

  diagnostics complaining of no damage worse than a superheated external

  temperature sensor.

  He came around and saw that Leth was also looping. Her target had gotten

  past her and was now headed in toward the shields.

  The skip hit, and for an instant Corran could see the energy of the impact

  as it made the shield visible, made it ripple like a pond surface suddenly

  struck by a plummeting landspeeder.

  The coralskipper went to pieces, shredded by the impact. Chunks of it

  sprayed out across the kill zone directly in front of the biotics building. One

  of the larger chunks hit a dirt hauler that had been pressed into surface as a

  ground personnel carrier; that vehicle exploded, and flames splashed across

  surrounding buildings and vehicles. Some chunks of the coralskipper bounced to

  within meters of the front of the biotics building,