“You can’t possibly think, in your state, that you can beat these two.”
“Immaterial, isn’t it? As they say on Tatooine, when being hunted by a krayt dragon, you don’t have to be faster than it is, you just have to be faster than the slowest guy in the group you’re with. I’m the slow guy here, and you’re getting them out.”
Corran raised his left hand and extended two fingers toward the Yuuzhan Vong. He forced himself to ignore the pain and composed his face in an expression that suggested facing two Yuuzhan Vong was slightly less inconvenient than getting his beard trimmed. He bent his wrist to motion them forward, inviting them down to meet him in single combat.
The lead Yuuzhan Vong let his amphistaff coil itself around his waist. He stepped to the side and waved his subordinate forward. The other Yuuzhan Vong, whom Corran thought of as the younger, bounced down several steps, then set himself in a pose of great martial grandeur. His amphistaff slithered down into his hand and stiffened itself.
“Ganner, I still hear you breathing back there. Go! Now, go! Get them aboard and get the ship out of here.” Corran glanced back and gave Ganner as hard a stare as he could. “You’re the only one who can save them, and I’m the only one who can buy you the time you need to do it. Go!”
The younger Jedi Knight nodded once, then gestured, and the two students rose from the floor as if on invisible stretchers. Ganner started walking backward into one of the many tunnels, with the two of them floating behind him. The younger Yuuzhan Vong came down two more steps and raised his amphistaff like a spear, ready to throw.
The elder Yuuzhan Vong hissed something, stopping his subordinate.
Corran twirled his silver lightsaber blade around in a humming circle, then moved to interpose himself between the Yuuzhan Vong and Ganner’s line of retreat. “I hope you two think this is a good day to die.”
The younger Yuuzhan Vong slowly stalked down the steps and spun his amphistaff in his right hand. He held his left hand out toward Corran, with his gauntleted fingers splayed out. The Yuuzhan Vong moved with the casual grace of a predator. He took one step toward Corran’s left, clearly as the first part of a gambit to make Corran circle around and present his back to the elder Yuuzhan Vong.
Corran countered by stepping to his left and bringing his left hand onto the hilt of the lightsaber. The blade’s hilt had been constructed long ago from the throttle assembly of a speeder bike, so it had ample length to accommodate the second hand. Corran brought his hands down toward his waist and pointed the blade at the younger Yuuzhan Vong’s throat.
The Yuuzhan Vong came in with a sweeping slash at Corran’s left leg. Corran blocked the cut low. The tip of his lightsaber sliced through the shell floor with ease, leaving a blackened scar between the two of them. At least now I know Ganner can cut his way out of this place. Corran stepped back and aimed his lightsaber at the Yuuzhan Vong again.
The Yuuzhan Vong tried the same attack a second time. Corran parried a bit higher, then pivoted on his right foot. His left foot came around in a roundhouse kick that caught the Vong in the chest. The younger warrior fell back and went down, then rolled from beneath Corran’s overhand strike. That blow left another scar in the shell, but by the time Corran had pulled his blade free, the Vong had gotten up again and set himself for an attack.
Corran squared off with him, presenting his left flank for attack. He held the lightsaber’s hilt up near his right ear, with the blade pointing straight forward. He leveled it at the Vong’s eyes, then gave the alien a nod. “You want me, come get me.”
The Yuuzhan Vong took a step forward, and Corran cranked his right wrist around. The throttle assembly twisted, swapping a diamond for an emerald in the lightsaber’s interior assembly. The energy beam narrowed and went from silver to purple, then more than doubled in length. The blade’s tip stabbed deep through the younger Vong’s left eye socket.
The Yuuzhan Vong jerked and bounced as his limbs snapped straight. He fell back, slipping from the blade’s tip, with smoke rising from his skull. He clattered to the shell floor, his limp limbs rebounding from the hard surface, then he twitched once and lay still.
And Ganner ridiculed me for having an old-style, dual-phase lightsaber. Corran returned the blade to its normal length and nodded to the elder Yuuzhan Vong. “He was too eager. I knew I could use that trick once, and only with him.” The Jedi sincerely doubted the alien warrior understood what he’d said, but clearly the tone of his voice had conveyed some sort of message.
The elder Yuuzhan Vong moved down the steps with a fluid gait that was not hurried. He did not waste the effort to twirl his amphistaff, but instead held it in two hands, high right, low left, ready to fend off any long-bladed strike at his eyes. The leathery joints on his armor creaked as he moved, slowly circling. Hungry eyes watched Corran and seemed to take note of the fluid dripping from his left wrist when the Jedi let the arm hang at his side.
The elder Yuuzhan Vong stopped and set himself. He pulled both hands up above his head. The amphistaff straightened itself into a spear, with its head flattening out into a thin blade. Corran crouched low, making himself a small target, with his lightsaber held in both hands. The sizzling silver beam splashed bright highlights over the Vong’s armor.
They waited.
Corran could not sense the Yuuzhan Vong through the Force, and the magnificence of the Vong warrior challenged his physical senses as well. All the other activity outside the shell vanished as Corran focused on his enemy. Despite all their differences—their nature, their origins—the two of them were shaped in the same mold. The Yuuzhan Vong had killed people Corran claimed as his own, and vice versa. Both of them were trained warriors now facing a skilled foe. Only one of them would walk away at best.
Corran suspected he would not be the one. Images of his wife and children surfaced in his brain. He made himself remember them laughing and smiling. He refused to allow images of them grieving to enter his mind. If I am going to be lost to them and they to me, I want good memories, not bad.
He wondered if the Yuuzhan Vong warrior was thinking the same thing, and then the Vong attacked. He slashed low and to the right. Corran parried, then lunged with his hissing blade. The Vong slipped to the right, trailing smoke from where the blade caught the armor over his right hip, then he slashed back with his amphistaff. The tip caught Corran on the right thigh, slicing through clothes and flesh, spraying blood up onto the walls.
Corran whirled, shunting the pain aside, then darted in and slashed twice at the Yuuzhan Vong’s right flank. The Vong brought the amphistaff across in a vertical block and then, with a twist of his left wrist, powered the lightsaber blade up and around. Corran cocked his wrists, bringing the blade back so it almost touched the crown of his head, then lashed forward with it. The lightsaber sparked off the armor on the Vong’s right shoulder.
The Yuuzhan Vong spun away from a cut at his neck, then continued the spin and slashed with a backhanded cut at Corran’s knees. The Jedi leapt above it, then sliced down at the Vong’s left elbow as it flashed past. The silver blade pierced the leathery joint and scored flesh, winning a hiss and a small black rivulet of blood from the Vong.
The two combatants backed off for a second, each eyeing the other. Corran could feel the warmth spreading from his leg. The Yuuzhan Vong’s blood dripped down beneath the armor, forcing him to remove his gauntlet and dry his left hand against his chest. Each fighter nodded to the other, out of respect. And out of fear, just a hint of it.
They set themselves. The Yuuzhan Vong again raised his amphistaff above his head. Corran lowered the tip of his blade, letting it point at one of the Vong’s knees. He drew in a deep breath, then shifted his shoulders. This is it.
War cries echoed within the chamber as each fighter sprinted across the floor at his foe. Corran ducked his head, letting the amphistaff flash past over his right shoulder. His lightsaber slipped into the space between the Yuuzhan Vong’s knees, then Corran brought both hands up. The silver blade s
plit the armored joint at the Vong’s right hip. Corran sawed the blade forward and back once, lifting as he went, then spun away to the left.
Inexplicably his spin went out of control, and he crashed to the ground. He felt a moment of pain in his back, near his spine, then his legs went numb. His lightsaber skittered from his hand, scoring a small circle in the shell. Corran landed hard on his back, but avoided smashing his head into the ground.
Fear and urgency pounded him. He tried to sit up, but couldn’t. Past his feet he saw the Yuuzhan Vong’s amphistaff coiled near its master, hissing, flashing fangs, and he knew in an instant what had happened to him. He reached his right hand beneath his back and felt the torn cloth, the nasty bite mark. His hand came away slick with blood. Venom, too, I have no doubt. The numbness is spreading.
The Yuuzhan Vong stirred, posting his body up on his hands. He gathered his left knee beneath him and tried to straighten up. He pushed off with his hands and almost made it upright, but his right leg swung awkwardly around. The weight of it pulled the Vong off balance and crashed him down to the ground again. The Vong’s helmet popped off and danced across the floor.
His leg is all but severed and he’s still coming? Corran dragged himself over toward his lightsaber and got his right hand on it. If only these things didn’t cauterize the cuts they make, he’d bleed to death.
The Yuuzhan Vong rolled onto his belly and grabbed his amphistaff. He started to crawl toward Corran. The Jedi Knight slashed at him with the silver lightsaber, gouging chunks from the shell. His strikes chewed the floor into rubble, spraying up sand from below, but the Vong seemed undaunted by Corran’s weak attacks.
He knows the venom will get me. Corran already felt the numbness spreading up his back. It was becoming harder for him to breathe. He tried to use the Force to limit the damage, restrict blood flow, but the best techniques for that would drop him into a trance. And the Vong will kill me.
Corran pushed himself back and back, leaving a bloody red smear on the floor. He slashed again and again at the Yuuzhan Vong, but the warrior kept coming, slowly, certainly, waiting for Corran’s arm to tire, his fingers to lose all sensation. And he won’t have long to wait.
Corran’s breathing became labored. His chest heaved with every effort. He knew he was done and again called to himself images of his family. Happy images. Images that made him proud. He saw them through various times and situations, flashing finally on his most recent and strongest memories of them.
He reached out through the Force in one last desperate gamble. He half closed his eyes and let his smile slacken. The Yuuzhan Vong, with the help of his amphistaff, had risen to his good left leg. The warrior stared down at him, his bare face all scrunched up, uneven teeth and uneven features giving Corran a nightmare image to carry with him into eternity.
Then a frenzied explosion of slashrats burst up through the holes Corran had gouged in the shell’s floor. One of the toothy rodents sank its teeth into the Vong’s left forearm, crushing it as if it were an eggshell. Two others bit into the nearly severed right leg and tugged, dragging the Yuuzhan Vong out of Corran’s sight.
If the Vong screamed—and Corran decided he never would have—the sounds of snarling slashrats fighting over his body drowned it out completely.
With a smile on his face, Corran pushed himself back as best he could from the killballs that were feasting on the Yuuzhan Vong warriors. With his last memory of his son, he had recalled how Valin had made the garnants attack Ganner, so he had reached out with the Force to summon the slashrats for a Yuuzhan Vong meal. The snarling, growling packs of slashrats showed how effective that strategy had been.
Corran laughed to himself and laid his head down. Of course, now I’m dessert. He exhaled slowly and closed his eyes before the creeping numbness would rob him of the ability to do even so simple a task. For a moment he wondered if he would fade from existence upon death, as had other Jedi, robbing the slashrats of their meal. No matter. The others are safe and away. My work here is done.
Before the numbness consumed him completely, he felt himself floating. He would have smiled if he could have. So this is it. This is what it is like to die a Jedi and fade into nothingness. Though he gave no external sign, his spirit felt buoyed, and Corran Horn passed into black oblivion a happy man.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
A whistle from Catch prompted Gavin to check his secondary monitor. The shuttle Impervious was moving forward, into the battle over the ground army. While the shuttle had powerful shields and weapons, it was much safer and more effective hanging back with the other ships, pouring fire into the ground troopers.
Gavin keyed his comm unit. “Impervious, this is Rogue Lead. What are you doing?”
Senator A’Kla’s voice came back through the comm channel all serene. “Master Skywalker has a task for us, Colonel. Here he is.”
“Gavin, I need two of you to make a run on the large lead vehicle down there. I need four torps, all coming in at the same flank. We’ll give you the telemetry.” The Jedi’s voice betrayed a hint of excitement. “Can you do it?”
“As ordered, Jedi One.” Gavin punched a button, bringing his squadron’s tactical frequency into the channel. “Sticks, on me. A Jedi wants us to shoot a spread at the big lead vehicle out there.”
“I copy, Lead, coming in on your vector now.”
“Capture the telemetry data from Impervious and use it to shoot.”
“As ordered, Lead.” Jaina’s voice rose a bit. “Going to drill a range.”
Gavin smiled to himself. You and me both, Sticks. “Two and Twelve, keep the last skips off us.”
Double clicks from comm units confirmed that their wingmen had heard the order and would comply with it. Gavin kicked his X-wing up onto the port S-foils, then dove and leveled out a hundred meters over the battlefield. Lines of plasma bolts stretched out toward him, but they came slowly enough that he was able to dance his fighter between them.
He dropped the aiming reticle over the slow-moving vehicle, then flipped a switch that turned control of the torpedoes’ flight data to the Impervious. He kept his fighter pointed on target, then hit the trigger. Two proton torpedoes jetted away on azure fire, and another two came from his port. All four headed in on target.
Catch reported a gravitic anomaly, somewhat larger than most, had positioned itself to intercept the missiles. Gavin narrowed his eyes, waiting for the blast. I hope you know what you’re doing, Luke.
Leia stalked through the refugees, occasionally glancing up to see Danni and Lando as they wove their way through groups. Once Leia discerned the people who were actually exuding terror, she told them to move toward the perimeter of the holding area. The knot of refugees slowly shrank, and Leia could feel tension beginning to intensify in the area. Those who are left behind know we’re searching for something, and they hope it isn’t them.
Lando had gotten a step ahead of Danni when the young woman gasped. She pointed at an older woman and a man of an age to be her adult son. Lando spun, bringing his blaster up, but the old woman’s fingers sprouted claws. She raked her right hand up across Lando’s chest, shredding his blue tunic and spinning him into a group of screaming refugees.
As the old woman came up to her full height, the ooglith masquer stretched into a parody of what she had been. Leia brought her blaster carbine around and clipped off two shots. One missed high, but the second burned through the Yuuzhan Vong’s throat. His hands clutched at the wound as he went down, with black fluid and white pus flowing out between his fingers.
The Yuuzhan Vong who had masqueraded as her son dove to the right and came up from a somersault with Lando’s blaster in one hand and a small child clutched to his chest with the other arm. The Yuuzhan Vong croaked at her as he pressed the blaster pistol to the blond little girl’s head.
“Harm me. This dies.”
The malevolence in the words could not be missed, but the lack of it coming through the Force seemed incongruous to Leia. S
he raised her own blaster carbine and sighted in on the Yuuzhan Vong’s head. “You won’t kill just one, so I’ll take that risk.”
The Yuuzhan Vong took a moment to parse Leia’s words, then brought the pistol around to point it at her. Before he could pull the trigger, however, the power pack slid from the weapon and slowly tumbled to the ground. The alien’s taut human mask stretched oddly as the face beneath it contorted into a surprised grimace. Leia triggered a shot that passed over the child’s head and incinerated a hole through the Yuuzhan Vong’s forehead.
The warrior pitched over backward, cushioning his hostage with his own body. It did take a moment for the child’s terrified mother to pry her from the Yuuzhan Vong’s arms, by which time the child realized she was supposed to be afraid. The little girl started crying, but the cries were muffled as her mother hugged the child tightly to her.
Leia’s comlink buzzed. “Go ahead.”
“Mara here. I found tracks for a half-dozen Yuuzhan Vong.”
“We got two here, so there must be one more …”
“I got him.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Some scratches. He just went to pieces, though.” Levity lightened Mara’s voice. “I’ll stay out here and see what else I can scare up.”
Leia ran over to where Danni was helping Lando sit up. The Yuuzhan Vong’s claws had scratched him deeply, but Lando seemed more concerned about the state of his shirt than he was the wounds. He held his bloodied hands out in front of him as if looking for something on which to wipe them off. He considered using his cloak for a moment, then rejected that plan.
Leia waved over two volunteers. “Get Lando to an aid station.”
“I’ll be fine, Leia.”
“You’ll be fine after we stop your leaking.”