Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance (36 page)

"We
ask only to be left alone, " Xandret repeated.

"Those
hot spots are about ready to erupt, " said Jet in ominous tones.

"Give
me the comm, " Shigar said. "Master, I don't think talking
is going to work. She's as stubborn as her droids. I suggest finding
another approach. "

The
Grand Master was already talking: "Perhaps I could speak with
you face-to-face. That might help us reach an understanding. Just me
and my Padawan, in a place of your choosing. The last thing I want is
for you or your leaders to feel threatened or intimidated..."

"We
have no leader!" Xandret shouted. "We do not recognize your
authority!"

"Here
it comes, " said Jet, calling up in the viewscreen several
bright flashes from the surface of the world. "They look like
missiles to anyone else?"

Ula
peered closely at the image. His knowledge of military hardware was
patchy, but the rapidly rising dots did have a lethal air. For a
start, they moved quickly, accelerating many times faster than most
crewed ships would risk in atmosphere. There were eight of them, long
and sleek. They spiraled like fireworks as they rose, presenting a
much more difficult target to the ships above.

The
Auriga Fire lurched underneath him, responding to telemetry from the
Corellia. As one, all fifteen ships changed course in response to the
rising threat.

"There's
your answer, " said Larin. "Someone is definitely taking
this seriously. "

"Fine,
" said Jet, "but I'm not slaving my ship to anyone while
it's under fire. "

"Wait,
" said Shigar, but it was too late. Jet had already broken the
short-lived connection between his ship and those of the Republic.
With a flash of its repulsors, the Auriga Fire peeled away from
Second Company and accelerated to a higher orbit.

Behind
them, the ships of the Republic adopted battle formation, with the
Corellia in the center and support vessels in a crisp tetrahedron
around it. While fighters launched from hangar decks, its cannons
trained on the approaching targets. The Grand Master said nothing,
and the usual interfleet chatter ceased.

"Fall
in line, Auriga Fire, " came a terse request from the Corellia.
"Fall in line!"

Jet
ignored it, but kept the tactical feed open.

"This
doesn't make any sense, " said Ula, thinking aloud. "If
Xandret wants to stay isolated so badly, why would she want to talk
to the Mandalorians? I'd have thought that's exactly the wrong thing
to do. "

"Maybe
the Cinzia didn't represent everyone here, " Larin said. "Maybe
the people who blew themselves up were a dissident group. "

"And
why attack rather than talk?" he asked, moving on to his next
point of puzzlement. "Firing without provocation is madness. "

"Without
a doubt, " said Shigar. "They've practically signed their
own death warrant. "

The
missiles roared out of the upper atmosphere and hit the first wave of
defensive fire. A dense net of turbolaser pulses and ion torpedoes
converged on the eight missiles. The nose of each missile activated a
defensive shield not dissimilar to the ones seen on a much smaller
scale on Hutta. Mirror-bright, they reflected laser pulses perfectly,
and even deflected a large number of torpedoes. The space between the
Corellia and the planet below was suddenly full of explosions.

Out
of that stew of hot gases only six missiles emerged. The debris of
the two that had been hit tumbled on, following their final momentum.
Tiny white dots gleamed in the light of the black hole's jets.

The
six missiles hit another wave of defensive fire. The shields flashed
again, blinking on and off in rapid succession-to conserve power, Ula
assumed. The missiles weren't large. They couldn't defend themselves
forever against this kind of assault.

But
they didn't have to. Four of the original eight were now close enough
to the capital ships to be an imminent threat. Fighters engaged,
strafing the missiles from all directions at once. The shields
couldn't cover every possible approach. Three missiles faltered,
their drive systems crippled and their sides spewing clouds of
debris. The last thundered on, aimed squarely at the Corellia.

The
look on Shigar's face was painful to see. His Master was aboard that
ship, and a missile of that size was bound to do considerable damage,
perhaps even destroy the Corellia outright. Ula wondered if she was
hurrying for an escape pod at that very moment, hoping to outrun her
fate.

The
missile survived the final wave of defensive fire and struck the
Corellia just forward of its stardrive.

Ula
winced automatically, expecting a giant explosion.

None
came. The missile hit the golden hull with enough force to tear a
hole right through it, but instead simply vanished inside. A blast of
air and other gases roared out of the hole. No fire. The missile
didn't blow up.

Fleet
comms rose up again, betraying a slightly frantic note. Colonel Gurin
was on the air, reassuring everyone that the cruiser was intact.
There were no more launches visible from the ground. The attack from
Sebaddon appeared to have completely fizzled.

The
clouds of debris from the seven fallen missiles, still rising under
their own momentum, began to arrive. Some of it was scraps of torn
hulls and engines. Much consisted of the same white dots Ula had
glimpsed earlier. They sparkled like snowflakes in sunlight, drifting
around the Republic ships in undirected streams.

"Can
we get a closer look at that stuff?" he asked. "If the
missiles weren't packed with explosives, maybe they weren't missiles
at all. "

Jet
complied, focusing the ship's sensors on a nearby patch. The white
dots resolved into blobs swimming like amoebas against the black sky.

"I'll
see if I can increase the resolution, " he said.

The
view crystallized. The blobs became hexagonal objects waving six
slender legs.

Ula
felt a wave of alarm. Hexes. Thousands upon thousands of hexes.

"Get
us away from them, " said Shigar. "Put me through to
Colonel Gurin. "

The
view shifted to show one of the Republic attack vessels. The hexes
were thicker there. Where the hexes encountered one another, they
linked arms and bodies to form larger objects-long strings, nets, or
clumpy balls. The cruiser drifted among them, blissfully unaware,
even as the drifting hexes found purchase on its hull.

"Get
those ships out of there!" Shigar shouted into the subspace
communicator. "They're in terrible danger!"

The
reply was crackling and intermittent. "...interference...please
repeat..." Behind his voice was the shrieking of alarms.

Ula
peered past Shigar to where the Corellia hung against the globe of
the planet. Red fire now licked at the rent left by the missile. On
Hutta, four hexes had almost beaten a Jedi, a Sith, and a
Mandalorian. Over Sebaddon, a missile's entire payload of hexes had
been released into the body of a cruiser. He could only imagine what
kind of damage such droids were causing in their hundreds among
ordinary troops.

"Forget
the Corellia, " said Jet. "We have to warn the others. "
He switched the comm to general broadcast. "This is the Auriga
Fire. You are under attack. Use your fighters and gun emplacements to
clear your hull. Then break orbit and head for clear space. The
missiles contain the hexes we saw on Hutta. They'll rip you apart if
you don't get clear of them. "

"Tell
them to ignore all orders from the Corellia, " said Ula. "If
the network is compromised, the hexes could sow misinformation or
worse. "

Jet
took up the advice and passed it on to the other ships. Only then did
Ula kick himself for helping the Republic.

But
he couldn't sit by and watch thousands of people die. The Republic
had won the race. There was no advantage to be gained by assisting a
slaughter.

A
blast of powerful static drowned out all communications for a second.
Then a new voice spoke from the Corellia.

"We
do not recognize your authority!"

"That's
the hexes speaking, " said Larin. "They've taken control. "

"The
Corellia's launching escape pods, " said Shigar, pointing. "We
have to get in closer. The pods will be able to dodge the hexes
better than the big ships, but they need somewhere to rendezvous. We
can give them that until someone else arrives. "

"All
right, " said Jet, tight-lipped. "I want you and Larin on
the tri- lasers, keeping our path clear. If just one of those things
gets in here, we're all dead. "

Shigar
rose from his seat and vanished with Larin back into the ship.

"Ula,
up here, " said Jet, waving at the empty copilot's seat.
"Hetchkee, you'll be on tractor control. Clunker, stop the
signals from Corellia messing with our systems. " The droid came
forward to jack himself into the ship's computer again.

As
Ula changed seats, he noticed a bright flashing light on the
instrument panel in front of Jet. "Is that important?"

"Maybe,
but it's one thing we don't have time to worry about right now. "
Jet punched buttons in fast sequence across the instrument panel. "We
have more company. "

Ula
adjusted his viewscreen so it pointed back at the black hole. By the
light of the jets, he made out a string of ships emerging from
hyperspace. A large cruiser and numerous smaller vessels, strung out
in two precise lines. He recognized their configuration immediately,
and a surge of surprise swept through him.

Imperial
ships.

But
how? Stryver had the navicomp. They must have tracked him down and
taken it from him. That would explain why there was no sign of the
Mandalorian in the system. Adrenaline made his heart pound harder and
faster. Yes, it made sense.

More
than how they had gotten here, though, their very presence meant that
there was still hope for an Imperial victory. With the Republic
forces in such disarray, it would be easy to swoop in and overwhelm
them.

Only
with difficulty did he suppress a triumphant grin. Sebaddon would
become the Empire's prize after all, and his mission would not have
tailed.

Then
he remembered where he was, and all thoughts of victory fell away.
The Auriga Fire was helping the Republic. If the Empire beat the
Republic, he would be dead.

Aghast,
he stared at the screen as the Imperial engines fired up their drives
and powered in to attack.

CHAPTER
28

Ax
gripped the metal rail separating the senior command post from the
rest of the bridge. Her knuckles were white. She had never before
experienced such turbulence in hyperspace. Pilots sometimes bragged
of navigating the singularity-rich Maw and told stories of ships lost
there in bizarre circumstances. She had always thought them likely to
be exaggerated. Now, however, battling the influence of just one
black hole, she wondered if she had been a bit hasty in her judgment.
It hadn't seriously occurred to her that she might be snuffed out of
the universe by something as simple as a navigational accident. If
this last jump from Circarpous V hadn't been calculated to the
greatest degree of precision possible...

With
an earsplitting groan, the Paramount burst back into real- space. A
new kind of force immediately gripped the bulk cruiser, sending its
crew rushing about to compensate for it. Ax let go of the rail and
stood straight, lest anyone think her weak.

"We
have arrived at the coordinates, Darth Chratis. " The colonel
was as thin as a medical droid, and his expression betrayed as much
emotion. "All vessels are accounted for. "

"Very
good, Kalisch. Show me where we are. "

Images
danced around them, projected on massive viewscreens and
holoprojectors around the bridge. The jets of the black hole were the
first thing Ax noticed, stabbing like shining blades away from an
invisible central point. They looked like narrowed eyes staring back
at the galaxy in hatred.

From
the outside, the galaxy's potential was completely revealed to her.
With so many systems under her control, what couldn't she achieve?

"We
have located a planet, " said the colonel, relaying a report
delivered by one of his many underlings. "We believe it to be
the one called Sebaddon. "