Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore Read Free Book Online

man came back sarcastically.
    “It’s in our galaxy now, and we can track it to the other rim, if necessary,” another added.
    “We’re not an autonomous unit,” a woman, Lysire, reminded.
    “Aren’t we?” another argued.
    “But do we really know what we’re tracking?” Yomin Carr asked, and all eyes turned toward him, most expressions incredulous.
    “Do we?” he asked again, in all seriousness.
    “Something extragalactic,” another answered.
    “Never did I agree to that,” Yomin Carr said, and again, the curious expressions turned his way.
    “We don’t know that,” Danni put in, apparently taking Yomin Carr’s side. “We’ve already agreed that it’s just as likely an asteroid from our own galaxy that escaped, or nearly escaped, and was pulled back in.”
    “It could indeed be something from our own galaxy,” Yomin Carr went on, smiling inwardly at the irony of that statement, at the secret double meaning of
our own galaxy.
“In fact, I think it very likely that it is just that.”
    “Then what’s your point?” Bensin Tomri asked rather indignantly.
    “My point?” Yomin Carr echoed, mostly because it bought him the time to figure out the meaning, with help from the tizowyrm, of that curious expression. “My point is that we do not even know if it was ever extragalactic,” Yomin Carr answered.
    “You saw the vector,” Bensin argued.
    “I did indeed,” Yomin Carr said. “A vector that could reflect a rebound.”
    “That’s absurd,” Bensin retorted.
    “How come we didn’t track it out there, then?” another asked.
    “We do not know that we didn’t,” Yomin Carr said. He held up his hands to deflate any further attacks. “All that I am saying is that we should be absolutely certain before alerting the rest of the galaxy.”
    “And any call we make will be public information before it ever gets to ExGal Command,” Danni agreed.
    “Yes,” Yomin Carr said, “and then we may discover the signal to be no more than a failure of one of our tracking systems, or a piece of useless space debris bouncing back in from our own galaxy, and how intelligent we shall look in the eyes of the judging ExGal commanders.”
    “This is bigger than us,” Bensin Tomri replied.
    “It is,” Danni agreed. “But we were put out here to function independently. Maybe Yomin Carr’s right. If we go prematurely alerting the whole galaxy, we could look like fools.”
    “And any such error, rousing half the fleet, could hurt the funding of ExGal,” Tee-ubo added with a nod.
    “Even if we are correct, if this is something that escaped and returned, or even something from another galaxy or from the supposed emptiness between galaxies, are you ready to announce it?” Yomin Carr asked Bensin directly.
    Bensin looked at him as if he did not understand.
    “Do you want a host of New Republic scientists, and perhaps even a couple of Jedi Knights to show up?” Yomin Carr asked sarcastically. Some of the expressions coming back at him showed that others hardly saw any connection between this and the Jedi, but Yomin Carr didn’t let that slow him. “This is our moment. This is what we have earned from our sacrifice of months—for most of you, even years—of our lives, toiling in this wretched place. At the very least, we owe it to ourselves to prevent embarrassment, or to ensure our proper credit if it does show to be extragalactic. To begin the first formal study. To chart where it came from to make sure it’s not a rebound. To chart its current path, and to try to gain as many insights as possible.”
    “Way to go, newbie,” Garth Breise remarked with a grin.
    The debate ended as abruptly as it had begun. Danni backed Yomin’s argument completely, and even Bensin didn’t disagree.
    Yomin Carr smiled inwardly once again. If practical argumentsdidn’t work against these often stubborn inferior heretics, then appealing to their overblown sense of pride always did. He looked about at the working