Ylesia by Walter Jon Williams Read Free Book Online Page A

Vong.
    The sight of the Yuuzhan Vong rolling about in ecstatic bliss would certainly be a pleasing one. The sight would be even more pleasing if he could get the mighty warriors
addicted
to their daily blast of cosmic communion, as were the slaves.
    It seemed worth sacrificing a few aliens to have a whole regiment of Yuuzhan Vong addicts willing to do anything Thrackan suggested in return for a daily ecstatic thunderbolt from their god.
    Thrackan chuckled to himself. And Shimrra thought
he
was an expert on the taking of vengeance.
    So agreeable did Thrackan find this vision that he almost missed Maal Lah’s next statement.
    â€œYou should prepare yourself and the Senate for a special visitor in the next few days.”
    It took Thrackan a few seconds to realize the import of this. All his pleasing fantasies vanished like vapor before the wind.
    â€œShimrra’s coming
here
?” he gasped.
    Maal Lah snarled at him. “The
Supreme Overlord
,” he corrected savagely, “will remain in his new capital until the gods tell him otherwise. No, it’s
another
who will soon be paying you an official visit. With this one you will sign a treaty of peace, mutual aid, and nonaggression.” A smile snarled its way across the warrior’s face. “Prepare yourself to meet the Chief of State of the New Republic.”

    The streaming stars flashed and nailed themselves to the heavens, and the Ylesia system leapt into life on Jacen’s displays. Alarms bleeped at the realization that the ships in orbit around the planet were enemy. Jacen closed up on Jaina, the formation leader, his X-wing tucked in neatly behind his sister’s fighter.
    â€œTwin Suns Squadron, check in!” Jaina’s voice on the comm.
    â€œTwin Two,” said Jaina’s Neimoidian wingmate, Vale, “in realspace with all systems normative.”
    â€œTwin Three,” another pilot said. “In realspace. All systems normative.”
    The pilots all checked in, all the way to Jacen, who had been added to Jaina’s flight as Twin Thirteen. He made his report, the Force filling his mind, and through it he felt the Jedi: fierce, loyal Lowbacca and the exhilarated Tesar near at hand; Corran Horn distracted by his own pilots’ checklist; the cold-blooded exhilaration of Saba Sebatyne and her Wild Knights. And, more distantly, with other elements of the fleet, the concentration of Tahiri, the melancholy determination of Alema Rar, the confidence of Zekk, and the sheer
power
of Kyp Durron, a power very much akin to rage.
    And, most clearly of all, Jacen felt the presence of Jaina, her mind ablaze with machinelike calculation.
    The Jedi meld filled Jacen’s mind, a psychic feedback mechanism between himself and the other Jedi. He was impressed by the meld’s power, and by how it had grown since he’d last experienced it on Myrkr. There, it had been a mixed blessing, but then the Jedi war party at Myrkr had been divided among themselves. Here, they were united in a single purpose.
    Jacen’s sensitivity to the Force had grown within the meld, and he was aware of the other lives around him, the non-Jedi pilots of Twin Suns Squadron, and others nearby, particularly the disciplined minds of Jagged Fel’s Chiss squadron, which flew to port and slightly behind them. Jag had volunteered his squadron for this fight, even though they weren’t technically a part of Kre’fey’s command. Once Kre’fey had been reminded that Jag’s veterans had originally been a part of Twin Suns Squadron before being split off, he’d accepted Jag’s offer.
    â€œListen up, people.” Jaina’s voice came again on the comm. “I know we outnumber the enemy, but that doesn’t make the ordnance they’ll shoot at us any less real. This isn’t a drill, and you can get killed if you’re not careful. I want everyone to stick with their wingmate and keep an eye open for an enemy