Jram Lusp stared up at the night sky. The stars were as familiar to him as his own hands; he had grown up on Iridonia, had seldom been off-planet, and had learned to navigate his way across the planet using only those same stars above as his guide.<\/p>\n
Tonight, they seemed utterly alien.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been no word from Achick,\u201d his comlink said softly. \u201cWhen the Council building fell, no one ever saw him board a transport.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you believe, Mother?\u201d Jram asked distantly. Father, gone? I can\u2019t believe it. I <\/em>won\u2019t believe it. He wouldn\u2019t just vanish.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThere are rumors the Vong took him, that he defected to work with them to help them conquer Iridonia,\u201d Alyce\u2019s distant voice said. \u201cEven more rumors that he\u2019s been working with them all along. Rumors that you and I are traitors as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFoolish,\u201d Jram scoffed.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously. We would never betray Iridonia to these invaders. But there are quieter rumors that Sanshir ordered Achick left behind, that his soldiers intentionally ensured that he couldn\u2019t board a transport to make it back. One of his personal agents, and the Wookiee berserker, were responsible for evacuating the Council. Another one of Sanshir\u2019s pets was responsible for defending the Council as well, and we see how well that worked out.\u201d Alyce\u2019s voice held a trace of bitterness.<\/p>\n Jram hesitated before responding. \u201cMother, I don\u2019t think the Sanshirs would order Achick left behind. Even if they did, a Wookiee would never go along with it\u2014it would violate his honor.\u201d He shook his head, even though his mother could not see it. \u201cBesides\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat? You think Halyn Sanshir would hesitate to kill Achick?\u201d Alyce\u2019s voice dripped with venom. \u201cHe practically promised to kill him on the Council floor!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, but that\u2019s his style! He wouldn\u2019t hesitate to run Father through with a zhaboka, but he wouldn\u2019t arrange to have him killed.\u201d Would he?<\/em> He hesitated. \u201cThe Sanshirs haven\u2019t been killing indiscriminately. After all, they allowed me to live even when I personally fought and tried to kill Halyn.\u201d<\/p>\n Alyce\u2019s reply was reluctant. \u201cPerhaps you are correct,\u201d she said slowly. \u201cStill, what could have happened to him?\u201d<\/p>\n Jram shook his head at himself again. If he wasn\u2019t evacuated, he\u2019s either a prisoner of the Yuuzhan Vong or dead. If he\u2019s a captive, he likely wishes he were dead, and there\u2019s almost no chance we\u2019ll get him back.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m working to get you removed from the front line,\u201d Alyce said, changing the subject. \u201cIt would do no good for you to be lost in this war. When it is over, you\u2019ll be needed to help rebuild Rak\u2019Edalin. What the Sanshirs destroy, we Lusps will be called upon to rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, Mother,\u201d Jram said grimly. \u201cNo special favors for me. I\u2019ve been out here fighting because I\u2019m needed here. If I die, there\u2019s always Hakk.\u201d<\/p>\n Alyce was silent for long moments before snarling, \u201cYes, the son who took up with a Sanshir girl. The Jedi<\/em>. She has addled his mind with those Force tricks and illusions. I need you<\/em> to survive, Jram.\u201d<\/p>\n He thought of Kativie and her shining emerald lightsaber, the unstoppable wave of green fire that turned back the Yuuzhan Vong and saved him during the early pushes. I can understand why Hakk fell for her, even if she\u2019s an enemy. She\u2019s a superior warrior and fought without losing her honor.<\/em> Aloud, he said, \u201cThen I will survive fighting on the front line, Mother, if that is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLusp,\u201d a voice interrupted him, \u201cit\u2019s time to move out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll speak again later, Mother,\u201d Jram said and shut the comlink off without waiting for her answer.\u00a0 He wondered, briefly, if her mistrust of the Sanshirs would be considered paranoia by any of the better doctors on Iridonia or Coruscant.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Sarge is ordering all our gear packed up for another fallback,\u201d the soldier, barely sixteen years old, told him. \u201cWe\u2019ve got fifteen minutes before we need to move out.\u201d<\/p>\n Jram nodded. \u201cThen I\u2019d better pack.\u201d<\/p>\n He returned to the camp and spent a few minutes packing up the few belongings of a frontline Rak\u2019Edalin warrior: his sleeping mat was tightly rolled and tied, the tent he shared with one other soldier broke down and split between them, the little food he carried returned to a watertight pack, his spare power packs attached to a bandoleer and his blaster rifle shouldered. When he was done, he leaned heavily on his zhaboka as the rest of his unit finished similar tasks.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are we doing?\u201d he mumbled aloud. \u201cWe fight all day to hold the line. Our warriors bleed and die and don\u2019t give a centimeter of territory to the Vong, but night falls and the Ul\u2019akhoi orders us back. Why do we keep falling back during the night, and only fight to hold in the day? It doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps it keeps our defenses more concentrated and harder to break through,\u201d another soldier suggested.<\/p>\n Jram shook his head. \u201cFalling back and shrinking the line allows the Vong to concentrate their forces as well. It doesn\u2019t change much, other than giving them control over more and more of our territory, which means we have less and less supply sources to draw on. I\u2019ve been running the numbers already\u2014we\u2019re pretty much at the breaking point. If we give much more ground, our supplies can\u2019t keep up anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n His pronouncement was met with shrugs and weary sighs. Most of the warriors fighting on the front line were exhausted; their concerns were day-to-day combat and fighting to survive. More abstract concepts weren\u2019t important enough to enter their psyche while the Vong were at their doorsteps.<\/p>\n What is the Sanshir up to?<\/em> he asked himself silently again. He has to know that he\u2019s allowing the Vong to concentrate. He also has to know he\u2019s hurting his own supply lines by doing this. So what does he, or Rak\u2019Edalin, or Iridonia benefit by these nightly fallbacks?<\/em><\/p>\n He fell into step with his squad as they began falling back. The usual retreat was somewhere between fifty and a hundred meters, but tonight his sergeant did not stop after the usual retreat. When they had covered two hundred meters, Jram\u2019s nerves felt on edge. Okay, so we established a pattern of nightly retreats. Tonight, we\u2019re retreating even further. Why? What are we doing?<\/em> He shook his head. What could the Ul\u2019akhoi be doing?<\/em><\/p>\n The warrior carrying the other half of his tent fell into step beside him. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on tonight, Jram? This isn\u2019t the usual fallback.\u201d he asked in a low voice.<\/p>\n Jram shrugged. \u201cI wish I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cC\u2019mon, don\u2019t give me that,\u201d the other warrior said. \u201cWe all know your father is Council, big-time. You have to have the inside line on this.\u201d<\/p>\n Jram forced a smile. \u201cI\u2019m just as ignorant as everyone else here,\u201d he said. \u201cBelieve me, I wish I knew what was going on. I was on the comlink with my mother when we started packing up, and she didn\u2019t tell me anything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd your father?\u201d<\/p>\n Jram couldn\u2019t stop his smile from vanishing. \u201cMissing since the Council was evacuated. No one\u2019s heard anything from him, and he wasn\u2019t on any of the transports.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou sure nobody threw him out an airlock?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow you sound like my mother.\u201d Jram shook his head. \u201cEveryone knows there\u2019s no love lost between the Lusps and the Sanshirs, but we\u2019re all pulling together against the Vong. No one would take the time right now to stab someone else in the back.\u201d<\/p>\n The march was over five kilometers long; the ravaged hull of the Cathleen<\/em> was visible even in the darkness when the sergeant finally called a cease to their retreat.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re practically inviting the Vong to take the whole city,\u201d Jram muttered to himself. What is he doing? Is he trying to surrender the whole city?<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It had become an open secret that, during the night, Halyn could be found in one of the subterranean hangars dotting Rak\u2019Edalin. Virtually all the officers whom had a history with the Ul\u2019akhoi had found him there during the darkest hours, working on an old battered Gallofree light freighter.<\/p>\n Kelta was surprised, then, to find him absent when she walked through the restored hallways of the little freighter. It looks just like it did during the Civil War<\/em>, she observed as she walked through it. The cockpit had its two extra chairs restored, with all four of the seats reholstered. The panels had been closed up, the displays all in functional order, blinking slowly in standby. I bet she could be started and underway in five minutes<\/em>, Kelta thought distantly. She always had a fast start-up sequence.<\/em><\/p>\n The forward hold had an old overstuffed couch bolted to the floor, a holochess table within reach of the center of the couch. On the opposite side were two heavy-weighted chairs, their bases solid durasteel. The chairs were common in starships across the galaxy, a design intended to stay in place even during turbulence in flight. Elsewhere around the forward hold were similar bits and pieces Kelta remembered from the old days\u2014a lizard-skin rug, a workbench lined with tools, a couple of depowered R-series astromech droids.<\/p>\n The crew quarters were just as she remembered as well\u2014a second workbench, a small galley, and four crewman bunks. She spent a moment to check the refrigeration unit and was amused to note it was stocked with several bottles of alcohol. Just like the old days<\/em>, she thought wryly. He never did skimp on his booze.<\/em><\/p>\n The bunks looked just as she remembered as she stepped over the battered, but recently re-cleaned orange rug that dominated the small chamber. She blushed at her own memories, chiding herself for the embarrassment. You loved him then, and you love him now. It\u2019s hard not to remember when the ship looks just like it used to.<\/em><\/p>\n The aft section of the ship had also been restored; the engine panels had been restored, wiring bundled, grounded, and safely tucked away. Two cabinets of tools were bolted to the wall and filled with their usual array of hydrospanners, calibers, laser welders, and other tools. She hooked her finger in a small hole in the decking and heaved; it lifted away to reveal the hidden storage compartments Halyn had installed sometime before she had met him.<\/p>\n As she walked back down the boarding ramp, she saw the sublight thrusters had been cleaned and aligned, the hull patched and repainted, the scorch marks scrubbed away. The <\/em>Starwind looks ready to fly.<\/em><\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t answer the question: where is Halyn?<\/em><\/p>\n Kelta was reluctant to tap deeply into the Force. She was more sensitive to its flows than most Jedi, and intimately felt the pain and anger and fear and hope of those around her, Force-users or not. In a warzone, if she couldn\u2019t maintain her mental shields, she could rapidly be overwhelmed by the sensations. In the past, she had feared such powerful outside emotions could drive her mad.<\/p>\n If she wanted to find Halyn now, though, she suspected that the Force was the only way to do so. Reluctantly, she allowed her shields to ebb. At the first breach in her defenses, the Force flowed into her like a river filling a dam; within moments she felt like she was filled up entirely, the excess energy sloshing over into the flow of the Force around her.<\/p>\n With the Force came the waves of emotion from Rak\u2019Edalin: the physical suffering of the warriors who had been injured in the fighting, the emotional pain of nearly every Zabrak she could sense\u2014all of them had lost homes, family, friends in the long siege.<\/p>\n She felt like she was drowning in the Force.<\/p>\n Kelta stretched out harder, fighting to hold onto her identity under the barrage of others\u2019 emotions and thoughts. It was hard, so hard to concentrate as she felt everything<\/em>.<\/p>\n Then she found him, touched his mind, and felt like a swimmer breaking the surface after a long dive.<\/p>\n The Jedi slammed her shields back into place, felt the emotions of the ravaged city fall away from her. She spent a few moments breathing, a Jedi calming exercise, and took refuge in the calm clarity of mind she\u2019d felt from Halyn.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s on the Cathleen<\/em>\u2019s bridge,\u201d she said aloud in wonderment. \u201cIn the middle of the night. That\u2019s not like him.\u201d<\/p>\n When she felt she could walk, she ran towards the hangar\u2019s exit, and towards the Cathleen<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Halyn paced the Cathleen<\/em>\u2019s bridge. The chamber was dark, red-lit from the few battle alert indicators which still functioned.<\/p>\n The survivors of his war council were gathered there with him: Li Coden, the starfighter pilot; Anishor, the mighty berserker warrior; Ceikeh Alari, the Zabrak Senator to the New Republic; Kryi Rinnet, the starfighter coordinator; Kativie Lusp, his sister and Jedi Knight. Edlin Sanshir, Allanna\u2019s eldest son, stood with his back to the wall, clearly uncomfortable with his inclusion in the elite group. Only Kelta Rose, the other Jedi Knight, was still missing.<\/p>\n Too few survivors,<\/em> he thought bitterly. This war has cost me too many friends and allies. But no more.<\/em> His thoughts turned to Lenn Kaman, killed when his starfighter was shot down; Sandarie, poisoned and held in hibernation in the hope of getting her to a medical facility capable of saving her; Allanna and Kativie’s children, three of them dead from an assassination attempt aimed at himself; Abi Ocopaqui, heavily medicated in the medical bay with a damaged lekku; and just hours previously, Nisia Eisweep, dead from the Yuuzhan Vong attack on the Council.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t deserve such friends. They fought and died because they are my friends, and I asked them to fight. So many lives lost on my account.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSo, why did you call us all here?\u201d Li asked conversationally. \u201cYou usually like having your meetings in the early morning, not late at night. That whole sleep thing most of us need and all.\u201d<\/p>\n Halyn pulled himself away from his dark thoughts. \u201cAll of you have fought and bled on my behalf,\u201d he began hesitantly, \u201cand on behalf of Rak\u2019Edalin and Iridonia and perhaps all of Zabrak space. Some of our friends have died or been badly wounded during this war.\u201d He tried to force a smile, but it failed to materialize. \u201cI wanted all of you to know how much I appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re giving up our sleep for that?\u201d Ceikeh asked dryly. \u201cYou could\u2019ve sent a thank-you note.\u201d<\/p>\n Anishor roared a wordless assent.<\/p>\n Halyn did<\/em> manage a smile at that. \u201cI guess I could have. I prefer to show it, though.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShow it how?\u201d a new voice asked from the turbolift.<\/p>\n Halyn turned and nodded to red-haired Kelta Rose as she stepped out of the lift. \u201cBy making sure you\u2019re here to see the end of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kelta shuddered involuntarily. \u201cDoes that mean\u2026?\u201d she asked, unable to completely verbalize her question. Does that mean you\u2019re going to surrender?<\/em><\/p>\n Halyn shook his head. \u201cNo, my rules remain the same. No retreat, no surrender. We fight until the battle is over, one way or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen what\u2026?\u201d Kelta asked, confused.<\/p>\n Halyn smiled just a little. \u201cThis is the end, Kelta. What I\u2014we<\/em>\u2014have been planning since the Cathleen<\/em> landed in Rak\u2019Edalin.\u201d<\/p>\n <Landed?> Anishor asked. <Only you would call that a landing.><\/p>\n \u201cDidn\u2019t you see some of his students back when he was running the Rara Avis flight academy?\u201d Li asked sardonically. \u201cCompared to what happened to some of those Y-wings, the Cathleen<\/em> settled in like a downy feather.\u201d<\/p>\n Laughs circled the bridge, just enough to take the edge off the nervousness. In spite of Kelta\u2019s mental shields, the edginess everyone seemed to be feeling bled through with enough strength to keep her off-balance.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what have you been planning?\u201d Ceikeh asked. \u201cAnd who is \u2018we\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKativie and I,\u201d Halyn said, drawing a deep breath. \u201cShe\u2019s the only one who knows everything I\u2019ve done in the defense of Iridonia\u2014whether she agreed with it or not. Kativie knows every plan I made, every step I took, every tactic we deployed. It was necessary to have someone ready to step in should I have fallen.\u201d Halyn took a deep breath. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d survive to see the end of this war.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, how are you going to end the war?\u201d Li asked.<\/p>\n The sense coming off Halyn was so cold<\/em> for a moment that Kelta shivered.<\/p>\n \u201cWe established a new pattern for the Vong recently,\u201d Halyn explained slowly. \u201cOur warriors fought them to a standstill during the day\u2014our Iridonians gave no ground nor quarter during the battles. After nightfall, our warriors fell back, giving the Vong ten meters, fifty, a hundred\u2014enough to safely keep their distance. At daybreak they defend their new positions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis benefits us how?\u201d Ceikeh asked.<\/p>\n Kativie answered. \u201cThe Vong won\u2019t think anything of it when our troops pull back from the battle line, as they did tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelta could see that Anishor\u2019s expression was pensive, even through all the hair. <Where did your troops fall back to?> he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cTo the Cathleen<\/em> herself,\u201d Halyn said grimly. \u201cTo give us the room to execute this.\u201d He looked over at Kativie. \u201cAre we in position?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n The Jedi Knight closed her eyes, and Kelta could feel her drawing heavily on the Force. Its currents seemed to bend around her, flowing into the Zabrak Jedi like light into a black hole. At last Kativie nodded, her eyes still closed. \u201cAll our troops have fallen back to their proscribed positions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood.\u201d Halyn closed his eyes, and Kelta could feel the weariness of his spirit even as his body seemed to blaze with strength. \u201cCathleen<\/em> gunnery crew, this is the Ul\u2019akhoi. Open fire.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelta\u2019s eyes widened as she began to grasp the significance of his order.<\/p>\n The Cathleen<\/em> had been badly damaged when the Yuuzhan Vong pulled it from orbit with a dovin basal. Its skeleton was shattered, leaving it incapable of ever flying again. Its engines had been crushed beneath the vessel\u2019s hull when it smashed into the city. Entire decks of the warship had been compressed, packed together like layers of material in a laminate. Many of her crew had been killed instantly; most of the survivors were left injured or wounded.<\/p>\n Yet some of the vessel had survived. Its hangar was still in use, even now, by a small group of Muurian transports. Crew and cargo compartments now sheltered Rak\u2019Edalin\u2019s refugees. Its limited medical facilities now treated Zabrak warriors injured in the ongoing battle. The bridge had become the command center of the entire defensive operation.<\/p>\n The reactor had also survived\u2014it provided the necessary power for the essential ship systems the Cathleen<\/em> depended on, even in her crippled state.<\/p>\n So had eighteen of the turbolasers.<\/p>\n Red-white fire lanced out from the Cathleen<\/em> and into the city.<\/p>\n In spite of her mental defenses, Kelta felt shock and horror, both from within and without, shatter her mental shields.<\/p>\n The turbolasers fired once, twice, three times in salvo before falling into a regular thump-thump-thump<\/em> of the heavy weapons. The regular rhythm was soothing, but completely at odds with the raw sensations pouring into her through the Force.<\/p>\n There was death, of course\u2014but not the death of Zabrak warriors. In fact, she did not feel the intense pain of a life torn away; it was the more muted death of animals, primarily small rodents and scavengers which survived by picking their way through the burnt remains of Rak\u2019Edalin.<\/p>\n Grief, though, was a far more sentient emotion. Kelta could not differentiate her personal emotions from those carried to her by the Force. Her stomach collapsed in on itself, and she felt depths of grief she could barely comprehend\u2014pain she\u2019d felt only twice in her life. Once, when Halyn Lance had walked away from her after the battle of Endor, disappeared without saying goodbye; and once, when her husband, Liam Varo, had died during the Thrawn campaign.<\/p>\n Shock rattled her very soul, replaced moments later by the heart-wrenching pain of betrayal. She felt the betrayal of thousands of beings, Zabrak warriors who had trusted their Ul\u2019akhoi to defend their city against the Yuuzhan Vong\u2014the same Ul\u2019akhoi who now ordered its destruction.<\/p>\n The pain all swirled together, and she could feel her individuality fading away in the storm of pain brought to her by the Force.<\/p>\n Then she felt a calm eye to that storm\u2014the Zabrak it all focused upon. Halyn was utterly calm as he ordered the city utterly destroyed, reducing a burned ruin to a vaporized scorch mark on the face of Iridonia.<\/p>\n She latched onto him, a lifeline to keep her sanity. She could feel his own pain for the responsibility he bore in this maneuver, but he kept it tightly wrapped beneath layers of discipline and necessity.<\/em> As the emotions of others tried to tug her under the flow, she hung to him in the Force like a shipwreck victim to a life buoy.<\/p>\n Halyn burned brightly in the Force now, even as she could feel faintly the thrum of the energy of the turbolasers. As Kelta felt her sanity, her self<\/em> returning, she realized that Halyn was more brilliant, more vivid in her senses than she\u2019d ever felt him before. As the remains of Rak\u2019Edalin were reduced to ash, as Yuuzhan Vong warriors were vaporized by powerful starship weapons, his brightness seemed to grow in her perceptions.<\/p>\n He was burning brighter than Kativie, brighter than Anishor. The collective pain of the Zabraks witnessing the loss of their city seemed to fade away. She began to feel as though she were looking into the sun itself, with everything else fading into insignificance when compared to its impossibly bright light.<\/p>\n Then that sun collapsed in on itself, in the span of a heartbeat turning from a brilliant star into a black hole.<\/p>\n Kelta collapsed on the deck as the collective scream of the Zabrak survivors reached her through the sudden emptiness. Waves of pain swept over her, with nothing to dull it.<\/p>\n She pushed herself up to her hands and knees, felt Anishor\u2019s furred paws on her shoulders. \u201cI\u2019m okay,\u201d she rasped as she tried to shut down her connection to the Force. \u201cWhat\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n The Jedi raised her gaze far enough to see the truth: Halyn Lance lay silently on the deck, his eyes closed, his chest no longer raising with breath.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jram Lusp stared up at the night sky. The stars were as familiar to him as his own hands; he had grown up on Iridonia, had seldom been off-planet, and had learned to navigate his way across the planet using … Continue reading