Dawn rose on an Iridonia scarred by war.<\/p>\n
The Cathleen<\/em>\u2019s turbolasers had fired nonstop for about six hours during the night. The glow of fires and the brilliant flashes of the weapons themselves had lit up the city in the darkness, but only daylight revealed the true nature of the destruction Halyn had ordered inflicted upon Rak\u2019Edalin.<\/p>\n No structure more than a few hundred meters from the wrecked capital ship was still standing. The destruction had been thorough; the heavy weapons had brought down already-damaged buildings, had burned to the ground the previously-burned homes, businesses, civic structures that had made up the city.<\/p>\n Kativie Lusp studied it all from the bridge of the Cathleen<\/em>, watching the holograms relayed to her by scouts, by reconnaissance flights, and by the warship\u2019s own visual sensors.<\/p>\n Some of the minimal bridge crew wept openly and continually at the horrifying images. In spite of the infamous Iridonian discipline, sobs were audible throughout the bridge. Down below, in the areas given over to the protection of Rak\u2019Edalin\u2019s non-combatants, there were wails of despair and anguish as families realized everything except their lives had been ripped away from them, turned to ash in the span of a single night.<\/p>\n Kativie did not cry, nor did she feel sorrow or pain. She felt only numbness as more and more images were displayed in the bridge\u2019s holographic well. The Jedi had already felt the pain of Rak\u2019Edalin\u2019s final destruction; the Force had carried it to her with a crystal clarity, with a realness<\/em> that the tasteless, odorless, soundless images of a hologram could never match.<\/p>\n Both my brothers gone; two of my children dead; Rak\u2019Edalin in ruin. Is Iridonia saved, now?<\/em> she wondered distantly. Or will this battle keep grinding on?<\/em><\/p>\n Because in spite of it all, scattered reports were starting to filter in. The Yuuzhan Vong army had been badly damaged, but they had survived. Yuuzhan Vong warriors, seemingly as shell-shocked as her own troops, had attacked some of the scouting parties out in what little remained of the city. In places, yorik coral vessels and structures had managed to survive the turbolaser raking, either by pure luck or by dovin basal defenses.<\/p>\n Surely the Yuuzhan Vong did not have the strength for yet another battle.<\/p>\n Kativie tried to stretch out to the Force, but the very act of touching the energy was as painful as holding her hand in a bucket of icy water. It was raw with the pain and terror and horror of an entire people mourning the loss of everything.<\/p>\n She wondered, distantly, how Kelta would cope with it. Maybe she can\u2019t. Maybe that\u2019s why she\u2019s still down in the med bay, clinging to Halyn\u2019s body like she can save him.<\/em> Even that image did not pierce the heavy fog surrounding her, the numbness pressing down on her senses.<\/p>\n \u201cYou did it, Halyn,\u201d she whispered aloud\u2014so quietly she doubted anyone would hear her. \u201cYou beat the Yuuzhan Vong. It only cost you everything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJedi Lusp,\u201d an officer rasped from behind her. \u201cSir, what are our orders?\u201d<\/p>\n Orders. Right. I\u2019m in charge now, until the Council finds a way to act. The Sanshirs sure aren\u2019t going to be heroes for this mess.<\/em> Aloud, she said, \u201cKeep all our intact forces in place, and order them to dig in. I want more reconnaissance flights over Rak\u2019Edalin, with the best sensor packages we\u2019ve got left. We need an estimate of any surviving Vong forces.\u201d<\/p>\n She heard acknowledgements to her orders, but they hardly registered. Something bothered her, though. I feel like I\u2019m missing something. What am I missing? The Yuuzhan Vong army has been shattered by Halyn\u2019s last order. The city has been reduced to rubble and ash. We have scout parties out and more recon flights to locate any surviving Vong units, and we\u2019ll eliminate them soon enough if they don\u2019t surrender.<\/em><\/p>\n So what am I forgetting about?<\/em> She felt uneasy; there was something she was forgetting about. She knew<\/em>, with bedrock certainty, that there was still some danger, but she could not seem to comprehend its source.<\/p>\n The warning wasn\u2019t from the Force; even if it wasn\u2019t so painful to touch, she knew her own emotional turmoil would likely obscure any message it tried to give her. No, it was something that should be blatantly obvious. Kativie felt as though the answer were staring her in the face, but she couldn\u2019t focus her eyes close enough to recognize it.<\/p>\n \u201cNot much left, is there?\u201d Senator Alari asked quietly from behind her.<\/p>\n Kativie turned and nodded at her brother\u2019s old friend. \u201cNo, Senator,\u201d she whispered. \u201cHalyn made sure of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Ceikeh stepped in close to her. His voice dropped to barely audible levels before inquiring, \u201cWas this his plan from the beginning? Did Halyn and Argus plan this defense together?\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of answering, Kativie asked, \u201cDoes it matter?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo Rak\u2019Edalin? To Iridonia? To the Council, or the New Republic? No. To me, as his friend, I\u2019d like to know,\u201d Ceikeh answered slowly.<\/p>\n Kativie gnawed at her lip before replying. \u201cThis wasn\u2019t the original defense Halyn and Argus had designed, no. They fully expected to draw the Vong into a long, drawn-out conflict in Rak\u2019Edalin, but they\u2019d expected to hold the Yuuzhan Vong fast here in a stalemate until the New Republic fleet arrived. With Iridonia as an anvil and the fleet as a hammer, they expected they could crush the invaders, after taking some collateral damage.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut they didn\u2019t expect Coruscant to fall and the New Republic to come to pieces,\u201d Ceikeh reasoned.<\/p>\n Kativie nodded. \u201cHalyn had designed a contingency plan that Argus rejected, in the event that the New Republic wouldn\u2019t send a fleet. He had expected to turn the city\u2019s defensive turbolasers around and use them to vaporize any parts of Rak\u2019Edalin that the Vong managed to capture and hold.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut the city\u2019s defensive grid was shattered by the Cathleen<\/em>\u2019s fall, and later that Vong warship,\u201d Ceikeh interjected.<\/p>\n \u201cYes. Fortunately, even after the fall, the Cathleen<\/em>\u2019s power core remained online, and more than a quarter of her turbolasers survived. It wasn\u2019t what Halyn originally planned, but it was a final solution in the event the Vong were winning.\u201d<\/p>\n Ceikeh shook his head. \u201cHalyn was wiling to sacrifice everything to win, wasn\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnything less would\u2019ve meant the fall of Zabraks everywhere,\u201d Kativie whispered. \u201cHe had to draw his line in the sand, and enforce it with turbolasers, proton torpedoes, zhabokas, anything else he could lay his hands on.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd yet,\u201d Ceikeh said, so quiet Kativie wasn\u2019t sure she heard him, \u201che was still protecting you, up to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d Kativie said reflexively, completely puzzled by his statement.<\/p>\n \u201cHe knew he was dying, didn\u2019t he? So he made sure you wouldn\u2019t be the one to issue the order. He knew it would destroy you to do that, so he moved the units around and setup the game board for his final instructions. And he made sure he did the dirty work, not you, because it would destroy you.\u201d Ceikeh\u2019s tone was somewhere between admiration and revulsion. \u201cHe really did care for you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you mean, it would destroy me?\u201d the Jedi whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re a Jedi Knight,\u201d Ceikeh replied. \u201cYou could never have ordered an attack like this\u2014not against your own city.\u201d<\/p>\n Kativie reflected on the Senator\u2019s simple statement. No, I couldn\u2019t<\/em>, she concluded. Not without taking a very large step toward the dark side.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAnd there may well be political fallout from this,\u201d Ceikeh continued. \u201cIn the aftermath of this, Iridonia may well be one of the only planets in the galaxy that repulsed the Yuuzhan Vong, which will make him a hero to outsiders. But here on Iridonia, and in Zabrak space, he may very well be cast as a villain for ordering the razing of Rak\u2019Edalin.\u201d The senator shrugged. \u201cIn the end, it may not matter that he ensured everyone was out of the line of fire, that he protected all the lives he could. Doing what he did may have tarnished his name forever.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHis name, or Clan Sanshir?\u201d Kativie asked haltingly.<\/p>\n \u201cHis own.\u201d Ceikeh sounded bedrock certain. \u201cOh, I don\u2019t doubt there will be a few opportunistic Councilors who try to spin this as a Clan Sanshir plot, but they will fail. Everyone knows Halyn\u2019s history as a renegade\u2014from the time he left Iridonia as a young Zabrak to the time he spent in the Rebel Alliance and on. If Argus was still alive and had ordered this, it would likely be all Clan Sanshir, but Halyn is a rogue.\u201d<\/p>\n The Jedi shook her head despairingly. \u201cI hate politics. He did what he had to do to save Iridonia.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI agree,\u201d Ceikeh said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know if anyone else could\u2019ve issued the orders he did. But there are many who will second-guess him for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happens now, Senator?\u201d Kativie asked, changing the subject.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d Ceikeh said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve beaten the Vong. Now what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf they really are beaten, then I suppose we\u2019ll have to make contact with the New Republic. We\u2019ll need our fleet back, and find out where the New Republic government has setup so we can start coordinating with the larger galaxy again.\u201d<\/p>\n Kativie looked up at the ceiling of the Cathleen<\/em>\u2019s bridge, and realized what she had been missing all along\u2014the danger so obvious it was staring her in the face.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Li Coden\u2019s X-wing roared over Rak\u2019Edalin.<\/p>\n The snubfighter\u2019s s-foils were locked in their cruise position as he made a fast, low pass over the city. His sensors were locked in a ground-search configuration, a variety of thermal, motion, topographic, and life-form readings steadily flowing across his HUD.<\/p>\n The topography was generally flat and predictable; a child in a recreational airspeeder could have flown over the city without endangering himself. The Cathleen<\/em>\u2019s turbolaser fire had reduced nearly everything to a uniform height, even shearing off small rolling hills that had made up some of the natural terrain under the city.<\/p>\n The pilot gently pulled back on the fighter\u2019s stick. The X-wing responded, rising above the debris, allowing Li a far more panoramic view of Rak\u2019Edalin.<\/p>\n Dark smoke rolled up into the clear morning sky from a hundred different places. The thermal sensors pointed out a thousand more hotspots where fires smoldered, with only a lack of fuel or oxygen preventing them from breaking into full-fledged flame.<\/p>\n It reminded Li of Restuss.<\/p>\n During the Galactic Civil War, a team of scientists developed the next generation of power generation technology\u2014a reactor capable of supporting a Star Destroyer with energy, but small enough to fit in a pocket or be held in a sentient\u2019s hand. The development team, trying to hide from prying eyes, had setup their research facility in one of the two starports on the moon of Rori.<\/p>\n When word broke out of the development and the location, the Rebel Alliance and the Empire had both acted.<\/p>\n Both factions established beachheads with easily-deployable, prefabricated garrisons, then marched on the city of Restuss with the plan of holding the city until they had secured the \u201cStar Core\u201d technology.<\/p>\n The necessary Rebel marines had arrived on fast-moving Corellian Corvettes, brought in as quickly as possible to secure the city. Given enough time, the Empire would arrive with a fleet of Star Destroyers which would make securing the Star Core impossible.<\/p>\n With ground forces moving in, the starfighter wing known as the Vanguard, already based on Rori, were tapped to provide air cover.<\/p>\n Li Coden had led his Sabre Squadron as part of the defensive group, alongside Bendo Kyn\u2019s Grey-Ghost Squadron of Y-wings, and Cody Qel-Droma\u2019s Resurrection Squadron. Halyn Lance, the wing\u2019s commander, led a separate flight of special tactics pilots called Grey Flight.<\/p>\n The wing held off the Empire\u2019s TIE fighters and bombers aptly, with the Y-wing squadron providing direct air-to-ground support for the Rebel marines. The arrival of Imperial capital ships\u2014namely, a Lancer<\/em>-class frigate\u2014finally turned the tide of the battle against the Rebel forces.<\/p>\n Then everything had gone wrong.<\/p>\n An impossibly large explosion ripped the city apart. Tens of thousands of Rebel and Imperial troops, and an unknown number of civilians, were killed instantly. A quarter of the Vanguard pilots were too close to the city at the time and either crashed or were vaporized.<\/p>\n The official investigation had concluded that the Star Core technology was not stable, and a failure in containment had allowed for the catastrophic overload of the reactor, which in turn detonated and killed everyone involved in the project.<\/p>\n Halyn had subscribed to another theory, one officially discredited. The Zabrak had believed there had never been a \u201cStar Core\u201d and that the entire project was faked; instead, he believed the incident had been a trap meant to draw the Rebel Alliance into an open confrontation by using irresistible bait. The explosion, he maintained, had been a massive baradium bomb. Imperial losses he dismissed by pointing out the willingness of Imperial commanders to sacrifice their troops pointlessly in other theaters.<\/p>\n This time, though, it was Halyn who laid the trap<\/em>, Li thought. He drew the Vong in and hit them with a sucker-punch they never could have seen coming.<\/em><\/p>\n For a blurry moment, the smoke and the debris looked too familiar\u2014he really did believe he was flying over the bomb-shattered remains of the Restuss starport.<\/p>\n Then his vision cleared, and it was Rak\u2019Edalin again, the smoke hard against the clear blue sky.<\/p>\n He sighed. Are all wars the same? Do we fight the same conflicts over and over, with the same results?<\/em><\/p>\n Li sent the X-wing into a lazy, long arc over Rak\u2019Edalin to look down at the city off his starboard s-foils. It really does feel like Restuss all over again. So many things that went wrong, so many dead, a city reduced to ashes. Was that Halyn\u2019s plan the entire time? Destroy the city to wipe out the Vong?<\/em> The idea made him feel a bit sick. It\u2019s the sort of thing the Empire would do, isn\u2019t it?<\/em> The line of thought made him even more uneasy. They were worried about making Halyn into a dictator. Maybe he really was the villain some people feared he was.<\/em><\/p>\n The New Republic agent\u2019s hand tightened on the stick as he considered the possibilities. I know I didn\u2019t make a mistake coming here. Iridonia needed assistance and Abi and I provided it. I don\u2019t know if what we did made a big difference, but we contributed as best we could. That couldn\u2019t be a mistake.<\/em><\/p>\n But Halyn? Was Halyn the general I remembered him to be? Did he change? Or are my memories of him tinted by time?<\/em><\/p>\n He shook his head. I don\u2019t know. Maybe it doesn\u2019t matter now. He\u2019s dead and gone, and Iridonia still stands. His little sister has command now, and she\u2019ll finish this war.<\/em><\/p>\n Li frowned down at his heads-up display when the R5 unit started whistling at him. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d the pilot grumbled.<\/p>\n His comm started flashing for attention. He reached over and tapped the button. \u201cCoden here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Cathleen<\/em> actual,\u201d Kativie Lusp\u2019s voice called into his ear. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Triak Kraal surveyed the remains of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion force.<\/p>\n Ninety percent of his troops, including all the reptoid slave troops, were completely wiped out by the treacherous infidel attack. Less than a thousand of his true warriors still lived.<\/p>\n I should have been sent to the gods<\/em>, Triak told himself. I should have died with my warriors. Instead, I live with my Shame.<\/em><\/p>\n The infidels have beaten us. We are no longer the chosen children of the gods; we are orphans, parentless, the godless, the heathens. We have failed, and we are now only Vong.<\/em><\/p>\n The thought stabbed at him, and he was not sure he could live with himself for a moment longer.<\/p>\n He looked around at the battered yorik coral structure. Two coralskippers had shielded the living building with void defenses, which had not been enough to prevent damage to the structure, but had allowed the Commander of Domain Kraal to survive.<\/p>\n Ret Kraal limped to his side. \u201cI bring my report, Supreme One,\u201d he rasped.<\/p>\n The intense smoke from the blazes lit by the first abomination\u2014fire from a machine\u2014had damaged his tactician\u2019s voice. \u201cDo not delay, Tactician,\u201d Triak said.<\/p>\n Ret Kraal nodded and spoke, his voice hoarse. \u201cI was incorrect in my initial assessment; in hindsight, it is clear. The infidel warmaster has been preparing his deception for some time. I believe now the retreat of his forces night after night was to acclimate us to the action, leaving us unprepared for his strike.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe layered his deception well,\u201d the commander said grudgingly. \u201cHe sacrificed many lives to defeat us.\u201d<\/p>\n Ret hesitated long enough for Triak to know the next statement would not be pleasing. \u201cIt appears not. He evacuated their weak and cowardly well before the battle reached the last week\u2019s area of combat. From our surviving troops and scouts, we know that his forces marched in retreat almost all the way to the wreckage of their warship. They ceded the entire city to us to complete their deception.\u201d<\/p>\n Triak closed his eyes. Deceived! Are we not children of Yun-Harla, the Trickster goddess? How could their warmaster have succeeded in this gambit? The gods have truly abandoned us.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThere is more, Supreme One,\u201d Ret said with deeply bowed head.<\/p>\n \u201cContinue, Tactician,\u201d Triak said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe enemy warmaster has fallen,\u201d the tactician rasped.<\/p>\n Triak\u2019s eyes snapped open. \u201cWhat? What do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe details are limited,\u201d Ret said. \u201cBut it appears he fell victim to disease. Even as his warship destroyed us with the First Abomination, the gods smited him. He died of a disease, a living thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps we are not Shamed. The gods have brought us to humility, but they have also given us the means to redemption at the same time!<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWho now commands their forces?\u201d Triak asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThe former warmaster\u2019s younger sister,\u201d Ret Kraal responded, his head so low as to touch the ash of the surface. \u201cThe Jeedai<\/em> Kativie Lusp.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA Jeedai<\/em>?\u201d Triak asked. \u201cI thought these Jeedai<\/em> warriors did not lead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that is true,\u201d Ret said. \u201cThey do not seem to lead outside their own kind.\u201d<\/p>\n Triak frowned. \u201cShe may perhaps be a weak warmaster for these infidels. Now, at last, the time may have come for us to finish this war. We can still defeat these Zabraks and conquer this world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith what army?\u201d Ret asked in disbelief. He coughed and dropped into a deep bow again. \u201cMy apologies, Supreme One. I speak out of place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour concern is valid,\u201d Triak said. \u201cBut we have warriors remaining aboard the fleet overhead even now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are few,\u201d Ret said. \u201cAnd most of those who remain will need to stay with the fleet; many of our vessels already have barely enough Yuuzhan Vong to keep them in orbit. Even if we could bring them all down, our force would hardly be a match for their surviving ranks. Only bolstered by the gods could we defeat these infidels at such numbers!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need not defeat and destroy all the infidel troops,\u201d Triak said with a small smile. \u201cWe need only enough to attack their warship, and finish them off. Without their commanders, their warmasters, they will scatter and fall before us like chaff in the wind.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen will we bring our warrior ranks down from the fleet?\u201d Ret asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI have already ordered the final landing,\u201d Triak said confidently. \u201cI believed we should allow our warriors to die in a final, glorious battle than in ignominious shame; now they shall taste victory!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSupreme One, if I may exchange words with only you,\u201d Ret requested, his face on the ground.<\/p>\n Triak dismissed the rest of his Yuuzhan Vong officers with a shake of his hand.<\/p>\n When the others had scattered, Ret rose up from the ground to kneeling. \u201cSupreme One, we have already begun to descend into our Shame. I am no priest, but the truth is plain to all the warriors. If you truly believe we can still defeat these infidels, I have a recommendation for you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhich is?\u201d Triak asked the wounded tactician.<\/p>\n \u201cYou must provide a sign to our remaining warriors\u2014an indication the gods are still with us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA deception, tactician?\u201d Triak asked. \u201cWould not the gods be offended by such things?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot a deception, Supreme One,\u201d Ret answered. \u201cFor without their assistance, we will surely fail.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat sign, then?\u201d<\/p>\n Ret hesitated before answering. \u201cA challenge to the infidels\u2014a duel between yourself and their warmaster, the Jeedai<\/em>. Strike her down in honorable combat, and the gods will surely smile upon us. If you fail, the warriors will know we are utterly Shamed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShould I order off the landing, then?\u201d Triak asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo; when you win, the infidels will surely attack us in their desperation.\u201d<\/p>\n Triak nodded. \u201cYour plan is cunning. Victory will prove the ultimate redemption of Domain Kraal!\u201d<\/p>\n The Yuuzhan Vong commander tried to ignore the uncertainty he felt. Against one of the Jeedai? Am I capable of such victory? I have heard rumors of these Jeedai on Yavin Four, where one of them was the redemption of a Shamed warrior. Perhaps the death of this Jeedai will be my redemption as well.<\/em><\/p>\n If not, she will surely be my doom.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dawn rose on an Iridonia scarred by war. The Cathleen\u2019s turbolasers had fired nonstop for about six hours during the night. The glow of fires and the brilliant flashes of the weapons themselves had lit up the city in the … Continue reading