Dark Nest_ The Swarm War Part 16

"Wuluw?" she called.

A soft clatter sounded from the base of the mogo tree, and she looked down to find the little brown Killik crawling out from beneath a root-knee. "What are you doing down there?"

"Ubb."

"Okay." Jaina sighed. "Just don't disappear entirely."

Wuluw withdrew back under the root, leaving visible the tiniest tip of one antenna.

The rain-soaked Squibs snickered openly, mocking Wuluw for being a coward-until a pa.s.sing charric beam singed a hand-wide band of fur off the side of Longnose's head.

"Rurub," Wuluw thrummed from her muddy hole.

"I know you're not laughing at me, bug." Longnose started to raise his repeating blaster. "Because you aren't that brave."

"Knock it off," Jaina said. She used the Force to push both Squibs away, then addressed herself to the mouth of Wuluw's hiding place. "Tell UnuThul this isn't working. We have to slow down and fight from position-"

"Bb!" Wuluw relayed.

"We have to," Jaina said. "At this rate, the swarm will run out of soldiers!"

"Bruu ruu urubu," Wuluw thrummed, still relaying UnuThul's message. "Ur bu!"

"Even the Colony's army isn't that big!" Jaina protested. "The Chiss are slaughtering us by the millions."

"Ur bu!" Wuluw repeated. "Urub bub ruuur uur."

"What do you mean you're going to be out of touch?" Jaina demanded. "You're the commander, UnuThul! You can't just leave the battle!"

"Ru'ub bur," Wuluw relayed. "Ur bu!"

The "trust me" command was accompanied by the dark pressure of UnuThul's Will, urging Jaina to continue the attack, to overrun the Chiss lines. Everything depended on that.

"What choice do we have?" Jaina grumbled. "But before UnuThul goes, there's something he should know about the Chiss."

"Ub?"

"They're not surrendering," Jaina reported. "Even when they have no way to keep fighting, they make us kill them."

"Uuuu, " Wuluw rumbled. "Bu?"

"They seem to think we're laying eggs in them," Jaina reported, "and letting our larvae eat them, like what the ..."

Jaina could not remember the name of the nest that had been doing those terrible things at Kr.

"Like what happened at Qoribu," she finished.

Wuluw relayed UnuThul's response quickly-too quickly. "Buub urr bubb."

"It's more than a rumor," Jaina objected. "We saw what happened at Kr. So did you, UnuThul."

"Ubbb ruur?" Wuluw asked for UnuThul. "Burrubuur rububu ru."

"Maybe," Jaina said. The pressure to attack had turned to a dark weight now, pressing down inside her chest, urging her to reexamine her memories. "It was dark in the grub cave. We could have misunderstood what we were seeing."

"Buuu ururub," Wuluw relayed. "Rbuurb u rubur ruu."

"That's probably it," Jaina agreed.

She knew that UnuThul was forcing the conclusion on her, that somewhere down inside she remembered events another way. But Zekk was still hiding in the mountains with the airborne swarm, too far away to share her thoughts and bolster her resolve, and without him, she simply lacked the strength to resist UnuThul's Will.

"It would be just like the Chiss to make that up," Jaina said. "That must be what happened. They must be afraid their soldiers will surrender and join the Colony."

"Bur."

Wuluw went on to reiterate UnuThul's orders, instructing Jaina to continue pressing the attack on all fronts. Of course, it was not actually necessary for her to issue the order herself. The entire swarm simply felt the same pressure in their thoraxes that Jaina did in her chest, and they began to redouble their efforts, the Rekkers springing over the Chiss breastworks in waves, the Jooj swarming through the jungle in a droning brown-green cloud.

Taking care to make certain Wuluw stayed with her-and that she always knew where those Squibs were-Jaina started toward the mountains in the distance, hidden though they were by rain and mist. She could have turned toward any quadrant, since the swarm was attacking the Chiss from all directions inside the perimeters. But the mountains were where Zekk was waiting, and Jaina longed to be as near to him as possible. With Taat still trapped in the Utegetu Nebula, he was her entire nest now-the words that completed her thought, the beat that drove her heart-and if she was going to die today, she wanted to do it near him.

Suddenly, the sizzle of the charric rifles began to fade and the swarm began to advance more rapidly. Jaina finally waded free of the Killik gore and saw nothing ahead but scurrying limbs and fanning wings. There were no Chiss anywhere, no beams of death flickering out to slow the Colony. Jaina could not believe they had actually broken the legendary Chiss discipline, that UnuThul's last exhortation had been all that was needed for the swarm to push through the enemy lines.

Something was wrong.

Jaina stopped and turned to Wuluw. "Halt! Tell them to stop. It's a-"

The crackle of an incoming barrage echoed through the trees, then the jungle erupted into a raging storm of detonating artillery sh.e.l.ls and splintering wood. Whole treetops began to crash down from above, crus.h.i.+ng thousands of unlucky insects, and wisps of green vapor began to spread through the mogos and sink toward the forest floor.

The Killiks stopped and drummed their chests in alarm, working their wings and trying to keep the mist from settling on their bodies, but the artillery sh.e.l.ls continued to come. The wisps of vapor turned into a ground haze, then the haze to a fog. The rain only seemed to make the fog grow thicker, as though the insecticide was water-activated. The river of Jooj stopped advancing, the jungle floor grew crowded with convulsing Rekkers, and Jaina began to gag on the sickly-sweet smell of the deadly gas.

She used the Force to clear a hole through the green fog. Before she could pull the electrobinoculars from her utility belt, the hole grew congested with charging Rekkers. She started to hop up on a mogo trunk so she could see over them, then realized how exposed that would leave her and thought better of it.

"Tell those soldiers to wait!" Jaina said to Wuluw. "I need to see."

Wuluw had barely acknowledged the order before the Rekkers dropped to the jungle floor. Jaina set the electrobinoculars to scan and peered down the tunnel she was keeping open through the green cloud. Even with all the foliage stripped away by Chiss defoliators, it was nearly impossible to see very far through the thick timber. But eventually, she did glimpse a muzzle flash from beside a fifty-meter mogo. She gave the tree a fierce Force shove and sent it cras.h.i.+ng to the jungle floor.

A flurry of Chiss charric beams reduced the upended roots to a spray of dirt and smoking splinters, but Jaina wasted no time searching for the attackers. The fire had been quick and precise, which meant it had come from dismounted infantry, and that told her much of what she needed to know.

The rest Jaina discovered when another muzzle flash filled the viewfinder of her electrobinoculars. She centered the flash, magnified the image, and found herself looking at the blocky silhouette of a MetaCannon, one of the Chiss's largest drop-deployable field pieces. The MetaCannon could fire maser beams, blaster bolts, or even primitive artillery sh.e.l.ls with a "quick-and-easy" change of the barrel.

What it could not do, however, was react quickly to changing tactics.

"Everybody into the treetops," Jaina ordered. The Chiss insecticide would not be as effective in the jungle canopy, since it would rapidly be dispersed by the wind or sink to the ground. "Advance rapidly until the enemy starts to fire into the jungle canopy, then drop to the ground and continue. Expect small-arms fire in-" She checked her rangefinder. "-approximately one kilometer."

Having already relayed the orders, Wuluw started up the nearest mogo. The Squibs followed close behind. Jaina returned her electrobinoculars and lightsaber to her utility belt, then started after them, giving orders as she climbed.

"Report to all nests that it looks like the Chiss have brought their heavy artillery back to stop us."

Wuluw stopped climbing and spun her head around backward, her mandibles spread in alarm as she looked down her back at Jaina.

"B-b-bu?"

"Really," Jaina said. "Don't worry. We're not going to let anything happen to you."

Wuluw flattened her antennae doubtfully. "Buur urbu ruub u."

"I mean it this time." Jaina fluttered her hand, using the Force to whisk away a bank of insecticide drifting their way. "Just keep climbing . .

. and do your job! The other nests need that report."

Wuluw expelled air through her respiratory spiracles, then turned her head around and resumed climbing. A moment later, she began to drum her chest, relaying the other nests' pleasure at how well the battle was progressing. Kolosolok would be attacking the perimeter soon.

They finally climbed above the vapor layers into the remains of the jungle canopy. All the foliage was gone, of course, leaving the great mogos scratching at the rain clouds with the crooked fingers of their naked crowns. The artillery barrage had opened surprisingly few holes in the gray expanse, and there were even a few confused birds still circling low over the wet treetops.

To Jaina's relief, thousands of Rekkers had survived the dangerous climb from the jungle floor. They were already advancing through the rain, springing from treetop to treetop with a power and grace that even Wookiees would have envied-had they been able to overlook the Rekkers' six limbs, antennae, and long pendulous abdomens.

The Jooj were advancing somewhat differently, winding across the treetops in huge sinuous blankets, circling gaps in the canopy or creating long boiling bridges out of their own bodies. The Chiss artillery continued to savage the jungle below, occasionally sending the crown of a mogo plummeting into the poisonous tangle while panicked Killiks leapt to safety in adjacent treetops.

But mostly, the Colony's advance was unhindered. Rekkers and Jooj continued to rise into the canopy behind Jaina, and as far as the eye could see ahead, an unstoppable tide of insects was boiling across the jungle top toward the Chiss lines.

Jaina turned to Wuluw. "How good are you at jumping?"

"Bub bu," the insect admitted.

"That's what we thought," Jaina said. She turned her back to the Wuluw. "Hop on."

The Killik leapt up and wrapped all six limbs around Jaina's body.

"What about you two?" Jaina asked the Squibs.

They folded their wet ears flat. "Don't worry about us, doll," Scarcheek said. "We'll be right behind you."

"Sorry-didn't mean to insult you," Jaina said. She nodded them toward the Chiss lines. "Why don't you lead the way?"

They fixed their dark eyes on her for a moment, then slung their repeating blasters across their backs and scampered away on all fours. When they came to the end of the limb, they spread their arms and glided nearly twenty meters into the crown of the next tree.

When they stopped to wait for Jaina, she paused to speak over her shoulder to Wuluw.

"What do the nests know about those two?"

"Urubu bubu rbu," Wuluw answered.

"I know they're Squibs!" Jaina said. "What are they doing here?"

"Bubuu urrb."

"Besides killing Chiss," Jaina said.

"Ruubu bu," Wuluw answered. "Ub rur uru."

"It's not enough," Jaina said, exasperated. "People don't cross most of the galaxy just to fight in someone else's war-especially not Squibs."

"Urub r buur."

"What thing sent them?" Jaina demanded.

"Urub u ur r Buur."

"Just The Thing?" Jaina asked. "We've never heard of The Thing."

"Rburubru uburburu buu," Wuluw explained. "Urb u?"

"Okay."

Jaina clicked her throat in irritation, but knew there was no sense in interrogating Wuluw any further. Insects had unsophisticated motivations, so if a trusted transacting partner offered to send someone to help fight the Chiss, the Killiks were not likely to ask a lot of questions. She warned Wuluw to hold on tight, then began to Force-leap after the Squibs.

They were perhaps halfway to the MetaCannons when a descending whine broke over the jungle. Jaina looked toward the sound and saw the dark flecks of an AirStraeker squadron approaching through the rain.

"Son-of-a-Sith-harlot!" Jaina cursed.

Zekk and his swarm had visited a battering on the AirStraekers during the initial landing, so she had not expected the Chiss to risk what remained of the wing in the middle of a downpour.

Jaina pointed at the center of the formation, then reached out in the Force and began to shove one of the AirStraekers toward a wingmate. The second evaded, and the first aircraft began to struggle against her grasp. The rest of the squadron opened fire a second later. A wall of smoke erupted in the jungle canopy and began to roll toward her.

"Tell Zekk to get the Wing Swarm down here, now!" Jaina said over her shoulder.

"Bb."

"No?" Jaina screeched. "We've got fireflies!"

Wuluw explained that UnuThul's orders had been clear. The airborne swarm was not to attack until the Chiss began to evacuate.

"The Chiss aren't going to evacuate if we don't stop those AirStraekers!" Jaina protested. "They won't have any reason to, because all that's going to be left of the Great Swarm is a jungle full of maser-popped bugs!"

"Rruub uru bubub," Wuluw reported. "Ubbuburu buub."

"I don't care if the Kolosoloks are attacking," Jaina said. "That's not going to do us much good up here, is it?"

"Urbuubur, buubu ururbu."

"Oh." Jaina was quiet for a moment, still struggling to Force-shove the AirStraeker into a wingmate. "When you look at it that way, maybe we are expendable."

A fireball erupted over the jungle canopy as Jaina finally succeeded. With any luck, one of the AirStraekers she had downed had been the commander, but she knew better than to think that this would throw the squadron into disarray. The Chiss were far too organized to let a little thing like casualties disrupt their plans.

Wuluw began to tremble on Jaina's hack. "Uuuu buuuu . ."

"Ah, don't be that way," Jaina said. The squadron was so close now that she could see the droop-winged silhouettes of individual AirStraekers. "Maybe it's not that bad."

"Bu ubu ru-"