The Black Fleet Crisis_ Tyrant's Test Part 33

The instructions for building a particular structure may be hundreds or thousands of paragraphs long."

Pleck sat forward. "So are the Qella part of this pattern as well?"

"Yes--and no," Eckels said. "Most Qella cells, including reproductive cells, use the same alphabet, vocabulary, and grammar." He smiled and nodded to himself. "But the Eicroth bodies do not. They use an entirely different alphabet with six letters, and sentences of five words. And they use these extraordinary extended proteins to build structures that seem to exist on the dividing line between living and nonliving."

"Are you certain?" asked Pakkpekatt. "Why didn't the people who discovered them know any of this?"

"Because I have something available to me that they didn't--as do you."

Eckels sat back and laced his fingers together in his lap, clearly enjoying their rapt attention. "They didn't have any examples of the finished product to compare with those instructions. I have six hundred of them."

"Six hundred?" Hammax said. "Six hundred bodies?"

"Artifacts," Pakkpekatt said.

dred Qella artifacts--no, we will need a new word for them now. We recorded them as being fas.h.i.+oned from natural materials. Now I know that they were not fas.h.i.+oned but--grown. The Eicroth bodies contain their plans."

"You were able to match your artifacts with the sequences we gave you?"

"Every one of them," said Eckels. "Do you understand what I am saying, Colonel?"

"Yes," said Pakkpekatt.

"No," said Hammax.

Eckels turned toward the soldier. "Every sentient being inherits its species' memories through both body and mind--the ancient duality,"

he said, his tone fervent.

"Humans found a way to extend our memories by recording our thoughts and collecting them in libraries.

Somewhere a long time ago, the Qella found another way. They carried their libraries within their own bodies."

"And this helps us how?"

"I'm still missing something, too," said Taisden.

"From what you've said, it seems to me that it's that much more important to send out the entire database."

Eckels's disappointment in their response to his revelations was evident on his face. He had proudly brought them a treasure, but they were too uncultured to appreciate its beauty.

"The database has three components," Eckels said with impatient annoyance. "The somatic cells, the lesser Eicroth bodies, and the greater Eicroth bodies. The match for every Qella artifact we recovered can be found in the lesser bodies. Then there's your piece of the puzzle--your dialog with the vagabond. You have two interrogatives and one successful reply."

"They appear in the greater Eicroth bodies," said Pakkpekatt.

"Yes," Eckels said, looking hopefully at the Hortek as he would at a student teetering on the verge of insight.

"That is what the greater bodies are," said Pakkpekatt. "They are the instructions for building a stars.h.i.+p from that which is more than inanimate and less than alive. The s.h.i.+p we are chasing was not designed or invented--it was remembered."

"Yes," Eckels said, relaxing into his chair and showing a relieved smile. "Yes, Colonel. However you came to it, at least you understand."

"Do you think that somewhere in those sequences is a code that will call the vagabond back to Qella?" asked Taisden.

"Do you want an expert opinion or a personal one?"

"I'll take two for the price of one, if I have a choice."

"The expert declines to opine, due to lack of supporting evidence,"

Eckels said. "But personally--since it has not gone somewhere else in all this time--I suspect that it was intended to come back here."

"What are the chances that what we propose to do will just confuse it-- like throwing all the switches at once?"

Eckels shook his head. "You are asking for rea.s.surances quite beyond my ability to offer--" At that moment, shrill alarms began to sound both in the suite and the corridor beyond. Taisden was the first out of the lounge by two steps and the first to the bridge by five.

"Meeting's over," he called back to the others as he slipped into the number two seat. "You'd better get back to Penga Rift right away, Doctor. Colonel, mayhaps we should have been talking more about what to do after the quarry puts a leg in our snare."

"What are you talking about?" Eckels demanded.

"Colonel, what's happening?"

Taisden sent the long-range image to the primary sensor display, then shook his head in amazement as he glanced up at it. "See for yourself," he said. "The vagabond's just jumped into the system--and she's headed this way."

Chapter 9.

The director of Alpha Blue was nodding off in his chair, his office lit only by the bluish glow of the primary status display. With his shoes off and the top two fasteners of his civilian blouse unb.u.t.toned, he looked like an old bachelor who had fallen asleep in front of the holo.

"Admiral Drayson?"

Drayson's eyes snapped open and found the face of Major Aama, one of his senior facilitators. "Yes?"

"Admiral, you said you wanted to be notified immediately," she said.

"We have a tracking update on Millennium Falcon."

"She's reached the N'zoth system," Aama said, turning and pointing a controller at the display. "She's standing off at twelve hundred radii below the plane--the best guess is that they're scanning the system before jumping in."

"They'd have to, if they're going to try a close-intercept jump,"

said Drayson, leaning forward and rubbing his eyes. "Is Pride of Yevetha still in- system?"

"Still in-system and still in orbit around N'zoth. It's getting a bit crowded in that neighborhood, though four more Imperial types have shown up, and six more T-types have lifted off from the plane.

"Include that in the update packet and have it sent immediately."

"It's already been seen to."

Drayson rocked back in his chair. "So there are sixteen thumpers there now," he mused. "Not the best news for Chewbacca's people. What a.s.sets do we have in the area?"

"There are four stasis probes on station, and two more moving into position."

"Let's take a look," Drayson said, gesturing at the display. "We may have to think about sacrificing one or more of them if it'll give the Falcon a fighting chance to get the job done."

"Yes, sir--I think we can probably arrange a timely diversion or two.

Sir, are you sure you want to continue the blackout where the Princess is concerned? It could give her a real lift to know--" "Not at these odds," Drayson said firmly. "Even with what we've been able to pa.s.s to Chewbacca through Formayj, I don't think they have more than one chance in twenty of getting in and out in one piece. As for finding Han alive--" He sighed. "But that's still probably a better chance than any other rescue effort would have. Is Ackbar still talking about a battle group a.s.sault supporting a Jedi retrieval team?"

"Yes. They've got the lights on late over at Fleet tonight."

"The general will never agree to it," said Drayson.

"And he'll be right not to. So let's be creative, Major, and figure out what else we can do from here to s.h.i.+ft the odds."

Given an un.o.bstructed view and the eight-kilometer length of the Yevethan flags.h.i.+p, the oversized and exceptionally sensitive sensor dish atop the Millennium Falcon had no difficulty picking out Pride of Yevetha from among the many s.h.i.+ps...o...b..ting N'zoth.

But fixing the orbit of the flags.h.i.+p with enough precision to jump within a thousand meters of it required more than a single snapshot.

Chewbacca needed to know not only the flags.h.i.+p's...o...b..tal track, but also the tracks of any s.h.i.+ps near it or en route to it. The task was complicated by the distances involved--when looking at the tracking data, Chewbacca was looking several minutes into the past. He could only guess about the present and the future, and a wrong guess would mean failure--even sudden death.

There was no perfect answer. The closer they were to N'zoth, the more current the tracking data would be, but the more likely it was that the Falcon would be spotted. The longer they waited, the more complete the tracking data would be, but, again, the more likely it was that Falcon would be spotted.

Chewbacca's natural impatience with anything other than a direct frontal a.s.sault only aggravated the matter. He had to keep reminding himself of the lessons of the Shadow Forest, and the difference between stalking and making the kill.

For the first few minutes after reaching the N'zoth system, Chewbacca was alone in the c.o.c.kpit.

Lumpawarrump was in the lower gun turret, Jowdrrl in the upper.

Meanwhile, Shoran and Dryanta were checking the equipment that had been mounted in place of the escape pods at Esau's Ridge.

The starboard pod had been replaced by a mine launcher loaded with sixteen firecracker mines. The portside pod had been replaced by a hull-cutting ring, a traditional tool of both pirate and police. Both devices were critical--if not to the mission, then to their confidence that they could survive it.

When Dryanta was satisfied that the cutting ring was ready, he moved on to the crew quarters and began triple-checking the boarding party's weapons. Because they expected heavy resistance, bowcasters had given way to Draggis blaster rifles and fusion-cutter grenades.

When Shoran was finished arming the mines, he came forward and joined Chewbacca in the c.o.c.kpit.

"Everything is ready,] he said.

Chewbacca's reply was interrupted by a double chirp from the comm board, signifying an incoming message. The encrypted transmission carried a priority flag and a short holo header.

[Formayj,] Chewbacca said. [Curious.] "Chewbacca, hot-blooded friend," said the broker cheerfully. "Mining my archives, I found something else maybe you can use. No charge--tell Solo I will get it back from him at sabacc."

By the time the attached data had been downloaded, Dryanta had replaced Lumpawarrump in the lower gun turret, and the youth joined his father in the c.o.c.kpit.

[What are you looking at?] he asked eagerly.

[A friend sent something interesting,] Chewbacca said.

[Can I see?] Chewbacca waved a hand toward the data display and s.h.i.+fted to his left so that Lumpawarrump could lean in between him and Shoran.

What he saw was a Fleet Intelligence a.s.sault plan for a Super Star Destroyer--a complete three-dimen-sional technical drawing of the s.h.i.+p with the location of the cell blocks marked, the best breaching sites highlighted, and the shortest paths between them drawn in.

[We're sure to find him now, aren't we?] Lumpawarrump asked excitedly.

[How does Formayj do it? Where does he get his information?]

[Exactly my question,] said Shoran. [Chewbacca, this gift worries me.

Would you trust Formayj to guard your back?] [That question does not trouble me,] said Chewbacca. [Formayj can make more money cheating his customers than killing them. Lumpawarrump, call the others down from the turrets--I am ready to make the jump. I want everyone to study this on the way in.

Shoran, launch the first string of mines.] [Yes, Father,] said the youth, hastening away.

"Yes, cousin,] said Shoran, leaning forward to the controls.

Chewbacca did not point out to either of them that, unlike the material Formayj had delivered to him at Esau's Ridge, the a.s.sault plan could not have come from any data mine or broker's archive---the timestamp on the doc.u.ment was less than forty hours old.

I wonder who this map was drawn for, Chewbacca thought as he set up the jump. And I wonder what happened to them.

[Mines are away.] Chewbacca threw the throttles forward, opening up a gap between Falcon and the rocketing mines.

When the gap had reached five hundred kilometers, he moved his large, furred hand to the hyperdrive controls.

[Set off the string,] he ordered.

Shoran sent the triggering signal, and as the first of the mines exploded spectacularly behind them, Chewbacca pushed the s.h.i.+p forward into hypers.p.a.ce, racing the light of the explosion to N'zoth.

By necessity, the plan was simplicity itself: Hit fast and hit hard.

When the Millennium Falcon burst out of hypers.p.a.ce eleven hundred meters off the starboard bow of Pride of Yevetha, the intense burst of light and radiation from the first of the firecracker mines had just flooded the sensors of the Yevethan defense grid, momentarily blinding the operators and scrambling the a.n.a.lyzers.

The mines continued to explode at ten-second intervals, effectively masking the Cronau radiation from both ends of the Falcon's microjump.

Meanwhile, Chewbacca whipped the transport into a smart half turn, standing it on its tail with the engines at maximum thrust. That maneuver quickly killed off the s.h.i.+p's velocity, at g-loads that tested the limits of even Wookiee physiology. For the gun crews aboard the Yevethan flags.h.i.+p, it was like looking up into the subatomic fury of a fusion reactor. For seconds afterward, the best-positioned batteries could not see to find their target.

Those were precious seconds to the Falcon. As quickly as the s.h.i.+p slowed, Chewbacca diverted engine power to the combat s.h.i.+elds, reserving only enough to wheel the s.h.i.+p over on its back and match orbital velocities with the great Star Destroyer. By the time the first blaster bolts lanced out from the side of Pride of Yevetha and from the two trifoil fighters closing in, the Falcon was inside the s.h.i.+eld radius, and Chewbacca had spotted his landing site.

Following their instructions, the moment the Falcon came under fire, Jowdrrl and Dryanta began a savage counterattack with the s.h.i.+p's quad turrets.

Chewbacca roared with delight as a Yevethan fighter disappeared in a fireball, and growled at Shoran to launch the remaining mines. When the mines were away, he sent the Falcon diving edgewise toward the many-faceted hull of the Star Destroyer.

[Go stand by the cutter,] Chewbacca ordered Shoran as he guided the Falcon low across the face of the flags.h.i.+p.

By the time Shoran reached the port pod hatch where the hatch-cutting mechanism was attached, Chewbacca had gently nestled the Falcon against the enemy vessel's hull, allowing the cutting ring's magna grapples to grab hold. By the time Chewbacca rejoined Shoran at the hatch, the cutting ring had already burned halfway through the armored plasteel.