Ylesia by Walter Jon Williams

behavior.
    The Yuuzhan Vong commander was barking into his little shoulder villip. His translator sidled up to Thrackan.
    â€œCommander Lah is ordering the forces that were already in transit for the joint maneuvers to come at once.”
    â€œVery good. Will the commander be going to his command ship?”
    â€œThe distance to the spaceport is too great.”
    Especially if you’re traveling at the pace of a fat ugly Hutt-sized reptoid,
Thrackan thought.
    â€œI can offer the commander room in our shelter,” Thrackan said.
    â€œThe commander has no need of the shelter,” the translator said. “He will instead take charge of the troops here in the capital.”
    â€œExcellent! I’m sure we’re in good hands.”
    Maal Lah finished his one-sided conversation and stalked toward Thrackan, his fingers curled around his baton of rank. “I will need to take command of your Presidential Guard and your paramilitaries.”
    â€œOf course,” Thrackan said. “Be my guest.” He feigned thought, and added, “It’s a pity the Yuuzhan Vong gods are so opposed to technology. If they weren’t, we’d have installed planetary shields and be perfectly safe.”
    Maal Lah gave him a murderous glare, and for a moment Thrackan’s kidney tingled at the thought that he’d gone too far.
    â€œWill you lead your forces into battle, Excellency?” Lah demanded. “Or will you seek shelter with the others?”
    Thrackan raised his hands. “I regret that I have no warrior training, Commander. I’ll leave all that to the professionals.” He turned to Dagga, who had been waiting politely behind him all this time. “Come, Marl.”
    He left the room at a rapid but dignified pace, Dagga falling into step by his side and half a pace back. “Will you be going to the shelter, sir?” she asked.
    Thrackan gave her a sidelong smile. “I know better than to hide in a hole with no back door,” he said.
    Her cold grin answered his own. “Very good, sir,” she said.
    â€œI’m going to the docking bay in back of the Presidential palace and take my landspeeder on the fastest route out of town.”
    Dagga’s smile broadened. “Yes, sir.”
    â€œCan you drive fast, Marl?”
    She nodded. “I can, sir. Very fast.”
    â€œWhy don’t you drive, then? While I make use of the razor I’ve stored in the backseat, and change into the fresh clothes I stored there.”

    â€œShadow bomb away.” Jaina’s voice came over Jacen’s headphones. “Altering course, thirty degrees.”
    â€œCopy that, Twin Leader,” Jacen said.
    Jacen remained tucked in behind Jaina’s X-wing as the fighter lifted out of the way of the enemy fleet, which was set to come rampaging through this part of space in about ten seconds, and he used the Force to help Jaina push the shadow bomb on ahead, toward its target, a
Republic
-class cruiser that was spearheading the Peace Brigade escape attempt.
    â€œEnemy fighters ahead. Accelerating . . .”
    Jacen had already felt the enemy pilots in the Force. He opened fire at where he knew they would be, and was rewarded with a flash that meant an enemy pilot hadn’t powered his or her shields in time. Jacen shifted to another target and fired, another deflection shot, but the bolts slammed into shields and flashed away. The target formation burst apart like a firework, each two-fighter element weaving away from Twin Suns’ attack.
    At that moment Jaina’s shadow bomb hit the enemy cruiser, and its bow blossomed in a blaze of fire.
    Jacen was following Jaina after the corkscrewing enemy fighters—E-wings—and the Jedi meld rose in his perceptions. He felt Corran Horn making a slashing run at an enemy frigate, the Wild Knights methodically destroying a flight of B-wings, but the knowledge wasn’t intrusive—it didn’t demand