A planet that reminded Jaina of the holos of Hoth she had seen when she was younger filled the viewpoint on the bridge. Jaina and Kyp had long ago stopped posing as technicians, for by the time the Lusankya had first dropped out of hyperspace to adjust her coordinates, orders came in to assure that they would be treated as appropriate for a Goddess and her servant. Jaina had not used this power yet, for she and Kyp had spent most of their time meditating or training, but Jaina was glad to have it there; she didn't want to have to deal with some ranking officer when push came to shove. And knowing my luck, push WILL come to shove.
The planet was known as Nirauan, the only planet that the New Republic was aware existed in Chiss space. Looking at it now, Jaina knew that this wasn't the Chiss home, but only a staging point for their military.
"We're getting readings of life forms, but they're not sentient. In fact," a voice buzzed over the comlink on the bridge. "I don't think they're from this galaxy."
"Vong planet-shapers." Kyp murmured and Jaina saw Commander Davip, Lusankya's captain, nod.
"Scouts, return to the hold. Nothing more is needed." Davip said, and turned to Jaina and Kyp. "What do you suggest we do?"
"I don't think this is the Chiss home world," Jaina said. She turned to the navigational officer. "Are there any near-by systems?"
"Plenty." The nav officer answered. "There's ten, at least, that are within the same traveling distance, and there's no way to know which one's are habitable. Not without more information."
Jaina frowned. Ten systems would be too much to actually visit everyone of them, especially since the Vong were already a few hours ahead of them. She stretched with her feelings and tried to get any insight the Force might offer. Nothing happened.
"Let's try this, then," Kyp said. He raised his voice, and turned to talk to the bridge crew. "Who's the communications officer here?"
"I am," said a small man, perhaps in his middle ages. He stood up to let the other's see him with more clarity.
Kyp turned to him. "Broadcast on a general frequency. They can undoubtedly pick it up."
The com officer considered for a moment. "Yes sir, but we'd have to launch a relay. I doubt that the Vong would have left any operational, if they had indeed been here."
Davip nodded his approval to the officer, and he quickly set about giving orders. "It shouldn't take too long once the relay is launched to find the right direction."
Jaina nodded and excused herself from the conversation. She walked over to stand closer to one of the viewports, and rested against the railing. She saw the tiny engine emissions from the relay as it was launched from one of the bays. It dropped from sight as it disappeared in to the backdrop of Nirauan. Jaina knew that the planet should have been covered in snow completely, but red and green spots were appearing on the surface, big enough to be seen from space. The Yuuzhan Vong world shapers had been employed on more planets than Jaina could count. The little creatures would 'purify' the planet so that it could be used for the Vong's purposes, like ship and weapon building. Jaina shook her head at the thought of the Vong using another one of their own worlds against them in their quest for galaxy domination.
"The relay's in place, if you want to listen." Jaina turned to look at Kyp, who had walked up to her.
"Thanks." She turned back to look at the planet.
Kyp seemed to be sensing her uneasiness. "Hey, I'm sure Jag wasn't on that thing when the Vong took it."
Jaina smiled. "I know. I wasn't thinking about that." She paused, frowning. "Although, now I am."
"Sorry." Kyp chuckled. "So, what were you thinking about?"
"The war," Jaina said. She sighed. "What am I usually thinking about?"
"I don't know. I don't want to know."
Jaina was about to retort when static sounded throughout the bridge. Recovering from the initial shock, Jaina could hear faint pleads for assistance coming through the static. "What direction is that coming from?" Jaina heard Davip shout to be heard over the noise.
Someone had the presence of mind to turn down the volume of the comm. "It's from a planetary system, alright."
"Set our course and go to hyperspace as soon as you can," Davip yelled. "I want to be there before the whole world is turned into a Vong factory!"
The Lusankya jerked as it entered hyperspace, leaving the relay to float uselessly in space.
"No answer! No sithspawned answer!"
Jag gritted his teeth. "Alright, forget that. We're almost home anyway. Try the local law officials!" They were racing through the streets as fast as Jag could push the speeder to go. In the five minutes they had found out about the Vong presence on Csilla, they had been trying to reach their parents and wake them up. Fortunately, the Vong haven't taken an immediate interest in their city, so Jag and Luna would have enough time to raise an alarm. "Tell them to start an evacuation."
"Like they'll listen," Luna murmured, dialing the frequency of the local police.
Jag shrugged. "Doesn't matter now. We have to get off of the ground. It's the worst place to be."
Luna got hold of the officials, who told her to remain calm and to wait for further instructions on the matter. Then they signed off. Luna cursed at the comm.
Jag bit back his own comments, and tried to coax more power out of the engines.
They reached their house, and both of them were out of the speeder before it came to a stop. Jag stumbled a bit when his feet reached the ground, but he recovered quickly. They ran into the house, both screaming at the top of their lungs for everyone to wake up. Tarion was the first out of his room, his flight suit half-way on. "If it's those damn pirates again--" He stopped once he realized he wasn't in his military barracks. "Wait a minute, what's with the shouting?"
Jag almost laughed. Almost. "The Vong are here. Might as well keep that flight-suit on." He knocked once before barging in his parents' bedroom. "Mom, Dad."
His father rose up on his elbow, yawning. "Jagged? What is it?"
"Sir, the Vong are in-system," Jag said grimly. His parents shot out of bed, barraging him with questions to which he didn't know the answer to. His father ran to his office and started making calls to other Syndic Mitth'raw'nuruodo Phalanx officials who had been home for the holiday. Jag followed his mother to the main living chambers, where Luna had already turned on the local news. Nothing but static came through the comm.
"Must be a media black-out," Tarion murmured. He ran a hand through his close-cropped hair. "Shouldn't they be telling people to start packing or something?"
"It's not a media black-out." Jag turned at the sound of his fathers voice. Soontir's face was composed, but grim. "Our communications are down. They must have knocked them out first."
Jag snapped off an elaborate curse he hadn't realized he knew. It took him a moment to realize that it was something he must have learned from the Republic's mechanics. No one commented on his choice of words; undoubtedly, they were thinking the same thing. "We have to do something."
"Agreed," Soontir said. "We have to organize refugees, keep them from panicking."
"'Organizing refugees'?" Tarion spat. "We should be flying!"
"In what ships, Tarion?" Soontir asked calmly. "Unless you plan on vaping Vong in the family speeder, I don't see any way to get in the skies."
Jag's brother couldn't keep the same cool demeanor. "We're better than any pilots in the Csillian military!"
"But you're not in the Csillian military, are you?" Luna said, turning off the static-filled holo. "You're civilians, and that's how you will be treated."
Tarion glanced at her, but didn't appear to register what she said. "There is no way they would deny ships to Jag, or you, Father!"
"Tarion, they won't even let me fly my own ship in this system. They certainly won't let me fly one of their own," Soontir said. "No, our safest bet is to get to the Morning Glory and try to get off world."
Jag grimaced. The Morning Glory was the family yacht, a similar design to Lando Calrissian's Lady Luck, but with far less modifications. The truth was, Morning Glory had only been used once or twice for family vacations when Jag had been far younger, and usually just sat in storage, collecting dust. It was a fast ship, in good working order, and capable of putting up a fight if provoked, but nowhere near a match for even one coral skipper, let alone a whole fleet. Jag glanced around his family, and saw their facial expressions reflect his own thoughts. "I have another idea."
"Jagged?"
"They may not give you any ships, father, but Csilla is in league with the Republic now, and," Jag said, "I'm officially a member of the Republic. I might be able to get a ship, then I can fly cover for you."
Tarion was quick to speak up. "I'm coming with you."
"I need a copilot, and a gunner, Tarion," Soontir reminded him. Jag saw worry flash in his eyes, before his father regained his cool demeanor.
"Luna can do it. She did go to a military school for a few years, you know. I assume she hasn't forgotten how to push the trigger." Tarion retorted, not being able to resist a jab at his younger sister. Luna was quick to retort.
Jag looked at his father. He lowered his voice, so that Tarion and Luna, still engaged in an argument, wouldn't hear. "We'll be back before you launch, whether it's in the speeder or in a TIE. He'll fly with you, either way it goes."
Soontir nodded, not letting any of his feelings show in his expression. I hope I'm doing the right thing here. Dad obviously doesn't want Tarion flying, I just need to tell him that without bruising his ego, or, worse yet, making him do something stupid because of it.
"All right, listen up!" Soontir yelled at his two youngest children, breaking up the argument. "Tarion, go with Jag, see what you can get. Luna, you're coming with me and your mother to the Glory." He turned to Jag. "Let me know as soon as something happens. Hopefully, they won't knock out local communications until later in the battle."
Jag nodded, and ran out the house, with Tarion at his heels.
Jaina had never heard so much cursing in her life, not even when she would help her father and Chewbacca fix the Falcon. Looking out the viewport, however, she could completely understand the need for cursing. Not only was the Vong worldship in full attack mode already, but they had barely moved out of the hyperspace lane. When the Lusankya reverted into realspace, the tip of the triangle almost collided with the worldship. Luckily, the worldship was just as disoriented, and in those first crucial moments when the Lusankya was the most vulnerable, the worldship inflicted almost no damage. Now, the two capital ships were moving apart, each focusing all their firepower on the other.
"Launch some fighters, keep those blasted skip's off of us!" Davip shouted over the noise. "And tell those commandos to get ready quick, because they're going to need to get down to that planet as soon as possible. We're running out of time, here!"
"'Running out of time'?" Kyp, standing by Jaina, shouted. "Running out of time for what?"
"An evacuation! We don't have enough resources to win this battle! We just need to get as many people of the ground as possible!"
"We need to get on the ground, too," Jaina told Kyp, pulling on his sleeve to follow her to one of the hangars.
"On the ground? Wouldn't we be of more use in X-Wings?"
"No. At least, not me. I'm getting a feeling through the Force that I need to be on the ground," Jaina said. Kyp said nothing further, obviously not willing to let her go by herself. They made it to the hangar bay just as one of the commando teams was receiving its final orders. With their high status and ranking, getting a place aboard the transport wasn't a problem for the two Jedi.
The transport left the hangar, and immediately, three X-Wings formed up in a tight formation to provide some cover fire. Only one made it all the way to the planet before returning to the fight.
"Stupid politicians, always have something to say, some legal procedure to call up. Even the blazing military is full of tem! It's a wonder anything gets done with those idiots running the planet--"
"Tarion! Enough! I know all this!"
"Okay, sorry! It just makes me so mad!"
Jag shook his head as they ran through the government building. The corridors were practically deserted except for a few droids wandering around, doing their duties. Almost everyone present had either evacuated, or was down in the war room, trying to help out. The Chiss the Fel brothers had spoken to, a Colonel in the Csillian forces, was disinterested and not very giving; he denied them any chance to help out, and just told them to go back to their homes and wait for further instructions on the evacuation. When Jag had reminded him of his status within the Republic, the Colonel had listed of some government protocols which apparently prevented Jag from seizing a flying craft. Deciding arguing would accomplish nothing, Jag pulled Tarion out of the meeting and they started on their way to the storage space where the Morning Glory was situated.
They left the building and started towards their speeder. They were almost off of the government property when three figures moved to the gate to block any possible exit. Jag veered sharply around, and circled to the other side of the building as fast as he could, only to discover that the other exit was blocked by the Yuuzhan Vong as well. When did they get here so quickly? "Tarion, are you armed?"
"No."
"Good. Me, neither."
"Oh."
Jag turned the speeder once again, this time heading straight back to the government facility. Once they were near enough, both Jag and Tarion let out a long string of curses at the sight that greeted them; the security doors were already closed, preventing anyone, Vong, Human, or Chiss, from getting in or out.
"I guess," Jag said, "we're staying for the fight."