Chapter 24: Bug Hunt

Caamas, Cirius System

Caamas had a long history. As a founding member of the Republic, and for over twenty-five thousand years, Caamas was considered by many to be a jewel; a beautiful blue-green world of temperate rolling hills, lush steppes, snow-capped mountains, and diverse rain forests. Home to a peaceful species known as Caamasi, legend had it they served as a role model during the foundation of the Jedi Order, who learned much of their moral code from the Caamasi.

No longer.

Shortly after the Republic coalesced into an Empire, a distrustful Palpatine ordered a surprise attack. The Caamas Firestorm, as it was later called, left the planet devastated. Fires so massive that they created their own high wind weather patterns swept the planet. Fire vortexes sucked in people, animals, even escaping speeders and spacecraft, melting steel and scattering ashes. Escape by air became all but impossible. Cities, towns and villages not targeted from space were instead destroyed by fires spreading faster than they could be evacuated by land or sea.

Dense smoke reflected sunlight back into space, triggering a harsh, planet-wide winter lasting years. Acid rain, and later, acid snow, along with ash fall and massive soil erosion contaminated the slowly cooling oceans. So much vegetation was lost, either to fire or lack of sunlight, that the few survivors died a slow death of starvation, hypothermia, and later, asphyxiation as free oxygen depleted.

To add insult to injury, a few years after the attack, a meteor strike carved out a massive crater, throwing more particulates into the air, triggering a second, if shorter, planetary winter. Without intervention, ecologists estimated it would take millions of years for the environment to recover, if ever, from two back-to-back extinction-level events.

Now, Caamas served as a staging area for the Empire as ship after ship arrived in-system. On board the ISD Devastator, a figure in black stood alone at the bridge windows, staring out at the gathering fleet. The bridge crew kept their heads down, studiously focused on their stations in the hope their existence would remain unnoticed and unremarked.

Fleet Admiral Ozzel crossed the open bridge and stopped to stand beside the black figure. Ozzel knew little about the Emperor's envoy, apart from anecdotes he had heard: a sketchy background, rumored mystical powers—a notion he dismissed—and certainly not in the chain of command. It bothered him that this jumped up minion with a questionable title had leave to issue commands, as if he were in charge of the entire navy. Still, he was the Emperor's minion. It paid to be polite.

"Lord Vader," Ozzel said. "The final ships from the third and fifth fleets have arrived."

"And the package?" Darth Vader rumbled as he continued to stare out the windows.

"Primed and ready."

"Good."

Vader finally turned to look at the admiral. "For this mission, the Emperor has granted you a field promotion to Grand Admiral. You will be in charge of overall operations."

He used his superior height to lean into the admiral, forcing the admiral to look up, and stabbed a finger at him. "Do not disappoint me, Grand Admiral," he said with menace.

Grand Admiral Ozzel did not care for Darth Vader's tone, but there was nothing he could do about it. He swallowed hard and gave a sharp nod of his head in acknowledgment.

Darth Vader paused, allowing Ozzel to squirm under his gaze, his breathing apparatus loud in the uncomfortable quiet between the two men. Finally, he broke his silence.

"Set course for Alderaan."

"Immediately, Lord Vader!" Admiral Ozzel pivoted in place and waved his hand to Captain Piett, who nodded and briskly walked to the communications pit.

"Relay the following," ordered Piett. "From Grand Admiral Ozzel to all ships: execute Plan Alpha."

"Execute Plan Alpha aye, sir!"

As the bridge pit crew busied themselves, Captain Piett listened with pride to snippets of conversation. The crew's professional calm concealed their keyed-up excitement.

"All systems are go. Countdown auto-hold set at ten. Initiating power cycle… hyperdrive spool-up complete—power curves nominal. Stand by for clock sync…. All ships report ready and holding at ten. All ships, release from hold on my mark… mark. Master clock is running… three… two… one…."

Above Caamas, ships flashed and vanished as hyperdrives engaged in a preselected, staggered sequence to ensure a safe dispersal on arrival at their destination. Within seconds, the entire fleet had departed, leaving Caamas to its silent suffering.

Alderaan

Stanley Tweedle was back to pacing around the Lexx's bridge. In spite of Bail Organa's professed urgency, it seemed to him all these meetings and planning stuff simply took too long. It reminded him once again of working, first for the Ostral-B heretics, then on the Cluster, when bureaucratic tedium ruled his life.

Then there was the problem of getting people off the Lexx. There were a lot to evacuate, communications trouble slowed the recall effort, and some managed to get lost in spite of all the mapping done by the Guard. As far as he was concerned, it was all taking way too long.

And finally, there was the matter of Ginger.

Ginger wanted to stay on board. Kitten, or more properly, Doctor Kitt, wanted her to return to Alderaan. Since Stanley had final say on who could stay, both had entered the bridge, arguing.

"Yes, I understand that now," Doctor Kitt could be heard saying as they walked in, side by side. "You've had some sort of memories imposed on you, and that's exactly why I think you need professional help!"

Ginger rolled her eyes as they stopped in front of Stanley, forcing him to stop his pacing. "And help how, exactly? With drugs? Drugs won't distinguish between my own memories and that other person's, now will they?"

Kitt sighed. "Admittedly not, but we can at least keep you from harming yourself and others!"

"Well, why don't we see what Stanley has to say first?"

"Ginger, you are not a member of his crew!"

Stanley looked back and forth at the two women and waved. "Hello! I'm right here."

Both women rounded on Stanley.

"Stanley!" Ginger got in first. "I want to stay here and go wherever you go!"

Stanley opened his mouth and hesitated, undecided.

"Uh, Ginger?" Lillie piped up. "That might not be a good thing. You have no idea what that droid head suggested."

"What I said," 790 jumped in before Stanley could speak, "is that we should kill Ginger now, as a mercy, before the Giggerota personality takes over."

Doctor Kitt hissed quietly. That opinionated droid head wasn't helping. "A takeover is not inevitable," she replied evenly. "Ginger is strong. With help, she can stay in charge of herself."

"If 'help' means locking me up in an institution for the rest of my life," Ginger shot back, "I'd rather take my chances with 790!"

Stanley put thumb and index finger to his mouth to whistle. All he managed was a huffing, wheezing sound as he made the attempt.

"Are you dying, security guard?" 790 asked as it glanced over. "Please say yes!"

Everyone else stopped and stared at Stanley.

"Now that I have your attention," Stanley said with as much dignity as he could muster, "yes, as far as I'm concerned, Ginger can stay."

Ginger jumped for joy, and gave Stanley a hug and a kiss. "Thank you!" she said with enthusiasm, and then looked over her shoulder at Doctor Kitt.

Doctor Kitt considered her response, and realized another round of argument was unlikely to persuade Ginger from what she believed to be a reckless choice.

"I cannot, in good conscience, approve you remaining on board, Ginger, but in the final analysis, it's your call," she said quietly. "I wish you well."

Ginger heaved a sigh of relief. At last! Staying on board the Lexx wasn't the safe choice, she knew, but at least it gave her some measure of control over her life. She walked over to Doctor Kitt and gave her a hug. "Thanks! And thanks for all the help you've given me these last few months. I couldn't have managed without you."

"Well, now that that's settled," Stanley said as he clapped his hands together. "Doctor Kitten, it's been a real pleasure, but you really need to leave so that we can be on our way before the Empire shows up."

"Too late for that," announced 790. "They're here."

With an alarmed look, Doctor Kitt hurried off the bridge and ran for the landing bay.

"What? Where?" Stanley asked as Lillie and Ginger turned to look at the bridge view screen.

The image zoomed in and showed a cluster of irregularly shaped bright spots very far away.

"They've stopped in the Kuiper Belt, well outside the official demarcation of the Alderaan system." 790 smirked. "They probably think they're beyond our detection range. Using passive sensors, I can only estimate the number of ships—somewhere in the mid to upper hundreds—due to some ships obscuring others from view. An active scan would give a complete picture, but might reveal we are aware of their presence."

"That's a lot of ships!" Stanley said worriedly.

"Yes, but the majority appear to be smaller ships, probably support ships—frigates, cruisers and the like. I only see around two hundred wedge shapes characteristic of their capital ships, but there could be more."

"Damn," said Stanley. "And we can't leave just yet. Lillie? Contact the palace and let them know what we see, and have the Lexx change orientation, tail end towards the planet."

The Lexx slowly pivoted in place, traveling sideways to its direction of orbit. On the bridge, the view screen changed to once again show Bail Organa and others around a conference table.

Bail Organa smiled. "That's an impressive detection system you have there," he said. "We see them too, but only because our outer system sentries know where to look, thanks to you."

"The last of the shuttles are gone," 790 announced. "Time to go."

"Wait," called out Commander Ackbar. "If you leave now, you'll give away the fact you detected their presence at range. Their next action should be to dispatch scouts prior to jumping in the fleet, and scout ships are too small to cloak."

"That's reasonable. We wait until the scout ships appear, feign surprise, then go," said 790.

"Exactly! And we add to the theatrics by raising the alarm when they do."

Stanley laughed. "Okay, we'll do that. Lillie, are you ready?"

"Sure," replied Lillie. "Were to?"

"As long as we lead the Empire away from my precious Xev, I don't care where we go," said 790.

"Then you pick a direction, 790," said Stanley, in full agreement with 790's sentiments.

"We'll close communications now," said Bail Organa. "We don't want to know where you're going. Now it's a waiting game. May the Force be with you."

"Yeah, yeah," Stanley commented with a dismissive wave as the screen switched back to an outside view. He still found that whole "Force" thing disagreeable.

They didn't have long to wait.

Below the palace, in a situation room buried kilometers deep in bedrock, Bail Organa, Commander Ackbar, Mon Mothma, and others stood around a circular plot table, displaying a schematic of the inner Alderaan system. The walls of the situation room were lined with holoscreens, monitoring stations, and personnel, each monitoring different sectors of space. With an audible alert, seven blinking symbols appeared in system.

Mon Mothma gave Commander Ackbar a dubious look. "Those aren't scout ships," she said dryly.

Commander Ackbar ignored the dig. "Send out a general ship warning, and get me a better look at those Imperials!" he called out.

On board the Lexx, 790 snorted and said, "So much for scout ships. Six of those ships are the usual, so-called Imperial Star Destroyers, and the seventh is a smaller wedge ship of similar design. They're stopped well outside the standard range of their weaponry."

"Showing a little respect after we bloodied their noses, eh?" Stanley said with glee. "But still, nothing we can't handle, right?" he said with growing confidence. If the Empire was being this cautious, maybe things were looking up.

"For now, yes, but…. Hang on. It seems they want to talk, but I say ignore that. It's time we left!"

Stanley was feeling expansive. "Now, now," he said with a wave of his hands. "So far we've only heard one side of the story. Don't you think we should at least hear what the other side has to say?"

"No," 790 said flatly. "Talking only leads to trouble."

"We've talked to the Alderaans… Alderaanians… whatever they call themselves."

"And look where we are now. I rest my case," 790 said stiffly.

"What do you think, Lillie and Ginger?" Stanley asked.

"I'm with 790. Let's go while we still can!" Ginger jumped in.

Lillie was less certain. "We, or Alderaan, that is, are part of the Empire. Maybe we should at least try talking. This may be our only chance at keeping the peace."

Stanley was silent for a moment before shrugging. "What the hell, let's give it a shot. Let's take the call."

"Big mistake," grumbled 790 as he rolled back and forth in agitation.

Ginger nodded her agreement.

The view screen changed to show the interior of a large room—the bridge of a ship, presumably. In the foreground was a middle-aged man with a neatly clipped mustache. His uniform was gray with several red and blue squares arranged on the left side of his jacket, and he wore a gray peaked cap. In the background were large windows looking out into the blackness of space.

"I am Grand Admiral Kendal Ozzel. First, let me begin by saying we are not here to fight. Obviously, initial contact got off on the wrong foot. We only wish to talk, and we hope you are willing to do the same. I am here today to represent the interests of the Empire. And you are?"

Stanley looked around before answering and puffed up his chest. "I am Stanley H. Tweedle, Captain of the Lexx," he said with pride.

"Well, Captain Tweedle, we have much to discuss and we have much to offer. If there is anything you want or need, keep in mind the Empire has far more resources than any single planet or small organization. That could be to your benefit. Do we have permission to approach your ship? My intention is to dock, so that we may meet in person."

Stanley thought about it for a second, and made a grand hand wave. "You may," he replied. He hesitated when he saw Ginger waving at him from off camera. "Excuse me a moment."

"What?" he said after Lillie cut audio. Outside, the smaller wedge ship began a slow approach, while the six Star Destroyers remained in position.

"Are you crazy?" Ginger practically screamed. "There's no reason for a big ship like that to dock, not when he could just shuttle over!"

"What she said, you imbecile!" 790 added. "Once the airlock opens, there could be an entire battalion waiting on the other side!"

Down in the situation room below the palace, Bail Organa and the others finally had their first close look at the seven Imperial ships.

"That's a Venator-class destroyer!" Commander Ackbar said in surprise, pointing to the odd ship out. "Those were decommissioned years ago."

Mon Mothma frowned. "More than that, I thought they were all broken down and recycled long ago," she said. "Though clearly, not all. Surely the Empire is not so desperate as to recommission obsolete ships?"

"I shouldn't think so," replied Bail Organa. "But if an old Venator is still available, it makes perfect sense to use it. If you're attempting first contact with a clearly powerful but unknown ship, why not send in something expendable? That way, you're minimizing your risk."

Commander Ackbar frowned. "I have a bad feeling about this. Get me a detailed scan of that ship now!" he shouted at the nearest lieutenant, pointing to the Venator as it began to approach the Lexx.

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Stanley said with some irritation. "Bad idea. Sheesh!"

"Right," Stanley said after the audio was turned back on. "After consultation, I have decided against docking. You may shuttle over instead."

"Ah, well, I'm afraid I'm in a bit of an awkward situation," Admiral Ozzel replied smoothly. "I have a confession to make. This ship is operating with a skeleton crew and was stripped of all assets prior to entering the Alderaan system. This was done to minimize material loss to the Empire in case our first contact went awry. I'm afraid that includes all shuttles as well."

Of her own accord, Lillie turned off the audio. "Oh come on! Even I don't buy that! A high-ranking officer is going to have a way off his ship." She turned the audio back on.

Stanley smiled. "Not a problem. Have one of your other ships send you a shuttle, then proceed on over to the Lexx." He signaled Lillie to kill the audio. "Okay, this is getting weird really fast. I think you're right, 790—they want to invade and capture the Lexx."

"Told you!" 790 said triumphantly.

On board the ISD Devastator, Admiral Ozzel gave Darth Vader, who was standing off camera, a quick side glance before facing the screen again, waiting for the Lexx to turn their audio back on. "They are clearly suspicious," he commented uneasily.

"Of course they are suspicious," Darth Vader replied. "The point of a trap is not to remain undetected, but to achieve its objective. Keep them talking. I will handle the rest."

"Sir?" Captain Piett said as he walked up. The Admiral nodded for him to continue. "We've completed a detailed scan of the inner system for optimal positioning, and sent coordinate assignments back to the fleet."

"Very good, Captain," Ozzel replied, and allowed a small smile to show.

The captain saluted, turned and walked off. Meanwhile, the old, barely functioning Venator continued its approach to the Lexx.

Bail Organa looked over at Commander Ackbar, who was increasingly restless. He was at the point of prompting Ackbar, when the commander began to speak.

"Do you recall," Commander Ackbar began, "the nickname for the Venator class?"

Bail smiled. "I do. During the Clone Wars, we called them 'Jedi Cruisers,' because many Venators had a Jedi general in tactical command."

"Yes," Ackbar said. "And I recall a story about what one of those Jedi by the name of Anakin Skywalker did with a Venator."

That revelation got Bail's full attention, but before he could ask, a lieutenant came over to the plot table.

"Sirs," said the lieutenant. "We have the results of the scan." He signaled a technician to display the results.

Ackbar took all of two seconds before calling out, "Contact the Lexx! Emergency channel!"

He looked over at Bail. "At the risk of stating the obvious—it's a trap!"

Stanley waved to Lillie, who turned on the audio. "Sorry about all the interruptions," he said to Admiral Ozzel. "You were saying?"

"Yes, that's agreeable," said Admiral Ozzel. "I will make arrangements for a shuttle to come pick me up."

The Admiral paused, and a little smile showed on his face. "While we're waiting, I am a bit curious. What brings you to Alderaan? And of course, your ship is most unusual."

Stanley hesitated, unsure of how to respond to that.

"That's easy," 790 said, filling in the void. "As you may have guessed, we're not from around here. When we first arrived in this galaxy and discovered it had an indigenous civilization, we simply picked a populated core-ward planet at random to make first contact."

Stanley was silently thankful for 790's little lie—not that he would ever admit it.

Admiral Ozzel frowned. "You are confirming that you are of extra-galactic origin?"

He looked over at Darth Vader in astonishment. Ozzel was aware of the Emperor's concerns, but he never imagined invaders from outside the galaxy as being remotely possible. That made their actions here, today, of extreme importance.

"Excuse me for a moment," he said to the screen.

Ozzel signaled his own audio cutoff. "Status?" he demanded.

"In range, and closing to optimal position," Captain Piett replied. He grinned. "Clearly, they don't consider an old Venator to be a threat."

"Good," Darth Vader said impatiently. "Enough of this charade." He pressed a button on a small controller he held in his hand.

"Hey guys?" Lillie said. "That ship hasn't stopped. It's still floating our way."

"Lillie," said the Lexx. "There is an urgent call from the planet."

"Put it on, Lexx."

The screen showed Bail Organa and others, this time in a darkened room.

"No time to explain!" called out Commander Ackbar. "Destroy that ship closing on your position! Now!"

There was a momentary shocked silence on the bridge of the Lexx.

"Lexx!" screamed Lillie. "Shoot that nearest ship!"

"As you command, Lillie."

As Lexx's ocular parabola domes began to sweep open, the Venator accelerated hard, its sharply pointed bow aimed directly at the center of Lexx's head. At a work station on its vacated bridge, the gravity management system blared alarms as it overloaded, barely compensating for crushing g-forces well above design limits.

Sublight engines pumped out power far beyond redline, so far above that the safety systems would have initiated an automatic shutdown within the first two seconds, if not for the fact the safeties had been physically removed. Full and permanent engine burnout was calculated to occur near the seventeen second mark—more than enough time to accelerate the ship to a speed that, it was hoped, a kinetic impact alone would be enough to destroy the Lexx. But that wasn't all.

At the six second mark of its final flight, a hastily added control module sent a final command code, then shorted out to prevent any attempts to override its last command—not that there was anyone on board to try it. Throughout the empty ship, thousands of rhydonium canisters flashed red as each armed itself, ready to detonate. The Venator was a fast-accelerating, high speed battering ram loaded with high-yield explosives.

The Lexx completed its firing sequence, sending out its energy wave towards the Venator and the six ships waiting at what they assumed was a safe distance. The wave caught the Venator when it was still about a thousand kilometers away. The old Venator disappeared in a super bright flash, a globe of debris expanding in all directions.

For the first time ever in Stanley's memory, the Lexx actually cried out in pain. The sound shocked Stanley to his core.

"I cannot see," said the Lexx as it was blinded by the flash.

The cloud of destruction expanded to a size larger than the Lexx, causing much of the debris to pass by harmlessly. Other pieces impacted at high speed directly into still open ocular parabola domes.

"Ow! That really hurts!" said the Lexx.

Meanwhile, Lexx's energy wave continued on its serene way, unimpeded, closing with the six Star Destroyers.

"Helm! Emergency thrust!" called Captain Piett. Klaxon alarms sounded on board all six ships as bridge personnel braced themselves.

"Too late!" a bridge officer cried out.

The response time of the ponderous Star Destroyers was simply too slow to dodge the oncoming energy wave. They did have one saving grace: the energy wave was not specifically aimed at them. The ships simply happened to be in the line of fire.

"Damage report!" Captain Piett called out as the energy wave passed them by, far too close for comfort.

"Shields are down, but will be back up in two minutes, sir," a pit technician replied, then paused as more reports poured in.

"Nearly every sensor array on the ventral side is fried," the technician continued. "And most of the point-defense arrays on the ventral side are inoperable as well. Main and secondary docking bay systems are down. Tractor beam projectors are down. Damage Control estimates three days minimum to complete basic repairs. No hull breaches. About five hundred lower deck casualties reported so far, mostly burns. No deaths reported. All decks above the midline report green."

"All that from a near miss. We were lucky," Captain Piett said to himself as he stared out the bridge windows. Admiral Ozzel walked up and silently stood beside Captain Piett, shocked at what he saw.

Two Star Destroyers had completely evaporated. The engine section and bridge of a third ship was gone, its remains slowly tumbling in its last position. The fourth ship was missing the first few hundred meters of its bow, mostly along the starboard side, but could travel on its own power for major dry-dock repairs. Their ship, the Devastator, had relatively minor damage. The final ship was completely untouched.

"Admiral Ozzel!" Darth Vader roared. "Don't just stand there! Initiate Phase Two now!"

The call went out. "All ships. Execute Phase Two."

As the Grand Admiral watched, his confidence was restored by the sight of over two hundred star destroyers jumping into position, completely surrounding the bug ship at a planned distance well outside turbolaser range, though regrettably not outside the bug ship's firing range, as they had discovered. As each destroyer arrived, each launched a single squadron of TIE fighters in a combined first wave totaling nearly three thousand fighters, with another thirteen thousand TIE fighters held in reserve.

"We have them now," Ozzel said with a smile to Darth Vader.

Darth Vader turned away to look out the bridge windows. "We shall see," he growled after a pause.

"Lexx, good buddy!" Stanley said, a very worried expression on his face. "Are you okay?"

The Lexx ignored him. Crap!

"Lillie?" he said as he gave a wave of exasperation.

"I can see nearby things, but not faraway things," the Lexx replied calmly after Lillie repeated the question. "I must see far away before I can go fast. More protein will help me heal faster. I would like to feed on the stinging protein."

"Stinging protein?" Lillie mouthed to Stanley.

Stanley shrugged. "No idea. Just say yes."

As Captain Piett, Admiral Ozzel, and Darth Vader watched, the bug ship began to twist and turn as the first TIE fighter squadrons came into range and made their strafing runs. It was surprisingly agile for a ship of its size, though clearly no match for the agility of single-occupant fighters, even when flying in formation. Audio had been turned on so they could listen in.

"Delta Seven squad, turn to point six! Zap that bug between the eyes!"

"Tango Twelve beginning our run. Be advised Delta Seven just dropped off our scope."

"Tango Twelve! Break! Break! Break!"

"I've lost contact with Tango Leader! I've lost—"

"Alpha Two turning to point three five. I say again, turning—"

"Anyone know what happened to Alpha Two?"

"Cut the chatter and stay on target, Gamma One!"

"It's glorious!" said Admiral Ozzel with glee as the bug ship twisted and turned. "Look at that! It must be dying!"

"We're losing fighters fast!" Captain Piett said worriedly. "We've lost ten… make that twelve entire squadrons already, though I'm not sure how. The bug ship hasn't fired weapons."

Darth Vader reached out with the Force. The bug ship was hurt and in pain, it was true, but it wasn't writhing in pain. It was doing something else entirely. He pointed. "It's not dying—it's feeding!"

"What?" Admiral Ozzel said, a blank look on his face that slowly changed to shock. "We must recall the squadrons!"

"Don't lose your nerve now, Grand Admiral," Darth Vader rumbled. "You of all people should expect combat-level losses. Order the fighter squadrons to harry and distract the bug ship from the front, while the TIE bomber squadrons attack from the rear!"

Ozzel sighed, not quite hiding his exasperation. "Lord Vader, during the last war, combatants were just bred-for-purpose clones. We're losing real pilots now, mostly rookies who've never seen—"

"Admiral," Darth Vader said quietly. He did not turn to speak, but stood quite still, facing the windows, his eyes never leaving the action, yet his posture radiated threat. "Do not disappoint me."

Everyone staggered slightly as the Lexx lurched around. Granted, it was not much in the way of staggering, but this was a new experience. Normally, one didn't notice any of Lexx's maneuvers at all. It had Stanley worried. 790's next words didn't help.

"We're in trouble," said 790. "Lexx's long-range sensors are still recovering, but on short-range I'm picking up a large number of Star Destroyers surrounding us, over two hundred and counting as stragglers arrive. They have us completely englobed. They're currently standing off, well out of firing range—their range—but they've launched thousands of so-called TIE fighters that are attacking in waves."

"Can they hurt the Lexx?" Stanley anxiously asked as he watch the view screen.

"In large numbers like that and given enough time, of course they can security guard! But the Lexx is clearing away some of that threat by feeding on them—the 'stinging protein.'"

"Ew!" said Lillie, then impatiently waved a hand as she tried to not think about that. "Lexx, can you show us a whatsit…. Oh, what do they call it in the holovids? A tactical display?"

The view screen changed to show the Lexx as a green dot surrounded by clusters of red dots in three dimensions. The Lexx made an odd groaning sound as it made yet another sharp change in direction. "My food does not agree with me," the Lexx said. "But I find it agreeable."

"That's odd," said Stanley. He rubbed his chin in puzzlement as he studied the display. "I was expecting to see an even spread, but instead they have their ships in bunches all around us with large gaps between bunches."

"Any three or four battle groups can still open fire if we go for one of the gaps," 790 pointed out.

"Hyperspace lanes!" Ginger blurted out. "They're blockading hyperspace lanes."

790 linked to the Alderaan network and ran a query. "Yes, that's it! Standard Imperial military doctrine is to blockade hyperspace lanes."

"What the hell is a hyperspace lane?" said Stanley.

"Think galactic road network, numb nuts," replied 790. "Every ship in this galaxy has an index of mapped safe travel routes, called hyperspace lanes, loaded in their navigation system. It allows for fast, safe travel—much faster than would be prudent if you entered an area of unmapped space and had to rely exclusively on ship's sensors."

"Ah, but we don't depend on hyperspace lanes," Stanley said with a grin.

"No, we don't," 790 agreed "We can go 'off road' as it were."

Ginger pointed at the view screen display. "Aren't some of those battle groups more isolated than the others?"

"Yes, some are," agreed 790. "Hyperspace lanes aren't evenly distributed, any more than roads out of a city are."

Ginger nodded her head. "All right, so what if we—"

"Blow away an isolated battle group? That would certainly create a very large gap."

"Yeah, okay," said Stanley. "But if they expect us to follow a hyperspace lane, then shouldn't they be prepared for us running any one of their blockades? You know, have ships ready to back up any battle group we approach?"

"So don't approach! Pick one and shoot it from here," replied 790.

"How about those three groups?" Ginger said, pointing at the view screen. "See how they're relatively close to each other, yet separated from the other groups? Can the Lexx fire at all three groups?"

"I like the way you think, Leatherass!" replied 790. "At this distance, many of those star destroyers will be able to evade a shot, but think of the chaos it will cause!"

"And that's when we go!" finished Ginger.

Lillie jumped for joy. "Lexx? Shoot at those three groups, then find the largest gap and go for it as fast as you can. We'll worry about a destination later."

"As you command, Lillie."

"Energy spike!" called out a sensor operator on the bridge of the Devastator.

"They're making their move," said Admiral Ozzel. "Reinforce that blockade group!"

"They're firing again, sir!" said the sensor operator. "This time, at group Bravo-9. And firing again, group Echo-2."

"Reinforce all of them!" shouted Ozzel as he waved a hand in frustration. "Don't let them get away!"

As star destroyers began making pre-programmed micro-jumps to reinforce the attacked positions, the bug ship turned in yet another direction and accelerated hard, making for a large opening that didn't align with any hyperspace lane. By the time the bug ship was in optimal firing range, its speed was so great the targeting systems of the nearest star destroyers had difficulty acquiring a lock. Only a fraction of shots fired hit their target—not enough to make a difference. The bug ship easily slipped past and disappeared into the blackness of space.

The Devastator's bridge was suddenly very quiet. The only sound anyone noticed was Darth Vader's breathing as he stood looking out the reinforced windows. Standing a few paces back, Admiral Ozzel swallowed hard.

Darth Vader suddenly pivoted, staring down Admiral Ozzel.

"I am… dissatisfied… with the results," he finally rumbled. "But not entirely disappointed. We hurt it today—I felt its pain!"

Vader raised a fist. "And we did it with conventional weaponry. If we can hurt it, we can kill it. Regroup the fleet, Grand Admiral, and pursue that bug ship."

Without waiting for a reply, Darth Vader strode away, his black cloak billowing behind him.

"At once, Lord Vader!" Grand Admiral Ozzel called out as Vader exited the bridge. A collective sigh of relief was felt by the entire bridge command.

"Good. Good," Emperor Palpatine cooed as Vader made his report. "I did not expect the first attempt to succeed. The bug ship has proven to be extraordinarily resilient, and I am quite intrigued that you felt its pain."

"There is no doubt," said Darth Vader. "However genetically engineered, it is a living part of the Force."

"Can it be controlled?" the Emperor wondered. His position would be unassailable, he thought, if he had both the Death Star and the bug ship at his command.

"We will either control it, or destroy it, my Master," replied Vader.

"Excellent!" declared the Emperor. "Oh, and revoke Admiral Ozzel's recent field promotion. He should have foreseen that a ship of extra-galactic origin would not follow hyperspace lane protocol.

"Now, I have need of your talents elsewhere. We will allow the admiral to busy himself in pursuit of the bug ship. Until he flushes it out of hiding, I am assigning you to Project Stardust, officially to serve as Grand Moff Tarkin's right hand man. Take your day-to-day orders from him, but you will, of course, keep me apprised with your own observations on the Death Star's progress. Your presence will also serve as a reminder to the command staff that missed deadlines will not be tolerated."

"Yes, my Master."

Darth Vader bowed to the holoimage of the Emperor until it flicked off. He stood up and strode to a panel.

"Prepare my shuttle."

"Yes, Lord Vader."