Free The Unifying Force by James Luceno

have composed such elegant work. I recognize the mind and hand of a Givin in coding the message contained in this equation.”
    “You want him to repeat any it?” Bhindi Drayson asked.
    The Givin shook his head. “That won’t be necessary.”
    She nodded in satisfaction. “Then I guess we’re done here.”
    Han glanced around in bafflement. “That’s it? That’s the debriefing?”
    Wedge nodded his chin to the Givin and the droid. “The rest is up to them.”
    Han and Leia had just found seats in the mess hall when Major Ummar brought word that General Cracken was ready to conduct the briefing.
    “So much for a real meal,” Han said.
    Leia sighed. “I’ll have Threepio prepare us something later.”
    “The perfect appetite suppressant.”
    By the time the Solos arrived, the base’s tactical information center was filled to capacity with intelligence analysts, ships’ officers, and wing commanders. Cracken’s adjutant escorted Han and Leia down the amphitheater’s broad carpeted stairs to seats in the front row. On the rostrum sat Wedge and three colonels—two Bothans and a Sullustan.
    Seventy-five-year-old Airen Cracken, whose intelligence briefings had literally given shape to the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War, stood at the lectern.
    “First I want to thank all of you for reporting at such short notice. If there was time, I would have included this information in tomorrow’s scheduled briefing, but with HoloNet transmissions disabled, we’ll need to dispatch couriers immediately if we’re to pull this operation together.”
    Cracken activated a switch on the lectern’s slanted top, and a holoprojection appeared to his left, detailing an unidentified sector of the galaxy. Cracken used a laser pointer to indicate a star system in the upper right quadrant, which expanded as the pointer’s red beam touched the holo’s sizing node.
    “The Tantara system,” Cracken continued, “looking Corewardfrom Bilbringi. The principal stars are Centis Major and Renaant. The closest habitable world—presently occupied by the Yuuzhan Vong—is Selvaris.”
    Cracken nodded at Han and Leia, then gestured to them. “Captain Solo and Princess Leia have just returned from Selvaris. There they were successful in rescuing a prisoner who escaped from an enemy internment camp constructed on the surface. Among those we have been able to identify as fellow prisoners in the camp are Captain Judder Page, of Corulag, and my own son, Major Pash Cracken.”
    Murmurs of genuine surprise swept through the room.
    “How come nobody told us that?” Han asked Leia out of the corner of his mouth.
    She shushed him gently. “Let’s at least hear Airen out before we make a fuss.”
    “Okay,” Han said slowly. “But just this once.”
    “A resistance group operating on Selvaris was able to obtain important intelligence, and pass that intelligence along to Captain Page and Major Cracken, who are currently the highest-ranking Alliance officers in captivity at the camp. The intelligence was encrypted as a complex mathematical formula, which was memorized by the Jenet escapee, and decrypted only two hours ago. It provides us with details of a Peace Brigade mission to transport to Coruscant several hundred Alliance officials and high-ranking officers who are being held on Selvaris and in more than a dozen such camps along the fringes of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion corridor. We now know when the pickups are to be made, and we know the route the Peace Brigade convoy plans to use in reaching Coruscant. We don’t yet know the reason for this mass relocation, but we have a good guess.”
    “No wonder Wedge said he has a stake in this,” Han whispered. “Some of the officers Cracken is talking about were probably captured during the attempt to retake Bilbringi.”
    Wedge stepped to the lectern and took over for Cracken.
    “Alliance spies placed inside the Peace Brigade have alerted Mon Calamari command that a Yuuzhan Vong