Free Hero's Trial: Agents of Chaos I by James Luceno Page A

membrane-lined breathing tubes wide enough to—”
    “Captain,” the comm officer interrupted. “Durren reports that their hyperspace orbiter has picked up a Cronau radiation event in our sector. Confidence is high that a large ship has reverted to realspace. Interrogators are awaiting a telesponder return.”
    Graff leapt to his feet and hurried to his swivel-mounted chair. “Do we have visual contact?”
    “Not yet, sir. The event is well outside our sensor range.”
    Graff turned to the comsec officer. “Scramble Gauntlet squadron and go to general quarters.”
    Sirens blared throughout the ship, and garnet light began to suffuse the bridge.
    The comsec officer looked over his shoulder at Graff. “Sir, forward tech station reports countermeasures enabled, shields up and fully charged.”
    “Data on the event coming in,” the enlisted-rating said. “Ship is an unknown quantity. Radar and laser-imaging computers are compiling a portrait.”
    Graff swung to face the holo-imager, where the ghostlylikeness of an enormous, faceted polyhedron, black as onyx, was already taking shape.
    “Yuuzhan Vong?”
    “Unknown, sir,” the enlisted-rating said. “It doesn’t match anything in our data banks.”
    “Move us out of stationary orbit.”
    “Sir, drive profiles of the intruder match those of a vessel in the enemy flotilla that attacked Obroa-skai.”
    “Gauntlet squadron is out the door, moving to recon position.”
    “Any chatter from the Yuuzhan Vong vessel?” Graff asked.
    “Negative, sir. No, wait. Scanners now show two ships.”
    Again, Graff swiveled to face the holo-imager, where a second, smaller polyhedron was forming alongside the original. “Is that thing a new arrival, or are we observing some sort of mitosis?”
    “It appears to be a component of the larger vessel, sir. Vessel one is changing course, bearing for Durren Orbital Station. Module is accelerating to intercept our starfighters. Gauntlet is breaking formation, splitting up into attack elements.”
    “Patch me through to Gauntlet leader,” Graff ordered the comm officer.
    “Gauntlet leader is patched through,” the woman said.
    “Gauntlet One, can you show us what you’re seeing?”
    Relayed over the command net annunciator, the squadron leader’s voice was thin sounding and disrupted by bursts of static. “Transmitting. Looks like the galaxy’s biggest decoder ring lost its stone.”
    “Will you look at that thing,” someone on the bridge remarked as a real-time image replaced the holosimulation.
    “Sir, bio-energy massing in the smaller ship. They have us in target lock.”
    Graff engaged the chair’s safety harness. “Brace for impact.”
    Effulgent golden light filled the
Soothfast
’s forward viewports. The ship shook as if snatched and shaken by a giant hand.
    “Plasma energy,” the enlisted-rating reported. “Consistent with Yuuzhan Vong–ranged weapons. No damage to vital systems. Shields are holding.”
    “Range?”
    “Secondary vessel is moving within striking distance, sir.”
    Graff gave his command cap a downward tug. “Tell Gauntlet squadron to steer clear. Starboard main batteries, stand by to return fire.”
    A retrofitted
Proficient
-class ship of Corellian design, the
Soothfast
was 850 meters long, but with only ten heavy turbolasers and twenty ion cannons it was wanting in firepower. Some of the compartmentalization that had originally reinforced the cruiser’s hull had been removed to create a docking bay for starfighters, but even with the fighters the sharp-nosed ship remained an ancillary weapon.
    “Gauntlet is clear, sir.”
    Graff nodded. “Ready proton torpedoes. Set for detonation at the first hint of gravitic anomalies.”
    “Sir, torpedoes are armed as dictated by new protocol.”
    “Ready starboard turbolasers,” Graff ordered.
    “Sir, turbolasers enabled.”
    Graff looked at the weapons officer. “If that ‘stone’ operates true to form, it’ll vacuum the torpedoes, but the