Free Balance Point by Kathy Tyers Page B

lightsaber, and let youthful determination take over. She opened and closed her left hand cautiously. It still tingled, but it hadn’t lost sensation.
    The warrior’s face seemed to be bleeding white where she whacked it. Cautiously, Anakin fingered a faint line along the creature’s nose. The skin started rippling, as if something was moving under its surface—then peeled back from the motionless face, taking the wounded spotalong with it. The living ooglith masquer shrank into the throat of the Yuuzhan Vong’s restaurant uniform, making slurping noises as it pulled free of its carrier’s pores.
    Underneath, the alien was pale-skinned, with little flesh on its face. Bluish sacs hung under both eyes, with one upper cheek burned almost through, leaving a scar that showed bone. Tattoos like concentric energy bursts crossed its forehead. The exposed cheekbone showed a network of healed, jagged fractures.
    The masquer created a rolling bulge as it shrank toward the warrior’s legs. The Stokhli web finally trapped it near its owner’s knees.
    “Good idea, the Stokhli stick,” Mara murmured.
    Anakin stuck it in his belt. “New model, short range. Almost concealable.”
    “Surprised me,” she admitted. It bothered her that he’d found one before she’d even heard of it. As he beamed, she pulled out her comlink. “Enforcement? Mara here. We’ve got our infiltrator.”

CHAPTER SIX
    With the captured Yuuzhan Vong laid out on an examining table and the wounded masquer contained inside a transparisteel tank, Mara folded her arms and rested against a wall. New Republic Intelligence would take over from here, but she lingered. Anakin hadn’t gone far, either.
    Exobiologist Dr. Joi Eicroth had pulled back her fair hair into a tail. She spread an array of tools and drug ampules on a tray near the table, then stood, shaking her head. “We know only enough about their physiology,” she said, “to know that we don’t know enough.”
    Mara pushed away from her wall. “At least we found out that a stun burst won’t bring them down, no matter how close we get.”
    “I doubt,” Eicroth said, “that many people will want to get that close.”
    The Yuuzhan Vong had been draped with a poncho after medics confirmed she was female. Tufts of black hair grew here and there on her skull, and half her body was tattooed with concentric designs like the ones on her forehead. Eicroth pointed out a focal point that looked vaguely like a living creature. Claws protruded from her knuckles. The exobiologist had anchored restraint bands over her forearms and across her legs and torso.
    Cilghal stood with Mara. She’d examined Mara’shand, taking skin and blood samples for the other medics. Then she tried to revive the Yuuzhan Vong. Neither inhalants nor mild shocks worked. By invitation, she, too, lingered.
    Belindi Kalenda of NRI—recently demoted to Lieutenant Colonel, over the misinformation flap—strode into the room, and Eicroth straightened. Lieutenant Colonel Kalenda was small and dark-skinned, and she wore her tightly curled hair in a bunch at the nape of her neck.
    She got a good look and frowned. “I’m impressed,” she said. Tricked by the alleged Yuuzhan Vong defector, then again by their feint at Corellia, at least Kalenda hadn’t been drummed out of the service. “I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to get one of these alive.” She shot one more glance at Dr. Eicroth. “You’re recording? We can’t waste this.”
    “If we get anything,” Mara said. She’d faced enough of these aliens to expect a fresh surprise every time.
    Above the table hung a full-body scanner. This time, there’d be body-fluid analyses, readings of organ functions, maybe even a map of the body’s microelectric fields. A chem readout might hint at what drugs could affect them. Personally, Mara would appreciate information on their nervous systems—especially what might bring them down, besides whacking their temples.
    She stared