Star Wars the New Jedi Order Force Heretic III Reunion

Leia literally took a backseat during the flight to Esfandia. Trying to compete with her husband and Droma was too exhausting, and, ultimately, pointless. At times it seemed their affinity wasn't entirely amicable, but it was perfectly natural. They'd hardly stopped talking since the Ryn had come aboard. Bringing each other up to date on events since they'd parted at Fondor, they covered everything from sneaky tactics to Anakin's death. After the latter, Droma had left the bridge for a while, to sing a plaintive lay in a language Leia didn't understand, but then he'd returned with a story about one of his exploits in the Senex sector. The tale was as tall as a Bolenian hillspinner, but it served its purpose by easing the pall of melancholy that had engulfed theFalcon. "So they started taking apart the tanker module," Han was saying now, relating one of his own stories to Droma, his mood far removed from the grief that had consumed him earlier. "Which you said was filled with liquid hydrogen." "Yeah, but destroying the tanker didn't stop the hydrogen. If anything, it spread out a little, exactly as planned." "Why?" Droma asked, frowning. "Hydrogen won't burn without oxygen." "That's what Goldenrod said. That's the trouble with droids: no imagination. As our shields failed, I told Leia and Jacen to punch holes through the cruiser's hull with our quads. Before I could tell those scarheads to eat ions, there was more than enough oxygen for the hydrogen to react with. The cruiser went up so fast we had a tough time dodging the pieces. After that, it was just a matter of getting out of there. The few skips we left behind weren't putting up much of a fight." "Understandably. I hear Vong skips are useless once they're cut off from their yammosks." "Well, they're not completely useless," Han said, "but it does give you an advantage." Droma shrugged. "Speaking of yammosks, I've heard some stories about them that would make your tail stand on end!" Leia listened to the banter but offered nothing toward the conversation. Instead, she concentrated on the information Droma had provided them: communications had indeed been lost with the Unknown Regions. The destruction of the base on Generis and the attack on Esfandia appeared to be the source of the disruption. A free-floating proto-world, Esfandia had long since cut free from whatever star had given birth to it, but still had enough radioactivity bubbling in its core to sustain a liquid atmosphere. It wasn't the most hospitable of places, but it didn't need to be. A skeleton crew of about a dozen people, mainly technicians, normally inhabited the relay outpost, which had been hastily converted from a scientific station at the beginning of the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. Since Luke's mission had entered the Unknown Regions, the Galactic Alliance's military presence around Esfandia had been upgraded to two squadrons of X-wings and a frigate by the name ofCorellian Way. What had happened to those forces was unknown. The relay staff only had time to broadcast a message alerting their superiors on Mon Calamari that they were under attack by the Yuuzhan Vong before all communications had been lost. That wasn't necessarily a sure sign of disaster. The relay base was designed to resist such attacks. Imperial AT-AT technology had been adapted to the cold soup of Esfandia's environment, creatiWilliams, Sean is the author of 'Star Wars the New Jedi Order Force Heretic III Reunion' with ISBN 9780345428721 and ISBN 0345428722.