Dark Tide 1: Onslaught by Michael A. Stackpole Page B

the world. Third and final—and the window Ganner was studying hardest—was the image of a communications relay satellite that appeared, to Corran, to have lost its antenna array.
    â€œThe satellite is damaged. The pulsar would make communications difficult under the best of circumstances. Without the satellite, though, messages aren’t going to get out.”
    Corran nodded. “Do we have the codes needed to interrogate the satellite and dump its message cache to us?”
    The other Jedi punched a button on the communications console, then shook his head. “Either the codes don’t work, or without the antenna the satellite can’t hear us. We could recover it. I can use the Force to load it into a cargo bay. From there we can run a wire in and make direct contact.”
    â€œNot that important at the moment.” Corran glanced at his navigational data. “The satellite was placed in a geosynchronous orbit over their base camp, wasn’t it?”
    â€œRight. They’re down there, below it, on the northern continent.”
    â€œWhat does the weather look like down there?”
    Ganner frowned. “Tail end of sandgales. The air will be full of dust, but definitely breathable, provided we use filtration.”
    â€œNot like Belkadan?”
    â€œNo indication of any atmospheric changes that are out of the ordinary. Bimmiel has an elliptical orbit, and we’re on the outward leg now. The Imp survey came on the inbound leg, so we’re not sure what to expect. The Imps reported very little in the way of life down there, but I can feel a fair amount, can’t you?”
    â€œI can, yes.”
    â€œI get no evidence that the Yuuzhan Vong are down there.” Ganner peered at him ice-eyed through the satellite image. “And, before you ask, no indications if the damage to the satellite was caused by some coralskipper’s plasma blast or just a micrometeorite hitting the antenna.”
    Corran took Ganner’s cautionary comment in stride. “I know, not all trouble can be or should be attributed to the Yuuzhan Vong. We don’t know if they are here or not.”
Of course, since we can’t feel them through the Force, the only way we’ll know if they are is when we see them. I’m not looking forward to any such encounter.
“Our mission is to find the academics and get them out.”
    â€œSimple.”
    â€œUnless we make it complicated.” Corran glanced at the forward viewport. “I’ll take the ship in and try to land as close to their camp as is prudent.”
    The freighter, which was a modified Corellian YT-1210, had a flat disk shape that enabled Corran to slide it into the Bimmiel atmosphere without a lot of difficulty. The freighter’s mass meant the dying storms didn’t bounce it around too much. Corran had dialed the inertial compensator down to 90 percent, just to give him a better feel for how the
Dalliance
flew. The storm did manage to bump and drop the freighter a little, but Corran didn’t mind.
    The fact that the turbulence made Ganner a bit gray also worked for Corran. The trip out from Yavin 4 had taken a few days, and his relationship with Ganner had become more cordial as the garnant bites faded from the larger man’s flesh. Even so, it was readily apparent to Corran that Ganner wasn’t going to back away from what he saw as the right method for projecting a powerful Jedi image, and Corran, on the other hand, wasn’t going to embrace using fear as a tool to coerce cooperation from people.
    As they got closer to reversion and landing, Ganner had begun to tighten up again. He’d donned his blue and black robes, polished his lightsaber, and been very precise in combing his hair and trimming his beard. Corran did have to admit that the man looked every millimeter a recruiter’s dream and that, physically, the man was very impressive.
He’s overconfident, overbearing, and