[Dark Nest] - 3(53)
Taking care to make certain Wuluw stayed with her-and that she always knew where those Squibs were-Jaina started toward the mountains in the distance, hidden though they were by rain and mist. She could have turned toward any quadrant, since the swarm was attacking the Chiss from all directions inside the perimeters. But the mountains were where Zekk was waiting, and Jaina longed to be as near to him as possible. With Taat still trapped in the Utegetu Nebula, he was her entire nest now-the words that completed her thought, the beat that drove her heart-and if she was going to die today, she wanted to do it near him.
Suddenly, the sizzle of the charric rifles began to fade and the swarm began to advance more rapidly. Jaina finally waded free of the Killik gore and saw nothing ahead but scurrying limbs and fanning wings. There were no Chiss anywhere, no beams of death flickering out to slow the Colony. Jaina could not believe they had actually broken the legendary Chiss discipline, that UnuThul’s last exhortation had been all that was needed for the swarm to push through the enemy lines.
Something was wrong.
Jaina stopped and turned to Wuluw. “Halt! Tell them to stop. It’s a-“
The crackle of an incoming barrage echoed through the trees, then the jungle erupted into a raging storm of detonating artillery shells and splintering wood. Whole treetops began to crash down from above, crushing thousands of unlucky insects, and wisps of green vapor began to spread through the mogos and sink toward the forest floor.
The Killiks stopped and drummed their chests in alarm, working their wings and trying to keep the mist from settling on their bodies, but the artillery shells continued to come. The wisps of vapor turned into a ground haze, then the haze to a fog. The rain only seemed to make the fog grow thicker, as though the insecticide was water-activated. The river of Jooj stopped advancing, the jungle floor grew crowded with convulsing Rekkers, and Jaina began to gag on the sickly-sweet smell of the deadly gas.
She used the Force to clear a hole through the green fog. Before she could pull the electrobinoculars from her utility belt, the hole grew congested with charging Rekkers. She started to hop up on a mogo trunk so she could see over them, then realized how exposed that would leave her and thought better of it.
“Tell those soldiers to wait!” Jaina said to Wuluw. “I need to see.”
Wuluw had barely acknowledged the order before the Rekkers dropped to the jungle floor. Jaina set the electrobinoculars to scan and peered down the tunnel she was keeping open through the green cloud. Even with all the foliage stripped away by Chiss defoliators, it was nearly impossible to see very far through the thick timber. But eventually, she did glimpse a muzzle flash from beside a fifty-meter mogo. She gave the tree a fierce Force shove and sent it crashing to the jungle floor.
A flurry of Chiss charric beams reduced the upended roots to a spray of dirt and smoking splinters, but Jaina wasted no time searching for the attackers. The fire had been quick and precise, which meant it had come from dismounted infantry, and that told her much of what she needed to know.
The rest Jaina discovered when another muzzle flash filled the viewfinder of her electrobinoculars. She centered the flash, magnified the image, and found herself looking at the blocky silhouette of a MetaCannon, one of the Chiss’s largest drop-deployable field pieces. The MetaCannon could fire maser beams, blaster bolts, or even primitive artillery shells with a “quick-and-easy” change of the barrel.
What it could not do, however, was react quickly to changing tactics.
“Everybody into the treetops,” Jaina ordered. The Chiss insecticide would not be as effective in the jungle canopy, since it would rapidly be dispersed by the wind or sink to the ground. “Advance rapidly until the enemy starts to fire into the jungle canopy, then drop to the ground and continue. Expect small-arms fire in-” She checked
her
rangefinder. “-approximately one kilometer.”
Having already relayed the orders, Wuluw started up the nearest mogo. The Squibs followed close behind. Jaina returned her electrobinoculars and lightsaber to her utility belt, then started after them, giving orders as she climbed.
“Report to all nests that it looks like the Chiss have brought their heavy artillery back to stop us.”
Wuluw stopped climbing and spun her head around backward, her mandibles spread in alarm as she looked down her back at Jaina.
“B-b-bu?”
“Really,” Jaina said. “Don’t worry. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”
Wuluw flattened her antennae doubtfully. “Buur urbu ruub u.”
“I mean it this time.” Jaina fluttered her hand, using the Force to whisk away a bank of insecticide drifting their way. “Just keep climbing … and do your job! The other nests need that report.”