by Troy Denning
“I meant it,” Han growled. “And stop eavesdropping.”
“He doesn’t have a choice, Han—it’s in his programming,” Leia said. She turned to C-3PO. “But I’m sure Han can still keep a few basic facts straight. You can wait outside.
C-3PO’s chin dropped. “Very well. I’ll be available if you need me.”
After C-3PO left, Gejjen motioned Han and Leia to chairs. Antilles took a seat at the end of the table, a choice that suggested he really did not like being a part of this conversation.
“I assume you recognize ministers Lemora and Willems.”
Han nodded. “Yeah—I was just wondering what could bring the entire High Cabinet all the way out here.”
“We’re on an inspection tour.” Lemora did not even bother trying to sound plausible. “What matters to you is that a unique opportunity has presented itself.”
Before Han could threaten to leave because he didn’t like being lied to, Gejjen dropped the bombshell. “Queen Mother Tenel Ka has agreed to meet a Corellian delegation.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“You can’t be serious!”
Han and Leia spoke at the same time, for the only thing that might have surprised them more—or caused more doubt—was to hear Gejjen claiming that their son Anakin had not really died fighting the Yuuzhan Vong. Tenel Ka was a vocal and very loyal supporter of the Galactic Alliance, and any suggestion that she might be willing to discuss changing sides was crazy.
“I assure you, we are serious,” Gejjen said. “The High Cabinet did not come out here to play a practical joke on you.”
“Then someone fed you a bad set of coordinates,” Han replied. “There’s no way Tenel Ka is going to support Corellia. She’s already assigned two battle fleets to Alliance command.”
Gejjen was not deterred. “And if that were to change, the Galactic Alliance would be forced to reconsider its position regarding Corellia.”
“The invitation is real,” Lemora assured them. “The Queen Mother has half a day available on the twentieth. Can you reach Hapes by then?”
“Sure.” Han glanced toward the end of the table and found Antilles gazing into the corner, apparently contemplating the wonders of automatic caf dispensers. “If there’s any sense in going.”
“I think what Han means to say is the offer sounds suspicious.” Leia looked to Han as though for confirmation, but she was really signaling him to play along. “We both know Tenel Ka well enough to be certain that she’ll never change sides.”
“You see, that’s why you’re perfect for this job,” Willems said. “If anyone has a chance of talking some sense into her, it’s you two.”
Han did not like the menacing note he heard in Willems’s gravelly voice. “You’d better not be sending us there to threaten her,” he said. “Because that would steam me about as much as it would Tenel Ka.”
Gejjen waved a calming hand. “Nobody’s making threats, Captain Solo. But we do have some intelligence that suggests her support of the Alliance is straining her relationship with her nobles.”
“We assume that’s why she’s willing to talk,” Lemora added. “Perhaps she’s merely putting on a show to placate them or trying to buy some time, but we can’t afford to ignore the opening.”
“No, of course not,” Leia said. “But Admiral Antilles said you were asking Han to negotiate a coalition. You do understand there’s no chance of that happening, don’t you?”
“If there is any hope, you’re it,” Gejjen replied. “But we don’t need a coalition—and neither does Queen Mother Tenel Ka.”
“If Hapes were to make an open statement of neutrality and withdraw her fleet from Alliance command,” Lemora said, “Corellia’s position would be strengthened both militarily and politically. Other governments might be emboldened enough to support us openly.”
“And Tenel Ka’s nobles would no longer have grounds to challenge her decision—or her throne,” Leia surmised. “Is the threat to her that severe?”
“We hear there are rumblings.” Gejjen leaned forward and deliberately locked gazes with Leia. “It might not be an exaggeration to say that persuading the Queen Mother to assume a favorable stance toward Corellia would be as much a service to her as to us.”
“I see.” Leia studied Gejjen for a moment, then turned to Han. “The prime minister does have a point, dear. We might do Tenel Ka and Corellia a lot of good.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Han looked back to Antilles, who was continuing to study the caf dispenser as though it could help him divine the secret plans of the Galactic Alliance. “But something about this smells like Hutt breath.”
“Fine—you don’t like it, we’ll find someone else.” Willems pointed toward the exit. “Thanks for—”
“Minister Willems,” Gejjen interrupted, “why don’t we hear Captain Solo’s concerns first?” He turned to Han with a lifted brow.
“All this would sound fine, if we were talking about it back on Corellia,” Han said. “What I don’t get is why Wedge had me come all the way out here, just so you three could come all the way out here to ask us to take the assignment.”
To Han’s surprise, Gejjen turned to Antilles. “Perhaps you should explain, Admiral.”
“All right.” Antilles finally looked away from the caf dispenser. “You were already on the way here when the prime minister received Tenel Ka’s message. I had originally intended to ask you to take command of the Home Fleet and prepare to counterattack the blockade.”
“Counterattack?” Han frowned. The Corellian Home Fleet was spread across the system’s five habitable planets, either pinned in their berthings or playing moog-and-rancor with Alliance vessels carrying double their firepower. “Are you spacesick? We’d lose half the fleet just trying to rendezvous.”
Antilles shook his head. “Not likely. We’re almost ready to launch the real attack from here.”
Han frowned, thinking, then demanded, “I was never going to see action?” He didn’t know whether to be angry or hurt. “I was going to be a decoy?”
“Sorry, Han,” Antilles said. “I had to do something.”
“We’ve been getting intelligence intercepts indicating that Alliance High Command is worried about where Admiral Antilles is,” Lemora explained. “I suggested we needed a diversion.”
Leia rested a hand on Han’s arm. “Think of it as a compliment, Han,” she said. “There’s no one else the Alliance would believe crazy enough to try something so risky.”
“Thanks a lot.” As Han said this, he was looking at Antilles. “It’s always good to feel needed.”
“As you obviously are,” Gejjen said quickly. “Admiral Antilles is not happy about losing you to a diplomatic mission.”
“And that’s the reason three of you chased me all the way out here?” Han asked. “To bully Wedge into letting me go?”
“Not entirely,” Lemora admitted. “The Queen Mother didn’t give us long to select an envoy. If you won’t go—”
“—I will,” Willems finished.
“It hasn’t come to that yet,” Gejjen said. The look that passed between him and Lemora suggested they both hoped it wouldn’t. “But with strict comm silence being maintained here, we’d have to wait for a messenger to return to Corellia with your decision. It just seemed safer to come out here and talk in person.”
“And we really did want to inspect the Kiris fleet before we gave the go-ahead to launch the surprise attack,” Lemora added. “Corellia’s future is riding on it.”
“That’s understandable,” Leia said. She turned to Han and shot him her best do-it-for-me pout. “Satisfied?”
“Sure.” Han frowned and curled his lip at her—he hated it when Leia used her female powers on him. “Count me in.”
Leia only smiled and patted his hand. “Me, too.”
“Excellent.” Gejjen looked relieved. He rose and stretched his arm across the table. “The Five Worlds are grateful.”
As he and Han shook hands, Lemora removed a data c
ard from her pocket and passed it to Leia. “I took the liberty of preparing a vidbriefing. You can look it over when you return to the Falcon.”
“Our instructions are on it?” Leia asked.
“Of course,” Gejjen said. He extended a hand toward the exit. “You’ll need to get under way quickly if you’re going to reach Hapes in time.”
“I’ll show you out.” Antilles stood and led the Solos into the outer cabin. As soon as the door closed behind him, he clasped Han’s shoulder. “Sorry, old buddy. I was looking forward to ordering you around.”
“Why?” Han retorted. “You don’t think I’d have obeyed, do you?”
Antilles laughed. “I suppose not.” He turned to Leia and said, “Thanks for helping. If we have any hope of getting the Alliance to back off before this war gets ugly, you’re it.”
“I’m glad to help—you know that.” Leia studied Antilles for a moment, then her voice grew sober. “Wedge, what aren’t they telling us?”
Antilles looked back toward the door and shook his head. “I don’t know, Princess—and I don’t like it any more than you do.”
“Well, whatever it is, it’s got to be better for us to talk to Tenel Ka than Willems,” Han said. “That guy could drive me into the Alliance’s arms.”
“I think that’s what Gejjen was counting on,” Leia said. “He knew you’d have to say yes if you saw the alternative in person.”
“It worked.” Han turned to Antilles. “That and finding out my alternative was being your decoy.”
“Glad I could help you make up your mind, then.” Antilles smiled wearily, then shook hands with Han and kissed Leia on the cheek. “I should be getting back, or they’re going to think I’m trying to talk you out of this. May the Force be with you.”
“Thanks, Wedge,” Leia said, turning toward the door. “We’ll need it.”
chapter two
Jaina Solo did not want to leave her dreambubble. She was with Jagged Fel deep in the heart-warmth of their nest, their heads still throbbing to the rhythm of the Little Dawn Rumble, their bodies filled with the sweet heat of Killik mating pheromones. All the galaxy’s troubles seemed far away, and their battle in the skies of Tenupe had never happened. For once, they were together and at peace, with nothing to do but listen to the sweet sound of … alarm bells?
The bell was chiming inside Jaina’s skull, shaking the dreambubble until it popped, calling her back from her Force-hibernation into the icy free fall of reality. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at the frostrimed interior of a StealthX canopy, her teeth chattering so hard she thought they might shatter. She felt queasy and sore and muddleheaded, and even in the frigid conditions, the cockpit smelled stale and sour.
“Okay, Sneaker, I’m awake,” Jaina said. “You can turn up the heater. And the air scrubbers.”
The astromech, a replacement for Sneaky—whom she had lost when Jag and his squadron shot her down on Tenupe—beeped an acknowledgment, and warm air began to pour into the StealthX’s cockpit. Jaina expanded her Force-awareness. As her mind cleared, she felt her wingmate, Zekk, also awakening. He had resigned his commission in Rogue Squadron a couple of weeks earlier, when Jacen had attempted to court-martial Jaina for refusing to fire on a helpless blockade-runner. Now he and Jaina were part of a Jedi reconnaissance team spying on the secret Corellian shipyards in the Kiris Asteroid Cluster.
Though Jaina could feel Zekk’s Force presence floating a dozen meters ahead and a little below her own position, it took several moments to locate the cross-shaped silhouette of his StealthX. Basically a configuration of the formidable XJ3 X-wing, the StealthX starfighter had a fiberplast body that was all irregular planes and angles, with a matte-black finish camouflaged with an eye-deceiving pattern of tiny blue points that rendered it almost invisible against a starry background. It also had a gravitic modulator, photon absorbers, thermal dissipators, and an entire suite of specialized signal negators that made it almost invisible to sensor sweeps. Even its fusial engines burned a special Tibanna isotope whose efflux turned dark a millisecond after fusion.
About a kilometer ahead of Zekk’s StealthX tumbled the inky darkness of Kiris 17, which marked the “upper” limit of the Kiris Asteroid Cluster. The Corellian sun was just visible beneath the asteroid’s belly, a yellow pinprick barely brighter than the surrounding stars. Next to the star was the slow-growing dash of an efflux trail.
“What do we have, Sneaker?” Jaina asked.
A message appeared on the now-defrosted display, informing Jaina that a light transport was departing the cluster.
Jaina frowned. “You pulled us out of hibernation for a single vessel?”
Sneaker displayed another message. Contact profile is unique. Vessel is overpowered CEC YT-1300, exhibiting sudden change to possible outbound trajectory. Efflux signature suggests military-grade exhaust nozzles.
“The Falcon?” Jaina was not all that surprised—of course Han and Leia Solo would be in the thick of things. She just hoped they did not return to the Kirises before Admiral Bwua’tu sprang his trap. So far, the Corellians did not seem to realize that the Galactic Alliance knew of their secret fleet, and when the Kiris fleet finally left base, the Corellians were going to be in for a nasty shock. “Are you sure?”
Affirmative. Trajectory is now confirmed outbound.
“I mean about the efflux signature,” Jaina growled. “Is that the Falcon or not?”
Uncertain. Current data yields an identity coefficient of only 94%.
Jaina sighed. For the R9 unit to be “sure,” he would have to be plugged into one of the Falcon’s data sockets, swapping data with the primary control brain.
“Keep watching and plot a list of likely …”
Zekk’s StealthX suddenly started after the Falcon, and Jaina let the sentence trail off.
A list of likely destinations? Sneaker inquired.
“Right.”
Jaina shoved her own throttles forward and shot after Zekk, at the same time reaching out to him in the Force. Though their telepathic Joiner bond had finally dissolved a couple of years before, she and Zekk remained so acutely attuned to each other that they could often communicate through the Jedi battle-meld more clearly than most people conversed, and she quickly understood his intentions.
Equal parts spy and assault craft, StealthX starfighters were equipped with eavesdropping equipment so sensitive it could intercept stray signals from a vessel’s internal computers. If Zekk could close the distance before the Falcon jumped to hyperspace, he might be able to capture enough data from the Solos’ nav computer to determine their destination.
What Zekk did not intend to do, he assured Jaina, was vape her parents. She answered with a cynical concern for him. If there was any shooting, he was the one who would need worrying about—not her parents. This elicited a warm feeling of satisfaction from Zekk—a sincere feeling of satisfaction.
The meld nearly shattered beneath the harshness of Jaina’s frustration. She wished Zekk would just give it up. He would never be more than her best friend. Why couldn’t he just accept that and go find a nice Falleen girl to fall for?
Even without mind sharing, the message was clear enough. Zekk withdrew into himself, maintaining barely enough contact to keep the meld open, and they closed the rest of the distance in cold isolation. Jaina hated hurting him like that. He was the best wingmate she’d ever had, but he just did not seem to get it. She didn’t want to be in love, not with him, not with Jagged Fel, not with anyone. She was the Sword of the Jedi, whatever that meant; she probably wasn’t even supposed to be in love.
Kiris 17 slid past above, drawing a momentary curtain of darkness over Jaina’s canopy; then there was nothing between the StealthXs and their target except a hundred kilometers of empty space. The Falcon was really moving. Jaina’s throttles were pushed to the overload stops, and still the old transport yielded her lead only grudgingly.
The inky mass of Kiris 3 tumbled past beneath the chase, its dark surface a
nd frigid heat signature betraying no sign of the shipyard concealed within. The Falcon’s efflux trail slowly changed from a tail to a solid bar. Jaina activated her eavesdropping array, then instructed Sneaker to inform her when he began to pick up signals. But several more seconds passed, and Jaina began to think she and Zekk would not catch up before the Falcon escaped the Kiris Cluster’s weak gravity and entered hyperspace.
Finally, the outline of the Falcon’s sensor dish grew visible above the brilliant glow of her ion drives, and Sneaker reported that the eavesdropping array was picking up stray signals. Jaina and Zekk strengthened their contact and swung out to opposite sides of the target—then felt a wave of astonishment roll through the meld as Leia discerned its presence.
Jaina pulled out immediately and, astonished by her mother’s Force sensitivity, tried to make her presence very small. Her eavesdropping array lit up as it began to capture and record electronic pulses from inside the Falcon. An instant later she sensed Leia searching for her and tried to draw in on herself even further, but there was no hiding from one’s own mother—not when that mother was Leia Solo, anyway. Jaina felt a brief moment of warmth, followed by an overwhelming sense of relief and—oddly—reassurance.
Then the battered old transport shot away, her ion tail thinning into nothingness as she vanished into hyperspace.
The meld filled with a sense of puzzlement as Zekk reached out for an explanation, but Jaina understood no better than he did. Her mother had obviously sensed their presence, which meant she now knew the Jedi were keeping a watch on the Kirises—and that they had probably captured the Falcon’s destination.
Zekk wondered if Leia had been relieved because she thought he and Jaina would not report the contact. The Solos were, after all, high-value targets, and what kind of daughter would sic a hunter-killer squadron on her own parents?
Sneaker beeped for Jaina’s attention, then scrolled a message across the display announcing that he had analyzed the intercepted data and used his superior computing power to develop a list of the Falcon’s most likely destinations.
