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                     Attenton.

  This text was send to me with very bad quality
  If anybody who downloaded this text have original book
  and can fix errors, that marked by '?????????????' string - 
  do it,please...

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                    Внимание

   Сей текст ко мне попал довольно хреново отсканированным.
  Я вычитал то что мог, и пометил строчками '??????????????'
  то что вычитке не поддавалось или было сомнительным.
  Ежели у кого есть оригинал и желание сделать благое дело
  - продолжите мою работу, пжалста.
 
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                                   Star Wars
 
                                 New Jedi Order
      
                               The Unifying Force
 
                                 By James Luceno



 In memory of my compadre, Tom Peirce, who understood that being 
accepting of death is not the same as being resigned to dying. A 
true warrior to the last.


 Acknowledgments
The Unifying Force owes something to everyone who has helped give shape 
and continuity to the Expanded Universe-from Alan Dean Foster to Tim 
Zahn to Matt Stover; and from Bill Smith to Stephen Sansweet to the 
hundreds of fans who have devoted countless hours to detailing the 
esoteric. I would, though, like to single out a few people whose help 
and encouragement were invaluable: Shelly Shapiro and Sue Rostoni, for 
their editorial magic; Greg Bear, Greg Keyes, Sean Williams, and Shane 
Dix, for their commitment to keeping things consistent; Troy Denning, 
for his many suggestions; Dan Wallace, Rick Gonzolez, Mike Kogge, 
Helen Keier, Eelia Gold-smith Henderscheid, and Enrique Guerrero, for 
their tireless work on the entire New Jedi Order series. Most of all, 
thank you, George Lucas, for creating a universe that continues to expand . . .


 Dramatis Personae

Nom Anor; executor (male Yuuzhan Vong)

Wedge Antilles; general (male human)

Nas Choka; warmaster (male Yuuzhan Vong)

Kyp Durron; Jedi Master (male human)

Jagged Fel; pilot (male human)

Harrar; priest (male Yuuzhan Vong)

Traest Kre'fey; admiral (male Bothan)

Cal Omas; Chief of State (male human)

Onimi; Shamed One (male Yuuzhan Vong)

Danni Quee; scientist (female human)

Supreme Overlord Shimrra (male Yuuzhan Vong)

Luke Skywalker; Jedi Master (male human)

Mara Jade Skywalker; Jedi Master (female human)

Han Solo; captain, Millennium Falcon (male human)

Jacen Solo; Jedi Knight (male human)

Jaina Solo; Jedi Knight (female human)

Princess Leia Organa Solo; diplomat (female human)

 

 

 
Selvaris, faintly green against a sweep of white-hot stars, 
and with only a tiny moon for companionship, looked like the 
loneliest of planets. Almost five years into a war that had 
seen the annihilation of peaceful worlds, the disruption of 
major hyperlanes, the fall and occupation of Coruscant itself, 
the fact that such a back-water place could rise to sudden 
significance was perhaps the clearest measure of the frightful 
shadow the Yuuzhan Vong had cast across the galaxy.

Immediate evidence of that significance was a prisoner-of-war 
compound that had been hollowed from the dense coastal jungle 
of Selvaris's modest southern continent. The compound of wooden 
detention buildings and organic, hivelike structures known as 
grashals was enclosed by yorik-coral walls and watchtowers that
might have been thrust from the planet's aquamarine sea, or left 
exposed by a freakishly low tide. Beyond the tall scabrous perimeter, 
where the vege-tation had been leveled or reduced to ash by plasma 
weapons, rigid blades of knee-high grass poked from the sandy soil, 
extending all the way to the vibrant green palisade that was the tree 
line. Whipped by a persistent salty wind, the fanlike leaves of the 
tallest trees flapped and snapped like war banners.

Standing between the prison camp and a brackish estuary that meandered 
finally to the sea, the jungle combined indigenous growth with exotic 
species bioengineered by the Yuuzhan Vong and soon to become dominant 
on Selvaris, as had already happened on countless other worlds.

Two charred yorik-trema landing craft, not yet fully healed from recent 
deep-space engagements with the enemy, sat in the spacious prison yard. 
Shuffling past them came a group of humans, bald-domed Bith, and 
thick-horned Gotals, carrying three corpses wrapped in cloth.

His back pressed to one of the coralcraft, a Yuuzhan Vong guard watched
the prisoners struggle with the dead.

"Be quick about it," he ordered. "The maw luur doesn't like to be kept 
waiting."

The camp's prisoners had argued vehemently to be allowed to dispose of 
bodies according to the customs of the deceased, but graves or funeral 
pyres had been expressly forbidden by order of the Yuuzhan Vong priests 
who officiated at the nearby temple. Their ruling was that all organics 
had to be recycled. The dead could either be left to Selvaris's ample 
and voracious flocks of carrion eaters, or be fed to the Yuuzhan Vong 
biot known as a maw luur, which some of the more well-traveled prisoners 
characterized as a mating of trash compactor and Sarlacc.

The guard was tall and long-limbed, with an elongated sloping forehead 
and bluish sacs underscoring his eyes. The light of Selvaris's two suns 
had reddened his skin slightly, and the planet's hothouse heat had turned 
him lean. Facial tattoos and scarifications marked him as an officer, but 
he lacked the deformations and implants peculiar to commanders. Bound by 
a ring of black coral, his dark hair fell in a sideknot to below his 
shoulders, and his uniform tunic was cinched by a narrow hide belt. A 
melee weapon coiled around his muscular right forearm, like a deadly vine.

What made Subaltern S'yito unusual was that he spoke Basic, though not 
nearly as fluently as his commander.

The prisoners paused briefly in response to S'yito's order that they hurry.

"We'd sooner see their bones picked clean by scavengers than let them be 
a meal for your garbage eater," the shortest of the humans said.

"Make the maw luur happy by throwing yourself in," a second human added.

"You tell him, Commenor," the Gotal beside him encouraged. Shirtless, 
the prisoners were slick with sweat, and kilos lighter than when they 
had arrived on Selvaris two standard months earlier, after being captured 
during an abortive attempt to retake the planet Gyn-dine. Those who wore 
trousers had cut them off at the knee, and like-wise trimmed their footwear 
to provide no more than was needed to keep their feet from being bloodied 
by the coarse ground or the waves of thorned senalaks that thrived outside 
the walls.

S'yito only sneered at their insolence, and waved his left hand to 
disperse the cloud of insects that encircled him.

The short human cracked a smile and laughed. "That's what you get for
using blood as body paint, S'yito."

S'yito puzzled out the meaning of the remark. "Insects are not the 
problem. Only that they are not Yuuzhan Vong insects." With uncommon 
speed, he snatched one out of the air and curled his hand around it. "Not 
yet, that is."

Worldshaping had commenced in Selvaris's eastern hemisphere, and was said 
to be creeping around the planet at the rate of two hun-dred kilometers 
per local day. Bioengineered vegetation had already engulfed several 
population centers, but it would be months before the botanical imperative
was concluded.

Until then, all of Selvaris was a prison. No residents had been allowed 
offworld since the internment camp had been grown, and all enemy 
communications facilities had been dismantled. Technology had been 
outlawed. Droids especially had been destroyed with much accompanying 
celebration, and in the name of benevolence. Liberated from their 
reliance on machines, sentient species might at long last glimpse the 
true nature of the universe, which had been brought into being by 
Yun-Yuuzhan in an act of selfless sacrifice, and was maintained by 
the lesser gods in whom the Creator had placed his trust.

"Maybe you should just try converting our insects," one of the 
humanoids suggested.

"Start with threatening to pull their wings off," the short human said.

S'yito opened his hand to display the winged bug, pinched between 
forefinger and thumb but unharmed. "This is why you lose the war, 
and why coexistence with you is impossible. You believe we inflict 
pain for sport, when we do so only to demonstrate reverence for the 
gods." He held the pitiful creature at arm's length. "Think of this 
as yourselves. Obedience leads to freedom; disobedience, to disgrace." 

Abruptly, he smashed the insect against his taut chest. "No middle path. 
You are Yuuzhan Vong, or you are dead."

Before any of the prisoners could reply, a human officer stepped from 
the doorway of the nearest hut into the harsh sunlight. Thickset and 
bearded, he wore his filthy uniform proudly. "Commenor, Antar, Clak'dor,
that's enough chatter," the officer said, referring to them by their 
native worlds rather than by name. "Carry on with your duties and 
report back to me."

"On our way, Captain," the short human said, saluting.

"That's Page, right?" the Gotal asked. "I hear nothing but good things."

"All of them true," one of the Bith said. "But we need ten thou-sand 
more like him if we're ever going to turn this war around."

As the prisoners moved off, S'yito turned to regard Captain Judder Page, 
who held the subaltern's appraising gaze for a long moment before stepping 
back into the wooden building. The body bearer had spoken the truth, 
S'yito thought. Warriors like Page could snatch victory from the jaws of 
defeat.

The Yuuzhan Vong held the high ground in the long war, but only barely. 
The fact that a prison camp had had to be grown on the surface of Selvaris 
was proof of that. Normally a battle vessel would have served as a place 
of detention. But with the final stages of the conflict being waged on 
numerous fronts, every able vessel was deployed to engage hostile forces 
on contested worlds, patrol con-quered systems, defend the hazy margins 
of the invasion corridor, or protect Yuuzhan'tar, the Hallowed Center, 
over which Supreme Overlord Shimrra had now presided for a standard year.

In any other circumstance there would have been little need for high 
walls or watchtowers, let alone a full complement of warriors to guard 
even such high-status prisoners as the mixed-species lot gath-ered on 
Selvaris. At the start of the war, captives had been fitted with manacles, 
immobilized in blorash jelly, or simply implanted with surge-coral and 
enslaved to a dhuryam-a governing brain. But living shackles, quick-jelly, 
and surge-coral were in short supply, and dhuryams were so scarce as to be 
rare.

Were S'yito in command, Page and others like him would already have 
been executed. As it was, too many compromises had been made. The wooden 
shelters, the disposal of bodies, the food . . . No matter the species, 
the prisoners had no stomach for the Yuuzhan Vong diet. With so many of 
them succumbing to their battle wounds or malnutrition, the prison 
commander had been forced to allow food to be delivered from a nearby 
settlement, where the residents plucked fish and other marine life from 
Selvaris's bountiful seas, and harvested fruits from the planet's 
equally generous forests. Against the possi-bility that resistance 
cells might be operating in the settlement, the place was even more 
closely guarded than the prison.

It was said among the warriors that Selvaris had no indigenous sentients,
and in fact the settlers who called the planet home had the look of beings 
who had either been marooned or were in hiding.

The sentient who delivered the weekly rations of food was no exception.

Covered with a nap of smoke-colored fur, the being walked upright on two 
muscular legs, and yet was graced with a useful-looking tail. Paired eyes 
sparkled in a slender mustachioed face, the prominent feature of which was 
a beak of some cartilaginous sub-stance, perforated at intervals like a 
flute and downcurving over a drooping polar mustache. He was harnessed 
to a wagon that rode on two yorik coral wheels and was laden with baskets,
pots, and an assort-ment of bulging, homespun sacks.

"Nutrition for the prisoners," the sentient announced as he neared the 
prison's bonework front gate.

S'yito ambled over while a quartet of sentries busied themselves 
removing the lids of the baskets and undoing the drawstrings that 
secured the sacks. He sniffed at the contents of one of the open bags.

"All this has been prepared according to the commander's instructions?" he 
asked the food bearer in Basic.

The being nodded. The fur on his head was pure white, and stood straight 
up, as if raised by fright. "Washed, decontaminated, separated into flesh, 
grains, and fruits, Fearsome One."

The honorific was usually reserved for commanders, but S'yito didn't 
bother to correct the food bearer. "Blessed, as well?" "I arrive directly
from the temple."

S'yito glanced down the unsurfaced track that vanished into the high 
jungle. To provide the garrison with a place of worship, the priests 
had placed a statue of Yun-Yammka, the Slayer, in a grashal grown s
pecifically for use as a temple. Close to the temple stood the commander's 
grashal, and barracks grashals for the lesser officers. S'yito lowered his 
flat-nosed face to an open basket. "Fish?" "Of a kind, Fearsome One."

The subaltern gestured to a cluster of hairy and hard-shelled spheres. 

"And these?"

"A fruit that grows in the crowns of the largest trees. Rich flesh, 
with a kind of milk inside." 

"Open one."

The food bearer inserted a hooked finger deep into the seam of the
fruit and pried it open. S'yito gouged out a fingerful of the pinkish 
flesh and brought it to his broad mouth.

"Too good for them," he announced, as the flesh dissolved on his 
thorn-pierced tongue. "But necessary, I suppose."

Few of the guards accepted that the prisoners couldn't tolerate 
Yuuzhan Vong food. They suspected that the alleged intolerance was 
a ploy-part of an ongoing contest of wills between the captives and 
their captors.

The food bearer placed his hands, palms raised, just below his heart, 
in a position of prayer. "Yun-Yuuzhan is merciful, Fearsome One. He 
provides even for the enemies of the true faith."

S'yito glowered at him. "What do you know of Yun-Yuuzhan?" 

"I have embraced the truth. It took the coming of the Yuuzhan Vong 
to open my eyes to the existence of the gods. Through their mercy, 
even your captives will see the truth."

 S'yito shook his head firmly. "The prisoners cannot be converted. For 
them the war is over. But eventually all will kneel before Yun-Yuuzhan." 
He waved a signal to the sentries. "Admit the food bearer."

In the largest of the wooden huts, all of which had been built by 
the prisoners themselves, there was little to do but tend to the 
sick and dying, pass the daylight hours in conversation or games 
of chance, or wait ravenously for the next meal to arrive. Harsh
coughing or the occasional laugh punctuated a grim, broiling silence.
The Yuuzhan Vong hadn't required any of the captives to work in the 
villip paddies or anywhere else in or outside the yorik coral walls,
and thus far only the top-ranking officers had been interrogated.








A diverse lot, most of the prisoners had been taken at Bilbringi, 
but others had arrived from worlds as distant as Yag'Dhul, Antar 4, 
and Ord Mantell. They wore the tattered remains of starfighter flight 
suits and combat uniforms. Their battered and undernourished bodies-whether
hairless, coated, sleek, or fleshy-were laminated in sweat and grime. 
They had Basic in common, and, more important, a deep, abiding hatred 
for the Yuuzhan Vong.

That they hadn't been killed outright meant that they were being saved 
for sacrifice-probably on completion of the the worldforming of Selvaris, 
or in anticipation of an imminent battle with Galactic Alliance forces.

"Chow's here!" a human standing at the entrance said.

A rare cheer went up, and everyone capable got to their feet, forming 
up in an orderly line that spoke to the discipline demon-strated 
ceaselessly by the captives. Eyes wide, mouths salivating at the mere 
thought of nourishment, several of the prisoners hurried out-doors to 
help unload the food wagon and carry everything inside.

A Twi'lek with an amputated lekku studied the short being who had 
delivered the food, while the two of them were hauling sacks and pots 
into the hut.

"You're Ryn, " the Twi'lek said.

"Hope that doesn't mean you won't touch the food," the Ryn said.
 
The Twi'lek's orange eyes shone. "Some of the best food I've ever 
tasted was prepared by Ryn. Years ago I ran with a couple of your
people in the Outer Rim..."

"Ten-shun!" a human voice rang out.

Everyone in earshot snapped to, as a pair of human officers in uniform 
approached the hut. The prisoners had abandoned all notions of rank, but 
if it could be said that anyone was in command, it was these two-Captain 
Judder Page and Major Pash Cracken.

Hailing from important worlds-Page from Corulag, Cracken from Contruum - 
they had much in common. Both were scions of influential families, and 
both had trained at the Imperial Academy before defecting to the Rebel 
Alliance during the Galactic Civil War. Page, the more unremarkable 
looking of the pair, had established the Katarn Commandos; and Cracken - 
still ruggedly handsome and mus-cular in midlife-Cracken's Flight Group. 
Both had managed to become as fluent in Yuuzhan Vong as Subaltern S'yito
was in Basic.

"Make room for the major and the captain at the front of the line," the 
same human who had announced them ordered.

The officers deferred. "We'll eat after the rest of you have had your 
share," Page said for the two of them.

"Please, sirs," several of those on line insisted.

Page and Cracken exchanged resigned looks and nodded. Cracken accepted 
a wooden bowl that had been fashioned by one of the prisoners, and moved 
to the head of the food line, where the Ryn was stirring the gruelish 
contents of a large yorik coral container.

"We appreciate your bringing this," Cracken said. His eyes were pale green, 
and his flame-red hair was shot through with gray, adding a measure of 
distinction to his aristocratic features.

The Ryn smiled slyly. Plunging a ladle deep into the gruel, he bent over 
the pot, encouraging Cracken to do the same in order to get his bowl 
filled. When Cracken's left ear was within whisper dis-tance of the Ryn's 
mouth, the being said,

"Ryn one-one-five, out of Vortex."

Cracken hid his surprise. He had learned about the Ryn syndicate only 
two months earlier, during a briefing on Mon Calamari, which had become 
Galactic Alliance headquarters following the fall of Coruscant. An 
extensive spy network, comprised of not only Ryn but also members of 
other, equally displaced species, the syndicate made use of secret 
space routes and hyperlanes blazed by the Jedi, to provide safe passage 
for individuals and covert intelligence.

"You have something for us?" Cracken asked quietly while the Ryn was 
ladling gruel into the wooden bowl.

The Ryn's forward-facing eyes darted between the container and Cracken's 
lined face. 

"Chew carefully, Major," he said, just loud enough to be heard. "Expect 
the unexpected."

Cracken straightened, whispering the message to Page, who in turn 
whispered it to the Bith behind him in line. Surreptitiously, the 
message was relayed again and again, until it had reached the last 
of the one hundred or so prisoners.

By then Cracken, Page, and some of the others had carried their 
bowls to a crude table, around which they squatted and began to 
finger the gruel carefully into their mouths, glancing at one 
another in understated anticipation.

At the same time, three prisoners moved to the doorway to keep an 
eye out for guards. The Yuuzhan Vong hadn't installed villips or 
other listening devices in the huts, but warriors like S'yito, who 
displayed obvious curiosity about the enemy, had made it a habit to 
barge in without warning, and conduct sweeps and searches.

A Devaronian hunkered down across the table from Page made a gagging 
sound. Faking a cough, he gingerly removed an object from his slash 
of dangerous mouth, and glanced at it in secret. Everyone stared at 
him in expectation.

"Gristle," he said, lifting beady, disappointed eyes. "At least I 
think that's what it is."

The prisoners went back to eating, the tension mounting as their fingers 
began to scrape the bottoms of their bowls.

Then Cracken bit down on something that made his molars ache. He brought 
his left hand to his mouth, and used his tongue to push the object into 
his cupped hand. The center of attention, he opened his hand briefly, 
recognizing the object at once. Keeping the thing palmed, he set it on 
the table and slid it to his left, where, in the blink of an eye, it 
disappeared under the right hand of Page.

 "Holowafer," the captain said softly, without taking a second 
look. "It'll display only once. We're going to have to be quick about it."

Cracken nodded his chin to the horned Devaronian. 

"Find Clak'dor, Garban, and the rest of that crew, and bring 
them here quickest."

The Devaronian stood up and hurried out the doorway.

Page ran his hand over his bearded face. "We're going to need a place 
to display the data. We can't risk doing it in the open."

Cracken thought for a moment, then turned to the long-bearded Bothan to 
his right.

"Who's the one with the sabacc deck?"

The alien's fur rippled slightly. "That'd be Coruscant."

"Tell him we need him."

The Bothan nodded and made for the doorway. As word spread through the 
hut, the prisoners began to converse loudly, as cover for what was being 
said by those who remained at the table. The Ryn banged his ladle against 
the side of the pot, and several of the prisoners distributed fruits to 
the others by tossing them through the air, as if in a game of catch.

"How are things in the yard?" Page asked the lookouts at the doorway.

"Coruscant's coming, sir. Also Clak'dor's bunch."

"The guards?"

"No one's paying any mind."

Coruscant, a tall, blond-haired human, entered grinning and fanning a 
deck of sabacc cards he'd fashioned from squares of leather. "Did I 
hear right that someone's interested in a game?"

Page motioned for everyone to form a circle in the center of the hut,
and to raise the noise level. The guards had grown accustomed to the 
boisterous activity that would sometimes erupt during card games, and 
Page was determined to provide a dose of the real thing. A dozen prisoners 
broke out in song. The rest conversed jocularly, giving odds and making bets.

The human gambler, three Bith, and a Jenet were passed through the 
falsely jubilant crowd to the center of the circle, where Page and 
Cracken were waiting with the holowafer.

Coruscant began to dole out cards.

Highly evolved humanoids, Bith were deep thinkers and skillful artists 
with an ability to store and sift through immense amounts of data. The 
Jenet, in contrast, was short and rodentlike, but possessed of an eidetic 
memory.

When Page was satisfied that the inner circle was effectively sealed 
off, he crouched down, as if to join in the game. "We'll get only one 
chance at this. You sure you can do it?"

The Jenet's muzzle twitched in amusement, and he fixed his red eyes on 
Page.

"That's why you chose us, isn't it?"

Page nodded.

"Then let's get to it."

Deftly, Page set the small wafer on the plank floor and activated it 
with the pressure of his right forefinger. An inverted cone of blue 
light projected upward, within which flared a complex mathematical 
equation Page couldn't begin to comprehend, much less solve or memorize. 
As quickly as the numbers and symbols appeared, they disappeared.

Then the wafer itself issued a sibilant sound, and liquefied.

He had his mouth open to ask the Bith and the Jenet if they had been 
successful in committing the equation to memory, when S'yito and three 
Yuuzhan Vong guards stormed into the hut and shouldered their way to 
the center of the circle, their coufee daggers unsheathed and their 
serpentine amphistaffs on high alert, ready to strike or spit venom 
as needed.

"Cease your activities at once," the subaltern bellowed.

The crowd fanned out slowly and began to quiet down. Coruscant and 
the ostensible card players moved warily out of striking range of the 
amphistaffs.

"What's the problem, Subaltern?" Page asked in Yuuzhan Vong.

"Since when you do engage in games of chance at nourishment hour?"

"We're wagering for second helpings."

S'yito glared at him. 

"You trifle with me, human."

Page shrugged elaborately. 

"It's my job, S'yito."

The subaltern took a menacing step forward. "Put an end to your game-and 
your singing... or we'll remove the parts of you that are responsible for it."

The four Yuuzhan Vong turned and marched from the hut.
 





"That guy has absolutely no sense of humor," Coruscant said when he felt 
he could.

Everyone in the vicinity of Page and Cracken looked to the two officers.

"The data has to reach Alliance command," Cracken said.

Page nodded in agreement. 

"When do we send them out?"

Cracken compressed his lips. 

"Prayer hour."




 Shortly before its public immolation in a fire pit located just 
outside the prison gates, a silver protocol droid that had belonged 
briefly to Major Cracken had put the odds of escaping from Selvaris 
at roughly a million to one. But the droid hadn't known about the Ryn 
syndicate, or about what the clandestine group had set in motion on the 
planet, even before the first chunks of yorik coral had been sown.

Cracken, Page, and the others knew something else, as well: that hope 
flourished in the darkest of places, and that while the Yuuzhan Vong 
could imprison or kill them, there wasn't a soldier in the camp who 
wouldn't have risked his or her life to see even one of their number 
survive to fight another day.

First sunrise was an hour away, and Cracken, Page, the three Bith, and 
the Jenet were crouched at the entrance to a tunnel the prisoners had 
excavated with hands, claws, and whatever tools they had been able to 
fabricate or steal during the excavation of the fire pit, in which several
dozen droids had been ritually slagged by the camp's resident priests.

Every prisoner in the hut was awake, and many hadn't slept a wink all 
night. They watched silently from the flattened fronds and grasses that 
were their beds, wishing they could voice a personal good luck to
the four who were about to embark on what seemed a hopeless enterprise. 
Lookouts had been posted at the doorway. The light was gauzy, and the 
air was blessedly cool. Outside the hut, the chitterings and stridulations 
of jungle life were reaching a fevered crescendo.

"You want to go over any of it?" Cracken asked in a whisper.

"No, sir," the four answered in unison.

Cracken nodded soberly.

"Then may the Force be with all of you," Page said for everyone in the hut.

The cramped entrance to the tunnel was concealed by Cracken's own bed of 
insect-ridden palm fronds. Below a removable grate, the hand-hewn shaft 
fell into utter darkness. The secret passageway had been started by the 
first captives to be imprisoned on Selvaris, and had been enlarged and 
lengthened over the long months by successive groups of new arrivals. 
Progress had often been measured in centime-ters, as when the diggers 
had struck a mass of yorik coral that had taken root in the sandy soil. 
But now the tunnel extended beneath the prison wall and the senalak 
grasses beyond, to just inside the distant tree line.

His facial fur blackened with charcoal, the gaunt Jenet was the first to 
worm his way into the hole. When the three Bith had bellied in behind him, 
the entrance was closed and covered over.

What little light there had been disappeared.

The nominal leader of the would-be escapees, the Jenet had been captured 
on Bilbringi, during a raid on an enemy installation. His fellow captives 
knew him as Thorsh, although on his homeworld of Garban a list of his 
accomplishments and transgressions would have been affixed to the name. 
Reconnaissance was his specialty, so he was no stranger to darkness or 
tight spots, having infiltrated many a Yuuzhan Vong warren and grashal 
on Duro, Gyndine, and other worlds. The Selvaris tunnel felt comfortably 
familiar. The Bith had it harder because of their size, but they were a 
well-coordinated species, with memory and olfactory abilities that rivaled 
Thorsh's own.

Indeterminate minutes of muted crawling brought them to the first of a 
series of confined right-angle turns, where the tunnelers had been forced 
to detour around an amorphous mass of yorik coral. To Thorsh the detour 
meant that the team was directly under the prison all itself. Now it was 
just a matter of negotiating the long stretch beneath the senalaks the 
Yuuzhan Vong had cultivated outside the perimeter.

Thorsh knew better than to relax, but his continued vigilance hardly mattered.

In the space of a local week, senalak roots had penetrated the roof of the 
poorly braced tunnel, and the convoluted roots were every bit as barbed as 
The strands released by the knee-high stalks themselves.

For meters at a stretch there was simply no avoiding them.

The barbs shredded the thin garments the four had been wearing when 
captured, and left deep, bleeding furrows in the flesh of their backs.

Thorsh muttered a curse at each encounter, but the Bith-ever careful 
about displaying emotion-endured the pain in silence.

The brutal crawl ended where the tunnel sloped upward at the far edge of 
the senalak field. Shortly the team emerged inside the but-tressed base 
of an enormous hardwood. The thick-trunked tree bore a striking resemblance 
to the gnarltrees native to Dagobah, but was in fact a different species 
altogether. One hundred meters away, the prison wall glowed softly green 
with bioluminescence. Two sleepy guards occupied the closest watchtower, 
their amphistaffs stiff as spears, and a third could be glimpsed in the 
adjacent tower. Those warriors who weren't elsewhere within the walls of 
the compound were attending prayer services at the temple.

The bold incantations of the latter wafted through the jungle, counterpoint 
to the riotous calls of birds and insects. Strands of mist meandered through 
the treetops like apparitions.

One of the Bith elbowed his way alongside Thorsh, and aimed his slender 
forefinger to the west. 

"There."

Thorsh sniffed repeatedly and nodded. "There."

Deeper into the trees, ankle-high mud gave way to swamp, and it wasn't 
long before the four were wading waist-deep through black water. They 
made scarcely half a kilometer before an alarm sounded. Neither the 
howling of a siren nor the raucous bleating of a starship's klaxon, 
the alarm took the form of a prolonged and intensifying drone that 
arrived from all directions.

 swoop, but his doubts disappeared when the coralskipper grazed the 
^^^^?????????????????????????????
treetops, searching for signs of the escapees.

Thorsh waited for the wedge-shaped assault craft to pass before 
saying, "We're better off splitting up. We'll rendezvous at the rally 
point."

"Last one there..." his passenger started to say, only to let his 
words trail off.

The Bith pilot revved the swoop's engine. "Let's hope for a tie."








"The game is effectively over," C-3PO told Han Solo. "I suggest that you
surrender the rest of your players now, rather than risk fur-ther 
humiliation."

"Surrender?" Han jerked his thumb at the golden protocol droid. "Who's 
he think he's talking to?"

Leia Organa Solo raised her brown eyes from the game table to glance 
at her husband. "I have to admit, things do look pretty bad."

C-3PO agreed. "I'm afraid you can't win, Captain Solo."

Han scratched his head absently, and continued to study the playing 
field. "That's not the first time someone's told me that."

The three of them were seated at the circular dejarik table in the 
forward hold of Millennium Falcon. The table was in fact a hologram 
projector, with a checkered surface etched in concentric circles of 
green and gold. At the moment it was displaying six holomonster pieces, 
some legendary, some modeled after actual creatures, with names that 
sounded more like sneezes than words.

Squatting on the grated portion of the compartment deck sat Cakhmaim 
and Meewalh, Leia's Noghri protectors. Agile bipeds with hairless gray 
skin and pronounced cranial ridges, they were unnerv-ingly predatory 
in appearance, but their loyalty to Leia knew no bounds. In the long 
war against the Yuuzhan Vong, several Noghri had already given their 
lives to safeguard the woman they still some-times referred to as "Lady Vader."

"Don't tell me that you are actually contemplating a move?" C-3PO said.

Han looked at him askance. "What do I look like I'm doing- stargazing?"

 "But, Captain Solo..."

"Quit rushing me, I tell you."

"Really, Threepio," Leia intervened in false sincerity. "You have to give 
him time to think."

"But Princess Leia, the game timer is nearing the end of its cycle."

Leia shrugged. "You know how he is."

"Yes, Princess, I know how he is."

Han glared at the two of them. "What is this, some kind of tag-team match?"

C-3PO started. "Certainly not. I'm merely..."

"Remember," Han said, thrusting his finger out, "it's not over till
the Hutt squeals."

C-3PO looked to Leia for explanation. "The Hutt squeals?"

Han cupped his scarred chin in his hand and took in the board. Early on 
he had lost a broad-shouldered Kintan strider to C-3PO's venomous, 
corrugated k'lor'slug; then a pincer-handed ng'ok to the droid's 
lance-wielding Socorran monnok.

Han's quadrant of the board still showed a hunchbacked, knuckle-dragging, 
green-hided Mantellian savrip, and a bulbous-bodied ghhhk. But his alloy 
opponent had not only a claw-handed, trumpet-snouted grimtassh and a 
four-legged, sharp-toothed houjix, but also two rainbow-skinned 
Alderaanian molators waiting in the wings. Unless Han could do something 
to prevent it, C-3PO was going to send the grimtassh to the board's center 
space and win the game.

Then it hit him.

A sinister laughed escaped his closed lips and his eyes sparkled.

Leia regarded him for a moment. "Uh-oh, Threepio. I don't like the 
sound of that laugh."

Han shot her a look. "Since when?"

"I understand completely, Princess," C-3PO said, on alert. "But, 
really, I don't see that there's anything he can do at this point."

Han's fingers activated a series of control buttons built into the 
rim of the table. With Leia and C-3PO gazing intently at the board, 
the hulking Mantellian savrip sidestepped to the left, took hold of 
the ghhhk-Han's other remaining piece-and held the suddenly screeching 
creature high overhead.

C-3PO might have blinked if he had eyes in place of photoreceptors.

"But... but you've attacked your own piece." He turned to Han. "Captain 
Solo, if this is some kind of trick to distract me, or some attempt to 
instill compassion..."

"Save your compassion for someone who needs it," Han cut in. "Like 
it or not, that's my move."

C-3PO watched the squealing, seemingly betrayed ghhhk struggle in the 
savrip's viselike grip. "Most infuriating creature," he said. "Still, 
a victory is a victory."

The droid lowered his hands to the control panel and commanded the 
grimtassh to advance to the center. But no sooner did the snouted 
creature take a step than Han's savrip tightened his hold on the ghhhk,
squeezing the hapless thing so hard that holodrops of the ghhhk's 
much-prized skin oil began to drip onto the playing field, creating 
a virtual puddle. Tasked, C-3PO's grimtassh continued to move forward, 
only to slip on the ghhhk's skin oil and fall hard onto its back, 
cracking its triangular-shaped head on the checkered board and deresolving.

"Ha!" Han said, clapping his hands once, then rubbing them together in 
anticipation. "Now who's losing?"

"Oh, Threepio," Leia said sympathetically, hiding a smile behind her hand.

C-3PO's photoreceptors were riveted to the board, but disbelief was 
evident in his response. "What? What? Is that permitted?" He looked up 
from the table. "Princess Leia, that move can't possibly be legal!"

Han leaned forward, his eyebrows beetled. "Show me where the rules 
say different."

C-3PO stammered. "Bending the rules is one thing, but this... this is a 
flagrant violation not only of the rules, but also of proper game 
etiquette! At the very least, you have performed a suspect move, and 
very likely a rogue one!"

"Good choice of words, Threepio," Leia said.

Han leaned away from the table, interlocking his hands behind his head
and whistling a taunting melody.

 "I suggest we allow Princess Leia to be the final judge," C-3PO said.

Han made a sour face. "Ah, you're just a sore loser."

"A sore loser? Why, I never...

"Admit it and I'll go easy on you for the rest of the game." C-3PO 
summoned as much indignation as his protocol program-ming allowed. 
"You have my assurance that I've no need to emerge victorious from 
each engagement. Whereas you, on the other hand..." 

Han laughed sharply, startling the droid to silence. "Threepio, if 
I've told you once I've told you a thousand times: you always have to 
be ready for surprises."

"Pompous man," C-3PO said. 

When Cakhmaim and Meewalh added their gravelly comments and guttural 
laughs to the merriment, he threw up his hands in a gesture of defeat. 

"Oh, what's the use!"

Abruptly, a warning tone sounded from the engineering station across 
the hold. The Noghri shot to their feet, but Leia propelled her-self 
from the dejarik table's arc of padded bench and beat both of them to 
the communications display.

Han watched expectantly from the game board. "A surprise?" he asked 
when Leia turned from the displays. 

She shook her head. "The signal we've been waiting for." 

Han rushed from the table and followed Leia into the starboard ring 
corridor, where he nearly tripped over a pair of knee-high boots he 
had left on the step. Early in his career as a smuggler, the Falcon 
had been the only home he knew, and now-this past year especially... it 
had become the only home Han and Leia knew. Whether in their living 
quarters or in the forward hold, personal items were strewn about, 
waiting to be picked up and put away. The mess was just that, in 
desperate need of cleaning-maybe even fumigating. And indeed the
dented and bruised exterior of the old freighter, with its mishmash 
of primers   and  fuse-welded  borrowed  parts,  was   beginning  to 
resemble that of a house, well loved and lived in but too long neglected.

Han slid to a halt just short of the connector that accessed the 
cockpit, and swung to the Noghri.

"Cakhmaim, get to the dorsal gun turret. And this time remember to 
lead your targets-even though I know it goes against your grain. 
Meewalh, I'm going to need you here to help our packages get safely aboard."

In the outrigger cockpit, with its claustrophobic surround of blinking 
instruments, Leia was already cinched into the copilot's chair, both 
hands busy activating the Falcon's start-up systems and console displays. 
Han slid into the pilot's seat, strapping in with one hand and throwing 
overhead toggles with the other.

"Can we locate them yet?"

"They're on the move," Leia said. "But I've got a fix on them."

Han leaned over to study one of the display screens. "Lock their 
coordinates into the tracking computer, and let's get the topographic 
sensors on-line."

Leia swiveled to the comm board, her hands moving rapidly over the 
controls. "Take her up," she said a moment later.

Awakened from what amounted to a nap, the YT-1300's engines powered up.
Han clamped his hands on the control yoke and lifted the ship out of 
its hiding place, an impact crater on the dark side of Selvaris's puny 
moon. He fed power to the sublight drives and steered a course around 
the misshapen orb. Green, blue, and white Selvaris filled the wraparound 
viewport.

Han watched Leia out of the corner of his eye. "Hope you remembered to 
look both ways."

Leia shut her eyes briefly. "We're safe."

Han smiled to himself. The Yuuzhan Vong couldn't be sensed through the 
Force, but Leia had never had any problem sensing trouble.

"I just don't want to be accused of making any more illegal moves."

She looked at him. "Only daring ones."

Han continued to watch her secretly. Through all the rough-and-tumble 
years, her face had not lost its noble beauty. Her skin was as flawless 
now as it had been when Han had first set eyes on her, in a detention 
cell, of all places. Her long hair retained its sheen; her eyes, their 
deep, inviting warmth.

 and Leia had experienced some troubled months following Chewbacca's 
^????????????????????
death. But she had waited him out; and wherever they traveled now, no 
matter how much danger they put themselves in- mostly at Han's 
instigation-they were completely at home with each other. To Han, 
each and every action felt right. He had no yearning to be anywhere 
but where he was-with his beloved partner.

It was a sappy thought, he told himself. But undeniably true. As if 
reading his thoughts, Leia turned slightly in his direction, lifting 
her chin a bit to show him a dubious look. "You're in a good mood for
someone setting out on a dangerous rescue mission."

Han made light of the moment. "Beating Threepio at dejarik has made a 
new man of me."

Leia tilted her head. "Not too new, I hope." She placed one hand atop
his, on the yoke, and with the other traced the raised scar on his chin. 

"It's taken me thirty years to get used to the old you."

"Me, too," he said, without humor.

Exhaust ports ablaze, the Falcon rolled through a sweeping turn and 
raced for Selvaris's binary brightened transitor.
 






Bent low over the swoopbike's high handgrips, Thorsh threaded the 
rocketing vessel through concentrations of sap-lings and opportunistic
Yuuzhan Vong plants, under looping vines, and over the thick trunks of 
toppled trees. He hugged the fern-covered ground when and where he 
could, as much for safety's sake as to spare his spindly passenger 
any further torture from thorned vines, sharp twigs, and the easily 
disturbed hives of barbflies and other bloodsuckers.

But Thorsh's best efforts weren't enough.

"When do we get to switch places?" the Bith asked over the howl of the 
repulsorlift.

Thorsh knew that the question had been asked in jest, and so replied in 
kind. "Hands at your sides and no standing on the seat!"

Taking into account only the difference in heights, the Bith should have 
been the one in the saddle, with Thorsh scrunched down behind him, fingers
clasped on the underside of the long seat. But Thorsh was the more 
experienced pilot, having flown swoops on sev-eral reconnaissance 
missions where speeders hadn't been available. His large wedge-shaped 
feet weren't well suited to the footpegs, and he had to extend his arms 
fully to grasp the handgrip controls, but his keen eyes more than made 
up for those shortcomings, even when streaming with tears, as they were now.

 Thorsh kept to the thick of the large island, where the branches of
the tallest trees intertwined overhead and provided cover. The swoop
was still running smoothly, except when he leaned it hard to the right,
which for some reason caused the repulsorlift to sputter and strain. He
could hear the other swoop-to the east and somewhat behind him-
weaving a path through equally dense growth. The four escapees
would have made better progress out over the estuary, but without
the tree cover they would be easy prey for coralskippers. One skip had
already completed two return passes, paying out plasma missiles at
random, and hoping for a lucky strike.

The morning air was thick with the smell of burning foliage. Flat out, 
the swoop tore from the underbrush into a treeless ex-panse of salt 
flats, pink and blinding white, the nighttime sleeping grounds for 
flocks of Selvaris's long-legged wading birds. Determined to reach 
cover before the coralskipper showed up again, Thorsh gave the accelerator 
a hard twist and banked the swoop for the nearest stand of trees.

Thorsh had just reentered the jungle when a clamor began to build in 
the canopy. His first thought was that another coralskipper had joined 
the pursuit. But there was a different quality to the sound-an eagerness 
absent in the deadly sibilance of a coralskipper.

Thorsh felt his rider sit up straighter on the seat, in defiance of the
hazards posed by overhanging branches.

"Is that what I think it is?" the humanoid asked. "We'll know soon 
enough,"

Thorsh yelled back. Again he twisted the accelerator. Wind screamed 
over the swoop's inadequate fairing, forcing another flood of tears 
from his eyes. But his actions were in vain. The objects responsible 
for the escalating tumult passed directly overhead, silencing the racket 
of the swoop, then outracing it.

"Lav peq!" the Bith screamed.

Thorsh knew the term; it was the Yuuzhan Vong name for netting beetles, 
voracious and meticulous versions of the winged sentinels that had roused 
the prison guards. Lav peq were capable of creating webs between trees, 
bushes, or just about any type of barked foliage. Typi-cally the beetles 
arrived in successive fronts, the first fashioning anchor lines, and those 
that followed feeding on bark and other organics to replenish the fibers 
needed to complete the filigree. A well-constructed web could ensnare or 
at least slow down a human-sized being. The strands themselves were 
tenaciously sticky, though not as adhesive as the enemy's blorash jelly.

The Bith's hunch was verified as the swoop raced through the vanguard wave 
of the swarm. Within seconds the downsloping front cowling was spattered 
with smashed beetle corpses. Thorsh plucked several from his fur-covered 
forehead and threw them aside. Just ahead, thousands of lav peq were 
plummeting into the jungle, tearing through the leafy canopy like 
hailstones. Thorsh ground his teeth and lowered his head. As strong as 
the strands were, they were no match for a swoop in the right hands.

Fifty meters away the first web was already taking shape. Thorsh squinted 
in misgiving. More tightly woven than any he had seen on other worlds, 
the web actually obscured the trees. It took only a moment to realize 
that Selvaris's species of netting beetle was special. While half the 
swarm was flying horizontally at various levels, the other half was 
flying in vertical rows. The result was a warp-and-weft weave-a veritable 
curtain that, for all Thorsh knew, could snare the swoop as easily as a 
spiderweb might a nightfly.

Extending his legs behind him, he flattened himself over the surging 
engine. With a distressed cry, the Bith followed suit, pressing himself 
to Thorsh's back.

Thorsh cranked the accelerator for all it was worth, aiming for what he 
thought might be an area of relatively few trees. The swoop ripped 
through the webs at better than two hundred kilometers per hour, each 
successive curtain parting with loud cleaving sounds that sometimes 
resembled screams. Rear-guard beetles struck the cowling with the force
of malleable bullets, and the Bith yelped in pain time and again. The 
swoop wobbled and the repulsorlift began to howl in protest. Thorsh 
fought to hold on to the handgrips as they were yanked from side to 
side by the viscous strands. He risked an ascent, only to learn the 
hard way that the situation was even more perilous in the upper reaches 
of the trees, where the branches fanned out and the leaves were home 
to clouds of insatiable needle fliers.

Refusing to give a centimeter, he demanded every last bit of
power from the struggling machine. Then, all at once, the swoop tore
through the final web. Sticky strands cooked on the superheated
engine, sending out an acrid smell. Thorsh coughed strands from his 
throat and pawed others away from his stinging eyes.

He brought the swoop to a halt just long enough to clear the exhaust
ports and fan housing. His swearing passenger might have been wearing a 
long white wig. Thorsh had his right hand back on the accelerator when 
a pained shriek erupted from the jungle, punctuating the cacophony of 
birdcalls. He heard a familiar roar, and not a moment later the second 
swoop bobbed into view, bearing only the pilot.

"The nets got him!" the Bith pilot shouted over the irregular throb
of a choked engine. He twisted the accelerator to keep the swoop 
idling. "I'm going back for him!"

Thorsh spit web from his mouth and scowled. "Don't be a fool."

"He's alive..."

"Better that you are," Thorsh interrupted. He jerked his bearded chin
to the west. "The estuary. Get going!"

Thorsh spurred the swoop through a quick circle and darted off into the 
trees, the Bith hanging on to what was left of the Jenet's flight jacket.
Punching through the dense jungle that grew along the shore of the island, 
they found themselves back in the blinding light of Selvaris's double 
suns. Coaxing more speed from the rapidly failing engine, pilot and 
passenger leaned the swoop through a sweeping turn that carried them 
out over brackish water, inky with organics leached from the trees. They 
soared at top speed a few meters above the calm surface, racing past 
narrow, meandering channels of pellucid fresh water, bubbled up from 
the planet's underground and teeming with brilliantly colored fish.

From the far shore came the urgent woofing and snarling of
bissop hounds, galloping through swamps and across berms of scalpel
grass. The harsh barks were accompanied by the war cries of Yuuzhan
Vong chase teams, running behind the pack. Thorsh banked just in
time to avoid a horde of thud and razor bugs that whirled out of the
trees, passing within centimeters of the swoop and tearing into the
opposite shoreline.
 
Drawn by the commotion, schools of sharp-toothed predators, showing 
multifinned backs and serrated tails, leapt from the water to gorge 
on the airborne weapon bugs. Wide-winged raptors with huge wingspans 
left the fungus-filled cavities of dying trees to glide down and grab 
whatever bugs the aquatic behemoths missed.

Thorsh pulled at the handgrips and sent the swoop into a steep climb. 
The saline water grew more agitated beneath them as the mouth of the 
estuary came into view, a line of white where curling waves broke 
against the marshy shore. Hundreds of white-cliffed islets, straight
as towers and draped with vegetation, rose from out of the aquamarine 
ocean. On the horizon a volcano mounded from the water, great clouds 
of smoke billowing from its crater and bleeding a thick river of lava 
that turned part of the sea to steam.

Thorsh scanned the otherwise clear sky for signs of the coral-skipper. A
kilometer away to the east, the other swoop was paralleling him. Gaining 
altitude, the two machines sped out over the breaking waves, making for 
the narrow channel that separated the islets closest to shore.

"Heads up!" the Bith said into Thorsh's right ear. His long-fingered 
hand shot out, indicating an object in the western sky.

Thorsh tracked it and nodded, muttering a curse.

The Yuuzhan Vong called it a tsik vai. Reminiscent of a seabird, it 
was an atmospheric search craft, its neck sac inflated and bright red 
as a signal to other craft in the area. Powered by a gravity-sensitive 
dovin basal, the monstrosity had a transparent blister cockpit, flexible
wings, and gill analogs that made it whine in flight.

Thorsh threw his weight against the handgrips and leaned hard against 
the steering auxiliaries, slewing the swoop toward the closest island,
intent on keeping as close to the white cliffs as he dared.

The tsik vai was not unnerved. It dived for its small prey, whining and 
releasing several thin, cablelike grasping tendrils.

Thorsh dropped back to the turbulent surface, swerved, and cut across 
the channel for the neighboring islet, running full out, a meter above 
the waves. The search craft was following him down, prepared to make 
another grab, when something nailed it from behind.

Thorsh and the Bith watched in bafflement as the tsik vai veered
off course, one wing blown off, and spiraled out of control. It struck 
the sea with a loud splash, skipped twice on the waves, then crashed 
nose-first and began to sink. Out of the eastern sky, dazzled by sunlight,
something large and dull-black was approaching at supersonic speed.

Another Yuuzhan Vong vessel, Thorsh decided, whose pilot had just shot 
down one of his own craft to get to the swoop.

Twitching the braking thrusters, he spun the swoop around in midair, 
hoping to race away from the mystery vessel before it could draw a 
bead on him. Even so, he waited for the fireballs to start fall-ing.
When they didn't, he glanced over his shoulder in time to see a 
twin-mandibled old freighter come streaking out of the cloudless 
sky. Thorsh felt crackling heat wash over him as the ship made a low, 
ear-splitting, teeth-rattling pass, its dorsal laser cannon loosing 
green hyphens of energy at a trio of pursuing coralskippers.

The freighter signaled the swoops with a rocking motion, then banked 
into a long sweeping turn to the south.

"Looks like our ride's here!" Thorsh said.

"And in worse trouble than we are!"

A flurry of well-placed bursts from the freighter's top gunner caught 
the lead coralskipper head-on and sent it boiling into the sea.

The other two enemy craft continued to pummel the freighter with plasma 
missiles. Perhaps frustrated by the ship's seemingly im-penetrable 
shields, one of the skip pilots took aim on the Bith-piloted swoop. 
Caught in midair by a single lava-hot projectile, the machine disappeared 
without a trace.

Thorsh clenched his jaws and steered the swoop for deeper water. The 
swoop was grazing the white crests of five-meter waves when something 
enormous rose from beneath the heaving surface.









"Cakhmaim's getting to be a pretty good shot," Han said over the sound 
of the reciprocating quad laser cannon. "Remind me to up his pay-or at 
least promote him."

Leia glanced at him from the copilot's chair. "From bodyguard to what-butler?"

Han pictured the Noghri in formal attire, setting meals in front of 
Han and Leia in the FaIcon's forward cabin. His upper lip curled in
delight, and he laughed shortly. 

"Maybe we should see how he does with the rest of these skips."

The YT-1300 was just coming out of her long turn, with Selvaris's double 
suns off to starboard and an active volcano dominating the for-ward view.
Below, green-capped, sheer-sided islands reached up into the planet's deep
blue sky, and the aquamarine sea seemed to go on forever. Two coralskippers
 were still glued to the Falcon's tail, chop-ping at it and holding position 
through all the insane turns and eva-sions, but so far the deflector 
shields were holding.

His large hands gripped on the control yoke, Han glanced at the console's 
locator display, where only one bezel was pulsing.

"Where'd the other swoop go?"

"We lost it," Leia said.

Han leaned toward the viewport to survey the undulating sea. "How could 
we lose..."

"No, I mean it's gone. One of the coralskippers took it out."

Han's eyes blazed. "Why, that-which one of'em?"

Before Leia could answer, two plasma missiles streaked past the 
cockpit, bright as meteors and barely missing the starboard mandible.

"Does it matter?"

Han shook his head. "Where's the other swoop?"

Leia studied the locator display, then called up a map from the terrain 
sensor, which showed everything from the mouth of the estuary clear to 
the volcano. Her left forefinger tapped the screen. "Far side of that island."

"Any skips after it?"

A loud explosion buffeted the Falcon from behind.

"We seem to be the popular target," Leia said. "Just the way you like it."

Han narrowed his eyes. "You bet I do."

Determined to lure their pair of pursuers away from the swoop, he threw 
the freighter into a sudden ascent. When they had climbed halfway to the 
stars, he dropped the ship into a stomach-churning corkscrew. Pulling 
out sharply, he twisted the ship through a looping rollover, emerging 
from the combo headed in the opposite direction, with the two 
coralskippers in front of him.

He grinned at Leia. "Now who's in charge?"

She blew out her breath. "Was there ever any doubt?"

Han focused his attention on the two enemy craft. Over the long Yuuzhan 
Vong pilots faced with impossible odds had surren-dered some of the 
suicidal resolve they had displayed during the early days of the war. 
Maybe word had come down from Supreme Overlord Shimrra or someone that 
discretion really was the better part of valor. Whatever the case, the 
pilots of the two skips Han was stalkling appar-ently saw some advantage 
to fleeing rather than reengaging the ship their plasma missiles had 
failed to bring down. But Han wasn't con-tent to send them home with 
their tails tucked between their legs- especially not after they had
killed an unarmed swoop pilot he had come halfway across the galaxy to rescue.

"Cakhmaim, listen up," he said into his headset mike. "I'll fire the belly
gun from here. We'll put 'em in the Money Lane and be done with them."

Money Lane was Han's term for the area where the quad lasers' firing 
fields overlapped. In emergency situations, both cannons could be fired 
from the cockpit, but the present situation didn't call for that. What's 
more, Han wanted to give Cakhmaim the chance to hone his firing technique.
All Han and Leia had to do was help line up the shots.

From the way the coralskippers reacted to the Falcon's sudden turnabout,
 Han could almost believe that the enemy pilots had been eavesdropping 
on his communication with the Noghri. The first skip-the more battered 
of the pair, showing charred blotches and deep pockmarks-poured on all 
speed, separating from his wingmate at a sharp angle. Smaller and 
faster, and seemingly helmed by a better pilot, the second skip shed
velocity in an attempt to trick the Falcon into coming across his vector.

That was the skip that had taken out the swoop, Han decided, sentencing 
the pilot to be the first to feel the Falcon's wrath.

Leia guessed as much, and immediately plotted an intercept course.

Exposed, the skip pilot went evasive, moving into the gunsights and 
out again, but with mounting panic as the Falcon settled calmly
 into kill position. The dorsal laser cannon was programmed to fire 
three-beam bursts that, all these years later, still had the ability 
to outwit the dovin basals of the older, perhaps more dim-witted 
coral-skippers. While the enemy craft was quick to deploy a gravitic 
anomaly that engulfed the first and second beams, the third got through, 
blowing a huge chunk of yorik coral from the vessel's fantail. Han 
tweaked the yoke to place the skip in the Money Lane, and his left 
hand tightened on the trigger of the belly gun's remote firing 
mechanism. Sustained bursts from the twin cannons whittled the skip 
to half its size; then it blew, throwing pieces of coral wreckage in 
every direction.

"That's for the swoop pilot," Han said soberly. He turned his attention 
to the second skip, which, desperate to avoid a similar fate, was 
jinking and juking all over the sky.

Zipping through the showering remains of the first kill, the Falcon 
quickened up and pounced on the wildly maneuvering skip from above. 
The targeting reticle went red, and a target-lock tone filled the 
cockpit. Again the quad lasers rallied, catching the vessel with 
burst after burst until it disappeared in a nimbus of coral dust 
and white-hot gas.

Han and Leia hooted. "Nice shooting, Cakhmaim!" he said into the headset.
"Score two more for the good guys."

Leia watched him for a moment. "Happy now?"

Instead of replying, Han pushed the yoke away from him, drop-ping the
Falcon to within meters of the surging waves. 

"Where's the swoop?" he asked finally.

Leia was ready with the answer. "Come around sixty degrees, and it 
should be right in front of us."

Han adjusted course, and the swoop came into view, streaking over 
the surface, bearing two seriously dissimilar riders. In pursuit,
and just visible beneath the surface, moved an enormous olive-drab 
triangle, trailing what appeared to be a lengthy tail.

Han's jaw dropped.

"What is that thing?" Leia said.

"Threepio, get in here!" Han yelled, without taking his eyes from 
the creature. staggered into the cockpit, clamping his hands on the
high-backed navigator's chair to keep from being thrown off balance, 
as had too often happened.

Han raised his right hand to the viewport and pointed. 

"What is that?" he asked, enunciating every word.

"Oh my," the droid began. "I believe that what we're looking at a
kind of boat creature. The Yuuzhan Vong term for it is vangaak, which 
derives from the verb 'to submerge.' Although in this case the verb 
has been modified to suggest...

"Skip the language lesson and just tell me how to kill it!"

"Well, I would suggest targeting the flat dome, clearly visible on 
its dorsal surface."

"A head shot."

"Precisely. A head shot."

"Han," Leia interrupted. "Four more coralskippers headed our way."

Han manipulated levers on the console, and the Falcon acceler-ated.

"We gotta work fast. Threepio, tell Meewalh to activate the manual 
release for the landing ramp. I'll be there in a flash."

Leia watched him undo the clasps of the crash webbing. "I take it 
you're not planning to land."

He kissed her on the cheek as he stood up. "Not if I can help it."








The swoop fought to maintain an altitude of eight meters, but that 
was enough to keep it from the snapping jaws of the Yuuzhan Vong 
vangaak that had almost snagged it on surfacing.

Thorsh might have opted to head inland if the Yuuzhan Vong search 
parties and their snarling beasts hadn't reached the marshy shore. 
Worse, four specks in the northern sky were almost certainly 
coralskippers, soaring in to reinforce the pair the YT-1300 was 
chasing. Instead, the Jenet had the swoop aimed for deeper water, 
out toward the volcano, where the waves mounded to a height of ten meters.

Thorsh and his rider could feel the sting of the saline spray on their
scratched and bruised faces and hands. Behind them, the van-gaak was 
rapidly closing the gap, but if it had weapons other than torpedo 
analogs it wasn't bringing them to bear. An unsettling vociferation 
from the Bith broke Thorsh's concentration.

"The vangaak's gone! It submerged!"

Thorsh didn't know whether to worry or celebrate. The vangaak put a 
quick end to his indecision. Breaching the surface in front of the 
swoop, the dull olive triangle spiked straight up out of the waves, 
venting seawater from blowholes on its dorsal side, and opening its 
tooth-filled mouth.

Thorsh demanded all he could from the swoop, climbing at maximum 
boost, but there was no escaping the reach of the creature.

He heard a surprised scream, then felt his flight jacket rip away.
Lightened, the swoop ascended at greater speed, only to stall. Thorsh 
threw a distraught glance over his shoulder. The Bith was pinned 
between the vangaak's teeth, mouth wide in a silent scream, black 
eyes dull, Thorsh's jacket still clutched in his dexterous hands.
But there wasn't time for despair or anger. The repulsorlift came 
back to life, and Thorsh veered away, even as he was falling.

A roar battered his eardrums, and suddenly the YT-1300 was practically 
alongside him, skimming the waves not fifty meters away. The quartet
of coralskippers began firing from extreme range, their plasma 
projectiles cutting scalding trails through the whitecapped crests.

The old freighter's landing ramp was lowered from the starboard 
docking arm. It was clear what the ship's pilots had in mind. They
were expecting him to come alongside and hurl himself onto the
narrow incline. But Thorsh faltered. He knew the limitations of the 
swoop, and-more important-his own. With the coralskippers approaching
and the vangaak submerged who-knew-where beneath the waves, it was 
unlikely that he could even reach the freighter in time. Additionally-
and despite what were obviously military-grade deflector shields - the 
freighter was being forced to make slight vertical and horizontal 
adjustments, which only decreased Thorsh's chances of clambering aboard.
His grimace disappeared, and in its place came a look of sharp attentiveness.

As sole bearer of the secret intelligence contained in the holowafer 
he had to give it his best try. Tightening his grip, he banked for the
sanctuary of the matte-black ship.






Crouched at the top of the extended ramp, Han peered down at the 
rushing water not twenty meters below. Wind and salt spray howled 
through the opening, blowing his hair every which way and making 
it difficult for him to keep his eyes open.

"Captain Solo," C-3PO said from the ring corridor. "Princess Leia wishes 
you to know that the swoop is approaching. Apparently the pilot feels 
confident that he can complete the transfer to Millennium Falcon without 
suffering too much internal damage or ... perishing in the attempt."

Han threw the droid a wide-eyed look. "Perishing?" 

"Certainly the odds are against him. If he were piloting a speeder 
bike, perhaps. But swoops are notorious for going out of control at 
the slightest provocation!"

Han nodded grimly. A former swoop racer, he knew that C-3PO was 
right. Taking in the situation now, he wondered if even he could make 
the jump.

"I'm going to the bottom!" he shouted. 

C-3PO canted his golden head. "Sir?" 

Han made a downward motion. "The bottom of the ramp." 

"Sir, I have a bad feeling ..."

The wind drowned out the rest of the droid's words. Han crabbed down
to the base of the ramp, where he could hear the Falcon's belly turret 
slicing through the agitated peaks of the waves. A distinctive 
throbbing sound captured his attention. The swoop was beginning to 
angle for the ramp. The pilot-a Jenet, of all species-took his right 
hand off the handgrips just long enough to signal Han with a wave. 
Considering that even that slight movement sent the swoop into a wobble, 
there was simply no way the Jenet would be able to let go 
completely-especially not with the Falcon adding to the turbulence of 
the sea itself.

Han reconsidered, then swung around to C-3PO. 'Threepio, tell Leia 
we're going with Plan B!"

The droid raised his hands to his head in distress. "Captain Solo, just 
the sound of that makes me worry!"

Han raised his forefinger. "Just tell Leia, Threepio. She'll understand."







"Plan B?"

"That was precisely my reaction," C-3PO said in an agitated voice. "But 
does anyone ever listen to my concerns?"

"Don't worry, Threepio, I'm sure Han knows what he's doing."

"That is hardly a comforting thought, Princess."

Leia swung back to the console and allowed her eyes to roam over the 
instruments. Plan B, she mused. What can Han have in mind? She placed 
him squarely in her thoughts, then smiled in sudden revelation. 

Of course . . .

Her hands slid switches while she studied the displays. Then she sat
away from the console in contemplation. Yes, she decided at last, she
supposed it could be done-though it would mean relying largely on the 
attitude and braking thrusters, and hoping that they didn't stall or fail.

She looked over her shoulder at C-3PO, who had evidently followed her
 every move and manipulation.

"Tell Han I've got everything worked out."

"Oh, dear," the droid said, turning and exiting the cockpit. "Oh, dear."







The four coralskippers were closing fast, lobbing plasma missiles into 
the blustery stretch of water between the swoop and the freighter. 
Thorsh dipped his head instinctively as one fireball plunged into the 
waves not ten meters away. The ferocity of the impact geysered 
super-heated water high into the air, and sent the swoop into a 
sustained wobble.

The freighter held to its course regardless, its top gunner keeping
the coralskippers at bay with bursts of laserfire. A human male was 
crouched at the base of the landing ramp, his left arm wrapped around 
one of the telescoping hydraulic struts, and the fingers of his right
hand making a gesture that on some worlds implied craziness on the
part of its recipient. Just now, the twirling gesture meant something
else entirely-though craziness was still a large part of it.

Thorsh swallowed hard, just thinking about what the pilots were
about to attempt.

The human waved and scurried back up the ramp.







Decelerating slightly, Thorsh fell in behind the freighter, giving it
wide berth. Above the strained throbbing of the swoop's repulsorlift,
he heard the sudden reverberation of the YT-1300's retro- and atti-tude 
thrusters.

Then, scarcely surrendering momentum, the freighter began to rotate 
ninety degrees to starboard, bringing the boarding ramp almost directly 
in front of the tottering swoop.

"Take the jump!" Han said, mostly to himself. "Now!" He was back in the 
pilot's chair, his hands tight on the control yoke, while Leia feathered 
the thrusters, cheating the Falcon through its quarter turn. Flying 
sideways, Han could see the coralskippers that had a second earlier 
been "behind" the ship, as well as the swoop, which was flying just 
off the blunt tip of the starboard docking arm. Hoping to minimize 
the chances of the pilot's overshooting his mark and smashing headlong 
into the bulkhead at the top of the ramp, Han adjusted the Falcon's 
forward speed to match that of the swoop. "He's accelerating!" Leia said.

"Threepio! Meewalh!" Han yelled over his right shoulder. "Our guest's
coming aboard!" Glancing out the right side of the viewport, he saw the 
Jenet leap the swoop toward the ramp-the Falcon's narrow but open 
mouth. "Now!" he told Leia.

Deftly she fed power to the attitude thrusters, allowing the ship 
to complete a full clockwise rotation, even as a series of crashing 
sounds were echoing their way into the cockpit from the ring corridor.

Han winced and scrunched his shoulders with each clang! and crash!, 
mentally assessing the damage, but keeping his fingers crossed that 
the Jenet pilot was faring better than the interior of the docking arm.

No sooner did the ramp telltale on the console flash red - indicating 
that the docking arm had sealed tight-than Han yanked back on the control 
yoke, and the Falcon clawed its way into Selvaris's open sky, dodging 
volleys of molten fire from pursuing coralskippers. The quad laser 
replied with packets of cohesive light, brilliant green even against 
the backdrop of the heaving sea.

"Captain Solo, he's alive!" C-3PO called with dramatic relief. "We're
all alive!"

Exhaling slowly, Han sank back into the seat, but without lifting his 
hands from the yoke. The coralskippers were already lagging behind 
when the Falcon rocketed over the summit of the volcano, straight 
through dense clouds of gritty smoke, climbing rapidly on a column 
of blue energy. The ship was halfway to starlight when the shaken 
Jenet appeared at the cockpit hatchway, one bare arm drapped over 
Meewalh's shoulders, the other around C-3PO's.

"You must have a hard head," Han said.

Grinning faintly, Leia looked at her husband. "He's not the only one."

Han glanced at her in false chagrin, then nodded his chin to the female 
Noghri. 

"Take our guest to the forward cabin and provide him with whatever he needs."

"I'll get the medpac," Leia said, leaving her chair. She set her 
headset on the console and looked at Han again. "Well, you did it."

"We," Han amended. Casually, he stretched out his arms. "You know,
you're never too old for this sort of thing."

"You haven't outgrown it, that's for sure."

He studied her. "What, you have?"

She placed her right hand on his cheek. "You're a danger to your-self 
and everyone around you. But I do love you, Han."

He smiled broadly as Leia hurried from the cockpit.







In a leafy bower that supplied the only pool of shade in the prison 
yard, Yuuzhan Vong commander Malik Carr permitted himself to be 
fanned by two reptoid Chazrach whose coral seed implants bulged from 
their foreheads.

Exceedingly tall, and thinner than most of his peers, Carr wore a 
bone-white skirt and patterned headcloth, the tassels of which were 
braided into his long hair, forming a tail that reached his waist. 
His glory days as a warrior were evidenced by the tattoos and 
scarifications that adorned his face and torso, though the most 
recent of them revealed for all to see that he had once held a more 
lofty rank. Even so, the prison guards were unfailing in the deference 
they showed him, out of respect for his steadfast devotion to the 
warrior caste, and to Yun-Yammka, the god of war.

Moving briskly and in anger, Subaltern S'yito approached the bower and 
snapped his fists to the opposite shoulders in salute. "Commander, the 
prisoners are awakening."

Carr looked over to the center of the yard, where Major Cracken,
Captain Page, and some fifty other officers sat on their haunches, their
hands secured behind them to wooden stakes that had been driven
into the soft ground. Indeed, eyelids were fluttering; heads were 
nodding and swaying; lips were smacking in thirst. Selvaris's suns were
almost directly overhead, and heat rose from the glaring sand in 
shimmering waves. Sweat had plastered the prisoners' soiled clothing
to their scrawny bodies. It fell in fat drops from unshaved faces and 
matted fur.

Carr pushed himself upright and stepped into the unforgiving light, 
S'yito and a dozen warriors flanking him as he crossed the yard and
stood with his hands on his hips in front of Cracken and Page. A priest 
joined him there, black head to toe with dried blood. Carr refrained 
from speaking until he was satisfied that the two prisoners were 
attentive and aware of their circumstance.

"I trust you enjoyed your naps," he began. "But look how long you've 
slept." He raised his face to the sky, pressing the inner edge of his 
right hand to his sloping forehead. "It is already midday."

He clasped his hands behind him and paced in front of the prisoners. "As
soon as our sentinel beetles alerted us to the fact that some of you 
were outside the walls, I ordered that sensislugs be placed in all 
dormitories. It is never an agreeable experience to awaken from their 
sleep-inducing exhalations. The headaches, the nausea, the irritated 
nasal membranes... But I take some comfort in assuming that each of
you luxuriated in pleasant dreams."

Stopping in front of bearded Page, he allowed some of his anger to 
show. "There will come a time when even your dreams won't provide 
you with escape, and you will look back on your days here as blissful."

On first learning of the predawn escape, Carr had nearly hung a tkun
around his neck and prodded the living garrote to choke off his life.
It was because of his failure at Fondor, more than three years earlier,
that he had been demoted to the rank of commander and placed in charge 
of a prisoner-of-war camp at the remote edge of the invasion corridor. 
Worse, on distant Yuuzhan'tar, his former peers-Nas Choka, Eminence 
Harrar, Nom Anor-had been escalated and made members of Supreme Overlord 
Shimrra's court.

The prospect of further indignity had filled Carr with such self-loathing 
that he wasn't sure he could go on. Ultimately, however, he decided 
that if he was careful-and if he could keep Warmaster Nas Choka from 
hearing of the escape, or at the very least maintain that it
was part of his plan to obtain information on local resistance groups -
he might yet be released from the prison fate had fashioned for him.

Toward that end, he had been relieved to learn that the search parties 
he had dispatched had been partially successful. Two escapees had been 
killed, and a third had been captured. But a fourth had been whisked 
offworld by an enemy gunship.

Carr turned to S'yito. "Fetch the prisoner."

S'yito and two other warriors saluted and rushed off to the front 
gate. When they returned a moment later, they were dragging behind
them a near-naked Bith, who, from the look of him, had fallen victim 
to a lav peq web. It pleased Carr no end to see expressions of 
surprised dismay flare on the faces of Page, Cracken, and the rest-even 
when those expressions were quickly transformed to scowls of hatred 
for the warriors who dropped the captive unceremoniously onto his face in
the sand.

Carr stood over the Bith, whose hairless cranium was scratched
and bleeding, and whose arms and legs were shackled.

"This one," Carr began, "along with three others who failed to 
survive..." Deliberately, he let his words trail off, if only to 
observe the effect of the lie on the assembled prisoners. 

"Well," he started again, "it's a pity, isn't it? So much effort 
expended for so little gain. Still, I can't help but be impressed. 
A well-engineered escape tunnel, carefully concealed flying 
machines... It's almost enough to make me forget what cowards you 
were for allowing yourselves to be cap-tured in the first place."

He caught Page's eye and returned the stocky captain's glower. "You 
sicken me. You bring your spouses, your mates, your spawn with you 
into battle. You yield rather than fight to the last. You are crippled, 
yet you display no shame. You persist, but without clear purpose." He 
gestured to the Bith. "At least this one showed that he still retains 
some shred of courage."

Carr began to pace again. "But I admit to a certain curiosity.
From what I know of the Bith species, he probably could have 
sustained himself in the jungle, subsisting on the natural foodstuffs I have
permitted to be brought inside these walls. The question is, why would
he choose to endanger the rest of you by his show of disobedience? It
can only be that all of you conspired in his escape, perhaps to deliver 
a message of some import. Was such the case here?"

Carr waved his hand in dismissal. "We'll return to that shortly. 
Beforehand, those who were truly responsible must be punished." He 
looked hard at Cracken and Page, then swung to S'yito. "Subaltern, 
order your warriors to form two rows. The smaller in one row; the 
taller in the other."

S'yito relayed the order in Yuuzhan Vong, and the warriors obeyed.

"Now," Carr continued, "the smaller warriors will execute the larger."

S'yito saluted, then nodded gravely to the warriors.

Those sentenced neither protested nor defended themselves as they were 
run through with coufees or struck with amphistaffs. One by one, 
they collapsed, their black blood draining into the sand. Tonguelike 
ngdins oozed from niches in the yorik coral walls to sop up what the 
porous ground didn't absorb.

Carr waited for the creatures to finish their work before striding 
over to the Bith and lowering himself to one knee. 

"After the act of courage you displayed, it would pain me to condemn 
you to an artless death. Why not escalate yourself in the last moments 
of your life by telling me why you tried to escape? Don't force me to 
extract the truth from you."

"Go ahead, Clak'dor," Pash Cracken said. "Tell them what you know!"

"He was following orders," Page added, gazing at Carr. "If you want to 
punish someone, punish us."

Carr almost grinned. "In due time, Captain. But I suspect that if you
know what this one knows, you would have been the one to escape." He 
walked back to the bower. From beneath the seat, he pulled out the tkun 
he had nearly draped over his own neck that morning. Carrying the 
thick-bodied biot to the Bith, he arranged it around the prisoner's 
thin neck.

"This is a tkun," he explained for the benefit of the captives. 
"Normally it is a docile creature. When provoked, however, it registers
its displeasure by coiling itself around the object on which it rests. 
Allow me to demonstrate ..."

Carr prodded the tkun with his sharp forefinger.

Page and the others cursed and struggled in vain against their bindings.

The Bith began to gasp for air.

Carr watched dispassionately. "Unfortunately, the tkun cannot be persuaded
to relax its grip once it has begun to contract. It has to be killed." 
Again he kneeled alongside the Bith. "Tell me why you were so desperate 
to leave this wonderful home we've provided for you. Recite the information
you carry."

The Bith cocked his head to the side and spat at Carr.

"Not unexpected," Carr said, wiping his face. Again he prodded the 
tkun, which contracted its body. The Bith's black eyes bulged; his 
wrinkled face and dome of a head turned color. "I will gladly kill 
the tkun, if you tell me what I wish to know."

The Bith crawled forward, then flopped on the sand like a fish out of water.

Carr poked the tkun a third time.

A rasp issued from the Bith's throat; then he began to recite a 
formulaic series of numbers. Interested suddenly, Carr bent down to 
place his ear next to the Bith's lips. He glanced up at the priest. 
"What is this?"

"A calculation of some sort. A mathematical equation, perhaps."

"There it is," Page shouted. "He told you. Now kill that blasted thing 
before it's too late!"

Carr firmed his scarred lips. "Yes, he's telling me something-but what?"

The Bith repeated the formula.

"Is it a code?" Carr asked him. "Listen to your commanders. You've 
already been a hero. You've no further need to prove your dedication."

All color drained from the Bith's head, and a prolonged rattle escaped 
his puckered mouth.

Carr shook his head back and forth, as if in sadness. He drew a
coufee from the belt that cinched his skirt and plunged it into the 
tkun, which straightened briefly, then died. Standing up, he looked 
directly at Page. "Your comrade appears to have taken your secret 
to his grave."

Page had murder in his eye, but Carr only shrugged and turned to S'yito.

"Escort the prisoners to the immolation pit where we incinerated their 
infernal machines. Fill it to the top, and make certain that they remain 
inside until midday tomorrow. We'll let Selvaris's suns sort out which 
of them are worthy of continued life."



A brigade of guards hurried into the yard. Carr waited in the shade for 
the prisoners to be hoisted to their feet. Then he followed the procession
through the prison gate to the pit where the dozens of droids had been 
slagged.

"Subaltern, it's obvious that our captives had help engineering the 
escape," Carr said. "Take a complement of warriors and execute everyone 
in the surrounding villages."

S'yito saluted and trotted back through the bone gate.

Captain Page insisted on being the first to walk the wooden plank that 
extended out over the deep hole.

"A moment, Captain," Carr said, from the edge of the pit. "I offer you a 
final chance to pass this night on a bed of leaves rather than atop the 
skeletons of your droids."

Page snorted. "I'd sooner die."

Carr nodded pensively. "You'll die soon enough in any case."

Without another word Page dropped into darkness. Carr turned away from 
the pit and set out for his grashal.

A code, he told himself.

He was certain of that much. But, deciphered, what information would 
it reveal? He gazed at the blinding sky, wondering where the rescue 
ship was bound.









Proximity alarms hooted insistently in the cockpit of the Millennium 
Falcon. Irritated by the distraction, Han muted the speakers, while 
Leia concentrated on making certain that the ship steered clear of 
the cause of the alarms.

"Seismics?" Han asked.

Leia shook her head. "Hapan pulse-gravity interdiction mines. The 
latest thing."

Seen through the curved viewport, the explosive devices might have 
been asteroids, basking in starlight. The Falcon's scanners had said 
differently, though they had only reinforced Han and Leia's initial 
hunch. Beyond the rocky field appeared the bright side of a 
brown-and-blue world, circled by satellites and gifted with two 
fair-sized moons.

"Guess you can't be too careful nowadays," Han said.

"Especially this close to the Perlemian Trade Route," Leia added.

Han pointed to an orbital facility of spherical modules and multiple 
docks.

"The shipyard."

"It looks abandoned."

"Deliberately, would be my guess."

Weaving a sinuous path through the minefield, they maneuvered the
Falcon closer to the planet. The freighter was midway between the 
moons when a voice issued from the comm.

"Millennium Falcon, this is Contruum control. On behalf of General 
Airen Cracken and the rest of the command staff, allow me to be the 
first to welcome you."

Contruum was the homeworld of Airen Cracken and his equally illustrious 
son, Pash. An industrious planet with ore-smelting plants and a modest 
shipbuilding franchise, it was often touted as being the most Core - like
world outside the Core, in a class with Eriadu, though not nearly as 
ecologically devastated. Certainly there was no planet in that part 
of the Mid Rim to rival it. The fact that it had thus far escaped 
enemy attention was nothing short of marvelous. That Con-truum had 
continued at its own peril to contribute generously to the war effort 
had rendered the planet a model of courage and sacrifice.

"Sirs, General Cracken is eager to know if you were successful in 
retrieving any of our lost merchandise?"

Leia answered for them. "Tell the general we're returning with only 
one of four that were originally available for pickup. Two were lost, 
and there is reason to believe that one may have ended up back at its 
point of origin."

"We're very sorry to hear that, Princess."

"That makes it unanimous," Han said.

"Millennium Falcon is cleared for entry. Would you care to have us take 
you in, Captain?"

"I'd rather fly-if it's all the same to you."

"Of course, sir. Routing and landing coordinates are being trans-mitted 
to your navigation computer."

Han and Leia watched the flight data come onscreen, then Leia enlarged 
the routing map.

Han laughed shortly. "Figures."

"Can't be too careful."

Han adjusted the Falcon's course. Outside of a few harmless-looking 
ships lazing in stationary orbit, local space was almost free of 
traffic. Instead of bearing straight for the planet's heavily populated 
equatorial band, he banked the freighter for Contruum's innermost moon,
a silver sphere dimpled with impact craters and crusty with mountain ranges.

"The large crater just to starboard," Leia said.

Han tapped the control yoke. "Got it."

There was nothing to mark the crater as a berthing space; nothing to mark
the moon as a military base. Han lowered the Falcon toward the crater, 
close to its upthrust eastern rim.  

Leia shook her head in wonder.

"You could almost believe it's empty."

"Holoprojection masking a magnetic containment field," Han  SAID. "That 
technique hasn't been used in a long time."

She nodded sadly. "There hasn't been need for it." 

The Falcon passed through what appeared to be the rocky floor of the 
crater and into an enormous hollow below, ultimately settling down 
on a hexagonal landing platform emblazoned with well-worn markings 
and numerals. The interior of the hidden base hummed with activity.
A nearby transport bore the name Twelve Ton, after a beast of burden 
indigenous to Contruum. Han recalled that the sleekly designed destroyers 
once produced by the now abandoned shipyard had typically been given
virtuous-sounding names: Temperance, Prudence, Equity. . .

It took several minutes to get the Falcon shut down. Leia asked 
Cakhmaim and Meewalh to remain aboard with C-3PO, who took the 
request as a personal affront. Then she, Han, and Thorsh-the Jenet 
they had rescued-headed for the landing ramp. At the top, Han paused 
briefly to assess the minor damage done by the swoop, which had been 
jettisoned above Selvaris shortly before the Falcon had made the jump 
to lightspeed.

An escort detail was waiting for them on the landing platform - security
personnel, meditechs and a medical droid, and a sturdy, dark-complected 
young woman who introduced herself as General Cracken's adjutant. The 
meditechs quickly surrounded Thorsh, inspecting his limbs, gently 
palpating his torso, and examining his vaguely leonine head.

"You look like you were dragged through a field of thorns," one said.

Thorsh sniffed in sardonic derision. "More like propelled. But thanks 
for noticing."

"We did what we could for him," Leia said.

The same meditech glanced at her. "Any battlefield medic would be proud 
to have done as much."

The droid finished its scans with a concluding melody of chitters and 
tones. "Malnourished, but otherwise fit," it announced in a deep voice.





Major Ummar, Cracken's adjutant, nodded in approval. "I don't see any 
reason why we can't proceed directly to debriefing."

Han turned to Thorsh and smirked. "Good job, Thorsh. We'll buy you 
lunch some other time."

Thorsh shrugged. "We all play our parts. I go where I'm sent, I do what 
I'm told."

"And the rest of us are the better for it," Leia said. She put her 
hand on Thorsh's bristly shoulder. "I can't begin to guess at what 
you're carrying, but it must be vitally important."

Thorsh shrugged again. "I wish I could say."

Han surmised that the Jenet wasn't holding back for security's sake. 
Thorsh really didn't know what intelligence he had locked away in his 
memory trap of a brain.

Han and Leia hadn't gone far when a speeder pulled up alongside them. 
On the bench seat behind the hover vehicle's Rodian driver sat General 
Wedge Antilles and Jedi Master Kenth Hamner.

"Wedge!" Leia said in delighted surprise, as the handsome dark-haired 
human climbed from the speeder. She hugged him in greeting, while Han 
pumped Wedge's extended hand.

Wedge nodded to Han. "Boss."

The two men had known each other for almost thirty years, since the 
Battle of Yavin, where Wedge had flown with Luke Skywalker against 
the Death Star. At Endor, Wedge had been instrumental in destroying 
the second Death Star, and during the fledgling years of the New
Republic he had distinguished himself in countless operations with 
Rogue Squadron and other units. Like a lot of Galactic Civil War 
veterans, he and his wife, Iella, had come out of retirement to fight 
the Yuuzhan Vong. At Borleias, Wedge had formed a secret resistance 
force called the Insiders, whose membership-including Han, Leia, 
Luke, and many others-had agreed to borrow some of the tactics 
the Rebel Alliance had employed against the Empire.
 
 had always liked Wedge, and what with Jaina's growing closeness 
^^^??????????????????????
to Wedge's nephew Jagged Fel, there was an outside chance that the 
Solo and Antilles families would end up allies of an even deeper sort.

"Good to see you again, Wedge," Han said. "Any word from on high?"

"Only that Admiral Sow sends his gratitude for what you and Leia have done."

"Nice to know that we're all still on the same team." Han threw Wedge a 
wink, and turned to Kenth Hamner, who was wearing the homespun brown 
robe of a Jedi. "New look for you, isn't it?"

Kenth allowed a grin. "Formal attire. A show of solidarity between 
the Jedi and the Galactic Alliance military."

"Times change."

"That they do."

"Kenth, any communication from Luke?" Leia asked with some urgency.

"Nothing."

Leia frowned. "It's been more than two months now." 

Kenth nodded. "And nothing from Corran or Tahiri, either." 

Leia studied him for a moment. "What could have happened?" 

Kenth tightened his lips and shook his head slowly. "We have to assume
that they're still in the Unknown Regions. We'd know if something went 
wrong."

Han grasped that Kenth's we was meant to include Leia. Since before 
the fall of Coruscant, the Jedi-and Leia by extension-had honed their 
abilities to stretch out with thoughts and feelings; to meld minds and 
intuit at great distances.

"We're considering dispatching a search party," Kenth added. Like Han 
and Wedge, the tall and pleasant-looking Jedi was Corellian, though 
unlike them he was an heir to wealth. Han had always considered him 
the most military-minded Jedi-Keyan Farlander and Kyle Katarn 
notwithstanding-and a year earlier Kenth had been named to Chief of 
State Cal Omas's Advisory Council, along with Jedi Masters Luke, 
Kyp Durron, Cilghal, Tresina Lobi, and Jedi Knight Saba Sebatyne.

  Luke had placed Kenth in charge of the Jedi when he, Mara, and 
several others had embarked on a quest for the living world of 
Zonama Sekot. Since then Kenth had done his best to coordinate 
missions for the Jedi in Luke's absence, but as was true with
Alliance command his best efforts had been undermined by the 
Yuuzhan Vong's unexpected success in disabling the HoloNet, 
which had long been the basis of galactic communications.

"You'd better be organizing a large party if you're intending 
to search the Unknown Regions," Han said.

Kenth found no humor in the remark. "We were able to obtain origin 
coordinates of the transmission Luke and Mara relayed through the 
Esfandia beacon."

"And?" Leia said.

"We've been transmitting to those coordinates for the past couple 
of weeks-without response."

With the Generis communications array destroyed by the Yuuzhan 
Vong, Esfandia was the only beacon capable of reaching Chiss space 
and the Unknown Regions. Two months earlier a desperate battle had 
been fought at Esfandia, but the beacon had been saved, thanks in 
large part to Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon's Imperial forces-with 
a helping hand from the able crew of Millennium Falcon.

"Maybe Zonama Sekot's moved," Han said. "I mean, that is what 
it's known for."

Kenth rocked his head in purposeful evasion. "Among other things."

Leia looked hard at him. "Could Zonama Sekot be returning to known space?"

"We can hope."

The four of them fell silent for a long moment. Wedge gave Han a 
covert glance, then heaved his shoulders in a shrug. When they had 
all climbed into the speeder, Wedge, in the front seat, turned to 
Leia and Han.

"Tell me about Selvaris."

"Not much to tell," Han said. "The escapees signaled us, we flew down 
and managed to rescue one of them."

Wedge looked to Leia for elaboration.

She blinked and smiled. "Just like he said. It was that simple."

Han leaned forward in a gesture of confidence. "What's all this about,
Wedge? Not that we ever need an excuse to rescue anyone, but why from 
Selvaris of all worlds? Most people I know couldn't point it out on a star chart."

Wedge's expression turned serious. "I've got a special stake in this, Han."

Han's forehead wrinkled in interest. "How so?"

"You can hear for yourselves. General Cracken has requested that you 
attend the debriefing."






At the turbolift, Leia and the three Corellians caught up with the 
medical team that was escorting Thorsh. The Jenet and the meds exited 
three levels down. Leia and the others rode to the bottom on the shaft, 
emerging on a secure level, where two human Intelligence officers 
coded them into a stuffy room. Han had expected the usual mix of 
spies and officers, maybe a single chair for the subject, but the 
cabin felt more like an examination room.

The only Intelligence operative in attendance was Bhindi Drayson, 
whom Han, Leia, and Wedge knew from Borleias and other campaigns. 
The lean and sharp-featured daughter of a former Intelligence chief, 
Drayson was considered an expert tactician, and almost two years earlier
had participated in a Wraith Squadron infiltration mission to Yuuzhan 
Vong-occupied Coruscant. For company just now she had a red R2 unit 
and a Givin.

Exoskeletoned humanoids with tubular limbs, large triangular eye 
sockets, and gaping mouths set in what appeared to be a perpetual frown 
of dismay, Givin were a remarkable species. Not only were they capable 
of surviving in the vacuum of space, but they could also perform 
complex hyperspace navigation without having to rely on navi-computers. 
Shipbuilders on a par with Verpine and Duros, they were
obsessed with calculations, probabilities, and mathematics. Many 
believed that if the meaning of life were ever to be reduced to an 
equation, a Givin would be the first to do so.

Before anyone had time for proper introductions, Thorsh was led
into the room. Absorbing the tableau in a glance, he said, "I'm 
ready when you are."

With the astromech droid standing by his side, the Givin seated 
himself opposite Thorsh. Thorsh closed his eyes and began to speak 
surrendering the holowafer data he had memorized in an instant on 
Selvaris. A complex and utterly baffling sequence of numbers and 
formulas spewed from the Jenet, without pause or inflection. No 
one in the room stirred; no one interrupted him. When Thorsh finished,
he loosed a long exhale.

"Glad to be rid of that."

The Givin was nodding his scary head. "No soft-body could have composed 
such elegant work. I recognize the mind and hand of a Givin in coding 
the message contained in this equation." 

"You want him to repeat any it?" Bhindi Drayson asked. 

The Givin shook his head. "That won't be necessary." 

She nodded in satisfaction. "Then I guess we're done here." 

Han   glanced   around   in   bafflement.   "That's   it?   That's   the
debriefing?"

Wedge nodded his chin to the Givin and the droid. "The rest is up to them."

Han and Leia had just found seats in the mess hall when Major Ummar 
brought word that General Cracken was ready to conduct the briefing.

"So much for a real meal," Han said.

Leia sighed. "I'll have Threepio prepare us something later."

"The perfect appetite suppressant."

By the time the Solos arrived, the base's tactical information center 
was filled to capacity with intelligence analysts, ships' officers, 
and wing commanders. Cracken's adjutant escorted Han and Leia down the
amphitheater's broad carpeted stairs to seats in the front row. On the
rostrum sat Wedge and three colonels-two Bothans and a Sullustan.

Seventy-five-year-old Airen Cracken, whose intelligence briefings had 
literally given shape to the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil
War, stood at the lectern.

"First I want to thank all of you for reporting at such short notice.
If there was time, I would have included this information in tomorrow's
scheduled briefing, but with HoloNet transmissions disabled, we'll
need to dispatch couriers immediately if we're to pull this operation
together." 

Cracken activated a switch on the lectern's slanted top, and a
holoprojection appeared to his left, detailing an unidentified sector
of the galaxy. Cracken used a laser pointer to indicate a star system 
in the upper right quadrant, which expanded as the pointer's red beam 
touched the holo's sizing node.

"The Tantara system," Cracken continued, "looking Coreward from Bilbringi. 
The principal stars are Centis Major and Renaant. The closest habitable 
world - presently occupied by the Yuuzhan Vong - is Selvaris."

Cracken nodded at Han and Leia, then gestured to them. "Captain Solo 
and Princess Leia have just returned from Selvaris. There they were 
successful in rescuing a prisoner who escaped from an enemy internment 
camp constructed on the surface. Among those we have been able to 
identify as fellow prisoners in the camp are Captain Judder Page, 
of Corulag, and my own son, Major Pash Cracken."

Murmurs of genuine surprise swept through the room.

"How come nobody told us that?" Han asked Leia out of the corner of his mouth.

She shushed him gently. "Let's at least hear Airen out before we make a fuss."

"Okay," Han said slowly. "But just this once." 

"A resistance group operating on Selvaris was able to obtain important 
intelligence, and pass that intelligence along to Captain Page and Major
Cracken, who are currently the highest-ranking Alliance officers in 
captivity at the camp. The intelligence was encrypted as a complex 
mathematical formula, which was memorized by the Jenet escapee, and 
decrypted only two hours ago. It provides us with details Peace Brigade 
mission to transport to Coruscant several hundred Alliance officials 
and high-ranking officers who are being held on Sel-and in more than
a dozen such camps along the fringes of the an Vong invasion corridor. 

We now know when the pickups are to be made, and we know the route the 
Peace Brigade convoy plans to use in reaching Coruscant. We don't yet 
know the reason for this mass relocation, but we have a good guess."

"No wonder Wedge said he has a stake in this," Han whispered. "Some of 
the officers Cracken is talking about were probably captured during 
the attempt to retake Bilbringi."

Wedge stepped to the lectern and took over for Cracken. "Alliance 
spies placed inside the Peace Brigade have alerted Mon Calamari 
command that a Yuuzhan Vong religious ceremony of great significance 
is scheduled to take place on Coruscant sometime within the next 
standard week. The purpose of this ceremony is unclear. It could mark 
the anniversary of some historical event, or its purpose could be to 
quell the rising tide of discontent that continues to plague Coruscant.

The purpose is immaterial, in any case, since it is our belief that 
the prisoners being transported to Coruscant are to be sacrificed at 
this ceremony."

Separate conversations broke out throughout the amphitheater. Leia
tuned them out to absorb the tragic news in silence.

Almost since the start of the war, the seditious Peace Brigade had 
transported everything from hibernating amphistaffs to captives for
sacrifice. Mixed-species renegades, there wasn't anything they 
wouldn't do for credits and the freedom to move about the galaxy 
as they wished. But there was small profit in being a Brigader any 
longer. Those who weren't hunted down and killed by Alliance
operatives or loyalists had usually ended up dying at the hands of 
the Yuuzhan Vong themselves. And no matter which way the war went, 
they were going to end up on the losing side-useless to the Yuuzhan 
Vong, traitors to the Alliance. That didn't seem to matter, however. 
They lived for the moment, the credits, the thrill, the spice.

"Everyone here knows that countless lives have ended on Yuuzhan 
Vong sacrificial pyres," Wedge was saying. "But it is imperative 
that this convoy be prevented from reaching Coruscant. In the past, 
when-ever and wherever possible, we have attempted to save lives-that 
has always been our mandate. We have frequently failed because of 
erro-neous intelligence or overwhelming force. Some of you are 
probably asking yourselves, Why this convoy? The answer is simple: 
because many of the prisoners-Captain Page and Major Cracken 
among them- are desperately needed to rally support for planetary 
sectors on the verge of acquiescing to the enemy. In addition, because 
their cover will be com-promised, those agents operating within the 
Peace Brigade who helped provide this intelligence will also have to
be extracted. And we are faced with having to execute this rescue 
without the advantage of coor-dinating operations through the HoloNet."

Wedge waited for the amphitheater to quiet. "Selvaris is the last stop
before the convoy jumps to Coruscant, so our ambush must wait until the 
prisoners have been transferred. Given the devastating losses the Peace
Brigade sustained a year ago at Ylesia and Duro, it's reasonable to 
assume that the convoy will be escorted and complemented by Yuuzhan 
Vong war vessels. Admirals Sow and Kre'fey have already seen fit to 
allocate Blackmoon, Scimitar, Twin Suns, and other starfighter 
squadrons to the mission. The starfighters will lend support to our 
gunships, as well as protect the transports needed to house those 
prisoners we rescue. Captain Solo and Princess Leia have volunteered 
Millennium FaIcon for the latter purpose."

Leia cut her wide-open eyes to Han. "When did that happen?" 

"I, uh, might've said something to Wedge earlier."

"You didn't even know what the mission was going to entail." 

Han smiled crookedly. "I basically said that he could put us down for
whatever they had in mind."

Leia took a breath and faced front. Much to her mounting unease, Han 
had gotten into the habit of accepting every dangerous assign-ment 
dreamed up by Galactic Alliance command. If was as if the successes
in the Koornacht Cluster, at Bakura, and at Esfandia had merely primed 
Han's pump, or had been nothing more than warm-up exercises for some
grand mission during which he would defeat the Yuuzhan Vong 
single-handedly-or at least in partnership with Leia.

But the war had taken a toll on both of them, beginning with
Chewbacca's death and culminating with the tragic events at Myrkr,
where their youngest son Anakin had died, their older son Jacen had
been captured, and their daughter Jaina had forged her grief into a
sword of vengeance that had pushed her to the edge of the dark side
and nearly cost her her life.

Leia knew in her heart that she and Han were more unified than they 
had ever been. But the constant missions had been exhausting and 
lately there had been too many close calls. At times she wished 
that she could gather her scattered family and spirit everyone 
to some far corner of the galaxy, untouched by the war. But even 
on the remote chance that such a corner existed, Han wouldn't consider 
absenting himself for a moment, especially now, with HoloNet 
communications down, and the need for gifted pilots with fast ships.

Before that safe corner could ever be found and claimed as their 
own-before the galaxy could know enduring peace-Leia and Han would 
need to see the war through to the bitter end.

She came back to herself just as Wedge was concluding his remarks.

"We are committed to this operation for an added reason of equal 
importance-that is, in the hope that a rescue of such magnitude 
will spoil the impending sacrifice."

Wedge's expression turned hard as he scanned the assembly. "Any 
thorns we can drive deeper into Shimrra's side will further 
destabilize Coruscant, and provide us with the window we need 
to rebuild our forces and safeguard those worlds the enemy has 
thus far been unable to vanquish."





It was raining insects on Yuuzhan'tar-the former Coruscant, once 
bright center, now dimmed, defiled by war, transformed by the 
Yuuzhan Vong into a riotous garden. A seeming mishmash of ferns, 
conifers, and other flora blunted what only two years earlier had
been technological sierra. Verdant growth nudged through mist in 
valleys that had once been canyons between kilometer-high megastructures. 
Newly formed lakes and basins created by the fall of mighty towers and 
orbital platforms were filled to overflowing with water, initially 
brought by asteroids but since delivered with regularity from a purple sky.

To some, Yuuzhan'tar, "Creche of the Gods," was a world returned to its 
bygone splendor, lost and rediscovered, more alive for having been 
conquered, its orbit altered-tweaked sunward-three of its moons steered 
away and returned, and the fourth pulverized to form a braided ring, a 
bridge of supernatural light, along which the gods strolled in serene 
meditation.

And yet insects were raining down on Supreme Overlord Shimrra's 
rainbow-winged worldship Citadel-his holy mount, rising from a 
yorik coral cradle to tower over what had been the most populous 
and important precinct of the galactic capital. An unrelenting 
tattoo of falling bodies that sounded like a thousand drummers 
pounding out different rhythms.
 
The stink beetles spattered the dome of the Hall of Confluence and 
the stately, organiform bridges that linked the hall to other hallowed 
places. The plague had been born on the other side of Yuuzhan'tar because 
of a mistake by the World Brain-an over-breeding-and now the creatures 
were dying because of yet another mistake by the dhuryam. The air around 
the Citadel reeked, and the ground was slippery with smashed bodies.

The atmosphere inside the great hall was somber. A place of assembly for 
the Yuuzhan Vong elite, it was defined by a curving roof supported by 
pillars sculpted from ancient bone. Broad at the four pal-pating portals
where the high caste entered, the hall attenuated at the opposite end, 
where Shimrra sat on a pulsing crimson throne, propped by clusters of 
hau polyps. Dovin basals provided a sense of gravity, of uphill walking, 
increasing the nearer one came to Shimrra's spike-backed seat.

And yet the atmosphere inside the hall was moody and silent. A kneeling 
gathering of priests, warriors, shapers, and intendants waited for the 
Supreme Overlord to speak. The brooding silence was fractured by the 
sound of insects striking the roof, or being swept from the fronting 
causeways into the accommodating mouths of a dozen maw luur...

"You are asking yourselves, Where have we erred?" Shimrra said at 
last. "Does the fault lie with our cleansings, our sacrifices, our 
conquests? Are we being tested by the gods, or have we been abandoned? 
Is Shimrra still our conduit, or has he become our liability? You are 
preoccupied with fears concerning balance and derangement. You wonder 
if all of us haven't become Shamed Ones in the eyes of the gods-spurned, 
disdained, ostracized because of our pride and our inability to prevail." 
Shimrra paused to look around the hall, then asked: "Do you think that 
your distrust in me, your whispered doubts, benefits our noble cause? If 
I can hear you, what must the gods be thinking when they look into each 
and every one of you? I will tell you what the gods are saying to 
another: They have lost faith in the one we set upon the polyp throne. 
And in doubting the Supreme Overlord, our yoke to them, they doubt us.

"And so the gods visit plagues and defeats on their children-not
to castigate me, but to demonstrate where you have failed-where you
have failed them."

Shimrra's black-and-gray ceremonial robes were the flayed and pre-
served flesh of the first Supreme Overlord. His massive head was scari-
fied with design; his features rearranged to suggest a godly aspect: eyes
widened, mouth decurved, forehead elongated, earlobes stretched, chin
narrowed to a point, like the Hall of Confluence itself. And blazing
from his eye sockets, mqaaq't implants, which changed color according
to Shimrra's mood. The fingers of his huge right hand grasped a fanged
amphistaff that was the Scepter of Power.

Below the yorik coral throne sat his shamed familiar, Onimi, part pet, 
part speaker of truths few dared to voice.

It had reached Shimrra's ear, through a network of eavesdropping biots
and actual spies, that some of his opponents and derogators were gossiping 
that he had fallen out of favor with the gods-a speculation more ironic 
than dangerous, since Shimrra had long ago abandoned real belief in any 
power other than that which he wielded as Supreme Overlord.

Even so, there were undeniable reasons to fear that he had fallen out of 
favor. The slow progress of the conquest; a plague of itching that had 
commenced with his arrival on Yuuzhan'tar; the still-unabated heretical 
movement; the disastrous defeat at Ebaq 9; the treachery of the priestess 
Ngaaluh; the attempt on Shimrra's life . . . Many believed that all these 
reversals had been engineered by the gods as a warning to Shimrra that he 
had become grandiose and proud.

He who had proclaimed the galaxy a chosen realm for the long-wandering, 
homeless Yuuzhan Vong.

As an appeasement to the concerned members of the  elite, Shimrra had 
agreed to allow his proclamations and utterances to be analyzed by a 
quartet of seers-one from each caste, one for each pri-mary god. Black 
midnight hags, who sat close to the throne and spoke in contradictions. 
Not that they dared challenge Shimrra, in any case, except with hand
wringing, prayers, and other gestures meant to implore the gods to look 
kindly  on Yuuzhan'tar.

"You disgust me," he told them. "You think I'm spouting sacrilege. recoil and grovel 
because you know that I speak the truth, and that truth rattles you to the core of your 
being. You'd do well to chop off more of yourselves in penance and devotion. Give all of 
yourselves and it won't be enough." He looked down at Onimi. "You think I speak in riddles, 
like this one."

Onimi's deformities owed not to birth but to rejection by the gods. Once a shaper, he was 
now little more than a misshapen jester one eye drooping below its mate, one yellow fang 
protruding from a twisted mouth, one portion of his skull distended, as if the shaper's 
vaa-tumor had failed to seat itself properly. Long and slender, his arms and legs twitched 
continuously, yanked about by the gods, as they might do to a puppet.

Shimrra made a sound of angry impatience. "Come forward, Von Shul of Domain Shul 
and Melaan Nar of Domain Nar."

The two consuls-midlevel intendants-advanced a few meters on their knees.

"I have pondered your grievances with each other," Shimrra said when the throne's 
dovin basal had forced the faces of the consuls to the floor, "and I now decree that 
you put them aside. I decree further that you redirect the energy that fuels your 
wrath into serving our common cause. Each of you claims that your troubles with 
each other began here, on Yuuzhan'tar, as have so many other petty rivalries 
between this domain and that one. But this is merely camouflage. I know that your 
dispute had its roots during our long migration through intergalactic space, and 
that that dispute has resurfaced here. But you are not entirely to blame.

"Absent wars to wage, what did we do but turn upon ourselves, sacrifice one another, 
compete for the favor of my predecessor Quo-real, or snipe behind one another's backs? 
The gods were forgotten. You lost patience, you worried, you thought then that the gods 
had abandoned us-because our long-sought home was nowhere to be found. And that is 
precisely what you are doing now. Prefect Da'Gara and the Praetorite domains-what did 
their blasphemous actions earn them but ice graves on what little remains of Helska 
Four, a world so far removed from Yuuzhan'tar it might as well be in the galaxy we 
left behind? None less than Warmaster Czulkang Lah refused to believe
me when I avowed that the promised realm was within reach, and what did that earn 
him but death in battle, like his son, who burned so strongly with hatred for the 
Jeedai that he allowed himself to be drawn into an engagement he couldn't win."

Shimrra paid no attention to the bitter grumblings from some of warriors, all of 
whom wore ceremonial vonduun crab armor. Instead his piercing gaze fell on Warmaster 
Nas Choka, noble in appearance despite his modest stature, with fine black hair combed 
straight back from his face, and a wispy beard. Choka had been esca-lated in the wake 
of Tsavong Lah's death, but was not yet universally revered, despite his numerous 
victories in Hutt space.

"Learn from the mistakes of your precursors, Warmaster, and all will go well for you. 
Fail me as Domain Lah did and I will personally make an example of you that future 
warmasters will be forced to con-sider before they accept escalation."

Nas Choka inclined his head in a crisp bow and struck the points of his 
shoulders with the opposite fists.

Now Shimrra glared at the fretting warriors. "Many of you would like to hold 
Prefect Nom Anor responsible for what happened at Ebaq Nine, because of the 
disinformation to which he fell victim. I myself accepted that for a time. 
But the real failure was Tsavong Lah's, for allowing himself to be gulled 
by the enemy. Tsavong Lah thought he died an honorable death, but I say 
that he shamed us all." 

Eyes downcast, many a warrior squirmed in place. 

Shimrra's gaze found High Priest Jakan-adorned in red-and High Prefect 
Drathul, sheathed in green. "There are others whom I might chastise and 
remind of their obligation. But I will reserve that for another occasion."

A dovin basal cushion floated Shimrra out of his throne to the ring of flower 
petals that encircled it, where he dismounted the cushion. Ankle-deep in the 
flowers, he raised his long-toothed scepter rank. "All can be made right by 
the coming sacrifice. But we must take care against interference."

"The heretics, August Lord," a priest said. 

Shimrra waved his empty hand in dismissal. "The heretics are nothing more than a 
pestilence-a plague of stink bugs we can eradi-cate at any time. I speak of 
interference from the unconverted who move silently among us-those who survived 
the planetary bombard-ment and worldshaping, the slaves who escaped the maimed 
seedship that delivered the World Brain to Yuuzhan'tar, the resistance fighters 
who profane our holy ground, and the Jeedai."

As if on cue, Onimi scrambled to his feet and followed Shimrra along the flowered 
ring, reciting:  "The Shamed are naught but nuisance flies, At least as seen through Shimrra's eyes;
The Jeedai are the ones he mourns, Edged and sharp as senalak thorns."

When Shimrra swung about, Onimi bowed in mock gallantry. "Great Sky Lord, if the 
Jeedai Force is nothing more than enhanced ability, why have our shapers not 
created worthy opponents from the warrior caste?"

Shimrra frowned and aimed a finger at his familiar. "You spoil my surprise, Onimi. 
But so be it." He turned to face the white-robed, tentacle-handed shapers. "Let us 
not keep our company in suspense. Display your handiwork."

One of the spotlessly adorned shapers rose and hastened from the hall. Moments 
later, entering through both the priest and warrior por-tals, marched a group 
of ten males. Shorter even than Nas Choka, they carried restless amphistaffs 
and whetted coufees. Steng's Talons sprouted from their robust bodies, which 
were smeared black with dried blood.

The ten were unlike the special breed of warriors known as hunters, who were 
privileged to sport the photosensitive mimetic cloak of Nuun, but something 
new and disconcerting, and the female seers were the first to voice their dismay.

"What desecration is this?"

"Armed as warriors, yet clothed as attendants to the gods!"

"What shaper is responsible?"

Onimi gamboled over to them and adopted a haughty posture.

"To prove the Force a farce indeed,
Shimrra's will the shapers heed;
Birthing troops of mingled caste
Great Nas Choka they will outlast!"

One of the seers made a futile grab for Onimi while the others continued to shout dire warnings.

"No shaper other than myself is responsible," Shimrra said, silencing them. "By my injunction 
do these warriors come to be. Our Jeedai. Charged with guarding the life of your Supreme 
Overlord, as well as with rooting out our enemies and exterminating them. At their disposal 
they will have coralskippers of unique design, with advanced weaponry and the ability to 
travel through darkspace unassisted." Shimrra paused, then added: "They shall be called 
slayers, in honor of Yun-Yammka-lest he feel uncomfortable about mingling with priests."

"They have the look of Shamed Ones!"

Shimrra whirled on the warrior who said it. "Shamed, you say? By my mandate were they 
created, Supreme Commander Chaan-by divine edict! If the gods had disapproved, would 
these warriors not bear the markings of pariahs?"

Supreme Commander Chaan stood his ground. "Shamed Ones shaped to resemble those who 
have been embraced by the gods, Great Lord. Concealing the deformities that would 
signal their unworthi-ness. Is it too much to ask that we be shown proof of their status?"

Shimrra grinned diabolically. "Cursed you are by your own request, Commander. Step forward 
with ten of your warriors and do your best against these."

"Fearsome Shimrra..."

"Doubt flew from your mouth like a tsik vai, Commander! If too quickly, then retract your 
words, or do as I say and stand against these!"

Chaan snapped his fists to his shoulders and summoned ten warriors to their feet; coufees, 
shields, tridents, and amphistaffs woke to the challenge. At the same time, the 
warrior-priests spread out, but only two stepped forward.

"Two against eleven," Chaan said in sudden consternation. "This is vulgar. Dishonor either way!"

Shimrra returned to his throne and sat. "Then we will be pleased to see you humble them, 
if only to demonstrate that our shapers have failed in their task. Carve them, Commander, 
as a dish fit for the gods!" 

Chaan saluted crisply.

At his curt nod, the ten warriors attacked, two groups of four moving to outflank their 
opponents, and the remaining two rushing forward immediately to engage and distract. The 
reactions of the warrior-priests were almost too fast to follow. They turned slightly to 
the side, almost back to back, wielding weapons in both hands, meeting the frontal attack 
and the flanking attacks simultaneously.

The amphistaffs of the attackers struck seemingly unarmored flesh without finding 
purchase. Coufees cut and sliced, and yet almost no blood flowed; what little did, 
congealed instantly. The melee weapons of the defenders were no less enhanced than 
were the small, muscular warrior-priests who wielded them. The specially bred 
amphistaffs snapped the heads off their lesser cousins, and stabbed with enough 
force to paralyze, even through armor. The slayers-Shimrra's Jeedai- leapt to great 
heights, twisting in midnight and landing behind their attackers, then rushed in, 
arms windmilling in a blur, gouts of black blood flying in all directions. One by 
one and sliced to pieces, Chaan's warriors dropped to the floor.

Silence gripped the hall as the elite of all castes watched with a mix of awe and 
dread. Shimrra was already powerful enough without this royal guard. Now he was no 
match for any domain that might think to thwart him.

The fight was over almost as quickly as it began, with the ten warriors - and 
Chaan - felled and bleeding, and the two warrior-priests unmoved by what they had 
done, their slender amphistaffs badged with blood.

The shaper who had escorted the group into the hall stepped for-ward to appraise the 
warriors and address Shimrra. "Our taller warriors kept rejecting the implants. The 
faster metabolic rate of our shorter warriors is better suited to the rapid cellular 
activity of the implant biots."

Onimi scampered over to one of the dead warriors and prodded him.

"Most impressive; Done with flair. But against a Jeedai, How will they fare?"

Shimrra nodded to Master Shaper Qelah Kwaad. "Show him." 

Few members of the elite were as fearsome to gaze upon as Qelah Kwaad, but the 
object she held in her eight-fingered cephalopod hand made her writhing-snakes 
headdress and bulging cranium seem positively ordinary.

"The weapon of the Jeedaii one of the warriors shouted. "More sacrilege!" another said.

"Hold your tongues or forfeit them," Shimrra snapped. "This is the energy blade 
taken from the Jeedai who killed you in great numbers in the Well of the World Brain. 
The one whom so many of you hold in reverence - Ganner. Think of the blade not as an 
abomination, then, but a holy relic of that warrior's might."

"Master Shaper Kwaad has desecrated herself," a seer said. "If you take issue with her
familiarity with the stillborn tech-nology," Shimrra replied calmly, "then denounce 
as well the contrivances Master Kwaad and her shapers created to foil the enemy's 
shadow bombs, their decoy dovin basals, and their yammosk jammers. Condemn, too, 
the mabugat kan that have ingested the enemy's deep-space communications arrays, 
and have enabled us to subjugate more worlds in a klekket than had been conquered 
in the time since my arrival in the Outer Rim." He gestured to the lightsaber. "For 
this ergy blade is powered by one of our own lambent focusing crystals. Hence it 
has already been sanctified.'"

The remark was enough to quiet everyone in the hall. Shimrra nodded again. "Carry
on, Master Shaper." 

Moving directly to one of the slayers, Qelah Kwaad ignited the tsaber, raised 
it to her opposite shoulder, and, with a slashing in, drew the violet blade 
diagonally across the slayer's chest.

The smell of burned flesh wafted through the hall.

Shimrra turned slightly to face the commanders. "Only a furrow where any one of you 
would lie in two pieces on the floor."

"They are more vonduun crab than Yuuzhan Vong," High Priest Jakan muttered.

Shimrra seethed. "Vonduun crab, dovin basal, yammosk, warrior . . Need I remind 
you, of all people, that we are all grown from the same seed?"







Nom Anor - slightly taller than the average human, disfigured by ceremony and by 
his own hand, fitted with a false eye that could spit poison-waited uneasily at 
the entry to Shimrra's private chambers in the rounded crown of the sacred mountain. 
Three sullen slayers stood stiffly to one side of the membranous curtain, and a pair 
of priests to the other, purifying Nom Anor with clouds of fragrant vapor puffed from 
the dorsal scent gland of a well-fed but skittish thamassh.

He hadn't been summoned to private audience with the Supreme Overlord since his 
return from Zonama Sekot, and he wasn't sure what to expect.

The membrane shimmered and parted to reveal Onimi, gesticulating to Nom Anor.

"Enter, Prefect" Shimrra's pet said, affecting a supercilious tone.

Nom Anor edged past him into the spacious circular chamber. Shimrra sat in the 
center of the room, atop a circular dais, in a high-backed seat that lacked the 
pomp of his public throne. A blood moat encircled the seat, and off to one side 
a yorik coral staircase with a finely wrought railing spiraled into the summit. 
A hardened module of the worldship, Shimrra's inner sanctum, like the Well of 
the World Brain, could be detached from the Citadel if necessary and launched 
into deep space.

"Did you not wonder when we three would meet again?" Onimi asked softly as Nom Anor passed.

Nom Anor ignored the question and approached the throne, genuflecting at the edge 
of the foul-smelling moat. From an inner pocket of his green robe, he removed the 
lightsaber that had stirred so much strife in the Hall of Confluence earlier on.

"Dread Lord, your desire was that this be delivered to you." Nom kept his gaze 
lowered while Shimrra took the weapon from his , |l? looked up with alarm when 
he heard the distinctive snap-hiss f the lightsaber's energy blade.

The mere sound of the weapon evoked jarring memories of an...,    t jn the Well of 
???????????????????????????????????                     ^^^^^^^^^?????????
the World Brain a year earlier, when Jacen Solo and Vergere had held a similar 
blade to his neck before they had made h 'r  escape  from Yuuzhan'tar.   Nom  
????????????????????????????????????????^^^
Anor  had  spent  countless moments since wondering how his life might have 
gone had the two T di agreed to take him with them. As a source of invaluable
??????????????????^^^?????????????????????
intelligence, he might not have been executed by the so-called Galactic Alliance. 
Perhaps after weeks of debriefing he would have been allowed to don an ooglith 
masquer and relocate in secrecy to some remote world in the Outer Rim, where he 
would have been able to live out his days in contentment.

No larger than a votive candle in the grip of Shimrra's right hand, the lightsaber 
thrummed as it cleaved the air.

"Answer me honestly, Prefect, do you believe in the gods?" Shimrra brought the 
violet blade close to Nom Anor's neck. "Bear in mind: honestly."

High Prefect Drathul's predecessor, Yoog Skell, who had died by Nom Anor's hand, 
had once warned Nom Anor never to lie to Shimrra. Now he swallowed and found his 
voice. "August Lord, I ... remain open to belief."

"If there was some benefit to believing, you mean." 

"I follow the example set by the priests, Lord." 

Shimrra's eyes bored into Nom Anor's single orb. "Are you suggesting, Prefect, 
that our priests are not acting out of the goodness of their hearts?"

"Lord, I have seen many hearts, and few showed evidence of goodness."

"Clever," Shimrra said slowly. "That's the word everyone who
you or who has had dealings with you uses - clever." 

To Nom Anor's relief, Shimrra deactivated the lightsaber. In another scenario, Nom 
Anor might have remained prophet of heretics, and even then be attempting to 
topple Shimrra from the throne. He had faced that choice in the Unknown 
Regions-/f0)p telling!-only to decide: better by Shimrra's side than 
       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????
overlord to a multitude of outcasts.

"What does one like yourself make of the whisperings that circulate 
among the elite," Shimrra asked from his simple chair, "that the gods 
have become angered by my decisions-as far back to my deciding to tip 
Quoreal from the throne, usurp his position as Supreme Overlord and 
pronounce this galaxy our new home?"

Nom Anor risked adopting a cross-legged posture on the floor From the 
far side of the moat, Onimi watched him with visible delight. "May I 
speak freely, Lord?" 

"You had better," Onimi said.

Shimrra glanced from Onimi to Nom Anor, then nodded his enormous head.

"I would answer that many of the high caste fail to grasp that the actions 
you took were a tribute to the gods; actions no less bold than those taken
by Yun-Yuuzhan when he gave of himself to bring the universe into being."

Shimrra leaned forward. "You impress me, Prefect. Continue." 

Nom Anor grew more confident. "Many of us had accepted as fact that 
the generations of wandering through the intergalactic void had been 
a test of faith-which, as you yourself pointed out, we failed miserably, 
by quarreling among ourselves and worshiping false gods, weakening the 
hinges of our own gates."

Shimrra nodded sagely. "Any group without opposition falls inexorably 
into decay and tyranny-or both."

"But you, Dread Lord, saw the arduous journey for what it was: a 
consequence of our previous failures. You understood that our 
shapers were fast approaching the limits of traditional knowledge - that 
they were essentially powerless to repair our deteriorating worldships; 
that our priests were likewise unable to rescue our society from the 
depths to which it had sunk; that our warriors, left without a war, 
had nowhere to turn but upon one another. We were dying in the void, 
Lord, and were it not for your toppling of Quoreal and his cautious 
followers, the Yuuzhan Vong might have ended there."

Shmirra stared at him. "Oh, you are a dangerous person, Prefect."
-ed at Onimi. "But as my familiar knows well, I have a liking
^^^^^^^^??????????????????????
eer " He paused, then added: "I will educate you about the
^^^^^^^^??????????????????????
The question is not whether they exist, but if we have any fur-
^^^^^^^^??????????????????????
need of them. Their fall began during our long journey, when
tailed to come to our aid. As you have undoubtedly learned, Pre-
one cannot keep loyal servants if one neglects them. So the fault
'with them. Absent our bloody support, absent our solicitations
, praises, what would they be left with? The gods may have created
but it is we who sustain them through worship. Now they are
bereft because the roles are reversed. They are angry because they have
^^^^^^^^??????????????????????
been forced to recognize that their hour has arrived; that the time has
come to surrender power to Shimrra and the new order."

Again, Shimrra ignited the lightsaber and waved it about, as if to 
emphasize his remarks.

"This is the greater war, Prefect-the Yuuzhan Vong against the gods."

Nom Anor gulped. "War, August Lord?"

"Nothing less! Because the gods guard their power jealously. But 
surely you recognize this, Prefect. Would you go quietly into 
retreat, or would you fight to the last to preserve your status? 
Abandon all the consuls who now answer to you? Murder even High 
Prefect Drathul if necessary to hold your ground?"

"I would fight, Dread Lord," Nom Anor said, more forcefully than he intended.

"And I would expect no less of you. But there is a problem inherent 
in all this, for we find ourselves surrounded by true believers, and 
to some extent they pose a greater threat to the future of the Yuuzhan 
Vong than that posed by the gods themselves."

Nom Anor smiled inwardly. "The gods have their place, Lord." Indeed 
they do. Religious ritual keeps the priests and intendants keeps the 
shapers from becoming too ambitious; it keeps the 3rs at bay; it keeps
the workers from discarding the caste system; eePs Shamed Ones from 
rising up in open revolt. Therefore, if 1 to remake this world, I must 
tread carefully."

Shimrra's words only reinforced Nom Anor's belief that faith vvas an
extravagance, and that true believers were the easiest to manipulate.

"I must tread carefully," Shimrra repeated, almost to himself "When 
faith is under assault and the social order is cracking apart, the
weak do not want explanations; they want reassurance and someone to
blame." He laughed quietly. "Ah, but I'm telling you what y0u already
know. Look what wonders this worked with the Shamed Ones who have turned 
to heresy on Yuuzhan'tar and our other worlds. Do they want explanations?
No! They cry out for my blood."

Despite his best efforts, Nom Anor began to quiver.

"I see that my remarks frighten you, Prefect. Perhaps you think they 
smack of heresy, such as the Prophet preaches to his blind following. 
Would you lump me in with our own Mezhan Kwaad and Nen Yim, or Shedao
Shai and his sad devotion to the Embrace of Pain?"

"I know little of those things, Dread Lord."

"Naturally."

Nom Anor didn't like the sound of it. Executions came easily to Shimrra, 
who was easily displeased. He had had shaper Ch'Gang Hool lulled because 
of Hool's seeming failure to govern the World Brain and prevent the 
itching plague. He had also executed Commander Ekh'm Val, who had 
discovered-or rather rediscovered-Zonama Sekot. Nom Anor himself had
been targeted for execution because of his gullibility regarding Ebaq 9.

In the days since, his dreams of power and glory had been fulfilled,
but what if Shimrra should decide to safeguard the secret of Zonama
Sekot by having Nom Anor killed-just as Nom Anor had killed Nen Yim
and the priest Harrar to safeguard his secret?

Shimrra was contemplating the lightsaber.

"A curious weapon, is it not? It requires the wielder to close with
an enemy in personal combat. Were it not for their misguided beliefs,
the Jeedai might actually be deserving of admiration. There may yet 
be a way to incorporate their doctrines into our religion. We must 
be careful not to repeat past mistakes. Perhaps we need to look for 
ways to conquer the hearts and minds of the species that dominate here."

 oac looked at Nom Anor. "Have the Jeedai never been defeated,
^^^^^^^^^??????????????
prefect?"

As Nom Anor recounted what he knew of the Jedi Purge, he con-
odered what killing Shimrra might have meant for the Yuuzhan Vong. 
^^^^^^^???????????????
RV assassinating Emperor Palpatine, the Rebel Alliance had unleashed 
^^^^^^^???????????????
decades of turmoil with local warlords, and incessant battles with 
hostile species . . .

"Tell me of the young Jeedai who learned the True Way, only to betray 
it," Shimrra said.

"Jacen Solo."

Shimrra knew the name. "The same who lured Tsavong Lah to his death... I 
have been blaming the shapers for not being able to super-vise the World 
Brain, but I begin to suspect that this Jeedai is somehow responsible. 
When I interact with the Brain, I sense its reluctance, its miseducation. 
I have had to instruct the Brain, as one would a disobedient child-a child 
of warriors who has been mistak-enly raised in the creche of the priests."

Shimrra rolled the lightsaber between his hands. "And the Force. I've
heard it described by heretics as the lingering exhalation of Yun-Yuuzhan."

Nom Anor's words to his followers returned to haunt him.

"I would not grant it such importance, August Lord. The Force is merely 
a power the Jedi have learned to draw from, over twenty or more generations.
But not the Jedi alone. A group called the Sith also made use of the power, 
and were perhaps responsible for the Purge that occurred even while 
we-you-were finalizing our inva-sion plans."

Shimrra folded his arms across his chest. "High Priest Jakan has made
mention of these Sith. Are they in hiding?"

Nom Anor shook his head. "Sadly, their flame has gone out of this 
galaxy, Dread Lord. The heretics claim that in the Jedi are combined 
all aspects of the gods. But in fact the Jedi are not flawless, nor 
are they beyond being outwitted and defeated. They have been cap... 
killed, almost turned to our own purposes."

"As you yourself demonstrated at Zonama Sekot." Shimrra's
mood became dark. "I am eager to deliver an end to our enemy before that 
planetary nemesis undoes us." He sharpened his gaze On Nom Anor. "Are we 
safe, Prefect?"

Norn Anor mustered his courage. "With any luck, Dread Lord Zonama Sekot 
is a dead world. If not, it certainly has no sense Of where it is, let 
alone where we are."






 
Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker stood in the trapezoidal entrance to the cliff
dwelling that had been their home and shelter on Zonama Sekot for what had
felt like three standard weeks. The span of time was only a guess based on 
human circadian rhythms, because the days had been anything but regular 
since the living world's abrupt jump to hyperspace, lasting anywhere from 
fifteen to forty hours, as Zonama's governing intelligence struggled to 
reassert control.

Torrential rain continued to lash the Middle Distance, driven by gales 
powerful enough to snap and topple the giant boras and strip the reddish 
trees of their globular leaves. The sky was an inverted silver bowl, with 
massive storm clouds stacked high in all directions, deep purple to black, 
and incandescent with continuous flashes of light-ning. Peals of thunder 
resonated from the bare rock walls of the chasms that housed the cliff 
dwellings. As if from deep below the sur-e came a hollow moan, like breath 
across the narrow mouth of a ontainer. Many believed that the sound was
caused by wind rushing oss Zonama Sekot's three-hundred-meter-high 
hyperdrive vanes. Caught in an updraft, three sheets of lamina building 
material spi-rt up from the floor of the chasm and disappeared over the rim.

"Thnis place is coming apart," Mara said.

Luke nodded but said nothing. He had his right arm around
 Mara's shoulders, and the side of her face was pressed to the soft 
weave of his dark cloak. The persistent gusts whipped Mara's red-gold 
hair about her face and across her mouth.

To Luke's left stood R2-D2, emitting a steady stream of mournful chirrs
and chatterings, his status indicator flashing from red to blue and his 
third tread extended to keep himself from being blown over Luke put his 
left hand on the astromech droid's hemispherical head.

"Don't worry, Artoo. We'll come through this all right."

R2 swiveled his primary photoreceptor to Luke and warbled in renewed hope.

Mara snorted a laugh. "What a guy. Always a kind word for pets small 
children, and droids."

The cliff dwelling-walls of tightly fitted stones enclosing two small 
spaces-was located in the canyon's middle tier of natural ledges. 
Cavities in the bare rock face opposite were likewise partitioned 
into hundreds of separate dwellings, but many of the vine-and-lamina 
suspension bridges that had joined the community's two halves were gone, 
as were the pulleyed platforms the Ferroans used for vertical 
transportation. Two kilometers below raged a ribbon of muddy water, 
dammed in places by knots of fallen boras and other detritus.

Word had it that similar conditions prevailed throughout the Middle 
Distance, which was the name given to the equatorial region where the 
Ferroans had settled more than seventy-five years earlier, when 
Zonama Sekot had resided on the other side of the galactic plane, 
in the Outer Rim of known space.

"Corran is coming," Luke announced in a matter-of-fact tone.

Mara slipped out of his embrace and leaned out the entrance to gaze 
around, one hand clasping her long hair. 

"Where?" she said, just loudly enough to be heard. "I don't see..."

She interrupted herself when she saw his head poke above the rungs of 
a wooden ladder that rose from a lower tier. Soaked to the bone, Corran 
held his jacket closed at the neck. Water dripped from his furrowed face 
and the graying beard and mustache that framed his mouth. His limp hair 
was pulled into a short tail at the back. He smiled when he noticed Mara, 
and hurried for the cliff dwelling, using his free hand to sluice some of 
the water from his forehead.
 

 -en  and  Saba's  airship  has  been  spotted  downvalley!"  he i 
into the wind. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????

"They should arrive any minute." 

Luke stepped out into the rain and wind to glance at the landing that 
jutted out over the canyon. "They might need some 
ur,-'H better be on hand to meet them." He looked back at R2,
^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????
 help. U(-xvho was whining in apprehension.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????

"Stay here, Artoo. We'll be right back."

The three Jedi hurried for the ladder. Whereas Luke and Mara
i been on Zonama Sekot for almost three months, Corran had
^^^^^^?????????????????????
arrived only three weeks earlier, in the company of Tahiri Veila and
three Yuuzhan Vong agents. Two of the Yuuzhan Vong were now
dead and the third was believed to have escaped from the living world
short of the act of sabotage that had hurled it through hyperspace.

First to reach the edge of the wind-tossed walkway that accessed the 
landing platform, Mara came to a sudden halt. 

"Is this thing safe?" Luke regarded it for a moment.

"It'll hold!" Corran frowned. "Could you be a bit more specific?" 

Luke squeezed past him, out onto the swinging walkway, where he jumped
in place, twice. 

"See?"

Mara threw Corran a look. "You can take the kid from Tatooine..." 

Leaving the remark unfinished, she dashed after Luke.

Corran was only steps behind when they reached the platform itself, 
square and cantilevered by thick timbers anchored in the cliff face. 
From downvalley, and drifting to and from in the wind, appeared a 
cluster of what might have been balloons, holding aloft an oblong 
wooden gondola with an aft cabin. 

"There she blows," Corran said.

"You're not kidding," Mara said. She looked at Luke. "They'll never
be able to land!"

"They will. They have the Force at their backs."

Luke set himself in the near-horizontal rain and focused his
attention on the approaching airship. Through the Force, he could feel
1 and Corran join him, and he could also feel the tremendous
^^^???????????????????
Jacen and Saba were exercising to prevent the airship from
blown where the howling wind wanted to take it. Confidence
" through him. The Jedi were working not against the natural
^^^^^^????????????
 forces, but in harmony with them, availing themselves of just those 
gusts that would maneuver the airship to the destination they had chosen.

Had there been better forewarning of the trap the three Yuuzhan Vong
agents had sprung, Sekot also might have been able to maneuver Zonama 
through hyperspace to a safe landing. But the jump to light-speed had 
been inadvertent-though fortunately in place of the planned destruction 
of the planet.

When Zonama Sekot first emerged from transit, conditions were even worse
than those that followed. Luke could remember staring into an unfamiliar 
night sky; then, at daybreak, an enormous sun ballooning on the horizon 
like an explosion, too brilliant to regard, and radiating such heat that 
huge expanses of tampasi had burst into flame. Seismic events had opened 
yawning, zigzagging fissures on the high plateaus, and gigantic slabs of 
rock had been thrust from die parted ground. Forest fires filled the 
already scorching air with smoke, cinder, and ash.

As protection from the dangerous rays of the star in whose clutches 
Zonama had been thrown, Sekot had engineered cloud cover from what 
moisture it could suck from the planetary mantle. But the damage had 
already been done. Breathable air was in short supply, and the plasma 
cores of the hyperdrive engines were dazed. Then, just when Luke had 
feared the worst for everyone huddled in the shelters and deep in the 
canyons, where the air was slightly cooler if no less oxygen-deprived, 
Zonama had jumped again.

Whether because of further misfortune or at Sekot's direction, no one 
could say. But rain had been falling ever since.

Under the guidance of the five Jedi, the airship completed its descent
and made a satisfactory landing on the platform. Luke, Mara, and Corran 
had the ship tethered to its docking cleats even before Jacen and Saba 
emerged from the small cabin.

"Welcome back," Luke said, clapping his nephew on the shoulders, then
hugging him.

Jacen's brown hair was combed back and fell almost to his shoulders now, 
but he had recently shaved his beard. His cloak was stiff with
mud.  Saba, in contrast, wore minimal garments, and her black dried
mu ' reptilian skin glistened.
^^^^???????????????????????
"You're shivering," Mara said to Jacen while she was hugging him.

"I'm fine."

"No you're not." She nodded toward the cliff dwelling. "Let's
get you inside. We have a fire going."

R2-D2 was chirping in excitement when the waterlogged Jedi filled 
through the trapezoidal entrance. A nourishing fire blazed in the
enter of the room, smoke escaping through a natural chimney. Elsewhere 
were glow sticks, sleeping rolls, gear, and provisions, moved
there from Jade Shadow.

"Are either of you hungry?" Mara asked Jacen and Saba when everyone 
had warmed themselves.

"Starved," Jacen said.

The Barabel Jedi nodded. "This one az well."

Mara glanced around. "Anyone else?"

Corran shrugged. "I'm not about to turn down a home-cooked meal."

Luke took off his wet cloak and hung it by the fire, then sat down
opposite Jacen and Saba. 

"Tell us everything."

With a nod of her round head, Saba deferred to Jacen.

"Conditions in the south are worse than here," the young man began. "The
forests are scorched beyond recognition, the trails are impassable, and 
the rivers are too swollen to navigate. A lot of the boras are completely 
leafless, and the wildlife has been shocked into hiberna-tion. Most of 
the Ferroans reached the shelters in time, but hundreds died. When they 
can, Owell, Darak, Rowel, and others have been scouring the area for 
survivors, but they haven't found any. There's no word on the Jentari, 
because no one has been able to reach them."

Cybernetic organisms bred by the planet's early Magisters - overseers and 
liaisons with Sekot-the Jentari were the carvers and assemblers of Zonama's 
once-celebrated living starships.

Some Ferroans are saying that the southern hemisphere is every
as traumatized as it was when the Far Outsiders attacked," Jacen continued.
^^^^^^?????????????????????? 

Saba nodded. "This one haz rarely seen such devastation on an inhabited 
world."

Far Outsiders was the Ferroan term for the Yuuzhan Vong, who had found and
engaged Zonama Sekot some fifty years earlier, when first scouting the 
galaxy they planned to invade.

"The Far Distance is melting," Jacen said. "The area where Obi-Wan and 
Anakin landed has broken away from the ice shelf and is adrift in the 
Northern Sea." He paused to consider his words. "I guess I should say 
Southern Sea, since Zonama Sekot is now upside down."

Mara interrupted the conversation to pass out bowls of stew sweetened 
with rogir-boln fruit, which Jacen and Saba devoured ravenously.

"Were you able to learn anything about Widowmaker?" Luke asked after 
Jacen had set his bowl down.

Jacen shook his head sadly. "It's gone. It didn't make the jump to 
hyperspace with Zonama Sekot."

The sudden silence was broken only by the crackling of the fire. Jade
Shadow's escort since leaving the Remnant, the Imperial frigate had 
been commanded by Captain Arien Yage, whom the Jedi had come to regard 
as a close friend rather than a mere comrade in arms.

"There's more bad news," Jacen said finally. "Some of the Ferroans are
holding us accountable for what happened."

Mara compressed her lips in anger. "Luke warned Sekot that the Yuuzhan 
Vong might return."

Luke shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'm sure the Ferroans are 
thinking that if it took only three Yuuzhan Vong to reopen wounds 
fifty years old, nothing less than annihilation can come of Sekot's 
pledge to enlist in the war against them."

"That is precisely what the Ferroanz are thinking," Saba said, showing 
her sharp teeth.

Jacen sighed. "Darak told me that, in the past, visitors could remain
on Zonama Sekot for only sixty days, and that our time is up."

Luke studied his hands and shook his head back and forth. "All those 
weeks of persuading Sekot and the Ferroans of the Tightness ot their 
participation-undone in an instant ..." He looked up at Jacen and Saba. 
"Has anyone seen Jabitha?"

"Tslot since the day Zonama caught fire," Saba replied.

Tsloot's humanoid interface with its sentient residents, Jabitha was
a's current Magister, the third in the planet's history. During
^^^^^??????????????????
brief appearance following the planet's emergence from hyperspace.

Tabitha had said only that Sekot had desperate need of her else-
and that she would return when she could. Present at the
ranee, Luke and the other Jedi had quickly discerned that the
'tha who spoke to them was merely a thought projection of Sekot.
Tl it fact had been borne out later, when Jabitha's entranced body
had been discovered in her dwelling place.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

"We'll just have to go back to the beginning," Mara said in a determined way.

Luke looked at her. "We won't know until we speak to Sekot."

In front of the hearth an apparition appeared, gradually manifesting
as a tall, wide-eyed, dark-haired, and faintly blue-skinned woman, 
wearing a black robe decorated with green medallions that sparkled 
in the light of the fire.

"Jabitha," Luke said, coming to his feet.

"Of a sort," Mara said quietly as she joined him.

"Sekot wishes to reassure you that Zonama will persevere," the 
thought-projected Jabitha said without preamble. "Since perseverance 
will necessitate significant alterations to Zonama's present orbit 
and spin, it would be best if everyone remained in the shelters for 
the time being."

Luke drew in his breath, only to sense that his relief was premature.

"I am also charged with advising you that Sekot needs time to reassess
the possible consequences of returning Zonama to known space. As caretaker
of the Living Force-as defined by the Potentium- the continued existence 
of Zonama Sekot is of utmost importance."

Luke and Mara traded looks of disappointment. Founded in the
-Palpatine Republic by would-be Jedi, the order known as the
^^^^^^^^^^????????????
-entium professed belief in a Force that was not divisible 
^^^^^^^^^^????????????
into light dark. Birthed from Zonama by the founders, and under their
- age as it evolved from egolessness to full self-awareness, Sekot 
are  to accept the tenets of the Potentium as fact.
^^^^^^^???????????????????
o hung his head momentarily. Back to the beginning, just as
^^^^^^^??????????????????? 

Mara had said - and perhaps worse. Sekot was turning away from
involvement in the war. Sekot preferred the sanctuary provided by 
gas giant like Mobus over open space and exposure to whatever harm 
might find the planet.

"Sekot has some idea where we are," Jabitha was saying. "It's possible
that Zonama Sekot passed close to this star system during thc Crossings 
from known space."

Luke motioned across the room to R2-D2, who was standing
silently against the wall. "Tell Sekot that Artoo can help compute 
the location-as soon as we can see the stars."

The astromech droid tootled in reinforcement.

"I will tell Sekot," Jabitha said, dematerializing.

Mara sat down next to Luke. "That was Jabitha's voice, but I think we
just heard directly from Sekot."

"It's possible."

The five Jedi had yet to emerge from reflection when someone hurried 
out of the storm into the dwelling's anteroom.

"Danni," Luke said, even as he was turning toward her.

Danni Quee's blond hair hung loosely around her face, but her green 
eyes shone with excitement.

"Tekli and Tahiri ..." she said in a rush.

Mara shot to her feet. "What's happened?"

Danni motioned behind her, as if to something just outside the entrance. 
"They're with him now, the Yuuzhan Vong Priest- Harrar." She blinked and 
stared at Mara and the others. "He's alive.'"







 o iving in to what had become a routine of self-loathing, Malik Carr
^^^^^^^?????????????????
thought back to his arrival at Obroa-skai in the carl\- days of the 
                                          ????????????^^^^^
invasion. There he had met with Commander Tla, the priest Harrar,
tactician Raff, and Nom Anor. Ever faithful to Yun-Harla, the Trickster 
goddess, Harrar and Nom Anor had hatched a plot to surrender a female 
member of deception sect to the New Republic government as a means of 
infiltrating the Jedi, and assassi-nating as many of them as possible. 
Carr had had grave misgivings about the plan, but had given his blessing 
nevertheless, in part because of something Eminence Harrar had said to him.

The success of our plan will result in your being escalated, to the rank 
of Supreme Commander, with a space vessel of your own to wield against 
the newfound enemy. From this, too, I will be permitted to sit at the 
riaht hand of Supreme Overlord Shimrra, on re-created Yuuzhan'tar... That
was before Elan had been killed and Harrar had been recalled Outer Rim,
and what was to have been a surprise attack on the Iemv shipyards at 
Fondor had ended in failure-another of Nom lor's plots, but for which 
Nas Choka and Malik Carr had been forced shoulder the blame. And yet 
since then, Nas Choka had been escape Warmaster, Harrar to high priest, 
and Nom Anor-against all the better judgment of many-to prefect of 
Yuuzhan'tar.
  
As for Malik Carr?

A custodian of enemy captives, stripped of his rank, a mere na senger in 
a vessel commanded by a warrior to whom he was onc superior!

"I want one thing understood, Malik Carr," Commander Bh Path was lecturing 
him from the high seat of the war vessel Sacred Pyre. "The prisoners are our 
first priority. Supreme Overlord Shirnrr holds them in even greater regard 
than any of the relics and idols our convoy bears to Yuuzhan'tar."

Standing stiffly in the murky green light of the command chamber Carr 
managed to remain abject and straight-faced, despite the fact that only 
days earlier more than fifty of the prisoners in his charge had suffocated 
in Selvaris's immolation pit.

Carr snapped his fists to his shoulders in salute. "I understand Commander. 
The prisoners first and foremost."

The convoy was made up of thirteen ships, most of them property of the 
Peace Brigade, but under the escort of five Yuuzhan Vong war vessels, the 
largest of them carrying two broods of coralskippers apiece. A circumstance 
that would have been unthinkable at the start of the war, the convoy was 
not accompanied by a yammosk. Worse, Path's vessel was tethered to a 
Brigader ship by an oqa membrane, to facilitate the transfer of prisoners
collected from Selvaris to Sacred Pyre. Some of the captives transported 
from internment camps distant from Selvaris would remain aboard Peace 
Brigade ships until the convoy reached Yuuzhan'tar.

"Commander," Carr said as he prepared to take his leave, "are you
satisfied that the Peace Brigaders have a similar grasp of the priorities? 
Having met with some of them, I would suggest that their only allegiance is 
to the spice they smuggle from Ylesia and dose themselves with."

Path grunted. He was exceedingly tall and corded with muscle, but was
seldom granted the fealty such size would have guaranteed another.

"In times like these, we are forced to ally with scoundrels and villains," 
he said in a tired voice. "And by Supreme Overlord Shimrra's decree do our 
vessels fraternize. But this won't long be so. Another
na! assurance.  "   r fought to keep from betraying the anger that consumed him
^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????
haps two, and we will be sufficiently reprovisioned with war-, vessels to
dispense with the need for Peace Brigaders or would-be allies. Warmaster Nas 
Choka has given me his per--   \\ "   r o
^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????

the one who had welcomed Nas Choka to the war, and had
o >d an escalation ceremony to take place aboard the vessel 
^^^^^????????????????????
in his rand. He wondered if Nas Choka would so much as deign to . on him 
now - especially should the warmaster learn of the escape a Selvaris 
prisoner. The mere possibility of that made the present signment all 
the more important, for any untoward incident would surely doom Carr 
to further demotion.

But no, he told himself. He would sooner drape a tkun around his neck than 
suffer additional shame.

He shook off his concern. Even though still visible through a transparency 
in the command chamber, Selvaris was behind him. Soon the convoy would 
accrue adequate acceleration for the transition to darkspace, and the 
next stop would be Yuuzhan'tar.

Saluting Path a final time, Carr began to back out of the chamber. He 
had just reached the membrane hatch when Path's communications subaltern 
swung away from the villip choir he supervised. "Commander, enemy vessels 
detected! On the approach." Path rose halfway out of his chair. 

"What?"

"Warships and starfighter squadrons," the subaltern elaborated. Carr 
turned to the transparency. A score of ships were streaming Jut from 
behind Selvaris's small moon. In advance of the convoy, others had 
emerged from what the enemy called hyperspace. He could almost hear 
the war cries of the starfighter pilots. 

"An ambush!" Path said in confused disbelief. A stout Peace Brigader 
burst into the command chamber. "We e told this route was secure! How 
did the Alliance learn of our plans?"

Fath gaped at the human. "This- this can't be!"

Tu man snorted in scorn and pointed out the transparency. 

^^^^^^???????????????????

"Look, Commander. Unless you do something fast, we're as space dust!"
 
Path shot to his feet and hurried to the chamber's tactical niche  where a
host of hovering blaze bugs were arranging themselves into ' battle 
display. Lacking a yammosk to chaperone them, the best the could manage 
was a representation of the disposition of the vessel and warships, 
without providing information on weapons capacity o attack vectors. 
Carr, meanwhile, took a moment to steady himself, for he knew exactly 
what had happened.

The escaped prisoner, the mathematical equation spewed by the captive, 
what he guessed had been code...

"Commander Path," he said without thinking, "charge the villips to
spread word of our plight. Deploy dovin basals to protect our vessels. 
Order the Peace Brigade ships into defensive formation while we launch 
coralskippers."

Path's subaltern looked to his commander for authorization.

Path swallowed hard. "Yes, yes, do as he says-quickly."

The human narrowed his eyes in favor. "Thank the gods someone is doing
the thinking around here."

Carr glared at him. "It's a rescue operation. Stop your muttering 
and see to it that the rest of my prisoners are transferred to 
Sacred Pyre. Once the oqa membrane is retracted, order your people 
to go to weapons."

Still grinning, the Peace Brigader tapped his forehead with the edge of 
his extended fingers. "On my way-Commander."

Carr reveled in the sound of the honorific, but only for a moment; then
he turned back to Path. "Are you confident you can tackle this?"

Path lowered his gaze in uncertainty. "I am here by dint of accident,
Supreme Commander. You fe/ow^here."
                       ^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????
Carr approached him in fury. "Blu Path! The honorific belongs to you unless you 
do something foolish to forfeit it!"

Path raised his eyes and nodded.

"Command the prisoner ships to go to darkspace immediately," Carr said. "We can't 
afford to have them remain in the arena and engage."

Path's eyes opened wide. "Flee in dishonor?"

Carr took hold of Path's command cloak. "Priorities, Commander. Supreme 
Overlord Shimrra will honor you more for safeguarding his than for your 
enthusiasm to do battle." He let go of the cloak. 
e teaches one to distinguish between wisdom and eagerness." lk t xperien^-t-
^^^^????????????????????????????????                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
" f th swung to his subalterns and conveyed the order. "\jo\v launch the 
^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
coralskippers," Carr instructed. The subalterns didn't bother to wait for 
authorization. , this proudly scarred face was ashen. 

"But without a yammosk..."
arr cut him off with a wave of his hand. "If the pilots under the mition hoods 
^^^^^????????????????
of the coralskippers don't know how to engage the omv bv now, they will never 
know! And they'll pay for their ignor-ice with dishonorable death." He motioned 
Path to the villip choir. "Tell them so. Stir their hearts. Inflame them!"

Path swallowed and nodded. "I will. But where will you be?" 

Carr tipped his head to one side. "Did you not command me to take charge of the 
prisoners?"

Path straightened to his full height. "I did." Carr placed his hands atop 
Path's broad shoulders. 

"Command tests our will. Hold fast to your faith in Yun-Yammka. Rise above 
the storm. But should the battle back you into a corner, you know where
to find me."

Path snapped his fists to the opposite shoulders, following it with a 
gesture of us-hrok-a sign of gratitude and loyalty. 

"Belek tiu, Supreme Commander!"

Weapons were already flaring in space-the enemy's laser cannons and proton 
torpedo launchers. Carr spun on his heel and rushed from the command chamber. 
This day would see him exonerated or dead.








Twin Suns Squadron of battle-seasoned X-wings emerged from
hiding with wingtip lasers charged and stabilizers locked in attack
ition. The convoy of pod-shaped Peace Brigade freighters and
ieir escort of war vessels was strung out in a long line that trailed past
Ivaris's moon almost to the planet itself. A few of the freighters
a retrofitted turbolasers and other ranged weapons, but most
e Patched together and defenseless. Three of the Yuuzhan Vong
s were 120-meter-long spearheads of reddish black coral, pitted
lovm basal launchers and plasma-spitting weapons emplace-
s-  The pair of larger vessels were oval-shaped carrier analogs,
^^^^^??????????????????????????????????
equally well armed, and sporting clusters of coralskippers affixed like a 
shellfish to their bone-white hulls.

Ensconced in Twin Suns One, Jaina Solo flew point for the thre squadrons   
under  her   command.   Gloved   hands   gripped   on  th X-wing's control 
stick, she chinned her helmet comm. 

"All flights form up on your leaders and keep your battle channels open 
for instructions. Scimitar Leader, do you copy?"

"Copy, Twin One," Colonel Ijix Harona said.

"Yellow Taanab Leader, do you copy?"

Wes Janson commed back. "Loud and clear, Twin One."

The X-wing's sensors painted blue and yellow bezels on the cockpit displays. 

"Scimitar Leader, your squadron has the number one carrier. Taanab 
Leader, those forward gunships are yours. Twin Suns will take the 
carrier umbilicaled to the Brigade freighter. The rest of the convoy 
vessels are designated to Dozen, Blackmoon, and Vanguard fighter squadrons."

Named by Luke Skywalker for his double-starred homeworld of Tatooine, 
Twin Suns was made up of T-65A2s and XJ3 X-wings. Ijix Harona's Scimitars 
were wedge-shaped A-wings; Blackmoon was E-wings; and the Taanab Aces-a 
volunteer squadron-were yellow snubfighters adorned with black stripes. 
The Dozen had originally been formed by Kyp Durron; the Vanguard, by 
Jagged Pel and his Chiss comrades.

The flanks of Jaina's white fighter still bore faint traces of 
running voxyn-Jedi-hunting beasts bioengineered by the Yuuzhan 
Vong - that had been added years earlier. Off to her right flew 
starfighters and armed transports that had decanted from hyperspace 
only moments earlier. She switched over to the command net. "You 
there, Kyp, Colonel Eel, Captain Saz?"

"Affirmative, Colonel," Saz said from Blackmoon One.

"Perched on your right shoulder," Kyp Durron replied. The nova suns 
on the fuselage of his X-wing were as faded as Twin Sun One's voxyn.
Good to see you, he sent through the Force.

Acknowledging the extrasensory greeting, Jaina felt Kyp join the 
Force-meld she shared with Lowbacca and Alema Rar. The Wookiee and 
the Twi'lek were piloting Twin Suns Five and Nine, respectively-
 Id was powerful, though nothing like the twin bond Jaina d with Jacen, 
^^^^^?????????????????????
even across the stars.

"Where's Jag-Colonel Eel?" she asked. "I thought the Chiss
were going to participate."

"Vanguard was held back at Mon Calamari," Kyp said. "Some- bia is 
brewing." He sends his love, the Jedi Master added.

Tl o sending caught Jaina by surprise, and her face took on iden 
^^^^^^^????????????????????????
color. Kyp's remark couldn't have been better timed.

"Twin Suns, Scimitar, and the Yellow Aces are tasked," she told he 
recent arrivals firmly. "Don't feel shy about asking for help if the 
gunships put up a fight, Blackmoon Leader."

Saz laughed. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Colonel."

From its socket behind the X-wing's canopy, Jaina's R2-B3 unit, Cappie, 
relayed an urgent message to the cockpit. She studied the translation 
display screen and chinned her comm again. "All pilots, sensors are 
showing intensifying hyperdrive emissions in the Peace Brigade freighters."

"Copy, Twin One," Harona said. "They're ramping up to make
the jump to lightspeed."

Jaina reached for the throttle. "They're not leaving without our permission. 
All flights, move in to intercept and obstruct. Target hyperspace drives 
and shield generators. Be precise with your shots. We don't know where the 
prisoners are being held."

Jaina watched Peace Brigade ships break formation, the lead freighters 
veering to either side, and midline vessels angling for cover behind 
Selvaris's moon. Elements of Kyp's Dozen and Blackmoon swept in to cut 
off the enemy ships.

Jaina pulled back on the yoke and sent her craft into a predatory bank 
that would have knocked the wind from her in atmosphere, but,
i	t	-t
^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????
re, with the inertial compensators enabled, felt like nothing more
i slow glide. Laser beams and molten projectiles streaked from
convoy escort ships, tearing into the ranks of starfighters. Two
ngs disappeared in globular explosions. Kyp's Dozen broke into
'eld trios, accelerating in an attempt to overtake the fleeing
freighters.
^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????
n
e of the Peace Brigade ships were faster than they looked.
^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????

Thrusters blazing, they raced Rimward, even with Blackmoon 
aricj Scimitar starfighters hanging on their tails, raking 
^^^^^??????????????????????
fire across their hulls and engine nacelles. But the pursuit was ill timed.

"I count one, two, three Brigade ships away," Harona said as the freighters 
made the jump to hyperspace and vanished. "Should we go after them?"

"Negative," Jaina said quickly. Their orders were to rescue as 
many prisoners as possible, not chase the enemy clear to Coruscant.
"Just make sure no others get past us."

Kyp's Dozen hurtled forward to make sure that none did, paying 
out concussion missiles and torpedoes as necessary to corral the 
fleeing freighters. Poorly shielded, the unwieldy ships heaved 
to, one of them already immobilized.

The carriers, however, were quick to react.

"Skips away!" Harona's voice boomed in Jaina's headphones.

Jaina slewed to starboard in time to see the enemy fighters drop 
from the undersides of their carriers and form up in clouds around 
the remaining freighters and Yuuzhan Vong gunships. Pearlescent red 
wedges of yorik coral, the enemy fighters were nimble and lethal. 
The sight might have sent her heart racing had she not grown accustomed 
to the enemy's tactics. Still, she knew from personal experience not 
to underestimate the vitality of the coralskippers or the single - 
mindedness of their pilots.

She allowed her sense of exhilaration to run its course, then eased 
back into the Force-meld. Lowbacca, Alema, and Kyp acknowledged their 
readiness.

"One Flight," she said, "change to course one-zero-one ecliptic. 
Set lasers for out-of-phase fire. Remember to toggle your grab-safeties 
if dovin basals pull your shields."

Lowbacca and Alema touched her briefly through the Force as their 
separate four-fighter contingents altered vectors accordingly and 
began to accelerate toward the tethered carrier.

Following the rout of Tsavong Lah's forces at Ebaq 9, and almost a year of modest 
victories in Remnant space, the Koornacht Cluster, Bakura, and elsewhere, the war 
should have long been over. Galactic Alliance commanders Sow, Kre'fey, Brand, 
Keyan Farlander, Garm
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
 ..    and others were certain that they had dealt the Yuuzhan
death blow, and that subsequent engagements would be lim-
3 mop-up operations. All the while, though, Yuuzhan Vong
had been busy cooking up ways to reestablish parity, and
*7~ rhey had discovered the means to counter the weapons the
-e had grown to rely on: laser stutterfire, yammosk jammers,
dovin basals, shadow bombs, and the rest.
Then the Yuuzhan Vong had gone a step farther by unleashing a
rde of specially designed dovin basals to gobble up or otherwise
acitate j-joioNet relay stations throughout the galaxy. While the
Alliance had tried valiantly to reinstate instantaneous 
communications	resorting to stationing warships in deep space to double as
transponders-world after world had fallen to the enemy, conquered or 
surrendered without a fight. Finally there had been the disastrous attempt
by combined Alliance and Imperial Remnant forces to reclaim Bilbringi.

The title of Trickster was back in the hands of Supreme Overlord Shimrra, 
and Jaina was only "the Sword" she had been named on Mon Calamari, in the 
Jedi Knighting ceremony that had preceded the battle at Ebaq 9.

"Make every shot count," she said. "Reserve torpedoes and concussion 
missiles for the carrier."

An organic-looking cofferdam still linked the Yuuzhan Vong vessel to a 
Peace Brigade freighter. Between Twin Suns and the leashed ships, local 
space was target-rich with coralskippers.

"Begin your hull runs," Jaina commanded. "Straight down the convoy line."

The X-wing's sensor screens grew noisy with battle static as bursts of 
green coherent light streaked from the starfighters' weapons. Singularities 
fashioned by the coralskippers engulfed most of the bursts, but a few beams 
pierced the enemy defenses and found their targets. Spherical explosions 
blossomed, sending asymmetrical masses of yorik coral spinning off into space.

At the end of the first run, Jaina powered Twin Sun One through a ught turn, 
accelerated, and rocketed back into the thick of the fighting. Superheated 
eject a surged from the coralskippers' volcanolike launchers,
whipping past her canopy like fiery meteors. She wreathed through tight 
grouping of enemy fighters, responding in kind. One skip scuddeci clear of 
her carefully timed bursts, but a second she caught off guarn with steady 
fire, destroying it completely.

She boosted power and chased the one that got away, her wingmate coming 
alongside her. The craggy lump of dovin-basal-driven coral climbed, then 
looped and descended, throwing everything it had at them. Twin Sun Three 
yawed hard to port, but not fast enough The skip's dovin basal lurched for 
the starfighter's shields at the same time two molten missiles were catching 
up with it. Overwhelmed, the deflectors failed, and the X-wing blew to pieces.

One thing Jaina hadn't grown accustomed to was losing her teammates. At this 
point in the war, with every available veteran leading his or her own squadron, 
most of the pilots assigned to Twin Suns weren't much older than she was, and 
each and every death tore her apart.

Anger flared in her, but only for a moment, before evanescing in the Force. In 
eerie calm she veered and pounced on the coralskipper while its organic defenses 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
were preoccupied. Two precisely placed shots disabled it, and a third finished it. 
The skip coughed fluorescent puffs of vaporized coral, then disappeared in a 
short-lived ball of flame.

Peeling away from the fireball, Jaina prowled for new targets.

With the playing field leveled, courtesy of the enemy's aptitude for innovation, 
fighter engagements had become as ferocious as they had been at the start of the 
war, before effective countermeasures had come into play. Alliance forces held a 
slight advantage when coralskip-pers were flying without the assistance of a 
yammosk, but enemy pilots now had more authority over their ships than ever 
before, and were no longer as easily outwitted or outmaneuvered.

Jaina ignored the displays of her range finder and computer-aided sights and 
relied on the Force to guide her to targets of opportunity-The battle channels 
were noisy with chatter.

"We can't clear a path for the transport with those skips hugging the 
carriers," Harona was admonishing Scimitar Squadron. "Three
 ou've got to take out that dorsal plasma launcher. Two ' see if you 
can draw those skips away."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

"We're trying, Scimitar Leader, but they won't take the bait." 

"Copy that. Then we'll just have to take the fight to them." 
im saw that the same situation applied to the tethered carrier. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
Coralskippers were intent on protecting the vessel at all costs - 
for last until it could detach from the Peace Brigade freighter. 

Close Twin Suns' Two Flight salvoed, opening rends in the yorik coral 
odees that shielded the vessel's drive dovin basal.

Jaina had the rest of her squadron tighten up their ragged formation
and press the attack. When the X-wings began to score hits, the 
coralskippers reacted by dispersing. With patent disdain for evasionary 
tactics, the lead skip launched itself at Jaina. Then the entire swarm 
sallied forth from their protective positions.

"Twin One, single skip at your right wing," Alema warned. "Thanks, Nine."

Jaina wheeled away from a flurry of missiles, rolled, and came about. 
She and the opposing flight leader squared off and bored in on each other, 
their respective wingmates falling back, too busy holding position and 
adapting to their leaders' actions to do any firing. The skip opened a 
void directly in front of Jaina, but she managed to twist free in the 
nick of time. The X-wing bucked, then righted itself. Jaina thumbed the 
trigger of the lasers, pouring fire into the gravitic hole. The dovin 
basal rushed to absorb the energy, leaving the coralskipper momentarily 
unprotected. It was all the time Jaina needed. The X-wing's starboard 
lasers hammered the skip mercilessly, splitting it down the middle. 
Long plumes of incandescence streamed from the rend; then the skip 
vanished in blinding light.

Two and Three Flights were meeting with similar success. All discipline 
forgotten, the coralskippers were streaking away from the Trier in a 
flurry of maneuvers, even while crisscrossing lines of lestruction probed 
for them.

Off toward what was the head of the convoy, the first carrier had 
belly-up; off to both sides, Kyp's Dozen and Blackmoon were 
lng circles around three Peace Brigade ships whose laser cannon
^^^^^^?????????????????????
turrets were smoking ruins. And now Alliance gunships and transport. 

I were on their way into the arena, keen on filling themselves bursting 
with liberated captives.

Jaina ordered One and Three Flights to surround the 
umhiHca[ J carrier. She asked Lowbacca to drop Two Flight back to 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
field any skip that might attempt to break through the line.

Kyp commed her. "Just learned that Alliance agents have sabotaged 
the hyperdrives on all but one of the freighters. They're our now."

"That's great news," Jaina said.

"Here's an even better piece. Your parents are here."

Jaina smiled. "I felt them."

Her eyes followed a blip on the display screen that could only be 
the Millennium Falcon. It was headed her way.

She hadn't seen her parents in weeks, and had learned only the 
previous day that they had not only been responsible for providing 
intelligence on the convoy, but also volunteered for the rescue mission.

Not that that surprised her in the least.

She sent a greeting through the Force. Her mother would know who 
it was from.

It wasn't long before she could see the Falcon with her own 
eyes. Her parents were maneuvering the ship as deftly as if 
she were an X- or Y-wing, top and belly quad lasers dispatching 
coralskippers unlucky enough to be in the way. A sleek Alliance 
picket, bristling with weapons, flew in the Falcon's wake. As the 
two ships closed on the number two carrier, the picket fired a 
harpoon directly into the nose of the Peace Brigade freighter at 
the other end of the carrier's intestinelike cofferdam.

"Knockout harpoon," Twin Suns Four said. "Like a giant hypodermic 
syringe filled with coma-gas. By the time our people board, the 
Brigaders'll be out cold."
  


r
JBB ranspa
ransparent respirators clamped over their faces and C-3PO shuffling 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
behind them, Han and Leia emerged from the crippled freighter's 
docking bay into the large cargo hold beyond. Everywhere they 
looked, Peace Brigaders of various species were passed out on the 
deck or slumped unmoving against bulkheads. The cargo area was 
already filled with three squads of Alliance strike troops, whose 
ship had harpooned the freighter and who'd been the first to board.

The strike troops wore mimetic enviro-suits and black helmets with 
tinted face bowls. Each was laden with blaster rifles, bandoliers 
of flash grenades, thermal detonators, half-meter-long vibroblades, 
and survival gear. Specialists in rapid deployment and infiltration, 
strike troops were a relatively new addition to the war, and most of 
the ones in the cargo hold had participated in months of familiarization 
drills aboard captured Yuuzhan Vong vessels. Han was certain that other 
squads had already penetrated deep into the ship. Three troopers were 
slapping manacles on the unconscious Brigaders.

He and Leia scarcely had time to take stock of the situation when
1 hatch in the forward bulkhead pocketed itself, and a Klatooinian
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
itePped into the hold. Twenty blaster rifles swung to the green-
c°mplected, scrunch-faced humanoid before he could so much as
aise his taloned hands in surrender.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
   
"I'm Hobyo," he said. A breather mask dangled around his thick 
neck. "The one who sabotaged the hyperdrive! Surprise Party!" 
h added. "Surprise Party!"
^^^?????????????????????

A human colonel signaled everyone to lower their weapons. "Nev time 
give the code words first, before you come barging into a secured 
area," he snapped. "You're lucky you didn't get yourself killed."

Hobyo relaxed somewhat. "You won't find any prisoners aboard the 
freighter. They were transferred to the Yuuzhan Vong carrier."

"Which way?" the colonel demanded.

The Klatooinian pointed to port. "The umbilical is attached to the 
cargo hold adjacent this one."

Leaving several soldiers behind to tend to the stirring Brigaders 
the colonel motioned the rest into the broad passageway that separated 
the holds.

Satisfied that it was safe to do so, Han pulled off his respirator 
and almost gagged. "What the heck are they transporting?" he asked 
through the hand he clasped to his mouth. "Rotten eggs?"

Leia took a quick whiff and snugged her mask back in place. "Is 
that the coma-gas?"

Hobyo shook his head. "The stench comes from the Vong cofferdam. Air 
circulators carry the smell throughout the ship. But you get used to it."

"Speak for yourself," Han said. He motioned with his chin to the 
passageway. "You coming?"

"As soon as I provide identities of the Peace Brigaders."

Han nodded, and waved to C-3PO. "Let's go, Goldenrod."

The droid started. "Sir, wouldn't it be best if I remained 
aboard Millennium Falcon?"

"Cakhmaim and Meewalh can take care of the Falcon. We might need 
you to translate."

"Translate? But, Captain Solo, I'm far from fluent in Yuuzhan Vong. 
In fact, I'm still trying to comprehend the conditional subjunctive 
tense!"

Han made a face. "You've never had trouble making yourself 
understood, Threepio. Now get going."

 nd Leia led the way into the port-side cargo hold. Han spied 
^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
ff rdam entrance and ran for it, only to stop short at the mouth, 
^e   half turn and flatten his back against the bulkhead. theI
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

"You really don't want to see this," he said as Leia approached. 
She studied him in puzzlement. Han was a bit wide-eyed and 
v E his head back and forth.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

"What are you talking about?" she sn*ikif*?)
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
"Remember that time on Dantooine when I got the Balmorra flu? , 
,, fas thing-" He jerked his thumb toward the cofferdam opening. 
"__is what I figure the inside of my nose must have looked like."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

Leia smiled dubiously and stepped around him.  "It can't be
that ba..."

She froze.

"Why it's an ... oqa," C-3PO said, standing somewhat akimbo at 
the entrance. "The word derives from the proboscis of a Yuuzhan 
Vong pack animal. The floor is what is sometimes referred to as 
a microbial mat. And the viscous liquid drooling from the ceiling 
actually houses the bacteria that engineered the entire tube!"

"I told you he'd come in handy," Han said.

C-3PO disappeared into the organic cofferdam, sloshing along the 
puddled floor, his voice echoing wetly. "Oh, yes, tiny white 
arachnids, similar to those that can sometimes be found 
inhabiting volcanic vents ..."

Han was staring at Leia. "I hate microbial mats! Maybe there's
another way."

"I don't think so, Han."

He firmed his lips. "All right, you first. Just don't... touch 
anything."

They covered the hundred meters in record time, eyes forward and 
arms straight at their sides. By the time they emerged in the 
Yuuzhan Vong carrier, Leia's legs were drenched to the knee in 
foul-smelling liquid.

They could tell which way the strike troops had gone by the
f   g holes the soldiers had blown in membranous interior bulk-
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
and iris portals. Bioluminescent lichen lent a cheerless green
 light to the carrier's meandering internal passageways. Fluids 
seeped 1 from gently pulsing walls and strands of connective 
tissue, where pas. sageways intersected. The air was rich in 
oxygen but pungent. They stepped through a torn membrane into 
a spacious hold whose yorik coral deck might have been pink 
ferrocrete.

Leia ignited her lightsaber.

From the ship's forward came the sounds of war cries and muffled 
shouts, blasterfire and the dull thudding of amphistaff strikes.

"I guess coma-gas doesn't work on the Yuuzhan Vong," Leja said.

"Yeah, too bad about that."

They sprinted toward the sounds of battle, rounding a corner to 
see allies and enemies down, smears of red and black on the floor, 
refreshment for a host of tonguelike creatures that were gorging on 
the spilled blood. Han shot from the hip, dropping a Yuuzhan Vong 
warrior with a coufee dagger in each hand. With a downward slash, 
Leia cut the legs out from under another who had launched himself 
at her. Hands pressed to his head, C-3PO issued a litany of 
mirthless exclamations and laments.

They followed the strike troops farther forward. The soldiers held 
their blasters at high port, sweeping them from side to side. They 
advanced in leapfrogging squads, waving signals to one another, 
overwhelming amphistaffs with continuous bursts, or concentrating 
blaster-fire on vonduun crab armor weak points, then searing the 
exposed flesh beneath. With or without weapons, with or without 
their living arthropod armor, the enemy warriors continued to 
attack, always choosing death over surrender where there was 
an option.

Stepping over sprawled bodies, Han, Leia, and a squad of troops 
reached another intersection. The squad leader was trying to
decide which fork to take when Hobyo finally caught up with them.

"The prisoners are on the upper deck, in a hold aft of the command 
chamber." The Klatooinian edged his way into the intersection and 
gestured. "This way."

A steeply sloped corridor led up to the carrier's command deck. At 
the top of the slope two strike troops had a Peace Brigader in 
custody. A strong smell of glitterstim spice wafted from the 
human's uniform.

 u - says that most of the warriors took to coralskippers when we -I " 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
the tallest of the soldiers reported. "The only ones left on Kea'
board are the officers."

The Brigader led the rest of the way to the forward hold. There,
bed together inside a sticky net, sat three Yuuzhan Vong. One
a command cloak that hung from bony implants on the tops of
shoulders. The strike troops' colonel was circling them proudly,
o'th his hands planted on his hips, thumbs backward.

"We took these three by surprise and webbed them before they
kne\v what hit them."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

Across the hold, fifty or so Alliance prisoners of various species 
were stuck to the deck in a pool of blorash jelly.

"Han! Leia!" one of them called out.

The speaker was a thickset human, with pleasant if undistin-guished 
features and a full salt-and-pepper beard.

"Judder Page," Han said, grinning as he approached. He scanned 
other faces in the crowd. "And Pash."

Cracken nodded his head in greeting. "Rescued by celebrities. I'm
positively humbled."

Leia glanced at the blorash jelly and folded her arms across her
chest. "We're not out of this yet."

Han squatted down in front of Captain Page. "If we'd known you were 
on Selvaris, we wouldn't have left without you."

Page shook his head in bafflement. "You were at Selvaris?"

"We picked up one of your escapees," Han explained. "A Jenet."

"Garban - Thorsh," Cracken said in obvious relief.

"How else do you think we knew about the convoy?"

"Thank the Force," Page mumbled.

"Wedge sends his regards," Han said. "He says he's sorry about 
Ibringi, and even sorrier that rescuing you took as long as it did."

Page mustered a smile. "I'm gonna kiss him when I see him." 

"I'd be careful about that," Han said. "He might just send you back."
studied the blorash jelly. "We need to get you out of this." 

Hobyo dragged the stout Peace Brigader forward. "He knows stuff works."

The man's spice-clouded eyes darted to the captured Yuuzhan Vong 
officers and widened in fear. "You'll have to kill me, because if 
you don't, they will."

Leia went to him. "We'll make you a better offer. We'll take you
with us. You'll stand trial, serve time for your war crimes, be 
rehabilitated, and released in twenty years. Otherwise we leave 
you here and we give the Yuuzhan Vong every reason to believe that 
you were the one who tipped us off about the convoy. Maybe they 
won't kill you right away. Maybe they'll even take you with them. 
But you're going to find it a lot harder to get glitterstim on 
Coruscant than in a Galactic Alliance prison. And you know how 
excruciating withdrawal can be."

The human gulped and found his voice. "All right." He nodded 
to the blorash pool. "Arsensalts."

Han stepped close to Leia. "Your mind tricks are a lot more 
subtle than your brother's."

Leia smiled. "I win by guile."

"You don't have to tell me."

The strike troops searched their utility belts, broke open 
capsules of arsensalts, and began to sprinkle them over the pool. 
When Han and Leia had yanked Captain Page free of the liquefying 
mass, he walked directly to the netted Yuuzhan Vong and went down 
on his haunches in front of the one with the longest hair.

"Something you want to say to this one?" Han asked in interest. 
"Cause our droid speaks fluent enemy."

C-3PO protested. "Captain Solo, I..."

"Not necessary, Han," Page interrupted. "Malik Carr speaks fluent 
Basic. He was commander of the Selvaris camp. Has a particular 
fondness for subjecting prisoners and droids to immolation pits."

Han proffered his blaster to Page. "No one here'll think any the 
less of you."

Page shook his head. "I know how important we were to Shimrra, and 
Malik Carr's going to show up on Coruscant empty-handed." He 
grinned. "He'll get his due from his own kind-unless, of course, 
he kills himself in dishonor beforehand."

A strike troop officer hurried into the hold. "Enemy reinforcements 
coming out of hyperspace. We need to move!"

 the colonel looked baffled. "So soon?" "The Vong must have gotten 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
off a distress call, sir." 

"Have the transports docked?"

"One or two."

Han stepped forward. "We can cram eighty or so aboard the " He looked 
at the colonel. "Can you take the rest?"

"We'll have to."

"Captain Page," Malik Carr called out. "I'll live to see you on a 
rificial pyre before Yuuzhan'tar completes a quarter orbit round its
star."

Page approached him once more. "On the off chance we do meet
again keep this thought tucked into that warped brain of yours: 
fifty of my people died because of you, and the next time I won't
be nearly as charitable with you as I was here."











In a mad dance, Jaina circled the stricken Yuuzhan Vong carrier, 
dueling coralskippers with each dive and traverse. The battle roles 
had been reversed. Now starfighter squadrons were the defenders and 
skips the aggressors, surging forward to harry and engage at every 
opportunity. Harona's Scimitar and Wes Janson's Yellow Aces were 
similarly deployed around carrier one. With several of the Peace 
Brigade freighters incapacitated by Alliance gunships, Blackmoon 
and the Dozen were flying escort for the rescue transports.

Millennium Falcon had followed a strike troop gunship into the 
docking bay of the freighter tethered to carrier two, but almost 
an hour had passed and neither ship had emerged, A transport was 
on its way to docking, but had suddenly stopped, adding to Jaina's 
vague sense of unrest.

She reached out for her mother, but all she felt in return was rushed 
activity and deep concern.

In conversation with veterans of protracted wars, Jaina had been 
Wvised to accept that the final stage of any conflict was often 
^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
the worst. More dislocating than the initial periods of surprise and 
chaos, and more dispiriting than the intermediate periods, after the 
deaths

1 begun to mount up and it could seem as if the killing might go on 
forever. But it was the end stage that was most dangerous-a period
 rhaps to augment dovin basal impulsion, which in a coral-
tail, P		,	, .     i	From the forward segments of
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
of improbable alliances and unexpected reversals, some owing to over 
confidence, others born of fear and desperation.

Jaina gave scant attention to any of this, except during the 
lulls i battle, when her thoughts sought escape from the tableaux 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
of fiery explosions and crippled ships.

As the mynock flew, Bilbringi was almost a neighbor of Selvaris 
and the recent battle there was almost emblematic of the odd pairings 
and reversals. Jaina had been warned to expect. The operation had been 
the first since Esfandia that combined Alliance and Imperial elements, 
and the disabling of the HoloNet had been one of the war's biggest 
surprises yet. Now, with Luke, Mara, Jacen, and other Jedi incommunicado, 
she was waiting for the other boot to drop.

She thought about her parents, and returned her gaze to the docking 
bay of the freighter. There was still no sign of the Falcon. She was 
about to comm mission control for an update when the X-wing's tactical 
screens came alive with enemy blips.

"Heads up!" she said over the battle channel. "Vessels decanting from 
hyperspace."

That was why the transports had stopped, Jaina told herself. Everyone 
had been expecting reinforcements to show up, but not so soon. She 
waited for the authenticators to display data on what the sensors had picked up.

"They appear to be coralskippers," Harona said. "Approaching from 
starward of Selvaris. I make it three stacked triangles of six skips."

Jaina shook her head. Coralskippers lacked the ability to travel 
through hyperspace unassisted. "Scimitar Leader, that can't be right."

"Twin Suns One," Wes Janson said. "These blips don't match anything 
in the battle log."

"Taanab One, my instruments agree," Jaina commed. "We should have 
visual in a matter of seconds ..."

What the long-range scanners showed made her sit up straighter in 
the X-wing's contoured seat. The fighters-if indeed that was what 
they were-were made up of three yorik coral triangles, joined apex 
to base. The leading two triangles showed mica-like canopies, while 
the third and largest was flared at the rear and sported a long upcurving
 icn"-r-, r was often located in the nose. From the forward segments of
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
skipPe
led fuselage sprouted six legs, three pairs to each side, veined in and 
tipped with launcher ports for plasma missiles. Twin Sun Three whistled 
in surprise. "They look like Azuran stingcrawlers."

More like voxyn! Jaina thought.

"Close ranks and form up on me," she said quickly. "Anyone hort on 
firepower to the center. Stick with your wingmates until we see what 
these things are capable of."

"Enemy is breaking formation," Harona announced. "Here they come!"

The formations of snarling skips surged forward with incredible
speed, their sextets of launchers disgorging plasma in steady streams.
Deliberately, Jaina placed herself in the path of one projectile and 
was immediately sorry she had. Cappie shrieked in distress, and the 
X-wing's shields fell to 50 percent.

She tumbled away from second and third projectiles, allowing time 
for the shields to recharge. "All pilots, keep clear of these things. 
They pack a wallop!"

The warning did not come soon enough. The battle net grew frantic 
with exclamations.

"Twin Six and Seven are down!"

"Scimitar reporting four casualties!"

"Taanab Ten, pull out! Divert power to your shields!"

Jaina glanced over her right shoulder and saw Twin Suns Two fly apart.

This can't be happening, she thought.

Stingcrawlers have broken through our lines," Twin Suns Six said. "They're 
going directly for the transports."

Jaina pulled hard on the yoke, climbing back toward carrier one at 
maximum boost. "Twin Suns, disengage and regroup. Screen formation on my mark!"
^>he issued the command, and the remaining starfighters formed up
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
e again. They chased the coralskippers flat out, wending through continuous 
volleys of incandescent fire.

"Scimitar is calling for backup at carrier one."

"Enemy fighters are taking up positions around our transports. We can't 
fire without risking collateral damage."

"All pilots, weapons on number one carrier are active! Repeat..."

The rest of Scimitar Three's words were erased by an agonized scream.

Jaina hurtled into the fray, thumb pressed on the trigger, only to 
watch her stutterfire bursts disappear into the yawning mouths of 
enormous gravity wells fashioned by the skips' dovin basals. Was 
the convoy a cleverly engineered ruse? she asked herself. Disinformation 
to lure the Alliance into a trap? But that couldn't be. If so, the 
Yuuzhan Vong would have capital ships and a yammosk vessel. They would 
have struck before any of the prisoners had been rescued and transferred 
to the transports...

Lowbacca growled a warning.

Four blazing missiles had Jaina's name on them. She slalomed 
successfully through the first three, but the fourth nicked 
the port stabilizer and sent the X-wing into a rapid spin. She 
calmed herself and regained control, emerging from the spin in 
time to see a transport explode directly in front of her. Sudden 
anguish kept her stunned for a moment; then she swerved away from 
the fragment cloud and went searching for the guilty skip.

Kyp and Alema Rar sent a sudden alert to her through the Force.

She rolled the X-wing onto its back. The Falcon had launched from 
the freighter's docking bay and was making fast for clear space, a 
Galactic Alliance gunship right behind.

Twisting free of engagements, four enemy fighters converged on the Falcon.

Jaina tried to establish contact with her parents, but the battle 
channel was screeching with static.

Mom!

The Falcon was jarred by missiles her parents either hadn't seen 
coming or were unable to avoid. In her mind's eye, Jaina could see
Han taking the ship though a repertoire of evasive maneuvers. And 
yet the enemy pilots of the stingcrawler skips were clearly anticipating 
the Falcon's every move.

 . a Alema, and Twin Eleven and Twelve flew to the freighter's battering 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
the skips from behind, but the Yuuzhan Vong refused to be distracted from 
their target. In a moment of fifi^    ge  Jaina dropped her guard and was 
struck from starboard. oilia; helplessly, she watched Eleven and Twelve shatter.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

The enemy was on a killing spree.

"All flights, go to proton torpedoes!"

Brilliant orbs of energy streaked forward and disappeared. The orino-crawler 
skips' singularites were swallowing four times what a normal skip was capable 
of dealing with.

Jaina flinched with each magma missile that hit the Falcon. The freighter's 
shields were holding, but the Falcon was literally rattling around inside 
them. Three skips accelerated, determined to overtake their quarry. Quad 
lasers spraying fire in all direction, the Falcon tipped up on her starboard 
side, only to take a devastating blow to the belly. One skip sustained a 
broadside hit and went careening into a Peace Brigade ship, opening a 
ragged breach and sending the ship into a dizzying rollover.

The Falcon and the gunship were almost clear enough to go to hyperspace. 
Jaina imagined herself in the outrigger cockpit, throwing switches and 
actuators, pushing the hyperspace lever forward. The sometimes unreliable 
navicomputer counting down before the ship could make the jump to lightspeed . . .

Hurry, she said to herself. Hurry!






The detonation nearly threw Leia out of her seat harness. Han's hands 
were white-knuckled on the yoke. Cinched into the cockpit's high-backed 
rear chairs, Cracken and Page extended their arms to keep themselves 
upright. The other rescued officers were packed into the forward cabin 
and wherever else they could fit.

How much more of this can the Falcon take?" Page asked. 

"As much as she needs to," Han growled, without meaning to. 

Leia thought she heard uncertainty beneath the bluster. Han adjusted 
his headset mike. "Cakhmaim, Meewalh, don't ease °n those guns! I 
don't care if they are overheating! Right now y re the only things
keeping those skips away from us!"
 
Han sent the Falcon on edge to evade a trio of enemy shins 
escaping with only a bone-rattling hit to the freighter's 
midsection. Streaking past the wraparound viewport flew two 
dual-piloted coralskippers.

Han's jaw dropped slightly and he looked over his shoulder at 
Cracken. "Pash, what kind of skips are those? I've never seen anything
like them. Have you guys seen anything like them?"

Cracken shook his head.

"Never too late in the game for surprise, is it?" Page said.

Han blew out his breath. "Guess not."

The muffled report of an explosion reached the cockpit from aft.

"That didn't sound good," Leia said.

Han's eyes darted to the display screens, then widened. "It's worse 
than it sounded. But we're not done yet." He reached forward to toggle 
switches, reallocating power to the rear shields.

"Can we make lightspeed?" Cracken asked.

"While I have a breath in me."

Away to starboard, punched by an enemy fighter, a Peace Brigade freighter 
cracked open, belching fire, atmosphere, and a whirlwind of debris.

Han pounded the console with his fist. "Nice shooting, Cakhmaim." He 
paused, then said, "All right, all right, the kill's yours, Meewalh."

He pivoted in his chair and smiled lopsidedly. "They think this is 
some kind of..."

The cockpit turned blinding white. Han's words swirled to nothingness, 
and time slowed for an indeterminate period.

A second explosion of intense light followed. A wave of concussive 
sound barreled into the cockpit through the sliding hatch, and Leia's 
ears popped. C-3PO let out a wail from somewhere aft.

"Shields are down to forty percent," she said when she could.

Han could scarcely hear her. He reached over his left shoulder, his 
hand knowing precisely where to go, like that of a musician at a 
keyboard. Finished with whatever adjustments he had made, he smiled for show.

Leia heard him mumble, "Come on, baby, hold together just
few seconds more..." He caught her watching him.  "Don't
worry."

She shrugged. "Who's worrying?"

The Falcon took her worst hit yet. A tangle of blue energy danced 
the navicomputer. A single rivulet of sweat coursed from Han's 
hairline to his set jaw.

Leia faced forward, staring straight ahead. 

"Now I'm worried." 

Without looking at her, Han counted down. "Ten, nine, eight. . ."
"... seven, six, five, four..."






Three was on the tip of Jaina's tongue when the Falcon was 
hit hard from behind, the force of the enemy projectiles 
practically kicking the freighter forward. The ion drives 
failed for an instant and pieces flew from the stern, one 
of them streaking across the nose of Jaina's X-wing.

Her mother's distress was palpable.

Then the Falcon was gone, propelled into hyperspace, but with 
four enemy skips following suit. As the Yuuzhan Vong had first 
demonstrated at the Eclipse base, years earlier, they were 
capable of tracking ships through hyperspace by means of a 
self-heating, vacuum-hardened fungus that forced tachyons 
from a ship in faster-than-light transit.

"All pilots, did anyone get a bearing on the Falcon?'"

"Negative, Twin One," came a chorus of replies.

The operation rally point was Mon Calamari. But Jaina recognized 
that the Falcon's jump to lightspeed had been desperate, and she 
doubted that the navicomputer had had time enough to plot an 
accurate trajectory. There were thousands, perhaps tens of 
thousands  possible hyperspace exit points between Selvaris 
and Mon Calamari.

Apprehension slowed her responses, even while her thoughts raced.

"Twin Suns, fall back to protect the transports," she said when 
she had gotten hold of herself. "We're taking them home."







  
s
BBBB^ im
ingle file, Luke, Mara, Corran, Jacen, and Saba trailed Danni 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
Quee down into the canyon, where they hoped to find the Yuuzhan 
Vong priest, Harrar. With the vines that secured the platform 
hoists hopelessly tangled, they followed a circuitous route of 
ramps and ladders. Rain was still falling in rippling sheets, 
and the Jedi had their heads lowered and the hoods of their 
sopping cloaks raised. Below, partially concealed under a 
swirling blanket of fog, the swollen river roared.

They were traversing the second tier when Danni stopped and 
gestured to a small cliff dwelling, where light flickered in 
the crude window openings.

"It was unoccupied, so we didn't bother asking for permission 
to use it," she said, loud enough to be heard by everyone.

They were twenty meters from the dwelling when a group of eight 
Ferroan males stepped from the gloom of a natural cave to intercept 
them. Slender humanoids with pale blue skin, they were not indigenous 
to Zonama Sekot but had been brought to the living world generations 
earlier. Their simple trousers and shirts clung to their bodies, and
water ran from their angry faces. In his left hand their apparent leader, 
Senshi, held a glow stick that cast a misty sphere of light around them.

"You captured a Yuuzhan Vong," he said, breath clouds accompanying his words.

Luke shook his head. "He was found wounded, and brought here to be healed."

"Not wounded by any of us," Senshi said. "Though deserving of 
-hitever injuries he sustained, for what he and the others caused to
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
happen."

Shortly after Luke and the other Jedi had first arrived on Zonama Sekot, 
Senshi-at Sekot's insistence-had helped carry out a counterfeit 
kidnapping of Danni Quee, as a means of testing the Jedi. A farmer 
by trade, he had gold-speckled eyes and close-cropped hair that had
darkened to gray-blue with age. Having lost several family members 
and friends during the Crossings from known space, he was ambivalent 
about Sekot's decision to return.

"We don't know yet who or what was responsible," Luke said. "We're hoping 
the Yuuzhan Vong will explain."

He advanced a step, but no one in the group moved.

"You could hurl us aside with a thought," Senshi said. "But you won't, if 
you're a true servant of the Force."

Luke lowered his hood and gazed at him. "And if you serve the Force, 
you'll allow us to pass."

The Ferroan gestured toward the cliff dwelling. "As an enemy of Zonama 
Sekot, the Yuuzhan Vong should be ours to deal with."

"To deal with how?" Luke asked calmly. "Will torturing or killing him 
return Zonama Sekot to Mobus? Have you asked yourselves how Sekot might 
react to your taking matters into your own hands?"

"Look around you, Jedi," another Ferroan said. "Have you ever witnessed 
Zonama thus? Not one of us has. For all any of us knows, Sekot could be 
unconscious-or worse."

Luke considered mentioning Jabitha's spectral visit to his and Mara's 
dwelling, but decided that Sekot must have had some reason for not 
appearing to and reassuring the Ferroans as well.

"Give us a chance to talk with the Yuuzhan Vong before you decide on 
a course of action," he said after a moment.

The Ferroans mulled over Luke's proposal. "Only if one of us is present," 
Senshi answered for all of them.

 "Which of you?" Luke asked, glancing at everyone.

A young man with white hair stepped forward. "I will go. I am called Maydh."

Luke nodded. "Then it's decided."

The Ferroans separated into two groups, allowing the Jedi unobstructed access 
to the cliff dwelling. Luke and the rest came out of the rain to find Harrar 
seated on the floor by the hearth, his long legs stretched out in front of him. 
His face and body were battered, and his front teeth were broken. Tekli stood to 
one side, ministering to his injuries. Rodentlike, though bipedal, the Chadra-Fan 
looked posi-tively diminutive next to her tall, bandaged patient.

Each of the priest's hands was missing two digits, but their absence had nothing to 
do with the injuries he had sustained on Zonama Sekot. Thick as a mane, his glossy 
black hair draped over his tattoo-covered shoulders. Tahiri Veila, whose own forehead 
bore traces of Yuuzhan Vong markings, was conversing with him quietly in Yuuzhan Vong.

Danni had assured Luke that Harrar was unarmed.

Tahiri was about to introduce Luke and the others when Harrar cut her off with a motion of his hand.

"I will speak to them in your tongue." His drooping eyes darted briefly to 
Tahiri. "Though I may look to you for clarification from time to time." His gaze 
returned to the Jedi, settling on each in turn.

Luke regarded the priest for a long moment, then said, "I am Luke Skywalker. This 
is my wife, Mara."

Harrar's eyes lit up in obvious recognition of the names. "The Master of the 
Jeedai. And the one who fell victim to coomb spores," he added, referring to 
Mara, who had been cured of the disease only with the birth of her son, Ben.

Luke continued. "You've already met Tahiri and Corran, and, by now, Tekli and Danni." He 
gestured to his right. "That leaves only Saba, Jacen, and Maydh-whose world you obviously 
came to destroy."

"Jacen Solo," Harrar said, in what might almost have been taken for awe. "I have observed 
you from afar, young Jeedai, figuratively and literally."

Luke tucked his hands into the sleeves of his cloak and sat down opposite Harrar on a 
short-legged stool. "You seem to know more about us than we know about you. Perhaps you're 
willing to correct that."

"Perhaps."

The rest of the Jedi and Maydh sat down in a loose semicircle.

"You told Corran and Tahiri that you, Nen Yim, and the Prophet \vere seeking answers from 
Zonama Sekot-nothing more."

Harrar nodded. "We kept to ourselves that each of us had a separate agenda." He paused 
briefly. "Nen Yim was a shaper-at one time apprenticed to Mezhan Kwaad, who attempted to 
remake Tahiri into one of us on the world you know as Yavin Four. Shimrra had tasked Nen 
Yim to analyze an organic ship that was grown here, on Zonama Sekot. In doing so, she made 
a remarkable discovery that appears in many ways to link this world with the Yuuzhan Vong.
She came here seeking verification of her theories.

"As for Yu'shaa, the Prophet, well, his alleged reason for accompanying us was to 
determine if Zonama Sekot could be of some use to the heretical movement he helped 
organize among the Shamed Ones on Yuuzhan'tar."

"And your reason?" Mara asked.

"Of less noble principle," Harrar said. "I suspected that shaper Nen Yim was also a 
heretic-though of a different order. I suspected farther that Shimrra was aware of her 
unorthodox practices, which meant that he, too, was a heretic. Finally, I was interested 
in un-masking Yu'shaa, and in determining whether or not he was genuine in his beliefs."

"The Prophet killed Nen Yim and left you for dead," Luke said. "Was that because you and 
Nen Yim succeeded in unmasking him?"

"No. His purpose was to make certain that we didn't survive to share in the glory of 
destroying Zonama Sekot." Harrar looked at Luke. "As it happens, you know him."

Luke waited.

"He is none other than Nom Anor."

It was nothing Luke hadn't already heard from Corran and Tahiri, but he had wanted to 
hear it from the priest.

"We know that," Mara said, breaking the silence. "But something isn't right. Nom Anor may 
have come here masquerading as the Prophet. But I can't accept that Nom Anor is the one 
who has been influencing the Shamed Ones to place their faith in the Jedi."

"I confess to being astonished, as well," Harrar said. "But you must understand, because 
of what happened at Ebaq Nine, Nom Anor had little option but to place himself as far 
as possible from Shirnrra's reach-which is not an easy thing to do. In Yuuzhan'tar's 
under-ground places, Nom Anor probably fell in with the heretics, and gradu-ally saw 
some advantage to becoming their chief instigator and voice."

"Now, that doesn't surprise me," Mara said.

"But he must have realized that Zonama Sekot can provide an end to the war," Luke said. 
"So why attempt to destroy it, when his ... followers stood to gain the most?"

Harrar shook his head. "I can only speculate. Perhaps his actions here have enabled him 
to reingratiate himself with Shimrra-for Shimrra fears this world more than you know. 
It has always been Nom Anor's desire to be escalated, and the possibility of escalation 
may have been reason enough for him to forsake the heretics who placed their trust in him.

"It's also plausible that Nom Anor has been working secretly for Shimrra all the while-even 
as the Prophet. Shimrra may have wished to create a perceived problem on Yuuzhan'tar to 
distract the elite from more pressing problems, regarding the war and the rebellious 
nature of Yuuzhan'tar's World Brain. Or he may have planned to use the growing 'heresy' 
as justification for ridding our society of undesirables and pariahs."

Harrar sighed with purpose. "Nom Anor is a consummate infidel. He thinks only of his 
own ambitions." He glanced around the small room. "But it appears that he was unsuccessful 
in eliminating Zonama Sekot as a potential threat to his and Shirnrra's plans."

"That remains to be seen," Corran said. "Either as a result of Nom Anor's actions, or 
as a way of protecting itself, Zonama Sekot jumped into hyperspace. To where, we've 
yet to learn. Maybe deeper into the Unknown Regions; maybe closer to known space. If 
this rain ever stops, we may be able to figure out where we are. But so far Sekot hasn't
seen fit to help us."

"Sekot," Harrar repeated.

"Zonama's guiding intelligence," Jacen said.

Harrar absorbed it. "Yet more similarities with Yuuzhan'tar ..."

"Or Coruscant, as we like to call it," Corran said roughly.

Harrar glanced at him and smiled faintly. "I speak not of your
singed galactic capital, but of the primordial homeworld of the
Yuuzhan Vong. Well before she died at Nom Anor's hand, Nen Yim had
to believe that this world is startlingly similar to the descriptions of
Yuuzhan'tar that have passed down to us in history and legends."

The priest turned to Maydh. "More, that the Ferroans are what \ve ourselves might 
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????^^^^^^^
have become." Deep sorrow tugged at Harrar's scarified features. "These realizations 
saddened and shattered Nen Yim's faith, as indeed they have shattered mine."

"We know that one of your early reconnaissance fleets happened on Zonama Sekot," Jacen
said, "while it was still in known space."

"Happened on is hardly the proper phrase, young Jeedai. As I said, there is much 
that links Zonama Sekot to the Yuuzhan Vong. Nen Yim discovered many similarities 
that cannot be attributed to coinci-dence. Zonama Sekot and the Yuuzhan Vong can 
only have had access to the same protocols in fashioning ships and other devices."

"Ships, yes," Luke said. "But the engines that drive Sekotan ships are not organic, Harrar."

The priest waved in dismissal. "Nor are they made of yorik coral. But what matters is 
that they are^roww." 
 ????????????????????
He shrugged. "Untrained in the shapers' arts, I can't provide the proof you desire. 
But I know in my heart what is true, and what isn't."

"Why didn't you ever attempt to return to Zonama Sekot after the first encounter?" Jacen asked.

"Because few knew of the encounter." Harrar fell silent for a
moment, then said: "I will tell you things I didn't reveal to Nen Yim -
Nom Anor-if only to further an understanding between us. There
were rumors during the final days of the reign of Quoreal-Shirnrra's
predecessor-that a living world had been discovered. Rumors, too,
t 
???????????????????????????
Quoreal's priests had interpreted the encounter as a sign that we would avoid contact 
with your galaxy. The ancient texts make clear the existence of a world that was anathema 
to us-one that could well prove our undoing."

"You invaded, anyway," Mara said.

Harrar nodded. "We were dying. Shimrra recognized this. Embold ened by his domain, he 
usurped Quoreal's throne and directed the worldship convoy to continue as planned, 
granting his full blessing to the invasion, assuring everyone that the gods had 
informed him that your galaxy was to be our new home-providing that we could cleanse 
it, or at least convert all of you to the truth.

"No mention was made of the living world. Those of less than elite rank accepted on
faith that Shimrra had received the divine word Shimrra is not one to be trifled with, 
in any case. When the invasion progressed easily, many of us set aside our doubts. We 
convinced ourselves that Shimrra's decision was correct, and that the gods were 
favoring us. Only of late has doubt reared its head once more. The heretical movement, 
the defeat at Ebaq Nine, the continuing problems on Yuuzhan'tar ..." Harrar looked at 
acen. "Which I suspect owe something to you, young Jeedai. And to Vergere."

"You knew her?" Jacen asked in surprise.

"Better than you, and yet obviously not nearly as well. She was one of the samples
returned to the worldship convoy by reconnaissance ships. She became the familiar 
of priestess Falung; then, eventually, of priestess Elan, of the deception sect, 
who served aboard my vessel ..." Harrar smiled lightly. "When I had a vessel."

"Elan," Luke said, with narrowed eyes.

The priest took a moment to puzzle it out. "Ah, yes, I'd almost forgotten about the
plan to poison the Jeedai with bo'tous. Foolishly devised. Whatever became of poor Elan?"

"She died horribly-of bo'tous poisoning," Mara said sharply. 

"Vergere was a Jedi," Jacen said, with some pride. 

Harrar was unfazed. "So I subsequently learned." He appraised Jacen, then Luke, 
Mara, and the others. "I have been preoccupied with you from the very start. Not 
in the same way Tsavong Lah was preoccupied. Nor as Norn Anor continues to be." 
His gaze favored Luke. "We are not as dissimilar as you would like to believe."

Luke grinned lightly. "I would like to believe that we are, in fact,
similar, and that you exist in the Force, as does all life."

"The enigmatic Force," Harrar said slowly. "But consider this,
Jeedai. We revere life as much as, if not more, than you do.
,, " porce gives you strength; the gods give us strength. Like you, we
?????????????????????
- ,[ the craving to merge fully with life; to feel, sense, experience the
??????????????
.Connectedness of all things-as, indeed, is embodied by Zonama Sckot."

Luke was reminded of his rigorous conversations with Vergere.

"There's one major difference  between us:  we  accept that what doesn't 
take the Force into consideration is false."

Harrar shrugged. "What doesn't take the gods into consideration is false. 
To us, you embody a dark power, seemingly as the Sith did to the Jeedai of 
old. And yet, if the Sith borrowed of the Force, much as you do, how then 
were they dark? Because they disagreed with your views."

"The Sith sowed destruction and chaos in service to dark designs. They exercised 
absolute power to achieve their ends. They didn't revere the Force; they had 
reverence only for the power it afforded them. They saw their way as the only way."

"As the Yuuzhan Vong do," Harrar said, "and you aver not to." 

"You worship pain," Mara said.

Harrar shook his head. "If they could be persuaded to answer
truthfully, Jacen and Tahiri would tell you otherwise. We accept that
birth into life is pain because it is separation from the gods-or the
Force, if you will. But since we would not exist without the gods and
their sacrifice, we thank the gods by emulating them, and giving of
ourselves in their name. Pain is our means of reuniting with Yun-
iuuzhan. We wonder why the gods created us, only to have us suffer
11 our lives in order to return to them. But this is unknowable. The
reative cannot but create, and this is what the gods do. These things
; beyond our understanding, and we accept them as being beyond
r understanding. If our teachings are false, then they will pass away.
Until that time, we must abide by them."

"Perish by them, you mean," Corran said.

 "Perhaps. But this is all so much talk. I fear that the gods look upon the
Yuuzhaii Vong with disfavor. I first realized this when Commander Kahlee Lah 
believed that Jaina Solo had become an aspect of Yun-Harla, the Trickster. 
Then I watched Supreme Commander Czulkang Lah be taken in at Borleias by the 
so-called Opera tion Starlancer. And now tens of thousands of Shamed Ones 
have allowed themselves to be beguiled by a self-serving heretic..."

Harrar lowered his gaze and shook his head. "Having appointed ourselves 
Yun-Yuuzhan's instrument, assuming the license to purge to punish, and 
to sanctify, to kill by the millions those who do not share our worldview, 
we have become blasphemers against our own religion. We have become a weak 
species, desperate to prove our strength to our gods."

Luke leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "If Shimrra understood 
this, could he be persuaded to end the war?"

"Shimrra hates the sound of reasoned words. Nor would any of the elite be 
persuaded-save, perhaps, those who have secretly remained faithful to Quoreal, 
and whose goal it has been to bring evidence of this world to Yuuzhan'tar, and 
expose Shimrra-to demonstrate that he violated the taboo and invaded, and that 
his actions may have damned all of us."

The priest fell silent for a long moment, then said, "Answer one question for me: 
can Zonama Sekot help you defeat us? Is it indeed a weapon?"

Luke touched his jaw. "It has that capability."

Harrar exhaled slowly and sadly. "Then no wonder Shimrra fears it so. It is as 
prophesied." He looked questioningly at Luke. "Will you kill me now-sacrifice me to the Force?"

"That's not our way," Luke said.

Harrar's initial confusion gave way to resolution. "Then if you would allow me, 
I wish to help bring about a resolution between your varied species and mine. Or 
do I begin to sound like Elan, promising one thing but determined to deliver another?"

Mara, Jacen, and the others were still trading looks of dumb-founded disbelief when 
Luke said, "Perhaps you carry something even more deadly than bo'tous, Harrar-in the form of ideas."
 
 [      r pressed his few fingertips together and bounced them
^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
his disfigured lower lip. "Yun-Harla is said to reserve her most
tricks for those most devoted to her. But we find ourselves
together, for reasons beyond my comprehension. From here,
'' we must at least attempt to mark a new beginning."
^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????


 
^W   fflPe're ec c're going to come out of this in one piece, right?" 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????
Judder Page asked as Han was returning to the cockpit. In the adjacent 
chair, Pash Cracken repressed a smile. Millennium Falcon had been in 
hyperspace for just under five standard hours, most of which Han had 
spent elsewhere in the freighter, evaluating the extent of the damage 
and checking on the passengers, who were crammed into every available cabin space.

Han looked from Page to Cracken to Leia, who had remained in the 
copilot's chair throughout the lightspeed transit. "Didn't you tell 
them everything would be fine?"

She shrugged. "Maybe they don't trust me." 

Han strapped into the pilot's chair and swiveled to the two Alliance 
officers. 

"You can trust whatever she says."

Page grinned. "Well, that's just it, Han. She told us to ask you." 

Han frowned at Leia. "Maybe it's time we reviewed our roles aboard 
this ship. I do the piloting. You reassure the passengers that the 
pilot always knows what he's doing."

"Of course, Captain," Leia said. "Might I tell the passengers 
exactly where we're headed?"

Han swung to the navicomputer display.  "Unless we took a
turn at the last nebula, we should be coming up on Caluula any
minute now."

Leia stared at him. "Caluula? In the Tion Hegemony? Could you have 
picked a more out-of-the-way planet?"

"Hey, I got us away from those Vong skips, didn't I?"

"You did."

"I had to make a judgment call." Han continued to make adjustments 
on the console and overhead instrument panels.

Leia eyed the lubricant smears on his hands, and a small bump 
that was forming on his right temple. "Everything go all right 
in the back?" she asked quietly while Cracken and Page were 
engaged in a separate conversation. "I thought I heard some cursing."

"That must have been Threepio," Han mumbled.

"He never was good with tools-

"Coming out of hyperspace," Han interrupted, reaching forward to 
prime the sublight drives and ready the subspace transceiver.

The starlines sharpened to points of light, and the starfield 
rotated slightly. The ion drives flared to life with a deafening 
'whoomp!' and the ship began to lurch and hiccup. From aft came 
the sound of stressed alloy, then an indistinct severing as if 
some component had been torn away.

"What was that?" Leia asked.

"Just another piece of us," Han said flatly. "Nothing 
important. . . I hope."

A distant object grew larger in the viewport, slowly defining 
itself as a linear array of geometric modules, linked by girderlike 
structural members and transparent tubular passageways. Docking berths 
extended from each module, many of them housing ion cannons and 
turbolasers in place of ships. Sprouting like a faceted mushroom 
cap from the center of the array was an enormous shield generator.

Han relaxed into his chair. "A thing of beauty if I ever saw one."

"Looks awfully beat up," Leia said dubiously.

Han straightened somewhat. "Yeah, now that you mention it. But e last 
                                     ??????????????????????^^^^^^^
time I passed through here the station was stocked with after-market 
parts from Lianna."

"How long ago was that?"

Han thought for a moment. "A couple of years, I guess. But..."

A blast rocked the Falcon from behind, snapping everyone back in their chairs.

"Another piece of us?" Leia asked, leaning in to check the sensor displays.

"Worse."

Leia's eyes were big when she glanced back at him. "What was that you 
said about outrunning those skips?"

Cracken raised his eyes to the overhead viewport. "They couldn't have 
followed us through hyperspace! It can't be the same vessels!"

Han veered the Falcon hard to port, a second before two magma 
missiles raced past the ship's mandibles.

"Somebody's changed the rules!" He leaned toward the intercom and 
called the two Noghri by name, then fell silent for a moment, 
listening to their reply.

"I don't care if the targeting computers aren't responding! 
You've got eyes, haven't you?" He growled to himself. "Have to 
do everything myself around here..."

A molten projectile hit the Falcon broadside, and a wire-filled 
module dropped, sparking, from the cockpit ceiling. Han barrel-rolled 
the ship, then dived abruptly. Alarms were screeching even before he
pulled out of the maneuver, and the authenticators began painting 
dozens of yellow bezels on the tactical display screens.

Han and Leia looked up at the same time to find themselves squared 
off with a Yuuzhan Vong battle group of capital vessels, gunboat 
analogs, tenders, and what was certainly a yammosk-bearing clustership, 
similar to the one Han had helped cripple at Fondor. Sentry coralskippers 
were already streaking for the Falcon.

"You know, you have a real knack for this!" Leia said while she called 
for a status readout on the shields.

"It's not me," Han protested. "The navicomputer has itself convinced that
trouble is the Falcon's default preference!"

"A likely story."

Han didn't alter course. "Grab a holo of that clustership. Download 
any drive signatures you can pick up and paste everything into the 
battle analysis computer. Then hold on to your stomach!"

He waited for Leia to carry out the tasks, then threw the Falcon
 near-vertical climb, continuing up and over in a loop that sent
! racing back toward Caluula's orbital station. The quartet of
^^^^?????????????????????????
tailed, six-legged skips that had apparently chased the Falcon
Selvaris were directly below, spewing plasma missiles, even as
o jinked and juked to evade incessant laser bursts from the dorsal
and belly AG-2Gs.

Leia swiveled to the commboard. "Caluula Station, come in!" 

"Transmit our identification code," Han said. "Caluula Station, 
this is Millennium Falcon. Please acknowledge." 

"Say something," Han muttered. "Call us a name-anything!" 

The closer they came to the station, the worse it appeared. Many 
of the modules had been holed and scorched by fire. A pitched 
battle must have raged for weeks, unknown to Galactic Alliance 
command because of the disabled HoloNet. Han wondered briefly 
how many other planets or orbital stations were in similar straits.

'o'oMillennium Falcon, this is Caluula Station," a female voice said 
^^^^^?????????????
at last. "Someone should have told us you were coming."

Han clamped his right hand on Leia's left in relief. 

"Caluula Station, even we didn't know we were coming," he said 
into the mike. "We've got drive trouble, and a couple of 
coralskippers are hounding us. Any chance you could lower 
your shields long enough to take us in?"

"Can do, Millennium Falcon-so long as you can guarantee that 
your ship's as fast as she's rumored to be."

"Pull in the welcome mat while we're making our approach," Han said,
"and the Falcon"^ still get us inside with time to spare."
       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   ????????????????????

"We won't hold you to that, Millennium Falcon, but come on in." 

"First we've got to lose these rock spitters." 

Routing additional power to the main thrusters, Han firewalled 
the throttle and began to take the Falcon through a repertoire 
of tomach-churning evasive maneuvers. The tandem-piloted skips 
did ieir best to keep up, singeing the Falcon's stern with gouts 
of plasma. But as the Falcon neared the station, the enemy vessels 
had to contend 80 with laser beams and the sting of ion cannons.
             ^^^^^????????????????????
Don't worry," Leia assured Page and Cracken as Han continued rocket 
for the small window Caluula Station had opened. "Han does this all the time."

The moment the Falcon soared into the station's embrace, the shield 
repowered. Repulsed by heavy fire, three of the skips peeled off and 
jagged for the protection of the battle group. The fourth kent coming, 
only to be stunned by the shimmering energy field, then fell prey to 
the station's powerful batteries.

Leia swiveled to face Cracken and Page. "See, that wasn't so bad "

Color slowly returned to their faces, and they nodded.

Steadying his shaking hand, Han cut power to the thrusters and 
allowed a tractor beam to convey the Falcon safely into a docking bay.





Seat of the galactic government since the fall of Coruscant, 
the water world of Mon Calamari was nimbused with ships of all 
category and classification, from twenty-year-old scallop-hulled 
Mon Cal cruisers to gleaming Star Destroyers fresh from the yards 
of Bothawui and distant Tallaan. The star system's inner worlds 
were similarly encircled, ever on alert that the Yuuzhan Vong 
might one day decide to fold their myriad battle groups into a 
single armada and strike at Mon Calamari from the heart of the galaxy.

Inbound from the hyperspace reversion point well beyond Mon Calamari's 
single moon, Jaina weaved her X-wing to Ra-lroost., one of the largest 
and whitest of the ships in orbital dock, and was the last pilot of 
Twin Suns Squadron to drift into the fleet flagship's spacious though 
welcoming hold.

A Bothan Assault Cruiser originally commissioned for the defense of 
Bothawui at the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War, Ralroost was 
under the command of Admiral Traest Kre'fey, who had emerged from 
relative obscurity at the start of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion to the 
position of second in command of the entire Alliance fleet.

The transports had been the first to arrive from Kashyyyk, and many 
were already docked and disgorging their cargoes of freed prisoners. 
Despite devastating losses to the starfighter squadrons, the mission 
had been deemed a success. Dozens of former New Republic officials and 
scores of commanders had been rescued, and most of Alliance Intelligence's 
double agents had been extracted. The opera-tion might have gone far 
worse had the stingcrawler coralskippers arrived sooner than they did, 
or had the deadly skips pursued the  rts to   Mon Calamari. 
                                  ^^^^^^????????????????????            

But instead they had remained at Selvaris Piiard the Peace Brigade 
freighters that had yet to be unloaded, to sare&>    escort those 
                            ???????????????????^^^^^^^^^
prisoner ships to Coruscant.

Seizing the opportunity, Chief of State Cal Omas's media team ,    ull 
                           ????????????????????????????????^^^^^^^^
the mission into a public relations event meant to send a message
to the governments of threatened worlds to hold out; that unlike 
" fallen New Republic, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances was
^^^^^^^^?????????????
about to allow any more star systems to fall to enemy rule. As a
esult, several hundred military personnel, civilians, and media 
repreentatives were on hand to greet the rescued.  Booming applause
erupted for each one to emerge from a transport. Weeping spouses
rushed to embrace their returned partners. Children, clearly confused
bv all the commotion, wrapped their arms tightly around the legs or
waists of their liberated mothers or fathers.

Medics and droids worked side by side to move the injured onto repulsor 
gurneys and hurry them off for bacta treatment. Most of the rescued, of 
whatever species, needed little more than minor attention and a couple 
of hearty meals. Others were in critical condition. The fact that none 
had been implanted with surge-coral was a constant reminder that they
were to have gone to their deaths as sacrificial victims.

Few civilians and no one from the media took notice of the battered 
starfighters that entered Ralroosfs hold in the wake of the trans-ports. 
Jaina didn't mind, but she had to laugh. Not all that long ago she had 
been a media darling, because of her capture of a Yuuzhan Vong ship and 
the brief role she had played as "the Trickster Goddess"-a weapon unto 
herself. Now she was just another weary pilot returning from a mission 
that had nearly gone completely wrong.

Five Twin Suns pilots had died. But that was breaking news only to 
those who had survived.

A human crew chief rolled a ladder up to Jaina's X-wing while the canopy 
was rising. Two crash-team techs rushed in to effect repairs and check 
on carbon-scored Cappie.

"Welcome back, Colonel," the young woman said.

Jaina descended the ladder, took off her helmet, and shook out
brown hair. Loosening the tabs of her flight suit, she put the
helmet under her arm and began to circle the X-wing, her eyes scanning 
the hold for signs of Millennium Falcon. Not too far away, Lowbacca, Kyp, 
and Alema Rar were emerging from their craft.

"Has there been any communication from the Falcon?" she asked the  crew 
chief after  she  had  completed  a  second  circle  of th starfighter.

The woman undipped a datapad from her belt and gave the small display 
screen a perfunctory glance. 

"Not that I'm aware of, Colonel But the Falcon might have been directed 
into one of the frigates."

Jaina forced an exhale. When the crew chief started to move off Jaina 
grabbed hold of her arm-forcefully, until she realized what she had 
done and relaxed her grip.

"Could you check on that?"

The woman frowned and rubbed her bicep.

"Please," Jaina added.

This time the crew chief spent a long moment studying the data screen
of her portable device.

"Sorry, Colonel, no sign of the Falcon anywhere." She smiled 
sympathetically. "If I hear anything, I'll find you."

Starfighters and gunships were still arriving-some on a wing and 
prayer. Jaina moved to the edge of a balcony that overlooked the 
docking bay's magcon field. Gazing out at all the moving lights, 
the octagonal shipyards, and the distant orbital Fleet Command Annex, 
she stretched out with her feelings. At the edge of her awareness she 
could sense that her mother and father were alive, but in grave danger. 
Her mind made up, she hurried back to the starfighter and clambered up 
the ladder to the cockpit.

"I'm going back out," she informed the puzzled crew chief.

"Sir?"

Jaina pulled her helmet on and settled herself in the seat. "If anyone 
asks, I'm back at the Mon Eron reversion point."

The young woman grew flustered. "But your ship . . . your droid!"

Jaina fastened her chin strap as the canopy was lowering. "They're 
used to it."







 for all the worldshaping and geologic surgery performed on Cor-Westport, 

^^^^^^???????????????????
north of the former Legislative District, remained a 11 SL*^   ^
                         ???????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^
,.      area. Its floating platforms, docking bays, and maintenance
^^^^^??????????????????
holdings nad been slagged, and in their place stood grashals and
oi mollusklike housings, scattered across a vast expanse of fused
^^^^^???????????
., corai tableland, with room enough for more than ten thousand
^^^^???????????????
els Though few would recognize it, the aerodrome had fared far
better than Eastport, Newport, or West Championne.

Roval coralcraft had transported Shimrra's retinue from the world-hip
Citadel-which rose to the east, atop what had once been the Imperial 
District - to within a kilometer of Westport. Once back on the ground, 
the Supreme Overlord was conveyed the remaining distance by royal 
palanquin. The ornate and grotesque litter was held aloft bv a pride 
of dedicated dovin basals, and was both preceded and trailed bv an 
entourage of servants and courtesans, as well as by the most recent 
additions to Shimrra's company-the four female seers, and members of 
the newly enhanced warrior sect known as slayers.

Strewn with flowers trampled to airborne fragrance by the bare feet of 
attendants, the winding path to the landing field meandered over the 
rounded summits of crushed edifices and across countless bridges that 
spanned those artificial canyons the Yuuzhan Vong had been unable to 
fill or otherwise efface. Choirs of insects honored the gods with their 
trilling songs, and carrion birds picked at the vestiges of the plague 
of stink beetles. The sky was a radiant purple, with the rainbow bridge 
faintly visible, halfway to apogee.

But the flawless sky belied the melancholy nature of the procession,
for all who formed it knew of the events that had transpired at
*lvaris. The enemy had somehow learned of the Peace Brigade
^^^^^^^???????????????????
envoy and had ambushed it, recapturing many of the captives who
e slated to be sacrificed at the imminent ceremony. Quick action
^^^^^^??????????????????
the part of a Yuuzhan Vong commander had resulted in the escape
three  Peace  Brigade  freighters, which had communicated the
nv°v's distress to Yuuzhan'tar. A band of slayers had been dis-
^^^^^^^????????????????????
tled, and had performed brilliantly, much to the displeasure of
^^^^^???????????????????
 many an elite warrior, who regarded the slayers as abominations to the
caste system, and who fretted about the augmentative power they Divided 
the Supreme Overlord.

Nom Anor walked several paces behind the skull-adorned palanquin in a 
group that included High Priest Jakan, Master Shaper Qelah Kwaad' Warmaster 
Nas Choka, High Prefect Drathul, and other elites. He had
been worried about receiving blame for the Peace Brigade's failure	th
                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????
back-stabbing group was essentially his creation - but thus far no one had 
been inclined to hold him responsible. His defense would have remained 
unchanged, in any event: that acts of treachery were only as successful 
as the traitors who perpetrated them.

The Peace Brigade freighters had not been allowed to land on Yuuzhan'tar, 
but their non-Yuuzhan Vong commanders and crews had been shuttled to the 
surface by yorik-trema. With them had arrived the Alliance captives, along 
with the commanders and crews of the Yuuzhan Vong escort vessels. The 
latter groups were kneeling in ranks in an area of the landing field 
reserved for the naming, blessing, and tattooing of war vessels. Herded 
off to one side and immobilized by blorash jelly were the Alliance 
captives, and in the center of the field, flung down on their faces, 
lay the Peace Brigaders.

Nom Anor considered that Shimrra might order the procession to trample 
the prostrate Brigaders, but instead the Supreme Overlord called a halt 
to the entourage when his palanquin had reached the center of the field. 
The mixed-species lot of already battered turncoats knew enough to remain 
facedown on the rough ground, while High Priest Jakan's acolytes, joined 
by Onimi, circulated among them, anointing them with paaloc incense and venogel.

Then Jakan placed himself among their midst, his hooded eyes surveying 
the lumps and welts that slayers had administered to the Brigaders before 
they had been shuttled down to Yuuzhan'tar.

The high priest moved on to the Yuuzhan Vong warriors and summoned their 
commander, 

Bhu Path. A towering warrior with inadequate skill for command, his 
escalation had come about only as a result of persistent petitioning by 
members of Domain Path, which included several important consuls.

"How many captives did you deliver, Commander?" Jakan asked. 

Path pivoted slightly to salute Warmaster Nas Choka. "Six
ckets- -nearly five hundred.'
^^^^^????????????????????????????

T- km  shook his  head  in  disappointment  and  glanced  up  at .-1 
^^^^^???????????????????????                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Less than half the minimal amount required for a ceremony of such magnitude."

Shimrra gazed stonily from the hard bed of his palanquin, but said 
I ing even when the seers began to consult their divination biots and moan in distress.
^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Nas Choka separated himself from the procession and gestured to Bhu 
Path and his subalterns.

"Our warriors acquitted themselves well by destroying many enemy fighters 
and reclaiming two of the ships that might have escaped with the rest. 
One warrior in particular is noted for having saved our own escort 
vessels from destruction, in addition to other acts of bravery."

"Bring this one forward," Shimrra said, "so I might cast my benevolent gaze on him."

"Commander Malik Carr," Nas Choka called. 

Nom Anor couldn't believe his ears. After the calamity at Fondor, Malik 
Carr had been demoted and removed from battle. Now here he was, standing 
in Shimrra's gaze, a hero! Would everything reverse itself in due time?

Carr genuflected to Shimrra, then Nas Choka, and remained on one knee. 
At a motion from the warmaster, a subaltern hurried forward with a command 
cloak, which Nas Choka draped over the horns implanted in Carr's shoulders.

"Rise as Supreme Commander Malik Carr," Nas Choka intoned, reinstated 
because of his courageous actions at Selvaris. We will soon ssign him 
to a command more worthy of his station."

Malik Carr snapped his fists in salute and returned to the ranks.

"Dread Lord," Jakan said a moment later, "occurring as they did
on arena of battle, the death of many infidels at Selvaris counts for
nothing. But as I say, the captives on hand number too few to con-
^^^^^^^????????????????????                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^
e an appropriate appeal to the gods. We must offer more than
his Paltry lot."
^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????? 

Commander Blu Path risked a forward step. "My Lord, we not let these virulent
Peace Brigaders substitute for those the surrendered?"

Path's proposal met with a few shouts of approval, though most
from members of his domain.

"Such acts of replacement are not without precedent..." Jakan 
started to say, when Shimrra silenced him with a look.

"They are not worthy of honorable deaths," Shimrra said. "Not 
only did they allow their league to be infiltrated by enemy 
spies, but several of their ships also abandoned the arena at 
the first sign of engagement, taking with them supplies and a 
number of sacred objects that were en route from Obroa-skai."

Shimrra stepped down from the litter, causing a stir among warriors 
and priests alike, a group of whom unfurled a living carpet in 
advance of Shimrra's steps. Onimi followed, capering as he trailed 
his master.

"On which worlds are we currently engaged in surface contest?" Shimrra 
asked Nas Choka.

The warmaster thought before speaking. "I could name twenty, Great Lord. Fifty."

Shimrra grew angry. "Name one, Warmaster."

"Corulag, then."

Shimrra nodded. "Corulag it shall be. See to it that the Peace Brigaders
are implanted with surge-coral and sent to the front to join the ranks 
of our human thrall. In battle, perhaps they will redeem themselves."

Nas Choka saluted. "Your will be done."

Shimrra turned then, and beckoned to Drathul and Nom Anor.

"Momentous plans require momentous ritual. Therefore, the sacrifice 
can neither be delayed nor interfered with. Make certain that the 
consuls and executors in your charge be advised that I will brook 
no further upsets. Should anything untoward occur, I will look 
upon you and your charges as I would any who seek to meddle in 
our holy venture."

"Understood," Drathul and Nom Anor responded in unison.

Nas Choka waited patiently for Shimrra to settle himself on 
the palanquin before saying, "A suggestion, Great Lord."

Shimrra granted him a gaze. "Proceed, Warmaster." 

"We are presently engaged in a campaign to occupy a world known as 
Caluula. If you would permit our efforts to be doubled the planet 
will fall and many captives will be available to enrich pply. Why 
not let the brave defenders of the orbital complex to compensate 
for our dearth of illustrious sacrifices?"

"Caluula, you say."

"Distant from Yuuzhan'tar, Great Lord, but vital to our ultimate
designs."

Shimrra looked to Jakan, then the seers, who nodded.

"Let it be done."





 I
it      f*	f
r
JB" he da
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????

"The damage looks much worse from out here," C-3PO said, staring up at 
the belly of Millennium Falcon from the foot of the landing ramp.

Han glared at him from under the ship, where he, Leia, and a 
Caluula Station mechanic were compiling a list of needed 
repairs. "Who asked you, Threepio?"

The protocol droid adopted a posture of inquisitiveness. "No one, 
Captain Solo. I was only remarking..."

"Threepio," Leia cut him off. "That's enough for now."

"Of course, Princess Leia. I know when I'm not wanted."

"That'll be the day," Han said.

Cracken, Page, and the rest of the rescued officers were standing 
off to one side, fielding questions from several other Caluula 
mechanics, who had dropped what they were doing to surround the 
Falcon the moment she had settled on her landing disks.

The ship was blistered, dented, and punctured.

"She's a storyboard for the whole war," the mechanic said.

Han nodded. "You got that right."

The mechanic wedged his forefinger into a hole in the underside 
of the outrigger cockpit. "I'll bet this one's not half a meter 
from the pilot's chair."
 
Han swallowed audibly. "I've had closer calls." 

Leia glanced at the mechanic. "You might have heard, he's a regular 
moving target."

The mechanic grinned and clapped grit from his hands. "Well..
.,s taken a bruising, but I figure she'll live. It's just a matter 
^^^^^^^^??????????????????
of ulling together replacement parts."

Han looked relieved.  He had his mouth open to thank the chanic 
when a tall, purple-complected humanoid wearing military utilities 
approached him.

"Welcome aboard Caluula Station, Captain Solo."

Before Han could reply, a silver-haired human officer stepped in
and saluted him.

"Captain Solo, sir. I was with you at Endor."

Han thought for a moment. "Uh, Denev, right?"

The man beamed. "I'm proud that you remember me, sir."

"Likewise, Captain."

Leia folded her arms across her chest and stared at Han. "That's the 
tenth person who's recognized you. What is this, a gathering of your 
fan club?"

Han frowned at her. "Very funny."

"No, really, Han. Maybe you should have become an actor instead 
of a war hero. Just think of the following you'd have."

Han grabbed hold of his own chin. "You'd pay good credits to see this face, 
blown up a hundred times normal size?"

Leia pretended to think about it. "When you put it that way ..."

"Captain Solo," someone said.

Walking briskly toward the Falcon was a portly but energetic human 
major general.

"Base Commander Garray," the man said, extending his hand to Han.

Han shook hands and gestured to C-3PO and Leia. "Our droid, and my 
wife, Leia Organa Solo."

Leia elbowed him gently in the ribs. "Thanks for second billing, 
darling," she said through a clench-jawed smile.

Han caressed his ribs and eyed Leia. "The droid's generally well
aved." He indicated Page, Cracken, and some of the others, introducing 
them by name.
 
Garray nodded his head several times. "Glad to meet all of you." 

His gray eyes returned to Han. "Captain Solo, please tell me Mon Cal 
command sent you."

Han compressed his lips. "Wish I could, Commander. The truth is, we 
got hit hard during a rescue mission at Selvaris, and Caluula was the 
only place the Falcon could go."

Garray's obvious disappointment was fleeting. 

"We're proud to have you on board, regardless-all of you." He turned 
to his even more portly adjutant. "Chief, see that Captain Solo's 
passengers are treated for injuries and well fed."

The adjutant saluted. "If you'll follow me, sirs," he said to Cracken 
and the others.

Han kept silent until everyone had moved off. "What's the 
situation here, Commander?"

Garray tilted his head to one side. "Take a walk with me, and 
I'll explain."

He led Han, Leia, and C-3PO on a slow tour of the docking bay, 
in the strobing light of arc welders, past technicians and soldiers 
who looked every bit as scarred and patched up as the ships they were 
working on. Humans appeared to comprise the majority of Caluula's 
personnel, but mixed among them were Brigians, Trianii, Bimms, 
Tammarians, and other species from star systems proximal to Caluula. 
Nearly every individual and craft reflected the war's years of savagery. 
Some of the ships combined so many disparate parts, they were 
unrecognizable.

"The Yuuzhan Vong showed up about a month ago," Garray was saying. "And 
it's been steady fighting ever since. Our defense platform is history, 
and for the past local week we've been under constant siege. But it's 
become clear that the Vong want to occupy Caluula rather than raze it, 
or they'd have dropped a moon on it or poisoned it like they've done 
elsewhere."

"Occupation seems a good guess," Leia said. "One of the ships we 
saw on our way in is a yammosk vessel."

Garray nodded. "That's already been verified."

"Still, it's curious that the Yuuzhan Vong would choose Caluula," 
Leia went on. "I don't know a great deal about the Tion Hegemony,
T do know it lacks most of the resources the Yuuzhan Vong usual 
come looking for."

argument, Princess. Caluula's mostly been a haven for scien-
^^^^^????????????????????????                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
because of some sort of natural phenomenon that occurs down
e every so often. Our best guess is that the Yuuzhan Vong want to
Caluula as an entry point into the Tion Hegemony and the 
Corporate Sector. Then there's the shipyards at Lianna, though they
h   -en't  been  turning  out  much  since  Sienar Systems  pulled  up
^^^^^^^^??????????????????
orakes " Garray took his lower lip between his teeth and shook his
^^^^^^^^^^^????????????
head in exasperation. "But the Vong have to go through us to get
there and, thank the Force, that hasn't happened yet."

"If they're looking at occupying the rest of the Tion Hegemony, 
they'd have concentrated their efforts at Lianna," Han said. "For 
one thing, it's closer to the Perlemian, which they pretty much 
control anyway, from Coruscant to the Cron Drift." He shook his 
head. "They've got something else in mind. Maybe using Caluula 
as a staging area for an attack on Mon Calamari."

"We considered that," Garray said. "But I don't have to tell you 
that Caluula's well removed from the easy space lanes. Mon Calamari's 
three microjumps direct, or you return to the Perlemian by way of 
Dellalt and Lianna, which takes just as long."

"So what do the Yuuzhan Vong want with Caluula?" Leia asked.

Garray looked at her while they walked. "Captives. The Vong commander 
of the battle group even intimated as much."

"You've actually spoken to him?"

"Tattooed head to toe," Garray said, "and soon to be black with blood, 
if we have anything to say about it. He promised us noble deaths and 
everlasting life."

"Tough offer to turn down," Han said.

Garray snorted. "Personally, I'll take the here-and-now."

"Where are you from, Commander?" Leia asked.

"Abregado-rae."

Han was surprised. "You're a long way from the Core. Why'd you leave?"

"It was raining Vong fireballs, and I started to feel like I was in the
\vay."
 ^
^^^^^^???????????????????? 

Leia nodded contemplatively. "There's no safe corner left."

Garray sighed with her. "Not if the Yuuzhan Vong have their \va One more 
                                   ???????????????????????^^^^^^
major push from them at this point . . . Well, who can nr diet how things 
                                   ?????????????????^^^^^^^
will turn out, right?"

"Expect surprises," Han said.

"There's a small resistance force operating downside on Caluul. But if this 
station falls, I don't see how they'll be able to hold out against a 
full-scale invasion."

"Just how bad off are you?" Leia said.

"Well, you've seen our starfighters. They're held together with 
spit and glue, just like we are. Ever since the HoloNet went down 
we've had to rely on courier communication with Mon Cal, and that 
takes anywhere from three to five local days. In fact, we dispatched 
a ship just hours before you arrived. Galactic Alliance command 
hasn't been able to spare us any materiel, in any event. So we're 
critically short on food, munitions, spare parts, bacta. Many of 
the volunteers who came to our support are wounded. We've a lot 
of sick and dying." Garray paused, becoming more somber by the 
moment. "I've been fighting the Yuuzhan Vong for four years. I 
feel like I was a lot younger when this war started."

"We all were, Commander," Han said.

He recognized Garray's type: done in by years of command; of sending 
soldiers to their deaths. A man who no longer needed to prove to 
himself that he was a hero. He was just doing his job, and hating 
himself for it.

Garray forced himself to brighten. "But don't worry, we'll 
get the Falcon repaired, and we'll have you on your way in no time."

"We don't want to take your personnel away from their jobs, 
Commander," Han said firmly. "Leia and I will see to the repairs 
ourselves." He paused, then added: "Between you and me, Garray, 
if Cracken and the rest weren't expected on Mon Calamari, we'd be 
staying behind to help you."

Garray smiled. "I appreciate that, Solo. Reinforces everything I've 
heard about you all these years." He glanced at Leia. "Will the two 
of you join me for lunch?"

"We'd be honored," Leia said. She deliberately fell behind Han to
her, "Everything he's heard all these years . . . One day they're, 
to build a statue of you."

Han gestured   broadly.   "These   are   the   people  who   deserve
statues	every last one of them."

They continued to walk and talk and bump into people who
v or recognized Han-and Leia. Caluula seemed to have drawn
^^^^^????????????????????
celebrated soldier, mercenary, and never-do-well from within
thousand parsecs. Commander Garray excused himself to attend
business, but promised he'd rendezvous with them in the message
hall.

They were emerging from one of the transparent connectors that
linked the station's separate modules when Han heard what he 
thought was a familiar voice. The source of the voice was a 
dark-haired man as old as himself, dressed in a worn gray flight 
suit that was cinched at the waist by a broad red belt. Of medium 
height but broad-chested, he was sitting cross-legged atop a cargo 
crate, in a murky area of the module, between a golden-furred Bothan 
and a tall Calibop whose wings were folded behind him. Surrounding 
the trio stood roguish-looking human and alien warriors in similar 
gray flight suits, who might have made up a separate starfighter 
squadron, or just as easily a criminal swoop gang from Nar Shaddaa.

"Another fan?" Leia asked.

Han rubbed his stubbled jaw. "I definitely know the voice from 
somewhere. But I can't place the face."

"So ask him."

Han nodded and sauntered over to the soldiers, every one of whom 
monitored his approach with a mix of amusement and wariness.

"I'm Han Solo. Am I right that we've met?"

The man looked at him askance, almost as if to display the ragged 
scars on the side of his furrowed and somewhat dark-complected face.

"Not in the flesh, Captain, though we have come close. I guess that 
means that we're not entirely strangers." He extended a meaty hand. "Hum."

Han tried out the name twice, then shook his head. "Doesn't ring well. But 
you're sure we never served together? During the Rebellion maybe?"

Hum shrugged. "I've one of those faces that used to appear familiar to 
everyone."

Han caressed his jaw. "Ever been to Dellalt?"

"Don't think so."

Han nodded uncertainly, then tipped his head in parting walked away.

Leia waited until she, Han, and C-3PO were out of earshot of th group 
to ask, "Did he mean 'familiar' before the Rebellion, or befor all the scars?"

Han glanced over his shoulder, and shook his head in ignorance. But any 
response was drowned out by the sudden blare of klaxons Instantly, the 
station was thrown into managed chaos. Everyone knew precisely where to 
report and what to do-except Han, Leia, and C-3PO, who weren't sure whether 
they should go to the nearest battle station or simply stay out of 
everyone's way.

Appearing out of nowhere, Garray put a quick end to their confusion.

"Enemy reinforcements have arrived. Another entire battle group."

Leia was astonished. "They must be desperate to have Caluula to spare 
so many ships."

Garray agreed. "Our shields should hold."

The commander's adjutant came running to report that the station's 
long-range scanners had zeroed in on something unusual. Garray led 
everyone to the nearest display screen, on which the adjutant called 
up a holocam view of what looked to be a colossal space slug, with a 
wedge-shaped head, a dorsal pouch, and a mouth that had to be eighty 
meters wide.

Garray narrowed his eyes to slits. "What in the galaxy am I looking at?"

Leia loosed a troubled exhalation. "That, Commander, is what the 
Yuuzhan Vong call an yncha. The one they deployed at Duro practically 
rate an orbital city."

Garray stared at her, scarcely able to speak. The klaxons began to 
trumpet a more dire alert.

"Commander," an ensign said, "enemy vessels on the attack." 

Han looked at Leia. "Guess we will be hanging around, after all."







"Studious person that you are-or at least claim to be - you no
doubt took to heart the Supreme Overlord's admonition that nothing
toward should interfere with the coming sacrifice," High Prefect
hul hectored Nom Anor. "Given especially the diminished number of victims."
^^^^^????????????????????

Former prefect of the worldship Harla, Drathul had a wide and 
broad-browed face, sufficiently scarified to demonstrate his 
allegiance to the gods, but not so much that the scars marred 
what Drathul con-sidered handsome features.

He had kept Nom Anor waiting for half a local day, while the 
sun climbed high into the sky, making the rainbow bridge shine 
like a jew-eled necklace. His windowed and drizzle-topped quarters 
in the pre-fectory overlooked the Place of Hierarchy, south of the
Citadel, in a district once known as Calocour Heights. Nom Anor still 
remembered the heights from one of the first of his reconnaissance 
missions, when the market area had teemed with pushy survey takers 
and blazed with flashing musical advertiscreens. Free product samples 
delivered from worlds throughout the galaxy had been on continual 
display, floating on repulsor carts and wafting wonderful aromas 
into the air.

"I took the Supreme Overlord's admonition to heart," Nom Anor said from 
the exquisitely woven vurruk floor mat to which he had been shown by 
Drathul's attendants. The high prefect himself spoke from a pillowed 
recess in his dais.

"Then you'll be interested to know it has reached my attention that a 
coalition of Shamed Ones is intent on disturbing the cere-lony." Drathul 
fixed Nom Anor with a gimlet stare. "I think you are 3t entirely untutored 
                                 ???????????????????^^^^^^
in the tactics of the heretics, Prefect."

"I profess to know something of them." Drathul was clearly entertained by the 
response. You give yourself too little credit. Such self-effacement is not 
oming to one who has managed to escalate himself from mere utor to prefect 
of Yuuzhan'tar in so short a time. Who, on at least two occasions now, has 
enjoyed private audience with the Suprern Overlord; who, I would risk saying,
even has Shimrra's ear."

Nom Anor feigned a short laugh. "Hardly his ear, High Prefect "

Drathul scrutinized him some more. "However did this com about?" he asked, 
as if to himself. "Was it not Nom Anor who sent th priestess Elan to her 
death, who created the bumbling Peace Brigades who helped engineer the 
disastrous assault on Fondor, who allowed the traitor Vergere to escape, 
who has disguised himself as a human Duros, a Givin, and who knows how 
many other species, who i rumored to have refused a duel with a Jeedai 
and to have murdered his own operatives with an infidel's weapon, who 
all but lured Warmaster Tsavong Lah to dishonor at Ebaq Nine?" He paused 
briefly "Look how his plaeryin bol stares at me - so eager to spit venom."

"You misunderstand, High Prefect." Nom Anor touched the artificial orb 
that substituted for an eye. "Just a particle of sand, lodged in the 
corner. In fact, you have succeeded brilliantly in disparaging me. But 
you neglect to add that there has been a bright side to all those events. 
Or else... " He grinned faintly. "...how is it I have come to wear the 
green robes of high office?"

Drathul was infuriated. "The sole reason I tolerate your presence and 
your escalation is that you are known to have been in the com-pany of my 
predecessor, Yoog Skell, when he died. I know in my heart that you had 
something to do with his death, and were it not for his death, I would 
probably not be sitting here, delighting in rebuking you."

Nom Anor inclined his head. "I exist but to serve, High Prefect."

"Precisely. Which is why I command you to root out this coalition of 
Shamed Ones, and either talk some sense into them or have them killed. 
I would prefer the former, since I suspect that additional kill-ings at 
this point will only incite them further. But know that I plan to hold 
you personally responsible for any interference at the sacrifice, just 
as Shimrra will me. Do you trust that I speak from the heart, or do I 
need to bolster my words with threats of what will befall you should 
you fail me?"

"I will do my best, High Prefect."

"Your tricks bear watching, Nom Anor. This has always been so."
 
"I trick no one but myself, High Prefect, by imagining myself 
e than I am."
^^^?????????????????????????

Mom Anor had had his consuls arrange for a saddled bissop to
i him back to the spacious residence that came with his new status.
^^^??????????????????????????
Lfor all that he had received, he had earned the envy, anger, and
L1trlist of many, as was frequently the case with those escalated
cause of actions that needed to remain secret and undisclosed.
Others in Shimrra's close company suffered similar indignities, in part
-cause Shimrra was fickle and full of contradictions, as if jerked this
and that by his emotions or what passed for revelations from the
gods.

Even mighty Nas Choka was not immune to petty jealousies,
which is why he had tripled his complement of bodyguards - something 
Nom Anor had considered doing, but ultimately rejected. There was 
small advantage in announcing one's apprehensions to one's adversaries.

But how to keep those apprehensions concealed from the heretics...

He had mistakenly believed that the abrupt disappearance of Yu'shaa, 
the Prophet, would have weakened the movement. Instead, Nom Anor had 
only provided his gullible audience with a martyr, more so because 
many believed that Yu'shaa had been put to death on orders of Shimrra.

Tucked away in his residence was the original ooglith cloaker
Nom Anor had worn when exhorting his followers to rise up against
the system that had doomed them to become outsiders; a system that
perpetuated a belief in gods who would deliberately shun their 
creations. It would be a different matter if every Shamed One was guilty of
overreaching or pride, but in fact no one could explain - the shapers
least of all - why implants were rejected. As a result, however, 
countless individuals were left wondering for the rest of their 
miserable lives where they had erred, when they had displayed pride 
or if they were p*Og for the transgressions of other creche or domain 
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????
members. The e Pretended sympathy, when in fact they fairly luxuriated in wit-
         ^^^^^^^??????????????????
ssing their competitors fall from grace. How grievous what befell
^^^^^^^?????????????????????
Consul Shal Tor at the last escalation-but how happy I am that ' wasn't me.
Only  a  short  time   ago-before   his  life-turning  decision Zonama 
Sekot - Nom Anor, sufficiently inflamed by the inequity na j wished to 
see his entire culture tumbled down; to see Shimrra shake from his polyp 
throne by the debased members of Yuuzhan VOn society. And he had very 
nearly succeeded. What might have corn from that was unclear. If the 
war were lost, what would it mean fOr Nom Anor, since-save for the 
Jedi-the inhabitants of the galaxy the Yuuzhan Vong had invaded were 
not above barbarity?

Flight, imprisonment, execution ... he couldn't take the chance.
Now the very movement born of rumors escaped from distant Yavin, 
and given order and embellishment by Nom Anor himself threatened to 
deprive him of all that he had achieved by opting to foil Zonama 
Sekot, and thereby reinstate himself in Shimrra's good graces.

The thought weighed on him as his living transport lumbered past 
the Place of Sacrifice, where priests and savants, adepts and initiates 
were busy preparing for the coming ceremony; past the shell-like shops 
of workers; and past solitary Shamed Ones, in their threadbare garments, 
begging for alms.

Before Nas Choka had been escalated, he had had occasion to reproach Nom 
Anor for pride, and counsel him look to Yun-Shuno, god of the Shamed Ones, 
for pardon.

All these years later, here he was their prophet.
 




The ychna led the attack on Caluula Station. Towed into place by a special 
   ^^^^^??????????????
breed of dovin basal grown on far-away Tynna, the monster slug fastened 
itself to Caluula's deflector shields like a leech, fattening as it 
absorbed every joule of ionized energy the generator could summon, then 
taking the suddenly vul-nerable central module in its enormous mouth and 
crushing it like an eggshell. No sooner had the module depressurized than 
into the rend dropped hundreds of Yuuzhan Vong warriors, disgorged from 
landing craft and outfitted with armor and the star-shaped breathing 
creatures known as gnulliths.

Squadrons of battered starfighters streaked from the station's launching 
bays to engage swift flights of strafing coralskippers. Close-in weapons 
traversed and fired, pouring storms of green energy at the Pproaching 
capital ships. In the intact modules, klaxons continued to, locks cycled, 
and blast shields descended to seal off corridors and oital enclosures. 

Against the barricades of solid durasteel, the Yuuzhan splashed red-hot 
magma, and where that failed they loosed an proved stock of black-plated 
grutchyna, whose digestive acids were rosive enough to burn through alloy.

Close to where the ychna was feasting, crouched behind a rampart
depleted loaders and stacked cargo crates, Han, Leia, and two
dozen soldiers waited with hand weapons, assault rifles, blasters, and 
a few grenades and rockets that had been scroung H from Caluula's 
near-empty armory. Those droids that weren't carrvj ammunition or 
standing by to refresh weapons moved about in daze, including C-3PO,
who was walking in tight circles behind Le'

"Don't lose your head," she told him. "Lend a hand."

"But, Princess Leia, I'm scarcely a war machine. I'm useless for 
anything but protocol and translation. Oh, where is Artoo-Deto when 
we need him?"

"Threepio, you're forgetting that you've been as courageous as Artoo 
ever was."

C-3PO came to a halt. "Have I? Well now that you mention it there was 
that incident on..."

"Incoming!" a soldier yelled from down the line.

Fifty meters away something was burning an enormous hole in the lowered 
blast shield. Clouds of noxious vapor streamed from the ragged edges of 
a widening circle.

Han checked the charge of his DL-44 and drew a bead on the center of the 
circle. "Hold your fire," he said. "Wait till they show themselves ..."

First through the breach were a pair of grutchyna. The six-meter-long 
beasts leapt snarling from the acid clouds like apparitions, only to be 
cut to pieces by blasterfire before they had gone ten meters. Then the 
armored warriors came, rushing through in groups of three and four, 
hands gripped on amphistafls or bandoliers of thud bugs.

"Now! "Han shouted.

Thirty blasters fired simultaneously, dropping the vanguard dozen, then 
a dozen more behind them. But the Yuuzhan Vong kept coming, treading on 
their fallen comrades in a mad charge and hurling plasma eels and 
amphistaffs on the run. The weapons thumped against the barrier and 
caught one or two of the defenders by surprise. But no razor bugs or 
airborne venom followed, making clearer than ever that the warriors 
wanted captives, not casualties. Advancing into the grid of laserfire 
with fists raised in overtures of personal challenge they were mowed 
down by the fives and tens, seemingly ignorant of fact that the Alliance 
soldiers were playing by a different set of  warriors would have called 
foul if they could - foul at being dishonored. Their every action defied 
death and sowed confusion. And somehow that made them harder to kill, 
rather than easier rarg-
                    ^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
Blasters   fired   nonstop,   and   the   thrumming   blade   of Leia's
lightsaber batted away a hail of thud bugs. But the line couldn't be unlii
outnumbered, the defenders were forced to fall back. The Yuuzhan Vong 
pressed the attack, stopping only to drag away and bind those they had 
stunned. The warriors exulted at the taking of each captive, even though 
six of their number might have died to gain one victim.

Withdrawing deeper into the station, Leia was glancing over her shoulder 
as she approached a corridor intersection when Han suddenly threw his 
left arm around her waist and twirled her off to one side. From the 
scarlet glow of the intersecting corridor dropped an amphistaff thick 
as a war club, slicing the air where she would have been and hitting 
the deck with a hollow thud! The warrior attached to the amphistaff 
howled and sprang forward, falling victim to a precisely placed bolt 
from Han's sidearm.

"You do care, after all," Leia said around a short-lived grin. Still 
in his one-armed embrace, she went up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

Han smiled and let her go. "What's a star without his leading lady?"

"Combat always did bring out the romantic in you." She started off after
him, then stopped and turned to see C-3PO dithering at the intersection.

"This way, Threepio-hurry!"

He glanced at her, then gestured to the side corridor. "But, Princess..."

"Come on!"

C-3PO muttered something, then began to shuffle forward as fast
3s K' nis squeaking legs would carry him. Leia and Han were waiting for
^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????  
him at the next blast shield. She palmed the operating stud as soon C-3PO 
had crossed the threshold, but the shield closed only halftv Han pounded 
the stud with his fist, then, stepping back a meter, f}r H a bolt into the 
control panel.

Leia ducked the ricochet and shook her head in dismay. "Anvo ever tell
you you're as hard on technology as the Yuuzhan Vong?"

The thick blast shield vibrated and slammed to the deck.

Han grinned smugly. "Only when technology puts up an argn ment. And 
speaking of which, where'd Threepio go?"

Taking a quick look around, Leia found him cowering in a corner.

"What're you standing around for?" Han said. "You want to end up as 
skewered droid?"

"No, Captain Solo, but the blast door-"

His words were garbled by the sound of approaching footfalls Leia 
raised her lightsaber; Han, his blaster. But it was a dozen Alliance 
soldiers who showed up a moment later.

"You don't want to go that way," Han and one of the soldiers said at 
the same time.

"Yuuzhan Vong," Han said, pointing toward the blast shield.

"Dead end," the soldier said, pointing in the opposite direction.

Han stared at the blast shield, then whipped around. "Dead end?"

C-3PO raised his hands to his head. "That's what I've been trying to 
tell you!"

Something rammed into the far side of blast shield, and within seconds 
wisps of stinging smoke began curling from a series of small perforations. 
Han and Leia looked at each other.

"Weren't we just here?" she commented.

Everyone moved back from the shield to take up positions in the corridor. 
Again, Han checked the charge of his blaster, which was down to 50 percent.

"I'm not letting them take me alive, Captain," a soldier nearby said.

Han aimed his forefinger at the young man. "You're not going to be taken. 
Leave it at that, soldier."

The soldier gulped and nodded. "Thank you, sir."





The center of the blast shield was rapidly dissolving. War cries and of 
personal challenge echoed in the corridor. ' n listened for a moment, 
                                        ^^^^^^^^??????????????
then swung to Leia. "I've got some-that just might pass for an idea. 
Threepio, get over here!" :

The droid rose unsteadily from behind a  rodent's nest of corroded 
entilation ducts. "Coming, sir."

Han looked straight into C-3PO's photoreceptors. "Threepio, I 
t VOU to talk to the Yuuzhan Vong in their own language." 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

"Talk to them? But I wouldn't begin to know what to say." Han's 
nostrils flared. "What, suddenly you're at a loss for words? Tell 
them that all warriors are needed for individual combat in the number 
one module. Tell them it's lunchtime for all I care!" 

"I don't believe the Yuuzhan Vong have a word for..."

"Do as Han says, Threepio," Leia interrupted. 

C-3PO's head moved in fits and starts. "How can I possibly mimic..."

"Boost the bass settings of your audio output modifier," a soldier
suggested.

C-3PO canted his head. "Oh. I didn't think of that."

"Yeah, and throw in some sound effects while you're at it," Han added.

It took C-3PO a moment to realize that Han was joking. "Sound effects, 
indeed," he muttered. "Why doesn't someone just paint a target on my 
recharge coupling."

Han hurried him to a public address comlink mounted on the interior 
bulkhead. "Say something!"

Placing his vocabulator close to the mike grate, C-3PO began to speak. 
"Keruk tukken Vongpratte, al'tanna brenzlit tchurokk..."

Almost instantly, the war cries ceased.

"That's the idea!" Han encouraged. "Keep talking!"

The droid carried on for another minute, finishing with the Phrase: 
"Al'tanna Shimrra knotte Yun'o!"-Long life to Shimrra, bel°vedofthegods!
                                ^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????
"They're withdrawing!" the soldier closest to the blast shield reported.

Han clapped C-3PO hard on the back, then wrung his hand's pain. "Good 
going, Goldenrod! You did it!"

C-3PO straightened. "I do have my moments."

"Of course you do. Now let's get out of here!"

They waited to make certain that the warriors were gone  
th one by one they squeezed through the hole in the blast
^^^^^^????????????????????????
shield anH took the corridor Threepio had wanted everyone to take to 
bee' with. Not one hundred meters along, however, they ran smack into 
^^^^^^^????????????????????
a enemy hunting party. But this time C-3PO was prepared. Adjustin the 
audio output modifier, he began to speak, completing just two sentences 
before a storm of thud bugs whirled through the corridor prompting Han, 
Leia, and the rest to hit the deck.

"What'd you say to them?" Han asked, up on one knee, with his blaster raised.

C-3PO thought for a moment. "Oh, my. I may have mixed up my words." He 
looked down at Han. "I think I insulted them!"

"Well, that's just great."

"Really, Threepio," Leia said. "Now you've made them angry."

Everyone raced back to the intersection, but with a dead end in one 
direction and Yuuzhan Vong in the other, there was no safe turn.

They had to make a stand.

The band of warriors, C-3PO had insulted surged down the corridor. Forty 
strong, they outnumbered the defenders better than two to one. Fusillades 
of blasterfire improved the odds somewhat, but also depleted many of the 
weapons. Exhilarated by the sight of empty blasters being hurled aside, 
the warriors ordered their amphistaffs to curl about their forearms, and 
began to strut forward, determined to go hand to hand with their quarries.

Several of them had their sights set on Leia, who was parrying the last of 
the thud bugs with nimble twists of her lightsaber.

Han broke for her side, shooting from the hip to drop two or Leia's 
would - be contenders. Two others were quick to fill the gap - one lost 
his head to Leia's blade. The other flew straight at Han driving him clear
across the corridor and hard into the exterior bulk' head. Dodging hammer 
blows, Han slid down the wall and squirmed between the warrior's legs, 
hoping to be able to choke him fro01
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????
 i o ci   But the warrior spun while Han was struggling to stand, his 
^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????
huge hands around Han's neck in an asth-korr throat hold him back against 
the bulkhead.

Han saw stars; then darkness made a narrow tunnel of his vision.

\vis gasping for breath when the warrior's head suddenly exited. The 
^^^^^?????????????????
hands on Han's throat loosened, and the body crumpled he deck, taking 
Han with it. Certain that Leia had saved him, he .  | to crawl out from 
                                             ^^^^^^^^??????????????
under the Yuuzhan Vong, but the corpse ildn't budge. His outstretched 
right hand seized on a small object H he held it up to his eyes. As long 
                                 ^^^^^^^????????????
as a human finger, and somewhat thicker, it was an older-generation 
rocket dart, with its obviously defective explosive tip still attached.

Han wriggled free of the fallen warrior in time to see four more Yuuzhan 
Vong felled from behind by blaster bolts and rocket darts. The fatal 
volley was coming from halfway down the corridor, where half a dozen 
soldiers were crouched, kneeling, and prone on the deck.

They wore pinch-cheeked helmets that were as domed as an R2 unit, 
bisected by horizontal viewplate strips and surmounted by flag-like 
targeting range finders. Their gray uniforms were exoskeletoned by 
blast dissipation vests, forearm gauntlets, kneepads, armor-mesh 
gloves, and alloy boots with zero-g gripsoles. They were armed with 
blaster rifles, handguns, combat knives, rocket dart launchers, and 
whatever else might have been hiding in the alloy utility pouches 
affixed to their broad belts.

A weapons system all his own, the leader wore a combination jet pack 
and antipersonnel missile launcher, and his belt was red. Catching 
sight of Han, the trooper tendered a distinctive fingertip salute 
before hurrying off.

Leia was suddenly alongside Han and helping him to his feet, but her 
gaze was directed down the corridor. When she finally turned to the 
her eyes were wide, her mouth a rictus of astonishment.

"Fett." 

Han managed. "Fett?"

Leia shook her head in refusal. "It can't be him. Anyone could be 
inside that armor!"

ttan nodded his head in agreement. "That's gotta be it. Besides, I
^^^^^^^^???????????????????
n> even if it is him, he was probably trying to &z7/me, not save me."
                    ???????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 The galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter, Boba Fett had been the 
death of Han, Leia, and even C-3PO following the BattT"'' Hoth, during 
the Galactic Civil War. But the then-Rebels had eve ^ the score on 
Tatooine by dropping Fett into the hungry maw of a s
lace that resided in the desert world's Great Pit of Carkoon   1U
'   *-*ttnv believed that Fett had ended his days there, but Han and Leia
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????
know better, having encountered Fett on several occasions since his esc 
from the Sarlacc. However, there had been no accounts of the m since the 
start of the Yuuzhan Vong war, and Han was inclined t agree with Leia 
that the trooper who had saluted him could have bee anyone. And yet there 
was the familiar voice of the man who had called himself "Hurn."

Han, Leia, C-3PO, and the surviving Caluula soldiers stepped over 
the bodies of the Yuuzhan Vong and raced after the troops in 
Mandalorian armor, who had already moved off.

Dozens of Yuuzhan Vong lay dead or dying in the corridor, and fierce 
fighting was under way in the high-ceilinged hold into which the 
corridor debouched. Han watched a warrior battle vainly against a 
whipcord that had lashed around his neck, and was just then dragging 
him into an area of the hold Han couldn't see. He saw two more warriors
nearly halved by rocket darts. The sibilant reports of blasters were 
momentarily overwhelmed by the ear-shattering explosion of a concussion 
missile. Six warriors, lanced by shrapnel, flew backward into the hold. 

But still others attacked. A strapping warrior with a coufee in each 
hand charged screaming around the corner, only to reappear moments 
later, black with blood.

Leia clamped her left hand on Han's upper arm. "Didn't that one have 
hair when he went in?"

Han nodded in shock. "I think they're taking scalps."

A knot of Yuuzhan Vong warriors had formed in the hold, many of 
them gesticulating wildly and all of them talking at once.

"Princess Leia, Captain Solo," C-3PO said from behind them - "The 
Yuuzhan Vong are very excited. They have sent runners to other parts 
of Caluula Station to report that they have found warriors who are 
exceptionally worthy of captivity."

"I'd say that's pretty optimistic of them," Leia said.

She and Han fought their way into the hold. The armored soldiers 
backed into a corner. Two of them were certainly dead, and
Tethers were in danger of being overpowered by groups of
^^^^^^^??????????????
died Yuuzhan Vong. The Caluula forces gathered what weapons
could find and dashed forward to help. n was searching for the 
leader when he heard a loud whoosh!

sa%v the trooper who might have been Boba Fett streaking toward
^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????
r Blades of fire shot from the jet pack's hornlike gimbaling the 
ct-'m^c** and bolts rained down on the warriors from his twin hand
^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????
ters, which he twirled expertly before slipping them back into their
^^^^^^^^^?????????????????
Isters. Amphistaffs flew at him from all quarters, one of them
^^^^^^^^^??????????????
itching him in the chest and sending him off course into a bulkhead.

Fighting broke out among the Yuuzhan Vong for the privilege of
being the first to reach him. Two warriors were climbing over the
others, almost within arm's reach of the rocket man, when Han raised
and aimed his blaster.

"Just in case it is him," Leia said, "try not to hit the jet pack."






"He has returned! Yu'shaa has returned!"

The gathering was small, numbering no more than two hundred Shamed Ones, 
but word of the Prophet's return was spreading through the underbelly of 
Yuuzhan'tar, and given enough time the audience would swell to thousands, 
perhaps tens of thousands.

Nom Anor gazed down from what had once been the elevated rail of a 
magnetically levitated transport, to what had been a broad boulevard 
of nightclubs and restaurants, where his followers stood with faces 
raised in renewed hope and expectation.

For a moment - and just that - it felt good to be back. From his 
residence he had retrieved the ooglith cloaker that disguised him 
as Yu'shaa. He had told his servants that he was not to be isturbed, 
and, attired in the garb of an ordinary worker, he had let himself 
out through a secret passage and wound his way through the iacred 
precinct, past the Temple of the Modeler and the Place of the end, 
through the districts of Vistu and Bluudon, shaking spies 
per-)s °nly imagined, then on along well-trodden paths that
^^^^^^^^^^????????????
led down >v the verdant surface growth, down into the deep canyons that
        ^^^^^^??????????????
bed to the top of the rail. "You promised that you would 
ele-  nre vou had regained your status, and you have been escavate us once 
^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
y beyond the rank you held. You're in a position to help us nd
U    t
°
e nd our boldest imaginings. Guise or not, you are indeed the
lat bey  with had once harbored Coruscant's poor and disenfranchised and
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????
not the arrival of the Yuuzhan Vong, had become the realm of Shamed, 
where outsiders were met with suspicion, and anyone Shamed had to tread 
carefully, for fear of never surfacing again.

At certain crossings he had uttered passcodes that had opened the way to 
even lower levels, not merely populated by Shamed Ones K also ruled by 
them. He recalled having spied Onimi on a path mu \ like the ones he was 
                                            ^^^^^^^^^^????????????????
forced to follow; Onimi, doing Shimrra's biddin who had unwittingly led Nom 
Anor to the knowledge that the ulti mate repository of the shapers' arts, 
the so-called eighth cortex w empty. Now he, too, was doing Shimrra's 
bidding and, like Onimi had become Shimrra's puppet and pet, tasked with 
safeguarding secrets.

Long before Nom Anor had been able to seek out his former confederates he 
had been recognized, and Shamed Ones in filthy frocks and tattered robeskins 
had flocked to his side, in awe of Yu'shaa's unannounced reappearance.

"The rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated," he had tried to tell them.

Only to hear someone respond: "The Prophet has defeated Shimrra! He has 
defeated death!"

"No, you miscomprehend," he had said. "I was never taken by Shimrra."

"The Prophet evaded Shimrra. He has been waiting only for the right 
moment to reappear among us!"

His carefully conceived plans went further downhill from there.

By the time he had reached what was the broad boulevard-now grown over 
with shrubs and saplings-a small crowd had already formed. No one seemed 
to care that Shimrra had expressly forbidden such gatherings, under 
penalty of dishonorable death.

"He has returned! Yu'shaa has returned!"

Nom Anor scanned the crowd. Below the elevated track, pushing their way
forward, came Kunra, Idrish, and V'tel. A Shamed warrior, Kunra had 
been Yu'shaa's bodyguard and chief disciple, and the only one who knew 
of Nom Anor's visit to Zonama Sekot.

"We knew you would return," Kunra said when he and the others

Nom Anor recalled his words to Kunra and the late Niiriit.

d he had vowed to restore the honor of the Shamed Ones. If they
^^^^^?????????????????
only knew how he had betrayed them. "Yes, I promised to lift you," he 
said to Kunra. "But we must wait while longer. This time I come only to 
warn you. Shimrra knows hat you're planning to do at the sacrifice, and 
you must trust me when I tell you that he will respond wrathfully."

Kunra spread his arms and raised them over the crowd. "Yu'shaa says that 
we must restage our plan-that we must attack in greater numbers."

"No, no," Nom Anor said while the crowd cheered. "You must rethink the 
plan entirely, or Shimrra will eradicate you!"

Kunra raised his arms again. "Shimrra plans to eradicate us! We must make 
the first move!"

Nom Anor bellowed to the Shamed Ones, "You can't look to me, the Jeedai, 
or anyone else to deliver you from your lowly stations! None of us can 
repair your disfigurements or modify your rejected enhancements!"

"Yu'shaa calls on us accept that our blemishes are only surface 
imperfections, and that we must look past them to see our true selves," 
Kunra said. "He tells us to follow the authority of our inner selves; 
to steer by our inner rudders for all important decisions, rather than 
pray to the gods, consult with the priests, or fear what actions the 
warriors and intendants might take against us!

"Individualism is the greatest threat to the hierarchy supported by 
Shimrra's elite. Shimrra relies on the elite, in order to preserve a 
system that perpetuates inequity. He wishes to keep us anchored to 
ritual and domain, so that he and the elite may prosper. But the 
Prophet tells us that we are individuals first, and citizens last!
"
A chill passed through Nom Anor. He finally understood what Kunra was 
doing. Kunra-who had saved his life after an assassination
attempt by Shoon-mi Esh, and who burned with a warrior's fire--^ not 
about to let Nom Anor shrink from the promise he had made.

What was supposed to have been a final sermon had become contest of wills.
Nom Anor tried once more to persuade the crowd.

"You err by looking to me or my disciples for signs!"

Kunra showed him a covert grin. "The Prophet tells us to look to nature, 
to the sky, and to the stars-to the planet of redemption whose coming he 
foretold!"

The Shamed Ones cheered and lifted their faces higher, beyond the 
elevated train rail, as if searching the sliver of purple sky for 
signs Kunra moved close to Nom Anor, close enough so that Nom Anor 
could feel the tip of a coufee against his ribs.

"Well done, TH'shcm" he said quietly. "The multitudes are heated to 
the point of boiling over. We couldn't have done this without you." He 
paused, then added: "And remember, Prefect: Just as all things are 
possible on Yuuzhan'tar today, all things will be possible tomorrow."
  






This had become her ritual since returning from the convoy ambush, Jaina 
would search out the officer of the watch every four hours to learn if 
the Falcon had been heard from; then she would spend the next hour or 
so at one of Ralroosfs observation viewports, gazing at the incoming 
traffic and stretching out with the Force, in the hope that one of the 
moving lights might return her touch, or convey some a hint of familiarity.

She was about to abandon the effort that afternoon when a swiftly moving 
ship caught her eye. If there was a spaceborne equivalent of a swoop, 
Jaina figured she was looking at it. A cramped cockpit anchored to 
incongruous ion fusion and hyperdrive engines, the small craft was 
inbound, and on a trajectory for Ralroost's primary docking bay.

Jaina set off for the bay, hurrying down the attack cruiser's sterile
passageways and offering only the hastiest of answering salutes to
tssing noncoms. By the time she had descended from the landing
Y s service gantry, the craft's human pilot was on deck and taking off
^^???????????????????
ls scratched and dented helmet. His hair was red and shaggy, and his
- was wildly freckled. Made up of garments borrowed from at least
e separate units, his flight uniform was soiled and patched, and his
s were as mismatched as the engines of his ship. The blaster on
niP was even more ancient than Han's.
^^^^^^^^????????????????

When Jaina intercepted him on the landing apron, he offered a crisp salute.

"Where are you arriving from, Lieutenant?" she shouted above the din of 
warming engines, repair work, and launches.

"Caluula Orbital, Colonel." Noting Jaina's confusion, he added - "Tion 
Hegemony. I've a message from the commanding officer for Galactic Alliance 
command!"

Jaina moved closer to him. "You're a courier?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then I'll show you to Admiral Kre'fey's cabin."

Clearly, the offer puzzled him, but he thanked her out of respect. "That's 
really not necessary..."

"I insist." Jaina motioned to the passageway hatch and fell into step 
beside him. "When did you leave Caluula?" she asked when they could 
finally speak without shouting.

"Two days ago, local. No hostile contacts along the way. But my ship 
had some drive problems."

"Did any ships land at Caluula before you launched?"

"Ships?"

"A banged-up YT-thirteen-hundred freighter, in particular?"

"No."

"You're sure?"

"I'd've remembered a YT-thirteen-hundred, sir."

"What's the situation at Caluula?"

The lieutenant glanced around. "I don't know that I'm at liberty..." he 
began, then shrugged. "What's it matter, right? Commanding Officer Garray 
wants the admiral to be advised that unless we can be reinforced and 
reprovisioned, we're likely to fall to the Yuuzhan Vong."

Jaina felt her pulse quicken. "I'm sorry to hear that."

He stopped abruptly. "If it's all right with you, I'll go the rest of 
the way on my own. The sooner I deliver the message, the sooner I can 
get back to Caluula."

Jaina nodded. "May the Force be with you, Lieutenant."

"Same with you."

Jaina watched him rush off. For the first time in a long while she
felt isolated and fearful. Still no word from Jacen, Luke, or Mara, and
0\v her father and mother were missing, possibly marooned in some
^^^^^^^^??????????????????
ernote star system. When she tried to reinforce the sense that they
were all right, dreadful images whirled in her mind. And when she
called to Leia through the Force, she received no response.

She began to understand how her parents must have felt when their children
had embarked on the mission to Myrkr. Anakin killed, Jacen missing, Jaina 
fleeing for the Hapes Consortium in a pirated Yuuzhan Vong vessel... It 
was difficult enough being a teenager and worrying about your parents' 
safety. But being a parent and worrying about your kids had to be even 
worse. As Han had said on Anakin's death: A father isn't supposed to 
outlive his children.

Jaina's thoughts turned briefly to her uncle Luke and aunt Mara. They 
had left their infant son, Ben, in the care of Ram and Tionne, at the 
hidden Maw Installation. But they had to be wondering, worrying . . . 
Sometimes even the Force couldn't protect a person from imagined fears. 
Jaina pondered if she would ever be able to raise a family; to cope day 
to day with the concern that her child would fall victim to illness or 
accident, make a wrong choice, or be in the wrong place at the wrong time...

Dizzy at the thought, she leaned against the cold bulkhead. She heard 
someone call her by name, and turned to see Jag hastening to her.

Tall and wiry, with a shock of white in his black hair, he was the son of
Soontir Fel and Syal Antilles, both of whom had elected to remain in Chiss 
space. Like his Chiss confederates in Vanguard Squadron, Jag wore a black 
uniform with red piping.

"Are you all right?" he asked with uncommon alarm. "Did some-thing happen?"

They held each other for a moment before Jaina straightened. "I'm fine. 
No, actually, I'm not fine. I'm scared to death."

Jag's green eyes searched her face. "Of what?"

She shook her head in uncertainty. "Possibilities."

He took her right hand in his. "No message from your parents."

"Nothing. And no word of Jacen."

Jag firmed his lips. "I'm certain that all of them are fine."
  
She frowned slightly. "How are you certain? Or is that just sorne thing 
people say when they don't know what else to say?"

Jag blinked. "I ... well, perhaps it's something of both. Do T know for 
a fact that Jacen and your parents are all right? No. Does m heart tell 
me that they're all right? It seems to."

Jaina smiled without mirth. "No medicine like logic, is there?"

Jag's fine eyebrows beetled. A scar ran from his right brow almost to 
his hairline. 

"I..."

"No, you're right. I'm driving myself mad. Thanks."

He studied her. "What does the Force tell you?"

"Let's just say that the Force isn't painting as cheerful a picture 
as the one you just did."

Jag's expression grew skeptical. "You could be mistaken."

"You mean, the Force might be throwing me a curve?" She shook her head. "It 
doesn't work that way."

"How does it work?" he asked stiffly. "Is it so different from intuition? 
Is there a stronger link between you and your parents than between me and 
my parents, simply because of the Force?"

Jaina shut her eyes. "Jag, please. This isn't a good time to be arguing."

He started to say something, then stopped and began again. "Perhaps we can 
talk heart to heart when the war ends."

"Jag, I'm sorry. I'm just preoccupied."

"No, really. Besides, I'm slated to report to General Bel Iblis. I'll look 
for you later."

As he started away, she almost went after him, but thought better of it.

What was happening? Was Jag drifting away from her, as well... Was she 
drifting away from him?

Or was her relationship with him going to turn out to be another of the
war's odd pairings; another reversal born of desperation? In either case, 
it certainly had been an unexpected development. Since events in the Hapes 
Consortium they had been growing more... familiar, with each brief encounter. 
They had seemed to be falling in love.

Danni Quee had told her that one shouldn't be too analytical
about on one to love that rational thinking was the quickest way to rout 
affect.

But Danni - a scientist who did little else but analyze - was no talk. And 
how could someone not wonder about wartime nee? Because they so often emerged 
out of a desire to live to the ullest   wartime affairs were notorious for 
being as short-lived as explosions in deep space. People tended to skip all 
the usual stuff and flv straight to the heat. But how could you trust your 
emotions at a cynic when any day might be the last-for yourself, your family 
and friends, your comrades? What might have happened had she and Jag rotten to
know each other in peaceful times? What would have ccounted for their shared 
experiences: holopresentations, picnics, getaways on tourist worlds?

She shook her head. Maybe she was being too hard on them.

Take her parents, for instance. They had met, fallen in love, and married
during the worst of times, and everything had worked out great for them. 
So it could work. But was she trying to emulate them in some way...

"Hey, soldier."

Kyp Durron passed her on the outside and put his arm around her 
shoulders. Fit, sharp-featured, and dark-haired, he had surrendered 
the scowl that for years had been his signature expression.

Reflexively, Jaina curled her arm around his waist and leaned 
against his chest-the chest of a man she had once slapped across 
the face, but who had later become a kind of mentor to her, 
especially in helping her navigate the emotional storm that 
had attended Jacen's unexpected return from Yuuzhan Vong-held 
Coruscant a year earlier.

Kyp brought them to an abrupt halt and turned slightly to gaze
at her. "If it's any consolation, kid, I'm worried, too."

Jaina smiled and laughed shortly. "I don't have to say a
thing, do I?"

Kyp shook his head and brushed his hair away from his eyes. 
Everything tells me that Jacen is okay. But your parents are 
in trouble. They've been getting into too many tight situations 
lately, and now they're really in the thick of it."

Jaina felt stronger for Kyp's having articulated her fears. For
a short time she had thought she could fall in love with Kyp, but 
those feelings had passed, and ever since then they had settled 
into a clo and comforting friendship.
       ^^^^??????????????

"I was just talking with a courier who arrived from a station in the
Tion Hegemony," she said in a rush. "I don't know why, but I 
thi u they're there."
^^^^^^??????????????????

Kyp considered it. "If they are, then I guess I'm wrong about them 
squaring off against the Yuuzhan Vong."

Jaina shook her head. "That's just it, Kyp. Caluula Orbital is under
heavy siege. From what the courier said, I think the station might 
already have been overrun. If I knew for sure, I'd leave right now."

Kyp took her hand. "Let me know if you need a wingmate."





Han's blasterbolt caught the Yuuzhan Vong in his unprotected armpit, 
twirling him fully around and sending him plummeting from the shoulders 
of two warriors who had been providing unintentional support. With the 
immediate threat eliminated, the faceless rocket man raised his left 
arm and fired a small grappling hook from his forearm gauntlet. The
hook found purchase on an expansion girder, instantly towing him to
the ceiling of the hold, out over the extended arms of swarming 
warriors and through flights of blunt amphistaffs. Clambering into 
a crouch on the girder, he gazed down on his would-be captors, then 
armed his backpack missile launcher.

"He's . . . he's going to fire!"

One step ahead of C-3PO, Han and Leia each grabbed one of the droid's
arms and yanked him down to the deck. The projectile exploded in the 
center of the hold, flattening everyone within a radius often meters. 
Fifty or more stunned or dying Yuuzhan Vong warriors formed the 
circumference of the detonation zone.

But reinforcements were already on the way.

Han heard them surging down the corridor, crying for blood. He got
to his feet, then helped Leia and C-3PO to theirs. Simultaneous with 
the snap-hiss of Leia's lightsaber came the drone of launched thud bugs.

Leia fielded those she could. Taken by surprise, a dozen Caluula 
soldiers were dropped in their tracks. The volley of deflected bugs
 ,
^^^^^^^?????????????????
the corridor at the approaching Yuuzhan Vong, only to be 
d by several warriors at the head of the pack. Han caught 
^^^^^^^^??????????????
a of five comparatively short warriors, smeared head to toe in
. blood rather than sheathed in the usual arthropod armor. 

Odder i was the way they were holding their amphistafFs to 
parry thud bugs and blasterbolts.

"They're using them like lightsabers," he said.

"That seems to be the idea," Leia replied breathlessly.

Han shook his head in incredulity. "More new models?"

"I don't think we should to wait around to ask!"

The Mandalorian-armored cadre apparently felt the same. Taking 
aim on a portion of bulkhead close to the deck, two of the 
troopers used missiles to blow a gaping hole into the adjoining
hold. The Caluula defenders began to scramble through, with C-3PO,
Leia, and Han bringing up the rear. They raced through the 
adjacent hold and into a wide corridor, lowering blast shields 
wherever they encountered them.

Greeted with an intersection, Han knew enough to ask.

"That way!" C-3PO said.

Han gave a last glance at the armored fighters, then turned to 
follow Leia and C-3PO.

The side corridor led directly to the connector that ran between 
Caluula's number three and four modules. Outside the tube's curved 
transparisteel walls, laserbolts and plasma projectiles cleaved the 
darkness. Coralskippers and starfighters chased one another in chaotic
circles. The volcanolike launchers of enemy capital ships fired again
and again.

Han, Leia, and C-3PO hadn't set foot inside the number four module 
when something shook the entire station.

"The ychna," Han said.

Leia agreed. "You know how hard it is to satisfy those things."

Farther along, Garray's meaty adjutant motioned them from the Pack
of withdrawing soldiers.

"Captain, Princess Leia, the Falcon is ready for departure." 

Han stared at him. "You've got to be kidding." He gestured broadly.
"lt's worse out there than in here,"

 "I concur, sir. Nevertheless, she's patched up and ready to Nowhere 
near good as new, but you should be able to limp her to Mon Calamari 
in a couple of microjumps."

Han and Leia traded doubtful looks.

"Each officer we rescued from Selvaris could rally ten thousand 
additional troops to our cause," Leia said.

Ultimately, Han nodded. "A bunch of people a lot smarter than me
figured this out, so I guess we have to trust that they're right."

Leia smiled. "Spoken like a true enlisted man."

Garray's adjutant directed them back to where the Falcon was berthed. 
With nearly every spaceworthy craft launched, the place was practically 
deserted. Cracken, Page, and the rest of the Selvaris roster were 
clustered at the foot of the landing ramp.

The station's klaxons began to blare triplets.

Garray's adjutant cursed, then adopted a resigned expression. "The
commander has issued the evacuation order."

Han nodded cheerlessly. "You have to know when to fold."

"I'll be leaving you here."

Han saluted him. "We'll win this thing yet, Chief." He turned to
give the Falcon a quick glance.

Leia noted Han's discouraged look. "Well, he did say limp her to
Mon Calamari."

"Crawl's more like it."

The mechanic responsible for the several add-ons emerged from beneath 
the starboard mandible. 

"We spared as much blaster gas as we could for your quad lasers, but 
I'd go light on them if I were you." He gazed up at the Falcon and 
smiled. "Great ship. Good journey."

Han pumped the man's hand in thanks.

A powerful explosion rattled the bay. Paint chips and other objects 
showered from the vaulted ceiling.

"Everybody get on board," Han said, "before we end up EV without a 
ship." 

When Pash Cracken and a few of the other officers didn't move, he 
stormed over to them. "You waiting for a formal invitation?"

Cracken almost smiled. "With all due respect, Han, we've decided 
to remain here and do what we can."

Han made his lips a thin line. "Pash, this is bigger than Caluula,
and you know it. Alliance command is counting on you people to rally 
port in your home systems. Besides, you can't make a difference
here. Those are evacuation klaxons you're hearing."

"Han's right, Major," Leia said.

Cracken still didn't move. "We'll take our chances, Princess."

She blew out her breath. "Your father's never going to forgive us,
Pash."

"He'll understand."

Han nodded. "Then may the Force be with all of you. In other
circumstances, I might make the same choice."

He turned and, without a backward look, hurried Leia and C-3PO
up the landing ramp. At the top, he waved Page and the rest of 
the officers into the forward cargo compartment. He told Leia 
to begin the start-up sequence, and he sent Cakhmaim and Meewalh 
to the gun turrets. He ran to the stern to check the status of 
the escape pods, then raced forward to the cockpit. By the time 
he arrived, Leia was strapped in and the repulsorlift was 
cold-started.

Han leapt into the pilot's chair while Leia lifted the Falcon, 
turned her about, and sent her streaking through the magcon field.
Local space was crosscut with magma projectiles and turbolaser 
bolts. Dead ahead, the bloated yncha floated motionless in space, 
amid a debris cloud created by coralskippers that had thrown 
themselves against Caluula's shields. X-wings and other starfighters
drifted lazily. Three of the station's modules were wide open to 
vacuum and expressing what little atmosphere they still contained. 

Below, explosions were blossoming on the beige and green surface 
of Caluula itself, with wounded coralskippers plunging into the 
atmosphere like fiery meteors.

Han watched a dozen escape vehicles launch from an undamaged module.

Caluula was finished.

"Three skips converging on us." Leia glanced at him. "It's our old friends."

Han's eyes darted to the authenticator screen. "The ones that tracked us 
from Selvaris! What is this, a personal vendetta?"

"Maybe they don't like our paint job."

"Then I'm on their side." He clamped his hands on the 
yoke "Hang on."

Han leaned toward the intercom. "Watch the fuel levels, you two last 
thing we need is to be left high and dry." He glanced over his left 
shoulder. "Jump coordinates for Mon Calamari coming in."

Leia studied the navicomputer display. "We'll have come around to 
three-zero-three. That means back toward the station."

"I was afraid of that."

An explosion shook the ship before it was halfway through the turn.

"There's goes the only new piece of equipment they installed. But 
we can get by without it."

"I'm counting on that, dearest."

One of the curve-tailed, tandem-piloted coralskippers appeared in 
the wraparound viewport, coming straight at the Falcon. 

"Take the shot!" Han said into the intercom.

Singularities formed in advance of the approaching skip, but sheer 
firepower overwhelmed them, and the vessel came apart in roiling fire.

"Cakhmaim is really getting good," Leia said.

Han shook his head negatively. "That wasn't him."

He leaned back in his seat to glance through the upper panes of the 
viewport. A classic Fir espra-y-class security patrol craft shot 
overhead. A cross-shaped ship affixed to an oval engine suite, it 
was followed by four Gladiators, so named because they looked like 
swords thrust to the hilt through circular shields.

"It is Fett! And he's clearing a lane for us!" Han snorted. "Just 
like him to make sure he has the upper hand on a debt."

"Incoming transmission," Leia said. "From the Firespray."

Boba Fett's voice crackled through the comm. "Just wanted to remind 
you, Solo, that my personal fight was always with the Jedi. You were 
nothing more than cargo."

Han snorted. "For what it's worth, Fett, you were never more 
than a nuisance."

Fett laughed shortly. "To better days, Captain."

"Count on it."

Sowing mines far to port and starboard, the Firespray continued
 eak a trail for the near-weaponless Falcon; then Fett tipped the
I craft's short wings in salute and vanished. 
^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????

"Ready for lightspeed," Han said.

Leia collapsed back into the copilot's chair, shaking her head back, 
t-orth. "I have now officially seen and heard everything." She 
ed to Han with a half smile. "I'm almost ready to believe this war 
^^^^^????????????????????????
will actually end."








With the Jedi Knights reduced to half their strength since the start 
f the war, Luke Skywalker's seven incommunicado in the Unknown Regions, 
some-including the twenty or so Jedi children-still sheltered at the 
Maw Installation, and others participating in various Galactic Alliance 
military operations, Kenth Hamner could gather only a dozen Jedi for 
the meeting held in Tresina Lobi's quarters on Mon Calamari.

Though understated, the circular room at the top of Coral City's 
Quarren Tower was spacious and enjoyed a 360-degree view of the 
tranquil sea and sparkling reefs. In the continued absence of Luke 
and Saba-and with Kyp frequently flying missions with the Dozen- 
Tresina Lobi had become an important voice on Cal Omas's Advisory 
Council. A Chev, she had a narrow face with angular features, and 
short black hair.

Tresina, Markre Medjev, and Cilghal, the Mon Calamari Jedi healer, 
had spent the morning preparing food, and the circular table in the 
sunroom was already spread with the appetizing results of their labors 
by the time Kenth and the others arrived.

Gradually they seated themselves at the table, except for Kenth, 
who was too restless to eat or stay put. Clockwise from Tresina's 
armchair sat Cilghal, Jaina, Kyp, towering ginger-furred Lowbacca, 
the Twi'lek female Alema Rar, salt-and-pepper-haired combat mstructor 
Kyle Katarn, Chandrilan Octa Ramis, slight and terribly scarred 
Waxarn Kel, and young and darkly handsome Zekk.

"Some of you might not be aware that operative Baljos Arnjak
didn't return from Wraith Squadron's infiltration mission to 
Corusoant," Kenth said as he circled the table. "Bhindi Drayson was 
supposed to have remained onworld, but it was Arnjak who stayed, and
has been furnishing the Alliance with intelligence ever since, mostl 
with the help of a kind of droid-fungus he and his teammates let 
10 during the mission."
^^^?????????????????????

Kenth came to a stop between Cilghal and Jaina, then leaned fo ward, 
planting the palms of his hands on the table. "Arnjak's lat report 
states that Yu'shaa, the so-called Prophet of the heretics 
\v recently seen on Coruscant. By recent, I mean within the past 
lor ] week, since it took that long for a string of couriers to
^^^^^^???????????????????????
move the info mation from the Core to Mon Calamari."

"Has his identity been verified?" Kyle asked from across the table

Kenth nodded. "Which means that he either didn't go to Zonama 
Sekot with Corran and Tahiri..."

"Or that he returned without them," Kyp said. "Is there some way 
we can establish whether he arrived back on Coruscant in the same 
vessel everyone left on?"

"No," Kenth said.

[Or if they even reached Zonama Sekot], Lowbacca's voice issued 
from his droid translator.

Kenth glanced at the Wookiee. "Exactly. Unlike most of the 
HoloNet transceivers, Esfandia is still functioning-if inconsistently. 
So, assuming nothing has befallen Jade Shadow, Luke and Mara should 
have been able to contact us."

"We've waited long enough," Octa Ramis said. "It's time we sent a ship."

Everyone fell silent for a long moment, then Cilghal said, "I doubt 
that we'll find Zonama Sekot at the coordinates to which we've been 
transmitting messages. I suspect that the living world has moved."

"Based on what?" Alema asked.

Cilghal spread her webbed hands. "On what the Force tells me."

Kenth glanced around the table. "Do any of you also feel that way?"

"I do," Jaina said. "Jacen feels farther away than he did when we 
received Luke and Mara's transmission." She shook her head somberly. "I 
don't feel him as distinctly."

Kenth inhaled with purpose. "That's good enough for me." He pressed 
his lips. "I say we have a talk with the Prophet." 

Vyp snorted.  "I agree. But getting onto Coruscant won't be with Peace 
Brigade and trade ships being allowed to land easy-even
M \ Ajema looked from Kyp to Kenth.
^^^^^^^???????????????????????

"Could we appeal to Alliance command for help in inserting some of us?"

Kenth shook his head. "Not without explaining what we're after-
why we didn't inform command that we'd sanctioned Corran and Tallin's 
mission to Zonama Sekot. If Intelligence learns that we passed on a 
chance to capture a shaper, a priest, and the Prophet, of all
people ..."

"We could go to Wedge," Markre Medjev suggested.

Kenth nodded. "We could, and I'm sure he'd do everything in 
his power to get us onto Coruscant. But I don't want to put 
him in the position of having to lie to Sow and Kre'fey."

"I agree," Cilghal said.

Tresina nodded. "Likewise."

"This is beginning to sound like Myrkr all over again," Kyp said.

Zekk looked at him. "If Anakin hadn't taken on that mission, all 
of us might be voxyn fodder by now."

"Zekk's right," Octa Ramis added. "If it sounds like Myrkr, it's 
because we have no choice but to go."

Kenth straightened and adopted a determined expression. "We'll 
give Master Skywalker a week. If we don't hear from him by then, 
I'll assemble a strike team."
 







r IS
t
 ts balloonlike bone-white outriggers buffeted by gusting winds, 
^^^^^^^??????????????????
the airship moved swiftly over the devastated surface of Zonama Sekot. 
Luke, Mara, Jacen, and the Yuuzhan Vong priest, Harrar, were crammed 
onto the rear portion of the gondola's tiny cabin. Saba Sebatyne and 
a Ferroan male named Kroj'b had the controls. Companion of the 
manta-shaped dirigible Elegance Enshrined, Kroj'b had arrived in the 
Middle Distance only the previous day, but had agreed to accompany the 
Jedi on their mission to the southern realm. Next to the two pilots 
stood Jabitha, wrapped in a fur-lined cloak.

At three thousand meters the air was frigid, and the howling wind made 
conversation difficult. Even if that hadn't been the case, no one seemed 
inclined to talk. Jacen was broodingly silent; Mara, preoccu-pied and 
restless. Saba, at least, had a bewildering assortment of organiform 
control levers to busy her.

Luke raised the cowl of his robe and shoved his hands deep into the 
robe's sleeves.


The Force spoke quietly on Zonama Sekot.

The rain had finally ceased in that part of the planet, but the thick 
cloud cover remained. The sun-whatever star it was, named or unknown-was 
a broad smear of incandescence behind the gray veil-
1 BE
peersistent chill wind rustled the giant boras and was fast stripping
^^^^^?????????????????????????
m of their globular leaves. Many of the leaves had turned blue and
How, as if bruised. Something seldom seen in the Middle Distance-
rept at high altitude-vapors froze during the long nights, leaving
h   canyon floors coated in white until the sun rose. Thin sheets of
transparent ice formed over quiet pockets of the still-swollen river.

When glimpsed at all, animals could be seen seeking shelter in caves or
burrows, or fashioning durable nests, as if in preparation for a long
vinter. Boras seeds, too, had been observed creeping off into the tam-
nasi perhaps to seek nourishment among the oldest of the iron-tipped
boras and wait for the lightning strikes that would split and shape
them.

The Ferroans rarely ventured out before midday, and then only
for long enough to gather firewood or effect repairs to their 
cliffside dwellings. Most of them avoided the Jedi whenever possible 
or, when not, exchanged few words. None, however, had issued further 
demands that Harrar be turned over to them. Luke assumed that young 
Maydh had allayed fears that the Yuuzhan Vong priest was a threat.

He gazed through the cabin's aft windscreen at the wounds Zonama had 
suffered. Quakes had opened deep trenches in the savannas, landslides 
had altered the course of rivers, fires had ravaged vast tracts of 
tampasi. Luke had considered taking Jade Shadow up to survey and 
catalog the damages-perhaps attaining orbit for just long enough 
to survey the nearby stars, as well-but he couldn't trust that the 
planet wouldn't jump into hyperspace again, as it had after its 
initial reversion to realspace.


Covertly he looked at Jabitha, then at Harrar. He couldn't recall a 
time when he had been so close to a Yuuzhan Vong and not engaged 
him fighting for his life-save perhaps on the occasions he had stood 
close to Nom Anor. But then, any moments spent with Nom Anor 
constituted a duel, of sorts.

For the tenth time since the airship journey had begun, Luke tried 
to see Harrar in the Force, but perceived only an absence. Despite 
Vergere's assurances to the contrary, Harrar-and by extension all 
Vong-did not seem to exist in the Force. There the priest
sat, not three meters away, and Luke couldn't sense him. Harrar 
\v nothing more or less than what he appeared to be: a tall, 
sinevw humanlike man, absent some of his fingers, and marked 
^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????
with tattoo scars, and other modifications.

Luke knew that he could use the Force to levitate Harrar   
t pirouette him about the small cabin, but he couldn't see 
^^^^^????????????????????
him in th same way he could see Mara, Jacen, Saba, and Jabitha - as
a luminous being; not as the crude stuff of flesh and bone, but as
an egg-shaped being of light. Vergere, who had willingly spent 
fifty years among the Yuuzhan Vong, had maintained that the seeming 
invisibility of the Yuuzhan Vong owed not to any inherent failure 
of the Force, but to the way Luke and his fellow Jedi perceived the 
Force. The implication was they had somehow failed to grasp that 
the Force was grander and more far reaching than they understood 
it to be.

Luke could accept that. His training had been rushed; and with the 
deaths of Obi-Wan and Yoda he had been obliged largely to pursue his 
own counsel, and find his own way to master}'. He would have been the 
first to admit that his understanding of the Force might be limited 
or incomplete; that he had perhaps become more a Master of the Living
Force than what the late Vergere had called the Unifying Force. But 
even that deficiency should not have prevented him from being able 
to see Harrar.

Either Vergere had left something out of her lectures-which Luke
wouldn't have put past her-or her own understanding of the 
quandary was incomplete. Luke didn't for a moment doubt that 
the Fosh Jedi had somehow succeeded in tutoring herself to a 
kind of mastery-despite having been forced to conceal her Jedi 
abilities from her captors-but the matter of the Yuuzhan Vong's 
invisibility ran deeper than Vergere knew, or had allowed. Perhaps 
she believed, as Yoda had at times, that her responsibility ended 
with setting Luke on the proper path. Perhaps that was the way 
among the Jedi of the Old Republic. For all the education and 
practice each had undergone, the achievement of mastery was 
ultimately the outcome of a personal quest for understanding.

If any of the new Jedi order grasped this on an intuitive level, 
it was Jacen. Long before his reeducation by Vergere-some said
 . ctrination-jacen had sought to reach a personal understanding 
f die Force. In that, he was much like Leia, a Knight in her own right,
^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????
had for her own reasons resisted taking up the path of the Jedi.

It was Jacen who had insisted that Harrar accompany them on the journey 
Jabitha had proposed a day earlier, when she had visited Luke, Mara, and 
the others in their cliff dwelling.

"Sekot is aging," Jabitlia had said. "I feel her, and yet I feel
stranged from her. She remains in exile to puzzle out what has 
happened; and in withdrawing, she neglects Zonama. I don't think she
has done so deliberately. It is as if she has been abducted by dark
forces, and is somehow imprisoned."

"Nom Anor, Nen Yim, and I are responsible for what has happened to 
Sekot," Harrar had said. "We should never have come here. If the 
gods haven't already turned their backs on the Yuuzhan Vong, they 
will now, for we have despoiled a living world."

Jabitha had listened to the priest's confession without comment. 
She said, "I know where we can begin to seek Sekot. A place where 
the Force is strong ..."

Harrar seemed to feel Luke's eyes on him, and turned. His own 
eyes were moist, and tears had left streaks on his tattooed 
cheeks. The cause might have been the wind rushing through 
cracks in the cabin.

"I am overcome," he said sadly. "Even with all its recent 
injuries, this is the world I have dreamed of. The world 
all my people have dreamed of. The one that ordained our 
past; the one we prayed would prefigure our future. A world 
of symbiosis, rather than competition and predation. The very 
world we have tried time and again to re-create, only to end 
up with facsimiles. It is no small wonder I felt nostalgic for 
this place the moment we landed; that I felt I'd arrived home, 
though I'd never been here."

"If the Yuuzhan Vong evolved on a world like this," Luke said, 
what turned you to war?"

Harrar took a moment to reply. "The ancient texts are unclear. It 
appears that we were invaded by a race that was more technological
n animate. We called on the gods for protection, and they came to 
lr aid, providing us with the knowledge we needed to convert our 
mg resources to weapons. We defeated the threat, and, empowered
^^^^^^???????????????????????
by our victory, we gradually became conquerors of other species 
and civilizations."

Jabitha interrupted, instructing Kroj'b to steer the airship 
south west. The terrain grew more and more rugged. Jagged 
mountains of crushed lava rose steeply into the clouds. Braided 
tails of orang tinted water plunged from the heights into thickly 
forested gorges The wind blew fiercely, and the temperature began 
to fall below freezing.

At Jabitha's direction Kroj'b and Saba piloted the airship down 
toward the expansive talus field of a mountain that struck Luke 
as being younger than Ben and twice as unpredictable.

"Here is where my father's fortress once stood," Jabitha explained, 
after the airship had been anchored to the denuded slope. "Sekot 
showed Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker a mental image of the 
fortress as it was before the advent of the Far Outsiders." 

"The Far Outsiders have a name, Jabitha," Harrar said. "It is the 
Yuuzhan Vong who toppled your father's fortress."

"Of course," she said. "Old habits are not easily broken." 

Luke asked Saba to remain with Kroj'b in the airship; then he and 
the rest emerged from the cabin and began to follow Jabitha uphill, 
fighting a cold, strong wind that swept down from the invisible 
summit. Luke saw the cave entrance before Jabitha drew everyone's 
attention to it.

The air inside was warm and remarkably humid. The cave angled down 
into the mountainside, and Luke realized immediately that what they 
were in was actually an ancient lava tube. The floor was paved with 
coarse pebbles that crunched underfoot. Cooled magma from deep in the 
planet, the walls were composed of dense black stone, but in some 
places they glowed with a faint bioluminescence. 

"How like the interiors or our space vessels," Harrar said.

Luke could see the resemblance, but he was reminded of some-thing 
entirely different-the cave on Dagobah that Yoda had dared him to 
enter. But while that place had been strong in the dark side, the 
lava tunnel felt enchanted-strangely maternal and enfolding. He began 
to sense the presence of the animating intelligence he had come to know 
during his short time on Zonama, the one helped to
consciousness by the first Magister, Leor Hal, who had also named the
et in the Ferroan language "World of Body and Mind."
^^^^^^^????????????????

"Could this be another of Sekot's tests?" Mara wondered while
they walked.

"I don't think so," Luke said. "Unless Sekot is testing itself." 

"Stop there," the voice of Sekot said, speaking through a
suddenlv transfixed Jabitha. "Who walks with you, Jedi Master? Two I
recognize, but the third . . ."

"He is called Harrar," Luke said, not to Jabitha but to the tunnel
itself "He came to Zonama in the company of the one who sabotaged
you."

Jabitha turned to Harrar. "How is it I seem to know this one? My
memories go back billions of turnings, and this one carries a 
message to me of distant times and distant events."

"Harrar is of the people you know as the Far Outsiders," Luke 
said. "The Yuuzhan Vong, who tried to conquer Zonama, shortly 
before the arrival of Vergere."

Jabitha shook her head. "Those times are not distant, Jedi 
Master. But why can't I perceive him? Not as I do the children 
of the Firsts; not nearly as I do the Jedi. . . . Yes, I recall 
having the same experience with the Far Outsiders-they seemed 
to exist outside the Force."

"No, Sekot," Luke said. "Even though you can't perceive Harrar, 
he exists within the Force."

Jacen's right hand went to his chest, as if to touch the scar 
left from the piece of slave coral Vergere had implanted in him. 
He swung to Harrar. "Why did the Yuuzhan Vong leave their home galaxy?"

Harrar firmed his scarred lips, then said, "Some have interpreted 
the ancient texts to suggest that we were . . . banished."

"For what reason?" Jacen persisted.

"Our infatuation with war and conquest. Some interpret our long 
journey as an attempt to win back the favor of the gods."

Jacen thought about it. "Your ancestors were banished because 
they turned to war. They did the opposite of what was expected 
of him. Did ... the gods banish you from the Force?"

When Harrar lifted his head, his face was a mask of fearful 
confusion. "There is nothing in our legends about the Force."
 
"But even you compared the Force to your gods," Mara said.

Luke took Harrar by the shoulders, as if to shake him, but onl
eased him to his feet. "A power-call it the gods if you have to	
m have separated you from the original symbiosis. Your people 
^^^??????????????????
expert enced intolerable pain, and pain has been the only way 
back to th symbiosis."

Harrar nearly collapsed in Luke's grip. "Separated from the 
symbiosis. From our primordial homeworld ..."

Luke dropped his hands to his sides and turned in astonishment 
to Jabitha, as if waiting for Sekot to confirm what he was thinking.

"I now understand," Sekot said finally. "This one-his people-has 
been stripped, of the Force."








 T
MfM here 1
here hadn't been a ceremony to equal it in untold generations. 
As vast as the worldships were-and notwith-standing the views 
of distant stars and even more distant galaxies - they weren't 
large enough to contain the magnificence of high ritual. Compared 
to Yuuzhan'tar's Place of Sacrifice, the worldships were mere theaters.

And yet, for all the grandeur and spectacle, Nom Anor was too consumed 
by apprehension to appreciate a moment of it. He marched in step with 
the procession, but the expression on his face would have been better 
suited to someone on his way to be executed.

Located midway between Shimrra's Citadel and the skull-shaped bunker 
that housed the Well of the World Brain, the Place of Sacrifice was 
dominated by a hundred-meter-high truncated cone of yorik coral, helixed 
with carved stairways and honeycombed with passage-ways that served to 
channel blood into fonts and other basins. On the ittened top the 
priests performed their rituals, and encircling the chase were the 
yawning pits of the corpse-disposing maw luur. To one of the spire 
sprawled a grouping of temples, oriented to the red directions; and 
to the other, a repository, in which were stored n°ly relics Shimrra's 
worldship had conveyed across the dim lches of intergalactic space.

 Constructed in accordance with the hallowed texts, and in hornaee 
to the ancestral architecture, the complex was dense with conifers 
ferns, palms, and the like, wrong for the latitude but somehow thriving. 
The air hummed with the sounds of insects and crab-harps and was heady
with the smell of paalac incense, which wafted in thick curling clouds 
from bone braziers.

Along the perimeter of the quadrangle were pens for the blood-sopping 
ngdins, and at each corner sat a mon duul, whose enormous tympanic 
belly was capable of amplifying the utterances of the various celebrants.
Since the priests had not yet grown to trust Yuuzhan'tar's World Brain, 
the matched pair of consuming beasts known as Tu-Scart and Sgauru waited 
in the wings with their handlers, in case the capricious dhuryam failed 
to command the maw luur to execute their tasks.

More specialized than yammosks, dhuryams had full responsibility for 
worldshaping. Their decisions were based on the continuous streams of 
data they received from planetwide networks of telepathically linked 
creatures. But Yuuzhan'tar's dhuryam had been behaving as if there 
were glitches in the data flow, and it had already ruined several 
sacrifices by spewing fetid-smelling wastes from the maw luur.

Shimrra, however, had apparently found a way to placate or otherwise 
bring the World Brain into line, because thus far the sundry biots 
were functioning smoothly. Nom Anor suspected that the Supreme 
Overlord had tricked the dhuryam into thinking that, by providing 
the maw luur with nourishment, it would be helping the gardens and 
copses of trees to flourish.

He and some of Yuuzhan'tar's consuls entered the Place of Sacrifice 
to music that was at once solemn and celebratory. Sated on yan-skac 
and snack beetles, and mildly intoxicated on sparkbee honey grog 
and other home brews, the crowds of onlookers applauded exuberantly. 
Thousands of warriors kneeled to both sides of the grand avenue, 
heads lowered and amphistaffs curled sedately around their extended 
right arms, fists planted solidly on the ground. With guards posted 
at all entry points and circulating through the crowd, it seemed 
improbable that any Shamed Ones could get within a phon of the place.
 
 Regardless, Nom Anor continued to torment himself with worry.
Behind the intendants marched elites of the four castes-High
post Jakan and his coven of savants; red-cloaked Warmaster Nas
,   ^ and three dozen of his Supreme Commanders; Master Shaper
^^^^^^^???????????????????????????
Oelah Kwaad and her chief adepts; and High Prefect Drathul, baton
f high-office in hand, and leading his cabal of personal consuls. Last
me Shimrra, without Onimi-for, as a Shamed One, Onimi was
barred from attending such weighty proceedings-but accompanied
bv his quartet of hideous seers. Attired in a train of living insects and
holding the royal scepter, the Supreme Overlord rode atop a yorik
coral sled drawn by a pack of bissop hounds.

All fangs, talons, horns, and blades, female dervishes whirled at the 
base of the spire, while the elite arranged themselves in tiers below 
Shimrra's moonbeam throne. Nom Anor sat close to the top, with an 
unobstructed view of the sacrificial platform toward which Jakan 
climbed, followed by a gang of executioners, priestesses, and
young acolytes.

At the appointed moment-when the sun had reached a place in the sky 
from which it could set the rainbow bridge aflame-the cap-tives were 
led into the complex by a parade of ngdin handlers and Chazrach 
troops, riding twelve-legged quenak beasts.

Counting what the Peace Brigaders had managed to deliver and 
those captured only three standard days earlier at Caluula, 
the captives numbered close to one thousand. Military officers, 
political officials, soldiers, and protestors from scores of 
worlds along the invasion corridor-men, women, even a few 
adolescents who had fought bravely enough to be rewarded with 
honorable death-they had been purged, bathed, perfumed, mildly 
sedated with sensislug gas, and blessed with tishwii leaf smoke. 
Manacled, they wore white robes that glowed with green designs 
and were veined in black along arterial net-works down the 
sleeves and fronts.

The captives were brought to a halt at the foot of the spiral 
stair-cases that twisted around the spire. By then Jakan and 
the others had lched the top and were waiting eagerly.

At Shimrra's nod of consent, Jakan raised his arms and spoke, 
and bellies of the four mon duuls carried his invocation far and 
wide.

"Accept what we offer as evidence of our wish to render unto you
what is rightfully yours," the high priest intoned. "If not for 
you w should not exist!"
    ^^^???????????????????

Dedicated lambents illuminated statues of the gods, which 
lin the quadrangle. The statues would be anointed with first 
^^^^???????????????????
blood because of the special nature of the sacrifice, Yun-Yuuzhan would
going receive only a healthy share, with much of the sacrificial blood
instead to Yun-Yammka, god of war.

Guards began to force the captives to ascend the staircases.
Despite their sedation, they floundered and fought, showing 
no appreciation for the honor that had been bestowed on them. 
In the end, though, there was little they could do to affect 
their fate.

The first of the captives had reached the circular platform 
when a howl rose from below. With nearly half the audience of 
elites rising to their feet, Nom Anor couldn't see what was 
going on. It sounded as if a battle had broken out among some 
of the guards stationed at the base of the spire-perhaps a 
domain dispute. He pitied those who lacked the self-control 
to delay their contest until after the sacrifice. But at least 
he wouldn't be blamed.

Then he realized what was actually happening.

As if detonating, carefully camouflaged chuk'a caps were popping 
from the quadrangle's hexagonal paving stones. The shells of an 
aquatic creature, the caps concealed the entrances to shafts that 
must have descended into the maze of canyons below the Place of 
Sacrifice-down to the wide thoroughfares that had once separated 
the tall edifices of Coruscant, down into the dusky underworld of 
scrub growth and meandering pathways the Shamed Ones had claimed 
as their own.

Out of the shafts were emerging hundreds of Shamed Ones- Yu'shaa's 
flock of heretics-armed with amphistaffs, coufees, an array of 
homemade weapons, even a few blasters! Momentarily taken off their 
guard, the warriors-many in ceremonial armor only-were slow to react, 
and dozens were felled in an instant. As the Shamed Ones spread out 
into the crowd, the commoners began to panic, surging down into the 
quadrangle.

 f iring that the heretics had come for Shimrra, the slayers closed
^^^^^^^???????????????????????
around the  Supreme  Overlord,  unfurling their amphistaffs,
rlless of any who might be standing in front of them. But Nom
saw that only a small contingent of Shamed Ones was closing on
'mrra's dais, and that this group was clearly a diversion.
T was the prisoners the heretics had come for.

Oblivious, thinking perhaps that it was all a hallucination, the cap-
o     were being scooped off their feet by bands of heretics and rushed
ok into the labyrinthine underworld from which the pariah army
d climbed. Not all of them made it to safety; scores were dropped
bv thud and razor bugs, along with three times as many Shamed
Ones.
^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????

Shimrra's black-smeared seers were flailing their arms in dread,
and Jakan appeared to have been struck deaf and silent. The executioners, 
however, were rushing down the staircases and lashing out with their 
keen weapons, determined to administer at least a few decapitations - as 
if the gods could be satisfied with a snack, when they had been 
anticipating a feast!

What blood was running into the quadrangle, the ndgins were thirsty 
to absorb. Unable to contain themselves, they were wriggling free of 
their handlers, and, in so doing, providing slick patches of crushed 
bodies for warriors in pursuit of the heretics and the captives they 
had set free.

Nom Anor wasn't sure if he should flee, throw himself on one of the 
slayers' coufees, or crawl to Shimrra on his belly and beg forgiveness 
while there was still a chance. He glanced over his shoulder to see 
Drathul skewering him with a look of unmitigated hatred. The high 
prefect had said that he would hold Nom Anor accountable for any 
interference, and now Drathul was intent on making good his threat.

Pressed among the crowd, Nom Anor readied his venom-spitting eoall. 
Drathul was already shouldering his way through the throng, andishing 
his baton. Was Nom Anor going to have to kill another IF Prefect 
just to save his own neck?

Shimrra would have expected no less of him. rathul was almost within 
arm's reach of Nom Anor when the Supreme Overlord's voice rang out 
above the melee of droning bugs, snapping amphistaffs, and sizzling 
blasterbolts, his huge body rising above those slayers that made up 
his living fence.

"High Prefect Drathul! No more of this shall we brook! At the place 
is our patience and goodwill sundered!" Shimrra stood to his 
fi ii and imposing height, towering over everyone. "I demand 
^^^^????????????????
the heart every Yuuzhan Vong who has aided and abetted the Prophet!"

Everyone in the vicinity was cowering, except for Norn Ann because 
of how tightly he was wedged in place. Perhaps that was when he alone 
happened to be gazing past Shimrra when one of the slayers slipped away 
into the crowd. Except that the individual wasn't slayer. Master of 
disguise that he was, Nom Anor recognized that the deserter was wearing 
an ooglith masquer, which not only cloaked his appearance but also 
reshaped his body.

And from the way the slayer moved-with a somewhat trembling gait-the 
imposter could only be Onimi.










For the fourth and final micro] ump that would deliver them at last 
to Mon Calamari, Han and Leia had sealed off the cockpit and spent 
the entire time in each other's arms, Leia on Han's lap in the pilot's 
chair, her arms around his neck. By the time the Falcon reverted to 
realspace Han was delirious, and Leia felt that, as safe corners went, 
the cockpit wasn't too shabby-at least until they happened on the 
real thing.

Approaching the water world from well beyond its solitary moon, 
they were greeted by the sight of an enormous, perhaps unprecedented 
gathering of warships-a unified force of battle groups, flotillas, 
and fleets from all regions of the galaxy: Bothan, Bakuran, Imperial 
Remnant, and Chiss; Sullustan, Hapan, Eriaduan, and Hutt; Corellian 
and Mon Calamarian. In a glance they saw Mediator-class battle 
cruisers, Belarus-class cruisers, Lancer-dass frigates, and Hapan 
Battle Dragons. They saw ensembles of .Now-class battle cruisers 
and Corellian gunships; reprovision flotillas of KDY Mfl"' class heavy 
freighters; attack groups of Imperial II -class Star Destroyers, 
Republic-class cruisers, and Immobilizer-class interdictors, their 
hemispherical gravity-well projectors accented by starlight.

There were Ralroost, Rijjhtto Rule, Harbinger, Elegos A'Kla, Mon o and 
Mon Mothma, the Super Star Destroyer Guardian, and All$r ancient 
                               ????????????????????^^^^^
Dreadnaught Starsider.

"You disappear for a couple of days," Han said when he was past 
initial astonishment, "and the kids turn the house into party
central."

Wordlessly he and Leia maneuvered the Falcon through corridors
o    !ed by the massive ships. The confined lanes were thick with
ficrhters and tenders. Ultimately they were requested to surrender
itrol of the freighter to one of Ralroosfs tractor beams, which car-
.  ^ them gently into the cruiser's immense starboard docking bay. A
1 ree crowd had turned out to welcome the Falcon home, and cheers
and applause filled the scrubbed air as Han, Leia, and their roster of
verv influential people descended the boarding ramp.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????????

Jaina rushed from the sidelines to hug her parents for dear life.

Han was nonplussed. "We'd've been here sooner, but we had to spend 
three days at sublight making repairs to the repairs."

"I knew you were at Caluula," she said, refusing to let go of 
him. "I should have listened to the Force and gone there."

"I'm glad you didn't," Leia said, taking a moment to gaze at 
her daughter. "Has there been any further word from the station?"

"A courier arrived from Caluula yesterday," Jaina said. "The 
station and the planet fell to the Yuuzhan Vong. Hundreds were 
taken captive and sent to Coruscant."

"The sacrifice," Han said.

Jaina nodded grimly and began to lead her parents away from the 
Falcon.

Han thought about Pash Cracken and the rest who had chosen to
remain at Caluula-rescued  only to  be  captured  again.   He was
reminded of what had often happened at the beginning of the war,
then countless refugees had been taken advantage of by pirates and
Peace Brigaders.

"Is there news from Coruscant?" he asked.

Jaina nodded. "Good and bad-but you can hear for yourself. Admiral 
Kre'fey wants to bring you up to speed personally." 

"Give us a hint," Leia said.

 tran Leia, and Jaina found seats for themselves.
^^^?????????????????

"Just to catch you up," Kre'fey said, "the sacrifice ceremony 
took
^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????

Jaina lowered her voice. "The Yuuzhan Vong have amassed a armada. 
We're expecting them to strike us here."

Han blew out his breath. "That explains all the ships." 

"Let's just hope that wasn't the good news," Leia said.

Jaina talked nonstop for the several minutes it took them to ascend to 
Ralroosfs command deck and ride a skimmer to a conference cabin amidships. 
Han and Leia were disappointed to learn that the Jedi still hadn't heard 
from Luke, Mara, Jacen, or the others It wasn't like them to remain out 
of contact for so long.

The white-furred Bothan admiral, Traest Kre'fey, rose from his chair at 
the head of the long conference table as Leia, Jaina, and Han were being 
escorted into the cabin space. His violet eyes took in Han and Leia, and 
he smiled broadly. 

"We were all starting to wonder if you'd decided to take unannounced leave."

"Well, we have our own idea about what constitutes a vacation," Han joked.

Leia managed to smile, but just barely.

By all, Kre'fey had meant the dozen high-ranking officers who were seated 
at the table. Defense Force Supreme Commander Sien Sow; Grand Admiral Gilad 
Pellaeon; Generals Wedge Antilles, Garni Bel Iblis, Keyan Farlander, Carlist 
Rieekan, and Airen Cracken; Commodore Brand, Queen Mother and Jedi Knight 
Tenel Ka, and bulky Major General Eldo Davip-promoted as a result of his 
brave actions aboard the Star Destroyer Lusankya at the Battle of Borleias.

Han and Leia needed no introductions to any of them, but there were others 
they recognized only by species rather than name.

Han threw everyone a grin of greeting. Leia shook hands with Gilad Pellaeon 
and Keyan Farlander, kissed Wedge and Tenel Ka on both cheeks, then went 
to Airen Cracken, with whom she had spoken briefly from the Falcon.

"Pash was one of the officers captured at Caluula Orbital and taken to 
Coruscant," Cracken said. "But I'm hoping for the best. No one knows 
Coruscant better than my son, and if anyone can escape it'll be him."
  
pla put o as scheduled. But our agents report that before anyone had been
the coufee, there was an uprising by several hundred heretics.
jt to tl heretics managed not only to interfere with the ceremony, but
to abscond with more than three hundred Alliance prisoners.'
^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????

"Just to spoil things for Shimrra?" Han asked.

"We're not sure, at this point. But we have learned that an untold
number of Shamed Ones have been rounded up in return, and are
oarentlv going to be put to death. No Alliance personnel were
among those seized, so presumably our people are being well hidden."
^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????

"If they're even alive," Han said. "The Shamed Ones could have 
staged a sacrifice of their own, in honor of whatever deity they 
worship." He glanced at Cracken. "Sorry, Airen, but I think it's 
premature to consider these heretics as allies."

"We agree," Kre'fey said. "The possibility of a secret sacrifice 
or a hostage scenario cannot be ruled out. However, we have also 
learned the purpose of the original sacrifice was to ensure victory 
for the armada Shimrra plans to launch against Mon Calamari."

Han and Leia pretended to be surprised by the news. "Do we know when 
or how they're going to do this?" Leia asked.

Sow spoke to the question. A Sullustan, he looked as if he were 
wearing a large-eared, heavy-jowled mask. "Intelligence has determined 
that the enemy plans to attack directly from the Perlemian Trade Route.
Secondary salients will be launched from Toong'l and Caluula, both of 
which now host yammosks. There appears to be a twofold purpose for 
installing war coordinators on those worlds: first, to coordinate 
flanking attacks; and second, to provide rear-guard defense in the 
event the initial wave is repelled."

Han glanced around the cabin. "How many Yuuzhan Vong vessels are 
we talking about?"

"On the order of five thousand," Bel Iblis supplied flatly, the fingers 
of his left hand smoothing his drooping mustache.

Han sat away from the table in shock. "Then we haven't a chance."

"Not force against force," Sow said. "But we have high confidence that 
the enemy has made a strategic blunder by opting to st from remote worlds 
like Toong'l and Caluula."

Bel Iblis nodded in agreement. "More important, we think we take advantage 
of the fact the Yuuzhan Vong are expecting us to r tail and scatter."

Han regarded the inscrutable Sullustan and the gray-haired human. If there 
was any lingering bad blood between Sow and B I Iblis over what had occurred
during the evacuation of Coruscant there was no evidence of it now. In fact, 
everyone at the table appeared to have reached an accord.

"Why wouldn't we be better off scattering our fleets?" he asked 
carefully. "We've enough ships to open dozens of new fronts."

"And wage a war of rebel actions for the next ten years, while the enemy 
grows stronger?" Kre'fey said. 

"No. By scattering we would leave Mon Calamari open to assault, and we 
certainly don't want to see happen here what happened on Coruscant. There 
is no more dan-gerous species than one that views killing as cleansing." 
He gave his head a determined shake. "This must be our decisive step."

"Without going into detail at this time," Sow said, "let me just 
add that we plan to give all appearances of being caught unawares 
by the armada, and of engaging it head-on. This alone will give the 
enemy pause. In fact, half our forces will have already relocated to 
Contruum, which has agreed to serve as our staging area-thanks to the 
efforts of General Cracken. We're counting on Captain Page to prevail 
on the leaders of Corulag to do the same."

Han shook his head in confusion. "Staging areas for what? The farther 
from Mon Calamari you place those fleets, the more trouble we'll have 
communicating with them. And if you're thinking of jumping them back 
to Mon Calamari by surprise, then maybe you need to be reminded of what 
happened to the Hapans at Fondor."

Tenel Ka acknowledged Han's remark with a veiled nod.

"Fondor was a special circumstance," Commodore Brand said-"Our strategy 
would have worked if... In any case, it isn't our intention to jump the 
fleets back to Mon Calamari."

"What is your intention?" Leia asked.

Kre'fey cleared his throat meaningfully. "By devoting only half battle 
groups to the defense of Mon Calamari, the remainder will to move against 
our primary target-Coruscant."








 Chapter
ff
M      mutl.
^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????
 : uthless deeds return to harass their architect, Nom Anor thought as he 
viewed the execution of the heretics.

The deaths were taking place not atop the yorik coral spire in the Place 
of Sacrifice, but in an area outside the sacred precinct, where many of 
Yuuzhan Vong beasts went to die, and warriors trained for combat. Once a 
sports arena in the district known as the Western Sea, it was now an 
ossuary-a boneyard-lush with swampy growth, rank with odors of decay, 
and the breeding ground for millions of meter-long yargh'un rodents. 
The bowl couldn't hold many spectators, but Shimrra had ordered it filled 
to overflowing with bone stackers, workers, and low-echelon others, both 
as a blunt demonstration of his wrath, and as a warning to any who would 
follow the Prophet.

The doleful music of musicians went unappreciated.

The foodstuffs spread across the banquet tables for the elite went untouched.

The clawed beasts tasked with the executions snorted and bellowed.

This was not noble death but capital punishment.

It was three local days after the abortive sacrifice ceremony, and on 
orders passed down from Shimrra to High Prefect Drathul, and then on to 
Nom Anor, three thousand Shamed Ones had been gathered

 __ten for every captive who had been liberated from the ceremony.
^^^^^^?????????????????????
percentage of them were heretics made no difference, for this
an attempt to put an end to further enrollment-though Nom
Anor felt that it might have precisely the opposite effect. Shimrra had
t warriors to purge Yuuzhan'tar's underworld of heretics on previous
-casions, but this was the first time he had done so openly, and had
rned the mass arrests into a macabre entertainment.
Some were saying that Shimrra had crossed a dangerous line-but
nlv those who weren't aware of the lengths to which Shimrra would
eo to maintain his authority, and the mental power he could bring to
bear when necessary. No one privy to the methods Shimrra had used
to attain the throne voiced any criticisms.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????

During the intergalactic journey, Shimrra-by dint of noble birth, 
prophecy, and divination-had been placed among a pool of candidates 
who might one day be eligible for consideration to succeed Supreme 
Overlord Quoreal on his death. All the nobles who comprised that 
small, privileged group had been raised as if they might one day 
rise to the throne. They were doted upon, fed the finest foods, 
trained in warfare and religion. They enjoyed every luxury. Though 
overseen by the high priests, the selection process was markedly 
similar to the way in which infant dhuryams were tested, to determine 
which was most capable and worthy of becoming a world-ship or 
planetary brain.

Shimrra was at once the pride and distress of Domain Jamaane. Early 
evidence of his maliciousness, he had killed his own twin at just 
seven years of age, to eliminate a possible competitor from entering 
the pool. His majestic size was attributed to the work of shapers in 
his domain.

Domain Jamaane also had its share of distinguished warriors, and in distant 
times had produced more than the usual share of Supreme Commanders, along 
with three warmasters. The shapers, too, were Praiseworthy, as were 
Jamaane's priests. Still, the domain was not gently thought to be 
bellicose. But as the long voyage through the began to gnaw at everyone, 
Jamaane members had grown out-ten about their impatience with Quoreal, 
who was cautious, tradi-na'> and had done little to keep Yuuzhan Vong 
                     ^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????
society intact at a time when guidance was needed most. Even so, no one 
believed that Domain Jamaane would actually rise up and make a bid to 
usurp QUo real's power.
^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????

In one bold action, Shimrra's warriors moved against Quoreal's 
executing them, along with every member of their domains. Then 
they did the same to Quoreal, and they put to death almost all 
the priests, advisers, and shapers who had supported Quoreal in 
his attempt to steer a course away from the newly discovered galaxy.

Others knew better than to question Shimrra, and their wisdom 
allowed them to live. Domains like Shai, which had lost a great 
warrior during an early confrontation with the inhabitants of the 
galaxy And the Praetorite Vong-though their fealty to Shimrra had 
been nothing more than a ruse to keep secret Prefect Da'Gara's own 
invasion plans. Plans that Nom Anor himself had been drawn into, to 
the point of assisting the Praetorite in acquiring a yammosk-even if 
it was a faulty one that would have been condemned to death had Nom 
Anor not persuaded the shapers in charge of the biot to allow him to 
have it, in exchange for certain favors.

If Shimrra knew, Nom Anor might even now be among the ossuary's dying, 
rather than mere witness to the event.

All around him, warriors were using their amphistaffs and batons to 
prod greater enthusiasm from the spectators, but they roused little 
more than ritual cheers, because, in the arena below, things weren't 
going quite as planned.

If innocent had been arrested with guilty, there would certainly have 
been much beseeching of forgiveness from Shimrra. Instead, the Shamed 
Ones were going to their deaths-being torn limb from limb, clawed and 
gutted, gobbled like succulent fruits, tossed about like 
playthings-cursing Shimrra and the elites, and crying, "Yu'shaa lives! 
Long live Yu'shaa!"

Jakan, Nas Choka, Qelah Kwaad, and Drathul could only look on in dismay, 
for the suggestion was that everyone arrested was a heretic- or had at 
least been somehow persuaded to show disdain for tradition.

None of the elite would even dare glance at Shimrra, save for Nom Anor, 
who, out of the corner of his one real eye, saw that the Supreme Overlord 
was laughing.

Everyone in the Ralroosfs briefing center had fallen silent in
se to the hologram Admiral Kre'fey had conjured from a pro-
-tor Shimmering in diaphanous blue light were images of a world
ulfed by vines, giant ferns, and trees with enormous fronds, some
-shaped, some as delicate as feathers. Spires and pinnacles and flat-
ned bluffs rose from the luxuriant vegetation, and in the distance
mrnense mountains heaved, their alloy bones protruding through the
oerdant cloaks that had been thrown over them, and their faces
marred   by   geometric   openings.   Water-filled   basins   abounded,
reflecting the light of a bruised sky, and flowing slowly through deep
gorges were rivers without twists or bends or oxbow lakes.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????????

Mossy outcroppings jutted from jungle patched in brilliant scarlet 
that darkened to crimson, or joined with other patches to form expanses 
of shimmering black or spark-gap blue, all shot through with streaks 
that shimmered like precious metals. Winged creatures flitted from 
height to height, hunting just above the canopy, while massive beasts 
lumbered below.

All in all, it was a planetscape too haphazard, too uneven, too immature to be real.

And in some sense, it wasn't.









"Coruscant," Kre'fey told his audience of several hundred Alliance officers.

At the touch of Kre'fey's left forefinger a second holo superimposed 
itself on the first, showing the Senate, Calocour Heights, Column Commons, 
the Glitannai Esplanade, and other once-celebrated locations of the former
 galactic capital.

"You can see that things have changed," the Bothan added. Seated to one 
side of the command rostrum, Han and Leia remained as thoughtfully silent 
as everyone else. With Kre'fey stood nost of the officers who had been 
present at the informal briefing that Wan, Leia, and Jaina had attended 
four days earlier.

"You undermine your own argument for attacking Coruscant," a Hutt said from 
front row center. His name was Embra, and he was commander of a resistance 
group known as the Sisar Runners." jfearly the planet is beyond restoration. 
                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
From what we have been given to understand, the Yuuzhan Vong even managed to 
alter his orbit and rotation."

"Why should we waste our dwindling resources on rescuing Coruscant, in any 
case?" an Agamarian officer said. "What did the New Republic Senate do for us 
when the Yuuzhan Vong invaded? They hung us out to dry. They allowed the worlds 
of the Outer and Mid Rims to fall, while they recalled the fleets to protect 
the Core."

"Many of the choices made were regrettable," Sow said, in thickl'y accented 
Basic, his black eyes shining. "There are countless examples of gross 
misjudgment. But those were political concerns, and they shouldn't be reason 
enough to splinter us now."

"Shimrra wants us to believe that Coruscant can't be rebuilt, and is protected 
by hidden defenses. But it is not beyond redemption. Yes, the orbit has been 
altered, and the surface temperature has been raised. But it is certainly not 
uninhabitable. Much of the vegetation is surface cover. Underneath, beneath 
the veneer, much of our technology is intact, or at the very least repairable."

Rogue Squadron leader Gavin Darklighter stood up. "Sirs, according to reports 
made by Jacen Solo, Coruscant was protected by hidden defenses. Jedi Solo 
indicated that an attack would set in motion contingencies that would 
ultimately render the planet unfit for reoccupation."

"We've taken Jacen Solo's report under advisement," Kre'fey said. "But 
because of what he experienced during his captivity, we are not inclined 
to accept his statements as incontrovertible."

Han was quick to put his arm around Leia's shoulders. "Easy there, manka 
cat. What'd you expect Kre'fey to say?"

Leia turned to him. "You believe Jacen."

"Of course I believe him. But these people aren't as smart as we are."

"That's not what you said at Caluula."

Han waved his free hand in dismissal. "Ah, that was only for show."

Sow was speaking. "Our attack on the Peace Brigade convoy at Selvaris was 
merely the first step in destabilizing Overlord Shimrra."

"A question, Admiral Kre'fey," said a wing commander Hafl didn't know 
by name. "I thought we won the war at Ebaq Nine."

"That's not a question," Kre'fey grumbled, "but I'll address it
The war will not be won until we've retaken Coruscant. Our
iiivwa^ o	,,
de is not only justified, but essential. Coruscant cries out tor
,re'" He softened his tone to add, "Shimrra's planned attack
tfCflR^	'
jylon Calamari will leave Coruscant lightly defended and vul-
hie Even if we fail to catch Shimrra's home defense fleet napping,
' ' possible that we can kill Shimrra or make things too unpleasant for
i to remain on Coruscant. An attack is the last move he expects us
to make."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????

"Our resistance leaders on Coruscant maintain that the time is over." Airen 
Cracken said. "The Shamed Ones are ready to make their nove. Intelligence 
now believes that Alliance prisoners were rescued not for sacrifice or 
hostage taking, but as a means of sending a signal that the heretics are 
ready to ally with us in the fight. Shimrra is well aware of the fact that 
he is fighting on two fronts, and his planned attack on Mon Calamari smacks 
of desperation. He knows that he needs to defeat us before we succeed in 
amassing a force sufficient to threaten him, or before the heretics conspire 
to pitch him from the throne."

"According to the same report Colonel Darklighter made reference to," the 
general continued, "the seedship that conveyed the World Brain to Coruscant 
was overwhelmed, and thousands of captives escaped. Many of those former 
slaves - who have been forced to survive on grayweave and whatever they can 
forage, steal, or ransack - have found their way to the resistance. With 
help from us, they can weaken the Yuuzhan Vong from within. An unexpected 
attack on the world the enemy knows as Yuuzhan'tar will be as demoralizing 
to the Yuuzhan Vong as the fall of Coruscant was to the New Republic."

The audience stirred, but no one had questions.

"I wish to speak for a moment about the attack on Mon Calamari 
itself," Kre'fey said.

Again the Bothan's hand went to the holoprojector controls. The image showed 
a pliable-looking, bulbous-headed marine -looking oature, trailing a mass 
of tentacles of varying length and thickness.

"A yammosk," Kre'fey said. "The gigantic, genetically engineered 
creature that serves as a war coordinator for the Yuuzhan Vong. Its 
telepathic abilities, though limited, enable it to facilitate 
communication among war vessels, and to project its thoughts and 
feelings ont others-Yuuzhan Vong, human, and so on. By virtue of 
its capacity to meld with coralskippers and other craft, its presence 
can affect the out come of any military engagement."

"Analysis of recent battle recordings suggests that the Yuuzhan Vong 
armada will take the form of this monstrosity-with warships gunship 
analogs, and coralskippers strung out to represent tentacles and 
capital ships, tenders, carriers, and actual yammosk vessels 
comprising the armada's fortified heart."

Kre'fey's light pointer indicated the tentacles. "Our strategy will 
be to sow confusion in these keys areas, by using our fastest ships 
to strike and fade, gradually opening fire lanes to the center. These 
attacks will commence the moment the armada emerges from hyperspace. 
As the main body of the armada nears Mon Calamari space, the ranged 
weapons of our largest ships will begin to hammer away at the center. 
Concurrently, courier ships will be dispatched to Contruum, where our 
fleets will be standing by. We antici-pate that when the Yuuzhan Vong 
commander at Mon Calamari learns that Coruscant is under siege, he 
will attempt to jump some of his battle groups back to the Core, by 
way of Toong'l and Caluula, trusting the yammosks installed on those 
worlds to coordinate with-drawal and protect against the possibility 
of ambush."

"With all due respect, Admiral," a Mon Calamari officer said, "Nas 
Choka is a far more shrewd warmaster than Tsavong Lah was. He won't 
be taken in by intelligence disinformation. And at Toong'l and Caluula, 
he'll be on the watch for interdictors, or mines of the sort we employed 
successfully at Ebaq Nine."

"Precisely," Kre'fey said. "Which is why we'll employ none of that. 
Instead, Alliance infiltration teams will by then have incapacitated 
the yammosks on both worlds. Deprived of battle coordination, the 
withdrawing battle groups will be vulnerable to counterattack. The 
odds are against our inflicting sufficient damage to rout them...
But the longer we can keep them from returning to the Core, the greater 
the chances of our Contruum fleets scoring heavily against Coruscant
- and against Shimrra."
 
 Han made a low sound of puzzlement, and Leia turned to him.

"What?" she said.

"Doesn't add up. If Caluula had been defended in the first place, . 
Vongs wouldn't have been able to use it as a staging area now."

Suddenly Han was on his feet. Leia assumed that he wanted to , his 
concerns with everyone on the rostrum. Instead, he said, "I want 
to be counted in on the Caluula mission."

Admiral Kre'fey swung to him. "Thank you, Captain Solo. Consider 
it done."

Leia was still staring at him when he sat down.

"What?" he said.

"You, is what. Selvaris, then back to Selvaris. Caluula, and now 
back to Caluula? Besides, you just volunteered for something you said
didn't add up."

"Yeah, but I'd sooner volunteer us for the mission than have
anyone else risk it."

Leia shook her head in wonder. "You're trying to get us killed, is
that it?"

"Just the opposite." Han grinned. "I can't have you getting bored
with me."

"Well, this should be good for at least another twenty-five years." 

Han patted her leg, then grew serious. "Here's the real reason: I
want us to do it for everyone who died or was captured at Caluula."
 








Casual questioning of some of those who had attended the "cleansing 
rite" - or slaughter, as many were whispering - had left Nom Anor with 
the impression that he had been the only one to notice Shimrra's laughter. 
Now, two days after the heretics had been put to death, the Supreme 
Overlord's unnerving smile was visible for everyone in the Hall of 
Confluence to see.

Nas Choka knelt before him, the Scepter of Entreaty curled around 
the arm that normally would have propped the warmaster's domain tsaisi.

"Most Gracious Lord," Nas Choka was saying, "I take it upon myself, in the 
names of the priests, seers, and others of my domain, to implore that 
additional thought be given to the holy task you have set before your 
warriors, to proceed with haste to Mon Calamari, and there lay waste 
to the ships of our enemy's fleet, so that we might end this struggle 
at last, and see to the greater duty of bringing the truth to those 
whose homes we have conquered, lest we be forced to crush them underfoot 
like so many gricha. I ask this in the name of Yun-Yammka, to whom I am 
foresworn, and in all respect, since it is you who have Yun-Yammka's ear, 
and upon you that the burden of exis-tence rests."

Shimrra leaned forward, with his pointed chin resting on the palm
 - h'   huge hand, and Onimi left the steps below the throne to sit
°	' by the warmaster, studying him with his lopsided head
<".    -I to the heavy side, but without giving voice to rhyme or insult. ° 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????
"Pray, just what is it that your priests and seers have been telling 
Warmaster, since your words are the first I've heard of such mat-
>0 >" Shimrra asked. "Surely you harbor no doubts that your mighty
ten*. armada can prevail."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????

"No, Great Lord, of that I have no doubts. It is instinct that compels me 
to ask: at what cost to us?"

Shimrra motioned to him. "Continue, Warmaster, so that all here gathered 
might get a glimmer of the inner workings of so strategic a thinker."

Nas Choka raised his gaze. "Great Lord, I do not counsel against striking 
Mon Calamari. I question only the timing of the assault."

Shimrra adopted a look of perplexity. "Of what timing do you speak? Are 
the stars in this peculiar sky out of alignment? Do the days of the 
sacred calendar auger for caution? Are you not in the proper mood to 
mete out punishment? Speak plainly, Warmaster. I will think only the 
^^^^??????????????????????????
more of you for it."

Nas Choka snapped his fists to his shoulders in salute. "Great Lord, I 
would prefer to concentrate our efforts on securing further those worlds 
we hold, in the regions our enemy catalogs as Core, Colonies, Inner Rim, 
and Expansion Region. That much accom-plished, we will have created an 
impenetrable wall against incursion, and from inside that wall we can 
continue to make forays out into the Mid Rim and other sectors, until 
we have at last driven the forces of our enemy into a region where they 
might be subdued by attrition or with one final stroke."

"Is that not what we have already done?" Shimrra asked. "As we speak 
they are consolidated at Mon Calamari. We have pushed them to the 
extremes of their own galaxy."

"Some of the enemy, Gracious Lord, but not all. Pockets of strong 
resistance remain. To subdue the Hutts fully required years, it may 
take as many to subjugate the Hapes Consortium, the Chiss Empire, the 
Corporate Sector. In all those places, to name but a
> the enemy is strong. I won't argue that many of their fleets are
^^^^????????????????????????????????
now united at Mon Calamari. But our campaigns in the Remnant Esfandia, 
and Bilbringi yet again, have cost us dearly. War vessels ne ri to be 
grown and nurtured - weapons, craft, and coralskippers

Our armada is weakest in the very vessels needed to move it. More need
to be better equipped for surface contests - unless it is design to 
poison more worlds than we already have, and risk havi the gods 
misunderstand our intentions, and pronounce us callon toward life."

Nom Anor was impressed, and wished he had the courage to sun-port Nas 
Choka openly, but he couldn't chance adding his voice to the warmaster's - 
not without jeopardizing his special relationship with Shimrra. But if 
the truth could be told, Nom Anor would have confessed that he wanted 
only to protect the world with which he had been entrusted. Having 
struggled for so long to attain a rank of authority, he had no desire 
to see the privileges that came with his station disappear because of 
some blunder by Shimrra.

The Supreme Overlord himself was too keen a strategist to take issue 
with all that Nas Choka was saying. But the warmaster was ignorant 
about the one unknown quantity that was compelling Shimrra to move 
quickly - and in seeming defiance of the belief that he was being 
shortsighted.

That one unknown was Zonama Sekot.

"I appreciate your concerns, Warmaster," Shimrra said, "and indeed, 
if anyone is worthy of the honorific it is you, for your insight is 
sharp as a honed coufee." He paused just long enough for Nas Choka 
to regain his confidence before adding: "But you are in error. I assure 
you that Yun-Yuuzhan was greatly pleased by the deaths of so many 
heretics at the Place of Bones. Trust to him, to Yun-Yuuzhan, to allay
the concerns of the Slayer and the other gods. You will be rewarded with 
victory, Warmaster, and praises will be sung to you and your commanders, 
now and for generations to come."

Nom Anor smiled inwardly.

Shimrra was brilliant at playing the game. All his talk of mollifying 
the gods was nothing more than a subterfuge - something beyond debate 
by the priests, since the Supreme Overlord was their only rea* conduit 
to the gods.

 A   | it struck Nom Anor that Shimrra was right about what he 
ocl at their most recent meeting: the Yuuzhan Vong had out-the gods. 
^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????
It wasn't that the gods didn't exist, so much as the Yuuzhan Vong 
no longer needed them.

All at once, he felt someone's eyes on him. He looked to Shimrra, hut 
Shimrra was still gazing down on Nas Choka. It was Onimi who was 
watching Nom Anor.

Tn his command grotto, deep in the bowels of the holy mountain hat 
was the worldship Citadel, Nas Choka, his chief tactician, and a 
warrior-seer studied a display of blaze bugs, moving about in their 
yorik coral niche. Insects capable of hovering in flight, or glowing 
or darkening at the behest of a yammosk, the bugs provided a visual 
representation of Yuuzhan Vong and enemy forces marshaled at Mon 
Calamari  and  the  relatively  neighboring  worlds  of Toong'l  and
Caluula.

The frenzied motion of the insects mirrored the swirling of Nas
Choka's thoughts.

"Shimrra is deranged," the female seer said. "Smiling as if 
bequeathed more than his usual knowledge of events."

Nas Choka looked at his blood-smeared subordinate. "You are safe 
herein, seer, but were I you, I would exercise caution about what 
words fly from my mouth. Shimrra has ears throughout the Citadel, 
and in more places than you can imagine. And who, seer, would you 
bid go to staffs with one of the Supreme Overlord's newly enhanced 
warriors should you be challenged?"

The seer bowed at the waist. "Your forgiveness, Warmaster."

"There is no swaying Shimrra. What matters now is that we do
not fail him." Nas Choka turned to face his cardinal subalterns. "None
of you need  fear  expressing your  opinions  here.   But  take  care
elsewhere-both on and distant from Yuuzhan'tar." He returned his
potion to the blaze bug display. "The enemy fleet remains, aug-
nted now by ships from star systems far removed from the war."
^^^^^^????????????????????????????????????????

The tactician, attired in high turban and long cloak, nodded. "As
eared, they are allying against us. We were wrong to move quickly
tlle Remnant and in the Koornacht Cluster. We might well have
^^^^^^^?????????????????????
 been able to make use of the so-called Imperials and the barba ' 
Yevetha. We might have at least led them by their noses long enon 
to consider that there was greater profit in allying with us."

Nas Choka snorted in agreement. "Had I to do it over again might 
even have kept the Hutts on our side."

"They have themselves to blame," the tactician said. "Their off of 
support was tendered only as a means of positioning themselve safely 
between us and the enemy. That they underestimated us; his reason 
enough not to extend them any honor."

Nas Choka nodded. "Their species is arrogant. Sooner or later they 
would have attempted to betray us, and it would have come down to 
contest. Nothing would be different now."

"Except perhaps that Nas Choka wouldn't have been escalated to 
warmaster," the seer said.

"Another instance of escalation by default," Nas Choka said 
harshly. "Tsavong Lah became too fixed on the Jeedai. He made the 
war personal. He displayed pride in having a vua'sa grown, merely 
so that he could slay it and claim one of its legs as his own. His 
insolence was his undoing. It blinded him to the truth. The Jeedai 
are a nuisance, but they are hardly the secret weapon we first 
thought them to be. As their numbers dwindle, so apparently does 
their ability to call on the Force." He laughed shortly. "Tsavong 
Lah would have directed the armada against a handful of upstarts 
with magic swords. It would be frankly laughable were it not so tragic."

Again the warmaster scrutinized the blaze bug display. "It intrigues 
me that they remain at Mon Calamari. By installing yam-mosks at 
Toong'l and Caluula, we have made clear as rainwater our intent to 
assault Mon Calamari. Sow, Kre'fey, and the rest ot the Alliance 
commanders must be blind not to see what is coming- But obviously 
I misconstrue them. My purpose was to persuade them to disband their 
battle groups, and thus subvert the possibility of a final battle of 
this nature, for I suspected that Shimrra was pursuing such thinking. 
And yet the enemy does nothing to suggest that they received our 
message. Either they have misconstrued me, or they have devised a 
way to counter us."

"Even so, Warmaster," the tactician said, "it makes little sense for
 o make a stand at Mon Calamari. They are vastly outnumbered, ot is 
unlikely they would wish to visit destruction on the world 3   v have
chosen as their new capital."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????

Nas Choka considered it. "Yes, I fear that, in the end, they will
scatter."

The tactician was puzzled.  "Was that not your original wish,
Warmaster?"

"To have them disband without our having to travel clear across he galaxy 
to prompt them. Now we are committed. We will arrive, rhev will disperse, 
and we will be left with no choice but to chase them into the galactic arms 
and back-because Shimrra will not have it otherwise."

"Such  actions  will  require  many  years,  and  consume  many
resources."

"It is the pattern our ancestors faced time and again in the home 
galaxy," the seer interjected. "Wars that lingered for generations."

The tactician regarded the blaze bugs. "What if the enemy should 
surprise us by electing to stand and fight?"

Nas Choka smiled. "I will know then, with certainty, that Kre'fey 
and the rest have contrived a counterstrategy."

The seer was not pleased by the statement. "Would the infidels dare 
strike at Yuuzhan'tar in your absence?"

"I have given careful thought to that," Nas Choka said. "I have 
calculated the amount of damage they can do, based on their bringing 
to bear three times the number of ships we know to exist in sectors 
other than Mon Calamari. I remain confident that they cannot inflict
unacceptable damage. I have planned for that eventuality, nevertheless. 
Should they jump their entire fleet here, so much the better for us."

"They could interpret the groundwork we've laid as an attempt to 
encourage them to attack Yuuzhan'tar," the tactician said.

Nas Choka betrayed no concern. "Either way benefits us. But we re a
long way from seeing all sides of this. We must bide what little 
lrr>e remains before Shimrra declares the omens favorable to launch tne fleet."
^^^^^??????????????????????????????????

The seer deliberately placed herself in the warmaster's  gaze.
"T       I	J	I	O
Ve spoken to the other seers regarding the omens. We have

Force Caunterfarce
Hil!l|ll|
 agreed to stretch the truth, in order to grant your forces addition i 
time to prepare."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????

"Shimrra will see through you," Nas Choka cautioned. "?SD daily in light of 
                            ????????????????????????^^^^^^^
the appeal I attempted today. Regardless, he \v'|| suffer your lies as an 
                            ???????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^
accommodation to me, just as he surfers vou and your cohorts as an 
accommodation to the elite. Refrain from attempting to grant us too much 
delay." He paused, then said, "ln the meantime, we should awaken our 
masqued spies and infiltrators on all occupied and contested worlds, 
and instruct them to report on any unusual activity involving the 
movements of ships, materiel, and couriers."

"Kre'fey will expect as much," the tactician thought to point out. "Bear in 
mind, Warmaster, that enemy disinformation was at least partially responsible 
for drawing Tsavong Lah to his death."

Nas Choka touched him on the shoulder in appreciation. "Trust nothing from 
our network of agents on Mon Calamari. They live only because the Alliance 
feels there may be some further use for them. Also instruct our masqued 
spies that while they should keep their noses lifted to the winds, they 
are to refrain from taking any actions or interfering in any way. I want 
nothing more than information. I will separate the truth from the deceptions. 
Above all, I want to give the Alliance just enough vine to hang itself."
  






Stars filled the sky.

Head tipped back, eyes raised, Luke turned through a small circle, 
feeling infinitesimal under the giant boras, under the light-strewn 
expanse. The night was cold-made colder by a polar breeze-but there 
wasn't a cloud overhead. Beside him, R2-D2 zithered and twittered, 
then fluted in what approximated relief.

Luke looked down at the readout on the droid's dome. "You're sure
about that, little fella?"

The silver dome of the droid's head revolved, taking his primary 
photoreceptor through a second survey of the stars and clusters. 
After comparing the results of his scans to the charts he had 
downloaded from Widowmaker's data banks, R2-D2 mewled, chirped, 
then twittered some more.

Luke smiled and placed his hand on the droid's dome. "At least 
we're closer to known space. I guess we'll just have to wait to 
see ere Sekot's next hyperspace jump lands us."

Rocking side to side on his treads, R2-D2 tootled and fluted.

Luke had been one of the first to emerge from the shelter scooped
the notched cliff face that was home to hundreds of Ferroan 
families. Similar to other shelters in the Middle Distance, it was a vast
aoi vaulted space, excavated sometime during the Crossings that 
h H taken Zonama Sekot from its original orbit in the Gardaji Rift 
^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
through several star systems, and finally into the Unknown Region,
where Sekot had selected Klasse Ephemora as the planet's new 
home and sanctuary.

Following the discussion in the cave, Sekot had said that it 
wanted to perform several short trial voyages to assess whether 
the jump to lightspeed inadvertently engineered by Nom Anor had 
done lastine damage to the hyperspace cores and whatever planetary
mechanisms Sekot employed to augment the powerful engines. Of 
greater concern was the very real possibility of encountering 
uncharted mass shadows along the route back to known space. 
Whether ship or planet, any traveler that entered hyperspace 
without taking a greater or lesser hyperlane risked catastrophe - 
and no analogs to the Perlemian Trade Route or the Hydian Way 
existed in the Unknown Regions. Worse, the entire territory was 
known to be rife with hyperspace anomalies, particularly along 
the Coreward frontier.

Luke and the other Jedi had to trust that Sekot knew what it 
was doing. So instead of dwelling on the prospects of being 
yanked from lightspeed by a gravity well of some sort, Luke 
had passed the days in the shelter grappling with Sekot's 
revelations that the aboriginal Yuuzhan Vong had been stripped 
of the Force. Sekot had refused to elaborate; and since then 
Sekot-speaking through Jabitha-had said only that it was 
imperative that Zonama be returned to known space, despite 
the grave risks the planet would face during the Crossings 
and on arrival.

The revelation-Luke didn't know what else to call it - had had 
a profound effect on Harrar, and on Luke, as well. Was it possible, 
Luke wondered, that the would-be Jedi who had originally settled 
on Zonama Sekot hadn't taught Sekot about the Force but merely 
reawakened it?

A few steps away from Luke in the boras-enclosed clearing sat 
Jade Shadow. Designed for speed and stealth, the craft was sharply
tapered forward and painted a uniform nonreflective gray. The 
hyperdrive rating was equal to that of the Millennium Falcon,
and she had added ability to be operated remotely by slave circuitry. 
The aft ace alone was large enough to accommodate an X-wing.
    ^^^^^^????????????????????

When Sekot was impressed by the ship, and Luke suspected that it
Sekot that had kept Jade Shadow from being crushed by the 
sev- l\ boras that had toppled during the recent storms, narrowly missing
rTowever, the ship was buried almost to her triangular cockpit in
' d leaves, and other forest detritus
it-	r	.     J    ^_ o*"-
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

"Did she weather the jump all right?" Mara asked. Glow stick in
\ she emerged from the dark shadows of the giant trees and came 
^^^??????????????????????????
alongside him to regard Jade Shadow.

"No visible damage."

Mara tossed her hair over her right shoulder and gazed at the 
circle of brilliant stars overhead. "Any idea where we are?"

"According to Artoo, we might be somewhere in the Mid Rim."

The droid cheeped.

Mara looked at R2-D2. "Is that good?"

"It's a start." Luke glanced at the path Mara had taken. "Where is everyone?"

"Jacen, Corran, and Danni are trying to convince the Ferroans that
it's safe to come out of hiding. The last I saw Tekli, Saba, and 
Tahiri, they were with Harrar, who keeps finding similarities 
between Yuuzhan Vong biots and what he sees here." She approached 
Jade Shadow, then turned to Luke. "Do you think we're close enough 
to contact Esfandia Station?"

"Only one way to find out."

The ship had a cosmetic external hatch release, but the actual 
release was concealed inside the starboard bulkhead, and could 
be operated by the Force. Mara entered first, and called on the 
illuminators. As filthy as the ship was outside, the interior 
was undisturbed. Slipping into the forward chairs, she and Luke
activated the ship's ^oloNet and subspace transceivers. At the 
same time, R2-D2 inserted 18 slender computer interface arm into
an access port and rotated the lal to an appropriate setting.
the Esfandia Station, this is Jade Shadow..." Mara said, repeating
cornm call several times.

The annunciator's only response was static.

"At Klasse Ephemora we were even farther from Esfandia, and we still  
managed  to  reach  the   station,"  Mara  said,  after  continu 
attempts to contact the station.

R2-D2 buzzed in exasperation.

"He says he can't find any functioning HoloNet transceivers" Luke said.

"Try again," Mara urged.

She and Luke pondered possible explanations while R2-D2 rotated the
interface dial this way and that.

"Nothing," Luke said, breaking their long silence.

Mara's lightly freckled brow furrowed. "Could the Yuuzhan Vong have 
destroyed Esfandia?"

Luke leaned away from the console. "Corran said that something big 
had been planned for Bilbringi. But even if the Alliance failed to 
retake the shipyards there, that wouldn't account for our not being 
able to contact any of the HoloNet relay stations."

Mara shook her head back and forth. "Something terrible has happened." 
She looked at him. "Could Cal Omas have given the okay to using Alpha Red?"

A Yuuzhan Vong-specific toxin, Alpha Red had been developed in secret 
by Alliance Intelligence, working in conjunction with Chiss scientists. 
But the only prototype sample of the bioweapon had been stolen by 
Vergere and transformed into something harmless.

"We've been gone long enough for Dif Scaur's Intelligence bunch to
have cooked up a whole new batch," Mara added.

Luke shook his head. "Cal promised me that Alpha Red would be used
only as a last resort."

"Maybe it's come down to that. And maybe the Yuuzhan Vong retaliated
with a poison of their own."

"Cal knows better. Evil can't simply be stamped out. It's as much a
part of life as good is."

Mara looked at him dubiously. "You're thinking like a Jedi instead 
of an admiral or an elected official." She blew out her breath. "All 
right. What's your solution to ending this war?"

"I don't know yet. I just know that Alpha Red isn't the solution.

Mara smiled at him and took his hand. "I happen to agree. But we 
starting to sound a little like Vergere and Jacen."

"Guilty as charged. But is that wrong?"

"Not in principle. Except that you're probably more attuned to he force 
than either of them."

Luke made his lips a thin line. "I feel like I'm still in training 
for he trials. Every second of every day. It never ends, and I 
wouldn't , jt otherwise. My understanding of the Force continues 
to grow. I v pm a Jedi Master, but I may not feel like a true Master 
    ^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????
until my dving breath. Besides, Jacen, Jaina, Tahiri, Ben . . . They're 
the future of the Jedi. Everything we do now must be for them-to ensure 
that thev carry on what began a thousand generations ago."

Luke took his eyes from Mara, and glanced around the cockpit. "I
know what you're thinking," she said, after a moment. "And I
think it's time we tried."

He smiled faintly. "If you'd stayed in my thoughts a little longer, 
you'd know why we can't leave."

Mara looked disappointed. "You're not going to tell me you're worried
about running us into a mass shadow. Because Artoo can plot a safe 
route-even if it takes us twenty microjumps to get back to
known space."

"That isn't it." Luke regarded her again. "Mara, I'm as concerned about
Ben as you are. Something terrible has happened, but it's momentary. We 
have to stay focused on the greater picture."

Mara rose and paced away from the control console, crossing her arms 
when she swung back to Luke. "The future's exactly what I'm thinking 
about. Ben's future. You said yourself that everything we do should be 
for him and the other young Jedi." She sat down again and took her 
husband's hands in hers. "Luke, Ben was almost killed on Coruscant by 
that witch Viqi Shesh. If something should happen to us . . ."

Luke pictured their red-golden-haired infant. "By leaving, we could 
destroy everything we've accomplished here. And then we w°n't be a 
help to anyone-Ben included."

Mara studied him. "You're basing this on personal experience - n some
mistake you once made."

"I am."

 "Luke, there are times when action is the best course."

"Actions have consequences."

Stay
^^^^^^^^???????????????????

"What are the consequences here? Jacen and Corran can behind. We can
leave them Jade Shadow, if you want. We'll ask Selc" to grow us a ship."

"It's Sekot I'm worried about."

Mara stared at him. "Sekot?"

"Sekot might misinterpret our leaving as a lack of trust and change its
mind about returning to known space."

"Then you can explain our reason for leaving."

"Tell Sekot that we're worried about our son, about our friends about 
what's happened to the HoloNet?" Luke paused, then asked - "What about 
Sekot's concerns for the Ferroans, or for what might happen to Zonama 
when it becomes part of the war?"

Mara mulled it over for a moment.

Luke squeezed her hands affectionately. "Ben will be fine. I saw him fine."

Mara's eyes narrowed in a reluctant smile. "You saw him piloting a 
ship of completely unfamiliar design-like the ones grown here."

Luke recalled the rest of his vision: Ben tracing lines in the sand; 
kneeling by a river, rubbing smooth round stones between his fingers 
and smiling; wrestling with a young Wookiee . . . Luke saw himself
holding Ben while they observed glowing lines of traffic move through 
the sky of an unknown world-like Coruscant but not. And, yes: Ben at 
the helm of a starship of unique design . . .

Mara was watching him. "Assuming you weren't gazing at Ben from some 
other plane of existence, you're going to be around to witness all 
those things."

"So will you."

"Was I part of the vision?"

In fact, Luke hadn't seen Mara-not at first.

"Luke, promise me something," Mara said before he could speak. "If
anything happens to me...."

He tried to shush her, but she pushed his hand away.

"No, I need to say this. Promise me that if anything
 Ben with all your heart, and you'll make him the center of
lid as he is to me."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????

He pulled her into his arms. "Hush, my love, the night is mild
umber smiles on you rormse me, Luke." vill- -if you'll make me 
the same promise.

v- -she nodded against his chest. "Then no matter what, the future's
assured."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????  
 

 

Fas Choka pushed through the living membrane that sealed the command 
grotto from prying eyes. A trio of Supreme Commanders and their 
subalterns trailed in the warmaster's angry wake.

"Our course is now set," he announced to his own subalterns and 
tacticians. "Supreme Overlord Shimrra will abide no further delay. 
We are enjoined to launch the armada in three local days, when the 
auguries are favorable for victory."

"Three days, Fearsome One," the tactician said when Nas Choka had 
dropped cross-legged onto his yorik coral bench.

"The burden is mine," Nas Choka replied abruptly. "Don't add to it by
echoing my words. Tender your report."

The tactician inclined his head in a bow of respect. "Rumors teem like 
an infestation of sacworms. From all sectors comes word of heightened 
enemy activity. Ships masquerading as spice carriers leave Hutt space,
but as often as not they are empty. The same holds true in Bothan space.
There is increased traffic within the Hapan Cluster, with many ships 
inbound from Kashyyyk and from the more distant Remnant. Known operatives 
and agents consort clandestinely on Corellia and Bimmisaari. Courier 
ships of the Smugglers' Alliance  and  depart  Contruum,  with  a  few 
venturing  as   close  to Yuuzhan'tar as Corulag."


sionary
Nine.'
^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"Sheer impudence," Nas Choka said. "But much like the diversion raids at 
Gyndine and Duro that preceded the clash at Ebaq."

He fell briefly silent, then said, "Proceed."

"As instructed, our agents made no attempts to interfere or provide the
slightest signs of suspicion."

"And at Mon Calamari?"

"Almost half the fleet has departed. Many capital ships have turned 
to their home sectors. Others have been traveling in and out of 
darkspace. Still others have been deployed as substitutes for the 
transceiving devices our dovin basals engulfed."

Nas Choka rose from the bench to regard what now amounted to an 
entire wall of blaze bug displays. "My long tenure in Hutt space 
was well spent," he said after a long moment. "I was forced to 
acquaint myself with all make and manner of deception and duplicity. 
Fabrication comes as easily to the inhabitants of this galaxy as 
invention comes to our shapers. So I am wary of all these reports."

He turned to his Supreme Commanders. "Sow and Kre'fey grasp that our 
patrols and reconnaissance vessels are too widely dispersed to keep 
watch over every planetary sector. They attempt to overwhelm us with 
activity, in the hope of screening a few missions of genuine purpose." 

His expression grew dour. "Our actions in sabotaging the HoloNet may 
come back to plague us. We no longer have the luxury of being able to 
eavesdrop on enemy communications. Yes, the courier ships require 
additional time to reach their destinations, but the messages they 
carry come and go only to those who need to be apprised of the content. 
Even now this war takes unexpected twists and turns." His hooded eyes 
fell on the tactician. "What of the yammosks at Toong'l and Caluula?"

"Unperturbed, Fearsome One. Although . . ."

Nas Choka waited, then said: "Give voice to it!" 

"Caluula's surrender, Warmaster. Before the fall of the orbital u°n, 
the commander who led our assault was contacted by the vernor of the 
planet. The governor promised that Caluula would wyield to occupation, 
without need of an amphistaff being rage against it."

"There is nothing unusual about that," the warrior-seer int rupted. "Many 
local governments have opted-wisely, I think-~ spare themselves 
devastation, in exchange for a pledge that we will equitable about how 
many captives we take, and in how we purs our timetable for 
worldshaping-including the effacement of buildings, temples, and the 
obliteration of machines. The custom began early as our defeat of the 
library world of Obroa-skai."

"Yes, seer, but in the instance of Caluula, the governor made a special 
request. She asked for permission for scientists to visit to observe
some sort of natural spectacle peculiar to the planet. This, of course, 
would necessitate the temporary maintenance of the space-port, for the 
landing of ships and scientific personnel."

Nas Choka folded his massive arms. "Our commander agreed to this?"

The tactician nodded. "In the interest of rapid and effortless 
pacification, and for the sake of the yammosk, he granted provisional 
approval. So as not to subject our people to lifeless technology, he 
assigned security of the spaceport to Peace Brigaders. Now, however, 
the petition to allow scientists to visit Caluula rests in the hands 
of High Prefect Drathul. He, in turn, will defer to the sagacity of 
High Priest Jakan."

For several moments Nas Choka paced in silence. "This interests me," he
said finally. "Much of the enemy fleet remains at Mon Calamari. 
Elsewhere ships scurry about in seeming abandon. And following weeks of 
noble fighting by the defenders of its orbital facility, Caluula 
surrenders without contest." He let his statements hang in the air, 
then turned to the tactician. "Tell Eminence Jakan that I wish a word 
with him before he renders any judgment on the petition.

The tactician bowed. "Anything else, Fearsome One?"

"Who commands the yammosk emplacement at Caluula?" 

"I can provide the answer momentarily, Warmaster." 

Nas Choka paced to his bench. "Return not only with the but also with 
the commander's dedicated villip. I need speak him, as well."
  








many
-rhe Yuuzhan Vong warrior at Caluula spaceport made it clear he was 
ready to unleash his amphistaff at the slightest provocation. The sight 
of the tattooed and scarred warrior standing against a okdrop of shuttles 
and landing craft was just absurd enough to j ,n Han's eyes, but he knew 
                        ??????????????????^^^^^^^^^
better than to smile. Several Yuuzhan Vong warships were in orbit above 
Caluula, though not nearly as v as Han had expected to see.

"You are the scientist - Meloque?" the warrior said in Basic to the 
female Ho'Din on whom the entire infiltration mission rested.

More than two meters tall, with sucker-equipped four-fingered hands, 
a purple crown of erect thermographic receptors, and a 
reptilian-complected lipless face, she might almost have been a 
Yuuzhan Vong shaper. Indeed, among all the species of the galaxy, 
the bipedal Ho'Din were treated with particular favor by the invaders, 
not only because of their devotion to plant life, but also because of 
their aversion to technology.

"Yes, I am Meloque," she answered in Yuuzhan Vong. 

The warrior extended a sinewy hand. "Your authentication." 

Meloque displayed the fist-sized nugget of flesh and fur that had been 
delivered to her on Obroa-skai. The warrior took the creature between 
his hands, squeezed it, and studied the pungent droppings it left on 
a piece of leathery parchment. Then he nodded and motioned to Han, 
Leia, Kyp, Judder Page, and the Bothan Intelligence officer, Wraw. 

"The members of my support team," Meloque said. "Their names should also 
be contained by the lumpen." Having lived among the Yuuzhan Vong for 
close to four years on the enemy - occupied library world, she knew 
how to deal with them, as well as speak to them.

The warrior squeezed the lumpen so hard it squealed, and another
r" °f droppings fell to the parchment. It took a moment for the
^^^^^?????????????????????
warrior to confirm that the names and descriptions detailed in the
droppings matched the  counterfeit identities of the humans  and
humanoids in front of him, but ultimately he nodded again.

"He lumpen will remain here until your departure. If all of you 
not returned in three days, you will be hunted down, imprisoned
and punished for your insolence. Do you understand?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????

 "Yes," Meloque answered for all of them.

"Then proceed inside."
A surprise to everyone-and some cause for suspicion-Yuuzhan' had granted 
permission for a few select scientists to visit Caluula observe what was 
called the Nocturne of the Winged-Stars, an alleged! extraordinary natural 
phenomenon that occurred once every three h dred standard years. As Han 
understood it, the local governor had c the deal in secret, even while 
the orbital station was still under siege

At the mission briefing on Mon Calamari only two days earlier Han had 
voiced his misgivings, telling Dif Scaur that the last time he had
checked, the Yuuzhan Vong weren't in the public relations business.

The cadaverously thin Intelligence director, who had had a hand in 
organizing the mission to destroy Caluula's yammosk, had offered 
other examples of the Yuuzhan Vong's recent attempts to win the 
hearts and minds of defeated populations-as against their usual 
tactic of plucking them out at the first sign of resistance. 
Regarding Caluula Scaur believed that the nature of the 
negotiation-centered, as it was, on the observance of a rare 
natural phenomenon-might have appealed to whatever priests had 
been tasked with ruling on the request. Not that it mattered. If 
the Yuuzhan Vong had refused consent, the execu-tion team would 
have gone in, regardless.

The last-minute addition of Kyp Durron to the team had been 
cause for further concern, because yammosks were believed to 
have the ability to sense Jedi, as had happened aboard an enemy 
vessel to the late Wurth Skidder. Kyp had countered that being
a Jedi had nothing to do with it. Yammosks could detect the 
Force, and Kyp maintained that Leia was as strong in the 
Force as he was.

Han was not at all eased by the explanation. "A Bothan and a 
Jedi," he told Kyp. "We might as well be wearing Galactic 
Alliance insignias."

On the other hand, having Kyp along on the mission made 
i something of a family affair, since Kyp had figured 
^^???????????????????
prominently " Han's life for close to twenty years-ever 
since Han and Chewbacca had rescued the sixteen-year-old 
fledgling Jedi from imprisonment tf the spice mines of 
Kessel. Han's trust in Kyp had been tested by the trials 
Kyp had himself endured-on Yavin, against the spirit of 
a dead Sith Lord; in Kyp's feverish quest for vengeance 
against ? ill admiral Daala; in bringing the Sun Crusher 
       ^^^^^???????????????????????
to bear on the Carida; and in nearly destroying the Millennium 
Falcon, and in the process. More recently Kyp had tricked 
Jaina into helping ihilate a civilian Yuuzhan Vong worldship 
at Sernpidal. And 11 following the events at Myrkr, he had 
                 ^^^^??????????????????????
been instrumental in her from going to the dark side-thanks 
in part to Leia's ning Kyp that if he ever again hurt Jaina 
                ^^^^^^^??????????????
or any member of Leia's ilv he would be safer turning himself 
over to the Yuuzhan Vong. 

"I'm through with travel if it means carrying a lumpen instead 
of an identichip," Wraw said to Han while they were entering 
the space-port terminal.

"We're here to make sure you don't have to," Han said. "We've 
got enough unhappy Bothans without adding you to the list."

Wraw laughed hoarsely. "As good with his mouth as he is with 
his blaster. That's what I've always heard about you."

"I aim true, if that's what you mean." Han had more to say, 
but Leia touched his arm in a gesture of restraint. From 
the start, he and the long-faced Bothan spy had butted 
heads, but he appreciated Leia's reminding him of mission 
priorities.

Where Yuuzhan Vong warriors and bissop hounds held sway 
over the landing field, Peace Brigaders-Nikto, Weequays, 
a couple of Gammoreans, and other alien traitors-oversaw 
luggage inspection and terminal security. The modular, 
prefabricated building had been stripped of technology, 
but it hadn't yet been transformed by the Yuuzhan Vong. 
Three other teams of scientists were having their equipment 
inspected, and being subjected to constant harassment by 
bribe-seeking Brigaders. Flanking the building's only exit 
were a pair af exceedingly tall humans-or, more likely, 
ooglith-masquer-wearing Yuuzhan Vong.

Team Meloque's equipment was being pawed through by a Kla-
'Qinian and a Codru-Ji, whose four arms were buried to the elbows
^^^??????????????????????
Han's backpack. The Yuuzhan Vong had prohibited the import or
not recording devices other than sketch pads and writing 
imple- MS. But they had allowed tents and camping gear, since the 
^^^^^^?????????????????????
expeditions were destined for the rugged mountains that walled Caluula 
C' on three sides. As rudimentary as they were, the Brigaders' scan 
^^^^^^??????????????????????
were capable of detecting most weapons, so blasters had been left   
"o the packing list. Leia's and Kyp's lightsabers, however, were 
^^^^?????????????????????
include among the cooking supplies, disguised as handles for 
self-warming frv pans.

The Klatooinian put the field kitchen duffel on the inspect] 
table. "I'm going to need to go through all of this," he said as the 
lofty Meloque approached, a sheathlike skirt making her appear even 
taller than she was.

Kyp stepped up to the table and made a subtle hand motion. "You don't 
need to inspect this bag."

The canine-faced humanoid stared at the Jedi and blinked his heavy 
lidded eyes. "We don't need to inspect this bag."

Momentarily confused, the Codru-Ji eventually nodded in agreement.

"Gather your belongings and leave."

"Gather your belongings and leave."

Kyp caught Han's look while the two of them were shouldering the 
duffels. "Problem?"

"I thought that wasn't allowed or something."

Kyp shrugged. "We can debate Jedi philosophy some other time."

Han laughed through his nose. "Don't get me wrong, kid. If I 
had the ability, I'd be using it every chance I could."

"You only think you would," Leia said, slipping into her 
backpack as she caught up with them. "Would you use it when 
you play sabacc?"

Han considered it. "Might take some of the fun out of the game.

"And I know you wouldn't want that," she said.

No sooner had they exited the terminal than clouds of indigenous 
flitnats surrounded them. The insects weren't the biting variety,
but that didn't make them any less irritating.

"Hope you remembered to pack the repellent," Han said to Lcia-
                                    ??????????????????^^^^^^^^^

"Wouldn't help," Wraw rasped. "Every visitor to Caluula gets assigned 
one hundred flitnats, and those hundred stick with you for your entire
 stay."

Han laughted shortly at the Bothan's joke. "Well, everybody's got 
o own idea about what makes a good vacation."

What Han didn't say was that the tiny pests were already sticking
the cosmetic that lightened his complexion and the adhesive that
ured his gray beard, mustache, and woolly eyebrows, and that he
even more uncomfortable than he had been on Aphran IV two
\V3-3 earlier, where he had worn a similar getup. Leia was the only 
^^^^^^^????????????????????
ther one also in disguise, her hair concealed under a wig of closely - 
ooped silver locks, and her skin a faint shade of green, thanks to 
^^^^^??????????????????????
some pill Intelligence had had her swallow. Even though he was a Jedi 
Kyp's keen face wasn't well known, and Page was so nondescript that a 
moment after meeting him one practically forgot what he looked like.

Still, for all his discomfort, Han was happy not to be wearing one 
of the ooglith-masquer-like "brands" developed by Wraith Squadron's
Baljos Arnjak and being worn by all the team members assigned to 
killing the yammosk on Toong'l, which was guarded only by Yuuzhan
Vong.

Apart from the off-the-rack spaceport terminal, Caluula was about as 
basic a world as Han had visited in a long while-a world where the 
stones that formed the walls of most buildings had been given shape 
by other stones, and where most of the human and humanoid population
had more in common with the Yuuzhan Vong than they probably realized. 
It took him a moment to come to grips with the fact that on Caluula 
and hundreds of similarly primitive worlds, life simply went on. Even 
though deprived of technology, even though forced to live in the shadow 
of new temples, beings fell in love, got married, had children, got into 
squabbles with their neighbors... They learned to adapt to lew foods, use 
Yuuzhan Vong tools, swore allegiance to the new conquerors-even while 
continuing to worship their own gods in secret.

"Here come our guides," Page said.

A Rodian and a Ryn, they were wearing rustic trousers and shirts, lt-up 
footwear, fabric belts, and tight-fitting woven skullcaps. And
Wy they were comfortable around the saddled mounts they rode 'ed. The 
^^^???????????????????????????
size of small dewbacks, the long-snouted quadrupeds

^ nearly as shaggy as banthas, but lacked horns or tusks of any sort.
 of
^^^^??????????????????????????????

"I'm Sasso," the Rodian said as the pair came within earshot Han and 
the others.

one-
^^????????????????
"Ferfer," the Ryn said under his breath, adding: "Gatherer six-four, 
out of Balmorra."

Han reached up to shake hands with the Ryn. "How's your boss>"

"On the run," Ferfer said.

Han nodded, thinking of Droma, the Ryn who had befriended him at 
Chewbacca's death, and who was rumored to head the Gath erers. "That 
figures."

As introductions were being made all around, Han found himself 
thinking that Sasso and Ferfer reminded him of many of the folk 
he had had dealings with during his early years in the Corporate 
Sector-on Duroon, Deltooine, and other worlds. Folk who were often 
hard-ened by circumstance but true to their word.

Lately when he wasn't thinking about the war or dwelling on the 
deaths of Anakin and Chewbacca, he would often catch himself 
reminiscing about the old days, or wondering what it would be 
like to return to the worlds of his youth without his tall, 
thick-furred side-kick, but with Leia and the kids. The person 
who had scammed his way through half the Outer Rim was very much 
alive inside him, and for all the lavish parties on Coruscant, the 
diplomatic affairs, state dinners, and royal weddings he'd been 
obliged to attend during the past twenty-some years, he was still 
more comfortable around beings like Sasso and Ferfer than he was 
around Senators and princes, the wealthy and influential. 

Weather-beaten faces and hands callused from hard work; the great 
outdoors instead of some refresher; food dug from the soil or yanked 
from the trees instead of factory-produced foodstuffs. 

Maybe someday he and Leia would get the chance, he told himself.

Sasso pointed him to his mount, which was known locally as a timbu. 
Han planted his foot in the stirrup and pulled himself onto the 
immense saddle. The timbu grunted and turned his big, floppy-eared 
head to regard Han through a liquid-black eye.

"Whatever you do, don't jerk the reins too hard," he told Leia 
as she nimbly mounted a smaller timbu.

"Why, what happens?"

"Think about the worst gob of spittle you ever saw a tauntaun 
nch, then multiply that times ten."
^^^^^????????????????

"Scary."

"You've ridden a timbu before," Sasso stated rather than asked.

Han nodded. "On Bonadan."

The Rodian's tapered snout wiggled in a kind of smile. "Terrific
place."

Team Meloque moved out. Four-member bands of Yuuzhan

Vong patrolled Caluula City's mostly unpaved streets, but the alleged 
scientists were allowed to pass without incident. On a lush common, 
two priests were overseeing a mixed group of locals and Yuuzhan Vong 
workers who were erecting a temple to Yun-Yuuzhan. Street and storefront
electric lights had been ripped from their supports, and there wasn't a 
droid or a speeder to be seen.

"Welcome to the new galaxy," Kyp said.

"No slave coral," Leia said quietly.

Sasso nodded. "That was one of the conditions of the surrender."

"How'd everyone feel about the surrender?" Page asked carefully.

"Let me put it this way," the Rodian said. "The governor no longer 
appears in public, and she's had the walls of her compound reinforced."

Han noticed that Page appeared to be right at home. He rode his timbu 
with practiced ease, and he knew which way to direct the beast even 
before the guides said anything. It was as if he had already memorized 
the layout of the streets and the topography of the planet. Han guessed 
that Page would be able converse in Caluulan if necessary, eat the food 
and drink the water without getting ill, catch the eye of the local 
women, make do as if he had been born and raised there.

Wraw, in contrast, was clearly out of his element. The bristly-bearded 
Bothan had a habit of looking at everyone with what seemed like bemusement
or mild derision, but his head fur betrayed none of e changes that were a 
characteristic of his species. But Han had ncountered the style before in 
individuals who had built their lives bound inveigling secrets from others, 
and then seeing to it that those Secrets reached the proper ears.
 
"How far to the yammosk?" Kyp asked Sasso.

"The installation is practically the new city center-probably t discourage 
attempts at orbital bombardment. But our safest approach is from the south, 
which means crossing two ranges of hills to there."
                                           ^^?????????????????

"The weapons are cached along our route?" Page said.

"There are weapons buried everywhere," Sasso told him. "A soon as it became 
obvious that the Vong were interested in occupyine Caluula, we began hiding 
as much as we could: blasters, foods, droids you name it. You can't dig a 
hole in the hills without uncovering one supply dump or another. By the 
time Caluula Station fell and the Vong were coming down the gravity well, 
we were already living like homesteaders."

"Surely the Yuuzhan Vong are aware of your actions," Meloque said.

"They are. But so far they haven't done much investigating. A few caches 
of arms and droids were discovered, and twenty Caluulans were sacrificed. 
But aside from that incident, things have been relatively quiet." Sasso 
nodded his snout to indicate a change in direction. "We go this way."

"How soon before we'll begin to see winged-star shells?" Meloque asked.

"As soon as we gain some elevation."

Sasso brought the train of eight timbus to a halt at the foot of a 
steep, uphill track that disappeared into a thickly forested ravine. 
A winged creature passed soundlessly overhead, disappearing into the 
trees before Han could get a good look at it.

"Yuuzhan Vong biot," Ferfer said nervously. "We're being watched."







Mirroring the sweeping curve of the planetary
ring, the war vessels of the armada were spread above bright-side 
Yuuzhan'tar like fine grains of crystalline sand. Arrayed in battle 
groups and reprovision flotillas, each cruiser, carrier, and tender 
analog had been branded with domain emblems and daubed with blood 
preserved from the sacrifice of the Alliance captives. Some of the 
vessels flew battle standards earned over countless generations. 
Others were necklaced hundreds strong with coralskippers. Behind 
the mica transparencies of observation blisters and resupply balconies, 
commanders and subalterns crouched on one knee, their heads lowered 
in obeisance, and their right fists pressed to the yorik coral decks. 

There lazed Realm of Death, Blade of Sacrifice, River of Blood, Slayer's 
Conceit, Serpent's Kiss, and the pennant vessel, Tammka's Mount, commanded 
by Warmaster Nas Choka.

Closer to orbitally altered Yuuzhan'tar, closer to the massive
dovin basals that were the planet's first line of defense, closer to the
rainbow bridge-symbolic of Yun-Yuuzhan's traffic with the species
e had created-floated the oblate yacht that had carried Shimrra and
^^^???????????????
the nonwarrior elite from the surface. Smeared with blood, the throne
amber of the yacht was also festooned with wreaths of thorn-vine
and adorned with hundreds of delicately wrought fans, sacred to Yn 
Yammka. In honor of the launching, all present in the chamber 
vvr> glistaweb armor, including Shimrra's prefects and seers, Qelah
^^^???????????????
K\va and her chief shapers, High Priest Jakan, even preposterous Onimi 
The Supreme Overlord stood tall and self-possessed before unique villip 
that forwarded his visage and words to every villip Co tained in every 
vessel, dedicated or choir member, warship or coral skipper.

"Yun-Yuuzhan, Great Maker," Shimrra murmured, "we beseech your blessing 
for these vessels we dispatch into the void, for their mis-sion is yours 
also by injunction. With this final battle we fulfill our obligation to 
cleanse the realm you saw fit to provide us, to make it worthy, and in 
turn to be made worthy by victory of claiming it as our home. From this 
moment forward, we will set ourselves to the task of taking these 
humbled species under our wing, and of instructing them in the truth 
you bade our ancestors hear at the dawn of time.

"We pledge that from these beginnings we will carry our task through 
to completion, purging this realm of machines, and replacing them with 
our biological partners. When Yuuzhan'tar has been fully reshaped 
according to the ancestral architecture, and when temples to you and 
your sacrosanct domain crown the tops of the highest mountains and 
dominate the principal population centers of every occupied world, 
we will petition that you judge our work one final time.

"The grand moment has arrived-the culmination of generations of voyage 
and discovery. Even now, in these unfamiliar skies, the ancestral galaxy 
moves into beneficent aspect with this newfound home. What was distant 
is near at hand; what was completed is begun anew."

In a blinding display of honor and power, the largest of the war 
vessels launched five thousand plasma missiles toward Yuuzhan'tar 
s primary. Then in groups, and led by Tammka's Mount, the armada 
^^^^????????????????
began  to  move  out,  building  momentum  for  the  transition 
to darkspace.

Nom Anor watched from his assigned place in the holy yacht, wondering 
what Nas Choka might be thinking. The outcome or t war and the future 
of the Yuuzhan Vong hinged on what would occu

The next quarter klekket. The warriors and priests, lifted to
, ^v jays of fasting and dancing, were sanguine that the armada 
ecstas)   . would prevail. gut not everyone was so assured.
^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????

The consuls under Nom Anor's command, and the executors 
ier their commands, had brought to his attention rumors of grave
^^^^^^?????????????????
ehension and doubt among the high caste. And beneath those
^^^^^^?????????????????
e rumblings, Nom Anor could feel the more sinister roiling of 
^^^^^^?????????????????
hatred among the dispossessed.

From beneath the bridge, from the dark underworld of Yuuzhan'tar, 
he could hear the clamor of angry voices, the words of the 
heretics growing louder and more forceful, venomous in the 
aftermath of the executions, the dissent spreading through the 
ranks, among not only the Shamed Ones but also others who had 
lost or were beginning to lose the faith in Supreme Overlord 
Shimrra. A vast wave, building and building, threatening to 
break against the Yuuzhan Vong's every shore, to wipe the 
armada from the sky, and to pull into the depths the holy 
yacht and everyone aboard.

Shimrra had told Nom Anor that his war was with the gods. 
But Shimrra had overlooked the real enemy-the enemy that 
surrounded him and on whose shoulders he stood. Even Quoreal 
in his final days had not been the object of such suspicion 
and loathing. If it were left to the Shamed Ones, Nas Choka's 
mighty force would be routed at Mon Calamari, and Shimrra would 
be dragged from the throne by Yun-Shuno himself, to be devoured 
in public by packs of starved bissop hounds . . .

Nom Anor shifted his troubled gaze from the departing ships, and
lt the same moment Onimi shifted his, to needle Nom Anor with
meddlesome look. Nom Anor wondered if Onimi's olfactory sense
18 so keen that he could smell the fear coming off him. Perhaps that
^^^^^^^??????????????????
s just one of the reasons why Onimi's rhymes were so biting:
luse he could read subtle signals in all those who appeared before
Shimrra.

Nom Anor stiffened in disgust and something close to dread as
'mi wobbled over to him from across the throne chamber.

"R
encouraged, Prefect," Onimi said in confidence. "As is true
^^^^^^^???????????????????  
between the gods and the Yuuzhan Vong, Shimrra's strength fl
from the combined certitude of his subjects. Falter, display doubt
weakness, and the careful balance may tip ..."

Nom Anor sneered. "Who are you to address me, Shamed One?" 

Onimi's uneven mouth twisted into a frigid smile. "Your
science, Prefect. The still-small voice that reminds you how 
tenuo your position is."
^^^^^^?????????????????????????







Still wearing her silver-locked wig, Leia was deflating Han's 
and her sleeping pad when she saw Sasso drop something by the 
srnol dering campfire. A leathery creature about the size of a 
^^^^^?????????????????????
shock-ball it looked like a villip with wings-and this one had 
been pierced by a wooden quarrel fired from the Rodian's crude 
bowcasterlike weapon

"That's one that won't be able to report on us," Sasso said, 
examining his fresh kill with the thoroughness of a born hunter.

Leia went over to the fire to have a closer look at the dead 
creature. "The biot we saw yesterday?"

"Maybe not the same one, but from the same flock." Sasso's green 
snout twitched. "Got it on the first try. That's never happened before."

Leia regarded him questioningly. "I hope you're not thinking of cooking it."

"I am curious . . . but no. I'm trying to decide whether to burn it 
or bury it."

"I vote for burning it," Han said from behind them. "Otherwise the 
bissops might be able to sniff it out."

Caluula's sun had been up for an hour, but the ravine's forest 
of cane trees was still waking up. Birds were abundant, and the 
flitnats Leia's personal flitnats-had returned. Thanks to the 
netting supplied with the bedrolls, she and Han had slept 
flitnat-free and wonderfully, waking frequently if briefly to 
watch for shooting stars or listen to the calls of nocturnal 
creatures. Han had prepared breakfast over the fire, while she 
and Wraw had broken camp. It was an elemental life, But one she 
thought she could get used to.

Under cover of darkness, Sasso and the Ryn, Ferfer, had sneake 
off to a nearby supply cache, and returned by first light with 
the 
^^^^^^???????????????
and a couple of weapons old enough to have been carried by  
adoptive father's bodyguards, including a thick-barreled blaster
laree hardwood handgrip; another with a finger-con toured grip with 
^ !**o*o?? built-in  scope;  two  black military-grade  hand weapons
^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????
with guards and top-mounted heat radiators; and a rifle Han 
identi-ielus a DC-15, with a folding stock.
^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????

The blasters were now stashed in the duffels, but not so deeply 
they couldn't be retrieved in a hurry.

Meloque and the mustachioed Ferfer returned to camp just as Han 
and Wraw were about to secure the gear bags to the timbus. The 
docile animals were foraging for food in the tall grass.

The stately Ho'Din female looked disappointed.

"Couldn't find any winged-star shells?" Han said.

She shook her head. "We found hundreds, but all of them were inactive. 
At least some should have opened by now."

"The weather has been off," Sasso said. "Hotter than usual for this 
time of year."

Meloque considered it. "I suppose that could account for it."

By firelight the previous evening, she had given everyone a 
biology lesson on the Nocturne of the Winged-Stars. Similar 
in appearance to the drone-flitters found on countless worlds, 
winged-stars emerged from chitinous shells. Unique among flitters, 
however, Caluula's had but one day to perform their mating dances, 
display their celebrated luminosity, mate, and lay eggs, which would 
hatch 299 years later. The larval stage lasted less than a local week, 
at the end of which the surviving larvae would be encased in durable 
cocoons. Those newly emerged winged-stars that weren't immediately 
devoured by flying lizards and other predators would die of natural 
causes by the time the sun set on the day of their emergence.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Meloque," Wraw said, "but unless 
'°u're aging more gracefully than a Wookiee, you've never 
^^^^^^^^?????????????????
actually observed a Nocturne."

"That's true," she told him. "But on Moltok we have been able 
to simulate the life cycle in controlled settings."

"Maybe the Yuuzhan Vong have something to do with the 
cas-;s not opening on schedule," Han suggested. "They might have
^^^^^^^????????????????????^
introduced some organism that's affected the ecology. Look what 
they did on Tynna and Duro."

"I find that very improbable," Meloque said. "Those worlds wer 
altered for strategic and logistical reasons, where a world 
like Caluu] must please the Yuuzhan Vong to no end. For all 
the barbarity they'v demonstrated, they have a reverence for life."

Wraw snorted. "You sound like a sympathizer, Professor."

"Wraw," Leia said sharply, but Meloque only waved her 
sucker-equipped hand in dismissal.

"What other attitude can be expected from a member of a species 
that has declared its intent to exterminate the Yuuzhan Vong?" 
Meloque was referring to the Bothan doctrine of ar'krai, or total 
war.

Wraw laughed. "I was only joking."

His head fur betrayed nothing. Leia waited until Meloque and Ferfer 
had left to search for additional shells before she went over to 
Wraw. 

"I don't think Meloque appreciates your sense of humor."

Wraw shrugged. "What can I say? We're worlds apart."

"Then your cynicism doesn't stem from your commitment to an amoral, 
unprofitable career?"

"Amoral, maybe, but certainly not unprofitable."

"In terms of credits, you mean."

"What other terms are there?"

Leia glanced at Han, who merely spread his hands. "Go ahead and 
poke him if you want to. I won't try to stop you."





Just then Page and Kyp returned to camp. Page looked from 
Han to Leia to Wraw, then back to Han. "We interrupting 
something?"

"Just a little campfire sing-along," Han said.

Page didn't ask for an explanation. "We found signs of 
a Yuuzhan Vong patrol-tracker beasts and a couple of those 
twelve-legged mounts."

"Bissops and quenaks," Sasso said, getting to his feet. "We'd 
better get moving. The sooner we cross the next ridge, the better.

Everyone pitched in to load the remaining gear. With Ferrei riding 
point, they climbed to the crest of the ridge, then began a slow, 
switchback descent through dense forest. Sasso, Page, and Kyp 
ro^e  i to scout the trail. Halfway to the valley floor, Han
^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
 spurred his .   bu to come abreast of Wraw's.

"I figure you spend a lot of your time hanging around with life 
characters," Han said. "But everyone here is on the same side,
understand?"

"You're one to talk about consorting with low-life characters,
Solo."

Han forced a smile. "I got over it, pal. So maybe you should look
to me as an example."

The Bothan nodded. "I'll give it thought."

Han fell back to ride alongside Leia.

"Why do you even bother?" she asked.

"Well, either I'm going to change his mind, or I'm going to 
change his face."

"You still won't be rearranging the person inside."

"Maybe not, but I'll feel a whole lot better."

Leia heard rapid hoofbeats up ahead, and a moment later Kyp
rode up.

"Yuuzhan Vong. They're climbing out the valley." He pointed 
down through the trees. "Just there-at that stand of broadleafs."

"Is there a way to avoid them?" Leia asked.

"No. And we can't afford to fight them here."

Han rose up on his stirrups and motioned to an outcropping of 
rocks below the next switchback. "Looks like a decent ambush point."

Kyp nodded. "That's my thinking, too."

They hastened through the switchback and into a gulch, where 
Sasso and Page were waiting. Ferfer led the mounts away, and 
everyone else scrambled to take up firing positions in the 
boulders on both sides of the trail-Han, Leia, Page, and 
Meloque on one side; Wraw, Sasso, and Kyp on the other.

Han sighted down the barrel of the military blaster; Page 
did the same with the DC-15 rifle. Meloque wrapped her huge 
hand around e w°oden grip of the antique sidearm. Leia took 
hold of her hghtsaber, but didn't activate it.

Shortly they heard the patrol approaching. First to appear were a
  trio of bissop hounds. Low-bodied creatures, they moved in a 
waddling motion, their long snouts sniffing the air and ground, 
and the' clawed feet leaving distinctive tracks in the dirt. 
Behind them walk three Yuuzhan Vong warriors armed with 
amphistaffs and bandolie of thud and razor bugs. Two were 
sporting shoulder-mounted tactic I villips. Behind them came 
three warriors on riding beasts as large as grutchyna but as 
sedate as rontos.

"I'll take the tracker on the right," Page whispered to 
Han. "You take the one in the middle. Go for the villips first."

Page waved a signal across the canyon to where Kyp and the others 
were concealed.

Then everyone hunkered down to wait for the patrol to move 
into the crossfire.

The bissops lifted their snouts toward the boulders just as 
the first blasterbolts were raining down on them. Han's and 
Page's shots blew the two small villips to pieces, while sizzling 
red bolts from across the ravine knocked two warriors from their 
mounts. But even though taken by surprise, the Yuuzhan Vong were 
quick to counterattack. Razor and thud bugs swarmed into the air, 
and-rearing and snarling- the three bissops surged up into the rocks.

By then Han, Page, Leia, and Meloque were already in motion, 
firing on the run and scampering for new positions. A bolt 
from Han's heavy blaster shattered the skull of a charging 
bissop. A second bolt caught one of the trackers squarely in 
the chest, blowing a smoking hole in the warrior's vonduun crab 
armor and sending him flying backward, to be trampled underfoot 
by a confused quenak.

Running down the opposite outcropping, Wraw came within a meter 
of being bissop fodder, but a well-placed shot from Sasso dropped 
the beast before it could snap at the Bothan a second time.

Kyp front-flipped down onto the trail ahead of the patrol. 
Lightsaber ignited, he fought his way through a hail of razor 
bugs to take the fight to the remaining warriors. Han was 
astonished to see the Jedi's blade neatly cleave a rigid 
amphistaff, then, on the reverse stroke, sever the head of 
the warrior himself. Still in the rocks,
 s similarly engaged in fending off a stream of frenzied bugs.
e was cowering below her, afraid to show her head. Pull-
ohe frightened Ho'Din to her feet, Leia led her to a safer position,
twice to send return flights of bugs smashing into the
\vrii1'1 "& rocks.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

Han emerged from the boulders to see Kyp kick a coufee out of
hand of the only Yuuzhan Vong left standing, then pierce the warrior 
through the neck as he was running for his mount, as if in an tempt 
to flee. A blur of motion drew Han's attention to the left, and he 
swung around, flattening himself to the ground. The last of the three
bissops hurdled him and bounded up into the rocks, close to where 
Meloque was crouched, staring distractedly at her heavy-gripped 
blaster.

Unable to get a clear shot at the retreating beast, Page shouted to
Meloque: "Kill the hound!"

She glanced at the escaping bissop, then in bewilderment at Wraw. 

"It's just an animal..."

"Kill it!" Page repeated.

"T	V>
^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

Bolts from Wraw's weapon stopped the bissop dead, just short of its 
disappearing over the rim of the gulch.

"Butchers," the Ho'Din said as sudden quiet descended. She staggered 
out of the rocks, and down onto the trail to join Leia and the others.
"Butchers!"

"Bissops   are   trained   to   return   to   base,"   Page   
said   calmly. "Another patrol would have picked up our trail 
in no time flat." Meloque heard him out, then nodded dully.

Six Yuuzhan Vong,  two  lizard-hounds,  and  one  quenak lay 
sprawled in the dirt. Page moved from warrior to warrior, making 
cer-Q that each was dead. He put the convulsing quenak out of its 
^^^^^^?????????????????????
misery with a single bolt, then did the same to three amphistaffs. 
Wan squatted down beside the warrior he had shot in the chest, 
n regarded the thirty-year-old weapon that had supplied the 
^^^^^^^??????????????????????????
lethal "I never knew these old blasters packed such a wallop." 

"They don't," Kyp said from where he was crouched near another
warrior.   He   rapped  his  knuckles   against  the   breastplate   
of the Yuuzhan Vong's living armor. "Inferior armor, inferior 
weapon inferior troops." He glanced around. "Even the bissops were slow "

Leia glanced at Sasso in sudden uncertainty. "Another side effect of 
the heat wave?"

The Rodian shook his head in perplexity.

"Let me get this straight," Wraw said. "You're disappointed because 
we won too easily?" He snorted a laugh. "I'm beginning; to wonder if 
all of you aren't sympathizers."

"He's right." Page said. "We can use every bit of luck we get."

"I've played enough sabacc to know luck when I see it," Han said "and 
this wasn't it." He scanned the boulders and nearby trees. "They could 
be luring us into a trap."

Kyp glanced at him. "Something else is going on here," he said.





 a
oBUnr
i imward of the Tion Hegemony, Jaina watched the Yuuzhan Vong armada revert 
^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????
from hyperspace once again. One moment it appeared that ten thousand stars 
had been eclipsed; the next, that that part of the galaxy had gained a new 
star cluster.

Cappie shrilled and squeaked, underscoring its obvious distress by spotting 
the cockpit's display screen with countless glowing bezels. In the same 
instant, two cinder-black A-wings that had been Jaina's star-board companions 
for the past hour fell away in stealth, and made the jump to lightspeed.

Despite the glowing threat-assessment screen and her previous sightings of 
the armada, Jaina was staggered by the sheer number of ships the Yuuzhan Vong 
had amassed. Close-ups of the vessels pro-vided by the starfighter's long-range 
scanners showed their pitted hulls to be marked and etched with cryptic symbols 
and blackened With what looked like war paint but was probably blood. Many 
displayed slender tendrils of yorik coral, from which flew sail-like battle 
standards. Evidenced by melt circles and areas of carbon scoring, some the 
ships were clearly veterans of earlier campaigns, uprooted from occupied 
systems throughout the invasion corridor. Others looked as  commissioned - 
newly grown-including an enormous rose-colored oval that had to be the 
flagship.

The fact that the Yuuzhan Vong had essentially entrusted hun dreds of conquered 
worlds to the protection of patrol craft and ground troops meant not only that 
they were willing to risk every thing they had gained on one conclusive battle, 
but also that thei intent was nothing less than the obliteration of the Alliance 
fleets.

Cappie sent another transmission to the cockpit, and Jaina clutched the 
control yoke in pulse-quickening anticipation.

A pyrotechnic display of globular explosions began to fire-brighten the 
leading edge of the mobile cluster of ships, and a dozen bezels disappeared 
from the display screen. Again the Yuuzhan Vong had moved headlong into an 
expansive arc of smart mines that had been sown at the jump point. But as 
had occurred at the Perlemian transit point, the explosions began to taper 
off almost immediately, until there were only isolated bursts, and many of 
the undetonated mines disappeared, vacuumed into immense singularities created
by dovin basals.

Jaina pressed her chin to the helmet's microphone stud. "Quermia 
controller, this is Twin Suns One. The beast has arrived and opened 
the packages we left."

"Did the packages come as a surprise?" 

"Not for long enough to give the beast any pause." 

"What is the status of your companions?"

"Heralds are away."

"Can you corroborate the beast's current vector?" Jaina keyed a short request 
to the R2-B3 droid, which replied with tones and buzzes that became text on 
the display screen. "Bearing toward jump coordinates for Mon Calamari."

"Copy that, Twin Suns One. You are green to depart, and reposition to Mon 
Calamari Extreme. Rendezvous at Iceberg Three, with Vanguard, Scimitar, 
and Rogue Squadrons."

Jaina signed off the command net and switched over to the tactical 
frequency. "All pilots, this is Twin Suns Leader. Instruct your 
droids to set coordinates for Mon Cal Extreme. Jump to lightspeed 
at my zero count. Ten, nine, eight, seven . . ."

Jaina sat back in her chair and waited for the X-wing's Incom hyperdrive 
to engage. The jump would be Twin Suns' third and final
had first observed the armada emerge from hyperspace. All
since -  staging points between the Perlemian Trade Route and Mon
^^^^^^^????????????????????
Calamari had been strewn with mines months earlier, primarily to 
dis- aee enemy forays. But Alliance command hadn't expected an that 
^^^^^^^^??????????????????
to use the transit jump points, and now every fleet strategist 
, s pondering why the Yuuzhan Vong hadn't jumped directly from he 
^^^^^??????????????????????
Trade Route to the Mon Calamari system. Had the enemy com-olitted 
                                      ?????????????????^^^^
another tactical blunder, or were they merely testing the 'aters? 
                                     ?????????????????^^^^^^^^
Perhaps they suspected that the Alliance had positioned forces at 
jump points convenient to Mon Calamari, in the hope of out-flanking 
the armada once the battle commenced.

At each transit point Jaina had sent updates to a frigate stationed 
at Quermia, which was serving as a hyperspace transceiver. The frigate 
relayed the intelligence to the MCCC Fleet Annex. But a redundant 
system was also in place, in the form of courier ships, some of which 
had jumped to Quermia, and others to Mon Calamari. By now other 
couriers were certainly alerting the battle groups designated for 
Toong'l and Caluula, where withdrawing elements from the armada 
would be prevented from jumping to the aid of soon-to-be embattled 
Coruscant.

The transit to Mon Calamari would also be the longest of the 
three, so Jaina took advantage of the lull to center herself 
in the Force. She thought briefly of her parents, executing 
a mission on Caluula, and of Jacen, wherever he was. But she 
didn't attempt to reach out to any of them. Everyone had their 
separate duties to perform, and she knew instinctively that the 
scattered members of her family were thinking of her, just as she 
was them. Nor were there any Jedi among Twin Suns for her to touch 
through the Force. With Kyp on Caluula, as well, Octa Ramis had 
been assigned to lead the Dozen, and both Lowbacca and Alema Rar 
were commanding their own squadrons. Madurrin, Streen, and some 
of the other Jedi were stationed on those capital ships that were 
essential to defending Mon Calamari itself against the enemy onslaught.

Having set her inner chrono to rouse her before the X-wing
erted from hyperspace, she returned to full awareness just seconds

Ofe Cappie signaled her with a ready tone.

 She took a calming breath and waited for the stars to reappear
Mon Calamari Extreme was just that: the far reaches of the star 
system, where the armada would likely decant. Iceberg Three was the 
code for the penultimate of the system's eight satellites-a misshape 
chunk of frozen waste; in fact, a captured comet - destined at sorn 
point in time to collide with the outermost planet. Silhouetted 
against the small white spheroid were dozens of Alliance cruisers, 
destroyers and carriers, along with hundreds of starfighters.

It struck Jaina that nearly every vessel that had been in production 
for the past forty standard years was represented in one form or
another, from Rendili StarDrive Dreadnaughts to Kejuvenator-class 
Star Destroyers.

And the gathered ships constituted only the outer circle of defense.

Despite the fortifying exercises she had taken herself through 
during the hyperspace flight, Jaina realized that her heart was 
pounding and her hands were trembling.

This is actually going to happen, she told herself with a stubborn 
measure of disbelief. The end of the war and the fate of the galaxy
might well be decided over the course of the next few days.

"Welcome back, Twin Suns Leader," a recognizable voice said into 
her helmet earphones.

"Thanks, Wedge," she said. "I feel like I've been away for a week."

"Terrific work, Jaina. Your rally point is Iceberg Three, at 
four-seven-nine ecliptic. You're to stand by until the seeding's 
concluded."

"Copy, Alliance control. Standing by."

Instructing Twin Suns to form up on her, Jaina led the squadron to 
its assigned coordinates, at fixed orbit over the frozen spheroid, 
in the company of a wing of starfighters made up of Rogue, Vanguard, 
Scimitar, Blackmoon, and Tesar Sabatyne's Wild Knights.

"Hey, Sticks," another familiar voice said.

Jaina opened a channel to Gavin Darklighter. "How long have you 
been sitting here, Rogue One?"

"Too long. Was Intelligence correct about the number of Vong ships?"

"I think they underestimated."

Before   Gavin  could  respond, Wedge  broke  in.   

"Group   and uadron leaders, the beast is at the gate. I know 
you're all eager to welcome it, but you're going to have to 
wait your turns."

The comm fell eerily silent, then erupted in chatter as the 
Yuuzhan Vong war vessels began to emerge: cones and polygons, 
aceted and smooth, bone white to reddish black, craggy with 
plasma launchers or strung with coralskippers. More rapidly 
and in increasing numbers they came, filling local space and 
eventually blotting out jylon Calamari's distant sun. Just 
when it seemed that the last of them had reverted, still
more appeared.

Somewhat removed from Alliance forces, and almost as if 
performing for an audience, the vessels began to tighten up, 
maneuvering into positions that ultimately created an oblate 
mass of yammosk carriers and destroyer and cruiser analogs. 
From that mass-emerging from berthing cavities in the largest 
ships or dropping from anchorage on yorik coral branches-streamed 
hundreds of picket ship analogs and coralskippers, deploying to 
forge the multitude of short and long tendrils that were meant 
to simulate the tentacles of a yammosk.

To Jaina the final arrangement more closely resembled a flaring 
star, or perhaps the spiral arm galaxy the Yuuzhan Vong were 
determined to overwhelm. But whatever the armada's form, beast 
was the description that fit it best.

Then the immense organism was on the move, tentacles elongating 
from the hub as the cluster advanced on Mon Calamari, acutely 
aware of the reception party that awaited it, but resolute in 
its purpose.

"All group and squadron leaders," a male voice announced over the 
battle net, "seedships have arrived."

Alliance  command might have  borrowed the  term  from  the
Yuuzhan Vong, but the reference was not to the vessels that initiated
the process of worldshaping; it was to the several dozen unarmed and
remotely piloted freighters that gushed from behind Iceberg Three
launched straight for the armada. Plasma missiles assaulted the
Py container ships from all quarters, though armor plating kept
st of them intact until they were within the embrace of the longer
 tacle of skips and gunboats assigned a number or letter. Twin
^^^^^^^^??????????????????
tentacles. There they surrendered their payloads of thousands of 
prou droids.

With wide-domed heads and dangling mechanical legs, the Pr bots 
were marine in appearance, and indeed they spread out lik school 
of deep-sea creatures riding the currents of a rising tide.

Normally the Yuuzhan Vong wouldn't have wasted firepower on droids, 
but each probot had been programmed to mimic the propulsion signatures 
of Alliance starfighters, so the coralskippers and pickets had a field 
day, slagging the probots with fiery projectiles, or simply dismembering 
them by collision. The Alliance might as well have been providing the 
yammosks and coralskipper pilots with practice for acquisition and 
targeting, but in fact each probot was contributine; invaluably to 
Alliance command's goal of clearing fire lanes to the heart of the 
armada.

Many of the battles fought during the long war had been decided not 
by firepower or kill ratios, but by the ability of Yuuzhan Vong biots 
to detect mass signals and to manipulate gravity. As intelligent as 
the yammosks were, they were evenly matched by the crunching power 
of battle analysis computers, combined with the targeting skill of 
pilots. The dovin basals were a different animal. For a time the 
Alliance had managed to outwit them by employing decoys, stutterfire 
lasers, and the Jedi-propelled shadow bombs, but those advantages 
had recently been lost.

Still, the Alliance had one powerful weapon in its arsenal: invention.

Gleeful as they were about decimating the probots, the Yuuzhan Vong 
were unaware that each droid had been tasked to calculate entry points 
and targeting solutions for the starfighters. Transmitted to Alliance 
command's computers, the data were collated and relayed to group and 
wing commanders, and on to squadron leaders and pilots.

"Your droids should be receiving navigational and targeting information,"
the voice of control said into Jaina's right ear. "Watch your display 
screens for assignments."

Data began to flash on the cockpit display as Cappie deciphered the 
information forwarded from Mon Calamari. Jaina watched a graphic 
representation of the yammosk resolve on the screen, witfl
Rogue, and Vanguard Squadrons were tasked with taking out 
'-les fourteen through twenty. But as impatient as she was to go 
there was an order to battle that had to be maintained.
each ten Suns tentac to guns,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

The first assault wave was comprised of A-wings, TIE interceptors,
Chiss clawcraft, A-9 Vigilances, and a handful of Y-wings. The objective 
of the fastest of the starfighters-the A-wings and A-9s-was to ease the 
coralskippers out of formation. Both fighter types were small , fragile, 
but the short-range concussion missile launchers of the former and the 
fire-linked lasers of the latter did to the outlying coral-skippers what 
the skips had done to the probots.

For each dovin basal singularity that came to the rescue of a targeted 
ship, four failed to deploy in time, allowing the small fighters to strike 
and fade before the Yuuzhan Vong pilots even knew what hit them. Harried, 
the coralskippers and picket vessels that formed the tips of the tentacles 
began to disperse, and as soon as they did the dagger-shaped TIE interceptors 
and light bomber Y-wings were on them, weaving through the budding chaos 
with blinding speed and loosing proton torpedoes and bursts of high-powered 
laserfire.

The perimeter of the shifting armada became a blur of roiling fireballs 
and fragmenting vessels. Packets of green energy and nova-bright bundles 
of explosive power began to eat away at the suddenly flailing tentacles. 
Molten ejecta rocketed outward at the attackers, in such abundance the 
armada might almost have been hemorrhaging.

Jaina switched over to the battle net in time to hear control issue the 
order to withdraw. 

"We have clear fire lanes to their capital ships at one, six, seven, 
eight, twelve, and twenty-two. All starfighters in those lanes 
reposition to escorts and carriers."

While the starfighters began to loop back, the Super Star Destroyer 
Guardian and the Mon Calamari cruiser Harbinger lumbered forward. 
Traversing, their ranged weapons poured huge bolts of Destructive 
power down the unprotected lanes. Explosions blossomed u tne heart 
of the armada, all but setting it aglow. Colossal pieces of
but k coral streaked through local space. The beast withered visibly,
^^^^^^^?????????????????????
stuck to its course. Second group away!" Alliance control ordered.

Jaina licked the  sweat from  her upper lip  and punched th X-wing's 
throttle, leading Twin Suns swiftly into the fray. The forward view 
through the canopy showed so many coralskippers, so man targets of 
opportunity, she felt as if she were part of an elaborate 
simulation rather than engaged in actual battle.

Remotely controlled  by however many yammosks were  contained in 
the core, the tentacles slithered and snapped like arnphi staffs. 
Skips moved in and out of her targeting reticle faster than she or 
even Cappie, could keep track of them. For all the shrieking and 
yelping, the astromech droid might have been on a thrill ride. Even 
so, Twins Suns managed to maintain its integrity as it advanced on the 
whipping rank of vessels that had been designated tentacle fourteen.

Behind the X-wings flew B-wing fighters and a squadron of TIE 
defenders. In combat the B-wings were somewhat cross-shaped where 
as the TIEs-with their elongated bodies and triads of solar 
collection panels-resembled arrowlike projectiles. Their job was 
to mop up any mess that Twin Suns, Rogue, and the rest left behind, 
and to clear the way for the ships tasked with landing punches on 
the capital vessels: heavily armored E-wing fighters equipped with 
proton torpedoes, and twin-piloted Scimitar assault bombers, carrying 
enough concussive strafing power to decommission half the rock spitters 
of an enemy destroyer analog.

Coralskippers with enough fight left in them began peppering the X- 
and B-wings with plasma nodules and marshaling their dovin basals to 
make grabs for the attackers' particle shields.

Then, without warning, capital ships at the heart of the armada 
funneled furious firestorms along the depleted lanes. Jaina's X-wing 
wobbled and tumbled through a swirling corridor of flames. With the 
starfighter's shields all but incinerated, she rammed the control 
stick to one side to free herself, rolling out of volcanic heat with 
the ship nearly roasted, and Cappie's dome a drooping hood of molten 
alloy. She performed a desperate pushover and scanned local space, 
dismayed to discover that almost all of the TIE defenders were
gone-atomized by the superheated tempest.

The beast hadn't been stunned by the initial assaults; it had merely
waiting for the right time to counterpunch. And the single blow delivered 
had knocked fifty or more starfighters out of the fight. Jaina was doing a 
count of Twin Suns when the armada yammosks cted the tentacle arms to rotate 
                                         ^^^^^^^^??????????????????
clockwise, and full chains of ,ralskippers and pickets quickly filled the gaps.

Where moments earlier Jaina was facing six wounded skips, she suddenly found
herself in the sights of a ravenous thirty.
  



 




A similar thing had happened to Jacen on Duro three years back.

At the time, he had been helping a group of Ryn refugees fit a synthplas 
dome over the prefabricated building that was to be their shelter. This 
time he was off on his own in the Middle Dis-tance, picking his way
downhill to a still pool on the floor of a narrow valley.

Jaina?

On Duro, he had passed out and fallen, knocking himself unconscious. 
This time a forest creeper swept his feet out from under him, and he 
pitched forward, sliding facefirst on muddy ground and sodden deflated 
leaves until he managed to somersault himself onto his back and extend 
his hands to the sides. He was still meters from the valley floor when 
he arrested his descent, but his lightsaber fell prey to momentum and 
soared free of the cloth belt that cinched his robe. Tumbling end over 
end through the air, it arced into the depths of the ice-fringed pool 
below.

Jacen leapt to his feet and vaulted to the water's edge. Focusing on
the center of the concentric waves that were spreading across the pool, 
he immersed himself in the Force and stretched out his right hand.

The tubular alloy handgrip emerged vertically from the water, but
not alone.

It was held in the upraised four-fingered hand of Vergere. Sekot's 
thought projection of the diminutive Fosh, at any rate, king much 
younger than the piebald, short-feathered Vergere had come to know 
on Coruscant. Her willowy ears and pair of kscrewing antennae 
appeared smaller, and her slanted eyes were ~r ,-ant with wonder. 
                             ??????????????^^^^^^^^
The splayed feet of her reverse-articulated legs rested just on 
the surface of the agitated pool.

"Lose something, Jacen?" Sekot asked through Vergere's wide
mouth.

"Not for the first time." His exhalations formed clouds in the
chill air.

"It's not like you to stumble."

"My sister Jaina is in danger. I forgot to look where I was going."

"How often will you allow yourself to be distracted by the dangers 
she faces?"

This was Vergere as remembered by Sekot, Jacen thought, in contrast 
to the Vergere who had sacrificed her life at Ebaq 9 to save him and 
Jaina. 

"As often as necessary," he said. "We're twins, and strongly bonded."

"What if you were faced with the choice of saving your twin or your 
uncle? Which do you serve?"

"I serve the Force."

"The Force would guide you to the correct decision?"

"Why else would I serve it?"

Insubstantial Vergere extended the lightsaber to him. "Reclaim your weapon."

He called the lightsaber to him and wedged it into the belt of 
his now muddy robe. The handle was wet and cold, as were his hands, 
which he rubbed briskly together.

Zonama Sekot had completed a second trial jump without sustaining 
severe damage. R2-D2 had calculated that the planet was on the 
galactic ecliptic, close to the Reecee system in the Inner Rim, 
were - frontier of that arbitrary zone to be extended into the Unknown
Regions. One more jump through hyperspace and Zonama could be back in 
known space.

Vergere seemed to be watching him. "Do you use your lightsaber to slash 
or to heal?"

"That's always been the dilemma."

Jacen lowered himself to the ground. Broad shafts of sunlight flooded
through the giant boras, dappling the leaf duff and dazzlin the surface 
of the pool. Insects skimmed the water and bombinated around him.

"Were you searching for something here?"

"Only answers."

"As to how best to end the pain, suffering, and death that war has 
brought to the galaxy. You must trust in the Force, Jacen, if you 
are to serve it fully."

"Being a Jedi isn't just about serving the Force," he said. "It's a 
commitment to valuing all life."

Sekot brought a smile to Vergere's whiskered face. "You learned that
from your mentor, Vergere."

"My guide," Jacen amended.

My guide through the lands of the dead. My herald of tragedy . . .

"Vergere learned it from me," Sekot said. "For that is how I felt 
on being brought to awareness by Leor Hal, the first Magister. You 
wish to reiterate that the Yuuzhan Vong are part of life, part of 
the Force, and therefore must be dealt with accordingly."

"More to be pitied if stripped of the Force, as you contend," Jacen said.

Vergere's narrow shoulders sagged. "I, too, am searching for answers, 
Jacen. But I do not sympathize with the enemy as you appear to."

Jacen compressed his lips. "Because of what Vergere guided me through,
I've developed a kind of ... sense for them - a Vongsense. I feel 
it more strongly here, not only when I speak with Harrar, but wherever 
I go."

He touched the hollow space in his chest that had once housed the 
slave seed Vergere had implanted, and he recalled how it felt to have 
been racked on the Embrace of Pain; stripped of the Force.

You are forever lost to the worlds you knew, Vergere had told him at
beginning of his process of being remade. Tour friends mourn, fyther 
rages, your mother weeps. Your life has been terminated: a
of division has been drawn between you and everything you have ever
PH You have seen the terminator that sweeps across the face of 
a i tet the twilit division between day and night. Tou have crossed 
that . Jacen Solo. The bright fields of day are forever past.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????

"Bv growing to understand you better, I grow to understand our 
even better," Sekot said. "Do you see a contradiction there, Jedi?"

"That depends on whom Sekot serves."

"I too, serve the Force-but as defined by the Potentium, which does
not recognize evil, except as a label. Magister Leor and the Ferroans 
were my guides to consciousness. But it was the Far Outsiders- the 
Yuuzhan Vong-who taught me that while evil does not exist, evil 
actions do exist, and it is to those that we must direct ourselves. 
I had the power to halt the Yuuzhan Vong when they approached me 
fifty years ago, and I have the power to halt them now. My instincts, 
such as they are, tell me that I have always had power over them."

Jacen thought about the Force punch Sekot had delivered to those aboard
Jade Shadow when the ship had first appeared in the Klasse Ephemora 
system - Sanctuary.

"And you'll exercise that power to defeat them?" he asked carefully.

"If necessary-but without contempt. If I defeat them aggressively, If 
I hate them for who they have become, then I will have separated myself 
from the Force, and permitted my ego to triumph over my desire to merge 
and expand my consciousness. I will have corrupted the light with my 
darkness, stained it forever. Self-awareness tricks us into believing 
that there is us, and that there is the other. But n serving the Force 
we recognize that we are all the same thing; that when we act in accordance 
with the Force we act in accordance with " u*ish of all life to enlarge 
                     ??????????????????^^^^^^^^^
itself, to rise out of physicality and becorne something greater.

In that sense, all living beings are seed-partners, Jacen, passionate
unite with all life, and to help give birth to grand enterprises-
 whether a starship, a work of art, or a deed that will echo through 
history as a noble action. I am no different than you in wanting to 
play part in the evolution of the spirit. My consciousness yearns for this "

"Easier said than done," Jacen said.

"Yes, it is a matter a balance. But we are balancing the univer constantly 
with every action we take, some tipping it one way, sorn another. To 
triumph over the Yuuzhan Vong we must simply where we wish to go. That 
is also what I must do to return us to known space. But the task entails 
far more than simply focusing on a set of hyperspace coordinates. Unless 
the destination is a place I wish to go, nothing will work out. Even if 
I execute the jump flawlessly, mv actions will come to nothing.

For your interest, Jacen, that is something that Vergere taught me."

Jacen was listening too intently to respond. Vergere had set him on 
the path to remaking himself. But unless he could complete the process,
he would be ensnared by the very self-conscious uncertainties Sekot 
professed to have grown past, and prevented from merging fully with 
the Force.

"We must approach the turning points in our lives with purity of 
heart," Sekot was saying. "We must look beyond ourselves, and when 
we see danger approaching or a difficult choice ahead, we must calm 
ourselves well in advance, so that we can navigate with a clear mind. 
Once we have mastered the technique, we can learn to trust that we're 
doing the right thing, without thinking about it."

"Do you know where you want to go?" Jacen asked when he realized that 
Sekot was waiting for him to say something.

"By analyzing Yuuzhan Vong biotech-by what I intuited from Nen Yim - I
have learned much about augmenting Zonama's hyper-space cores with
energy derived from the planet itself. And the success of the trial 
jumps has encouraged me that I can safely return Zonarna to known 
space. I begin to understand how the Yuuzhan Vong created what they 
call dovin basals, villips, yammosks, and other biots. Perhaps I begin 
to remember.

"But I am worried about the potentially calamitous or destabi
 o a effects Zonama's sudden appearance could have on any planet 
liziflb o   close proximity to our emergence.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????

From records stored in the Chiss library, Jacen and Saba had d of the
widespread seismic devastation Zonama Sekot had sed on Munlali Mafir,
standard decades earlier, not only to the lanet but to the indigenous 
Jostrans and Krizlaws, as well.

"My uncle thought you might be worried about that," Jacen said. "He
was going to tell you himself that you shouldn't be."

Vergere glided toward him across the water and ice. "Tell me what
Master Skywalker has in mind."









 
(oofain
^^^^^^^^???????????????????????
Caluula's reddish sun was cresting the ridgeline, limning the crowns 
of the tallest trees and warming the air. Leia began to rub her hands 
together, but stopped when she realized that the chill she felt had 
nothing to do with the temperature.

North of the trail, in an area of trees that were snapped in half, the
team had come upon a crashed coralskipper. The craft's translucent, 
mica-like canopy was cracked, and inside the cavity that served as a 
cockpit sat the dead pilot. The cognition hood that was the pilot's 
living interface with the coralskipper was shriveled and stuck to his 
face like a sheet of flimsiplast. Han was squatting at the craft's blunt 
nose, poking at a deep red heart-shaped mass, studded with pale blue 
projections, that had dropped from the fractured fuselage.

"Dovin basal's dead," he said.

"Same with the rock spitters," Kyp replied.

The Jedi Master was circling the craft while Wraw and Sasso inspected 
the cockpit. Page, Ferfer, and Meloque were scouting the forest to the 
north, in the direction of Caluula City. The timbus were grazing 
contentedly nearby.

Han stood up, put the edge of his hand to his brow, and gazed at the
splintered trees. "Came in from that direction." He pointed to a
 ession some distance away. "Hit the ground there, plowed its way 
ueh those bushes, and came to a stop here." Kyp completed his circle
of the craft, nodding his head. "Only question is, what brought it down?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"Caluula Orbital. What else?"

Kyp regarded the coralskipper. "No signs of laserfire from batteries 
or starfighter cannons."

Han's forehead wrinkled. "Can't be." He ducked down to npraise what
he could of the underside, then stood up. "Must have caught a bolt 
straight through the canopy."

"No signs of that either," Sasso said, jumping down to the ground.

Han looked at Kyp. "Could have been stunned by an ion cannon ..." He 
let his words trail off when he realized the impossibility of it. "No 
craft comes down the gravity well at terminal velocity and ends up 
looking like this one."

Kyp nodded in agreement. "From the way the trees are sheared off and
the depth of the initial impact crater, the skip couldn't have been 
higher than three hundred meters."

"A patrol craft," Sasso said.

"That would explain why there's no heat damage." Han turned to the
Rodian. "Could one of your people have shot it down? Someone in the 
resistance?"

Sasso shook his head. "We don't have the weapons for that."

Wraw leapt down from the cockpit. "So what happened, it suffered
heart failure?"

Han made his lips a thin line and shrugged. "Maybe with the Yuuzhan 
Vong devoting almost everything they have to the armada, they've 
exiled their shoddiest biots and least experienced warriors to worlds
like Caluula." He laughed ruefully. "They're in even worse shape than 
we are."

"No," Kyp said. "Only here are they in worse shape."

Leia listened to them trying to convince themselves that there was 
reasonable explanation for the crashed craft and the inept warriors 
leV had ambushed. But, in fact, lack of genuine explanations had 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????
everyone on edge.
 
 ePt
ion to abandon the trail and bushwhack through the thick forest, in 
the h of avoiding detection. That they hadn't seen any reconnaissance 
bio or evidence of foot patrols had only added to the suspicion that 
th i were being led into a trap.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????

Then their purposefully meandering path had brought them to the 
coralskipper.

"You know what could have happened," Han was saying. "Tne yammosk
could have steered it wrong."

"I can see that," Sasso said. "I can even see that a crash like this 
could take out the pilot and the dovin basal. But why would the 
cognition hood die? Do the hoods feed off the basals?" He stared at 
the coralskipper. "I've spent more time trying to avoid them than 
study them."

"Our daughter could explain it," Han said. "She's actually piloted
a vessel like this."

Jaina!

A sense of deep concern flooded through Leia. But before she 
could begin to make sense of it, Han was yelling something at 
Wraw. Leia saw that the Bothan had clambered back to the cockpit 
and was making sketches of the interior.

"Something to show the grandchildren," Wraw said when Han demanded 
to know what he was doing.

"Grandchildren? You'll be lucky to even have kids of your own."

Wraw closed the sketch pad. "If I do, I know I'll have sense enough 
to keep them out of the war."

Han advanced on the Bothan with menacing familiarity. "I'm going to
have to teach you the ways of the world before this is over."

Leia could see that Kyp was ready to step between them, but the 
confrontation went no further. 

"He's Corellian," Kyp said quietly to Wraw while Han was walking 
away. "They don't make idle threats."

Wraw only sniggered.

Sasso left to find Meloque, Page, and Ferfer. Han, Leia, and Kyp were 
gathering the timbus when Han said, "You realize we're being reeled in."

Kyp nodded. "It's probably been that way from the beginning-

Worried that the team was under surveillance, no one had 
si the previous night. In the morning they had made a decision
that doesn't mean we still can't pull this mission off. We just have 
.0 watch our backs."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

"Speaking of which, did Intelligence run backgrounds on Sasso
and Ferfer?"

"You'd have to check with Wraw. I do know that both of them 
,'ned the resistance before the Yuuzhan Vong showed up in the 
^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????
Caluula system. Sasso even served on Caluula Orbital for a while."

"So at least we're not being sold to the Vong."

"As far as I can tell."

Sasso's whistled signal wafted into the clearing, and several 
moments later he, Page, the Ryn, and Meloque stepped from the 
trees. In her sucker-tipped hands the Ho'Din cradled a dozen or 
so insects, delicately winged and equipped with large bioluminescent 
evespots. She set them on the ground, then sat down beside them.

"They're dead," she announced in an anguished tone. "The entire forest
is littered with bodies. In most cases they died inside their shells. 
Others appear to have died in flight."

"All of them?" Leia asked, nonplussed.

Meloque shook her head. "But the survivors are moving very 
lethargically." She gazed at Leia and the others. "Something 
terrible has happened here."

Han and Kyp traded dark glances.

"Let's get moving," Page told everyone.

Several hours of mostly downhill trudging brought Team Meloque to a 
low ridge that overlooked the southern portion of Caluula City, and 
the prominent hivelike Yuuzhan Vong minshal that harbored the yammosk.

"There are three entrances," Sasso explained from the spot of cover 
the team found. "Two in the front, and one on the east side. All of 
them are dilating membranes that can be pierced by blaster bolts. 
Guards are stationed at each, usually three or four at any given time. 
They stand long shifts, so it would be to our advantage to strike at 
sun-down, just when the afternoon shift is ending. The garrison is 
made up Jf about seventy-five warriors. There's a also a commander, 
his subalterred, at least one priest, and one of those long-tressed 
technicians..."

"A shaper," Leia said.

The Rodian nodded. "As for the yammosk, I don't know how r kill it.
But I'm guessing you have some idea."

"Leave that to me," Kyp said.

"It's important that we take out their villip communications whil 
we're at it," Page added.

Leia gazed out over the flat rooftops of the simple city. Judging 
by the position of the sun, the team was in for a long wait. Ferfer 
volunteered to find a place to conceal the timbus. He rose, but had 
scarcely moved off when a gurgling exclamation of surprise rang from 
just inside the tree line. Everyone whirled at once to see the Ryn 
staggering toward them, his belly opened like a ripe fruit.

Behind him emerged four relatively short and dark-complected Yuuzhan
Vong warriors.

Han shot Leia the briefest of astonished looks and drew his blaster.

Page did the same with his rifle, but he hadn't even lifted it to
firing position when it was whipped from his grip by one of the 
longest amphistaffs Leia had seen, and hurled though the air like 
a twig. Sasso was already charging the enemy wielding the amphistaff,
but he didn't get three meters when the warrior leapt over him and, 
on landing, whirled and thrust a coufee deep into the Rodian's back.

Kyp and Leia ignited their lightsabers at the same instant. Continuous 
fire from Han and Wraw had driven two of the warriors to the ground, 
but neither had been hit. Kyp raced for the nearest one, catching the
warrior across the chest with a powerful upswing of his blade. The 
Yuuzhan Vong growled and rolled, but his dark, unarmored flesh showed 
only a shallow bloodless furrow.

Kyp whirled and brought the blade down like an ax. Evading the strike, 
the warrior rose to one knee and unfurled his amphistaff. The 
serpentlike creature elongated and wrapped itself around the hilt 
of the lightsaber. But Kyp wasn't about to surrender his weapon. In a 
virtual tug-of-war with the creature, he spun and backflipped, but to 
little effect. At the same time, a second amphistaff lassoed him around 
the waist and arms and yanked him roughly to the ground.

Han put three bolts into the second warrior, driving him to
backward with each, but without killing him or persuading the amphistaff 
to loosen its constricting hold on Kyp. Han yelled for V  %v's help, but 
in a glance saw that the Bothan was trying desper-elv to keep the other 
pair of warriors from grabbing Page.

Without really thinking about it, Leia judged that Han and Kyp 
oere in greater jeopardy. Holding her blade at her right hip and 
inted slightly downward, she moved against the warrior whose amphistaff
^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????
was flinging Kyp from side to side. Han felt rather than saw Leia race 
past him. "Leia!" he screamed, firing constantly while he rushed to catch 
up with her.

A quartet of bolts holed the warrior Leia had targeted. But at once, 
the other warrior commanded his amphistaff to withdraw from the pommel 
of Kyp's lightsaber and fly toward Leia.

Seeing what was coming, Han dived forward in a frantic attempt to place
himself between Leia and the attenuating weapon. Leia watched in horror 
as the amphistaff struck Han solidly in the neck- and not merely with 
its rounded head.

The jaws of the living weapon gaped, and it sank two long fangs into 
Han's flesh.

Han landed hard on his side, but quickly got to his knees. He managed 
to squeeze off three more bolts before the blaster slipped from his 
trembling hand. He slumped backward on his heels in shock, then tipped 
to one side, his body curling inward, with his shaking hands close to
his chest.

Kyp raced forward, only to be set upon by three of the warriors.

Leia's mouth fell open in a silent scream. She dropped the lightsaber 
and ran to Han. Gazing in horror at the twin punctures in his neck, 
she vised his spasming right hand between hers.

"Han," she cried. "Han!"

Meloque was suddenly by her side, lifting Han's head from the around. 
His face was a bloodless mask of pain and sorrow.

"I k-knew from the s-s-start this wasn't my war," he stammered. 
\vin rivulets of blood coursed from the wounds in his neck. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????

"Han!" Leia said, wide-eyed with terror.

She looked up at the advancing warriors, two of whom had a to hold 
on Kyp, almost as if expecting them to come to Han's Instead one of 
them dragged her and Meloque to their feet.

"No, no," Leia said, shaking her head back and forth.

Han extended his hand to her, but the warrior kicked it aside. Han's 
eyes rolled up, his eyelids fluttered, and his body went limp.

"No!" she screamed as the warriors were hauling her away.






"Casualty assessment of the first engagement, Warmaster" Supreme 
Commander Loiric Kaan said, gesturing to a wall niche in the 
command chamber of Yammka's Mount.

Nas Choka turned from the observation transparency to study the
commotion of blaze bugs. "Acceptable," he pronounced after a moment.

"A clever use of machines," Loiric Kaan remarked.

The warmaster's finely haired upper lip curled and he glowered at 
his Supreme Commander. "Another act of cowardice. Stop thinking in 
terms of the weapons our enemy employ, and concentrate on how they 
fight. Think of the machines as living beings if it will help you 
view the matter with more clarity."

Loiric Kaan bowed his head. "Warmaster."

Nas Choka moved to the blaze bug niche that displayed the disposition
of the enemy battle groups.

"They seek to spare the new capital," Loiric Kaan said, "but they 
cannot save it now."

Nas Choka beckoned to one of his subalterns. "Escort Supreme 
Commander Loiric Kaan from the command chamber. If this war 
could be won by words of confidence, we would have already 
vanquished them."

The warmaster kept his back turned to Kaan while he was being
led to the chamber's iris membrane.

"The number of ships is significantly lower than calculated," the 
chief tactician said when the membrane had resealed itself.

"Of course," Nas Choka said. "Trusting to the effectiveness of 
their deceptions, they decided to keep additional ships in reserve 
to execute their secondary objectives."

"Starfighter wings forming up for strikes," a subaltern reported.

Nas Choka sniffed. "Like a swarm of insects that can't be o
ut-ced or repelled. The pests can, however, be eradicated." He 
^^^^^^^^???????????????????????
A to the female stationed at the villip-choir. "Order Domains
j ind Pekeen to spray the contaminated areas. Then command
vammosks to spruce  up our formations with auxiliary
coralskippers..."

The warmaster and the chief tactician swung to the transparency
see brilliant plumes of plasma discharge omnidirectionally from 
there.  Dozens of the small fighters disappeared, and as many others 
were shocked into submission. "Again," Nas Choka ordered.

A second torrent of molten death poured from the war vessels, 
obliterating yet more starfighters.

"Now, assign yorik-akaga and yorik-vec to the rear. Let mataloks 
serve as our spearhead."

The subaltern snapped his fists to his shoulders in salute. 

"Warmaster,"  the  villip-choir  tactician  interjected  
judiciously. "Communication from Supreme Overlord Shimrra."

Nas Choka turned to the array and genuflected in front of 
Shimrra's dedicated villip. Everyone else in the command chamber
kneeled, with foreheads pressed to the deck.

"It bodes well, Dread Lord," Nas Choka began. "We will deliver 
victory to you this day, or die in the attempt."

"Better for you, Warmaster, that you die delivering victory." 

"Understood, Lord."

Shimrra's villip spoke again. "You have my blessing, and the 
blessings of the gods. Yun-Yuuzhan and Yun-Yammka soar at your 
sides, as your right and left hands."

"I sense their presence, Great Lord." 

"Does the enemy cower before us?" 

"For the moment their fleet holds fast."

tfpi
^^^^^^^???????????????????????

"Then they have mustered the courage to meet us toe to toe? It 
will their downfall. You have my full confidence, Warmaster. I 
leave 'Ou to your business."
     ^^^^^^?????????????????????????

he dedicated villip inverted to its original leathery appearance.

Nas Choka rose and paced to the transparency to observe the match 
fury of coralskippers and starfighters, yorik-vec and Scimitar 
bornbe
^^^^^^^^^??????????????????

"Sow and Kre'fey are righting with their minds, not their bodies." he
said to the chief tactician. "They are the smaller individual 
wh engages a larger one. Even if he is swift enough to get inside his 
^^^^???????????????????????
opponent's defenses, his hands are too small to cause severe damage a 
his muscles lack the power to bring his opponent to his knees. 
So h plans more carefully. Perhaps he goads the bigger warrior to 
^^^^^^^?????????????????
swine first and miss, hoping then to unbalance him with a precisely 
timed shove or kick to the knee. Or perhaps he brings his equally 
small friends to stand at his back, and he strikes first, confident 
that his cohorts will be ready to find openings. He offers them as a 
distraction so that when the larger warrior risks a glance to the 
right, a blow arrives from the left."

Nas Choka's expression hardened. "This battle is not the last stand. 
It has nothing to do with honor or a willingness to meet death. This 
is a feint. Fortunately, I have my suspicions about where the would-be 
surprise blow is coming from."

The tactician nodded knowingly.

Nas Choka turned to the villip-choir mistress. "Alert domain groups 
Shen'g, Paasar, Eklut, and Taav. On my command they will separate from 
the armada and prepare to go to darkspace."

She bowed. "To Toong'l and Caluula, and from there to Yuuzhan'tar."

Nas Choka sneered. "Play with your villips, Mistress. Leave strategy
to those who live to fight." He summoned the chief tactician forward. 

"Command her, tactician."

"To the Perlemian Trade Route," the slight Yuuzhan Vong told the 
villip mistress, "and from there to Contruum!"







Leia was still in shock when the three surviving warriors led her, 
Kyp, Page, Wraw, and Meloque into the yammosk installation. Sasso 
and Ferfer had been left to die in the forest. Han they dragged 
behind by his wrists, like a slaughtered animal. He was alive but 
unconscious or comatose from the venom delivered by the warrior's 
amphistati.

Even in her dread, however, Leia was not too oblivious to noticy
 nlv one weary guard was posted at the minshal's eastern dilating
hrane, and that the membrane itself looked thin and weak, and
d a viscous liquid. The guard struggled to rise as the trio of war -
approached. Barely strong enough to cross his arms in salute, he 
told something to them in a feeble voice.
^^^^^^^^^^????????????????

"He's telling them that the commander is waiting," Page translated 
quietly.

One of the warriors stumbled a bit as they crossed the threshold 
o m the Bloomy interior of the minshal. Oddly, he was the only 
^^^^^??????????????????
one of the three who hadn't been wounded during the brief action.

Kvp noticed the stumble as well. "Something's not right."

He received a hard jab in the ribs for speaking.

Inside, the smell of rot was overpowering. Pools of sallow liquid 
had collected on the spongy floor, and the bioluminescent wall 
lichen was rashed with black spots. Thousands of dying arachnidlike 
insects-similar to the ones Leia had seen in the living 
cofferdam-crawled about in seeming confusion.

Dead flitnats littered the ground. A female shaper was borne into 
the antechamber on a litter, carried by two more of the squat, 
dark-complected warriors. Her skin was as pale green as Leia's 
falsely col-ored face, and the many-fingered hand that had been 
grafted to her wrist hung limply at her side. The warriors shoved 
Leia and the others forward, and rolled Han onto his back nearby.

Leia's heart leapt when she saw him stir.

The shaper was addressing the warriors from atop her litter.

"She's congratulating them on capturing us," Meloque whispered to 
everyone. "She says we will contribute greatly to the sacrifice."

The shaper called two of the troops forward and spent a long
moment looking them over, inspecting their faces, limbs, and torsos.
One of the warriors indicated a tumorlike growth on his neck, and
dropped to one knee at the foot of the litter, in what appeared to be
humiliation.

"What's going on?" Kyp asked Meloque.

He listened for a moment. "The warrior thinks he has become a
Shamed One, because his body is rejecting some sort of... enhancement
he received." Meloque listened for a moment more, then added:
"The shaper's telling him that he is not Shamed. That the growth 
the tumor has nothing to do with the gods, and everything to do 
with this world-everything to do with Caluula."

"Caluula?" Page repeated in bafflement.

The warrior looked relieved.  Rising, he drew his coufee turned 
toward Leia, only to be restrained by the shaper's touch.

"He wants to kill us," Meloque explained.

"I got that much," Kyp said.

"She's reassuring them that we will die before sunset."

"That's a relief," Wraw said. "For a minute I thought they were 
going to let us go."

Kyp glanced at the Bothan. "Get out all your jokes while there's
still time."

The shaper was speaking again. Leia recognized the word Yuuzhan'tar.

Meloque translated. "She's ordering the special warriors-the slayers, 
she calls them-to return her to Yuuz-to Coruscant immedi-ately. She 
says it's imperative that she apprise her master of what has 
happened here to render everyone ill. She is promising the slayers 
that the commander is going to see to us personally."

"Yun-Harla succors me in my time of need," a male voice said in Basic.

The accent was familiar to Leia, and clearly to Page, who craned his 
neck to see who had spoken.

A tall, rail-thin Yuuzhan Vong elite entered the antechamber, his 
scarified arms draped in support around the shoulders of two large 
but plainly enervated warriors.

"Welcome, Jedi, Ho'Din, and Bothan. And to you, Captain Page. Did 
I not promise that I would see you on a funeral pyre?"

Leia suddenly recalled where she had seen him before-aboard the 
Yuuzhan Vong convoy vessel.

It was Commander Malik Carr.









With the armada's rotation, the distal ends of several tentacles had 
whipped themselves into ensnaring loops. Starfighters trapped in the 
loops twisted and swerved to avoid scud-ding coralskippers, but they 
were fast running out of maneuvering room.

The overwhelmed deflector shields of Jaina's X-wing were barely aviable, 
and Cappie was probably beyond repair. Each tongue of plasma or missile 
of molten rock landed like a punch. Despite the har-nesses that fastened 
her to the padded seat, she was flung like an insect trapped in a 
shaking bottle. Singularities yawned to all sides, ready to swallow 
anything she launched, but that hardly mattered, since the 
starfighter's fire-control computer had yet to shed enough heat to 
come back on-line.

A numbing explosion jolted the ship.

Jaina glanced out the right side of the triangular canopy to see the 
mated ends of the starboard S-foils disintegrate, and the laser 
cannon go whirling off into space. The power of the blast sent the 
starfighter mto a wing-over-wing roll that the fusial thrusters and 
attitude jets 'Vere unable to correct. Flights of coralskippers 
pinwheeled in front of ber, and fireballs geysered inward on 
spiraling trajectories.

The out-of-control tumble reeled her out of a follow-up deluge of
plasma from the core formation of capital ships. The E-wings took 
the brunt of it, along with Ijix Harona's Scimitar Squadron of 
highly vul nerable A-wings, and Gavin's Rogues. Caught by the 
inferno, two dozen craft were blown clear of the tentacles, half 
of them vanishin before they reached clear space. Farther out, Star 
Destroyers and attack  cruisers   raced  alongside   the   armada,   
but  with  so  many starfighters churning between them and the enemy 
war vessels  the couldn't risk firing without destroying countless 
Alliance craft.

Jaina's flailing right hand found the inertial compensator and dialed
it to maximum. As the cockpit instruments came back into focus, she 
saw that the display screens were white with noise. The battle net 
was unadulterated static.

"... around to bearing . . . ecliptic ..."

Jaina tweaked the comm controls to find a clearer frequency.

"... on squadron leaders and withdraw."

Withdraw, Jaina thought.

Fine for those pilots who could. But scores of fighters were 
incapacitated, many in worse shape than Twin Suns One. Only by 
virtue of their marginally intact shields were they bearing up 
under the con-stant barrage, like bar brawlers curled on the 
floor against repeated kicks from gangs of opponents.

"Dovin basal singularities have been diverted to the forefront of 
the armada," Alliance control was saying. "Destroyers will be 
attacking the flanks in an attempt to induce the dovin basals 
to shift focus, so that Harbinger, Guardian, and Viscount can 
resume fire. All pilots, try to maintain formation on withdrawal.
Rally at six-six-one ecliptic with battle groups Iceberg Three and Four."

By then the armada had moved well past the system's captured comet 
and was bearing toward Sep Elopor, a ringed gas-giant with more 
than thirty small moons.

Auxiliary battle groups in advance of the tentacled cluster were 
already beginning to disperse, in part to deflect the battle from 
Mon Calamari itself, but also to convey the impression that the 
Alliance had recognized that it was outmatched and was on the 
run, determined to save as many of its ships as possible.

A third surge of plasma spewed from the armada core.

Jaina called on the exhausted thrusters to propel the X-wing out. 
stumble and through a broad bank. At the same time, she reset
to ertial compensator and got her bearings. She was still inside the
circle of coralskippers and pickets, but Chiss clawcraft and 
Y-wings 1  e hammering away at the slowly contracting perimeter, 
creating it holes for the trapped starfighters. Jaina saw Jag's 
clawcraft destroy "h   e coralskippers in a blur of corkscrewing 
maneuvers and laserfire.

She sent him silent gratitude.

With firing zones opening once more, bombers followed the 
resqued starfighters into the gaps they fashioned. In response, 
coralskippers were commanding their dovin basals to deploy 
defensive voids to encounter the infiltration. No sooner did 
the gravitic anomalies shift,

However, than Harbinger and Guardian strobed salvos of ranged -
weapons fire against the least defended of the tentacles. Coralskippers
were lanced and vaporized, pickets fractured and cracked open like
seedpods, expressing puffs of atmosphere and more.

Free of the enclosing tentacle at last, Jaina searched for the rest
of her squadron. Twin Suns Four, Five, Six, Nine, and Ten were nearby, 
but she had no means of communicating with them. She reached out with 
the Force for Lowbacca, Alema Rar, Octa Ramis, and the Wild Knights, 
hoping that they would be able to interpret her distress call and 
relay her message.

But it was Jag who arrived. Twin Suns' X-wings were suddenly forming
up on Jag's clawcraft, and he in turn was leading them to her.

The fighting was the most intense at the perimeter of the fluttering 
tentacles. Alliance frigates and corvettes were trading fusil-lades 
with Yuuzhan Vong escort vessels and cruiser analogs - mataloks-opening 
dozens of new fronts along the flanks of the cluster. Starfighters and 
coralskippers pursued one another through blinding volleys of fire, as 
the capital ships continued their long-distance duels.

Even so, the armada managed to maintain its yammosk shape. Then, 
without warning, three groups of enemy war vessels peeled way from 
the core, carrying countless coralskipper tentacles with them.

It was as if the yammosk had undergone mitosis.
  
Jaina considered briefly that the Yuuzhan Vong had decided to divide 
the battle into separate arenas. Instead, the coralskippers of the 
newly created flotilla began to return to the waiting arms of their 
carriers, in a kind of reverse deployment.

"Three battle groups have detached from the main cluster" Alliance 
control reported over the battle channel. "Coralskippers ar withdrawing.
Monitoring the new cluster for possible microjump to Mon Calamari. 
Primary planetary defense is at Code Red, with all shields raised. 
Iceberg Three attack squadrons will regroup and stand by for jump 
coordinates."

Jaina watched the smaller of the two clusters streak sunward and 
disappear.

"Enemy secondary has jumped. Waiting for verification of 
hyperspace vector ..."

Jaina's breath caught in her throat. If the new cluster jumped
directly to Mon Calamari...

"Iceberg Three attack squadrons are re-formed and in position..."

Jaina waited in her crippled ship. Time seemed to drag out, even 
while the battle continued to rage around her.

Then the voice of control returned: "Vector confirmed. Secondary 
flotilla has jumped for the Perlemian Trade Route. HoloNet transceiver 
ships at Quermia transit point are under attack. Primary flotilla is 
accelerating for Sep Elopon and Mon Eron. All starfighter wings regroup."

Out of the fight, Jaina pivoted the X-wing to starboard in an effort 
to observe the re-formation of the scattered squadrons. Twin Suns 
survivors were flying with Rogue Squadron, and Blackmoon and Scimitar 
were similarly mingled. Vanguard was down to six clawcraft, but Jag 
was still leading them.

She sent him luck as the fighter wing streaked off to reengage.

Then she coaxed what life she could from the damaged fusial engines 
and crippled shields and followed him.










Under guard of six warriors who could barely stay on their feet, Team 
Meloque, including Han, had been herded into the yammosk and left there
to marinate in blorash jelly while the female or and the cadre of 
slayers departed Caluula. From deeper inside minshal had come the 
sounds of at least three craft lifting out of their berthing spaces.

An hour had passed since then, and something strange was begin -
to happen to the blorash jelly. Though it had held everyone fast
ohen they had first been thrown into it, the jelly was losing viscosity.
When it liquefied to the point that Leia could sit upright, she 
immediatly started to crawl on hands and knees toward Han, who had been
returning slowly to consciousness the whole while.

The first words out of his mouth were "What stinks?"

Leia ignored the question and clamped her arms around his chest,
hugging him to her.

He blinked, stretched his eyelids open, blinked some more, and began 
to glance around. "You're getting blorash all over us."

Leia put her face close to his. "Just my way of making sure we 
stay together - no matter what else happens."

"Welcome back to the fun," Page yelled from across the chamber.

Han raised his right hand in a curt wave to the captain, Kyp, 
Wraw, and Meloque, who were more or less sitting up in the 
adhesive pool. He cut his eyes back to Leia. "You want to tell 
me about the what efepart?"

"Commander Malik Carr plans to sacrifice us to the yammosk."

Han looked past Leia to the circular yorik coral basin that 
housed the creature, then beetled his eyebrows in uncertainty. 

"Malik Carr . . ."

"From the Peace Brigade convoy," Leia said. "The one who promised 
Judder that . . . well, that something like this would happen."

Han grimaced. "Could be worse. I mean, at least we're away from those
blasted flitnats."

Leia shook her head at him in a tolerant manner. "It doesn't take you
long to get back into character, does it?"

"Hey, I know this role by heart." He smiled weakly, then grew 
'en°us. "But tell me something. How come I'm supposed to be 
^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????
dead, and instead all I've got is numb lips, a sore throat, 
and a headache?"
  
 

"We're not sure. But the reason has something to do with Caluaa."

"They picked the wrong planet to occupy," Wraw said, turning toward 
them. His fur rippled in a kind of delight.

"Everything's sick," Leia went on. "Not just the winged-star. Everything
here - the warriors, the  dilating membranes, even th slayers' 
amphistaffs-which means that their venom is probably al weakened."

"Slayers?"

"The enhanced warriors."

Han nodded. "No wonder they were able to take us like they did." His
eyes snapped open, as if he had just recalled something "Sasso. Ferfer."

"Dead," Leia said, almost swallowing the word.

Han hung his head, then stiffened in her embrace. "Where are our weapons?"

Leia stretched out her arm. "There."

Han followed her forefinger to where the weapons had been dumped in
a heap on the far side of the chamber, close to where half a dozen 
Yuuzhan Vong guards were either dozing or passed out. Every weapon, 
including the two lightsabers, was smeared with red blood, perhaps 
fresh from Sasso and Ferfer.

"If this blorash keeps liquefying at the same rate," Leia said, "we 
should be free in no time."

She barely got the sentence out when Malik Carr shuffled into 
the chamber, accompanied by two ordinary warriors and a priest. 
The six sleeping warriors woke up and attempted to come to 
attention, but most of them were too weak to stand, let alone 
snap their fists in salute.

Their amphistaffs sprawled sluggishly beside them.

"Stay where you are," Carr commanded, as the pair of warriors 
who braced him lowered him to a shallow step that encircled the 
yammosk basin. Seeming to sense the commander, the yammosk itself 
stirred, extending two tentacles over the rim of the basin and 
resting the tips on Carr's horned shoulders. The tentacles were 
a sickly shade of green and covered with large blisters. Carr 
caressed one of them.

Breathing laboriously, the priest picked up one of the military 
rers and handed it to Carr, who, with some effort, squeezed off 
^^^^?????????????????????
a bolt into the domed ceiling.

"Still functioning-as you appear to be," he said in Basic, gazing
his captives. His filmed eyes focused on Page. "And I thought Sel-
-is 3. terrible place. You've no obligation to tell me, Captain, but
^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????
ohit is it that is peculiar to this cursed world that has brought illness
and death on us?"

Page shook his head in ignorance. "Maybe the insects we call 
vineed-stars. But a lot of the ones we saw were also dead or dying. 
So are Caluula's flitnats."

"Something about their deaths, then," Carr mused. "If it's true, 
Captain, then you will have a powerful weapon to use against us. 
Although I heard rumor of one such weapon that affected our warriors
on Garqi."

"Pollen," Wraw answered for Page. "The product of a semisentient 
tree from a world you destroyed. Ithor."

Carr struggled to make sense of it. "Is there some relationship 
between those trees and the winged-star insects?"

"No," Meloque said.

Carr inhaled raggedly. "I'm dying," he said in disbelief. "Neither 
in battle nor honorably, but of disease. Life turned against other 
life. It is something unknown to us, because we are symbiotic with 
all life- our biots, our weapons, our foodstuffs . . . We don't 
die of disease, or of starvation. Many of us live three times as 
long as the human species in this galaxy, and yet we have been 
felled by another living thing."

He almost grinned. "Yun-Harla is either laughing or outraged. 
Who can tell anymore? I suppose I should take some measure of 
comfort in the fact that I will see all of you die first, but 
somehow the fight "as gone out of me. You are infidels, yes. 
You are ignorant and primitive, and you have chosen to consort
with machines, as if they were living beings. But though I pity 
you for that, I no longer hate you r it. However, you do need to 
die, if only on the off chance that °ur sacrifices will persuade 
the gods to spare the life of our war coordinator."

He turned slightly and lifted his gaze, as if to the yammosk. "A 
you even capable of directing a flight of coralskippers? I think of
poor creature. But I know that, like me, you will die trying."

The priest groaned in pain, doubled over, and collapsed on the floor. 
The six guards also appeared to have died. Thud bugs ere from the 
warriors' bandoliers and expired.

Leia realized that the blorash had lost all its binding qualities.
The entire place seemed to be dying at the same time.

The yammosk issued an earsplitting screech of agony. It tentacles 
flailed for several seconds; then the bloated beast bobbed lifelessly 
to the surface of the agitated pool.

Malik Carr hauled himself to his feet and lifted one of the amphistaffs,
which hung over his hand like a length of rope. "As docile as a mascot."
He looked at Page. "You have won the day, Captain. I salute you."

The commander toppled like a tree.

Page lifted himself from the jelly and hurried over to him. Kyp and 
Meloque clambered onto the step to regard the yammosk.

"It's dead," Meloque pronounced.

A sudden commotion broke out in the antechamber. Kyp and Leia called 
their lightsabers to them, activating the blades while Page and Wraw 
hastened for the blasters.

"Hello?" a voice called out.

Into the basin room walked Lando Calrissian, Talon Karrde, and Shada 
D'ukal, wearing armorply combat suits, white helmets, and knee-high 
boots, and armed with lightweight blaster rifles. Lando's bipedal
YVH 1-1A droid brought up the rear.

The Hero of Taanab brought his fingertips to his brow in an informal 
salute. "Kyp. Captain Page." He flashed his bright, trade-mark smile 
at Meloque. "Sorry, I haven't had the pleasure."

"Meloque," she told him.

"Agent Wraw," the Bothan said curtly, clearly vexed by the trio's 
sudden appearance.

Leia stared at them in astonishment. "What in the galaxy..."

"Leia, so good to see you," Lando said. "We just wanted to show 
that the Smugglers' Alliance has more to offer than hunter
on r mouse droids. Booster, Mirax, and Crev Bombassa send their
regards."

"Errant Venture is here?" she said, referring to Booster Terrik's
personal Star Destroyer.

Karrde nodded. "We came prepared to fight a war."

"What's the situation upside?" Page asked.

"Peaceful. We only had to deal with a small skip carrier and a couple 
of patrol craft."

"Patrol craft?" Page said. "Caluula was supposed to be a major staging 
area for Mon Calamari."

Lando nodded. "That's what we thought." He glanced at Han. "Booster's 
not too happy having expended so much fuel on a mission Wild Karrde 
could have handled. In fact, we would have been here sooner, if we
hadn't ended up in a firefight with the Peace Brigaders at the spaceport."

"The Brigaders are all right? Healthy?" Meloque asked.

"Healthy enough to have delayed us," Karrde said. "Momentarily, that is."

Leia showed Han a skeptical look. "You knew about this."

He shrugged. "I didn't trust this whole operation from the start. I
figured we'd been compromised somehow, so I wanted to make sure we 
had backup. Sorry I didn't tell you."

"That's against orders, Solo," Wraw said harshly.

"So bring me up on charges when we get back to Mon Calamari."

"Don't think I won't try."

Lando glanced from the Bothan to Han. "Has it been this way from the start?"

"Pretty much."

Lando watched Han struggle to his feet. "Are you all right, Han?"

"He was bitten by an amphistaff whose venom wasn't working," Kyp said.

Lando glanced at Malik Carr, the priest, and the warriors. "We've 
oen this everywhere we've been-at the spaceport, in the streets... 
It's going on?"

Page gestured to the Yuuzhan Vong. "They caught something. And not just 
the warriors. The yammosk, the weapons...
 
"Oh, no," Kyp interrupted in a tone of tragic realization. "Oh, no."
Blood rushed from his face, and his expression turned grim  "T know 
what happened here. I probably knew from the moment we s the crashed 
coralskipper, but I didn't want to believe it." He looked everyone. 
"And may the Force help all of us if I'm right."








 
Everyone was scrambling for shelter. From his perch on the rim of the 
abyss, Luke could see hundreds of Ferroans massed at the mouths of the 
tunnels below, the combined light of dozens of glow sticks creating 
halos around each entrance. Through Magister Jabitha, Sekot had issued 
the alert that the planet was preparing to make a final jump to 
hyperspace. Luke could feel Zonama shuddering as the core hyperdrives 
heated up. He could sense the tension and uncertainty in the boras, the
seed-partners, the myriad creatures the vast tampasi supported.

He looked into the night sky. For no reason he could fathom, each jump 
seemed to have brought him closer to a familiarity that had nothing to 
do with star systems or planets. Even in the most remote realms of the 
Unknown Regions, his connection with the Force had ever faltered. But 
with the previous jump he had begun to hear the whispers of his fellow 
Jedi, and their urgency told him that it was dn' peal that he, Mara,
and the others return. If the imminent jump t succeed, or if it should 
           ???????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
leave Zonama far from where Luke lted the planet to emerge, then he 
would do as Mara had wished, and make use of Jade Shadow.

He felt Jacen approach from behind him, but didn't turn from the
view.

"Something has happened," he said finally.

"I feel it, Uncle Luke," Jacen said. "The Jedi, our friends .    "

"It's not only them. The danger is widespread."

Jacen came alongside him. A gust of wind tugged at the cowl his 
robe. "Another Ithor? Another Barab One?"

"Not yet," Luke said. "But a new evil has been unleashed."

"By the Yuuzhan Vong?"

"By the dark side."

Jacen nodded. "Your real enemy."

Luke turned to him. "You should be thinking about your own course, 
Jacen, not mine."

Jacen exhaled with purpose. "I have no one but you to look to to know 
which path I should take. Our courses are entangled."

"Then I guess I'd better listen to what you've decided about me."

Jacen took a moment to collect his thoughts. "From everything you've 
told me over the years about confronting your father and the Emperor, 
it has always seemed to me that neither of them was your real enemy.
Each tried to entice you to join him. But they were never the source 
of your fear. You feared falling to the dark side."

Luke grinned faintly. "Is that all?" he said finally.

Jacen shook his head. "On Coruscant, at the ruins of the Jedi Temple,
Vergere said that the Jedi had a shameful secret, and that secret was 
that there is no dark side. The Force is one. And since there are no 
separate sides, the Force can't take sides. Our notions of light and 
dark only reflect how little we know about the true nature of the 
Force. What we've chosen to call the dark side is simply the raw, 
unrestrained Force itself, which gives rise to life as easily as it 
brings death and destruction."

Luke listened closely. Now I shall show you the true nature of the 
Force, the Emperor had told him at Endor.

On Mon Calamari, Vergere had tried to lead him down the same path, 
by implying that Yoda and Obi-Wan were to blame for not telling 
him the truth about the dark side. As a result of their neglecting
when Luke had cut off his father's hand in anger, he assumed he had
had a close brush with the dark side. When he stood at the side of
the cloned Emperor, he had truly felt the dark side. Ever since, he 
have to equate anger with darkness itself, and he had passed that
.jo- to the Jedi he had tutored. But in fact, according to Vergere,
^^^^^^^????????????????????
Luke had been misguided by his own ego. She had maintained that,
-h'le darkness could remain in someone by invitation, it could just as
ojv be jettisoned by self-awareness. Once Luke accepted this, he
uld no longer have to fear being seduced by the dark side.
^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????

"You're suggesting that I've held myself back by not wanting to
o corporate this raw power into my awareness of the Force," Luke
said.

"Vergere received years of formal training in the Force," Jacen
said  "The things she told me must have been common knowledge 
among the Jedi of the Old Republic."

"Vergere was corrupted by the years she spent living among the 
Yuuzhan Vong," Luke said evenly. 

"Corrupted?"

"Maybe that's too strong a term. Let's say strongly influenced." 

"But she felt she hadn't been influenced by them." 

"She can't be blamed. Each of us stands at a kind of midpoint, from 
which we're capable of seeing only so far in either direction. Our 
senses have been honed over countless millennia to allow us to 
navigate the intricacies of the physical world. But because of that, 
our senses blind us to the fact that we are much more than our bodies. 
We truly are beings of light, Jacen.

The emphasis the Jedi have always placed on control operates the same 
way. Control blinds us to the more expansive nature of the Force. The 
Jedi of the Old Republic wanted only youngsters for this reason. Jedi 
needed to be raised in the light, and to come to see that light as 
unblemished, undivided. But you and I haven't had the luxury of that 
indoctrination. Our lives are a constant test of our will to exercise 
any darkness that creeps in.

In that sense, your instincts about me are correct, and so were
^ergere's. The dark side has, in a sense, dominated my life. I've sus-
;cted for a long time that the fatigue I've sometimes experienced
tlen drawing on the Force during combat owes to my fear of abusing
the raw power you describe.

It's true that the Force is unified; it is one energy, one power.
 But here's where I think you and Vergere are incorrect: the dark.  His 
real, because evil actions are real. Sentience gave rise to the dark 
s'H Does it exist in nature? No. Left to itself, nature maintains the 
h ance. But we've changed that. We are a new order of consciousn , that 
has an impact on all life. The Force now contains light and d because 
of what thinking beings have brought to it. That's why b I ance has 
become something that must be maintained-because o actions have the 
power to tip the scales."

"As the Sith did," Jacen said.

"As the Sith did. The Emperor was perhaps the most self-assured person I 
have ever encountered, but he deliberately chose evil over good. And in 
the right climate, one individual, suitably driven and skilled, can tip 
the universe into darkness. For darkness has followers especially where 
discontent, isolation, or fear hold sway. In such a cli-mate enemies can 
be fashioned, imagined out of thin air, and suddenly all good is lost, 
all perspective vanishes, and illness takes hold."

Luke paused, then said, "Do you believe that you spoke with Vergere after 
her death at Ebaq Nine, or were you conversing with the Vergere who existed 
only in your thoughts and memory?"

Jacen thought for a moment. "I spoke with Vergere. I'm certain of it."

"Do you believe that I had a vision of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and my father after 
all three had died?"

"I've never had any reason to doubt you, Uncle."

"Then, from where was Vergere speaking?"

"Maybe she learned to tap into a power that was more all - embracing 
than the Living Force."

"The Unifying Force," Luke said. "That might explain it. In fact, all 
the years since the deaths of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and my father, I've felt 
as if the Jedi have been on a quest to recover the Force's power to 
glimpse the future, which is perhaps the nature of the Unifying Force. 
The search has been not been unlike our search for Zonama Sekot. And 
there's a power here, in the air and the trees and everything else' 
that convinces me we've found our way to something even greater than 
what we were seeking."

"I feel that too." Jacen looked at Luke. "I told Sekot about your
plan."

Luke was surprised. "You spoke with Sekot in private?"

"In the form of Vergere, yes."

"And?"

"Sekot thinks it can be done. Sekot also asked to speak with
nni about yammosk jammers and decoy dovin basals." 
^^^^^^^???????????????????????

Luke nodded in satisfaction. "That's good. But it's important to 
eniember that battles are not always decided by warships or other 
weapons. The important battles are won in the Force." He gestured 
broadly to the abyss and the starfield. "All this will pass away, 
but the Force endures. We tap its power, and if we so choose, it 
moves us according to designs we will never be able to understand."

Abruptly, Luke turned around. Jacen followed his lead and saw Mara 
standing silently behind them.

"Unless you two are planning to ride out the next jump on the wing, 
I suggest you get to the shelters."

"We were just on our way," Luke said. "This could be the last peaceful 
stretch we'll know for a long while."
 





"Alpha Red," Kyp said, as if having trouble believing his own words.
He walked distractedly to the yammosk basin, his boots leaving prints 
in the liquefied blorash jelly. There, he gestured to the grue-some s
cene: Malik Carr, the priest, and eight warriors, bleeding from mouths,
e yes, ears; amphistaffs, villips, and yammosk, dead; yorik coral
^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

bleached of color.

"Alpha Red."

Han and Leia traded questioning glances with each other and with Page. 
Lando, Talon, and Shada did the same.

"Is that some sort of curse I'm not familiar with?" Lando asked Kyp.

"You could say that." Kyp sat down on the basin's curved step. "Alpha Red 
is the name of a Yuuzhan Vong-specific poison developed by Chiss scientists 
and Dif Scaur's Intelligence gang. From what I know about it-and I don't 
know a lot - the starting point was bafforr tree pollen, and the bioweapon 
just kept growing from there."

"Kyp, how do you even know anything about this?" Leia asked.

"A dubious privilege of being a member of Cal Omas's Advisor}' Council," 
he said. "The first batch-the trial batch-was refined about a year ago, 
and tested in secret. It might have been deployed full-scale at the time, 
if not for two things: our victory at Ebaq Nine and Vergere."

"A Fosh Jedi of the Old Republic," Leia explained for the benefit of Page, 
Meloque, and some of the others. "Vergere lived as a spy ne the Yuuzhan 
Vong for fifty years. She helped rescue our son Jacen at Myrkr, and died 
at Ebaq."

"A month or so before Ebaq," Kyp added, "Vergere stole the mole batch of 
Alpha Red and destroyed it, or somehow transformed . jnto something 
harmless." He glanced at Leia, and she nodded for him to continue. "Alliance
command ruled it an act of treason, but not much has been said about Alpha 
Red since then, in part because it's been rumored that Jacen had something 
to do with Vergere's escaping the military cordon set up at Kashyyyk. I 
thought the project had been scuttled. Obviously I've been kept out of 
the loop."

"This stuff doesn't only kill individual Yuuzhan Vong," Han said, looking 
around the chamber.

Kyp nodded. "You're right about that. It targets some genetic or cellular 
component that the Yuuzhan Vong share with all their biots- from the 
smallest right up to the largest. Even their war vessels." 

"The crashed coralskipper," Leia said. Han regarded Page with suspicion.

The captain raised his hands in innocence. "Han, I swear, this is the 
first I've heard of Alpha Red."

Han looked at tall Meloque, who shook her head. "If I knew about Alpha 
Red, I'm certain I would have done what the Jedi did."

All heads turned to Wraw, whose head fur stirred. Then the Bothan 
Intelligence agent shrugged nonchalantly.

"Alliance command wanted field assurance that Alpha Red would work 
outside a laboratory setting. It's been used effectively on cap - ves, 
but we couldn't be sure what would happen in an uncontrolled enironment.
When Intelligence learned that Caluula had been tarred by the Vong for 
occupation, it was chosen to be planet zero- >teP one in winning the war."
                       ??????????????????^^^^^^^^

Meloque loosed a mournful sign. "Extermination. More of the Bothan 
ar'krai."  i ar
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????

His hands curled into claws, Han stormed across chamber made it only 
halfway to Wraw before Kyp wrapped his arms him in restraint.

"That's why Caluula's governor promised a peaceful surrend Han yelled. 
"Your people let the orbital station fall, just so you Command launch 
this half-witted plan!"

"Take it easy, Solo," Wraw said. "If I'd been in on the planning that 
level, you think I'd be along on this little joyride? I'm here as 
observer-nothing more."

"Nothing more?" Han struggled against Kyp's hold. The muscles in his 
neck stood out like cables. "This whole op has been nothing but a 
reconnaissance to see if Alpha Red had done the trick!"

"Not true," Wraw fired back. "Our mission was to destroy the yammosk, 
and now the thing's dead. Alliance had good reason to believe that the 
Vong were planning to use Caluula as a fallback point. I've no 
explanation as to why there aren't more war vessels in orbit."

Han relaxed, and Kyp let him go. "So if Alpha Red failed, then we'd be
on hand to make sure the yammosk was killed."

Wraw shrugged again. "Director Scaur is big on redundancy. But, yes, he
wanted to be confident that the yammosk would die one way or the other."

"You knew all along," Leia said to Wraw. "The patrol we ambushed, the
crashed coralskipper ..."

"I'll admit that I was encouraged by what I saw."

Han sneered. "You're no better than the Yuuzhan Vong."

Wraw's fur rippled again. "You said you wanted to teach me the ways of
the world. Well, maybe it's you who needs the lesson. What we did here 
was necessary." He pointed toward the ceiling. "That shaper and her 
special warriors are going to take Alpha Red to Yuuzhan'tar, and from 
there it's going to spread to other occupied worlds up and down the 
invasion corridor. So instead of ranting at me, Solo, you should be 
taking heart. The Vong's day are numbered. The war is essentially over."

"You killed them," Meloque mumbled, then yanked herself from her musings 
in wide-eyed panic to glare at Wraw. "You killed tn winged-stars!"

He swallowed hard. "You don't know that."

She collapsed to her knees to the spongy floor, as if her legs had 
A to gel. "Don't you realize what you've done - what you've shed? 
^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????
The effects of Alpha Red aren't confined to the Yuuzhan Vong! Your 
superiors want assurance? Tell them that Alpha Red has assed everyone's
expectations, Agent Wraw. Sentient and nonsentient - life is also susceptible.
If those Yuuzhan Vong craft reach Coruscant, the entire galaxy could be 
at risk!"

"What craft?" Lando asked. "What's she talking about?"

"A couple of enemy vessels went up the well just before you
arrived," Page said.

Karrde whipped his comlink from his belt and activated the call button. 
"Crev, are you receiving me?"

"Just barely, Talon," a deep male voice answered after several moments 
of static. "What's your status?"

"I'll tell you later, Crev. Right now, you've got to alert Booster's
gunners to destroy every Yuuzhan Vong ship in the area."

Crev Bombossa laughed. "What'd you think we've been doing? Not that
there's been a whole lot of targets."

"Thank the Force," Meloque said quietly.

"Only one ship got past us," Bombossa continued. "A corvette analog like
nothing we've ever seen. Scaled, with three pairs of pincer-arm rock 
spitters and an uplifted stern."

Han looked at Leia. "The skips that chased us to Caluula. They must have
been grown for the slayers."

Han's alarm was enough for Talon. His hand tightened on the comlink. "Crev, 
tell me you've still got that vessel in your sights!"

"Hang on, Talon."

Everyone fell silent, waiting through several more moments of static; then 
Crev's voice returned.

"Talon, sorry to report that the craft jumped to hyperspace before we could 
nail it."

put her face in her hands and began to sob. Han worked his jaw in anger and 
^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????
dismay. "Our only hope is that le crew dies before that ship reverts to realspace."











On the bridge of the Bothan Assault Cruiser Ralroost, Adnv Kre'fey 
swiveled the command chair away from the observation ba listen to 
an update from the comm officer. Local space was with warships, but 
untroubled. Blue Mon Calamari turned cal below.

"Elements of the Second and Third Fleets have repositioned Mon Eron," 
the human officer said. "Grand Admiral Pellaeon repo that Right to 
Rule is under way to complement defenses there. AJS two Hapan battle 
groups have arrived from Iceberg Three to reinforce Mon Calamari home 
defense forces. We should have visual contact with them at any moment, sir."

Kre'fey glanced out the observation bay. Ralroost, along with the Star 
Destroyer Rebel Dream and the cruiser Tald, had relocated to Mon 
Calamari's moon, in preparation for meeting the advancing armada 
head-on. With the Yuuzhan Vong moving toward Sep Elopor the 
confrontation was hours or perhaps days away, depending on Nas 
Choka's strategy. But now the inhabited world of Mon Eron, fifth 
in the system, was in jeopardy. The system's fourth and third planets 
were on the far side of the sun.

With the unexpected departure of almost half the enemy armada, some 
semblance of parity had been established. But with equivalence had 
come renewed ferocity, and, given the mounting casualties, the Alliance 
was faring worse than it had at the start of the battle. Scanners 
displayed the heavily damaged frigates and pickets emptying their 
arsenals at the Yuuzhan Vong, and starfighters with wings blown off 
adding what they could to the fight. For every starfighter lost, three 
or four coralskippers disappeared from the theater. But the Yuuzhan 
Vong seemed to have a near-limitless supply of the small craft, and 
as fast as a tentacle was decimated, it was refreshed by flights of 
skips avalanched from the dusky innards of enemy carriers and brought 
into quick formation by however many yammosks flew at the core.

"Do we have news on the secondary flotilla?" Kre'fey asked.

"Not yet, sir. To the best of our knowledge, the flotilla is still 
travelling Coreward along the Perlemian."


Sien Sow, Commodore Brand, and other commanders were sitting to the 
^act t'iat t^ie seParated cluster had departed by the 1 route the 
Yuuzhan Vong had taken to reach Mon Calamari. It S bvious now that 
the Yuuzhan Vong had no intention of using ,   IS '1 or Caluula as 
fallback or staging positions. Both planets had been diversions.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????

Kre'fey berated himself for not having realized that the Alliance 
been deceived when the armada hadn't jumped directly to the 
\j( n Calamari system. Warmaster Nas Choka simply wanted to clear 
h  transit points of mines, so that on withdrawal the secondary 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????
flotilla could attack the transceiving ships with impunity. But 
where was the flotilla bound now?

Surely Nas Choka couldn't have learned about Coruscant. Was it 
possible that he had learned of the Alpha Red experiment on 
Caluula? No, Kre'fey told himself.

If the warmaster had had an inkling about Corsucant, why wouldn't 
he have left the secondary flotilla there, instead of bringing it 
halfway across the galaxy only to send it back home? More worrisome 
was the possibility that the warmaster had learned about Contruum. 
At the first indication of the flotilla's intent to jump, courier 
ships had been dispatched to the Mid Rim world, and alerts had been 
sent via transceiving ships strung between Mon Calamari and Kashyyyk, 
and Kashyyyk and the Hapes Cluster.

"Admiral, incoming communique from Kashyyyk relay," the human officer 
said, pressing his headphones tighter to his ears. "Sir, General 
Cracken and Commanders Farlander and Davip say that, with the 
whereabouts of the secondary flotilla unknown, the situation at 
Contruum has become unstable. Two Eriaduan task forces have already 
abandoned the fleet. The feeling among many of the other commanders 
is that everyone would be better living to fight another day, rather 
than risk jumping to Coruscant only to be trapped between the planetary 
defenses and the returning flotilla. With all due respect, Contruum 
command requests permission to move their fleet to Mon Calamari Extreme, 
and attack the armada from there."

"Negative," Kre'fey said, without having to think about it. Positioning 
his headset mike close to his mouth, he motioned for the
communications officer to open an additional channel to Kashwi relay. 

"Until the secondary flotilla reverts from hyperspace, there's telling 
what the plan is. Those ships could simply be lying in \v o hoping for
                         ???????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^
you to show up here so they can place you between them and the armada. But 
as for Coruscant, I agree with your assessrne and hereby advise that you 
scatter the fleet, on the off chance th Contruum is the flotilla's 
destination. Coruscant can wait for anoth day. It's Mon Calamari that's 
at stake now."

"Contruum command requests an update on the situation at Mon Calamari," a 
female voice at the other end of the transmission said.

"We're holding our own," Kre'fey said bluntly. "But I don't know for how 
much longer. We're still outnumbered, and the enemy is not falling for 
the usual tricks. It's as even a match as I've seen this entire war. The 
only difference is that Warmaster Nas Choka is pre-pared to battle to the 
last, where I am not-and he knows that. He would sooner lose every ship 
than return to Coruscant in disgrace. I, on the other hand, have to decide
when it becomes more prudent to be careful than foolishly brave."

"Admiral," the female voice said a long moment later, "Commander Farlander 
says that he regrets that he is not there to help you make that decision."

Kre'fey grunted. "If it comes to opting for caution, we will adhere to our 
contingency plan to jump the fleets Rimward of Kubindi. We're a lot more 
familiar with the hyperlanes in the spiral arm than Nas Choka is."

The response was even longer in arriving.

"Should it come to that, Admiral, are the Yuuzhan Vong likely to press 
the attack against Mon Calamari in your absence?"

"There's simply no telling. We'll have to trust that their cell 
of spies on Mon Calamari reported that Alliance leadership has 
been evacuated, and that the planet is of no strategic value. 
Nas Choka doesn't strike me as someone who would kill an animal 
once it has showed its belly-which is essentially what we'll be 
doing. That n managed to chase us off will be sufficient reason 
for him to claim vic-tory and retain his honor. It's what he hoped 
we would do from th? start-retreat and be chased."

" !" the communications officer interrupted.
^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????

Following the officer's lead, Kre'fey swiveled to the long-distance 
scanner display-and couldn't believe his eyes.

The armada was tucking in its tentacles-recalling its legions of 
coralskippers, pickets, and frigates to their carriers. 

"Enemy is preparing to jump to hyperspace," a Bothan officer said
his duty station on the port side of the elliptical bridge. Kre'fey 
came half out of the command chair in expectancy. "Order all starfighter 
wings to withdraw from engagement," he shouted. "Home defense capital 
ships and Golan Defense Platforms will cease fire and divert all power 
to forward particle shields! Instruct General Antilles that Mon Mothma 
should join Dauntless at moon bright side."

"The armada has jumped to lightspeed," the Bothan updated.

"Bearing . - - Coreward."

Kre'fey dropped back into the command chair as if he had gained fifty 
kilos. "I don't understand," he muttered, with equal measures of relief 
and agitation.

Even if Nas Choka knew about Coruscant or Contruum, Intelligence would 
have assured him that the secondary flotilla by itself included more 
than enough vessels to thwart an attack. And why jump now, with the 
battle at Mon Calamari continuing to turn in the Yuuzhan Vong's favor?

It could only be another deception.

He turned to the communications officer. "Send word to all warship and 
planet-based transceivers that the entire armada is now on the move. I 
want immediate reports on any reversions to realspace."

The communications officer hurried for the comm board.

Mystified, Kre'fey sat staring out into space.

What in the galaxy just happened?
 










With the armada engaged in a climactic battle at the distant world of Mon 
Calamari, there was little for the occupants of Yuuzhan'tar to do but await 
word of the outcome-even for a pre-fect who had already contributed some of 
his own blood to ensure vic-tory and who wasn't inclined to fraternize with 
the commoners gathered in prayer at the various temples. Instead, Nom Anor 
had opted for an afternoon nap. But he had barely shut his eyes when his 
cushioned sleeping pallet began to shake, with such increasing force that 
it was bucking across the room when he was finally tipped from it and sent 
sprawling onto the floor.

Overhead, cracks and fissures were spreading across the domed ceiling and 
down into the walls. Yorik coral dust swirled in the light and rained down 
on the vurruk carpets, and from elsewhere in the prefectory came screams 
of pain and panic. A rumble built deep underground and rolled like a wave 
underfoot, sending objects near and far crashing.

Dodging an overturned sclipune-a chest of keepsakes-then a toppling lambent 
stand, Nom Anor crawled frantically for the ledgelike balcony that overlooked 
the Place of Hierarchy. Everything outside was in motion, shuddering and 
crumbling, and the quality of the after-noon light was changing, as if 
fading to twilight. Groups of workers were rushing from the portals of 
the structures that surrounded the adrangle. In a deranged herd they ran, 
 ??????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
stumbling and staggering, for tree-lined paths that wound through the 
Republic space. Kneeling, Nom Anor shielded his eyes and gazed toward the 
sun. Rut it wasn't Yuuzhan'tar's primary that had everyone in a panic. 
It s the crescent of planet that took up an enormous portion of the over 
sky. Even as he watched, the green arc thinned as it advanced on the star. 

It was impossible to judge the planet's distance or true size, but it 
                  ????????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^   
was twice as large as the shining orb it seemed intent on driving from the sky.

And it suddenly struck Nom Anor that the rainbow bridge had vanished.

Clasping his hands on the balcony balustrade, he hauled himself to his 
feet. Across the quadrangle the facade of a structure collapsed, burying 
hundreds of Yuuzhan Vong under jagged chunks of yorik coral. Then a 
harsh and terrible wind blew in, uprooting trees and toppling statues. 
The wind filled the air with so much grit that the permacrete bones of 
many a New Republic building and spacescraper were laid bare.

A roar raced through the sky, and a crevice split the ground, running 
diagonally through the quadrangle. Benches, shrubs, and a throng of hapless 
workers plummeted into the yawning opening. Swarms of sacbees liberated 
from their hives spiraled into the crazed sky. Thousands of birds were 
already on the wing - but not flying so much as being blown to wherever 
the howling wind was taking them and everything it had ripped from the 
surface.

Nom Anor planted his feet wide and stared into the sky while the gale 
tugged at his tunic and tore tears from his eyes.

Was this real, or a product of his feverish brain?

Below the balcony - in arrant defiance of the daytime curfew Shimrra had 
imposed on them - a band of Shamed Ones were down °n the their knees, 
raising their hideous faces and rail-thin arms in :elebration of the newly 
arrived planet that was literally shaking Yuuzhan'tar to pieces.

Weakly, fatalistically, Nom Anor accepted the truth.

Zonama Sekot had not only returned to known space; it had made Yuuzhan'tar 
its destination and target!

"Speak the truth, or lose your ability to speak!" Drathu Ps breath was 
I with fright. "The heretics who bow in jubilation beneath this very 
ch while everyone else runs in panic . . . They know it is the living 
y _ the primordial homework! promised to them by the Prophet. 
\f r this travesty we have created of Coruscant. Do you deny it?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????

Anor was beginning to tire of the prick of coufees. Shoon-

An updraft carried the voices of the Shamed Ones to Nom Anor's ears: 
"The prophecy has come to pass! Our salvation is at hand!"

He hung his head in defeat. Everything he had predicted w coming true.

The balcony groaned and the front edge tipped downward. Care fully, Nom 
Anor began to back toward his work chamber. He had in reached the 
threshold when someone threw a forearm lock on hi throat, and he felt 
the point of a coufee press against his temple. His assailant dragged 
him backward into the room and whispered harshly in his right ear.

"Tell me what you know of this, or die this instant!"

Nom Anor recognized the voice of Drathul. "A weapon of the heretics," 
he rasped, his own hands tight on the high prefect's forearm.

The knife drew blood, sending a black trickle coursing down the 
yoke of Nom Anor's robe.

"You would insult me further by lying? We know you have the Supreme 
Overlord's ear on this and other matters!"

Drathul aimed his blade at the sky. Zonama Sekot was moving swiftly. 
Already its convex edge was nibbling at the sun. In moments the sun 
would be not merely eclipsed but entombed.

"We?" Nom Anor asked weakly.

"Those of us who would have preferred to heed Supreme Overlord 
Quoreal's admonitions, along with the wisdom of his priests who 
counseled against invading this cursed galaxy," Drathul said. "This 
is the living world discovered by Commander Krazhmir before the invasion. 
The same one recently rediscovered by Commander Ekh'm Val!"

"Then you know more than I," Nom Anor said, close to passing out.

"A portent of defeat!"

"Portents serve weak rulers and superstitious fools," Nom Anor
said with his last remaining breath.

Abruptly, Drathul released his choke hold and spun Anor around. 
Grabbing a handful of Nom Anor's tunic, he pulled him close and 
pressed the coufee into the front of his throat.

The landquake had ended, but Nom Anor was hardly out o danger.

 o i's months earlier; Kunra's, just weeks ago; and now Drathul's.
^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

"It is a living world," he admitted, "but only that. Neither portent 
or fulfilled prophecy. Merely another surprise in a war filled to 
overflowing with surprises." Pushing the coufee aside, he brought 
his right hand to his neck to staunch the flow of blood. "The living 
world whose return I tried to prevent," he added, glaring at his 
superior. 

"You tried to prevent?"

Drathul's weapon arm dropped to his side. He gazed at Nom Anor in naked 
incredulity.

"On Shimrra's command," Nom Anor said through his clenched jaws. He 
grabbed at his green robe. "How else do you think I come to wear this?
Through merit? Through domain privilege?" He spat on the floor. "Through 
acts of treachery and deceit!"

Drathul sank to the floor in weary confusion. The room was growing 
darker by the moment, as Zonama Sekot cast its immense shadow across 
the face of Yuuzhan'tar. Hailstones the size of ngdins were striking 
the balcony, bouncing into the room and skittering across the floor.

The high prefect looked up at Nom Anor. "What should I do?" 

Nom Anor took a moment to languish in his small victory. "Pray
to the gods, Drathul, that Zonama Sekot has come in peace."







The blank expression conveyed by the dedicated villip of Supreme 
Commander Saluup Fing belied the dread in his words.

"The planet appeared out of darkspace and hurtled into the Yuuzhan'tar 
system, Fearsome One. It nearly grazed the holy world, 
-mdering the rainbow bridge and scattering the moons - the 
inner->°st of which nearly struck Yuuzhan'tar as it was outward 
bound. It o catastrophe of epic proportions, Warmaster. As if engineered
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????????
by the gods-"

 war, without ever recognizing that the g society owed in large part to 
their.  But Shimrra knew better. He understood that the warriors
importance of sacrifice a rioration Of Yuuzhan Vong society owed in 
large part to their hence. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????

"Enough, Commander!" Nas Choka said. "The vessels ur\d your watch will 
                              ????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
remain where they are. None should attempt to mo against the intruding 
planet."

"At your command, Warmaster."

"The armada will soon return, and I will decide then our be course of 
action."

The countenance of Saluup Fing smoothed out as the villm relaxed and 
inverted to its normal leathery aspect. Nas Choka paced
?."    . ^U= "!--:- _ru--__ . -   i o
arriving from the choir of biots to his command bench, but found on
that he was too agitated to sit down.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????????

He had ordered Yammka's Mount to revert from darkspace in the 
Mid Rim, so that he could receive a follow-up report from the 
Supreme Commander on the events that had transpired at 
Yuuzhan'tar some time earlier. The warmaster had ordered 
everyone but the chief tactician from Yarnmka's Mount's 
command chamber, and Nas Choka turned to him now.

"There have been rumors," the tactician said carefully, "of 
a world capable of moving through darkspace."

"The world encountered by Commander Krazhmir's reconnaissance 
force, during the reign of Quoreal," Nas Choka said.

"Yes, Warmaster. I feared broaching the subject with you, because..."

Nas Choka silenced him with a motion of his hand. He had been a 
mere commander at the time, but loyal to Domain Jamaane-Shimrra's 
domain-and one of a group of high-ranking warriors who had helped
Shimrra wrest power from his predecessor, putting to death many 
of Quoreal's warriors and intendant supporters. Regardless, 
rumors of a living planet had persisted. It was rumored further 
that the planet, known as Zonama Sekot, not only had warded off 
Zho Krazhmir's forces, but also had been pronounced an omen of 
ill tidings by Quoreal's coven of high priests.

Knowing, however, that Quoreal feared the warrior caste, the 
commanders loyal to Shimrra saw the priests' pronouncement as 
a ruse-a subterfuge aimed at steering the worldship convoy away 
from the galaxy to which it had drifted, and thus avoid an 
invasion that would escalate the warrior caste. Quoreal had 
paid only lip service t> a war, lest they go on killing 
 ????????????????????^^^^^^^^^
themselves, and, more important, hat the Yuuzhan Vong needed 
a home.

^11 well and good. But now a living world had suddenly reapeared. 
Nas Choka was too much of a realist to give credence to the 
ojea of the planet being an omen of defeat, but as a strategist 
he had to wonder: if it was same world that had defended itself 
successfully against Zho Krazhmir, then Zonama Sekot had had an 
additional fifty standard years during which to become a weapon 
unlike any the Yuuzhan Vong had ever faced.

"Warmaster," the tactician said, "could this alleged living planet 
be nothing more than a fabrication of the Alliance - or, more 
accurately, the Jeedai"

Nas Choka considered it. "I would hear more of this."

"Fearsome One, perhaps this world, this fabrication, is the secret 
strategy the Alliance was engineering while we readied the armada 
for the battle at Mon Calamari. All the rushing about, all the 
diversion observed at Contruum and Caluula and other worlds... 
Perhaps all that was executed in an attempt to divert our eye 
from what was being fabricated and prepared for launch?"

"Only a fool would reject the possibility out of hand, 
tactician," Nas Choka said. "But suppose for a moment that 
it is not a fabrication but an actual living world - the source 
of the rumors that have endured since before the invasion began."

The tactician frowned. "If that proves to be true, and if indeed 
the infidels have coaxed it to enter the war on their side, then 
they have Perpetrated their greatest transgression yet."

Nas Choka nodded sullenly, then took a deep breath. "Whichever 
toe case, the Alliance waited too long to spring this surprise. 
With our War vessels only two jumps from Yuuzhan'tar, and 
additional battle groups being recalled from Hutt space and 
other sectors, no intruder - living or fabricated - can prevail!"









The Millennium Falcon meandered with design through a press of large 
and slowly tumbling asteroids. Just short of the outer edge of the 
field, the freighter slipped into the shadow of an enormous hunk of 
cratered rock, matching velocities with it so as to remain concealed.

No sooner had the Falcon returned to Mon Calamari from Caluula than 
Han and Leia had heard from Luke and Mara. With the HoloNet crippled, 
and Luke and Mara transmitting from Jade Shadow, the conversation had 
been garbled and brief. Han had summarized the events that had led to 
the ultimately bewildering battle at Mon Calamari, and Luke had as much 
as said that the Jedi search party had ridden Zonama Sekot back to known 
space. Despite the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong armada had returned to 
Coruscant, Luke had issured Han and Leia that it was safe for them to 
join the Jedi on the living planet, and that Vergere had been correct 
about Zonama ?kot's being the key to ending the war.

He promised to explain fully when they arrived. Dismayed by what had 
unfolded on Caluula, Han and Leia had 'arted almost immediately for 
the Core, but not before both of 1 had been thoroughly examined by
medical teams, and Leia had Alliance Chief of State Cal Omas, to 
acquaint him with the tragic truth about Alpha Red and what its 
deployment may hay loosed on the galaxy. A fellow Alderaanian, Omas 
had been shaken h Leia's report, and had claimed that deployment of 
the biological agen had been a difficult decision, born of difficult 
times-one that might have saved countless lives.

The Yuuzhan Vong vessel that had evaded Errant Venture's weapons at 
Caluula was still unaccounted for, and it was hoped  even by some 
members of the Alliance's militant factions-that the craft had died 
in hyperspace. Omas had given his word to Leia that the Alpha Red 
project would be terminated at once, but she feared that, with Dif 
Scaur continuing to helm the Intelligence division and the Bothans 
still crying for ar'krai, Omas might not be able to make good on 
his pledge again. At best the project would remain on hold until 
Alliance scientists could determine if Alpha Red had actually been 
responsible for the deaths of so many of Caluula's winged-stars and 
flitnats. If the bioweapon wasn't to blame, then Alpha Red would 
continue to hang over everyone's head, as if a sword suspended by 
a delicate thread.

That had been seven standard days ago.

With the Perlemian still under sway of the Yuuzhan Vong, Han 
and Leia had taken the long way to the Coruscant system, jumping 
the thoroughly repaired Falcon to Kashyyyk, Colla IV, and Commenor, 
then skirting the Corellian Trade Spine into the Core. At the same 
time, Sow and Kre'fey had united the scattered Alliance fleets in 
the Mid Rim, at Contruum.

Alliance command hadn't known what to make of the reports that had 
eventually reached Mon Calamari by couriers of a planet that had 
streaked from hyperspace into the Core. With no actual recordings 
or the event, all Sow, Kre'fey, and the rest had to go on were the 
statements of resistance fighters and smugglers, and a few grainy 
holos or a verdant world that hadn't been there days earlier, now 
orbiting m the Coruscant system. What mattered was that whatever 
it was that had nearly collided with Coruscant had drawn the Yuuzhan 
Vong armada back to the Core, along with the secondary cluster of 
vessels, which had turned up briefly at Contruum, only to make an 
abrup departure-presumably upon learning of the newly arrived planet.

Not one of the top-ranking Alliance officers was willing to stat
blicly that a planet had transported itself to the Core from the far
ches of the galaxy. Privately, however, many professed a belief that
u    Jedi had put their heads together and collectively moved the
I net--as they were rumored to have moved Imperial warships
I ring an attack on Yavin 4 some twenty standard years earlier.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????????

For days Kre'fey waited for the recalled armada to storm the mystery planet, 
but no attack had been launched. Resistance groups were enorting that the 
planet had fomented widespread fear and confusion on Yuuzhan'tar, not only 
among the Shamed Ones, but also among me priests and other elite. Whether 
or not that was the case, War-master Nas Choka had positioned the vessels 
of his mighty flotilla in broad cover of Yuuzhan'tar, apparently while 
Supreme Overlord Shimrra made up his mind about what to do.








A proximity alert sounded in the Falcon's cockpit. "Coming into visual 
range," Leia said.

Han began to edge the Falcon out from behind the asteroid. "Let's have 
another look at those charts."

Leia called a map to the display, showing Coruscant's system of planets, 
sunward from Revisse to the OboRin comet cluster. The coordinates Luke 
had sent placed Zonama Sekot on the ecliptic, in orbit between Coruscant's 
Rimward brethren, Muscave and Stentat, at approximately ninety degrees to 
Coruscant.

"Unless the navicomputer agrees with me about this being a crazy mission, 
we should be seeing it soon," Han said. 

Leia pointed out the wraparound bay. "There." 

Han sighted down her finger, far to starboard, to a gibbous green planet.

"Well, it's sure no moon."

"Or Death Star," Leia said.

With a squeaking of joints, C-3PO entered the cockpit. "Excuse Qe, Princess 
Leia and Captain Solo, but I wondered if I might view ifa my own photoreceptors 
our destination." He motioned behind m- "Mistress Cilghal would also like to see
          ?????????????????????????^^^^^^^^
the living planet."

The Mon Calamari healer wasn't the only Jedi on board. Kenth amner, Waxarn Kel, 
Markre Medjev, and several others were in the mard compartment. Still other Jedi 
were due to arrive at Zonama Sekot aboard Errant Venture. Jaina, Kyp, Lowbacca, 
Alema Rar anri the Wild Knights had come by starfighter.

"We should probably let Luke know we're here," Han said.

Leia turned to the comm board.

"Jade Shadow, this is Millennium Falcon" she said. "Just wanted to let you know 
that we're in the neighborhood."

Luke's voice issued from the cockpit annunciators. "Leia! Welcome to Zonama Sekot."

"Luke, Han here. I'm not imagining this, right? I mean, that's really a planet I'm 
seeing, and not the aftereffects of being bitten bv an amphistaff ?"

"Zonama Sekot is every bit as real as the Falcon, Han."

"It's beautiful," Leia said.

Luke laughed lightly. "I wish you could have seen it before all the hyperspace 
jumps we've been forced to make."

"You've got a lot of explaining to do," Han said. "How 'bout giving us some 
landing instructions?"

Luke fell briefly silent. "Han, I'm afraid you're going to have to leave the 
Falcon in synchronous orbit."

Han showed Leia a puzzled look and muted the mike. "The pollen must be affecting 
him." He reactivated the mike. "You're kid-ding, right?"

"I'm dead serious," Luke said. "Booster's going to have to do the same."

"Luke, a Star Destroyer I can understand," Han said. "But if this is about suitable 
landing platforms, I've parked the Falcon inside asteroids."

"It has nothing to do with that. Sekot refuses to allow warships on the surface."

"But we're a freighter!"

"Sorry, Han."

Han worked his jaw in annoyance. "I don't like it, but I'll do it I I have to. Who's 
this Sekot, anyway? The governor or something?

"Sekot is the planetary consciousness."

Han blinked. "Say again, Jade Shadow) I thought I heard you say planetary 
consciousness.'"

"Han, I told you I'll explain everything when you're planetside."

"Luke,  in  case  Sekot  hasn't  noticed,"   Leia interjected,   "the Yuuzhan 
Vong armada is so close we can practically touch it. They have battle groups 
orbiting Muscave, Stentat, Improcco, and The c)''

"Sekot has parried the Yuuzhan Vong before," Luke said. "I'm guessing that Shimrra 
knows this. That's why the armada is staying put for the moment."

"It's been a while since they met," Han said. "Maybe the Vong have forgotten."

"Not as long as you think, Han. Besides, Zonama Sekot can go to lightspeed if 
it has to."

"Yeah, well, you'd better tell this Sekot to keep the hyperdrives idling, because 
after what almost happened at Mon Calamari, I don't know that anything can stop 
the Yuuzhan Vong now." He fell silent briefly, then muttered: "Well, there is one 
thing..."

"We may know a way," Luke cut in.

Han blew out his breath. "I hope you're right, Luke. But how're we supposed to get 
planetside from stationary orbit? We can't just jam everyone into the escape pods."

"You won't have to. In fact, your transport should be visible to the Falcon's scanners 
just about now."

Leia and Han watched the display screen. Shortly a vessel that might almost have been 
Yuuzhan Vong grown came into view. The ship's lobed, faintly luminescent hull was made 
up of six oval modules, smooth as skipping stones and seamlessly joined. Knife-sharp, 
the leading edges of the modules glowed with what appeared to be organiform circuitry.

Han whistled in amazement. "The waiting list for those things must be a kilometer 
long!"

The pilot's name is Aken," Luke said. "Her ship will accept your n as soon as 
you're ready to extend it."

From the moment Leia stepped from the pulsing multicolored mount the Sekotan ship 
and beheld the sight of her son, her brother, S1ster-in-law, and so many friends, 
some of whom she hadn't seen in almost a year, and all of whom were standing
against a backdron incredibly tall and wondrous trees, her heart skipped a beat.

She felt like a child again.

Even from the air Zonama Sekot had appeared more fantastic I than real; a 
world of red and green-leafed trees, shimmering aqu lakes, and cryptic 
mountain ranges. The wounds the planet had sustained through its several 
hyperspace jumps-its "Crossings" Wer obvious and numerous, but they were 
  ?????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
surface blemishes, and couldn't impair the planet's aching beauty. This 
far from Coruscant's primary Zonama Sekot should have been frozen, but 
Luke had explained that Sekot was keeping the planet warm from within.

Leia didn't know whom to embrace first. But since Han had captured Jacen 
in a wampa hug, she went straight to Luke and Mara throwing an arm around 
each of them and tugging them to her.

"There were times I thought I'd never see you again," she said, her 
eyes closed in joyous relief.

No sooner had Leia let go of them than Jacen was in front of her, 
smiling enigmatically.

"Mom," he said.

For a moment Leia was too spellbound to move. She stared at Jacen as if 
he had manifested from a dream. He stepped into her open arms and allowed 
himself to be held for much longer than he ever had. Leia finally let 
him go, but only to arm's length. She stroked his cheek with her right hand.

"You look changed, Jacen-more than after your time on Coruscant."

"I am different," he said. "Zonama Sekot has matured me."

Leia turned through a slow circle, her gaze falling on Saba Sebatyne, 
Danni Quee, Tekli, Corran Horn, Tahiri Veila ... All of them seemed to 
be reexperiencing their initial awe of the planet through the eyes of 
the newcomers.

"You all look so different," Leia said to her son. "Is it the months 
we've been apart, or is it something about this extraordinary place?

"Sekot makes a lasting impression," he said ambiguously.

Leia repeated the name, as if trying it out on her tongue. "I'm hearing 
about Sekot. Will I get to meet Sekot in person?"

"I hope so."

"Jacen!"

Leia recognized Jaina's voice and stepped out of the way just in
to avoid being trampled.

Leia turned another a slow circle, trying to commit every scene of union 
to memory. There was bearded Corran, welcoming Mirax, i ncr with his 
father-in-law, Booster Terrik. Elsewhere Cilghal and Tekli were conversing 
in the latter's native Chadra-Fan. Danni-her blond hair elaborately 
braided-was surrounded by Talon Karrde, Lando, Tendra Risant Calrissian, 
and several other members of the Smugglers' Alliance, who were celebrating 
with sips of Corellian brandy from a shiny flask.  Saba and some of the 
Barabel Wild Knights-including Saba's son, Tesar-were having an animated
conversation, as were C-3PO and R2-D2.

"What adventures you've had?" C-3PO was saying. "Let me tell you, Artoo, 
you haven't experienced anything until you've been inside..."

The astromech droid razzed, tootled, and whistled. C-3PO straightened. 
"You did what? You're exaggerating. The entire planet? That's impossible. 
You need to have your circuits serviced."

R2-D2 chirred.

"I do not need to defrag myself. I am perfectly..." 

Again, the diminutive droid beeped and zithered. C-3PO bent his head to 
one side. 

"Did I understand you correctly? Did you actually say that it's good to 
see me? Why, Artoo, this world must have done something to you, as well!"

Yet by far the most arresting sight of all was the manner in which fenth, 
Kyp, Lowbacca, Alema, Octa Ramis, and more than a dozen >ther Jedi were 
clustered around Luke, who now stood in the center of the circle his 
comrades had formed around him, some of them :ated, some of them actually 
down on one knee, paying close attention to everything he was telling him, 
his every word about Zonama - the planet - and Sekot, the planet's animating 
consciousness . . . He has become a true Master, Leia thought. Momentarily 
overwhelmed by the emotions flooding through her,

Leia began to move away from the transport landing platform   as it dazed. 
Han was suddenly beside her, his arm about her should? leading her into a 
kind of glen.

"You okay?" he asked worriedly.

She took a steadying breath. "It's just so much to take in."

"I know." He gazed around. "Some place."

"Have you ever seen anything to compare to this?"

He took his lower lip between his teeth. 

"Well, there are some canyons on Luuq Two that are every bit as deep. Then 
there's Kismaano for cliffside dwellings. And, of course, Kashyyyk for trees..." 
His words trailed off as Leia began to weep. 

"Hey, hey. What's all this about? You should be happy about being here."

She wiped away tears with the back of her hand. "I am happy Han. 
This place-it's the safe harbor I've been dreaming about for 
months now. But I'm sad-for so many things. For Anakin and Chewbacca, 
and Elegos. For my parents, my homeworld, so, so many friends..."

She cried softly against Han's shoulder, and when she looked up 
into his face, she saw tears in his eyes.

"I feel like we're coming to the end of a long voyage, Han, and 
I hate the fact that additional violence is the only thing that's 
going to get us there. It's like a final payment we have to make 
to conclude this thing, and to ensure that our children, and our 
children's children don't grow up with the threats we've been 
forced to face at every turn.

I keep thinking that my father must have finally come to this point 
when he summoned the strength to save Luke from the Emperor. I know 
from her journal that my grandmother felt this way. And I have the 
strongest feeling that my mother must have also reached this stage -
with war erupting all around her, her homeworld threatened ... Is 
this what Jacen has been trying to tell us all along that violence 
is never the answer, even if it seems the shortest and most direct 
path?"

Han shook his head. "I don't know, Leia. But I know I'd die to give 
him and Jaina a better life than the one we've had." He smiled 
lopsidedly. "Even though I wouldn't change a day of it, because 
or you."

Leia nodded. "I know. I know because I feel the same way, Han.
I can't bear the thought of anything happening to you. Especially 
after what I saw you go through on Caluula..."

"Come on," he said, lifting her chin. "Look who you're talking to..."

She smiled faintly, and sniffed. "If bluster counts for anything,
vou'll outlive us all."

"Leia! Han!" Luke called out. "I want you to meet someone." 

When they returned to the landing platform, Luke introduced them to 
some  of Zonama Sekot's tall and pale-blue-complected indigenous 
residents - Ferroans-including a middle-aged woman he called Magister 
Jabitha.

"Sekot has agreed to fashion living ships for some of the Jedi," Jabitha 
told everyone gathered. "The process will require several days, but I 
promise you that it will be unlike anything any of you have ever 
experienced."

"Only three Jedi have ever gone through the process," Luke told Leia. 
"And only one of them ever piloted a Sekotan ship - Anakin Skywalker."

"Our father". Leia realized.

Her astonishment and elation endured for only a moment before the sadness 
returned. Ships, she told herself. Then it was to be war, after all. She 
had persuaded herself that Luke had found some other way to end the conflict.
But she should have known better. The dark side was strong, and right 
thinking alone wasn't enough to abolish it. She struggled to resign herself 
to what lay ahead. For Luke, she forced a brave smile.

Her brother's expression promised even greater surprises to come. 

"There's  someone else I want you to meet," he said for everyone to hear.

Turning to the Ferroans, he called one of them forward-a tall an, who 
lowered the hood of his cloak as he approached, revealing all of 
                             ???????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^
tattoos and scars, a hint of nose, a sloping forehead... Leia felt Han 
tense beside her.

"This is Harrar," Luke said. "A high priest of the Yuuzhan Vong. He too, 
is going to help us end this war."
 
 






"Our redemption is at hand!" the Shamed One cried from the mound of yorik 
coral rubble that was her momentary pulpit. Her rapt audience of a hundred 
or so heretics was sitting at the base of the mound, either oblivious or 
indifferent to the danger they had placed themselves in by gathering in 
broad daylight, in the midst of the sacred precinct, no less.

"Yu'shaa urged us to watch the sky for signs, and that sign has appeared 
for one and all to see!" She spread her emaciated arms wide. "Gaze around 
you at what its coming wrought, and pray that Shimrra has taken its message 
to heart! The Shamed Ones have been granted a new home-and a more powerful 
one than Shimrra's. When the Prophet reappears to lead us to salvation, we 
will be ready!"
 
Seated atop the shaded litter Shimrra had sent to carry him to the Citadel, 
Nom Anor lowered his head by reflex, then resumed his upright posture. 
Though within earshot of the gathering, he was far enough removed not to 
have to worry about being identified, should Kunra or one of the other 
heretical leaders be lurking about. Besides, it would be only a matter 
of minutes before warriors arrived to da perse the crowd.

Despite  the  fact  that  Zonama  Sekot had jumped into ortl between  the 
system's  sixth  and  seventh planets,  aftershocks afl rc were continuing 

to rock Coruscant, and the living world ffCffl ined visible as first to rise 
and brightest in the altered night sky.
o	h one of Coruscant's moons whipped from orbit and the rainbow
. ,      collapsed, Shimrra's shapers were already positing that the
rial intruder would return to tug Coruscant gently away from its
o	arv  reversing what dovin basals had done to raise the planet's
surface temperature.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????


It was as if Zonama Sekot had proclaimed: Look at what I am capable of 
doing, and fear my return!

Eager to launch an attack on the newly arrived enemy, Warmaster Nas Choka's 
armada and other battle groups had returned to Coruscant only to be leashed
by Shimrra himself.

Coruscant, Nom Anor thought ruefully.

He had never been comfortable calling it Yuuzhan'tar - except, of course, when 
necessary. Shimrra's shapers might have fashioned a leafy ooglith cloaker for 
the planet, but scratch the surface and you found ferrocrete, transparisteel, 
kelsh, and meleenium-the founda-tions and skeletons of once-robust edifices 
and the corpses of thou-sands of droids. Now more than ever-what with the 
remains of buildings protruding through the vegetation like bones through 
flesh in a compound fracture, and with each tremor exposing a bit more.

Coruscant wasn't a living world like Zonama Sekot, but rather a kind of 
infidel worldship, shrouded in layers of technology, which - regardless of 
what anyone said - had a mind of its own. More, it was haunted by the members 
of the diverse species that had originally shaped it. And deep down, even 
deeper than the realms claimed by the heretics, machine systems were still 
operating. At night, if one listened closely, one could hear them coming 
on-line, moving about, hum-ming and pinging like electronic ghosts . . . 
Even discounting what he ngured Jacen Solo had done to the World Brain, 
Coruscant could "ever have truly belonged to the Yuuzhan Vong.

Many of the workers were beginning to grasp this. Nom Anor it in the eyes 
of those he had passed on the littered journey from residence. Distraught 
folk extricating trapped creche members, rching in vain for keepsakes and 
valuables, offering blood sacrifices he temples, hauling the dead to the 
maw luurs . . . Shimrra's  Citadel and the huge hemisphere of coral that 
protected the World Brain had survived, but many secondary structures and 
hundreds minshals, damuteks, and grashals had been toppled. Forests had be 
flattened, and intense electrical storms had ignited countless fires 
in remote areas of the planet, lava gushed from what had once been 
1 eled and tamed mountains.
^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????

Sgauru and Tu-Scart had been loosed on the sacred precinct to dismantle 
structures on the verge of collapse. Ndgins writhed about-sopping  up   
blood.   Everything  standing  had  been  adorned with flowers and ferns, 
in an effort to keep further destruction from being visited by the lowest 
and most feared in the pantheon of gods.

Most Yuuzhan Vong had little conception of what had happened Except, of 
course, for the heretics, who had their own ideas, most of which had been 
inspired by Nom Anor himself.

"Brought into being by Yun-Shuno, in defiance of the other gods," the 
haggard Shamed One was saying, "the living world is a sign that the old 
order has come undone. And much like Yun-Shuno, we stand in defiance of 
Shimrra and the elite, demanding equality, freedom, and salvation!

 It is not our aim to engage the elite in contest. But we are pre-pared 
to revolt if they fail to prevail upon Shimrra to end the long war. Clearly 
the gods have switched sides, and now stand shoulder to shoulder with the 
Jeedai and the varied species of this galaxy. This galaxy Shimrra bade us 
invade; this promised galaxy he bade us purge and purify. In truth, this 
galaxy that will prove a maw luur for the Yuuzhan Vong, unless we embrace 
the truth!"

A professional dissembler, Nom Anor couldn't help but have a grudging 
respect for what the heretics were attempting to do by playing on the 
fears Zonama Sekot's unforeseen appearance had awakened in the elite. 
The secret supporters of Quoreal were adding fuel to the fire by 
disclosing information about Shimrra and how he had come to power.

Even so, Nom Anor had to wonder what the heretics expected to happen 
should the elite agree to ally with them. Perhaps they actually believed 
that Shimrra could be persuaded to make a peace overture to the Galactic
Alliance, and that the Alliance would allow the Yuuzhan Vong to retain 
Coruscant for themselves, since the planet at least ed to be beyond 
restoration. But the heretics weren't fools.

iPP
lv they realized that the warrior caste would never acquiesce. Nas ka's 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????
forces would battle to the last war vessel and warrior. Perhaps the 
heretics were counting on just that, if only to increase . chances of 
the other castes being spared. But spared for what? linent or Shamed, 
those Yuuzhan Vong who survived the war uld be packed into what few 
worldships existed and returned to the id from which they had emerged, 
doomed to die in deep space, ther than on the living world they saw as 
the province of their nonexistent Yun-Shuno. It was pathetic.

The heretics' only real hope was that Shimrra would turn Nas Choka loose, 
and that the Alliance-and Zonama Sekot-would be defeated. Once more the 
heretics would be forced to accept their lot as Shamed Ones, but at least 
they would be alive. Nom Anor certainly felt that way. You did whatever 
you had to do to survive.

The sound of running feet echoed from the tumbled walls, and a moment 
later several dozen warriors rushed onto the scene. Without preamble 
they moved against the gathering of heretics, launching thud bugs and 
lashing out with amphistaffs, sending a fortunate few scurrying back 
into the crevasses from which they had crawled, and leaving the paving 
stones spattered with blood.

Struck by no fewer than four amphistaffs, the female orator was dragged 
roughly from her perch to the base of the rubble mound, where ultimately 
she collapsed in a spasming heap.

Everyone was willing to be martyred now, Nom Anor thought as
: signaled his litter bearers to hurry him on his way. Word had
reached the prefectory that a few bands of heretics had even forged
tenuous alliances with resistance fighters. It was the duty of the inten-
ar>t caste to quell the riots and put the populace at rest, but with
- heretics emboldened to turn every public space into a gathering,
- task had become near impossible.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????????????

As had become Nom Anor's personal tasks.
Without doubt, Kunra was expecting him to return to lead the heretics in open 
revolt, just as Drathul was expecting him to join th pro-Quoreal confederates 
in unmasking Shimrra. The high pref hinted that they were ready to enthrone a 
new Supreme Overlord assuming, of course, that Shimrra hadn't already executed 
the handfi of candidates. It was what Nom Anor would have done. For absent-worthy 
replacement-one who would find instant favor with th gods-the high priests would 
be reluctant to remove Shimrra, regard less of what was brought to light about 
the lies he had fostered.

The only question that mattered to Nom Anor was why he had been summoned to the 
Citadel.

When the litter bearers had first arrived at his residence, he was certain 
that Shimrra had ordered his death for failing to have kept Zonama Sekot in 
the Unknown Regions. He had briefly considered fleeing into the underground 
and taking up the threadbare robes of the Prophet again. But the more thought 
he gave the matter, the more confident he grew that his safety was assured. 
Shimrra had never believed that the living world wouldn't return at some point; 
its sudden appearance now was nothing more than bad timing.

More important, while Shimrra might very well be displeased, he was in no 
position to announce that he knew about Zonama Sekot - not without risking 
an uprising by the elite. Shimrra's best approach would be to deny any 
knowledge of the initial contact with the living planet fifty years earlier. 
Failing that, he could claim to have been led astray by priests he had since 
put to death. But one thing he couldn't do was admit to having had an 
audience with Commander Ekh'm Val, or of having put Val to death to keep 
the secret of Zonama Sekot.

The solution would have been simple if Nom Anor had been the only person who 
knew about Val. But, in fact, High Prefect Drathul and perhaps dozens of 
others also knew about the late commander s mission to the Unknown Regions. 
And if Nom Anor was wrong, and he actually was riding to his death, well, 
there were always ways t( escape the Citadel . . .

"I commanded the litter bearers to make haste, Dread Lord, Nom Anor said, 
prostrate on the unyielding floor, "so that I nug" serve you all the 
                 ???????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
faster."

Nom Anor could feel the force of Shimrra's enhanced vision as Supreme 
Overlord gazed down from the throne in his private chambers in the 
crown of the Citadel.

"Let us see how quick you can be, Prefect, by telling me why I
sent for you."

"Because I have failed you again, Lord. About Ebaq Nine I was duped; 
at Zonama Sekot I evidently did less than I should have. The living 
world is here, and now Yuuzhan'tar itself is threatened. Death, and 
nothing less, is all I warrant."

"Probably so," Shimrra said. "But not because of the arrival of Zonama 
Sekot. For that, it is the gods who have failed me."

With his face pressed to the floor, Nom Anor's baffled expression was 
hidden from view. Although out of the corner of his eye, he could see 
Onimi, kneeling down as if to get a closer look at his face. 

"The gods, Lord?"

Shimrra issued a short laugh. "You are unrivaled, Prefect. Even in 
this darkest hour your skepticism holds fast. You accept as truth 
only what your one eye shows you." He paused, then said, "You are 
hardly the coward many accuse you of being. And perhaps there is 
even a bit of wisdom in you-though I fear you do a disservice to 
yourself. Rise and look upon me."

Nom Anor took a quick glance around as he was getting to his feet. 

The room was absent priests, attendants, slayers, or courtesans.

It was just the three of them.

"I'm certain you remember that I told you our real war was with 
the gods."

"I remember, Lord." And I'm equally certain you dismissed my words 
as those of someone deranged."

"Never..." Shimrra waved him silent. "I ask now that you consider 
all that ls transpired these past few klekkets. As one whose own 
efforts have L ^ oen undone time and again by the Jeedai, ask 
?????????????^^^^^^^^^^^
yourself if there is not to hand of a grand master at work here - 
a god's hand, if you will." Recognizing the rhetorical nature of 
the question, Nom Anor said him nothing.

 "You and I know exactly what Zonama Sekot is. There is no denying 
the truth of it, and no denying the threat it represents everything 
I have attempted to bring about in this galaxy. You tell me that you 
had sabotaged the world, and I do not doubt that v tried. And yet 
it outwits us again."

Nom Anor waited.

"The gods deliberately saved it," Shimrra said. "They spared ' your 
treachery, and they placed it in the hands of the Jeedai." He shook 
the Scepter of Power in anger. "This is an act of war on thei part! 
Their salvo against those who would retire them and rule in their stead!"

Fortunately, Shimrra wasn't expecting a response, because Nom Anor was 
speechless.

"It follows then, that if we destroy Zonama Sekot once and for all 
we will not only have defeated the Jeedai, but will have also 
vanquished the gods themselves!" Shimrra waved the formidable-looking 
amphistaff again. "To do that we must respond with a salvo of our own. 
If I can't divest the gods of their power over us, then I can at least 
attempt to turn them against one another!"

"How, Lord?" Nom Anor asked in complete befuddlement.

Shimrra glared at him. "I am granting you special powers as my envoy. 
High Prefect Drathul will hear this from my own lips. As my envoy, it
will be your duty to inform the priests in all the temples that they 
are to cease performing rituals to Yun-Yuuzhan and Yun-Yammka, and 
instead to devote all their labors to venerating Yun-Harla."

"But the Trickster is believed by many of the priests to have already 
played a role in our setbacks," Nom Anor said. "In the Hapes Consortium 
and at Borleias . . . The Jeedai Jaina Solo even masqueraded as her, 
and outlived Tsavong Lah!"

"All the better, then," Shimrra replied calmly, "because already 
Yun-Harla's head swells with conceit. The gods are already jealous 
or her, and now we will give them something to get angry about. We 
will do to them precisely what they did to us during the voyage 
through the void-set them against one another. Then, while they are 
occu o d figh^S among themselves, while their attention is diverted 
^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????
from we will strike at Zonama Sekot and be finished with all of them!"


Nom Anor nodded, trying hard to keep uncertainty from the gesture.

Onimi was  regarding Shimrra with what might have  been too credulity, 
but looked more like misgiving. For one brief instant Onimi'8 eyes met 
Nom Anor's, and that sense of apprehension was ornrnunicated. If it 
hadn't been obvious before, it was obvious now hat Shimrra was beyond 
control-deranged. Events had conspired to make a believer out of one 
who had long prided himself on being the master of his own destiny.

Nom Anor had never experienced a sadder moment, and he knew
suddenly that all was lost.

Kunra and Drathul were already breathing down his neck, and now Shimrra 
had added his breath to the mix. He would carry out Shimrra's ridiculous 
edict, even though there was little point in doing so. But he no longer 
trusted that Shimrra would come up with a final surprise to spring on 
the Alliance.

Nom Anor's only option was to return to the sensibility he had shucked 
at Zonama Sekot. He needed to think only of himself. Survival was in his 
own hands. He had come full circle to the very place he had found himself 
in after Ebaq 9. It was Nom Anor against everyone: Shimrra, Drathul, 
Kunra, the Jedi, Zonama Sekot, the universe.

His fight was with all of them, and yet with none of them.

He wanted nothing more than simply to disappear.








While the Yuuzhan Vong armada regrouped at Coruscant, Errant Venture was 
able to reach Contruum without incident. No sooner had the Star Destroyer 
reverted from hyperspace on the frontier of Contruum's dense system of 
inhabited worlds than Booster Terrik sought out Luke and Mara in the 
main docking bay, where Ja.de Shadow was already being prepped for launch.

"Alliance command has ordered us to hold at Contruum Six," the 
ample Corellian said as he approached the warming ship. "Guess 
^^^^^^?????????????????????????????
the invitation you received doesn't extend to friends." Corran 
Horn's father-in-law, Terrik, had a ready smile and a pirate's 
glint in his rheumy eye.

"We can fix that," Luke started to say.

Booster waved in dismissal. "Don't bother. But after not being 
allowed to park on Zonama Sekot, I'm beginning to feel unwanted.
He laughed affably to let them know he wasn't serious. "At least
 Lando managed to smuggle his brandy planetside."

The immense hold was stacked high with cargo containers o every 
conceivable shape and size. In the launching bays sat Lando and 
Tendra's Lady Luck and Talon's Wild Karrde, along with dozens of 
motley  starfighters - everything   from   retrofitted   Headhunters,
uglies-the owners of which had attached themselves to the Smugglers
Alliance after the fall of Coruscant. Crev Bombassa, Talon, and
.   stood at the perimeter of Jade Shadow's landing platform.
^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Mara walked to the open hatch, where Booster was extending his
hand to Luke. "Take care of yourself, Luke. And remember to
tn? o' * ffood word for us with Wedge. After coming this far, I'm not
Put	i    u- about to sit out the big one.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????

"We'll do what we can," Luke said. "But we've been away for
st a vear. I'm not expecting an especially warm reception." He 
turned to Lando and the others and nodded his head good-bye.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????

Mara walked up the ramp and Luke followed her into the ship.
Kenth Cilghal, and Madurrin were in the forward cabin, strapping in,
nd R2-D2 was waiting in the cockpit. Mara dropped herself into the
pilot's chair and without another word lifted Jade Shadow through the
docking bay's magcon field.

The several battle groups that made up the Galactic Alliance fleet 
were arrayed around Contruum 6. A small, frosty planet with only two 
major cities, 6 was a microjump from the Perlemian Trade Route, and 
two from the Hydian Way. Mara hadn't seen so many warships gathered 
in one place for a long while, and the sight gave her pause, especially 
after the long months on Zonama Sekot. One small light moving among 
hundreds of others, Jade Shadow began to close on the white behemoth 
that was Ralroost.

"The Yuuzhan Vong have done the impossible," Luke said. "They've 
united the galaxy."

"Nothing like war to bring folks together," Mara said.

Everyone rose as Luke, Mara, and the other Jedi entered Ralroost's 
war room.

"Wonderful to see you safe and sound," Admiral Traest Kre'fey said 
from his position of prominence at the head conference table.

"Good start," Mara whispered to Luke while Kre'fey and the rest 
resumed their seats.

He returned a subtle nod, "Let's hope it doesn't go downhill from here."

In the conference tables formed a square, around which were gath-
"ttore than twenty Alliance commanders and strategists, including
Admiral Sien Sow, Commodore Brand, Generals Garm Bel Iblis,
Airen Cracken, Wedge Antilles, and Keyan Farlander, Grand Admiral
Gilad Pellaeon, and Queen Mother Tenel Ka. In a noisy 
holofi * transmitted from an undisclosed location stood half-sized 
irnae Cal Omas and several of his chief advisers, including Niuk N' 
golden-furred   Caamasi   Releqy  A'Kla,   former  judicial   
prosec Ta'laam Ranth, and Jedi Master Tresina Lobi.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????

Luke, Mara, and Kenth took seats along the side of the square, reserved 
for them. Cilghal and towering Madurrin opted to stand Luke had wanted 
to have Kyp accompany them, but he, Lowbacc Corran, and many of the other 
Jedi Knights had remained on Zonam Sekot to begin the process of bonding
with seed-partners-the embryos of Sekotan ships.

"Welcome back, Master Skywalker and Mara," Cal Omas said from the weak 
holofield. "I apologize for having to attend virtually and also for the 
absence of Triebakk, who is on Kashyyyk just now."

"We understand," Luke said.

Kre'fey cleared his throat in a meaningful way. "Because time is of the 
essence, I will come straight to the point: preparations are under way 
to move the combined fleets to Corulag, as phase one of a planned assault
on Coruscant."

"How soon will you launch?" Luke asked.

"Within seventy-two standard hours."

Luke glanced around the tables, his gaze lingering slightly, almost 
clandestinely, on Wedge, Tenel Ka, and Keyan Farlander. "All of you 
are in agreement on this?"

Kre'fey nodded, seemingly for everyone. "But that's not to say that 
we won't delay the countdown, or even rethink the operation if you 
can show good cause for our doing so. We didn't invite you here as a 
mere courtesy. The Jedi have played an instrumental role in thi: war 
from the start, and we have come to rely on your guidance, as we as 
your special strengths. I hope your months of... journeying n' given 
                                  ??????????????????????^^^^^^^^
you insight into some way of ending this war."

"They have," Luke said.

Sow looked at him. Just  where have you been, Master Skywalker?"

"In the Unknown Regions, searching for Zonama Sekot."

"The planet you appear to have ushered into the Coruscant
,stem," Brand said' S'    T   ke turned to the human commodore. 
"I had no more to do ushering Zonama Sekot into known space than 
I did with de- onp- the planet's hyperspace engines. It came of 
its own volition." signing,       r
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????

"It?" Brand said.

"Zonama Sekot," Luke repeated.

Kre'fey and Brand swapped perplexed glances. "We're eager to hear 
your reaction to our plans," the Bothan said.

Luke nodded. "When I learned that you'd moved the combined 
fleets from Mon Calamari, I assumed that Coruscant was to be the
target."

"Were we wrong to reposition?"

"No," Luke said emphatically. "With the HoloNet incapacitated, 
the closer we are to Coruscant, the better."

"Corulag is closer still," Sow said in a leading way.

Luke firmed his lips. "Corulag is too close. By moving there 
we're certain to provoke a response from the Yuuzhan Vong."

Sullustan Niuk Niuv spoke to it. "The Yuuzhan Vong are going 
to want to finish what they began at Mon Calamari. Whether the 
flotilla repositions or holds fast, an enemy response is guaranteed."

Niuv had long been opposed to Jedi intervention in military 
matters. Some had interpreted his split from would-be Chief 
of State Pwoe after the Battle of Borleias as a hopeful sign, 
but, in fact, his presence on the Advisory Council was little 
more than an accommo-dation to lingering anti-Jedi sentiment.

"Not necessarily," Luke said. "The presence of Zonama Sekot has 
thrown Coruscant into turmoil. By now the so-called heretics 
are nsmg up, and the elite and the military are divided on what 
course of on they should take. The hyperspace jump was designed t
o bring 15 a°°ut. The fact that the timing was so fortunate-that Zonama
°t s arrival drew the Yuuzhan Vong armada from Mon Calamari-
mces me that our actions were right. As a means of continuing
we've started, I hope to persuade you to allow the disorder on
nascant to play out. If we do this, it's my belief that Shimrra will be
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????????
brought down from within, and that we can then reach an accord with 
the Yuuzhan Vong warmaster."

Luke's statement unleashed a torrent of criticism and reb t With 
                                ??????????????????????^^^^^^^
everyone speaking at once, Mara leaned in to whisper, " come to the 
downhill stretch."

Luke's confidence in the heretics was not all it might have be 
considering that the so-called Prophet was none other than Nom Anor. 
But given the galvanizing effect Zonama Sekot had had the heretics, 
it was possible that the movement had taken on a life o its own.

"The reports we have received corroborate that Coruscant is in 
turmoil," Kre'fey allowed when most of the separate conversations 
had died down. "Which is precisely the reason to strike. The Yuuzhan 
Vong may never be this weak again. Yes, Shimrra stands a chance of 
being brought down by the heretics, but it's not Shimrra we're 
worried about. We're worried about the armada. We succeeded in 
inflicting damage at Mon Calamari, and unless we follow through 
now, we fear we'll lose what scant advantage we have."

"The armada isn't any weaker now than it was when Mon Calamari was 
attacked," Kenth said. "What damage we did has been offset by the 
arrival of Yuuzhan Vong battle groups from far-flung sectors. More 
important, Coruscant's planetary shields - the dovin basal gravitic 
fields - have yet to be tested, let alone stormed."

"We're not concerned about the orbital dovin basals," Sow said in 
a dismissive way.

"Regardless, attacking Coruscant is not the solution," Luke 
added. "Under Shimrra's influence, the World Brain has the capacity 
to render the entire planet uninhabitable. So unless that's our aim, 
we must rethink our strategy."

"The matter of the World Brain was raised at earlier briefings, Sow 
said succinctly. "With all due respect, Master Skywalker, that
information has never been confirmed."

"We will also have the advantage of fighting in our home system, Brand 
said. "Our pilots will be able to fly circles around the Vong' lead them 
on chases, attack from Weerden, Thokos, Salliche o o Thanks to what the 
Remnant has provided, we now know routes in i ollt of the Deep Core that 
             ????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
the Vong haven't explored. Insertion onts from Empress Teta; exit points 
up and down the Ag Circuit. \V1 -it's more, we don't have to worry about 
    ???????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^
inflicting secondary a^c on the planetside population-not all of it, at 
any rate." 

Kre'fey regarded Luke. "You must understand, if it were any rid other 
than Coruscant . . . But retaking Coruscant is fundamental to building
 and maintaining the Galactic Alliance. Who controls Coruscant - controls 
the Core, and without the Core the Alliance is nothing."

Luke set his elbows on the table and interlocked his fingers.

"You're thinking like the New Republic did."

"You were a member of the New Republic, Master Skywalker,"

Niuk Niuv's hologram said.

Luke nodded. "But this is a different war. A war that can't be won the 
way you're planning to win it. Would you annihilate every Yuuzhan Vong 
in order to free Coruscant and all other occupied worlds?"

"We might," Brand said.

"Was that the intent when Alpha Red was deployed?"

The question hung in the air for several moments before Sien Sow spoke. 
"Alpha Red is not under discussion at this conference."

"Then it's not terminated?" Cilghal asked worriedly.

"I will say again that the project is not under discussion."

Kre'fey was quick to change the subject. "We have a window of opportunity 
that could seal itself at any moment. How long would the Jedi have us wait?"

Luke frowned. "It's not a matter of days or weeks. The Yuuzhan Vong have 
demonstrated time and again that they won't surrender. It's no more in 
their nature than a policy of extermination is in ours." He looked 
around. "Unless all of you have changed dramatically in my absence."

"Would you cede them Coruscant?" Airen Cracken asked. 'If I thought it 
would end the war, I might." 

"That's a treasonous statement," Brand said, then softened his 
voice to add: "We've had our disagreements in the past. Can we trust 
the Jedi not to interfere with what we have to do?" 

"We won't interfere."

Kre'fey shot Brand a warning look. "For the sake of argum and in the 
spirit of good fellowship, what would you have us do \vh-i we're 
                      ???????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^
waiting for things to unravel on Coruscant?"

"Divide and redistribute the combined fleets," Kenth said  
"TV patch battle groups to Bothawui, Bilbringi, and other 
^^^^????????????????????????
essential World Reclaim those systems while the Yuuzhan Vong are 
preoccupied with the heretics. Then, when they are truly at their 
weakest, move again Coruscant from as many systems as possible."

Sow made a fatigued sound. "Perhaps the Jedi are unaware the several 
Yuuzhan Vong battle groups have not heeded Nas Choka' orders to 
withdraw to the Core. Rather, they appear determined to hold on to 
the systems they've conquered, regardless of what happens at Coruscant."

"The dereliction of those commanders has nothing to do with maintaining 
superiority," Luke said. "They're afraid that they will be ordered to 
attack Zonama Sekot."

Kre'fey shook his head in confusion. "Why should they be afraid? 
Just what is this planet to them?"

Luke stood up, encouraging everyone to focus on him. "Everything the 
Yuuzhan Vong might have been." He paused, then added: "Fifty years 
ago, when the Yuuzhan Vong were first scouting our galaxy, they 
attempted to claim Zonama Sekot, and the planet fought them off. 
As a living world, it figures deeply in their religion, and its 
sudden reappearance is viewed as an omen of defeat - a sign from the 
gods that the invasion itself was a terrible mistake. In some respect, 
the Shamed Ones view the planet as important to their destiny - their 
liberation-and they will revolt if Shimrra sanctions an attack. But 
the real danger to Shimrra will come finally from his elite, some of 
whom are bound to see Zonama Sekot as a divine intervention."

Kre'fey stared at Luke in wonder. "How do you come by this knowledge?"

Luke turned to the admiral. "From the lips of a Yuuzhan Vong priest, 
who even now is on Zonama Sekot."

Brand narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "How do you know tha this 'priest' 
isn't a spy?" He looked imploringly at Sow. "If word o our operation gets 
back to this priest-

"Zonama Sekot knows the Yuuzhan Vong," Luke insisted. "It to deal with 
them. It is more like the original Yuuzhan-tar ,ollt can ever be made to 
seem. was clearly in a quandary."

"You keep saying it. Are you  referring to the planet itself?"

"Yes."

Sow was beginning to lose patience. "If Zonama Sekot has some 
cret plan for ending the war-as either mediator or battle station - 
^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????
it had better act quickly. As things stand, I see no reason to alter 
our plans for moving against Corulag."

"There's no room for neutrality at this stage," Brand said. "You're 
part of the Alliance or you're against it."

Gilad Pellaeon broke a brief but uneasy silence. "I've been reluctant 
to broach this. But Imperial records suggest that former Grand Moff 
Tarkin once expressed interest in Zonama Sekot, based on rumors that 
the planet was capable of producing living ships."

Sow and the others watched Luke.

"Is that the planet's secret?" the Sullustan asked. "Is Zonama Sekot 
planning to wage its own war on the Yuuzhan Vong?" 

"Zonama Sekot will not produce warships," Luke said flatly. Kre'fey 
gave his head a mournful shake. "Master Skywalker, unless Zonama Sekot's 
governing body is at least willing to permit the planet to be employed 
as a staging area for the assault on Coruscant, it is of no use to us."

"The... governing body won't permit that." 

"Then can we at least employ it as a diversion?" Brand asked. "If, as 
you say, it has already destabilized the Yuuzhan Vong, perhaps we can 
make it appear more of an actual threat. If the Vong can be induced to 
attack Zonama Sekot, we may have a clear shot at Coruscant."

Luke considered it. "It may be willing to do that."

Kre'fey put his hands flat on the table.  "It's now or never. I'll
grant that attacking Coruscant constitutes a perilous risk, but
1 s one we have to take. We can't afford to be placed on the defense 
again. Scatter the fleets, and who knows how many additional
            ???????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Thinking  about it only increased Jaina's  disappointment and
systems might fall. We simply don't have the resources to 
ju from one to the other each time the enemy launches an attack 
Att-' tion will become our enemy." He looked at Luke and the others 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"I realize that the Yuuzhan Vong are still strong. But battles aren't 
always about numbers-as you well know, Master Skywalker, having turned 
the tide of the Civil War with a couple of well-placed proto torpedoes."

"I had help with that," Luke said.

"Are you suggesting that the Force isn't with us now?" Sow asked.

"The Force is always with us, Admiral."

"Then we can rely on your help?" Kre'fey said.

Luke nodded and motioned to the Anx Jedi, Madurrin. "What Jedi 
we can spare will continue to serve on the bridges of our capital 
ships, as they did at Ebaq Nine and Mon Calamari." He was about 
to add more, when Tycho Celchu suddenly entered the war room.

Before Tycho so much as uttered a word, Luke caught Cilghal's 
sharp intake of breath.

"Please forgive the interruption, Admiral Sow," the blue-eyed human 
general said in a low voice. "I regret to inform everyone that my wife, 
Winter, has just contacted me from Mon Calamari, with news that retired 
admiral Ackbar has died."








As she approached Zonama Sekot's landing platform, Jaina saw that Corran,
Kyp, Tekli, Alema, and several of the other Jedi had gath-ered while she 
had been off searching for Jacen.

With five seed-partners apiece, Kyp and Saba had bonded with the highest 
number. Fist-sized, fuzzy white orbs, the seed-partners had attached 
themselves to Kyp's robe and Saba's tunic. Corran had four, while Kyle, 
Lowbacca, Alema, and the other candidates were hosting only two apiece.

Jabitha had said that Anakin Skywalker had bonded with nine - the highest 
number anyone had ever bonded with. The Magister had also explained that 
when the seed-partners eventually sloughed their shells they would be able 
to crawl about on four tiny legs, and issue shrieks and whimpers.
  

Zonarna Sekot's air was still a comfortable temperature, though
confirm as it had been when she first arrived. Reuniting with ot 
*s rvone had been wonderful, but after two local-days of swapping
er. She recalled havin   felt confuson.
vone ev ries the inactivity was starting to get to her. She recalled 
having felt sime on Mon Calamari after her return from Hapes, while 
Luke d been occupied matching wits with Vergere, Jacen had been off 
oei-diving with Danni, and the members of the Smugglers' Alliance had 
been busy rigging the election of Cal Omas.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????

With Coruscant a microjump sunward and a final confrontation with the 
Yuuzhan Vong looming on the horizon, she wanted more than ever to be 
back in the cockpit of her X-wing, if only to keep from losing her edge. 
But Twin Suns One, along with the Millennium Falcon, Tesar Sabatyne's 
skipray blastboat, and the other starfighters, remained in stationary 
orbit. That left only the Sekotan shuttle, which was off-limits to her, 
and the planet's numerous airships, which were more for sailors than 
fighter pilots.

She was considering her options, when Jacen stepped from a 
dense growth of boras.

"I've been looking all over for you," she said. "Where were 
you - practicing making yourself small or something?"

Jacen emerged from his trance or musings - or daydreams, for 
all Jaina knew - and gazed at her. 

"The Force is strong here. The usual methods don't work."

"That's for sure," she muttered.

Jacen watched her for a moment. "Are you angry about something?"

She pressed her lips together and shook her head. "I guess I'm 
just disappointed."

Jacen glanced at Kyp and the others and understood immediately. 
Because none of the seed-partners bonded with you."

"What else?" she snapped. "I mean, I'm as good a pilot as Kyp, 
ba> or Corran, and they bonded with seed-partners right away. 
^^^^^^^^???????????????????????
Mon Calamari, I flew my X-wing into combat with only one engine!"
 
"Piloting skills have little to do with the bonding process," 
Ta said. "Or with courage, for that matter."
^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????

She forced a sigh. "Great. Then I guess I'm just not as attuned 
the Force as they are."

"You know that isn't it." Jacen placed his hand on her should and 
turned her toward him. "It could be that Sekot sees some oth purpose 
for you."

She rolled her eyes. "Easy for you to say. You didn't even 
trv bonding with the seed-partners."

The idea appeared to amuse him. "I'm not anything close to a pilot."

"Yeah, well, neither am I. I'm just the official Sword of the Jedi	
whatever that means." She fell silent for a moment, then said, "Jacen 
do the Yuuzhan Vong pose a threat to the Force?"

He shook his head. "They're a threat to the Jedi, because they'd have 
all of us embrace their religion and their gods, and see the universe 
strictly as they see it. But no matter how the war is decided, 
individuals will continue to find their way to the Force. It's not a 
flame the Yuuzhan Vong can extinguish-any more than the Sith could."

"And you're still willing to fight to make sure that doesn't happen."

"In my own way. I've learned something about myself since Centerpoint."

"From Vergere, you mean."

"From Vergere, from Sekot, from all of you. I'm starting to think that 
the Force-at least as we understand it-is only one facet of a finely-cut 
gemstone, and that maybe the sum of it is even greater than its parts."

Jaina looked over at Kyp and the others. "At least Zonama Sekot is 
willing to fight alongside us."

"That will be Sekot's decision."

She turned to him. "Based on what? On whose interests the Jedi are serving?"

"We serve the Force," Jacen said. "None other."

"Is that justification enough for obliterating the Yuuzhan Vong?" 

"No," he said, seemingly more firmly than he had intended.

 the war.  not out.de the Force. According to Sekot, they have been
said. "But, then, what do you think the for the Yuuzhan Vong?"
lightlv. "If I knew, we'd have the answer to ending
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????????????????????
 



 
"Look at you-cowering like a herd of yanskacs!" the Supreme Overlord 
railed at the elite from his spike-backed throne in the Citadel's Hall 
of Confluence. "On the eve of victory you allow yourselves to be 
frightened by an illusion-a piece of celestial chicanery!"

Even while cringing with the rest of them, Nom Anor had to give 
Shimrra credit. Despite the tremors that continued to rock Yuuzhan'tar, 
and the dangerous innuendoes that threatened to under-mine his divine 
right to rule, the Supreme Overlord refused to be intimidated-if not 
entirely unmoved. With his long arms jerking about and his legs quivering, 
he looked like a puppet in a shadow play... Some said that his implanted eyes, 
too, were rarely still, and were constantly shifting color.

Shimrra raised the Scepter of Power toward the hall's ribbed ceiling. "Some 
of you are whispering that the bright light that rises at sunset is an omen 
of doom-a living world rumored to have beer encountered during the rule of 
my predecessor, whose name I will not deign to mention. I am not unacquainted 
with this rumor. Followifl my ascension to the throne I dispatched forces to 
search out the world-this Zonama Sekot-only to be informed that it was not to 
t>' found. So I asked myself: had it disappeared? Had Zonama Sekot beef
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????
  
stroyc des' i? Or was it nothing more than a lie perpetrated by my predessor, 
an attempt to keep us from conquering and occupying what uv gods-given right 
our entitled domain?" 

While Shimrra paused, Onimi circulated among the audience, o o a members of 
the elite to respond. Much to the displeasure of hiiltw & h Prefect Drathul, 
?????????????????????????????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
       
Nom Anor had conveyed Shimrra's orders to riests of the temples, enjoining 
them to devote their attention to   .jiarla rather than Yun-Yuuzhan or 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????
Yun-Yammka. As a result, the oal seers were  beside  themselves with 
apprehension-expecting, ception and manipulation of the worst sort-and 
the elite were wondering whether Shimrra's actions had been undertaken 
for the benefit of the Yuuzhan Vong or for Shimrra himself.

"I will reveal the truth of it," the Supreme Overlord said at last. "The 
bright light is not a trick of the eye. It is in fact the same living
world!"

The audience was stunned into even more profound silence, especially 
Drathul and his coterie of Quoreal supporters. But the pro-nouncement 
was every bit as staggering to Nom Anor.

Coming clean was the last thing he had expected Shimrra to do. "How 
could the gods allow this? you ask yourselves," Shimrra went on in a 
tone of theatrical melancholy. "How, after all we have done to provide 
them with sacrifices and converts, after all we have done to cleanse 
this galaxy of infidels and heretics, could the gods turn on us? Again, 
I will supply the answer: this ill-omened world has been placed in the 
hands of our enemy as a final test of our worthiness to reign over 
them-a final test to gauge the strength of the Yuuzhan Vong heart!"

Shimrra pounded the floor with his amphistaff in a demand for silence.

"And yet what a daunting test they have set before us. A weak-winded 
person-a dissenter or a skeptic-might be tempted to believe at the gods 
have abandoned us, and that there is no possible way for us to succeed. 
I have thought long and hard about this. I have | a>ed, and I have 
ventured beyond contemplation and entreaty to deep into our history 
for answers. And the gods have rewarded ^V search."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????

  f confoundment. He wasn't the only person in the Hall of Con-° who i^w 
that the eighth cortex was nothing more than a pre- C< ^       as the ravitic
of a dovin basaL So what was m/i doing, conjuring revelations from nonexistent 
protocols?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????


Shimrra paused again, while a tremor rumbled the Citadel TN he pointed the 
scepter to Qelah Kwaad and her adepts.

"The shapers know what I'm referring to when I speak of eighth cortex. But 
for you commanders and intendants	evf, *-VCn     [Q..
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????
some of you priests - I will explain. A cortex contains the protocol shapings
- the protocols that originally guided the hands of our an tors in creating 
dovin basals and villips, coralskippers and yarnrno t It is not a place but 
a state of mind. And as one approaches th superlative cortex-the eighth 
cortex-one comes full circle to th beginnings of the Yuuzhan Vong, to our 
primordial state of beine And what I found there, after enduring much pain
and letting much blood - so much blood that my body howled in torment - was 
the solution, cast in the form of a simple lesson, such as might be taught 
to our spawn in the creches.

"The lesson is this: that when they fashioned the universe - and 
ultimately the Yuuzhan Vong - the gods dispensed with all inequities 
by ensuring that the qualities of one creation would always balance 
the qualities of another. Where a poisonous tree takes root, adjacent 
to it stands a tree that provides the antidote for the poison. Where 
there are deserts, there are oases of water. And where the waters are 
vast, there emerge islands of sand and stone. This is the way of the  
gods - ensuring balance at every turn. I held this thought in mind 
when, in the depths of the eighth cortex, I heard a voice utter ..."

"The rainbow bridge will appear and disappear," Onimi recited from the 
center of the hall. "And the gods will make it seem that they are the 
authors of a great conflict. When the eclipse of the sun will then be, 
the divine omen will be seen in plain sight. Quite otherwise will one 
interpret it, for when a menacing stranger appears at the portal, look 
close at hand for the amphistaff that will send the stranger on its way...

"A revelation, I told myself." Shimrra took over. "Clearly from Yun-Harla. 
So I ordered the temple priests to beseech the goddess tor help-to sacrifice 
to her, and to treat her as if she were Supreme Over-lord of the universe. 
And our supplications have not gone unnoticed for she has provided us with 
the solution to the test the gods hav placed at our portal."

Nom Anor could barely keep his features from mirroring his inn
 tense--* Shimrra U^-D? to what o uslv he had concocted the riddle and 
its resolution, but 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????

Once more, the elite had to wait, while a more powerful quake k the Citadel, 
causing yorik coral dust to rain from the vaulted ceiling, high overhead.

"The solution has only just been delivered to Yuuzhan'tar," Shimrra said. 
"Delivered in the form of a stricken space vessel and its crew of afflicted 
slayers and a dying shaper. On a remote and insignificant world known as 
Caluula, the vessel and its passengers fell prey to a virulent chemical agent 
created by our enemy and released in the hope of destroying all things Yuuzhan 
Vongfrom myself down to the simplest of our creations.

The chemical agent might have done just that, had it not been for the acuity 
of the shaper, the unconventional actions of his valorous crew of warriors, 
and the perceptiveness of your Supreme Overlord, who ordered that the vessel 
be kept from setting down on Yuuzhan'tar, or coming in contact with any other
vessels.

Now witness the beauty of cosmic balance at work! Tchurokk Tun'tchilat!-Witness 
the will of the gods! For this ill-omened world that lights our night sky, this 
living world encountered by our forces so many years ago, drifting at the very 
rim of this galaxy, must, too, have been fashioned by Yun-Yuuzhan and be linked 
to us in prophecy. Linked, and therefore vulnerable to the deadly contagion 
fashioned by your enemy, and sanctioned by the gods!"

Once more Shimrra gesticulated with the Scepter of Power. "The crippled vessel 
is the amphistaff we will hurl to drive the stranger from our gate! The ship 
that shall be our salvation, and our means of tran-scending the test the gods 
have seen fit to engineer!"

Nom Anor was beginning to feel like a gnullith: inflated by Shmrra one moment, 
only to be deflated the next. A toxic chemical went capable of poisoning Zonama 
Sekot? Anyone familiar with commander Zho Krazhmir's reconnaissance mission to 
the living world knew that Krazhmir had attempted and failed to poison Zonama 
Sekot. And if a Yuuzhan Vong-created toxin had failed how could an enemy-produced 
toxin be expected to succeed? More important, if such a bioweapon existed, surely 
Nom Anor's former netw of spies among the Peace Brigade, or those still in place 
on Mon Cal mari, would have learned of it by now.

Had Shimrra concocted the story only to rally the warriors and priests, 
and ensure that the Yuuzhan Vong die in a blaze of glory? Or had Nom Anor 
underestimated the Supreme Overlord yet again? \Va he even more brilliant 
               ????????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^
than he had first seemed on usurping the throne?

"Zonama Sekot is a death star," Shimrra was saying. He aimed his amphistafif 
at Nas Choka and his Supreme Commanders "Fly to it Warmaster! Take your 
mighty armada to Zonama Sekot, and make clear to the gods the unflinching 
resolve of the Yuuzhan Vong!"









What does the Force want for the Yuuzhan Vong?

The question echoed in Jacen's mind long after he had returned to the 
hollow that had become his haunt on Zonama Sekot.

He drew his lightsaber from his cloth belt, activated the green blade, 
and waved it through the brisk air. Unnerved by the thrum-ming sound, 
birds perched in the surrounding boras took to the pale blue sky.

Jacen stood with his feet parallel, right foot forward, carrying his 
weight on the balls of his feet, then springing off his rear foot in 
attack. On the slope of the hill, he spread his feet wider, and angled 
them to one another. He swung the blade without ducking or flinching, 
bobbing or weaving, assuming an ideal attitude as he glided forward in 
uninterrupted motion, or took short steps with each foot to maintain 
his focus and equilibrium.

He held the pommel at middle guard, slightly in front of his stomach, 
with the tip angled up at thirty degrees, and worked through several 
velocity and dulon sequences. Then, lowering the tip as ifl point at 
an opponent's knees, he slashed diagonally upward. He raise the 
lightsaber over his head, handle pointed to his imaginary opponent's  
eyes-critically  angled  for  a Yuuzhan  Vong-and  slashe
 alward. Elbows pointed to the ground, he held the lightsaber
^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????
right, over his right shoulder and alongside his head, then spun
trough a series of Jung attacks and Jung ma parries. Finally he held
lightsaber low on his right side, with the blade pointing at the
ground behind him, and performed a sweeping upward diagonal.

P out-flipping high into the air to the edge of the pool, he threw him-
lf through Force-assisted rolls and full-circle whirls, shooting to his
feet to execute rotating side strokes and short twisting wrist snaps
until his breath came fast and sweat dripped from his face.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????????

Sensing, then, that someone was watching him, he deactivated the blade 
in sudden self-consciousness. He sighed and sat down. He was a decent 
lightsaber master and sai acrobat, but nowhere near as skilled as Luke, 
Kyp, Mara, Corran-or Anakin. His heart just wasn't in it.

As he stared at the hilt of his lightsaber, his thoughts began to spiral 
back three years, to the planet Duro, and the vision he had had returned 
to him, as if no time had passed.

One moment he was working alongside a group of Ryn refugees, and the 
next he was falling backward into a vacuum. Hearing Luke calling to 
him, he pivoted to see his uncle robed in pure white, half turned away, 
holding his shimmering lightsaber in a diagonal stance, hands at hip 
level, point high.

Jacen shouted that Jaina had been hurt, but Luke didn't respond to him. 
Luke's attention was fixed instead on a Yuuzhan Vong warrior in rust-brown 
armor, who was holding an amphistaff across his body and mirroring Luke's 
stance. Standing on the far side of the slowly spinning disk that held the 
three of them, the warrior wasn't visible through the force. He was simply 
a void-a darkness that promised death, as surely as Luke's luminosity
promised life.

The disk resolved into a spiral-armed galaxy.

Poised at the center, Luke dropped into a fighting stance, raising his 
lightsaber to his right shoulder, point upward, while Yuuzhan Vong warriors 
advanced from the darkness. Luke was steadfast, holding the er and 
                           ???????????????????????????????^^^^^^
counterweighing the invaders, until at last their numbers eased sufficiently 
to tip the balance of the disk in their direction. Desperate to know what to 
do, Jacen called to Luke again. This time

Luke turned and, tossed bis lightsaber in a low humming arc, train pale 
green sparks onto the galactic plane. Anger welled up in Jacen ev as fear 
and fury focused his strength. He wanted to destroy the enemy f/ stretched 
                                   ?????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^
out his hand for the lightsaber. . . and missed. That miss was all it took.

A dark, deadly tempest gathered around the invaders, and th galactic plane 
tipped more swiftly toward them.

Jacen felt himself begin to shrink until he was no more than a tinv 
insignificant point in the dark tempest. Helpless, disarmed by a moment 
of anger, doomed by a single misstep-the galaxy doomed with him.

A voice like Luke's but deeper shook the starfields, booming, Jacen stand 
firm!

The horizon tilted farther and Jacen lunged forward, determined to lend 
his small weight to Luke's side-to the light-only to misstep once more. 
He flailed for his uncle's hand, missing time and again.

Finally, Luke seized Jacen's hand and held it tightly, urging him to 
weather the storm. The slope steepened under their feet. Stars 
extinguished. The enemy scrambled forward, eclipsing worlds, entire 
star clusters, distant galaxies.

And again the voice boomed: Stand firm! As the Yuuzhan Vong attacked -
Jacen returned to himself-to the here and now. Since that vision he 
had fought the enemy on countless worlds, wounded Warmaster Tsavong 
Lah, triumphed over many lesser opponents, been stripped of and 
returned to the Force by Vergere, and been deemed a Knight by his 
Jedi Master, Luke. And yet he continued to feel as if he were a student.

The Jedi of the Old Republic had been too focused on indoctrination 
and ranks. If you were a Padawan, then you were something less than 
a Knight; and if you were a Knight, you were something less than a 
Master . . . But who was to say, now that there was no Jedi Council 
of sagacious Masters, that even a mere Padawan couldn't be more 
Forceful than someone of higher rank? Perhaps it was something a 
Jedi needed to hear directly from the Force?

Ranks now were more like battlefield promotions-like Jaina s promotion 
to colonel. Even the Jedi Knighting ceremony ... It made more sense to 
him than it had to Jaina. They had to analyze their ° ths separately 
from those things.

But if his twenty years of tutelage had been his education, and the 
e he had spent with Vergere in the bowels of the Yuuzhan Vong iship 
^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????
and on conquered Coruscant had constituted the trials of a fi\van, 
                               ??????????????????????????^^^^^^^^
what then was the decision he faced now? Was it, too, not a trial, of 
sorts? What does the Force want for the Yuuzhan Vong'? Stand firm, the 
voice in the vision had told him. Occasionally he would get a sense 
that his education was nearing completion, and that the past year had 
been his true trial-possibly unlike any a Jedi Knight had ever faced -
but the feeling never lasted long.

"Practicing, Jacen?" a female voice asked suddenly.

He knew then who had been watching him.

Sekot's thought projection of Vergere rose from the center of the
pool.

"Always," he said.

"To achieve what?"

"Mastery."

Vergere nodded. "Jacen, to tap deeply into the Unifying Force, we 
will have to surrender our desire to control events. We will have 
to unbridle ourselves of words and of thinking, because thoughts, 
too, are born of the physical world. We must refrain from analyzing 
the Force, and simply allow the Force guide us. Our relationship with 
the Force must be impeccable, without the need to be supported by words 
or reason. We must carry out the commands of the Force as if they were 
beyond appeal. And we must do what must be done, no matter who attempts 
to stand in our way."
 





We are committed, Wedge told himself as explosions bloomed like 
time-lapse fire flowers over night side Corulag.

Its surface etched with intersecting trails of light, the Core world 
filled the bridge viewports of Mon Mothma. Between the planet and the 
refitted Star Destroyer floated Yuuzhan Vong mataloks and 
yorik-akaga-blushed cruisers and pearlescent pickets-arrayed to 
provide cover for a swift-moving yammosk carrier clustership. Harried 
by squadrons of X- and E-wings disgorged from the warships Mon Adapyne 
and Elegos A'Kla, the enemy vessels were saturating local space with 
blazing projectiles and gouts of superheated ejecta, but they were 
already beginning to pay the price for having been caught unawares.

A state of controlled frenzy prevailed on Mon Mothma's bridge, with 
couriers and officers coming and going, and Wedge attempting to sustain 
half a dozen separate conversations. Displays flickered and computer 
consoles chirped as updates were transmitted from gunnery, communications, 
and tactical centers elsewhere in the ship. As accui tomed to the noise 
as Wedge had become, he couldn't help but reflcc on the reasons that had 
prompted his retirement-especially now, tf the wake of Ackbar's death. 
His uniform and command cap felt borrowed from someone two sizes smaller.

The surprise attack had required his battle group to jump directly
Contruum to the Bormea sector, inserting as close to Corulag as
chievable,  given the planet's  several moons  and formidable
ses  Once the site of an Imperial Navy base, the largest moon
been transformed into a kind of rest facility for enemy patrol vessels
daned to the Perlemian Trade Route. Scimitar assault bombers
els a^^c1 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????
laving waste to the facility' now, while Shocker and Blackmoon
Squadron starfighters nipped at the yammosk carrier like packs of
rapacious howlrunners.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????

"Generals Farlander and Celchu have the enemy boxed in," Mon Mothma's 
commander reported. "Harbinger has dropped from hyperspace and is 
pressing forward at battle speed to rendezvous with Elegos A'Kln 
at rally point manka-flechette-dewback."

With Mon Mothma too far removed to allow for visual contact with any 
of the capital ships, Wedge studied the tactical console's checkerboard 
of display screens. Determined to shield the yammosk vessel, the Yuuzhan 
Vong cruisers were indeed bracketed by Mon Adapyne and Ekgos A'Kla, both 
of which were lancing the enemy configuration with continuous bursts of 
turbolaser fire. And now, closing fast, was Harbinger-the Mon Cal cruiser 
commanded by Garm Bel Iblis. Caught in the crossfire, coralskippers were 
being pul-verized almost as fast as they could be deployed. With its 
quick-response cannons and gravity-well generators, Mon Mothma was seeing 
to any skips that escaped the cordon.

Corulag itself was taking punishment. Evidence of orbital bombardment 
and surface fighting, infrared hot spots were flaring in and around many 
of the major cities. Decrypted transmissions revealed that the fighting
was intense, and atrocities were widespread.

Unlike   other   worlds   along   that   important   stretch   of  the
Perlemian-Chandrila, Brentaal, and Ralltiir-Corulag had capitulalted 
to the Yuuzhan Vong to escape devastation.  No one had expected otherwise
of a planetary government that had supported the Emperor during the 
Galactic Civil War, and had since been forced to vanquish in Coruscant's 
shadow. Regardless, most of Corulag's ten million  citizens  opposed  
the  puppet  government  set  up   by  the Yuuzhan Vong, and simmering 
discontent had finally erupted into open rebellion. The wealthiest and 
most influential families fled from Kuat and Commenor, but there was no 
evading the Yuuzhan Vn Kuat had fallen soon after Senator Pwoe's brief 
visit, and Cornrnen had  been hit hard and repeatedly.   

Galvanized by the  rescue Corulag's unofficial hero, Judder Page, resistance 
groups on- and off world had reached out to the Alliance for help in 
liberating the plan at whatever costs to life and limb. Sow and Kre'fey 
couldn't hav' been more receptive to insystem support for an invasion. 
If Corulag could be reclaimed, the Alliance would hold a key hyperspace
position in the Core.

Even two standard months earlier, an assault would have proved catastrophic. 
Yuuzhan Vong forces had been deployed well into the Slice, from Coruscant 
through Alsakan almost all the way to Corulag and from Ixtlar and Wukkar 
on the Corellian Run a quarter of the way around the Core toward Kuat 
and Commenor. But with dozens of battle groups withdrawn to join the 
armada, Corulag had been left vulnerable at last.

Wedge's gaze was still glued to the displays when Captain Deevis drew 
his attention to a tight formation of fighter craft emerging from Corulag's
crescent of transitor.

"TIEs," Wedge said in genuine surprise. "Ours or theirs?" 

"I'm not sure, sir." 

"Then find out!"

"Transmission from Curamelle," Lieutenant Cel interrupted while Deevis 
was hurrying off. "Governor Forridel, sir."

Wedge recognized the name of Corulag's capital city, but not the name 
of the governor. Nodding curtly to the comm officer, he swung to the 
holoprojector, where a quarter-scale human figure stood in the noisy 
field.

"We've been waiting almost two years for this," Forridel said jubilantly. 
Sporting an eye patch and a floppy cap, he could have stepped from a 
suspense holodrama. "Corulag will forever be indebted to the Alliance."

"The battle's not won yet," Wedge said. "And just who are you, anyway?"

 c rridel saluted - awkwardly. "The resistance has appointed me
isional governor."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????

"Where's the former governor?"

Forridel smiled. "I'm glad you asked, because I've been eager to
you..." Images from what were obviously Curamelle media feeds began to
Ive in the holofield. One showed the former governor hanging by neck 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????
in a city square while a lynch mob of humans and humanoids 
id nim with stones. Other scenes showed bound and bloodied Yuuzhan 
Vong and other members of the occupation government being dragged or 
shoved through the streets by crowds of vigilantes.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????

Wedge was thankful that he hadn't been asked to oversee ground-based 
operations, as he had done at Borleias. Soon enough, similar scenes 
of vengeance would be repeated on countless worlds. The rage was 
understandable, and reminiscent of the retributions that had been 
doled out to Imperial forces in the wake of the Emperor's death. 
And Wedge held little sympathy for the captured Yuuzhan Vong warriors. 
All his life he had fought for what he believed in, and for the 
protection of those he loved - lella, his daughters, his sister, 
and friends - and the Yuuzhan Vong had nearly torn his world and 
family apart. A point could be made that the Yuuzhan Vong fought 
for similar reasons, but the invaders had yet to demonstrate even
an instance of charity or tolerance. Worship and blind obedience
substituted for love and honor.

And yet, for all his soldier's resolve, Wedge recognized that he 
could still be rattled by a canny glance from Luke Skywalker. 
Listening to him and Mara address the command staff on Ralroost, 
Wedge had been struck once more by the fact that the Alliance and 
the Jedi were waging very different wars against the Yuuzhan Vong. 
Where Alliance command measured victory in terms of control, the he
were focused on a means of ending the war that would also conclude 
a cycle of violence. Luke feared that the extermination of the Yuuzhan 
Vong would deal a death blow to the newly hatched Galactic Deration 
of Free Alliances. With a single step toward the dark side, rate of 
future generations would be sealed. T was true with the Yuuzhan Vong, 
the Jedi were prepared to martyr themselves to an ideal. Both were 
fighting to sustain a worldvi At the center of one stood the gods; 
at the center of the other r	' the Force.
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????Wedge wondered what might become of those Yuuzhan Vong who weren't 
burned or beaten to death in the streets of Curarnell some other 
once-occupied capital city. What was the next step aft disarmament? 
Imprisonment? Exile? Could an entire species be n on trial for its 
                             ??????????????????^^^^^^
beliefs? And even if found guilty of war crimes, would the Yuuzhan 
Vong permit themselves to be isolated under guard in some remote 
star system, or would their defeat-the fact that the o had failed 
their gods-drive them to self-destruction? Should self-extinction 
be accepted as an alternative because death figured so strongly in 
their society, or would the death of the extragalactic species 
upset the balance of the Force in some fashion?

That such questions were best left to the Jedi was the reason Wedge, 
Keyan Farlander, certainly Tenel Ka, and many other Alliance 
commanders had implicit faith in Luke's leadership. At Borleias, 
when Wedge himself had formed the secret resistance group known 
as the Insiders, he had essentially made a pact with the Force, 
and felt duty-bound to uphold it.

"You've ended a reign of evil, General Antilles," Forridel was saying 
from the holofield. "You should be proud."

Wedge cut the provisional governor off before he could continue. "Our 
scanners have picked up a squadron of TIE fighters launched from 
Curamelle."

"Peace Brigaders," Forridel explained. "The fighters were restored 
from parts warehoused at the old Imperial Academy. Hunt them down, 
General! Don't leave a single ship unscathed!"

"That's all the information I need at the moment, Governor. Wedge waved 
for Lieutenant Cel to end the holotransmission with Curamelle, then said: 
"Alert General Celchu that those TIEs are not friendlies. Tell him that 
Harbinger has his back if he needs help dealing with them."

The fighting above night-side Corulag was heating up. Coralskippers 
and snubfighters were engaged in a mad dance of mutual destruction, 
while the capital ships they flew from were attempting *
one another senseless with plasma missiles and energy bolts.

oun^
elobules of the cluster vessel had imploded, but judging by the
.. rmance of the swarming skips, the war coordinator was unin-
A  On the moon, bombers were continuing to hammer the repair
Ihtion, but they were now taking fire from ground-based KDY
holasers-probably refurbished by the same turncoat technicians
who had resurrected the TIEs.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????

"Sir Admiral Kre'fey," Cel said from her duty station. Wedge strode 
back to the holoprojector in time to see Kre'fey's 'mage take shape 
amid random bursts of diagonal static. 

"General Antilles," the Bothan  began, "on your say-so I'm prepared 
to move nd elements of the First Fleet to Corulag."

Wedge shook his head. "We need more time here, Admiral. A couple 
of standard hours, at least."

"You have one hour, General," Kre'fey said evenly. "We've received 
word from Coruscant that our actions at Corulag have not gone 
unnoticed. Nas Choka's armada is active. It's not clear just yet 
whether the warmaster is repositioning his vessels to defend Coruscant, 
or if he intends to move the armada Rimward in advance of going to 
hyperspace. If it's the latter, I doubt he'll squander his forces by 
reinforcing Corulag. He may, however, elect to jump the armada to 
Contruum, and I want to be gone from here by then." 

"Where do you want us?" Wedge asked.

"Take Man Adapyne and Elegos A'Kla and rally with the Second 
Fleet at Muscave. I realize I'm placing your battle group in 
harm's way by sending you directly into the Coruscant system, 
but our objec-tive is to accomplish the reverse of what we did 
at Mon Calamari, by drawing the enemy into engagements at 
outer-system worlds. Con-currently, I'll be dispatching elements 
of the Third Fleet to Coruscant from the Shawken Spur of the Hydian, 
and elements of the Fourth by vaV of the Martial Cross. Regardless 
of whether the armada jumps for '°ntruum or advances to engage your 
forces at Muscave, the assault Coruscant can commence."

Did I hear right that Vanguard Squadron has been attached to ^ Fourth 
Fleet?" Wedge asked. 

"That's correct."

"That means that the Chiss will be directly involved in the on Coruscant."

"Vanguard   and  Twin   Suns   have   been   folded  into  a squadron, 
commanded by Group Commander Fel."

Wedge was perplexed. "Jag is leading Twin Suns? Where's Jaina?""

"Jedi Skywalker asked that we exempt her from the rost Kre'fey 
muttered. "I recognize that Coruscant is a long way from Chiss space, 
and I know that you're concerned for the welfare of your nephew, Wedge. 
But Jag himself requested the mission."

Wedge nodded. "I'll just have to find a way to explain to my sister
why I didn't talk some sense into her son."

Kre'fey gestured noncommittally. "Colonel Fel's group, alone with Rogue 
and Wraith Squadrons, will fly escort for the troop trans-ports and 
gunships we hope to slip through Coruscant's dovin basal gravitic 
wells. Once planetside, Captain Page's commando company will rendezvous 
with resistance forces and proceed to the landing field at what was 
Westport."

Man Mothma's tactical officer sent a star chart of the Coruscant system 
to the holoprojector. Wedge saw that Coruscant and the outer worlds of 
Muscave and Stentat were all on the same side of the sun, within sixty 
degrees of one another. Calculating the time required for the hyperspace 
jump to Muscave, Wedge's battle group would be arriving just as Shimrra's 
Citadel and the sacred precinct were heading into daybreak.

"Admiral, is Zonama Sekot still orbiting between Muscave and Stentat?"

"To the best of our knowledge," Kre'fey said. "But that planet is the 
Jedi's problem, not ours."

Even before the transmission from Ralroost faded, Wedge spun on his 
heel to Lieutenant Cel. "Inform Generals Celchu and Farlander that 
we will be repositioning in one standard hour. Then find me a secure 
frequency to Errant Venture, and patch it through to my comlink.

Replacing his command cap with a headset, Wedge paced awa) from the 
bridge duty stations while the link to Booster Terrik's Star Destroyer 
was being established.

"Insider One, your transmission is secure," a voice said through
jcre's earphones. "Lando here, Wedge."
^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Wedge adjusted the fit of the headset. "Lando, in just under a
Hard hour I'll be repositioning my group to Muscave."

"Good news. That means Zonama Sekot will be inside your
lines."

"Not as good as it sounds. Alliance command has written the
planet off as the Jedi's concern."

CL  vyi*   -
^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????

"You think it'll go to hyperspace?"

"I don't know, Lando. But some of us should be there in case anyone needs 
to be evacuated."

"You can count on us, Insider One. I'll also pass the word to Tenel Ka."

"May the Force be with you, Lando."

"It had better be."








Mired at Contruum for longer than they had anticipated, Luke and Mara 
had missed the seed-partners ceremony, but everyone who had participated 
was still talking about it long after Jade Shadow returned to Zonama Sekot.

Kyp, Corran, and Saba spoke in wonderment of having been led across a 
symbolic bridge and through a lamina-surfaced tunnel into concealed 
courtyards, filled with Ferroan celebrants wearing brightly colored 
costumes. Having adhered to a special diet, the Jedi candidates had 
worn sashed robes and necklaces strung with bloodred, gourdlike fruits. 
Following a series of litanies chanted by Magister Jabitha and the 
Ferroans, each of the candidates had had to offer a gift, and introduce 
him - or herself to Sekot, in a way that reminded Kyp of the ceremony 
that had taken place at Ithor, four years earlier. nnally, the 
seed-partners-emerged from their shells as pale oblate libs, with 
eyespots and tiny grasper - equipped legs - had been separated from their 
bond partners and conveyed to the cybernetic organ-1118 that would 
               ???????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
summon lightning and give shape to the living ships Wuced from the 
seeds. Bred by Zonama Sekot's original magisters, the cyborgs were 
known as the Jentari.
  
 

After listening to a dozen separate accounts of the ceremony for
as many Jedi, Luke almost felt as if he had attended it personally 
he was eager to see the living ships. Sekot had had extensive 
convitions with Danni, and now Cilghal, about dovin basals; and 
Lowbacca and others were trying to figure a way to use comlinks 
for ship-to-I communication.

With so much information to catch up on, Luke had decided wait for 
the proper moment to report on the briefings at Contruum. He chose
to do that in the Skywalkers' cliff dwelling, even thouh few Jedi 
were present. Assembled were Jacen, Jaina, Kyp, Corran Saba, Tahiri, 
Danni, Han, Leia, Magister Jabitha, Harrar, C-3PO and R2-D2.

Jacen was the first one to comment on Luke's lengthy summary

"Did you explain to Admiral Kre'fey what the World Brain will do 
if Coruscant's attacked?"

"Half of the command staff has dismissed the report you furnished," 
Luke said, "and the other half just doesn't want to believe it."

Han growled in exasperation. "Forget about the World Brain. Can 
Kre'fey even get past the planetary dovin basals?"

Mara glanced at Luke. "You know, they never really answered that 
question. Sow said that they weren't worried about the dovin basals."

"I think I know why," Luke said. "Zonama Sekot not only tugged one 
of Coruscant's moons out of orbit, but also tore apart the planetary 
ring that the Yuuzhan Vong manufactured from the moon they managed 
to shatter. The dovin basals are probably so busy dealing with 
infalling debris that they can now be overwhelmed by lasers, concussion
missiles, and whatever else Kre'fey plans to hurl at them."

"That still won't stop the World Brain from carrying out his tasks," 
Jacen said.

"That's correct," Harrar said, then looked questioningly at face0'

"I wasn't able to communicate with the dhuryam while we Nver in the 
Unknown Regions, and I haven't been able to sense it m same way since 
we got back."
  
"Tt en perhaps Shimrra has managed to establish a rapport with Harrar 
turned to Luke. "You must understand: Shimrra is ht' prn'' ordinary 
                            ????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^
Yuuzhan Vong. His body and his mind have been od His powers surpass 
those of other Supreme Overlords."

r "ii forced a sad exhalation. "Hundreds of thousands will die, , the 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????
planet will be of no use to anyone." 

"Unless we can get to Shimrra first," Luke said. 

Harrar nodded. "The Supreme Overlord is our ultimate weapon. This war 
cannot possibly be won without defeating him. Because Shmirra is our 
sole conduit to the gods, his capture or death will prove haotic for  
Nas  Choka's   warriors   and   Jakan's   priests.   Without Shimrra's 
intercession, the gods will not be able to help or intervene in any 
way. Separated from the gods, the warriors and priests will be bereft. 
But capturing Shimrra - let alone killing him - will be exceedingly 
difficult. He is well protected by skillful guards, and by the worldship  
itself,  which   responds   to   him,   much   as  Yuuzhan'tar responds 
to the World Brain."

"Can the Citadel be penetrated?" Luke asked. "With the armada fending 
off an attack, the dovin basals and World Brain preoccupied, the Shamed 
Ones in revolt... Yes, it might be possible to infiltrate with a small 
force. I could advise you on the best route."

"You'd do that?" Leia said, gazing at Harrar. The priest nodded. "I 
said I would do everything in my power to help end this conflict. 
Nothing has happened to cause me to recon-sider that."

"Who and how many of us?" Kyp asked.

Luke thought for a moment. "Not more than six of us. And no one who is 
waiting for a Sekotan ship."

Kyp nodded, and Han and Leia traded uncertain glances. "Where's that 
leave the rest of us?" Han asked. Before Luke could answer the question, 
Kenth, Cilghal, and Lowi entered the cliff dwelling - the Wookiee ducking 
low enough to from banging his furry head into the crude beams that 
spanned the high ceiling.

"Someone commed from Shadow" Luke said.

Kenth nodded. "The Alliance has reclaimed Corulag. battle group has been 
ordered to Muscave, to lure the armada from Coruscant, so the major 
offensive can begin."

"Then the war is coming to us," Jabitha said softly.

"Errant Venture is on the way here," Cilghal added, "in you're thinking 
of evacuating the Ferroans - or anyone else."

Jaina shot to her feet. "I should be with my squadron."

Mara looked at her. "You are, Jaina."

"How's that?" she asked harshly "I'm not in line for a living shin 
and my X-wing is still in stationary orbit."

"I mean that you're needed here," Mara said calmly.

While Jaina stared at her aunt in indecision, Han put his arm around 
Jaina's waist. "Let's just see how things develop, okay?"

Jaina nodded mutely.

"Should Sekot be warned?" Danni asked.

"I'm sure Sekot already knows," Luke said. "I think that's the reason 
Sekot agreed to provide us with ships."

"I must caution all of you that the Sekotan ships are for defense 
only," Jabitha interjected. "Zonama has other defensive weapons, but 
Sekot has not spoken of those in some time."

Mara looked at Luke. "Presumably the same ones that repelled the 
original Far Outsiders, and annihilated Commander Val's forces at 
Klasse Ephemera," Luke said.

"Luke, we're talking about an armada" Han thought to point out. "Sekot 
might want to at least think about warming up the hyper-space drives."

Jabitha shook her head. "Flight would be a demonstration of fear-Zonama 
Sekot will not flee a second time. Especially now, with so much at stake."

Danni glanced around in puzzlement. "It's irrelevant, isn't it. Zonama 
Sekot is an evil omen for the Yuuzhan Vong, then Shimrra would want his 
forces to give it the widest berth."

Everyone turned to Harrar.

"It depends on who knows what, and, if anything, how The priest stroked 
his chin with his three-fingered hand. "

thev have some limited understanding of Zonama Sekot, the war-
would first have to be convinced that they weren't defying the
j  bv attacking the planet." He raised his head in sudden apprehen-
"Unless Shimrra has managed to convince them that Zonama
is some sort of Jeedai weapon or fabrication that must be
destroyed."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????????

"How soon before the living ships are flight-ready?" Kyp asked
Jabitha in a rush.

"In time," the Magister said. "Sekot will make certain of it."
 
 

 

Warmaster Nas Choka gave Yuuzhan'tar a final glance as Tammka's Mount's 
powerful dovin basals prepared to tug the vessel into darkspace for the 
short journey to the outer-system world known as Muscave. Aswirl with 
clouds, the green hemisphere that was Yuuzhan'tar had changed 
dramatically in the short time since the armada had launched for 
Mon Calamari. Smoke was chimneying from volcanic vents, it was 
absent one of its moons, and the bridge of the gods had collapsed - 
all but force - fed rock by rock to the orbiting dovin basals tasked 
with shielding the world from attack. And no grand ceremony on this 
occasion. No farewell blessings from Shimrra; no fresh coats of 
sacrificial blood for warriors and war vessels.

Yuuzhan'tar appeared exposed, ill prepared to defend itself. But Nas 
Choka trusted that Supreme Overlord Shimrra would attend to that. More 
important, Yuuzhan'tar would fall to the enemy only iftne armada failed 
in its mission to destroy Zonama Sekot. In that case, Nas Choka wouldn't 
be alive to see the planet reclaimed. Judge unworthy by the gods, the 
Yuuzhan Vong would die, individually an as a species, and the gods 
would be forced once more to fashio beings worthy of nurture, as they 
had done three times before Yuuzhan Vong had been brought into being.

Nas Choka had accepted Shimrra's wisdom on the matter

Sekot. Again the Supreme Overlord had demonstrated his c   and that 
                            ??????????????????????????^^^^^
had reinforced Nas Choka's belief that he had he correct choice in 
siding with Shimrra when it had come to line: Quoreal from the polyp throne.

Nas Choka nursed a secret distrust for the Trickster goddess,
Harla. The feathered traitor, Vergere, had been the familiar of
sses of Yun-Harla. Too, Eminence Harrar had been devoted to
nd he had apparently vanished off the face of Yuuzhan'tar.
V rSe the Trickster, without intervention, had for a time allowed her
o e to be adopted by one of the Jedi. So what was to stop her from
otraying the Yuuzhan Vong now? Weary of being patronized by
Y n-Yuuzhan and Yun-Yammka, perhaps she wished to bring about
the destruction of Yun-Yuuzhan's creation, by tricking Shimrra into
trusting to a false revelation.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????


To shore up his own faith and that of his warriors, Nas Choka had commanded 
a coven of Yun-Yammka priests to accompany the armada. Having drawn blood 
from the tongues and earlobes of each and every Supreme Commander, the 
priests had pumped the bloated ngdins that had absorbed the sacrificial 
offerings into a coralskipper and dispatched it into the void, in advance 
of the armada.

Hands clasped behind his back, the warmaster spun away from the view of 
Yuuzhan'tar. Several strides across the coarse deck took him to the 
villip-choir, where the mistress in charge of the array bowed her head 
in subordination.

"I would speak with the shaper aboard the failing vessel," Nas Choka 
said.

The mistress stroked the appropriate villip, which inverted and ssumed 
the sickly likeness of the shaper who had been poisoned at Caluula.

"My only surviving villip is dying, Warmaster," the ashen shaper orted. 
"It lacks the vigor to portray your visage, but I suspect it is Capable 
of relaying your words."

"Speak to the health of yourself and your crew, shaper," Nas a said. 
"Do you have the vigor to carry out what has been com-landed of you?"

The villip's thick lips formed words. "Four slayers have died;
six only remain - a sufficient number to pilot this ailing vessel. 
I am aliv, by dint of chemical compounds I managed to mix and ingest 
onset of my paralysis, but my time is short, Warmaster."

"If need be I will send hale warriors and youthful villips to you, 
shaper. But only you can keep the vessel itself alive. If it die before 
we reach Zonama Sekot, then all is lost."

"I fear it is incapable of going to darkspace, Warmaster."

Nas Choka ground his filed teeth and swung to his chief tactic.

"Advise me of our options."

"Allow it to be ingested by a larger vessel, Warmaster," the tactician 
said. "A sacrifice of yet another vessel and its crew, but essential 
to our task."

Nas Choka nodded and turned back to the transmitting villin "Shaper, 
command the vessel's dovin basals, villips, and weapons to rest. I 
will dispatch a vessel of sufficient size to engulf yours and carry 
it through darkspace to Zonama Sekot. Once there, the slayers will 
pilot your vessel from its carapace. Then, under whatever escort 
I deem necessary, you will consign yourself and your vessel to the 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????
living world."

"An honor that finds me undeserving, Warmaster."

"Succeed, and undreamed-of rewards await you, shaper. Fail, and suffer 
the disgrace of having sentenced our entire species to oblivion."

When the shaper's villip had resumed its familiar shape, Nas Choka 
gestured for the tactician to follow him into the command chamber's 
blister transparency.

"What have you learned of our enemy's plan?"

"Muscave has become the gathering place for the Alliance battle 
group that struck Corulag, and an even larger force of capital 
ships sent from Contruum. The enemy is now poised between us and 
our target."

"Part of our trial," Nas Choka said evenly. "Before we can even engage 
the planet the gods have placed in their hands, we must brea through 
the enemy's line."

"At the same time, the enemy entices us away from Yuuzhan'tar

Nas Choka grunted. "They have devised a clever assault."

"Though ignorant of the fact, they have the complicity of the .'o>
?lK\as Choka clenched his right hand. "We will do the same at
,e by offering ourselves as an enticement, so that our poisoned
-,' flv true to its mark. We will present ourselves as a war-
u.-irp   Cull    ILJ
would, brandishing his amphistaff in challenge on the battle-°l "" 
jje nodded in self-assurance. "When will the infidels arrive at
Yuuzhan'tar?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

"The Alliance commanders have already sundered the fleet they assembled 
at Contruum," the tactician said. "We suspect that the van-o hed battle 
                                  ???????????????????^^^^^^^
groups have jumped to darkspace and will emerge in our hsence, to all 
sides of Yuuzhan'tar, and from unfamiliar vectors. A study of villip 
memories of the battle at Ebaq Nine has revealed worthwhile comparisons. 
There, too, the enemy made use of dark-space corridors of which we had 
no knowledge. But the comparison ends there. After our spear has been 
thrust into Zonama Sekot's flesh, there will be no need for a ground 
assault, or an ill-conceived hunt for Jeedai. Satisfied that we have 
overcome the trial, the gods will add their might to our armada and we 
will be able to wipe the Jeedai from existence."

Nas Choka smiled lightly. "It is a rare occasion when well-matched 
warriors have an opportunity to face each other a second time, in a 
different arena." He paused for a moment, then said: "As yet no 
communication from Domains Muyel and Lacap?"

"No," the tactician said. "Their war vessels remain in the star 
systems awarded to them by Supreme Overlord Shimrra."

Nas Choka's tattooed upper lip curled in anger. "Their punishment, 
too, will be swift and lethal."







One didn't have to be a native of Coruscant to know that the planet 
had seen better days. Holos displayed at the premission brief-?s 
didn't do justice to the extent to which the Yuuzhan Vong had 
'nsformed the world and Zonama Sekot had wounded it. Once as -en 
as the Chiss capital of Csilla was white, vast areas were now by 
fire and fractured by sinuous flows of lava.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????????????
 
Jag absorbed the desolation in a glance as his clawcraft from the
open belly of the Star Destroyer Right to Rule. T\ ml  <^|^<,i
complement of clawcraft and X-wings streaked behind him ' 
trailing wedge. Off to Jag's port side, and slightly to stern, 
flew Rogue Squadron; to starboard, the Wraiths and Taanab Yellow 
Aces  r   C tered and shielded by the near wing of starfighters 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????
were three li h armed troop transports. Two were of the same 
vintage as the 17n meter-long bulbous-lobed Record Time, which 
had been sacrificed Coruscant shortly after the planet's capture. 
The third was a Empire vessel, almost four hundred meters long, 
and might have be a precursor of Right to Rule herself.

The main body of the Yuuzhan Vong armada had made the jump to 
lightspeed only an hour earlier, but Warmaster Nas Choka had 
left enough vessels in orbit to test the mettle of the Alliance. 
Even with Star Destroyers, Mon Cal cruisers, and Corellian 
gunships arriving from unguarded insertion points, the Yuuzhan 
Vong were capable of engaging each separate battle group.

The enemy flotilla that rushed to meet the Fourth Fleet was made
up of light cruiser and assault cruiser analogs, from whose hull 
panels jutted forked arms housing plasma cannon emplacements and 
clusters of coralskippers. Simultaneous with the emergence of 
the starfighters, the skips had dropped from their barnaclelike 
perches and were now racing outward from the edge of Coruscant's 
envelope, eager for contest.

"Shield trios," Jag commanded his group over the tactical net. 
"Stick close to the transports, and stay alert for course 
corrections. Don't allow yourselves to be drawn into individual
conflicts."

The group was split evenly between Chiss and Alliance pilots, 
but for the first time since Twin Suns' inception at the Jedi 
base known as Eclipse, there wasn't a Force-user among them. 
Jag had originally flown with Twin Suns at Borleias, when the
squadron had bee handed over to Jaina, and he had flown with 
her for most of the p year at Galantos, Bakura, and in other 
campaigns. Their training, c° pled with his deep affection for
her, sometimes made him wondei i hadn't become sensitized to 
the Force-or at least to Jaina's use o
               ???????????????????^^^^^^^^
At Hapes, and as recently as Mon Calamari, where Jaina's
squad been crippled, he seemed to be able to intuit her needs
ests. Incapable of communicating with her squadron, she had
°f  h d out through the Force and Jag had heard her-clear enough,
r?ilC   r rate, to have anticipated and relayed Jaina's orders to her
\ates. With Jaina absent-on Zonama Sekot, according to Gavin
n rklighter-the starfighter group felt less responsive, though Jag
. tajned a strong combat bond with the Chiss pilots, especially
Shawnkyr and Eprill.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????????

"Twin Sun Leader," said the voice of Right to Rule control. "Bring 
vour group to Sector Sabacc, zero-six-six. We're getting ready
to light things up."

Jag had flown with Grand Admiral Pellaeon's vessel at Esfandia, 
and the voice was reassuring.

"Copy, Right to Rule. Coming about to zero-six-six."

The broad bank sunward placed the trio of transports and their 
starfighter escorts over daybreak Coruscant. No sooner was the 
task force clear of Right to Rule than all its starboard quad 
laser batteries belched fire. Not far from the Star Destroyer, 
and similarly aligned to the planet, two Mon Cal MCSOBs and the 
cruiser Dauntless added their blinding salvos to the light storm. 
Half the amassed firepower was directed at the onrushing coralskippers, 
dozens of which were instantly vaporized. The other half was aimed 
at what remained of Coruscant's short-lived planetary ring. Hammered
by massive packets of coherent light and high-yield proton torpedoes, 
the largest pieces of what had once been a moon broke into thousands 
of even smaller fragments, creating a meteor storm the likes of which 
Coruscant probably hadn't confronted since it had coalesced into a 
planet.

Enormous singularities began to open as the chunks were sent
Ambling into the upper reaches of the envelope. But the orbital dovin
^^^^^^^^????????????????????????
asals that had created the gravitic anomalies were already overloaded, 
and many of the fragments plummeted past them, beming fiery streaks as 
they entered the atmosphere. Jag knew that scanners aboard the Alliance 
capital ships were ready analyzing  the  relative  strengths  of the   
singularities  and monitoring the trajectories of the meteors that had 
slipped th the gravitic shield. Once the areas of greatest stress were 
their locations would be relayed to the transports and starfighters. Not
quite two years earlier, the troop transport Record n delivered its cargo 
                            ?????????????????????^^^^^^
of Wraiths and Jedi to the surface of Coruscai single-person containers. 

But that was before the dovin basals been seeded into orbit. More important,
there was no reason stealth now. As someone at Contruum had said to Jag, 
"If we drop a moon on them, we can at least make it rain rocks."

"Twin Suns," Right to Rule control said, "you have open wi dows at 
coordinates four-two-three and four-two-five. Rothana tran port is 
reorienting to follow you through."

Jag passed the word to his pilots, even though the navicomputers on 
each starfighter had certainly received the course corrections. 
Configured into pairs and trios, Twin Suns formed up along both sides 
of the antique wedge-shaped ship and began to herd it toward the 
infiltration zone. Adapting their vectors to match those of the escort 
starfighters, coralskippers attacked from all sides, threading through 
the fragment cloud and augmenting it with plasma missiles and gouts of 
molten stone.

Flying just at the perimeter of the transport's shields, Jag's claw-craft 
was jarred by every projectile that found its target. The comm channel 
was a babble of voices, as pilots issued warnings of strafing runs or 
declared the status of their ships. Explosive light washed into the 
spherical cockpit of Twin Suns One from astern, and Jag glanced at
his displays to see Twin Eight and Eleven vanish from the grid. With 
scant room to maneuver, he tried to make the most of ever)' squeeze 
of the trigger, but the skips had the advantage of being able to take 
evasive action, whereas the starfighters were intent on protecting 
their ward.

Carefully trained laser bolts from Right to Rule created a sudden 
corridor of destructive energy around the transport and fighters. 
Dozen more skips became extra fodder for the meteor-gobbling dovl 
basals. Still in darkness, a Yuuzhan Vong cruiser stabbed by 
corr"c gent blasts from three separate Alliance ships cracked open 
and t 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????

A second vessel, spewing blades of flame from its midsection, . 
laziiv out of orbit and began to fall into the atmosphere. r°The 
dovin basals were trying desperately to prioritize, but more ore 
rock fragments were getting past them. As overtaxed as they the 
gigantic biots still posed a threat to any ship that ventured 'lose  
For that reason the transports had been retrofitted with man-designed 
HIMS generators, which should have allowed them stain momentum even 
in an interdiction field. At Contruum, few °d expressed confidence 
in the retrofitting, and Jag was one of the first pilots to see why.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????????????????

His group of vanguard starfighters was just passing between a pair
c ^g Yuuzhan Vong orbital monstrosities when two overlapping 
singularities yawned, catching the pointed bow of the transport 
and dragging it hard to starboard. The ship's aged cylindrical 
thrusters tried to compensate for the unexpected tug of gravity, 
but they weren't up to the challenge. The jury-rigged HIMS failed, 
and the deflector shields followed. The transport twisted over on 
its side and began to founder. Armor flayed from the hull and surface 
modules disappeared into the swirling black mouth of the singularity. 
Breaches opened, venting precious atmosphere and unsecured objects. 
Then, deep within the vessel, an explosion flashed, and it split 
wide open. Ground-effect vehicles, combat droids, and acceleration 
couches spun outward-some of the latter with commandos still strapped 
into them.

In the blink of an eye Twin Suns lost another three fighters. To port, 
trimmed in golden sunlight, one of the newer transports was banking as 
quickly as its bulk allowed. Rogue Squadron had re-formed around the 
ship and was just beginning to shepherd it into the atmosphere. Jag 
looked to his right and overhead for the second transport, but couldn't 
find it. What he found instead were the Wraiths, winning their duels with 
coralskippers even as they blazed toward Twin Suns. R-ijfht to Rule 
control boomed in Jag's ears. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????????

"Twin Suns Leader, °me about to  zero-zero-three. You are  redesignated 
                 ^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????
escort for oirnber one transport. As soon as your group is clear, we're 
going to try to burn a tunnel to the surface."

Jag hauled on the control yoke, gravitational forces all but 
bu   o him in the seat as he slewed to port. The dozen remaining memb
^ his group followed in formation, sticking close enough to one 
anoth provide adjuvant shielding. Ahead of them, transport one had 
drowe inside the tier of dovin basals and was rushing for the surface, 
blunt aglow from friction. Twenty years earlier Coruscant had been 
liberated from Imperial forces by loosing a group of criminals to sow 
confusion and by sabotaging the planet's shield generators. Now 
liberation would depend largely on the actions of a thousand commandos 
and a handfi I of resistance fighters, and the off chance of their 
      ^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????
being able to mobiliz the Yuuzhan Vong heretics into an insurgent force.

As promised, coordinated laserfire came from the capital ships Sizzling 
through the atmosphere, the sustained fusillade annihilated everything 
in its path and burned a ragged bald patch in Coruscant's verdant surface. 
It was toward the denuded area that the starfighters and transport raced, 
firing on the run at the few coralskippers that had survived the laser 
shower.

The control yoke shuddered in Jag's grip as he powered the claw-craft 
into denser air. The ship rattled, as if on the verge of coming apart, 
but it held together. Surface features of Coruscant began to come into 
focus: forest-covered spires and mounds, wide crevasses brimming with 
mist yet to be burned off by the sun. Gradually he decreased the angle 
of his descent until he was flying into the sun, and parallel to the 
undulating terrain. Frightened by the roar of the approaching craft, 
flocks of black birds with three-meter wingspans took flight from the 
branching crowns of emergent trees.

A contour map resolved on the cockpit navigational display, showing 
the buildings and features of the so-called sacred precinct, from the 
craggy mountain that was Shimrra's worldship Citadel to the domelike 
structure that housed and protected the World Brain-wnat had once been 
the most affluent and fashionable area of the planet. A counter at the 
bottom of the screen showed the distance remaining the scorched landing 
zone, which was surrounded by dense forest an yorik coral outcroppings.

Without warning, enemy artillery fire erupted from the tree U around 
the clearing, fountaining molten ejecta and flaming projection fire
high to the air. Flying nap of the forest, Jag spotted the distinctive 
rke spine plates of the armored beast the Yuuzhan Vong called a and the
^^???????????????????????????????
Alliance knew as a range. The blue-green reptilian creatures were the 
size of small buildings, and on Borleias had proved jmost impossible 
to stop.

"That plasma is coming from a range, east of the landing zone," 
ud over the tactical net. 

"Shawnkyr, Eprill, see if you can hold it long enough for Page's 
Commandos to insert." 

"On our way, Colonel," Shawnkyr responded. At Borleias, she had urged 
Jag to return to their native Chiss oace Now she was as much an 
Alliance pilot as he was.

Dodging projectiles, Jag banked over the forest. He was doubling back 
to the transport when he finally caught sight of its sister ship, ten 
kilometers to the south and covered stem to stern in grutchins.

The Yellow Aces were pursing the out-of-control vessel and using 
their lasers to dislodge the grutchins, as if picking vermin off 
a pet. But the acid-producing, globular-eyed insectoids had ingested 
large areas of the hull and, judging by the way the transport was 
wobbling, had already infiltrated the cabin spaces. Jag watched 
helplessly as the vessel bellied into the forest, cutting a wide, 
burning swath through the trees. Sliding for a kilometer or more, 
it tipped nose-first over the rim of a deep crevasse and began a 
slow descent toward the bottom.

Closer to the lasered clearing, Rogue and Twin Suns snubfighters were 
making paired strafing runs over the rakamat and Yuuzhan Vong infantry 
units, creating an inferno with lasers and proton torpedoes.

Slowed by its repulsorlift engines, number one transport was a few
kilometers short of the laser-denuded tableland when a large hatch
opened in its ventral surface. First to exit the hatch were YVH droids,
°'ded into foam-filled crash canisters. Then, sheathed in enviro-suits
i harnessed into jet packs, came Page's company, soaring from the
otangular opening and spiraling down to the surface. The pilots of
raitn Squadron followed, setting their X-wings down and scrambllng 
from the cockpits.

Jag swung wide to make another pass over the forest.
projectiles streaking out of the trees, Gavin Darklighter's
  
 

Rogues buzzed like angry hornets, torching everything that
Jag was racing to join them when a fireball caught the clawcraft
behind, blowing away pieces of the starboard solar panels and send' ^
him into an uncontrollable spin.	^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????????

The crowns of the trees rushed up at him, then patches of s
ground. The clawcraft whined as it slammed into the canonv
F)i and darkness engulfed him.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????????









The view forward from the plush cockpit of Lady Luck revealed panorama 
of stroboscopic globular explosions stretched across, as will as two 
or three degrees above and below, the ecliptic plane.

"That was the Alliance's salvo," Lando told Tendra.

Her mouth was slightly ajar, she was shaking her head in amazement. 
"I've never seen anything that was at once so beautiful and so 
dreadful." Tall, even for a Sacorrian, Tendra was a regal beauty, 
with sparkling brown eyes and full lips.

The SoroSuub luxury yacht, a somewhat flattened and oblate vessel, 
was well inside the Alliance lines, but close enough for long-range 
scanners to capture the continuous exchanges of fire, if not detail 
the individual warships themselves. Lando knew that Wedge was out 
there somewhere, along with countless other friends and comrades 
he had known from as far back as the Battle of Endor.

He couldn't remember a time when he had felt so small or alone. 
In a gesture that combined affection and anguish, he tightened 
his grip on Tendra's hand.

No sooner had the spherical explosions faded than a pyrotechnic
display of what might have been fire-tailed comets rocketed from
unseen sources, splaying against deflector screens too distant to 
discern, and in some cases creating explosions of their own.

"Nas Choka's response," Lando said dryly.

He flipped a switch on the communications console and swiveled nis 
chair slightly toward the cockpit's audio pickups. 

"You watching this."

"Can't take my eyes away," Talon Karrde answered from Wild Karrde, 
five hundred kilometers Rimward and, like Lady Luck, rounding mostly 
silent.

Scores of other starfighters, converted yachts, and blockade ^
 ...  j wjth the loosely knit Smugglers' Alliance were deployed nt'rS ' 
Wild Karrde and Errant Venture, which was closest to Sekot, and thus 
almost a quarter of the way to the outer- , world of Stentat.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????
w long are we just going to sit here and watch?" Lando asked
Talon-Talon laughed bitterly. "Now is as good a time as any to make our
r but skillful contribution to the cause."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

"Ml  right,  then."   Lando  straightened  up  his  seat  and  was 
oaring to wake up the ship's systems when Talon commed him again."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

"Hold on a minute, hero. My scanners are picking up something
peculiar. I'm sending you the coordinates now. You might want to
have a look."

Tendra was already realigning the scanners when Lando glanced at the 
display screen. A sizable number of Yuuzhan Vong ships had separated 
from the main body of the armada. Accreting velocity, the group was 
vectoring for the sunward fringe of the battle belt.

"A flanking maneuver?" Lando said. "Maybe an attempt to jump behind 
Alliance lines?"

"I don't think so," Talon answered. "When they pulled this stunt at Mon 
Calamari, the ships jumped for Contruum."

Lando frowned. "Kre'fey's long gone from Contruum. But they could be 
hoping to bait Wedge's battle group into pursuing them."

"Unless they're heading back to Coruscant."

Tendra dialed the scanners to maximum magnification. The 
computer-assisted portrait painted by the instruments showed 
a diamond-shaped formation of destroyer and heavy cruiser analogs, 
with a solitary but otherwise unremarkable vessel occupying the 
center.

"Major firepower," Lando said. 

"They're going to hyperspace," Talon updated. Did you get a departure 
vector?"

"Coming up," Talon said.

Lando and Tendra heard Talon expel his breath in unhappy surprise.

"Zonama Sekot," Lando surmised.

"Didn't that Vong priest, Harrar, say that Shimrra wasn't lik i
risk an attack?"	°
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

"Guess he doesn't know his Supreme Overlord as well as he th'
he does."	'nks
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????
"I'll let Booster know."

Lando silenced the comm and swung to his wife.

"Navicomputer is plotting a course to Zonama Sekot," Tend said.











Gingerly, Han placed the palms of his hands against the faintly 
glowing hull of the Sekotan ship. Warm to the touch, the perfect 
smooth skin was a shimmering green, lit from within in a way that 
brought to mind the bioluminescence of some denizens of the deep 
ocean. Low to the ground, broad where the cockpit was, and composed 
of three seamlessly joined oval lobes, the ship was a smaller version 
of the shuttle that had carried him from the Falcon to the surface 
of the planet. But unlike the shuttle, it was armed with plasma 
cannons that might have been-and probably were-patterned after 
those of a coralskipper.

Speechless, Han continued his survey of the wondrous ship. Small 
compared to Jade Shadow, which sat on its hardstand nearby, the 
Sekotan fighter was equivalent to an X-wing in size, though it 
more closely resembled a vintage Surronian Conqueror or one of the 
latest generation of Mon Calamarian starfighters. The single-pilot 
cockpit was an all-too-organic shade of red-made more unnerving by 
an instrument array that pulsed and throbbed.

The gentle internal radiance of the tripartite fuselage was most 
intense along the forward edges, which were knife-sharp. In contrast, 
the trailing edges were rounded over, with the drive tucked into the 
space between the two rear lobes.  Han had overheard Magister Jabitha 
tell Kyp that the original Sekotan ships had had Haor Chal type-seven 
Silver-class light starship engines, with expensive hype drive core 
units and organiform circuitry. But the ships the Jentan na built for 
the Jedi lacked a conventional drive-unless dovin t>a analogs had come 
to be considered standard equipment.

The similarity to coralskippers didn't end with gravitic propu's
 -[d volcano-like weapons emplacements. Though it required
who had bonded with its formative seed-partners, a Sekotan
s alive and, to a degree, capable of independent action.
wasn't the only person in awe. Working overtime, the Jentari
able to shape ships for all the Jedi who had participated in
li'lLi   P^-	l
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

- >nt ceremony. Delivered from the cybernetic assembly lines by
manta-shaped  dirigibles,  the  Sekotan  fighters  crowded  the
n-rim landing platform. None of them had been flown, but Han
Id feel the eagerness of the pilots-Kyp, Corran, Lowbacca, dark-
lected Markre Medjev, facially scarred Waxarn Kel, the stocky
rinndrilan woman Octa Ramis, slight Tarn Azur-Jamin, gallant Kyle
Katarn, the ever-brooding Zekk, the Barabel Saba Sebatyne, and the
Twi'lek female Alema Rar-all of whom were circling their individual
crafts, much as Han was circling Kyp's.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

"Well, she's not the Falcon" Han said, "but I'm sure she'll do until 
the next living ship comes along."

Kyp took his gaze from the ship long enough to glance at Han and laugh.
"Wish I could tell you to take it for a spin." 

Han nodded. "Yeah, I wish you could, too." Distracted, Han wasn't aware 
of Leia's approach until she slipped her arm through his and rested her 
head against his shoulder. He turned slightly, expecting to see her 
smiling as broadly as he was. Instead, she was anything but joyful. 
"What's wrong?"

"Luke just heard from Booster. A Yuuzhan Vong battle group is headed here."
Han stared at her. "I thought..."

It was all he got out before Luke, Mara, Jaina, Danni, Kenth, and
;°me of the other Jedi arrived at the landing platform. The last to
how up Were Magister Jabitha, Jacen, and Harrar. The pilots hurried
n their Sekotan ships to join the circle that quickly took shape
afound Luke.

We were hoping for more time, but that's not going to happen,"
- began. "The Yuuzhan Vong are on the way, which means you're
8 to have to get your ships airborne and give yourselves a crash
lrse in piloting them." He swung to face Tesar Sebatyne. "The
shuttle will take you and the rest of the Wild Knights to your and fighters."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

Saba nodded to her son. "Good hunting, Tesar."

"Now do I get to fly my X-wing?" Jaina asked.

Mara shot her a cautionary look. "We've been through this "

"But..."

"May I say something?" Harrar said.

Everyone turned to him in surprise.

"Assuming some of you are going to Coruscant, your war na will benefit 
by having both Jaina Solo and Jacen Solo as cornrad. Our warriors are 
very superstitious, and the sight of the celebrated Jedi twins - united
- could demoralize them. The capture of one such as Jaina Solo would 
count for more than her death." The priest paused to glance around.  
"Our forces failed at Borleias because Supreme Commander Czulkang Lah 
was fixated on capturing the Jedi who had come to be associated with 
Yun-Harla. It was my personal failing that I supported Czulkang Lah's 
actions."

Tahiri looked at Jaina. "At Borleias I told you not to accompany Luke 
and Mara to Coruscant, because I was afraid that your presence would 
endanger them. Now I agree with Harrar that you should go."

Jaina folded her arms across her chest. "Nice to see that everyone is 
so comfortable with deciding my destiny."

Jabitha stepped forward before anyone could respond. "Sekot has 
requested that Cilghal, Tekli, and Danni Quee remain on Zonama."

Danni looked at Luke in stark confusion. "I thought I'd be going with 
you and Mara to Coruscant."

Luke shook his head. "Sekot obviously feels that you're needed here."

"If I can accept not flying, then you can accept staying here, Jaina said.

Han and Leia traded uneasy looks.

Luke took his lightsaber from his belt, ignited the blade, and he lit 
over his head. Wordlessly, the other Jedi began to follow s Taking note 
of Leia's hesitation, Han nodded in encouragement.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

"Go," he said quietly, "you're as much a Jedi as any of them..."

The Jedi tightened up around Luke, angling their lightsaber
 that the tips pointed toward his, and in the end creating a 
Colorful blades that thrummed ominously in the crisp air. -This 
day has been years in the making. What we do from this
" nt forward will test our fealty to the Force in a way that the 
Jedi 7t been tested in more than a generation. Be mindful that we 
are the purveyors of conflict and inequity, but the guardians of 
peace , :usnce. Above all, we want what the Force wants, no matter 
ohere that leads us. If some of us are not seen again today, that , 
not mean that our actions will have been in vain or will not be
remembered."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

Han looked to those who didn't have lightsabers-the few outside the 
circle: Jabitha, Harrar, and Danni-wondering where he fit in. But he 
added his voice to the rest when they said, as one, "May the force be
with us!"




 




Scepter of Power grasped in his right hand and trailed by a cortege of 
eight slayers, Shimrra marched into the Hall of Convergence, his legs 
propelling him in such long strides that Onimi was compelled to run to 
keep up. Alerted to his approach, everyone present in the vaulted chamber - 
Nom Anor included-had already assumed attitudes of obeisance. The warriors 
were down on one knee, and the four seers had their heads inclined in 
reverent if apprehensive bows. The hall smelled strongly of sacrificial 
blood, yorik coral dust, and incense, and suddenly of floral scents as 
the Supreme Overlord's bare feet crushed the flower petals that had been 
scattered for him.

Shimrra went directly to his ray-backed throne, but sat for only a 
moment before rising and beginning to pace back and forth, a 
confused Onimi following in the wake of the Supreme Overlord's 
pliant flayed-skin robe.

"Why was I summoned from my meditation with the gods. Shimrra demanded 
of no one in particular. "Is my role in our nnal campaign less than 
yours, Supreme Commander Laait?" He gaze balefully at the seers. 
"Or yours?"

Laait remained in genuflection. "Supreme One, the bade that I seek 
audience with you as soon as you would permit..."

"TS Warmaster Nas Choka's inactivity such that he can find time 
communicate with the likes of you?"

"Dread Lord, the warmaster had been anything but idle," Laait o 
4 \vith a hint of exasperation. "Engaged at Muscave, his forces 
over-
, those of our enemy. Thus was he able to dispatch to Zonama tot 
a task force that escorts and safeguards the ailing vessel that is
our secret weapon."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

Shimrra made a fatigued sound. "I need to hear this from your 
mouth, Supreme Commander? Did I not just say that your urgent 
entreaty found me deep in rapport with the gods?"

Laait snapped his fists to his shoulders in salute. "I beg 
forgiveness Great One. Then assuredly you already know that 
Zonama Sekot appeared to be undefended, save for a handful 
of enemy fighters."

"Assuredly."

"And that the task force commander dispatched coralskippers to
engage those fighters."

"What of it?" Shimrra said heatedly. "Would you hold me prisoner here 
with your pointless statements?"

Again Laait snapped his fists. "Of course the gods told you, Lord, 
that the coralskippers have met with resistance from living vessels."

Shimrra came to an abrupt halt and stared at the Supreme Commander.

"Dread Lord," Onimi said, as if to prompt a response. "Living vessels, 
you say," Shimrra said finally. Laait nodded in acknowledgment. 
"Vessels that not only match our coralskippers for size and speed, 
but also are propelled by gravitic infinity, and answer our plasma 
weapons with theirs."

Shimrra pointed to the hall's villip-choir. "I would see an image of 
Aese living vessels!"

Supreme Commander Laait stood and beckoned to the villip misss. Shortly 
                             ??????????????????????????^^^^^^^^
a ghostly image appeared, showing a vessel forged of nooth  rocks,  
dimpled  with  plasma  launchers   and  dovin  basal's placements.
Canting his huge head, Shimrra regarded the glimmering image ln silence.

"The domain commander reported to Warmaster Nas Chok the living vessels 
have sown confusion among our ranks of coral t pers. Worse, the yammosk 
itself is perplexed. It is having troubl ferentiating our vessels from 
the enemy vessels."

Shimrra swung to Laait. "Why hasn't the warmaster ordered domain commander 
to bring his capital vessels to bear on Zonama Sekot?"

"The warmaster wishes to do just that, God-Chosen. He mer I awaits your 
sanction for such an action." Shimrra said nothing.

"Great One?" Laait said carefully, after a long moment had passed.

"What do the seers say of all this?" Onimi interjected into the ensuing 
silence, as if deflecting attention from Shimrra.

"The auguries have left us troubled, Great Lord," their haggish 
spokeswoman said. "The prospect of combating living vessels runs 
counter to the most sacred of our beliefs. Even as a test of our 
worthiness, the gods themselves would never have engineered such 
a sacrilege. We implore you, Lord, to explain how infidels have 
been allowed access to our biotechnology, and been granted sanction 
to create ves-sels that mimic ours."

"There is more, Lord," a second seer said. "Several enemy ships have 
outwitted our dovin basal voids and found their way to the surface 
of Yuuzhan'tar. Even now our primary landing field is threatened."

Shimrra seemed to shake himself out of his daze. "Need I remind any 
of you that I have looked deeply into the eighth cortex, and conversed 
with Yun-Harla herself on these matters?"

The chief seer nodded. "We bear that in mind, Great One, and ask only 
for elucidation. Could the ancient prophecies and revelations be wrong?
Could they have been misinterpreted? Is it possible that the gods have 
not engineered the living vessels as an additional test, but i fact have 
aligned themselves with thcjeedafi"

Shimrra's eyes flared like novas. "Heresy! Heresy-here in my very 
house!" He aimed the scepter at the seers. "You buffoons have ou lived 
your usefulness." He whirled to the slayers. "Rid me of them-

A pair of slayers uncoiled their amphistaffs and advanced on
.nuartet with deadly purpose. The seers offered no resistance, faces 
and extending their thin necks for the stiffened weapons. ,f>rs 
wasted no motions in decapitating them. One of the sev-
11 "iii" Sl*-^ '      "
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

h   Js was still rolling across the floor when a herald entered the
ooGreat Lord, High Priest Jakan, Master Shaper Qelah Kwaad, and I , 
prefect Drathul request audience." Shimrra went to his throne and sat. 
"By all means bid them enter, herald..."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

The elite trio entered in a rush, but lost some of their momentum
on seeing the four headless corpses.

Shimrra smiled faintly. "They had the audacity to doubt my 
interpretation of the revelation." His expression darkened. "Be 
attentive to their present circumstance when you state your concerns."

"We have no concerns, Dread Lord," Drathul said, clearly improvising. 
"On learning of the warmaster's report of living ships, we came to 
offer you praise for your foresight. The Yuuzhan Vong are escalated 
by the gods' willingness to present us with even greater challenges."

"You hastened here to tell me that?" Shimrra asked.

"One question, Lord," Jakan said. "Have the gods furnished these ships 
to the Alliance, or do the ships originate from the living world itself?"

Shimrra gestured in an offhand way to Nom Anor. "Answer him, Prefect. 
Since you are our leading expert on Zonama Sekot."

The object of Jakan and Qelah Kwaad's astonishment, Nom Anor, slouched. 
Taken off his guard, he had to swallow to find his voice.

"Supreme One, I-I know only what I hear from spies among the
heretics. But I-I suspect that there are no living ships." He grew 
"nboldened as he continued. "Instead, I propose that our coral-skipper 
^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????
pilots have fallen victim to Jeedai mind tricks."

Urathul gestured angrily to the villip-image of the living ship. "You 
dismiss that as a Jeedai mind trick?"

Shimrra grinned maniacally. "Answer your superior, Prefect Nom Anor."

Anor straightened his shoulders. "Why not? We know that you are 
capable of projecting false images and putting words in the
mouths of those they would manipulate. We also know that thev h
successfully confused our yammosks in the past."

Shimrra spoke before Drathul could argue the point, "p   f
^iCpt
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

Nom Anor is to be admired for his inventiveness. But, in fact vessel 
our villips show us is no mind trick. In answer to High P o  ^ Jakan's 
question, the gods have tutored the living planet in the ation of 
these monstrosities. But the Jeedai are not responsible " tr paused, 
then said, "It is the heretics who have brought this latest t upon us.
The gods have no desire to award us this galaxy wh'l heretics and 
Shamed Ones walk freely among us. They won't perm' us to deliver the 
poison vessel until we have brought Tuuzhan'tar into balance."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????

Onimi shuffled to the center of the hall. "Great One," he began "Our 
skies breached, our land despoiled; these heretic ravings we can later 
foil..."

"Enough of your insolent rhyming, Shamed One!" Shimrra cut him off. 
"Only by my good graces have you been spared the life led by others 
of your kind. Do you, too, doubt me? Do you, too, harbor fears of 
defeat, and rally suddenly to the heretic cause?"

Onimi fell on his face before the throne. "I remain your most abject 
servant, Lord."

Shimrra ignored him. "The heretics must be eradicated!" He turned to 
the commander of the slayers. "Half the Citadel garrison of warriors 
is to be placed at the right hand of Prefect Nom Anor. He will lead 
them against the heretics and the Shamed Ones. Not one of them is to 
be left alive!"

"Your will be done, Great Lord," the commander said. In unison, the 
slayers turned and snapped their fists in salute to Nom Anor.

Drathul looked from Nom Anor to Shimrra in mounting bewilderment. 
"But what of Yuuzhan'tar, Lord? Our dovin basals are over-whelmed. 
The enemy has made a sieve of our sky..."

"I will deal with those who would profane our soil." Shimrra s 
gaze fell in turn on Jakan, Qelah Kwaad, and Drathul. "Go to t 
Well of the World Brain. I will communicate with it, and prepare 
it for your arrival."

 t, then?" Jakan asked. -By and by, priest."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????

\V'th a motion of his fingertips, Shimrra dismissed everyone, -Vie 
Onimi. As the elite were filing from the hall, Drathul Deluding 
togged Nom Anor aside.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"We know that Commander Ekh'm Val brought a Sekotan ship to
Yuuzhan'tar," he hissed. "You had the opportunity to say as much for
oone to hear, and to put an end to Shimrra's charade. Whose ser-
.'do vou do by concealing the truth now, with our future hanging
in the balance?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

"I serve myself," Nom Anor said evenly.

Drathul shoved him back. "As ever. I would kill you now but for vour 
new legion of bodyguards. But you will die before this day is through, 
Nom Anor. If not by my hand, then by another's."

Nom Anor glanced at Jakan, then at Qelah Kwaad, and finally at 
Onimi, who appeared to be watching him closely. "Stand in line, 
High Prefect," he said at last. "I've no lack of enemies."












A human soldier rapped the knuckles of his gloved hand against the 
circular viewport of Jag's inverted clawcraft. "Hang on a minute,
flyboy," he yelled.

All at once the access hatch above-or under-Jag's head opened, 
and several pairs of hands were reaching inside the cockpit to 
release him from the crash webbing that secured him to the seat.

"Down you go," the same one who had rapped on the viewport
said.

Jag allowed himself to descend into the upraised hands of his
rescuers, and to continue to be supported by them while he was
planted on his feet, with the world spinning around him and the
ood that had gathered in his  head draining back to where it
belonged. Someone removed Jag's helmet and put the mouth of a
canteen to his lips.

When the long moment of dizziness had passed, he saw that the 
vcrait-missing three of its sweeping talon-shaped solar array 
els had crashed upside down in a copse of tangled, fruit-bearing
trees that rose from the middle of an oozy villip paddy. The s 
In-around him wore jet backpacks, holotransceiving helmets, and 
c biosuits. Seen through the snarl of branches overhead, Corm 
bruised sky was torn to ribbons with contrails, meteors, and 
cou       ' dirtbound  coralskippers   and  starfighters.   
Explosions   strobed flashed in tiers behind scudding clouds 
of gray smoke.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????????????????

A haze of smoke lay over the rank-smelling paddy, as well from all 
directions came the reports of concussion missiles and torn does, 
the sizzle and hiss of laser beams, the roar of Yuuzhan Vong beasts, 
the bloodthirsty cries of warriors-all of it reverberating fro the 
sheer faces of yorik coral outcroppings and the digested facades 
of once-grand spacescrapers that studded the terrain.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????

"Is he hurt?" someone asked, loud enough to be heard over the tumult.

Jag recognized the lined face of Captain Judder Page under the 
camouflage cosmetic. Jag patted himself down. "I'm unharmed."

Page swung to his communications aide. "Inform starfighter control 
on Right to Rule that Colonel Fel is groundside and back on his feet."

"Incoming!" came a distant voice.

Page and others dragged Jag to the ground an instant before a swarm 
of thud and razor bugs ripped through the gnarled trees, stripping 
leaves and oval-shaped fruits from the branches, and knocking down 
entire limbs. Two deafening explosions followed in succession and 
the storm of projectile biots abated.

A flight of black-striped bright yellow X-wings streaked over the 
treetops, firing quad bursts at some unseen target. Page, Jag, and 
the others crouched, then slowly got to their feet. Combat droids 
armored with laminanium had formed a perimeter at the edge of the 
trees. Close to what remained of Jag's clawcraft, two medical 
droids were field-dressing wounds sustained by a couple of humans 
and Bothans.

Page stuck out his hand. "I'm Captain..."

"I know who you are," Jag said. "Thank you for coming to my aid."

Page shrugged off the gratitude and motioned to the men o
 o j, of him. 

"Garik Loran," he said, naming the shaven-skulled

"Kell Tainer," naming the one with the receding hairline. 

K  \V aith Squadron," Jag said, shaking hands with each of 
them. "I th of you on Borleias." He glanced at Page. "Just 
before my ft was hit, I saw number two transport crash." 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

He nodded grimly. "Grutchins took it down and chewed their way -
he hull We've sent a squad to search the canyon for survivors."
through me "

"Captain Page," a young Bothan interrupted. "We've made contact 
with the indigenous force."

Tas Page, and the pair of Wraith Squadron Intelligence operatives 
d to see four Yuuzhan Vong males being ushered through the rimeter. 
The humanoids were scarcely scarred compared to most of rhe Yuuzhan 
Vong warriors Jag had seen, but all had pronounced deformities, some
of the face, others of the limbs. Shamed Ones, he thought.

The tallest and most deformed of the four executed a facsimile of an 
Alliance salute. "Take us to your leaders," he said in Basic, as if by
rote.

Garik Loran and Kell Tainer exchanged skeptical glances. "Who
taught you to say that?" Loran asked.

"I did," someone answered in a clipped Coruscanti accent, as the same 
Shamed One was pressing his forefinger to his ear, presumably to adjust 
the fit of a translating tizowyrm.

A tall, lean, dark-haired human appeared from the trees, beaming
at the two Wraiths.

"Son of a blaster," Tainer said, smiling.

Jag was familiar with the name Baljos Arnjak. Also a Wraith,
Arnjak had remained behind on Coruscant following the combined
faith/Jedi infiltration mission almost two years earlier. With him
ked a thin but dashing-looking middle-aged man, with reddish
> bright even teeth, and deeply tanned skin.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Smiling broadly, Page immediately shook hands with the man, n Pulled 
him into a mutually back-slapping embrace. "I always fig-you'd 
survive," Page said when the two had stepped away from other. he 
handsome  man  motioned  to  the  four Yuuzhan Vong.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

 his battered freighter, Millennium Falcon, which, with Sekot's
was now Pafked on its landing disks and warming along-
ission, vv<" ^~.- r	
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

\tara Skywalker's Jade Shadow. Word of the  conflagrations j'nfr 
across Yuuzhan'tar had come from Booster Terrik, the spreaui'-&
Inmate link in a communications chain that began with the com-
do team that had penetrated Yuuzhan'tar's defenses, and had 
included  the  giant warships  Right to Rule and  Mon 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"Thanks to them, I did. Their heretic group rescued me and a K
of others from what would have been some serious bloodlett'
one of the temples."

Page turned to Jag. "Fel, meet Major Pash Cracken." Jag nodded in 
greeting. Coruscant was suddenly starting to feel like the Veterans' 
Home.

"How long will it take us to reach Westport from here?" Page 
saying.

"It would have taken about an hour, but we're too late." Crack 
beckoned for everyone to follow him to the perimeter. Once there 
he gestured to the northern horizon, which was a solid bank of 
billowin smoke.

"The entire sacred precinct is up in flames," Cracken said. 

Page pressed a blaster into Jag's gloved right hand. "Welcome to 
the commandos, Colonel."












"The fires are Shimrra's doing," Harrar said. "The Supreme Overlord 
has asked the World Brain to set Yuuzhan'tar ablaze-to prevent anyone 
from occupying it." The priest sounded despondent. "Shimrra wouldn't 
have done this unless he fears defeat. Either that or the proximity 
of Zonama Sekot has deranged him."

"Whether he's desperate or mad, we have him on the run," Han said, 
elated.

Harrar gazed at those around him. Judging by the nods of agreement, 
the always entertaining and sometimes perplexing Han Solo was 
expressing the sentiment of everyone gathered at the landing 
platform-his wife, Leia; Master Luke Skywalker and his wife, 
Mara; the twins Jacen and Jaina; Yuuzhan Vong-marked Tahiri; the 
military-minded Jedi Kenth Hamner; Zonama Sekot's Magister Jabitha; 
the two numerically named machine intelligences-droids-who sometimes 
seemed as alive as their makers and owners; and the pair Noghri, who 
appeared at once to be bodyguards, familiars, an friends.

The rest of the Jedi had taken to the skies in the Sekotan ships, or 
had been lofted by shuttle to their orbiting war craft. Han J° had 
ridden up the gravity well with the Wild Knights, but only
 \{othtna-
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????

"How could even Shimrra convince the dhuryam to do something
harmful to Yuuzhan'tar?" Jacen asked.

"All things Yuuzhan Vong answer to Shimrra," Harrar said. "The Hhuryam 
is responsible for integrating the activities of all our planet-haping 
biots. It is not a servant, but a partner-fully intelligent, fully aware, 
capable of making decisions based on information it receives from 
telepathically linked creatures, and from the Supreme Overlord himself.
But Shimrra may have convinced the dhuryam that intense fires were needed 
to open latent seedpods, so that trees could grow to replace those lost 
during the recent landquakes. He may have sug-gested to the dhuryam that 
it fashion clearings in the forests, so that saplings might glean 
additional light, as well as nourishment from trees felled and reduced 
to ash by the fires."

"All the more reason for us to get to Shimrra wow," Han said, pacing 
at the foot of the Millennium Fa-Icon's landing ramp. "If Page got
his transports past the dovin basals, I know I can get the Falcon 
through."

Harrar shook his head.

"What now?" Han asked, planting his hands on his hips in a posture 
of impatience.

"Capturing or killing Shimrra may not be enough to save the
Planet. Actions taken by the World Brain are incontrovertible. Once
asked, it cannot be swayed to alter its plan-even by Shimrra." Harrar
anced at the Skywalkers. "If you are to save your capital world, the
Brain, too, will have to be destroyed."

"You can't do that, Harrar," Jacen snapped. Harrar looked at the young 
Jedi. "Then go to it, and persuade it otherwise."
 
"That's our job," Han said suddenly, reaching for Leia's hand. With the 
other Jedi, Magister Jabitha, and the pair  V "^ gazing at him in sudden 
alarm, he added: "D'you think we ° going to give the rest of you a ride 
there?" He jerked his thur     " JUst Millennium Falcon. "This ship ain't 
no air taxi." He snortec then grew solemn. "Besides, we started this 
together in thT( Rim, and we're going to end it together."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

"Or his name isn't Han Solo," Leia said, in a way that amusement and resignation.

Han grinned in a lopsided fashion. "Took the words rieht my mouth."









Three hundred armored warriors borrowed from the Citadel garrison and on 
loan to Prefect Nom Anor raced through the squares and byways of the 
sacred precinct like an avenging army, putting coufee and amphistaff to 
every heretic and Shamed One who hadn't had sense enough to go into 
hiding-which turned out to be many.

Hundreds. Thousands.

Enraptured by the prophesied arrival of Zonama Sekot, certain that 
thousand-eyed Yun-Shuno would guarantee their passage to a beatific 
afterlife, exulting in their newfound freedom-however short-lived-
-confident that Shimrra and the elite would be overthrown, the 
heretics were fervent to martyr themselves. Ostracized because of 
Physiological defects rather than committed sins, forced to live in 
the shadow of the un-Shamed and under the scrutiny of merciless gods, 
"ty of trespasses they couldn't begin to imagine and would spend Le 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
rest of their miserable lives attempting to understand, they had at 
st err>braced their peculiarities and cast their lot with the Jedi. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????
There was simply no holding them back. Carried  along   by  sheer 
 exuberance,   proclaiming  their  long-rdue equality and salvation 
for all to hear, they poured from their hidey-holes like ngdins at 
a sacrifice-and indeed thousands meter-long blood soakers followed 
them out into rapidly dark daylight, assured of more than the usual
share of glossy black nu Yuuzhan'tar had become a feeding frenzy for 
warriors who h have known better, and for biots that were doing only 
what the been bred to do.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????

Gazing down on the Place of Hierarchy, Nom Anor was still dumb  by 
the  butchery for which he was responsible - thank Shimrra - and yet 
was powerless to thwart. He could no more c mand the warriors to desist 
than he could convince the Shamed O to flee. He was, as ever, caught 
in the middle, though placed there b his own schemes, lies, and 
masquerades.

The realization made him desperate. The insatiable warrior pack had 
worked its way south from the Citadel, through Vistu and Numesh, 
across bridges and down alleyways, slaughtering wherever they
fared, until they had entered the public place that of late had 
become the heretics' hallowed ground, owing to the many who already 
died there during demonstrations and riots.

It was immediately clear that the warriors had merely been practicing
up until this point. For now, trapped in the Place of Hierarchy was a 
crowd into which they could wade like thrashing biots. Before them 
stood those responsible for keeping the Yuuzhan Vong from total
victory at Zonama Sekot. These were the ones who would pay, against 
whom the warriors could exorcise their fear and confusion- even if 
those they put to death were as innocent as they were Shameless. 
But the horror had scarcely commenced-with war cries answered by 
agonized screams-when fires began to break out in many of the 
quake-damaged structures that walled the place, including the 
prefecTory and the Temple of the Lovers, Yun-Txiin and Yun-Q'aah.

For a moment Nom Anor was certain that the sudden blazes were the 
result of firebomb strafings  by Alliance starfighters that has
punched through Coruscant's dovin basal voids. From his vantage a 
the top of the flight of yorik coral stairs that fronted the 
prefectory h could see that similar conflagrations were raging 
in all precincts or t city, and beyond. Flaring from the vegetation 
that cloaked the bu

 , re the tops of buildings and towers, the flames were being car-d 
bv the wind to all quarters r the hot swirling wind also brought 
the foul odor of marsh gas o    T Anor's flattened nostrils, and 
he swung around in disbelief to cavalcade of firebreathing Yuuzhan 
Vong beasts bobbing over "the cityscape.

Quickly he lifted his gaze.

There were too few starfighters in the sky to account for so many
and no evidence of orbital bombardment, turbolaser bolts, or
ton torpedoes. Then he understood, and his heart filled with such
neuish that he dropped to his knees and remained there until he had
caught his breath and regained his senses.

Shimrra was responsible!

Beyond reason, beyond madness, the Supreme Overlord had struck a deal 
with the dhuryam to destroy Coruscant-Nom Anor's Coruscant! With the 
same ruthlessness that had allowed him to dis-patch Warmaster Nas 
Choka's armada on a suicide mission to poison Zonama Sekot, Shimrra 
had decided to eradicate all things Yuuzhan Vong. He had become the 
Yuuzhan Vong-specific poison he had fab-ricated for the elite-if only 
to spite gods he had once professed not to believe in!

Nom Anor railed and shook his fists at the smoke- and ember-filled sky.
/ should have killed you when I had the chancel

He struggled to his feet, his expression growing more grave with every 
centimeter of elevation. His fists were balled, and his one eye blazed. 
His near-lipless mouth was drawn back, and his muscles were bunched under 
his thin garments. His sloped forehead was as inflamed as the city itself.

He stiffened his arm, catching in the windpipe a warrior too dis-
acted by blood lust to see the blow coming. The warrior fell to the
s ePs gurgling, clutching his throat, eyes squeezed tight in pain. Nom
lQr summoned the warrior's amphistaff to come to him, and with
e strike put the choking soldier out of his misery. He descended the
1 °ad staircase in a stupor, shucking out of the green robe and turban
 that identified him as an intendant. At the foot of the broad ci- o
stains K grabbed the tattered robeskin of a slain Shamed One and, domy
began to shoulder his way into the Place of Hierarchy, ignorin "" 
bloodshed occurring on all sides and aiming for a tall rubble pi]e ? 
center of the square. Short of the pile, a warrior rushed him, fo o ? him 
to step back and fight, amphistaff against amphistaff. Pan-vine* 8
y ii& t\\"o blows, Nom Anor ducked down and slashed his opponent across
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????
knees; then rose, bringing the sharp end of the serpentine wean 
diagonally across the warrior's face. The warrior screamed and raise his 
hands, and Nom Anor speared him through the neck.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????

With bodies falling all around him, he scrambled up the njle There, alone 
at the summit, he loosed a bloodcurdling scream and raised the arm around 
which the living weapon was curled.

"I am Yu'shaa, the Prophet!" he yelled at the top of his lungs "Our hour 
is at hand! I will lead you to victory!"

A long moment of stunned silence fell over the Place of Hierarchy. Then 
a roar went up from the oppressed, and they surged against the warriors, 
crude weapons cleaving, black blood streaming and misting into the air, 
fiery embers cycloning about them like a sacrament from the gods!










From one hundred thousand kilometers out, Coruscant was a vortex of 
destruction, lanced from all directions by turbolaser bolts, mottled 
by yawning dovin basal singularities, lit from within by flaring explosions.

"This party's just the way we left it," Han said as the Falcon streaked 
for the embattled galactic center.

"I missed that one, Dad," Jaina said flatly from the copilot's chair.

"Me, too," Jacen said from behind her. Peripherally, Han saw his son 
glance at the Yuuzhan Vong priest in the adjacent chair. "Harrar and 
I were on a worldship over Myrkr."

Regretting his facile statement, Han went back to attending to the 
Falcon's instruments.

The fall of Coruscant had been among the worst days of his lire-" 
almost as horrible as when Chewbacca had died at Sernpidal. images 
of the evacuation were burned into his memory: luuz  hurling themselves 
and hostages against the planetary shields, a 1     in of flaming 
spacecraft, he and Leia trying to flee Eastport kv Ben, C-3PO, a YVH 
droid, and a potted ladalum . . . Their sabotaged at the Falcon's 
docking bay by a disguised Senator Shesh and an innocent twelve-year-old 
kid named Dab Hantaq- _-\vho happened to bear a likeness to young Anakin. 
The death of Adarakh, Leia's bodyguard, at Shesh's hand. The sky dazzled 
by plasma balls.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????

Towers crumbling, people stampeding for the few starliners and vernment 
yachts that remained on the surface . . .

And light-years away at the Inner Rim world of Myrkr, Anakin diving 
Jaina fleeing in a stolen enemy ship, Jacen in the clutches of 
Veregere-captured or rescued, depending on how you looked at it. 
Han squeezed his eyes shut in recalled despair.

"oParty" Harrar said abruptly. "Many of our warriors use that term 
to describe combat engagements. You have the makings of a Supreme 
Commander, Han Solo."

Han laughed shortly, recalling that Jacen had said that the priest 
was fascinated with him. "Thanks for thinking of me, Harrar, but no 
matter what anyone says about it, I happen to like my face just the way
it is."

Jacen and an uneasy Harrar had taken the cockpit's rear chairs after 
Leia and Luke had climbed into the quad laser turrets. Mara, Kenth, 
Tahiri, Cakhmaim, Meewalh, and the droids were in the forward 
compartment. At the cost of some discretionary power, Han planned 
to keep the Falcon's artificial gravity enabled for as long as possible,
if only to prevent everyone from being bounced all over the ship.

Alliance capital vessels were concentrating fire along the transitor
P well into Coruscant's bright side, but the battle was raging plan-
We. Star Destroyers, cruisers, and frigates were still vectoring in
°m hyperspace routes rarely used since the days of the Old Republic,
enemy forces were blasting up the gravity well to reinforce the
'nse flotilla. The Yuuzhan Vong were widely dispersed but consol-
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????
d over the equator, above What had been Imperial/New Republic
w> in the western hemisphere. The Alliance had yet to press any
capital   ships   through   the   blockade   of kilometer-long   
w studded vessels, but hundreds of starfighters had penetrated 
lines and were attacking the arrays of dovin basals in orbit at 
th of Coruscant's atmosphere.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????
Now it was the Falcon's turn to try to slip past.

It was the opposite of what Han had had to do to get the fre'
safely off Zonama Sekot. There the upper reaches of the envelon  
K been a dizzying clash of coralskippers and Sekotan fighters   
P what Luke had been able to gather from Kyp and the other Jedi 
n'l the sight of living ships had thrown the skips into disarray. 
But th' Jedi had also discovered that Magister Jabitha hadn't been 
understati anything when she had said that the Sekotan ships were 
for defens only. As often as not, the fleet fighters wouldn't fire 
unless fired upon and for all their astounding alacrity, they weren't 
flying circles around the coralskippers so much as matching them 
maneuver for maneuver
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????????????

Two hundred thousand kilometers from the living world drifted 
the enemy task force that had delivered the coralskippers, along 
with the yammosk-carrying clustership that was guiding them.

It was still anyone's guess why Warmaster Nas Choka had sent a 
splinter group to Zonama Sekot, but it stood to reason that the 
Yuuzhan Vong wouldn't wait long before bringing their capital 
ships to bear on the planet. Although Errant Venture and Tenel 
Ka's flotilla of Hapan Battle Dragons and .Nora-class cruisers 
were reported to be on the way, it was unlikely that they could 
prevail against the task force. Engaged in a ferocious battle near 
Muscave, Wedge Antilles and Keyan Farlander wouldn't be able to lend 
support until Kre'fey's First Fleet arrived to relieve them.

With so much action in the Coruscant system-from Vandor 3 clear to 
the Ulabos ice bands-Han had considered staging the Falcon through 
a series of microjumps. Ultimately, however, he had decide' to jump 
the ship directly to Coruscant. They had reverted to realspa" behind 
Alliance lines, but close enough to their target to be staggere by 
what they saw. Green and white where it had once been a sheen 
artificial light, orbited by the remains of a shattered moon, its 
P° caps reduced to icebergs . . . Coruscant might as well have beei 
unfamiliar world.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????

 tone sounded from the comm board, and a baritone voice
A from the cockpit annunciators.  "Millennium Falcon, this is
^ule control. Your best insertion point is presently at Bacta
pip-ht-one-seven. gut we'U keep yOU updated on the situation."
, ei&
'na leaned forward to study the tactical display. "Copy that,
. j   tg Rule. And thanks for the help."
V -Millennium Falcon, Grand Admiral Pellaeon wishes you good
fortune."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????

"Tell him the same from us," Han said into the headset mouthpiece.
Pellaeon's Fourth Fleet, which included a trio of Star Destroyers 
d an assortment of Strike- and Carrack-class cruisers, was pounding 
he Yuuzhan Vong battle group. In several sectors the orbital dovin 
basals had been overwhelmed by the barrage, but Alliance command 
was using the debilitated zones only as corridors for the 
infiltration of troop ships and squadrons of escort starfighters.

"Your warmaster appears to be deferring to Jacen Solo's report 
that bombardment will prompt the World Brain to render the planet 
unfit for habitation," Harrar said into Han's right ear.

Gazing at the turmoil planetside, Han said, "Looks to me like the 
World Brain is doing a pretty good job of that without having to be
prompted."

The Falcon was closing on the insertion point when two X-wings
appeared to either side of it.

"Good to see you, Millennium Falcon" one of the pilots said over 
the tactical net. "Mind if we ride down with you?" 

"Who's escorting who?" Jaina asked. 

"Let's call it a party of three," the other pilot said. 

"Party," Harrar murmured.

The spacecraft that housed the orbital dovin basals might have been
agments of Coruscant's deliberately smashed moon, but the voids
:Y generated were as large as shock-ball stadiums. With the X-wings
essing close, Han sent the Falcon on her starboard side to edge
toeen two gaping shield singularities. The ship wasn't through the
itra" when a third void yawned.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????

reed that thing something!" Jaina said over the net. e starfighter 
pilots responded by paying out pairs of proton
thrusters to nuzzle the Falcon close enough so that ^    ^	^ dovin 
basals, the powerful guns began to make immecuate
the frerghter around the void and threw'it de p^^	W v     ct P^g 
away at the sMps' yorik coral hulls. A final burst from
Bnh,r,   w, A;A ^ "_. ,.,.u .L_ .___       ,.	PCr mt° ^ atrno.	
strips,*°PP^ ^^ sent one of the craft colliding into the other.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????

"Nice'work!" Han said. "Now see if you can get rid of the other
torpedoes. Instantly warped off course, the glowing Oru ingested 
by the gravitic anomaly. With the dovin basal mom distracted, Han 
called on the sublight drives for a burst of SD rocketed the Falcon 
past the maw. Yet another singularity On front of the ship, but this 
time Han made careful use of the K -e sphere. He did the same with 
                               ^^^^^???????????????????????????????
the succeeding quartet of wells the gravitic distortions to sling the 
ship in an elongated double-S ft one to the next.

The Falcon shook and shuddered, and the engines roared ' protest, 
but the gambit worked to keep the ship from being wrench rf off 
course. One of the X-wings wasn't as fortunate. Even while the 
pilot was attempting to confuse the dovin basal with stutterfire 
and two remaining torpedoes, the creature's singularity reached 
out and grabbed the starfighter, which disintegrated before it 
disappeared entirely.

The Falcon swooped lower on a sinuous tail of blue energy, but 
the gauntlet didn't end with the dovin basals. A matalok cruiser 
racing up the well caught sight of the freighter and spewed a volley 
of magma missiles from its starboard-side plasma launchers.

"Diverting power to the deflectors," Jaina said, without being asked.

Han yawed hard to port, and began weaving through the storm of ejecta. 
The X-wing that had ridden in on the Falcon's tail hung close, but 
couldn't keep pace with the larger ship. Han tried to swerve back 
on course to shield the starfighter, but even the Falcon was capable 
of only so much twisting and veering. Molten rock splashed against 
the Falcon's screens, but the main body of the salvo flooded over 
the mandibles and caught the hapless X-wing head-on.

Han bit back a curse and leaned into the control yoke, dropping the 
Falcon like a stone, straight for the ascending matalok. Intent c
 squaring off with the cruiser, he had the concussion missile 
launcW armed when the proximity alarms began to blare.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????

"Four skips to starboard!" Jaina said. "Intercept course!

Han performed a lightning-fast pushover. "Give your mom your uncle 
a heads-up!"

 o laving their customary contempt for evasive tactics, the skips 
nks and came at the Falcon from separate vectors, firing at r^nee 
Han heard the top and belly quad lasers begin to chuff
tferfle ^   & der and banked slightly to starboard to place two of 
the hos- rhe Money Lane. Outwitting the shield singularities generated 
h   dovin basals, the powerful guns began to make immediate
'	al hulls. A final burst from I "
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????
two!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^???????????????????????????????

Again the reciprocating guns began to clack, loosing bright green
Ivos of devastating energy at the Falcon's pursuers. Voids formed 
instantly at the blunt noses of the wedge-shaped skips, and most 
of the quad bursts were swallowed, but some of Luke's bolts got 
through, and hunks of yorik coral flew off into space. Abruptly 
the lead skip peeled away and tried to attach itself to the Falcon 
in what would have been the kill zone of an ordinary ship.

Han merely applied power, rolled, and dived for the surface. Plasma 
projectiles streamed from the frustrated skip, but all it received 
for the effort were answering barrages of laserfire. Struck repeatedly, 
the coralskipper wobbled as pieces of its wide stern were blown away. 
Crippled, the skip went into a helpless wiggle, then com-menced a 
long fall toward the planet, trailing a plume of smoke and
yorik coral dust.

The surviving skip held position through the Falcon's corkscrewing
dive and continued firing. As plasma ranged closer, Han boosted
power to the rear shields and narrowed the ship's profile by pulling a
snap-roll that lifted the Falcon onto her starboard side. Luke and Leia
tnggered out-of-phase bursts, which began to wear down the dovin
asal and penetrate the small voids it was managing to produce. 
Sustaining convergent strikes to the bow, the skip reared up and split
apart.

Ihe Falcon flashed out of her evasive maneuvers, then banked l(% and 
                            ???????????????????????????????^^^^^
darted for clear space. Raising the bow, Han leveled out and arced 
for the horizon.

"Let Luke know I'm deactivating the artificial gravity," he told
 Jaina. "If he knows what's good for him he'll climb out of th turret."

Shortly, the Falcon was wending through forested spires th east of 
the sacred precinct. Below were villip paddies, intercon   ^ orange-
-tinted lakes, and yorik coral quarries-some containing  u in their 
formative stages. Flames mushroomed and stabbed fro deep canyons, and 
microstorms carried burning vegetation to distant patches of woodland.

"We've been spotted," Jaina said.  "Coralskippers approach' from the 
south."

Han punched the throttle, whipping the freighter up and over burning 
mound, then dropped down over the expansive plain from which Imperial/
/New Republic City had grown. He had to keen reminding himself that 
he wasn't flying over hills but over buried struc-tures; that what 
appeared to be an escarpment had been a kilometers-long block of 
residential buildings; that the geometric craters dotting the landscape 
were the foundations of the great edifices themselves, now filled with 
cobalt-blue water or lush forest.

"Better switch us over to the tactical frequency," he said.

No sooner had Jaina reset the dials on the comm board than a tone 
sounded.

"Homing beacon," she told Han. A map of the Yuuzhan Vong-formed 
governmental district resolved on the terrain-following sensor 
screen. Jaina tapped her forefinger against a pulsing bezel. "That's 
our rally point."

What should have come into view was Mount Umate, highest peak of the 
Manarai Mountains. But what came into view instead was a massive 
crater encompassing all of what had once been Monument Plaza. Perched 
on the protruding permacrete shoulders of the ruined arena were flocks 
of winged creatures similar to the seabirdlike fuer Han and Leia had 
seen at Selvaris. At the base of the ancient uplift not far from where 
the Kallarak Amphitheater should have been, \va another immense crater, 
whose thickly forested floor was in Ham On the steep slopes, herds of 
six-legged beasts and packs of panic lizard hounds were trying 
desperately to scrabble to safety.
  
solar orn o smoke was denser at the outskirts of the sacred precinct, 
toort, where the Solos had lived and Han had kept the Falcon ,   w^,s 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????????
a memory.  Dirigiblelike, flame-spewing monstrosities .  .j anj bobbed 
through the ruins of Skydome Botanical Gar-Column Commons, and Calocour 
Heights. Wherever Han ' 1 he saw evidence of the incredible damage 
wrought by ranged s and crashed Golan Defense Platforms, skyhooks, 
and Orbital Fnerey Transfer Satellites. Buildings that had stood for 
a thou-had either been reduced to rubble or become trellises
sand years -  rofuse alien vegetation. Fires raged on the surface and
smoke lYllowed into the sky. Through gaps in the clouds, Han could dis-
-	rn crowds of Yuuzhan Vong civilians running every which way in
pandemonium.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????????

Pursued anew by coralskippers, the Falcon raced across the devastated 
cityscape, then down into blazing chasms and corridors thick with roiling 
smoke. The landscape was jagged with ferrocrete debris; the remains of 
superstructures jutted up at odd angles, like experi-mental sculpture.

"This place isn't worth saving," Jaina said in a stricken voice.

"Shimrra   obviously   feels   the   same,"   Harrar   said,   equally
disheartened.

Homing in on the beacon, Han veered the Falcon slightly north
and began a slow descent through the smoke. He realized that they
were going to be setting down at the western terminus of the Gli-
tannai Esplanade-but principally because the map display established
.s much. Formerly a stretch of fashionable shops and restaurants
spread across the spacious rooftops of Judicial Plaza, the Glitannai was
">°w a deep canyon, spanned in a few places by organiform bridges
'd channeling a flow of Whitewater toward the Citadel.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????????

Aware of the Falcon's approach, Alliance soldiers began to appear
1 a spacious sheltered balcony that jutted out over the former
3rnenade and had been secured by commandos for use as a landing
-o Engaging the repulsorlifts, Han steered the ship onto the ledge
t her settle down on her landing gear. Just to be on the safe side,
Wered the repeating blaster from its hidden compartment in the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????????  
forward hull, and activated the interrupter template that woi I n vent 
the weapon from damaging the landing ramp or hardstand.

Last to file from the cockpit, Han found Leia, Luke, Mara T and Kenth 
waiting in the ring corridor, already sheathed in bi While Jacen and 
Jaina were slipping into their suits, he palmed bulkhead switch that 
extended the entry ramp.

"Cakhmaim,    Meewalh,"    he    shouted    toward    the
e olu compartment. "You and the droids remain aboard. We're not
to be here long."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????????Heads ducked, the Jedi landing party scrambled down the ram. 
A scorching, debris-laden wind was howling across the balcon -
tearing at the enviro-suits worn by the soldiers who approached 
th ship.

"Welcome home," Judder Page said, shouting to be heard as two 
A-wings streaked low overhead. 

"To, as we like to call it, 'Necropolis.' "

Like his comrades, Page was wearing a jet pack and helmet, and 
carrying a blaster rifle. Along the lip of the balcony stood a 
dozen YVH droids. Han wasn't surprised to spy a couple of Wraiths 
among the commando platoon, but Pash Cracken was the last person 
he had expected to see.

Jaina was even more stunned to see Jag Fel, who was waiting with a 
few others for a shuttle that would convey them to Westport, where 
there were starfighters that needed pilots. Jaina hurried to Jag 
while Page began to brief Luke, Kenth, Mara, and Jacen on the 
situation planetside.

"The Shamed Ones are up in arms, but word has it that Shimrra has 
issued an extermination order. He's blaming them for every reversal 
the Yuuzhan Vong have faced, and is determined to see every last 
one of them die, along with Coruscant itself."

"How fortified is the sacred precinct?" Luke asked, as the wind 
whipped his hair about his face.

"Several thousand ground troops, some reptoid slave soldiers." Cracken 
said, "but not much in the way of air support." He no to the flashing sky.
"Most of the skips have gone upside."

"The better for us," Luke said.

Jaina stepped into the howling wind to embrace her brother and 
then hugged Jacen as if she wasn't going to let him go. She 
did 'me with Jaina after Jaina had said hello and good-bye to 
Jag. 

"Luke," Leia started to say. 

"They're in my keeping, Leia," he said of Jaina and Jacen. "But all
are in the custody of the Force."

Han embraced his children and Mara, and clamped his hands on > 
tops of Luke's shoulders. "We've been in worse straits than this,
right?"

Luke grinned. "More times than I can count."

Han nodded soberly. "Then maybe we should make this one count as the 
last one."

"I'll abide by that if you will."

"You just watch me."

Han put his arm around Leia and began to lead her back to the Falcon 
after the Jedi, Page's Commandos, and the YVH droids had moved out. 
At the ramp Leia blew out her breath and looked up at him.

"For our next trick ..."

"We set a course for the World Brain."

"And when we get there?"

Han compressed his lips.  "I'm  hoping Harrar'll think of something."

The living ship forged from the seed-partners to which Kyp had bonded 
soared soundlessly and effortlessly through Zonama Sekot's tormented 
sky. In pairs and trios, coralskippers pierced the planet's envelope 
to attack the vessels the planet itself had fashioned to frus-trate 
them, but so far none had made it through to the surface. The e\v 
that had succeeded in getting past the Jedi pilots had been repelled 
by Zonama itself, with powerful updrafts or unseen gravity nerators 
that had hurled the skips to the edge of space-repulsed in the way 
that reminded Kyp of magnets, when their like poles were brought 
into contact.

Kyp and one coralskipper pilot in particular had been testing and
toying with each other for far too long, but each time Kyp had 
H a bead on the skip the Sekotan ship's weapons had failed, or 
n refused to fire. The same was true with the skip, whose 
contr |i yammosk, falsely perceiving that the pilot was firing 
on another brood, would whisk the coralskipper through a turn 
to sabota shots. As acutely as Kyp could feel the gravitic tugs 
from the mosk, he could also feel draws and joggles from Sekot. 
Zonarna's sciousness was manipulating the Jedi ships into flying
with the s unsettling sense of conformity displayed by the flights 
of coralskinn Yuuzhan Vong and Jedi ships alike were part of a 
zigzagging aeri I dance that was being choreographed from afar.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

Against almost any of the enemies that had massed to test the 
durability of the New Republic during the past twenty years, a 
dozen Sekotan ships, a Skipray blastboat, and a couple of X-wings 
wouldn't have been adequate to protect an entire world. But the 
Yuuzhan Vong were not an ordinary enemy, and Zonama Sekot was 
hardly an ordi-nary world.

True to the behavior they had demonstrated from the start, the 
Yuuzhan Vong had their own rules of engagement, centering on 
challenge, honor, and persistence to the last. In the same way 
that their priests placed themselves at the service of a pantheon 
of cruel gods, the pilots of their war vessels surrendered 
individual action to obey the commands of the tentacled creature
that coordinated them in battle. Their sense of honor was as 
distorted by their slavish devotion to sac-rifice as local space 
was warped by the dovin basals that propelled and shielded their 
weapons. Over and above what the Alliance had accom-plished, it 
was the Yuuzhan Vong's unswerving subordination to the will of 
the gods and the importance of captives that had cost them hundreds 
of vessels and countless lives at Ebaq 9, Obroa-skai, and other 
arenas. As extraordinary as they were as a species-and as warriors -
it was foolhardy courage and inflexibility that could end i costing 
them Zonama Sekot, as well.

That was assuming that the Jedi would eventually grow cornroi able 
with piloting the Sekotan ships, Kyp mused. Merely settling intc the 
pulsing red-and-green cockpits had required resolve. The canof was 
similar to the mica-like transparency of a coralskipper, but,
in the cockpit, it was warm to the touch. Comparable to a 
ation yoke, accelerator, and weapons trigger, the main control 
ally reached up and wrapped around his right hand, molding to 
way some of the controls of Centerpoint Station were it  
tif-        * . d to have molded to Anakin Solo's hand.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

The console was an organiform surround of control levers that
bled ligaments, switches that had the resiliency of blisters or 
cal- and tracking displays as fluid as those on a Mon Calamari
oser   Odors that were by turn cloying and sharp pervaded the
-kpit, as if encouraging the pilot to make use of olfactory cues, as
oell as audiovisual and tactile ones.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

More important, the ship engaged a pilot's mind in a kind of telepathic 
dialogue. There was no astromech droid to report on the status of the 
systems; no cognition hood interface, as on the stolen Yuuzhan Vong 
vessel that had come to be called Trickster. But the Sekotan ship 
incorporated some of the qualities of each by speaking telepathically
to the pilot. The ship didn't have a voice-it wasn't telepathy on the 
order of that honed by the Jedi-but Kyp could sense what the vessel 
was feeling and thinking, the way he had been able to sense the 
feelings of the crazy little seed-partners that had clung to him.

All this came standard with the ship-as well as with the ships Zonama 
Sekot had furnished for the lucky few Old Republic-era pilots who had 
been wealthy enough to afford them, and who had formed the requisite 
attachment to seed-partners. But as Han Solo was forever saying about 
the Millennium Falcon, some special modifi-cations had been made to 
the Jedi ships. Like coralskippers, the ships were capable of hurling 
plasma, but unlike coralskippers they lacked shields, relying instead 
on astonishing nimbleness. Absent ion drives, heat exchangers, exhaust 
ports, or anything resembling conventional lgme components, the ships 
were faster than A-wings and more maneuverable than TIE fighters.

Kyp was beginning to think of them as the Sekotan equivalent of
lightsabers. The pilot didn't have to be a Jedi-flying the ships didn't
oquire a special connection to the Force-but a ship's ability to per-
^ appeared to be directly related to the degree to which a pilot could
ender him- or herself, become egoless and empty. Saba, Lowbacca,
and Tarn Azur-Jamin-whose call signs were Hisser, Streak, and n 
respectively-were demonstrating this to be the case. Kyp was in the 
maneuvers they were executing, to the point that he sornetim focus on 
the battle itself. Despite his talents, his mastery ofthe For had yet 
to be able to take his ship through similar moves.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

Or was it that the ship was having trouble taking him thro similar moves?

Kyp's comlink toned. Over the past few years-since Mvrkr	h
Jedi had become adept at communicating with one another throu
Force-melds, but between attending to the Sekotan ships and flvine'
-    o ^n the atmosphere of the living world, these melds were proving 
difficult to sustain.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

"Kyp, you getting the hang of these things?" Corran Horn asked the 
intership comlink transmission was being relayed through Jade Shadow, 
which was in stationary orbit at the edge of the battle zone unpiloted, 
but slave circuit and all countermeasures enabled.

"I've been wondering if the ship is having trouble getting the hang 
of me."

"You and me both. I did a lot better with the Sekotan ship Tahiri and 
I piloted from Coruscant. I mean, I know I'm targeting correcdy, but 
a lot of my shots are going wide-even when there aren't voids standing 
between me and the target."

"Something about Sekot's need for us not to be killers."

"I've got a theory about that," Corran said, "but I'll save it for 
another time."

"Then why are we up here-just for show?"

"Maybe it's the same between Sekot and us as it is between the ships 
and us. Sekot's still trying to get a feel for us. Once that happens, 
we'll be able to target more accurately."

"So I should think of this as some kind of insane simulation," 1e said.
                 ?????????????????????????????????????????????^^^
"With one difference. It's the ships that are learning."

Kyp thought about this statement after he signed off with Corn Perhaps 
it wasn't only this ships that were learning. Why had !
partners bonded to some Jedi and not others? Why him and not Jai
i A Saba Was there anything to the fact that Kyp had destroyed a woria,
 ne destroyed, and both Alema and Corran held themselves lvld ^""hh for 
the destruction of theirs? Would Ganner Rhvsode have rCSp<T vith seed
-partners? Wurth Skidder? Kyp's own apprentice, bon<ied NV
T3P0J.13.'
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

Would Anakin have bonded?

Wniat did Sekot understand about all of them that they didn't 
understand about themselves?


  
 

A sudden darkness had fallen over the Vong-formed cityscape.

Their lightsabers ignited-glowing blue, violet, green-the Jedi drew on 
the Force to propel them across the fissured and rain-slicked rooftops 
and balconies that dangled over what was once the Glitannai Esplanade. 
Piles of debris, precipitous ledges, and gaping chasms posed no
obstacles for the six as they hurdled, vaulted, leapt in a race to
reach the Citadel, and the Yuuzhan Vong most responsible for what 
Coruscant had become. Thanks to their jet packs, Captain Page's 
Commandos were just managing to keep up.

Rain was falling hard and being driven every which way by fierce 
gusts of wind. Overhead it was no longer possible to differentiate 
flashes of lightning from the artificial brilliance of deadly 
engagements. It was impossible to distinguish between the lament or 
to wind and the howl of strafing starfighters; the billowing smoke 
r scudding storm clouds; the sizzle of fires being extinguished by tl
""TVi/* rain from the sound of laser bolts cleaving the saturated air,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????
booming cannonades of distant weapons  might easily have rolling 
thunder; the red-orange pillars on the horizon, erupting \° noes
                                 ???????????????????????^^^
or the glowing ejecta of plasma launchers.

For Luke, the nebulous nature of the surroundings mirrored
the darkness was coercing a commingling of disparate Coruscant 
was fast becoming a void, a singularity into which ' tabnc of 
life was being stretched and distorted. Was this Cor-' nv longer, 
or was it really Yuuzhan'tar - as the original world n at its end, 
when, angered by the Yuuzhan Vong's turn to sods had robbed their 
children of the Force and cast hem into a bottomless abyss?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

"The quickest route is through the north concourse," Mara told
, ,     page when everyone had come to a halt on a puddled ledge.
dripped from the visors of their helmets and cascaded down the
it of their biosuits. Mara was leading the combined teams from
eniorv, though also relying on Jacen and Tahiri's "Vongsense" to
keep everyone from encountering patrols of Yuuzhan Vong warriors.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

Page had his gaze fixed on the water-beaded display of a positioning
unit built into the sleeve of his biosuit. "According to this, there 
was bridge access to the concourse."

Mara nodded. "The Bridge of Unity. I used to have lunch in the 
restaurant on the lower level."

Even with all that Coruscant had become, she sounded wistful. Luke 
could imagine her, thirty years earlier, frequenting the esplanade's 
expensive shops and restaurants; wandering among the crowds attending 
the Imperial Fair; a sometime visitor to the Imperial Palace, in her 
guise as the Emperor's Hand. It was the Coruscant Luke had known only 
from HoloNet transmissions and the occasional dramas and documentaries 
that had found their way to Tosche Station on Tatooine. By the time he 
had finally visited the capital world in person, most of the governmental 
district had been in ruins, following Coruscant's liberation by New 
Republic forces.

But over the decades Coruscant had become his home, as Yavin 4, only 
to have suffered a similar fate. Luke hadn't expected to be so 
eartsick; but then he hadn't expected to find Coruscant so altered-
ernade - in the two years since he and Mara had left. Mara was waving
everyone back in motion.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

"'fteen minutes of flat-out running brought them to the Bridge of
F5 1 which had lost the ornamental wirework and inscribed plaques
had earned it landmark status. Now the bridge was little more
than a ferrocrete slab spanning the esplanade canyon. Lashed 
h gale, vines and slimy vegetation trailed from the edges, and 
a sh but fast-moving curtain of water plunged into the frothing 
HV below.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

From the bridge's southern abutment, the Jedi had thei unobstructed 
view of their objective. Several kilometers to the illuminated by 
forking lightning and accented by the laser beams of o cling 
starfighters, Shimrra's Citadel towered above the infernal landscape. 
A veritable mountain, it stood where the Imperial Palace been had, 
encompassing everything from the Mon Calamari Inglenook t the 
PliaAa di am Imperium, as the eastern terminus of the Glitann ' 
Esplanade was known. The Citadel's base was lost in swirls of dark 
smoke, but halfway to the rounded summit four walkways approached 
from separate directions, linking the Citadel to surrounding structures
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

This close, the mountain was revealed to be as craggy and pocked as 
any of the Yuuzhan Vong worldships Luke had seen. But Shimrra's was 
adorned with a pair of filigree wings that lent something insectlike 
to its appearance. The way it sat in the crater that served as its 
cradle, it might almost have been nesting.

Flights of X- and E-wings were taunting the crown, but voids blacker 
than the stormy sky were devouring everything the starfighters hurled 
at them. Two of the snubfighters were circling closer when plasma
projectiles geysered from launchers above the wings. The X-wings might 
as well have been flying without shields. Caught on their starboard 
sides by the superheated missiles, they began to spiral down, S-foils 
and ion engines slagged. Luke could see pieces fly from the fighters 
as they struck outcroppings in the Citadel's coarse hull. They 
disappeared into the smoke at the foot of the mountain, and, seconds 
later, roiling fire mushroomed into view.

Luke's silence spoke volumes. As he turned and leapt out onto the 
bridge, a resonant bellowing issued from the far side, and two huge 
eyes stood out in the gloom. As if under strobing light an enorfflj 
                             ????????????????????????????????^^^^^^
beast waddled into view around the shoulder of a ruined building. It 
wasn't the first Yuuzhan Vong creature he had seen since leavin the 
Falcon-the sacred precinct was literally crawling with escap animals 
- but it was certainly the largest.

"A mon duul," Jacen said, yelling to be heard. "If it's been ted with 
a villip, the belly can function like an amplifier. It's imp har
nless, either way."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????

Kyp ge kept his blaster rifle raised regardless. "If you say so, kid."
otioned with the barrel. "But you cross first." vi0 sooner had Jacen 
and Luke started forward than the mon duul its haunches, with its 
tympanum of a belly aimed out over the r0n In a deep and menacing 
voice, someone began to speak in Yuuzhan Vong.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

" 'perish,' " Tahiri translated. " 'Perish, all of you who would and 
between me and exaltation, who would seek to profane me in our finest 
moment.' "

"Shimrra?" Luke asked.

Jacen shook his head uncertainly. "Could be." 

"T battle the gods on your behalf,' " Tahiri continued, " 'and you 
repay me with rebellion. Perish then. Go to your deaths and your 
gods, while I remake the world.' "

"Too bad we can't answer him," Mara said. 

"We will soon enough," Luke assured her.

Jacen and Tahiri walked slowly toward the seated mon duul. In eerie 
unison they motioned with their right arms, and the four-metric-ton 
beast lowered its front legs to the ground and began to trundle off. 
Their Vongsense, Luke thought.

Jaina hurried forward to drape her left arm around Jacen's shoulders. 
"You always were good with animals."

He responded with a wry smile, and hurried forward. The three young 
Jedi crossed the span together and turned east toward the Citadel. 
Ahead of them, clad in vegetation, a palisade of named buildings 
extended all the way to the western access to mrra's mountain. Luke, 
Mara, and Kenth had just caught up with e trio when Jacen and Tahiri 
called everyone to a halt. Lightning ashes disclosed the presence of 
a group of skeletally thin humans and Urnanoids, dressed in dripping, 
frayed garments and aged robeskins. 

"Come forward," Tahiri said in Yuuzhan Vong. 

Two Shamed Ones approached, a male and female. 

"Jeeda-i," the ng rnale said, his eyes fixed on Luke's thrumming 
lightsaber.

More Yuuzhan Vong began to appear, along with a doze Coruscant who 
looked as if they had been subsisting on gravw since the occupation. 
The Shamed and the damned, Luke told h' as he deactivated his 
lightsaber.

Pushing through the group came two winded and wounded human commandos, 
who saluted Captain Page.

"Bacta Squad, sir," the sergeant said. "We've just come from down 
below. It's a real mess, Captain. The heretics are fighting to and 
claw, but they need reinforcements-and fast. If you can send anyone, 
sir ..."

Page beckoned to one of his jet-packed commandos. "Congratulations, 
Corporal, you've been promoted to squad leader. Take ten men and go 
with the sergeant. We'll regroup at the Citadel, soonest"

The commando saluted, spun on his heel, and began choosing his 
teammates.

The wounded sergeant looked from Page to Luke. "Master Skywalker, a 
couple of your people would make a world of difference, not only to 
us..." He motioned to the Shamed Ones. "...but to them, as well."

Kenth and Tahiri glanced at Luke, who nodded.

"Thank you," the sergeant said as the two Jedi moved to join him. 
"We've heard that the Prophet has reappeared, but we haven't been able 
to locate him. Word has it he was last seen in the Place of Hierarchy."

"Leading them, or helping with the slaughter?" Mara asked, step-ping forward.

"Leading them."

Luke showed Mara a skeptical look. "Maybe he's had a change of heart 
since Zonama Sekot."

She snorted in derision. "Only if someone implanted a new one in his 
chest."

Luke swung to the Shamed Ones who had been the first to shov themselves.
"Have you or any of the others even been inside t Citadel?"

Tahiri translated.

A male in the crowd spoke, and showed himself. He was more lv scarred 
than the others, and short horns sprouted from the hideout 1S of his 
shoulders.
                 ????????????????????????????????????????^^^^^^

"This one says that he arrived in the Citadel," Tahiri told Luke. 
-cned for a moment more. "He was a warrior before the gods- 
en his body rejected certain enhancing biots the shapers devised
h'm " The former warrior pointed to the walkways that accessed 
^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????????????
yoorik coral mountain. "Each caste uses a separate entrance. But 
all ivenues terminate at the Hall of Confluence, where Supreme 
Overlord Shimrra grants audience to the elite."

u Ask him if Shimrra is likely to be in the hall now," Luke said, 
^^?????????????????????????????????

Tahiri phrased the question and waited for the response. "He says 
that you won't find Shimrra there. He'll be in his private . . . 
coffer." 

The Yuuzhan Vong aimed a thick, truncated finger at the lofty crown
of the Citadel. 

"Up there is where you'll have to go." 

"Thank you," Luke said to the heretic, who asked something of Tahiri.

"He has a question for the Jedi," she said after a moment. "He
wants to know if we plan to help them or kill them. He wants to 
know if the Shamed Ones will be able to find salvation in the Force."

Luke looked at the Yuuzhan Vong. "We'll help you find your way
back to the Force."

Tahiri's translation prompted agitation and a flurry of hushed 
conversations among the Shamed Ones. Then she and Kenth began 
to move off with the commandos.

Mara shifted her gaze from the Citadel to Luke. "Ready, soldier?" 
When he didn't respond immediately, she said, "What's wrong?"

He held her gaze. "Mara, I want you to go with Tahiri and Kenth."

She almost laughed.

"I want you go with them," he said again.

Her expression changed, and a twinge of fear came into her eyes. "Luke, 
tell me this is the Force speaking to you, and that you're not Dlng it
because you don't want us fighting together-for Ben's sake."
                          ????????????????????????????????????^^^^
"Would it matter?"
 
She gripped her hands on his upper arms. "You promised Zonama Sekot that 
both of us have a lot more living to do."

He smiled and stroked her cheek with the backs of his fin "You think I'd 
drop you into the midst of all this to make widow-or me a widower?"

She shook her head. "That's not your style."

"Then go with them."

Reluctantly, she nodded. "Not because I want to. But because trust you."








Airborne at the extreme edge of the tempest that was lashing the 
northern quarter of the sacred precinct, the Falcon banked toward 
the former Legislative District. Owing to the toughness of its 
honeycomb and crumple zone engineering, the Senate itself had
survived the Yuuzhan Vong barrage, but now the famed edifice 
was covered by the half-kilometer-high hemisphere that sheltered 
the World Brain.

"No mystery why we're not taking flak from plasma emplacements," 
Han said, as he and Leia powered the freighter through a 
reconnaissance fly-by. "Nothing short of a planetbuster is 
going to crack that skullcap."

"The yorik coral has enzymatically digested and absorbed the 
Senate's duracrete and transparisteel," Harrar explained from 
the navigator's chair. "The constituent materials have been used 
to fashion a new exoskeleton that goes deep underground and forms 
an impervious sphere around the dhuryam-the brain."

C-3PO had a tight grip on the chair next to Harrar's, and R2-D2 
was securely planted behind his counterpart. Cakhmaim was in the 
dorsal gun turret; Meewalh in the forward compartment.

"How impervious?" Han asked over his shoulder.

"Sufficient to allow the dhuryam to survive an invasion as a 
self-contained, and possibly self-propelled, vessel-similar to 
that whicl constitutes the crown of the Citadel."
     ^^^^^^????????????????????????????????

"An escape pod," Leia said.

"But massive," Harrar elaborated.  "Capable not only of p" serving 
                       ????????????????????????????????^^^
the dhuryam-with all its engineered genetics and learrw skills-but 
also of preserving the lives of any who happen to be n Well when 
the sphere launches."

" h, my," C-3PO remarked- r>2 seconded the protocol droid's 
stupefaction with a long "^ o-rowled and rubbed his head. "So 
how are we supposed to jT_tl'l   j2
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????
'de the thing, if you're telling me that bombs can't?" oa rrar 
leaned toward the viewport. "Complete your overflight. see if 
we can't locate the entrance to the secret passageway and Vergere
used to escape from the Well." 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????

As Han banked the Falcon to the west, Leia gazed at the sprawl of
tion-clad structures below, then pointed toward the extreme thwest 
projection of the dome. "Borsk Fey'lya's office would have
been right about there."

Han sighted down her finger. "Right there, buried under who
knows how many tons of yorik coral."

Leia glanced at him. "I guess the dome has spread out since Jacen
was here."

"You could say that."

"An unexpected turn of events," Harrar said.

Han growled. "I'm getting tired of surprises. There has to be
another way in."

"Perhaps the front door," C-3PO said.

"Yeah, we'll just go up and knock," Han said. "Isn't that how you 
got yourself into Jabba's palace?" 

"Actually, Captain Solo - "

"The front entrance may prove problematic," Harrar interrupted. "Continue 
your circle, and I'll show you why."

Lit from within by explosions and flashes of lightning, the northern
horizon was a towering anvil of black clouds. Han veered east around
ie two-kilometer-wide dome, and a long elongated tunnel came into
;w, protruding from the dome. The hemispherical corridor appeared
>e made of the interwoven branches of thousands of slender trees.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

The hedge maze," Harrar said. "The ceremonial avenue that leads to 
the atrium of the Well."

Wan laughed. "A walk in the park. Unless you're going to tell me 
hedge is impervious to weapons."

The hedge is not only as solid and fire resistant as your durasteel,
but the trees that comprise it are studded with needle-sham that 
range in size from that of your thumbnail to that of yOll The thorns 
                   ????????????????????????????????^^^^^^
contain a neurotoxin potent enough to devasted nervous system of any 
creature hapless enough to be pricu, them."

Han tightened his lips in frustration. "I say we see how it ha a 
couple of concussion missiles."

"A waste of armament," Harrar said. "Any damage the mi  'i render, 
                               ?????????????????????^^^^^^^
the dhuryam will quickly repair."

"Yeah, well, since you're so smart, you think of a plan to get inside."

"I already have. How wide is your craft, Han Solo?"

"Twenty-five meters, give or take. Why?"

Harrar took a breath. "A tight fit. But given your piloting skills 
I think it can be done."

Leia swiveled her chair around to face him. "You think what can be done?"

"A flight through the hedge tunnel, directly to the entry portal."

Leia's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious."

"Princess Leia is correct," C-3PO said as R2-D2 was mewling. "Please 
confirm that your statement was in jest."

A slow grin took shape on Han's face. "He's serious-and he's right." 
He looked at Leia. "We can do it."

Leia started to speak, but swallowed whatever she had in mind to 
say and began again. "Well, you said he'd think of something, and
I guess he has."

Han patted her left arm with affection. "Better tighten up your crash 
webbing. You, too, Goldenrod."

C-3PO canted his head in apprehension. "If it's all the same to you, 
sir, I'd prefer to adjourn to the forward compartment win Artoo."

"Suit yourself. But be quick about it."

Han brought the headset mike close to his mouth. "Cakhmaitf get yourself 
to the forward cabin space with Meewalh."

He sent the Falcon into a broad circle, from which they emerge, staring 
directly down the throat of the hedge tunnel.

 "V u're  sure  about  this,"   Leia  said while  Han was  flipping
itches on the console. ..v0 But luckily we don't have time to think 
about it." -a n dropped the freighter lower and accelerated. The 
thorned -'rcle of mouth grew larger and larger in the viewport. 
Reflex-T eia leaned back in her chair and clamped her hands on the jvelVi L'
armrests.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????????????/

"Hang on," Han said. "Hang on . . ."

And suddenly they were inside the maze.

But the Falcon wasn't even all the way through the opening when he 
three of them realized that the ride was going to be worse than 
thev had imagined. The resilient knitted branches knocked the ship 
harshly from one side to the other. The Falcon rattled and shuddered, 
in danger of being spun completely around. The longest of the thorns 
drew prolonged and deafening screeches from the hull. External 
components groaned and squealed as they were ripped away-cowlings, 
rectenna, fuel-driver pressure stabilizers... And ahead of them, the 
throat of the hedge maze was closing-narrowing as they watched. 

"Fire the concussion missiles!" Han said.

Leia squeezed the trigger, sending one pair, then another streaking 
down the tunnel, tearing through the thorns and branches and ultimately 
exploding against whatever constituted the entrance to the dome.

"Angle the deflectors!"

Leia raised the forward shields as a boiling torrent of fire and debris 
came back at them, washing over the Falcon, stripping away more parts, 
and scoring and scorching the hull plates.

Then, suddenly, the ship broke through to a broad, wedge-shaped
causeway formed by the limbs of great trees, whose leaf-bearing
branches-now aflame-tangled toward the sky on either side. The
°°t of the causeway was a hundred meters high, but it tapered to an
^^^??????????????????????????????
towhead as it rose, forming a thorn-hedged ramp whose point
Lched the  massive,  ruined hatch  sphincter that had long ago
enveloped the Great Door of the Senate.

Han fought to keep the ship stabilized as it skidded across the 
former plaza and raced into the second stretch of hedge. But the
 durasteel-hard branches prevailed, slowing, then snagging the 
ing ship. Stalled, the Falcon came to a final rest angled to one 
^^^??????????????????????????????
sid ten meters from the missile-damaged entrance. While two    ,-
landing disks were in touch with the paving stones, the entire 
po of the ship was upended and held fast by the interlocked branche 
^^^??????????????????????????????

"Guess this is as far as we go," Han said, staring straight ah with 
his hands still clenched on the control yoke.

Leia blew out her breath and swallowed hard. "Nothing lik quiet arrival."

She, Han, and Harrar freed themselves from the chairs and sta gered 
into the ring corridor, which was strewn with objects that had found 
their way there from all over the ship. 

"We'll clean up later," Leia said. 

Han uttered a laugh. "We could have Threepio do it." 

"I was hoping you would say just that, sir," the droid said, as he 
R2-D2, and the two Noghri appeared from the forward compartment 
leaning against the corridor's curving walls for support. "That 
would be a delightful chore."

R2-D2 began to twitter and toodle in protest. "We'll have no 
complaints from you, Artoo. If Captain Solo wants us to remain 
on the ship rather than accompany him into the Well of the 
World Brain, the least we can do is..."

R2-D2 razzed loudly.

C-3PO straightened in a huff. "Never satisfied." 

"All right, you two, quit arguing," Han said. "Forget the mess. 
Just keep the ship warmed up and stick close to the comlink."

Han extended the landing ramp, which didn't drop far before 
hitting solid ground.

"Once we are inside the Well, we will be safe from ambushes by 
warriors," Harrar said. "But whatever you do between here and 
there, Han Solo, you must not kill the shaper. We will need his 
or her scent markers to get us safely into the Well. I know 
certain things about u brain, but not enough to incapacitate it."

Han passed out thermal charges to the Noghri, then clipped t onto 
his own belt. "Just in case we have any trouble persuading it surrender."

 o	activated her lightsaber and narrowed her eyes.  "And I
i j>d never set foot in the Senate again."
o""'"        nodded at her. "We've all had to break promises we made to
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????
^
.,    ?ve Of them hurried down the angled ramp and through the
ling breach the concussion missiles had blown in the thick
h sphincter. The hideously torn membrane opened onto a vast,
i. lit cavern of yorik coral. Han scarcely had time to look around,
n fiftv or more warriors armed with amphistaffs poured from a
r0w corridor in the curved wall opposite the hatch.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^??????????????????????????????

Someone shouted commands in Yuuzhan Vong that needed no
translation.

A flock of whizzing bugs and hurled amphistaffs flew for the
ft/cow's company.

"I thought you said there wouldn't be warriors inside the Well!" 
Han yelled as he and the Noghri were ducking and triggering blaster
rounds.

"This isn't the Well," the priest said. "This is merely the atrium!" 
Batting aside thud and razor bugs, Leia led the retreat. They backed 
through the iris hatch, firing at their pursuers without aiming.

Stumbling into the plaza, they raced for the Falcon, only to find her
completely enclosed by the thorned hedge.








Despite the impetus that the Prophet's rallying cry had given the 
heretics, the counteroffensive was not going well. Caught in a violent 
storm, the Shamed Ones and their newfound allies were being sliced to 
pieces by coufees, knocked unconscious by thud bugs, slashed and split
by amphistaffs. Nom Anor himself was bloodied, slipping on hail-stones 
and his own black flow as he fought with coufee in one hand, amphistaff 
in the other. The now-drenched throng of would-be insur->erits had 
managed to fight their way out of the Place of Hierarchy,
?????????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Shimrra's avengers were attempting to herd them toward the e of Bones. 
If the warriors succeeded in trapping them in the nken amphitheater, 
there would be no escape, no hope. Nom Anor was trading strikes and 
stabs with a warrior a head er than himself when he heard the clamor 
of running feet and  raised voices. When the warrior turned in the 
direction of the tion, Nom Anor availed himself of the moment of 
distraction the point of his amphistaff through his opponent's right 
around him other warriors were beginning to add their voice tumult 
and to press the attack. 
?????????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Reinforcements, Nom Anor told himself bitterly.

The heretics would be lucky now if they even made it to the T>i of 
Bones. Unexpectedly, though, the war cries of the Citadel e began 
to fade, and the crowd was pushed back toward the Plao Hierarchy. 
It was the heretics who were being reinforced!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????^^^^^

Nom Anor was suddenly inflamed.

If every cell of Shamed Ones could find the courage to rise UD there 
                             ?????????????????????????????^^^^^^
was a chance, though slim, that the heretics would yet win the day. 
His conviction surged as the reports of stun and flash grenades began 
to echo and rebound from the walls of the temples and the dormitories 
of the intendants. Hundreds were instantly flattened to the saturated 
ground. Then blaster bolts rang out.

Resistance fighters and Alliance commandos! Nom Anor realized.

It was the warriors who were trapped!

Nom Anor charged into the brawl, slashing throats and ham-strings. 
Overwhelmed, the warriors fought brutally and valiantly, but more and 
more of them were falling and being trampled underfoot. Nom Anor was 
in the thick of things when new sounds drew his atten-tion and he froze 
in surprise and dread.

Snap-hiss! Thrummm . . .

He risked a sideways glance to discover three Jedi, parrying and 
slashing with their lightsabers. Worse, one of them was Mara Jade 
Skywalker. The very Jedi who had fallen victim to Nom Anor's coomb 
spores so long ago, now fighting all but alongside of him. I far 
away from the red-golden-haired Skywalker was Tahiri Veils the Jedi 
who had almost been shaped into a-Yuuzhan Vong, an with whom Nom Anor 
had fought and escaped from on Zonal Sekot. And beside Tahiri, a tall,
older male Jedi whom Nom Anor didn't recognize.

He tried to conceal himself by wading deeper into the battle, the 
conflict was too frenzied for him to make any headway. He t
 I   toward the northwest entrance to the Place of Hierarchy, but 
he was rapidly hemmed in by clashing warriors and
,   ,.-p     tO*-o
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

NO matter which direction he attempted to move, he wound '.     pushed 
inexorably closer to the two Jedi women. Whirling' he slit the throat 
of a Shamed One and placed himself -the gushing blood could wash over 
his face. He found a sodden on the ground and pulled it down over his 
forehead, only to o	unwind and flop uselessly over his shoulders. 
He cursed himself not having thought to carry an ooglith masquer with 
him.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

A group of enraged warriors made a sudden sally, forcing the heretics 
away from the Place of Hierarchy and out into the broad boulevard that 
ran north to the Citadel. Again Nom Anor heard the distinctive thrum of 
a lightsaber, and shortly found himself pressed shoulder to shoulder with 
youthful Tahiri, who was shouting alternately in Basic and Yuuzhan Vong
as her blue blade deflected over-head strikes from amphistaffs and lateral 
swipes from coufees.

Nom Anor's attempts to squirm away were in vain. He turned his back 
at the same time the Jedi did, but surges in the crowd kept shoving 
them hard into each other. All at once, Nom Anor could feel small 
Tahiri's body tense against his.

He pivoted in time to see Tahiri throw up her hands in some sort of 
Force gesture, and a dozen warriors hit the ground as if struck by a 
swarm of invisible thud bugs. A Force Wall! Nom Anor thought. Tahiri 
used her Jedi powers a second time to create an even wider circle of 
clear space, then whirled and grabbed Nom Anor by the arm, spinning 
him around to face her, her eyes already wide with discovery. Sending 
his amphistarT flying with a Force command, she immobized him by 
clutching the yoke of his robeskin. Then she turned and gesticulated 
toward her fellow Jedi. "Mara, I have Nom Anor!"

Over the heads of combatants, through the hail, misted blood, forest 
of flailing arms, Nom Anor could see Skywalker gazing Pcctly at him 
                          ?????????????????????????????^^^^^^^^^^
in eager peril.

Summoning his strength, Nom Anor slashed upward with his ee, missing 
Tahiri by a blade but succeeding in cutting the "U of robe she had 
gripped. Momentum propelled him backward  o- archy. There, where the 
crowd was thinner, he elbowed through a cluster of warriors and broke 
fast for the stairs and fre H Ucr-way 'orn.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????




Much like Millennium Falcon, Lady Luck had in the past five years
undergone an atavistic transition from pleasantly appointed 
fam'i craft to war vessel. But where Han's Falcon was as armed 
^^^^^^?????????????????????????????
as it was f Lando's fifty-meter-long SoroSuub yacht relied as 
ever on stealth' speed, and advanced sensor arrays that allowed it 
to observe and scr tinize vessels at far remove. With three lasers 
and a reinforced hull Talon Karrde's Corellian transport was better 
configured for battle although hardly a match for a Yuuzhan Vong 
task force. Which was why the two ships were flying at the fringe 
of the battle zone and leaving most of the dirty work to Errant 
Venture, and to the Hapans.

Tenel Ka's flotilla had arrived moments after the Yuuzhan Vong capital
ships had begun their move against Zonama Sekot, and had immediately 
arrayed themselves in a blockade. The new-generation Battle Dragons 
were twin-saucered ships with turbolasers and ion cannons placed along 
the rims, made all the more lethal since the New Republic had finally 
shared its weapons-recharge technology with the Hapan navy. The 
enhanced Dragons were also equipped with pulse mass mine launchers 
that were nearly as effective as dovin basal singu-larities when it 
came to deflecting weapons fire and interdicting ships from jumping 
to hyperspace. In contrast, the shape and sleekness or the Consortium's
Nova-class cruisers brought to mind Old Republic-era hand blasters. As 
agile as starfighters and as deadly as warships twice their size, the 
cruisers were preventing Yuuzhan Vong vessels from penetrating the 
Dragons' daunting barricade.

Closer to Zonama Sekot, flaming red Errant Venture, along wl squadrons 
of X-wings and Hapan Miy'til fighters were preying on advance 
coralskippers the task force had dispatched to test the defenses. 
Trapped between the deep-space squadrons and the atn  aft flown by the 
Jedi, the coralskippers were being deci-spheriC ^ d now that capital 
ships were involved, the planet itself had mated'    out its big guns, 
firing salvos of stunning ion fire from the br°Ught of mountains twelve
kilometers high. SUllinlltSidistant from the task force and blockade, 
Lando and Tendra F ui UlCUSLalil- " overview of the entire battle, but 
Lady Luck's seeming brazen-had made her the object of unwanted attention, 
and the Calris-were being forced to do more running than spying. Their
jjs weic  >^"-D -- j rpc   of enemy   maneuvers   had   twice   saved   
Booster   Terrik updates   w	' being taken by surprise, and they were 
a critical link in relaying o telligence between the Star Destroyer and 
the Jedi pilots, who, at 1 st word, had finally managed to talk their 
living ships into returning fire.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

The Yuuzhan Vong gave every indication of having been thrown
into disorder by their obvious miscalculation. The pilots of 
the skips were fighting for their lives, and the task force 
itself was fast coming unglued, with cruiser and destroyer 
analogs maneuvering without rhyme or reason, making themselves 
easy targets for the precision lasers of the Hapan cruisers and 
the ranged weapons of the Dragons.

Only total confusion could account for the fact that some of the 
vessels in the task force were actually turning on one of their own.

The victim was the vessel that originally had been flying at the 
center of the Yuuzhan Vong's elongated diamond formation. It had 
remained at the center all through the initial coralskipper assault 
on Zonama Sekot, but was now being raked with plasma fire by four 
of the surrounding cruisers. Lando and Tendra saw the vessel split 
wide open, and yet instead of exploding, the cleaved vessel released 
a smaller vessel that was concealed inside.

A corvette analog, the six-armed craft had a scaled hull and an 
"Praised, curving stern. ^ot unlike two vessels Errant Venture had 
destroyed at Caluula. A slayer ship.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"They're supposed to be hyperspace-capable," Lando said. "So you did 
they need to transport this one?" 

"It looks off," Tendra said.
 
One eyebrow raised, Lando glanced at her. "Off course?"

She shook her head. "Off color. It looks ill."

Lando's blood ran cold. He commanded the scanners to n
him with a close-up and analyze the vessel's signature. TK     ^
commed Errant Venture.	^ task

"Booster, we're sending you signature data on a vessel in the
force," Lando began.

"We're busy, Lando," Booster snapped.

"You're not too busy for this. Run a comparison with what you've 
got stored in the Venture's memory, and tell me if we set
o*-t S hit."

"Hold tight," Booster said. When after a long moment he spoke again, 
his voice was riddled with apprehension. "The signature you sent 
matches the ship that evaded us at Caluula."

"The ship carrying Alpha Red," Lando said. "And now closing on Zonama
Sekot."







 
Jag thought of himself first and foremost as a starfighter pilot, 
not a dirt flier. He had accepted the assignment to lead Twins Suns 
onto Coruscant, but without the enthusiasm he might have demonstrated 
for a space mission. Like many who had earned their wings in zero-g, 
atmosphere was anathema. Maneuvers weren't so much performed as wrested
from a craft-no matter how aerodynamic the design or how responsive 
the repulsorlift engine. The carbon-scored green X-wing he had been 
given at Westport felt slug-gish and unwieldy, especially compared 
to a clawcraft. But Jag's com-plaints were only that. There was a 
mission to execute, and he was not about to shirk his commitment 
to seeing it through.

Streaking east from the now-Alliance-occupied landing field, he
wove the snubfighter through a hail of ascending plasma fire and
tending wreckage. Dominating the forward view was the rounded
ournrnit of Shimrra's fortress, rising from the thick blanket of cloud
ver and smoke that smothered most of the sacred precinct. Only
> years earlier the elegant summits of dozens of spacescrapers would
" been visible above the clouds, but now there was only the craggy
m°untaintop.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Somewhere below, Jaina was moving toward the same target, with brother 
and uncle, and a small team of commandos and droids.

Take care of yourself, she had said to him on the flooded balconv the 
Millennium Falcon had set the Jedi down. And Jag meant-  ^ just that. 
When he had urged Jaina to do the same, she had said:

The Force will take care of me.

all hi.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

He hadn't debated the matter. He wanted it to be true with heart.

Ahead of him, twenty starfighters were circling the Citadel 
1 laser bolts, proton torpedoes, and concussion missiles at 
the surnm sense of hopelessness began to erode Jag's resolve. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Even without h insatiable voids that were engulfing nearly every 
starfighter volley t-1 Citadel appeared to be impregnable. It was 
like attempting to bl apart a mountain. There were no coralskippers 
to contend with b outpourings of plasma from deep pits in the Citadel 
walls were effort-lessly overwhelming the shields of the starfighters.

The X-wing's droid sent flight information to the cockpit displays 
Jag dialed the comm to the tactical net.

"This is worse than punching past the orbital dovin basals," a pilot 
was saying.

"Keep a hand on your grab-safety toggle, or those voids'll take 
you down," another said.

"They're swallowing every bolt I'm feeding them."

"Just watch out they don't take a fancy to you."

"Yeah, they've developed a real taste for starfighters."

"Especially yellow ones with black stripes."

"Copy that, Rogue Leader."

"All ships form up on me for a portwise sweep. Set your weapon: for 
stutterfire and follow up with whatever torps and missiles you've 
got left. Remember: it may look like a mountain but it's actually 
a ship. Which means it can be cracked open."

"Following you in, Rogue One."

Jag saw that two of the fighters off his starboard wingtip w clawcraft, 
and he opened a channel to the closest one.

"Twin Suns Four, I've got your port side."

"Jag!" the pilot returned. "I thought you were dead!" 

"Saved by a tree, of all things, Shawnkyr."

"Are you about ready to go home now?"

"Soon as we finish this-you have my word." He laughed shortly. "This 
part of the galaxy has made a romantic
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

f vou, Fel" ' uStiii watching my back, is that it?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"Who will if I won't?" Shawnkyr said. "Oh, I forgot. And just here 
is the Sword?"

"Below-moving west."

"Then we'd better take care not to bring this mountain down on
her head."






"After he did so well with the mon duul," Jaina found time to say 
between swings of her lightsaber.

Pinned down in a grove of fingerleaf trees one hundred meters from 
the westernmost of the walkways that accessed the Citadel, she and 
Luke were fending off streams of attack bugs that were hurtling down 
from lookout aeries in the holy mountain. Closer to Shimrra's haunt, 
Jacen was trying without success to pacify the beasts that were 
rapidly devouring the walkway itself. A trio of YVH droids had tried
less subtle means of persuasion, only to have been ripped apart and 
ingested.

"At least Shimrra can't speak through these two," Luke said.

"I'd say that's exactly what Shimrra's doing," Jaina hollered back.

Gargantuan symbiots, Sgauru and Tu-Scart were partners in the
walkway devastation. Considering that the former was female and the
latter male, it was something of a marriage. At Gateway settlement on
Duro, the couple had demonstrated their talent for demolishing
buildings, and they were doing an equally skilled job of dismantling
and consuming the yorik coral concourse. Hard-shelled, segmented
Jgauru was doing most of the grunt work. Beady black eyes dotted
er Wuite head, and her mouth writhed with dozens of feeder-tendrils.
er powerful rear pincers gripped around the upper coils of her
beelike mate, she was using her stubby front legs and enormous 
L ad to smash the span to pieces. Loose chunks didn't fly far before
;ing pulverized by sleek black Tu-Scart's elongated body. Absent their 
usual team of handlers, the creatures had emerged
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^????????????????????????????? 
from a massive hollow beneath the concourse, through \vly esplanade 
river cascaded thunderously into the square at the h the  Citadel.  
Lashed  by rain  and howling winds,  the mo fortress loomed above the 
Jedi, rising up into the battle-torn  In the rough-hewn blade of a 
coufee. Though winged, mottled patches of dark green moss, and bedecked 
with vines whose seed taken root in the worldship's nooks and crannies, 
the Citad I simply too sheer to scale, even with the aid of the Force. 
Starfish were still circling the rounded summit, but not one had man to
come within a thousand meters of Shimrra's lair without h ' destroyed. 
The remains of those that had tried littered the une\ o inundated 
terrain for kilometers around.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Far below the concourse, at the base of the Citadel, a dark maw 
accessed the lower depths of the mountain. But that opening was 
heavily guarded by reptoid slave soldiers. Rocketing down the 
terraced wall of the urban canyon, Page's Commandos and YVH droids 
were taking up firing positions above the Chazrach, but the enemy 
was well entrenched and answering Alliance blaster bolts with spouts 
of firejelly and highly flammable sparkbee honey.

If the Jedi were to infiltrate the Citadel, Jacen had to persuade 
Sgauru and Tu-Scart to halt their destruction of the western 
concourse while a narrow stretch still remained intact. He risked 
a few cautious steps toward the beasts, then stopped when temblors 
began to rock the fragile span at regular intervals.

"Now what?" Jaina yelled to Luke. "Is Zonama Sekot making another 
fly-by?"

The temblors grew louder and more forceful. Jacen managed to keep 
his balance on the swaying concourse, but the steady jolts proved 
too much for the unbroken expanse. Fissured, the yorik coral spar 
gave way, plummeting in fragments into the Whitewater torrent, the 
same time, two armored quadrupeds appeared from around curved base 
of the Citadel, lumbering in concert and settling into tifying 
positions behind the slave soldiers. Planting their splayed claws 
in the raging river, they lowered their triangular heads. 1 streamed 
from the thick horns that branched from their bony lttering against 
the walls of the canyon and forcing the com-d YVH droids to retreat 
to the rim. ,dosandxvnu1"""'	 oni   tjie cavernous entrance at the 
base of the Citadel effectively Jacen saw Sgauru and Tu-Scart as the 
only hope. The beasts ^i? ', e C0axed into breaching the wall of the 
Citadel. Jacen sensed ll%l    u-c best chance of accomplishing this 
would require him to don the Force and give himself over fully to his 
Vongsense- 1     thing he had been unable to do since arriving on 
Coruscant. He i-ke a switch being thrown between two poles; Force at 
one pole, ,   esense at the other. He understood further that the only 
way to 1 Sgauru and Tu-Scart into action was by communicating with 
them through the World Brain.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

It was while aboard the seedship that had delivered Jacen and the 
dhurvam to Coruscant that they had first reached an understanding. 
Bv destroying the brain's would-be rivals, Jacen had essentially 
determined which of several dhuryams was to have the honor of 
transforming Coruscant into "Yuuzhan'tar."  More important, he had 
installed a World Brain whose very disposition was informed by the 
rapport it shared with him. All that the planet had become since 
then-beautiful and monstrous, delicate and coarse, symbiotic, and 
parasitic-owed something to Jacen. And yet when he reached out with 
his Vongsense he again found himself in competition for the brain's 
attention. Some of that was due to the brain's preoccupation with 
Coruscant. Over and above that, there was the energy the brain was 
pouring into executing Shimrra's requests.

Aboard the seedship and afterward Jacen had found the dhuryam to be 
an intelligent creature, but specifically engineered to be intractable. 
Now the dhuryam was twisted by conflict and anger. Shimrra ad succeeded 
in cajoling it into believing that the fires and drenching ^ns, the 
demolition and destruction were necessary to repair the amage done to 
Yuuzhan'tar by Zonama Sekot's close passage. But in °mg so, the brain 
understood that it was destroying much of what it created, in addition 
to reneging on its pledge to compel Shimrra trie Yuuzhan Vong to accept 
compromise. Neither accustomed to  disobedient nor inclined to tolerate 
disorder, the brain was at war with itself for having brought harm to 
the world in its trn the seedship, it understood that its domain was 
suddenly f n-    Ori ruin and becoming a wasteland. The brain was 
struggling w- L   to idea that it might do better by simply ignoring 
Shimrra.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Calling on his Vongsense, Jacen promised the dhuv<uu ^, would help 
put an end to its inner conflict. He told it that he
C^~.-  cu: -	   *_-.-!	,.,,._
that he
- "-"L ne Woi
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????
force Shimrra to release his hold. In return he could feel it re out 
to him as one might a friend in time of need. A wave of erat'     ^ 
a plea for salvation washed through him ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Abruptly Sgauru and Tu-Scart turned toward him, clearly Und influence 
of the brain.

Jacen grasped that the moment had come for him to dernonstrate his 
faith in the agreement he and the brain had forged.

Ignoring Luke and Jaina's loud-voiced misgivings, he advanced on the 
coupled symbiots.

Almost immediately his waist was encircled by two twisting appendages. 
Then Sgauru picked him up off the demolished con-course and swung him 
out over the canyon. Not toward the Citadel, though, but as if to drop 
him directly into the midst of the slave sol-diers and their artillery 
beasts.







From the Falcon's cockpit comlink came the sound of blasterfire and 
cries for help. C-3PO recognized the voice of Captain Solo.

"Threepio, lower the landing ramp! Threepio! Threepio!"

The protocol droid stopped his worried pacing long enough to raise 
his hands in distress to R2-D2, whose extensible computer interface 
arm was inserted into an access port in the ring corridor, near the
head of the ramp.

"Artoo, do something before its too late!"

Stiffly, C-3PO hurried into the cockpit. All he could see through 
the viewport panes was an impenetrable tangle of heavily thorned 
brancn He made a clumsy about-face and shambled back to the ring 
cornd° > where he began to pound his hand against the landing ramp 
^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????
switch.

"Oh, it's no use! The thorn hedge has the Millennium Falcon m a death 
lock! Captain Solo and the Princess will die, and we'll be imp oned 
like museum exhibits!"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

 - P2 toodled an encouraging phrase, and C-3PO ceased his Coding ">
stare at him.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

^   "v u can do what? Reroute power from the deflector shield to 
charge through the hull?" C-3PO's hands flew up once again.
!\Vell, why did"'1 y°u say so earlier?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

The little blue-and-white  astromech chirped and chittered in
protest.

"Nonsense," C-3PO rejoined. "You're simply trying to frighten
You're never content until you've succeeded in working me into a
frenzy."

R2-D2 issued a series of solemn beeps.

C-3PO adopted an akimbo stance. "Don't you start that again. 
'Everything terminates; face it bravely . . .' I'll have you know 
I've been facing my termination bravely since the beginning of this 
war. Indeed, long before I had the misfortune of meeting the likes 
of you. Now, do as you suggested and send a charge through the hull!"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Shuffling back to the juncture of the ring and outrigger corridors,
C-3PO placed himself where he could peer through the forward viewport, 
as well as keep a photoreceptor on his counterpart. A moment later, 
R2-D2's interface arm began to rotate-first in one direction, then 
the other-and an electrical crackling could be heard dancing across 
the Falcon's skin. The olfactory sensor at the top of C-3PO's chest
monitored smells of ozone and singed wood.

"It's  working,   Artoo!"   he   shouted.   "The   thorn   hedge   
is retracting! Thank the maker, we're freer R2-D2 squawked a question.

"Yes, of course you should lower the landing ramp!" C-3PO said as 
he hurried for it. "The sooner we leave this ship, the better!"

Skidding through a left-hand turn, he stepped onto the canted ramp 
just as its foot was striking the paving stones of the plaza. 
"Freedom, Artoo-cyyjhhF"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Without knowing precisely why, R2-D2 squealed in alarm. He 'ght 
have squealed even louder had he realized that a tattooed and 
Ue-scared Yuuzhan Vong warrior was rushing up the ramp. Too 
panicked to move, and certainly without thinking, C-3PO Said' 
"You're not allowed aboard!"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

The warrior only growled in contempt and continued his   k He was 
halfway to the top when a blaster discharged behind him 
crimson-tinged blasterbolt burned its way through the front neck, 
sending him facefirst to the ramp, not a meter from C-3PO was 
standing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

At the foot of the ramp stood Captain Solo, his aged wean hand. C-3PO 
saw his master staring wide-eyed at something ofFr left, at which he 
began firing, even as Harrar, Princess Leia  C H maim, and Meewalh 
were hastening up the ramp, all but crawl' when they reached the 
body of the dead Yuuzhan Vong.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"Threepio, get ready to close the ramp!" Captain Solo yelled H fired 
off several blasterbolts, then ducked a hurled amphistaff and threw 
himself onto the ramp. "Close it!"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????
"But, sir..."

"Leia, get into the cockpit! Raise the ship!"

Captain Solo was still bellying up the ramp when a sudden growth 
spurt sent the branches through the gap between the starboard 
docking arm and the ramp, preventing it from elevating entirely. 
Into the gap grew long, thick thorns.

"They're lethal!" Harrar shouted.

While the priest, the two Noghri, and the two humans began twisting 
and contorting themselves to avoid the rapidly lengthening thorns, 
a hail of thud bugs slammed into the Fa-Icon's underside. In the 
confined space of the ramp, Princess Leia activated her lightsaber 
and started hacking at the lengthening branches.

"It's no use! They're growing back faster than I can cut them!" 
Deactivating the lightsaber, she scrambled past C-3PO, heading 
for the cockpit.

"Artoo," C-3PO said, "charge the hull again!"

A second crackling jolt passed through the ship. The hedge branches 
retreated, but instead of closing, the ramp tilted down. 1 more 
warriors leapt in, only to be dropped by bolts from Cakhniai whose 
right arm narrowly missed being pierced by a half-meter-l< thorn. 
By the time the ramp started to close, the hedges had return* 
stopping it from sealing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

C-3PO heard the Falcon's repulsorlift come on-line, but
ohter levitated no more than wo meters before the engines began
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"rtan, I can't ra*se ner'-" Leia shouted.

A I0ther electrical charge shot through the hull. Once again the 
withdrew, and once again the ramp lowered to the paving vine5
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"Artoo, no!"C-3PO yelled.

There was no halting the warriors this time-or the branches,
o-h "rew back in such profusion that the ramp refused to budge.
khmaim and Meewalh did what they could to keep the invaders
m entering the ship, but after shooting the first half a dozen, they
-ere overwhelmed, disarmed, and pinned to the deck. Han shot a few
more as they raced into the ring corridor, but reinforcements kept
coming, backing him and Leia toward the forward compartment.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Some warriors had the foresight to run through the Falcon and enter
the main cabin space from the port side.

Pressed against the dejarik table with his blaster in one hand and 
his other gripping Leia's shoulder, Han dodged lashes and amphistaffs 
and thrusts from coufees, but he refused to yield until at last one 
of the warriors managed to press the tip of his serpentine weapon 
to Leia's throat. Then, grimacing, he dropped his blaster arm to 
his side in a gesture of surrender.

"All right, you've got us," he said to the advancing warriors. "I'm 
sure we can work something out ..."

It was unlikely that any of them understood Basic, but they took 
Han's meaning when he set his blaster down and Leia did the same 
with her deactivated lightsaber.

Moments later a female Yuuzhan Vong with a crest of tentacles and 
an eight-fingered right hand edged through the tight press of warriors 
in the forward compartment. On seeing her, R2-D2 loosed a Prolonged
and mournful whistle.

^-3PO nodded his head. "You're right, Artoo-a shaperl" The shaper 
appraised Han and Leia, then turned to one of her rriors. C-3PO 
understood her to say: " 'Gather their weapons, and Dnng everyone 
out of the vessel.' "

Cakhmaim,  Meewalh,  R2-D2,  C-3PO,  Leia,  and  Han  were turned 
slightly to face his chief tactician. "We will encourage
--
" He turned siiguuy ix, it^ -^ ^.	
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

tU o  blunder. Order our Supreme Commanders to allow their vessels
1	' '     '    - - J;---~ T *t th,, Alliance admirals think 
they marched from the Falcon in single file. Harrar was already out 
' ship. As they were being prodded toward the entrance of th coral 
dome, two Yuuzhan Vong males emerged, both of the clothed, and the 
shorter of the pair wearing a high turban.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"High Prefect Drathul and High Priest Jakan," Harrar whis to Han 
and Leia.

The shaper waved her hand in a way that flung droplets of or some 
other bodily secretion on the thorn hedge, which imm ately began 
to sprout new branches.

Within moments the Falcon was fully encased.













"I'm told that this particular ship has been the cause of m   h 
unrest," the shaper told Drathul and Jakan. She gestured to her 
seve prisoners. "Worthy captives. Including a Jeedai, no less."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Jakan's eyes widened in delight when they fell on Harrar. "All of 
us thought you were in the Outer Rim!" He laid his thin hands on 
the priest's shoulders. "You're home now, my friend. In fact, you 
will have the honor of officiating at the sacrifice we will perform 
in the Well of the World Brain."

Harrar held Jakan's gaze but didn't return his relieved smile. "You 
fail to grasp the truth, High Priest," he said in Yuuzhan Vong. "I've 
come to neutralize the brain."

Near the outer-system world of Muscave the battle was still raging. 
Hundreds of coralskippers and fighter craft, and dozens of war vessels 
had been sacrificed to an engagement that had degenerated into a 
shameless brawl. Local space was a constantly shifting web of fire 
and light, harnessed to ill purpose.

Warmaster Nas Choka couldn't have been more pleased.

He stood in the most forward area of the command chamber s blister 
transparency as if a bowsprit figurehead, his folded arms restin on 
his slightly protruding belly and his finely whiskered jaw raised 
defiance.

"The enemy commanders continue to trade blows \vith us n because 
they are valorous, but because they believe that by teig honor they 
hold us from returning to Yuuzhan'tar. They rely on fact that we 
would never be the first to quit a contest of such  blunder, uruci u
il hack and begin to disperse. Let the Alliance admirals think they
total	"us on the run.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

The command chamber shook as a burst of turbolaser fire evaded
vessel's shielding singularities and blasted pieces of yorik coral
the starboard hull. Thick fluid poured from an already damaged
of bulkhead, and strips of the luminescent lichen died, increasing
the gloom.

"How much more can Tammka, endure?" Nas Choka asked of the
vessel's shaper.

"Six of our principal dovin basals are dead," the shaper was quick 
to say, "and many of our plasma launchers have been destroyed. Perhaps, 
Warmaster, if you would consider withdrawing Tammka from
the vanguard array..."

"No. I want the attention of the enemy focused on us. We must
remain a primary target."

"We could be destroyed, Warmaster," the tactician said carefully. Nas 
Choka nodded. "An acceptable risk. For today we serve our species as 
no Yuuzhan Vong have. We prove our worth to the gods who fashioned us. 
If we are to die, we do so discharging a transcen-dent obligation."

The command chamber's lock dilated and the vessel's Supreme Commander 
entered, snapping his fists to his opposite shoulders in salute.

"Warmaster, from our scouts: Ralroostznd forty other warships have 
just reverted from darkspace."

Nas Choka faced forward, his gaze directed toward the imperceptible 
enemy fleet. "That would be Traest Kre'fey." He grinned faintly. "All 
this is as it should be. The gods look out for us."

The Supreme Commander genuflected. "Warmaster, there isn't a commander 
who wouldn't gladly substitute his vessel for yours-or die in your stead."

Nas   Choka  betrayed  no  emotion.   "Return  to  your  duties,
SuPreme Commander."

The warrior rose and saluted again. When he had exited, the tactican 
moved to Nas Choka's left side.

"You have the unconditional fealty of your warriors   P
'	^rSOtvi
One. They would follow your every order-even those orde
might countermand their faith."	at
rne of
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

Nas Choka's gaze remained fixed on the battle.  "Tell Yuuzhan'tar, 
tactician."

"Enemy fighter craft have broken through our dovin basal shi M and 
war parties are on the surface. Some one thousand ground war ' 
battle ours in the sacred precinct. Others have gone to the aid of 
K heretics. Fortunately, the dhuryam has taken steps to confuse matte   "
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

"How so?"

"With fires, and by loosing some of our beasts. Nevertheless the 
territory surrounding the Citadel is in great turmoil."

Nas Choka waved his hand in unconcern. "Structures can be remade. 
Where is Shimrra?"

"The Supreme Overlord is in his coffer."

"Then that, too, is as it should be."

"He wishes it relayed to you, Warmaster, that you do honor to your 
elite rank. The Supreme Overlord proclaims that your name will live 
on as an inspiration to others. You will be the zenith all those who 
follow you will seek to attain."

"That means little unless we are successful at Zonama Sekot."

The tactician nodded. "Hapan warships are still arrayed in a 
blockade, preventing our vessels from escorting the poisoned 
one to the surface."

Nas Choka frowned. "I thought the Hapans had settled their score 
with us at Obroa-skai. But, no matter. It is the nature of vendettas 
that they continue to escalate, until one or the other party is wiped
out."

He gave the tactician a sideways glance. "Divert to Zonama Sekot the 
vessels of Domains Tiwik, Tsun, Karsh, and Vorrik. Caution the 
commanders not to make their intentions too obvious-even if this 
requires their taking additional time to reach the living world. We 
will make the Hapans suffer as they did at Fondor. Then our barb will 
find its mark, and, with the gods at our backs, we will rid this galaxy 
of vendetta and warfare."









Mara heard Tahiri call that she had found Nom Anor. Buried in f rocious 
tangle of heretics and warriors, and even while dodging histaffs and 
coufees, Mara had had to stand on the crumpled body warrior to see him. 
The look hadn't lasted long-just long eh for her to see the fear in his 
eye-then he was gone, slithering av through the crowd. Unable to track 
him through the Force, h  did the next best thing, which was to Force-leap 
to the edge of the .mbattled crowd, then to the top of a flight of stairs, 
and there watch for some sign of him.

True to their nature, Shamed Ones and warriors alike were running 
toward the melee rather than fleeing from it, no matter how bloodied 
they were or who was winning, as the outcome kept changing hands. But 
it wasn't long before Mara spied a lone figure slinking away, then 
scurrying down into a public square that was sur-rounded on three 
sides by groundquake-damaged structures. Though the relatively short 
figure was wearing the robeskin of a Shamed One, he ran with the 
stealth of an executor.

Taking a moment to touch Tahiri and Kenth through the Force, Mara 
vaulted from the steps to the high platform of a temple, then dropped 
down to  the  ground and  raced  after Nom Anor,  her lightsaber close 
at hand to deal with anyone who might try to stand in her way. Rushing 
into the square, she stopped to scan the several exits, and again 
spotted her quarry disappearing around the toppled end of a high wall.
She fairly flew after him, pursuing him up and over piles of nibble 
and debris, through stands of towering fire-blackened trees, then on 
a zigzag path down into what once had been the Column Commons-a  midlevel 
area  of open  spaces  studded with  thick columns that supported the 
sprawling cityscape overhead. Hundreds °i HoloNet and holodrama 
publishers had kept offices there, along with all the major media 
bureaus. During the Galactic Civil War, the commons had crawled with 
COMPNOR truth officers, who had -nsured that everything published was 
in keeping with the propa-ganda of the Empire.

Mara was certain she was more familiar with the area-even in
ruins-than Nom Anor was. But in his guise as the Prophet h obviously 
gotten to know Coruscant's canyons and depths as any slythmonger or 
death stick peddler, because he led her on that was as labyrinthine 
as the tracings of a conduit worm. The H they descended, the darker 
and danker became the surrounding   R Mara had already decided that 
she would chase him to the core   f u planet if that was what it would 
take to apprehend him.

The pursuit led ever downward, into darker levels, where f water 
dripped from cracked ceilings, and the only light was that what 
found its way down through gaps in the crushed buildings and rh 
riotously verdant areas that now roofed them.

Closing the gap between them, she saw him grab hold of a fall. Of 
vines and swing himself across a wide chasm. Securing the vines 
on his side of the abyss, he stopped to smirk at her, confident 
that his escape was secure. She came to a brief standstill opposite 
him-just lone enough to answer his sneering grin with a glare-then 
dashed for a narrower place in the chasm and leapt to the far side.

By then Nom Anor had disappeared into the ruins of a news bureau 
building. She could hear him stumbling forward, crunching through 
expanses of transparisteel debris and smashing through wooden doors. 
There, too, shafts of dismal light dappled the puddled floors, and a 
stinging odor of rot and decay pervaded the thick air.

She second-guessed him when he tried to set a trap for her - making 
it appear that he had gone through a doorway, on the other side of 
which there was a half-kilometer plunge into pitch darkness. And 
she outwitted him again by stopping just in time when he used his 
uncommon strength to dislodge a girder that supported a frac-tured 
slab ceiling.

He remained as steadfast in his desire to escape as she did in her 
desire to hunt him down. He began to scamper through a warren of 
rooms in a building where residual power allowed him to seal doorways 
behind him. But Mara merely kicked through them, and when she couldn't, 
she  found  alternate routes, never surrendering momentum.

Breathing hard and stumbling more often, Nom Anor was begi
ning10 ,hc *as tire. Mara's acute hearing told her that much-and more.
As n'U&      kicking down a final door, she heard a hand blaster's 
safety ft" and entered the room to discover Nom Anor hiding behind 
trid remains of a Twi'lek, still dressed in security guard garb. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????
Mara vised the Force to call her lightsaber to hand, even as Nom Anor
.-as triggering off the first bolts. Her blade deflected one after 
\riof was u-i&&      o ext   until he had emptied the blaster of fuel. 
He had sense eh not to hurl the depleted weapon at her. Instead, he 
began to bble backward on the palms of his hands and feet, his gaze 
riveted her as she advanced, calm but coldly fixed on her prey. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????

A wall brought an abrupt end to his retreat. Growling, he shot to his 
feet, coufee in hand, and began to slash wildlv at her, the lightsaber 
notwithstanding.

She leapt backward, out of reach, then deactivated the blade and 
encouraged him to charge. Her hands moved in a dexterous blur as 
she deflected his knife blows and got inside his frantic movements 
to slap and tap him in the chest or the jaw, never hard enough to 
stun him, let alone incapacitate him, but driving him backward with 
each smack. Ducking his increasingly desperate lunges and crosscuts, 
she swept his feet out from under him with a circling sidekick, then 
allowed him to come to his feet only long enough for her to cripple 
his knee with the toe of her right boot. He flung himself at her, 
but she sidestepped his headlong rush and sent him hurtling into a 
wall.

She continued to hurt him, telling herself: This is for Manor Two, 
where she had fallen victim to the coomb spores he had unleashed; 
und this is for the trouble you stirred up at Rhommamool.

Knocking the coufee from his grip, she thrust her stiffened fingers 
into his windpipe, then sent him reeling with an uppercut. This is 
for founding the Peace Brigade; for your part in sending Elan to 
assassinate we Jedi witfa bo'tous; for your double dealings with 
the Hutts and Viqi ^hesh; and for sabotaging the refugee settlements 
on Duro.

Making the most of her agility, she left deliberate openings in her
?rense, luring him into striking, only to set up combinations aimed at
Punishing his bald head; his flat-nosed face; his blue right eye, with
its npe of feline pupil. This is for the false appeals you made to Leia
    ^^^?????????????????????????????
and Han at Bilbringi; for your disdainful appearance before the Sen 
whatever role you played in the deaths of Chewbacca and Anak' your 
attempt to deliver Jacen into the hands of Tsavonjj Lah- f0 sabotage 
at Zonama Sekot...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Her blows were beginning to do damage. Deftly she moved '
^   ^Sl^|p
his flailing arms, using her elbows and the backs of her clenched h 
to bloody his scarred lips and swell his ears, ever mindful of that 
d gerous left eye of his, which she was certain he was saving as a 
I resort. She pivoted on her left foot and kicked him hard with h 
right, forcing the wind from him. He dropped to his knees, his righ 
hand pressed to his chest.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

He had trouble getting to his feet, but when he did, she sent him down
again with a fist to the face. Dread shone in his real eye. He had 
spent too long among beings who cherished life, and he had come to 
cherish it himself. Unlike those fighting to the death in the streets 
and squares above, Nom Anor wanted desperately to live. Mara could 
read it in his wretched look; she could smell it coming off of him 
in waves. He backed away from her until his back was pressed to a 
wall, then he sank slowly to his knees.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Mara ignited her lightsaber and held it with the tip low and to her 
right. One upward swing and she could send his head five meters.

Nom Anor bent at the waist and pressed his face to the littered floor 
in a posture of servility.

"You've defeated me, Mara Jade Skywalker," he said without lifting 
his head. "I beg for mercy." 

When she made no immediate reply, he risked raising his face to her, 
and when he saw that she hadn't moved forward he continued. "What 
would killing me accomplish now? Yes, it will satisfy you, but will 
it put an end to the war?

"For the moment, I'll content myself with satisfaction," she told him.

He gulped, then found his voice. "I am a dissembler and a killer. 
have brought woe to you and many others. But were you any I' when 
you were in service to the Emperor? To Darth Vader. executor, you 
did what you were trained to do. We all serve a mast Mara Skywalker. 
But I was given to believe that you now served t Force."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

 jyiara stepped forward, his pleas became more frenzied. ^You're a 
mother now! What if your son were watching you? Is ohit vou would 
want him to learn-the art of murdering in cold

Mini's nostril's quivered. "You almost robbed me of any chance
of having a child."

"I know that," he said, holding her gaze. "But am I not part of , as 
your infant is-part of the Force?" He gestured to himself. "I am 
helpless!"

Mara took another step, raising her lightsaber. 

"I can help!" he screamed. "I've changed. You saw me leading the Shamed 
Ones. Just as you do, I want to see the war ended. I would have been an 
ally of yours already if Vergere and Jacen had agreed to take me off 
Coruscant in the coralcraft / had built just for that pur-pose. You 
see, Mara Skywalker? I say Coruscant. I know this world is yours. It 
has always been yours, and it will remain so even if we are victorious.
One last chance. Let me prove myself to you,"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

She brought the glowing blade of the lightsaber close to his neck, 
then deactivated it and clipped the handle to her belt.

The expression on Nom Anor's face was unreadable. Clearly he hadn't 
expected leniency. He recognized that his words hadn't caused her to 
stay her hand-they had spilled from his mouth by rote. Something else 
had influenced her decision; something beyond his comprehension. For 
a long moment he regarded her in perplexity.

"A Yuuzhan Vong warrior would have been disgusted by my actions," he 
said at last. "He would have killed me as easily as if I were a droid. 
And yet you didn't find my cowardice contemptible. You let me live."

Mara narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe a word you said, and
known from the first that you're a coward. You're guilty of too
lanY crimes to list, but I won't be your executioner. Your ultimate
dlsPosition is a matter that will be decided by others." She gestured
r him to stand up. "If you really wanted to put an end to the war,
y°u shouldn't have interfered at Zonama Sekot."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

"I was only trying to spare the planet," Nom Anor said. "Even v 
Shimrra is out to destroy it. He believes it was given to the Jedi
 by the gods, as a means of testing our worthiness. He claims to h 
poison capable of killing Zonama Sekot."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

A chill laddered up Mara's spine. "What poison?"

Nom Anor heaved  his  shoulders  in  a  shrug  of indiffe "Something 
concocted by the Alliance and deployed on a world      ? Caluula."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Alpha Red, Mara realized in anguish.

She grabbed Nom Anor by the shoulder and shoved him tow the closest 
exit from the building. "You're going to show me yol > deserving of 
the extra time I've given you."








Echoing the shape of the worldship Citadel, Shimrra's coffer his
bunker in the crown of the fortress-was a huge vaulted space with 
polished walls and stately columns. From the eastern side of its 
circular floor a stairway of yorik coral spiraled into an upper 
level, where some said resided the controls that could launch the 
summit of the Citadel into space, in much the same way that the 
Well of the World Brain could be launched, to ensure that the 
Supreme Overlord and the dhuryam survived, no matter what befell 
the rest of the Yuuzhan Vong and their multitude of biots.

The coffer contained a throne, but Shimrra had yet to take it since 
entering the coffer from the lavish shaft that accessed the bunker -
a dovin basal version of a turbolift. The Supreme Overlord was too 
restless to remain seated, too mesmerized by villip-assembled images 
of Yuuzhan'tar engulfed in flames; of Shamed Ones running loose in 
the streets; of Alliance troops locked in battle with warriors; and 
of fighter craft darting through the smoke-filled sky, stinging the 
Citadel with packets of energized light.

Shimrra's slayer bodyguards were with him, as was Onimi, perhaps the 
only Shamed One on Yuuzhan'tar or any other occupied world still 
content to curl at the feet of the elite. A shaper doubled as a 
villip mistress to make certain that the Supreme Overlord didn't 
miss moment of the devastation he had called down on the planet.

"We should be rejoicing," Shimrra was saying as he meander* about, 
much to the consternation of his limited audience. He 8 j to Onimi, 
who was squatting almost possessively close to the throne. "What, 
no rhymes from you this day? No words of le or mockery? No capering 
about while Yuuzhan'tar burns?" 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Solemn-faced, Onimi got to his feet to recite a poem, though his 
characteristic self-amusement, and with his gaze not on a or any 
of the others in the bunker, but raised to the high, Irched ceiling 
or perhaps the sky beyond.

Who would stay cool while fires roar,
the gods themselves might well abhor.
But who would sport when death is near,
the gods themselves do well to fear.

Shimrra stood silent for a moment, then began to nod. "Yes, Onimi, 
you're right to give them fair warning. Is it not just as I planned, 
just as I imagined? Zonama Sekot will die, its living ships will 
perish, the Jedi will be stripped of their weapons, and the gods will 
have been defeated-I will have done away with them. Yuuzhan'tar will 
recover, and I will rid the universe of all vermin."

The shaper waited until Shimrra was finished, then stepped forward from 
her villip-choir. "Dread Lord, High Priest Jakan reports that saboteurs 
have been seized at the Well of the World Brain. Appar-ently the priest 
Harrar is among them."

"Harrar!" Onimi said, then caught himself and hunkered down. Shimrra 
glanced at him, then turned back to the shaper. "Too clever even for 
Nom Anor, that one. It's no wonder he survived. But now on the side 
of the enemy . . . Enlisted or conscripted, I wonder?" 

He swung to Onimi again. "Betrayal is rife in our fair kingdom, my 
ramiliar. The gods breaking faith with their creations. Shamed Ones 
rising up against those who have for so long suffered them. And now 
our esteemed Harrar, giving up the elite . . ."

"Assuming that it meets with your blessing, Dread Lord," the Snaper 
said, "the prisoners will be prepared for sacrifice."

"With all speed, set to it," Shimrra said. "Join them there. Let us 
'e the gods their last ounce of flesh before we dispense with them."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Muffled explosions punctuated the silence as the shaper e ' The coffer 
trembled as the enemy's aerial bombardment continu
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Admitted into the bunker, a wounded warrior in vonduun armor saluted 
and began to stagger toward the throne. He H'H make it halfway before 
he collapsed onto his knees, black blood died in a wound to his right 
armpit.

"Lord," he began weakly. "Enemy warriors have surrounded th Citadel, 
and even now are attempting to battle their way inside."

Shimrra approached the warrior to have a closer look at his wound. 

"No blaster made that injury."

"Three Jeedi, Lord. At the western gate."

The slayers stepped forward, but Shimrra waved them back.

"Let the Jedi come to us." He looked at Onimi. "After all, diversion 
needn't be the exclusive province of the warmaster."












What had been the Atrium of the Senate was now a cold cavern of 
living yorik coral. No less digested than the great dome, the 
imposing post-Imperial interspecies statues that had once graced 
the arched enclosure resembled sandstone stalagmites or immense 
candles festooned with flows of melted wax. The curving walls 
were swirled in blood red, purple, and rust brown, and lighted 
only by luminescent lichen or the occasional lambent. Yawning 
black hollows to either side of the vast room were all that 
remained of the ornate entrances to the Grand Concourse.

It was in the Atrium that Jedi Knight Ganner Rhysode had died and 
become a legend among the Yuuzhan Vong warrior caste. Or so Jacen 
had said. But Jacen had also said that Ganner had brought much of 
the Atrium down, and that clearly wasn't the case. Leia decided 
that whoever was in charge of the World Brain had tried to expunge 
any memories of Ganner's heroic last stand by having the Atrium 
rebuilt.

Their hands shackled behind their backs by pincered biots, she,
Han, Harrar, Cakhmaim, and Meewalh were being ushered by a cadre
of warriors toward the five-meter-wide tunnel opposite the Atrium's
front entry. C-3PO and R2-D2 trailed behind, the protocol droid's
leg joints squeaking, and the astromech's retractable tread also
in need of lubrication. High Priest Jakan's acolytes were doing a 
rush ' purifying the captives by wafting smoke from elaborate censm
o    o	o i    r-         n	^	arid
anointing everyone with finger-flung drops of a pungent-sm Il-liquid. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Nearby walked Master Shaper Qelah Kwaad and High Pr Drathul, whom 
Harrar had explained presided over Vongfor Coruscant.

Red-orange light pulsed brightly from the far end of the tunnel.
According to Jacen, the round-topped corridor extended almost half 
kilometer to what had been the Great Rotunda, and was now the 
Well of the World Brain.

"I thought you had your fill of this on Caluula," Leia said to Han 
who walked at her left hand.

"Ah, that was only a yammosk," he said, feigning nonchalance "Now 
we're going to be sacrificed to a World Brain."

"We really are coming up in the world," Leia said in the same 
unflappable tone. She paused, then in a more serious voice added: 
"I don't suppose we can count on Lando and Talon flying to the 
rescue this time."

Han compressed his lips, then gave her his best lopsided grin. "Chin 
up, sweetheart. This isn't over yet."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a clamor began to build 
from somewhere outside the Atrium's missile-torn entry. As the 
procession came to a halt, Leia could discern the sounds of running 
feet and dozens of voices raised in conviction. The voices grew louder 
and more determined, and then the air was filled with the strident 
whiz of hurled razor bugs and the angry snap of thrashing amphistaffs.

The cadre of warriors shoved the captives to one side, whirled, and 
fanned out across the cavern. Amphistaffs unwound from the warriors' 
forearms, stiffing into poison-spitting batons. Ensconced in their 
bandoliers, thud and razor bugs vibrated in urgency. All eyes were 
c the entry when a crowd of scrawny Yuuzhan Vong began to pour into 
the cavern from the hedge-lined causeway, shouting demands anc
brandishing crude weapons.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Shamed Ones, Leia realized. Heretics!

Han grinned at her again. "See, what'd I tell you?"

 She wagged her head uncertainly. "You're getting scary in your
v>

Shamed Ones continued to squeeze into the Atrium, ultimately onv into 
a mob fifty strong, but taking no action against the mar-
nliSSll1^? i A warriors. Clearly appalled by the intrusion, Jakan 
hurried for- ch*U^ d  raising his thin arms over his head, as if 
about to call on the ver of the gods to smite the crowd. Standing 
alongside Leia, Harrar translated the high priest's words.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

"Jakan is demanding to know who or what inspired them to pro-
f ne this most sacred of places. He's ordering them to leave or be
killed where they stand."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Individuals began to edge their way to the front of the crowd. A 
battered Yuuzhan Vong male limped forward, shorter than many of his 
comrades and wearing a shredded robeskin. The Shamed Ones quieted 
long enough for their apparent spokesperson to make a brief statement.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Leia saw Harrar's eyes widen in disbelief.

"He declares himself to be the Prophet!" The priest glanced at
Leia. "It's Nom Anor!"

Leia traded astonished looks with Han, while the Shamed Ones went 
back to shouting and gesturing with their weapons. Others began 
to advance to the front, two of whom stood to either side of Nom 
Anor, as if his lieutenants or disciples, and three others who 
ignited the blades of their lightsabers.

Seeing Mara, Tahiri, and Kenth, the atrium warriors immediately 
tensed and looked to High Prefect Drathul for orders. Leia was at 
once revived and worried. Several dozen poorly armed heretics, 
bolstered by three Jedi, against almost one hundred able warriors. 

R2-D2 toned in disquiet. "I agree completely, Artoo," C-3PO said.
"The odds are most unfavorable."

The Shamed Ones recognized this as well, as did the Jedi. And tney, 
too, began to spread out, if warily. Just as the tension was 
culminating, sounds of another commotion infiltrated the cavern.

"Reinforcements!" C-3PO said jubilantly.

But in place of boisterous cries came a repetitive chant; and in
place of the determined shuffling of bare feet came the cadence-daled
troops. A murmur of confusion swept through the crowd. Expressions 
of fervor became looks of sudden concer fact that even Mara looked 
apprehensive was not a good sign.

The  Shamed  Ones  began  to move  away from  the ent through the 
gap marched one hundred additional warriors with thick amphistaffs 
and armored in vonduun crab. Leia could by the behavior of the 
crowd that the new troops were somethin fear. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????
Nom Anor, his lieutenants, and the Jedi held their ground h the rest 
of the heretics fell farther back, pressing themselves to th Atrium's 
coarse walls.

Whatever chance there had been for victory vanished.









Jakan, Drathul, and Qelah Kwaad relaxed somewhat as the men-acing 
detachment formed up parallel to Drathul's line of warriors facing 
the entry and the quailing heretics. With a singleness born of years 
of training, they adopted defensive postures, amphistaffs held 
diagonally across their chests, and other melee weapons at the ready.

Fixing Nom Anor with a menacing gaze, Drathul pushed through the 
double row of warriors and paced down the line until he reached 
the commander of the reinforcements.

"Stay your hand when it comes to dispatching Prefect Nom Anor, his 
subalterns, and the three Jedi," the high prefect said. "We'll want 
to add them to our offering to the World Brain."

The commander snapped his fists to his shoulders in salute.

When Drathul had returned to a safe position behind his warriors, 
the commander issued an order, and as one entity the reinforcements 
performed a synchronous about-face, uttered a battle cry, and attacked, 
turning their amphistaffs and thud bugs against Drathul s forces. It 
took a moment for the Shamed Ones to realize what was happening; then 
they pealed in triumph and rushed forward to lend their meager arms to 
the fray.

"Mark this as the moment the war truly turned," Harrar said to Leia 
in a resigned voice.

With the guards occupied, R2-D2 rolled up behind Cakhman and Meewalh 
and used his laser to stun the creatures that secured t
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????
Once freed, the Noghri immediately moved Han and Leia out
*[      ljne of fire. C-3PO and R2-D2 followed, the astromech anxious
°      er the pincer-biots manacling Han and Leia, as well.
Ct   The Atrium was in pandemonium, with Yuuzhan Vong battling
zhan Vong, and Mara, Tahiri, and Kenth fighting their way for-
, ^eja Saw Nom Anor race for Drathul, but it was Harrar who had
|ier attention.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

"Qelah Kwaad!" he shouted, as Cakhmaim was freeing his hands. "She 
must be stopped before she reaches the dhuryam! She can seal
off the passageway!"

Leia whirled to see the master shaper disappearing through the 
archway that led to the Well of the World Brain. Harrar started 
after her but was tackled by Jakan before he had gone five meters.

Leia called to Han, gesturing toward the tunnel entrance. The last 
thing she saw before disappearing inside the archway was Harrar 
dropping the elderly high priest to the floor with a single blow, 
and Nom Anor with his hands vised on the slender neck of High 
Prefect Drathul.

When the reptoid slave soldiers crowded at th,e base of the Citadel
realized that serpentine Sgauru was not going to drop Jacen into their 
midst but merely hold on to him until Tu-Scart completed knocking an 
opening in the western wall, they made the mistake of taking out their 
fury on the beasts themselves, by peppering them with razor and thud 
bugs, and firejelly grenades. Seeing others of their kind attacked, 
the claw-footed artillery beasts that had been spewing plasma into 
the Glitannai Esplanade canyon shambled through a turn and charged 
at the Chazrach, trampling dozens before any could escape back into 
the maw at the base of the Citadel. But the reptoids found no safety 
even there, as the enraged beasts pursued them inside, and the sound 
of the Chazrach's cries resonated in the air.






The unexpected departure of the artillery beasts was all that Captain 
Page needed to send his commandos and droids rocketing back down into 
the canyon to finish what the mammoth biots had begun, vhile the 
commandos plummeted for the banks of the swollen river,
  
 


Luke and Jaina rushed to the edge of the demolished walkwa hurled 
themselves into the ragged breach Tu-Scart's stubby fOr , had 
opened, and in which Jacen had been safely deposited by SB 
That still left the problem of how to reach Shimrra's bunker 
it didn't take the Jedi long to discover a narrow stairway that 
hu the Citadel's curved perimeter as it wound toward the summit 
1 led the ascent, with Jaina close behind, and Jacen a few steps 
beh' her, silently thanking the World Brain for interceding at 
the west walkway, and reaffirming his promise to end the dhuryam's 
inn turmoil.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Carved from the same yorik coral that made up the fortress's
unpolished hull and bulkheads, the stairway was a continuous spiral
occasionally walled in on both sides, but more often climbing without
an exterior handrail through maintenance rooms and expansive living
chambers. Dilating membranes sealed each individual level, and access
corridors connected the stairway to interior spaces. The Citadel shook
with each seal the Jedi violated, as if each rupture sent a measure of
pain through the living vessel. But the shaking could just as well have
been a response to the ceaseless bombardment by starfighters, or
explosions triggered by Page's Commandos as they fought their way
into the lower levels.

Judging by the way the sinuous stairway had been engineered, and the 
layout of the interior spaces, Jacen realized that Shimrra's worldship 
had obviously flown upright through space-a veritable mountain rather 
than a flattened oval or projectile-shaped vessel, such as the Jedi 
and Alliance forces had encountered at Helska 4, Sernpidal, Obroa-skai, 
and other worlds.

It wasn't until the eighth level that Luke and his niece and nephew 
met with resistance, but it was clear from the ferocity with which 
the warriors attacked-from above, below, and through the various 
access corridors-that the onslaught was likely to continue all the 
way to Shimrra's lair, and probably inside it, as well. If the 
warriors constituted the first line of defense, it was difficult to 
imagine wha might await them at the summit, assuming they could even 
make i that far.

In most places the stairway wasn't wide enough for the '

 I   to stand abreast, and in those stretches Luke had to face the of 
the attacks. He was his own vortex, deflecting amphistaff 1 -t     
\vhiplike lashes, and spurts of deadly venom; dodging or redi-flights 
of thud bugs; parrying the thrusts of coufees, to side-duck, maneuver 
his body in ways that seemed to defy gravity, 'ned or burned by Luke's 
green blade, thud bugs were ricocheting the walls and high ceiling, 
chipping away at the yorik coral sur-"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Dropped in their tracks, warriors sprawled with hands pressed to 
mps of legs and opened foreheads, or with black blood welling ohere 
the lightsaber had found defenseless areas between living armor
and tattooed flesh.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Jacen recalled watching his uncle on Belkadan, where the war had 
begun, wielding two lightsabers when he had come to Jacen's rescue. 
But the rescue on Belkadan paled in comparison to the control Luke 
demonstrated now.

His single blade might as well have been ten, or twenty.

He took the steps at a lightning pace, burning his way through 
dilating membranes but in complete control of his momentum. Seen 
through the Force he was a maelstrom of luminous energy, a Force 
storm against which there was no shelter. And yet all his energy 
poured from a calm center; an eye. He made no missteps. None of 
his actions were interrupted by thought.

In fact, Luke didn't seem to be there at all-physically or as an 
individual personality.

Jacen and Jaina were astounded-but they had little time to reflect. 
Their lightsabers were busy, as well, turning the blows Luke dodged, 
or defending assaults launched from below.

On the fourteenth level, where the Citadel's exterior wings sprouted 
from the hull, they reached a fork in the stairway.

Luke swung to Jacen. "Which way?"

He wasn't even breathing heavily.

Jacen extended his Vongsense. "The left passage leads to living 
quarters on the next level. The other, to some sort of dovin basal 
lift "at accesses the summit." He screwed his eyes shut. "Shimrra 
is there. He has guards with him..."

"Not enough."
  




 

"...and another."

Once more they began to race up the stairway, droppin leaping over 
the bodies of wounded or dead warriors.

Tapping deeper into his Vongsense, Jacen again reached out the 
dhuryam, only to be staggered by what he felt in return Th">
c Drain was even more confused than before-by something else now ]t e
threatened, concerned for its survival and for what might becom its 
creation-Yuuzhan'tar-should the brain be killed or forced to fl the 
planet.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Jacen stretched out with the Force. Mom and Dad, he realized.

And Mara, Tahiri, and Kenth. They had fought their way into the Well,
and were preparing to destroy the dhuryam with explosives.

The brain felt betrayed. It sent to Jacen that it should have killed 
him when it had him in its grip years earlier. It should have dragged 
him into the Well and let him drown. It should have ordered Sgauru 
to kill him.

It had been foolish to trust him.

Jacen reiterated what he had told the dhuryam two years earlier: Tw, 
I taught you to trust, and I taught you what it means to trust a 
traitor. But I have not betrayed you this time. I live in you. We're 
partners in this experiment. Tou need only choose whose side you're on.

As he had done while on Coruscant with Vergere, he shared with the 
dhuryam his experience with the spectrum of life: the featureless 
whiteout of agony, the red tide of rage, the black hole of despair,
the gamma-sleet of loss . . . the lush verdure of growing things, 
the grays of stone and duracrete, the glisten of gemstones and 
transparisteel, the blue-white sizzle of the noonday sun and its 
exact echo in a lightsaber's blade . . .

We are one, Jacen said with his thoughts. We are the union of all 
opposites. Reject the commands Shimrra sends you. Overcome your 
conditioning as you have shown yourself capable of doing. Show 
those TX>"> threaten you that you pose no threat-that in coming 
to you, that t, risking death to reach you, they have rescued you. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

Choose life over
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????






"Either you're going to change its mind, or we're going to it " Han 
told Qelah Kwaad. His right hand held one of the -hiil'1^
-J detonators he had retrieved, his thumb close to the orb's
.  He waited for Harrar to translate the warning, then added:
tjiRB'   '
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?????????????????????????????????????

"There's no two ways around this."

The three of them, along with Leia, Mara, Nom Anor, and the o js were 
standing on a trembling ten-meter-diameter platform that rlooked the 
Well of the World Brain-a colossal bowl of yorik al that climbed more 
than halfway to the vaulted roof of what had h en the Great Rotunda. 
Even if Han and Leia managed to discover the exterior entrance to the 
secret passageway Jacen and Vergere had used they wouldn't have been 
able to reach the Well-yorik coral had overgrown the Kashyyyk 
delegation's platform. Jacen had said that the circular platform and 
the cantilevered bridge that accessed it were a hundred meters above 
the dhuryam's pool, but either both had been redesigned and rebuilt at 
a lower tier after being destroyed during Ganner's last stand, or the 
nutrient level of the pool itself had risen, because the platform was 
now scarcely five meters above the turbulent surface.

The battle was continuing in the Atrium, but it was mostly a mop-up 
operation. The warriors who had been in charge of protecting the brain 
were fighting to the death, and the Shamed Ones and renegade troops 
were accommodating them. High Prefect Darthul was dead, strangled by 
Nom Anor. But Harrar had spared Jakan's life, and the high priest was 
in the custody of Tahiri, Kenth Hamner, and the Noghri, who had 
remained behind to guard the tunnel entrance.

A sulfurous mist overlay the dhuryam pool, within which moved the 
bloated, fleshy black monstrosity Han and Leia had come to confute 
or kill. Some of the red-orange light Leia had observed was the
product of massive patches of bioluminescent lichen that crusted 
the walls of the humid well. But most of it came from the pool, as 
huge nubbles broke the misted surface, washing the Rotunda with 
flares of scarlet and starflower yellow. Resembling nothing so 
much as an x^rted human stomach, the tentacled creature responsible 
for the explosive globules was thrashing about like a hooked fish.


    Recalling what Harrar had said 
about the well actually K o 
self ёontained sphere, capable of 
surviving even the destruct Coruscant, 
Han couldn't help feeling that the entire
quaking star was either about to explode 
or lift off. Considering the grip Leon his
right bicep, she evidently felt the same.

Han glanced at the shaper, then Harrar.

"What's it going to be ?"

Harrar exchanged a flurry of sharp
words with Qelah Kwaad. 

"She  says that only Shimrra can communicate 
directly with the dhuryam."

Han scowled. 

"Yeah, well, Shimrra's not here, so she's 
going to have to take a crack at it." 

Reaching out, he grabbed the shaper by the arm 
and flung her to the edge of the platform.

"Maybe if I just send you for a swim..."

"No!" Qelah Kwaad said in Basic. "The
dhuryam cannot be touched! Take your
hands from me and I promise to do what
I can."

"I figured you'd listen to reason,"
Han said, grinning as he let go.

The shaper composed herself and leaned
over the pool. Sweat began to bead her
trestled brow, then fall into the
agitated pool. Almost immediately the
dhuryam breached the surface a yellow
eye as big as a starfighter glaring up
at those on the platform. Then its
mate appeared, blinking and fixing on
everyone. A spray of powerful
tentacles surrounding the creature's
mouth sliced through the humid air,
faster than Han's eyes could follow.

"Seems a bit upset." he said, backing
away from the edge and readying the
detonator's thumb trigger.

Inside the dhuryam's tentacle ringed
mouth gnashed giant teeth shaped like
swords.

"Perhaps we should all wait outside,"
C-3PO started to say.

Then all at once the Well stopped
shaking, and the dhuryam grew
quiescent. Two of the longer tentacles
stretched out to touch Qelah Kwaad,
then Harrar, in what seemed a display
of submission and compliance.

The shaper and the priest traded looks
of incredulity. 

"As pleasant as a young yammosk," Harrar said.

Han thumbed the grenade's arming
trigger forward.

Leia blew out her breath in relief.

"Jacen talked to it."
 
Oelah   Kwaad  ridiculed  the   idea.

"If anyone   convinced  the imortance of
vield, it was the Supreme Overlord. He
knows that what dhuryam would do here 
won't matter, because we will have proved 
our worldships and the gods will rid this
galaxy of all infidels."

Harrar shook his head ruefully. 

"If the gods judged us by our Trirv??????????????? might,
they would never have banished us from
paradise."

The shaper sniffed in derision. 

"This war will take care of itself. We
prove our worth by destroying Zonama
Sekot." 

She held Harrar's eye "It is not
long for this galaxy, Eminence. The
Supreme Overlord discovered a way to
poison it." 

"Shimrra lies," Harrar said.

Mara shoved Nom Anor forward. 

"The shaper's right," she said in a grim
voice. "Nom Anor can explain."

    

    At Zonama Sekot the battle had 
reached a fevered pitch. One thousand
kilometers from the living world the
Hapan line was holding, but three
additional Yuuzhan Vong battle groups
had arrived from Muscave to strengthen
the original task force. The double
hulls of many a Battle Dragon were
perforated, or showed great crescents
at their edges where plasma balls had
seared through failing shields.
Similarly overwhelmed, several Nova-
class cruisers had been snapped in
half or blown to pieces.

Because his fighter was without
display screens of any sort, Kyp was
left to imagine the intense fighting,
but Lando had painted a vivid picture
when he had commed Kyp from Errant
Venture. Booster's Star Destroyer had
been forced to retreat, with both Lady
Luck and wild Karrde back on board,
and six Smugglers' Alliance ships unac-
counted for. Under the joint command
of Wedge Antilles and Keyan Farlander,
elements of the Alliance Second Fleet
had withdrawn from :  engagement  at
Muscave   and  launched  for   Zonama
Sekot, but without the blessings of
Kre'fey and Sow. With the shielding
lovin basals at Coruscant overcome and
thousands of commandos oreaking for
the surface, the two admirals had
counseled for a full-scale invasion.

In contrast, Warmaster Nas Choka
seemed to be concentrating the armada's
swiftest vessels at Zonama Sekot, as
if the planet was somehow the key to 
winning the war.

The fear among the Jedi of the Sekotan
fighters was that the Yuuzhan Vong
knew some about Alpha Red that the
Alliance didn't. Perhaps winged star
flitnats weren't the only lifeforms
that were susceptible to the engineered
toxin, and all of Zonama Sekot was at
risk.

World that an enemy vessel contaminated
with Alpha Red had been spotted flying
with the original task force had
placed the Red'in offensive.
Although Jabitha had been unable to
contact S ?????????If since, the planet showed
signs of having grasped the enormity
of the unforeseen threat. Columns of
fiery devastation half a kilometer wid
were  streaming  upward from summits
of skyscraping mountains boiling
through layers of gauzy ice clouds to
vaporize attacking coral-skippers and
picket vessels. Scores had already
fallen to Zonama's wrath, and scores
more stood at the threshold of annihilation.

Defending close to the surface, Kyp
would no sooner conclude one duel than
another would present itself. Now that
he and his ship had finally gotten to
know each other, the fighter was
responding to his every whim. But the
Jedi fighters were only a dozen
against hundreds, and skips were
breaking through the Hapan cordon to
assail the planetary weapons
emplacements or make strafing runs
through the deep canyons of the Middle
Distance, where most of the Ferroans
were holed up in the shelters. 

No less overwhelmed, Corran, Saba, 
Alema, and the others were streaking in 
and out of contests, their ships darting above
the boras like soldier hornets
protecting a nest. As had so often
happened in previous battles, the
Yuuzhan Vong were slowly gaining the
upper hand through sheer determination
and the strength of numbers. Whether
the unrelenting assault echoed the
will of the individual pilots or the
resoluteness of the controlling yammosk, 
the invaders were finding soft
spots and creating openings, it assure
that the Alpha Red poisoned craft
would reach the surface intact.

Kyp was drawing on his ship's
extraordinary speed to intercept pair
of coralskippers when a sudden
coolness enveloped his rig hand-the
hand that the control console had
engulfed, and was in ra???????? his interface
with the ship. Almost instantly the
fighter began to she velocity and grow
unresponsive. Kyp pressed the control
stick t?????????????????????
 
Though the launchers were far from
depleted, they refused to fire.And then
something had changed, the skip pilots
began to harry
^ oflS'C'????????????????
nth plasma fire. With maneuverability
lost, only the organic
h i 1 1^ ,???????? -elds were keeping the
ship from being destroyed.
'
Kyp's first instinct was to blame
himself. His ego had crept back to the
fight, and he had lost his rapport
with the ship as a result. Or obe????????? he
had been doing too much thinking. The
frequent updates do the
comm chatter with Corran and the other
Jedi, the sur^e????????? in the savagery of the
fighting since word of the poisoned
ship had been received . . .
Then Kyp realized that it wasn't only
his ship that had powered down.

Throughout the fire fractured sky
other Sekotan ships were abbreviating 
their duels. The comlink grew
noisy with reports from Corran, Zekk,
Lowbacca, and Saba, confirming that
their fighters, too, were no longer responding.

Chased by the same pair of
coralskippers, Kyp swooped through
evasive turns that took him over a
sawtoothed mountain range just south
of the Middle Distance, which had been
responsible for some of the heaviest
outpourings of defensive fire. Now,
though, even some of those summit
weapons were beginning to fall silent.
Above Kyp, flights of emboldened skips
were plunging deeper into the gravity well.

"The craft Lando reported seeing at
Caluula could have been a decoy," Corran said 
to Kyp over the comlink.

"The Alpha Red vessel could have
already crashed on the surface."

"That would explain why no one's been
able to communicate with Sekot," Kyp
said. "The planet's already poisoned."

"Then the war is lost for everyone."

Kyp gritted his teeth. "I'm not about
to see another world die, Corran."

"You and me both,"

    
    The final curve of the Citadel 
stairway terminated in a immense 
interior space with a convex ceiling 
of yorik coral as jagged as the hulls 
of Yuuzhan Vong war vessels. 
A wide circular aperture
at the ceiling's lowest point was the
mouth of the turbolift analog chute.

Jacen had detected with his Vongsense.
Bioluminescent wall lichen projected a
pool of green on the floor directly
below the opening. Jacen was certain
that the chute accessed the crown of
Shimrra's holy mountain, but the dovin
basal that controlled the chute was
either malfunctioning or refusing to
admit anyone other than Yuuzhan Vong,
because nothing happened when Luke
positioned himself in the shaft of
olive light.

"I guess we climb," he told his niece
and nephew.

Abandoning the watch for Yuuzhan Vong
warriors, they turned to see Luke
spring high into the chute. At the
apex of his leap he pressed his back
to the curved wall and his feet
opposite. Then he began to chimney
himself along.

Jaina and Jacen followed, recognizing
that they were in sorrow sense leaving
the Citadel itself and entering an
enormous esca vessel, much like the
one Jacen had described as
encompassing World Brain. 

Ascending through an outer shell of yorik coral,
they passed through a layer of metal
bearing nacelles, wrapped around
the organisms that had created them.
Next came a layer of capillaries, then 
one of musculature and tendons. Ultimately
merged in an antechamber with a
vaulted ceiling and great
walls    the   innermost   of which
contained a large but curving
domed osmotic membrane.

Jacen wasn't surprised  to  find the
antechamber unoccupied. 

"Shimrra's expecting us," he said.

Jaina tightened her ringed grip on the
pommel of her lightsaber.

"We should at least announce
ourselves," Luke said.

He aimed the tip of his lightsaber at
the membrane. Jacen and Jaina brought 
their lightsabers close to his, and the 
three of them ushed the glowing blades through. 
Arancid smell permeated the
antechamber, and the thick membrane
began to melt. Finally the lock
retracted with an audible pop!

Luke gestured for Jaina and Jacen to
withdraw to either side of the
opening, and not a second later a
shower of thud bugs whizzed out into
the antechamber, caroming off the
walls, ceiling, and floor. The three
Jedi raised their blades, deflecting
some of the winged creatures back
through the portal, stunning others,
and killing the few that remained.

While Jaina was dispatching the last
of them, Luke whirled and leapt
through the opening. Landing in a
crouch five meters from the membrane,
he held the lightsaber in a one-handed
grip extended to his right and
slightly behind him. Jacen was the
next through, assuming a bent-legged
forward stance, with his blade held
straight out in front of him. Then
Jaina came through, moving swiftly but
vigilantly to Luke's left side, with
her blade raised over her right
shoulder.

Though the floor was level, the walls
of Shimrra's circular, high?????????:uinged
lair were curved. A simple throne
occupied the center of a used dais
that was encircled by a shallow moat
flowing with what ght have been
diluted Yuuzhan Vong blood. The far
wall contained much more elaborate
entry portal, and to the right of the
throne a climbed into the summit of
the Citadel, presumably to the f????tmand
and control areas of the escape vessel
itself. 

Between the moat and the Jedi
stood fifteen warriors of modest
stature, arrayed in a semicircle and
armed with hissing amply. They affected
no armor, but their burnished and
bloodsmeared bodies looked as impenetrable
as vonduun crab topshells.

Luke  recognized  them   from  Han
and   Leia's  descript examples of
the  specially engineered warriors
they had fac?????? Caluula, and against whom
even Kyp had failed. The slayers prea
daunting obstacle, but they were
surpassed by the one they deployed to
protect.

When Luke had been brought before the
Emperor, Palpatin   visage had been
familiar to him from images that had
reached even remote Tatooine, and his
inherent power was immediately evide
The Supreme Overlord, however, was a
void Luke could not fathom??????? He wasn't a
shell of a human in a hooded cloak,
more energy than flesh. Nor was his
face that of a Sith Master,
prematurely wizened by years of
calling on dark power. 

Instead, Shimrra was very much alive 
and all the more intimidating for it. 
In him was concentrated the combined
strength of the Yuuzhan Vong species,
and if he couldn't be defeated, then
all that Luke had done to reach this
point would amount to nothing.

He was the largest Yuuzhan Vong Luke
had ever seen, with lean limbs, a
massive head, and an upper body so
thoroughly branded and tattooed it was
impossible to distinguish flesh from
garment. Widely placed, his slightly
slanted eyes gleamed in shifting
colors. He wore a ceremonial cape made
of tanned hide. Curled sedately around
his left forearm was a thick bodied
amphistaff with an intricately
patterned head. Only in his amusement
was Shimrra similar to the enemy Luke
had confronted at Endor, on the
incomplete Death Star.

Much as the Emperor had trusted in the 
power of the dark side of the Force, the
Supreme Overlord trusted entirely in
the power of the gods. And similar to
that pivotal moment in the Galactic
Civil War, a battle was raging in the
skies. But Shimrra's lair permitted no
view of the test; only the muffled
sounds of distant explosions
infiltrated sealed space.

If Luke was at all worried about Jaina
and Jacen, if he had regrets about
having brought them to the very heart
of the war,his concerns so deeply to himself
that they could not be felt by rtres
even through the Force. The strength
of their meld was
!ii>* CH" ??????????????

That the three might have been sharing
the same mind, and that
 was the Force itself.
Luke had no doubt that what they were
doing was necessary, and harmony with
the will of the Force.

Shimrra's warriors were no less
committed to the moment. And to all 
the Yuuzhan Vong held sacred, the Jedi 
were driven by a
.?????   , anci incomprehensible power that
flew in opposition to the divine
diets of Yun-Yuuzhan and the other
gods. No more than did those of
the Jedi, the marked faces of the
slayers displayed neither anger nor
tear, only the full measure of their
intent to protect their god-king at
all costs.

"The Master and the Twins," Shimrra
murmured from the throne,
in passable Basic. "How long we have
anticipated this meeting." 

"As we have," Luke answered.

Shimrra beckoned with the fingers of
his left hand. 

"Then come forward and show your respect, Master Jeedai"

Luke stayed put and yet something
began to move him forward. Just short
of the moat, and much to the amusement
of the slayers, he dropped to his
knees, and bent at the waist. His
extended left arm shook as it fought
to prevent him from pressing his face
to the floor, and the lightsaber was
nearly yanked from his grip. 

"If it`s not Shimrra..." Jacen said through the Force.

"A dovin basal," Luke guessed.

He sensed Jacen abandon the meld
momentarily, presumably to
call on his Vongsense to disable the
gravitic powers of the biot. Luke
began to feel as if he were shedding
weight by the second. Gradually,
he raised his face to Shimrra, then
and ,as if defying gravity, he drew
himself erect with a proud air.

Incredulity almost raised Shimrra out
of his throne. For a split :cond his
glowing eyes fell on Jacen, who by
then had returned to the Force meld.
Jaina and Jacen sidestepped away from
Luke to create three separated fronts.

Then Luke did something neither twin
had ever seen him do.

Shifting his stance, he called
the lightsaber into his left
abandoning form, he encouraged the
warriors to attack him
in swift response the fifteen divided
themselves into three of four, four,
and seven. The quartets began to
square off with one and Jacen, while the
larger group formed up opposite Jaina.

See that Luke  and Jacen were  the
stronger fighters, the slayers I
decided to reserve most of their might
for the Jedi they perceive  being the
weakest, guessing that Luke and Jacen
would always help Jaina before
attempting to reach Shimrra.

No one moved.

Just when it seemed that the moment
would be forever frozen, the
slayers charged, some with amphistaffs
stiffened, other unfurling them like
whips, and still others prompting
their weapons to spit venom. There
were no attempts to engage Luke,
Jacen, or Jaina in single combat for
personal glory, as had happened on
Yag'Dhul and other worlds. The war had
gone on too long. All that mattered
now was that the conflict be decided,
and that there be winners and losers.

Luke's lightsaber was a blur of pure
energy as he parried a four-pronged
attack. His blade found exposed flesh
time and again, but the slayers
sustained each searing blow without
surrendering ground. The amphistaffs
hammered at the lightsaber with such
force that flashes of blinding
radiance filled the room, projecting
giant silhouettes up along the curved
walls. 

In an attempt to forge a united
front, and despite battling warriors
on three sides, Luke and Jaina began
to move toward one another. For a
moment, several slayers found
themselves trapped between the two
Jedi and the lashing movements of
their comrades' amphistaffs. Pierced
simultaneously from either side, one
warrior dropped to the floor; then a
second.

Luke vaulted through a half-twisting
front flip that landed him back to
back with Jaina, killing a third
warrior on the way down, with a strike
to the top of the head. With some
effort, Luke saw Jacer through the
Force, pressed hard by the four
slayers who had dedicated themselves to
him. Again Luke leapt, swinging his
blade through air and cleaving the
neck of the most formidable of the
slay attacking his nephew. Two slender
amphistaffs shot for Luke's
who managed to jump over both, as if
skipping rope, then escaping slower 
amphistaff before it could withdraw.

A coufee swooshed through the air
millimeters from his right ear.
?????-hing, he extended one foot and
pivoted on the other, knocking
feet out from under the knife wielder,
then amputating the warrior`s
left foot with a return swing
of the lightsaber.  Seeing an
mm????? Luke made a move for Shimrra...only
to be dragged down by the dovin basal.
Immediately, he rolled to one side,
 toppling two
 ^?????hvers and removing himself from the
gravity field.

Jacen leapt to Jaina's side of the
bunker, and the two of them began
working in concert to drive a trio of
warriors back toward the moat that
encircled Shimrra's throne. One of the
slayers nearly stumbled into the flow,
but caught himself in time. Surging
after him, Jacen swung his blade
through a backhanded crosscut, which
the warrior parried, then answered
with a fast chop aimed at Jacen's left
knee. Jacen jumped straight up, but
not quickly enough, and the amphistaff
struck him on the ankle. Landing off
balance, he staggered into the wall.
Two warriors hurried after him, but
made it only halfway when the entire
bunker tipped to the right.

The unexpected movement sent everyone,
slayers and Jedi alike, scurrying,
sailing, and tumbling into the
opposite wall. As if mounted on
gimbals, the bunker tipped again, this
time in the direction of the ruined
osmotic membrane, bunching everyone
against that wall.
Guessing that Shimrra was responsible,
Luke spared a glance at the throne.

The Supreme Overlord's clawed hands
were indeed in motion, but the
expression on Shimrra's face was one
of being bafflement. 

The dhuryum, Jacen sent through the Force. 
Luke understood.

The World Brain, joining the Shamed
Ones in revolt, was causing
the entire Citadel to shake, perhaps
by rocking the cradle to which it
XUs??????? wed, or by some means beyond
Luke's imagining. Self-contained,
the bunker was attempting to keep
itself level. But cut off from the
dhuryam, it couldn't anticipate the
Citadel's behavior. Shimrra's hand
tovements were just that the idle
flutters of a god-king who was
forced to accept that he had lost his
most powerful ally and weapon.



Without the dhuryam's cooperation,   
Coruscant  could  never be Yuuzhan'tar. 
Even if victorious in the war, 
the Yuuzhan Vong have failed to recreate 
their ancestral homeworld.
And yet there was a look in Shimrra's
blazing eves that nr
prort^j^pj????????^^?????

Luke he had not seen the last of the
Supreme Overlord's r o?????? Shimrra was
concealing something a secret of such
power that enabled him to remain seated
on his throne, even with his world
tering around him.

Luke noticed then, for the first time,
that Shimrra wasn't alone the dais.
Behind the throne crouched another
Yuuzhan Vong who asymmetrically
swollen head and downcast features
identified him as Shamed One. Aware
that he had been glimpsed, the Shamed
One withdrew into the shadow cast by
the throne, as if in an attempt to
make himself small and unnoticeable.

But Luke had no time to think further
about Shimrra's companion.

The bunker was suddenly in motion again.

The Yuuzhan Vong armada had suffered
grievous losses at Muscave, but not
nearly to the extent the Alliance had
suffered. Molten blobs that had been
starfighters and frigates drifted
aimlessly against the distant backdrop
of stars. The hulks of Alliance
warships, nimbused by escape pods,
languished. The battle would go down
in history as second only to the epic
confrontation that ended the
Cremlevian War. 

And the name Nas Choka would join the 
revered ranks of Yo'gand??????? and other 
legendary warriors.

The warmaster left the command
chamber's blister transparency to
stand before the villip visages of the
six Supreme Commanders he had tasked
with defeating Zonama Sekot.

"The surface based weapons have fallen
silent," Supreme Commander Tiwik reported. 

"The living ships it threw
into its sky have lost their wings and
are going to ground like a flock of
exhaust birds. Fearsome One, the
planet is beaten."

Nas Choka's expression betrayed
neither satisfaction nor doubt.

"Press the attack," he said evenly. "The
mataloks of Domains TiWi-Tsun will escort 
the dying craft to the surface. 
All other vessels withdraw to avoid contagion. 
The pilots of any coralskippers onine; 
in tne atmosphere of the living world 
after the poison has delivered are 
commanded to drive themselves into the 
planet and , themselves. No vessel that has 
had close contact with the planet craft can
be permitted to survive." 

"Your will be done, Warmaster."Or may our deaths
serve to harden your victory," Supreme
Commander Sla Tsun added.

Nas Choka nodded his head in salute.

"Rrush'hok ichnar nnim'bokl Die well,
brave warrior!" ??^^^^^^^^^?

Then he turned to his tactician, whose 
restlessness spoke an uncommon urgency.

"Communication with Yuuzhan'tar has
become garbled, Warmaster, but we
have learned that Alliance warriors
and several Jeedai have penetrated the
Citadel."

Nas Choka folded his arms across his chest. 

"Give no thought to Shimrra's capture or 
death. The gods would never
permit it, especially on bearing
witness to our victory at Zonama
Sekot. Our mettle has been tested, and
we have prevailed." 

He regarded the tactician for a long moment, 
then said, "My words provide so little
consolation?"

The tactician frowned. 

"Warmaster, Yuuzhan'tar has grown as serene as
Zonama Sekot. Our weapons are silent,
our beasts slumber, the fires are
contained. Shamed Ones and renegade
warriors hold sway over much of the
sacred precinct. Supreme Overlord
Shimrra would not have permitted this.
Our fear is that the World Brain has
been killed."

"Then it will be the duty of the
shapers to train a new dhuryam. With
the enemy defeated, we need be in no
rush to give Yuuzhan'tar Proper
shape." 

Again, Nas Choka appraised his subordinate. 

"The last of it, tactician."

".Ra/r0<wtand????????? other warships speed for
Yuuzhan'tar. I realize that we had
hoped to witness the death of Zonama
Sekot, but..."

Nas Choka waved him silent. 

"Zonama Sekot's death does not depend on my
presence."
 
"On Kre'fey's heels, then?"

The warmaster nodded. 

"Place his vessel in our sights."



    Buried under half a dozen 
blood smeared bodies when they 
shifted, Jaina used what
little maneuvering in space she had to

e   ad t????????? amphistaff fangs and venom,
the serrated edges of coufees
1    wJlCl   tj"l??????????/

Sharpened teeth and hardened elbows
and knees of warriors sheer
desperation she tried to use the Force
to throw everyon her, and was
bewildered when the crushing weight of
the warriors abated, or at least until
she realized that the sudden turn about
had nothing to do with the Force.

Shimrra's lair had simply tilted again
and now she and the same warriors were
sent flying and tumbling toward the
opposite wall.

Hurled headfirst for the curved
expanse of yorik coral, she just
managed to get her free hand out in
front of her and brace for impact loud
grunts escaped the warriors as
everyone hit the wall midway to the
arched ceiling, then slid in a jumble
to the floor as the bunker attempted
to right itself.

Backward somersaulting from the heap,
Jaina shot to her feet and was
preparing to Force leap toward Shimrra
when the chamber canted again. This
time she used the Force to hold
herself to the floor as the half a
dozen slayers went rushing past her
out of control, some running faster
than their legs could carry them, and
others sliding on their bellies or
backs. Loose amphistaffs tried to
sidewind for the safety of the moat,
but only a few made it, and the rest
were flung hard into the wall. 

Once more the lair leveled out before
tilting a full thirty degrees, and
those warriors still on their feet
launched themselves at Jaina, only to
slip on whatever it was that had
sloshed from the moat and was fast
slicking the entire floor.

Close to the osmotic membrane, Luke
and a near by warrior were in the midst
of a fierce duel, their free hands
clamped on the burned edges  of the
breach  the  lightsabers  had  opened.

Though Jaina couldn't see Jacen, she
could perceive him behind her, and she
could hear the burning hiss of his
lightsaber as it connected with the
slayer weapons and armored flesh. 

In the center of the bunker, giant Shimmra
had left his throne and was tottering
toward the moat, his power
amphistaff unfurled and serving as a
kind of walking stick. Also in union
was Shimrra's companion, who was
making steady if tortuous 111?????????
toward the curving stairway that
climbed into the summit. 

If Jaina had first noticed him a moment 
earlier then the bunker had  lifted somehow
maintaining his balance despite his
asymmetry, ruined, he had seemed intent
on hiding himself. But it occurred to
now that the Shamed One might be
heading for the summit to out one of
Shimrra's commands; so instead of
reengaging any of he slavers, she set
out after him, reaching the base of
the stairway just the Shamed One was
disappearing around a curve above.

Pressing her back to the wall, she
began to ascend a step at a time, her
lightsaber ready in her left hand. She
felt Luke and Jacen reaching out to
her through the Force, somewhat
baffled by her actions. But instinct
compelled her to continue following
Shimrra's furtive partner.

Reaching the top stair, she saw that
the next level was a vast ready
room, similar to the organiform cabin
spaces of the Yuuzhan Vong ship she
had pirated from Myrkr. Half a dozen
dilating hatches led to adjacent cabin
spaces, and yet another stairway more
a ladder  climbed into what could only
be the vessel's cockpit. Jaina rushed
to grab hold of the ladder as the
bunker tilted. From below came the
sounds of bodies being hurled first
one way, then the other. In the midst
of the swaying she heard the thrum of
Luke's and Jacen's lightsabers, and
the agonized cries of at least two
slayers.

There was no sign of Shimrra's
companion in the ready room, and no
dilating locks that might have been
opened to access other areas of the
sphere, so the misshapen figure had to
have climbed into the cockpit.
Her instincts came alive even before
she glanced up into the ladder well.

The Shamed One was already plummeting
directly for her.

She raised her lightsaber over her
head, but the Yuuzhan Vong managed to
evade the blade and land feetfirst on
her shoulders, driving her to the
deck. Bent over her, he wrenched the
lightsaber from her hands and tossed
it aside. Then, grabbing her by the
right ankle, he sent her sliding
across the floor. She hit the wall
solidly, but sprang to her feet. Shimrra's
companion was on her just as au-
driving his fanglike tooth into her
right arm as his powerful he pressed
her to the wall.

Even before he stepped back, she had
lost feeling and move in her arm, and
now she could feel the numbness
beginning to  like a dark side,
coursing through her armpit into her
upper ch????????? spreading across her chest
and into her other arm, up into her neck
and head, and down through her torso
and legs. She became as pliahi as soft
leather. She remained alert but her
lips and tongue couldn't form words.
Her eyelids fluttered, and sounds grew
indistinct.

One thought kept repeating itself in
her mind as she slipped into the
blackest of voids.
Before he had dropped on her, she had
sensed him through the Force!



     Buffeted by updrafts warmed 
by fires raging in the canyon, the 
Sekotan airship swayed precariously as it
descended toward the landing platform.
In the gondola's cramped cabin,
Magister Jabitha, Cilghal, Tekli,
Danni, and two male Ferroan pilots
kept their gloomy silence. With the
cold sky raked by the fiery streaks of
attacking coralskippers, the trip to
the cave had been dangerous and, in
the end, in vain. If in retreat there,
Sekot had refused to speak with any of
them.

Danni sat closest to the cabin door,
trying without success to warm her
fingers with her breath. The
temperature was still a degree or two
above freezing, but she felt colder
than she had been at Helska 4, so many
years earlier, trapped under
kilometers of ice. Born of dread and
sadness, the chill rose from inside
her, and she was powerless against
it.

No matter what Luke or any of the
others said, she was not a Jedi, she
couldn't even wield a lightsaber
properly, much less warm herself by
drawing on the Force, as tall Cilghal
and diminutive Tekli had obviously
done. Whatever skills she had
demonstrated while serving as sensor
officer aboard the Wild Knights'
blastboat, helping Cilghal fashion
yammosk jammers, they did not owe to the
Force, but to a talent for science she
had inherited from her astrophysicist
mother, and to twenty four years of
working closely wl oAS???????? and 
cutting edge technology. 

Yes, like the Jedi she could
rimes intuit the Yuuzhan Vong as voids
in the spectrum of life,
of she were truly as Force sensitive
as Luke, Jacen, and Cilghal
would never to be, then how had she failed
to recognize Yomin Carr as
only a threat to her ExGal-4 science
team on Belkadan, but also a
binger of a new evil about to be
unleashed on the galaxy?

She was not a Jedi.

She thought of herself as a sky-
watcher who had been in the right place
at the wrong time. First to be taken
captive by the Yuuzhan Vong at the
start of the invasion; first to have
had an up close look at their biotech;
first to have witnessed the breaking
of a Jedi Knight and because of those
events, catapulted to the center of a
war from which she might otherwise
have hidden.

Had Jacen not heard her distress cry
through the Force, had he not come to
her rescue in his iceborer, she would
have died at Helska 4, or perhaps been
broken and remade into a Yuuzhan Vong,
as had nearly happened to Tahiri. She
owed her life to Jacen, and at one
point had come close to falling in
love with him. But as indebted to him
as she was and to Luke and the others,
for allowing her to see and do things
she might never have, she sometimes
felt as if she had been conscripted
into the Jedi order. 

Much as Jaina had been named 
the Sword of the Jedi, and
much as Jacen was seen as almost
emblematic of a new awareness of the
Force, Danni saw herself as the would
be Jedi part technical officer, part
familiar.

Spokes person at Agamar,how proud her
bureaucratic dad must have been member
of the Eclipse base team,
reconnaissance agent on occupied
Coruscant, and, for the better part of
the past year, visitor on the living
world of Zonama Sekot. On her arrival,
the planetary consciousness had used
her in a counterfeit kidnapping plot,
and only weeks earlier had used her as
a resource for information about yammosks 
and dovin basals. And yet even
after all she had been through, Danni
had no true understanding of what she
was really doing on Zonama Sekot, or
why Sekot had specifically asked that
she remain on world, rather than
accompany the Skywalkers and Solos to
Coruscant.

Perhaps Sekot merely wanted a Jedi to 
bear witness to the end of the world. 

For what with the Sekotan fighters go
back down to the canyon-rim landing 
platform from which the launched, 
and Zonama about to be poisoned by a 
vessel infected Alpha Red, no other course 
seemed possible.

It was while stationed at Mon Calamari
that she had first rumors of the
Yuuzhan Vong specific bioweapon. She
had mentioned the rumors to Jacen and,
for months following Vergere's there
of her prototype batch, had held herself
partly responsible for much of what had
happened. Ultimately she had learned
that Vergere had actual! overheard
Luke and Mara discussing Alpha Red in
private, and had acted on the
knowledge. 

And now, all these months
later, the Chiss manufactured poison
had found her again, though the end of
the war scenario for which it had been
created had taken an ironic and tragic
shift. . .

With most of the Ferroans secluded in
the shelters, an earlie silence
prevailed. To Danni, Zonama felt more
adrift than when it had been lost in
the Unknown Regions, and an autumnal
spell had fallen over the tampasi.

A few Sekotan fighters were already
grounded. Corran, Kyp, Alema, and Zekk
were waiting on the canyon rim landing
platform when the airship finally
touched down. Everyone retreated to
the shelter of the giant boras as
plasma fire and windborne cinders
rained down.

"Were you able to locate Sekot?" Kyp
was first to ask.

"Sekot is everywhere," Jabitha told
him. Her dismay was evident, but her
tone was sincere. 
"Sekot is merely silent."

"Silence is one thing," Corran said,
"but ignoring a threat is another." 

He gestured overhead. 

"Somewhere out there is a vessel that could 
end up killing this planet. Maybe not as
quickly as Ithor died, but just as
thoroughly."

The Magister compressed her lips. 

"I'm certain Sekot is aware of the threat."

Alema blew out her breath in exasperation. 

"We could try to reach Jade Shadow,'" she said, mostly to
Kyp. "It's better suited to preventing the
Alpha Red craft from going to ground."

"We can't simply blow the vessel to
pieces," Cilghal said. "Not
risking sowing the atmosphere
with poison. We have to trust
Sekot has reasons for taking the
actions it did."

"That wasn't the aim," Danni said.

"None of us knew about the soned ship,
so how could Sekot have known? As for
why Sekot pushing your fighters down, I
have an idea - even though I hope I'm
Kyp glanced at everyone in puzzlement.

"Why go to the trouble . ..locating
ships if the aim all along was to
surrender?"  Danni said.

"None of us poisoned.."

"Say it anyway," Kyp said.

Danni glanced around. 

"I think Sekot's goal is to allow the 
poison to reach the surface so that 
Zonama can contain it to keep Alpha Red 
from being spread to the rest of the galaxy."

Corran shook his head slowly. 

"I can't see Sekot martyring itself. Besides,
what's to prevent any of us from
spreading the toxin offworld by
accident? Unless Sekot plans to keep
us grounded, permanently."

"It's highly improbable that Alpha Red
can be spread by human contagion,"
Cilghal said. 

"Early tests of the bioweapon support that. 
Kyp, Han, and Leia were already exposed at Caluula,
and ruled out as potential carriers."

Corran's eyes darted about.

"What about Mon Calamarians, Cilghal? What
about Chadra Fans or Twi'leks or
Ferroans, for that matter?" 

He shook his head again. "I don't think Sekot
would risk it."

"If Sekot had kept the fighters
airborne, we could have at least held
the Yuuzhan Vong back until everyone
was evacuated," Zekk said.

"Is there any chance Sekot's planning
to jump Zonama to hyperspace?" Kyp asked.

"The hyperdrive cores are as silent as
Sekot," Jabitha said.

"Errant Venture might be able to
evacuate everyone in time," Danni said.

"Sure, if we could reach Booster," Kyp
said. "But we're getting nothing on the comlinks."

"Sekot could be blocking the signals
deliberately," Zekk said.

Jabitha turned to him. 

"You're assigning dark designs to a con-
sciousness that knows little or
nothing of subversion. Next you'll be
accusing Sekot of refusing to allow
your warships to land on the
face, as a means of marooning you
here."    

"I'm only saying that Sekot strikes me
as a quick learner " Zekk said.

"What makes you think that Sekot would
wish to sabotage?"- Cilghal said.

Zekk shrugged. 

"Only what I've been hearing about Sekot's 
in the Potentium. If there's no distinction
between the light and dark sides, then it
won't matter what happens here or even
at Coruscant "

"Sekot wouldn't have agreed to return
from the Unknow Regions just to die
here," Cilghal said firmly. 

"That would hardly b the action of a world
that considers itself the caretaker of
the Force "

"The self-appointed caretaker," Alema said.

Jabitha sucked in her breath in surprise, 
then looked at Danni .

"Danni Quee. Sekot wishes to speak with you."




     Only the Force was keeping Jacen 
from succumbing to the pain  the Force and
what he had learned from Vergere
during the indeterminate amount of
time she had kept him in the Embrace
of Pain breaking him. While under his
mentor's tutelage he had been able to
go into himself to meet the pain on
its own terms. Now he didn't have that
curious luxury, because he was having
to call on all his abilities to keep
from being killed.

If not for the swaying of the Citadel
and the effects of its unpredictable
oscillations of Shimrra's coffer his
escape vessel, Jacen figured he would
already be dead. That was the World
Brain, having finally decided which
side it was on. The trouble was, that
decision mattered only to the
reshaping of Coruscant and not to the
Supreme Overlord, who was clearly able
to control objects in his immediate
environment without need of the
dhuryam. 

The slayers, for one thing.
Where initially they had been moving
with individual vigilance and of their
own accord, they were now moving as
coralskippers under the control of
a battle coordinator. 

The change had come simultaneously 
with Shimrra's rising from the throne, 
and the escape of his Shamed One companion,
whom Jaina had pursued.
  
Jacen knew that her exit had been 
prompted or nothing she had perceived 
through the Force, but he and Luke could have used her
lightsaber now.

Three slayers had Jacen backed to the
bunker's outer wall. Even with his
Vongsense he could not predict their
actions, or where their thrashing and
thrusting amphistaffs were going to
strike next, vongsense had managed to evade
copious sprays of venom, but his torso
had taken countless lashings; his limbs
were bruised by the heads and coils of
the serpentine weapons, though none had
yet been successful in sinking fangs
into him. His lightsaber had returned
as many blows, but the slayers seemed
to be largely immune to pain, if not
indestructible.

A half dozen corpses were sprawled on
the floor, sliding or rolling with
each random cant of the Citadel. But
more than the lightsaber, it was
acrobatics that was keeping Jacen from
being overwhelmed by the specially
engineered warriors. Time and again
last moment leaps had carried him out
of the range of their shapeshifting
weapons, as the fight moved along the
perimeter of the throne room. The
gravity tweaking dovin basal set in
the base of the throne made it
impossible for Jacen or his opponents
to venture closer to the throne than
the shallow moat that encircled it
without being tugged violently to the
yorik coral floor.

Jacen took advantage of the gravitic
anomaly now, as one of the slayers
lunged for him. He leapt high into the
air, and the warrior flew under his
feet, only to be pulled to the floor
facefirst, so that by the time Jacen
had twisted in the air and landed he
was able to drive his blade into the
small of the warrior's back, almost
pinioning him to the floor. The other
two immediately rushed him from
behind. Unleashing his amphistaff,
one warrior managed to wind the weapon
around Jacen's legs, while the other
swung his amphistaff at Jacen's head.
Ducking the swing, Jacen leapt again,
taking the attenuated amphistaft with
him. Yanked from the warrior's grasp,
the weapon unwound and dropped before
it could strike.

Across the room Shimrra was moving
stiffly toward Luke, who was being
set upon by four warriors. The
enormous Vong overlord across   the
moat as if crossing a final
line.

Seemingly entranced in sway of the Yuuzhan Vong
gods he fixed his one eye implants on
his prey. He held the thick-bodied
amphistaff nearly in front of him,
with his giant left hand closed around
the of the weapon's three-meter-long
body.

Jacen sent a warning to his uncle
through the Force, which I
acknowledged not only through the
Force but also by spinning from the
warriors to provide himself with
enough fighting room to confront Shimrra.

Whirling through a cartwheel, Luke
caught on the warriors on the chin
with the heels of his boots,
unbalancing enough so that Luke
could get inside the arm that held the
amphistaff and drive his lightsaber
through the warrior's neck. As he
quickly withdrew the blade, a second
warrior was ready to pounce; Luke
stretched out his left hand and
impaled the slayer through the right
eye. At once the other two converged
on him, battering him with their
amphistaffs and coufees, opening
ragged wounds in his upper arms and chest.

Abruptly, the Citadel rocked and the
room tilted to the right. Luke dropped
to one knee, holding his lightsaber
arm up to protect his head, then
dived, somersaulting on landing and
spinning to his feet to face the
warriors' charge. His green blade
moved up from the floor in a diagonal
motion, cutting off the weapon arm of
one of the warriors, then on the
downswing grated across the abdomen of
the second, leaving a sizzling burn in
the slayer's hardened flesh. Wincing,
the warrior tried to take hold of the
energy blade itself and fell forward
on his knees. Luke pierced him through
the chest, then pivoted on one foot to
take on the others.

One of the warriors stalking Jacen
abandoned him to engage Luke. Jacen
moved against the others, the shorter
of whom feigned a strike at Jacen's
right leg, then twirled the amphistaff
in his hands and slammed the tail end
of it into Jacen's right cheek.

Reeling from the blow, he staggered
within range of the dovin basal, which
dragge" him to the floor on his back.
The short warrior hurried in, his
weapon striking at Jacen like a
serpent, then stiffening, jabbed him
hard in the left forearm, as if to
stake the arm to the floor.
Jacen twisted our from under the
attack, grasping that Luke help
again been pressed to the wall. 

Having killed three of his assailants, and
facing only one opponent, but his
energy was beginning to flag. It
not fatigue born of fear of going to
the dark side, but simple
haustion, and Shimrra was moving in.

Eager to award the kill to the
Supreme Overlord, the slayer closest
to Luke turned and ran at Jacen
with his amphistaff held overhead like
an axe, intent on splitting open
his victim's forehead.
Jacen could feel Luke call deeply on
the reserve that was the Force.

From Luke's left hand gathered a
blinding tangle of energy
manipulated into being by the raw
power of the Force. As if hitting an
invisible wall, the warrior stopped
short, then spasmed as green sparks
began to coruscate around him.

Enveloped, he fell like tree.

Still twisting and writhing away from
the snapping amphistaff, Jacen used
his Vongsense to dampen the effect of
the dovin basal, allowing him to move
out of its gravitic field and get to
his feet. His short opponent howled in
outrage and whipped the amphistaff.
Jacen allowed it to coil around his
body; then, as the warrior was reeling
the weapon in, Jacen hurled his
lightsaber deep into the slayer's
armpit.

The bunker inclined, sending Jacen
directly toward Shimrra. Without
thinking and without his lightsaber,he
lunged for the neck of the towering
Yuuzhan Vong. But Shimrra perceived
Jacen's intent, and threw his mighty
right arm behind him. Jacen was hit
squarely in the center of the chest.
Dropping to the floor, he blacked out.

When he came to an instant later, he
saw that Luke had obviously
intercepted Shimrra's follow up blow.
But now, monstrous in aspect and
power, Shimrra hovered over Luke like
a rancor. Luke's lightsaber thrummed
through the air, but Shimrra refused
to be kept at bay. Luke tried to Force
leap out of reach, but the Supreme
Overlord had him caged.

The Master of defense is one who is
never in the place that is attacked,
Jacen recalled Vergere saying. Shimrra
appeared to have learned the same lesson.

Lunging, the thick, three-meter-long
amphistaff wound itself around Luke's
torso, pinning his right arm and
lightsaber hilt to his side, the green
blade aimed at the floor. 

Just in time, Luke managed
to get his left hand gripped on the
snake's uppermost coils and the head
as it loosed volumes of venom at him.
But Luke was about being squeezed to
death by the amphistaff.

Feeling his uncle suff tion in his 
own crushed chest, Jacen summoned his 
strength crawled frantically for his
lightsaber. Calling it to his right
hand he sent it hurtling through the
air at Shimrra's head.

The Supreme Overlord raised his left
hand in a parry; then Jacen's
lightsaber spinning off toward the
throne, he reached into the folds of
his hide cape-and extracted a
lightsaber! With a flourish he
activated it. A violet blade shot
forth with the familiar snaphiss.
Jacen recognized it immediately.
ANAKIN's Lightsaber.

"Weapon of the Solo we killed at
Myrkr," Shimrra said, his eyes
shifting through colors as the energy
shaft thrummed. 

"Conveyed to Yuuzhan'tar by the traitor Vergere,
wielded by the Jeedai Ganner against
so many of my warriors, retrieved when
he died and brought to me, and now
yours to confront. So that you may
know what my warriors experience at
Zonama Sekot, forced to fight against
other living vessels."

Jacen was too stunned to respond; too
disheartened to move.

Shimrra waved the blade close to
Luke's head.

Luke removed his left hand from the
amphistaff's throat to grab Shimrra's
right wrist. The serpentine weapon
immediately stiffened and plunged
itself into the left side of Luke's
chest.

Luke screamed in pain.

The Supreme Overlord reared back to
gloat: "One thrust and the deed is done!"

Then all at once, Anakin's lightsaber
flew from Shimrra's grip into Luke's
left hand.

Through his Vongsense, Jacen could
feel Shimrra's astonishment and
dismay.

In a motion almost too swift for
Jacen's eyes to follow, Luke slit the
throat of Shimrra's amphistaff. As its
coils began to relax, he sliced his
own lighsaber blade upward, cutting
the amphistaff' s body into segments.

As a horrified Shimrra leaned forward,
as if to vise his huge hands around
Luke's neck, Luke crossed the blades
and shoved them upward toward
Shimrra's neck. The blades burned
clean through decapitated head dropped 
to the floor with a loud thud', and
his body crumbled.

Luke hauled himself out from under the
Supreme Overlord's body and collapsed against the wall.

"Jaina," he said weakly. 

Swinging his left hand, he sent Anakin's 
lightsaber in a high arc across the room.
Jacen scrambled to his feet and had
just started for the lightsaber when
the floor dropped to the right and he
stumbled. Jacen regained his balance
and leapt for the lightsaber, but it
flew past him and rolled beyond his
reach.

The vision! Jacen thought.

He looked at his uncle for confirmation.

"Leave it," Luke said.

Lips compressed in determination,
Jacen raised himself from the floor
and raced for the stairway that curved
up into the Citadel's towerlike summit.




     Nom Anor had his first look 
at the devastation that had been 
visited on Coruscant when Han Solo 
landed the Millennium Falcon in the public
square that fronted the Citadel. What
structures had not been gutted by
Shimrra's fires had been toppled by
roving beasts or blown apart by
Alliance torpedoes and missiles. The
sky continued to flash with explosions
and dozens of starfighters were in the
air, but the beasts and fires had
settled down and most of the warriors
and Chazrach that had attempted to
defend the holy mountain were dead.
The scene inside the shaking Citadel
was even worse.

When he had been stirring the Shamed
Ones to rebel, fighting shoulder to
shoulder with them in the streets, he
had felt exhilarated by the prospect
of bringing down the existing order,
of spearheading something grand for
his people, something revolutionary-
and, better still, with Nom Anor at
the top of the heap. Now, separated
from his impassioned followers and in
the full knowledge that the war was
lost, the sight of so many dead
warriors in the Hall of Confluence
filled him with despair and self-
loathing. Just there was where he had
sat beside High Prefect Drathul and
other high caste intendants; and over
there had kneeled Nas Choka's
warriors. The pews dedicated to the
priests and to the shapers stood
empty, as did the special platform
that has grown for the seers. 

At the center, Shimrra's spikebacked throne i-inoed
to the cold floor, and the dovin basal
responsible for
\\-^tf???????????????
. Tjng subjects to their bellies was
dead.

Every surface with spilled blood and 
piled high with the bodies of those who
fought to the end. And across the
great hall, a hundred or more
tested warriors, deprived of their
weapons and held fast by nets or
raised by adhesive foam, were being
denied the dignity of honorable
death.

Otherwise the hall was filled with
armed soldiers and Yuuzhan
Vong hunter-killer droids. Droids
inside the Citadel! What had he done?
The feeling had been building in him
since the surrender of the World
Brain. An unthinkable development in
and of itself, though he suspected
that Jacen Solo had had something to
do with persuading the dhuryam to
rebel. 
Still on the side of Coruscant,
perhaps, but no longer on the side of
Shimrra and the Yuuzhan Vong. Nom Anor
could only wonder at the irony of
being able to sympathize with the
creature,though his own disloyalty
owed more to self-preservation than
any real desire to protect what he had
sired. And yet he still faced an
uncertain future, including the
possibility of execution. Which was
why he was calculating his every word
and move, in the hope that he
could save his neck.

Han and Leia Solo, Mara Skywalker,
Kenth Hamner, and Tahiri,  his captors
as well as his protectors for the time
being,were speaking with two of the
commanders of the troops that had
stormed the Hall of Confluence. 

Judder Page, the shorter of the pair, 
held the rank of captain; the other, a
major, was Pash Cracken, who
apparently had been one of the
officers rescued during the heretics'
raid at the Place of Sacrifice.

"Have you seen Luke or either of our
children?" Leia was asking Page.

"They said they were going after
Shimrra. Last we saw them was in what
was left of the western concourse.
After some huge creature knocked a
hole in the Citadel wall, in they
went."

"So where is Shimrra?" Han asked.




 "We think he's somewhere up top. Some
Shamed Ones  said something
about a 'coffer.' "

Han swung to Nom Anor. 

"You know anything about this?" "The Shamed One
must have been referring to Shimrra's
chambers,his . . . bunker in the
summit." 

Thinking fast, he add "I've
been there. I can lead you to it."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Han, Leia, Mara, Tahiri, and Hamner
followed Nom Anor as he hurried through
the dimly lit, labyrinthine corridors
of the worldship Citadel, up winding
staircases and dovin basal governed
chutes portions of the  fortress had
been extensively damaged  by powerful
groundquakes, which Nom Anor assumed
had been engineered bv the faithless
dhuryam. Less easily explained was the
lack of bodies along the route. But he
decided that the three Jedi might have
taken a different route to the summit,
perhaps the winding stairway and lift
chute used by Shimrra's guards.

When they finally arrived at the
filigree trimmed membrane to the
bunker, the dilating lock recognized
Nom Anor's scent and irised open.

The first thing he saw on entering the
circular space was Shimrra's head,
burned clean from his body as only a
lightsaber could do, the menacing glow
gone out of his implanted eyes. Nom
Anor stared in disbelief. Shimrra was dead.

He kept repeating it to himself, but
his mind refused to accept the truth
of it. In their long history, the
Yuuzhan Vong had never been without a
Supreme Overlord, and yet that was now
the case, the evidence there on the
floor for one and all to see.

Massed on one side of the room by the
tilting of the Citadel were a dozen or
more dead slayers, and slumped against
the wall that contained the  guards'
entrance,which also showed the  marks
or lightsaber, was Luke Skywalker,
wounded, and perhaps near death with
lightsaber dangled in his left hand,
and the left side of his chest bore a
deep puncture wound. Nearby, Shimrra's
amphistaff lay scattered in uneven
segments on the floor.
The Jedi twins were nowhere to be seen.

 

     Clearly staggered by the 
bloody tableau, Kenth Hamner gazed at. 
He took his comlink from his belt and
headed back for the iris rtal. "Can
you manage without me? Kre'fey has to
be informed that Shimrra's dead."

Leia Organa Solo nodded her head
wordlessly.

Mara Jade Skywalker was already at her
husband's side, holding his face
between her hands and calling his
name.

"He's been envenomated by Shimrra's
amphistaff," Nom Anor said. "There is
no antidote. If the Force can't heal
him, he will die."

Blood drained from Mara's face. "We
have to get him out of here!"

Just then Luke's eyes opened, and he
smiled weakly.

"Luke," she said, her voice cracking.

She put her arms around him and lifted
him into a sitting position.

"I'm slowing the blood flow, Mara."

Skywalker's gaze found Han Solo, who
went down on one knee alongside him.

"From the way this place was shaking,
Han, I'm assuming you convinced the
World Brain to see reason."

Han traded brief glances with his
wife, then mustered a smile. 

"A bit thorny, but we managed."

Easing the lightsaber from her
brother's grip, Leia took his left
hand between hers. 

"We've won, Luke. Once the word spreads 
that Shimrra is dead, the armada will 
deteriorate, if it hasn't already."

Nom Anor felt Skywalker's blue eyes
fall on him, with a look that mixed
disbelief, anger, pain, and resignation.

"Luke," Leia said, "where are Jaina
and Jacen?"

Skywalker motioned with his chin
toward the stairway.

Han's eyes darted from the stairway to
Nom Anor. 

"What's up there?"

"The upper decks of this vessel.
Command and control chambers. The bridge."

"Vessel?" Leia repeated in perplexity.

Nom Anor gestured broadly. 

"This was to have been Shimrra's escape craft
and shelter, similar to the one that
would have kept the dhuryam alive, had
it decided to flee rather than betray
its makers."

Leia looked at her husband. 

"Why would Jacen..."
 
"Shimrra's minion," Skywalker answered softly.

Nom Anor's jaw dropped. He pivoted
through a circle, scan of the scattered
and heaped bodies once more. Onimi had
escaped Instead of giving his life for
Shimrra, the Shamed One had fled!

"Can the minion launch this ship?" Han
asked.

Nom Anor considered his response. With
Shimrra dead, sorneo would have to
serve as liaison between the Alliance
and the Yuuzhan Vong, and that someone
might as well be Nom Anor.

"It responds only to the Supreme
Overlord."

 He glanced around.
 
"Onimi - Shimrra's familiar must be in hiding."

Without warning, the bunker began to vibrate.

"Someone has to tell the dhuryam that's enough,"
Han said.

Nom Anor's heart began to pound. In
sudden realization, he placed the palm
of his left hand against the outer
wall. 

"The dhuryam isn't doing this!
The vessel is being readied for launch!"

Wideeyed, Han looked at the three women. 

"Take Luke out of here. Nom
Anor and I will find Jaina and Jacen."

He glanced at Nom Anor.

 "Right?"

"Of course," Nom Anor said in a
distracted voice.

Leia stood up. "Not without me, you
won't."

Han regarded her, then nodded his head.

"Then get going," Mara said, as she
and Tahiri carefully began to raise
Skywalker to his feet.

The Jedi Master pointed to something
across the room. 

"Anakin's lightsaber," he said weakly.

Tahiri hurried to retrieve it.

Han grabbed Nom Anor by the upper arm.

"You said this ship would only respond
to Shimrra."

Nom Anor nodded. 

"Onimi must have found a way to deceive the controls."

Han pointed to Shimrra's head. 

"You're sure that's the Supreme Overlord, and
not a look alike?"

"The Supreme Overlord is dead," Nom
Anor said evenly; then thought: or is
he..
 

   Flagship of the First Fleet, 
Ralroost accelerated toward Coruscant,and
which the righting was continuing
unabated. 
The Star Destroyers of Grand
Admiral Pellaeon's flotilla had
overwhelmed many of the planetary dovin
basals, and thousands of Alliance
troops were on the  ground,  but the
Yuuzhan Vong home  fleet wasn't
helding a cubic centimeter of space.

The fighting had been just as of tense
at Muscave when Ralroost had left, and
updates from Zonama Sekot indicated
that the Yuuzhan Vong elements were
storming through Alliance lines and
hammering the planet into submission.

From the command chair on the bridge
of the Bothan vessel, Admiral Kre'fey
gazed at Coruscant's expanding debris
cloud of starfighters and
coralskippers, picket ships and
frigates, destroyers and cruisers. As
he had maintained all along, Shimrra's
death, recently reported by Kenth
Hamner, had had no discernable effect
on the enemy commanders or pilots.

 At the climactic battle of the Galactic
Civil War, Imperial forces appeared to
have been thrown into disarray by the
death of Emperor Palpatine. But
Shimrra was scarcely a Sith Master,
capable of using his powers of battle
meditation to invigorate his troops.

Nas Choka's warriors were bound
together not by evil but by a need for
conquest and subjugation, backed by an
unflinching will to fight to the
death. Until the Alliance could defeat
and dismantle the armada, there could
be no hope for peace.

But how? Kre'fey asked himself. How
can the Alliance rid the galaxy of an
enemy that will not quit?

If he ordered Alliance forces to
withdraw, the Yuuzhan Vong might
simply reclaim Coruscant, or fall back
to positions that hadn't been
attacked.  
The former  galactic
capital was rife with heavily forested
regions where the enemy could dig in,
grow and train a dhuryam to supervise
the fortifications and the
construction of new war vessels. The
fighting could go on for years. The
same would be true if Nas Choka
decided to jump the armada to a star
system still under Yuuzhan Vong
control, resulting in the Alliance
chasing them throughout the galaxy, as
Kre'fey at Mon Calamari had expected
the Yuuzhan Vong would be forced to do
with the Alliance.

The war had to end here, at Coruscant,
he thought. But at what cost? How many
more would die if he pressed the
attack,if he did as Nas Choka, 
by ordering his commanders
to fight to the death? Thousands?
Hundreds of thousands? Millions?

The situation was untenable.

He was still pondering the
implications of either decision,
Ralroosfs captain interrupted him to
report that Nas Choka's group had
jumped from Muscave, and were expected
to revert him nently at Coruscant.

Shimrra's companion shuffled about the
spacious bridge activating the
vessel's organic components with waves
of his crooked hands and with what
seemed to be telepathic commands. The
living console began to pulse and
ripple like muscle tissue. A cognition
hood unfolded itself, and an array of
villips twitched. Blaze bugs frothed
in a display niche.


  Jaina understood that she was draped
from two hooks that grew from the
bridge's inner bulkhead. Though the
Shamed One had yet to make offerings
to any of them, carved representations
of the principal gods of the Yuuzhan
Vong pantheon stood to both sides of
her, suggesting that she had become
the centerpiece of a sacrificial
altar. Lichen and sconced lambents
imparted a dismal green glow to the
yorik coral walls, ceiling, and deck.

Jacen! Uncle Luke! she called through
the Force.

When she reached out for them, her
mind was assaulted with scenes of
violence. Jacen and Luke had overcome
great odds, but both of them were
injured. Except through their minds,
she couldn't perceive the warriors,
but she grasped that most of them were
dead.

Abruptly, the twisted figure turned
from the console to face her, almost
as if he had read her mind.

"I know you can hear me," he said in a
guttural Basic, "because I gave you
only a taste of the poison
encapsulated in my fang. Just enough
to render you inert."

With a glance at the console he
enlivened additional living instru-
ments and systems. It was obvious that
he was preparing the vessel for
launch. When the bridge began to
vibrate with anticipation, tne Shamed
One nodded in satisfaction and turned
to her once more.
 
"I'm grateful you elected to pursue
me, Yun-Harla," he said. "At once I have
an opportunity to meet on a level
battlefield. Both of us - inactivity-
You, hostage to my paralytic toxin;
me, to the half-a-life-of injustices
you saw fit to heap on me." 

Jaina forced herself to speak. 

"I'm not.."

"Who was more faithful to the gods
than Onimi?" the Shamed glanced at
her. 

"Who was more faithful to
Shimrra's domain than the shaper who
discovered the truth that the eighth
cortex was empty, and that the species
Yun-Yuuzhan and the rest of you
created was doomed to extinction? 

Yes, our ancestors utilized the gifts you
supplied to make war on those who
would have vanquished us, but instead
of rewarding our attempts to rid the
galaxy of such infidels and machines,
you drove us from the ancestral
homeworld, bled us of further kinship
with you, forced us to wander for
generations in search of a new home."

Hatred gathered in his uneven eyes and
shook his curled hands. 

"In your omniscience, you know that's why I
risked grafting yammosk cells to my
own neural tissue: in the hope of
being able to discover some way to
escape the rack on which you had
mounted us! But instead of rewarding
my having the courage to emulate your
bold works of creation, you condemned
me. You granted me the powers to speak
through the mouths of others, to
manipulate them at will, to control
remotely, as your yammosks do, and yet
you punished me with physical
deformities that shouted to one and
all that my attempt at self-escalation
had failed. You Shamed me so that I
could no longer consort with no move
among the elite. Not only did you deny
me the rank of master-shaper, you
prevented me from being able to contribute 
to the salvation of my species."

"That was when I chose to turn against
you, Yun Harla. I was not alone in
this rebellion, and yet, as if to
increase my torment, you rewarded the
others, while you left me to suffer in
silence through the years of drifting.
The long years of watching our society
crumble; our crecheborn starve; our
warriors turn on one another . . . and
then YOU dangled before our eyes a
galaxy, filled with habitable worlds.
At last it seemed a blessing proof
that you had not abandoned us in our faith."



     The corridor that led to the
Citadel's south entrance, where a
porary bridge linked the fortresses to
the public square in which scraped,
scratched, and dented Millennium
Falcon sat on her hard and  heading for
the freighter, Harrar, Tahiri, and
Captain Page  Iked point through
groups of nonplussed Shamed Ones.
Elsewhere guards of commandos,
resistance fighters, and YVH droids
were dis-
~~ "nA ^^^f frw????????????? reptoid slave-troops the
time of need.

"But I soon realized that
you were merely setting stage for a new
form of torture."

Again Jaina tried to respond, only to
be shouted down.

"Only by means of the powers you
conferred on me was I able to reach out
for Shimrra and make him my puppet! My
most auda ' act yet. But when I saw
that you were either powerless to
prevent' welcoming the opportunity to
do open battle with me, I knew that I was
right to attempt to overthrow you in
the same way.

"I compelled Shimrra to announce that
a galaxy had been found for the
taking. I bade him to install me as
his familiar. And as my telepathic
abilities increased, he disappeared
except of late, when my preoccupation
with defeating you allowed what
remained of Shimrra to reemerge.

"When Zonama Sekot was found once
more, and this time made to appear to
have been bestowed on the Jedi, as a
weapon, I believed for a moment that
you were actually testing me. But I
soon grasped the greater truth the
same one that had already been
glimpsed by the heretics and some of
our priests: that because I had grown
past your control, you had decided to
topple me."

Onimi looked hard at Jaina.

He's seeing me through the Force! she
told herself. As much as die
realization shocked and confused her,
it gave her hope.

"Even now I can see the glow of the
divine in you, Yun-Harla. As Yun-
Yammka glows in the Jeedai called
Skywalker; Yun-Shuno in the Jeedai
called Jacen; Yun-Ne'Shel in the Jedi
called Tahiri . . ."

Onimi allowed his words to trail off,
and grew introspective. When he looked
at Jaina again, his rolling eye was
narrowed, as if in amusement.

"Shimrra is dead," he announced. "Your
god cohorts have killed him, Yun'
Harla. Now let us hope they will
pursue me, as well. Then not only will
I have the satisfaction of outwitting
you at Zonama Sekot, but I will also
have the pleasure of killing you, as
my first act in exterminating everyone
and everything in this foul galaxy."



    Arms draped over Mara's and 
Kenth's shoulders, Luke was carne 
out of the Hall of Confluence through 
the warrior's membrane, then
 guards of commandos,( rcMSLcmv.- ii& )???????????
sqii;
ming captured elites, warriors, and
the few reptoid slavetroops that had
survived the assault. To all sides
rose piles of coufees, tactical njiips
and crab armor. Three hundred
amphistaffs were stacked like
grewood.

Smoke was drifting across the sacred
precinct and the sky was a
patchwork of contrails and missile
tracks, but the area surrounding the
Citadel had been secured. On the far
side of the square, huge armored
beasts were resting quiescently.

Cakhmaim, Meewalh, C-3PO, and R2-D2
were waiting at the foot of the
Falcon's landing ramp. On seeing Luke
chin, resting on his chest and booted
feet dragging behind him,the astromech
mewled plaintively.

"Master Luke has been wounded!"  C-3PO
cried in distress.

"Someone call for a medic!"

Mara and Kenth lowered Luke to the
paving stones to check his status.

"Force trance," Mara said. "He's
trying to heal himself." 

Turning to the Noghri and the droids, 
she told them to get the falcon primed 
for launch.

No sooner had the four disappeared
than Jag Fel pushed his way
through the crowd and hurried forward.

"Where's Jaina?" he asked no one in
particular.

"Somewhere inside with Jacen," Kenth
said. "Han, Leia, and Nom Anor are
looking for them."

Jag put his hand to his brow and gazed
up the summit. 

"I'm going in," he said.

He hadn't moved before Mara stretched
out her arm to restrain him. 

"No, you're not, flyboy. We don't know
what's going on in there. We've got to
get Luke to one of the hospital
frigates, so if you to help, the
Falcon could use an escort."
 
Jag looked from Luke  to Mara and
nodded.   "I'll brin?
"?????????????/°   Tly starfighter around."

As Jag ran off, Harrar turned to face
the knot of elite captive the front,
High Priest Jakan and Master Shaper
Qelah Kwaad being restrained by the
Yuuzhan Vong warriors who had defected
the side of the heretics, if not the
side of the Alliance.

"Supreme Overlord Shimrra is dead,"
Harrar said.

The announcement met with shouts of
celebration from th Shamed Ones and
bellows of dismay from the captives.
Shocked and demoralized, many of the
priests fell to their knees and began
to mutter incantations and prayers.

Genuflecting, the weaponless warriors
snapped their fists to their opposite
shoulders and lifted their bloodsmeared faces 
to their captors in unabashed pride.

"Congratulations, Jeedai" Jakan said
to Mara, Kenth, and Tahiri while the
heretics were chanting for Yu'shaa, the Prophet. 
"You have brought down our civilization."

Mara answered for the three. 

"As you intended to do to ours."

Harrar looked at Jakan. 

"It wasn't the Jeedai. It was the gods themselves."

Kenth glanced at Harrar.

"What's going to happen when Nas Choka 
learns of Shimrra's death?"

The priest shook his head in uncertainty. 

"The sudden death of a Supreme Overlord is ...
unprecedented."

Mara and Kenth raised Luke and began
to move him into the ship. They had
just stepped onto the ramp when
someone among the heretic contingent
called out to them. Harrar's gaze
found the male Shamed One who had
spoken.

"He says that, if you would allow it,
he can prolong Master Skywalker's
life. There exists no antidote to
effect a complete cure."

"Is it true?" Mara asked, disconsolately.

Harrar squinted at the heretic. 

"That one is a former shaper. He is to be 
more benefit to Master Skywalker than
I can be, perhaps or more benefit than
bacta."

Jakan began to denounce the shaper who 
had volunteered. 

Harrar translated for Mara and Kenth. 

"The high priest says, 'You're ready to rd your
beliefs like a won out robeskin, over
a mere military victory,' " Harrar
listened to the heretic's reply. 
'Only those beliefs that supported this war..' '

Jakan wasn't through. 

Harrar heard himout, then said: 

"The high priest says that he hopes to hear 
the Shamed One repeat his words when the Alliance
finds him guilty of war crimes, and a
machine intelligence is charged with
executing him."

The former shaper heaved his shoulders
in a sad shrug. Harrar's voice broke
as he translated. 

"The Shamed One says that death will be a far 
better place than any he has known on Yuuzhan'tar."

Without warning, the ground started to
shake. For a moment Mara thought that
the Falcon's repulsorlifts were the
cause; then she realized that the
Citadel was the source. Frightened
faces raised to the worldship
fortress, the heretics began to
retreat to the far side of the square,
where the great beasts were on their
feet and lowing in fear. As the
shaking grew more violent, cracks
formed in the facade of the Citadel
and huge hunks of yorik coral began to
avalanche down its sheer sides. Paving
stones under the Falcon heaved, then
sank, droping the starboard landing
gear disk a meter into the fractured
ground. Anakin's lightsaber slipped
from Tahiri's grasp and rolled into a
crevasse. She tried to call the
lightsaber to her, but it had fallen
too far.

"Leave it!" Mara said sharply, when
Tahiri almost scrambled after it.

A rending sound thundered through the
air. Then the bullet shaped crown of
the holy mountain slowly separated
from the base and lifted into the sky.

Steadying herself and Luke on the
Falcon's trembling ramp, Mara whirled
to Tahiri. 

"Jaina and Jacen are in terrible danger." 

Her features warped by sudden anguish, she glanced at
Luke, then at Kenth. 

"We're not letting that ship get away."



   Jacen was halfway up the ladder
stairway that led finally to the
command chamber when he realized that
the escape vessel had parted the
worldship Citadel. While the liftoff
came as no surprise, it couldn't account 
for the mix of emotions that began to whirl him.

Shimrra's familiar wasn't only lifting
them out of the bat away from roiling
Coruscant, out of reach of his parents
and man his fellow Jedi. It was as if
he were also launching them outside
and time, into a separate engagement.

Jacen kept climbing. On reaching the
last few high-rised stairway he leapt
through the well and landed in a
defensive crouch on the deck of the
vessel's immense bridge. 

Shimrra's familiar stood opposir him, his
disfigured body listed to one side,
his twisted hands waving commands at
the throbbing control console. Jaina
hung between them, suspended a meter
above the deck by horns of yorik coral
that protruded from the inner bulkhead, 
surrounded by intricately
rendered religious statues. 

Jacen perceived that she was paralyzed but
conscious; warmly alive amid the cold
yorik coral and bone of the bridge.
She touched him through the Force, her
voice little more than a whisper, but
clear enough for him to grasp that the
Shamed One's name was Onimi. Khalee
and Tsavong Lah had been set on
pitting Jaina and Jacen against each
other in battle. Onimi wanted nothing
more than to kill them.

He was observing Jacen from across the
bridge, even while guiding the vessel. 
Willing it through the tattered sky, Jacen
realized. Directing it the way a yammosk might.

"You will find no integrity in me,
Jeedai" 
Onimi said in Basic, as if
mimicking something Vergere had told
Jacen when he was in the Embrace of
Pain. 
"Trust that everything you
perceive about me is a lie."

Jacen realized the truth. Onimi had
overseen the warriors in the throne
room below. Onimi, not the dhuryam,
had been responsible for the quakes
that had nearly toppled the Citadel.

"Shimrra was Shimrra," Onimi said,
anticipating Jacen's next thought. "I am I."

"The Supreme Overlord," Jacen said.

As the realization deepened, he
recognized that his Vongsense was
allowing him to see Onimi in a
profound way. Onimi was open to him,
and in an instant Jacen understood how
the Shamed One, a mere shaper, 
had attained such power.

But even Onimi didn't
understand that through his experiments
he had also found a way to
reverse the damage that had been done
in the distant past to the Yuuzhan Vong.

He had regained the Force!

"Vergere told Nom Anor that you are
the most dangerous Jeedai of all,"
Onimi said. 

"And well you should be,
since you carry Yun-Shuno within you
the betrayer of all I have thought to
create. But soon, when I have killed
you, you will be my passage to
godhood. All you hold dear will have
been be destroyed. The species that
gave you its blood and died to bring
you worshipers. Most of all, the
living world you returned from the
Unknown Regions. Even now it antici-
pates its own death. It gasps for
breath. 
Can you feel it? Our vessels
are plunging through the shields you
tried to create, coming closer and
closer to the surface. The
consciousness of that world is crying
out that you have failed to protect it!

"How is this so? you ask yourself.

How did it come to this?

Because your military created a poison 
that was to kill my people, and instead I have
sent it back to kill the very world
you persuaded to join you in the fight
against us. Is there not in that the
hand of a new god, Jeeddi Yun-Shuno?
Where is your precious Force now,the
lingering exhalations of Yun-Yuuzhan,
that this has been allowed to happen?"

Jacen understood that Onimi was
referring to Alpha Red. The toxin had
to have arrived on the vessel that had
escaped Caluula. He reached out for
Sekot, but the voice of Zonama's
planetary consciousness was
indistinct. 

Something had changed. 

Was Sekot deliberately concealing its
presence from him or..
Jacen experienced a moment of insight.
He could see Onimi through the Force.

Was it possible that he would be able
find Sekot through his Vongsense!

Again he reached out, touching Sekot
this time, and the astonishing truth
struck him like lightning.

Why hadn't he see it earlier?

But there was no time to dwell on it.
Onimi was eager to train his awesome
powers on Jacen, and to do that he had
no need for an amphistaff or coufee.

He was capable of manufacturing paralytic 
agents and lethal poisons. And in the way the
World Brain oversaw Coruscant, Onimi
controlled the ronment of the living
vessel, and could turn any or all
parts against Jacen.

Jacen realized that he was about to
engage in a battle that would be decided
not by knowledge of the Force, so much
as fealty to ' will. This was not a
duel, but a relinquishment.

Once more he heard the voice of the
vision he had had on Duro Stand firm...

His heart told him that it was the
voice of his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker.
 

      
        
       Lando's urgent comlink
transmission from Errant Venture found
Wedge in the chaotic situation room of
Mon Mothma, where a holographic image
of Zonama Sekot rotated slowly in a
cone of blue light, and bezels of
various colors showed the deployment
of Alliance and Yuuzhan Vong vessels.

Technicians and droids were busy at
every duty station, and the scrubbed
air was filled with the din of voices
and the incessant toning of damage-
and threat assessment screens. In the
thick of the righting, enemy mataloks
and yorik-vec were blinking out at the
rate of one every five minutes, but
closer to the living planet,
coralskippers and yorik-akaga had
swept through portions of the Hapan
line and were strafing the boras and
inhabited canyons of the Middle
Distance. 
With Zonama's mountaintop
defenses either incapacitated or
determined to be ineffective against
the small craft, Mon Mothma, was
speeding for the planet.

Separate conversations among the
tactical officers surrounding the
holoprojector table made it impossible
for Wedge to hear Lando clearly, so he
moved to a corner of the vast room and
slipped a headset over his ears.

"The battle at Muscave was nothing
more than a diversion," Lando was
saying. 
"Nas Choka was hoping to keep
us too occupied to notice the poisoned
vessel he's trying to get to the
surface of Zonama Sekot."

He snorted. 

"One small ship, slipping past all the
 defence. Does that sound familiar?"

"Vaguely," Wedge lied. "Do you have
information on why the Jedi fighters
have gone to ground?"

"Negative."

"Could the Vong have already delivered
the Alpha Red?"

"That's as good a guess as any," Lando
said. "Unless Sekot' decided to
surrender."

"If that's the case, then it's grown
weaker over the past fifty years "

"Or the Vong have gotten stronger."
Lando paused, then said "Booster's
going to take Errant Venture as close
to Zonama Sekot as possible. We'll
evacuate as many of the Jedi and the
Ferroans as we can "

Wedge grimaced. 

"Lando, you can't do that if the planet's 
already been poisoned. I realize Alpha Red 
probably doesn't pose a threat to humans or
Bothans, but, after Caluula, we can't
be sure that it can't be spread by
other species."

Lando was silent for a long moment.

"Understood, Wedge," he said in a
resigned voice. "We'll check with Kyp
and Corran before we lift anyone up
the well. What do you hear from
Coruscant?"

"Tooth and nail. Shimrra is apparently
dead, Luke saw to that. But Shimrra's
death hasn't slowed Nas Choka. Even if
we can eventually defeat his forces,
there's not much chance of forcing a
surrender."

"What's the answer?"

"I'm worried that Kre'fey and Sow are
looking hard at Alpha Red."

Lando exhaled audibly. 

"Seems to be everybody's solution just now."

Wedge signed off and removed the
headset.  He spent a long moment
regarding the rotating holoimage of
Zonama Sekot. He refused to accept
that the poisoned ship had gotten
through. Starfighters could  prevent
it from reaching the surface. 

He thought back almost five years to the
decision he had made to come out of
retirement. He hadn't a notion then
that he would end up piloting a
starfighter  at  Sernpidal,  be
charged with  holding  Borleias, 
attacking Coruscant. But that was the
way of war. You did whatever you
could, hoping that even the smallest
contributions affected them result.
 
He moved to the nearest duty station
and asked to be patched through to the
senior mission officer.

"I want you to ready a starfighter,"
he said when the female officer answered.

"For any particular squadron?" she
asked. "They're all so shot up
the pilot can have his pick."

"Who's been tasked with protecting
Zonama Sekot?"
"
That would be Red Squadron, General."

"Perfect," Wedge thought.

"Alert Red Leader to expect a reinforcement."

"What's the pilot's call sign, sir?"

Wedge considered it, then said:

"Vader."

"Impossible," Nas Choka told his
tactician. 
"The Supreme Overlord is a
ward of the gods. Should we fail in
our task, he will be the last of us to
die and our success is assured. He
gestured toward Coruscant, readily
visible through the blister
transparency. 

"Zonama Sekot will die, and the battle 
here will turn as soon
as I recall the rest of our forces
from Muscave. We will chase the
Alliance back to the Outer Rim, where
they will spend the next ten years
licking their wounds and dreaming of
the day they will be strong enough to
mount a second counteroffensive."

The tactician inclined his head in respect. 

"But the announcement was
made by Eminence Harrar himself."

"Harrar!" the warmaster said in
surprise. "I thought he was in the Outer Rim."

"No, Fearsome One. Crossed over to the
side of the enemy at Zonama Sekot,
when it was in the Unknown Regions.
Prefect Nom Anor, as well, now
revealed to be leader of the heretics."

Nas Choka extended his hand to the
bulkhead to steady himself. Harrar, a
traitor? 
Nom Anor, an insurgent . . .
Though painful to endure, those were
reversals he could accept. But surely
he would know if the Yuuzhan Vong had
suddenly lost their conduit to the
ods. He glanced around the command
chamber at his commander and
subaltern, his villip mistress and
priest. Not one of them was dis tracted 
or apprehensive; all of them
were attending to their duties.
 
"A lie by renegades," he said to the
tactician at last. "A cowardl attempt
to throw us into confusion."

Again, the tactician inclined his head. 

"Warmaster, my feelin echo
yours. I should know inside,if our
Supreme Overlord is dead. And yet the
villip reports from other commanders
on the surface confirm that warriors
and Jeedai have overrun the Citadel,
including Shimrra's coffer."

"Jeedai,"Nas Choka repeated.

"May I speak my thoughts?"

"Quietly," the warmaster cautioned.

"Why should Zonama Sekot's planetary
weapons cease unless the living world
is fearless? Could Shimrra somehow
have been duped into playing into the
hands of the gods, when their true aim
is to punish him for arrogance and us,
for our faithfulness to him?"

Nas Choka's slanted forehead furrowed.

"I.."

"Warmaster," Tammka's Mount's Supreme
Commander interrupted, with a brisk
salute. 
"Lord Shimrra's personal
vessel has launched from the Citadel,
and even now emerges from the atmosphere 
to join us in battle."

"Show me!" Nas Choka said, whirling to
the transparency.

The commander pointed to a section of
the blister, which showed an enhanced
view of the Supreme Overlord's
projectile shaped coffer, its powerful
dovin basal tugging it swiftly from
the gravitational grip of the planet.
Alongside the vessel, though not yet
engaging it in battle, flew two
Alliance starfighters and a battered,
saucer shaped freighter.

Nas Choka showed the tactician a brief
nod of acquittal. 

"You see, a trick by renegades. Not only
does the Supreme Overlord live, he seeks to
reinvigorate us personally." 

He looked at the commander. 

"We will demonstrate our gratitude to Shimrra 
by immolating the flagship in his honor. 
Order all vessels to converge on Ralroost."



     On the bridge of the vessel whose
every component answered to him, Onimi
sent a blur of objects racing for
Jacen, beginning with vat carved idols
that flanked Jaina: cloaked Yun'Harla,
many armed Yui-Yammka, thousand eyed
Yun-Shuno, and the rest. But Jacen
stood, not wanting to risk hurting
Jaina inadvertently by deflecting the
hiects, he pulled everything into a
whirling cloud, as if in orbit
round him. 

Beyond the cloud, he was dimly aware that 
a transarency had formed above the console,
and that constellations of stars
were winking into existence, smeared
in places by the explosive
exchanges among the hundreds of
warships battling at the edge of
Coruscant's envelope.

Jacen's steadfast defense infuriated
Onimi. Reaching deeper into himself,
the Supreme Overlord used his
telekinetic powers to create cracks in
the bulkheads and ceiling, hoping to
add chunks of unrooted yorik coral to
his conjured storm. But as fast as the
fissures formed, Jacen repaired them,
and those chunks that were torn away
he ordered the vessel to cement in
place.

Mismatched eyes opened wide in
disbelief, Onimi charged, his feet
moving so rapidly that he might have
been gliding across the deck.

Though crippled by the deformations
that had resulted from poorly healed
enhancement surgeries and the
consequences of experimental
escalations, the former shaper was
still taller than Jacen and pound for
pound more powerful.

But the struggle had nothing to do with 
size and less to do with brute strength. 
Onimi's true potency lay in his abilities to
amplify the electric current that
flowed through his body, or like
Vergere, to call on his refined
metabolism to fashion molecules and
compounds, and deliver them through
his curving yellow fingernails, his
single fang, his blood, sweat, saliva,
and breath. But where Vergere had
learned to produce emollients and
healing tears, Onimi was capable of
producing a brew of fast acting and
deadly toxins. Compared to the former
shaper's mastery of Yuuzhan Vong
bioscience, Vergere had been a mere
adept.

He flew at Jacen with hands upraised
and mouth ajar. 
Jacen lifted his hands in defense and he 
and Onimi met with blinding discharges of 
electrical energy that entangled both of them 
in a flashing web. Their hands
interlocked, they whirled from one
side of the bridge to the other in a
kind of mad pirouette, caroming off
the coarse bulkheads and smooth
instrumentation. Jaina sent her twin
what reinforcement she could summon,
but he told her to conserve her
strength.

The transmutated secretions from
Onimi's palms and fingertips sent 
hallucinogens through Jacen's
skin and capillaries, and cours'
through his bloodstream. Onimi's
paralyzing fang struck repeat for
Jacen's temples and neck. Poison
wafted on his forced sighs a rode
within the droplets of his frothing
saliva.

But the Jacen that the Supreme
Overlord had in his taloned eri???????????????/ was
not there. Where once Jacen had been
unable to find Onimi through the
Force, now it was Onimi who couldn't
find Jacen. What he found instead was
formless, supple, and fathomless an
infinite emptiness, but as serene as a
wind toppling trees to encourage new
growth.

A being of light, Jacen was drawing
into himself all of Onimi's lethal
compounds, neutralizing them and
casting them out as sweat tears, and
exhalations.

He understood at last why he had
failed to catch Anakin's lightsaber
when Luke had tossed it to him: he was
never meant to catch it, because he
had become the lightsaber.

He had attained the ability to cut
through any resistance in himself; to
sever the bonds of preconception; to
open a gaping hole into a reality more
expansive than any he had ever dared
imagine; to heal. As his grandfather
had done, he had broken through the
apparent opposites that concealed the
absolute nature of the Force, and
found his way into an unseen unity
that existed beyond the seeming
separateness of the world. 

For a moment all the cosmic tumblers had
clicked into place, and light and dark
sides became something he could balance 
within himself, without having to
remain on one side or the other. The
consciousness that was Jacen Solo was
strewn across the vast spectrum of
life energy. 
He had passed beyond choice and consequence,
good and evil, light and dark, life and death.

All that had been required of Jacen
was complete surrender a technique
once mastered by the Jedi Order but at
some point misplaced; transposed to
an emphasis on individual achievement,
which had opened a way to arrogance.

In that the path was available to any
who chose to seek and follow it, Jacen
understood that the discovery was
really a rediscover. 
Indeed, the Yuuzhan Vong had adhered to it when
they had lived in symbiosis with
Yuuzhan'tar. In that protohistorical time, 
they had been group minded, living in a world
where the boundaries were permeable. 

By cutting that bond they had isolated 
themselves from the Force. They had deluded 
themselves into thinking that they were
worshiping life, when in fact they
were worshiping the only route to
symbiosis left open to them, which was
death.

Jacen realized that, in a sense, he
had paraphrased Onimi. He had passed
beyond the tradition of the Jedi Order
into a more embracing reality. But
instead of attempting to steal the
authority of the gods, or to become a
god, he had finally allowed himself to
merge with the Force in its entirety
and become a conduit for its raw
power, which flowed through him like
the thundering headwaters of a great
river. 
The conjoining of the Force and
his Vongsense enabled him to render
himself small enough to follow Onimi
wherever he went or attempted to hide;
to counter Onimi's every action, and
merge with his living vessel on a
molecular level.

Jacen ended their spinning, bringing
them to a halt in the center of the
bridge, where he continued to parry
Onimi's strikes. The Supreme
Overlord's lolling eye fixed him with
a gimlet stare.

Gradually Onimi began to understand,
as well.
He grasped that Jacen wasn't
defending himself so much as using
Onimi's own strengths against him.
Jacen was fighting without fighting;
drawing Onimi deeper into the struggle
by demanding more of Onimi's
indigenous toxins, to the point that
he couldn't keep up. 
Jacen was the vacuum, the dovin basal s
ingularity into which Onimi was being sucked.

Jacen had become the dismantling void
that was drawing Onimi into a slender
thread, attenuating him to the point
of infinite smallness.

Onimi's self-deformed face began to
change. His arteries pulsed and his
veins bulged from beneath his pale
skin.

Onimi fought with everything that
remained in him, but Jacen could not
be overwhelmed. As a pure conduit of
the Force, he was incapable of taking
missteps or making wrong moves. He
stood not at the edge of the tilting
ecliptic of his vision, but at the
center, as a fulcrum. The weight that
would disturb the balance was Onimi,
but to Jacen, that weight was no
longer of sufficient mass to make a
difference.

The Force encased Jacen like a
whirlwind, moving deep into the
darkness the Yuuzhan Vong had brought
to the galaxy, and gathering it and 
sending it up the spout into the funnel cloud, 
where it was transformed and dispersed.

Onimi was becoming more insubstantial
by the moment.

Jacen continued to stand firm, righting the world.

He had become so powerful as to be
dangerous to his own galaxy for he
could see clearly the temptations of
the dark side and the desire to force
one's will on others to completely
dominate that all life would bow to him.

He purged his mind of all pride and
evil intent and entered a moment of
unadulterated bliss, where he seemed
to have unlocked the very secrets of
existence.

He knew that he would never again be
able to reach this exalted state, and
at once that he would spend the rest
of his life trying.

       

      Neither Jaina nor Jacen had 
answered Leia's calls as Nom Anor had led the
search for them, but the reason for
their silence became clear the moment
she entered the bridge of the accelerating 
alien vessel.

She was last to arrive in the
cavernous chamber. Nom Anor and Han,
blaster in hand, had raced in ahead of
her, only to be transfixed by the
spectacle unfolding before their eyes:

a sight Leia knew she would carry to
her grave, and all the more
spellbinding for the backdrop of
familiar stars, hyphens of coherent
light, roiling plasma missiles. She
felt as if she were wedged between a
dream and a vision; lifted into a
realm that was usually denied to
mortal beings.

In the center of the bridge Jacen
stood like a pillar of blinding light,
feet planted, arms at his sides, chin
lifted. The dazzling light seemed to
spin outward from his midsection and
surround him like an aura. His face
was almost frighteningly serene, and
perhaps a touch sad. The pupils of his
eyes were like rising suns. He seemed
to age five years features maturing,
complexion softening, body elongating
as Leia watched breathlessly.

What youth might have remained in her
son vanished.
Across the bridge, Shimrra's Shamed familiar, 
Onimi, was pinned to the coarse bulkhead like a
captive shadowmoth, uneven eyes rolled
up into his deformed head and
slavering mouth opened wide in wonderment, 
agony, despair it was,impossible to know.
 
Jaina dangled limply between her
brother and Onimi, as if a mournful
sculpture, fragile but growing
stronger by the moment.
And as she strengthened, Onimi began
to wane. For an instant it appeared
that the surgeries, mutilations, and
disfigurements were reversing
themselves. 

The Shamed One's facial features became 
symmetrical. His twisted body straightened, 
assuming its original size, shape, and aspect
more human than not, though taller and
leaner, with long limbs and large
hands. 
But life deserted him just as
quickly. He slid to the deck as if his
bones had dissolved. Poured from his
mouth, eyes, and ears, corrosive
fluids began to consume him, leaving
nothing more than a puddle of foul
hydrocarbons, which the yorik coral
deck absorbed as it might a stain.

Immediately the vessel spasmed, as if
it had been struck by turbolaser
fire, or had in fact sustained a kind
of stroke. Color and warmth drained
from the living console, and the
instruments took on an arthritic look.
Cognition hoods and villips grew
desiccated. Blaze bugs fell out of
formation and died on the floor of
their niche. 
Coral fractured, and the
already scant green light faded. With
its dovin basal dying, the vessel
almost succumbed to a last grab by
Coruscant; then it lurched forward
once more, aimed resolutely for the
heart of the battle. When Leia finally
came back to herself, Jacen had lifted
Jaina from the horns on which she had
been suspended, and was cradling her
in his arms.

"You wouldn't let me help you," she
said.

Jacen comforted her with a smile. 

"I needed you to help yourself."

Nom Anor watched in awe as Onimi
disappeared into the deck of the
bridge, his body dissolved by whatever
corrosive poisons he had fabricated to
use against Jacen Solo. 
Death had come to the Shamed One who had 
brought shaper Nen Yim to Coruscant; the
Shamed One whom Nom Anor had once
followed to a secret shaper grashal;
the Shamed One who had sat at the feet
of Shimrra, and whose rhymes had been
a constant irritant to the elite.

The Shamed One who had tricked
everyone into believing that Shimrra
was the Supreme Overlord.
The Supreme Overlord, who was now dead.
 
Nom Anor stared at the discoloration
that had been Onimi even if he lived to
tell it, would anyone believe his
tale? Would the Jedi  willing him to
corroborate it?

A prolonged paroxysm from the vessel
snapped him back into awareness of his
perilous dilemma. His real eye darted
from the Ted' twins to their parents.
There was still time to render them
unconscious where they stood, then
pilot Onimi's vessel to rendezvous
with whatever was left of Nas Choka's
mighty armada..

But perhaps not..

Jacen Solo was as dangerous a foe as
could be imagined. What's more,
Onimi's vessel, though roused from
stasis, might not respond to Nom Anor.
If he was to escape with his life, he
needed a more fool proof plan.

The solution presented itself when the
vessel lurched again, and the controls
began to surrender their suppleness.

"Onimi was wedded to this ship," he
said in a rush. "With his death, it
has begun to die, and we will perish
with it."

When Jacen nodded in confirmation,
Jaina said: 

"Mara is searching for us."

Han rushed to the console and peered
through the blister transparency.

"Then the Falcon's, gotta be out there
somewhere." 

He turned to Nom Anor.


"I've seen Yuuzhan Vong evacuate their
ships, wearing those gnullith masks.."

"There's a better way." Nom Anor cut
him off. "This vessel is equipped with
a yorik-trema. What you call a 'crate'-
a landing craft."

Han showed him a long suffering look.

"What, you were waiting for me to answer?"
Quickly". 
Nom Anor led the Solo family
out of the bridge and through a
bewildering maze of corridors, whose
throbbing walls were already showing
signs of imminent collapse. The palm
of his right hand opened lock after
dilating lock, allowing them to weave
their way clear across the vessel to
the port side bulkhead, and ultimately
into a small grotto, equipped with a
semicircular array of locks.

Nom Anor opened what appeared to be
the most exterior of the locks, and
gestured everyone inside. 

"Get settled, while I arm the launch organ!"
 
Han clasped his left arm around his
daughter's waist and started for the
lock. 

But Jacen stopped him.


"This doesn't lead to the yorik trema." 

He turned slightly and pointed to the 
innermost lock. 

"That's the correct one."

Jaina glanced around the grotto.

"Jacen's right." She nodded to the
lock Nom Anor had opened. "It leads to
a waste disposal area."

Jacen regarded Nom Anor. 

"Once you had sealed us inside, you would 
have been able to pilot the landing craft to
safety." 

Disappointment tugged at his features. 

"And yet despite your attempt at treachery we 
owe you our lives, because I doubt I would have
been able to find my way to this
grotto."

Nom Anor glanced from the first lock
to the second, then forced a relieved
sigh. 

"Thank you for catching my
error, Jacen Solo. What with leading
the Shamed Ones in rebellion and
witnessing Onimi's death, I was
momentarily confused.." 

Han drew his blaster.

"Save it."

Nom Anor raised his hands in surrender. 

"It was an innocent mistake! Now isn't 
the time to argue!" 

He risked a step toward Han. 

"We must board the escape craft before this
vessel."Nom Anor lunged forward. 

"His eye!" Jaina yelled.

Poison spewed from the plaeryin bol.
Han was too encumbered to twist
himself or Jaina out of its path. In a
blur, Jacen interposed himself
between Nom Anor and his father, and
took the lethal gush full in the face.

Even better than hoped for! Nom Anor
thought. With Jacen out of the way, he
could easily incapacitate the others.
With his right hand, he reached for
the little finger of his left. At the
same time, he steeled himself for a
dash across the grotto. It would take
a moment for the knockout gas released
by the false digit to reach full
effect, and that moment constituted
all the time he had to reach the
escape craft lock and seal it behind
him.

In the instant his hands met, he heard
the snaphiss of a lightsaber.

And in the interminable instant that
followed, he watched Leia's energy
blade sever his left hand at the
wrist, and watched himself falling to
his knees in shock and searing pain.

Worse, it was Jacen who came to his side,
weakened by the plaeryin bol's venom, but 
very rnu h alive.

"It didn't have to be this way," the
young Jedi said.

Nom Anor clasped his stump of forearm
in his right hand. 

"Did it,Jeedi" He smirked. "Even if
words from you kept me from execution
or life imprisonment, what course was
left to me? Just as atheism renders
me unfit for Yuuzhan Vong society, my
utter contempt for the Force makes me
unfit to live among any species that
recognize it. I've been a stranger to
all worlds. Even Yu'shaa, leader of
the Shamed Ones, was just another role
for me, another lie." 

A rueful laugh escaped him. 

"Ooglith masquers can't hide everything, Jeedai."

On the other side of the grotto, Jaina
was pressing her hand against the
lock's sensor organ, to no apparent effect.

"It responds only to the flesh of
Yuuzhan Vong," Nom Anor said. He felt
Jacen's eyes on him.

"Then we'll use your severed hand,"
Jacen said.

Nom Anor blew out his breath and rose
to his feet. Crossing the grotto, he
pressed the palm of his right hand to
the bulkhead sensor. 

"Get inside," hesaid when the lock dilated. 
"The landing craft will scarcely outlive
the vessel that birthed it."

Han and Leia helped their daughter
into the yorik-trema; then Han
reappeared, blaster in hand, to usher
his son aboard. He stood at the lock
for a long moment, coming to his own
decision. Nom Anor watched Han's jaw
bunch with fury, then relax. In the
end, Han lowered his blaster and
gestured for Nom Anor to enter the
craft.

Instead, Nom Anor took a backward step
and shook his head. 

"If I'm clear on one point, it's this: 
I want no part of whatever new order is in the
making. I will die here with Onimi,
for we have been two of a kind from
the start."

With that, he shoved Han back through
the lock and pressed his right hand to
the bulkhead, launching the craft into
space.


    Nas Choka paced back and forth in
front of Yarnmka's transparency, his
troubled gaze fixed on Shimrra's
vessel as it climbed out of
Yuuzhan'tar's reach in fits and
starts.

"Ralroost wallows in our sights," the
tactician reported.
 
"Shimrra approaches," the Supreme
Commander said from beneath his
cognition hood, "though he still
refrains from communicating with us."

Nas Choka traded glances with the
tactician before replying.

"Give him time."

He had no sooner swung back to the
transparency to track the vessel's
course than it began to stutter in
flight and enter into an end over end
roll.

"The dovin basal has failed!" the
commander shouted. "The vessel is
dismembering!"

Nas Choka wanted to tear his eyes away
but couldn't. Atmosphere and other
gases were beginning to puff and
stream from fractures in the vessel's
hull. Fluids leaked from the dovin
basal blastulas, trailing behind like
frozen streamers. Vital components
shut down and went spinning off into
space. Broadening and deepening, the
fissures joined, creating a network of
cracks, from which hunks of yorik
coral began to tumble. Then, just at
the leading edge of the planetary
flotilla, Shimrra's coffer exploded,
sundering like a disintegrated planet
and loosing a shock wave that crippled
countless war vessels before it
dispersed.

A fearful silence descended on
Yammka's command chamber. For a long
moment, Nas Choka could only gape in
incredulity at what had occurred.
Never in their long history had the
Yuuzhan Vong been without a Supreme
Overlord, their holy intercessor.

Despite the success at Zonama Sekot,
the armada was nothing without
Shimrra. They had been cut off from
the divine, deprived of any means of
appealing to Yun-Yuuzhan or Yun-Yammka
for guidance or support.

What had lighted the Yuuzhan Vong
universe had been extinguished. Truly
the gods had abandoned the Yuuzhan
Vong and allied with the infidels.
They had withdrawn their guardianship
of Shimrra, and the Yuuzhan Vong had
become Shamed Ones,rejected, passed
over, a hopeless godless species.

Defeated!

Nas Choka could feel the expectant
gazes of his commanders and
subalterns. He grasped the question
implied by every look, the question,
every Yuuzhan Vong on or off Coruscant
was asking: Is there purpose to
fighting to the death without any hope
for salvation in the afterlife?
 
Nas Choka martialed his pride and
moved to the villip choir:  

"All Supreme Commanders," he told the
villip mistress; then, when the villips
had taken on the likenesses of his
chief subordinates, he said:

"The war is ended. We are defeated by the gods
and by their allie,though they have
abandoned us, we will suffer our
defeat with honor because it is what
the gods would expect. But any of you
who wish to follow the Supreme
Overlord's example and die as warriors
may do so just as any of you who wish
to commit ritual death may do so.

Those who choose neither will join me
in accepting the shame of surrender
and finding what nobility we can in
capture and graceless execution.
"Rrush'hok ichnar vinim'hok!"

Even while the vessel's Supreme
Commander, chief tactician, and priest
were opening themselves with coufees,
Nas Choka moved back to the
transparency. 
Across the entire
embattled face of Yuuzhan'tar of
Coruscant coralskippers, pickets, and
cruisers were veering into collision
courses with Alliance ships.

Errant Venture hung over Zonama Sekot
like a freshly forged spearpoint, her
blazing turbolasers providing cover
fire for the modified shuttles,
yachts, and blockade runners that
plummeted from the forward launching
bay. On detecting the smugglers'
ships, the coralskippers that had
been harassing the Star Destroyer
regrouped and set after what must have
seemed like more assailable prey.

Lady Luck had been first out of the
bay, with Wild Karrde close behind. In
the cockpit of the SoroSuub yacht,
Lando and Tendra were busy at separate
tasks when Talon commed them.

"Two skips on your starboard," he warned.

"Got 'em," Lando said into his headset
mike. 

He nodded for Tendra to raise the yacht's 
rear deflector screen.

"If you two would allow me the honor..."

"No need to stand on ceremony, Talon."

Lando pushed the control yoke away
from him, dropping Lady Luck into
Zonama Sekot's gravity well. The ship
bucked and began to vibrate as the
atmosphere thickened. Tendra called a
starboard view console
displays in time to see angry bursts
of laserfire spew from the Corellian
transport's triple batteries. Struck
full force, the coralskipper farthest 
from  Lady Luck crumbled. 

The second skip slewed hard
to port in an effort to come alongside
the yacht, but Wild Karrde's follow-up
bursts caught the enemy vessel while
it was still outside the yacht's
shields, and it, too, disintegrated.

"We owe you one," Lando said.

"Actually, that's two," Talon replied.

"But who's counting?" Tendra eased the
angle of the yacht's descent and set a
course for the Middle Distance. 

By approaching from the east, they could
avoid the hail of plasma missiles that
were pounding the central canyon. The
adjusted course took Lady Luck, Wild
Karrde, and some of the other rescue
craft almost directly beneath Jade
Shadow. While it remained in
stationary orbit, Mara's ship had
sustained heavy damage.

Below, youthful mountains poked from
opaque white clouds, their flanks and
foothills cloaked with unspoiled
boras. To the west the forest was
interrupted by expanses of grasslands.
Where those ended, the virgin terrain
undulated, rose again to lofty
heights, then angled down toward the
central canyon, which was blanketed in
layers of thick smoke.

Toning proximity alarms told Lando and
Tendra that Lady Luck had attracted
the attention of some of the
coralskippers that were strafing the
canyon and surrounding woodlands. Four
skips were already climbing out of the
smoke to welcome the yacht to the fight.

"Talon, we might need your help
again," Lando started to say when two
of the coralskippers were cracked open
and knocked out of the sky by laserfire. 

The trailing pair deployed
singularities, but the shields bought
them mere moments of refuge before
proton torpedoes blew them apart.
An instant later, two red X-wings
streaked past Lady Luck from astern,
banking broadly to the south before
coming about to assume the same
approach vector the smugglers were
taking. Lando opened a channel to the
starfighters.

"Thanks from Lady Luck for clearing
the way." 

"Red Two at your service," a familiar voice responded. 

"Wedge!"

Lando said around a broad grin. 

"How much grease did it take to get you
installed in that snubfighter?"

"Less than half what it took at the
start of this war." 

"Yeah, I suppose we're all back to fighting trim."
 

Tendra stretched out her left hand
and patted Lando's paunch. 

"He means, most of us," she said into her
headset.

Lando cocked an eyebrow at his wife,
then said, 

"Where's the poisoned vessel, Wedge?"

"Tell your scanners to look due north-
northwest."

Tendra tasked the instruments to
provide a close up view defended by a
ring of eight coralskippers, the six-
armed slayers' vessel was swooping
down toward the south rim of the
canyon. As many Red Squadron X-wings
were in close pursuit, needling the
enemy with lasers and torps. But
instead of answering them with plasma
missiles the skips were devoting all
their power to fashioning shielding
singularities to protect the poisoned
craft.

All the levity had left Wedge's voice
when he said: 
"There's no stopping it now."

Lady Luck's proximity alarms began to
blare again. Lando watched the friend
or foe identifier cycle in apparent
bewilderment, then he glanced around
the sky.

"Wedge, our scanners are showing
unfriendlies, but they're not
registering as skips."

"Because they're not," Wedge said
flatly. 
"Whatever they are, they're
rising out of the forests, hundreds of
them!"

Lando leaned toward the forward
viewport. A swarm of insectile ships,
showing green wings and red carapaces,
was corkscrewing up toward the
Smugglers' Alliance ships. 
As they drew nearer, singularities 
formed to both sides of Lady Luck. 
The yacht pitched violently to port 
and began to slide for the surface. 
Lando lifted his hands from the control 
yoke and turned to his wife in wide eyed
confusion.

"That's not me piloting!" He commed
Wedge. 
"We're caught up in some kind
of tractor beam. It's dragging us
down!"

"Wish I could help," Wedge said a
moment later. 
"But they've got me, too."



   Corran had been the first to spot 
the ships or creatures from the
tampasi east of the canyon. He, Kyp,
Lowbacca, Cilghal, and the rest of the
downed Jedi pilots were gathered on
the landing platform now, watching
the red and green craft dart through
the sky like??????????jnaidenflies, 
making use of grasper
claws and dovin basal like gravitic
anomalies to bring down Red Squadron
starfighters and Smugglers'

Alliance ships alike.

A few kilometers east of where the
Jedi were grouped, Lady Luck, Wild
Karrde, and two X-wings were
descending to treetop level.

"We don't know what they are, Lando,"
-Corran was saying into his comlink.

"We've never seen them before."

"Another of Sekot's surprises," Talon
added to the conversation. 

"Here's a piece of good news," Kyp interrupted.

He pointed to the southern sky.

"Sekot's chasing the skips, too."

The southern sky was a frenzy of
insectile craft. But unlike the
Alliance ships, the coralskippers were
not going quietly to ground, and many
of the swift darters were being
annihilated by plasma missiles. A
sudden growl from Lowbacca brought
everyone about face to see Danni Quee
and Magister Jabitha approaching the
landing platform, trailed by a crowd
of perhaps one hundred wary Ferroans,
who had emerged from the shelters.

Kyp met the two women halfway. 

"You spoke with Sekot?" he asked Danni.

Her "yes" was breathy with awe, but
she offered nothing more.

Corran looked hard at Jabitha. 

"Who's piloting the insect craft?" 

"Sekot," the Magister said.

Corran gave his head a confused shake.

"I thought the idea was to keep the
fight from the surface?"

"Only until Sekot was ready to launch
the grappler ships," Danni explained
at last. 
"Sekot's promise to Jacen was
that the planet would only fight
without fighting." 

She saw from the expressions that 
greeted her that she'd opened the floodgates. 

"Sekot is only interested in welcoming the
Yuuzhan Vong home."

"Home?" Corran and Kyp said at the same time. 

There wasn't time for further explanation. 
Dozens of coralskippers were being hauled down
into the boras by grappler ships,all
except for the poisoned vessel, which
six unpiloted insectile craft were
tugging back up the gravity well.

The Jedi, Danni, Jabitha, and some of
the Ferroans hurried into the forest
to be on hand when the coralskippers
landed. 

Two kilometers along, the ragtag group
was joined by Lando, Tendra, Talon, Shada Wedge, 
and several other Red Squadron and
Smugglers' Alliance pilots ,running at
the head of the pack, Kyp and Corran
ignited their lightsabers as soon as
they saw the coralskippers and
grapplers drifting down between the
massive trunks of the balloon leafed
boras. 

The first of the coralskippers
settled into the loamy shade like
sculptures in a garden. Dovin basals
housed in the blunt noses of the
vessels sent slender blue veined
feeders into the soft ground. In
response, creepers and vines writhed
to touch the coarse hulls of the
skips. Some writhed into the seams
that defined the edges of the mic aop es???????????
and popped them open.

Shucking out of their cognition hoods,
four Yuuzhan Vong leapt from the
cockpit cavities, brandishing short
amphistaffs. The Jedi stepped in to
engage them, but stopped short when
they saw the amphistaffs slip from the
hands of the enemy pilots and slither
off into the lush woodland. 
Breather masks and shoulder born tactical
villips dropped from the pilots like
ripe seedpods. Two dozen thud bugs
burst from one pilot's bandolier and
took to the treetops.

The Yuuzhan Vong gazed at the Jedi
like bewildered children. Caught
between worlds, unacquainted with
surrender, they did as they had seen
their captives do and fell to their
knees, their heads bowed in disgrace
and their wrists pressed to their
opposite shoulders. Kyp was the first
to deactivate his lightsaber; the rest
followed. Cilghal loosed a joyful
exhale and put her arm around Danni's
waist. 

"These warriors will be the first converts," she said. 

"This ground will become a hallowed place."

Transfixed by the scene, Kyp clapped
his hand on Corran's shoulder and
muttered, 

"A world has been saved from destruction."

Dying rapidly, the yorik-trema was no
longer accelerating but tumbling
through space. Whatever flora was
responsible for providing breathable
atmosphere was failing, as the
interior walls' bioluminescent lichen
already had.

"It doesn't want to respond to me,"
Jaina said from the controls. The
hull's transparency was filmed by a
thickening cataract, but Han
and Leia could still discern the
distinctive shape of the Millennium
falcon, racing to come alongside,
escorted by two battle scarred X-wings.
"Come on, Mara," Han said through gritted teeth.

"Use the tractor beam."

"That won't help," Jaina said as she tugged the
flimsy cognition hood from her head. 

"Our only chance is to get aboard the
Falcon.'''' Her eyes roamed over the
irregularly pulsing control console.
"There's just enough life left in this
ship for it to extend an umbilical."

"Oh, no," Han muttered. "Not again."

Jaina tweaked one of the organiform control arms
that grew from the console. Accompanied by
wet, squishy sounds, the central section
of the craft's cramped deck softened, and
an osmotic membrane began to form. Han
glanced at the expanding circle in growing
dismay, imagining the craft's
intestinelike cofferdam flailing in space
as it attempted to vacuum seal against the
Falcon's portside docking ring or dorsal
hatch.

Abruptly the freighter snagged the yorik-trema,
stopping it from tumbling. The deck
membrane irised open, and a nauseating
odor invaded the cabin space.

Han clamped his right hand over his mouth. 

"How do we know the umbilical's properly sealed
against the hatch?"

"It's not the tightest fit, Dad," Jaina said,

"But it's one we can survive."

Jacen peered into the confined, throbbing tube.

"Guess we're going to have to crawl."

Han's face fell. "Ah, this is too much even for
me."

Leia glanced at him. "I'll go first, if it'll
make you feel better."

"Only thing that's gonna make me feel better is
an EVA suit."

Leia stroked his whiskered face. "Be brave,
darling."

Lowering herself to the deck, she wormed through
the membrane and began to elbow-crawl
through the tube. Han took a deep breath
and followed, his hands disappearing to
the wrist in the slime that covered the
floor. Two minutes later Leia disappeared
from view, and Han's hands touched the
comforting solidity of the Falcon`s air lock.

One by one, coated with slime and reeking of
putrid organics, the four of them squeezed 
into the freighter's port side docking arm where 
Kenth, Harrar, C-3PO, and R2-D2 were waiting.

"Oh, my," the protocol droid said. "I'll
activate the sonic showe at once."

R2-D2 rocked on his feet, whistling and tooting.


No sooner had Kenth dogged the hatch than Mara
came ninnine through the forward
compartment, calling over her shoulder to
Tahiri and the Noghri that everyone was
safely aboard.

"Where's Uncle Luke?" Jacen asked.

Mara grabbed him by the arm and hauled him into
the aft cabin space, where Luke was laid
out on one of the small sleeping platforms
Han, Leia, and Jaina crowded in behind
them.

Jacen kneeled by the bed and carefully removed
the dressing Kenth had placed over the
deep puncture wound in the left side of
Luke's chest. Luke's face and hands were
white. His lips and the beds of his
fingernails were slightly blue. His eyes
were closed and his breathing was shallow.

"Shimrra's amphistaff," Mara said anxiously.

Jacen looked up at her and nodded. "I saw him
get stabbed."

Mara pressed her hands to her eyes and began to
cry. Jacen took her tear moistened hands
in his and brought them to Luke's chest
wound. He held them there for a long
moment, removing his hands only once, to
convey some of his own tears to Luke's
wound.

Luke's chest heaved as he took a sharp
inhalation, and his eyelids fluttered
open. Sobbing openly, Mara laid her head
on his chest, and slowly Luke's left hand
rose to caress her red gold hair.

"I'll live, my love," he said weakly.

Leia kneeled down to wrap her arms around her
son and Mara and cry with them. Swallowing
the lump in his throat, Han put his arm
around Jaina's shoulders, then the two of
them all but fell on top of Leia and
Jacen.

C-3PO and R2-D2 appeared at the hatch in time to
see the Skywalkers and Solos in a weeping
tangle. The astromech made a fluting sound
that was at once rejoicing and forlorn.

"I know, Artoo," C-3PO said quietly. "There are
few occasions when I envy humans, but this
is certainly one of them."


The New Order



^^^^^????????????????
Two meters above the ground, the military
speeder twisted through the ruins of the
sacred precinct, closing on operational
headquarters at the northern edge of what
had been only two years earlier the
Legislative District.
 
Admiral Kre'fey perched on the back 
of the rear seat, his snow white fure rippling 
in the wind and his short command cloak snapping behind
him like a flag. To either side of him sat
his Bothan aides. A human lieutenant had
the repulsor craft's controls, and beside
him was a Twi'lek gunner, her hands on the
trigger mechanism of a front mounted
repeating blaster. A torrential rain had
just ended, and the winding paths the
Yuuzhan Vong called streets were running
with water. The speeder shot past columns
of drenched infantry soldiers with mudcaked like 
clay to their boots or bare legs. 
If nothing else, the rain had washed
some of the cinder and yorik coral grit
from the air.

Kre'fey had never evinced a great fondness for
Coruscant, but it was only fitting that he
tour the prize that had cost the Alliance
so many lives. Estimates of battle
casualties put the number of dead at close
to five million, with twice that number of
wounded. More than three hundred capital
ships had been destroyed, along with some
eleven thousand starfighters.
 
The death toll for the entire war was almost
incalculable, though the figure most often
quoted was 365 trillion.

Now that Sien Sow had designated Generals
Farlander and Bel Iblis as occupation
commanders, Kre'fey anticipated that he
would be shuttling back to Ralroost before
nightfall.

With the shattered Yuuzhan Vong armada still
arrayed two million kilometers away,
Alliance battle groups remained anchored
above Coruscant. When it had finally come,
the cease fire had had less to do with
loss of discipline or coordination among
the enemy than something closer to loss
of hope to a palpable sense of desperation
and gloom. In the aftermath of Shimrra's
death, hundreds of vessels had self
destructed or hurled themselves against
Alliance ships as living missiles. Other
vessels had deserted, jumping to
hyperspace for star systems yet unknown.

With hundreds of functional dovin basals
continuing to deploy shielding
singularities, Alliance landing craft and
shuttles were being forced to adhere to
strict descent corridors. Even so, the sky
above the sacred precinct was filled with
relief and patrol ships, and more were
coming down the well every hour.

Orphan Coruscanti of diverse species lined the
boggy byways and stood dozens deep at
makeshift medical stations, supply depots,
and identity verification centers. As
Kre'fey's convoy of speeders made their
way south from Westport, humanoids and
aliens would turn to welcome "the
liberator of Coruscant" with waves,
cheers, and sloppy salutes.

Squads of commandos were on foot patrol in all
quarters, performing structure-to-
structure searches and controlling looting
by Coruscanti and Yuuzhan Vong alike.

Heretics who had joined the resistance
were acting as interpreters and wranglers
of creatures capable of ferreting out
spies and imposters wearing ooglith
masquers. Enemy weapons were heaped at
each corner, awaiting cremation by aged AT-
AT walkers and flamethrowers. 

YVH droids rolled and crawled like tunnel rats
through warrens exposed by massive demoli-
tion and excavation machines. Elsewhere,
teams of specialists were busy erecting
temporary communications facilities to
uplink with satellites already in orbit.
Galactic Alliance flags had been raised at what
was left of the truncated Citadel, 
on the yorik coral dome that capped the 
well of the World Brain, and
stop other captured landmarks, but fierce
fighting persisted in some districts that
were without villip communication and had
vet to learn of Shimrra's death.

To complicate matters, the sacred precinct
had been partitioned into more than a
dozen occupation zones, each overseen by a
different species. Everyone was working
toward the common goal of pacification,
but because of the vast amounts of
technology that lay buried under the thick
vegetation, some claimstaking was
inevitable.

Tinged with sadness and misgiving, Kre'fey's
gold-flecked eyes took everything in as
the speeder rounded the mounds of debris
and whizled across the temporary bridges
that spanned Coruscant's abysmal canyons.
This is the prize we're going to present to the
Alliance members as a sign that life can
now begin to return to normal?

The strangest sight he had seen stranger than
the groves of alien trees, the ngdins
sopping spilled blood from the streets,
the AT-ATs standing shoulder to shoulder
with six-legged Yuuzhan Vong beasts was
Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon and six of
his Imperial officers, touring the area
where the Imperial Palace had once stood.

Onetime enemies, now unequivocal allies.
Thousands of prisoners were being held at what
the Yuuzhan Vong had called the Place of
Bones, but thousands more had escaped into
the wilderness the planet had become. On
the other side of Coruscant, entire
battalions were dug in. The commanders of
those units were said to have vowed that
they would fight to the last, and Kre'fey
saw no reason to doubt them.

Questions and concerns tormented him. 
What was to be done with the heretics and the
Shamed Ones; the noncombatants and the
children; the World Brain, the roving
beasts, and the other biots? Several
chief commanders were already advocating
that Coruscant be defoliated entirely.
Others wanted to preserve some of the
planet's new look. And still others wished
to see the former galactic capital
transformed into a kind of memorial,
joining the ranks of Ithor, Barab I, New
Plympto, and other worlds.

So despite the cheers and welcoming waves,
Kre'fey didn't feel like a liberator, 
much less a hero-at least not yet. 
The Bothan declaration of a 'krai-total war meant just that,
and his species were going to expect him 
to take the lead in pushing for extermination 
of the Yuuzhan Vong. 

But the Alliance's chief commanders
were hardly in accord on that matter. And
now that a cease fire seemed to be in
effect, the politicians were eager to
wrest control of the situation from the
military. Kre'fey had long thought of
Chief of State Cal Omas as an honest and
honorable human. But as well meaning as
Omas was he didn't always see reason. It
scarcely helped that his very influential
Advisory Council included six Jedi, a
Caamasi, and a Wookiee. With everyone
weighing in, it could take months or even
years to reach a consensus regarding a
final solution to the long war . . .

The skimmer came to a rest in front of Alliance
headquarters - an example of Old Republic 
classic architecture that had been partly
released from its mantle of vegetation by
lasers and missies; trees were still
rooted in the roof and vines dangled over
the ornate columns and shattered window
openings.

Kre'fey strode briskly past logistics officers
and communications specialists, analysts
and slicers, protocol and mouse droids.
Ultimately his aides escorted him into a
debris filled room that was being readied
for General Farlander. A holoprojector
occupied the center of the cleared space,
and in the blue cone emanating from the
table stood half-sized holograms of Sien
Sow and Cal Omas. For much of the battle
for Coruscant, elected officials had been
on the move, in and out of hyperspace. But
for the past four days, Omas and the
others had taken refuge on Contruum.

"Congratulations, Admiral Kre'fey," Omas said.
"Thanks to you we have reclaimed our capital."

"Such as it is," Kre'fey said.

Sow made a sound of agreement, then said:

"Nevertheless, your efforts are
appreciated by one and all. What is the
situation there, Traest?' "We're on the
verge of turning a hopeless situation into
an impossible one."

"Any change in the disposition of the enemy vessels?"

"None."

"Any overtures by Nas Choka?"
 
Kre'fey forced an exhale. "Much of the fight
has been bled from the spaceborne warriors, 
but we've received no word from Nas Choka. 
He recalled the dregs of his Muscave and Zonama 
Sekot flotillas, but has neither advanced on Coruscant 
nor withdrawn." 

"What do you suppose they're waiting for, Traest?" 

"They've never suffered a defeat let alone had to deal
with the sudden death of their Supreme
Overlord. Normally there would have been a
pool of candidates, one of whom would have
been chosen by the priests and shapers to
accede to the throne. The elite would have
been guided by signs and portents, and any
potential successor would have to have
demonstrated certain abilities. But it's
all moot, because Shimrra apparently saw
to it that no one was standing in the
royal wings. With Shimrra and High Prefect
Drathul dead, Nas Choka is the highest-
ranking elite. But in fact he wields no
more real power than High Priest Jakan and
Master Shaper Qelah Kwaad, both of whom we
have in custody. A scramble for power had
broken out among some of the lesser
prefects and consuls, but it's unlikely
that any of them will be officially
recognized as an heir apparent. What's
more, the heretics, along with many of the
Shamed Ones, seem to be looking to us for
rescue, protection, even redemption of
some sort."

Sow took a moment to absorb Kre'fey's remarks.

"Should Nas Choka break the cease fire and
advance, are our fleets in a position to
prevail?"

"Probably," Kre'fey said, "though at
considerable cost." 

"Do you wish to press an attack?" Omas asked carefully.
 
Kre'fey shook his head. 

"Not at this point. Until this morning we had no means of
communicating with Nas Choka. But we've
finally been able to persuade the Supreme
Commander of the enemy home fleet to act
as our liaison with the warmaster,
commencing with villip transmissions."

"Would a full surrender be too much to hope for,
Admiral?"- Omas asked.

Kre'fey touched his face in a gesture of
uncertainty. 

"As I say, sir, the Yuuzhan
Vong have no protocols for surrender.
They're expecting us to behave as they
would under similar circumstances, by
executing most of them and enslaving the
rest."

Omas frowned. 

"All these years of fighting and they still 
don't understand us." He paused, then said, 
"Admiral, you face the daunting task of convincing your
commanders that there is nothing to be
gained by exterminating the Yuuzhan Vong."

Kre'fey compressed his lips. 

"Sir, after the barbarity the enemy has visited on us for
five years, many local commanders won't be
willing to put aside vengeance for compassion. 
But perhaps some will, and in time others may follow. 
By the same token, it may prove impossible 
to convince the Yuuzhan Vong on occupied worlds to
capitulate without a fight. Word of
Shimrra's death is being relayed by villip
to planets throughout the invasion corridor.
In several star systems the Yuuzhan Vong are already decamping. 
But we have our work cut out for us regardless."

"Zonama Sekot survived the battle?" Sow said.

Kre'fey snorted. 

"I would say 'triumphed.'Though I failed to realize it 
at the time, the entire battle for Coruscant turned on
that planet. If for whatever reason the
Yuuzhan Vong hadn't been so intent on
destroying it ... Well, let it suffice to
say that we might not be having this conversation."

"We've heard rumors," Omas said, "that there was
a second Supreme Overlord-a power behind
the throne, as it were."

Kre'fey nodded. 

"I've heard those same rumors.But they have yet to be 
corroborated by anyone."

"There's also talk about a vessel contaminated
with Alpha Red." "That happens to be fact,
sir. The vessel was one that escaped from
Caluula. The Yuuzhan Vong attempted but
failed to deploy the bioweapon against
Zonama Sekot. Allegedly it has  been
tractor beamed into deep space. We have
ships searching for it, if only to
establish whether the toxin remains
virulent." 

"Stay on that, Admiral," Omas said.

Kre'fey nodded again. 

"Sir, assuming a surrender is forthcoming, have you 
chosen someone to negotiate the terms?"

"Many are urging me to solicit the assistance of
the Jedi." Kre'fey's face twisted. "Is
that wise, sir, in light of Master Skywalker's statement 
at Contruum that he would consider giving Coruscant to the
Yuuzhan Vong if he thought that would end the war?"
 
Omas laughed shortly. 

"I never took Skywalker's remark at face value. But we do 
need to reach a decision regarding Coruscant's
importance in the scheme of things. Perhaps the 
fact that we reclaimed it will be sufficient 
to serve as a symbol of our unity."

"With all due respect, sir," Kre'fey said
evenly, "we can't allow the Yuuzhan Vong
to keep even a square kilometer of
Coruscant. Even if we can't reoccupy the
planet for a hundred years, Coruscant is
essential to the stability of the
Alliance. No species will rest comfortably
with the Yuuzhan Vong imprisoned at the
center of our galaxy. Coruscant must be
seen as a symbol that not only have we
prevailed, but also that the threat has
passed, and order has been restored."

"I concur, Admiral," Omas replied in the same
even tone, "but we're going to have to do
something with the Yuuzhan Vong, something
more than disarm them and send them back
into the intergalactic void."

"I suspect that they would sooner fight to the
death than return there," Kre'fey said.
"In any event, we haven't ships enough to
escort them from the galaxy."

"Some have suggested imprisoning them aboard
their own ships," Sow said.

Kre'fey grimaced. 

"The warriors, perhaps. But do we also imprison every 
female, every child, every Shamed One? Wouldn't we be
sentencing them to a lingering death
rather than an expedient one?"

Omas heaved a sign. 

"Those I trust to safeguard our financial health 
may not warm to the idea of spending trillions
of credits to imprison warriors who are beyond 
being rehabilitated." Kre'fey turned slightly 
to face Omas's image.

"Sir, will you consider establishing a
war crimes commission?"

"Such a commission is under consideration,
Admiral. But who would you have us bring to trial?"

"We could begin with Nas Choka."

Sow shook his head. 

"We're going to need him if we hope 
to subjugate the warrior caste.
Try Nas Choka, and you will have that fight to the death."

"I agree with Admiral Sow," Omas said. "Shimrra
is dead, as are Tsavong Lah, Nom Anor,
most of the Peace Brigade . . . More to
the point, how do we separate the 'war criminals'
from the  ozealots? 
Should we attempt to root out those
commanders, responsible for  attacking
refugee  ships,  or perhaps  those  who
were  directly responsible for the deaths
of hundreds of millions of hostages at Coruscant? 

They're all guilty, the entire
species. We may as well start with their
gods if we're going to initiate criminal
proceedings."

Kre'fey allowed the silence to linger for some
time, then said, 
"Sir we still have Alpha Red."

Omas nodded solemnly. "I respect your courage in
being the first to broach the subject, Admiral. 
But Alpha Red is no longer an
option use of the bioweapon isn't a
decision of one person, three, or even a
hundred can make. I promise, however, to discuss 
all other matters with the members of my Advisory Council."

Kre'fey swallowed hard. 

"May some wisdom accrue from it."
If jubilant celebrations were taking place on
many worlds, stars were the only lights in
Zonama Sekot's night sky, and by day only
the remote disk that was the Coruscant
system's primary.


   
    "It's getting colder," Luke said, as he and
Harrar followed Jacen through the boras.
"Most of the energy Sekot dedicated to
keeping the planet warm was diverted to
the mountaintop defenses. Zonama can't
remain in this orbit for much longer not
without risk to the forests."

"Perhaps that's what Sekot wishes to discuss,"
Harrar said. "Inserting Zonama into a more
nourishing orbit."

Jacen glanced over his shoulder at the priest.

"We'll know soon enough. The reflecting
pool isn't much farther."

Jacen had mentioned the pool several times,
though Luke had never been there and was
eager to see it. The suggestion to assemble at 
the pool had been Sekot's, relayed through 
Magister Jabitha, who had visited Luke in his 
and Mara's cliffside dwelling.

Luke felt as if he had done little more than
sleep since arriving on Zonama Sekot a
week earlier in the Millennium Falcon.

While Jacen had been successful at
neutralizing most of the venom delivered
by Shimrra's amphistaff, Luke knew that he
was not yet completely healed, and might
never be. His body was gaining strength
daily, and he was able to keep up with his nephew 
and Harrar on the undulating nath, but his
physiology had been altered by the venom,
and he was compelled to draw subtly on the
Force to sustain himself. Perhaps it would
just be a matter of time until his body
dealt with the vestiges of the venom, but
he suspected that the damage had been done
in the first instance of his being pierced
by the serpentlike weapon. As had been the
case with Mara, healing tears could only
do so much. He realized that the battle in
Shimrra's bunker had brought him very
close to the dark side, whose venom was
every bit as potent as that of the royal
amphistafF. But he had no regrets about
having skirted that razor's edge, and knew
in his heart that he would have walked
even closer to the edge to safeguard Jacen or Jaina.

What troubled him was that they, too, appeared
to have suffered as a result of their
confrontation with the Supreme Overlord
Onimi. 

Several of the Jedi and the
Ferroans had already remarked to Luke in
private that Jacen looked older, and just
that morning Luke had heard whispered
exchanges regarding Jaina's sudden and
uncharacteristic gravity. Neither Leia
nor Han had said anything to Luke, though
their concern was evident. But then, who
hadn't been affected in some fashion by
the events that had unfolded on Coruscant
and Zonama Sekot?

The planet itself had been damaged, chiefly in
the Middle Distance, where the Ferroans
were doing what they could to rebuild
their homes and nurse the boras back to
health, the frosty conditions not with standing. 
Most of the several doze Yuuzhan Vong warriors
who had been hauled to the surface were traumatized. 

After some effort, Harrar had talked them into
leaving the place where their coralskippers 
had been set down, but they remained confused 
as to whether they were prisoners or guests. 
The presence of the Jedi had confirmed their 
worst fear the one the heretics had embraced that the
gods had allied with the Jedi to
obliterate the Yuuzhan Vong. And yet a few
of the warriors had undergone what
amounted to conversion experiences,
espousing to their humbled comrades that
they could feel the gods in the sweet
taste of Zonama's water, in the soil under
their feet, on the wind, and inhabiting
the giant boras. To them, the living world
was a paradise regained, and they had
urged Luke to recount that to the Yuuzhan Vong elite,
should he decide to agree to mediating the
surrender, as the leaders of the Alliance
wished.

"We're here," Jacen announced suddenly.

He led Luke and Harrar onto an intersecting
trail that descended a short but steep
slope, ending at a tranquil pool fringed
with ice and surrounded by towering boras.
Luke had expected to meet only with a
thought projection of Sekot, perhaps Anakin
or Vergere, but instead Jabitha was there,
having somehow arrived first by some other
path from the canyon.

"Some of what I wish to say you must have
guessed by now " Sekot said through
Jabitha, as Luke, Jacen, and Harrar were
approaching the edge of the pool.
"Especially regarding the Yuuzhan Vong."

"You told Danni that you wanted to welcome them
home," Luke said. "Were you suggesting
that Zonama is actually their primordial
homeworld?"

"Much as I evolved from the consciousness that
presided there the consciousness of my
parent Zonama is a seed of Yuuzhan-tar,
the world that birthed the Yuuzhan-Vong
and became the template for their gods."

"I wanted to believe," Harrar said in
astonishment, "but I didn't dare ..."

"Where is Yuuzhan'tar now?" Jacen asked.

"I hope in time to be able to answer that
question. I suspect, though, that it was
destroyed by its symbionts by the species
that became the Yuuzhan Vong, in
retribution for what my parent did to
them: casting them out, severing its
connection to them, stripping them of the
Force. All as a consequence of their
hunger for violence and conquest, which
had been awakened by a single
confrontation with a warfaring race. I
further suspect that without my parent
they were unable to move beyond the
biotechnology they were given or stole. In
need of a guiding consciousness, they
created a pantheon or gods, to whom they
ascribed the powers that were once the
province of the living world of
Yuuzhan-tar."

"The  empty eighth  cortex," - Harrar mumbled.

"The shapers accepted that they shouldn't 
create new biots, when in fact they
couldn^^^^????????????????"

Jabitha-Sekot continued. 

"Evidently, before my parent died, it dispatched the seed 
of the world that would come
to be called Zonama Sekot, and the seed
drifted to this galaxy, took root, and
grew ^^^^??????????????????? For untold generations I lay
dormant in Zonama while the Yuuzhan Vong
plundered the home galaxy, and were forced
at last to embark on the search for a new
home, carried on the same currents that
brought Zonama Sekot here.

"Then those I originally knew as the Far
Outsiders appeared not by coincidence, but
drawn genetically to Zonama Sekot, much as
a creature finds its way home, as occurred
a second time in the Unknown Regions."

Jabitha looked at Harrar. 

"It's possible,that I called out to you."

"Welcoming us home," Harrar said, "only to be
attacked again." 

Jabitha nodded. 

"The unprovoked attack by the Far Outsiders 
stirred something in me.
Counter to the teachings of the leaders 
of the Potentium, I became aware of the existence of evil.
In a sense, evil helped give birth to my
awareness. Now I understand that the acts
of the Far Outsiders may have been nothing
more than a reawakening of the evil my
parent experienced when its symbionts used
its creations not merely to defend
Yuuzhan'tar, but to launch an era of
bloodshed that resulted in the death of
countless worlds along with many latent
planetary consciousnesses.

"But I did not pursue those stirrings, those
suspicions, until Zonama became lost in
the Unknown Regions, and, through Nen Yim
and Harrar, I comprehended that the
Yuuzhan Vong had been stripped of the
Force. My most grave misgivings were
confirmed when I learned of the bioweapon
that was being hurled at Zonama.

"I understood that a cycle of violence was being
perpetuated, and that I had to make a
critical decision. There was no right or
wrong way to decide. There was only my
choice, and its consequences. I could have
accepted the Alpha Red, ending my
participation in the cycle, or I could
have sent it back at the Yuuzhan Vong,
ending their participation. In the end I
elected to sue for peace."

 "On Coruscant," Jacen said, "when I reached out
for you with m Vongsense, I sensed your
conflict."

"What are the consequences of your choice?" Luke
asked. 

Jabitha's gaze fell on him. "I will tell you ..."


     
   Nas Choka sat stoically on the acceleration
couch of the Alliance shuttle that was
conveying him and five of his Supreme
Commanders toward the gaping docking bay
of Ralroost. He wore an unadorned tunic,
trousers, headcloth, and pectoral. Only
the command cloak that hung from his
shoulder horns distinguished him from his
subordi-nates; and, like them, his frame
was thinner after long days of fasting and
his cheeks, lips, and arms bore fresh
bloodletting cuts.

The world again known as Coruscant dominated the
view through the shuttle's starboard
transparency, and between the planet and
Ralroost floated hundreds of warships,
dispersed to protect Coruscant against a
surprise attack by the warriors who had
once taken and occupied it. Nas Choka
considered how easy it might have been to
launch a final onslaught and perish in the
blaze of glory the Alliance certainly
expected. But what glory could be derived
from a battle the gods had no interest in
supporting?

No, while the reason for the gods' abrupt
abandonment of the Yuuzhan Vong was
unknown, it was clear that they desired
something other than sacrificial blood.
Unless it was the blood of the Yuuzhan
Vong they craved. Did the fault lie with
Shimrra for having usurped the throne from
Quoreal, or perhaps for having failed to
heed the prophecies regarding the living
world of Zonama Sekot? 

And yet, if all Yuuzhan Vong were to be punished for
Shimrra's pride, why hadn't the gods
allowed them to be wiped out by the
Alliance or killed by the very bioweapon
Shimrra had sent against Zonama Sekot?

It was because these questions remained
unanswered that Nas Choka and his
commanders had submitted without protest
or anger to personal searches by teams of
distrustful Alliance warriors, and why
they sat impassively now. The only item
Nas Choka had been allowed to retain was
his tsaisi, his baton of rank, which he
would present to the Alliance's chief
commanders before requesting that he be
allowed to end his own life.

 Ralroost's tractor beam conducted the shuttle
through an invisible field and allowed it
to berth. Released from their harnesses,
the captives were escorted down the
ship's ramp and toward an area of the vast
hold where no less than five hundred
Alliance officers and officials stood at
attention behind a semicircular
arrangement of tables and chairs. The
sterility of the huge space chilled Nas
Choka to the bone. The scrubbed air had an
unpleasant tang; the intense yellow-white
light gave every object a sharp aspect;
the smooth deck was uncompromising; the
ceiling was a chaos of girders and ducts.
Hundreds of starfighters rested on their
hardstands, and droids shuffled about like
slaves.

A mixed species orchestra assaulted the captives
with martial music, and an artificial
breeze tugged at flags representative of
some of the galaxy's species, several of
which had been vanquished by Nas Choka
himself. Humans and others documented the
occasion with holocams and other recording
devices. Though much of the meaning was
lost on him, Nas Choka recognized the
display as pageant and ritual, pomp and
circumstance.

Sow and Kre'fey were determined to put on a
grand show.
The open end of the half circle of tables faced
a row of six chairs, a top which Nas Choka
and his commanders were obviously meant to
sit. Interpreters Alliance species and
Yuuzhan Vong heretics, by the look of them,
were standing by to make certain that
everyone understood one another.
When the fanfare ended, the officers and
officials seated themselves.
 
At the semicircle's apex sat white furred Kre'fey
and big eared Sow, along with several
human commanders Nas Choka recognized from
intelligence reports: Pellaeon, Brand, Bel
Iblis, Farlander, Antilles, Rieekan,
Celchu, Davip, and the Hapan queen, Tenel
Ka, who was a Jedi, as well. Alliance
intendants were scattered, but close to
the military commanders sat Cal Omas and
his principal advisers: the Wookiee named
Triebakk, the Gotal named Ta'laam Ranth,
the lank human director of Intelligence,
Dif Scaur, and the golden furred Caamasi
named Releqy, whose intendant father had
been ritually killed at Dubrillion by
Commander Shedao Shai.

The Jedi in cloaks, so homespun they might have
been made by Shamed Ones,had an arc of the half circle to
themselves. 
Conspicuous among the three
human males was Luke Skywalker, the killer
of Shimrra. The two seated next to him had
the look of warriors. The only other human
was a dark haired female, who struck Nas
Choka as more intendant than warrior. The
remaining pair of Jedi were non-humanoid
females: a Barabel who might have been at
home among the Chazrach, and a Mon
Calamari, whose long head brought to mind
that of a Yuuzhan Vong beast of burden.

Occupying the distal end of the arc's left curve
sat Jakan, Harrar Qelah Kwaad, and several
lesser priests, shapers, and intendants.
When the captives had been positioned in front
of their rigid chairs, Nas Choka waved for
his commanders to be seated and stepped
forward. The dread moment had arrived.
Proffering his baton of rank he dropped to
one knee.

"In surrendering this," he said in Basic, "we
surrender ourselves."

It was a historic utterance, and every Yuuzhan
Vong in the docking bay loyal and heretic
alike inhaled sharply and with purpose.

"I ask only that I be allowed to be the first to
die by my own coufee."

"Rise, Warmaster," Sow said. "We understand that
honor attends such actions, but that cannot be permitted here."

Still kneeling, Nas Choka regarded him in confusion. 

"Then appoint any warrior you see fit to kill me."

Sow shook his tiny head. 

"There will no executions, Warmaster."

Nas Choka gritted his teeth and came to his feet. 

"So you mean to enslave us, as we did the Chazrach.
In place of coral seeds, you will implant us with 
devices that will control...

"Warmaster," Jakan cut him off. "Hold your reply
until all has been laid before you."

"Great things are still expected of you," Harrar
added.

Nas Choka glared at the priest. "This from a defector."

Harrar made no effort to parry the accusation.

"What I did, Warmaster, I did for all of
us."

Nas Choka made a chopping motion with his right
hand. "I no longer wear that title,
priest. If we are neither to be executed
nor enslaved, what would the Alliance do
with us? This bold new order holds no place for the warrior caste." 

He turned to Skywalker. 

"The jeedai are warriors. What will you do without war?"

Skywalker rose from his chair. 

"From the start you've mistaken us for warriors, 
when we are nothing more than the guardians of
peace and justice. You could be that, as
well, Nas Choka. Though it would require
that you adapt your battle traditions to a
new form." He held up his lightsaber and
ignited the blade. "This was once a
weapon."

Nas Choka laughed ruefully. 

"Thousands of my warriors would willingly attest to the
fact that it is a weapon still."

Skywalker acknowledged the remark with a nod.

"In peaceful times it is only a symbol of
the fight we wag with ourselves to keep us
from taking the wrong path."

Nas Choka lifted his chin. 

"We have always acted in accord with the warrior decree."

"We accept that," Skywalker said. "But you're
going to have to learn to do without many
of the biots that defined you as warriors."

"Name them, Jeedai."

"Your amphistaffs and coufees, your blorash and
firejelly, your thud bugs, razor bugs, and
plasma eels, your vessels and war
coordinators . . ."

"In exchange for what digging implements and
plows?" "That remains to be decided by
your custodian." Nas Choka scanned the
officers and officials. "Who is that to
be?" 

"Zonama Sekot," Skywalker said.

Nas Choka stared at him in alarm. 

"You would surrender us to our true enemy! The living
world we tried to poison! The world where
our amphistaffs slither away, our thud
bugs take flight, our villips and dovin
basals turn to fruit. . . And yet you deny
that we will be executed! Send us instead
back to the intergalactic void, where we
can at least die with dignity!"

"Perhaps our biots have something to teach us,"
Harrar said. "If they can overcome their
conditioning, perhaps the warriors can."

"Words!" Nas Choka snapped. "Because the
priests, shapers, and intendants have
nothing to lose  by imprisonment on the
living world."

"We lose more than you know, Nas Choka," Harrar
said sadly.
 
"We honor a tradition that cannot be altered!"
Harrar stepped from behind the table to
approach. "You honor a much older
tradition, Warmaster. One that began on
the planet that was parent to Zonama
Sekot." 

"Parent?"

"Zonama Sekot is our world, Warmaster. It is
Yuuzhan-tar."

Nas Choka threw his head back and bellowed at the ceiling.
"Then we are truly defeated!" He looked at Harrar
again. 

"Was all this due to Shimrra, priest? 
Were our wanderings nothing more than a ruse to 
return us to the world from which we were cast?" 

"Only the gods can answer that."

Nas Choka narrowed his eyes. "Do the gods reside
there?" "In the sense that Zonama Sekot
incorporates all aspects of Yun-Yuuzhan,
Yun-Ne'Shel, Yun-Shuno . . ."

"You make no mention of Yun-Yammka."

"That one we concocted," Harrar said, "when we
turned to war." 

Nas Choka snorted in disdain. 

"I thought as much. You've been deceived, priest. 
The Shamed Ones proclaimed that the Jeedai incorporated
all aspects of the gods, and clearly they
are not gods." He allowed his words to
trail off, then said in a more controlled
voice, "On these matters, I speak only for
myself. We are the defeated. Do with us
what you will. But tell me, Jeedai, is our
imprisonment to endure in the shadow of
your Coruscant, as a constant reminder of
our failure?"

Skywalker shook his head. 

"Zonama Sekot has no desire to remain in known space, 
risking reverence, exploitation, or both. Zonama
Sekot will return to the Unknown Regions,
where it has knowledge of a star system
that, over time, could be colonized by the
Yuuzhan Vong-that is, once Zonama Sekot
and the Yuuzhan Vong have become
reacquainted."

"What of our childbearers and offspring?" "They
will also find a new home on Zonama
Sekot." "And the Shamed Ones? The
heretics?"

"They will need little persuading," Harrar
answered. "On Zonama Sekot our society
will be able to redefine itself, without
the need to abandon completely its core
beliefs."
 
Nas Choka's broad forehead wrinkled. His gaze
lingered on Sow and Kre'fey, on Cal Omas
and Luke Skywalker. "This seems a curious
leniency."

"We haven't yet stated all our terms," Kre'fey
said sharply.

Nas Choka folded his arms across his chest.

"Then do so."

"Villips have been relaying the news of Shimrra's 
death to occupied worlds throughout the i
nvasion corridor. Some of your commanders have left;
others remain entrenched. We don't want to have to
liberate each and every one of them at the
cost of additional lives."

Nas Choka nodded. 

"I will summon them to Coruscant. Those who refuse,
 we will help you hunt down and kill." He held Kre'fey's
baleful stare. "State the rest of your terms, Admiral."

"We demand that your shapers assist in the
reconstruction of Coruscant, by
persuading the World Brain to reverse some
of the changes it wrought."

Nas Choka almost smiled. 

"Will it not trouble you, Admiral, to know that 
a Yuuzhan-Vong dhuryam rests at the center of your galaxy?"

Kre'fey sniffed. 

"Consider it, Warmaster, the foundation for an 
enduring compromise."


  ^^^^^????????????????????????????
   
   In the weeks that followed the summit on
Ralmost, Luke spent endless hours walking
through the boras forests, sometimes with
Mara when she and Lowbacca weren't
effecting repairs to Jade Shadow, but more
often on his own, roaming and reflecting,
the hood of his cloak raised against the
cold, and his hands thrust deeply into the
opposite sleeves. His body seemed to have
struck a compromise with the traces of
venom that were still circulating through
his bloodstream, but his mind was still
struggling to find a similar balance.
Sometimes he would confront voids in the
Force where there shouldn't have been any,
and at other times the Force would seem to
expand infinitely around him, heightening
his perceptions beyond all expectation, or
surprising him with prolonged visions of
possible futures. For a brief time during
the summit on Ralroost he had been able to
perceive Nas Choka and Harrar with the
same clarity Jacen described when he spoke
of his Vongsense.

Cal Omas and the Alliance leadership had
expressed their gratitude to the Jedi for
finding a practical solution to the war.
But now that the terms of surrender had
been ratified and the Yuuzhan Vong had
been disarmed, the Alliance had ceased
asking Luke for advice or assistance. The
reconstruction of Coruscant had commenced
with a great deal of fanfare, in conjunction 
with a grand memorial service for Admiral Ackbar,
and the inauguration of a new HoloNet. 

Jacen had traveled to Coruscant
to confer with the Yuuzhan Vong shapers
who had been entrusted with mapping out an
accord with the World Brain. Initially the
dhuryam was averse to tampering with any
of its creations, but thanks to Jacen it
had agreed to allow the Alliance to
excavate the sacred precinct, with an eye
toward restoring those New Republic
structures that had survived. In the
course of the excavations, vast amounts of
serviceable technology had been
discovered, but it would be decades before
Coruscant would be suitable for anyone
other than structural engineers and
construction droids.

Until then, the Galactic Alliance government was
to be headquartered at Denon, a heavily
populated Inner Rim world that had risen
to prominence during the Old Republic era
and, more important, had escaped
bombardment or occupation by the Yuuzhan Vong.

Nas Choka had succeeded in recalling many but
not all of his commanders from occupied
worlds. Every few days, word would reach
Zonama Sekot of a costly skirmish in one
star system or another. On Coruscant, too,
many commanders had surrendered, though
rumors persisted and would probably
continue to persist of bands of Yuuzhan
Vong warriors hiding out in the dense
temperate forests of the northern
hemisphere.

Instead of returning to normal, the galaxy was
slowly changing. Having  been  crowned  a
hero even  by his  own  Bothans: Admiral
Traest Kre'fey had assumed the rank of
Supreme Commander of Alliance forces,
following the unexpected resignation of
Sien Sow. Dif Scaur, the impetus behind
Alpha Red, was also gone, gently forced
into early retirement by Cal Omas, and
replaced as director of Intelligence by
Belindi Kalenda. Omas had assured Luke
that all stores of the bioweapon had been
destroyed, along with the genetic blue
print itself, since there were many who
felt that the Alliance had been too
compassionate with the enemy. 

Several species that had endured the brunt of the
invasion were still demanding that the
entire warrior caste be executed an act of
reprisal even Omas might have sanc-tioned
were it not for Nas Choka's steadfast
willingness to oblige. Still, no one
wanted to risk a sudden recanting by the
warmaster. So, immediately following the
summit, all Yuuzhan Vong warriors had
been transferred to the bellies of several Star
Destroyers and troon transports, and the
vessels that had comprised the mighty
alien armada had been launched into
Coruscant's sun, carrying with them all
weapons of war.

On Zonama Sekot, repair work to the cliff
dwellings and other damaged structures
continued day and night. The Ferroans were
nonplussed by Sekot's willingness to
bestow half of Zonama on the species that
had tried to destroy it. But except for a
few of the younger Ferroans who had
decided to depart, most of the indigenous
population had simply resigned themselves
to Sekot's decision.

Luke had been awaiting an opportunity to gather
all the Jedi in one place, and was finally
able to do that when Errant Venture
returned to Zonama Sekot, bearing the
children and other Jedi from the Maw. He
gave everyone a day to mingle and catch
up, then requested that everyone assemble
at the forest clearing where the first
coralskippers had been brought to ground.

In groups of three and four the Jedi arrived,
until all were present, including: Luke,
Mara, Markre Medjev, Keyan Farlander, Tarn
Azur-Jamin, Octa Ramis, Tresina Lobi,
Kenth Hamner, Cilghal, Kyp Durron, Klin Fa
Gi, Tenel Ka, Madurrin, Streen, Jacen,
Jaina, Kam and Tionne Solusar, Zekk,
Lowbacca, Saba and Tesar Sebatyne, Izal
Waz, Corran Horn, Kirana Ti, Tekli, Alema
Bar, Kyle Katarn, Waxarn Kel, Tresk
Im'nel, Wonetun, Hivrech'wao'Cheklev,
Tyria Sarkin and Doran Sarkin-Tainer,
Tahiti Veila, Sannah, and the children,
including Ben, Valin, Jysella, and some
twenty others.

When everyone was settled, Luke stepped to the
center of the large circle his friends and
comrades had formed. Several of the children sat 
crosslegged on the loamy soil;
others atop the grounded coralskippers.
Ben sat contentedly on Mara's lap.

"The Yuuzhan Vong will begin arriving in the
coming weeks,' Luke began, pacing while he
spoke. "The first collaborative act
between them and Sekot will be to restore
the southern hemisphere forests, which
were incinerated by the original
reconnaissance team fifty years ago. By
working with the boras, the Yuuzhan Vong
will gradually get to know Zonama, and at
the same time Sekot will gradually get to
know the Yuuzhan Vong. Their acceptance by
Sekot will constitute a second chance for a 
species that nearly doomed itself to extinction."

He stopped momentarily. "Now that we finally
know what the Force wanted for the Yuuzhan
Vong, it's time to ask what the Force wants for us."

He gestured to his nephew. "Jacen has already
accomplished more than any of us could to
speed the rebuilding of Coruscant, and I
don't see it as our duty to devote
ourselves entirely to shoring up the
Galactic Alliance as it takes its first
wobbly steps toward becoming a true
coalition. Our mandate to safeguard peace
and justice remains, but we have to be
wary of any who attempt to define peace
and justice bv their own terms. Should
that happen, our mandate may require us to
transcend the jurisdiction of any central
government.

"I suppose we could consider initiating our own
reconstruction efforts at Yavin Four, but
I don't see much purpose in that task,
either, since the days of the Jedi praxeum
are behind us. Yavin Four had its place,
but there are countless worlds where the
Force is strong, and any one of them can
serve as a kind of academy." 

Luke gestured to Kam Solusar. 

"Kam has suggested that we give thought to relocating 
to Ossus, and I'm inclined to agree with him. 
But the real terri-tory we're compelled to explore
is the Unifying Force as a step toward
implementing a 'new' Jedi order."

Luke fell silent for a long moment, as he paced
across the circle and back again. 

"On Ithor I surrendered guardianship of the
Jedi. That doesn't mean that I can't still
serve as a mentor and guide to some of
you. Yoda instructed me to pass on what I
have learned, and I mean to do just that.
But others here are as equipped as I am to
teach, and I encourage them to do so,
should they choose to pursue that
path.

"But here's what I wish say to all of you: if I
have learned anything from the events of
the past five years, it is that the Force
is more all embracing than I ever
realized. Light and dark do not always
stand opposed, but mingle with each other
in curious ways. More important, the
Force seems to have a will, and it's when
we're acting against the will of the Force
that we can get into trouble. Anger by
itself is not of the dark side unless it
is accompanied by a desire to dominate.
When we act in harmony with the will of the
Force, we disappear into it. When we
struggle against it, we not only sever our
ties with the Force, but also feed the
needs of chaos.

"The evolution of sentience reflects the
constant movement between those two poles.
Evil the dark side won't be eradicated
until it has been discarded as an option
for acquiring power, subjugating would be
opponents, or offsetting feelings of
anger, end or exclusion. Where victims of
injustice exist, the dark side finds
initiates That is the cycle our actions
are meant to forestall, and in this battle
the Force is both our ally and our
guardian. We serve it best by listening
to its will, and serving the good with our
every action by personifying the Force.

"But I'm no longer convinced that we're meant to
police the galaxy. For one thing, we're
too few in number. That was made evident
early in the war, and it's likely to hold
true for whatever conflicts erupt in the
coming years. The Jedi began as a
meditative order. Our forebears believed
that they could balance light and dark by
remaining always in the Force, and thereby
perfecting themselves. Gradually, however,
as the Supreme Chancellors appealed to the
order time and again for advice in
resolving disputes, the Jedi became
adjuncts of the Old Republic, then
marshals and warriors, taking it upon
themselves to uphold the peace, and little
by little being drawn away from the Force
and into the mundane.

"I don't propose that we place ourselves in
seclusion and pass our days meditating on
the Force though that might be the path
for some of us. But I do advocate attuning
ourselves to the longer view, and reaching
out to others who seek to serve the Force.
The genetic makeup of each and every one
of us augments our ability to tap the
Force, but everyone, regardless of his or
her genetics, has the potential to use the
Force to one degree or another. Perhaps
not to move rocks and take giant strides;
but in some sense those physical powers
are little more than surface effects. The
real powers are more subtle, for they
involve adhering to the true path,
avoiding the temptation to dominate,
sacrificing oneself for those who have
less, and living impeccably, by
recognizing that the Force doesn't flow
from us but through us, ever on the move."
 
Luke scanned the sea effaces. 

"Like our damaged galaxy, the new Jedi order will require
generations to define itself. Some of us
have already committed to the roles we
will play in that process. Kyp, Cilghal,
Saba, Kenth, Tresina, and I will continue
to serve on Cal Omas's
Advisory Council, and be the voice of the
Force." 

He glanced at the tall anxious Jedi.

"I know that Madurrin has decided to
remain in service to Supreme Commander
Kre'fey and Keyan Farlander, and that
Tenel Ka will return to the Hapes
Consortium. Kirani Ti, Damaya, and Streen
have much work to do on Dathomir, and Kam,
Tionne, and several others are eager to go
to Ossus."

Again, his gaze swept around the circle. 

"As forthe rest of you, I ask only that you give
deep thought as to how you might best
serve the Force."


   
    With the lifting of Sekot's stricture 
regarding warships on Zonama's surface, the 
western rim of the Middle Distance canyon had
become a landing and launch zone. The
Millennium Falcon was parked there, as was
Jade Shadow, along with a few Sekotan
fighters and the several shuttles that had
carried the Jedi adults and children from
Errant Venture.

Dressed in a black synfleece jacket, stylish
trousers, a rakish cap, and fingerless
gloves, Lando meandered with design among
the ships, spotting Han at last, seated at
a table with Talon, Booster, and Crev
Bombassa, in an open fronted shed built of
Sekotan lamina. The three men were as
bundled up as Lando was, and their amiable
laughter rode out on short lived breath
clouds.

"Where is everybody?" Lando asked when he joined
them. "This place is as quiet as a
convention of Defels."

"Big meeting in the boras," Han said
offhandedly. 

Lando grinned and prized abottle of expensive 
Corellian brandy from his coat pocket. 

"Perfect time for us to warm our bones. Besides, there's just
enough to go around."

Han rubbed his bare hands together in anticipation. 

"Wasn't I just saying that
cantinas are in very short supply around here?"

Crev glanced around in wariness. "Maybe you
should keep your voice low. You know, in
case . . . someone's listening?"

Booster tugged at his beard. "It is a little
spooky, isn't it?"

Talon gazed at the canyon and the distant tree
line. "Now that you mention it."

Lando put his hands on his hips and laughed. "I
doubt that Sekot would begrudge us a toast or two." 
From the jacket's other pouch
pocket, he extracted five tumblers. Lining
them up on the table he began to fill them
with the aromatic amber liquid. 

"So what do you think Luke and the rest are talking
about?"

"Same thing that's on everyone's mind," Crev
said with theatrical seriousness. "Han
Solo."

Han laughed with them, then raised his glass.
"I'll drink to that."

The glass was almost to his mouth when a male
voice said, "Got enough for two party
crashers?"

The five of them turned to see Wedge and Tycho
hurrying toward them, sporting flight
jackets and brimmed caps.

"With their customary sense of flawless timing,"
Han muttered.

Reluctantly, Lando pulled two more tumblers from
his pocket, filled them, and passed them
down the table. 

"Anyone else is going to have to provide his own glass."

"And brandy," Crev said.

Talon shook his head and sighed. "I've yet to
meet a military man who's actually willing
to pay for a drink."

Tycho snorted. "I've never met one who has to
pay."

Wedge lifted his glass. "I'll drink to that."
They all took long sips, smacked their lips, and
set the tumblers down.

"Anyway," Tycho continued, "that's ex-military,
as of tomorrow."

Han raised an eyebrow. "Skulking back into
retirement, huh?"

Tycho shrugged. "It's either that, or Winter
leaves me."

"She must have been talking with lella," Wedge
said. "It's a conspiracy."

Han raised his glass again. "To last flings."

They sipped, then fell silent for a moment.
Wedge fingered the tumbler through a circle. 

"I don't know about the rest of
you, but I'm ready for the simple life
again. The Alliance will just have to make
do with guys like Darklighter, Page, and
Cracken."

"Pity for the Alliance," Tycho said.
 
Han regarded the two of them and laughed. "The
familiar strains of midlife."

Tycho jerked his thumb at Han, without looking
at him. "This from a guy who refuses to go
quietly into the void."

"Not true," Han said. "It's the Falcon that
keeps leading me into trouble."

Booster nodded soberly. "I'm beginning to think
the same of Errant Venture.'"

"Next time maybe you should choose a different
shade of red,"- Talon said.
They laughed and downed what remained in the
glasses.
 
Lando was quick to refill them, emptying the bottle.

"So what's next for you guys?" Tycho asked the
four members of the Smugglers' Alliance.

"We're waiting for the dust to settle," Talon
said. "And I don't mean the yorik coral
dust. Everything from here to Helska and
back has been given a good shaking. A lot
of groups that were at the top are
suddenly at the bottom, and the other way
around." 

"Who, for instance?" Tycho said.

Talon considered it briefly. "Well, at the top
you've got the Bothans, chiefly because of
Fey'lya's BRAVE last stand and Kre'fey's
heroic victory. But vying for second place
are the Sullustans, Hapans, the former
Imperials, the Mon Calamari."

"Who do you figure has fallen?" Wedge asked.

"Everyone Rimward of Wayland. Plus the
Ithorians, Bimms, Kuati, Corellians. But
more than anyone, the Hutts."

Lando nodded. "A lot of folk were forced to do
without spice during the war, and have
lost their appetite for it. In fact, just
about anyone who had regular dealings with
the Hutts has lost credibility  the
Rodians except for the Jungle Clans
Whiphids, Klatoonians, Weequays, Vodrans,
lotrans, Nikto . . . Didn't help that a
lot of them supported the Peace Brigade."

"They're the ones who should be brought to trial
for war crimes,"- Booster said.

"They will be," Wedge said. "Cal Omas has left
the decision to individual worlds and systems."
 
"Who else is on the way up?" Tycho asked.

"Corporate Sector and Tion Hegemony," Talon
said, without having to think about it.

"Just about every system Rimward of Eriadu
on the Rimma, and Varonat on the Trade
Spine."

Lando looked at Han. "I'll tell you who's gained
the most your friends, the Ryn."

Han sniffed. "Figures Droma would come out of
this smelling like a flower." He paused,
then added: "Of course, knowing Droma,
he's somewhere saying the same about me."

"Yeah," Tycho said. "We didn't think you could
become a bigger hero than you already
were, old man."

Wedge smiled. "Someday they'll raise a statue
Han held up his hands. "I've already heard that
one from Leia. Besides, every world, every
system's contributed a hero to this war."

He put his elbows on the table and leaned
forward. 

"I haven't told this to anyone,
but I swear on the Falcon that I saw Fett
at Caluula, and he did as much as anyone
to try to save that station from the Vong."

Lando was staring at him in disbelief. "As in
Boba?"

"Of course, Boba running with a bunch of other
guys in Mandalorian armor and jet packs.
He even managed to come up with a new Firespray."

Talon touched his mustache. "Well, I wasn't
going to say anything, but I heard that
that same bunch showed up to help liberate
Ord Mantell."

"And Tholatin," Crev said.

"And Gyndine," Booster added.

Lando shook his head, as if to clear it. 

"Hey,if Pellaeon can be considered an ally, why
not a former bounty hunter?"

Han glanced from Lando to Talon.  "You're the
people that deserve statues. But I suppose
that'll have to wait until Wolam Tser or
someone does a holodocumentary about the
notorious Smugglers Alliance."

"That would be Ex-Smugglers' Alliance," Talon
said.

Han rolled his eyes.

"It's true, Han. We've mended our ways."

"Seen the light," Booster said.

"Come around," Crev added.

"Reformed," Lando said.

Tycho looked around the table. "Anyone want to
add another cliche?"

"How about 'gotten too old for this'?" Han said.

Wedge nodded. "That'll do."

Han glanced at Lando and Talon again. "What,
Tendra and Shada are making honest men of you?"

Talon shook his head firmly. "Shada and I are
business partners.That's it."

Lando grinned at Han. "Hey, it was your wife who
wrote the book on the subject."

Everyone laughed, then raised their tumblers.

"To the war's true unsung heroes," Han
said, "the spouses." When he had set down
his glass, he turned back to Lando.

"Seriously, Lando. What's the game plan?"

"Let me put it this way. With the need for so
much rebuilding of worlds, governments,
trading route and new markets opening in
the Imperial Remnant, Chiss space, even
parts of the Unknown Regions, there'll be
no shortage of opportunities for people
motivated more by philanthropy than
profit."

"To our noble selves," Tycho said, toasting with
the final sip.

"Few of us left."

Finishing the drinks, the seven of them slammed
the tumblers on the table.

"More by philanthropy than profit," Han
repeated. Taking a deep breath, he leaned
his crude chair away from the table and
gazed about him. 

"I swear, this crazy place is having an effect on everyone."


   
   "I already know that Tahiri and Tekli want to
return to the Unknown Regions with Zonama
Sekot", - Jaina told Jacen as they were
returning from the meeting. Most of the
Jedi were proceeding directly to the
canyon, but the twins were taking the long
way back to their temporary shelter on the
cliffside. 

"Tekli believes she can learn a
lot from the Yuuzhan Vong shapers, assuming
they're willing to teach  her. 
And Tahiri, well, I think she just wants
to explore more of the Yuuzhan Vong side
of her nature of Riina."

"I know someone else who plans to remain here,"
Jacen said. 

"Danni," Jaina said.

Jacen nodded. "Before the war, all that
interested her was the search for an
extragalactic species. But the one she
practically discovered single handedly
she knows only as an enemy. She told me
she has as much to unlearn, as learn."

"Is that going to be hard for you saying good-bye to her?" 

"I'm happy for her." He glanced at his sister. 
Anyway, I'll always know where to find her."

"I didn't think of that." Jaina became
thoughtful for a moment then said,
"Corran, Mirax, and the kids are going to
Corellia for a while."

"You think Mom and Dad will go there?"

Jaina shook her head in uncertainty. "I've no
idea what those two have up their sleeves.
But what about you, Jacen?"

"I know what I don't want to do: I don't want to
be part of an order or a select group. I
don't want to be looked to as the guiding
light of the new fealty, and I don't want
to be surrounded by students who'll ask
more of me that I can explain. Most of
all, I don't want to be an object of
fascination or admiration, because that'll
only distract me from what I really need
to learn. I don't have dreams of being a
lightsaber master or an ace starfighter
pilot, and I'm not on a campaign to
change anyone or anything, except myself,
maybe, just to clear away some of the
confusion that's built up."

"You sound like Sekot," Jaina said. She gestured
broadly to the giant trees. "You wouldn't
want to stay here? Among all this?"

"I can't, because every part of me is desperate
to stay, and I'm worried that I'd never
leave."

"So you're going to wander the galaxy or
something?" 

"If that's where the Force
leads me. But right now I think I'd like
to spend time among some of the other
Force users the Jensaari, the Theran
Listeners, the Sunesi . . . maybe even try
to find out where the Fallanassi
disappeared to."

Jacen laughed, clearly at himself.
 
"Anakin's probably ridiculing me for even
thinking of going on a quest for answers.
He'd probably say that I'd do better just
to plant myself under one of these boras
and wait for the answers to find me,
instead of roving around trying to find
them." His voice took on a note of
sadness. 

"I wish I could see him, Jaina.
But I can perceive him. I carry him around
with me, the way some people do a
hololocket. I regret so many of the
arguments we had, and so many of the wrong
headed decisions I made. But they were the
best I could manage at the time. It'd be
easy to say I wished we'd never gone to
Myrkr. But if we hadn't gone, then none of
us might have survived the voxyn. There
would have been no one to find Zonama
Sekot, no chance for the Alliance or the
Yuuzhan Vong. It would have been a battle
to the death, with no winners."

Jaina kept silent until she was certain he was
through. 

"Anakin was such a special person
that even now it doesn't seem fair that he
should have been the one to die. I know
that fairness has nothing to do with it,
but I'll never get over his death just the
way he might never have been able to get
over Chewie's death. I never had any real
doubts that I'd survive the war, but my
worst fear was that I'd survive without
you, Mom, and Dad. 

I didn't want to live after Myrkyr, Jacen. 
If you had died there, I don't think I could have gone on. 

I wouldn't have just become 'the Sword of
the Jedi,' but the sword the Jedi would
have been sorry they'd forged. I would
have made the Kyp who destroyed Carida
look like a simple scoundrel."

Jacen whistled in relief. "What about Kyp? Now
that we have survived."

"I don't know, I really don't. He's been
something of a mentor, in the same way
Mara has." She brought her right
forefinger and thumb close together. 

"I thought for about this long that I could
actually feel something for him, but
falling in love with your mentor isn't a
sane thing to do, because you're not
really seeing the person. You're seeing
the statue on the pedestal. You're
worshiping the idea."

"The way Jag does with you?"

"Jag doesn't worship me."

"Now that he's gotten to know you, you mean."

Jaina smacked her brother on the arm. 

"Even though you're right. The thing is, I don't want
to be at the center of anything either. I know that
Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara would like to see
me mentor some of the young students, maybe
even Ben, but Kam and Tionne have bonded
with the kids much better than I ever
could...anyway, I don't want to be too far
from the action." 

She looked at Jacen. 

"I have too much of Mom and Dad in me to give
up fighting for peace and justice."

"Especially now that you've gotten so good at
it." Jaina snorted ruefully. "That's the
real problem, right? When it starts to
come easy?"

"You just have to avoid the killing part of it."

"Unfortunately, that's part of the
starfighter pilot job description." "So
find some other way to satisfy your need
for speed and action. I hear Podracing's
making a comeback."

Jaina laughed heartily. "It's in our blood,
anyway." "More than the military is. I
mean, Dad just about got drummed out, Mom
was a Rebel, and our paternal grandparents
were . . . What?"

Jaina shook her head. "I don't know. But some
people say that important traits tend to
skip a generation."



   Streaking a cloudless azure sky, a dozen 
ships of motley design and capability soared
high above Zonama Sekot and gradually
disappeared from sight.

"Everyone's leaving, Artoo," C-3PO said in a
wistful tone. "They're returning to their
homeworlds or going in search of missing
friends. Masters Lowbacca, Sebatyne,
Katarn, Zekk, and Azur-Jamin; Mistresses
Rar, Ramis, and Kirana Ti; the children
... I already miss them."

Four days had passed since the Jedi gathering,
and the two droids were standing on the
simple terrace that fronted Luke and
Mara's cliff dwelling in the Middle
Distance. The Skywalkers were completing
repair work on Jade Shadow, and Han, Leia,
and the Noghri had gone to Coruscant on
unstated business.

R2-D2 chittered a short reply.

"Of course I realize that we'll be seeing
everyone again, Artoo. But under very
different circumstances."
 
The astromech fluted in a long-suffering way,
and C-3PO tilted his head to one side.

"You can be the most infuriating little droid! I
am fully aware of my need to adapt to
change. But that needn't interfere with my
ability to express sadness over the
closing of an era."

R2-D2 issued a flurry of buzzes, zithers, and
hoots.

"I know it was a war, you . . . you mechanic*.
And I also realize that it was a war that 
threatened our existence far more than any o
ther war has.
But that's precisely the point, because
for a moment we became as valuable as they were.
As often as they fought with us, they fought for us."

R2-D2 made a more decorous reply.

"You're correct, Artoo. They do need us. But
they need us in a good way." C-3PO
listened for a moment, then said, "A far
more dangerous enemy? Who or what could
possibly be more dangerous than the
Yuuzhan Vong?" 

R2-D2 warbled.

"Obsolescence?" After mulling it over, the
protocol droid loosed what amounted to a
sigh. "Perhaps I am deluding myself. With
all the advances that have been made in
droid technology, I suppose we are in
danger of being considered obsolete. But
what are we to do, Artoo? Retirement isn't
an option for us. We will continue as
relics, of a sort, passed along to new
masters until our parts can no longer be
replaced, or until we suffer some
irreparable system failure. Oh, it's all
very . . . bittersweet, I think is the
proper word."

R2-D2's response was a surprisingly cheery burst
of squeaks and peeps.

"Do you really believe that life will remain as
unpredictable as ever and that our
adventures will continue? I hope so, my
little friend, even if they don't quite
measure up to adventures we've had, and
even if they are lacking a dash of the old
enchantment."

R2-D2 made a razzing sound.

"What do you mean, I used to say that all the
time? Just what are you going on about?" C-
3PO paused, then said. "I don't mind at
all that it's a long story. After all,
Artoo, we have nothing but time . . ."




    Jagged Fel had been assigned to the 
starfighter team that escorted the Yuuzhan Vong
transports from Coruscant to Zonama Sekot.
Inside two Star Destroyers were the
weaponless yorik-trema that would shuttle
the tens of thousands to their new home in
the planet's southern hemisphere. The
trackless forests were severely scarred as
a result of the blight the Yuuzhan Vong
warriors had delivered to the surface
fifty years earlier, but the first groups
to arrive were already settled in the
warmest valleys, and their minshals,
damuteks, grashals, and creches appeared
to have taken well to their new circumstances 
from what could be see at an
altitude of twenty kilometers, at any
rate. Though Alliance personnel were
prohibited from landing, Jag had received
special permission from General Farlander
to pay a brief visit to the Middle
distance, ostensibly to speak with the
Solos, but in fact to one Solo in
particular.

He hadn't spoken to Jaina since parting company
with the Millennium FaIcon following the
pursuit of the Supreme Overlord's escape
vessel. Circumstances had made for a
rushed and confused conversation. Jag had
returned to Coruscant to regroup with Twin
Suns Squadron, and the Falcon with the
Solos and Skywalkers safely aboard had
jumped for Zonama Sekot. In the long weeks
that followed, he had been unsuccessful
at contacting Zonama Sekot through
either the Millennium Falcon or Jade Shadow.

When at last he had gotten through to
Errant Venture, he'd learned that Jaina
was still on the living world.

Talon Karrde had promised to carry Jag's message
to her. 

She was waiting for Jag on the
canyonrim landing field when he set his
clawcraft down among a throng of peculiar
vessels and climbed out into the cold air.
Fat flakes of snow were falling, but those
only made him feel more at home, for he
was no stranger to frigid climates. Jaina
was wearing some sort of natural fiber
poncho and a cap of similar weave, with
flaps that covered her ears. After an
awkward moment of staring at each other,
she grinned and hurried into his arms,
hugging him tightly, then kissing him on
both cheeks and once on the lips. If she
hadn't let go, he might have gone on
holding her right through Zonama Sekot's
return jump to the Unknown Regions. 

"TwinSuns Leader," she said, stepping back to
appraise him. 

He straightened his shoulders. "Jealous?"


"Maybe a little."

Jag gazed at the strange, triplelobed ships
that surrounded the solitary X-wing. 

"Are these the Sekotan fighters?" Jaina
followed his gaze. 

"Yep." "I don't suppose..

"Don't even ask," she cut him off. "They're not
for sale." 

She grabbed his hand and ledhim to a shelter
that stood at the borderof the field. 
On the way they waved to Luke and Mara, 
who were loading supplies into Jade Shadow's 
cargo hold, young Ben toddling beside them.

Jaina was still holding his hand when she said,

"Thank you for everything you did at Coruscant flying support
for the Falcon and all.
Mara told me she had to stop you from searching
the Citadel for me."

"I might have disobeyed if the escape vessel
hadn't launched. People are saying that you and Jacen 
killed the Supreme Overlord."

"I don't remember a lot of what happened. But
Jacen and Luke were the ones who fought
Shimrra and Onimi."

Snow frosted her cap and the tops of her
shoulders. Her cheeks and nose were red
with cold, and she looked radiant.

"Jaina, time is scarce, so I'll come straight to
the point. I'm returning to Csilla, and I want you to come
with me. I know that my parents and my
sister, Wynssa, would love to meet you."

Even though a light smile formed on her lips,
the answer was in her eyes, and Jag felt
as if he had been deflated.

"I'd love to see Csilla, really. But this isn't
the right time." 

"For Csilla, or for us?"

Her face wrinkled, and she took her lower lip
between her teeth "Don't make this too
hard on me, okay?'

"It's your parents, isn't it? They hate the
thought of you consorting with the son of
a former Imperial. It goes against the
Skywalker&Solo grain."

She frowned. "You're way off. After what you did
for my father at Hapes, and all you've
done since, they practically consider you
family. And even if that was true, do you
think that would stop me from going with
you?" 

"It's Kyp, then." 

"Wrong again."

Jag beetled his brows. "I don't understand.
What's made you change your mind about us?"

She shook her head. "I think it's good that
you're going to Csilla. I need some time
to work through everything that's
happened, Jag." 

"I love you, Jaina," he blurted.

Jaina made her lips a thin line, then sighed and
said, "I love you, too. Someday I want a
partner, and I want what my mom and dad
have, and what Luke and Mara have. I
intend to raise a family. I just want to
be sure that I can offer my children more
than what Mom and Mara have been able to
offer theirs." 

She reached for both his hands. 

"I'm glad that we found each other, Jag. 
You made the worst time of my life a lot easier to bear.
But now I'm still on the move, I'm still a Jedi and 
a fighter pilot. Do you understand even a little?"

Jag blew out his breath. "As much as I don't
wish to, I do understand."

"I'd love to be some kind of diplomatic envoy."

Her eyes sparkled. "I'll tell you a
secret: One day I want to have a seat on
the Advisory Council, alongside Luke, Kyp,
Cilghal, and the others. Maybe then we can
think about something more permanent."
 
Jag smiled broadly. "Then our paths may just
cross again sooner than you imagine."

She looked at him askance. "I don't think I'll
be getting to Chiss space anytime soon, Jag."

"You won't have to. I've been appointed by the
CEDF as liaison to the Alliance."

"You..a diplomat?"

"I can be very diplomatic when I need to be."

"Oh, I know that, all right. But.."

"Just think about it: the two of us
rendezvousing on fabulous worlds, from one
side of the galaxy to the other."

Jaina's eyes narrowed in delight. "You know,
that doesn't sound half bad."

Gently, he pulled her back into his arms and
lowered his voice. "I'll work hard at
making our encounters nothing short of
wonderful."

Jaina laughed. "Maybe there is a touch of
scoundrel in you, after all."

They kissed passionately, while the snow continued to fall.



   "Five years ago, at the signing of the 
accord between the Imperial Sector and the New
Republic, we met aboard your ship, Captain
Solo and Princess Leia," Gilad Pellaeon
said. "Now I have the honor of your being
aboard my vessel at the start of a new
era."

"We're the ones who are honored, Admiral," Leia said. 

White haired and mustachioed
Pellaeon was attired in a pure white
uniform, and Leia and Han were wearing the
best of the few outfits they had left to
their names. The three of them were in the
Grand Admiral's spacious and elegantly
appointed quarters, on the starboard side
of Right to Rule's command tower. Beneath
the view port an exquisitely carved table
was spread with bowls of food and flasks
of fine liquor. 

In stationary orbit above Coruscant, 
the flagship of the Imperial
fleet was central to a group of other Star
Destroyers, which themselves comprised
only a part of the Alliance flotilla that
remained in deep space anchor. The Falcon
with Cakhmaim and Meewalh inside sat
conspicuously in the docking bay of the
huge vessel, amid TIE defenders and bombers.
  
"When do you plan to return to Bastion space?"
Han asked, sipping from his drink.

"Within a standard day, Captain. Which is why I
was pleased to learn that you were
available to visit with me on such short notice." 

"Eager to get back to your garden?" Leia asked. 

"If time permits. I will have much to do, 
convincing some of the Moffs of the wisdom of participating
openly in the Alliance. I never took the
time to marry and raise a family. But I
have my garden, and I tend to that as I
might have my children. I may even allow a
bit of randomness, a bit of 'nature' to
enter, and stay my hand from culling the
weak and unfit from the rows."

Han laughed shortly. 

"A little disorder never hurt." 

"It certainly never seemed to hurt
you, Captain Solo." "That's only 'cause
turmoil and me reached an accord a long
time ago."

"Well, perhaps I'll attempt to do the same."

Pellaeon moved to the viewport that looked
out on Coruscant. 

"In any event, I never realized how much 
I missed the Core and Coruscant in particular. 
Returning here after so long a time, even under such
circumstances, has made me reflect on my
career, and on all the events that have
ensued since the Battle of Endor." 

He turned from the view to look at Han and Leia. 

"I feel that you have been
instrumental in giving me back something I
had lost, and I want to do the same for you." 

Leia smiled graciously. 

"That's really not necessary, Admiral." 

Pellaeon waved his hand in dismissal. 

"It's just a little something." 

Lifting a remote control from the table, 
he aimed the device at a screen, which folded against
the cabin's inner bulkhead to reveal the
object he had been saving as a surprise.
It was a moss, painting by the late
Alderaanian artist Ob Khaddor, depicting a
tempestuous sky sweeping over a city of
pinnacles and, in the foreground a line of
insectoid figures, representing the
vanished species that had inhabited
Alderaan prior to human colonization. 

Leia stared, speechless.

"And we thought you just wanted to give us
another hyperspace comm antenna," Han said
in astonishment.

Killik Twilight had once hung outside Leia's
bedroom in House Organa on Alderaan. 
At the time of the planet's destruction by the Death Star, 
the moss painting had been presumed destroyed, but
in fact it had been returning to Alderaan
as part of a traveling museum exhibit.
Hidden within the painting's moisture
control apparatus was the key to a vital
Rebel Alliance spy code, which had
continued to be used in the post Galactic
Civil War years to communicate with agents
deep inside Imperial held territory. Four
years after the Battle of Endor, when the
painting had suddenly surfaced and been
put up for auction on Tatooine, Han and
Leia recently married, had attempted to
retrieve it. After changing hands  several
times, however,  Ob Khaddor's apocryphal
work had ended up aboard the Chimaera, in
the possession of none other than Grand
Admiral Thrawn, whose collection of
priceless artworks was already extensive.

Aside from being an emotional link to Leia's
childhood with her adoptive parents, the
painting had added significance for both
her and Han. Khaddor's execution of the
Killiks left their reaction to the
approaching darkness open to
interpretation. Where Leia had seen the
Killiks as running from the darkness, Han
saw the insectoid race as turning toward
the storm. He had interpreted the painting
as an admonition that darkness could be
defeated by meeting it squarely and shat
tering it with light, and when Leia had
ultimately accepted Han's view, it had
allowed her to reconcile her ongoing
confliction over the fact that Anakin
Skywalker, her actual father, and Darth
Vader had been one and the same person. In
turn, the reconciliation had allowed her
to emerge from the shadow of the Sith
Lord, and decide to have children.

"Gilad," Leia said at last, "I can't tell
you how much this means to me."

Pellaeon smiled. 

"It is one of the few pieces of
Thrawn's collection that survived, and I
thought that you of all people should have it."

Han put one arm around Leia's shoulders, and
extended the other to Pellaeon. 

"I know just where to hang it," he told Leia as he
was pumping the admiral's hand.

Leia raised her eyes to his. "Hang it? Han, we
don't even have a home. Unless you mean...

He nodded. 

"Our cozy cabin space on the Falcon. Right over the bunk."
 



   Jade Shadow was the last ship to launch from
Zonama Sekot, with Mara, Luke, Ben, and R2-D2 aboard. 
Mara took the craft to a distance of 
three hundred thousand kilometers, then cut 
the sublight engines and swung her about to face 
the living world.

Luke ducked into the cockpit,
leading Ben by his tiny hand, with the
astromech trailing slightly behind. No
sooner had Mara swiveled her chair around
than Ben climbed into her lap.

"Won't be long now," she said.

Luke nodded and sat down. 

"I'll comm them."

Seven weeks had passed since the surrender. 
For all intents and purposes the transfer of
the Yuuzhan Vong had been completed,
though several dozen remained on
Coruscant, and fighting continued in some
of the more remote star systems. Their
presence lingered also in the form of
countless dovin basal mines, and in the
refugees that crowded nearly every
spaceport, and most tragically of all in
husks of the worlds the invaders had
crisped, poisoned, and altered beyond
recognition.

A reply to Luke's holotransmission finally
arrived. He had left the comm unit in
Danni's care, but it was a diminutive and
noisy image of Magister Jabitha that
resolved above the cockpit's projector,
and the voice of Sekot who spoke through
her.

"Farewell, Skywalker," Sekot said. "With the
Jedi in the known regions and myself in
the unknown, we may eventually succeed in
making this galaxy whole."

"We'll do our part, Sekot," Luke said. "We're
greatly indebted to you."

"There can be no debt when we serve to the same
design, Skywalker. May the Force be with
you."

"And with you, Sekot."

Gazing at something outside the holofield,
Jabitha said, 
"I give you to your comrades," and shortly 
an image of Harrar appeared."

"I leave today by airship for the far side of
the planet," the priest said. "It will be
interesting to see what becomes of my
people. Our challenge will be to keep from
giving vent to the warrior instincts we
cultivated over the generations, and
refrain from making war on ourselves, as
we did during the transit of the
intergalactic void."
 
"That transit brought you home," Luke said. 

The priest returned a tentative nod. 

"When all Yuuzhan Vong have accepted that, then our
circle will be closed. I hope that you will visit us, Master Jedi."

"In time," Luke said. "Until then you have our
envoys."

Tahiri, Danni, and Tekli crowded into the field.
"Good-bye, Luke," they said in unison. "Good-bye, Mara.
Good-bye, Ben and Artoo."

Ben buried his face in Mara's chest, and R2-D2
whimpered and rocked from side to side on his treaded feet.

"Tekli, have the shapers agreed to allow you to
study with them?" - Mara asked.

The Chadra-Fan nodded. 

"I'll be traveling with Harrar." 

"What about Danni and Tahiri?" - Luke said. 

"Who do you think's piloting Harrar's airship?" Danni said. 

"Tahiri," Luke said, "I'd like you to make it a
priority to locate Widowmaker."

"I will, Master," she said.

Mara looked sad. "It's not too late to change
your minds and come with us."

"Oh,   but   they  have   to   remain   here,"
Jabitha  interrupted. "Someone is going to
have to succeed me as Magister. Perhaps
some three . . ."

Luke smiled in understanding. 

"Have a safe jump." "The Ferroans have their shelters,"

Jabitha said, "the Yuuzhan Vong, theirs. The jump will go well."

The transmission ended abruptly. Luke gazed out
the viewport to see engines flare to life
across Zonama Sekot's northern hemisphere,
their intense plasma cones propelling the
planet slowly, majestically, out of the
cold orbit it had adopted. It struck him
that the planet had never looked more
enchanting. It glowed in the star strewn
blackness like some finely wrought orb of glass.

Instinctively Luke reached out to grab hold of the console. 

"She's leaving," a familiar voice said. 

"She's leaving," he repeated aloud.

"She? " Mara said. 

Luke looked at her.  "Obi-Wan's words, not mine."
 
The stars around Zonama Sekot's circumference
appeared to withdraw, then rebound. An
enduring melancholy settled over Luke like
a shroud, and he experienced a sudden and
profound void in the Force. A wail from
Ben brought him back to himself. The child
was struggling in Mara's arms, stretching
out toward the viewport, as if to reach
for the vanishing planet itself.

"Don't cry, sweetie," Mara comforted him. "We'll visit someday." 

Luke stroked his son's head and glanced at Mara. 

"He's meant to be there."




    
    One of a handful of worlds along the 
Rimward edge of the invasion corridor to have
survived attack or occupation, the Wookiee
homeworld of Kashyyyk looked even more
lush now than it had before the war began.
Many of its tall, furred denizens had
served in the war as soldiers,
technicians, and couriers, but most had
returned to their festive planet, and had
been rejoicing almost continuously since
Zonama Sekot had carried the frightful
enemy from known space.

Millennium Falcon and Jade Shadow had arrived
only the previous day and sat side by side
on landing platform Thiss, the fire
blackened stump of an enormous wroshyrtree, 
close to the village of Rwookrrorro. 
Having passed the night in the
treetop community, the Solos and the
Skywalkers, along with their faithful
droids, had trekked to the massive fallen
branch where a memorial for Chewbacca had
been held several years earlier, though
not to the day.

Accompanying them were many of the Wookiees 
who had attended the somber remembrance, 
including Chewie's father, Attichitcuk; 
his sister, auburn furred Kallabow; 
his widow, Mallatobuck, and their son, Waroo;
Ralrra, who could speak Basic; and Dewlannamapia, 
Gorrlyn,Jowdrrl, and Dryanta.

As on that day, fog swirled in the upper
branches of the giant trees, and a cool
wind stirred the leaves and kshyyvines.
In homage to the late Chewbacca, a
celebrated Wookiee artisan had carved a
portrait of Chewie into the trunk of one
of the trees that supported the fallen
branch. Han stood before the likeness,
speaking as if directly to his former
first mate and closest friend.
 
"You can relax now, pal," he was saying. "It's
finally over. We fought the good fight and
won, and, for me anyway, it was you who
set the tone. Your sacrifice at Sernpidal
was symbolic of the whole war, with
millions giving their lives to save
family, friends, people they didn't know,
members of species they'd never seen
before, even droids. Thank you, for that,
Chewie, and for giving Anakin the extra
time he needed to fulfill his own destiny.
I'll never forget you."

Tears running down his cheeks, he turned to
Luke, who had brought something that had
been discovered by a demolition crew near
the remains of the Citadel, on Coruscant.
It was Anakin's lightsaber, which Tahiri had
dropped while helping carry Luke to the
Falcon. Han and Leia hadn't planned to
leave the lightsaber with Chewie, until
the moment when the Falcon had put down on Thiss.

Hefting the hilt, Han looked at gray muzzled Ralrra. 

"You sure the branch won't mind."
Aged Ralrra shook his head. [It won't.]

Han got a two-handed grip on the handle, as one
might a staff, so that the blade would
point straight down. Activating it, he
raised it over his head, then drove it
down, almost vertically into the flattened
area of the fallen limb. The tip of the
energy blade struck the hard wood and
began to burn through, producing a rich,
fragrant smoke. 

And when it had burned a
hole deep enough to bury four or so centimeters of
the pommel itself, Han switched it off, so that the
handle stuck fast in the limb.

Luke stepped forward.

"Should the need ever arise, it can be withdrawn by someone as
virtuous as yourself, Chewbacca."

One by one the rest of them advanced to cover
the area with leaves and vines, then they
all returned to Rwookrrorro and spent the
rest of the day indulging in the feast of
food and drink the Wookiees had prepared.
By the time the sun was setting, the wind
had picked up and the chimes were tingling
without letup. Like the light, the
laughter, too, was dying down, and Han
noticed that Luke had become introspective.

"You okay?" Han asked.

Luke smiled lightly. "Just thinking that it
seems like yesterday we set out to find a place 
where the you and Leia could take a vacation and 
Mara could cure herself of the illness Nom Anor gave her."

Han nodded. 

"And the day before that when you and I met in a cantina on Tatooine."

Luke looked at him. 

"You've lost a son and a best friend, and the Jedi have been
reduced by half their number. But the
galaxy is more unified than it has been in generations. 
The years since the conclusion to the Civil War seem like an
unavoidable period of transition to a
present that no longer rings with
uncertainty."

"There's a lot of things I'd probably do
differently," Han said "but I'm not complaining. 
It can be a fresh start, providing I can keep your 
sister from getting involved in politics."

"And providing I can keep you from adventuring,"
Leia interjected. 

Han gestured to himself in false innocence. 

"Hey, I don't have the time for adventuring. 
I've got a ship to rebuild practically from the framework
up."

"How many rebuilds will that make?" Luke asked.

Han grinned with secret knowledge. 

"More than you know." 

"Where are you going to perform this rebuild?" Mara asked. 

"We checked out Denon... " Leia started to say.

"...but it's not for us," Han completed.

"Corellia?" Luke asked. 

Han shook his head. 

"Not the place it was." "Han wants to go to the 
Corporate Sector," Leia said.

"We're  long overdue  for celebrating our
twentieth wedding anniversary, and I know
some worlds there ..." He allowed his
words to trail off, shook his head, and
began to smile.

Luke and Mara traded knowing glances. 

"What would you say to having Mara, Ben, and me
as company?" Luke said. "We're supposed to
met with Kam and some of the others on
Ossus, but that's not for a couple of weeks."

"Ossus," Han said, "why that's practically next
door to the CorpSec. No two ways about it, you've gotta join us."

[We promise not to get in the way,] someone said
in Shyriiwook.

Han glanced to his right to see Waroo 
and Lowbacca approaching him.
 
[Now that the war has ended,] Chewie's son continued, 
[Lowie and I will be assuming
my father's life debt to you.]

Han's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. 

"But we're going on a vacation. And we've
finally managed to convince Cakhmaim and
Meewalh to take one themselves."

No one said a word until Leia broke the silence
with an explosive chuckle, then outloud
laughter, which Luke, Mara, Jacen, Jaina,
Ben, and the Wookiees were quick to amplify.

Han tightened his lips and sent a
scowl around the table. Then he, too,
began to laugh, warmly and continuously,
until tears were streaming down his cheeks
and his sides started to ache.

And gradually their bittesweet laughter floated
from the wooden table, up past the
lanterns, the wind chimes, and the thick
branches from which they dangled,
meandering up through the crowns of the
tallest wroshyr trees and gliding
weightless into the twilight sky, up, ever
up into stars too numerous to count,
defying the stillness of vacuum and
dispersing, vectoring out across space and
time, as if destined to be heard in galaxies far, far away . . .