Tyranny Reborn

A/N: Despite the fact I really should be working on this "must pass" class, I spent all day Thursday writing. Here's the result...

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Chapter 8

EVEN his eyes ached.

Leaning back in the repulsor chair, Corran Horn tried to concentrate on something other than the dull, hollow ache that radiated out from his left leg and threatened to consume his entire body. Today was the first day he'd been able to do more than just look at the new limb and, as a result, he'd pushed it too far. His stubborn refusal to use painkillers at this stage in recovery was starting to look less logical by the moment.

With a grunt, he leaned forward slightly and, in doing so, he accidentally dislodged two objects resting on the small armrests of the chair. The lightsaber that had once belonged to his grandfather hit the floor with a loud clatter and Corran grimaced as he reached over to retrieve it. His fingers touched the uniform patch denoting his allegiance to the Rogues and he carefully lifted them both to eye level. One he had fought hard to earn, the other was his by birthright but right now, Corran didn't feel like he was worthy of either one. He stared at both of them for a long time, trying - and failing - to figure a way out of the hole that life had dumped him in.

"You look like hell," Mirax told him as she swept into their small apartment a short time later, a small satchel of groceries in hand. Trundling behind her, Whistler chirped his agreement of her assessment before making a beeline for the recharge station.

"I feel like hell," Corran said in response. He tried to shift position but the stab of pain that lanced through his leg quickly caused him to rethink the movement. Instead, he looked up and met his wife's appraising eyes. She had a distracted look on her face and Corran braced himself for whatever news she was about to spring.

"I spoke with Doctor Gym'll today," she announced and Corran winced at mention of the doctor in charge of his physical therapy.

"Look," he said quickly, "I already apologized for calling him a Sith-in-training." His expression darkened. "But I swear he gets off on inflicting pain."

"Poor baby," Mirax snickered. She finished storing her purchases and walked to where Corran was seated. "He told me you're making great progress," she said as she crawled onto the repulsor chair alongside him, making sure to not jostle his left leg.

"He told me that he'd seen Arkanian slugs work harder," Corran groused sullenly. His hands joined Mirax's atop her abdomen and he stretched out with his Force senses to admire the son growing within her womb. Valin, he mindsent, smiling brightly at how the fetus' Force signature flared brightly in response.

"Stop that," his wife ordered with an amused laugh. Corran's smile faltered and he pinned Mirax with a look.

"What do we do if my body rejects this leg too?" he asked abruptly. It was a more than believable scenario; following the Byblos encounter that left him missing a limb, his body had rejected three different kinds of cybernetic prosthetics. While such cyber-rejection wasn't unheard of, it was a rare occurrence and Corran's sense of optimism had begun to wane with each new rejection. When Doctor Gym'll suggested cloning a limb instead using a cybernetic prosthetic, Corran had agreed instantly, desperate for anything that could get him on his feet again. Now, however, months after the transplant, he was starting to get worried again.

"If it does," Mirax replied, "we'll adapt." She gave him a quick kiss before snuggling a little closer. "Don't worry about it," she said.

"I feel like half a man," Corran admitted. He gave into the urge to scratch the cloned limb but jerked his hand back quickly at the sharp pain it caused. Gym'll had told him to expect this sort of thing as the regenerating nerve endings were hyper-stimulated and prone to sensory overload.

"Half a Corellian," Mirax whispered seductively as she bit his ear, "is better than any three other males in the galaxy." Her hand began trailing down his shirt as her bites became more aggressive.

The door chirped.

Mirax rolled off the repulsor chair quickly and Corran drew in a sharp breath as his leg twitched. He waved off her worried look and she moved toward the door, pausing only long enough to give herself a quick once-over in the nearby mirror. Satisfied, she trigged the release and the door curled open, revealing an unfamiliar bearded human wearing a Republic SpecForce uniform with colonel rank. Through the Force, Corran could sense the man's identity and he fought back a frown.

"Good evening, Captain," the man said in greeting. "Is your husband home?"

"Home and grumpy," Mirax replied as she gave Corran a sidelong glance. He nodded and she stepped aside in a clear gesture of invitation. The colonel stepped through the doorway and his brown eyes almost instantly zeroed in on where Corran sat.

"Can I help you, Colonel?" Horn asked immediately, not bothering to offer his visitor a seat. Mirax gave him a questioning look, but Corran kept his attention focused on the SpecForce officer in front of him.

"I certainly hope so," the man said with tight smile. He looked at Mirax. "You have a lovely home, Captain."

"Call me Mirax," she replied, offering her hand. He took it.

"And I'm-"

"Colonel Kyle Katarn," Corran identified, noting at once Mirax's flare of recognition at the name. The colonel smiled and returned his attention to Corran.

"You've heard of me," he commented with a hint of pride.

"Everyone has heard of you," Horn responded. "We even had a name for you in CorSec: the Destroyer."

"Really?" Katarn asked with a broad smile. "I'll have to tell Jan about that one."

"What do you want?" Corran demanded harshly. Remembering the man's senior rank, he quickly added, "Sir."

"I want to recruit you for a special mission," the colonel said, crouching before Corran so their eyes would be level. "Both of you, actually," Katarn added. "Due to the secrecy of this operation," he continued, "I'll need your answer before informing you of any particulars."

"I'm not exactly in shape for a covet op right now," Corran pointed out sourly.

"Neither of us are," Mirax added, the fingers of her hands unconsciously splaying out across her stomach. Katarn gave her knowing smile.

"There's plenty of time for you to get back into shape," he said quickly before directing his next comments to Mirax. "And I need you mostly for your contacts in the smuggler community," he said.

"You mean Booster," she guessed and the colonel nodded. The look she shot Corran was one he recognized instantly: your call.

"We're going to need more than that," he announced. "I'm not willing to put our baby at risk for one of your high body count missions."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Katarn said. He smiled. "Is that your final answer?"

"Unless you change our minds in under a minute," Mirax offered, "it is." The colonel laughed.

"A minute?" he repeated. "I can change your minds with a single word."

Curiosity overwhelmed Corran then and he instantly recognized the trap Katarn had set before them. He bit his lower lip and glanced at Mirax; she wore an identical expression of interest and Corran sighed in resignation.

"What word?" he asked, knowing he would dread the answer.

"Antilles," Katarn intoned and Corran's breath caught.

"Wedge?" he breathed. "You're going after Wedge?" The colonel made no verbal reply but Corran could feel the truth swell through the Force. He nodded and Mirax answered for them both.

"Count us in," she said.

And Colonel Katarn smiled.


She had no urge to smile.

Pacing back and forth in front of the holo-tank, Commodore Natasi Daala fought against the urge to fidget and wondered once again why she had such a bad feeling about this entire engagement. Everything was proceeding according to plan, she had a two to one numerical advantage and the legendary Rogue Squadron was a mere shell of its former self. Nothing Solo did could prevent his defeat.

And yet, she could not shake the sense of unease as her fleet raced toward Solo's hiding place at superluminal speeds.

"One minute to reversion," Lieutenant Commander Janna Tammok, her primary aide, announced and Daala nodded sharply as she continued to prowl around the holographic tactical display. Shaking her head in a vain attempt to clear away the worry, she focused on the location the battle would take place. Only someone like Solo would pick such a desolate place to wage a major engagement like this, Tasi mused.

An unstable cluster of black holes near the planet Kessel, the Maw had a well-earned reputation for being a starship graveyard. Throughout the centuries, literally billions of ships had been lost trying to navigate the dangerous Kessel Run. Even at the height of the Empire, the region had been left mostly alone due to the sheer impossibility of successfully navigating the treacherous region. In instances too numerous to mention, ships fleeing from an Imperial task force would flee into the Maw, knowing the Empire wouldn't bother to pursue them.

In almost every instance, that ship would never be heard from again.

"Reversion in five, four, three," the lieutenant commander said, "two, one. Reversion."

The Chimera shivered slightly as it slowed from lightspeed and Tasi stared at the tactical display intently as five other star destroyers, ten Katana-class dreadnaughts, and twenty Carrack-class light cruisers suddenly arrived. They were already arrayed in the standard assault wedge formation, with the six destroyers forming the nucleus of the aggressive maneuver, and Daala was pleased to note none of her ships appeared to have lagged behind.

"Contact!" one of the sensor operators announced loudly. A second later, the tactical display changed and a half dozen holographic images flickered into existence. One of them was obviously Solo's command ship, the renamed Lusankya, but Tasi frowned at the battle computer's inability to identify the remaining ships through the extensive radiation in the region. "Confirm: Independence," the operator said, unconsciously using the Republic's name for the Executor-class Solo commanded from. Though Tammok shot the enlisted operator a dark look, Daala gave it little thought and silently preferred the newer name; she'd visited the Lusankya once while it was under the command of Ysanne Isard and had been thoroughly disgusted with what she saw.

"Battle stations," Daala ordered softly as she continued her slow circuit around the tactical display. New contacts were suddenly popping up all around them and the battle computer was having an even more difficult time identifying them; most were being logged as the detritus from the nearby planetoid slowly being ripped apart by gravitational tidal forces but a small minority of them might be fighters or mines. A shiver ran up Tasi's spine as she recalled her days at the Academy; in the four years she'd been there, only one person had defeated her in a fleet simulation.

And now, she was facing that very man.

"Fighters deploying," Commander Tammok said. "All ships reporting ready." Daala spent another moment examining the battlefield, noting with silent admiration how effectively Han had deployed his forces. His name is Solo, she reminded herself sharply, all the while wondering if he still thought of her by that ridiculous nickname he'd used.

"Take us in," she instructed. "Thrawn pincher," Daala added. "All ships be prepared for anything."

It was an unnecessary order as, over the last three months, Solo's singular ability to do exactly what they didn't expect had earned him a reputation among the fleet. Half the officers in her command believed the wily Corellian was certifiably insane while the other half was convinced he was a tactician on par with the late Grand Admiral Thrawn. Daala still wasn't sure if Solo's sudden creativity was borne of his experiences with the seedier side of the galaxy or if he'd always been this … sneaky.

Still, with his numbers being depleted by their constant engagements and the apparent inability of the Republic to resupply his need for ships, Solo's luck could only hold out for so long. Tasi hated to be the one to do this to her old Academy friend, but her duty was clear. She only hoped he would surrender without too much trouble.

"New contacts!" the sensor operator shouted and Daala grimaced at the sudden appearance of another half dozen ships to their aft. Well played, she mentally saluted Solo though such a small number wouldn't be enough to prevent his ultimate defeat. She opened her mouth to issue orders when the battle computer identified one of the newly arrived ships.

It was an Interdictor.

Daala's blood ran cold as the cruiser powered up its gravity well projectors. Seconds later, dozens of new contacts began appearing as Solo's reinforcements were abruptly torn out of lightspeed by the Interdictor's projectors. Most were smaller assault craft – corvettes and fighters – but at least three of them were heavy ships, including one the computer identified as the Gorgon, believed lost four months earlier in the engagement within the Telaxis Corridor.

"New ships holding position," the operator said quickly, a hint of panic leaking into his voice. Daala frowned as she studied the tactical display. She pointed to an unknown contact astern of the Chimera.

"What is that?" she demanded.

"An asteroid, ma'am," the sensorman replied after a moment. "I'm detecting hundreds of them in the battle theater."

"Where are the Rebellion ships in comparison to these asteroids?" Tasi asked though she suspected the answer already.

"All Rebels are a minimum of ten thousand kilometers away, Commodore."

"Incoming transmission," a com-tec said over the sensor operator. "It's the Independence," he said. Frowning, Daala nodded and stepped toward the nearby hologram pod. A second later, the image of Han Solo flickered into view.

"Hello, Nat," he said at once, using that hated nickname.

"Slick," she replied in kind.

"What we've got here," Solo said after a moment, "is a Rodian standoff." He crossed his arms. "Now normally, I'd say we're evenly matched-"

"Of course you would," Daala interjected.

"-but that's not true," the Corellian continued as if she hadn't spoken. "By now you've picked up the asteroids," he said and Tasi felt the last vestiges of confidence wither and die. "They're from a dead system called Peragus," Solo said calmly. Beside her, Commander Tammok drew in a sharp breath, clearly recognizing the name though it was only vaguely familiar to Daala. Something about the Old Republic and fuel, she reflected.

"Highly volatile, highly explosive," Solo added. "We've spent the last two months shipping them here just for you," he said without a trace of humor in his voice.

"Commodore," Tammok murmured and Daala gave her a glance. The lieutenant commander offered a dataslate and Tasi accepted it; as she suspected, it was a brief rundown on the Peragus disaster. She winced at estimated destructive yield of the thousand plus asteroids scattered around her fleet. Though the capital ships would likely survive, none of the fighters would and the smaller Carracks would be heavily damaged. Her fleet would be decimated and the loss of life would be catastrophic.

"What are your terms?" Tasi asked bitterly. She could see her hard-fought career spiraling down the drain and all because of a man she'd once seriously considered sleeping with.

"An Old Tapani surrender of honor," Solo offered and Daala blinked in surprise at his generosity. Her fleet would fall under his jurisdiction and would be held in abeyance until the Empire met his terms for ransom. The fates of her crew would be up to Solo and, if there was one thing everyone in the galaxy knew about Han Solo, it was that he was an honorable man. There was only one answer to give and Tasi spoke without hesitation.

"I accept."


"I accept."

From where she stood behind her best friend, Leia Organa-Solo wiped away a discreet tear and watched as Winter and Tycho spoke the traditional Alderaanian marriage vows before the beaming holy man. The love and devotion in their eyes as they drank in each other's appearance was so obvious she suspected even a blind man could see it, and their emotions blazed through the Force with such power Leia was momentarily overwhelmed.

Following their return to Coruscant after Tycho's latest near death experience, the two had decided to stop waiting and turned to Leia for aid in arranging the wedding. They wanted as traditional a ceremony as possible and she had been happy to call in as many markers as necessary to arrange it. With no known native-born Alderaani holy men still alive, Leia had instead sought out a Nubian priest whom Luke had discovered years earlier when he went questing for the identity of their mother. The old man, who had overseen the secret joining of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Naberrie, had been only too happy to officiate the marriage of Winter Retrac and Tycho Celchu.

Everything had gone off without a hitch and Tycho seemed to have finally come to grips with the fact his wife was adopting his name in a manner similar to how Leia had taken Han's. For centuries, Alderaani men had taken the names of their wives – it was how Bail Antilles had become Bail Organa, after all – but the tradition now seemed to be as lost as Alderaan itself.

"And with your union, the Truth unfolds," the holy man declared, reciting the traditional closing benediction as he placed his hands on both of their heads. "With your love," he said, "you become one with the Great Plan of the Universe's Creator who knows only Love." He reached for their hands and brought them together. "Unity summons you," he intoned, "and you summon unity." The smile on his face was intoxicating. "Go forth and love one another," he instructed before taking a step back from them.

"Congratulations!" Leia exclaimed the moment the two stepped off the small dais. She wrapped her arms around Winter and the two shared a laugh. The silver-haired woman had a slightly shocked look on her face as she clung to her new husband's hand and Leia again wiped away some errant tears. She turned to address the assembled group of attendees – mostly pilots and some uncomfortable-looking government types – and raised her voice. "I give you," Leia said loudly, sharing a quick conspiratorial look with Tycho as she paused for dramatic effect, "Lady Winter Retrac and her husband, Tycho!" The announcement was answered with loud cheers and whistles, and Leia smiled at the look Winter gave her.

"It's Winter Celchu," she said in faux-offense.

"Of course, Lady Retrac," Leia retorted. She laughed again as she watched the happy couple step forward to meet their well-wishers but her good humor faded as she took in the number of injured pilots. Corran Horn sat in an ugly-looking repulsor chair, his left leg still wrapped up but his expression bright, while Gavin Darklighter, head bandaged and right arm in a cast, slouched in an even less attractive chair beside the Corellian. Behind them, Horn's wife Mirax laughed at something Winter told her even as Tycho exchanged a backslapping hug with a wan-looking Wes Janson. The smile on the latter man's face appeared to be a forced one and Leia wondered at the reasons behind it. A dozen other pilots, none of whom she immediately recognized, swarmed around the new groom, all intent on offering their advice, congratulations, or warnings.

Lurking near the back of the small chapel, newly promoted Guardsman-Captain Tyris Quin watched the proceedings with an unreadable expression on his face. As if sensing Leia's study of him, his face tightened slightly and he returned her subtle nod with a neck bow before silently backing from the room. Leia frowned slightly, wondering at the curious behavior before realizing that Quin had lost his homeworld as well. This ceremony, while not perfect, had been a heart-tugging reminder of what they'd lost to the Empire. She wondered if he'd had family members on Alderaan when Tarkin unleashed the Death Star all those years ago. It was something she would have to ask Winter about later.

"That astromech," C-3PO declared primly, "is even more rude than Artoo-Detoo!" He was referencing Horn's green droid, Whistler, who happily beeped and chirped away from beside his master. Leia shook her head in silent amusement at the idiosyncrasies of snubfighter pilots; as far as she could tell, every single one of them – including Tycho! – had brought their droids to the ceremony almost as if they were actual members of the family. If Leia hadn't planned on taking Threepio to the office with her after the reception, she would have gladly left him behind to harass the Noghri guarding Jacen and Jaina.

"Perhaps you intimidate him," she said with a smile. "You are famous, after all."

"Oh, my," Threepio replied with shock in his voice. "I certainly hope not!" he commented before stumbling off to speak with the astromech once more. The electronic sigh the R2 unit emitted as Threepio approached was almost mournful and Leia could swear the droid was glaring at her with its central radar eye.

"Lady Solo," Cakhmaim whispered as he seemed to materialize beside her. Leia almost jumped in surprise but instead gave him a slow, regal look. His eyes seemed to dance with banked humor. "Meewahl reports success," he stated and Leia drew in steadying breath while struggling to keep her face clear of the anticipation surging through her. Out of the corner of her eye, she say Corran glance in her direction and was suddenly reminded of Luke's high opinion about the Corellian pilot's empathic abilities. She smiled in his direction to assure him nothing was amiss before nodding to Cakhmaim and slowly walking toward the door.

As she suspected, Horn was the only one apart from Winter who really noticed her discreet departure. To the new bride, Leia gave a subtle hand signal relating her need to attend to senatorial business and Winter returned it with an equally understated gesture of understanding, never once losing the train of conversation she was involved in with one of Tycho's old wingmates, the statuesque Isplourrdacartha Estillo. Leia shook her head in silent admiration.

She and Cakhmaim ducked into her office and Leia made a beeline for the decorative wall closet. She paused for a moment, and then made a snap decision.

"Cakhmaim," she called. The Noghri appeared almost instantly, his hand on the hilt of the broad vibroknife he carried at his waist and his eyes darting around the room for potential danger. "Contact Captain Quin," she instructed. When his eyes widened fractionally, she continued. "I want him along so he can see what I'm trying to do."

"By your command, Lady Solo," Cakhmaim murmured as he backed out of the room to give her the privacy to change.

Minutes later, she had donned a nondescript outfit complete with a hooded half-cloak. The silver torc that was a holographic transmitter she slid into one of the cloak's voluminous pockets after checking its charge. Her lightsaber went into another pocket and she slid a pair of holdouts into their concealed holsters. On impulse, she grabbed a portable data-reader and strapped it to her belt.

Quin was waiting in the reception area of her office, a suspicious look on his face. He was dressed in ordinary-looking clothes with no apparent weapons but, based on her interactions with the Noghri, Leia sincerely doubted he wasn't carrying at least three or four. From the expression he wore, the Guardsman clearly expected an explanation, but Leia offered none.

"Come with me," she said imperiously, hoping his ingrained Alderaani instincts would kick in. Cakhmaim was already leading the way and Leia exhaled softly in relief when Quin fell into step behind her.

Very little was said for the next hour. Quin made no comment when Cakhmaim directed them into a plain-looking airspeeder and offered only a grunt of mild surprise when the Noghri piloted the vehicle into the Uscru Entertainment District. When Leia donned the holographic torc, the Guardsman's eyes narrowed, but he followed her nonetheless as she climbed out the vehicle.

Meewahl joined them before they had taken three steps, sliding into place beside Leia with such grace and stealth that the senator wouldn't have noticed her without the Force. Quin gave the second Noghri another frown but still said nothing, though Leia could see he was desperately curious.

They entered one of the more raucous cantinas easily enough – three deadly-looking hooded figures accompanying a fourth, also hooded, drew surprisingly little attention. Given the number of other figures who were clearly trying to keep their identities secret, Leia suspected the only way they would have stood out was if they hadn't wore the hoods of their cloaks up. Meewahl took point without comment and quickly led them to a sheltered alcove complete with a table. Before they'd even been seated, a serv-droid appeared.

"Four lums," Cakhmaim said flatly and the droid wheeled away.

"Why am I here?" Quin demanded a moment later.

"To witness truth unfold," Leia replied, consciously invoking the marriage ceremony they'd both attended. The Guardsman's face closed up instantly and he glanced away.

"Two tables left," Meewahl hissed, her voice surprisingly melodic for one with such a fierce disposition. Leia let her eyes drift in that direction and bit back a smile at the appearance of a hooded Bothan.

"Polo Se'lab," Quin identified softly, his tone suddenly curious. When a second figure joined the Bothan, the Guardsman froze. "And Lannik Racto," he murmured. "Why is the chancellor's chief of intelligence meeting with scum like Racto?" Quin asked.

"A question I'd like answered myself," Leia admitted. She stretched out with the Force tentatively but recoiled almost at once when the seething emotions swelling around them assaulted her: anger, desire, despair, fear, hatred, lust, madness. It was overwhelming and her hand instinctively went to her forehead to ward off the rush of sensation pulsing within the cantina.

They watched discreetly as funds changed hands and Racto slid a data chit to the Bothan before sliding out of the booth and heading for the exit. A second later, Se'lab followed suit but headed for a different doorway. Leia rose, tossing credits onto the table to pay for their yet undelivered lum, and the other three stood with her. Nothing needed to be said as she angled toward the exit Se'lab had taken.

The door opened up into a dank alley, but Leia could sense Se'lab as he lurked ahead of them and her rudimentary danger sense flared. Acting instinctively, she lashed out with the Force even as the Bothan leaped from his place of concealment, a blaster pistol at the ready. Before he could even squeeze the trigger of his weapon, her Force push slammed into him and sent him sprawling backwards. Cakhmaim and Meewahl sprang forward to seize the staggered Bothan, and he froze when they bared their vicious-looking knives mere centimeters from his face. His eyes darted as Meewahl searched him with expert fingers, finally locating the data-chit concealed in his pants. The female Noghri offered it to Leia instantly.

"Who are you?" Se'lab demanded, his voice trembling, but Leia offered no response as she inserted the chit into the portable reader. Instantly, the demand for a password popped onto the screen.

"What's the code?" Leia asked. When the Bothan glowered at her, she tried again. "You will tell me the code now," she ordered, underlying her words with a Force command.

"Aleph null five seven theta null," Se'lab answered instantly. A horrified expression crossed his face as Leia inserted the password.

"Blackmail material," Quin growled as he studied the data from over her shoulder and Leia nodded. She pointed to the identities of those being targeted.

"These are the senators most opposed to Fey'lya," she said. "He's shoring up his position," she added before transferring her gimlet gaze to the cowering Se'lab. "You stunted slime," she growled, suddenly furious. "We spent decades fighting to remove a tyrant who used these types of tactics." She took a half step closer to the terrified Bothan. "I'm going to make sure you pay for this," Leia said, balling her hand tightly into a fist. She fought down the urge to strike the despicable traitor.

With a suddenness that was painful, her every sense came alive and Leia inhaled at the impending sense of danger abruptly screaming through her mind. She was reaching for her lightsaber even before she realized it and her eyes jumped from the cowering Bothan to the far end of the alleyway. Cakhmaim clearly recognized the threat in her posture and released Se'lab without hesitation as Quin sprang forward, a telescoping force pike suddenly extending into attack position.

A bare second later, armored figures flooded into the alleyway.

Leia recognized their armor instantly as the same kind worn by the assassins who had struck the Senate last month. There were over a dozen of them, each armed with wicked-looking blaster rifles, and she gestured with her left hand in a Force push that sent the front five flying backwards, tangling up the footwork of those behind them. It was just enough of a delay to give Cakhmaim and Quin time to reach the cluster, and blood began to fly.

"Behind you!" Meewahl snarled as she leaped toward where Leia stood. Reflexes honed by years on the run kicked in and Organa-Solo was diving forward even before the Noghri finished shouting. Leia hit the ground, rolled, and sprang to her feet, igniting her lightsaber as she did. Se'lab shrieked in recognition of the weapon and began scrambling backwards to get clear of her, but Leia focused her attention on the armored troopers now spilling out of the cantina. Already, two of them were down, crimson blood spurting from the gruesome wounds Meewahl had inflicted with her humming vibroblade, and the female Noghri danced a ballet of ruin among the attackers. Had it not been so lethal, it might have seemed beautiful.

Leia gestured sharply with her free left hand, knocking another trio of the troopers off their feet with the Force. A pair of them managed to break past Meewahl and darted toward Leia, their blasters spitting, but she twirled the blue-white blade and swatted the energy bolts back at their originators, absurdly grateful for the training material Luke had left behind. Over the last month, she'd spent every free moment practicing with the saber against her brother's remotes and her skill with the blade was much improved. One of the shots dropped a shooter instantly, but the other man stumbled into range and took a wild swing at her. Leia reacted without thought, lurching back from the blow as she thrust the saber forward. With a gurgle, the assassin froze and looked down at the cerulean blade impaling him through the upper chest. He slid to his knees as Leia withdrew the saber and then slowly … ever so slowly … he toppled to the ground.

"Are you well, Lady Solo?" Meewahl asked hoarsely. The Noghri's left arm hung limply from her side and blood was rapidly pooling beneath her yet still, her first instinct was to make sure Leia was safe. Glancing back to make sure both Cakhmaim and Captain Quin were alive, Organa-Solo quickly stepped closer to Meewahl to assess the damage. The Noghri needed real medical attention and quickly.

"This was well fought," Cakhmaim said to Meewahl in their native tongue as he joined them, his eyes studying the mess his fellow Noghri had made of the attackers. It was said as if he didn't expect her to survive and Leia gave him a black look.

"She's not going to die," Leia told him harshly, almost laughing at the startled looks they both gave her. "But we can't stay here." She glanced around for their Bothan prisoner, noting at once he was face down.

"Se'lab is dead," Quin said in response to her questioning look. "My fault," the Guardsman admitted. He gestured with his still extended and now quite bloody force pike. "I had my weapon set to maximum to penetrate the armor and the fool got in my way." He held the reader out to her. "But we still have this."

"That's something," Leia admitted, though she knew they'd never be able to pin Fey'lya to Se'lab's actions without the latter Bothan's testimony. Borsk would claim ignorance and argue his chief of intelligence was acting beyond his mandate. It would cause suspicion, but it wasn't proof. They would need more.

It was telling, though, that Quin had said 'we.' Leia wondered if he'd even realized how his priorities appeared to have shifted. No longer was he a disinterested, neutral party. Now, he was an ally.

"Let's get Meewahl to a medic," she ordered, dropping the saber into its deep pocket. She glanced once more at the armored bodies strewn across the ground of the alleyway. Why were these assassins so desperate to kill her? And where were they coming from? Who was behind them? Memory of the indistinct image she'd half glimpsed during her thoughtprobe of the assassin they'd captured a month earlier immediately came to mind. Was that person behind this nightmare?

It was a question that haunted her for a long time.


Hunting answers to questions, Lando Calrissian came to Mytus I.

Like Cloud City on Bespin, it was a mining colony constructed within the upper atmosphere of a gas giant but any similarities between the two ended there. Unlike Bespin, Mytus I didn't have the slightest hint of a habitable zone, thus requiring the entire colony to be enclosed for survivability. The gas giant's close proximity to the system star made things even worse; tidally locked, the side of the giant facing the sun never changed, prompting the atmosphere on that side to become so superheated the gases there exploded across the planet. Eventually, they would cool on the dark side of the planet and would sink into the lower atmosphere to circulate toward the starward side to begin the pattern anew. As a result of this constant turbulent change, entry into the planet's atmosphere was nearly impossible – at any given moment, the wind on the gas giant was between two thousand and ten thousand kilometers an hour, depending upon the solar activity at the time.

To defeat these laws of physics, a powerful force field protected the mining colony and connected it to an orbiting space platform, thus providing a sort of tunnel that freighters and transports could use to get to the colony itself. Ingenious engineers had even developed turbines utilizing the gas giant's winds to perpetually power the force fields. Backups and redundant systems were constantly being installed by paranoid miners afraid of catastrophic failures, so the colony barely managed to break even. None of which explained why the Empire was so interested in Mytus.

So Lando had smuggled himself onto the planet to find out why, despite the system's almost complete lack of connection to his ongoing investigation into the implants being used by the Jedi clones. Everything on Mytus instead seemed connected to an Imperial star destroyer captain named Lennox who had tentative ties to Admiral Pellaeon, a man Calrissian knew quite a bit about. His instincts had never failed him before, so Lando had spent the last ten days trying to get access to the shipping containers now in front of him.

Only to find out the Imps on Mytus were involved in little more than trying to monopolize the market on orveth blaster gas.

Disgusted and amused at the same time, Lando straightened from where he crouched, wincing at the rapid pops his spine made. He was definitely getting too old for this sort of thing, no matter how much fun it was at times. As he began walking away from the canister, the wrist-comp he wore began vibrating like mad as the proximity sensors detected the approach of life signs. A moment later, he heard the clatter of boots and sighed.

Though every instinct in his body was screaming for him to flee, Lando turned slowly to face the rapidly approaching squad of stormtroopers, a false smile already fixed on his lips. There were six of them, and each was wearing an unusual violet pauldron on his right shoulder that Lando didn't recognize. From the ease in which these troopers moved, he quickly deduced they were veterans.

"Freeze!" one of the troopers snapped, his blaster rifle trained unerringly on Lando. Adopting a look of shock, Calrissian raised his arms quickly even as his eyes darted for a possible escape route.

"Don't shoot!" Lando shouted, his voice intentionally higher pitched than normal. Pretending one had a weaker hand than his opponent was always the best opening gambit. "Please, don't shoot!"

"Give us one good reason we shouldn't," a new voice ordered and Lando glanced toward the origin. A thin, wiry human male of indeterminate age leisurely strolled forward, his hawk-nosed face twisted with contempt. He was wearing the distinctive black uniform of a stormtrooper officer and bore the rank squares of a major.

"Look, Captain," Calrissian said with a worried-looking smile. "I'm just-"

"It's major," the officer retorted harshly, taking a step closer in a clear attempt to intimidate. Lando pretended to quail and made sure to inject a stammer in his next comments.

"Terribly sorry, sir," he said. "I'm trying to find a lost bird, sir," Lando offered quickly. "It's about this big," he said, gesturing with his hands to give an approximate size, "with bright green feathers and red at the throat."

For a long moment, the Imperial major was silent, a look of abject disbelief stamped upon his face.

"You couldn't come up with anything better than that?" the major demanded with a cold smile. "Look around," he ordered and Lando obliged. That it gave him the opportunity to look for another escape route was something he certainly didn't mind. "This is a gas giant," the major said. "There are no birds here."

"Uh, sir," one of the stormtroopers interjected and Lando heaved a silent sigh of relief. He'd hoped his back-up plan hadn't been a wasted effort. Acquiring a Nubian swamp crooner and keeping it alive long enough to act as a distraction had cost more money than Calrissian wanted to think about, even if it had allowed him to get a look at what the Imps were doing here. "I saw a bird like that this morning," the trooper continued.

"Where?" Lando asked quickly, taking a half step closer to the trooper. "I bought it for my daughter," Calrissian lied easily, "and she'll kill me if I don't get it back for her."

"Possession of non-native creatures is forbidden," the major said with a resigned sigh. Lando relaxed fractionally as most of the troopers began to lower their weapons. One, however, did not.

"You're Lando Calrissian," that stormtrooper said.

Instantly, blaster rifles came back up and Lando froze. He didn't bother trying to correct the trooper – his face was too well known for him to not be recognized – but instead slowly lifted his right hand, knowing that it would draw attention to the hand. At the same time, he flexed the muscles in his left forearm, thus triggering the spring-loaded holster concealed under the billowing sleeve of his shirt. He felt a satisfying weight fall into his palm and his smile grew broader.

"Well," the Imperial major abruptly said with a malicious smile, "isn't this my lucky day?"

"No," Lando replied, "it really isn't." He slowly rotated his left hand so the device held there could be seen.

It was a thermal detonator.

The slow flashing on the top of the explosive indicated it was already armed and Lando respected stormtrooper training enough to know they would recognize it to be a suicide model. All Calrissian would have to do is open his hand and the device would detonate. Stunning him was no longer an option and Lando pinned the stormtrooper officer with a grin.

"Your move," Calrissian said.

"Shoot him," the major ordered quickly, backpedaling as he did. "He doesn't have the mivocks to let go of it."

"You're not playing the odds, friend," Lando said with a smirk. He took a half step toward the major who promptly took a step away. "Look at this from my angle," he continued. "If you and your friends take me into custody," Calrissian said, "I can look forward to weeks of excruciating pain followed by an equally painful death." Gesturing with the detonator, Lando took another couple steps toward the group. They backed away as he expected. "Now if I just open my hand," he said, "not only would my death be really quick, but I'd go out with a blaze of glory taking you Imps with me."

"You're bluffing," the stormtrooper who had identified him said.

"Maybe," Lando replied. He shrugged as if the entire situation didn't bother or interest him much. "Let's find out," he said a half second before tossing the detonator at the trooper and diving toward one of the massive packing crates at his back. The troopers reacted exactly as he expected – scrambling away from the explosive – and it gave him enough time to get clear of the immediate killing field. He had, at best, seconds before everything went to hell.

With a flash of light, the detonator triggered. Instead of erupting with explosive force, however, it unleashed a pulse of special radiation designed to affect the optics of stormtrooper helmets. To see, the troopers would need to remove the now useless head gear. New Republic research scientists had been working for decades to figure out the exact frequency and, not for the first time, Lando was glad he'd arranged to have it stolen.

As the troopers began cursing, Calrissian slid a second device from his belt. It was shaped like a small, oval box and he quickly mashed the arming button before throwing it. Bouncing off one of the shipping containers, it ricocheted and hit the ground near the stormtroopers. Almost instantly, it broke open, spilling out dozens of tiny marble-shaped objects. Lando didn't wait for them to trigger as he pulled his holdout blaster free of its holster and threw himself forward into a sprint.

Behind him, the micro-grenades activated. Twelve of them began exploding with loud cracks and pops intended to dazzle the eyes of the unprotected, while another twelve started shrieking loudly. The final dozen began belching plumes of smoke and tear gas. None of it was expected to do more than slow the Imps down, but Lando hoped it would give him a head start.

The whine of a blaster bolt flashing by his head was proof it hadn't been as effective as he'd like. Pistol drawn, the Imperial major rounded a corner and gave chase, snapping off a series of rapid shots that splintered wood and duracrete. Lando ducked, and then returned fire with the holdout. It was a perfect shot and nailed the major in the chest; the man collapsed, a startled look on his face.

Less than a second later, the now helmet-less stormtroopers appeared out of the haze, their eyes tearing and their blasters spitting fire. The leader was a man Lando's age with short-cropped salt-and-pepper hair and a massive scar that ran down his face from eyebrow to jaw. Calrissian pumped three shots into the cluster of stormies with the holdout, hitting one and sending the man spinning.

As he ducked around another of the towering crates, Lando reached for a replacement ammo pack for the holdout. Of a design similar to one he'd seen Mara Jade carry, this model packed significantly greater punch but could only be fired four times before reloading. He ejected the spent ammo pack and slammed the replacement one home in a single, fluid motion. The four miniature LEDs along the top of the pistol denoting number of shots available lit up.

Drawing a deep breath, Lando darted toward an opening in the stacked containers, ducking under a hail of blasterfire that exploded around him. The narrow exit opened up into a large parking lot filled with a half dozen loading units, ground-speeders and a trio of rickety-looking airspeeders, including the one he'd "borrowed" to get here. Cursing at how exposed he would be, Lando popped off four rapid shots at the pursuing stormtroopers which sent them lunging back behind cover. Once again, he threw himself forward into a sprint, ejecting the spent ammo pack as he did. He slid across the hood of a parked speeder and dropped behind it, fumbling for another reload pack.

"This could be better," Calrissian grumbled to himself as he drew a bead on the stormtroopers bounding out of the shipping area. There were many more of them than he expected and many were still wearing helmets. That could only mean reinforcements.

"Drop it!" the scarred face stormtrooper ordered. The stormies were already fanning out to get a better angle on him and Lando knew he wouldn't survive long if he put up any more resistance. I can get out of this, he decided before slowly climbing to his feet, holding the blaster up high where they could see it. As ordered, he dropped it before kicking it toward the trooper with the scar.

"Surely we can talk about this," Lando said with a smile as he inched around the edge of the speeder. The grizzled-looking stormtrooper glowered fiercely as he approached, rifle trained on Lando's chest, and Calrissian couldn't tear his eyes from the vicious scar that marked the man's face.

"Oh, we're definitely going to talk all right," the trooper growled ominously. He opened his mouth to say something else but his eyes locked on something behind Lando and abruptly widened.

A half second later, a sizzling stream of blaster fire screamed by Calrissian's head, narrowly missing him as it exploded against one of the parked loading units. The stormtroopers dove for cover as Lando dropped instantly to the ground. He shot a quick glance in the direction of the origin of the attack as he scrambled toward a hiding place close to where he'd kicked his pistol.

Moving at incredible speeds, a civilian speeder bike raced toward them. There were two figures on the bike – one piloting and the other behind him holding a blaster pistol that was barking lethal pulses of fire at the stormtroopers – and Lando fought to keep from grinning madly when he recognized them: Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade. He had no idea how they'd tracked him down or had even known he was in trouble, but he certainly wasn't going to complain.

Without a hint of strain, the two Jedi somersaulted off of the speeder bike, igniting their lightsabers in mid-air, and landed a half step away from where Lando crouched. Unmanned, the bike careened into one of the larger shipping crates and exploded violently, sending shards of debris spinning through the air. Secondary explosions from the destruction of badly damaged blaster gas containers hurled a pair of stormtroopers through the air.

"What took you?" Lando asked as he quickly climbed to his feet, retrieving his blaster pistol in the process. The lights indicating a full load were flickering so he ejected the damaged ammunition charge even as Jade shot him a dark look. Luke smiled.

"Traffic was murder," Skywalker replied, batting away a trio of blaster bolts aimed at them. He gestured once with his left hand and a trio of stormtroopers went flying. They slammed into smaller shipping containers that promptly buried the armored figures under an avalanche of boxes. Lando doubted they were dead – Luke was much more judicious with his application of power than that – but they were certainly out of the battle.

To Lando's surprise, Mara seemed as skilled with a blade as Luke. Her eyes were constantly moving and she parried blaster bolts with an ease clearly borne of long practice. Unlike Skywalker, she seemed to favor finesse over power and her every movement was sharp, crisp and devoid of wasted motion.

The howl of another approaching airspeeder drew Lando's attention away from the almost dance-like moves of the two Jedi, and he fumbled for the last ammo charge for his blaster pistol. Jade half-glanced in his direction, frowned, and then pointed to one of the rifles lying alongside an unconscious stormtrooper some three meters away. The blaster quivered and then shot through the air straight toward Lando. He barely caught it before it smacked into his stomach and gave her an appreciative nod she completely ignored.

With a squeal of protesting repulsors, an open-top airspeeder roared to a stop behind them and Lando could see a pair of Noghri within. One of them was already in the rear seat, a long rifle at the ready, and the pilot quickly joined him, pulling a similar weapon free of a hardened case. Without pause, the two began blasting away at any exposed stormtroopers and their sudden appearance caused even more chaos.

"Time to go," Jade said sharply, tossing her still activated lightsaber in Luke's direction as she sprinted toward the driver's seat of the humming airspeeder. Without even looking at it, Skywalker caught the weapon with his left hand and began backing toward the vehicle, now using both blades to swat away incoming blaster fire.

As Lando dove into the passenger seat of the airspeeder, he snapped off a couple of rapid blaster shots in the direction of the stormtroopers. To his disgust, he realized the lead trooper was still in the fight; crouched behind a large metal container, the man was speaking rapidly into what appeared to be a comlink. Already, Lando could hear the distant pitch of Imperial speeder bikes spiking and knew they'd soon have company.

"Go!" Luke shouted as he jumped onto the back of the airspeeder. Mara reacted instantly and the speeder sprang forward. To Lando's complete shock, Luke remained exactly where he was despite the impossibility of his stance; it was as if he was wearing mag-boots pinning him in place atop the aft section of the speeder. For the briefest of moments, Calrissian thought he was imagining things.

Seconds later, what looked to be an entire squadron of speeder bikes roared into view behind them, their blaster cannons spitting out a constant stream of fire. Lando's breath caught as Luke's twin blades became a wall of light, deflecting every single bolt that would have struck the speeder. At almost the same time, the two Noghri began returning fire with their rifles, instantly causing the pursuing scout-troopers to go evasive. One of the bikes – badly damaged and smoking – took a sharp nose dive and the scout trooper barely managed to leap free before it smashed into the ground with a fierce explosion.

"Hold on!" Mara bellowed a fraction of second before the airspeeder lurched hard to the left. The wail of protesting metal was Lando's first warning and he bit back a curse as another trio of speeder bikes screamed by them, heading in opposite direction. A fourth bike – the one Jade had struck – went spinning out of control toward the edge of the city. The biker scout still trying to regain control, the speeder tumbled into the protective field surrounding the edge of the city…

And was instantly shredded by the winds of the gas giant that wailed across the massive planet at obscene velocities. The speeder didn't even have time to explode.

"Kriff," Jade snarled as she pushed the airspeeder into a stomach lurching drop. "What the hell did you do?" she demanded of Lando. Another quartet of speeder bikes raced into view and Mara jerked the speeder controls hard, causing the vehicle to almost bounce as it radically changed direction.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" Luke shouted, feet still planted on the aft of the speeder. Both sabers were still flashing and, to Lando's surprise, Skywalker's eyes were closed. Calrissian swallowed and blasted away at the nearest speeder bike so he didn't have to think about Luke relying on senses Lando could barely comprehend. The shots were wide, but caused the scout-trooper to break off his attack run and begin a wide loop to get clear. It was his last mistake, as it brought him directly into the crosshairs of one of the Noghri who dropped him with a single, well-placed shot. The bike, now unmanned, crashed into the ground and vanished in a fireball.

Grimacing, Mara applied another burst of speed and the airspeeder shot forward, directly into a busy intersection of ground and air traffic. She cursed loudly in a language Lando didn't recognize as she weaved through the vehicles and pedestrians already scrambling to get out of her way; with loud booms and shrieks of metal upon metal, smaller speeders were sent tumbling.

And still, the biker scouts pursued.

"Go higher!" Luke exclaimed as he shifted his stance so only one saber – the green one Lando was accustomed to seeing him use – was facing aft. He gestured in the direction they were heading with the other blade, face contorted as if in strain, and a dozen parked vehicles flipped up out of the way as if struck by an invisible plow. Lando gaped for a moment as their path opened up for them before quickly catching himself and returning full attention to the speeder bikes around them. His eyes widened when he realized the helmet-less stormtrooper – Scarface, he mentally decided – who had given him so much trouble was among those pursuing.

"Altitude stabilizer is shot!" Jade responded as she applied more thrust and accelerated into the gap Skywalker had made for her. "Luke!" she shouted a second later as they slid out into an open road. There, ten meters distant, a Swift Assault 5 Hoverscout lurked in waiting, its turreted weapons already tracking. With a flash, a concussion missile roared from its launch tubes and screamed toward them.

Luke grunted and half-turned to face the hoverscout, Mara's lightsaber still aimed toward the speeder's front. In mid-air, the concussion missile abruptly shifted direction and climbed rapidly. Less than a second later, it vanished through the protective field and was instantly torn apart by the super-hurricane force winds.

"Mara," Skywalker started to say but Jade was already reacting. She slammed the airspeeder into reverse and then slewed the vehicle around before punching the accelerator. The speeder jumped forward with a growl even as the Hoverscout began blasting away at them with its heavy blaster cannon. Near misses ripped free huge gouts of permacrete from the nearby buildings and Lando winced at the rain of shrapnel that peppered the speeder.

"We can't outrun that thing groundside," he commented as he sent a rapid burst of fire in the direction of Scarface. They were all misses, but caused the trooper to duck lower and reduce his speed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the two Noghri were having much better luck with their shots; each time they squeezed the trigger on their rifles, a trooper tumbled from his bike.

"Idea!" Luke shouted.

"Bad idea!" Mara replied sharply.

"Just do it!" Skywalker snapped. As if in response, Jade accelerated toward the cluster of pursuing speeder bikes now in front of them. Already, the scout-troopers were breaking to either side of the airspeeder to avoid being rammed, but Mara aimed the nose of their vehicle toward the most distant bike. Without warning, she banked hard, the maneuver instantly causing the speeder to slew around into a violent fishtail.

And Luke went flying.

Lando nearly shouted as he caught sight of Skywalker tumbling through the air, but the exclamation died in his throat as Luke twirled in mid-air and landed almost lightly on the stabilizing outrigger of the bike Mara had been aiming for. His sudden, unbalancing weight caused the bike to begin to flip but Luke was already leaping once more, this time changing direction and aiming toward another of the bikes now reorienting toward their airspeeder. Skywalker covered the three meter distance with the second jump, again landing on the outrigger and springing from it before it too smashed into the ground. As if they were stepping stones across a pond, he leaped to two more bikes and each jump carried him closer to the Hoverscout.

Clearly recognizing the danger they were in, the crew of the Hoverscout shifted fire in his direction and began spraying wildly with their anti-personnel blaster. To Lando's astonishment, Luke parried the shots in mid-air almost leisurely, deflecting each blaster bolt back at the Hoverscout. The anti-personnel blaster was shredded by its own fire even before Skywalker landed on the vehicle's hull.

"Showoff," Mara muttered as she hit the accelerator again. The speeder jumped forward once more and Lando's last glimpse of Luke before they rounded a corner was as the Jedi drove both saber blades into the Hoverscout's engines. Calrissian shot an incredulous look in Jade's direction – he could barely believe she would willingly abandon Skywalker like that – but the tension in her jaw and her white-knuckled grip on the speeder's controls convinced him to keep his mouth shut.

As they raced through the streets, Lando found himself fighting back astonishment at what he'd just seen. He'd known Luke was a Jedi since the first time he'd set eyes on him, but this? This exceeded anything he'd ever seen before. As a child during the Clone Wars, he could just remember reports of the Jedi fighting the Separatists but, by then, they were so few in number that seeing one of them in person was more unlikely than hitting the jackpot on Sevrosi. Even those reports paled in comparison to what he'd just seen. No wonder the Emperor was so afraid of them, he realized, while silently thanking the stars a good man like Luke was responsible for bringing them back.

They reached a docking berth minutes later and Lando gave the YT-2400 waiting a quick, cursory glance, noting at once that it was already fired up and ready for immediate launch. Another pair of Noghri lurked near the docking ramp, long rifles in hand and tense expressions on their face. One of them asked something in their native tongue and the two in the airspeeder glowered before shaking their heads. As one, the four looked at Mara and Lando followed suit.

Still seated before the speeder's controls, Jade's eyes were closed and her face tight. She frowned before opening her eyes and climbing from the airspeeder. Glancing once in the direction they'd just come from, she started to walk toward the YT-2400. In mid-step, she hesitated before visibly relaxing.

And, in that instant, Lando heard the approach of an Imperial speeder bike.

"Why did you jump?" one of the Noghri asked Luke when he arrived, filthy and disheveled but uninjured. "I thought you were a Skywalker," the diminutive alien said with a hissing laugh. Luke smiled as he began pushing the now deactivated speeder bike toward the waiting freighter.

"I was in a hurry," the Jedi said.

"You were reckless," the other Noghri declared flatly. "No wonder the Jedi are extinct," he continued in a tone Lando recognized as almost frustrated. "None of you have a survival instinct." Without further comment, the Noghri stalked toward the freighter in a decidedly foul temper. Luke exchanged a look with the other diminutive alien who shrugged.

"Thanks for showing up when you did," Lando said after he helped Luke push the bike into the YT-2400's main hold and sealed the landing ramp. Two of the Noghri – the pair who had been waiting at the ship – were already climbing into the gun turrets and Calrissian noted the practiced ease in which they did so as he continued to trail Skywalker to the cockpit. He blinked in minor surprise at seeing Jade in the co-pilot's station – Lando was pretty sure this crate was hers, not Luke's – but made no comment about it.

"No problem," Luke answered as he dropped into the pilot's seat.

"I hope it was worth it," Jade added sourly. "We've got maybe five minutes before they get a lock on our identity and close the tunnel."

"That's plenty of time," Skywalker said with a smile. The engines roared to life and, moving like a snubfighter instead of the freighter it was, the YT-2400 climbed into the sky. Already, there was more traffic racing toward the sole exit from the mining colony than was normal and Luke expertly manipulated the controls before him, weaving the freighter through the jammed sky traffic with amazing grace.

"Blast," Mara grumbled, her fingers holding a earpiece in place. "They've identified our docking bay." With her other hand, she was rapidly inputting commands into the console before her. "There goes the shutdown order."

"How much time?" Luke asked quickly.

"Shut up and let me work," the redhead retorted without heat. Her fingers danced across the board. "Surprise," she muttered under her breath before leaning back in the seat. "Two minutes," Jade said. "I locked out their system using a command override."

"Like I said," Skywalker grinned. "Plenty of time."


A/N #2: Yes, I know that, canonically, Bail Antilles and Bail Organa are two different people, but since we never actually saw Bail Antilles on the screen, I'm not worried about combining them into a single character. Besides, I thought it was a neat way to make the Alderaani culture slightly more unique...

wbsaw: No DE here (though the clones are running around in that pseudo-Vader outfit Luke wore in DE). I'm trying to keep Leia from turning OOC, but she's not fully trained and this is a dangerous time for here. As to L/M, that'd be telling...

SpookyFox: No, Leia hasn't turned to the Dark Side ... but she has been tempted by it. And we all know what happens once you start down that path...

BnB: What can I say? My depravity knows no bounds and certainly isn't limited by ENT. And you're one to talk! :P

TDLPotter: Oh ... shiny. "The Fall of Leia Skywalker." It sounds like one of those massive tomes history students such as myself are forced to shell out ridiculous amounts of money for to take a class we're only mildly interested in...

Deja: I'm glad my version of Chewie is working. It's something I've constantly struggled with...

Canis: I understand your misgivings but I hope you'll stick around to find out where I'm taking this. I hope you won't be disappointed, but I understand if you decide to duck out.

blank101: Heya! Glad you tagged along. Free publicity here: if you readers haven't read his "Into the Storm" and "In Shadows and Darkness" then you're missing some wicked cool fics. Go read 'em. Now!

DonR: "If one becomes convinced one has to do this, then one believes one has to do this." Oh ... very well said...

Elemarth: The 'flash of yellow' was just a dramatic device designed to increase tension in the reader. The flicker of yellow was just that - a flicker. :P