A/N: sorry this took so long! I've been sick for a while!

TAHIRI

"…So I finally came this way and saw you," I continued.

One of the humans stared at me. "You couldn't have seen us in outer space. You were in a ship."

I laughed. This girl obviously didn't know anything about Jedi. "I sensed you with something called the Force. It's something that binds all living things, and it controls our destiny."

The male had a funny look on his face, so I concentrated and tried to read him. All I got was a sense of vague familiarity.

"Do you know of the Jedi?" I asked him helpfully.

Then I was overloaded with realization. I concentrated hard and understood that this was his emotion.

"You're from Star Wars!" He blurted out.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

The female began shakily, "That's what we call your world in our… galaxy."

Now it was my turn to stare. "You mean you're from a different galaxy?"

"It appears so." The girl still looked traumatized. She finally stuck out her hand. "I'm Cassie, and that's Jake."

I shook her hand. "Tahiri Veila. Piloting the ship is Anakin Solo."

"You mean Skywalker," Jake corrected me.

I raised my eyebrows. "No, I mean Solo. Anakin Skywalker's been dead for twenty-five years. Anakin is his grandson."

"Ah."

Then the ship shook. Anakin's head popped around the corner.

"We're being attacked! There are Yuuzhan Vong on all sides!"

I jumped up. "Is either of you a competent gunner?"

Jake nodded. "How can I help?"

"Take the upper gun port. I'll take the lower. Cassie… just stay here."

We raced to our stations. As I targeted ship after ship, I saw that Jake had been either lying or misinformed. He was far from competent… at least in this galaxy's standards. He just shot randomly at any part of the coralskippers, and therefore often missed. In fact, he had handicapped only one ship in the time that I had gotten four… and I was no gunner.

Who is this kid? Anakin asked me privately.

He said his name was Jake. He's the male we picked up obviously.

He needs to play more sims… wait! Help is coming!

Now I sensed it too. Jaina Solo was not too far away, having just arrived from the Maw.

"Hey, little brother. I thought that you said you'd drop by sometime. I didn't know that you'd bring company." The Rogue Squadron pilot fired once, incapacitating a yammosk with her first shot. "Who do you have firing from your upper gun turret? Threepio?" She laughed.

No, some crazy guy we picked up on the way here, Anakin said in a silent voice only Jaina and I could hear. He obviously can't aim, though.

"I can see that," Jaina's voice came over the comm. "Oh, look! The Wild Karrde! I think we might just win this skirmish."

"I don't think so, Jeedai," said a familiar, sinister voice.

"Nom Anor!" Anakin hissed.

"That's correct, little Jeedai. I have finally found a way to intercept your infidel communications."

"That's great," I said through clenched teeth. "Maybe you'll tell us which ship is yours so that I can blast it into a billion pieces. I am the Jedi-who-was-shaped, Nom Anor, and I don't plan on dying."

"Nice one, Tahiri!" Jake's voice came over loud and clear. I winced. I didn't need some… outsider intruding at a time like this.

"Unidentified vessel, this is the Wild Karrde. If you seek assistance, identify yourself."

"This is Anakin Solo and Tahiri Veila, on the Jedi Dream. Jaina Solo is on the X-Wing. We could really use some help right now! We've just discovered that Nom Anor is on one of these coralskippers. Mind giving us a hand getting rid of some slime?"

"Not at all, Jedi," Shada D'ukal's voice came through. "Let's get rid of some Yuuzhan Vong scum!"

We fought and fought, and succeeded in driving back the Yuuzhan Vong… until…

"Hi, I'm really not quite sure what I'm doing here, but I think that Nom Anor wants to use my buddy and me as ransom. Basically, if you don't fall back or something, then they'll kill me. Now, I know that you don't know me, but I'm not too disposed toward dying, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't keep fighting."

We all began to talk.

"Casualties happen," Shada pointed out.

"Kill to kill again," Jaina agreed.

"Maybe there's a way out of it," Talon Karrde said thoughtfully.

"There is no way," Anakin said harshly. "If we kill Nom Anor, then the captive will die, no matter what. His fate is sealed."

"Wait," someone interrupted. It was Jake. "That's my friend they've got. Please don't kill him. Would you willingly let your best friend die?"

And the boy's fate was then sealed. After all, we all had lost friends since the Yuuzhan Vong invasion had begun, and we weren't about to let someone else's friend die…