by Greg Keyes
offer my apologies. Captain Devis's man found us, but we hadn't had time to
prepare the fleet for lightspeed before you arrived here. I should have joined
you regard-less, but when our communications failed..."
"You did exactly as I would have done, Grand Admiral," Wedge said. "The
battle plan was explicit. It simply didn't take into account that all our
communications might fail."
"That's very generous of you, General Antilles. I hope if I were in your
situation I could be as forgiving."
"Has anyone heard from Admiral Kre'fey?" Wedge asked.
Pellaeon nodded. "The couriers Captain Solo dispatched established
communications between us, a bit belatedly. It seems, General, that the ships
that initially jumped from Bilbringi when you arrived there encountered
Kre'fey's fleet. They engaged briefly."
Jag? Jaina thought. Had she sent him into a firefight?
"Admiral," she asked, "do you know if Colonel Fel reached Admiral
Kre'fey?"
"I do not, Colonel Solo, but I shall make inquiries."
"I'm sure he's fine," Leia said. "We'll find him." Wedge cleared his
throat.
"Grand Admiral," he began, "I wonder if you would care to join us for a
drink. I believe the brandy is from your home province."
Pellaeon hesitated. "I would very much enjoy that, Gen-eral Antilles, but
at the moment, duty calls. I-I was won-dering if I could make an inquiry of my
own. Captain Devis hasn't returned to his command. Do you know his where-
abouts?"
Han shuffled a bit. "I'm sorry, Admiral, he, ah-didn't make it. He died
helping to take down the interdictor." A strange expression passed over
Pellaeon's face like a cloud, and like a cloud it was quickly gone. But Jaina
caught something in the Force, something unmistakable.
"I see," Pellaeon said.
"He said to tell you he did what he thought was right." Pellaeon clasped
his hands behind his back and looked at the floor. "Well, yes, that sounds
like him," he said. He glanced at Han. "He was a great admirer of yours, I
believe, Captain Solo, despite the fact that in Imperial holos you are most
often portrayed as something of a villain. Or perhaps that's why he admired
you."
He clicked his heels together. "Ladies, gentlemen-until I have time for
that drink."
He saluted and left-almost in a hurry, it seemed.
"Villain?" Han muttered. "Maybe I need to see some of these holos."
"That was a little odd, don't you think?" Leia asked.
"Yeah," Han drawled. "Devis was a good guy, sure, but..."
"Is the Grand Admiral married?" Jaina inquired.
"No," Leia replied. "They say he's never made time for it. Why do you
ask?"
"Because," Jaina said, remembering what she'd just felt in the Force, "I
think Devis was his son."
They were all silent for a moment, until Han raised his glass.
"To all of our sons and all of our daughters," he said, "be they with us
or beyond."
EPILOGUE
Han was sitting on a shingle of a beach on Mon Calamari, silently
enjoying the sunset with Leia, when Lando Cal-rissian came calling.
"They said I'd find you down here," Lando said. "I didn't believe it."
"Well, you know," Han said. "The wife likes this sort of thing."
"Is that Jaina?" Lando asked.
Han glanced off in the distance, where Jaina and Jag were exploring the
tide pools below an ancient reef uplift in rolled-up trousers and
windbreakers. Jag had shown up with Kre'fey a few days before, and Jaina and
he had been annoyingly inseparable since then.
"Yep. I convinced her to take a little leave," he said.
"What's going on? Still charging military prices for your courier
service?"
"Hey, I'm just doing my part," Lando said. "I only charge enough to keep
me from looking foolish. Anyway, my businesses won't run without
communications, either. And there's plenty of competition-the Smugglers'
Alliance loves this sort of work. Appeals to the romantic in them."
"Did you just come down here to fill me in on your good deeds, or is
something up?"
"No, I'm just stopping in to say hello and good-bye be-fore I head back
out. But I thought you'd like to know some of my people caught one of the
things that made such a wreck of the HoloNet."
"Really," Leia said. "What was it, exactly?"
"A dovin basal, basically, grafted onto some sort of liv-ing guidance
system. They follow HoloNet signals to their source and then collapse the
relays into singularities. The Vong must have released a million of them-
they're every-where. Some of my people think they're even multiplying."
"Wonderful," Leia said. "So even if we rebuild the relays, as soon as we
use them one of these things will catch the scent, and good-bye relay."
"That's about the size of it. I've been building some com-pact new
relays, though, and mounting them on retrofitted corvettes. If they're mobile,
it'll be harder to find them."
"Sounds expensive," Han said.
"Yeah, but think how useful one of those would have been at Bilbringi."
"Good point. I guess the military will give you a good price for those,
too."
Calrissian smiled. "Eventually. I'm going to give them the first few as
samples. I have to think about the future, after all. Well, I'll leave you two
alone, now. Places to be, and all that."
"Thanks for stopping by." Leia said. "It's always good to see you."
"I'm sure it won't be long before we see each other again," Lando
replied.
They had finished watching the sunset and were walking back to the
apartment when Leia suddenly stumbled. Han caught her.
"Hey," he said, "you know you don't have to act all clumsy to get my
attention." But then he felt how tense she was. "What's wrong?"
"It's Jacen, and Luke-and Tahiri, they..."
"Are they all right?"
"I don't know," she said. "It's not like my contact with them has been
all that strong, but I felt them, especially Luke and Jacen. Now it's like-
they're gone."
Han suddenly felt very cold.
"You mean dead?"
"No, not like that. I would know it if they died-I know I would."
"Then I'm sure they're fine," Han said, uncertain whether he believed
that or not.
"Yes," Leia echoed. "I'm sure they are."
Tahiri looked up at the heavens and shivered straight to her bones.
No world should have hyperspace for a sky. After the jump, Jade Shadow's
instruments had gone strange, and Mara had settled the ship in a protected
ravine until they could sort things out. No telling what would happen to the
atmosphere when they reverted.
If they reverted.
She drew her attention back to the conversation.
"Jacen and I had both sensed you for some time," Master Skywalker was
saying. "But fitfully, and we couldn't get a sense of where. Sekot sensed
something, too, but couldn't find your ship-it was hidden somehow."
"We came in a Sekotan ship," Tahiri said.
"With a few Yuuzhan Vong spare parts," Corran put in.
"That might explain it," Luke said.
"It certainly ex
plains it," a new voice said.
They all turned, and Tahiri gasped. Nen Yim was standing there, whole,
alive.
"Nen Yim! "she said.
Nen Yim shook her head sadly. "No. This one has passed on. I found her
attached to my memory-her, and much in-formation concerning her technology-and
the ship that brought you here. The modifications she made to the ship are-
interesting. I may experiment with the design, should we survive this."
"Tahiri," Jacen said, "this is Sekot, the living intelligence of the
planet."
"I..." What did one say to a world? "I'm pleased to meet you."
"And I you, Tahiri," Sekot said gravely.
"Should we survive?" Luke asked. "What happened, exactly?"
"I was infected with a virus designed to corrupt the information-transfer
system that links my consciousness to the hyperdrive. I believe the intended
result was a core explosion. I managed to prevent that, but was unable to stop
our jump to hyperspace. I have excised the virus and am regaining control as
we speak, but it is difficult."
"Do you have any idea of our destination?"
"None," Sekot said. "The jump was blind. Eventually we will pass close
enough to a gravity well to be pulled out."
"Our friends in orbit," Luke asked. "Do you know what happened to them?"
"They did not make the jump with us," she replied.
"Whether they were destroyed, left behind, or pulled off onto another
vector, I cannot say."
"I'm sorry," Tahiri sighed.
"Sorry?" Luke asked.
"Yes. I brought him here. I argued for it, and now every-thing's ruined."
"Tahiri, you weren't the only one who thought it was a good idea," Corran
said. "Everything always looks clearer in hindsight." He put his hand on her
shoulder. " You came here for all the right reasons-to end the war, to somehow
find common ground between us and the Yuuzhan Vong. I thought we could handle
the situation. I was wrong."
The figure that resembled Nen Yim smiled ruefully. "I will not say I am
happy to find myself sabotaged and in danger of destruction, and yet what you
brought with you-the shaper and her knowledge-are of great impor-tance. I do
not entirely understand, and will not speak of it now, but I suspect the
questions raised are the most impor-tant questions I shall ever have to ask
myself. Now-if you will excuse me, I must return my full attentions to pre-
serving us all through what is to come. I suggest you find sturdy shelter in
the caves."
"Thank you," Luke told her, "and may the Force be with you."
"More than ever," Sekot said, "I believe that it is."
And on that enigmatic note, the image of Nen Yim vanished.
Soon after, the stars returned, spangled on a night sky.
The wind began.