[Dark Nest] - 1(8)

“Han, Ezam’s right,” Leia said. Her gaze remained fixed on the fog, but she reached over and gently clasped his arm. “We just can’t win this one.”

Han could hear in the edginess of Leia’s voice that she wanted to keep going as much as he did. The war had made both of them harder-less forgiving and more determined to win at any price-and sometimes that made him wonder if the Yuuzhan Vong had won after all. Certainly, they had changed more in the galaxy than a few thousand planets.

“Okay.” Han pulled the control yoke back, and the Falcon began to climb free of Borao’s clouds. “The world grabbers win again.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Kyp said over the comm. “But you’ll have a freer rein in the Maltorian belt. There are no gray areas with Three-Eye.”

“Not so fast, kid. We haven’t said we’re going.”

“But Jaina-“

“Is in the Unknown Regions,” Han said. “That’s the point. Give us a second.”

Leia muted the comm mikes, then asked, “What are you thinking?”

“You know what I’m thinking,” Han said. Though he would never have said so, Han wished he had gone after Anakin to Myrkr. He knew it would have made no difference and maybe even gotten them both killed, but he still wished he had tried. “You’re thinking the same thing.”

“I suppose I am.” Leia sighed. “You know there’s no sense going after them.”

“Them?” Han asked. “Jaina and Lowie and-“

“And Jacen.” Leia’s eyes were closed, and her face was raised toward the stars. “It feels like he’s on the move, too.”

“Another reason to go,” Han said. “Five years is too long.”

“You know we’d just be going for ourselves,” Leia said. “Our kids are better at this sort of thing than we are now.”

“Yeah,” Han said. “But what else do we have to do? Stick our necks out for RePlanetHab? Look for another abandoned planet just so they can steal it out from under the Ithorians?”

Leia closed her eyes, perhaps reaching out to their children through the Force, or maybe only searching her own heart for guidance. Finally, she opened her eyes again and reactivated the channel.

“Sorry, Kyp, we can’t help you,” she said. “Han and I have other plans.”





THREE


The unknown object lay directly ahead of Jade Shadow, a crooked oval of darkness the size of a human thumb. Sensor readings suggested a body about as dense as ice, which would have been a rare-though not impossible-thing to find floating around loose in the interstellar void. But infrared measurements placed the core temperature at somewhere between warm and sweltering, and the spectrograph showed a halo of escaped atmosphere that suggested living inhabitants.

Mara had already sensed as much through the Force. She could feel a strange presence within the object, diffuse and ancient and utterly huge. There were also other, more familiar life-forms-smaller, distinct, and somehow enclosed within the haze of the larger being. But there was no hint of Jaina or the other strike team members, nor of the urgent summons they had reported from these coordinates.

Mara glanced at an activation reticle in the front of the cockpit. A small section of the Shadow’s plexalloy canopy opaqued into a mirror, and she turned her attention to Luke and Saba Sebatyne, who were seated high behind her in the copilot’s and navigator’s chairs.

“Time to reconnoiter?” she asked.

“What’s reckon… recoin… wreckoy…?” The question came from behind Luke’s chair, where a freckle-faced boy with red hair and fiery blue eyes stood peering around the edge of the flight deck hatchway. “What’s that?”

“Reconnoiter, Ben. It means take a look.” A smile came to

Mara’s heart at the sight of her son, but she forced a stern tone. “Aren’t you supposed to be playing with Nanna?”

“Nanna’s game module is for little kids,” he complained. “She was trying to make me play Teeks and Ewoks.”

“And why aren’t you?” Luke asked.

“I turned her off.”

“How?” Mara asked. “Her power switch is hidden under her neck armor.”

Ben looked away as casually as a young boy could. “I tricked her into bending down and showing it to me.”

“Turning Nanna off wasn’t very nice,” Mara said. “Her circuits are pulse-shielded. How do you think she’s going to feel after an emergency shutdown?”

“Stupid.” Ben’s answer was almost gleeful. “I’ve only done it to her three times before.”