Jacen’s eyes went first to the left corner of the display, which showed an image of his cabin, where Allana sat on the floor playing with a pair of simple rag dolls. Scattered around her was a GAG special assault squad with orders to kill anyone attempting to enter the room. The other corner of the display showed Aurra Sing lying unconscious on the floor of a durasteel cell, secured at the wrist and ankle by stun cuffs and fastened to the wall at three points by heavy chains.
Only then, once he was sure that his daughter was safe and her attacker was still incapacitated, did Jacen read the message on the lower part of the display.
“What’s this about Alliance rescue beacons, Lieutenant?”
“The Signals Deck started to pick them up as soon as we reverted, sir. They’re about… here.”
Orlopp extended a finger into the holodisplay, indicating a position on the far side of Galney’s reinforcement fleet. But Jacen’s mind had wandered again, his gaze drifting back to the fight above Hapes. After the attack on his daughter, and with her mother in danger now, he was finding it hard to concentrate on his command duties. He wanted to be in a starfighter whisking Allana to safety on some anonymous world where this kind of danger could never find her.
But that would not save Tenel Ka. She was down there in battle, probably aboard one of the five Battle Dragons fighting from a standoff position at the rear of the Royal Navy.
“Colonel?” Orlopp flicked his finger, drawing Jacen’s attention back to the question of the rescue beacons-which were located squarely on the opposite side of the Galney reinforcement fleet from the Anakin Solo. “I was debating whether to bother you with this at all, since any rescue vessel we dispatch will probably be destroyed. To retrieve the stranded personnel, we’d have to divert the entire fleet.”
“Obviously.” Jacen continued to study the hologram, wondering what could have caused an Alliance crew to go EV so far from the main battle. “Any idea who…”
“Colonel Solo.” The interruption came from Major Es-para, the pale-skinned woman Tenel Ka had sent along to serve as a liaison officer to the Royal Battle Dragons in his task force. “I hope you’re not even going to consider diverting this fleet to rescue a handful of your people. The Queen Mother is already in danger, and if you allow Ducha Galney’s reinforcements…”
“I assure you my understanding of the Queen Mother’s danger is far clearer than yours,” Jacen replied, rather sharply. He returned his attention to Orlopp. “Have the Signals Deck place a tracking lock on the beacons. We’ll attend to them after the Queen Mother is safe.”
Orlopp punched a button on his datapad, sending an order that he had obviously prepared in anticipation of Jacen’s decision.
When the Jenet did not look away, Jacen asked, “Is there something else, Lieutenant?”
“There is,” Orlopp replied. “The message dinghy you dispatched to Roqoo Depot was waiting to be taken aboard when we reverted from hyperspace.” Jacen frowned. “And?”
“And the hangar chief is suspicious, Colonel,” Orlopp said. “The pilot is requesting an immediate audience with you, and there’s some question as to how she could have known our reversion coordinates.”
“Commend the chief on his caution,” Jacen said. “And tell him to get that pilot up here now.”
For someone like Lumiya, foreseeing the Anakin’s reversion coordinates would have required only a little guesswork and some Force meditation. Jacen was far more surprised that she had returned at all, since he had felt nothing in the Force to suggest that either Luke or Mara had been killed.
It occurred to him that Lumiya might have foreseen his trap and avoided the confrontation entirely. He wondered briefly if her return ought to worry him, but-despite the reservations she had expressed recently about his ability to make the necessary sacrifices to bring order to the galaxy-he was well aware that Lumiya needed him more than he needed her.
In the holodisplay, the Galney fleet began to glow more brightly as the Anakin Solo closed to within range of its new, long-distance turbolasers. The usurper reinforcements continued toward Hapes at maximum acceleration, clearly convinced they could reach the battle and kill Tenel Ka before Jacen’s task force caught up to them. Jacen used the Force to depress a button on the wall, activating an intercom microphone. “Commander Twizzl, time to grab their attention. Attack at your discretion.”
Twizzl’s voice came over the speaker. “Very good, Colonel.”
A few moments later the Anakirfs long-range turbolaser batteries unleashed a salvo, causing the lights to flicker and the ventilation fans to slow. In less critical parts of the ship, the effects would be even worse, plunging corridors into temporary darkness and forcing electronic systems to switch to battery power. The new turbolasers were cutting-edge technology, but they required so much power that they were unlikely to become standard armament anytime soon.