“And we really did want to inspect the Kiris fleet before we gave the go-ahead to launch the surprise attack,” Lemora added. “Coreilia’s future is riding on it.”
“That’s understandable,” Leia said. She turned to Han and shot him her best do-it-for-me pout. “Satisfied?”
“Sure.” Han frowned and curled his lip at her-he hated it when Leia used her female powers on him. “Count me in.”
Leia only smiled and patted his hand. “Me, too.”
“Excellent.” Gejjen looked relieved. He rose and stretched his arm across the table. “The Five Worlds are grateful.”
As he and Han shook hands, Lemora removed a data card from her pocket and passed it to Leia. “I took the liberty of preparing a vidbriefing. You can look it over when you return to the falcon”
“Our instructions are on it?” Leia asked.
“Of course,” Gejjen said. He extended a hand toward the exit. “You’ll need to get under way quickly if you’re going to reach Hapes in time.”
“I’ll show you out.” Antilles stood and led the Solos into the outer cabin. As soon as the door closed behind him, he clasped Han’s shoulder. “Sorry, old buddy. I was looking forward to ordering you around.”
“Why?” Han retorted. “You don’t think I’d have obeyed, do you?”
Antilles laughed. “I suppose not.” He turned to Leia and said, “Thanks for helping. If we have any hope of getting the Alliance to back off before this war gets ugly, you’re it.”
“I’m glad to help-you know that.” Leia studied Antilles for a moment, then her voice grew sober. “Wedge, what aren’t they telling us?”
Antilles looked back toward the door and shook his head. “I don’t know, Princess-and I don’t like it any more than you do.”
“Well, whatever it is, it’s got to be better for us to talk to Tenel Ka than Willems,” Han said. “That guy could drive me into the Alliance’s arms.”
“I think that’s what Gejjen was counting on,” Leia said. “He knew you’d have to say yes if you saw the alternative in person.”
“It worked.” Han turned to Antilles. “That and finding out my alternative was being your decoy.”
“Glad I could help you make up your mind, then.” Antilles smiled wearily, then shook hands with Han and kissed Leia on the cheek. “I should be getting back, or they’re going to think I’m trying to talk you out of this. May the Force be with you.”
“Thanks, Wedge,” Leia said, turning toward the door. “We’ll need it.”
Chapter Two
Jaina Solo did not want to leave her dreambubble. She was with Jagged Fel deep in the heart-warmth of their nest, their heads still throbbing to the rhythm of the Little Dawn Rumble, their bodies filled with the sweet heat of Killik mating pheromones. All the galaxy’s troubles seemed far away, and their battle in the skies of Tenupe had never happened. For once, they were together and at peace, with nothing to do but listen to the sweet sound of… alarm bells’!
The bell was chiming inside Jaina’s skull, shaking the dreambubble until it popped, calling her back from her Force-hibernation into the icy free fall of reality. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at the frost-rimed interior of a StealthX canopy, her teeth chattering so hard she thought they might shatter. She felt queasy and sore and muddleheaded, and even in the frigid conditions, the cockpit smelled stale and sour.
“Okay, Sneaker, I’m awake,” Jaina said. “You can turn up the heater. And the air scrubbers.”
The astromech, a replacement for Sneaky-whom she had lost when Jag and his squadron shot her down on
Tenupe-beeped an acknowledgment, and warm air began to pour into the StealthX’s cockpit. Jaina expanded her Force-awareness. As her mind cleared, she felt her wingmate, Zekk, also awakening. He had resigned his commission in Rogue Squadron a couple of weeks earlier, when Jacen had attempted to court-martial Jaina for refusing to fire on a helpless blockade-runner. Now he and Jaina were part of a Jedi reconnaissance team spying on the secret Corellian shipyards in the Kiris Asteroid Cluster.
Though Jaina could feel Zekk’s Force presence floating a dozen meters ahead and a little below her own position, it took several moments to locate the cross-shaped silhouette of his StealthX. Basically a configuration of the formidable XJ3 X-wing, the StealthX starfighter had a fiberplast body that was all irregular planes and angles, with a matte-black finish camouflaged with an eye-deceiving pattern of tiny blue points that rendered it almost invisible against a starry background. It also had a gravitic modulator, photon absorbers, thermal dissipa-tors, and an entire suite of specialized signal negators that made it almost invisible to sensor sweeps. Even its fusial engines burned a special Tibanna isotope whose efflux turned dark a millisecond after fusion.