And this man flies a fighter. He’s fought real battles. He destroyed the Death Star. I’ll never understand the Jedi… and this is all my fault anyway, for spying for him.
“We all have our regrets in war, “she said. “And what looks like today’s merciful solution turns into tomorrow’s suffering, Master Skywalker. We’re all part of that web of events.”
“Indeed…”
“My intention now is to set up a GA government in exile, because we can’t beat Jacen on Coruscant, not without outside aid, and I’m not sure that’s prudent right now.”
“Ocean, where will you go? Where can you go?”
It was an excellent question. The nearest GA Fleet base-or at least a base that wasn’t hostile to the GA-was Nallastia.
“Nallastia.”
“Not ideal.”
“Fondor would have been handy, but we appear to have worn out our welcome…”
“Commit some rescue teams to the planet, and I’ll see what I can arrange with President Vadde. Stopping Jacen ignoring the surrender might have bought you some points with him. And you’re no longer the official GA.”
War could suspend all logic and common sense. It wouldn’t have been the first time in history that enemies had found common cause midstream and become allies. Niathal grasped at the straw that would give her crews the best chance of survival.
“I’m very grateful for your assistance, Master Skywalker, “she said.
“I’m sure you’d do the same for me, Admiral….” And look where it got me.
One day, Niathal knew, she would be unable to keep it to herself any longer, and she’d have to unburden herself to someone about leaking the minelayers’ movements.
And you, Luke Skywalker. How will you square it with your conscience?
Now wasn’t the time to ask him.
She’d left port as the joint Chief of State and now she couldn’t go home-not until or unless Jacen Solo was deposed. For some reason, the hundred minelayer crew weighed more heavily on her than the thousands lost in this battle.
“Resilient reports that they’ve recovered Captain Nevil, by the way, ma’am, “said the comm officer. “He asks if he can join Ocean.”
Nevil, one saved out of so many lost. “Tell him, permission granted.”
Nevil’s wife didn’t have to lose both a son and a husband within weeks of each other. Niathal grasped it as one bright moment in a day of dark.
MED EVAC SPEEDER, APPROACHING BLOODFIN
The battlefield was a scrap yard of debris from a hundred ships and more. Caedus picked his way between slowly rumbling chunks of ship ranging from hatches and torn sheets of plastoid panels to whole sections bigger than his own vessel. The battle was over, leaving desolation in its wake.
But Tahiri was alive; he could feel her.
And he could feel Jaina.
Of all the people he’d lost-in the sense that they were monochrome images from another life, that they would be vividly relevant and full-color again if he could only change back into the person he’d been-Jaina was the one that troubled him most. He had been certain that it would have been Allana; he made a conscious effort not to think of his daughter, and it worked-mostly. But it was his twin who haunted his thoughts, and that perhaps was inevitable.
So she’d come after him, too, to finish what Luke had started. Yun-Harla: the Trickster goddess of the Yuuzhan Vong, who would have derived satisfaction from seeing the two battling twins of their religion made flesh. He reached out in the Force to locate Jaina, the only way he could detect the location of her StealthX. She would never feel him now that he was hidden in the Force; and she would never open fire on a med evac vessel. But he stayed alert.
Bloodfin drifted, apparently intact, ringed by debris that wasn’t her own. Two Imperial cruisers circled her at a distance, almost the last of the Remnant’s fleet to leave the area. The med sprinter’s comlink burst into life.
“Med Evac, this is Gold Fortress. We have a security situation in Bloodfin. Please keep clear.”
Ceadus eased slowly toward Bloodfin’s stern. “This is Med Evac Ten-Fourteen from Colonel Solo’s Galactic Alliance Fourth Fleet, offering assistance. We’re aware of your problem.”
“Where’s your boss, Ten-Fourteen? Banged out in a hurry, didn’t he?”
“Give me time to talk to Bloodfin and persuade them to let me take off any wounded.” In a corpsman’s uniform, Caedus was pretty anonymous. Even if folks knew a face, they tended to be poor at recognizing it out of context. A little mind influence, a little push here and there, and he could walk in. “I’m a med evac, for goodness’ sake. They’re not savages, mutiny or no mutiny. Have you still got comm contact?”