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Leia bent close to the monitor. “There, in the distance. Look at the bogeys.” Fifteen or twenty of them were swarming in the vicinity of the crater. Then, as a swirling cloud, they began flying toward the holocam view, toward the YVH droids.

“Uh-oh.” Lando picked up the comm board's microphone. “Five and Six, pull out. Immediate full-speed retreat. Return to pickup zone.”

The droids complied. The holocam view swung around, showing stony tunnel rocking as the droids ran from the cavern entrance.

Thirty seconds went by, and then the monitor went mostly dark. Diagnostics boxes along the sides began flashing red malfunction indicators.

Tendra's expression turned unhappy. “Both offline.”

“Still, sweetie, it's a successful test.” Lando rubbed his hands together. “Get enough combat droids down there, and we can do it.”

Han, solemn, shook his head. “How many is enough, old buddy? A hundred? A thousand? How many can you get here in a day or two?”

“Not that many.”

“What we can do, though …” Han frowned, concentrating. He moved to the monitor and entered the command to bring up the schematic of Kessel and its tunnels. “Here's what we do. We refit the Falcon and the Lady Luck to launch thermals instead of concussion missiles—”

Nien Nunb spoke a few words, sounding indignant.

Han didn't need Lando to translate. “Yeah, and the Half a Star. I also think we know some crotchety retirees who own their own starfighters and can get here on short notice.”

Tendra's face brightened into a smile. “Right. We plot out the best paths through the tunnels.”

“Won't work,” Leia said. “As the starfighters fly through and launch their detonators, the explosions will be taking place in just the sort of progressions we don't want them to.” Then her expression brightened. “Unless we rig the thermal detonators so they don't blow up on impact, but on timer.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Lando's eyes scanned back and forth, obviously seeing something other than what was actually in front of him. “Mechanical timers, I think, not electronic. We don't want the bogeys disrupting them. It can work.” Then his expression turned sad.

“What is it, honey?” Tendra asked.

“Time to spend a lot more credits.”

CAVERNS OF THE HIDDEN ONE, DORIN

They did call him the Hidden One, these other Baran Do living in the caverns deep beneath Dorin's surface, and they did not refer to him in hushed tones, which Ben took as a good sign—an indication that they did not fear him as a god or a tyrant. But because the Hidden One was currently too busy administering this tiny subterranean kingdom to bother with time-consuming, mundane tasks, the job of shepherding the Skywalkers around fell to the sage who had accompanied them to these caverns, combat instructor Charsae Saal. His first exploration of the cavern became the Skywalkers', as well.

Of course, he was now the former Charsae Saal. He called himself Chara and insisted that the Skywalkers do likewise.

The three of them walked from chamber to chamber, exploring, unhindered by the other Kel Dors present. Ben thought he had counted twenty different Kel Dors in ten chambers and tunnels so far, but as they were all dressed alike it was hard for him to tell. In addition to the arrival tunnel and the Hidden One's grand chamber, they had walked along a gallery tunnel with holes leading into private quarters, a large chamber where vegetables and grains of all sorts were grown in circular hydroponics vats, and a storeroom where primitive digging tools such as pickaxes and shovels were hung. Now they moved through a large chamber loaded with recycling equipment—waste and water recyclers, polymer decomposers, tiny foundries for durasteel and transparisteel.

“Obviously,” Luke said, “you've known about this place for some time before coming here.”

“I have.” Chara nodded. “It was nearly twenty years ago when Master Koro Ziil, sensing that I might someday be suited to this existence, came to me. He swore me to secrecy and told me of the Hidden