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Another illusion. Ben almost smiled to himself. Maybe this was what happened in the Rift—the hallucinations started out as generic and became more and more specific. Although the whole Coruscant thing was kinda stupid, because Ben knew good and well that—

Luke came racing back from the galley, dropped into the copilot’s seat, and began, swiftly but with control, to bring the Jade Shadow back in line. Ben felt him extend his senses in the Force, and the ship seemed to quiet, almost like a living animal responding to the calmness of its master.

“Oh,” Ben said. “That … wasn’t a hallucination.”

“No,” Luke said, his blue eyes narrowing as he gazed at the readings. “Although I can see how you thought it was.” On the screen was a “reading” of Tatooine.

Then there was that ship.

There was a sudden bright flash, and the ship that had appeared on the readings was right in front of them.

It was huge, it had come out of nowhere, it was discordant, and it was directly on top of them. For an instant Ben was reminded of the Yuuzhan Vong ships, but if their vessels were organic in a plant-based fashion, this was living stone. It was a sphere, sort of, but nothing so precise. Strange projections jutted out—exhaust ports? thruster ports?—seemingly at random. It was covered with thick hull plates that were etched with some kind of writing or symbols. And it was moving steadily toward them.

“Well, Ben, looks like we can stop searching. The Aing-Tii have found us.”

It had to be. The Sanhedrim ships could move from one place to another in the blink of an eye. And clearly, they had the ability to affect or confuse readings. As he started to think more clearly, Ben realized that what he’d seen had been stored images and information on the planets, not actual live readings.

“When you can’t trust your eyes,” Luke said, and Ben finished for him, “Trust the Force.”

Ben softened his gaze and dropped into a receptive state, extending his feelings and senses out into the Force that had once so frightened him and was now such a source of strength, knowledge, and even comfort.

It took a while, and he kept part of his attention on the enormous ship in front of them. It made no attempt to contact or fire upon them, but neither did it move away. Ben was certain that the Aing-Tii were watching them as surely as he and Luke were watching their ship.

And then Ben felt them.

They were like no other energy he had ever encountered in the Force. They felt—shifting, weaving in and out of the Force—like they were not really a part of it, although Ben knew that all living things were part of the Force. They were there, and they were not, and they managed both at the same time, and holding that contradiction in his mind was starting to give Ben a headache.

He felt his father reaching out, a strong, clear, bright, calm presence in the Force. There were no words, but Luke was open and inviting. Luke was still as stone, his eyes, like Ben’s, open, seeing and also focusing inward.

The response all but took the wind out of him, so powerful was it.

There was a definite sense of—not hostility, but not-wanting. They were not welcome, but neither were they being repulsed. Yet.

They were to be tested. They must prove themselves. There was a hint of softening, and Ben realized that somehow the Aing-Tii knew why they had come, and would at least give them the chance to speak. The softening suddenly turned hard, cold. Ben knew that if they failed the test, they would be refused … and he got a definite sense that that “refusal” would not be anything pleasant.

He felt his father agree, and then Luke took a deep breath. Ben felt him withdraw from the Force as a conscious presence. He still sensed Luke—he would always be able to sense him, unless Luke himself deliberately chose otherwise. Just as Ben sometimes chose not to be present in the Force. He, too, withdrew, and ground a palm into his tired eyes.

“You agreed to their test,” he said.

“I don’t really think there was a choice, Ben.”

“I don’t either. But how do—”

Their screen blinked. Coordinates suddenly appeared