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She gave him a friendly smile. “Then you’re taking me to them. Very nice of you.”

“You’re a clever young woman, Vestara. It took us quite a while to realize that you hadn’t paid Monarg for repairs to the yacht, that you’d sold it to him for just enough to send your message home. And then begun running around the rain forest to draw us off, as a diversion.”

“It was an interesting tour. And then, of course, I met the Nightsisters and dedicated myself to their destruction.”

“Yes, of course. Ben, roll your eyes for me, would you? I’m out of practice.”

Ben rolled his eyes. Then he brought Jade Shadow off the ground on repulsors, eased her out over the rain forest, and pointed her toward orbit.

In minutes the sky overhead was graduating from blue to black and the distant horizon was curving, showing the contours visible from low planetary orbit.

Ben set a course toward the closest point where he could initiate a jump toward the Maw. Dyon’s yacht was on the sensor screen, its course matching his.

There were other ships on the sensors as well, ships that were closing. “Dad …”

Luke leaned forward. “I’m reading capital ships inbound. From orbital positions around Dathomir and from other points in the planet’s vicinity.”

“My data agrees with yours. Sensors ID them as Corporate Sector Authority–manufactured ChaseMasters. Seven of them. No, eight.”

Luke bit his lip. ChaseMaster frigates were dated, no match for their modern counterparts. But one or two of them could destroy Jade Shadow. And eight of them would be practically impossibe to elude, even with a Skywalker at Jade Shadow’s controls.

He glanced at Vestara. She had her head turned away from the main monitor and viewports, and seemed to be paying no attention to what was going on. She was smiling.

“Correction, Dad. Nine of them. Ten. Eleven. We’ve got problems.”

“Attention, Jade Shadow.” The voice, male, was rich and carried just the hint of a foreign accent—an accent like Vestara’s. “This is the frigate Black Wave. Enter a parking orbit and cease all attempts to leave the Dathomir system or we will be forced to open fire.”

Luke and Ben exchanged a look.

Vestara finally spoke. “Being ordered about, constantly in danger, having to scramble for plans just to stay alive … this is what it’s been like for me for my entire stay on Dathomir. What’s it feel like?”

Ben sighed. “Like life as usual.”

Read on for an excerpt from

Star Wars:® Fate of the Jedi: Allies

by Christie Golden

Published by Del Rey Books

ABOARD THE JADE SHADOW

BEN WONDERED IF HE’D BE HIS FATHER’S AGE BEFORE THINGS STARTED going right for him on any basis other than what appeared to be happy accidents.

Then he wondered if he’d be older than his dad.

True, he’d had a couple of uneventful years after the war. But then his father got arrested and exiled for a decade. Jedi who had spent formative years at Shelter in the Maw—and gee, Ben was among that number, how reassuring was that little fact?—started going crazy. Ben and Luke had learned about some creepily powerful being with dark slithery mental tendrils of need who was probably responsible for the crazy Jedi, and had been going to pay her a visit inside the Maw when they abducted a Sith. One that was unquestionably easy on the eyes, but who was nonetheless a Sith, from a whole planet load of them, no less. She was still with them right now, standing and smirking at them while nearly a dozen frigates crammed with her pals surrounded them.

Yeah. He would definitely be older than his dad.

Luke had followed the instructions given by the unnamed, unseen Sith commander of the Black Wave, placing the Shadow in parking orbit around Dathomir. There was no other choice, not with eleven ChaseMaster frigates ready to open fire.

“A wise decision,” Vestara said. “I’m fond of my own life, so I’m glad you’re cooperating, but if you had attempted to flee, they most certainly would have destroyed you.”

Luke eyed her thoughtfully. Clearly, he wasn’t so sure.

“So,” Ben continued, “what are they going to do with us? Are we going to be the main