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He wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Hara’s voice cut into his meditations. “We’re outside the Hapes gravity well and we’ve been on a specific course, laser-straight, for a couple of minutes. The other craft in that flotilla are forming up, mathematically perfect, along that course. I think they’re going to jump.”

Dei glanced at Fardan. “Plot probable destinations.”

Fardan looked back at him, eyes wide. “Across an entire galaxy? Every potential arrival site? There will be thousands to choose from.”

Dei smiled. “Prioritize by probability. First, run the route out to the galaxy’s edge. Factor in recent news feeds, locations from the Queen Mother’s history, spots along the route that are close enough to constitute gravity wells that would pull the flotilla out of hyperspace. What do you get?”

Fardan turned back to his control board.

“Flotilla entering hyperspace.” It was true; on the monitors, the magnified image of the flotilla was suddenly gone, leaving nothing but empty space.

Hara maintained the Cryptic Warning’s course and Dei maintained silence while Fardan worked. Finally the young man turned around again. “Just over six thousand potential hits. But prioritizing with the factors you suggested gives us fewer than ten with any known relevance.”

“What’s number one?”

“Hutt space, Si’klaata Cluster, planet Klatooine. A desert world. It’s the site of a recent slave rebellion, which ties in to Alliance politics, which interact with Hapan politics. With the Jedi controlling a portion of Alliance politics, we have a reinforcing cross-tie of the Queen Mother’s Jedi interests. We have a report from Fleet Communications of Sith and Jedi interactions on Klatooine recently, even though those facts have not yet appeared on Alliance news, still another cross-tie.”

“Very good. Log all possible arrival zones, still arranged by that probability. And prepare a jump to Klatooine.”

Dei leaned back and stretched while his crew members went about their business.

If this turned out to be a fool’s errand, if he were abandoning his station at the Hapes system incorrectly, Gavar Khai might choose to have him demoted or killed.

But one did not achieve greatness by limiting risks and keeping one’s head down. Life was short; excellence and fame were far more enduring. It only made sense to risk the one for the others.

KLATOOINE

Allana screamed again before Leia could reach the little girl’s compartment. Leia’s gut tightened. Lightsaber unlit but in hand, she charged at the compartment door. It snapped open, barely getting out of the way in time for Leia to pass through without slamming into its durasteel surface.

In the compartment, in the dark, lit now only by a column of light admitted by the door, Allana flailed in her bedsheets, struggling with an unseen enemy. Anji, her fur so puffed up that she looked twice her size, crouched in a corner, ready to pounce—there was just nothing to pounce on. She growled at Leia.

Leia sat on the edge of Allana’s bed and held the girl. “Allana. You’re dreaming. It’s all right. You’re just having a bad dream.”

Allana’s eyes were already open. Now, no longer staring wildly, they fixed on Leia. “Fire, she’s burning up.” There was such misery in her voice that it made Leia’s heart ache.

Leia heard a sigh of relief from behind her. She turned to see Han, dressed in nothing but drawers, his blaster in hand, lower his weapon and switch it to safe mode.

Leia gave him a little smile. “Bad dreams. I’ll take care of it.”

He nodded. “I’ll brew us some caf. It’s almost dawn anyway.” Still clumsy from sleepiness, he moved off. The compartment door slid shut.

“It wasn’t a dream.” Allana was fully awake now, but she was obviously unwilling to let go of what she’d experienced. “It was real.”

“Look around, sweetie. Is anyone on fire?”

Allana shook her head, but her jaw was set, so like Han’s and Jacen’s in its stubbornness. “But she will be.”

“Who?”

“Mommy.”

Anji hopped up on the bed and settled on the sheet between Allana’s feet. The nexu remained