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His voice, too, was Palpatine’s, insidious and cloying. “How about this? Could you strike this down?”

“Not while you’re connected to an innocent life.”

Palpatine rose and, shimmering as he did so, was Vectivus again by the time he was on his feet. His expression was sympathetic, but a bit pitying. “Jedi girl, you’re not strong enough to save lives. You’re not strong enough to sacrifice one to save many.”

“I could sacrifice myself to save many.”

“Yes. But then you wouldn’t have to face the accusing eyes of the survivors of those you sacrificed. You don’t have that kind of strength.”

“That’s ruthlessness. Not strength.”

Vectivus laughed at her. “Strength that is never touched by ruthlessness is touchingly irresponsible. Perhaps you will be fortunate and never have to decide the fate of an innocent life.” He gestured at Nelani—no, beyond her, and she felt a pulse of Force energy in the distance behind her.

She moved, a floating bounce that allowed her to turn but keep Vectivus in the periphery of her vision. In the distance, where Vectivus gestured, the rails that had borne Brisha’s car to these depths were briefly illuminated. Even when the light faded, she could still feel them, could mark their presence in the Force as though they were living things.

“Go there,” Vectivus said. “And climb those rails to safety. Wait for the others to join you once they have made their decisions about their own fates.” His voice took on a kindly tone. “I don’t want you to die unnecessarily…and as weak as you are, if you meddle in the affairs of others, that’s precisely what will happen to you.”

“Go to hell,” Nelani said.

Vectivus shrugged. “Perhaps I did. I wouldn’t know.” Then he faded from sight, and as he disappeared, the susurrating noise of the mynocks wheeling overhead also vanished.

Nelani spared a look upward. They were gone, leaving not even a trace in the Force.

Anxiety welled within her, a fear concerning the fate of her friends, and she began bounding toward the distant, unseen spot where the rails reached the floor of this cavern. They were her path to the surface, true, but also her path into the lower reaches where Jacen and Brisha awaited.

RELLIDIR, TRALUS

Han winced as his pursuer’s lasers hammered at his stern. He’d diverted extra power from his bow shields to reinforce the stern, a dangerous gambit—if laserfire from the oncoming E-wings missed Wedge, it could accidentally smack into Han’s bow and ruin his day. Ruin the rest of his life, in fact.

But Wedge had managed to vape one of the E-wings with laserfire of his own, and the other had peeled off. It was now circling around to drop in behind the Aleph and reinforce it.

Not that the Aleph needed much reinforcing. Wedge’s little girl was good at her job. She’d dropped so low and come in so close behind the Shriek that Han’s turret lasers couldn’t depress enough to attack her, and meanwhile she could chew up his thrusters with impunity. If only he had a stern-mounted weapon—

Wait a minute, he did. He had a bomb bay full of spotter droids.

His fingers flew over his weapons console, punching in a set of unusual commands. He hit the EXECUTE button. Two of his spotter droids would now be sliding into the bomb drop slots…

“Control reports missiles launched,” Wedge said. “They’ll be showing up on our sensors any second.”

“Good,” Han said. He gritted his teeth to keep from continuing, I hope your baby daughter, whom I’ve bounced on my knee, doesn’t shoot my tail off before I see them. I hope she makes a run for it when she sees them. I hope I don’t have to kill her.

The READY light glowed green on his weapons console. He hit the temporary-command button he’d just programmed.

“Got him, got him, got him,” Zueb called, gloating, as his lasers continued to chew the tail end of the mystery bomber to pieces.

“Something’s going on with the underside,” Syal said. She wanted to drop another meter, but suspected she’d bottom out on the street. Even so, she could already see something changing on the bomber’s underside, panels sliding aside,