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Hold on, urged the voice that might have belonged to his father. You can do this.

He could. He stood motionless and empty before the Dark Lord, letting Soresh play out his mad game. And as soon as Soresh's attention was fixed on the viewscreen, he slipped his hand into his sleeve, where he'd hidden Han's comlink. He activated it, opening a channel to his friends, Now anything he heard, they would hear, too.

"I told you I had something you wanted," Soresh said, smiling up at the screen. "Here he is."

Darth Vader said nothing. But his fury radiated in waves. Luke could almost feel the room growing warmer.

"Tell the Dark Lord how much you're looking forward to meeting him," Soresh commanded Luke.

"If it pleases my Master, I look forward to meeting you," Luke said obediently. He was surprised—playing along with Soresh wasn't hard at all. With every command, it became easier to comply.

"You will soon regret your impudence," Darth Vader said. The screen went dark.

Soresh burst into laughter.

It was all Luke could do not to gape at him. Vader's rage had been known to drive men to panic, to madness, even to death, but never to…joy?

"You see?" Soresh cackled. "Everything according to plan. He's tracing our coordinates as we speak. If I've calculated correctly—and I always calculate correctly—

he'll arrive just in time to greet your Rebel fleet. I'm almost tempted to delay a bit, just for the joy of watching Vader blown up by a sky full of Rebel scum." He shook his head, briskly. "But that would be indulgent. No, I can't let personal feelings interfere with carefully set timing. Vader will burn along with the rest of them, that will have to be enough for me."

"Vader will burn," Luke repeated, hoping to help the monologue along. He needed more details— something that would help him figure out what to do when it was finally time to act.

"That tends to be what happens when the sun goes supernova," Soresh said, nearly giggling.

He really was insane, Luke realized, if he thought he had control over the sun. Silexa was a blue giant star. It would go supernova someday, most likely—but not for several million years.

Luke waited for Soresh to continue, but the explanation never came. Instead, Soresh settled into a chair and kicked his feet up on one of the large, gray instrument panels.

"Now, we wait."

They waited so long Luke began swaying on his legs, exhausted from standing for so long. But the guards still stood rigidly at attention, oblivious to their own exhaustion.

Luke did his best to match them.

I could attack him at any time, he thought—although with all the guards standing around, he and Soresh would likely die together. Luke wasn't afraid to die. But he was afraid to die for nothing. And that's what it would be, if he attacked before he knew exactly what Soresh had planned.

"There!" Soresh shouted, leaping to his feet.

The viewscreen was filled with stars—but as Luke watched, one of the stars grew brighter and divided into two, then five, then a hundred.

The fleet had arrived.

"Are you ready?" Soresh asked Luke.

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to fulfill your destiny, of course." He guided Luke over to a narrow gray console, just below the viewscreen. At its center was a glowing yellow button. "The resonance torpedoes are armed and ready to go," Soresh said. "Grand Moff Tarkin's greatest creation. One touch of this button will send them into the sun, kicking off a fusion chain reaction, and then…" He flung his arms in the air, blowing his lips out with the sound of an explosion. "If we hurry, we'll have time to watch the fireworks from space—

before we navigate to safety, of course. I would never leave you behind, Luke," he said, as if Luke had expressed concern. "You're my ticket." He pulled something out of his cloak—the hilt of a lightsaber. "You'd like this back, wouldn't you?"

"If it pleases you," Luke said, trying to survey the room without moving his head.

There were six guards, plus Soresh. If he had his lightsaber back and could find a blaster,