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"As you wish, Your Worshipfulness," Han said. He grabbed Luke. "C'mon, kid, it's time for some target practice."

They rushed out of the room, hesitating only when Leia called after them, a note of panic in her voice. "Han! Luke!"

They turned back. She shot them another fierce glare."Don't you dare get yourselves killed."

Leia watched with surprised respect as Ferus sorted through the mess of wires, stripping and splicing and finally rising in triumph. "We should be able to transmit now,"

he said.

She still couldn't believe this was the same Ferus Olin she'd known all those years on Alderaan. The same slimy, spineless suck-up she'd despised for most of her life. Of course, he'd gone by a different name then—but a new name wasn't supposed to change so much about a person. She was finally seeing the man her father had always promised her was there, behind Ferus's oily smile. The man who was brave and capable, who could be counted on. She just didn't understand why it had taken him so long to emerge.

War could make a hero out of almost anyone, she mused.

Just look at Han.

"Princess?" Ferus prompted her.

Leia shook off her thoughts. It was time for action. She contacted the fleet leader on a secure line and offered her authentication code.

"Princess Leia!" Commander Willard's voice came through the comm loud and clear.

"What a relief you're safe."

"None of us are safe for much longer," Leia said quickly. "In two hours, twenty-seven minutes, this system's sun is going to explode."

"How can you possibly know—"

"It doesn't matter," Leia said. "The fleet will have to make the jump into hyperspace as soon as possible."

"Understood," Commander Willard said. "But we can't go anywhere under such heavy fire. We're putting everything we have into holding off the Imperials."

"Do what you can up there," Leia said. "And I'll do my best from down here."

"May the Force be with you, Princess."

"And you," Leia said, cutting the transmission. She'd never thought much about those words before meeting Luke. It was just something people said, calling on a meaningless superstition, just a habit or a lucky charm. But since Luke had come into her life, she'd begun to understand that the Force was real. If only it were with me, she thought, not for the first time. Imagine what I could do. But there was no point in thinking about that. You fought with the weapons you had, not with the ones you wished for.

"Can you open a channel to the Imperial flagship?" she asked Ferus.

He nodded. "Do you think they'll listen to you?"

Not a chance. "It's worth a try," she said. Then she prepared herself. It was Vader's ship, which meant Vader himself might be on the other end of the line. The man she held responsible for the death of her home planet—and with it her father. I will not lose control.

But it wasn't Vader's distinctive voice. Just a faceless Imperial. Leia spoke without fear. "This is Princess Leia Organa of the Rebel Alliance," she said.

"What do you want, Rebel scum?" the Imperial spit out. "We'll accept nothing less than unconditional surrender. Submit to us now, or die like the swine you are."

Now is not the time to fight, Leia reminded herself.

"This is not about our battle," she said, as calmly as possible. "This is about a common threat to us all."

" Nothing is a threat to the Empire," the Imperial said. "The sooner you learn that—"

Enough diplomacy. "The sun is about to explode," Leia said, her temper fraying. "Stop firing on the Rebel ships, get out of the system, and maybe you won't explode with it."

There was a sharp bark of laughter. "More pathetic Rebel tricks? When will you ever learn? The Empire is your destiny. Quit this ridiculous—"

Leia cut the line. "Either they'll analyze the solar spectrum and figure out I'm telling the truth, or they won't," she told Ferus. They needed to help the befuddled guards and the hostages find a way off the planet. Even if the Imperials kept fighting, at least some ships would be able to make it out of the system. "We can't afford to stand around and wait for them