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Exactly as he had suspected. It would be so easy now to kill her—and then open the door and kill Luke, too. Mission accomplished.

But the Commander had given him strict orders. Learn the name of the pilot and report back. He couldn't act until he got the kill order.

X-7 injected the remains of the serum into her arm. Given what he knew of brain agents, the odds were high that she wouldn't remember any of this when she recovered. If she recovered at all.

"If something happens…you have to take care of Luke," she whispered as her eyes slipped shut.

"Oh, don't worry, Your Highness. I will."

Ferus gathered his strength and pushed out with the Force. The door flew open.

Elad stood inside, staring down at a body.

The princess's body.

Elad met Ferus's eyes. "I was too late."

Han, Luke, and Chewbacca burst into the room, freezing alongside Ferus as they caught sight of Leia. Han's voice was ragged. "Is she—"

"No," Ferus and Luke spoke together. Ferus glanced at the boy, So he was connected enough to the Force—or at least to Leia—that he could sense her still pulsing with life.

However faintly.

"Whatever they did to her, she's still alive," Elad confirmed, "but we have to get her out of here." He had already broken through the restraints pinning her to the table.

Ferus scooped Leia off the table and cradled her gently against his chest. She stirred in his arms, her eyelids flickering. "Father?" she mumbled.

"No," he said softly, hurrying toward the exit. The others covered him. They'd taken out all the Imperials, but you never knew when reinforcements would arrive. "It's just—"

He hesitated, not wanting to say: It's Fess. Not wanting to lie any more. "It's me. Don't worry, you're safe with me."

She smiled, and her eyes drifted shut again. "I know."

CHAPTER TWENTY

Leia hesitated just outside the door to the abandoned schoolhouse. Then she gave herself a little shake, and stepped inside. Luke and Kiro Chen sat side by side, their heads bent together in low conversation.

She cleared her throat.

Luke looked up. "I thought we still had time," he said.

While Fess and Elad had gotten Leia safely out of the medcenter, Han and Luke had ransacked the Imperials' com system. They'd confirmed that there had been no distress call—as far as the Empire was concerned, everything had proceeded as planned. But according to the transmission archives, those plans called for Darth Vader to arrive the next day.

It seemed prudent to blast off the planet before he showed up.

"We do," Leia said. "I just wanted to talk to Kiro before we left." Wanted, that was wrong. Needed.

Luke stood up. "I'll leave."

"No." She'd had enough of being left alone. "Stay. You're part of this now, too."

Leia sat down across from Kiro. He wouldn't look at her.

"I'm sorry about Halle Dray," she told him. "I know you two were close." Her memories of the kidnapping were strangely fuzzy, as if she'd taken a blow to the head. She remembered little of what had happened after the stormtroopers had taken her away. But she remembered seeing Halle and J'er Nahj hit the ground.

" I'm sorry," Kiro said, still keeping his eyes averted. "You should hate me."

"Whatever you did, you did it because you loved Alderaan. I could never hate you for that." Leia paused. "What will you do now?"

"Now?" he looked blank, like he couldn't imagine a future.

"Kiro knows he honors her memory by moving forward," Luke said, encouraging him.

"By helping others, the way she wanted to."

Leia frowned. Halle Dray hadn't seemed the type to help anyone. But Kiro had obviously known a different side of her. Or maybe he'd just seen what he wanted to see.

"The Rebel Alliance would welcome you," she said.

"My place is here," Kiro said, drawing himself upright. "With Nahj gone, and Halle…they need leaders." He lowered his eyes. "I know how you feel, Princess. You think it's cowardly not to fight."

"There's more than one way to fight the Empire," Luke assured him.

"Luke's right," Leia agreed. "You can do plenty of good here. And I'll do everything I can to help."

"I know."