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“Include that in the update packet and have it sent immediately.”

“It’s already been seen to.”

Drayson rocked back in his chair. “So there are sixteen thumpers there now,” he mused. “Not the best news for Chewbacca’s people. What assets do we have in the area?”

“There are four stasis probes on station, and two more moving into position.”

“Let’s take a look,” Drayson said, gesturing at the display. “We may have to think about sacrificing one or more of them if it’ll give the Falcon a fighting chance to get the job done.”

“Yes, sir—I think we can probably arrange a timely diversion or two. Sir, are you sure you want to continue the blackout where the Princess is concerned? It could give her a real lift to know—”

“Not at these odds,” Drayson said firmly. “Even with what we’ve been able to pass to Chewbacca through Formayj, I don’t think they have more than one chance in twenty of getting in and out in one piece. As for finding Han alive—” He sighed. “But that’s still probably a better chance than any other rescue effort would have. Is Ackbar still talking about a battle group assault supporting a Jedi retrieval team?”

“Yes. They’ve got the lights on late over at Fleet tonight.”

“The general will never agree to it,” said Drayson. “And he’ll be right not to. So let’s be creative, Major, and figure out what else we can do from here to shift the odds.”

Given an unobstructed view and the eight-kilometer length of the Yevethan flagship, the oversized and exceptionally sensitive sensor dish atop the Millennium Falcon had no difficulty picking out Pride of Yevetha from among the many ships orbiting N’zoth.

But fixing the orbit of the flagship with enough precision to jump within a thousand meters of it required more than a single snapshot. Chewbacca needed to know not only the flagship’s orbital track, but also the tracks of any ships near it or en route to it. The task was complicated by the distances involved—when looking at the tracking data, Chewbacca was looking several minutes into the past. He could only guess about the present and the future, and a wrong guess would mean failure—even sudden death.

There was no perfect answer. The closer they were to N’zoth, the more current the tracking data would be, but the more likely it was that the Falcon would be spotted. The longer they waited, the more complete the tracking data would be, but, again, the more likely it was that Falcon would be spotted.

Chewbacca’s natural impatience with anything other than a direct frontal assault only aggravated the matter. He had to keep reminding himself of the lessons of the Shadow Forest, and the difference between stalking and making the kill.

For the first few minutes after reaching the N’zoth system, Chewbacca was alone in the cockpit. Lumpawarrump was in the lower gun turret, Jowdrrl in the upper. Meanwhile, Shoran and Dryanta were checking the equipment that had been mounted in place of the escape pods at Esau’s Ridge.

The starboard pod had been replaced by a mine launcher loaded with sixteen firecracker mines. The portside pod had been replaced by a hull-cutting ring, a traditional tool of both pirates and police. Both devices were critical—if not to the mission, then to their confidence that they could survive it.

When Dryanta was satisfied that the cutting ring was ready, he moved on to the crew quarters and began triple-checking the boarding party’s weapons. Because they expected heavy resistance, bowcasters had given way to Draggis blaster rifles and fusion-cutter grenades.

When Shoran was finished arming the mines, he came forward and joined Chewbacca in the cockpit.

[Everything is ready,] he said.

Chewbacca’s reply was interrupted by a double chirp from the comm board, signifying an incoming message. The encrypted transmission carried a priority flag and a short holo header.

[Formayj,] Chewbacca said. [Curious.]

“Chewbacca, hot-blooded friend,” said the broker cheerfully. “Mining my archives, I found something else maybe you can use. No charge—tell Solo I will