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Word of the reasons for the change filtered back with returnees—new ships being launched, new crews being trained, new problems with cloned drives and weapons. Gradually the whole story was pieced together, until the prisoners on Pa’aal were more aware of the coming war than the Yevetha themselves.

And through it all, the work went on, at an intense—even dangerous—pace.

“There is a moment coming,” Major Sil Sorannan had told his secret command, “a moment of opportunity that will never be repeated in our lifetimes. If we are not ready when that moment comes, we will all die on Pa’aal.”

Sorannan remembered his words as he gazed at the four tiny pulse-transceiver chips that had just been delivered to him by a courier from a returning work party.

“Major Neff said to tell you that they’d passed all the tests with generous margins,” said the courier. “He has very high confidence that they’re good.”

Nodding, Sorannan gestured to the other man in the room. “Have the controllers brought here.”

From four different parts of the compound, four very different—yet commonplace—objects were rounded up and placed before Sorannan. Using an engineer’s loupe, an improvised jig, and a handheld microwelder, Sorannan added one of the chips to the circuitry concealed inside each of the objects.

The chips were the last pieces missing from the controllers, and Sorannan irreversibly sealed the clever access slides and panels before handing each object over to a courier.

“Deliver this to Dobbatek.

“See that this reaches Jaratt on Valorous.

“This is for Harramin.

“I want this delivered to Eistern on Intimidator. Tell him I will be there soon. Tell him to pass the word that it is almost time.”

Chapter 10

While Han slept in the healing bath of the bacta solution, the command staff analyzed the latest data from the stasis probes deep inside the cluster, and the Wookiees prepared the Falcon for the battle ahead. Not included in any of those activities, Luke found himself alone and with time on his hands.

He went by Wialu and Akanah’s cabin, intending to reopen the subject of Nashira. But Wialu was not there, and Akanah would not tell him where he could find her.

“She will be in deep meditation until the time comes, preparing herself,” said Akanah. “This will be very difficult—she must be strong enough to hold the projection even if fighting begins.”

“Will you be helping her?”

“She has not asked that of me.”

“Do you think that I can?”

“Ask me, or help her?”

“Help,” he said.

“No. You have great power, Luke, but this is not a work of power. When you lay your touch on the Current, it is still a thousand times too forceful.”

He digested that in silence. “Did you know that there’s a Fallanassi aboard Pride of Yevetha? At least, that’s how I sort it out, going by Chewbacca’s account. A woman named Enara.” He shook his head. “They had to have some kind of help. Going in there like that was crazy. Wookiee-crazy, the kind that comes from an excess of courage and a shortage of patience.”

“Yes, I know,” Akanah said.

“Will she be able to help Wialu?”

“I do not think so.”

Luke frowned. “You seem to have gotten a lot more reluctant to talk to me since we reached J’t’p’tan.”

“Circumstances have changed,” Akanah said with a small, rueful smile.

“Because Wialu is watching and listening?”

“We have lost more than privacy,” she said. “We are no longer moving in the same direction.”

“If you know that, you know more than I do about where I’m headed,” Luke said, pulling a chair toward him and sitting down on it backward. “I have more questions now than ever.”

“You must be greatly tempted to try to force Wialu to answer them,” Akanah said.

“An occasional, resistible temptation,” Luke admitted. “I know better.”

“It would be an immeasurable mistake.”

“I know that, too,” he said. “But you could answer some of my questions—as my teacher.”

Eyes downcast, Akanah shook her head. “I don’t think so, Luke.”

“Because of what Wialu said about your not