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“That’s a very hopeful attitude to take,” Forte said. “But I don’t see how it helps us now.”

“Your best chance of surviving is in the Tingel Arm,” Jula said suddenly, “while Palpatine’s full control is still limited to the inner systems.”

“Suppose we do go there,” Starstone said while separate discussions were breaking out. “Sure, we can assume new identities and find remote worlds to hide on. We can mask our Force abilities from others, even from other Forceful individuals. But is that what you want to do? Is that what the Force wants for us?”

While the Jedi were considering it, Shryne said: “Have any of you heard the name Lord Vader?”

“Who is Vader?” Lu asked for all of them.

“The Sith who killed my Master on Murkhana,” Starstone said before Shryne could speak.

Iwo Kulka looked hard at Shryne. “A Sith?”

Shryne lifted his eyes to the ceiling, then looked at Starstone. “I thought we agreed—”

“Vader fought with a crimson lightsaber,” she interrupted.

Shryne took a calming breath and began again. “Vader assured the troopers on Murkhana that he wasn’t a Jedi. And I’m not sure what he is. Possibly humanoid, but not fully organic.”

“Like Grievous,” Forte assumed.

“Again—possible. The black suit he wears appears to keep him alive. Beyond that, I don’t know how much of Vader is cyborg.”

Poorf was shaking his head in confusion. “I don’t understand. Is this Vader an Imperial commander?”

“He’s superior to the commanders. The troopers showed him the sort of respect they’d reserve for someone of very high rank or status. My guess is that he answers directly to Palpatine.” Shryne felt exasperation surfacing once more. “What I’m getting at is that Vader is the one we need to worry about. He will track us down.”

“What if we get to him first?” Forte said.

Shryne gestured broadly. “We’re eight against someone who may be Sith, and one of the largest armies ever amassed. What does that tell you?”

“We wouldn’t go after him immediately,” Starstone said, quickly picking up on Forte’s question. “Palpatine isn’t embraced by everyone.” She looked at Jula. “You yourself said that his reach is limited to the inner systems. Which means we could work covertly to persuade Outer Rim Senators and military leaders to join our cause.”

“You’re neglecting the fact that most species are now convinced that we had a hand in starting and perpetuating the war,” Shryne said strongly. “Even those who aren’t convinced would risk too much by helping us, even by providing sanctuary.”

Starstone was not deterred. “We were two yesterday, and we’re eight today. Tomorrow we could be twenty or even fifty. We can keep transmitting—”

“I can’t allow that,” Jula cut her off. “Not from my ship, anyway.” She looked at Forte and the others. “You say you were tracked from Dellalt. But just suppose the Empire is also monitoring Jedi frequencies for Nine Thirteen transmissions? All Palpatine would have to do is wait until you were all in one place, then send in the clones. Or this Vader character.”

Starstone’s silence lasted only a moment. “There’s another way. If we could learn which worlds Jedi were assigned to, we could actively search for survivors.”

Lu thought about it for a moment. “The only way to learn that would be by accessing the Temple’s data banks.”

“Not from the Drunk Dancer, you won’t,” Jula said.

“Couldn’t happen anyway, Captain,” Eyl Dix said. “Accessing the data banks would require a much more powerful hyperwave transceiver than we have, and one that would be very hard to come by.”

Dix glanced at Filli for corroboration.

“Eyl’s right,” Filli said. Then, around a forming grin, he added: “But I know just where we can find one.”

Rain was rare on weather-controlled Coruscant, but every so often microclimatic storms would build in the bustling sky and sweep across the technoscape. Today’s had blown in from The Works and moved east with great speed, lashing the abandoned Jedi Temple with unprecedented force.

Vader’s enhanced hearing