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“Very well. Order the squadron to proceed as planned.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

The squadron moved forward at the specified speeds, with the pickets advancing on Nar Shaddaa at flank speed, the skirmish line advancing at cruising speed, and the capital ships advancing at flank speed.

Greelanx stared through the viewport of the bridge, then checked the long-range scanners, seeing that the moon Nar Shaddaa was surrounded by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pieces of debris. He wouldn’t be able to take his Capital-class ships through that sargasso, especially if the smugglers put up any resistance. When they reached the moon’s vicinity, he’d have to order them to alter their straight-on approach to swing wide of the floating debris.

Greelanx stood with his hands behind him, seeing the minuscule dot on the tactical “repeater” display that represented that tiny, panic-stricken vessel he’d first seen. As the little scoutship approached the floating debris, two other small ships, freighters at a guess, joined it in its panicked flight.

The admiral sighed. His battle plan called for the entire engagement to be over in less than fifteen minutes. He had better get busy, figuring out how he was going to manage to lose …

For the first minute or so, it was all Roa could do not to panic and flee into hyperspace. The sight of the Imperial squadron emerging from hyperspace had rattled him badly. Even though he’d known, intellectually, that the Imperial squadron was going to contain dozens of ships, some of them so huge they dwarfed any ship he’d ever flown, that hadn’t prepared him for nearly flying right down their throats.

Almost without knowing he’d done it, Roa found himself turned around and heading back for Nar Shaddaa at top speed. He forced himself to take several deep breaths, and fought back the fear. The drill came back to him as the Lwyll streaked along. Report in. I have to report contact. I’m a scoutship, remember?

He activated his comm on the special coded frequency they’d rigged. “Defender Central, this is Lwyll. Come in, Central.”

Mako’s voice in his helmet. “We read you, Lwyll. Have you spotted them?”

“Affirmative, Central.” Roa checked his sensors and rear tactical display. “They are deployed, and advancing.”

“Good, that’s what we want, remember. Just keep leading them in. Cut your speed a little, if you can do it without giving yourself away, Roa. I’m sending Elegant Interlude and Star Traveler out to help you lead at least one of those pickets to where we want it.”

“I read you, Central.”

Roa slowed down a bit, making sure to do it gradually. He was startled at how quickly the Carrack-class vessels were approaching. Fast ships! He was glad Mako had assigned the two ships he had to help out. Both were speedy vessels, and Danith Jalay and Renna Strego were experienced captains.

He took a deep breath. The fear was still there, deep down somewhere, but it no longer threatened his thinking processes.

Settling deep into his seat, Roa concentrated on the task at hand.

On the bridge of the Dragon Pearl, Mako Spince watched the sensors and tactical readouts, hardly daring to blink. The Pearl was too large to actually hide amid the floating hulks and debris, the way some of the smaller vessels could, but he’d ordered Blue to position her so that the Carrack-class ships wouldn’t spot her until they had the Imp vessels where they wanted them.

Mako saw that one Carrack-class ship, the Outpost, had altered course to approach the other side of Nar Shaddaa, while the Vigilance continued toward the ambush. That made sense, since Greelanx couldn’t know where the smugglers would engage him. Once the smuggler attack began, the Outpost would probably just wait there, rather than engaging, ready to report on and possibly engage any smuggler ships attempting to escape the Imperial attack.

The other Carrack-class, the one whose ship ID broadcast identified her as the Vigilance, continued to move toward his position.

Almost there, Mako thought,