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“Besides,” Lando said, “I’m in the market for a new ship. I had to leave the Lady Luck stranded on Kessel. I may never get her back. What am I supposed to do for the time being?”

Seeing the eager stares from the others in the lounge, Lando snapped shut the lid of the armored briefcase. “Well, anyway, it’s wonderful just to be solvent again!”

“Everybody in!” Wedge Antilles called inside the echoing Imperial City spaceport. “Let’s get ready to go.”

The last of the New Republic colonization specialists, sociologists, and survival instructors hauled their personal packs up the ramp of the medium transport. The ninety-meter-long ship occupied the better part of an entire bay in the supply sector, but the group needed a transport large enough to haul the Eol Sha survivors and their meager possessions, as well as the supplies necessary to set up a new home on Dantooine.

Wedge kept track of the final details of the operation, skimming a checklist on his datapad. At least this was a better assignment than knocking down ruined buildings—for the time being. He was glad to be flying again, even if it was only a sluggish transport carrier instead of a fighter.

But he knew tougher assignments lay in the near future. Admiral Daala and her three Imperial Star Destroyers had devastated the Kessel system, then vanished into hyperspace. The New Republic had sent its best trackers to find where she had gone to hide. Han insisted she was bound to make destructive guerrilla strikes, popping out of hyperspace and blasting a random planet. A loose cannon like Daala would not follow a predictable overall strategy. The entire New Republic had to be on its guard.

Chewbacca insisted that a New Republic occupation force head out to the Maw Installation to free the other Wookiee slaves. The Alliance High Command also wanted to get their hands on any other plans and prototypes remaining in the secret weapons lab. So much for relaxing and picking up pieces, Wedge thought. Things are going to get a lot more interesting.

But right now his assignment was to get the people of Eol Sha to safety on their new homeworld.

When everything checked out onboard, Wedge noticed Gantoris standing alone beside supply containers piled next to the wall. The displaced colony leader looked tall and powerful, but didn’t seem to know how to react to seeing the relocation ship leave.

“Don’t worry,” Wedge called, “we’ll take your people to their new home. After living with volcanoes and earthquakes all their lives, Dantooine will seem like a paradise to them.”

Gantoris nodded, furrowing his smooth forehead. “Give them my greetings.”

Wedge waved to him. “You just go and become the best of the new Jedi Knights.”

Luke looked deep into the eyes of Kyp Durron, searching for the core of a Jedi. The younger man flinched but continued to meet Luke’s gaze.

“Are you nervous, Kyp?” Luke asked.

“A little. Should I be?”

Luke smiled as he remembered boasting to Yoda that he wasn’t afraid of his impending Jedi training. “You will be,” Yoda had said, “you will be!”

Han interrupted them, clapping his hand on Kyp’s shoulder. “You should have been there to watch him zipping through the dark spice tunnels. And he navigated us right through the Maw with his eyes closed! This kid has a lot of potential, Luke.”

Luke nodded. “I was about to do that trick in the Maw myself. I know how difficult it must have been.”

“Does that mean you’ll take me for your Jedi academy?” Kyp asked. “I want to know how to use this power I have. While I was sitting in a cell on the Star Destroyer, I vowed never to be helpless again.”

Luke withdrew the power pack and sheet-crystal sensor paddles from the old Imperial scanner that had once been used to detect Jedi descendants. “Let’s try this scanner first.” Untangling the cords, Luke stretched out the sheet-crystal paddles on either side of Kyp. “This won’t hurt or anything. It just maps the potential of your senses.”

He tripped the scan switch on the control pack, and a narrow line of coppery light traveled down Kyp’s body as a smaller image