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Ackbar hesitated, as if lonely but afraid to have their company. He turned to meet Leia’s eyes, then Cilghal’s. “Yes, I would be honored to have your assistance. My submersible can carry the three of us.” He blinked his large, sad eyes. “I enjoy your company—even though your requests are most difficult.”

Strapped into one of the seats in the cramped utility sub, Leia watched as water sloshed around the upper ports. The sea swallowed the craft, and they descended into the isolated seatree forest until the ocean around them looked like panels of dark-green smoked glass. Leia watched in awe as Ackbar picked a course through thick ropy strands and wide pillars.

Underwater, the seaflowers blossomed in shimmering reds and blues to attract darting creatures that flitted in and out of the fronds. As one of the small fish came too close to a brilliant flower, the petals suddenly contracted like a fist, snatching its prey and swallowing it whole.

“I have only begun deploying my seismic network,” Ackbar said, as if to divert the conversation. “I’ve set up the baseline grid beneath my dwelling, but I need to extend into the seatree forest to get higher-resolution soundings.”

Cilghal said, “I am pleased with the important work you are doing for our planet, Admiral.” Leia was amused at how the ambassador continued—whether consciously or unconsciously—to use his military title.

“It is necessary to do important things with your life,” Ackbar said, then said no more, walling himself off with silence. Behind them, stowed seismic equipment rattled beside the empty nets and sea-harvest baskets.

Leia cleared her throat and spoke, keeping her voice gentle. “Ackbar … I understand how you must feel. I was there too, remember?”

“You are kind, Leia. But you do not understand how I feel. Were you piloting the B-wing that crashed? Are you responsible for hundreds of deaths?” He shook his head sadly. “Do you hear their voices in your dreams each night, calling out to you?”

Ackbar switched on the sub’s depth lights, and a bright cone-shaped beam sliced through the water. The funnel of illumination glanced off colorful fish and strips of seaweed.

Leia spoke more from intuition than from knowledge. “You can’t hide on Calamari forever.”

Ackbar still would not look at her. “I am not hiding. I have my work. Important work.”

They drifted toward the silty ocean bottom near one of the gnarled seatree boles. Rounded hummocks of dark rock thrust out from the milky sand. A coating of algae smoothed every surface, making the sea floor appear soft and soothing. Ackbar hunched forward to stare through the murk, searching for a stable place to implant another seismic sensor.

“Important work, perhaps,” Leia said, “but not your work. Many Calamarians would gladly help with that research, Admiral. Are you equipped to handle such a task by yourself? Remember that old proverb you used to quote when I complained about all those senseless Council meetings? ‘Many eyes see what one alone cannot.’ Wouldn’t it be best to share your concerns with a team of specialists?”

Cilghal interrupted, leaning forward to indicate some curved half-buried sections of metal, like the ribbed shell of some sort of escape pod. “What’s that?”

The edges had corroded, and tracings of algae grew in the protected crevices. “Perhaps a wrecked ship,” Ackbar said.

Cilghal nodded. “We fought back when the Imperials tried to enslave us. Many of their ships lie beneath our waters.”

Ackbar inserted his hands into the waldo control gloves for the automated metallic claws that extended from the front of the small sub. The sharp jerky motions reminded Leia of the vicious krakana monster near the mollusk knowledge bank.

“If that wreckage has been stable here for years,” Ackbar said, “this is a good place to deploy another set of sensors.”

Watching the external metal arms, Leia saw Ackbar remove a canister from the external storage bin on the submersible. Ackbar lowered the craft until plumes of pale sand drifted up from the disturbance like a