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Part of the spire had been blasted away, and soot splattered the eroded surface. Below, she saw the still-smoldering remains of several horrific mechanical spiders.

Ackbar’s voice came over the ship-to-ship intercom. “Winter must be putting up a good fight. Our emplaced defensive systems are functioning as planned.”

Leia swallowed to clear her dry throat. “Let’s just hope that’s good enough, Admiral.”

The fighters targeted in on where the blast doors had been melted aside. One of the heavy metal shields still hung in place in its tracks. The rescue ships maneuvered around the four Walkers that cluttered the floor of the landing bay. Ackbar, Leia, and Terpfen sprang out of their cockpits as other Calamarian fighters joined them.

“Terpfen, go with Minister Leia and half the fighters directly to the nursery. See if the baby is still there. I will take the other troops down into the lower levels to find Winter. I think I know what her strategy would have been.”

Leia, not bothering to argue, yanked out her own blaster pistol. With a hardened expression she took the lead, running to see that her child was safe.

The team swarmed down the maze of convoluted tunnels toward the nursery. Leia glanced around her as she jogged but saw no signs of blaster fire on the walls. Weapons rattled against body armor as the Calamarians ran to keep pace with her.

As they rounded the last corner toward Anakin’s room, Leia swerved to keep from tripping over the slow-moving power droid who plodded along on its rounds, unconcerned with the turmoil. Leia paid the walking battery no further heed when she saw the door to the nursery yawning open.

“Oh, no,” she said, lurching to a cautious stop just as Ambassador Furgan backed out, clutching a squalling Anakin to his broad chest.

Both Leia and Furgan froze for a moment, staring at each other. Furgan’s eyebrows jerked up in a muscular twitch like birds about to leap into flight.

The Calamarian rescuers leveled their weapons at Furgan. He held the baby in front of him like a shield.

“Give Anakin back to me,” Leia said, her voice dripping with greater threat than an entire fleet of Star Destroyers could convey.

“I’m afraid not,” Furgan said, and wrapped a broad hand around Anakin’s fragile neck. His wild eyes flicked from side to side. “Point your guns away from me, or I’ll snap his neck! I’ve gone through all this to get the Jedi baby, and I’m not going to give him up. He’s my hostage, and the only way he stays alive is for you to let me go.”

He edged along the tunnel. His back scraped against the rough, lumpy wall. Furgan locked his eyes on the weapons pointed at him, but he held the baby out, squeezing the boy’s throat. “Even if you stun me, I can still crush his windpipe. Drop your weapons!”

“Back off,” Leia ordered, taking a step backward.

The Calamarian defenders stepped to the side, clearing a path for Furgan—all except for Terpfen. He stood holding his hands in front of him like sharp claws.

Furgan saw the swollen, sagging Calamarian head, the tracery of blunt scars—and suddenly recognized him. “So, my little fish, you betrayed me after all. I didn’t think you had the strength of will.”

“I found the strength,” Terpfen said. He stepped toward Furgan. Anakin continued to squirm in the ambassador’s arms.

“Stop!” Furgan said. “You have enough on your conscience, little fish. You wouldn’t want to add the death of this baby to it.”

Terpfen made a low gurgling noise that was some kind of Calamarian snarl. Furgan kept his wild gaze fixed on all those cornering him as he slid backward toward the Spider Walkers and his only escape.

In his grasp baby Anakin’s deep-brown eyes flashed, as if he were deep in thought.

Suddenly Furgan cried out as he stumbled against the squarish, waddling power droid that had silently crept up behind him. The power droid gave out a small jolt of electricity, shocking Furgan.

The ambassador tripped and fell, still holding the child. The power droid shuffled out of the way