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“We could smash them,” Leia said, “or we could try to get some prisoners released.”

“How’s that?”

As Leia explained her sketchy plan, Jacen scrambled up alongside his sister.

“We need you,” Leia said bluntly, hoping he had finally settled his mind. She explained what they wanted to do.

Jacen stared out over the scene. His eyebrows lifted, and he looked bitterly unhappy. “Mom, I … I can’t,” he murmured. “Jaina, you know size doesn’t matter. You can do it. Draw on my strength, if you want to. But this is it. The vortex, the critical moment. I can feel it. I don’t … dare … misstep.”

“Either help us or get out of the way.” Jaina’s brown eyes blazed. “Deserter.”

“Olmahk can’t use the Force, and he’s no deserter.”

Leia frowned, hearing the frustration in Jacen’s voice. She’d never refused to use the Force this way. Still, she hadn’t kept up her training. She’d obviously set Jacen a lousy example, and he was taking it one step further.

Jaina crept forward another half meter, almost to the roof’s edge. One earlobe poked out from underneath her sky-blue cap.

“Okay, Mom. Just lean into the Force, then lean into me. You can do that.”

Leia’s frustration eased a bit. Jaina had figured out how to take charge, even how to give her mother orders without rubbing Leia’s nose in her relative ineptitude.

Leia pushed down inside herself, toward the sensation of pure life that always was there—not a nothingness at all, but a spot that teemed with power and life. Even with hope, she sensed, as she reached out from that spot toward her daughter. For once, their similarity worked for them instead of dividing them. Jaina seemed to wield Leia’s Force energy easily. Slitting one eye open, determined to watch—though she didn’t dare to stop concentrating—Leia saw an ore-smashing droid rise out of the construction shop.

Yuuzhan Vong on that side of the pit scattered. The monsters snapped at it but missed. On the other side of the pit, refugees jumped to their feet. Their guards stomped toward them, turning their backs on the disaster that sailed through the air.

Leia went cold as the Force stopped flowing. The machine smashed to ground, catching at least five Yuuzhan Vong warriors underneath it. Other aliens dashed into nearby garden huts, pitiful shelter.

A Vuvrian leapt to his feet and shouted, “Run! Scatter!”

The throng seemed to explode. People dashed in all directions. Aliens riding their saddled creatures brought some down, but others sprinted, singly and in groups, out of the herders’ range.

Leia hoped some would find the bolt-holes. Deeply satisfied, she exhaled and eyed her daughter. Jaina had rolled onto her back, panting.

“Well done,” Leia murmured.

Jaina smiled crookedly at her, then eyed her brother. “Thanks so much, Jacen.”

He lay prone, staring down his blaster sights, biting his lip.

“All right,” Leia said. “The admin building’s main shaft goes straight down three levels, below ground. The laser should be under guard on the second level.”

“Should be,” Jaina muttered. “What do you bet Nom Anor sabotaged it?”

“Maybe not,” Jacen insisted. “Olmahk and I will cover you.”

Good—except for one more thing Leia had to say.“Listen,” she muttered. “I’m point on this mission, and I’m coming back up here. With Olmahk,” she added, staring down her scowling bodyguard. “If anything happens, get away. Before we move the laser, I’ll show you the way out. You’re my hope for our future. Both of you, and Anakin, and your whole generation of young Jedi. If you carry it on, I can—well, just don’t fail the people who are counting on you.”

“Come on,” Jaina snapped. “We’ve got work to do.”

Exactly the right touch. Jaina was right: No more time for the overture. On with the show.

Leia jumped from the hydroponics plant’s rooftop to a window ledge on the admin building. From there, it was a quick scramble into a vacant office.

Abbela’s.

Fortunately, the Yuuzhan Vong seemed to be congregating at the pit. The office was empty. She considered unhooking her lightsaber, then decided she’d leave lightsaber work to Jacen and Jaina. Drawing