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Too bad about her hair. If she’d waited a few days, she might’ve kept it—with the quarantine canceled.

She spun around. “Jacen, Jaina, good. Load up that shuttle and get offworld. I don’t think we’ve got long.”

“There’s room for you on board.” Jaina pushed forward. “You, Olmahk …” She glanced toward the room’s inner corner and the ever-present gray shadow. “And maybe two others.”

“I can’t leave yet. Get away now, before the Yuuzhan Vong get here.”

“They might not be coming.”

Recognizing the new voice, Jacen turned around. “Hello, Randa,” he groaned.

The other Noghri, Basbakhan, stood beside Randa.

Leia shrugged. “He’s staying out of the way. Take him with you. As a favor to me.”

“I’m staying,” Jaina said flatly, “if you’re staying.”

“Please, you two,” Leia said. “Before—”

She never got to finish that sentence. At the far edge of the small local-space screen, a wave of unidentified ships appeared. Until the DDF’s threat analyst painted them friend or foe, they shone white, but Jacen had little doubt that the enemy had arrived.

“Too late,” Jaina mumbled.

On-screen, blue grids that represented the planetary shields sprang up around one after another of the orbital cities. Off to Jacen’s right, another comm unit—evidently Gateway’s ground-orbit link to Bburru—emitted a staccato buzz, followed by a curt feminine voice.

“Attention, all downside residents. This is Duro Defense Force. Take emerrrgency shelters. Do not attempt space flight. This system is under attack.”

Leia spun back to the other console, swatted a control, and leaned down. “Attention, Gateway dome. This is Administrator Organa Solo. If you have boarding orders, report to your transport immediately. If you have not been assigned to a transport, get to your assigned emergency shelter. Do not stop for belongings.

“And here we go again,” she muttered aside.

Jacen pushed forward. “What can I do?”

Dark circles looked like they would swallow his mother’s eyes. “Find your dad,” she said. “He’s not answering the comlink. Jaina, how are your eyes? Can you run a comm unit?”

“Fine. Yes.” Jaina dropped onto the chair Leia vacated. “Um … Mother?”

Her tone of voice made Jacen turn around, too.

“What?” Leia demanded.

“The planetary shields are up around every habitat, now—except three. Bburru, and the city on either side of it.”

Jacen eyed the display. Blue gridlines surrounded orbital cities and the domes directly beneath them, in a ring around Duro’s equator—except for the zone over Gateway.

He intercepted his sister’s stare. “Sabotage,” Jaina exclaimed. “Mom, we’re ground zero.”

“Go, Jacen. Get out of here,” Leia exclaimed. “Tell your dad.”

Jacen dashed out the door. Mixed-species knots of people hustled shoulder to shoulder, traveling against him toward the main gate. He stopped to hoist a frightened Chadra-Fan child onto his shoulders and help her find her family. In the midst of a group of humans, a white-haired man carried the black whisperkit over one shoulder. Three children followed closely. The smallest child laughed at the small creature’s quizzical face. The two older children had wide, haunted eyes.

So the kit hadn’t been shaved, either. That made Jacen almost irrationally glad.

In the Tayana district, Ryn congregated around one of the larger ruins, where a jagged, two-story wall still stood mostly intact. The ground shuddered underfoot. Jacen broke into a run again.

On top of a growing pile of reddish-brown rock rubble stood his dad—wearing an ancient gornt-hide racing helmet, although wisps of hair stuck out at front and back. This had to be another solidarity gesture.

More rocks spewed up from behind the pile.

Jacen ran up. “What can I do?” he shouted.

The roar from below was almost deafening. It had to be the tunneling equipment, digging a hiding place.

“Good, you’re back.” Han wiped a grimy sleeve across one cheek, then shouted again. “Somebody stepped on my comlink. Whoever can’t get into ships or crawlers, send them this way. Romany’s people started