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“Han!”

“Hello!” Karrde said. “Well, at least we haven’t completely lost it. Yet.”

“Huh?” Han stared where Leia’s finger was pointed. A Yuuzhan Vong frigate had just dropped out of hyperspace, along with an interdictor like the one they had run into earlier. As he watched, coralskippers were already detaching.

“Well,” Han remarked. “Things get more interesting all the time, don’t they?”

THIRTY-FOUR

“Looks like it was built for children,” Tahiri commented as the three humans were escorted through Yag’Dhul Station.

“Rebels built it during the war with the Empire,” Corran informed her. “I’ve heard it said that they made it small to give stormtroopers a hard time if they ever invaded.”

“What’s all that on the walls?” Every square centimeter seemed to be covered with fractal patterns and notation in some sort of script. Now and then something seemed vaguely familiar, more often not.

“Givin decorative motifs, I’d guess. Rogue Squadron sure didn’t paint this stuff.”

“Looks mathematical,” Anakin said.

The four Givin guards, who might have cleared things up, either didn’t speak Basic or had no desire to talk. Soon enough, however, they were gently pressed into the largest room Anakin had seen thus far. It still wasn’t very big, but tactical stations and a bank of holoprojectors with various views of the surrounding space made it somehow comforting after the Yuuzhan Vong ship. This was tech he was familiar with.

The Givin waiting for them was not as comforting. His exoskeleton had been painted with many of the same symbols Anakin had seen on the walls. Anakin guessed him to be the same one who had demanded their surrender.

“Dodecian Illiet, I presume,” Corran said.

The Givin rose. He spoke in oddly clattering Basic. It sounded somehow more mechanical than it had over the comm.

“I am he,” he replied.

“Have I had the pleasure? You seem to know my name.”

“We made it our business to know who was in our space. You were among those waging war against Ysanne Isard from here.”

“We had the permission of your government when we were here.”

“Another spring tide cubed, another government,” the Givin replied. “I did not recognize you myself—soft-bodied creatures are difficult for us to distinguish between, except at the rudest scale. Our computer system compared voice and facial records and estimated your identity at a 98.2 percent probability. I confess, I was uncomfortable with such a high margin of error, but when I addressed you your reaction seemed to confirm the probability. Are you indeed he?”

“I am Corran Horn, yes,” Corran replied. “Any grievance you have against Rogue Squadron is mine. It does not adhere to these two.”

“The only grievance against you is entering our system and apparently beginning an attack run on our station. That, however, is a rather severe charge.”

“I apologize again,” Corran said. “I hope it was noted that we did not fire on you, even when fired upon.”

“It is so noted and numerated. I shall be happy to hear you balance the equation before us.”

Anakin couldn’t feel a trace of deception in the dodecian, and he was trying. That seemed a good sign, at least.

“I think these are the right guys, Corran.”

Corran shot him a cautioning glance, but addressed his next sentence to the Givin.

“We’ve come to warn you, Dodecian Illiet, that a Yuuzhan Vong fleet is preparing an invasion of this system. The ship we were piloting was a scout ship we captured. It was designed to come here unnoticed and contact some faction of your own people. This faction has apparently arranged for your defensive grid to collapse shortly, to facilitate the invasion.”

The Givin absorbed this silently, though Anakin got the impression he was also listening to someone else, commenting on what Corran was saying.

“Explain in detail,” the Givin finally said.

“There’s not much time—”

“You leave us with too many unknown factors. More detail.”

Corran laid it all out, starting from their jump into the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, ending with their surrender. The Givin asked few questions, seeming content mostly to listen. When Corran