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He sent her a quick, wary look. “Are we talking about me?”

“Not this time,” she said, and sighed. “I’m sorry, Han. Jaina can take care of herself, and the Sernpidal mission probably ended up moving the war effort forward. That doesn’t change the fact that Kyp lied to Jaina. Worse—he used the Force to sway her judgment. I just don’t trust him.”

“Luke does.”

“Luke is …” She paused, considered. “Optimistic.”

Han snorted. “Since when did you start pulling your punches?”

His wife responded with a wan smile and turned back to the navigational computer. Her fingers poised over the controls, uncertain. “Where do we go now?” she wondered aloud.

An out-of-control skip spun toward them. Bursts of fire erupted from the Falcon’s belly guns as Luke Skywalker reduced the vessel to rubble. A large chunk of coral slammed into the forward shields. The cabin lights blinked out, then flared uncertainly back.

“Anywhere but here,” Han said. “Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad to have Luke and Mara aboard. Your brother’s not bad with weaponry, but he’s not, well—”

“You?” Leia suggested.

Han managed a reasonable imitation of his old, cocky smirk. “I don’t like to brag.”

She began to input coordinates for a brief hyperspace jump. Her fingers faltered to a stop as a strange sensation crept over her—a presence perceived through the Force, yet one that felt more like a gathering storm cloud than a living being. Her brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of it.

The touch on her shoulder made her jump. “You’re wound about three turns too tight,” he observed.

Suddenly the answer came to her. She sat up, pulling away from Han. “Jaina!”

The color leeched from his face. “She’s not …”

“No,” Leia said hastily. “But she’s still in danger—only now she’s nearby. Circle around, head back toward the battle.”

As Han pulled the Falcon around, Leia’s brown eyes scanned the roiling skies. A Yuuzhan Vong frigate twisted through the confusion, several X-wings in close pursuit. Coralskippers converged on the frigate, surrounding it with a protective convoy. Several pairs of mismatched ships peeled away as the situation devolved into a chaotic dogfight.

Leia seized the obvious and logical explanation. Jaina had returned from her mission and gone straight to the nearest Rogue Squadron post. That would be like her. Communication being what it was, she might not have been able to get a message through.

Even as Leia’s thoughts took shape, plasma spurted from a coralskipper and scored a direct hit on one of the X-wings. She felt a surge of fury in that nebulous Jainasense as the Republic pilot dissolved along with the ship, and then a colder, darker emotion took its place.

Her brows drew down in a worried scowl as she tracked the acrid scent of vengeance to her daughter’s ship.

“There,” she said, pointing toward the frigate and the small fleet of beleaguered X-wings giving dogged pursuit. “Jaina’s over there.”

A grin broke over Han’s face. He leaned toward the comm. “Kyp, you’re about to join Rogue Squadron.”

The only response from the Jedi’s X-wing was an incredulous comment of a Q9 droid.

“Jaina’s with those X-wings trying to take down that midsized rock, the one busy avoiding entanglement,” Han explained. “What do you think: can a Yuuzhan Vong ship move that fast and maneuver that well, and still use its shields?”

“Let’s find out.”

Kyp veered off and circled wide, closing in on the frigate from above. Streams of red light poured from his X-wing and pelted the enemy ship. The dovin basal absorbed most of Kyp’s shots in miniature gravity wells and dodged nearly all the rest through a series of deft, economical movements.

“Not bad,” Han muttered, frowning as he stared at the midsized Yuuzhan Vong ship.

Suddenly the enemy frigate pulled away and described a tight, rising loop.

Leia clutched Han’s arm. “It’s coming right into your line of fire!”

“Yeah.”

The laconic response earned Han an incredulous, sidelong glare. He shook off Leia’s grip and reached for the intraship comm. “The big one’s mine, Mara. You