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Her last visit to Hapes had been enlivened by the attempted assassination of the former queen mother, Tenel Ka’s grandmother, an attack that had included Tenel Ka and the Solo twins. This event had not been a unique experience. During her eighteen years, Jaina could probably tally up more threats to her life than her mother had hairstyles. People tried to kill her—that’s just the way it was. That didn’t factor largely into Jaina’s hesitation. Of greater concern was her fear that the Hapes Cluster might prove an unlikely staging ground for any attack against the Yuuzhan Vong.

She had no idea what form that attack might take. All she knew was that losing custody of Jacen Solo was going to be the very last thing a lot of Yuuzhan Vong ever did.

“Jaina?” Ganner prompted.

“I’m taking Tenel Ka’s reservations seriously,” she said, offering an explanation for her delayed response, “but I’m with Zekk. Dozens of worlds are so afraid of Yuuzhan Vong reprisals that they’re not accepting refugees of any kind. Even if we were flying a Republic ship, we could get turned away more than once. We might be able to land on a sparsely populated world, but getting off it could be a problem. With Tenel Ka’s connections, we’ll be able to get the ships and supplies we need to get back in business.”

“Sounds good,” Ganner agreed. “Let’s see what sense Lowbacca can make of this escape pod.”

The Wookiee let out a tentative-sounding grumble.

Jaina whirled to face him. “You heard it? What does that mean?”

Lowbacca pantomimed pulling down the cognition hood. He went into a long explanation about the navibrain, and how it interpreted an object’s gravity and used these data as the basis for its directional calculations. The escape pod, even when docked in the frigate, maintained a complex internal gravity, which the incredibly sensitive navibrain perceived.

A seed took root in Jaina’s mind. “So you’re saying this ship’s navigation is based on its recognition of each planet, each asteroid, and everything else it encounters as a discrete entity, based on that entity’s unique gravity?”

The Wookiee considered this, then woofed an affirmative.

“What about small gravitic fluctuations?” she demanded. “Like the kind a Yuuzhan Vong ship creates for propulsion?”

Lowbacca tipped his head to one side and sent her an inquiring stare.

“Before we launch Tenel Ka, I want to make sure we can track the escape pod,” Jaina explained. “From what you’re saying, it sounds to me like that’s how it would be done.”

Intrigued, he ambled off to test this theory. The other Jedi scattered to tend their duties, or to get much-needed rest. Jaina accepted Zekk’s offer to take over for a while and made her way to one of the small coral alcoves that served as cabins.

As soon as she was alone, she allowed a small, triumphant smile to creep onto her face. If her suspicions proved correct, a Yuuzhan Vong ship could identify another ship by its unique gravitic signature. Jaina was confident that Lowbacca would find a way to isolate a ship’s “signal.” Her friend was stubborn, even for a Wookiee. Once he got an idea in his head, it couldn’t be blasted out with a thermal detonator. And when he succeeded, Jaina would be one small step closer to finding her brother.

“We’re coming for you,” she promised as she stretched out on the hard, narrow bunk. “I’ll find you, Jacen, I promise.”

She paused for a moment, breathing carefully until she was able to control the entangled anger and grief and guilt that thoughts of her brothers evoked.

“And when I do, we’ve got a few things to settle,” she added, imbuing her words with just enough snap and ire to catch Jacen’s attention, wherever he was.

She listened for some response, some tiny sign that her twin heard. That he was.

Silence.

With a sigh, Jaina gave up the attempt. She began the preparation for the Jedi trance, a deep and healing state of reverie.

Her last conscious thought was gratitude that no dreams could follow her