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“Jag Fel,” Kyp observed flatly.

“Colonel Jag Fel,” Leia added thoughtfully. Her face took on the inscrutable but pleasant expression that Han often referred to as her “diplomat face.”

“You’ll have to excuse me,” she murmured, and then headed toward the young commander.

Kyp chose not to take the hint. He matched his pace to Leia’s. Whatever came next, they would need pilots—and even if Kyp didn’t like to admit it, pilots didn’t come much better than the young man emerging from the Chiss clawcraft.

Colonel Jagged Fel’s face lit with pleasure as he recognized Leia. A faint shadow entered his eyes when he noted Kyp at her side. That Kyp could understand. Their first meeting had been more cordial than a bar brawl, but that was the only positive thing Kyp could think to say about it.

The pilot drew himself up and greeted Leia with a crisp, formal bow. He introduced his wingmate, a Chiss woman who stood nearly half a head taller than either Jag or Kyp.

“Is your presence here a portent of things to come?” Leia asked, a touch of hope in her voice.

Jag inclined his head in a bow of apology. “I regret to report that it is not. Shawnkyr and I are scouts for the Chiss, no more.”

“Pretty impressive arsenal for a pair of scouts,” Kyp observed, tapping one hand against the proton torpedo launcher.

“We don’t seek trouble, but neither will we run from it,” Jag said calmly.

Several uniformed Hapans strode toward them, flanking two men in bedraggled flight suits. One of them pointed to Jag. “That’s him—him and the woman. They’re the ones.”

“Some of that trouble you didn’t run from?” Kyp asked.

Jag’s only response was a brief, cool stare. “Excuse me,” he murmured to Leia, and then went over to speak with the officials. He returned in moments and sent a glance toward the Chiss. Immediately she swung back into her ship and began to power up the engines.

“We’ve been asked to undertake a short mission,” Jag explained. “A Yuuzhan Vong frigate analog requires an escort to Hapes.”

Kyp let out a burst of derisive laughter. “Who’d you have to kill to get that job?”

“The pilot is believed to be Lieutenant Jaina Solo,” Jag continued, as smoothly as if the interruption had not occurred.

“I know,” Leia said, a shadow of worry in her voice, “and I thank you for undertaking this. It won’t be easy to get an enemy ship in unscathed.”

Jaina, Kyp mused. Coming here, and flying a Yuuzhan Vong ship. This has distinct possibilities. “Could you use another pilot?”

Jag regarded him for a long moment. “The Hapan officials do not seem entirely convinced that this is not some sort of ambush. They asked Shawnkyr and me to go because we have combat experience against the Yuuzhan Vong. It’s entirely possible, however, that we were chosen for this task primarily because we are not Hapan, and are therefore considered expendable.”

“Oh, if that’s all,” Kyp said dryly. “I’ve been expendable for years. And recently my status has been downgraded from undesirable to anathema.”

Shawnkyr leaned over the edge of the cockpit, her red eyes taking Kyp’s measure. She, too, had heard the tales about the rogue Jedi, but she did not look disapproving.

“You will fly under Colonel Fel’s command?” she demanded.

“It’s his mission,” Kyp agreed. “What about it, Colonel?”

The young pilot accepted with a curt nod, then pulled himself up into his ship. Kyp sprinted toward his X-wing.

“What’s this about, Kyp?” Leia called after him.

He stopped, turning to meet her questioning gaze. The suspicion he expected to see was there, but it was tempered with something softer—curiosity, if nothing more.

“The last time you agreed to take orders from someone, you twisted the situation and turned many of the best people I know into unwitting murderers. Including, I might add, my daughter. What are you after this time?”

Leia’s words were harsh, but Kyp didn’t consider them unfair. Like her brother, she was giving him a chance to make an accounting of himself.

It was better than he expected, and better than he deserved.