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By Root 1395 0

the ship suddenly bounded up from the ground, twisting as it went. Tahiri lost her footing and fell. She grasped at the edge of the retracting ramp and missed, but caught the edge of a plasma cannon with her left hand. Furiously, she cut at the hull with her lightsaber. It resisted the blow, and her weight suddenly tripled as the ship went into drive. She lost her grip and went whirling back to the ground, landing so hard all of the wind went out of her. She lay there, trying to recover, watching helplessly as the yorik coral vessel bored up through the atmosphere with Jade Shadow in hot pursuit.

Another wrenching wave of pain from the planet lashed at her, and again the ground shifted. Wheezing, she forced herself to her feet.

Corran, Luke, and Jacen were trotting toward her. Saba was standing at the edge of the clearing, staring out at the towers. The Yuuzhan Vong warriors all appeared to be dead.

“Tahiri,” Jacen asked. “Are you okay?”

“Nothing broken, I think,” she said.

He wrapped her up in an embrace that hurt almost as much as it felt good. Tears threatened again.

“I let him get away,” she murmured. “After all that, I let him get away. And now Sekot will die.”

“Die?” Master Skywalker said. “Do you two understand what’s going on here? What’s wrong with Sekot?”

Over Jacen’s shoulder, Tahiri saw a shaft of blue light suddenly leap from ground to sky, appearing from somewhere near the hyperdrive. It lasted only a second.

“Down!” Corran shouted. “Cover your ears.”

A heartbeat later, the shock wave came, followed by a wind so hot it scorched her back.

“What was that?” Jacen asked.

“The ship’s drive,” Corran explained. “Nom Anor must have sabotaged it somehow.”

“Nom Anor?” Master Skywalker said. “What—?”

“That’s a long story,” Corran said, “one that I would like to tell. But I don’t think I’m going to get the chance if we don’t get out of this area, and quickly.”

“Mara’s already on her way back,” Master Skywalker said.

By the time the Shadow dropped back low enough to pick them up, the surface of Zonama Sekot was vibrating like a plucked string, and in the Force, Tahiri could feel something building, something out of control. She followed the others aboard.

“I came back when I saw the plasma burst,” Mara said. “Is it a weapon?”

“No,” Luke said. “Get us out of here, Mara—fast.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“What about Nom Anor?” Tahiri asked.

“I alerted Widowmaker,” Mara said. “They should have enough firepower to deal with the Vong ship.”

The ground was dwindling, and the gigantic vanes of the hyperdrive were coming into view. The entire valley they stood in was black, and as she watched, three brilliant blue beams like the one they had seen a moment ago tore up through the atmosphere.

The shock wave hit, and the Shadow went into a crazy yaw, which Mara fought, cursing, into control.

“I appreciate the save,” Corran told Master Skywalker as the ship leveled out. “But how is it you just happened by?”

“We didn’t know it was you,” Luke said. “Sekot was in pain—we came here to find out what was wrong, and saw the Yuuzhan Vong ship.” He raised an eyebrow. “We were pretty surprised to find you here.”

“Right,” Corran said. “That explanation I promised you …”

Through the upward-angled cockpit view, Tahiri saw stars appearing as they left the atmosphere behind.

Then, abruptly, they streaked away.

Nom Anor was standing on the bridge of the transport vessel Red Qurang, watching the planet recede with a grim smile of satisfaction. Jade Shadow had broken off her pursuit.

“A large infidel ship is approaching,” one of the subalterns growled.

“It’s the Imperial frigate I mentioned to Shimrra,” Nom Anor said. “You were supposed to occupy it with your other ships.”

“There are no other ships,” Ushk Choka growled. “Lord Shimrra had need of them elsewhere.” He grimaced at the sight of the approaching ship. “It’s too large to engage,” he said. “Can we outrun it?”

“We will have to bear its first assault,” the subaltern said. “After that we can outrun. Its mass will prevent it changing its vector quickly enough to catch