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“Hey,” he said, “you know you don’t have to act all clumsy to get my attention.” But then he felt how tense she was. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Jacen, and Luke—and Tahiri, they—”

“Are they all right?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s not like my contact with them has been all that strong, but I felt them, especially Luke and Jacen. Now it’s like—they’re gone.”

Han suddenly felt very cold.

“You mean dead?”

“No, not like that. I would know it if they died—I know I would.”

“Then I’m sure they’re fine,” Han said, uncertain whether he believed that or not.

“Yes,” Leia echoed. “I’m sure they are.”

Tahiri looked up at the heavens and shivered straight to her bones.

No world should have hyperspace for a sky.

After the jump, Jade Shadow’s instruments had gone strange, and Mara had settled the ship in a protected ravine until they could sort things out. No telling what would happen to the atmosphere when they reverted.

If they reverted.

She drew her attention back to the conversation.

“Jacen and I had both sensed you for some time,” Master Skywalker was saying. “But fitfully, and we couldn’t get a sense of where. Sekot sensed something, too, but couldn’t find your ship—it was hidden somehow.”

“We came in a Sekotan ship,” Tahiri said.

“With a few Yuuzhan Vong spare parts,” Corran put in.

“That might explain it,” Luke said.

“It certainly explains it,” a new voice said.

They all turned, and Tahiri gasped. Nen Yim was standing there, whole, alive.

“Nen Yim!” she said.

Nen Yim shook her head sadly. “No. This one has passed on. I found her attached to my memory—her, and much information concerning her technology—and the ship that brought you here. The modifications she made to the ship are—interesting. I may experiment with the design, should we survive this.”

“Tahiri,” Jacen said, “this is Sekot, the living intelligence of the planet.”

“I—” What did one say to a world? “I’m pleased to meet you.”

“And I you, Tahiri,” Sekot said gravely.

“Should we survive?” Luke asked. “What happened, exactly?”

“I was infected with a virus designed to corrupt the information-transfer system that links my consciousness to the hyperdrive. I believe the intended result was a core explosion. I managed to prevent that, but was unable to stop our jump to hyperspace. I have excised the virus and am regaining control as we speak, but it is difficult.”

“Do you have any idea of our destination?”

“None,” Sekot said. “The jump was blind. Eventually we will pass close enough to a gravity well to be pulled out.”

“Our friends in orbit,” Luke asked. “Do you know what happened to them?”

“They did not make the jump with us,” she replied. “Whether they were destroyed, left behind, or pulled off onto another vector, I cannot say.”

“I’m sorry,” Tahiri sighed.

“Sorry?” Luke asked.

“Yes. I brought him here. I argued for it, and now everything’s ruined.”

“Tahiri, you weren’t the only one who thought it was a good idea,” Corran said. “Everything always looks clearer in hindsight.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “You came here for all the right reasons—to end the war, to somehow find common ground between us and the Yuuzhan Vong. I thought we could handle the situation. I was wrong.”

The figure that resembled Nen Yim smiled ruefully. “I will not say I am happy to find myself sabotaged and in danger of destruction, and yet what you brought with you—the shaper and her knowledge—are of great importance. I do not entirely understand, and will not speak of it now, but I suspect the questions raised are the most important questions I shall ever have to ask myself. Now—if you will excuse me, I must return my full attentions to preserving us all through what is to come. I suggest you find sturdy shelter in the caves.”

“Thank you,” Luke told her, “and may the Force be with you.”

“More than ever,” Sekot said, “I believe that it is.”

And on that enigmatic note, the image of Nen Yim vanished.

Soon after, the stars returned, spangled on a night sky.

The wind began.

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