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“Well, that makes two of us. But the question isn’t whether we like him, or even whether we trust him. The question is, Is he telling us the truth at this moment, as he knows it?”

“I can’t say for sure,” Tahiri said. “But this all seems pretty elaborate for a trap.”

“My thought exactly. It doesn’t make any sense—if they were going to do something, why not here? No, this has the feel of a real plan, albeit a pretty shoddy one. In fact, it’s sort of reassuring.” He smiled. “Are you still game?”

“Of course. I thought you would be the one to object.”

“We’re in pretty deep already. You’ve shown me you can handle yourself. And Kenth was right to send you along—I couldn’t have made the call about the masquer. Let’s at least see what the plan is.”

“There are hidden ways into Shimrra’s palace,” Yu’shaa told them. “Some have been discovered, but there is one I am still certain of. I have been reluctant to use it, for once I do so I cannot do so again. Once within, we must make our way to the shaper compound.”

“If she has a ship, why can’t she just fly it out?” Tahiri asked.

“I don’t know,” the Prophet replied. “I know only that she requires defense of a substantial sort, or the escape will be impossible.”

“That’s not all there is to it,” Corran grunted. “She wants it to look like a kidnapping, doesn’t she? So she can have deniability later.”

“That seems possible,” Yu’shaa agreed.

“Hmm. Do you have a diagram of this compound?”

“Yes.”

“How many warriors will we have to face?”

“My followers will help, of course,” Yu’shaa said. “They will create a nearby disturbance, which should draw warriors to another part of the palace compound. And you have friends inside the damutek, of course.”

“That’s all well and good,” Corran said, “but how many warriors will we have to face?”

“My guess is all I can give you, but I suspect no less than ten.”

“And as many as?”

“If things go wrong? A few hundred.”

“Ah,” Corran said. “Then your people, the ones creating the distraction—”

“Will likely be killed, yes. But they are willing to die.”

“But I’m not willing to let them die,” Corran said. “Not for me.”

“They die for their own redemption, Jedi Horn, not for you. It is only if our mission fails that they will have died in vain.”

“Still, I—hang on.”

Tahiri felt something in the Force, then, a flash of insight from Corran. He was staring at the glowing plants they’d been discussing a moment ago.

“I think I have an idea,” he said. Tahiri thought he sounded reluctant. “It might buy us the edge we need, and get fewer of your people hurt in the process.”

“The Jedi shall lead the way,” the Prophet said. “Tell me your plan.”

“I wish you wouldn’t keep saying things like that,” Corran said, “but here’s what I’m thinking …”

TWELVE

When they emerged from the darkened tunnels and into the light of Supreme Overlord Shimrra’s palace, Tahiri’s knees went momentarily weak at the sight. His command ship, an enormous winged sphere, was nested at the top of it, as if the whole palace were a scepter, a symbol of might.

“Pretty impressive,” even Corran admitted. “Now what?”

Yu’shaa pointed a finger toward a much more modest, star-shaped complex. “That is the shaper damutek,” he said. “Wait here for a few moments. When our ruse begins, it will be there.” He pointed to a large, hexagonal building rather low to the ground, with a roof of gabled mica. “It is an amphistaff breeding gla. The guards will think my people are raiding for weapons.”

Corran counted at least fifty warriors patrolling the vast plaza.

“Your people will be slaughtered.”

“They will not fight for long. They will flee, and your brilliant plan will make certain that most of them are not followed.”

Corran sighed. “I’m not so sure it’s brilliant.”

“They may escape,” Yu’shaa said. “You have given them a better chance than they had. If they do not, they will die with honor, something more than Shimrra would ever allow them. They will die knowing they have blazed the trail to redemption.”

Corran looked back at the damutek. “And we just go in the front door?”

Tahiri was staring