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He almost grinned. “Yun-Harla is either laughing or outraged. Who can tell anymore? I suppose I should take some measure of comfort in the fact that I will see all of you die first, but somehow the fight has gone out of me. You are infidels, yes. You are ignorant and primitive, and you have chosen to consort with machines, as if they were living beings. But though I pity you for that, I no longer hate you for it. However, you do need to die, if only on the off chance that your sacrifices will persuade the gods to spare the life of our war coordinator.”

He turned slightly and lifted his gaze, as if to the yammosk. “Are you even capable of directing a flight of coralskippers? I think not, poor creature. But I know that, like me, you will die trying.”

The priest groaned in pain, doubled over, and collapsed on the floor. The six guards also appeared to have died. Thud bugs crept from the warriors’ bandoliers and expired.

Leia realized that the blorash had lost all its binding qualities. The entire place seemed to be dying at the same time.

The yammosk issued an earsplitting screech of agony. Its tentacles flailed for several seconds; then the bloated beast bobbed lifelessly to the surface of the agitated pool.

Malik Carr hauled himself to his feet and lifted one of the amphistaffs, which hung over his hand like a length of rope. “As docile as a mascot.” He looked at Page. “You have won the day, Captain. I salute you.”

The commander toppled like a tree.

Page lifted himself from the jelly and hurried over to him. Kyp and Meloque clambered onto the step to regard the yammosk.

“It’s dead,” Meloque pronounced.

A sudden commotion broke out in the antechamber. Kyp and Leia called their lightsabers to them, activating the blades while Page and Wraw hastened for the blasters.

“Hello?” a voice called out.

Into the basin room walked Lando Calrissian, Talon Karrde, and Shada D’ukal, wearing armorply combat suits, white helmets, and knee-high boots, and armed with lightweight blaster rifles. Lando’s bipedal YVH 1-1A droid brought up the rear.

The Hero of Taanab brought his fingertips to his brow in an informal salute. “Kyp. Captain Page.” He flashed his bright, trademark smile at Meloque. “Sorry, I haven’t had the pleasure.”

“Meloque,” she told him.

“Agent Wraw,” the Bothan said curtly, clearly vexed by the trio’s sudden appearance.

Leia stared at them in astonishment. “What in the galaxy …”

“Leia, so good to see you,” Lando said. “We just wanted to show that the Smugglers’ Alliance has more to offer than hunter-killer mouse droids. Booster, Mirax, and Crev Bombassa send their regards.”

“Errant Venture is here?” she said, referring to Booster Terrik’s personal Star Destroyer.

Karrde nodded. “We came prepared to fight a war.”

“What’s the situation upside?” Page asked.

“Peaceful. We only had to deal with a small skip carrier and a couple of patrol craft.”

“Patrol craft?” Page said. “Caluula was supposed to be a major staging area for Mon Calamari.”

Lando nodded. “That’s what we thought.” He glanced at Han. “Booster’s not too happy having expended so much fuel on a mission Wild Karrde could have handled. In fact, we would have been here sooner, if we hadn’t ended up in a fire-fight with the Peace Brigaders at the spaceport.”

“The Brigaders are all right? Healthy?” Meloque asked.

“Healthy enough to have delayed us,” Karrde said. “Momentarily, that is.”

Leia showed Han a skeptical look. “You knew about this.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t trust this whole operation from the start. I figured we’d been compromised somehow, so I wanted to make sure we had backup. Sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“That’s against orders, Solo,” Wraw said harshly.

“So bring me up on charges when we get back to Mon Calamari.”

“Don’t think I won’t try.”

Lando glanced from the Bothan to Han. “Has it been this way from the start?”

“Pretty much.”

Lando watched Han struggle to his feet. “Are you all right,

Han?”

“He was bitten by an amphistaff whose venom wasn