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“There have been reports of stormtroopers in that section of the galaxy,” the lieutenant said.

“Stormtroopers?” Leia asked. “Will they never go away?”

“Leia,” Ackbar said, “we’re now getting more reports from Auyemesh. The ships that managed to land found bodies everywhere. They were giving more details when all communication to the planet was shut down.”

“Another killing?” Leia asked.

Ackbar shook his big head. “No. It was as if someone wanted just that much information out, and then stopped it.”

“We have to be prepared for the assumption that this is all a hoax.”

“A rather elaborate one, don’t you think, Wedge?” Leia asked. “No, this Kueller is real. I have seen his face before. He’s been haunting me for a while now. He’s real, and he means business. We need to find out as much about him as we can.”

The emotions she had been holding back rose inside her. She checked her own screen to see if she had had a reply from Han yet. Nothing. But he had told her he would be impossible to reach as long as he was on the Run.

The Run was far from Almanian space. She hoped he was safe.

“Admiral Ackbar, will you contact Mon Mothma for me, and tell her I want to see her in my chambers?” Leia asked. She was shaking too badly to do it herself. She had to leave now. “I’ll contact you all for more information after I meet with her.”

“Are you all right, Leia?” Ackbar asked.

Leia smiled tightly at him. “I don’t think any of us will be all right until we do something about this madman.”

“We will,” Ackbar said with complete certainty.

She wished she had the same certainty. This Kueller had more Force capability than anyone she had encountered in years. Except Exar Kun, and he had been a spirit. Kueller was alive. He was using these deaths to replenish his own well of hatred. The dark side ate people from within, but while it did so, it gave them much too much power.

He appeared to have more power than she had. More power than Luke.

Luke. The echo of his mental voice still reverberated in her mind. He was probably on Pydyr.

She would help him, if it was the last thing she ever did.

Thirty

A pile of chips, scorched wires, and broken metal toppled on Threepio. The weight of it activated the sensors in his chest. They flared, warning that the weight had to be moved or he would suffer damage.

“Artoo?” Threepio’s voice sounded muffled.

There was no corresponding beep. Artoo hadn’t even noticed when the pile fell on Threepio. Artoo was chirruping softly to himself on the other side of the hallway, digging through a pile of rubble with all of his extensions.

“Artoo! I say, Artoo!”

Artoo whistled at him.

“Not in a moment! Now! Can’t you see I’m trapped here?”

Artoo chirruped. Then Artoo hurried across the floor, moving carefully to avoid the debris.

A door opened on the side. Artoo’s head swiveled.

“Hurry, Artoo!” Threepio apparently couldn’t get himself out of the pile.

A Kloperian slid inside. He was wearing a guard uniform.

Suddenly Artoo’s chirrups turned to submissive beeps. The Kloperian frowned at the debris pile.

“Artoo!”

Artoo moaned.

The Kloperian grunted, and swept the rubble off Threepio. Threepio sat up. “It’s about time—”

He stopped when he saw the Kloperian.

“What’re you doing here?” the Kloperian asked. “This is a restricted area.”

“I—ah—I was trapped,” Threepio said.

“Yeah. I noticed. But before that. How’d you get in here?”

“I followed him.”

Artoo blatted at him.

“He seemed intent on something inside. When I queried him, he said he had seen something or someone, so I thought we’d better investigate. Surely we did nothing wrong.”

The Kloperian crossed four tentacles over its gray chest. It frowned, making a hundred extra wrinkles on its already wrinkly face. “This place is restricted because it’s dangerous. I’m not even supposed to be inside. It could kill a living being. But since you’re a droid, I suppose there’s no harm. Unless I get killed. Just get out.”

“Gladly, sir,” Threepio said. “Gladly.”

He climbed out of the remaining