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The fire and ice planet hung tantalizingly close, but Jaina did not dare move nearer. The Diversity Alliance was extremely watchful.

"Finding Ryloth's the easy part," she said, turning slightly in the pilot's chair. "Getting into Nolaa Tarkona's tunnels is going to be the real trick."

The Twi'Lek clans had built their homes by boring into cliffsides and creating enormous cities, complete with towering structures, in caverns and grottoes that were protected from the harsh environment of the planet's surface. Nolaa Tarkona had taken over a prime section of tunnels not far from the ryll mining areas, and the Diversity Alliance now controlled Ryloth and held its population in an iron grip.

"We must be patient," Tenel Ka said. "Lusa was certain that the correct opportunity would arise. The plan should work."

"Excuse me, Mistress Jaina," Em Teedee piped up from where he had been wired to the navigational console, "my initial scans indicate substantial traffic in the vicinity of Ryloth. The planet appears to have many orbiting vessels as well as frequent arrivals and departures of automated industrial ships in the inhabited sections of the mountains."

"Industrial ships?" Jacen said. "What kind of industries do they have on Rylothmother than mining, I mean?"

"Actually, mining ryll spice is Ryloth's major industry now." Raynar seemed glad to show off his knowledge of interstellar commerce. "Ryll is a rare mineral with medicinal uses. It's fairly valuable, and it was used during the Krytos plague when the Rebels took Coruscant. Of course, before Nolaa Tarkona took over the government, a good part of Ryloth's income came from a huge black-market slave trade in dancing girls, administrators, accountants, and so on. The trade still exists, but now it's more secret than ever.

Twilleks are famous for doing business behind the scenes. They usually slink and hide and work in shadows to pull their strings. Nolaa Tarkona, on the other hand, doesn't seem to keep a very. low profile."

"Ah. Aha," Tenel Ka said. "Ryll is now Ryloth's major export, and Nolaa Tarkona siphons away profits to fund the Diversity Alliance."

"Probably practices a bit of piracy to build up her resources," Jaina added. "Gets the rest in donations from her converts."

"Converts like Lowie," Jacen said, and a feeling of gloom passed over the young Jedi Knights.

"We've got to find him and rescue him."

The companions waited for hours, using Jedi relaxation techniques with varying degrees of success. Their ship hung motionless in space, a bit of insignificant galactic flotsam, unimportant, unnoticed.

Finally, a sensor blip caught Jaina's attention, and she leaned forward.

"Large craft coming into the system, approaching on our vector." She backtracked its path. "Looks like an empty drone of some sort."

"It appears to be on autopilot, Mistress Jaina," Em Teedee confirmed.

Raynar leaned closer to peer at the sensors.

"Good. It's one of those automated ore haulers Lusa told us about.

You knowrathe ones that come to Ryloth, pick up raw ryll material, then take it off-planet for processing."

"Then this is the one we'll use for camouflage," Jaina said, biting her lower lip. "It's big enough.

Shouldn't be hard to hide ir its shadow."

"This is a fact," Tenel Ka agreed, "but the Diversity Alliance will be vigilant."

"Sure. Lusa warned us about that," Jacen said, scratching his tousled brown hair.

"We'll just have to be extra careful."

"A commendable ph'dosophy, Master Jacen, Em Teedee agreed.

As the lumbering ore hauler continued toward the planet, its uneven shape filled much of the starfield in the viewports. Jaina sk'rllfully maneuvered the Rock Dragon behind the giant robotic craft where its bulk would eclipse their own ship.

Now we'll just slip in and no one will notice," she said with a bit more confidence than she actually felt.

Jacen's brandy-brown eyes squinted as he studied the pitted surface and blocky configuration of the ship that would serve as their shield.

"Looks like it's seen better