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Several lavishly dressed racing officials hovered near Han Solo, preoccupying themselves with insignificant details. Han looked somewhat out of his element, uncomfortable in his formal clothes.

"Since I already flew the course once, what exactly do you want me to do here as Grand Marshal?"

"Well, whenever you're ready," one of the bureaucrats said, fluttering perspiration-damp hands in the air and indicating a single red button on a panel, "we need you to push this button."

"That's it?" Han said.

"It's a very important task," the bureaucrat answered, blinking in surprise. "It's how we start the race."

Han gave him a lopsided grin. "Well then, I'll be sure to do my best."

"No need to worry, sir," the bureaucrat said. "So far, in the ninetythree-year history of the Derby, only two Grand Marshals have failed to do it correctly."

Jacen couldn't imagine how anyone could possibly manage to push a single button incorrectly, but then he'd seen some pretty disastrous bungling of simple matters in the course of his adventures.

"All right then, let's get this over with," Han said, his finger hovering near the button.

"No, no! Not yet," the bureaucrat insisted.

"You said, whenever I was ready," Han reminded him.

"But we have to send the thirty-second warning to the contestants first.

And the HoloNet reporters need to get into position." The bureaucrat frantically twiddled some dials and punched codes into a small yellow touchpad.

In the observation tower several of the broad windowscreens dimmed, now displaying transmitted images of spacecraft up in orbit.

Other contestants remained on landing pads as a second wave in the breakneck race through the cometary obstacle course. All ships would be clocked, and the winner would be determined by the fastest time through.

Han grinned. "Did I ever tell you kids how I made the Kessel run in under-"

"Yes," Anakin broke in.

"How could we not know, Dad?" Jacen said. "It's one of the most famous things you've ever done."

Han brushed his fingers down his vest. "I wouldn't say that, exactly.

I mean, saving your uncle Luke countless times, infiltrating the Death Star, freeing your mom from an Imperial prison chamber, helping defeat the entire Empire, exploring unknown worlds-" The bureaucrat interrupted him. "Now you may proceed, sir," he said. "All ships have been informed and are ready to begin."

Han stepped forward to the red button and extended his finger.

"This button, right?"

"Yes, that's the one."

"You're sure I'm doing this properly?"

The bureaucrat did not pick up on his sarcasm at all. "You seem to be performing most admirably."

"Good," Han said. He pushed the button. The Blockade Runners Derby began.

Ships roared off pell-mell, choosing their own preferred routes to the cometary cloud, some swinging around the planet for a gravitational boost, others heading in a straight-line path, still others taking an incomprehensibly convoluted course.

The holocam buoys captured some of the contestants as they streaked by, an odd assortment of supercharged vessels, modified so that the pilots could withstand excessive acceleration; some ships had heavily reinforced shields to allow them to rip through the course without worrying about ramming into a few comets along the way.

Jaina stared at the viewscreens, her face filled with fascination.

"Look at the range of spacecraft!" she said. "Skimmers, freighter's, courier vessels... Dad, I don't even recognize some of those vehicle types."

"Anybody with a few spare parts and some ingenuity can create their own new vehicle type," Han said. "Done it myself a few times."

A new ship flashed across the screen so rapidly that though Jacen thought for just a moment that he recognized the configuration, he decided it must be just his imagination. After all, he'd been daydreaming about Tenel Ka. It was only natural. Even though he was glad about being able to spend some time with his father, he also missed the young warrior girl.

And Lowie, too, of course...

Since the discovery of the space mine cluster on the course,