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Anja shook her head violently, causing pain to flare in her neck.

Droplets of sweat flew from side to side. "Too hard."

"You will not be alone," Tenel Ka said.

"We'll be here to help you," Jacen said, clasping her hand tightly.

Tenel Ka covered Jacen's hand with hers.

Zekk folded both hands tightly around Anja's left hand. "We'll be right here with you. All of us."

Anja felt an impossible comfort and relief flowing from her friends'

hands to hers. At first, she thought the relief must be in her imagination, that her need had fooled her weakened mind. She withdrew her fingers from Zekk's. Instantly the pain in her left hand returned.

She gave a wordless gasp and stretched her arm back toward him. When he took Anja's hand this time, she knew the relief was real. It began in her fingers and tingled in cool waves up her arm.

Anja turned her tortured gaze back to Cilghal. "One more dose.

Then I'll accept your help."

Cilghal said nothing. She simply folded her flippered hands and stared at Anja with calm resolve.

Tears of pain now streamed down Anja's face along with the perspiration.

The pain was unbearable. She knew what she needed to do.

Deep down, perhaps she had always known.

"You're right," Anja choked at last. "Putting it off won't help.

And I can't do this alone." She shuddered. "All right. What do I have to do?"

Cilghal nodded. She gently pushed Anja's seat back until it reclined.

Then she placed one flippered hand on her forehead, one on her stomach.

Anja felt Zekk, Tenel Ka, and Jacen press close around her. In all of her life, she had never felt such caring... or such pain.

After the longest and most excruciating half hour of her entire life, Anja slipped into blissful unconsciousness.

Anja came back awake, blinking her big eyes, with a strength and alertness that she could not remember experiencing since before she had begun taking andris.

Andris! To her surprise, though the very thought of the spice still enticed her, she found she could withstand its allure. She pushed herself up in her seat. Around her, the young Jedi were hard at work trying to repair the damaged minisub.

"How long-?"

Tenel Ka checked the chronometer. "Three-point-two hours."

Anja rocked back on her elbows in surprise. "Then it's over? I'm cured?"

Cilghal turned to fix her with a fishy stare. "Not cured, my child.

Cleansed. The toxins are gone, but your body is still capable of experiencing the craving for spice."

Anja accepted the news without flinching. Then she glanced around at Jacen, Zekk, and Tenel Ka, meeting each pair of eyes in turn. "Thank you for using your powers to heal me."

Jacen shook his head. "Hey, most of those powers came from inside you.

From your wanting to stay alive and wanting to be healed."

Anja smiled at them all, a warm, genuine smile. "Maybe. But I don't think I'd have found that strength inside me if I hadn't had friends.

6roping through the spice mines' access tunnels, Jaina, Lowie, and Em Teedee decided that their next step would be to liberate Nien Nunb and his loyal workers. With the help of the prisoners, maybe they could retake Kessel.

Throughout the previous hours, they had heard teams marching up and down the main tunnels, shouting to each other, shining bright glowlamps into dark corners. Judging from the angry tones Jaina heard, the destruction of the transmitter had been a complete success! She could tell that Czethros had stepped up his efforts to find them... but the mercenary teams were so loud and clumsy, only a fool would be unable to avoid them.

Jaina and Lowbacca were no fools.

The advantage to the young Jedi, now that Black Sun had all of its resources dedicated to finding the mysterious saboteurs, was that there were too few troops to keep careful watch on the captives. Only one guard remained standing in front of the security field by the prison quarters where Nien Nunb and the Kessel workers were held.

Peeking from the shadows of a low access tunnel,