The group of officers burst into applause. There were cheers. They put their arms around the Phindian and half carried her into the club for a celebration.

Luke and Mara stood on the mezzanine in the sudden weighty silence and thought about what they had just seen.

"Natural high spirits?" Mara suggested.

"You know that's not what it was."

"Mutiny?"

"Not mutiny. Not yet.T Luke looked at the blank doors through which the two Senators had fled. "But it's close. The military haven't had anything but defeats in this war, and they know it's not their fault.

They know the leadership has been corrupt and stupid and cowardly and inept. They know that Coruscant might have fallen because of politicians like those two." He paused as he heard a m.u.f.fled cheer from the officers below. "I'd feel better," he said, "if one of those cheering weren't wearing the insignia of a fleet commander."

"Me, too," Mara said. She gave a nervous glance over her shoulder.

"We'd better get a government the fleet can respect, and soon. If the military break free of the civilian government and start grabbing resources at blasterpoint, they're no more than pirates."

"Extremely well-armed pirates," Luke added.

It's the turning point., he reminded himself. And hoped it wasn't turning the wrong way.

He glanced overhead again, out the great dome., and this time he could see Jacen's coral craft with the naked eye, suspended by tractor beams below the great scalloped hull of the MC80A cruiser. The alien origin of the pod was clear: the coral hull and its bulbous organic form were unlike anything else in the sky. The graceful Mon Cal structures, with their fluid curves, imitated nature; but the Yuuzhan Vong pod was nature, and extragalactic nature at that.

Doors slid open behind Luke, and a file of soldiers trotted onto the mezzanine, all armed and armored for combat, their faces masked to keep out alien poisons. They were followed by a combat droid that brandished half a dozen weapons on the ends of its brazen arms.

The military was clearly taking no chances with a Yuuzhan Vong pod docking in vital New Republic s.p.a.ce. Not only was an armed escort meeting the vessel, but the vessel was being docked not to Fleet Command, but to its annex, which could be completely sealed off from the headquarters itself and, if necessary, jettisoned into s.p.a.ce by firing explosive bolts.

The young officer commanding the soldiers approached Luke and Mara and saluted.

"Masters Skywalker," he said to both of them. "Admiral Sow's compliments, and after Jacen Solo and his companion are brought on board, he would be honored if you would all join him for refreshment."

Poor Sien Sow, Luke thought. As Supreme Commander of the Defense Force, he'd been held responsible for the multiple catastrophes that had befallen the military. Last Luke had heard, Sow had been wandering Mon Calamari trying to find someone to submit his resignation to-but without a Chief of State, no one was in a position to take it.

"I would be delighted to see the admiral," Luke answered, "provided, of course, that my nephew doesn't require medical attention."

"Of course, sir. Understood."

Luke and Mara followed the soldiers to the docking port. The soldiers took positions left and right of the hatch, and the droid directly in front of it, multiple weaponry directed forward. Luke looked at Mara. She was focused inward, her eyes half closed.

"I don't sense anything wrong," Mara said.

"I don't, either."

Without a word, Luke and Mara stepped between the battle droid and the docking bay hatch. Luke felt his nape hairs p.r.i.c.kle at the thought of all that firepower directed at his back.

"Sir-" the officer began.

Luke made a gentle gesture. "We'll be fine, Lieutenant," he said.

"You'll be fine. Yes, sir."

There was a gentle tremor as tractor beams brought the pod to the hatch, and a hiss as the lock pressurized. Then lights blinked on the inner hatch and it swung open. Jacen stood in the open hatch.

He was dressed in a kind of colorless poncho, clearly of Yuuzhan Vong origin, tied at the waist with what looked like a vine. He had lost weight, and his ropy muscles flexed plainly under pale, sickly skin that didn't seem to hold an ounce of fat. Scars, healed but still vivid, striped his bare arms and legs.

It was Jacen's face, however, that showed the most change.

Beneath an untrimmed mane of hair and a short, equally scruffy beard was a sharp, chiseled face, any remains of baby fat burned away, with brown eyes that showed an adult, restless, penetrating intelligence.

When Jacen had left for Myrkr, he had been on the cusp of adulthood. It was clear that whatever else he may have left there his boyhood was gone.

The relentless eyes turned toward Luke and Mara and blossomed at once with warmth and recognition. Luke felt his heart surge with joy. He and Mara each took an involuntary step forward, and Jacen sped from the hatch, and his arms swept out to embrace them both. Laughter burst from all three at the joyous reunion.

Tears stung Luke's eyes. The turning point, he thought. Yes. From this point, we turn from sorrow toward joy.

"My boy!" The words spilled from Luke. "My boy!"

It was Mara who broke the embrace. She took a half step back, her hand gently placed on Jacen's chest as if to touch the heart of him.

"You've been injured."

"Yes." The word was simple, accepting. Whatever had happened to him, Jacen seemed at peace with it.

"Are you all right?" Mara continued. "Do you need a healer?"

"No, I'm fine. Vergere healed me."

It was then that Mara and Luke turned to Jacen's companion. The piebald little alien had taken a few steps into the station, and was looking at the ranks of armed soldiers with what seemed to be both skepticism and humor.

"I owe Vergere thanks of my own, it seems," Mara said.

Vergere turned her wide, slanting eyes toward Mara. "My tears served you?" she asked.

"Yes. I'm cured, apparently."

"Many years ago, Nom Anor poisoned you with a coomb spore. Did you know that?" Vergere's words were precise, a little fussy.

"Yes, I know." She hesitated. "But-healing tears? How did you-how is it done?"

Vergere's feathery whiskers rippled in what may have been a slight smile. "It is a long story. Perhaps someday I will tell you."

Luke faced Jacen again and found the young man grinning at him.

Luke grinned back. And then an idea struck him.

"We've got to tell your parents you're alive," he said. "And your sister."

Jacen's grin faded slightly. "Yes. I tried to contact them through the Force. But-yes-they should have official word, as well."

"Sir." It was the lieutenant commanding the military detachment.

"Master Skywalker, I have to take possession of the escape pod. If you'll wait for a few minutes on the mezzanine, I'll escort you to the communications center where you can send your message, and then on to Admiral Sow."

"Certainly," Luke said. An irresistible urge to grin struck him again, and he ruffled Jacen's hair with his hand.

With the young man between them, their arms around Jacen's shoulders and waist, Luke and Mara walked past the battle droid to the mezzanine rail. Vergere followed in silence.

Below, travelers moved back and forth from docking ports, all too busy to look up and see the strange reunion taking place on the balcony above them.

"Welcome back," Luke said. "Welcome back, young Jedi."

"I'm not the only one you should welcome back," Jacen said, with a nod toward Vergere.

Luke turned to Vergere. "Welcome, of course," he said politely.

"But I don't know where you're from, so I can't be sure whether you're back or not."

"That is a paradox without an easy answer," Vergere said.

Jacen laughed. "That's true. Haven't you guessed?" And when Luke and Mara turned to him, Jacen laughed again.

"Vergere is a Jedi. A Jedi of the Old Republic. She's been living among the Yuuzhan Vong for more than fifty years."

Luke stared at Vergere in astonishment.

"And you're still alive!" Mara blurted.

Vergere looked down at herself, and patted herself as if demonstrating her own existence. "Apparently so, young Masters," she said.

"How-" Mara began. How had she lived among the Yuuzhan Vong without having her Jedi powers unmasked by a yammosk?

"Another long story," Vergere said, "perhaps for another time."

"You keep your secrets, Vergere," Luke observed.

"I didn't survive by offering my secrets to anyone who might be interested," Vergere said. "My secrets shall remain mine alone, unless I see a reason to set them free." She didn't speak defiantly, but in a matter-of-fact tone, as if describing the color of the carpet.

"We don't want to pump you for information unnecessarily," Luke said, "but I do hope we'll be able to talk sooner or later."

Vergere's feathers ruffled a bit, then smoothed. Perhaps it was her version of a shrug. "We may speak, certainly. But please recall what I told you earlier-I am not a partisan of your New Republic."

"What does hold your allegiance?" Luke asked.

"The Jedi Code. And what you would call the 'Old' Republic."

"There is no Old Republic." Luke tried to speak gently.

"But there is." Her eyes lifted to his, and he felt a shimmer of Vergere's power and conviction, like a vibration in his bones.

"As long as I draw breath," she said, "the Old Republic lives."

There was a moment of silence, and then Luke spoke. "Long may it live, Vergere," he said.

Vergere bobbed her head. "I thank you, young Master." And then she fell silent and turned to look out over the concourse, her eyes sweeping left and right, gazing at the busy people and droids moving swiftly about their business, the ships, the cargo moving back and forth.

It was a world, Luke thought, that Vergere had abandoned fifty years ago. She had lived among a people immeasurably strange, and Luke wondered how alien Vergere's own native galaxy seemed to her now, with its many races, its bustle, and its humming, clicking, chattering machines.

Sadness sifted through Luke's veins. He had welcomed Jacen back to his home, but no such welcome was possible for Vergere-everything she had known was gone.

The reunion did not end with the reappearance of Jacen.

When Luke and his party were brought into Admiral Sow's suite, Luke found that Sow wasn't alone. Sitting on the long curved cream-colored sofa behind their Sull.u.s.tan host were two familiar figures posed like a painterly study in white, a white-uniformed Mon Calamari and a white-haired human.

"Admiral Ackbar! Winter!"

The joy of reunion with his old friends died, however, as he saw Ackbar struggle to rise from the sofa, and he had to force the smile to remain on his face.

Ackbar leaned heavily on Winter's arm as he stood. The amphibian's shiny pink skin had turned grayish and dull. When he spoke, his words were lisped out of a slack mouth that gasped for air.

"Master Skywalker. Friends. I regret to say that living out of water is a burden for me these days."

"Please don't stand, then," Luke said.

He went to Ackbar's side, and with Winter's help eased the admiral again onto the sofa. "Have you been ill?" he asked the admiral, but his eyes went to Winter.

The white-haired woman looked at Luke and gave a brief nod, a quiet confirmation.

"Ill?" Ackbar said. "Not exactly. What I am is old" He gave a sigh from his slack lips. "Perhaps Fey'lya was right when he refused to let me return to the service."

"More likely he remembered the times you'd humiliated him in Council," Mara said.

Winter approached Jacen and wrapped him in a long, thorough, and powerful embrace. "Welcome back, Jacen," she said simply. Winter had looked after the Solo children through much of the early days of the New Republic, when Han and Leia had been driven by the war from one end of the galaxy to the other, and over the years she had probably spent as much time with Jacen as his mother had.

"Have you heard from Tycho?" Luke asked. While Winter's husband, Tycho Celchu, was away with the military, Winter had returned to Ackbar's side as his aide and companion, serving him as loyally as she'd once served Leia.

"He's helping Wedge Antilles organize the defense of Kuat and the establishment of resistance cells. And he's well."

"I'm glad to hear it."

Ackbar lifted his large head toward Mara. "I understand that I should offer congratulations. Did you receive my gift?"

"We did, thank you. The toy holoprojector will do wonders for Ben's vision and coordination."

"The child is well?"

"Ben's fine." A shadow crossed Mara's face. "He's been sent to safety for as long as we're in danger, which may be a while."

"The Solos did the same thing with their children," Winter reminded them. She sent an affectionate look toward Jacen. "They turned out all right."