"Han, Jacen wants us here."

"What Jacen wants, Jacen gets," Han said, and switched his comm unit to the command channel.

Han-Captain Solo, again, with his insignia pinned to his otherwise civilian vest-commanded the Smugglers' Alliance squadron from the Millennium Falcon. "I'm happier in a smaller ship," he said when Booster Terrik offered Errant Venture. "And besides, a Star Destroyer is too big a target."

The motley Smugglers' Alliance squadron began its change of course.

Leia's Noghri bodyguards, in the turbolaser turrets, chuckled in their whispery voices and fired practice shots into the void.

And then Leia felt a shard of terror clear through the Force-meld, and she knew Jaina was in trouble.

"This is the critical moment," Ackbar said. He, Winter, and Mara sat in a gallery above the Fleet Command operations room, where Sien Sow stood amid a bustle of aides, screens, and constantly flowing data. A holo of the battle at Ebaq 9 floated in the air above the busy room. The Smugglers' Alliance squadron under Han Solo had just appeared in the display, the ships picked out in brilliant orange.

It was a ma.s.sive contrast to the last time Mara had watched Sien Sow in action. Then the Supreme Commander had been forced to conduct his defense of Coruscant in front of a Rill session of the Senate, with the Senators shouting advice and hurling threats, and Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya countermanding Sow's orders from the speaker's podium.

The Supreme Commander seemed a lot more comfortable in his current situation. And no wonder.

"It is at this point that the enemy might begin to suspect a trap,"

Ackbar said. He slumped in his chair, and his voice was slurred with weariness. Being on dry land again was taking its toll.

"Alas that we needed to send this squadron to prevent Farlander and Kre'fey from being overwhelmed . . . fortunately it is small and innocuous . . ." He sighed heavily. "Perhaps they will not take alarm.

Perhaps not."

"Rolling left!" Jaina shouted. But a stream of plasma cannon projectiles met her as she rolled, one stunning impact after another on her shields, and she knew there was a second enemy behind her. If she broke right she'd run into the first enemy.

Fortunately, s.p.a.ce is three-dimensional. She went up.

An enemy missile shot past her canopy, and then she was free. She rolled again and went after her pursuers.

She found one and was on the verge of attempting a deflection shot when R2-B3 chittered a warning and she jerked the stick away from the flaming projectiles that soared past her.

"Twin Three and Four, I'm in a crossfire here-where are you?" she demanded.

"Three's. .h.i.t!" Four's voice. "I saw him eject!"

"Where are you?" Jaina demanded.

"I don't know!"

Jaina jinked away from a line of fire only to have her shields slammed by a missile. Her astromech droid squealed at the state of the shields, which were near collapse. Jaina blinked sweat from her eyes and jinked again, and by chance found a coralskipper floating across her sights. She fired the quad lasers and felt satisfaction at the sight of"

fire burning along the enemy hull. If she hadn't killed it, she'd at least hurt it.

A howl came over the comm, and Jaina's Force-impelled reflexes jerked at the controls.

The howl was followed by another, this one of satisfaction, as Lowie scragged the coralskipper that had been on Jaina's tail. Between the two of them, Jaina and Lowie hunted down and blew apart a third coralskipper, and then she found a moment to raise her faceplate and mop sweat from her face with a gloved hand. They were on the edge of the furball that had originally surrounded Farlander's squadron, but which had now become a separate fight, starfighters and coralskippers circling and hunting each other in a remarkably small area.

She felt Tesar's urgency through the Force. "This one has losst shieldz and an engine!" he called.

The Force told her where Tesar was before her displays did.

"Streak," she told Lowie, "stay on my wing!"

And she dived back into the fight.

Tsavong Lan gazed in furious concentration at the small squadron that had appeared on the flank of the Battle Group of Yun-Q'aah. It was built around a single very large wedge-shaped ship, with a modest number of medium-sized vessels and a lot of small ones. By itself it wasn't very menacing, except that it could attack the rear of the Yun-Q'aah battle group if he committed it to battle.

Better to squash this small group first, he decided. Even though this little squadron wasn't large enough to turn the tide of battle, it was better to be safe than not.

"The Battle Group of Yun-Q'aah is to engage the small squadron on its flank and destroy it."

A subaltern relayed the order. There was a moment in which the subaltern communed with his villip, after which he turned and saluted with crossed arms. "Commander Droog'an begs to ask whether we have been led into an ambush, Warmaster."

For a moment Tsavong Lah's lip curled at the insolence of Droog'an, but then he stopped to consider the question. Had all the information of the Final Redoubt been nothing but an attempt to lure him here into the Deep Core? Had that schemer Nom Anor been outschemed?

The appearance of two enemy squadrons was suspicious. But one of them seemed to be a convoy escort, and the other was understrength and composed of such a heterogeneous array of vessels that it was barely military at all.

If he, Tsavong Lah, had planned an ambush, he would have used overwhelming force and pounced from all directions. He wouldn't have fed in two squadrons piecemeal, neither of them large enough to do anything more than delay the outcome.

No, it had to be a coincidence that a convoy arrived at just this moment. The second squadron was probably a scratch force summoned by a distress call.

"Tell Commander Droog'an there is no ambush," Tsavong Lah said.

"Order him to engage immediately."

"At once, Warmaster!"

Leia could see that Han was impressed by the size and strength of the enemy battle group that suddenly swerved to engage him. He blew a long breath, then cast a glance over his shoulder at Leia and said, "I don't suppose the United Jedi Cl.u.s.ter-Mind has any suggestions about how to handle this one?"

"I'm afraid not," Leia said. The meld knew an engagement had to occur, but its tactical advice was a little unclear.

"Well then," Han breathed. He looked at the displays again, then flicked on the comm. "This is Captain Solo," he told the squadron. "We can't hope to match the enemy with numbers or firepower, so we'll have to make use of speed, flexibility, and-" His brow creased in worry. "-tactical brilliance," he finished hopefully.

Leia reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "Go get 'cm, Slick,"

she said.

Ralroost shuddered to another hit, but Jacen's mind was in the Force, seeing through the eyes of the Jedi meld. His mind strained to keep up with all the information flowing through the force. Through Leia's eyes he saw Han's slashing attack on the larger enemy battle group, a hit-and-run a.s.sault that the enemy was too large and slow to counter. Through Madurrin's perceptions he felt Farlander's battered squadron slam into the enemy, taking Kre'fey's enemies in the rear and inflicting damage beyond their numbers. Through the eyes of Kyp and Corran and Saba he saw the flash of fire, coralskippers burning, enemy frigates and cruisers trembling to the force of shadow bombs.

And he felt Jaina's desperation and Lowbacca's ferocity as they aided Tesar's grim fight for survival. Jacen's fingers twitched with the impulse to run to Ralroost's fighter bays, to jump into his X-wing and fly to Jaina's a.s.sistance. But he knew he served the cause better on Ralroost, where he was able to keep the other Jedi focused, help them sense each other's locations and coordinate their actions with one another.

Jacen jumped as Kre'fey's white-furred hand dropped onto his shoulder. "Now, Jacen!" the admiral said. "Our minefield is complete! Now you'll see the destruction of the enemy!"

Kre'fey gave an order on the comm.

And then, mere minutes later, as the squadrons leapt from their hiding places in the Deep Core hypers.p.a.ce lanes, more New Republic ships began to appear, one squadron after another. A host of Jedi minds rose into the meld: Tahiti, Zekk, Alema, and the burning power of Luke Skywalker.

All here at the finish.

The voxyn cried again as they detected one new Jedi after another, their weary howls now more akin to whimpers. The blaze bugs that flew into the air to mark the new infidel squadrons provided a strange dissonance in Tsavong Lah, for the picture that rose to Tsavong Lah's brain, fed by the tendrils of the cognition throne, showed the enemy in even greater numbers, vast numbers of infidels all around him.

It took a moment for him to realize why he was receiving two different impressions. So many were the infidels that the warmaster had run out of blaze bugs to represent them in the display.

Fury possessed him. What did it matter that he was now outnumbered?

That his forces had been drawn out of position and were about to be engulfed? The Yuuzhan Vong were conquerors! The G.o.ds had promised them victor)'!

Swiftly he reordered his forces. The Battle Groups of Yun-Harla and Yun-Txiin were heavily engaged against the original enemy squadron and the first set of reinforcements. They had local superiority in numbers, though both sides had lost all formation and the battle had dissolved into a general melee. Tsavong Lah ordered these forces to redouble their efforts and destroy their foes before more infidel battle groups could intervene.

The Battle Group of Yun-Yammka, which had opened the battle and been left on its own since the original enemy squadron had made its unexpected turning maneuver, had regrouped. Tsavong Lah decided to sacrifice it. He ordered the battle group to hurl itself against the enemy reinforcements in order to keep them occupied while he tried to win the fight with his other forces.

"Do-ro'ik vong pratte!" the group commander replied when he heard the order, the battle cry of the warrior caste. Tsavong Lah swelled with pride at the unquestioning spirit of the doomed commander. He knew he, his ships, and his warriors were going to their deaths, but still he gladly accepted the clash of battle.

The Battle Group of Yun-Q'aah, which had been in pursuit of the small, agile force that had appeared as the second group of reinforcements, was ordered to break off its pursuit and maneuver against several of the infidel squadrons. If Commander Droog'an maneuvered cleverly enough, he could occupy a large group of the enemy without committing himself against overwhelming numbers, thus buying time for the rest.

That left the reserve Battle Group of Yun-Yuuzhan, under Tsavong Lah's personal command. It was the only force that hadn't been engaged with the enemy, that hadn't suffered casualties, and that still had complete freedom of maneuver.

Tsavong Lah hesitated for a moment, then decided to take his battle group straight into battle alongside the Battle Groups of Yun-Harla and Yun-Txiin. If he could force a victory there, it might create other opportunities.

He gave the orders, and his forces screamed toward the battle.

Tsavong Lah had been led into a trap-by Nom Anor's information.

"You have betrayed us," Yoog Skell said. "You must pay with your life."

Nom Anor calmly reached into his pocket for the blorash jelly that he then flung at Yoog Skell's feet.

The high prefect waved his arms, trying not to topple, as the jelly pinned his feet to the floor. He gave Nom Anor a wild look. "What arc you doing, Executor? "he demanded.

"Giving Shimrra an itch." Nom Anor surprised himself with how calmly he was behaving.

He slashed his amphistaff down on Yoog Skell's head. The high prefect folded into unconsciousness, his feet still pinned by the semisentient jelly tendrils.

Nom Anor looked at the sprawled body of his superior and hoped he wasn't dead. He'd always rather liked Yoog Skell.

Nom Anor knew, of course, what had happened. His spies had been identified and fed false information designed to lead the Yuuzhan Vong fleet into this trap. Whoever had done this had been brilliant, setting out a series of clues and letting Nom Anor himself draw the conclusions.

But there would be little use explaining to his superiors how brilliantly he had been played by the enemy-not in the wake of a military disaster of this magnitude. They would want Nom Anor's head, not his explanations.

It was time for Nom Anor to vanish, to don an ooglith masquer to disguise his appearance and then to disappear among the anonymous worker caste. After the search died down, he could create further ident.i.ties and credentials that would get him off the planet.

But where would he go? He would be hunted throughout Yuuzhan Vong-controlled territory. And if he escaped into the New Republic, he would have to live forever in disguise, an object of suspicion wherever he went.

He decided to think about all that later.

Right now, he needed to concentrate on escape.

Twin Suns Squadron was down to eight star-fighters, and of these only Lowbacca's was intact. Tesar had lost an engine and half his shields. Jaina had lost her rear shields and her upper right foil along with its laser, and her c.o.c.kpit smelled of fear and sour sweat. Others suffered light to heavy damage. They had expended all their missiles and bombs.

Fortunately, they were no longer engaged with the enemy. The larger battles had pa.s.sed them by, and the fighter-versus-fighter battle seemed to be over. The coralskippers had either been killed or gone somewhere else, and only scattered B- and E-wings were near diem.

Through the Jedi meld Jaina could still feel others experiencing the shock of combat. Wearily she turned the nose of her craft toward the huge battle nearby, where Jacen and Kyp and the Wild Knights were engaged, but from Jacen she felt a cool touch of the mind, followed by his voice on comm.

"Don't. You're too shot up."

"I can feel the others fighting. I can't stand by."

"You must. The others would only endanger themselves protecting you."

The meld was in agreement with Jacen. She felt their unanimity, but still she felt the urge not to abandon her friends.

"You have acquitted yourself honorably, Jaina Solo." This was Saba's voice. "It is now your task to preserve your own life."

"Twin Suns has permission to withdraw to Ebaq Nine." This came from Ebaq 9, from her own controller.

Jaina felt her tension drain away. Preserve your own life. How long had it been since anyone told her to do that? Her battle was over, and the annihilation that she had feared-that she had expected-- had not come.

"Acknowledged," she told the flag, and then spoke to her pilots.

"Streak, I want you to cover Tesar. The rest of you, form on me."

Wearily, Jaina turned her craft toward safety.

Jaina, Tesar, and Lowbacca had landed on Ebaq 9. Luke could sense their weariness in the Force, but still he felt them trying to send strength and clarity to the others in the Jedi meld.

Luke sat on the bridge of the Mon Calamari cruiser Harbinger, flagship of Garm Bel Iblis, and played a game of holochess in his mind with the enemy commander. Luke's mission to the old hero of the Rebellion had succeeded: Bel Iblis had brought into the Deep Core half the fleet with which he had been guarding Talaan, divided into three battle groups.

Maneuvering against that fleet was a single Yuuzhan Vong squadron, the one that had earlier been pursuing Han's squadron of Smugglers'

Alliance ships. Its commander was clever and had managed to keep all three of Bel Iblis's battle groups occupied without quite engaging any of them.

But it was an unfair contest. The Yuuzhan Vong had only a single piece on the holo board, the New Republic three-- four, if Han's small squadron counted. Luke, maneuvering with the aid of the Jedi meld, slowly reduced the enemy's options to two: fight and die, or flee.

And he knew the Yuuzhan Vong did not run away.

He ordered the three battle groups to converge.

No good, Tsavong Lah realized. His plan wasn't working.

He clenched his teeth in rage. May Norn Anor's flayed skin be trampled by rakamats.

The Battle Groups of Yun-Harla and Yun-Txiin were fighting bravely but being overwhelmed by the enemy. Two new enemy battle groups had joined the fight, fresh and formed and well organized, while the Yuuzhan Vong were scattered and locked in combat with their old enemies.

The Battle Group of Yun-Q'aah was in the process of being trapped by three enemy battle groups.

The Battle Group of Yum-Yammka, as instructed, was immolating itself against the enemy, but such bravery was useless because nothing else was going well.