Luke watched the blockade grow larger.
“Oh, boy,” Mara said.
“No,” Luke murmured, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t you see? They’re no danger to us.”
Jaina’s voice crackled over the comm. “That’s Rogue Squadron! I can’t believe they would—”
She was interrupted by a hail that came simultaneously to the Jade Shadow.
Gavin Darklighter’s image appeared on the Shadow’s display.
“Jade Shadow—it looks like you could use some help.”
“This is unwise, Gavin,” Luke responded carefully. “Those are Coruscant security forces pursuing us.”
“I’ve explained their mistake to them,” Gavin replied. “They won’t trouble you again.”
“They’ll just send for more ships. This could really develop into a situation.”
“Maybe the sort of situation the New Republic needs,” Gavin replied. “First Corran, now you? Enough is enough. Fey’lya is selling us off to the Yuuzhan Vong a piece at a time.”
“No, he’s not. I have my disagreements with him, obviously, but he’s trying to save the New Republic, in his own way. A civil war can only make us weaker.”
“Not if we make it quick and painless. Not if we have real leadership when it’s over, rather than the fractured, squabbling crowd that’s got us sitting on our thumbs.”
“You’re referring to democracy,” Luke replied. “Something we all fought very hard for. We can’t throw it away simply because it becomes inconvenient. Gavin, we aren’t having this conversation.”
“Okay. I just wanted you to know you have support.”
“And I appreciate it. But now is the time for you to flame out of this situation. If we go right now, we’ll get a clear jump. Then you start talking your way out of this mess.”
“You’re sure you don’t want an escort?”
“Positive.”
Gavin nodded. “Understood. Take care. Mara, you too.”
His face vanished from the screen, and Luke suddenly felt his fingers trembling.
“Luke?” Mara said, concern in her voice.
“That was too close,” he said. “Too close. I won’t be the excuse for a coup. Am I doing the right thing?”
“Absolutely. Let them arrest you, and you think this resistance won’t come back up?”
“Did you know the squadron would do this?”
“I’d guessed it.”
“And you think if we give up …”
“An attempted coup within a week, my guess. At the very least an extremely volatile situation. Skywalker, you were seeing clearly earlier. We have to go. For the New Republic’s sake, for the Jedi’s sake—and not least by a long shot, for the sake of ourselves and our son.”
Jaina answered the private hail from Gavin Darklighter, trying to keep composed.
“Yes, Colonel,” she said. “How may I help you?”
“Watch after Master Skywalker, Jaina. He needs you.”
“I’ll do my best, sir. Is that all?”
“No.” Gavin’s voice crackled. “I made a mistake not putting you back on duty once your vision was recovered. I let you down, and I’m sorry for that. I’d like you to consider yourself still a part of the Squadron.”
“I appreciate that, Rogue Leader,” she said quietly. “You understand that right now—”
“As I said. Master Skywalker needs you now. You’re still on leave, as far as I’m concerned. Go, and may the Force be with you.”
“Jaina, I need you to do something,” Luke said. Coruscant was light-years behind them. There was room for an X-wing on the Shadow, but that space was already occupied by Luke’s starfighter. Thus, they chatted over the comm. Mara and Luke had filled her in on the details of their flight from Coruscant, and Jaina in turn had explained her continued detachment from Rogue Squadron.
“Yes, Uncle Luke?”
“I need you to find Kyp Durron for me. I need to talk to him.”
“He didn’t have much good to say at the last meeting. Why should things be any different now?”
“Because things are different now,” Luke replied. “Now I may have some things to say he might want to hear.”
“Unless you’re going to join him in guerrilla warfare against the Yuuzhan Vong, I doubt that,” she replied.
“Be that as it may. It’s imperative that the Jedi start drawing ourselves back together.”
“If you ask me to find him, I’ll find him,” Jaina said. “I found Booster Terrik, didn’t I?”
“This will be a lot easier than that, I should think,” Luke replied. “I know exactly where Kyp is.”
“How?”
“Kyp worries me. I took the liberty of placing a tracer on his ship.”
“What? If the Yuuzhan Vong pick that up—”
“I didn’t endanger Kyp. It’s something new one of Karrde’s people came up with to help us find each other without leaking our positions to the Yuuzhan Vong or their collaborators. Booster has one, too, so we’ll be able to find the Errant Venture with relative ease. It’s a fixed-signature signal, passed through relays and the HoloNet, and gives an off-read within a range from ten to fifty light-years. No one without the encryption key can use it to track him, in other words. At short range it sounds like engine noise, and if Kyp cuts his power to hide from sensors, it’ll go off, too.”
“Wow. Have I been fitted with one of those?”
“No, but the Shadow has, and I’ll give you that encryption, too, along with Booster’s.”
“Sounds good. Where’s Kyp now?”
“That’s the disturbing thing. He’s near Sernpidal.”
A shiver feathered along Jaina’s neck.
Sernpidal. Where Chewie had died. Sernpidal was as deep in Yuuzhan Vong territory as one could go.
This wouldn’t be another little fetching mission. This could get very nasty indeed.
“That’s a long way,” she said. “I hope you have some extra juice over there for me.”
“Plenty. We’ll hook you up, and I’ll transfer some supplies as well.”
He grimaced, and she could tell that sending her off like this wasn’t something he did without reservations.
“Thanks, Jaina,” he said. “And may the Force be with you.”