tipped the cage over, allowing the rest of the mawkrens to swarm free. For a moment they swirled around his lap and feet, getting their balance and sniffing the air. Then, in a sudden concerted rush, they clawed their way past each other to disappear down the conduit. Drawn now not by food paste on their noses, but by the tiny spots of liquid nutrient he and Klif had so carefully positioned three days ago as they'd sprayed for metalmites. And there remained just one final task for him to perform. Reaching into the bottom of the cage, he pulled out the last item there: the remote arming signaler to activate the rest of the cylinders now being carried toward their rendezvous with destiny. A few more seconds and his self-guided bombs would be spilling out into the generator building around the startled Bothans' feet, skittering across the polished floor straight to the key points of the whole installation.
Along the conduit, he could hear the faint sounds of explosions now as the mawkrens reached their targets and the cylinders' proximity fuses began to ignite. A few more seconds—a minute at the most—and the section of the planetary shield protecting Drev'starn would collapse. The death of Bothawui had begun. And with it, the death of the New Republic. His only regret was that he wouldn't be around to see it all happen.
Overhead, the sounds of flames could be heard now, the crackling noise mixing with the fainter staccato of the bombs still going off in the distance. Smiling up at the ceiling, Navett leaned his back against the dirt wall. And waited for the end.
* * *
The discussions aboard the
Somewhere in the depths of the Ishori ship, a turbolaser cluster had just fired. The captain was on the intercom even before the rumble had died away. 'What is the firing?' he snarled.
The answer tumbled out in Ishori, too fast and too faint for Leia to follow. 'What is happening?' Gavrisom demanded. 'You agreed there would be no hostilities while—'
'It is not us,' the captain snarled, diving for the door. 'Aliens have taken over one of our weapons clusters and are firing at the ground.'
'What?' Gavrisom asked, blinking. 'But how—?'
But the captain was already gone, taking the door guards with him. 'Councilor Organa Solo—?' Gavrisom began, breaking off as another rumble rolled through the ship. 'Councilor, what is happening here?'
Leia shook her head. 'I don't—'
And suddenly she jerked in her seat, inhaling sharply, as a surge of fear and pain and death shot through her. On the planet below, voices were crying out in terror...
And in that single, horrifying instant, she knew what had happened.
'The planetary shield's down,' she snapped, getting out of her chair and rushing to the viewport. She reached it just in time to see a third massive turbolaser blast burn its way from the underside of the ship toward the surface. There was a flash of white as it sizzled through the atmosphere; and then the distortion cleared, leaving an angry, black-tinged red glow behind.
Drev'starn, the Bothan capital, was on fire.
She turned back, heading for the door. 'It's down, all right,' she shouted to Gavrisom as she ran past him. 'At least over Drev'starn.'
'Where are you going?' Gavrisom called after her.
'To try to stop the shooting,' Leia called back.
Outside, a dozen armor-clad Ishori were charging down the corridor, blaster carbines at the ready. Pressed against the bulkheads, trying to stay out of the way, her two Noghri guards looked up at her. 'Councilor—?'
'Come on,' Leia told them. Unhooking her lightsaber from her belt, stretching out to the Force for strength and wisdom, she joined in with the flow.
* * *
Han hit the
'There,' Elegos said tightly, pointing through the viewport at the dark ship lying in space not two kilometers away. 'I don't know whose ship it is, but—'
He broke off as another flash of red fire cut through the black of space on its way toward the planet below. 'There —did you see it?'
