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learned about the world and its resistance movement before leaving the Solidarity.
    Home to numerous sentient species, although predominantly the deep-ocean Quarren and the semi-aquatic Mon Calamari, Dac had a long history of conflict with the Empire. With the Declaration of a New Order and the beginning of the Imperial regime, their Senators had been arrested and a new, corrupt regime had been installed, helped by indigenous collaborators who had sabotaged Dac’s planetary shield. The takeover of the shipyards and the subjugation of the native population hadn’t broken the planet’s spirit, however. A resistance movement had struggled on for many years, and then foundered when the Empire destroyed three of the planet’s floating cities in reprisal. Since then, Quarren and Mon
    Calamari had squabbled more often than they had worked together, and the Empires grip on their homeworld remained crushingly tight.
    Ackbar had been one of the failed resistance movement’s earliest and most promising leaders. So impressive had been his fight against the Imperial forces that the officer who had eventually captured him had presented him as a trophy to the Grand Moff in charge of the occupation, who had kept him as a slave for more than a decade. Rescued in one of the Rebel Alliance’s earliest coordinated attacks against the Empire, Ackbar had returned to Dac to stir up revolt-and met surprising resistance. Discredited by historians, their shipyards nationalized, and their leaders enslaved, the population of Dac had very nearly lost their spirit. It would rake a show of strength to whip them into the proper frame of mind to retake their world.
    The shuttle rocked from side to side as it hit atmosphere. Organa pulled back on the throttle, allowing them to talk again.
    “Dac has no aerial defenses to speak of, ” Organa said. “The planetary shields have never been repaired, and the remaining cities suffer constant bombardment. An entire fighter wing is stationed here, its mission to terrorize and to crush any signs of an air force forming. Ackbar has tried, but he can’t get so much as a recon droid in the air without it being shot down and his equipment destroyed. “
    “So where do the Quarren fit into this? They live underwater, not in the air. “
    “The fighter wing only patrols the air, not the oceans, and particularly not the deep trenches. By following those trenches, the Quarren can go anywhere without being seen. They can construct supply lines, establish headquarters, even build submersible launch platforms that would be less vulnerable to attack than anything on the ground. With the Quarren on their side, the Mon Calamari would have a real chance. “
    “So what’s the problem?”
    “You’ll see. “
    Ahead of them, the ocean was rising up rapidly to meet them. Organa did nothing to slow their descent. All he did was tip the shuttle in order to present the smallest possible cross section to the approaching wave tops. At the last instant he fired the forward thrusters on full, not to stop the shuttle but to turn the water ahead of them to steam, cushioning the impact.
    Even so, Juno was thrown forward against her harness. A rushing, swirling sound enfolded them, and the deck rocked beneath their feet. The main drive cut out and repulsors kicked in. Instead of pushing up, they pressed the shuttle down against the resistance of the water.
    Her ears popped as they dropped rapidly into the depths. Darkness fell outside. The shuttle’s many joints and seams creaked under the rising pressure.
    Juno felt queasy but refused to let it show.
    “I’m guessing, ” she said, “that the plan is for the resistance to take out the fighter wing and thereby show the locals what they’re capable of. “
    “Spot-on, Captain. “
    “What’s the wing’s designation? Would I have heard of them?”
    “Quite possibly. It’s the Hundred Eighty-first. “
    She shook her head. “Never come across them before. Just be glad