by Troy Denning
“When I told you the Killiks would outlast the Ascendancy, you smirked,” Leia said. “Tell me why.”
“What are you doing? Using a Jedi mind trick?” Baltke demanded. “It will be your fault if I have to hurt Captain Solo again.”
Leia glanced at the display screen and saw that the medic was still standing next to Han, laughing with the torturer. Something did not make sense. Saba had clearly meant to reassure her about Han, and yet Leia could see that he had not yet been rescued—in fact, that he did not even look close to being rescued.
The remaining guard started to step forward behind Leia. She grabbed him in the Force, then hurled him into the corner with the vidcam. He hit headfirst with a loud thunk, then dropped to the floor and did not move.
Leia looked back to Baltke and put the power of the Force into her voice. “Why do you think the Killiks can’t win?”
Baltke’s face twisted into a mask of resistance, but the truth drug made it impossible for him to lie.
“Because we have developed our own solution to the Killik problem,” he said. “And our plan will work.”
He tried to go to the door again, but Leia Force-shoved him up against the wall. “What kind of solution?”
“A p-permanent one.” Baltke cast a longing look toward the display screen, then said, “It’s not too late to save your husband. Just release me.”
“Han’s going to be just fine.” Leia used the Force to begin working the locks of the cuffs holding her in the chair. “You, on the other hand, are in trouble—or have you forgotten what I said about anything that happened to Han?”
“I remember.”
“Good.” The first cuff came loose. “You might want to be a little more informative about this ‘permanent solution.’ ”
Baltke shook his head, but he could not resist the power of his own drug. “P-p-parasites.”
“Parasites?” Leia asked. The second cuff came undone. “You’re going to infect them with parasites?”
Baltke nodded. “Any minute now,” he said. “After the Killiks spring their trap.”
“Trap?”
“You know,” he said. “Isn’t that why you turned back from the Shattered Moon?”
Leia’s jaw fell. “You know about the Killiks hiding there?”
“We suspected.” Baltke seemed almost proud. “We’re counting on them to ambush us.”
“I don’t understand.” Leia stretched her hand toward the unconscious guard and summoned his charric pistol to hand. “Counting on their ambush for what?”
A low boom rolled out of the air vent behind Leia, and the whole room rocked.
“To deliver a resounding defeat to us,” Baltke said.
Leia understood the rest of the Chiss plan. “And tomorrow, all of the nests will have a huge victory dance.”
“That’s right,” Baltke said. “The Killiks aren’t the only ones who can play the infestation game.”
“How long?” Leia asked. When Baltke did not answer, she asked again, this time using the Force. “How long?”
“We’ll have to keep fighting for a while,” Baltke answered. “The parasite won’t be fatal for a year.”
“And by then, it will have spread throughout the whole Colony.”
Baltke smiled. “You see? We can win the war our way.”
“Are you mad?” Leia cried. “That’s speciecide!”
She used the Force to open her ankle restraints—then heard the cell door whirring open behind her. Thinking the other guard had returned with the vocoder Baltke had requested—or the officers watching from the control room had sent reinforcements—she threw herself out of the chair and rolled across the floor, then spun around, brought her captured charric pistol around…and found herself pointing it at the handsome face of her favorite scoundrel.
“Han?”
“Whoa—take it easy, Princess!” Han raised his hands. “I know I’m late, we had to take care of the control room first.”
“I don’t care!” Leia cried, recovering from her shock. She threw herself into Han’s arms, barely noticing as Cakhmaim and Meewalh slipped past to take control of Baltke and the unconscious guard. Then she reached up and touched his ears. “They’re both there!”
“Honey, are you okay?” Han moved her back from him and studied her with a concerned look—until he noticed the display screen in the corner, which continued to show the medic and the torturer standing beside Han’s bloody head. “Hey! That poor rodder looks like me!”
TWENTY
A familiar voice echoing down a long tunnel…a hammer pounding inside her head, a centrifuge spinning her through the darkness…aching cold below the knees, aching cold from the shoulders up.
Nothing between. Just numb.
Then the voice again, calling Mara back, commanding her attention.
Luke giving orders…too fast. Not quite near enough to follow.
Slow down, Skywalker!
Luke continued. “Nothinghaschanged. We’re burruburrub,” he was saying, “uruburruplan. Cilghalwillbe in urburbubu collection teams, thenserveas Kyle’s scientific adviser urburub dispersal operations inside the Colony proper.”
Mara opened her eyes and found herself staring up at a blinding white blur. Everything smelled of stericlean, and there were machines hissing and whirring all around. She tried to sit up and found herself held tight by a strap across her chest.
“Just how volatile is this nanotech?” a deep Duros voice asked from somewhere to her right. “Is it going to turn our StealthXs into dirt right under us?”
“Only if you let it escape the stasis jars,” Cilghal replied. Her voice and the Duros’ sounded somewhat muffled. “Even then, you would have plenty of time to go EV before the damage grew critical.”
The brightness overhead came into focus, and Mara recognized it as the softly lit whiteness of an infirmary ship ceiling. It took her a moment to understand why she was here, then she turned her head and saw the tangle of IV lines hooked into her arm and she remembered: the shatter gun pellet that ripped through her vac suit and abdomen. It had destroyed one of her kidneys, and no healing trance could repair that.
The huge head of her Bith physician, Ogo Buugi, appeared above her. “Good, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”
“Hararrg oooo aiiig meeeffffing?” Mara croaked. It was supposed to have been How do you think I’m feeling? but her throat was as dry as a Tatooine swamp and her tongue was too heavy to lift. “Ooggaf.”
Buugi nodded approvingly, his smile half hidden by the epidermal folds hanging from his cheeks. “Good. That’s what I was hoping.”
Mara considered using the Force to slam him against the ceiling.
“The operation went very well—no complications at all,” Buugi continued. “We already have a new kidney growing in the cloning tank. We’ll insert it in a couple of weeks, and in a month you’ll be ready to start your rehabilitation.”
“A month?” Mara cried. “Are you a doctor or a—”
“Better let me take over, Doctor Buugi.” Jacen appeared at Mara’s bedside, seated in a hoverchair with a drainage bag hanging from his side. “Aunt Mara can be a little testy right after she wakes up.”
Buugi smiled more noticeably and nodded. “So I see.” He placed a delicate, long-fingered hand on Mara’s forearm, then said, “You need to be patient with this. Even a Jedi can’t grow a new kidney overnight.”
“Thanks for the advice, Doctor,” Mara answered, softening her tone. “And thanks for patching me up.” Mara waited for Buugi to leave, then turned to Jacen. “Shouldn’t you be in a bacta tank?”
“With the Killiks still holding Thyferra, the fleet is running short on bacta,” Jacen explained, moving his chair closer to her bedside. “I’m out of action for a couple of weeks anyway, so I thought I’d save it for someone who doesn’t have a healing trance.”
Mara nodded her approval. “Good idea—very thoughtful.” She pointed at the drainage bag hanging from his side. “How is it?”
“Inconvenient,” Jacen said. “I’ve got holes in three different organs, and I can’t move well enough to fight until I fix them.”
“I know the feeling,” Mara said. She reached for his arm and winced at the dull ache that the effort sent shooting through her lower back. “Thanks, Jacen. She would have gotten me.”
“She nearly did,” Jacen said. “If you hadn’t been so fast with that blaster, neither one of us would be here.”
“All the same.” Mara squeezed his arm, then asked, “Do we know what happened to her?”
Jacen’s expression turned sober. “Pellaeon’s intelligence staff has been reviewing the battle vids. A skiff left Gorog just before we blew it. Nobody challenged it—nobody even seemed to see it, including the combat controllers.”
Mara had a sinking feeling. “Lomi Plo.”
“That’s what Uncle Luke thinks.”
Mara used the Force to operate the bed controls and raise her upper body. The shift of position sent another dull ache through her lower back, but she pushed the pain aside and looked out the door into the infirmary lobby, where Luke was meeting with Cilghal and the other Masters.
“And he’s sticking to his plan?”
Jacen nodded.
“Who’s taking our places?”
“No one,” Jacen said, a slight frown betraying his disapproval. “Cilghal offered to lead a team herself so that Kyp, er, Master Durron could back Luke up, but Uncle Luke wouldn’t hear of it. According to the intelligence maps that Juun and Tarfang left, the collection teams only need to harvest nanotech from fifteen different environments inside the nebula, but they’re going to have to seed more than a thousand worlds in the Colony. Tresina Lobi is out of action with some crash burns, and Uncle Luke didn’t want to take another Master off the dispersal teams. He thinks it’s the nanotech environmental systems that will keep the Killiks in check—in the long run, anyway.”
Mara’s heart sank. “So he’s going after Raynar alone?”
“Admiral Pellaeon is taking the fleet to Tenupe,” Jacen said. “Wraith and Rogue squadrons will be assigned specifically to support him, and he’ll have a company of Lando’s bugcruncher droids—but we both know they won’t be able to do much once the Force duel starts.”
“And Lomi Plo isn’t going to give up, either,” Mara said.
“Not likely,” Jacen said. “Unless that blaster shot you got off kills her first.”
Mara gave him a sour look. “What do you think the chance of that is?”
“About the same as you do,” Jacen confessed. “He’ll have to take both of them out. Lomi Plo and Raynar.”
Mara’s stomach began to ache with fear. “Jacen, we can’t let him do that alone.”
“I don’t think we have a choice in the matter,” Jacen said. “Have you tried to stand up yet?”
Out in the lobby, Luke dismissed the Masters and turned to enter Mara’s room, the faithful R2-D2 trailing close behind.
They had barely crossed the threshold before Mara demanded, “Are you crazy?”
Luke stopped and cast a sheepish look back toward the departing Masters before he returned her gaze. “You heard.”
“You’d better not have been thinking you’d keep that from me, farmboy.”
“Of course not.” Luke came to her bedside and took her hand, then gave Jacen a stern look. “But I had hoped to tell you myself.”
“Luke, the Colony isn’t going to win this war overnight,” Mara said. “Wait until Jacen and I can back you up. Raynar is inexperienced, but he’s powerful.”
Jacen nodded his agreement. “And Lomi Plo will be—”
“I can’t,” Luke said, cutting them off. He clasped a hand on Jacen’s shoulder. “I’ve been feeling something urgent from Leia. This war is coming to a head now.”
“Do you know how?” Jacen asked.
Luke shook his head. “All I can tell is that things didn’t go well at Tenupe. The Falcon never connected with Jaina. I think maybe the Chiss were already there attacking.”
Mara’s heart skipped a beat, but the corners of Jacen’s mouth rose in a near smile.
“Then we shouldn’t interfere,” Jacen said. “If Mom and Dad can recover Jaina and Zekk, staying out of the Chiss’s way might be the best thing for the galaxy.”
Luke frowned. “Jacen, you’re as bad as your father,” he said. “You think the answer to every insect problem is to start stomping.”
“Not every insect problem,” Jacen said. “Just this one. I thought I’d made that clear.”
“You have,” Luke said. “You also made it clear that you’d follow the order’s leadership in this matter.”
“It was only a suggestion,” Jacen retorted. “Can’t a Jedi Knight express himself around here anymore?”
Luke’s expression softened. “Of course,” he said. “But half a dozen times should be sufficient. I’m very aware of your opinion about the Killiks, and believe it or not, I have given it consideration.”
“Okay. Sorry to bring it up again.” Jacen looked more disappointed than apologetic—which suggested to Mara that he was sincere about following the order’s leadership, even if he disagreed with it. “But I still think you should wait until Aunt Mara and I can back you up. You won’t solve anything if Raynar kills you.”
“Or if Lomi Plo does,” Mara added. She had been growing more impressed with Jacen every day since Luke took sole leadership of the order, and she was even beginning to wonder if he might make a suitable second in command someday soon. “I don’t think you can take them both, Luke.”
“Then I’ll have to take them one at a time,” Luke said. “Because if I wait for you two to recover, Lomi Plo will have time to recover, too—and so will Gorog. Lomi is never going to be weaker than she is right now.”
Luke’s tone was as firm as Mara had ever heard it, and she could feel through their Force-bond that he would not be moved from his plan.
But Jacen, bless him, was determined to try. “And you’re still not ready to face her.”
Luke’s eyes flashed with resentment—or it might have been self-doubt. “I will be the judge of that, Jacen.”
“Of course.” Jacen spread his hands in a gesture of surrender, and Mara thought she saw something bright, like moonlight dancing on a river, flicker in the depths of his brown eyes. “You are the Grand Master.”
“Thank you, Jacen,” Luke said. He turned to Mara, and she felt the faintest tingle of Force energy washing over her body. “And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like a…”
Luke’s jaw dropped, then he frowned in confusion. “Padmé?”
“Padmé?” Mara repeated. “Luke, what are you talking—”
“Mara?” Luke sounded disappointed. He shook his head as though to clear it. “I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I,” Mara said.
“Mara?” Now Luke’s voice was frightened. “What’s wrong?”
“Good question,” Mara said.
She turned to Jacen, but he only held a finger to his lips and moved his hoverchair closer to Luke. R2-D2 emitted a confused whistle and raised a hydraulic extension with a medical sensor at the end.
“Mara!” Luke turned and hit the emergency summons button next to Mara’s bed, but Jacen made a motion with his hands and the button did not depress. Luke did not seem to realize this. He turned back to Mara and placed his fingers to her throat, checking her pulse. “I can’t feel a pulse. Artoo, call an EmDee droid. Tell her to hurry!”
R2-D2 spun toward the data jack to obey, but Jacen used the Force to disable the power to the droid’s treads.
Mara caught Jacen’s gaze. “All right, Jacen. This has gone far enough.”
Not yet. The message reverberated without words inside Mara’s head. He must learn.
Mara felt another wave of Force energy pass over her, and Luke cried out in horror and looked toward R2-D2.
“Artoo, what’s taking you so long?”
R2-D2 issued a frustrated whistle and sp
un an accusing photoreceptor toward Jacen. Luke could take it no longer. He raised a hand and began to fill it with life-giving Force energy.
“Jacen, we can’t wait. We have to revive her ourselves.” He pointed at the emergency respirator hanging on the wall. “Get the respirator.”
Luke leaned over Mara and started to place his hand on her chest—until Jacen raised an arm and pushed him away.
“Jacen!” Luke screamed. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” Jacen said calmly. “And there’s nothing wrong with Aunt Mara.”
Luke’s gaze swung back to Mara, and she could not decide whether he looked more stunned or relieved. “You’re…you’re alive again!”
“I was never dead,” Mara said. “I think Jacen is trying to make a point.”
Luke turned back to Jacen, still too confused to be angry. “I don’t understand, Jacen. What’s she—”
“You’re not ready to face Lomi Plo again,” Jacen interrupted. “And you just proved it.”
Luke’s confusion started to fade, and his anger quickly began to build. “You did that to me?”
Jacen shook his head. “You did it to yourself,” he said. “Your fear betrays you.”
Mara suddenly understood what Jacen had done—or rather, what he had not done. “Luke, I think you’d better listen to him.” She reached out to her husband through their Force-bond, adding a private plea that she knew he would not refuse. “For me.”
Luke snorted, but turned to Jacen. “Okay, I’m listening,” he said. “And it had better be good. Saving Mara’s life does not give you the right to manipulate me.”
“I didn’t do that,” Jacen said. “All I did was bring your fear to the surface. You created the illusion yourself.”
“Remember what happened in the nest ship?” Mara asked. “After I got hit, you couldn’t move. Luke, you froze.”
“And then I couldn’t see Lomi Plo anymore,” Luke said, growing calmer. He turned to Jacen. “You did the same thing to me?”
“I doubt it.” Jacen grew uncomfortable, and his gaze slid away. “That was just a mirror illusion I learned from the Fallanassi.”
“But it does prove you’re still vulnerable to Lomi Plo,” Mara said.