by Troy Denning
Jacen went to a chair at the far end of the oval, then turned to face Luke and Mara. “I’m afraid it will be a few minutes before Sergeant Darb arrives with the Queen Mother. After the attempt on her life, I’m insisting on Level Five security protocols even aboard the Anakin.”
“It certainly won’t hurt anything,” Mara said. “Though from what I’ve sensed so far, your crew seems exceptionally focused and alert—almost fanatic. It’s hard to imagine an assassin remaining undetected long enough to defeat security.”
“Thank you. Coming from you, Aunt Mara, I take that as quite a compliment.” He sat down and motioned the Skywalkers toward a pair of nearby seats. “There’s a beverage menu in the arm display, if you’d like something to drink.”
Luke remained standing. “Thanks, but we’re not thirsty.”
“I see.” Jacen’s expression turned from pleasant to disappointed, and he shifted to the edge of his seat. “Then why don’t we get whatever is bothering you out in the open? I know you disapprove of my methods, but the hostility I sense runs deeper than that, and it pains me. You and Ben are the only family I have left.”
“That’s hardly true,” Mara objected. “What about Jaina and your parents?”
“You know how strained my relationship with Jaina has been,” Jacen said. “I’m afraid her insubordination at Corellia finally snapped it. We’re not speaking, and I suspect things are going to stay that way.”
“Maybe things would be different if you hadn’t brought her up on charges,” Luke pointed out.
“What should I have done? Looked the other way because she’s my sister?” Jacen’s voice was cracking, but his expression remained confident and his gaze steady. “The Galactic Alliance can’t survive if her leaders keep playing favorites. That kind of thing is why Corellia thinks she doesn’t have to live by the same laws as the rest of the Alliance. The rules apply to everyone or to no one.”
Luke did not need the Force to sense the conviction behind his nephew’s words. It was pouring off Jacen like heat from a star, bathing everyone near him in its glow—no doubt burning those who came too close.
“What about your parents?” Mara asked. “Are you turning your back on them because they don’t share your beliefs?”
“Not at all. I’m turning my back on them because they tried to assassinate the ruler of an Alliance member state—someone who’s always been a friend to them.” Jacen stood. “My parents are terrorist scum, and that is why I have turned my back on them.”
The fire in Jacen’s eyes was as anguished as it was intense, and Luke finally began to understand just how alone his nephew really was. He had lost his younger brother during the last pan-galactic war and renounced his sister and parents in an attempt to prevent another one, and in his unwavering battle against the evil he saw threatening the galaxy, he was clearly ready to surrender his relationship with his aunt and uncle, as well.
Like the Yuuzhan Vong who had once held him captive, Jacen had become capable of any sacrifice—and just as intolerant of those who did not share his commitment. Jacen Solo had fallen not because he was selfish, Luke realized, but because he was selfless.
“Jacen, I know your parents’ actions are confusing,” Mara said. “But you need to trust your—”
“Let Jacen judge his parents for himself,” Luke interrupted. Their only hope of bringing Jacen back was to shock him—to let him discover for himself just how wrong he was. “At the moment, I’m more interested in where Ben is.”
“He’s aboard a reconnaissance skiff,” Jacen replied. “I’d offer to holocomm him for you, but they’re in the Transitory Mists.”
“What’s Ben doing in the Transitory Mists?” Mara demanded.
“Looking for Jaina and Zekk,” Jacen answered. “They went to Terephon to deliver a message for Tenel Ka and haven’t returned yet. I sent the reconnaissance skiff to investigate, and Ben went along to see if he could help find them through the Force.”
Mara’s voice grew sharp. “Alone?”
“Of course not. As I told you, he’s aboard a reconnaissance skiff—with an excellent crew.” A concerned frown came to Jacen’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Didn’t I warn you that Lumiya had returned?” Luke’s tone was just as sharp as Mara’s. “That I was worried she would come at me through him?”
“Yes,” Jacen said. “But that was back on Coruscant. I don’t think there’s any reason to worry out here.”
“Why not?” Mara demanded. “Because you’re sure Lumiya isn’t interested in him?”
Jacen’s frown turned indignant. “How would I know that?”
“Jacen, we found Lumiya’s apartment,” Luke said. “We know she’s been working for GAG.”
Jacen’s eyes widened. It was not an unreasonable reaction, given the subject matter, but Luke still wished his nephew wasn’t so good at hiding his feelings in the Force.
“You might think you’ve been using her for your own ends,” Luke continued. “But you’re fooling yourself. Lumiya always has an agenda of—”
“Working with GAG how?” Jacen interrupted. “I certainly haven’t seen her in uniform.”
“Don’t insult us by denying it,” Mara said. “She was living in a GAG safehouse, and she had been accessing GAG files on the True Victory Party.”
“Then she’s the one who’s been assassinating the Bothans?” Jacen asked. “Why? What could she stand to gain by spreading the war?”
“You won’t get out of this by changing the subject,” Luke said. It was impossible to say whether Jacen’s surprise was genuine or feigned—so Luke assumed it was feigned. “We know she came with you. She left her apartment the same day the Anakin left Coruscant.”
“You think she followed us?” Jacen dropped into his chair and punched a button. “The Anakin needs to remain here in support of Queen Mother Tenel Ka, but I’ll take a skiff personally—”
“We’ll be handling that ourselves,” Mara said. “Ben will be returning to Coruscant with us after this is finished.”
“Do you think that’s wise?” The comm light on the arm of Jacen’s chair blinked on, but he ignored it and continued to speak to Mara. “It will only interrupt Ben’s training, and if Lumiya is trying to get at him, she’ll have an easier time stalking him on Coruscant.”
“Ben is done with GAG,” Luke said. “I don’t understand yet why Lumiya is involved with GAG, but I do know she is. My decision is final.”
Jacen’s face fell. “Very well.” He deactivated the comm unit, then composed himself and continued. “There’s a refueling depot at Roqoo, just outside the Mists. You can rendezvous with him there.”
“Thank you,” Mara said.
Jacen nodded absentmindedly, then said, “I hope you’ll at least share the details of your investigation. If someone in my command is using Lumiya as an agent, I need to know.”
“Of course. Tresina Lobi had been trying to track Lumiya down for some time.” Luke was giving a slightly altered version of events, in part because he wanted to learn how much Jacen did know about Lumiya’s relationship with GAG. “Apparently, she succeeded, because we found her body in Fellowship Plaza the morning you left for Hapes.”
“Fellowship Plaza?” This time, Jacen’s shock was real; Luke felt it through the Force. “Master Lobi is dead?”
“That’s right,” Mara said. Though her answer was casual, Luke could sense through their Force-bond how closely she was studying Jacen. “She had already commed the Temple with the address of Lumiya’s apartment.”
Mara’s account of events was even less accurate than Luke’s—and far more distracting to Jacen, who barely managed to reply with a murmured, “How … unfortunate.”
Luke was trying to decide how best to proceed—how best to keep Jacen off guard so they could continue pressuring him—when the cabin door hissed open. Tenel Ka entered, wearing an eletrotex flight suit tailored tightly enough to suggest that her physical training remained as intense as ever. She crossed to Luke
and Mara, her radiant smile at odds with the aura of tension and worry that hung about her in the Force.
“Master Skywalker! Thank you for coming.” She embraced Luke, then did the same with Mara. “You are unexpected, but very welcome. We can use all the help we can find.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Luke said. “Unfortunately, we’re here on a different matter.”
“But we do have a message that I’m sure will prove very useful,” Mara added.
“I hope it includes word of when the Alliance reinforcements will arrive.” The woman who said this was still in the cabin doorway, trailing half a dozen steps behind Tenel Ka. She was tall and pretentious looking, with a long nose and a mouth turned permanently downward at the corners. “After lending so many of our fleets to the Galactic Alliance, our enemies have us at a terrible disadvantage.”
Tenel Ka’s face reddened, but she turned and politely motioned at the woman. “Masters Skywalker, allow me to present my chamberlain, Lady Galney, younger sister to the Ducha Galney of Terephon.”
Luke noted that the name was the same as the planet to which Ben had been sent, but merely bowed to Galney and did not remark on the coincidence.
“Chief Omas and Admiral Niathal are assembling a sizable defense fleet,” he said. “It should be able to depart Coruscant in a week.”
“A week!” Lady Galney burst out. “By then the usurpers will have mined the hyperspace lanes and be attacking Hapes itself.”
“There’s no need to worry about the mines, Lady Galney,” Mara said. “Alliance fleets are well equipped to deal with them. Once the defense fleet is under way, the usurpers won’t delay it for long.”
“Of course they won’t.” Tenel Ka’s voice carried more confidence than Luke sensed in her through the Force. “Is that the message you mentioned?”
“Actually, no,” Luke said. “That message is for your ears alone.”
He threw a tactful glance in Lady Galney’s direction, but she merely smirked and remained where she was. “I’m the Queen Mother’s highest-ranking adviser. To perform my duties properly, I must hear whatever she hears.”
“Then I’m sure she’ll fill you in later.” Mara took the woman by the arm and started her toward the door. “But our instructions were explicit.”
Jacen rose. “In that case, perhaps I’d better go as—”
“No, you stay.” Luke motioned him back into his chair. “You need to see this more than Tenel Ka does.”
Jacen raised his brow, but returned to his seat. Mara pushed Lady Galney out the door with instructions to Sergeant Darb to have her escorted back to her quarters.
“I’m sorry about that, Your Majesty,” Luke said to Tenel Ka. “But it’s possible that someone close to you is a traitor.”
Tenel Ka nodded. “Yes, I have been having premonitions of that myself—though I don’t believe it is Lady Galney.” She smiled. “I can still sense when someone is lying to me, you know. She is a fool—but she is an honest one.”
“That doesn’t mean she can be trusted with your secrets,” Mara said, returning to Tenel Ka’s side. “Anyone with that much interest in another person’s business won’t keep it private.”
“I am counting on that. With the Anakin Solo in orbit around Hapes, I need someone with me who will report to the rumormongers that I have not been sleeping with her Jedi commander.” Tenel Ka glanced in Jacen’s direction and smiled again. “Besides, her sister, the Ducha Galney, is one of my most devoted nobles. It serves my purpose to cultivate the illusion of a special relationship with Lady Galney.”
Luke snorted in amazement. “Your life is a maze, Your Majesty. I don’t know how you live it.”
“Because I was well prepared, Master Skywalker,” Tenel Ka said solemnly. “And I thank you every day.”
Luke actually blushed, but he remained composed enough to reply, “And you’ve always made me very proud, Tenel Ka.”
“Though we are disappointed that we haven’t met Allana yet,” Mara added sternly. “I trust that will change before we depart today?”
Jacen started around the chairs, clearly alarmed. “That won’t be—”
“Perhaps,” Tenel Ka said. “But, as Jacen was about to say, Allana has been very upset by the assassination attempt—particularly since there was a Jedi involved. It might be best if we put it off until another time.”
Luke and Mara exchanged baffled glances. Maybe Allana really had been traumatized by the attack, or maybe the rumors of deformity were true; in any case, they had no choice but to accept Tenel Ka’s excuse.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Luke said. “I was looking forward to meeting her.”
“But the message may clarify a few things about Leia’s involvement.” Mara’s voice had just a hint of petulance, as though she felt Tenel Ka should have known better than to think the Solos would really try to kill her. She used the Force to lower R2-D2 into the speaking area, then said, “Play Han’s message.”
R2-D2 acknowledged the order with a chirp, then went over to the holocomm unit and inserted his interface arm into a data socket. A rosy blur appeared over the projection pad and quickly resolved itself into an image of Han’s face. His skin was pale and waxy with shock, and his mouth was hanging in a lopsided grimace of pain.
Luke immediately felt a pang of concern—Mara hadn’t warned him that Han was wounded—but when he glanced over at his nephew, Jacen’s eyes were hard and narrow.
“Listen up, kid.” Han’s voice was low and raspy, as though he was trying to avoid being overheard. “I don’t have long—we’ve got someone aboard who can’t know about this—but I need you to relay this holo to Tenel Ka … and only to Tenel Ka. Someone close to her is a traitor, and it could go bad on us if this message got back to the wrong people.”
The image changed to the profile of a beautiful Hapan woman with long brunette curls and high cheeks. She seemed to be leaning over something—Luke thought it might be a bench or table, until he saw her remove a tube of bacta salve from a drawer in the Falcon’s medbay.
Han’s voice continued, “This is a woman named Morwan, but that might be an alias. She was a flight surgeon aboard the Kendall at the Battle of Qoribu. We’re fairly sure she’s in service to the AlGray family of the Relephon Moons, and she’s the contact between the Heritage Council—that’s what the nobles behind the coup call themselves—and the assassin who escaped with us.”
The woman’s image changed to full face, and she looked even more striking, with full lips and soft, slanted eyes.
Han kept speaking. “We heard her tell the assassin to take care of Allana first.”
The woman’s image vanished, then Han’s face reappeared, looking even more distressed than he had a moment earlier. “Luke, Tenel Ka needs to take this threat seriously. The assassin’s name is Aurra Sing …”
Luke was so shocked that he temporarily shut out Han’s voice. He knew Aurra Sing’s name from records of the old Jedi order that he had gathered and studied over the years.
“… thinks she might have been some sort of Jedi about eighty years ago,” Han was saying. “That’s all we know, but there’s something else. Keep an eye out for Alema Rar. We bumped into Jag Fel out at Telkur Station, and—”
Han stopped and glanced over his shoulder, then his voice dropped to a whisper. “Gotta go. Tell Tenel Ka we’re sorry about that mess in the palace. Gejjen was using us to set her up, and we didn’t know.”
The hologram vanished, leaving them to stand there in silence. Though Luke was intrigued by the mentions of Alema Rar and Jagged Fel, he didn’t give it much thought. He was more interested in his nephew’s reaction to what they had just seen.
Jacen was keeping his Force presence buried and unreadable, but he was scowling at the floor and taking long breaths. Luke resisted the temptation to suggest that it had been wrong to doubt the Solos in the first place. If Jacen was going to break the dark side’s hold, he had to rediscover for himself that a Jedi trusted his feelings as much as h
is eyes.
After a few moments of silence, Tenel Ka said, “Thank you for showing us this message. It is certainly easier to believe the Solos were being used than that they were trying to kill me.”
Jacen surprised Luke by nodding. “And it explains some of those witness conflicts you mentioned,” he said. “If my parents were being used by Gejjen, once they realized what was happening, they would have tried to prevent the attack.”
A warm sense of relief rose inside Luke. Not only was Jacen open to the idea that his parents were innocent, he was looking for reasons to believe they were. Luke grew even more confident that he would be able to turn Jacen away from the dark side, whatever his nephew’s relationship with Lumiya.
“I hate to be a wet blanket,” Mara said. “But to me, this smells like they’re inviting us to a Hutt’s banquet.”
Luke lowered his brow. “What are you saying?” He wanted to tell her to stop planting doubts in Jacen’s mind, but he sensed through their Force-bond that Mara was only trying to be certain Jacen understood his mistake—to be sure that Jacen believed in his heart that his parents were not only innocent of aiding the assassination attempt, but incapable of it. “That this might be misinformation?”
“I’m saying their message is convenient.” Mara addressed her comments to Jacen. “If they were involved, the message would be a good way to throw off suspicion—and feed us misinformation.”
Jacen’s eyes widened. “I’m surprised to hear you say that, Aunt Mara.” There was a note of resentment—perhaps even anger—in his voice. “I thought you had a better opinion of my parents than that.”
Mara’s gaze did not waver. “I have a very high opinion of Han and Leia—which is why we have to consider the possibility that they they’re deceiving us.” She paused, then, with perfect timing, turned to Tenel Ka as though she were dismissing Jacen’s opinion. “This is war, and the Solos are fighting for the other side. We have to be careful.”