by Greg Keyes
"I'm coming to you now, Chief Fey'lya."
"Yes. Now that the matter is too large for you to handle on your own. And I note that you did not come here first. At the very least, you went to General Antilles—and, I suspect, to others. And they all sent you here."
"I was inquiring into what was possible," Luke said. " Not making requests."
"How diplomatic. And where is your sister in all of this? She and her husband also seem to have disappeared."
" That's not relevant to this," Luke said.
"Oh, isn't it? Are they engaged in yet more unsanctioned covert activity? Are they a part of the little government you're trying to run on the side, as if the elected officials of the New Republic are incompetent to do their jobs?"
"We're following our Jedi mandate, Chief Fey'lya. We protect. We serve. I'm sorry if these goals are incompatible with yours."
"The arrogance," Fey'lya said. "The sheer arrogance. And you wonder why you are disliked."
Luke felt matters rushing to a heated conclusion and knew part of it was his own fault. Perhaps the rage he felt pulsing from Jaina was partially responsible, but he was dangerously near losing his own head in the matter. He placed his palms together. "Chief Fey'lya, if you won't consider military action, at least consider a diplomatic solution."
The Bothan reclined in his chair. "The matter has already been brought to our attention. Negotiations have been and are occurring."
"Brought by whom?"
"The Yuuzhan Vong, of course. The Yavin situation has already generated a good deal of tension."
"What? You knew?"
"The Yuuzhan Vong assure us that their occupation of the system is temporary. They went there in search of
raw materials, not captives. They knew nothing about your Jedi praxeum."
Luke bore down on the chief of state with his gaze. " I ask again," he said softly. "You knew the Yuuzhan Vong were going to Yavin, and didn't see fit to warn me?"
"Don't be absurd," Fey'lya snorted. "Do you think I could keep that from your Jedi spies? No. The Yuuzhan Vong entered the Yavin system peacefully. There was already some sort of scuffle between smugglers going on when they got there, and some of those smugglers remain and continue to harass the Yuuzhan Vong water-mining activities on Stroiketcy. It took considerable diplomatic effort to convince them that these outlaws have nothing to do with the New Republic." He cocked his head. "You know nothing of these pirates, do you, Master Skywalker? This wouldn't be yet another example of unsanctioned Jedi activity, would it?"
Luke narrowed his eyes. "You sold my students out. I won't forget that. Ever."
"I see. Instead of answering my question, you threaten me." Fey'lya waved the back of his hand. "You've taken up enough of my time, Skywalker. Let me just leave you with a warning. I'm formally cautioning you that the Yavin system is off-limits to you and your followers. If the forces there are in any way connected with you, you will recall them. Under no circumstances are you to go there yourself or send Jedi in your stead. If you make any move in that direction, you will be placed under arrest. You are already, I rather needlessly point out, under close observation. Is that clear?"
"Oh, it's clear all right," Luke replied. "Suddenly, a lot of things are very clear indeed." He felt Fey'lya's mind snap down and vacuum seal. The interview was over. He turned to go—and stopped when he noticed that Jaina wasn't moving, was standing stock-still, tears of anger streaming down her face.
"Chief Fey'lya," she said in a quiet voice. "You are a poor excuse for a sentient being. I hope one day you really smell the stink in your heart and choke on the fumes."
Fey'lya returned her gaze. "You're very young," he said. "When you've accomplished a fraction of what I have for the people of this galaxy, come back and we'll talk again."
" It makes a certain amount of sense from his perspective," Jacen said later, when Luke and Jaina had returned to the Jedi Master's quarters. Luke had just finished relating the substance of his talk with the chief of state to Shada D'ukal, Tionne, Mara, and Jacen.
"I do not believe you said that," Jaina snapped. "This is Anakin we're talking about. It's the praxeum!"
"You don't have to remind me who my brother is," Jacen said. "But that's the point, don't you see? We can hardly be impartial in this case."
"Vape impartiality!" Jaina replied. " Fey'lya's not impartial."
"No, he's not. But his concerns are different."
"Yeah. He's more concerned about the Vong than he is about his own citizens."
"That's not true," Luke said gently. "To be honest, I never thought he would send ships to the Yavin system. I had to ask, though, and we did learn some things."
"Right. Like Fey'lya sent the Vong there in the first place."
"I doubt that very much," Luke said. "I think things happened pretty much as he said. When the Yuuzhan Vong showed up they found Karrde fighting the Peace Brigade, and when they took occupation, Karrde turned on them. They then contacted the New Republic. And Fey'lya's right—I should have seen this coming, long ago. The Yavin system has been at risk for months now.
Only the concentrated effort of the Jedi there even allowed us to think it was safe."
"That's perfect, Luke," Mara said. "Blame yourself."
Luke lifted his eyebrows, surprised at the brittle anger in her tone. "I'm not trying to allocate blame, Mara."
"Then spare us your apologies for Fey'lya and the senate. What are we going to do?"
"What Anakin did," Jaina said. "Talon Karrde is out there right now, fighting a holding action for help that will never come. He'll stay there until they pick all of his ships off, one by one. Won't he, Shada?"
"Yes."
Luke fixed her with his gaze. " I understand your concern, Jaina, but what good will one more X-wing do Karrde or Anakin?"
"More good than sitting here. And we can contact Mom and Dad, have them bring the Millennium Falcon."
"First of all, Han and Leia are still out of contact. More important, you heard what Fey'lya said."
"Oh, please let them try arresting us," Mara grunted.
"You think I care even faintly what that scruffy Bothan said? " Jaina chimed in. "Uncle Luke, we can't do nothing."
Luke placed his hand on Mara's arm. "Listen to me, all of you. I'm not worried about arrest as such, and I think you all know that. But things aren't good for the Jedi now. If we have any friends left in high places, we can't afford to alienate them. We're already considered rogues. We can't allow ourselves to be cast as enemies of the state."
"If they're stupid enough to think that, let 'em," Jaina snarled. "They're hopeless."
"Right," Jacen said sardonically. "That's really what we need right now, Jaina—a civil war within the New Republic, as if the war with the Yuuzhan Vong isn't already enough. Besides, Uncle Luke is right. I don't think
the weight we could add to the battle would help, not considering the situation as Shada outlined it."
"What, then?" Shada asked. "Karrde can't do it alone."
"What if we added a Star Destroyer to the equation?" Luke said.
Shada looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded slightly. "If the Yuuzhan Vong don't get more reinforcements—maybe."
"Terrik," Mara said.
"Terrik," Luke agreed.
"I thought you said you couldn't find him?" Jacen asked.
"No, but I have some ideas about where to look. All I need is someone to look for him."
Jaina stared. Jacen nodded. "Yes," he said.
"No, now wait a minute," Jaina said. "You want us to chase halfway around the galaxy for a Star Destroyer we might never find—"
"Jaina," Jacen interrupted. "Do you think Anakin is dead?"
She hesitated fractionally. "No. I know he's not."
"Right. I don't think he's dead either. I don't even think they've caught him. Anakin knows Yavin Four as well as we do, maybe better. The Yuuzhan Vong don't know it at all. If they didn't catch him when they landed
, it would take a miracle for them to find him."
"Unless he ran right up to their ships, lightsaber swinging, which is just what Anakin is likely to do," Jaina said.
"He's headstrong," Jacen said, "but he isn't stupid. He knows help is on the way. He probably knows Karrde is there already. The problem is, he can't get to Karrde or Karrde to him because the Yuuzhan Vong are in the way. Uncle Luke is right—a couple more X-wings or even the Falcon won't change that equation much. The Errant Venture would."
Jaina's nostrils flared. "Uncle Luke, you aren't just trying to get us out of the way, are you?"
Luke shook his head. "How do you plot that course? No. Jacen's laid out the situation perfectly. Let me add to that the fact that since Valin is Booster Terrik's grandson, Booster will be more than happy to help."
"And Terrik isn't tied directly to the Jedi."
"What are you talking about?" Mara interrupted. "Corran Horn is Valin's father, and last I heard, he was with Booster."
"Corran distanced himself from us after Ithor," Luke replied. " Fey'lya might suspect something, but he won't be able to prove it. Which reminds me—Shada got here without revealing she has most of the Jedi candidates with her. If they turn up here on Coruscant, with us, Fey'lya will know we're behind Karrde being there. That may or may not be a situation I can control. But they aren't safe here anyway. When you go to find Terrik, I want you to take the candidates with you."
"What, in an X-wing?"
"We have Shada's ships—" Jacen began.
"Oh, no," Shada said. "They aren't my ships, they're Karrde's, and he needs them. I'm returning to the Yavin system, and I'm doing it very soon, no matter what you work out here."
"We'll take the Jade Shadow," Mara said. "I can convert some space. It may still be a little cramped, with all of the kids, but she'll do the job."
"You and I can't leave Coruscant," Luke said bluntly.
Mara's eyes flashed. "Skywalker, if this is about my 'delicate state,' you can shove—"
"It's not, Mara. We can't attract suspicion. Fey'lya's watching us. It'll be hard enough to get Jacen and Jaina out without raising eyebrows, but that can be done."
Mara seemed to roll that around in her mouth. / don't like playing these games, she practically hurled at him.
/ don't either, he replied.
The room was silent for a score of heartbeats, during which time Luke realized that everyone else in the room
was staring at them. Their mouths were admirably closed, but their read in the Force was purely gape-jawed.
No, not all of them are surprised, Luke suddenly knew.
It was typically Jaina who broke the silence. "Mara? You're? ..."
"Bright kid," Mara said. Her eyes narrowed a little.
•Jacen?"
Jacen seemed to be trying to see the individual atoms in the floor. His face was redshifting.
"You peeked," Mara accused.
"I, uh, didn't mean to," he mumbled. "But when I started using the Force again at Duro ..." He looked around helplessly for support.
'We were going to tell you soon, anyway," Luke said.
"That's wonderful!" Jaina exploded. "Mara, congratu-lations." Her brows scrunched a bit. "I guess? I mean, I didn't think—"
"What?" Mara said, nailing the younger woman with a pointed gaze. "Didn't think what?"
"Oh, I—nothing," Jaina replied, her face suddenly
twinning her brother's in hue.
"It's just suprising," Jacen said, for her. "You were
sick for so long."
Mara nodded. "Yeah. Well, the universe surprises you sometimes. And sometimes—on rare occasions—in a good way."
•'In the best way," Jaina burbled. "Congratulations. To both of you."
"Thank you," Luke said.
" 'Cousin Jaina.' I like the sound of it."
"So do I," Mara replied, lips twitching in a smile. "But that doesn't solve the immediate problem. So, 'Cousin Jaina'—why don't you take the Jade Shadow and go find Booster, already?"
Jaina's eyes widened. "You're offering me your ship?"
"Loaning it for a good cause. Just don't get her dinged up, understood?"
"Understood," Jaina replied. "But if we don't find Booster within a standard week—"
"We will find him," Jacen interjected.
"Either way," Jaina warned, "you won't keep me away from Yavin Four. Not if I have to fly there on a repulsorsled."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Anakin sped over what might have been the billows and curls, thunderstorms and circlestorms of a vast sea of green clouds. The illusion was nearly perfect as the sun reddened, puddled, and shrank against the horizon like a fusion explosion going in slow reverse, condensing back into the bomb that had released it. The real clouds were orange-and-umber lace, and the gas giant was just dipping under the horizon as well. A rare true night was settling, the first in the three standard days since he'd left the crash site.
But the green clouds were an illusion, a potentially deadly one. They were really treetops, and if he passed through one at this speed, he wouldn't experience the slight dampness and negligible turbulence that flying through a cloud produced; he would shatter his makeshift speeder and possibly his own bones against them.
And so he closed his eyes and used the Force, feeling the life below him, watching for it thrusting too high.
It was exhilarating to be flying again, so much so that for moments at a time Anakin nearly forgot what he was doing and where he was going. He kept reaching for the throttle, to really open her up, to feel the wind in his face rum into a fluid, cheek-biting sheet of speed.
But the throttle was already open; the "speeder" quite simply wasn't. He'd tinkered with it as much as he could, but no amount of jury-rigging could transform a cannibalized A-wing repulsorlift welded to an awkward strut-work
chassis into a fleet steed of the winds. The pilot seat from his X-wing perched atop the improbable cagelike thing, and before him were exactly four controls—an on-off switch, a throttle and lift control circuited to the re-pulsor, and a tiller that wagged a large aluminum rudder behind him. Not the most wieldy craft he'd ever flown, and his maximum speed was a poky ninety klicks an hour. Still, it would get him there faster than walking or waiting for the repairs on the transport.
He stretched out farther in the Force, touching Tahiri again. She was in a dark place and he felt pain, or the fading of pain. He couldn't tell where.
Anakin.
That startled him. His name rang like an H'kig chime, nothing fuzzy about it.
"I'm coming, Tahiri," he whispered.
Anakin. . . But the sense of words dissolved into emotion. Fear, grief, hope. Wordlessly, he reached for her, to give her the equivalent of a squeeze on the hand, and found himself instead in a tight, desperate embrace.
/'// find you, he projected to her. Just hang on.
No! He couldn't tell if she was warning him away or responding to the blade of pain that suddenly cut between them, tore her away from him, leaving him once more alone with the treetops.
He searched for her again, but found nothing, not even a faint presence.
"You're okay, Tahiri," he mumbled. "I know you are."
He did sense someone else, however. It was like seeing a faint star, the faintest star in the sky.
"Jaina," Anakin said. "Hello, Jaina."
But he couldn't tell if she felt him back.
Days passed, blurred and monotonous. The forest broke into narrow savannas and sparkling stretches of marsh and then ocean that shimmered like planished copper be-
neath Yavin and liquid gold by sunlight. He watched the crawling, V-shaped wakes of behemoths he had no names for and could make out only as shadows in the deep. He flew day and night, sleeping only in tiny naps, drawing on the Force to replenish himself. He ate the last of his rations after ten days, but even two days later did not feel hungry. He felt light and humming, like a flash of lightning given human form.
&n
bsp; Water he did need, and stopped to distill it when his body required more. But mostly he flew, and lost himself in the life around him. He searched for Tahiri, trying to understand what was happening to her, trying to give her hope.
Yavin eclipsed the sun and then rolled under the sky, and once more Anakin found himself in full darkness. He was slipping into the arms of fatigue, considering a short nap. when he heard an odd noise. At first he thought he was imagining it, for he felt nothing in the Force, but as it grew louder, he opened his eyes, turning carefully to see what it might be.
Pacing him, perhaps fifty meters away, was something large and dark. Something that did not exist in the Force at all.
"Oh, Sithspawn," he muttered under his breath. Otherwise he froze, watching the thing. It was flying perfectly parallel to him, which couldn't be an accident. It wasn't as big as a coralskipper, but not much smaller, either. A speeder analog, maybe? Something better designed for atmospheric flight than the ships he had thus far seen? He couldn't make out a silhouette, only a tactile impression of size. And there, again, he could be wrong.
Did they think he hadn't seen them yet, or were they soil trying to figure out what he was?
He got his answer a few moments later, when the craft subtly changed course and their flight paths began to converge.
"This is no good," Anakin muttered.
He turned the lift control down two-thirds and dropped through what felt like a small gap in the treetops. A branch caught under one corner of the speeder and flipped it over, and with no gyro to correct, Anakin found himself hurling toward the ground. Desperately, he wrenched at the craft with the Force, flipping it back over with a very raw, unsubtle use of strength, exactly the kind of thing his brother was always berating him for. "The Force isn't a torch for you to weld plating with," Jacen might say.
Of course, without that macrofuser, Anakin would be a bag of broken bones on the forest floor right now. The Force was about everything, wasn't it?
Stabilizing in the midlevel canopy of the forest, Anakin was in more complete darkness than before, deprived even of starlight. He dropped his speed a little; his rudder was too crude to allow him the kind of hot flying that might take him between the great boles at full throttle. He let the Force guide his hands on the rudder and used his gaze to track the dark for any sign of his pursuer.