THE BLACK FLEET CRISIS #3 - TYRANTS_TEST

by Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell

  wanted her to be?"

  "No," said Akanah. "She was more than that."

  "Akanah--" Wialu said in a cautionary tone.

  "I have to tell him," Akanah said with sudden anger.

  "A secret is too much like another lie." She stood and took a step

  toward Luke. "In the second year, a woman came to see Isela on

  Carratos. She was Fal-lanassi, but I did not know her--she had not

  been with the Circle on Lucazec. She stayed with us for five days, and

  spent hours alone with my mother, talking."

  Then she turned toward Wialu. "I think that she was sent by the Circle

  to try to persuade my mother to let me go. Perhaps she would even have

  taken me away with her when she left, if my mother would have agreed to

  it. I've wondered if my mother got her to agree to something else--a

  sum of money to be sent later, perhaps, to buy a child's passage, and a

  child's freedom.

  Who would expect that she would take the money and leave the child?"

  Wialu's impassive face offered neither confirmation or apology. After

  a long moment of staring expectantly into her eyes, Akanah turned back

  to Luke.

  "This woman's Circle name was Nashira," she said. "She was beautiful,

  and kind to me--enough to remind me of everything that Isela was not.

  She talked to me as if I mattered, and she shared her heart with me.

  When I asked her why, she said that the Emperor had taken her children

  from her-a boy and a girl. And all she could do was try to love the

  children who were near her, and hope that someone was doing the same

  for

  hers. When you asked me about your mother, I pictured the woman I

  wished had been mine. I told you about Nashira."

  "But it was all about you," Luke said, shaking his head. "Your

  pain--your fantasies--" "Are they so different from yours?" she

  asked.

  "I have seen inside your heart, too, Luke Skywalker. I could only

  deceive you by knowing you. I could only deceive you with the

  truth."

  Luke backed slowly away from her, toward the cabin door. "Enough," he

  said. "I've heard enough. I can't believe anything you say. I can't

  believe anything that's happened since Coruscant. There's more truth

  in her silence than in your words."

  He gestured toward Wialu as he spoke the last, then looked to her.

  "You must think me a fool, chasing after the phantom she created.

  Thank you for the wake-up call. I wish you luck in coaxing her off

  Isela's path, and onto yours."

  Then Luke turned and left the cabin, missing Akanah's honest tears.

  "Is he coming?" Akanah asked anxiously.

  Etahn A'baht frowned and looked across the loading bay to the open

  entryway. "Let me check with my people again," he said, reaching for

  his comlink and stepping away from the foot of the boarding ramp.

  Akanah looked to Wialu as a Star Morning porter passed between them,

  carrying their bags aboard. "I have to talk to him. I can't leave

  like this."

  "How long would you have us wait?" Wialu asked gently. "The damage

  you have done--" "I know," Akanah said. "But I have to make him see

  that it wasn't all lies."

  "There can be one star of deception in a galaxy of stars, but if that

  is the star before you, you can see nothing else--and if you stare at

  the deception, you will be blinded by it," said Wialu. "It will take

  time, Akanah--more time than we have."

  Akanah sent an anxious glance toward A'baht, who was returning to

  them.

  "If you can't wait, then I'll have to stay here."

  "Akanah, you cannot force the flow to come to you," said Wialu. "You

  can only ride it where it goes."

  The general rejoined them then, his frown deeper than before. "Luke's

  not answering. No one seems to know where he is," said A'baht. "I

  don't understand it he brought you here, and I'd think he'd want to see

  you off. We owe you a debt--" "There is no debt," Wialu said firmly.

  "The choice was mine, and I ask for nothing."

  A'baht grunted. "I still feel I should apologize--" "He is here," said

  Wialu.

  The others looked toward the entryway, but Wialu directed her gaze

  toward an empty corner of the compartment.

  A moment later, Luke appeared there, as though walking through a door

  no one could see.

  "What the--" A'baht said, then shook his head in disgust. "Jedi."

  Akanah ran to meet Luke, but stopped a step short of the embrace she

  wanted, and looked into his eyes for a cue.

  "I came to say good-bye," Luke said.

  "I'm not sure that I'm leaving."

  Luke shook his head. "Your place is with them.

  Wialu is right. Even I can read that in the Current."

  "There's something I have to say before I can go," she said

  fervently.

  "Please--don't judge us by my example.

  I beg you not to reject the truth because of the lie that preceded

  it.

  There is something gentle, and beautiful, and healing in the Fallanassi

  way--and if I failed to put it before you, the weakness was in me, not

  in the way of the Light, or the path of the White Current.

  There is depth there beyond what I've mastered, and worth there beyond

  what you've seen."

  "I've seen deception, manipulation--" Stepping forward bravely, she

  touched his breast-bone lightly with the flat of one hand. "It is not

  a way of power, but a way of peace--and I dearly wish for you to

  have that peace within you. I wish for you to add that strength to

  the great strength you already possess. I always wanted that for

  you--I never wanted anything from you." A tremble entered her voice as

  she added in a near whisper, "I never wanted to add to your pain."

  Luke covered her hand with his own and lowered his eyes. "It seems I

  must choose what to believe," he said at last. "I will try to believe

  that first, and perhaps it will guide me through the rest."

  She looked up at him gratefully. "Then I can go now," she said, and

  kissed his cheek softly before backing away.

  He stood and watched as she accepted a final word of thanks from the

  general, then moved up the boarding ramp past Wialu, who turned and

  followed.

  Akanah hesitated for just a moment before vanishing through the inner

  airlock, looking back to him with a final apology in her eyes.

  Somewhere he found a forgiving smile for her, and then she was gone.

  By then A'baht was approaching Luke. "Comm shack has some messages for

  you, Luke---a couple of priority flags that came in this morning--" he

  began.

  "Luke Skywalker."

  Looking up at Wialu's voice, he found her standing at the inner

  airlock. "Yes?"

  "There is one small service I ask of you."

  Luke cocked his head. "What's that?"

  "Tell your sister," Wialu said, "that when she is ready to follow her

  own path, she would be welcome among us." Then she turned away,

  needing no reply and inviting no questions.

  By the time a startled Luke could find his voice again, Star Morning

  was moving away from the dock, continuing its journey.

  There was no message from Leia.

  The chief l
ibrarian's office on Obroa-skai advised him that his pending

  request for a contract researcher had moved up to number five on the

  waiting list, and he should be certain he had the research subject

  clearly defined and all supporting materials ready to transmit.

  The senior rehab therapist on board the medical frigate High HaVen

  passed on the word that Han was being transferred again, this time back

  to the Fleet hospital on Coruscant.

  "It's not that he's in any danger he's doing pretty well, better than a

  lot of the folks in here now. And it opens a space up on our ward,

  which we can use," said the therapist. "Given that the commodore had

  his own transportation available, it seemed like the best course."

  After a pause and a frown, he added, "Besides, the Wookiees

  insisted."

  The third message was from Streen, who had compiled an overly

  conscientious report on activity at the academy on Yavin 4. In his

  present mood, Luke found none of it of enough interest to read

  closely.

  The final message was from Alpha Blue.

  "Hello, Luke," said Admiral Drayson. "Now that things are a little

  quieter where you are, I wanted to tell you that I've located your

  missing droids. You can have them back whenever you want, in fact.

  But, as you'll see, I'm afraid you're going to need to pick them up

  yourself."

  "Are you sure about this?" asked the senior crew chief, following at

  Luke's heels as he carried out his preflight check of the exterior of

  Mud Sloth. "Even with the losses, I'm sure Captain Morano would be

  more than willing to put you in most anything else we have---" "I'm

  sure," Luke said, ducking under the tail plane.

  "I mean, after all, you Jedi swung the fight our way, driving off all

  those Star Destroyers with your phantom fleet," the chief persisted.

  "It just doesn't seem right to send you away in a low-budget--" "That

  isn't what happened," Luke said as he

  reached the boarding ladder. "And this ship serves my needs right

  now."

  The chief scratched his head. "Well, if you say so."

  He stole a glance back over his shoulder. "I guess the general'll be

  down to see you off, eh?"

  "He doesn't know I'm leaving," Luke said, throw ing his bag up through

  the open access hatch. "I'd appreciate it if you weren't in a hurry to

  tell him."

  "That's a bit of a problem," the chief said, frowning.

  "Nothing's supposed to leave the flight deck without authorization from

  the hot room."

  "Not my problem," Luke said, climbing the ladder.

  "Civilian pilot, civilian ship. Shouldn't even be here.

  Clear me through the patrol screen, will you? She's not real strong on

  flash breaks or roll-and-run."

  "Sure," said the chief dubiously. "Sure, for you, I can do that. But,

  look, I have to at least be able to tell the booth where you're

  going--you know, for the log."

  "You've never heard of it," Luke said as he reached for the hatch

  closure. "Just log me out, Chief--and thank the gang for prepping her

  so quickly."

  Not long after, Luke and Mud Sloth plunged into the welcome solitude of

  hyperspace for the long jump to Maltha Obex.

  By the end of that journey, Luke could feel himself changing. The ship

  was like a tiny chrysalis, and it was his metamorphosis that was

  underway.

  He had wanted time where he and Akanah had spent so much time. He had

  wanted to hear the echoes of their conversations, feel the residue of

  the emotions.

  Luke spent the journey in silence, alternately reflecting and playing

  with reflections. He inventoried his memories of the last months,

  discarding some, rewriting others.

  And he collected a set of drill objects, and spent hours honing the one

  Fallanassi skill he grasped in its wholeness.

  The work was not yet finished when the galaxy reappeared around him and

  Maltha Obex appeared be fore him. He did not know at that moment quite

  who he was becoming, or what would presage the transformation.

  He only knew that he welcomed that moment of reconnection, and the

  possibilities that it offered.

  For days, Lady Luck had been fleeing before the Teljkon Vagabond,

  staying over the horizon from the powerful and unpredictable Qella

  artifact. Two tasks had occupied them during that time keeping tabs on

  the vagabond by means of the equipment at the abandoned surface camps,

  and scanning for what they hoped would be a task-force-sized entry into

  the Maltha Obex system.

  But the ship that did finally appear on the scanners was so small that

  Joto Eckels felt a rush of disappointment rather than relief. "Perhaps

  it's some sort of probe," he suggested at Pakkpekatt's shoulder.

  "Don't you usually send a probe in ahead of the main body?"

  "It's a civilian skiff," said Taisden. "No military comm."

  "Then we have to warn it away at once," Eckels said. "Colonel, once

  the vagabond spots it, half an orbit from now--" A display screen above

  their heads flashed on as he spoken "This is Mud Sloth, hailing the

  Lady Luck. Lando, report your status, please."

  Eckels began to look more hopeful as he recognized Luke's face.

  "Lando's not here, Luke--" But Pakkpekatt rose from his seat, blocking

  Eckels from the holocomm as he leaned forward to reply. "Mud Sloth,

  you are entering an NRI security zone, and you are at risk. Turn your

  ship about at once and leave this system."

  "You'd be Colonel Pakkpekatt, I take it," said Luke. "And was that Dr.

  Eckels? Is Lando still aboard the vagabond, then? You haven't been

  able to get to him? I need an update covering the last five days."

  "You are not authorized for that information,"

  said Pakkpekatt. "You are not cleared for this security zone."

  "Colonel, I'm all the assistance you're likely to get for a while,

  given the demands on the Fleet at the moment.

  And I know Dr. Eckels doesn't want to see this expedition end with a

  shoot-out, anyway--" "Absolutely correct," Eckels said, pushing his way

  into the holocomm's field of view.

  "--so let's see if we can't work together and make something better

  happen."

  "Do you have any ideas about what that might be, Luke?" said Eckels.

  "The artifact has been notably un-cooperative so far--even more so than

  the colonel."

  "I know. I've reviewed your reports--yours and his both," Luke said.

  At that news, Pakkpekatt threw his hands in the air in disgust and

  turned away from the flight console. "I will demand an investigation

  of this entire operation," he muttered. "The breaches of security--the

  complete disregard for the lines of authority--" '2 think I can get the

  team off the vagabond," Luke went on. "But I'm hoping for more than

  that. Why don't you tell me what you think happened here, Doctor?"

  "May I ask first if you're planning to board the vagabond yourself?"

  "Yes, I am, Dr. Eckels."

  "Then would it be possible for you to collect me before you do? I will

  likely have better answers for you once I've seen it for myself."

  "I was hoping you'd offer, Doctor," Luke
said. "If you and the colonel

  would locate some power packs for the droids and put together a mercy

  basket for the men, I'll rendezvous with you on your next orbit."

  "Very good," said Eckels. "We'll be ready."

  As the vagabond grew outside Mud Sloth's cockpit viewpanes, Eckels

  looked nervously from it to Luke's face.

  "How will you know if it's working?"

  "We'll know if it isn't," Luke said, closing his eyes.

  "Shouldn't we at least alert General Calrissian that we're coming

  in?"

  "No signals," Luke said. "No sounds. No thrusters.

  Nothing that will disturb the flow. Nothing that will announce our

  presence."

  Eckels looked back toward the alien vessel. "But can't it see us just

  as easily as we can see it?"

  Luke shook his head slowly. "You're aboard a submarine, Doctor, not a