by Troy Denning
“Counselor Bwua’tu?” the judge inquired from her bench.
Eramuth let out a long, sleepy snort.
“Counselor Bwua’tu?” Zudan repeated. When Eramuth’s only response was to allow his head to roll to one side, the judge directed her attention to Tahiri. “Would the defendant be kind enough to awaken her counsel?”
“Of course, Your Honor.” Tahiri gently shook the Bothan by his shoulder, at the same time whispering, “Eramuth … Eramuth …!”
Eramuth’s eyes opened the third time his name was called. He glanced around the chamber briefly and seemed to realize what had happened, then quickly pulled himself upright, far too alert—in Leia’s opinion, at least—for someone who had been in such a deep slumber only instants before.
“My apologies,” Eramuth said, straightening his vest. “I was concentrating.”
This brought a wave of chuckles from the spectators, and even a couple of smiles from the jurors’ box. But the judge’s expression remained sober. She returned silence to her courtroom with a stern glower, then turned her attention back to Eramuth.
“Your witness, Counselor. Perhaps you’d like the stenbot to repeat the last ten minutes or so of testimony?”
Eramuth shook his furry head. “That won’t be necessary, Your Honor. I was resting my eyes, not my ears.” He waggled his ears back and forth to illustrate the point, then rose to his feet. “I’m ready to proceed.”
Zudan eyed him warily, but said, “If you’re sure.”
“Of course, Your Honor.” Eramuth stepped around the defense table with such conviction that Leia began to believe he really might have been resting his eyes. The Bothan paused for moment, visibly stretching his back, then marched up to the lectern, propped his elbows on the surface, and leaned toward the witness box. “So, Lieutenant Pagorski, can you sense the Force?”
Pagorski’s expression went from smug to confused. “The Force, sir?”
“You know.” Eramuth executed an expansive wave over his head. “The energy field that surrounds us and permeates us, that binds the galaxy together with all living things and gives the Jedi their power. The Force.”
Pagorski gave a curt nod. “I know what the Force is, Counselor.”
“Then my question should be a simple one,” Eramuth said. “Can you sense it?”
“No.” Pagorski frowned and shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Oh.” Eramuth seemed almost disappointed. “You’re quite sure?”
Pagorski frowned and glanced toward the prosecution’s table as though seeking guidance. When the expressions of Sul Dekkon and his three assistants remained completely inscrutable, she looked back to Eramuth and nodded.
“Yes, sir. I’m very sure.”
Eramuth gave a dramatic sigh, then let his shoulders slump and returned to the defense table. He had barely taken his chair before Tahiri was pressed to his shoulder, whispering into his ear so harshly that Leia did not need to strain to overhear.
“That’s it? She gets up there and lies—”
“My dear.” Eramuth’s hand shot over and squeezed Tahiri’s leg so hard Leia could see the muscle flexing in the old Bothan’s shoulders. “I have just established that Lieutenant Pagorski could not have heard everything that passed between you and Captain Solo. Isn’t that enough for one day?”
Leia saw Tahiri’s shoulders sag at the same time she heard Han groan.
“Colonel,” Tahiri whispered.
Eramuth frowned. “What?”
“Jacen was Colonel Solo,” Tahiri explained. “Not Captain.”
Eramuth’s ears dropped. “Didn’t I say Colonel?”
Before Tahiri could respond, Judge Zudan’s sharp voice demanded, “Are you done with the witness, Counselor?”
Eramuth motioned for Tahiri to be silent, then rose. “I’m sorry, Your Honor, I was consulting with my client.”
“I asked if you were finished with the witness, Counselor,” Zudan repeated. “You didn’t dismiss her.”
“I’m done with her for now, Your Honor,” Eramuth said. “But I’d like to reserve the right to recall her at a later time.”
Zudan nodded as though that was a wise idea. “I’m sure you would. The witness is excused with instructions to remain available in the waiting room.” The Falleen turned just long enough to see Pagorski acknowledge the order with a nod, then looked back toward the defense table and motioned Eramuth and Dekkon forward. “I’d like counsel to approach the bench, please.”
Tahiri took one glance at the frowning jury and let her head drop, but Eramuth simply patted her on the shoulder, grabbed his cane, and strolled toward the bench. He was barely gone before his client turned and motioned to Leia and Han. As they huddled together, Leia thought the young woman looked confused and worried, and more frightened than anytime since the war against the Yuuzhan Vong.
“What do you think?” Tahiri whispered. “Is he too old to take this?”
“Hey, don’t underestimate the old guy,” Han said. “We’ve got tricks you’ve never even heard about.”
Tahiri gave him a disapproving scowl. “Do you really think this is a trick?”
Leia frowned, thinking, then finally shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “There were a lot of opportunities to discredit Pagorski’s testimony—maybe even have it completely stricken—and Eramuth didn’t take them.”
“Yeah, but Dekkon’s a smart guy,” Han pointed out. “If Eramuth wants to trap him, it’s got to look convincing.”
“Convincing, not foolish,” Tahiri said. “Unless his strategy is to make the jury feel sorry for me, I have no idea what he’s doing.”
“And you don’t want to just trust him?” Han asked. It was an honest question, not an argument, and that suggested to Leia that even Han was having doubts. “You’ve been pretty happy with him until now.”
Tahiri thought for a moment, then nodded. “I know,” she said. “But this is my life … and Eramuth’s, too, if the strain is more than he can handle.”
Leia fell silent for a moment, trying to think but really just worrying … imagining how it would feel to lose this last link to her two sons, to the shining star that had been Anakin and to the all-destroying vortex that Jacen had become. Tahiri had loved her youngest son and gone to war with him, had watched him die and lent him her strength so that he would know he was not dying alone in a distant place. Then Jacen had taken that love and twisted it to serve his own dark needs, and somehow she had survived and returned to them again, not quite whole, yet stronger than ever and ready to answer for her misjudgment. If Leia lost her, she would be losing so much more than the woman who had been a close friend to both her sons in their last hours—she feared she would lose what remained of her sons themselves.
Still pretending to think, Leia took a couple of moments to compose herself, then turned to Han. “Eramuth is taking on a lot by himself,” she said. “Dekkon has a whole team of assistants sitting at his table. It might not hurt to get Eramuth some help.”
“Yeah.” Han turned to Tahiri. “We could talk to Tendra Calrissian and see if she knows someone who can take that second chair—maybe the third and fourth ones, too.”
Tahiri’s gaze dropped. “Eramuth doesn’t want anyone sitting at the table with us,” she said. “He says it will make me look guilty.”
“So who says they have to sit at the table?” Han replied. “It’s your throat that killtab will be going down. The decision is yours.”
“I know.” Tahiri licked her lips, looking guilty and reluctant. Then Eramuth’s gravelly voice barked something harsh at the judge, and she looked back toward the bench.
“Okay,” Tahiri said, nodding. “Go ahead and ask. What can it hurt?”
“Nothing,” Leia assured her. She watched Eramuth spin away from the judge’s bench, his ears flattened and his fur bristling. “He might even appreciate the help.”
“Yeah, stranger things have happened.” Han winked at Tahiri, then added, “Don’t worry, kid, he’s Bothan.
He’ll do whatever it takes to win—even if it means taking help.”
Tahiri’s face brightened, but before she could reply, Eramuth slipped behind the defense table and dropped into his ancient wooden chair with a heavy thump. Tahiri mouthed a silent Thanks to the Solos, then leaned toward her attorney.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Judge Zudan has ordered me to get a medical evaluation, that’s what!” Eramuth flashed his fangs toward the bench, then added, “She claims she wants to make sure I’m still competent!”
The trail was a human-sized tunnel through the undergrowth, and it ended about a kilometer into the jungle, where a large bipedal lizard had fallen prey to the poisonous barbs of a drop-bramble. The reptile had a broad, flat back still green with chlorophyll and a thick tail that was still drumming the ground to warn its herd-mates away. It was watching Luke with a single blue eye that seemed more trusting than frightened, but it was already oozing yellow froth from both nostrils and suffering violent muscle spasms, and it was obvious that nothing could be done for the creature but help it to a peaceful end. He touched it in the Force, urging it to sleep, and once the nictitating membrane drew across the eye, he drew the blaster he had found it necessary to carry on this strange world and ended its misery.
The whine of the bolt had barely died away before Luke sensed his companions rushing up behind him, their alarm hot and electric in the Force. He turned to meet them, holstering his blaster and shaking his head.
“Sorry, it’s not her.” He pivoted aside, allowing Sarasu Taalon and Gavar Khai a clear view of the lizard lying dead at the end of the trail they had been following. Behind the two Sith came Ben and Vestara, their lightsabers drawn but not ignited. “Just an unlucky wyvarl who didn’t watch where she was going.”
Taalon tightened his lips and stepped to Luke’s side, then flicked a finger in the wyvarl’s direction. The lizard rose into the air and floated toward them, dragging with it a tangled nest of poisonous drop-brambles. Once the reptile had drawn close enough, the High Lord drew his lightsaber, then ignited it and cleaved the wyvarl down the length of the body. He continued to levitate the two halves while he inspected the interior organs to be certain it really was a lizard, then sent them tumbling into the jungle with a wave of his hand.
“This isn’t working,” he said. “We’re tracking nothing but wyvarls and drendeks.”
“We could always split up,” Luke suggested. “The more ground we cover, the better our chances of catching her before she recovers.”
Taalon tipped his head forward, peering at Luke out the tops of his eyes. “Yes, I am sure you would like to be rid of us.”
“Not really,” Luke replied. Searching alone or in two small groups, they would all be more vulnerable to the planet’s voracious plant life—and to the treachery of their supposed allies. But after two days of following false trails, it was beginning to look like they needed to take the risk. “We need to change tactics, though. We’re not going to find Abeloth this way.”
“No doubt because you have hidden her true body so well,” Gavar Khai said, coming up behind Luke and Taalon. “You are fooling no one, Master Skywalker—only wasting our time.”
Luke sighed. After discovering that the body they had been holding at the Font of Power did not belong to Abeloth, it had taken a three-hour standoff merely to convince the Sith that it would be a good idea to return to the Jade Shadow and check the identity of whoever it was that Ben and Vestara had been caring for in the medbay. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, the patient had already fled, leaving the reluctant allies with nothing to show for their earlier battle against Abeloth except frustration, uncertainty, and mutual distrust.
When Khai was not contradicted by his superior, Luke turned to face the wide-shouldered Sith. “I wish I were wasting your time, Gavar. I truly do.” He motioned back down the trail. “But since I’m not, let’s go back to the ships and see if we can think of another way to approach this.”
Khai remained in the middle of the trail, but he flicked his grim eyes past Luke’s shoulder, seeking instructions from Taalon.
“Let’s do as he suggests, Saber Khai,” Taalon said. “It will be more … comfortable to discuss the matter back at the ships.”
The hint of a smile tightened Khai’s thin lips, suggesting that he understood Taalon’s words to mean the same thing Luke did: there was going to be an argument, and if that argument erupted into violence, the Sith’s superior numbers would be more advantageous on the open terrain of the river beach.
“As is your will, High Lord.”
Khai inclined his head to Taalon and shot Luke one last glower, then turned and slipped past Ben and his daughter to the front of the line. Luke had already surrendered all hope of keeping his back clear of Sith, so he exhaled slowly and consciously, silently attuning himself to his danger sense, and started down the path after his son and Vestara.
After the Sith girl’s duplicity during the fight against Abeloth, Ben seemed to be a lot more wary around her, and that was a big relief. But Luke would have been fooling himself to think the attraction had ended there. She was a smart, beautiful young woman with an engaging personality, and Ben was an adolescent male still coming to terms with his hormones. It was going to take more than a few lies and a deadly betrayal to dampen his feelings. That was plain to see in the glances he kept stealing at her, now that he was walking behind Vestara instead of ahead of her, and in the way he stumbled whenever the terrain grew uneven.
Luke extended an arm and held his hand behind Ben’s ear. When Ben did not sense its presence even after half a dozen steps, Luke shook his head in exasperation and swatted his son above the ear.
“Hey!” Ben looked over his shoulder and frowned. “What was that for?”
“Pay attention,” Luke ordered. He shifted his eyes toward his own shoulder, sliding them in Taalon’s direction. “We’re on a death planet here.”
Ben’s eyes lit with understanding, and his scowl grew guilty. “Yeah, okay,” he said, looking forward again. “But you could have just said something.”
“And you’re sure I didn’t?” Luke said.
He could tell by the way Vestara’s head cocked that she was sure, but Ben merely dropped his gaze and began to watch his footing more carefully. Luke knew that he had embarrassed his son by pointing out that he was distracted, and that was fine with him. Embarrassed was better than dead, which was exactly what Ben would be if his mind was still on girls when the fighting started.
After a few minutes of walking, they reached the crimson river that ringed this side of Abeloth’s volcano. On the opposite beach sat their three starships, the Skywalkers’ Shadow and the Sith’s Emiax flanking the veiny red sphere of the recently arrived Ship. With an outer hull pocked by scorch blossoms and blast craters, the ancient meditation sphere continued to show the aftereffects of tangling with an ace Jedi pilot in a StealthX. But the worst damage wasn’t apparent from the exterior. Jaina had put a couple of cannon bolts up the exhaust nozzle, damaging the power plant so badly that Ship had taken days to limp back to the planet.
Khai led the group along the top of the riverbank until they were above their raft, then descended the sandy slope to prepare for the crossing. Vestara followed close behind her father, but Luke used a Force tug to keep Ben atop the bank with him. Taalon stopped two paces away, presenting his flank to Luke so that he would be able to defend himself if the need arose suddenly.
“Is there a reason you wish to retain the high ground, Master Skywalker?” Taalon rested his hand on his lightsaber. “Or do you think the time has come to part ways?”
“Before we know what’s become of Abeloth?” Luke shook his head. “I’d rather take my chances with Sith—but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be careless.”
“A clever answer,” Taalon replied. “It suggests much and promises nothing.”
“You already have my promise, and it hasn’t been broken.” As Luke spoke, he continued to look
across the river toward the starships. “Didn’t Vestara report that Ship was under Abeloth’s control?”
“Was being the crucial point,” Taalon replied. “The Sith control it now.”
Luke turned to face the Keshiri. “How sure are you of that?”
“Very sure.” Taalon narrowed his eyes. “If you’re planning to use Ship as an excuse—”
“Not an excuse,” Luke said. “But has Ship explained why it returned here after the fight? It must have seen the rest of your fleet leaving the Maw.”
“Yeah,” Ben said. “It was kind of surprised to find out I was still here—and I got the impression Vestara felt the same way.”
“You believe Abeloth summoned Ship?” Taalon asked. “To help her escape?”
Luke nodded. “I believe that’s one possibility—especially if that was Abeloth instead of Dyon that Ben and Vestara were looking after in the medbay.”
Taalon considered this, then looked down the bank to where Vestara and her father were preparing to launch the raft. Khai was using the Force to levitate the raft back toward the river’s edge, while his daughter was holding the line that would keep it from floating away.
“Vestara, you have been listening?” Taalon asked.
Vestara turned and nodded. “Of course, High Lord.”
“Is young Skywalker right?” he demanded. “Did Ship seem surprised to find you here?”
Vestara did not even need to think before nodding. “Ben is half right.” She glanced toward Ben and flashed him a quick smile. “Ship was already on his way when I felt him coming. I didn’t need to call him.”
“That is no proof that Skywalker is telling the truth, Lord Taalon,” Khai said. He lowered the raft to the sand. “If Ship came for Abeloth, why is it still here?”