by Timothy Zahn
"Which I would know far better than you," Parck returned pointedly. "The fact remains that the Chiss say they've found Outbound Flight. The description Formbi gave certainly fits the design, and there's no other reason I can think of why even a single Dreadnaught should be out this far."
He lifted an eyebrow. "The hows and whys are questions none of us can answer right now. The only question you have to deal with is what you're going to do about it."
"What we're going to do?" Luke asked. "It seems to me this is something for the entire New Republic leadership, not a couple of Jedi."
"Perhaps," Parck said. "But perhaps not. Outbound Flight was a brainchild of the Jedi, after all, not the Old Republic Senate or even Palpatine. That's why Formbi asked that you be contacted and invited to join the official expedition to the site of the remains."
"He asked for Luke?" Mara asked.
"Specifically," Parck confirmed, turning to look toward a screen to his right. "Here's the entire message: 'To Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, Jedi academy, Yavin Four; from Chaf'orm'bintrano, Aristocra of the Fifth Ruling Family, Sarvchi. A patrol from the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet has located what appears to be the remnants of the expeditionary mission known to you as Outbound Flight deep inside Chiss territory. As a token of respect, and with deep regret for Chiss involvement in its destruction, we offer you the opportunity to join the official examination of the vessel. I will await you at the world Crustai'—here he gave the coordinates—'for the next fifteen days, at which time we will travel together to Outbound Flight's location. I urge you to attend, so that through you we may discuss arrangements for the return of the remains to your people.' End of message."
"And this all came from this Chaf'orm'whatever?" Mara asked. "The address and everything?"
"Chaf'orm'bintrano," Parck supplied. "Call him Formbi. Obviously, I supplied the location of the Jedi academy for him. The Chiss know virtually nothing about the New Republic, and certainly nothing about its worlds."
"Yet he knew Luke's name?"
"Well, no, not exactly," Parck said. "Formbi asked for the name of the New Republic's most prominent Jedi. That would of course be Master Skywalker."
"So you and Formbi are on good speaking terms?" Mara pressed.
"I wouldn't say we're on good speaking terms," Parck hedged. "Official Chiss policy is still that Thrawn was a renegade who brought nothing but dishonor on the rest of his people."
"Tell that to Stent," Luke murmured.
Parck shrugged. "I didn't say all the Chiss agreed. I simply said that was the official line. But Formbi and I have spoken on occasion, and the conversations have been reasonably civil."
He glanced somewhere offscreen. "I've run the numbers on travel to the Crustai system. Assuming you can make at least point three in that ship, you should have just enough time to get there before Formbi's fifteen days are up."
"Thank you," Luke said. "If you don't mind, we'll discuss it and get back to you."
"As you wish," Parck said. "I hope to speak with you again soon."
He was still sitting there, gazing at them, when Luke switched off the comm.
Mara kept her eyes on the planet, feeling Luke's unspoken question hanging in the air between them. "What do you think?" she asked instead.
"It's an intriguing offer," Luke said. "As far as I could tell, the whole Outbound Flight Project was wrapped in secrecy. There was hardly anything even in the Coruscant archives that I could find."
"There's a lot we don't know anymore about that whole era," Mara said. "The Clone Wars and Palpatine's purge saw to that."
"That's my point," Luke said. "If even a part of Outbound Flight survived, there's a chance that some of its records survived with it. This could be the kind of glimpse into the past that we've always wanted."
"That we've always wanted?" Mara countered, looking at him. "Or that you've always wanted?"
"All right, fine," Luke said, clearly puzzled by her reaction. "I admit it: I'd like to know more about the Jedi of that time. Wouldn't you?"
"That's also when Palpatine came to power," she reminded him darkly, turning back to the canopy. "Personally, there's a lot about that era that I don't want to know."
"I understand," Luke said gently. "But on the other hand, we can't ignore the potential of this offer."
"What potential?" Mara scoffed. "The chance for the Chiss to assuage their guilt over letting Thrawn run wild as long as they did?"
"I'm sure that's part of it," Luke said. "The Chiss claim to be an honorable people. Even Thrawn made a point of not killing or destroying more than he thought was necessary. But I have a strong feeling that there's more to this than just a simple act of atonement."
"Such as?"
Luke shrugged. "I don't know. It may be that the Chiss are looking to open diplomatic relations with the New Republic, and finding Outbound Flight has given them the opening they needed to do so."
"Really," Mara said. "Well, in that case, my dear, they're going about it in an awfully strange way. I've been running some numbers, too, and even if that message had been delivered when it was supposed to be, we'd barely have had time to alert Coruscant before we flash-tailed it out to the Unknown Regions. And they wouldn't have had time to even organize a diplomatic mission, let alone get it in space in time. Face it, Luke: Formbi doesn't want the New Republic involved, at least not on any official level."
"I can't argue with that," Luke conceded. "Still, if the Chiss consider Outbound Flight to have been a Jedi project, it makes sense for them to ask for me instead of someone from the Senate."
"If Parck's telling the truth," Mara said. "It also could be that he's lying through his teeth."
"There's one way to find out," Luke pointed out. "I doubt he could hide that massive a deception from both of us in person."
"We're not going down there," Mara said flatly. "The last time I sat in the same room with him he first tried to recruit me, then almost had me shot with those wonderful little charric fire guns the Chiss carry. Thanks, but I can hear him just fine from up here."
"Okay, don't get excited," Luke said. "I'm not in any rush to go down there again, either. Just bear in mind that in that case all we've got to go on is what he says."
"I know," Mara muttered. "I just don't like it."
Luke shrugged. "It's a gamble," he said. "But I think it's worth taking." He cocked his head to the side, and again Mara could feel his mind pressing at hers. "Unless you have something more solid to go on, one way or the other?"
"You mean am I getting something from the Force?" Mara grimaced. "I wish I was. But all I've got is my own natural suspicion."
"No, it's not just that," Luke corrected her thoughtfully. "There's something else there, something deeper than just caution or suspicion. It feels a little like the way I felt when Yoda told me I would have to face my father before I would truly be a Jedi."
"But I've already been through that," Mara protested. "You told me that that transition had to do with sacrifice. I made mine." She jabbed a finger toward the planet in front of them. "Right down there."
"I know," Luke said, and Mara felt a new warmth flow into his concern. That sacrifice, after all, was what had finally made this whole relationship possible. "But it wasn't the sacrifice aspect I was thinking of. It was more the—I don't know. Call it the need to face the past."
Mara snorted. "I've never even been to Chiss space. How can going out there possibly have anything to do with my past?"
"I don't know," Luke said. "I just said that was what it felt like, that's all."
Mara sighed. "You want to go, don't you?"
Luke reached over and took her hand. "I think we have to," he said. "If Parck was right about an enemy moving in toward us, we're going to need all the allies we can get. If there's even a chance of getting the Chiss on our side, we need to take it."
"Yes," Mara said, a shiver running up her back. "Unless Parck was lying about that, too. Well, if we're going to go, we'd better go."
/>
Squeezing Luke's hand once, she let go and reached for the comm switch. "Let's contact Parck and get those coordinates."
CHAPTER 3
The Jade Sabre was capable of somewhat better than 0.3 past lightspeed, and they made it to Crustai with nearly a day to spare. Here, unlike the apparently more casual situation they'd found at Nirauan, there was a welcoming committee waiting.
There were five of them, in fact: alien fighters, midway in size between an X-wing and a Skipray blastboat, moving up behind the Sabre as Luke brought the ship out of hyperspace. "Identify yourself," a hard voice snapped from the comm in passable Basic.
"Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and Jedi Knight Mara Jade Skywalker," Luke replied, glancing at the tactical plot Mara had pulled up. The fighters had moved neatly into flanking positions around the Jade Sabre, a move that could easily be justified as an innocent escort formation, but which would serve equally well for attack if necessary. "We're here at the request of Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano of the Fifth Ruling Family."
"Welcome, Master Skywalker," the voice said. "We will escort you to the Aristocra's diplomatic courier vessel. You will dock there and go aboard."
"Thank you," Luke said.
One of the fighters broke formation and moved out in front of the group, angling off to the left toward the edge of the planet directly ahead. Taking the cue, Luke shifted course to follow. "What do you think?" he asked.
"If they've borrowed any of our technology, it sure doesn't show," Mara said, leaning over the sensor scan she'd done of the fighters. "Most of the weapons are registering as unknowns, but they seem to be mainly energy and projectile types, with a couple of small missiles racked together on the underside."
"Proton torpedoes?" Luke suggested, studying the schematic the sensors had drawn for them.
"Seems a bit big for that, but I can't tell for sure," Mara said. "I definitely wouldn't want to go up against one of these things in combat, though, let alone five of them."
"We'll do our best to avoid that," Luke agreed. "Seems odd that they haven't used any of our stuff, though, considering Thrawn's relationship with the Empire."
"You heard Parck," Mara reminded him. "They don't think much of Thrawn out here."
"Yes, but you'd think they'd at least swallow their pride where useful technology is concerned," Luke said. "Most people's principles don't extend that far."
Mara shrugged. "Maybe we've finally found a society of people where they do."
The courier ship the fighter pilot had mentioned, like the fighters themselves, turned out to be something of a surprise. It was bigger than Luke had expected, for one thing, nearly half again as big as the Corellian corvettes that the New Republic routinely used for such tasks. In addition, instead of the corvette's smooth lines, the Chiss ship seemed to be all planes and corners and sharply defined angles, rather like a Mon Calamari star cruiser roughly carved out of stone before the sculptor began smoothing the surface into the proper curves.
"Interesting design," Mara commented as they flew toward it. "It would be great for hiding in asteroid fields."
"It would blend in pretty well, wouldn't it?" Luke said, nodding. "I was just thinking that it wouldn't be easily mistaken for anything else. That's something else you want in a diplomatic ship."
"Maybe," Mara said. "Or maybe the Chiss just like lumpy ships. Does make me wonder what the docking bay's going to be like, though."
Luke winced. Back when he'd first presented the Jade Sabre to Mara, after she'd thanked him for it, she'd made it casually clear what would happen to anyone who so much as scratched the paint. This could be trouble.
Fortunately, it wasn't. The starboard-side docking bay they were escorted to—more of a half port, really, than a full-sized bay—was smooth-walled, without any decorative angles or corners intruding on the approach. It also had maneuvering room to spare, and Mara got the Sabre's nose into position and locked into the clamps on her first try. "We're in," she announced. "Now what?"
"Looks like they're moving a transfer tunnel toward the portside hatch," Luke said, craning his neck to peer out the side of the canopy. "Let's go meet our host."
It took a few minutes for them to shut the ship down to standby and then make their way back to the hatchway. Someone was already waiting there, tapping politely and discreetly on the metal. "Here we go," Luke murmured, and touched the release.
The hatchway slid up to reveal a young Chiss female dressed in an exotically cut jumpsuit composed of shades of yellow. "Welcome to the Diplomatic Vessel Chaf Envoy," she said. Her Basic was far better than the fighter pilot's had been, with only a trace of an exotic accent flavoring the words. "I am Chaf'ees'aklaio, aide to Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano. I would be honored if you would call me by my core name, Feesa."
"Thank you," Luke said. "I'm Luke Skywalker—call me Luke. This is Mara Jade Skywalker—Mara—my wife and fellow Jedi."
"Luke; Mara." Feesa repeated the names, bowing low from her waist. "We are honored by your presence. Please; come this way."
She turned and headed down the tunnel. "You speak our language very well," Luke commented as he and Mara fell into step behind her. "Is it common among your people?"
"Not at all," Feesa said. "It was introduced many years ago by the Visitors, but only a few have felt the desire to learn it."
"The Visitors?" Mara asked. "You mean the people aboard Outbound Flight?"
"No; the Visitors," Feesa said. "The ones who came before."
"Before Outbound Flight?" Mara asked, frowning. "Who would have come out here before that?"
"I do not know their names." Feesa half turned to regard Mara over her shoulder. "But it is not my place to speak of such things," she added. "You must not ask me anything more."
"Our apologies," Luke said, sending a warning thought at Mara and sensing in return a flicker of frustration at his tacit suspension of her investigation. Probing for information was one of Mara's specialties.
Ahead, the tunnel came to an end at a wide hatchway opening up into a large room beyond. Feesa stepped through into the room and moved to the side of the hatchway, making room for the other two to enter. Luke stepped through—
His only warning was a flicker in the Force, a brief and unfocused sense of danger. But it was enough. Reflexively, he threw himself forward into a low dive as something whipped through the space he'd just vacated.
Feesa gasped something as Luke hit the deck and rolled onto his back, kicking off the flooring with his heels. The momentum of his kick pushed him backward away from the point of danger, simultaneously shoving him back up off the cold metal. Half a second later he was back on his feet, poised in combat stance with his lightsaber blazing ready in front of him.
His first concern was Mara. To his relief, he saw she was still in the tunnel, just inside the protection of the hatchway, her lightsaber ignited and ready. For a moment their eyes met, exchanging assurances that each was unhurt. Feesa, he noted peripherally, was sprawled on the deck; apparently Mara had used the Force to shove her down where she'd hopefully be out of danger. Mentally warning Mara to stay where she was, he shifted his attention to search for the source of the attack.
It wasn't hard to find. A thick, heavy-looking cable anchored to the high ceiling was swinging ponderously alongside the wall, apparently having come loose just as Luke was stepping through the hatchway. Grimacing with a mixture of relief and annoyance, he closed down his lightsaber. "It's all right," he called to Mara, measuring the swing of the cable with his eyes. Another five seconds and it would cut back across the hatchway, but until then it would be safe to cross. "Come on through."
Mara came through, all right, but in typical Mara fashion. She waited four of the five seconds, then suddenly leapt out and up, spinning 180 degrees around in midair. As the cable swung past, she slashed upward with her lightsaber.
He'd expected her to cut the end completely off as a mark of her displeasure at what had just happened. But the blue blade merely slashed past t
he flying cable without any apparent effect at all.
She landed back on the deck, the cable clattering noisily along the wall as it swung past her. "You all right?" she asked Luke, closing down her lightsaber and returning it to her belt.
"I'm fine," Luke assured her. "I was feeling like a little exercise anyway."
A movement to his right caught his eye, and he turned to see a pair of Chiss males enter the room through a high archway, both considerably older than Feesa, both wearing elaborate outfits that were almost certainly robes of state. The shorter Chiss, his blue-black hair liberally sprinkled with white, wore a long, flowing robe in subdued shades of yellow with gray trim. The taller Chiss's outfit was shorter, more like a long tunic than an actual robe, and was predominantly black, though with small swatches of dusky red at various places on the sleeves and upper shoulders. "Greetings to you, Jedi of—" the black-clad Chiss began.
He broke off abruptly, his eyes narrowing, as the last echo of his words bounced briefly between the high walls. "What is this?" he demanded.
"There was an accident, noble sir," Feesa said, jumping quickly to her feet. "The cable broke and nearly struck Master Skywalker."
"I see," the Chiss said, the threatening tone fading from his voice. "My apologies, Master Skywalker. Are you injured?"
"No," Luke assured him as he and Mara crossed to meet the newcomers. "Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano, I presume?"
The Chiss shook his head. "I am General Prard'ras'kieoni of the Chiss Defense Fleet," he said stiffly. "Military commander of this expedition."
He half turned to the Chiss in yellow. "This," he said, "is Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano."
Luke shifted his attention to the other Chiss. Alien ages were always hard to judge, but there was something about Chaf'orm'bintrano that marked him as being much older than the general. A presence, perhaps, or something in his face or stance. "My apologies, Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano," he said.
"Hardly necessary," the other said easily. "No one would expect you to know one Chiss from another. I trust you had an uneventful journey?"