“Oh,” both Solos said at once, turning to look at the droid in question. Threepio lifted his hands defensively and took a step backward.
“It’s not my fault,” he said, “Don’t blame me. I am programmed to serve when requested!” Artoo made a booping noise that sounded almost like a rebuke.
“No, it’s my fault,” Luke said. “If my request was to a droid and not to a Jedi, I was still keeping to the conditions of my exile.”
“Easier to ask forgiveness than permission, huh kid?” Han was asking. “You’re getting more and more like me all the time. You might even start to look as good as me one of these days.”
“No thanks, I don’t want to look like a grumpy, thickheaded, craggy-faced old man,” Luke replied.
“Who’s craggy-faced?” The banter was strained, but helped ease some of the tension. Allana felt it, and it helped her relax slightly as well. She felt something brush up against her leg. It was Anji, who looked up at her, blinking her four eyes solemnly, then butted her head hard against Allana’s calf, purring.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Allana was proud of herself. The question was a good one, and she had asked it in a calm, adult manner.
“Apparently, some people aren’t telling other people lots of things,” Han muttered, but fell quiet when Leia gave him a sharp look.
“Because there’s a lot going on right now, honey,” Leia said, stroking Allana’s short, black-dyed hair. “A lot of things that you don’t need to know about. And some that you do. We try to figure out what to tell you when, to keep you as safe and happy as possible.”
“I am Chume’da,” Allana said quietly. “I’m supposed to know about these things.”
Leia didn’t back down. “You’re also eight years old, and we are your guardians. You can’t solve all the galaxy’s problems.”
“Neither can you, Grandma.”
“Kid’s got you there,” Han said.
“So … I know that Uncle Luke was asking Threepio to help translate a language so he could know what some Sith were saying,” Allana continued. “But he’s also working with them. Do I have everything right, Uncle Luke?”
“Yes,” Luke said. “As strange as all that sounds when put together like that, it’s all true.”
“But you’re not going to the dark side.” Despite her best efforts, there was a quiver in her voice. Even after two years had passed, when she thought of Darth Caedus—she didn’t think of the yellow-eyed man as her daddy—it was as if a hand clamped down hard on her heart and breathing became difficult.
“No,” Leia said, in a voice that was both gentle and firm. “No one here is going to the dark side.”
Allana nodded, clinging to Leia’s hand. “Then … why are you being nice to the Sith?”
“Because there’s something bad in the Maw,” Leia said. “And we think that something is what is making the Knights all get sick.”
Allana’s eyes flew wide, hope chasing away the fear. “You mean … we know what’s wrong with Barv and Yaqeel and the others?”
“We’re pretty sure we do. And your Uncle Luke can’t help them by himself.”
“But … Sith aren’t honorable … are they?”
Han and Leia exchanged pained glances. “Well, Sith can usually be counted on to look after themselves,” Han said. “And it sounds like they’re having the same sort of problems we are in that area. So Luke’s teaming up with them to get to the bottom of things.”
“What if they double-cross him?” Allana’s face flamed as the adults all chuckled. Leia sensed her embarrassment and squeezed her hand again.
“That was the first thing on everyone’s mind, honey. Luke’s expecting a double cross.”
“That’s why I asked Threepio to translate for me,” Luke said. “So that I could know if they were planning something, and be prepared for it.”
Allana nodded. “I get it,” she said. “I think so, anyway.”
“It’s a pretty complicated and messy situation,” Han said.
“So you left me out of it?”
“We would have told you,” Leia said. “As soon as we felt you needed to know.”
“When would that have been?”
Leia didn’t look at Luke. She and Han had indeed planned to let Allana know what was happening when they left as part of the Jedi strike force. But she couldn’t let Luke know about it ahead of time. This was indeed a pretty complicated and messy situation, as Han had so aptly put it. They couldn’t tell Luke about the strike force because he would tell them to stand down. He wouldn’t want to violate the terms of his agreement. And he had contrived to speak to Threepio, and just Threepio, for the same reasons. And no one had told an eight-year-old girl about the harsh realities of recording conversations and making alliances with enemies. It would be nice if she could shield Allana from this sort of thing.
But not shielding her was the only thing she and Han could do. Even more important, it was the right thing. The galaxy needed beings who could look into its darkness and ugliness without flinching, in order to make it a better place. Allana was going to be one such being.
And it was that calm certainty she projected into the Force, and not her worries and regret. It was with the face of a lifetime politician that Leia said to her granddaughter, “When the time was right.”
Allana peered skeptically at Leia. “Is that one of those grown-up things like ‘we’ll see’?” she asked.
Despite the direness of the situation, Leia couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Yes,” she said, “it is.”
Allana sighed.
“Now,” Leia said, putting a hand on Allana’s shoulder and steering her toward the door, “we all interrupted a conversation that was none of our business. Luke is allowed to talk to a droid he once owned.” Leia tugged on Han’s sleeve, urging him to exit with Allana and Anji.
Before he left, Han turned back to the hologram, shrugged, gave a grin that had disarmed many a would-be attacker, and said, “I certainly didn’t hear anything.”
“Let’s see if there’s anything fun on the holovid,” said Leia. Usually, Allana saw right through them when they tried to distract her, but this time the little girl nodded. She was content with the explanation they had given her, and for that small favor Leia was grateful.
Allana reached and clicked and the vidwall sprang to life. Leia had been about to go get them all something to munch on but she did a double take, her brown eyes huge, when she saw the image of the Jedi Temple.
“Oh no,” she breathed.
“A siege?” yelped Han. “What the stang is Daala thinking?”
Caught up in the horrible sight of her beloved Temple surrounded by Mandalorians and siege weaponry, Leia didn’t even chide him for his language in front of Allana. Anji growled, and Allana tried to comfort her.
“What’s happening?” Allana said, her voice climbing higher with worry.
“I don’t know, sweetheart,” Leia said. “But your grandfather and I are going to find out.”
Just then, Threepio entered. “Your pardon, Mistress Leia. I had only just finished with Master Luke when I received a brief, prerecorded message from Master Jagged Fel.”
“Jag? What?” said Han, rising. Allana started to slip off the couch, but paused at the rather stern look her grandfather gave her. “Stay here, honey,” he said, moderating his look with the term of endearment. “Threepio—watch her for us until we get back, will you?”
“Of course, Master Han.”
They rushed into the study and closed the door behind them. Leia’s danger sense was tingling like mad. Quickly, she pressed the button and listened. It was typically Jag—cool, precise, informative.
“Leia, Han. If you haven’t heard already, the Mandos, under Daala’s orders, have begun a siege against the Jedi Temple. Jaina was just in my office. She told me about what’s going on in the Temple, and asked for my aid. I couldn’t give it to her. She ended the engagement, and my concern is that she has decided to take off on her o
wn. Please know that I intend to talk to Daala as soon as possible, though I doubt that will help matters any.” A pause. “Jaina does what she has to. We all know that. I’m sorry it did not turn out that I could be a member of your family.”
“She broke up with him?” Han said, disbelieving.
“Sounds like,” said Leia, her own heart aching at the news. “Jag was deliberately vague, in case his transmission was being monitored, but it sounds like she told him about the strike force to help Luke and asked for his help in launching it.”
Han nodded. “And Jag, being Jag, turned her down, and Jaina, being Jaina, broke the engagement and—” His eyes widened with realization. “And took off on her own. That girl has gone to Klatooine all by herself!”
“Don’t glare at me,” Leia said. “That’s a very Han Solo thing to do.”
“We’ve got to stop her.”
Leia shook her head. “No, we’ve got to stop Daala.”
ABOARD THE JADE SHADOW
LUKE SAT BACK IN THE PILOT’S SEAT, BLOWING OUT A HEAVY BREATH. Little Allana was proving to be a bit too clever for her great-uncle’s own good. Leia, as could be expected, had taken charge of the situation and defused it expertly. Threepio, flustered and alternately apologetic and defensive, had hastily transmitted the data and signed off.
It had been a long day, filled with all kinds of things Luke really would rather not have had to deal with. Dyon Stad had snapped, attacked a guard, stolen a speeder bike, and very nearly caused a political crisis that would have shaken a culture to its core.
Luke had overheard his son, the Jedi Knight, telling jokes to a Sith apprentice who was giggling at them as if she were nothing more than an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. Luke had to admit, he wasn’t sure which incident bothered him more—and that simple fact really bothered him.
They had returned with Dyon still unconscious, and there was now the question of what to do with him. Luke had realized at once they had to sell the yacht that had once belonged to Vestara and now Dyon. He was fine with that; the credits could go toward supplies. They’d need to keep Dyon very close at hand, and Luke was not about to let one of the Siths have the yacht. Had this still been the vessel of the Emperor’s Hand, no doubt there would be a special area used for the stashing of prisoners, and it wouldn’t be luxury quarters. But the Jade Shadow had been adapted for the use of Mara Jade Skywalker, and while Mara was certainly not one to embark on any kind of journey, short or long, without being prepared for any contingency, there was no prisoner cell per se.
There was, however, a sick bay, which included a bed with pretty decent restraints and a veritable laboratory of medicinal supplies. Dyon was now tranquilized, with a drip pouring a constant, comforting stream of chemicals into his body. He was strapped down at chest, waist, wrists, and thighs, with a set of stun cuffs on his ankles for good measure. He was hooked up to a monitor that would send an alert throughout the ship if his status changed, and Luke had set up a small mouse droid to watch him at all times.
Ben’s contribution was to hang his vor’cha stun stick beside the door within easy reach. He had not had cause to use it—not yet—but Tadar’Ro, the Aing-Tii monk who had given it to Ben, seemed to think it was extremely powerful. “It’s a gift from rock guys, designed to drop their enemies,” Ben had pointed out. “I’m sure it packs a wallop.”
All in all, it was a far cry from the setup at the Jedi Temple back on Coruscant, and much less than Luke would have preferred, but it would have to do. He felt fairly confident that they would be able to restrain Dyon for a while. At least Dyon wasn’t a trained Jedi Knight, nor was his ability with the Force particularly strong. Luke was grateful for small favors.
After they had secured Dyon, Ben said, with a completely failed effort at casualness, “I’m going to check on Vestara. See how she’s doing.”
“You do that,” Luke had said, “then tell her we’re taking a walk and we’re locking her in her quarters while we’re gone.”
Ben’s red brows drew together. “What?”
“You heard me, son.” Luke’s voice was calm, but brooked no argument. “Dyon’s restrained, but he could be very dangerous. And dangerous people have often been employed by the Sith.”
“I can’t believe you just said that,” Ben said, his voice rising. His blue eyes snapped with anger and hurt. “She’s the one who brought him down, Dad.”
“I am aware of that,” Luke said, tapping into the Force to keep his own rising irritation at bay. “But you were right there with her. She might well have done something very different had you not been.”
“When are you—”
“Ben.” Luke put the Force behind the words, so that Ben would know he was very serious indeed. “Go tell Vestara, activate the exterior controls on her door, and then come meet me outside.”
Ben’s breath was quick and angry, but he had nodded curtly and stomped off with unnecessary noise to do as he was instructed. Luke had lingered for a moment, gazing at the prone figure of Dyon. He shook his head sadly. Cilghal was not going to be happy to hear about this. He’d send her a quick update while Ben was talking with Vestara. The still figure before him represented why he had made the tentative and much-revisited decision to ally with the Sith in the first place—to find out what Abeloth’s hold over these unfortunate beings was, and to end that hold.
He had gone to send Cilghal the message, and frowned slightly as he realized someone was trying to contact him at the same time. He pressed a button, and had been relieved when he saw Threepio’s gold figure in minature. While the ensuing conversation had some tense moments, it had ended well, and he was now anxious to discover what Threepio had learned.
Luke began to read the translation Threepio had sent. Luke was honestly a bit surprised the protocol droid had pulled it off. Threepio had done a magnificent job, cross-referencing millions of different languages in order to produce something that, while hardly literature, was at least comprehensible and presumably fairly close to what had actually been said. Although, he mused, it did remind him a little bit of how Yoda used to speak.
As he read, Luke couldn’t suppress a smug smile at Gavar Khai’s comment that the conversation wouldn’t be translated swiftly. They obviously did not know Threepio—or the golden droid’s ego.
His eyes moved swiftly across the screen. So—Vestara had given Khai a map of the vessel. Not surprising. Luke was not overly troubled. If the Sith had access to all the things he suspected they did, they would be able to get the basic schematics of the SoroSuub Horizon-class Star Yacht easily enough. Vestara herself had been traveling in a similar vessel. The modifications to the Jade Shadow were more problematic, but nothing dire.
He continued to read, smiling a little from time to time at the technically accurate but inadvertently humorous translation.
FEMALE: How goes maternal parent?
MALE: Without you, but with pride at your doing.
FEMALE: I reach to make you pride.
MALE: Dathomir was fine. Dark women taken ranked by skill and strength in the Force.
FEMALE: Pleased, go they?
MALE: Yes and no. Go they will, obey or pain caused. Pain caused makes second consideration. Learning will make us powerful and widespread.
Luke frowned just for an instant. Dark women—Nightsisters. He’d known Vestara was responsible for the abduction of the Nightsisters. They’d obviously been evaluated according to their skills and ability to use the Force. Those who didn’t obey quickly enough were tortured.
FEMALE: Happy I useful they. Learners status?
MALE: Learners?
FEMALE: Abeloth mind harm.
MALE: Nothing wrong with learners, but that physical violence will improve.
FEMALE: (untranslatable word for interrupting)
MALE: Aware I of what Taalon told Skywalker. Is untruth. You share idea. Skywalker we needed, so we say what hurts their learners hurts ours also.
Luke smiled bitterly. He’d suspected as much. Th
ere was nothing wrong with the Sith apprentices. The entire story had been a lie to convince Luke to ally with them. He gave a mental shrug.
He tensed slightly as Vestara inquired about the real reason the Sith were allying with him, and frowned in disappointment as Gavar Khai dodged the question.
The next few sentences yielded nothing of interest to Luke. And then, what he was expecting came.
FEMALE: Negative. Ben mostly speaks.
MALE: You are drawn to Skywalker boy.
FEMALE: Affirmative, I am. Appealing he is. I regret. I will attempt—
MALE: Negative. Useful is this. Fall not in love, but fear not to reveal the attraction. The Force will convey its reality. Defenses will be lowered. Speak more, trust more. Use this. Possibility of redirecting.
FEMALE: To the Shadow Side?
A chill went through Luke, and a shiver of revulsion as well. Khai was urging his own child, a girl of sixteen, to attempt to seduce Ben—in all ways. Khai continued, excited at the prospect of a Sith Ben Skywalker, but reminding his daughter that if she failed to turn Ben to the dark side, she would be allowed to play with him … only as long as he was useful.
Ben needed to see this.
At that moment, he sensed his son’s presence and turned around. Ben poked his auburn head in, glowering. “I’ve been outside for fifteen minutes, Dad.”
“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” Luke said sincerely. He waved Ben forward. “Close the door.”
Ben snorted. He was still agitated. “Dyon’s out cold and Vestara’s locked in her room. I debated telling her I was sending her to bed without supper.”
“There’s something you need to see,” Luke said, letting his son’s anger wash over him. “You remember, of course, when Gavar Khai came on board, and I told you I was recording their conversation.”
Ben nodded, blue eyes narrowing. “Yeah … you said we couldn’t understand Keshiri, but you knew someone who—oh. Threepio?”
Luke nodded. “I think you’ll find it very interesting.”
Ben went very still. Luke sent the transmission to the copilot monitor, leaned back, and closed his eyes to allow Ben to read in private.
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi V: Allies Page 17
