Part 19 (2/2)
”We don't,” she said. ”That would just be stupid-wouldn't it, Commander Irolia?” The Chiss officer nodded stiffly from the far side of the table, where she was watching Jacen input data from the library search into data-pads for further a.n.a.lysis. Wyn had joined Jacen and Danni as they reviewed their data electronically, while the other members of the group had continued to talk with the girl's parents. Initially, Wyn had been very excited at meeting Jacen, and was keen to talk to him about the search for Zonama Sekot. But when this conversation ebbed, the girl had obviously decided it might be fun to lock horns with Jacen, determinedly teasing out his place in the mission and the universe in general. He couldn't figure out if she was genuinely interested in what he had to say or if she was deliberately antagonizing him, trying to see how far she could actually push a Jedi before his patience cracked...
”All I meant was that you should fight when you have to. Your preferences don't come into it. Your enemy won't stand down just because you don't want to fight. You either rise to the occasion or you die.”
Harsh words, Jacen thought, coming from one so young. But with her pedigree, he reminded himself, and the culture and times in which she'd been educated, perhaps it wasn't so surprising.
”I guess what I should have said was that I prefer to put myself in situations where skills other than those involving combat will save the day.” He tried to put his feelings into words with consummate precision, not wanting to give her the chance to leap on another ambiguity. Fatigue wasn't making it easy, though. ”Not every conflict can be solved with violence, Wyn. Some become exponentially more difficult to solve once violence has entered the equation. The Force may need both sides of life-birth and death-in order to be balanced, but that doesn't meant we can't look for peaceful solutions. It's the same if violence seems to be the only-or indeed the easiest-option.” To his relief, Wyn acknowledged his point with a thoughtful nod. ”Okay, I can understand that. But what about your sister? How does she feel about you letting her risk her life exercising the 'easy' option?”
”I don't think it's a case of me letting her do anything,” he said.
”She's simply better at following that path when the need for it arises.
While I spend half my life philosophically pondering the way of things, she focuses her energies on the exterior, on what she can change. But as far as I'm concerned, deep down we're still addressing the same problem-just from different angles.”
”You carry a lightsaber,” Wyn pointed out.
He shrugged. ”It's a symbol of a Jedi-just like the insignia on Commander Irolia's uniform.”
”Nevertheless, the weapon at your side seems out of place on a man who says he dislikes violence.” How do I answer that? he wondered. If I say that I don't hate violence, I undermine everything I've told her. If I confirm that I do, I make a mockery of my own convictions. Is this the corner I've backed myself into?
”Haven't we drifted off the topic a little here?” Danni said, stretching tiredly. ”We were looking for Zonama Sekot, remember?” Jacen nodded. It had been an exhausting session, and one that had only been partially successful. The number of ”hits”-systems where stories of a wandering planet had been recorded-was reaching a plateau; they quickly ran out of the ones that were easiest to find. So far they had sixty confirmed or suspected appearances in a forty-year period spanning from shortly before the formation of the Empire to some years after. Wherever it was that Zonama Sekot had settled down, it seemed to have done so about twenty years before the arrival of the Yuu-zhan Vong.
”But you said before that you were probably looking in the wrong place,” Wyn said.
Danni sighed, and when she spoke there was no mistaking the frustration in her tone. ”We're looking primarily through sociological records,” she said. ”Astronomical data would be our best bet. We need to look specifically for systems that have adopted a new planet in their habitable zones, whether those zones are inhabited or not.”
”But there are hundreds of thousands of stars in and around Chiss s.p.a.ce,” Wyn said. ”Plus about the same number again of orphan worlds drifting in interstellar s.p.a.ce. There must be planets captured and lost all the time.”
”Actually, no.” After Danni's success at cracking the biological secrets of the Yuuzhan Vong, it was easy to forget that her original specialization was astronomy. ”Although the capture of extra-solar planets does happen quite naturally, it's a very rare event-and even rarer right in the middle of the habitable zone. A large percentage of those systems have been visited more than once by droid probes on deep-survey missions, and the basic configurations of the others would have been atleast recorded by large-scale interferometric detectors in nearby systems. The Chiss checked every target system at least twice in the last sixty years. Any discrepancies would show up in even the most basic scan.” Wyn nodded. ”We could set up a sweep to look for stuff that was added to any of the systems on record. I can talk to Tris and-” She stopped as Luke appeared from one of the aisles, followed closely by Saba. ”Sorry to interrupt,” he said. ”We've decided to bring Shadow to a closer s.p.a.ceport. If you'd like to clean up and have a rest, then this might be your best chance.”
”I think I'd settle for either, right now,” Danni said.
”What about you, Saba?” Luke said, facing the Bara-bel. She was bringing another heavy-looking tome to read.
”A shower soundz good,” she said. The exhaustion was clearly evident in her voice. ”Even the best hunterz need to wash.”
”Okay, then we'll see you all shortly at the barge,” Luke said.
”When we come back, we'll bring Artoo with us. He might be able to help us search through the less obvious data.”
”That's a good idea,” Danni said, rising to her feet. She faced Jacen. ”You coming?” He shook his head. ”I think I'll stay here. Someone has to keep looking through the data we've collected. There's a lot to get through, and we've only one day left.” Danni's disappointment was obvious, but Luke agreed with a cautious nod. ”Don't overdo it, Jacen.
I'm sure Commander Irolia can provide you with a bunk and a 'fresher if you decide you need one.”
”Of course,” the commander said.
”Syal and Soontir will be coming with us on the ice barge,” Luke went on. ”Obviously you're welcome to come as well, Wyn, if you're interested.”
”Actually, I think I'll stay and help Jacen, if that's all right?”
Jacen nodded. ”No problem. We can begin that search you thought of, Danni. And if anything comes up, I promise to call, okay?” Danni glanced at Jacen and Wyn, offering a curt and unenthusiastic nod. ”Sure,” she said, then faced Luke. ”How soon do we leave?”
”Right now if you like.”
”Sounds good to me,” Danni said. Then, with the faintest glance at Wyn, added: ”The sooner the better.” Jacen's uncle, aunt, and Lieutenant Stalgis left for the barge with a brief farewell to everyone, followed shortly by Danni and Saba.
”So, what do you want to do?” Wyn asked when everyone had gone. ”I could show you around, if you want. Or there's always-”
”I don't think that's such a good idea.” Jacen cut her off firmly but gently. Commander Irolia silently took up position against the far wall-a position that allowed her to keep an eye on both Jacen and Wyn.
”There really isn't much time before the deadline runs out, and if we don't learn anything, then we're back where we started.” The girl rolled her eyes, sighing with only a half-serious look of rejection on her face.
”Then we'd better get going,” she said.
No, thought Jacen. That's exactly what they wouldn't be able to do.
If they ever did find what they were looking for, then everything would be blown wide open. It would be the beginning of the end of everything they had come to take for granted these last few years.
He kept this to himself. When he thought of the future, the image he received from the Force was invariably clouded. His vision of a galaxy slipping into darkness still burned inside him, and he didn't like to think that any failure on his part might contribute to such an out-come.
He was determined to bring his uncle's peaceful solution into being. And despite a twinge of guilt, he couldn't allow Wyn's feelings to get in the way of that.
I should have known better...
Jaina struggled to get a grip on the world around her as suffocating folds of unconsciousness tried to drag her back down. The only signal she received from her body was that of a burning sensation between her shoulder blades, where she'd been shot. She suspected that she hadn't been seriously hurt, but the blaster's stun setting had been on the high side, and her nervous system was still a bit scrambled.
When the darkness finally began to recede and she managed to haul herself out into daylight, she couldn't tell if weeks or minutes had pa.s.sed. Moaning, she tried to move, but found that Salkeli had bound her arms and legs tightly together. There was a translucent hood over her head, too.
”I see you're awake,” she heard him say from close by, his voice raised over the steady whining of his land-speeder's motor. From the way the world b.u.mped and slewed beneath her, she guessed that she was slumped on the reclined seat of the vehicle. Despite her situation, she actually found this thought rea.s.suring; it suggested that she hadn't been out too long, after all.
”Where are you taking me?” she asked.
”To meet someone.”
”Who?”
”It's not important. He has money, and that's all that concerns me right now.” She reached into herself to find her still center, hoping to pluck his intentions directly from his mind, but her focus was scattered by the pain and disorientation.
”You betrayed them,” she said disgustedly.
”Do you mean Freedom?”
”You sold them out.”
”They did it to themselves. I mean, what do they expect? You go up against the big cannons, you have to expect to get shot.”
” But you were the one pulling the trigger.”
<script>