Part 29 (1/2)
”Well, you now have the support of the Houses if you want to continue looking in Chiss s.p.a.ce,” Fel said.
Jacen felt exhausted. His uncle's hand came to rest on his shoulder, rea.s.suring him. Saba and Mara brushed minds with his to offer their support, too. He was grateful for the gestures, but he was unable to silence the doubt that Soontir Fel had given voice to. What if Vergere bad lied to him? What if Zonama Sekot was just a dream?
From far away, almost a quarter rotation around the galaxy, he sensed Jaina's capitulation to exhaustion at the completion of her duty.
He occasionally felt flashes of his twin sister, even from so far away.
It felt good, he thought, and wished he could do the same. He'd barely slept since arriving on Csilla, and it was getting so that he couldn't think straight anymore. His body felt weak, hollow and fragile, and had it not been for the Force propping him up, he was sure he would have collapsed into himself hours ago.
But despite the aid of the Force, he knew he was going to have to rest eventually. Staring dully at the data-even if he did it forever and a day- wasn't going to surrender any answers.
”Right or wrong,” he said, standing, ”you're going to have to try to find it without me for a while, I'm afraid. I need to rest.” Without another word, he brushed past his aunt and left the room, ignoring the concerned look from Commander Irolia as he walked deep into the aisles of the library.
Danni came to him half an hour later. He had tucked himself in a corner at the library's uppermost level. It was peaceful there, uncomplicated-the perfect place to clear his head.
”Hey.” She eased herself next to him and leaned against the wall.
They sat side by side in silence, their legs gently touching. He felt he should say something, but he simply didn't know how to express what he was feeling.
”You know,” she said after a long silence he barely noticed, ”I had another thought.” He half turned to her. ”About Zonama Sekot?” She nodded. ”What if it broke apart? The stress of all that jumping must have taken its toll. Worlds are pretty fragile, after all. One slipup could have cracked it wide open, and we never actually looked for new asteroid belts.” Jacen acknowledged her suggestion with a polite nod, but he didn't really credit it. He couldn't afford to. Zonama Sekot was out there; it had to be! There had to be something lurking in the data that he'd overlooked-or something he hadn't yet looked for...
”Are you angry with me?” Danni said hesitantly.
”Huh?” The question startled him from his thoughts. ”Angry with you? Why would you think that?” She shrugged. ”You don't seem to want to talk to me, that's all.”
”No, I'm not angry, Danni. I'm just tired. I haven't slept properly. I came up here to think things through.”
”Things?” she prompted. ”You mean Zonama Sekot kind of things?” He nodded, grinning. ”Zonama Sekot kind of things.”
”I've been thinking about things, too,” she said. ”Us kind of things.”
”Really?” She nodded once, turning her gaze briefly on to the vast expanse of books spread out before them, as if searching for the words that might best convey her thoughts. ”It's strange, you know. I can crack the biological secrets of the Yuuzhan Vong; I can plot the likelihood of a solar system capturing a new planet; but sometimes I can't even begin to guess what goes on inside your head, Jacen Solo.” He took her hand.
”Danni, I-”
”No, let me finish. We've known each other for a few years, now-since the beginning of the war, when you rescued me from Helska Four. But it wasn't until that day on Mester Reef that I saw you for who you are.
Not as one of the Solos, or a Jedi Knight, or Jaina's brother-cm! as you.
And I liked what I saw.” Jacen remembered that day well: the variety of life in and around the coral; the green of Danni's eyes and the brownness of her skin; the promise in her smile...
”You're strong,” she said. ”It may surprise you to know that I think you're the strongest person in the entire Galactic Alliance. You're the only one with the courage to question what everyone else regards as a great privilege. Most people would happily accept the honor of being a Jedi Knight, but you don't. You look beneath the honor and try to understand what it means to be a Jedi. That sort of strength can't be taught, Jacen; it comes from within.
”And you're kind,” she went on. ”No, look at me,” she said when he turned away, beginning to feel awk-ward. ”This is stuff you need to hear.
In the middle of a war, it's hard sometimes to remember the good things.
People are rewarded for being great fighters, but rarely for exhibiting gentler strengths, such as kindness and compa.s.sion-or the kind of loyalty that questions rather than accepts. Your sister gets all the medals while you fade into the background.”
”The medals don't interest me,” he said. ”And I certainly don't begrudge Jaina getting them - ”I know that,” she interrupted. ”You would never resent anyone for her success. That's just another of your strengths.” She paused, smiling. ”Shall I go on?” He shook his head, smiling also. ”I think I get the idea.”
”Jacen, I'm not saying this to embarra.s.s you- or to prompt you into saying something similar in return. Don't ever think that. I'm saying it because I think you need to hear it.”
”Why?”
”Because to you, success depends solely upon finding Zonama Sekot.
I understand that, and I understand its importance in the greater scheme of things. But there's a smaller scheme, too-one that I feel you've already succeeded in. After years of crossing each other's paths like some wandering satellites, I'm glad that I'm finally close enough to you to be able to say that you've grown into a man I'd be proud to call a friend.” Her gaze held his, its intensity matched only by the seriousness of what she was saying.
She stopped there, with a gentle squeeze of his hand that told him it was his turn to speak. He knew he had to say something in return, regardless of whether or not he felt comfortable doing so. He sensed that she was talking about more than friends.h.i.+p, and he wasn't sure how to define his feelings in return. He vividly remembered the day he had rescued her from Helska 4; she had seemed so beautiful to him, so much older and more mature, and utterly un.o.btainable. He may have rescued her from the Yuuzhan Vong, but at the end of that day, he had been just a boy and she was a woman. And he still carried a measure of that impression with him. Although he was with her now, talking as equals, the young boy in him remained at a distance, unable to believe that anything else could be true.
Like some wandering satellites...
He was about to try to explain his feelings to her when her phrase returned to him. The words were niggling at his thoughts, demanding attention. For some reason her use of the metaphor troubled him, but not because of what it meant to him. It made him think of the fruitless quest Vergere had sent him on-although it wasn't immediately apparent why her simple words caused this reaction in him. Satellites? As far as he was aware, Zonama Sekot didn't have any satellites. In fact, he doubted it could have even kept one with all the hypers.p.a.ce jumps it had performed.
Perhaps it had acquired one since - Then the answer struck him in one blinding flash. It was so obvious he could have kicked himself!
Consumed by the inspiration, he completely forgot about Danni and their conversation. Afraid of losing any more time, of missing an opportunity, he abruptly stood up.
”Jacen?” Danni said, her expression puzzled as her hand fell back into her lap. ”What-”
”I've got it!” The exclamation came out with a laugh. ”Come on, Danni. Let's go!” He hurried down the stairs, heading back to the ground level and the ma.s.sive pile of books they had sorted through. He was vaguely aware of Danni running behind him, calling out for him to stop and asking what was wrong. But there simply wasn't enough time to stop and explain; she would have to hear what he had to say when he told the others.
Everyone looked up when he ran to the table. Danni was only a few seconds behind him, her look of confusion reflecting the expressions of the others.
”We need to run another search,” he said breathlessly as he stepped up to Wyn.
His uncle was the first to respond. ”Another search? But, Jacen, we've already searched every planet in the-' ”Not for planets,” Jacen interrupted. ”For moons.” Luke crinkled his brow at this. ”Why would we do that?”
”Think about it,” he said breathlessly. ”If Zonama Sekot entered a system around a gas giant, it wouldn't show as a world, would it? It'd be registered as a satellite-just like Yavin Four. A habitable world in a habitable zone-but it would be listed as a moon! Don't you see? We would have missed it!”
”But Jacen,” Danni said from behind him, ”the tidal forces of entering such a configuration would be incredibly severe.” He dismissed her protest with a wave of his hand. ”I'm sure Zonama Sekot could find a way around that-just as it always found a way to escape whenever it needed to. It's resourceful and determined.” He faced his uncle, wanting the Jedi Master to believe him. ”I know I'm right about this. We have to do the search.” His uncle thought about it for a long moment, and then turned to Wyn. ”Will it take long?” The girl looked nervous at being the sudden focus of such attention. ”That depends on how many possible targets there are.”
”There probably wouldn't be too many,” Danni said. ”System captures are scarce enough as it is, but the acquisition of extra-solar world-sized moons by gas giants would be extremely rare. I'd be amazed to find even one in the last hundred years. The odds of it happening in a system's habitable zone are minute.”
”Could Jacen be right, then?” Mara asked.
Danni studied Jacen critically, then shrugged and smiled. ”I guess there's only one way to find out.” Jacen sent a wave of warm grat.i.tude in her direction.
The look of rage on s.h.i.+mrra's face was the most satis-fying thing Nom Anor had ever seen. Even from a distance and viewed through a villip beacon concealed in Ngaaluh's robes, it thrilled him to the core of his black heart.
”Tell me again,” s.h.i.+mrra said, in the tight, too-controlled manner that presaged an explosion of anger, ”how your incompetence led to the fugitives' escape.”
”Yes, Dread Lord.” Taking a deep breath, the commander Hreven Karsh repeated almost word for word his explanation of how his warriors had allowed a small and relatively helpless party of Jedi and Imperials to slip through their fingers in the Unknown Regions. Nom Anor was coming into the story late, but it appeared as though this party, led by the Skywalkers, had been instrumental in foiling an operation that should have taken the insular but fiercely militaristic nation known as the Imperial Remnant out of the picture altogether. From there, they had moved into the Unknown Regions. Karsh, sent by the leader of the attack on the Imperial Remnant, had tracked the mission from a distance but lost them on the edge of Chiss s.p.a.ce. The present whereabouts of the Skywalkers remained, much to Karsh's embarra.s.sment and chagrin, unknown.
Hreven Karsh was an inexperienced commander. His relative, Komm Karsh, had died trying to obtain information from the abominable libraries on Obroa-skai, and he had slipped into the empty shoes with ambitious relish. His ritual modifications-vonduun crab armor plates inserted under his skin and coaxed to grow and overlap at odd angles so that his skin took on the appearance of a buckled, jagged crust-had been conducted in haste. The wounds, in fact, were still weeping. But the discomfort they would have caused was nothing compared to the indignity he must have felt at having to detail his failure to the Supreme Overlord-nor to the punishment that would inevitably follow.
”We are presently combing the fringes of the Chiss empire for any sign of the fugitives and-”
”'Combing'?” the Supreme Overlord interrupted, descending with menace from his spiny, bloodred throne of yorik coral. His scarred, slashed, tattooed face twisted into a sneer. The mqaaq'it implants in his eye sockets burned with an all-too-familiar glare. ”Did you say 'combing'?” Karsh swallowed uneasily as the Supreme Overlord approached with careful, calculated steps. ”I did, Great One.” There was no mistaking it for anything but an apology.