Part 3 (2/2)
Tryn stared at him. ”That's not your call. ”
16.”Excuse me, but I think it is. As head of the Republic's Security Committee I...”
”Bail, all due respect, but you don't know what you're talking about, ” Tryn said. ”I did what I had to do, with Master Yoda's full knowledge and approval. And now that I know this bioweapon inside out I can get to work on creating an antidote. Something broad enough to cross the species barrier and bind up the active toxins while they're still in a victim's bloodstream. ”
That brought Bail up short. ”You mean that?” he said, his heart pounding his ribs. ”You can really do this?”
”Well-I'm not making any promises, ” Tryn said, pulling a face. ”But I wouldn't have left my students halfway through the semester if I didn't think I could help. ”
”Of course you wouldn't. I'm not suggesting-you're brilliant, I didn't mean to...” Tangled, Bail stopped talking and started pacing again. A tension headache was brewing behind his tired eyes. ”Sorry. Like I said, it's been a long day and it's not over yet. ”
Tryn came around to the front of his bench and hitched himself onto it. His bright orange trousers rode up his skinny ankles, revealing mismatched socks of fluorescent green and pink. His lab clogs were crimson. So were his eyes. Well. Today they were crimson.
Yesterday they'd been violet. Tomorrow, who knew? Tryn was a man of changeable disposition.
”Bail?” he said, gentle now, his temper abandoned. ”I've never heard you sound this scared. What aren't you telling me? What's happened now?”
Nothing had happened, and that was the problem. There'd been no word from Obi-Wan or Anakin since they alerted Yoda that they were going back to Lok Durd's compound. And in this situation no news was not good news. No news was very bad.
”You don't have to say, ” Tryn added. ”But as it stands, I'm the next best thing you've got to a captive audience. ”
Bail hesitated. Tryn Netzl had been Witness at his marriage. Had put him and Breha with the best fertility doctor in the Republic and matched him drink for drink after every one of Breha's five miscarriages. Tryn had let him weep without saying a word when their last hope for a child was exhausted. There was nothing he could not entrust to this man.
But I need him focused. So pull yourself together, Organa. If he's worried about you, he can't do his fob. And if he can't do his job...
”You're right, I am worried about something, ” he said, because he would never lie to Tryn. ”But it'll keep. What can you tell me about this bioweapon?”
Tryn frowned. ”It makes me ashamed I was ever proud to call Bant'ena Fhernan a colleague. ”
There was a second bench in the lab, piled high with flimsies and hard-copy biochemistry texts and at least a score of datareaders. Bail leaned one hip against it and folded his arms.
”She's under duress, Tryn. ”
”I don't care. What she's created is a perversion of science. She's betrayed herself and her calling. ”
”There are those who say every weapon created is a perversion of science, ” he pointed out. ”And that using those weapons is a betrayal of life. I seem to recall you making a few heated points in favor of that argument, once or twice. ”
Tryn scowled. ”I don't like war. I don't like killing. ”
”I don't either, ” he said, after a moment. ”But since we last sat down face-to-face, my friend, I've killed. It was in self-defense, and in defense of others, but even so... ” Remembering the desperate battle on that secret s.p.a.ce station, a confrontation he often relived in his dreams. Bail shook his head. ”I can't even tell you how many. There wasn't time to stop and count. And while I'm coming clean, I suppose I should also confess that I voted for the creation of the Republic's clone army-now, that's science taken to extraordinary lengths-and two days ago I approved the diversion of funds from a refugee crisis program to the discretionary account used to make up the shortfall in payments for clone replacements. ”
”I don't-I can't see...” Tryn wrapped his long braid around his fingers and pulled hard, a familiar nervous habit. ”Stung, Bail. Why would you tell me that?”
17.”I guess because... ” He sighed. ”How do we know what we'd do if we were forced to watch someone we loved die because we didn't do as we were told?”
Tryn stared at the floor, uncomfortable. ”I'd like to think I'd have the guts to stay strong, no matter the pressure-or the punishment. ”
”Yes, well, we'd all like to think that, ” he said drily. ”But in these past months I've learned a lot of things, Tryn. Most of them unpleasant. ”
”Yeah, I'm getting that, ” Tryn said, his dark red eyes somber. He looked around the magnificently equipped lab. ”I mean, you and the Jedi? Brand-new best friends? Have to tell you, Bail, I didn't see that coming. ”
”Neither did I, ” he admitted. ”Oh, and I was right, by the way. The Jedi aren't always comfortable but you can trust them. And I promise you that without them our Republic would be in tatters by now. As it is, even with them...” Abruptly overwhelmed, Bail dragged a hand down his face. ”Things are bad, Tryn. With no way of knowing where or when the Seps will strike, if we don't have a reliable antidote to this bioweapon then they'll win. And that means the end of the Republic. So I need you to make this happen. ”
”No, Bail!” Tryn protested. ”I told you, I can't promise you anything. I might despise Bant'ena Fhernan for a gutless coward but she's still a genius. This-this thing she's invented-this monstrosity of a weapon...”
His friend's abrupt distress was worrying. ”Tryn, you can do this. You're the best biochemist I know. ”
Tryn glowered at him. ”You're a nidziga, Organa. I'm the only biochemist you know. ”
Bail tried to smile but failed, abysmally. ”Tryn. Seriously. Whatever you need, no matter what it costs. Tell me and I'll get it for you.
No questions asked. ”
”You've changed, ” Tryn said after a taut silence. ”I can see it now. ”
As if I didn't know that. ”Not for the worse, I hope. ”
Tryn bit the end of his braid: another old, familiar habit. The one he turned to when he was particularly upset. ”I hope so, too. ”
”I have to go, ” Bail said, glancing at his wrist chrono. ”There's a late Senate session tonight that I need to prepare for. ”
”Look, ” Tryn said, hunched inside his lucky blue lab coat. ”I'll do my best for you, Bail. If the work needs fresh blood, I'll even open my own veins. But you need to tell the little green guy and whoever else you answer to-this might not happen. You have to understand that. You have to prepare. ”
For what? Annihilation? Sickened, Bail nodded. ”I will. But I believe in you, Tryn. I believe you can make it happen. ”
Tryn rapped his knuckles on the bench once, and got back to work.
CHAPTER THREE.
Despite the late hour and his continuing obligations, Bail didn't leave the Temple for the Senate straightaway. Instead he made the long and convoluted journey from its lowest levels up to the giddy heights of the Jedi Council Chamber, where Yoda had arranged to meet with him.
”I take it there's still no word, Master?”
Standing before the panoramic window, watching a distant, impressive Republic Cruiser heading for the GAR docks, Yoda shook his head. ”Correct you are, Senator. ”
”And what does that mean?”
Yoda glanced over his shoulder. ”Delayed they have been. Dead they are not. ”
Not dead... not dead... Bail swallowed. ”You're sure?”
18.”Clouded is the Force with dark side menace, but know that much I do. Obi-Wan and Anakin live. ”
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