Part 4 (1/2)

It was odd, how relief could be as sickening as fear. ”And when you say delayed?”

Supported by his spindly gimer stick, Yoda turned from the window and began an aimless wandering of his Council aerie. ”The answers that you seek. Senator, give you I cannot. ” The gimer stick rapped the Chamber's beautifully parqueted floor once, with sharp emphasis. ”Against Obi-Wan and Anakin going to Lanteeb I was. Spies and agents the Jedi are not. A task for your people this mission was. ”

He was being rebuked-and didn't much care for it. ”Then why did you approve their involvement?”

”Know why you do, ” said Yoda, ears low, eyes hooded.

Because I asked a friend for help. And that friend asked you to let him help me.

But he wasn't about to let guilt cripple him. There was way too much at stake for that. ”We can point fingers later. Master Yoda. Right now we've got another crisis to avert. If Obi-Wan and Anakin are in trouble...”

”Hmmph, ” said Yoda, and kept on pacing. ”If? A Jedi you need not be, Senator, to know that trouble Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi and young Skywalker have likely found. ”

Clasping his hands behind his back, Bail braced his shoulders. ”In that case. Master Yoda, what do you intend to do about it?”

Yoda stopped his slow pacing. Planting his gimer stick before him, both hands braced, he pulled his chin to his chest. ”Nothing. ”

”Nothing?” Even though he'd been half expecting the answer, still it shocked him. ”Master Yoda, we can't abandon them. Forget the fact that we have a personal stake in what happens-for all we know Obi-Wan and Anakin hold the key to defeating Durd and his bioweapon. We can't...”

Another emphatic rap of the gimer stick. ”We can and we must, Senator. No clue is there to what is happening on Lanteeb. Rush to help them we could, yes, and make things worse. Patient we must be. Trust in Obi-Wan and his former Padawan we must have. ”

Trust wasn't the issue. This was a matter of honor and obligation. I got them mixed up in this. I can't leave them twisting alone. ”But-Master Yoda...”

”Senator Organa...” Abruptly, Yoda's severe expression eased. ”For your friend fearful you are. Understand that I do. But a survivor Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi is. Know that better than anyone you do. The Force is with him. Your own battles now you should fight. Enemies our Republic has both inside and out. The Senate your arena is. The Jedi you must leave to me. ”

He could argue, of course, but there'd be little point. In this place Yoda was the supreme authority. And to rail at him for being a Jedi would only threaten their new and in many ways tentative partners.h.i.+p.

”Of course. Master Yoda, ” he said, bowing. ”But if the time comes when I can be of a.s.sistance...”

”Call upon you I shall, Senator Organa, ” said Yoda. ”Doubt that do not. A loyal friend to the Jedi you are. ”

And as a friend he had to admit his own part in their current dilemma. ”I'm very sorry, Master Yoda, that my actions have once again put Obi-Wan in harm's way. And that this time Anakin's at risk, too. ”

Sighing, his gaze downcast, Yoda traced a small circle on the floor with the tip of his gimer stick. ”No. Done that the war has, Senator.

If not trouble on Lanteeb then trouble elsewhere would they have found. In these dark times finding trouble every Jedi is. ” He looked up. ”Your scientist friend. Doctor Netzl. Progress has he made in defeating Lok Durd's weapon?”

Bail hesitated, then shook his head. ”Not yet. But he's committed to finding an answer. ”

”And believe, does he, that an answer can be found?”

I really don't want to answer that. But he had to. ”Master Yoda, he's hopeful. ”

”Hmmm. ” Turning, Yoda again stared out across never- sleeping Coruscant. ”Hope we must all have. But win a war hope will not.

Save lives hope will not. Defeat the Sith hope will not. ”

He'd never imagined he'd hear Yoda sounding discouraged. ”The Jedi defeated the Sith once. You can do it again. ”

19.”But defeat them we did not. Senator, ” Yoda retorted. ”Only into hiding did we drive them. ”

”And you'll drive them out again. Out of hiding and to their destruction. They can't prevail. Master Yoda. Two Sith against so many Jedi? It's just not possible. ”

”Yes. Yes, ” said Yoda. He sounded so weary. ”Hope that we must. ”

Tendrils of fog were creeping through the city's forest of buildings. Illuminated holo-billboards and beacons and the headlights of pa.s.sing speeders and other vehicles glowed luminous and strange, rainbow colors muting and smearing. Fog turned Coruscant from brash and beautiful to mysterious.

It's a wonder it doesn't collapse under the weight of all the secrets it's hiding.

He should be getting back to the Senate. He'd arranged to meet Padme there before the evening's scheduled preliminary vote regarding a trade dispute between Devaron and Kelada. The rival planets' spat was threatening to disrupt the Corellian Trade Spine, and the Corellians were in turn threatening punitive action.

Because of course what the Republic really needs right now is more fighting.

He and Padme had agreed to share their research on the situation. She'd be waiting for him by now. Only...

”If a question you have. Senator, then ask it you should, ” said Yoda. Now he sounded faintly amused. ”And answer it I will, if able I am. ”

Once, in idle conversation, Obi-Wan had called this ancient Jedi the most intimidating person I've ever known. He wasn't wrong. And it wasn't even deliberate. Yoda simply exuded the kind of innate authority that turned everyone around him into a subordinate. Partly it was the weight of his long life, but mostly it was because he'd accrued not just centuries, but centuries of wisdom. The Jedi Master hadn't let a minute of his nine- hundred-odd years go to waste.

And though I'm little more than a child compared to him, he seeks out my opinion and sometimes follows my advice.

Every so often, remembering that, Bail found it hard to breathe.

”Yes, Master, I do have a question, ” he said. ”When do you intend to tell the Supreme Chancellor about the bioweapon and the mission to Lanteeb? When are you going to tell him that Obi-Wan and Anakin are in trouble?”

Slowly, Yoda turned. ”Your investigation into leaked cla.s.sified information. Senator. Concluded, is it?”

The Jedi Master knew perfectly well that it wasn't. So far every discreetly pursued avenue of inquiry had run into a dead end. Weeks after beginning the investigation they were no closer to learning who was behind the worrying security breaches in divisions up to and including the Republic's executive branch.

It was but one of the things that kept him from sleeping well at night.

”I appreciate the sensitivity of the situation. Master Yoda, but we can't leave Palpatine in the dark much longer, ” Bail said. ”For one thing I'm answerable to him-and if he learns from another source what's going on he's going to want to know why I didn't brief him. ”

”If told he is that I requested your silence, no action against you will the Supreme Chancellor take, ” Yoda said firmly. ”Understand he does that precedence the Jedi have in matters like this. ”

”Your support is always welcome. Master Yoda, I hope you know that-but in this case I'm not certain it would help. Palpatine has to believe he can trust me. The moment I lose his trust I'll lose my position, and at the risk of sounding arrogant, I think it's vital that I stay where I am, doing my job. ”

”Arrogant you are not. Senator, ” said Yoda, with another rap of his gimer stick on the parquetry floor. ”Without doubt you are needed. ” Sighing heavily, he rubbed his chin. ”When heard from Obi-Wan we have-and when told us Doctor Netzl has whether or not an antidote for Durd's bioweapon he can create-then to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine we will go. ”

”And when he demands an explanation for why we didn't tell him any of this sooner?”

20.”Remind him we will that closely is he watched by our Republic's enemies, ” said Yoda, his eyes narrowed. ”Sense hidden truths, they can, therefore silent we remained on this new threat. ”

As explanations went, it sounded plausible. Now if only he thought Palpatine would buy it.

”Even if he does accept our reasoning, he'll be furious. You do know that?”

Yoda shrugged, supremely indifferent. ”Care for his anger, should I, when countless lives we seek to save?”