Part 29 (1/2)

”Commendable your humility is, Padawan, ” said Yoda, his fathomless eyes warm. ”Asked to do more than you can do, you will not be. To the GAR barracks you should go now. A troop carrier to Indomitable soon will take you and Torrent Company. To Admiral Yularen you will listen, Padawan, until join you a Jedi Master does. ”

Ahsoka nodded vigorously. ”Yes, Master Yoda. Thank you, Master. I won't let you down. ”

”Know that I do, Padawan. Dismissed, you are. ”

So she was going to Lanteeb, to liberate the planet and thwart Lok Durd and rescue Skyguy and Master Ken.o.bi.

All in a day's work. Maybe a day-and-a-half.

She couldn't leave the Temple without bidding Taria a swift farewell. She found the Jedi Master in the arboretum, working through some meditation-in-movement exercises.

”Ahsoka, ” said Taria, without opening her eyes. She was dressed in one of her customary dark bodysuits, and for once her long hair was unbraided, spreading in a bluish-green s.h.i.+mmer down her back. She stood poised on her left leg, the right pulled up behind her with both hands wrapped around her ankle, the flat of her foot resting softly against her head. Her breathing was deep and slow, no strain in her at all. ”You're leaving. ”

One of these days I'll he able to read the Force that easily. ”Yes. For Lanteeb. ”

Taria opened her eyes. A golden glow shone in their tawny depths. ”Not alone, though. ”

121.

”With a battle group. It's-it's not common knowledge, Taria. ”

”In other words, ” said Taria, grinning, ”I should keep my mouth shut?” She released her right ankle, then bent herself in half, palms pressed flat to the gra.s.s. Her hair pooled and puddled before her like a summer lake. ”Don't worry. I won't breathe a word. ”

”I'm sorry to leave you with the team challenge unfinished. ”

Taria wrapped her arms around her calves and pressed her hidden face to her knees. ”No, you're not. You're going to rescue your Skyguy and Obi-Wan. You're thrilled, Ahsoka Tano. Don't try to deny it. ”

Yes, she was thrilled. But she felt guilty too, because Taria cared as much as she did. ”I wish you were coming, ” she said. ”They're sending a Master to join me. I don't know who. But I wish it was you. ”

Supple as growing green tapi-wheat, Taria straightened. ”So do I, Ahsoka. But my feet tread a different path. Co to Lanteeb. Pluck our friends from danger. And perhaps we'll continue our team challenges when you return. I want to give you the chance to draw even. ”

When I return, Skyguy and I will be sent back to the war. And you'll still be stuck here.

But she didn't say that aloud. There wasn't any point.

”I'd like that very much, ” she said. ”Taria, I'm sorry, I have to go. Be well, won't you?”

”I'll do my best, ” said Taria. ”And you stay safe. ”

”Always, ” she said, and managed a small, trembling smile. ”May the Force be with you, Master Damsin. ”

”And with you, Padawan Tano. ” Taria wiggled her fingers. ”Now shoo. ”

It hurt to leave her. In such a short time, Taria Damsin had become a good friend. But so was Anakin her friend, and right now he needed her.

”Little'un, ” Rex greeted her, at the 501st's GAR complex barracks. ”Word's come down. We're s.h.i.+pping out. Are you coming with us, or waving us good-bye?”

”I'm coming with, ” she said, and gave the crowded mess hall a hard look. ”What's the mood, Captain?”

He quirked an eyebrow at her. ”You can't tell?”

”Ha-ha, ” she muttered. ”I'm comparing notes, all right?”

Side by side they took in the huge room, crowded with clones, the buzzing conversations, the undercurrent of excitement, trepidation, and endurance as they grabbed a quick meal. The 501st was ready. They were always ready.

Rex nodded, pleased with his men. ”You got a destination for me?”

”Command didn't tell you?”

”No, ” said Rex. ”Word came down we're s.h.i.+pping out. That's all. Is it a secret mission?”

”Not exactly. But it's sensitive. Rex...” Ahsoka looked up at him. ”This is for your ears only. We're going after Skyguy and Master Ken.o.bi. ”

Rex's scarred face went very still, just one muscle leaping along his tightly held jaw. ”Right. ”

”They're in trouble. Rex. Trapped behind enemy lines. ”

”Right, ” he said again, that muscle still leaping. ”This anything to do with what happened on Chandrila yesterday?”

He was a smart, smart man. ”Everything, ” she said, her voice nearly a whisper. ”They were trying to stop that attack, but...”

”Best not say anything more, little'un, ” Rex told her, his voice just as low. ”But don't you worry. We won't be leaving them behind enemy lines. ” He nodded at the crowded, noisy room. ”The boys and me? We'll fight to the last man to get them home again. ”

122.

His hand on her shoulder was warm and hard. Comforting. ”Rex, the troop carrier's going to be here soon. Ten minutes- then they gear up. ”

”Yes, ma'am, ” he said, letting his hand drop away. ”Ten minutes. Excuse me. ”

She watched him cross to Sergeant Coric, who was sitting with Checkers and Dandy and Flash. Checkers turned, hearing Rex's approach, and nodded, seeing her. One finger touched his forehead in a small, genuine salute. She smiled at him and tried nor to dwell on his chin's fresh scar.

They're too easily hurt, all of them. And if this mission turns into a pitched battle, they won't all come home.

So she drank in their faces and their laughter, the jokes and the teasing and their wild, reckless courage. Because this could be the last time for some of them... and she never wanted to forget.

One by one, Yoda looked at the holoimages of his fellow Councilors. He'd never felt so alone in this place he loved, this Council Chamber that was a home within his larger home of the Jedi Temple. The war had swallowed his colleagues completely. At no other time in his memory had the Council been this scattered, its cohesiveness this endangered. It wasn't simply a question of companions.h.i.+p. In weighty matters the Council functioned best when its members shared the same s.p.a.ce, the same moment. When the Force could weave its way effortlessly among them and their separate strengths and talents combined to become something greater and more powerful than each of them alone. That was impossible when they were separated by light-years, represented only by a coalescence of shallow particles.

But even with those limitations, he knew that in this matter they felt with one heart.

”Then agreed we are, ” he said. ”Insist we must that leave Kothlis Mace Windu should to a.s.sist with freeing Lanteeb from Count Dooku. ”

”Indeed, ” said Ki-Adi-Mundi. ”And I am at a loss to understand why Palpatine is so intransigent on the matter. Why will he not he guided by us in this? After Chandrila it is plain that Lanteeb has the higher priority. ”

”So you would think, ” he said. ”But always a politician Palpatine is. ”

”You're concerned he seeks to protect his own dignity and ent.i.tlements at the expense of innocent life?” said Adi Gallia from her s.h.i.+p in the depths of the Aostai region. ”That doesn't seem like him, Yoda. ”