Part 13 (1/2)

”Thanks for saving my life,” she said. He could see a big lump in her hairline. A medic would need to check that out. ”And I'm sorry that it cost one of your men.”

”That's the job, ma'am.” Rex actually wanted to say something else, but it wasn't her fault, and he was the one who'd volunteered them for the mission. ”You understand that as well as anybody.”

”Never be a prisoner and never take one. That's what the Irmenu say.”

Rex thought that was a conversation waiting to happen, and he wasn't the man to have it. He noted that Ince, Boro, Joc, Hil, and Ross had all fallen silent, the unnatural absolute silence of men who had cut their comms. They were on their own fre-quency. Rex didn't intrude. Whatever they were sharing, they must have needed that privacy badly; it was one of those points of etiquette that he observed strictly. If they thought he was an idiot, if they were cursing him, or if they were just in the first throes of grief, then that was their business, and he'd only override that circuit in an emergency.

This is the first time they've had a buddy die on them. Easy to forget that.

Altis, wedged up against Boro on one of the seats, seemed to be able to hear something anyway. The Jedi Master simply put his hand on Boro's forearm and said nothing.

Now, there's a kind man.

”Anyway, you tied this up so fast that we'll be back on board before General Skywalker catches up with us,” Rex said. ”Good job, everyone.”

The shuttle streaked toward the upper atmosphere, rising above the cloud cover through shades of blue, then violet, then black. All they had to do was dock in Leveler as fast as they could, and leave JanFathal behind.

It was lost to the Republic for now.

But the worst was behind them today, Rex thought, and then cursed himself for tempting fate.

REPUBLIC TORRENT FIGHTER ECHO-97, ENTERING FATH SYSTEM AND INBOUND FOR JANFATHAL.

Anakin wondered if the Force was finally teaching him a lesson for defying the rulings of his Masters.

I goof off, and my men end up in trouble.

I shouldn't have to sneak around to see my wife.

Okay, that's an excuse. It's true, but it doesn't justify this.

”Skywalker to Leveler.” He could see the wars.h.i.+p's motionless transponder icon on his c.o.c.kpit display. ”I'm getting some scary traces from Rex's comlink. What's happening?”

Anakin didn't get the usual comm officer. Pellaeon answered the call personally. ”He's inbound now, from JanFathal.”

”I've been bouncing in and out of hypers.p.a.ce all the way from Coruscant trying to track him. How did he end up there?”

Pellaeon sounded oddly restrained. He was always an enormously confident man, exceptionally unapologetic even in the face of an angry admiral, but there was something making him uncomfortable. Anakin could feel it strongly.

”We were tasked to extract a Rep Intel agent when the enemy invaded,” Pellaeon said. ”The lady is known to me, by the way.”

Anakin let that sink in. Pellaeon's tone said it all. Well... not much room for me to complain about that, is there? Even if there's any complaining to be done.

”Understood, Captain. What's the security situation?”

”We're standing off some distance because some of our systems aren't entirely trouble-free yet. If Rex looks as if he might run into Sep problems, though, we'll engage.”

”I can escort him in,” Anakin said. ”What am I looking for?”

”A replenishment shuttle. It might still be showing a spoof transponder code, so be cautious.”

Okay, I'll feel if it's Rex or not, but saying that tends to make folks nervous. ”I'll confirm visually before I open fire, Captain.”

”Well, he has Jedi with him, so you can probably ping them with your Force radar or whatever it is that you fellows do.”

”Ahsoka insisted on going, then.”

Pellaeon inhaled very quietly as if negotiating a delicate issue. ”Yes, along with Master Altis and two of his followers.”

No, Anakin wasn't expecting that.

Altis.

Anakin vaguely knew the name, but, staring into the starfield around his Torrent to let the memory come to him, he didn't know why. It took a few moments to remember.

Qui-Gon Jinn, his Master-who-never-was, the man who wanted him to be a Jedi despite the Jedi Council's refusal to train him, had mentioned Altis. He had mentioned Dooku, too, as his former Master. Qui-Gon had mixed with the most challenging and unorthodox of Jedi-the thinkers, the debaters, the iconoclasts, and, ultimately, even the traitors.

Anakin couldn't recall what Altis's brand of dissent had been. But that didn't matter. Now he had a chance to relive happy memories of his old mentor. He missed Qui-Gon.

”General, are you there?”

”Sorry, Captain. Just trying to recall the name.” Anakin shut his eyes for a moment and centered himself, letting the ebb and flow of the Force wash over him. Yes, he felt a cl.u.s.ter of strong presences. It was harder to feel clearly these days with all the backwash of violence and fear muddying the Force waters, but he had a bearing now that no s.h.i.+p's nav computer could give him.

”That'll give us something to chat about in your s.h.i.+ny new wardroom.”

Pellaeon paused again. It was the merest fraction of a second, less than a blink, but Anakin heard it. ”Your Padawan will no doubt fill you in on that.”

Ahsoka must have been really testing Pellaeon's patience. His tone said it all.

”And JanFathal? I've been out of comm contact. Is Master Yoda sending forces to repel the invasion?”

”I understand from Intel that he decided against it, given the popular support for the regime change. We'd be fighting on two fronts.”

”We need to pick better allies . . .”

”Indeed. We're in comm contact with Rex's shuttle now, so I'll warn him that you're coming.”

Anakin calculated the sublight transit time to the planet from his current position at the edge of the Fath system and decided to jump to hypers.p.a.ce. It was a matter of seconds, and pretty wasteful of fuel, but if Rex needed an escort then he needed it right now-and not in half an hour.

Anakin hit the jump control and watched the starscape stretch and distort as the fighter leapt almost instantly into the heart of the system. Short jumps were the riskiest maneuvers of all. The smallest error, a moment's lapse, and his fighter might drop out of hypers.p.a.ce into the mantle of a star.

It didn't, of course. He prided himself on his piloting, not just his preternatural Force skills but also the basic discipline and long hours common to Jedi and mundane pilot alike.

I worked hard to get this good. I'm more than lucky. More than my Force senses, too.

The Torrent dropped back into reals.p.a.ce almost as soon as it had jumped. Its viewscreen was now filled with the almost-full disk of green and white marble that was JanFathal.