Part 7 (2/2)
In spite of the fact that very few of the soldiers had ever seen Jerec, much less met him, they were well aware of who he was and the much exaggerated powers ascribed not only to him, but to the coterie of Jedi who attended him. That being the case, the sudden and unheralded appearance of one such exalted creature took on seemingly mystical qualities. The upshot was that when Yun said he could help, the troopers believed him.
Sensing the change, and correctly interpreting the embarra.s.sed looks that had appeared on his subordinates' faces, Major Vig holstered his side arm. He started to say something, realized Yun was distracted, and waited for the Jedi to take notice. It didn't take very long. Yun completed his interaction with some unseen spirits and smiled.
”I think the matter is resolved - for the moment anyway. Inform your men that while such incidents will no doubt continue, I'll be here to deal with them. That means they can return to work. Lord Jerec has a personal interest in this effort - and there's no time to waste.”
Major Vig spoke to his officers, who soon had the troops back at work. Most of his peers would have pressed charges on the theory that a few highly visible executions were a boon to discipline, but Vig didn't blame the troops for being frightened and decided to ignore what they had done. A strategy Yun found interesting.
Sariss, like her mentor, had taught Yun that the sort of leaders.h.i.+p Vig demonstrated was a sign of weakness and that respect flows from fear. Fear born of power, which was the point of the entire exercise on Ruusan. The major interrupted his thoughts.
”Thank you, sir. The screamers have been a constant problem.” Yun shrugged. ”Glad I could help. In fact, it looks as if you're stuck with me.”
Vig's mustache twitched over what might have been a smile. He knew Yun would be in command but saw that as a plus. The Jedi was welcome to the screamers and Jerec, as far as the officer was concerned.
”Welcome aboard, sir. Would you like a tour?”
Yun indicated that he would and followed the officer across the main chamber and into one of the many storerooms that branched off from it. The narration had a canned quality suggesting that Vig had given the tour before.
”The main chamber is a natural phenomenon, formed by an ancient river, but the storerooms, while still very old, are a good deal more recent. They were carved from solid rock.”
The officer paused and pointed at a wall.
”Look, you can still see the tool marks.”
Yun looked, confirmed Vig's observation, and followed the officer into a half-empty room. A droid was hard at work stripping goo off a wall.
”Looks weird, doesn't it?” the officer inquired. ”Still, the ancients knew what they were doing. They brought down supplies, stacked them along the walls, and sprayed preservative on them. Interestingly enough, the sealer is so much better than what we use for the same purpose that it might be worth duplicating. Here, look at this... ”
Vig sidestepped the droid, took one of the recently freed packages, and placed it in the Jedi's hands. Yun accepted the object, peeled the last bits of malleable gel off the bottom of the box, and turned it over. It was made of plastic or something very similar. The top featured a single cl.u.s.ter of hieroglyphics and a slightly raised panel.
”What is it?”
”Press the panel three times,” the officer said mischievously. ”Place it on the floor and watch.”
Yun did as instructed and stepped back. Ten seconds pa.s.sed before anything happened. Then, just as the Jedi was about to lose interest, the lid popped open, steam billowed into the room, and a yeasty odor filled the air.
”Lunch!” Vig said delightedly, ”or breakfast or dinner as the case may be. Look inside.”
The Jedi looked. The box contained fifteen or twenty grub-like things. They wiggled and squirmed with such vigor that the thick, brown sauce lapped the edges of the container.
”We aren't sure which species these meals were prepared for,” the officer continued, ”and it doesn't really matter. Self-heating rations have been around for a long time - but not ones in which the seemingly inert contents are somehow brought back to life. And what about the heat source? The heat mods in our field rations have a shelf life of about twenty years. These have been sitting around for a thousand or more.”
Yun saw the value and understood the means by which Jerec had secured a small fleet with which to pursue his personal ambitions. It was wonderful or horrible, depending on how you chose to view it.
”And that's not all,” Vig continued. ”Come on... wait till you see the rest!”
The Jedi followed the officer into a succession of storerooms where even more treasures were revealed. There was a tractor beam projector no bigger than a wand, healing machines only slightly less effective than bacta tanks, and a fusion reactor so small it could be carried in a backpack. All of which would endear Jerec to his corporate sponsors. A political dynamic that Yun had never considered before. It was a relatively pleasant morning, interrupted by no more than three screamers, none of whom presented much of a problem. Yun had lunch with Major Vig, a captain, and two lieutenants in a recently cleared storeroom. They sat at a table complete with white linen, regimental silver, and a freshly prepared meal. A droid served as waiter. Everything went well until the plates were cleared and the atmosphere inexplicably changed.
The first sign that something was wrong was when Lieutenant Hab said something unintelligible, grabbed his throat, and toppled over backward. A split second pa.s.sed while the Jedi wondered if Hab had choked on a piece of meat - followed by the realization that the problem was even more serious. Yun struggled to remain calm, fought the temptation to meet force with force, and attempted to reach out. The ent.i.ty sensed the movement and released Hab in order to refocus its energies.
The spirit seized the tendril of being that linked Yun to his physical body. The Jedi felt a tug - followed by sustained pressure. The ent.i.ty was trying to pull him out!
The Jedi attempted to withdraw and discovered that he wasn't able to do so. The other ent.i.ty's hold was too strong. Fear clutched his belly, his mouth opened, and nothing emerged. It was at the very height of his fear that the voice spoke within.
”Don't surrender to doubt, my son. Use the same technique you learned earlier. He's stronger, that's all. Even Jedi Masters can lose their sanity after a thousand years of confinement. Anchor your mind, reach out, and understand. The Force will protect you.”
Yun swallowed, was glad to discover that he had that much control, and took the risk.
Rather than continue his efforts to withdraw, he pushed outward. The ent.i.ty sensed victory and rushed in. Yun welcomed the spirit, not into his body, but into the warmth of his understanding and the hope of freedom. The ancient was too far gone to be healed, not by a mind so junior, but allowed itself to be soothed.
”Good,” the voice said. ”You did all anyone could do. He returns to his tomb.”
”Who are you?” Yun demanded. ”Should I know you?”
”Yes,” the voice replied calmly. ”You should. For you partic.i.p.ated in my murder, and I inhabit your dreams.”
”Nij Por Ral?”
”No, though my death followed his.”
”Rahn!”
Yun remembered him well. A Jedi who had heard of the Valley and dedicated his life to finding it. Rahn and a group of his a.s.sociates had been intercepted before they could locate the Valley, and it was Yun's partic.i.p.ation in the murders that followed, mixed with other aspects of his life, that still haunted his dreams. The voice was matter-of-fact.
”So, you remember.”
”Yes.”
”Good.”
”Why? Why help me?”
”The light within you flickers,” the voice answered calmly, ”but it continues to burn. The fate of billions upon billions of beings rests on what will happen here. You will play a part.”
”A part?” Yun asked, ”What kind of part?”
”That,” Rahn responded, ”is entirely up to you.”
Yun felt the connection break, opened his eyes to a room filled with staring faces, and felt very much alone. Yun wandered the subterranean pa.s.sageways for the next couple of days, dealt with the occasional screamer, and wished something interesting would happen. It wasn't long before his wish came true.
The Jedi had just left the main corridor, sidestepped a train of heavily laden gray pallets, and was about to enter the third chamber when everything started to shake. Little bits of rock rained down on his head, the dust made him cough, and the floor shook as something heavy hit it. The screams started just as the shaking stopped. The Jedi could have headed for the surface and knew it was the smart thing to do, but he discovered that his feet had minds of their own.
They carried Yun into the chamber and a scene of ma.s.s pandemonium. A large, pancake-shaped section of the ceiling had collapsed, trapping a man beneath. His name was Jaru, and he was known for three things: the size of his nose, the fact that he could spit farther than anyone else in his unit, and his skill with a grenade launcher.
Jaru was alive because he had been bending over at the moment when the roof caved in and a nearby cargo module had absorbed the initial impact. Though half-crushed, it still served to hold the slab aloft. The trooper's boots extended out into the chamber and beat a tattoo on the floor. Orders were shouted, bodies moved through the dusty murk, and troopers grabbed hold.
Two droids, both designed for heavy-duty construction work, followed the humans into position. An officer counted to three, muscles strained, eyes bulged, and hydraulics whined, but nothing happened.
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