Refugee: Force Heretic II (6 page)

“The thing—the Jostran—” Stalgis’s face contorted into a look of revulsion. “Has it? …”

“It’s been removed.”

Relief rolled off the lieutenant in waves. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am, to both of you. Tarl is a friend, as well as a member of my ground team. If he had died—if we hadn’t made it back in time—” Stalgis gesticulated for lack of words.

Jacen placed a hand on the armor plating of the man’s upper arm. “We were glad to help. But I suggest you get some rest, now. Your friend is going to need you when he wakes.”

Stalgis nodded almost formally and strode off up the hallway.

“Perhaps you should listen to your own advice, Solo.”

Jacen turned to find Danni Quee standing behind him. She was smiling, but there was no mistaking the concern underlying it.

“I’m okay.”

“You’re tired,” she said, her green eyes flashing at him. “And don’t even try to deny it.”

A touch on the back of his hand signaled Tekli’s departure. He sent a wave of gratitude to the Chadra-Fan through the Force, then devoted all his attention to Danni. She stood before him wearing a standard Jedi expeditionary suit with her arms folded across her breasts. Her blond, curly hair had been cut to her shoulders.

“It’s true,” he admitted, stepping closer. “I
am
tired. In fact, I’d give anything right now to be able to curl up on my bunk and sleep for a day or two.”

“Not even an attempted denial,” she said. “I’m impressed, Jacen. Unfortunately, there won’t be time for you to sleep. You’re wanted on the bridge now.”

Momentary alarm welled up in him, but he pushed it back down. “Is anything wrong?”

“Nothing that can’t wait ten minutes for you to clean up.”

“Is it the Chiss?” he pressed.

“In ten minutes you’ll have all the answers you need. But if you were to meet Commander Irolia looking like this, it would probably be taken as a declaration of war.”

“She’s not letting us proceed?”

Danni continued to evade his questions. “… illegal use of biological weapons or something …”

“At least give me a hint!”

“… cruel and unusual punishment …”

“All right, all right!” Smiling, and feeling energized by the brief exchange, they walked along the narrow corridors of the Imperial frigate to the cabin he’d been assigned. “Tell Uncle Luke I’ll be there shortly.”

“That’s what comlinks are for.” Her expression was mock indignant, but turned into a smile as she turned and headed off for the bridge.

“The planet is a legend,” Commander Irolia said. Her youthful features were set in stubborn, self-assured lines. “I cannot believe that finding it is your true objective.”

“I assure you that it’s much more than a legend,” Master Skywalker said. Saba was amazed at his self-control. She knew that he was exhausted and irritated, but all he allowed his face to display was calm and patience. “We have evidence that it once existed; the only question is whether it still exists today.”

“What evidence is this?”

“We were told about Zonama Sekot by Vergere, a Jedi Knight from—”

“Vergere?” Irolia’s eyebrows shot up at the name. “The same Vergere who sabotaged the Alpha Red initiative?”

Master Skywalker didn’t flinch from the truth. “The Vergere who prevented genocide the likes of which this galaxy has never seen, yes.”

The commander’s exhalation had a mocking bite. “You expect me to trust her testimony?”

“No one is forcing you to accept anything,” Captain Yage said, clearly annoyed by the Chiss commander’s mockery. “We only want to go about our business. That’s all.”

“But what
is
your business? That’s what I am attempting to determine.”

The meeting was being conducted on
Widowmaker
’s bridge in full view of the crew. Irolia carried herself as though it was her own ship and her own crew. Her tone and poise displayed nothing but self-assurance. Saba knew that, should anything happen to the Chiss officer or the small contingent of guards that had escorted her across, then there would be dire consequences for Master Skywalker and his expedition. What’s more, Irolia knew that
they
knew—and that, presumably, was why she was so confident.

Saba wasn’t an expert on humanoid appearances, but she imagined that the Chiss commander would have been regarded as quite striking among her own people. Her face was narrow and angular, her blue skin smooth and soft looking. Her wide red eyes contained both character and intelligence, and upon entering the meeting, had quickly scanned everyone on the bridge. She didn’t doubt that the woman’s evaluation of them would have been equally as brisk.

“All we ask,” Luke said, “is for the freedom to look.”

Irolia paced three steps to her left, contemplating his words. “This is our territory,” she said. “You do realize that.”

“We recognize your authority over regions near here, yes. But we weren’t aware that the Expansionary Defense Fleet had specifically annexed this system.”

“If I were to tell you that we have, would you leave?”

“We are a peaceful expedition,” Luke said. “Would you bar a trading mission from your territory, or a scientific team?”

The commander laughed. “Don’t try to fool me, Skywalker! You’re no more a trader than I am. And as for your motives being scientific, I ask this of you: Were you to find this planet, what exactly would you do with it?”

A new voice spoke up from behind them when Luke
hesitated: “It is our hope that Zonama Sekot will help us in our war effort, and in doing so save trillions of lives—including your own.”

Commander Irolia turned her attention to Jacen Solo, who had just entered the room. “Then your intentions are clearly
not
scientific, but rather military. So why should we allow you to pursue such objectives when you so readily interfere with our own?”

“Alpha Red wouldn’t have won the war,” Luke said calmly. “It would have turned us all into monsters.”

“That’s the war I’m talking about,” Jacen said, stepping down into the center of the circular bridge to join the others. “The war against ourselves.”

Irolia took a long moment to consider this. “It surprises me to see Imperials and the New Republic working alongside each other,” she said finally.

“We are no longer referred to as the New Republic,” Luke said. “We have a new name now: the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances.”

“And the Empire has freely joined this Alliance?” Irolia asked, glancing at Yage.

“It has,” the captain said.

“I suppose the Chiss are welcome to join, too.”

Luke seemed unfazed by the commander’s sarcasm. “The decision would be yours. But yes, you would indeed be welcome to join in due course.”

Irolia snorted derisively but didn’t address the Jedi Master’s comment. Instead she said, “What concerns me the most here, I think, is the makeup of your senior crew.”

Master Skywalker shrugged. “I have already explained that the military contingent is purely defensive.”

“That might indeed be true. But the intention lies in its leaders. Mara Jade Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Jacen Solo—all renowned Jedi warriors.”

“Danni Quee is an accomplished scientist,” Jacen pointed out.

“Yes, I recognize that name. And Soron Hegerty we know, of course. They fit in with your stated aims.”

Danni looked both startled and flattered to be recognized; Hegerty, on the other hand, showed no reaction at all.

“But you also have a Barabel among you,” Irolia continued. “How does it fit in?”

Saba stiffened.

“
She
is a Jedi Knight,” Luke said.

“Another warrior, then?”

“Not in the sense that you mean.”

“Really? Most reptilian species I’ve ever met have been aggressive and predatory.”

Saba’s tail thumped the floor. She couldn’t help it.

Captain Yage took a step forward at this. “Tell me, Commander, how would you feel if I were to tell you that most Chiss
I’ve
met have been arrogant and condescending.”

Luke signaled for patience. “Saba is life-sensitive. We hope that she will detect Zonama Sekot by its Force emissions when we are near it.”

“Have you had any luck so far in this?”

“Not yet. That’s why we need to keep searching.”

Irolia nodded after some thought. “Very well, Master Skywalker. I will agree to this only because we, too, would like to see this war brought to an end.” She signaled to her bodyguards, who handed her a flat, rectangular package about the same size as her outstretched hand. “This memory disk contains authority codes and routes sufficient to get you to Csilla. They will remain active for one week. In that time, you must present yourself in person to obtain permission to travel within our boundaries. Without that permission, any trespass will be regarded
as an act of aggression, upon which you will be expelled or destroyed. Do I make myself clear?”

Luke accepted the disk with a resigned look. “Abundantly clear.”

“Then my mission here is complete.” Commander Irolia’s gaze briefly swept the room. “Perhaps we shall all meet again on Csilla.”

“That’s all you came here for?” Captain Yage asked. “To tell us to report to your superiors?”

“Not quite,” Irolia answered. “I was ordered to give you the disk only if I thought you trustworthy.”

“And if we weren’t?”

The Chiss commander smiled at this, but said nothing in reply. She simply nodded farewell and, with an imperious gesture, ordered her bodyguards to follow her as she strolled from the bridge.

“Why that trumped-up little—”

Again, Luke silenced Captain Yage with a gesture. “She’s just doing her job, Arien. We can’t blame her for that.”

“Nevertheless, I’ll be happier when she’s off my ship.” She turned away to coordinate the disembarkation of the Chiss shuttle.

“I can understand perfectly where you’re coming from, Captain Yage.” The hologram broke into static, then cleared to reveal the face of Mara Jade Skywalker at the controls of
Jade Shadow
. “I don’t even want that woman on my
scopes.”

“You caught all that, Mara?” Luke asked, facing the image of his wife in the holofield.

“Loud and clear.”

“What gets up my jets,” Yage said, “is the assumption that we’re answerable to them at all. The Empire has been collaborating with the Chiss for years, ever since Thrawn’s day. But there’s no treaty—we don’t
owe
them
anything. Just the idea of having to report our every movement to them makes my hair stand on end.”

“We have to respect that we’re in their territory now, Arien,” Luke said. “And they do things differently than we do.”

“Assuming we
are
in their territory,” Mara said. “How about looking at that disk?”

Jacen took it from his uncle and put it into a reader. As Irolia had promised, it contained routes and security codes, but nothing else. The Chiss were tight-lipped when it came to doling out information. They were lucky to get this much.

“Thoughts, anyone?” Luke asked. “Do we plow on regardless, or should we comply with their request and report in?”

“It’s your decision,” Yage said.

“Yes, but to reach that decision I would like to hear everyone’s opinion.”

“I don’t think there’s any great harm in doing what they say,” Mara said. “Even though it does irk me.”

“I say to the Maw with them,” Yage put in. “They can’t tell us what to do.”

Luke nodded quietly to both women’s comments. “Jacen?”

“We’ll need access to their information,” his nephew replied. “It would make things much simpler. Soron’s data is accurate but doesn’t cover more than ten percent of the Unknown Regions.”

The xenobiologist had looked slightly bored throughout the political exchange, but seemed to perk up now that she’d been brought into the conversation. “The Chiss have been expanding through this section of the galaxy for decades. Irolia clearly knew of the legend of the wandering planet, so it must be common knowledge among her people. I believe access to their data would be invaluable.”

“But would it actually make the difference, do you think?” Luke folded his hands in front of him, as he so often did when pondering weighty matters.

“It certainly might.” Hegerty nodded at the map. “This small amount of data has already told us something interesting. Note the outer edge of their territory. See how it has held firm against the Yuuzhan Vong incursion? They have either developed similar jamming and combat techniques as your own fighters, or the enemy has withdrawn its offensive in order to concentrate on other areas. I would imagine that the answer to this mystery would be of interest to your tacticians back home.”

There was a general murmur of agreement following that observation. The heads of the Galactic Alliance seemed an awfully long way from the Unknown Regions, but Hegerty—and Irolia—was quite right. Luke’s mission was military at least in the sense that any information of military value would immediately be added to the war effort. Even though galaxywide communications didn’t reach into the Unknown Regions, subspace transmissions could be relayed through an isolated holocomm on the edge of Galactic Alliance space. All communications from the mission were relayed to Cal Omas immediately.

Luke nodded. “You might be right. But tell me, Saba: have you detected any sign of Zonama Sekot in this vicinity? If we are hot on its scent, then we might not need to contact the Chiss at all.”

Saba straightened, her nostrils flaring involuntarily. “I sense nothing. If Zonama Sekot iz here, it iz well hidden.”

“I thought as much. It’s like looking for a droid in a desert: something’s more likely to find us before we find it.” He nodded again. “I’m of the opinion that we should do as Irolia says and check in with the local authorities. As Soron said, it couldn’t hurt. And who knows; it might actually help.” He glanced around to everyone, as though waiting to see if there were any objections to his decision.
When no one spoke up, he said, “Okay, then. I’ll leave the details of the course with Mara and Arien to prepare. Those of us who just came back from Munlali Mafir will need a break before we take on anything else.”

Captain Yage smiled. “I’m sure you won’t get any argument from Doctor Hegerty on that score.”