Dark Nest_ The Swarm War Part 7

"If what's true?" Luke demanded.

Lowbacca gave Tesar a sideways glare, then grooowled a long reply explaining that Jaina and Zekk had caught Jacen blocking some of Ben's memories.

"Blocking memories?" Luke asked.

"Ben saw something upsetting," Tahiri explained. "Jaina and Zekk caught Jacen using the Force to prevent him from remembering it."

Luke scowled, the anger he already felt rising to rage. "If you're making this up-"

"We are not," Tesar insisted. "Jaina and Zekk saw it. They saw Jacen rubbing Ben's brow and felt something in the Force."

Lowbacca weighed in with a low rumble, explaining that Jacen had told them it was a technique he learned from the Adepts of the White Current.

"I never heard of anything like that from them," Luke said. "What memory was Jacen trying to block?"

Tahiri shrugged. "You'll have to ask him-he's not much into sharing these days."

Luke could sense that Tahiri was telling the truth, but even without the Force he would have believed her. While Jacen had returned from his five-year sojourn with remarkable skills, he had also returned a far more mysterious person, often deflecting or flatly refusing to answer questions about his experiences. It was as though he believed that no one who had not taken such a retreat for himself was ent.i.tled to share in the wisdom it yielded.

"I'll certainly ask Jacen about the memory blocking," Luke said. "But I fail to see what that has to do with your betrayal."

Although he was still fuming inside-especially at the trio's efforts to deflect his anger onto Jacen-Luke paused to give them an opportunity to make the connection for him.

When they did not, he asked, "Then I am to a.s.sume that you're not suggesting Jacen has blocked my memory of something?"

Even Tahiri's eyes widened with shock, and Tesar said, "Yesz-I mean no-we have no reason to believe he has blocked your memoriez."

Luke looked to the other Jedi Knights for confirmation, then nodded when they remained silent.

"Very well," he said. "Before coming here today, I gave this matter a great deal of thought, and nothing you've said has convinced me I was wrong."

Lowbacca began to moan, a.s.serting that everything they did was for the good of the order "I know that's what you think," Luke said, raising a hand to silence him. "But what I think is that you would rather believe Jacen has betrayed his family, friends, and the order than admit that the Colony is on the brink of plunging the galaxy into the eternal war he saw in his vision."

Tesar ruffled his scales. "That is zilly! We are not under the Colony'z influence!"

"I'm sorry, Jedi Sebatyne," Cilghal said, speaking for the first time since the discussion had begun. "But we can't know that for certain. Your minds are still connected, at least rudimentarily, and Raynar was able to exert a considerable influence over you even before you were exposed to the collective mind."

"So you're going to base your decision on the possibility that we're Joiners?" Tahiri stared at Luke as she asked this, her green eyes as hard and emotionless as olivon. "That's not like you, Master Skywalker."

"If you're asking me to give you the benefit of the doubt, you're right," Luke said. "There are many questions about why you betrayed the order, but there are none as to whether you did. You tried to influence my decision by bringing pressure to bear from Madame Thul."

The three Jedi Knights continued to stare at him, their emotionless eyes neither blinking nor flicking away as they awaited the rest.

"Your actions cast serious doubt on your desire to remain Jedi Knights," Luke said. "I suggest you go to Dagobah to reflect on the subject."

"Dagobah?" Tesar rasped. "You are sending us on vacation?"

"On retreat," Luke corrected. "To meditate on what it means to be a Jedi Knight."

Tahiri and Lowbacca exchanged glances, then Tahiri asked, "For how long?"

"Until I send for you," Luke replied. "And if you have any desire at all to remain members of the Jedi order, you will obey me in this. I'll take any failure-for any reason whatsoever-as your resignation."

SIX.

Leia watched in confusion as Han started down the wall, picking his way through the crowded transaction hangar of the Lizil nest toward the suspicious Sailfish. With Defense Force Intelligence actively searching for the Squibs, the Lizil nest seemed a likely place for the trio to take refuge-and Han clearly intended to use that fact to find Jaina. What Leia did not understand was how-and, if she knew her husband, neither did Han.

Leia instructed C-3P0 and the Noghri to stay with the Swiff, then descended the ramp and started after Han, her feet squeck-squecking in the soft wax that lined the interior of the nest. It took only a few steps before the microgravity, the lack of perspective, and the cloying smell began to unsettle her stomach. She clamped her jaws shut and focused her thoughts on Han, trying to guess what outrageous plan he was developing-and whether it had any chance of working.

A few steps later, Leia caught up to Han and leaned close. "Han, what are you doing?"

"Maybe they're interested in a Magcannon Max." Han pointed at the Sailfish, now close enough for a visual inspection. The black box behind the rectenna dish was, indeed, one of Lando's distinctive LongEye boosters. "It looks like they're dealers."

"Have you lost your mind?" Leia hissed. "We can't let the Squibs know we're here!"

"Sure we can," Han said. "They're not going to tell anybody."

"They're not?"

"No way." Han glanced around, then whispered, "Juun and Tarfang used to work for those furry little backstabbers. And the last thing they want is for me to tell Lizil that it was their employees who helped me and Luke escape Saras on Woteba."

"You don't think they've already told Raynar?" Leia asked.

"Are you kidding?" Han asked. "These are Squibs. They'd never admit they played a part in anything that went wrong-especially something that fouled up the Dark Nest's plans."

Leia raised her brow-and felt the scales of her artificial Falleen face ripple in response. "And since they didn't admit it right away-"

"It'll look really bad if we tell the Killiks now," Han finished.

"That's what I like about you."

"Handsome as well as rich?" Han asked.

Leia shook her head. "Resourceful . . . and just a little bent."

She gave him a coy smile-then felt a small vibration between her shoulder blades as her disguise reacted to her expression and dispensed a shot of attraction pheromones. A sparkle of l.u.s.t immediately came to Han's eyes, and he cast a longing glance back toward the Swiff.

"Easy, boy!" Leia hissed. "Later."

"Okay." Even in his Arkanian disguise, Han looked crestfallen. "Will you wear the costume?"

Leia had to resist the temptation to hit him, for they had reached the hangar "floor" and were in full view of dozens of bustling Lizil. They circled around an old Gallofree light transport, then pushed through the small crowd of insects waiting outside the Sailfish.

Leia followed Han to the foot of the boarding ramp, where they stopped in front of two huge Flakax guards. Standing a little taller than a Wookiee, with sharp beak-like proboscises, black chitinous sh.e.l.ls, and long ovoid abdomens hanging beneath their thoraxes, the pair made truly intimidating sentries-especially since Flakax who left their homeworlds tended to become psychopaths.

"We're here to see the Squibs," Han said, hiding the fear that Leia could sense behind the bl.u.s.ter of an Arkanian technolord. "Tell them they still owe us for Pavo Prime."

The sentries' huge, compound eyes studied Leia and Han indifferently.

"It wouldn't be wise to keep us waiting," Leia pressed. "We happen to be old friends."

This drew a chorus of amused clacks and hisses from the insect crews waiting outside the Sailfish, and one of the Flakax held out a three-pincered hand.

"Appointment vouchers cost fifty credits each."

"Appointment vouchers?" Han repeated.

"You expect us to stand here for nothing?" the second Flakax demanded.

Leia stepped forward, craning her neck back to stare up at the Flakax's wedge-shaped head. "We don't need an appointment voucher," she said, using the Force to influence the insect's mind. "We're expected."

"They don't need a voucher," the first Flakax said. He stepped aside and motioned the Solos aboard. "The Directors are expecting them."

The second remained where he was, gnas.h.i.+ng his mandibles and blocking the base of the ramp. "They are? Now?"

"Yeah." Han pulled a credit chit from his pocket.

"What's the going price for being expected? Ten?"

The Flakax flattened his antennae. "Twenty-five."

"Twenty-five!" Han objected. "That's-"

"A paltry amount, not worth the effort to negotiate," Leia interrupted. "Why don't we just add it to the Directors' account, Lord Rysto? That way everyone will be happy."

"Very well." Han continued to glare at the Flakax, but pa.s.sed the credits over and slipped back into the character of a haughty Arkanian. "If the Squibs object, I'll instruct them to bring the matter up with you."

The Flakax gave a little abdomen shudder, but stepped aside and waved Leia and Han through the Sailfish's air lock. The air aboard the vessel was stale and musky, and the broad oval corridors typical of Mon Calamari designs were so packed with weapons, power packs, and armor that it was only possible to walk single file. Leia followed Han into the forward salon, where a pair of Verpine pilots stood facing the interior of a large, curved table piled high with trinkets and gadgets. On the other side of the table, a single Lizil Killik stood behind three seated Squibs.

".. grateful for the cargo," one of the Verpine was saying. "But we need more delivery time. If anything goes wrong, we won't make the date."

"What could go wrong?" the Squib on the left asked. With graying fur, a wrinkled snout, and red bags under his big brown eyes, Grees looked as though he had aged sixty years in the thirty that had pa.s.sed since Leia had first met him. "Just follow the route we give you. Everything will be fine."

"It's the Chiss that concern us, Director," the second Verpine explained. "Tenupe is on the front lines, you know."

"That's why we saved this run for you," the Squib on the right said. One of his ears no longer stood up straight, instead lying at an angle like a broken antenna. And his voice was so harsh and raspy that Han barely recognized it as Sligh's. "We wouldn't trust just anyone with this, you know. We have placed our complete faith in you. Consider it a gift."

The two Verpine glanced at each other nervously; then the first said, "We've heard the Chiss arc moving fast. What happens if they overrun the base before we deliver? There's no one else out there who would want your TibannaX-especially not so much."

Han's heart began to pound in excitement. As far as he knew, there was only one use for TibannaX: it was fuel for Jedi StealthXs.

"Ark'ik, you came to us begging for a cargo, but all you have done since we granted it to you is ask What if this? What if that?" Emala said. Seated between Grees and Sligh, her eyes were covered in a milky film, and the tip of her nose was cracked and bleeding. She shook her head sadly and looked away from the two Verpine. "Honestly, we are beginning to think you aren't grateful."

The antennae of both Verpine went flat against their heads. "No, we're very grateful, Director," Ark'ik said. "We just don't want to fail you."

"And we don't want that either," Sligh said. "We thought you two were ready to be major players in the war business. But if you're not interested .. ."

"We'll take the cargo," Han said, stepping into the cabin.

The first Verpine-Ark'ik-turned with fury in his dark eyes, but his anger swiftly changed to confusion as Leia slinked toward him in her Falleen costume.

"I hope you don't mind." She touched him through the Force, implanting the suggestion that she was only repeating what he already believed. "But you don't need this run. Too many things can go wrong."

"Mind? Why should we mind?" Ark'ik asked. "Too many things can go wrong-"

"Ark'ik!" The second Verpine slapped the first in the back of the head. "Fool! She's using her pheromones on you."

Leia did not bother to correct him. One of the reasons she had chosen a Falleen costume was that it would camouflage many of her Force manipulations as the result of pheromones.

"So?" Ark'ik asked his companion. "This run doesn't have anything to do with our fight anyway."

"So be quiet!" The second Verpine turned to the Squibs. "We'll take the run, Director-but we may need another wax. It's a long trip."

"Another wax?" Grees was immediately up and standing in his chair. "Who do you think you are? You'll take the three waxes we're giving you and be grateful."

"There's a war on!" Sligh added. "We're lucky we can get any black 'brosia out of the Utegetu."

The second Verpine let out a long throat rasp, then dropped his gaze. "Forgive us, Director. I didn't mean to be greedy."

Emala shook her head sadly. "You disappoint us, Ra'tre. We give you a chance to be a part of history, and you try to take advantage." She motioned toward a corridor, and a much younger Squib with red-brown fur and black ear tufts entered the salon. "Krafte will tend to the details. Be sure to tip generously. It makes his charts more accurate."

"Of course." Ra'tre bowed nervously. "Thank you!"

He took Ark'ik's arm and dragged him after the young Squib.

Once they were gone, Han joined Leia in front of the table. "Quite an operation you have here," he said. "Brokering war cargo and pus.h.i.+ng black membrosia? The Hutts could learn a few things from you."

Emala sat up with pride. "You're not the first to say so."

"Not that it's any business of yours," Grees said. He leaned forward, his nose twitching and his eyes narrow. "Do we know you?"

Before Han could launch into his indignant act, the Killik standing behind the Squibs began to rumble its thorax-no doubt explaining that Lizil had already "transacted" with them.

Leia stepped closer to the Squibs' table. "Actually, you might remember us from Pavo Prime," she said. "And before that, we worked together on Tatooine."

"Tatooine?" Sligh reached across the table, then took Leia's hand and rubbed it across his cheek. His ears went flat against his head. "You!"

"Brub?" Lizil demanded.

"We're old friends." Leia kept her gaze fixed on the Squibs, who were all trying to slowly lower their hands out of sight below the table-no doubt reaching for their holdout blasters. Though the possibility had not occurred to her before, the trio would have good reason to a.s.sume that she and Han had come to retaliate for the part the Squibs had played in the capture of the Admiral Ackbar. "There's nothing to be upset about-isn't that right, Sligh?"

"We'll s-s-see," Sligh stammered.