Star Wars: Fate Of The Jedi: Omen Part 10

He manipulated the controls in his pocket and the tiny cam droid scurried down to the thick carpet. He could hear them talking: "Oh yum ... Vagnerian canapes. Mom loves these. Have you ever had one?" Jaina. Tyrr frowned. Perhaps the audio receivers were maladjusted-she sounded off, somehow.

"No." The sound of a fork clinking on plate, and then, "Mmm ... okay. That's pretty amazing."

Yes, the audio was definitely off. Jag's voice sounded slightly deeper than normal, and more nasal. Oh, well, at least their words were being recorded. Tyrr again touched the controls and the little droid climbed up the table leg as the two continued to chat about the merits of various desserts and whether or not caf or Ca.s.sandran brandy was the proper beverage to consume with them. Tyrr sighed. It was an utterly ba.n.a.l conversation. He was about to write the evening off as a waste-except for the lovely meal-when the cam finally made it to the top of the table and raced to hide itself amid the fronds of the bouquet that served as a centerpiece.

The woman was not Jaina.

Oh, at first it looked like her, but the mouth was too wide and the nose too pinched. And the voice-there was nothing wrong with the audio receiver. It was the voice itself that was wrong.

Quickly Tyrr directed the droid to maneuver to the opposite side. Was Jag- He zoomed in on the scar, and realized it was cleverly applied makeup. Doubles. They had gotten doubles. It was a fine old tradition, and he'd fallen for it.

It was all Tyrr could do not to pound his fist on the table in frustration.

It's all just smoke and mirrors, darling;

A pretty lie, and nothing more.

Smoke and mirrors, indeed. It was time to take off the gloves. His ratings needed a boost. He needed a scoop, a story that would eclipse anything else.

And he was determined to get it.

THE SMALL, NONDESCRIPT SPEEDER WAS WAITING OUTSIDE THE REAR door. Tahiri Veila opened the doors and Jaina and Jag jumped inside, barely making it before Tahiri lifted off.

"How'd it go?"

"Smooth as s.h.i.+mmersilk," Jaina said.

"Catch any in the net or was it just a good general slip?"

"Javis Tyrr followed us," Jag said. "At least we know he's wasted an evening."

Tahiri smirked a little. "Good. He's tried to interview me, you know."

"I'm not surprised," Jaina said, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "You'd boost his ratings through the roof."

Jag clicked on his comlink. "Hoth, this is Gaunt. Is the bantha in position?"

"In the cave as promised," Winter Celchu replied. "Ready to travel."

"Great. Mynock has been effectively neutralized for the evening. Operation Caranak will proceed as planned."

"Good luck. Hoth out."

Jaina listened, her lips curving in a smile. Jag had come up with the name mynock to describe their parasitic journalist. It was just perfect. She sighed and leaned against him. One more "bantha"-speeder-to pick up, and the mission would be accomplished. She and Jag would spend the night under aliases in a small, out-of-the-way inn halfway around the planet.

"By the way," asked Tahiri, "why Operation Caranak?"

"A caranak," Jag said, slipping an arm around Jaina as she rested her head against his shoulder in the backseat, "is an aquatic fowl native to Endor. It is notoriously difficult to domesticate."

Tahiri was silent, then she said slowly, " ... a wild goose?"

"Just so."

Another pause and then, "And they say you don't have a sense of humor, Jag."

"They," said Jag, his voice completely serious, "do not have a sufficiently good espionage network."

THE SOLOS' PRIVATE APARTMENTS, CORUSCANT "I'm worried about Allana," Leia said. She was curled up next to her husband, her pet.i.te frame nestled against his larger one as they spooned together in their bedchamber. They had opted to leave the large, military-grade-thickness transparisteel viewport open. At all hours of the day or night, they could watch the colorful, constantly changing images of Coruscant traffic. Some might have found the view stressful. The Solos, with their love of vessels, found it rea.s.suring. "What about her?" Han mumbled. He had almost fallen asleep, but he could feel the tension, the wakefulness in his wife's body. "She dealt okay with the spiders on Kessel. Just like a Solo granddaughter should."

"I'm not talking about repercussions from Kessel," Leia said. Her voice was soft, quiet, and Han could barely hear her. He frowned and propped himself up on his elbow, gently turning her to face him.

"This some kind of Force thing?"

"No, not at all. In fact the opposite." Leia sighed. "Han, she needs something ... ordinary. And we're most definitely not."

"Well, you got that right, but neither is she. She was born the Chume'da, the heir to the Hapan throne. She's the daughter of Tenel Ka and Jacen Solo, two very powerful Jedi. She's about as far from ordinary as you can get."

Leia sighed and snuggled against him, idly stroking his chest. "Even so, when she was Chume'da, she had her routines. Her place. Her droids."

"She has droids here. And that feels nice, so keep on-Ow!" Han glowered at her as, annoyed, Leia tugged on his chest hair with the intent to irritate.

"She does. But with all that's going on right now, I can't help but think back to my own childhood. What made me feel happy, safe, and loved."

"Oh, yeah, you had a very ordinary life. Forgot about that, Princess and Senator."

Although he was being sarcastic, Han knew that he was also correct, and Leia, who was usually fair about these things, did not reprimand him by tugging again on his chest hair.

"No, I absolutely did not have an ordinary life. But I never felt unsettled. And I'm afraid that's what's happening with Allana."

The faint light from the never-dark Coruscant skies fell upon her features, still beautiful to him-and others-after over forty years. Her eyes, that rich, liquid brown that always made him kinda quivery, glinted slightly in the multicolored glow as she peered up at him, and Han Solo fell in love all over again, as he did pretty much at least once a week. He'd been lucky to have found such an amazing woman. Life would never, ever be dull with her.

"I had a very happy, stable childhood," Leia continued. "Two parents who were very much in love with each other. I was raised on politics, but it never harmed the family. Resisting the Empire never seemed to conflict with storytime, or trips together as a family, or ..."

Her brown eyes bored into his. Han knew that the reason for the conversation was about to be made manifest, and he braced himself.

"Or wonderful, sunlit afternoons spent riding my thranta."

Han waited. But apparently that was it.

"I don't get it. I must be too sleepy to be having this conversation," Han said.

"The Coruscant Livestock Exchange and Exhibition just started. We have the credits and the property to buy Allana something special. Something she can spend wonderful, sunlit afternoons riding."

Han's own eyes widened. "You're not serious."

"Oh, very, I'm afraid."

"You want to go to the Livestock Exchange and Exhibition."

She nodded. Rivers of dark brown hair shot with gray that only made her look more gorgeous gleamed with the movement. Han frowned. It wasn't fair, sometimes.

"Let's get her a thranta just like the one you had and we'll call it good," Han said. "I think Lando had a couple on Bespin. Bet he could find us a nice one."

"Han ... thrantas can't live on Coruscant. There's too much pollution for them here."

Han groaned quietly. "Livestock Exchange. I bet you're going to say we can't just send her along with Artoo and Threepio and a couple of Jedi guards."

Leia shook her head, her brown eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiled. "We need to go with her." She reached out a small hand and cupped his cheek. "Sweetheart, that's what is going to make it special to her when she remembers the day years from now. Not that she got to go, not that she found a mount, a pet-but that we took her."

"Yeah. We took her ... to the smelliest place on the planet. Don't you think that little b.u.t.ton nose of hers will have enough after the first three minutes? Mine will."

"You don't mind things like that when you're her age. I certainly didn't. My thranta was one of the smelliest creatures I've ever met, and I adored her. To Allana, it's all part of the fun and excitement."

Han thought about the various creatures he'd had to ride during the course of his life. Grondas, rontos, banthas, and, most memorably, tauntauns. Even now, years later, his nose wrinkled at the memory of the stench of the creature's entrails, spilling out steaming onto the snow as he cut the fallen beast open with Luke's lightsaber in a desperate bid to save the young Jedi's life.

Leia squeezed his arm. "Come on, it'll be fun. And educational. A day out, looking at all the exotic animals, not having to worry about Seff or ... Allana will be beside herself with delight."

Han grumbled to himself. The thought of his little granddaughter, her eyes s.h.i.+ning, laughing and clapping her hands, with no shadow of fear upon her bright little life for a change-yeah, it was a pretty appealing image.

"On one condition."

Leia snuggled closer. "What's that?"

"No tauntauns. Those things stink."

ABOARD THE JADE SHADOW.

THEY DROPPED OUT OF HYPERs.p.a.cE, THE STARS ONCE AGAIN BECOMING white, glowing, stationary dots in the blackness of s.p.a.ce instead of streaking white lights. But Ben had no interest in white dots. Who would, when one of the most beautiful spatial phenomena he'd ever seen was suddenly right before his eyes?

Ben literally felt his breath being taken away for an instant before he recovered himself. The tiny hologram of the area that Luke had displayed did not do the Kathol Rift any kind of justice and had done little to prepare him for the spectacle he now saw. He'd seen nebulae before and, like most humans, found them pretty. But this- It was every color he'd ever seen and some he hadn't, this glowing, swirling cloud that filled most of the screen. It seemed to s.h.i.+ft and pulse like a living thing, its colors constantly changing. He wanted to sit and watch it for a long time, mesmerized by its dance.

"That really is beautiful," said Luke, his voice holding just a hint of awe. Ben felt a little better about his own reaction if his dad, too, was similarly impressed. "But I'm sure it won't be so beautiful once we get inside it."

Ben nodded. He thought about the journals Luke had had him read, of those who had hallucinations in the Rift, and wondered if part of the reason was that the mind had difficulty transitioning from beauty to danger so quickly. With a final admiring glance at the spectacle, he let his gaze fall to his copilot's console.

Luke thumbed a b.u.t.ton that would send a signal to Cilghal's com-link. When the Mon Calamari did not respond, he caught Ben's eye, shrugged, and began to record a message.

"Cilghal, this is Luke. Ben and I are preparing to enter the Kathol Rift. Considering the nature of the Rift and the amount of electromagnetic radiation we're looking at, I expect that any communication attempts are going to be spotty at best, and more likely simply nonexistent. Please attempt to continue to contact us with any updates on the situation with the Jedi. We'll do the same with anything we learn, on the off chance that something might get through. Otherwise, we'll contact you when our mission here is accomplished."

He hesitated, then added, "May the Force be with us all."

That more than anything Ben had yet learned sobered him like a bucket of cold water. The gravitas of the situation finally settled on his shoulders. It told him that his father wasn't at all certain they'd come back from this mission.

That was all right. Ben was sixteen, but he'd endured more than most people three times his age. He'd been on missions where he was very unsure as to whether he'd survive-some where he was pretty darn sure he wouldn't. Returning from the mission was never the point. Succeeding at it was.

Luke turned to see his son looking at him and gave a little smile. "How was lunch?"

Ben was puzzled. They'd eaten an hour ago. "Uh-fine. Why?"

"Because it just might come back up again."

Ben snorted, offended. "Not likely."

Luke chuckled. His hands flew over the controls, and Ben's eyes were drawn inexorably back to the Rift.

Somewhere in there was the homeworld of the Aing-Tii. It was not impossible to find-Jacen had done so. Ben wished his cousin had been a little more forthcoming in the notes he had left in the Archives about his time there. All Jacen had contributed to Jedi knowledge about the Aing-Tii amounted to little more than a few pages, and even that shed no new light on them, their abilities, their world, or how to find it.

But even with the sketchy knowledge they had, he and Luke had been able to narrow their search, at least a bit. First, and most important, the world had to have an environment that would support humans, because Jacen had made no mention of needing special equipment in order to survive. Nor had Jorj Car'das. Ben was glad of that; he'd gotten awfully tired of constantly having to wear the breath mask-and its accompanying backpack rig laden with canisters-back on Dorin.

The planet had to be protected in some fas.h.i.+on from the radiation of the Rift, or else the Aing-Tii would not have been able to evolve as highly as they had. So it would be in one of the "corridors" and not in the denser parts of the Rift itself.

And ... that was about it.

The rest was up to them, their skills, the Force, and sheer luck.

Luke calculated their first jump. Ben raised an eyebrow at how short a distance it was. Luke glanced at Ben and smiled. "Ready?"

Ben shrugged. "I guess so."

They jumped.

Ben was used to the sight of stars streaking past him, appearing as white lines. But when he couldn't see the stars, it looked as though nothing at all had happened. The beautiful cloud that was the Rift looked exactly the same during their brief transit, and when they materialized in the first corridor, it looked just as if- The Jade Shadow shook violently. Lights in all colors flashed wildly about them. Ben tried to stabilize the s.h.i.+p, but it was like trying to ride a spooked ronto-it was all he could do to hang on, let alone try to get it under control. He suddenly thought that Luke might have been right about his lunch.

Luke, however, seemed to sit as still as if he had been glued to his chair. In the back of his mind, Ben guessed that it was another way to use telekinesis-if you could hurl yourself across a room, it made sense that you could stay still even when your s.h.i.+p was tossing you about. And then he had no thought for how his father was managing this, because he suddenly jerked his hands back from the console, hissing in pain.

What looked like Force lightning danced across the console and then scurried across every surface of the Jade Shadow. Ben turned to his father to shout out that they were just short-circuited, but then he realized that his father was causing it. The blue, jagged, flas.h.i.+ng lines were coming from Luke's hands on the console. Ben suddenly understood what was going on.

Luke was utilizing the ha.s.sat-durr technique.

The Baran Do Sages had taught it to Jacen, and then they had taught it to Luke. The lightning-rod technique suffused the user's body with a very low level of electromagnetic radiation; an inexperienced pract.i.tioner performing it in a storm would attract lightning. From what he could see, while trying to stay in his seat and still keep the s.h.i.+p steady, Ben guessed that Luke was turning the Jade Shadow into a reverse lightning rod.

And after a couple of moments that seemed like hours, he realized that the ha.s.sat-durr was working. The s.h.i.+p calmed down, and the crackling cloud that enveloped them no longer posed a danger.

" ... handy," Ben gasped. He ran a hand through his hair and wondered how many bruises he'd gotten in the last few minutes.

Luke opened his eyes. "Very. That should last while we a.s.sess what damage we took and plot the next jump."

"Great. Just-next time, let me know when you're going to do that, okay?"

As they made their way from jump to jump, they developed a routine. It was immediately apparent that both could not sleep at the same time-not when their situation was constantly changing. But neither did they need a full eight hours of sleep apiece every twenty-four. Both of them were familiar with healing trances, which in a pinch could subst.i.tute for a good night's sleep. Ben figured that the Kathol Rift definitely qualified as a pinch.