Han’s voice came immediately over the comm. “What the blazes?” The Falcon made a hard turn away from the confused dartships. “Did you just tele-“
“Didn’t I tell you not to look back?” Mara asked, her voice still that of a reproving mother. “Now fall in behind us and stay there.”
“Uh, sure.” Han sounded more confused by her tone than he had been by the sudden change in the Shadow’s location. “Whatever you say.”
The comm went silent, and Mara let out a breath. “Chubba. Don’t tell me I just talked to Han like he was a-“
“It’s okay,” Luke assured her. “At heart, he’s just an overgrown kid anyway.”
She activated a mirror section and looked back at him. “How’re you feeling?”
“Like I grabbed a powerfeed,” he said. “Why is that so much harder than pushing a Star Destroyer around?”
Mara smiled. “Just don’t make a mess on my flight deck.”
Feeling in danger of doing just that, Luke started to rise - then caught a glimpse of himself in the mirrored section of canopy. His face was puffy and wrinkled, his skin sallow and dry, his eyes sunken and baggy and rimmed in red. He was starting to look like Palpatine.
Not by half, Mara assured him through the Force.
“But get some rest,” she said aloud. “If you push that stuff too hard, there’s no telling what might happen.”
FIFTEEN
The AWOL Jedi stood waiting in front of their makeshift squadron, a small eye of calm in a frenetic storm of insect activity. The Knights were still wearing their rumpled flight suits, staring at the Shadow and Falcon as they landed. Tesar and Zekk had the good grace to wear guilty expressions as well, but Jaina and Alema merely looked defiant. Jacen and Tahiri betrayed no emotion at all.
Mara took her time closing down the ship’s systems, allowing their suspense to build-and giving herself a few moments to search the cavernous hangar for any hint of danger in the Force. There was no chance that Jaina or any of the others had been involved in the assault on the Shadow, but someone had attacked her family-and that someone had certainly looked like Killiks. Unlike Luke, she was utterly convinced that Raynar Thul would do anything he thought necessary to keep Jaina and the others in the Colony-even if that meant ambushing his old friends.
Finally, when she could not find even a hint of danger, Mara joined the others in the Shadow’s main cabin. Despite a twenty-minute rest trance, Luke still looked like an escapee from a spice mine, with sallow skin and red-rimmed eyes. Ben was bright-eyed and eager to meet his cousins. He kept looking from his father to the door.
Mara took his hand from Nanna. “Ben, you understand that we have important business with Jaina and the others, don’t you?”
“I’m not a Gamorrean, Mom,” he said. “I know we wouldn’t come all the way out here if it was unimportant business.”
“Good. You can say hello to your cousins, but then Nanna will take you to stay with Cakhmaim and Meewalh on the Falcon.” She looked to Nanna. “Ask them to lock down the ship - I don’t care if it does offend the Killiks.”
“I was about to suggest the same thing myself,” Nanna replied.
Mara nodded, then opened the boarding hatch to the cloying, fuel-laced mugginess of the big hangar. Ben was off like a blaster bolt, racing down the stairs and throwing himself into Jaina’s arms. She laughed and gave him a warm hug.
“Nice to see you, too, Ben,” Jaina said. She stepped back and ran an appraising eye over him. “You’ve grown.”
“It’s been a whole year.” He smiled mischievously, then added, “Boy, are you guys in trouble!”
Mara, who was still only halfway down the stairs, cringed inwardly, but Jaina only smiled.
“I imagine we are.”
“Well, I hope they don’t take away your lightsaber or anything.”
This caused Jaina’s eyes to flash, but Ben didn’t seem to notice. He turned to Jacen, who had matured into a handsome man with a thick beard and brooding brown eyes, and seemed unable to decide what he should do next.
Jacen smiled and extended his hand. “Hello, Ben. I’m your cousin Jacen.”
“I know you.” Ben took the hand and shook it. “You went away when I was two. Did you find it?”
The question puzzled Jacen less than it did Mara. “Some of it,” Jacen answered.
Ben’s face fell. “So you’re going back?”
“No.” Jacen’s tone changed to that of a person addressing an equal. “What I haven’t found, I doubt I ever will.”
Ben nodded sagely, then glanced toward the Falcon, only now lowering her boarding ramp. “I have to go, but we can talk later.”