[Dark Nest] - 1(66)
“We’re trying to prevent a war,” she said. “Isn’t that what Jedi are supposed to do?”
Luke would not be baited into making this a discussion. “Go on.”
Zekk spoke next. “You know about the call we’d all been feeling…”
Luke nodded.
And Tahiri continued, “It wasn’t something we could ignore, especially at the last.”
“We had to come,” Tesar rasped. He looked to his mother. “It was like the Mating Call. We could think of nothing else until it was answered.”
They stopped, as if that had answered the question.
“That explains why you came,” Leia said. “It doesn’t explain what you’re doing.”
A chest-high Killik with a green thorax and tiny wings came over and brushed Jaina’s arm with an antenna, then thrummed something with its chest.
“She says the StealthXs are fed and rested,” C-3PO translated proudly.
“Fueled and armed,” Jaina corrected. She ran her arm down the Killik’s antenna, then said to it, “Thanks. We’ll be leaving shortly.”
“Lowie had to go EV” Zekk explained. “We’re getting ready to bring him back.”
“With shadow bombs?” Mara asked. She pointed to a rack of proton torpedoes being dragged away from the StealthXs by several Killiks. Even from ten meters away, it was apparent that the propellant charges had been replaced with packed baradium. “That’s not exactly rescue equipment.”
“We might need to create a little diversion,” Alema admitted.
“No kidding?” Han scoffed. “You mean to get past all those Chiss?”
“Nobody’s going anywhere.” Mara directed this to Jaina. “Not until we have some answers. Things are too far out of control.”
Jaina’s face grew hard. “I’m sorry, but I’m not leaving Lowie out there another minute-“
“Lowbacca has dropped into a Force-hibernation,” Luke interrupted. His eyes were half closed, his chin raised. “He’s safe for now.”
Jaina scowled and looked as though she wanted to argue, but she knew better than to doubt her uncle’s word.
“The sooner we get those answers, kid, the sooner we get to Lowbacca,” Han said.
Jaina and the others exchanged a few tense looks, then she nodded. “Fine. You want to see what this is about, come with us.”
She led the way deeper into the hangar cavern, past rack after rack of dartship berths. Stacked a staggering fifteen berths high, they were strewn with fueling lines and swarming with Killik technicians. Their technology was unsophisticated, but the insects were incredibly efficient, working a dozen at a time in cramped spaces that would have had just two human technicians throwing hydrospanners at each other. The fuel-tinged air was permeated by a low, rhythmic rumble that sounded like machinery, but Mara soon realized it was coming from the creatures themselves.
She turned to Tahiri, who was walking beside her, and asked, “That sound… are they singing?”
It was Alema-walking at Luke’s side-who answered. “It’s more like humming.”
“They do it when they concentrate,” Tesar added. “The harder they work, the louder it growz.”
“It’s their part in the Song of the Universe,” Tahiri explained.
“Doesn’t sound like any song I’ve ever heard,” Han said from a step ahead of Mara. “In fact, I’ve heard more rhythm in a bantha stampede.”
“That’s because you can’t hear the whole song,” Zekk explained helpfully. “Only insect species hear it all.”
“Yeah?” Han scowled and turned to Jacen. “Can you hear it?”
“No.” Jacen flashed an imitation of Han’s roguish smile. “Then again, I’ve only been here about a month.”
“Relax, Dad,” Jaina called from the front of the group. “We don’t hear it, either.”
Han let out an audible sigh of relief, then Jaina suddenly stepped into an empty berth and ducked down a waxy passage that led out the back.
C-3PO stopped outside the berth. “That doesn’t look like a proper corridor, Mistress Jaina.”
“You could always stay here, Threepio,” Han said, watching six Killik workers carry a damaged dartship past. “I’ll bet these guys are always looking for spare parts.”
“I was just commenting, Captain Solo.”
C-3PO dropped into an awkward crouch that was half squat and half hunch, and they all followed Jaina into the passage.
“Sorry about this,” Zekk said from behind Mara. “They weren’t thinking of larger species when they dug these tunnels.”