“They are afraid the Colony will expand into their territory,” Tesar said. “That is what their Joinerz say.”
“There’s more to it,” Mara said. “If all the Chiss were worried about was border security, they’d just wait for a nest to pop up in their own territory, then attack.”
“That’s right,” Luke agreed. “Something about the Killiks scares the Chiss so much they don’t want them in the same sector as an Ascendancy system.”
“You’d have to ask the Chiss about that,” Tahiri said.
“We shouldn’t need to,” Kenth pointed out. “Isn’t it the first duty of a Jedi to understand both sides of a conflict?”
Tahiri met his gaze with a raised chin. “We were occupied.”
“Saving innocentz.”
“And look what happened,” Kenth said. “Both sides are closer to war than ever.”
“Perhaps,” Tekli said. “But our mistakes shouldn’t condemn the Qoribu nests.”
“And they shouldn’t commit the Jedi to any action the Masters haven’t authorized.” Corran turned away from the trio and addressed the other Masters. “Our first concern must be the stability of the Galactic Alliance. “
“No.” Kyp Durron surprised everyone by stepping to Tahiri’s side. “The Jedi are no one’s mercenaries-not even the Galactic Alliance’s. Our first concern, our only concern, is our own conscience. We must follow it wherever it leads.”
Octa Ramis, who had remained silent until now, spoke up to agree with Kyp, then Kenth agreed with Corran, Kyp repeated his position, and the discussion degenerated into argument. Tahiri, Tekli, and Tesar remained silent, content to let their advocates argue their case. Luke glanced over at Jacen, who was continuing to create elegant swirls of light in his brain holo, and wished he were also free to ignore the argument. What he really wanted to be doing was looking for a slicer who could access that sequestered sector in R2-D2’s memory, but personal business would have to wait. The argument among the Masters was rapidly growing more heated.
Luke eased his way into the middle of the knot.
“Enough.” The tumult began to quiet, and he said, “This isn’t the time for discussion. We’re just here to have a look at Cilghal’s tests and listen to our Jedi Knights’ report.”
An embarrassed silence fell over the room as the Masters contemplated their outbursts, then Kyp flushed and dropped his chin. “I let my emotions carry me away. I apologize.”
“No need,” Corran said, slapping his shoulder. “We were all a little excited.”
“Master Skywalker is right,” Kyle added. “We’re just here to listen.”
“You haven’t listened to me yet.”
Jacen sounded as though he were less than a meter from the group. But when Luke turned around, he found only the image of his nephew’s brain floating above the holopad. Jacen himself remained seated in his relaxi-chair, eyes staring blankly out through the viewing window of his scanning hood.
“Okay, Jacen,” Luke said. “We’d be very interested in hearing your report.”
The hologram pulsed in a brilliant show of iridescent color, and the alpha line below it quivered in time to a deep, booming voice that was barely recognizable as Jacen’s.
“Killiks are dangerous friends, but no one’s enemy,” the brain said. “The true danger lies not in what the Jedi do, but in their failure to act at all.”
The effect was exactly what Jacen had intended. A thoughtful silence descended on the group, and the Masters’ gazes turned inward as they searched for the deeper meaning in Jacen’s words.
Luke walked over the control panel. “Very funny,” he said, switching it off. “Didn’t I tell you to stop playing with Cilghal’s brain mapper?”
TWENTY-TWO
Han and Leia were alone in the cockpit, sitting together in one chair, watching the opalescent nothingness of hyperspace slide silently past. The jump was a long one, and there was no reason for them both to spend it on watch. But the flight deck was the one place on the suddenly crowded Falcon to find some discreet time together, and-after the way things had ended with Jaina - Han was glad they had. Somehow, it helped to know that Leia was as frightened for Jaina as he was-that she, too, was determined to find out what Raynar really had planned for their daughter, to return to Qoribu the minute they could, and to put a stop to it.
“You’re in a better mood,” Leia said.
“Talking to you, I guess,” Han admitted. “How’d you know?”