[Dark Nest] - 3(94)

“We don’t know why,” the droid replied. “She has lost the will to live. We need to operate quickly if we are to save the babies.”

“Babies?” This from Bail Organa.

“She’s carrying twins,” the droid said.

“Save them, we must,” Yoda added. “They are our last hope.”

The medical droid returned to the operating room, and one of R2-D2’s beeps sounded in the holo.

“It’s some kind of reproductive process, I think,” C-3P0 said softly.

After a few minutes, Padme whispered something to the medical droid, and Obi-Wan was summoned into the operating theater. He went to her side, and his voice came out of R2-D2’s holospeaker sounding even more tinny and distant than usual.

“Don’t give up, Padme,” he said.

She looked up at him, seeming very weak. “Is it a girl?”

“We don’t know yet.” Obi-Wan looked toward the droid operating on her midsection. “In a minute … in a minute.”

Padme winced with pain, then the medical droid lifted a tiny bundle into view.

“It’s a boy,” he announced.

Padme’s voice was so weak that it was barely audible. “Luke …” She smiled faintly, struggling to extend a hand to touch the baby on the forehead, then repeated, “… Luke.”

The medical droid produced another bundle. “And a girl,” he announced.

“Leia,” Padme said.

Obi-Wan leaned closer to her. “You have twins, Padme. They need you … hang on!”

Padme shook her head. “I … can’t.”

She winced again and took Obi-Wan’s hand. There seemed to be a necklace dangling from her fingers as she did this, but the holo was not clear enough to see what kind.

“Save your energy,” Obi-Wan urged.

Padme’s gaze grew distant. “Obi-Wan … there … is good in him. I know there is … still.”

She let out a sudden gasp, then her hand dropped out of Obi-Wan’s, leaving the necklace dangling from his fingers. He gathered it into his palm, then turned his hand and began to study the jewelry with a shocked expression.

The holo ended, and R2-D2 tweedled a question.

When Luke did not answer, Jacen said, “Thank you, Artoo. That’s all we needed to see.”

R2-D2 tipped himself upright again, then swiveled his photoreceptor toward Luke and issued an apologetic whistle.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Artoo,” Mara said. Although Luke looked outwardly composed, she could feel how hard he was struggling to contain his grief, to keep his anguish from erupting in an explosion of fury and pain. “It had to be done.”

Jacen took Luke’s elbow, then squeezed until Luke’s blank gaze finally turned toward him. “Master, can you change what you saw in the bolo?”

Luke shook his head. “Of course not.”

“That’s right. You can only accept it,” Jacen said. “Some misfortunes you can prevent, and you will. But others… sometimes all you can do is embrace the pain.”

Luke laid a hand across his nephew’s. “I understand. Thank you.”

“Good,” Jacen said. “Now use what you are feeling. Your anger and your grief can make you more powerful. Use them when you meet Raynar and Lomi Plo, and you will defeat them.”

A sudden wave of disgust rolled through the Force-bond between Mara and Luke, and Luke frowned and pulled his arm away from Jacen.

“No, Jacen,” he said. “That’s Vergere’s way of using the Force. It won’t work for me.”

Jacen’s face grew worried. “But you’re one against two, and they’ll have the Force potential of the entire Colony to draw on. You’ll need all the power you can get!”

“No,” Luke said. “I’ll need strength-and that comes from my way of using the Force.”

Jacen cast a worried glance toward Mara, and she began to grow fearful as well.

“Luke, I understand your hesitation,” Mara said. “But I’d feel better if you took another Master or two-“

“I’ve made my decision.” Luke smiled and squeezed her arm gently. “Don’t fear. Accept.”





TWENTY-ONE


It had grown clear that-for once-Han and Leia Solo would not arrive at the crucial moment. A ceaseless storm of megalaser fire had turned Tenupe’s green sky into a flashing sheet of crimson and the endless downpour into a hot, foul-smelling drizzle. A dozen different kinds of rescue shuttles were hovering over the flooded river, trying to pluck the half-drowned Chiss survivors off their submerged islands. Clouds of fist-sized Qeeq and meter-long Aebea were droning out of the jungle to attack, clogging intake turbines with their puréed bodies and massing on hulls until their weight alone dropped the vessel like a stone into the river.