[Last Of The Jedi] - 08(32)

How about equipment? Ferus’s fingers flew over the keys. Bacta shipments, totally normal. Full body scanners. He ran through various medical devices. He recognized some, but not others. He wasn’t a medical mastermind. He’d have to commit them to memory and then run them by Amie Antin.

He thought again of Zan Arbor and the patient he’d seen. Well, he hadn’t seen the patient. Zan Arbor had blocked whoever it was.

Ferus’s fingers stopped moving. He thought back to the glimpse he’d had inside that room.

She’d blocked whoever it was. He couldn’t see anything, just a corner of a tunic.

It had been a child. Zan Arbor couldn’ t have blocked a human adult. And Malory had told him that no other species were allowed at EmPal.

A child.

Ferus looked at the screen. The information was there. All he needed was time. He could keep digging, find more information, and piece by piece, he could have a picture of what this place was and if Darth Vader had been treated here.

Yes, there was his vengeance. But now there was this child. A child he didn’t know.

Roan, what should I do?

There was no answer, because Roan was dead. He would never hear his voice again.

He turned away from the console. He wrenched his attention away from the letters and numbers on the screen. He powered it down. The ghost images blinked off.

He left the room.

He was confused. What was he? Not quite a Jedi. Could he somehow progress to the full power of a Jedi Knight without the structure of the Temple and the wisdom of the Council? Could he do it on his own?

Didn’t he need the lessons the Emperor could give?

He was strong enough to resist the pull of evil. He could still access the best part of himself.

He was still a person who would be moved by the fate of a child.

He retraced his steps to the examining room where he’d seen Zan Arbor. It hadn’t been more than ten minutes since he’d seen her.

He sidled up to the door. He took the same glimpse inside.

This time he saw the child.

Lune.

Relief poured through him. To think he could have turned away! He had come so close to making the wrong choice. He would have turned his back on Astri’s son.

Was this what the dark side of the Force would do to him?

Another med technician entered, a human woman. Ferus experienced a shock when he realized he’d met her before. It was Linna Naltree, the sad-eyed scientist who’d been recruited to work on Ussa. What was she doing here? Had she joined Zan Arbor in her terrible work by choice? Impossible.

She crossed to Lune and laid a hand on his shoulder. Her fingers squeezed gently in reassurance. Anger crossed her face as she looked over at Zan Arbor.

This could be his way out. Linna would help them.

If Zan Arbor didn’t leave the room, he’d have to go in with his lightsaber. He’d rather avoid that. He needed as much lead time as he could get. Darth Vader was on the premises. If he thought about it too long, he’d realize he didn’t stand a chance.

He was in danger from the Sith Holocron, but the Force was still here. He had to trust it. It was here, it was everywhere, even in the midst of evil. He could pull it from the air, and it could protect him and feed him. He had to remember the feeling that had led him here, to a child he thought he didn’t know. That feeling was what connected him to the Living Force.

He concentrated on Zan Arbor. He sent the Force toward her, hoping that he could affect her mind. He’d never been particularly good at it as a Padawan. He had been too rigid, Siri had told him. Too set in his own mind patterns to influence anyone else.

Well, he was no longer rigid.

Go and double-check everything. Can’t make a mistake. Go over the material in solitude. In solitude.

He sent the thought toward her and waited the split second that seemed like an eternity.

She shook her head slightly, then left the room by the other door.

Ferus didn’t hesitate. He burst in. Linna looked up, startled. Lune smiled.

“I knew you’d come,” he said.

“I don’t want to get you in trouble,” Ferus said to Linna. “But I’m taking Lune out of here.”

“You’re taking me, too,” Linna said. “I can’t stay here anymore. That woman is monstrous.”

It was more than he’d bargained for, but she’d smuggled Trever out from under the Imperial troops. He owed her. “All right. Hurry.” They exited the room and ran down the corridor. “Where did you come in?” Ferus asked.

“A landing stage,” Lune said. “Bog brought me.”

“How did you get up to this level? A turbolift?” Lune nodded.

A turbolift that wasn’t on the blueprints. He’d guessed there must be one. “Can you find it again?”