Ferus hadn’t expected that. He stared at the empty air where Linna had stood. She had wanted so badly to escape. Yet she’d gone back to them.
Sacrifice had no place in a Sith’s galaxy.
Where did he want to live? With beings like Linna, or like Vader?
He felt the dark side drop away.
Ferus looked over the side, down thousands of meters to the narrow shelf of the landing stage.
He looked at Lune. “Trust your feelings. Remember?”
“Don’t think,” Lune said. “Just do.”
“I promise you,” Ferus said, “we can do this.”
Ferus clipped a line from his belt to Lune’s. Then, calling on the Force, he didn’t think, didn’t hesitate, didn’t wonder. He leaped.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Imperial starship screamed through the night sky, zooming between buildings and underneath sky-walks. Apparently Maggis did not believe in skylanes.
As they barely cleared a high-rise, Trever cleared his throat. “Uh, do you think we should slow down?”
“I just got my freedom back, kid. Let me enjoy it.” Despite his words, Maggis pulled back on the speed. “Where to?” he asked.
“I need to find Lune. And I think you know more than you’re telling me.”
Maggis didn’t answer. He zoomed into a skytunnel.
“I can help you,” Trever said. “I know people here on Coruscant. They can give you new ID docs. Concoct a fake background. You could even teach again. They know how to bury you so deep the Empire could never find you.”
Maggis chewed on his lower lip. They emerged out of the skytunnel into the warehouse district. Maggis zoomed around a loading dock, then made an abrupt turn and flew under it, reversing his direction.
“I think I know where he is,” Maggis said. “I won’t rescue him. I’m no hero. But I’ll fly you there.”
They flew through the skylanes. Soon it was apparent to Trever that they were heading back to the Senate district. They circled over the Senate complex and headed toward a tall tower with an oval bulb-like crown on top of it.
“EmPal,” Maggis said. “One of the Emperor’s pet projects.”
“A med facility? Why did Bog take Lune there?”
“Like I said, he volunteered him,” Maggis said with a sneer. “His boy.”
Trever peered at it as they flew closer. Something caught his eye, a reflection. Something was weird. He grabbed for a pair of macrobinoculars.
“The transparisteel…” he muttered. “It’s shattered.”
“Nothing to do with me. I’ll put you down near the emergency entrance.”
Then Trever saw something unexpected. A boy falling out of the sky.
Maggis turned the starship, and Trever flipped over on the seat and strained to focus his macrobinoculars.
“Slow down! It’s Lune! He’s falling!” Another body floated into the macrobinocular scope. Trever slowly realized the man was tethered to Lune, and it was Ferus.
“We’ve got to help them!”
Maggis twisted to look at him. “I said I was no hero!”
Blasterfire streaked out of the tower. And then… Trever gulped. Was that cannonfire?
“Great novas - that’s a laser cannon!” Maggis roared, turning the ship.
“Get down there - they’re falling toward the landing stage!”
“Are you crazy?”
“They won’t fire on you! You’re in an Imperial ship!”
“I kinda don’t want to take that chance, kid!”
Trever threw himself over at Maggis and pushed the controls. The ship dipped.
“All right, all right!” Maggis’s jaw set.
Maggis flew the ship down, zigzagging all the way and flying at top speed.
Trever pressed his face against the windscreen, trying to keep Ferus in sight. His only hope was if Ferus saw them. And recognized that despite appearances, they weren’t the enemy.
Time seemed leisurely to Ferus. Amazing he could feel so calm while hurtling down thousands of meters. Trust flowed between him and Lune. In the midst of the rushing stars and air, Ferus felt a strange exhilaration. He was at the center of himself now, in tune with the complex Living Force that throbbed in the millions beating hearts in Galactic City. And he wasn’t afraid
The platform below rushed toward him. He sighted on the sensor spike he’d seen from above. He reached for his laser line. He unfurled it, watched it snake through the black night and wrap around the sensor spike The line went taut, and he and Lune bounced wildly. The line held.
The spike had broken his fall, and now all they had to do was make an easy Force-leap of a hundred meters or so, down to the landing stage. Then a quick dash into the hangar, and…