Niathal and her analysts evaluated Jacen’s plan and, over the span of a day, considered and discarded several others. Eventually they settled on Jacen’s. It would have to he modified and detailed, but it would serve as a template. At their next meeting, Niathal informed Jacen of her decision, and said, “I will lead this mission myself.”
He nodded, apparently pleased. “I also want to be there.”
“With the Anakin Solo?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Consider it authorized.”
“My opinion doesn’t count much with my uncle these days,” Jacen admitted. “To get Jedi involvement, you probably ought not to mention my role in this.”
“I’ll have Jedi involvement. All it takes is issuing an order.”
Jacen smiled. “I meant, to get wholehearted Jedi involvement.”
“Yes, of course.”
As he emerged from the Senate Building, Jacen felt a familiar presence. He did not react visibly as the tall woman wrapped in anonymous garments, her lower face shrouded by a scarf, fell into step beside him. “How are you?” he asked.
“Well,” Lumiya answered. “Fully healed.”
“Interested in going on an expedition?”
“I sensed that you were moving into a troubled period. Into much danger. That’s why I came.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Jacen changed the subject. “Any news of Ben?”
“No. His monitors have temporarily lost track of him.” A note of worry entered her voice. “He may not have survived.”
“I think I would have felt it if he had died.”
“Perhaps not, where he is.”
Jacen didn’t ask. “I have faith in him.”
“Clearly so,” she said.
ZIOST
The last kilometer of the climb up to the citadel was comparatively easy. The roadway, made of dressed black stone slabs that were cracked here and there but otherwise seemed little worn by the passage of time, wheels, or feet, allowed Shaker comparatively quick passage. But the little droid began to slow again two hundred meters from the tumble of rock that apparently marked the citadel’s main entrance, and came to a complete stop a hundred meters from it.
Ben felt like stopping, too. He shook from cold and hunger. He returned slowly to Shaker’s side, noting that the droid’s lights were still functioning. He pulled out his datapad. “What’s wrong, little guy?”
I LACK SUFFICIENT POWER TO MOVE FARTHER.
Ben thought about sighing but didn’t want to expend the energy. Shaker was running on a charge absorbed from the last blaster’s power pack. If Ben wanted to give the droid more time, he’d have to sacrifice the power pack from his lightsaber. “How long can you stay awake on the charge you have, if you don’t move?”
PERHAPS TWELVE HOURS.
“All right. Shut down now. I’ll wake you up when I’ve found a power source.”
The droid gave an obliging beep sequence, and its lights went off.
Ben turned back toward Kiara, swaying from sudden dizziness-and the gray-furred nek leapt at him.
The rampway leading to the citadel was raised, and the creature must have been paralleling their path from just past the drop-off. Ben’s reflexes, dulled by lack of food and sleep, would have let him down, would have allowed him to become the nek’s next meal, but he wasn’t standing in the open; he pushed away from Shaker, staggering back into Kiara and tripping over her, and the nek missed.
It landed gracefully and turned. Ben rose on shaky legs and ignited his lightsaber.
The nek regarded him, head down, obviously considering whether to attack, then charged away, disappearing over the far lip of the walkway.
“They’re going to eat us,” Kiara said.
Ben switched off his lightsaber. “No, they’re not.”
“I’m not scared anymore.”
It was clear to him that she was. But he knew she had said it to reassure him that it wouldn’t be so bad. That he wouldn’t be failing her.
“If one swallows you, I’ll jump down his throat and we’ll cut our way out together,” he promised her.
“What if it chews?”
This time he did sigh. “You’re too logical.”
It took them the better part of four hours to climb to the top of the rubble heap that blocked the main entrance into the citadel. From the top, Ben could see the trench-like gap between portions of outer wall that had not fallen and the high, more intact inner wall of the citadel itself. He could see gray-blue skies and whitecapped forests stretching to the horizon. It was all so beautiful that he wanted to stay forever.
And it occurred to him that if he killed and ate the little girl, he’d recover his strength swiftly. Maybe he’d even rook her first.