[Legacy Of The Force] - 02(45)

But it still broke his heart that his little girl-and she would always be that, even when she was gray-haired herself-.would be risking her life for a regime that seemed to want to re-create the bad old days of galactic totalitarianism. What had his own life been for if not to create a better world for his kids?

Don’t do it, Jaina.

“I’d better get back to base,” she said. Leia stood up and Jaina gave her a hurried kiss on the cheek. Han didn’t give Jaina the chance to duck his, but Jacen hovered on the edge of the group, seeming to want to make peace with her and getting no reaction. “Wouldn’t do for me to be advertising that the Solos are back. Watch your six, okay?”

“Take care of yourself, Jaina,” said Jacen.

“And you.” Well, she managed that much, thought Han. Jaina turned and took a couple of strides before glancing back at Jacen. “You don’t feel right to me lately, Jacen. Are you in trouble?”

Jacen smiled as if he was getting her to thaw a little and was relieved. “Just busy, that’s all.”

Han watched Jaina go and tried not to meet Leia’s eyes. What was all that about? R2 rolled back out from under the Falcon, and his readout began scrolling a long list of mechanical problems that had to be fixed and that would take a long, long time. Han stopped him in midbeep with an upheld hand.

“I know. Don’t go on about it.”

R2 whistled.

“I bet you can. You can fix anything. But don’t rush, because it’s time we got something less attention grabbing.”

“At least come back with me while you sort out alternative transport,” said Jacen.

“Good idea,” said Leia. “And we can say hi to Ben, too. We’ve missed him.”

That wasn’t Leia playing the dutiful aunt. That was Leia checking up. Jacen said nothing, but Leia gave him a quick glance that Han spotted and didn’t understand.

R2 beeped a cheery goodbye and trundled up the Falcon’s ramp. Han followed Leia, wiping coolant-stained hands on his pants, and couldn’t get Jaina’s comment out of his mind.

Are you in trouble?

Yeah, what was all that about?

JACEN SOLO’S APARTMENT, ROTUNDA ZONE, CORUSCANT.

Luke knew Ben would come back here sooner or later. He paced around the lobby of the apartment building, pausing occasionally to stare through the transparisteel doors. Something had happened to Ben, although all of Luke’s Force-senses told him his son was alive and unharmed. But he wouldn’t answer his link.

And Jacen had disappeared from the Force. Luke picked up echoes of him sporadically and then lost him again. He looked at Mara, wondering if she was able to detect their nephew any better than he could.

“Nothing,” she said, and shook her head, apparently knowing exactly what was on his mind. It wasn’t that difficult: he’d agonized about little else today. “Look, it’s chaos out there. Ben’s smart enough to avoid trouble. Let’s take it easy.”

Take it easy. What had he come to when Mara was the one urging him to calm down? He wondered how much of his own anxiety was caused by having nothing concrete to do yet in the coming war.

War. He’d thought it again. Somewhere along the line in the last few days it had changed from a threat to a certainty. Luke tried to separate it in his mind from the Force dreams of the man in the hooded cloak that still plagued him. He turned back to the turbolift and watched the cascade of lights on the floor indicator panel for a while until he heard Mara say, “Now, let’s not be hasty, honey, okay-ah! Oh, no …”

Luke spun around to see Ben. The boy’s eyes were swollen and streaming, and he wiped his nose as if he’d been sobbing his heart out. Mara stood frozen for a second and then went to wrap him in her arms. While he didn’t push her away, he certainly didn’t yield.

“What happened, sweetheart? Tell me what’s wrong.”

Ben coughed hard. “I got a whiff of riot gas.”

“Oh, no.” Mara put her fingertips under his chin and turned his face to one side to examine him. “You look like you’ve been burned. Can you breathe okay?”

“It’s wearing off, Mom.” He submitted to a hug. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Let’s get you to the medcenter for a checkup,” said Luke quietly.

“I said I’m fine, Dad. It wears off.” Ben sounded annoyed. “Aren’t you doing something about the water situation?”

Mara intervened. “The city authorities are looking after that.”

“Is it the Corellians? Is it terrorism? They said so on HNE and everyone believes that.”

“Why don’t we go up to the apartment and get you cleaned up?” Mara steered Ben toward the turbolift. “Where’s Jacen?”