“You’re telling me. Luke’s going crazy. Emergency meeting of the high council right now, in fact.”
“I meant that all that loose fabric is … never mind.” Luke’s reaction was predictable. Jedi couldn’t be seen getting their hands dirty, and certainly not his son. “You know why we wore robes originally? To fit in with the ordinary people. So I’m fitting in now, with my people.”
Mara indicated her own battle jacket. “Sorry, Jacen. It’s just a shock to see you in that uniform.”
“I’m a colonel now.”
“I’m not arguing. I just wanted to talk to you before Luke finds you. Is Ben okay?”
“He did very well. You want to see him? He’s in the briefing room. We’re just doing a wash-up with the squad leaders to work out what we’ll do differently next time. And watching the news on the hour, of course.”
Mara managed not to raise an eyebrow. “There’s going to be a next time, then.”
“You turned the job down. What did you think?”
“That it was going to be dirty.”
“It is. But churning through war after war because we don’t ever fully deal with unrest is a lot dirtier.”
The briefing room doors slid open and a corporal from 967 Commando, Lekauf, stuck his head out. “Sir, you’re on again!” he said with a grin. “Sorry, ma’am. HNE news.”
“Don’t let me interrupt you,” said Mara. “Just passing.”
Jacen took her arm. “Come in and meet my men.” He wanted to reassure her about Ben. Unlike Luke, she didn’t seem to want her son to be her little replica. She knew how to let go.
She recoiled visibly at the sight of Ben in black fatigues. He was sitting at the table with Shevu and the sergeants, cup of caf in one hand and datapad in the other, and even his body language had suddenly become adult. He was mirroring the adult males around him without even realizing. When he stood up to greet Mara, it struck Jacen that Ben would soon be as tall as he was.
“Ma’am,” said Ben, all grave concentration. Not Mom: ma’am. “I didn’t sense you coming.”
“I just dropped by to say that I watched the holonews and-I wanted to see how you were feeling,” said Mara. “Are you all right … son?”
Yes, he isn’t your sweetheart when he’s in uniform, thirteen years old or not. Jacen watched the unspoken interaction between them and detected the concern flowing both ways like a faint breeze, but whatever anxiety Mara had brought in with her had vanished and had been replaced almost completely by relief.
“Apart from getting up at oh-two-hundred, I’m fine.”
“You’re getting so military.” Mara managed a grin. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Why shouldn’t I be? It wasn’t dangerous, like the assault on Centerpoint. Captain Shevu was watching my six.”
Jacen found it touching that Ben had formed a bond with the 967. It boded well. Shevu was doing a fine job of stifling a smile, and his emotions-tired relief at the end of an operation, and a pleasant affection for Ben-were probably obvious only to Jacen’s fine-tuned Force-senses.
“Here we go … ,” said Lekauf, and turned up the audio on the briefing room’s holoscreen. The image flashed up the tagline CRACKDOWN at the bottom of the screen and HNE anchors went into a recap of the morning’s raid on Jabi Town. Four hours after the raids, the news emphasis had turned from the drama of hovering assault ships and commandos breaching doors to public reaction.
Admiral Niathal contributed a thirty-second defense of the GAG’s actions-967 Commando was, after all, now part of her special operations forces-but it didn’t appear that defense was necessary.
Jacen, braced for opprobrium, was taken aback by the reactions of Coruscanti asked for their opinion on the streets and walkways of Galactic City.
“It’s about time,” said one man in a business suit. “I think Colonel Solo did what we should have done a longtime ago. We’re too scared of upsetting other governments. Well, Corellia, not anymore.”
Mara murmured, faintly sarcastic. “Ooh, you’ve got fans.”
“Didn’t plan that …”
“I know.”
“I hope Luke sees it that way, too,” said Jacen, knowing that he wouldn’t. “And Admiral Niathal.”
“I’ll try convincing him.”
Jacen beckoned her out of the way of the soldiers, who were staring fixedly at the news coverage with the air of men who knew that public perception was as much a part of the war as any weapon they carried.
“Tell me straight, Mara-are you still happy for me to be training Ben?”