Luke managed to look at Jaina, whose face was stricken. There was no other word for it.
And it was clear that most of those watching the screen had no idea who was standing behind them in the refectory.
“Old family tradition, terrorizing the population,” said one captain, feet propped on a low table. “Just like his grandfather all over again. When’s he going to go for a nice black cloak and helmet? And lots of troopers in lovely white armor?”
Some of the officers in the mess laughed, but most looked as if they wished they were somewhere else. Luke had grown adept at reading the ebb and flow of trouble waiting to explode, and it surprised him again just how finely balanced it was between tempers fading and sudden explosion.
This time it was Jaina who exploded. Her fists were balled. Luke, caught off-guard by his own shame at Ben’s appearance, failed to block Jaina’s Force push as the captain hit the wall of the mess, upending his chair. Jaina lunged forward. Luke managed to shove in front of her. Two other pilot officers stepped in, sending chairs tumbling to stop their comrade from doing anything else stupid.
“He didn’t mean it,” said one. He didn’t seem to see Luke. “Sorry, Colonel.”
Jaina was flushed, eyes wide. Colonels didn’t take swings at other officers, using the Force or not. It was bad discipline. Luke wanted to get her outside, but she needed to let it be known she was back in control. Nobody enjoyed serving under an officer who couldn’t control her temper.
The captain was hauled to his feet. He looked more winded than injured. “Go on,” said one of the officers, “Apologize to the colonel. You were out of line.”
The captain’s expression said that he thought he’d got it about right, but his mouth did as it was told. “My apologies, Colonel Solo.”
“We’re all getting a little tense,” said Jaina. “I should have found a less assertive way to ask you to retract what you said about my family.”
And now the captain appeared to realize he was also facing Luke Skywalker. “Sorry, sir …”
It hurt because everyone’s saying it, thought Luke. You’re just the messenger.
“Forget it,” he said. “Jaina, let’s take a walk.”
There was no natural vegetation on Centax. They found a spot in the shade of a hangar and sat down on a couple of crates.
“We can fence around this or we can blurt it out,” said Luke. “I prefer blurting, personally.”
“Saves time.”
“I don’t know what’s happening to Jacen.”
“Neither do I, Uncle.”
“Try a guess, then.”
“I don’t know him anymore.”
“That’s a scary thing for any twin to say.”
“There’s something dark about him now. He shuts me out. He even manipulated me against the Chiss.”
“I know.” Yes, he’s good at that. “It’s … worrying.”
“I can’t trust him now”
Luke didn’t want to hear it said aloud, but he knew he had to listen. Mara sensed it, too, but was satisfied that it was the opposing passions of a messy love affair that were creating the darkness. Luke thought of the images he had seen in recent days and knew that the darkness was separate from any problems Jacen had in his love life. It was graphic enough to be captured on holocam.
I want my son to stay away from him.
Luke thought of Lumiya and his dreams of the hooded figure, which was surely her. But those signs of impending disaster were new; Jacen had opened the rift with Jaina by tricking her into attacking the Chiss several years earlier.
Jedi were used to seeing what ordinary people couldn’t. Being deceived-something regular folk learned to live with from an early age-was especially threatening for them.
But you’re not fooling me, Jacen. You’re turning to the dark side.
“Uncle Luke, this is none of my business,” said Jaina, “but if I were you, I’d get Ben a new teacher.”
Luke knew she was right, and he also knew that Mara would fight that every step of the way.
And so would Ben.
BRAVO COMPANY 967 COMMANDO, VEHICLE CHECKPOINT: GALACTIC CITY,
LOWER LEVELS, 2330 HOURS.
“We left the best till last,” said Corporal Lekauf.
Ben was confident in his lightsaber skills, but the lower levels of Galactic City made him envy the soldiers’ armor. It was the first time he’d been to the city’s grim heart, and it wasn’t like the Senate sectors at all.
In fact, it wasn’t even like the slightly seedy Corellian neighborhoods, where there had been a pleasant sense of normal family life going on-at least before the raids had begun. At night, the lower levels were genuinely intimidating. Ben kept one hand on the hilt of his lightsaber.