[Legacy Of The Force] - 02(81)
“Well, bully for Jacen. I still don’t want our boy being trained by him.”
“So you can tell Ben he’s back to square one, then.”
“I will.”
“And then you can work out who’s going to take him on.”
“Maybe I’ll have to do it for a while.”
“Oh, that’ll work …”
And this was why they had come to this point: because there was nobody else who could handle Ben like Jacen could. Luke was no further forward. But he could ask Jacen not to take him on raids.
As for Jacen being seen as the Jedi who kicked down doors … he couldn’t touch him. People were reassured by his hard line. And even if the Jedi order threw him out-by whatever mechanism they might have to draw up for that Jacen would still be a massively powerful Force-user, and nothing could take that from him.
It was probably better to have him inside the tent than outside throwing rocks. For the time being, anyway.
Mara wasn’t stupid. So why wouldn’t she concede that Jacen was dangerous?
“There’s something else you need to know, honey,” said Luke. “And it’s not good.”
“It can’t be worse than this.”
“It could be.” It was time. Luke couldn’t hold it back any longer. He was grateful for the autonavigating skylanes of Coruscant, because he doubted if he could have flown straight unaided right then. “Lumiya’s back. I don’t know where, or how, but she’s back.”
Chapter Thirteen
Unless Corellia reconsiders its intention to make Centerpoint Station operational again, in contravention of the Senate instruction to all member states to disarm, I have no option but to authorize sanctions against Corellia in the form of traffic interdiction. A naval blockade of Corellia will begin at 0500 tomorrow unless undertakings are given that Corellia will not rearm. This means that no vessel will be permitted to enter or leave Corellia or any of its industrial orbiters.
-Chief of State Omas, to the Senate and the Corellian ambassador
ALLIANCE FLEET FLAGSHIP OCEAN, CORE LLIAN SYSTEM. 0459 HOURS
CORUSCANT TIME.
Admiral Cha Niathal checked her personal chrono and then looked up at the bridge bulkhead to check the ship’s readout.
“Any signals?”
Jacen hadn’t seen Flag Lieutenant Vio’s eyes leave the comm console for an hour. If Corellia had backed down, he’d have known.
“None, ma’am,” said Vio.
“I’ll take that silence as a get lost, then,” she said. “Flag, make this to all ships. Interdiction measures are now in force. Corellia is under blockade.”
The ships had taken up stations in two distinct zones, one encircling Corellia at two hundred thousand kilometers, the other between the surface of the planet and the orbiting factory complexes and shipyards where Corellia’s industrial heart lay. Corellia was cut off now from outside traffic and more significantly-from its own factories and power stations.
Jacen watched the deployment of the ships, from destroyers to fast patrol craft, on the tactical holodisplay that mirrored the larger chart in Ops. Nearly three hundred small craft now patrolled the inner cordon, ready to stop traffic movement from Corellia’s surface to the industrial orbiters. Beyond the orbital ring, destroyers and cruisers waited for the inevitable.
“Anyone laying bets as to who comes to Corellia’s aid first?” Jacen asked Vio. He knew that crews couldn’t resist that kind of thing.
Vio didn’t blink. “Jabiim and Rothana are obviously favorites …”
“Rothana?” Jabiim was always swimming against the tide. Its national sport was intransigence. “Why Rothana?”
“More to observe than support. Shipyard rivalry thing.”
Niathal eyed the holochart and waited. There were a million flights a day through inner Corellian space; the first confrontation would come very soon.
“I was going to ask why the Supreme Commander is out here and not back at Fleet Ops running the show from there,” Jacen said quietly.
“Same reason the head of the Galactic Alliance Guard is on the front line.” Niathal watched the unnaturally frozen chart that should have been showing the transponder icons of thousands of commercial vessels going about their business. “To be seen.”
Ocean hummed and throbbed with the mechanical voices of a thousand systems, feeling almost like a living creature to Jacen. It was fascinating to be close to something that had no living substance and so wasn’t transparent to his Force-senses. He could only influence Ocean using the physical Force. He couldn’t feel her.
He sought Ben in the Force, magnifying his own presence to reassure him. The boy was back on Coruscant, safe in the care of Captain Shevu. He’d wanted to accompany Jacen, but, as Jacen pointed out, he needed his liaison to stay with the Guard. Ben was enjoying his newfound status as part of a team that respected his skills, and took little persuading.