[Legacy Of The Force] - 03(34)

Jaina exhaled in frustration. “Okay. I can tell when we’re not wanted.”

“What about Ailana?” Zekk addressed himself to Tenel Ka. “Anyone trying to remove you will also want her eliminated. Until things settle down, maybe she should have a couple of Jedi babysitters.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Tenel Ka’s expression remained calm, but her alarm poured into the Force. She had been keeping her daughter out of sight since the day of Allana’s birth, to the point that rumors of a birth defect had begun to circulate through the Jedi Temple. Perhaps there was something to those rumors, after all. “Her security is better than my own.”

“Like I said, I can tell when we’re not wanted.” Jaina could not help feeling a little angry and hurt; she had just agreed to provide one of her parents’ most closely guarded secrets, and still Tenel Ka refused to trust Jaina with the nature of Allana’s vulnerability. “Maybe we should just finish the briefing and be on our way. But we really need to do this in private.” She cast a pointed glance at Tenel Ka’s retinue.

“Of course,” Tenel Ka said. “Come with me.”

The Queen Mother motioned the two Jedi to her side. When they had obeyed, she drew gasps from Galney and several other noble ladies by slipping her arm through Jaina’s, then leaning close.

“And you are wanted, my friend.” Tenel Ka’s whisper was so soft that Jaina heard it inside her head more than in her ears. “There is something else I must ask you to do for me … something I can trust only to my oldest friends.”

“Of course,” Jaina replied. Her heart had sunk clear to her knees. Whether or not her parents had been a part of the attempt on Tenel Ka’s life, the fact remained that Jaina had to consider the possibility … and that struck her as a sadness nearly as great as her brother Anakin’s death. “The Jedi are always at your disposal.”





Chapter Nine


Though dawn had come bright and golden several minutes earlier, a sense of darkness and danger still hung over Fellowship Plaza, and the closer Luke and Mara drew to the crime scene, the heavier and more sinister that sense became. A squad of dark-visored policebots blocked access to the walkway at both ends, while a team of spider-like forensics droids swarmed over the tall privacy hedges to either side. Two detectives-the first a huge-headed Bith in a rumpled tabard, the other a green-scaled Rodian in a sharply creased zingsuit-stood inside the security cordon comparing notes.

“This doesn’t look good,” Mara said. “I’m afraid we’re about to find out why we can’t find Tresina in the Force

“Me, too,” Luke answered. “I didn’t like the way that security dispatcher sounded this morning.”

Mara glanced over and scowled. “How did she sound?

“Surprised,” Luke said. “Maybe even disbelieving.”

The security force dispatcher’s first words when Luke answered the comm half an hour before had been to assure him that his son was “not involved” in the incident.

Refusing to answer any questions herself, the dispatcher had asked whether Luke knew where Master Lobi was, then instructed him to meet a pair of detectives in Fellowship Plaza. Of course, Mara had immediately commed Ben; to their relief, he was quite safe and on his way to an important rendezvous with Jacen.

They reached the security cordon and were stopped by a policebot, who did a quick retinal scan on Luke and stepped aside.

“Detectives Raatu and Tozr are expecting you.” The policebot pointed first at the Rodian, then the Bith. “Please remember that the law requires you to answer all questions truthfully, or not at all. Refusal to answer may be considered grounds for an interrogation warrant.”

“Since when?” Mara demanded.

A scanning beam shot from the policebot’s visor into Mara’s eye, then it asked, “Mara Jade Skywalker?”

“Just answer the question, chiphead,” she said.

“Take that as an affirmative,” Luke said quickly. “When did silence become a suspicious act?”

The policebot kept its visor trained on Mara. “The Suspicious Silence Provision was added to the Galactic Loyalty Act at oh three twenty this morning.”

“In the middle of the night’?” Mara asked. “How’d they ever get a quorum?”

“Under the Law Enforcement Tools Provision of the Galactic Loyalty Act, quorums are no longer required to approve anti-terrorism legislation.”

“And when did that pass?” Mara asked sarcastically.

“Yesterday at eighteen twenty-seven,” the policebot answered. “By five votes, under reduced quorum requirements due to the boycott of the Bothan delegation.”