Jacen looked away from his display and nodded. “Report.”
“No eavesdropping devices detected by preliminary and standard sweeps.” The droid’s voice was thin, raspy, and just a bit menacing. “Consent to proceed with a comprehensive sweep?”
“No,” Jacen said. “We don’t have time for that, Double-Ex.”
“A standard security sweep is only ninety-three percent effective,” the droid said. “If there is reason to suspect…”
“There isn’t,” Jacen said, rising. He had only a few moments before Ben arrived with Tenel Ka and Allana. SD-XX was designed to look menacing and ominous, and he did not want the droid giving his daughter nightmares. “Dismissed.”
SD-XX remained next to the intelligence station. “Can you be certain, Colonel? In my experience, there’s always reason to be suspicious.”
“I’m certain.” Jacen pointed toward the hidden exit Lumiya had used. “Leave the back way. I’m about to have visitors, and they don’t have clearance to see you.”
SD-XX leaned forward at the waist, then fixed his blue photoreceptors on Jacen’s face and said nothing.
“Go,” Jacen said. “That’s an order.”
SD-XX’s voice grew cold. “Acknowledged.”
He pivoted and stalked to the corner in utter silence, then touched the pressure sensor and vanished down the corridor. A moment later the feminine voice of Jacen’s reception droid sounded over the intercom speaker.
“Special Agent Skywalker is here with your guests, Colonel Solo.”
“Send them in.”
Jacen rose and stepped out from behind his intelligence station. The door hissed, and Tenel Ka strode into the Command Salon with Allana at her side. Mother and daughter alike were dressed in tailored flight suits of gray eletrotex, a nanoweave material better known for its opalescent luster and outrageous cost than its effectiveness as an all-purpose armor.
Behind them followed Ben in his black GAG utilities, and an older woman with a long aquiline nose whom Jacen recognized as Tenel Ka’s personal aide, Lady Gal-ney. Bringing up the rear was DD-11A, a large Defender Droid with a cherubic face, synthskin torso, and weapons-packed arms. The droid served Allana as both bodyguard and nanny.
Jacen started to bow to Tenel Ka, but as soon as Allana saw him, she pulled her hand free of Tenel Ka’s grasp and raced across the deck with her arms thrown wide.
“Yedi Jacen!”
Jacen laughed and leaned down to scoop her into his arms, and all trouble left his thoughts. She was a beautiful little girl with her mother’s red hair and a button nose, and suddenly he knew that his long struggle was worthwhile, that he could never stop trying to bring peace and order to the galaxy … that Allana and ail the children like her deserved to grow up on worlds untroubled by war and injustice.
Allana leaned back, studying Jacen with a pair of big gray eyes. “Jacen, some bad men twied to kill us but Mama’s guards chased them off so now we can’t have no more parties…”
“Any more parties,” Tenel Ka corrected. She had stopped three paces from Jacen. Despite the worry circles beneath her eyes, she was as radiant as ever, with high cheeks and a long braid of red hair hanging over one shoulder. “Let Colonel Solo put you down. You’re such a big girl now that you’ve grown too heavy to hold for long.”
That wasn’t true at all, of course. Jacen could have held Allana in his arms forever, because inside he was terrified of the sacrifice Lumiya kept hinting at. He wanted to hold his daughter forever, to keep her pressed safely against him and stay in constant touch with her through the Force-but doing any of those fatherly things would only place her in even more danger. Even this small display of Allana’s affection had put thoughtful expressions on the faces of both Ben and Lady Galney.
“The Queen Mother is right,” Jacen said, holding Allana out where he could look at her. Though he usually managed to sneak a visit three or four times a year, this was the first time he had noticed the same fiery sparkle in Allana’s eyes that he had so often seen in his own mother’s when he was growing up. “May I return you to the deck now?” Allana frowned. “Yedi are supposed to be stwong!”
“I am strong,” Jacen laughed. “But I need to save my strength for when I find the bad men.”
Allana’s eyes grew wide. “You’re going to fight the bad men?”
“Of course,” Jacen said. “Hunting bad men is my job.”
Allana considered this a moment, then said, “Very well, Jacen-you can put me down … for now.”