“They’ve learned the identity of one of the ringleaders,” Mara said. “Han wants us to pass the information to Tenel Ka as soon as possible.”
Luke looked out the front of the canopy, where the
Anakin’s silhouette now hung dead ahead of the Shadow. “Then why are we heading for the Anakin?”
“I tried to relay the message to Tenel Ka. My signal was routed to Prince Isolder. He suggested I try again after we were aboard the Anakin,”
“The Anakin?” Luke closed his eyes and expanded his Force-awareness toward the Star Destroyer. It did not take long to find the familiar, levelheaded presence of Tenel Ka. “What’s she doing there?”
“Protecting Allana, I’m sure. I doubt she needed Han to tell her there was a traitor on her staff-or that her daughter is just as much a target as she is.”
“So she turns to Jacen,” Luke said. He was struck-as he so often was-by how lonely and sad Tenel Ka’s life had become, how much she was sacrificing to ensure a stable and humane government for her father’s people. “I guess that makes sense.”
Mara nodded. “When you can’t trust your new friends, you go to your old ones.” She fell silent a moment, then added, “Especially if one of them happens to be a very close friend.”
Luke raised his brow. “You think Jacen and Tenel Ka are lovers?”
“He sneaks off to see someone every few months,” Mara said.
“Tenel Ka?” Luke frowned, trying to imagine Tenel Ka having secret trysts with someone as dangerous to her throne as Jacen, then shook his head. “If she weren’t the Queen Mother, maybe. But there’s no future in it.”
“And you think that would stop them?”
“Maybe not Jacen,” Luke said. “But a Jedi lover would cause too many problems for Tenel Ka. She wouldn’t take such a foolish risk-no matter how she felt about him.”
Mara’s expression remained doubtful. “Tenel Ka has to have something for herself. She’s giving everything else to the Consortium.”
“Okay, it’s possible,” Luke said. He did not understand why he found the idea so alarming; was it merely because of his fears concerning Jacen? Or did his misgivings go deeper than that? Perhaps it made him fear that Lumiya’s corruption was spreading faster than he could contain it. “And that’s all the more reason we shouldn’t speculate. We could be putting Tenel Ka’s life at risk.”
“All right,” Mara said, taking the point. “But aren’t you even a little curious about Allana?”
“Of course,” Luke admitted. “But Jacen can’t be the father. The timing is just wrong.”
Mara put on a pout that looked completely out of place on her strong face. “Spoilsport.”
“I’m just saying that it’s impossible.” Suddenly Luke felt the need to spell out his reasoning-perhaps because now Mara had him wondering about Allana’s paternity. “For six months after the Battle of Qoribu, Jacen was confined to the academy on Ossus, along with the rest of the Jedi Knights involved-and that’s when Allana had to have been conceived. If Jacen had been slipping off to visit Tenel Ka, we would have known.”
Mara let out an exaggerated sigh of disappointment. “Killjoy.”
“Okay, okay.” Realizing that Mara was teasing him now, Luke smiled and raised his hands. “I surrender. I’m sure we can think of another explanation. We know he visited Tenel Ka when he asked for the fleet she sent to Qoribu. Maybe Allana’s gestation took a whole year.”
Mara winced in empathic discomfort. “Now you’re just being cruel.” She flicked her gaze toward the reflection of the copilot’s chair. “Take a seat. You look like you’ve been wrestling rancors in your sleep.”
“I wish.” Luke slipped into the copilot’s seat behind her. “It was the face again.”
Mara’s expression grew serious. “Jacen?”
Luke shrugged. “Maybe. I never see it clearly enough.”
“Then you can’t be sure.”
“It was male,” Luke replied. He could feel through the Force how worried Mara was about Ben, how alarmed she was by the relationship they had discovered between GAG and Lumiya-so he did not understand why she still refused to see what was happening to Jacen. “Who else could it be?”
“That’s the point, Luke,” Mara said. “We don’t know. So far, the only connection we have between Jacen and Lumiya is some evidence suggesting she’s been working with GAG.”
“And you don’t find that alarming?”