“Oh, boy,” Mara said, unbuckling her crash webbing. “Does he know who he looks like?”
“He does if he bothered to look in a mirror.” Luke was disappointed to see that their son was not accompanying Jacen, but hardly surprised. He had not felt Ben’s presence when he reached out to see if Tenel Ka was aboard the Anakin. “I just hope that’s not the point. He might as well be a recruiting holo for Corellian terrorists.”
As they shut down the Shadow, Luke expanded his Force-awareness to the entire Star Destroyer, searching for any hint that Lumiya was aboard. He felt a second presence near Tenel Ka’s that seemed very strong in the Force-her daughter, Allana, he suspected-but nothing dark enough to be Lumiya. Of course, that didn’t mean much. Jacen was standing right there in front of him, and Luke couldn’t sense bis presence, either.
Once all systems had been placed on standby, they went aft and found Jacen waiting at the bottom of the boarding ramp. His face was gray and furrowed, and the purple circles beneath his eyes suggested that he had not been sleeping well, if at all. He bowed first to Mara, then to Luke.
“Masters Skywalker, welcome aboard the Anakin Solo.” Jacen’s voice sounded genuinely warm, though it was impossible to read his true feelings. “What a pleasant surprise.”
“You might want to reserve judgment on that,” Mara said. “We need to talk.”
“Of course.” Jacen remained at the foot of the boarding ramp, making no move to allow them any farther aboard. “Is something wrong?”
“You’d be safe to assume that,” Luke said. “Where’s Ben?”
“On a mission,” Jacen replied. “He’s in a comm blackout zone at the moment, but if it’s important, I could dispatch…”
“We’ll talk about that later-in private.” Luke had to struggle to keep his voice even; with Lumiya on the loose, he did not like the thought of Ben being on a mission anywhere. “First, we need to speak with the Queen Mother. We have an urgent message for her.”
Jacen’s eyes widened with surprise. “Tenel Ka?”
“Now, Jacen,” Luke said. “And we’ll need a holoprojector.”
Jacen let out his breath. “Very well.” He stepped aside and led them and R2-D2 up the aisle between the honor guard. “I’m sorry for hesitating, but she asked me to keep her presence confidential. Aside from the chamberlain she brought along, Prince Isolder is the only Hapan who knows she’s aboard.”
They passed through a hatchway into a small foyer, where four GAG troopers stood guard over a bank of lift tubes. Most of the tubes had a small sign next to them listing a destination such as ENGINEERING or COMMUNICATIONS, but at the far end of the foyer a tube large enough for five people remained uniabeled.
“It descends to the Detention Center,” Jacen explained, apparently noticing what Luke was looking at. “We find that prisoners are less likely to resist if they don’t realize they’ve reached the end of the journey.”
“Very … practical,” Luke said, trying not to be alarmed by how proficient his nephew had become at the art of imprisonment and interrogation. “I assume it results in fewer injuries to the prisoners.”
Jacen nodded. “That, too.”
A shudder of revulsion ran down Luke’s spine, but if Mara was alarmed by Jacen’s apparent indifference to his prisoners’ welfare, she did not show it. She merely followed him across the foyer to a lift labeled BRIDGE, then stepped into the tube and rose out of sight.
Jacen turned to Luke. “After you.”
Luke waved R2-D2 into the lift ahead of him, then followed without replying. His stomach sank as the tube walls blurred past. A moment later he came to a stop and stepped out into a sparse durasteel anteroom, where another detail of GAG sentries stood guard over several hatchways leading into a maze of blue-white corridors.
A single transparisteel wall, the only one without any openings in it, overlooked the flight deck one level below. Most of the officers there still wore the blue-and-gray uniforms of a normal Galactic Alliance Star Destroyer complement, but Luke could not help noticing the sense of pride and purpose that they radiated into the Force. Whatever Jacen’s other faults, he was clearly a good leader.
Jacen stepped out of the lift behind Luke and spoke to an ebony-skinned trooper standing directly across from them. “Sergeant Darb, take an escort detail to the Situation Room and inform the Queen Mother that the Masters Skywalker would like to speak with her. We’ll be waiting in the Briefing Cabin.”
“Very well, Colonel.”